Once inside the dungeons, we had discovered an existing escape route. It appeared someone had already escaped out that way before. I led everyone through the short tunnel, and out into an area that once used to be a stunning courtyard filled with fountains, flowers and statues. A stone garden, used for gatherings and announcements but now it, too, was filled with black ash, withering flowers and the remains of the previous guards. Yet, something pulled me back, a sound. I let the others go and found Legentium moving through the shadows, looking lost. I couldn’t believe it, it was almost too easy.
“This way, sir!” I yelled for him.
He just moaned, acting all confused, so I pulled him by his arm. He stumbled, like an old man bent on alcohol.
“Where are you taking me? Have you found a way out?” he asked.
“Yes, now come on, we have to get out of here before they come back.”
Legentium seemed to think about it for a while, his gray brows furrowed into a thick knot between his eyes.
“They have not left,” he said, solemnly.
We moved through skeletal bushes, our feet grinding on dry leaves and branches on the gray cobble floors. I followed the voices and shuffles to find Maya leaning Rion against a broken tree stump, her denims torn on one leg, but I was relieved to find she had not drawn blood. The queens knew of her, and would surely be searching for her as soon as they recovered. My eyes were steady on Tatos as he tried to readjust his grip on his bow. “Someone used it,” he said.
“I did. I had to,” Maya confirmed.
He groaned, sweat glistening over his entire body.
“He is burning up,” Anaya said, leaning away from him and helping Dad get to his feet.
“Have you found my daughter?” Legentium asked. The further away we got from the dungeons, the more ‘sober’ he seemed to get.
Anaya swirled around and shocked, said, “Where in Poseidon’s name did you find…”
“He was lurking in the dungeons,” I said, pulling Dad to stand from a crumbling, wooden bench near a dilapidated fountain beneath a tree.
“Come.” Anaya motioned, upon finding a crack wide enough for us to climb through. It had previously been concealed by a gigantic tree. As we pushed the others through, leaves unhinged, falling like splintered fossils to the parched and protruding tree roots, like fingers trying to pry loose from the dried lands. We climbed straight through, and found ourselves in the Night Forest. The dark, clawing forest almost completely surrounded one side of the castle’s walls.
“This is how I escaped the first time,” Legentium claimed from beside me. “But I went back for Farrow.” His face twisted. “She is gone to me now.” He looked back the way we had come.
“We’re going to need horses to get us out in time,” he suggested.
“Horses?” This from Maya. “Look around you, there is nothing here but lurking creatures.”
“Those creatures, my dear, used to be people.” Legentium pulled back, his brown eyes hardening, color flooding back. He took a breath, as if suddenly free from a chain which had bound him. “Your young warriors have been siren called, I see,” he said, shaking his head. “They have only a few days.”
“A few days!” Maya shrieked.
“Theirs is an old magic at work here. I have not all the answers, or cures either. I, too, have fallen in its traps,” he said to her, showing a huge bloody gash on the side of his head.
Maya swallowed, her blue eyes finding his, searching for hope. “But… you look better than...”
“A few moments ago, no. I am afraid the very walls are laced with the hypnotizing scent. But for me, and for Anaya, we are more resilient in most ways; we are Pures after all.”
“What about David?” Maya was grasping.
“What about me? I am the man,” he said teasingly, flexing his muscles and arching eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes, which were brimming with tears. Rion and Tatos had been more affected than the others. It did not sit well with her at all.
A sudden rustle in the bushes had us on alert. “We need to move,” I said.
Anaya and Legentium exchanged a warm hug before his tall, slender body leaned over me to assist with my father, the smell emitting from his clothes and hair was a potent confirmation he had been a prisoner for months, if not longer.
“Can you heal my father?” I asked him.
“Yes, but not here, we have to get somewhere outside of the Curse’s reach. Our power gives them power.”
“Is there anything they cannot do?” David asked, wiping his blonde hair from his forehead.
