Phantom Fae (16 page)

The men cast a look in Ena's direction.

"Aye, duty," the one said, grinning.

***

Brett was glad when he was headed back to the hawk fae kingdom where Freya had gone while he was healing up. He hadn't wanted to delay aiding her even this long, but with his strength back, he was ready to help her end this curse.

It took several hours on the flight to Edinburgh, Scotland before they arrived, and then they transported to the hawk fae kingdom from there.

"You can do this." Ena assured Brett as Freya had turned into her raven from and landed on the castle wall walk.

They had moved Zane into the stable, and Freya flew off to tell Elorian they had returned and needed his help.

Elorian was in the stable in a heartbeat with a book of spells in hand. Freya shifted and sat on top of a haystack, looking hopeful.

"I know how to do it," Brett said, a flash of clarity that suddenly swept the fog out of his thoughts. It was like taking a test in high school and knowing the answer to a question, yet it eluded him no matter how hard he wracked his brain to come up with it. Suddenly, it was like the clouds parted and the shone through and he had the answer.

He thought back to how he had made flames surround the sword. He didn't just wish it. He had to call on the power to aid him in a case that meant life or death. Maybe it would work on just imagining something equally as important. Freezing the wizard, yes, because the action had saved Brett and his friends from whatever fate would have awaited them when the soldiers were on their way. But unfreezing him, no, unless Brett thought of it as being crucial to end Freya's curse.

This time, he thought of how much he needed to unfreeze Zane so that he could force him, in some way, to remove the curse on Freya.

Frozen solid still, Zane stood there in his regal mage robes as if clothes made the man, or in his case, mage. Brett waited a little longer, while everyone else watched to see the great miracle.

Nothing happened. Not one drop of water sliding down the frozen figure. No sign of melting at all.

Brett frowned at Zane. "I was certain I had it figured out." He explained his reasoning.

"I've never heard of casting magic in such a way. Either you know how to do it, or you don't." Elorian began flipping through his spell book to a page where he had inserted a feather to mark his place. "I did find a spell I thought might work though."

Brett hated that he couldn't do this on his own. He'd botched the situation with Freya, and he felt bad that Ena would see him as a failure. He glanced at her.

Ena was watching Freya, her arms folded, her dark brows knit together. "Freya, turn into a raven," Ena suddenly said.

But Zane was still frozen to the core. The spell hadn't worked.

Freya let out her breath and nodded. When she didn't do anything, Brett said, "Are you trying?" He couldn't help sounding both astonished and hopeful that this had worked.

Freya's lower lip dropped. "Oh…my…goddess."

Ena smiled. "Try again."

Everyone watched as they heard the hawk fae warriors returning after the battle to the royal castle a half mile away.

"Are you sure you can't change?" Brett asked, astounded. He
thought
thawing Zane out and forcing him to revoke the curse of Freya was the only way to manage this. No way did he believe he could reverse the curse another mage invoked. At least in all the PC games he played, it wasn't possible.

"No, I can't." Freya jumped off the haystack and wrapped her arms around Brett in a heartfelt squeeze and kissed him on the cheek. He gave her a hug back, not wanting to see how Ena was viewing this. But it was such a miracle that he could undo it, and he was as thrilled as she was.

"I can't believe it," Elorian said. "I have never heard of a mage being able to undo the curse of another." He slapped Brett on the back. "You will be much valued by any ruler to serve as the royal mage with an ability like that."

"Queen Viviana wanted him for her Dragon at Arms," Ena said. "I think it was because he rescued her from the dungeon no matter how injured he was."

"Halloran should have such an honor and now does," Brett said.

"I couldn't believe when you suggested it. Usually when a ruler makes a ruling, even if you're unhappy with it, you're stuck with it," Ena said.

"Like being made a duchess?" Brett asked.

"You know what happened then. I still can't believe you told her you wanted to be my gardener."

Then Brett remembered about his friends. That was his next mission—to locate them. "Where did my friends go?"

"We'll look into it. We'll probably be called on to celebrate with the hawk fae royal family before we settle in for the night. What are you going to do about the mage apprentice?"

