‘Is that really Arekin?’ Fallon asked as we hid in a deep alcove cut into one of the walls.
‘It is’ I replied, not even trying to hide the hatred in my voice.
‘Wow, I thought he’d be older…how old is he exactly?’
‘Um…well if I had to guess, I’d say about a hundred.’
She stared at me ‘he’s a hundred years old?! He looks like he isn’t a day over twenty-five - wait, why am I worrying about this? I need to focus on the task at hand. What should we do now regarding my parents? We can’t very well walk down there and ask Arekin “where are my parents, Leon and Kathleen O’Connor? They are - or were - two of the human side of The Elandrean Portal Guard ten years ago?” he probably doesn’t even remember their names or even take the time to -’
‘Fallon,’ I said, interrupting her gently after sensing her rising anger, and gently took hold of her by the wrists. ‘Fallon, look at me.’
She looked up at me, eyes glistening with tears.
‘We are going to find them. I am going to help you find your parents, okay?’
Fallon gave a weak smile and nodded.
‘Come here’ pulling her into me, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders in a hug. For a few scary, heart pounding seconds, I thought she was going to push me away, but then I felt her arms wrap around my middle, and she hugged me back.
A few minutes later we parted, and Fallon wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes and had a determined expression on her face as she gazed up at me.
‘Evander this may be a mission to save my parents, in a way my mission, but I have no experience in this sort of thing, so I’m handing the reins over to you. What do we do now?’
I was stunned. This mission- or quest- was to find out what had happened to Fallon’s parents after Arekin abducted them from their own world, and she was handing control of it to me.
‘You…want me to take over?’
She nodded.
I exhaled deeply. ‘Okay, here’s what we do...’
Burial Ground
Creeping along a long narrow corridor, watching out for windows and doors that might open and blow our cover, Fallon and I searched for any staircases leading upstairs onto a balcony or terrace overlooking the room in which Arekin and who we assumed were his most trusted and loyal followers, were sat around the table.
The plan was to call his name somewhere we’d be able to see and hear them all clearly, but high enough that the guards stood either side of Arekin would have a hard time shooting at us with the crossbows slung across their backs, if the worst were to happen; Fallon would call out to him and say her bit, and then I would inform all of them that my Scouts were taking out the guards and soldiers on duty and tying them up where they were posted.
We’d been walking for less than half an hour, when we came across a set of wide concrete steps ascending into a golden flickering light. We stopped and glanced sideways at each other, making a silent agreement via eye contact and a nod before slowly making our way up .
A few minutes later we left the darkness of the unlit staircase, and stepped onto a lamp lit balcony with another set of steps visible on the other side leading upwards, probably to one of the parapets or something. This was clearly the back of the hall, for there was sold wall to our left, and a balustrade to our right with a perfect view of Arekin and his followers.
Turning to Fallon, I noticed her hands shaking, and walked slowly to her side.
‘It’s okay Fallon,’ I murmured, wrapping my hand gently around hers, and felt the shaking cease as I continued, ‘you can do this. Remember I’m right here with you.’
She nodded and inhaled deeply through her nose, then spoke loudly but calmly.
‘Arekin!’
Arekin, along with his personal guard and table of followers, looked up in surprise and saw Fallon and I standing on the balcony staring down at them.
‘Ten years ago, my parents disappeared overnight while I slept, and I have wondered for a long time where they went. Since entering Elandrea through a portal concealed in a cave in County Wicklow in Ireland, I relearned what their true profession was. I also discovered you’re the reason they disappeared. You abducted them, and I have come to take them back from you.’
Arekin’s eyes were wide with shock, and he opened his mouth to reply, but I spoke before he got the chance.
‘I should warn you Arekin, I have Scouts inside your castle right now, incapacitating your guards, so no one will come to your aid if you call for it other than the two protectors you have down there. Answer Fallon’s question, and honestly I might add, or some of your followers or guards may lose their lives right here.’
