Halfling- Chapter Twenty-Two

It was the big day. Or, night, rather. Apprehension thrummed through the group. Through everyone. Whatever animals or critters there had been in the daylight were cowering in safety, making no noise. The silence was eerie. Every once in a while the light rustling of clothing or armor could be heard, and the heat was thick and cloying, light sweat sticking on their bodies. Zaria had her hair up in ribbons and braids that some of the children had insisted on doing. She hadn’t had the time, but didn’t have the heart to turn them down. They had also said, very seriously, that they didn’t want her hair to get in the way of battle. She was with the outer group, sitting on the top step of the town hall, shoulder to shoulder with Gareth. She wondered if he would accept being the king to her queen. How silly, she thought. Of course he would, and she giggled.

Gareth glanced at her, and she gave him a soft smile. “Will you marry me?”

He smiled just as tenderly and softly. “Does that mean I get to be a king?”

“Yes, you can serve on me hand and foot, and bring me breakfast in bed,” she teased.

“Then I accept!” He kissed her on the lips, lightly and slightly chaste, aware of everyone looking at them from below.

“Then we have something to fight for: a royal wedding,” Rishtah said with a grin, and was immediately met with cheers and clapping. A light moment, and at the perfect timing because just then they heard the march of an army. It was still distant, and the clang of armor was just beginning to be heard. Zaria and Gareth squeezed hands, giving and taking strength from each other.

As one, everyone moved from the steps to the dirt ground, taking strength and energy from the earth they stood upon. They linked hands in a circle and drew power, sharing with the group. Zaria carefully let down just that one guard to share power, keeping the rest of her shields in place, remembering what Gareth and Rishtah had taught her and warned her about. It wouldn’t do to have so many people have access to her inner self. She felt the different and foreign bits of power in the circle with their own flavors, power she wasn’t used to.

They focused on building an orb that encompassed them, and then the town. It was stronger than the cloaking shield, and shimmered purple. The force of them all was almost staggering, and made it almost a physical thing, a wall that reached to the trees and over. She only hoped that there would be enough time for everyone to get out. She knew the shield would fall.

They heard the army stop, and the roaring of them all was almost deafening. Zaria wanted to shake with fear. She knew they were to die. With a final roar, the magical attacks came. Individually, they were nothing, a prick of a pin, but it was multiplied. Over time, the attacks would produce gaping holes, and then it would collapse. Gareth took more energy separate from the group and started fighting back. They still wanted to keep it a secret that Zaria was as powerful as she was, until the very last moment, until they were nearly decimated. He sent balls of energy from the universe raining down on the attackers, knocking out hundreds. But there were more, so many more. Gareth was starting to tire, she could tell, as connected as they were. His expression remained fierce and concentrated.

Zaria didn’t know how long they had been maintaining while Gareth took out the army with his greatness. How many thousands were there? The hits were knocking bigger and bigger holes into their circle. A great explosion shook the earth, and the circle went down, energy blasted away in a combination of purple and black sparks. Everyone shuddered and nearly fell to the ground, pale and sweating.

“I’ve tired of this. I could crush you like a bug,” a high voice called out. Through the smoke emerged a figure in a daring black leather dress. The V neck went to her navel, exposing much of her stomach. The leather was tight on her arms, the sleeves long and the top of the sleeve met in a V at her fingertips. The bottom of the dress met boots that went to the top of her thigh, which could be seen through the slit that went up to her hip bone. She wore a thick rope of a gold necklace that ended in a tassel at her belly button. Her toffee colored skin was shining with magic, and her dark hair was piled high up on her head, some curls spilling out. The crown that sat on her head was shining gold, the diamonds glittering even though Awen brought dark clouds with her, and the wind whipped around the group now huddled more towards the steps. Zaria and Gareth held hands, facing her.

Zaria’s heart was pounding; she thought it would pound right out of her chest. She had never felt more alive or electrified. She said nothing to the false queen’s taunt, only slightly lifted her head and met Awen’s black eyes.

Awen laughed. “My, my, you are audacious, aren’t you?” She slinked over to where Zaria stood, circling both her and Gareth since he refused to move. Zaria could feel in the grip of his hand that his muscles were taught and he tightened up even more. She then remembered that this was the first time he’d seen the queen since he’d betrayed her.

“I can see why people have been fawning over you. Soooo pretty,” she drawled as she once again faced Zaria, drawing her black painted and pointed fingernail against Zaria’s cheek and leaving a red welt. Gareth made a movement and Awen whipped her head towards him. “You I’ll deal with momentarily,” she hissed through her teeth, fury in her eyes.

“But you, my darling, you should have died many moons ago,” Awen continued, her voice like silk and honey. Zaria could see how people could become entranced by her. She felt the pull herself, and resisted the glamour that Awen tried to hold over her. She got the feeling that not many could resist the glamour, because it was so strong. Zaria had been working very hard on her inner strength, and this played a part in that resistance. She could tell that it irritated Awen. “But I want to have fun with you. You would be such a joy to break. And break you I will. Both of you!” She shouted as she looked at Gareth.

They felt the attack suddenly build by a change in the air and then come, and they barely warded it off. Awen didn’t ever physically attack anyone, but she held out her hand like she was choking Gareth, and he took a strangled step towards her, one hand outstretched towards her and one around his throat. Zaria grabbed a large amount of power from her chi and threw it at Awen in a show of purple sparks. It hit her in the chest and she flew backwards, landing on her back.

With a shriek of rage, she flew back up, standing perfectly still. “I knew Gareth was teaching you how to use power, but I didn’t know you could draw the power of the universe as well. Interesting,” she seethed, clearly controlling her anger with great exertion. Her hands were balled at her sides.

Zaria worried that they had let this slip too soon, but she couldn’t bear to see Gareth harmed and she had reacted without even thinking about it. She gripped his hand firmly. “Yes, he has. And both of us together can beat you and your entire army to the ground,” she said fiercely, her anxiousness not showing in her voice or body. Inside she was shaking.

Awen laughed, throwing her head back and the awful sound passed through her lips. “Oh, you are funny. Tell me, my dear, did it almost kill you? That first time? Did you feel like your insides were being ripped to shreds?” Her voice had dropped to a horrible, rasping whisper, a macabre grin stretched across her face.

Zaria’s jaw clenched, the only sign of her discomfort. “Yes, it almost killed me. Is that what you want to hear? But I’m stronger now, and I can hold and throw more energy and magic than you deign to in your lifetime.”

Awen cackled, her changes in tone and sound were unnerving. It brought a shiver down Zaria’s back each time she sounded different. “Oh my dear sweet child. You have no idea what I’m capable of, and you best keep that in the back of your mind before uttering such nonsensical words.” Awen’s face suddenly lost all sign of humor. “I’m going to make you squirm and beg, and make you wish you had died that day. You will feel a great deal of pain before I’m finished with you. How much can the body suffer?” She casually walked towards Zaria, her face soft and hard at the same time. Soft with the desire to cause pain, and hard with anger.

Zaria didn’t back down, but she stood her ground. No one else spoke or moved, since this was clearly between Zaria and Awen. Even Gareth was letting her go at it alone, but he was close by just in case she needed him. “Our bodies can handle as much as our minds allow before our bodies give out,” Zaria answered in a broad sense, although both of them knew they were talking about Zaria.

“Aha!” Awen grinned wickedly as though Zaria had said something particularly insightful. “The mind. What can the mind handle?” Zaria heard a sharp intake of breath behind her, but she didn’t turn to see who was anxious.

“It depends on how strong one’s mind is,” Zaria answered, playing along since no one was being killed at the moment. She was ready the moment that happened.

“And how strong is your mind, princess?” Awen whispered, putting emphasis on princess. It made Zaria feel uncomfortable, and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Was this when she learned who had betrayed her? She heard a buzzing in her ears and she felt like there was an elephant on her chest, and the world was turning grey at the edges. Was this worse than she thought?

Awen looked delighted. “Gabriella, my love!” She clapped her hands once in a childlike glee. Zaria felt the blood drain from her face. Her mother?

“There’s my girl. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!” Awen clasped her arm around Gabriella’s shoulder when she had made her way slowly to the queen. She was crying, and fell to the ground on her knees at Awen’s feet. She groveled and grabbed at the leather skirt.

“Mom?” Zaria said softly, so crushed and heartbroken that this could have happened. Zaria’s voice seemed to wake Gabriella out of some sort of reverie and she started to turn and apologize, but Awen grasped her hair, and she cried out but nothing further.

Awen smiled at that. “Tell me, princess, do you remember that night your beloved father died? Our righteous king?”

Zaria didn’t answer, only stared at her mother. The woman that had nurtured her for her entire childhood. She had betrayed her? In what way? Disbelief, sorrow, and anger were all building within her. “Yes,” she finally whispered when she realized Awen was waiting for an answer, her voice hoarse. She realized that tears were falling down her cheeks, and was barely aware of Gareth standing behind her, his arm around her waist.

“How do you think we found you?” Awen looked at her, through her, and was perversely enjoying this. Zaria slowly shook her head, not understanding why. Why had she done this? “Your mother was so kind to tell us which village you were in, had been hiding in. It took a lot for me to get through to her. Your mother was strong, once. But I broke her, and she’s been broken ever since. Just like I will break you.” Awen bent and raked her long fingernail across Gabriella’s cheek, breaking the skin this time and blood ran down to mix with her tears. But she didn’t try to stop her from doing it. She accepted it as though it were a just punishment to happen.

Without thinking, Zaria ran forward to stop it. Awen swept her arm out, knocking her back with a magical blow. Awen snarled. “She’s mine! She was mine first!” She roughly grabbed Gabriella under the chin, lifting her up from the ground. “Isn’t that right? Before you ran off with the king, you were mine!” Awen screamed mine, and it echoed across the buildings.

Zaria stopped in her tracks, shocked. “What? What do you mean?”

Awen ignored her now, almost all her attention on Gabriella. “How does it feel, watching your family get destroyed?”

Gabriella sobbed, and finally looked at Zaria. “I’m sorry,” she choked out, her eyes pleading. With those two words, the reality struck, and Zaria knew it was true. She didn’t know how to feel; she felt frozen in place. She heard Gareth snarl behind her and felt his rage, but it seemed distant to her.

Immense satisfaction was on Awen’s face. “I’ll be taking you with me,” Awen said, waving her hand down Gabriella’s face and she seemed to fall asleep, slumping in the queen’s arms. She laid her on the ground and stepped over her. “The rest of you will be coming with me as well,” she grinned, and motioned behind Zaria, who turned around to face them. Most of the elders slumped their shoulders and stepped forward to take the side of the queen. Rishtah kept her head high, her face drawn in sadness.

