Chapter 168

Drew

Drew thought the looks on the female faes faces, when he emerged on the other side of the mirror, in the middle of their restroom, was really comical. They shrieked loudly and the one that was apply lipstick at the mirror launched the tube at him like it was a weapon. The minute Shawna saw the commotion she burst out laughing. Her pink and blue wings fluttered with emotion.

Drew shook his head and grabbed one side of the mirror while Stormy grabbed the other. Once they had lifted it away from the wall, Shawna ran ahead of them to open the bathroom door.

Once they were in the main lobby of the temple, Shawna walked behind the mirror to keep it steady as they moved it forward. David wasn’t sure how fragile a magic gateway mirror was, but he didn’t really want to find out. He and Stormy moved as a team just as they had been trained to do.

About halfway through the foyer, a temple priest ordered them to stop. Drew carefully set the mirror on the floor and waited for the priest to recognize him. He priest approached huffing and puffing, scolding every step of the way about defacing temple property.

The priest had worked himself into quite the frenzy. He was practically calling curses down on Drew and his companions when he finally caught up with them. The priest came skittering to a stop when he finally got a good look at Drew.

“Your Highness, my queen, princess Shawna!” The priest exclaimed loudly and everyone in the temple froze.

Drew took a deep breath. This was one of the things he really had hoped to avoid. Many of his people were already appalled at him for naming a female as Regant, having it known he was technically stealing out of a sacred temple was certainly not a step in regaining their favor.

“My King, may I ask exactly what you are doing.” The priest asked with his hands on his hips.

“This mirror is not what it seems and it is being moved in the interest of national security.” Drew explained. As a general rule, Fae were honest with each other when possible and he didn’t feel that what he said would cause anymore of a stir than he already had.

“I cannot allow you to remove sacred objects from the temple.” The priest hissed. His eyes were wide and he looked a bit panicked.

“How sacred could it really be if we found it in a girl’s bathroom?” Shawna asked with a smirk.

The priest looked flustered. Drew reached out and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You have shown the mark of a good priest by being willing to defend the sacredness of the temple, even against the king. I will be sure to report your diligence to the head of your order but in the mean time, this mirror could be used by evil to contaminate the temple. It must be moved and guarded. I will send the appropriate craftsmen to have a new blessed mirror made to replace it.”

The priest considered things. “Since it is not an object used in temple worship, I will allow it to be replaced. I hope your majesty understands I was only doing my job.” The priest stepped away and bowed to them.

“We commend you on your service,” Drew said as he picked up the mirror and the group began to move to the exit.

Drew, Stormy and Shawna managed to clear the temple and the court yard without further trouble. They had no more than crossed the threshold onto the road where the teleportation prevention magic ended when the air around them began to crackle.

Drew felt Stormy’s eyes on him when he placed the mirror on the ground again. It stood solid on its own as Stormy and Drew instinctually dropped down into a protective stance. Shawna noticed their stance and her whole body began to glow light blue. Her eyes crackled behind her weary smile and Drew felt himself shiver. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea what her magic was.

Five dark fae appeared from nowhere and surrounded them. The largest has a vicious smile that exuded overconfidence. He had black thorny vines crawling up his arms and Drew knew he had once been royal assassin for his father. As he glanced around, he recognized his other attackers as well.

“We have been waiting for you,” the vine fae hissed. “Soon the fae will be free. No longer will we bow to the dragons. The humans will serve us.”

“The fae are free. We serve no one but the balance.” Shawna insisted. Her expression was stern.

“Says the housekeeper turned Regent. What makes you think I would ever allow myself to be ruled by a woman?” Vines hissed.

Shawna threw her head back and laughed. It sounded like bells. “I suppose you could settle for being killed by one.” She said with a smirk.

Drew didn’t know whether he should be afraid or impressed. He didn’t have time to decided before Vines attacked Shawna. She began to flap her butterfly wings and leapt off the ground. Vines shot a tangled web of green vines at her, but blue lasers beams from her eyes cut through the net like a sword. The pieces fell harmlessly to the ground and she smirked at the dark fae. “What else have you got?”

Shawna began shooting her piercing beams at his feet causing him to constantly jump from one place to another till he looked like he was dancing.

A second fae that clearly has fire magic chose that moment to strike at Drew. He quickly dodged and countered with a powerful kick to the fae’s ribs. The fire fae tried to use flame breath similar to David but as Drew had sparred with him so much, he knew exactly what to do. Drew dodged and caught the Fire fae with a punch that contained his fae fire. His opponent fell to the ground clutching his chest.

Drew turned to see that Stormy had already taken down two of the attackers. Both were smoldering in heaps and Drew guessed she had used her lighting attack on them. She was currently sword fighting the final attacker. She easily took his head.

Behind him Drew heard a scream and turned just in time to see Shawna cut Vines in half with her laser vision. The dark fae fell to the ground in two pieces. She was laughing as she landed. “Told you.” She said as she kicked his dead body for good measure.