He regarded his brother grimly. “I haven’t the foggiest idea what we will do if it ends up that both Zara and Roland are not what we think they are.”
“Annabelle seems to be leaning toward Roland.”
“She seems to be leaning toward Roland because so far he hasn’t kicked her in the teeth. She would have me think otherwise, but she is still deeply hurt by being abandoned. She thinks that Zara should have kept her, and raised her. She didn’t have to give up Annabelle, and yet, she did. It does seem puzzling, doesn’t it? Think about it. Obviously, she was in no looming danger from Roland…he is lavishing her with his love right now. He can’t even think that he would have hurt her out of jealousy. You have to have pure evil running through your blood in order to harm your own child.”
Daniel nodded his head in agreement. “You are right. I don’t think that Roland would ever harm a hair on Annabelle’s head. I question some of his tactics, but he doesn’t seem willing or even capable of acting out against her.”
“Then, we need to keep a wary eye on Zara. If you’re willing and able, we should go down to the nearby villages and tell the inhabitants that they are more than welcome up here. If this goes badly, they might get caught in the crossfire.”
“I’ll help you. As always, Malachi, you are putting the needs of others above your own.” He watched the way that Daniel stared at him.
“Annabelle has accepted the way I look.”
“I know—and for that, I will always think she is a good true woman, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing that we could help you. You deserve to be healed, Malachi.”
“If I had not retreated to the castle, you, Connor and the girls wouldn’t have been captured by Roland.”
“And if we hadn’t been captured by Roland, Annabelle would never have gone to him. Trust me, Malachi everything happens for a reason. Let us believe in that.”
“I will. Now let us sort out this castle. If we’re invaded, I don’t want any of our magical heirlooms to fall into the wrong hands.”
“I hope that Rainbow returns soon.”
“She will make haste to reach us when she finds out that you’ve returned.” Malachi smiled over at his brother.
Daniel looked at him oddly. “I don’t know what you’re trying to intimate, Malachi.”
“You know full well what I’m saying. You and Rainbow might have thought you were being discreet, but trust me, Brother, you weren’t.”
“She doesn’t think I’m the one for her.”
“She doesn’t?”
“Indeed.” Daniel flopped down into a chair, levitating one of the family spell books over to him. “I’d feel a lot better if I knew why she kept pushing me away.”
“Women can be complicated when it comes to love.”
“What’s so complicated about love? You either feel that way about someone, or you don’t. It is simple. When she kisses me I can feel her fervor for me, and then, the next minute, she’s telling me we aren’t meant to be.”
“Too bad you can’t convince her the way I convinced Annabelle.”
“And how pray tell did you win the fair, Annabelle?”
“I locked up her adopted father and threatened to throw away the key.”
“Nice tactic. It probably helped that you were scaring the living daylights out of Delbert at the time.”
“I don’t know why everyone seems so afraid of me.”
“Well, granted, your appearance doesn’t help. Yet, even before when you were better looking than any of us, you still had a way of putting the fear of the Fates into people. Besides, the odds are stacked heavily against Rainbow and I. Her father will never bless our union, and I doubt she’ll risk angering her father more than she already has.” Daniel sighed.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you this—do you think in a fair fight I could best Roland?”
Daniel looked thoughtful. He rubbed his chin, and flipped through a few more pages of the spell book he held.
“I think you’re younger and more physically fit. I don’t think, however, that you would beat Roland into the ground. He has a way of feeding off people’s magic. He can weaken them, making it almost impossible to win against him. Annabelle, as his daughter is probably the only one he doesn’t have that effect on. He can literally freeze and paralyze his opponents. How do you think he was able to take Connor and me prisoner? Not to mention once he had us, Larissa and Shaylah came to our rescue and fell victim to the same trap.”
“That doesn’t sound as if the odds would be in my favour, then.”
“Aye. They wouldn’t be. You should take Annabelle’s advice to heart. I don’t see how we can beat someone that can literally leach the magic out of us.”
“Does he feed upon it or just neutralize our powers?”
“I don’t know the answer to that question. All I know is that I’ve never seen such power. He is a living God.”
“There is no such thing,” Malachi scoffed.
“Then, he is the greatest warlock that the known enchanted kingdoms have ever encountered.”
“Oh, how hard the mighty shall fall.” Malachi turned back to gazing out the window. He felt as if Annabelle needed him. He could only pray that her father hadn’t turned against her.
*****
“Do you see any sight of Roland?” Annabelle kept trying to look behind her but every time she did, she got one hell of a kink in her neck.
“No sign,” Ardal shouted.
They had to rest the horses soon. They’d been running them hard for too long.
Delbert and Mavis still rode ahead of them. “I don’t like this, not one bit,” she screamed. “I need to rest!”
Ardal nodded his head at her.
“Sounds good to me.” He slowed her horse down to a canter, then to a trot. Then, they stopped. She swung off the horse, amazed at her newfound talent for dismounting. She just wanted off the animal. She grunted when the horse nudged her affectionately. Laughing, she turned back and rubbed her nose.
