The Twilight Star

by Laura E. Collins

  A scream that shook the ground rang out as she realized that Marstyn had betrayed her. Using her power, she disappeared before my eyes . . . before I could get my hands on her. A moment later she appeared high in the twilight sky, levitating there with her dark hair floating in zero gravity behind her. The battle still raged on around us as my guards and I fought to get closer to her. I wounded her once; perhaps I could do it again.

  Cheers from our side erupted at the arrival of King Edreyan and his vampire warriors. With these new additions, Hadreah’s numbers began to dwindle. I could almost feel the rage pouring out of her. As if to conserve her energy, she sailed back to the ground behind a wall of soldiers.

  “She is on the ground, get me to her!” I shouted to my guards. As we worked our way in that direction with Emeley and Marstyn at our side I saw her raise her arms into the air and begin chanting again. Her arms shook with concentration. Confusion rocked me as I realized that it was no longer as dark as it was a minute ago.

  “She is summoning the sunrise!” Marstyn bellowed as loud as he could to warn our vampires. The sun. The only thing here powerful enough to quickly kill all of the vampires that just joined us. Panic started to sweep through me. We had to hurry. My four guards must have had the same thoughts as we continued to struggle forward. I don’t know how they were still going. We had been at this for hours. When we finally reached Hadreah, she had surrounded herself in a ring of fire. I launched myself through it at her. It must have been real because it singed me.

  I fired a bullet at her and she deflected it. “You are too late, Wayfarer! Your vampires are going to die!”

  The sun began to peek over the horizon at an alarming rate. I couldn’t believe it. It had only just set. I lunged at her, attempting to do what I had done to Rosalind to nullify her magic, but she was too quick. She stepped out of my way and I felt a flash of pain as she drew her serrated blade across my right arm, cutting me deeply through my mesh armor. I stumbled onto my knees.

  “Where is my grimoire!” she bellowed.

  She really can’t sense it, I thought. Maybe I did break it with the Nevalth eel scale like Eythan said. “I don’t know,” I replied innocently, clutching my wound. “I lost it. Why don’t you help me look for it?” I said sarcastically.

  “You will pay for what you have done!” she screamed. “You will suffer so much you will beg me for death just like your friend did!” she said menacingly as she approached me. Although terrifying, she seemed tired like me. Like the rest of us. I wondered if the sunrise spell she just performed took a lot out of her.

  This is it, I thought. It’s now or never. With the sun rising high, I pulled the grenade out of my pocket with my left hand. I yanked the pin and threw it at her. I did not want to see what happened but spun around as she was momentarily distracted in the four seconds it would take to explode. I knew I was dead for sure. Just then, someone collided with me, grabbing me, and I was swept far away at an impossible speed as he leaped. In mid-air, I heard and felt the grenade explode somewhere behind us. I sensed the intense heat but somehow only sustained minor burns on my legs. My savior and I crashed to the ground like a ton of bricks. I was stunned for a few moments before my senses returned. Screaming and shouting was all around us as I looked up into King Edreyan’s dark green eyes. He lay on the ground next to me and that’s when I noticed his injuries. Only parts of his armor remained intact. His left leg had been blown off below the knee and his back and hair charred and burning. He had taken the brunt of the damage for me and in doing so saved my life.

  “King Edreyan!” I choked.

  “Find a way to destroy Hadreah, Evelyn . . . take good care of my son,” he said weakly, grasping my hand and placing the last Nevalth eel scale in my palm. It was the one he had plucked off of my dress so long ago after I alerted him of the threat to Princess Emeley.

  The sun had risen high in the sky and the vampires had all frantically burrowed themselves underground to shield themselves as the fighting resumed. The bright rays of the sun shone down on King Edreyan’s face and his skin began to smolder.

  “I promise! . . . Thank you!” I whispered to him as he closed his eyes. I choked back my sobs and held onto him as he burned to ash in my arms. “Every victory has a price,” Emeley had told me.

