Stormfront E-Book

John Goode

• Herausgeber: Harmony Ink Press
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 414

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Sequel to The Unseen Tempest Lords of Arcadia: Book Four Kane's ordinary life became anything but when he met his soul mate, Hawk, and was drawn into a world of enchantment with rules very different from the world he left behind. Together, Kane and Hawk are on a quest to prevent the destruction of the Nine Realms, and that means rescuing Hawk's mother and putting a stop to Hawk's father's evil plans. The end of the journey is within their sights at last, but time is running out. Kane and Hawk's mission to free Titania from the Big Bad Wolf and save Athens from Oberon's wrath will lead them through many different worlds. And their adventure won't end there—they will have to face the one who has been pulling the strings and manipulating the situation all along before the Nine Realms will be safe. It's a journey that will leave them—and everything else—irreparably changed.

Leseprobe

Stormfront

By John Goode & J.G. Morgan

Sequel to The Unseen Tempest

Lords of Arcadia: Book Four

Kane was a normal boy with a normal life until he fell into a world of fantasy and magic and discovered normal is not what it used to be. Now with his soul mate Hawk, he must fight to free Hawk’s mother, stop Hawk’s father from destroying Kane’s home, and prevent the Nine Realms from collapsing on each other.

It has all been leading to this. With no time left, Kane and Hawk must race through different worlds to free Titania from the Big Bad Wolf and stop Oberon from destroying Athens and everything Kane holds dear. But all of this is only a prelude to facing the true mastermind behind these plans and the fate she has in store for the Nine Realms. After this, nothing will be the same again.

Table of Contents

Blurb

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Prelude

Act One: The Siege of Arcadia

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Act Two: The Rise and Fall of the Big Bad Wolf

Chapter Six

Act Three: The Curious Case of the Clockwork Girl

Chapter Seven

Act Four: Homecoming

Chapter Eight

Act Five: The Hero’s Journey

Chapter Nine

Epilogue: The New Worlds’ Order

Epilogue

The Stuff After the Book….

More from John Goode & J.G. Morgan

Readers love the Lords of Arcadia series by John Goode & J.G. Morgan

About the Authors

By John Goode

By J.G. Morgan

Visit Harmony Ink Press

Copyright

To Paul and Sonia, who geared up and took the adventure with us this time.

Acknowledgments

I’D LIKE to, again, acknowledge Gina for reading my stuff. Gayle, for you know, making my stuff readable. And to everyone else who left reviews and feedback for the novels. This is our world, never forget it.

Prelude

ONE SECOND the field was empty; the next it wasn’t.

In the space between those two seconds, something occurred, something unnatural. Reality tore, Oberon fell through, and reality basted itself back together. Off balance, Oberon ended up on his back, staring disbelievingly at the rapidly fading, jagged crack in current time. As far as he could tell, Inmediares had both pulled things apart and smashed them back together once Oberon had arrived at the other end of the tear. He’d never experienced a Sending as powerful and gut-wrenching as this one. He didn’t want to go through that again. Ever.

Instead of creating a gateway to span the distance between two points, this felt more like Inmediares had grabbed a piece of both worlds and shoved them together to make the distance negligible.

Inmediares had promised him many things before he left; the very least was unimaginable power. After feeling what she had just done, he believed she could deliver on that promise.

Coughing on the foul air, the Arcadian lord looked around at his surroundings. He stood on the edge of a town, the one Hawk’s consort must have come from. He couldn’t precisely describe what he saw and smelled; everything covered in soot and grime was the best he could do. He had personally visited six of the Nine Realms in his lifetime, and none of them seemed this… dismal?

If the rest of the world looked like this, it barely seemed worth destroying. But it would be destroyed. As long as the consort’s world existed, a chance existed that the seed could be planted and balance restored to the realms. A balance that would remove Arcadia as the center of the Nine Realms.

The rumbling sounds of a massive beast charging directly at him yanked Oberon’s thoughts back to the present. As wide as three men, it moved far faster than any creature the fairy king had ever seen. The sound it let loose when it spotted him must have been some sort of warning, but ended up coming across more like a strangling goose’s battle cry as it roared and bore down on him.

Though Oberon’s first instinct was to summon his sword, he found the belt that circled his waist instead. His fingers touched one of the many gems decorating its surface, and he felt magic move through him. He concentrated on the beast and let the magic flow. The creature shimmered in place as its form was twisted and turned by the jewel’s magic.

Inmediares had told him the belt could alter reality around it, but until he saw the metal creature start to elongate and twist he had not believed her. The original blue sheen grew darker as armored segments began to form down its length, making a carapace of sorts. The strange black circles it had been traveling on withered and vanished, and its underbelly lost the odd pipes and flat panels. The top was now a bruise-colored purple, while the underbelly lightened until it was an ocher. The grill-like contraption that was once the beast’s front spread open to form a massive mouth surrounded by thousands of shark’s teeth bristling from its gums.

Not until Oberon heard the aborted screams coming from within the beast did he realize what he had mistaken for a monster was a vehicle of some kind and had carried passengers.

