Rise of the Fomori: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure (Faerie Warriors Book 2)

by J. A. Curtis

  Mina’s entire body tensed. I hated the confusion on her face. If Mina couldn’t determine their motivations...

  Niamh’s concerned face floated into my thoughts. I’d never longed for my sword more in my whole life.

  “Wait, so you held me at gunpoint, and now you are just going to buy us gas?” Mina asked.

  “Are you even listening? You got arrested. I lacked the conviction that if you ran off, you would avoid being caught again. So we are taking steps to ensure you reach the Haven safely,” Margus answered.

  “By pulling a gun on her,” I said, my voice flat.

  “We both recognize there is a lack of trust between us. I did what I had to in order to ensure compliance when we most needed it,” Margus said without emotion.

  We stopped off at the gas station, and Margus became visible, got out, and walked inside.

  Margus and Keera were unable to lie, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t mislead us. I’d learned that the hard way with Nuada. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  My eyes met Mina’s, and her expression mirrored mine. I touched Luchta’s leg to make sure I had her attention. Her hand dropped to her seat belt. My fingers curled around the door handle, and I pulled at the same time that I rammed my thumb onto my buckle. The door failed to open. I tried again, this time slamming my shoulder into it, but to no avail.

  Luchta attempted her door without success.

  Keera’s red-flecked black eyes watched us through the rearview mirror, an amused smile etched on her face.

  Mina’s head fell back to the floor, her eyes closing. “Child lock,” she mouthed.

  I released the door handle with a snap and a low growl in my throat.

  Mina’s faerie guardian appeared as a replica of herself outside the car door, reaching for the handle on Luchta’s door. I fought to hide my response, wanting to laugh. Clever Mina.

  Luchta went rigid, falling back against the seat. A misty black substance filled her eyes and streamed from between her lips.

  I reached a trembling hand for the girl, a terrible iciness crawling up my throat. “Luchta?”

  Mina bolted up, grasping for Luchta’s hand. “What are you doing?” she shrieked at Keera. “Stop it!”

  Luchta didn’t respond to our touch, her body stiff. The black mist continued to pour from her. I drew her into my arms.

  “Pull your faerie guardian back,” Keera said in a soft voice.

  Mina’s tattooed griffin appeared back on her arm. The thick black mist rose out of Luchta and shot toward Keera, becoming the dark tattoo on her arm. Luchta took a huge gasping breath. Her limp body fell against me, but her open eyes had gone back to normal. She was breathing.

  I held her close for a moment, letting the terror seep out of me before setting her back on the seat.

  “Are you okay?” Mina asked. Luchta sucked in a shaky breath and nodded, her body slumped.

  “You kids don’t get it,” Keera said. “Do as we say, and nobody will get hurt.”

  The trunk slammed shut, and Margus settled back in the passenger seat.

  “I’ll need directions to the library,” Keera said.

  I couldn’t keep the angry tension from seeping into my voice as I told Keera where to turn. The helplessness of seeing Luchta in such a vulnerable state had set my nerves on edge. I felt the power in my golem tattoo, tempting me to release it, to take down the woman who had so callously threatened someone I cared about.

  The white truck remained in the parking spot where we’d left it, useless.

  The trunk on our car popped. Margus opened Luchta’s door. “I’m assuming you can handle things from here and that you’ll cease these poorly planned excursions.”

  We climbed out of the car. I circled to the trunk and lifted the cans of gasoline. Mina stepped in front of Margus.

  “What is this about? Some political coup? What does that matter if the Otherworld no longer exists?”

  “I see mastery of your ability continues to elude you, little cousin. It makes you vulnerable.”

  Her hands clenched once, then released. “Maybe so. Listen, cousin, you want us to stop coming down here and risking complications for you? We’re going to need more than a few cans of gasoline.”

  I smiled. She always understood how to take advantage of a situation. I’d hated it when she did that to me, but seeing her do it to Margus filled me with a certain pleasure.