  Hastily tying a compression bandage around my arm and clutching the scale, I rose shakily to my feet, feeling a little off balance from the probable permanent hearing damage I just sustained. I looked around for Eythan, but could not see or hear him anywhere. The king’s death had saddened and shaken me, but I couldn’t dwell on it now; I had to move. Emeley was barking out orders somewhere off in the distance, but my mission was clear. King Edreyan had transported me practically back to where I started from. I could see my motorcycle nearby. Dark armored soldiers everywhere were closing in. I had to end this. If I couldn’t get to Hadreah, I would get to her grimoire. Perhaps the scale could do more damage to her yet. I ran as fast as I could, ducking and swerving miraculously unnoticed by the soldiers until I reached the bike. The super soaker was still attached to it. I mounted the bike and prayed it would start. I thanked my lucky stars as it roared to life, garnering attention from everyone nearby. I strapped the super soaker over my shoulder and shot off to where I had hidden the grimoire, dodging anything in my path. An arrow grazed my left arm, but didn’t do any significant damage.

  I swerved past Emeley who was involved with fighting Hadreah’s third in command, Lord Tobias, who now only had one arm. Even that didn’t seem to slow him down. Where is Eythan? I thought. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I passed King Marstyn, who was surrounded on all sides, trying to fight his way back towards Hadreah. Despair began to grow within me as I realized how bleak things looked now that our vampire reinforcements were forced to hide underground.

  I was by no means an expert motorcyclist, but I have ridden them in the past back home for fun a few times. My ex-boyfriend was really into it and owned a few off roaders like the one I was currently on. The rumbling and high pitched whine from the engine startled many of the warriors, who struggled to get out of my way. There were so many bodies on the ground . . . too few of the dark clad ones. I raced to the rocky crag where I had stashed the book and stopped the bike. Reaching down, relief swept over me as I felt it was still there. Soldiers were coming at me now. I flipped open the book and clutching the scale in my hand, dragged it down the middle of the inside spine of the book. Somewhere, I heard Hadreah scream. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw some of her re-animated dead warriors almost upon me. I flipped further back in the book and sliced down once more which elicited another roar from Hadreah as the dead pounced on me, knocking the book out of my hands.

  Remembering Hadreah’s promise to take me alive in order to torture me, I fought with the possessed dead soldiers, who dropped lifelessly on top of me as the magic dissolved at my touch. They were burying me alive! I kicked and squirmed my way out of the pile of bodies until I was able to break free. I could not see anyone from Eteryn as more of the black masses had me surrounded. Stumbling, I picked up the grimoire again but could not find the scale. Quickly, I lunged for the super soaker. Fortunately, a raging fire was burning nearby and I unloaded all of the paint thinner onto it, igniting an impressive blaze to separate myself from some of the blood thirsty warriors.

  My arms and body ached as I opened the book up once more. Hadreah approached me on foot. Her hair was burned in several places and one of her eyes appeared swollen shut. That’s all she got from the grenade? I wondered. Then I noticed the slash marks down her face and throat. Was that from what I did to the book? Behind her, her army slammed King Marstyn to the ground, face down, pinning his arms behind him. They had us all surrounded. What do I do now?

  If hurting the book could injure her, then that is what I would do. With my remaining strength, I hoisted Hadreah’s grimoire high in my arms. It’s time to burn!

  Chapter 31

  Breathing heavily with exhaustion I stood over the
massive bonfire, poised with Hadreah’s horrible grimoire in my trembling hands high over my head. The heat from the flames felt painfully uncomfortable, making it feel exactly like the hell that it was right now. I was ready to pitch the book in, however at the moment this position was the only thing keeping me and my friends alive as the fighting came to a halt. Sweat poured down my neck and back and the blood from the slice she had given my right arm trickled down inside my sleeve onto my chest beneath my clothes. The growing dampness worried me.

  Through my fear, I gleaned some small satisfaction that this terrible witch looked a bit worried. She had already suffered humiliation that Marstyn was on our side. Her guards had him pinned face down in the dirt, undoubtedly instructed to keep him alive so she could torture him after she killed the rest of us. His powerful body heaved with ragged breaths. She stopped advancing on me and slowly raised her hands, as in a peaceful gesture.