Had being the important word in that sentence.

Where seconds before a bright blue Ford Focus had stood, a nine-foot-long pourprever—translated as “gigantic purple worm” in fairy—pulsed silently. Giant, meat-eating worms that served no master but their own hunger, pourprevers were the monsters that literally hid far under the bed and could wait centuries if need be. When their hunger turned ravenous, they burst upward to the surface, and wreaked havoc, swallowing people whole until their ravenous appetites were sated. No one who knew of them considered them to be intelligent, yet this one was staring at the fairy king intensely, expectantly.

Oberon had never seen one in the flesh before. It was a truly terrifying sight to behold.

He heard something thud to the ground and looked at his belt. The gem he had touched lay blackened in the dirt, its magic consumed completely, just as the witch had explained.

“This is a powerful artifact,” Inmediares cautioned from her careless pose on the Arcadian throne. “It once belonged to the Gnome King himself and has the ability to alter reality around it.”

He took the gaudy-looking belt gingerly. “And you’re giving it to me?”

She nodded, giving him a small smile of mystery. “You’ll need an army once you get there. This will make you one.”

Over a hundred different gems had been placed around the wide strip of leather. “How? By stunning the populace with its magnificent garishness?”

She laughed, a sound devoid of any actual emotion. When she continued, her warning was clear. “Its power lies within that gaudiness, my dear fairy. Each gem has the ability to warp reality once, making any one thing into another by you simply thinking about it. Whatever you make will be utterly devoted to you.”

Oberon looked at the belt with new respect. “How?” he asked in awe.

“The how is not your concern,” she had snapped. “Your job is to go to this Earth and lay siege to young Kane’s town. Find his family, hold them hostage, do whatever you must to find leverage against him so he will turn the World Seed over to me.”

“Us,” he corrected.

“What?”

“You meant to say give the World Seed over to us,” Oberon repeated, his voice now cautious.

She sighed and stood, her dress a liquid-silver mountain stream cascading down her perfect form. Again she smiled at him. “My dear king, we both know that sooner or later one of us is going to betray the other. That time can happen now. I can destroy you with a thought and retrieve the seed myself. That is not my first choice, or you wouldn’t be here at all.” She shook her head, dismissing any questions Oberon might have had with that one gesture. “Or you can take the belt, travel to Kane’s world, and astonish the Realms by finding a way to turn the tables on me in the meantime. That choice is yours.”

He had chosen to buy more time.

The pourprever stared at him with milky, unmoving eyes. Being subterranean creatures, they had no use for actual eyesight, but it was still focused on him, waiting. Oberon stepped to the left; the massive worm turned its head to keep him within its range of perception.

“Excellent,” he said, smiling. “Burrow under the town and wait for my call. Do not attack until I say.”

If it understood him, it gave no indication. Motionless, it waited.

“Go,” he shouted in frustration, and pointed. “Wait for my order to eat.”

The worm spun into a circle as its head took a huge bite out of the ground beneath it. Oberon watched as the worm slid into the hole and burrowed toward the collection of dilapidated huts and buildings that humans called a “town.”

He looked at the town and said to himself, “This could work,” and began walking toward it.

Act One: The Siege of Arcadia

“Those who call upon the power of the Gods

are as powerful as the deities they serve will allow.

Conversely, the Gods are only as powerful as the belief of their followers.”

Father William

High Priest of Aponiviso

Chapter One

SO IT turns out the elven council chamber stank of burned incense and sweat.

The first smell came from the ceremonial incense they burned when giving thanks to their god, Koran. The second was from the standing-room-only crowd that had assembled to watch Kor and Ater get sentenced.

Why am I not surprised that elves can be rubberneckers?

Kor and Ater were shackled with enchanted silver that could have contained a wild elephant if necessary. Using it on two unarmed men was just rude and tacky, and we all know how little patience I have for tacky. They knelt on a raised dais, waiting for Nystel to make her judgment.

Again, the whole scene was crap. Nystel had made her judgment weeks ago when Ater came to tell Kor of the death of Pullus, Kor’s brother. Just as she had, long before, condemned Ater and the other dark elves to death simply for not following the edicts of Koran. Kor was being punished for helping Ater escape, a crime that, it seems, came with a death sentence as well.

I am the reason they are here, because they came to Nystel and offered up their surrender in return for her help against Oberon and his attempted attack on Olim’s ice castle. Olim, by the way, happens to be a witch from a pretty popular book series featuring a talking lion. Why that is, we don’t know yet, but I just wanted to throw that out for those who are new here.

So here were two elves, about to be killed because they chose to be different than everyone else. I’m curious, how okay do you think I am with that?

Nystel opened her mouth and proclaimed in Elven, “Les accusés ont été informés de leurs crimes.”

Don’t speak Elvish? Let me translate for you.

