‘Behind you.’ Aethan spun toward me, releasing an arrow over my head as I ducked.
I jumped into the air, turning head over heels to land behind the goblins that had just ambushed us.
‘That’s ten,’ Aethan yelled.
I twirled a sword in each hand, sweeping the tips down through the Achilles tendons of two goblins. They screeched and fell backwards and I plunged a sword into each of their chests. I spun and conjured up a crossbow, releasing a bolt into another goblin. ‘Hah. Twelve,’ I called out, sighting another goblin down my next shaft.
Before I could release it, Aethan plunged a spear through the warrior’s back. The goblin fell to his knees, clutching the tip of the spear with both hands as blood ran out of his mouth. Aethan put his foot on the warrior’s back and wrenched the spear out. I had time to admire his form as he hurled it into the air. I followed its flight with my eyes, groaning as it lodged into a goblin still hiding in the trees.
‘Thirteen.’ Aethan dusted his hands together.
‘This isn’t working.’
‘You’re right. You’re never going to beat me.’
I gave his shoulder a shove. ‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’
He gave me his cheekiest grin and said, ‘Well what else do you suggest we do?’
‘We need to shift as soon as she does. We’re giving her too much of a head start.’ Too much time to set up traps for us.
‘It’ll be dangerous while we’re being attacked.’
‘You’ll have to cover for us. I’ll just grab you as soon as I feel her go.’
He nodded. ‘It could work.’
‘It could mean that it’s just us against her if we do it fast enough.’
I had begun using Isla’s blood to mark my pulse points the way Wolfgang had showed me. It meant Galanta could no longer feel me through our blood bond.
‘Ready?’ I laid a hand on his arm and, when he nodded, moved us to where I could feel Galanta.
As soon as we landed we dived apart. I rolled back to my feet and shot an arrow off into the nearest goblin. Galanta stood in the middle of a circle of warriors. They had been facing out, ready for us, and now they attacked.
Galanta’s lips pulled back to reveal her pointed teeth in a cross between a snarl and a smile. And then she disappeared.
I dived through the legs of a goblin, batted another’s sword out of the way with my own, and then leapt high into the air, sweeping over the head of the next one. I came down in a crouch behind Aethan and grabbed onto his ankle as he thrust a sword through the chest of a warrior.
The forest clearing disappeared from view and Galanta appeared before us. A look of shock flashed across her face and then she was gone. I let her blood drag me as I followed, still holding onto Aethan’s ankle.
We were on a beach, then back in the forest, then on a mountain top, then in the middle of a herd of fire-breathing buffos. Galanta kept shifting. As soon as she landed she was gone again. We were just as fast, but it soon became apparent that this tactic wasn’t working any better than the last one had.
I stopped, let go of Aethan’s ankle, and stood up.
He looked at me with unfocused eyes, wobbling as he shook his head. ‘I feel a little unbalanced.’
I snorted. He looked far more than a little unbalanced. He looked ready to puke. ‘We need to rethink this.’
He pulled a face. ‘Actually, I have to go. Someone’s trying to wake me.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ I managed to keep my voice neutral, even though I immediately had a vision of Ebony, breathtakingly lovely in a slinky nightie as she shook his shoulder. Possibly she was doing more than just shaking his shoulder to wake him up. And possibly she wasn’t wearing anything.
‘You don’t look so good?’ He put a hand on my shoulder and peered into my face. ‘Are you dizzy?’
‘Something like that.’ I stepped backwards out of his reach. ‘Well, you’d better get going.’ I turned away from him and concentrated on my room back in Millenia.
‘Izzy,’ he said. ‘What’s the matter?’
I looked over my shoulder, forcing a fake smile onto my face as I said, ‘Nothing. Everything is peachy.’
Even without all his memories of me he knew me well enough to know that I only used the word peachy when everything was as far from peachy as possible.
‘No, really.’ He grabbed my hand and spun me back towards him. ‘You’ve been so distant lately. What’s on your mind?’
I had a vision of Ebony straddling him, her full breasts pressed against him as she kissed his neck. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image.
‘Really?’ I said. ‘You have no idea what might be wrong with me?’
He shrugged. ‘I know things have been pretty stressful. And you must feel that we are all depending on you.’
Well, that was true.
‘And, you’re stuck in another world.’ He paused, looking thoughtful as he cocked his head to the side. ‘Have you met someone else?’ he finally asked.
‘What?’ I coughed out a laugh. ‘Have I met someone else?’
He reached out and grabbed my hand again. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh please.’ I snatched my hand away. ‘I mean I know you didn’t have a say in it but, really.’ I put my clenched fists onto my hips.
His mouth opened-and-closed a few times and then he said, ‘Izzy. I have no idea what you are talking about.’
‘Really?’ My voice went up a couple of octaves. ‘So it’s not Ebony there trying to wake you?’
Realisation dawned on his face. ‘You think…you think I’m with Ebony?’
‘Well, aren’t you? I mean you must be married by now.’
‘What ever gave you that idea?’
‘I saw it.’ I could feel my face flushing red. ‘I saw it as we were leaving. They presented Ebony to you, as the new heir.’ I looked down and shuffled my feet, starting to feel foolish. ‘It’s important to keep the night faeries on our side. I understand. It’s okay.’
He took a step closer, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward him. ‘So that’s what’s got your knickers in a knot?’ He reached out his free hand and tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear. ‘You know, you’re even more beautiful when you’re jealous.’
‘So you’re not marrying Ebony?’
He pulled a face. ‘I’m not married to her.’
‘Ah hah.’ I snatched my hand away and shoved him in the chest. ‘So you’re betrothed to her.’
He pulled a face. ‘Well, if you’re going to get technical about it. But honestly Izzy, I’m trying not to think about it.’
‘Oh, a fat lot of good that’s going to do me.’ I stomped a foot. ‘Honestly, Aethan.’
‘Honestly, Izzy?’ He stepped toward me as I took a corresponding step back. ‘Lately, the only thing that gets me through the days is the knowledge that I get to be here, with you, at night.’
