novelxo Chapter CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Noelle entered the large conference room with Tyran beside her. He was her support and her anchor. She breathed in deeply and looked at the royals and nobles who were present. Noelle noted that all twenty members of the Mage court were there too. They all stood up as Tyran led Noelle into the room towards the three identical seats right in front of the long table. Drake limped just behind them and Zach, Jax and Storm walked right after him. Ruvin was still in bad shape. As they passed, the females bobbed lightly and the males bowed. She heard the collective gasp when they all noticed her wings which were hanging strongly against her back. She pursed her lips and looked up at Tyran whose eyes shone with love, hunger and possession. Tyran helped Noelle down her seat and sat down on the center chair.
Noelle recognized the brown haired woman with the butterfly rimmed glasses from her father’s Court. She must have been Crystal. The female’s face flushed as she tried to contain her smile and inclined her head lightly towards her then turned to the people in front of her.
Suddenly the door opened and Lyrah entered. She inclined her head lightly at everyone and made her way over to the seat on the other side of Tyran. She looked healthy and lovely in her royal attire, a gown almost like Noelle’s but a different cut and style and it had a blood red sash on one shoulder.
As Lyrah sat down she quickly looked up at Noelle and gave her a quick smile before taking her seat.
And the conference commenced. Noelle didn’t expect much of it but it seemed the latest attack on Mage soil and her abduction had the royals re-think about the war. Queen Malenna had fear written in her eyes especially given the fact that dragons were attacking the Mage. That little secret was finally out and everyone watched her with apprehension.
“Queen Malenna has nothing to do with the attacks on my people.” Tyran’s voice stunned everyone into silence. “Rogue dragons have been attacking under the ministration of Ron and the sorcerers.”
Everyone gasped again and they fell into a hushed murmur of excitement and fear.
“Rogue dragons and sorcerers?” Florian arched his eyebrow arrogantly at Tyran and Noelle had to clasp and squeeze his fingers encouragingly to prevent him from insulting the Fae. “Are you sure?”
“Are you questioning my King’s word, Noble Fae, when he almost died battling with them just yesterday?” Zach snarled and Noelle watched as Jax stepped in front of the Mage.
“Well, that wouldn’t have happening if he had his queen under control!” Florian retorted. “Not only did she put herself in danger but she endangered my mate!”
A chorus of hisses and snarls rang out in the conference as the Mage, the beasts and the shape-shifters objected to Florian’s attack on their king.
Noelle saw the mercury silver veins of energy pulsing through Tyran’s body as his anger boiled over. Before he could say anything she quickly spoke.
“I, Mage Queen, ask for your forgiveness in my poor judgment, Noble Fae Florian. I did endanger a lot of people’s lives with my childish behavior and it should not be excused just because I’m queen. I hope that you would forgive me.” From the corner of her eye, Lyrah hung her head and so did Luna and Ethinia. They were not at fault. She was because she was, after all, the queen. She knew if she refused, none of the other females would have carried out the sneak-out.
Florian snorted and turned away but he didn’t say anything else.
“What we are all grateful for is that neither the queen nor the other royal females were harmed.” Queen Malenna spoke. “And we are not here to throw blame at anyone. We are here to try and figure out how we are going to solve what is going on in the enchanted world. So far the Mage have been attacked. For all we know, our Realms could be next.”
“Queen Malenna speaks the truth.” Queen Seranis murmured looking up at everyone. “It’s difficult to anticipate what that nut case has install for us all and if he’s teamed up the rogues...” her conclusion was left hanging in the air like a heavy black blanket.
“Ron has Kruk’s followers with him, he has the sorcerers with him too--” Tyran turned to Florian thunderously. “Am I sure of this? Yesterday I killed more dragons than I ever thought I would and I slaughtered a sorceress who was once a Mage known as Marlie during my father’s era. There’s no doubt that we are facing a whole lot of trouble but what we need to think about is why are we being attacked?”
Florian shrugged his shoulders. “Power. Greed.”
“The Dark Energy.” A small voice came through and everyone turned to the petite silver haired High Lady sitting next to Tyran.
The room was stunned to silence. Noelle recalled her uncle telling her about his plans. He too believed in the Dark Energy. Tyran and his father were amongst the ancients who banished it out of the world. Using the Mortal Locks, the location in which the Dark Energy was locked up would be revealed and released once more into the world.
“What are you talking about?”