Brett just smiled. Zane couldn't harm anyone as a frozen fae. He rather liked to keep him that way.

Ena shook her head. "I doubt anyone will want to store him on their property."

After celebrating with the hawk fae, Ena, Brett, and Freya finally retired for the night. Ena, out of kindness, offered her a job at her castle—since Freya was a weaver and Ena could use a good weaver. Freya could sell whatever she made extra to the merchants in town.

She hadn't immediately accepted the job, and Ena thought she might not like being a phantom fae in the dragon fae realm. On the other hand, Ena did consider Freya liked Brett a lot too, probably for his having rescued her from the curse. What was not to like about Brett? He was just too charming. Still, Ena had to offer because the phantom fae couldn't return to her own people.

She'd made inquiries into what had happened to Brett's friends, too. But they had just vanished without a word. As humans, they had nowhere to go on their own. That had her more than worried about them. And she would solicit everyone that she could tomorrow to help them locate the two teens.

***

Late that night, someone knocked at Brett's chamber door, waking him from a sound sleep. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he crossed the floor and opened the door. A servant was standing there, holding a note. "Sorry to disturb your sleep, my lord, but a messenger has left this for ye and said it was urgent that you receive it at once."

It was about five in the morning. Brett needed another three hours of sleep to get with the program. He opened the note and read:
You will bring Zane back to me at once, bring no one else, and I will free your inconsequential human friends. Deviate from my command, and I will have them terminated. You will complete the mage trials. And then and only then will they be released.

His heart pounding, Brett thanked the servant, shut the door, and hastily dressed. He grabbed the guard's sword, his jeweled sword, and daggers and sheathed them. The guards who had come to take them hostage when he had frozen Zane and then taken him away must have immediately gone to the queen about it. Somehow, they had located Brett's friends, took them hostage, and waited until Brett was back in the hawk fae kingdom, where they must have suspected Zane was. Good thing they must have had fae trackers who couldn't track a frozen mage, no fae dust to leave behind like they did when they were fae traveling.

Brett had to do this now even though he knew the queen intended him to die this time around. He thought he had a good chance of proving her wrong.

He hadn't even made it outside of the inner bailey when Ena in her dragon form dropped from the sky, landed in front of him, shifted, and said, "Where do you think you're going, armed for battle, and without a word to me?"

He handed her the note. "I'm going as a dragon and I'll shift in the woods and then walk to the castle. I have to do this."

She hastily read the note, then shook her head. "You can't go alone. And you can't go as a dragon."

"I seem to have that under control."

"No. Don't you see? Unless the queen got word, she probably doesn't know you can turn into a dragon. If anyone saw you, she would know. You have the advantage. We could leave a frozen Zane there, grab your friends, and return here."

"If they're not locked away."

Ena paced. "Right. That's why you're not going alone. Not all the dragons are here. Several have moved their treasure. But several more are here. I'll ask them to go with us."

"No. She said to go alone."

"She's not going to make this fair. She probably doesn't know that you've frozen Zane. She probably thinks you've only kept him hostage. She probably assumes he still can beat you at the trials or she wouldn't risk Zane's life. How can you trust that she'd release your friends? And where? In No Man's Land? In phantom fae territory? She's not going to have them escorted to the hawk fae or dragon fae kingdoms."

"She says she'll kill them if I bring anyone else."

"Believe me, she intends to get her mage back and kill you and your friends. End of story. Besides, you should have someone on your side cheering you on, don't you think?"

"What if archers try to take you out?"

"We burn the place down, free your friends, and that's the end of that."

"Somehow, I don't think this is going to be as easy as all that. But…I have to agree with you about Queen Everlee. I'll go with your plan. But we have to go quickly. If anyone wants to go, it has to be now."

"Halloran will kill me. But he will go. I'll be right back. Ask Freya."

"Yes," Freya said, joining them. "I will go."

Chapter 15

Ena knew the phantom fae queen would have Brett killed. It probably was really irritating her that he'd gotten away from her, fought on her enemy's side, and taken her mage apprentice hostage. Ena was certain the queen would be more than furious when she saw a dozen dragons headed with them to the phantom fae kingdom also.

