Chapter 4

The eve was fresh and crisp, barely a ray of starlight blinking across the horizon as I trod the frost-capped path towards the Earth Observatory, seeking out my queens on this cold and fate-touched night. The first full night of their rule.

A shiver ran through me which was quite unbecoming, my mind a-buzz with delight over the final pieces of this war finally coming together.

The True Queens had ascended at last, and I knew without doubt that my dearest papa was watching me now, trailing my footsteps as I stole along the path to the door of my ladies on this most momentous of occasions.

The twins had sequestered themselves away in the belly of the Earth Observatory, demanding privacy to discuss many a royal deed, but I couldn't fail them in satisfying the rumblings of their royal stomachs. And so, I had baked my finest ever batch of bagels, each wearing a doughy crown and toasted to utter perfection, their butteriness knowing no bounds.

I hummed the royal anthem to myself as I approached, wondering what command they might offer a lowly wretch such as I on this magnificent eve.

The door opened on soft and silent hinges, and I rode the wide elevator up, up, up, to the tippy-top of the tower.

The low murmur of their queenly voices reached me, some utterance about a fallen star and a lost crater, but I closed my ears against the words which were not intended for my consumption.

I knocked loudly before throwing the door wide and prostrating myself on the floor, the platter of bagels held high above my head on a single hand.

"A royal snack, my Queens," I announced, every piece of me shivering with delight as I bowed so low the carpet fibres brushed against my eyeballs.

"Is death the greatest adventure?" my sweet Darcy asked, and the question set my mind into a flubber as I considered it.

"Death in the name of my queens would be an adventure indeed, my lady," I gasped. "Why any and all of us here sworn to you would agree. We are each ready to dive straight into battle at your barest whim and impale ourselves upon the swords of your enemies if that is what it takes to end this war and win your kingdom back under your sway in its completion."

"Not one of the Fae out there needs rest, not a single braggard would dare defy any command you might give, no matter its chances of fatality. We await only your word on the matter. The plot we devised to take down the Court of Solaria and that devious cretin Linda Rigel is ripe for the plucking. You need only breathe a hint of command and we shall see it done in your name. We shall attack at once if you merely wish it. Death shall meet us on the battlefield and in your name, we will take down your foes."

Silence followed my declaration and I panted from my position prostrated on the floor, eager for them to give the word and set me free to round up those scoundrels and deliver them the victory they so deserved on this most joyous of nights.

I peeked up, daring to spy their shoes and noting the tomes and scrolls scattered across the floor around them. They seemed to be hard at work indeed and I wished with all my heart to take some of the burden from them. The Ledger of Fallen Stars, a huge and beautiful book sat in the centre of their work, open wide as if preparing to divulge a secret.

"Then go," Tory commanded, offering me all I ached for in this world and more with such a simple sentence.

I squealed at the thrill of it, my hunger for war insatiable now more than ever. For I would fight in the name of the True Queens, and I would bring them the glory they were owed.

"It shall be so, my Queens!" I shrieked, placing the bagels on the ground before throwing myself from the room and launching myself into the elevator.

I bowed so low my nose touched my toes and I caught only a glimpse of the bemused looks on my queens' faces. But I knew what I had to do. I would lead the greatest warriors of our loyal and devoted army into the grips of battle once more, and I would return here only when I had claimed a victory worthy of the Vega name.

"All hail the night and the bounty she offers!" I called over the quiet and restless warriors who waited at my back upon the ledge of the cliff. "All hail the shadows between the stars, the kiss of the moonlight to guide you home, and the might of the True Queens whose destiny set our feet on this path!"

The former Heirs were here somewhere, Xavier too, though Darius and Orion had headed off on a snaffoo of their own, no doubt hoping to claim a victory larger than mine with talks of Guild Stones and poppycock. But there was no chance a fang wrangler and an undead Dragoon would claim more glory than I this day.

A cheer at my back set my skin prickling with the blood fervour which only came before a battle.

"You are the Starfall Legion – hand selected one by one to rain down hell upon the enemies of your monarchs. The cream of the crop, the pearls in our oyster, the sharp side of the royal blade!"

