Legends

by Kit Bladegrave

  I poked at the dying fire as Forrest’s breathing steadied and he fell asleep next. My body was weary, and I told myself to get some shut-eye, too, but every time I leaned back to close my eyes, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I was wide awake, staring up at the mass of stars overhead, looking down on us. I couldn’t explain what was wrong, but I felt strange, as if a part of me was suddenly hollow.

  The letter written by Broden—by me—lay on the grass close by, but the idea of looking at it again made my chest tighten. There’d been blood on the parchment. He’d written it with whatever strength remained. Who attacked him? Had it been the traitor? Who was it?

  I was desperate for answers so much my head throbbed, and I was more anxious than ever to track down the sorcerers and pry the answers out of them any way I had to.

  It was strange, the situation I found myself in. Forrest was opening up, learning to relax and embrace his past self, but every passing moment, I sensed myself becoming rigid, paranoid almost about Kate and Forrest.

  When Forrest told me he assumed I was Kate’s protector, I knew without a doubt he was right.

  But what he forgot to realize was I was his protector too. It had been my job to keep them both safe, and in reality, I’d failed on both counts. I’d let Celandine sacrifice herself in an attempt to trap the plague, so the rest of the realm could prepare for the coming war, and Malcolm… Malcolm probably left Broden behind, possibly because he was already wounded in battle and had no choice. He’d gone out there on his own, and probably been killed. Their blood was on my hands.

  What if I failed again?

  Or worse? What if I turned into Raghnall in my fight to save them? I prided myself on not being a thoughtless killing machine like so many other demons, but I scared myself for a moment back in the great hall.

  Kate whispered in her sleep, and I jerked my gaze toward her to catch her staring at me. “You’re a terrible liar you know,” she whispered.

  “And you’re supposed to be sleeping.” I stabbed at the embers. “What did I lie about?”

  “You said you were fine. You’re not.”

  “Go back to sleep,” I growled, but she started to sit up. “What are you doing?”

  “Well, either you come here, or I’m coming over there, so make up your mind.”

  I saw the resolve on her face, and rolling my eyes with an over the top dramatic sigh, I climbed to my feet, dragged my bedding to her, and laid back down. She rested her head on my shoulder, her hand finding mine.

  “You going to tell me?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Go back to sleep,” I stated.

  “Still a shitty liar.”

  “I’m not lying, I’m merely not answering your question, love.”

  I felt her smile against my shoulder as she shifted again, curling closer.

  “Same difference. We’re going to get through this together, you know. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

  Her words hit me hard, and I wanted to argue with her, but when I glanced down, she was already back to sleep.

  “Too bad that’s my job, love,” I whispered and kissed the top of her head. “And I’ve already failed you once.”

  Before all this started, I knew exactly who I was, and I made my way doing what I could. The bastard half-demon son of Raghnall, Demon King. I was a trickster, a decent fighter, and alone in this fight against the darkness.

  Now it wasn’t just my life at stake, and it wasn’t even the whole fate of the world on my shoulders that bothered me. Kate and Forrest would need me to be strong before the end, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that our end would be just as tragic as those of our past lives.

  Eventually, sleep overtook me, and I found comfort in having Kate so close, and even Forrest. This was how it was supposed to be.

  I just wished I could know it would remain this way, forever.

  12

  Kate

  Birds called overhead, and I opened my eyes, yawning. We’d been in the grove for three nights, but today we were finally heading back to Mama Lucy’s house.

  We all knew I was strong enough to travel, but no one wanted to leave the peace and quiet of this grove. After our first night, we decided not to talk about the shield, or the sorcerers, or anything about our past lives. Instead, we explored the area around the grove, swam in the stream nearby, and for a few days acted like we didn’t have a care in the world.

  I shifted, and grinned at finding one hand holding Forrest’s and the other tucked in Craig’s palm. I’d woken up every morning like this. I swore it was because of them I managed to sleep through the night. No nightmares, no crazy memories. Nothing.

  I carefully stood up and walked the short way to the stream to wash my face and wake up the rest of the way before we packed up our camp and used the Moon Portal to go home.

  Mama Lucy was going to freak out when we caught her up on everything that happened. With my luck, she’d threaten to lock me up, too scared to let me leave her sight again. Tracking down the sorcerers would take a few days at least, according to Craig, and I was looking forward to visiting the greenhouse and maybe digging around in the garden for a few days.

  Mama Lucy might even have answers for us. There was a chance she heard of our past lives. I wasn’t sure if she was part of a coven, or family, but I was sure they had a history of their own. And, with any luck, it might date back far enough to give us some help in figuring out what happened around the time the realms were separated.

  I shook off the chilly water from my hands and listened to the quiet of the surrounding trees.

  As I turned to head back to camp, a creaking sounded sharply through the trees, and I froze. I told myself it was an animal on a stick, and nothing was going to get past the three patrols we saw scattered around the grove over the last few days.

  A sudden bellow of pain, followed by more of that horrible bone cracking, and then a shriek told me I was dead wrong.

  “Kate! Where are you?” Forrest yelled, and I sprinted through the trees to the grove.