Nystel opened her mouth and proclaimed, “The accused have been informed of their crimes.” Neither Ater nor Kor looked up; they were long resigned to their fate. “I have prayed long about this and asked Koran for his judgment.” The room grew quiet as the ghouls—I mean, the faithful—waited for her to continue. “For turning away from the Light and crimes against Koran’s Faithful, you are both sentenced to—” Dramatic pause for effect. “—death.”

And words that sounded a lot like “Watermelon!” and “Cantaloupe!” arose from the assembled people.

Nystel raised one hand to get their attention. “Because Koran is a merciful God, I will ask if there is anyone present who will speak for the accused, who will attempt to defend the actions of the condemned.”

Surprise, surprise, no one raised a hand. Go figure.

“I will,” a voice called out from the far rear corner of the room. The people standing there moved aside, shocked because they thought no one was behind them. Funny thing is, they had been right; I wasn’t here a few seconds ago, but now I am.

A figure dressed in a black cloak and hood stepped out from the crowd and repeated, “I will defend them.”

If Nystel’s eyebrows had climbed any higher, they’d have taken off from her head and started flapping around. “Silence!” she commanded the elves who were now openly asking each who the hell that was. “And who are you?”

The hood slid back and revealed… me.

Oh yeah, I just totally Return of the Jedi’d this bitch.

“I am Kane, consort to the Throne of Arcadia and Guardian of the World Seed,” I said, encouraging the seed to fade into visibility. It glowed with a light that was impossible to track and that defied all logic. It cast no shadow and couldn’t be stopped by covering it with anything. If this thing wanted to glow, it glowed, and you just stood there and were glowed on.

Which was what Nystel was doing right now, getting glowed on big-time.

“I am here to defend these two,” I said, walking toward her. “They are my friends, and you are going to let them go.”

“You are not an elf!” some guy… er, guy elf in the crowd shouted.

Can’t get anything by him.

“No, I’m not,” I replied, looking in his general direction. “Is that a requirement to speak on their behalf?” A light flashed from my eye, and suddenly I was an elf. I mean it, the ears, the eyes—I think my bones had changed too, but it was hard to tell. The room had a different tint to it, and I could tell the elves use a lower light range than humans, because everything seemed much brighter than it had a second ago. Conversely, their sense of smell must be a little dimmer, because the incense didn’t reek as much. Oh, the things you find out when you alter reality to make yourself another species.

I waited for the crowd to settle down after my first miracle and then threatened them with another. “Or if being an elf isn’t enough, how about I make us all humans?” I raised my hand and pulled back my sleeve so I could more clearly snap my fingers. Nystel screamed at me to stop.

Between you and me, I doubt I had enough juice to change the entire room, but the elves didn’t know that.

“I know who you are, Kane, and I am not sure what you hope to accomplish here.”

She was still playing to the crowd. Her voice was too loud, her body language was directed to them, excluding me. I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to go anywhere while she had them watching her. So I took care of that.

Everyone in the room save Nystel and me stopped moving. They were breathing, yes, but movement was beyond them.

“Better?” I asked, letting myself slip back into being a human. Holding the room in stasis was trying; doing that and keeping myself an elf was almost unbearable. At least by doing it this way I wasn’t taking life force from Hawk. I’d never take his life force, even if it was the small amount needed to make a point. Never.

You remember that Hawk and I share a soul, right? Well, turns out that magic in general comes from life force, and the more I use, the more I need, which means if I turn it up to eleven, I end up leeching off him. And we all know I didn’t need to do that to convince Nystel to let Ater and Kor go.

“What have you done?” she asked looking at the lamps all around the room and the frozen flames in each.

“Giving us some privacy,” I explained, walking up to the dais and stopping next to the frozen Kor and Ater. “I’m sure you don’t want your people to see me threaten you.”

She looked at the two accused, then back to me. “You can threaten all you want, but I am not commuting their sentence. The deal was I help you and they turn themselves in.”

“Which they did,” I pointed out. “They turned themselves in, but no one said anything about letting you kill them.”

“It is Koran’s will.”

And that was when I lost it.

“Really? You really want to try that shit with me, Nystel?” Her eyes widened at my outburst. “Are you absolutely sure you want to tell me that?”

Wisely, she said nothing.

“You see, I know the truth about you. The question is, do you want them to know it?” I asked, gesturing to her frozen faithful.

“I have nothing to hide.” Her voice cracked a little.

“Okay, then. If I tell them the higher planes have been cut off for centuries because Titania moved the World Tree from Earth, that would be okay? They would understand when I explained there is no way any god, not even Koran, can contact anyone, much less give you instructions about these two?”

Her face went pale.

“You see, I figured out where you were getting your power from. Normally you’d call upon Koran’s power, and he would grant your request, and that would be that. I asked myself how are you doing that with no connection to Tokpewa?” That’s the realm of the gods if you are just tuning in. A whole world full of people so powerful they are mistaken for gods. You’ve heard of a few: Thor, Odin, Oprah Winfrey, they all come from the same place.

“And then it came to me.” I looked over to the frozen elves. “Faith. Their faith that you are speaking for Koran gives you power, and the power they give you gives them faith that you are speaking for their god.” I glanced back at her. “How much power do you think you’d have after I tell them you’ve been lying to them?”

