Sibling Rivalry
"Come with me, Princess, if you want to live," Devon whispered, gripping the younger woman's upper arm. "We don't have much time."
"Wait," Nuala replied, pulling against the superior force. "My father." Her tone was anguished, but Devon spared no sympathy.
"Is as good as dead- you know your brother's prowess." They rushed the darkened hallways, silent as shadows.
"He wants the crown, how can he be so foolish? The Golden Army is a curse, it will destroy the whole of the earth if it is released!" Nuala was sobbing, ready to fall apart. Devon cupped her head between her hands and pressed her lips to hers. She breathed strength into her, life from her innermost core of reserves. When she pulled back there was new determination in the Princess' eyes.
"You have to go. Meet me at the Troll Market. Your father still has friends there."
"I can't leave you to face him! He'll kill you!"
Devon smiled and tucked her elf-blonde hair behind her ears. "I'm not selfless enough to throw my body on his sword- not even for your sake, dear one. I have plenty of tricks up my sleeves." Nuala still hesitated. "My blessings go with you." She gave her a hard shove. "Now run!"
She did not wait long before the shadows parted around Prince Nuada's pale, proud features. For a moment his lithe grace had her holding her breath. She clutched the ash wand tighter, seeking reassurance in the familiar grooves. Her face was composed when she stepped out to intercept him. For a moment, he lost his stride and she saw surprise and fear flicker over his face. Then it was gone, and he was sneering at her with that familiar conceit.
"Priestess- you have something that belongs to me." He nodded at his lumbering accomplice to follow after Nuala. Devon smiled.
"Silverlance- I have something that you will never possess."
Her eyes flashed warningly, but the fair-haired prince only laughed. "You're just like my sister so beautiful, so emotional, and so very weak."
"I've put up with quite enough of your condescending attitude over the centuries. I felt badly for you, you know, after your mother died so young. But perhaps it is time everyone stopped coddling you."
"Come dance with me, Priestess. We'll see who has been coddled," Nuada taunted, his eyes betrayed anger, but he was still in control. That wouldn't do at all.
She traced her holy symbols into the air and obediently the elements came to her siren call. They gathered under her feet, pushing the soil aside to stroke the soles of her shoes. It had been so long since she'd had reason to need them that she'd almost forgotten the heady feeling of power. Her blue eyes flashed open to see Nuada lunge from his battle stance into combat. His blade came within a finger length of her throat before a tree root sprang from the ground to block him.
Then the battle took hold of her and the all her concentration went to keeping that shining, flashing, dipping, dancing blade away from her. Her strongest power by far had always been earth magic, but Nuada was so athletic that his feet barely touched the ground. It was infinitely harder to restrain a moving, airborne target than to tangle up an earthbound one. The plants she controlled were almost innumerable, but his sword cut through them easily. What she needed was a distraction.
Her ash wand sketched again, and all the roots and vines that continued to hold the prince at bay began to bud and flower. Each bloom opened to emit a tiny cloud of pollen. Alone, a cloud was barely enough to evoke a yawn in a small child. Together they could fell an elephant. Nuada began to slow. A vine circled his foot and anchored it to the ground. Roots quickly tied him to the spot, pulling his lance from his hand. He was fighting the sleeping agent fiercely, but in moments it would overwhelm him.
Devon put her wand away and climbed up the mound of wood and plants to kneel on the prince's chest. "Will you listen to reason, Silverlance?"
"It is reason that compels me on this course," he seethed, struggling still against the earth. "Release me witch, or kill me here and now. My ambition will not be silenced any other way."
"Foolish Princling," she spat, turning from him in disgust. "You will force me to take sides in a conflict that is none of my making."
"There comes a time when we all must decide where we stand, and you and I have always been opposites and adversaries." He sounded as though he were on the cusp of sleep. Devon stared into his eyes as he drifted further away from her. When she was sure he was far too gone to hear her, she leant down and gently kissed him.