  “They’re here!” I slid in the dirt and crashed right into Forrest and Craig, nearly taking us all to the ground. “The plagued dragons. How are they here?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to leave, now.” Craig handed me the sword sheath, and I slipped it over my body as he scooped up the knapsack, digging around in it.

  Forrest rushed to the horses, swatting them hard on their rumps to make them run off, back toward the palace, I hoped.

  “Got it!” Craig held the Moon Portal in his open palm, and we gathered around him.

  Another yell of a dying dragon hit us, and Forrest cursed, whirling around as if to leave, but Craig yanked him back.

  “I have to help them!”

  “There’s no time!”

  “They’re dying,” he argued fiercely, but I cupped his face in my hands and held him until his gaze locked onto mine.

  “We can’t stay. We don’t know how many are out there. We have to go.”

  He bit his bottom lip as another cry tore through the early morning, but he shut his eyes, and nodded his head. “Do it! They’re getting closer.”

  We each grabbed hold of Craig, and the portal in his hand glowed with power. The cracking of bones forced to move drew closer, and I glanced over my shoulder in time to see two of them in the trees.

  My blood ran cold as their shrieking started, picking up as they surrounded us.

  The words on the coin glowed brighter, and finally, I felt my feet leave the ground just as the skeletal beings broke through the trees, charging right for us.

  As before, we became lost in a swirling cloud of blue and purple light, twisting and turning our bodies around and around until finally, I felt my feet hit hard ground, but this time, we managed to stay upright.

  “Everyone alright?” Craig asked.

  I started to answer when I noticed something clinging to the knapsack on his back. I screamed in alarm and drew the sword on instinct as Craig flung the top h
alf of the creature that managed to catch a ride with us across the front lawn of Mama Lucy’s house.

  Luckily it was night. Otherwise, we would’ve made quite the spectacle.

  The creature shrieked, furious, as it crawled toward us faster than should’ve been possible. It had no weapon except claws extending past its bony fingers. Half its face was somehow still attached.

  I charged the thing as it swung that disgusting head toward me. I was going to have nightmares from dealing with this shit. I brought the sword down, pinning the creature to the ground with the blade right through its spine then jumped back as it swiped at my legs.

  “How did it get here?” Forrest snapped.

  “Must’ve launched itself at us as the portal opened,” Craig replied.

  The undead dragon struggled to get to us, and to my horror, it reached around and yanked part of its vertebrae free.

  “Seriously? Why! Just why!” I yelled, as Craig and Forrest shoved me behind them toward the house. “We have to kill it!”

  “With what?” Forrest demanded, cursing when it was almost free.

  Behind us, I heard the front door open and a dog growling.

  Mama Lucy yelled, “Get down!”

  The three of us hit the ground, and I saw a bottle sail over our heads, a cloth shoved in its neck, and burning. It smashed into the creature, and it howled in rage as the potion ate away at its bones until all that remained was a scorched spot on the front lawn.

  Shoving my hair out of my face, I turned around, still on the ground, and stared wide-eyed at Mama Lucy looking like she was ready to go to war.

  “Mama Lucy? Did you just attack it with a Molotov cocktail?”

  She grinned. “It’s called improvising. Now get inside quick before the neighbors call the cops on us.”

  Craig rushed to grab the knapsack and the Moon Portal he dropped. I snatched the sword out of the ground, and we darted into the house, Harry and Mama Lucy bringing up the rear.

  She closed and locked the door with far more deadbolts than she had when we left. Her hair was braided back fiercely, and she was wearing some sort of leather tool belt filled with herbs, and implements, and several daggers. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and all I could do was stare.

  I didn’t think there was a time I ever saw her not wearing her skirts and shawls. Clearly, a lot had changed since we’d been gone.

  “What happened to you three?” Mama Lucy demanded, not even giving us a chance to move deeper into the house.

  “That’s a very long story,” Craig replied. “And I have a feeling you have one of your own to tell.”

  Her brow arched, and she grinned mischievously. “Oh, you have no idea. Tea?” She turned on her heel and marched to the kitchen as if she hadn’t just killed an undead warrior in the front yard, well half of an undead warrior.

  Yep, Mama Lucy had definitely changed.

  13

  Kate

  “A month?” I asked, choking on my tea.

  Craig helpfully pounded me on the back until I finally stopped coughing.

  My eyes were teared up from the coughing fit. “How is that possible? Were we locked up that long?”

  “Locked up?” Mama Lucy glared at Forrest and Craig. “Explain, now.”

  Forrest and Craig exchanged a look over my head and seemed to be debating who was willing to risk Mama Lucy’s wrath from explaining what happened when we left.

  As entertaining as it would be to watch them stammer through our side of the story while Mama Lucy debated on what to turn them into, temporarily, of course, I told them to answer my question first.

  “Were we seriously gone a month? A whole month?”

  “Technically, in the dragon realm, we were only gone a little over a week,” Forrest stated. “However, since the realms have been split, the time between them does not always coincide.”

  Mama Lucy pointed to the calendar behind me on the wall. “I marked the day you left, and you can see when you came home, today. It’s been a month, Kate.”

