The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (5 page)

“What did you do wrong?” he asked.

“I didn’t keep one shoulder back.”
I stood up and brushed rocks and dirt from my legs.

“Precisely,” Lev said. “Try again.”

I readied my sword. Lev started to
circle again. This time I kept my stance open to defend from the front or the
behind.

Lev took his time. The rain had
made his hair lay back off his forehead. His eyes glimmered animal-like in the
night. The scar on his cheek shone jagged on his white skin. I had grown used
to the scar. Like most things with Lev, it was a mystery. I was used to that,
too.

Lev flicked two daggers from his belt
and charged so fast that I dared not even blink. I caught him staring at my
right shoulder. As a novice I would have assumed that’s where he was going to
strike, but I knew better now. I lifted the shortsword with my left arm and
blocked his blow.

“Good,” Lev said. He stepped back.
“You’re showing improvement. Who would have guessed?”

The comment made me think of High
Priestess Grimmoix. I wished I could do as well with magic as with combat.

“Snap out of it,” Lev said,
scowling. “We aren’t done yet.”

I readied my sword again. Lev
backed away until he blended in with the shadows.

The rain grew heavier. Droplets as
fat as acorns pelted my head. The rocks became slippery under my bare feet.
This was going to be difficult.

Lev was taking his time. I could
feel him waiting in the darkness, looking for the crack in my armor. It was
nerve-racking. I was always waiting on him to make the move.

Maybe that was my problem. I
considered it while I redoubled my grip on the hilt of my sword. Then I saw a
white flash out of the corner of my eye. An idea occurred to me.

I spun around and spotted Lev
diving from the branches of a scraggly evergreen tree. His twin daggers were on
his belt, strapped to the sides of his hips.

Seeing my chance, I sheathed my
sword and charged towards him. His eyes widened in surprise, but he did not waver
from his course.

I dropped into a roll and passed
just to the side of him. Fast as I could, I gained my feet and reached for one
of the branches of the tree.

Lev had already compensated for my
new approach. He spun around and leaped, trying to pin me to the tree trunk. I
used the branch to lift myself out of his way at the last second. Then I
propelled myself from the trunk, did a flip and landed behind Lev. Now he was
the one with nowhere to go.

With his back to the trunk, Lev
reached for his twin daggers. His fingers fumbled and his face showed surprise.
He looked down at his belt. His scabbards were empty.

I jammed the stolen daggers into
the tree bark on either side of his waist.

Lev appeared stunned as he tried to
unravel how I’d unarmed him. Raindrops clung to his eyelashes. They made his
dark eyes sparkle more than ever.

Unable to resist, I closed my eyes
and pursed my lips. I went in for the kiss, but I had to put weight on the
daggers to lift myself to his height. They fell out of the trunk and I tumbled
down with them.

I felt like a doofus. I’d blown my
moment of triumph. To make matters worse, Lev was grinning a terrible, wicked
sort of grin that made me want to go jump off the side of the mountain.

“You’re not very experienced at that,
are you?” he asked.

I frowned at him. “And you are?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe.”

I got up and stormed off in an
effort to salvage my pride, but I slipped on the wet rocks and fell again.

Behind me, I heard Lev snort. He
sounded like he was trying to contain it, but he burst out laughing. The sound
echoed off the cliffs.

I drew my knees up to my chin and
buried my face in them. “I’m a lost cause.”

Rain trickled down the back of my
shirt. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, get up,” Lev said. “Let’s
get out of this rain.”

I rose half-heartedly and tugged
away from him.

“Take it easy,” he said.  Then he
smirked. “If you still feel like it, you can try that again later.”

“Let’s just go.”

Lev went to a rope near a cave in
the side of the mountain. One end of the rope was coiled beside the cave’s
entrance. The other end disappeared into the yawning black hole. Lev gave the
rope a tug and the cave swallowed us. Seconds later we emerged in the back of
the castle library.

“Wait a moment before you leave,”
Lev said. “We need to talk. I’ll walk you back to your room.”

