All the joy drained from me as though it had never been there. It was replaced by something frigid and terrible. I thought my heart had stopped. Unable to move, I just stared at the boy I thought I loved and let the truth sink in.
He lied.
“All set, Your Highness,” Katriel said, flying back from the ship. “They can’t wait to get underway. Neither can I. I’m sick of being around all these Fay.”
“After all they’ve done for us?” Lev said with unmistakable sarcasm.
Katriel snorted. “You know as well as I that they’d sacrifice us all in a heartbeat if it meant saving their own skins.”
Lev rolled up the parchment and glanced in the direction of the castle. “They may very well intend to.”
It was like being punched in the gut over and over. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was not my Lev. He had never been my Lev. He had lied about everything.
Suddenly Katriel sniffed the air and jerked her head towards me. “Hey! Who goes there?”
Lev’s head turned. He spied me. His face drained of all traces of color. “Emma! What are you doing here?”
I couldn’t breathe or think or move. A horrible pressure settled in my chest. Never had I felt so betrayed. Never had I felt so foolish.
“I can get rid of her,” Katriel said, spreading her wings.
“Get back in the ship,” Lev growled at her.
Looking startled, Katriel nodded and said “Yes, Your Highness.”
Lev started towards me. The sound of his footfalls rattling the dock shook me out of my stupor. Unwilling to face him, I turned and ran.
“Emma!” Lev called after me. “Wait!”
I kept running. Each breath tore through me like a knife. My shock was quickly giving way to fury like I’d never known.
Lev flew overhead and landed in front of me, blocking my way off the dock. His face was a strange mix of annoyance and agony. He tried to grab my arms. “Emma, please!”
“Don’t touch me!” I screamed, recoiling from him. “You liar!”
Lev winced. “Emma, I can explain—”
“You don’t have to explain anything, Your Highness. I guess Ivywild isn’t good enough for a Slaugh king, is it?”
“I was going to tell you,” Lev said, reaching out once again.
I drew back. The feel of his fingers sickened me. “You had plenty of chances to tell me! I asked you flat out if you were King Hagan’s son. You looked me right in the eye and lied!”
Lev hung his head. “Yes. I did. But I had my reasons. And it wasn’t entirely a lie. I am Lev Hartwig.”
His excuses only made me more disgusted. “Don’t feed me more of that crap! What’s your real name?”
“Hugo Winterwing VI,” he said. “But I am Lev Hartwig, too. That’s the person I became to start my new life.”
“Your new life? You mean the one where you mooched off the Fay for years and lied to everyone who tried to help you?”
Lev’s head reared up. Something dangerous flickered in his eyes. “If you’ll recall, they sent me to die in the labyrinth when I first came here. I haven’t asked anyone for anything.”
I was beyond listening to reason. “We should have left you at Moonlight Pass!”
“Maybe so,” Lev said. His eyes had narrowed to hard little slits. “Why did you come here, Emma?”
His question brought the first real threat of tears. I tried to conceal the trembling of my lips by sneering. What was I supposed to say? That I’d come to tell him I was in love with him? That I had come to beg him to stay or take me with him? The very idea made me sick to my stomach now.
“Come on, Em,” Lev said, trying to lay a hand on my shoulder.
I flicked his hand away while shoving him backwards with a magical barrier.
Looking stunned at first, then angry, Lev recovered and pulled himself up to his full height. The bony points on his wings drew up rigidly like the hairs on a cat’s back.
“Bloody hell, Emma!” he exclaimed. “Just calm down! You don’t know everything that’s going on here!”
“All I need to know is that you betrayed me!” I countered, drawing on my own strength for another attack. “I should have expected it. You’re a Slaugh. You’re all worthless. You. Your father. His mistress, Marafae. All cowards. It’s no wonder your race is almost extinct.”
There was an ominous growl in Lev’s voice when he spoke. “You don’t mean that, Emma.”
I’d hit the tender spot. I relished it. I wanted to hurt him as much as he’d hurt me. “Violent, pigheaded, inferior brutes. That’s all you are. Go ahead, take that Slaugh girl on the ship and try to replenish your race. You’ll all just end up killing yourselves off again.”
