by D. N. Hoxa
“They’re not gone. We can track them,” Julie said. A look at her face and I saw the elf that she was, not the terran. Her potion had run out, too. “The sooner, the better.”
“We will,” I promised her. “They’re in Gaena. They can only leave through the Gateway. Once the fae kingdoms find out what happened, they will want to meet. The first thing they’ll do is double the guards on their Shades.” That was what I was counting on. “Orah, I will need to meet with the lords and ladies of every elf House. Can you arrange that for me?”
“Certainly,” he said with a nod. “But I’m still not sure I know what is happening, my Lady.”
“We will talk soon,” I told him and turned to the others. “I want to thank you again for fighting beside me.”
“It was an honor,” Julie said.
“Indeed,” said Faceless. “You are courageous and bold. I would trust you with my life, Elo of House Heivar.” Her words surprised me more than the new look in her eye. The look of respect that had never been there before.
“I had fun, to be honest. Purple blood doesn’t taste as bad as red. My wolf has never been more content,” Mandar said, as if he were surprised at his own words.
“It was wicked cool how you jumped on the sidhe, Pops,” Lola said, patting his shoulder. Mandar’s smile couldn’t have been bigger and prouder.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was an honor, but it sure beats throwing knives at a circus show,” Daredevil said, and when I looked at him, he winked at me. Despite the situation, it made me smile.
“You’re free to go home now. Your debt to me is paid.” And as much as I would hate to see them go, their time to leave had come.
“How about we rest for a bit and then talk about it?” Julie said. “You can’t expect us to think right now, can you?”
I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, Faceless stood up. “I would like a room, please. I am exhausted.”
Just like that, I watched them retreat toward the doors all around the dining hall. Mandar and Lola were the last to walk in because Lola didn’t want to share a room with her dad, and Mandar said he either went in with her or he slept by the door. In the end, Mandar won.
The door to all the rooms were closed. Only two more were free, and Orah would be in the one next to Elid’s. There was nobody else I trusted with his life.
But now that we were alone, old feelings resurfaced. I looked at his face, at his tired eyes, and it hurt. It hurt so much, it made me physically ill, too.
“You shouldn’t have brought him here, Orah,” I said, desperate not to talk about the fact that they’d all thrown me out to the fae to die. But I knew it was coming, and I could only avoid it for so long.
“We didn’t know what we were going to fight. Your friend, the green snake, said that you were in danger, and that was all,” Orah said, looking down at his hands folded on the table. “If I’d known, I’d have come alone.”
I looked around the room, hoping to see Hiss somewhere, but he’d gone out without a word when I’d sat down, and he still hadn’t returned.
“Thank you for coming, anyway,” I forced myself to say. If they hadn’t, I’d have still been a prisoner of the sidhe.
“There are no thanks needed. I cannot express my joy when I found out that you lived. I’ve missed you,” he whispered, and even his whisper broke. “My Lady,” he added.
It felt like he slapped me.
“Why did you do it?” I asked. Tears streamed from my eyes, but this time, I couldn’t bring myself to care if he saw. Let him see. Let him see what he’d done.
“Because we had no choice,” Orah said and met my eyes, not in defiance, but in surrender. “The woman said that if we didn’t lose you then, we would lose you forever. We refused to take chances. I refused to take chances. I forced Elid to feed you the poison, my Lady. If you wish to punish me for it, do so, but I do not regret it.”
My mind came to a halt.
“What?” I barely said the word. My entire body was frozen, which wasn’t saying much, because the exhaustion didn’t let me move much on its own.
“When we were cleaning up after the battle near House Taron, Elid saw a woman in the battlefield. An elf. She told him that if he didn’t lose you now, he would lose you forever,” Orah said.
I hadn’t seen him cry in my life, not even when my parents died, but his eyes were full of tears now.
“I spoke to all elf Houses, and they all knew her. She belongs to no House, is hundreds of years old, and she’s been blessed with sightings of the future, but only sometimes. I couldn’t ignore it, Elo. I wouldn’t. So, we planned to poison you and take you somewhere where you couldn’t find your way back on your own. We had to,” he said, and his voice shook. “We had no choice.”
My eyes closed, but I still saw Fidena’s face in front of me. Had she told Elid to throw me away? Was she the one responsible for all of my misfortunes?
But even if she was, what did it matter? What was done was done. I needed to focus on the future now, and that was what I tried to do.
“How many men do we have available, Orah?”
“Two thousand and four hundred, my Lady. I can pull another thousand from the borders with House Myar. It’s where our men are needed the least,” he said.
That was enough. It had to be. It wasn’t a big army, but it wasn’t small, either “How long will it take to send word and for the thousand to get here?”
“Half a day,” Orah said.
I nodded. “Keep them there, for now. How many are guarding the lands?”
“Eight hundred,” Orah said. “It will only take a couple of hours for us to get there if needed.”
“The Winter soldiers should make it to their King soon. He will want to meet, too. He will want to join the fight.” At least that was the way it should be.
