Ruby Morgan Box Set: Books 6-10

by LJ Rivers

  On the surface of the force field, my mum was staring back at me. Tears brimmed and immediately flowed over. I lifted a hand to wipe them away, but Charlie stopped me.

  “You’ll smear the fake wrinkles. Here.” She produced a handkerchief from inside her sleeve and proceeded to dab at my tears. “You have to be brave, Ru, for this stunt to work.”

  A growl ensued from outside, and at first I thought the Gwyntali wolves were back from their hunt. But loud as it was, it didn’t sound like a wolf. The growl increased in volume and pitch, turning into a penetrating squawk.

  An eagle.

  Commander Taryn tore open the door and stormed inside, his eyes burning with confusion and fear. “Where is she?” he demanded. “Tell me it is not so!”

  Charlie approached him. “Command—”

  “Silence! I want to see my queen. Now!”

  I squared my shoulders and turned to face him. “I’m sorry, Commander Taryn. Morgana is dead.”

  The horror in his eyes reminded me of how I looked. My disguise must have made the poor man’s brain spin.

  “But—but—who—?” He took another step closer. “Princess Ruby?”

  “It’s me,” I said. “I can explain, if you can be calm for—”

  “Calm?” he roared. “You can’t command me to be calm when you have just said my queen is dead. And why are you dressed and painted to her likeness?”

  “Commander Taryn,” a voice bellowed behind him. In the doorway, Prime Sanctor stood, all of four feet five, looking up at the seven-foot soldier. “You will address Her Majesty Queen Ruby with respect.”

  Taryn’s eyes glowed with rage, and for a moment it looked like he was going to change shape. Feathers sprouted from his neck, and his nose elongated and started to curve downwards. He was panting, his eyes shifting from one person to the next.

  I reached out my hands. “I can’t begin to imagine how this must feel for you, Commander, but Lord Sanctor is right. I am your queen now, much as it pains me to say it. And I need your help if we are to get out of this alive.”

  Taryn shook his head. “I told her not to go. It wasn’t worth her life.” His face fell, and a tear rolled down to cling to the tip of his nose.

  I took his hands, willing him to look at me. “You were Morgana’s most trusted soldier and advisor, and I know she considered you a dear and close friend. I need that Commander Taryn now, you hear? We will mourn our queen when the time comes, but right now, we have to get out of this place. Each second we stay—”

  “—is a second wasted,” he whispered. “You have taken on her likeness so the usurper will not know she is dead. So that he will not be able to advance his plans and take Avalen before you’re even coronated.”

  I nodded.

  The feathers retreated into Taryn’s neck, and his nose returned to its normal shape. He squeezed my hands and held my gaze. I thought he was about to say the ancient pledge of loyalty when he let go and straightened his spine.

  “Then we must hurry, My Queen,” he said.

  I should have known he wouldn’t want to waste more time.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Evonny sobbed into her palms while Naheena placed a hand on the bundle containing Morgana’s body, which was strapped to Hondo’s back.

  “You’re only missing the wings, Princess.” She exhaled in a puff. “But don’t worry, even Morgana would have known to shield them on a Griffin’s back, so no one will be able to tell the difference. And you have my word that this information will not leave my village.”

  “Thank you. For everything. I know she cared for you, and your pack.”

  “She was one of my best friends. ‘Care’ is not a strong enough word. While we won’t reveal her death to any outsiders, we will celebrate her life, and we will remember her.” A tear twinkled at the corner of her eye, but didn’t fall.

  “Be safe.” I choked up, and not knowing what else to say, I patted Hondo’s side to signal that I was ready.

  I glanced back over my shoulder as Hondo shot into the air, and raised my arm to wave at the wolves, but also at the two friends we had left on the ground. Erica and Jack had settled in well with the Gwyntalis, and wanted to stay. I wasn’t sure if it was mostly Jack’s wish, but that didn’t much matter. The two of them were as close as any siblings, as close as Jen, Charlie, and I were. And while Jack and Erica stayed, Jen’s inner wolf had to remove herself from the pack. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for her to constantly be separated from her two pack members, but I was glad to have her with me. Besides, Jack and Erica wouldn’t stay here forever, and would come back when called upon.

