Chapter Eleven - The Unforeseen
DAHLIA AND I both looked to each other in disbelief. She was just as surprised as I was that I had failed to hit my target.
"I'm sorry." I mouthed, crushed by disappointment.
The Gnarls advanced ever closer, throwing themselves across the moat of mist. Some of them fell short to their death but it did not stop the others, as increasing numbers seemed to notice my presence and turned in my direction. Each one of them wanting to be the one who could tell their beloved mistress they were the one that caught me. I stood dumbfounded on top of the piece of rubble I'd climbed to take the shot.
As the first wave of Gnarls hit, Dahlia screamed the heads clean off at least three. It was gruesome to behold. Blue sound waves so powerful they were visible as they travelled on the air, resonated toward the approaching Gnarls. Blood sprayed all around us, creating a red mist I put my hands up to shield my face from the gore. I felt the warm blood explode over them. It was grisly sight and I almost couldn't believe that Dahlia had been the cause of it but I was glad she had held her own.
My own instincts took over as the Gnarls that had avoided the deadly scream continued their approach. On magical autopilot, I hit one with the Verja spell and then another. They both disappeared into the distant bog of the marshes but it wasn't enough. We were outnumbered at least ten to one and as the hugest Gnarl, the one the others called Kazimir had left Cadalin with another snarling Gnarl. He made the leap back over the mist and careered toward me. Dahlia let out an almighty scream in his direction with so much force behind it that it uprooted the marsh weeds embedded in its path. I felt hopeful, there was no way that he was getting up from this one. The blast of sound hit him and threw him backward but the enormous Gnarl simply pulled himself to his feet. Shaking the dirt from his armoured cloak and wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth, he flashed a twisted razor- toothed smile at Dahlia and doubled the speed of his advance.
Until this moment, Dahlia had fought bravely at my side but with the massive Gnarl approaching fast, I could see her hand move defensively over her belly.
"Dahlia, go I'll be ok." I shouted across the rubble to her. She shook her head uncertainly. "GO!" I screamed. "I don't need your help." She knew this was a lie as much as I did but in that moment Dahlia made a choice, she chose her unborn child over her best friend and her pride. I watched my best friend flee, through the hidden passage back into the relative safety of the castle. She was going to be an amazing mother and queen. I was saddened that I wouldn't get to see it. When I turned back to look over the marshes Kazimir had gained so much ground he was nearly on me. I raised my bow and took a desperate final shot. Once again, my arrow flew way off course. I clasped my hands together and thrust them forward with all the force I could muster.
"Verja." I willed but the shield spell, which would have knocked any smaller Gnarl off their feet merely wobbled the gigantic Kazimir as he thundered toward me. I searched my memory, trying to think of a more potent spell to direct at the Gnarl but my panicking mind drew a blank.
Without Merl I couldn't fight them. I could try to flee but my only option was a backward one. That would mean leading them back into the castle were Dahlia and her unborn baby now sheltered. I ruled out that option. In a moment of pure defeatism, I raised my hand idly toward my neck for my absent necklace, dropping the bow to the floor, with the other. I closed my eyes and waited for my captive to spirit me away toward Forge Gate, toward my death.
I felt the impact of the colossal Gnarls body with my own acutely. My joints cracked, my stomach and chest ached with the thud of his massive arm as he scooped me up. The air was knocked clean out of my lungs. Merl had always warned me to be mindful of my surrounds on the island and even now when all seemed lost, I tried to heed his advice. It was hard to decipher through the pain, but I felt like he was taking me in a northerly direction, toward the opening of the forest.
Kazimir smelt foul, a mixture of blood and burnt rubber. I wanted to retch but instead I did the only thing I could possibly think to do, what my survival instincts where telling me, I feigned unconsciousness. My only hope of getting both Cadalin and myself out of this unharmed was to stay this way until we reached a stopping point and then attempt to get to her and run. If we did manage to get away, I was praying that the trees would point us in the right direction. I'd heard their whispers last year as they directed Jestin, Dahlia and I out of Thistlewick Forest but not all travellers were so lucky. Some were miss-led by the whispering of the trees, doomed to wander the depths of the forest until the end of their days. It was a bad plan but the only one I had.
