by Debbie Long
“We need to stop her. She’s gone completely mad.”
“Silvia, my mother told me she’s the first queen and your mother is the first witch.”
“Which means, Ava’s grandfather is the first dark pixie king.”
“Yep, none of them died. They just lost their magic.” I look around, trying to spot Ava. “We need Ava, mother said that we all need to do this together. She gave me the last of her magic.”
“I thought she had no magic.”
“She doesn’t except her wings...” My voice trails off. “She can’t fly, her wings, she gave them to me.” I look back and notice they have grown in size. “What does that mean though?”
“No idea, and we don’t have time to figure it out, my mother is heading straight for us.”
Ava
I fly after my grandfather. Landing by his side, I roll him onto his back. His wings are crumpled, broken. His breathing is heavy and laboured.
“Grandfather,” I stroke the hair out of his eyes, “are you ok?”
He coughs, taking my hand in his. “Ava, you must help Pixie and Silvia defeat the witch. It’s up to you all to the restore the balance that my people unsettled.”
“How, how do we stop her? You saw her draw lightning from the sky. How do we stop that?”
“Work together, you will know what to do.”
“How did she become so powerful? I thought the witches died out a long time ago.”
“They have been living in our lands, theirs were destroyed in the second war. Many perished, the rest took refuge in the dark lands. The first witch, she was the one to survive and acted out her plan to defeat the light pixies once and for all. She grew in power; my son took her side over mine. I told him that this wasn’t the way, that the only way to survive was peace. He didn’t listen. The witch created a walkway where she came and went to the summer lands. She then married the king, had Silvia and grew in power by killing pixies, taking their life force.”
He takes a deep breath, his face pained. “You must defeat her Ava, only you and the other two can. Fate has told us. Draw magic from the earth, use her and she will guide you.” He looks to the sky. “Go now, your sister needs you.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“I will be fine, go now and save us all.”
He gives me a gentle nudge, smiling through his pain. I stand, looking back at him before taking into the air. Time to save the lands and rid them of this disease once and for all.
Good Over Evil
Pixie
The witch howls as she heads straight for me. Her fingers turn into claws as she swipes at my face. I move back, grabbing her hands and shoving them away from me. She snarls, coming for me again, a black blade appearing in her hand as she lunges for me.
Silvia moves to help me but is intercepted by her father. He grabs her wings yanking her back. She howls in pain and disappears into the throng of pixies that are fighting around us.
Sofia takes my distraction as an advantage. She charges at me, black magic billowing around her. My wings curl around me, covering me from the blast. I’m knocked back, but none of her magic touches me.
She comes at me again, this time with swords made of smoke. Her movements are erratic, her anger fuelling her, making her clumsy. I find an opening, blasting my own magic at her smoky wings. She howls, dropping to the ground. I fly after her, grabbing her around the throat. Her eyes bulge as my wings move harder, faster toward the ground. I push just before we hit the ground. Her mouth forms an O, as she slams into the floor with a sickening crunch.
My wings drag me back, so I can hover over the ground. I lower myself, just as my feet touch the earth it begins to shake. The witch stands, her left arm at an odd angle, her left leg twisted, almost behind her.
She cackles, what is it with witches and cackling? Her good hand snaps out, her magic pouring from her palm. She blows at it, the dark energy heading for me. I cover my face with my arm, coughing as the smoke touches me. I feel a sharp pain in my back. Looking behind me, I see the smoke has bound my wings. I try to move them, use my own magic but it doesn’t work, all I can feel is pain. Her magic licks at my neck, squeezing tightly.
A blur flies past me, knocking the witch back. Felix. I smile. A roar above me alerts me Velour is close by. Zane wraps his arms around me and Oran is fighting alongside Felix. The witch is holding her own against my males, her dark magic lashing out and deflecting their every move.
“Can you stand Pixie?” Zane asks.
I nod, wincing at the sharp pain in my back. “I can’t remove her magic from my wings.” I gasp again as the energy squeezes, the jolt making me spasm.
“Pixie,” Zane says alarmed, “unleash your magic, unbind yourself.”
“I can’t, something’s stopping me. It’s spreading.”
“Spreading where Pixie?”
“Everywhere,” I whisper. My body jolts again, the dark energy dulling my light.
Sofia laughs, I look towards her and she squeezes her hand into a fist. I gasp again, my body arching of the ground. I see a chain dangling from her hand, a hint of red inside a round pendant.
“She has my blood, when I was captured my blood was taken. She has it in that pendant,” I say, gasping for breath, “you need to break it.”
“Velour!” Zane shouts to the sky.
My dragon mate drops to the ground, it shakes as he lands. He changes, charging towards us and drops to the ground.
“What is it? Why can’t she move?”
“She has a blood pendant; Pixie’s blood is inside. We need to break it.”