  Erica blew me a kiss before she turned north. The two of them shed their clothes as they shifted into magnificent wolves and ran off into the woods. A harmony of howls reached my ears as Hondo pushed harder with his wings. The night swallowed Talani Territory, and my griffin carried me and his former owner far above the canopies, eventually leaving the mainland and sailing over the black, shiny sea.

  Morgana’s body was wrapped in several layers of cloth, fastened to Hondo’s back as if she were a piece of cargo. I tried not to look at the grey package, but found my eyes drifting towards it constantly. Behind me, on both sides, the other griffins fell into formation, with Brendan on Xavi. Only twelve of the freed slaves had wanted to return with us to Avalen. I had ordered Cullen, Victor, and Cynthia—I wasn’t proud to have chosen her specifically—to take off an hour before the rest of us, bringing the former slaves on their griffins. It was better if they arrived at the castle first, as it was bound to cause ripples the moment I alighted from Hondo’s back and it became clear the queen wasn’t among us. Not alive, anyway. The important thing now was that any potential sighting of me by Auberon’s scouts would see Morgana flying home, and not the princess. From afar, the disguise should fool them.

  Up close, it probably wasn’t good enough. Not when my father was involved, but I didn’t think it would come to that.

  Hondo stopped climbing and levelled out. I had been so deep in thought that I didn’t notice, and for a moment I felt weightless. I wondered for the umpteenth time how it must feel to spread one’s own wings and soar through the air. My hand involuntarily moved to the top part of my spine, feeling for any bump or other sign of wings forming.

  Get real, Ru!

  There was nothing there, of course. The strange thing was, I couldn’t tell how I felt about it. Mum always said one of the first full sentences I uttered was when I asked if I would get wings. She had told me so many bedtime stories already about the fairytale world of Avalon. I could vividly recall how Dad caught me when I jumped from a tree branch and flew into his arms. Wings would have been totes amazeballs, to put it in Charlie-esque terms, but I still couldn’t see myself staying in Avalon. Going back to Earth with wings on my back would at least remove my need to stay under the radar. I supposed I could hide them under layers of clothes, but that wouldn’t work during hot summer days. If at all. All that aside, however, there was no reason for my anatomy to change.

  Then again, Kit had changed since our arrival in Gwyn Fanon, turning more and more into what I guessed was his true Magical self. During the last couple of weeks, the features that separated him and Nefari had more or less been wiped out. Apart from colour and size, there was no doubt my cat was a true Faeguard by nature. But neither the three wolf Shifters I had brought through the portal nor I had experienced similar changes.

  Yet?

  “I wish you were here to guide me,” I said to the oblong shape next to me. I reached out and touched her, as if to stroke her strawberry-blonde hair one last time. “How am I supposed to do this without you?”

  A drop of rain splashed on the tip of my nose. I glanced up and welcomed the dark clouds above. As gravity did its trick on the molecules of water within the clouds, I let my own drops flow from my eyes.

  There was a reason so many songs were written about crying in the rain.

  When the lanterns of Avalen port finally cam
e into view, I had no more tears. For the last half hour or so, I had been lying with my head on Hondo’s back, his steady, calm pulse resonating into mine and easing my own heart rate. The griffin glided over the ships and boats, turning slightly to the left around the curve of the six-thousand-feet-tall silhouette. At the foot of the mountain lay Morgana’s castle. I was not about to call it my castle any time soon. If ever.

  “No,” I whispered when Hondo began descending towards the field behind the southern castle wall. “The Spear.”

  Before I had time to think about whether he understood me, he made a sharp upward turn. Behind me, the other griffins alighted where we had taken off less than a couple of weeks ago. Brendan jumped off Xavi and stared after me.

