Cursed by the Phantom Prince (Once Upon A Curse)

Chapter 15

15

RHAN

T he village of Autumnvale was small and quiet. I’d go as far to say that it was quaint except for the tension and fear in the air. There was something not quite right and I couldn’t tell if it was the whole village or just a part. The area was silent like everything down to the insignificant insects were all holding their breath, waiting. I wasn’t sure what they were all waiting for but I was confident it wasn’t my arrival. There was something in this place that didn’t belong and it seemed the whole area knew it.

“Is it always like this?” I asked Fiskh, praying that it wasn’t.

“Yes,” he replied, stepping to my side and looking at the distant cluster of homes. “It's as if the world is aware that something is here that doesn’t belong.”

The skin on the nape of my neck prickled, making a shiver run down my spine. All of my senses were at attention. My gut told me that we shouldn’t be here but my head couldn't think of another place I’d rather be. There was no safe place in this world. Not when the realm and Fae were made of the same magic and hiding was impossible.

‘It’s evil,’ Lady whispered in my mind. I had to agree with her as gooseflesh erupted on my arms and I got the distinct feeling that I was being watched.

I stretched out my senses, trying to pinpoint the direction from which I was being watched. Frowning, I concentrated but couldn’t pin down the direction. It felt like I was being watched from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I’d never felt anything like this, but regardless, my senses told me that whatever was causing these feelings knew that I was here.

“Let’s get this over with,” I breathed, unable to speak at a normal volume in fear of upsetting whatever presence was here.

“Follow me,” Fiskh instructed, strolling towards the village with me close on his heels.

Lady brushed against me with every other step as if to reassure herself that I was still there. I ran my fingers through her fur, letting the familiar motion ground me. This cleared the haze of danger from my mind and I was better able to use my senses.

There were two sets of eyes on me, one from behind and one from the front. I could only assume that the one behind was coming from Lir. He was watching me intensely, more so than Rea ever had. The thought made my stomach flip and my cheeks to flush.

I didn’t understand these feelings. My reaction to the Black Guard was unnerving but at the same time not unpleasant. I quite liked the idea of him watching me if I was being completely honest with myself. There was something about his gaze that called to me like a moth to a flame. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I got too close that I would end up singed.

Whatever was ahead and watching me approach was much harder to differentiate. On one hand I felt curiosity, while on the other I felt repulsion, which made no sense to me.

Fiskh strolled between two structures to the center of the village like he owned everything, which in a sense he did. The main path through the small hamlet was deserted though now was the time for the townsfolk to be out and about, conducting business or haggling for wares.

The crunch of footsteps echoed through the silent street and I swallowed thickly trying not to let the quiet get to me.

“This way,” Fiskh gestured to the right before stepping in that direction.

I gripped Lady by the fur, wanting to glance behind me at Lir; the urge was hard to fight but now was not the time to show weakness. Lifting my chin, I followed my cousin further into the silent township, hoping that my presence here hadn’t doomed the whole place.

Within moments we approached a small hut with a yellow painted door. Fiskh stopped a couple feet away and knocked softly, but the sound was jarring after the near silent walk here. Rustling could be heard from the other side of the door before a crack opened. A young girl stood peering up at us, her soft blue eyes widening with fear that was quickly overtaken by relief. She pulled the door wider, looking from Fiskh to me then back again.

Fiskh opened his mouth to speak to the small girl but she stepped out and grasped my hand before he could utter a single syllable.

“Please,” the girl said, her eyes now swimming with unshed tears. “Please help.”

My heart clenched in my chest at her soft words. She couldn’t be older than six, maybe seven summers, but her hold on my hand was firm and confident. Emotions flooded my mind as the girl pulled me forward. I was so distracted by what I was sensing from her that I forgot that there were other people with me. Lady brushed against my thigh, the movement something I could concentrate on as I rode the waves of emotions coming from the girl.

“Show me,” I encouraged, following her through the door and into the small dwelling.

The hut consisted of one large room. To the left was the kitchen and a stove stood in the middle of the wall, looking out of place in the otherwise modest home. A misshapen table sat opposite the stove with three chairs that had been repaired so many times that it was a miracle they still stood, let alone could hold someone's weight. The right side was empty except for a thin mattress that lay on the dirt covered floor. Straw had been stuffed inside the mattress to give it new life but the material was so old that there were stiff pieces piercing through the threadbare fabric. A ratty old blanket covered most of the pallet; it was so old that parts of it were see through.

While the living quarters weren’t ideal, I’d seen and experienced worse places. Before Flora opened the orphanage we stayed in dilapidated shelters including caves and tents. I was four years old before I stayed somewhere with solid wood flooring instead of dirt or stone. My heart swelled thinking of those times and wanting nothing more than to whisk the small girl and her family away to a proper home, one where she’d be warm, fed, and safe.

Movement from the bed drew my attention and I noticed belatedly that there was someone laying down covered by the blanket. The girl pulled me in that direction and I followed without hesitation.

Once on the other side of the bed I knelt on the floor, observing the lump that was completely covered by the blanket. I glanced at the girl, silently asking permission to take a look at whatever was under there. She nodded then reached forward and pulled the blanket back, revealing a boy who was in transition from a boy to a man. He looked sixteen; his cheeks were sunken in and grey tinged his skin. He looked close to death yet his blue eyes, the same shade as the girl’s, were bright with intelligence and fear.