Her lips had pursed into a small line of hatred.

“So you have a choice: release my friends or roll the dice. But I assure you, Katniss, the odds are not in your favor this time.” She glared at me, confused, and I waved it off. “Release them, or I start time and we let the people decide.”

“You are meddling in things you cannot understand.”

“I am saving the lives of my two friends from a religious zealot who’d rather kill two people than admit she’s a bitch.” I snapped my fingers and time started again. “Make your choice now.”

Ater looked up at me, startled, not sure how I got up on the dais without him noticing.

“A moment,” Nystel said, raising her hands to calm the crowd down. “I have been given a judgment.” Everyone stopped talking and held their breath, waiting for the death sentence. She looked over at me, and I just glared at her, daring her to call my bluff. “Koran has granted these two mercy and has ordered they be released from their bonds.” She gestured, and the chains around their wrists vanished.

Now the crowd was saying “Watermelon!” and “Cantaloupe!” pretty angrily. Note to self: never get between rubberneckers and an exciting double execution. Nystel tried to talk over them. “They are to be released and exiled from Evermore for life.”

Ater didn’t even acknowledge that, but Kor looked up at her with a heartbreaking expression of desperation on his face. “You are both judged as lilkanas and are sentenced to bathe in the Light no more.” She looked down at both of them. “May Koran have mercy on you.”

“You can’t do this,” Kor said, still on his knees in shock.

Nystel ignored him.

“Gather your belongings and leave.” She was glaring at me. “And pray we never cross paths again.”

That’s me, making friends and influencing people wherever I go.

HAWK PACED Olim’s throne room like a jungle cat locked in a cage.

“I should have gone with him,” he complained for about the tenth time since Kane had left to rescue the Ater and Kor.

“And done what? Be in the way?” Olim suggested, sitting on her throne of ice watching the prince pace.

“I am a trained warrior with real-life battle experience. I am never in the way.”

She laughed. “And your consort moves reality around in the same manner a toddler plays with blocks. What exactly do you think you can do that he can’t?”

Hawk had no intention of answering that question aloud.

“I should have gone” was all he said, resuming his pacing.

Ruber had been floating to the side, watching the conversation curiously. “I am confused,” he said in that precise British accent he used. “If you can sense Kane’s thoughts, aren’t you aware if he is in danger?”

“Not at this range,” Hawk explained, but it was a lie. The truth was that Kane’s thoughts were becoming harder and harder to read as he embraced the powers the World Seed was fueling. At first Hawk could keep his thoughts from Kane; now Hawk could only sense Kane’s thoughts if Kane was nearby and not using his powers.

It was frustrating to say the least.

If Ruber knew of Hawk’s lie, he didn’t say anything. Instead he went back to waiting for the prearranged signal Kane and he had set up. Kane had more than enough power to move himself back to Faerth where the elves were being held, but he lacked the ability to return two people back with him without expending life force. He was trying to avoid using too much energy because the more power Kane used, the more of Hawk’s soul would be drained, a problem they had dealt with a few times before.

Instead Ruber had taught Kane how to send a mystic flare to him, giving the gemling Kane’s exact location and allowing the ruby to open a portal from his side to get them all home with no one’s life force being drained.

“I have something,” Ruber said.

Hawk immediately moved toward the gem, even though he could do nothing to help Ruber. “Are they well?” he asked, panic a clear undertone in his words.

“All I have is his position, not his state of being,” Ruber replied. “I am focusing on the pulse and following it back.”

“Well, does it feel like he is hurt?” Hawk asked again.

“It doesn’t feel like anything,” Ruber snapped. “Please move back.”

Hawk took a few steps away as a glow appeared in front of the gem. Ruber wasn’t a Sender, which meant he was incapable of opening a two-way portal between worlds on his own. He could leech the energies of a portal and trace them, like he did in following the portal the dark elves made when they captured Hawk, but opening one solo was impossible for him.

Luckily Kane was not bound by such limitations.

Kane could project a signal from his location, and Ruber could then use it to indicate a route back. The rest was all up to Kane. Kane had already proven he could make such portals when he used Truheart to open one to Hawk when he was being held in the Underdark. In theory, then, the human should be up to such a task.

The key word in that sentence being theory. Kane pushed aside the barriers that lay between Faerth and Niflgard the same way someone would push aside curtains blocking a view from a window. The amount of power involved in what Kane was doing was staggering, but Kane’s strength had vastly increased since Oberon’s attack. The World Seed had amplified his abilities as a half-Being beyond description.

All of which was a fancy way of saying that one second the room glowed with an intense light, and the next an angry gash opened, floating in the air with Kane and the two elves on the other side.

