by Meara Platt
His soldiers laughed, though not out of disrespect.
Melody laughed along with them, showing others a patience and acceptance that she did not feel toward him. It pleased him and at the same time deepened his frustration. Why couldn’t she accept him for what he was? He was no different from other Fae, so why did she demand more of him?
He’d give it, if only he knew what she wanted.
An ominous rumble from deep within the earth shook him out of his musings. The rumble signaled that their peace was at an end, for demons were about to pour out from these portals. The dry earth beneath him began to belch a gaseous ooze.
He jumped back and drew Melody back with him.
It wouldn’t do for her to be trapped amid the fighting.
Cadeyrn lifted her onto Savior as the first demons emerged from the jagged depths and with feral howls, lunged straight at him. They were like hounds catching scent of a fox and would kill him once they had him trapped. With no more time to spare for Melody, he withdrew his sword and easily dispatched the first few creatures as more swarmed around him.
His men leaped forward to intercept them, giving him the necessary time to escape, but as he was about to mount Dragonfire he noticed another demon portal opening up immediately beneath Savior’s hooves. “Melody, go!”
But she couldn’t. She was scared and Savior sensed it. He bucked and reared, refusing to move.
Cadeyrn tried to grab Savior’s reins, but the beast chose that moment to buck again, striking out in panic with his massive hooves. The blow caught Cadeyrn squarely on the shoulder. He fell back hard, letting out a grunt as the breath rushed out of him. He barely managed to roll out of the way as Savior bucked again, this time throwing Melody off.
Cadeyrn, still reeling from the blow to his shoulder, could only watch helplessly as Melody screamed and fell straight into the hot, gaping hole created by this new demon portal. It all happened in an instant, but it seemed an eternity to Cadeyrn as his last glimpse of her was her eyes wide in terror, that vision now seared into his memory.
“No! Beogrin, a moi!” he shouted, and then dove into the inky darkness after her, into the stench and smoke and jagged rocks that jutted upward like spikes so sharp their mere touch could tear human flesh to pieces.
Melody, you can’t die!
Beogrin and his men quickly followed him into the satanic depths.
Where was she?
Cadeyrn struck a flint that ignited a swathe of ooze along the surrounding jagged peaks and blinded the horde of demons climbing to the surface. So many of them! The blaze of light held them back, providing the time he needed to locate Melody. She was huddled against a massive, spiked boulder, apparently unharmed, but her hands were bloodied from grasping those spikes and she was frantically kicking out at several still-blinded demons who were flailing out with their talons to tear at the hem of her gown.
He struck his flint again, igniting a ring of oily, green ooze immediately around Melody and setting those demons closest to her ablaze. The others scrambled away as their howling companions fell to their fiery deaths. Cadeyrn leaped into the circle of flames, grabbed Melody, slung her securely over his injured shoulder, and then leaped out before the fire swallowed both of them. The shoulder Savior had injured exploded in pain from the impact of his feet meeting the ground with a heavy thud, jolting his body so hard that his teeth rattled and every bone screamed out in agony.
Beogrin and his men quickly formed a defensive line in front of him to push back the few demons foolish enough to advance and to give him all the time he needed to escape. Climbing upward with an angry girl on his injured shoulder was not as easily accomplished as jumping in after her, but he managed it. Soon the hot, choking air and nauseating scent of rot gave way to a blast of fresh, cool wind as he emerged from the demon portal with a now swooning Melody still firmly in his arms.
Though his shoulder was a fiery, thrumming ache that needed immediate tending, he thought little of it, for Melody was quiet. Too quiet. She wasn’t breathing. Had she been poisoned by the demon air? He put his hands on her rib cage and pressed hard.
Nothing.
He pressed again. “Breathe, Melody. We’re on Fae land now. Take a big gulp of pure air.”
After a few, tense moments, she opened her eyes and broke into a violent string of coughs.
