Stolen Warriors

by S. Dalambakis

  “But I don’t want to leave you.”

  “I promise I’m fine. I’ll have Stolas here. He’s going to help me gather a few things that we need for ball. By the time you get back, we should be here, and we can have dinner together. I’ll have it brought here to our room. Then, how about I show you how my magic works?”

  “If you’re sure.” I nod. “I’d like that,” she smiles.

  “Then get going.” I give her a quick kiss.

  “You should change, Fin. Pants, long sleeve, hat, gloves, and a coat. Don’t wear your long cloak it could snag.”

  “I don’t have another coat.”

  “I have one here,” I say. I walk over to my closet, opening the door. In the back is one of the few things that I have kept that was my mother’s. The only reason I have this is because of a maid. It was a few days after my mother's death, and I was grieving, trying to deal with a life as an orphan. She had laundered all the clothes, the coat being one of those items. She said she tried to put the coat in my mother’s room, but the door wouldn’t open. Instead of getting rid of it, she came to my room and gave it to me. It’s something that I will never forget. The sadness in her eyes and voice as she handed me the coat. I took it and cried. I pull out the silver coat lined with white fur, holding it out to Finley after walking back to the bed. She reaches a hand out, stroking the fur.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It was my mother’s.”

  Her head snaps up. “I can’t take that Verkor.”

  “Yes, you can. She would have loved you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t have brought it out here if I wasn’t.”

  “Thank you,” she whispers. There are tears welling up in her eyes. “I promise to always cherish it.”

  “I know, baby. Go and get changed so I can see you in this.” She doesn’t waste any time.

  “I don’t know what she’s more excited to do, wear that coat or go hunting with Obsidian?” Stolas states. “Though, after she goes hunting with Obsidian, she might not be that excited anymore.”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  “I’ve seen you hunt, and it’s not pretty.”

  “I’ll be better with her around.”

  “You guys should know that blood doesn’t bother me.” We all turn to the sound of Finley’s voice.

  “Damn,” Stolas voices. Finley stands before us in tight black pants, a black corset, with a black, long sleeve shirt underneath. Her favorite black boots are on her feet. She’s not showing an ounce of skin, but it’s the way those clothes mold to her body. A body I know quite well. She winks at Stolas and walks over, stopping right in front of me.

  “Help me put it on?” She presents her back to me. I take the coat off the hanger, tossing it on the bed. I open the coat watching her slide her arms in. I help adjust the coat on her shoulders. She turns, facing me. Finley moves her hair then tugs on the lapels. “So, how do I look?”

  “Enchanting,” I whisper. She really looks stunning. Her pastel pink hair brushes the white fur of the collar. The gray of her eyes almost matches the silver of the coat. She gives me the biggest smile.

  “Good.” She turns to Obsidian. “Did you pack or pick up hat and gloves?”

  “Of course. Check your bag.”

  She goes to closet, pulling her bag from it. “So, are you going to tell me why you were scoping out the premises, and why we can’t just get the piece of the map and go?”

  “The ball is going to give us the cover and distraction that we need. There are too many servants and guards lurking the corridors. We would look suspicious. I had Stolas and Obsidian casing the castle to learn the number of fae that are here.”

  “Do you know where the map is?”

  “That is going to be my mission while you and Obsidian are hunting. I think I know where it is, I just need confirmation.”

  “I thought you were getting stuff for the ball.”

  “I plan to still do that. I need to see my cousin. He has something of mine, and I think it’s about time I get it back.”

  Chapter 14

  Obsidian

  I take Finley out past the stables. There is a fence that blocks the castle from the woods behind it and the gate Verkor mentioned that leads out into the forest. We walk along the border until we find it. I stop us before we go through.

  “You have to listen to me when we get out there. There are dangerous creatures and I don’t want anything happening to you.”

  “I’ll listen.”

  I nod. Opening the gate, I gesture for Finley to walk through. She steps off to the side waiting for me. I make sure the gate is locked before holding out my hand to her. We head off into the forest.

  “We’re going to track two animals, maybe three if we have time.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “It’s not too different from tracking down a person, though animals don’t worry about cleaning up the trail they leave behind. Since this place has snow all the time, the fastest and easiest way to find an animal will be the tracks.” Our movements are slow and measured. “Scan the surrounding area for broken foliage.”

  “Obsidian, look.”

  There are big paw prints just off to the right. “Nice. Those look like bison prints. Let’s follow these to see how fresh they are.” We followed the prints for about a half a mile before we came across the animal. “I want you to stay back.” For once she does.

  As quiet as I can, I stalk close to the animal. It’s ears twitch. I know it can smell me, but I can’t show fear. I wait a bit before making my next move. Pulling the knife from my belt, I take a few steps toward the animal, pausing a moment before lunging forward, swiping the knife along it’s flank. A thin sliver of its flesh falls to the snow. Before I can pick it up, the bison bucks, slamming its hooves into me. I grunt as I land a few feet away.

  “Obsidian!” Finley yells.

  “Don’t come closer. Wait until the animal leaves.”