The three of them walked into the throne room with the same ease as someone else would have crossing a street. The fact they had just traveled between dimensions was just an afterthought. The second they made it through, the gash sealed itself once more, looking completely normal to the naked eye. Ruber could see the residual scar in reality, though; it would take months to fade. Even then a thin spot between there and here would always exist. As Hawk rushed forward to embrace Kane, the ruby wondered if Kane was aware of what he was doing to reality. And, more importantly, if Kane understood he had overused his power, whether or not Kane knew enough to care. Not for the first time, Ruber wanted someone to train his young friend.

“You’re all right,” Hawk said in a relieved tone.

Kane hugged him back and laughed. “Of course I am, silly. It was just Nystel.”

“She’s just the high priestess of Koran,” Ruber clarified. “She commands all of his power.”

“Not really,” Kane countered offhandedly. “She’s mostly just faking it, using her people’s faith as a crutch. She might get off a decent blast or two, but she doesn’t have the energies for an extended fight.”

Ruber said nothing about Kane’s first impulse: combat.

“I was still worried about you,” Hawk commented, trying to hide his earlier trepidation.

“It’s better you stayed. There were a ton of elves in that temple, and I don’t know if I could have protected you from all of them.”

Ruber could see the shock on Hawk’s face.

“Let’s find you guys some rooms so you can rest,” Kane said to the elves. “I can’t imagine being held prisoner for a couple of weeks is fun.”

Ater glanced over at Hawk and Ruber and then nodded. “Thank you. That would be acceptable. Kor just stared forward as if dazed.

“There are rooms on the fourth floor…,” Olim called out.

“I’ll find them,” Kane said over his shoulder. “I’ll just borrow a couple of your guys.” He gestured and two ice giants stepped out of the substance of the castle walls. “Find us some rooms,” he commanded.

The giants half bowed and began walking out of the room with Kane and the elves in tow.

No one spoke for several seconds.

Finally Ruber said, “Is no one going to mention the change in his demeanor?”

“Leave it alone,” Hawk said, his voice raw with emotion. “I’ll handle it.” He stomped off after the group.

When Olim and Ruber were left alone, she asked, “You know what’s happening, don’t you?”

“I have my suspicions.”

“Allow me to confirm them. That is bad.”

“That much I knew,” Ruber muttered.

THE GIANTS were made from the same ice that made the castle, so they knew the state of any room in question the same way you’d know where your arm was if asked. The Ice Giants came to a halt and stared at Kane. “This should work,” he said, opening the doors into a suite of rooms. Kane waved his hands and the creatures melted back into the walls.

Ater followed the human boy warily; he had never seen Kane act like this before. “You’ve changed.”

Kane turned around and gave him a grin. “You bet your ass I have.”

Ater didn’t like the expression on Kane’s face. He looked almost drunk, flush with a power the dark elf emphatically did not want to comprehend. “What happened?”

“He does know he can come in, right?” Kane asked instead of answering.

Ater turned around and saw Kor standing in the doorway, not moving an inch. “Kor, come in.”

The elf looked up, confused. “What?” Then he looked around. “Oh, right.” He walked in and fell into a plush seat, his gaze losing focus as he stared silently at something only he could see.

“Is he okay?” Kane asked after Ater closed the doors.

The dark elf’s shoulders tensed, but his voice was quiet when he answered. Deadly. Quiet.

“He has just been exiled from the land that has been his home for over a thousand years. And he was exiled for defying a God he pledged his life to. So no, he is not okay.” He poured a glass of water for Kor from an ice pitcher someone had created for the room. “Here. Drink this.”

Kor didn’t even notice the glass until Ater put it in his hand. “Drink,” he urged quietly.

Kor stared toward him, but Ater knew he was seeing right through him. “I’m not thirsty.”

“Just drink.” Ater commanded.

Kor shrugged and took a sip from the glass.

Once the former light elf was settled in place, Ater walked over to Kane. “Thank you for getting us out. What do you need of me?”

Kane was openly confused, so Ater did his best to clarify.

“Though I would like to believe you came to rescue us out of concern, there must be some other reason you did so.”

“I did it because I wasn’t going to let you guys hang for a favor you did me.”

The dark elf looked unconvinced.

“What kind of a person do you think I am?” Kane raged. “You really think the only reason I’d save you is because I want something? Do you honestly think I need anything right now?”

The boy’s eyes glowed, and Ater took a step back.

Thankfully the doors opened and Hawk walked in. “Good, you got settled.”

Ater refused to take his gaze off Kane. “Yes, thank you.”

Kane looked over to Hawk. “Tell him we saved him because he is our friend and we don’t need anything from him.”

Hawk’s face hardened for a moment. “He is our friend, and we do need something from him.”

The look of outrage on Kane’s face would have been comical if he wasn’t actually furious and if he wasn’t a young person with more power than he knew what do to do with, and emotions that weren’t always controllable.

“What do you need, then?” Ater asked, feeling more relaxed with Hawk in the room.

“I need you to show us the secret ways into the castle. We’re taking back the capitol this week.”

Ater nodded. Hawk’s answer had put him back on more familiar ground.

“SHOW ME again,” Adamas ordered.