I could hear the slopping of the bog turn to the crunching of leaves underfoot. My stomach contorted with motion sickness from the relentless bobbing. Being carried over this Gnarls shoulder like a ragdoll crushed my confidence worse than realising that I wasn't that good with a bow. I was going to die if my journey ended at the feet of Agrona, of that I no longer had any doubt. The only reason I survived the last time we met was because of Merl and now he was buried somewhere beneath the rubble with no one to dig him out. I was positive he wasn't dead but I wasn't so sure he could get out from under the heavy pile of stones that had fallen on him. Wizard or not, he was still a very old man.
A tear wet the inner corner of my eye. There was nothing I could do about it. I let it fall away, imagining it meeting with the forest floor and soaking into the earth, becoming a part of something massive. I hoped that was what death would be like, to sink away into something bigger than I had been in life, to be a tear, to become something incomprehensible, something more. As I bobbed up and down like a helpless child against the shoulder blade of this rancid creature, my mind shutdown into an unconscious state in a natural attempt to heal my battered body.
"He's coming." It was a distant whisper, I wasn't even sure if it was a thought in my own mind. I had slipped in an out of consciousness for a while now, I could be dreaming. The voice was not clearly either male or female. I couldn't even be sure what kind of creature it had come from but it was comforting somehow. "He will come." It sounded again, maybe from another direction, I couldn't tell. I was certain I was awake as I stared down at my bloodied hands that swung behind the huge Gnarls muscular back, Was I losing my mind?
"SSStop here for a while. I want to tie the heir properly. Sshe musst not get away." This voice was forceful and low for a Gnarl, easily identifiable as Kazimir. Oh no, if they tied me up I'd never get free. I felt a jolt of energy travel into my body through the ground leaving my body as a tiny spark from my hands. Not now, I couldn't afford to give myself away now. There was no way I could take on all the Gnarls around me. I felt the air leave my lungs again as Kazamir threw me harshly to the ground. I didn't move.
"You haven't killed her have you?" One of the smaller Gnarls asked.
"No you ssslime!" Kazimir responded with an angry shout. "Misstresss wantsss the heir alive and ssshe will have the heir alive. Have you informed Ssstiches and Slavov to take the girl on?"
"Yesss they have continued on." The smaller Gnarl answered dutifully.
"Good." Kazimir was smirking, I could tell because of the sound of his saliva clicking as his lips parted. Everything about this Gnarl both disgusted and terrified me.
"Ssshe isssn't moving." The smaller Gnarl observed as he kicked me in the side of the belly for good measure.
"Sshe isss weak." Kazimir stated triumphantly. He was right, I was weak, too weak to help Merl, too weak to help Dahlia, too weak to save Cadalin and too weak to find Jestin. The bracken and leaves of the forest floor reminded me of his earthy smell. A smell that saturated the air whenever he was around, it was beautiful and bitter sweet.
He wouldn't have allowed the Gnarls to take Cadalin, he would have stopped this somehow. He would have fought for his life, he might still be fighting somewhere and here I was just giving up. I didn't know if Merl had reversed the binding spell like he had promised me he would after the night Agrona woke, but if he hadn't a
nd I gave up fighting here, I wasn't just giving up on myself.
"He's coming."
"He's near." The voice or voices again I couldn't tell whether it was a singular voice anymore. "He is coming to save you." Save me? Snap out of it Violet, you are the heir. You can do magic. You've danced with darkness and emerged into the light once, now do it again, you have this. I told myself. I opened my eyes, realising I was in the same place I'd been only a few nights before. This was close to the Barghest lair.