“You will see, princess, that given enough time, anyone can become corrupted,” she said, holding out her hands to her minions.

Zaria tried to make sense of what she was seeing. “Why? Why do this? Why pretend to fight with me?” No one answered her, only looked at Awen with reverence.

The clank of armor drew everyone’s attention to a couple of halflings with someone in their arms. Zaria recognized her sister with horror. “No!” She screamed, running towards her. Awen knocked her back and she couldn’t reach her sister. She creamed wordlessly, tears running down her face.

“I will take your sister too,” Awen said. “Just for the fun of it. I will be back to deal with your betrayer of a boyfriend,” she hissed, still angry and never forgetting.

Zaria pulled with everything she had, until the atoms almost fried her synapsis, and hurled it at the queen in a rage. The purple energy hit Awen’s black energy, and they both screamed with the force. Everyone else was knocked back at the collision, both Awen and Zaria with their palms outward toward the other, energy clashing until they both ran out of what they could throw. It happened at the same time and the silence was sudden and complete.

“Maybe I will take him too!” Awen rasped, and hit her with a final flick of the hand, one that Zaria wasn’t prepared for. The black ball hit her and she went down, stunned beyond comprehension. She heard shouting and felt Gareth pull energy. She could only see the dark and cloudy sky without stars above her, so she didn’t know what Gareth had done. Rain droplets started to hit her, and she could only lay there, not moving. She wanted to fight back with whatever was happening, but she was on the verge of passing out. Why was she holding on? She felt someone grab and shake her, taking her in their arms, but she couldn’t focus on their face. Finally, the darkness came and she welcomed it.

Halfling- Chapter Twenty-One

They finished digging the hole a ways out from the yard, at the edge of a field, by the time the sun was getting ready to set. Gareth and Manuel put the halfling in it and shoveled the dirt back over him with no words, and no remorse. They had seen far more than one dead body in their lifetime. Zaria was tending to Aria’s wound, and trying to calm her down. They didn’t want everyone knowing what had happened quite yet, since trust wasn’t so easily given. The men finished the grimy work and headed back to the house. Gareth laid a brief hand on Manuel’s shoulder in solidarity. Manuel gave a slight nod of his head that he understood that Gareth was offering support.

“I’m sorry you were put in this position. I can barely imagine having to make that choice,” Gareth said gravely.

“It wasn’t that difficult, I suppose. I mean, you choose the princess Zaria every time, so it was just a matter of following through with my decision to stay with Aria. I would never hurt her, that much was clear to my heart.”

Gareth nodded, as he had known this. It was shown now to Zaria that Aria was trustworthy, and for that small thing, he was grateful. The air around the two men were tense with unspoken worries about what would happen now. The queen was for sure gathering an army to come here. They probably didn’t have much time, and his head swam with lists of things that needed to be done. They approached the house and Gareth clapped Manuel on the back once more before they entered.

The light was fading quickly from the sky. The sunlight barely touched the sky, sending the hot pink clouds into a vibrant pink glow. The cicadas were chirping, glowing bugs were zipping around, and the leaves were dancing in the light breeze. Everything was very soothing, but Zaria thought it was false. It was almost the calm before the storm, but she was tense. Apprehensive, with what could possibly be coming. The queen knew, and knew where they were. She had tried to calm her sister, but ended up having to knock her out with magic because of how hysterical she had been.

She hated doing it, and wasn’t feeling so great herself, but she had to maintain the appearance of having it all together. She was the future queen, after all. People would look to her to have all the answers. But her mind was actually racing. Terrified, of all the possibilities. Her mind felt like the racing of a scared rabbit’s heart, ready to give out. Awen had to be on her way here. But what would she bring? They had to tell Rishtah as soon as possible, but she had to wait until the men got back. She tried to keep from pacing, but was finding it difficult. She wound her hair up into a bun, but had nothing to secure it with so it kept falling, and she would just wind it back up again. The council members had to help. She nearly growled with impatience and frustration. She wanted to scream, because she didn’t think they were ready.

The men finally came back, smelling of earth and dirty with it. Gareth embraced her as soon as he walked in, his eyes full of emotion as he crossed the room to her. So many things he said with his eyes; worry, concern, anger, and love, among others.

“Aria is sleeping,” Zaria said to Manuel after a moment. He nodded grimly and left the room so they could have a little privacy before they had to leave. Just their touch spoke volumes, and she amazed at how they had gotten here. The night he had taken her and she hadn’t trusted him seemed like a lifetime ago. They kissed deeply, inhaling each other’s scents before regretfully pulling away. She knew Aria was in a deep sleep, and they called to Manuel to come to Rishtah’s house. They made a short walk of it, hurrying as fast as their legs could carry them without running. The door opened when they approached her porch, so she must have been looking outside.

They rushed into the house and filled her in as quickly as possible. Her face went gray and her eyes widened in fear. The house was full of anxiety and fear, because Rishtah wasn’t the only one. The waves of energy from emotion nearly choked Zaria. She tried releasing it in tiny waves elsewhere, but she didn’t want to disrupt nature too much. From there, they roused the rest of the council members and rushed to town hall for an emergency meeting to figure out the next steps. Everyone in the village would be evacuated to the city hall building in the basement. There wasn’t time to evacuate the village, and nowhere to go for that matter, said one of the council members. Zaria recognized him but couldn’t recall his name.

“Some people will have to fight,” Zaria argued, backed by Gareth. A couple of the members looked excited for the impending battle, and more of them were frightened. A few of them were stoic. The reactions interested her. She wondered if the ones who were excited were the ones she couldn’t trust. She took note of who reacted in what way. “We can’t do it alone, even with the roomful of people we have here. We need more to enforce the protection we have.” There were murmurs in the room, and Zaria wondered why anyone would protest. If they fail, they were all dead.

“Yes, but I don’t think anyone in this village is strong enough. The men, maybe, but the women and children cannot participate,” one of the men said, which made Zaria seethe. She was a woman, and magically stronger than any man in the room.

She raised an eyebrow, and said, “The strongest people will help, no matter if they are men or women. Children, no. They don’t have the control or experience yet to fight this fight.” The man set his mouth in an angry line but didn’t comment further. No one fights with the queen, she thought. Or, queen to be. She wanted to turn from this responsibility, but people needed her, and innocent children needed protecting. They hadn’t done anything to deserve this.

“There should also be a smaller circle of protection around the building, to protect those inside. We will have to have to divide the powerful protectors because we will want strong protection should the others fail.” As she said this, she felt sick in her stomach. It was like handing a pig his meal in the trough. Everyone would just be in one place to be slaughtered. She didn’t think there was a better plan given the short notice. She didn’t think there was time to run. They had until sundown tomorrow night, she thought. The queen’s army or whoever she was sending would get close tonight, then they would be in attacking range tomorrow night. She was thankful they could only travel by night, or they would have even less time.

“So we need to be as calm, organized, and as efficient as possible. I know it’s going to be difficult. But we need to keep track of people so no one gets left behind and not safe. At the end of the day tomorrow, we need to go door to door and make sure we didn’t miss anyone. We need to gather supplies, and set up in the basement of this building to handle everyone.” She didn’t know if she was missing anything or not. It seemed to be happening in a blur. Before she knew it, the basement was all set up, and frightened people were filing into the huge room carrying few of their possessions. Some were old enough to remember the panic of years part and their eyes were haunted. Zaria wondered if her eyes looked like that. Haunted, yet hardened. It was only a brief, fleeting thought and then it passed as she busied herself with calming people and reassuring. She couldn’t help wondering if there was a different way. She decided to approach Gareth and Rishtah about it.

She gathered them and led the way to Rishtah’s office. Once inside, they created an energy field of protection from prying ears.

“Are we sure we can’t evacuate them somewhere? I feel like there has to be something we can do, somewhere for them to go.” Zaria looked pleadingly to Gareth.

He glanced at Rishtah and drew in a deep breath. Rishtah gave a slight nod and Gareth replied to Zaria’s query. “There are a few smaller encampments to the west. They aren’t friendly to our cause, and keep to themselves. There’s no telling if they would take us in or not. They like to stay isolated, they don’t communicate much, and they refuse to communicate about the Resistance at all.”

Hope swelled within her chest. She didn’t want to get too hopeful, but at least it was something. Before he could caution her, she burst out with, “I know, it isn’t much, but at least it’s something. At least it’s a chance. I mean, it wouldn’t be like just putting them all in a room for an almost sure death. I know we aren’t ready,” she said softly.

“So what do we do? We can’t trust anyone,” Gareth huffed in frustration.

Zaria narrowed her eyes in concentration. “I think we wait until the outer protection spell is broken. Then I hide their passage as they sneak out the back of the building. It’s risky, but I think it’s the only way. We have the element of surprise on everyone. Who knows where these other establishments are? Who will lead the people?”

“Manuel will. He will lead them. Someone needs to help him, though. Your sister, I think. We know we can trust her, trust both of them. I will tell her not long before we have to leave, and I know she will be very helpful. She will know the sense of urgency, after she gets over this shock. She will be fine,” Rishtah reassured Zaria. “Also, there’s a secret exit that I enchanted a very long time ago. Almost no one knows about it. It leads underground for a time, through the forest, and then out the side of a mountain.”

“Is there one location that’s friendlier than the rest? There is the chance that we could be turned away,” Zaria feared.

Gareth nodded thoughtfully. “There is one place that is friendlier, yes. They still keep to themselves, but they are still a little more receptive to our messages than the other groups. One of the leaders was a good friend of your father’s,” he said, squeezing her hand a bit. “They have been on the verge of joining us a few times, but the idea has always been voted down.”

“Do you think we would be safe there until we regroup?” She asked.

“I think so, yes.”

“Since Manuel is leading, he will talk to them. Hopefully they will see our struggle and welcome us into their group. We are a large group, so some adjustments will probably have to be made. We have a lot of work to do to create a new place for ourselves.”

“I should think that sooner rather than later we will have the castle back, and regrow what was lost so many years ago.”

“We have lost much,” Rishtah sadly acknowledged. “So many lives lost, so many more corrupted by power.”

“But we’ve also gained people from the other side,” Gareth pointed out, thinking of Manuel.

“We have,” she nodded. “Well, not to dwell on the past any longer!” She said briskly. “I will help you cloak their escape after the initial wall of protection is broken. Aria will make sure everyone gets through. We will drop the cloak after they are safely out. You lot will follow us as soon as we you can, do you understand? No being a hero! We aren’t strong enough yet, and we can’t afford to lose either one of you.”