Another cheer from the fifty elite fighters who had been gifted the helm of blue and red, the ancient depiction of a Phoenix bird used to mould the savage beak and face that decorated it. Their own eyes glared out from within, fixed with fury and a need for vengeance which might set the whole world alight when it ignited.

"This night, we head out into the world not as rebels rising up against a tyrant, but as warriors of the True Queens, their weapons, their messengers, their harbingers of doom…and the former Heirs and Councillors too," I added as a side thought, glancing at dear Maxy boy, the dastardly dog, and the fangtastic fury, plus their families. I wasn't entirely certain what to do with their waffling loyalty in the face of such unwavering souls, but the legion didn't seem to give one whiff of a buttock wind about them anyway while they roared and beat their swords against their shields.

"This night, we will cast a mighty blow against the foundations of our enemy's stronghold. This night we will show him what we think of his regime and the rule he is clinging to like an oversized turd which won't evacuate the sphincter! Lionel Acrux will rue this eventide indeed!"

I gave them a feral, devilish smile and turned to beckon Max closer, his jaw ticking with disapproval over his appearance in my grand speech as a footnote, but what did he expect?

"Are we ready?" he grunted, eyes scanning the legion who continued to beat their swords against their shields, the cacophony of war rallying a zap to my begonias.

"As ready as a dandelion seed in a foul breeze," I confirmed, taking my flail from my back and beginning to circle it above my head, my hips gyrating with the movement and moonlight catching upon the peaks of my breastplate.

Justin took the large supply of stardust from the bag we had prepared and tossed it skyward, a flash of his fire magic incinerating the bag just as Max cast air across its contents, coating all of us in its iridescence and stealing us into the embrace of the stars.

Every one of us, armed to the teeth and clad in gleaming armour, appeared in the centre of the square right in the heart of Celestia before the mighty Court of Solaria building where the so-called king cast rule and judgement over a land he held no true power in.

"Rally, run, or raise arms against us!" I cried, magic coating my voice and sending it scattering across the city in all directions. "The army of the True Queens has arrived, and it is time for you to choose your place in the new world."

Caleb shot away from us, smashing through the wards which protected the towering building of white stone and gleaming glass ahead of us that was home to the Court of Solaria as the name did suggest, but also housed the offices held by Lionel and his false government. His actions set off the alarm to give those inside the time they needed to evacuate before we tore it down.

A shriek of darkest nightshade tore the air apart as those foul and loathsome entities which the false Dragoon called his warriors came running for us, alerted to our presence so soon.

They shifted all around us, beings whom I had assumed were Fae ripping through cloth and shoe, becoming those horrors of old that my dead mumsy had often warned me of.

Don't wander into the dark, my dear, for tricksome Nymphs do linger near.

Indeed, we had all been bamboozled by their efforts to hide among us, hovering on the outer edges of our civilisation and preying on those of us who they managed to catch unawares.

But no more! I was the sword of my ladies, the sharp steel of the axe which swung to mark impending doom. And all those who stood between my queens and the throne destined for their sweet posteriors would feel my bite. I was Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus, and the stars would have no mercy on the wicked souls I sent into their embrace tonight.

A bellow escaped me as I led the charge towards those who stood against us, the Heirs and their sires breaking from us to set our plans in place while civilians turned and fled.

I swung my flail, the battle cry taken up by the warriors at my back as we bounded into the fray, the names of our queens echoing from our lips as an oath.

The closest Nymph ran at me, its death a certainty which fell apart like a changing wind. But the cretin leapt over my head without warning, stolen air magic blasting at its feet as it launched itself beyond the reach of my weapon, and I craned my head to watch it pass me by.

A warning boomed from my lungs, the legion at my back reacting, parting, bracing, but more of the Nymphs attacked in the same way, enormous, death-bent bodies hurtling from the sky towards those who had come to fight so gallantly.

"Light up the heavens!" I bellowed, and the fire Elementals snapped to attention, blasting flames at their foes.

