Fury Convergence

by Chrysoula Tzavelas

  “You selfish little bitch,” said Axis, his mouth twisting horribly. “Centri was right. We shouldn’t ever let you get out of infancy.”

  “And yet you do,” said Summer sweetly. “And for the stupidest of reasons. You think I’ll ever want you? You think I’ll want any of you after all these years?” She laughed as she tumbled off the bed and hid behind Branwyn.

  Axis scrambled over the huge bed after her and Branwyn backed up, shoving the Queen behind her. “See that blood on my arm, Summer? You really want Sev to die because you’re enjoying the show?”

  The Queen actually thought about it. “I want him to kill Axis and Centri for me. But I guess I can have somebody deal with the others. Whirl! Sola! Dawn!”

  “Yes,” said Severin, appearing on the bed behind Axis. “They’re the ones I want to kill, too.” He caught Axis in the drapery and yanked him back on the bed, tangling him in bedding. The black diamond aura suddenly compressed down to encompass just Axis, and the Queen gasped as its influence faded. Then Severin was sitting on Axis’s chest, leaning close to him, pressing down hard on his mouth and nose while talking to him. Summer leaned around Branwyn to watch, and Branwyn got out of her way, too numb to be horrified.

  Three other faeries had appeared in the room: Whirl, one of the musicians she’d seen earlier and the towel guy. There were only two other knights left standing; all three faeries closed on one of them, leaving Centri standing alone in the center of the room.

  Outside the window, something roared.

  Branwyn’s head swiveled to the window and then the enchanted mirror. The red flames of the beast of fire and thorns were shockingly close, and it was moving fast.

  Did it want them? Why? Branwyn’s gaze went to Rhianna, crouched low and watching Centri. She thought of that first pulse of energy that had rippled through Faerie. She didn’t understand. But there was no time right now to understand.

  Centri’s sword clattered to the floor. “It doesn’t matter,” he said to the three loyal faeries holding his companion. “Soon that beast will tear down the Court, swallow the Queen, and scatter the children of Harvest. One way or another we’ll be starting over again.”

  The musician shrugged. “It’s the way of things.”

  “Then we should embrace it,” snarled Centri. “Control it! This weakness will destroy us now the Covenant no longer protects us.”

  Severin hopped off the bed, leaving a motionless, fading figure behind him. Rhianna skittered out of his way, still low to the ground as Severin said, “You’ve already let your weakness destroy you, boyo. Centri the Wise. Centri the fool.”

  “You,” spat Centri, reaching for his sword only to discover he’d already dropped it. Severin’s aura glittered around them.

  “Me.” Severin leaned forward. “You want strength, you want power, you want control, all for your people, but you won’t take her place. But of course you can’t do that. You’re too weak, and you’d rather bitch and whine than grow. You’ve actually convinced yourself your fear means something. You’re a waste of my energy and hers.” He picked up Centri’s sword and offered it back to him. “If you had a drop of courage or loyalty, you would still be fighting that beast, fighting until the dawn when your people would be safe. And if you were worthy, you’d respect the sacrifice she made just so you can play. But you’re treacherous trash and all you can do is demand more, more, more.” He closed Centri’s fingers around the sword.

  Dread emerged from Branwyn’s numbness. “Severin,” she whispered, and didn’t realize it until he paused.

  “Think about that a minute, will you?” Severin said, then turned and strolled over to Branwyn. His body language was smooth and calm, but his eyes were savage. He stopped in front of Branwyn, put his hands on her hips, and pulled her body hard against his. His voice in her ear said, This time I am going to finish the job, cupcake, unless you feel like it’s worth the price to stop me.

  Branwyn caught her breath and then shook her head. She hadn’t meant to say his name at all. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to do what he was doing… but she wasn’t his regulator. She wasn’t his leash.

  His fingers loosened on her hips but he didn’t move from where he stood between her and Centri, except to turn his head. “So,” he said conversationally, and everybody in the room stood as if spellbound. “No courage. No loyalty. But if you’ve got even a drop of strength in you, Centri, you know what you need to do. Do it right, and your precious Queen might even let you live again someday. Or you can leave it to me, like she wants. It’ll take a while but eventually you won’t have to worry about anything, ever again.” He paused, then added, “Oh yes. You’re more afraid of that than anything else, aren’t you.”

