‘Izzy. You need to wake up.’ Isla’s voice reached into the deep, dark void of my sleep and dragged me back to the surface. I felt like I’d only lain down a few minutes ago, but from the angle of the sun coming through her window, I must have been asleep for hours.
‘Goblins?’ I jumped out of bed and looked around for my sword. Scruffy snorted in annoyance and turned around and around, snuggling into the blanket where I had been lying.
‘Not even close.’ She had a bemused look on her face. ‘They’re holding steady where we left them. Rako thinks it may just be a meeting with the orcs.’
‘Strengthening their position.’ It made sense. We were doing the same.
I pulled my clothes back on and followed her from the room. ‘So what’s the emergency?’
‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’
I hated it when she was right.
Scruffy trotted beside me as she led me up to the top floor and down the corridor to the room Orion used for his study. The door was open and Rako and Aethan sat at the long table. Mia was curled around the back of Aethan’s neck, balanced along the top of his vest so that her coat blended with the soft fur. Arwyn and Orion were nowhere to be seen, but a man and a woman stood with their backs to the door facing Rako and Aethan.
Isla pressed herself against the wall so that she couldn’t be seen from inside the room and motioned for me to do the same. She put a finger to her lips and then touched her ear.
The woman was speaking. ‘Lieutenant Leighton returning from undercover ops. I’d like to be re-instated for duty Sir.’
I so knew that voice.
‘Lieutenant Leighton?’ Rako said. I could hear the sound of fingers drumming the table. I was guessing they were his. ‘I seem to recall that name, but surely you can’t be the same woman. You were reported dead years ago.’
The woman bowed her head. ‘I regret my decision to go AWOL.’
I risked a quick glance around the door frame at the woman.
‘It seemed necessary at the time.’
Same python around her shoulders, same naughty voice.
‘In retrospect perhaps it wasn’t the best decision.’
‘You think?’ Rako stopped drumming his fingers. ‘So what happened? You were sent in to spy on him and then you disappeared.’
There was dead silence for a few heart beats and then she said, ‘I found out I was pregnant.’
‘To Santanas?’ There was resigned horror in Aethan’s voice.
‘To Santanas.’
I could hear roaring in my ears as the room started to spin.
‘I couldn’t let him know,’ she whispered. ‘So I faked my death and fled through the veil. I found a deserted witching house in Eynsford and slept on the porch till it accepted me as its own.’
Isla’s fingers were like a vice on my arm.
‘I looked for the signs when Prunella was born. But there were none. I thought we were safe.’
I could feel hysterical laughter bubbling up inside. Mum was going to be royally pissed when she found out who her real father was.
‘And Isadora?’ Aethan’s voice was a bare murmur, as if he were scared of the answer he was going to get. ‘Were the signs there when she was born?’
Scruffy pressed into my legs as if to comfort me. I wet my lips and opened my mouth but no sound came out.
‘There was a full eclipse that day.’
‘Not totally conclusive.’ Rako’s voice was tense.
What were they talking about?
‘Isadora Margarita Gabrielle was born on a day of a super moon. At the precise moment of her birth the world turned totally black. It stayed that way till she took her first breath.’
I pushed off the wall and stood in the doorway.
‘A total solar eclipse,’ Rako said. ‘There’s one of them every one to two years.’
‘Yes, but do wild animals gather around your house whenever one occurs? Never seen the likes of it. Rabbits, deer, mice and badgers sitting calmly next to foxes and wildcats; all of them staring up at the bedroom where Isadora was born.’
What did that mean? I felt my knees go weak. I was sure the answer, when I got it, was not going to be to my liking.
Rako slumped back in his seat and shook his head. ‘So it’s true then. She is.’
‘Two of them.’ Aethan shook his head. ‘That’s never happened before.’
‘Two of what?’ I said.
Grams spun towards me and for the first time I realised it was Lionel standing on her other side. If nothing else about this conversation had freaked me out, the expression on his face would have. I’d never seen him look so grave.
‘Oh Izzy,’ Grams said.
I strode towards her – no mean feat when your legs are trembling. ‘Two of what?’ I insisted. ‘What am I?’
Glass smashed and splintered as a window caved in. Legs, followed by the rest of the goblin flew through the now-open window. He slumped to the floor as blood gushed out of a deep cut on his leg, but the next goblin through was uninjured. A second window smashed then a third and a fourth. I wrapped a shield around Scruffy and tossed him high in the air. This fight was no place for my fluffy familiar.
‘They’re on the roof,’ Aethan roared. He drew his sword and vaulted over the table. Mia jumped from his shoulder, her little wings stretched out as she glided across the room. She wrapped herself around the face of a goblin, ripping at his eyes with her claws. As the goblin reached up to grab her, Aethan ran him through with a sword. She snarled and leapt back to Aethan’s shoulder before propelling herself off again.
Before I could even draw my sword Grams had whipped out her wand. She and Lionel stood back-to-back as they fired spells into the mass of goblins. I launched myself at the far end of the room where the latest window had just been broken. Isla was right behind me.
