by DM Fike
“Avalon?”
A hopeful voice called from the other side of the circle, where the sun did not reach due its late day angle. Avalon squinted as a petite tan elf with pale brown pigtails crawled into the light. Her puffy red eyes indicated she had been crying, although a contrary smile now spread across her face. Her three-quarters sleeved jacket and pants had flecks of mud, but her boots looked brand new.
A familiar heaviness in her limbs signaled earth magic. “Isolde?” Avalon asked in astonishment. Although they were in the adventuring boulder elf’s hometown, Avalon had not expected to find her in prison. She had hoped that by teleporting Isolde out of their last battle with Scawale, she would have at least ended up at her grandparents’ house. Still, a wave of relief flowed through her finding Isolde alive.
Isolde replied by throwing her arms around Avalon. “Praise Omni,” her muffled voice cried inside Avalon’s hoodie. “I thought you dead.”
“I almost was.” Avalon’s body suddenly felt stuffed with gelatin, the reality of being chased by a dragon finally catching up with her. She collapsed on the slick metal ground, trembling violently.
Isolde threw her hand over her mouth, kneeling beside her, unsure of what to do. “What happened?”
“A lightning dragon attacked Jentry,” Avalon whispered. She rubbed her arms violently, but they refused to warm. “I barely escaped death.”
Isolde sucked in her breath. “Dear Omni. I knew the dragons couldn’t be a good omen, but I never imagined they would hurt innocent people. They seemed so innocent on Kryvalen’s island, just wild animals living within their territory.”
“Yeah, well, they ain’t no cute and cuddly forest animals now.” Avalon gave a short, sanitized version of how the lightning dragon had appeared out of nowhere, how Kay had chased it down, but how eventually Avalon had led it to Craeg to be defeated by the boulder elves. Avalon shuddered as she thought of those electric eyes piercing her, murder written all over them. “The lightning dragon’s bent on destruction.”
Avalon pulled herself up to a sitting position, the shock of recent events numbing somewhat as she repeated in a litany to herself that the dragon was dead. In contrast, as Avalon calmed, Isolde grew more agitated, pacing the prison in front of her, one finger tapping on her forehead.
“You’re here now, though. Surely with the two of us using earth magic, we could bust out of here. We cannot manipulate the metal, but if we budge the rocks around the prison, we might be able to warp it, and—”
“I can’t,” Avalon cut her off bitterly, hating her magical impotence. “Something weird happened to me with the extraction, and I can’t use magic.”
“Well we can’t stay locked up here!” Isolde declared. “Time is of the essence. If dragons are attacking human towns against their natural instincts, then it must be because Scawale is manipulating them. She has the Indulia now like Kryvalen before her. Who knows what she will do with that power?”
Avalon hauled herself up to her feet and grabbed Isolde so she would stop pacing. “Isolde, what are you doing here?”
Isolde cocked her head quizzically at Avalon. “Why, you teleported me here, Avalon, during the fight with Bedwyr’s army and Scawale. Don’t you remember?”
“Yes, of course I remember teleporting you,” Avalon said, her voice rising in frustration. “I mean, what are you doing down here, in a Craeg dungeon?”
“Oh.” Isolde took a step back to view the metal bars, their shadows creating a series of Xs across her sheepish face. “I suppose I’m in a bit of trouble.”
“Do tell.” Avalon folded her arms.
“You teleported me out of harm’s way in Hamad.” She gave Avalon a friendly pat on the arm. “I do thank you for that, by the way, I really do. I am alive because of you, but it caused a bit of a problem. You teleported me right into the center of town, here in Craeg.”
“And how was that a problem? Don’t you live here?”
Isolde cleared her throat. “Aye, I do, but as you might remember from our previous visit, I’m a bit of an outcast. Elves don’t just teleport in out of nowhere. That’s dark magic, not a positive quality in Craeg. The guards locked me up without giving me a chance to explain the situation.”
“They did what?” Avalon asked, outraged on her friend’s behalf.
“I can appreciate their perspective. I had never displayed any dark magic tendencies before. Boulder elves rarely do. And that level of teleportation would require a high level of dark magic.”
