by Jen Pretty
The terror was palpable, even with everyone frozen in time. I had stopped the whole city. A few monsters were frozen in the path to the castle, and my sword longed to plunge into their thick chests- payback for the destruction they willfully wrought on the peaceful, happy people.
I passed the bar where I knew Grant, the bartender who had helped me, worked. I dared not look in the door for fear of breaking down at this vitally important moment. We had to get to the castle because the King was there and needed our help. If the King fell would this whole world fall?
The front door to the castle was battered in. Dust hung in the air still, and we slowed to a walk.
I looked at Roman, and his face betrayed my same thoughts. We were too late. We continued on towards the King’s throne room. He would most likely have been there.
There were several dead guards in the entryway. Blood sprayed the walls and the stairs leading up to the rooms we had stayed in just a week ago. There was one dead troll laying in the kitchen, butcher knives and steak knives still stuck in his chest. The Kitchen ladies are not to be trifled with, but they had fled already. I sent thanks to whatever power had spared them because I could not take much more.
The hall leading to the King’s throne room was painted red with blood. I had to remind myself this wasn't a nightmare. These walls betrayed the battle that had ensued between the guards and the trolls. Deep gashes and jagged scores in the wall plaster and the stone floor proved the men who lay dead or dying in the tight space had fought with everything they had to stop the movement of the toll invaders towards their king. These men had sworn their lives to the crown and proved it on this day. Finally, we turned through the broken doors of the King’s throne room.
As we entered, it wasn't immediately clear what was happening. The King’s guards were standing with swords out and frozen mid-step as they ran towards the throne. They blocked most of the view, and it wasn't until I passed through several rows of them that I saw what I had been dreading.
The King stood frozen by my magic, but his head had already fallen to the ground. The King was dead.
I pushed through until I stood behind the King’s attacker. A monster who stood nearly as tall as the ceiling in the room. His thick ropy hair was drenched in sweat and blood. He wore loose clothes, made of a dense material I had never seen before. His rough beard and coarse features were unmistakable. He was most certainly a Troll, but not from earth, it would seem. I pulled my sword and got my vengeance for the king, for Collin, the sweet old ladies and the innocent people of this land. I took more from that one monster than necessary to ensure his death, but my anger was more than one dead body could satisfy.
When I was finished with the troll, Roman and I went through the whole castle, killing any who didn't' belong. Any who came to mete out death and destruction received no mercy. They all had to die.
Once the castle was clear, we went through the town, taking down any aggressors we passed to ensure no more civilians of the city died. My magic was waning, and my eyes were dropping. My steps turned into stumbles, and Roman scooped me up. He killed a few more invaders and returned me to where we had left Puck, Marick and Daisy. I had long since reached my limit, and the tears flowed freely now. Marick sat quietly beside me until I dropped my magic and suddenly puck was a raging unicorn. He flew through town searching for the danger he had seen before I had frozen time. When he returned to me, unbloodied, I knew that we had found all the monsters. Puck would not have let a man go who should have been dead.
Daisy curled up in my lap and rested his delicate beak on my arm. I pet him once, but I was too broken to find joy in stroking him. I had no right to my pain.
This was all my fault.
I had stayed away too long, and now the King was dead. So many people were killed. Little Collin was gone. Mac was probably gone as well. He always stayed with his people so I could be sure he was among the fallen in the village.
The people of the village stood in shock for a moment, and then the cries began. People came from their homes and mourned the loss of their family and friends. Word of the King’s death reached the whole town in minutes it seemed, but I had no strength left to give. I sat in the dirt and wept with a numb feeling of self-hatred. I had failed these people.
"This wasn't your fault, Lex," Roman tried to comfort me, but I didn't deserve comfort anymore. I had taken a hot shower instead of coming to their aid. I had slept in Romans arms instead of protecting the innocent.
I wasn't done yet, though. I still had to find the strength to check on the other leaders of this land, what if they were under attack right now. I still had to go find Aldridge and rid the worlds of the pestilence of this evil witch.
I decided that should be my focus. That evil witch. She took, and she took, but I was going to be the one to say ‘no more’. I could feel more magic in my blood. I could feel my strength brought forward by the pain and anger and regret.