The rattles of the Nymphs poured from every alley and doorway, seeking to block our access to our magic. I felt the weight of that dark power as it shook the foundations of my very soul, my magic bucking and heaving within me as it fought the icy hands of their control.

I turned my attention to a ghastly beast ahead of me, its red eyes gleaming at the sight of my ample bosom turning its way, my flail rotating beside me as I broke into a run once more.

I threw out my free hand, shaking the earth beneath the creature's feet as I led the charge on, the sound of death and violence echoing through the air at my back.

The Nymph shrieked as it lunged for me, probes outstretched, eyes wild with lust for my swelling wells of power.

"Not today," I snarled, calling on my Cerberus to steady the plinth of my soul against the haunting power of the beasts which worked to sap the strength from my limbs.

My flail swung with deadly precision, bones cracking and splintering as the Nymph's death strike put it in the range of my attack. Its blood, brains, and the cursed remnants of its being splattered the cobblestones of the ancient city. The shadows inside it swelled up and devoured every piece of its Earthly body, the ashes scattering to the wind and leaving me free to swing for my next opponent.

The Starfall Legion bellowed at my back, for freedom, truth, and destiny.

I fell into the dance of battle, my movements lithe and fluid, my opponents falling to dust before me.

My muscles sang with the heat of war, and I fought gallantly on, the light of my ladies guiding me to my true purpose even as I feared for their fates in the maelstrom of this time of uncertainty.

More Nymphs raced to join the fight and their death rattles grew stronger, my feet faltering as the power of them ruffled even I.

I narrowly avoided the swipe of a probed hand, stumbling back a step and crying out as yet another probe cut through the flesh of my arm.

A warrior behind me screamed as she was impaled and I whirled to her, my eyes meeting hers in that moment of death. The Nymph who had thwarted her shrieked in delight, lifting her clean off the floor, its probes bursting through her chest while it stole her magic from her heart.

I roared my fury at her untimely demise, swinging my flail in violent delight and cracking it against the monster's temple.

It fell back, but four more of the fiends appeared behind it, their combined rattles knocking me to one knee.

My magic stuttered out, the brutal pounding of feet against the cobbles behind me making it all too clear that I was surrounded, and I called upon the strength of my Cerberus as a howl parted my lips.

The first of the devils lunged for me and I wrenched a dagger from my belt, a whirl of motion seeing my sun steel blade slice straight through its ghastly probes. The severed appendages slapped to the cobbles with a wet and gruesome sound, quickly drowned out by the creature's screams. The snaffoo of a weapon had been among that dastardly Dragoon's hoard, stolen by my lady Tory from his cavern beneath his monstrous manor. Using it against him and his followers offered up a wild kind of glee.

I used its bulk as a shield between myself and the two beyond it, whirling for those at my back with my flail swinging wide.

The crack of the impact reverberated through my flesh as I struck one in the temple, yanking my spiked flail back again and whipping it at the Nymphs trying to clamber over their fallen companion to reach me.

Their rattles almost tore my legs from beneath me, but I screamed right back at them, ducking and twisting before plunging my dagger through the heart of one foul cad as it lunged for my own heart.

Smoke and shadow swept over us as it was cast into damnation and my flail flicked out, a brutal, sickening thump sounded the shattering of a skull while another beast fell at my wrath.

"I am the dark which stalks the shadows," I snarled, facing the final three combatants and finding my back to the wall of an alley.

I was cut off from my brethren, herded like a lamb for slaughter, and yet still I lifted my chin and faced them.

The drip of my blood ran freely down my injured arm, but I didn't spare the wound a glance, my eyes on the devilish faces of my foes.

The one whose probes I'd severed broke first, pouncing with a death rattle powerful enough to make the world spin around me.

I lost all sense of myself in its cruel magic, but my arm thrust up and out, my dagger poised as it cut through flesh and made even a monster scream.

I was knocked aside, pain flashing through my cheek as something sliced it with a burning intensity, more of my blood spilling to the floor beneath me.

On I fought, valiant and true, the faces of my queens burning through my mind as if they watched, cheering my name despite the odds stacked against me.

