The Last Flame - Crystal Bow

Chapter 11

A little over a month had passed and Buckie still would not tell Saphaer what he wanted to know, but the fae king was fine with this. After all, he was patient. Saphaer wasn't quite sure where this sudden mercilessness had come from, but it would serve him well.

Saphaer was coming up from the dungeons when one of the servants ran over to him.

"Sir! Your sister, Saurena, has been reported to be acting strange. She recently attacked one of the other Lords." The servant stared at Saphaer with wide eyes. "The guards have detained her and carried her to the throne room. They're awaiting her judgement."

Saphaer frowned. "I've been expecting an attack on someone for a while now. What do you mean by strange?"

"She speaks of dragons and power." The servant trembled. "She says that the old Fae traditions are false. King Saphaer, she spouts lies."

"That's not possible." Saphaer said, his eyes wide. "Fae can't lie."

"That's what everyone said." The servant said, her eyes big and horrified. Saphaer began walking over to the throne room. "Alert my council, bring them to the room. This is serious, and if my sister can lie, then something has happened to the Faerie Tree."

The Faerie Tree was a large tree in the center of the Fae Kingdom, and it was the thing that bound fae to deals and prevented them from lying. Fae could make deals without the magic, but they could lie their way in or out of the deals without the Faerie Tree's bindings. Saphaer feared what some fae would do with the opportunity.

Not long after the news, Saphaer received his answer. Olverson, his general, walked up to him. "Sir, the Faerie Tree was attacked and uprooted. Our soldiers attempted to save the tree, but all that could be salvaged was this." He handed Saphaer a small, round, pink seed. Saphaer stared dumbly at it for a few moments. "Who attacked?"

Olverson's gaze darkened. "Sir, you will think me crazy, but it was the dragons. They've struck again."

"Of course." Saphaer hissed. "They're hitting our weak points. Send more guards to watch the skies. Don't attack unless you think they will."

Olverson nodded and ran off, and Saphaer rushed to the throne room, where Saurena sat. Her gaze was filled with anger and she struggled against the guards, shouting, "Curse you! Curse all of you, and may the dragons take you and strike you dead!"

"Sister, stop this nonsense." Saphaer sat down. "You've turned against one of your own, and you have to be rightly punished.

Saphaer studied Saurena, feeling a sense of dread. Tendrils of black ran down the side of her face like spiderwebs, and the color was mirrored on her antlers; usually a bright shade of green, black was now creeping up in tendrils, making her antlers darken in color.

Black was a magicless color, the color that often represented mages and their horrid curses. Saphaer let out a quiet, inaudible hiss. Fae's antlers couldn't be black; it was the one color that was impossible. And that meant...

"Have you been dealing with mages, Saurena?" Saphaer looked her up and down again. Her green robes were tattered and her eyes, the same color as her antlers, shone with anger. "It seems as if it hasn't done you well."

"I've met with the dragons," Saurena hissed, "I've told them to kill you all. I've told them of how you've grown soft. They have mages with them, they will destroy all of you! You disgrace fae in whole."

Saphaer tried not to wince at his sister's betrayal. This was a hard blow to his apology plans and it could ruin them altogether. Saphaer clenched his fists and looked at the guards. "Take her to the dungeons. Give her food once a month and no more. Give her water every two weeks. Make her crack, and then I will see her."