The Tattered Lands

by Barbara Ann Wright

  “Problems for the future,” Faelyn said.

  She gave him a dark look. “I guess now we just try to get home as fast as we can.”

  He hugged her. “And not be murdered in the process.”

  She was too tired to kick him.

  Despite Lucian’s attempts to allay her fears, Lilani watched everyone closely as they set up camp. She jumped at every snapping twig or rustle from the surrounding trees. It felt nice to be inside a forest again, but it wasn’t her forest. It may as well have been on the moon.

  And Lucian seemed to watch Alonse and Carisse more closely than usual. Alonse added a deer to their meager supplies, and Carisse and Selgwyn built a fire and roasted the animal. Lucian and Alonse dragged in brush to shield their campsite. Everyone seemed normal enough.

  Faelyn sat beside Lilani and nodded at the branches above. “A pity these trees aren’t big enough to sleep in.”

  “I wouldn’t want to,” she said. The branches grew too close together, with many spindly twigs sprouting among them. “It’d be like sleeping in a pincushion.”

  “Still, it’s not so bad on the ground. Plenty of dead leaves for a soft bed.”

  She grunted a reply, craning her neck to keep everyone in sight.

  “Still not feeling trusting, huh?”

  She sighed. “That obvious?” He didn’t have to answer. She nodded at Lucian. “He’s watching Carisse and Alonse, too.”

  “I noticed.”

  “Good to know I’m not the only paranoid one.”

  “He takes his job very seriously.” With a sigh, Faelyn sagged down a tree trunk as if all the energy had gone out of him. “And that means he and Selgwyn will be taking turns on all the watches. They’ll be exhausted by the time we reach home.”

  Lilani tipped sideways to lay her head on his chest. “Won’t we all?”

  He poked her lightly. “The leaves are your bed, Princess, not me.”

  She laughed, her first real laugh in what felt like days. By the time dinner had cooked, she felt calm enough to eat, though the unflavored meat sat in her stomach like bits of clay. Afterward, she lay in her pile of leaves and stared at the darkness. Alonse had banked the fire into a pile of glowing embers. Luckily, it wasn’t cold enough to need the heat. Faelyn had once complained that it never really got cold this far south. He’d told her stories of valleys filled with snow, peaks so high they froze solid all year round, and a great sea of drifting ice.

  Lilani’s hand tickled as an insect meandered across. The sound of them filled the forest with a comforting din. No matter her strife, the world still turned. She willed herself to be one with the forest, the sound of the wind through the branches and the soft leaves beneath her. She’d missed this feeling in Parbeh. Humans were a part of nature like everything else, but the way they shaped the world drowned out the natural flow. Instead, they made their own flow, and they never had to fear being drawn so far into it that it overwhelmed them; they’d never fade from the world like the eldest seelie.

  Vandra especially was warm and alive with her bright smile and the thick, dark flood of her hair. In the street, her chest had risen and fallen so becomingly as their lips strained to meet. Visions of Vandra’s skin in the warm candlelight followed Lilani into her dreams. Their near kiss became full body contact, their lips sliding over each other, tongues mingling. Lilani could almost feel Vandra’s breasts pressed against her, could feel Vandra’s hips under her hands. Clothing vanished in the haste capable in dreams, and Lilani kissed a line down Vandra’s neck, desperate to hear more of Vandra’s throaty moans.

  A twig snapped.

  Lilani’s eyes flew open. She could still feel Vandra’s heat from her dream, and her eyelids wanted to flutter closed, hurrying back to imagined ecstasy, but she forced herself to stay awake. She counted her breaths: one, two, three…

  She closed her eyes, putting the sound down to over-imaginative nerves when it came again, a footstep by something heavy enough to be a threat. The closest insects fell silent. The sound came from inside their circle of brush. Selgwyn on watch? If it wasn’t, she had to have heard it, too, would leap into action any moment now.

  A rustle, then nothing. Lilani sat up slowly. A leaf crunched beneath her, as loud as a boom in her ears. She touched Faelyn’s arm, and he gave her a squeeze, signaling that he’d heard something, too. The fire had dimmed too much to see. Lilani could barely make out the shape of trees, darker shadows against blackness. The tangle of branches overhead blocked the stars, and if the moon was out, it wasn’t high.

  Lilani opened her mouth to call out when she heard another crunch, closer this time. Her heart raced in her ears, and she had to force herself to breathe slowly. She felt Faelyn shift, no doubt sitting up. She was about to ask him what to do when he shouted, “Lucian!”

  Sounds of movement erupted around them. Lilani shot to her feet with Faelyn, glad he’d done something.

  Lucian called, “Faelyn? Lilani? Are you all right?”

  Faelyn pulled Lilani toward Lucian’s voice. “Here.”

  Other voices demanded to know what was wrong. Lilani’s searching hand found the trunk of a tree near Lucian, and she pressed her back to it, keeping Faelyn with her. The tall shadow of Lucian moved to stand in front of them.

  “Selgwyn, bring the fire back up!” Lucian called.

  No answer came, and the fire stayed dark.

  “Selgwyn?” Lucian called. “Alonse? Carisse?”

  They answered, and he ordered them to rebuild the fire. It came slowly to life, stirred by Alonse. Carisse stood next to him, no sign of Selgwyn. Lilani gripped Faelyn’s hand, her heart hammering. Everything felt so wrong. The very air felt heavy, stinging, as if she was trying to breathe through a stand of nettles.

  Was this what Vandra had felt at the ball before someone tried to slit her throat?

  Carisse stepped around some brush and shouted, “Here!”

