by Jen Pretty
“I’m sorry, Lex. I wish I knew more, but I had only heard of elves in passing throughout my lifetime. I know they were fierce warriors but if I ever met one, I had no idea at the time.”
I frowned. Apparently no one knew much about these people. I would ask the unicorn, Puck, when I saw him but for now I had to let it go.
Roman kissed the top of my head. "You are so strong," he whispered as he set my feet on the ground.
I scoffed at that, but he grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. "You are amazing. Don't forget it."
I nodded. This news changed nothing except apparently, I had a warrior unicorn. One last deep breath and I was as composed as I was going to get. I needed to learn more about elves if I was apparently one so I needed to keep it together.
"You know, I bet that is why your parents kept you from our world. If you were human, there were no difficult conversations."
I sighed. That made total sense but I didn't picture my parents as cowards. I felt like there was more to the story than that, but I let it go. The soldiers had stopped in a clearing up ahead and were setting up tents. Thank God. My feet were screaming.
Roman set up the tent as Puck set up his right beside ours, and various members of the army built a massive fire and began cooking food. I swear it smelled like baked beans and bacon and my stomach was so loud that Roman was snickering to himself. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just smiled at me and carried on with his construction.
I took off my shoes and rubbed my feet while Daisy mulled about flipping over leaves and things. I guess he was too hungry to wait for humans to make his food. I watched him gobble down some grubs and stuff until he seemed happy and waddled back over to sit on my lap. I scooped him up and cuddled into his feathers. "You are the best pet a girl could have, Daisy," I smiled at him as he quacked merrily.
Puck started laughing from where he was pressing a stake into the ground.
"What?" I asked but he was laughing so hard, he couldn't speak. Daisy quacked loudly at him then got up in a huff and waddled away.
"What was that?" I asked to Daisy's retreating back, but my duck just kept going, headed for the fire. I turned back to Puck who was drying his face and catching his breath. "What?" I asked again this time directed to Puck.
"Your duck pretending he is a pet. You do know the birds are magic, right?" he asked.
"Yes. But Daisy is still my pet. Just because he has magic doesn't mean anything."
"Oh, Lex, you are so innocent for a half-elf. Your Daisy is a dragon in his other form. I assumed you were keeping him as a weapon," Puck said still chuckling.
It all clicked into place. Why the kitchen staff gave him whatever he wanted and why everyone was so sure the King wasn't eating him that day in the courtyard.
"Holy shit," I muttered.
"Pretty much. You've basically got the ultimate fighting team now. Vampire, dragon, unicorn. Add your own Fae and Elf magic, and you are unstoppable." Puck said before throwing his bag into his tent and holding out a hand for me. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. I squeaked as he transformed, and I was suddenly riding him again. I grabbed his mane, and he surged towards the campfire and the smell of food.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Roman still fighting with our tent. "You want some food?" I called to him.
"Sure, that would be great!" he hollered back, apparently uninterested in trying to wrestle me from the charging unicorn.
Puck strutted through the campsite with an air of authority. His head held high like he was the King himself. I stifled a laugh as I noticed people stopping to stare at him. When we made it to the fire, the soldiers all parted to let us through, and Puck knelt down to let me slide off his back then promptly shifted back to a man.
"Everyone was staring at you, you know," I whispered to him, and he stepped in close beside me.
He gave me a devilish smile and shook his head. "No, they were staring at you, all wishing they could be close to you and feel your magic. Even I find it intoxicating after so long without it." He said before leading me towards the table set up with plates of food.
I took two plates of food and Puck took one for himself before taking Romans from my hand and turning to head back to our tent. Almost a gentleman. I still had no shoes on, but the grass was packed down and soft.
We weaved through the field a little less conspicuously this time, but still, people stopped what they were doing to watch us pass.
Back at our tents, Roman had ours set up and had pulled a log out of the forest for us to sit on and started a small fire.
I sat down near to Roman as Puck handed him his plate.
"Thanks" he muttered.
We all sat and ate in silence for a moment.
"So Daisy is a dragon?" I said astonished.
Puck laughed. "Ya. I can't believe he lets you cuddle him like that. Embarrassing."
I frowned at him. "Why is it embarrassing? He likes to cuddle. That's not embarrassing." I insisted.
He laughed again. "Wait till you see him as a dragon, you will understand." He shook his head and went back to his food.
I had a hard time picturing Daisy as a fire-breathing monster. I was confident I'd still love him though. Best pet ever. Can cuddle in my arms and fry my enemies. I laughed a bit at that.
Roman raised an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head and finished up my food. I was utterly exhausted from our night long march, and the sky was starting to lighten so I crawled into my tent and Roman crawled in after me effectively blocking the doorway. I maneuvered myself under the blanket, and the held it open for Roman. He smiled and squished in beside me.
"Hey, Lex." He whispered.
"Hmm?" I mumbled already him asleep.
"Uh, never mind. We can talk about it when we get up."
"M’kay" I muttered, and just like that, I was out.
I was in my forest. "Oh thank God!" I exclaimed. "Where are you, Luke?" I called.
