The Emerald Staff Read online

  Jocelyn did as she was told but bumped into Etyran when she moved over. She gave Faedra an odd expression before moving back from the Lightbender who was still invisible.

  “I’ll explain later,” Faedra told her.

  “Jocelyn, is the portal still working in here?” Faen asked. “I know there used to be one in here a long time ago but heard rumors that the king closed it for security purposes.”

  Jocelyn closed her eyes and mentally scanned the room. A few seconds later she opened them again. “Yes, there is, it is over there.” She gave a pointed look to where she could sense the portal.

  “Can you open it?” Faen said.

  Faedra gave him a questioning look, unsure where his request was headed?

  “In case we need a quick exit,” Faen answered her unspoken question.

  Faedra gave a subtle nod of agreement.

  Jocelyn reached out with her mind again. “Yes, I can but it would not be wise to do it now. Vivianna and Savu are powerful enough to sense it opening and that would take away the element of surprise.”

  “Little sister, you are a clever young thing. Sometimes I do not give you enough credit.”

  Jocelyn glowed with pride at her brother’s words.

  “Enough!” A sharp voice penetrated the silence. Faedra flinched at the sudden outburst and turned her attention back to the man holding her dad.

  “I have waited long enough! Hand over the amulet this instant or I kill the human you view as your father.” Savu spat out with contempt.

  Faedra’s heart leapt to her throat, blood pounding so hard in her veins it was a wonder the whole hall couldn’t hear it. It was only a matter of time before the standoff had to end, and that time was now. She took a step forward. A hand circled her arm and held her still. She looked down at Faen’s hand, knuckles white, and then looked up to meet his burning intense gaze.

  “What do you think you are doing?” he asked.

  “I can’t let them kill my dad.”

  “You cannot let them have the amulet either.”

  Faedra closed her eyes and hung her head for a second, decisions warring within her.

  When she opened her eyes, Faen could tell she had made up her mind.

  “Please let go of my arm, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Faen hesitated even though he knew she could zap him away from her at any second. Her power had developed to the point that she no longer needed just her hands to manipulate it.

  “Faen, please.”

  Unspoken words flooded between them in the split second before he let her go.

  “Thank you.”

  Faedra walked towards the middle of the hall and smiled at her dad.

  “Faedra, what are you doing?” Henry’s husky voice penetrated her brain.

  “Silence human!” Savu snapped, pressing his knife into Henry’s neck.

  Faedra averted her attention to Savu, eyes cold with hatred. “Let my dad go and you can have your precious amulet.”

  “Faedra, no!” her dad squeaked through constricted vocal chords.

  “It’s the only way, Dad.”

  “Give me the amulet and I will release your father,” Savu said with a sneer.

  “It doesn’t work like that. You will have to take it from me, but I will not let you have it until I know my dad is safe.”

  Vivianna leaned in and whispered something in Savu’s ear. He listened intently giving a knowledgeable nod towards Faedra when Vivianna had finished.

  “Ahh, I see,” he said. “Well, this should be fun.”

  Faedra’s stomach lurched, as the realization she’d just signed her own death sentence finally sunk in. It was the only way to free her dad.

  Savu had an evil gleam in his eyes as he looked at her, and without giving her dad a second look, shoved him away like a diseased leper. He stumbled and fell on the floor. Faedra made to take a step toward her father but something hit her in the stomach. In the next few seconds it seemed to Faedra like everyone was traveling in slow motion.

  “I’ll take that amulet now,” Savu said.

  His hand was raised and burning hot flames were shooting out of his fingertips hitting Faedra in the stomach.

