Chapter 39: The Ruby’s Secret

Note: Thanks to WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Ealaín

Aingeal’s body fell from the sky. I cursed. “Greta!”

A spout of water burst from Greta, distracting her from the paragon. The fountain caught the falling faerie and cradled her to the ground. I didn’t know what happened to Aingeal. Couldn’t worry about her. I had to stay in front of the Paragon.

My ax glanced off her forearms. Blood dribbled from scrapes and cuts, exposing the iron-hard bone beneath. She didn’t feel my blows. She just parried them with those powerful arms. As hard as I swung, my attacks weren’t strong enough to break her arms. Somehow, I had to get through her guard.

Greta turned back to fight and gasped. The Paragon’s blurring fist caught her hard in the chest. Her armor burst with water. It mitigated some of the blow, but the young girl was sill thrown back. She hit the ground hard, her blonde hair spilling out from beneath her helm. The runes on her blue armor flared sapphire bright for a moment. She groaned, lying stunned.

The Paragon advanced.

“No!” I shouted, rushing around the monster.

The Paragon drew back her fist to slam into the prone Greta. I couldn’t let the young thing die. She was a novice at fighting. Light poured off of me. The armor fed my muscles, propelling me faster than I could normally move. The world blurred around me for a moment.

I appeared before the Paragon, raising my weapons before me, crossing them to catch the Paragon’s punch.

Sven Falk

“I’m right here, Father,” Ava purred, appearing around the fire. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll go with you. I’ll be your queen. I love you.”

The sight of Ava arrested me for a moment. I gaped. What was going on? Why would she... ? The dress she wore was wrong. It was blue and soft, the type of gown Ava would wear spending a day at her father’s castle, not the clothing she’d worn while traveling. Not the clothing she wore right now as she stood atop the hill.

Kora stood up there, staring down, her pink robe open. Her fingers wiggling, painting.

“My sweetling,” Prince Meinard said, turning to her. “Something seems to be missing from you.”

“Oh, Father?” Ava asked.

I lunged at the monster’s back.

“Your blood. I don’t smell it.” With a casual swipe, he back-handed the illusion. It rippled with rainbow light. Laughing, making that spine-crawling sound, he turned around to face me. My rapier punched into his carapace and...

Scored along the waxy chitin. I left a furrow in the gray thorax, a long line following its concave curve before my blade reached his side and thrust past him beneath his arm. I groaned. First he wore a metal body, and now this.

He punched a clawed hand at me. I shifted my feet, began to retreat, but the attack came so fast. I was too close to him. Each of his five fingers ended in talon like points. They crashed into my chest, cutting through my armor.

Sinking into my skin.

Princess Ava

“What did you just do!” Aingeal shouted in my soul.

I groaned as I stood up in the feyhound’s proxy. “Sorry, Aingeal” I said as her body fell to the ground. “I didn’t think. I just...”

“Panicked?”

Water caught Aingeal’s body and set her on the ground.

“Sven is in trouble,” I protested. “I can fight, too.”

I darted us towards the cliff edge, Carsina shouting behind us. I passed Kora as she shook her head and shouted something in frustration. I had to get to Sven. He would be in trouble. Chaos loomed down the hill. Flames half-obscured him. I heard him shout in pain and—

Energy rippled from us. I couldn’t see exactly what Aingeal was doing. A great thunderclap erupted over the battlefield. A mighty downdraft whipped at the grass. The flames burning around Sven, Nathalie, and my father rippled.

“The mage!” Aingeal shouted, her soul quivering against mine as we filled the feyhound vessel. “I was fighting the mage. He’ll kill us all! We have to get to him!”

“But what about Sven?” As I said that, my husband roared in pain, rising over the crackling of the flames. “He needs us!”

“Master!” screeched Nathalie, such anger in her voice. Flames roared.

“He’ll be fine. But if we don’t counter that mage, his magic will just yank us all up into the air or pin us to the ground.” More energy surged out from her. “We have to kill him. That’s how we protect Sven and our family.”

I whimpered, my soul quivering. I glanced down the hill. Light flared from Ealaín as she battled the Paragon. Greta was down. I wanted to help her, too. But the aoi si was there. She was as skilled a fighter as Sven.

“Okay,” I agreed and ran down the slope, focusing on the mage. I leaped. Energy surged into the body, Aingeal enhancing us. We soared over the chaos.

Wind buffeted us. It hit us from all directions. Power surged from Aingeal. She cursed as I struggled to keep control of the proxy. We spun, the mage attacking us with currents of air. He stared up at us, the hood of his black robes thrown back.

He pulled out a vial and drank the pussy juices, the fuel for his spells. I bet those were Greta’s cream. I gave him access to my bedmaid, letting him harvest as much of her passion from her as he wanted while he enjoyed her body.

It was a payment to discover my father’s foul secrets.

Purple energy burst from us, Aingeal’s magic. The wind drove back from us. We fell towards the base of the hill. I braced us as the ground rushed up. Power seeped into my wicker-braided legs. I landed like a falling star, Aingeal’s magic protecting the proxy’s limbs from breaking.

I stared at Shevoin, his eyes hard. The ground rumbled beneath my feet. I jumped. Magic and spirits clashed before us as Aingeal and the mage battled...

Kora Falk

“Princess, no!” Carsina shouted.

The feyhound soared over me. I glanced behind me to see Carsina kneeling over the fallen Ava, the diamond hammer spilled from the princess’s hand. An idea shot through me. “Supercharge my illusions like you did when we fought the ooze.”

Carsina glanced up at me, her ruby-bright hair spilling about her shocked features. “Okay, Mistress.”

She scooped up the diamond hammer and charged at me, her face twisted in fear. Her body trembled. She reached me and held the hammer in her hand. I pointed down at my husband fighting Prince Meinard and...