I turned to the fox shifter beside me. "Did Helena know?" I asked harshly. She had spoken to me twice. The first time I could have stopped this. If she had told me to leave at that time, I could have saved these people.
Marick became a small girl again and flinched back. I instantly regretted the acid in my voice when I had spoken to her. She was innocent too.
"She did not know," Marick said "only that the war would come and that you would end it,"
What good is it knowing anything if you can't stop the bad things from happening? I set daisy down and stood. I had to move. I had to walk. Instead, I ran. I ran towards the village I had once known as beautiful and quaint. Many parts of it were in ruins though some still stood. I stopped on the street corner and tried to catch my breath.
"Come in for a moment, Lex," said a familiar voice. I turned, and there was Grant, he had survived, at least.
I walked towards him mumbled an apology and sat in a chair. He set a bottle on the table and 2 glasses. He poured both glasses full, and we sat in silence. No one else was here, they were all out counting the dead.
"Thank you, "I muttered under my breath.
His face was shadowed by the darkness in the bar. The candles were out, and the only light streamed in through the open door.
"Thank you for saving us, Lex," he said as he filled my glass. "Those monsters were too strong."
I scoffed, it wasn't a pretty sound. “I didn't save you, I left you to this fate. I should have been here."
"You can't take this on yourself. It was not you who sent the giants to kill us. Nobody saw this coming."
I scoffed again. "An ancient Fae woman saw the war. She said I would end it. I should have come back as soon as she said there would be trouble."
"Even so, you brought us freedom, you brought us magic. You have not brought this destruction."
He poured us each another drink, but I sipped this one because I knew I wasn't done. I had a lot left to do and no time to sit and wallow.
"Can you get the heir?" Grant asked. "If you bring us back Aldridge, we will not be lost. He is a good man and will be a strong leader."
I knew before he had spoken those words that I had to pull it together and soldier on. I maybe wasn't born to be a hunter like Armond, but the elves were apparently fierce warriors so I was born with warrior blood and it was time for me to prove it. Time for me to go.
I found Roman helping move debris off the lane so a man with a cart could get through. I locked eyes with him, and he said farewell and followed in my wake. Daisy had been mulling about waiting for me, so he slipped in beside me quacking softly to himself. Puck was discussing strategy with the remaining King’s guard, but when I caught his eye, he quickly abandoned them and followed as I led them out of town. Marick caught up, and we were on our way. The march to the caves had taken days, I didn't have days to spare, but I did need one night to sleep. I was utterly exhausted and of no use to anyone. So about an hour out of town, I insisted we stop and set up camp. We found a quiet place off the path near a river.
I
let everyone else go ahead of me to wash up in the river, knowing I would need some time to think and sitting by the water would help me focus those thoughts.
I stood there, knee deep in the water in just my underwear. No one was around, and I just needed a moment. It felt like my lungs were burning and the earth was shaking. I could hardly take a breath with how heavy my chest felt.
"You must accept the gift," blurted Marick's soft voice behind me.
I turned to look at her. "What gift?" I asked, trying to maintain a softness to my voice, so I didn't scare her again. I should never have spoken harshly to her.
"Pain is not always a punishment. You can use that pain to build a fire. You have the fire, will you accept it?" as soon as she finished speaking, she turned back into a fox and bolted away.
What a horrible way to increase my magic. So many deaths, I shouldn't benefit from failure. No one should have to die.
It was too late for that though, wasn't it? Regret would not help me save these people and their new king. Aldridge was still missing and presumed alive. As long as he lived, so did this world. It was time for a choice, as Marick said. But it wasn't really a choice at all, I needed to save him, and to do that, I needed the power that was right in front of me. This pain was mine to hold and mine to use.
I accepted the power. It flowed into me like a landslide. It knocked me off my feet and into the river. It forced me beneath the surface and filled my lungs with water.
I was burning up; on fire. That fire had a purpose though. It was clearing out the old Lex. The one who didn't know how to use magic properly. She was gone, and the new Lex was a force stronger than nature, stronger than magic and time and space. I knew now what I had been missing all along. This was it. The magic I was born to control. The magic of a Fae Queen.
THE END
Book Title Copyright © 2018 by Jen Pretty. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Jen Pretty
First Printing: July 2018
ISBN: 9781717935151