Chapter 53
Lor
“Sound the alarm bells,” I yelled to Fargus, who swooped down and then upward and toward the bell tower in the distance.
He got there quickly, pushing into the bell, the chime echoing through Fairwitch Isle. Doors opened and residents flooded the streets in a panic.
“Get to the castle!” I yelled. “Go, go, go!”
The royal guard emerged from the castle doors, rows and rows of them marching toward us, their armor glinting under the sun. Townspeople followed them, holding an assortment of weapons. One woman held a frying pan. And behind them came the Fair Folk. This was it.
I turned to Aoife. “I love you,” I said.
Her eyes shone bright. “I love you too.”
We stood there as our small army approached, everyone forming neat lines as they came to a stop right in front of us.
“Your Majesties,” Harriet said.
I nodded at my captain of the guard.
“We wait to see if they can breach our border,” I said, but I already knew they would.
The brotherhood wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t figured out a way to get in.
The maroon cloaked figures came closer, at least fifty of them if I had to guess, and I wondered what their strategy was.
If more brotherhood members were hiding in the forest, waiting to attack.
Or if they had such powerful magic at their disposal that the brotherhood sent a small number to overtake us.
I’d seen them use many different strategies over my years with them, and I’d prepared the royal guard with every scenario possible.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I looked at Aoife. “Are you ready for this?”
“This is not my first battle, my king,” she said, voice steady, eyes hard. “I’m ready.”
The cloaked figures were right outside our border now, creeping up closer to the barrier behind the businesses that lined our road.
“Weapons at the ready,” Harriet commanded, and all at once, everyone moved into formation, weapons pointed forward.
One of the brotherhood members held out some kind of sword that glowed bright with golden magic dancing and shimmering around it. They pushed the sword forward, right into our barrier, and just like that, we were exposed.
All the brotherhood members stilled, eyes widening in surprise. “It’s really here,” one of them said.
“I told you,” another voice said, a familiar voice.
“Your Majesty?” Harriet asked.
She was waiting for my call to attack, but that voice. I held up a hand. “Wait.”
Aoife’s head snapped in my direction. “What’s going on?”
Leena shook the hood off her head and stepped forward, her eyes widening when they met mine and she saw the entire army behind me.
I didn’t understand what was happening, why Leena had that sword. Another brotherhood member stepped up behind her, removing his hood, and my blood turned to fire.
Ronan.
All of this was his fault, his doing. We’d given him a second chance, shared our home with him, and he’d betrayed us all.
I raised my arm to signal it was time.
Leena shook her head frantically. “Wait, no, Lor, don’t! You don’t understand.”
Aoife put a hand on my arm before I could bring it down and signal for our people to attack. “Let’s hear what she has to say,” Aoife whispered.
“If she’s with Ronan, I don’t think there’s much to hear. We’ve been betrayed, Aoife. By everyone.”
“Maybe not,” she murmured as Leena approached with her hands up, Ronan by her side, also with his hands up.
The other brotherhood members stayed behind.
“We’re not here to fight,” Leena called. “We come in peace.”
I kept my arm raised, still not bringing it down but ready to chop it through the air at any minute that things went sideways. Despite what Leena was telling me, I didn’t trust this situation.
“You have one minute to explain what’s going on,” I said, “before I command my army to attack.
“Your Majesty.” Fargus flew from overhead, swooping down and landing on my shoulder. “We’re surrounded. On all sides of Fairwitch Isle.”
My gaze whipped toward Leena.
“No, it’s not like that,” she said, finally reaching me, Ronan by her side.
“So we’re not surrounded right now?” I said, voice deadly. “My advisor is lying to me?”
“Yes, well no.” Leena shook her head. “We brought allies, Lor.” She winced. “Your Majesty.”
“Allies . . .” I trailed off, and Aoife gasped as figures on horses appeared from all sides of us.
But they weren’t wearing maroon cloaks. Many of them wore crowns, while others wore elaborate headdresses. None of them appeared to be armed, and nobody attacked.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd behind me, many of my royal guard shooting uneasy glances at each other.