“Stop spouting nonsense!” Lev growled. “I’m sorry I lied, Emma. How many times do I have to say it? I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” I spat. “Sorry I wasted any of my time with you.”
I wanted to see the barb dig in, but Lev had hardened himself to my words. His black eyes glittered coldly. “Is that really how you feel?”
I had a hard time meeting those cold, dark eyes. I’d never seen Lev look that way at me. Then I caught myself. This wasn’t Lev. This was King Hugo.
“Yes,” I said. “I wish I’d never met you.”
He looked away. “If you feel that way then there’s nothing left to say. It’s a shame that you won’t listen. This is so much bigger than me and you.”
Hearing him echo his father struck a nerve in me. My barrier reacted again. This time it knocked Lev sideways. He fell on his hands and knees and almost tumbled off the dock.
Seeing my chance, I rushed past him. He caught me by the ankle. I spun and brought my hand down in a sharp chop across his right arm, which he had broken once before. I always avoided hitting it in practice, but this time I put as much force into the blow as I could muster.
With a sharp gasp Lev let me go and cradled his arm. He got to his feet. His face was contorted with pain, but his eyes flashed pure resentment.
“Don’t make it be this way,” he said. “I didn’t want us to part like this.”
“You wanted me to believe your fairytale rubbish,” I said. “You’re off on some gallant mission to prove to the world you’re worth something, right? You’re just another king out to feed his ego! Go ahead. Leave. There won’t be any friends left here to pine over you.”
“Emma—”
“LEAVE!” I shouted. “If you ever come back, I swear right here and now that I’ll treat you the same as all my other enemies.”
The order snapped Lev’s last bit of restraint. He showed his teeth in a horrible snarl. All the light left his eyes. His wings arched up and he was as frightening a Slaugh monster as any I had faced in the past.
“Fine,” he sneered through his teeth. “Good riddance to you and all your pathetic Fay friends. Rodden ef hekel.”
I didn’t have the composure to ask him what rodden ef hekel meant. I didn’t have to. The venom in his voice made it perfectly clear that he wished nothing but the worst for me.
“Same to you,” I hissed.
Lev said nothing. His lips were still frozen in a bitter sneer. With an agitated flap of his wings he turned and walked up the dock to the ship.
A breeze filled the sails one by one and the small vessel began its journey to the horizon.
The rage that had been feeding my strength gave way to despair. Exhausted, I slumped to my knees. I had never felt so empty. The most important person in my life was now my biggest regret.
I found myself wishing I had stayed at the funeral. If I had, I might have gone on never knowing Lev’s true identity or how he had played me for a fool. Ours would have been a sweet, long-distance romance.
No. It was all a lie—a whole relationship built on falsehood and misplaced infatuation. I wished I could go back and erase it all; every smile, every secretly coveted moment spent with him in flight or training…all a joke.
Lev’s crumpled note was stil
l in my pocket. No, King Hugo’s note. Lev had never really existed. He was a fabrication. I’d been in love with a fake.
I pulled the letter out and read the words one last time. Then, with trembling hands, I tore the page to tiny pieces and let them blow away out to sea.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I sat there for a long time, unable to grasp the enormity of what I had just lost. All the faith I had in myself was gone. I didn’t know how I could ever trust anyone again after making such a huge misjudgment about Lev.
The cusith hound I’d abandoned sidled up to me and licked my hand. The breeze made its green fur ripple. I absently scratched its head. The dog and everyone else may as well have been on a different planet.
The hound would not be ignored. It butted my arm with its long snout. Its ears were perked up and they kept twitching towards the direction of the road. When I still didn’t get up, the hound whimpered.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let’s get you home.” I stood up to climb on the hound’s back. It was then that I noticed the faint smell of smoke. Curious, but not alarmed, I steadied myself on the creature’s back.
The cusith hound bolted so hard down the road that I had to wrap my arms around its neck to keep from flying off. “Halt!” I shouted. “Slow down!”
