by Ella Fields
“Raiden probably doesn’t even know we’re gone,” Eline said, scrambling closer. We were the farthest thing from friends, but I supposed the enemy you knew was preferable to the enemy unseen. “He left yesterday for the Moon Kingdom.”
It had been a month? “It’s the full moon?”
“Almost,” she said, eyeing me skeptically. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Time,” I muttered, staring down at the violently frothing water below. “It must move differently here.”
“Here?” Eline echoed, so confused she looked frustrated.
I was well-acquainted with the feeling.
Nova edged closer. “We’re in Beldine, aren’t we?” she asked. “Why?”
I didn’t answer, mainly because I couldn’t. I waited, looking for the king, for he was surely behind this, as they smacked questions at me and each other.
“How long have you been here?”
I decided to answer that. “A little over a week.”
Nova wiped the blood from a cut on her arm. “I’ve heard their days and nights feel just like ours, but they are not. Time chugs like sluggish, thickened blood, and you do not realize it.”
“So we might have been here for days?” Eline asked.
Nova threw her a scowl. “No, we just got here.”
Eline seemed so perplexed, I was tempted to push her off the side of our little patch of rock to end her misery. “What do they want with us?” she asked.
“To play,” I said, staring toward the horizon. It was blocked with other giant cliffs, a large shadow upon the center.
“Darkness,” Nova whined. “Why aren’t you dead then?”
I laughed, surprised at myself and the sound. “I suppose death doesn’t want me. Not yet.”
Nova stared at me, her hair whipping into her eyes. She didn’t push it back as she asked, “Where’s Zad? He’s bound to know they’ve taken you.”
“What makes you think they took me?” I said. “And that I did not enter their shores looking for some fun?”
“Because,” she said, tone flat. “Not even the likes of you would wish to toy with an evil you cannot defeat.”
She had a point. “He’s here,” I admitted. “A stray faerie prince, would you believe.”
“A prince?” Eline gasped.
Nova’s expression paled. I didn’t know where she’d been or what she’d been doing with her life since she and Zad terminated their marriage some months ago, and I didn’t care. Mainly because she knew. She needn’t have asked what in the darkness I was talking about like Eline currently was.
She’d been married to him. Even if for only a brief time in his endless life, she knew him, and what she didn’t know was beginning to make petrifying sense.
I smiled, but it fell fast. “I must have looked much like you do now, very unflattering.”
Her lips parted, lashes fluttering. “So he’s behind this.” Her head shook. “He wouldn’t...”
I looked at the marred horizon again, daylight leaking into night, and hushed her.
As quick as I could, I explained only what they needed to know, the wind doing its best to drown out my words.
“He won’t let us leave,” Nova said, stark resignation now etched upon her face.
“He has to,” Eline said. “We’ve nothing to do with any of this. Especially me.”
At that moment, a furbane, snowy white with silver-tipped wings, flew over our heads.
Nova screeched, and the king’s laughter bounced off the rock and water.
Eline watched, wide-eyed, as the king of Beldine landed upon one of the two neighboring cliffs. It undulated at his back into a slow sloping hill, rock mingling with ever-growing grass, but no trees in sight.
“Fantastic,” he said, leaping from his mount and landing with all the grace of the predator he was. “We’re all here. You know each other, yes?” he asked, voice carrying over the wind. The wind carrying it as though it were its job. I supposed it was. “No need for introductions.”
“What is this?” asked Nova.
The king looked at me expectantly.
I loathed to do his bidding, but there was little use in prolonging whatever it was he wanted with us. “A game.”
“A game?” Eline snarled.
The king was grinning. I couldn’t see his expression clearly, but I could see the flash of white teeth, his smug excitement fueling the new racing breeze.
I pushed my twirling hair back and began to braid it.
Nova eyed me, then wisely did the same, fingers moving swiftly through her honey-colored strands, as the king clapped his hands three times.
