Chapter 15
The impact woke up Nuala, making her spring out of bed. An explosion? She went out of her room, towards the aisle, tying her robe at the waist. The cloud of smoke prevented her from seeing details and immediately seeped into her eyes, making them burn. It smelled like fire. She covered her mouth and nose with the robe and, blind about the path ahead, she went on. She heard the voices of Agents Hellboy and Sherman screaming above the sudden rushed steps and loud commands by other agents approaching the area. She wasn't used to living among beings of other species let alone among humans, however this agency was the only thing that could protect her from Nuada. After a month in this facility, she still felt like a stranger in unknown territory. An outsider. The only one of her kind all around. Agents Hellboy, Sherman and Sapien shared a friendship and camaraderie to which she didn't belong. The only one with whom she could feel comfortable and be herself was with Agent Sapien. Abraham Sapien. Perhaps it was his soft tone of voice or his logical way of explaining things which managed to lessen, even temporarily, her constant anxiety. She continued walking, unable to distinguish the blurry shapes of agents in the thick cloud of smoke, when suddenly she ran into someone. It was Abraham. A blush burned her cheeks, and she thanked the smoke around for concealing it from him. He took her in his arms and escorted her towards the library. They were walking through the aisle when Nuala spotted a ball of fire approaching in their direction. Terrified, she moved out of the way, crushing with her back against the wall. She didn't believe her eyes when she recognized who it was. It was Agent Sherman. She walked wide traces wrapped in flames from head to toes the opposite direction.
"I cannot live like this, Red!," she screamed as she passed by.
Abraham tried to justify his friends' outburst to Nuala when they spotted Agent Hellboy running behind Liz. He was begging her to return to their private chamber. They were partners in life. Sometimes she envied the intimacy and mutual understanding they conveyed when, with no words, they leaned against each other, held hands or joked about things only the two of them understood. Now the situation was different.
"Liz, I promise you I'll clean the place. We can move to a bigger apartment here if you like! I'll give the cats in adoption. Whatever you want, just don't leave, babe."
Agent Hellboy walked before Nuala and Abraham and, distracted, he greeted them. They arrived at the library. Abraham closed the doors and instantaneously the outer mess stayed out of the place. Nuala sighed, exhausted.
"They will be fine," Abraham said and gestured to the big brown leather couch. "They're like that, they have ups and downs. Sometimes more downs than ups. Sometimes more explosions and laughs, but they will be fine."
The Princess smiled at his explanation and lowered her head. The Agent watched her with a tilted head and blinked a few times with the vertical membranes of his eyes. He stood up and said he'd order tea for two. Nuala simply smiled. Agent Sherman burst in the library still in flames and Agent Hellboy arrived a few seconds later still going after her.
"You don't understand. Nothing will be the same from now on, but you don't change, Red. You don't change," the agent said with a choking voice.
She closed her eyes and slowly the flames extinguished until they vanished completely. She let herself fall on the couch next to Nuala. This was her power then, Pyrokinesis. Agent Sherman could command fire at will. It was the first time she had witnessed it.
"What do you mean?," Agent Hellboy asked as he opened a can of beer and collapsed on the armchair in front of the couch.
Abraham launched a gaze at Nuala, pleading to forgive his friends for making her nervous and creating such a mess. She could mentally connect with him if she focused. It wasn't something that happened to her frequently, let alone with someone of another species. He arrived to her side and brought a chair closer to the couch at her left. Agent Sherman stood up and sat on the armchair's arm where Agent Hellboy was. She took his stone hand in her tiny ones.
"Red, I'm pregnant. You'll become a father."
Agent Hellboy's harsh features broke, and he turned into stone. His light yellow eyes were astonished. They looked at each other. He left the beer can on the floor and with his free hand he ventured to brush Agent Sherman's abdomen. He faced her.
"What?," he mumbled in a thin thread of voice. "Will I be a father?"
Agent Sherman nodded and uttered a smile. They merged into a tight embrace and sobbed in between laughs. At the corner of her eyes at her left, Nuala noticed Abraham watching his friends motionless.
"Did you hear that, Blue? I'll be a father! A tiny little devil!," Agent Hellboy cried out of joy and took his couple in his arms. She let out a scream as he lifted her from the couch into his arms and among laughter they left the library.
A man of the service staff entered pushing a wagon with a tray on which there was a teapot and two cups. Abraham poured both and took them to the couch. Nuala accepted hers in her hands and breathed in deeply the sweet aroma of Rooibos tea. She drank a sip and allowed the warmth going down her esophagus to soothe her.
"I knew it," Abraham suddenly said. "We were investigating the crime scene at Blackwood's auction house when by accident I touched Liz's abdomen. She must have more than a month of gestation. I'll become an uncle," he said with more surprise than emotion in his voice.
The crime scene at Blackwood's auction house. Nuada. How many lives had his thirst for war already claimed? Suddenly she remembered what Abraham had shared with her some weeks ago as her brother was still prisoner a few meters away from the library. Agent Krauss had explained his reason to torture him in such a way. The human government wished to acquire the complete crown of Bethmoora. The Princess never believed what supposedly motivated them to get it. It wasn't about neutralizing the imminent Elven threat, but possessing the Golden Army for themselves. It pained her to admit it, yet she had to agree with her brother. Human greed knew no limits. The crown of Bethmoora and all its attributions were and would always be Elven. Her father had died at the hands of Nuada, keeping the truce with humans. Nuala wouldn't allow the humans to snatch the last bastion of Elven culture. On the other hand, her brother could neither put his hands on it, nor on the map with the location of the Golden Army. There only seemed to be one solution.
"What are you thinking about? Do you wish me to escort you to your room?"
