Always Golden

by Gina Dickerson

  How had Vilas not cried out in agony?

  ‘This is turning out to be a fantastic welcoming celebration. These are the two heads I will take the greatest delight in severing,’ Hashir said to Karima. ‘Although, I may keep Oriana alive.’

  ‘Why?’ Karima demanded.

  Hashir laid a hand on Karima’s forearm. ‘Just for breeding, my sweet, nothing else. For golden haired children…hair that can be used to make me undefeatable!’

  Karima shoved Hashir’s hand off her arm. ‘I won’t allow you to have sex with her!’

  Hashir furled a hand around Karima’s neck. ‘You will do as I order.’ His lips curled unattractively.

  ‘You may as well kill me,’ Oriana shouted. ‘There’s no point in keeping me alive. I can’t—’

  ‘Spare her!’ Vilas interrupted, shooting Oriana a look.

  Karima extended her hand with the ring on. ‘You will both die. You have already lived for too many years!’

  ‘Enough!’ Hashir grabbed Karima’s hand and wrenched the ring from her finger. ‘It is not your choice to make!’

  Karima nursed her hand to her chest. ‘Everything I have done has been for you. Let me kill them for you!’

  ‘Vilas can die.’ Hashir slipped the ring onto his finger.

  Oriana’s eyes filled with tears.

  ‘I love you, Vilas,’ she sobbed, unable to move.

  ‘And I you, my queen.’ Vilas raised his chin defiantly. ‘You always were a coward, Hashir. Take this ring off my neck and fight me, blade to blade.’

  ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’ Hashir waggled a finger. ‘No, this is your punishment for not remaining loyal to me and your sister.’

  ‘Sister?’ Vilas asked in confusion. ‘I’ve never had a sister. Has being in a box made you even more deluded?’

  Karima danced over to Vilas and shoved her face towards his. ‘Can you not see it, Brother? Can you not see our father in my eyes?’

  ‘Anearr was your father?’ Oriana could hardly believe it. ‘But I met your parents!’

  ‘Are you really so stupid?’ Karima asked. ‘They weren’t my real parents. Acapf paid them to pretend to be.’

  ‘But what about your real mother?’

  ‘Died. In childbirth.’ Karima returned to Hashir’s side. ‘Didn’t you wonder who gave your parents water from The Gloomy Cavern?’

  ‘It was my father.’ Vilas sighed. ‘He wanted to make sure Oriana or her mother lived for ever for their hair.’

  ‘It was our father,’ Karima corrected. ‘How else do you think I knew where The Gloomy Cavern was? I felt sure you knew it was me, Oriana, who had dragged you there. I can’t believe you were such a pushover, I’d expected more of a fight.’

  ‘I wasn’t a pushover; I didn’t tell you where Hashir was buried!’

  ‘Whose body did you burn?’ Vilas asked.

  Karima waved her hand. ‘Just a woman from the local tavern. I think she was something to do with the wedding preparations…flower arrangements or something equally dull. I went back after having ridden Oriana to the caves. It was easy to kidnap the woman, she was in the fields picking more flowers. I remember she had huge eyes. She was the first woman I saw so I slit her throat and carried her body to the caves for burning.’

  ‘Suleena,’ Vilas said. ‘Her name was Suleena.’

  ‘And?’ Karima raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve always cared too much, Vilas. That’s part of your problem. Father was so disappointed in you. You were never the son he wanted to have, just the son he was stuck with. I was the child he wanted. I turned into the daughter he wanted to have. I was the one child he was proud of. You were nothing but a failure.’

  ‘What does it matter?’ Hashir snapped. ‘Your father, my father, the whore from the tavern, they are all centuries dead. Stop trying to put off your moment of death, Vilas. Take it like a man!’

  Hashir raised his hand.

  Oriana closed her eyes, unable to watch.

  She heard a thud and Karima screamed.

