Midnight Frost (14 page)

“Father!” I cried, when the dragon was distracted.

My father beamed with pride. “Breena,” he cried, joy spreading across his face. But I knew that this was not the father I recognized. His bright ginger hair had faded in a matter of days, turning grey.

“We've come – with the Midnight Knight!”

He gasped. “Then there is hope!” His voice shook. “Do you hear that, you great beast?” He turned towards the dragon, which was writhing under Cary's sword. “The Midnight Knight has come after all – as the rumors were told! You think we fear you now?” He gave another slash, and then, attacked by all of us at once, the dragon gave up, its head flying clean from its body.

The Summer knights formed a protective circle around us. We didn't have much time, I knew – but we had enough to greet each other. My father rode forth, trapping me in a great bear hug that nearly knocked me off my own horse. “Is it true?” He had never looked so old to me, I thought, as now.

“Yes, father,” I whispered. “It's true.”

He kissed my hands, stroking my hair. “Oh, my daughter. I was so worried. So afraid I could not bear this burden alone. I thought you had been killed. And then we began to hear rumors – rumors of you being alive, and of a knight...the Midnight Knight.”

“I found him in the Kingdom of the Dead,” I said, hating the lie all the while. “I was summoned there – and I found him, and brought him back.” I decided not to mention Redleaf. Yet my father's joy was so palpable, his relief so strong, that I knew instantly that Kian had been right. The magic of Feyland called out for a hero – for faith. Faith in something greater, faith in a higher plan. Faith in the return of their legends. All the spells in the world could not have replaced the power of that one simple story.

I watched as Kian plunged into battle, bodies moving aside to let him through. His armor gleamed brighter than ever, and I heard the beginning of whispers and murmurs from fairy and foe alike. “It's true!” Summer and Winter fairies alike were whooping with joy. “He's back! We're saved!”

For their part, the Dark Hordes were looking terribly uncomfortable, and the dragons near us immediately flew off in retreat, unsure what to do next. We had bought ourselves time.

“I need to find the Winter Queen!” I said, and kissing my father one more time, I rode off.

We found her on the south side of the castle walls, fighting off a group of pixies with Shasta by her side. Pan, Jeremy and I rode forth, dispatching of them one by one from astride our saddles.

When the Winter Queen caught sight of me, her bright blue eyes filled with fear. “Kian,” she whispered. “Is he...”

I bit my lip. How could I hurt her in this way? “I'm sorry, your Highness,” I said.

I don't know what I expected her to do. Perhaps to wail, to scream, to rage out, to cry. Any of those things would have been easier for me to bear than the quiet crumpling of her face, the soft exhalation of breath. “Very well,” she said, with utter calm I knew could belie only the greatest agony. “Thank you for your efforts, nonetheless.”

“He died well,” I said. “He woke up one last time on the mountain – to tell me to tell you how...how honored he was to be your son. But by the time we arrived at the mountain it was too late. The spell wouldn't work.”

“And the Midnight Knight?”

“The enchantress I spoke to about saving Kian sent me to the Kingdom of the Dead to find him,” I said, sticking as close to the truth as I could. “He had passed already – passed beyond the path out towards...I don't know towards what. But there, in the woods, I found this knight. And at his side was a great queen – a queen called Tamara. And Tamara told me that I was destined to bring unity to Feyland – that I had come through the Kingdom of the Dead for that purpose. And she took the knight, and put his hand in mine, and told me to escort him back to Feyland.”

She sighed. “I see,” she said. “Then he did not die for nothing. His death sent you to the Kingdom of the Dead.” She let out a long sigh. “Then he would have been glad.”

“Mother!” Shasta ran forth. “Mother, is Kian...?”

“Your brother is dead,” said the Winter Queen, her expression implacable. “We must continue the fight.”

“No!” Shasta's scream was deafening. “No, he can't be!”

My tongue tasted like bitter ash. How could I inflict this upon them – this pain? Was the common good really worth this?

“I'll kill him!” Shasta sprang to her feet. “I'll kill him – that vile, monstrous...” She ran forth to a cluster of pixies, slicing all three of them in half with a single swoop of her sword.

“Kill who?” Her mother turned to her.

Shasta's face was wet with tears.

“Kill Delano!”

Chapter 14

“
Y
ou can't do that,” I said instantly. “If Delano dies, the pixies will be completely uncontrolled. They'll keep fighting. We need him to call them off.”

“Call them off?” Shasta shouted. “Why, that spineless, cowardly bastard – why would he ever do that?”

“Because it's too late,” I said. “For him. For Winter. For Summer. We've got a bigger enemy now. The Dark Hordes. And if we don't team up together – yes, even the pixies – they're going to wipe us all out. You think the Dark Hordes will be happy once they've slaughtered all of us? No, when our blood starts to run dry they'll start on them. And Delano knows that. His lust for power may have made him blind – but now he sees. He must! He sees what he has done. We can't kill him before he stops the pixies – stops the Hordes, if he can!”

“Fight with pixies?” Shasta scoffed, her sword coming down on another pixie soldier. “Never! After what they've done.”

