29 . 6 . 11
Sorry for the long pause between chapters again. I meant to update last weekend, promise! But then I ended up being super busy on account of my wonderful boyfriend asked me to marry him and thus the weekend turned into a party. And I got distracted looking at my sparkly ring. Haha! So yes. Enjoy!
The sun was setting when the wagon pulled in front of Iain's house. Cameron, Nre, and Karl were all awake, nerves high. They heard every sound — every footstep, every squeak of a hinge. They heard the soldiers disembark from the wagon, and from their horses.
"Three of us, four of them," Karl whispered, reminding them of the plan they'd devised as they rode. "Assuming no one comes out from the house. I'll try to distract them with magic, and you run back down the road as fast as you can. There's bound to be something to hide in, and if you're lucky, someone might be here already."
"Take care of yourself," Cameron said seriously, touching Karl's arm.
Karl chuckled, and he sounded genuinely amused for once.
"You know, I'm fairly certain that no one has ever said that to me before."
They heard the bolt on the door being slid out of place, and Cameron and Nre slipped behind Karl, ready to make a run for it as soon as he cleared a path. The door opened slowly, but Karl was ready. As soon as a head was visible, he was inside of it, shouting and screaming and slamming the man's thoughts around his head and into each other at a dizzying pace. Another head appeared, and Karl did the same thing to him; they both fell out of the way, and Karl kicked open the door. The other two were running toward him, shouting about something, but he was already inside their heads.
"Run!" he shouted at Cameron and Nre; his magic was flagging fast trying to keep all of them occupied.
The royals didn't need to be told twice; they were out and running before Karl finished the word. He scrambled the men's thoughts as much as he could, panting at the effort — they were all on the ground, trying to get up, then forgetting why they were trying to get up. Cameron and Nre were running breakneck down the road, and Karl's hands were beginning to shake.
Just—a bit—
The door to the house slammed, and voices began shouting all at once, breaking Karl's concentration. Fifteen men were pouring out the door, running toward him with swords and long knives.
Cameron and Nre saw this over their shoulders, and they ran faster, looking desperately for a place to hide. The ground was dismally flat and dry, as far as they could see, and they were starting to get stitches in their sides.
Then, they spotted a cluster of boulders, far off from the road. Cameron grabbed Nre's hand and started toward it.
They heard a scream behind them — Was that Karl? — and before they could even think to look, everything went black.
Carvin and the others reached the rocks the fairy told them about around midnight. Rose was completely dead on her feet, collapsing into a pile of skin and bone as soon as they stopped moving.
"Poor girl," Sarah said softly, stroking Rose's hair.
She was tired, too, but she wasn't going to show it. Neither was Dannlin, though he sat beside Sarah as well and leaned against the rock. He may have even closed his eyes. And if his hand happened to fall on top of Sarah's in a very protective way—well, who was paying attention?
"Are those lights in the distance?" Carvin asked no one in particular, squinting toward the west.
"Probably," Faidn said, securing the horses to a dry, thorny shrub that grew stubbornly between the rocks. "These horses need water."
Carvin didn't say anything. He was staring at the lights.
"Vin," Faidn said cautiously. "Remember what that woman said about heroic ideas—"
"I know," Carvin said. "I also know that she tried to kill me once. Pardon if I take everything she says with a grain of salt all of a sudden."
His voice was flinty. Faidn almost didn't recognize it.
"Don't be stupid," he said slowly. "It won't be long 'til the soldiers get here, and I'm sure the King and Queen have a plan."
Still, Carvin stared at the lights. Faidn didn't say anything; he just watched Carvin's face change as each thought struck him.
It made sense, of course, to wait for the soldiers to arrive. That the woman was the same fairy that nearly killed him wasn't the problem, either. It was Nre. And Nre was trapped in that house with someone who wanted to kill her for something that wasn't even her fault. He couldn't stand idly by while his love—while Nre could be killed at any moment.
She wasn't guaranteed a sunrise.
But, at the same time, what could he do? He was one man (two, if you counted Faidn. Maybe one and a half.) against who-knows-how-many of Iain's men. And, he knew no magic. It would be a pointless act.
But the fact remained that Nre was in that house, and he wasn't doing anything about it.
Faidn watched the war raging in Carvin's head until his friend finally spoke, in a voice far too old for his years.