“For the past several months there has been a dark cloud hanging above us. I thought it was nothing, just the by-product of what was happening in the enchanted world. I never told anyone this but I have had to deal with it everyday and the day Queen Noelle was attacked--” Lyrah turned to Noelle and pursed her lips. “I felt it swelling in the streets and hunting. I had no idea it was after anyone. This energy that I have felt in the air, its something new and something dangerous. Something I have never felt before.”
“So, that makes it the Dark Energy?” Florian eyed her with antagonizing and shrewd eyes.
“It makes it more dangerous than we anticipated.” Lyrah countered.
“This energy has changed my uncle.” Noelle’s voice echoed through the chamber. “It made him cunning and calculating—it has also altered his physical features. The last time I checked, the Dark Energy lured people with greed in their hearts, promising them a world of wealth and power and all that time taking over their souls, mutating them into things of nightmares. From what I saw from my uncle, he is beyond any help we can give him. He’s gone.” Noelle had to start somewhere. She too didn’t know what to believe anymore. There was so much she saw with her own two eyes, things that she only read about in stories. “He believes in finding the Mortal Locks that would enable him to locate the Dark Energy.”
“The last time I checked, the Dark Energy was banished from this world!” Florian’s eyes were wild with what looked like fright. He was frightened of what was happening! “The Mortal Locks too were lost. How can this...this thing going around tainting people be the Dark Energy if its locked away in an undisclosed location?”
Tyran turned to the raging Noble. “It’s getting stronger. The last time we battled it, it was weakened but now, greed for power has tainted the beings of this world and that gives it the crevice it needs to seep into these evil souls, manipulating them into getting itself free once more.”
“The Mortal Locks are lost. If this is what you are presuming then were are doomed!” Florian yelled getting up on his feet.
“The Mortal Locks are not lost. They are hidden.” Queen Malenna eyed the rest of the nobles in the conference room.
“Four them are.” Queen Seranis’ voice echoed and everyone turned to her. Claus, who sat next to her was scowling but he didn’t say anything. Queen Seranis stood up from her chair and looked up at where Tyran and Noelle were seated. “The Coral Spear is very much real and I have it.” she turned to Claus and extended out her hand to him.
Claus was reluctant to do what his queen expected him to. The air in the conference became dense and the excitement and disbelief vibrated around them. High Lady Oriel was apprehensive too and so were the royal guards who were ready to draw out their weapons if anything were to go wrong.
Finally Clause reached deep in his jacket pocket and remove what, to Noelle, looked like a harmless ivory/white marble-like piece of rod. It was about thirty centimeters long and it had four rings evenly distributed around it. Queen Seranis took the rod and held it to the side then whispered something that sound like someone gurgling water down their throat.
Everyone watched in amazement as the rod shimmered and elongated right in front of them. Noelle gasped and tightened her hold on Tyran’s fingers. The rod elongated until it was the same length as Queen Seranis’ height then the top forked out into three sharp ends. When the shimmering stopped a ivory white forked spear appeared right in front of them. Everyone gasped in unison as they laid their eyes on the first Mortal Lock that was used to lock away the Dark Energy.
“It’s not possible!” Florian breathed deeply.
Queen Seranis quirked her eyebrow at him.
Tyran got up from his chair. “The Dark Energy has selected someone to do its dark bidding; Ron.” Florian’s face ashened. “He is to find the Mortal Locks to release it. He has an army of rogue dragons and sorcerers and maybe even the ghouls, we are not sure but all I know is that this new dark army has fingers all across the enchanted world, tainting all that was good with its evil and if we pretend that we can’t see what is happening, we are going to lose everything.”
“And he’s not going to stop here.” Lyrah’s voice quivered as she too stood up. “The enchanted world is strongly linked to the human world. If the evil finds its way into our world, soon enough it will find its way into the human world and destroy it. It’s not about us anymore, its about the humans as well.”
“The first thing we need to do is to secure the Mortal Locks that we already know to have.” Tyran stated looking at Queen Seranis who gave him as short nod. “The Coral Spear, the Mortal Book, The Light Sword--”
“The Scarlet Shield has been lost to us, I’m afraid.” Queen Malenna’s voice came through. “After Kruk stole it from us when he tried to overthrow me and take over the Realm of fire, it was lost in the mountains. Rumor has it that it found its way into the human world through a gateway with the aid of a rogue dragon.”