Nuala left her teacup on the coffee table and stretched her left hand with an open palm towards Abraham. He connected with his right one. Abraham blinked a few times. The Princess read from his mind the answer. Liz. Nuala opened her robe and placed her hands on her abdomen. Regardless of which outfit she wore, she always had the golden diamond-shaped corset on which contained the last piece of the crown. She took it out from its embedding and studied it.
Nuala.
She shook all over like an earthquake wave. She fitted the piece back into her corset and closed her robe with clumsy, shaky hands. Abraham looked at her in distress.
"He's here," she mumbled, trembling. "My brother is here."
Abraham ran to the walk and pressed the emergency button. Immediately a loud alarm sounded, its persistent ringing from above deafening her. Seconds later a horde of armed black-suited human agents arrived at the library and at her back, Agents Hellboy, Sherman and Krauss. From the main aisle Nuala heard the agents fighting and wrestling with Nuada. She knew the sound his lance made when he spun it at full speed like a propeller. He was quick and lethal. The best and last Elven warrior. Abraham protected her with his own body. A few meters before her, Agent Hellboy was keeping the entrance as an obstacle impossible to dodge. Agent Sherman advanced towards her direction. She took place at her left and lit herself on fire. Nuada was getting closer, knocking down every single agent like mere pawns in a chessboard. At the corner of her eyes, Agent Krauss approached her.
"You can give the crown piece to me, Your Highness," he said in a marked German accent.
Nuala ignored him. She leaned closer to Abraham, squeezing his arm with both hands. He remained like a living shield before her. Nuada appeared under the library threshold. He spun his lance and putting it away under his arm he walked forwards fixed on her. Nuala swallowed hard. She tried with all her strengths to connect with him. Brother, reconsider. Stop. Nobody wants the war. Neither you nor me. Take me home. She received no answer. Agent Hellboy and Nuada faced each other in battle.
"Don't hurt the Prince, Red!," Abraham screamed. "You'll hurt the Princess, too!"
"I know, goddammit!," Agent Hellboy shouted back as he blocked with his stone hand every attempt of Nuada to stab him.
Her brother knocked down Agent Hellboy to the floor. He immobilized him with the sharp tip of his silver lance pinching his throat.
"Will you give me the crown piece?," he spoke for the first time and looked directly into her eyes.
Nuala shook her head, unable to control the tremble of her body. Agent Hellboy beat the lance by its shaft away from his neck and impulsed himself to stand up. Nuada attacked, this time he jumped above the agent and with the back part of his lance he hit him on the back hard enough to knock him down one more time against the floor. He landed on him and placed the lance's blade edge against his neck once again.
"The piece, Nuala."
The Princess looked discretely to her left. Elizabeth. Agent Sherman answered her call and gave a small step towards her. Nuala opened her robe and took out the crown piece out of her corset. She presented it before her.
"Your Highness, no!," Abraham and Agent Krauss shouted at the same time.
Nuada still had Agent Hellboy reduced to the floor under the edge of his lance. His amber eyes shone as he saw the piece. In a single quick movement Nuala extended the piece towards Agent Sherman at her left. She took it in her hands burning in the fire. Bravely, the Princess endured the flames burning the skin of her hand. Nuada felt it too in his.
"NO!," Nuada screamed and hurtled to Agent Sherman.
It was too late. The piece's pure gold melted in her hands. The golden drops landed on the carpet floor. Nuada leaped on Nuala out of his senses, but Agent Sherman closed his path like a burning barricade. Nuala gave one step backwards. The fire's blazing heat began to make her dizzy. She lost balance. Abraham caught her in his arms. Agent Hellboy stood up.
"It's over, Your Assness," the agent said at Nuada's back. "Now if you want to exterminate the humans, you'll have to do it with your own hands and send to war the few Elven warriors you still have left. You'll send them on a suicidal mission and will end up extinguishing your race."
The agency's director, the human Tom Manning, appeared at the library door and, disoriented, he watched the situation with a puzzled demeanor. When he saw Nuada, he shouted the order to his agents to catch him.
"Let him go, Manning," Agent Sherman said still before Nuala like a shield on fire, "he has nothing to threaten us with anymore."
You'll pay a high price for this treason, sister. Not only have you betrayed your brother, but also your future king and your people.
Nuada left in silence. The black-suited human agents opened the way, yet they still pointed their weapons at him until they saw him leaving the premises.
The Princess recovered her composure. She supported herself on Abraham to stand up straight on her feet. He congratulated her on her performance. All eyes were on her. She opened her way and arrived before Agent Krauss.
"You tortured my brother, and by extension me, pursuing a crown which wasn't completely in his possession," she said with a stern tone. The agent let out steam through his mechanical gills. "Once you were a human yet despite your current form, the greed of your kind hasn't left you. The crown of Bethmoora is and will always be Elven. Complete or not. My father died honoring the truce with humans and now I've just destroyed the crown of my people to protect Humanity like he did. It will cost me exile by my own kind and the eternal despise of my brother, my only family."
Agent Krauss uttered a verbiage why the government of the United States wanted to possess the key to awaken the Golden Army at any cost. Nothing mattered anymore. The only and most effective defense arm of the elves would forever remain dormant, for the crown could never be completed to awaken them. A piece forged out of magic globin gold thousands of years ago, entrusted by her father in her hands to protect it with her life, had melted in a matter of seconds. With no complete crown, the throne of Bethmoora would forever remain vacant, for Nuada couldn't take an oath on a crown whose key piece was no more. The kingdom would collapse. The fragile and millenary legacy of the elves began fading like the wind blows the grains of sand, leaving nothing behind. With this act, the Princess knew from that day forth she'd become landless. The doors of Bethmoora would never open for her again.