Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (51 page)

‘You fucking traitor!’ Sherri gasped. ‘I’m defending
your
brother!’

Ivyanne came to an abrupt halt before she fell in with them. She felt one of her high heels crack under the pressure just as she saw her father release her mother and tear Ardhi off Tristan. For the moment, her ex lover was safe.

‘He’s no brother of mine!’ Pintang croaked, attempting to pry Sherri’s hands off her throat as her face turned purple.

Ivyanne was about to pull Sherri free of Pintang, but suddenly saw that Ardhi was on his feet and racing for the door with her father hot on his heels. He sent out another wall of light ahead of him and Aubrielle shrank back, shielding her face, missing the wall of solid energy by only millimeters with Saraya yelping behind her, the sound muffled by a boom of thunder. Another mer-one Ivyanne didn’t recognize who had been standing by the door, was not so lucky. The young man, twelve, guessing by his looks, flew backwards a few feet, his hair sticking up from the current. But to Ivyanne’s amazement, he landed on his backside and although his expression was dazed, he clearly hadn’t been badly hurt. It looked like Ardhi’s gift wasn’t as effective over a prolonged distance.

Ivyanne snarled to see her people being threatened, and glanced back at Ardhi. By the speed he was doing, it was obvious that he intended to leap over both Sherri and his sister and make a beeline for the exit.

Coward!
Ivyanne set her jaw, reached out and shoved him at the moment he was most airborne, mid-leap over the girls, sending him flying sideways into the wall.

‘You’re not going anywhere!’ Ivyanne screeched, landing easily on the tips of her toes and fingers. ‘
Terrorist
!’

Ardhi’s eyes widened in shock as his head connected with the rough timber. But he didn’t even have the time to slide to the floor before her father grabbed him him by the collar and hurled back against one of the solid timber pillars which held up the beams.

‘You may be the most powerful kiddo, but you aint the fastest!’ Ash spat as Ardhi’s head lolled on his neck. ‘You just got taken out by a girl and her old man. How’s it feel?’

Ivyanne grimaced out a smile before turning back to Pintang, who was still be strangled by Sherri. Oxygen wouldn’t be a problem if Pintang had breathed deeply enough beforehand, but Ivyanne was afraid Sherri’s manic grip would crush Pintang’s larynx. She lifted her leg, sending a round-house kick into the side of Sherri’s face. Almost intoxicated from Lincoln’s energy coursing through her system, she hit so hard that a shudder ran through her to the hip, but Sherri copped far worse-her head snapped sideways and she fell to the floor, knocked out.

Pintang’s eyes flew opened and her hands went to her own neck, which was bright red. ‘Thanks!’ she croaked, chest heaving as she gasped for oxygen. ‘Tristan?!’

Ivyanne turned and saw that Tristan was struggling to get off the ground. Part of his blonde hair looked matted with blood as well. Ivyanne ran to him, pulling him up, gasping for breath.

‘Are you still with us?’ she asked, darting a quick look over his head in Lincoln’s direction, not even bothered to see her fiancé breaking a lip-lock with Grace Londeree with an astonished and guilt-stricken look on his face as the queen nodded with relief and stepped free of them, heading for Ivyanne, her eyes wide with concern. Desperate times called for desperate measures-if Grace had just restored his strength, which she obviously had, Ivyanne could only be grateful to her.

‘Sweetie!’ her mother called, lifting her skirts and hurrying over. ‘Are you okay? Is Tristan?’ Her hand was reaching out to Ivyanne, and Ivyanne lifted her own-needing to feel herself in her mothers arms. There were too many people to worry about! Too many places she needed to be at once!

‘Mummy-’ Ivyanne sniffled as she felt Tristan sit up beside her. ‘He’s hurt!’

‘I’m okay...’ Tristan grunted. As Ivyanne continued to help him up with one hand. ‘She got the back of my head though...where I was injured in the crash...feel a little...’ Tristan staggered, but then looked past her. ‘Ash! Bane! No! Don’t
touch
him!’