As though a curtain had been lifted, the cliffs surrounding and leading to the Whispering Sea were no longer empty. Hundreds, maybe thousands, stood in wait. Of what, we’d yet to find out. Did he expect us to fight one another to the death? To scale the cliffs and the water?
Eline’s anger faded as she took in the swarm of faeries, the audience to what could very well be our deaths. Slowly, her hands released their brutal hold on her tattered pearl gown.
And then Zad roared, so loud, so violent that large rocks crumbled beneath the king’s feet, and he leaped back just in time to avoid falling into the sea.
“Someone put a muzzle on my dear brother.”
Warriors moved around another cage resembling the ones we’d been transported in. And I knew they were doing as the king requested, even as Zad cursed and shook his confines, the rattle loud enough for us to hear.
“Darkness save us,” Nova whispered, tears in her hazel eyes when I snuck a glance at her. I wasn’t sure if they were from the wind or fear or both.
“Now, my pretty things,” the king said, and it seemed even Zad quit fighting. “Let us begin.”
Eline squeaked. “Begin what?”
A scream, so intense I swore something trickled from my ear, came from behind.
I shoved Eline down, her cheek smacking into the rock as claws lunged for her back.
Neither eagle nor dragon, but something in-between with glowing red feathers and a scaled chest, the wide-beaked creature let out a howling scream again. Jagged teeth gnashed, its long black tongue flapping as its wings propelled it high into the air.
Then it swooped again.
Grabbing the dagger I’d kept strapped to my thigh—the one Zad had been sharpening before he’d given it to me outside my rooms—I rose to my knees.
“Does he want that thing to eat us?” Nova yelled with a glance at my blade.
“No,” I said. “But if it does, it’ll be a nice little bonus.”
I struck, and the creature ebbed left, avoiding the glinting metal in my hand. Defense would only help us for so long. If we couldn’t find a way off this tiny island that was no bigger than a large water well, it’d pluck us off one by one.
“What does he want?” Eline cried, desperate.
I watched the bird dragon turn, my heart sinking as another scream cleaved the air, cries sounding from our audience as a second beast arrived. “To entertain and to goad until he gets Zadicus to give him what he needs.”
“Shit.” Eline lowered into a crouch. “Why doesn’t Zadicus just give him what he needs, then? Why bring us into this?”
Nova did the same but sank lower, as though she could make herself one with the rock. Being that she was a changer, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could.
“I was his wife,” Nova said, and my hand instantly burned with the urge to sink my blade into her splayed hand. “But you?” she said to Eline. “I’ve no idea what you’re doing here.”
“That should be obvious,” I said, watching the creatures loop around one another, then dip low to the water. “Because he can.” He could do all this and more, and if he needed to force Zad into action, why not push the stakes higher and have more fun in the meantime?
As if he’d heard me, the king’s approval blew warm with the wind over my skin.
“Get back,” I said, plucking Nova’s torn blue skirts. Sh
e bounced back just as the birds, each one larger than all three of us combined, soared up the side of our island toward the sky.
Rock thundered into the sea, and Nova’s chest rose and fell, the realization they’d almost taken her face as she’d peered over the side, making me wonder if she’d faint.
In half bloom, the moon watched from a nest of scattered stars.
We couldn’t keep trying to dodge their taunting attacks. We were as much the creature’s playthings as we were the king’s.
And I was sick and tired of assholes believing they could get away with treating me as such.
“Change,” I told Nova, then jumped and struck when one of the birds returned.
I missed, but I’d injured it enough to make it angry. It squawked, eliciting more excitement from the gathered crowds, then returned with a violent swoop.
We were done playing now.
Red feathers sprayed as I stood to meet it head-on and released that rage. The bird monster stopped inches from my face, and I lifted the blade beneath its body, plunging it into what I hoped was its heart. My face, tendrils of hair whipping around it, reflected from giant dark green eyes.
The king tutted. “Whoever said you could use magic?”
“Nobody said I couldn’t,” I grunted, twisting the knife to ensure it’d reached the heart. Blood, so dark it was almost black, rushed down my arm, staining the flimsy material of my nightgown.
