I nodded, tears springing to my eyes. “I’ll do what I can. I want him back, too.”
“I know, Fury. I know.” Damh Varias reached out to me, pulling me in for a long hug. Before I realized what he was doing, some of the shock and soreness began to drain away, replaced by a golden glow as he siphoned the pain from me. When he stood back, he held his finger to his lips and waved us out.
Chapter 10
Elan led us through a tunnel that Tam had never mentioned. The passage was old, that much I could tell by how smooth the walls were. The floor was compacted dirt, almost as hard as the stone of the walls themselves.
I slipped ahead to walk with Elan. She didn’t feel Bonny Fae to me, though she looked the part. “How long have you lived in UnderBarrow?”
She smiled coolly. “Ask what you like. You needn’t cloak your questions beneath pleasantries. I’m new to UnderBarrow, in from the Wild Wood east of Bend.”
Appreciating her bluntness, I nodded. “I wondered. You seem too outdoorsy to live in a Barrow for long. There are Woodland Fae out in the Wild Wood, aren’t there? Cousins of the Bonny Fae?”
“You’re correct. I’m one of the Woodland Fae. I’m an otter-shifter, to be precise. Woodland Fae are often animal shifters, while the Bonny Fae aren’t.”
That explained the different energy I felt coming off of her. She reminded me more of Jason than Tam, when I thought about it. The shifter nature would account for it. I wondered if Jason sensed it too. A glance over my shoulder showed him talking to Hans, but he glanced up, meeting my eyes before his gaze flickered over to Elan and once again, I saw the flicker of interest. Yeah, I wasn’t imagining it. He had crushed and crushed hard.
I returned to my conversation. “I didn’t know any of the Fae could shift. Of course, I’m only familiar with the Bonny Fae, so my experience is limited.” I winced as one of my ribs twinged. This was going to be an uncomfortable trip. “Why did you come to UnderBarrow? Or is that too personal? I’m not prying, just curious.”
Elan shrugged. “Tam asked me to come. Well, he asked both my brother and me. We’re twins. I’m an ambassador. We’re discussing setting up an exchange program between our two nations—the Bonny Fae Nation and the Woodland Fae Kingdom.”
That was news to me. I still wasn’t clear on the nature of how the Fae worked. Tam didn’t like discussing politics when we were together.
“I didn’t know the Fae considered themselves sovereign nations.”
“We do, regardless of what the Americex Corporatocracy chooses to portray to the people of this country. They like to think they’re in control, and they are—in the urban areas. But we have our treaties and if they try to push in on our territories, they know they can’t win. Once humans get out in the Wild, they stand at a distinct disadvantage. If you want to know the truth, and don’t think the Conglomerate doesn’t know this, the Devani wouldn’t last ten minutes if they tried to enter the deep forest.”
She sounded so certain that I had to ask. “How do you know?”
“Because they’ve already tried, and they’ve already failed. News of this sort seldom leaks out to the public, but those of us who were there know, and we remember just how vulnerable they can be to the right kind of attack.” A look of dark triumph crossed her face, the kind that warned, Better to be my friend than my enemy.
I stopped pressing. She had already convinced me it was in our best interests to take her with us. My thoughts returned to Tam. I was trying unsuccessfully not to worry. Worry clouded the mind and slowed the reflexes. But I kept coming back to the fact that he was out there on the Tremble. Jason slowly inched by to join Elan, patting me on the shoulder as he passed. I fell back beside Hans. He gave a subtle nod ahead at the pair.
“You sense what I sense?”
“Yeah,” I said, keeping my voice low.
As I watched them walk together, speaking in low tones, it dawned on me that they looked like old friends, comfortable together in a way that usually took years to achieve. Maybe they’d been together in a different lifetime. Or maybe, there was such a thing as love at first sight. Maybe the concept wasn’t a myth.
“How are you and Greta doing?” I hadn’t had a chance to catch up with Hans for a while. He wasn’t merely the muscle at Dream Wardens, he was also Jason’s assistant. And when he was hanging around the shop, I always seemed to be busy with a client.
