Ashes of the Forgotten Alphas

Chapter 5: Willow Town

The one thing about dealing with the fae is that you never put yourself into owing them a favor. Under any cost. While they never lie outright, they have a way of not telling the whole truth that often put people at the deep end of something they thought was simple.

And no matter how intricate their universe is, knowing this little fact would go a long way into saving your a*s if needed.

I haven’t known anyone who owed a favor to the fae before but the Alarick would have been my last guess. “What exactly is this favor that he owes you guys?” I asked, noting the carefully blank expression on Karael’s face.

Rather than answering me, he continued walking until he stopped near a tall looming Willow tree whose branches were so close to the ground that it was almost kissing it.

“We are here,” announced Karael, pointing a finger at something in the distance.

For a second, I couldn’t see what he was looking at until I stepped forward, closer to what he was pointing at. All questions about the boon that Karael mentioned flew out the window when I saw the portal. 

It was a thing of subtle beauty. The intricate way it stood spot in the middle of the forest, blending with the grace of its surroundings but capturing those who became too entranced by the forest around them.

The only noticeable difference is the small break of the image it showed in the portal, like the bushes and flowers behind it were not perfectly illustrated.

“Why is it...” I began, unable to take my eyes off the portal because I’m sure it would take a while before I can spot it again. 

“I think what Evangeline is trying to say is that why is it different from the portal earlier?” Tate asked after I have been silent for a tad longer than I should have been.

“Ah,” murmured Karael. My eyes were focused on the portal but I felt them moving closer behind me, probably to see it more clearly too. “Not all portals are the same. It depends entirely on what the source of power is and how strong the person who weaved it into existence. The intent as well needs to be set.”

“Since this one can barely be seen, is it weaker than the one you have?”

“No. It is up to the person how they want their portal to look. Strength and ability of those who can create portals come in when they set where their portals can lead to. Often, it only allows you to go to one place since those that can stitch reality and realms together are rare, especially powerful ones. And it has been centuries since I have seen a Weaver this strong who can make a portal without using their own powers.”

“How can you tell?”

“Portals only blend with its surroundings if the natural elements were used rather than personal powers of the sidhe,” stated Karael, before adding. “There is only a few in Faery who has the capability to stitch reality but they would have to band together to create something close to this. Even then, the portal would not have stayed this long because their powers would not be enough.”

“But what if they combined someone else’s powers with them, would it be possible?”

“Yes but even if the Weavers are not as they once were, they are watched closely because that gift can never be squandered. This is how we know that they have never left Faery for decades and cannot have done this.”

Half listening to their conversation, I stepped closer to the said portal where nobody has been seen after entering it. All presumed dead but were they really? Based on what Karael and Illia said, nobody has actually checked out where the portal led to. While I doubt it led to anything fun, it’s possible whatever danger lie on the other side that a few could have escaped.

I sniffed the air, getting a distinct smell of something burning. The more I got closer to the portal, the more apparent it became to the point that I felt like at any time soon, I’ll see where the fire was. Yet I didn’t see it and the image I could see in this portal remained the same, an almost perfect illustration of the woods behind it.

“Hey,” I called their attention, cutting of their conversation about the portals. “Is there any way to determine where this portal leads to?”

Karael shook his head. “No. All we can know is how many locations it can lead us to and you would be able to determine that better than I do.”

“And how—” I trailed off, turning away from him and looking back at the portal. The smell of something burning was fragrant in the air but there was something else that didn’t make sense. A stench of water that has been stagnant for a while slowly started creeping in, becoming sharper by the second until I was sure it wasn’t coming from the portal.

The smell made my eyes water but I blinked it away as I started looking around us with my back to the portal. Tate noticed the tension in my body, his voice becoming softer as he asked, “Where?”

His emerald eyes took in the surroundings while Karael unsheathed his sword, keeping it at his side in preparation for the danger we sensed.

A soft breeze made the leaves of the Willow tree sway and for a moment I saw a shadow standing right there, from where we came in to find this portal. Blinking, the shadow was gone but Tate having the good sense to check where I was looking at, started growling. A soft growl that thundered in the quiet of the forest.