"We'll wait."
When Cameron and Nre regained consciousness, they were in a brightly-lit room. Nre recognized the smell of books even before she was fully awake, and she peered around groggily at what appeared to be a lush library. They were in the middle of a long aisle lined with books.
"What—" Cameron began to say, sitting up alongside Nre, but he stopped when he heard a noise at the end of a row.
They looked at each other, then stood as quietly as they could. Nre spotted a double-door behind them and squeezed Cameron's hand, nodding toward it. They both began to back up, then a voice rang out from out of sight.
"The doors are locked. Did you really think I would let you escape that easily after it took me so long to find you?"
A red-haired man appeared at the end of the row. He was smiling, a book in hand and a monocle in his eye. He removed the monocle and strode toward them, still smiling, and flipping through the book without looking at it.
"Cameron, Nre. Make yourself comfortable."
He gestured at a sofa behind them, toward the exit.
"No, thank you," Cameron said stiffly.
"Suit yourself," Iain said with a shrug, walking closer to them.
Cameron backed up, and so did Nre. The man's smile made Nre's skin crawl. And the way he handled the book — like it was something he dearly wished to smash into their heads — made her heart thud chillingly.
"I trust you know why you've been brought here," Iain said.
Pages slipped between his fingers in a slow pattern. Nre couldn't take her eyes off of them. One-two-three, one, one, one-two-three, one, one.
"Firstly, you should know that there are numerous enchantments over the room — spells that will keep you from wishing for anything until I say you can. Now, whatever my fiari has told you, if you cooperate, no one need die today," Iain continued, never losing the pattern of the pages.
"Except all the fairies," Nre blurted, tearing her gaze from his hands and focusing it on his face, hot injustice burned in her cheeks. "All the innocent people who have done nothing to you."
"Well, except them," Iain said magnanimously, "but who counts the fairies when we're talking about important lives to be saved, hmm?"
He paused, but neither Cameron nor Nre said anything.
"After all," he continued, "they're just a blight on human society, aren't they? They enslave our youth, intentionally sabotage our labors, and render the Woods dangerous and uninhabitable. What have they ever done for us?"
"You're sick!" Cameron said, his voice ringing strong and accusatory. "Just because someone doesn't serve us doesn't mean we have the right to destroy them! They have as much of a right to live here as we do!"
Iain simply smiled and kept flipping pages, so Cameron continued.
"We may not get along well with the fairies right now, but things could change. I mean, we still have fairies enslaved under us — how can we expect them to love us and hope for our well-being? That surely won't have a dream of happening until all the fiari are freed. Use Shayna's Wish to free the fiari instead, Iain."
One, one-two-three, one, one, one-two-three.
"The fairies pose an imminent threat to mankind," Iain said after pause. His voice was cool, logical. It sounded like he was explaining something very straightforward and reasonable. "Their power far exceeds ours, and they know it. They content themselves with petty tricks for now, but how long do you think that will amuse them?"
His eyes glinted, and his fingers ran the pages faster.
"It won't be long before they realize that they can overcome us, and where will your talks of peace be, then? When we are crushed under their heel?"
Cameron and Nre had no response, but the expressions on their face told Iain everything he needed to know.
"I can see that you are not willing to cooperate," he said softly, closing the cover of the book firmly. The pages fluttered, then lay flat under the pressure of Iain's hand. "Since you will not choose human well-being over human suffering, let me pose to you an easier choice."
Nre's hand was ripped away from Cameron's by a force not her own, and it came to rest in Iain's hand. She knew what was going to happen next, and she closed her eyes, as if that would stop his next words from coming.
"Will you choose human suffering over her life, Cameron? Will you allow this plague to live on in our world and allow this girl to die?"
Nre looked at Cameron. Years of letters, all-night conversations, friends through everything, now lovers who had survived a terrible adventure together. How could he possibly choose?
"Say yes," Nre whispered.
In Cameron's head, a war was raging. If he said yes, Nre might not be the only one to die.
But it might buy him more time to—to what? For others to find us? He thought of Mel, and of Nre's parents who were supposedly on their way. If he could just stall Iain until then…
"Iain, please think about this," he said, taking a pleading tone again. "If all you want is peace, there is another way—"
"I don't want peace!" Iain shouted, throwing the book onto the ground with a resounding slam. "I want the fairies dead!"
