Other guards on horseback had encircled a group of trolls, including Travis, and one soldier had caught Ava by the hair and was pulling her toward him. She batted at his arm with her club but another guard reached over and jerked the weapon from her hand.
The guard who had lost his sword in the tree reached down and pulled a smaller knife from his riding boot. The horse stood waiting for a signal from its owner. The guard dug his heels into the horse’s side and it came back at me full speed. Though the sword had loosened a little, it wouldn’t give way in time and my club was on the ground. It didn’t look like this would end well.
Another horse broke through the trees right in front of the charging guard. Evan’s blade sliced the man’s neck before he even had the chance to look surprised. I never thought I’d be happy to see a prince coming to my rescue, even if it was my own brother, but I’d take it at the moment. Evan was followed by a slew of others who must have been from the village, as I didn’t recognize most of them. Ella was among them, and my heart sank when I spotted Red. Some were on foot, others horseback, and they wielded a variety of makeshift weapons.
“Good to see you, bro,” I shouted. The horses surrounding the trolls turned to face the onslaught of new attackers.
Ava’s eyes lit up as Evan galloped toward the man gripping her hair. She reached up and pulled hard on the guard’s arm, which caused him to tilt forward on the horse. He fought to regain his balance as Evan reached him and finished him with his sword, then turned to face the multitude of other guards around him.
The trolls and villagers clashed with the Queen’s guard. With a final tug, I freed the sword from the tree, located the fallen guard’s knife, then jumped onto the first guard I came across. Everything was a blur of clashing swords, yelling, and falling bodies. It was hard to keep track of how many of the fallen were us versus them.
A strangled shout came from nearby and I turned. Evan lay on the ground near me, a guard’s boot across his throat and a sword about to be driven through his heart. Ava pounded on the guard’s back with her club to no avail. I lunged and threw the knife, piercing the guard’s jugular. He stumbled and tried to stem the flow of blood with his hand but bled out quickly.
I ran to help Evan to his feet. “There, now we’ve saved each other. We’re even.”
“Thanks, sis,” he said, rubbing his neck.
A sword sliced the air and caught my arm, causing a thin stream of blood to ooze through my shirt sleeve. I swung my sword wildly and caught the man in the thigh. More guards came toward us and a tangle of bodies lay on the ground. A current of air lifted my hair and grew in strength. I gulped. This could be either really good or really bad.
When the air turned black and began rotating, I had my answer.
18
The guards backed away from the funnel and a momentary lull in the fighting occurred as the tornado touched down. I couldn’t be summoned now—I was needed here to help fight. Dirt, leaves and twigs swirled before being sucked into the vortex of dark wind. I reached for the nearest tree as though I could latch myself onto it and not get sucked into the funnel.
The funnel grew pitch black but then lessened in intensity. That had never happened before. When the winds died down, they revealed a limp figure lying in the middle of where the funnel had been.
“Rolph!” I rushed to his side. He was unmoving and extremely pale. I felt for his pulse, and it was so weak, I wasn’t sure it was there at all. “He needs help!” I yelled to no one in particular. I’d never even seen a medical center in Liralelle—everything was done though spells and witchcraft. Maybe Muriel could help him if I could get him to her.
I knew Rolph had been contracted to Her Highness as a servant, which explained why she could transport him through the funnels, but why send him here? Ava and Evan bent over Rolph.
“Why would she send him here?” Evan asked, echoing my thoughts, as he smoothed Rolph’s hair out of his face.
“To distract you, of course.” I looked up and Her Highness stepped from behind a nearby tree, with yet more guards at her side. Her guards seemed to multiply like rabbits.
She wore her crown and her best jeweled robes, her scepter raised high in the air with a strange dark green light emanating from its tip. I’d never seen that light before but knew it couldn’t be a good thing.
“Where is my dear sister?” she demanded.
“I don’t know” I said, grateful that she didn’t know either, as it meant Cal was safe with Muriel … for now.