‘Fallon? I do recall a young human girl with that name who used to come into Elandrea and Orfedil with the other half of The Elandrean Portal Guard, along with a few other children and their parents’ he said with a sneer.
‘My parents’ names are Leon and Kathleen. I would come with them through the portal in my homeland of Tullamore and played with the other children as well as Evander and one of his oldest friends, Finn. That all changed ten years ago, when I woke up one morning and couldn’t find my parents. I couldn’t find them anywhere, and neither could the authorities who, after searching for less than a year, declared them dead. Now, either tell me where you took my parents and the other human Portal Guards, right now, or you and your followers die’ Fallon replied.
Arekin looked stunned, either at her confidence or some other reason, and then he smiled - a rather cold, evil smile that gave me an uneasy feeling, and spoke again.
‘All right, I’ll reunite you with your parents. Meet me, some of my men, and my personal guard outside the front doors of the castle. I will take you to them.’
Fallon glanced at me, her eyes asking me a silent question. Although I wanted to say it wasn’t a good idea, I knew how long Fallon had waited to see her parents again, and nodded, and the two of us turned back to Arekin.
‘Okay, but Evander and the Scouts come too’ Fallon said, not breaking eye contact with the ex-Portal Guard elf.
‘Very well,’ he replied with a nod and preceded to rise from his throne-like chair as he addressed the elves sat either side of the table ‘we will carry on our meeting later gentlemen. I dare say, it may well be in less than an hour.’
The other elves bowed their heads, one or two of them grinning wickedly as Fallon and I retraced our steps back outside the castle, finding Finn and the others on the way, and walked around to the castle’s great black front doors, where Arekin and his personal guard, dressed in black and grey garments, along with a few of his followers from earlier, were already waiting for.
‘Well then, let us be off. It’s time to see your parents again’ Arekin announced, he and his men leading us around the right-hand side of the castle, and down an uneven flight of stone steps, around a corner, around another corner, and…
It was here that I realised why I had developed a worrying feeling back at the castle. Arekin had stopped in front of a large, expansive grassy field. It was empty, but for numerous mounds and crosses.
‘This is a burial ground’ I strained out as Fallon stood rooted to the spot, unable to say anything at all.
‘Yes. I am sad to say, Fallon, that your parents passed away not three years after they arrived at the castle, and were given proper Portal Guard burials’ Arekin replied, his eyes not matching the soft tone of his voice.
‘And how, may I ask, did her parents pass away?’ I asked, as Fallon’s eyes searched the sea of graves.
‘I’m not sure I should say, it may upset Fallon further.’
‘She deserves to know how her parents died!’ I demanded, glaring at him as my hands balled into fists.
Arekin sighed, ‘they were on border patrol with some of our elfin guards and ran into some bandits. They fought valiantly, but…their reflexes weren’t fast enough, and...’ his voice faded into the silence surrounding us, and then lifted his hand ‘they’re buried in a grave at
the end of the first row, on the right-hand side.’
I put my arm around Fallon’s shoulders, and guided her over to where Arekin had pointed.
Fallon stood there for a few seconds, staring down at the mound and the cross marking her parents’ grave as tears pooled in her eyes. Sinking slowly to her knees she wrapped her arms around herself, and began to sob uncontrollably; tears staining her beautiful face over, and over, and over again.
I had never felt the pain of losing my parents, or any other member of my family, and never would owing to the fact that we’re immortal (in every sense of the word) - but I felt pained now, seeing Fallon in tears like this, and gently pulled her to her feet; wrapping my arms around her and hugging her close to me as I turned my gaze on Arekin, staring daggers at him as one of my oldest friends continued to sob into my chest.
‘I’m going to pick you up Fallon, okay?’ I whispered, loud enough only for her to hear.
