The descent down the mountain was relatively uneventful. Going down is always easier than going up. However, it was tricky, with the ropes down the rock face. Jeanne slipped, and Luke's arm gave him trouble. Good thing we'd brought a first aid kit. Once we were down on the ground, Ciaran healed Luke's arm and our other injuries. Then we ate the sandwiches Dom made. The victory made them taste fantastic.
After a while, we made it back to the vaadin and climbed on its back. Just as my father had said, it took us back to the portal with no balking.
We exited the portal at 11:45 pm, and I held up the wish coin defiantly at Duir. I was first, which meant that the vaadin had really gone faster. She sneered at it, then at me. I did not see Marisol, Regina, or the other two women. They only had fourteen minutes, and I wondered if they would make it. A few minutes later, however, Regina was standing by Duir, holding a golden mask. She hadn't gotten through her trial scott-free because her seven consorts were present, but much of the rest of her court was missing. She had only a few more than I had left among her banmuinen and concubines. I wondered what happened to them but didn't care to ask. Despite being bruised and dusty, she still looked amazing. She'd lost her veil, and I saw how beautiful she really was now that I could see her brilliant azure eyes.
Her consorts were just as dusty, with scrapes, bruises, and torn clothing â at least the difficulty levels had been pretty equal. I was expecting her to be pristine and eating a bag of peanuts as she strolled through the portal. Enan wiped some grime from his forehead as he eyed me. He looked unhappy that I had beaten Regina here.
Not long after Regina arrived, the lavender goblin girl showed up. She was bloody, and she looked quite smug. In her hand was a blue rose. Her massive court was all present.
With the bell ringing at midnight, Marisol appeared. She was as pristine as a daisy, with her court all in place. Regina's brows lifted at the unsullied appearance of her friend.
The siren girl never appeared.
"You are late, Marisol, daughter of Parson Metovis. You have failed the trials."
"No!" she screamed. She threw down the amazing feather she had in her hand. It looked like a sunset and had edges of gold. "I brought the phoenix feather! Here it is! I'm only a minute late! You can't do this to me! My father is of the Consul!" she whined.
"Silence!" Duir shouted, and Marisol quieted down. She stood there sniffling while her feather got dusty from the ground.
Duir straightened her robes and said again, "You have failed. Return to your home."
"But... that's not what was agreed! I â"
"I said silence!" Duir stalked towards Marisol, causing her to cower away and finally prostrate herself.
"Forgive me, Mother Oak!" She cringed in expectation of Aisa's punishment.
I flinched, expecting Aisa to beat Marisol, but she stopped in front of her and clenched her fists. "Leave!" Duir shouted.
Marisol stood up and stalked away, and gave me a venomous look. I shrugged at her. There was no way she could peg this on me unless the assassination attempt was her fault.
My eyes narrowed at the possibility. She was awfully tidy, and Duir seemed reluctant to punish her even though she'd thrown a hissy fit. I smelled a big, garbage-covered rat.
"Very well, Elect Madeline," Valenia spoke up. "You may use the wish-coin. What shall you wish?" I raised a brow at her polite tone. She was looking at Duir, who was still visibly upset. Her smile was tight as she nodded at me.
My eyes widened at the news that I could use the wish-coin now? I looked at the coin and wondered what I could wish for. Everything within me felt like this could be like the monkey's paw. If I wished for my mother back, she'd probably come back as a zombie. That would be okay since zombies don't really bother me, but she'd stink, and I'd have to keep her from trying to eat my friends. If I wished to win the contest, I'd probably win in the worst way. If I wished to go back home, then Aleria would probably be covered in a blizzard, or my friends would be stuck.
Big wishes like that have a way of backfiring; just ask a lottery winner. I missed my mother; I missed home; I wanted to win, but these were all wishes for me, and selfish wishes usually had a cost.
No, the reason for wanting a wish coin was to help Regina. She'd probably not appreciate it, but I didn't want bad blood between my remaining relatives and me.
"I wish that Regina's mother could be as she was before she bit the apple."
Regina gasped, then her cell phone rang. She dropped her mask and answered her phone. On her face, an expression of delight appeared, and she cried, "Mother!"
I smiled at her and felt like I really had made the best choice.
