22. Thorns
Thick vines covered in needle-like thorns whipped around their group. All that held them back from the rest of the forest was the arc of light that burned any vines that moved too close. A swampy stench accompanied the vines as they ripped through the clothes Killian and his companions weren’t able to keep out of the vines’ reach. There was hardly enough room to swing their swords. With a yell, Auntie Shou threw a ball of blue flames that sizzled along the writhing arms and opened a cavern within the thorns on the other side. Phineas and Killian dove through, back-to-back, swinging and twisting and taking hard-earned steps deeper into the writhing thorny mass.
The swords cut cleanly, but there were always twenty new vines to replace each one they cut down. Jax was ripping off vines and throwing them to the ground beside him. Auntie Mo had whipped out a glowing rolling pin, lined with electric green flashes of light that burned through the vines, while Auntie Toru held a tight whip of pink-hued water, with which she sliced through whatever came toward her.
Every inch they gained and every foot they moved forward was a struggle. They had so far to go.
We need a new plan, Jax said as he pawed at his jowls, a thorn sticking into his muzzle. These thorns are turning my mouth numb.
Killian frowned as he looked toward his forearm, which was dripping with blood he couldn’t feel. The numbness quickly became a burning sensation, and his skin took on a sickly purple hue along the edges. “They’re poisoned!” He shouted over the din of the screeching plants. “How do you get so close to the castle without being seen, Jax?”
The tunnel system, but that’s too far to the west from here.
“There’s a tunnel system?” Killian shook his head. “Never mind. Next plan.”
Auntie Shou threw three more balls of fire. “Call the light!”
Killian raised his sword to the sky, terror slowly creeping through his heart. “Light!” The vines continued their assault as Phineas guarded him, but nothing else happened. Killian frowned and tried again. “Light!” Nothing.
Whirling around, he saw the light behind him, blocking the gate, its beams holding back a full assault on the entryway. The attacking thorns seemed relentless against the wall of light that protected the whole forest. “I think it’s a little busy.”
Killian sliced his way back into the fray, when his shoe brushed against something soggy. He glanced down to a red mushroom with white spots. “Shou, can you use the fairy circles?”
“Ha!” She paced toward him, a flame engulfing her hand. “Does a fairy use fairy circles? Of course. What living circles do you have near the castle?”
Killian swung overhead, then ducked beneath another whipping arm. “Does it have to be mushrooms? The rose garden has a circle around the fountain.”
“Roses!” Auntie Toru cried. “Better! Shoushou, I come!” Her spindly legs carried her to Auntie Shou as Auntie Mo joined them in a circle. The man and wolf fought to give them space around the mushroom circle. Blue fire, pink water, and green electricity filled their hands. They put their palms toward the center, forming a ball of swirling elements before them. Phineas, Jax, and Killian drove back the thorns, until the fairies, with a cry, threw their hands forward and drove the ball of magic into the earth.
Auntie Mo grabbed Phineas’s shirt sleeve. “The time is now! Hop!”
“Jump!” Auntie Shou shouted at the same time.
Jax went next as Killian backed toward the fairies. Auntie Toru grabbed the back of his shirt, and all four fell through the fairy circle.
Killian’s every sinew was compressed through the magical portal, and his chest was wringed of all air. He whirled in black space, unable to see anything before a wavering light flickered ahead. He plunged into cold water. Twisting toward the light above, Killian kicked outward, finally hitting the bottom. He rocketed out of the fountain, sputtering and gasping for air.
Phineas and Jax both lay with the bulk of their bodies in the fountain, their heads and arms or front legs dangling over the edge. Auntie Toru and Auntie Shou stood on tiptoe as they waded to the side. A leg passed him in the water, and Killian reached to pluck out a sputtering Auntie Mo.
“What is the point of legs if they cannot reach!” she screeched as she clung to his forearm. “I am like a giant round stone!”
Auntie Shou began to laugh, followed by Auntie Toru’s giggle and a wheezing sound from Jax. Auntie Mo splashed water at them, then she almost toppled again and squeezed Killian’s arm tighter. He felt her legs wrap around his as he dragged her to the side. Auntie Mo was muttering and grumbling again, but she started to chuckle too. Phineas joined in with his bellow.
Auntie Shou looked them all over, plucking a thorn from Phineas’s shirt. Auntie Toru set her hand into the water and from her fingertips, pink magic shifted through the water, pooling around them.
