The Cypher Wheel (29 page)

The group started to jostle towards the kitchen. They
didn't have much choice. The guards who were now bringing up the
rear saw to that.

Todmus and Faedra spilled out of the opening first,
expanding to full size as soon as they entered the kitchen. Faen
and Allora followed, then Jocelyn, Alyssa and Etyran. Behind them,
were at least half a dozen of Arawn's guards.

“Not so secret, after all, then?” Faedra quipped,
finding it hard to keep Savu's sarcasm at bay.

Todmus cast his gaze to the ground.

“She didn't mean it, my friend,” Faen reassured
him.

“Oh, didn't I?” Faedra snapped, her eyes flashing
with anger. She stepped towards her Guardian and prodded him in the
chest with her finger. “Don't dare to tell me what I did or didn't
mean!”

Faen took a step back from the Custodian, his eyes
wide with surprise. The other five gave each other sideways glances
at Faedra's outburst.

“Faedra?” Faen said, searching in her eyes for some
explanation.

“Oh, don't ‘Faedra’ me,” she jibed. “Faedra isn't
here right now.”

Faen kept his eyes on his charge, his expression
unreadable. The rest of the group turned to each other, mumbling
between themselves.

“Faedra, you have to fight him,” Faen said, reaching
a hand to her face.

She batted Faen's hand away and shot him a
contemptuous glare. “Faedra is sick to death of playing Miss Goody,
I'm-going-to-save-the-realm, Two Shoes. She wants to have a little
fun.” She looked over at Arawn who was viewing the unfolding scene
with amusement. “What say you, Mr. Arrogant? Want to take on an
apprentice?”

Arawn crossed his arms over his chest and rested his
chin on a fist, cogitating over Faedra's surprising request with
the raising of a sleek eyebrow. No doubt wondering if this wasn't
just a ruse to distract him from the task at hand.

“There you are,” Vivianna said, bursting through the
entrance to the kitchen, tugging little Skylar roughly by the
wrist. “I wondered what was taking you so...long.” She hesitated
when she saw the looks on everyone's faces. Something strange was
happening and she looked disgruntled by the fact that she didn't
yet know what it was. “Is there something I should be aware of?”
Vivianna asked Arawn.

“Mama!” Skylar cried when she spotted her mother in
the crowd.

Vivianna tugged her closer. “Quiet, you little
brat!”

“Dearest Sister,” Faedra cooed, stepping away from
her group with open arms towards Vivianna. “So nice of you to join
us.”

Vivianna shot the Custodian an incredulous, if
somewhat wary, look. When it seemed like Faedra was going to
continue until she was close enough for a hug, the confused woman
backed up a few paces and put out her hand.

“What? No hug for your sister?” Faedra mocked. “Come
now, after all we've been through together, surely we should give
each other a hug.”

Vivianna cast a questioning glance towards Arawn and
received a shrug in return.

“No? Oh, well, can't blame a girl for trying.” She
leaned down and squeezed Skylar's chubby cheek between thumb and
forefinger and gave it a little wiggle. “Aren't you just a little
cutie?” She straightened and turned. “Well, let's get this show on
the road, shall we?” she said to Arawn, then examined her
fingernails. “I'm already getting bored.”

“Faedra, what are you doing?” Jocelyn asked, tears
welling in her eyes.

Faedra put her hand up to silence the young fairy.
“Shut up, Jocelyn.”

“This isn't you. You have to fight...”

Faedra swished her hand and Jocelyn's mouth slammed
shut. Jocelyn's eyes widened as she put her hands up to her lips,
unable to open her mouth or speak.

“Now, you can't say I didn't warn you,” Faedra said
with a nonchalant air, then laughed at her own pun.

Faen and Etyran took a step forward.

Faedra barked out a conceited chuckle. “Really, boys?
You think that's wise?”

Faen and Etyran looked at each other then back at the
Custodian, who was now holding two fiery orbs. Both blew out a
long, slow sigh before taking a step back.

Faedra's mouth curved with a sly grin. She closed her
hands on the orbs and then shook them out. “So, I'm sure you don't
want to be conducting your business in the kitchen,” she said to
Arawn. “This is, after all, where your food is prepared and I can
see things getting a little messy, and that would be, well, just a
tad icky, if you know what I mean.”

