by John Goode
Hawk took a step toward them, and again I felt that same dread in my heart. I wanted to grab his arm and tell him to stop, but there was no reason to, other than my own paranoia. Maybe I was just going crazy? So many things had happened in such a short time, was it just possible I assumed the worst no matter what? I mean, his mom was here. That was a good thing, right?
Which was when Ater ran his sword through Titania.
It sounds stupid, but if that sword had hit me, it might have hurt less. Not only was I shocked, but I felt Hawk’s heart breaking as he watched his mother’s body fall to the ground like a sack of flour. There was no sound, nothing save the pounding of Hawk’s and my hearts. I don’t know how long we stood there, watching our life burn away in front of us, but it felt like forever.
We both screamed in thunderous rage as we swore vengeance.
I could hear him say a spell to lighten himself as he summoned Truheart and leapt at Ater with intent to kill. The person standing next to Ater saw Hawk coming and brought his bow up to aim at him. The guy yelled something that sounded like “pressure” and a magical arrow hit Hawk square in the chest.
“No!” I screamed. The power in me lashed out wildly as Hawk went flying back behind me toward the castle. I reached out with my mind and grabbed Robin Hood and the earth beneath him. The ground formed into a fist and encircled him instantly. I could feel him squirm as if the hand was my own, and I squeezed tightly.
He let out a piercing scream as bones began to break. I didn’t care.
Ater’s hand moved, and something hit me between the eyes. My concentration shattered as I went stumbling backward. There were screams all around me, but I didn’t care anymore. Too much had happened too fast, and I was done with everything. I could sense the dark elf moving toward me, and I realized I could sense reality around me. It was like there was this field around everything, and I could just see it move without my eyes. I’m pretty sure the entire universe was made up of this energy, and it simply molded into different things we called real.
If I hadn’t been berserk, I would have guessed this was a lot like using the Force.
I looked up and locked eyes with Ater. I could see he was afraid. I smiled at him because he should be. I grabbed a handful of the reality around me and threw it at him. As it left me, it began to solidify and change. By the time it hit him, it had turned into the one thing that would hurt him the most.
Pullus.
It wasn’t him, of course. It was just a simulacrum, but Ater didn’t know that. One second he was charging at me and the next his dead lover stood inches from his face, fighting him. Ater’s arms dropped to his sides as he looked at Pullus, shocked, white as the snow around us. I took the advantage to use the Pullus-thing to punch him in the face as hard as I could. His head went snapping back as he fell onto his ass.
I could sense something whizzing toward me, and I held up a hand to stop it.
A magical arrow froze inches from my face, held fast by my power. I looked at the archer and realized he was an elf too, a badly hurt elf from the way he was standing. Elf, human, god, I didn’t care anymore. He was just another in a long line of things to try to stop me, and I was just too tired to care.
The arrow spun around and went flying back at him. Halfway there it exploded into a dozen copies of the spell. The guy tried to jump out of the way, but there was nowhere to go. Adamas put up a shield, and the arrows impacted harmlessly against it.
I looked up at the gems and began to move reality around them.
“Stop!”
Hawk jumped in front of me, grabbing my hands as he tried to get through my daze. “Kane! Stop it! Now!”
But it couldn’t be Hawk because I just watched Hawk get hit by an arrow, so this had to be another lie, another trick someone was playing.
I turned the air around him into electricity, and he fell to the ground in blinding pain. I know this because I felt the same pain and fell down as well. Only then did I feel the wave pass over me, and some common sense began creeping in. “Hawk?” I asked, feeling like I was about to die.
“You have to stop,” he forced himself to say, every word a new level in agony.
And I stopped.
Everything just stopped—the electricity, the Pullus thing, everything. One second the world was crazy around us; the next it was over. Ruber and Caerus went flying past us, one of them stopping to check on Ater while the other flew to their father. I saw Hawk looking at me. The worry in his eyes made me ache with sadness.
