De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 23

Ash took a bite of his sandwich as he sat on the tree branch overlooking the clearing. The air was still heavy with the dust kicked up from his and the behemoth’s latest sparring session. As he chewed, he pulled an apple from a cloth sack and tossed it to the ground some thirty feet below. Shaggy, as the girls had named the behemoth, was on it in an instant, happily munching away on the mouthful of apple and dirt.

“Thanks again,” Ash said as he dusted the crumbs from his shirt.

Blue wings formed on his back, and he lifted off into the air, flying high above the treetops. He spotted the castle in the distance at the edge of the forest, but, as had been his habit after sparring with Shaggy these past two weeks, the wings took him in a different direction.

The dead zone came into view within a few seconds. Ash circled around it, looking for any changes before he landed near a cleared area on its edge. He sent out a Static Sonar bubble and grimaced as his feet touched the ground.

“That’s not good…” he said, looking into the dead zone.

Just past where his bubble of Lightning Magic popped was a wooden pole that he drove into the ground last week. The pole had marked the edge of the zone. A week later, it was now within it.

So, a few inches a week? Is this constant, or does it increase as the dead zone expands?

The thoughts raced through his mind as he moved to the edge of the clearing and picked a sapling, stripping the branches from it. He moved to the edge of the zone and drove it into the ground. After making sure it was deep enough not to fall over from wind or rain, he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the previous pole.

“So you are from the other place,” a voice said from behind him.

His hand moved to thumb a vial of Lightning Resistance potion he had left from his sparring. Slowly, he turned around to face the speaker. The heterochromatic elf was sitting on a rock watching him.

“I’ve seen those in white use things like that,” she said, pointing at his phone.

Ash’s hand dropped from the potion, and he narrowed his eyes at the elf.

“You don’t know what a phone is?” he asked. “Are you from an isolationist District?”

Her head tilted curiously.

“A district of what?” she asked.

Ash stared at her, wondering if she was messing with him, his hand moving back toward the potion.

“The districts of De’Vas,” he said. “What other place are you talking about?”

“The human place,” she answered, then frowned. “It’s not like the stories. The humans there cut and poke you.”

Her hand went to the side of her neck, gently touching it.

“Put things inside you,” she said.

Ash saw a scar on her neck and felt his blood run cold.

“What kind of things?” he asked.

Her hand stopped rubbing the area and looked back at him.

“The thing that takes us back to the human place,” she answered.

Ash drew a deep breath and was about to ask another question of the mysterious elf when a loud boom echoed in the distance. He turned from her toward the direction of the castle, and when he looked back, she was gone.

“Shit…” he said.

He only wasted a second looking for her before the blue wings sprouted from his back, and Sparky shot him up into the air. Something was happening at the castle, and he was going to find out what.

Another loud boom echoed through the forest. His first thought was that it had to be a powerful user of Lightning Magic who was attacking the castle, and he was hearing the sound of thunder from the spells.

He soared over the canopy of the trees, hearing the booming sound twice more. Lightning Magic formed claws on his hands as he prepared to tear into whoever was attacking his people. His blood boiled at the very thought, then he saw the castle.

“What?” Ash said, as the wings slowed him down and the claws vanished

He approached slowly. The trumpeter sounded, declaring his return, but Ash ignored it. His gaze was fixated on Selena and Haylee standing on the ramparts and the large metal object beside them.

As he neared the wall of the castle, Selena approached to meet him, a grin on her face.

“I had hoped your training would muffle the sound of the shots,” she said. “It ruins the surprise I had planned.”

Ash chuckled as his feet touched the stones of the ramparts, Selena offering to take his hand.

“You built a cannon,” Ash stated to the beaming unicorn.

She pulled him over to where Haylee stood beside the weapon. He didn’t miss the otterkin’s eyes focusing on their hands before meeting his eyes and smiling.

“Did training go well?” she asked.

Ash nodded, looking the weapon over.

“It did,” he answered.

He would tell the girls about his encounter with the strange elf later. He didn’t want to ruin Selena’s excitement at her surprise gift, and it was surprising.

“How did you build a cannon?” he asked.

Selena proudly patted the mass of iron, steel, and wood.

