“My words are for Caspar alone,” Fred said.
“Say what you must,” Brightborn said. “But once you have spoken, you will die.”
I knelt beside Fred. He whispered in my ear, “It takes all five elements to free the rings from their host. That was how I stole them from their boxes. But I had no power at all, and I was able to wear them. You do not need to wear these. You shouldn’t.”
I nodded and stood up. I wasn’t sure what he meant, but it was something.
“What did he say!” the king demanded.
“At least afford a dying man the dignity to allow his last words to be what he intended,” I said.
“No matter. Let it be done!” the king commanded.
I drew all the power I could. The cool sensation of water, the warmth of fire. The weight of earth, the weightlessness of air, and the strength of aether.
With tears, I released it all into Fred’s body.
He screamed in agony. The sound of his pain was his soul. It connected to the power of aether, to my spirit, as if my insides were being torn apart.
It wasn’t just Fred’s cries. The cries of others, those whose blood soaked these grounds, rang out too. They fell on me like a thousand pounds, as if they were shouting, “Would you shed still more blood on this ground?”
I released my magic.
Fred’s body fell to the ground with a thud.
I turned and looked at Layla. She was unconscious.
“Now, human!” the king shouted.
I pulled the two rings, still coursing with violet energies, from Fred’s fingers.
Layla wasn’t dead. Not yet. But it wouldn’t be long.
Why had Fred told me not to wear the rings myself? What did he know that I did not? And more, he was the last person I could trust. No one had betrayed us worse than Fred.
But he had begged forgiveness, and I had given it. All my life, all my time in ministry, it was a message of forgiveness that had moved me. Without forgiveness, without grace, I would not be sober. I had asked for forgiveness. I was granted redemption.
Fred deserved his chance at redemption, too. And if with his dying breath, he had truly changed…
It didn’t make sense. I should have just put on the rings and tried to heal Layla, but was there any guarantee I could do it? Anyone, Fred said, could use these rings. Only one with all five elements could remove them from the wearer, and if I failed, if I couldn’t heal her, there would be no way to undo it. If anyone knew what this magic could do for its wearer, it was Fred.
Despite my better instincts, I chose to believe him. I chose to embrace his chance for redemption because if I had never had that chance, I would be dead.
I approached Layla.
“Put them on!” the king demanded. “Heal my daughter!”
I fixed my eyes on Layla, ignoring the elf king’s impatience. Then I grabbed her hands. These rings were too big for her fingers, so I slipped them on her thumbs.
The energy in the rings flooded into her body.
“What are you doing!” the king shouted in a rage, standing up.
I raised my hand, and wielding the element of air, threw him back down on his throne.
Layla’s body glowed bright, the power overwhelming her frame. Then it faded.
Layla gasped for air, then fell off her throne into my arms and wrapped her arms around me. My eyes welled with tears.
“Layla!” I cried. “I thought I’d lost you!”
“You’ll never lose me.”
The king grunted, then stood up. “Behold! She who survived the Blade of Echoes! The chosen one, Layla Brightborn!”
I looked around. Hundreds of elven legionnaires had gathered around us. I can’t believe I didn’t anticipate that. The king wanted witnesses.
“Seize them!” the king commanded, indicating Aerin and me.
“Father!” Layla begged. “Our lives are still bound. You can’t kill him!”
The king nodded. “It doesn’t mean we cannot imprison both of your unworthy spouses.”
Layla unsheathed her blade. I gathered my power. The legionnaires closed in around us.
Layla jumped off her throne and channeled purple angelic power from her fingertips, sending a row of elves flying into the trees.
Aerin swung her blade, severing an elf’s head from his shoulders. No blood. The wound was cauterized.
I gathered the energies of the elements. With earth, the trees responded, their branches bending and swiping legionnaires aside. With air, I trapped dozens of them in a whirlwind.
But there were too many.
I turned. Where the hell had the king gone? Fled for his life, most likely. Fucking coward.
“We have to get out of here!” Aerin shouted. “There are just too many of them!”
“On my position!” I shouted.
Layla and Aerin stood next to me. I harnessed fairy magic and forged a portal over my head, then started to pull it down over us.
A dozen balls of green energy flew into it and dissipated it.
“What the…”
One of the fairies appeared. He looked similar to Ensley if a bit rougher around the edges. “You who used magic to take life cannot be permitted to wield our power.”
“Oh, for fucks’ sake!” I shouted. “Ensley!”
Ensley appeared at my side.
“Back off, Develin!” Ensley shouted.
“You know the law,” the fairy Develin said. “One who abuses magic cannot…”
“Stupid dogma!” Ensley screamed. “He never wanted to kill!”
Aerin swung her blade, striking an elf’s arm from his torso, then with another slice, she cut off one of his legs. The wound cauterized as the elf screamed, hopping on one leg.
Layla was still shooting blasts of angel magic at the elves.
But without fairy power, it was just a matter of time before they overwhelmed us.
“I command you,” Ensley said. “By my right as the king of the fae!”
