Tall Tales: The Nymphs' Symphony (Scott T Beith's Tall Tales Saga Book 1)

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Tall Tales: The Nymphs' Symphony (Scott T Beith's Tall Tales Saga Book 1) Page 15

by Scott Beith


  Even the elite golden-laced gnolls seemed to be forced to the ground with a heavy bout of pressure caused by the light. The rest of us stood blinded by the brightness, crawling to each other, waiting for it to dim down. Many of the gnolls were actively choosing to uncloak and simply disappear from this world in surrendering defeat.

  Arlo saw his moment to act. He flung back up and somersaulted towards his glossy diamond sword, quickly plunging it into the sword-slinging gnoll’s chest before that cunning swordsman had a chance to respond in kind. Their eyes gazing disconcertingly to one another, Arlo’s face turning ghostly pale and white there afterwards. Right as he stared into the true face of that devilish entity, attempting to tug and keep his adversary from removing his hood, only to fail and have that creature humbly vanish to a great deal of white vapour and smoke.

  Milena and her soldiers saw all of this as they approached. The scarred weathered face of Midas becoming visible from behind his hood, his solitary presence being all that was left of his ghost army, and so, he stared fiercely at his usurper queen and the rest of us all before pulling off his hood, dropping the gold horns of his old crown and vanishing from the brightening alley streets, unable to take any one of us with him, but still stubborn enough to be the very last of his army to leave the scene.

  Old-man Helios bombarded the area with radiant light from his staff. He was accompanied by the stable master hitching a ride on top of the gigantic brood-mother’s back. Our enormous spider queen escorting Helios towards the lighthouse. Our whole army at his back as they followed him up there in one giant movement.

  Astounded, I looked up to witness two of the alpha gnolls still up there watching from the rooftops, locking stares towards me before they too disappeared. The lighthouse reactivating thereafter, as Helios manually reflected his light using an octagon room of mirrors and windows, spreading shine across the entire town.

  Milena watched from the lighthouse porch as I dropped onto the floor beside Arlo. He was hurt badly, and she could tell this from the distance as I helped him lean against the crumbled and battered ivy gates. It seemed some of Ariss’s tiny knives had skimmed across him, and his armour was almost destroyed from the duel he had with that rival swordsman. Never in my history had I witnessed someone stronger and more talented than the prince with his own sword, until I’d seen the gnoll swordsman.

  So, the two of us just simply sat there. I didn’t know whether it was best to lift him up with my shadows or run to bring the doctor over to him. Figuring it smartest to check for Anara and have her see what I should do.

  But looking over to where Akoni sat, Anara was beside him, ready to offer him her help first.

  “No don’t,” Akoni pleaded, his fingertips still sparking electricity, as he’d lost the belt buckle fuse that he must have been using to funnel and contain his static charge. He got to his feet with relative ease by himself, embarrassed as he held a firm grip on his loose pants, having no choice but to wait for Anara to carefully hand him that power pack belt.

  Slowly, but surely, Anara picked it up and began clipping the steaming buckle pieces back together. Its fluid canisters were only half full with battery acid, the majority of the toxic liquid seeping and burning as it struck the ground, glowing incandescently with a rather calm and mesmerising blue and white light.

  Anara gave me a small smirk as she walked over to me and patted her brother’s back, her smile alone letting me know everything was going to be alright. With it, we could all accept that this nightmare was finally over. The conclusion made most confusing as I watched two soldiers drag Ariss away in cuffs towards Milena.

  He looked at me with terror. “Kya! Please, Kya! Tell them I didn’t do it! Tell them they’ve got the wrong man! Ask Ode. I DIDN’T DO THIS!” he cried.

  I stared into his wide eyes without an inch of remorse, happy to see how scared he looked after everything he’d done to Arlo and me over these past two days.

