Land of Smoke and Ashes

The Beginning of the End

The queen whirled around, arm still raised. Sam darted forward a second later, yanking the short sword out of her back. His blade glittered as he swung it, but Cassius jerked one arm back and some invisible force seemed to slam into him, throwing Sam against the wall so hard he slid over the top. Natalie screamed, and then his arm hooked over the stones, slowing his fall, leaving him dangling off the outside of the wall. She heard his pained grunt, and then the clatter of one of his weapons hitting the castle roof somewhere far beneath him.

"I'm growing tired of this." Queen Cassius looked from Natalie, to her mother, and her thin black brows arched slightly and then creased in confusion. "Ah, the human. All of this just to break her out of her cell? Well you can have her, just leave me to my plan."

Natalie followed the queen's black-eyed gaze. There, on the top of the wall, was a circular glass orb. It was set in a silver base, and something inside it pulsed and swirled, black smoke laced with a sickly green color.

It was undeniably magic, and very obvious poisonous. So this orb thing, whatever it was, was what the queen was going to use to poison the entire town.

"We can't let you do that." Natalie spoke loudly, partly because she was hoping it would keep her voice from shaking, but mostly she was desperately hoping the queen wouldn't look back over her shoulder. Jewels had darted forward and was trying to haul Sam back up over the wall. She had to buy them time.

"I'm afraid I'm not asking for permission." Queen Cassius' voice was low and musical, her smile mocking. "Now run along, little girl." She began to turn, and Natalie felt panic shoot through her. She had to stop her from pitching Sam over the wall, from finishing off Jewels and Gwen.

"Wait!"

The queen turned back, and her mocking smile slid slightly. "You're starting to get very irritating." She held up one hand, and the black mist began to seep out of her fingers, curling around her hand.

"Don't you dare." Natalie's mother stepped forward, placing herself between them, and the queen laughed.

"Very well, if you're so eager to go first." She drew her hand back.

"I wouldn't." Natalie had the necklace out now, and it swung from her fingers on the broken chain. She stepped sideways, until she'd reached the wall. She let the necklace dangle over the drop off. "I'm pretty sure I've got something you want." When the queen's black-eyed gaze fixed on the pendant her eyes widened, and her lip curled into a snarl.

"How did you get that?" The queen's eyes flicked from Natalie's mother and back, and her face filled with understanding. "Ah, I see the resemblance now." Her lip curled back in a snarl, as she stared at Marion Porter. "You gave your daughter the second necklace before you came here. Before you destroyed the first."

Marion's face was stony. "That's right, and it didn't matter how many men you sent up to my tower, how many scars they gave me, you still don't have another one. This is still the last way to get to the human world."

"Stay where you are." Natalie's hand was shaking, and she tightened her fingers around the chain. "If you try to kill me or my mother, or any of my friends, I'll drop it. You'll never see it again."

Sam was over the wall now, and as she spoke he began to creep forward, one of his long knives still clutched in his hand. His face was pale, but set with fierce determination.

"Give me the necklace," Queen Cassius smiled again, this time friendlier. Her voice was low, soothing even, as she stepped toward Natalie, "and I promise you can all go free. I'll even give you a head start before I release the magic. You and your mother can get out of the city."

"And let you kill everyone in it?" Natalie forced herself to look at the queen's face, not wanting to give away Sam's position.

"You must know how foolish you're being, I'm giving you a chance to live." Queen Cassius' mouth flattened into a thin line of displeasure. "Give me the necklace."

The darkness was collecting around the queen, swirling black mist that had gathered around her arms and shoulders, pouring out of her hands, but still...she didn't attack. Natalie frowned. That didn't make sense, unless... perhaps the queen's magic was just as likely to destroy the pendant as it was to kill Natalie.

She drew the necklace up slowly, in front of herself. The queen took another step forward, and it was then that Sam flung himself at her, his dagger plunging into her back, just between her shoulder blades. He staggered back a second later, shaking his hand to rid himself of the clinging black mist.

Queen Cassius' face remained as blank as marble. Natalie watched in horror as she turned to look at Sam. "Did you really expect that to work, little soldier?"

The mist curled around the handle of the blade buried in the queen's back, until it covered it completely, until the blade was made of smoke. And then, slowly, a bit at a time, wisps of it curled away into nothingness, leaving the queen's back smooth and untouched.

None of them moved now. Natalie's hand was frozen just above the wall, still holding the necklace over the dizzying drop. Sam, Gwen and Jewels were still, horrified. This had all been for nothing. The woman was impossible to kill. Impossible to stop.

Without a word, Queen Cassius bent down to pick up the glass orb, tilting it gently between her hands, letting the vile, black mist swirl from one side to the other. "Very well," she hissed, "we'll do it the hard way."

She turned and raised it high in the air, skirts swirling around her legs. Natalie heard her mother shout, "No!" behind her, and then she was yanked roughly back, at the same time the orb hit the ground, shattering, pieces of glass skittering across the stones toward her. A large chunk of curved glass landed at her feet. Freed, the black smoke swirled out. It crawled across the floor, reaching out with tendrils like sooty black fingers.

"No!" Sam scrambled up onto the wall, and Gwen and Jewels did the same, trying to stay clear of the inky black cloud as it stretched out, trickling down the cracks in the wall, running down the sides of the castle like creeping black waterfalls.

As slow as it looked, it wouldn't take long for it to reach the river, to poison the entire town.

"Stop it or I'll drop the necklace." Her voice shook.

Queen Cassius was already moving, reaching for her, and Natalie stumbled back again, feeling her mother's hands on her arms. There was still a curved piece of the globe at her feet, and without thinking, Natalie kicked it. It flew straight, crashing into pieces at the Queen's feet. Cassius shrieked in surprise, and instantly her circle of magic wreathed her, protecting her. But some of the toxic mist from the globe must have touched her, because she screamed again, batting at her dress, face twisted with pain and rage.

Her head snapped up, and Natalie froze, a fox in a trap, the necklace still clutched in white fingers. With a savage scream, the queen charged forward, and Natalie gasped as the woman crashed into her. The toxic ink on her dress burned. Natalie's hands and arms felt like they were on fire, but the next second she forgot, as she was pitched over the side of the wall.

Her mother screamed, the grip on her wrist tightened, and then there was nothing. Natalie was falling.