-Aftermath-
Seth woke up to the smell of burning grass, probably because the grass was on fire. Seth sat up and looked around. Kendra was gone, and so was Ronodin, but Bracken was laying on the ground not too far away from Seth, his sword on his chest and what looked like his first unicorn next to him, why had Kendra left it?. Standing took a little bit of effort, but Seth grabbed the Sands of Sanctity from his bag and noticed that Vasilis was gone. Had Kendra taken it? Deciding that was a question for later, Seth went over to see if he could help Bracken, hoping he was still alive. Kendra had seemed to think he was dead, but Seth had to check to make sure. Even after seeing Ronodin stab him, what if he was still barely alive? Against all odds, Bracken was still faintly breathing. Seth poured the sand over Bracken’s body and hoped it was enough.
Bracken sat up quickly gasping for more air, “How am I alive?” he asked, looking at Seth.
“I don’t know, I used the sands on you when I woke up because you were still breathing,” Seth said, trying to stop Bracken as he tried to stand.
“No, that’s not right, I was dead. Where’s Kendra? I remember her voice. Maybe she kept me alive somehow,”
“I have no idea. She was gone when I woke up, so was Ronodin, but for some reason, she left your first horn here.” Seth said as he helped Bracken steady himself, then handed him the horn.
“Does that fire say something?” Bracken said, pointing at where the ground was on fire, “Maybe it’s a message from Kendra.”
“We’d need Raxtus to check unless unicorns can fly.”
“We should find him, come on Seth,” Bracken said, starting to walk away
“Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something.” Seth said, trying to remember how he got knocked out, “Ronodin broke my neck!”
“What? Why aren’t you dead?”
“I don’t know! We should both be dead!”
“I wouldn’t complain about that if I was you, Kendra definitely thinks you guys are dead.” Warren said, coming out from the woods behind them, “I just saw her in the woods, she ran away from me and made some weird fairy forcefield, I wasn’t able to follow her. She said not to come looking for her because we wouldn’t find her,” Warren said, making his way over to Seth and Bracken, then hugging both Seth and Bracken. Apparently, he had also thought they were dead.
“Well, I’ve never listened to her before, that's not changing because she thinks I’m dead.” Seth said, and then Raxtus flew down from the sky and landed next to the group, “I don’t know if you guys noticed the burning message but it’s definitely from Kendra, it says ‘I’m okay, but I’m leaving, I only bring death to the people I love’ I don’t know where she went.”
“We need to find her soon, she needs to know we aren’t dead,” Bracken said, looking more worried then Seth had ever seen him,
“Yeah, about that, why aren’t we dead?” Seth asked.
“For you Seth, it might have something to do with your deal with the sisters but I don’t know. As for why I’m alive, I have no idea.” Bracken said.
“Does it have something to do with the glitter on your face?” Warren asked, pointing at Bracken’s cheeks. Bracken wiped the glitter from his face and looked at it,
“Where did this come from?”
“Could it be magic from Kendra?” Warren asked,
“Wait,” Seth said as he remembered something about Kendra right before Ronodin killed him, “Right before Ronodin snapped my neck, Kendra was holding you, and she was crying I bet tears fell on your face could she have magic tears? Is that a fairy kind thing?”
“I don’t know, we can ask my mother she knows more about fairy kind abilities then anybody, most of them she keeps to herself so that people won’t find out about them and target her handmaidens,” Bracken said, still looking at the glitter on his fingers,
“We should go find her then, I can fly you guys to her,” Raxtus said,
“Okay let’s go,” Seth said, as Raxtus flew up so that he could pick them all up.
Raxtus found Fairy Queen within minutes, she was surrounded by the light creatures who had survived the battle. Everybody there had questions about what they were going to do with the dragon,
“With the help of Dragon Watch we will find a solution that will keep the peace for years to come, it just might take some time to work everything out. We must be patient.” The Fairy Queen said. When she spotted Bracken and the others she motioned to the other creatures as if to say ‘that’s all for now, go find ways to help’. Turning to face the group more directly she focused on Bracken, “Bracken, I’m glad to see you and your friends survived the battle, what do you need?” They told her about the situation, emphasizing the part about Kendra being missing and how both Bracken and Seth should be dead,
“I see, come with me what needs to be said can’t be heard by others.” The Fairy Queen said, leading them to what looked like a magically made treehouse. “We won’t be overheard in here, we can talk freely,” the Fairy Queen said.
“Could it have been Kendra’s fairy kind magic that saved me?” Bracken asked,
“Yes,” The Fairy Queen said with a sigh. “This is an ability that I’ve tried very hard to keep hidden. When one of my mortal handmaidens is in the greatest pain they have ever experienced their tears can have the power to heal people, they will also temporarily have more power at their disposal so that they might survive until they are safe. The easiest way to see if that is happening is if their tears have gold specks in them or if their blood is gold. None of the other two handmaidens through the centuries have ever unlocked this ability, Kendra is the first.” “You’ve only ever had three mortal handmaidens?” Seth asked. “Yes, it is a very rare title, I don’t give it lightly. If Kendra still believes you two are dead, she will most likely have that power at her disposal until the pain of your death fades.” The Fairy Queen explained.
“Well, knowing Kendra, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. The two of you were some of the most important people in her life. She loves all of her friends and family but you two were special, Seth’s her brother and Bracken is her...well, Bracken.” Warren said. And nobody else seemed to know what else to call Bracken. Because just “friend” didn’t seem to capture how much he means to Kendra.
“We need to go look for her. But first, we should make sure all of our friends are alive.” Bracken said, standing up. “Mother?” Bracken turned to his mom probably wondering if she would let him go. “Usually, I would ask you to stay with our people. But, I have your sisters to help me, and I feel you are the only right person for me to send. Call it, a royal mission, to find your Queen’s handmaiden and bring her home.” With that, their small group left the tent and set off to find the rest of their friends.
When Seth, Bracken, and Warren finally found Tanu and Vanessa they were in a makeshift medical tent. Tanu was working with the healers from the fairy realm and Vanessa looked like she had just finished getting patched up by Tanu. At the sight of Vanessa being injured Warren ran to her to see if she was okay, and Seth and Bracken followed. After they caught the two of their friends up on what happened to Kendra they started to form a plan of action. First, they would make their way back to Fablehaven and make sure everybody was okay and then make sure all the night of the dawn knew to look out for Kendra.
“Okay everybody, let’s go find my sister,” Seth said as their group filled into a van and set off to Fablehaven.