Fallon managed a slight nod through her tears, and slowly looped her arms around my neck as I wrapped my left around her shoulders and the other under the back of her knees. Lifting her off the ground, I nodded at Finn and the others, who looked both shocked and angered by this new news - Finn especially - to start heading back up and down to the horses. Unfurling my wings, I fixed my gaze yet again on Arekin, and said through gritted teeth, ‘you’ll pay for this, Arekin. Mark my words.’
Then, pushing off the ground, I headed back towards Orfedil Palace to tell my parents about what had transpired here at Arekin’s castle.
Three hours later, I had landed inside the front gates and carried Fallon up to her room before heading to my mother’s study where I was now, along with my father and brothers, explaining what had happened at the castle we had discovered in the Thrangorn Mountains.
‘He then had the nerve to say that they died fighting valiantly while on border patrol one night, and their reflexes weren’t fast enough!’ I finished, having a very hard time keeping my anger contained.
‘I didn’t - don’t believe a word of it. When Fallon and I were younger, we would watch the human and elfin Portal Guards training together when we could, and her parents might have been mistaken for elves themselves, they were so fast and nimble. There is no way they could have been killed by bandits while on patrol, so either Arekin or one of his men killed them, or they -’ I was cut off mid-sentence by a knock on the closed door of the study.
‘Excuse me’ the voice of one of our workers, Karo, spoke on the other side; then the study door opened, and he entered.
‘Sorry for the untimely interruption Your Highnesses, but there is a visitor for you Prince Evander. He is waiting for you in front of the palace doors, inside the palace and says his name is Ardan’ he said, bowing at the waist.
‘Really?’ I asked in surprise. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so who is this Ardan and why did he wish to speak to me?.
Karo nodded.
‘Very well, take me to him.’
Karo bowed again and took me downstairs to meet this Ardan person.
The visitor was a tall young elf with shaggy brown hair, olive skin, and ochre eyes who looked only a few years older than Finn. He was wearing black gloves, a greyish blue tunic and navy-blue cloak, and brown leather boots. He looked… oddly familiar.
‘Thank you Karo, I’ll take it from here’ I said as he brought me to a stop in front of the elf.
Karo bowed and left. I turned my attention to Ardan, who had lowered himself onto one knee upon seeing me, with his head bowed.
‘Rise, Ardan.’
‘Thank you, Your Highness’ he replied, and did so.
‘I recognise you. You were sat at the long table in Arekin’s hall at his castle.’
‘Yes, Your Highness.’
‘Then, I should kill you where you stand’ I said, reaching for the hilt of my sword, which hung from my right hip in its leather scabbard.
‘Please, Your Highness I’m not one of Arekin’s followers – one of his puppets.’
I hesitated, my sword a little way out of its scabbard. ‘Speak’ I told him, not letting go of the hilt.
‘I’ve been under cover at Arekin’s castle since he broke away from the Elandrean Portal Guard, sent in by your father to discover the reason. I have had to stand by and watch him kill hundreds of innocent elves and humans who stood against him, without being able to make a move to save any of them. If I had, my cover would have been blown and I too would have been cut down. I have had to do many horrible things which pain and haunt me to this day, to get into his inner-circle, otherwise I would never have been able to do my job. I was one of those that accompanied you two and Arekin when he took you to the field.’
I frowned ‘my father asked you to go in…undercover?’
Ardan nodded in affirmation.
‘Then…why did you ask for me when you arrived?’
‘I was asked to go undercover a decade ago. He knew I may not survive long enough to learn what that bastard was up to and escape back home…and besides, he wasn’t who was with Fallon when Arekin took her down to the field today’ he said, looking me straight in the eye.
‘Fallon’s parents aren’t dead Evander, at least not to my knowledge. That grave was for one of his own, who did die during the same border patrol bandit attack he told you her parents were killed in. Arekin lied.’
My heart skipped a beat.
‘What?!’
Worrying News
Once I got over the initial shock of Ardan’s news, I felt as though a dense fog had been lifted, my mind suddenly clear That’s when it clicked.