“There is much they cannot do,” Legentium assured, taking my father’s arm from my shoulder.
“I thought I smelled you,” Dad teased.
He chuckled. “Your father will be just fine,” he said, smiling.
I wiped clammy hands on my dark denims, and for a second imagined a golden streak where my hands had pulled over my thighs. It reminded me of the glow emitted from Ava in the chamber we tried to save her from. I guess I was missing her so much, it started wreaking havoc with my mind. We kept moving, albeit slowly through the forest, waiting on the moment the trees showed signs of life; as the queens came to, so would the forest – giving away our position. I assisted Anaya with Tatos, while Maya walked ahead of us, dagger drawn, its blade a slight glint as she moved through shadows. Gray light cut through blackened branches above. The moans and creaks of the forest became louder and creepier the further in we got.
“We need horses,” Legentium said, yet again.
“And where would you find these horses?” Maya asked. “Look around you, everything has been devoured by the Curse.”
“I know where we could find some.” He beamed.
“Find, what?” Dave asked, staring up at the tall, gray-haired man.
“Horses.” He smiled.
Legentium closed his eyes, and slowly stretched his large hands in front him.
As Dave took on my father’s full weight, he sighed loudly.
“What is he doing?” Maya whispered.
“You will see,” Anaya said, keeping her green eyes to the dull skies, patches stealing through twisted, black branches, watching and waiting for anything that could approach from above.
Things were finally weighing on me. The constant fight, the battle that still lay ahead.
“You will find her,” Dad said, looking at me. He tried to straighten his body, but cringed as his ribs protested.
I nodded. “I know, Dad, I know that. But our only hope has transformed, nonetheless, we cannot leave her to the merciless queens. They will use her to find the real Ava, it’s only a matter of time.”
“You didn’t expect this to be easy, did you, Son?”
“Of course not.” I snorted. “But Dad, this seems nearly an impossible journey.”
“I hear something,” Dave said, suddenly.
“It’s the horses,” Legentium groaned.
The resonating clutter of hooves came toward us. Shadows seemed to shift, black branches twisted back to make way for the horses. Noxian horses were much bigger than ours back on Poseidon, with eyes of lilac and turquoise. Their hair loose, not braided as those of the Minoan culture. Legentium leaned in close, placing his hands on either side of the leading stallion’s face. The horse kicked and blew out hot air a couple of times, before he and the herd of three came to any kind of restful state.
“Let us be off, as I am sure that by now the queens know our exact location,” he said.
Maya wavered on her feet, we all thought she had tripped but upon her facial expression, knew something was off. She lifted her yellow, shirt sleeve with a cringe. Her skin had peeled back, revealing a dark goo saturating her flesh.
“What the fu…”
“The poison on that spear… It must be.” She exhaled.
“Enoch,” I choked back. I remembered the short handled spear that had come at me, dark, green splattered as it twisted in the air. I had escaped its effects. Now we knew Maya
had not been so lucky.
“We need to go now!” Father pushed.
Dave and myself assisted Father and Anaya onto the silver-haired stallion. Then I helped Legentium lift Maya and Rion onto the mare, the horse’s auburn hair a bright veiling down to her well-defined, black legs. The third horse was the biggest, and pregnant by the looks of it. Tatos took the pregnant mare along with Legentium, readjusting his harness nervously. With a loud whistle they sped off, dust and the remaining rays of light following them through a tunnel of dark, twisting vines. Maya turned and waved, a kind of sadness in her blue eyes. Their departure evanescent on my conscience as the pressure left me. They were heading to safety, and we were heading right back into the mouth of the fire-breathing dragon.
“Thank you,” I said to Dave.
“Don’t,” Dave muttered. “I will owe you the days of my life.”
“You don’t owe me,” I told him, adjusting my leather bands and harness.
“Whatever bro.” He smiled sardonically.
“What makes you think they are still even here?” he asked, watching intently as the backs of the horses were swallowed up by the hungry shadows of the Night Forest.