  9

  Revelation

  The village coughed its way back to life, with dust settling as fires reverted to ash. The dry midnight winds helped extinguish the many pocket blazes throughout the smoky old town. Villagers were pouring onto the streets from the tavern’s large bolted doors, investigating the damage done to their tranquil beach town. The village vaguely illuminating under the dim cloudy skyline forged from the lighthouse’s faint radial white shine.

  The eclipse was still prevalent here, but with the king in the lighthouse, safeguarding the town, the townspeople were safe to venture out, rejoicing upon the timid, but gradual, realisation that all the gnolls had gone. I watched them help one another, sharing and exchanging what little they had with each other. Donating the extras to those who were in most dire need of it.

  Helios’s recovery effort was fast to arrive, coming through the bright blue portal sustained by Camilla, who had a hand pressed against the marble stone – the very contraption her husband had built for her, which had ironically proven to be his greatest undoing.

  The portal revealed the beautiful sight of daylight, which reflected off the sandstone pillars and grey concrete steps of our castle’s Parliament Courthouse. A leisurely daytime we could simply walk back to while the townsfolk here painstakingly limped on to restore all they had lost.

  Appearing tall, narrow and misleadingly frail from the far distance I was away, that translucent white marble stone was burning in overdrive. Its centre a puddle-sized vertical manhole that glimmered from bright to dark. Its carved incantations burning a bright wavy blue aura around it as it struggled to cope with the cargo load blocking the castle’s light as soldiers carted through crates of supplies two by two.

  Milena kept a keen eye on me and her injured son, and I could tell she wanted to approach her children, but the townsfolk were keeping her distracted, swarming around her and offering their most heartfelt appreciations for saving their humble little town.

  “You can step aside now,” one of Milena’s full plated knights kindly said to me. He was standing with another knight, patiently waiting to attend to the prince, who was still backed up in the corner, lying against the bent over gates. Anara checked over Arlo one more time before getting up and allowing the knights to help him instead.

  “We’ll take him to the doctor,” said that same kind knight, helping the other man to carefully lift up their prince. “Come on, Arlo. Suck it up, you’re barely even hurt,” he said with a short stifled laugh, trying to reassure him that he’d be fine as he and the other two knights gently ushered him through the gates and slowly uphill towards the manor’s main steps.

  Mayor Ruben was already making his way down the hill, failing to mask his devastation over the burnt wreckage that was his once peaceful town. He gave the prince a deep look of concern as he passed on by him, although his eyes were mostly focused on inspecting what little was left of his town.

  I could see he was struggling to remain positive as he walked towards the lighthouse’s steps, greeting his citizens and seeking permission through the royal entourage to speak directly with the queen, no doubt wanting to offer his gratitude for her coming to the town’s aid.

  I decided to follow after the prince and the two guards accompanying him. I spared a glance back to Akoni and Anara by the gates, feeling the awkward tension between them as their eyes glanced everywhere but towards each other. I really felt for Akoni. He was a man who could lecture a courtroom full of people without fear, but when it came to talking to the princess, he became a shy stuttering mess. It was as if Anara was secretly a succubus, unsuspectingly draining his genius and stealing his soul, turning him dumb and clumsy whenever he realised that he was around her.

  I silently cheered Akoni on, hoping he was about to divulge his true feelings to Anara. I noticed how he seemed to be the only one talking, as I was already a fair distance up the hill and couldn’t hear what he was saying, but knowing how Akoni got around Anara, I was guessing it was a lot of uncontrolled babbling. Anara politely smiling, waiting for him to ta
ke a breath.

  It was a welcoming relief, at least, to see how fast things could revert back to being civilized. That is, up until I spotted Milena staring at me from in front of the lighthouse, her eyes practically burning into my skull, no doubt blaming me for everything that had happened so far.

  I watched her ignore the mayor’s greetings, probably unaware of who he even was, as she then started walking towards Anara. I pressed a hand to my mouth, gasping as Akoni continued chatting to her daughter unsuspectingly, somehow blissfully unaware of the hurricane heading his way. I knew Anara could endure her mother’s wrath, but I was worried about Akoni – the innocent unsuspecting bystander who was about to be caught between heaven and hell.