“We need to take her from all sides, she is far too powerful to tackle alone. We need to work together.”
“Agreed.” Zane kisses me. “Don’t move.” He rushes away, his hand lifting as earth answers his call.
I watch my mates fight the witch, who seems to be enjoying it far too much.
“They will never beat her that way,” Silvia says.
I look back to see my sisters walking towards me. “She has a blood pendant. I can’t move my wings and my magic is dulling.”
“She’s using your magic, Pixie, that’s why she is so strong and powerful. Your blood is fuelling her,” Silvia says looking towards the fight. “I can get the pendant; your mates need to keep her distracted.” She vanishes from view. I blink, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
“She’s part witch, Pixie, she’s been practicing her magic with her mother.”
“That’s why she left, so she could practice?”
“Yes, and so she could learn her mother’s secrets.”
“Only Silvia can get close enough to the witch to take her down. The three of us need to combine our magic and kill her. Your magic is enhanced by your mates, use them and we will defeat her, Pixie.”
“What about your father? He is just as involved in this.”
“I know, I can’t find him. Seems the coward has run.”
The earth shakes, making Ava tumble to the ground. She curses, straightening up. Her eyes widen as a blast sends her flying back. My mates too all fly back, landing in heaps on the floor. They lay there unmoving; I scream their names, but they don’t even flinch.
I feel a hand on my shoulder, feel the energy of Silvia calming me. She reveals herself to her mother, her hand opening to reveal the pendant in her palm. It all happens in slow motion, Silvia raising her hand and smashing the blood pendant onto the ground. The moment it breaks, my wings spring free.
I stand, rolling my shoulders and my head, glaring at the witch before me. Her scream causes me to wince. I lift into the air, my strong wings carrying me toward Sofia. My sisters are at my side, their focus on the witch, their own rage aimed at her.
My eyes become unfocused for a moment, before the golden glow emanates from them. Reaching my hand out, I use air to lift the witch to our level. Ava binds her with her dark magic, Silvia keeps her from talking. The witch’s mouth moves as she tries to counteract our magic, bu
t the thin line doesn’t open. Her eyes land on Silvia, begging her and shaking her head.
“Sorry mother, but you have to be stopped.” Silvia flicks her magic, snuffing out the witch’s smoky wings.
The witch glares, her body shaking with rage. The dark energy pouring from her body and moving over my mates below. Light pixies fall from the sky, their screams silenced as the crash to the ground. All their energy flows towards the witch, her grin malicious, her magic unravelling. It forms into a twisted knot of energy, solid and strong.
As I watch my people along with Ava’s die, their life force snuffed out, my own magic is unleashed. My head is thrown back as the light of magic blasts from my chest. Ava’s darker light joins mine, with the smoky light of Silvia’s. It all comes together, merging into one, joined by the magic of my mates. My bonded brother’s magic joins in; though he is nowhere in sight, it flows to me easily. The earth, the air, the water and ember, all circling, tying itself to the lines of energy.
My eyes snap open as the blast goes through the witch, her eyes widen as all the magic she has stolen goes back into the earth. All her own magic pours from her, flickering out like a candle. She screeches, trying to claw herself away from our magic. Just as she frees herself, the earth snakes up around her body, dragging her to the ground where her screams are silenced as the ground covers her, devouring her.
A sigh escapes me, my magic flowing back into me. My eyes roll and close, I smile, then the world goes dark.
I wake up in the infirmary. My eyes wander around the room, seeing my sisters lying on beds either side of me. My body is warm from my mates slumped over me. I look up into Maxell’s tired eyes. He smiles, looking relieved. His eyes wander to the bed near him. Honey lays there, her hair fanned out around her like a golden halo. The jagged cut from her jaw to her eye, prominent against her pale skin.
“Everyone OK?” I ask.
He looks sadly at me, his eyes not able to meet my own. “What is it?” I say sitting up.
My mates stir, they all sit back, the same look on their faces.
My chest tightens, I swing my legs off the bed heading to the door. My mates are on my heel, all following me silently. The academy is quiet, far too quiet. The teachers walking silently through the halls, the pixies bow their heads as I pass. I feel so much death in the air, the sorrow of the fallen echoing through the halls. The air feels heavy, my heart squeezes painfully. I can almost feel mother earth weeping for the loss of so many.
I hurry along, heading to my grandfather’s quarters. I don’t knock when I see the door, I just open it. Laying on the bed are my parents. The soft sheet covering their bodies, but I can see through it, see their peaceful faces. My knees buckle, but strong arms catch me before I fall. Oran scoops me into his lap, holding me while I weep. Velour’s hand rests on my knee, Felix holds my shoulder and Zane’s head rests on mine. All there, all comforting. They don’t break their hold on me, they let me cry, let me scream out my hurt and rage.
