Page 15

EILISH

Mercenary Stronghold

Flumph flies through the window and climbs onto my shoulder. He uses his crossbow to shoot down the horned beasts. My arms tremble from exhaustion, barely able to hold up the weight of my blade.

“These fuckers keep on comin’. Where the shit does Variant get all o’ these assholes?” the foul-mouthed sprite pants in my ear. He jumps each time the lightning flashes.

Rain batters the side of the building as the storm rages on. I need to get to the roof. Variant is up there. If I can just talk to him, help him break through Morrigan’s spell, if I can just make him understand that she’s the reason he’s acting this way...

I stab my dagger into the head of a demon and twist as I pull it free from its skull.

The last of Variant’s guards falls by my hand. Flumph vomits onto the floor when he finally sees the thick puddle of blood around my feet. The smell of death clings to me. “I have to do this on my own,” I tell him.

“Pretty,” he starts, shaking his head.

But, I’m firm. “If I need you, I’ll call. I promise. But... you can’t fight Variant.”

“The hell I can’t!”

I grab Flumph and toss him out the window. He catches himself mid-flight and I close the window so he can’t follow. He flies up to it and taps on it with his dirty fingernails. “Don’t you do this, Pretty!”

“I have to. Go help the fae get out when they call for the retreat.”

I don’t stay long enough to hear his reply. I throw open the door that leads to the roof. A ladder is propped against the wall. I have no choice but to sheath my blade. The rain causes my grip to falter as I climb. I grip the roof and pull myself up, arms burning from exertion.

I look up to see Variant standing there, like a god of mythos.

Pale hair sticks to rain-slicked muscle as the King of Light imposes his mighty figure.

A flash of lightning reflects in his eyes as he raises his sword high, wings spread in a glorious arc, and he severs King Galmer’s head from his shoulders.

“Variant, no!” I scream, just as the thunder roars in a wicked applause to Variant’s brutality. Variant kicks the centaur’s head off the roof and turns towards me.

I could never have imagined that the eyes of an angel could hold such malice.

I struggle to my feet. Variant charges right at me.

I deflect his sword strike with my dagger.

Metal chimes off metal, causing sparks to fly.

“You're better than this Variant!” I yell at him through the sheet of rain. “Morrigan’s spell can be broken! You don’t have to obey her! ”

“Morrigan is my queen,” he snarls.

“She’s not your queen! She used you.”

He swings at me. My succubus wings shoot out my back and shield me, but not before his sword cuts my hand. I manage to catch the dagger before it falls and in one fluid motion, I bring it up and thrust it forward. The dagger buries itself to the hilt in Variant’s stomach.

His beautiful gaze widens as shock overcomes his features. He looks down and takes stock of the blade inside him and then looks back down at me.

“I’m… sorry,” I say, feeling my throat tightening. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t supposed to end this way!

In the depths of the soulful orbs of his eyes, I see sudden awareness and recognition. “Eilish…” Variant says as he drops to his knees and one hand wraps around the pommel of the blade.

“I’m sorry,” I say again as I stand up and taking a deep breath, I brace my boot against his thigh and shove him off my dagger. He’s killed King Galmer and for that, the king’s people will demand blood. Now I’ve given it to them. Much though I didn’t want to.

You had no choice, I tell myself. Variant was coming at you. He would have killed you if you hadn’t killed him first.

Variant tumbles over the side of the roof and falls on top of the former Mercenary King’s body. The dark clouds break and rays of light extinguish the shadows. Pyre and Baron fight in the streets to gather survivors. And then it becomes all too much for me to take. I didn’t want to kill Variant.

I didn’t want to kill Variant!

Screams rip a hole in my chest and expose the raw flesh of my heart as it shatters.

Fires burn on as the rain stops and the static in my ears from the com are too much to bear.

“Retreat!” I call out to my friends and soldiers.

They protect as many innocent lives as they can as they run for the open gate.

I can’t stand here and watch them flee. I’m unsure whether it was courage or foolishness that told me to fight my way to the others, but I jump from the roof and use my wings to glide to the ground.

A troll grabs me by the throat. I kick and punch his heavy body, but his grip is firm. My fist finally connects with the side of his enormous head, at his temple, and the troll drops to one knee. It’s enough for me to free myself and bring my blade down to sever his head from his shoulders.

I see Baron out of the corner of my eye. He tosses a goblin through the air and drives his own dagger into another. I catch his eye and we fight our way to one another.

“King Galmer was killed,” I tell him, panting.

Baron’s smile drops. “How?”

I don’t speak, but my silence speaks volumes.

Baron’s anger manifests itself. The goblins and orcs attacking us fall back.

“When this is over, don’t expect me to forgive him, Eilish,” he says brokenly.

“Variant has crossed one too many lines. Even my own sins aren’t as heinous.

” His eyes narrow. “I understand he’s under Morrigan’s influence but that excuse… ”

“Variant is dead.”

His expression drops. Shock takes over. “Dead? How? King Galmer?”

I hold up my dagger because I can’t find the words.

“You… you killed him?”

I nod.