“And if he doesn’t? What if he sends his army for us here?” Orah said. “This place does not belong to us. We cannot support a Shade. We—” But I cut him off.
“I can. I have enough magic, Orah. For now, I will not leave this Gateway in anybody else’s hands. And once the Winter King, and all other fae kings learn about the sidhe, they will have no choice but to cooperate.”
The fae were smart, I didn’t doubt that for a second. And they didn’t want to die. Nobody did.
“Yes, my Lady,” Orah said. “If we ration the food, there will be enough to feed everyone. There are forests all around where we can hunt for fresh meat. I’ve already sent out men. And we’re working on building more space to sleep at the back of the castle. Right now, most of the soldiers are sleeping on the ground.
“Don’t overwork the soldiers. They will need their energy.” I stood up and made my way toward Mace’s room. “Watch after Elid until I’m done, Orah,” I said. “Personally.”
My voice didn’t sound like my own. I didn’t feel like myself, either. Everything kept changing, too fast, too soon. Everything I was coming to know was turning out to be a lie, and I didn’t know which thought to trust in first.
Orah didn’t try to stop me. I walked into Mace’s room and almost fell to my knees again. The painting I’d made for him, his very first battle, was there, on the wall, the colors as fresh as if I’d painted with them last night. The sun streamed in through the three windows and the memories it brought me both broke me and made me whole. I needed to take a bath, to wash the dirt and the blood off my skin before I slept. I needed sleep. I needed strength.
Instead, all I could do was sit on the stone floor of the castle in front of the painting and cry.
Chapter 25
Chapter
* * *
Mace
* * *
The boys were more creative than I’d given them credit for.
I’d been right—they were not from around here, but from a small town close to the Summer castle at the heart of the kingdom. They’d traveled all the way here because they’d heard word that what the Winter prince was searching for was in the Sum
mer Shade. They hadn’t even packed anything—they’d just stolen horses and made their way here on their own. Their dedication was admirable.
Now, as I watched them through the window of the house talking to people, I wondered how they’d come to be this way. I was also right in that we were in someone else’s house. They’d met the owner a few days ago and knew for a fact that he worked until nightfall and that he wouldn’t be back home until then. They were also kind enough to let me borrow some of the stranger’s clothes and use his bathroom. Now, I looked halfway decent myself, with a clean face and clean clothes. The wound on my leg was barely visible. I’d eaten vegetable soup, too, only because the boys insisted. Apparently, it was the way of thieves to act like everything in someone else’s house belonged to them. I didn’t need to ask to know that they spent a lot of time in other people’s houses.
When they made their way back, I was waiting for them by the door.
“Winter soldiers were spotted passing by earlier. Apparently, they’re going back home,” Milo informed me. His nose had healed, and he’d cleaned the blood off his face, too, but some remained on his white blouse still. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Right, then. Looks like we’re headed for the Winter kingdom.”
The boys didn’t like it. I didn’t like it, either. Why would Arin give up the search so easily?
Going back to the Winter kingdom was risky, but I wasn’t going to let Storm rot in a barn until her death. And now that Arin had found her in the Summer kingdom, they would all expect me to be here. They would still search for me here. They would never expect me to be back home.
More importantly, the Winter Shade was in the Winter kingdom. I could set Storm free there, and I could find my way into the cave that led to the Gateway if I was careful.
And I planned to keep my eyes wide open.
The boys stole us horses. They weren’t as fast as Storm by any means, but they got us to the Winter kingdom’s border by sunrise. We’d have gotten there faster if Milo and Hector didn’t insist we stop for breaks every hour, but dawn was as good a time as any. It would take us the whole day to navigate through the towns to get close to the Winter castle without being seen, and then at nightfall, I was going to use the boys to steal Storm. By now, seeing as how easily they’d stolen the one I was riding, I had no doubt that they would succeed. In the Winter castle, there were no soldiers guarding barns. With a bit of luck, and their thieving skills, the boys—and Storm—would be with me in a matter of minutes.
“Where did you two grow up?” I asked the boys as we rode the stolen horses. Mine’s pelt was as black as the night we’d left behind us.
“Here and there,” Milo said. They were much more willing to share stories with me when a few hours had passed, and they were convinced that I really wasn’t going to kill them. “After our parents died, we sort of raised ourselves. You know, a bit here, a bit there.”
“You were never trained.” It was easy to see.
“Never. We found new homes every time they came to collect boys,” Milo said.
“We’re not going to end up like our parents. Dead in battle,” Hector said. He didn’t sound sad at all.
“We all die in battle, boys,” I said reluctantly. It was the way of our world.
“Not us,” Milo said proudly. “We’re doing just fine, and once we get the gold from the Winter prince, we can go wherever we want.”
I flinched. Telling them what would happen to them if they actually got to meet Ethonas wasn’t worth it because once I found him, I was going to kill him. After that, the boys would be welcome to steal anything he had with him. They would definitely be able to go wherever they wanted to after that.
Guilt made my stomach turn. These boys had been through enough. I was using them, and I couldn’t even bring myself to stop. Too much was at stake. Storm, Ethonas, Taran—I couldn’t turn my back to it now when I was so close.
