by Jen Pretty
I needed more magic. If I could stop the witch from using her magic for a minute and give myself time to think, maybe I could figure out how to trap her. I started pulling magic from the ground and kept pulling as the grass and trees withered. The flowers turned to dust as I drew in more and more. The clouds below us rose up till they gathered at my feet. I felt the darkness pushing to get in. It was flowing along with the ground magic that was usually right at my fingertips. This time though, it was all wrong. It was thick and sluggish like tar.
The witch began to laugh. “You aren’t so clean now, are you?” she mocked as I choked on the blackness that filled my lungs.
I tried to push the magic back out, but it was stuck to me. There was no time to worry about that, though.
The Unicorns and elves who had come with me were finally making a dent in the bats, but many had injuries.
I had to find a way to stop her. I glanced over my shoulder at Roman. My distraction gave her enough time to turn and blast one of the unicorns with fire. He screamed and crumpled to the ground. Before I could react, she killed another unicorn and an elf. I couldn’t let her keep killing everyone, this had to end. Now.
I took one last look at Roman.
“Daisy, take her out.”
There was no time to say goodbye. Daisy’s feathers gave way to scales which rippled and twisted into place as he grew and stretched into his full form. It was only a split second before he was as big as a house and spewing fire. The flames shot across the mountain-top in a stream bent on destruction. The witch was burning, just as I had seen in my vision and my heart dropped just as I had felt in my premonition.
I watched helplessly as Romans face went slack and his knees gave out. He crumpled to the ground in a heap. It was too late, but I ran and slid down to the ground where he lay.
Rolling him onto his back, I put my hands on his chest. It didn’t rise to meet my fingers and his face was lax, ruby eyes hanging open.
If the witch could keep him alive, I could too. Blocking out the sight of him, I took a deep breath and centered myself. I had unending power somewhere inside me and I wanted this more than anything in the world. Focusing on just one thought, I willed him to live again.
I started coughing and chocking on black slime and a pain began at the back of my skull and radiated around to my forehead.
Panic forced me back to what I knew, and I began pulling all the dirty ground magic into me. I knew and trusted ground magic and, even if it felt wrong, it was my only hope. I pulled until the slime coated my lungs then kept pulling as the brown fog moved in like waves on the ocean. It crashed over me, and when it crested again, I pushed all that magic at Roman. I forced it into his body, and he jolted with the burst of it, but he didn’t stir.
“NO!” I yelled. “Get up!”
“Lex,” Puck said softly over my shoulder.
I looked back at him and, through the fog, I witnessed the witch burning like a Christmas tree on New Year’s. My prophecy had come to life.
I looked back at Roman. This was the price I had to pay.
“I can do it, Puck. I just need more magic." I started coughing again but drew in more magic from the ground; the fog was consuming us now. Lost in a brown-grey world with Roman. The rest of the army of elves and unicorns were out of sight.
“Lex, you have to stop,” I heard Puck say, but nothing mattered anymore. Tears ran freely down my face landing on Roman’s shirt and soaking his still form. I pulled magic from everywhere. From the earth, from myself, and from the dead witch. I kept pulling until I couldn’t breathe, and a tidal wave of magic flooded towards us to fill the void I created. It was precariously close to crushing us all until I pushed all that magic into Roman.
Thunder crashed in the sky and lightning lit up the world for a brief second. I looked up and caught a glimpse of someone standing on the peak of the mountain. I knew who it was. I had seen this too.
“Helena why are you here?” I yelled over the crashing thunder. She moved towards me in stop-motion as the lightning lit her up and then darkness consumed her again.
“I’ve come to help you, Queen.”
A desperate sob wracked my body.
“Please, can you save him?”
When the next lightning flashed, she stood over me. Her hair was pulling towards the sky with static. The ends were snapping and flashing like live wires.
“It was always in the plan for you to be the queen of us all. I was holding the magic for you, waiting, but you must leave here, Lex. You can’t stay in this world. Leave and close the portal. I will clean up the mess left behind.”
I felt nauseated, spun away from Roman’s lifeless form and vomited black soot on the dead ground.
“You must not try to use the magic here, Lex. Take your love and go.”
“This is where you die?” I asked her as I wiped my face on my shirt.
The next flash of lightning displayed her saddened face and slumped shoulders.
“This is where I am reborn. Please take care of Marick,” she said softly before another burst of thunder shattered my eardrums. Everyone on the mountain cried out, and the next flash of lightning showed the elves and unicorns huddled near the dead black ground.
“Come on,” I yelled before the next thunder rumbled, shaking the mountain precariously. “Follow me.”
Puck scooped up Roman’s body and trailed me back to the crevice that led into the caves. It was too dark to run, but every time the lightning flashed we moved along faster for a moment before slowing to a safer speed. At the end of the path, past all the dead trees and plants that had thrived here before I used up the very last of the magic trying to save Roman, I glanced back and witnessed my final vision come to life.
Helena stood on the highest peak. Her crimson hair now a wild tumult wrapping around her like seaweed. She raised her arms and I felt her pull the darkness. The same dark magic I had tried to use was now racing towards her like wild horses. The thunder was hooves on the packed ground, a constant and escalating beat that warned of things to come -- of perilous things that, once started, would not stop.
