What Once Was One (Book 2) (9 page)

We were quiet as her words hung in the air. I cared a lot about the princess and while I had done a lot for her, I had never said those magical words. Neither had she.

I broke the silence. I didn’t know how much I cared for her at that time. All I knew was that, “It’s meant for you.”

Krystal didn’t hesitate to put the necklace on. The hexagram hummed and glowed in response, then went quiet. She grabbed a handful of my robes and yanked me in. Our faces were inches away from each other.

My eyes frantically looked around. “Krystal, what are you doing? Someone could see us.” I should have pulled away from her, in case someone did, but I didn’t want to. Her lilac smell rooted me to the spot.

She gave me a seductive smile. “We have a moment, hero.”

The princess kissed me hard and with passion. I returned it, pressing my body up against hers, trapping her against the building.

She broke the kiss and whispered into my ear, “We’ll have plenty of time for that later tonight, and I promise you I won’t fall asleep.”

Krystal nibbled my ear and I shivered. Her hand crept underneath my robes, dancing along my sides. She tickled me and I squirmed from my weakness. Krystal slipped out from between the wall and me.

“Come with me and make sure you have everything you need for tomorrow, Hellsfire.”

I nodded, following her into the keep.

----

All of our supplies were prepped and ready to go. My friends and I went over our plans again and discussed things with the princess and her Guardsmen. We ate an early dinner, then dispersed to get ready for a long day tomorrow.

I went back to my room. I didn’t have to wait long before Krystal came. Words weren’t spoken as we tore each other’s clothes off. Everything we had to say was spoken with our bodies, our hands, our mouths as we ravaged and devoured each other with an eagerness born out of desperation and fear.

I wasn’t afraid of going into the Wastelands and dying. I was afraid of never seeing the princess again—of never holding her in my arms, of never again seeing how she laughed uncontrollably from that ticklish spot behind her right knee. It was that fear I was going to have to latch onto to survive my journey.

We stayed up most of the night, saying our goodbyes in that one special way. It exhausted me to do so, but she was well worth it.

CHAPTER 6

I stand besieged by the darkness as it consumes everything around me.

“Hellsfire,” a voice from the darkness says. I turn my head in confusion, trying to pinpoint the sound.

“Hellsfire,” the voice says in a mocking tone.

 
I realize it’s not coming from a single source. The voice echoes and surrounds me, coming from the darkness itself.

“You will never get what you want, Hellsfire. If you continue on your foolish quest, you will lose that which you value most.”

No. The princess reminded me I had a duty to do. I raise my arm. I summon fire to the surface. I free the fire from my hand to burn and dissipate the darkness, or illuminate what’s there. I see nothing, but continue to shoot out fire. I turn until a ring of fire surrounds me, kindling the darkness.

He laughs and says, “Very well.”

The fire burns with nothing to fuel it. The magic within the fire beats, matching my heartbeat as I await him. The flames swirl, rising higher like a pillar. They stop at my height and coalesce into a human form. The fire stops burning and the person becomes solid. I stare into his brown eyes. It’s me.

 
“If you insist. I will see you when you get here.” The impostor puts his icy hand forward. I ready my magic to
 
fight him. His magic smashes past my defenses and he shoves me out of my own dream.

I cried out, waking up drenched in a cold sweat. I found my face buried in Krystal’s chest.

“Shhh,” she said. “It’s all right, Hellsfire. You’re safe.” She hugged and cradled me while she stroked my hair.

“You’re still here?” I asked, seeing it was only an hour or two until sunrise. “You’re never here when I wake up.”

“I know. I just wanted to experience it with you before you go.”

“And?”

“It’s nice.”

I squeezed her tighter and nuzzled against her chest. “It is.”

She pulled away, forcing me to look into her soft, purple eyes. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“It was...more than that.”

“Tell me.”

And I did. It was hard to talk about it, but once I did, I couldn’t stop. The princess listened and didn’t say a word until I was done.

“Can wizards communicate through dreams using some kind of spell?” Krystal asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe Premier can and he’s warning you to stay away because he’s scared of you. After all, he did create an avatar and I didn’t think such a thing was possible.”

“Maybe.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. Premier needs to be stopped so that he has no chance of harming you or Alexandria again. I’m the only known wizard in the land that can make that happen. I beat him before. I can beat him again.” I found my voice surprisingly steady, even though I knew I had beaten him with Stradus’s help.

Krystal intertwined her leg with mine. “Just be careful, hero. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you either.”

I lusted at her bosoms and my fingers slid across them. “A guy could get used to this.”

Krystal laughed. “You wish.”

I danced my fingers over her side. She squirmed in delight. I tickled my fingers on her body and she cried out in laughter, the beautiful musical noise ringing in my ears. She tried to get away, but the bed was small and there was nowhere for her to go. She couldn’t do anything about it, or so I thought.

A pillow slammed into my face. Feathers scattered everywhere. She smashed it into me again, forcing me to stop. I plucked the pillow from her hands and threw it aside. I forced myself on top of her and pinned her against the bed, holding her wrists and binding her in place. I knew if she wanted to, she could easily wrest herself from my grip, but she made no move.

“I still have a little bit of time before I have to get ready and leave,” I said.

Krystal’s eyes sparkled. “Then stop talking, and let’s make the most of it.”

“As you command, Your Highness.”

----

Afterwards, she left and I dressed and rushed to meet the others. We had a light breakfast of fresh fruit, bread, and cheese. We rechecked our supplies, loaded them on the horses, and made our way out of the castle to the northern walls of Alexandria.

Krystal and King Furlong waited for us, along with some of their soldiers.

“Your Majesty,” I said and bowed.

“Hellsfire,” the king said, nodding. “I came to see you all off and wish you well.”

“Thank you, sire. We appreciate it.”

