"They said they were going to eat the Empress."
Terrible beasts called The Brothers have come to Trelis to devour the Queen of the fairies but absolutely no one in the kingdom knows it.
When a young elf called Phadia discovers this, she decides to...
When Joshua, Eliza and Rosina reached the stream they met several water sprites with an interesting tale to tell. Which one boisterous pixie seemed determined to convey to them.
"We saw two elves over here talking about an acacia root. The red-haired elf got in the water to find it but then something caught her attention and she asked us to make a water bridge across the stream. You won't guess what she found on the other side." The pixie paused for a moment and whispered, "It was an imp!"
Joshua and the dryads felt a wave of fear rush through them.
"Are you sure?" He pressed.
"Positive. It had grey skin and black claws and yellow eyes. The dryads did teach you about imps, didn't they?"
"Yes,of course. But did you see where Phadia went?"
"No. But she said she was going to the palace."
"The palace, but why?" Joshua thought aloud.
The pixie didn't have anything else to tell them so she flew away.
"So, what do we do now?" Rosina said.
"We go to the palace of course." Joshua answered matter-of-factly. "Don't you want to find Yasmin?"
"I'm not all that curious, to be honest," Rosina said. "I'll just wait for her to come back. What about you Eliza?"
"Staying here." She shrugged. "That's where the food is."
Joshua rolled his eyes. "I'll go find Phadia by myself then. I need to know why she's going to see Destiny."
The dryads didn't care as much. They found a place atop their trees to relax. It wasn't like Yasmin was in any danger.
*** ***
Francis was relieved when he got the elven girls to the other side of the river Shannai. They all continued walking in the direction of the palace. The imp remained visible the whole time.
"There aren't any butcher birds on this side of Trelis," Francis said.
They walked until the half-moon became clear in the sky. They were all extremely tired and rested on the trees.
"The palace so close now," Phadia spoke up. "We'll see Empress Destiny tomorrow." She had a wide grin on her face as if nothing could go wrong. No more dangerous macamores, no more butcher birds and once Empress Destiny got involved The Brothers would be toast.
But Yasmin didn't think so. "You know I was just thinking about The Brothers and the Dance."
"What about it?" Phadia asked, moving closer to her friend.
"Every fairy is going to be going there. And that makes it the perfect time for the Brothers to attack. They could wipe us all out if they wanted to."
Phadia's heart sank but she tried to remain positive. "We'll get Destiny involved before the Dance starts. Don't worry."
Yasmin wanted to add. But what if they've already killed hundreds of dryads? But she couldn't bare to say it.
Yasmin tried to get to sleep. Tried to ignore the terrible thoughts for the night. But before she could get comfortable, she happened to take a glance at the treetops, where she saw a woman sitting on a tree branch. Her hair was as white as a sheet and her eyes were red. Red like the macamore's tail.
She leaned against the tree trunk and her faced looked destroyed. Like she just heard the worst news imaginable.
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She screamed.
A deafening wail that lasted a solid minute. To the elves it was like an eternity. It was especially worse considering the strength of their ears. The imp tried to bury his head in the ground.
The elves fell to their knees and blocked their ears. Just when they thought their minds would snap the woman was silent, she hid her face behind her ragged cloak and vanished. Her skin became transparent and she faded with the moonlight.
"What was that?" Phadia asked. Her voice quivered like the note of a piano key being pressed again and again.
"That was a banshee," Francis explained, once he found his voice. It was like the banshee's screams took his breath away. "I was expecting her. She has a good reason to wail."
