Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chaykeely - Book Two ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Brighid and Nevan waited. The sun came out. Nevan seemed uncomfortable about it, but he said nothing about it. The sun didn’t hurt him, but he still wasn’t entirely used to it, even after years of living with his mother. He concentrated on Brighid instead, who was looking more worried as time went by. As they saw the sun creep into the sky directly above them, they stood. “Let’s go,” Nevan told Brighid, who nodded.

They reached the village within an hour, the first sign that something was wrong. They were both afraid to talk to anyone, in case they somehow recognized Brighid or sensed that he was a vampire, but once they did speak to someone, nothing happened to indicate that they were in danger.

“Excuse me,” Brighid said softly, standing before an old man. “Have you seen any strangers in your village lately?”

“No, I don’t believe so. I mean, other than you.”

“He would have brown hair, hazel eyes, about six feet tall…he was wearing a lot of blue. Oh, and he had a bit of a mustache.” The man shook his head. “No? Oh…okay…” Brighid lowered her head and walked over to Nevan, who took her hand, leading her further into town, hopefully to gain some information.

They had no luck anywhere, however. No one had seen Fynn. It seemed unlikely that he could have gotten lost or caught on the way to the village, because it was so close to where they had stayed, but he was nowhere to be found.

“What if he never intended to come here?” Nevan pondered. Brighid stared at him.

“What do you mean?”

“What if he told me to protect you so that he could save you? I mean…maybe he sensed that Donelle was nearby, and so he went to confront her…maybe throw them off your track…”

“He wouldn’t leave me,” Brighid said defiantly. “He said he wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“He didn’t.”

Brighid’s eyes widened and she dropped to her knees. “You’re right…” She stared at the ground before her, crying softly. Nevan knelt down next to her. “Do you…can we look for him anyway?...Even if he’s…”

Nevan nodded. “It might not be entirely safe, but we can.” He took Brighid’s hand and helped her up. Then they set off to find Fynn.


Aisling was jarred awake yet again. This time, however, it was by two voices, both male.

“Keiran, what are we doing out here?” The voice sounded exhausted.

“I had a vision,” the other mumbled. “There’s someone here…”
Aisling squirmed; the two voices were very close. The people owning the voices were probably standing directly above her.

“Where?” The first asked, yawning. “That’s just great, waking me up so early in the morning for this.”

“Don’t be such a baby, Kael. It’s not that early.” He reached into the blueberry bush. “Here,” Keiran told Kael. He cleared some of the branches out of the way and stared at Aisling. “Oh, wow!”

“What? What is it?” Kael asked, suddenly sounding much more alert.

“A…pixie?” Keiran asked, as if he wasn’t entirely certain. “I read some books on faeries, but…”

Aisling glared at him, then flew up out of the bush. “What do you want?” She demanded.

Keiran looked surprised. She glanced at Kael, who shrugged. “Er, nothing, really,” he admitted.

Aisling stared at them. “Nothing…”

“Yeah, nothing,” Kael repeated. “I mean, unless you’re lost or you were banished from somewhere. Or ran away. Or something. Then we can help…”

“How?”

“Well, we could offer you a place to stay,” Keiran said brightly.

“A place to stay?”

“Well, I mean…I’m sure you’re used to…trees and things…I don’t know if you’d like our accommodations…but we have so many more rooms than we need in our cottage…” Kael looked at her, unsure.

“I lived in a house, thank you.” She glared at them once again.

“Sorry,” Kael said, but he obviously didn’t care at all.

“Don’t bother. Is this a trick? Or are you actually being that generous? Because you can’t take back your offer once I accept it, you know. And if I find out there are any hidden obligations…I won’t kill anyone for you,” she added.

“Kill? We don’t want you to kill anyone. We just want to help. See, my tribe was completely wiped out not too long ago,” Keiran explained. “And Kael is the only person like himself in existence, as far as we know. So we want to help anyone who is in our situation…or an outcast of any kind. I don’t see many pixies around, so I assume you left or were expelled…?”

