Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3)

by Nicole Knight

  “The beasts, you and the remaining femen will tackle any other creatures here. Rumor has it that the werewolves are fighting for Prince Kennan, and there are a lot of them. Do your best to dodge magical attacks from others.”

  The beasts nodded and began talking among themselves.

  “The dragons,” I said, as I looked up in the sky to the three dragons flying softly above our fleet. “Your focus is to disable the dragon that Prince Kennan has on his side. If you can, take out their structures and supplies. Try to avoid burning their troops if you can. We won’t be able to save those who are burned.”

  “We will do as you asked Dragon-Kissed,” the dragon in charge said. I knew only I could understand it, and to everyone else it would soundlike roars.

  “My knights, you will engage with the rest of the Tate forces. I expect them to fight dirty. So those of you who have magic, determine your strengths and how you can use them. Those without magic, do your best to shield the magic workers, who will try to hold back the enemies with their magic. Your teamwork is vital to our success.”

  They looked around at each other, but not a word was spoken.

  “Sir Thomas will lead your charge. Any commands he gives are to be followed.”

  I looked directly at Thomas. He dropped to a knee again and put his hand over his heart. A silent pledge to do what I’ve asked of him. Trin gasped out loud, and I hoped she’d be able to forgive me for sending him into the line of battle like that. Aside from her and Axel, there was no one else I trusted to do the job. And I sure as hell couldn’t send her out there.

  “Trinity and Proctor will be running the healing efforts. Anyone who can be saved will be.” I avoided using the words resurrection or necromancy, as I didn’t need to startle anyone. All everyone needed to know is that they were the healers. I would help where I could, but my first priority would be to end Kennan and Samantha, along with their father, my uncle.

  “The rest of you will remain,” I said pointedly, looking at my family standing not too far from me.

  “Come on!” Star said, clearly upset that I was asking her to stay back.

  “Now Star, you know I need someone to remain behind to help protect the ships. What if Prince Kennan sends someone to sink them, or to hurt our family? I need you and Luna to stop that.”

  She thought over my words and then she and Luna puffed their chests out in pride.

  I got a single brave nod of agreement from each of them.

  “Let’s make Prince Kennan rue the day he ever tried to mess with the Morthlands!” I shouted.

  “All hail Queen Violet!” they shouted back at me.

  “Goddess bless you all!” I shouted back in a war cry.

  “As you were,” I ordered and then the boats became busy again.

  I walked over to the side of the boat. “Siren Queen, I need your assistance,” I said to the water.

  After a few moments a face popped out of the water, and she was wearing the golden crown I made for her.

  “So we meet,” she said.

  “We do, thank you for coming to my aid. What assistance can you provide?” I asked.

  “None other than what I already provided. That was the deal. You had safe passage with no interference with my people or my creatures. This is where my aid ends. I see you have one of my warriors with you,” she said, sneaking a glance to Trin’s new friend Ari.

  “We do, and we are grateful for her assistance,” I said pointedly.

  The Siren Queen snarled and then lowered herself back under the surface of the water completely. I could just barely see her face under the water, watching me.

  I turned my back to her, and looked at Ari. I had a feeling there was more to their history than just Ari being a subject. The Siren Queen was awfully bitter over losing one subject.

  “You’re sisters?” I half asked and half stated to Ari.

  “How did you know?” she asked, with a gasp.

  “It’s unlike a cruel Queen to even spare a glance to someone who had turned against her, it should be expected. She seemed to care that you are assisting us, and that means you had to be more than just a subject. And while you have obvious differences, I can also see some similarities in your appearance.”

  I felt like Nancy Drew putting together the pieces so quickly. I was happy for the momentary distraction. I glanced back over the side of the ship, and the Siren Queen was still there, just lurking under the surface, like she was waiting for something. I had a bad feeling about her.

  Out of my peripheral vision I saw the shore of Tate come into view, and my stomach dropped. This was really it.

  There was one person standing on the shore waiting for us. I hadn’t expected there to be anyone. Maybe a rumor of approaching ships made its way to the Prince and he sent a guard in case.

  When our ships got close enough I knew I had a decision to make.

  “Thomas, take a lifeboat and see what the guard has to say. Don’t attack him unless he attacks you first.”

  He nodded and squeezed Trin’s hand before he walked to where the lifeboats were. The boat was lowered into the water, and then he paddled towards the beach. Our ships were all silent, waiting to see what would unfold, and the moments stretched on for what felt like hours.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Trin

  I held my breath as Thomas approached the guard standing on the shore. They talked for a moment. They were too far away to hear their exchange of words. With Thomas’ back to me I couldn’t even read his facial expressions. I couldn’t see the muscles in his shoulders or back to see if he was tense or relaxed. I might as well have been blind.

  Then behind the guard in the treeline behind the beach, I could see others start to pop through the foliage, like they had been waiting there the whole time. Like they had known that we had been coming. They were in full armor, watching the exchange happening in front of them.

  This was going to go bad, I could feel it deep in my gut. It was that instinct that Violet and I had inherited from Queen Victoria telling me that something wasn’t right.