I leapt into the air, dropping down onto the first of the goblins through the hole. The tip of my sword plunged into his neck and through his spine as gravity retook control of my body. He collapsed to the ground. I pulled my sword free and turned back to the window.
Even as we fought them one thing became clear. They were not interested in us. They fought to get past us to the open door. So if it wasn’t us they wanted, who was it?
The thought must have occurred to Aethan at the same time. ‘Orion,’ he yelled. ‘To Orion.’ Mia leapt back to his shoulder and then he turned and charged out of the room.
‘Go,’ Grams said. ‘Lionel and I will hold them here.’
I released Scruffy from the shield and then Rako, Isla and I took off after Aethan, sprinting down the hallway and turning down the first left passageway we came to. We could hear fighting coming from other parts of the castle.
The door ahead of us was shut. Aethan raced towards it, twisting the handle and barging it with his shoulder at the same time. It was locked. He swore in frustration and lifted his leg to kick it.
‘Back up,’ I yelled, waiting only long enough for him to move away from the door before I let my will loose on it.
Shards of wood exploded as my power smacked into the door. Aethan was pushing past the broken bits before they’d even finished settling. The voluptuous velvet drapes that had once dressed the windows were ripped into shreds by broken glass. Furniture was strewn across the room amongst the bodies of goblins and Orion’s personal guard.
‘Orion,’ Aethan roared. He hacked and chopped his way through the goblins between him and his brother. Orion was backed up against the far wall of the room. The lone survivor, he still fought, but slowly, as if injured. As we battled towards him, his sword was knocked from his hand.
‘Noooooooo.’ Aethan beheaded a goblin that Mia had blinded and then he pushed the corpse out of the way.
A towering goblin seized Orion’s throat and shoved him up against the wall. He pushed him higher and higher till Orion hung from those hands like a thief in the gallows. His feet beat ineffectively at the wall and his face turned red, then blue.
‘Isadora. Help him.’ Aethan’s face was a frenzy of tangled emotions, fear and anger warring with each other for dominance.
Even though we fought as hard as we could we weren’t going to make it to Orion in time. I couldn’t hurl lightning, not with Orion there. I would kill him as well as the goblin.
The answer was quite simple. I could stop the goblin’s heart. I could stop all their hearts. Surely just this once wouldn’t hurt. To save Orion, the heir to the throne. Surely he was important enough.
I reached a hand out towards the goblin holding Orion but Aethan grabbed it. ‘No.’
‘Just this once.’
‘Until the next time.’ The battle raged around us as eyes the deepest blue bored into mine. ‘Every time seems necessary. Every time gets easier. Like a seduction it will take you over until eventually, that’s all you do. All you know. There has to be another way.’
‘And if there’s not?’
‘Then so be it. I’ll not have you throw away your soul.’
I ripped my eyes away from his. He might not be about to let me throw away my soul but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let his brother die. ‘Stay,’ I said to Scruffy, and then I ran towards the goblin line that Rako and Isla were holding back and jumped. The goblins were so startled as I flew over the top of them, that not one took advantage of my exposed stomach.
I reached them as Orion’s eyes were rolling up into his head. With a scream of pure rage I struck at the goblin, my sword catching him in the side of the neck. It lodged in his collarbone and ripped from my grip as he slumped to the floor. Orion slid down the wall and I pulled the dead goblin’s hands from his throat.
‘Breathe,’ I said. ‘Come on Orion, breathe, damn you.’ I lay him down on the floor and was about to press my lips to his when he let out a low moan and a cough.
I had made it in time, and I hadn’t used black magic. I wasn’t sure which of those two things I was more relieved about.
Orion opened his eyes and stared up at me. ‘Thank you.’ He pulled a face as his voice squeaked.
Before I could respond, a hand grabbed the back of my head. I yelped as I was dragged along the ground by my braid. A goblin’s foot buried itself into the side of my ribs. I curled into a ball as pain exploded through my chest, utterly helpless to do anything as the goblin lifted a curved dagger above me.
‘Izzy.’ Aethan’s voice was a shriek of despair.
The irony of him finally calling me Izzy when I was only seconds away from death was not lost on me. Bloody typical.
The three of them were finishing off the last of the goblins, but there would be no saving me from this blow.
Would it hurt a lot or a little? I was betting on a lot. I closed my eyes and prayed to the Great Dark Sky that the end would be swift.
The goblin’s laugh turned to a gurgle and the killing blow never came. As I opened my eyes he fell to the side, Orion’s sword piercing him from behind.
Orion gave me a crooked smile and then slumped back to the ground.
Scruffy was the first to reach me, licking and whining and crying all at the same time, but Aethan wasn’t far behind him.
‘Izzy.’ His hands ran over my body checking me for injuries. ‘You’re safe, you’re alive.’ He stroked my face as he stared into my eyes. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’
‘You remember,’ I said. ‘You remember me.’
The corners of his mouth curled up. ‘I don’t need my memories to know that I love you.’
