Vivanna's eyes grew larger in astonishment as red bloomed on her chest. Her blood clouded the water as the tattooed Sprite drew his sword from her body. She crumpled to the floor of bones, floating limply as I watched her life drain from her.
The tattooed Sprite's chest shook with twisted laughter as Vivanna's indigo tail glimmered bright before her purple scales faded into a colorless gray. She was dead.
I was swimming forward through the battle, my rage driving me blindly towards the mermaid's body and the evil Sprite that cackled triumphantly.
"Marissa!" Diandre shouted, but his voice was lost in the sounds of melodies and death.
My vision was a bright, stark red. My hand shook as it grasped the hilt of my sword. I was going to kill him. I was going to kill him for good. His mocking laughter rang in my ears, taunting me. I paddled in the water as fast as I could, drawing closer to him. My wings threatened to sink me down, but I swam harder.
"You bastard!" I screamed.
The tattooed sprite gave me a cruel smile.
"If it isn't the little knight in shining armor." He remarked, taking in my T-shirt and leather pants. As he studied me, his eyebrows raised in recognition. "My my, haven't you grown up. It seems like only yesterday when you were just a weak child." He licked his lips, recalling the moment in savory detail. "Ah yes. The little girl crying in the snow. I will never forget that smooth little neck. If I had only pressed a little harder, it would have cracked and broken."
I remembered his strong hands that has choked me that night and bared my teeth.
"You know what else I remember, little knight?" The tattooed Sprite said to me. The ink designs on his skin seemed to laugh up at me. "Killing your poor father."
The image of the arrow burying itself in my father's chest flashed through my mind. I had never known who had shot him.
"You murdered him." I whispered.
The tattooed sprite inspected the blood on his iron sword, as if he could see every drop that he had ever spilled.
"It was a very nice shot, don't you agree?" He chuckled. "Right where I wanted it. Just in the right place for him to feel excruciating agony before he died."
"I'm going to kill you." I hissed, my grief and rage building inside.
"I'd like to see you try, little knight." The tattooed Sprite said. "But you're just as weak as the rest of your family." He closed his eyes. "I can still hear their screams in my memory. Screams and screams." He opened them, and they glittered darkly. "Soon, I'll hear your screams too."
With a yell, I leaped forward with my sword. I wanted to end him. I wanted to watch him die in front of me. I wanted to have him look into my eyes and know that he didn't win in the end. I wanted him to know my family's pain and beg them for forgiveness. So many things that I wanted.
My chest lurched, and my entire insides exploded in agony. My heart seemed to have erupted with pain, and I fell to my knees on the floor of bones. I screamed and screamed as I was consumed with the darkness that swirled inside, slowly killing me. My ice sword clattered to the floor of bones, leaving me defenseless.
The tattooed Sprite stood over me, his bleached hair waving in the water as his face unfolded into a victorious smile.
"So my spy did her job," he cackled. "The curse has possessed you, little knight."
I doubled over, tears streaming down my face as my heart contracted inside me. I couldn't breathe, only gasp for life. The tattooed sprite grasped my shoulders and pinned me against the floor of bones.
"The Dagger of Darkness is a marvelous weapon," he mused softly. His words were rotten against my face. "And to think that one little curse will destroy two souls."
Two souls?
The tattooed Sprite read the confusion on my contorted face and howled with laughter.
"You naive little knight, you won't be the only one devastated by the fatal curse." His eyes wandered the cavern and fell onto Glen. "Don't you see the way that he looks at you?" He grinned down at me wickedly as I struggled against my failing heart. "You know, the prince reminds me of a man that I once knew. A man that crumbles when the things he desires are taken from him." For a moment, the tattooed Sprite's eyes clouded with unreadable memories. "And once you're gone, his kingdom will surely fall. Your death will wound him more than any arrow."
"You're...wrong." I hissed, grinding out the words between my teeth as I fought against the curse. "Glen will...kill you...first." I smiled at him through the pain. "He's...strong. Maybe even...stronger than me."
The tattooed sprite pinned me down harder. My back pressed down further against the bones on the floor, muffled breaking noises filling my ears as the battle raged around us. My lungs burned as my heart pumped against the darkness flooding through me.
"No man is strong enough to watch the death of the one he cares for." The tattooed sprite told me softly. "Not even the crown prince of Summer Court."
A golden flash darted behind his head, and I gasped. There was a loud thunk! as something hard connected with the back of the the tattooed sprite's skull. He fell away from me with a roar of agony, rolling across the floor.
"Finish off this Sprite!" The Protector barked to her fellow mermaids, appearing above me brandishing her trident.
