A Game of Crowns

“Real friends and allies reveal themselves in crisis and crucial times. Stop, look, and Listen.”

-Unknown

"This body is delicious, indeed,” Xandra cooed as she ran my hands over the curves of my body.

Xandra tossed my necklace to the ground. I ranted and yelled from my cage, trying to gain some control over my limbs but Xandr’s hold was firm.

"Penny says hello,” she laughed.

Tobias and Viktorya cringed at the laughter coming from my mouth.

Xandra continued, “As lovely as it is talking to you worthless humans, I have other matters to attend to. You know, a world to conquer and humans to enslave.”

Xandra moved to leave but Tobias lunged towards us. With a blast of wind, Tobias flew back and hit the ground with a loud thump. He groaned as he struggled to stand.

“It’s sweet that you’re still trying to save the girl when she obviously wants nothing to do with you. You were just a way to pass the time. She never cared about you and she certainly never loved you,” Xandra taunted. “And she loathed you,” she grinned towards Viktorya.

Lies.

I did care about Tobias and I did love him. When I told Tobias I didn’t love him, it was a lie. I thought it would be easier to hear than the truth. I did love him but not as nearly as much as I should. I loved him, but I was not in love with him. That one word made all the difference.

In.

I wished I could tell him now and not have my feelings twisted by Xandra. I swore I’d make her pay if I got the chance. And I didn’t loathe Viktorya. I merely disliked her.

Tobias cradled his shoulder. “You lie,” he said confidently.

“Enough of this,” roared Xandra.

She moved to leave, but Viktorya bravely stepped in front of her.

“I don’t know why you want her body in the first place. She’s not even in the game anymore,” Viktorya said, causing a kink in Xandra’s plans for world domination.

My nostrils flared and my eyes narrowed into slits as Xandra and I watched Viktorya.

All I could think was, ‘Don’t do it, Viktorya.’

Viktorya continued, “but I am.”

She did it. I mentally hung my head. The idiot went and sacrificed herself.

“Well then...”

All air drained from my lungs as the golden smoke that was Xandra came pouring out of my mouth. A long stream of the smoke fled from my body and slammed into Viktorya’s. I watched Viktorya seize on the ground as Xandra withdrew from me and entered her.

Just as the last wisp of smoke left my body, I crashed to the ground. I inhaled desperately trying to breathe. Tobias’s arms found me and pulled me behind him.

“Viktorya,” he cried out.

But it was too late. Xandra had gained control of Viktorya just as she had done with me. Xandra giggled as she felt up her new body.

Time was moving fast. The two moons in the distance were closer now and becoming clearer with every second that passed. I was sure we didn’t have much time left. If we were going to do something, it had to be done now.

“Tobias,” I whispered, grabbing a hold of his forearm.

Before I could continue, a piercing scream followed by a long line of curse words flew from Viktorya’s mouth. That wasn’t Xandra. Somehow, Viktorya had broken past Xandra’s control.

She was stronger than I was. “Fight, Viktorya. Buy us some time.”

“No shit, Captain Obvious. That’s what I’m trying to do,” she forced out.

We could see the internal struggle taking place within Viktorya. It was written all over her face.

“Tobias, Xandra chose us both. Maybe we both need to do the chant together,” I half whispered and yelled.

I held out my hand.

His burning blue eyes turned to me and quickly flitted down to my outstretched arm. He didn’t hesitate in taking hold of my hand.

“Do you know the words?” I asked.

“I overheard them when Rowan taught you,” he acknowledged.

We turned away from Viktorya, trusting she could distract Xandra for a little while longer.

We laid our unlinked hands on the glass tombs. Mine on the caramel colored Priestess’s tomb and Tobias on the one with golden tresses.

A cold shiver ran up my arm. The glass was cold to the touch.

Channeling Rowan and his sisters, Tobias and I chanted as one. “Daughters of the Great Mother, we call you forth in our time of need. Breakthrough your bondage, we set you free.”

We finished the chant with a few words in the foreign language the Trinity uses and waited, but nothing happened.