“You are no longer our king, Ensley,” Develin said. “By acclaim, and by the blessing of the Furies, that right belongs to me. And you are the traitor! You saw it! This man just wielded all the elements to kill a rival!”
Ensley charged Develin, spearing him with his shoulder into a tree.
“Fly, Caspar,” Layla said. “Take Aerin with you.”
“Layla…”
“They won’t harm me. They think I’m the chosen one.”
“Layla, I…”
“Just do it, Caspar!”
I ran over to Aerin. “On my back!”
Aerin jumped on my back piggy-back style. I drew on aether and air, visualizing us soaring through the skies. We took off.
Maybe, removed from the fairies, I could cast another gate.
I drew on the power, formed another portal in front of us, and flew as fast as I could into it…
But it dissipated the moment we should have passed through it.
I tried to draw on the power again. Nothing.
“It’s Ensley,” Aerin said. “It was his power you were wielding. That means—”
“He’s dead. The other fairies killed him.”
“I’m sorry, Caspar,” she said.
I screamed at the top of my lungs as we soared through the sky.
Chapter Forty-Four
“He was my friend,” I said, sinking into the couch at the Elf Gate church.
Aerin sat beside me and took my hand. “I know I’m not the one you wish was here to comfort you.”
I shook my head. I expected the lust to overwhelm me with her touch, but there was nothing. This was just a friendly touch. Maybe I’d already adjusted to that particular side effect of our binding, or perhaps it was because I’d just used magic to kill a man. I was so distraught that I didn’t have any room in my body for lust at the moment.
“No, I appreciate it, Aerin. "
“You were incredible tonight,” Aerin said. “No matter what the elf king says, you are the chosen on
e.”
I shook my head. “Why didn’t you tell me before about what happened with him?”
Aerin sighed. “I feared you wouldn’t trust me if you knew. I realized from the start that convincing you to participate in the trials, to trust me at all, was going to be difficult.”
I shook my head. “You still should have told me the truth.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry. If I had an ounce of the faith that Layla has in you, I would have trusted you.”
I nodded. “I get it, Aerin. I know why you didn’t tell me the truth. But if we’re going to be married now, all three of us, no more secrets, okay?”
“Agreed,” Aerin said, resting her head on my shoulder. Part of me wanted to shrug her off, but she was trying to comfort me. And it was innocent enough.
Brag’mok came running into the room. He was holding Agnus in his hands. My cat was hissing and swiping at him with his claws. “Take this demon cat! I can’t do this!”
I laughed. “Come here, Agnus.”
Brag’mok tossed him to the floor as gently as he could. Agnus immediately calmed, then he walked over and head-butted my shin.
“You two going to tell us what happened?” Agnus asked. “Everyone wants to know.”
I nodded. “I suppose we should.”
“Where’s Layla?” Brag’mok asked.
“She’s safe,” I said. “I think, but King Brightborn and his legions are still at large.”
Brag’mok nodded. “If you need anything, my broadsword is at your disposal.”
“Thank you, Brag’mok.”
“Do you want to tell those who have gathered what happened out there?” Aerin asked. “Or would you rather I do it? I know it must be hard for you.”
“How many people, how many of my friends, are going to die for me before this shit is over?” I asked. “First B’iff, now Ensley.”
“You inspired them,” Aerin said. “I didn’t know B’iff, but Ensley believed in you. That’s why he was willing to fight for you. Why he was willing to die for you.”
I nodded. “I just wish people didn’t want to die for me. Too much death.”
“There is still a sealed prophecy,” Aerin said. “Perhaps once all is revealed, these events will make better sense.”
I shook my head. “Making sense of death doesn’t make it easier. Death sucks. Always. Especially when someone dies before they should have.”
Aerin nodded. “Well, I’m here for you.”
I sighed. “No offense, Aerin, but…”
“I know. I’m not the one you wish was here.”
I nodded and turned to go out and relive the painful events. I would explain them to whatever followers of the former cult remained loyal to me.
But a purple glow appeared in the doorway.
“Layla!” I said, hugging her the second she appeared. “I didn’t think you’d be able to come here!”
Layla hugged me back. “I told you they wouldn’t kill me, Caspar. Doesn’t mean I was inclined to hang out with those elf pricks.”
“Ensley,” I said. “Were you there when…”
“The other fairies overwhelmed him. I’m sorry. I held him in my hands as he breathed his last.”
I nodded. “I’m glad you’re here, Layla. I don’t know that I could do this without you.”
“Are you ready?” Aerin asked.
I extended my hand. Aerin took it. “We three come from different worlds. This night, we all came together despite different worldviews. Different dogmas. I still don’t know how I feel about this polygamous marriage. Perhaps our unity can be an example to the world. An image of hope that unity is possible and our differences do not need to divide us.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Our numbers had dwindled significantly. With the elven legion here, it seemed more were willing to cast their lot with the king than an ex-preacher who had a few flashy tricks up his sleeve.
I could only wonder and hope the government’s resolve to resist the elves hadn’t wavered. It would be a lot simpler if Brightborn didn’t seize control of the nation’s military.