“And there’s the lost tainted Thyest Bow singing songs of death and blood to all who touch it, tainting their souls and forever becoming the thing we are fighting against.” Florian added. “And how come the Jinn are not here for the conference! How do we know they are not aligned with Ron?”
“King Rhol is anything but a rogue.” Lyrah found herself defending the dark king. “He will never stoop so low as to join with Ron for a cause that will result in nothing but blood and death. If he’s not here then there is something of great importance that has him occupied.”
Both Noelle and Tyran turned to her in surprise.
Florian cursed out lightly and Noelle watched as Luna touched the male’s hand softly. She was glad when Florian didn’t push it away.
“We are under attack from strong and honed warriors as well as ancient sorcerers. We need to re-enforce our armies, our homes and get our people ready for attacks at any moment. Ron is no longer the Fae we knew. We have some idea of what he is capable of, taking to account that he slaughtered an entire village to make a point. I will not have any more my people live in fear because of this one male. I want you to do the same.”
“So, what do you suggest that we do?” Queen Malenna asked.
“Secure all your settlements. Get armies out into all your districts. Call on all the re-enforcers and get ready. Put up check points at gateways and borders of your realms. Monitor all movements of people in and out of your districts.” Tyran answered.
Everyone murmured in agreement.
Noelle was glad everyone was in the same page. She feared that the world she knew to be peaceful, enchanting and a fairytale was going to turn into a nightmare. She turned and watched as the man beside her took charge, barking out orders and bringing everyone to heal, even the snort-nosed Florian. She watched as he commanded the conference room with his presence and ancient knowledge and wisdom passing it to the people in front of him. He laid out tactics for them, established a way of communication to relay information of what was happening in their realms.
Hours later and they were done and exhausted but Noelle’s heart was bursting with love for her king. As everyone shuffled out towards the dining room for the evening meal, Tyran lingered around issuing security orders to his warriors.
“It’s quite hard to believe that, that male’s life was hanging by the thread just yesterday.” Lyrah’s voice came through, dragging Noelle back to reality.
Noelle turned to her and smiled sadly. “He has nine lives, I guess.”
Lyrah pursed her lips and looked down and Noelle could see she was blinking away tears. “I’m glad you are safe, my queen. I don’t--” her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”
“I’m alright. I was worried sick about you too. I didn’t know what happened to you, Ethinia and Luna. I’m glad you are all well.” She assured the female.
Before she knew it, Noelle was pulled into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry I put you in such a situation.” Tears flowed down Lyrah’s face. “I will never be that foolish again.”
“I hope so too.” A dark, velvety voice drawled behind them and they both turned to the stalking Lord Mage.
Noelle pursed her lips and hugged Lyrah back. “We already apologized for it, Tyran. Don’t make it hard on us.”
“If I had it my way, the two of you would never see the outside of these walls again.” he gritted his teeth taking both women into his arms. He placed a soft kiss on Lyrah’s forehead and down on Noelle’s lips. “But I know what you went through was a lesson well learned and I will not have to worry about you getting into mischief again.” he turned to his sister. “Sister mine, I am very proud of you for defending and protecting yourself when you were surrounded. I never thought there would come a day when I see you harnessing your energy and though my heart was filled with dread and regret for you to have to do that, I was very glad you were strong enough to take on a horned warrior.”
“Is that a compliment, brother mine?” Lyrah grinned between her tears and punching Tyran playfully on his abdomen.
Tyran snapped his teeth at her, earning him a squeal. “Don’t let it get into your head and go out and put yourself in the face of danger again.”
Lyrah nodded. “I promise.”
“Good...and you. I’m glad you had the will the live.”
“The love I had for you kept me alive.” Noelle whispered softly. “I knew you would find me and that thought alone kept me breathing.”
“I love you.” Tyran stated and kissed her passionately. “Now, I regret that I have to leave you for several hours. I have a pressing matter to discuss with my commanders. I’ll see you both later—don’t get into trouble.”
Both women grinned and walked off.
Tyran watched as the two females who meant the world to him walk away and his heart constricted. He was elated that both women were safely in the confines of the fortress. They were both exceptional and warriors in their own accord but he didn’t want them to go through what they did ever again, especially when he was there to protect them. He walked out of the conference room and his four commanders were waiting for him outside with one still in the infirmary getting better.
“My office, now.” He commanded.