by S L Mason
“Each flag represents a station. You can either defend it, or you can try to capture it. When you enter the game zone, you’ll be given a squad of Fomorians. They are at your beck and call. You are to instruct them in what you wish. They can protect you, defend a flag, or kill another competitor—whatever you wish. They are your own private army. Keep in mind, you’re welcome to kill your competitors as well or band together with them. We really don’t care. At the end, only fifty will leave this game zone. In case you’re wondering what your odds are, there are 872 competitors. Good luck.” He laughs in his snickering Fae fashion. The mushroom ring floats down and places him on what can’t be anything other than a throne.
A whistling rises from the background, signaling the opening of the gates. Nick grabs my wrist and drags me towards the entrance as butterflies and bile rise up from my belly to my throat. “If it’s capture the flag, we need to get one. Now.” Nick’s hand tightens on my arm.
“That is not what he said. He said there would only be fifty contenders at the end and you are welcome to kill as many of your competitors as you wish. He said you could capture the flag or you could defend it. He didn’t say that is the way to win.” I stumble over a rock and regain my balance. “Nick, stop for a moment!” I pull my arm back, but he holds firm.
Nick doesn’t care. He isn’t listening. As soon as we step through the gate, something changes. Wake waves cover the rail fencing all the way around the game zone. In every direction, it’s a blue-bubble reaching toward the sky, creating a dome over the top of us. Bodies of girls jostle us back and forth. Whispering fear wakes surround each of them, along with their companions. Nick drags me off to the side. His words are lost to me as he shakes my shoulder.
“Sarah, head in the game. They won’t listen to me. You’re the only one who can instruct them. Tell them to come with us, and let’s get the fuck out of here.” He waves his hand at the Fomorians standing by my side. What’s wrong with me? I can’t seem to focus.
“What is your name?” I inquire to the largest Fomorians and shake my head to clear the mental fog.
“Bull.” The Fomorian grunts while shrugging his single shoulder.
“Well, Bull, get your guys and let’s go,” I order.
He slaps his one hand against his chest with crossed fingers. With a closed fist, he beats his chest several times. The rest of his crew join us. They are ugly and smelly, but each carries a cross-slung baldric with a short sword. Other than the leather skirt that hangs from their waist, they are naked.
Bull eyes me. “We ready, we go.”
I whip my head around and head towards the farthest flag. “What color should we go for?” I inquire.
“Only a girl would care what color the flag is,” Nick says. “I just want to go for the one that’s farthest away from here. It’ll take everybody the longest to get there. Most people aren’t willing to travel far. If we double-time it, we’ll make it there before anybody else. Then set up a defensive perimeter and defend the flag and win the game.” Nick’s answer makes sense.
Defend the flag, win the challenge. But that’s not what Bonn said. He said there’d be fifty contenders, and we were welcome to kill each other. He didn’t say we had to have a flag. He said we could defend or capture, but he didn’t say that any of those ways would win the challenge.
My eyes keep scanning the area around us for an attack. Different groups are heading in a multitude of directions. Only fifty will leave the game-zone.
That’s when the screaming starts; it always does. “Pick up the pace people.” I raise my feet and lower them down as fast as I can. Nick falls behind, and only the Fomorians are able to keep up. I stop and pull one of the daggers from my bodice “Nick, take this. Bull, you and your crew create a perimeter around us. We need two minutes.”
They close ranks, creating a protective wall around Nick and I. I squat down and sing to his shoes. He needs an enchantment to make him run faster. If I lose him in the middle of this, I don’t know what I’ll do.
His shoes are the ones he’d worn on the surface, typical steel-toed biker boots. They looked great, capable of walking long distances, but the truth is they weigh him down. The wake lines coming off them are weak. They do their job, but that’s about it. It’s the best I can expect for human construction.
The Nancy Sinatra song about walking boots comes to mind. I sing the chorus, quickly increasing the shoes power by a hundred. I add ‘the float like a feather, sting like a bee.’ Nick needs to strike to live. “Let’s move!” I dust my hands, giving Nick a half-smile.
CHAPTER 28
Screams fill the air over my shoulder. I’m not the only one to realize fifty means fifty. One way or another, we aren’t all getting out of here.