The hound only ran faster. Its ears stood straight up and its nostrils flared, sniffing the smoke.
In a flash we left the sea road behind. When we rounded the hill out to the main road I saw plumes of smoke rising from the direction of Mag Mell. In the distance I thought I heard screams.
The howling of distant cusith hounds pierced the air. My hound howled back. The sound sent shivers down my spine. Something must have gone wrong at the funeral. I put aside my personal woes and urged the cusith hound to go faster.
The hound needed no urging. It sped onward like a green comet. As we got closer to the ancient graveyard the screams became louder. The hounds bayed nonstop. Smoke enshrouded the place like fog.
I loosened my shortsword from its sheath beneath my robe and wrapped my headscarf around my mouth and nose to guard against the choking smoke. Peering into the haze, I saw orange flames where several tents had caught fire.
A mother and three children ran past me.
“Monster!” screamed one of the children.
Out of the smoke behind them clanked a gruesome figure. It was made of dead Goblin parts joined together with mechanical limbs.
“Mechamen!” I said with a gasp.
The mechaman spied me. I saw the single-minded instinct to kill flash through its primitive skull.
The mechaman dashed towards me. I charged towards it at the same time, casting a barrier before me like a shield. When I could see the cloudy pupils of the mechaman’s eyes, I launched the barrier energy at it. The mechaman fell backwards, its metal parts clanking on the ground.
The hound jumped over the fallen mechaman and I found myself in a scene of chaos. A dozen more of the undead soldiers were wreaking havoc in Mag Mell. All of the Fay who hadn’t flown to safety were trapped within the stone gates of the graveyard. People were using magic or brute force to stop the attackers. Novices who were trying to use their magic in defense only made things worse by causing more fire. Rows of tents blazed with orange flame.
Some of the monuments on king’s row had been broken. I searched for signs of the royal family. The smoky fog made it all but impossible to see anything.
A cry came from a tree to my left. A little Fay girl was stranded in its branches. One of the mechamen circled the tree trunk, swiping its weapon-like arms at the little girl.
“Help!” the girl screamed. “I tried to use my wings but this was as far as I could go!”
“Sit tight,” I shouted at the girl. I jumped off the hound and squared my sights on the mechaman. “Hey, Ugly!”
The mechaman spun around. I was about to hurl my shortsword between its eyes when a bolt of lightning struck it from behind. The mechaman shook and lurched as electricity danced over its half-metal corpse.
“A direct hit!” Bazzlejet shouted as he shook excess electricity off his fingertips.
I barely recognized him. His wig and maid outfit were scorched. He grabbed the little girl off the tree limb and carried her on his hip. “You coming?” he asked me as he set off at a run.
I followed him. “Where’s Chloe?” I shouted.
Bazzlejet ducked as a Fay marksman shot an arrow at some mechamen who were chasing some Gnomes. “She’s safe for now. Keep up.”
“Where did the mechamen come from?” I shouted.
“They appeared out of nowhere,” Bazzlejet shouted back. Two mechamen stood ahead. Bazzlejet cast a lightning bolt at a pillar. It fell on top of the mechamen with a sickening crunch. The little girl screamed and buried her face on his shoulder.
“Over here!” Bazzlejet shouted. He was standing next to a mausoleum. The front wall had been knocked down and hastily patched over with chunks of stone.
He handed me the little girl. She wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and sobbed on my shoulder.
“Shhh,” I tried to soothe her. “It’s going to be okay. That was very brave of you to try and fly.”
“My wings wouldn’t stay,” the girl cried. “I want my mommy!”
“It’s me,” Bazzlejet yelled into the mausoleum. He pulled out one of the stones from the makeshift wall, causing it to collapse.
I climbed over the rubble into a hollow sanctum. Bazzlejet stepped in behind me and started to build the wall back up.
“Any Enchanters in here?” he called over his shoulder. “I could use some help patching this.”
A long-faced farmer stepped out of the darkness. “I’m no Enchanter, but I’ll help you fix that wall.”
