29. ELOWAN
Elowan portalled just outside of Castle Terrin – something she hadn’t imagine doing again so soon. They had to be quick. In and out. That’s all they could afford.
Since Kaine’s betrayal and the queen’s dirty laundry being aired out for all to see, the castle had emptied out. Gone were all her Elite warriors and staff. All had “disappeared” or left to join the rebellion presumably. All except Kaine and of course the queen’s now dwindling platoon of royal guards.
The castle looked darker than it had before, if that were even possible. The two soot-covered spires split into the night sky like two giant knives.
Two soot spires above so high.
Nestled perfectly between the two spires was Queen Calliea’s throne room. Its door, walls and ceilings coloured in blood red.
In its centre has red in the sky.
To say that the castle had emptied out wasn’t to say that the important rooms like the throne room were left unguarded. If Queen Calliea was hiding Praeteritus – the literal Oracle of the Past – in the throne room, then perhaps security had doubled. There was no way of knowing until they got there.
“My shadows can mask us for a while but if we need mana to break the chains of Praeteritus then something has to give,” Zala explained.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Elowan felt like an idiot for saying the words. Queen Calliea had been hiding an oracle for the years which would take a fair amount of mana to conceal and therefore a fair amount of mana to break.
Without another word, Zala waved her hand around them, cocooning them in a filter of shadow. Like shadows under the cover of night, they moved in silence through Castle Terrin’s courtyard. Inside the dark steel gates, the court was quiet. Grey gravel lined the walkways and in the centre a gargoyle fountain that once gurgled, stood quietly, its water covered in algae. Wilted white-rose bushes lined the main path, leading to the throne room.
They needed to take measured bounds here. Before they entered a space, they would need to send their mana in quickly to feel for any traps or triggers. If the Fates were in their favour, it would only be the throne room that contained a spell of sorts, if at all.
They approached the large oak floor-to-ceiling doors of the throne room with trained silence. Elowan watched as Zala placed a gentle hand on the door, sending out a tendril of her shadowy mana to feel for traps. Her eyes narrowed in concentration.
One second.
Two.
Zala pulled her hand away and shook her head. There was nothing. Now that was a surprise. Elowan raised an eyebrow.
Zala shrugged her shoulders.
Too easy,Elowan thought. The queen was smarter than that, right?
Quietly, Elowan and Zala slipped in. The throne room was empty. Completely empty. Not even a bug had deigned to call this place its home for the night. Elowan and Zala parted. One took one side of the room while the other scanned the other side.
Elowan scanned the tapestries, the carpet, the seats – anything that would show signs of disturbance or high foot traffic. Even the way dust settled across the floor would be a sign. There could be a trapdoor or the oracle could be glamoured. It was a meticulous task that required time and patience but here they both were, working against the sands of time with only a few grains left to tick over.
Every few metres Elowan turned around to check on Zala. Operating in silence wasn’t easy, but there were small things they could do to keep communication lines open between them.
Elowan scanned high and low, right to left, all the way to the dais. She turned to Zala who had reached the same place across the other side of the dais. Elowan locked eyes with the wraith and shook her head. Zala did the same. Nothing still.
Shit. Time is running out.
They both scanned the sides of the dais, moving swiftly and methodically to its centre.
Elowan circled the throne, scanning for any disturbances. If she were the queen, she’d hide the oracle close by. She scanned the floor around the throne, but there was nothing.
Elowan could feel Zala’s proximity. While Zala’s shadows kept them invisible and camouflaged for the most part, if you were close enough you could see the ripples of the air that separated them from reality.
Elowan examined the reflections of the throne’s shining surface. Perhaps there was a lever, a special button.
It was then Elowan noticed. As Zala moved in the background, her shadows appeared. Then disappeared. Then reappeared.
Elowan turned swiftly, catching Zala in time to signal to her. Elowan held up a hand, halting Zala in place. She pointed to the throne and asked Zala to move back and forth again with a wave of her hand.
Zala obeyed. They repeated the same thing but closer to the throne until Zala’s shadows did not register at all against the reflection of the throne.
Got you.
Zala caught on. There was something blocking her shadows, changing its consistency in the air. Something like a glamour. As the realisation struck, so did the sounds of heavy footsteps down the hallway.
Fuck.
Whoever it was, was by themselves.
Zala maintained her shadows while Elowan worked her mana against the glamour. She skipped the niceties, pulling up her sleeve to gather small rivulets of blood with a quick flick of her short spear. With urgency, she drew the ancient-Fae unlocking symbol on the floor next to the throne where she estimated that the glamour sat.
The footsteps outside grew louder. They were only a few steps away from the door of the throne room.
The ancient-Fae symbol with its swirls and curves burned to life, then guttered. The glamour dropped to the floor like a heavy curtain, revealing exactly what they were looking for. Hunched on the ground with two thick chains fastened around its wrists was the oracle, Praeteritus. It was thin and its skin somehow less alive than its siblings. A wheeze escaped the oracle. Was it even alive? Elowan approached it with caution, still under the protection of Zala’s shadows.
With a crash, the door of the throne room burst open.
No.
The sweet and spicy scent was a slap to the face, almost making Elowan gag. Zala turned to face the intruder with her feet planted firmly on the floor. His long dark hair, hollow eyes and dark aura were the last thing Elowan wanted to see.
Kaine.