He let out the breath he had been holding, wanting to take her into his arms and kiss her into forever. By the Stone of Draloch! She still lived.
When she spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “Get me out of here.”
He carried her to Dragonfire, knowing his mount was used to battle and would not panic as Savior had. He set her on the saddle and then mounted behind her and, in the same motion, whirled Dragonfire toward Friar’s Crag.
“Savior!” he called out, followed by two sharp whistles. He wanted the horse close on the chance he needed to put Melody back on him, which would be necessary if they encountered more demons. He couldn’t fight them off with her in his arms.
“Savior!” he called again, unable to see him amid the billowing smoke, nor could he hear his neighs amid the clang of Fae swords and howl of demons. He was about to give up when he saw a streak of white emerge from the choking gray mist and the frightened horse drew up alongside them.
Cadeyrn uttered a short Fae incantation to calm him and then grabbed the loose reins and led him up the trail to Friar’s Crag and down again into the cool meadow. By that time, Savior was back to his reliable self, and both horses fairly flew across the meadow, their massive hooves pounding the dewy grass as they raced with blinding speed to the edge of the river where the punt was moored.
Cadeyrn glanced back several times to make certain demons were not chasing them, but all appeared quiet. He wasn’t surprised. Beogrin was an able fighter and would soon have all under control, perhaps already had. Cursed prophecy! What had just happened? And how would he explain it to Melody?
They reached the water’s edge, but she refused to climb into the punt for the journey home or allow him to carry her through a nearby Fae portal. Since she appeared too distraught to listen to reason—not that he blamed her—he simply kept her in his arms and spurred Dragonfire along a narrow trail that ran beside the river for most of the way. The ride took a little longer, but soon they were on the forest path that led to the vicarage. Savior moved with a fast and easy lope, riderless beside him.
Melody dismounted on her own the moment they reached the vicarage, her bloodied hands balled into fists at her sides and tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her hair was a gloriously wild mess that fell in reckless curls over her heaving chest. “Why did you take me to your borderlands?”
Because I’m an idiot.
“I wanted you to understand the burdens we Fae have faced these past five thousand years. You came willingly. I would not have forced you.”
“You knew those demons would attack!”
“It was a risk, but they’d been quiet for days. I thought we would be safe enough.”
“We? But it wasn’t safe for me, was it?” she shot back. Her teeth were clenched and her mouth drawn in a tense, thin line.
“Nor for me, not that you seem to have noticed or particularly cared,” he said with a grumble of frustration. “At the time, it seemed important for you to know us.”
“Why? So I can understand what I’m to die for? So that I can put names to all those who will mourn my passing, if they’ll remember to mourn my passing while celebrating their Fae victory?”
“You’re the one who walked among my soldiers, asked their names as though their answers meant something to you. Or was your kindness merely a ruse?” He grabbed her arm when she turned away to open the door to the vicarage.
“Let go of me!”
“Gladly, as soon as I take you to your bedchamber. You’ll wake your mother and the vicar if you stomp up the stairs in your present state.”
“My present state? I think I’ve been more than reasonable.” She let out a
soft cry when he forced her hard against his body and whirled them through a Fae portal into her room. “Stop doing that!”
“Quiet. Your mother will hear you.”
She pursed her lips, muffling a huff as she sat with a bounce on her bed. “I no longer care who hears me,” she insisted, but Cadeyrn knew it wasn’t so since she now spoke in an angry whisper. “Why did you put me in danger?”
“As I said, it seemed a reasonable risk.” He ran a hand raggedly through his hair. “It was reasonable. You had the power to defeat those demons, but you didn’t even try.”
She jumped to her feet. “Are you suggesting this is somehow my fault? Did you fail to notice that I was busy clinging to those sharp rocks, holding on for dear life while those horrid, oozing beasts were grabbing for my ankles?”
“Those rocks are called the Razor Cliffs.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what they’re called! I should never have been there in the first place. I should never have agreed. Look, my gown is ruined and my hands are—”
He gently caught them in his, for they were still bloodied and he wished to heal them. “Hold still. Do they hurt?”