No answer and no sign of Luke so I sat to wait. The sun was shining on my face, and I tipped my head back. It was warm and felt amazing. The breeze was gentle but enough to move my hair a bit. I realized my hair was long here. That was strange. I had cut all my hair short in a moment of self-destruction in the hot springs under the castle.
"Hello?" I heard Luke call from far away. I turned to look the way I had heard it, but there was no one there. I wondered if maybe he was just a bit too far, so I started walking. I walked for quite a while before he finally came into view. I picked up my pace and so did he when he noticed me. We met in a small field I didn't recognize, and I threw myself at him. We collided and fell to the ground d in a giggling ridiculous heap. Once we stopped laughing and untangled ourselves from each other, we lay side by side touching from shoulder to foot and just relished each other's presence.
"Where have you been?" I asked him point blank.
"The elders sent me on another mission. I've been dream walking for them every night. I'm supposed to be again right now, but I had to see you were ok."
I tipped my head over to look at him. His eyes were glinting in the sun, and his joyful smile reminded me of our days in this forest. I smiled "I'm really ok. I figured out how to use my Fae magic to keep myself stable. Oh my God, did you know I'm half elf?" I asked sitting up on my elbows to look at him.
"Not until Margot called me to tell me. We knew that you were different somehow, but this is pretty cool!"
"It means my father wasn't my Fae," I said holding back the emotion that brought forward.
"You know as well as I do that doesn’t matter one bit. Don't let DNA change the memory of him." Luke reached over and tucked me in close beside him, so my head was on his shoulder.
"You're right, but I would like to know more about the elves when I get back. I need to get Armond and get home."
Luke started laughing. "What's so funny now?" I asked him.
"Margot said you would bring some pets back with you."
"Oh no. I might bring Daisy back, bu
t Puck can stay here!"
Luke just kept laughing, but I was serious. No way was a bringing that freaking Unicorn back to earth.
Luke kissed the top of my head, and then he was gone, and I was back in the tent. It was silent for a second then an angry quack and a blood-curdling scream rang out.
chapter ELEVEN
I sat bolt upright, noticed I was alone in the tent and stumbled forward to open the tent flap. I got a ringside seat to just how vicious a unicorn can be as Puck took out one of the King’s soldiers. Puck had a knife sticking out of his neck, red blood marring his glossy white hair, but the soldier was a pin cushion and a mess of blood. The grass was painted red, and the soldier was no longer moving.
"What the hell?" I shouted.
Puck swung around, his white face stained fully red from his neck wound forward and his face covered in gore. The knife sticking out of his neck didn't seem to bother him, but that soldier at his feet was definitely dead.
He straightened and walked towards me. He was a fierce sight, and his nostrils flared with every breath, his eyes so wide I could see the whites.
He knelt down in front of me and then flopped his hind end down, so he was laying right in front with the knife in his neck within my reach. The silent request was clear.
"Alright but you better explain this to me once I get the knife out." I reached out with both hands and hauled hard on the knife. It was slick with blood, but I managed to get it free just as Daisy waddled over and plopped down beside me.
As soon as the knife was out, Puck changed back into a man and rolled over onto an elbow before sitting up in front of me looking composed and cocky as usual. His crooked smile in place. The only flaw on his skin was a trail of blood starting below his ear and travelling down his chest, the skin was unmarked, and the rest of the blood was gone.
"It's good to be immortal," he said with a chuckle.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked pointing at the dead man.
He sighed "that was a rebel amongst the ranks of the King’s army who was intent on your demise. Your duck sounded an alarm and now the rebel won't be a problem going forward,” He said with a satisfied look.
"Ugh, well that was literally overkill.” I pointed to the very dead man.
“I thought it best to send a message,” he replied.
“Gah, well I hope there aren't any more rebels. Thank you." I gave Daisy a pat. "Thank you too, Daisy."
Puck scoffed "the duck didn't do anything. He could have helped, and I wouldn't have been poked with that tiny knife."
Daisy got up and waddled a few steps away then took flight and landed up in a tree near my tent. Apparently, he was just the lookout.
"Don't be so hard on him. I don't think he likes being a dragon." I looked around and realized Roman was still nowhere to be seen.
Puck noticed me scanning the area and all the faces of curious soldiers who had come out of their tents at the sound and said "Roman ran ahead to check the caves and see if he could see the rebel camp. He should be back in a few minutes."
I sighed. "Ok, well might as well get stuff packed, I'm sure we will be heading out soon." Just as I turned to go, Franklin, came running up.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked with a frantic look on his face. He glanced behind him and saw what was left of the rebel and his face went white as a sheet. I had no idea how this was the King’s guard. He seemed terribly nervous and skittish.
"We are fine, but you seem to have had a rebel in your ranks. I thought all the soldiers were checked out?" Puck said scowling at the lead guard like it was his fault. Perhaps it was.
"I had no knowledge of this man being a rebel. I can assure you every man has been thoroughly checked." He said with sweat dripping down his forehead. He turned and left abruptly after that, leaving me with a weird feeling. I put it out of my head and got to work.
