Chalice of Life

by R. A. Rock

  “It’ll only protect us from magic,” Ethan said quietly to Tessa and Finn as the Shadows closed in. “We’ll have to fight. Tessa, stay behind me. I’ll protect you.”

  “I think I can take care of—”

  “Just stay behind me, Stars,” Ethan said sharply as he and Finn stepped forward to meet the Shadows.

  Above them, dark clouds gathered and the wind whipped some curls, which had escaped from Tessa’s braid, into her face. She could smell the approaching storm.

  Ethan ducked a roundhouse kick and stepped forward to smash his fist into the Shadow’s ribs. With a groan, the man in black crumpled and fell to the ground.

  Finn went immediately on the offensive, throwing a few high jabs and then coming in with a right hook that nearly took the Shadow’s head off. He flew backward and fell to the ground, unmoving.

  What the Chasm? Was Ethan right? Was she a helpless woman who needed protecting?

  Something about that didn’t sit right, and Tessa felt frustrated because she didn’t know what to do. The three remaining Shadows approached slowly, with more caution after the first two had been dispatched so quickly.

  Then as if by a silent signal, they all moved in at once. Finn and his assailant fought in close quarters, and Tessa watched him, worried, though she didn’t know why.

  Ethan’s two Shadows attacked, moving him slowly away from Tessa as they fought. She thought that maybe they were doing it on purpose. Ethan was so engrossed in the fight that he didn’t notice. Tessa felt exposed and afraid, but at least they weren’t coming for her.

  One of the Shadows Ethan was fighting suddenly got the upper hand and hit him with a jump kick to the head. He went down hard. Finn was still grappling with his Shadow, rolling around on the ground. The third Shadow had turned to face Tessa.

  In the sky, thunder boomed and rain started to fall. The Shadow walked toward her, hands down as if he were going to retrieve something that had been left behind. He didn’t even consider her a threat. It pissed Tessa off.

  She didn’t know what to do.

  She was about to be carted away by some Dark Magic Shadow.

  And she didn’t like it.

  She stood there, waiting for him, her heart pounding and adrenaline making her limbs tremble. He glanced at her hands, maybe thinking the shaking meant she was afraid.

  But she wasn’t.

  She was ready.

  She didn’t know who she was, but she knew that she knew how to do this. She could feel the urge to fight singing in her blood.

  When he reached out to grab her, she twisted her wrist quickly and pulled her arm toward her, wrenching it out of his grasp using the weakest point, which was where the fingers and thumb met.

  He frowned in confusion and grabbed for her arm again, but she evaded him this time, lifting her fists to protect her face like she had done it a thousand times. It was second nature.

  He laughed and moved in, not bothering to protect himself, and she took advantage of that. Tessa stepped forward and hit him with a jab, cross combo. He grunted, not fazed, but angry now.

  At that moment, the clouds opened up and the rain poured down. Tessa knew it didn’t matter. She knew how to fight. And she would not let this man hurt her or her friends.

  The Shadow was big, and Tessa knew that if he landed a punch, she’d probably be out cold. She couldn’t let him hit her. As if he only just realized she might be a threat, he went into fighting mode and began attacking her.

  She ducked, weaved, and spun, splashing into the puddles that were forming from the rain that was coming down so hard she could hardly see across the clearing.

  Tessa avoided everything until he landed a hard shot to her stomach. For a couple seconds, she couldn’t breathe, and she stumbled back away from him, slipping on the wet ground.

  When he came at her again, something unleashed from inside her. Tessa’s vision became narrowed and clear. She focused on her target. The sounds of the forest and the rainstorm faded and she went into the zone.

  The man sent a front kick her way and she blocked it with her arms crossed. Then she stepped in and hit him with a bunch of rapid-fire jabs to the solar plexus, feeling the skin of her knuckles split as she did so. He grabbed her arm and she let him, turning so her back was to his front. With a quick movement, she freed her wrist and grabbed his forearm.