Fireworks exploded inside my head as he bent his face and captured my mouth with his own. Finally, finally he was kissing me the way he used to. With surety and totality, as if he would die without my mouth against his. I curled my arms around his neck and dived deeper into the kiss.
It was Orion who pulled us back from the brink of inappropriate passion.
‘Legas,’ he croaked. ‘They took Legas.’
Aethan broke our kiss and I stared up into his face as I tried to re-order my thoughts. I knew Orion’s words held dire importance, but I couldn’t remember why.
Rako swore and rushed from the room and Isla stopped in the process of examining Orion’s throat and let out a hiss. ‘Legas was here?’
‘We were discussing… crop rotations.’
I was guessing by his blush that they’d been discussing a certain night faery, not crop rotations.
I pushed myself up into a seated position. ‘Who’s Legas?’
Aethan reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. ‘Orion’s best friend. One of our cousins. ’
The import of the words smacked into me. Galanta needed a donor body for Santanas’s soul. Legas was of royal blood, just as Santanas had been.
‘Buzznuckle.’ I leapt to my feet. ‘We have to stop them.’
‘I’m coming.’ Orion pushed himself up.
‘It’s too dangerous.’ Aethan’s voice left no room for argument but Orion’s face took on a stubborn look I knew too well. If I hadn’t known that he and Aethan were brothers before, I most certainly would now.
‘You can’t even talk properly.’ Isla patted him on the arm as if to soothe him, but the pat was too hard and too fast to do that. It was the first time I had seen her rattled.
‘I don’t need a voice to kill goblins.’
I winced at the high-pitched wheeze that came out of him. His throat must have been excruciating.
‘Too dangerous,’ Aethan said again, shaking his head.
‘If we don’t get Legas back it won’t matter if I’m alive or not,’ Orion whispered.
He had a good point. I watched as Aethan’s face wavered between uncertainty and defiance.
‘It was just a small force,’ Rako said from the doorway, ‘not the group you saw last night. I’ve sent trackers after them.’
As if that had settled the argument, Orion retrieved his sword from the dead goblin, wiping the blade on a ruined curtain before sliding it back into its sheath. ‘I’m going and that is that.’ He strode past us towards the door.
‘I can’t believe he’s being so stupid,’ Aethan muttered. He shook his head and then dragged his hands back through his dark hair. ‘It’s too dangerous.’
‘If anything happened to Legas he would never forgive himself,’ Isla said.
‘Not the point.’ He started to move towards the door. ‘We are his arm. The Guard is his arm. He rules and we protect. That’s how it’s done. How it’s always been done, and Orion knows that.’
We trotted down the stairs and out a side door towards the stables. ‘He’s in love,’ Isla said. ‘That does strange things to a man’s head.’
Aethan let out a snort, but his eyes flicked towards me and I had to resist the urge to take him to the ground and cover his mouth with mine.
‘And women’s heads,’ Isla said, smirking at me.
I stuck my tongue out at her, but wisely said nothing.
The rest of the Guard stationed at the castle were already there and saddling their horses. I found Lily in a stable towards the back with Wolfgang’s horse. It only took a few minutes to get the saddle on her back and the bridle in her mouth, but by the time I had finished, most of the Guard were already waiting. I grabbed a travelling pack stocked with food and water from the front of the stable as I led Lily out.
‘They’re heading west,’ Rako said as he pulled himself up into his saddle.
‘Why west? That’s orc country.’ Isla’s perfect face puckered and I knew she was thinking about Wilfred.
I placed Scruffy on Lily’s back and shrugged. ‘Where’s Wolfgang?’ We were really going to need him.
Rako scrunched his eyes and rubbed a hand over his face. ‘He went back out with the Guard to keep an eye on the goblins.’
‘You mean he’s not coming?’
‘I’ve sent a message but we don’t have time to wait.’ The look on his face matched what I felt. Despair.
‘Izzy.’ Grams rounded the side of the castle and trotted towards me.
‘You’re hurt.’ I reached out towards the streak of blood on her cheek.
‘Not mine,’ she said.
‘Lionel?’ Oh Dark Sky, If he were injured…
‘Talking to King Arwyn. We’re going to stay here to help protect the castle.’
‘Oh, well, that’s probably for the best.’ My heart had been in my throat the whole time she had been fighting. I didn’t think I could go through it again.
‘Let’s move out,’ Rako called.
I pulled Grams to me, dwarfing her as I hugged her, and then I pushed her away and stared into her face. I wanted to ask her the significance of the conversation I had overheard but I was too scared of the answer.
She stared into my eyes and then nodded her head. ‘Later,’ she said as if reading my mind, ‘we can talk about it later.’
‘I love you,’ I said as I swung up into the saddle.
She pressed her fingers to her lips and waved them at me as I trotted after the rest of the Guard.
We pushed the horses hard in our attempts to catch the goblins. Thought bubbles, floating back to us from the trackers, reported that the goblins continued to head west and that we were narrowing the gap, but the longer we rode without sight of them, the more tense I became. The only consolation was that if Galanta wanted Legas for what we suspected she did, then he was still alive.
