Crown of Visions

by R. A. Rock

  Tess was facing the wall so she wouldn’t have to look at anyone. Her hands were bare of any useful magical rings — her pockets empty. The guards had taken everything from them except their clothes.

  Finn, Nat, and Izzie were all locked up in the other cells. Basically, anyone who had helped Tessa or Finn had been arrested.

  Tessa wondered about Solvi and the children. It made her sick to her stomach to think that they might have been dragged into all this.

  There was complete silence from the other prisoners, and for now, that was fine. They were going to be imprisoned a long time. Eventually, they would start to speak. Then the recriminations would begin, no doubt. So for now, Tess was happy with the quiet.

  Of course, that meant you could hear the rustling very clearly. The rats, mice, and other rodents that lived in the dungeons were on the prowl. There were several malfunctioning luminescence orbs that kept the place in a state of perpetual dusk.

  That meant you couldn’t see what was on the floor, which was probably for the best. It also meant that it was harder to see the rats and the bugs before they climbed on you. Not the best.

  Tess tried not to think of her surroundings. If she thought about how awful this place was, then she would completely lose it. And things were bad enough without her going crazy.

  There was a sudden loud creak as the door to the cell block was opened. Tess turned around to see which guard it was and whether they could expect mercy or mistreatment.

  It was Ransetta.

  The others turned, wary expressions on all their faces. They were probably guessing that the Dark Queen never came down to the dungeons. And they were right. In all the time she had been Captain of the Guard, the queen had never gone down into the dungeons. That was what her minions were for.

  “Callahan,” the queen said, wrinkling her nose as she stepped over a pile of something. She stopped in front of Tessa’s cell.

  “What do you want?” Tess said, not bothering with either her proper title or manners.

  “I want to offer you a deal. I need the Unity blades and the amulet as soon as possible, and I don’t want to wait to torture you until the Ball has ended and the Truce spell is gone.”

  “But we can't get the blades from our Otherworld sheaths,” Finn protested. "You designed the spell. You know there are wards."

  “I designed the spell," the queen said, never taking her eyes off Tessa. "There are ways.”

  Tess didn’t say anything.

  “I have something of value that I am willing to trade for the magical objects.”

  “No,” Tess said, without waiting to hear the terms. “I will not give them to you.”

  “You don’t want to hear what I’m offering?” the Dark Queen said, and with a wave of her hand, an image appeared in the air where everyone could see. It was Solvi, Pierce, and Evie.

  They were in the wyrm tunnels, but there were bars keeping them in one section, so they couldn’t run away. Solvi had her arms around the children and was hugging them tightly, looking confused and scared. The little ones had their faces buried. Finn jumped to his feet and grabbed the bars, fury radiating from him.

  “Let them go,” he shouted at the Dark Queen. “I’ll kill you.”

  “You certainly seem to want to,” she said, eyeing him with curiosity. “I wonder why that is.”

  Then she waved her hand as if it was no matter.

  “Whatever,” she said, smiling at Tess. “I have Noble’s sister and her kids. They’re in my wyrm tunnel prison, which means that at any time, the wyrm could come by and suck every last drop of Starlight from their pretty little fragile physical forms.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Tess said, aghast.

  “Callahan, you know me well enough by now. I certainly would. Look, I already have. They’re down there.”

  “It could be an illusion.”

  “You know it’s not.”

  “Prove it,” Finn said.

  “Fine,” the queen said, seeming bored. “Ask her something that an illusion I created wouldn’t know.”

  “Solvi,” Finn yelled, and Solvi looked around as if searching for the source of his voice.

  “Finn?”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No, we’re good,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m going to get you out of there. Don’t worry.”

  She nodded.

  “Remember where we used to hide when we got in trouble with Grandfather?” he said.

  She frowned. “Why are you asking that?”

  “Just answer the question, Solvi.”

  “We’d turn into our small form and go hide in the rabbit burrows.” She smiled fondly. “He never thought to look there.”

  “It’s her,” Finn said, turning serious eyes on Tess.

  “That’s right. It’s her.” The queen made it so that Solvi and the kids were only an image again, no sound. “Now… the deal.”

  “We’ll take it,” Finn said. “Of course, we’ll take it. We’ll give you whatever you want. Just free my family, please.”

  The queen shook her index finger. “Sorry, Noble. The deal’s not for you. Though I will take your Unity Blades as well.”

  “Tess?” he said.

  But Tess didn’t want to look at him. She was troubled.

  “The deal, Tessa, is all the blades and the amulet in exchange for the release of Finn’s sister and the children.”

  “Of course, she agrees,” Finn said immediately, the fear in his eyes making Tessa’s guts clench. “Right, Tess?”

  “You’ve been terribly quiet, Tessa,” the Dark Queen said. “Do you accept the deal or not? The magical objects for Finn’s family’s lives.”

  When Tess still didn’t answer, the queen goaded her.

  “You’re Light Fae, surely there is no choice in this situation?”

  “Tess,” Finn said, starting to look frantic. “Promise her the blades and the amulet. Please. The wyrm could come at any moment.”

