Entangle (A Lure Novella)

  Chapter 9

  I’d never liked Niklas. I’m sure that was obvious to anyone who bothered to look. He was an arrogant bully. But I hadn’t considered that he might be anything more than that.

  I wondered what he could be up to. I wondered if Emil’s attempts on his life had anything to do with it. And I wondered if I had made a mistake in stopping them.

  I went into the compound every evening for a several weeks. I used the way in that Theresa had shown me. I saw her occasionally, and the few times she noticed me, we acknowledged each other with small nods.

  Nothing much happened in those few weeks, but I didn’t let myself be fooled into thinking there was nothing happening. It was difficult, though, to keep going back. Most of the time I saw Niklas, he was with Tova, and she appeared to very happy in his presence. I missed her, and it hurt sometimes to think that she probably didn’t miss me.

  One evening, I was sitting behind the barracks and pointedly ignoring them even though they’d never know. I was pulled out of my brooding by an extremely strong earthquake. I dove away from the barracks, expecting roof tiles to come loose and rain down on me. I did my best to counter it, but it had taken me by surprise, so the damage was most likely done.

  It slowly shuddered to a stop. I waited a moment to be sure before moving back to the wall. I peeked around the building and saw people coming over from other parts of the compound. The quake had been felt all over. I could see several large faults in the ground, rippling out from a center point that looked to be in front of the dining hall. I wonder who created it and why. They must have been very mad to lose control that way.

  I was about to investigate when a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Something was moving in one of the rifts in the ground. I ran after it. I went partially underground so that I wouldn’t be seen running through the field, but I could still keep my head up to see the crack as I followed. The earthquake had made that crack large enough to function as a tunnel. I was sure this wasn’t an earth fairy I was chasing or he wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of creating the earthquake.

  We ran all the way to the forest. I was out of breath by the time I got there, but I covered my mouth with my hand so I wouldn’t give myself away. I heard the fairy in the tunnel call for help out. It was Niklas’s voice.

  I got as low as I could while still able see somewhat and went perfectly still. Another fairy appeared in the forest and helped Niklas out of his tunnel. This far away from everyone, they didn’t worry about being overheard.

  “Finally,” said a voice I didn’t recognize.

  “I would have been able to speak with you sooner if you’d let me go with this plan in the first place,” Niklas said. “I told you the hellhound was a stupid idea.”

  So Niklas was responsible for getting the hellhound onto the compound. I was positive he’d had help, but I didn’t care about that right now. I wanted to know what was so important that he had to talk to this man in secret.

  “It doesn’t matter,” the unknown fairy snarled. “Tell me your progress.”

  “Emil is gone. I didn’t even have to do anything, so that worked out even better than expected,” Niklas replied. He sounded smug. I wanted to kick myself for helping him.

  “You said he wasn’t the only problem. What about the others?” The unknown fairy didn’t sound as pleased with Niklas’s update.

  “I have an idea actually, a proposal, if you will. There’s only one more person who could be any danger to me. The fire fairy, the girl, I told you about last time.”

  He was going to do something to Tova. No, no, no, I would not let that happen. Tova may have decided not to be my friend anymore, but I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. Even if I had to barge over there right now and stop this.

  I couldn’t actually do that though. I was sure it wouldn’t end well for me.

  “I thought you assured me she wasn’t going to be a threat.”

  “She’s strong. No match for me, but Philip favors her anyway. I’d rather get her out of the way, just to be sure.”

  “Then what’s your proposal?”

  “I was thinking I’d give her to you.”

  The alarm bells in my head got even louder. Who was this person Niklas wanted to ‘give’ her to? What was he going to do to her?

  “Why would we want her?”

  “As I said, she is fairly strong. I’m sure after some time with you, she’d come around to your point of view and be of some use.”

  This was sounding worse and worse. They wanted to use Tova’s strength for something terrible. It didn’t matter what it was; it couldn’t happen.

  They went back and forth a little more, Niklas trying to convince him that taking Tova would be worth his while. Finally, he agreed. “Fine, but you better have a plan to make this happen quickly. King Aodh is getting tired of waiting. We need a spy in the castle guard now. Do what it takes to get in there.”

  I smothered myself in the earth to prevent myself from audibly gasping. This was worse than I thought. As bad as it possibly could be. Niklas was selling Tova over to the Seelie. She would never submit to them. What would they do to try to make her though?

  Niklas told him his plan to get her here where she could be taken. I committed it all to memory. His idea only worked if it could be carried out in secret. Now that I’d heard it, it no longer was.

  I tried to warn Tova the next day, but she ignored me. She instead paid all her attention to Niklas. And as part of his plan, he returned it. She had essentially taken over Emil’s role in the group and then some. He was trying to seduce her, and sadly, she was falling for it—for him.