  And from the worry lines on Mama Lucy’s face, she’d been worrying endlessly every single one of those days.

  I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, I had no idea we’d be gone that long.” My mind wasn’t willing to believe what they said was true.

  What happened in that month to change Mama Lucy from the gentlewoman I knew to someone who chucked flaming bottles with potions at undead dragon warriors?

  “I tried to send word to you, but nothing could get through.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “In your knapsack, there’s a tiny compact mirror I enchanted so I would be able to call out to you if need be,” she said, and got up from the table to grab the bag in question and brought it back with her. Her next words were muffled as she dug around. “I worried it was broken, or worse you’d been taken captive.” Her brow arched at that last bit, and I swore I heard Forrest and Craig gulp. “Ah, here it is.”

  She pulled out a silver etched case and set it on the table before opening it. The glass was intact, and it looked alright to me.

  “Damn, I was hoping it was broken.”

  “Is this bad?”

  “It means something is blocking light magic from getting through the barrier between realms.” Mama Lucy sighed, and plopped back down in her chair. “The darkness is growing much quicker than we first realized I think.”

  “That undead thing, it wasn’t the first one to attack you,” I stated, and Mama Lucy barely nodded. “How many have you seen?” I asked, ready to let panic take over.

  This realm was supposed to still be safe. If they were here, then they might already be in every realm, and our chances of success dropped.

  “Counting that one? Five, and all very easy to kill. Not too bright.”

  “Not these,” Craig muttered under his breath.

  I kicked his foot under the table. Mama Lucy was already worried enough. There were some details of our adventure I wanted to keep quiet for a little while longer at least.

  “I don’t understand, how can it be this strong?” I thought back to the undead we saw while searching for the Darrah ruins and a chill shot down my spine. Hearing those things screech at each other would be etched in my mind for a very long time. A haunting sound, one that meant death was coming.

  “Because someone made us forget it was coming back,” Forrest growled. “Someone betrayed all of us, and we’ve spent the last hundreds of years bickering amongst ourselves instead of preparing for this day as those three wanted us to do.”

  “Three? What three?” Mama Lucy’s eyes narrowed impossibly more, and I slumped in my chair. “Kate, what happened to you three over there?”

  I felt their eyes on me, as I always had since the day I met them. Another perk, I guessed, from being so deeply connected. I sensed their emotions, too, raw just like mine. Confusion, anger, fear we were all trying and failing to hide from each other. I was starting to think the three of us would never be able to hide anything from the other, not anymore.

  “We found something,” I started, “more than just information about the Darrahs.”

  “Like what?”

  I wasn’t sure how to even begin with what we found, and glanced at Forrest and Craig for help.

  “Apparently,” Craig started slowly, “the three of us have met before… over fifteen hundred years ago. Well, I guess even longer than that, given when the blade was actually forged.”

  Mama Lucy blinked blankly back at us. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “We had past lives,” I told her. “When we reached the Darrah ruins after being attacked by fractorns and undead dragons... Well, we reached the ruins and once inside, things started happening. Memories came back to me, but they weren’t mine. They were Celandine’s, the first Vindicar.”

  “Fractorns? You fought those beasts?” she asked alarmed.

  Craig smirked as he added, “Kate ate half of one.”

  My stomach clenched at the
memory, and I smacked his arm, making him wince. “Thanks for the reminder, jackass.”

  “What? Just saying, it was quite impressive watching you tear them to shreds.”

  I covered my mouth with my hand, shaking my head as that horrible metallic, warm taste of fresh blood in my mouth returned. “I hate you right now, want you to know.”

  Mama Lucy looked like she was ready to deck him too, but asked me to explain everything that happened.

  I started with us landing in the dragon realm and ended with our being taken captive after Allis attacked us. I wanted to keep pushing onward, but Mama Lucy rose from the table, and paced around, mumbling under her breath, too quietly for me to hear.

  “Mama Lucy?”

  She held up her hand and didn’t look at me.

  I itched to go to her, hug her and let her know we were alright, but something on her face told me the names of these three were familiar to her in ways that no one else seemed to remember. Maybe we’d been right, and somehow, the magic that erased everyone else’s minds hadn’t worked in the human world.

  “I need to make a phone call,” she mused finally. “I thought they were just stories, but I think… I think I know those names.”

  “At least someone does,” Forrest said, sounding relieved. “The only one anyone recognized was Broden.”

  “And only because Raghnall found something explaining why the Executioner blade was forged in the first place. A prophecy about a hero,” Craig added.

  Mama Lucy said something to them, but a horrible ringing had started in my ears, and I couldn’t hear their words. I knew I’d seen something else, something important, but it remained just out of reach. I needed to know, needed to understand what we were missing…

  “Kate, did you hear me?” Mama Lucy said loudly, and I jumped.

  “Huh? What, oh sorry,” I mumbled.

  Forrest and Craig both looked at me worriedly, the latter going so far as to check my ears before I swatted his hands away. “What? Just checking for blood.”

  “Blood?”

  I groaned at Mama Lucy’s outburst and kicked Craig’s foot again. “Thanks, really, you’re making this night so much better.”