“Necessary? I thought we were leaving.” She paused as a terrible possibility struck her. “We are leaving for my manifestation. That was the plan. Wasn’t it?”
“I am going to help you. Just like I said I would.” He pushed past her and stormed toward the fort.
“But away from the isle!” she called after him, trying desperately to keep her voice from trembling. “You said we could do this far away!”
“Let it go, Katy.”
“Katrin!” she shouted, angry tears rolling down her face. “Only my friends may call me Katy.”
He paused once more but didn’t turn this time. “Then you may call me Tearlach.”
47
Elixirs
Katy wandered around outside the fort long after Tearlach went inside. Over and over again, she considered escaping, but she doubted he would let her get very far, not if he had plans for her manifestation. Besides, a flame of rebellion was beginning to grow within her chest, and she wanted very much not only to know what he was up to, but how to stop him as well. How dare he use her this way? After making her believe he was the one person in the world who simply wanted what was best for her? Well, the second person.
She climbed over a broken rock path toward the east side of the fort, another side she’d never ventured out to before. There were more stables and outer buildings here, once built to house catapults and war horses, she surmised, but to her surprise, they weren’t all empty. Many had old weapons stowed away inside. They were mostly useless. The few she picked up crumbled with rust the moment she’d lifted them. They were just as useless as she felt.
How had she been so blind? Of course, it was only natural to trust the one who had saved her from Antony’s drunken wrath. But she had done so blindly, accepting his dozens of gifts with little question, allowing his clear, green eyes to take her in with their earnestness. And his help with her gift had only heightened her esteem for him.
Katy kicked a wooden plank, but it only made her foot sore.
Worst of all, she had believed him when he’d promised her love. Love from people who were like her. His own love. Though he had never actually said the words, his affection had been apparent in every gift, every kind word, every glance. He had promised her the life she had wanted so desperately, and she had fallen for every word.
For an hour or so, Katy stumbled around the cluttered grounds, but it wasn’t until she came upon one of the outer lean-tos, however, that she found a place free of dust and clutter. The path was clear of rocks, branches, and debris, and when she tried the door, it opened without even a squeak.
Inside was a little room, barely larger than her wardrobe back at the castle. But on all of the walls hung dozens of shelves. And each shelf held dozens of little glass jars that were sealed tightly with corks. Just like the one he had pulled a spoonful of liquid from for the animal in the stable.
Katy picked one of the jars up and held it in the light. The tiniest of words were scratched into its side. After a moment of squinting, Katy barely made out the word Animals. She frowned. That wasn’t very helpful. Putting the jar back, she went on to look at the next one. And the next and the next. They all said the same thing. In frustration, Katy nearly gave up until she noticed a few jars in the corner that were shaped differently. She lifted the first one. Sun it said. The next was labeled Woodlands. Then Moss, Trees, and Roses.
Finally, she came to one that said Lightning. Though the bottle was glass like the others, she could see nothing from the outside, not even a liquid or powder. She considered pulling the cork and peeking inside, then she thought better of it. She had seen enough of her host’s power to know he was capable of much. She wasn’t sure where the other bottles had come from, but if he had found a way to bottle his own gift, then she would let that one be. Something on the next shelf, however, caught her attention for a different reason.
A thin purple glow emanated from a bottle twice the size of the others. Even more curious was the familiar sensation that came when she picked the bottle up to peer inside.
At first, it seemed impossible. The waterfall had been so much larger than this little vessel. And yet, the sensation of magic was the same, almost like a familiar flavor.
Katy uncorked the bottle. Steam rose from the top, along with a sigh.
“Thank you.” The words were weak, almost inaudible, but the voice was the same.
“How did he put you in here?” Katy asked, looking once again at the size of the glass.
“It’s more than a tight fit, I can assure you of that.” There was a pause. “Do you think you might pour me out?”
“Of course! But where?”
“Any hole or empty riverbed will do.” The waterfall sighed again. “He’ll probably discover me again sooner than later, but a few days to stretch would be lovely.”
Katy turned immediately then stopped, her hand on the door. “You lied to me. That day in the forest when I came back without Peter.”
“He told me to. He said he would dry me up if I refused.” Another little cloud of mist floated from the bottle’s lip. “Still, I am sorry.”
Katy’s thoughts raced. She’d already been betrayed by this creature once. Who knew if she might try to do it again? And yet, she had no other foreseeable options. Perhaps this waterfall was an answer to one of her many prayers. “If I let you go, I need you to help me first.”
“He’s already angry with me for helping your prince. But I did lie to you against my better judgment, so I suppose I can try.” The waterfall paused. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need to know what he’s planning.”
“He hasn’t touched me in days, so if you’re hoping I can tell you, I can’t.”
“You can’t remember what he was planning?” Katy asked.
“I can only show you someone’s experiences while they’re touching me. And I’m sure he’s gained new ones since he last let me out.”
“We’ll have to try while he’s asleep.”
“If you say so.” The waterfall didn’t sound convinced.
Katy looked around them again. “What are all these other bottles? I know he has power over the weather, but can he control all of these other gifts as well?”
“No,” the waterfall said. “It’s forbidden on the other isles, but fairies do it anyway.”