“Fair, but I must advise that you do not do so again.”
I ignored his sugar-laced threat and tried to free my blade but gave up as my magic could no longer hold the dead weight in the air. The creature tumbled over itself, taking my weapon with it as it hit the waves with a splash so thorough, we were drenched.
The bird dragon’s companion was far from happy.
So high, I shouldn’t have even bothered to search for it amongst the stars, it raced into the sky.
Nova and Eline released loud breaths, slumping a little. But I knew this was not the time for a reprieve. It was time to prepare for a death-inducing strike.
“Up,” I snapped at them. “Change, Nova.”
She glared at me from the ground. “Into what?”
“Into that...” I waved a hand in the direction the bird creature had flown. “Thing.”
“I don’t know what that is, let alone how to change into it.”
“Then change into something else, just make sure it’s formidable enough to be a threat.” I retied my loose braid. “Or at the very least, a worthy adversary.”
Through the clouds, the giant bird tunneled down like a shooting star.
The crowd tittered, undoubtedly holding their breath.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Eline said, picking up a rock.
I raised a brow. “Do you not have any magic?”
“What?” Then she muttered, “Yes, of course. But he said—”
“Ignore what he said if you want to live.” I kept my eyes on the creature. “Get up and use it.”
Fire flew from her hand. Nothing like her beloved king, Raiden, possessed, but enough to startle the bird, who slowed, wings unfurling, and enough to have an arrow shot at her in warning.
She closed her hand, the fire vanishing, and her wide eyes on me.
I stared back at the king, who was standing on the edge of the cliff, legs set apart, hands clasped before him, looking as though he were merely waiting for a carriage to arrive instead of our demise.
“Stop,” I heard Zadicus say and felt my heart pause in kind. “Stop right fucking now.”
The king ignored him, acting as if he hadn’t even heard him.
The bird banked.
“Change,” I gritted through my teeth to Nova.
Her mouth opened and closed, her eyes jumping from the beast to me. “I’ve never changed into an animal of any kind.”
“You’d probably never changed into a human woman either,” I snapped, “but lo and behold, you still managed to do that.”
“I hit some kind of...” She threw her hands out, waving them frantically. “I don’t know, wall. It felt like there was no other way out.”
“So hit it again.” Then I shoved her off the rock.
Nova screamed, the crowd releasing similar shocked noises as she plummeted toward the waves. I didn’t have time to see if she’d sink or fly. The bird threw itself down.
“I’ll do it,” Zad shouted loud enough for the moon to tremble.
I harnessed that fury, lassoed it around the bird’s neck, and pulled. Screeching, it crashed into the side of the island, claws cutting and scraping the stone as it tried to push away.
“Audra.” Eline cursed, then proceeded to vomit onto the rock. “I’m... with babe.”
Stunned, I jumped onto the creature’s back, slipped, and tore at its wings as it thrashed, trying to buck me off. I could not afford to worry about what she’d admitted. I kept that lassoed band of ice wrapped tight around the creature’s neck, to darkness with the king and his request for no magic. The bird stilled, and I patted its scaled neck, swallowing my fear as its large eye met mine. “Now, be a good little birdy.”
Wrong thing to say.
It snarled, bucking again. “Big bird, then. Shit.” An arrow whizzed by my head, and I glowered in the king’s direction. “Get on,” I told Eline, steering the creature into the air. We bobbed, but I held it there, ducking as another arrow almost took my ear. The king wouldn’t kill me—not yet—I knew that much. But that didn’t mean I fancied hanging around to be severely injured.
Eline didn’t need to be told twice and rushed to the rock’s edge. The bird clawed at the air, wanting to resist, and I grabbed Eline’s arm, helping to swing her up behind me.
She struggled, but she’d have to hold on or fall off as more arrows flew.
