He tapped on the glass at a building way at the top of the table, closer to him. “This used to be the Castle of Etan, your home, Elena.”
I stared at what was left of my home. It had seven wings, another was completely black. A cold finger ran up my spine as I realized that was the wing where my mother had died.
“We didn’t get much intel of the inside, but what we got was more than enough.” He told us. “Goran is still roaming this side, most of the time. He’s refused to enter the wing next to the west wing.”
“Why?” I asked. “What is so special about the west wing?”
He tapped on the glass right above the black burned down tower. “Your mother died in that wing.”
It didn’t make any sense. From what I gathered about Goran over the years, he didn’t sound like the superstitious kind of guy.
“And you want to make that the point of entry?” Blake didn’t sound so happy about that.
“The one closest to it is your safest chance, Blake.”
“I don’t like this, Emanual.”
“You just need to kill the Saadedine, Blake. Goran will be left to King Helmut and Caleb. It has to be that way.”
“You sure they will be able to handle it, won’t he be…” Blake stopped and I looked for the first time away from the map at him.
“They will do it.” Emanual said in a tone that made it sound so definite. “The two of them insisted on it.”
Blake just stared at Emanual, as if the two of them could read each other’s mind.
I looked at both of them. “What are you hiding?”
Blake looked down at the box, and Emanual looked at me. “You don’t need to know all the details, princess. It’s best that way. You need to concentrate on finding the Saadedine.”
I didn’t like this one bit. “Do you at least know where he is roaming?”
“No, but many of the townsmen said that they’ve heard his weeping sometimes from the Castle.”
“His weeping?” I asked.
“The dungeons,” Blake interrupted me.
“Elementals are like wolves, at night they like to howl at the moon, well, in this case, weep. They call it a dragon’s cry. You don’t want to hear it. It will make any grown man cry with it.”
“And we have to kill it?”
“It’s evil, Elena.” Emanual didn’t like my tone. Like they were my pets that I had to destroy. He wasn’t far off though.
“Which I helped to hatch, Emanual. Have all of you forgotten that? To me it’s not some monster, I will see Tornado, Dusty, Herby and Kirby, not what you guys know it as.”
“You gave it names?” Blake asked.
“They were only babies, beautiful innocent creatures that were betrayed to become this monster. So of course we did.”
“Elena,” Emanual closed his eyes. “They aren’t the same babies anymore. You saw the visions. You know what the Saadedine looks like. If you don’t kill it, or hesitate, you will die.”
I looked at Emanual. It didn’t sound like he knew about the foretelling Blake had. Not many knew. We wanted to keep it that way.
Silence lingered in the air for a few seconds.
“Do you understand what it is I’m saying?”
“Yes, I do. It’s them or us.”
“It, it’s not a ‘them’ anymore. It is a powerful and dangerous monster.”
I nodded and looked at the castle again. “Have any of them seen my dad? Is he still alive?”
“We haven’t gotten proof of life. It is why Helmut sent in the last troops just to find out if your father is still alive. We will know what they find out the day we go in.”
“So we are going in on this tower?” I tapped on the tower next to the one that had been burned almost to the ground. “How many do you have stationed inside, Emanual?”
“A couple. And we can trust them. A distraction will be created to lead as many of Goran’s other men away from the castle. The rest will be given a sleeping drug around tea time,” he said, looking directly at me. I wasn’t stupid, this was war and someone always died in war.
“Is that what you guys call it nowadays?” I referred to death and his lips curved upwards.
“Everyone came through, Blake. The inside men gave us some of Goran’s DNA, and the scientist did the rest. They will give you one of the devices that can track Goran. But we don’t know if it will work inside. The last time we spoke to him, he was saying something big was going on with Goran. Like he was working on something private and was very secretive about it.”
“The last time. You haven’t gotten in touch with him since?”
“He is still alive. He’s just being watched like a hawk. This is Goran we are talking about, so we’ll take precautions. But we have a middle man and he gave us some info, not a lot though.”
Blake and I looked at one another and back to Emanual.
“He told us that your father’s men were stationed in Sovereign about eighteen months ago.”
“Eighteen months ago? It was the last time anyone saw my father?”
“They don’t bring him out at the fests either.”
“Then he could very well be…”
“I know what it looks like, Elena. We need to have faith that your father is still alive.”
They are stationed permanently at Sovereign.
“So my father isn’t with his men?”
“One of the others that came with from the other side said that it happened about eighteen months ago. They were moved from the Castle’s dungeons to the Summer Castle in Sovereign.”
“Summer Castle?”
“It was your mother’s favorite home. She loved Sovereign.”
I always felt so stupid about the little things I didn’t know about my parents. These people were strangers to me. I had to save my father, I just had to.
“Goran won’t split your father and his men. He is trying to break the men through your father. Your father will be in Sovereign.”
“He wouldn’t move King Albert.” Blake had a confused look on his face.