Elowan and Zala stayed impossibly still, every muscle tensed and ready to pounce. The oracle still lay slumped on the floor, unmoving.
Kaine scanned the throne room, not realising that Elowan and Zala were just a few metres away from him, shrouded by a blanket of shadow. His nostrils flared, sniffing about the room.
Shit, my blood.
The smell of her blood betrayed her.
Kaine chuckled. “Ellie, you can’t hide from me. I can feel your mana.” He sauntered all the way to the dais, standing mere inches away from where Zala and Elowan stood, braced for a fight.
“It’s a shame you decided to play enemy. Your power would be useful to the blood throne.” Kaine made clicking noises with his tongue, as if she were some sort of dog. He roamed back down the dais with his arms out wide, ready to catch her. How arrogant.
It took every ounce of willpower to not bitch slap Kaine in the face right now, but getting the oracle out the throne room was priority. Elowan nudged Zala on the elbow and motioned to the oracle. Zala nodded.
One.
Two.
Three.
Elowan thrusted her short spear into the space between her and Kaine. It was a speeding bullet with death written all over it, but Kaine was too quick. He ducked and rolled back. Her short spear lodged itself into the throne room door with a THWACK.
Kaine still didn’t know where she was in the room. Elowan could tell by the way his eyes darted around, scanning.
Zala had dived to free the oracle of its chains. The wraith was more adept at identifying locks and unpicking them with her shadows. And Elowan . . . Well, Elowan just wanted a chance to beat the shit out of Kaine.
That’s when Elowan felt it. The shadows that camouflaged Elowan dropped.
Game on.
Elowan let out a battle cry as she charged for Kaine with Cam’s short spear in her hand, the gems glinting with light of the lamps surrounding the throne room. They crashed into each other in the centre of the room. Steel bouncing left, right and centre against more steel. Elowan grunted against Kaine’s strength. He was so much stronger than when they used to train together. It was unnerving.
Slash. Stab. Hook. None of her blows landed. He parried and dodged with unnatural speed but at least she could still throw him off balance. She kicked out a leg, sending his knee straight for the ground. Elowan took the chance to roll backward and sprinted for the door where her first short spear had lodged itself. She kicked up against the door and jumped high to snatch the short spear out of the wood. As she came down she unleashed her fire, engulfing her entire body in the flames of her mana. She arched back, driving both short spears down onto Kaine. She felt fucking magnificent.
Kaine dodged, sending his own balls of air to quell her fire, throwing her up into the throne room ceiling. He was barely fighting back. Elowan could feel it in the air. He was holding back.
Elowan fell to the ground at an alarming speed but broke free of Kaine’s mana in time to duck and roll. If she fell any harder, her shoulder would probably have dislocated. Elowan rolled off the pain throbbing in her shoulder. “Did taking the blood-oath make you weak?” Elowan laughed, panting heavily. She stood up from the ground. They circled one another, like two jungle cats ready to fight.
“Ellie—” Kaine started.
“Don’t call me that.” Elowan cut him off. That nickname was reserved for the people she loved.
“We could use a strong Fae like you.”
“The chance to recruit me for anything died the moment you killed Camrine.”
Kaine snarled and spat. “He deserved it, Elowan, you know that. You cannot argue with me on that.” His eyes bulged in hatred and he shook his head erratically. He was insane.
They continued circling one another in the centre of the blood-red throne room. Elowan couldn’t see Zala. The shadow shields around her remained as she worked to free the oracle. It would only be a matter of time.
Come on, Z.
“I will argue until my dying breath when it comes to you, Kaine. You deserve the hell that you buried yourself in.”
“I have access to power that Fae like you dream of having. I get to be the hero. I get to save the day and rid all realms of the Tienthan. You could join me.”
“You’re fucking delusional is what you are, Kaine.”
“Don’t you see? They’ve brainwashed you—” Kaine’s poor excuse of a speech was cut short with a whip of Zala’s shadows.
Elowan ducked, her eyes wide at the display of power. The blade of shadow cracked through the air, striking him through his right shoulder. Her power had shot right through him easily. Too easily.
Kaine groaned, clutching his shoulder, blood already slipping through his fingers.
“Ellie!” Zala shouted from the dais.
Elowan turned to see the oracle had been freed. Its frail body lay limp in Zala’s arms. Elowan didn’t hesitate. She pulled on her mana, forming a giant whip of vengeful fire. She’d been waiting for an opportunity like this. With a deadly crack, she whipped her mana around Kaine’s throat.
He struggled against it, clawing at the flames that singed his hands. There was no release from this.
“I hope the world you love burns to cinders and you with it,” Elowan sneered. She yanked her whip down so hard that his face violently smashed against the floor. The crunch of his bones would satisfy her for years to come. Kaine lay still on the ground for just a moment.
Elowan took that second to pull deep down into her mana, opening a portal just beside Zala for her to jump in. Without hesitation, Zala jumped into the portal with the oracle held firmly against her.
Elowan turned to find Kaine groaning and bracing his face as he came to in the centre of the throne room. Elowan sprinted and dived for the portal entrance. As her feet left the ground, she turned midair and faced Kaine one more time.
As Elowan crossed the glittering edges of the portal, she smiled widely and pulled up her two middle fingers, sending one clear and deserved message.
A scowl so foul burned into Kaine’s face as the edges of the portal rippled closed.
Fuck you, Kaine.