I didn’t believe the king cared to keep her alive. In fact, I was willing to wager he hadn’t planned on allowing either female to return to Rosinthe at all. I’d have one incredibly pissed-off, estranged husband to deal with if Eline died. And... apparently, she was pregnant.
Ignoring that once more, I squeezed my thighs, and the bird dropped. We kissed the raging water below, and Eline’s arms were so tight, I feared they might pull me off with her if she fell.
The wind was a howling storm in my ears, the creature’s cries alerting the king’s warriors to our whereabouts, but due to our low angle, they could not reach us.
Along the bottom of the long cliff on which they all stood to watch, we soared over the water and sharp rocks, and when we reached the open waves of the Whispering Sea, the arrows struggled to make the distance.
And then a furbane broke through the waves, shaking water from its back, wings spreading and fumbling like that of a brand-new foal.
I supposed that was exactly what she was. Nova stumbled, her clawed feet sinking into the water as she did her best to keep herself in the air, and then she followed.
We headed northeast, and regardless of whether Nova knew how to fly well, I had to get rid of Eline. I whistled, and the bird beneath me squawked in response. I shuddered, my ears protesting and trickling again. Mercifully, the beast didn’t buck. It seemed to have grown used to our weight upon its back or resigned to it perhaps.
Nova finally caught up, black as night and smaller than any furbane I’d seen, but a furbane all the same. I ignored that bite of anger in her large, deep-set eyes and flicked my own to Eline.
She blinked, understanding—I hoped.
“Jump,” I told Eline when Nova moved in underneath us. The bird dragon tensed to lunge at the threat, but I pulled at the invisible reins.
“What?” she screamed.
“Jump. Nova will catch you.” A dangerous risk for a female with a babe in her womb, but there was no other way to get her out alive. The king would kill them—of that, I was sure—if we all landed upon that cliff. He’d make use of them to entertain himself and his guests, and abuse his power in gruesome ways.
After wasted heartbeats, Eline shouted, “You me
an to stay?”
In answer, I shoved her. With a shocked, cut-off scream, she fell into the air...
And right onto Nova’s back. She slid, then caught the fuzz of Nova’s mane and wrenched herself upright.
The king could punish me all he wanted, but he’d have to catch me first.
They rose, and I yelled across the wind, “Go home, and do not send anyone for me.” Eline’s green eyes scrunched. “Understood?”
With an unexpected reluctance, she nodded once.
“Now fly as if your fucking lives depend on it,” I said. “For they do.” Nova immediately took off, racing for the edge of the endless night sky.
Then I turned the beast back toward the scrambling king, who was shouting at his aerial fleet to give chase.
Smiling, I decided to prolong my punishment and give them something to chase.
“Rah.” I dug my heels into the bird’s sides, but instead of squawking at me in rage, its long neck ducked down, wings beating hard enough to lift the waves below.
We headed east, the roiling sea becoming less of a serpent and more of an open-mouthed shark. The water grew darker and calmer but no less violent. Land loomed up ahead, jutting cliffs similar to the ones we’d left behind.
The bird banked, sharp, and I cursed, sliding. Righting myself, I discovered why. At the darkest part of the sea, in the center of what I now understood were the four courts of Beldine, was a whirlpool.
A twisting midnight that absorbed the starlight and plunged deep into the unknown.
Stories of lost merchants, ships that’d veered off course, never to be seen again, echoed through my childhood memories. They needn’t worry over a siege in these parts. For anyone who tried to sail through the Whispering Sea into the heart of Beldine would never even meet their shores.
I realized there were no shores to reach as soil soon replaced water and rock. As far as the eye could see, there were only towering cliffs and the land of each court that gently sloped toward the distant sea.
On the other side of that land were the shores with a glimmering sand I was all too familiar with. Clever, I thought, to know exactly where your visitors, unwanted or otherwise, would arrive at all times.
I leaned forward at the sight of a castle, its turrets, six of them, milky moonstone white against the dark curtain of night. I wasn’t foolish enough to get too close, for although its queen was likely back in the Onyx Court, other warriors would remain.