“He would if the Saadedine is getting too strong for him to control.”
“Too strong?” I asked.
“It’s why we think he is in the Dungeons. I told you that I had been in that dungeon a long, long time ago. There are strong enchantments built into those walls. It would take a huge war to break down those walls. Maybe not even. What?”
“Okay, that doesn’t make any sense. If he moved my father away from the Saadedine’s harm…”
Emanual nodded. “A part of him is protecting your father and his men, Elena.”
I shook my head. “You didn’t see them, Emanual. He is torturing them.”
“As harsh as it sounds, it’s just torture. He keeps them alive because eighteen years ago they were the same men he walked around with too. He knows these men, Elena. He knows their families. Deep down inside a part of him still cares.”
“Yeah, now that is something I can relate too.”
“Don’t say that,” I glared at Blake.
“All I’m saying is what Emanual says make perfect sense to me, Elena. He will not kill your father. He will keep him alive to get the ultimate power that comes with finally breaking his men. He can’t do that if your father is dead.”
“Could Paul be right?”
“Goran isn’t here.”
“That’s not what I meant. Could he be right about Goran knowing that we are coming?”
“I don’t know. I kept a hawk’s eye on the first group that came in with me, Elena. But if he is, he has no idea what is coming his way.”
“No,” Blake said. “He doesn’t know. Goran hates that place.” Blake sounded so sure about this. “You didn’t hear the hatred he has for Etan now. He feels like a prisoner. If he knew we were coming, he would find a way to get through with the men, he would’ve been here already and we would’ve known by now.”
Emanual sighed. “You sound like Helmut now.”
“Then you should
believe it.”
“Okay, so we are back to square one, but it’s not a bad thing, Elena. Your father will be out of harm’s way when you two go in to kill the Saadedine.”
“Okay, so who is going to free his men?”
“Sir Robert asked for Samantha and Becky to go with him along with a small group of men.”
“Okay,” I said without thinking. They would be out of the danger zone, far from the castle. I knew why he wanted Becky, she was a kickass lightning wielder and George one of the best damn trackers Paegeia had ever seen. Sammy, was an easier choice, he wanted her close to his side. Out of harm’s way.
“We are going to take a different route. By we, I mean Caleb, Helmut and myself with Simon and two of King Caleb’s men.”
“You really trust Simon?”
“He was never with Paul and Nora, said they stopped to give him a lift to the Castle when they went to sign up.
“When?”
“It was two months after Lucian died, Elena.”
“So she was right under our noses the entire time?”
He nodded.
“She was a Night Villain, how did she do that?” Blake wanted to know.
“You saw her too Blake, as a Night Villain.”
“I know, I just want to know how that was possible?”
“The stone she stole from Becky. It’s a very rare stone, Blake. It has many properties. One of them, well Chong said that it helped with guiding the Elementals essence through the Creepers, and it could also be used as a shimmer, a shield, so we would see a Night Villain whenever she transformed into a Hippogriff.”
“She could’ve killed us so many times.”
“She didn’t, because getting caught wasn’t the plan,” Emanual said.
Blake blew out a gush of air.
Emanual carried on. “Everyone has their part to play in freeing Etan. You should only care about the Saadedine.”
We nodded again.
“Have you guys found a way to break through the Creepers?”
“We have, but it needs something.”
“What?”
“Something that is immune to them.”
“Elena’s blood,” Blake answered.
“Not a lot, Blake, but her blood is the key to destroying all of them at once.”
“How?” I wanted to know.
He started telling us about the formula the scientists had been experimenting with for years. It was some sort of enhanced plant killer, but it had never had any luck with the Creepers. They believe if they mixed in my blood, the formula would work.
They would keep it contained in a form and attach it to small bombs, which I had to place in the middle of their core, stationed on either side of the Creepers. The bombs would explode releasing my blood on all the Creepers and they would die. We only needed one part open for the others to get through. They would continue to experiment on how to kill it completely.
I didn’t look forward planting the bombs, but at least I knew Blake would be there with me.
The detonator would be kept in a safe place and it would be set off around midnight. Eighteen years ago it started at midnight, it would end at midnight as well.
It was also a brilliant tactic, throwing Etan completely off from mid-day to immediate darkness.
“All the scientists need is my blood, and they still have a live sample from that time we destroyed the park.” Emanual looked at Blake.
“Okay so how are we getting into the Castle?” Blake asked.
“Trevor and Forest will be waiting for you and I am sending Fred and Raymond with you guys. They will take you to a safe compound to spend the night and early in the morning they will go with you to the Castle. They will stay at your side as long as they can, Blake.”
Blake nodded.
“As long as they can?” I asked. “Meaning till death do us part?”
“See you’ve got something of your father’s too, Elena. He was really good at piecing everything together,” Emanual said.
“They will die for us?”