  Branwyn twisted so she could see around Severin. The black diamond aura buzzed distantly as Centri stared at his sword, then placed the point under his chin.

  If you really want to watch… Severin whispered.

  She looked at him instead, at the shape of his profile as he kept his own gaze on the faerie knight. Quietly, she said, “Breaking them didn’t work like you hoped, did it?”

  His jaw tightened as there was a soft, wet sound behind him. “No,” he said, and nothing else.

  “Is it over?” asked Rhianna, her voice high. “Can I open my eyes?”

  “That was amazing,” said Summer, clapping her hands. “I loved it. Thank you so much for coming to help me, Whirl and Sola and Dawn! Take that jerk away and I’ll deal with him—”

  Something red filled the window, and slammed into the high bloom of the Summer Court. The whole structure swayed. Summer went tumbling across bodies that sparkled out of existence until she was caught by the musician. Whirl held her hands up and the furniture stopped flying. Rhianna slid across the floor, grabbing at her scattered clothes. Severin, annoying jerk, kept his balance, even when Branwyn clutched at him.

  Sola the towel guy pushed the remaining knight into Dawn’s hands and said, “Now it is time to go down to the caves, Your Majesty.”

  Summer looked thoughtful. “I… don’t think so? I think we can come up with more fun things to do.” The loud roar made her cover her ears, but she grinned wildly. “I’m sure we can. We can run around outside. I’m sure if we ride we’d be faster than it. Our unicorns are really fast.”

  Branwyn stared at her in dismay. “Summer—”

  Summer gave her a sulky look. “It’s barely halfway through the eight hours, guys.”

  The bloom swayed again and Branwyn pushed Severin away, saying irritably, “Do something about the way you smell. Summer, this has been a great—” The bloom swayed a third time.

  Whirl sighed and left the room. Her magic remained, keeping the furniture fixed where she’d first caught it. Dawn left, too, hauling the shattered-looking knight behind him. Only Sola remained, looking at Summer with a desperate, pleading look.

  Rhianna, stuffing her feet into her socks, said, “It’s your turn, Branwyn.”

  Branwyn stared at her. “I’ll get dressed…”

  “No,” said Rhianna, looking irritated. “It’s your turn.”

  Branwyn blinked. Then, understanding, she looked at Summer, staring at the beast outside the window with a sort of horrified glee. “Truth or dare, Summer.”

  “Dare,” said Summer instantly.

  It was her third dare, but Branwyn decided it wasn’t her responsibility to point that out. Instead, she said firmly, “Summer, I dare you to save your people and let us go.”

  16

  The Saint's Way

  Summer stared at her, a line appearing between her eyebrows. There was a protracted moment of silence, interrupted by another beastly roar. Then she gave a wry, old smile. “That’s pretty good.”

  And suddenly she was the wildly enthusiastic teenager again. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “Come on, get dressed, hurry up, we have to go. Night won’t stay long now that I’ve released her and I need you guys out of here before the children of Harvest come out and get stepped on!�
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  Rhianna rolled to Branwyn with her clothes and offered them. As Branwyn scrambled into them and sat to put on her shoes, Rhianna said softly, “I would have gone with ‘end this night’ but you went for the emotional appeal. Pretty good…”

  Branwyn gave her a narrow look as she tied her shoes. “Thanks.”

  “Come on, come on!” Summer tossed their bags at them, then Branwyn’s rejected sketch starts. “Don’t leave anything here!” A moment later they were on their feet and following Summer and Sola along the Court hall. Severin stayed behind, looking out the window at the beast, but Branwyn wasn’t exactly worried about him catching up.

  They hurried through the hall, descended three ramps, and stopped at the elevators. “Should we take the stairs?” Rhianna asked.

  “Are you kidding?” said Branwyn. “Only if we have to, and we might be better off just jumping.”

  “These… should work?” said Summer. She frowned and winced, then stomped her foot. “Argh! Sola, fix it!”