Ivyanne spun to see Bane struggling to get Ardhi’s flailing hands together behind the pillar as her father leaned forward, holding a vial of box jellyfish poison to Ardhi’s clenched lips with Aubrielle watching closely. But just as Tristan called out, Ardhi’s hand escaped Bane’s clutches, shot forward and clamped onto the front of her father’s shirt, right above his heart.

‘You were like a dad to me!’ Ardhi bellowed. ‘How could you turn on me like this? I only ever had her best wishes at heart!’

Ivyanne screamed, but hers was lost among a sea of many others as the king’s head snapped up to look at the ceiling, his posture rigid, the veins in his neck bulging as a bright purplish green light blossomed at the front of his shirt, coming from Ardhi’s hand.

‘Ash!’ Her mothers disembodied scream resonated through Ivyanne’s very being.

‘If I can’t have her! None of you will!’ Ardhi raged, retracting his hand and turning to face her as the king collapsed on the ground at his feet. His eyes were glittering black, his face streaked with his own blood as he raised his palm like a baseball player about to pitch. His upraised arm was silhouetted by a bright flash of lightning from outside. ‘Goodbye, my love!’

Ivyanne’s heart sank as she realized what was about to happen to
her
. She looked over at her father and dropped her head in a silent prayer.
Let them get our bodies to the ocean in time!
Was her final wish.

⁓

Tristan saw what was coming and realized at once that if Ivyanne stopped breathing, he’d have to as well.

‘
Get behind me
!’ Tristan roared throwing himself at Ivyanne, knocking her to the ground while simultaneously shielding her from the glowing ball of neon light coming at them. It wasn’t a wall of energy like the last few had been-but a meteor like light-focused and horrifying and coming much to quickly. It felt like his heart would combust from sheer terror. Was his body big enough to block the princess’s?

‘Ardhi
no
!’ Joakim’s shout rose above the din.

‘
Vana
!’ Came Saraya’s horrified shriek seconds later.

Tristan ducked as a blur of lavender temporarily obscured his view of the snarling madmen ten meters away from them. Vana had launched herself between Ardhi and Tristan, but was now flying
backwards
through the air at an impossible speed, towards the rear of the building, her levitated body missing them by mere inches as she whipped past.

No
! He thought, whipping around.
Not Vana-please god no!
There was a catastrophic crashing sound, and Tristan pressed his face against Ivyanne’s, shielding her ears with his hands, blocking her view of what had just transpired.

And then all there was was screaming. Tristan was on his feet in seconds, everything else forgotten-even Ivyanne- as he raced after the body of the woman who was also his best friend.

‘Move!’ He shoved the other mers out of the way of the window desperately, skittering over shards of shattered glass before launching himself over the sill, slicing his hands on fragments still jutting up out of the track. When he landed, his heart and lungs seized as he came to a stop beside Vana Court’s lifeless body in the trampled garden bed outside.

                                               ⁓

Ardhi didn’t need to join everybody grouped near the far window to know what he’d just done and how horribly wrong his plan had gone. He didn’t need to touch his face or left arm to know they were broken in many areas, and he didn’t need to scan the room to see if anyone was still coming for him-he’d never been
so
aware of everything before in his life! From the scalding burn on his palm where the lightning had torn free to the ear-shattering scream he heard emerge from Ivyanne’s lungs-he knew that he’d killed the king and queen, and if he didn’t get out of there in ten seconds, he’d pay for it
dearly
.

Ardhi stepped over Ash Court’s sprawled body and hobbled to the window, lifting Sherri’s unconscious figure from the floor where she’d been left for dead and cradling her in his aching arms. He took three, lumbering steps, and then he was outside under the night sky, staggering down the decline of the shadowy hill, his eyes focused on the silvery water beyond the tops of the trees on the dunes, knowing that if he didn’t get them both to the water, they would be at the mercy of the ugliest mob in history. Tears blurred in his eyes, obscuring his vision, as he recalled the instant regret of crushing the heart of the man he worshipped. Raindrops began to fall then, illustrating his misery. Every one of his muscles ached, from his heart to his brain, which couldn’t fully grasp what had happened that evening. All he did know was that he needed to get out of Seaview, but that he’d be back to finish what he’d started soon enough.

He’d just made Ivyanne Court a queen. But he’d come back to finish what he had started. Of that he was certain. He had nothing left to lose.