Caerus resisted the urgent desire to sigh and reactivated the magical map of the Arcadian capitol. “This is from two days ago,” the sapphire explained. “I had an agent infiltrate and capture some images.”

The courtyard looked deserted save for the piles of bodies made up of the Dark, who had taken the capitol as well as the fairy guards who had tried to defend it. The only things moving were the ghouls feasting on the dead. And they barely budged, bloated from their meals as they were.

“I thought the humans had some form of taboo about their dead. Isn’t that why we went to the top of Gott’s Ascent? To dispose of Ater’s mate?”

“These are fairies. Pullus and Ater are elven, not human,” Caerus said patiently. “But yes, they do have several customs dealing with their dead, and allowing these birds to feast on the dead is only one clue.”

“Clue to what?”

The sapphire stopped herself from asking if Adamas was all right. Though he was her father, the diamond was also king of the Crystal Court, its Personification. Any personal inquiries after his well-being might be taken as offensive, inferences that he was anything less than perfect. Caerus knew Adamas was anything but perfect. He was stern, unfeeling, and at times downright draconian, but he was her father, so she considered instead the good he had done in his long life.

For the first time she realized exactly how long Adamas’s life had been.

“There are no guards,” she explained, again. “The entire area seems devoid of anyone alive. It is possible we are preparing for a fight that will never happen. What if Oberon has abandoned the capitol?”

The king said nothing for so long that Caerus wondered if he had drifted off.

“Father?”

“It is irrelevant if he has abandoned it or not. It is equally irrelevant that there are no signs of life. You don’t prepare for battle based on what you hope might happen, you prepare based on what you dread may happen. And I dread Oberon has gathered another army and they won’t be so disorganized this time that they will fall to inferior forces.”

He began to float away. “Your information is useful, but I assure you, it won’t change a thing as far as our assault is concerned.” And with that he left.

Caerus stared after him, her worries increasing, and she wondered if she were imagining things, all the while suspecting her imagination had nothing to do with it.

AS SOON as Hawk and I closed the door of the elves’ room behind us, I laid into him.

“You sent me to rescue them because we needed information? I thought you were worried their lives were in danger.”

A flash of something passed over his perfect face for just a second. I’m not going to lie; my first instinct was to look through our link and see what his expression meant. But I had gotten better at turning the damn mind link off, so I wasn’t in any hurry to use it again.

“I was worried for them, and he has information we need. I didn’t send you to rescue just Ater. I said rescue both of them.”

Something about that sentence really hit me the wrong way. I say something because I had no idea why I was about to react like I did. I’m just telling you that Hawk had said the wrong thing for some reason. I didn’t understand the reason. And what I said next and the way I said it came from my gut, not my brain.

“You don’t send me anywhere,” I growled, taking a step toward him. “I went because they were in trouble and nothing else. And if I find out you sent Ferra and Molly on some insane mission—”

“I didn’t!” he barked back. “If I sent them anywhere, I would have told you. What has gotten into you lately?”

Hawk’s question was the same one I used to ask myself all the time. Lately I asked it less and less. After the fight with Oberon, I started to get worried about the way my moods were changing. I was distant, cocky, at times downright arrogant about my power, and I had no idea why. The problem was that, as time went on, I cared less and less about my reactions. I simply couldn’t summon any fucks to give that I was acting like a dick. Everything was too much. I was too far from home; too many things were happening all at the same time. For the first time in my life, I could actually feel the concept of “being pulled in different directions,” and I hated it.

Of course I said none of this to Hawk because… well, just because.

“Maybe I’m just tired, Hawk. Maybe I am sick and tired of this entire shithole you call a world and just want to get back to my own life. A life where I didn’t have to worry about crazy fairies trying to kill me and risking everything fighting your father.”

Yeah, that was a half-truth. I did want to get home something fierce, but only because I was worried about my dad, not because I was sick of Hawk’s world. But for some reason I was just so pissed it all came flowing out like I was a junior high kid who decided to see how much vodka he could drink before his parents came home from whatever parents did to have fun.

“I’m just tired,” I said, seeing the hurt in his face and sighing. “Forget everything I just said. I’m tired and grumpy and I think hungry.”

He nodded, but I could still feel the tingle of his pain in the back of my mind.

“I’m sorry,” I said, knowing I should say more but having no idea how to phrase it. Instead I turned around and walked back to our room to lie down. I had been so sure we were going to have a good day too.

“WHAT EXACTLY are we looking for?” Ferra asked as Molly opened the workshop door.

“A clue to what happened to me,” the clockwork girl answered, inserting her key into a small hole, disarming the security system within. “You said before the battle that I did things in here I don’t remember. I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe you, but I did know how to implement those weapons we brought back with lethal results—a skill, last time I checked, a companion did not need to possess. So it is possible there are things about myself I am not aware of. Normally I would ask my creators, Tinker and Jones, but no one has seen them in centuries, and it is doubtful they are still alive. Which means if I want answers, I am going to have to ask the workshop myself.”

