Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Massaging the sides of my head, I scanned the ravaged city of Goliah—the City of Air—where our dishonest guide had taken us.
My heart ached for what it once was—a place vibrant with beauty and life. Now, nothing but devastation remained after the dark fairies had infiltrated its borders and mercilessly slain anyone who dared to defy their King.
I still couldn’t fully comprehend what would make the fairy King destroy his own realm and people—what type of madness brewed in his soul.
Crumbled fragments of buildings littered the landscape everywhere around me. Shards of glass and ashes littered the deserted streets. The silence that hung in the air was haunting, heavy with the weight of lost souls and shattered lives.
My gaze fell upon a statue before me of a graceful female fairy, her wings broken and disfigured. One bare foot lifted higher than the other as if she wanted to step on air. The beautiful face of the female fairy was chipped as if she was scarred.
Within the achy sadness in my chest, something else stirred—a fire ignited by the knowledge that my mom had been part of this devastation. She too had fallen victim to the fairy King, although I still didn’t know what he wanted with Willa.
My jaw tightened, and I ground my teeth as I looked at Ashton.
Our guide was not in my good graces at the moment.
He believed I could revive the magic land, but the challenge seemed impossible, too much for me to handle.
I had come here seeking only my mom. Yet it felt wrong to leave everyone else to suffer.
"Look at this place." Ashton stepped into my sight, causing me to raise my eyebrows. "It's a graveyard."
The wind whipped around us as we stood while Ashton pointed around. The man hesitated for a moment then took a deep breath.
"I wanted you to see the devastation the fairy King has brought to our realm," he said, his low voice breaking.
Torin and Robert exchanged glances. Then Torin came to my side. His chest vibrated when he spoke.
"You risked our lives for your own agenda," Torin said in a tight voice.
"Please," Ashton said. "I only want revenge against the King who turned me into this…monster. But I can't do it alone. I thought that if you saw the suffering he caused, you would help me."
Torin’s eyes flashed crimson at the word “monster.” For a passing moment, I wondered if Torin still thought of himself that way.
“Don’t you care about the rest of the realm? Its people?” Torin’s voice elevated, but by the slight tremor in his tone, I could tell he held back his emotions.
Ashton grimaced and looked at the ground. “I do care.”
I slightly shook my head to stay focused.
"Three against the King and his warriors is unreasonable," I said, fidgeting. "What did you really have planned?"
Ashton was a lot more cunning than I gave him credit for.
His gaze flickered between me and Torin. "I was going to take you next to the City of Water, where the remaining guardian fairies have gathered. The Uprising Guardians. They need a symbol of defiance against the darkness.” He stared at me for a long moment. “That's you."
I swallowed the scoff that wanted to escape my throat. I had darkness in me, so I couldn’t be that symbol of rebellion Ashton sought.
And then there was the question of his loyalty. Could we trust this man? What if it was all a trap? Ashton had led us astray once. What else was he capable of?
Ashton sighed and looked down. “You’ll need the rebels’ help to infiltrate Willa’s prison. If the King keeps her close, she’s in the castle’s prison.”
The enemy of my enemy was my ally. But the rebel group wouldn’t just agree to help me, risking their lives. I would have to offer them something in return, wouldn’t I?
It became clear that storming into the fairy King’s castle to rescue Willa wouldn’t be an easy task without allies. I’d learned from Dad’s mistakes. I needed people who knew the fairy realm, the castle, and the City of Fire.
I glanced at Torin, who sent me a small smile. He was letting me decide our next steps.
"We'll go to the City of Water," I said, my eyes never leaving the man.
Ashton flinched but nodded. He seemed to understand that this was my warning to him.
I looked around at the devastation that lay before us. I questioned whether I could lead another war against a more powerful enemy than the vampires. With the vampire war, at least I’d had time to plan and recruit many allies.
And did I even want to be involved in fairy business any more than I already was?
I drew a sharp breath. “Why would the Uprising Guardian fairies listen to me to begin with? I am not their Queen.”
Ashton lifted his gaze and stared at me. “But you are a Queen, aren’t you?”
I gaped at the man. I clearly remembered skipping the introduction. I hadn’t even shared my name.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Our guide’s gaze fell on Torin, and then Ashton looked at me again. “He called you Queen Anna and my Queen last night while you slept. He kept kissing the top of your head and forehead and whispering words, but I couldn’t hear everything.”