“You have to stop doing that,” he said as he slowly sat up and inched toward me. “You’re going to kill yourself.” I nodded in reply, although my brain wasn’t really working all that well. As soon as he reached my side, he pulled me into a hug, and I sagged against him.
“What was that?” Ater screamed at us, his blade drawn, his eyes blazing with rage. “Answer me!”
Hawk let go of me, stood up, and got in his face. “You killed my mother, assassin! I will have your head….”
Ater ignored him and kept screaming at me. “What did you do? What was that abomination?”
Hawk pushed him back and resummoned Truheart. “Get away from him, murderer.”
Ater turned his head slowly and glared at him, sweeping his weapon up into ready stance. “You’re right. I am a murderer.”
They stepped away from me and circled, looking for weaknesses, when Ruber called out over the din. “The next person who makes a hostile move will be spending the next twenty-four hours encased in amber.” Both Hawk and Ater stood still, which was a start. “Everyone can calm down. I think you need to see this, Hawk.”
“Ferra,” Hawk said, not taking his eyes off of Ater. “Make sure Kane is safe.”
What he was saying was kill the dark elf if he takes a step toward my crazy boyfriend.
I felt her cold hand touch my shoulder. “Are you all right?” she asked, not talking about how I felt. She wanted to know how I had just done that.
Ater’s gazed bored into me, unwavering. A feeling of complete shock rose from Hawk’s mind, but I was too weak to read his thoughts. “Help me up?” I asked Ferra as I tried to get my legs under me. She steadied me as we walked over to where Hawk was standing with Ruber and his father, the corpse beneath them.
It took me a couple of more steps to see what had sent Hawk reeling away, denial in every corner of his mind.
There was a corpse, but it wasn’t Titania.
It was Puck.
KOR LOOKED over at Ater and asked, “Where to?”
Ater’s mind froze as he tried to process all the things that were happening at the same time. This wasn’t Titania; that much he knew. The confirmation was when Oberon refused to move when he threatened the queen’s life. The Oberon Ater knew would have gladly let him slit his wife’s throat rather than let the dark elf escape, which meant he wanted them to escape.
He answered without thinking. “We need to get to the boys.” And he instantly tried to correct himself. “But before you cast it—”
Adamas interrupted him. “Ruber is with them. I’ll transport us there.”
Ater pushed the imposter away, knowing even as he did there was no way to get her clear of the spell’s effect. “Wait! Don’t take—” he tried to warn them.
And they dropped through the ground and out of the realm.
Time moved differently through the realms, so Ater wasn’t sure how long they fell, but he knew he’d be ready when they arrived. His hand gripped his sword, and he waited for the signals that told experienced porters their trip was coming to its destination. The sound of rushing air preceded a change in air pressure at arrival. The instant he heard the first and felt the second, he tensed…. The moment there was sky over them, he pounced.
He grabbed “Titania” by the neck and put the sword up to her midsection. “Where is it?” Her eyes widened in shock, but he ignored her reaction. “The tracking spell: tell me where it is, or I will kill you where you stand.”
Her voice was
halting, and he realized she wasn’t playing him. “Your Majesty, he’s gone insane. Help me.”
Adamas was confused. “Ater, she is the ruler of Arcadia. I can’t just let you slay her in broad daylight.”
“This isn’t Titania. Where is the spell?” the dark elf demanded.
“Please,” she pleaded with the diamond. “I beg you, help me! He’s not in his right mind.”
Kor nudged his bow against her back. “Easy enough to prove. Let me shoot a truth arrow in you and ask your name.”
Ater saw the expression on her face change the second Kor mentioned the spell. Pleading melted into savagery, and she began to pivot to attack.
So he ran his sword through her.
The moment he made contact, he knew he had been correct. She was far heavier than the fairy queen was. He had to push with all his might to force the blade in. Once it cut the leather-like skin, there was nothing stopping it from skewering her all the way through.
