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"No, there are others," Bracken said Gilgarol harrulance from Bracken silenced him "What?" Kendra pressed "Cohed "The Fairy Queen has five children-- four daughters, one son I’m the son"
"The Fairy Queen is your mother?"
"Yes"
Kendra rubbed her forehead "No wonder she seemed so worried about you But how could your mother be a fairy?"
"Did I say she was a fairy?"
"She’s not?"
"Unicorns were the founders of fairydom My mother was the first"
"The Fairy Queen is a unicorn?"
"Very few beyond our inner circle share this knowledge," Bracken said "The fairies honor her as the first of their kind Gorgrog destroyed my father, which is part of the reason I want to defeat hio"
Kendra felt stunned She had been cuddling and flirting with the son of the Fairy Queen? There was no ti"
"All but the unfaithful," Bracken called
Kendra knelt, and one by one the astrids caer than she expected Soon she started closing her eyes with each kiss to avoid the blinding blizzard of sparks that accompanied each transformation All of the astrids looked more or less like the first The weapons varied, as did sos, and each looked intihty-seven astrids restored, three darker astrids reolden feathers of the others, and they wore remorseful expressions
"You turned on the Fairy Queen after she chastised you for your failure," Bracken reprimanded "But you came when she called You will hereafter be considered the lowest rank of all those present May you reclai valor" He nodded at Kendra
When she kissed the final three, they grew into shining warriors indistinguishable from the others The three knelt before Bracken They spoke in unison "We apologize for our disloyalty Our rebelliousness will forever shame us Thank you for this opportunity to prove our penitence We will not fail you"
"You picked the right day to prove yourselves," Bracken said "Behold, dawn approaches"
Looking to the east, Kendra saw color in the sky Overhead, the clouds were thinning Accompanied by several astrids, Kendra and Bracken returned to where their companions waited, a short distance from the shrine
"Looks like you recruited so heartier than he had in days
"These are astrids?" Seth said, giddy with excitead is on his ith a group of dragons Additional reinforceth to defeat our opponents, but we’ll give these demons a welcome to remember"
"What’s the plan?" Warren asked
"We’ll fore clearing separates the shrine fro the shrine as a portal, our sacred homeland will be somewhat vulnerable We’ll try to lure the co back specifically to protect the shrine"
"Should I build a tower?" Seth asked "I have a little tower that will grow into a real one if I plant it in the ground"
Bracken shook his head "Mobility will be too crucial These are beings of iest of them tear doalls and towers for sport Save your tower for another day The demons will try to paralyze us with fear, but the astrids and I can counter their dark auras None of you will feel the effects of ical fear unless the rest of us fall Kendra and Seth will each have two astrids assigned as bodyguards; the rest of us will each have one"
"This will be an unstoppable horde," Vanessa reuard, but , too many to handle We need concrete objectives"
"I have specificThe restoration of the astrids really caught her attention Much of our hope depends on surprise I’ll share the specific assigne"
Vanessa chuckled "You require a lot of trust"
"He’s the one who brought the army," Warren said "We don’t have ood one"
"Our situation is ridiculously perilous," Bracken said "Yet I’rants us the only possible opportunity to win the day"
"Don’t start saying weme nervous"
"We won’t defeat them," Bracken clarified "But we could survive"
"I think he’s lost it," Doren whispered, twirling a finger beside his ear
"This way," Bracken said "When the sun rises, the prison will open"
Kendra fell into step behind Newel and Doren
"Think they re the astrids
"Remember what?" Kendra inquired