This time when he stepped forward I didn’t move. He placed his hands on either side of my face and tilted my face back so that I was staring up into his glorious eyes.
His thumb traced a line across my lower lip as he said, ‘I don’t remember what it was that we used to do here together, back before all this started, but I’m guessing it was a little less like what we’ve been doing, and a little more like this.’
He closed the gap between us, lowering his mouth to mine. And for a few seconds I let myself forget about Ebony, instead concentrating on the overwhelming sense of Aethan.
The familiar scent of him; the feel of his lips moving against mine; the sensation of his fingers trailing over the bare skin of my arms. I gave myself over to those things. To things that made my toes curl up and not those that made my hair stand on end.
But all too soon reality forced its way back to the front of my mind. He may not be married to Ebony yet, but he was going to be. He was no longer mine.
I put my hands on his chest and pulled away. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked up at him.
‘Don’t,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t cry.’ He wiped at my eyes with his thumbs. ‘I love you, Izzy. Only you.’
‘I wish that was enough,’ I said. ‘I wish we were just two normal people.’ I shook my head and stepped back, relinquishing contact with him. ‘But we’re not Aethan. We’re not normal. And whether we like it or not, the world needs us to do what’s right.’
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘But if this all ends sooner than it should. If we win before I am married, then this will all go away.’
‘No it won’t.’ I could hear tears of frustration in my voice. ‘Do you think your parents would let you slight the night faeries like that? We would be exchanging one war for another.’ I stepped backwards. ‘I love you,’ I said. ‘But I can’t let you do that.’ I took another step backwards from him, both physically and mentally. The tears were running freely now. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘but it’s over.’ And then I willed myself away.
***
I went to where I knew I would be safe. Where I knew he wouldn’t think to follow – because he couldn’t remember. Because Galanta had stolen that from us as well as so many other things. And as I lay on the soft bed of grass in the flower-filled meadow and cried myself out, I renewed my pledge to find the goblin Queen and kill her.
If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be in this emotional mess. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have had to walk away from the man I loved more than life itself. If it wasn’t for her, and he had his memories still, I knew he wouldn’t have let me go.
I also knew that in the big scheme of things, one part-faery’s feelings were immaterial. There were far bigger, far more important matters being decided, but I was sick of putting my emotional needs second to that of the universe. I wanted to wallow in my misery for a few minutes, or hours, or however long it took for me to regain the strength to get up and go on.
And so I lay there, and I cried, until my head ached and my nose was blocked, and only then, when I had no more tears to cry, no more agony to give, did I let myself go home.
***
‘Did you get her?’ Isla looked up from the book she was reading as I sat up in bed.
‘No.’ I looked guiltily at the white bandage bound around her wrist. ‘But we were close.’ I sighed. ‘It’s not working though, even when we get her alone we can’t get her to stay still long enough to kill her.’
She let out a tinkly laugh. ‘Did you expect her to make it easy for you?’
‘Of course not.’ I rubbed Scruffy on the head just behind the ears the way I knew he liked it. He let out a huffing noise of pleasure and collapsed onto his back with his paws in the air. ‘I thought you’d be back up at the cavern by now.’
Isla’s face lit up. ‘I was,’ she said. ‘But guess who made it out of the cavern?’
‘He flew out?’
She nodded. ‘And Turos said we can start rider training tomorrow.’
‘But, he’s only a month old.’
‘Oh, we won’t be trying to fly yet. But we are going to practice riding positions and getting him used to the feel of the bridle. Turos is having a special one made up.’
‘All this happened while I was asleep?’
‘It’s nearly lunch time.’
‘Really?’ I hopped out of bed and walked over to the open window. The sun was positioned high over the mountains. I had cried for longer than I’d thought.
‘Turos said to meet him for training this afternoon.’
I pulled a face. The last few training sessions had ended with me throwing a tantrum and stalking out.
‘You’re getting better at it,’ she said.
I snorted. ‘I don’t call continually getting my butt whipped an improvement.’
‘Turos told me he’s impressed with your progress.’ Her voice floated back from the lounge area.
‘The only one whose progress is impressive is Arthur,’ I said.
She reappeared holding a covered tray which she placed on the corner of my bed. ‘Are you having any progress with the other thing you’ve been trying?’
She was talking about my attempts to open a pathway home.
I rolled my eyes and sat back down, lifting the cover off the food. ‘Of course not.’
‘We have to get home,’ she said. ‘The goblins are gaining momentum. It won’t be long before they start marching their army on Isilvitania.’
‘I know. I know.’ Of course I knew. I had given her that information. ‘I just have no idea what I am meant to be doing.’
You’ll work it out.’ She sat down beside me and patted me on the hand. ‘When we’re ready, you’ll know what to do.’
I blew out an unhappy sigh. Her blind faith in me was disconcerting. ‘I’m not sure about Emerald,’ I said. ‘It seems unfair to ask her to return. She’s so happy here.’
Isla sighed and sat down. ‘I know. Perhaps you could hold the gateway open for her to return.’
‘I can’t promise that. And it’s not fair to lie to her. And what about Arthur? Do you think she would leave him?’
‘No.’ Her long hair swished across her shoulders as she shook her head. ‘And I can’t go without him.’ She flashed me a smile. ‘It will all work out. You’ll see.’
I snorted. ‘The last person who said that to me was Wilfred. And look how well that worked out.’ I froze in the process of moving a fork towards my mouth.
‘It did work out.’ Her smile was radiant. ‘He is alive and serving a higher purpose. And he’s doing well.’
‘How can you possibly know that?’
She shrugged elegantly. ‘I have faith. You should too.’
I put the fork into my mouth, chewing and swallowing before saying, ‘You’re going to have to have enough faith for both of us I’m afraid.’
‘Consider it done.’ She laughed and clapped her hands. ‘Now finish your breakfast so we can get to training.’ She jumped off the end of my bed and danced towards the door.