“Dunk your muzzle, dear ancient wolf,” Auntie Shou said. “Toru will help with the poison.”
Jax had been pawing at his nose and, at her beckoning, placed his nose under the water, blowing out bubbles. Killian frowned at the blood from his arm that discolored the lighter magical waters, but by degrees, he felt the numbness of his skin sharpen into a vigorous sting. Then the scrapes and punctures dulled to a shallow wound. Killian flexed and moved his muscles which were now sore, but fully functional.
Dragging themselves out of the water, they collapsed to the grassy earth. Behind them, some distance off, the massive wall of vines writhed in a wall, taller than the trees and circling the whole castle grounds. Killian froze in concern, but the vines stayed in a vertical wall—keeping things out—and didn’t seem to notice their presence. Above them, black clouds rotated slowly, moving faster as they drew closer to the center of the vortex, directly above the tallest tower of the castle. Purple lightning rippled through them, and the air crackled with electric tension and constant rolls of thunder.
Auntie Shou pointed to the central tower and Killian followed her gaze. “She sleeps up there.”
Killian rose to his feet. The way before them was clear all the way to the garden entrance.
“Why is it so quiet?” Killian said in a low voice.
Auntie Shou cringed beside him. “You should not ever say that word, my prince. But I don’t know the answer. I can feel Zalina’s power here, though I cannot see her.”
Killian stepped toward the castle when his foot struck something like a stream of water that fell from the sky, shimmered, and dissipated. Now, instead of a peaceful castle, a horde of creatures with glowing eyes stood before them. The goblins were covered with horns, tattered wings, scales, and claws. The creatures were bent and jagged and writhing with malice. Each wore a belt with a red stone across its chest. Among them stood the gardener. He had a glassy gaze and held a spoon. Killian’s chest iced over. He looked over the army again and saw scattered servants, eyes unfocused, one wielding a serving tray, another a book. Behind them stood Killian’s men, armed with swords, all wearing the same dazed expressions.
“Puppets.” Auntie Shou gasped, her palm flying to her chest.
Auntie Mo pointed between them. “See the marks on their cheeks?” Killian looked closer, glowing purple scratches were etched on each face. Their eyes also clouded with a faint purple hue. “They stand but still sleep.”
Shuddering, Phineas stepped beside him. “I can’t kill our people.”
“We won’t,” Killian said. “Are these goblins like the ones at the castle?” He glanced at the fairies who were studying the group before nodding slowly. “Then we can fight them.” He pointed at his people, enslaved and ensorcelled. “Can you three release that spell?”
“Yes, Toru can. But Zalina controls the gob—” Auntie Shou started.
A cackle came from the balcony above them. Zalina stood there, her hands outstretched. She wore an inky black gown that draped below her shoulders and across her chest and fell to the ground. The violet stones lining her neckline gleamed in the eerie light of the swirling clouds. “Welcome home, princeling. Have you finally come to marry me? Let us have peace and unite our kingdoms. No blood needs to be shed.” She waved a hand, shifting the humans below half a step forward. “Your people won’t be forced to go against your wolf who will rip out their throats. They won’t have to fight dear Lord Phineas, who will slay them where they stand.”
Killian’s mind rushed through the possibilities. He couldn’t submerge the whole kingdom under her half-fairy, wholly evil, reign. But he knew he could trust his friends.
“I don’t wish for anyone to die today,” Killian said. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. “But I will not marry you. This ends today, Zalina. You end today. Unless you stop this madness.”
Her laughter pierced the air and into his marrow, morphing from a shrill laugh to a rasping, growling shriek. Zalina’s eyes glowed a haunting red, and her fingers elongated. Her skin turned to ashy pitch, like burnt birch, as her body expanded. Her face lengthened to that of a monster, scaled, with a sharp nose like an owl, massive eyes, and an abnormally large smile that spread from pointed ear to pointed ear. Six horns erupted around her head rising a foot behind her ears—they mimicked the crown she had worn in his imprisonment. Her body bent to reveal bat-like wings stretching from her back. She was more distorted, but less jagged than her horde of goblins, which looked like poor replications of her current monstrous form.
Her voice was now many voices, and she hissed like a snake. “My prince, you bring this upon your own people. You will marry me in the end.” Her wings snapped as she spread them wide. “Marry me, and I’ll even spare your pretty princess.”