“Well, they would not abandon an entire world they have invested so much time on. If we hurry, we might catch them while still in the curative process.”
“You seem to know too much about these creatures.”
“I have to. If I am to understand them, I can beat them.”
“You mean, cure Ava.” His eyebrows knit together. “Why are we even bothering with this clone? She is one of them now.”
“I cannot leave Eva here, she does not deserve this, besides she will lead them to Ava, then we are all screwed.”
“Oh, I get it!” David smiled. “Eva – evil Ava.” He chuckled loudly.
“Not funny David. She needed a name.”
His face dropped like a coin down a well. Fast, far and breathless as I shot him a glaring stare.
“Let us go then, no point hanging around this creepy place any longer.” He started to chew on his nails nervously.
I pushed his hand away from his mouth. “I’ve got this under control.” I tried to smile. The only thing I could control was me, I was counting on it. It was only a matter of time before it all fell into place, I had to believe it with every fiber of my being. I had to will it.
“So what’s the plan?”
“The only plan is – there is none.” I smiled.
Dave shook his head. “Okay, but I feel hardly prepared.”
I crossed my arms, staring at the three remaining death stars tucked into my leather gauntlet, which suddenly seemed to strangle my forearm. When I grabbed Dave’s arm, he looked into my eyes and knew what I didn’t tell him. He was right, I was blinded by my pride, and I needed him. I never failed and I wasn’t about to. How could I have not seen what was about to transpire? The reanimation of the Night Forest and everything around us was reason enough to believe the queens had regained their full power. Branches, grass, and the zombie souls, tried very hard to stop us, but my determination and Dave’s will were no match in all the chaos. I hadn’t noticed the trap they were leading us into. Or, let’s just say, I underestimated the strength of their claws. The female Shadowing curse was cunning and evil. This time, not even I could resist the siren’s song. The only siren that would ever hold me.
Once we broke through the forest, the colorless, veiny ground gave way to a yellow, parched riverbed once more.
“Déjà vu,” Dave bantered.
I smiled as he attempted an air of playfulness in a moment where we both were doubtful of our efforts. We shook bark and thorns from our clothes and hair. For a moment, we stared at each other, cementing the thought that we had actually made it out of the frenzied Night Forest in one, solid piece. We slid down, feet first, kicking up dust, dirt, bones and death all the way into the dry riverbed and toward the black, metal gates once more. Dust settled on our shoes and seeped into our lungs, the dryness clinging to our skins. I gazed up at the twilight sky – my entire body was alight with one thought – Ava, and the way to Ava was in clone form. That thought gripped me, propelled me forward in all its strangeness. Staring at the big, wooden doors, I summoned a small version of my wrath spell and blew the doors wide open. The pivots squeaked in protest as the doors flew back. I was getting better at it. Guards were nowhere in sight, which was not entirely odd as they were no longer of any use. We were going to the queens, one way or the other.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Dave whispered, suddenly feeling the very air around us change.
I shrugged. “Don’t I always?”
He lifted an eyebrow in question.
“Fair enough, but you would do the same for Anaya, wouldn’t you?” I pushed.
His silence confirmed what he had yet to confess.
