28
____________________
Shea led the way, Niamh and I trailing behind her as we shimmied our way through Choilltean, aiming to look as unimportant as possible.
“I had a friend, back in the human world,” I said, not truly sure of where I was going with it.
“That’s good. I didn’t doubt that you did.”
“She’s dead, now.”
Niamh tried to hide her shock and hint of pity from her face, but it just ended up contorting her features into something unrecognizable. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
We ducked under a pixie who was carrying half a tree, caring little for how wide the trunk was on the pathway.
“I didn’t think I’d make another friend again, if I’m being honest.”
Niamh only watched me, her head tilted slightly to the right as curiosity flashed in her eyes.
“So I just wanted to thank you, actually.”
Before her mouth could drop completely open, she snapped it up and smiled at me. “If I’m being honest, I wish you didn’t have to leave.”
“Me too.”
She tried to resume the skip in her step as we picked up the pace, trying our best not to lose Shea amongst the busy streets.
“Is there anything you wish to see? In your last few days?”
I screeched to a stop. “I have weeks left.”
Shea continued on, not yet noticing that Niamh and I had halted in the middle of the main road.
Niamh took a small step towards me. “Killian didn’t tell you? Raegan wants you sent home before the fighting begins.”
Contemplating that, I let my eyes fall away from Niamh and to the chaos around us.
Bodies moved in every direction, some carrying weapons, others carrying materials.
People danced around one another, partaking in some silent routine that suggested this was normal, that they had done this a hundred times before.
Horses trotted by, harnessed into wagons that heaved a variety of items, driven by pixies with reins of leaves in their hands.
This was their world, their war.
Not mine.
Killian had told me that King Ronan’s tour of chaos had lasted decades. While I didn’t want it to, it was possible this one would as well. Pixies were going to die. Pixies I knew, pixies I had come to care about more than life itself, could die.
They didn’t need me. Killian didn’t need to spend every waking moment wondering about my safety. Raegan didn’t need my judgement lingering over his shoulder with every decision he had to make.
Maybe he was right. I was better off back in the human world, content to pretend this had been nothing more than a dream.
But why wait? They were all busy, that much was obvious. And the thought of having a long, painful goodbye destroyed me
“You two go ahead, I’m going to find Raegan. Do you know where he is?”
“I think back at the castle, but Olivia–”
“Thanks, Niamh.” I paused, if only to look her right in the eye. “Really, thank you.”
She had more to say. I had more to say. And for that reason alone I spun on my heel and trotted back towards the castle, determined to let nothing halt my plans.
I sprinted along the stretch of roadway between us and the castle, caring little for how my legs screamed beneath me or how my lungs filled with acid instead of air.
As I ran, I saw a blur of colour on my right side.
By the time I turned to face it, it had disappeared.
Moments later, the blur appeared on my left side.
Again, when I looked at it, it was gone.
I was only a minute or two from the castle, but something made me stop. Made me look around.
Which was when I saw it. Not a blur of movement at all, but an African Grey parrot in all of his glory sitting on a nearby branch, preening at his feathers.
Greys were not native to England, not in any way, shape, or form. So I frowned at the strange bird in this strange place.
“Olivia,” it cawed, making me leap so vigorously that I was afraid for a moment I had left my skin. It wasn’t the fact that it was talking that made my heart skip a beat, only the fact that it somehow knew my name. And had followed me far enough to gain my attention.
It seemed unreasonable to try and talk to the bird, so I just stared.
It was a bird, so it just stared.
When I was finally done with our odd staring contest, I went to take a step.
“Olivia,” it called again, this time making me shriek instead of leap.
“What?”
“Follow me.”
It didn’t give me any chance to object, instead jumping from its perch and fanning its wings out, gliding a long path away from the roadway and into the depths of the woods.
I glanced over my shoulder several times, somewhat expecting Killian and Shea to be playing some sort of immature prank on me.
But there was no one, only the busy bodies of Choilltean hustling from one end of the kingdom to the other.
I had no choice but to push into a jog, trying my best to keep up with the blur of grey and red that dove and shot between trees, over and under canopies.
I knew the African Grey was some sort of bad omen when he led me not to something mystical or magical, but to Raegan, slumped over in the center of the forest.
His head snapped up as I approached, his eyes wide and bloodshot. “What are you doing out here?”
“What are you doing out here?” I hissed as I stopped, folding my arms over my chest. “Is this some sort of joke? Because if you’ve lured me out here just to try to get me to apologize, you can save it.”
One of his brows shot upwards as his mouth opened. But the bird cut him off.
“Quit your bickering.”
We both refocused our anger towards one another to the bird, instead. When Raegan saw him, though, he rolled his eyes and sighed as his body released a lifetime's worth of tension.
“Very funny, Urram.”
The African Grey stood proud, setting his wings back against his side as his beady eyes watched the two of us.
“U-urram? That’s you?”
To prove it without words, the bird opened his mouth and shot a small flame out of it, scorching an already dead-looking leaf next to us.
“Killian sent for me.”
“That little–”
“Killian?” I took a step nearer to Urram, examining the uniqueness of his shimmering feathers that mimicked that of his scales. “I asked him if I could see you…”
Raegan blew out some sort of rage in the form of a sigh as he let his spine fall back against the tree he had been brooding under.
Urram let out a low squawk as he rustled his feathers. “I wasn’t going to come, it is too risky. But he mentioned you are leaving soon.”
Raegan looked at me, trying his best to gauge my reaction to his declaration. I let my folded arms fall to my sides, intentionally looking anywhere but him.
“That’s right.”
“You cannot.”
“She can–”
“Be quiet, young Prince.” Even with the voice of a bird, Urram commanded a certain aura to him, a wisdom and ancientness that was powerful enough to shut Raegan up. “Your part in this is not over yet, Olivia.”
“I don’t have a part in this, that’s the whole point.” My gestures were wild and wide as I motioned to the entirety of Saoghal. “This is not my fight.”
“Perhaps not. But that does not mean you have no part in it.”
Raegan was at the end of his tether, pushing to his feet where he strode towards Urram. “She is going home. The decision has been made.”
“If you wish for our allegiance, young Prince, you shall reconsider.”
“You’re… You’re going to fight with them?”
“We both are,” this voice was bird and hoarse, but not Urram’s. A second, a Scarlet Macaw as red as a ruby with a rainbow of feathers across its wings soared down from the tops of the trees, landing gracefully on the branch above Urram.
“Gliocas?” Raegan breathed as he tilted his head to get a better look at the magnificent avian. As if in answer, the macaw tipped its hooked beak and let out a low call, the sound hauntingly loud in a place so quiet.
“Do we have your word, Raegan?”
Raegan took a moment to stare at Gliocas, weighing the pros and cons of me staying. His word was a precious thing to him, that much I knew, so when he turned to the two birds and accepted their strange offer, both Gliocas and Urram received his decision with a nod of their small heads.
“But you’re not going to fight with them as birds, right?” I tried a joke, to which no one laughed — bird or pixie.
“You must stay, Olivia.”
What was a girl to do if a dragon transformed into an African Grey parrot tells them to stay and fight a pixie war?