The door crashed open, and people began to stream in, distracting Iain long enough for Nre to wrench away from him and bolt for the door. In the hubbub, she recognized Mollnian uniforms and—was that Faidn? They were all fighting with Iain's guards as they swirled into the room.
"Nre!" Cameron shouted, tackling her as Iain shot a spell after her; it narrowly missed the both of them.
"Catch!" shouted a voice that they both recognized as Carvin's, and two swords slid across the floor toward them.
Nre yanked Cameron out of the way of another spell and grabbed the smaller of the swords, running toward Iain like a maniac. Cameron had nearly died by this man's hand, and she wasn't about to let that go. Nevermind that she had no idea how to wield a weapon this heavy, or that Iain clearly knew magic.
Thankfully, Cameron also picked up a sword and reached Iain first. He blocked the man's spell with his sword, then swung heavily. Nre was soon flanked by two Mollnian soldiers who informed her that Mel had enchanted the sword to help her fight, and they were soon set upon by four of Iain's men.
"I swear, they're breeding like rabbits when we're not looking!" Faidn cried, wielding his weapon as best he could against the men and glad he was fighting alongside the Mollnian general.
"You can end this now, Cameron, by wishing for the fairies' demise," Iain said, pulling a sword from a sheath that Cameron swore was not there moments earlier. "There's no need to see your friends die."
"I'll kill you first," Cameron growled, thrusting the sword forward.
"Very well," Iain said, blocking the blow easily with a slow smile. "This will be amusing."
The battle vacillated, and Nre could hardly keep track of what was happening. Her mind had been taken over by some sort of survival instinct that was screaming constantly. She tried to focus on holding the sword and dodging any blows — the sword pretty much handled any attacks or blocks for her.
Despite the enchanted sword, she soon found herself backed against the wall next to Karl and Sarah, trying to fight off three of Iain's soldiers before the trio crushed. Karl and Sarah both looked fit to collapse at any moment, which didn't buoy Nre's hopes of success in the slightest.
Then, she saw her father. He'd caught sight of her in the battle, and he was at her side almost instantly, killing one man and disarming another before Nre had time to properly notice he was there.
"Father," she gasped.
He smiled tightly at her, blood smeared on his cheek, but his eyes looked relieved. She smiled, then paid for her inattention with a slice to her arm. Thomas managed to block it before it did more than draw blood, but that put Nre's head back in the battle. A surge of fear made her look up to see how Cameron was faring, and she sighed a little when she saw he was still alive, battling fiercely with Iain.
Cameron blocked blow after blow, returning strike for strike and jab for jab. He prided himself on being an excellent swordsman, but Iain was a formidable opponent.
"Just wish," Iain ground out between clenched teeth, swinging his sword in a move that almost made Cameron lose his grip on his weapon.
"Never," Cameron grunted, returning a blow faster than Iain expected and cutting the man's leg.
Iain returned the favor with a quick jab to the thigh which Cameron blocked expertly. What he was not expecting, though, was a follow-up attack to his shoulder. He managed to deflect the blade from his arm, but it bit into his side instead.
Nre's head jerked up when she heard Cameron cry out, and she saw crimson staining his shirt.
"Cameron!" she yelled, startling the soldier in front of her long enough for Thomas to render him no longer a threat.
"Ah, Cameron, really?" Karl said testily; he closed his eyes and thrust a hand toward the battling pair, loosing a spell that made Iain lose his balance.
Cameron championed Iain's momentary weakness, forcing Iain back, against the library wall.
"Fare well," Cameron ground out, and he plunged his sword through the man's heart before he could say anything.
Nre, distracted by Cameron's victory, was jerked back to her fight when a searing pain rippled through her thigh. Her opponent pulled his sword out with a bare smile and Nre swallowed, blocking his next blow as she tried to remain standing.
Karl touched her arm and muttered something, pulling his arm away quickly again and dodging a blade. Immediately, the pain in her leg began to dull, though the wound itself remained.
Thomas disposed of the man who had injured his daughter, but was then driven away, along with Karl and Sarah. Nre tried to follow, but two soldiers came between them. Nre's heart was in her throat, and she hoped the blade knew what it was doing as it jumped from attacking one to blocking the other in a matter of seconds.