“Sarah, turn left. I hear a stream.” Nick’s ears pick up almost as much as a Fae’s or my ears.
I absently tuck a stray hair behind my ear, letting my finger linger on the point; it’s longer. I don’t have time to daydream about my looks. I shake my head. A dull aching encircles my cranium, and it itches like a son of a bitch. My fingernails scrape over my scalp with no relief.
“You got lice, Sarah?” Nick quips.
I shoot Nick a slit-eyed glance. I can’t stop myself— the burning itch is never sated. I roll my shoulders; they too itch. A pressure focuses on either side of my spine near my shoulder blades. I reach my arm back and scratch through my shirt. I slow my pace. “I don’t have lice, but thanks for your concern. Are you going to ditch me if you see Nikki?” I shout.
His pace slows as he shakes his head. “No, you’re our best chance of getting out of here. She comes with us.” His slight nod is enough for me.
“We may not have a choice in the matter,” I respond.
He stops dead. I almost run into his back. He turns on me. “I’ll never leave you, Sarah. Nikki will listen to me for once and leave with us.” He means us.
“You know, I can’t go back. I can take you there, but I can’t stay.” The lump in my throat forms again, but I swallow it down. I don’t have time to think about my parents or my old life.
“I know you can’t, but I won’t leave you here alone.” He pivots on his heel and keeps moving. What does he mean he won’t leave me here? Is every male on the planet making a pass at me? I shake my head. My ego must be getting as big as every other Fae.
Between the itching and my head shaking, I feel out of step. I follow the tinkling of water over stones to find the stream. Nick is already poised at the edge. My enchantment made him into a Speedy Gonzales. His cupped hand extends to the water. The smacking sound of his lips reaches me. I shake my head to clear my eyes, only to have them land on the water and its magic wakes. They’re wrong. Sharp dagger-like points move over the surface, clawing at the bank. The tips move like the teeth of a saw, working back and forth and chewing into rocks and plants.
The roots of the trees bordering the stream pull back. Steam rises from withered dry leaves. “Nick, stop!” I scream, it tears at my throat.
He freezes, fingers just above the water level. One splash and it would have him. He snatches his hand back. His wide eyes turn on me. “What is it?”
The air catches in my throat. “We’ll get water elsewhere. I don’t like the look of this stream. It’s not right.” On instinct, I pull a dagger from one of the many sheathes in my breeches.
Nick stands up and stalks back to me. His eyes surrounded by dark lashes meet mine. He reaches his hand out to touch my face.
I slap it away. “What’s with you? Why are you trying to touch me?” I reposition my footing.
“I love you, Sarah.” He moves in closer, tilting his head down.
I back away. “Um, you aren’t going to kiss me, Nick.” I give him a nervous laugh. Now is not the time, dummy.
A toothy grin spreads across his face. “You don’t want me to?” He turns on what I can only guess is his best smolder.
“Umm, no. I don’t. Back off, beefcake. Look Nick, I’m not interested and we d
on’t have time for this.”
He laughs.
I place one foot after the other behind me. I move into the grouping of Fomorians. “Bull, encircle me!” They move to a defensive formation, surrounding me.
Nick’s forward movements cease. “All this time why else do you think I’ve stayed so close to you?” The hair on the back of my neck stands up as cold air finds its way down my back.
I inquire, “What about Nikki?” His words make no sense. Not ten minutes ago all he could talk about was saving Nikki, but now she’s forgotten? My belly pinches and I run my hands over my bodice. They find handles of all kinds sticking out. I pull another one. The aura surrounding him is puke yellow, the sour color milk becomes when it’s gone bad. The wake waves move slow as molasses on a cold winter’s day.
He’s under a spell.
I see sick rot emanating from his hand. The same hand I’d touched right after we entered the game zone. “Bull, step aside,” I order.
The smile on Nick’s face returns. His shoulders puff, and an eyebrow cocks up on one side. I extend my hand. My eyes lock on my hand. The rot is there. It came from me. I’d spelled him, but how? The rustling in the distance brings the danger back to mind.
“Bull, defend!” I hum out the Fae cleaning song and the rot on my hand dries up, melting away and returning my aura to its natural silvery white. I grab Nick’s hand.
