Forever Doon

by Carey Corp

  Clearly realizing they were wasting ammunition, Jamie ordered a ceasefire and unsheathed his sword, but I feared it would do little good. I spun to face Kenna and Duncan. “The force field is protecting the skellies. Maybe you should turn back.”

  “Nay.” Duncan’s brows crouched over his eyes. “We’re prepared to defend Doon or die tryin’.”

  I glanced past him to the people waiting—Destined who’d been called from all over the world, some of them barely older than children—and all I could see was an impending bloodbath. I opened my mouth to order them back, when Kenna stepped forward and fully into Doon. “Vee, let them do what the Protector called them to do. If nothing else, we can help you get safely back to camp.”

  The click-clack had grown louder and I knew the army would soon be upon us. “Okay. But hurry!”

  I rushed off the bridge just as the skellies reached the front line of royal guards. One of the men swung his sword in a wide arc, aiming for the closest creature’s head, but when he made contact his arms bounced back and he stumbled. Not quite the blow Duncan had taken when the creatures were immobile, but still devastating. It was just as we feared; we couldn’t touch them.

  As the Destined swarmed off the bridge and divided to either side, the skellies began to attack. The guardsmen raised their swords to defend themselves, but could do nothing to stop the creatures from surrounding them.

  Jamie yelled, “Retreat!”

  I rushed to Jamie’s side as one of our men fell and the creatures swarmed him. Jamie tensed to move, but I stopped him. “No, we have to be smart. Find a way to slow them so we can escape back to camp.”

  Another guard fell as he was trying to run back to us. The skellies fell on him, swords first, while the army swarmed around them and kept coming.

  Jamie pulled a bomb from his pocket. “I dinna dare try this, but what if—”

  “We can try to use the rings to weaken the protection spell first!” I finished for him.

  I spun to find Kenna directing the last of the Destined off the bridge. “Kenna!”

  She raced to my side, and I was so intent on my goal to take down the witch’s barrier spell that our rings began to glow before she even reached me. “Take my hand and focus on the protective spell around the monsters.”

  She nodded and, hands linked, we moved forward. Fergus and the others flanked us, but there was little they could do as we drew closer. I didn’t dare shut my eyes to focus as the creatures advanced. They were within twenty feet of us now, close enough that we could see the pale violet glow of their eyes.

  Fear knotted my gut as I remembered the rings’ ineffectiveness against the skellies in the field. But in that moment I’d let the witch get in my head and my belief had wavered—my faith in myself and the Protector. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  “Envision it, Ken . . . the rings’ magic taking down the skeletons’ protection, just like we envisioned the force field around camp.”

  We raised our linked hands above our heads and a beam of scalding golden light blasted from the rings. I raised my other hand to shield my eyes, but could see the monsters falling back. The two remaining guards raced toward us, bleeding but alive.

  Fergus, who was the best shot among us, let an arrow fly. I think my heart may have stopped as it sailed through the air and struck home in a skellie’s eye socket. The creature stumbled back, regained its feet, and kept coming. The shot proved we could now hurt them, but one arrow at a time would not do the trick.

  “Jamie, the bomb!” Before the words left my mouth, he had the device out of his pocket. Taking aim, he pulled the pin, drew his arm back like a bowler, and flung it forward. It rolled in a steady, straight line into the midst of the advancing creatures, who didn’t pay it a bit of attention.

  “Retreat! Everyone get behind the bridge,” Duncan cried.

  Hands guided Kenna and me away. In unspoken agreement, we lowered our hands and unlinked our fingers, letting the beam from our rings fade. The explosion that followed shook the ground and we fell back, heat washing over us.

  A cheer rose behind us. And I sat up to find the creatures had turned into a pile of fiery bones. With the few partially intact, hobbling around in circles. Then the bones dissolved, as if they longed to return to the earth where they belonged.

  Kenna leaned over and helped me to my feet. “All right, Highney?”

  “Yes, but . . .” My voice trailed off as I watched Jamie and Duncan rush to check the fallen guards. Duncan placed two fingers on the first man’s neck and then shook his head with a frown. When Jamie reached the second guard, I could tell by his body language that he still lived.

