HALIA'S POV
"The First Creatures?" I asked. "What do you mean? Who are they?"
"Wait and see," Phi replied with a smile. "They are really the kind of help we need to get us out of this impass."
That was all the information I was going to get from her.
Domovoy turned to me. "You should stay in your smaller form today." He had been guarding the door all night for any unexpected visit from the Evil King. "If he sees Siegfried coming, he might want to have a talk with Phi."
I sighed. Back to reality, as if the night holding Phi in my arms hadn't happened.
Phi herself seemed to have forgotten it. "I can't believe I will see my father again," she said, grooming her wings. "My father . . . just the sound of it feels weird on my tongue."
I tried to be optimistic, but I still didn't know about these First Creatures or the validity of her dream, although Phi seemed pretty sure about it. Before she had a chance to tell me all the details, he came. The Evil King, a grin on his face.
"It seems as if we have company," he sneered as I hid behind the sturdy wooden bed frame. For a moment, I thought he was talking about me. But no. "Let's go out on a little tour, shall we?"
He chained his wrist up with Phi's so that she would not escape and dragged her out of the room, even as she held her head high, knowing her father had arrived.
The door made a loud noise as it closed behind them. I regained my normal size and pushed the chest out of my way to reveal the opening in the wall that led to the outside.
"Don't go," Domovoy said, grabbing my arm with his furry hand. "It's not safe."
"I have to stay with Phi!" I said, jerking out of his grasp and scrambling through the hole.
The full moon was hanging low in the sky. The darkness helped to conceal me in the shadows of the priests' houses. Still, I gritted my teeth, trusting that no one would discover me while the king continued to yank my friend by the wrist toward the fortress outer wall.
A large crowd of mindless servants and warriors had gathered on the road that led to the entrance waiting for the gates to open, all immobile, eyes glazed over. A few archers stood near Phi and the king on the wall. I made my way through the crowd, unnoticed because of my servant disguise, and climbed on the rampart as well, again keeping a safe distance between me and Phi.
I stared at my friend, hoping to meet her eyes, but she did nothing that showed she had seen me. Instead, she stared over the wall, standing proud and tall. Phi showed no sign of fear, despite the restraints still dangling from her wrists. She was trying to use her fire power to discretely break free.
She is confident that her father will save her from her tyrant.
I noticed a group of fairies walking our way, towards the fortress. They were still far but I could recognize King Siegfried's feather-covered crown. He was leading the troop.
As they drew closer, hope won me over. Aras was at the king's side, with Fossegrim, Nixie, the Merrows, and other members of our community. Their eyes shone with courage. They walked at a self-assured pace until only a few steps separated them from the fortress walls.
I couldn't help but wonder what went through our king's mind when he came back to the land he had left during his exile. The scenery was different, gray. Parts of the Great Tree destroyed. And this massive structure was built in the middle of everything and overlooked at the river nearby, where the ship that had brought these creatures was still anchored.
The moonlight shone on the little people's faces. A revolt was rising. The fairy king turned to his flock.
"My people," he said with a voice that sounded like thunder. "I went to ask for help and found new allies."
The crowd before him followed his gaze to the edge of the forest. A group of creatures crossed the distance that separated them. Most of them were warrior-like men with beaks and feather coats. Thunder spirits. Another was a man-sized spider.
The First Creatures! Phi had been right when she'd said, "Wait and see." They had to be seen to be believed.
I glanced at Wotan to study the expression on his face. His lips pursed into a formidable line when he saw reinforcements join Siegfried's side. He had underestimated the help the fairy king could receive.
The air was tense. A battle was about to ignite. The fairies raised their fists or swords, ready. The archers that stood by my side threw arrows in their direction, but no one was touched. The margots, florid and plump fairies, changed their trajectories at the flick of a hand with their magic. All of the arrows flew into the ground at their feet.
The air smelled liked rain and soon enough the night sky above us broke lose and poured its water on us.
A few arrows also flew into the Evil King's direction, but they also simply ricocheted onto the invisible shield. From the top of the wall, he was untouchable.
The fairies all locked eyes with the Evil King. They looked belligerent, fierce. My heart swelled with pride.
A voice raised above the crowd. Banshee was screaming, predicting an upcoming death. My chest tightened. Only one person had to die. Phi's tyrant. The Evil King.
I thought an instant of praying to the Mother, but remembered that last time I had, in the alley, I asked for our lives to change. And how they changed. If the Mother existed, she was toying with us in the cruellest of fashions. She had watched us suffer for so long. How could we be her favoured creatures if she let us go through so much pain? And also, if She had found no place in nature for the kind of love I felt for Phi.
Because more time passed, and the more I realized this was what it was. The warmth running through my vein whenever I laid eyes on her, the aching heart I felt whenever I thought of her. The fact I felt she was my reason of existence. Love. I was in love with Phi. I always had been.
But it was not the time to think of this. I prayed the Mother anyway. Just in case she would listen. Just in case she had a heart and did exist.
The margots continued to derail the arrows and the other fairies began chanting spells and extended their arms out at the gateway before them. Soon, flames emerged from the wooden door. They were forcing the shield that protected the fortress.
Do they know what is waiting for them on the other side? I glanced at the lines of mindless warriors that stood on the road like stone statues.
Some of the First Creatures carried a large tree trunk and charged at the door. They were going to smash it in.
It's not going to work. The Evil King can just recite a spell for another shield.
I glanced at him. What was he up to? He was letting them go through. This was what he wanted. No, stop! I wanted to yell that it was a trap.
