More undead came.
“Olivia!” I couldn’t see her, couldn’t hear her… my mouth watered, and I vomited, expelling more poison.
A loud shout came from behind the zombies, and a massive morning star bashed into two of their skulls. “There will be no pixie meals today!”
Nustul.
I had never been happier to see a dwarf.
Dressed in silver half-plate armor, my stout guest rammed his weapon into any head he could see, roaring with laughter with each swing. Blood splattered across his garb and his ginger beard.
“You all right there, Your Majesty?” he asked while spinning left, smashing the last zombie’s skull.
“I will be, and Olivia?”
The dark-haired pixie flew up and kissed the dwarf on the cheek. “I am thanks to our brave guest.”
Nustul’s face reddened. “Now don’t you be going and getting any of that sparkling pixie dust on me.”
Her gaze shifted to me as I clutched the stone wall for support.
Closing her eyes, she whispered ancient words only known to pixies. Glittering dust spiraled around her, cycling as she elongated, stretching to a full five feet.
Her chest rose and fell as the dust settled.
“Well, that ain’t something you see every day,” Nustul said, propping his morning star on his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Transforming cost them immense strength and I’d only seen Olivia do it once.
“Helping you. We need to get to the control room.” She bent over and slung my arm across her shoulders.
“You three go. I’m making my way through the halls. Those blade dancers of yours are handling the ground floor.” Nustul wiped his long beard onto one of the undead statues.
“Thank you,” I said, leaning on Olivia.
“Here,” Anna said, going near a tapestry. “This passageway should take us right there.”
Anna lifted the tapestry, and we followed her into the corridor, Olivia holding me steady. Anna took a wand off her belt and lit it. The tiny light provided just enough guidance to navigate the stony corridor. Sweat beaded my brow, sliding down my neck. I paused, a gurgling in my stomach.
Not again…
Grabbing the wall to hold myself, I vomited. Olivia grabbed my hair out of my face just like she did anytime I was sick, which hadn’t been very often. It seemed today was a day of many things.
My pixies wouldn’t prod, not now, but after, when the castle was safe and the twisted had been dealt with, they would want to know the truth, but I was too angry and embarrassed to tell them, to tell anyone.
I tried not to think about what happened in the royal courtyard. Based on time, a day would have passed by now. Even if I went into the Dryad Realm and chased them, how many days would have already passed there?
What gem were they talking about? And why did they need my blood?
Wiping my mouth, I stood, not wanting to slow down.
We kept moving, my focus on making it to the control room.
“Here,” Anna said, and we paused by a hook lantern.
I put my ear against the stone, the same distant racket sounding farther away. I nodded, and Anna opened the passage. Looking down the hallway, it was clear. Reaching the control room, I pressed the rune entry button. The symbol glowed, gaining me access, and we went inside.
I had never enacted the defense system. Not in the years I had been ruling. Once activated, the magical golems that the castle rested on would rise.