‘You’re going to train as well?’
She nodded. ‘I consider it wise that at least one of us perfect the mind control necessary.’
I grabbed one of the many pillows on my bed and threw it at her. Her tinkly laugh floated back to me as she disappeared from my room.
***
‘You don’t get a stick today.’ Turos grasped the end of the fake, wooden sword I was holding and twisted it out of my hands. ‘I, however, get to use this.’ He hefted a long fighting pole in his right hand.
I rolled my eyes. Oh Great. ‘How am I meant to defend myself?’
‘Dodge, weave, duck. Do whatever you need to prevent me from getting you.’
‘Or what?’
‘Or it’s going to really, really hurt.’ His eyes twinkled merrily.
‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’
‘Just remind me, is it two or three times you’ve broken my nose?’
I ignored that. I didn’t want him remembering it was four.
Isla sat off to the side with Scruffy lying next to her. Her eyes were shut and her hands were behind her back. Chanda, one of the other Millenium warriors, sat in front of her. His hand floated in front of her face, a stone nestled within. As I watched, she opened her eyes. His fingers opened and her hands whipped around from behind her back to snatch the stone out of the air.
I let out a groan. She was already better at it than I was.
I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, pushing thoughts of Aethan away. I pulled up Galanta and Santanas and tossed them aside. I rid myself of all of them and a peaceful void formed in my mind.
I couldn’t do anything about any of them at that precise moment in time, so why had I been giving them so much energy? Why had I been allowing them so much space in my head?
I could hear the hum of a nearby bird’s wings; feel the air around me being jostled by the dragons playing in the valley below. I opened my eyes and focused on the mountains on the far side of the valley. The rocks and blades of grass zoomed into sharp focus. I could taste scents on the wind: the forests of trees, the fertile dirt in the valley, the musky scent of Turos.
I turned my vision to the wooden pole that Turos held. I could see the wood grain along its shaft and smell the strong scent of the pine it had been carved from. I forgot about everything else as I watched it.
Turos’s hands flexed and the pole flicked forwards. Shockwaves radiated through the air, rippling out from the pole as it moved. Air pushed ahead of it, showing me which way it was moving. I watched in astonishment as it got closer-and-closer, light refracting through the swirling air like a tiny fireworks display. And then it….
‘Ouch.’ The pain snapped me back into my body. I reached up and rubbed my shoulder.
‘You didn’t even try.’ Turos shook his head.
‘I got it.’ I rushed forwards and wrapped my arms around him. ‘I saw it, and I smelt it, and it was beautiful.’ I pulled back and looked up into his face. ‘I could see…everything.’
Turos looked down at me. ‘Well then. I guess that’s understandable. The first time is pretty distracting.’
I realised I was still clutching onto him, my legs threaded through his and my body pressed hard against him. Dark Sky. What would it be like to kiss him in that state of mind?
Heat infused my cheeks and I let him go. ‘Distracting. That’s one word for it.’ I closed my eyes again, waiting till the same feeling of peace flowed over me, before opening them again.
Turos’s pole whipped towards me in a blur of sparkling light. I stepped to the side, just enough to avoid it, and then ducked under it as it swung at my head. The other side flicked around, aiming for my ankles. I jumped lightly over it, a smile on my face as I landed.
‘Don’t get cocky,’ he said.
‘I’m not.’ I said the words lightly, trying to keep all emotion out of them, but a little bit of pride snuck into the back of my mind. I was doing it. I was really doing it.
Thwack.
The end of the pole caught me mid-shin and pain exploded in my mind as the thin skin over the bone split apart. The other end of the pole whipped around, driving into my stomach. I wrapped myself around the pole like a pretzel, before whipping up into the air. I landed on my back a few metres away.
‘Yoooowwwwwww.’ I didn’t know whether to hold my leg or my stomach. They were neck-and-neck in the running for the year’s most painful body part.
‘Oh dear.’ Isla looked down at me with cool, appraising eyes.
‘It hurts.’ I took shallow quick breaths as I stared up at her.
‘Push the hurt away,’ Turos said.
‘I can’t.’ I let out another groan. ‘It huuurrtttssss.’
‘You’ve had worse.’ Isla’s voice was analytical.
‘What?’ I clenched my teeth. ‘So all my future injuries don’t count because I got gutted by Galanta?’
‘Well.’ She cocked her head to the side. ‘It does sort of pale in comparison. I mean then there was blood everywhere. Now there’s not even a drop.’
‘Well, there is some coming through the leg of her pants,’ Turos said. ‘Now take a deep breath and push all that pain out of your mind.’
But the problem was that my leg and my stomach weren’t the only things that were hurting. It appeared I hadn’t done quite enough crying the night before and now my heart had joined the race. It sped past all the other body parts, a shoe-in for an easy win.
I rolled onto my side, pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, and then I began to cry. I tried to stop. I mean it was so embarrassing, crying in front of Chanda. Crying in front of Turos. But I had broken up with Aethan, and I couldn’t regain control.
‘Oh dear,’ Isla said again. But this time she knelt beside me and put her arms around me. ‘This isn’t about your leg, is it?’
‘No…ooo…ooooohhhh,’ I howled. I could feel my heart ripping into tiny pieces.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
I shook my head. The last thing I wanted was an audience to my private pain.
‘So you can’t heal yourself?’ Turos asked.
‘No.’ I let go of my knees and rolled onto my back. Why wouldn’t they all go away and let me cry in private?
‘Are you sure?’ Isla asked. ‘I mean nobody else can. But you…well who knows what you’re capable of.’
‘Don’t you think if I could, that Santanas would have healed himself?’ I stabbed at the bloated ball of pain, deflating it enough that I could breathe again.
‘You have a point.’ Isla stood back up and reached a hand down to me. ‘Can you stand?’
So much for my moment of self-pity. I let her help me to my feet and put my weight gingerly onto my damaged leg. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.
‘Shall we begin again?’