Aisling nodded. “Okay. I’ll stay with you. It’s better than sleeping in a blueberry bush,” she admitted. “So…lead the way.”


It didn’t take long for Nevan and Brighid to find Fynn. He was dead. Nevan forced Brighid to look away as he buried him, but he wished he could also look away. When he was finished, he sighed. Brighid said nothing. The expression on her face was blank.

“He sacrificed himself for me,” she said, after three minutes of silence. She turned to Nevan. “Don’t you ever do that.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t sacrifice your life for mine. Ever.” She glared at him. “Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. But you have to promise the same thing to me.”

“I promise.” Brighid smiled sadly and stood. “We should go. I can’t imagine that we’re safe here.” Nevan nodded and together they walked through the forest.

Eventually they came across a cottage. Nevan ventured toward it, and Brighid ran after him. They knocked on the door and were greeted by two boys about their age, and a strange winged creature. Brighid gasped.

“A pixie!”

“Er, yes,” the pixie said. “And you are a witch.”

Kael and Keiran stepped back a bit, but Nevan shook his head. “No. I see that you must have had experiences with those witches who killed my father, as well. Brighid is not one of them. She refused to join them.”

“Oh. So…you were exiled?” Keiran asked Brighid, uncertain.

Brighid nodded. “Yes. Fynn and I…we ran away so that he would not have to kill the vampire tribe–Nevan’s father’s tribe…”

“Fynn?”

“He’s …dead,” Nevan said softly. Brighid bit her lip and nodded. “They found him and killed him.”

“Oh.” Kael looked at Nevan. “You’re a vampire, then?”

“Half. Mortal mother. I left my mother’s village to save her.”

Keiran and Kael looked at each other, then stepped aside to let Brighid and Nevan in. “Sit down,” Kael ordered Nevan. “You’ll need to.”

Nevan did as he was told, but was confused. “Why?”

“Where are you from?”

Nevan frowned. “I’ve been traveling east for about a month. Why?”

“Well…” Keiran started, but Kael stopped him.

“Let me.” He sighed. “The witches…they have destroyed every mortal village to the west…at least, that’s what Keiran’s feeling.”

“You’re wrong. I saved them by leaving.”

“No…see, they want to kill everyone…the leader is intent on taking over the world. It’s not just vampires, witches, werecats, and other magical or supernatural creatures she’s after…she’s been killing humans since the beginning.”

“She didn’t get my mother.”

“Well, no. We can’t be sure,” Keiran admitted. “But Aisling has been working on it. Her visions are much stronger than mine, but she only has them on rare occasions. She’s started studying it, how to find the witches, where they’ve struck, whatever…”

“My mother is alive,” Nevan said.

“She may not be,” Kael told him.

“No.”

Aisling sighed. “Right. Well, if this is how it’s going to be for a while, I’m going to my room to study this spell some more.” She flew down the hall.

“Do you have any place to stay?” Keiran asked Nevan and Brighid suddenly.

“No,” Brighid said softly.

“Stay here. We have two more rooms.” Kael pointed at Nevan. “We also have a coffin…my parents bought it when I was younger. They, er…used it as a table.” He smiled sheepishly. “I just thought you might like it better than a bed.”

“Yeah…I would.” Nevan nodded, still distracted by the possibility that his mother was dead. “Thanks.”

“I’m guessing you’re not nocturnal, since you’re…awake,” Keiran said. Nevan nodded. “Alright. I think we should go in to help Aisling. The sooner she figures out the spell, the better.”

As they stepped inside Aisling’s room, they saw a giant circle of light in front of her, which she concentrated on. On the ground before her was a world map, with black X’s through the locations she knew the witches had struck. She heard them enter and turned toward Nevan. “Where is your mother’s village?” she asked.

“Here,” he said, pointing to an area in the west not yet marred by an X. He glanced at an X that indicated his father’s tribe, but quickly looked away.

Aisling stared at the ring of light yet again, and this time they could all see an image forming. It was a village. Nevan recognized it; it was definitely his. As the picture became clearer Nevan felt his whole world come crashing down around him. There was the market: on fire. Everyone around it was already dead.