The sense of urgency in his voice surprised
me. I waited for him to put the book back in its proper place on the library
shelf.

The lights in the central pavilion
were dim. Only a few Gnomes and maids scurried about. Dinnertime was over and
everyone was settling in for the night. The only sounds were the whispers of Dryads
in the elevatree and the creak of the massive tree’s branches as it lifted
passenger gondolas between the floors of the castle.

A gondola landed at the second
floor. I stepped inside. I was about to tell it to take me to the tenth floor
where my room was, but Lev stopped me.

“Ground level,” he said.

The branch groaned and the gondola
sank to the main floor.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we
stepped out.

“For a walk, like I said.”

Now I felt really curious. Lev was
not one to take casual strolls.

We walked out into the crisp evening
air. “What have you done now?” I asked.

Lev went towards the empty street
were the market was open during the day. “There’s something I haven’t told
you.”

I made a sarcastic huffing noise.
“You don’t say? Let me guess: your favorite color is pink and you have a twin
brother named Larry.”

Lev stopped and took my hands. We
were alone in the empty market. “Okay, so there’s a lot about me you don’t
know,” he said. “But this is big. This could change things. I’m not sure how to
tell you.”

I could see that he was struggling.
I knew better than to push him. Instead, I tried to give him gentle
encouragement. “Start small, then. Tell me something little about you that I
don’t know.”

Lev’s face relaxed a little. “Okay.
I used to collect butterflies.”

The corners of my lips twitched. “What
else?”

“Sometimes I sing Ulf to sleep.”

I let out a giggle. I couldn’t help
it. The image of Lev crooning to his monstrous pet manticore was more than I
could take. “Sorry,” I said. “Go on. What else?”

Lev lowered his head. His hair slid
forward, throwing his face into shadow. “I think my mother would have liked
you. My father had great dreams for me…dreams I haven’t fulfilled.”

The night sky suddenly turned to
day as a comet streaked overhead. It shot straight up into the heavens until it
was nothing more than a tiny pinpoint of light.

Lev and I squinted at the strange
sight.

“What was that?” Lev said.

My heart started thudding rapidly.
I knew exactly what it was.

“It’s a sign from the Seraphim! 
They’re ready for me to return to Avalon!”

CHAPTER THREE

I had been waiting so long for the
sign that I had begun to believe it would never come. At long last I was going
to get answers about my unvanquished enemy, Robyn. I could finally do something
to help Chloe restore order to Faylinn.

“I’ve got to go!” I said
breathlessly as I fumbled around with my belt. I made sure my shortsword was
tucked safely in its place. “Come on, Lev, I have to get up high.” I tugged his
hand.

Lev was rooted in place. He stared
mutely at the sky then looked down at me.

I remembered that he’d been about
to tell me something. “What was it you were going to say?” I asked.

“Later,” Lev said. “Where do you
need to go?”

I pointed to the highest tower of
the castle. “Up there.”

With a whoosh, Lev spread his wings.
He grabbed me by the waist and we shot up into the sky. The market square
became a blur below as the steep castle towers rushed by us. My eyes watered
from the roar of wind.

The tallest spire loomed above.
With a last labored flap of his wings, Lev made it to the sloping roof. Brittle
tiles cracked under our feet as we landed.

“Incoming,” Lev said.

I saw one of Ivywild’s air guards
approaching. “Uh oh.”

“Don’t worry,” Lev said, flapping
his wings. “I’ll keep him busy. What about you? How are you going to get to
Avalon?”

“I’ve got a ride,” I said. “Thanks
for your help, though.”

“Hey, you kids! What are you doing
over there?” the guard shouted.

“Go!” I urged Lev. I scrambled up
the side of the spire.

He spread his wings to take off,
then appeared to reconsider. He turned and pulled me down to him.

Startled, I asked, “What are you
doing?”

He smiled. “Giving you another
chance.”

This time I didn’t miss. My lips
found his despite my precarious stance on the roof and the guard shouting
threats from a short distance away. All my blood rushed to my head.  For a
second I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest.