‘Of course!’ I exclaimed. ‘Fallon’s mother and father were prisoners of Arekin. He wouldn’t have allowed them outside in the first place, let alone on a patrol of the castle’s perimeter - oh how could I have been so stupid?!’
I glanced over at Ardan, who gave me an understanding smile.
‘Don’t blame yourself - and nor should any of the others who were with you. You have all been so absorbed and involved in young Fallon’s grief, I don’t imagine such a thought would have crossed anyone’s mind.’
I returned the smile somewhat half-heartedly, rubbing the back of my neck as I tried to calm down.
Finally I released a long, slow breath and turned my attention back to Ardan.
‘Okay, so Fallon’s parents couldn’t have been killed on patrol but - if they’re not dead, what happened to them?’ I asked him, folding my arms over my chest.
‘Now, that’s where your father - both your parents in fact - comes in. It involves them…I just hope His Majesty remembers me. I was nineteen when he sent me on my mission’ Ardan replied, looking rather dejected at the thought my father might not recognise him when they saw each other again.
‘Since you know my father, and I can tell you are telling the truth, come with me’ I said, and took him upstairs to the study.
‘Ardan! Is that really you, son?’ my father asked as we entered, gripping him by the shoulders.
‘It is indeed, Your Majesty. I finally managed to escape Arekin’s castle after ten years of waiting and enduring, while everyone else was getting drunk on the new wine shipment’ Ardan replied,a relieved smile, which could have been the result of the long horse-ride he must have taken to get here, or waiting so long to return home to Orfedil, spreading across his face.
‘I’m so glad you’ve returned Ardan, the knights, soldiers and I have been waiting, and hoping, for the day you’d come back to us with the valuable intel we need but - why didn’t you ask for me when you arrived, rather than Evander?’
‘I asked for Evander initially, because he was there when Arekin took Fallon down to the burial ground at the back of his castle. I trust he already explained what occurred there?’
My father nodded.
‘Ardan told me that Arekin lied about Fallon’s parents, that to his knowledge they are still alive. He also made me realise that, being prisoners at Arekin’s castle they wouldn’t even have been allowed outside.’
<
br /> The others looked over at me one after the other, realisation slowly dawning on each face as my words were turned over in their heads.
‘How could we have forgotten that?!’ Oisin exclaimed with a groan, the others voicing their own frustration soon after.
Pushing my hands into the pockets of my trousers, I looked at everyone in turn, and then spoke. ‘None of us have been thinking clearly since we returned from the mission to the castle. We’ve all been devastated for Fallon, and sharing in her grief. Don’t berate yourselves for not remembering.’
Although nobody verbally responded, my words seemed to have done enough to elicit a few smiles from everyone in the room.
Ardan, having waited patiently for the past few minutes for a gap in the conversation, turned to my parents and spoke again . ‘Your Majesties, I will tell you what I have learnt over the past few years of Arekin’s long term plans, if you will permit me to speak for an extended length of time.’
My father was quiet for a moment, glancing at my mother who gave him a nod, before nodding his own approval. ‘Go ahead Ardan, we’re all ears.’
‘All these years Arekin and his followers have been planning to fight and defeat the three Avadorae kingdoms. Then exterminate the entire human population?’ my mother asked half an hour later. ‘This sounds a lot like what happened when me and Zachary were in our late teens…only a lot different.’
‘Yes Your Majesty. Arekin believes humans to be vermin that need to be wiped out.’
‘What I don’t understand, is why Arekin took Fallon and I down to the burial ground, only to lie about who lay within that grave’ I added.
‘I’m still trying to figure that out myself. However, from the way he was acting after you and the others left, he’s been expecting Fallon to come back here for her parents one day. I don’t know if he expected you to appear with her, but he was grinning after you old him he would pay for what he’d done, like he knew you would tell your parents.’
‘Hmm…it’s quite possible he’s getting his army ready for a retaliation, from Orfedil and its allies’ my mother replied.
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