Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (52 page)

We arrived at the gargoyle door and saw no one and nothing out of the ordinary.
 
We gathered at this place we had not so long ago rushed into, looking at each other.
 

“Should we go out?” asked Finn.

“Just open it,” said Spike, “see if there’s anybody out there.”

“Oh, for shit’s sake, people ... get out of my way.”
 
I shouldered my way to the door and grabbed the ring handle, pulling it in towards me and forcing everyone back.
 
At first I saw nothing, so I turned to tell my friends they were overreacting, but then I felt it.
 
A buzz on the ley line.
 

I turned back to the door’s entrance in time to see a figure coming towards the door from the edge of the trees.
 
It was Samantha.

“It’s Samantha, get back!” I yelled, shoving them back with my butt and pushing the door shut as fast as I could.
 
Just before the edges made contact and closed completely, a force began pushing the door inward.

“Shit!
 
Help me!
 
She’s got the door!”

Scrum and Finn rushed to my aid, bracing their shoulders against the wood and pushing with me as hard as they could.
 
But it was no use; the door continued to open farther. There was an ominous creaking sound coming into the hallway as the two forces battled to win control of the door.

“She’s ... using ... magic,” grunted Scrum.

“Spike, get in here!” yelled Finn, “I’m gonna shoot her!”

Becky screamed, “Finn!
 
You can’t shoot Samantha!
 
She’s our friend!”

I looked at Becky like she was crazy.
 
“She’s no
friend!
 
She joined the Dark Fae!
 
She’s trying to get in here to hurt us!”

The door was open about a foot now, but so far no one was standing in the opening.
 
I could see the muscles in Scrum’s and Spike’s arms and backs straining against Samantha’s force.

Becky grabbed my arm, squeezing as she begged. “She’s only with them because she was rejected by Dardennes,” Tears filled her eyes as the pleaded with me silently.
 

I pulled my arm back, shrugging her off.
 
“Whatever the reason, she’s who she is and is doing this to attack us.
 
You think she wants to come in for tea?
 
You think she’s not going to blast us right between the eyes when she sees us?
 
You’ve conveniently forgotten, I guess, that she was one of my
kidnappers
.”
 
I shot her a look of anger so strong
,
I think she felt it
.
 

Becky flinched back at my emotion, dropping her hands at her sides.
 
“It’s not ... it’s too ... ” and then she was gone.
 
Disappeared into thin air again.

“Fucking water sprites!”
I yelled out into the air.

“
Jayne,
let her go.
 
You have bigger things to worry about,” advised Tim, nervously, pulling my hair like crazy.
 
“You need to power up and blast that witch to smithereens!”

The door was now open wide enough for a smallish fae to fit through.
 
I had about five seconds before it was fully open – Scrum and Spike were losing their momentum, their feet sliding along the stone floor inch by stuttering inch as they lost the battle, and their faces were showing the strain of their efforts.
 
Finn stood off to the
side,
arrow notched and bow up at the ready.
 
He was waiting for the right moment to pull back on the arrow and let it fly.
 

I plumbed down into the depths of the nearest ley line, drawing up its power and letting it roll over me, while also blocking Samantha’s access.
 
I heard sounds coming from outside the door now, but I ignored them in my bid for focus over my control of The Green that was now flooding up from the earth and filling my every cell.

The door opened more, and the sight of many bodies greeted our eyes.
 
It was no longer just Samantha standing out there and we were no longer alone at the gargoyle door.
 

The door opened the rest of the way, flying back and hitting the wall as Scrum jumped out of the way, to reveal a battlefield.

Finn rushed out, his arrow drawn back.
 
Scrum moved to be near me, standing at my side.
 
Spike dropped back too, taking up a position on my other side.
 
Tim was my eyes and ears, better able to see what was going on, since so much of my concentration was taken with accumulating and channeling my energy.
 
We stepped out into the grasses and entered the fray.

An entire company of Light Fae elves was battling a motley crew of Dark Fae.
 
Standing in front of the Dark Fae contingent was Samantha, a thin, gray haze surrounding her.
 
I watched as several arrows bounced off it and landed on the ground, useless.
 
There were
a couple Dark Fae
on the ground near her with arrows sticking up out of their bodies – ogres by the looks of it.
 
Big ugly fuckers.

In the dying light of evening, I saw Falco off to my left and then farther away Robin and many others I recognized from our training in the forest earlier.
 
Was it only today that we had been there?
 
It seemed so long ago.
 
The orange and gold sunset gave the battle a surreal feeling – as if this were all just a bad dream.

“There she is!” yelled Samantha.
 
“Take her down!”

Her
meant
me
, apparently, since about fifteen sets of weapons turned to point in my direction.
 
I threw up a green bubble around
me, Tim, and my two bodyguards
without even thinking.
 
I sent an image out through The Green to Robin and prayed like crazy that he was communicating it to his elf buddies.
 
They all raised their arrows, each choosing a target.

Now everything came down to this one moment.
 
This was my last ditch effort to use the powers I had not yet learned to harness, to save my friends and keep the Dark Fae from entering our compound – from taking over our lives and forcing us to adopt their fucked up view of the world.