They both understood the gravity of those words. Zaria tried not to think of all the ways this could go wrong. She had to focus on success. It was the only way to stay sane sometimes. With a heaviness about her, they finished planning the escape. The betrayers and Awen wouldn’t know what had happened. Zaria focused heavily on keeping the plan far away from her facial expressions as she encountered people, thinking about how her face and behavior had let Awen know what they knew in the first place, setting this disastrous set of events into motion. She felt guilt, but was trying to not let it sit heavily on her shoulders. If she let it in, it would destroy her. She hardly felt worthy to lead people at this point, but she had to carry on. There was no other choice. Failure was not an option. Not when innocent lives were on the line.

Halfling- Chapter Twenty

Rishtah opened the envelope sitting on her desk the next day. It was a beautiful silver locket necklace on a long silver chain. She immediately recognized the work of Manuel, and noticed that there was a charm inlaid within the filigree of the silver. She knew she couldn’t open it here. With slightly shaking fingers, she slipped it around her neck. She clutched at the locket for a moment before pursing her lips and started working. She responded to correspondence from various fae and after a bit stretched herself, cracking her aching fingers. Relief poured into her and she decided to steep some pomegranate tea before her meeting with the rest of the Elders. There were a couple of them that she couldn’t stand. She knew that they weren’t loyal to Zaria, to the cause.

Even her office wasn’t private; she knew she was never alone here and that she couldn’t let her true feelings and knowledge be known. They thought they were dealing in secret with their betrayals, but she knew. She was disappointed and hurt, but she had to remain as though she knew nothing about them. She couldn’t even let Gareth know. She was glad she had already told them just the fact that no one could be trusted except for a select few. Rishtah knew that they would be devastated when they found out. She quickly wrote a note to the pair, asking them to come over for some post lunch tea, and left her office to find the large meeting room where the rest of the Elders gathered. She smiled at them, warmth casting shadows from her face, greeting each with a handshake and a kiss to the cheek, smothering shudders at the evil-doers of the group. She stood next to one she trusted, chatting about the weather. Her ears strained to pick up other conversations that were had until the meeting officially began. She heard nothing sinister, but then again, didn’t expect it here. She sat down with the rest and started speaking about a new attack plan.

Zaria sighed and snuggled into the crook of Gareth’s arm. She breathed in his scent. Her nose filled with the scent of the woods; pine, cedar, and birch; flowers of gardenias and lilacs; and earth. There was also a faint electric scent on him. The smell of lingering magic pulled down from the atoms of the universe themselves. Stardust was in his veins, pulsing below the surface. She knew that with the amount of energy they stored within themselves now, they could subconsciously hold off an attack while preparing for defense. She didn’t want to let go of this moment, because who knew how many of them they had left?

She froze when she felt him stir, muscles tense as she waited. But he stayed sleeping and she slowly relaxed, melting into a pool in his arms. One of the few times she let her guard down, was in these moments. It was all so bittersweet. All of a sudden she was pinned down on her back and Gareth was hovering above her, holding her arms above her head. Her eyes were wide as she was stunned, never suspecting he had been awake. He gazed down at her wolfishly, with a mischievous glint in his eye. He tickled her stomach with his fingertips, and Zaria started shrieking. She tried folding in on herself, laughing. She grappled with his arms as they both laughed, rolling around trying to top the other. She straddled his middle, her hands closed over his fists as he tried to protect himself from her tickles. No winner was declared when they both lay flat on their backs, gasping for air, grabbing at their aching sides from laughter. She caught his eye and grinned, knowing the complete and love and joy they found in each other.

She didn’t want to think about the bad, but they both thought of it at the same time. They ended up in each other’s arms, comforting and soothing. They didn’t need to speak words. Their emotions trembled around them like fragile guitar strings, so afraid of snapping, of causing the harmony around them to crumble and dissolve into discord. He kissed her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair while she smoothed her fingertips over his arms. They lay like that for a very long time. They let the morning pass by, just listening to the sounds around them.

“There has to be something better than this. I don’t want to be queen. But we can’t let her sit back and slaughter everything good about this world. She will destroy it, eat it up, until there is nothing left,” Zaria spoke up when late morning shadows danced across them.

“I know,” Gareth affirmed quietly. “Who would be queen, then?”

Zaria was glad they were in a bubble of Gareth’s protection so no one could overhear. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to do it. To be in charge of other people?” She frowned and shuddered at the thought.

“What about it is so fearful?” Gareth asked as he traced his fingers down her arm.

“Not fearful, but distasteful. I mean, I was on my own for my entire adult life. I didn’t need anyone or anything to tell me what to do. I would be angry if anyone else tried, and tried to rule over me. Don’t people get mad about that?”

“Well, the council makes all the rules here. But they care for the good of everyone, to protect everyone.”

Zaria chewed on that for a while. She conceded that especially now, people should be protected. “But if people were better informed, wouldn’t they be able to protect themselves?”

“Everyone knows that we are in danger from Awen, but they still do things that put everyone in danger, like go outside the perimeter. So the Elders had to strengthen the walls so that not just anyone can get in. You have to have permission.”

Zaria didn’t know what to think. She didn’t want to rule over other people, but that was even assuming they would all live. Her mind and body ached from the effort and stress of training with Gareth, for the purpose of saving people from death and destruction. “Can we have a day off?”

Gareth laughed. “Well I guess, I don’t see why not. We’ve already had the morning off. But this can’t be a daily occurrence,” he smiled and kissed the top of her head.

Zaria sighed. “Good. Maybe we can talk to Aria about having dinner. That would be fun.” They reluctantly got out of bed and ate a late lunch while Zaria contacted Aria about dinner. They were more than happy to accommodate the two of them. They then got an urgent message from Rishtah to meet at her house just after lunch for tea. They glanced at each other worriedly, and rushed over. They knocked on the door and Rishtah opened it, ushering them inside. They felt her do an extra spell of protection. They sat at the kitchen table. Rishtah had a beautiful necklace around her neck, and she took it into her hands, unlocking the piece. She handed Gareth a small piece of paper, and fiddled with the locket, unable to keep her hands still. She knew she could finally let her guard down and show her worry.

Rishtah quietly told them about the damn bird. She trusted her wards, but she spoke softly nonetheless. Zaria paled, clutching Gareth’s hand. How much time did they have? Not much. The wedding wasn’t far away now, and Zaria kept the information about trusting others in the back of her mind.

“We can trust Manuel,” Gareth affirmed. “He would never hurt your sister,” he squeezed her hand in his and raised their hands to his lips, kissing the back of her fingers.

“I don’t know if we can trust her though. I mean, we were just reunited after a century apart. I hate to say that, but it’s true. She’s also the one that brought the bird in here.” It was a hard thought to swallow, and she didn’t want to dwell on it. She knew it was a possibility though, and she hated it. With her free hand she tugged on her hair, a nervous and worried gesture.

“To be fair, she might not have known that the bird was Awen’s spy,” Gareth tried to reassure, but Zaria didn’t reply. “Besides, why would she be involved in a plot that would end her life?”

Zaria didn’t speak right away. “Maybe she wasn’t aware of that part,” she finally said hollowly.

Rishtah said nothing. She had contemplated telling them who she knew for sure were betrayers, but still came to the conclusion that she couldn’t tell them. In a way, it would be safer to, but knew the shock would betray the knowledge to the defectors, which was actually more dangerous. Nothing could be given away until the moment it became public. And it would. They couldn’t live in the shadows forever. She questioned telling them about the bird because she thought emotions might spoil that they knew, and she didn’t know if they could hide it and act normal. But she didn’t want any important information said in front of the thing.

They talked a little more, and informed Rishtah that they were going to Aria’s for dinner, and that the bird might be present. She warned them to be careful, and rushed back to the office. Gareth and Zaria went back to his house, where they relaxed as much as they could with books before dinner. The birds were chirping outside, and sunlight was streaming in through the window. There was a false sense of cheeriness from it all, and Zaria was brooding as she was trying to read. She read the same page five times, the first paragraph of it ten times before she closed the book and just gazed outside. Gareth sensed her unease, but didn’t say anything. They headed over to dinner when the sun was just starting to cast longer shadows. They walked slowly, hand in hand. Zaria plastered a smile on her face as Aria opened the door for them. She hugged and kissed her sister, hoping she gave nothing away.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Aria exclaimed, going to hug Gareth. “We have so much to talk about! I’ve finally chosen the menu. I know, I know. It’s so late, but I just couldn’t make up my mind. Brenda has been so kind putting up with me about this.” Aria chattered on as they walked to the living room. “The food is almost done, I hope you like it. Manuel has been cooking some juicy steaks!”

Zaria almost tripped when they moved into the dining room and she saw an extra place setting. “Is mother coming to dinner?”

“Oh, no, that’s for Buster! He loves steak!” As though the brilliant blue bird knew they were talking about it, it flew into the room and landed just at the edge of the plate. Zaria stiffened, but didn’t say anything. Gareth gave a warning squeeze to her shoulder and she tried to relax.

“That’s so cute,” she commented with a little laugh. She knew she had to be more convincing and natural, but she was finding it very difficult.

Manuel brought in the steaks, and swooped Zaria up in a hug when he set the platter down. “It’s so good to see you!”

She laughed and turned red. How could he be so normal? It was as though he knew nothing was wrong. He seemed to sense her unease because he spoke to her with his eyes as he wasn’t facing the bird. It was a warning, just like Gareth’s squeeze. She was frustrated. She had no practice with this kind of thing. Gareth had been double crossing the queen for a very long time. They sat down and Manuel turned to her.

“So when are you and Gareth going to tie the knot, huh?”

Zaria nearly choked on her bread. She gulped down some water, but was saved by Gareth.

“I don’t think we’re quite ready for that yet,” he said laughing.

“Well why not? You two are absolutely smitten,” Manuel winked at her.

“I don’t think we’ve been together for nearly long enough to think about marriage,” Zaria smiled. She happened to glance at the bird at that, and caught those beady eyes staring at her. She felt so creeped out and unnerved by it that the smile immediately fell from her face. She kept glancing from her plate to the bird, and the bird’s gaze never moved from her face. She gave up all pretense of pretending everything was fine. Her hands dropped to her lap and she stopped eating the delicious vegetables, her stomach now turned to acid and churning.

Gareth saw her, and looked at the bird, who was staring intently at Zaria. He shouted something he didn’t remember and scooted back from his chair, and it fell to the ground.

Awen stared at Zaria from the bird’s eye. She didn’t know how, but she knew that she knew. Then she realized that rat Manuel had outed her. She screamed with rage, making the bird fly straight at Zaria and her perfect face. Maybe she couldn’t kill her using this bird form, but she could maim her, and in that she would take great delight.