She reached a bronze arm down at me, helping me to my feet. I hovered in the water, catching my breath as the curse began to reduce to a throbbing in my chest. But I could still feel its lingering presence inside me.
I steadied myself after a few moments.
"Thank you," I said to The Protector. "That was a nice swing, by the way."
The mermaid flicked her golden tail pridefully and twirled her trident in her hands.
"I've had some practice." She replied with a wry smile. The fleeting moment vanished in a heartbeat as blood and screams clouded the water. The Protector's expression darkened.
I looked down, and with a stab of wild fear I realized that the tattooed Sprite had disappeared after The Protector had hit him with her trident. I peered around the cavern, but he was no where to be seen. Only the sensation of his rough fingers on my wrist remained.
"My sisters are risking their lives for your people." The Protector fixated her sizzling gaze on me, jolting my gaze away from the vacant floor. "You and your friends must leave immediately with the scepter if you wish to also retrieve the Winter Wand before the attack at The Midsummer Festival."
I picked up my ice sword, deflecting a Sprite as it charged towards me. The Protector spun around me, whipping her trident into another's body. Her brown hair trickled behind her in a chestnut stream as she let out an enraged war-cry.
"What about you and the other mermaids?" I asked, killing another blood thirsty Sprite woman.
"We can handle the rest of the sprites." The Protector replied confidently. "Many have already retreated through the tunnels."
I peered at the surrounding scene through my silver hair and discovered that she was telling the truth. The mermaids has strengthened their wall around Glen, who was wielding the luminous Summer Scepter with gradually weakening power. I knew that he couldn't hold out for much longer. Diandre was also continuing to fight, shooting whistling arrows into the bodies of countless sprites as the mermaids held them at bay with their song spell.
"Take the east tunnel and you'll find yourself in The Grimwood in no time." The Protector told me. "But you must hurry while the Sprite forces are dwindling."
I nodded in understanding. The mermaids seemed to have the upper hand now, and I knew that they could overpower the enemy.
"Diandre!" I called.
He fired a few more arrows with lightning speed, his lean and muscular arms pulling back the bowstring and letting loose. Finally, once the sprites were down, he turned to me. His gray eyes were bright with concern.
"What is it?" He asked
I swam over to him and talked quietly in his ear so that we couldn't be overheard.
"The Protector says that we need to take the scepter and go. They have the battle handled and they want us to get to the Grimwood as soon as possible."
Diandre dipped his head down in understanding, his jaw set.
"Alright," he agreed. "Let's get out of here."
I sensed a presence behind me, and without looking I drove my sword into the face of a Sprite over my shoulder.
Diandre smiled.
"I always love when you do that."
I snorted, grabbing his forearm and leading him across the edge of the battle near the walls of the cavern. We inched past the raging fight, and the sight of all the bodies floating in the water sickened me. There were an equal amount of dead mermaids and Sprites alike, and the sight of the limp tails of the mermaids made my throat close guiltily.
In a way, I felt responsible.
"Glen!" Diandre shouted.
Glen was wielding the Summer Scepter a few feet away, sending bright blasts towards the opposing sprites. I looked closer and noticed that his bursts of magic were in the shape of gliding falcons.
Glen whirled around to face us.
"Did you two come for a lesson on what real spell casting is like?" He grinned, flipping his scepter showingly.
Diandre made a low noise in the back of his throat. "I swear, your ego size is bigger than your kingdom."
Glen let out a tired laugh and swam down to us. I turned my head, my gaze locking onto the east tunnel.
"Our way out is right there," I pointed. "We need to hurry."
Glen's expression grew serious. "I agree." He replied, and we swam through the chaos towards the exit.
I searched the uproar for a flash of an ink tattoo, but the sprite was still missing. My fists trembled at my sides. He got away. Once again, the monster that murdered my father had vanished. The feeling in my gut was all too familiar from three years ago.
Once we reached the east tunnel, I turned back and gazed at the battle. Screams and melodies swirled around us, and The Protector spun around just in time to watch us enter the mouth of the tunnel.
She ushered us into the darkness, her golden tail flapping hurriedly.
"Thank you, Protector." Glen told the mermaid. "Your sisters are honorable warriors."
The Protector gave us a sad smile.
"Please," she said. "Call me Oona."
"Oona," I repeated. The word was strange on my tongue. "I hope you find Andrion."
"I hope so too." She whispered quietly. She and Diandre nodded at each other in a polite goodbye. "Farewell, all of you. I hope that you stay safe." She shared a look with each of us. "And I hope that for all of our sakes, you save your realm."
