Journey into the Realm: The Stolen Child (Journey into the Realm Series) (20 page)

My emotions still hadn’t returned, but I was able to form one coherent thought as I traveled with the beasts.

I wanted my friends back.

We finally stopped moving when we reached the rest of the centaur herd. Those who hadn’t come to my aid stared wide-eyed as we neared them. The area they called home didn’t look different than any other part of the Realm except for the large piles of pulled grass that I guessed were used as beds.

The pink sun above told me that night had ended and morning had arrived. Oddly, I didn’t feel the least bit tired. Then again, I didn’t feel much of anything.

The centaur holding me gently lowered me to the ground. I felt my feet touch the forest floor as he released me. I looked up at my rescuer. His dark mahogany-colored hair fell well past his shoulders in waves, and his piercing black eyes shone with intensity and strength. His chest was bare and muscles rippled throughout his upper body. His arms were strong, yet still slight somehow, lithe and agile.

But his handsome upper body wasn’t where I rested my eyes. It was the lower body, the part that consisted of a horse’s torso, tail, legs, and hooves. I still couldn’t believe I was face to face with an actual centaur. Soon, two others moved to stand on either side of him. One, another male, had medium-length sandy brown hair and a horse’s coat in that same color to match. He looked gentler than my rescuer, but still just as intimidating.

The third was a female; I was relieved when I saw that she wasn’t bare-chested. I had somewhat expected that after hearing stories about these creatures back in the Human Realm. They weren’t exactly into the whole civilized thing. Instead, she wore a simple brown cloth that went down to her belly button in a tattered V shape across her breasts. Her hair was a dusky red and fell to her waist, its jagged ends making her appear like a warrior.

All three shared the same feral looks, staring at me expectantly. I didn’t know exactly what to say or where to begin. I was still recovering from accessing my dormant Golden fairy magic. I didn’t feel myself.

“You are Ramsey. The one who will save the Realms,” my rescuer stated.

I nodded slowly. “And you are a centaur,” I replied.

He nodded.

And then they were bowing, all of them, at least a dozen of them altogether. Most were fully grown, but a few foals crowded together some distance away from me. All were bending downward and kneeling before me, their heads down. I didn’t know what to make of it.

My rescuer was the first to lift his head. “Thank you,” he said simply.

“For what?” I asked thoughtlessly.

My rescuer blinked. “For your dedication to the war effort.”

I bit my lip. “Oh, right. Sorry. I’m not exactly…myself currently. I had to use a lot of power to get away from the Woodland fairies, and the side effects are quite…strange.” I swallowed nervously.

“Yes, we saw that display. Quite incredible, really,” the female centaur chimed in.

My rescuer nodded. “Our task was to save you from the Woodland fairies and bring you here. Although you did not require saving, we still thought it best to do as instructed.”

“By whom?” I wondered. “Your leader?”

My rescuer shook his head. “No. I am the leader of the herd. Captain Ceito. With me are my secondary captains, Idra and Tivon.”

I nodded. “All right. Then who instructed you to bring me here?”

“Milady, our herd used to live in harmony with the Woodland fae,” Captain Ceito began. “That was until a band of Element soldiers paid Queen Ella a visit, proposing an exchange.”

“What kind of exchange?” I asked.

“The Element fairies told Queen Ella that they would keep the Woodland Fairy Realm protected and untouched by the war,” Tivon explained.

“As long as the Queen promised to hide her crown from you and enlist her fairies to entrap you in their dance,” Idra finished.

“A few Woodland fairies I encountered in Ellamara said something similar, that the Element fairies were protecting them from the elves. It was ridiculous to hear because elves aren’t interested in waging war against any other Realm.”

“Sadly, the Woodland fairies do not know this,” Idra said.

“The elf soldiers stationed here have orders not to have contact with the Woodland fairies,” I realized. “So they can’t tell them any differently.”

Captain Ceito nodded. “And unfortunately, because the Element fairies’ offer seemed too important to ignore, Queen Ella agreed to their terms. When the herd and I realized this, we agreed we wanted nothing to do with the Element fairies. Centaurs believe in trust that is earned, and the Element fae have done nothing to earn our trust.”

“So we left,” Tivon added.

“And made our home here,” Idra finished.

