Heir of Golden Storms
Chapter Twenty-One

I cover my face with my arms as I crash through the window of the throne room. I ascend to the sky as I hear knights gathering below me. Soon, arrows start being shot at me. I fly away, not knowing where I am headed. When I stop hearing the scraping of armors from the knights, I descend.

I land at the town of Fairdell at the Court of Miracle. I recognize the street. It is where the taverns are, where I used to come with Hesperia and Caspian all the time, and where I came with Thalia and North. It is deserted. No music is being played and no taverns are open. They are sleeping while the Court of Storms is suffering.

I sit on the floor with my back against a building. The High King, the one whom I used to call father, is gone, dead. He hated me when he learnt that I was not his son. He kept me in a cellar to rot. He tortured North to know where I was. He attacked the Court of Storms and made me beg for peace. But I loved him once, and I know that I will grieve him.

Gracin killed him by orders of Easton. Now everything comes back to me. Gracin saved me from the witches at the Moonlight Festival, but not because I was her future brother-in-law. I was part of her and Easton’s plan all alone. They wanted to blame me for the death of Zephyrus. They waited for me to arrive to the throne room, where conveniently no knights were, for them to kill the High King and blame it on me. They wanted me gone in order to secure the throne.

Now, the attacks by the Court of Mountains and the Court of Swarm continues at my court. I do not have a way to stop it. I cannot convince Easton to stop the attack. I will watch North, Glade, Hesperia, and the council die. I will watch Kalani and little Breeze suffer. And I will watch Thalia give up the court that is rightfully hers.

“No,” I say to myself. I stand up. There must be someone out there that can help me. There must be at least one person. No, not one person, but four.

I start running. My wings behind me pulls me up until I am soaring inches from the floor. I move away from Fairdell and into the path between the Slumbering Forest. I see the treefolk shaking as I fly near. Then, they move away, creating a path for me to pass. I enter the forest, following the path that the treefolk make to the village. I enter the village but I only land when I am at the islet.

“I come to ask for a favor,” I say as I kneel in front of the kings and queens.

The Forest King rises his head from his hand fast as if he is already entertained by my kneeling. The River King leans on the edge of his red coral throne. The Earth Queen rises only an eyebrow in question. The only one who does not show any emotion is the Wind Queen.

“Kneeling,” the Forest King says. “This must be interesting.”

“Speak,” the Earth Queen says.

“I have come not as a person, but as a king,” I say. The previous two favors I came for my selfish needs, this time it is for the wellbeing of the Court of Storms. “My court is being attacked by the Court of Mountains and the Court of Swarm. They are being led by the Court of Miracles. My court will fall.”

“And what do you want us to do? Fight on your side?” the Earth Queen laughs. “Why don’t you beg to the High King? You have more chances with him that with us.”

“I tried, but he is dead,” I say. “Killed in front of my eyes and blamed I was.”

“Blamed for a second death in the royal family,” the Forest King says. “You are sure building a name for yourself.”

“I will give you anything,” I say, ignoring what the Forest King said. “I will even bow to protect you from the other courts. I will even make the Court of Storms a sanctuary to sprites.”

“Sounds tempting, but no,” the Earth Queen says. My heart sinks. “We want another thing. You have the magic to lift curses. You broke the curse of the Slumbering Forest.”

“But that was because I was the last owner of the Cursebreaker,” I tell her.

“Precisely,” the Earth Queen says. “There is another curse created by the same person that cursed the Slumbering Forest. It can be broken the same way that you broke this one.” She crosses her legs. “We will help you if you agree to break the curse.”

“What is the purpose of this curse?” I ask. The curse must have been placed for a reason. I do not know why the curse was placed on the Slumbering Forest on the first time, but I lifted it to escape from the Court of Miracles.

“Ah, wouldn’t you like to know?” the Earth Queen asks, but I know that is rhetoric. “You agree to this and we will help you. Take it or leave it.”

I want to argue, make a better deal with them, but they know that I am desperate. They know that I came to seek for their help because I do not have anywhere else to go. They are taking advantaged of my position.

“Fine,” I say. The Forest King opens his mouth to make me say what I agree on. “I will lift your curse, regardless of what it is.”

“Perfect,” the Earth Queen says standing up. The rest of the kings and queen stand up with her. “Is there any tree in your castle?”

“There is,” I say, nodding.

“I can transport us from the eldest tree to the tree at your castle,” the Forest King says.

They walk to the bridge, and I wait for them to pass me for me to follow them. The villagers once again kneel as they pass, even the little kids do. They lead me to the back of the village in a line at the same order of the thrones. The Forest King is the one leading, next is the Earth Queen, then the River King, the Wind Queen is after, and I am at the end.

We walk through the dark and stretched path at the back of the village. The eldest tree stands at the end. I thought that it was a treefolk, but it is not. It is a normal tree with a steady life instead of a moving one. The tree’s trunk opens as we arrive. When we enter, the tree closes. When it opens again, I am inside Glade’s tree at the terrace of the Storm Castle.

“You can command us until this battle is over,” the Earth Queen says. She bows and the kings and the queen do too. “We are here to serve you.”

I nod, starting to walk towards the war room. I push the door open and enter. Sephira is there, standing over the map on the table. Kalani and Breeze are still there sitting at the corner. Sephira eyes widen, scanning each of the crowns on the sprites’ head.

“I thought that it was all a myth,” Sephira says. “The kings and queens of sprites are real!”

“Why would we not be?” the River King asks. Then he looks at Breeze and Kalani. He approaches but Breeze covers her face, trying to move away from him, scared. “And who might –”

“Get away from her,” I warn. He looks at me but nods, remembering his place. They gather around the table.

“There are three groups attacking,” I say. I point to the side of the map near the Court of Mountains. “One is at the south where the Court of Swarm is attacking. We only have three people defending it.”

“I will take that one,” the Wind Queen says to my surprise. “The Court of Swarm must be doing an aerial attack. It would be a shame if the wind changes direction and sends them toward the ground.” She turns around and leaves before I could tell her that I agree with her idea.

“The Court of Mountains have divided in two,” I say and point to the west near the Court of Day and the coast. “The biggest group is here and the other is near the castle.”

“I will go west,” the Forest King says. “Being near mountains will not be useful with my forest magic.”

“My king, the Mountain King has been spotted,” a knight says, entering the room.

“Where?” I ask. I should have expected Haldol to be part of the attack.

“At the bottom of the mountains,” the knight says. “He is destroying our knights and making his way here.”

“I am going to stop him,” I say. “You three should go help the fight against the west.”

“No,” the Earth Queen says as Sephira takes the figure that represents Haldol from the Court of Mountains and moves it to the bottom of the Mountains of Endless Night. “I will accompany you. No offense but the Mountain King has fought in many wars and you have only fought in one. He can also rise mountains, which is a magic that is useless against me.”

“All right,” I say and point at the River King and Forest King. “You two get to the west at once. We will take care of Haldol.” They nod and leave. I turn to Sephira. “If something happens to us, I want you to take Kalani and Breeze and disappear where no one can track you.”

“I give you my word,” Sephira says.

I walk away with the Earth Queen behind me. My wings extend when I am outside. Without asking the Earth Queen, I grab her by the arms and leap to the sky. I descend towards the bottom of the mountains. Then I replace, between mountains, knights fighting with knights. Swords are clashing with swords.

“Drop me,” the Earth Queen shouts to be heard from the sound of swords. I see her land on her feet and the earth around her shake. Knights fall and knights turn to see what made the quake. The Earth Queen does not smile at the frightened faces of the knights. She rises her hands. Thin pillars emerge from the ground, hitting enemy knights from below. They do not know who they have messed with.

I replace a huge figure that I know that is Haldol. He is wearing a brown armor, color of his court. He is holding a wooden staff with two giant pieces of iron block shaped, one on each end. It is a double-sided war hammer. He swings his hammer from the side, hitting a knight on the head. Its silver helmet goes flying, revealing a face that is familiar: Sir Fafner. Sir Fafner falls, and for a moment, he looks smaller than Haldol, even when they are about the same size.

I push my wings, accelerating. I pull out the Cursemaker, and even in the dark with the light of the torches and the stars, its glass blade shines. I swing at Haldol before he can send the hammer down at Sir Fafner. Unfortunately, Haldol moves, and I fly up to evade any attack that he might send. I land on the floor a few meters away from him.

“Ah, the famous Cursed King of Storms,” Haldol says, his grave voice sounding above the clash of blades. “You are not wearing an armor into battle. It almost seems unfair.” With his free hand, he takes his helmet off, showing off his short black hair and beard, and throws it on the floor. “Now, this might give you a bit of an advantage.”

He runs towards me, rising his hammer. I wait for him. When he swings from above, I rise my sword, blocking the attack. He pushes his hammer with his weight, but I continue holding my sword.

“How did it feel to watch your father die?” Haldol asks, inches away from my face. His raged gray eyes burning my sight. I push my sword, and quickly move away, watching the hammer hit the ground.

“You knew?” I ask, but as soon as I let the words go, I know how he obtained that kind of information.

Many weeks ago, the first night that Thalia spent in my rooms at the Court of Miracles, I tried to sneak her back into her room and heard him talking to Zephyrus. Zephyrus mentioned how he planned on stealing the crown of the High King. I always wondered why he wanted to steal the crown if he was going to inherit it at some point, but now it makes sense.

“You were in Easton’s side all along,” I say. I always confused the voice of Zephyrus and Easton, and I always thought the worst of Zephyrus. That is why I confused Easton’s voice when he was talking to Haldol for Zephyrus’s voice. “But why help Easton steal the crown? You are already a king. You have a court of your own.”

“He promised me that I would be High King like him,” Haldol says. “I am going to rule alongside him. We were going to capture every court and divide them equally, starting with yours!”

He runs towards me again, and swings from the side. I roll on the ground to evade the hit. I swing the sword, on the weak point where the front of his armor connects to the back. I hear the small chains that hold them together break.

He turns, swinging again. I fly towards the sky, evading the hit. I dive towards him, pointing the sword at his chest. He sees me coming and swings from his right. He did not see that my target was not him. I dive quicker, going below his right arm and hammer. I pass my swords between the gap of his armor, breaking the chains. I roll on the floor and land on my feet. When I turn around, I see the piece of armor covering his chest and back fall to the floor.

“Impressive,” Haldol says. “It will not help you. I will still bring your body to the Court of Miracles.”

“Don’t you wonder what might happen when Easton and you conquer the courts?” I ask, ignoring what he said. I need to get into his head. “He killed Zephyrus because he was the next heir. He killed the High King to get the crown. What is keeping him of killing you to take your courts?”

“His word,” Haldol growls.

“Did he actually say it?” I ask. “Did he promise it?” I can see in Haldol’s eyes that Easton did not promise.

Haldol swings his hammer. No, he does not swing, he throws it. I realize it a second too late and the hammer hits me on the chest. I fall to the floor, the back of my head hitting the hard ground. The Cursemaker flies away. Haldol stomps his boot on my chest before I can recover.

“It does not matter if he promised,” he says. “I will have half the courts, and when I do, I am going to take his from under his grasps. He is a foolish prince. He does not deserve to be king, and his greediness will cost him.”

He rises his boot to bring it down, but before he does, something hits him. He falls on his side. I am quickly crawling towards the Cursemaker. I grab it, standing up fast. I turn around searching for Haldol and I replace him.

The Earth Queen is walking towards him with a fearful elegance. He does not have the hammer on his hand. He instead is holding his left shoulder with his other hand. The Earth Queen curves her arm and a pillar of earth goes towards him from the floor like a snake. He rises his hand and a wall raises. The snake crashes with it and they both crumbles. She curves her arm again and another snake crashes to another wall.

“You, pitiful faeries, imitating the true magic of sprites,” the Earth Queen says.

She rises both hands and earth snakes rise from the floor, each one hitting Haldol, one after the other. When Haldol falls, the Earth Queen walks to him.

“You will not kill me,” Haldol laughs. He spits blood on the floor. I start to walk towards them.

“What gives you that security?” the Earth Queen asks, holding an open hand in front of her, readying to make the earth crush Haldol.

“Rowan,” he tells the Earth Queen. “He will not let his first nephew live without a father.” I stop. No. It cannot be. Haldol looks at me from the floor. “That is right. Ailsa is pregnant.” The Earth Queen closes her hand in a fist.