Twelve Dancing Witnesses

by Elizabeth A Reeves

  At least part of me was free from their control.

  The instruments drew to a stop.

  Strangely, our visitors applauded. They clapped their hands and shouted in appreciation for what they had seen. We filed back into the darkness, to the ship and the pathway back to the castle where we could lick our wounds and celebrate in a quieter way the victory that we all still lived.

  For now.

  I could feel the Magic strip away from me as I walked. I still wore the dress I had borrowed from Leigh’s closet, but I knew that I wore my own face on this last stretch of path. I hoped it would not make a difference. There were no Godparents here to see me.

  A hand grasped my arm as I walked by a tall ruby-laden cherry tree. It pulled me out of the grasp of Magic and I tumbled, gasping, in that direction.

  The same hands kept me from falling to my knees as exhaustion and pain, kept from me by the Magic all night, struck all at once. I looked up, my heart drumming like the wings of a frightened bird.

  And saw Dallan’s face.

  I nearly wept at the beauty of it.

  But then, he did.

  His hands folded around my face and he stared down at me as if he were staring into his last hope. Tears welled up in his eyes, glinting faintly in the dim light. He dropped a kiss on my forehead, then each of my cheeks, and then softly on my lips. Then he pulled me against his chest.

  And he wept.

  His entire body shook with the force of his tears, though the sound was muffled and wet. I could feel those tears, falling on my hair like the gentlest rain. Under my ear, I could hear the rhythm of his heart, strong and fast.

  His arms around me trembled.

  His whole body trembled.

  He came perfectly undone as he held me as if I were the key to his soul’s survival and he had thought I was lost forever with it.

  The Bellatrices shuffled on, though I saw one head turn back towards us with concern. I managed to pull an arm away from Dallan enough to wave her on. If Dallan was here, I hoped that meant that Leigh was nearby and could explain everything to the rest of her order.

  After a few moments, Dallan drew in a deep breath and stepped away from me. His face was wet, but the terrible fear I’d seen briefly in his eyes was gone. He took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips. I mourned that I was wearing gloves and could not feel his kiss against my skin.

  “Don’t you ever die on me again,” Dallan murmured as he bent to press my hands against his forehead.

  “I’ll make an honest try not to,” I said. “Come. I want to see you properly and we have much to discuss.”

  He nodded grimly. “Yes.” He drew in another deep breath. I thought it was to steady himself.

  “But first,” he said.

  Then he kissed me. A true kiss this time.

  I lost track of everything. Of my aching body, of the Orionis, of the Bellatrices and unicorns and the jeweled orchard surrounding us.

  All there could be was him. And me.

  And then that all blended together and we were us.

  And I knew that I had been holding his soul. And he would never have healed if he’d never seen me again.

  I knew this because I had just learned he was holding mine.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The moment we stepped into the underground hall, a silver squawking blur nearly collided with me. It took a few moments, but eventually I got Flit calmed enough that I could hold him. The tiny dragon scolded me as I stroked his back, and refused to close his wings until I assured him I was fine.

  Dallan made a soft, scoffing sound, shooting a pointed look at me as I hobbled to a chair where I could sit down.

  I wrinkled my nose at him. I was fine. I felt great now that my family was here. And maybe it was strange that my family was made up of the Voice of Mercy and a miniature dragon. All I needed now…

  Warm breath snorted against the back of my neck. I turned as quickly as my aching feet would allow me.

  “Agape insisted on bringing me to you,” Dallan explained as the longma rubbed his sweaty face across the front of my dress. Flit screeched in protest and clambered up my shoulder to perch on the top of my head, putting my hair into utter disarray.

  I felt so much steadier, so much stronger, just having the three of them there with me. I’d only known them for months, but they were my anchors. I wasn’t afraid to leap if they were there to catch me.

  I looked up from my reunion and found the twelve Bellatrices and Gabriel standing in a line in front of the fire, watching us. They were all in their finery, except for Leigh who was wearing her riding clothes and hood still. I thought at first that they were staring at me and Dallan, but after a moment I realized they were all gazing at Agape.

  “If we had known you were friends with the longma, we would have known we could trust you,” Leigh explained, having had time to get over her shock. “Longma are a sort of cousin of the unicorn.”

  Agape snorted in agreement and lowered his head for me to rub him between his ears. I unfastened his bridle, which was more or less decorative anyway, and gave his ears a good scratch where the skin had become crusted with sweat.

  “I sort of inherited my longma friends,” I told the warriors. “From the Godmother I mentioned to you, the one who died, Brunhild.”

  “She must have been a warrior like us at one time,” Caroline suggested. “There was an order lost long ago who rode on the backs of longma the way we work with unicorns.”

  I’d never heard of such a thing. Of course, I hadn’t known of a human order of women warriors who rode unicorns and fought for the light either. I had been learning lately that there was much more that I didn’t know than I did. It was humbling, but I was willing to learn, now that I knew I needed to.

  A unicorn whinnied in the distance. Agape lifted his head and turned his ears in that direction.

