Anneliese POV
The old map from the Wildefell Witch Circle Library, clutched in her fist, was a talisman she could use in this dark domain. Anneliese tried not to gag at the oppressive atmosphere around the castle in front of her.
When she and Patch had traveled here before, the king was still alive. No hint that one day he would die, and that the Dark Goddess would test his queen's grief.
Anneliese couldn't imagine losing Patch, or their children. Hold up. Children.
"Lilia?" she asked.
Her best friend trembled, facing the dark walls that separated her and her mother. "Yes?"
"Queen Ylavi has children, yes?"
Lilia blinked. "Yes. Several. They don't all live with her. Some of them have married and have their own lives. But there is one I remember. Danniall."
Anneliese wrinkled her nose. "Did I meet him?"
"You would remember," Lilia assured her. "Prince Danniall is not someone you forget. Even though he stays in the background."
Anneliese put her hand on her hip. "Holding out on me? I thought we were beyond that."
Chuckling, Lilia confessed, "I forgot to tell you."
"Apology accepted. Now, spill everything. This Prince Danniall could be the key to getting in and out in one piece WITH Ravyn and Jude."
Thessalia--Thessi--volunteered, "I heard rumors about Prince Danniall. He's sarcastic. A rebel. But he is also the one who might inherit the throne."
Lilia paused, and Anneliese sensed her friend was grappling with the right words. "He can't walk. Not the way other faeries do. He can fly, but it's limited."
Anneliese sucked in her breath. Even as witch royalty, she always felt different. Socially acceptable on the outside, a maverick on the inside. But she wasn't disabled.
"I never knew," she murmured. "Do I need to come after Queen Ylavi even harder?"
With compassion, Lilia remarked, "Many of the other children were considered the heirs. Queen Ylavi protected Danniall, giving him his privacy."
"Or hiding him?"
Anneliese knew she shouldn't judge, but her heart hurt for a young faerie prince who was born with limitations.
"As we know, parents don't always think clearly when it comes to children." Lilia shakes her head. "I think about if Kodi, Bentley, or Tau turned out to be wolfless."
"Or Ziggy or Brandy," Anneliese added. "Patch and I would love them regardless. After all, he always felt like the odd one of his brothers."
With a little laugh to lift the mood, Lilia said, "Maybe when this is over, he can bond with Prince Danniall. Show him that being the misfit isn't terrible."
"If the Ember Faeries survive," These said, looking pale and trembling.
Alarmed, Lilia touched her arm. "You're shaking."
"It's the trees," Thessi whispered. "They're absorbing all this darkness. Any wood elf can feel it."
Oh no. Their sister-in-law was having an unexpected reaction to all the Dark Goddess' evil. Was this a preview of Dane's dire vision in the crystal skull?
Dirge!
Anneliese thought of him immediately. Back in Wildefell, he would be suffering through the bond. "Lilia, we have to do something."
Using their crystal magic, Anneliese and Lilia wove a protective spell around Thessi. A loose grid, like a mesh, that would allow her to still use her powers while blocking unwanted energy.
The color returned to Thessi's delicate elf face, and her limbs stopped trembling. "Thank you. I forgot that you all could do that spell."
"It's a wonder that the poison isn't making the Fae crazy," Lilia mused.
"Who says it's not?" Anneliese quipped. "I would say that tolerating an increasingly erratic and temperamental queen is a sign that the Fae of this court have lost their minds."
Garnet appeared in a burst of light. "While it's no small undertaking to stand up to a leader that has lost the confidence of the people, it can be done."
"What if the Fae are all bewitched and driven mad, just as Lilia said?" Anneliese inquired. "Do we erect a massive shield around them?"
Lilia's eyes lit up. "Or shine the light, just as we did when Evenhide fought the Crimsontails influenced by Cyran, Hades, and the Dark Goddess." She hesitated, then added grudgingly, "I'm surprised Mother didn't think of it..."
"Ylavi would have remembered that tactic," Anneliese advised. "She's been in enough battles with us. Especially the one against Cyran and Hades."
Sheepish, Lilia said, "I guess I expect Mother and Jude to be unstoppable."
"They're alive, aren't they?" Thessi replied. "We may not be able to communicate with them, but they're alive."
Lilia felt a chill wind around her. "They have to be alive. They've survived so much."
New arrival Daxius approached with Marieke. "Ravyn and Jude will endure whatever they have to in order to get back to us. And defeat Ylavi and the Dark Goddess in the process."
The chill wind faded, replaced by warmth. The warmth of courage and family bonds.
Lilia took a deep breath. "Can we cast our crystal spell now and weaken this dark magic, or would that give us away?"
"I thought we were here to scout inside the castle," Anneliese reminded her, though she looked like Lilia's suggestion had grabbed her attention instead.
Daxius smiled slowly. "Maybe we can do both? Lilia, you, Garnet, and I can cast that crystal spell while Anneliese and Thessi scout inside."
Anneliese smiled. "We'll astral travel. Come on, Thessi."
Lilia held onto her crystal staff, and lined up with Garnet and Daxius, who wielded staffs of their own, with Mariekejoining in using an amethyst crystal of her own. All of them drew symbols for curse-breaking with their crystals.
The wave of light spread over the tainted landscape and covered the corrupted castle. From within, Lilia's wolf ears picked up startled and confused and angry cries.
Meanwhile, Anneliese and Thessi concentrated, and projected their astral bodies into the castle. Lilia prayed that they would be safe.
* * * * *
Anneliese POV
Drawing on her memory of the castle from her earlier visit with Patch, Anneliese pinpointed the dungeons. That was where Ravyn and Jude had to be. Ylavi surely wouldn't hold them in a bedroom, would she? No, that would be too easy and merciful.
The world rippled around her and Thessi as they traveled inside the castle. Dark walls surrounded them, and bars, and guards. As dungeons went, it was definitely forbidding. Anneliese and Thessi kept out of sight long enough to determine that Ravyn and Jude were not in the dungeons. However, in one of the cells, Thessi spied wolf fur sheddings on the floor.
Anneliese concentrated, seeking Ravyn's and Jude's energy. They were family, after all.
The world fuzzed again, then re-formed inside smoke.
Some kind of an explosion. The smoke was so thick that Anneliese couldn't see. Zero visibility. But then, Thessi gasped and pointed to the ground. Anneliese followed her gaze ... and her heart sank back in her body.
Ravyn and Jude lay on the floor unconscious ... or dead!
Even more bizarre, a faerie in a wheelchair was trying to lift one or both of them up! This must be Prince Danniall.
Anneliese and Thessi approached the prince. "What are you doing? Are they dead?" Anneliese asked softly.
Prince Danniall turned toward her, eyes widening. "No, they're not, but they will be. I can see you in your astral forms. Can you get help for them for real before it's too late?"
Ylavi's sinister, tortured voice echoed in the room. "Danniall, make sure those two are dead!"
Anneliese gestured to Prince Danniall that she understood, and she and Thessi returned to their bodies. When Lilia saw them, she started to speak. But she didn't even need to say a word. Anneliese broke the news. "Someone signal Dane and the others. We need to save Ravyn and Jude NOW."