"I don't need saving." I said out-loud, as I pulled myself to my feet invoking every ounce of determination I had. My mouth twisted into a small smile at the dumbstruck faces of the crowd of Gnarls around me. They began to step back uneasily, looking into the brushes around them, probably expecting Merl to leap out at them. Obviously, they thought I had a plan, which I did not. Kazimir was the first to smirk back.
"Good morning little bird, sssoo nice of you to join uss." He flexed his huge arms outward and moved his head side to side, cracking his neck. The other Gnarls in the group laughed although some still looked around uneasily. I remained motionless, staring into his burning tiger eyes.
"Whatsss the matter little bird, have you come to play with the monsters?" He mocked.
"I don't play, not anymore." I answered. I shot a spell of silver light at the Gnarl nearest to me, the one who had been speaking to Kazimir moments before who was now moving toward me. He stopped short in his advance and begun to move in a sluggish manner as if he was stuck in a different dimension where the time moved slower. Another Gnarl rounded on me,
"Verja!" I shot him before he could reach me, his face filled with shock as he trundled through the forest, hitting a tree as he flew backward with speed. The other Gnarls stood around staggered, their hands ready to shoot back yet they knew as well as I did that their clumsy conjuring was no match for my magic. I was still outnumbered but not as badly as I thought. A few of the group had obviously broken off. Gone with the group that took Cadalin perhaps or maybe the trees had led them astray.
"He's here, he's here." The voice again, now was not the time to go crazy.
"Thiss little birdy needs to be caged, I will crusssh her head like an egg."
"And what would happened to you if you brought me back to the witch dead?" I knew that the answer wasn't a pleasant one.
"Misstress sssaid nothing about bringing you to her unbroken, sshe wantsss you alive not unhurt." He grinned. He stampeded in my direction like an angry rhino. The soil and leaves flew into the air around him. His heavy footsteps shook the ground. I focused my energy, imagining every scenario that might stop the massive Gnarl in his advance, I fixed my mind on one and absorbing waves of intense energy from the ground, I shot. A stream of purple light formed a chain around his massive form, wrapping round his neck and snaking all the way around him. As the chain pulled his ankles together, he lost his footing and landed at my feet. I took a step back as a raucous growl erupted from him. His body shook until the magic chains began to stretch and break. The other Gnarls in the group stood frozen in fear, more afraid of their enraged commander than they were of me.
Panic jabbed at my stomach. The spell I had hit him with was powerful. I didn't think I had any better. I was in trouble. I turned to run, I would not outrun him but there was no use in just standing here. I sprung forward but by now, Kazamir had managed to free one of his massive muscular arms and he caught me by the foot. Pulling me toward him, I hit the floor with a thud. His razor-sharp claw like nails tore into my soft flesh. I pulled at the bracken, dragging my fingers along the earth as he used his strength to draw me backward. I screamed from the pain, kicking widely backward but it was no use, he was far too strong.
"You will not harm another hair on her head." The voice was a voice I knew. I looked up to see my redeemer emerging from the bushes, a smile of crooked black teeth beaming on his face. The Gnarls, including Kazimir, collectively paused as they absorbed the changing dynamic of our situation. Bugul wasted no time bouncing into action, leaping from the undergrowth and landing with gentle precision next to my head. His small and twisted body stood proud over me, his orb eyes glowing with silver light.
"How lovely to see you again Violet." He said without looking away from the crowd of Gnarls who now stood entranced before us.
"You too Bugul." I replied weakly. I was still clawing violently into the earth, as Kazimir hadn't released his grip upon me. Bugul sprung at Kazimir with terrifying speed. Pulling back his pointed ears, he held his own face directly in front of the Gnarls. His orb eyes lit up,
"Do you see the Gnarls behind you?" he stated calmly. Kazimir turned his head back and nodded in a trance like state. "They are here to attack you." Bugul urged. Kazimir released my foot, lifted his heavy body from the ground and turned toward his companions, some of whom had already begun to flee in terror. He gave chase, catching the closest Gnarl to him and crushing its head with his giant hands. Some got away, running for their lives into the darkness of the forest. Others quickly caught and dispatched and the remainder stayed put out of loyalty to their mistress, pleading with their hypnotised commander to turn his attention back to me before they too were slain.
