Elemental Flame - Phaedra Weldon Page 0,1

The young girl pointed back to the house. "Just follow the path. My Lady's already there."

He assumed my Lady was the title the young Witch used for Arden. She was the High Priestess of her coven so it made sense.

Crwys took off toward the house at a fast run. The open front door was convenient as he made his way through the rest of the house to the back sliding glass doors and down an obvious path through the woods. He could sense power ahead and he could sense an open door.

Dammit!

He burst out of the forest into a clearing illuminated by torches and thousands of fireflies. Though a second look revealed these weren't actual fireflies, but pixies. Pixies!

The Circle was lined with robed people and he assumed they were Arden's coven. The light in this part of the swamp was dim because of the thick canopy of tree foliage overhead. He stopped just outside of the Circle, seeing and hearing the spin of the energy of the Witches' consecrated sphere. He could easily step through, but he was also cautious as he moved closer to see inside. He needed to find Sam first and focus on her.

Two of the robed figures stepped aside as Arden stepped up to the edge. She was dressed in her usual black robe and silver jewelry. She produced a long knife and cut straight into the spinning energy. Everything paused as she slipped her hand inside and parted a door. "Quickly!"

His ears popped as Crwys stepped hurriedly through the Circle door. He spotted the balefire in the center, Arden to his right, the hidden, robed coven members surrounding him, and the tall oval mirror to the right, the door into Alfheim.

He took a single step forward with the intent of looking behind the mirror to see if Sam was possibly behind it and realized his foot didn't hit the ground. Crwys looked down to see a thick, white mist covering the grass.

Alarms went off in his head as he realized Sam wasn't here. Sam wasn't even on the grounds. And the only reason there would be mist between his feet and the ground would be to prevent any Faeries present from touching the earth.

Something struck his chest with enough force to knock him onto his back. In his mind, he went for his power, his core, the legend that made him what he was and released his primordial fire. But in reality, he couldn't move as he lay staring up at the pixies as they twinkled among the canopy of cypress, willows and alders.

Something obscured his vision, blurred in front of him. He fought to raise his right hand and touched the long, golden shaft protruding from his chest. His fingers moved along the smooth surface to where it met his flesh, the point buried in his chest.

He knew the arrowhead had found his heart. It was the only weakness he had. And someone had used the Arrow of Artemis to pierce it. He wrapped his hand around it and began what he knew would be a long, arduous process of tearing it out.

Strong hands took his wrist and pulled his hand away. He heard the clink and rattle of chains, and shifted his gaze to look into the face of Brendi, the Faerie Queen of the Obsidian Court. He saw the bow in her hand and the quiver at her back.

"Bind him the way we you were told," she said to the robed figures as their hoods folded back.

Crwys saw they were Faerie soldiers, not Arden's coven, their silver moonlight armor hidden under the black material. He fought, or tried to fight, but there were too many of them as they turned him on his side and bound his wrists behind him, pulling his arms together tight. His thighs and ankles were equally cinched tight as he fought the desire to succumb to the magic of the Arrow.

"Do you have to do that to him?"

Crwys recognized Arden's voice through the haze. The soldiers lifted him up and held him under his shoulders. He couldn't stand and he couldn't fall as the pain of the Arrow in his heart seeped along his limbs, paralyzing his power.

He kept his head up, if not leaned to his left shoulder, as he watched Arden step up to Brendi. Rage filled Arden's expression and he understood too well what Brendi wanted.

She wanted him.

The Obsidian Queen glanced at Arden. "Blackwood's information was accurate. You should be happy I chose