Redemption

Redemption Part 21

I hesitated. Cade could probably do it on his own. But Sol stepped in after him, and I hardly had a choice but to follow.

The mist swirled around me, blinding me, choking me. I struggled to breathe. Tried to catch a glimpse of Cade, but he'd disappeared. And where was Sol? Panic hit me. I lost all thought, all sense of time, falling into vague coolness as if the Flicker had taken hold already.

Then, a hand grasped mine. Sol, beside me, his coppery hair dulled by the bland grayness of the fog. It was almost like being in grayspace. Except I could breathe. Though I tried not to—I didn't want the Flicker to take root in my lungs.

The mist parted a little to reveal a castle, set in the side of a hill, its turrets jutting against the sunset sky. A broad lawn, some grazing horses with long luxuriant manes. Near the door, Sym's long golden hair, gleaming. Harmony's paler hair, with a reddish tint.

Cade reached the drawbridge just ahead of us. Two guards crossed their spears in front of him. "I'm their brother," said Cade.

"We do not recognize 'their brother'," said one of the guards, who had blank eyes and stubble on his chin.

Cade made an exasperated pose, exaggerated by the robe he wore. "I'm the brother of... Princess Harmony."

"We do not recognize another brother of Princess Harmony," said the other guard, with long brown hair.

"Oh, fine," said Cade, and tried to dash past them. But the brown haired guard whirled his spear and jabbed its point to Cade's chest.

"Ow!" Cade jumped back, rubbing his chest. "That hurt!" He turned to us. "She must have Ms in here for realism. No wonder we don't normally visit her."

"Are you okay?" said Sol.

"Yeah, thankfully it seems superficial. Safety protocols must still be pretty high." He dabbed at his chest beneath his shirt and it came away with a smear of blood. "These guards don't seem to be too bright at least." He motioned to us and we slid down the embankment. The guards didn't look around, just stayed in the same at attention pose.

We waded across the holographic water, which came up to our chests in the middle. Sol dipped his hand in it and let it drip off in bright, unnaturally blue drops, sending iridescent ripples across the stream.

We crawled up the other bank and walked down the cobblestone road. On closer glance, the road was embedded with golden sparkles tinted different colors of the rainbow. The horses raised their heads as we passed, grass sticking out of their mouths. Some of the horses were dappled gray, others were white, in the distance beneath the trees were black and gold and spotted ones. Even a lavender one, with a light pink foal beside it. Near the castle, a few yards from Harmony, was a unicorn, with impossibly long wavy mane and tail, the horn pearlescent like the Spire.

"Sym!" said Cade, waving. She looked at him rather absently then looked back at her sister. As I drew closer, I realized someone else was with them. A man. And a little boy. Echo.

Cade ran up to them and stopped, breathless. "Sym—what are you doing? Why were you in here so long?"

She tilted her head. "Do I know you?" Her eyes were vague, as if she were lost in a dream.

"It's me, Cade, your brother."

"I...only have one brother." She motioned toward Echo, who looked up with a vague, adoring expression. "And one sister." She motioned toward Harmony, who smiled vacantly. "And one father." She laughed, looking at the man. "I came back from a long quest to find he was back."

The man looked at me with a rather hawk-like gaze. He had shaggy burnished golden hair and piercing blue-purple eyes, like Sym's. His high cheekbones gave him a rugged yet handsome look. He wore a white gold-trimmed shirt and pants, glinting with hidden jewels of all colors. "And who might you be?" he said. "I am the king of this castle, and I will not countenance any impostors, especially if they not have my daughter's best interests at heart."