AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They were doing that anyway!” Mother argued. “That was how all this trouble started in the first place—how General Slaugh found Adara!”
The two of them fell silent, glowering at each other over their daughter’s auburn head. Mavlyn shifted in her chair, not sure how to break the stalemate. She’d never heard her parents fight like this—they had squabbles, of course, just like any other couple, but even then, they rarely raised their voices when they fought.
Eventually, Mavlyn’s father broke the staring contest and turned to Mavlyn with a sigh. “So what is your plan, now that you’re back? You can’t return to university—you’re a known ally of Adara’s, and Lady Mossi will likely have you arrested if she gets wind of your presence.”
“The headman also isn’t your biggest fan right now,” Mavlyn’s mother admitted. “I’m not entirely sure he won’t send word to Mossi once he finds out you’re here.”
Mavlyn’s heart sank, and she struggled not to let the trepidation she felt show on her face. “I didn’t come here because I wanted to return to university, or to my old life,” she told them. “I came here because I need your help.”
Her father scowled. “Help with what? More sedition?” He shook his head. “If you think—”
“If I think what?” Mavlyn snapped, her temper boiling to the surface. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Father, but you’re a fool if you think sticking your head in the sand is going to solve anything. Yes, Adara created a power vacuum when she killed King Aolis, but Aolis was covering up a gaping wound in the heart of our kingdom, a wound that needs to be healed if we expect to survive. The rest of the country might think that shadow magic has disappeared, but I know better. The Shadow that possessed King Aolis is still at large, and if we don’t stop her, she’s going to bring other demons here and destroy everything!”
Mavlyn’s parents exchanged glances. “Sweetheart,” her mother said, taking Mavlyn’s hand in hers. “We understand you want to do something. But what can we hope to accomplish against Lady Mossi and this Nox demon?”
“I’ll tell you,” Mavlyn said, straightening her shoulders and doing her best to sound authoritative. “But first, I need you to talk to the headman and convince him to call a meeting. This is something everyone needs to hear.”
* * *
Her parents did as she asked, visiting the village headman and asking him to set up a meeting in the village square. The three of them agreed not to tell him that Mavlyn would be the one speaking, and the next evening, she stood behind her father with her hood up, trying not to wring her hands as he addressed the crowd.
“My fellow villagers,” he said, raising his hands. “I’ve asked the headman to bring you all together to discuss the impending civil war, and what we can do to protect our village and our families.”
Murmurs swept through the crowd, villagers exchanging worried glances. “Impending civil war?” one of them shouted. “I thought that was just a rumor. No one has declared war, have they?”
“Not yet,” another person piped up. “But we all know it’s been coming since General Slaugh announced his candidacy for the throne.”
“What can we do about it, though?” A female asked, clutching her two-year-old against her chest. The child squirmed against his mother’s fearful grip, but she was heedless of his protest, her eyes wide and anxious. “Fenwood is far from the borders—it’s not as if we’re going to see much fighting, are we?”
Mavlyn’s father cleared his throat. “To be honest, I am not the expert on this situation. That’s why I brought someone else to speak to you who is.”
He moved aside, and Mavlyn stepped forward to address the villagers. The crowd gasped as she pulled her hood back, revealing her face, and Mavlyn fought against the urge to shy away from their shocked stares.
“You!” the headman jabbed a finger at Mavlyn, his eyes bulging with anger. He swiveled his gaze in her father’s direction. “You didn’t tell me your wayward daughter would be the one speaking to us today,” he growled.
“Our wayward daughter has a name,” Mavlyn’s mother called. She was standing in the crowd as well, just a few feet away from the headman. “It’s Mavlyn, and seeing as how she’s the only one of us who’s seen what transpired firsthand, I think you’d be wise to let her speak, Headman.”
The headman pursed his lips, but said nothing, and the crowd quieted, waiting with bated breath for Mavlyn to address them. A wave of nausea swept over her, and she cursed herself for her weakness. After all the dangerous escapades she’d been through—breaking into sacred temples and fortresses, facing off against thieves and soldiers,thiswas the thing threatening to bring her to her knees? Addressing her peers, the very people she’d grown up with?
No. She would not let these people intimidate her. Not when she’d already come so far.
“Citizens of Fenwood,” she said, addressing them in a firm voice. “I’ve asked my father to gather you here today because you deserve to know the truth about what’s happening in our kingdom. As lesser fae, the Houses that rule over us keep us in the dark, giving us only the barest pieces of information while they demand our loyalty and our coin. It’s time for us to change that, to arm ourselves with information and make our own decisions, instead of being told what to think and how to act.”
Many of the villagers stared at Mavlyn with skepticism, but a few were nodding their heads in agreement. Taking heart, Mavlyn forged on.
“You all remember the day that General Slaugh came to our village and kidnapped Chaya.” She decided not to rehash Adara’s own narrow capture, or the fact that half the villagers had tried to assist in it. “His target was Adara, because although she was raised as Chaya’s daughter, her parents were of royal blood. She is the daughter of the late Princess Olette, and the late Prince Daryan."
The village square erupted into a cacophony of shouts. Myriad emotions flickered over the villagers' faces—outrage, surprise, disbelief, comprehension. Some of them refused to believe it, while to others, it made far more sense that the child who’d never been able to use a drop of earth fae magic but could suddenly wield fire was secretly the child of a dragon.
“Is that why she was with a dragon that day?” someone shouted.
“Where did he even come from?” another asked. “King Aolis said all the dragons were dead!”
“There isn’t time to explain all that!” Mavlyn shouted, trying to get the meeting back on track. “The dragon is Adara’s protector, but where he came from isn’t important. What is important for you to know is that Adara is a child of prophecy, foretold to have the power to end the shadow magic infection in Ediria and return our kingdom to its former glory. That’s why King Aolis ordered General Slaugh to take her—he wanted to use her powers for himself.”
She went on to explain the truth—that Aolis himself was the cause behind the shadow magic infection, and that he’d had a Shadow inside him who’d given him his power. The audience listened intently as she told them about how they’d stormed Kaipei Castle and used Adara's fire magic to kill Aolis, but unwittingly released the demon in the process who was now possessing Gelsyne and using her magic to influence General Slaugh and the Houses and their rulers.
“Nox’s ultimate goal is to get us all to fight each other—earth fae killing water fae, water fae killing air fae, and so on, until the earth is soaked with the blood of all three races and the air is poisoned with darkness,” Mavlyn continued. “She’s already nearly gotten what she wants—the air fae are threatening to withdraw from the kingdom, and Lady Axlya and Lady Mossi are both fighting over the throne. It won’t take much to push them over the edge, and if that happens, Nox will use the dark energies we create to summon more Shadows.”