With that, Oora swam back into the cavern with her malicious trident.
"You know, once you get over how scary she is, the woman is pretty decent." Glen observed as we journeyed deeper into the east tunnel.
"Don't tell me the prince is smitten." Diandre sighed in the dark.
Glen's smile flashed in the black ahead of me. "Forget it, Sprite boy. She's not my type."
"Glen, you don't have a type." I told him. "You flirt with anything that moves."
The sounds of war faded into a suffocating blackness that was only lit by my ice sword and the Summer Scepter. Diandre, Glen and I swam fast at first, putting as much distance between us and the battle as we could. I assumed that we were outside of Liberty Island now, following an underground tunnel that would lead us to The Faerie Realm.
My temporary gills opened and closed with excitement. We were going home. It felt like an eternity since I was back in Winter Court, training in the halls of the academy. I missed the magic that lingered in its air and the mysterious creatures that roamed the land. I missed every part of it.
The three of us continued on for about an hour in exhausted silence. Being so far underground, I had no idea what the time of day was. For all I knew, it could be midday. My arms and legs ached from swimming, and my gossamer wings weighed me down in the water as I struggled on. I bit my lip against rising complainants, forging ahead.
"I think we're getting closer." Diandre eventually said, breaking the silence.
"How do you know?" Glen asked, his voice echoing from beside me.
"I think Diandre's right," I whispered, my voice rasping as I tried to ignore the curse gnawing at my heart. "I can feel the shift in magic energy."
It as if a rope was extending towards me, a rope of light magic that beckoned me closer.
THUMP.
My heart suddenly crashed against my rib cage, and I swayed sideways, slamming against the tunnel wall.
"What is it, partner?" Glen asked, his voice tainted with concern.
I opened my mouth to reply, but I let out a cry of pain instead. My hands scraped against the rock wall, but I sank heavily to the floor. I trembled as the curse flooded my veins with dark power, shudders convulsing up my spine.
"Marissa!"
Arms wrapped around me as stars of white blinked in front of my eyes, and I looked up to see Glen and Diandre above me. Their faces were vivid with fear.
I struggled to breathe as I fought against the curse that gripped my lungs.
"Dammit... you two," I whispered through the stabbing in my stomach. "We...have to keep...moving."
Diandre and Glen hoisted me off of the floor, holding me between them. I sagged against their shoulders, my vision tilting and spinning. I felt as if I were drifting away, and I struggled to keep my eyes open as Glen and Diandre swam with me as fast as they could.
"Hold on, Marissa." One of them whispered into my ear. I couldn't tell whom it was. My heart seemed to contract inside my chest, hammering against my insides ceaselessly.
"Keep your eyes open, you have to stay conscious."
I nodded slowly, restraining a sob. There was so much pain, all I could remember was the blinding hurt. I had no idea who I was. I had no idea where I was. All I knew was the pain, the pain, and the pain.
I'm going to die.
I shoved the thought away angrily. I couldn't die. Not before I completed my quest. I couldn't die now, I'd gotten this far. Hadn't I?
The curse took control of my body, making my choke on my own air.
Flashing eyes. Whispers. Faces of panic.
I blinked against the red hot fire in my chest, forcing myself to stay awake. If I closed my eyes, I was afraid that I would never open them again.
"What's going on with her?" Diandre's voice buzzed in my throbbing head.
"Her magic...it's being drained." Glen answered. "I don't know how."
Suddenly, bright light cracked like a whip against my eyes. Sunlight. I could feel its warmth on my face. There was also the freezing cold. The biting cold against my skin. It stunned me to my senses, and I realized that Diandre and Glen had carried me out of the tunnel.
We were in a frozen lake. The water around us was a stark, unforgiving blue that only winter could bring. I welcomed the chill with relieved arms. We had made it to Winter Court. We were back in the Faerie Realm.
Legs kicked as I was pulled off the lake floor. My head drooped against a strong, sturdy chest as I was lifted through the frozen water. A layer of ice sparkled at the surface above us, glittering like cold stars.
In a flash of green light, the ice above us exploded, and arms sheltered my face from the flying shards. Through the excruciating agony, I was faintly aware that my gills were slowly disappearing. The mer-reed had finally worn off.
With a gasp, the three of us broke to the surface into open air. My vision was blurred, but there was no mistaking the sun that glared down on the eternal snow. There was no mistaking the tall pine trees that stretched to the sky. There was no mistaking the flowing magic that caressed my skin as the birds chirped from the frosty branches.
We had arrived in the Grimwood.
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to vote or comment with any feedback. I'd love to hear thoughts or ideas!