After what seems like hours, my tears dry up, my breathing calms. Through my bond, I can feel my mates’ sorrow, mirroring my own. Velour’s is the strongest. I look towards him; his eyes shine with tears.
I cup his face, drawing him closer to me. His forehead rests on mine. “What is it? Are you sad because the dragons didn’t come to our aid?”
He sucks in a shuddering breath. “They didn’t come, because most of them were slaughtered. They died the moment they came through the veil, the first was my father and mother.” His voice hitches, breaking. My heart breaks for him.
“I’m so sorry, Velour.” I shift my weight, so I am in his lap. “They would be so proud of you.”
“Same as yours, Pixie.”
I take in a shuddering breath, looking towards the bed. My grandfather sits by my mother’s side. His face looks older, his own tears falling freely down his cheeks.
I get up, moving to him. “I thought she was OK when I left her. My father…”
“He found them, they were both weakened, and he took advantage of that. He ran once he knew he had killed her.”
“Have they found him? The guards, have they found him?”
He nods. “They did, he was trying to flee to the human world.” He laughs darkly. “They overpowered him; took whatever magic he stole which was all contained in a pendant around his neck.” My grandfather shakes his head.”
“Can I ask you something?” I say, my gaze wandering to my parents. My eyes landing on my mother. “How come you weren’t king? Why did that power rest on my mother?”
He smiles. “There was never a ruler, never one to sit on the throne until she was born. You see, when she was born, she was pure gold, her little body made from glittery specks. I called it pixie dust.” He laughs. “Then she changed, taking on a solid form, the golden glitter going to her wings where it stayed. Her hair was an array of colours before they settled on the pink, purple and blue colours. The people rejoiced, said the saviour was born. The dragons predicted that a war would evade our lands and she would save us all. But it wasn’t her they spoke of; it was you, Pixie.” He takes my hand. “She knew it was you that was meant to stop this endless war, that it was you that would restore the peace we once had, and you did. Once the lands heal, we will live in harmony again.”
“But she died, I couldn’t even save her.” Tears fall, but he wipes them away.
“She couldn’t live forever, Pixie, same as I can’t.” He looks sadly at me. “All the originals have gone. Magic holds me here. Now I know you are safe, I can leave and join my daughter and wife in the afterlife.”
“You knew all along this would happen.”
“I did, though I had two futures. I’m glad this one worked out.” He smiles again. “And I’m glad I got to meet my granddaughter, I am looking forward to telling your grandmother how you and your sisters saved us all.”
He looks towards the bed, I look too. My mother and father have taken on a glow, my mother a golden and my father a silver. Their bodies turn into dust, it flows around me, hugging me. I sob as they flow toward the window, the air sparkles before they vanish. I feel the earth greet them like old friends.
When my eyes land on my grandfather, he too has taken on a glow, a blue, pink and purple dust covers him. He too caresses me in a final hug before joining his family, my family. in the afterlife.
My mates all engulf me, their arms wrapping around me in a solid cocoon. My sobs echo around the room, carrying to the infirmary where I feel my sister’s sorrow.
RestOring harmOny
We all mourned the dead, the memorial service for them was a long and tiring day. The one for my parents was a private function. Just me, Silvia and Ava and my mates. After it was all over, we had a decision to make. Who was going to rule these lands, me or my sister? She told me that someone needed to lead the witches. They were in hiding, and it was up to her to restore their lands and bring peace and tranquillity back. So she left, her and our most trusted guards. She sent word back that she found them, and they have found themselves in the human world, built a compound in the mountains and even have a school for the young to learn the ways of a witch or mage.
Velour decided not to return, much to my relief. I made sure it was safe for him to come and go, same as his fellow dragons. I told him someone needed to rule, so he appointed his uncle. I trusted his judgment.
I created a veil to send the dark pixies back to their land. We singled out the ones that didn’t want change and sent them to the prison to be rehabilitated. The ones that wanted peace, followed under Ava’s command. With her on the throne, they slowly built their lands back to what they once were. The magic in the lands came back, turning the dark lands back to the vibrant ones. It still differed to mine; where mine were green, Ava’s was darker green. It was strange seeing it that way, but happy that her people were thriving once more.
As for the academy, I asked Maxell to take over. Making sure it was what it was always meant to be, a school. A school to train the you
ng to use their magic to help our lands. To control their magic so it never hurt anyone. To control their magic so we could all work together, build and make our lands whole again. With Honey’s help, who teaches healing, they are doing well.
As for her father, he is still in the dungeons. I wanted to kill him for all the mess he made, for the lives he took and for his betrayal of all pixie kind. My mates follow me to his cell, they always come with me. Maybe to ground me or to stop me from killing him.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Pixie? I mean he can’t hurt anyone here,” Oran says.