‘We need to rest,’ Aethan said to Rako. ‘The horses need to rest.’
Rako scrubbed a hand down his face and swore. ‘I was hoping we would have caught them by now.’ He held up a hand and we dropped from a canter to a walk and then stopped. The sun had set hours before and only adrenaline coursing through my body kept me awake.
‘Why are we stopping?’ Orion’s voice was not improving with time.
‘We need to rest.’
‘They’re getting away.’
Aethan laid a hand on Orion’s arm. ‘If we keep going, the horses will fail, and then they will get away.’
Orion swore and strode away. Aethan watched him with a small frown on his face.
I took his hand in mine, savouring the ability to touch him again. ‘What’s up?’
‘He seems…,’ he paused for a second, ‘unhinged.’
‘Legas must be a good friend to him. I know I’d be unhinged if they had taken you.’
He traced a hand down the side of my face. ‘As I would be if it were you.’
‘What about me?’ Isla bumped me with her arm. ‘Would you be unhinged if something happened to me?’
‘I’d be crazy,’ I said, realising as the joking words left my mouth that they were true. The last few weeks had bonded us beyond mere friends.
‘Awww, shucks.’ She gave me her cheekiest grin. ‘Now if you’ve finished going all gushy on me, we should get some rest.’
After a couple of hours, half of which was spent in broken sleep and the other on sentry duty, we pushed on again. I tried not to think about how much further the goblins had gone while we slept and instead thought about what we were going to do when we caught them. It was going to be messy.
A couple of hours later, as the pre-dawn sky started to lighten, one of the faery trackers galloped towards us. He pulled his mount to a halt and, as it sank its head between its front legs and pulled in lungful after lungful of air, he said, ‘They’ve stopped.’
‘How far?’ Orion looked as if he would leap off his horse and start running.
‘About two miles further.’ The tracker cleared his throat almost nervously. ‘They’re at The Henge.’
‘Faster,’ Orion croaked, kneeing his horse in the ribs, ‘we will be too late.’
‘What’s The Henge?’ I yelled to Isla as we leaned over our horses’ necks and pushed them as fast as they could go.
‘Powerful ceremonial stones. You know it as Stonehenge.’
A prickle of unease ran down my spine. ‘When would be the best time to harness the power from the stones?’
Her face was deadly serious. ‘Sunrise.’
A few minutes later we galloped over a low rise and I could see the pillars of stone standing in the distance. I had visited Stonehenge with Mum and Grams a few years ago and the difference between the site in England and the one here behind the veil was stark. These stones were still perfect. No signs of wear or damage marked their surfaces.
‘It looks so different,’ I said.
‘This circle still harnesses the power of the Great Dark Sky,’ Isla replied. ‘I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before. Galanta’s going to need all the help she can get if she’s going to make this work.’
Drum beats reverberated in the still morning air and goblins shuffled around the pillars of stone. We had to make it in time, we just had to. It seemed ridiculous that after everything we had been through, it would all be for naught if we didn’t make it to that circle in time.
‘Hurry,’ Orion yelled over the beat of the drums. ‘We must hurry.’
I didn’t need his words to urge me on. I clung to my reins with white knuckles and prayed.
Isla pulled her bow from the pommel in front of her and started firing arrows into the goblins. She jumped easily from her saddle while still shooting.
‘Stay here,’ I said to Scruffy as I leapt from Lily’s back. He let out a little ruffy bark that I hoped was a yes.
‘Quick.’ Orion grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the goblins. ‘We must find Legas.’
The goblins roared as we ran towards them. I pulled my short swords from the sheaths crossing my back and leapt towards the closest one. I didn’t need to be told twice to kill those big bastards.
The goblin lunged at me with his dagger held straight out. I slapped it away with the blade of one sword and bit deep into his neck with my other one. He roared with pain and spun away from me clutching at his throat as blood pumped through his fingers.
Orion fought like a mad person, forcing his way ahead of me so that I ended up covering his back as we made our way deeper into the group of goblins. They seemed more interested in attacking the rest of the guard than attacking Orion and me. I used that to my advantage, dodging around them as much as I engaged them. We had to find Legas and we had to find him soon. The light around us was brightening and I knew that at any moment the sun would breach the horizon.
‘There.’ Orion pointed to our left.
I peered past him to where a platform of stone rose into the air. A body lay on top of the platform and I didn’t need to be a genius to know it was Legas.
We raced towards him as the sky brightened. Any second now that sun would rise and whatever spell Galanta was planning, would start. I jumped high into the air over the last goblins, landing on the stone platform in a crouch.
Where was Galanta? What was she doing?
‘Hurry.’ It was my turn to urge on Orion. I raced toward the unconscious figure.
Please don’t let us be too late. Please let him be alive.
A blazing bright disc peeped over the horizon, shooting light across the ground towards us. ‘No,’ I screeched, hurling myself at his body. I didn’t know how or why, but I knew with absolute knowledge that if that light got to Legas before I did, all was lost.