"Come Violet, he will come around soon enough, let's make our way out of here." Bugul pointed at the rampaging Kazimir as he spoke.
"Ok, but Cadalin, the little Banshee, the Gnarls have taken her toward Loch Du, we have to look for her." I replied.
"She will be out of our reach by now. Where is Merrydian?" Bugul asked.
"Oh no!" I remembered. "He's buried under the rubble at Thistle Castle." I said, panic setting in again.
"I hear he has survived worse." Bugul reassured me.
"Probably," I agreed. Of course he had, he was probably out of the rubble by now and cursing my name for being stupid enough to get captured. "How did you know where to find me?" I asked intrigued.
"The trees told me." Bugul smiled.
"Huh." Was my response, I felt both gratitude and shock. "You have to come to Blossomdown with me. It's not safe here anymore, Blossomdown is safe. I want to explain my note but not here, not now." I told him.
"I will follow you to Blossomdown and we can talk there. I don't much like it there but unfortunately, I fear you are right." Bugul said.
"You don't like Blossomdown?" The question rolled off my lips, I hadn't even meant to speak it aloud but it was such a surprising thing to hear.
"No, I'm afraid not. You see, my brother was murdered there, long ago, in the time before Merrydian created his gate. His body lay undiscovered for years before a traveller came across it."
"I'm sorry." I said. Bugul smiled a sad smile.
"His name was Bundul. He was a simple creature and kind, very kind." Bugul said wistfully before his mind snapped back to the present. "Shall we?" He held out his elongated arm before us to indicate the direction we needed to head in.
"Yes there's just one thing I need to do first." I said.
The Barghest growled as we slipped through the undergrowth toward him. He was angry with me, very angry. I was glad to have Bugul here with me. His presence was calming and there was something about the Barghest that evoked the same feeling of bubbling rage that I felt the night I'd journeyed here with Merl.
"Bugul." The Barghest growled his acknowledgement to my companion. Bugul nodded courteously. "I see you have brought me a snack." He snapped his powerful jaws in my direction.
"She is a friend." Bugul affirmed. "She wants only to help you, if you will allow." The Barghest let out a low growl again.
"Look, I haven't got time for pleasantries." I stated. "We made a promise to you the other night, only we couldn't keep it." Technically this wasn't true but I wasn't about to admit to the snarling Barghest that Merl had deliberately betrayed him. "It was my fault and I want to try to put that right if you will let me." The Barghest sunk low, his teeth bared. The anger that I was doing so well to keep a lid on threatened to erupt from me. "If you don't want my help, that's fine. I need to g
et back to my friends now. My conscience is clear." I turned to walk away.
"Stop." The Barghest commanded. "Do as you will, I will not try to harm you." He snapped reluctantly. If this beast tries to harm me, he will regret it more than I will, I thought. I raised my hands to its neck and cupped the huge padlock within them. I didn't know if my plan was going to work but I had to try and I had to get on with it, Merl was still buried under the rubble at Thistle Castle for all I knew.
I sat calmly for a moment replaying in my mind all the reasons why I should be angry, envisioning the Gnarls now as they spirited away a terrified Cadalin. I imagined Merl hurt and buried under the rubble, Bettery's tears for the family she'd lost. Bugul said eyes at the thought of his brother. My own lost family. The emancipated figure that Elba cut on her return from Forge Gate. The brave Queen Evangelista. Catatonic Rosamaylind. Dahlia. Jestin's face. I felt a mixture of emotions rouse within me, fear, dread, desperation and loss but most of all I felt anger. My palms grew red and hot. It was working! I focused on my anger, remembering how Bugul had told of his partner Berna and Merl's Benevoley, Merryweather and Gweniveev. Images of how I imagined them all to be swam in my mind, circling my thoughts, serving as visual stimuli for my ire. I saw Jestin in pain, locked in a dungeon somewhere surrounded by darkness, deep impenetrable darkness, miserable and lonely. I felt a solitary tear trickle down the side of my face. My hands were glowing now. My focus intensified. I saw her face. The witch, she was laughing, mocking a malevolent chuckle ringing in my ears and then her lips settled in a straight line. Her cold blue eyes turned to stone as she looked at me.