  Faedra screamed in agony as the flames burned through her clothing and into her flesh. She couldn’t move, she was being held by an invisible force and could tell it was Savu holding her with his other outstretched hand, a trick the redcaps used that she’d been subjected to a few months earlier. This was it, she thought, the end of her life. She prayed that the others could defeat Savu and keep hold of the amulet. It broke her heart to give it up so easily but couldn’t bear to see her dad die because of her. She had to see him get to safety and this was the only way she could think off. She looked over to see him picking himself up off the floor, horror and sadness in his eyes as he looked at his daughter being burned alive for something he had no idea existed, and was helpless to do anything about.

  Vivianna looked on with glee. Faedra prayed for the end to come, she couldn’t bear the pain any longer. Just get it over with. She knew her eyes were pleading with Savu to end her swiftly, but the mirth she saw when she looked at him made her realize he was enjoying himself and was not likely to show her any mercy.

  In the next second, a door opened in her mind. As it did, the pain from the flames dissipated and she could no longer feel the burning anymore, instead her body was absorbing the heat, storing it, molding it. She looked down at her stomach, the blisters were dissolving and the skin was healing. Her head shot up to look at Savu, surprised by this new development of her power, only to see his eyes widen in surprise, too. But just as she realized what she could do with the revelation, she heard a commotion behind her.

  “Jocelyn, now!”

  It was Faen.

  The next instant she was being picked up by invisible arms, wrenched from the force Savu was holding her with, and was being thrown towards the area of the hall Jocelyn acknowledged had a portal.

  By the time her brain registered what was going on, she only had time to scream a few words.

  “No, Faen, don’t!”

  “Lock down the portal now!” were the last words she heard before landing in a rough heap on the hard ground… somewhere.

  “Goddammit, Faen! I know how to defeat him!” Faedra screamed up at the blue sky that was now above her.

  “Young lady, please be mindful of where you are.”

  Faedra looked up, squinting at the person towering over her. It took a few seconds to focus with the sunshine in her eyes. It was a priest.

  Then she heard voices mumbling all around her. Averting her gaze from the priest, she looked around to see she was surrounded by people milling about on the grass. They were looking at her with perplexed expressions and mumbling to their friends and partners. Some were pointing at her, others were looking around them in confusion.

  Another look around and she recognized the place she’d been unceremoniously dumped into. She was sitting smack dab in the middle of the Labyrinth in the courtyard of the cathedral. Enclosed on all four sides by cloisters that were also filled with tourists visiting the historic landmark. They also seemed intrigued by the fact that she appeared out of nowhere, and proceeded to yell at the top of her voice to no one in particular.

  “Oh, that’s just great, Faen. The cathedral, really? You couldn’t find somewhere a little less conspicuous?” she muttered, trying very hard to keep her anger at bay so she didn’t shock anyone.

  She dragged her hands through her hair then flung her arms to the ground with an exasperated sigh.

  “Are you alright?” the priest asked as he offered her a hand to help her up off the grass.

  She looked up and gave the priest a sheepish grin as she pulled back her emotions and accepted his offered hand. She hauled herself up off the ground, dusting down her jeans and straightening her jumper, what was left of it.

  The priest’s eyes widened with shock as he looked down at the charred clothing that no longer covered her
midriff. She followed his gaze and saw the gaping hole that used to be her jumper and t-shirt.

  “Had a problem with the iron,” she muttered, her voice prompting him to regain his senses. He looked up at her again.

  “Where did you come from? Who were you talking to?” he asked.

  That did it, she had to get out of there and get back to Azran castle. The knowledge she could defeat Savu was eating away at her. What if that monster had already killed everyone in the hall; would she be too late to save her dad and her friends?

  Turning on her heel, she left the priest and all the tourists looking dumbstruck as she jumped through one of the cloister archways. The sound of her boots landing on the stone floor of the ancient corridor reverberated off the walls with an odd echo. She pinched her brows together and looked behind her. Nothing there but more stunned tourists, so she stomped towards the entrance to the cathedral building, startling a couple of elderly sightseers who she nearly knocked over in her haste.