I looked over to where Turos was standing. He had removed his shirt and was using both hands to twirl the pole in a circle above his head. His forearms and biceps flexed with the movement so that he was seven foot of delicious, rock-hard muscle.
Huh. Suddenly the drool threatening to escape my mouth was more of a problem than my pain. And that was as potentially as embarrassing as my crying had been. I pushed it all away until the world hummed with life around me.
The pole in Turos’s hand seemed to halve, then quarter its speed. Light sprayed in its wake, cascading around him in a circle of fire. Sweat glistened on his bronzed skin, glowing like diamonds in the sun. His eyes blazed like aquamarines as he met my gaze, his lips parting into a smile. He was magnificent. He was beautiful. He was glorious in his perfection.
I walked over to where he was, holding all other thoughts at bay. There was nothing else but this moment. Nothing else but Turos. Nothing else than my need to avoid that spinning pole.
It tumbled towards me, flicking and sweeping and driving like a sword. But it didn’t even come near to touching me. I knew where it was going to be before it even started moving, and it was a moment in time to remove myself from its path. I danced to the tune of the humming air, enjoying the weightlessness of my mind. I twisted and turned, ducked and jumped, until finally the pole stopped moving.
I felt the movement of the air as Isla started to clap, watched the multitude of lights blink out of existence. I heard Scruffy scratch an ear, and Chanda cough, but it all felt like it was in slow motion.
Turos walked towards me and put his hands on my shoulders. ‘Izzy.’ The sound was distorted by time. ‘Izzy, you need to let it go.’
I shook my head. Why would I let this go? Everything was beautiful, and for the first time in a very long while, I wasn’t worried about anything.
A thought tugged at the edge of my mind. There were things I needed to worry about. I pushed it away, instead soaking up the warmth of Turos’s touch.
‘You’ll have to shock her out of it.’ Isla’s voice was even lovelier than I had realised. It rang like bells in my mind.
Turos shrugged his shoulders. ‘Okay then. But only because you insist.’
One second he was holding me gently and the next he swept me up in his arms. His lips pressed down on mine, urgent and insistent. His tongue forced its way into my mouth as his hands found their way under my shirt.
A shot of hormones coursed through my body, and I found myself clinging to him, returning the kiss with as much, if not more fervour than he. Electricity danced over the surface of my skin at his touch, frazzling my nerves and jolting into my mind.
And in the wake of that jolt, a thousand thoughts returned. I shoved Turos away, curled up my fist and punched him in the nose.
He winced and clasped his hands to his face. ‘What was that for?’
‘Taking advantage of me.’ How dare he kiss me like that without my permission?
‘I had to do something.’
‘And that was the only thing you could think of?’
‘It was the most appealing of all the things that occurred to me.’ He smiled at me around his hands.
I snorted and turned my back on him. Isla was doing a valiant job of controlling her smile but I could tell it was there.
‘He had to do something,’ she said. ‘You’d gone all peace-not-war on us.’ She looked over at Turos. ‘How is she going to fight like that?’
‘She’s not.’ He pulled a face as he pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘She’s taking it too far.’
‘She always takes things too far.’
‘Hello,’ I said, waving a hand at her. ‘I am here.’
She flashed me a smile before turning her attention back to Turos. ‘What do you mean?’
‘She’s pushing her thoughts so far away that she has no focus. She needs to leave them there on the edge so that they can direct her, not totally forget about them all together.’
Well, that made sense. If I had gone up against Santanas like that I wouldn’t have cared what he did to me.
‘Give me a weapon,’ I said.
‘I don’t think you’re ready for that.’
‘You scared I’ll make you cry for your Mumma?’ I put a hand on one hip and tilted my head to the side.
‘Oh.’ He stalked towards me till he was close enough that I had to look up to see him. ‘Them’s fighting words.’
I smiled and raised my eyebrows. ‘Well, are you yella?’
‘I don’t even know what that means, but I am going to assume it was an insult.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘It would have been a wasted breath otherwise.’
He beckoned to Chanda, and the chuckling warrior ran forwards with two wooden, training swords. He handed one to me, and one to Turos, before backing away to stand next to Isla.
‘I’ll bet you this evening’s dessert that she goes down,’ he said.
‘Do you know what we’re having?’
‘I went through the kitchen on the way here and they were chopping up apples and rolling pastry.’
‘Apple pie?’ Isla pursed her lips and she looked at Turos and then me. ‘I’ll take your bet,’ she said, extending her hand.
Chanda shook it and said, ‘Excellent. ‘Cause I’m hungry.’
‘That’s a shame,’ Isla replied. ‘I’m going to give your portion to Scruffy. He likes apple pie.’
Scruffy stopped inspecting his private parts, looked up at Chanda and let out a bark.
‘Let me know when you’re ready,’ Turos said.
I pushed everything away till Turos started to glow like a bronzed God, then I pulled it back till I could feel it fluttering around the edges of my mind. I could immediately feel the difference to last time. This time I knew what I should have been worried about. I remembered what my aim was; there were just no thoughts there to distract me from it.
‘I’m ready,’ I said, lifting my sword.
Turos’s blade cut through the air. I moved to the side, sweeping my own weapon out to parry the blow. He twirled and swept down from the other side and I whirled and danced out of the way. He attacked again, and I stepped backwards so that I would have enough strength to block him. He closed on me and flicked the blade to the side and I stepped back to meet it.
I saw a smile flirting with the edges of his lips at the same time I heard Chanda laugh. They thought he had me at a disadvantage and I didn’t mind letting them think that. It was the first time Turos and I had fought properly and this wouldn’t work again. But it didn’t have to. It only had to work the once.
All of that existed at the edge of my mind as I let him force me backwards across the training ground. His strikes increased in confidence and force, and I let mine lag just a tiny bit. To anyone else it would have looked like I was about to lose.
I waited for the strike I knew was coming; the one where he overextended himself just a little too much. And when it came – the master stroke designed to force me to my knees in a desperate attempt to block it, I was no longer there.