  “I don’t think so.” Finley’s hands are running over every inch of my body that she can reach. “How bad are you hurt? What the hell were you thinking? You scared the fuck out of me.” I don’t get a chance to answer any of her questions because her lips cover mine. I pull her into my body. She lands on top of me. I grip the back of her head with one hand, and wrapping my arm around her waist. I deepen the kiss. I run my tongue along the seam of her lips. She parts them, and I dive in. She moans, pressing her body further into me. We kiss a little longer, until she pulls back. Finley smiles at me, and it’s like a ray of fucking sunshine. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Well, if this is what I get every time I get hurt, I’ll have to make sure I take you with me on every hunting trip I go on.” I cup her face, bringing it closer to kiss, giving her a quick kiss. She moves off of me, and I immediately miss the weight of her. I quickly get to my feet.

  “You know you don’t have to be hurt for me to kiss you. If you want something, take it,” she says.

  I walk closer, stopping right in front of her. “That’s a dangerous game.” I run my fingers down the side of her face. “What if I want something that you’re not ready to give?”

  “If you’re talking about my body, it’s already yours. If you’re talking about my heart...well, that’s something you’re going to have to work a little harder for.”

  I grunt. I don’t expect her to go running into my bed. I know that she had sex with Verkor last night. I’m not rushing her to do anything with me. When the time is right, it will happen. No matter how much I crave her touch. No matter how much I want her body underneath and on top of mine. No matter how much I want to hear my name screaming from her lips as I make her cum. She doesn’t realize she already has my heart. From the moment I first saw and smelled her scent, I was gone. Even if I don’t have her heart now, I’ll make sure I do everything in my damn power to earn it eventually. And when I do, I’ll make sure I do everything to keep it.

  “Nothing worth having
is easy,” I say. I place a chaste kiss to her lips and grip her hand, tugging her behind me. “Come, I need to get grab that piece of meat, and we need to get away from here. More predatory animals will start to come, once they get a whiff of the fresh blood. I still need one more animal before we go back. I’m hoping we come across a bear.”

  Letting go of Finley’s hand, I bend down and pick up the piece of bison meat. She watches me as I open my spelled bag. She leans over trying to peer inside. I turn the bag toward her. From the outside, the bag looks like nothing special, but inside is a different story. There are six different sections, just big enough for a chunk or slice of meat. The sections are made of plastic, and each have their own lid. I pop one lid open, placing the strip of meat inside. Once the lid is back on, the word bison magically appears on top.

  “That’s cool. You don’t have to guess which piece of meat is which. But how does the meat not spoil?”

  I open the lid to another unused section. “Feel the inside.” I watch as she places a single finger the opening and gasps. “The bag is spelled to hold a temperature that keeps the meat fresh but not frozen. So when I need to use a piece, it’s readily available.”

  “That’s amazing. I mean, I’m no stranger to magic, you know, living in the magic realm and all. But I still get amazed at all the things that magic can do. I can imagine that before this bag, you had a hell of a time.”

  I nod. “I did. I could only use the meat of something that was presently nearby. I didn’t have a way to keep meat on me without it going bad. After the first time I tried to store it...the smell after a few hours, I learned not to even try keeping it.” I close the bag, letting it fall back against my side. I grab Finley’s hand, interlacing our fingers. We start to walk in another direction, looking out for animal tracks.

  “So, how did you end up with that bag?” she asks.

  “One of the jobs we got called on was for a witch. She owed our boss something, but couldn’t give it to him, or do what she needed because the object was stolen. Of course, the people that had the object were ruthless killers. We got what we needed, and when we returned the object to the witch, she handed me the bag. Apparently, she had run across a few others of my kind long ago. She made them bags. She knew what I was the minute I walked into her shop. Even though the witch looked young, she had quite a few years on her, like hundreds.”

  “Wow. How did she stay so young and alive then?”

  “I don’t think you want to know.” To me it’s no big deal, but to Finley it could be different.

  She sighs. “It must deal with sacrificing some virgins and bathing in their blood.”

  I laugh. “You’re half right.”

  “My guess would be the blood.”

  “Yeah. Dark magic always requires blood.”

  She glances up at me. “But don’t winter fae use dark magic?”

  “No. They use shadows. Verkor is better equipped to answer that than me. I believe he agreed to show you later.”

  “He did, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little impatient.”

  “Hopefully, not in all things.”

  “Depends on what you’re talking about,” she winks at me. I smile and shake my head.

  “Come on, it’s getting late, and we still have one more animal to track. Luckily, it doesn’t take us that long.

  Finley

  I had a great time hunting with Obsidian. It was less messy and gruesome than I thought it would be. I make it a point, to state such to Stolas once we get back to Verkor’s room.

  “You know Stolas, the way you made it sound, I thought hunting with Obsidian was going to be worse than it was.” I take my jacket off, laying it on the bed. I move to the end of the bed sitting on the bench. “He’s actually quite tame when he hunts.” Stolas eyes widen, then quickly narrow as his gaze falls on Obsidian.

  “You fucker. Why is it every time I go hunting with you it’s a mess?” Obsidian shrugs his shoulders.

  “Because you make everything more difficult by talking and making noise, scaring the animals. Finley listened to me. Everything went smoother.” I giggle at the affronted look on Stolas’ face.