Zaria was pushed aside by Gareth, and she cried out in the confusion. She wasn’t sure what had happened to make him jump up from his chair, but she was glad he had when the bird flew straight at him just as he did. Shakily, she realized that the bird had been aiming for her. With a cold realization, she knew that Awen knew that they knew. She threw up a bubble of protection without a thought, enclosing them inside. The bird changed course and headed for Aria. Zaria screamed and broke the bubble, rushing to her sister, but it was too late. The bird attacked, going for her eyes. Aria moved just in time to save her eyes, but the bird got her cheek. She screamed, blood running down her face. Zaria didn’t even think about it, but threw a massive amount of energy at the bird, and it crumpled at her feet.

Now that the bird was dead, Awen was cast out, and it changed back into its normal shape. A halfling lay at their feet. A dead halfling. Zaria scrambled to reach her sister’s side, who was clutching her face and sobbing. She forced Aria’s hand down from her face, and assessed the wound. It wasn’t that deep, but was still bleeding quite a bit. She no longer questioned her sister’s loyalty. Awen wouldn’t have attacked her if she has been on her side.

Awen screamed when the bitch killed her bird, some of the energy reaching her. Her brain was frying, her body was on fire. She knew it wouldn’t kill her, but she still lay on the ground writhing until it was over, seething. She stood and her anger was beyond the pale. Furious, because even through some stupid halfling, that princess bitch had been able to hurt her. She gathered an army, and ordered them to prepare to march.

Halfling- Chapter Nineteen

Gareth wondered at the new found determination he saw in Zaria. She seemed fragile at the same time, almost ready to shatter. She kept it together and pushed herself further with each exercise. It had taken a toll on her. She had fallen into bed after they had eaten, and now lightly snoring. He didn’t want to wake her, as she needed her rest. He felt comforted by being near her, touching her. He wrapped his arm around her, lightly stroking her hair with his other hand. He felt like they were in a mess. They were taking the fight to the queen as soon as Zaria was ready. Would they ever be ready? How does one prepare for war? His heart tightened as he thought about it. He had to protect her, at all costs. She was the most precious being in the entire universe. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost her.

He fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of magic and destruction, only to be awoken by the absence of Zaria. He could hear her moving in the kitchen and smelled food. She had to be starving after all of the energy work they had done yesterday in training. He had something else planned for this day, though. He slipped behind her and hugged her from behind in the kitchen, her small sigh of contentment enough to make him grin. They had been growing closer because of all the time they spent together. He thought she was trusting him again, even more so now than before. He wanted to be her rock.

They dressed for the day in loose tunics that flowed in the breeze. The sun reflected off the white of them as they walked hand in hand to the clearing. He had seen how hard Zaria had been working for the past day, and wondered how much she could take before she broke. She worked even harder in the morning, sweat soaking her tunic until it clung to her and she panted. Only when she nearly collapsed from exhaustion did she take a break.

“You should take it a little slower darling,” he said softly as they sat with their backs to a giant willow tree. They shared some water and walnuts and fruit as the sun rose up to straight above them. The bees droned on and a couple of hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower, almost too fast for a normal human eye to see.

Zaria choked back a sob. She didn’t want to see this beauty destroyed. Her heart hurt, and she told Gareth about her conversation with Rishtah.

“She didn’t say who the betrayers were?” He thought about this, and frowned. He didn’t like there being the reality that there were people they couldn’t trust in their camp. Their village. This place that he had helped shape and mold. The Elders had a heavy hand in it as well, but Gareth had done a lot of work on the ground, helping people find the place and helping them adjust, as well as other plans. He had helped carve some of the protection spells around the village. Her revelations changed his plans about what they were going to do for the rest of the day. He had wanted to do some stretching and relaxations for their afternoon, some things that his mentor had taught him. Maybe it could wait, just a little while. He could sense that although she was exhausted, she wanted to continue training, and he would indulge her for a day or two.

“No, she didn’t. The only thing she assured me of was that you can be trusted. Other than that, I don’t know who I can trust,” tears threatened to spill over again, but she held them back. Gareth caressing her back with one hand made it harder to not cry. She almost wanted to pull away from him. After a couple minutes of silence, she gave up and curled up next to him, her head in his lap as her hand lightly ran over the soft grass. She could take this comfort from him. She had to. He ran his hand over her hair, calming. “What are we going to do?” She whispered.

He stayed silent for a while. Then he said the only thing he could; “survive,” and kissed her head. “We will be okay. Whoever betrays us will have to answer for it in some way. It will hurt. But we will survive, because it’s what we do. We’ve been running and hiding for a long time. It needs to end, one way or another.” They stayed like that for a while, quietly talking about what they would like to see in a new world.

“I want it to look like this. A paradise, with beautiful plants and animals. People acting peacefully towards one another. I don’t want to see anyone die,” Zaria said, smiling softly.

“Me too,” he replied, running his thumb up and down her arm.

“We are going to win. We’re going to beat them,” a quiet but hard determination in her voice.

“We will sweetheart. I think, though, that we need to choose our places carefully where we can speak freely from now on,” he said sadly. “Here is one of them. We can trust Rishtah as well.”

“I agree,” Zaria replied, standing to stretch. His rubbing and massaging had made her aching muscles feel better, after she had been working so hard the last day and a half. She toned it down just a little for the afternoon, just enough so she wouldn’t completely wear herself out. Gareth helped her until twilight, and they stood together with a glowing ball of amber energy between them. It was beautiful against the setting sun and night sky, filled with hope and promise as they released the massive amount of energy into the stars and beyond.

Manuel was tortured. He was withdrawn from Aria. He had no idea what to do as he looked down at his hands. His wedding was only a couple weeks away. That damn bird was always around, and the queen would know if he tried to contact someone. He had to try. He just had to. Evil would not win this time, and he was done hiding. He just had to play both sides for as long as he could. His hands and his arms shaped the metal, first swinging down with the hammer, then twisting pieces, manipulating. His mind wondered.

He made a locket. Polished silver with emeralds. The filigree made a spell. It could only be opened by one person. He made sure the blue bird wasn’t in his shop. He wrote a quick note and put it inside. Closing the locket, he finished the charm keeping it closed. His heart was pounding and he wiped sweat from his brow. He was shaking on the inside. It had to work. It had to. He was choosing a side, and he refused to be on the wrong one again. Manuel loved Aria. He loved everyone here.

He gave the locket to a trusted messenger to get it to the right person. He knew he was doing the right thing, but it still made him nervous. He made another piece to sell at the market before closing up the shop for the day. He saw the bird in a tree a block away from his house and he stifled a shiver. He hated the queen Awen. He couldn’t let her win. He kissed Aria when he got in, holding her close. If anything happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

“You’re just in time for dinner,” she said sweetly, smiling up at him.

“What are we having?”

“Rabbit roast with potatoes and a spinach salad,” she said, following him into the kitchen where he washed his hands again. “Are you okay? You seem really tense.”

“No, lovely, just worried about the wedding. Not worried, I guess, just nervous. I want everything to be perfect for you,” he lied, kissing the top of her head. He supposed it wasn’t exactly a lie, just not the whole truth. He did want everything to be perfect for her. He knew it wouldn’t be so, though. He was frustrated that he couldn’t do more for her. He didn’t want her to know what was going to happen. There would be a war. He needed to find a way to hide her until it was all over. He tried to listen as Aria talked about wedding plans. The china was being bought from the finest maker in the market, and the glasses had beautiful etchings of birds in them. He wondered if he could trade some of the costs.

That night, their lovemaking was oddly rough but tender. He kissed the curve in her lower back as he pulled her hair, just before biting her smooth skin. He ran his hands over her softly, even as he scratched and pinched in all the right places. He drove her to the precipice and pulled her back just before she went over. She was left begging before he ever entered her, nearly sobbing his name with her pleas. He held her down as he bit her under the breast and she writhed in his grip. He nipped his way down her navel, her snow white skin in stark contrast to his darkness. It was already starting to bruise and he was pleased. He teased her by kissing the inside of her thighs, licking the areas all around except where she was wet. Her voice was becoming raw from her pleading, and he finally gave in and gave her what she wanted.

He slowly licked her clit, and she came already, shuddering and moaning. He continued, determined to make her cum multiple times. He made her turn over so he could spank her ass raw, alternating between spanking and kissing between her thighs. She was becoming weak and he let her rest for a moment before he unclothed and entered her from behind. He slid his length until he disappeared inside of her and she shuddered, her sensitivity heightened from all the stimulation already. After only a couple of slow strokes she came, her screams muffled by the pillow. He didn’t wait for her to stop as he continued pumping into her, the wetness making it hard to control himself. He wanted to let himself go in the deliciousness of her, but he forced himself not to. He was denying himself so she could have more.

He commanded she get up on her knees and he rammed into her hard, over and over, and it wasn’t long until she came again. She whimpered, clutching at their twisted bedding. He slapped her ass hard and pulled her hair, giving all that she could take. Gutteral sounds came from her throat, completely animalistic that drove him crazy. He grunted from the effort, and reached down to squeeze her full breast in his hand, tweaking the nipple with his rough fingers. She came again as he moved down to massage her clit with his finger. He had to finally let go himself when he couldn’t contain it anymore. He came with his seed inside of her. He clutched at her, unwilling to let go as he moaned and shook. His nails left marks in her and they collapsed, finally spent. He was still inside of her for a few moments and when he pulled out, her body trembled. He kissed the back of her neck and caressed her. He held her for an eternity. He never wanted to let go.

She slept in his arms, and he watched her sleep. He would do anything to protect her. He wondered if the recipient of the locket had read his note. If not, he had to find some way to get the word out that they were going to be attacked. He slept fitfully, dreaming about fire and death, and a sense of danger and doom that no one would survive this.

Halfling- Chapter Eighteen

Aria bounced on her feet. The wedding was only a couple of weeks away, and she was bound with nervous and excited energy. She could barely hold onto it, and nearly caused a ruckus with it. The plans were coming along just fine, but she couldn’t help her nerves. Adding to the kerfuffle, Manuel had been acting very strange. He was distant, barely giving her any attention at all. It wasn’t like him, and it was driving her nuts.

“I mean, do you think he’s cheating or something?” Aria despaired at Zaria.

“No, I think he’s just nervous about the wedding,” Zaria soothed.

“Yes, but he’s locked himself away in his shop, day and night. He’s never home!”

“He’s probably just dealing with the nerves in his own way, by working through it. Everything will be okay,” Zaria pat her sister on her head, and led her to the leather sofa where they sat down. She smiled and held her hands to transfer some calming energy to her sister. She didn’t normally manipulate someone else’s energy, but she thought it would be for the best. Just this one time.