THUMP, the heavy lock hit the forest floor. Settling in the dint it had created in the soft mud. The Barghest backed away from my molten touch. I'd done it but I didn't feel a The Barghest did the same in the opposite direction before growling over its shoulder.
"I will not forget that you honoured your promise youngling." Then he shot off, his dark fur hiding him as he disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
It felt like an age before we finally reached the stretch of marshland between the forest and Thistlewick Castle. Visible in the distance, a cloud of dust hovered over the decimated castle grounds. Smoke bellowed from one the windows in the high tower. I guess the Gnarls had callously thrown the candles to the floor as they rampaged through the castle. I could make out the silhouettes of three figures stood on a pile of rubble. Just in front of the ivory horse-drawn doors. Bugul, who was moving quietly through the marshes at my side, kept pace as I ran toward the figures, desperate now to know the fate of my friends.
"You took your ruddy time!" A grey coloured Merl was dusting of the rubble from his ragged cloak. Dahlia stood by his side holding her belly, with a pale looking Skylark kneeled on the hard stone at her side. Dahlia smiled with relief when she saw me approach but the disappointment in her eyes that Cadalin was not with me was unmistakable. Each one of their eyes widened in surprise when they noticed Bugul approach at my side, Skylark who was already weak from her injuries, looked like she might faint again.
I rushed to Merl and threw my arms around him. At first, he clammed up, holding himself rigid like a pencil but when he realised I wasn't letting go, he softened releasing one of his arms and patting my back uncomfortably.
"When did that happen?" I noticed a pink scar running the length of his forearm though his ripped sleeve. He can't have acquired it in the battle because the soft new skin was nearly healed.
"Mind your own ruddy business." He replied, as he held me at arm's length. This was more like the Merl I knew. "The girl?" He asked.
"They took her. They're taking her towards Loch Du as we speak, they're going to deliver her to Argona, and we have to stop them." I answered desperately, realising that I'd wasted enough time already by choosing to free the Barghest.
"Take Queen Dahlia, Skylark and Bugul through the portal to the safety of Blossomdown. I will see if there is any sign of the girl." Merl said.
"But the castle's on fire." I said.
"The fire is in the tower and hasn't gotten as far as the corridor on which the portal is situated yet but you must make haste before the blaze claims the castle." He warned.
"Ok but what about you? You've just been dug out of the rubble, you can't go alone." I reasoned. "I'll come back and help, just wait for me." I said.
"By the time you have escorted each of our companions to Blossomdown and then journeyed back through the portal, the castle will be little more than ashes now go." Merl replied sternly.
I did as Merl had bid me, taking each individual through the portal one by one. With each trip back, the castle's decimation grew. The fire raged fast just like Merl had predicted it would and I made one more than expected as we discovered the real Hele slumped in one of the window seats near the ivory doorway, blood spouting from a deep wound in her head. As she was the most injured, I took her first, dropping her off in the bookcase corridor and finding that she had been placed on the silk bench in the living room by Bettery when I brought Dahlia through. Going back for Skylark, who seemed visibly shaken by Bugul's presence, I took her next. Although I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at her negative reaction to my friend, especially when he had done nothing other than smile nervously at her. It was similar to the way that Dahlia had reacted to him the first time they met. I guess Banshee's natural beauty made them prone to vanity. Bugul was the last to come through the portal. We slipped through just as the fire rounded the corner of the corridor. I had seen fires every November in my former life but I'd never seen fire like this before. The flames looked like hands as they reached around the corridor walls. Reds, oranges, blacks and yellows all danced around one another in a mess of heat and smoke. The hands grasped at the two huge velvet curtains, pulling them loose devouring them quickly before creeping down the corridor for a glasswork portrait that depicted a mare and foal in the marshes. The glass cracked with the heat, a thousand tiny fragments shattered to the ground before the greedy hands of the fire grabbed them once again. That was the last thing I saw of the iconic Thistle Castle before Bugul and I jumped through the portal to Merl's cosy, crooked home.