“All right. She’s nearing the end of her training period. Her flying-up ceremony is scheduled to happen near mid-winter. Once that’s done, we can get married.” He beamed. They had been engaged for several years, but until Greta finished her training, she wasn’t allowed to marry. He added, “She’s hoping you won’t be offended if she doesn’t ask you to be a bridesmaid. Her Temple Sisters expect her to ask them. And there are a lot of them.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Not at all. In fact, I’m more than happy to sit in the audience and watch you two stroll down the aisle. But I get extra cake.”
Over the years, laws and regulations had changed, as had traditions, but marriage was still an option a number of people chose. I was more than happy to cheer on Hans and Greta, but to be honest, I was relieved I didn’t have to take part. It was one less thing to worry about.
“Extra cake it is, then.” He paused, then asked, “How’s it going with you and Tam? I have to tell you, Jason and I were both caught by surprise.”
“I know you were. I wasn’t sure about Jason. He’s a hard read at times. So, Tam and me? We’re good. I never expected this to happen.” I paused, cocking my head as we approached a faint light. “We’re coming to the end of the tunnel, I think.”
Ahead, the flicker of illumination appeared to be coming from an opening. We weren’t anywhere near sunrise, so it had to be either an energy field of some sort, or a light source.
Sure enough, Elan turned, motioning for Hans and me to catch up. She jerked her head toward the light. “Energy veil. From the other side, unless you know what it is, the portal actually looks like a big nasty thorn bush. Few people ever come out this far on the edge of the Trips. Five hundred yards to the right is the outer edge of the Peninsula of the Gods. We’re about ten yards from the edge of the Pacific Sound. The boat should be waiting for us.”
“Whose boat is it?” Jason asked.
Elan let out a soft laugh. “Mine. No more talking. I doubt there’s anybody near, but we don’t want to take any chances.” And with that, she moved ahead, then pushed through the veil of energy.
The boat was waiting straight ahead, a small cruiser, agroline-driven but with the ability to windsail as well. It was difficult to see it in the darkness, save for the dim light emanating from the central cabin.
Fury, I can go on the boat, but I can’t venture out to the Tremble. The distortions there wreak havoc with spirits. Queet gusted around me, a fine vapor of mist in the falling snow.
My heart sank, but I had wondered about the viability of having him there, especially since he had been on shaky ground lately. Then you should stay here. Check in with Hecate and let her know what we’re doing.
I wish I could go. I’m sorry. I really am.
That’s okay, Queet, we all have our limitations. Go now. We’ll be back before you know it. But even as I whispered the words, I felt the doubt creeping in my heart. Queet silently vanished, but I thought I heard him call out Good luck, my friend before he left.
We followed Elan aboard to see a man who looked remarkably like her manning the wheel.
“This is my brother, Laren. He’s my twin.” She grinned as he clapped her on the shoulder and motioned to the wheel.
“Do you want to drive?”
Elan shook her head. “No, you take the helm, but mind you, keep to the shadows and watch for any of the shaygra’s boats. The last thing we need is for the golden boys to stop us. I’ll conceal our guests below deck.” She paused. “You know where we’re heading?”
“Yes, and I can’t say it makes me
very happy, but we do as we must. I’ve set course for the outer edge of the Tremble, off the NW Quarters. I’ve recharged the guns should we need them.” He glanced over at the rest of us. “We carry weapons. This ship cannot be confiscated. You should know that we will not allow the shaygra to board us. We will go down fighting and self-destruct if worse comes to worst.”
“ ‘Shaygra’?” Hans asked.
“The ‘Golden Men.’ The Devani. They and their masters are always seeking information on our people, precisely because they can’t control us. We won’t give them any opportunity to learn more about us than they already know.” Elan motioned for us to follow her. We crossed the boat to the port side, where she stopped by what looked like a built-in banquette. But she reached beneath the lip of the seat and with a soft click, smoothly opened a lid.
“The Devani expect to find holds like this. But they seldom look below.” She leaned in, then motioned for me to step forward.