I landed on my knees beside him but the light got there first. It touched his face. Such a familiar face. A blonde version of the one I loved.
Not Legas. It wasn’t Legas.
Instead, Orion looked almost peaceful as he lay there, his hands crossed over his chest.
‘Surprise.’ A strong hand grasped me from behind and a dagger plunged into my side.
I sagged back against my attacker, helpless as the blade slashed toward me again, this time biting deep into the veins at my wrist. Staring up into the face of my attacker, I watched as Orion’s facial features melted, flowing and reshaping until Galanta leered down at me.
‘You,’ I gasped. ‘It was you all along.’
She held my wrist over Orion’s still body. Blood ran freely, splattering down over him. He lay on the broken stone I had unwittingly freed Santanas from. My blood sizzled as it landed.
‘So nice of you to come.’ Her pointed teeth made her smile that much more malicious.
I looked toward where the Guard fought. The goblins that had let us pass so easily, now battled like demons.
I was so stupid. So desperately stupid. She had played me from the beginning and even knowing that, I had walked blindly into her trap.
For once the sunrise did nothing to warm me as it blossomed in front of my eyes. Black mist grew around the stone and I knew I was too late.
Too late to save Orion. Too late to stop Galanta. Too late to save myself.
The mist rose into the air above Orion as Galanta began to chant. Black, boiling, bubbling smoke, coalesced in a cloud as her voice rose to a shriek. I pulled against her, but a foot buried itself in my ribs and pain exploded from the stab wound. I slumped to the side as I retched, red clouding my vision.
So this is what Santanas had meant when he’d said they still needed me. They’d need my blood to complete the spell. And now they had it.
Cold crept over me with a calm that stole away my fear. The fact that I was going to die took some of the horror out of what I was witnessing. I wasn’t going to live under a rule of war and chaos. I wasn’t going to have to fight to maintain the basic rights of mankind. I looked toward Rako and Aethan, feeling like a coward that I was giving up so easily.
They fought like mad men as they struggled to reach me. Aethan screamed my name as he slashed and hacked, pieces of goblin flying with every strike. Mia jumped from goblin to goblin, gouging their eyes with her needle-like talons.
The black mist swirled around me, cold moisture licking my skin. Evil oozed, stroking me tenderly. I closed my mouth and shut my eyes and prayed to the Dark Sky.
Just as suddenly, it was gone. I re-opened my eyes and saw it swirling over Orion and I realised what it was doing. It was looking for its donor. I had to do something. I had to stop it, but pain owned me. Each movement sent fresh spasms travelling through me.
I heard Isla calling my name. Saw her jump into the air and leap from goblin-to-goblin, using them like giant stepping stones. She fired arrows downwards as she jumped, spearing them through the shoulder and into their hearts.
The black mist split into three individual streams. They hovered over Orion’s head, spinning like mini-cyclones. If I were going to do something, it had to be now.
And then a small, white demon attacked Galanta. Scruffy’s growl was savage as he tore at the back of her calf. She shrieked and turned toward him and with a scream of rage and pain and defiance, I tore myself from her grip. My hand hung limp from my cut wrist but I didn’t need my hand as I slammed into Orion’s body.
I clambered up him, spreading myself over him, trying to protect him. Galanta’s voice wavered but the spell continued, wailing out of her as she fought off Scruffy.
Isla was nearly there. A path of dead goblins littered her wake. She roared with fury when she saw Orion lying there. Confusion clouded her face for only the briefest of moments. The clues fell into place more quickly for her than they had for me.
Legas had never been there. Orion was the one who had been taken. And Galanta, the shape-shifter, had replaced him. They’d orchestrated the near strangling to give a reason for her voice to be different.
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, I would have been impressed. Instead, I looked up at the spinning cyclones and I screamed as they descended like spears.
Lancing pain burnt into my back as the mist struck. Once, twice, three times I felt the evil pierce me. It burrowed deep as it made its way towards Orion. It violated as it dug, and yet, a small piece of me recognised it, acknowledged it.
A small piece of me welcomed it.
I recoiled in horror, lifting myself off Orion as I screamed. I wasn’t sure which was worse: the pain of the intrusion or the pain in my soul. Was this what I was? Was this what I was made of?
This evil, this sin, this filth?
For a second the burrowing stopped, the mist deciding it was home. I shook my head from side-to-side and resisted the icy tendrils as they spread out through my body. I pushed at it with all my might, forcing it out of me. Forcing it through me, and then suddenly the burrowing continued.
Three black blades emerged from my chest, flowing out and down to Orion. I rolled away from him but it was too late. He jerked as they slammed into him, one stream in each nostril and the other into his mouth. Three great snakes, they slithered out of me and into him.
‘No.’ My shriek cut through the air as Galanta’s spell stopped.
Orion’s body jerked and shuddered, like a bag full of fish. His head flopped from side-to-side as he fought the invasion.
