Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) (18 page)

Selena opened her eyes as the warm dust fell into her face and hair, holding on
to
Titus’ shoulders and laughing happily as the
little winged creatures
swirled around them. Their laughter sounded like tinkling bells as they danced and frolicked. Titus smiled down at her and ran his fingers through her hair, which was now loose from its updo and trailing down
her shoulders covered in gold P
ixie dust.

“See?” h
e said with a laugh. “Even the P
ixies know we’re destined to be together.”

As Titus lowered his head toward hers again
,
Selena wrapped her arms around his neck and surrendered to the warmth of his mouth and
the sweetness of the clutzia fruit on his tongue. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, she felt deep within her heart that he was right. After a night like this, how would she ever be able to go home again?

~*~

“Are you ready for that conversation now?”

Selena paused, her fingers tightening around Titus’ as they crested the slightly sloping hill leading up to Osbel tower. Adrah was waiting for them, her own aura outshining that of the moon. With her hands folded in front of her and her facial expression serene, she appeared unruffled, but Selena could see the fire dancing in her eyes, darkening them to jade. That dark green gaze was fixed firmly on Selena, her eyebrows raised as her gaze swept over the Pixie dust covering them both.

Silently, Titus released her hand. “I am sure you two want your privacy.”

He stopped and nodded respectfully toward Adrah. “
Your
Majesty.”

With her knowing smirk, Adrah touched Titus’ shoulder gently as he walked by. She was s
ilent, but Selena was sure that the
Faerie
queen winked at Titus as he passed
her
. Selena brushed it aside and tried not to gawk at Titus’ broad back as he left them behind
f
or Osbel tower. The humor in Adrah’s expression was gone the moment Titus had disappeared inside.

“Come with me.”

Selena obeyed without question. The queen’s tone indicated that she would not take no for an answer and Selena couldn’t avoid this forever. Now was the time to tell Adrah that she had no intention of becoming the savior of Fallada.

“Perhaps,” Adrah said, causing Selena to halt mid-stride. Adrah shrugged as she waved her hand toward a tall, narrow stone door at the side of the tower. “But then, perhaps not.”

Selena heard a strangled sound emitting from her throat and realized that it was her own shock, rising up to try and choke her. Had Adrah heard her thoughts? Selena cleared her throat and shook her head. No, of course she had
n’t
. That sort of thing was impossible wasn’t it?

“And yet I know that you are going to request my aid in the rescue of Titus’ family, while at the same time telling me that you have no intention of returning home to Damu.”

That was
it,
she was officially losing her mind. Adrah waved her arm again and the door slammed behind them. The sound of a bolt scraping into a lock resounded through the pitch-black chamber they were standing in. Adrah’s glow cast just enough light around them so that Selena could see a few feet in front of her face. She stood in front of a stone pedest
al, Adrah on the opposite side with her hands resting on the edge of the round surface. A shimmering white cloth concealed what appeared to be a globe resting on the table.

“
I have been watching your world for a long time, Selena,” Adrah began, her voice filling the chamber ominously. “And while you were not
born of the human race, I believe that you possess many of their qualities. Humans are,
at first glance, a weak species,
easy to manipulate, control
,
and trick. Yet there is an inherent instinct for survival and the tendency to band together as one when necessary. It is in the darkest of time
s
that men truly come into their strength and as a people, become far greater than they once were. I see these things in you, Princess. Honor, bravery, mettle
…
these are all qualities fitting a royal daughter of Damu.”

“You have my Gram to thank for that,” Selena said with a shrug. “What can I say, Texas chicks are tough.”

Adrah chuckled. “Yes, our dear Rose was instrumental in your upbringing, was she not? I could not have asked for better. Though, you lead me from the point and I shall come back to it now. Eranna thought that sending our princesses into the world of men would weaken them, render them helpless and defenseless. Her goal was to cheat you all from achieving your full potential. Her mistake was in underestimating the
resilience of the human race. You see, throughout the course of man’s life on Earth, we have watched them kill, hurt
,
and disrespect one another and Eranna has seen this as an advantage in her quest to enslave man. What she has not seen, is that spark of unpredictability, that essential humanity that push
es
men to achieve their greatness under adversity.”

“What does
any of that have to do with me?
”

Adrah’s lips curled and her eyes twinkled and danced to a shimmer gold-tinted sea green. “Oh my dear Selena, it has everything to do with you.”

Selena shook her head. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not exactly hero material. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for Titus biting Gram I wouldn’t even have come to your world. I was doing just fine in Twin Oaks.”

One of Adrah’s silvery-blond eyebrows rose. “Were you now?”

Selena’s cheeks stung with
embarrassment as she thought about
her growing savings account and plans to leave Twin Oaks on the first thing smoking after graduation. To do what, her inner voice taunted. Besides running she wasn’t good at much else, and she never did have any idea what she wanted to do with her life. On career day, she had always been that girl standing in the middle of the room with confusion on her face.

“That is because, in your heart, you always knew that you didn’t belong.”

“What makes you so sure that I belong here?”

“Think about it, Selena. Do you think that Titus bit your grandmother by chance, or that the Brothers Grimm reached your home in enough time to save you from being killed by a possessed
Werewolf
? Do you think I just happened to decide to send my warriors for your protection
on a whim
? My dear, our lives are guided by destiny, a course that has already been set for us. Our actions can sometimes divert us from that path, yet somehow our feet tend to bring us right back to where we are supposed to be. You, Princess, are exactly where you are supposed to be at this moment in time. Titus was exactly where he was supposed to be when he found you running in that field.”