“You’re right. He’s probably just stressed and nervous about the wedding. I just can’t wait! The decorations are coming along and will be amazing. I am so lucky to have such talented friends working on them!”

Zaria welcomed the change in subject, but kept Aria’s remarks about Manuel in the back of her mind. She didn’t know him too well, but he really didn’t seem like the cheating type. She thought there must be something else going on there. But what? She would need to ponder this a little bit longer. “So I see you let the bird stick around.”

“Oh, yes! Buster is wonderful! We’ve just been letting him fly in and out whenever he wants. He seems to like flying around the village. We make a plate for him at the dinner table sometimes.” Aria looked a little embarrassed to say it, but she seemed to really enjoy Buster’s company.

“There’s nothing wrong with treating pets like little fae. It’s good practice for when you have little people of your own.”

Aria flushed, embarrassed. She looked down for a moment and folded her hands in her lap, then smoothing the light blue silk dress she wore. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. It’s funny, we haven’t even talked about children.” She drew her eyebrows together. “I’m sure Manuel will want them, though. He always smiles when the village children run around playing.”

Zaria patted her sister’s knee. “You’ll be a great mother, I know it,” she comforted. “Remember when we were kids and we built that tree house?” She smiled at the memory.

Aria giggled. “It was a castle, that was. We even had turrets. And no boys allowed! Remember our palm fronds we fanned ourselves with?”

Zaria laughed with her sister, feeling good about reminiscing, and effectively changing the subject. When was the last time she had felt so carefree? Having her own cottage in the woods seemed like forever and an age ago. They talked about the adventures they had had, running around in the castle they had made, and zipping through the forest.

On her way back to the clearing to meet Gareth, she thought about her father. He had died protecting his family, handing it off to Gareth. He had made good on his promise to the dying man. She felt safe, but she knew that hard times were coming. There was a war to fight. She had to regain the throne. Would her mother reign? They just had to get rid of Awen. It was vital. She had no idea how to do it though. Zaria was almost to the edge of the clearing when she heard someone call her name.

“Zaria!” She heard again, and turned around, seeing a woman with short black and grey hair waving at her. She squinted, and recognized her from when she had first arrived at the village. She was one of the Elders. She still didn’t know much about them, so she was wary.

“Hello,” she greeted, as she made her way to the older fae. “How are you?”

“I’m doing just fine. How are you, my dear? That’s the more important question. Why don’t you just come over for some tea?”

Zaria nodded her acquiescence at the subtle command and the older lady grabbed her arm, hooking her own through. “Has Gareth been teaching you how to focus your power?”

Zaria opted for caution. “Yes, it’s a work in progress though. I just have so much to learn. I don’t know if I’ll ever get through it all. I have to protect my family when the time comes. I just need to try harder.”

“Yes, that is very important. I’m not worried about your abilities. What we felt was very powerful. Did you know that I’m the one who introduced Sage and Rhea? Sage had been a very old friend of mine. When we heard about Gareth and his near death experience, Sage was the only that could help.” The way that Rishtah sighed, Zaria could tell that she and Sage had been more than friends.

“What was your relationship with him?” Zaria asked.

“Oh, he was a close friend. I had known him since we were kids. We grew up together. I remember when we found out he had the gift for opening up his chi to the universe,” Rishtah said as they approached a lovely house made of cherry oak. They went up the porch stairs and Zaria admired the wood work. It was beautifully carved into various protection spells, and she could feel it when she ran a finger across the wood railing. The energy sang out to her and she smiled, sighing. The more time she spent attuned to the universe, the more comfortable she felt. She was starting to keep a small amount of energy spindled in her mind.

They chattered about nonsensical things as Rishtah prepared the tea. It was a raspberry pomegranate green tea and it smelled wonderful as it steeped in the hot water. The tea pot was a beautiful cream colored ceramic, hand painted with symbols of healing. It had been so long since Zaria had seen symbols of magic created by hand that she didn’t remember what they all meant. Her face reddened as she flushed with embarrassment. Rishtah carefully poured the tea into matching tea cups. Zaria blew on the liquid before putting it to her lips, closing her eyes in bliss as she tasted it. She ran her finger over the healing spell and her tight muscles relaxed.

“So. Zaria.” Zaria was instantly alert at the serious tone of Rishtah’s voice. “How invested are you in our cause?”

Zaria was puzzled. Shouldn’t the answer to this be obvious? “I’m loyal to the Resistance. The queen is evil. I don’t want her to rule my people.”

Rishtah stared intently into Zaria’s eyes for a few moments. “I believe you,” she said finally, leaning back into her chair. “There are some here, who are traitors.”

The image of Gareth’s head popped into her mind, and she pushed it away. Icy cold fear gripped her though, and she shivered before she could stop herself, frowning, her eyebrows furrowing. His trustworthiness had been called into question before, and one mustn’t forget how they met in the first place. She gripped the tea cup and took a sip to try and warm herself up.

“It’s not Gareth,” Rishtah interrupted her thoughts, as though seeing where they had been going. Zaria lifted her head and stared at her, trying to remain poised. She barely knew this woman, and felt like she had to reign in her emotions from showing on her face. Rishtah was watching her carefully, but Zaria didn’t ask who. She felt like she was still being tested.

The standoff ended when Rishtah took a sip of the tea she had sweetened with a lump of sugar and then said, “But it is someone you know. I can’t tell you who it is. When you find out who it is, you will be hurt. There are others who used to work for the queen, and are trying to get away from her shadow. Time will tell if they will be successful.” She poured more tea into Zaria’s cup to warm it, but Zaria’s head was buzzing with these words.

“I’m one of the few people you can absolutely trust. Gareth is another person. You can trust both of us with your life. You’re going to need us. This will not be easy, and failure is a very real possibility. We need to be prepared for it. We need to be prepared for betrayal.”

Zaria remained quiet, processing this. How could Rishtah know who was doing what? She asked, the first time she had spoken in a while.

“I can tell when people are lying. This is an ability I’ve kept from everyone. Very few people know I can do this,” Rishtah answered. “You must not tell anyone, because if the wrong people found out, I would be assassinated. I don’t want to die yet.”

They remained quiet for quite some time, sipping their tea. Zaria looked around the bright and sunshine filled kitchen, wondering if all this would ever end. Why was evil allowed to prevail? The universe, she didn’t care who won. She was passive, but Zaria and Gareth could manipulate her. But, the more she thought about it, the more she thought the queen had an awful secret. Otherwise, how had she won in the first place? Rishtah suddenly leaned forward, grasping Zaria’s hand in both of hers, her gaze intense.

“We need you, Zaria. We need you dearly. You will have people protecting you throughout the battle, but you are the one who can save us. The only one,” Zaria was more than a little afraid, ice slipping into her veins. Not so long ago, she had been living a peaceful life in a little cottage in the woods, with a dog and a garden. Though, it felt like a lifetime ago. She sighed as she stood.

“I’ll try my best,” Zaria whispered, shaking the hand of the older woman. She felt the barrier of the protection spell around the house as she stepped off the porch into the sunlight, knowing now that the spells were very powerful, and the reason Rishtah had wanted her inside. It was protected and away from the prying ears of the village. She warily glanced back towards it before stepping towards the clearing. She couldn’t trust any of them, with their laughter and pleasant smiles. She felt cold, even in the rays of the sun. She hurried towards Gareth’s protection bubble, worried.

Gareth was already there, and she had to stop herself from rushing into his arms. She had to be strong. She steeled herself as they fell into warm up poses. Her legs were spread out, one in front and one behind, as she raised her arms up toward the sky, palms pressed together. She slowly opened her arms up to the universe, and allowed the energy to flow into her mind. She almost screamed with the power, but she gritted her teeth. She forced herself to breathe, the power making her feel light headed. She had to do this. She swallowed the power and energy until she could feel it in every cell, in every atom of her being. The energy was hot and wild, bouncing around inside of her, looking for a release. She felt like she could create planets, born from the nebula she carried inside her. Slamming her palms back together, she released the energy back out to the stars with a shove. She fell to her knees as tears flowed from her eyes. How could anyone use this for evil? It was beautiful, and it was pure. She felt Gareth’s arms around her, but she didn’t hear what he was saying. It was almost too much. Everything was almost too much for her to handle. She wondered if she would be able to handle this. What would happen to her when this was all over?

“I’m fine,” she breathed to Gareth, and wiped her eyes. She would be fine, she had to be. She had to make sure her people would be fine. Better than fine. The fae had to thrive. She was sick of seeing the world destroyed. She took a breath and resumed a different pose, this time with her feet shoulder width apart, her palms held together. She imagined a mass of energy in her hands, and she grew it as her hands drew apart. Zaria shrunk it by pressing her palms slowly together again, spindling more and more energy into her head. She could hear Gareth’s careful coaching in the background, but she almost felt like she knew what she was doing without him. It seemed to come naturally to her, as though she were truly one with the universe. She knew, though, that Gareth would have to pick up the pieces that would become her once this was all over. This was going to break her.

Halfling – Chapter Seventeen

Awen clapped with childlike glee, a nefarious smile curving her lips. After weeks, she had finally gotten her way in to the village. She saw what her bird saw, heard what he heard. She had made the right decision in calling back the halflings she had sent to the location. They had been there a month and she thought better of it, keeping her bird out there. She knew they had to come out at some point, and that stupid picnic was the perfect opportunity. She listened to the ditzy sister drone on about her wedding, Awen bored with the entire thing. She was thrilled when she was finally seeing the inside of the traitor camp, but then astonished at how many half breeds had betrayed her. She felt anger boiling inside, and wasn’t sure what to do with it.

A thunderstorm brewed above the castle, thunder loud and menacing, echoing. No rain fell, only electricity lit the sky and the scent of ozone reached her nostrils. She fed off the energy and consumed it until she glowed a faint black around her skin. Darkness swirled inside of her and she pulled the energy from a star into her core. She kept it there, the power nearly ripping her apart. She let it out with a scream, the sky blazing with electricity. It struck trees and stone all at once until the sky was white with it. Charred bark and smoke filled her lungs, but her anger was satiated. For the time being.

 

Aria nuzzled Buster. His feathers were soft and she stroked his neck. He was doing much better, learning how to fly again. He flew short distances within her house, but stopped to rest often. She smiled at how well he was doing with his wing. She knew it was healed because of her sister, but she was ginger with it nonetheless. Manuel was humming and cooking dinner in the next room. The smell of rabbit and potatoes in the stew was welcoming and charming.

She left Buster to set the table for them, white and blue bowls on matching plates with blue place settings. Silver napkin rings engraved with roses slid over periwinkle napkins. Crystal wine glasses in front of the plates and real silver utensils adorned the table. She set a vase of lilacs in the middle of the table, the fragrant petals making her smile.