I dived forwards, rolling beneath the blade and past him, coming back to my feet with enough time to kick down into the back of his knee. He let out an ‘Ooooff,’ as that leg collapsed. A swift kick to the back of the other knee made sure he wouldn’t recover in time. I whipped my blade around, stopping as the edge of it made contact with the side of his neck.
He froze, his hands dropping his weapon as he put them into the air.
‘Well.’ Isla clapped her hands together as Scruffy let out a happy bark. ‘Apple pie for you tonight my boy.’
***
‘They’re forming up in the Gonian Crater.’ Rako drew a circle on the ground in the dirt. ‘So far the orcs and dwarves have joined them.’
I took a deep breath to help dispel the fear I could feel forming in my gut. It didn’t work. ‘The giants?’
‘The giants are on the move. So are the trolls.’
‘The Vulpines?’ I asked, referring to the people that rode the enormous eagle-like birds.
‘We estimate it will take a few more weeks for them to arrive.’
‘What about our side?’ I looked around the group of men who had come to Trillania for the war council, avoiding eye contact with Aethan as I did. Awkward didn’t even begin to describe how things were between us.
‘Faeries are pouring in from around the globe,’ Rako said.
I expected that. They knew that if we went down, they would be next. ‘The humans? The witches?’
Rako ran his fingers down the long scar on his cheek and then pulled a face. ‘They seem to be caught in debate. The lower house agrees there is a problem, the upper house seems to be blocking any attempts to do something about it.’ He shrugged. ‘We assume they are hoping we will sort it out.’
If it were physically possible for steam to have been coming out of my ears it would have been. ‘The night faeries?’ I shot Aethan a look, but glanced away again as his eyes met mine.
‘Ebony says they are on their way,’ Aethan said. ‘It will take them a while to skirt the goblin territory.’
Rage, pure and white hot as the midday sun, scoured my brain of rational thought at his casual use of her name. It was irrational, I knew, and totally unproductive. I pushed my thoughts to the side till I could see bright lights, then I pulled everything back, except my rage. That was a useful by-product of what Turos had taught me.
‘Izzy,’ Rako said. ‘We need you. When are you coming home?’
‘Working on it.’
‘And?’
I sighed. ‘I don’t know how to start. I know Santanas did it, but I have no idea how.’ How did you create a tunnel between two worlds?
‘I have a theory.’ Wolfgang stepped forward. ‘What if you aren’t in another world? What if it is our world, but in a parallel universe?’
‘Pardon?’ There was a good chance I resembled a goldfish.
‘You didn’t study physics at school?’
I shook my head. Science and I had not gotten along.
He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath about the state of schools today. ‘A parallel universe is one that lies parallel to ours.’
I pulled a face and shrugged my shoulders.
‘So it is identical to ours and in fact would have branched off from ours at some point in time.’
‘So…we all exist on this planet as well?’
He shook his head, a pleased smile on his face. ‘That’s the theory.’
‘So, this is just a theory?’ Aethan said.
‘Well, if you look at the different planes that exist already in our reality, and the fact that Izzy can access Trillania from there, I think it’s plausible.’ He turned from Aethan back to me. ‘Izzy. How many moons are there on this planet? And what do they look like?’
‘There’s just the one, and,’ I stopped to think, ‘it looks just like ours. I mean there’s a bunny and everything.’
Aethan let out a snort of amusement.
‘What?’ I put my hands on my hips. ‘Don’t tell me you can’t see the bunny?’
‘And the sun?’ There was excitement in Wolfgang’s voice.
I nodded. ‘The same as ours.’ So much so that I had never even stopped to think about it. I had only even known one sun and one moon, so to me it had been a constant, not something to be questioned.
‘Excellent.’ He clapped his hands together.
‘So…how does that help me?’
He tugged at his long, grey beard. ‘I’m not sure. But perhaps you should approach it the same way you do the parting of the veil.’
Now was probably not a good time to mention I had only ever done that twice.
‘Two nights from now?’ Rako asked.
I nodded and then watched as one-by-one they flicked from view. Aethan was the last to go. For a second I thought he was going to say something, but then he shook his head and he, too, disappeared.
***
‘Parallel universe.’ Isla rolled the words around her tongue. ‘Do you think he’s correct?’
I nodded my head. ‘It makes sense. The problem is that if Wolfgang is right, and I can open up the layers between this world and our own, we’ll end up in the same spot on that world.’ I’d been thinking about it since I’d woken up.
‘Which could be anywhere,’ she said.
‘What could be anywhere?’
I let out a shriek as Turos appeared in the doorway. ‘Don’t you ever knock?’ I threw a cushion at him.
‘Sorry. Keep forgetting about little things like knocking.’ The smile on his face let me know that he hadn’t forgotten at all. He liked scaring the shit out of me. ‘You ready?’
‘For what?’
‘Oh. I may have forgotten to mention it.’ He sauntered into the room and plonked himself down on the couch next to Isla. I was guessing he chose her seat rather than mine because I couldn’t reach him from there. The smug smile on his face had the fingers on my hand curling into a fist.
‘Lance told me, that Emerald told him that she wanted to go for a ride.’
‘Really?’ My fingers unclenched as I sat upright. Emerald and I hadn’t been for a ride since before she’d laid Arthur. And he was already seven weeks old.
‘She’s got cabin fever.’
I wondered if it was my mood rubbing off on her. I hoped not. I thought I’d been hiding my mounting frustration from her quite well. ‘When are we going?’
‘As soon as you’re ready.’ He gestured at my head.
I stuck my tongue out at him. There was nothing wrong with my hair and I knew it. With him dropping in randomly anytime of night or day I made sure I always looked presentable.
‘Want to come?’ I looked over at Isla.
‘Nah. You two crazy kids go and have fun. I’m going to continue my training with Arthur.’
‘Don’t you let him talk you into going solo.’ Turos looked like he might be considering staying.
‘As if.’ Isla stood up and pretended to dust off her pants. ‘He’s like, two months old. As if I’d let him set the ground rules.’