“Is there water around her somewhere?” Annabelle asked.
“There’s a creek just through the bushes. The horses will probably go for it.”
“Excellent.” She flopped down on the grass. Her legs were so tired. She didn’t even know if she could walk properly. Ardal, on the other hand, looked as fit as a fiddle. She sighed, staring up at the sky. It would be twilight soon. “Any idea where we can find shelter for the night, if it comes to that?”
Ardal looked over at her. “I’ll magically conjure something, don’t worry.”
He stared down in the direction that they’d ridden from.
Her heart slowly started to sink. “I don’t think my father is coming to meet us. He died back there, didn’t he?”
Ardal looked back at her. “I don’t think we should draw our conclusions too quickly. I think that your father is still alive. He is too powerful to kill.”
“Are you telling me that he’s impossible to kill?”
“I don’t know. He has some very strange magic—magic that even my Elvin half has no idea how to read or deal with.”
“That means if he does attack Malachi…” Her voice broke. She couldn’t bear to think of what that meant. She knew that Malachi had told her he was nearly invulnerable, but if her father were as well, they’d be duking it out until who knows when.
She tried to brush the dust from the road off of her clothing, but it didn’t seem to be working.
“How can you be so certain that Roland didn’t perish in the revolt?” she asked.
“Because Roland has developed some fairly unique abilities. He can tap into and feed off of his opponent’s magic.”
She gaped at Ardal. “You can’t be serious. Is that how he’s been able to win? Not only can he block them from using their powers, but he can leach off of them as well? Great. He’s a certified nutty wizard.”
“Now, now, Princess, your father prefers the term warlock. There really is no difference aside from the fact that wizards tend
to be more scholarly, whereas warlocks are focused more on the art of war. As for thinking that warlocks are usually evil, that is not true. Warlocks can be good or bad, as can wizards.”
Delbert and Mavis slowly approached them. Mavis held a loaf of bread in her hands, and Delbert had a chunk of cheese.
“We thought you might be hungry.” Mavis offered her a piece of bread along with a slice of cheese. Annabelle smiled at them.
“Thank you.” Taking the food from them, she looked over at Ardal. “I don’t want to be a nag or anything, but did you bring my potions with you?”
Ardal looked at her blankly. He swallowed thickly. “I…”
“I take that as a no.” Her hands trembled as she placed a bite of the bread and cheese into her mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, she tried to think of something to take her mind off what would happen to her. “Can you make them on the road?”
“Without the proper supplies? No.”
“Can’t you just conjure up the supplies?”
“The flowers and herbs used in the potion need to be freshly picked. Part of the magic they have comes from the ground they are growing on.”
“So, I am going to die. I’ll be dead before we can reach Malachi’s lands.”
“We will find some way to save you.” Delbert looked over at her. His hands were shaking slightly.
“We’ve come a long way from the times of yesterday, haven’t we?” She looked over at Delbert giving him a weak smile.
“Aye. You are married, and you’ve found a whole new life for yourself. I need to come to terms with the fact that you don’t need me anymore.”
She frowned. “I never thought you wanted me to need you. I was always fishing you out of your problems…”
“I was only trying to hit the big time. I wanted to make enough money so we could live in something bigger than the cottage.”
“I liked the cottage,” she sighed. “I just can’t believe that you fell for Glynnis.”
“I never fell for Glynnis. She was the one pushing herself on me. She wanted me to marry her, but I didn’t want to settle down again, not with her anyway.”
“Well, I thank the Fates your intuition was spot on. I really wouldn’t have wanted to have a changeling in the family.”
Ardal stood up, dropping the piece of bread he held. “Do you hear that?”
She shook her head. “I think those pointy ears of yours are coming in handy. I can’t hear a damn thing.”
“Get to the horses. We have company coming.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“Someone is chanting, kill the princess. Kill the princess.”
Her stomach heaved. “I think going for the horses is a good idea.” She felt like she was running away. “Maybe we should just stand and fight.”
“Without knowing what we face?”
“Sometimes, you have to face the unknown—head on.” Annabelle turned to the path. She could hear the riders coming for them. They couldn’t keep running forever, they’d have to face them eventually.
“Delbert, Mavis, get to your horses. You need to ride ahead…get to safety,” Annabelle ordered.
“We aren’t going to leave you behind.” Delbert’s sincerity touched her heart.
“What do I have to lose? Just go, please,” she insisted.
“Get a move on,” Ardal called after them. “Our enemy will be here in no time.”
She looked to Ardal standing at her side.
“You don’t have to stay with me. This is my battle. You should continue ahead to give warning to Malachi. If my father has truly been defeated, we have even more of the odds stacked against us.”
“I stay with you. I am your protector.”
“Malachi was supposed to be my protector.”
“Aye, and if he was here, he would die for you.”
*****
Malachi couldn’t stand it any longer. “I have to take the chance of magically transporting to her. Can’t you see that she needs me?”
Gabriel sighed, and Daniel echoed his sigh.