  It was upsetting to watch. Many times, I had to turn away or leave entirely. But then I’d remind myself of Niklas’s end goal. Tova seemed to admire his strength and fighting skills more than anything, so I tried to show her a different side of him. I wanted her to see the insecure boy he was that caused him to be so cruel to others. He’d been that way when he tried to hurt me. Tova seemed to have forgotten. But I still saw it frequently. The times when Tova wasn’t around, he would scare or injure anyone that received praise from Philip for improvement in their combat skills. Niklas was determined to be the only successful student, and anyone who thought they could compete with him wouldn’t even get a chance.

  I attempted to lure Tova to him in these moments. I left trails; I found a note Niklas had written and imitated his handwriting; I even asked Theresa to give her a message once. Nothing worked. Niklas either escaped from the scene before Tova arrived or he had an excuse at the ready.

  Tova was completely enamored with him in only a few short weeks. I was running out time. Niklas had started bringing up marriage and the future whenever they were alone. Normally, it was not approved of to get married while still in training. Furthermore, I knew Tova’s parents wouldn’t approve of the match regardless of timing. Tonight he was going to suggest they do something about this.

  As soon as I heard him say “We should marry in secret. I know the perfect place and a good man that will officiate,” I couldn’t control myself. He was leaning against a wall outside the dining hall. Like a child, I caused a tremor underneath him so that a loose tile from the last earthquake fell on his head.

  “Ow, who did that?” I heard him mutter.

  “It was probably just someone inside messing around. Don’t worry about it,” Tova answered.

  “Right, well, what do you say? We could elope tomorrow night.”

  Then I left without listening for the answer.

  I returned the next night. I had to. This was my last chance. I didn’t stick to Tova and Niklas though. After confirming they were about to leave for Niklas’s secret place, I used the escape tunnels to break into Philip’s office. I was expecting him to be gone for the day and that I’d have to find his sleeping quarters, but I got lucky.

  “Evening, sir.”

  He jumped practically to the ceiling. “What are you doing here? And knock next t
ime.”

  “Noted. I am here because Tova is in danger.” I quickly explained what was happening and where we would find Tova and Niklas.

  “What kind of fairies are we dealing with?” he asked.

  “I am not certain as Niklas merely requested that the Seelie bring those they think capable of capturing her, but I’m going to assume they’ll have at least two water fairies.”

  “Alright, well, that can work in our favor. And once she figures out what they’re trying to do, we’ll have a fire fairy on our side. Let’s go.”

  I was pleased that he so easily trusted me and offered me assistance. He was a good ally to have. Perhaps he suspected the Seelie were trying to infiltrate our guard. I’d have to ask when we’d finished dealing with this mess.

  Before we went to save Tova, we stopped at the weapons building. He tossed me armor and a couple of long daggers. “I know you’re not great with them, but just in case. And maybe they’ll make you look more intimidating,” he said. I don’t think either of us really believed that last part, but I took them anyway.

  We found their secret location right where Niklas had said it would be. We were in the forest, not too deep but far enough that the compound was no longer visible through the trees. It was the middle of the night, but I was getting used to spying in the moonlight. I saw Tova and Niklas meandering through the forest and talking quietly. I wasn’t really interested in hearing what was said, so I looked to Philip to see where he wanted to go from here.

  He tugged me down into our tunnel, and the ground covered us so that no one would hear. “We can’t just barge over without knowing what we’re up against. I want to watch them until the Seelie reveal themselves.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  “Good. After that, I’d like to surround them with a hollow tunnel. Make the ground on top thin, but try to keep it from moving at the surface if at all possible. Then criss-cross it. Make sure it doesn’t cave in immediately, but has the potential. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Yes, easy.”

  “Perfect, but depending on how the Seelie reveal themselves, you may need to work fast, alright? Then I’m going to go up there and try to get Tova out of the circle. Once I have her, we’ll collapse this area into a pit and hopefully catch ourselves some Seelie bastards.”

  We watched them for a few more minutes before a third figure finally joined them. Niklas greeted him and introduced Tova. I wanted to get closer so we could see him better, but Philip wouldn’t let me. There were more Seelie around somewhere, and there was no telling what direction they’d come from. Better to stay far off so we’d see them first.

  It took longer than I expected. I was growing bored staring at the newcomer who didn’t seem to be doing much, so I looked elsewhere. I noticed a movement up in the trees. There was a fairy up there. Actually, make that two. They moved together, but there were definitely two of them. I pointed them out. Philip looked around and quickly found another pair and then a third.

  Each pair consisted of one fairy who seemed to glide from branch to branch as if weighing nothing. Interesting, I thought. They’d brought air fairies. There weren’t a lot of them, so I didn’t know much about how they used their element and what it could do against fire.

