Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

‘Twas a gobblesome gooseberry of an eve as the setting sun shone bleakly through the misty clouds, a chill to this air which burned its way right down to my britches, sweet Petunia, and beyond.

“What a day for a king to fall,” I said solemnly, a wild look in my eye as I gazed between this roguish crowd of rapscallions, all primed and eager for the fight. I had discussed the options long and tirelessly, my queen and this band of hapsom heathens were the selection we had concluded upon. This was not the moment to take an army into battle. No, we could not risk such with cheeky Gabe, dear Darcy, and her Orry man in the path of violence. So only I, my queen, the three mostly irrelevant Heirs to nothing, sweet, heartbroken, wingless Xavier, and the devilish Storm Dragon and his family of heathens were present. We had to be both swift and subtle, a small band of merry Fae on our way to topple a tyranny. What fun. “Are we all firm and flanly on the plan?”

“We just need to confirm who’s going after what,” Seth replied, a doggish excitement in his eyes which I knew all too well myself.

“Much pondering has gone into this,” I agreed with a solemn nod.

“When?” Max demanded, my poor, floatsome sea trout still believing that he should be privy to all war councils despite his low position on the outskirts of the royal court.

“Bend the knee, dear salamander, and perhaps you will be invited to the next meet of highest security personnel,” I said with a shrug, and Tory pressed her lips together to hide her amusement at his glower.

“Who the hell was in this meeting then if it was only made up of A.S.S. members?” Maxy boy demanded.

“I, of course, chaired the function; Tory, presiding as the only queen currently in residence. Then dastardly Dante, luscious Leon, and the rest of their closest famiglia-”

“Wait, when did the Dragon and co bend the fucking knee?” Seth huffed, and I sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“We were hardly going to bow to lame Lionel, were we doggy dude?” Leon said with a chuckle.

“Lionel Acrux forced me to bow to him once through trickery and blackmail,” Dante said, his Faetalian accent as decadently delicious as always while his electricity made the air crackle in quite the scandalous way. “I figured it was time I got to choose my own monarchs.”

“And did you simply forget that the three of us are still standing between the Vegas and the throne, even if Lionel dies today?” Max growled, indicating himself, Caleb, and Seth, and I had to admit he got my waters flowing when he went all feral like that, but we had no time for his kaboodle right now.

“We discussed it briefly,” Leon said with a shrug. “And we decided to bet on the savage horses. You guys just seem kinda flappy since the other one died. Didn’t seem like the right choice. No offence.”

“His name was Darius,” Caleb snarled, and tension radiated through the room, but I wouldn’t be having that.

“Enough!” I barked, my Cerberus form punching though on the word, making many of them flinch in their flans. “We are here to discuss our plan for the final time, not dally on the narry winkle. Let us confirm the actions.”

“I received a message this morning,” Dante interrupted. “From the woman who Lionel tried to force me to procreate Storm Dragons with.”

“How did such a message make its way yonder?” I gasped, my mind an instant flood of hatches which needed the aid of a baton as I wondered where the leak had sprung. We could not afford any mishaps such as someone telling the enemy where we wandered.

“Calm down, bella, it’s nothing to worry about. This message came via mia famiglia who are still on the mainland, hiding from the eyes of the false king. Juniper managed to send word to my cousin Fabrizio, and he got a message to Rosalie via one of her omegas. There’s no leaks in your security.”

“Well, thank Fanny for that.” I sank down into my chair and fanned my face as I tried to recover from the pointless bout of panic which had almost taken hold of me.

“What did Juniper have to say for herself?” Tory asked, leaning her forearms on the table and looking to Dante for the answer we were all on tenterhooks over.

“That the three boys she gave birth to just Emerged in their Order forms,” Dante replied, his eyes dark.

“And let’s just say… they weren’t little Dragon babies,” Leon snorted, before schooling his expression at a look from Dante.

“No. They aren’t,” he continued. “And when Lionel finds out, Juniper believes that he will have them put to death. She is asking me for help before that can happen. She wants to get them out of there, and she’s offering to give us every drop of information she has on Lionel and the Dragon Guild if we will help her.”

“How does this tie into the plan for today?” Tory asked.

“She said that she’s been called to The Palace of Souls today with the three little butt-sniffers,” Leon said. “So we figured we could snag them out of there before lighting the place up.”

Tory nodded thoughtfully while the three supposed Heirs all broke into discussion at once, suggestions flying nerry and narry from their flappy traps.

“Will you be able to strike at Lionel while rescuing them?” my queen asked, cutting over their nabble grabble. “Can you break his shields with your lightning and end him while the rest of us go after Darcy, Gabriel, and Orion?”

