by Alison Pensy
The group started to jostle towards the kitchen. They didn't have much choice. The guards who were now bringing up the rear saw to that.
Todmus and Faedra spilled out of the opening first, expanding to full size as soon as they entered the kitchen. Faen and Allora followed, then Jocelyn, Alyssa and Etyran. Behind them, were at least half a dozen of Arawn's guards.
“Not so secret, after all, then?” Faedra quipped, finding it hard to keep Savu's sarcasm at bay.
Todmus cast his gaze to the ground.
“She didn't mean it, my friend,” Faen reassured him.
“Oh, didn't I?” Faedra snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. She stepped towards her Guardian and prodded him in the chest with her finger. “Don't dare to tell me what I did or didn't mean!”
Faen took a step back from the Custodian, his eyes wide with surprise. The other five gave each other sideways glances at Faedra's outburst.
“Faedra?” Faen said, searching in her eyes for some explanation.
“Oh, don't ‘Faedra’ me,” she jibed. “Faedra isn't here right now.”
Faen kept his eyes on his charge, his expression unreadable. The rest of the group turned to each other, mumbling between themselves.
“Faedra, you have to fight him,” Faen said, reaching a hand to her face.
She batted Faen's hand away and shot him a contemptuous glare. “Faedra is sick to death of playing Miss Goody, I'm-going-to-save-the-realm, Two Shoes. She wants to have a little fun.” She looked over at Arawn who was viewing the unfolding scene with amusement. “What say you, Mr. Arrogant? Want to take on an apprentice?”
Arawn crossed his arms over his chest and rested his chin on a fist, cogitating over Faedra's surprising request with the raising of a sleek eyebrow. No doubt wondering if this wasn't just a ruse to distract him from the task at hand.
“There you are,” Vivianna said, bursting through the entrance to the kitchen, tugging little Skylar roughly by the wrist. “I wondered what was taking you so...long.” She hesitated when she saw the looks on everyone's faces. Something strange was happening and she looked disgruntled by the fact that she didn't yet know what it was. “Is there something I should be aware of?” Vivianna asked Arawn.
“Mama!” Skylar cried when she spotted her mother in the crowd.
Vivianna tugged her closer. “Quiet, you little brat!”
“Dearest Sister,” Faedra cooed, stepping away from her group with open arms towards Vivianna. “So nice of you to join us.”
Vivianna shot the Custodian an incredulous, if somewhat wary, look. When it seemed like Faedra was going to continue until she was close enough for a hug, the confused woman backed up a few paces and put out her hand.
“What? No hug for your sister?” Faedra mocked. “Come now, after all we've been through together, surely we should give each other a hug.”
Vivianna cast a questioning glance towards Arawn and received a shrug in return.
“No? Oh, well, can't blame a girl for trying.” She leaned down and squeezed Skylar's chubby cheek between thumb and forefinger and gave it a little wiggle. “Aren't you just a little cutie?” She straightened and turned. “Well, let's get this show on the road, shall we?” she said to Arawn, then examined her fingernails. “I'm already getting bored.”
“Faedra, what are you doing?” Jocelyn asked, tears welling in her eyes.
Faedra put her hand up to silence the young fairy. “Shut up, Jocelyn.”
“This isn't you. You have to fight...”
Faedra swished her hand and Jocelyn's mouth slammed shut. Jocelyn's eyes widened as she put her hands up to her lips, unable to open her mouth or speak.
“Now, you can't say I didn't warn you,” Faedra said with a nonchalant air, then laughed at her own pun.
Faen and Etyran took a step forward.
Faedra barked out a conceited chuckle. “Really, boys? You think that's wise?”
Faen and Etyran looked at each other then back at the Custodian, who was now holding two fiery orbs. Both blew out a long, slow sigh before taking a step back.
Faedra's mouth curved with a sly grin. She closed her hands on the orbs and then shook them out. “So, I'm sure you don't want to be conducting your business in the kitchen,” she said to Arawn. “This is, after all, where your food is prepared and I can see things getting a little messy, and that would be, well, just a tad icky, if you know what I mean.”