“Eilish, talk to me,” Baron says as he grips my hand. “I need you to explain to me.”

I take a deep breath. “I stabbed him.”

“And you’re sure he’s dead?”

I nod again. “It’ll take nothing short of a miracle to bring him back.”

“Did he hurt you?”

My injured hand reaches out for Baron of its own accord. Baron touches the wound gently. He digs into his pouch and pours the contents of an unlabeled bottle over the torn flesh before tearing off the sleeve of his shirt to wrap it. “It isn’t that bad, but thank you,” I say.

“We need to get these people out of here before the whole place comes crashing down worse than it already has.” Baron grabs my uninjured hand and leads me to where Pyre is fighting Unseelie soldiers.

Pyre smiles when I touch his arm. He catches my hand and presses a kiss to my palm.

Flumph lands on my shoulder again and a rippling boom forces Variant’s army back.

***

CAMBION

Desolate Border

The wave of magic conceals the dark army in a swirling vortex of scorching sands. I peer over my shoulder and see what’s become of the stronghold. Theren summons his mirror and the Staff of Scorn returns to his body. There are no more towers standing. Our coms send static in our ears.

Screams still ring from the distance and I feel a stab of guilt so potent, it’s as if I was the one who issued the attack. Theren grabs my sleeve and pulls me down to his level where he crouches in the sand. He places his palm flat on top of mine, allowing me to see through his mirror’s gaze.

Eilish stands before Variant with her wings curling around her protectively. Variant’s fury is overcome by shock. He hesitates. Eilish fumbles with her blade, but catches it before it hits the ground. With a flourish of her wrist, she guts the false king…

Theren breaks the connection. “We have to make sure Variant’s dead. If we don’t, then we risk him coming after us. Eilish could be in danger.”

I grip my brother’s shoulder and stare into his eyes. “Eilish is with the others, Theren. She will fare much better with them than us, at the moment. There’s nothing we can do for any of them right now.” I scan the sands for the little fae that followed me here. “Noni?”

Her tiny head pops out of the sand. Bombri peeks out from under another pile, his hair matted to his head as he coughs up a cloud of dust.

“Since when does it rain in the desert?!” the hobgoblin complains. Noni climbs up Theren’s robe and Bombri climbs up mine. I envy my brother the light weight of the house brownie, for Bombri weighs twice as much as Flumph and Noni combined.

“You guys were some of them elves in the Lord of The Rings, right? I thought you looked familiar,” Bombri continues.

“What the hell is he going on about?” Theren asks with a frown.

“Human things,” I answer.

“No wonder it makes no sense,” my brother grumbles. Then his thoughts turn to other things. He faces me and nods. “Pyre created the storm. It was a clever way to mask our scent and obscure the orcs’ vision.”

I nod and start walking towards the location Pyre had said he would cast the portal. “If we hurry, we can make it to the others before the portal closes. It’s a shame that none of our magics are at full capacity in the mortal realm.”

“Why the hell’s that?” Bombri asks.

I look at him. “There’s too much energy left behind by the first Singularity and the tears in the ethers make it difficult to navigate by scrying. We must use the sun.”

Theren says nothing as he follows me through the Desolate Border.

He pats Noni on the head and the house brownie climbs into his pocket for a quick nap.

Bombri hangs off my shoulders like an unenthusiastic sloth, smacking his lips as he describes what he thinks ice cream would taste like.

When the small ones are asleep, Theren finally speaks up. “Galmer has been slain.”

I pause in my stride and turn to him. “Variant?”

Theren nods, looking very grim for someone who only met the rebel king not long ago.

“It was a theatrical display on the Hall of Clans. Galmer’s head rolled in front of his son.

Novak is beside himself with grief. Unlike us, he had a father who was a good man as well as a good king. For that to be taken away from him…”

“It will change Novak forever, that’s for certain. Hopefully for the better.”

“It’s very rare that change is for the better,” Theren responds.

“I don’t believe that. The gods know my love for Eilish wouldn’t be so strong if she hadn’t taught me what it means to be a good man.

Through her resilience and her compassion, I’ve learned to appreciate our ability to change.

And I believe more people would change if they were given the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of redemption. ”

Theren laughs and it’s a sinister sound. He faces me and frowns. “And what of me, Cambion? Am I worthy of redemption?”

I hear the sincerity in his questions and I wish I had the answers he seeks. “That’s something I can’t answer, Theren. I don’t possess the power to offer redemption. Especially when I’m still searching for my own.”

We walk for miles until our feet hurt and we’re far away from any orc stragglers. I see movement in the distance and pick up the pace.

“The portal is closing!” I call out.

Eilish sees me. She calls out for Pyre to hold the portal. Sweat beads on Baron’s brow as he assists Pyre in transporting the survivors.

“Hurry,” I tell Theren and, luckily, we reach Eilish in time. Theren makes it through the portal beside me. Noni giggles. Bombri screams in my ear until I fear I might go deaf. That unsettling chill from the tear in the Veil prickles across my skin.

Nausea and dizziness render me useless.

The battle has taken too much out of me and I fall to the ground.