Enchanted Revenge (28 page)

“Well then, as I was saying, I’d like to educate everyone on our target before we put our plans into motion. Let us truly understand who Xan is before we set out to find him.”

Who Xan is…

He’s a killer. I needed no other information. Other than his location, of course.

Chapter Seven
The Dip: An area in Lemuria where the ground dips lower than any other point in the village. Normally only spoiled Fae live or even near the area at all.

“Xan was one of the first Mortem members. He grew up, as most Nymph do, in Ardennes with a loving family and friends surrounding him. He trained with the Guard, following in his father’s footsteps.

“When his father and uncles were found guilty of treason, they were killed, leaving him to care for his ailing mother and younger siblings. Though, due to the line of succession and recent deaths, he was in line for Lordship.

“It quickly became apparent, that he had no desire to be Lord of Ardennes, when he chose to leave it altogether, venturing into the Mortal Realm. We haven’t been able to determine exactly why he left the Empyrean, but we do know that he was gone for over a century before returning alone, his family all in the Outer Realm.

“It was after he returned that he began working for the king again, as a Royal Guard. After being granted a short reprieve, only a month of time off, that he returned once again to Ardennes and started the group we now call the Mortem.

“Together the first three Mortem members earned their infamous prestige by working jobs that others would never do, as mercenaries. Though, they made it known they wouldn’t only kill their targets. They often tortured them for hours, sometimes days and weeks, before finally killing them.

Frank looked over at Jon, just briefly before clearing his throat. “After a while, they recruited two more members, and continued their ruthless hunt for blood.”

“I think that’s the basics.”

Then Jon took over. “We know after listening to accounts from survivors that recently he has not been partaking in the torturing of their subjects. He appears to not care very much about anything at all. And we know that when Lynn's group finally located them, killing the other members, that he did not stay to help them.

“This is important, as it shows that he still holds no ties to any other Fae. It shows how his survival is really the only thing he still cares for.”

Frank spoke again. “It's also important to note, that since the other Mortem members have fallen, he has not appeared to take on any new targets.”

“So, the point of this lesson is to let us know what, exactly?” I chimed in, my aggravation showing. “That he used to be a normal guy, but isn’t anymore? That he is selfish and cares for no one? How does this help us?”

“It's important to know your enemy,” Jon answered, though I had really addressed my question to Frank. “It's important to recognize when your enemy has no apparent weakness. Nothing to live for, nothing to fight for.”

“I really don’t care what he is living or fighting for. We already know what he does for money. As long as we find him, all we have to do is kill him. The end. His life history means nothing to me.”

“He obviously still fights for something, we just don’t know what. And it
is
important, whether you see it or not, Young One. Someone fighting for love is more likely to fight to the death, fight harder, than someone who is only fighting for money.”

I ignored the little stab, because I guess he was right. If someone was only getting a paycheck, they would be more willing to give up or surrender than someone who is fighting for someone, especially someone they love.

I looked over at Alec, imagining everything that I would do to try and help him if anything ever happened.

My shoulders shrugged, as my head bobbed a little. “Okay, I get it.”

“Good,” he said, before turning to address everyone once again. “Any questions?”

“How do we find out what he wants, what he fights for?” It was Liam who asked that valid question.

“That is a great question, one we don’t have the answer to. As far as we can tell, he has nothing to fight for. As I said before, every person who has managed to escape, has always explained his behavior as nonchalant or uncaring,” Jon explained. “Lily, can you offer anything as far as his behavior?” He motioned to me, the newest survivor.

I looked at him, shocked that he would ask. Of course, it made sense, but how dare he ask me to relive those memories. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go back to that place, to those thoughts, to those memories that still festered inside me.

I cleared my throat. “I can vouch for what you say. When I was…” I looked down, trying to regain composure, trying to find the right words. Trying to not break down. Trying… “When I was held by them, he never touched me. He sat in the back, even suggested that they didn’t need to…hurt me. He rarely spoke, but when he did, the others didn’t seem to care what he had to say.”

Alec squeezed my hand, reassuring me. “Despite all they did to me though,” I continued, “he never once tried to stop them. Just as they didn’t care what he said, he didn’t care what they did.”

I remembered clearly what he said, how he sat by. He didn’t watch them, but he knew. He knew what they were doing. He could hear my screams. But he didn’t care. I swallowed the lump choking my throat. I focused on calming the steady increase in my heartbeat. I wiped my palms across my pants, scraping the sweat from them.

“He is just as much at fault as the others. I have no idea what he fights for, as he doesn’t appear to fight much at all.”

Jon nodded.

“So, where is he?” Someone in the back asked. I didn’t look up, I was still lost in my thoughts, in my own head, remembering, reliving, refeeling everything. My wings stuttered behind me at the increase in emotions.