She babbled at her mother for a minute or two, then dropped her phone and nearly strangled me in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you, Thank you!"
I gaped at my friends over her shoulder, realizing what she just did. She was still squeezing me and sobbing with joy until Adrian helped me extricate her.
"Chill girl, Matt needs to breathe!"
She nodded and picked up her mask, then handed it to me. "No bargains with this gift. The mask makes you invisible. It's the least I can do."
Duir glared at us both, and I was glad that I had disappointed at least one person here. I walked over to Valenia and handed her the now useless wish-coin. As I handed it to her, I looked at Duir. "Better luck next time, Duir. My little band of misfits won the first trial!" I crowed.
She smirked. "Very Good, Elect Madeline, but there are still two more, and I don't see seven consorts with you. Such a pity." She shook her head and tisked. I hated her. Way to rain on my parade. Jerk! I wasn't going to bite.
"Well, it's not over yet, is it?" I challenged.
"Hmmm..." she smirked at me.
I walked away from the temple with my friends, and we took the car back home. On the way back, Luke let me know that we would have a day to rest, then it would be back to the grind again.
I thought about the beautiful blue dragon linked to me and tried to see if I could find it. I couldn't touch its mind, and I thought I might have been imagining it. No. I'd really seen a link, but now I had to convince such an alien presence that it needed to come to get married to me.
I had a few days to think about how I could convince it.
Dominic put his arm around me. He was pumped up with success since he'd been the one that had saved us all from being cooked.
"You did good, Dom." I squeezed his hand.
He grinned at me and winked. "I did, didn't I?"
He plopped a kiss on my head and squeezed me. Luke took my left hand in his and looked at the ring. I'd tried to remove the band from my finger during our trip back, but it was stuck.
"Such a wonder. I am curious who planted your other consort right under our noses?"
As we looked around our cabin, Ciaran winked.
"You!" I accused him.
He nodded. "Me. I figured out where the link led and found out the ring was part of a bridge troll's treasure. Nice, huh?"
"Very. I'm so glad you're on my side and not working for Marisol or something."
He laughed and patted my knee. "I think we should have a lake party tomorrow. There is a lake near to us that has escaped the frost. You will love it."
"I can't wait."
"Oh, if we're doing a lake trip, we definitely need barbeque there. I need to help Danela make the sauce. Oh, and the biscuits and the pie." Dominic listed all the foods he would bring until my stomach growled.
"Ugh, Dominic, stawwwwp!" I was so hungry after that!
Adrian laughed at me, and I went to punch him. He grabbed my fist and bit it. My mouth dropped open from his challenging look.
"Hey! That hurts, creep!" I laughed nervously as I pulled my hand away.
I shook out my hand then turned to Jeanne. "I can't finish this ride home without me asking why you never told me that you had the Midas touch!"
Jeanne shook her head, shocked herself. "I didn't have that gift until that fight with the gargoyles, My Lady. While that is indeed a power of Leprechauns to turn things to actual gold, I never had the gift."
"That's crazy..." I was looking at her soft little hands with new respect.
So many things had changed. I felt like I would not fail my mother, for once. That felt good. But Luis and I were mad at each other. I had two others, plus Luis, claiming the right to be the royal consort. I had a dragon as a chosen, and I needed to convince it to marry me. And now it seemed like Adrian might be changing as well. Or maybe he was just playing?
Whatever. I definitely needed a chance to breathe.
"Let's invite Regina to the lake trip," I said.
"Are you sure about that?" Luke asked.
I smiled and nodded. "Yes. I'm sure. We'll invite both of the remaining courts. I feel like getting to know who Zovria is will be important, and I want to get closer to Regina."
We spent the rest of the trip home talking about the lake trip, and I tried hard not to think about the hard trek before us. I had a victory, but I hadn't won the war. As I rested on Dominic's arm, I had a crazy thought. Everything seemed to go the way the trees wanted, at least most of the time. Even these trials were what the trees wanted. Maybe with Regina in my corner, and anyone else that was dissatisfied with the way things were run, I could break the hold Duir had on this world and bring peace.
It sure would be nice, I thought, as my eyes grew heavy.
==End of Book One ==
Please Read the next book in the story, The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring and Crown Book 2