I couldn’t leave until I had seen this vision through. I didn’t have to wait long because, at the last moment when it felt like the world would implode and kill us all, the lightning flashed one last time, forking through the sky and touching down, completely disintegrating Helena. She became a fine white mist that blew through the brown fog, scattering it and burning it off with its light.
The world came back into view. The clouds cleared and the sun came through. I could see the full extent of what I had done to the only place that had still been alive in this world. It was a harsh lesson and a stark reminder that my power required discipline. Taking too much was what killed two worlds and destroyed people.
“Goodbye, Helena,” I whispered, and the wind pressed against my face and down my throat, but it couldn’t reach the rotting magic I had consumed.
I followed the last of the elves through the crack in the rock and down the narrow tunnel back to the cavern we had found Aldridge in.
Sitting there, alone, was Armond. As soon as my eyes laid upon him, a sob wracked my body and I collapsed to my knees.
Armond lifted me from the ground and cradled me in his arms. He didn’t speak; he just let me cry on his chest as he followed our somber procession through the dark tunnels and out into the sunlight that waited at the bottom.
All the brown smog had been burned away by Helena’s light, but the land was still a barren, desolate place. The Hunters hadn’t gone very far, choosing to camp in the same place we had the previous night –on the other side of the plain near the rock cliffs.
We crossed the terrain at a steady pace. Armond’s long legs carried me away from the disaster at the top of the mountain. We had lost two unicorns, an elf, plus Helena and Roman.
What had Helena said? She didn’t say I couldn’t bring him back or that my magic wouldn’t do it. She said not to use the magic here and to take my love an
d go.
I rubbed my face on Armond’s chest.
“Let me down,” I said in a weak, scratchy voice. He set my feet on the ground and steadied me till I pushed away from him and strode to catch up to Puck who was still carrying Romans lifeless body. Romans arm had slipped off his chest and hung in the air, bobbing slightly with every step Puck took.
I reached over and took Romans limp fingers, holding them in my shaking hand. This wasn’t how we ended. We were going to watch old movies and laugh on the couch.
My breath hitched, but I pushed my tears back.
This couldn't be the end.
CHAPTER TEN
At the campsite, Puck laid Roman down in my tent.
“What are you doing? We have to go. Helena said I can’t stay here.”
“Yeah, but we have a lot of wounded and you can barely walk,” he replied.
“I can walk!” I shouted, but Puck just raised his hands and backed away as Armond moved in and wrapped me in his arms.
“We can wait a little while, Lex,” Armond whispered. “Have a rest and then we will go.” He prodded me towards the tent. I was exhausted. I felt weighed down by the magic that clung to me like heavy tar.
I pushed out of Armond’s arms and crawled in beside Roman. His body was cold, but I curled up under the blanket next to him and Daisy who was already sleeping on his chest. Puck stayed at the door, protecting me like always.
The warriors and hunters were sullen and quiet. Hushed whispers were the loudest sounds apart from the sobs wrenched out of me despite my determination that Roman would come back. I just had to get the hell out of this dead world and then I could save him and we would live happily ever after. Damn it. I deserved that much.
Sleep was slow to come, but when it did, it only brought terror and blood. I thrashed awake several times, my lungs burning and chest heaving, my face wet with more tears. Puck would make some sound at the door, letting me know he was still there, but he didn’t disturb my privacy.
The last time I drifted off was different, thankfully.
✽✽✽
“Lex, what’s happened?”
The forest in homeland was dark, lit only by a slight reflection of the moon. The trees were bare, and the grass crunched under my feet. What had always been a vibrant, beautiful place, was now barren and dead. It seemed fitting.
I reached out towards Luke’s voice and he pulled me into his arms. I was nearly blind in the darkness, but his warmth reminded me that I was still alive.
“Roman died,” I gasped out in a single breath. My mouth stayed open in a silent cry, my lungs empty. Saying the words out loud was much worse than sleeping beside his corpse.
Luke held me for several minutes before he spoke again.
“Margot didn’t see this coming,” he whispered. It didn’t matter if she had. I knew what was going to happen. I had felt it in my bones, and even after I knew the risks, I still had no choice but to climb the mountain and face the loss.
“I’ll bring him back,” I whispered, muffling my voice in Luke’s chest. He heard me though, and gasped.
“Is that even possible Lex?”
“Helena didn’t say it wasn’t possible. She just said to take him and get out of this world. I need more magic.”
Luke sighed. “You should come home, then. To homeland, I mean.”
He was right, my power would be stronger in my forest. Surrounded by the magic that I knew best.
“I’ll be home soon,” I said.
“Ok.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Something is wrong with our connection, Lex.”
“It must be this place. It’s awful here. I just need to get out.”
Luke hugged me tightly before the dream faded away.
✽✽✽
I woke up frozen. When I shivered, Daisy shimmied off Roman’s chest and onto mine. He nestled his head into my hair, wrapping his warm feathered neck around me, but I couldn’t stop shivering. Roman’s body was ice, and I had spent the whole night wrapped around him.