Halloran carried the frozen Zane, while Ena carried Brett. Freya transported fae-style, but was to keep out of sight until they all arrived to ensure the queen didn't have her taken hostage.

Then the dragons flew together but spread out enough that they could encircle the walls of the castle.

"It is me, Brett. I have come at the queen's request," Brett said to one of the guards as he arrived with Ena.

"I doubt she said for you to bring an army of dragons," the guard said, brows raised, but he seemed to be amused, more than concerned.

"I didn't have any say in it. I couldn't come here by myself. I don't have the ability to fae transport. And one dragon shifter couldn't come alone for fear of being shot. So she brought an escort—for herself."

"All right. Then tell them thanks and that they must now go," the guard said

"After traveling so far, it would be impossible to travel across your territory and No Man's Land again tonight. They wish to watch me best Zane in the magic trials."

"What has happened to Zane?" the guard asked, staring at the mage's frozen form.

"He will stay like that until I'm assured the queen releases my friends to the dragon shifters."

Brett had only planned to leave Zane there in his frozen state and free his friends. He was certain the queen intended to kill them in any event.

In her royal purple gowns, Queen Everlee stood on the royal dais in the courtyard, Maracose, her adviser, by her side, and like with the previous trial, courtiers stood on either side of the courtyard. Except this time, they had an audience of dragon shifters standing on top of the wall walk, looking extremely imperious. Brett was truly grateful. And proudly between Ena and Halloran, Freya stood and smiled at Brett. He was glad to see her smile, that she had come home without the curse, but the queen could still be her undoing.

Which made him realize he couldn't leave Queen Everlee in power.

"I have completed the second trial," Brett said, motioning to Zane. "As you can see, I've eliminated my competition."

At that moment, he saw an archer ready his bow to shoot an arrow at Brett. The queen must have given the order before Brett even arrived to have him killed. Brett shifted into his golden dragon form and the phantom fae gathered gasped or cried out in shock as the arrow hit his scales and bounced off. Ena turned her dragon fury on the archer and incinerated him.

Everyone was quiet, then a low rumble of conversation filled the air. Brett remained standing in his dragon form, eyeing the queen. Then when she sat down on her throne on the dais as if in defeat and there would be no more unprovoked attacks, he shifted back.

"You have your mage apprentice back. Now, release my friends."

Scowling at Brett, she motioned to the frozen mage apprentice. "Zane is no good to me like this."

"I will take care of it once my friends are with the dragons."

She waved a hand at a man, and he hurried into the keep. "What a surprise to see you as a dragon. We never knew what your mother's fae kind was. I didn't know a dragon shifter mating with another kind could create a dragon shifter. I thought the shifter kind had recessive genes. That if they ever mated with any other fae kind, the offspring couldn't shift into dragons."

Brushing away a strand of blond hair, she looked truly in awe. Not like she was fearful or hated him for it. Which totally surprised him and made him wary all at once.

"You won the trial."

"Who were my parents?" He couldn't believe he was both a phantom fae and a dragon fae, or that he came from a family of mages also.

Ignoring his question, she said, "You will do as my mage. I will tell you about your parents when you agree to work for me."

"What about Zane?" Brett couldn't believe she'd dismiss her favorite mage apprentice so easily. And he didn't trust her one bit as far as how she would treat him if he stayed here under her rule.

"Clearly you have defeated him. I told you. You have won."

The guard brought Mark and Bryan out of the keep, still manacled.

"Remove the manacles," the queen said.

His friends' eyes widened when they saw Brett.

"You came for us when you have to know she means to kill you," Mark said, frowning.

"Of course. You would have come for me if you'd had a way to get here." Brett knew they would have been upset when Ena gave him up as payment to the phantom fae. "Some of my friends will return you to the hawk fae kingdom." He was glad he could call Ena and her dragon brethren friends. What if one of them was even a relation? He was dying to know. He said to the queen, "Why would I want to work for you after you wanted me dead? After you murdered my grandfather and parents? And murdered Freya's parents. Most likely countless others also."