  When she came to a stop at the door, there was one footstep too many, causing her to look behind her again. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but there was no one following her. All the people in the cloisters were rooted to the spot, eyeing her as if she were a raving lunatic and not someone they cared to get too close to.

  She reached for the old iron doorknob and swung the heavy oak door open, gaining entrance via a couple of foot-worn steps to the immense grandeur that was the inside of the centuries old cathedral.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  As Faedra stomped along the nave towards the exit, she barely noticed the sun spilling in through one of the largest stained glass windows in the country. Any other time, the stunning beauty of the colors and design would make her stop and stare in awe.

  People were milling around in here, too. Talking in hushed voices and pointing with wonder at the various aspects of the ancient architecture. All sound inside the cathedral was muted, except for her footsteps, which seemed to be making more noise than usual, even given the nature of the flagstone floor she was walking on.

  A familiar tingle along the back of her neck made her stop dead, and something, or rather someone, smacked right into the back of her with an audible ‘oomph’ causing her to jerk forward and almost lose her balance.

  Faedra spun on her heel, grabbed two handfuls of leather trench coat and pushed the invisible stalker into an alcove…hard.

  “Oh, buggar, foiled again,” a voice whispered.

  “I knew it. Etyran!” Faedra said in a harsh whisper.

  “Now, I can sense you’re a bit upset, Faedra, but hear me out.”

  “A bit upset? A bit upset? Faen put you up to this didn’t he? Oh, for crying out loud, Etyran! Show yourself so it doesn’t look like I’m losing my temper with a 900 year old piece of masonry!”

  Etyran’s image solidified in front of her eyes, and Faedra fought back the urge to slap the sheepish grin off his now visible face. Instead she pushed him back against the wall with a frustrated shove.

  “Argh,” she grunted.

  “Why are you so mad?” Etyran asked. “I saved your life.”

  “I didn’t need you to save my life. I wasn’t dying!”

  Faedra paced back and forth in front of him, fighting to keep her anger to a dull roar. After a few beats, she turned to face him, causing him to edge back into the wall even more, eyes wide.

  “Faedra, your eyes are doing something weird. You’re not going to blow me up, are you?”

  Faedra closed her eyes and bit down on her anger until the energy coursing through her veins coiled into a very tight spring in the pit of her stomach; so tight, she wasn’t sure how long she could hold it. She jabbed him in the chest with a finger.

  “Ow.”

  “I know how to defeat him.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Savu. Who else would I be talking about? Because of you, there are people left defenseless in that hall, and I know how to defeat him.”

  “How?”

  She looked at him, exasperated. “Come on, we need to get back there.” She started to turn away but Etyran caught her by the arm.

  “No way. Faedra, my orders were clear. I’m to keep you here…safe.”

  Faedra gave him a twisted but amused smirk, spitting out a humorless chuckle and looked down at his hand. “Oh, and you think you’re gonna try and stop me?” There was a two-beat pause and Etyran let go. “No, I didn’t think so.” She carried on towards the exit leaving Etyran in her wake. “I need to get to the church,” she muttered to herself.

  “Wait. Faedra!”

  She carried on without hesitation until she was several yards ahead of him. Etyran broke into a fast walk to catch up to her. “In the name of Kernunnos, Faen will have my hide for this, not to mention the king, and he’s already gunning for me,” he grouched to himself as he caught up to her.

  Faedra picked up her pace once outside the cathedral and made her way to Castle Meadow where the buses picked up and dropped off their passengers. Etyran didn’t leave her side, but she decided not to acknowledge him. If it weren’t for him, she would have defeated Savu by now and everyone she loved would be safe. But now, she was having to swallow the distinct possibility that everyone she loved was dead. It was all she could do to stay in the here and now and not collapse into a gibbering wreck.

  She scanned the bus stands as she walked down Castle Meadow, eventually finding the one where the bus would pick her up and take her back home so she could get to the church and back into Azran.

  “Oh, crap.” She looked around, deflated. “This can’t be happening to me, not now.”