There was so much I wanted to talk to Bugul about, but now was not the time. I needed to fill Bettery in on the events at Thistle Castle and Dahlia, Skylark, Bugul and Hele would need somewhere to stay. It seemed that Bettery had read my mind as she turned to our guests.
"Just Beyond the village, before you reach Blossom wood, there is a huge manor house covered in honeysuckle." She said as she scribbled a quick note using blackberry ink and a long white feather onto a piece of parchment. "Take this, Mayor Wilmot has the room to house you now that the Worlens have started to build their settlement she does, but these are dangerous times and she'll want a Bobbin's word that you are who you say you are I'll wager. Here," she passed Dahlia the parchment. "It's Bobbinish, now you go get some rest and we'll meet again out in the garden in the morning." Noticing Dahlia's worried expression she reached up to rub her gently on the back. "Whatever it is that's troubling you deary, Merl will sort it he will, I'll wager that's why he's not back yet." Bettery looked to me and I nodded. Dahlia opened her mouth and then closed it again. The sadness of her missing cousin was beginning to hit her hard.
"Dahlia, go and rest, I'll fill Bettery in and I promise to come and wake you when Merl is back." She smiled sadly and hugged me tightly.
"I'm sorry. I'm glad your home." She said. I smiled back echoing her disappointment because neither of us had been able to stop the Gnarls from taking Cadalin. Skylark and Hele both stood wordlessly. Leaning against one another weakly they stumbled out of the door, all the time Skylark did not take her eyes from Bugul. Dahlia gave me one last look before setting off for Honeysuckle Manor. Bugul didn't follow.
"If you don't mind, I would rather make my home somewhere less conspicuous." He said, his withered old voice ringing with the wisdom of his many years.
"Of course deary, you can go around the back you can and take whatev
er space you need." Bettery hadn't flinched once when talking to Bugul, her kind heart instantly seeing through Bugul's unconventional appearance to his beautiful soul. Bugul disappeared through the heavy front door as Bettery pulled the sitting room door closed. I could hear Fizzlesnap's reaction to our guest through the thin pane of window glass.
"Who the ruddy hell are you? Go away." He shouted as Bugul wandered off.
Bettery pulled up her little wooden stool and I sat in Merl's usual chair.
"Out with it then deary, what happened?" She asked.
"Too much to tell in detail I admitted." I couldn't even think where to start.
"Well then, let me know what's important deary and we'll work downwards from there we will." She suggested.
"Okay, well Merl hasn't come home with us because Cadalin has been captured by Gnarls and I feel awful because I thought I could stop them, I thought, I thought?wrong." I said a little too quickly as I stumbled over the words, remembering the utter disappointment I felt when my arrow flew by my target.
"You've no cause to feel awful deary and Merl will bring her back he will." Bettery promised but I wasn't so sure, he'd seemed so weak recently and all those cuts he'd had. I anxiously wondered if he was getting a bit accidental in his old age.
"I hope so." I said. "Dahlia's the queen now and she's having a baby." I said trying to sound optimistic but I couldn't brush off the worry I felt over Cadalin.
"Yes, I guessed as much by her swollen belly deary, and Idris?" Her face twisted with apprehension.
"He ran off when he found out the coward, I'd like to cut his heart out." I said angrily.
"There's enough of that going around now deary, no need for you to take such hate into your own heart there isn't." Bettery was right but I'd love to hit that spider with one of my newly acquired spells. That was a thought.