“I think I should take Buster to work with me tomorrow,” Manuel said. Aria frowned.

“Are you sure he should be out in the open yet? I’m a little worried about him.”

“Yeah, I think he’ll be fine. He needs some fresh air sweetpea.” He chucked her under the chin and smiled down at her. His smile still got to her and made her melt. She just couldn’t say no.

She smiled back, “I suppose that’s okay, sure. Just be careful with him.” Manuel leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“Of course I will.” Aria felt comfort in her confidence of his abilities to take care of Buster. She put some rabbit on a plate for him and he ate from the table. The wine in their glasses disappeared and reappeared, only to disappear again. Feeling lightheaded, Aria and Manuel left the dishes on the table. Walking upstairs to their bedroom and giggling, she tingled even more when Manuel touched her, running his palms up and down her arms. He grasped a handful of hair and tipped her head back, exposing her long neck. He glowed with magic as he bit her, teeth digging in. He felt the warmth of blood flowing into his mouth, and she didn’t even whimper. She could hide these marks with a scarf. It felt so deliciously good that she didn’t stop him. Aria giggled when she thought about how everyone thinks she’s a prim and proper twit, not realizing she had a dark side.

Manuel shoved her down on the bed, removing his belt. She felt herself getting wet already, wine making her giddy. She slid down onto the floor and crawled to him, feeling over his bulge. She looked up at him, pulling his trousers down, his thick member popping free. She looked at it hungrily and opened her mouth, slowly bringing him in, the silky smooth skin running over her tongue. He grabbed her hair with his hands, pushing himself deeper, until she felt him at the back of her throat.

He grabbed her head and forced himself in and out of her mouth, not gently. Her jaw hurt after a couple of minutes but he was relentless. He finally stopped and let her rest as he worked on disrobing her. He nearly tore the light blue dress from her frame, and impatiently yanked at the cording to her corset.

Manuel took the belt in his hands before bending her over their bed and she tensed her body, waiting for the strike. When it came, she screamed when the lines blurred between pain and pleasure and she wasn’t sure anymore what it was. Nothing less than what she wanted. She whimpered when he stopped, her bottom sore and no doubt red. He gently touched the skin, and kissed her there. Aria was almost crying, but held back. After a few moments of gentleness, he shoved himself inside of her, grabbing her hair and pulling back on it until her head couldn’t tip back anymore. He was so rough and hard that it hurt, but it was a wonderful pain.

She clutched at the bedspread, grabbing fistfuls. When he stopped, she had to catch her breath, and heard him doing the same. As he pulled out, she writhed and cried out with the orgasm, trembling. He stood her up and told her to get on her knees again. Then he was inside her mouth again, and she could taste herself on him. He fucked her mouth again, this time he came, holding her head so he tickled the back of her throat, and she swallowed, savoring the taste of him. His cum was sweet from the food he ate, and she loved it. Nearly every inch of her was sore, and they showered together.

Manuel gently washed her, taking care over her especially sore parts. She embraced him, the water hitting the back of her head as her head rested on his chest. “I love you,” she said, nearly crying with the words. He was perfect for her, and she let him know it whenever she could. She didn’t think she would feel complete without him in her life. It had been a hard life, losing Zaria at such a young age, and her father in that horrible night. She would never forget it, nor forget how Manuel had saved her and her mother along with Gareth.

He toweled her off as they got out of the shower, and she put on a silk nightgown, the material sliding nicely against her bruised skin. She fell asleep in her soon to be husband’s arms. When she awoke in the morning, he was gone, and so was Buster. She always felt bereft when he wasn’t with her. She concentrated on the wedding plans, making sure everything would be perfect.

 

Manuel walked with the bird, whistling. He was trying to appear calm, when he felt anything but. He was scared. Terrified. He was going to lose everything, and his chest was tightening with the horrible thought. He found a private part of the compound, in a corner surrounded by trees. He sat the bird on a tree stump and started talking to it.

“What are you doing here?” His voice trembled, and he hated himself for it.

The bird cackled, a horrifying sound that grated on his ears. “Do you forget your place?” The bird hissed, unnatural from its beak.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I was just wondering how you had found this place.”

“Are you scared at having been discovered, you insect? How dare you betray me and live among these wretched things!” The bird squawked, angrily ruffling its feathers.

“I-I’m sorry My Lady,” Manuel stuttered, wondering how he could possibly get out of this mess.

“You must prove your loyalty to me all over again, you bastard of a halfling.” How did she want him to do that? His blood ran ice cold. “You need to kill your fiancé’s family. While she watches. Then torture her to death. On your wedding day. But. Keep the bitch Zaria alive. She’s mine. Just keep her on the edge of living and death.”

Manuel’s heart raced. He felt like he was going to pass out, but kept a poised face. “Yes Ma’am.” She flew off, to a higher tree to see more of the compound. He let a few tears run down his face. That night, when he had seen his leader defecting, he had thought to bring him to the Queen for punishment, possibly death. But when he had captured Gareth, Gareth had talked sense into him, and together they helped the princess Aria and Gabrielle to safety. From then on, he was a supporter of the Resistance. He was thankful to Gareth for saving him. He now abhorred the Queen Awen and loved Aria. How could he do this? His heart was broken. He made his way to his shop, where he took his grief out on silver. He shaped and pounded the metal into place. By the time he was done, he had a piece in the shape of a twisted heart, garnets flashing in the metal. He sobbed. He couldn’t do this.

 

Awen was angry with the ingrate, and wasn’t sure how this would play out. Would he prove his loyalty? Or betray her again? She made the bird fly to the center of the place, scoping out the layout. It looked so perfect it made her sick. She wanted to destroy it. All in due time. The wedding was only in a couple of weeks. She was bored with everything else going on here, until she saw Gareth and that bitch walking hand in hand in the square, laughing. She seethed. She had no outlet for her anger, so she watched them through narrowed eyes. Soon, she thought to herself, soon. She just needed to hold on and be patient.

Detached

She put her head in her arms on the table as the salt water hit the skin of her arm before rolling down to the wood table and even the alcohol wasn’t enough to numb the pain. She could feel the darkness creeping in around her soul searching wandering etching its way in. Grabbing hold of anything it could invading creeping sucking the life from her. She didn’t have the strength to push it out away banish it from within. It took control until she couldn’t breathe sucking in air but it went nowhere because the darkness found its way into her lungs and it was nothing but a deep void of nothingness there and what happened when she tried to breathe oh god it hurt please make it go away. She felt the urge to cut cut cut cut some more until she was nothing but a mass of bleeding mess all over the wood table blood getting into the grains of the wood table. Her heart hurt and was beating out of control the only thing left fighting for its life within her fragile frame. She could feel her body shutting down down down into nothing and she almost panicked as she could feel herself floating away and she was no longer in her own body. It was only the alcohol making her feel light and fuzzy and heavy all at the same time as the weight of the world and gravity fell onto her until it was impossible to move but just sob and cry and feel the emptiness in her soul as it was enveloped by the darkness. Wearily she lifted her head from the table and saw the half empty whiskey bottle and the shot glass tipped over beside it but it was hazy and her eyes couldn’t focus. The alcohol didn’t numb the pain and she hurt why was it so painful. She slumped down again and welcomed the darkness and the quiet that came with it.

Halfling – Chapter Sixteen

Zaria awoke before Gareth did. Emotions swirled inside as she stretched her body in some yoga poses. She took another dip in the spring and watched him sleep. She needed to be more cautious about what she said to him. She had weaknesses around him, and didn’t know how to handle it. She let things slip that she didn’t mean to. She walked out the water, grateful for its warmth on her sore muscles. Being a fae one with the universe and magic didn’t make her infallible to soreness, but she still had an abundance of energy.

She dressed and sat on a log to wait for him. He finally stirred and looked around for her in a panic. Zaria was amused at his reaction that she wasn’t at his side. He sat up and saw her there. Relief spread across his face. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you ready?”

Gareth rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before replying in the affirmative. He put on his trousers and left his chest bare. Zaria tried to not let herself be distracted by the morning light shining on his darker chest. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to grab you some more comfortable clothes to move around in. I love that dress on you, but we need free movement to train.”

“Okay,” she smiled. The dress was travel worn and fraying at the hems. Not suitable for a princess. She shook her head. It was difficult to imagine herself a princess. She didn’t feel like one. What did princesses do? She wasn’t sure of the answers. She plucked some flowers and started weaving them together to create a crown. She placed the colorful headpiece over her hair and wondered how it looked. The birds chirped to her and the butterflies kissed her arms as she waited. She closed her eyes and opened herself up to the nature in this space. It was so peaceful to become one with every creature, every creation, every atom. She reached out to feel the souls surrounding her, touching them with her energy. The spider web of connections grew with each spirit she felt. Even the atoms that seemed chaotic found order in their fervor of collusion. She felt it all. At first it had seemed overwhelming. But now, she felt like she had some semblance of control. She knew she didn’t have complete control, and she wondered what Gareth could teach her.

 

Gareth walked back into his shield and stopped short. The light sack he carried fell to the ground. Zaria sat there on the grass, surrounded by butterflies. A golden glow emitted from her body, a concentration of the power and magic she was using. He barely felt the tremors in the universe. Indeed, she was special, and she didn’t even realize it. He didn’t want to interrupt. He stood there, but she must have sensed him, because she smiled and opened her eyes. The golden glow disappeared from her as she carefully released the atoms from her control. She still held an incredible amount of energy inside of her, and he wondered how she wasn’t going insane.

She stood and walked towards him, stopping just in front of him. Whenever Zaria was around, he felt like he couldn’t breathe properly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I brought you an outfit in here,” he said, bending down to pick up the drawstring sack. He pulled out a loose tunic and trousers and handed them to her, lingering magic in her touch when her finger brushed against his. She quickly disrobed and pulled on the white, loose fitting clothes. He nodded his approval at the freedom with which she could now move.

“First, I want to work with you on some movements that will help you with your spell casting. They can also be doubled as self-defense with close proximity to your opponent. Obviously, the point is to keep your enemies at bay before it gets to that point, but it never hurts to learn.”

 

Zaria bit her lip as she concentrated on mimicking his movements. He stood with his legs spread apart, bent at the knees, his torso twisted to the left. He held his arms straight in front of his torso, palms faced outward so his wrists were bent 90 degrees. He moved only at his waist, swiveling from left to right; slowly sweeping back and forth. He started moving other parts, blocking with an arm and sweeping a leg outward. Even though their movements were slow, they were labor intensive and Zaria’s muscles soon ached. They kept working until the sun was directly above them and Gareth’s bare, sweaty chest was a distraction.