Xandra cackled. ”You thought that a prayer and a few silly words in my native tongue would free my sisters? They are bound to me and my power. Nothing but the blessing of my mother would break that spell and my mother doesn’t care about you humans. She’s the one who ordered your extinction in the first place.”

Xandra had wrangled full control of Viktorya’s body.

I held onto Tobias’s hand tightly, trying to convey comfort through my grip. I tried to tell him he was my friend and I did love him. I needed him to know in case we didn’t make it through the day. His reassuring squeeze told me all I needed to know. We were okay. The sound of breaking glass took hold of our attention.

Viktorya’s face contorted angrily. I turned towards the sound and there stood two gorgeous women. The two crowns of magnificent beauty only added to their splendor. A crown of shimmering stars and a crown of deadly thorns fit their persona perfectly. They screamed power and authority.

They were night and day, darkness and light, and Xandra was terrified of them. Xandra’s wide eyes fluttered from one sister to the other.

The sister with caramel skin and piercing sea-green eyes spoke. “Sister, end your foolishness. You have caught the attention of mother. If she steps in again, you know what will happen. She will throw you into the pits of Taweah. Is that what you want? To be the caretaker and punisher of the worst of man?”

The golden-haired sister sneered. “She might just like that. Wouldn’t you Xandra?”

Xandra wrinkled her nose. She looked like she would stop her madness, but I knew better. She would do no such thing. She wanted it all.

“As much as I enjoy our little talks, Meylee, just shut up already.”

Xandra threw a continuous gust of wind towards the pale Priestess. Meylee raised a shield of light just in time. I had to turn away. The light of the golden-haired Priestess was too strong for my eyes.

“You dare use your powers against us again?” roared the other sister.

“Just surrender now, Kaitha. I promise not to kill you...yet,” Xandra cackled.

A bolt of iridescent darkness shot towards Xandra. I yelled. Xandra was still in Viktorya’s body. Viktorya didn’t deserve to die.

Xandra narrowly missed it. Her attention was divided. She fought to keep Meylee back and still worked to subdue Kaitha and her glistening darkness.

Her sisters were winning. There wasn’t much Xandra could do to keep the upper hand. She was being outmaneuvered. She gave one final push of power towards her sisters which broke their duel. Xandra had one last window to throw a final blow and she took it.

Aimed at my heart, she flung a bolt of fiery red lightning. I closed my eyes, accepting my fate, but the pain never came. I opened my eyes to find Tobias open-mouthed, screaming in silent pain. He had jumped in front of me. He had sacrificed himself for me.

Tobias fell to the ground in a heap. A cry of agony burst through my lips. I fell to the ground pulling him towards me as the fight continued ahead of us. He wasn’t breathing.

My mind was blank. I didn’t know what to do or how to save him. Panic raced through every nerve in my body. I yelled Tobias’s name over and over, praying to the Great Mother that he would open his eyes.

It was like a flash of a memory hit me. A vague recollection of my father breathing into an adolescent Thomas at the pond to get him to breathe again. I hastily laid Tobias flat on the ground.

What was it that my father had done? A breath into Thomas’s mouth then chest compressions? Or was it two breaths?

I decided to go with two breaths and 20 compressions. I was probably wrong, but I had nothing else to try.

I forced two breaths into Tobias’s airway and followed with the compressions, but nothing happened. I tried again and again until Tobias took a strangled breath in.

Tears streamed down my face as his brilliant blue eyes met mine for an instant before he muttered my name and whispered words. I leaned closer to hear him.

“I should have left it all for you, Penelope. You are worth more than anything the crown could offer. I love you.”

“Tobias,” I choked.

He closed his eyes. I panicked, thinking him to be dead, but he was still breathing. He was merely unconscious.

“You need to leave,” yelled Meylee from her fight with Xandra. “There isn’t much time left before the seal between worlds closes.”

Xandra fought her sisters, no longer hindered by a human body. Viktorya laid in a heap on the ground. I grabbed Tobias’s wrist. We had three minutes before our time ran out. We had cut it too close. I hoped Rowan could hold the portal open a bit longer. I couldn’t leave Viktorya behind.