  “What’s wrong?” Etyran asked.

  “I haven’t got any money on me. There’s no way the bus driver will let me on without any money. How the heck am I going to get back to the church?” By this time, her eyes were starting to glisten with the unshed tears she was fighting to hold back.

  “No problem, my lady, unless you’re opposed to being a stowaway,” Etyran said with a smug air as he opened up his coat.

  Faedra gave a curious glance at his strange gesture until she remembered what they had done in the mountains. Her eyes widened with understanding and a crafty smile curled her lips. She looked behind him at the row of shops, saw what she was looking for and grabbed the Lightbender by the arm, dragging him with her to an empty recessed doorway. Once inside, she nestled herself against Etyran’s body like before so he could turn them invisible. He walked them back to stand at the end of the queue waiting to board the bus that just arrived.

  While the bus driver was taking a lady’s fare, Etyran scooted the two of them past her. The two scurried to an empty seat at the back of the bus behind a young girl listening to her MP3, nodding her head to the beat of the music playing in her ears.

  “So, tell me, how do you plan to defeat the most powerful being in all of the seven realms?” Etyran asked once the bus was underway.

  Faedra looked around to make sure they weren’t being listened to. The only person close to them had tinny music pumping out of her ear buds and continued nodding her head to the music.

  “I’m an energy manipulator.”

  “Yes, and?”

  “Well, fire is just another type of energy, right? When Savu hit me with his dragon-fire, I was in agony for a few seconds, it felt like I was burning alive.” She shuddered at the memory. “Then something happened and my body just…took over. I don’t know how, but I started to absorb his energy. If I can get him to fire at me again, I think I can suck all his energy from him until he ends up a shriveled lifeless heap on the floor. There’s one problem, though.”

  “And that is?”

  “He knows I can do it. I saw it in his eyes just before you played hero and threw me out of Azran.”

  Etyran gave her his best puppy dog ‘I’m sorry’ eyes.

  Faedra sighed, leaned her head against the cool glass, and stared out of the window at the neighborhoods they drove past. The rest of the journey was spe
nt in silence.

  They have to still be alive, they just have to be. Faedra wouldn’t allow herself to think of any other outcome but saving the people she loved. She couldn’t bear to think about the consequences if she didn’t. She would be completely alone in the world and didn’t think she could handle that.

  Half an hour later, the two of them were hightailing it down the path from the bus stop to the church. Faedra almost had to skid to a stop as she came to the gate. She grabbed hold of the old wooden gate to stop her from overshooting the entrance and catapulted herself up the path. Gravel crunched under foot as they made their way behind the church.

  When they arrived at their destination, Faedra muttered the incantation to open the portal. She took a step forward only to find herself still on the same path behind the church.

  She gave Etyran a confused expression, to which he answered with a shrug. Not to be defeated, Faedra repeated the incantation louder. Still nothing but the gravel path beneath her feet.

  Third time lucky. Her stomach knotted with fear as she shouted the words again.

  “It’s locked.” A familiar voice said behind them.

  Faedra and Etyran spun round to see the vicar standing there.

  “Vicar?” Faedra asked, askance.

  “You can’t get through, my dear.”

  “You know about…?” She pointed to where the portal should be.

  The vicar nodded in reply.

  “But how? When? You’ve known all along?”

  Another nod in response. Great, now he lost his tongue?

  “What do you mean it’s locked?” Faedra asked, still a little dumbstruck that the kindly vicar was in on her secret all along. Was he even a real vicar?

  “All the portals locked down the minute you escaped. No one gets in, no one gets out. It’s the only way to keep the book and the amulet apart.”

  “But everyone I love is in there and I’m the only one who can save them.” Faedra cried as tears welled in her eyes.

  “If Savu has resurrected himself, there is no saving anyone, Faedra,” the vicar spoke in a somber tone.

  “You have to let me in there, I know how to defeat him.”