  “What are you saying?” Margus’s voice was low and hard.

  “I’m saying we have children to care for. We need supplies.”

  Margus glared down at her, but she was more than a match for his intimidation. “Do you have a list?” he asked.

  “Luchta knows what we need.”

  “But you need to keep that woman far away from us,” I interjected, pointing toward Keera.

  Mina’s gaze followed my finger, and she nodded in agreement.

  Margus continued to glare. “Fine,” he finally said. He turned to Keera. “Wait here. I’ll take the car and follow them, then come back and pick you up.”

  Keera got out of the car, and Margus got in the driver’s seat. He rolled down the window. “Lead the way, General.”

  5

  Protector

  Mina

  “Watch out for those willing to play power games.”—Nana

  “DON’T YOU HAVE ANY sense of self-preservation?” Docina asked.

  Blood trickled from my nose, but I ignored it, focusing on the fight with Docina.

  After a few failed punches, I tried to lunge at her, head bowed to bowl her out of the ring, but Docina dodged and landed a cracking blow against the side of my mouth. The hit dazed me, and she gripped my arm and flung me over her leg, projecting me into grass.

  I landed on my side outside the pit for the tenth time that morning. I was pretty sure I had a black eye and a couple of loose teeth to add to the bloody nose.

  The pit, a ring of rocks off to the side of the manor, used for hand-to-hand combat, had only two rules: no weapons and no faerie guardians. Barring that, the goal was to throw your opponent out of the ring by any means necessary.

  Docina stood inside the pit frowning, unharmed. “You fight with no heart. Do you think you need to pull your punches for me?”

  I flipped onto my back and groaned. “Am I at least getting better?”

  “Sure, if you fought a human, you might win. But up against a well-trained faerie?” She shook her head.

  I had been holding back. But I couldn’t help it. In the human world, they teach you to avoid hurting others. I couldn’t just shut that off at a moment’s notice.

  Two legs appeared in the grass above me and a hand reached down. “Need a break, my lady?”

  I looked up. Caelm watched me, worry and uncertainty on his face. As a healer, I wondered how he perceived all this fighting—intentionally inflicting wounds on each other that he needed to heal.

  I took the proffered hand, and the aches and bruises that covered my body vanished. Man, I loved having this kid around. I recalled a few bullies at school where it would’ve been nice to have him waiting on the sidelines ready to heal me, too.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The leftovers of the manor lay to my right. We had returned to the Haven in the evening the day before, our box truck filled with the supplies Margus bought for us. Building our winter shelter was a go.

  Veran raced out of the woods behind the charred manor. He sprinted up the grooved tracks that lead out of the mountains. “Humans are coming!”

  My eyes widened. “Here? Now? Where are they? When will they get here?”

  He pointed to his left, and I spun around to see a man and woman in hiking gear emerging from the trees. They carried large packs on their backs that held sleeping bags and other camping supplies.

  They came straight toward us.

  My mind raced. What could I say? We were a bunch of kids camping in the woods next to a large burned-out building with no adults. There were small children. And babi
es. Whatever happened, they better not find the babies.

  I made a quick glance around the camp for Arius, but already knew my search was futile. With a deep breath, I raised a hand in greeting and stepped toward the hikers. I opened my mouth to say hi.

  A hand gripped my arm and jerked me back.

  “Don’t talk to them,” Docina hissed.

  “What? Why not?”

  “If you talk to them, they will see us.”

  “It’s a little late for that.”

  “My lady,” Caelm said, “the Haven’s boundary is protected by latent magic. Humans who enter the boundary cannot see or hear us.”

  “Unless you address them. Then the spell is broken,” Docina added.

  I watched the humans approach. They meandered a little to the right. I held my breath as they passed within five feet of us.

  The manor stood, a blackened-out husk within the grassy clearing. The hikers navigated around it without a sign of curiosity or concern.

  “What about the manor?” I asked.