‘No.’ Isla’s scream echoed my own. ‘Orion.’ She flung herself down beside me and pressed her hands to his heart. ‘Fight it,’ she commanded. ‘You can beat this. You’re strong enough.’
Galanta’s triumphant laugh belied Isla’s words. ‘Master,’ she yelled. ‘I have found you a body. Take him. Make it your own.’
I coughed weakly and rolled to my side, blood flowing out of my mouth.
‘You.’ Isla climbed to her feet and turned towards Galanta. ‘You will die for this.’
‘Perhaps,’ Galanta said. ‘But it won’t be today.’
Orion’s body rose jerkily into the air, pulling him up onto his feet. Isla gasped and reached a hand out. Higher and higher he rose, floating above us as he started to spin. Faster and faster he turned, till he was a blur, not a man. And then as suddenly as the spinning started, it stopped, and a bolt of light shot out of him. Another one followed and then another, until it seemed that a strand of light shone from each pore.
I stared as he floated back to earth. Had Orion won? Is that what the light had been?
All sounds of battle stopped as his feet touched the ground. He rolled his shoulders and flexed his head from side-to-side, and then he opened his eyes.
Where Orion’s eyes had held warmth and laughter, these held only madness.
The goblins let out shouts of triumph and surrounded the members of the Guard that were still standing. They pulled swords from hands limp with shock. We had failed.
I crawled backwards like an injured crab, my damaged arm cradling the wound in my side. Isla grabbed my good arm and dragged me away as Santanas viewed the battleground.
‘This is a fine welcome.’ He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Blood and death everywhere I look. I always said you should start as you mean to go on.’
Scruffy whimpered and grasped my leather shirt with his teeth, helping Isla haul me backwards off the stone platform.
Santanas flexed Orion’s body as if trying it on for size. ‘You have done well,’ he said to Galanta. ‘Everything seems to be in working order.’
‘The wards my Lord?’
‘Are exactly as they were. None may kill me except those who love me.’ His eyes took on a dangerous glint. ‘Do you love me Galanta?’
She bowed her head. ‘No my Lord.’
He held his hand out and a dagger sprang from the hand of a dead goblin and soared through the air till it smacked into his palm. He trailed the edge of the dagger around Galanta’s throat as he walked around her. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘I respect and revere you, but I do not love you.’ The words came out in a choking gasp.
‘Very good,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘We do not need little complications like that getting between us.’
He spun away from her and looked out over the battlefield. ‘And where is my daughter? Why isn’t she here to greet me?’ Santanas’s head turned till he pierced me with those eyes. ‘Ahh, there she is. Daughter come.’ He held his hand out and I felt his compulsion press against my mind. I shook my head and growled and Isla dragged me faster.
‘She is dying Great Lord,’ Galanta said.
Dying? That was no surprise.
‘Kill them now Lord and you cut the head off the snake.’
I let out a low moan as Isla dragged me over a rock.
‘Ahh Galanta,’ Santanas strode towards her, ‘now where would be the fun in that?’
‘Rako, my Lord, and Aethan, the elite of the Guard, I brought them all here for you.’
‘Patience, patience. We have plenty of time.’ He turned and looked out toward the Guard. ‘I want them to bow down in fear. I want them to grovel at my feet.’ His hands twisted into fists and his voice rose to a shriek. ‘I want to eat their hearts and dance on their graves. But first,’ he said, turning toward me, ‘I would thank my daughter.’ He held a hand out and my body lifted into the air, my arm stretched like a kite string as Isla maintained her grip.
He flicked his other hand at Isla and she let out a shriek as she slammed backwards into one of the upright pillars of rock. Let free of her grasp, I floated through the air and down to the ground at his feet.
Santanas stared down at me and shook his head. ‘Galanta.’ His voice was that of a disappointed teacher with a wayward student. ‘I told you we only needed a drop of her blood.’
She bowed her head, but there was a smile in her voice when she said, ‘Forgive me, Lord.’
He turned his attention back to me way too quickly. ‘Daughter, will you join me?’
I tried to spit at him, but too much blood was pooling in my throat and breathing was becoming difficult.
‘Ahhhhh,’ he said. ‘It seems I must heal you first.’ Light flowed from his outstretched hand. It cascaded over me, cocooning me from head-to-foot. I braced for the pain I knew was coming. Instead though, warmth infused me. I groaned with relief as it spread through me, wiping away my pain in its wake. When it was finished, I was whole.
I climbed unsteadily to my feet and wiped the last of the blood away from my mouth. ‘Father.’ I inclined my head. There was no need for him to know about Mum.
‘Daughter. Are you well?’ From the tone of his voice I half expected him to offer me a nice cup of tea.
‘Yes, thank you.’ This was all very polite and totally surreal.
‘Will you join me daughter?’
‘I’m sorry father,’ I said, ‘but I can’t.’
The look on his face changed to one that I’m sure before that moment, Orion’s face had never worn. Twin thunderclouds gathered under lowered eyebrows.
‘It seems I may need to use some… gentle persuasion.’ He chuckled softly.