Arawn gave the Custodian another thoughtful look.
“Bring them up to the hall,” Arawn instructed his guards. He
marched out of the kitchen followed by Vivianna and Skylar. Faedra
kept in step with Vivianna on the other side of the little girl she
was dragging along with her.

Arawn's guards gave Etyran and Faen a shove from
behind forcing the group to fall in behind Arawn and the
others.

“What are you playing at?” Vivianna hissed at Faedra
as they marched up the steps behind Arawn.

“Vivianna, darling. It's me, Savu. I knew the little
wretch couldn't keep me under her control for long; I was just
biding my time until she was too distracted to fight me. Turns out
she's scared of the dark. Ha!”

Vivianna narrowed her eyes at Faedra.

Faedra raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Believe me.
Don't believe me. I really don't care. I have much bigger fish to
fry, as you will soon find out.”

Faedra strode out in front of Vivianna as Arawn
entered the hall of his castle.

Vivianna hastened her steps to catch up. “What do you
mean you have bigger fish to fry...?” She looked down at Skylar who
was starting to cry. “Stop your sniveling! You are trying my last
nerve.” Vivianna jerked sharply on Skylar's wrist again, causing
the little girl to yelp in pain.

“Oh, for God's sake, quit your bitching, Vivianna,”
Faedra snapped. “If you can't handle the child, give her to me.”
She took hold of Vivianna's hand and wrenched it from Skylar's
wrist just as they filed into hall.

“Hey!” Vivianna cried. She glared at Faedra but
picked up her pace to follow Arawn to his dais where an ornately
carved chair was placed.

Arawn stepped up onto the dais. He turned, sweeping
his robes to one side with a graceful swish of his hand before
seating himself. Vivianna stepped up onto the dais and stood to one
side of him.

Faedra cast an indifferent glance at the others who
were entering the hall and getting herded into a group by Arawn's
guards.

“Faedra, come and join us,” Arawn invited, his arms
open.

Faedra took a step towards Arawn, with Skylar in tow.
The little girl cast a frightened look to her mother, who whimpered
in response.

“Faedra, I beg you, fight him. You cannot let him
win!” Faen implored.

Faedra eye's flashed with anger and she drew in a
breath. She looked up at Arawn who seemed pleased by her reaction.
Then she turned and glared at Faen. Jocelyn and Alyssa gasped at
the light flickering in the Custodian's eyes. Faedra stomped
towards them dragging Skylar with her. When she got to the group
they took an involuntary step back. Faedra and Faen locked gazes,
his eyes widened a second later when she winked at him. Etyran, who
was standing beside him, saw it too.

In the next second Faedra turned to Allora and Todmus
and handed Skylar to them. “I believe she belongs to you.”

Allora exchanged a silent ‘thank you’ with the
Custodian, then dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around
the little girl.

In the blink of an eye, Etyran and Alyssa disappeared
and guards started dropping one by one. Jocelyn conjured her sword
and joined the foray.

Faedra turned just in time to deflect a couple of
fireballs thrown at them by Arawn who was now standing and glaring
at them with murderous intent.

“I knew she couldn't be trusted!” Vivianna screamed
at Arawn. She was inching her way behind Arawn's chair realizing
she had no powers in Allora's body.

Arawn stepped down from his platform and started
towards Faedra. Faen drew his sword and stepped in front of his
charge.

“No!” Faedra cried, knowing the sorcerer's strength
was too much for her Guardian, but it was too late. Arawn had
already disarmed Faen, sending his sword flying across the room
with a flick of his hand. Faen took his attention off the sorcerer
for a split second as he watched his sword being thrown across the
room. When he looked back, Arawn had his hand raised and a bolt of
electricity shot straight through Faen’s heart. The Guardian
inhaled a ragged breath as he stumbled backwards. A second later
Faen dropped to the floor like a rock.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Vaguely, Faedra heard running footsteps getting
quieter behind her. The remaining guards that her friends hadn't
disabled were running from the room in defeat.

Faedra dropped to her knees beside the man she
loved.

Arawn took another step forward, armed with something
else from his powerful arsenal. Faedra didn't even look up at him.
Somehow she knew to let her body take over. She channeled all her
fear of what may have happened to Faen at the tyrant sorcerer. He
was knocked off his feet with the force of what she threw at
him.