  “He wishes a word, Yer Majesty!” Jamie called.

  “Ken, have Fergus and Ana lead the Destined back to camp. And tell them to hurry before Addie’s reinforcements show up.”

  She nodded and I jogged to where the MacCrae brothers leaned over the young man who’d just crossed the bridge with Kenna and Duncan—it was Rabbie MacGregor, Duncan’s apprentice. Slowly, I knelt beside him and took his blood-soaked hand.

  Duncan knelt on his other side. “Yer gonna make it, Rabbie. Just hold on.”

  His dark gaze bore into mine. “Yer Majesty, please tell . . . my sister, Hannah, I love her.” His eyes closed and a sick gurgle bubbled in his throat.

  Choking on a sob, I felt Jamie place a hand on my shoulders for support. I swallowed and forced the words past my burning throat. “Of course, Rabbie, I’ll tell her. Is there anything else?”

  He turned his head toward Duncan, his eyes flickered and then cracked open. “Hannah wishes . . . ta become a . . . royal guard.” A tiny smile tilted his mouth. “Like me.”

  Tears coursed down Duncan’s face. “I’ll make it so.”

  Rabbie clutched his hand. “ ’Twas an . . . honor to . . . die . . . protectin’ Doon.”

  A last breath shuddered from his chest and then he was gone.

  “Well, isn’t tha’ touching. Another useless death caused by the American simpleton who fancies herself a queen.”

  Addie’s unmistakable, hideous voice froze my grief. I whipped around to find the witch holding Kenna in front of her, a knife pressed to the front of her throat. Raising my hand, the ring blazed to life. Jamie and Duncan flanked me on either side, swords drawn, Duncan practically vibrating with anger.

  “No need to pull out the big guns, dear. I’m just here to make a trade.” Addie lifted her hand and crooked a finger, and in my voice, said, “Jamie, come to me.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, he took a step forward. My brain told me to stop him, but I couldn’t move. Was he really going to her willingly? Or did she have some sort of hold on him? As he took another step, shock buzzed through my limbs and I lowered my ring, afraid to catch him in the crossfire.

  “Release Mackenna and I’ll come wi’ you.”

  At Jamie’s words, relief washed through me. He wasn’t entranced, just attempting to rescue my best friend.

  Jamie lowered his sword and took another slow step forward. “My friends leave here unharmed and I’ll do as ye ask.”

  “See, little queenie, he really does want me,” Addie boasted, no longer using my voice. “He just needed the right . . . incentive. Together, we will take Doon piece by piece, until ye have nothin’ left ta rule. Then I’ll watch as your true love kills you and bathe in your blood!”

  I fingered the handle of one of the axes hanging from my weapons belt, calculating whether I could bury it in the witch’s face before she could slit Kenna’s throat. It wasn’t worth the risk. Kenna’s gaze caught mine and I could tell she was trying to communicate. Suddenly her words slammed into my brain. “I’ve got this. Back off!”

  Jamie stopped. He must’ve heard it too.

  She might think she could handle the witch, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Mustering every ounce of acting skill I’d absorbed from my best friend over the years, I rushed to Jamie’s side and gripped his arm. “Jamie! Please don’t do this! Don’t
leave me for her!”

  He stared down at me like I’d lost my brains. “Vee, get back.”

  I glanced quickly at the witch to see if she was buying my act. Her chin tilted as she watched us with narrowed eyes, her lips curling in satisfaction. Perfect. Jamie tried to take my arm to push me behind him, but I flung myself against his chest and moaned, “She can’t make you happy! We can win this fight together.”

  And then I slipped the bomb into his pocket. I felt the tension in his body the moment he understood.

  Giving my hand a quick squeeze, he shoved me away from him. “ ’Tis over between us! I’m sick o’ bein’ on the losing side!” He glanced at Addie, whose smile had grown huge. “I’m in love wi’ someone else now.”

  As he spoke, I dropped my hand into my pocket and flicked the cap off of the elixir. Jamie turned away on his heel as if to join Addie and gave Kenna a quick nod.

  In a seamless sequence of motion, Kenna threw her head back into Addie’s chin, pulled the knife away from her neck with both hands, and bent forward, forcing the witch off balance. Then with a screech, she rammed her elbow into Addie’s stomach and twisted her knife arm painfully to the side.