  Hondo flapped his wings, higher and higher. In the north-eastern corner of the castle complex, he started swirling around the tallest tower in all of Avalen. As we reached the topmost point, some five hundred feet above the cobbled grounds inside the castle walls, I wondered if he would be able to land at all.

  But he did.

  Looking up from the ground, the Spear appeared as pointy as the weapon it was named after. But the tip was flat, a circle of no more than two feet in diameter. Just enough for one of Hondo’s feet to rest upon it. The front part of his right foot, to be exact. Still, the intelligent griffin seemed to understand what I wanted. He used his wings to stay upright and level.

  I loosened the leather strap around my waist, which had served as a safety belt for the wingless Fae I was. I got up on both feet, wobbly as they were, and balanced on top of Hondo’s back. The air was crisp, smelling just as fresh as it should after a rainfall. My hood had shielded most of my face, though my disguise was probably not as polished as it had been. Not that it mattered within the castle walls. With the nights and days looking more or less the same without the sunlight, I had trouble keeping track of the days and weeks. Time here in Gwyn Fanon was independent of Earth time. But it was the only reference point I had, and thus I figured we might just have passed mid-August, maybe bringing us to the 20th in a day or three.

  More than two months since Mum died.

  I inhaled the hints of herbs and smoke from the awakening city below, and thought I could pick up some of the sounds through the gentle caress of the breeze. A shouting woman here, a laughing child there, and although I couldn’t be sure, the bellowing voice of Elwood, the queen’s trusted weapon smith, scolding his apprentice in his forge.

  The queen.

  The wrapped body next to my feet.

  I closed my eyes, aware that I lost the visual part of balancing. Still, Hondo was steady as a rock, and I trusted him.

  “Oh, Lady of Avalon,” I whispered. “Mother of Light. Show me how I can take on this impossible task. This responsibility is bigger than all the mountains of Avalon. How can I be worthy of Morgana’s throne? Please, Nimue.”

  Praying didn’t come naturally to me. At various times during my life, I had used words like ‘by the Lady’ or ‘Nimue give me strength’, but I had never addressed her directly. Not until she contacted me in the aircraft hangar south of London. Since then, I had prayed to her on a few occasions. Silently. Inside my head. Speaking out loud to her was new, but although the words tasted strange in my mouth, I kept going.

  “Morgana had the experience. She had the strength and ferocity in her heart to lead. She had visions for her people, a genuine desire to protect each and every one of them.” My voice was no longer a whisper, nor did I shout. I was having a conversation, as if Nimue was standing right in front of me. My grandmother.

  “I—I think I want that, too, but how can I be sure? There’s still a part of me that wants to go back to Earth. A big part. How can I be queen to the Avalonian people when I know that?”

  The wind picked up a little. I could feel Hondo’s muscles under my feet as he adjusted to it, still keeping his back as steady as if it were the marble floor of Morgana’s throne room.

  “I have to stop my father from stealing the throne, but he is so much stronger than I am, and his army so much larger.”

  “Strength, child, is relative,” said a woman’s voice.

  I almost fell over, but managed to find my balance again. The breeze was no longer a breeze, as it had begun to make a low whistle around Hondo’s wingtips.

  “It is only when you think you can go on no more, but still keep going, that strength grows.”

  I heaved for air. “M—Mum?”

  It was her voice. And it wasn’t.

  “It’s your choice, Ruby. You decide if you want to keep going.”

  It was Morgana’s voice. And it wasn’t.

  “I’m scared,” I said.

  “As you should be. Only a fool would face the coming days without fear.”

  It was all three of them, talking in one composite voice. Nimue, Morgana, and Mum.

  “Courage is choosing to go on when you don’t have the strength. Your magic is powerful, but it can be even more powerful. Find the way to make it so.”

  The wind had picked up even more, and was howling over the mountain top behind me. I opened my eyes, half expecting to see some image of the three women, but all I could see was the dim circle rising above the almost indiscernible horizon in the east.

  Find the way to make it so.