I braced, ready for whatever he threw at me. I was expecting pain, I was expecting agony. All I knew was that I was not going over to the dark side.
‘She loves the faery Prince,’ Galanta said.
‘Does she?’ He let out a wild laugh. ‘How convenient.’
He chuckled as he gestured. Aethan’s eyes met mine as two goblins grabbed his arms and dragged him towards us.
‘I’m sorry,’ I mouthed. If I had been quicker, if I had been smarter, then none of this would have happened.
The goblin forced Aethan into a kneeling position beside me. I knelt beside him and he reached out and took my hand.
‘No matter what,’ he said, ‘you say no.’ Mia, almost invisible as she snuggled against the edge of his fur vest, hissed softly. I wasn’t sure how much she understood but she had been in this position herself; forced into servitude through love.
‘I can’t lose you,’ I whispered. Not now. Not after finding him again and again.
‘You say yes and you will be lost to me.’
‘Let’s make this even more interesting,’ Santanas said.
I heard some muttered curses and a yelp as Rako and Isla were dragged towards us. A goblin ripped at Isla’s braid as he shoved her onto her knees beside me. Tears ran freely, cascading down her face, but I knew she wasn’t crying for herself. She stared up at Santanas and mumbled, ‘Orion, oh Orion.’
Rako struggled upwards, shoving against his goblin handler as he tried to pull a dagger.
‘Enough.’ Santanas’s hand cut through the air in time with his word and suddenly movement became impossible. My diaphragm laboured to move my chest enough to draw in air.
‘Now,’ Santanas said, ’which one of you wants to go first?’
Aethan’s eyes bulged as he struggled to move, his face pulling into a grotesque mask. Hate emanated from every pore of his body as he glared up at the man who wore his brother’s body.
I found myself wishing Wolfgang were there, but even with him I suspected we would still be in the same predicament. But without him we had only me. Only me to combat the magic of the mad War Faery. We were so screwed.
‘Don’t be shy. Speak up.’ Santanas put his hand behind his ear and swivelled his head from side-to-side. ‘Oh silly me.’ He waved his hand and suddenly I could move my head.
‘You… evil… bastard,’ Isla spat in his direction.
‘Yes.’ Santanas stroked his chin. ‘This is much more interesting.’
‘Izzy,’ Aethan whispered. ‘Do something.’
‘I can’t,’ I whispered back. What could I do against the might of Santanas. I was just a failed faery.
‘Maybe I’ll start with you.’ Santanas grabbed Isla’s braid and pulled her head back. Sweat and tears mingled on her face as he stroked the edge of his dagger up-and-down her throat. ‘Would you like that?’
‘You can,’ Aethan whispered.
‘He’s too powerful.’
‘Not for you.’ He turned and looked me right in the eye. ‘That’s what your Grandmother was trying to tell us.’
‘Or maybe I’ll start with you.’ Santanas let go of Isla’s hair and moved to Aethan. ‘You seem like a chatty fellow. Perhaps you’d like to tell me which part of you I should cut off first.’
I struggled against the invisible bonds as Santanas laid his dagger against Aethan’s throat. What had Grams been telling them? She’s mentioned a total eclipse and animals. A foretelling of sorts. But foretelling what?
And then I remembered the words Ulandes had whispered into the quiet of my mind. Never before have there been two. Only one can live, the other must die.
Two what?
‘Should I start here?’ Santanas’s voice was like a lover’s caress as he sliced the blade gently down Aethan’s cheek. Blood welled and ran in its wake.
‘Izzy.’ Aethan’s whole body shook with his efforts to fight back.
‘Or here?’ Santanas pulled his arm back and put the tip of the dagger to the side of Aethan’s throat.
Never before have there been two. Never before have there been two.
The tip of the dagger penetrated Aethan’s skin and I went berserk.
I took all my will, all my anger, all my love and I slashed at the bonds holding us in place. They parted like butter before a hot knife and I had my answer.
I was a War Faery. The second War Faery.
Only one of us could live.
As the bonds melted, Aethan threw himself backwards from the blade. The look on Santanas’s face would have been comical if our situation weren’t so dire.
‘Nooooooo,’ I screamed as I climbed to my feet.
I held my hands out and twin bolts of lightning raced towards Santanas. He slashed his hand and they disappeared, sucked back into the air they had come from.
‘My Lord,’ Galanta shrieked as she threw herself in front of Santanas.
He shoved her to the side and she stumbled over a rock and fell to her knees. Isla snarled and jumped on her back, smashing her face into a rock.
Noises of battle started up again as the Guard took heart. But even though we had made a comeback, the numbers were still against us. Too many goblins still stood, too many still fought.
Vivid darkness danced around Santanas as he faced off against me. Black air crackled as he smiled a smile that reached his eyes with madness.
‘And lo,’ his voice thundered out across the earth, ‘it has come to this. Father against daughter. Blood against blood. You know you can never win.’
‘I don’t know anything of the sort.’ I was trying to stay positive but I didn’t like my odds. He had so much more experience than I did.