King Furlong’s blue eyes scrutinized me and his brow furrowed. I had seen him often during the time I was here. Because of the spells Premier had performed on him to gain the king’s trust, I checked on him daily to make sure there were no lingering effects. The king’s mind had been influenced by Premier, allowing him to weaken Alexandria’s defenses.

The king and I never talked long. He was always curt and direct. In the beginning, I tried to make conversation with him, at Krystal’s urging. I wanted to see what I could do to help Alexandria or even just make small talk, to get to know the king. Those discussions never ended well. Eventually, I just gave up. Even though I’d saved his life and his kingdom, I felt I made him uneasy. I didn’t know whether it was the fact that I was a wizard or that he knew I was seeing his daughter. I hoped it was the first part.

Furlong’s eyes and face softened when he saw his old friend Prastian. “Is there any message you want me to relay to King Sharald?”

“No, sire,” Prastian said. “I believe we have everything taken care of. Thank you.”

“What about you, Jastillian? Any last message?”

“Aye. Tell my mother I expect great songs about us when we get back.” We all laughed at Jastillian’s words, but I knew he wasn’t kidding.

“Maybe we’ll write our own song about you,” the king said.

Jastillian grinned. “We would be honored.”

“Good luck to you all,” King Furlong said. “May the gods walk with you.” We all bowed to him. He folded his arms within his red and white robes and walked away.

A handful of Alexandria’s Guardsmen and the princess waited around the horses.

“Patrols will be sent out every day to keep an eye out for your return,” Krystal said. “For as long as it takes.” She met my eyes when she said that.

Captain Rebekah said, “We’ll ride with you until we reach the mountains and we’ll depart there. My patrol will shadow you for a time in case you run into trouble.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Prastian and the others checked our supplies of food and water. I went to check the blood and skins I would need for the ritual.

A lone horse carried all the supplies. He could barely keep still from the rank smell that covered him. The horse bucked and whinnied, but a soldier held his reins in place. I had to breathe through my mouth and tried not to remember that I would be drenched in that smell. Five goblin skins were laid across the horse’s back. Flies encircled him as if he was a carcass. There were six bags of blood. Five of them were marked with different numbers. I lifted a goblin skin and saw an identical number to match one of the bags. The sixth bag held a mixture of blood from all the creatures found in the Wastelands. I ran my hands over each bag, inspecting them for drips. The bags were secured tightly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the soldier controlling the horse glaring at me. I wondered what his problem was, until I realized half of the soldiers there had that same look on their faces. Every time I moved to check the blood, their glares worsened.

“Everything’s ready,” Prastian said, walking over to me, forcing me to turn away from the soldiers.

“Me too,” I said.

Demay had a look of disgust on his face and stopped when he was seven feet away. He pinched his nose. “That
smell
. There’s got to be another way.”

Jastillian slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry, lad, you’ll get used to it. Soon, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Krystal came over to us and said, “Good luck to you. All of you. Take care.”

We bowed to her, then climbed on our horses. I gazed at her. There was so much more I wanted to say that I didn’t get to say last night. I finally settled on, “Goodbye, Your Highness.”

“Go,” she whispered. “Come back to me.”

I nodded.

As we rode out, I tried my best not to turn around. I knew that if I did I would see how much pain I caused her. I grasped the reins of my horse until they dug into my hands, leaving marks.

I finally caved in and turned when she was just a small dot. I thought she might have been gone by then, but she was still there, waiting for me.

----

Because of its location near the Wastelands of Renak, Alexandria wasn’t the most fertile of places. Most of its farms were to the east as a large river ran there. But it could still support people. I hadn’t been up north before, but I saw what Jastillian had talked about while we were in the library.

The land became brittle and hard the farther we traveled. The cracked ground became uneven with weeds and shrubs and gangly, leafless trees sprinkled about. Huge gray clouds blocked out most of the light. They seemed to never move, just hovered there despite the howling wind. That wind came from everywhere like a wild creature hunting in the night.

As we rode, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. From the corners of my eyes, I saw shadows flashing from behind boulders. A large branch wobbled, but when I turned my head, nothing was there. The longer we rode, the stronger the rotten, sewage-like smell became. It reminded me of the battle with the creatures in Alexandria. But there would be no escape here, and we couldn’t kill them all.

An hour later, we arrived at the drop-off point. My friends and I got off our horses. The Guardsmen surrounded us, keeping us out of view, while we grabbed our supplies. The bags of blood were awkward to carry because of how the heavy contents swirled with each movement. I slung them across my shoulders. The smell reminded me of the animals I used to butcher for Farmer Andrick back in the days before I became a wizard. Except far more pungent.

With the soldiers surrounding us as shields, we took out our goblin skins. I draped mine over me, almost gagging from how disgusting it was. The slimy skin rubbed against my face and I shivered. While the goblin looked awkward on me, considering how tall I was and how short he was, I had an easier time of it than my friends. They might not have had to worry about their height, but their weapons got in the way. Prastian and Demay had hunchbacks because of their quivers. Behast and Jastillian weren’t going to be able to draw their weapons with ease.

“Yuck,” Demay said, and shuddered. His face paled to a darker shade of green.

“Don’t forget to rub their innards on you,” Prastian said.

Demay stuck his tongue out at his brother and everyone laughed. I stopped laughing when I ran the entrails and intestines over my face. Blood and slime clung to my skin. I bent over and gagged, almost heaving up my light breakfast. I kept going though, even smearing it against my black wizard’s robe.

“It’s not so bad, lad,” Jastillian said, having no problem with the bits of entrails entangled in his bushy beard. “I remember when I first did this, I couldn’t stop myself from puking. Now, it’s no bother. Some of the creatures have an excellent sense of smell. This will help throw them off.”