I stepped forward, closer to where I saw the shadowed person when the stench in the air became overwhelming as something dropped from above. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to what I was seeing, but even then I couldn’t make sense what it was. A creature seemingly wrapped with grass and water weeds all over its body, leaving nothing seen except its eyes that were a pale gray.

I had a moment to see it open its mouth wide, showing teeth sharper than knives and as thick as daggers befrore it jumped towards me, screeching, “Meattt.”

Quickly I put my hands in front of me, grabbing what I could from the creature to throw it far from us. Thick slimy water squelched as I grabbed it, making me unable to do so much as push it away. Its teeth snapped together, close to my skin before I manuevered with my feet and kicked it away.

“What the f**k is that?” I yelled, moving away as Karael skilfully sidestepped the creature, bringing down his sword to cut it but the creature was faster. It moved like it was swimming fast, biting down on Karael’s arm.

Tate took the opportunity to grab the creature by its head, pulling it back with force until it ripped out Karael’s flesh. 

“It’s the Fideal,” wheezed Karael, clutching his sword in one hand like a big chunk of his right arm wasn’t chomped on a second ago. “I suggest you do not shift into your natural form, wolf. This is freshwater creature and we are by its territory so it is stronger than normal.”

“Wolves are not so fragile that we would be overcome by freshwater creatures as easily as you think,” I snarled, attacking the Fideal from behind.

Shifting claws into my hand, I gripped it tighter until I pushed through the layers of grass it had and felt the moment I held onto flesh. As I ripped the layers of water weeds and grass, it shrieked into the air, turning its focus on me.

“Do not dare kill it, wolf and do not let it pull you into the water,” said Karael.

“And why the hell not?” I snapped, dodging the Fideal as an ear piercing sound came out of its mouth and it raised its grass-like arms, pointing it at me. Its arms stretched thin, heading right towards me in a second.

“MEAAAT,” it screeched as I swiped at its grass hands with my claws, dodging it by a millisecond.

“Evangeline, move!” yelled Tate, swinging a large branch he found lying around and hitting the Fideal on its stomach, sending it slamming onto a nearby tree with a thump.

Letting Tate handle that creature for a second, I stomped towards Karael who was gripping his sword tightly, blood dripping down his arms like it was nothing. “Start explaining or I will end you right here, no matter what the repercussions are.”

“Do not make me laugh with that threat, wolf.” Since Karael was taller than me by almost a foot compared to my five foot four height, he looked down at me, making a soft sound that remotely sounded like a sneer. “However, I will still explain so you do not make any more mistakes.”

I gripped my hands tightly to my sides, my ears feeling like it’s ringing at the way this guy was talking. The sea of anger that I have worked hard for weeks to tame until it was as calm as I could make it to be, started roiling at his words but I didn’t let it overpower me. Not right now, anyway.

“The Fideal is one of the Queen’s favourite creatures. If you kill it, then you best prepare for a war. And no amount of good camaraderie between your Alarick and Prince Atlas will stop it.”

“So what do you suggest we do then?” I asked, enunciating every word out as I heard Tate snarling from behind us.

“We have to capture it but unfortunately it is beyond my abilities to create a makesehift cage large enough to trap it so we have to escape for now and come back when we are more prepared. All I can do now is to put it to sleep while we run.”

“We can’t do that. The town is so close to here. If we left, it could start attacking the humans.”

Tate, having heard the conversation as he slammed the Fideal to the ground, deftly avoiding the entangling elongated arms, yelled, “Just go for now Evangeline. Worry about the humans later. We need to save ourselves first.”

Biting my lip but knowing there’s nothing else we can do here, except kill something and start a war against the fae, I nodded my head with a heavy heart. 

“We will follow you immediately,” Karael stated, gripping his sword and moving with purpose towards Tate who was struggling to fight off the Fideal now.

With one last look at them, I started running back towards the town, hoping as all hell that they will be alright. I understood the situation, especially since the wolves collectively cannot afford to start a war now. A lot of us have died in recent fights, ones started by my half-brother and her mom that we haven’t recuperated from even remotely. So right now it’s better to be careful than land us in hot water.

My sneakers squelched through the soft ground, splashing bits of mud upwards onto my shirt but I ignored it knowing I need to get out of this forest sooner rather than later.