As I looked into the chest, I found myself staring at an open bottom that led into a dark space below. “Is that the hold?”
“Not exactly.” Laren winked at me. He seemed a lot less serious than his sister. “That is an interdimensional space that we’ve set up. It’s activated by thumbprint and can’t be discovered physically or magically without the right print unless you have the passkey code. And only Elan and I know that code.”
“Then, essentially we’re heading down into something like a private little reality.”
He nodded. “You may find yourself getting confused while you’re in there, but it won’t be for too long. But for everyone’s safety, we have to ask you to hide.”
I glanced at Jason. We’d be at their mercy, and we didn’t really know who these two were. At least, not beyond what we’d been told. But we didn’t have any other choice, and if Damh Varias trusted them, then I would trust them too.
“Of course.” I glanced over the side. “How far of a drop? Is there a ladder?”
Laren shook his head. “No, just sit on the side and slip in. The drop is difficult to describe but you won’t be hurt. Getting out will be just as easy.”
Hans and Jason still looked leery, so I decided to be the guinea pig. I gingerly stepped into the banquette and sat down, then slid my feet through the square hole in the floor. Immediately, my feet felt a floor below. Curious. My legs were tingling all over but not in a bad way, and I decided to go for it.
I stood, and suddenly found myself in a gray room, dimly lit, with five chairs along the wall. A table stood in the center of the small room, and on the table were a loaf of bread, some fruit, and a round of cheese. I looked up to tell Jason and Hans that everything was okay, but no longer could see them. All I saw when I looked up was the ceiling. The next moment, Hans appeared in the room beside me, and then Jason. They looked as surprised as I felt.
“Well, it looks like they were prepared. I wonder how often they smuggle passengers around.” Jason let out a soft laugh before sobering again. “I asked Elan how long the trip would take and she said an hour or so. It would be quicker but they travel in stealth mode, and that requires more time.”
“We might as well sit down and eat.” Hans picked up an apple and bit into it. “We don’t know how long it will be until our next meal. If we’re lucky, we’ll find Tam right away, but it’s been two days and who knows where he is.”
“The Tremble isn’t that big.” But even as I started to say it, I stopped. The Tremble might not occupy more than five or six miles, but even so, with the warps in reality it would take us two or three days to travel through on foot. At least.
Without another word, I sliced off some bread and cheese and dropped into a chair. Even though I had slept all day, my bruises ached. The walk through the tunnel had jarred me more than I wanted to admit.
As I bit into the bread and cheese I was pleasantly surprised to find it moist and sweet, with a creamy texture. I leaned back, surprised when the chair turned out to be a recliner with a foot rest that popped up.
I closed my eyes. “I’m going to nap. Wake me when we get there.”
And with that, I finished my food and drifted off to sleep.
“Kae? Kae? Time to wake up.” Jason was the only one who still called me by my birth name. At times it endeared me to him, while at times it irked me. “Time to get up. We’re here.”
I fought my way awake, my sore eye sticking shut until I wiped away the goo clinging to my eyelashes.
“What the? Oh.” I pulled out the salve and swiped another layer on. I wanted to slather another dose of All-Heal onto my ribs too, but Sarinka had warned me not to. I wasn’t sure what could happen but I decided to stick to the expert’s opinion for once. Groaning and more than a little stiff, I eased my way out of the chair and lightly stretched, trying to keep from overstraining. I glanced up.
“It looks like just a ceiling.”
“They’re waiting for us. See that faint red dot?” Hans pointed at a flickering light. It was so faint I hadn’t noticed it. “We just go through there.”
“How do we reach it? The ceiling seems a ways off.”
“Easy-pie. Watch.” The burly Theosian walked over to beneath the red dot, reached up, and the ceiling seemed to lower itself to meet his arms. He hoisted himself, holding onto something I couldn’t see, and vanished, his feet giving one final kick.
“You next.” Jason led me to below the dot. “Just reach up.”