“And they thought locking you up would keep you from teleporting again?” Avalon asked incredulously.
Isolde snapped her fingers at Avalon. “That’s exactly what I told them. They said they’d keep me locked up for a day and see if I would do it again. Threatened all sorts of nasty stuff. Refused to let Papeo or Mamie talk to me. It was really dreadful.”
Avalon rubbed her friend’s stooped shoulders, her frustration ebbing away as she realized what Isolde had been through. “I’m so sorry.”
Isolde brightened. “Again, you kept me alive. Being imprisoned is better than dead. I endured, and after a day of no more dark magic from me, they brought me to the Elders.”
“Where you sorted the whole mess out and told them what was going on?” Avalon asked, even though she knew it could not have turned out that way.
“Not exactly. I tried to run away from the Elders, you see?”
Avalon hid her irritation. “Why would you do that?”
“Because while waiting to speak to the Elders, I overheard the case of the elf before me.” Isolde threw her hands on top of Avalon’s, giving them a painful squeeze. “He knew about the Temple of the Heavens, Avalon!”
Avalon managed to wrench her fingers free, trying to keep up with Isolde’s harried brain. The Temple of the Heavens was supposedly a sacred place in Llenwald where one could meet Gaea herself. The Jaded Sprite Statue, which she had created, was the object that had caused this entire mess: the beastly dragons, Avalon’s Miasmis, and the power of the Indulia. Despite Isolde’s best efforts at Emerged Falls, she had never found the location of the temple. She’d only discovered details that added to its legendary status.
“The elf talking to the Elders was a former soldier in Bedwyr’s army. He had come back to Craeg after Scawale went nuts. Apparently, she went on a power trip and slaughtered a bunch of Bedwyr’s former followers. This elf had barely escaped, and he wanted to become a citizen of Craeg again. To show his loyalty, he gave a description of how to find the temple, claiming that’s where Bedwyr mined all the pieces of the statue from. It’s at Mt. Hornley!”
Avalon’s heart faltered. Mt. Hornley, the mountain where Ladybug always resided in her dreams.
Isolde continued. “He gave such detailed directions, I’m sure I could find it again. But the Elders didn’t believe him. They dismissed him! Couldn’t care less about the temple. I argued with them. I know it was not my place”—that sheepish grin returned for a second—“but this was important! I tried to explain to the Elders why I had to leave for Mt. Hornley immediately. The temple has to be the key to defeating Scawale. But they talked about some lockdown ordered by the Earth Titan, and no matter how hard I argued, they dismissed me too. So I tried to bolt out of there.” Isolde slumped back down. “But the guards caught me, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Avalon stifled a groan. Given how hard it was to follow Isolde’s normal rambling, she could only imagine what kind of incoherent conversation had lapsed between Isolde and the Elders.
Isolde latched onto Avalon’s arm. “We have to get out of here and get to Mt. Hornley. It’s the only way to stop Scawale.”
A buzzing from above them caught both of their attention. The grate above them swung open, a rope ladder thrown over the side. A stone-capped guard’s face frowned down at them from above.
“Avalon Benton!” he called. “You have been summoned.”
Avalon glanced uncertainly over at Isolde. Isolde waved her on. “At least one of us needs to
get out.”
Avalon scurried up the scratchy rope and blinked in the bright sunshine. Kay clamped his gauntlets down on her first before the Craeg guards could reach her. A ring of guards had formed behind him, their stone axes hovering menacingly as if waiting for someone to attack. Beyond them, a crowd of curious boulder elves watched on, more anxious than angry as they tried to gauge the severity of the situation.
“What’s going on?” Avalon whispered in Kay’s ear. He shooed her into silence as the Craeg captain guard took a step forward.
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” the captain warned the two of them. “Or my people will strike you where you stand.”
The ring of guards surged forward, attempting to take Kay and Avalon with them. Kay complied with their orders, but Avalon remained rooted next to the metal grate. Kay tugged on her arm but refused to take a step.
“We must speak to the Elders immediately,” Kay explained. “We’re in enough trouble as is.”
Avalon shook her head. “We can’t leave Isolde.” She pointed down into the grate.
Kay bent over to find the pigtailed elf waving up at him. He flinched in surprise.