  But determined to keep vision on my prince as well, I was blocked by the entrance of the hill, having turned into the garden ferns of the patio that were almost completely obstructing my view and making me, unfortunately, incapable of looking towards Akoni and Anara anymore. And so, I neared the front villa porch steps, planning to move closer to Arlo and his mother’s loyal knights. A rush of country girls then dashed past me, running up the villa’s steps to get inside and see Arlo too.

  So after being swallowed by this crowd, I decided to walk around the side of the villa instead, dragging my fingers along the exterior brick wall, glancing into each window to try and catch a glimpse of him instead. All I wanted to know was that he was in the doctor’s safe hands. After everything we’d been through, I wouldn’t be abandoning him until I knew he was definitely ok.

  It took me looking through four windows before I saw him. He was lying on a table, with his armour off and his chest exposed. The doctor’s fireflies fluttering across his body, mending cuts into small scars and treating his bruises as he received the world-class treatment I had been entitled to one full day prior.

  It was a fascinating sight for all the townsfolk inside to see; the door was crowded by these royal groupies, all trying to peek through and peer over each other’s heads. The two loyal knights completely overburdened as they tried to hold everyone back while the doctor worked on revitalising the prince.

  Arlo’s undershirt was torn to shreds, and his once polished shoulder plate lay on the floor beside him, almost cracked beyond repair with at least two of Ariss’s small knives still embedded into it. He had shallow cuts and bruises all over him, but otherwise he seemed for the most part unharmed.

  So surprised by it, I started to disbelieve the very nature of his injuries despite having seen the fight unravel first hand. I was always used to him having been one step ahead, and it was unusual to see him look as lost and defeated as he appeared to be. Enough to make me wonder if such small injuries were intentional and if Arlo had chosen to take non-fatal strikes rather than risk losing his footing by dodging them in the fight. Evident of a man who possessed the very ‘death wish’ many other soldiers rumoured he had.

  I wondered if this would be a strength or weakness for a great fighter to possess. To be so hard to kill simply because he had no fear of death or if it were simply the opposite and made him too unreliable to lead and command. What problems it would cause to have such a self-destructive king when his time came to rule. It was a troubling thought to think, but it was also a scary truth I had to rightfully consider when his turn to reign would eventually come.

  But whatever the prince felt inside, what he portrayed on the surface was what mattered most. And to these residents and groupies present, he was their hero: somebody who acted righteously and selflessly in defence of their town. I had no doubt there were rumours already spreading about him single-handedly defending the villa and all the injured occupants inside, all at the cost of being wounded himself. A lie many would ignorantly choose to believe over the real truth. All of us who had to come in just to save him from his own careless actions.

  And although I knew much of my thoughts were coming from my jealousy to admit that he did deserve at least some of the applause he was about to receive, I knew this wasn’t going to change him for the better and make him less reckless, seeing as he had finally earned the respect he’d yearned for all these years. Because that need for recognition and approval was a bottomless pit incapable of ever being filled. It was an insatiable burning ambition that would only push him to the limit until it would eventually kill him.

  So looking through the window at him being placed onto a bench – the doctor’s improvised operating table – it took me only one deeper look into his depressed face to invalidate all dark thoughts of him finding any thrill in this attention. Strangely, he had no look of self-satisfaction or pride from the bloody battle that he had just victoriously walked out of. He just stared blankly at the dried blood on his hands, lost in his thoughts, unaware of the very cheer squad trying to push past Milena’s knightly guards just to get a closer look at him.

  I was about to turn around and go inside to try and cheer him up when Ebony broke through the crowd to hug and hold him. In turn, he seemed to brighten up a bit at her presence, so I decided to leave them both alone.

  With two free hands and a desire to help these townsfolk, I wandered away from the manor and began heading back down the hill to look for a task to do. I took a moment to admire the cove’s huge halo cave roof and its peaceful midnight waves.