⁓

Ivyanne sank down at her mothers side, unable to comprehend that the scorched, broken and bloody body on the ground had been full of life and vitality just seconds before. Her mothers eyes were open but blank, staring at the ceiling and into nothing, a thin, cloudy film covering her bottle green iris’s. A line of blood dribbled from the corner of her lips.

Ivyanne’s gaze drifted down her mothers neck and to the waist of her dress, taking in the dinner-plate sized scorch mark which stretched from her stomach to the gathered cloth across her bust.
Her dress is ruined,
Ivyanne thought numbly.
She’ll be so mad!

‘Did you hear me Ivyanne?’ She felt someone new crouch beside her. Yet another warm hand rested on yet another cold part of her. ‘We have to get them to the water...’

‘It’s too late,’ Ivyanne whispered, shaking her head. Every part of her body was shaking as she reached out and touched the blood at the corner of her mother’s open mouth. It was hot-
so
hot. How could it be lifeless blood? Lifeless blood ought to feel like ice! ‘She’s
gone
.’

‘I know Wahine,’ Bane said softly. ‘But unless you want to have to
bury
them-’

Ivyanne’s hart skipped a beat as she realized what she meant. She broke out of
her stupor and reached forward, bundling her mother up in her arms. It was strange, how light she felt, and then Ivyanne was suddenly hit by the memory of being carried by her mother as a child, of how warm and safe she’d felt then. How her mother’s scent had been synonymous with laughter and kissed injuries and bed time. Her knees gave and she almost dropped the body in her arms as a scream ripped out of her throat as she realized that she’d never be kissed better again. She’d
never
be okay again now if she let this moment run its course.

‘Wait...no!’ The cry ripped out of Ivyanne’s lungs. ‘She was just coming to cuddle me! She was going to make it better!’ Ivyanne felt scalding hot tears leak down her face. ‘She can’t be gone! She doesn’t need the water!’ Ivyanne buried her face into her mother’s neck. ‘Mum come on! I’m okay! You don’t have to go! Mummy
don’t go!
’

‘Ivyanne!’ A voice called out, one sounding as choked as her own. ‘Honey please...let us do what we can!’

Ivyanne whirled on Bane. ‘You’re not taking my mother! Or my father! They’re the only ones I have! Where would I get more? You’re not thinking! They can’t be dead! They have decades left-’ Ivyanne was choking on her own tears as she clutched the still-warm, still loving body protectively against her own. She closed her eyes and pleaded with her mother. With sudden clarity, she knew what it was like to be human, that time was not something to be taken for granted. ‘Come on mum, wake up please...please you don’t know how badly I need you to just be okay!’

‘Let me take her,’ Tristan’s voice was low. He stood before her, his own beautiful face streaked with dirt and blood with tears, his arms out. ‘I’ll make sure she’s safe, sweetheart.’ His eyes bore into hers. ‘Please...trust me...’

Ivyanne sobbed and handed her mother over carefully, keeping one hand in her own. Tristan loved Vana too-
Tristan
would understand. He’d never let anyone act irrationally-if the situation could be fixed-
he
would be the instigator.

‘Here,’ she sniffled. ‘Please..she needs help.’

‘I’ve got her...’ Tristan’s face was almost lost under a river of tears. ‘Just follow me.’

Ivyanne began to walk after Tristan, knowing immediately that they were going to the sea. She squeezed her mothers hand reassuringly, but when Vana didn’t squeeze back, the light of hope in Ivyanne’s heart flickered like a candle flame in a storm. She dropped the hand, which was far colder now, and felt her insides reeling in grief.

‘I’m here my love,’ Lincoln whispered in her ear as his warm arms wrapped around her cold and rigid body. ‘You’re not alone.’

Ivyanne began to sob, for she
was
alone. More alone than she’d ever been in her life. Didn’t anyone of them realize what this meant? When would anything good matter again when she couldn’t tell them her mum and dad about it? When would hurt ever go away without them assuring that it would? Who would ever again tell her that her life meant more then their own, that she could believe? She’d wanted to become independent of them and now she’d be independent for eternity! Nothing would make this better. Nothing
could
.