  Not quite knowing how she did it, Tessa pushed back with her hips and pulled on his arm, and in a wink, the big Shadow landed on his back with a big splash. The rain pounded down on him as he lay there, stunned and wheezing.

  But he wasn’t to be defeated so easily, and a moment later, he tried a foot sweep from the ground. Tessa jumped and avoided it, landing in a fighting stance and going down on one knee with a punch that would knock him out. Unfortunately, she didn’t land it because at the last second, he rolled out of the way.

  She stood up, and by the time she had her hands up again, he was ready. He came at her with a barrage of kicks, ending with a spinning roundhouse for her head. She turned diagonally and lifted her arms in an X, blocking it. When the Shadow landed after the last kick, his ankle crumpled a little bit and he gave a tiny gasp.

  Tessa saw her opportunity and she stepped forward, launching a kick to the ribs. Then she brought her foot down and began using her elbows to bash at his head.

  He didn’t get his hands up in time, and she knocked him around a bit, until he stumbled on the hurt ankle and moved away enough to allow for a punch. She drove her fist into his jaw on the knockout point and he fell heavily to the ground, unconscious.

  She stood there for a moment, hands in fists, breathing hard, staring at her opponent. Then she glanced around for another attacker. All the Shadows lay on the ground. Even the one who had been doing magic.

  Tessa stepped back and heard a twig snap under her foot. She came out of her fighting trance and was able to see and hear things other than the fight. Her breathing slowed and she dropped her hands. The rain was letting up and a ray of sunlight speared through the clouds, hitting her and warming her wet skin a little.

  Ethan and Finn were staring at her, shocked.

  Tessa got the feeling they had been watching the entire fight. She stretched out her fingers, feeling the stinging from the cuts. She’d broken the skin on some knuckles but she didn’t worry about it. She knew now that she’d had plenty of bloody knuckles.

  “What were you saying about protecting me?” Tessa said to Ethan, unable to stop the sassy remark from escaping her. She kept her eyes wide open and put an innocent look on her face. She thought maybe his ego was going to get in the way and he might get angry.

  Instead, he gave her a grin. “I haven’t seen fighting like that in quite some time,” he said, and for the first time, she saw a tiny bit of warmth in his eyes. “Maybe next time, I’ll let you protect me.”

  Chapter 13

  They approached the place that Ethan’s GPS on his phone said was where the cottage should be. They hid behind a tree as they got close to the coordinates.

  “What did we have to do to be able to see the cottage?” Finn asked.

  “Ignis gave me this. He said it’s a Faerie spell.” Tessa held up a stone. She leaned around the tree and tossed it away.

  They all peeked out from behind the large trunk. Before the stone could even land on the ground, there was a zapping sound, and a cottage appeared about thirty feet away.

  “Stars alive,” Finn said under his breath.

  “Usually, her cottage is shifted slightly from reality,” Ethan explained. “It’s not quite in Esper, nor is it quite on Earth. The spell shifts the entire area slightly so that it lines up with this reality again. That way, we can see it and get to it.”

  As Tessa gazed at the cottage, she frowned. Another memory was trying to shake loose.

  “It looks like my grandfather’s cottage,” Finn said, sounding dazed.

  “You remember?” Tessa said, surprised.

  “Yes. Definitely.”

  “
Ignis said we would get all our memories back naturally if we were willing to wait long enough.”

  “Which we’re not. That’s why we’re here.” Finn’s face was resolute as he gazed at the innocuous-looking house.

  Tess stared at the cottage, wondering what they would find inside. It was built of various-colored stones, which had been fitted together with mortar. Bright yellow straw covered the roof, and two windows and a door twinkled at her like two eyes and a nose. The yard around had neatly trimmed grass and a flower bed. A white picket fence surrounded the whole place and completed its harmless appearance. It was the least dangerous looking house Tessa had ever seen. That she could remember, anyway.

  “What time is it?” Tessa asked.

  Ethan pressed his phone.

  “Two thirty-five,” he told them.

  “Hopefully, she’s deep asleep by now,” Finn said, not pleased with this plan. “Not waking up and ready to bop us on the head with a frying pan.”