  “Any sign of our habitation is masked as well,” Caelm answered.

  The humans paused at the baby hut, and my heart skipped a beat. Luchta had built a small cabin out of logs to house the babies that the domovye cared for. Even though I heard no sounds from the hut, I wondered. Would the magic mask a baby’s cry?

  They moved on, wending their way around the baby hut and disappearing into the trees. A long breath seeped out of my lungs. The humans hadn’t acted as if they had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary.

  “You really think humans wouldn’t have noticed a bunch of kids with mythical creatures living up in the mountains by now if we didn’t have some sort of protection?” Docina asked.

  “I just thought you were really good at scouting,” I said. “And you have the rules of flight.”

  Docina shook her head. “The rules of flight keep us protected because the latent magic doesn’t extend above the treetops.”

  “Why didn’t we have more warning?” I asked.

  Docina shrugged.

  “Thaya’s on watch,” Caelm said quietly.

  My favorite person. I turned to Veran. “I want to speak to Thaya.”

  Veran bowed. “Yes, my lady.” He turned and ran toward the trees.

  I looked at Caelm. “Go get Arius. Tell him I would like to talk to him. I’ll be in my tent.”

  Caelm bowed. “Yes, my lady.”

  I LAY ON MY BEDDING and watched the breeze blow against the side of the sloping tent. We had found the large old-fashioned tent made out of some semi-weatherproof fabric in the armory under the manor—probably brought with us when we came over from the Otherworld. With Veran’s help, we’d duplicated the tents for all the faeries. It was better than the burned sheets and leaves we used before that.

  Thaya should have been here by now. She’d be in so much trouble if she ignored me.

  Then again, Arius had disobeyed me when he refused to come with us on our supply excursion, and I had let him get away with it. Thaya, who always sought for an excuse to undermine me, no doubt had noticed and was now testing whether I’d turn it into a double standard.

  Arius. It was like he wanted me to take the ultimate step and strip him of his rank and title. He kept pushing me toward it. I couldn’t ignore it anymore—he needed to start pulling his weight.

  In and out. I focused on my breathing. In order to deal with Thaya, I needed to be as calm as possible. She better get here soon.

  “It’s you!” a voice said.

  A winged rabbit with horns flew through the tent flaps and landed next to me while emitting a repeating noise that sounded a lot like “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it!”

  It shook out its feathers before folding them against its back and turned toward me, nose and long ears twitching.

  And bowed.

  “Your Majesty.” The sound emitting from the creature changed in such a way that I realized it was speaking.

  Wings spread and the creature swooped around the tent one more time before settling back on the bed. “Forgive me. I’m just so excited you are here!”

  If it could speak, I figured it must be able to understand me. Unless it was similar to a parrot and only mimicked what it heard others say.

  “What are you?” I said slowly.

  The white furry chest stuck out with pride. “I am the one and only Wolpertinger, personal courier to you, Her Majesty, Morrigan, Queen of the faeries. You must forgive me, Your Majesty, I would have been here sooner, only I just learned of your arrival. I hadn’t realized the faeries would mismanage everything without me. You see, I was in the woods chasing this vixenish cotton tail and I—ahem. Forgive me.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, not sure if it would offend the Wolpertinger, but still a snicker escaped. The Wolpertinger’s long ears drooped.

  “Yes, laugh.” He flopped flat on his belly on the bed and sighed. “It’s not like anyone else around here takes me seriously. Why should I expect anything different from you? I’ll be off then.”

  “No wait,” I said, my laughter dying.

  Poor little bunny. I’d experienced the same frustration in the past, when the faeries failed to respect my position. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. You’re a messenger for the queen?”

  The little furry bum planted on the bed. “I was supposed to be the queen’s messenger. She brought me over from the Otherworld when I was only a baby. Never got the chance, though. She fell before my wings grew big enough to fulfill my mission. But when I heard—when I saw your faerie guardian before you entered your tent, I thought I’d finally have my chance.”