“What is the holdup?” the captain yelled from the front of the line.
Kay cleared his throat. “Isolde must also join us in our meeting with the Elders.”
The captain turned on his heels, his scowl as terrifying as the stone axe that flew across the distance and stopped just short of Kay’s brow. The captain leaned in close to Kay’s face, barely a hand’s width between them.
“You should be killed on the spot for entering Craeg against the Earth Titan’s wishes,” he spat. “I only keep you alive to honor our alliance with Emerged Falls. But you will not interfere with the business of Craeg citizens.”
For his part, Kay did not seem fazed at all by the guard’s threat. “Isolde has official business with Emerged Falls,” he said in an almost bored tone.
“What business?” the captain demanded.
Avalon gulped. Kay couldn’t tell him that Isolde was her Guardian as a sort of Child of the Statue. Even if she thought it would be a good idea, which she didn’t, humans normally did not possess magic. No one would believe her. And given her current limitations, she couldn’t prove that she could use magic, making the point even more moot.
Kay must have struggled with the same points because he did not answer, merely staring straight at the captain with a raised brow.
“I know what business she has,” a quiet voice called from the crowd.
The guards parted to allow forward an older boulder elf with peppered gray and white hair pulled back into a bun. He held round eyeglasses in his hand as he nodded toward the captain.
Isolde’s grandfather, Papeo.
The captain scoffed at his entrance. “I’ve told you, sir, your granddaughter is clearly delusional, as you saw at her hearing. We also have no idea how she teleported into Craeg without help from some powerful dark magic caster. She’s under arrest for her own good as well as ours.”
“Under arrest as a citizen of Craeg,” Papeo pointed out. “But what about Emerged Falls?”
“What of it?” the captain hurtled back.
Papeo took a deep breath, conflict warring on his face. He clenched his hands to his side and said, “She still has her birthright.”
Gasps tore through the elven crowd. Even a few of the guards faltered, suddenly unsure. The captain stuttered. “B-birthright?”
Papeo nodded firmly. “You know as well as I do that she has every right to attend to Emerged Falls business.”
The crowd stirred, people talking excitedly amongst themselves. The guards shifted their feet, loosening the tight circle around them. Kay glanced between Papeo and the Craeg captain, clearly confused. At least Avalon wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was going on.
The captain lowered his axes, grabbing them by the handles. “Are you sure you want to open this door, old man? Because once unlocked, it can never be shut again.”
Papeo’s face could have been made of stone. “She doesn’t have much other choice.”
The captain sighed but motioned for a guard to re-open the prison. He faltered, his keys nearly falling into the hole as he threw the rope back down for Isolde.
Isolde, who had missed the conversation, skimmed gleefully up the ladder, hopping to the ground like a child on a playground. She flashed her grandfather a bright smile. “Papeo!”
Papeo grabbed her fiercely into his arms, squeezing her into a bear hug so tightly Avalon wondered that the slender elf didn’t snap in half. “Please forgive me for not telling you sooner,” he pleaded before the captain tore them apart.
Isolde’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she was dragged away from Papeo toward Avalon, Kay, and the armed escort. “I love you!” Papeo’s faint cry mixed in with the speculation of the crowd as the guards led them toward Craeg’s Elder court.
CHAPTER 11
THE OPEN AMPHITHEATER inside Craeg’s obsidian tower had changed little since last Avalon saw it, save that the Elders had already taken their place at the five large chairs on the podium. A football stadium’s worth of people could have crammed the seats, making her feel small as the Craeg guards marched them down to the stone slab near the center. They stood before the five white and silver haired elves that comprised the Elder council. The seniors all wore matching buns and dark gray tunics with black and silver ropes for belts.
“Representatives of Emerged Falls call upon Craeg!” the captain announced.
“Outsiders?” the Elder to the far left asked, voice laced with indignation. “I thought Craeg was under full lockdown, as per Earth Titan orders.”
Kay tilted his head forward. “I apologize for that. Your guards could not keep a Covert K knight with wings outside their border walls, and I demanded an audience as per our mutual alliance.”