“I have received confirmation just this morning that he is still hiding in the same residence he has been spotted at over the last week.” Frank stood tall as he spoke, it was obvious how proud he was at this situation. “The building is mostly abandoned. Sightings of spoiled Fae have been reported, which is not surprising, considering the building is in the Dip.”

I looked at Alec, trying to understand what Frank was saying.
The Dip?

The lowest part in Lemuria, where most spoiled Sprite’s live.
Alec’s voice was silky as it slid into my mind.

Hmmm. Why would he hide there?

No idea.

I focused on Frank again. “The building is a six story building, the tallest in the Dip, and right near the center, giving him a great vantage point.”

“He’ll see us coming from miles away,” someone else whined.

“That’s why we are here. We need to discuss how to make this happen. Only the spoiled go in or around the Dip, anyone else would be spotted easily.”

“So, we need someone on the inside,” Alec offered.

“We have someone on the inside, a few people actually. That’s where I’ve been getting the updates on his whereabouts from,” Jon replied.

“So, we use them to our advantage. How have you stayed in contact with them?”

“Kelpies don’t go near the Dip, Alec. Thy only way we can communicate is in person.”

“Hmmm…” Alec murmured, as he thought of how best to approach the situation.

“So, question,” I started, “who cares if he can see us coming if we have him surrounded?” All eyes turned to me, wondering where I was going with this. “I mean, we have enough of us, and he is only one person. Yeah, it’s a five story building, but he’s no Sprite. He’ll have the disadvantage to all of you. If we take…fifteen or twenty of us, surround the building, and then move in, who cares if he knows we’re coming, because he’ll have no way to escape.”

“He can go down.” Jon’s deep voice carried around him. “Below the Dip are a series of passageways, a maze really, and he could easily lose us that way. Or he could go up, and swim. Yes we swim fast, but he is strong and powerful. Magics run deep through him. He may be able to out swim us, and I’m not willing to take that chance.”

“So what if we use the passageways to our advantage,” Alec suggested, “and come up from underneath. He would never see us coming.”

“The problem with that is no one knows their ways through those passageways. They are ever-changing, shifting as the waters push down on them. Sinking and collapsing in some places. That’s what causes the Dip to be so low. We would have no way of navigating them,” Frank answered.

“So…” I started whispering to Alec, but then thought better of it and spoke to his mind.
How can you differentiate spoiled Fae from regular Fae?

You can feel it,
he answered.
It’s like an emptiness, a black hole, where you know a Fae is standing but can’t feel them or sense them. When you go around humans again, you will immediately recognize them as humans based solely on their lack of magic. But with the spoiled ones, it’s even worse, it’s like they are pulling your magics, sucking you in. Most find it very difficult to be around the spoiled.

Wow. That’s super sad,
I said, and he nodded in agreement.
But do you think he would be able to tell we aren’t spoiled from so far away. I mean, obviously he has seen the two of us before. But what about some of the others?

Well, if he was watching for someone or something out of the ordinary, he would be able to tell we aren’t spoiled based on our reactions to the other Fae there. It’s hard to keep a straight face when it feels like your magic is being sucked from you.

What?
That sounded pretty crazy. My mother’s ephemeris never mentioned anything like that.

Don’t get me wrong
, he continued.
It’s not painful, not like during taxing times. But it’s still there, uncomfortable and strange. It would be hard for a Fae to keep a straight face and act like nothing was happening.

“What do you two conspire about?” Jon addressed us, noticing that we were no longer participating or even paying attention to the discussion.

I didn’t want to tell him though. It was embarrassing enough every time anyone pointed out my age, but even worse when they brought up my lack of knowledge of the Empyrean or anything having to do with Fae.

“We were discussing ways we might be able to get through the Dip without being seen,” Alec answered him. “Obviously Lily, Lynn and I would be recognized from the last time we saw him, but many of you wouldn’t be. Lily was suggesting a Fae brave enough and willing to try to make it through the Dip, acting as a spoiled.”

I looked over at him, offended he spilled my secrets.

But Jon spoke before I could. “I think we have many Fae here willing to do just that. What do you propose?”

“What if we have several Fae along the northern border of the Dip, kept away from sight, for the most part? But if they are seen, to be seen only as spoiled. And then, Lily, Lynn and I, along with a few others, could come up from the South.

“Yes, he would see us, and yes he would try to escape, but we would have people on the other side waiting, and we could surround him without him realizing it. He wouldn’t feel the urge to swim up or go below, as he would only see us coming from one side.” Alec finished his thought with a smile.

Jon looked at Frank first, and then they both looked at Lynn.

“It could work,” Lynn murmured. “I mean, it will be difficult for anyone to be able to act unfazed while around spoiled Fae, but as long as it’s not super noticeable, I think it could really work.”

We continued the meeting, finalizing the details before separating.