They ate berries and nuts for sustenance. It was a wonderful handpicked meal and Gareth laughed when she had juice running down her chin from a ripe raspberry, barely missing the tunic she wore. The soft cotton rubbed against her skin in the light breeze that cooled their sweat under the shade giving tree. Zaria loved the way a raspberry tasted on her tongue, and only wished she had some white chocolate to go with it.

She got up and stretched her muscles, sore after sitting for a while to eat. They worked to stretch their muscles together, and went back to working on her movements. Zaria lifted her with her hands in a prayer pose, holding them high above her head, maintaining tightness in her core. She slowly brought her leg up so her toes were pointing towards the sky, concentrating her power on balancing on one foot. She was mirroring Gareth’s movements. They held the stretch for a few minutes before slowly bringing the leg down to touch upon the earth and brought the other leg up to repeat the process. She was sweating in the heat and power. She could smell his masculinity oozing from his pores.

Stretching these muscles felt great and would come in handy once Gareth started showing her movements to flow with power. The power that came from both mind and body, when manipulating such energy had been unimaginable for her in the past. As the days moved forward, she felt her strength growing. It became easier to control her power and energy as time went on. Zaria found herself trusting Gareth more every day that he opened his soul to her. He shared his entire history, including the loss he felt when his mentor had died. He had taken it really hard and had gone astray for a time, angry.

He’d taken a few years to find himself again, after becoming antagonistic and starting fights, alienating those close to him. He had lost friendships, and had to work on rebuilding those once he found himself again. Even his mother had been affected from his raging. He had cried at this part of his story, Zaria had wrapped her arms around him and held him for a while. She didn’t bare her soul, and was careful about sharing too much. She felt like he knew she was holding back from him, but didn’t pry and seemed content whenever she shared a part of herself. She started sleeping in his house with him instead of with her mother.

It had been a couple of months since Zaria and Gareth started working together. Most of the time, no one went outside the bubble that was their small village unless it was for reconnaissance. Jasmine felt confident in her powers thus far, and Gareth was pleased with her progress. They practiced spindling magic together and sharing energy and the amount they could hold was enormous. They hadn’t heard any whispers of halflings finding their encampment, so they decided a nice walk through the woods would be a nice affair.

Aria, Zaria’s sister, Gabriella, Gareth, and his mother prepared a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day with a warm, light breeze and sunshine. The leaves whispered to each other as the group walked through the trees talking and laughing, unaware their movements were being tracked through watchful and beady eyes. They found a small clearing to lay down their blankets and spread out. Aria spoke about her wedding with excitement, though slightly disappointed her fiancé, Manuel, couldn’t make it to the picnic.

“He had a business meeting with his silver supplier. He said the quality of the silver has been lacking lately, and he’s not very pleased,” she lamented, pulling small tufts of grass up from the earth. She played with the blades, manipulating them to create a small nest, placing it off the edge of the blanket. Zaria sported the garnet necklace that Gareth had bought her, made from Manuel’s hands. She was very happy with the quality of the jewelry, and wanted more even though she wasn’t even too keen on jewelry.

“He’s very good at what he does,” Zaria complimented, fingering the necklace. Gareth smiled and kissed the top of her head.

“When are YOU two going to get married?” Gabriella asked, making Zaria gasp and turn red.

“Mom!”

Gabriella had the grace to look embarrassed, while Gareth’s mom, Rhea, giggled and covered her mouth with the back of her hand. “You two do look glorious together,” Rhea said, still smiling.

Zaria pursed her lips, annoyed. She was trusting Gareth more now, but she was still careful. She didn’t want to be hurt by him again. She wasn’t sure what it would take for her to feel comfortable. He hadn’t mentioned love again, but she could feel its presence. They were physically close, and Zaria felt herself losing her heart to him. She was frustrated by it, but he hadn’t shown anything that would make her doubt him. She settled against his solid chest as she ate strawberries and blueberries. He kissed the top of her head, making her smile.

Aria smiled and shook her head. “You guys are totally smitten. I’m sure it won’t be long before there’s a marriage in the works. But, mine is first! The arches are nearly finished being carved. I checked in with Nivaro yesterday and it’s exactly what I want.” Zaria was content to listen to her sister babble on about wedding plans. Manuel and Aria looked perfect with each other, her red hair setting against his dark hair nicely. Zaria liked Manuel well enough, from what she knew about him, which admittedly wasn’t much.

Gareth rubbed his thumbs on her bare arms, and she sighed at the small feeling of intimacy. She got lost in the feeling of nature and company until the sun was at an angle in the sky. “We should probably get back,” Zaria whispered to him.

“Yep, I think you’re right.” They packed up the blankets and once again set out to walk through the woods. They had been without incident, but no one saw the bright blue bird above their heads run into a tree trunk on purpose, clipping its wing.

Ahead on the path, Aria cried out. “Oh no!!” Zaria panicked and ran ahead to her, prepared for a battle. Aria was kneeling in the dirt, petting something blue. Zaria took a deep breath when she realized it was just a bird, laying in a crumpled heap. It belatedly chirped, and she knew it was injured. Aria took the bird carefully in her hands, her eyes worried. “It’s got a broken wing! I have to nurse this beautiful thing back to health!” Zaria felt compassion in her heart for the poor thing, and nodded her head yes.

“You should,” she said, drawing a small amount of energy to mend the broken wing, but thought her sister should still care for it at least a little while. They walked the rest of the way slowly, the sun nearly setting before they reached the shield again. It slightly shimmered as they walked through, and they went their separate ways after saying goodbyes, agreeing it had been a wonderful day. Aria walked off, cradling the bird in her arms. She had named him Buster. Zaria chuckled at the name.

Halfling- Chapter Fifteen

Gareth could hardly believe his eyes. Zaria looked like someone to be feared with the necklace around her neck. The deep red made her green eyes glow more than her hair could. She looked ethereal. And it took his breath away. He tried to minimize her effect on him, but he was powerless in her grip. He took her hand and led her away, wanting to take her to his private place. The shield was large, and held a secondary shield underneath it. It was his own spell that he maintained, and no one could get there without his symbol password. She glowed with magic; the halo around her was so powerful. He felt nervous in his gut.

They finally reached the edge, and he swiped some complex symbols in the air. The bubble shimmered for a moment, and they walked through. It was a hot spring surrounded by foliage. Steam billowed up from the water and some gentle bubbles broke the surface. It felt like a romantic place when he was here with her. It had just been his own space to think, but now it felt different. He felt her lingering anger seeping out from the magic she carried, and it was strong. He understood it, and had to be careful about his words. He let her choose a log to sit on, and sat next to her, taking care to not touch.

Gareth let some time pass before speaking. The twilight light hugged them from all sides, lightning bugs zipping past above the water. It looked glorious, but he knew his words had to wait. “I know you’re upset with me. I don’t blame you,” he whispered, the words skimming over the water. “I’m sure your mom told you things. But I also want to tell you how much you mean to me, and I never wanted to hurt you. I knew it was going to be hard to tell you about your mom and sister. I could never find the right words, or the right time. Things were just happening so fast,” he shook his head. Regret hung around him like a cloud, and he knew he sounded lame. Sometimes words didn’t come out as he intended them to.

He took the chance and looked up and over at her. She didn’t look as angry as he thought, but he could still feel it in the air. She looked at him, and to his surprise, she kissed him. It was a fierce kiss, full of fire and passion. The dark garnet glowed from her magic and lit her eyes. She was a very powerful fae, but she had no idea just how powerful yet. He wanted to teach her and show her her potential. She bit his lip and he groaned. Maybe this was her punishment to him. Her hand found its way to his hair and gripped it forcefully, pulling him to her. She was in charge, and he let her have it. His loins stirred and strained at the cloth of his pants.

Zaria took control of the situation. She wasn’t going to deny herself some pleasure and release because she wasn’t sure of his loyalty to her. She swung her body around so she straddled him, gyrating her hips on his, feeling his hardness. She didn’t let herself moan, but tried forcing his sounds. She rubbed up against him faster, biting his neck. She wanted to possess him, make him hers. She wanted to punish him. Her breath came faster and she felt her wetness. She stopped, standing to remove her dress. She untied his trousers and forced him to stand, lowering them. She tried to not let her breath catch at the sight of him and failed. A small weakness. He sat back down, and she lowered herself on him, slipping in slowly. He filled her and she felt complete. She warred with herself on this. She was still unsure and angry about him, and almost felt like her body betrayed her.

Zaria scratched Gareth’s back from her position of power. She knew he was letting her have this, giving up control to her. She wondered briefly if that was how she could know if she could trust him or not but quickly banished the thought. It wasn’t the time for thinking. She bit his shoulder as she moved above him, making her leg muscles do the work, keeping her abdomen tight. Faster and harder, scratching and gripping his skin. They didn’t share magic this time, it was too dangerous. She quivered from the beginning of the orgasm and gave in to it, feeling him tense up too. She clutched at his back as she rode the waves of the pleasure. She shook and gasped. It was fast and explosive, and she felt weak.

She didn’t move for a moment, but Zaria finally rose and walked to the water without a word. The hot spring felt glorious to her feet. The warmth enveloped her like a baby in a comforting womb as she submerged herself. The lightning bugs glowed as they danced about. Gareth joined her for a cleansing. The water stung his scratches, but he barely winced. She finally spoke.

“I understand that you couldn’t tell me what was going on,” she said carefully. “I understand, but that doesn’t make me feel any less hurt. I don’t know if I can trust you.” Zaria mentally beat herself up over that. She hadn’t meant to admit that, but the words just came tumbling out. Gareth’s presence brought everything out of her, brought her to her knees.

“I know. All I can do is show you. I want you to trust me. I love you.” Again she heard those words, and still didn’t know how to react. The first time he had said them sounded like so long ago, but it was just this day. The night sky glittered above them, and the universe suddenly felt so far away.

“I don’t know what to do with that,” she whispered. “I’m so confused with all this information, I just don’t know what to think.”

“It’s okay,” Gareth said. “I don’t expect you to say it, or even to believe it. I just want you to know how I feel, for better or worse. I hope that you don’t hate me so much you won’t give it a chance. If it’s too much for you, I’m sorry. But I’ll start by helping you with your magic. You are capable of so much.”

Zaria contemplated this for a moment. “Okay,” she said, walking towards him. Her arms encircled his neck, and she lightly kissed him on his bruised lips. His hand brushed down her back, and she shivered despite the warm water. They left the warmth and stood under a birch tree, her nipples hardened from the temperature difference. He rubbed at one with his thumb as his mouth lowered to the other. She moaned, and held his head there. He teased it with his tongue and Zaria threw her head back gasping. His teeth grazed the hard bud and she whimpered.