"Not always," she whispered. And a second later, she was gone.
The Troll Market teemed with life, it oozed through cracks and floated through the air. Devon usually walked openly through it and soaked up the atmosphere. Today she was hooded and veiled in green, every distinctively elfish ornament was removed. She tasted the currents and found them slightly off. She was not the only thing disturbing the market that day, and she prayed that Nuala wasn't the cause of it.
She made her way through the winding streets, stopping to purchase here and there so as not to stand out. She witnessed a strange scene in one of the squares where a demon was beating some information out of a troll, but even that wasn't wholly unusual. Finally she caught sight of Nuala, just as a tall, blue-skinned man spotted her. Devon scowled and knew she'd be having a loud conversation with Nuala about not wearing the royal crest on her wrist when trying to be inconspicuous.
Devon shadowed Nuala's shadow as they all hurried to the meet the informant. Nuada's man, if he was in Nuada's service, seemed distracted enough that she decided to risk probing him. Pretending to admire some jewels on display, she held out her hand and pushed her power in the man's direction. He whipped around, but it was too late. She'd read everything about him she needed to know.
Putting the jewel down, she stepped into Abe's line of site and threaded his arm through his. "You're an unusual man, Abraham Sapien."
"You- how do you sense me from so far away?" He allowed her to lead him into the shop, sending one or two puzzled glances after Nuala.
"I've been doing this for a very long time," she said carefully. The shopkeeper was hurrying over, but stopped when Devon removed her veil. "We won't trouble you for long. Nuala!" she called.
The Princess stepped out hesitantly, clutching the map in one hand and staring openly at Abraham. "Is this one of your friends, Devon?" she asked gently.
"No, we've just met, but I believe he will be of some use." She said easily. "If you don't trust him, see for yourself."
Nuala held out a hand and Abraham followed suit. What should have taken only a moment stretched into several as they gazed into each other's eyes. Devon stared between the two of them, watching the attraction practically smolder in the air. "Ahem," she said delicately.
Abe broke away first, his eyes expressing embarrassment and elation, though his expression was hard to read. "If I understand the situation correctly, you're in need of a safe house. We at the BPDR can offer that much, at least."
"We certainly would appreciate-" Devon began, but suddenly an unfriendly presence made itself known. "Wink is here. We need to move now."
"Follow me," Abe said, leading them out the door and towards the exit to the human world. Wink was too fast for them. His metal fist crashed into the building in front of them- a warning shot.
Devon grabbed Nuala and held her in front of her. "Back away, troll. You know what happens to your master if she dies." Wink hesitated, then began cautiously advancing. A knife appeared in Devon's hand, she held it to the Princess' throat. To her credit, she didn't try to get away, though Devon could feel her fear.
Abe looked appalled. "What are you doing? She's your princess!"
"If it comes down to it, it's her job to die in service to her people," Devon replied darkly. Wink looked unsure; he shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Back away, and your master will live to fight another day," she said, putting the full force of her persuasive power behind her eyes.
Then it all went wrong. The red demon from the square leapt at the troll and what little thought he was capable of vanished into his instinctive fighting style. Devon sighed heavily and let Nuala go. Abe rushed over, clearly fighting the impulse to wrap he arms around the younger elf. "How could you?" he asked, staring angrily into her blue eyes.
"It was just a bluff, Abraham," Nuala said firmly.
"Even so, I thought she was supposed to protect you!"
"If I can protect her, I will, but my chief concern is protecting that," she pointed at the golden piece of the crown of Bethamora. "Emotions are wonderful things, but don't let them cloud your judgment." She smiled then, and Abraham took a step back. "Come, let's get the princess somewhere safe."
She wasn't there when Nuada's cave troll died, but Nuala gasped when she felt her brother's anger and grief. Devon frowned and when she spoke it was soft, "I didn't realize he had become so attached to Wink."
Nuala sighed and wiped away a few tears. "A thousand years is a long time," she said simply. "He's coming."