They had descended into the workshop proper as they talked. As she and Molly passed the waiting area they had teleported into on their first visit, Ferra noticed the piles of choppers they had defeated were gone. Choppers were half-dead, half-mechanical creatures whose sole purpose was guarding the workshop. They regularly cannibalized parts from other machines to repair themselves, so Ferra wasn’t sure if they could be destroyed, which meant they could still be a danger. She summoned a spear of pure ice in reaction.

“What?” Molly asked, knowing her companion would not arm herself unless she thought there was trouble.

“The choppers,” Ferra explained. “They’re gone.”

“Oh,” Molly said, sounding relieved. “The workshop has a maintenance schedule.” The barbarian looked at her blankly. “It cleans itself regularly. Every so often it will send automated units through the halls to do both cleanup and removal of trash and debris. Most likely they took the choppers’ bodies down to the smelter for recycling.”

Ferra opened her hand, dismissing the ice lance. “Recycle for what?”

Molly kept walking. “Spare parts. The organic pieces will be discarded, but the metal and mechanics can be repurposed. I’m willing to bet most of those choppers ended up being part of the next cleaning crew.”

“Why not make more choppers?”

Molly stopped and stared back at her. A pair of amber lenses had covered her eyes, and her voice was that of a gruff and angry male. “Information about workshop security is restricted. Cease this line of inquiry before this unit is forced to respond.”

The lenses slipped back up, and Molly kept talking as if nothing had happened. “I’m willing to bet most of those choppers ended up being part of the cleaning crew.”

Ferra was baffled. Before, the lenses had been red and Molly seemed to be some kind of combat unit. This was something different, the voice that came from her sounded stern and unforgiving, nothing like the Molly she knew and… cared strongly for.

“What is that look for?” Molly asked, her voice now melodic and questioning.

“I just want to find some answers,” Ferra said after a long couple of seconds. “I’m worried about you.”

Molly tilted her head and her mouth servos moved to simulate a smile. “I’m fine, silly; you worry too much.”

The clockwork girl kept walking. Ferra thought, And you don’t worry enough.

“They say wars are won by those

with the greatest strategies or biggest armies.

This is not true. Most battles are won by the

side willing to do the most outrageous thing possible.”

General BigWig

Commander in Chief of the United Willows Armed Forces

Chapter Two

THE NEXT day Hawk assembled everyone in the throne room.

The Crystal Court arrived first. Adamas led, flanked by Ruber and Caerus and surrounded by ten amber guards, followed by ten more. Olim and her sister, Demain, arrived immediately after the Court, taking a seat on two thrones of ice. They spoke between themselves, pausing only briefly to stare at Kane. Although Olim’s expression held a bit more warmth, she and her sister clearly didn’t trust him.

Then a tall, lanky boy dressed in furs arrived with two massive barbarians on either side of him. This was Ishia, the only ice barbarian Ferra trusted to speak for her people in her absence. He looked no older than Hawk or Kane, but he tried to hold himself as if he were older, and frankly it looked ridiculous on him. Him being here rather than any of the elders, though, showed how the clan looked on Ferra now. She was the first of their kind to cross over to the world where their savior supposedly had gone. She was something of a messiah to them now, a herald of their god Logos. Most of the Frigus had passed over and were now living under Olim’s rule, despite the arguments put up by the elders. Ferra had gone from being an outcast to being de facto leader of the tribe nearly overnight, a situation she was far from okay with.

Ater came in next with Kor behind him. Pullus’s brother still looked as if he was in shock. He followed at Ater’s shoulder, sat where Ater told him to sit, and didn’t look up.

Kane stared out one of the castle windows, apparently ignoring the gathering altogether. Hawk was worried about Kane, but his priority had to be the situation in front of all of them…. His gaze remained impartial as he looked in turn at each person seated around the great table. He immediately noticed the lack of communication among them and realized his biggest obstacle was fostering any level of trust where, at that moment, none existed.

“This is where we are,” Hawk stated, assuming control of the meeting. A circular piece of ice polished to a high shine lay in the center of the meeting table. Hawk pointed to it and a magical image of the Arcadian capitol appeared, hovering in midair over the ice. “Arcadia. Designed and created by my mother, it is one of the most powerful strongholds in the realm.”

Demain’s stage whisper was loud enough for everyone to hear. “So powerful a mass of monsters led by a changeling took it down.”

Kane turned partway around and stared over his left shoulder at her. She closed her mouth. He turned back to the window.

Hawk continued. “The castle’s main defense was the Kalibur crystal walls. Their purpose was to amplify the magical enchantments placed around the palace. They were supposed to make the grounds unassailable. We now know Puck circumvented those enchantments by attacking the walls from within the courtyard and shattering them to pieces. This is good news for us.”

He glanced over at Ater, who took up the rundown. “It means whatever protection Oberon may be using to defend the main castle will be severely diminished by the loss of the walls.”

“How diminished?” Ruber asked cautiously.

“Whatever remains should be no match for your people’s magic,” Hawk replied.

“What about people?” Ishia asked, his voice cracking slightly. He blushed and Hawk wondered what about this boy Ferra trusted. “I mean what about… um, an army?”