  Seeing my opening, I leapt forward as I pulled the vial from my pocket and splashed Saint Sabastian’s elixir into the witch’s stunned face.

  “Kenna, get clear,” Duncan shouted.

  Kenna knocked the knife from Addie’s hand and grabbed it out of the air before sprinting toward us.

  I waited. For what, I didn’t know. Addie’s skin to boil and blister like a vampire in the sun. Her old, haggish self to appear the way a werewolf morphs back into a man. Perhaps for her body to shrivel away to dust like her monsters. To shriek, “I’m melting!” and disappear into a puddle of fabric. Something.

  What I didn’t expect was for her to throw her head back with a resounding cackle. “You stupid, stupid girl, I’ve been immortal for hundreds o’ years, and ye think a bit o’ holy water will hurt me? This isn’t Oz!” Violet light blasted from her eyes. Her hair whipped around her head like Medusa as she raised her palms directly at us. “But you have given me a wonderful idea.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Mackenna

  Purple orbs of magic began to gather in the center of Addie’s outstretched hands, writhing like agitated serpents in small glass bowls. “I always thought that Frank L. Baum was a ninny for creating a world where his witch could be killed with something as basic and necessary as water.”

  Kenna, Vee’s voice buzzed inside my head. Addie gets sloppy when she’s antagonized.

  Got it! Squaring my shoulders, I leveled my gaze at Addie and projected that I found her pathetic. “Do you have a point you’re eventually going to make? Or are you trying to soliloquize us to death?”

  My bestie stepped into me and grasped my hand, covering up the movement with a chuckle. “Good one, Ken.”

  I watched the rage move across Addie’s face. “Acid. That’s my point, dearie. Acid is a much more effective way to melt someone.” The slithering balls in her hands began to secrete liquid. A single drop fell from her hand. With a sickening hiss, the spot blackened as the grass turned to zombie fungus. “Not me, of course. But I’m thinking it will do the trick on the two of you nicely.”

  Without a second to spare, Kenna and I raised our hands, using our rings to put up a shield as two purple balls flew through the air. The orbs expanded into a gelatinous web that coated our protective bubble. As it oozed to the ground around us, the earth decayed and blackened.

  My head began to buzz as Jamie’s voice ordered, Take cover now!

  I looked to Vee who clarified, Bomb!

  A moment later, a metal ball rolled past, coming to a stop against Addie’s boot. The witch glanced down and her eyes flew wide. In unspoken agreement, Vee and I expanded our protective bubble to include the MacCraes right before the garden exploded.

  Duncan wrapped me in his massive arms as a wave of heat pushed us back several steps. Thanks to my boyfriend’s ogre-like stature, we managed to stay upright. But just barely. Vee and Jamie weren’t so lucky.

  The moment Duncan loosened his grip, we rushed over to where Vee and Jamie lay in a tangled heap. As Duncan reached for his brother, I knelt next to my best friend. Both of them were alive, but dazed.

  Jamie impatiently pushed Duncan’s hands away. “I’m fine. Tend ta the queen.”

  “I’m fine too,” Vee insisted in sloppy speech. She looked about her without focusing on anything specific. “The protective bubble?”

  “Gone.” I stuck my hand under her nose. Uncle Cameron’s ring no longer emanated any light; neither did its counterpart on Vee’s hand.

  “An’ the witch?” she slurred.

  Holy Hammerstein! With the explosion, I’d forgotten all about Addie. I stood and swiveled around, fighting against the sensation of vertigo as I looked toward where I’d last seen the Witch of Doon.

  The miniature bridge had been blown to bits. Stone fragments littered the garden in all directions. In the middle of the rubble, Adelaide struggled to sit up. The skin on the right side of her face, from cheek to jawline, hung down from her skull in a loose flap. The gross combination of tendons, arteries, and bone that it exposed lent a nightmarish quality to the scene as the witch shakily stood up.

  “Is that the best ye’ve got, love?” She directed the taunt to Jamie, the loose side of her face undulating as she spoke. “I dinna mind a quarrel now and then. Not when the prospect of making up is so sweet.”