My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness yet. I could hear scared voices whispering at the back of the mausoleum. The little girl let out an ear-splitting scream. A skeleton was lying in a compartment next to us. A shiver ran down my spine as I saw more skeletons lying in rows on both the sides of the mausoleum.
Othella’s pale face scowled out of the darkness. “Quiet!” she hissed. “We don’t want to give away our position!”
“She’s just a child, Mom,” said Violet’s wispy voice. “Come here, little girl. Let me see if you’re hurt.” She stepped forward out of the shadows. Her face and hair were covered with ash and dust. I handed the little girl to her.
As my eyes adjusted, I saw that no less than a dozen people were crammed into the mausoleum. Among them were the Baroness of Ipswimmy Island, several personal butlers and, much to my relief, Chloe.
“Emma!” Chloe said in an excited whisper. She shoved a dangling skeleton hand out of her way to get to me. “I was so worried about you! Where have you been?”
I was saved from having to answer her question when Bazzlejet appeared. He was pouring sweat. He went to wipe his brow and the tattered remains of his wig slid off, revealing the spiky silver-blue hair underneath.
“Hell of a funeral,” he said.
Chloe stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “You’re a…you’re a boy!”
Realizing his mistake, Bazzlejet looked to Othella for help. She pinched her lips together and shook her head.
“You sicko!” Chloe shouted, hitting Bazzlejet in the shoulder. “How dare you impersonate a maid? Who do you think you are?”
“Shhhhh!” Bazzlejet and I hissed at the same time.
The mausoleum rattled as something metallic banged on the wall. Ages of dust filled the air, causing everyone to cough. Skeletons rattled in their resting places.
“The monsters are gonna get us!” The little girl squealed.
“Take heart, child,” Violet said. “Commander Frayne Larue is on his way. We’ll all be safe when he and the rest of the Master Casters arrive.”
The mausoleum rattled again and a chunk of stone flew out of the hastily barred wall.
“We’re surrounded!” said the baroness. She twisted her bright floral handkerchief nervously
. “What if they break through before the Master Casters get here?”
Bazzlejet and I glanced at each other.
“Can you hold them back if they break through?” Bazzlejet asked.
“I think,” I said. “It would help to have some backup.”
“I’ll cover you,” Bazzlejet said. He turned to Chloe. “Care to scorch some bad guys, Your Highness?”
Chloe glared at him. “I’d just as soon scorch you. You were such a lousy maid and so TERRIBLY unattractive that I should have known something was up.”
Bazzlejet looked offended. “Hey! Knock my maid skills all you want, but don’t call me—”
“Guys!” I said. I pointed at the wall of rubble that stood between us and the mechamen. Pieces of stone tumbled inward. A metal arm punched through the barricade.
White light made the mausoleum brighter than day as Bazzlejet cast his electrical magic at the intruder. It halted the assault for only a moment before three more mechamen tried to come in through the breech.
I jumped in front of Bazzlejet, ready to cast a barrier.
“Stay back,” he said. “Guard the others.” He looked over at Chloe. “I know you hate me, but I need your help. I’ll zap em’ if you fry em’.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “You idiot! Isn’t it obvious fire doesn’t work against these undead creeps? Besides I’d end up smoking us all out.”
“Then get behind Emma!” Bazzlejet shouted over the sound of collapsing stone.
“No way,” Chloe said. “You zap them. I’ll freeze them.”
I protected the others behind a barrier while Chloe cast jets of white ice crystals at the mechamen. Her ice spells were nowhere near as powerful as Commander Larue’s, but they did slow the mechamen down. She stunned them by coating their metal parts with ice and Bazzlejet picked them off with bolts of lightning.
One by one the disgusting bodies fell on top of each other, but the mechamen kept coming.
“They’ve concentrated their attack on us,” I said. “I hope that means everyone else is safely out of Mag Mell.”
“Or they’ve killed everyone else!” exclaimed the hysterical baroness.
“Not my mommy!” the little girl wailed.
The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) Page 10