Chapter
40
Moonlight flooded the garden. Tolian felt the lunar energy flowing into
her. She pulled Kreel along behind her
by the hand. The place had become quite
overgrown. The Demon’s power had twisted
the park from one of singular beauty to a neglected collection of ugly and malefic
weeds. Everything looked foul. The flowerbed of sunflowers by the door had
turned black. The flowers themselves
seemed to possess fanged mouths and were moving, stretching over the nearby
pavement searching for food. Tolian led
Kreel well around that. What other
horrors would be lurking there, Tolian wondered. She gripped Kreel’s sword tightly in her
other hand. At least the place was
deserted.
“Which way?” Tolian asked her faerie
friend. “Uh, I think the quickest way is
straight ahead and out the back gate.
That should get us pretty close to the nearest portal back to your
world, if you can open it. If we’re not
disturbed, we can make it in about three hours, but about half of that time
will be outside the garden.” Kreel
paused and gulped. “I’m not looking
forward to that.”
“Oh, you won’t get that far,” said a
voice from above them. It was Mesdor
flying overhead. Before Tolian was
completely aware of what was happening, the harpy-like faerie came crashing
down upon them and sent Kreel sprawling across the pavement with the force of
her talon-like feet. The faerie cried
out briefly then fell silent and still.
Mesdor landed a few feet from Tolian and regarded the escaped prisoner
with deep contempt.
“You are going to pay for that,”
Tolian said bravely.
“Oh, not as much as you will,”
growled Mesdor, “once Dowbreth gets here.
Gredalon is fetching him right now.
Your betrothed will be angry with you.
Very angry. Now come along, like
a good little Moon Goddess, and take your punishment.”
“I actually liked you, at first,”
Tolian commented, looking now with horror at the deformed and birdlike creature
before her.
She looked up at the Moon and then
at the sword in her hand.
“This is for Kreel,” she said
quietly.
She let go of the sword. It hung in the air for a moment then with
lightning speed it closed the distance between them and plunged directly into
the harpy’s chest.
“Surprise,” she said as Mesdor fell
dead. She rushed over to Kreel. She had a nasty gash in her shoulder, and she
was unconscious. Tolian tried to pick
her up. She just managed to lift her. She could not travel far or fast with the
faerie, however. An idea came to
her. She released the girl, and with a
slight effort of her mind, levitated her in the air before her. She was able to travel much quicker with
Kreel hovering just in front of her as she walked. Unfortunately, she did not know the way. Kreel had said that they needed to go
straight back. Tolian could do that much,
being careful to stay safely in the middle of the pavement, away from any
plants, all of which seemed to sense their presence and reach out for
them. Tolian hoped Kreel would regain
consciousness before they left the garden.
Suddenly, she froze as she heard a
voice calling from the base of the tower.
It was Dowbreth.
“My betrothed has broken her
promise. I shall see to it that your
lover and your friend both die horrible deaths for this. You know that, don’t you?”
Tolian shuddered. Her fear came pouring back into her. She was almost paralyzed by her
trepidation. Yet, somehow, deep inside
of herself, a certainty came into her.
Brythia was beyond Dowbreth’s power now.
She could feel it. Unfortunately,
Tolian and Kreel were not. She hurried
deeper into the garden.
“I am coming for you my betrothed,”
he bellowed violently. “I shall find
you.”
Copyright 2004, 2015 Diana Hignutt
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