  Vee, who’d gotten to her feet and was being held back by Jamie, growled, “You’re delusional, witch.”

  Addie just chuckled. “Where were we? Oh, yes . . . acid. For all but my sweet prince.”

  Magic began to ball in her palms as I reached for Vee’s hand. Unfortunately, the rings didn’t respond.

  We’re defenseless! Vee’s voice buzzed through my brain followed by Jamie’s. Make a run for it. Duncan and I will hold Adelaide off while the two o’ you get away.

  I’m not leaving you. We’re stronger together, Vee and I responded, our replies overlapping as we refused to cooperate.

  The gathering magic in Addie’s hands began to sizzle. “Time’s up,” she sneered. The ground shook as she arced her arms up over her head. The magic in her palms became a supercharged, violet black hole. Debris from the bridge began to fly through the air as it got sucked into her magical void.

  The wind caused by the witch’s vortex snatched my hair and clothes and pulled me painfully forward. Unable to resist, I searched for anything I could use to anchor myself, but the scorched, spongy earth offered no help. Vee, Duncan, and Jamie fought their own futile battles against the witch’s power.

  Link arms! I commanded as I reached for Vee. She, in turn, grabbed hold of Jamie, who clung to Duncan. Step by unwilling step, the witch dragged us closer. As we struggled to resist her tug, chunks of stone and branches battered our heads. A small twig became a projectile that pierced my brow. I could sense the blood from the wound it created streaming into the corner of my eye.

  When we were about twenty feet away from the witch, the force of her magic began to lift us off our feet. As we flew toward her, the vortex began to crackle like a speaker with a short. Losing its fury, the black hole began to dissipate. All around us, things caught in its pull began to drop to the ground. We were no exception.

  Hitting the ground with a smack, I felt Vee as she crashed into my hip; heard Duncan and Jamie groan in what I could only assume was a collision of princes. Scrambling toward the others, I grabbed on to Vee as Duncan and Jamie reached for us. Huddling together, the four of us watched Addie drop her arms. Outraged, she stared at her hands in disbelief.

  Then, murmuring an incantation, the witch lifted her hands and focused. Purple magic flickered in her palms but failed to manifest into anything more. With a scream, she tried again. This time, she couldn’t even cause a spark. As she howled in outrage, the ground began to come apart. Little vein-like fissures crisscrossed thr
ough the garden.

  Suddenly Addie and the earth stilled. Her eyes, which always contained a bit of craziness in them, gleamed with a new level of insanity—one that chilled me to the core of my being. “More souls,” she muttered to herself, ignoring us as if we no longer existed. “I need more souls.” In a dramatic poof of purple smoke, the witch disappeared.

  For several seconds, Vee, Jamie, Duncan, and I lay in a heap, unable to process what had occurred. Finding my voice, I asked, “What just happened?”

  “Hopefully, a way to kill Adelaide Blackmore Cadell,” Jamie replied.

  “Or,” Duncan countered, “the death o’ us all.”

  “Either way,” Vee said as she struggled to sit up, “we need to get back to camp and prepare for the next wave of attack.”

  As if they agreed with Vee, the Rings of Aontacht sparked to life in their red and green brilliance.

  CHAPTER 38

  Duncan

  Rabbie was dead—but my grief would have to wait. Our camp was in trouble. If we didn’t act quickly, I would be mourning many more lives than that of my apprentice.

  The sounds of panic, intermingled with the cries of the wounded, wove their way through the trees to meet us long before we reached camp. Such fearsome sounds superseded the golden dome of protection that with Kenna’s hand in mine, I saw as clear as day. If not for the noise, I would’ve marveled that I could now see the world as Mackenna did. But there wasn’t time for that either.

  Instead, I began to run. We all did.

  Chaos reigned in our makeshift headquarters. Wounded Destined and Doonians lay just inside the protection, the least wounded tending to those with more severe injuries. I singled out Fergus supporting Alasdair as they limped their way into the weapons tent.

  With a burst of speed, Jamie sprinted past me. I followed my brother into the tent, Mackenna and the queen close on my heels. Jamie took Alasdair’s other arm and with Fergus, gently lowered the auld man to a log serving as a bench.