“Where does your mother live?” Aisling asked.

“O-over…there,” Nevan pointed toward the right of the circle, his hand shaking. The picture moved to that house. The door opened, and Nevan looked away, screaming. His mother was dead, just as Kael and Keiran had tried to tell him. The light turned off and everyone looked away from Nevan.

“I’m sorry,” Kael said. “I hoped that you were right, but…”

“Nevan…” Brighid placed a hand on his shoulder. He nodded.

“I know. I just…” He sighed. “I’m fine. Really.” He looked at Kael. “You said something about rooms and a coffin? Could you...?”

Kael nodded. “Yeah. Come on.” He led Brighid and Nevan to the two empty rooms.


It was no use. Devlan could think of no way to get Arietta to marry him, and his time in the mortal realm was almost over. He had to be back within two weeks. He sighed, about to head back to the Chaykeely gate, but he stopped when he heard something. He turned around and was about to scream before someone clamped his hand over his mouth.

“Don’t make a sound,” he ordered. “We have an offer to make, but if you call for help, we’ll kill you right here.”

Devlan nodded. The man released his hand and wiped it off on his pants. “Okay, Donelle. I think he’ll cooperate.”

Three others stepped out from behind some trees toward Devlan. One woman, the obvious leader, smiled malevolently at him. “Hello. You must be from Chaykeely.”

Devlan nodded.

“We need to get in. Won’t you please help us?” She smiled again. “It would be greatly appreciated, and we could give you whatever you want.”

Devlan frowned. “I’m already the prince of the western realm. What more can I have?” Realization dawned on him and he smiled a bit. “Well, there is something, but you can’t give it to me.”

“Oh? What is it you desire, prince of Chaykeely?”

“The elf princess of the eastern realm. And control over Chaykeely as a whole. The western realm is pretty shoddy.”

“What makes you think we can’t give you that?”
Devlan stared at her. “It isn’t yours to give.”

Donelle laughed at him. “It will be,” she said, “If you give us the key.”

Devlan stared at her. “What are you planning to do?”

“Kill everyone. You know. Fun stuff like that. You aren’t attached to your parents, right? Just the princess?”

“You want to kill everyone?” Devlan asked, surprised. He laughed. “Sure, go ahead. I don’t care. But I want to make a deal with you. You must give me everything I asked for.”

“The princess and control over all of Chaykeely, right?”

“Yes.”

Donelle smiled. “Alright.” But she knew that, on the first occasion that arose, she would kill Devlan and the elf princess and rule Chaykeely on her own. “I swear to it.” She nodded toward Enya, who carried a sword. Enya handed her the sword, and Donelle pricked her finger on it. “With blood.”

Devlan nodded and turned toward a tree. “Chirseo menia!” The gateway into Chaykeely was opened.


At this time Arietta was inside the castle, sitting in on a meeting between her parents and Devlan’s. She was bored and it was all she could do not to fall asleep. She didn’t understand half of what was being said. They were saying something about pixies rebelling ever since Aisling left. Arietta understood that part. She hated Aisling for leaving. Sure, for a while Arietta had more independence, but then her parents sent a goblin to be her servant, and goblins were no fun at all. Arietta sighed. She zoned out, not paying attention to the meeting at all.

Suddenly the door burst open. “Witches!” a faerie screamed, out of breath. “They got in somehow! They’re killing us all! They’re headed this way!”

Everyone jumped up and ran to the door to look outside. It was true. Faeries were being shot into the air by beams of light, and the beams were getting closer. Arietta’s mother gestured for Arietta to follow her. She did.

Keaira looked at Arietta, then kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, my daughter.” She mumbled, “Drik fula minosa.” Arietta collapsed. Keaira smiled sadly and carried Arietta to the back of the castle, finding her way to the hidden gate out of Chaykeely. Then she gently lay Arietta in a tree, whispered, “Goodbye,” and left to head back to her certain death.