Destined

Laurel squinted against the haze of branches and leaves, but she couldn’t see anything through the artificial storm. The wind from the cyclone forced Tamani and Klea to the ground; Tamani appeared to have lost his spear again, and now the two were grappling, unarmed. Actually Laurel couldn’t tell if they were still fighting or just using one another as counterweights against the gale. David kept to his feet, braced against the wind; the debris that bounced harmlessly away from him scattered Klea’s mindless faerie guards on to the grass. David had to back up and sweep his sword at several to get them all together again in an exercise not unlike herding cats.

The whirlwind settled as abruptly as it had begun and neither Jamison nor Yuki appeared to have been affected by it in the slightest. With a strangled yell Yuki wove her arms in front of her and again a tangle of roots burst from the ground, lashing out to besiege Jamison.

But Jamison simply fixed the ground with a stare and the roots withered away. “I wanted Callista to stay — to mould her passion and intellect into a mighty force for Avalon’s good.”

“Avalon’s good? You’d have made her into a puppet!”

“Instead, she made you into one.”

Yuki gasped, her mouth opening and closing for a few seconds before she spoke. “I am not a puppet,” she said, but her voice betrayed the tiniest tremble.

“Aren’t you?” he asked. “Then stop this. Walk away from this pointless struggle. Go to Tamani and tell him you love him. After all, isn’t that what you really want to do?”

Tamani’s head shot up in surprise and Klea took the opportunity to twist his injured arm behind him. He cried out in pain, but kicked backwards against a fallen limb with both legs, sending both of them sprawling.

Yuki’s jaw shook at Jamison’s words and tears sparkled in her eyes. “A true hero puts others first,” she choked out.

“A true hero knows love is more powerful than hate.”

She shook her head. “I love Klea — she’s my mother.”

“You don’t love Klea; you fear her,” Jamison said. “And she’s not your mother.”

“She made me.”

“Making you doesn’t make you a mother. Laurel’s mother didn’t make her — but she loves her.”

Laurel felt a burst of pride for her human parents.

“Does Klea love you?” Jamison asked, so softly Laurel barely caught the words.

“Yuki!” Klea called desperately, but Tamani wrapped his arm across her mouth. Judging by his pained expression, she bit him for it.

“Of course,” Yuki said, a tremble in her voice.

“If you walked away from me, from Klea’s plan, from everything, right now — would Klea still love you?”

In answer Yuki put two hands up and thrust them forwards as if pushing against an invisible barrier, and a wave of grass and earth moved forwards to crush Jamison where he sat.

Jamison’s face looked haggard and worn as he glared at the wave of earth, bringing it to a standstill with hardly a gesture.

Yuki screamed, a bitter, frustrated scream that pierced the evening air. The wave rippled again, slowly — so slowly.

Then faster.

Then it was rolling like an ocean wave and Laurel gasped in fear as it reached the trunk where Jamison was sitting.

The wave of earth and grass parted, rolling past Jamison, chewing both ends off the fallen tree. Jamison still sat on what was left of the oak log, breathing heavily but unharmed. “I wronged Callista, but not in the way she believes.”

“How can there be any other way?” Yuki asked. “You lied to her, got her to trust you, and promised you’d defend her. But you didn’t. You betrayed her and voted to have her exiled.”

Klea’s head jerked up and she stilled at these words, ceasing to thrash in Tamani’s arms, where he had twisted her into a headlock.

Laurel held her breath, waiting for Jamison’s answer.

“I did not,” Jamison said, the words loud, almost echoing off the trees.

“You lie!” Yuki yelled.

Waves of earth came quickly now, emanating from Yuki in circles that tossed clumps of dirt and threw Laurel to the ground, where she clung to the grass to keep from being swept away. Even Tamani had to relinquish his hold on Klea to keep from being thrown.

“Yuki, stop!” Jamison said sternly, and the earth stilled. Jamison was on his feet now, leaning heavily on his ebony cane, staring down at Yuki with fire in his eyes. “I did not vote for Callista’s exile.”

“They told me the vote was unanimous,” Klea shouted, rising to her knees before Tamani could grab her, her face screwed up in fury. “You knew I was no Unseelie — you knew it! And you still voted to let them sterilise me and send me through the gateway.”

Laurel gritted her teeth. She couldn’t imagine why Klea would lie about this, but Laurel hated hearing that Jamison had voted in support of such a thing — Jamison, who had always supported both her and Tamani, who had welcomed her human friends to Avalon, and had always treated Tamani — a Spring faerie — with dignity and respect.

“Every vote of the Council is unanimous,” Jamison said quietly, turning to Klea. “It is one of the secrets of our power; our united front. Behind closed doors, majority rules. But once it has, our vote is declared unanimous. I stood against Cora and a very young Marion for hours.”

But Klea was shaking her head, making her way slowly towards him. “I don’t believe you.”

“That you do not believe does not change the truth.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Klea said, producing another knife from her seemingly endless supply and pointing it accusingly at Jamison. “Vote or not, you stood by and let it happen.”

“And I regret that every day of my life,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Yuki’s eyes widened and time seemed to freeze as Jamison and Klea stared at each other, now almost close enough to touch. Laurel held her breath, watching them, waiting for… she didn’t even know what. Beside her, David lowered Excalibur. Even Klea’s strange underlings seemed transfixed by the scene.

“It’s too late for that,” Klea said at last, and she raised a hand to strike. As Tamani moved to tackle her, Laurel felt the strong hands of one of Klea’s guards lift her off her feet and she shrieked in surprise, the sound drawing Jamison’s attention from Yuki for the briefest of instants.

No! Laurel bit off the scream, but it was too late. The log Jamison had been sitting on bucked and spun, sending him sprawling to the ground. Laurel winced as his head connected with a branch that threw him to the side of the road. He did not rise again.

Tamani spun from Klea and struck the guard holding Laurel square in the face; the black-clad faerie relinquished her easily. But the damage was done — Jamison lay powerless on the grass, his body restrained by a network of roots. Laurel slid to the ground and tore at his bonds with her fingernails, but they only seemed to pull tighter.

“Now, we finish him!” Klea screamed at Yuki, one arm cradled against her chest, her other brandishing her knife.

Yuki raised her hands but Laurel could see them shaking. The young faerie’s chest heaved and her breathing was loud and laboured as she tried to force herself to act. Laurel flung herself protectively over Jamison’s fallen form, though she knew it wouldn’t do much good against Yuki.

Tamani threw himself in front of Klea as Yuki seemed to gather her nerve. “Yuki, don’t do it, please!” Tamani gasped.

Klea leaped at Tamani, full of crazy rage. He caught her knife arm and attempted to throw her to the ground, but she used her momentum to reverse the throw and bring him down instead. The point of her knife plunged straight towards his chest.

“No!” Yuki screamed, and the earth between Klea and Tamani ripped upwards and drove them apart, tossing Tamani on to the ground and raining soil over Laurel and David. “You promised! You said he wouldn’t be harmed.