“We should stop for a break. My crotch is hurting,” Milo complained, moving uncomfortably on his saddle.
“We just took a break an hour ago,” I reminded him. “We’re close, we’re not going—”
The words were stuck in my throat when I noticed the two silhouettes in the distance. They were riding horses, and they were riding them fast. They were riding through the empty field that was going to lead me to the Winter Shade.
“Hold on,” I said to the boys and stopped my own horse. There were trees around us—not nearly as many as there had been in that woods in the Summer kingdom, but there were enough to keep us hidden. There was no reason why two men would ride their horses like that in an open field, so close to the Winter castle. What was the hurry?
“What is it? Do you know them?” Hector asked, and I shook my head.
“No, I—”
“Soldiers!” Milo whispered, his panic feeding my own. “Over there—soldiers!”
He was pointing toward the Winter castle. We could barely see the houses at the very edge of it, but we could see the five soldiers on their horses, and they were riding them toward the two on the other side of the field.
“Get down,” I whispered to the boys and jumped off my horse, careful not to land on my left leg. I pulled the horse by the reins close to a tree to hide better. The boys did the same.
“Are we in trouble? Should we make a run for it?” Milo asked.
“Yeah, we should. While there’s still time,” said Hector.
“Hold,” I told them, then remembered that they weren’t my soldiers. They were just boys.
But they held still, and we all watched the Winter soldiers approach almost to the middle of the field. They were barely twenty feet away from us now, but they never once looked our way. There was nothing to see except almost naked trees here, anyway.
And soon, the two others arrived.
They were soldiers, too. I recognized both of them. They were from my battalion, but not only that. Half their armor was missing, and they were covered in blood from head to toe.
I looked at the horizon, at the mountains and the blue sky, the Shade that I could only see with my mind.
Both soldiers jumped off their horses, and the ones who’d come to meet them did the same. I could see their mouths moving, but I couldn’t make out a single word.
I needed to know what they were saying. I needed to know what had happened.
I grabbed one of the boys closest to me—Hector—by the shirt and pulled him closer to me.
“I need you to casually go out there and ask those soldiers what happened. Can you do that? Ask them why they’re bleeding.”
“But-but-but—“
“No buts. Go!” I said and pushed Hector forward. He almost fell on his face.
He dragged his feet forward, looking back at us every few seconds, but he at least kept on moving. One of the soldiers saw him and immediately unsheathed his sword, but Hector raised up his hands to show him that he was unarmed.
Still, he didn’t let him get close.
Ten seconds later, the soldier did to Hector exactly what I’d done—he grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back toward us.
I became one with the tree trunk in front of me. If they saw me now, all would be lost.
Hector came back shaking. “You’re nuts!” he told me. “You’re completely nuts! Why did you do that?!”
“What did they say?” I whispered, slowly leaning to the side to see that all the soldiers had already gotten on their horses, and they were slowly riding them back to the town.
“Nothing! He told me to piss off or he’d kill me!” Hector said.
Closing my eyes, I forced myself to take a deep breath. The soldiers had their backs to us now. I grabbed Hector once again and brought him close to me. He was so panicked, I was afraid he would start to cry soon.
“Why were the soldiers bloody? What were they saying? You must have heard something, you—”
“Okay, okay, okay—just let me go!” he said, pushing my hands off him. “Just let me go, I’ll tel
l you.”
I did as he asked, but my impatience was going to get the best of me again if he didn’t start talking.
“They were saying something happened in the Winter Shade. That somebody came and there was a battle. They killed everyone, and then elves came?” He made it sound like a question.
“What else?”
“Nothing—I don’t know! I think he was saying that she let them go.”
“She? Who’s she?”
“An elf—I don’t know who. He said elves came and took over the Shade, and then she let them go to come back home. That’s all, I swear. That’s all I heard, nothing more,” Hector said in a rush.
My eyes closed. There was no room for clear thoughts in my head. I was not only confused, I was stunned out of thoughts.
But I still had my instincts, and I didn’t dare question them. I didn’t want to. If there was a chance that somehow, in some way, Taran was in the Winter Shade, I needed to know about it, now. What other elf in the entire world would let two fae soldiers live and come back home with horses?
Before I realized what I was doing, I was back on the horse’s saddle, looking at the horizon.
“Hey, where are you going? The Winter castle’s that way!” Milo cried.
“I’m not going to the Winter castle, boys. I’m going to the Winter Shade.”
I slammed my heels on the horse’s belly and didn’t look back.
Chapter 26
Chapter
* * *
Elo
* * *
Everything was ready. House Moneir and House Louvan were the first ones to agree to come see me. They’d responded to my call right away, and they’d sent word that they were already riding. Orah was by the border, expecting them.
Only six hours had passed since the battle.
I was clean, wearing clothes made by my people, and I was surrounded by them. Elid was in his room, still sleeping. Two soldiers were with him at all times. I was torn between taking him home and keeping him with me, but if something happened to him in House Heivar, I wouldn’t know about it. I couldn’t stop it.