"Then I'd better be ready."
As it turned out, Hellboy was there to take the brunt of Nuada's anger. He seemed to welcome the aggression, thrive on it. Devon could understand that. She took the time to really look at Nuada. His face was proud and still, but there were lines of pain that were almost invisible to the naked eye. She felt sorry for him… until he pulled out a glowing green seed and tossed it onto the ground. A perfect specimen, a fertilized god of the earth, tossed contemptuously to the ground as though it were worthless! Wrath filled her.
She didn't see what Nuala did, nor the others in Abraham's little paranormal posse. Her sight was clouded by rage and she could only see Nuada as he gracefully scaled a nearby building where he could watch the carnage at his ease. Her anger fueled her as her power and she floated up after him. As luck would have it, she took him by surprise.
She knocked his weapon from his hand with one blow, even as she tackled him. They were evenly matched in strength and size. Her elemental air magic, weak as it was, was enough to cancel his advantage of experience. Devon punched him squarely in the face and he responded by backhanding her with enough force to temporarily dislodge her grip. He rolled them over, wrapping his hands around her throat. Which left him totally vulnerable to a sudden strike. In one swift moment she reached into her pocket and stuffed a pile of seeds down his shirt -then knocked him off her with an air current as he frantically tried to remove the creeping tendrils of various plants from his body. Devon stood up, wiping blood from her mouth as the plants immobilized Nuada's arms.
"Always the same tricks, Priestess?" he spat angrily.
"Is it my fault if you don't learn from experience?" she asked coldly. He was silent as she stared at him in disgust. "You call yourself an elf. What distinguishes you from them?"
"You compare me to that filth, infecting the earth with their stupid, unending avarice?" He sounded mortally insulted. Good. Below them, the street was being ripped apart by the earth god, angry at waking up in such polluted circumstances.
"I gave you a treasure beyond price, a god of the earth slumbering peacefully in a thin shell. They are holy. Do you know how rare it is to find one? Do you know how much they mean to one such as me? You cannot know, or you wouldn't have wasted it."
"Why did you give it to me if not to be used?" he growled painfully as she tightened the plants that bound him.
"It was not be used like this! For renewal of wasted land, for purification of polluted waters, even for beautification of a garden, but not for petty revenge!"
"He killed my friend!"
"So you sacrificed a god?"
"You couldn't understand, bonds like friendship and love have never meant all that much to you," he said smugly, as if he'd won something. She punched him again and felt barely a twinge of guilt when she thought of poor Nuala.
"It is you who has never understood," she almost screamed, but in the end her natural reserve kept it at a hushed whisper. Devon wound up to hit him once more when she suddenly heard the explosive sound of a gun. It scored a hit on the huge elemental god and Devon saw it sway, then again, and this time it fell. Instinctively it tried to take root to regain stability, but it was far too late.
"You could save it," Nuada said, his voice like honey. "With your gifts helping it, it would be unstoppable."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? No, better that it dies here than be used to further your ends." She moved to the edge of the building as a final shot sent the god to it's eternity. "My advice to you is to give up this idiotic quest. The Golden Army is a plague, darkness is drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Nothing created out of hatred and despair can be used for good. This war is not the answer."
"I will never give up, I will never let the humans win, and I will not fade," he said angrily.
"You blame the humans for the decline of the elves. It is not so simple." He did not answer. "Learn to be lonely, Silverlance." She dove off the building. Below her, the horrified screams of the human crowd were almost amusing. She floated down onto the petals of the huge flower and broke open the pistol. Inside lay three tiny green seeds, unfertilized, but she would make do with what she could get. She placed them into her pocket and went down to meet the others.
Some sort of confrontation had taken place and the group was dispirited. Luckily, this fit her mood perfectly. Nuala did not ask about her meeting with Silverlance and Devon did not feel inclined to share. In fact, there was very little speaking as the group trundled along in the cavernous automobile- but Nuala did keep very close to her new blue friend.