I was shocked…and impressed. Finally, creatures who were able to resist the threats and empty promises of the Element Fairy Realm. The centaurs didn’t stand back and allow themselves to be controlled. They had taken charge of their lives and made their own decisions. I could work with these creatures.

“I really admire your strength. I can’t tell you how happy your story makes me. Not the part about Queen Ella agreeing to thwart my request to borrow her crown, of course. But the fact that you saw through the Element Fairy Realm’s façade. Thank you.”

“We only did what was best for the herd,” Captain Ceito answered simply. “Now, back to your situation….”

I nodded, eager to know why the centaurs had rescued me. “Go on.”

“Not two days ago, as we were still settling in to our new home, we were graced with a visitor,” he continued, “who gave us specific instructions to find you in Ellamara and bring you here.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because the visitor would like to meet with you and explain our plan to get you the crown,” Tivon said.

It dawned on me then who the visitor was. After evading my questions ever since our first meeting, we had finally caught up to each other. This time, I wouldn’t settle for anything but the absolute truth.

“Take me to your visitor. I’m ready,” I told the centaur captains.

Idra smiled. “He seems to have already noticed your arrival. Turn around.”

I followed her advice and came face to face with Eder.

And just like that, all the emotions I had lost when I accessed my Golden fairy magic came rushing back.

***

“Okay. We’re away from the centaurs,” I said, sitting down and leaning against the trunk of one of the Woodland Fairy Realm’s many gigantic trees. I breathed in the fresh scent of the forest. I was back. I was myself again. I could feel everything. And I suppose I had Eder to thank. I must have needed someone I knew to bring me back. “Now can we talk?”

Eder nodded, taking a seat next to me. His closeness felt oddly familiar. I barely knew him, yet we had still gone through so much together. “I think you deserve an explanation.”

“After all these months? Yeah, I’d have to agree,” I muttered sarcastically. “Why all the secrets? If you’re trying to help me stop King Vortigern, why couldn’t you have just told me from the beginning?”

He sighed. “It’s more complicated than that. It may look as though I’m in charge of the situation, but I’m not. The orders I gave to Elvina and Brielle…they didn’t originally come from me. They came from someone very much above me.”

“Who?” I wondered, exasperated and lost in the confusion of my life, in what I was expected to do and to be. Why were there so many people governing my life? Why couldn’t I be the one in control?

“Your mother. Lady Rosina,” he confessed.

I took a deep breath and released, trying to settle my racing heart. “My mother? I-I don’t understand.” Daur had mentioned something of my mother’s involvement before we entered Honeysuckle, but somehow hearing it from Eder was different.

“Let me start from the beginning, all right?” Eder proposed. “I promise it’ll be easier to hear.”

I nodded. “Okay. Tell me everything.”

“A lot of this will come as quite a shock to you,” he admitted. “Try to stay calm.”

“You’re scaring me,” I replied, nervously chewing my bottom lip.

His tense features softened as he noticed my distress. “You want to understand your destiny, don’t you?”

I took a deep breath. “Yes. Of course I do.” I gave him my best reassuring smile. “You can start.”

Eder nodded. “All right. Now, I hadn’t been born when everything started, so I’m only telling you what I learned from your mother. When the war began, no one knew it would last more than thirty years. Every Realm expected the elves to give up and return Elvina to the Element Fairy Realm. But the former King, your grandfather, wouldn’t go back on his word to Lady Cora. When he died and Queen Taryn took the throne,
she
almost did.”

Queen Taryn hadn’t mentioned this to me during our time together. We had spoken about the war multiple times. Never once did she admit she had almost ended it. “What do you mean?”

“When it appeared to all of the Realms that the war wasn’t going to end, Queen Titania sent a message to Queen Taryn asking her to repair relations with the Element Fairy Realm. Apparently, King Vortigern received a similar request. If the rulers wouldn’t agree, she would have no choice but to send an army of Golden fairies to intervene.”

“This is incredible,” I expressed. “I thought Queen Titania never wanted anything to do with the war.”

“That didn’t come until later,” Eder explained. “You see, Queen Taryn replied to Queen Titania’s message, saying she would be happy to come to some sort of compromise with King Vortigern. She would never dare cross the High Queen. For a while, it seemed as though the war was going to end. At this point, it had gone on for over seven years.”