  The past two nights had been an enormous journey for me. Words were too limited to express how amazing I felt for having learnt more about the world I was a part of. To see landscapes and towns I had only ever read about. To embark on my own adventure for the first time and be rewarded with the gratitude of a hundred happy families still together and safe.

  I was starting to think about staying in Ambervale for a few days. Many nymphs would be homeless and needing help to rebuild. I was good with my hands and knew I could be of use to the town’s recovery efforts, especially in this darkness where my shadows could reign supreme. But there was something compelling me to go back home. Something felt wrong. There were too many unanswered questions that puzzled me. It seemed unbelievable Midas could get away with such obvious deceit for so long. That Lord Ariss would risk swearing fealty to another when half of his people relied on The Capital for board and shelter. And although it was plausible that Midas was capable of creating some portable device that can artificially mimic what his wife can do naturally, I just wasn’t sure about everything I’d seen blended together.

  So still overlooking the cove from the cliff face of the high-rise estate, I watched soldiers queuing up at Camilla’s gateway portal, preparing to return home. I could see Arlo walking out the doors with Ebony by his side to the left of me. He was all healed up but still slouching while Ebony guided him back down the pathway towards the long line of men and women ready to portal back home. My instincts driven to do nothing else but follow them.

  10

  Banquet

  I stared towards two clay jugs centred around multiple smaller mugs of half filed breakfast juice and water. The very first thing I saw being those glasses all ringed around a bowl of uneaten oats balancing on the corner of my bedside table. My right leg was dangling over the edge of my silk hammock as I rocked myself side to side, half asleep but slowly waking up to the sound of other servants frantically moving about in our shared quarters. They made no effort to limit their noise as they tended to their duties all around me.

  I didn’t care too much though. Not enough to ask them to be quieter. I was fairly used to the noise, and they were all good friends of mine, many of them voluntarily doing my own duties in exchange for a detailed narration of last night’s ridiculous exploits.

  “It’s about time you woke up, dear,” Tamara said with a certain giddiness to her tone. She was a lifelong employee of the crown. A frail older colleague of mine, who was currently folding up towels beside the door in a happy and cheerful rush. She had a wash cloth tied over her head like a bandana, covering her grey and white-coloured hair. She was the only servant who ever cleaned our quarters, and also happened to be the only maid who never tried to dress up an
d be fancy. All the other younger maids were always wearing the most vibrant coloured skirts and dresses, in the hopes they could catch some noble’s curious eyes.

  “You better hurry up now,” Tamara then said to me with a smile. “You’ve already missed so much.”

  She was talking to me and another girl named Jade: a girl who was crouching over her bunk, just adjacent to my own. She had long blonde beautiful locks and green eyes not so different from the gemstone her name suggested, but being just as precious as the green stone and ring she always talked about wanting, she was rummaging through her things in a melodramatic fluster, trying to find something appropriate to wear.

  “What have I missed?” I asked Tamara, rubbing my eyes.

  “Oh not much, not much... Just the prince about to be anointed into the Vanguard!” she charismatically snapped, throwing a black bartender’s apron at me as she said it. “The queen announced it so suddenly, but I didn’t want to wake you until you’d gotten a small bit of sleep first,” she explained. “But now that you know, why are you still in bed?” she joked.

  Ecstatic, just as she’d anticipated, I dropped from the hammock and began ransacking my footlocker, plucking out everything I owned until I reached the drawer’s flat wooden bottom where I kept the most stylish dress I owned safely tucked away. A thin silk black and blue-dyed dress made to mimic the raw night sky. Anara had given it to me on my birthday. It had a whole galaxy of dark blue, grey, and white colours attached to it, yet looked as simple as a wave-less ocean that mirrored the long unseen stars of midnight. It had been made with dyes so costly, I was fairly certain even someone as wealthy as my princess might have had to steal it for me.

  Never, until today, had I even dared wear it outside. But a prince’s inauguration was the perfect event to put it on. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for everyone involved.

 

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