  Fog started to roll in around the trio on the ground. “Each pair is an air fairy and a water fairy,” I whispered.

  “I think so too. Tova’s not going to be much help after all. But that means Niklas won’t be much of a threat either. We know where they are now. Start digging and maybe we’ll have the trap set before they even hit the ground.”

  I set off immediately. Philip stayed to keep an eye on them and emerge when the time was right.

  I was nearly finished when that time came. I was starting my last line within the circle when he said softly, “Be ready.” As he disappeared through the hole, I quickly finished up the pattern and made a new hole on the opposite side of the circle so I could see the progress.

  For a second, everyone was confused by Philip’s appearance. The air and water fairies hadn’t made it down yet, but I could see them hanging on their final branches. Tova hadn’t noticed them yet.

  “Hello Niklas, Tova, Seelie,” Philip greeted them in a warm voice. “Tova, I’m going to have to ask that you come with me.”

  “What?” she said.

  “She’s already taken,” the Seelie said. Then the air and water fairies dropped to the ground, and the fight was on. They all ran for Philip and Tova. Tova must have been extremely confused because she didn’t do anything. When Philip got to her, she allowed herself to be tugged between him and Niklas. As the others converged, he struggled to keep them off. I wondered if I should help, but I didn’t know what I could do. I was still no good at combat.

  I heard Philip yelling things at Tova in an attempt to fill her in. Finally, she came out of her stupor and started fighting. The only problem was she wasn’t sure who to fight. She still didn’t seem convinced that these were Seelie, so she fought Philip too. She broke free of all of them and ran for it.

  I sprinted through my tunnels to catch up with her. She’d just made it out of the circle when I popped out of the ground. I grabbed onto her and pulled her to a stop. She spun and punched me in the face. “Ooph.” I caught myself from falling.

  “Randolph?” She looked from me to the fight to her escape route and back. “What is going on?”

  I had to sum it up fast. “Those really are Seelie, Niklas is a spy for them, they’re trying to kidnap you, and Philip and I came to stop them.”

  She was still wide-eyed and confused.

  “Tova, please. You know I wouldn’t lie to you. Philip is fighting eight of them over there.”

  “Randolph!” It was Philip. “Do it now!”

  “Do what now?” Tova asked.

  I looked back at the fight. Philip was still fending off several of the fairies in the middle of the circle, but two had come after us. They were almost outside the circle. Philip will be fine. He can tunnel out. At least I told myself that when I said, “This.”

  I made the earth shake as hard as I could. The tunnels collapsed into a pit exactly like we wanted. I started to cover the pit while everyone inside was still disoriented. I worked fast and soon had a hill taller than two of me on top of the pit. That should hold them for a while, if not forever. I had faith that Philip would be able to get out of there though.

  “Impressive,” Tova said quietly from behind me. I beamed. I didn’t get to revel in her praise long though. The two fairies that had come after us weren’t buried as deep, so they were able to burst out of the edge of the mound.

  “Run,” I said. I grabbed her and pulled her along even though I didn’t think she was questioning me anymore.

  Tova threw a few fireballs back at them, but they were water fairies, so they took care of them easily. She cursed and kept running.

  “Got any other ideas?” I asked her between panting breaths.

  “I thought you were the creative one who knows how to escape anything.”

  “True. I just thought you might like a turn.”

  “Funny,” she said with not even in a pinch of amusement in her tone.

  The exchange gave me a chance to think. And what came to me was so obvious I didn’t know why I didn’t do it from the get go. Large, heavy branches reached down and slapped the water fairies away from us. They landed with thuds, and we slowed our pace to catch out breath.

  “Good, but that one is already getting back up,” Tova said, pointing. Indeed, one was stirring. The other seemed to be unconscious. When the former got to his feet, I sent the branch over to knock him down again. He dodged. “Don’t think he’s going to fall for that again. We should run.”

  “Wait.” That wasn’t the only thing I’d thought of. Thick roots broke through the ground and waited for my command. I had them each tie themselves around one of my daggers. “Alright, now run.”

  I looked back as we ran away. The roots were fighting the rem
aining water fairy. I wondered how long I’d be able to keep control over them.

  Suddenly, I heard my name being called from behind us. It was Philip. He’d made it out of the mound and was coming around the water fairy. I paused to let him catch up. When he saw what I’d done, he smiled and brought up several more roots to join in and encircle the water fairy. “Good one. Why didn’t I think of that?” He laughed and clapped me on the back as he reached me.

  “Think that’ll hold him for a while?”

  “Oh, yes, that’ll work. Even if you can’t keep yours up, I’ve had practice working from a distance. He’ll be in there at least until we get back to the compound.”

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