She wasn't left alone long, though; Cameron and Carvin appeared by her side as if she had called them, distracting the soldiers long enough for Nre to bolt and join up with Rose, Mel, Faidn, and her mother who were taking on seven.
"You know, Cameron," Carvin said. "Under normal circumstances, we would be fighting against each other for the hand of the lady."
Cameron nodded, sweat trickling down his wincing face.
"Yes, but now it is more important to be fighting with each other for the head of the lady."
"True." He blocked a sword, than thrust. "Sorry I couldn't help with Iain — I couldn't manage to get out of the thick and to your side."
"Understandable," Cameron grunted, disarming his opponent. "I appreciate the sentiment.
"Of course."
Something in Carvin's tone wasn't right, but Cameron didn't have time to think about it; he blocked another blow, then felled another soldier.
"You know, milady, you're not bad with the blade," Faidn commented, looking at Gloria with some surprise. She was, in fact, better than he was, but Faidn didn't want to say that, exactly.
"I did my time in the ring," Gloria said, blocking a blow, then saving Rose who — with her enchanted blade — was actually doing marvelously well. "I beat Thomas once, actually."
"No!" Nre cried, overhearing her mother's statement.
"Oh, Nre!" Gloria shouted, then she noticed Nre's leg. "You're hurt!"
"Oy!" Faidn yelled, blocking a blade from stabbing Gloria through the heart. "The battlefield is no place for warm reunions!"
Nre didn't even hear her mother; her horrorstruck gaze was fixed on the other side of the room, where a man was pulling his blade from Cameron's torso.
"Cameron!" Nre's cry echoed through the room once more, and she dropped her sword with a clatter, running and tripping across the littered floor.
Carvin was letting out a long wordless cry of rage, driving the three men who had besieged the pair back, back, killing one—back—then two—
"Cameron!" Nre choked, falling to her knees by Cameron's side and ignoring her leg, which was now bleeding profusely.
Cameron saw her face swimming above him, through a haze he couldn't quite dispel.
"Cam?" She brushed sweaty hair out of his eyes; her trembling hand cupped his cheek.
An awful amount of blood was staining her pants, and it wasn't all her own. Karl and Mel were by her side in an instant, muttering things and clenching their eyes tightly closed, hands resting on Cameron's tattered shirt.
Cameron suddenly couldn't feel very much of anything, except Nre's hand cold and shaking, against his warm cheek. He looked up and her, and was lost in her eyes.
"Cam, say something," Nre said, her eyes filling with tears which then fell, plip-plop, onto Cameron's face; they smeared a streak of blood as they ran down his cheek.
Cameron could barely hear her anymore, but he could feel — he could feel! — her hand, her tears, as he sunk further down into the floor, to the ground.
"Please, Cam," Nre said, tears falling recklessly onto his face now.
Karl and Mel, pale and exhausted, continued muttering, touching: their own hands stained with Cameron's blood.
Cameron managed to move his lips, heavy as lead, with great effort.
"I wish," he said on a breath, "that Carvin and Nre—"
"Stop, you'll be fine," Nre pleaded, but Karl and Mel had moved back now, looking at each other.
"—that they will be happy—together."
"Cameron—"
Things were starting to get fuzzy, but Cameron pressed on.
"I wish that Nre and the others would be safe."
Cameron couldn't see anything but Nre's eyes, couldn't feel anything but her finger on his cheekbone.
"Nre," he managed to say, "I love you."
And then she vanished.
Everything is starting to come together! Ahh! What do you think of Mel? And Thomas and Gloria?
Mazzie: Nope. You missed nothing. Although you would have missed a chapter if last weekend hadn't been so unaccountably busy. ;-) Yeah, any help is better than no help. And abusing humans is just what fairies do, 99% of the time. When they're not on the verge of being destroyed, that is. Yeah dude, being stuck 100 miles from your mortally imperiled daughter would be the pits. I know. I love Cameron. :-/ So sad. About Faidn... we do need to talk. I refuse to be shut out like this! -dramatic- Congrats on being the sole reviewer. XD You get a piece of my wedding cake. From the future. THAT'S HOW SPECIAL YOU ARE.
Reviewers get Twinkies!