We would leave tomorrow morning, early, before most Fae were awake. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a ton of spoiled Fae around, so as to make it easier to blend in. Alec, Lynn, Liam, five others and I would all head out. We would try to be stealthy, but if we were seen, it would be okay because we would have ten others on the other side, unnoticeable, who would intercept him if he runs.

We ate a lot of food that night, and slept hard. I didn’t dream, thank goodness, but I couldn’t shake the dread building deep in my stomach.

Chapter Eight
Hydrokinetic Attack: The ability to release or use water for various attacks; a variation of water manipulation. Attacks include but are not limited to various shapes and/or intensities, either projected, formed into objects, used as force fields, blasts, waves, and weapons.

Alec finished getting ready as I sat on the bed and waited for him. I was already set. Black pants, black boots, my hair pulled back and hidden in a black beanie, my sword at my waist, two daggers attached to my thighs, one in the strap on my boot, and the abscondita at my belt stuffed with everything else I might need.

“Do you think this will work?” I couldn’t help but worry. I felt like something…something big was coming. Something was going to happen. Something would change.

He nodded as he strapped his own weapons to his body. “Yeah, I do.” He glanced over at me. I don’t know what he saw when he looked at me, but whatever it was, it made him come to my side. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll keep you safe.” It wasn’t my safety I was worried about though. “The Empyrean will finally see the last of the Mortem and then we’ll be able to focus on the Lords of this Realm before going north.”

“Yeah,” I said, bobbing my head, trying to reassure myself just as much as him that I believed what he said. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Of course I am.” His mega-watt smile lit up his eyes as he winked. “I’m always right.”

Then he kissed my forehead, just barely letting his warm, soft lips touch my skin, before placing his forehead against mine. He breathed deep.

“I wish…” he started, but then stopped and shook his head. He took a deep breath before pulling away. “Ready?”

I thought about asking him what he was going to say, why he stopped, but I knew better. He wouldn’t answer me anyways, and it would get awkward. So, I only nodded at him, ready to get this over with anyways.

I allowed my magic to flow out of me, down to every extremity, shielding my body from the dangers of Muircadia waters. Alec did the same.

I walked up to him, lifting up to my toes, and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me close, his strong arms encasing me, his hands holding onto me. My lips gravitated toward his, and he leaned forward to accommodate my need.

I opened my lips, hoping for more, but he ended it, pulling away.

He placed just one more breath of a kiss to my lips, before turning around and opening the door for me. I withheld the sigh that was itching to escape, and walked through the door, ready to take on whatever happened.

Getting to the Dip wasn’t the hard part, it was after, once we got there, that I worried about. What if he still tried to go down to the tunnels beneath, what if he still got away? What the hell would we do then? What if this plan was a failed mission in the making? It would be all my fault, and he would still get away. How many Fae would we lose in the process?

I tried, I really did, to shake the nasty thoughts and doubt from my mind, but it was just so dang hard. All my brain could do was think about the what-ifs and everything that could possibly go wrong.

As soon as I saw it, the darkness in the distance, those thoughts started to drift away like leaves blowing in the wind on an autumn day.

It was dark, so wicked and gloomy, I knew it was the Dip. Where everything else was blue and beautiful, the Dip was a hole in the ground. No, a black hole, sucking all the color and life away. All the fish and livelihood in the waters stayed far from it, and even the foliage avoided it like the plague.

But not us.

We ventured on, heading straight for it. The closer we got, the deeper we went. At times, my foot would sink in, like stepping into fresh snow, and I had to pull to get it out. All the buildings were small, and though they looked relatively new with fresh wood and clean windows, they were hastily thrown together, leaning to one side, or paint in some parts and not in others. As if at any moment they would collapse. Kinda like me.

Each house we walked past looked basically the same, small and lonely. What a sad life these spoiled Fae lived. All for something they couldn’t control or do anything about.

When Alec looked over at me, a scrunch in his brow and a question in his eyes, I wiped the somber look off my face and replaced it with my I’m-a-serious-badass look. He shrugged and kept going, just like we all did. Further. Deeper. Closer.

As the ground drew in deeper, and we got closer to the middle of the Dip, I finally saw it, the only big building in the whole freaking place. I found it kinda funny that the only tall building was directly in the center, on the most unstable ground, but whatever, I was no architect.

My heart started beating faster, getting ready. My palms grew sweaty and started twitching with nervousness and excitement. And fear. Real fear. The idea of seeing him again scared me, and I desperately hoped I didn’t freeze up.

Now that we could see it, it was time. We started running, moving closer, trying to get there before he saw us and tried to get away, if he hadn’t already.

But something was off. I couldn’t be the only one who felt it. My wings itched at my back, scratching and pulling, trying to break free. I stopped running and looked around, as I rolled my shoulders, and stretched my neck. Tension rolled through me.