I gave her as steely a look as he did. Her voice sounded far too mischievous to be serious.
I’m ready.’ I pushed my braid back over my shoulder and gave her another look as I followed Turos from our rooms.
‘Do you trust them?’ I asked.
‘Not a chance. That’s why I’ve asked Chanda to keep an eye on them.’
Emerald and Lance were waiting for us on the dragon platform. Smoke curled out of her nostrils and she shook her head from side-to-side.
Come on, she said. Hurry up.
What’s the big rush?
I need to get back before my offspring does something stupid.
I peered into the stable in which Emerald was staying with Arthur. He lay on his back with his wings spread out and all four chubby, orange legs in the air. As I watched, he blew a smoke ring. The ring expanded slowly as it rose above his head. He waited till it was halfway to the ceiling before he snorted, blasting out a much smaller, faster ring. This one had a tail of flame as it shot after the bigger ring. He let out a fiery belch of satisfaction as the smaller ring went through the larger one.
His tongue flopped out of his mouth as he turned his head to look at me. He waved one chubby leg and Scruffy left my side and trotted over. He jumped onto the hatchling’s neck, scrambling up till he was on his chest. Then he turned around a couple of times and lay down so that his head was sloping down towards Arthur’s. Arthur raised his head off the ground, his tongue encompassing Scruffy’s whole face as he licked it.
He’s not going to eat him? I said to Emerald.
Please. He likes his meat skinned.
A quick look showed me that her mouth was open in a dragon smile. I was pretty sure she was joking.
‘Let’s go.’ Turos was already astride Lance.
‘Okay. Okay.’ I strode to Emerald, jumped onto her front leg and climbed up to her neck. It felt good to be back there and I could tell by her satisfied rumble that she was happy too.
‘On the count of three,’ Turos said.
The two dragons positioned themselves on the edge of the platform. They curled their toes over the edge and leant forwards like Olympic swimmers about to start.
Turos looked over to see if we were ready. I nodded my head at him and he said, ‘One.’
Before he even got to two, Lance lunged off the edge, his wings tucked in tightly to his body as they disappeared into the valley below.
Go. Go, I shrieked into Emerald’s mind. I was going to make the cheat pay for that.
We rocked off the edge and plummeted after them, Emerald making short, sharp flaps of her wings that meant we were able to catch up with them. We hit the curve at the bottom side-by-side, gravity forcing us into our seats as the dragons banked and turned to soar back up the mountains on the other side.
I watched the luscious, fertile fields on the side of the mountain disappear beneath us and then we were up and over the next mountain and racing out to sea.
The sun glinted off the smooth glass of the ocean, showing the shadows of the two racing dragons. Lance matched his pace to ours, brushing the tips of his wings against Emerald’s with each stroke.
Hang on, Emerald yelled.
I leant down low, looping my arms through the tough leather reins and gripping on tight with my thighs, and then Lance and Emerald were flying long, lazy barrel rolls around each other.
‘Woohoo.’ I could hear my voice echoing behind us off the surface of the water.
This was why Emerald hadn’t wanted to be confined to the mating caverns. This was what she hadn’t wanted to give up. The ultimate freedom of flying, doubled with the exhilaration of doing it with someone that you loved. I could feel the joy radiating off her.
The two dragons flew straight up, like two arrows firing towards the sun. They flew until the air felt thin, till each breath was less satisfying than the last. And then they flipped over and started their descent back to the sea.
If we hadn’t flown so high I might not have seen it. A mast sticking up on the edge of the horizon.
‘Look,’ I yelled at Turos, pointing toward it.
He squinted into the sun, staring until I saw by the change in his body language that he had spotted it too.
Lance shifted his flight so that we were heading toward it. ‘Don’t get too close,’ Turos yelled. ‘Stay high.’
I drew short rapid breaths as I battled to maintain my oxygen supply. If they had looked up, we would have been specks in the sky, because to us they were a dot in the ocean. But even from that high I could tell it was the same type of ship we’d destroyed the day we’d gone swimming.
We flew over them, and then circled back around, making bigger and bigger loops as we searched the ocean for more of them.
‘They’re alone,’ Turos shouted.
‘Are we going to destroy it?’
‘Not worth the risk. We’ll keep an eye on them and if they are heading our way we’ll deal with them then.’
The words had just cleared his mouth when we heard a deep booming noise.
‘Break left,’ Turos yelled as he and Lance broke to the right.
Emerald dived to the side, slicking her wings back against her sides. A large metallic ball sailed through the air we had occupied only a few seconds before. So much for our stealthy departure.
I formed a shield beneath Emerald and flew toward where Turos and Lance were zig-zagging through the sky. Every few seconds I could hear pinging noises as projectiles bounced off the bottom of my shield.
I heard Lance roar his displeasure. The shards of metal were small, but put enough of them into a dragon and they were bound to get painful. Plus, if they tore through a major artery, things were going to get messy.
Tell Lance to head back towards us.
He says we would make too big a target.
Tell him I can’t shield him from all the way over there.
A few seconds later Turos and Lance’s veering path headed back towards us. We raced towards them and, as soon as I was able to, I expanded the flat plane of my shield to include them as well.
‘Are you okay?’ I yelled to Turos.
He nodded and held up his arm for me to see. Blood dribbled from his bicep down his forearm. ‘Lance wore the brunt of it. Can you heal him from there?’
I shook my head. ‘Not while maintaining the shield. Do I have your permission to destroy the ship?’
He flashed me a grin. ‘I think, given the circumstances, that that would be prudent.’
‘Do you want to stay here?’ I said.
‘Do I look like a mummy’s boy?’
‘Only when I break your nose.’
He let out a laugh.
‘Stay beside me,’ I said. ‘Otherwise it will be too hard to maintain the shield.’
I bent low over Emerald’s neck as she tucked her wings in to her sides. My shield extended around us like a dome and I could see metallic objects scattering off it like insects bouncing off a windshield.