“What she says is true.” One of the women wearing a black crown nudged her horse forward and approached from our left, slipping onto the cobblestone road, the horses hooves clicking against the stone. “We come in peace. As allies.”
“To fight against the brotherhood with us?” I asked.
Leena let out a breath, shoving a hand through her blond hair. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. The brotherhood is no more.”
Gasps and cries of disbelief rang out all around me. I finally let my arm sink to my side, and Aofie grabbed my arm, steadying me.
“No more?” I asked, shaking my head. “But they’re here to fight us. My scouts confirmed—”
“That was us,” Leena said. “The rebels. Not the brotherhood.”
Aoife huffed, impatient as always. “Are we under attack or not?”
“Not,” Leena said.
“Then someone better explain exactly what’s going on here.” Aoife gestured to the figures on horseback still surrounding us, many of whom were gaping at the Fair Folk.
Ronan stepped forward. “I can explain,” he said.
I raised my sword and pointed it at his neck, blood boiling at the sight of him.
“Don’t!” Leena stepped in front of him.
I jabbed a finger at him. “He betrayed us.”
“No, he didn’t. He saved you,” Leena said.
My sword faltered, and I stepped back. “How is that possible?”
Ronan met my gaze. “I spent my life with the brotherhood. They recruited me when I was young, indoctrinated me, made me believe in their cause. They filled my mind with lies, like they do all their members: that not everyone was worthy of having magic, that the brotherhood could keep magic safe, could use it for good. That we had to do bad things sometimes in the pursuit of greater good. That everyone else was our enemy.” He swallowed thickly.
“Then you let me be part of your community. It was only for a single day. I saw the magic of your castle with my own eyes, saw the good it brings to your people, how everyone benefits from it. No one has to pay or show they’re worthy.
They get access, and everyone is better for it.
I was better for it. I realized if the brotherhood got their hands on something like this, they’d ruin it, like they have every other piece of magic they’ve acquired. And I couldn’t stand the thought.”
“He banded us together,” the woman with the black crown said.
“How?” I asked.
Ronan grimaced. “I visited every kingdom, every city I could. Those that had been ransacked by the brotherhood, conquered, and those that would be soon.”
A man with long black hair tipped his head. “He convinced us to come together and fight, to defend Bolivare stop the brotherhood from taking their magic, stop them from raising an army of the dead.”
I blinked, unable to believe what I was hearing. “Are you telling me the brotherhood has been defeated?”
“Not entirely,” Ronan said. “Many fled into hiding, no doubt to regroup. But we were able to capture many of them, take the magic they’d stolen back.”
Leena nodded in confirmation. “Many of my rebel members are returning the magic to the cities it was stolen from.”
I blinked back tears, and Aoife squeezed my arm.
“Does this mean we’re safe?” someone behind me asked. “The brotherhood isn’t after us anymore?”
The man with black hair shook his head. “I don’t think anyone can guarantee that.
What it does mean is that we realized the power we have when we come together as a continent.
We might all have different languages, cultures, beliefs, but we also have power in numbers, power to bring those down who would destroy us with their greed. ”
The woman with the black crown smiled. “We came in the hope that Fairwitch Isle will join a new organization, one where every part of Aubergn is represented. We hoped to have our first meeting here. There is clearly much to discuss.” She eyed the Fair Folk meaningfully.
“I’m sorry you thought I betrayed you,” Ronan said.
“Truthfully, I didn’t think you’d ever let me go if I told you my plan.
I know how protective you are of Fairwitch Isle, but I also know how much damage and pain the brotherhood has caused everyone.
If there was one thing that could band this entire continent together, it would be them.
There just needed to be someone to do it. ”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you,” I said, mind still spinning with all of this information.
I addressed the figures on horseback, all these leaders who had come so far to show us we weren’t alone.
“Thank you to everyone for coming to our aid, for showing us the meaning of community.” I looked at Aoife, and she smiled at me.
“That we aren’t alone. We do have much to discuss, and we will, but first we shall celebrate. ”