  “Hold on, so you’ve been around since the beginning?”

  Wolpertinger scratched his ear with his back leg. “Sure. I was a bunny, though, still learning how to speak. Domovye raised me in the kitchen. I saw little. Not until, well... not until after everyone fell.”

  “So, you don’t remember coming over from the Otherworld?”

  “I was so young that my memories of that time are very simple, very limited.”

  I sat next to him on the bed. Every time I thought I was close to getting answers...

  “I’m not the queen.”

  “But your faerie guardian—”

  “I am the general. My guardian can change shape, to protect the queen.”

  His head tipped to the side, his ears flicking with the movement. “From what?”

  “Margus? The Fomori?” I shrugged. “Whatever group Margus and Nuada were a part of.”

  “Margus and Nuada?”

  “Turns out they were working together, and they want the queen dead.”

  “Whoa. Plot twist.”

  I smiled. I liked this little creature.

  “Speaking of Nuada, I haven’t seen her around,” Wolpertinger said.

  “She, uh, fell.”

  Wolpertinger’s little nose twitched. “Then, I guess, you are the one in charge.”

  “Seems that way.”

  “Well, My General, if you ever need a message delivered, I hope you will consider me over those insipid stymphalian birds Nuada insisted on using.”

  My eyes widened. “Who did Nuada send messages to?”

  “I don’t know. She never used me to deliver any messages. Ever.”

  I should’ve known. Nuada would be much too careful to send a message through a creature that could speak her secrets. I’d tried to get information from the domovye after Nuada fell, but they still refused to divulge any of Nuada’s secrets. When I asked Arius, he’d said that the domovye don’t betray old masters.

  “Wolpertinger, next time I need a message sent, I’ll use you.”

  His ears perked up, and he hopped around the tent. “Really? Thank you! Thank you! That would be so—I mean, I’m at your service, my lady.”

  I laughed. It felt like forever since I had laughed so much.

  Footsteps approached the tent. Thaya.

  “Wolpertinger, if you’ll excus
e me—”

  He bowed. “As you wish, my lady.” He swooped from the tent.

  I threw the tent flap back. “It’s about time—”

  Arius stood there, eyebrows raised, his dark eyes regarding me. His short-cropped dark hair with blond highlights curled just the tiniest bit over his forehead. I never knew if that was natural or if he styled it that way. The blond I used to assume was dyed, but now I suspected that two-toned hair might just be a thing for some faeries. Although Nerime supplied haircuts for the faeries, I’d never seen her apply any dye to the hairstyles she created.

  “Uh, I mean, come in,” I said.

  He stepped into the tent. For some reason he wore a regular black school backpack over his armor. Dirt smudged his jawline and smeared across muscular arms.

  I paced away from him to the opposite side of the tent.

  Curse him. No matter what he wore or what he had been doing, he was always so beautiful. But I wouldn’t let that stop me.

  “You placed all of us in unnecessary danger by refusing to come with us to get supplies like I asked,” I said, my voice hard.

  His brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

  “They caught us on camera, Arius. Cameras you should’ve been able to spot. They were asking me questions. I didn’t answer but—you could have helped us get out of the store. By not coming, you put me, Caelm, Veran, and Luchta in danger—Luchta twice.”

  He dropped his gaze to the grassy floor of the tent.

  “We needed you there,” I pressed.

  He nodded and reached for the hilt of his sword and began to slide it from his sheath. “I have failed you—”

  For the first time, actual anger coursed through me, and I stomped up to him, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and slammed it back into its casing. “Stop it,” I snarled. “I’m not taking your rank and title from you.”

  “You placed me on probation,” he said in a low voice. “You said if I messed up again...”

  My hands clenched as realization dawned on me. He did want me to strip him of his rank and title. He had refused my orders because he wanted to force me to take the final step.

  Well, he was out of luck. “Get it together, Arius. The faeries need you. They look up to you.”