Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One, R Nicole [suggested reading TXT] 📗

than to unleash my wrath upon the Druids, but I would do nothing. Violence was not the way.

Taking a deep breath, I returned my gaze to the Druids. If I fought back, I would give them exactly what they wanted—a reason to feed me to the wolves.

“What a pathetic creature,” Vanora said, her lip curling into a sneer.

“She can’t even speak up.” Darby sniggered. “She knows she’s guilty.”

“She can’t even protect herself. She has to rely on us to do it for her.”

“No more,” Darby added, raising her hand. Colour bloomed in her palm and I steeled myself.

“Enough!”

The sound of Rory’s enraged voice echoed through the cavern, causing the Druids to fall silent. Vanora turned, her dark hair flying around in a whirlwind of anger. Darby glared at me and followed suit, standing before me.

Rory strode up the path, his expression wild, his body crackling with electrified Colour. His gaze fell on me and he didn’t bother to conceal his shock. It must be bad, but I didn’t feel anything.

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded. “This is not who we are!”

“The Chimera are at our door, Rory,” Vanora replied, holding her head high. “She brought them upon us, and you stand there, protecting her?”

“Elspeth did nothing to warrant this kind of barbaric treatment,” he cried. “We’re not monsters, Vanora. We’re not the Chimera.”

“It’s about time we stepped out of our hole and took the fight to them,” Darby said. “The old ways aren’t working. We aren’t a peaceful people anymore. We cannot allow her to complete the prophecy.”

“By whatever means necessary.” Vanora took a step towards Rory. “You know I’m speaking the truth.”

I breathed deeply as his gaze flickered to mine. The prisms hissed as I moved, burning into my wrists.

“Maybe the Old Ones were right to have the Darklands claim us,” Rory snarled. “We don’t deserve the homeland…not if this is how we treat our own.”

“That’s the thing,” Vanora said, “she’s not one of us.”

“She’s Fae,” Darby declared. “And her blood will win out.” She pointed to the ceiling. “It’s already happening.”

“She’s also a Druid,” he cried. “She’s one of us whether you like it or not.”

“She can never be one of us,” Vanora snarled. “Not while she carries the blood of a Fae.”

“You do realise if she’s turned away, the Chimera will take her powers and use them against us. They will be able to open our portals, ravage the Warren, and then they will turn on the human world. You’ll be sending her to her death and condemning us to ours.”

Darby wrenched her knife from the scabbard tied to her waist, the blade ringing out as it slid against the leather. “Then we end it here for the greater good. The black sun will never rise.”

My gaze lingered on the knife, my heart twisting in fear.

“Don’t,” Rory warned.

Darby spun and stabbed the blade towards my chest. In that moment, I thought my life was supposed to flash before my eyes, but all I saw was the Druid’s hate as she bore down on me.

I didn’t see my dad or catch a glimpse of the house I left back in Australia. I didn’t see the happy moments I’d shared with Dad as a child, or the relief I felt every time he came home from fighting a bushfire. All I saw was the tip of Darby’’s knife as it plunged towards my chest.

Colour exploded around me and Darby was thrown backwards, the knife clattering to the stone floor of the cavern.

I gasped, but the pain I’d been expecting never came.

Footsteps rang out as a blurred figure approached and the prisms holding me dissolved. I fell to the floor with an unbidden cry of pain, my wrists burning as I caught myself. My hair slipped forwards, covering my face from the gathered crowd.

“This is not the way of the Druids,” Delilah boomed, the anger in her voice shaking the cavern. A few leaves fluttered in the air, the vibrations of her wrath dislodging them form Salle’s branches and they stetted around me.

“We do not harm our own,” she went on, leaving me silently weeping on the ground. “And we do not act without the blessing of the Elders.”

Delilah must have made a gesture because Rory was beside me in an instant. His hand grasped my shoulders, but I wrenched myself away with a violent jerk. The sudden movement made fire erupt through my body, the burns from the prism making themselves known.

“The enemy is outside our sanctuary, but they cannot enter,” Delilah continued. “While you bicker amongst yourselves and lay blame on a girl who came to us for help, the Chimera inch closer. Save your Colour for them, for they are finally at our door.” The silence was so thick, it weighed on my shoulders. “Druids, prepare for battle.”

Commotion erupted in the cavern, spreading through the Warren. Druids began to move, leaving Salle at the Elder’s behest. If anything, they were loyal…to a fault.

“Elspeth,” Rory murmured.

“Get off me,” I snapped, pushing to my feet.

Ignoring the pain and the lingering stares of the Druids, I fled the cavern, not daring to look back.

No one stopped me. Delilah had spoken and there were more important things to do right now than to strike me down where I stood.

I shoved open the door to my room and slammed it closed behind me. I paced, my body throbbing as I pushed up my sleeves. My hands shook violently as I saw the burns had dug into my flesh like red angry slashes. It looked as if… It… At least they weren’t bleeding.

They hated me. They wanted to kill me. Why? What did I do?

Nothing. I did nothing. My only crime was existing.

I cried out and grabbed my stele off the dresser and threw it at the wall, the force of my rage pushing Colour with it. It rang out as it imbedded into the stone and I grasped my throbbing side.

The Chimera were here because of me. I might not have