  “Well, Tessa? What do you say? Will you give me the objects, and I’ll spare his family?”

  “No,” Tess said, her voice hard as the stone walls of the dungeons. “No deal.”

  Finn gazed at the woman he loved and wondered if he had heard right. There was no choice, as the queen had said. Tess had to take the deal and exchange the magical objects for his family.

  “What?” he said. “What do you mean? You have to give her the blades and the amulet, Tess.”

  Tess shook her head, her eyes full of tears.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not? Just say yes. It’s easy.”’

  “Finn, I won’t let anything happen to your family.”

  “You can’t promise that,” he said, shaking his head. “You can’t promise that. The wyrm could come at any time. It’s already killed—”

  “Finn, they’re not going to get killed. I swear, I’ll get them out of there somehow. And I can’t give the queen the amulet and the blades. It will make her immensely powerful. Plus, we won’t have what we need to end the Severance.”

  “Tess, are you serious?”

  “I am, Finn. I can’t give them to her.”

  He stumbled backward until he hit the damp wall. All this time, he had thought that Tess had been playing a role when she was Captain of the Guard. But she wasn’t. She was that hard, cold person when she wanted to be. The kind of person who could put the good of the realm over three small lives.

  “I don’t even know who you are,” he said, putting his hand over his face to hide his tears.

  “Finn, you do. Of course you do.”

  “No. The Tess I thought I knew would never do something like this.”

  “Finn,” Tess said, her voice breaking. “She won’t keep her word anyway. There’s no use making deals with her.”

  “You could make a palm vow with her.”

  “No, I can’t. The good of Ahlenerra is more important than three lives, and I promise I’ll save them.”

  �
�This is a mistake, Callahan,” the queen said. “You will regret it. Or, well, Finn will when his family dies.”

  Finn stared at Tessa, completely destroyed. She was a prisoner of the Dark Queen and she couldn’t save his family. It was a completely empty promise. He understood on an intellectual level that maybe she was making the right choice for the greater good. But on a visceral level, he was gutted. She was sacrificing his family. That was what it came down to. She was willing to sacrifice his sister and her children.

  He just couldn’t believe it. Tess had betrayed him. She was not the woman he thought she was. He had never felt so wretched in his whole life.

  “I’m going to go save them now,” Tess whispered to Finn as soon as the Dark Queen left. He didn’t look at her.

  Tess thought in her mind. Perdira, I need you to push aside the wards so I can get my blades from the Otherworld sheath.

  She tried to pull her blades. Nothing happened.

  Please, Perdira.

  All Tess heard was faint laughter in response.

  Please, I made a promise to Finn. I have to keep it.

  Not my problem, Tessa, came Perdira's voice in her mind.

  "No," Tess cried out loud in despair.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” Tess said, trying again and again to pull the blades. “I had a plan. Perdira was going to move the wards aside. And I was going to make a portal and go to them. I was going to…”

  "And you thought Perdira would help?" Finn said, his eyes empty. "That's how you thought you would save my family? Depending on a trickster Fae with more time than conscience?"

  "She helped before."

  "Because she has an agenda. Not because she cares."

  Tess slid down the wall and buried her head in her arms, as the enormity of what she had done hit her. She had sacrificed Finn’s family. And he would never forgive her.

  The lack of light in the dungeons was getting to Tess. The cells were just dim enough that you couldn’t properly see anything. But it was enough that you were well aware of the squalor of your surroundings.

  Tessa sat on the putrid mess of a floor, not caring about how dirty it was.

  She had failed.

  She had lost everything that mattered. The Scroll of Severance. The Crown of Visions. The ring Izzie had given her. And she had lost Finn. Not only that, but she had allowed him to be captured by the Dark Queen and the King. And Solvi and the children, who knew what was happening to them? She could have saved them, and she had chosen not to. It made her want to vomit more than the rotting carcasses on the floor of the dungeon.

  Tess was officially a complete and utter failure.

  More so than she had ever been when she had only been a pretty face in the Light Court. Back then, at least she could say that she hadn’t tried, so there had still been a chance that she might end up a success. But not anymore.

  She had tried her best.

  She had done everything she could.

  And it hadn’t been enough.

  She had failed Finn.

  Nat and Izzie were in jail for no other reason but that they had helped her.

  It was a disaster of epic proportions. And there was nothing she could do about it.

  But even more terrible was that she had been the only hope of ending the Severance, and now that hope was gone. She had failed all the Fae of Ahlenerra. Tessa had so wanted to free them all. To do this great, amazing thing. But she had been a fool to think she could. To think that she was enough to accomplish such a feat.

  All the confidence she had felt when she was confronting the King and Dark Queen drizzled away. She had thought what she was saying was true. That she really could do it, simply because she had made the King and Dark Queen uncomfortable? It was ridiculous.

  Now she sat there in filth and darkness, and she understood what her life would be from now on. It would be discomfort. It would be disgusting creatures crawling on her at night. It would be these walls and bars. It would be pain of all kinds. Hurt. Aches. Agony. Mental anguish. You name it, and Ransetta would inflict it.