Adrah reached for the silky, white cloth and pulled it away, revealing a clear orb settled against the stone pedestal. Within the orb, swirls of color mingled and danced with barely-contained energy. It was as if by uncovering it, Adrah had awakened it. Selena took a step forward, entranced by the swirling lights.

“This is the Eye of Goldun,” Adrah said as she stepped forward as well, placing her hands on either side of the Eye. “For millennia I have watched the past, present and future through it and because I wish it, you shall see what I see within it. What you will see is the future of our land should you depart, or if our mission should fail.”

Before Selena
could respond, a flash of white light filled her eyes and the colors at the center of the orb parted to reveal the images inside.
Fire swirled and raged as the sounds of clashing metal filled her ears. Creatures fought to the death before her eyes, Centaurs battled Minotaurs,
Elves
and
Fae
battled
Witches
and
Sorcerers
. Blood splattered across once green fields, now gone dry and brown. Fire rained from the sky and enveloped the battlefield into a raging inferno, and a crumbling castle fell to pieces in large chunks beh
ind the fighters, raining slabs
of stone down along with balls of fire.

The most heartbreaking image brought tears to Selena’s eyes. Wolves tore at each other, and even though Selena didn’t know them she instinctively knew that these animals were of the same pack
s and families, torn asunder by Eranna’s schemes
. Brother fought brother in flashes of sharp teeth and claws, ripping out throats and entrails with a single swipe or bite. On one side the eyes glowed red, on the other, various shades hinting at the humanity of the shifters still inside. Selena’s
heart squeezed as she beheld the white and gray wolf with the glowing blue eyes.

He charged to the front of the pack, a nearly identical, larger wolf at his side—the
Alpha
male, Titus’ father. The two were magnificent in
battle,
taking down Eranna’s possessed wolves along with Centaurs and other unsightly creatures. A
sudden
puff of black smoke brought the battle to a halt as a woman that could only be Queen Eranna rose up out of the mist.

All around her grew still as she stepped down from her chariot of ice, a double-edged spear gripped in one pale hand. On her side of the battlefield, her red-eyed followers roared and leaped gleefully, spittle rolling from their mouths and their expressions dazed as if they were all drunk from power.
Silence swept over the field as a
pounding roar
filled Selena’s ears, her eyes zeroing in on the wolf that rose up from the ranks of the side of good to challenge her. Titus was beautiful, proud
,
and formidable as he leap
t
into the air, soaring with all four paws off the ground toward the beautiful yet horrendous Eranna. Pain lanced through Selena, as with a flick of her spear, Titus was impaled. Selena fell to her knees, covering her ears and closing her eyes against the sound of howling wolves and the sight of gore and blood that stayed with her even as she lost sight of the Eye.

Swiftly, Adrah covered the eye with the cloth once more, casting them back into darkness except for her ethereal glow. She slowly rounded the pedestal and stood over Selena,
who was cowering against the wall, shivering against the cold stones and crying for Titus of the
future. Watching someone die, even in a vision, was not something she’d been prepared for.

Selena glared up at Adrah accusingly, tears spilling over her eyelids and splashing her cheeks.

“Why did you show me that?”

Adrah offered Selena her hand, but she refused, choosing to stand on her own. Adrah sighed.

“That is the fate of Fallada as it is now set by destiny,” Adrah said. “However, I have seen an alternate destiny, one that hinges completely on the fulfillment of the
prophecy.
The very same prophec
y that begins with you, Eladria.”

Selena felt rebellion welling up in her at the mention of her birth name. Her hands curled into fists at her sides. “I don’t like being manipulated into doing things I don’t want to do.”

Adrah’s tone was gentle, as were her eyes,
which had
now gone soft green tinged with silver. “My dear, I have the power to bend others to my will on a whim, yet I am offering you a choice. Should you wish it, I would put you back on board
The Adrah
tonight and send you home.”

“Why? Your world is in trouble and you need me.”
Selena lowered her gaze and felt her fingernails digging painfully into her palms. “Titus needs me.”

Adrah’s eyes widened and she smirked knowingly. “Without you, he will take it upon himself to lead the rebellion against Eranna. Soon, she will
be
too powerful to be stopped without the lost daughters of Fallada. We need your combined powers to destroy her. Nothing else will do.”

“I do not have any great power!” Selena exclaimed. “Everyone keeps talking about how powerful I am, but all that I can do is run really fast. What am I supposed to do if Eranna comes after me?”

Adrah’s smirk was secretive and knowing this time. “I thin
k that it is past time that you
met your father.”

~*~

Chapter
Ten

Selena tore her eyes away from the looming, dense, rock formation that was Goldun,
as it
gr
e
w smaller and smaller in the distance. From her perch on the back of a soaring owl, she felt as if she could see just about every corner of Fallada. The thick arms of the warrior
Fae
, Rothatin, were holding the reigns of the owl on either side
of her.
A
nd while they offered security, they offered none of the warmth she felt when being held by Titus. Her place in front of Rothatin was necessary, though, as neither she nor Titus knew the first thing about guiding an owl.