Faen lay unmoving as she tentatively placed her
fingers on his neck. She rested them over his carotid. Behind her,
their friends had gathered around the two of them. Breaths held,
waiting.

A sob broke from the Custodian as she hung her head.
Her fears were confirmed, her Guardian's pulse was gone. He was
dead and it was all her fault. Why couldn't she have given him some
kind of warning of her hare-brained idea before she implemented it?
Trying to make Arawn think Savu had turned her seemed a good idea
at the time. She was just trying to buy them a little more time so
she could think of a way to get her hands on Skylar before Arawn
hurt her. Now that he had Todmus in his grasp, he had no more use
for the child. It was spontaneous and reckless, and it had gotten
the person she loved, more than anything in the world, killed. How
was she going to live without him? That was simple, she couldn't.
So, she realized, it didn't matter if she lived or died.

She looked up and had the strange sensation that
everything around her was happening as if she was inside a goldfish
bowl looking out. She watched Arawn getting back to his feet. She
heard Etyran telling Todmus and Allora to take Skylar and get out
as quickly as they could. She saw Vivianna creeping out from behind
the other side of the chair, eying the doorway. She felt Savu's
power build inside her before she unleashed every bit of it on the
castle, as a whole. She would bring this place down on Arawn's
head. She would not leave a stone standing of the place in which
her loved one had been killed.

The control Faedra had on her power was surreal. All
this time she'd been fighting it, but now that she let it go, the
power seemed to know instinctively what it had to do to fulfill her
request. Is this how easy it could have been the whole time she was
fighting with it?

Arawn summoned a couple more fireballs. He looked
down at the dead fairy lying beside her, then returned his gaze to
her. The corner of his mouth curled up. Faedra didn't take her eyes
off the tyrant, her expression neutral.

In that moment the floor started to shake,
challenging Arawn's balance. The sorcerer looked around himself,
the smug smile falling from his face. A chandelier crashed to the
ground a foot from where he stood, and his balls of fire fizzled as
he covered his head with his arms and shot the Custodian a
bewildered look.

The columns on either side of the dais collapsed in a
pile of blocks and rubble. Vivianna screamed and ran for the door,
narrowly avoiding being crushed. Faedra tracked her movements
through the room. As she reached the door, her half-sister jerked
awkwardly as if being grabbed from behind, then her hands moved to
behind her back and stayed in place at the base of her spine.
Faedra did a cursory glance of her friends only to find Alyssa
missing.

When Faedra turned back, Arawn was heading towards a
door on the other side of the hall. Faedra looked up and the
ceiling collapsed in on him before he got a step further, spilling
tons of wood and rubble onto the floor.

Etyran leaned down in front of Faedra and scooped
Faen off the floor. His limp body hung from the Lightbender's
strong arms like a wet rag. A section of ceiling above the dais
collapsed and sent rubble and dust flying towards the four still
left in the hall. Etyran turned and Jocelyn brought her arms up to
protect her face as the sharp fragments of rock flew at them like
shrapnel. Faedra raised her hand; all the shards stopped a few
inches short of them, floated in mid-air for a moment, and then
fell to the floor.

Jocelyn grabbed her friend by the arm. “We have to
get out of here,” she cried as she hauled an unresponsive Custodian
off the floor and dragged her towards the door just as the walls
started caving in around them.

Faedra kept her eyes trained on the destruction in
front of her, trusting her young fairy friend to guide her out of
the castle. Not that she cared if she made it out or not, but she
didn't want to see any of her remaining friends hurt, and to
guarantee that, she had to go with them.

As they moved through the castle, Faedra reduced each
room to rubble behind them.

After what seemed like an eternity, Etyran burst
through the castle gates, with Jocelyn dragging the Custodian close
behind him. Todmus was waiting with his family just outside the
gates. Alyssa was holding Vivianna in a vice grip next to the
dwarf. Etyran staggered for a few paces before laying his best
friend down in the soft grass.

The group turned to look as the last remaining wall
of the once impressive castle was reduced to rubble, sending a
plume of dust into the sky. Faedra ignored it as she kneeled beside
her Guardian. His face looked calm, like he was sleeping. She
leaned over and moved a lock of hair from his forehead with her
finger, she then let her hand trail down the side of his face until
it came to rest on his cheek.