Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE -- HALIA (Edited)

HALIA'S POV

I ran through the undergrowth. The fireflies lightened my path. My heart was pounding and I was short of breath, but the early morning cold kept me going.

I was surrounded with life and beauty. The forest, the morning dew covering my feet, the feel of the rising sun on my skin. I felt alive. I felt hopeful.

I wasn't sure how long it had been since I had last seen Phi. Barely a day for me, but time could either go faster or slower inside a magical land when its ruler leaves. Time obeyed no rules.

She is going to do what it takes to convince the thunder spirits. The oracle had predicted it.

Or at least, I thought that's what the oracle meant. I sighed. Who knew?

I was still coming to terms with the idea that another entity lived inside of me. Although "lived" is not the right word. There were two parts of me. The "me" me and the "oracle" me. The two parts coexisted, but the latter was more dormant than not.

I still felt upset the oracle served no better purpose. It was rather lame.

Thoughts like those had been flowing freely in my mind when I noticed the scenery around me was changing.

The closer I came to the Evil King's fortress, the more dead branches I saw and the more the leaves cracked under my weight.

At last, I could observe the sturdy walls of Wotan's place of sorrows through the brittle branches of the by-then bare tree.

He was killing the Mother, striping the land of its life, I noted, staring blanking at the lifeless field that stretched out around the fortress.

That was unthinkable. Draining nature of its energy was a crime of unspoken gravity among the fairies.

I never thought a creature could be this evil. Sure, he had submitted my people and the humans living with him to the worst kinds of torture imaginable, but this . . .

I decided to keep moving. I still had to get to my people. How? I did not know. I no longer had Domovoy's help or Siegfried's hand of glory.

I'll figure it out. I share Phi's powers, after all.

*

I initially hid from the mindless guards that patrolled the area by crouching behind a rock, in my miniature size. I circled the fortress several times, in the hope of spotting the house spirit. Damn, he was nowhere to be seen. No hypnotic whispers into guards' ears today.

I jogged back to the front gate. It was open and unguarded, but after testing the gap with a prudent hand. I felt a burning sensation on my skin and took away my hand immediately. The surface of the air in the gateway was disturbed, as if a rock had fallen through and rippled a tranquil body of water.

It was a trap, made to lure us in, and kill us if we ran into it.

At least I didn't rush into it, I thought, congratulating myself.

I heard rustling in a dry shrub behind me and in a matter of seconds, a firm hand closed around me. The disturbance, even if minimal, did not go unnoticed. The guards looked my way.

I regained my full size and for a while the human that was holding me lost his grip. I made it a few strides away, but the other guards tackled me.

I let their fists, knees, and feet riddle my skin with open wounds and bruises.

If they have me, they might bring me into the castle.

Of course, there was also the possibility that they would kill me right there and then. I took my chances.