  Snapping her eyes open Oriana heaved a sigh of relief. There, on the ground, Hashir lay face down with an arrow protruding from the side of his neck. Karima turned him over, sobbing over his chest. Hashir’s eyes were fixed open and he started to foam at the mouth.

  The same as he had when she, Oriana, had infected him with water from The Pool of Youth!

  Oriana moved forwards, slowly, and carefully. The pain from the ring around her neck having lessened somewhat.

  ‘That’s far enough!’ Karima jumped to her feet, holding out the ring which controlled those around Oriana’s and Vilas’ necks. ‘Don’t think I won’t bring him back again…I will, all I need is water from The Pool of Health!’

  Oriana reached for the small flask around her neck. Before she could pull it free, Karima’s beady eyes noticed it.

  ‘Stop whatever you are doing!’ Karima spat. ‘Who else do you have with you? Who fired the arrow?’

  Oriana shrugged.

  ‘Tell me!’

  Oriana kept quiet, amused at Karima’s anger. She did not know who had fired the arrow either.

  ‘If you can hear me,’ Karima shouted, looking around. ‘You won’t be able to fire at me without at least one of these two having their head sliced off. Do you want to choose which?’

  ‘No.’ A cloaked figure raced from within the undergrowth, brandishing a shiny, silver bow and arrow.

  Karima pointed her finger bearing the ring and hovered her other hand over the top.

  Her hand lowered against the ring.

  An arrow whizzed past Oriana’s ear and impaled into Karima’s left eye.

  Karima’s mouth opened but no sound came out. Blood poured from the arrow wound, coursing over her cheek. She foamed at the mouth and collapsed, remaining deadly still.

  The archer, clad in skin-tight black leather trousers and knee-high boots, as well as a black cape, strode over to Karima’s body and bent down, searching beneath Karima’s cape. Holding aloft a key, the person pushed back their hood.

  ‘Allow me to free you, Queen Oriana.’

  ‘Ravenna?’ Vilas shook his head. ‘I thought I’d mortally wounded you in The Gloomy Cavern.’

  Ravenna, her long hair tied back in a braid, pressed the key against the ring around Oriana’s neck before replying. ‘I managed to make it to The Pool of Health before I passed out. Next thing I knew, I was choking in the water. I must’ve fallen in and it saved me.’

  Oriana threw her arms around Ravenna. ‘Thank goodness, you’re an excellent markswoman!’

  Ravenna hugged Oriana back. ‘I knew I could take them both down. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I’ve been tracking Karima but she managed to shake me off a few months ago. I wanted to stop her from finding Hashir. I knew that was all she wanted.’

  ‘Could I have a little help here?’ Vilas pointed to the ring around his neck.

  Ravenna smiled. ‘I suppose so, even though you did try to kill me.’

  ‘I apologise.’ Vilas blushed. ‘I jumped to the wrong conclusion.’ He pointed to Ravenna’s hand. ‘I thought because you were burnt it meant you had set fire to the body in the cavern.’

  ‘I tried to save the woman.’ Ravenna pressed the key against the ring on Vilas’ neck. ‘But I was too late, I could not extinguish the flames. Then I followed the labyrinth of passageways to the inner cavern where I saw Karima pushing Oriana’s head in The Pool of Youth.’ She bowed to Oriana. ‘I am sorry I could not save you. I fought her, Karima, and I dragged her out into the forest to kill her. She kept harping on about Hashir and how you and Vilas had tricked him, imprisoning him in his own body. I drove my sword into her, heard her take her last breath…or so I thought until she returned to the cavern when Vilas arrived. It was then I knew she had drunk from The Pool of Health. No mortal blade could kill her so after I fell in the pool I promised myself I would watch her for all eternity to ensure she never freed Hashir.’

  Oriana smiled. ‘You’re still a soldier, even after al
l of this time!’

  Ravenna returned Oriana’s smile. ‘I don’t know how to be anything else!’

  ‘What shall we do with them now?’ Vilas folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Hashir and Karima, next to each other on the forest floor.