The ruble and debris from earlier lay unmoved, blanketing the cold, dark floors. Strips of sunlight pierced through high, arched windows, which made the shadows seem more ominous. The cracked, glass roof caused broken fragments of light to patch the columns in dirty, bright colors. The three-story, high fountain had had a huge chunk knocked out of it, which reminded me of a large piece of stacked pie someone had messily devoured. It almost felt abandoned, like we had never been there at all. Our feet made powdery footsteps across the demolished thrones’ platform, and we found our way to a wooden door behind some torn tapestry where I had found the pendant abandoned before. My memory of the place was remarkable, because I had loved the White Castle from the first time I explored it as a child. With my thumb, I wiped the dirt from the wooden door’s handle, familiar fine, golden filigree in the shape of wings lay beneath. I pushed the door open. From the large window, orange and yellow light painted the room in a pale, golden glow. High, dark arches and carved out patterns over the windows, played leafy shapes over the walls as we moved. We walked slowly between dark and light patches, our eyes taking a moment to adjust to the piercing ever-setting light, and it felt like the leaf patterned shadows were moving in our breeze. I remembered this place as a child, I remember Farrow as a child. But when I looked at her standing all high and mighty before us, my blood boiled. Our eyes met, and we followed her lead. I despised her, she had turned at such a young age. Why? I couldn’t believe she had sat by and watched as the queens crushed the kingdom with dark spite. She was Legentium’s daughter. Did she not have her own legacy? Apparently, it was not enough. Did I want to understand the way the disease worked? Not a chance. I was afraid if I did, I would be softening myself against those affected. I did not want to think about what thoughts and ideas had twisted inside Ava’s mind when she had shifted, or her clone for that matter. They were by no means innocent, but it didn’t mean I didn’t care for them. Farrow turned, the yellow light illuminating her raven hair in a golden tint, like a flickering flame over a thick, dark, shimmering river of oil. We stepped over the empty cobblestone bridge leading through what used to be a private garden. Huge, white arches framed yellow-tinted windows, which looked out on to the empty streets below and beyond. Another set of similar wooden doors, skeleton structures and bones stared up at us from the inner city streets and beyond. I was not intimidated by the death that surrounded us, it only fueled my distaste. The second pair of doors moaned open. We found ourselves in a maze. Dave looked up to the everlasting ceiling. White, stone curves sparkled in the twilight through large, open windows. Through the high windows, we caught sight of the outer edges of the Night Forest tipped with greens and yellows. There was still time to stop all of it. Dark shadows receded into the sparkling light, crawling over white, stone walls as we entered another room. Our footsteps echoed throughout the vast, stone room. The first thing my eyes fell on was Farrow, who had turned with a taunting smirk. I sniggered. She had taken her place as a young Shadow queen among the others. I remembered how once as a young boy, I had been fascinated by the dark-haired beauty with emerald green eyes. As she stepped forward, her eyes shone the same intens
e olive, matching her extravagant gown. Her young bosoms popped up and over her garter. If only she knew how precious a young one’s time was. She would never get back her youth, especially now as one of the Shadowing royals. Dave cleared his throat to pull my attention away.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look who’s come back to join the party.” Her little gemmed crown glinted in the dim light.
She moved forward and rested her hand on my shoulder, the current she let off was cold and unsettling. I pushed her hand off.
“What?” she said, making a sulky face. “You didn’t come back for me?”
Aroen’s laughter sliced through the air. She moved closer; all black hair, dark skin and crimson lips. Her slithering smile grew to a full on sardonic grin.
My eyes went from Queen Aroen, fell over Farrow and then rested on Timotei – the redheaded queen. Queen Timotei was once queen over all of Noxia. She still wore her dirty, white gown with all its silver embellishments. Soft, white material flowed with each movement. Dazzling fine chains knotted and twisted around every curve of her dress, highlighting all her best goddess features. I could see why the Shadowing disease had chosen the females as their hosts. Pretty girls were always favored, designed to tear you down.
“Farrow, do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into?” I asked her.
Her grin only widened. “Yes,” she sneered. “I finally get what I’ve always wanted.”
I rolled my eyes at her spoiled behavior.
“Well, two things, if Queen Aroen will allow it still?” Power hungry Farrow wanted to be queen, because apparently being the daughter of the great Legentium was not the kind of royalty she wanted. But, I also had the gall to plant a seed in her mind. Farrow wanted me, that much was obvious, but the queens knew I was the one thing that affected their high carrier of the disease. The one thing that could destroy them, the one thing they could use to destroy the Elders they were so desperate to overthrow. There was no way the queens would give away their survival at her mercy.
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