“So what happened? Obviously the war didn’t end,” I said.

“No, it didn’t,” Eder acknowledged. “Something happened, Ramsey. In the Golden Fairy Realm. Something horrible enough to make Queen Titania pull her focus away from the war.”

“What?” I asked.

Eder sighed. “Your mother wouldn’t tell me. Only the royal Golden fairies are allowed to know. But when your mother told me what little she could…she was terrified.”

“So what happened next?”

“Queen Titania sent another message, this one saying she wanted nothing to do with the war and that her Golden fairies wouldn’t interfere. Queen Taryn and King Vortigern had to settle things themselves. Of course King Vortigern wouldn’t comply once he realized he wasn’t being forced by the High Queen. So the war continued.”

I shook my head. “I can’t believe it almost ended twenty-three years ago. Think of how many lives could have been saved. How could Queen Titania go back on her word?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, but like I said, your mother refuses to tell me,” Eder said.

“Where does your part come in?” I wondered.

“Years later. After Queen Titania refused to end the war, she decreed that no Golden fairy leave her Realm. Your mother didn’t want the war to continue, but she also knew that Queen Titania would do nothing until the problem in the Golden Fairy Realm disappeared. In a desperate attempt to save the Realms, Lady Rosina formed a plan and snuck away to the Elf Realm. She believed that if a half-fairy, half-elfen existed, this being would have the potential to bring peace to the Realms. Someone on both sides who desired harmony, not war.”

“I don’t like where this story is going,” I declared. “I – do you mean to tell me that my mother sought out my father for the sole purpose of giving birth to me? It was all just about her plan? In her letter…in my dream with her…she told me she loved him.”

Eder took my hand. “She did, Ramsey. I promise you that. Lady Rosina didn’t expect to find her soul mate in your father. But she got what she asked for and more. You, and the love of her life.”

“Then she hid me away in the Human Realm so I could grow up objectively,” I contributed.

“Yes,” he confirmed, releasing my hand. The skin of my palm felt suddenly cold. “While you grew up, she continued planning for your return. Since she couldn’t leave the Golden Fairy Realm again for fear of being punished by the High Queen, she enlisted helpers – six in all, myself being one of them. Your mother used Princess Tania, your cousin and daughter to the High Queen, to contact us. The Princess has the power of astral projection, which is a kind of out-of-body experience. Those with this power have an astral body separate from the physical body and are capable of traveling outside it by using the Otherworld as a passageway. Princess Tania was able to contact all six of us with instructions from your mother.”

“So I assume the Princess wants peace as well,” I concluded.

“Yes. So does the High Queen, but not if it costs her the safety of the Golden Fairy Realm, which is why you’re the only hope. Your mother believes you have the power to stop whatever is threatening the Golden Fairy Realm. Once you do, the war can end.”

“My mother is even more vague than you are,” I muttered. “So how did you help?”

“My job was to protect and watch over you in the Human Realm while you grew up. When the time was right, you could begin your destiny.”

“You watched me grow up?” I couldn’t believe it.

“I was growing up myself,” he admitted.

“How old were you when Princess Tania contacted you?” I asked.

“It was after your mother left the Elf Realm. You were…about five. I was eleven.”

I thought about it for a moment. “So that would make you twenty-two now. Why did my mother enlist someone so young?”

“She sent Princess Tania to scout the Realms, looking for helpers. After my parents died in the war, I didn’t have any relatives, so I had no place to go but Tarlore to look for work. I wanted to be a scout for the Queen, but Princess Tania found me first. She took pity on my situation and suggested to Lady Rosina that I fill the position of your protector. I don’t know what either of them saw in me…but before I knew it I was in the Human Realm looking after you.”

“You were so young….Did you even go to ability school?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. I was with you.”

Something about the way he had worded that last sentence made me pause to collect my breath. “So from then on you watched over me for as long as I lived in the Human Realm?”

Eder winced. “Not exactly.”

“Sounds like your story isn’t finished,” I commented.

Eder rose from the ground and took a few steps away from me. “It isn’t. But I think you should take time to absorb everything I’ve already told you. Then I can finish.” He turned back to me. “You must be hungry. We should take a break to eat something.”