Arawn gave the Custodian another thoughtful look. “Bring them up to the hall,” Arawn instructed his guards. He marched out of the kitchen followed by Vivianna and Skylar. Faedra kept in step with Vivianna on the other side of the little girl she was dragging along with her.
Arawn's guards gave Etyran and Faen a shove from behind forcing the group to fall in behind Arawn and the others.
“What are you playing at?” Vivianna hissed at Faedra as they marched up the steps behind Arawn.
“Vivianna, darling. It's me, Savu. I knew the little wretch couldn't keep me under her control for long; I was just biding my time until she was too distracted to fight me. Turns out she's scared of the dark. Ha!”
Vivianna narrowed her eyes at Faedra.
Faedra raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Believe me. Don't believe me. I really don't care. I have much bigger fish to fry, as you will soon find out.”
Faedra strode out in front of Vivianna as Arawn entered the hall of his castle.
Vivianna hastened her steps to catch up. “What do you mean you have bigger fish to fry...?” She looked down at Skylar who was starting to cry. “Stop your sniveling! You are trying my last nerve.” Vivianna jerked sharply on Skylar's wrist again, causing the little girl to yelp in pain.
“Oh, for God's sake, quit your bitching, Vivianna,” Faedra snapped. “If you can't handle the child, give her to me.” She took hold of Vivianna's hand and wrenched it from Skylar's wrist just as they filed into hall.
“Hey!” Vivianna cried. She glared at Faedra but picked up her pace to follow Arawn to his dais where an ornately carved chair was placed.
Arawn stepped up onto the dais. He turned, sweeping his robes to one side with a graceful swish of his hand before seating himself. Vivianna stepped up onto the dais and stood to one side of him.
Faedra cast an indifferent glance at the others who were entering the hall and getting herded into a group by Arawn's guards.
“Faedra, come and join us,” Arawn invited, his arms open.
Faedra took a step towards Arawn, with Skylar in tow. The little girl cast a frightened look to her mother, who whimpered in response.
“Faedra, I beg you, fight him. You cannot let him win!” Faen implored.
Faedra eye's flashed with anger and she drew in a breath. She looked up at Arawn who seemed pleased by her reaction. Then she turned and glared at Faen. Jocelyn and Alyssa gasped at the light flickering in the Custodian's eyes. Faedra stomped towards them dragging Skylar with her. When she got to the group they took an involuntary step back. Faedra and Faen locked gazes, his eyes widened a second later when she winked at him. Etyran, who was standing beside him, saw it too.
In the next second Faedra turned to Allora and Todmus and handed Skylar to them. “I believe she belongs to you.”
Allora exchanged a silent ‘thank you’ with the Custodian, then dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the little girl.
In the blink of an eye, Etyran and Alyssa disappeared and guards started dropping one by one. Jocelyn conjured her sword and joined the foray.
Faedra turned just in time to deflect a couple of fireballs thrown at them by Arawn who was now standing and glaring at them with murderous intent.
“I knew she couldn't be trusted!” Vivianna screamed at Arawn. She was inching her way behind Arawn's chair realizing she had no powers in Allora's body.
Arawn stepped down from his platform and started towards Faedra. Faen drew his sword and stepped in front of his charge.
“No!” Faedra cried, knowing the sorcerer's strength w
as too much for her Guardian, but it was too late. Arawn had already disarmed Faen, sending his sword flying across the room with a flick of his hand. Faen took his attention off the sorcerer for a split second as he watched his sword being thrown across the room. When he looked back, Arawn had his hand raised and a bolt of electricity shot straight through Faen’s heart. The Guardian inhaled a ragged breath as he stumbled backwards. A second later Faen dropped to the floor like a rock.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Vaguely, Faedra heard running footsteps getting quieter behind her. The remaining guards that her friends hadn't disabled were running from the room in defeat.
Faedra dropped to her knees beside the man she loved.
