Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) (16 page)

Rose couldn’t believe what she had just seen. It was the most bizarre thing she had ever experienced. She’d seen the world through James’ eyes. Everything that he saw, she saw. Everything he heard, she heard. Eldred’s attack, his revelation that he was controlled by Maurelle, his death.

She had stood there in shock, wondering what to do or if she could help. She’d tried to conjure the wind to knock Eldred over, but it hadn’t worked. Not well, at least. At one point, she saw a few leaves blow across Eldred’s’ path. But it hadn’t been anything like what she’d wanted. She’d wanted to sweep Eldred away or have the wind snatch the knife from his hand. Instead, she’d been only able to muster a breeze.

A gentle breeze wouldn’t help them when Maurelle found out about Eldred, that James had killed her spy. A simple breeze wouldn’t help at all. She’d need the full force of her power to help James fight the evil queen. Only, she wasn’t sure how to make use of her power in the waking world while she was so deep in sleep.

She needed her mother’s help. But her mother had gone to try to reach Hilly. She paced in the meadow, her thoughts swirling with worry and the winds around her mirroring her mood. She wanted to know what was happening, but the vision that allowed her to see James seemed to have disappeared. He seemed completely gone from her, and she had no idea how to get him back.

* * *

Luckily, the attack had been near dawn. Eldred had waited until it was almost morning to carry out his murder plot.

Dwennon said they needed to leave immediately. “He used magic to keep us from hearing his attack, but that magic faded the moment he died. I worry that same magic may also alert Maurelle that something is wrong. We need to leave now. We can’t wait for more light.”

“Are you sure?” James asked.

Dwennon nodded, and James knew it best to follow the fairy’s advice. They needed to get to Rose before Maurelle learned of her servant’s death. James did his best to protect his own servant, ordering Bayard to return to the kingdom.

“Majesty, I have orders from the king not leave your side,” Bayard protested. “Already, there has been an attempt on your life.”

James shook his head. “You must leave. The woman who ordered the attack is a powerful fairy who managed to possess this man. What will you tell my father if she possess you and you murder me? Do you think he will forgive you?”

That gave Bayard enough motivation to take his leave and face the King’s wrath for leaving rather than the king’s wrath for staying and doing something awful.

Once Bayard had gone, Dwennon murmured, “I wish I had fairy stones. I feel confident you could use one to travel.”

“I thought humans would die.”

“But you’re not entirely human if you’ve been given a fairy gift, which you have,” Dwennon said. “But I didn’t bring stones with me. We must hurry to Rose.”

Dwennon and James traveled quickly on the horses, speaking little. Even though there was much to say, so many unanswered questions, James rode in silence, wanting simply to get to their destination rather than rehash all that had passed and the reasons for it.

They traveled for several hours without rest, and finally stopped to water the horses, though it was of great comfort to James, who was well weary of the saddle. He wondered how someone of such age as Dwennon continued so resolutely and without complaint.

As the horses drank, James turned to Dwennon. The old fairy had his eyes skyward, as if searching for something. Perhaps a sign only oracles saw. “Are we far from the castle?” James asked.

Dwennon sighed, looked at the horses drinking and spoke. “Further than I’d like to be. Another three hours, at least.”

James nodded. He peeked up at the sun, slightly to the west. It was some time after noon. He reached into his bag and pulled out a few strips of salted meat to eat, along with some nuts. The food did him good and lifted his spirits. Three hours ‘til Rose. ‘Til he awakened her and could hold her in his arms again. Their dreams had been sensuous, but they didn’t compare to the real thing.

James heard a horrible shriek, an ear-splitting
caw-caw-caw
, and looked up to see a flock of black birds overheard, flying fast on the wind and shrieking. It was a sight he’d never seen before, and he found himself unable to look away from the underbelly of the birds as they traversed the sky. He felt a tap on his arm. It was Dwennon

“We must go, now,” the fairy commanded, his voice sharp, as he tugged the bridle of his horse to draw it away from the stream.