  ‘Make sure they die, I suppose.’ Oriana placed a hand on Vilas’ shoulder. ‘Do either of you know how to work those metal discs?’

  Ravenna put her booted foot on Hashir’s side and wrenched the arrow from the top of his neck. Its tip was bloody but it was easy to see it had been formed from glass, some of which was now broken.

  ‘I made these tips specially.’ Ravenna held the arrow up to the light. ‘They have a reservoir in the tip which holds water from The Pool of Youth. Hashir and Karima are locked in their bodies, there’s no need to cut off their heads, that’s too barbaric for us. We are not like them.’

  ‘You’re correct.’ Vilas unfolded his arms and drew Oriana close. ‘We are nothing like them. We do with them what we first did with Hashir. We bury them. For ever this time.’

  Oriana turned her gaze to Ravenna. ‘And after we have buried them, you will stay with us? You’ve remained alone all this time. You could find yourself a lover.’

  Ravenna shook her head. ‘I’ll help you bury them somewhere no-one will ever find them but after I will be on my way. I am more than a soldier now, I am a warrior, Oriana, I have found a better use for my immortality but my choice means I must remain unattached, I don’t need the distraction of love!’

  It was evening again by the time they had buried Hashir and Karima. Oriana could not help crying as they bid farewell to Ravenna, who instead of mounting a horse and riding off into the sunset, mounted a large, shiny, motorcycle and rode away from the sunset in a cloud of dust.

  ‘So, Vilas The Charming,’ said Oriana, standing on tiptoe and kissing him. ‘Where do we go from here?’

  Vilas lifted Oriana off her feet. ‘After the day we’ve had, I could do with a good meal, a hefty drink, and the loving of my beautiful, naked, wife.’

  ‘Which translates as you want to find a pub within walking distance from home and have a few drinks before going to sleep?’

  Vilas laughed. ‘Or would you rather I ravish you right here, Queen Oriana?’

  Oriana squirmed delightedly as Vilas undone her coat and slipped his cold hands underneath her sweater. ‘Don’t I deserve a little of your famous charm first of all?’

  In contrast to his hands, Vilas’ lips were warm when he covered Oriana’s with them. ‘Do you want me to tell you how gorgeous you are, how you are the only woman for me?’

  ‘No, I just want you to fetch the picnic blanket from the car,’ Oriana said with a grin. ‘I don’t want to lie on the scratchy forest floor…I am a queen, you know!’

  The meaning behind the names

  Acapf - meaning ‘collector’

  Hashir - meaning ‘collector’

  Karima - meaning ‘friend’

  Mairsile - meaning ‘of the water’

  Oriana - meaning ‘golden’

  Vilas - meaning ‘charming’

  About the tale:

  This story is influenced by the French fairy tale, ‘The Story of Pretty Goldilocks’ or as it’s also known, ‘The Beauty With Golden Hair’ by Madame D’Aulnoy.

  Also by Gina Dickerson

  and available now

  Mortiswood

  Kaelia Awakening

  Book One of the Mortiswood Tales series

  “They’ve been waiting lifetimes for you, Kaelia. They want you and will stop at nothing to have you.”

  The warning’s rung in Kaelia’s ears since she discovered she’s far from the ordinary girl who grew up in the coastal town of Margate. She has power. The first time she shows it, death strikes, the second, she loses someone special, and on the third, her mother disappears.

  Destiny is coming for Kaelia and there’s nowhere she can hide. THEY have stepped out of the shadows to find her. For generations, there have been whispers of The Chosen One. They speak of a name - Marrock - whose destiny entwines with that of The Chosen One.

  Kaelia must avenge the wrongs, uncover who Marrock is, find her mother, and ...FIGHT

  Facing forces of depraved evil, magic, and myth, Kaelia’s search leads her through magical forests and unearthly realms.

  Who, or what, can Kaelia trust? Is she strong enough to survive the horror? All she knows is her life will never be the same again...