“Please,” the center Elder interjected, her voice soft but demanding. “We have not yet finished introductions. May Omni be with you.” She drew a circle around her face.
Everyone else in the room, Avalon included, repeated the gesture.
The captain took a bow. “May I present to you Sir Marcus of Emerged Falls, Isolde of…” his voice trailed off, unsure. He decided to skip the rest of Isolde’s title and finished with, “…and human intruder.”
Isolde balked at her introduction, but the rest of the room focused in on Avalon. “Intruder?” the Elder just right of center asked.
“Guest,” Kay corrected, “of Emerged Falls.”
The captain turned to plea toward the Elders. “With all due respect, this human led the dragon that attacked our walls straight to our entryway.”
“The dragon chased her out of Jentry.” Kay took a menacing step toward the captain. The guards that surrounded them immediately threw their axes into the air.
“Jentry?” the second-left Elder asked. “Then she is not from Emerged Falls?”
“Not a citizen, nay,” Kay admitted, forcibly removing the frown from his face. “But she is an ally of Emerged Falls nevertheless. She is not from Jentry.”
The center Elder leaned toward Avalon, not unkindly. “Where do you hail from, child?”
Avalon straightened, holding back a shiver as she settled on a half-truth that had worked before. “The desert,” she proclaimed, “far away from here.”
“It does not matter where she is from,” the far-left Elder cried. “Both she and the knight come in violation of the Earth Titan’s proclamation to lock down every territory under her realm while dragons roam freely in Llenwald.”
“We come,” Kay insisted, “as allies, which Emerged Falls has always been to Craeg. Even if the lightning dragon had not attacked the area, I would have insisted on an audience with you, Earth Titan orders or not.”
“You would disregard our country’s rule of law?” the far-left Elder spat.
“I would invoke the greater alliance between our countries as the entire world faces a crisis. Lord Shivant Eme
rson sent me outside of our borders on a two-fold mission. First, to protect any and all human settlements, as rumors of dragon attacks against their lands had reached our ears. And second, to talk with any and all Aossi alliances along the way about joining forces against the mutual threat aimed at all of us.”
The far-right Elder steepled his fingers. “You speak in such vague platitudes, but the fact remains that your ‘guest,’”—he gestured at Avalon—“attracted a dragon to our city. Hardly the actions of a protective ally.”
“A regrettable and unplanned accident,” Kay stated. “After the lightning dragon attacked Jentry, we moved the fight outside of town to save innocent lives. We attempted to move the beast toward water, which we anticipated would negate its lightning strikes. However, it drove us farther upstream than expected.”
“But only the human girl appeared at our front gate,” the center Elder said.
Kay clenched his jaw. “The dragon rendered me momentarily unconscious. My colleague Avalon created a diversion to save my life, nearly ending hers in the process. If anything, she should be considered a hero.”
Avalon recognized the pain underlying Kay’s words. She had heard him use that tone once before, when he thought she had died at the Saluzyme research lab. She swallowed a lump in her throat, realizing his agony when the dragon had gone after her alone.
Kay continued. “Dragons only represent the slightest fraction of Llenwald’s current misfortune. Bedwyr’s army has unleashed a terrible horror upon us all, for he found a way to resurrect the power of the Jaded Sprite Statue into Scawale.”
The guards around them murmured in shock. The captain’s jaw fell open in disbelief. Even the Elders seemed bemused by this statement.
“You cannot be serious,” the Elder to the second right gasped.
Isolde could no longer hold it in. “Of course, he’s serious!” she yelled, drawing everyone’s attention. “What did you think I was trying to tell you before?”
Kay took a few steps toward the Elders, head slightly bowed in reverence. “All three of us who stand before you witnessed it. Bedwyr drew out the Child of the Statue in the ruins of Hamad. The Child chose the soldier Scawale as a living host, and she now possesses the Indulia. She is responsible for the dragons flying out of Kryvalen’s island toward the north, straight for Hamad.” The fairy held his hands out, tone pleading. “That is why I demanded an audience with you, Elders, despite the Earth Titan’s orders. We are on the brink of the Third Reformation, and we must all band together—Aossi and human alike—as we did almost two decades ago to stop war and destruction from claiming our world.”