  “You go play with your cousins,” I suggested, giving his neck one last pat under the scratchy thickness of his mane.

  He nudged me again, then sauntered off in the direction of the stables. Only the dancing of the skin along his boney neck gave any indication that he was excited to see the unicorns.

  Dallan took the bridle from me and set it on a small table to one side. He took my hand and helped me to a chair so he could kneel down and frown at my feet.

  “You can’t frighten my toes into healing,” I teased him.

  The slightest curve of a smile touched his lips.

  I bent down to take off what remained of my dancing slippers. Around me, the other dancers did as well. I could see Leigh darting around to help her order sisters. She seemed to be much better for having had two nights of rest under her belt.

  It made me all the more determined to make sure the others got rest as well. If two days made this much difference, their order would be well on the way to getting back to normal quickly, once I could figure out how to break this spell.

  “I do need to talk to you,” Dallan said in a low voice, as I bandaged one of the worst sores on my feet.

  “I think you’ll find you want to talk to all of us,” I told him. I explained what I knew about what I had seen here, how the Bellatrices had healed me, and what exactly their order was supposed to be.

  Dallan looked grim, even for him.

  “Yes,” he said slowly, perhaps even reluctantly. “They all need to hear this.”

  I smile sympathetically. Dallan was powerful, but he was also shy. He didn’t like being the center of attention, especially among strangers.

  He shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about me. It’s the news that troubles me… You will know soon enough.”

  Once everyone had food and drink in front of them, Dallan stood up and cleared his throat.

  The Bellatrices gave him their full attention with military discipline. I could see him swallow as he took in the concentration on their faces.

  “My sister and I have been concerned for some time about the condition of our Fairy Godparent programs,�
�� he said. “She’s the Song of Justice and I am the Voice of Mercy. We are intended to keep balance among the fairies and Magical beings in this world, particularly those who have sway over the lives of those without Magic.”

  “Such as humans,” Gillie said.

  He nodded. I thought he looked relieved at her willingness to speak up.

  He nodded. “That is, of course, a simplification. Some humans have minor skill with Magic, but it is fairies who set out to manipulate the world in the service of Magic. Their purpose is supposed to be promoting balance and fighting of Chaos, but more and more my sister and I have come to believe that a number of fairies abuse this role.”

  One of the Bellatrices snorted softly. I wasn’t sure which one.

  Dallan smiled faintly in response. “Yes, that would seem obvious to you, wouldn’t it? Until now, we have only been able to gather data from the other side of the situation. We have had good Godparents die or disappear, or abruptly retire. We have had fairies intended to be Godparents decide to follow different paths instead.” He glanced sideways at me.

  It was true, but I would never have guessed that I was part of a pattern.

  How many Godparents my age or younger did I know? I’d thought it was because I still felt like an outsider, but maybe it was because there weren’t many.

  Strange thought.

  “More Godparents dying than just Brunhild and Kuhleborn?” I asked. Because they were the only deaths I knew of, and I knew who had killed each of them.

  “Yes,” Dallan said grimly. “Many more than that.”

  “But I would have heard something,” I protested. “Someone would have said something…”

  Dallan raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. “But they don’t, do they? And that silence is what led Astraea and me to start watching Fairy Godparents. We know they are doing something, and that some kingdoms have been badly mismanaged, but it is only here, in this land, that the picture is becoming complete.”

  And he didn’t like that picture any more than I did, I thought.

  “We have been convinced that what has happened here has happened before,” Erika said, from her seat closest to the fire. “It was too well-planned and thorough to be a first attempt. They executed their plan for this kingdom as if they’d had time to perfect every detail.”

  Dallan nodded. “I’m afraid it is so. While my sister and I are powerful, we are not omniscient. The world is too large for two beings, no matter their abilities, to keep watch on everything. Sadly, we are not gods. And I hate that we have failed you here. I am profoundly sorry that we have failed you—that I did not prevent this.”

  If I started to love him any more, my heart might actually burst.

  Joette made a dismissive gesture. “The past is unchangeable. The power we hold is in the knowledge of the past and our willingness today to move forward with that knowledge in the hope of a tomorrow with fewer mistakes in it.”

  Dallan nodded. His expression was stern and still, but his shoulders lifted slightly as if a weight had been removed from them.

  How much did he carry with him every day?

  I’d been so caught up in my own troubles since I’d known him that I hadn’t tried to help with his. Maybe some of it was that he was private and stoic, but if we cared for each other we needed to approach this relationship as equals, able to carry one another’s troubles as if they were our own.

  “This kingdom may be the key to everything we have uncovered, every piece of evidence that has been destroyed, every secret that has been hidden by those involved. This land may be key to saving all the lands. It seems fitting to me that it is a land belonging rightfully to warriors of the light.”

  The Bellatrices nodded at his words. I could tell they liked that thought. It was part of their mission, to stop the works of evil in our world. Their many sacrifices would not have been in vain if they could uncover the greatest evil our world had possibly known since the times of Chaos. Their lost sisters would be righteous martyrs, not slain pawns.

  I could see it give them energy and hope.