For a moment, he could see Puck’s eyes flash as the changeling tried to move his organs around the blade. The two of them locked eyes, and a slight grin passed over Puck’s lips since he thought he held the upper hand.
“Morpheme on the blade,” Ater said, returning the grin. “There is no form that I can’t smell you, creature. You’re responsible for my mate’s death. Enjoy this wound. It is the first of many.”
Already seizing up in shock, Puck slid off the blade and fell to the ground.
I COULD feel Hawk’s mind spinning as he absorbed Ater’s story. “Well, that explains how the dire wolves found us,” Hawk said, looking down at Puck. “If my fa—if Oberon has turned, he would know all of my mother’s hiding places.” He looked up at Ater. “Then where is my mother?”
The question killed him to ask, but it was okay, ’cause Ater wasn’t paying any attention to him. He was trying to kill me with his eyes, and I have to admit, doing a pretty good job. What was I thinking, using Pullus against him? I saw the unimaginable pain he felt, although he would never speak of it. I felt sick.
He looked away from me. “I have no idea, but we are in danger. Oberon’s plan was for me to escape with him and take him to you, which I have done.”
Ruber sounded worried as he worked on mending the broken ribs I had caused Ater’s friend. “Then he is on his way here.”
Ater nodded. “And he won’t be coming alone.”
Olim walked up, flanked by two ice guards. “If he was to invade my realm, it would be an act of war.”
Hawk looked over at her. “Trust me, he doesn’t care about war. He only wants the power that ascension can bring him.”
“Then we run,” Ater suggested. “He comes here and we’re gone. He will have no way of tracking us again.”
I knew his answer the moment Ater said it, even though Hawk pretended to contemplate it. He glanced over at me, and I nodded at him, because I was in complete agreement.
“No,” he said, sounding like a king. “With your permission, Your Majesty, I would like to stand and fight here.”
Olim smiled and nodded. “I welcome the chance to teach the great Oberon how to fight in the cold.”
Hawk looked over at the gems, Ferra, and Molly. “If you want to go, I understand. This isn’t your fight.”
“The hell it’s not,” Ferra said, sounding three different kinds of pissed.
Molly nodded, but it was Adamas who answered. “Prince Hawk’keen, you saved my son, and for that I made you part of my clan. If you fight, we all fight.”
Hawk looked over at Ater and his elf friend.
“How did I know you wouldn’t pick the smart choice,” he said, sounding like he had known what the answer was. “So then we stay and fight.” He turned to his friend. “You don’t have to stay.”
“I don’t,” he said, giving Ater a grin. “But we both know I will.”
Ater rolled his eyes. “No one has any common sense anymore.”
“So then,” Olim said to the crowd. “Let’s get ready to welcome Oberon to our realm.”
That was when we got ready for a war.
Chapter 14
“When one goes to war, you should first ask yourself, how
many of your own people are you willing to sacrifice to win?
If the answer is any less than all, don’t bother.”
The Substantial, Atrocious Ruler
of the Wolflands
EVERYONE BEGAN moving to make plans, and Ater grabbed my arm.
“We will have words.”
It was in no way a question.
Hawk paused in talking to Olim and looked at me, worried. I shook him off. I was a big boy, and if the dark elf assassin I had pissed off wanted to cut my head off, then I needed to face it alone. The gems carried his elf friend into the castle as the ice guards began to set up defensive positions all over the place.
“What was that?” he asked. His anger was like the heat coming off a stove that had been left on too long.
I sighed and felt even worse. “It turns out I can move reality around.” Which sounded, like, five times weirder coming out of my mouth than it did just hearing it. “I didn’t even think about it. I just thought about the quickest way to catch you off guard, and it just appeared. I swear to you, I wasn’t trying to make things worse or—”
He held up a hand to stop me from rambling all over him. “So that thing was not alive.” I shook my head. “And you did it thinking that Hawk had been cut down by Kor’s arrow?”