A sob wracked me when I looked at his pale face. His skin was white as a sheet now and I couldn’t pretend he was still alive. He never slept. How could I pretend?
“Puck,” I said softly, I knew he wouldn’t have left me.
His head popped into the tent flap, but his face was still sullen.
“Can you take him? I’m ready to get going. We have to get back to homeland.”
“Sure, Lex.”
I slid out of the tent with Daisy and waited until Puck had scooped up Roman and followed us out. The hunters and elves and unicorns dropped to a knee as I passed, but I ignored them. I needed to get the hell out of this place.
I sat down on a backpack and watched the hunters tear down the rest of the camp. Armond shoved some toast and coffee in my hands, but my stomach was all acid. Nothing tasted right. I glanced over at Roman in Puck's arms every few minutes, but I felt numb. It was like watching a movie. I felt removed from the situation somehow.
When the hunters gathered in front of me and dropped to a knee again, I snapped back to reality.
“Why are you doing that?” I questioned.
“Because you are our queen and we are ready to do whatever you ask of us,” Armond replied for all of them.
I considered that for a minute before sighing and gathering my resolve.
“Ok, then let’s get the fuck out of here. I’m going to make a portal,” I said, standing up and walking a little farther from the hunters.
Just like I had done in the elves’ hidden city, I pictured a tall white door with inset panels. I wanted it to take me back to homeland, to Luke and Evan. They would be able to help me. I concentrated on the feeling of homeland, the scents and sounds. I pushed on my magic to take me there.
But, instead of a warm brush of magic, I felt an axe split through my mind. I screamed and crashed to my knees as bright lights flashed across my vision. I heard yelling and felt strong arms pick me up as I struggled to regain the breath that had been knocked out of me.
I started coughing and then heaving. More of the same black goo I sprayed all over the mountaintop came up from my stomach, coating the packed dirt. I was tipped forward in the arms that held me. The violent force of the filth leaving my body reverberated through my fractured skull like a gong. It was Armond who held me together until I began to finally feel my lungs expand and contract in an exaggerated but slowing rhythm.
My vision was blurred, but I turned into Armond’s broad chest. I didn’t need to be able to see to know it was him who picked me up. The voices around me calmed until there was nothing above a plaintive whisper.
Finally, Armond’s voice rumbled. “Get everyone moving. We are going to walk out of here.”
The world tipped sideways as he stood and began walking through the desert with me in his arms. Things had been so overwhelming, that I didn’t try to get free. I just lay in his arms and let him carry me.
Armond kept glancing down at me. I knew he was expecting me to get my shit together at any moment, but I was having a bit of a pity party and I didn’t want to be strong. I wanted Roman.
I let myself sink deeper into the dark thoughts. Closing my eyes against the sun. I wanted the brown clouds back because they matched my heart. I had given up everything, for what?
I looked around until I saw him. Aldridge. He was alive and walking away from the witch who held him captive for all this time. He was thin, but he wasn’t dead. He benefitted a lot from the sacrifice. So had all the shifters of his land. They had their new king. The Elves and the Unicorns, they benefitted too. They were reunited. They didn’t have to live apart anymore.
I glanced over to Puck, carrying Roman. What if I never got him back?
The price was too high.
Deep in thought, I realized Armond had stopped walking. It was dusk now, and the hunters and elves were setting up camp.
I had lost time. I pushed a bit at my magic, but the splitting headache that followed assured me it wasn�
��t my magic that had made me lose the hours of daylight.
“Armond,” I whispered as he sat down with me on his lap.
“Yes, Lex?”
I wasn’t sure if I was lost in thought all day or if magic was at play. Did it matter? After all, things could be worse.
“Never mind,” I mumbled, pushing off his chest and standing up. I wobbled, and Armond steadied me till I got my feet back under me. I started walking towards the tent, but his voice had me turning around.
“You need to eat something, Lex.”
I looked at his face for the first time since I came down off that mountaintop. He looked older. Ragged. Probably didn’t help that he carried me all damn day.
I gave him a weak smile then crawled into the tent and lay down.
A moment later, loud quacking proceeded a flurry of feathers as Daisy angrily flapped into my tent.
I put my arm over my face to keep from getting an eye poked out. He bit my arm savagely. Well as savage as a duck can bite, but it still fucking hurt.
“Ow, Daisy, what is wrong with you?”
He narrowed his eyes, lowered his head and snaked towards me like a wolf coming in for the kill.
I slid out of the tent and stood up ready to kick his ass if he tried to bite me again, but he came strutting out of the tent like he had fought a great battle and won.
“What is your problem?” I yelled at him before realizing I was yelling at a duck. A throat cleared behind me and I turned to find Puck and the rest of the army staring at me.
“Did you send him in there to bite me?” I asked harshly.
“We need a leader right now, Lex. We need a queen.” Puck apparently had no sense of self-preservation. The hunters and elves had all taken a knee. Only Puck stood before me, a target for my impotent rage.
“Well, that’s too fucking bad cause I’ve already given you everything!” I yelled back at Puck who shifted into a unicorn and took a step back. All the unicorns had shifted, but the rest were bowing, their horns touching the ground. Still, Puck stood.