Mark of the Princess (32 page)

Brennus who still had his back to her had pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. “I cannot remember, to be honest. I have trained since I could walk. If it wasn’t fighting, it was swordsmanship, or archery, or spells, the list goes on.”

“Oh. Is this one for archery?” She reached over and traced the beginning of the mark on his right shoulder blade.

“Yes.” He closed his eyes fighting the goose bumps he felt coming on.

She looked at him, amazed by his physique but impressed by the amount of marks and how much time he has dedicated to learning so much.

He heard her move back to the place where she had been sitting and pulled his shirt back on.

She sat looking at the spell casting mark on her bicep that had begun to spread. The lines swirled on some ends, and some looked as if they were vines with leaves. So different from the male’s marks that were thick and sharp looking. She turned her attention to her birth-power mark which sat on the inside of her forearm. She imagined the lines and vines extending out and across her arm.

Brennus turned to face Alannah once more. “Alannah, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

Alannah turned her gaze to Brennus, a confused yet hopeful look on her face. “Yes, Brennus?”
I wonder if he will tell me of his feelings for me. That he is not angry with me for rejecting him.
She quietly hoped to herself.

“It’s about your mark.”

oh
. “Oh, yes, Dara told me about it.”

Brennus raised an eyebrow, “What did she tell you?”

“Well, she did not tell me much, just that it is a mark that appears every thousand years. But she wouldn’t say anything else beyond that.”

Brennus lowered his gaze for a moment then looked back at her. “She was right about it appearing once every thousand years. But there is more.”

Alannah sat up, leaning slightly toward Brennus, intrigued with what he was about to say.

“The mark stands for a certain type of power. One that no-one else possesses. It not only enables you to have control over the elements, but you will be able to multiply it exponentially.”

Alannah sat open mouthed, unable to believe that she had such a power.

Brennus continued… “That must be the reason Maligo took you. He must know of your mark and what it makes you capable of. If I am not mistaken, he was probably going to try and take that power by any means necessary.” He leaned forward, grabbing her hand, “Alannah, that is the reason that I wanted you to come with me to meet the elder faeries. They can help you control your powers. Once you can do that, you can decide what you will do with them.”

“What do you mean, what I will do?”

Brennus smiled lightly. “Alannah, if Maligo took you for your power, and took me because he wanted me to lead an army, then it stands to reason that he has a war in store for the fae people. You will have a great power at your disposal. You will have to choose whether you will fight for and alongside your people, or not. It may sound like a simple decision, but it will require a lot from you.”

“How long have you known this ?”

“Since the second night in the mountains.” He lowered his gaze. “I had a dream about the mark, reminding me of what it meant. I knew you didn’t have your powers yet, and I was afraid that if I told you, the enormity of the situation would frighten you.”

“I suppose it might have at the time.” Alannah looked down at her arms, wishing she could see the mark on her back. It had been so long since she had seen it, considering she had to use two mirrors to do so.

“Are you alright, Alannah?”

“Oh, yes, I was just thinking about the mark. I was so angry about not having my powers and about not knowing what it means that I had stopped looking at it. Now I can barely remember what it looks like.”

Brennus stood, walking around Alannah and then sitting behind her. Gently he gathered her hair, his fingers grazing the skin on her neck and moved it so that it fell over her shoulder. Brennus’s fingers traced the curve of her shoulder before moving down to her mark.

She sighed gently at the warmth of his touch.

He began to trace it with his finger, sending goose bumps all over her fair skin. “Here, there is the trunk of an oak tree,” he said, trailing his finger down the center, “At the top, there are leaves, on the right, there are flames,” he continued tracing the outer edges with his finger. Alannah closed her eyes willing her heartbeat to slow down but it would not.

“At the bottom is water and on the left there is wind. At the very center is an infinite symbol.” He had become so enthralled with the beauty of her mark, not realizing how intimate his touch had become. When he did he took his hand away quickly.

At the absence of his touch, Alannah’s heart dropped into her stomach, leaving an aching pain in her chest. But she would not let him know. He did not see her that way any longer, he made that clear. She tossed her hair across her back once more and turned to face him, a sincere smile spreading across her features. “Thank you.”

Brennus smiled back, nodding his head. “We should put up some concealment spells so that we are not found in the middle of the night.” Brennus said, quickly changing the subject, as he stood, brushing the dried leaves off of his pants.

“May I?”

Brennus looked at her surprised.

“I
have
been studying. Remember?”

Brennus motioned his hand toward the clearing, leaving the spells to her.

She walked around to the four corners of the camp and recited the spell that she had read in the book given to her by Dara.

Brennus had stood at the ready just in case she got a word or phrase wrong but was impressed when she conducted the spells perfectly.

She felt the now familiar burning sensation on her arm and watched as her mark spread just a bit as she mastered this new spell. She looked up at Brennus and smiled.

* * *

“Majesties!” The faerie ran down the hall of the castle with his robe flying behind him, and the hood on his face almost flying off. “Majesties!” He yelled, knocking on the door to the master chambers of the castle.

The door flung open and before him stood his King in his adorned robe. “Magister Morcant. Is everything alright?”