Robert cleared his throat and then laughed but attempted to cover it by coughing. “Torin cooed at you with silly sounds.” He chuckled again. “It was rather annoying because I clearly heard everything.”
Smiling, I looked at Torin. He rubbed the back of his neck and then shrugged.
“We’re getting off track here,” Torin said. “We need to head to the City of Water to meet with the Uprising Guardians.”
Whether we liked it or not, we would need to get involved in the affairs of the fairies.
I looked at Ashton. “Lead the way.”
The man nodded, his eyes gleaming, and we set off through the barren landscape.
The smell of decay and despair filled the air and stuck to my lungs, making me feel like I couldn't breathe. Exiting the abandoned City of Air, we entered another burned forest area.
Abruptly, Torin tensed. He scanned the skies, tightening his hand around the hilt of his sword tucked into the waistband of his leather pants.
Then I heard the whisper of fluttering wings, which grew louder and louder. A swarm of tiny creatures, no bigger than six inches, swooped toward us.
My witch instincts warned me that we’d walked into another nightmare.
Their slender, delicate frames were decorated with intricate patterns of thorns that covered their bodies. Shimmering softly with rainbow colors, their translucent wings carried them effortlessly through the air.
“Thorn fairies,” Ashton shouted as he hurried away from us. “Take cover!”
Thorn fairies dove from above, looking beautiful but deadly. Their wings and bodies were covered in sharp thorns, which they launched at us like projectiles, creating a thorny barrage.
I ducked behind a crumbling dry tree as thorns whizzed by, narrowly missing my head. Torin deflected several thorns with his sword. More thorn fairies descended upon us like a swarm of bees, their black eyes devoid of mercy.
A rain of spikes came down on us. Their sharp tips grazed my skin, the injured flesh turning numb.
For now, I would give our guide the benefit of the doubt—he had no idea thorn fairies would show up—and he was our only source of information to navigate this ruined realm.
“Ashton,” I shouted, scanning around me. I spotted him taking cover behind a nearby tree, peering to the side. “Are these thorns poisonous?”
“They’ll paralyze you, and if they pierce close to the heart, then they can poison even a supernatural,” he shouted, watching us dodge the poisonous thorns.
Another swarm of thorn fairies flew toward me, and I sprinted out of my spot to avoid a barrage of needle-like bullets. The thorn fairies’ solid black eyes matched those of the dark earth fairies. It was clear that they were territorial and would not back down easily.
“Ashton,” I yelled again, crouching behind a pile of logs and dirt. “Isn’t there a way to pacify them? Plant another oak tree or something else?”
Ashton didn’t answer, so I finally looked at his hiding spot.
He shook his head and mouthed, “Nothing,” causing my heart to race faster.
The swarm of thorn fairies closed in around us, their shining wings a blur as they darted through the air. Their pitch-black eyes pierced through me, leaving me with an unsettling sense that we were completely overpowered.
I didn’t dare move as I stared at the little but deadly creatures. Their power lay in their ability to shoot various sizes of thorns, which stuck in our flesh, numbing us.
These fairies possessed an ethereal beauty that contrasted with their dangerous nature.
I watched them carefully for any weakness or a way to get rid of them.
Since they glided effortlessly, their small, fast bodies made it hard to catch them—not that I wanted to be that close to them.
The thorns seemed to regrow on their bodies in mere seconds, allowing them to launch them as rockets once again.
Movement caught my eye, and I watched helplessly as one of the fairies swooped down and lashed out at Robert. The thorns embedded themselves in his legs, causing him to cry out in pain. He stumbled, his legs no longer functioning properly.
"Always getting into trouble," Torin said as he dashed toward his brother.
He caught him before Robert’s limp body hit the ground and supported him to a nearby tree where he could lean against it, his back protected for now.
"Stay here," Torin said. "I'll be back."
Torin ran toward me, and suddenly his eyes grew wide and turned crimson. His shift into a full vampire form while sprinting mesmerized me.
“Anna,” he shouted, his gaze set on something over my shoulder.
I twisted my head, and thorns zipped by my ear, barely grazing me. A swarm of sharp prickles came at me again.
When Torin got to me, he embraced me, turning us around so that the thorns found their mark on his back instead. Pain-filled grunts escaped his lips. His body tensed as he shielded me from the onslaught.
"Torin," I whispered, my voice shaking.