  “Now now my dear, there is no need for that,” she said sweetly to me.

  I raised the book higher and pivoted slightly towards the flames. The heat began to feel unbearable.

  “We both want something, do we not Evelyn?”

  I hated the way she said my name, like we were friends.

  “I know what you want . . . and you have what I want,” she said slowly and calmly. “I can open the portal that will send you home with that book,” she purred soothingly.

  “Liar!” I shouted, turning more towards the flames.

  “No!” she shrieked, taking a step back. “Rosalind is dead. I am the only one left in this world with the power to do it. Give me my grimoire back and I will send you home. I swear it with my own blood! Think, Evelyn, you can go back to your world and forget all of this,” she said sweeping her hand across the horizon and the battlefield that had come to a standstill, waiting for us to act. “You can go home.”

  Home. I sensed deep down she was right. My only hope of ever going home was tied to her in this moment. Think! I thought to myself. Missing the portal home haunted me. I could leave. It would tear me apart but I could leave this world behind me. This struggle . . . this war . . . was it really mine to fight? I wrestled with my emotions within myself. Think! The heat from the flames of the fire began to collect in the metal of the dagger I had concealed against my hip under my tunic. Eythan’s dagger. It burned against me, reminding me of its presence.

  Slowly, I turned to her, lowering the book that now seemed to weigh a ton in my arms. I clasped it to my chest. “Your magic doesn’t work on me,” I said.

  She looked surprised for a split second before inching forward a little. “I do not need to use it on you, I simply need to open the portal and you can slip right through it in the same manner you did when you arrived in this world.”

  I took a few tiny steps towards her, keeping within proximity of the flames. “You swear it?” I asked breathlessly looking directly at her with pleading eyes.

  “No, Evie! Don’t listen to her!” I heard Princess Emeley protest from somewhere behind me. I knew she could not move as she was surrounded.

  “I swear on my life,” she said reassuringly, creeping little by little towards me. “I will do it right here, right now. You can go home, . . . just give me the book,” she smiled pleasantly at me.

  “I do want to go home,” I said softly, letting her inch her way towards me. I could see the want in her eyes. This book was not just an heirloom. The gashes on her body from where I had ripped and cut some of the pages told me it was an extension of her, a vulnerability that no one had known about.

  “Yes,” was all she whispered as she reached out for the book in my arms. I had never been this close to her before. It made my skin crawl, but it was the only way.

  I shifted the book to my bloody, injured right arm, freeing my left one and then turned slightly towards her. She waited patiently for me to extend it to her. With the book in my shaking grasp, I limped as I slowly started to extend it to her. She reached out for it. Her fingertips had just grazed it when I heard Princess Emeley cry, “Evie, No!”

  I didn’t let it distract me. Just as Hadreah was about to grasp the grimoire, I let my arm falter and I lunged into her, catching her by surprise. She missed the book and reached for it as I raised my left arm and plunged the hot dagger directly into her chest. The experience of stabbing someone sickened me. It was not as easy as it appeared in the movies. She screeched as she fell to one knee, clawing at the weapon.

  I moved quickly and turned back towards the fire as her guards and chaos swarmed around me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marstyn up off of the ground, struggling with his captors. I used both hands to throw the cursed book as far and as deep into the flaming pit as I could and then I ran.

  Both dead and living warriors launched themselves at me as I fled. Maybe I could reach the bike again. Fighting resumed on all fronts and although Hadreah had fallen on her knees, she wasn’t dead yet. She continued to choke out orders as she pulled my dagger out of her chest. I almost made it to the bike before I was tackled. I saw the harsh eyes and lacerated face of a soldier as he raised a sword over my throat, it was Lord Tobias. At least I wouldn’t be tortured, I thought grimly.

  Suddenly, someone above me appeared and sliced his head clean off and I was free! I righted myself and saw that it was King Marstyn. In a flash he quickly ran a few steps, bent over and picked something up off of the ground, it glinted in the sunlight. He came back to me and practically yanked me off of the ground, thrusting my eel scale back into my hands.