I scrambled to her limp body and pulled her towards Tobias. I could see the shimmering tear in the reality of this world. It was our way home, but how was I supposed to drag two bodies back with me?

I heaved both their bodies near our exit. Just as I was about to push Viktorya through, she opened her eyes. Thank the Mother, she was awake.

She weakly stood and took in her surroundings. It didn’t take long for her to figure out we were leaving. She did what she could to help me with Tobias. I gave one last look towards the dueling sisters before I counted to three and we stepped back into our reality.

Our journey back was nothing like our trip to the Hidden Realm. We merely stepped through the tear and found ourselves on our boat, but it wasn’t the same calm boat we had left.

Yelling and groaning could be heard left and right. A boat flanked our right side. The sound of metal against metal rang through the night. It was complete chaos.

“She’s back,” yelled one of the twins.

They stood fighting two Guardians, trying to protect Rowan as he held the portal open. His celestial eyes widened as he took in our disheveled group. A thin line of blood ran down from his nose to his lips. His shoulders sagged as he let the portal close. I wanted to run to him, but a small crowd of bodies separated us.

At least ten guardians fought our minuscule group. Well, once minuscule group. We had been joined by Opal and Diamond who had brought along five fellow Guardians. They wore white leather compared to their counterparts who still donned the traditional black.

Not only had Opal and Diamond showed up, but so had Lucas. He was protecting their blindside. I guess I had really seen Lucas that day after all. My eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

Viktorya and I maneuvered our way with Tobias to stow him in the lower deck, away from the fighting. He would be furious that he missed all the action, but for now all that mattered was that he was safe. I swiped the dirt from Tobias’s cheeks and squeezed his hand before returning upstairs.

The boat swayed and rocked, but miraculously I wasn’t feeling seasick. The adrenaline in my body must be counteracting the effect. Thank the Mother for small blessings.

I picked up a knife from the ground and joined the fray. Viktorya looked to be feeling better because she was right on my heels, weapon in hand.

Thelonious was my target. He stood apart, watching as the madness continued. I hadn’t realized I had tunnel vision until Siobhan managed to tackle me to the floor. My knife skidded away from me. I punched Siobhan firmly in the face, but the witch held on.

“Enough,” commanded Thelonious, who now stood close by. He pulled me off the floor by my hair as Siobhan grinned wickedly.

“You won’t be getting away this time, delicious girl,” he sneered.

He ran his tongue from my ear to my neck. I shivered, disgusted by his actions.

Siobhan looked on gleefully as the chaos continued around us.

Someone tackled us to the ground. It was Lucas. He punched Thelonious square in the face.

“Glad you found the instructions I left for you,” grinned Viktorya.

Had she secretly been in contact with Lucas this whole time? I couldn’t wait to hear the details of his story because the last I’d seen him he was a traitor.

I wanted more answers but instead, I turned towards Siobhan. Her eyes widened and she tumbled backward. Straight into the arms of Diamond and Opal.

“My lady, a pleasure to see you again,” Opal stated formally.

“You too,” I smiled.

I refocused my attention on Siobhan.

“You were never going to be Queen. Pig fodder like you do not deserve to wear the crown,” she said spitting at my feet.

I knew I should have risen above her words, but Great Mother how I loathed her. Instead of taking the higher road, I punched her. She went limp in Opal and Diamond’s arms.

“Well, that felt better than I expected,” I laughed.

Diamond cracked a smile. It was the first time I’d seen one on her.

I looked around and the fighting had finally ceased. Thelonious laid hogtied on the floor, most of the Guardians had surrendered or laid dead on the ground, and Siobhan was now tied up but still unconscious.

I searched the small crowd for Rowan. He sat behind his protective sisters watching me with a smile on his face. He stood and held an arm out while the other held his torso.

I ran to him but slowed my speed, not wanting to hurt him.

I snuggled into his chest and breathed deeply. He buried his face in my hair.

I was home.

All other details could be figured out later. Right now, all that mattered was the man I held in my arms.