The Faerie Slayer

Kade’s Pov

I could not stand another night of laying around, being tortured by the will of my thoughts. They accompanied me with dark fears that only Aubrette seemed to bear the ability to trigger. I had to get up, I had to find a solution to suit all, now. Instead, I sat, useless,

knowledge-less and most of all, helpless. A dream I have dreamt about since the day my mother was taken away from me, to avenge her by giving her murderer the same fate she had would only come at the cost of the one I love.

I was past denying that I loved Aubrette. To do so at this point would be beyond silly.

My father was giving me a choice between the two women I loved most. It was an impossible decision. The only way to rectify this would be to kill the faerie and seek out justice for my mother on my own. My fathers plans to kill Aubrette would then be abandoned. I cared not for betraying Isabella Ulwin. She meant no more to me then her foolish trow and that appalling bird.

I sat up at the sound of a sudden sound at the glass window furthest from the entrance door. There was a bang and another and another. I peered closer and realized that there were rocks being thrown at the window.

I hurried to my feet, wondering who the intruder was. I unbolted the locks that held the window confined and gazed outside into the fresh air. I could not catch sight of the bearer of the noise, instead, the drifting last bit of sunlight lit the view to the beginning of a strip of trees.

“Who’s there?” I demanded. Another rock came flying my way and I ducked to avoid being hit.

I looked down further to where a miniature pixie girl had her wings stuck under a medium sized rock a top a window still just a foot below from me.

“A little help here!” She demanded and lifted another tiny rock and threw it my way. I ducked yet again.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Elie. Aubrette sent me to find you.”

I did not hesitate. I leaped forward and reached for the boulder that held her prisoned. The miniaturefaerie flew up and into my room immediately. In her grasp was a folded letter.

“Where is she?” I immediately began.

“Here,” she reached forward,” just read this.”

I read the writing and somehow knew that it really was from Aubrette. I felt my chest began to ache.

“You’re her spirit?”

“Yes. She asked me to take you to her, if you will.”

“Where are they keeping her?”

“At the castle. The woods are guarded with the queens vicious ogres but I know a way in.”

I did not need a second to think,” let’s go.”

The pixie girl flew out of the window and I followed, using the sill under me as a stepping stone before leaping off one of the uneven bricks and landing on the grass. I placed my blind trust into the girl and followed her all of the way, through miles of twisting soil pathways through dangerous woods and trees.

The creature led me to a clearing that homed the back of a charcoal brick tower. It bore no visible windows besides one close to the very top where it eventually ended within the clouds. There were no stairs, nor railings, nor anything that could have aided to the climb.

She raised her small hands and pointed,” she’s up there.”

“How am I supposed to get up there?” I snapped. I did not mean to be so angry with the girl, my built up tension combined with excitement to see Aubrettewas hindering my usually logical thinking. I could not afford another obstacle to get in my way. I had to see her now.

“Aren’t you a wolf? Can’t you like shift, and climb up the trees?”

“I cannot shift in the land of the folk,” I placed my fingers through my hair and peered around. There were trees, the closest one was just a few meters from the tower. If I could climb it high enough to get as close as possible to the window and just leap, I could make it.

I did not hesitate. I forced my tired body up on the trunk of the massive tree and used the deadly branches to hoist myself up further and further. I stumbled on a nest where a dozen blue birds flew out at the intrusion but kept making my way to the top. The faerie girl buzzed around my face. I felt a lingering urge to swat her away. When I’d made it to be parallel to the window, I realized that the distance between was further then I had envisioned. I used a part of a broken branch to ensue a warning at the window. Almost immediately came a fluttering figure who swept the thick of the curtains aside and gazed out at me with more then anticipation.

I felt a breath that I had been holding release. The let-go felt as if I had been holding my breath for the entirety of my life. The mere sight of her liberated me. She was strugglingwith the glass window. I-on the other hand-was ready to fist through it. She managed to open the window, but the distance between us was taunting.

“Kade,” she said my name as if it held some sort of reassurance for her,” it’s really you.”

“Are you alright?” I struggled with a thousand words on my mind but I’d summed it down to just three.

“I’m fine. Are you?”

“I’m fine.”