I quickly shoved our sleeping bags into Roman’s backpack with no particular organizing plan. Gathering both our packs, I paused when a small wooden knife fell out of my pack. I had forgotten about the gift from little Collin. The knife was too small to use, but I tucked it in my pocket anyway. I was just zipping up the last pack when I was unceremoniously scooped up and zoomed off into the forest.
"What the hell happened? I could smell blood from a few miles away and then saw them dragging off the dead man and almost killed a dozen men to get to you faster,” Roman growled when he finally stopped.
"Apparently Daisy spotted a rebel sneaking towards our tent, and a terrifying unicorn stabbed the shit out of him," I said trying to get my short hair out of my face after the high-speed flight through the forest.
He wrapped his arms around me and took a deep breath. "I should have stayed. That was stupid."
"No. We needed to know what we were walking into. Besides if the man hadn't screamed when Puck stabbed him, I would have slept through the whole thing," I assured him.
He was suffocating me at this point, and I squirmed a bit to try and get air. "Tell me what you saw at the caves," I wheezed into his chest. Trying to distract him so he would relax his hold on me.
He did finally release me a bit so he could look down at me. "There were about 200 people there, I didn't see the witch or Armond, but the people could all transform into wolves it seems. The witch must have helped them find their magic. I didn't want to get too close and risk being seen, but with that many worker bees, the queen must be inside."
We were so close now. I reached up and kissed him. "Thank you for doing this with me. Helping me get Armond back and helping me figure out my crazy shit."
He chuckled at that. "I will follow you to the end of the earth and even beyond that." He kissed me and held me close to him. There was so much magic between us that it was as if we were magnets stuck together for all time. But every moment ends, and ours ended with a raging unicorn.
Puck came barreling through the trees at full speed and stopped just short of us kicking up clumps of dirt and leaves. Then he lowered his head and plowed his horn right through Romans leg. Roman hollered and let go of me abruptly to grab his leg as his vampire healing kicked in. Puck took that opportunity to shift back into a person, punch Roman in the nose, declare "that's what you get for stealing my elf" then scooped me up, turned back into a unicorn, deftly tossing me on his back as he shifted, and started trotting smartly back towards camp.
"Jesus, you need to calm down a bit, Puck. He didn't steal me away, we were just talking."
Puck snorted.
"Ok we were doing more than talking, but that still doesn't mean you have to stab him!"
I got another snort as a reply and gave up. Roman was following behind us at a safe distance, and Daisy was flying above us. My very own team of weirdos. This was going to be great.
We all got back to the camp, but it wasn't a camp anymore. Everyone had packed up and were just waiting for us. All the King’s usual guards including Franklin were standing at the lead of the hoard of soldiers looking bored. Franklin saw us and brightened up.
"Alright, let's move out!" he hollered, and we all made our way back into the forest. The soldiers were light and spry. Apparently, they slept better than I did because I just felt worn down.
Franklin waited for us to catch up and then fell into step with us. I heard a weird growl, but I couldn't tell who it had come from. I knew Puck didn't like Franklin, but maybe he wasn't the only one.
"Lex, I'm sorry about the rebel. I was sure that everyone checked out. I checked them all personally." He said with a sad look.
"Don't worry about it, Franklin. No harm was done, right?" I replied and smiled up at him.
"Great, well I'm going to catch up to the front of the soldiers, but I'll see you again at the caves," he said before trotting ahead.
"I hate that guy," Roman whispered to me - not very quietly.
"You too? Puck also hates him. I don't think there is anything wrong with him. He's just a bit anxious maybe."
Roman just grunted in reply and Puck stom
ped a hoof. He was going to stay in battle ready form, it seemed.
We walked the rest of the day like that. Puck carried me on his back for a while, but my ass was killing me. I eventually hopped down and just walked with him and Roman. Daisy took his place back in my pack.
Suddenly the forest ended and ahead of us was a rocky open terrain. It was still daylight so I knew we couldn't be to the caves already, but it was definitely changing from a forest landscape to one more common to caves.
From here on it was rough going and both Roman and Puck offered to carry me but I wasn't a child, and I could walk. I started to regret that decision after about an hour of scaling rocks, some as big as myself.
The soldiers were fit and looked skilled at travelling over this terrain, so I felt like a burden even though this was mostly my rescue mission. The King’s son was probably there too, but I honestly couldn't wait to see Armond again. Then, as I was thinking of him, I felt him. Just barely, but he was there. I stopped dead on the path, and everyone behind me had to stop short.
"He's there," I whispered. Then I looked over at Roman who was smiling at me. I started walking again, this time I was marching. It was getting towards dusk, and I knew we would get Armond back, and it was going to happen today.
I wanted to run to get to Armond faster but I knew we had a plan and I had to stick to it. I wasn't sure if my magic would work on the witch, but I was going to try it and hope it worked. If we could capture the witch before she disappeared that would be perfect.
Suddenly we all veered to the east. I knew Armond was straight ahead. I could feel him
"Why are we going this way?" I asked Roman.
"The rebels have a lookout ahead, we are going to sneak around them and attack from the side," Roman informed me. That sounded like a great plan. I wasn't sure this many people could sneak anywhere, but I had never led an army before, so I didn't know about that. I had one goal. Get Armond and Aldridge. I'd let the rest of these people battle the rebels.