Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chaykeely ❯ Chapter four ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

It was about midnight when Devlan came across the cottage. He frowned, sniffing the air. “I smell a witch…but Donelle and the others couldn’t possibly be out here…and those other smells…what are they?” He sniffed more and froze. “Arietta.” He ran toward a giant tree, and stopped when he saw two violet orbs staring at him from in front of a house, where the tree had just been. They continued staring, and he ducked behind a tree.

What’s wrong? Arietta asked. Keiran looked up at her.

There’s someone out there.

They can’t get through the shield, can they?

Probably not. But I think they saw me. If they saw me, they can get through. He narrowed his eyes, looking out toward the woods. Who’s out there? He demanded.

They won’t answer you, Keir–

It’s Devlan, the elf prince. Arietta’s there, isn’t she?

Arietta started to scream, but covered her mouth with her hands. “Devlan?” she whispered.

As long as he doesn’t realize we suspect him, it should be fine. Don’t worry, he won’t be able to hurt you.

I’m not worried about myself…

Yes, Arietta is here. You can obviously get through our shield, so go ahead.

Devlan stepped out from behind the tree and walked toward the cottage. “Arietta, I’m glad you’re safe!”

“No, you’re not. Tell me the truth. How did you survive?” Arietta glared at him as he appeared in front of her.

“Arietta?” Brighid stepped out the door, accompanied by Nevan. They looked at Devlan, then at Arietta, then at Keiran, whose hair was standing on end as he hissed at the stranger.

“What’s going on?” Nevan asked.

“This is Devlan. My fiancée. He should be dead, but so should I.” Arietta did not turn her gaze away from him. “I hate him.”

“I knew I smelled a witch. Were you one of the witches who killed our people?” Devlan demanded. Keiran narrowed his eyes more, and Arietta scoffed.

“N-no…I was kicked out of the witch tribe a long time ago when they started hurting people,” Brighid stammered, backing into Nevan, who held her close to him.

“Leave her alone,” Nevan growled. “What are you doing here?”

“A vampire…ah, I see.” Devlan smirked a bit. “A vampire and a witch…well, I’ve come to get my fiancée back, so we can rebuild Chaykeely. Will you protest that?”

“Does it look like she wants to go with you?” Nevan demanded to know.

“I don’t know. Get that…cat…away from her and we’ll find out.” He grinned and sat down next to Arietta. “You know we have to rebuild the population.”

“You’re disgusting,” she replied, standing up. “Of course I don’t want to go with you. Go back to your witch friends.”

Arietta! Now he knows that you suspect him!

No, he doesn’t. Well, yes, he does. But he knew that already…thanks to you. Not that I’m complaining…

“You think I’d ally myself with witches after what they did to our kingdom?” He shook his head. “The poor king and queen…”

“Shut up,” Arietta warned, glaring at him. “Don’t you dare mention my parents.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. That’s insensitive of me, isn’t it? But my parents are dead now, too, you know. In fact, I’m surprised you’re living here with a witch.”

“What choice did I have? To stay in the forest and be easy prey for the murderers who killed the faeries?”

“What are you doing here?” Devlan whirled around to see a pixie staring at him, hovering over him. “Shouldn’t you be…you know…six feet under?” She grinned and winked at Arietta, then used the phrase Arietta had used on her earlier, “Hire nota.”

Devlan’s face grew red with rage. “You…you dare to treat me like an underling?” He reached for her, but his arm was held back.

“Wow, you must be an idiot. I think Aisling would be able to tear you apart easily.” Kael smiled and twisted Devlan’s wrist back slightly. “And besides…if you tried to hurt her, I’d kill you before she got the chance.”

“Aisling. That’s right. The traitor.”

“You’re calling me a traitor?” Aisling laughed. “I’m not a traitor. You are. I had nothing to betray.”

“What are we supposed to do with him? We can’t let him go, if he is a traitor. But we can’t kill him if he’s not…” Kael looked puzzled.

“I say we kill him,” Aisling chimed in. “Even if he’s innocent.”

“We can’t,” Nevan and Brighid said simultaneously.

“I agree with Aisling, though.” Kael turned to Arietta. “But it’s really up to you.”

I hope she kills you, Keiran silently told Devlan. And I hope your death is a slow and painful torture.