  I was standing next to Violet, at the edge of the boat. I glanced at her for any sign that she felt the trouble brewing as I did. Her eyes never left the exchange and the approaching forces in the treeline. She never for a moment glanced my way, but she did grab my hand and gave it a tight squeeze. My heart dropped to my stomach and yet I felt reassured, she felt it too.

  “Get ready, I’m going to need you and Proctor ready to bring back Victoria. I will remain here for you to use my power. The moment we have her, I will go in and give Thomas all the backup that I can. I will not let him die out there, I promise you ,Trin.”

  Tears came to my eyes at the conviction in her voice. She absolutely meant her words. She would give her last breath, to protect him for me. We may not be together, but she knew that Thomas had my heart, and she won’t let it break.

  “Thank you, cousin,” I said, and I softly squeezed her hand in return.

  “Axel, as soon as the chaos breaks out, you will veer right with your crew towards the castle,” she said. Axel came up on her other side, and I saw his arm move a little, as if to take her other hand.

  “On guard,” Violet said firmly, still watching Thomas.

  The ships were still silent, except now the sound of armor clanking could be heard.

  “Into the rafts,” Violet ordered.

  The first rounds of fighting forces climbed into the lifeboats which were hanging on the side of the ships by pulleys. Then the guard on the ground pulled his blade out of the sheath, and aimed it toward Thomas. He pulled out his own, and then they were sparring.

  “Now!” Violet shouted, and the rafts were dropped into the water. The next set of knights were getting the next rafts ready. The first round started to paddle toward the shore to give Thomas some back up. Not that he needed it in a one on one fight, but the enemies forced peeking through the trees were also charging the shoreline toward Thomas.

  Our forces reac
hed the beach, jumped out of the rafts with their swords ready and charged. The front lines began to clash, and then it was chaos. Our second round dropped down into the water and began their journey to the shore. The third round was preparing. Then the most unusual thing happened, the enemy troops who still outnumbered us began to retreat, and our troops began to follow.

  “Violet, why are they retreating, they outnumber the troops on the beach?” I asked.

  “I was just thinking the same thing. It could be a trap to lure us in,” she said.

  Our second wave of forces hit the beach and were in pursuit of their retreating enemies.

  Then arrows began to fly from the treeline. They began to hit their marks. Axel was in the raft about to drop into the water with the third wave.

  “Axel, they have archers, and likely other traps. Remember your control of objects. You can stop an arrow if you try,” Violet called out to him, quickly sparing him a glance.

  “I will,” he said.

  Then his boat dropped into the water. All we could see of him was the back of his head as his raft went towards shore.

  “Trin, let's get started. I have a feeling we haven’t seen anything yet,” Violet said, as we watched bodies drop to the ground.

  “Proctor!” I called out to him, and he came running, with an arm full of materials.

  “What’s this?” Violet asked.

  “Just tools to help us better channel the energy. What we are doing takes a lot,” I told her, knowing the answer to this question. I don’t know everything about the witches, but I had learned enough during my brief stay.

  “Hold hands,” Proctor ordered, forgetting he was in the presence of the Queen.

  I could tell Violet didn’t mind it, not when he could give us something as powerful as Victoria’s spirit to help us.

  “Trin, you know what to do. It’s the same process, but we have to call Victoria to us from the Spirit world. It will take us a lot longer to find her than the normal customer,” he said.

  I nodded, I had expected that much.

  Proctor, Violet and I held hands. Between each of our palms was a crystal to help with our control. Violet was like a burning inferno of energy compared to our small campfires. These crystals would help us control that energy without harming ourselves in the process.

  “Violet, you are going to push your energy, your magic towards us. We will use it to strengthen our powers and call to the Spirit world,” Proctor said.

  “Got it,” Violet quickly responded.

  Then I felt the rush of her power hit me. I could hear the chaos of the ship around us. Wisdom was barking orders at people. Letting them know when it was their turn to jump in rafts and head toward the shore.

  “Take this,” I heard Grandmother repeat over and over.

  I had been sitting here on my knees with my eyes closed, but I spared a peek to see Grandmother pass out glass bottles to knights as they got on the rafts.

  “They are chemical bombs. If the grouping of enemies is too thick to get through, thin them out with the explosion that will come from that bomb, broken at their feet!” she shouted, as the next raft plunged into the water.

  Star and Luna caught my eye. They were at the side of the ship and moving their arms.

  “Rock barricades, great job girls,” Wisdom said, from his post.

  They simply smiled and continued their work. I heard rock colliding with rocks and wondered what else they were doing.

  I felt the build up of Violet’s power and looked down. My hands were glowing, and my energy was surging.

  “Focus, Trin. I can’t do this without you,” Proctor hissed.

  I closed my eyes and focused on finding Victoria in the Spirit world. I was able to search further and further. It felt like trying to reach for the stars, but they are always out of reach. It felt like Victoria was too.

  After a while I began to feel exhausted, even with Violet’s energy, but I felt a bright spot ahead. That was the motivation I needed to keep pushing forward. Then I felt her, and Proctor squeezed my hand, he felt her too.