  “Quickly, Wayfarer!” he bellowed, dragging me back to Hadreah who had just stood up.

  As we neared, she lifted an arm and tried to perform some sort of magic. Marstyn dropped to his knees and grabbed his chest. It is now or never, I thought as I launched myself at her. My touch disarmed her magic and before she could stop me, I used the scale to cut her throat in the same way that she had cut Sarah’s. My moral compass was spinning out of control and I knew I would never be the same again. Blood squirted everywhere as she shoved me back, but Marstyn had recovered and he wasted no time. The desire in his eyes was telling as he used his sword to decapitate her. Immediately, almost all of her army collapsed. The dead can’t fight without magic after all. From my position on the ground, I watched as King Marstyn hoisted her body in the air and tossed it unceremoniously into the fire I had started, quickly followed by her head.

  He pulled a horn out from under his armor and blew furiously into it, sending a signal to the army. “I am King Marstyn of Shadowlea and I order you to stand down!” he bellowed. Almost immediately, the fighting stopped. The clang of swords and grunts stopped and an eerie silence crept over the field with only the breeze audible as the sun again began to sink low over the horizon, free from Hadreah’s spell. I looked around for Eythan, searching frantically through the smoke, but I could not locate him. I saw Emeley, standing tall and proud next to her army.

  “Come,” King Marstyn said, startling me as he offered me a hand up. “Walk with me to the table of peace.”

  I let him pull me up with stars lining my vision. I wanted so desperately to rest. I had lost a lot of blood before the war, and who knows how much in the last day. I found it even more surreal that I was still alive. I wanted to run around to find Eythan, but I couldn’t. The king held me in his grasp.

  “Give her a moment to honor her father,” he said softly as Emeley knelt down in the distance next to King Edreyan’s armor and ashes. It brought tears to my eyes.

  I waited patiently as the soldiers from both sides separated and formed two fronts again. After a few minutes, Emeley rose and walked towards us. Her eyes on both of us expressed her emotions; grief, fear, relief, and love. We marched towards her and the king let go of me as Emeley crashed into his arms, embracing him after all of these long years.

  “Where is Eythan?” I asked softly to no one in particular.

  The two of them kissed and continued to display their affection as they reunited, breathing heavily after the long battle
. I ignored it and scanned the front line again. Still no sign of him. I hated to interrupt the two love birds, but the panic rising inside me was driving me crazy.

  “Where is Eythan!” I said raising my voice, reflecting my alarm as I fidgeted and twisted my engagement ring around my finger.

  They turned to face me, each with an arm around one another.

  “He is coming, Evie,” Princess Emeley said softly.

  I didn’t quite understand what she meant by that. Where was he? Then the silence around me became deafening as the sun completely set again.

  I turned and searched the front line again. Standing there, where he had not been just a few seconds ago, was Eythan. Where has he been? He stood still as a statue and stared at us . . . at me. My mouth dropped open in relief as I willed myself to take slow deep, calming breaths. I blinked and suddenly he was standing before me, pulling me into his arms. How is he that fast? I thought as I wrapped my arms around him and his armor as far as they would go and rested my head on his chest. It took a few moments for me to calm down and enjoy the relief that he hadn’t been killed . . . it was then that I noticed he wasn’t breathing.

  I pulled back and looked up at him while Princess Emeley and King Marstyn watched us. My eyes scanned his face. It was the same handsome face, yet somehow different. Although the sky was dark, I could see that his eyes had changed. They weren’t the unique blue-green that they used to be, they were dark green like his father’s had been. Upon further inspection, I saw a large healed gash across his neck that seemed to fade with each passing second and the tell-tale vampire bite on the other side of his neck. I touched it, feeling the coolness of his skin. Releasing him, I brought my hands to cover my mouth as I realized what had happened. King Edreyan had sired him to save his life just before he saved mine. That was how he died so easily after the explosion from the grenade.