  “Doesn’t matter if she’s awake or not,” Tessa said, her face determined. “The plan is the same. We go in. Get the ring. And get out.”

  “Be careful,” Ethan said.

  “Sure,” Tessa said with a wry smile, remembering how she had kicked that Shadow’s ass.

  Ethan got an amused expression on his face, too. “Take care, Finn.”

  Finn only gave him a nod.

  Then Tessa and Finn moved toward the cottage as quietly as they could.

  Inside, the cottage was clean and free of clutter. The wooden floors looked as if they had just been washed and polished. The furniture was worn but well taken care of. It smelled a little stuffy, but over that, Tessa caught the scent of a bouquet of roses that had been picked recently from the garden and stood in a vase in the middle of the table.

  The Faerie was napping on the couch. They could hear her snoring gently.

  It would have all gone as planned if Finn hadn’t slipped on the highly polished floor. As he recovered, he kicked a small stool and it made a sharp sound as it crashed into the wall. The snoring of the Faerie abruptly stopped with a tiny snort, and a little grey head popped up over the couch.

  Tessa froze with the ring in her hand. She was in the act of pulling it off the display when Melisende woke up.

  “Shadows take me,” she cursed softly as the old lady got to her feet.

  “Yes, they certainly should,” the old Faerie said, brandishing a cane. “What are you doing here, trying to take my ring?”

  The old woman wore a lavender dress that looked soft and comfortable. She was wrapping a matching shawl around her shoulders. Her grey hair was done up on her head in a bun, and her voice was creaky.

  Fae only looked this old if they were actually thousands of years old or if they didn’t get enough Elixir often enough. Usually, Fae aged somewhere into their twenties and then stayed that way for about four hundred years or so. For every four hundred years they lived, they looked about another decade older. Probably, this woman’s looks were a combination of both being old and not getting enough Elixir, Tessa guessed.

  She frowned down at Melisende, where she was shaking her cane at Tessa.

  She could fight Shadows, but a granny?

  She wasn’t going to kick this little old lady’s butt.

  “Look, Melisende,” Tessa said, holding up her hands to show she wasn’t going to hurt the old woman. “We need this ring. It’s to protect a very important person.”

  “I won’t let you have it,” she said, shooing Tessa away from the shelf with her cane. “That ring has been passed down in my family for generations. It’s too precious to me.”

  Finn tried a different tack.

  “Melisende,” Finn said, his tone pleading. “We really need that ring. We’ve lost our memories coming here to the Earthly Realm and we need to get them back. We have a deal with someone who’s going to help us but he needs that ring for his friend.”

  “No way,” the old woman said, folding her arms. “It’s my ring. And you’re not taking it.”

  Tessa thought for a moment.

  The ring didn’t seem to be actually valuable to the woman. It was just a family heirloom that she liked to have on her shelf. So maybe she’d be willing to sell it. They said that everyone had a price. She wondered what this woman’s was.

  “We’ll pay you,” Tessa said. “How much?”

  “I don’t want money,” Melisende said, lifting her hands and dropping them with scorn. “What would I do with that silly paper they use here?”

  “Okay, you don’t want money,” Finn said. “What do you want? We’ll get it for you.”

  The old woman gazed at them in silence for a minute, her face taking on a decidedly calculating look.

  “What is it?” Tessa said, knowing that the old Faerie knew exactly what she wanted. “Name your price.”

  “Starlight from a young faerie would bring some of my youth back. The amount of Elixir they give me isn’t enough to keep me from aging. But Starlight straight from one of you would be so concentrated. Hoo hoo.”

  She danced back and forth on her feet a little, she was so excited.

  “Sure,” Finn said immediately. “No problem. I’ll give you the Starlight.”

  Tessa frowned. There was something bad about this idea. But she wasn’t sure what. If only she could remember…

  Melisende was outright cackling with glee and Tessa shook her head.

  “No, Finn. You shouldn’t.”