“They need more water,” James said.

Dwennon shook his head. “The birds are messengers for Maurelle. They have found Eldred and are carrying word to her. Their shrieks were to let us know they are watching.” Dwennon pointed overhead. James looked up, and while the bulk of the flock had moved on, two birds circled overhead.

“They’re watching?”

“And they’ll follow,” Dwennon said. “Our best option is to get to the castle before Maurelle.”

“Can we?”

Dwennon sighed. “If she stops to confirm it, to go see his remains, then probably.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Dwennon simply shook his head, a look of terror on his face.

James guided his horse from the water, mounted it, and set off with Dwennon.

* * *

“Rose?” Blissa called out as she suddenly appeared before her daughter. She looked around, feeling disoriented. She’d been in a higher plane, seeking contact with Hilly when suddenly she’d felt a tugging and appeared here in Rose’s meadow. Her daughter was sitting beneath a tree, her eyes closed in concentration.

Rose opened her eyes and looked at her mother, relief flooding her face. “I’ve been trying so hard to reach you,” Rose said. “I wasn’t sure if I could.”

Blissa stared at her daughter and then looked around at the meadow. It seemed the same as before, but Rose clearly looked troubled. “What’s wrong?”

Rose bade her mother to come over and sit. Blissa did, and then Rose recapped the things she had seen, about the way she’d seen through James’ eyes, how she’d affected the outside world, but only mildly. “I need your help, Mother,” she said. “I need to know how I can do it again. How I can make things happen in the waking world.”

Blissa patted her daughter’s knee. She wasn’t exactly sure what to think. Dwennon would know. He understood these things better. He was schooled in the ways of perception. That had been his gift, and he would have apprenticed under an oracle who understood. The gift of sight was simply about perception. About being able to see the flow of time, to grasp it and see varying points and possibilities. It was a type of sight. And what Rose had experienced seemed to be a type of sight.

“Mother,” Rose said softly.

“I’m sorry,” she said “I’m just trying to think of how I can help you. This isn’t my specialty. I was trained in people. In talking to people and using my gift to mediate and counsel others. I wasn’t trained in sight. And what you’re talking about, connecting with James, seeing through his eyes, is a sight gift.”

Rose shook her head. “But that’s just it, mother. I don’t think it’s my gift. I didn’t do anything to get there. It’s as if he pulled me to him. As if the sight was him letting me see the world, not something I did.”

Blissa raised a hand to her chin and furrowed her brow.
His gift? Was that even possible?
He was a human. Though, she remembered vaguely, stories of humans being bestowed gifts from the Sacred Pool. But that was only when … “Of course,” Blissa muttered.

“Of course, what?”

Blissa swallowed and looked her daughter in the eye. “Maurelle has used the Sacred Pool to become more powerful, so the Sacred Pool decided to even the odds. It gave James a gift.”

“The gift of sight?”

Blissa shook her head. “No,” she said. “It gave him the gift he needs to defeat Maurelle. It’s made him a conduit.”

“I don’t understand,” Rose said, her body tensing at the thought. “What’s s conduit?”

“It’s like,” Blissa started, trying to figure out how to best explain what it was. “It’s like he’s a vessel. A vessel that can channel the powers of other fairies to protect himself.”

Rose pursed her lips, then repeated, “Channel the powers of other fairies.”

Blissa nodded. “Your wind,” she started. “It wasn’t very strong, right?”

Rose nodded.

“That’s because he didn’t know you were there, that you could help him. Instinct activated his power, his channeling ability, so you could see that he needed help. But he didn’t know how to accept it or that he needed to accept it. Therefore, your attempts at a strong wind died. Your force of will was there, but he didn’t know how to accept it, so that the power you wield could break through into the waking world even though you’re not near.”

“So how do I let him know?”

Blissa shook her head. “I’m not sure. But we need to figure it out. If Eldred is dead,” she said with a shiver. “Maurelle will be devastated. Before, she simply wanted to stop James from getting to you. Now, she will want him to suffer, to die a painful death, and she will stop at nothing to ensure that happens.”