Gareth moved to her other nipple and did the same. Her body was hot and ready, but he took his time. He kissed every part of her, from her fingertips to her calves and toes. Sometimes his teeth lightly nipped at her, causing her to cry out. He slapped her ass and she fell to her knees, and he grabbed her hair with one hand, pushing her shoulders down with the other until she was on all fours in front of him. He slowly pushed past the folds of her skin until the tip of him was just inside her. She whimpered for him, and he waited before plunging into her. She screamed his name, moaning and writhing. He moved slowly at first, so slowly. Until she couldn’t bear it any longer. She begged and pleaded for him to move faster. Her face was down in the grass and her hands clasped at handfuls of it. It wasn’t enough for her desire. Zaria pleaded some more until she couldn’t speak, and he finally went full force, slamming into her over and over again. She could do nothing but cry out with every thrust, the grass at her mercy. Over and over she felt the full length of him, hard and fast. She knew she was close when her body started tensing. He felt her reach the precipice, and came with her. They both shouted, breathing hard. He collapsed on top of her, still inside her. His hands clasped hers, and she felt complete.

Was this love? Was this the way it was supposed to be? She had never felt so whole in her life. Confusion swirled inside her mind, but she pushed it away. This was this moment, and she was going to enjoy it. She felt Gareth’s rapid heartbeat on her back as their breathing slowed. They moved so they were laying on their backs in the grass, looking up at the stars. It was a beautiful night, and the heat from the spring made the air near them warmer. She rested her head on his chest, her arm around him. She whispered, “I love you too,” as she fell asleep. “We can start with magic in the morning.”

Gareth murmured his acquiescence. He too was tired, and they both fell asleep soon, in each other’s arms. The lightning bugs around them continued their dance well into the night, the stars twinkling above them. The universe was so far away, yet so close.

Halfling- Chapter Fourteen

Jasmine really couldn’t believe her eyes. But what was her name? Zaria? She had no idea what was going on, but she had tears in her eyes, making it hard to see. They flowed down her cheeks, and the world was suddenly watery as she leapt from her chair to hug her mom. How could this be? She had seen the destruction on her village. How could her mother and sister gotten out alive? And her mother was the queen? So many questions, but she couldn’t speak. She could only cry as she clung to her mom, and putting an arm around her sister, drawing her in. They were all crying. Jasmine shook, overwhelmed. So many emotions swirled around inside her, and she felt them mingling with her magic.

Her mom broke away to hug Gareth. “Thank you so much for bringing my little girl back to me, safe,” she whispered brokenly to him. Jasmine was furious at him for keeping this from her. She was certain that he had known. He kissed the top of her mother’s head, and gently broke away, using his large hands to push her back towards Jasmine and her sister. Jasmine looked upon him with anger in her teary eyes. He looked sad and regretful, but she didn’t care. She never wanted to speak to him again. He was going to take her to the evil halfling queen when her family was here, safe and sound? She didn’t care what they had shared in that meadow. This wasn’t forgivable. But she turned back to her mother and held on. She never wanted to let go again.

“You are all dismissed,” Eldrich said, waving his hands at them as though shooing a fly.

“We have much to discuss, dear daughter,” her mother said, kissing the top of her head. Jasmine smiled. She could talk to her mother all day. They walked out of the building and into the sunshine, laughing and crying at the same time. They walked down the main road of the town, once again passing by the bazaar that Jasmine wanted to shop at. She knew she would get the chance, so she barely glanced at it, instead giving attention to her sister talking about her wedding plans. The girl was excited, skipping and hopping up and down as they walked. They turned down a little street, and approached a house at the edge of the little bubble they lived in.

It was the nicest house that Jasmine had seen so far, with a wraparound porch that was painted stormy grey to match the rest of the house. Vines wound their way from the ground to the top of the house, plump leaves full. Flowers lined the walkway and around the house, purples, pinks, and reds making their presence known with heady fragrance. The roof had peaks and valleys, and was thatched with dark grey tiles.

“Welcome home, Zaria,” her mother said warmly. Jasmine rolled the name mentally from her tongue, as the word was foreign to her. She would have to get used to it, and was still looking for an explanation as to how and why she didn’t know her own birth name. Her mother led her up the stairs of the porch, her hand clasped firmly. Zaria’s heart beat with excitement as they opened the door to wooden oak floors, colorful paintings lining the walls, and vases filled with flowers. A staircase in the entryway led to the second level, and Zaria peeked around corners to see other rooms, like the living room with a piano, and the dining room with a large, polished oak table and chairs.

“We can have the tour later, dear. I think it’s important we talk,” her mom said gently. Zaria squeezed her hand, and nodded her acquiescence. Gabriella led her to the living room, where they sat in matching plush armchairs, so comfortable Zaria could fall asleep there.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Gabriella said softly. “I suppose I should start when the queen started her rebellion against us. It was a dark time in the kingdom. Some of the fae couldn’t be trusted, and fed information to Awen and her halflings. Your father and I had you, and your name was Zaria. You were a beautiful baby, with red hair and green eyes. Much like my own. Sometimes it was like looking in a mirror,” she said wistfully, smiling.

“When you were a toddler, things really started getting bad. We got word that Awen was going to march against the castle. I fled with you and some others. Ruth was your nurse and nanny. She came along with her family. We found a safe place in the woods, and set up a village. It was terrifying, scarcely hearing a word about the fight your father had stayed behind to fight. Him and his men held the castle for a long time. It was a couple of years. Finally, Awen cracked the shield, and your father barely escaped with his life. Most of our army was destroyed. Wives and children left without fathers.

“We all scattered to form small camps, and we had to change our names so Awen couldn’t find us, and figure out who we were. We started an underground resistance, that has been growing steadily. We have some halflings that we trust, like Gareth, but for the most part, it’s just fae.”

Zaria ground her teeth at the mention of Gareth. She shook with rage, and saw red. Her mother felt her tension, and asked what’s wrong, stroking her cheek with the back of her hand.

“He never told me that you and Aria were still alive. He was also planning on taking me to the queen. He claimed that there was a plan to get me out, but he had to prove loyalty to Awen. I can’t believe he kept this from me. I thought—“ Zaria stopped talking and choked back tears. She thought she had fallen in love with him, but her mother didn’t need to know that.

“Sweetheart. Obviously you care about him, but you must realize that what he did was for the good of our kind. For the fae. We needed Awen to believe that he was working for her. It was the plan. If he had told you that we were alive and well, you would have been even more uncooperative with him. You would have wanted to come here right away. We had a good plan for getting you out, but that matters not now. It’s okay, we will just have to adjust our strategy. Awen must know by now that Gareth does not side with her. She will be furious. We are sending reinforcements to help the smaller villages fight. Please, do not be angry with him.”
As her mother spoke, Zaria contemplated the words. She was still upset and angry, but it was no longer blinding. The red receded from her vision, and the world was once again bright with sunshine upon the immaculate home that her mother had. Even ousted from her throne, her queen mother lived like royalty here. While Zaria had built a roughshod house and lived like a wild animal. She tried to not think of that, but why hadn’t they come for her sooner? Was she just a pawn in their game? She needed more information, and to think. She sat back in the chair, looking out the window at a willow tree with its sad branches hanging low. Her sister was sitting under the tree with a book, a mug of tea in her other hand. It was a lazily cloudy day, with wisps passing over every once in a while. Zaria suddenly felt the need to spell some magic. She felt it in her bones, and became aware of the power she was spindling inside. She was surprised that she could carry this much. The energy inside her was just too much to bear, and she bounced up from the chair.

“Honey, try not to bring too much attention with your magic. Release it in small steps. The shield here is strong, but I fear your magic is stronger. Gareth will be working with you on controlling what you have. We’ve always known you were special, that you would have this wonderful gift. Please let him show you how you can use this for good, no matter how angry and upset with him you are. He’s the only one who can show you.” Her mother looked at her and pleaded with her eyes. Zaria felt her resolve against Gareth weakening. Looking at her mother was almost like looking into a mirror. Her eyes were replicas of her own, and she could see the same expressions carried within. Zaria was still suspicious of her mother’s intent, as well as Gareth’s, and felt she had to be cautious.

She put a smile on that warmed her eyes and softened her heart shaped face. “Of course. I’ll work with him, but that doesn’t mean I forgive him anytime soon.” She hugged her mother and went to find Gareth. She wasn’t sure where she would find him, and thought wandering the vendors would be a good place to start. Then she could do something she actually wanted to do at the same time.

From memory, Zaria moseyed to the market. She looked at the houses she passed, and they were nice but not as grand as her mother’s house. None had wraparound porches, but most had smaller front porches, and were only one level. There were no columns here, but there were some vines here and there. Some had lovely landscaping, and some had lawns that were unkempt and ratty. They all had their own beauty and mystique, and Zaria wondered at who lived in these homes, what their stories were. The sun beat down on her, and she was reminded that a bath or shower would be nice. She hadn’t taken any time to rest, and it was odd that she didn’t feel weary, but instead felt boundless energy. Maybe it was the universe.

The sun was getting lower by the time she reached the market. She stopped at one booth that displayed gorgeous metal jewelry. Silver and gold pieces magnificently shaped, with jewels laid in. Garnets and diamonds glittered at her. She saw a necklace that took her breath away. The garnets shone a dark red and seemed to have black swirling inside the gems. The center piece was silver with a heart shaped garnet and small diamonds surrounding it on the edges. A small, square diamond piece sat on either side with even smaller garnets surrounding them.

“It’s a necklace fit for a princess, dontcha think Braun?” A deep voice behind her said. She would know that voice anywhere. She straightened her back and her muscles stiffened.

“I’m not one for diamonds,” Zaria sniffed, turning away, her eyes hard. She knew she had told her mother she would work with Gareth and indeed had come to find him, but now faced with him; her emotions got the best of her.

“Nonsense,” Gareth said quietly. “I know you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be. Please, let me make it up to you.” His beautiful eyes pleaded with her, and she felt her insides quiver. Curse her body for betraying her. Butterflies knocked around inside her stomach, and she looked away from him.

“Fine,” she said just as quietly. “But I’m not going to make it easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said, his eyes still serious, and took her hand to kiss it. “Braun,” he said a bit more loudly to be heard over market chatter, “I’ll take this one! Fit for a princess, I say!” Gareth handed over some coin and took the necklace. Zaria turned around and he clasped the necklace around her neck. She turned back around and fingered the garnet heart, wondering why she had let him buy this for her. She looked up into his eyes and did a double take. He was looking at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and it made her blush. She needed to steel herself to punish him for her anger that was quickly dissipating. He took her hand and led her away from the booth, just as the sun was setting and set her hair afire.