  Sola touched the elevator as well, then shook his head. “No. The Queen of Stone’s handmaiden has pulled a small portion of her Domain here to protect the Queen’s son, and it’s disrupting the elevators.”

  “Can’t blame her for that…” muttered Summer. “Um. Sola? Please? Help us down to the Saint’s cave?”

  “Of course, Your Majesty,” said the towel faerie. “If you would let me bear you… and if you two ladies would tightly take my arms…”

  This quickly arranged, Sola leaned forward and plummeted off the empty elevator shaft. Fluffy white wings burst from his shoulders, catching and braking them. Branwyn decided that once again, she didn’t really need to watch, and closed her eyes and pretended she was on an amusement park ride until her feet touched rough ground.

  Somehow, they were underground, in a beautifully lit crystalline cave covered with hanging moss and embraced by giant tree roots. There was an opening ahead of them shaped more by root than stone, with a white sand floor.

  Sola gently deposited the Queen as his wings dissolved into blowing feathers. Summer caught one, pressed it to her mouth, and smiled at him before turning to Branwyn and Rhianna. “This is the shortcut I mentioned. Um… where’s Sev? I think he should be here. You’re going to be traveling somewhere beyond my Domain and it’s improper for him to be cutting in as his first entrance.”

  Branwyn gritted her teeth and said, “Severin.” She felt him behind her, but once again had to rely on the expressions of others to determine that he wasn’t really there.

  Why are you so trying? he whispered, breathing into her loose hair like he had at the Court of Stone.

  “Come here,” she snapped. Summer’s eyes widened and Severin’s arms slid around Branwyn’s waist. Then he released her and stepped away. His clothes were clean and there was an aging scab on his cheek.

  “So who has the kids, Summer?” asked Rhianna.

  Summer dragged her eyes away from Severin. “Right. Um, I have a faeling… do you know what a faeling is? They’re like changelings, except only my sisters and I can make them. They can’t be unbound or unmade, so of course they’re super annoying, and basically do whatever they want. I made this one a very long time ago and he hardly ever visits me, the jerk. But he really cares about kids. When I realized Gale was about to go postal, I felt bad for the little girl, so I told the Saint. Then he rescued her and the rest of them. He was so mad at me, and Gale, and that whole town.” Summer shrugged. “He’s mad a lot, though so no surprise there. Anyhow… let’s go into the cave.”

  It wasn’t sand on the floor of the cave beyond, but snow, and in the center of the sparkling snow was a mirror-like pool. Summer waved a hand. “So… yeah. That’s the shortcut. Jump in there and you’ll come out in the Saint’s March. You’ll have to figure things out from there yourself. As I said, he was really mad. It might not be easy.” She glanced between Branwyn and Rhianna. “I bet you’ll do it, though.” She grinned. “I dare you to.”

  Gravely, Rhianna said, “Thank you. I hope we can keep in touch somehow after this.”

  “Me too,” said Summer enthusiastically. “I want another party, with more people!”

  “Uh, yeah,” said Branwyn. “Are you going to be okay with your Court? Things got kind of… disturbing up there.”

  Summer shrugged. “It’ll work out. It always does. Thanks for caring, Branwyn. And thanks for the picture.”

  “Sure,” said Branwyn. She shifted her weight, uncomfortable, and then dug out her hair tie and pulled her hair back. “Uh. Yeah. Have I mentioned I hate long goodbyes?”

  “Right,” said Summer. She looked at Severin with her lashes veiling her eyes and said shyly, “It was really nice meeting you, Sev.” She held out her hand.

  Severin gave her one of his inscrutable looks, then ruffled her hair. “You’re a cute kid. Want to know a secret?”

  Summer nodded, eyes bright. He bent to her ear and started whispering. After a moment, as the whispering continued, Summer’s gaze focused on Branwyn. She nodded occasionally, her eyes getting wider and wider. Finally, he stopped, and she said, “That’s actually… kind of scary.”

  Severin nodded too-enthusiastic agreement. “Isn’t it?”

  “Thank you for telling me, though.” Summer took a deep breath. “Okay. Oh. I’m sorry about this, but jumping into the Saint’s Way is going to hurt a lot. Nothing gets damaged, but… it’s the price he set.” She hesitated. “Okay, I’m going so you don’t feel pressured. But dawn’s going to be here soon, so… don’t take too long.”