I did, and found hands grabbing hold of my fingers, guiding them to a solid surface. It had to be the edge of the hole in the banquette. I groaned, the pain in my side searing as I lifted myself through the swirling ceiling. My head popped through, and I saw Hans watching me.
“Help me up. My side is burning like hell.”
He caught hold of my wrists and I groaned again as he began to lift me up, but then, someone was bracing my legs, helping push me through so the majority of weight wasn’t resting on my sides and arms. The next moment, I was through and back up on deck. Jason came popping out right behind me.
“We’re nearing the shore,” Elan said. She pointed and in the distance, the faint silhouette of a dark shoreline rose out of the water. I shivered, folding my arms. The NW Quarters was as frightening as the Tremble, though in very different ways. The NW Quarters might technically be part of Seattle, but it was run by the Grungees, a gang of bogeys who had banded together to form a tribe that was part militia, part wildmen. Human and proud of it, the Grungees hated Theosians. In fact, they weren’t all that fond of Otherkin of any kind. They also despised government authority and considered themselves anarchists.
“Be careful. None of you will be particularly welcome in the Quarters. But you shouldn’t have more than a couple hours’ walk to the border of the Tremble.” Laren eased the boat toward the shore, the craft sliding silently through the water. “I’ll wait a little ways out in the harbor for your signal, Elan. If I don’t hear from you in three days, I’ll return to UnderBarrow and we’ll decide what to do next. Go, and may the Queen of the Forest watch over you.”
She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. “And Mielikki watch over you too, my brother.” Turning to us, she said, “It’s too cold and too deep to wade through the water. We’ll take the rubber raft. It’s tied to the stern. Jason, Hans, please wrestle it in.” She gathered her weapons. “Anything sharp needs to be sheathed or covered. We don’t want to puncture our raft.”
Within five minutes, the men had managed to reel in the rubber raft from where it drifted behind the boat. Elan got in first, smoothly lowering herself on the rope ladder attached to the side of the boat until she was able to step into the raft. She moved to the center to keep it balanced while the rest of us joined her.
Hans went next, and then I lowered myself down the ladder. Even though my feet were bearing most of my weight, my ribs and shoulders still ached. Hans cautiously reached up to balance me as I stepped into the raft. He guided me to sit by Elan, then moved to the front. When
Jason joined us, he took the back. Laren untied the knot connecting the raft to the boat. Jason and Hans manned the oars, slowly paddling toward shore, taking care to make as little noise as possible.
As we glided toward the shore, the mist rose off the sound, rolling in like a thick tide, cresting over the rocks on the shore that led up to the embankment. The giant river stones were big enough to sit on. Some were big enough to lie on. They had been brought down by the glaciers so long ago that even the Fae couldn’t remember. The ice sheets had stretched across the Canadian Empire and the Americex Corporatocracy. During the Weather Wars, we had been headed into a global catastrophe of human making, but Gaia had dialed the planet’s warming back, swinging the pendulum the other way. Now we faced long winters and cool, shorter summers.
The oars softly broke the surface of the glassy water, but the only other sounds we could hear were the lapping of the waves and the sound of snow falling. Pacific Sound stretched out toward the Olympic Peninsula, a thin strip of land dividing the Pacific Ocean from the sound. Once, the peninsula had been twice its size, but erosion and quakes had widened the sound, and eaten into the shore. The forest wild had taken over, the mountains and woodlands driving out most of the populace. It was said that the trees were as wide as a house there and one day I wanted to visit. But the ghosts were also thick, and creatures who had long inhabited the darkened forests.
We bumped up against the rocks and Hans grabbed hold of the roots of a tree that had almost been swallowed up by the sound. He gave one big heave, pulling us in. I crawled out of the boat, cautiously climbing the rock incline that led to the embankment. Jason followed and then Hans. Elan tied the boat to the tree root, then joined us. Chances were it wouldn’t be here when we got back, but we had to take the risk. Once we were on the rocks, Elan and Jason led the way while I followed, with Hans coming behind me, and we headed up into the land of the Grungees and the NW Quarters.
Fury's Magic (Fury Unbound Book 2) Page 11