I nodded. “Okay. It’s true that I haven’t had a decent meal since leaving the Elf Realm. Just a few handfuls of nuts in the Flower Fairy Realm.” I rose to join Eder. “A break sounds nice.”

Eder smiled and led the way back to the centaur herd. As herbivores, they lived on grass and leaves, so they couldn’t provide us with any suitable food, but Eder had some dried meat and a few apples that we shared. We made sure to eat separately from the herd so we wouldn’t offend them.

After days without a solid meal, I ate quickly, which left no room for speaking. That must have been what Eder had intended. Whatever he had left to tell me about our past, it wasn’t a subject he enjoyed discussing. I was nervous, but I still wanted to know. I wasn’t going to live in the dark anymore.

“All right, I’ve eaten and I can’t wait any longer,” I admitted.

Eder bowed his head. “Unfortunately, I’ve run out of reasons to avoid this subject.”

“Then don’t avoid it,” I said. “Tell me about the days you watched over me. Tell me what happened to make you say ‘not exactly.’”

He stood and leaned against a nearby willow tree, the vines partially hiding his face. I didn’t like not being able to read his features. I moved to stand under the tree with him. He frowned, but didn’t comment.

“Like I said before, I started watching you when you were five. I was told to keep my distance and watch you without your knowledge. Your mother didn’t want any magic to interfere with your upbringing. The process worked well for a while...until you discovered me.”

“I did?” I squinted, trying to recall the distant memory. I remembered nothing.

“You were at the park one day with your sister, and you spotted me watching from the trees. I suppose I should have hidden better. I was distracted that day.” His lips broke into a wide smile, his eyes taking on a distant look. “You marched right up to me and demanded to know why I was staring. The only problem was Princess Tania had performed a spell that made me invisible to humans, so only you could see me. Your mother and sister thought you had made up an imaginary friend.”

I couldn’t help but smile with him. “I probably looked ridiculous.”

“Not at all,” he said with sincerity. Our eyes held for a moment before he looked away and cleared his throat. “Anyway…”

“What did you say when I asked you what you were doing?” I wondered, trying to move past the awkward moment.

“I told you the truth,” he said.

I nearly choked on my own breath. “You told me I was an elfen?”

“Of course not!” he said. “That would have meant breaking your mother’s rules. I skirted the full truth and gave you a half-truth.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just like you’ve been doing the last few months.”

He chuckled. “Sort of. During our initial meeting, I told you that I was supposed to protect you. You wanted to know what I was protecting you from and because I couldn’t tell you about the Element fairies, I simply said whatever scares you. So you asked if that applied to the bullies at your school, and I said most definitely.”

I closed my eyes, remembering the years I was taunted and tormented at the hands of my classmates. Those years had made me strong, but I never wanted to live them again. I was no longer that shy, insecure girl.

“You didn’t believe me, so I said I would prove it to you,” Eder continued.

I opened my eyes. “Did you?”

“Yes. A few days later, while they were calling you names from across the lunchroom, I tied their shoes together and when they got up, they tripped.”

I gasped. “Did they get hurt?”

He shook his head. “No, but they were very embarrassed. From then on, you trusted me. I was always nearby, so we would meet whenever you called for me, as long as we were alone. I didn’t want everyone thinking you were crazy.”

I laughed, enjoying my time with him more and more. Now I knew why he felt so familiar. We had history. We shared a past. “How considerate of you.”

He nodded. “Eventually, I told you that you had a very important future but that it had to remain a secret until you were sixteen. You were satisfied with that until you turned nine.”

“What changed?” I asked.

“One evening I found you siting on the swing in your backyard, crying. When I asked what was wrong, you told me that you had just finished fighting with your sister. Apparently, one of the insults Dina used implied that you were too weird-looking to be part of the family. You asked me if it was true, if you were adopted.” Eder ran a hand through his tousled black hair. “You were so upset. I-I couldn’t lie to you. So I told you that your mother gave you up in order to protect you and that you would meet her when you turned sixteen, the same time you would learn about your destiny.”

I swallowed. “And I was okay with that?”

“Not at first,” he said softly. “But I helped you accept it.”

I blinked back tears. “Why don’t I remember any of this? I know I was young, but nine seems old enough to remember someone like you.”