“No … yes … I don’t know.”
He nodded, understanding that she had been too incensed to notice. Once she calmed, the pain would strike her with hammer force and he didn’t want that to happen. He silently intoned a healing spell and began to lightly rub his thumbs along each cut and gash etched into her soft skin, feeling the thrum of energy through his fingers as that healing energy flowed into her. Within moments, her hands were once more soft and unscarred. He released her with reluctance and took a small step back. “There, it should be all better now.”
She shook her head. “It will never be better.”
“By it do you mean your hands? Or are we talking about what happened this evening? It’s obvious I made a mistake. You’ve made that abundantly clear. However, no harm was done. You’re safely back in your bedchamber.”
He ignored her huff of protest and moved to the door, leaning against it as he listened for footsteps. He didn’t want Melody’s mother or the vicar interrupting their conversation, or what passed for a conversation between them. It wasn’t going as well as he’d hoped, and in dealing with Melody, he’d ignored his own injured shoulder, which was still throbbing and felt as if someone were plunging a hot poker into the aching joints.
He crossed his arms over his chest—yet another idiotic decision on his part since Savior’s kick had probably broken his collarbone—but he refused to show the girl any weakness. Fortunately, Melody hadn’t noticed his grimace or the beads of sweat forming across his brow as he struggled against the pain. “You were very kind to my soldiers,” he said, hoping to change the course of their conversation, which was headed nowhere anyway. “I’m deeply grateful. They sacrifice much, yet demand little in return. They fight beside me every night. I wouldn’t have survived all these years without them.”
She glanced up in surprise, relaxing her hands and dropping them to her sides. “I wasn’t about to take my wrath out on them. I feel only compassion and respect for your Fae soldiers.”
“But not for me? I’m out there with them every night. Those demons come straight for me … always … just as they did tonight. I’m the one they want.”
“I know. I’m sorry for it, but your situation is not that of your subjects. They’re not trying to use me for their own gain.”
“I’m not either.”
“You may not think so, but you are. If I’m dead, you’ll have a peaceful reign.”
“Only if you die a fiery death. I’ve told you, I won’t let it happen.”
“But you lit fires all around me when we were in the Razor Cliffs … is that what you called that mountain range of boulders?”
He nodded. “But you haven’t so much as a singe on you. The flames never got close.”
“Never got close? Are you jesting? They would have swallowed me up—”
“Had I not rescued you.”
“That’s beside the point.”
“That is precisely the point.”
She shook her head and sighed. “The Prophecy says I must die by fire if the Fae are to be saved. Yet knowing that, you still lit that ring of fire around me. So stop lying to me … or lying to yourself. You can’t protect me forever or you’ll destroy all hope of Fae salvation. You’re Fae king. You love your subjects. I don’t see how I come out of this alive.”
She rose and walked to his side, her manner far more gentle than it had been only a few moments ago. She reached up to touch his cheek, as though begging him to find the answer. “I think you do care for me a little. It isn’t enough to change my fate, though I desperately wish it were. If only you had the power to save us all.”
Save her and the Fae. But how? She was the savior. She held the answer. He tried to remain expressionless against the surge of desire now coursing through his body like a wild, pounding wave.
Her touch did that to him, stirred wild feelings and left him mindless.
He hated those feelings.
He drew away from Melody. “Go to sleep. You’re safe now.”
“Where are you going?”
He ignored the question, annoyed that she had even asked it. Where else would he go but back to his soldiers to fight alongside them? Did she believe he’d abandon them? No, he grimly decided. She only believed that he’d abandon her.
The battle was over by the time Cadeyrn returned to Friar’s Crag. It couldn’t have been much of one, for his men had hardly broken a sweat. Their campfires were once again roaring and most of his soldiers were casually seated around them, cleaning demon blood off their swords. A few men held shovels in their hands and were standing over a large hole.