“Do what?”
“They create elixirs from their own powers and sell them. The process is long and difficult, and the results are potent and dangerous, but many will pay a pretty penny for powers that are not their own.” The waterfall gurgled quietly in the bottle for a moment. “How do you think Tearlach was able to get so rich? Or to grow the forest so fast, for that matter?” She paused. “I think the animal ones are from his father, though. They apparently already had some when they arrived here as a family.”
“So he sold his own and bought the power of others in return.” Katy looked around her once more. There were hundreds of bottles. “Why would he need so many?”
The waterfall’s answer was unenthusiastic. “I suppose we’ll find out tonight.” She paused once again before asking, “If you disagree with him so much, why not just use your own gift? You’re more than powerful enough to end him.”
End him. Katy shuddered at the words. “I’ve never killed anyone in cold blood, and I’m not about to start now.”
“Even if he’s threatening the entire isle?” The light inside the bottle darkened. “Couldn’t you at least incapacitate him?”
Katy sighed. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to do that this entire afternoon. But my power is getting too strong. If I meant to use only a little on him, I could accidentally let too much slip. I nearly burned down the forest the other night, and I’m a day closer to my manifestation now. Anything could happen.”
“Suit yourself.” The waterfall’s voice was petulant. “But don’t come crying to me when everything you love dies.”
Katy held the bottle tightly against her chest as she made her way back o
ut of the lean-to.
Now she had a plan. She just needed to somehow find the patience to wait until Tearlach was finally asleep. Ignoring him for the remainder of the day was tempting, but when she considered the danger she was already putting herself and the waterfall in, she chose to at least join him for supper.
When she appeared in the kitchen that evening, Tearlach had supper ready, as if nothing had ever happened. So as not to seem suspicious, now that she had a plan, she refused to speak a single word to him, no matter how many times he tried to act as though nothing was wrong. As soon as she was finished, she went straight to her room, where she struggled to gather her courage until well after midnight when she finally found the strength to leave her room in search of his.
Katy had never been to his room or even thought to ask where it was, so she wasted several agonizing hours poking around until she followed the sound of snores to his chamber. Her nerve nearly fled her again as she hesitated at the threshold.
The door was left open just enough for her to see the shadow of his sleeping form. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to turn and run. But the slight purple warmth coming from the bowl in her hand gave her enough courage to push the door open and step inside.
Her skin prickled as she tiptoed up to the side of his bed. She hadn’t been inside a man’s sleeping chambers since she was a child, playing hide and seek with Peter in his house. And Sir Christopher had never actually been in his room when they’d played. Now, not only was she creeping up on a man while he slept, and a very frightening man at that, but she was going to touch him deliberately. She shivered, nearly spilling the bowl’s precious contents, and a moment passed before she could finish her path to the bed.
In the dim light from the moon, which spilled in through one of the broken uncovered windows, she could just barely make out that he was lying on his stomach with his wings and arms sprawled out on both sides of the bed. With shaking hands, she lifted the bowl until it was at the bed’s edge and carefully, so carefully, dipped the tips of his fingers inside.
It took longer this time than it had when she had first met the waterfall, but eventually, a small glowing sphere rose up over the bowl. In its first scene, Tearlach stormed around his room, causing little bursts of lightning and rain to pop up all around him. Katy tensed as the scene continued to play backward, as it had when Peter touched the water. She saw the disaster of the day once again, him changing the animals and her confronting him with it. When they reached that morning, however, she saw a familiar face.
Benjamin appeared at one of the open gates. And he didn’t come empty-handed. On his horse lay a limp figure. Though he appeared to be unconscious, Katy was fairly sure it was Antony.
But what was Benjamin doing with Antony? And how had he known where to find Tearlach? Katy held her breath, sure Tearlach would kill them both on the spot. But rather than killing anyone, however, Tearlach and Benjamin simply began to talk.
A sick feeling rolled around in her stomach as Katy studied the look on Benjamin’s face. Far from the teasing boyish expression he so often wore around the knights, this expression was one of rage.
Or rather, revenge.
The glowing sphere disappeared, and Katy looked up just in time to see Tearlach yank the bowl from her hands, sloshing the precious water over its side as he did.
“You’re a little too clever for your own good.” He stood and jerked her up from where she crouched.
Katy tried to twist her arm free. “I know you have something planned with Benjamin. But whatever it is, I will not be a part of it!” When he didn’t let go, she released a burst of power. He shouted when it touched his hand. Instead of letting her run, however, he grabbed a chain from the floor and managed to catch her leg in it, tripping her as she turned to run back to the door.
“I’m afraid you have no choice,” he said as he pulled her closer.
“There’s always a choice!”
“Not when you’re going to manifest.”
“But you promised you would help me! You promised!” She turned, trying to free her leg from the chain. Her hands grew hot and her breath came too fast. “Why go through the motions of Aedan if you’re only going to be Tearlach?”