I looked over to the slightly crushed elf. “That’s Kor?” He nodded. “Yeah, then I really thought Kor had shot Hawk in midjump.”
He just looked through me for what felt like a million years. All I could imagine was he was thinking of all the different ways he could kill me. Finally he shook his head and said, “You were protecting your partner. I can’t fault you for that.” I let out a relived breath, but he blurred, and there was a knife at my throat. “But if you ever make that thing again, you won’t even know I’ve slit your throat. You understand?”
“I do,” I said, unreasonably calm for someone with a knife pointed at him. “I am sorry for what I did, but seriously, what are you going to do? Stab me with your fish?” He looked down, and his dagger was a dead fish. “Since I have arrived here, I’ve been yelled at, threatened, and insulted by just about everyone because I was out of my depths, supposedly.” The fish shimmered back into his dagger. “I’m learning to tread water.”
He pulled the dagger away, looking shocked.
“Don’t point a blade at me again. You understand?”
He nodded.
“Awesome,” I said, catching my breath. “So what do you think the odds are we can stop Hawk’s insane father?”
“Almost none,” he answered. “The Arcadians have the largest standing army in the realms, and they will all fight to the death for Oberon’s honor.”
I nodded, absorbing that information. “Okay, so basically magical Klingons with a grudge.” I began walking back toward the castle. “Nothing ever can go normal around here.”
“It’s more than that,” Ater said wearily. “Hawk was trained by Oberon. There is not a strategy Hawk knows that Oberon can’t anticipate.”
“So what? We just give up?”
He shook his head. “No. But Hawk can’t plan our defense.”
“Then who? Olim? Adamas?”
Ater never stopped staring at me.
“What? Who, then?”
And then I got it. He meant me. I backed away physically, while my mind stayed stuck on “No! No freaking way! No!”
Turns out Hawk agreed. I saw his expression before I heard his mind. Not that I wanted to hear his mind, but my wall of No! had no chance against Hawk’s determination.
“As much as I hate it, I can’t plan this battle.”
“So how the hell am I supposed to do it?” I snapped back.
“Like this,” Hawk said.
And then he gave me full access to his memories.
FERRA AND Molly
had followed the gems as they levitated Kor back into the castle to be properly treated when one of the guards, a frost giant, stopped them.
“Where are you going?” the giant asked the barbarian.
Ferra looked at her, confused. “To the castle with my friends.”
“No, you’re going to arm an embankment with the rest of your people.” He pointed to the large ice structures being formed in front of the castle.
Ferra glanced over at them. “My people? You’re mistaken. I’m not from here.”
“It doesn’t matter where you are from. You are still one of Olim’s subjects, and I am telling you to help arm an embankment.”
Ferra growled at him. “I am not one of her subjects. Logos is my Lord and savior. I take orders from no one but him.”
A dangerous smile came to the guard’s face. “Would you care to wager on that?”
Before the two of them could come to blows, Kane and Ater walked by and stopped when they heard the giant’s voice. “What’s going on?”
Before Ferra could speak, Molly answered. “He is saying Ferra is one of the queen’s people, and doing it quite rudely, if I may say so.”
Olim heard the conversation as she walked by and took a step closer to see what the problem was.
“She possesses living ice; her power comes from the queen,” the guard stated by way of explanation.
“My power comes from Logos.”
“That isn’t true,” the queen corrected briskly. “Your power comes from me.”
“You lie,” Ferra growled. “You are nothing compared to the might of Lo—”
Olim cut her off. “Then I will just take mine back.” She merely extended her hand, palm up, and nodded. In response, blue energy flowed out of Ferra’s skin and into Olim. Stunned, Ferra stared, unmoving, until the drain forced her to her knees.
“Bitch!” Kane hissed, and the energy stopped. Ferra collapsed to the ground, panting, and Olim glared at Kane. “She is my friend.”
“And she doubts the source of her powers,” she fired back. “I will not allow someone to be so impudent towards me.”