IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy

Axel

Three days later we sat around a large wooden table in King Gaute’s palace. All the key role players of the latest events were gathered.

The royal family, including the king, queen, and four princes sat on the one end of the table, clad in their finest royal attire.

On the other end, sat Dire Mountain. Alpha Blake, Luna Enola, Dorian, Gabby and me. After John’s betrayal and death, Alpha Blake has asked me to step in as his new Beta, explaining that I was the most qualified for the job and that it would help prepare me for when I would one take over as Alpha.

Coyne seemed to be the odd one out, seated in the middle of the large table with empty chairs on both sides of him. He didn’t seem to mind and toyed endlessly with a lighter and box of cigarettes in front of him.

Since his harsh withdrawal, Pam had been working on a project of her own, diluting poison extracted from fallen Aqrabuamelu and processing it into smaller, more sustainable doses for the king to use whenever his body started craving the toxic substance. She had explained that his cells had grown accustomed to the poison over the years and didn’t know how to function without it anymore.

He needed the poison like the rest of us needed oxygen to breathe. It had become a part of him, and he used it in the same way humans used chronic medication for their illnesses.

Pam also explained to us that he would be needing it daily for the next few months, if not more, and that it would require him ingesting it in some way or another. It tasted awful, so making some sort of salt or drink was out of the question. Pamela had initially manufactured shots for him, but people got uncomfortable whenever he pulled out a syringe around the dinner table. Her second attempt was cigarettes, and it was also his preferred method since it didn’t scare people away and seemed more socially acceptable.

I watched as Coyne tapped his fingers on the rectangular black carton. Against the side of the box, Pam had stuck a large white icon of a skull, indicating that the contents were in fact poisonous and should not be ingested in any way. Even if the substance were diluted, I did not doubt for a second that anyone other than Coyne taking a drag of it would peel over and die.

The King of Shadows and Whispers sat by an open window, waiting for the meeting to start, with trickles of blackened mist trailing behind him. The black mist was coming from outside, grouping together in tendrils and seeping into his skin, returning to their master.

Coyne had drained his powers to save his son from certain death when Locke attacked him in the woods. The king hadn’t spared it a second thought when he had sent the bulk of his magic out to shield them as he threw himself in the way of Locke’s onslaught. It had worked but not without injury. The act had left him vulnerable and completely drained. Powerless without his magic.

My gaze travelled over his exposed forearms, now pale and with very few swirls of darkness beneath his skin. How strange it was to be able to see the magic within him. See it moving around like a living thing.

Coyne’s dark energy had begun returning to him about two days ago, slowly rebuilding his energy levels and filling the coffers of his magic inside of him once again. It was an agonizingly slow process.

He seemed patient with it though and stayed mostly where the particles returning home could easily find him. Outside on the porch, lounging on a balcony or just like now, sitting beside an open door or window.

Every hour he looked better. More alert, more like his usual self.

“Right, since we are all here, let us begin,” King Gaute said, silencing the room and drawing everyone’s attention towards him. “We will keep this meeting brief and depart within the hour to attend the mass memorial service held for all of our fallen friends and pack members.”

Dorian and Divan had planned the memorial service together. It would be held at the southwestern furthest corner of Lighthaven, beyond the rolling fields of grasslands, flocks of sheep and their Mansoor shepherds.

The bodies of the deceased had been prepared early this morning by loved ones, who wrapped them in lavender-scented linen and laid them out on large wooden structures for the ceremony. During the memorial, these structures would be set alight by magic fires, which would ultimately consume the body and structure whole and according to the fae, send the energy of the fallen back into the world.

“We have a few matters to discuss, the first of which being the commander of our enemy’s army currently sitting in my prison cells,” King Gaute said, turning his attention to Coyne. A silent question to the king on what he intended to do with the man.

Locke also turned to face Coyne.

“He is my offspring, and I couldn’t kill him,” Coyne simply replied, shrugging. He had spoken from the heart. Blunt, but honest. “The Serpent Queen had fed him lies, manufactured a monster out of him. He deserves at least a chance.”

“A chance at what? Attacking us again? Killing more innocents!?” Prince Gerek spat in defiance.

“A chance to live! To get out from under her skirt and make decisions of his own. Informed decisions!” Coyne countered with the ferociousness of a wild animal.

There was a low buzz of electric tension in the air as it rippled off Gerek in static rage. In answer, the room darkened slightly, all shadows growing darker, more prominent, making their presence known.

Gerek and Coyne glared at each other, unmoving. King Gaute’s eyes flicked between the two, until he finally exhaled and said, “I don’t want him in my kingdom. You have two days to either kill him or remove him from Lighthaven. Consider it mercy on my part.”

Coyne’s jaw clenched, but he dipped his chin, acknowledging the king’s wishes. It was his kingdom after all, and he had the last say in who stayed and who left.

“Very well. Then we shall depart in one day’s time,” Coyne finally spoke, dragging his golden almond eyes away from Gerek. “Besides, I have unfinished business to attend to, he might as well accompany me since he is bound to me anyway.”

Unfinished business. The other half of Coyne’s body and soul trapped somewhere in a glass ornamental ball. An impossible thing to track down. Something so simple and yet so valuable to the right person.

King Gaute nodded and went on to the next item on the list of discussion points. The retaliation of Dreams and Seduction.

A sombre atmosphere fell across the room at that. Deep down, we all knew that this wasn’t the end, but merely the beginning.