“I had hoped to show you the best of me!” He expertly twisted the chain, pulling it into an even tighter knot around her ankle. Then he pulled her closer, his face changing back into the soft sincerity of Aedan’s once again. When he spoke, his words were whispers, urgent and earnest. “You were supposed to see how much I love you, how I’ve waited all this time for you! And once you trusted me, I would show you what we could truly do together! Now, please!” he begged. “You can’t be blind to the good we could bring about together on this isle! You and me, starting everything anew and joining the Third Isle to the others once again!”
Katy stopped trying to wrestle out of his grasp and stared. “What do you mean start anew?”
“I am doing what is best for you!” He grabbed her other wrist and held it tightly. “With humanity gone from the isle, you and I can start a family! We can rule! And we can open the isle up once again as a place for man and fairy to come for a new beginning, together! We can show the other isles how easily peace can be achieved!”
“Through the bloodshed of innocents?”
Tearlach scowled. “There are no innocents.”
“I lived among them!”
“They were cruel to you!”
“The babes? And the children?”
“There are always casualties in war.”
“But we’re not at war!” Katy yanked hard. This time, her ankle slipped out of the chain, and she stumbled backward before scrambling to her feet and sprinting to the door. Just before she reached it, however, a strong wind blew the door shut. She tugged on the handle, but it was no use. She was trapped.
“No human has ever used me the way you’re attempting now.” She turned and glared at him as he approached her once again. “You are far worse than any of them ever were. Peter might have made mistakes, but he never sought to manipulate me. And you are less than half the man he will ever be!” With that, she placed her hand against the door, and the door burst into splinters. Katy ran through.
Before she even reached the stairs he snapped his fingers, and the hall filled with fog so thick she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. A roaring wind began to whirl around her so fast that she soon found she couldn’t move, stuck in the cocoon of air it wrapped her in.
“After you manifest,” he called above the noise, “you will see why I must do this.” His voice was surprisingly gentle. “When your wings burst forth, and you grow the marks of our people, you will see just how disgusting you have become in the eyes of the humans. And even your precious Peter will turn against you then.”
When the winds stopped, Katy realized she had been bound with chains. And as though she weighed nothing, he lifted her in his arms and began to carry her downstairs.
“Be that as it may, I won’t help you!” She struggled against her ties, but they were too firm. She let her hands grow as hot as they wanted, but the chains only glowed orange. Not a single link snapped. “I won’t turn on them! I’m not a killer!”
“And I admire that about you. But if you are so set against it, then I will have no choice but to force it upon you. Now, if you’d stop struggling, you’d see out this balcony that the sun is about to rise.”
Katy paused in her efforts long enough to look at the nearest window. Oddly enough, the sky was still black. Then she saw the bottle in his hand. It was the one labeled Sun.
“All magic has levels,” he said, studying the bottle. “The majority of even our people, however, lack the courage to embrace it in its fullness. They spend most of their lives leaving its depths untapped and wasting what has been gifted them.”
“Perhaps they have reasons.” Katy glared up at him.
“They’ve let the humans’ fear of their gifts become their own.” He set her on her feet, still encircled
by chains, but another whirlwind wrapped itself around her so that she couldn’t lift a foot to escape. When she was secured, he lifted the bottle.
“What are you doing?”
“Everyone knows sunlight can make you sleepy and forgetful. And though it pains me to do this, you leave me no choice.” He uncorked the bottle, and out of its little neck spilled the most brilliant sunlight Katy had ever seen. Blinding light began to collect in his palm, forcing Katy to look away. “When I’m done,” he said, “you’ll remember nothing but what I tell you.”
Panic seized her entire body. “No! Please, no!” Katy began to plead, but he ignored her.
“It will be painless, I promise.”
“Atharo, no! Don’t let him do this!”
“And better yet, that wretched prince will never hurt you again. You’ll be able to leave him behind once and for all.”
Tears flooded Katy’s cheeks as she twisted and turned, trying desperately to get away. She tried to send out waves of power from her hands, but she couldn’t focus on their strength. Terror made her body stiff and her movements sharp, and it ruined any chance at the calm she needed to control her strength. Somewhere inside, she knew she should let go and start another fire like she had two days before, or send a blast of power straight into him. But as the ball of sunlight grew brighter in his hand, her fear overcame her senses, and all she could do was plead with Tearlach and Atharo and anyone else who might hear her.
“You’ve had a hard life, so don’t think of this as a loss,” Tearlach said in a gentle voice. “Think of it as a new beginning. Many people would give all their worldly possessions for such a chance.”
“Peter!” Katy shrieked. “Peter, help! Atharo, let him hear me!” Fear made it difficult to breathe, and again, she tried to push her power out against his, but it was no use. His winds were strong and steady, and her power came in short, uneven bursts, wild and unmanageable as rabbits.
As she cried out, she pictured Peter in her head. Of all the memories she feared losing, his was the greatest. So in her last moments, she chose to see him. Not the muscled, stalwart warrior in armor that confused and affected her so, but the boy. The boy who never remembered to brush his hair and whose tailor-made clothes were always rumpled. The boy who teased and tormented her to no end when they were alone but had suffered a bloody nose on her behalf on more than one occasion. The only one who could calm her with just the touch of his hands, and the one who had risked everything when he promised to save her from the darkness within.
The Autumn Fairy Page 35