“If you’re asking if my father still has troops, we can only assume he does,” Hawk answered, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “And he won’t be afraid to sacrifice them to make a point.”

“How many more can he have?” Olim asked from her throne of ice. “The show of force he threw at my castle was no small one.”

“He had a contingent of animal forces from the Wolflands,” Hawk responded. When all he saw was a blank look from the ice queen he added, “That means he has to have some kind of arrangement with the Wolf King.”

In a quiet voice Caerus added, “The efreet came from Wolflands as well. The alliance goes deeper and is older than we know.”

“It means Puck had an arrangement with the Wolf King and my father continued it. Even if he threw his entire force of men against us, there is nothing stopping him from seeking reinforcements.”

“That efreet almost killed my son,” Adamas’s voice boomed out. “If it came from the Wolf King, he has a lot to answer for.”

In an even darker voice, Ater said, “He will do far more than simply answer.”

Even those who didn’t know the efreet had killed Pullus shivered at Ater’s grim words. He stared down at the tabletop, silent, grief still fresh even after the passage of time.

“Be that as it may, we have to be ready for whatever forces he has marshaled,” Hawk said quietly, distracting the others from the dark elf.

“Whatever they are, they can be dealt with.”

Everyone other than Ater and Kor turned their attention to Kane, who still had his back to them.

Hawk tried to warn him. “We can’t assume we can overcome—”

Kane turned around, his eyes glowing. “It’s not an assumption. They can be dealt with.”

No one spoke for a few seconds.

“Regardless of that,” Hawk began again, “we need to marshal a force to engage those troops while Ater gets us inside. Ater—”

Ater stood up and passed his hand through the projection. It changed into a three-dimensional map that showed a series of tunnels underneath the castle. “There are no less than four different ways to enter the capitol undetected.”

“Why so many?” Olim asked, leaning forward.

“Several reasons,” Ater explained. “The most important is because Arcadia is the center of the Nine Realms, which means it has no shortage of foes. The original tunnels were designed to safely get the royal family out if the capitol was in danger.”

“That was how I was smuggled out when the Dark first surrounded the castle,” Hawk confirmed.

“These,” Ater went on, pointing to a pair of tunnels that seemed rougher, less constructed than the others. The image expanded to give a cutaway view of the interior of the tunnel. “These were made to allow the Dark servants to return to the Under without exposing themselves to the sunlight and open air. Since most creatures that live down there shun the light of day, the tunnels provided a merciful way for them to reach their homes.”

“It also prevented their less-than-perfect forms from being seen by fairies,” Demain cackled.

Kane raised his right hand and the sound of her laughter vanished. Her lips were still moving but no sound came from them. The Red Queen looked around in a panic, and Kane said, back still to the crowd, “If you have nothing constructive to add to the conversation, be silent.”

“That isn’t necessary,” Hawk snapped, but if Kane heard him, he didn’t react.

Ater talked over the uncomfortable silence. “All four tunnels would be known to the royal family, which means Oberon in this case. This tunnel,” he continued, pointing to a fifth, “is different.”

The fifth tunnel seemed to wind and twist around the others in a circular pattern, finally emerging well outside the castle grounds.

“What is it?” Ruber asked, floating forward.

“It’s an escape route designed by Titania,” Ater replied. He looked at Hawk, obviously waiting for the prince’s inevitable question.

“A what by who?” Hawk asked, almost sputtering.

“Your mother had a tunnel built secretly to allow her to escape the castle if need be.”

“What makes this tunnel so different from the others?” Hawk asked suspiciously.

“Your father didn’t know about it.”

That stopped the prince cold in his tracks.

“It was how I knew that it wasn’t Titania I was escaping with. She had no knowledge of the exit door in the residential rooms, which meant she was an impostor.”

Hawk sat down, stunned. “Why would my mother build such a thing in advance?”

Kane finally turned around. “Same reason there was a whole library in her panic mansion. She knew something like this was possible and didn’t trust your dad either.”

“But why?” Hawk asked, his voice straining with emotion. “I mean, he was always cold and distant, but he is still the father of her only child.”

“Oberon is not your father,” Adamas exclaimed out of the blue.

Everyone turned and gaped at him in shock.

“I never mentioned that before?”

No one said a word in response.

FERRA HAD been in the workshop once before, Molly twice. During her trip with Caerus to gather siege weapons, there had been no time for any exploration. Now though both Ferra and Molly found the workshop much simpler to navigate because of the lack of security, which would make the mission of discovering Molly’s true nature and purpose easier. They had also decided, if possible, that they would try to bring the workshop back to the surface world to aid in the attack.

“Tell me more about Tinker and Jones?” Ferra asked as they descended past the waiting level and another half level onto the fabrication floor.

Molly’s voice was melodic and upbeat when she answered. “Tinker and Jones are the realms’ foremost experts in clockwork beings. With over a century of experience, they can craft and shape any kind of person you desire.”

“That sounds like an advertisement,” Ferra remarked.