We weren’t safe. The king had made it clear in the Pruitt-Igoe woods that his daughter’s life for fulfilling his supposed destiny to rule the Earth was an acceptable cost.
But he still needed her. They now believed she was the chosen one. She was with us, sure, but the king had given them the show to believe. Why wouldn’t they listen to the chosen one’s father and the one they’d always followed as king?
We didn’t know what Brightborn’s next move would be. Had he wiped out all his kind on New Albion, or had he moved them off the planet before siphoning all the magic off-world? So far, there had been no sign of millions of elves showing up anywhere on Earth. If they were here, they were well-hidden.
I hesitated to say that what we’d done qualified as a victory.
But Layla had been saved, and the drow were, more than anyone else, committed to our cause. At least they had been convinced by my success in the trials.
As far as the rest of humanity? The arrival of an elf king was still being treated by most of them as a fringe conspiracy theory. Doomsday preachers had taken to the streets proclaiming the coming of the Great Tribulation, begging people to prepare for the rapture, which I found annoying. Not just because I didn’t subscribe to the particular view of the end-times those doomsayers were proclaiming, but the idea of trying to drive people to God out of fear had never sat well with me.
Aerin, Layla, Agnus, and I didn’t stay in one place too long, and I had to be careful about how I used my magic. With Ensley gone and the fairies aligned again with the elves, they’d surely know it if I unleashed my elemental powers.
The apartment wasn’t safe, and other people lived there too. If the elves found us, the last thing I wanted was more bloodshed on my account.
We made periodic unscheduled appearances to Saint Ensley’s. That was the name that the former cultists decided, in honor of my former fairy friend’s sacrifice, to name their building. No more “Order of the Elven Gate” or “Elf Gate Cult.” There was no more gate, so the name was obsolete. Instead, the remaining former cultists decided to name their movement, the resistance that proclaimed a hope tied to the elven prophecy, after a pesky little fellow who was more powerful than he seemed and had lost his life trying to save the world.
Brag’mok moved in with Jag. I wasn’t sure the floor joists in Jag’s apartment would hold the both of them at once, but they spent most of their time at the gym anyway.
We did not quit working out. We used the gym once in a while, but we had to avoid any sort of predictable routine—anything the elves could pick up on.
I knew we could not hide from them forever. At some point, I would have to figure out a way to practice my magic without the fairies finding us. Brightborn had not so much as shown himself since that night at Pruitt-Igoe.
He was planning something, preparing his plans to take over the world. We just did not have the slightest clue what his step one might be. When he moved, we would move.
The other drow found various places to stay nearby. They all had phones, so we could reach them if needed. And we would need them…eventually.
Motel-hopping did not suit us well. We were trying to find a place off the grid, somewhere we could stay and make a home that would not be on the books in case the government was compromised. It was a work in progress, but with Jag’s help, I had a few leads along the Meramec River.
Aerin, Layla, and I were in the midst of touring a small patch of land one of the members of St. Ensley’s owned. He had inherited a ranch from an uncle who didn’t have any children of his own, but he did not know the first thing about raising cattle. So, the place had sat vacant for the better part of a decade and become a junkyard. Abandoned appliances, cars, and old toilets with flowers growing out of them littered the land.
It was not an ideal place to live under most circumstances, but given our situation, it was perfect. Eugene, th
e man who owned the land, was willing to keep our presence there off the books. The small farmhouse and the old stable, left there from the days when the place had been a ranch, were in disrepair. I was not a handyman, but I had YouTube and plenty of determination.
No sooner did I call Eugene to tell him we’d be staying there than I received a text from Jag.
Could you make an appearance at St. Ensley’s tonight?
Probably. Why?
Trust me.
I wished I still had fairy power. Porting there would have been a lot easier. The only downside to this land that we were likely to move onto was that it was an hour or so away from the city. But it had enough space that it could, with some work, house all of us, not just Aerin, Layla, Agnus, and me. The rest of the drow could headquarter there too.
We crammed into the Eclipse. Agnus was on Layla’s lap in the front, Aerin in the back.
I could not believe my life. Married to two princesses? It wasn’t only uncomfortable from the perspective of my moral compass, it was also a double headache.
They could not agree about who had to squeeze into the admittedly uncomfortable back seat of the Eclipse. It was Aerin’s turn.
And if I’d ever had any doubt that it was cramped back there, she made sure both of us knew it. This nomadic lifestyle just didn’t fit with the lavishness of a princess’ life that these two she-elves were accustomed to.
I didn’t blame Aerin for her bitchiness.
If it had been Layla’s turn to ride in the back, she would have acted the same way.
And Agnus, who always rode with Layla, would complain more than both of them combined. Not like it mattered to him. He was small enough that he could fit anywhere in that car. But for him, it was a matter of principle. Deities did not ride in the back unless it was in a limo.
We pulled up to St. Ensley’s. A massive crowd had gathered outside the doors.
We had to park two blocks away. What the hell?
I pressed my way through the crowd. People crowded around us, trying to touch me. I reached the door and knocked on it three times.
Three Dogma Night (The Elven Prophecy Book 3) Page 23