“That’s a lot, coming from something one-sixteenth my size.” He attempted to kick Keiran, but the cat jumped out of the way.

You should have seen me earlier, before the moon came out. If Arietta doesn’t kill you now, I will do it later. I swear it.

“Let him go,” Arietta said. “Devlan, tell the witches that I won’t come with you…and that if you come here again, we will kill you. That is,” she added, “If you are, in fact, allied with them. If not, we apologize. However, we will still kill you if you return.”

Kael released Devlan’s arm and backed toward the others.

“But you and I–”

“Go!” Arietta commanded. Devlan turned away and ran off into the forest.

“Was that the wisest thing to do, Arietta?” Aisling asked. “He’ll just return with the witches.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nevan noted. “We won’t be caught off-guard.”

“We should strengthen the shield…” Brighid stepped forward. “Aisling, Arietta, you’ll help me, won’t you?”

They both nodded, and Nevan, Keiran, and Kael went back inside. “I’ll watch for Devlan and the others,” Nevan volunteered. “You guys go on to bed.”

“I’ll watch with you,” Kael said.

“No…I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I see. You want Brighid to watch with you.” Kael laughed. “Okay, I don’t want to get between you two.” He ran off toward his room before Nevan could react.

Keiran walked up to Nevan and put a paw on Nevan’s hand. Nevan raised his arm up, about to pet Keiran, but stopped and laughed. “I don’t think you’d want me to do that.”

In response, Keiran raised his head up to meet Nevan’s hand. Nevan scratched Keiran behind the ear for a few seconds. Keiran purred and then ran off into Nevan’s room, where he was sleeping that night.

“It’s done,” Brighid told Nevan as she sat down beside him and Arietta and Aisling went into their rooms. “I don’t think it will keep them out, but it might be harder to see now.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll watch for them.” Nevan smiled and took Brighid’s hand. She looked at him and smiled back.

“I love you.” She giggled and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “But you knew that.

“Yeah. I love you too.” He sighed and turned to watch the forest. “It’s going to be a long night.”


“You failed.” Donelle sighed. “Now we have to kill them.”

Devlan shook his head. “No. Arietta said if I go back there, they’ll kill me.”

“So? Who cares?” Enya asked. “We don’t need you anymore, anyway. We should kill you ourselves.”

“Shut up, Enya,” Keelty said. “You’re not very useful either. Besides, we promised Devlan he could have Chaykeely, didn’t we? If he dies, we’d be breaking our promise.”

“Who cares about a broken promise? I want to kill someone.” Galvin sighed. “I wish we’d stop standing around and waiting.”

“Well, we really don’t need Devlan now…he can go to Chaykeely, can’t he? We’re done with him,” Calder suggested.

“No, we can’t. We do still need him. Arietta might be unwilling to fight us if he’s there. She did spare his life, after all. And besides, he knows the way to the house,” Donelle said. “Let’s go now. Devlan, lead the way.”

“Alright,” Devlan agreed. “Follow me, then.” He took off running, with the witches chasing after him.

Poor Arietta, a squirrel cried. Her former fiancée is trying to kill her.

Or marry her. I don’t know which is worse, another one replied.

Who ever heard of an elf prince teaming up with a band of evil witches anyway?

He must have really wanted the throne…but now he has no people to rule. I wonder if he thought of that.

What, did he think Arietta would happily marry him? “Thanks for killing my parents, I love you!” Yeah, that’s likely.

I hope she’ll be okay…

I’m sure she will be. She’s in good company. They’re all strong enough to beat the witches and Devlan.

What if they’re not? What if they die?

Well…then we’d have no one to send us to the afterlife, for one.

Oh, God, you’re right. Arietta has to be safe!


“Keiran, are you awake?” Arietta whispered, opening the door to Nevan’s room.

Yes. What’s wrong?

I’m not sure…maybe what Devlan said got to me or something…

What part of what he said?

That thing about repopulating Chaykeely…he’s right, there are no more elves left…after he and I die, there will be no more at all.

Yeah…well, you know, he can always find some mortal girl…or Donelle…to populate Chaykeely with half-elves instead. In Arietta’s mind, Keiran laughed. I’d prefer it if he just died right now, though.