  Then she ran out of the room, vanishing behind Sola’s back in the other chamber.

  “Severin…” said Branwyn in a voice like a thin wire. “What did you tell her?”

  “I did say it was a secret.” He glanced at her, grinned and added, “I don’t really need a faerie queen as a stalker, cupcake.”

  “It was something about me, wasn’t it?” she demanded.

  “Why would something about you make her stop stalking me?” He paused, raising an eyebrow to see if Branwyn wanted to answer.

  At that point, Rhianna pushed them both into the pool.

  They sank into the pool together as Rhianna jumped in after them. It was dark, it was cold, and it was painful, but it wasn’t wet, or drowning. They floated down, Branwyn’s eyes fluttering closed.

  It really did ache, but after passing through the belly of Death and trying to fry her brain by working magic around a faerie queen, the cold pouring through her skin like a thousand piercing needles was… exhausting more than anything else. Not something she’d sign up for at the spa, that was for sure. But she was going… to save… some kids…. And maybe sleep…

  Ice crystals grew out of her, tiny and sharp, and she raised her hand to look at them wonderingly. She breathed on it. They melted instantly, and the darkness exploded into white.

  She fell to her knees in a snowy field at the base of a tall cliff that loomed out over her. It was as bright as day, but the sky was the old blue of a polar twilight. Rhianna sat beside her with a thump while Severin came down in a crouch.

  “I should have asked how far we were traveling,” said Branwyn. “I should have asked how much time we had before the beast caught up again.”

  “She would have just said she didn’t know,” said Rhianna. “I’m not sure she could know. Didn’t that faerie say that the handmaiden had brought the Domain of Stone within the Summer Court?” She poked the snow. “We should have gotten coats from Whirl. That’s what we should have done.”

  Branwyn pushed herself to her feet, then noticed Severin was still crouching. She brushed her fingers over his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  His shoulders tightened under her fingers and she pulled her hand away sharply. “I don’t like this.”

  “What?” queried Rhianna.

  “This snow. This climate. How there’s nothing here.” He gave them both a dark look. “You’re both half-dead already.” He stood up, wrapped his hand around the back of Br
anwyn’s neck and tugged her to him. Before she could squirm away, his mouth dropped onto her forehead, right at her hairline, and the flashing coolness and warmth she remembered from when he’d healed her broken arm sank into her head and neck.

  Then he released her, while her brain was still buzzing with the strange feeling of regeneration, and reached out for Rhianna. “I can’t do as much for you.”

  Rhianna stepped forward willingly and submitted to Severin brushing her forehead with his lips. Her glint didn’t change but her cheeks acquired a healthier color. She said, “What about you? You’ve been… exerting yourself more than I’ve ever seen Umbriel do.”

  Severin said impassively, “Your angel’s spent the last few millennia kicking back in Heaven. I doubt he’s focused much on designing or repairing his vessels. I’m sure he hasn’t dedicated time learning to kill his brothers.” He looked up into the sky. “Those knights were barely more than changelings, for all their dreamborn nature. Not much power, no tricks to extend what they had. Too long pretending to be other than they were. If Summer’s Saint is on her level rather than theirs…” He trailed off before finally saying, “Don’t expect him to go down easily.”

  “Talking is our plan A, plan B, plan C and plan D,” said Rhianna. “It’s not until plan E that we start with the violence, and that requires paperwork in triplicate.”

  Puzzled, Branwyn said, “I thought Summer had even less power than her knights, except that binding thing.”

  Severin gave her a thoughtful glance. “She’s got almost as much power as the Queen of Stone. She just can’t use it. I couldn’t see why.”

  “It hurts her,” said Rhianna quietly. “I’m cold. We might as well move.”

  “It’s all very well to say let’s move in a dramatic voice,” said Branwyn a few moments later, “but do we have any reason to be walking this direction in particular?”

  “Because if we need to walk along the cliff wall or climb it, we won’t be able to see that while it’s hanging over us like that,” said Rhianna patiently. “And Griff didn’t say he saw an empty snowfield. So this is the best direction to go.”