“Shasta, wait...” The Winter Queen started, but it was too late. Shasta had sprang onto her horse and galloped off.

I followed her, kicking my heels into my steed. We went around the castle walls until at last we both spotted Delano at the same time – trying to fight off a coterie of Summer Knights.
Not my men
! I thought, as one Summer soldier fell to the ground. I hesitated for a moment as Shasta rode forth. Did I really mind if she cut Delano's head from his body?

But there was strategy to think of. “Shasta, stop!” I cried. But she had already leaped from her horse, flying through the air and coming down to crash right on top of Delano. He fell over with a great clang, and she raised her sword.

“This is for my brother,” she spat.

But Delano was twice her size, and a far more experienced fighter. While Shasta fought bravely – almost managing to disarm him a few times – she had nothing on him. His magic and his skill were both far too great.

“Silly girl!” He laughed as he managed to grab her sword, throwing it out of reach. She stepped back, stumbling over a stone and falling backwards onto her hands. He pointed his sword directly at her throat. “Didn't your mother ever teach you good manners?”

“My mother taught me to get revenge on scum like you!” She tossed her head back. “Go on, kill me! I don't care. I dare you to.”

I didn't have time to see if Delano would take her up on the offer. I rushed forth, my sword striking against Delano's, pushing it aside from the fatal blow.”

He looked up at me, his twisted mouth contorting into a grim smile. “My darling fiance.” He looked me up and down, his eyes lascivious as they rested on the contours of my figure still visible beneath my armor. I wanted to throw up.

“Dearest,” I hissed.

“And I thought I'd lost my true love forever.” He laughed.

“I think I stopped believing in that true love bull around the time you summoned the Dark Hordes.”

“Because your true love Kian never fought against you in a war, did he? Politics is politics, my pretty one. And I was never unkind to you, was it? I brought you back to life at my Palace, remember? I cared for you, when everyone else had given you up for dead. I even glamoured myself to look like your Winter Prince so you wouldn't find me so...repellent.” His tongue flickered out at me through his sharp teeth.

“Well, it didn't work.” I restrained my anger. I needed a favor from him, after all.

“So you haven't reconsidered my offer, then?” Delano shrugged. “You don't want a Pixie on the Winter throne? A powerful Summer heir with – dare I say it – devilishly handsome looks?”

“It's time to call off this war,” I said “Call off the Hordes. You're not stupid, Delano – they're getting out of control. Why you thought you could harness their power I don't know, but you've got to realize now. Your pixies are no safer than my fairies as long as they're around. And whatever you can do to get rid of them – do it!”

“It's too late,” Delano said. “What has been set in motion will come to pass. One cannot unleash a magic as deep, as dark, as fatal as this and simply put it back, like you would return a jam-jar to the kitchen shelf!”

I stood aghast. “How could you be so stupid,” I cried. “So idiotic? How could you call upon these Hordes if you couldn't control them? You're a selfish bastard, but you're not stupid or suicidal. Did you just want to destroy Feyland if you couldn't have it for yourself?”

“My dear Breena,” said Delano. “You must be mistaken. If I could do anything for my dear little fiance, I would – you know I wouldn't deny a pretty little thing like you anything at all, if you'd only come home with me...”

“Delano!”

“But your heart belongs to another, so that will never be. And of course – even if I wanted to, I couldn't. You see, I didn't summon them.” He looked over at Shasta, who had managed to fell five more of Delano's men. He seemed to mourn them little. “Only a fairy can summon the Dark Hordes. The pixies don't have that kind of magic.”

“Then who...”

Before I could finish my sentence, a shadow swooped down over the land. At first I looked up, expecting to see a dragon darkening the sky. But this shadow was bigger than that, more insidious. It wasn't a shadow at all. It spread over the distant mountains like a spill of ink, but I recognized them from the chilled feeling in my bones.

It was the Dead, come to join the Hordes.

“Delano, I'm not kidding – call them off!”

“It wasn't me who summoned them,” said Delano. “It's too late now, Breena. For you. For me. For all of us. Once the Dead begin to walk this earth, it's only a matter of time before we join them. Looks like my number is up at last! And to think,” his expression was grim. “We could have been so very...very happy together.”

Chapter 15

I
could feel the fear within all of us. Not only within my own chest, my own spirit, but within all of us here in Feyland. My magic connected with the magic of my soldiers, and I could sense their pain. They too could see the horde of the Dead that was coming towards us, a shadow that sucked out all life, all warmth, from its past. A shivering chill passed through all of us. Did they recognize any of the Dead, I wondered, as my eyes scanned the horizon for my Summer soldiers? Did they see their fallen comrades, their family, their friends – now fighting against them, overwhelmed by the power of darkness that had taken hold?

I could see Redleaf. She was floating at the head of the Dead, her eyes cold, her expression implacable. This was not the flawed, tormented woman I had met in the land of the Dead, the woman who had managed to elicit sympathy from me even after all her crimes. No, this woman had clearly been possessed by the dark forces of the Hordes; she was no longer a fairy at all, but a demon with a fairy's face. I could see in her eyes nothing but rage, nothing but hatred. Everything else had been drained out of her – leaving her desiccated, withered, alone.