“They have to be over here somewhere,” a light woman’s voice says. “I saw him, it couldn’t be anyone else.” She retorts.
“How can you be so sure?” Another voice freezes me to my core—Arty.
“You think I wouldn’t know my own twin?” she scoffs back at Arty.
I hum to counter the magical rot on Nick’s hand and watch his aura return to its green brilliance. I meet his eyes as the magic flows over him. His goofy smile turns to a focused scowl. It’s my turn for the goofy smile. I huff in relief. “Feeling better?” The knot in my tummy fades.
“Yes, what the fuck was that?” Whatever he was going to say dies.
“I told you, it was my brother. Now kill him!” Nikki orders.
Both Nick and I gasp.
I blink twice. “Arty, no, don’t! He’s my friend.” I move to block Nick’s bulky frame. Arty holds a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Nick only has my dagger. Arty’s eyes blaze forth with no glasses to block the view. His face is covered in blood spray. I wonder who he killed on Nikki’s orders. The Fomorians close in on us. “Bull, no, don’t hurt him!” I scream, as my heart pounds its way out of my chest.
“Tell them to subdue him.” Nick’s wording is right. I have to be precise.
“Bull, subdue Arty and Nikki only! Kill the rest.” I order.
The Fomorians line up to face off with each other. Nikki’s group is already one short. I have the advantage of numbers. Now all I need is magic. I throw Nick another dagger. It grows to its full size and then some as the music reverberates away from my lips, turning a dagger into a sword. The air fills my lungs for another enchantment when a blow lands in my gut.
I’d shut my eyes, I never saw it coming. Landing hard, I fall to the ground and roll to my side. The air around me pushes back as Nikki’s sword crashes into the rock next to my face. Why hadn’t I trained more? Why did I close my eyes?
“Sarah, watch out! She has a sword like yours.” Nick’s words shoot ice and fire through my veins. I’m loath to unsheathe Quicksilver. I don’t want to kill anyone, but the sword calls to me. It wants to fight and draw blood.
“That’s right, Sarah. I have a sword too. Can you use yours, or are you just playing at winning?” Nikki’s laugh sends shivers down my spine with the icy cold it contains. I leap to my feet, floating up and then down like flotsam. I kick out before touching down. My toe connects with her chin. I watch in slow motion as her head snaps back. She hangs in the air for an eternity before crashing onto the forest floor.
From the corner of my eye, Arty moves in on Nick with his sword raised to attack. I take the few extra moments to sing an enchantment over Arty. Arty’s eyes glaze white, and his aura changes from the sickly yellow to a dull brown. His hand drops to his side, still gripping his weapons. I add a note at the end. He’s a trap. No one can touch him without paying the fairy price of pain.
I refocus in time for Nikki’s next charge. Her roar vibrates, changing the air around me. I’m caught in slow jelly, and every movement is an effort. I tumble over in the gelatinous bubble.
As I hum, ten rocks rise out of the stream. I hurl them at Nikki with breakneck speed. Each one pelts her in a different place. Her body reels as each stone connects with the soft tissues on her torso. The water is acidic and burns her leather armor away, reddening the exposed skin underneath. She screams in a rage, stomping a foot on the ground. “I’ll kill you, little girl! You think you’re the only one who’s figured out Fae magic?”
My eyes search for Nick as my voice hums the jelly trap away.
“If I can’t kill you, maybe I should kill my traitorous twin. You should never have turned against me, Nick.” She pivots on her left foot, moving swiftly to where Nick stands. Nikki screams ‘roses are red’…. But I sing, encasing Nick in a bubble that rises into the sky. His mouth opens wide, but he’s trapped in his own world. I watch him pound against the protection of the iridescent sphere.
Nikki rounds on me. Her aura is still the putrid yellow of rot, like Arty’s. I hum the counter for the enchantment, but it’s too late. Her foot connects with my stomach, forcing me back into a tree. My head bounces off the bark. Little yellow birds float around my head. I blink to clear them away, only to have one land on my nose. The bird tweets in my face and pecks at my forehead. I slap it to the ground and wave the others off.