  Until the end when she would force Tessa to watch Finn die. The old crone had done it to Tess before and she would do it again.

  Tess glanced around her. Her friends were either sitting or lying on the filthy stones. No one spoke. No one looked at each other. And especially no one looked at Tess.

  She had done this.

  She had brought them all here.

  She had brought this down upon them.

  It was her nightmare made real.

  Tess wondered if the queen had planned it that way when she had come to Tess in the dream. She was devious enough to have done it. It didn’t matter either way. She was living a nightmare, and she knew she would never wake up. Not until she was dead.

  Tess finally fell asleep sitting up. She didn’t dare lie down on the floor where all sorts of bugs and some small animals ran. She had lived in rough conditions before, but this? This was another level.

  When she woke up, she felt so stiff she could hardly unfold herself from where she sat. She got woodenly to her feet and stretched. Then she paced back and forth.

  When she felt limber enough, she began doing the basic calisthenic routine that all soldiers in the guard learned their first day. It could be done in a small space and would ensure that all muscle groups remained strong. There was also a component of it that would make the heart strong, and it finished off with stretching the now warmed muscles. She could feel eyes on her, but she didn’t look to see who was watching.

  When she had finished, she continued pacing in her cell, unable to sit down and accept her fate, but also unable to do anything about it. The waiting was killing her. And the Dark Queen knew that, so likely she would be waiting a lot more in the near future.

  It’s the day of the Hundred Years Ball, Tess thought. It made her sick to her stomach to realize that she had thought it would dawn triumphant for her race, a new start. Not like this.

  “Are you done?” came an annoyed voice from the dimness.

  “Yes,” she answered, recognizing it as Finn’s.

  “Good, because some of us are trying to wallow in our misery here, and your activity is annoying.”

  Tess wasn’t sure how to answer that. So she ignored it, just glad that he was talking to her.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  “Hurt,” Finn said, as if he were considering the question deeply. “Well, I’ve been captured by my worst enemy. My family is in grave peril. The quest that I was on has suddenly come to a dismal end without me accomplishing the goal. And the woman I’m Joined with betrayed me.”

  Tess felt as though he had slapped her.

  “Oh, and I made a magical vow that’s killing me. There’s that too.”

  It was silent for a long time. Tess didn’t dare say a word. But then Finn spoke again, quiet and disheartened.

  “And everything we’ve been working for, all the time we’ve spent, all the pain we’ve already been through has been for nothing.”

  He paused, but Tess could tell he wasn’t done listing off his ailments, so she stayed silent.

  “And it’s all your fault.”

  The last words were like an arrow through Tessa’s heart. She put her hand to her chest as if he had actually hit her there. Her breath came erratically as she tried to process his cruel words.

  “So, yeah. I’m hurt. Though I’d say that’s the understatement of the century.”

  “How is it all my fault?” she managed to gasp out. “Some of it, yes, but—”

  “Because you got caught,” he said, spitting the words at her like they were stones he was throwing. “You know better than that, Tessa. If you were out there, we would still have a chance.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t take that deal. At least my sister and her family could be safe.”

  Tess wanted to cry. Her legs felt shaky and weak from his accusations, but she walked over to the bars they shared and sat down
as close as she could get to him. He was leaning against them in the corner, and he shifted slightly so he could see her.

  “The only consolation is that you still have the Unity Blades, the amulet, and the Scroll in the Otherworld sheath,” he said. “And the crown is still safe in the Keeper’s quarters. There’s not much hope of us using them. But at least Ransetta doesn’t have them.”

  Tess swallowed a lump in her throat. Shadows take her, but this was possibly the worst day of her life.

  “It’s worse than you think,” she said, barely holding it together. There was a silence.

  “How. Could. It. Possibly. Be worse, Tessa?” He emphasized every word.

  She swallowed hard. Tess didn’t want to tell him, but one thing she had never been was a coward.

  “The King and Dark Queen have the Scroll and the crown.”

  “What?” he said, sitting up sharply. “How can that be?”

  “Finn, please,” she begged. “When I saw you were caught, I knew that the Dark Queen would use you against me. I knew that she would force me to give up everything. I knew I had to read the Scroll before that happened. It was our only chance.”

  "But how did you get it out of the Otherworld sheath?"

  "Perdira helped me."

  “I can't believe it,” he said, his voice dead of all emotion. “We’ve lost our only chance. That’s for certain.”

  “Finn,” she said, feeling horrible.

  “Didn’t you use the ring?”

  “Yes, but I had to rematerialize to read it.”

  “And I suppose they just walked in on you.”

  “Yes,” she said miserably.

  “But how did they get into the Keeper’s quarters? How did they find you?”

  Tess was a wreck already, but it seemed there was no end to how badly she could feel.

  The choice had seemed to make sense at the time. But now that she thought about it, how could she have been so stupid? Her judgment had been clouded by her emotions. That was for sure. But that was no excuse. There was no excuse for this.