  “He already agreed, and you can’t stop him,” Melisende said, and with a startlingly quick hop, she was beside Finn.

  The old Fae grabbed his hand and pressed his palm to hers.

  “It’s okay, Tessa,” Finn said, his tone reassuring. “Not too much, old lady.”

  “Oh no,” Melisende said, closing her eyes and pressing her palm into Finn’s.

  “Please don’t, Finn.”

  But neither Finn nor Melisende were listening as the transfer of magic began.

  Tessa could actually see the magic draining out of Finn and into Melisende. She took the ring out of the display case and glanced at it. It was silvery and had runes on it. She could feel the strong magic coming out of it, and it glowed a little bit in the palm of her hand. But Tessa wasn’t so much interested in the ring as she was in what it could get her. She tucked it into a zipper pocket in the pants she was wearing, which were called cargo pants. She zipped the pocket closed to make sure the ring wouldn’t fall out.

  Tessa turned back to where the two Fae were exchanging magic. She wondered if she’d have to intervene, but true to her word, the old lady stopped soon after they started. When they separated their hands, she was radiating light and she looked more like she was in her thirties, instead of her eighties.

  The old woman jumped up and down in front of the mirror. The floor made joyful squeaking sounds as she bounced and grinned.

  “Thank you, thank you. I look and feel so much better.”

  “No, thank you,” Tessa said and meant it. “We have to be going now.”

  She turned to leave, but when she saw how grey Finn’s face was and how weak he seemed, she ran to him, getting his arm over her shoulder. He leaned heavily on her, eyes closed.

  “What did you do?” She scowled at the old woman. Finn’s weight was heavy on her frame, as though he could hardly stand, and his shoulder was cold where she held it.

  But Melisende seemed as concerned as Tessa was.

  “I just took a little Starlight. I didn’t do anything.”

  “Then why is he like this?”

  The old Fae shrugged. “He must need a top up. You should get him some Elixir.”

  “And where would we get that?”

  “Well, you could get it at the Passageways but they’ll already be sold out of their quota, I’m sure, this late in the month. You’ll need to go to the Black Market if that’s the case.”

  “The Black Market?”

  “Yes, dear. It’s where they sell illegal Elixir and other magical objects.
It’s not the highest quality but it might save his life.”

  Chapter 14

  “May the Stars shine their light upon you,” Tessa said to the old Fae, not really meaning the blessing but tossing it out to be polite. She made sure Finn’s arm was secure around her shoulder and she began helping him out of the cottage.

  Melisende scooted around them, energetic and sprightly now. She opened the door for Tessa.

  Her voice floated after them. “And also on you. I hope he’ll be all right.”

  Tessa was pretty sure that if the Stars were shining their light on her and Finn, they wouldn’t be here in the forest in Ireland with Finn barely capable of walking. It was only early afternoon, but already, she was tired of this day.

  When Tessa reached the forest, she could see Ethan lounging against a tree, playing his guitar while he waited for them. He jumped to his feet when he saw them coming, and Tessa noticed that though he was concerned about Finn, he set his guitar down with great care on its case before he hurried over.

  “What happened to Finn? Did you get the ring?”

  “I got it,” Tessa said. “And I don’t know what’s wrong with Finn. We have to get back to the Passageways. I’ll tell you on the way.”

  Ethan ran back towards the cottage, bent down, and came back. He showed Tessa the stone spell, which he had retrieved. When she twisted her head, the cottage had disappeared again. Ethan quickly put his guitar away, slinging it on his back. Then he took Finn’s other arm and wrapped it around his shoulders, taking more of the weight as they headed back through the forest toward the faerie ring. Tessa was grateful that he was there to help.

  “How was he injured?” Ethan said, addressing his question to Tessa, not Finn. The Fae man was conscious—but barely—and clearly in no state to answer questions.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “What do you mean?” Ethan asked.

  “Well, the woman woke up. And I knew we had to get that Shadows-cursed ring. So we agreed to pay the woman for the ring. Well, Finn did.”

  “And?”