Nikki’s wicked laugh cuts the air.
She’s close, too close. I whip my head left and right, pushing off the tree. A new blow lands on my lower back. I tumble forward, tucking my head under and embracing the roll. My feet meet the forest floor. I jump up, turning in the air at the same time.
The sound of clashing swords in the background ceases. I have just enough time to see Bull fall. His great eye is opened and fixed.
“Oh, Sarah, you can roll in the dirt. How cute,” Nikki says. “Did you think I’d just leave with you? Is that what Nick told you? You could go home with my brother, taking him away from me. That will never happen. Nick is mine forever. We will always be together.” She rushes at me, but I dodge left and then right. She hacks at me moments after I vacate the space.
I throw one of my daggers at her chest. It glances off, cutting her forearm on the way to the ground. I hum the counter spell for the putrid enchantment, but ducking her blade ends the magic prematurely.
“If I can’t have him, neither can you.” Nikki turns and dashes at Nick’s floating bubble. I whistle a breeze to raise the enchanted sphere. Nick’s eyes widen as he pounds his fist against the bottom of the bubble. She jumps, thrusting her sword and piercing the bubble. The tip scratches Nick’s palm. My mouth goes dry. Nick’s body tumbles to the ground, landing hard on his back as the last note leaves my lips.
“Sarah, Nikki.” Nick chokes and then grasps his left hand with his right, cradling it to his body. The flesh wilts around the wound, sinking in on itself. It slowly creeps outward. I choke on my tears and leap to his side.
“No, Nick! Don’t die, please! We need to save your sister and Arty.” My pleading voice comes out as a croak. He releases a dry laugh, followed by a cough. Nikki’s feet take up residence next to Nick’s shoulder. Rage rises in my chest as my eyes do. My nostrils flare and a snarl curls up one side of my face.
“How could you? Your own brother, your twin!” The dingy brown hair on her head slowly turns a crisp white.
“Sarah, it’s not her. It’s not Nikki.” Nick coughs again. The desiccation creeps up his arm. My eyes dart back to his face as the tears tear at my eyes. A brick takes up location in my throat, working its way down my esophagus.
“Look arou
nd you? Would Arty ever not know you?” Nick says. “Nikki could never hurt me. It’s not in her; it’s a trick. I can’t believe you can’t see it.” His eyes close, creasing in pain.
I swallow the brick back. “Fae can’t enchant each other.” It’s a weak argument. I’m not completely Fae, just mostly.
He laughs. “Sarah, you aren’t Fae yet. A little more and I think you’ll be there.” His jaw clenches as he grinds his teeth. His eyes go wide with pain. The withering reaches his shoulder. “I wasn’t faking when I said I loved you. You’re the sister I always wanted. I love Nikki, but she was never very nice to me. We’ve had our issues. You wouldn’t leave me behind, ever. The magic twisted my feelings to make me do things I wouldn’t normally do. I can’t use the magic, but I understand how it works.” He murmurs.
The spell is moving faster now. It stops at his clavicle and moves down his body. He gives me a half-smile.
“Nick, don’t go. I can’t do this alone.” I want to say, I trust you.
His good hand touches my face. I close my own over it. He breathes, “Yes, you can. Go find the real Arty and Nikki and save them. Don’t worry about humanity. They can save themselves. Don’t lose yourself, and don’t trust Deston. Fifty is fifty.” His legs melt into the soil around us. He’s disintegrating in front of me.
I try to sing, anything to breathe life back into his fading body. The music doesn’t turn to magic; it sounds flat. The sound waves butt against his body and reverberate back at me. I press my hand to his chest, but his aura is fading. The rock lodges in my belly, burning in my gut. Every part of me shakes, and my teeth rattle. A river of tears runs down my face, seeping into my blouse. Heat burns through me.
Nick smile up at me as his good hand fades from my face into dust and floats away. I gulp at the air as a vice tightens around my ribcage.
“Don’t go, Nick!” I plead.
His beautiful eyes blink open and closed. He breathes out and disappears. I tilt my head back and scream. I drag my fingers over the soil, digging my nails down and scratching. There’s nothing left, not even his clothes. The outline of my dagger lies on the ground, nothing more than ash.