"I've learnt to use unspoken magic, I mean I'm not amazing at it and sometimes it just sort of happens but I'm okay. Merl says it will take me a long time to master properly." I didn't think it was that much of a big deal. I mean, it was no more surprising to me than the fact that I could perform magic in the first place. Bettery looked concerned.
"Be careful with that deary, it may seem fun but it can be dangerous it can. Merl's told me many a story about how he accidentally hurt the people around him when he first started with the unspoken stuff he has."
"I'll be careful." I promised. "Why do you think they would want Cadalin?" I asked, changing the subject. "I don't know deary, she must have something they want she must." What could a Banshee as young as Cadalin possibly have that Agrona might want? As far as I knew the only thing Agrona wanted from the Banshees' was the Moonstone Scythe.
"Of course, the Scythe." I said aloud as the realisation hit me.
"Whatever do you mean deary?" Bettery said, obviously confused by my sudden outburst.
"Agrona thinks that Cadalin can tell her where the Moonstone Scythe is." I answered.
"Why would she think that deary? Nobody knew that but Queen Evangelista and she's gone she has. Embraced may she be, bless her soul." Bettery said. I was right, I knew it but I couldn't tell Bettery about Cadalin being a dream reader, Merl and I had promised Rosamaylind that we wouldn't tell anyone.
"How long do you think it will be before Merl is back with Cadalin." I asked.
"As long as it takes deary, it might be a trickier job if the Gnarls have already crossed the Loch it might." She admitted. As she spoke, the wooden door of the sitting room swung open, very nearly flying from the hinges with the force.
"No, no, no. Oh no, not my baby. She's not having my little girl."
"Rosmaylind!" I gasped as Bettery's mouth fell open in surprise. Rosamaylind stood at the doorway, dark circles under her doe-like eyes. Her auburn hair was a tangled mess. Yet the steely look of determination etched on her face was a world away from the broken Banshee I'd seen before journeying to Thistlewick.
Rosamaylind busied herself packing a small satchel of provisions, a beaker of milk, a lump of cheese and a loaf.
"You can't do this deary, you're still in shock you are, Merl will bring her back he will." Bettery tried to reason with her.
"That witch killed my sister and tortured all those who rode with her. I'll ride a Reaping bird before I let her take my daughter too." Rosamaylind buckled her satchel and headed toward the door.
"Rosamaylind please, listen to Bettery, Merl will bring Cadalin back." I didn't know if I was trying to convince Rosamaylind or myself.
"Will he now? And how is it that she came to be at the mercy of those disgusting creatures in the first place if Merl is so extraordinary a sorcerer." She spat back.
"It wasn't his fault. It was mine. He chose to disguise me before a wall crashed down on him." I explained, remembering the look of indecision on his face just before the rubble fell on top of him. "He thought they had come for me and he protected me instead of her but then when I thought I could stop them, I failed." I looked down at the floor. Rosamaylind shot me a furious glare.
"As you will when they come for you." Her lip curled when she spoke. She pushed open the kitchen door and walked determinedly through the bookcase corridor on her way out of the house. Bettery followed with me after her.
"Now you just wait a minute, that's not fair it isn't. Violet tried to help she did." Bettery's cheeks were red with indignation. I'd never seen her this way.
"Save your speech for someone who has ears for it." Rosamaylind shouted behind her as she threw open the door.
For a moment, we all stood speechless at the sight of him. His brown spiked hair, deep jade eyes and chiselled jawline dazzled in the fading son but it wasn't the Prince Idris's good looks that stopped us in our tracks, it was the instrument in his hand. Its long sliver body supporting the crescent moon shaped blade at the top. A blade adorned with three iridescent diamonds that threw the last of the sunlight around in the doorway.
"Get that ruddy thing out of my eyes." Fizzlesnap complained as he bobbed forward attempting to take a bite out of Idris.
"The Moonstone Scythe." A momentarily distracted Rosamaylind breathed in awe.
"Idris." I spat, my lip curling the same way Rosamaylind's had done just moments before.
"I think I might have something you need." Idris said arrogantly as he nodded toward the scythe.