  Mortiswood

  Kaelia Falling

  Book Two of the Mortiswood Tales series

  With the promise of power comes the threat of the ultimate sacrifice...

  Losing those she loves and learning she’s The Chosen One catapulted Kaelia’s life into the fast lane. Having battled Dybbuk demons, discovered an unexpected ally in the form of a Vallesm, and ventured through Niflheim, her adventure is far from over.

  Determined to fulfil her destiny as the one who will destroy The Salloki, Kaelia still has many obstacles to overcome. As secrets rise to the surface and Kaelia’s powers continue to evolve, she is not the only one fighting a battle...

  Can Calix find a Rosealrium bloom in time to stop Cadence’s transformation? What exactly is the truth behind Bran’s connection to the goddess Hel? And will Kaelia finally uncover what happened to her mother?

  Unveiling Lies

  Families silenced by secrets, lost heirlooms and a ruthless killer...who can be trusted?

  When Suzy Harte discovers on her wedding day that her bridegroom-to-be has been hiding a huge secret, jilting him at the altar seems the best option. What she didn’t anticipate was he wouldn’t ever make it to the altar either and being found in the church cemetery dressed in her wedding dress with a bloodied knife dripping onto the snow really seals the day as her worst ever.

  Suzy’s life picks up crazy momentum upon discovering her bridegroom had found a lost diamond ring worth millions of pounds. The problem is someone else wants the ring and they’ll stop at nothing to have it, not even serial murder.

  As the body count rises, Suzy races to unravel the mystery, stumbling across years of family secrets while the killer closes in.

  Can Suzy unscramble the secrets before it’s too late? Will she find true love again? Or will the secrets which silenced many before her lead her to a grisly end?

  The Pennington Christmas Curse

  Out now and published by Limitless Publishing

  Something came for the Pennington’s at Christmas time. On the same day thirteen years later, daughters Iysobel and Ziema are terrified by what appears in the mirror before them.

  There’s a curse on the Pennington family but as eldest daughter Iysobel nears the truth those she loves are threatened.

  Can Iysobel fight the curse and save her family? This winter one thing Iysobel isn’t wishing for is a white Christmas . . .

  Underleaf

  A collection of short stories.

  Turn the pages and discover more as you venture Underleaf...

  A house with a disturbing secret, jealousy which turns deadly, heartbreak in more ways than one, and people who aren’t quite what they seem make up a few of the tales within this collection.

  Twisted Thoughts

  A collection of dark poems.

  Lies Love Tells

  Due for re-release 2016

  What would you do if your blog attracted the attention of a serial killer?

  Saze Monnivan begins a blog diary to vent emotions over her abusive partner Mr Him. Unleashing her inner thoughts provides Saze with the courage to kick Mr Him into touch.

  Unfortunately Mr Him is not the only person Saze needs to fear. A murderer stalks the streets of Eastcove, preying on young women and earning the moniker of Cut-throat Casanova.

  As Saze’s life peaks and falls spectacularly, and her blog attracts interest and internet trolls, she realises someone is following more than her blog posts.

  Is Saze foolish to trust new faces? Will she ever survive the te
rror which haunts her and find the love she craves?

  About the author

  Gina Dickerson lives by the Thanet coast on the north-eastern tip of Kent with her family and playful Siberian husky. She is a full-time author and has also been a columnist for her local newspaper, the Isle of Thanet Gazette. She writes romantic suspense with a twist, horror, and fantasy because her characters refuse to play nice and wind up with more than a few bone-rattling skeletons in their closets.

  Having been an avid reader and story-scribbler from an early age, Gina loves being fortunate enough to fill her days writing. When she’s not writing, she likes to amble along one of the many gorgeous Thanet beaches with her pooch, or rummage in vintage shops.

  Find out more about Gina and keep up to date with all future publications at:

  www.ginadickersonwriter.co.uk

  www.authorsreach.co.uk

  ginadickerson.blogspot.co.uk