As we got closer, the figures on the ship started to take on features. Their faces were turned up to the sky as they watched us come. Two of them, one on the front and one on the back, sighted us down long barrels while they peppered us with metal. We would have to take them out first, but I was going to have to drop the shield to do it.
‘Get ready,’ I yelled at Turos. ‘I’m going to drop the shield for a couple of seconds on the count of three.’
Emerald and Lance began to level out, dropping down and heading towards the front of the vessel so that only one weapon would have access to us at once. There was another gigantic boom, and I saw a piece of metal as big as a basketball soaring towards us. I let out a yelp as it smacked into my shield, the force driving me backwards in my seat.
‘One,’ I yelled. We levelled out just about the waterline and started to sprint towards the ship.
‘Two.’ Men pulled swords from their belts, their dark eyes burning with ferocity as they watched us come. The intensity of the attack on my shield increased as we got closer.
‘Three.’ I moved the angle of the shield from the front to beneath us when we were about thirty feet from the ship. I lifted a hand and, at the same time as Lance and Emerald roared their fiery displeasure, I hurled a lightning bolt straight at the man with the weapon.
Fire caught in the sails and masts as a hole exploded in the deck of the ship. We raced over them and I shifted the shield back to cover us from behind as we climbed away from them.
A look over my shoulder showed me I had been true with my aim. There was now only one of the weapons left on the deck.
‘Where did that ball come from?’ I yelled at Turos.
‘I saw a flash of light out of the side of the ship.’
I nodded my head to let him know I had heard him. ‘Ready?’
‘I was born ready.’
I flashed him a quick grin as Lance and Emerald banked in the sky. We came in the same way we had before, flying low over the water. This time I saw the flash of light that accompanied the huge boom. I reinforced the shield but it still struck with enough force to knock me backwards. My brain was going to be bruised if I went through that a few more times.
Instead of flying over the ship, we raced past it at water height. ‘Go,’ I shrieked as I shifted the shield.
I fired a bolt of lightning out of each hand into the side of the ship. They smashed into the wood at the waterline, huge splinters flying out in all directions. Water immediately began to pour in. Dragon’s fire curled over the whole side of the deck including the area where the weapon stood. Men lowered buckets to the water but they needn’t have bothered. By the time we had turned, readying ourselves for another attack, the ship was listing in the water. It wouldn’t be long before it sank.
We circled far above it as we waited for the inevitable to happen. It finally submitted, rolling onto its side and disappearing into the depths to its watery grave.
‘Let’s go,’ Turos said.
We didn’t speak on the way back. I’m not sure what he was thinking about but I was wondering how many more of those ships existed. They had already proven that without a shield, destroying them was costly.
I wasn’t going to be here for much longer. Santanas was coming and I was needed. I didn’t know how, but I would find a way back home.
But it seemed I might be needed here as well.
Is that what it would come to? A choice between two worlds, both standing on the brink of war?
Chagrin painted my mind with a guilt-tipped brush, for if push came to shove, I already knew which world I would save, and which I would doom to die.
***
‘The Prime Ministers have finally come to the table.’
It was the first bit of good news that Rako had given me. ‘What changed their minds?’
‘Vulpine attacks.’
I took a deep breath and rubbed my hands down the sides of my pants in an effort to stop them shaking. People were dying and there was nothing I could do about it. Not from where I was. ‘So they’ve arrived?’
‘Reports of Vulpine sightings started filtering through a few days ago. Then yesterday they began breaking through the veil and assaulting villages.’
‘Slash-and-dash technique,’ Aethan said. ‘And of course, there’s the fact that the army has started marching. We estimate they should be on Isilvitania in a couple of days.’
I met his eyes for a moment before looking away. I didn’t like seeing the despair in their depths.
‘Izzy.’ Wolfgang’s voice was patient. ‘How are you going?’
I shrugged a shoulder and scuffed at the dirt with a boot. ‘I may have had a bit of a breakthrough.’ I held a hand up. ‘But I’m not sure.’
‘What happened?’
‘I could feel the weight of the barrier on me. Like when we open the veil. But it was gone as quickly as I sensed it.’ I looked around the circle at the three of them. ‘I’ll keep trying.’
‘Try harder,’ Aethan said.
I could feel my mouth curl up with all the spiteful things I wanted to shoot back at him, but I held them all in. I knew he was under more pressure than I was. And he had a point. I did need to try harder.
‘I will.’ The words sounded as if I had strangled them.
He nodded the nod of a Royal to a subject and disappeared from view. That hurt far more than it should have.
‘You’ll work it out.’ Rako smiled at me. ‘You always do.’ He pulled a face. ‘But if you could hurry, well, that would be grand.’
He and Wolfgang also disappeared from view.
I was glad Wolfgang hadn’t lingered like he often did. I knew the temptation to ask about Ebony and Aethan would be too great. And it was none of my business. I had made it none of my business. It was time to put on my big-girl pants and get over it.
I sighed and sank down onto the edge of a boulder. The problem was that every time I saw him, any progression I’d had in the ‘getting over it’ department, went out the window.
And I had all these confused emotions where Turos was involved: lust being the most prominent. But there probably weren’t many women in the whole of Millenia that didn’t lust after the seven-foot, muscle-bound, olive-skinned warrior. I’m sure his ice-blue eyes were able to crack through even the most prudent-of-maiden’s defences. And that mischievous smile?
I let out another sigh. Every time he smiled at me like that I wanted a repeat performance of what had passed between us down on the beach.
But he had also become a friend. And friends didn’t lead on friends. So, so far, even though Isla’s hints had become less-and-less subtle, I was managing to keep my hormones under control. I had already hurt one friend, and I didn’t want to do it to another.
I pushed my thoughts of Aethan aside and willed myself back to my room.
***
‘Oh goody, you’re awake.’
I let out a cry and Turos’s hand clamped down on my mouth. ‘Shhhhh. You’ll wake up the neighbourhood.’