Her Highness raised her scepter higher in the air. “That’s unfortunate.”
Rolph remained motionless on the ground and I knew he didn’t have much time, if any, left. The other guards stared at her, as though waiting for a command. The remaining trolls and villagers looked to me for guidance, but I had no idea what to do next. So much for my warrior reputation. Without warning, Horace rushed toward the Queen with his club raised. “This is for my dear, sweet Helga!”
Her Highness pointed the scepter at Horace as she whispered a word I couldn’t hear. The green light streamed from her scepter like a laser and hit Horace in his chest. His mouth formed a silent scream as he disintegrated into a pile of ash. My stomach dropped. Poor, good-hearted Horace. All I could cling to was that he and Helga were together again.
Movement caught my attention in my peripheral vision, to the right of the Queen. Red pulled a small blue flask from her skirt. No! I wanted to scream out but it was too late. She sipped from the vial that I’d given her to save herself from Muriel and morphed into the snarling two-headed creature.
Her Highness laughed. “Guards, I think you can manage to take care of a mere child.”
Two guards near her drew their swords, and I glanced around. It was so quiet. Everyone seemed frozen in place, their eyes fixed on the Queen. Ella met my gaze and nodded. She pulled the lavender bottle I’d gifted her from the bosom of her dress and took a quick pull. In an instant, she disappeared at the same time that Red lunged toward Her Highness with a loud growl.
One of the guards by Red was suddenly lifted in the air and tossed to the ground by unseen forces, a look of shock upon his face. The sword was removed from his hand and appeared to move through the air on its own, suspended several feet above the ground. Though the other guard looked bewildered, he lunged and struck his sword toward the fierce creature that was Red. The blade sliced through the Red’s midsection.
“Red!” I screamed and ran.
Everyone snapped out of the frozen silence and the clashing started again. A flurry of trolls, villagers, invisible Ella, Ava, and Evan tangled in battle with the guards. I leapt over a guard on the ground, and sprinted full speed toward where Red lay bleeding on the ground. It might be too late to save Rolph, but maybe I could help Red. The Queen pointed her glowing scepter toward Ella’s invisible form wielding the sword. The dark greenish light missed Ella but hit the tip of the sword. Ella dropped the sword with a shriek as it burned her hand before turning to dust.
Right as I reached Red, who was changing back into her normal childlike form with blood oozing from her stomach, the Queen aimed her scepter at me. A greenish light centered on my chest. I was one command away from being turned to dust.
“Drop your weapon, girl,” she said coldly. She waved her scepter at Red. “Or I’ll turn your little friend there into a pile of nothing.”
I looked at Red, groaning in pain on the ground. I tossed my sword to the side, which was immediately snatched up by a guard.
The Queen’s smile was icy. “Thank you. If only you could have been more obedient before this.” She leveled the scepter at me and the tip glowed green again.
“Leave her alone, you ole’ hag. I’m the one you want.” Muriel walked out into the clearing. Where was Cal?
Her Highness whipped her head around to face her sister. “You.” She swung the scepter toward Muriel.
Muriel chuckled. “You wrinkled bat … you know your magic won’t work on me.”
“Stop. Ca
lling. Me. Names.” The Queen’s eyes darkened and she directed her scepter at a tree branch hanging over Muriel’s head.
Muriel rolled her eyes as the large branch fell. With a quick move of her own scepter, the branch evaporated into gold dust before it reached her. “Is that the best you got, you dilapidated crone?”
Several of the guards had stopped battling trolls and looked toward the Queen for guidance. “Stop staring at me, you fools,” she said. “Get her.”
The guards rushed Muriel, the trolls went after the guards, and Evan, Ava, and a now visible Ella raced toward me and Red. The guards bounced off of Muriel, likely due to a spell, and Muriel walked slowly toward the Queen. Her Highness’s focus was solely on Muriel, her knuckles white from the intense grip on her scepter. It was my only chance.