“Many people will die, Princess. This is no ordinary rescue mission. It’s war all over again. And one that was pre-destined in our stars. Many Moon-Bolts have seen this war with different outcomes. We don’t know for sure what is going to happen and I guess it’s up to the two of you. So many are counting on you to kill this son of a bitch, Elena.”
“Sure, why don’t you add more pressure, Emanual?” I sniped and looked down at the layout of Etan. I could see through the corner of my eyes the smile tugging at Blake’s lips.
“You will get your orders about how to blend in and how to get into the Castle as soon as you enter Etan, Blake.”
“That is it?” I asked as Emanual didn’t say anything after that.
“All you need to know, Princess,” Emanual said. “Besides, one of the scientists are waiting for that precious ingredient, Elena.”
If only it was precious enough to kill that son of a bitch too.
“Need me to hold your hand?”
“I can handle needles, never had a fear of them.” I smiled.
Blake stayed behind as I had to almost run-walk to keep up with Emanual.
“My blood is really the ingredient that will make their formula work?”
“They are positive. They will only take a small tube of blood now, test it and then they will let us know.”
“What if it doesn’t work, Emanual?”
He didn’t answer.
“Answer me.”
“Then you have to let Blake go in alone after the Saadedine and take everyone else safely inside, Princess.”
I just stared at him. “Over my dead body will I leave Blake to fight that thing alone. They better make it work.”
“And they will.”
WE WAITED FOR three hours after the scientist came to draw my blood. The man who did it was short, had glasses on and to my surprise wasn’t a rider or a dragon either. He was as human as they came, just a very smart human in his mid-fifties.
He left on a dragons’ back with my blood clenched safely in his hand.
I hated waiting. I’d never been this nervous in my entire life or this anxious.
It just had to work. It needed to work. It must work. I wasn’t going to leave Blake to face that creature alone.
It wasn’t a creature it was…I’d seen how each of them hatched.
It, Elena, it wasn’t them anymore. You need to kill it or it will kill you.
I needed to find a way to separate this monster from those Elemental babies.
“Hey,” Blake got up and stopped me as I paced up and down in his father’s office for the thousandth time.
We were all waiting. Sir Robert was doing some last minute paperwork. Becky and George were looking over his shoulder as he spoke to them.
King Helmut and King Caleb were playing a chess game. Nobody said a word.
Blake rubbed my arms. “It will work, Elena. Besides, you might not need to kill the Saadedine.”
“You are not going after it alone. We had a deal.”
He smiled. “That’s not what I meant, but okay. Got that,” He joked and I smiled. “King Helmut thinks that if or when they kill Goran, his hold might vanish over the Saadedine and it might turn back to being good again.”
I squinted. “Really?”
“There hasn’t been that many Saadedines, so it has never been proven before, but it sounds realistic, don’t you think?”
I pulled my face, it did sort of sound realistic.
“You’re just saying this to make me feel better, aren’t you?”
“I hate it when you are so nervous. Just relax okay. I’m not planning on dying yet. Not when life has turned out to be so sweet.”
I grabbed him around his torso and laid my head on his chest. It still felt weird, not being able to hear his heartbeat.
But I knew it was there, beating inside his chest.
“We will find a way to kill it. We both will be fine. That is a promise.”
>
“What no more oaths?”
He chuckled.
“My promises are not so weak anymore, Elena. Almost just as strong as my oaths.”
“Okay,” I sighed.
I hated that he wasn’t so sure about this outcome.
He could not be the one that died. He just can’t. I wouldn’t let it happen.
My mouth opened to ask him what King Helmut was hiding from me, but just then the door opened and the dragon that had left with the scientist entered wearing a robe, with the scientist behind him.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and just stared at him.
“Spit it out!” Sir Robert said.
He smiled. “It worked.”
Everyone cheered. I didn’t have to leave Blake to face the Saadedine alone.
My blood had worked.
“Princess, if you will follow me, please.”
“I’ll come with,” Blake said softly and we entered the next room.
He gestured to the chair and I sat down.
I didn’t like the IV much, but it was more about seeing my blood travel through the IV then the needle itself.
I looked at Blake who stationed himself on a small stool and moved it so close to my chair that he was almost sitting on top of me.
I flinched as the needle was stuck inside my arm and closed my eyes for a few seconds.
“It will take about a couple of minutes, Elena. We don’t need that much. Just enough.”
I nodded and give him a small smile and rested my head on the back of the chair.
Blake rested his chin on his hand. His face was inches from mine.
“To think, we finally have something in common.”
“We do?”
“Yes,” he smiled. “Well sort of. They don’t want yours for deadly potions or ones that can fake a death, but yours is a life saver.”
I laughed and sighed.
“That is not nearly enough things we have in common.”
“Opposites attract. Just think how boring it would’ve been if we were alike.”
I couldn’t help but to smile. “Is this your way of trying to keep me distracted?”
“Is it working?”
“A little.” I scrunched up my nose.
“Then good.”
I smiled.