Arawn took another step forward, armed with something else from his powerful arsenal. Faedra didn't even look up at him. Somehow she knew to let her body take over. She channeled all her fear of what may have happened to Faen at the tyrant sorcerer. He was knocked off his feet with the force of what she threw at him.
Faen lay unmoving as she tentatively placed her fingers on his neck. She rested them over his carotid. Behind her, their friends had gathered around the two of them. Breaths held, waiting.
A sob broke from the Custodian as she hung her head. Her fears were confirmed, her Guardian's pulse was gone. He was dead and it was all her fault. Why couldn't she have given him some kind of warning of her hare-brained idea before she implemented it? Trying to make Arawn think Savu had turned her seemed a good idea at the time. She was just trying to buy them a little more time so she could think of a way to get her hands on Skylar before Arawn hurt her. Now that he had Todmus in his grasp, he had no more use for the child. It was spontaneous and reckless, and it had gotten the person she loved, more than anything in the world, killed. How was she going to live without him? That was simple, she couldn't. So, she realized, it didn't matter if she lived or died.
She looked up and had the strange sensation that everything around her was happening as if she was inside a goldfish bowl looking out. She watched Arawn getting back to his feet. She heard Etyran telling Todmus and Allora to take Skylar and get out as quickly as they could. She saw Vivianna creeping out from behind the other side of the chair, eying the doorway. She felt Savu's power build inside her before she unleashed every bit of it on the castle, as a whole. She would bring this place down on Arawn's head. She would not leave a stone standing of the place in which her loved one had been killed.
The control Faedra had on her power was surreal. All this time she'd been fighting it, but now that she let it go, the power seemed to know instinctively what it had to do to fulfill her request. Is this how easy it could have been the whole time she was fighting with it?
Arawn summoned a couple more fireballs. He looked down at the dead fairy lying beside her, then returned his gaze to her. The corner of his mouth curled up. Faedra didn't take her eyes off the tyrant, her expression neutral.
In that moment the floor started to shake, challenging Arawn's balance. The sorcerer looked around himself, the smug smile falling from his face. A chandelier crashed to the ground a foot from where he stood, and his balls of fire fizzled as he covered his head with his arms and shot the Custodian a bewildered look.
The columns on either side of the dais collapsed in a pile of blocks and rubble. Vivianna screamed and ran for the door, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Faedra tracked her movements through the room. As she reached the door, her half-sister jerked awkwardly as if being grabbed from behind, then her hands moved to behind her back and stayed in place at the base of her spine. Faedra did a cursory glance of her friends only to find Alyssa missing.
When Faedra turned back, Arawn was heading towards a door on the other side of the hall. Faedra looked up and the ceiling collapsed in on him before he got a step further, spilling tons of wood and rubble onto the floor.
Etyran leaned down in front of Faedra and scooped Faen off the floor. His limp body hung from the Lightbender's strong arms like a wet rag. A section of ceiling above the dais collapsed and sent rubble and dust flying towards the four still left in the hall. Etyran turned and Jocelyn brought her arms up to protect her face as the sharp fragments of rock flew at them like shrapnel. Faedra raised her hand; all the shards stopped a few inches short of them, floated in mid-air for a moment, and then fell to the floor.
Jocelyn grabbed her friend by the arm. “We have to get out of here,” she cried as she hauled an unresponsive Custodian off the floor and dragged her towards the door just as the walls started caving in around them.
Faedra kept her eyes trained on the destruction in front of her, trusting her young fairy friend to guide her out of the castle. Not that she cared if she made it out or not, but she didn't want to see any of her remaining friends hurt, and to guarantee that, she had to go with them.
As they moved through the castle, Faedra reduced each room to rubble behind them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Etyran burst through the castle gates, with Jocelyn dragging the Custodian close behind him. Todmus was waiting with his family just outside the gates. Alyssa was holding Vivianna in a vice grip next to the dwarf. Etyran staggered for a few paces before laying his best friend down in the soft grass.