* * *

The birds had to be wrong. They were wonderful messengers at times, but they weren’t always accurate. This was one of those times, Maurelle was sure. Eldred told her waiting would make him safe. Fairies with the gift of sight always they foresaw their own deaths. He would have told her if he couldn’t kill the prince without being killed himself. The birds were wrong.

She was sure of it. She would simply go there. She would go to Eldred and find him. He was probably sick. That was probably what the birds had seen. He’d been too ill to attempt to kill that awful human boy, and, Dwennon, in his haste to free Briar Rose from the dream sleep, had left Eldred alone.

It would be alright. She would take care of him. She paced in her chamber, waiting for the bird to return. She wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t transform into a bird herself and fly to the spot they said Eldred was. Though the birds had said the journey was three hours by air. Too long, she’d thought. So she’d sent one of the crows to fetch a fairy stone for her. She really should’ve kept more on hand. But she traveled so rarely from the kingdom, it didn’t seem necessary to have multiple fairy stones around.

But surely it shouldn’t take this long to retrieve a fairy stone. She glanced out the window, hoping to see the beautiful spread wings of Jansen, her favorite crow. He’d left ten minutes ago, but the crystal pond wasn’t far by air. He should’ve found one by now and been on his way back.

She paced the room, thinking of the last time she had seen Eldred. All he’d asked was for her to let him go, and she’d said no. Why had she said no? She could take care of that boy. Couldn’t she? She closed her eyes, swallowed. She couldn’t. She’d spoken with an apprentice oracle after Eldred left he, and he’d told her there was peril from a human heading her way, that she would not be able to defeat it if she continued her threat against Briar Rose. She’d assumed the threat was Edmund. That he, too, would attack like his father. She realized too late that the boy was the threat. If the boy were to be defeated, it had to be by someone other than her. And who better than Eldred? The one who loved her more than anything.

And she had wanted him to help her and then they could be together. They could rule together, Eldred the oracle and Maurelle, the queen of the fairies, the one who spoke to woodland creatures. The one who could transform to woodland creatures. It was a new power, one she had acquired from the Sacred Pool. It was a sacred power among fairies. Not one to be taken from the Pool lightly. Generally, it had to be given, but the king or queen had the right to request a new power from the Sacred Pool. She supposed that is what the human King Errol had wanted when he tried to defeat her uncle. Not just the kingdom, but the right to take a power from the Sacred Pool.

She had not sought a power when she took the throne, thinking it unnecessary. But now, now that Errol’s heirs sought to desecrate her mother’s memory by allowing King Edmund access to the throne through Briar Rose, she’d had to act. She had also taken a smaller power from the Pool: those of a love fairy. Love fairies tended to have the power to help others forgive, to help others find kindness and joy in each other. Because Eldred had been so angry with her, she knew the gifts of a love fairy would help. Eldred loved her deep down inside, and if she could simply tap into that after he’d completed his task, she was sure he would love her again.  That is why she could stand firm against his threats that he wouldn’t come back. She had known that she could make him come back, that she could make him love her.

The power of love fairies was fierce and unforgiving. It brought devotion and care to those who had genuine feelings. Though if you used its power on those who did not, it backfired terribly. That’s why love fairies were few. The gift was reserved for those with good judgment and good people skills. People like Blissa were often love fairies. Though Blissa’s gift had been different, it was in the same general vein as that of love fairies. It was a gift to do with the human spirit.

She sighed and wondered where that blasted bird was.

A low beating sound caught her attention. She turned to see Jansen flying toward her, several small pebbles in its beak. Of course, she thought. Jansen was such a phenomenal animal and friend. He’d brought her more than one stone. She’d need them if the birds were right. She closed her eyes, shook her head. No, the birds couldn’t be right. Eldred had to be sick. Either way, she’d need them to bring help with her. She should bring a healer to help Eldred. She smiled. In her grief, she’d not had a clear head, but Jansen had.