I wanted to make the moment last
longer, but I had something important to do. Satisfied that I had at least made
up for my earlier blunder, I pushed Lev away. “Go!” I said, laughing.

Lev waved and stepped backwards off
the roof. The guard, who was now an arm’s length away, flew after him.

Though I felt dizzy, I climbed as
high as I could and grabbed the flagpole atop the spire with one hand to keep
my balance. With the other, I took out my shortsword. I gave the hilt a twist
and my flute popped from a hollow compartment inside.

I had gotten the idea of hiding the
flute in the sword from the Seelie Court. They had disguised the flute as a
king’s scepter in a history book. For all they knew, the flute was still there,
hidden away from the only person who could use it. I had decided to keep it
close. Not only would I need it to get to Avalon, but I preferred knowing where
it was at all times. That way nobody could trick me into using it.

The comet still burned overhead as
a beacon. I lifted the flute to my lips and played the third note.

With a crackle of thunder, a giant
golden bird plummeted from the night sky like a cannonball from the stars. Its feathers
glowed so brightly that they looked like they were made of molten metal.

The bird flew alongside the castle
spire. I held onto the flagpole to keep from being buffeted by its wings.

“Hello, Tuari,” I said. “Care to
give me a lift?”

Tuari lowered her beak so that her
head touched the bottom of the spire. I climbed onto the soft plumage behind
her neck.

“To Avalon!” I said.

Tuari shot up a flash. The sky bent
into a tunnel around us and we emerged above an ocean of silvery moonlit clouds.
The Isle of Avalon floated in the distance. It looked like a fountain of giant
seashells that had erupted from the clouds.

Avalon was the shrine of the Seraphim.
The mysterious beings had powers far greater than any others I knew of. They had
surpassed the laws of nature to bring back one of my fallen foes.

Marafae, rebel queen of the Slaugh,
was the first enemy I had encountered in Faylinn. It was Marafae’s scheme to
destroy Ivywild that had pulled me from the human world in the first place.
Until the night her henchmen abducted Dad, I had just been a normal human girl.

When it was all over, Dad had been
killed and so had Marafae. Something evil had survived that day, though. It was
the menace that now threatened Faylinn and everyone in it.

Robyn.

Marafae had claimed the child as
her own daughter. I suspected otherwise. For one thing, Robyn only looked part
Slaugh. She had white skin and fleshy wings, but her red eyes and her hair came
from somewhere else. There was also her unexplainable power. She was a Spellbinder.
She could read minds and even enslave people by taking over their thoughts.
Until Robyn and Marafae, no Slaugh had known how to use magic.

A tall, glowing figure met me near
the entrance to the shrine. Like all Seraphim, the being’s features were
indistinct. It moved fluidly and the only expression came from its opalescent
eyes.

“Welcome back,” the Seraph said.
Its voice was like the low rumble of water rushing over rocks.

“Where is she?” I asked. “Where is
Marafae?”

The Seraph stood aside and ushered
me into the pearly shrine. “It has taken a long time,” the Seraph said. “Since
her death was so violent, her memories were shattered and strewn like a broken
string of beads. She is whole for the moment, but we cannot tether her soul
here much longer. You must hurry.”

I walked quickly to keep up with
the gliding Seraph. My footsteps echoed in the vaulted hall. The Seraph made no
noise. Other Seraphim glided past, occasionally looking down at me. They spoke
to each other in lowered voices so that it sounded like a breeze was blowing
through the shrine.

We came to a doorway set in a
curving wall.

“You must speak to her alone,” the
Seraph said.

I tensed up. The Seraph seemed to
sense my apprehension.

“She cannot harm you,” the Seraph
assured me. “I’ll wait here.”

The door swung open. I stepped
inside the room. The floors, the ceiling and the walls were all white. It was
like stepping into a blank void.

Marafae sat in a wooden chair in
the corner of the room. She looked much the same as when I had left her before.
Her long hair hung limp over broken wings. Her skin was gray with webs of dark
veins crisscrossing beneath the surface. She sat like a battered doll, barely a
shadow of her former self. Her eyes looked listless above her sharp cheekbones.