“You said he was one of your soldiers?”

“Yes,” Fiskh answered without any inflection to his voice.

“He isn’t old enough,” I sighed but knew that the Fae viewed age differently than humans did.

Fiskh didn’t say anything and I didn’t expect him to. He was the heir to the Sun Court, after all. He didn’t answer to anyone except his father, let alone me, but I wasn’t one to bite my tongue.

The girl grabbed my hand again before pulling the blanket back further, revealing the young man’s chest. The skin was deeply tanned but the color didn’t hide the black veins that covered every inch of flesh.

“Oh,” I breathed, reaching out and running my finger over the veins that I had seen before when I’d touched Lir.

The boy’s chest was heaving like he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. As I watched the veins spread further, approaching the boy's neck, something called to me. I looked down at the hand that the girl held tightly. Turning back to the boy I found his hand and grabbed it, pressing our palms together.

My eyes fluttered closed as flashes and feelings filled my mind.

Pain. Disbelief. Anger.

Darkness was everywhere I looked, everywhere I went. I couldn’t escape the never-ending blackness that filled this place. It was inside me. Bubbling up until I didn’t know where it ended and I began.

Madness. Hysteria. Insanity.

I was the darkness. The darkness was me. I was everything and nothing. They thought they could imprison me. Thought to cage me for my actions but they didn’t realize that I’d freed them and because of their insolence they would pay.

Searching. Grasping. Finding.

I burrowed deeper. Searching for minuscule creatures, those easily controlled from afar. Moths and worms and beetles and spiders answered my call. They became my eyes and ears, my way of influencing while trapped in the never ending dark expanse that was my prison.

Revenge. Vindication. Corruption.

Cold flowed through my veins as if frost had invaded my body. My skin grew icy. The air in my lungs was frigid. I couldn’t separate myself from the darkness, away from the infinite presence that stabbed my mind with shards of ice. My mouth opened as my lungs seized. I tried to pull in air but there was nothing. Panic overwhelmed me as I fought to figure out if I was really freezing to death or if this was just a trick.

As if hearing my struggle a dark presence perked up. Its focus turned fully to me and I felt how vast and powerful this creature was. It was depthless. No beginning or end. It attacked my mind, pumping darkness into me so fast that there was nothing I could do to combat the onslaught. I retreated. Gathering my magic, I wrapped it around myself, begging it to protect me from the invasion.

An inky black tendril reached for me like a finger. My chest spasmed as I tried to get away, trying to breathe. Nothing worked. I withdrew as far as I could into myself, making myself smaller and smaller but still the tendril kept coming, kept trying to touch me. Through the fear and panic I knew that I couldn’t allow it to touch me. That’s how it could corrupt and control.

A roaring filled my ears but I couldn’t tell if it was inside of my mind or outside. The black finger unraveled, drawing closer and closer to where I huddled, surrounded by my magic dreading what would happen when it made contact.

The darkness paused as if reveling in my fear. I could feel it’s amusement. Feel it debating how best to snuff me out. I looked away, unable to watch as the finger of blackness drew closer. It brushed against the magic that protected me and I felt that small touch as if it had somehow touched my very soul.

A blast of power the color of golden sunshine surged through my mind. It pushed the darkness out and filled me with strength I’d thought I’d lost forever. Air entered my lungs, making them burn with life. I held on, riding the wave of light as it pushed the blackness from my mind. It filled every corner of my mind, fortifying as it went, erecting an impenetrable wall that would keep the presence from invading again.

My eyes fluttered as I tried to open them but the brightness from inside was sure to sear my retinas. I cried out, blinking my eyes open as light spilled from my skin, chasing away every shadow that filled the room, pushing it out and replacing it with sunlight.

The light began to fade, drawing back toward myself as if satisfied that it had chased away every bit of the dark presence. I sucked in a breath, relieved that my magic had protected me and chased whatever that evil was away.

I was still in the tiny hut on my knees, holding hands with the young soldier and his much younger sister. My heart pounded inside my chest as I looked at the boy's face. The black veins had spread up his neck to his face and eyes. Darkness poured into his eyes like they were somehow being filled with pitch black smoke. An unnatural grin spread across his face as his black eyes observed me.

I pulled my hand away, knocking the girl back as well as the boy tilted his head in a way that wasn’t natural.

“What are you?” the boy asked, his grin widening until the corners of his mouth split open and black liquid leaked from the wounds.

The girl still holding my hand whimpered as her brother let out a gurgling laugh before more dark wetness spilled from his mouth. The boy’s hand stretched toward my face as if to touch it but before it came within an inch of my skin there was a thunking sound followed by more gurgling. The blade of the dagger now piercing the boy’s heart glowed eerily in the flickering light of the torches.

Blackness seeped from the wound, soaking into the thin blanket and dirty mattress. His eyes remained black as life left his frail body. A bubble of brackish blood spilled from his mouth, the final exhale of death.

The room was silent for several seconds before the silence of the small village was interrupted by a soul shattering scream.