“You need to allow her to stand on her own two feet, Malachi. You need to let her be her own woman.”
“She is her own woman, by the Fates! She is! She won’t stand a chance against the riders that approach them. She is not trained to serve herself well in magical combat.”
“Be that as it may, if you bump into a magical shield on your way between here and there…you will be badly injured,” Gabriel advised sagely.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. As her husband, I can’t just stand around and watch her be slaughtered or worse…”
“She has Ardal,” Daniel muttered.
“Ardal can only do so much.”
Daniel looked uneasy. “If you are going, then I will come with you.”
“No. You stay here and safeguard the castle. You are needed here, and I am needed by the woman I love.”
Gabriel snorted. “Do not continue trying to talk some sense into him, Daniel. When it concerns Annabelle, he has a one track mind.”
“Damn straight I do.” He nodded his head at Daniel. “While I am gone, you’re the lord of the castle.”
“Just try to be back here before our exalted queen arrives. After the last battle, I really don’t feel like dealing with her.”
“I’ll try.” With that, Malachi vanished.
*****
Blood pounded in Annabelle’s ears. She almost couldn’t see clearly. Were the eyeglasses failing to improve her vision?
Six riders came through the clearing. They stopped their mounts when they caught sight of her. Pure loathing lingered in their eyes. She shivered. The sun was setting. Soon, they’d be draped in darkness.
“Your time as our Princess is over!”
She held her ground. “I don’t think you’re going to win this round.”
“Do you honestly think you could fight us? You are an incompetent witch, and that little elf of yours will only be able to do so much. We are mighty. You are not.”
She swallowed. “You are rather long winded. If you came to fight me—then, fight me!”
“We didn’t come here to fight you. We came here to exterminate you. You are vermin. We are the terminators.”
She took a step backward. Light flashed behind her. She felt a familiar presence. She didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Malachi. He had come for her. He had come to help her.
“The Beast of Thaliana. How wonderful. We can kill two little birdies with one stone.”
“I don’t like what you have to say.” A bolt of lightning flashed across her sight. Malachi had taken out two of the warlocks with one of his magical lightning bolts.
“Impressive,” she sighed.
Ardal and he moved to engage the others. She felt helpless. She didn’t know any offensive spells…
A crackling sound caught her attention. Two other warlocks emerged from the bushes. They were intending to attack Malachi and Ardal from the rear. She had to do something. She moved to intercept them.
Wishing with all of her might that her magic would engage, simply because she needed it to. A warming sensation touched her skin. She looked down to where the dragon ruby amulet rested against her skin. Licking her lips, she watched as ruby red magic streamed out of it. It circled her in a protective cocoon.
At the next moment, the two warlocks attacked. Their magic bounced off the ruby red cocoon and hit them. They were thrown off their feet, writhing in agony. But the amulet wasn’t done with them yet. Fire belched out of the shield, it hit them blowing them up.
“Whoa.” She staggered backward, slamming into Malachi. He had just finished off the last of the warlocks he and Ardal had been fighting.
“A ruby dragon amulet. That piece is the stuff legends are made of. Who gave that to you?” Malachi asked, staring at in wonder.
“My father.”
“It was a grand gift, then. That ruby dragon amulet is endowed with the most powerful magic known to the magic kind. Drag
ons were impossibly powerful creatures. Alas, they retreated from our lands many centuries ago. It is a pity. Gabriel tells me wonderful stories about his escapades with a dragon friend back in his youth.” Malachi sighed. “So many things in Thaliana have changed over the centuries and some of those changes have not been for the better for us Thales.”
She knew he wanted to embrace her, but he was purposefully holding off. He doubted her love for him. Without waiting for him to make the first move, she threw herself into his arms. He held her close, and she inhaled the comforting scent he gave off. Ardal had discreetly made himself scarce.
“How did you get here?” She asked looking up at him. He smiled, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.
“I had to come. You needed me.”
“I did.” She smiled. “This amulet seems to be worth its weight in gold.”
“More than that. Most wizards would do anything to get such a possession.” He touched it reverently. “Roland’s love for you must be great.” His eyes shined. She reached for him.
“I love you, Malachi. Never doubt that.”
“I won’t.” He grinned. They both tensed at the sound of another rider coming their way.
“Not more warlocks, or bad wizards, or whatever they are,” she said tiredly.
“If it is, they are going to find out what happens when I’m rubbed the wrong way twice.” He stepped protectively in front of her. She peeked out from behind him. She didn’t feel as if danger approached.
Malachi was readying for an attack. He raised his arm…as the person grew closer. She felt a bolt of recognition. Grabbing his arm, she pulled it down. He looked at her in disgust.
“What are you doing?” he grumbled.
“Keeping you from blowing up my father!”
He looked tempted to do away with him anyhow, but gradually he relaxed.
“You looked as if you wanted to still attack him.”
“Old habits die hard. In my case, harder than most people.”
Annabelle smiled. “I guess you’ll be meeting Roland for the first time.”
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