The korrigans, fairies with horns and goat feet, added their weight to the tree trunk and the gate gave way. The little people burst in the killing field. In a matter of instant, they mixed into the crowd of mindless warriors like a wave.
Their eyes still cold and empty, the mindless attacked. The fast and precise way they moved, with their shields, clubs, swords and axes, made it easy to forget they were just humans.
I clenched my teeth and watched our king slowly making his way closer to the wall, diving his sword in the abdomens of our enemies. I saw him catch his breath between two attacks.
He will never make it.
Just as that thought crossed through my head, I saw a shadow in Siegfried's eyes as he glanced over the battle that was raging around him.
That's when I understood. I understood the meaning behind Wotan's contemptable smile. He held Phi close to him, his hostage, making sure she was witnessing all the horrors. He was simply waiting for everything to be over.
He was right. I glanced around desperately. The First Creatures were nowhere to be seen. They hadn't entered the fortress! They had deserted us.
The Evil King turned and whispered something to Phi. The bastard.
Phi's eyes filled with tears. I doubt she could see anything at all, and for that, I was grateful. One of the margots had her throat cut. Her blood spilled onto the ground. Soon, the earth opened where her inert body lay and swallowed her. Her sisters, the other margots, screamed at the sight. They launched themselves, trying to recover her body. In vain. Their high pitch sobbing mixed with Banshee's screaming, as more deaths were announced.
I saw Phi turn her face from the horror and place her free hand on her chain to make it melt faster.
What good would it do if she get loose, though? Where could she possibly run?
The mindless threw their axes in the air, and split some of the berstucs' skulls in half.Their bodies dropped to the soil, wet with dew, and returned to dust. The poor creatures who had moss on their heads instead of hair were merely a few inches tall in their permanent form, like the pillywiggins. They were barely doing any harm as they were. An unfair fight.
Siegfried walked towards Wotan, defeated, dragging his legendary sword, the sword of gold and silver he used to create the Hidden Land and its protective mist. The tip drew a line in the grassless soil behind him. "You won," he yelled up to the top of the wall where the Evil King stood. "I surrender."
The Evil King smirked. "You really think that will do it?"
"You will have what you want, my powers," Siegfried replied. "You can kill me, but please stop there."
"But where is the fun in that?"
I saw one of the mindless rushing in the king's direction, a sword in hand. I wanted to shout at him to watch out, but the words stuck in my throat. I was afraid that Wotan would find out about me and separate me from Phi.
That was stupid, of course. If the Evil King gained Siegfried's powers, he would cast a spell on us, turning us all into a crowd of mindless fairies, whose powers he would use at his disposition. I would be separated from Phi anyway.
But I was not so fast to think, and before I could process anything, the mindless warrior's sharp blade cut sliced through Siegfried's wrist and detached his hand.
The other fairies froze. The battle ceased. Phi screamed at the sight, breaking the silence.
She, like me and every other fairy, knew what this meant. Charms are the extension of a fairy's arms. If a fairy royal loses one or both his hands, he can no longer cast spells, and his powers go to his heir, who then becomes the ruler of his kingdom.
Like a soul leaving a body, a whirlwind of magic left Siegfried and flew directly into Phi's body through her torso, as if she had been struck by a lightning. A new strength, energy, coursed through her veins.
Siegfried looked at his daughter with pleading eyes. He then turned to the Evil King. "Please, don't—," he said.
All he wanted was to protect his people, and his daughter. Now that his powers had gone to Phi, Wotan no longer needed to marry her to gain control over us.
He just has to kill her, I realized. He is going to kill her.
Phi didn't realize she was about to die. Probably still in shock, her body still pulsing with power and still trying to break the chains that tied her to her tormentor. Wotan drew an iron sword from under his cloak and lifted it to strike her.
My heart was racing. I jumped over the archers' backs, wiggled my way between them, throwing them off the wall as I went by. Faster. I had to go faster. I had to stop him.
The clouds covering the dark sky broke and rain fell. My skin drank up the drops while Phi brought her arms in front of her to shield herself from the upcoming blow. Her only reflex.
I jumped on him when he least expected. "Don't you dare touch her!" I shouted. I had never harboured so much anger in my voice before.
But I was only a bee trying to sting a bear through its thick fur. He easily threw me off his back and off the wall. I fell onto the ground with a crashing sound.
"Halia!" Phi shouted.
My sweet friend. She feared for me, for my safety, just as much as I feared for hers.
"Run, Phi!" I said, getting myself back on my feet.
But she couldn't. She was still tied to the beast. Such despair filled me that I didn't noticed the rain that was now everywhere. In my ears, my mouth, leeking down my hair. My body wanted to change. A reaction of the rain on my skin. The Oracle wanted to speak.
"You malicious girl," Wotan said, almost laughing. "You've been passing yourself off as a servant. How did you manage to get into the fortress?"
I said nothing. My lips were sealed with rage and will to silence the oracle. It's not the time!
I was only a momentary distraction. Soon enough, the Evil King raced after Phi. He jumped off the wall effortlessly and rose his sword once more.
He was going to kill her. To murder her right in front of my eyes.
"No!" I shouted.
I felt myself change. My body became translucent and started to float in mid-air as I began to recite a prophecy. That stopped the king in his tracks.
"After a king threatens her father
And beloved people
The princess will finally
In the light of day marry evil."
My feet touched theground again. Everyone, even the Evil King, stared at me, stunned. At last,Wotan lowered the sword he had until now been dangling above Phi's head.s_obser)}[(