  I latched onto her energy, and I felt Proctor do the same. Then we pulled our energy backwards, from the same direction we came. It felt like plummeting back down to the earth. Like a falling star streaking across the sky. It took us only a moment to return, a lot quicker than our journey there.

  I could feel her presence with us, with my awareness back on the boat.

  “Trin, pull more power from Queen Violet. We are going to give Victoria a form that we can see, in her likeness from her time alive.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  I pulled from Violet and then concentrated on the presence with us, and Victoria’s image. She looked so much like Violet, that sometimes it was hard to remember how they differed. I thought of her image that had been hanging on the castle walls.

  I made one final push with my magic, and I heard gasps from all around us.

  I opened my eyes and a transparent Queen Victoria floated in front of us.

  “It worked,” Violet mumbled, after she opened her eyes.

  “It did, Great-Granddaughter. It is good to see you again. I know why you have brought me back, and I am here to help however I can,” she said, looking directly at Violet.

  “Don’t you want to know how we brought you back?” Violet asked, sounding dumbfounded. I felt the same, I knew I could bring back the dead, but to bring back someone who had been dead for many years felt like an impossible feat, yet we had done it.

  “I know how, I recognized my own blood calling to me,” she said, and turned her gaze on me.

  “Hello, Great Granddaughter,” she said to me. I felt the air leave my lungs, and I quickly gasped for some more so that I could speak. It took me a second, but I got my wits about me.

  “Hello, Queen Victoria,” I said, and bowed my head to her.

  “I am no longer Queen, that is your cousin, but I appreciate the sentiment. I have one condition, when my energy burns out here, you can’t call me back again. This is the last time I shall come back to this world, do you understand?” she asked, looking between Violet and I.

  “I do,” we both said in unison.

  “Hello, Mother,” Grandmother said from behind me.

  “Hello, dear Duckie. I wish I had more time to speak with you, but you know we are in the middle of battle and there is no time to waste, I love you both,” she said to both Grandmother and Wisdom, who couldn’t stop staring at her transparent form.

  After a small moment of staring between the members of this reunited family, chaos erupted on the battlefield. I rushed to the side of the ship and saw what looked like hidden bombs in the ground going off. I didn’t see any of Grandmother’s glass bottles. These explosions weren’t caused by our side. If anything, they were targeting us. They blew sand and our allies high into the sky when they exploded. The hidden bombs weren’t the only surprise I recognized. Humans and supernaturals were engaged in combat, but some new species were added to the fray, and that didn’t bode well for us. Vampires moved quickly around the beach, looking to drain anyone they could. The femen and werewolves were going at it paw to paw and trying to slash each other's throats with their teeth. The sounds were intimidating; the hisses and growls of the femen and the aggressive growling and howling of the wolves. Their sounds alone made the hair on my arms stand up.

  I saw a werewolf cut through the fur of a feman and had to look away. But before I did, I saw what looked like a bomb hidden underneath the sand blow up, killing both the feman and werewolf.

  Another bomb blew up in the distance, and it made me jump.

  Prince Kennan had to have known we were coming. These bombs were here, waiting for us, and this had been very strategically planned, not something done hastily.

  Violet ran to the other side of the boat and looked down.

  “You!” she pointed to the Siren Queen who was still silently watching the war rage between the two sides. At Violet’s rage, she smiled.

  “
You betrayed us!” she called out to the Siren Queen, not asking.

  The Siren Queen remained silent but her smile grew even wider and more menacing.

  “You stole my sister, and I stole your victory,” she said.

  My heart dropped. It was my decision to let Ari come. This was my fault. I was glad that Ari wasn’t here, but on the beach fighting, or she might have felt just as guilty.

  “What did you do?” Violet demanded.

  “It was nothing to send word to the tyrant Prince of Tate and let him know of his enemies' plans to attack on his shores. All he had to do was wait for you to come,” she said, smugly.

  “Our agreement is off,” Violet almost spat the words at her with enough venom to kill.

  “I never planned on it,” she said, snidely.

  “You’ve done enough damage, leave us to our fight!” I called out to her.

  “Ah, the Queen’s pet. I don’t believe I will. It will be too fun to watch you all perish,” she said, with a sadistic smile.

  Violet held her hand out, almost like she was holding a flame in her palm at eye level, but there was no flame. Then the water surrounding the Siren Queen began to bubble, like the water was boiling, and the Siren Queen called out in pain.

  “Enough!” she shouted at Violet.

  “Leave us!” Violet commanded, as she raised her other hand and increased the range of the boiling water. Anywhere the Siren Queen moved she couldn’t escape the reach of the scalding sea, which was turning her pale white skin red. Violet was burning her, and I was enjoying the show. Serves her right for playing games with Thomas and I.

  The Queen dove back under the water, leaving a water trail that moved as fast as a shooting star.

  “Violet, we need to go now,” Victoria said.

  Violet nodded.

  “Star, Luna, be on the lookout for sea monsters. I have no doubt that the Siren Queen has waged war as well.”

  Violet held her hands out and a massive amount of rocks and coral came to the surface out of the water and floated onto the deck of the ship.

  “Here’s some ammunition if you need it. Dip it in oil and light it on fire before launching it, her creatures hate fire,” she said.