Cadeyrn glanced around. It appeared that most demon casualties had been swiftly buried. Only a dozen lifeless creatures lay on the ground, yet to be interred.
Beogrin strode toward him, avoiding several puddles of slimy, green ooze that had spilled onto the soil. “Your Majesty, is The Melody safe?”
Cadeyrn nodded.
Beogrin cast him a look, as though he wanted to ask why Melody hadn’t defended herself or raised a powerful hand to destroy their attackers. Instead, Beogrin simply shook his head and sighed. “I don’t like it, Your Majesty. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“How is battle supposed to feel?
Beogrin shrugged. “I don’t know. Not like this. We’d hardly started before it was over. These demons weren’t hardened fighters. They seemed dazed and sickly, hardly had the strength to come at us. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“That’s the second time that you’ve mentioned feeling just now. Don’t tell me you’re adapting to human ways.”
“Not at all, Your Majesty. It’s just an expression. But the little hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end.”
“So are mine,” Cadeyrn murmured. “Any Fae casualties?”
“None.”
“Good. Stay vigilant. I’ll seek out Ygraine. She may understand what’s happening.”
*
“No,” Ygraine said when Cadeyrn returned to his castle and found her working with Edain in the castle’s herb shed. He showed her his injured shoulder, which she quickly healed, and then told her all that had happened, even about his journey with Melody. He omitted mention of their coupling at the waterfall, which he would have revealed if not for Edain’s presence. “If we are meant to come out of the Dark Time, this turn of events may be the opportunity we seek, Your Majesty. The signs point to Brihann’s weakening.”
Cadeyrn picked up the scents of devil’s apple and monkshood and realized Ygraine was mixing a sedation potion. “This could be another of his tricks. Something is amiss, but I don’t know what it is.”
“I do. That mortal girl is to blame,” Edain insisted, her brow furrowed in a petulant frown that detracted from her impressive beauty. “Bad things have been happening ever since she arrived in Borrowdale.”
>
Cadeyrn dismissed that bit of nonsense. “Bad things have been happening for five thousand years. Melody has nothing to do with it.” He returned his attention to Ygraine. “Yet we can’t rule out the possibility that Brihann could be weakening. Melody escaped him when he first came after her at the vicarage and that is not easily done.”
Edain shot her chin into the air. “Your Melody is a coward, cringing against the Razor Cliffs while you saved her from a weak and ineffectual demon horde. I could have taken them on all by myself.”
“Be quiet, Edain. Have I taught you nothing?” Ygraine frowned at her.
“You’ve taught me too much, truth be told,” she replied, sounding not in the least contrite.
Ygraine ignored her and returned her attention to Cadeyrn, continuing their conversation about Brihann. “I’d never heard of anyone but you escaping his grasp until Melody managed to elude him.”
Edain snorted. “Admit it, Ygraine. You shielded her from his attack that day.”
“I did no such thing. Nor did I cut off Necros’ tail. Melody managed it all on her own.” She reached into a drawer of her well-worn work table and withdrew a small, crystal bottle that easily fit within the palm of her hand. Cadeyrn watched her carefully fill it with a pinch of the herb potion she was grinding. He realized that no more than a pinch would fit into the bottle.
Mercy! Whatever Ygraine had concocted had to be powerful indeed.
Edain let out a bitter laugh. “The girl didn’t do any of it, so why pretend she did? I know it was you, Ygraine, who hid her from Brihann and gave her the strength to injure Necros. She may have wielded the axe, but you were the force behind it. You weren’t with her just now at the Razor Cliffs and that’s why she couldn’t defend herself.”
Ygraine merely sighed and shook her head.
Cadeyrn was ready to place his hands around Edain’s slender neck and throttle her. He would have, had he not understood the power of human feelings. Edain was also learning them, but only the baser feelings … or so it seemed to Cadeyrn. The beautiful faerie was turning into a bitter, angry crone.