I lunged for the closest Nymph, a scream tearing my throat asunder as another took the opportunity to strike, only a flash of instinct making me throw myself to one side so that its probe pierced my shoulder instead of my heart.

My dagger punctured the throat of the one with the severed probes even as I was impaled, its lifeforce spilling from it while I was hurled against the stone wall, losing my dagger in the process.

Pain blinded me and my fingers threatened to lose their grip on the Flail of Unending Celestial Karma, oblivion beckoning my name.

I spat blood from my mouth and scrambled to keep my feet beneath me, summoning strength from the pit of my soul. Then I whirled back to face the two Nymphs who had begun to push and shove at one another, salivating over my magic, fighting to claim the prize of my end.

A snarl pulled back my lips like a golly Norman on a bonberry eve and I got my swing going at last, the flail rotating at my side as I looked to the bigger of the Nymphs, ignoring the blood trickling into my eyes from some wound to my face.

Not today, foul beasts. For I am the light of my ladies, the song on the wind, the harbinger of your doom.

The flail rotated in my grip once more and I howled as I ran at them, rattles pouring from their gaping jaws to disable me, my knees buckling, strength guttering, yet with one last, mighty surge of my strength, I leapt.

"Return beyond the shadows, foul followers of the Dragoon!" I screamed, their raised probes a threat and a promise as I sailed toward them on the infinite wings of fate.

A flick of my wrist sent my flail whipping towards them, the sudden change in its direction impossible to predict, and the larger of the two Nymphs broke apart into shadow with a lasting howl of dismay as I shattered its skull.

The other Nymph didn't waste a moment on grief for its fallen brethren, and pain unlike any other tore through me as its probes collided with my side and I was thrown to the cobbles at its feet, a feast for a monster indeed.

"An end fitting for a servant of the True Queens," I rasped, my vision consumed by the enormous creature.

It released a rattle of purest glee, those probes immobilising me at its mercy, pushing between the plates of my armour and breaking through flesh and bone in search of my thrashing heart.

My fingers spasmed against the cobbles as I hunted for the pommel of my fallen flail, my lost dagger, or even a rock. I was a Grus, and I would fight to the very last moment, even if only seconds remained to me in the here and now. Just like my dear Daddy would have fought before his demise.

A vision spilled through my mind, not of the beauteous faces of my queens as it should have been, but of a dark-eyed scoundrel with the soul of a salmon and the body of a god. He would be ever so disappointed in me for this. Ever so furious at my fall.

My end beckoned, and despite all I had to live for, I accepted it, the agony of its approach consuming me as the Nymph leered in my face, a smile twisting its rotten features. I felt its probes brush against my thrashing heart, my magic screaming in desperate refusal, and its power calling to it like a piper to an army of rats.

No.

I had so much more to live for.

Fate was so very cruel indeed.

But just as the stars commanded my end, a twist in the fabric of destiny saw not my demise, but a shattering of smoke and ruin as the Nymph who held my life force in its gruesome grip fell apart like nothing more than a slip of mist in the wind.

I sucked in a sharp breath laced with pain and disbelief as I blinked up at my saviour in shock.

Not a warrior. Not a queen. Not even my dear dogfish come swimming up current to rescue his buxom beauty. No – it was just a boy.

A small boy, no older than ten and clearly un-Awakened stood above me, my lost dagger in his grip and a savage look on his face which spoke of all the horrors he had borne witness to in his young life.

His dark skin was splattered in the black blood of the creature he had slain, his meagre muscles bunched in tension while he held the sun steel dagger outstretched, still thrust as high as it had been to pierce the heart of the monstrous creature set to destroy me.

His eyes found mine, a moment of understanding passing between us as we met there, two warriors on a battlefield.

"Long live the True Queens," he breathed, and as if his words had been a summons from the stars above, a powerful roar of voices went up at his back, a veritable cacophony of nightmares for all who stood before it. The people of Celestia had raced from their homes to finally join the rebellion.

The Fae of this city had had enough, and they were rallying to the call of their queens at last.