I ducked low and rushed the Queen. She whipped her head back toward me as I slammed into her body and we crashed to the ground. The impact caused her crown to fall off. I heard a yelp from Ava and looked sideways. A guard had grabbed her and pushed her up against a tree. Evan and Ella closed in on him, weapons in hand. The Queen struggled underneath me and I pinned her arm holding the scepter to the ground before she could turn me to ash. She used her other hand to jam her crown back onto her head.
As soon as her crown was back in place, the scepter glowed and shot out its lethal blackish green light. Luckily, it was still flat on the ground so it shot in a straight line and hit the boots of a guard going after Muriel. He immediately turned to dust.
Her Highness yelled in frustration and dug the nails from her free hand into my scalp. My grip on her loosened despite my best efforts just as a troll rolled over and sunk his teeth into the Queen’s wrist that held the scepter. She shrieked and the scepter fell from her hand and rolled about a few inches away in the dirt. All I had to do was grab it and incinerate the evil witch.
I scrambled off the Queen who was also reaching for the scepter. A guard got to it first. He smirked and pointed it at me. Crap. Nothing happened and he looked puzzled. He shook the scepter and pointed it at me again.
“Give it to me!” Her Highness screamed, getting to her feet while holding the crown steady on her head.
Right. The crown. Anyone under contract with the Queen could use the scepter but they also had to be wearing the crown. Travis the troll ran by, jumped up in the air, snatched the scepter from the guard’s hands, and kept right on running. He disappeared into the woods, followed by a multitude of guards.
“Go, Travis!” Ava yelled.
Her Highness stomped her foot. “Catch him!”
Muriel had created a golden force field around her. The guards kept trying to run and pierce it with their swords but were thrown onto the ground by the field over and over again. It would have been amusing if Rolph weren’t lying dead or dying, and Red wasn’t bleeding everywhere. Suddenly, Muriel evaporated into a golden funnel. I turned toward Her Highness. Though I had no idea where Muriel went, I knew one thing for sure. I needed to kill one last witch and end this once and for all—end the witch who killed my parents in cold blood.
The Queen faced me, fury in her eyes and determination in her jaw. She came at me with her bare hands. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Several quick flashbacks flitted through my mind. A move that Adrian once taught me. One he’d said I wouldn’t be able to perfect until I was more advanced in my technique. A story I’d read online about a ballerina who had fought off an attacker with the move. A sudden surge of energy jolted me as the Queen ran toward me, her hands in front of her as though she planned to choke me to death. I jumped back a few feet until my right hand grazed the nearest tree. It was all I had for support and I moved my feet slightly into position.
My right leg shot out in front of me as she closed in. It was a strong, high kick and caught her square in the neck. Her head bounced back and she fell limply to the ground. The guards who hadn’t followed Travis and the scepter stopped fighting the trolls to stare at their Queen.
“Oh my gosh, that was a perfect grand battement!” Ava yelled in awe. “Brava, Bree!”
Evan used the opportunity to disarm several nearby guards and tossed a sword to Ella who gulped more potion before dropping another handful of surprised guards. The trolls took care of more of them, as the guards seemed unsure what to do without guidance from their Queen.
“Is she dead?” one of the guards asked.
Please let her be dead. The trolls protected me with their clubs raised toward the few remaining armed guards. I leaned down and felt the Queen’s wrist. A faint pulse thrummed beneath the surface. “No, I think I just knocked her out really good,” I said. Disappointment flooded me that I hadn’t killed her, followed by guilt that I wanted someone dead that badly.
A troll tossed me a sword that I caught easily with one hand.
“Finish the witch!” another troll shouted.
I stood over the woman who had taken my first family from me and who’d tried to kill Ava, Cal, and Rolph as well. Anger rushed through my veins and my vision blurred for a moment. I shook my head and raised the sword into the air, ready to thrust it through her evil, lying heart.
A shimmering cyclone appeared and touched down a few feet away. I wanted to cry in relief when Muriel and Cal stepped out from it.