“I wanted to be the one to strike at my father,” Xavier said suddenly, breaking his silence and making us all look at him. “You said you would consider that request.”

“And I did,” Tory replied. “Just like I considered the fact that I would love nothing more than to rip his fucking head from his shoulders myself, then watch his eyeballs melt beneath the power of my Phoenix Fire. But Geraldine thought-”

“And I am most egregiously sorry, dear brother,” I said, reaching across the table towards him despite his furious expression as I tried to explain myself. “It is just that as we know, they have Gabriel, they also have that abominable Vard. Any plan made too firmly, particularly by those of you they will be turning their eyes towards in expectation to kill the monstrous monarch, are the most likely to be seen.”

Xavier snorted in that horsey way of his but nodded finally. “I guess the point is that he dies. It doesn’t really matter who ends him.”

I nodded sympathetically, growing a little bushel of carrots beneath my hand, and leaving them on the table for him in offering.

Xavier frowned at them like he knew I was just trying to placate him with the treat, but he snatched them up and started angrily munching all the same.

“Gabriel will be looking our way,” Dante agreed. “But if the prediction he sent us comes true, then that won’t be enough to save Lionel from death. He will be distracted by our presence though, and hopefully be unable to see the rest of you as you go after Orion and Darcy.”

“When I soul walked to locate Darcy, I saw the two of them locked in a cage in the throne room,” Tory said, though she had told us before and I had often wept upon my pillow as I thought on such a travesty. “So our best guess is that they’re still there. Gabriel is most likely in the Royal Seer’s Chamber. If either of them aren’t in those places, then I’d bet they’ll be locked in the north tower – that’s where Lionel liked to keep me when I was under his control.”

“Two groups then?” Caleb suggested. “One goes for Orion and Darcy, the other for Gabriel.”

“Maxy boy?” I asked, and that scoundrel of a sea lion looked my way with a frown on his brow. “If I were in mortal peril, would you risk all to save me, throw yourself between me and death, give up everything just to see me survive?”

“Of course I would, Gerry,” he said, his eyes softening like the wet kipper I had suspected he was.

“Thank you for admitting that most crippling weakness,” I replied. “As such, I shall be in a differing group to you, ensuring that the mission is put before anything else and nothing is risked on account of my worthless existence.”

“Wait just a second-” Max tried to interrupt, but I cast a silencing bubble around him so subtle that he didn’t even notice, his nonsensical tirade trapped within, allowing the rest of us to finalise the plan.

“We’ll use the royal tunnels to gain access to the palace,” Tory said, handing out the rings she had crafted for each member of our little crew of chaos so that we could make use of said passages.

Max realised he was trapped in the silencing bubble and began fighting my magic off, but I tightened my grip on it as my queen continued, coating it in ice so that we didn’t have to look at his furious face.

“Once we get inside, me, Xavier, and Max will go for the throne room in search of Darcy and Orion. Geraldine, Caleb, and Seth will go after Gabriel,” Tory decided, and a quiver of anticipation warbled through me as we set our path at last.

“So you’re just telling us what to do now, are you?” Seth demanded with a growl while Max began hammering on the silencing/ice bubble, and I pressed more power into containing him so that we could wrap up these shenanigans and get going.

“You could have attended the meeting where these things were discussed had you bent the knee,” I said, rolling my eyes at the irksome pup.

Seth looked about ready to pop his long sherman, but Caleb rested a hand over his and shook his head.

“The plan seems solid to me, and the longer we wait, the more time there is for Lionel to see these decisions. Let’s just go with it,” he urged, and Seth narrowed his eyes.

“Oh sure, let’s just go with Tory’s plan. She’s so pretty and has such perfect hair and has magical tits that can-”

“Dude, are you in love with your dead best friend’s widow?” Leon hissed in a whisper so loud even the clams in the distant sea could surely hear him. “’Cause that’s fucked up.”

“No,” Seth blurted, looking horrified while Tory wrinkled her queenly nose at the suggestion.

“Can we just all agree to the plan and get moving?” Tory asked, pushing to her feet, and I darn near knocked my chair over in my haste to rise with her.

“I’m down with it,” Caleb said, and Seth agreed after a firm nudge from him to confirm it.

The others fell into line too, and everyone filed from the room, heading outside so that we could stardust our way to The Palace of Souls and the grand destiny which awaited us there.

The sound of shattering ice filled the room just as I stepped over the threshold, and I glanced back to find a rather dishevelled and crabby looking crustacean scowling at me as he finally burst free of my power.

“What the fuck, Gerry?” Max demanded, realising that everyone else was already gone.

“Chop, chop, Maxy boy,” I called as I headed away from him and his nonsense. “Or you’ll be left behind.”