‘A good attitude. You sure you won’t join me? Together we could rule the world.’ Sparks leapt off his fingers as he flexed them. I had a feeling this was going to hurt.
‘Already got a nice job thanks. Pays well, and we even get holidays.’ We circled each other as we sparred verbally.
‘Don’t say I never did anything for you.’ He hurled a black ball of fire straight at my heart.
I threw my hand up and flicked it to the side with a slice of air. It slammed into a goblin and erupted over his body, coating him in black flame.
Lightning flowed from my body as bolt-after-bolt slammed into Santanas’s shield. He smiled and covered his mouth with his spare hand as if to cover a yawn. Then he wiggled a finger at a stone pillar. It rose into the air and speared towards me, straight into a shield I shaped like a wedge.
Stone shrieked as it exploded into a million tiny pieces. I flexed my shield and directed the shrapnel back at Santanas. He winced as the first fragments peppered his skin and instantly a black shield wrapped his body.
I was never going to get through that shield. He was just too good. Too experienced. Too powerful. While he looked like he’d just had a good night’s sleep, I was panting and streaked with sweat.
‘We need to pull back,’ I said to Aethan. ‘I can’t best him.’
The black shield shimmered and disappeared and Santanas smiled at me. ‘Now daughter. Is that a proper way to treat your father?’
As the words left his mouth I saw Mia scamper up onto Aethan’s shoulder. Her lips pulled back from her teeth and she launched herself into the air. Silently she soared towards Santanas.
I held his gaze and said, ‘No.’ Any second, any second now. ‘This is a much better way.’
Talons extended, teeth exposed she ripped into his face with a scream of defiance. This was the monster that had stolen her baby. This was the bastard that had sent her through to our world from Trillania. She was crazed with fury and she was going to make him pay.
It only took a second for her to gouge out his eyes. A second for her to do what I hadn’t been able to.
He screamed and ripped her from his face, and that was when I struck. As blood poured out of his empty eye sockets I slammed a lightning bolt into him. It lifted him off his feet and threw him backwards into a pillar of stone.
‘Nooooooo.’ Galanta ripped Isla’s hands off her throat and clambered towards him. ‘My Lord. My Lord.’
Santanas’s groan let us know he was still alive. His wards had protected him to a certain extent. Without either faery or witch magic he would be a while healing, but he would be back.
Only someone who loved him would be able to kill him.
Aethan scooped Mia up off the ground and cradled her in an arm. ‘Quick,’ he said. ‘We must leave while we can.’
The goblins had stopped fighting, all of them staring at the macabre scene Santanas made. I could smell his burned flesh from where I was.
I grabbed Isla’s hand and stumbled back the way we had come. It wouldn’t be long before the goblins realised we were escaping. Scruffy ran at my heels as I followed Rako and Aethan out, threading through the stupefied goblins.
‘Noooo,’ Galanta’s wail cut through the air. ‘Kill them. Kill them all.’
The goblins around me stepped back warily as I raised my hands. ‘That’s it,’ I said, my voice full of bravado. ‘There’s plenty more where that came from.’
The truth was, though, that I didn’t know how much more fuel I had in the tank. I had nearly died and been through a healing and then I had fought. I was exhausted.
‘Kill them,’ Galanta yelled.
Rako and Aethan reached their swords and the rest of the Guard, but we were surrounded. The looks on the goblins faces told us we only had moments before they summoned the courage to attack. The horses were just too far away for us to make a getaway.
‘Foiled again,’ Isla muttered. She threw an arm around me to help hold me upright as I staggered against her.
‘I can do this,’ I said. ‘I can.’
‘Sure you can,’ she said, but her voice held no conviction.
‘Kill them or know my wrath.’
The look on the faces of the goblins around us became resolute. The first raised his dagger and charged towards us and a wall of fire slammed into him.
Isla gasped and looked at me. ‘I thought you were spent.’
‘Wasn’t me,’ I gasped.
The sound of hooves beating over the ground reached us as a fresh wave of Border Guard raced towards us. They yelled war cries as they came, and there at the front was Wolfgang. I’d never seen such a beautiful sight.
The goblins peeled back from around us and sprinted in the opposite direction. It was lucky that maths wasn’t their strong point, or they would have realised that even with this fresh supply, we were still badly outnumbered. But I wasn’t going to tell them the error of their ways.
‘Cowards,’ Galanta screamed. ‘Stand and fight.’
Aethan supported my other side as we staggered towards our horses.
‘Mia?’ I asked.
‘She’s going to be fine.’
‘That’s one brave little girl,’ Rako said as he hauled himself up onto his horse.
I tried to mount Lily but my legs wouldn’t obey me. Instead I found myself staring up at the saddle wondering how I was going to stay there, if I managed to get there.
‘I’ll take Scruffy.’ Isla’s voice shook as if trying not to cry. ‘You take Izzy.’
Aethan climbed into Adare’s saddle and reached down for me, pulling me up in front of him and settling me in his arms. Mia clambered down till she was nestled in my lap. I wrapped an arm around her and closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep.