The Withering Palace Read online

  “Well, the sky is a constant pink tangerine, like an everlasting sunset. There are trees that grow in Faerie and the human world and things that grow in neither. The poppies are deadly, so stay away from them. Only a few lucky ones are immune, and most live in this part of the land.”

  “Is it as dangerous as our land?”

  “No, but if you’re not meant to be there, it will slowly kill you from the poison drifts of poppy vapor.”

  “How will we survive that?”

  Eladril peered down at the girl, her lovely blue eyes crinkling as she smiled. “I know I’m immune, my brother lives there too and has not had any lasting effects. He’s safe there. You’ll know if it’s toxic to you, soon enough. If not, you won’t feel any different.”

  The thought made her skin crawl, but Aveta pressed on, following Eladril around another corner where the path led up into steps carved out of stone into a dark, black hole, big enough for just one of them to crawl through at a time.

  “Eladril?” Aveta peered over to her guardian, fear ebbing into her shiny dark eyes.

  “Here,” Eladril slipped the witchlight into Aveta’s tiny palm and curled her fingers around them. “You take this, I have another. If we get separated, keep going. Don’t try to find me, I’ll get there.”

  Aveta nodded, bleary eyed as the tears stung behind her lids. She didn’t want to let go of Eladril. The sickening feeling filling her up as she watched the woman step up the stairs ahead of her made her wonder if they would be separated. It was a small comfort that she’d told her that she’d made it through here and back before, but it was only just.

  Now that Eladril was several steps ahead, the lonely darkness behind her made her feel more exposed and she hurried up behind her guardian. As the hole swallowed Eladril, she no longer could hear the woman shuffling as her dresses brushed against the stone. Aveta gulped down the bile rising to her throat as she took the first crawling steps into the nothingness ahead. It was hard to crawl with the witchlight in hand, and hold the tiny stone high enough to see ahead.

  It didn’t matter though because once the last of her body made it into the tight space, the witchlight extinguished with one rushed gust of air.

  She paused, wondering what dark magic had done such a thing. There was no up or down and the light had vanquished from behind her too. There was nothing, just black, inky darkness. Tentatively, she pressed forward, feeling her way through the slick, grimy rock and what felt like tendrils of underground foliage snaking their way down the walls and grabbing onto her hair as if it had fingers.

  Aveta…

  She gasped, hearing a voice whispering across her face. It was so close she could almost feel the air move by her nose. What if it was something dreadful? The unknown was even more terrifying without light and Aveta struggled to keep her hands and knees inching forward.

  Aveta…

  It got even closer, and louder by her ear. She swatted at her side like there was a buzzing fly next to her.

  No! Don’t acknowledge it! You’ll give it more power… Eladril’s words echoed in her mind and she gritted her teeth, closing her eyes to feel more with her senses.

  Eladril, where are you?

  Aveta!

  “Eladril?” It was her guardian’s scream that made her almost fall forward, catching her muddy dress under her knees. What had her? Where was she?

  Help me!

  “Eladril!” It couldn’t be, the woman’s screeches paralyzed her as her breaths sped out of control, and her palms and knees becoming raw from crawling forward as fast as she could. The stone was hard against her skin and stabbed at her joints and palms with each excruciating moment that passed.

  Help me!

  Aveta fell forward, tumbling down another set of stairs, knocking her head and arms as she rolled down them, landing in a pile of dirty leaves and squishy mud. The voice had startled her and all she could do was lay there in the filth of old water mixed in whatever grit had sat in the puddle she now laid in. The stench was worse, like a pit of death and stale air. She gasped to catch her breath and stared up at the…night sky?

  There were stars above, swirling across the sky, twinkling like distant lighthouses, flashing their marked safety, calling her to their embrace.

  No, they aren’t real. There were no formations in this sky like the ones she’d studied over and over on the endless nights she’d spend out on her balcony, counting the falling stars as they slit the sky with their fires. This was a mirage with star formations she’d never laid eyes upon.

  Still, with their enticing twinkles and soft aurora lights off to her right beckoning her to lay there forever, and absorb the beauty, she felt the fatigue and ache of the day’s torture overcoming her now, like a weary drug, ready to overtake her consciousness. It would be so easy to just close her eyes and sleep.

  Chapter Four

  No, must get up, must keep going…the poppy fields waited, they called to her, to a place where there was an endless sunset and the trees dangled cherry blossoms down to tangle into her obsidian strands. A safe place, a sanctuary not even her mother could touch.

  She pulled her body out of the muck, first her arms to turn her over and then willed her slack legs to inch forward, slipping from the grip of the dead leaves and clinging mud. Her limbs protested every pull and strain, begging for release from the endless torment plaguing her body.

  Once free from the puddle, her mind cleared up enough for her to peer about. The constant emptiness, which hovered in the air, somehow made it easier to breathe now, but the endless dark was still overbearing. She’d lost the witchlight in the muck. Eladril was gone, probably having gone through a similar trance. She was sure the woman had broken free much faster than Aveta, but she hoped she hadn’t left her behind.

  What now? Aveta struggled to her feet, cold and wet, her dress in tatters as she stepped forward. There was nothing but dark, black inky death waiting ahead. Pushing her stringy strands of hair back, she focused as she reined in her fear and swallowed it down. She needed another witchlight, they weren’t hard to make. Reaching down, she felt around on the gritty floor before finding a suitable loose stone and gripped it tight in her palm.

  She pressed her hands together, closing her eyes as she infused her magic into the rock. Eladril had shown her this very lesson but a week ago, and Aveta’s gratitude for it was beyond measure. She pressed her skin against the stone until it ached, and it dug in, probably drawing a tiny slip of blood. She didn’t care. The light was vital in this vacuum of life.

  Peering down to sneak a look through the crack of her palms, she saw it softly glowing.

  “Brighter.” She whispered to it and it pulsated softly, as if struggling to do her bidding. “Come, on, more light!” Her voice was soft, but it echoed loudly against the cavern walls, amplifying it enough to send shivers down her spine. Almost reluctantly, maybe because it was a stone of the darkness, the rock obeyed and shone brighter, making her look away before her night vision was affected by the light.

  She grinned down at her twinkling prize, not noticing the approaching figure. As it approached into the circle of light the stone created, Aveta glanced up and gasped, almost dropping her newly formed witchlight.

  “Mother?” The form took the shape of the Queen, with matching malicious intents in her dark twinkling eyes.

  “You disobeyed me again child.” The woman stepped forward, her long swishing skirts brushing the dirty floor of the cavern. Other than the filth clinging to the hem of her dress, she looked pristine, as if she’d been freshly washed and brushed. “You disgusting little tramp. How dare you call yourself my daughter if you run about looking like faery trash?”

  Aveta flinched as her mother stalked forward. Was this her greatest fear? Her mother coming to find her and inflicting more endless torment? If that’s what it was, and it was only a vision, it should easily go away. Shouldn’t it?

  She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, though it became infused with the nose pric
kling scent of her mother’s perfume. Choking on it like a noxious fume, she squeezed her eyes even tighter, willing her mother away.

  “You can’t make everything disappear. This is the oblivion of your mind. This is who you really are inside. How do you make yourself be gone and still survive? You can’t”

  “You’re not real.” Tighter, tighter, keep the eyes closed.

  “You know nothing. I never saw anything worth saving in you from the moment of your birth. Your father, he saved you, but I…I should’ve done what I wanted to at that exact minute. End your pathetic life.”

  Don’t listen, shut out her words. The tiny voice in Aveta’s head morphed into Eladril, and she flung her eyes open, seeing past the Queen to find Eladril watching her quietly ahead.

  “Eladril!” She ran forward, aware that she would bump into her mother, but it didn’t matter. Her mother wasn’t real. Eladril was.

  With that, the moment she touched her mother’s apparition, it disintegrated into wisps of blackened smoke, screeching as it flew away from them. Could it be so easy to keep the demons at bay? Could they really not hurt them if they knew how to do away with them?

  Eladril smiled, arms opened wide as she let the girl fall into her embrace.

  “We’re almost out of here. Just hang on a bit longer.”

  “Alright,” Aveta found her cheeks wet, doused in salty tears. Maybe this would all end up fine. Maybe she’d learn to walk right through this dreadful place to a safe haven, far from her mother, far from the oppressive life of an Unseelie princess. Somehow, she hoped it would be that way. A place where no one else could follow.

  “Come,” Eladril tugged on her hand and they walked through more turns, twists and open rooms than they cared to count.

  “How much longer until we reach the other side?”

  “Not much longer. You’ve done excellent here. I’m truly impressed that you can handle yourself so well, you’re so young.” Eladril stepped forward, limping and grimacing. It was only then that Aveta noticed the dark, crimson stain on the side of her dress.

  “You’re hurt!” Aveta stared wide eyed, fear crawling back into her.

  “Yes, child. Don’t worry, once we leave here, all will be well.”

  Aveta wasn’t so sure. She gripped her guardian’s hand even tighter, feeling the sting of tears flurrying up behind her eyes. She had to keep it together, just a bit longer. It would be okay in the end. Eladril couldn’t lie. No faeries could. The land of Faerie forbade it.

  “See? Here we are.”

  In the area ahead, a tiny sliver of light grew as they approached. Soon enough, it was as big as a doorway and Aveta stared into it, hoping to see what lingered on the other side.

  “Go on now, I’ll be right behind you.” Eladril’s strained voice made Aveta turn, worry engulfing her as she watched her beloved handmaiden collapse.

  “Eladril!” She threw herself on the ground beside her fallen companion. “No! You have to come with me! You have to make it. You said it would be okay.”

  Eladril smiled, her hand pressed against the wound on her abdomen. It was sticky with dark crimson blood encrusting her fingers. It looked fatal and Aveta swung her eyes from her to the light at the end of the cavern. She could never drag her caretaker that far, she was too heavy for her little seven year old frame.

  “Please, get back up. It’s not that far. Please…” The girl begged, her tears already dripping to the ground.

  “I’m so sorry my dear. I lost concentration. I saw you with your mother and I let the wraith overpower me. I’m so sorry. You can make it. Just go through to the light and all will be fine. It’s alright, go.”

  Aveta shook her head furiously, refusing to believe this was how it was to end. “NO!”

  The floor shook as her voice echoed around her and a dusty burst of wind blew her hair back, forcing them both to cover their faces. The groan of rock and falling debris rushed about them, deafening with its roar and vibration.

  They had to move now or risk being crushed under the weight of falling rock.

  A moment later, the ground ceased to rumble and the dust was left to float about them in calming clouds that settled on the floor, sighing in relief.

  “What was that?” Aveta darted her eyes about them, afraid the labyrinth wasn’t done with them yet.

  Eladril’s eyes were focused solely on the girl. Peeled open, fear leaking from them for a moment before she blinked it away and the moment passed. But Aveta had seen it and a deep, aching shame began to flourish with the girl.

  “Your powers, they are stronger now.”

  “Yes,” Aveta nodded, sniffing as she wiped her nose and brushed the tears off her dirty face.

  “Can you move things?”

  “Yes, the castle moves when I want it to. But I can move small objects without touching them.”

  “Have you tried to move larger ones?”

  Aveta shook her head, the tears starting up again.

  Eladril reached out, pushing a loose strand of hair behind Aveta’s ear. “Don’t cry. You’ll be Queen one day. Queens never cry.”

  Aveta tried her best to stop the outpour, but watching Eladril pale before her eyes only brought on more despair, it choked her spirit inside.

  A rub of rocks and sand brought her attention to the approaching figures. Aveta gasped, inching closer to Eladril as they grasped each other tight.

  Stone. Pillars of stone were moving toward them, but they had arms and legs and slid along the cavern floor in a scraping loudness. The closer they got, the less they looked like pillars, but had a humanoid shape, rough and rounded with the boulders that made up their heads, arms, torsos and legs, but upright and very much alive.

  “What magic is this?” Eladril hissed. Her eyes were wild, though her pallor indicated her time was very near.

  Aveta shook her head, staring at the figures who did not approach too close, but hovered around them like a wall of rock. “I…I’ve seen them in my dreams before…”

  Eladril turned toward Aveta, disbelief as understanding flooded her eyes. “You made them. You made them with your mind, didn’t you?”

  Aveta nodded, afraid of the repercussions of the elemental magic that ran within her veins. Her mother did not possess this power, neither had her father. What did it make of her then?

  “It’s impossible.”

  “I used to move little rocks with my mind since I can remember.”

  “But where is this earthen magic from?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Moments passed, each minute taking crimson life from her caretaker.

  “Can they help us?” Eladril whispered, her resolve to stay sitting upright waning as time went on.

  Aveta peered up at the still stone statues, wondering the same thing. “I—I don’t know.” Staring at her creations, a new determination bubbled up inside of her, pushing her to make the next move. “Help us. Help me take her to the exit of the cavern there.”

  The figures moved at her command, dragging their massive bodies across the gritty ground until reaching them. One reached down, shoving its rough arms under Eladril and lifting her as if she weighted nothing. Eladril gripped onto the cold stone, her fingers white from the strain to hold on for dear life. The stone soldier then stood tall and scraped haphazardly along to the very exit of the cavern. They moved with convoluted motion, uneven and almost as if it was laborious to walk, but their massive bodies made it into the entrance and out into the open air.

  Aveta stared wide eyed as they marched along, a mere handful, but they appeared scary and enormous to the young girl. That her miniscule magic was capable of such creation, baffled her and she knew she’d have to hide this ability from her mother for certain, or face dire consequences.

  They made their way into the light, where a long trail of rich red earth led the rest of the way down the mountain and into a rich field overladen with pink and white poppies swaying in the cool afternoon breeze. The light was delicious on her face and the m
oment she stepped past the threshold of the cavern, her clothes changed to their previously cleaned and orderly state. With that, she turned to see Eladril climb down from the arms of the stone soldier, also intact and very much alive.

  “You did it, Aveta! You made it to the uncharted lands of Faerie!” She pressed forward, joining the young girl with a huge smile. “I knew you could do it.”

  Aveta gave her a tiny grin, peering at her guardian with nothing but love and gratitude. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Nonsense. I think you are stronger than you’ll ever really know.”

  “Thank you, Eladril.”

  “Thank you as well. You saved me with your peculiar magic.” Eladril studied the stone guardians, her smile falling ever so slightly. “Never show your mother…or anyone else for that matter. She would kill you if she knew you could do such things.”

  Aveta nodded. Sadly, the handmaiden was much too correct in that assumption.

  “What should I do here?”

  Eladril glanced back toward the field of poppies and the wild cherry blossom trees surrounding them. The sky was a burnt orange red and looked peaceful.

  “Well, you can do anything you want here. It is sanctuary to you now. Only you know how to get here. You’ll be safe here when things go awry and you need to get away from everything.”

  “Even from mother?”

  Eladril sighed, weary and looking fatigued. “Yes, even from your mother.”

  Chapter Five

  The years had carved Aveta’s heart into a sharp point that could kill the toughest soldier about. Still, at the age of fifteen, it had not yet been enough to leave her jaded or colder than Queen Elisandra. No, no one could ever be as damaged as the woman who ruled all of the Unseelie court of Faerie.

  Aveta smoothed down the cinches in her long, flowing skirt. The tight jeweled bodice made it hard to breath and her rib cage screamed its protest as she straightened to get some air in. Even the snug braids across her head were pulled so taut that her hair was sure to fall out sooner or later. This was the life of a princess and she hated every second of it. The bright colored dress stood out in the gray and black of the servant’s dress and that of the soldiers constantly roaming the halls. Still, she kept her chin up, knowing full well she was not to be trifled with.