Knightingale [THE FIRST DRAFT.]

CHAPTER TWELVE

"My Knightingale."

[ THIS BOOK is available illustrated on my KOFI @/2ndstarart ]

In the few seconds that Gale took to open her faded eyes, the boy, and the magpie perched on his shoulder looked down at the growling red-head.

"Anthony?" Adric whispered. Anthony Beckett, that tanned skin and red hair was undoubtedly him. Yet he hadn't had time to inspect further as the moment his name was uttered a flash of purple shone within his eyes, subtle but unmistakenly there. He dropped from Gale's leg, folding in on himself like a leaf falling from a tree in autumn. It was only when he hit the crystal waters below that he made a sound, but that was only a splash.

Adric pulled Gale up through the tower window, aided by Mallory who tried her best to pull her up by her cloak – which was a challenge given how ripped it now was.

"What happened to you?" His smirk returned to his face as Gale wiped her nose and mouth of any sign of blood.

Gale brushed down and readjusted her now torn cape, it saddened her to see her safety blanket torn to shreds. "That thing." She sneered, fixing the clasp.

"I meant the makeover." Adric chuckled, looking her up and down, focusing particularly on her avian legs.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, moving her clock in a way to cover them up, except the numerous holes meant they were still on show. Mallory pecked the boy's ear as she returned to her perch. One does not look at a girl in such a way.

"It seems your fairytale was right." If this was the start of their journey she would've had to swallow these words with great difficulty, however, as she looked towards the sky she knew it to be true.

"A place where two worlds meet." Adric followed her gaze and saw the two skies melting together. However, he looked at them and questioned if they were fighting against one another.

"Not day or night..." He returned to looking at the girl, whose pale eyes were directed at the skies. "Ya know I don't mind it."

"Stop it." She snapped back. "It made it extremely hard to fight, that thing." She averted her gaze from the window in which he fell, wanting never to hear the fateful splash of the waters below again.

The boy's eyes widened, "Anthony?" he questioned, it hadn't sunk into him that the boy from his village, a boy who wanted for nothing and tried to make those around him smile, was fish food.

"You knew him?" Gale lifted a light eyebrow.

Adric nodded solemnly. Quickly, a hand softly laid on his shoulder, it was still cold, and hard but she was getting better at this comforting thing.

"Well whatever you knew, he is no longer it. That was not human." The girl would see this as consoling, but to Adric it only reinforced the idea that this boy was gone, and many more too because of their quest for the Queen. What made him so special to make it this far? And was that fate waiting for him?

Adric frowned. Gale thought it best to move on. Or rather, up.

"There are more. Just above us. You think that's the right way?"

"What does your intuition tell you?" Adric smiled, looking up at her as she looked up towards the ceiling.

"My intuition tells me..." She hesitated before letting out a long breath and she answered; "To ask what your fairytale says."

Smiling wide, Adric recited all he could remember. "Through forests dark and a well-known path. Check." He made a silly hand movement as if he were checking it off of a physical list. "A ruined lair. Check. Where moonlight seeps. It must be upwards."