Well…I guess I’m the last hope for Chaykeely. At least, for the elves. Aisling could bring the pixies back…if she wanted to...or at least, she could start a family of half-faeries. Wouldn’t that be strange…

That doesn’t mean you have to go back to Devlan. You can’t possibly be suggesting it, can you?

I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m suggesting… She sighed. It’s not like there’s another chance for Chaykeely…

I’m sure there is, Keiran insisted. You just haven’t thought of it yet.

Have you?

Yes. I already mentioned it. A tribe of half-elves isn’t nearly as bad as letting your species die out completely, is it?

No, you’re right. It isn’t.


“What’s that?” Brighid whispered, shaking Nevan, who had fallen asleep. “Is it…?”

“I think it’s a squirrel,” the vampire replied. “I wonder why it’s here, though.”

The squirrel scurried up to Brighid and Nevan, then stood, watching them. Brighid nodded.

“I’ll show you the way.” She looked at Nevan. “You can handle this by yourself, right?”

Nevan nodded. “Of course. You’ll be back in a minute, though, won’t you?”

Brighid smiled and nodded again. “Yes. I wouldn’t leave you.” She opened the door and led the squirrel to Arietta, who she surprisingly found in Nevan’s room, with Keiran on her lap, petting him. “Arietta, this squirrel came to see you, I think.”

Arietta looked up in alarm as the squirrel began chittering away.

Devlan and the witches are coming back to kill all of you! You have to run or they’ll find you!

“Calm down, I already know,” she said aloud for Brighid’s benefit. “Nevan is watching for them right now. Besides, they won’t be here yet. They need to sleep, too.”

Aisling, from her room, overheard what Arietta said. “I can help,” she whispered to herself. She went to her closet and pulled out a cloak, then opened the door into the hallway, where she was confronted by Kael, whose hands were behind his back.

“Where are you going?”

“To help in the only way I can. Let me through.”

“I thought you didn’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“I don’t. I don’t want to die. I’m going to stop the witches before they get here to kill me.”

Kael smiled. “Then why don’t you just run away? They’d probably never catch you.”

“Because…I don’t really hate you guys too much, either.” She grinned. “Are you going to move and let me pass, or do I have to fight you?”

“Neither. You’re going to take me with you.” He revealed the cloak he held behind his back, and put it on. “Or will you protest?”

“I thought you’d want to come along.” She smiled and grabbed his arm. “Come on. Keep up with my flying or I’ll leave you behind.” They ran out the back door in order to evade Nevan’s gaze.

“I’m tired, Donelle,” Enya whined, yawning.

“Just an hour ago you wanted to kill something so badly.”

“No, that was Galvin. But I still do…just not right now. Right now I need sleep…”

“I agree,” Galvin piped up. “I’m exhausted.”

“I could use some sleep myself,” Keelty admitted. Calder nodded.

“Fine. Devlan, I assume you don’t have any pressing desire to continue at this moment?” Donelle asked.

“No. If you want to sleep here for the night, it’s fine with me.”

“Okay, then. Calder, Galvin, pitch the tent. Enya, start the fire. Keelty, Devlan, come with me. We’re going to keep lookout. You know, in case they decide to come after us before we can get them.”

“They won’t,” Devlan said.

“They might.”

“Once you get the tent up and the fire going, go ahead and sleep. We’ll wake you up when it’s your turn.”


Aisling stopped suddenly and pulled Kael behind a rock when she saw the smoke of a fire. “Shh…” Kael nodded and crouched down. Aisling drew a circle in the soil, then dropped a few rose petals into it. She grabbed a nearby twig and mixed the petals around in the sand while chanting, “Hurilito kusani mino” three times. Then she stopped and looked at Kael. “They’re asleep…dreaming.”

“Then we can attack!” He stood up to ambush them, but Aisling shook her head.

“No. You can’t. If you interfere with the spell, I’ll die.”

“Then why did you come out here? Wait. What spell are you talking about?”

“Dreams. When they wake up in the morning, they’ll be confused and not know who to trust.”

“So…you made them have nightmares?”

“More or less.” She stood up and grabbed Kael’s hand again, after collecting the rose petals, not wanting to leave evidence of the magic she’d performed. “Let’s go.” They raced back, returning before the others noticed they were gone.