The Earth Prince

While Prince Stellan held out his scepter, I cracked my knuckles and summoned the energy of the earth around us.

All went silent, and the air grew heavy and thick.

The threads of the universe were corded beneath the stone, and soil, and I connected to them with my mental energy. The sensation of warmth and tingling sparks of magic vibrated up from the soles of my boots to the top of my head.

The environment spoke to me like an old, intimate friend, whispering, brushing my cheek.

If anything was amiss, I would feel it.

A whistling sound made Stellan and I pause. The market square quieted as everyone turned to look up at the sky.

Six armored, winged, Wind-Walkers flew from the south of the city and stopped in formation above us. With their swords held upward with the silver blades resting against their shoulders, they hovered in the air, patrolling the entire square.

“They really didn’t spare any expense for the Trials,” Stellan said, glancing up at them.

“More faeries means more security is needed,” I said, not forgetting our mission.

If a corsus was in the city, it needed to be removed. We had a journey to Allandria to begin, and both Stellan and I if were eager to meet the young Unseelie faerie who would be queen. I’d dreamed of her since I was a young lad, cold, and lonely even though I was surrounded by hundreds of orphans. I dare say, the thought of her alone was what helped me survive.

The sound of drums drew my attention. I turned to look behind us and frowned at the scene.

“There,” I whispered to Stellan, nodding, not wanting to draw too much attention to our target.

He followed my gaze, jaw tightening at what he saw.

Two twin boys danced in perfect unison to the tunes of an old elf’s drum.

We squeezed our past a packed square of spectators and to the front of the crowd. White paint on brown skin and black, slicked-back hair. They wore the same outfit: brown leather trouser pants and red shirts with large silver buttons. They smiled and continued their choreographed dance and bowed once the music stopped.

I let go of Maxim’s hand and clapped. I fished a large gold coin out of my pocket.

Stellan put a hand out to stop me. “No. Don’t do it.”

“I know what I’m doing,” I said, and tossed the coin into the basket set beside the elf.

He looked down at the coin, then lifted dull gray eyes to mine. A crocked grin came to his slim, sunken face.

I saw it then; a brief flash of black crossing before the whites of his deep-set eyes.

Yes. A corsus.

Stellan outstretched his scepter and lowered his hood, inciting a collective gasp from the assembled faeries. They bowed and stepped away, giving him room to step closer to the corsus and his minions.

“We banish you back to The Veil,” Stellan said.

“Stupid children,” the corsus sneered. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

I grunted as he shed the skin of the elf and leaped into the sky. Gray as ash, with hollow eyes and red tendrils weaving through his face like tattoos. Screams of terror erupted from the crowd as the two boys also shed their skin and joined the larger corsus in the air, hovering, encased in black smoke.

What a sight that made. The crowd stopped watching, and ran in all directions.

The Wind-Walkers looked to Stellan and I.

“Your royal highness,” the captain said. “We have no power over this evil.”

Stellan nodded. “I know. That’s why Maxim and I were born.”

The corsus hissed, and the three of them blew something into the air. With the waving of his scepter, Stellan cracked the ground, and made ice shoot into the sky.

The pointed end impaled one of the minions, his cry echoing off the stone buildings that stood in either corner.

Still, black dust hit my face and seeped into my eyes, nose, and mouth.

I struggled to breathe, falling backward onto the ground.

“Maxim,” Stellan called. “Don’t breathe it in!”

“Its too late,” I shouted, clutching my throat as the burning dusk ripped through my throat and into my lungs.

I could no longer see. All I heard were the sounds of a battle, and the pained yells of the corsus.

My entire body pricked all over, like all of the blood within would burst from my pores. The black dust found its ways into my blood stream. A fiery torment burned me from the inside out, and I wanted to die.

“Glory be mine,” the corsus cried, and darkness took over, pinning me down until I lost all senses and succumbed.