“Cal!” I smiled. “You’re okay.”
His eyes widened in horror as he took in the scene before him. Dead and injured bodies lying around with his big sister in the center of it all, looking like she was about to murder a sleeping woman with a sharp sword.
“Bree?” he asked, a questioning look in his eyes. He took a step away from me, backing into Muriel.
My stomach lurched and I lowered the sword. No matter how justified it was, I couldn’t kill someone with my little brother watching.
“Tie her up,” I ordered.
Evan yanked vines overhanging from the trees and Ava helped him bind the Queen’s hands and feet, while the guards looked at each other in confusion.
I dropped the sword and rushed to Cal, then embraced him in a bear hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay and so sorry you had to see all this.”
He hesitated a minute before hugging me back. “I’ll be alright.” He looked up at me and smiled. “Also, traveling in tornadoes is really cool.”
I ruffled his hair and gently turned him away from the carnage.
Muriel’s eyes glistened as she watched us. Several guards backed away from her, bumping into each other. The Queen must have done a good job convincing them that Muriel was evil. I’d blame it on their lack of intelligence but I’d fallen for the same thing.
She wore her crown and held her scepter, which glowed gold at the tip, instead of dark green. “No need to be afraid of me,” she clucked at the guards, “unless you mean to do harm to any of my friends here.”
My friends. Several of them had already been harmed. I pulled away from Cal and rushed over to Red where Ella sat, smoothing back Red’s hair. “Everything is gonna be okay, little one,” Ella said to her in a soft voice.
I looked up at Muriel. “Can you help Red and Rolph?” I begged her.
Rolph lay about twenty feet away but had not cried out or moved at all as far as I could tell. Ava and Evan leaned down, and Ava grabbed his hand. “Rolph?”
There was no response.
Ava’s lower lip trembled. “He was so nice.”
Muriel bent over Red and pointed her scepter at the little girl’s gaping wound. Golden flight flowed from the scepter and into Red. The blood flow coming from her stomach slowed but I couldn’t tell if that was due to the scepter’s magic or the fact that Red was almost out of blood. Then I gasped. The wound began to heal in front of us. Golden light seemed to emanate from every pore in Red’s tiny body. Her groans stopped and she placed her hand lightly on her stomach.
A ghost of a smile formed on her pale face. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she whispered.
“Good, that’s my girl,” Ella said, squeezing her hand. “Told ya you’d be fine.”
Several of the guards gasped at what they’d just witnessed. The trolls looked as though nothing could surprise them. Seemingly satisfied, Muriel nodded and hobbled over to Rolph.
Red’s eyes sought mine. “Did you get her, Bree? Did we win?”
I wiped tears from my eye. “Yep, I think we got her Red.”
She gave a small fist pump in the air. “I knew it. I knew you’d get her. I was brave, huh?”
“Yeah, you were brave.” I smiled wanly. “But that’s the last time I’m giving you any potions.”
I looked over at Rolph and my heart sank. “I’ll be right back, Red. Ella will stay with you.” Cal ran and clung to my arm. I wished I could cover his eyes so he wouldn’t see all this.
Ava and Evan gave Muriel room. The trolls watched intently as Muriel hunched down over Rolph’s body and pressed her fingers to his neck.
Please. Please let him be alive.
Muriel slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid he’s gone.”
A sob tore from my throat. “No!” Not Rolph—not kind, funny, wanna-be-boutique owner Rolph.
Ava looked down at the ground, for once knowing there was nothing to say. Evan held her hand, head bowed. Cal’s small hand squeezed mine.
I let my tears fall freely. So many things had gone right. Ava, Cal, and Evan were safe, Her Highness was caught, and the young women of Liralelle could once again sleep safely at night. Yet nothing felt right with Rolph being dead.
I’d failed.
19
Muriel’s scepter glowed as she moved it in a giant oval, encircling Rolph’s body in a wash of gold light.
Killer Pointe Page 17