Alec stopped and looked at me, then he looked up. I followed where his eyes went, all around us, swooping in and heading straight for us were Sprites.

Guards. Dressed in white and blue they came at us like falling angels, punishment in their eyes.

I circled around, and they were everywhere. So many. Probably hundreds of them.

We were surrounded.

My eyes caught Alec’s and understanding flew through us. We had a traitor in our midst.

And worse still, Xan probably wasn’t even here. If he was at one time, he was most likely long gone. My shoulders slumped at the thought. All of this was for nothing. I looked at the guards swimming toward us like starving zombies and we were the last humans anywhere. Where was Rick Grimes when you needed him?

Alec moved closer to me, and as the first of the guards touched ground, my wings shot out from me. The movement sent a ripple through the water, alerting all around me that I was strong and powerful. Alec’s wings shot out just a millisecond after mine, and together we stood back to back. The others were near us, but we already knew we didn’t stand a chance. Just a few of us against so many guards?

No. We would surely lose many, and still fall.

They landed like angry raindrops, flooding all around, surrounding us and just waiting to drown us all. I pulled the sword from its sheath on my belt and held it out in front of me. I breathed in, letting the stale air fill my lungs, hoping it could somehow calm my frantic heart.

So many. There were so many of them. And before they attacked, before we attacked them, I just kept thinking about how many there were. So many! Even if we each managed to take down ten of them, it still wouldn’t be enough.

I looked over to Lynn. She stood in the front of her group, the others to her sides and behind her. She was ready, just as Alec was, just as I was… right? I was ready. I had to be…

She glanced up at me, our eyes met, time stopped, and I could see it all. I could see how it would play out. I could see the fight, the bloodshed, the water turn red. I could see swords clanging and hear grunts of passion and fury as we all fought to the death. And I could see all my companions fall around me. Every single last one of us. We would all die here, now, with this tiny battle being our last stand against them.

I mean, I didn’t actually see it, like a vision or something, but I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we would all die if we fought today. I wasn’t being a Debbie Downer. I wasn’t being pessimistic. It was realistic. It was truth.

Alec grabbed my hand from behind me and spun me around to face him. Before I could even question him, his lips found mine, scorching a path of fire down my body, speeding my heart, pumping my blood, burning this moment into my mind and heart forever.

“We can’t fight today,” he whispered, after pulling away.

“I agree,” nodding frantically. I had thought he was totally gonna say that we needed to fight anyway.

He pulled back, surprised I guess. But he nodded at me and murmured, “Good,” before turning to Lynn who was watching us like we were idiots for making out right before this crazy-huge fight. I shrugged, because…whatever.

But then she looked to Alec, and he shook his head, trying to get through to her what we had already discussed. She gave him an you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look and shook her head in a very different way. It didn’t matter though, because they were all around us now and we would have no choice. If we fought, any of us, we would all die.

“Rebels, Lord and Lady Dew demand your presence at once.” The man who spoke was tall, especially for a Sprite, and had cropped black hair shrouding his deep blue eyes. He stood one step out of line, in front of all the other guards at his side. “To fight would be futile and would surely lead to your deaths. Choose to live today, and come with us now.”

In a weird way, I almost felt like he didn’t want to fight us, or rather, he didn’t want to kill us. There was an almost urgent look in his eyes, and I found it comforting. But maybe I was a little delusional.

Alec stepped forward, “We will only accompany you, if you can guarantee a safe arrival and fair trial.”

Lynn’s jaw dropped, shock first flickering across her face, before pure betrayal showed forth. Maybe she thought it was us, or just Alec, who was the traitor.

“I can only offer you safe travel. Once there, your lives will no longer be in my hands.”

“Screw this!” Lynn shouted, before looking right at the leader. “We don’t answer to you, to the freaking
Lords
, or to your evil king. I will not go with you!”

She withdrew her sword, spinning it around her side with the flick of her wrist, and crouched into an apparent challenge. The others around her followed her lead, holding their weapon at the ready. My wings fluttered behind me, excited at the prospect of bloodshed.

Alec’s eyes pierced mine. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back around to watch our backs. He grabbed my hand once, reassuring me, before unsheathing his sword.

Lynn screamed, her battle cry igniting the rage in all of us. They surged toward the guards, ready and willing to die for this land and our mission.

Several of the Sprites around her held their hands high as magic surrounded them. The water around her group shuddered with power. Knives forged from hardened water shot out towards the guard around them. Many guards fell, ice blades sticking from their chests and necks.

A group off to one side threw up a wall of water, much like the walls that surround the villages. These walls blocked some of the frozen water from getting to them. Behind the walls, they created their own water weapons.

I didn’t move. I kept my back to Alec, his wings gently tickling against mine, and waited for them to come to me.

The only thing I was sure of then, was that we wouldn’t go down without one
hell
of a fight.