“I did a little research into it back in District 208 with the aim to build some after what happened with the djinn attack. Ella talked me out of it, though. She said the Council would most likely step in if I started building firearms,” Selena answered.

She bit her lip as her eyes left his.

“Do you like it? I thought it would help protect the castle,” she said shyly.

Ash let out a small laugh and smiled at the gun nut unicorn.

“It’s a nice surprise. I think it will be even more surprising for anyone who tries to attack our castle,” he answered.

Magic or no magic, no one wants a twelve-pound ball of iron flying at them.

Selena grinned.

“Good. I’m hoping to have the castle smiths build a few more,” she said.

Ash turned and saw Blake walking up the stairs with Grace following beside him.

“Welcome back, son!” Blake greeted with a grin.

Learning that his daughters were alive and that Ash was Faylen’s mate had changed the old bear’s personality overnight. The gritty and bloodthirsty beastkin Ash had met in the forest weeks ago was now a jovial man who was quick with a laugh.

As long as he doesn’t try to bear hug me.

“Blake, Grace. How were things while I was away?” Ash asked, returning Blake’s smile.

Grace hadn’t changed as much as her mate had, but Ash did think she was a bit warmer toward people. She frequently sought him out to look at pictures or videos of Faylen and Luna.

“Everything is well, son. However, your woman’s weapon made quite a stir. I think it caused some of the orcs to have flashbacks to your attack on the castle,” Blake said with just a hint of his old savage grin. “Eva is going around and pulling them out of hiding places.”

Ash sighed.

“I guess we should go give her a hand,” he said. “I need to talk to everyone.”

***

An hour later, Ash was sitting in the meeting room as some of the girls who worked as maids in the castle set food and drinks on the table. Selena and Haylee sat beside him, the latter giving warning glares at any of the girls she thought got too close to him. Across from where he sat were Blake, Grace, and Eva. Grace was already tearing into a chicken leg while the rest of them waited.

“Is there anything else you need, warchief?” one of the maids asked.

Ash shook his head.

“No. Thank you, girls,” he answered.

She smiled, curtsied, and left.

“I don’t think her damn tail could wag any faster,” Haylee grumbled from her chair.

Ash ignored it, but Selena shook her head at the otterkin with a disapproving look.

Once the door had closed and Ash was sure the girls weren’t waiting around, he started the meeting.

“Well, I ran into our elf friend,” Ash said.

That got everyone’s attention at the table.

“Did she try to attack you?” Haylee asked, anger in her voice.

Ash shook his head.

“We just talked. A very weird and confusing talk,” he stated.

Then looked around the table.

“I encountered her at the dead zone,” he said.

Grace’s face twisted into a snarl as he said the place’s name, and Eva shifted uncomfortably in her seat. He had told them about the zone a few days after learning Blake and Grace were Faylen’s parents. As he had expected, the revelation about Vas’s fate had been an uncomfortable one.

“Do you think she’s connected? Is the coalition responsible for this curse?” Grace growled.

Ash shrugged.

“I really don’t know. She didn’t know about De’Vas or what a phone was, but said she had seen one before. She could be with the coalition and just toying with me, or this is something else,” Ash said, then paused in thought. “The fact that she was at the dead zone worries me, though.”

Grace’s ears twitched.

“And your experiment?” she asked.

Ash frowned.

“The zone has expanded by several inches,” he said, bringing the image up on his phone and sliding it toward the wolfkin.

Grace’s lip quirked up, showing her large canines. She slid the phone back across the table to him and sighed.

“I have my own bad news, I’m afraid,” Grace said, meeting his eyes. “While you were playing with your pet behemoth, my scouts reported sightings of armored elves poking around the forest.”

Ash frowned.

“Any thoughts on who?” he asked.

Grace shook her head.

“Black armor with two silver suns painted on it,” she said.

Eva swore.

“The exiled princes,” she said. “They’re the sons of the former Queen of Everwood, who Blackthorn killed.”

“Slavers. We kill some only for more to appear,” Grace sneered. “Like roaches in a grain sack.”

Ash sighed and swore.

“How long do we have before they attack?” he asked.

Grace shrugged.

“It could be a day or it could be a week, but they will come.”