Rage boiled within him, and he stepped forward, slicing the air with his sword. “If you have harmed her, Zalina, I will end you. If you touch her again, it will be the last thing you ever do. This ends now.”
Zalina cackled. “So feisty, my prince. Come. Let’s dance.” Her mouth chomped twice with her too-many toothed grin, and she flapped her hideous wings.
Ew, please don’t marry that. Jax shook his large head side to side.
“Let’s get her,” Phineas growled. “Stop her. Save the kingdom. Easy.”
Killian snorted. “Easy.”
The monsters before them began to chant in a language that Killian didn’t know. The chant grew louder and louder, and they banged their shields and stomped as thunder rumbled above them.
Auntie Shou began to sing quietly beside him, her hands coated in a blue, smoky magic.
“Silent forest, blackened clouds, a squealing wind, then thunder sounds.
Coming, coming, coming fast. I do not think that I will last.
Bind the window, catch the latch, our little frame cannot be matched.
I will stand within the storm. I will go, she’ll not be torn.”
Killian repeated the last line in his mind. I will stand within the storm. I will go. She’ll not be torn.I will go. She’ll not be torn. I’m coming,Raela. With a cry, Killian raised his sword and charged the line. I will go. Clattering into the goblins, Killian slammed his sword through them, whipping them to the side as he spun and struck again, hitting the gems. The monsters disappeared in a puff of smoke as the gems broke. She’ll not be torn. Though the creatures were shorter than him, they were faster and stronger than they should be. He ripped out a dagger and flung it at a monster about to stab through Jax’s flank.
The fairies took to the sky on tiny iridescent wings. Auntie Shou’s blue-hued magic wrapped around the servants as she plucked them from the rabble and threw them into the fountain. Auntie Toru stood beside the water, coating the surface with pink. Auntie Mo surged through the forces, zapping and battering all within the reach of her green lightning-coated rolling pin. The monsters screamed in fury, and all was chaos.
Killian ran headlong through the melee, shoving creatures off the steps as he raced up to the door to get into the castle and stop Zalina. At the top, three large ogres waited with similar thorn marks on their faces, but no red gem. They wielded large stone columns ripped from the side of his castle. When they spotted Killian, they roared and battered all the creatures in front of them in their wild attempt to reach him. Killian tried to skirt around the edges of the horde, but goblins surged toward him, forcing him up to the balcony railing. He delicately hurried across, but one ogre slammed the column into the main stone bracer before him, forcing him to halt and nearly throwing him off the edge. The ogre wouldn’t let go of his weapon, so Killian ran up the column. He struck its temple with the pummel of his sword. As it fell, the creature spun around and knocked Killian in the chest with the back of its hand, sending him careening across the stone and right in front of another ogre.
This ogre grinned and lifted his massive stone weapon high before bringing it down on Killian. Killian rolled away and grabbed the creature’s leg. The ogre tried again to crush him, but Killian moved at the last second, and the ogre slammed the stone onto its own foot. Before Killian could feel the hope of success, the last ogre took hold of his ankle and dragged him up into the air. He wielded a large vase and brought it toward Killian, but blue magic wrapped it and tugged it farther up.
“Go, Killian, go!” Auntie Shou shouted as her wings beat against the effort of the ogre.
He bent at the waist, grabbed a small dagger from his boot and stabbed it into the beast’s wrist. The ogre tossed him, whipping wildly at Auntie Shou. Killian landed hard on the broken balcony, and the impact caused the ogre to stumble toward the edge. The rocks shook and heaved, and the far side of the balcony collapsed, taking the last ogre with it.
Scrambling toward the entrance as he held his bruised ribs, Killian looked over his shoulder. Auntie Shou had recovered and was already flying on her small iridescent wings back into the battle, batting down arrows aimed for her. Auntie Mo had taken to the air as well and was bludgeoning creatures from above. And Auntie Toru was guiding the castle staff on the ground toward safety, before returning to the fountain to heal others. Killian couldn’t see Jax or Phineas and was about turn back when he heard the familiar call to arms. The magic of the fountain must have worked. Soaked soldiers stood ready to fight with Phineas at the head and Jax beside him.
Go, Killian. Stop her!Jax snarled.
Killian sprinted away.