  “Home,” I said and dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms around Hondo’s neck.

  I knew who I had to talk to.

  “You OK?” Brendan asked as my feet touched the ground, one hand still resting on Hondo’s front leg. Charlie and Jen stood next to him.

  “As OK as I can be, given the circumstances. Just needed to take a minute, was all.” I glanced at Hondo and the late queen on his back. “Could you have your soldiers bring her to wherever it is she’s supposed—?”

  “If I may, Your Highness.” Pullhelli stepped around Brendan. “Let me take care of all the practicalities regarding her Essencebearing, and your subsequent coronation. I do not think we should wait too long, just long enough that the people will have time to mourn.” His eyes were veiled with tears, but his voice was steady and calm as always. “It’s her last journey, and I would like to walk it with her.”

  “It would honor both the queen and myself if you did. Thank you.” I touched his arm. “And I would like to speak with you later.”

  “Certainly, My Queen.”

  “Oh, about that.” I looked at him, then at Brendan. “I want it known that until Morgana’s essence has been brought forth to Nimue, I will be addressed as Princess Ruby.”

  A smile played on the old man’s trembling lips. “It is not our tradition—”

  “I know, but—”

  He raised his hand. “Pardon me, but I wanted to say that it is not our tradition, but I think our people will appreciate the gesture.”

  I nodded. “Then it’s settled.”

  Pullhelli immediately started giving orders, and two Junipers approached Hondo. I turned, having no desire to see Morgana being handled by anyone.

  Wadyan wobbled up to Brendan and me. “Your Majesty.” He kneeled. “I owe you my eternal gratitude for saving me. My magic and my blade are yours until my dying day.”

  “Stand, Wadyan of Crochan. If memory serves, you saved me right back. Never think otherwise.” I winked at him. “That’s a royal order.”

  He grinned from ear to ear. “As the queen commands.”

  I didn’t bother correcting him. It could wait.

  “Swordmaster. Lady Carolina, Lady Jeannine.” Wadyan nodded at my friends. “I will find a boat that can take me to Crochan Island as soon as possible. I cannot wait to throw my arms around my father.”

  “Stay,” I said. “I’ll send for him. I need all my advisors in the coming times, and Halwyn is one of the most important members of the council.”

  “H—he is?”

  “He is.” I noticed a familiar centaur approaching from the castle and patted Wadyan on his shoulder. “Wait here a second.”

  “Princess!” Anwinar lowere
d his head. “Is it true?”

  I put a hand on his withers. “I’m afraid so, yes.”

  “My heart weeps, though it brings joy to see that you are safe.”

  “Likewise, Anwinar. For now, though, we do not wish the word to spread outside these walls.”

  “I will let everyone know you wish it so. My lips are sealed.”

  I patted him gently. “Could you see to it that Wadyan here gets a meal twice the size of Avalen? And maybe a bath and some new clothes?”

  The centaur tilted his head in confusion, but soon corrected it into a nod. “Of course, Highness. Follow me, young man.”

  “Wadyan,” said Wadyan.

  “He saved my life, Anwinar.”

  The centaur’s eyes widened. “Then you shall not walk one more step today, Sir Wadyan!” He swiped the young Goblin up with his arm and swung him onto his back before galloping back to the castle.

  As the centaur and the screaming Goblin—I had a feeling it was a balanced mix of fear and joy—disappeared underneath an archway, two narrow eyes peered out of the same opening.

  “Kit!”

  He ran at me, jumping when he was still twelve feet away. A year ago, I would have had no issues catching him, but now, when his weight had quadrupled, he toppled me over. I landed softly on the wet grass.

  Kit purred, which coming from the lynx-like Faeguard sounded like a small airplane, and rubbed his face against my neck.

  “Missed me? Well, I’ve missed you too.”

  After a while of cuddling and kissing my cat, I pushed him off me. Brendan and Jen grabbed an arm each and pulled me upright. Kit slinked around my feet, airplane on full throttle.