The Fideal is a freshwater creature and I just remembered something I missed earlier because I had been so focused on the portal. The town is filled with Willow trees and they could only grow in areas close to bodies of water because they needed a lot of it. 

Since they have grown dense in this forest, it means there is a river or something close to here where the Fideal must have taken residence after it attacked humans in Evermoore. Maybe it has been staying there for a while, sated by the humans it ate until it grew hungry and spotted us near its territory.

Damn it. I really should have been catching up on my fae lore before I’ve gone here. But Illia knew where he was sending me and that Karael was going to be with me. So why didn’t he inform me at least that what he needed my help with was tied closely to the fae?

A flash of darkness appeared in my periphery, forcing me to stop running. Was it the Fideal?

My eyes took in my surroundings. Willow trees were dense in this area too but with thicker trunks where anybody could be hiding behind from. Yet I couldn’t smell anyone was here, not like I would have smelled the Fideal’s murky stench if it had followed me.

A branch snapped. I turned my head to the left, seeing a flash of dark hair before it flitted out of sight. Who? Before I could have checked it out, I saw it again in my periphery now to the right, then it was gone.

Carefully, with my heart thumping fast in my chest and annoyance building up inside, I checked behind the trees where I glimpsed it but there was nothing there. Not a mark or anything was there, even as I sniffed the air, I couldn’t smell anything different than the forest around me.

Leaving my mate with that creature and running away was bad enough but getting played like an i***t is definitely one thing too many to test my patience today. So instead of looking around, I shouted, “Just come out here and stop hiding. If you want to fight, then let’s fight.”

Somebody started chuckling from behind me. A moment later, a blue-haired warlock wearing blue jeans and a darker blue shirt stepped out from behind one of the Willow trees. “I don’t think I’d win at all though so I give up now.”

I scrunched my brows. “Phink? What are you doing here?” Then who was that dark haired shadow?

Phink raised a finger, wagging it at me. “Baby girl, I told you to wait for me. But no, you had to just leave me behind while you went off with the one person I told you to be wary of.”

He lowered his finger and shook his head at me. “You should have listened because you don’t have any idea how dangerous the fae are.”

I pressed my lips together as I listened to his words, watching as Phink moved a hand to brush the unruly hair away from his face. Suspicion crept in as Phink hasn’t shown that kind of anger before, more so looked any less presentable. That man after all loved to look his best and keeping his signature slicked back hairstyle is one of the things he never failed to do despite his hectic schedule.

“Besides Karael being a big snob, there’s really not much of a problem,” I answered, making sure I looked and sounded normal, without a hint of suspicion at this person.

“Oh really? Then why do you think that a member of the darkling throng started attacking you?”

“Do you mean Fideal?”

Phink shrugged. “Yeah. That guy is part of the Dark Court in Faery.”

Remembering what Karael said earlier about imprisoning the creature because it’s their Queen’s favourite creature and now this guy saying that Fideal is part of this court, doesn’t this mean Karael is part of the same court? The same court that has been called a nightmare because they had more obscene powers than the Light Court?

Putting this information to the backburner so I could confirm it later, I asked, “Wait a second. How did you get here so fast? I just texted you like thirty minutes ago that we were in Willow town.”

“Oh baby girl. You know me. I can make things happen as easily as this,” he snapped his finger, a wide grin on his face.

He started walking towards me, adding, “Anyway I can definitely help you out on this mission your good natured Alarick sent you on by keeping you and your mate safe. I could even throw in killing Karael easily if you want me to, cause I know he’s not the easiest person to be around with.”

If there was any doubt in my mind that this wasn’t Phink, two of the things he just said confirmed it. Calling Illia good natured? No way in hell would Phink do that, especially under these circumstances. And while I know there’s a lot of mystery surrounding him, I have never seen nor heard him casually mention murder of any kind.

A phone suddenly started ringing. Keeping one eye at the fake Phink in front of me, I raised a finger for him to hold off for a second and pulled my phone out of my pocket. The name appearing on my screen became my third confirmation that the man in front of me wasn’t who he was pretending to be.

I clicked the accept button and heard Phink’s voice blast on the other line.