The group turned to look as the last remaining wall of the once impressive castle was reduced to rubble, sending a plume of dust into the sky. Faedra ignored it as she kneeled beside her Guardian. His face looked calm, like he was sleeping. She leaned over and moved a lock of hair from his forehead with her finger, she then let her hand trail down the side of his face until it came to rest on his cheek.
There was a hitch in her breath before the tears came, attracting the attention of her friends and one enemy.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered to Faen before placing a delicate kiss to his lips. “You will hold my heart always.” She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest, the emptiness of it without a heartbeat tearing her own heart in two. Tears ran down her cheeks and soaked into his tunic.
Jocelyn, who was standing next to Etyran, leaned into the Lightbender. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head as she sobbed into his chest, her own tears for her brother flowing freely now. Etyran cast his sad gaze over to Alyssa who was still holding tight to Vivianna. An expression of commiseration shrouding his new friend's features.
Todmus cleared his throat. He leaned over and placed his hand on Faedra's shoulder. She opened her eyes, sensing the hope in the little man's energy. “What is it, Todmus?” She pushed herself up into a kneeling position; her eyes level with the dwarf's.
“I believe you have the power to save Mr. Faen.”
Faedra gave him a weak smile. “Todmus, he's already gone. Unless Savu has the power to breathe life into the dead then I'm afraid there's nothing we can do.” Her voice cracked with her words.
Todmus smiled. “If what I have read is correct, miss, Savu did have the power to give life. It's just that he always found it more amusing to take it away.”
Faedra held Todmus by the shoulders and searched his eyes. “How, Todmus? Do you know how?”
“Well, miss, as far as I've read in the texts, dark energy takes life. So, it would stand to reason that light energy should give it.”
Faedra stared at the dwarf for a long moment. Energy she understood. She was, after all, an energy manipulator, but she'd not yet had to differentiate her energy between light and dark. It was easy enough to equate dark energy with bad stuff and light energy with good, but when it came to bringing someone back from the dead, that was something altogether outside of her realm of comprehension.
She gave Todmus a weak smile and turned back to her Guardian. Where did she even begin? Her eyes closed on a heavy sigh and she laid her palms to Faen's chest. It was dark behind her eyelids; she was hoping when she closed them something in her mind would present her with a solution. She took a calming breath and relaxed, giving herself up to Savu's power as she had done moments earlier in the castle. Only
this time, she wasn't seeking to destroy, but to create. Her power seemed to know what to do back then, maybe it would in this situation, also.
A moment ticked by but still she was secluded in her own darkness. Just as she was about to open her eyes in defeat, she saw something. A pin prick of light in the distance, coming from the darkest recesses of her mind. Gradually, it got closer and closer, lighting up the darkness as it approached. When it reached her, the force of it took her by surprise. She could feel the warmth of it flowing all around her, reaching out to the man she loved, also. It felt like they were being wrapped in her favorite soft blanket. A love and light so powerful it flowed through every vein, chased away every shadow, and took her breath away. If this was what light energy felt like, she never wanted to experience dark energy again for as long as she lived. Then she felt something under her fingertips, a heartbeat. Then another… and another.
Faedra opened her eyes. For a split second, she looked down at herself and was taken aback to see that she was glowing; not just her eyes this time, but her whole body was glowing a beautiful soft white. Where her hands touched Faen, the light radiated out across his chest and drenched his whole body in the same ethereal light.
She studied Faen's face. It was calm, sleeping. Faedra brought a hand to her mouth when she saw Faen's lips part just a fraction as he took a breath, then another. Tears pricked her eyes, eyes that were drawn upwards for a second by the sound of soft gasps all around her. Her friends were standing in a circle around them, looking down in astonishment at the miracle taking place under her hands.
Jocelyn's tears still flowed, but Faedra could sense they were tears of happiness this time. Faedra returned her gaze to the man who still lay unmoving on the ground.
“Come on, Faen,” Faedra whispered. “Come back to me.” She let her fingertips trail down the side of his face, leaving wisps of light in their wake.