The Faerie Curses

Chapter Forty-Three: When the Angel Falls

"You were distracting me this whole time."

I was able to wheeze that one sentence as the tattooed sprite dug his fingers into my neck, slowly choking me as he held me pinned against the fence of the royal gardens.

I couldn't believe how easily we had all been tricked.

The protection spell was now completely swallowed by the night, a dome that ceased to exist now that it's magic had been deactivated. I could only blink through my blurring, fading vision as Summer Court began to collectively cry out in confusion.

Our one source of safety, gone.

I could only watch helplessly as the glittering city lights below me were extinguished. One, by one, by one. Flames were thrust into darkness, casting an eerie silence over every person and creature gathered at the festival. The music stopped. Laughter stopped. No living thing dared to breathe.

Then came the screaming.

In the distance, I could hear shrieks of terror rising in the thick air of the night. Unearthly screeches mingled with tortured cries of agony that were cut off as swiftly as they began. I spotted shadows weaving through the streets.

The sprites were already inside the city.

"Can you see it, little knight?" The tattooed sprite taunted me, his reeking breath washing over my face as he leaned in closer. "Are you watching?"

I felt my consciousness growing fainter as I struggled to breathe, my fingers frantically clawing against his fleshy, strong hands that were still wrapped around my throat.

The tattooed sprite sighed deeply, inhaling my gags of wild panic. "I've been waiting to feel that smooth neck of yours again for a long time, Marissa." He purred into my ear. "Feeling your blood pumping beneath my hands is a sensation I've always treasured."

My skin crawled unpleasantly as my eyes averted the monster's gaze, instead fixed onto the disaster pooling across the dying city. Withering shapes drifted past the houses, past the blackened lamps as smoke lingered in the air.

Somewhere out there, was The Master. And I knew for a fact that he would come for me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see movement creeping along the alleyways towards the palace. It was a slithering substance that wormed across the streets. I watched as it leaped out like a ferocious beast, attacking anything that moved. It wasn't until it was directly below the moon when I realized that this wild, uncontainable substance was blackened ice. The entire air of Summer Court seemed to be plunged into frigid chaos as the humidity was promptly replaced by a bitter chill. Throughout the royal gardens, I watched the flowers shrivel and wilt as frost crept along the grass. It killed every tree and plant, coating them in deadly snow that drained their color and life.

Only one object was powerful enough to freeze Summer Court: The Winter Wand.

In the suffocating dark, the ice was like a serpent that weaved and spread across the entire city. It hissed as it engulfed a wave of sobbing gypsy children, freezing them solid. Tears welled in my eyes; their terrorized screams were captured in my mind as I could only fight hopelessly against the black filling my vision.

The children would freeze to death. If they weren't rescued soon, their bodies would shut down from the cold and cease to function. I had now stopped struggling against the tattooed sprite's mighty grip around my throat; all I could do was hang limply in his clutches and force myself not to close my eyes.

"Soon, you'll be joining your beloved people." The tattooed sprite smirked, his breath a fog of condensation. "If only I could rip your heart out myself. But where's the fun in mercy?"