I glared at him over the top of his hand while I tried not to think about the feel of his chest pressed against my side. If I could just get him to replace his hand with his mouth then…
Arghhhhhh. Where Turos was concerned my body and my mind were at total odds with each other.
‘What?’ I hissed when he finally removed his hand.
He lifted a lock of my hair off the pillow and waved it around as he spoke. ‘Isla wants to take Arthur for his first ride.’
I batted his hand away from my hair. ‘That’s great. But why are we whispering about it?’
‘Because the Dragon Masters don’t think he’s ready.’
‘Ahhhhh.’ The Dragon Masters had been trying to get Arthur to keep to a ‘normal’ time frame. But there was nothing normal about Arthur. He was already a third of the size of Emerald, and he was only two and a half months old. The rest of the hatchlings his age were still up in the cavern.
‘So we’re going to break their rules? Again?’
‘Of course.’ His mouth curled up in a slow smile. ‘Talking about breaking rules.’
He grabbed both my wrists and pulled my arms above my head. My breath left me as he rolled over on top of me. His eyes gazed into mine as he edged my knees apart with a leg.
‘Turos.’ I shook my head. ‘I’m not ready for this.’
‘You say that,’ he murmured as his nose brushed the side of my neck, ‘and yet your body tells me other things.’
I let out a little breath as his lips replaced his nose, moving slowly as they made their way to my throat.
‘Yes…well…,’ I managed to get out, ‘my body and I will be having quite the talk later.’
Dark Sky he felt wonderful. The weight of him pushing me down made me feel powerful and helpless at the same time. And his tongue was doing things to my skin that made me want to beg him to explore my whole body like that.
But I really didn’t know if I was ready for this. I didn’t want to commit to something only to…
His lips found my mouth and I surged upwards against him, my legs wrapping around him as my hormones took over. He released my wrists and I clawed at his back, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and wrenching it upwards. He broke the kiss so I could get it over his head, but a second later his lips were back on mine.
He shivered as I ran my nails down his bare skin, and then his hands found their way up under my nightshirt and it was my turn to shudder.
‘Are you two ready to…Oops.’ Isla said. ‘So sorry.’ I could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t sorry at all.
Turos stayed where he was as he looked over at Isla. ‘We’re ready. Well, I am anyway.’
Tension curled in my stomach. I wanted more of him. Now. I bit down on my lips as I realised which way my thoughts had taken me. I wanted all of him.
His eyes were serious as he stared down into mine. ‘Later my beauty,’ he whispered as he ran a hand down my cheek.
And for once, I found that I couldn’t argue with him.
He rolled over to the side of the bed and leapt to his feet, stretching both of his arms into the air above him. And then he scooped up his shirt and pulled it back over his head. I quelled my disappointment as his abdominal muscles disappeared from view.
Down hormones. Down!
Letting out a sigh, I crawled out of bed. I padded over to the dresser and dragged out my leather pants, a shirt, and one of the sturdy, leather vests the riders used. ‘You going to come?’ I said to Scruffy.
He opened one eye and looked at me from his position on the corner of the bed. Then he shut it, wiggled into the covers a little more, and let out a deep sigh. ‘I guess not,’ I said as I pushed past a grinning Isla to the bathroom.
I splashed some water on my fiery cheeks and pulled my hair back into a braid, and then I climbed into my clothes.
They were both waiting by the front door when I re-appeared.
‘Turos,’ I said, ‘we need to talk.’
He glanced towards me, a perplexed look on his face as he pressed his finger to his lips. ‘We need to be quiet.’
‘They’re coming,’ I said. ‘The goblins are almost on Isilvitania.’
Isla jerked her head towards me.
‘The Vulpines have been attacking our villages.’
He pressed his lips together as he stared down at me. ‘Okay,’ he whispered. ‘We’ll talk. But not now. Now we need to go.’
I met his gaze for a second, saw the truth in their depths. He was willing to listen to me. I nodded and gestured toward the door. We would fly first and negotiate second. And then? Then we would deal with his father.
We walked quickly down the corridors till we emerged from the castle onto the landing platform. It was still dark, but I could see the faintest tinge of light beginning to grace the horizon through a gap in the mountains.
Emerald, Lance and Arthur were already waiting for us. Arthur hopped from foot-to-foot, his tongue hanging out in a happy grin when he saw Isla. She pranced towards him, her steps matching his.
‘All right,’ Turos whispered. ‘No noise on take-off, and we’re not going far.’
Turos and I climbed up onto our mounts as we watched Isla gather up the reins and hop onto Arthur’s neck. She wiggled around till she was comfortable and then nodded her head at us. Arthur walked to the edge of the platform and braced himself while he waited for Lance and Turos to take off. Emerald and I would take up the rear.
I watched as Lance jumped lightly into the air. He flew out about two hundred feet and then turned, beating his wings to stay stationary as he waited for his son to take off.
Isla tightened her grip with her knees as Arthur leant over the edge. The little dragon opened his wings and with one little jump was gone.
Eeeeeeeeeek, I gasped into Emerald’s head as he plummeted from view.
Have faith.
I tried to have faith, but I was already envisioning the tongue-lashing we would get from the Dragon Masters if news of this got out. But instead of diving after him, Emerald flew out past Lance, and I could see what she already knew.
Arthur was below us, but he was flying. Isla leant over his neck as his wings worked to bring him back up to our height. He circled up past us and Lance took the lead, guiding him toward the mountains on the other side.
We crested their peaks as the sun winked over the horizon, its light sparkling along the top of the water in a golden path. And there, flickering in and out of the path of light, were a hundred ships under sail.
As the light of the dawn lit up the sky, chasing the shadows of the night away, more ships appeared. Their black bodies scarred the ocean for as far as the eye could see.
The horror I felt was mirrored on Turos’s and Isla’s faces. Emerald let out a snarl and Lance bellowed his rage. But for all our anger, for all our defiance, we were helpless in the face of so many.
A forest of masts cast shadows. A plethora of men moved over the decks. A thousand ships told a story, for which there could be only one end.