For a minute we just stared at each other. I slowly began to take in how she was dressed. The jewels around her neck and the way that her hair had been styled. I could not touch her and it was maddening. Her flushed red lips roped me in. I wanted to kiss her with more urgency then a quenched man for water. I suddenly wondered how I had ever been fooled into thinking that the nixie could have ever been Aubrette.

“I can’t believe you came.”

“I can’t believe you had doubts.”

“The queen wants me to marry her son,” she revealed but this was not news to me.

“I know.”

“She will never let me get away.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to stay here. This is not my home.”

“I will get you out,” I had no doubts that I would get her back home or that I would die trying,” I have a plan.”

“What plan can save me from this fate?” her flawless eyes twinkled with a tear,” they will find me where ever I run.”

“Then we hide, even if it’s for the rest of our lives, but I will get you out of here, I guarantee

it.”

“Stop it Kade,” she patted her cheek dry with her index and I felt my chest ache,” you should just go back, you can still have your life back. I’m here to stay.”

“That’s not true,” I spoke with desperate urgency, placing weight into my words and stance. The branch beneath struggled to support me,” on the way here, I thought of a plan, if your pixie friend is willing to help me, we can get out of here together.”

“The date for the wedding is set. It’s six days from today. In six days, I will be crowned and married.”

My mouth had suddenly gone dry. I could not accept this fate. I knew that it was the inevitable that a date for the wedding would be set, but I could not imagine it would be this soon. The time constraint was tight, but it was not impossible.

“My father is here,” I said instead,” he’s working with a women, a faerie women by the name of Isabelle.”

“Isabelle Ulwin?”

I nodded.

“That was my moms best friend. Why are they working together?”

“Isabelle promised my father revenge for my mothers death, under one condition.”

Aubrette did not need further clarification. She nodded her head,” they want me dead.”

I did not respond and she continued,” why does Isabelle want me dead?”

“The next descended of the crown after you is her daughter. She wants to be apart of the royal family. She’s been spying on you, for months using her bird.”

She seemed to be lost in the thought of a clarifying memory.

“Ive seen her bird, it’s massive. She needs me to die, so her daughter will be crowned in place of me, and marry Edmund?”

“Yes. I can handle my father, I could get him the revenge he’s after. Once he has that, he will not care about killing you anymore.”

“How will you do that?”

“The faerie that killed my mother, he was in the cell next to me in the prison. If I could get to him-”

“No Kade, that’s suicide.”

“So is doing nothing.”

“There has to be a different way, the ogres will kill you-”

“I will poison them first with just enough dapperling mushrooms to knock them out for a few minutes. Once I have my father handled, the only thing left is the queen. If needed, I will kill Isabelle if she tries to intervene.”

“Listen to yourself, this plan is insane.”

“It could work, if I could get to the queen and kill her, I could kill Edmund as well-”

“Kade, stop it!” She did not yell but she pressed with enough frustration to silence me,” you’re one person, in their world! This will never work.”

" I could try. I just need weapons, poison, dapperling mushrooms.I have nothing now, I can’t even shift here.”

“Where will you find dapperling mushrooms? I can’t imagine they’d let them freely grow around here.”

The sound of a buzzing alerted us of the pixies presence and suddenly she was near my face.

“I know where you can find the mushrooms!”

I sat up and lost my balance once again,” where?”

“The queens gnomes pick all the dapperlingmushrooms that grow here and dump it in Kelpie River. It’s a six day journey there and back.”

“We have to leave immediately,” I said.

“Kade wait, think this through,” Aubrette began,” there’s no time to make a journey like this.”

“This is the only way,” I said,” without the poison I am helpless against their magic.”

Aubrette turned to face the pixie,” then you have to stay with him at all times and when he needs you, you must always be ready and willing.”

“Absolutely not. I will not risk my life for the sake of some wolf.”

“Ellie, please,” Aubrette pleaded,” you once said you would risk your life for me. He means more to me then myself.”

I peered up at Aubrette with eyes that shun like lanterns. She would not meet my gaze, hers were drowning in the sorrow of her tears. She seemed to be on the edge of a breakdown. She cannot handle anymore of this.

The little pixie girl finally nodded with a sigh and said,” fine, I will make sure we get to those mushrooms.”

The climb back down was depressing. I did not want to leave my mate but I had no choice. From the bottom, my feet now on the soil I gazed up at the tower in the clouds and met the eyes of my love.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said. She could not hear me but I knew she received the message.

***

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