  “There are thousands of kingdoms that we fear have been mismanaged,” Dallan said seriously. “Some are not to the degree that we’ve seen here, but I fear that others are much, much worse. As I said before, we have struggled to find witnesses willing to speak up and evidence disappears when we most need it.”

  “You have witnesses here,” Caroline said firmly. “Twelve of us.”

  “Thirteen,” Gabriel corrected.

  They turned to smile at him.

  “Twenty-four if we can free the other soldiers who, like me, have been gobbled up by this spell. I can even show you where the graves of the ones that weren’t so fortunate lie,” Gabriel continued seriously. “The fairies left enough bodies behind for proper burial.”

  “They’ve been looking for me,” I told Dallan. “The past two nights at the ball, the Godparents have asked about me. Well, my body actually. They still believe I am dead.”

  Dallan blew out a long breath. When I saw that his hands were shaking I realized that he was trying to keep a grip on his temper.

  “Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” I pointed out. “If I am a dead victim, they won’t expect me to be sneaking around learning things.”

  “I’m counting on that,” Dallan agreed. “With your presence here, and finally having contact with the true leaders of a kingdom being exploited, we should be able to shut down this corruption of Godparenthood on a grand scale, not just here.”

  “Well, I’m glad I died for something worthwhile,” I quipped.

  Then he floored me with his next declaration.

  “We were relieved to discover that Gloriana was not part of this chain of impossible coincidences,” Dallan said, blithely unaware of this impact of his words on me. “Hers was truly an isolated event, not part of the entire pattern at all.”

  I gaped at him. “You thought that she was in on an evil plot?”

  Dallan shrugged. “We have come to assume most Godparents are corrupt at this point. It was a safe assumption, and one that Astraea and I were happy to put to rest. Gloriana made bad choices, terrible choices, but she was not involved in this plot.”

  I gaped at him. “What about me? Did you think that I was involved too? After all, I am a Fairy Godmother.”

  Dallan smiled and shook his head. “Never,” he said. “Within moments of meeting you, Astraea and I agreed that there was no possible way you were involved. You are too innocent, too pure, too untarnished.”

  He reached out and took my hand. “We have long believed that you were the key to fixing all that is wrong with our world.”

  “I don’t believe in fate,” I stammered. “I’m not some kind of chosen one.”

  Dallan shook his head, his eyes intent on mine. “No, it’s not fate,” he said. “And you don’t have to have fate behind you to be chosen. You simply have to be the right person at the right time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I thought Dallan’s faith in me was misplaced, but I didn’t say anything. How could I? Telling someone not to believe something was as pointless as suggesting that a wave on the beach stop moving. It might happen, but probably not.

  “So, what next?” Joette asked, pulling all the pins out of her long, straight hair.

  “I need to see all that I can,” Dallan said. He pressed his fingers against his lips, his forehead wrinkled in thought. “We will need every witness here, but it would also help if I witnessed the binding spell in the ballroom. That seems to be the key to everything, at least in this kingdom.”

  The Bellatrices all nodded. Apparently, this was acceptable tactics in their eyes. I thought it sounded extremely risky. I never wanted to see that ballroom again and I was sure the other women, no matter how strong they were, felt the same way.

  I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t need to. Dallan took in my expression. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” he said gently. “That spell is the center of eve
rything that has gone wrong in this kingdom. It should tell us how to unravel it.”

  Reluctantly, I nodded. I had experienced that spell three times now, but the first time I had been ill and the other two times I had been inside of it. Maybe he was right. Maybe we needed to go back to observe.

  “What I do know is that it drains more than just Magic,” I said. “The spell sucks the lifeforce out of the dancers. The Bellatrices have been dancing here for years, but I don’t think they have years left. I can only imagine that the spell has grown stronger over the years and is now taking more from them now. Otherwise, I have no idea how they have survived this long.”

  Gillie cleared her throat and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “It has been getting stronger. In the early days, we were not nearly this drained and our feet would not bleed at all. Each night seems worse than the last. Of course, that might just be perspective and not reality.”

  Caroline shook her head. “Oh, no. It has been getting worse.” She was the closest they had to a healer, so she would know. “Our recovery times are growing longer and the dancing takes more and more out of us. I think Grace is correct. We cannot last much longer.”

  “Maybe that’s the plan,” Amanda said quietly. She looked down at her battered feet and drew in a deep sigh. “They will kill us all, drain the Magic from the isle, and move on to the next place. Maybe they’ll blame it on a volcano.”

  Dallan’s face grew still at her words. It seemed she had struck a nerve with him. Maybe he was reviewing other disasters that may not have been as natural as assumed. The thought gave me a chill. It was easier to look at what I’d witnessed here as a fluke, a rare occurrence, the first case of something like this that we could step in and put a stop to.

  But, if it wasn’t?

  How long had this been going on? How many kingdoms? How many lands? How many people? How many lives?

  It was overwhelming.

  There was part of me that wanted to ignore the bigger picture. I could focus on what was right in front of my face and ignore everything else. I would set things right here, and then move on with my life.