  “Fine, I won’t talk or make noise next time.” Obsidian nods.

  “So, I saw what happens,” I say as I remove my boots. When I’m done, I turn and face Obsidian who is placing his meat bag with the rest of our bags by the closet. “But, you never did say how it works.”

  “The meat I consume has the blood of the animal in it. Blood is the essence of life. The essence gives me the ability to shift using the meat and the blood as a guide to form into the animal.”

  “Hm.” I turn back to Stolas. “And you said your hellhound has its own thoughts and feelings.” Stolas nods his head. He leans forward resting his elbows on his knees.

  “Yup, we work together.” I turn to the side on the bench giving Stolas my full attention.

  “Interesting. Can you see him clearly in your mind?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hm. I wonder if you can see him because that’s the only thing you can change into. Whereas Obsidian has a misty essence because it can take the form of any animal.”

  “It’s not a mist,” Obsidian grumbles. Turning in his direction, I see him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “So you say, but since the rest of us can’t see it and you didn’t describe it all that well,” I wave my hand in the air, “that’s what I think of.” I turn my attention to Verkor. “Now, I do believe that you promised to show me how your magic works.” He nods, raising from the couch and going to a darkened corner of the room.

  “Come here.” I get up and follow him to a corner of the room. The light from the bedside lamps cast a soft glow in the room. Giving him the shadows that he needs to draw on. “I don’t need the shadows for my magic to work. It just makes it stronger. There are very few winter fae who have the ability to manipulate the shadows. Those of us that do are considered part of the shadow court. The thing about shadow magic is that if other winter fae try to use it, it costs a sacrifice. A part of oneself. The easiest thing to sacrifice is blood. The more they do this, the easier and faster it is for them to turn dark.”

  “So the myths aren’t true? The ones that say all winter fae are malevolent, merciless, and aggressive.”

  “Oh no, those are true. I am all of those things...when I have to be. I was well on my way there that night in the woods. You would have seen that if Obsidian hadn’t reached you first.”

  I shiver at the sound of his voice, deep and menacing. I don’t shiver because of what he said. I’m not scared of him. No, I shiver because his voice hit all my buttons, and I know exactly what he can do in a bed. I’m half a second away from dragging him to his bed, but my curiosity about seeing him use his magic stops me. I clear my throat, willing my body and mind to calm down and focus.

  “Okay, show me.”

  At first, I didn’t see anything. Then, it was like smoky little tendrils of the shadows crept up to his fingers and hand, wrapping around his wrist. Caressing him like a lost lover. I’m so fascinated, that I don’t realize he has done any magic until he calls my attention to it.

  “Look around you Finley,” Verkor says softly. I turn and see that it’s snowing...in his bedroom. The temperature of the room never drops. It’s then that I notice the snow isn’t just falling, it’s dancing. I giggle. I turn a blinding smile at him. “I can do so much more, but for demonstration purposes, this was just something flashy. But to show you the difference between shadow magic and my regular magic…” he steps out of the shadows.

  I watch as the shadows unravel from his hand and retreat back into the darkness. As soon as the shadow magic is no longer being used, the snow stops dancing and less is falling.

  “The shadow magic enhances what I can normally do, but I don’t have to sacrifice anything to use it. When winter fae use blood to gain the benefits of shadow magic, that’s when they get drunk on power. That’s when t
hey turn evil. It doesn’t take much because we already have such bad traits close to the surface.” Verkor steps away from the shadows and grabs my hand. He tugs me over to the bed, we both sit on the edge.

  “How do you keep yourself from turning evil?” I raise one leg to rest on the bed, turning myself to study Verkor.

  “I don’t have the urge to over use the shadow magic. I can use it naturally. Over using it and using it harmfully never crosses my mind.” Verkor shrugs his shoulders like it’s no big deal. “I’m not saying it’s not possible, that I couldn’t eventually turn evil. I just choose not to. Other fae let that power go to their heads. They don’t realize that the shadow magic, in the end, is controlling them, not the other way around.” I reach over squeezing his thigh. He places his warm hand on mine.

  It makes sense. I’ve seen people get careless and make mistakes the longer they don’t get caught. I believe using magic, especially dark magic, would be the same. I’ll make sure Verkor never loses himself to the darkness.

  “I’d hate to break this up, but we really need to make a plan. The Winter Court ball is only a few days away and we haven’t talked about anything,” Obsidian states.

  “He’s right. We can talk more about this later if you still have questions,” Verkor says. I nod. I walk over to the bed, climbing on, and angling myself so I can see all of them. Verkor moves from the couch to the bench at the end. Obsidian takes Verkor’s seat on the couch, sitting next to Stolas. “What did you see and find out about the guards?”

  “There are at least five guards that patrol each side of the castle. At least another handful just walking the grounds. When I walked the different floors of the castle, this wing doesn’t have a guard. The other wings that are empty also have no guards, but Kellan’s wing always has six guards on duty. They switch out every eight hours. The guards can’t leave their post until the guard that is taking over arrives. This is even if Kellan isn’t in the wing,” Obsidian replies.