What goes around, comes around. For the villain Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle that may have been what brought on the beast that had been trying to get him for so long. Only living near and hiding in the great white towers that he had built in secret around his own castle had saved him from death... more

What goes around, comes around. For the villain Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle that may have been what brought on the beast that had been trying to get him for so long. Only living near and hiding in the great white towers that he had built in secret around his own castle had saved him from death so many times. Finding that someone had been destroying those safety towers left Arkus with few options, he could not defeat the beast, but the fairy realms Gormacks (evil by nature) might be able to. Catching a Gormack was tricky, it would take timing and strength. With a twist of fate, the one that he captured and bargained with, ended up being a Sparkling named Tulip. Having a Sparkling bound to him might not be such a bad idea either, but that name, Tulip, bothered him enough to make him change it. Getting away from the beast one more time, Arkus and Tulip (now known as Jarvi) ran to hide in the land of Ulkarian. Befriending King Osmund and Prince Philip after playing the part of the hero, Arkus (now known as Sir Lakeland Knight) just wanted to be left alone so that he could get back to being a villain, if only Jarvi would let him. And then there was still the feud with Prince Kellemar of Dalvanna. So much was packed into this short story. Fun and fast paced with several twists and turns, some expected and some not so much. Took a while to really get into the story, the characters were slow to grow on me. Found the villain turned hero to be almost natural - oddly enough. Wanted to like the Sparkling from the beginning, struggled with that until almost the end. Enjoyed Arkus the best, try to not like him, it won’t last. The addition of a former co-villain and a hero want-to-be makes the transformation of Arkus obvious and even more fun. Only one down side, it was too short, there was still more I wanted to know about Arkus, the original Jarvi and even Tulip-Jarvi. There was so much that could have been added to the end. The last paragraph was a let down. I wanted more (don’t know if that should be taken as good or bad).