I sent my power into the green elves standing next to me, whose signatures I could feel, pure and light in The Green – giving their minds’ eyes the energy and magical connection they would need to find their targets, no matter how far away and no matter who they were.
 

Samantha lifted her arms and I noticed one of them held a staff.
 
She was only a changeling, but she looked like one of the older, more experienced witches.
 
And I knew that force she had used to physically push our door open and was using to shield herself from the deadly arrows was no small spell.
 
She knew her shit and wasn’t afraid to use it.
 
I had to protect my friends from her ruthlessness by showing no mercy.

I couldn’t put the bubble around the elves, or their arrows would bounce off the inside and allow their attackers to come at them and surround them.
 
Instead, I strengthened the one around the four of us – Scrum, Spike, Tim and me.
 
Then I faced Robin, nodding my head.
 
Time to launch those badass
mindseye
arrows and let the chips fall where they may.

I saw Robin’s mouth moving, the sound muffled by the humming force of green light that kept us protected.
 
The words I knew he spoke –
Ready? ... Aim! ... –
resulted
in a line of arms being lifted and arrows being drawn back.
 

Samantha stole a glance at them, finally breaking her concentration for a second, as she gestured to her ogres to attack.
 
I saw my opportunity and took it.
 
I shot a message out to Robin and saw him change his trajectory to aim at her.
 
His last command was issued –
Release! –
and
a shower of arrows launched up into the air and soared over the open space between us and them.

Samantha turned back to me, but she was too late.
 
Robin’s arrow found her standing vulnerable out in the open, her concentration broken.
 
I don’t know if it was her loss of focus or the special force sent behind that arrow, but either way, it found its target.

Part of me flinched at the vision before me.
 
Ogres fell to the ground with arrows sticking out of them – some of the bigger ones looked like porcupines.
 
Samantha stood completely still, looking down at the arrow that was sticking out of her chest.
 
I knew without getting closer that the feather on the end would identify it as Robin’s.
 
It wasn’t in her
heart,
it was on the other side.
 
Robin must have deliberately not taken the kill shot, and I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not.

Three Dark Fae elves remained standing just behind and to the side of Samantha.
 
They stepped forward awkwardly, arrows notched in their bows and pointing to the ground.
 
They kept their eyes on us, while trying to steal glances at her.
 

She lifted her head and fixed a malevolent gaze on me.
 
I stared right back.
 
I was standing ready to deal her the last blow, when a sudden movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.

Becky.
 
She had appeared between us suddenly, materializing in the middle of the field.
 
I let some of the power drop away from me.
 
I needed to get to her before she did something stupid, and I couldn’t do it trapped in this stupid bubble.

“Samantha!” she shouted, running forward with tentative steps towards her.
 
“You’ve been hit!”
 

Samantha lifted her arm and yelled, “Now!”

A beam of white light streamed out of her staff and hit Becky right in the chest, sending her flying backwards, to land in a tangle on the ground.
 
Her right leg was bent back at an unnatural angle and she
laid
there motionless in the grasses, her eyes staring up at the sky.

“Becky!”
I screamed, turning to run to her.

Scrum and Spike both grabbed me by the arms.
 
“No!
 
Jayne, you can’t go.
 
Stay inside where it’s safe!” yelled Scrum.

“No, Jayne, stay!” yelled Tim, pulling my hair as hard as he could.

Angry tears coursed down my face.
 
“
Fuck that!”
I pushed desperately at Scrum’s hands that were trying to grab hold of me.
 
I wrestled with Spike too.
 
“Spike, let me go!
 
I need to help her!”

He held onto me with a grip of iron.
 
“No!” growled Spike.
 
“
Samantha’s hoping
that’s what you’ll do.
 
She’s trying to kill you.
 
Stay here!”
 
Then he squeezed me extra tight.
 
“Look!
 
Becky’s not there anymore!
 
She’s gone!”
 

I looked up from my attempts at escape and saw that, sure enough, Becky’s body had disappeared.
 
I hoped like hell that meant she was alive.
 
I didn’t think a water sprite could teleport without being alive, but at the same time I worried that she had gone to the afterlife or had been teleported by Naida or someone else from the murky depths.

A movement near Samantha caught my attention.
 
I watched as three arrows sailed out from behind her, towards the green elves that had since reloaded their weapons and were pulling them back to finish the job they had started with their last volley.
 
Everyone but Falco, that is.
 
He was staring at the place where Becky had just been, his mouth hanging open.
 

I watched in horror as an arrow flying faster than I could have imagined pierced him in the chest, throwing him back three unsteady paces, before I could do a single thing about it.
 

I screamed, throwing my hands up to my face in horror.
 
“
Nooo
!
 
Falco!”
 
I turned to reach out to him, but my feet were rooted to the ground in fear and dismay.

He looked up at me and then down at the arrow protruding from his body.
 
He sank slowly to his knees, still staring at it.
 
He turned his head back to me, giving me a weak smile.
 
Then he fell slowly to his side, his eyes remaining open as his head hit the grass.