The Magister bowed slightly. “Your highness, our spies have reported on the affairs of Maligo.” He huffed trying to catch his breath.

The King moved out of the doorway motioning for Magister Morcant to enter.

Queen Calla sat in her nightgown by the fireplace with a book in her lap. She motioned her hand and in an instant her chair swung around, facing the Magister.

“Your Majesties, I apologize for the late hour but I knew you would want to know this. I have been contacted by one of our spies. They arrived at the Valley of Darkness and found Maligo. He had clearly been there for a few days. He has been conducting rituals and calling on the darkest of spirits and demons. He discovered one of the spies and killed him during a fight. The other spy managed to get away and tell us of the news. He said that many of the spells seem to be to summon the same demon spirits Samil called on and Samil’s army.” Morcant paused taking a deep breath, trying to regain composure, “My King, if he succeeds, the threat will be much greater than what we thought.”

“Indeed.” The King stroked his chin and the hair upon it. “We will need to call upon all the nations, we have no time to send a messenger. They need to be warned to put up all guards and wards. Can you use the communication spell to call upon them all at the same time?”

The Magister thought for a moment. “Yes, I shall call upon Magister Torin and between the two of us we should be capable to call upon them all simultaneously and you can tell them of our new information.”

“Very well.”

It was not long before the Magisters returned and began the spell of contacting all nations. The Kings and queens agreed that the armies must be fortified and that more spies must be sent out to find out allegiances among the other creatures that lived in the forests and the mountains. A difficult task indeed as each race tended to only sacrifice for themselves. Many of the creatures of the forest would not involve themselves purposefully in a faerie war.

* * *

Morning came sooner than she thought. Her dreams, riddled with past images and questions she did not have the answers to. Alannah turned over to find that Brennus had already awakened and was waiting for her. She wiped the remaining sleep from her eyes and stood herself upright.

She reached for her sword and did the same. He lunged at her as she blocked his sword with her own. He took a step back and returned the sword in another direction and was blocked once again. They continued in the same pattern for a while. Finally impressed, he backed up and dropped his sword a bit. He threw his hand forward and a jolt of energy came flying through the air at her, throwing Alannah against the tree behind her.

She dusted off her pants and corset. “I suppose not, but in my defense, you did say we were going to practice swordsmanship today.” She frowned so hard her eyebrows almost met at the center, dark clouds forming overhead, thunderous claps filling the air.

“My apologies. I was merely trying to keep you on your toes.” Brennus looked up at the sky and the sudden assemblage of clouds above them. “Alannah, calm down.” Brennus sheathed his sword while still staring at the sky. He glanced quickly at her and then back at the now lighting filled sky. “Alannah, control your thoughts!”

The tone of Brennus’s voice quickly snapped her out of the trance-like state she had fallen into. Quickly, Alannah realized what was happening and closed her eyes trying to concentrate on happier thoughts. She thought of the last time she was swimming at the river, hugging her sister when she awoke, and Brennus kissing her at the top of the waterfall.

Suddenly the warmth of the sun was once again touching her face.

“Perhaps we should stop for now. We can always practice more later.”

Alannah sheathed her sword and picked up her pack that lied on a rock nearby. By the time she strapped it on she realized that Brennus had already begun to walk ahead.

“You will need to stay close today Princess. We will not be traveling through friendly territory.”

Alannah could hear the seriousness in his voice and walked faster behind him. Occasionally she saw shadows out of the corners of her eyes. There were even times she heard hooves behind her but upon turning found nothing.

It had been hours since they had begun walking and she was beginning to fall behind. The sun had moved from the overhead sky to the mountains.

“Brennus” she said breathlessly.

Brennus turned to find that she had stopped and was sitting on a rock,. He stopped, looking around him and walked back to her. “If you are too tired to walk, we can fly.”

“No, I will be fine. Can we not just rest a moment though?”

“I am not sure I would recommend it. Let us just walk a bit more.”

He helped her off the rock and they began walking. “If you would rather fly, we can.”

She shook her head. She had started seeing the shadows again and decided it was part of her exhaustion this time. She couldn’t help but notice though that Brennus had not taken his hand off of the hilt of his sword and continued to look around them as they walked. As if out of nowhere, a strange smell bombarded her senses. She looked around in confusion and sniffed the air again.

“Some. Some are kind. The ones around these parts are not. I have been through here before and they do not take kindly to trespassers.”

Alannah noticed the difference in demeanor from Cormac to the satyrs that were at the festivities in the Kingdom of the Magi. Cormac seemed angrier, his animosity showing on his face.

“I assume you are not alone.”

“Would I dare to confront the great Brennus by myself? Not likely.” Brennus turned to find a half dozen goat men surrounding Alannah.

He began circling around Brennus, stroking his goat-tee as he spoke. “Brennus I know that I was clear in telling you if you had to pass though here again, it would have to be so fast we would not even see you. It was a long time ago but I would still have thought that you would remember.”

“You have found a girl to speak for you brave warrior faerie?” He walked over and examined Alannah. He touched her cheek gently and she jerked her face away.

“Pretty and feisty. I would expect nothing less of a female you have chosen.”