  Lucian dashed forward. Lilani and Faelyn stayed with him. On the ground by Carisse, Selgwyn lay facedown, the back of her head torn open in a bloody gash.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Burani shrouded for the journey through Parbeh and Lowtown while Vandra and Fieta walked on either side of him. Pietyr kept in front, shielding Burani’s invisible form. The first few times Burani’s hand touched her shoulder, Vandra jumped, but when he pulled her out of the way of a stumbling drunk, she began to see him as a good luck charm. He definitely made her reflexes look better.

  Once in the country, Burani blinked back into view. He’d kept the green mantle—though Vandra noted that someone had laundered it—and he wore the hood up just in case. He scanned the countryside constantly, no doubt searching for his people. Vandra wanted to offer comfort but had no idea what to say. She hoped he felt safe with her and the twins, but he had a right to be mistrustful. He didn’t know them well, and it might have been a human who killed his friend. The thought made her ashamed of her race.

  Of course, she couldn’t maintain that feeling, given how many idiots she knew. She’d be drowning in embarrassment.

  “Lilani seems very capable,” Vandra said. “Smart. She’ll be fine; they all will.”

  He gave her a small smile, but it seemed a bit forced and diplomatic. “Yes.”

  Fieta still eyed him appreciatively, though she’d ceased trying to seduce him under the circumstances. Pietyr watched him, too, though with a suspicious frown. Vandra supposed it was a good thing that they watched him so closely. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t lack help or hindrance as the situation warranted.

  They headed directly west instead of slightly north as they had on their first trip. Everyone wanted to get to the Seelie Forest as quickly as possible, but it would still take two days. By the end of the first, they’d marched so hard Vandra’s feet ached, and she stumbled.

  “We have to stop, Burani,” Pietyr said. “We need to make camp before dark, and we’re exhausted.”

  “He means I am,” Vandra said. “My pack feels like a boulde
r.”

  “I second that.” Fieta left the road and headed over a small rise. The trees in this area weren’t very dense, but they found a small, skinny stand that was better than nothing.

  Burani paused on the rise and searched the distance in the failing light.

  “You can keep going,” Vandra said softly. “Since you can vanish, you’ll be in less danger.”

  He seemed as tired as her but didn’t reply. He glanced at her then looked toward the twins as if weighing his options. Fieta was setting up camp, but Pietyr stared at Vandra and Burani and nodded toward the camp as if urging them to join it.

  “Even if you walk all night,” Vandra said, “you won’t reach the forest. Then you’ll have to camp alone.”

  He sighed. “Thank you.”

  “Fieta is going to keep watch first,” Pietyr said when they joined him. “Then me.”

  Burani shook his head. “We safe here, yes? Why watch?”

  Pietyr narrowed his eyes, but Fieta chuckled. “Better to be careful,” she said.

  When Pietyr didn’t lose his scowl, Vandra leaned close. “He was Lilani’s attendant, not a soldier. He just doesn’t get it.” She smiled at Burani. “Listen to Fieta and Pietyr. They have a lot of experience; we’ll be fine with them around.”

  His lip quirked as if she’d made a joke. She supposed the notion of a human having lots of experience would be funny to someone who’d lived for centuries.

  After they ate, Burani settled in his bedroll near the roots of a tree. Vandra crawled inside the tent with Pietyr; she hoped that when Pietyr got up, he didn’t wake her, too. It was a selfish thought, but she was too tired to care.

  * * *

  The seelie stared at one another. Lilani thought in vain for something to say, but another of them had been murdered, and even with all the recent strife, she still didn’t know how to respond to death.

  Lucian knelt by Selgwyn, but she lay too still, and the wound in her head didn’t stream so much as ooze. Lilani pressed a hand to her mouth. “Was it Burani?” she whispered to Faelyn.

  “I don’t know.”

  But there had been that feeling, the same as Vandra had described from the ball.

  “What happened?” Lucian demanded.

  “I heard someone moving,” Lilani said. “She didn’t cry out.” And Lilani hadn’t heard her fall. She imagined someone ghosting through the dark, bashing Selgwyn’s head in, and lowering the body softly to the leaves. She shuddered, and her dinner threatened to arise.

  Lucian stood, glaring at everyone. “She didn’t attack herself. So, either someone crept up on her from elsewhere—”

  “Or one of us is a murderer,” Faelyn said. “Lilani and I were beside each other. Neither of us could have moved without the other knowing.”

  Everyone exchanged a glance, and Lilani could guess what it meant: she and Faelyn could have done the killing together. Well, she knew they hadn’t, and the others seemed stunned, but a killer would be good at blending in, a truly callous heart.

  If they had to defend themselves, Faelyn had his belt knife, but Lilani had nothing. Not that it would have helped her much in a fight. She didn’t even know if she could stab someone. But she could shroud and run. By the wary looks on the others’ faces, they had to be thinking the same thing. If one of them was a murderer, there was only one sure way to defend themselves.

  Almost on cue, the three guards vanished. Lilani shrouded, too, grabbing Faelyn just before he blinked from sight.

  “Go!” he whispered.

  Lilani ran, and the two of them crashed through the brush gathered to protect them. Forest flotsam clattered and crunched as everyone else sprang into motion, too. Lilani heard someone behind her and kicked a stray branch in their path. She and Faelyn ran on. Soon, the light from the fire was lost in the distance. Lilani breathed hard, choked with fear, nearly blind in the darkness. Trees loomed out of the black without warning. She and Faelyn pulled each other around four of them, but on the fifth, they hit dead center, and it broke them apart.

  Lilani stumbled, crashing through undergrowth and sending twigs skittering away. She spun, trying to maintain her footing, then crouched with one hand on the ground to steady herself. She forced her mouth closed and took hard breaths through her nose, her pulse rushing in her ears and her stomach tight. No night had ever been filled with such horror.

  Lilani couldn’t make out the glow from the fire. The forest had gone silent save for insects in the distance. Faelyn must be straining to listen, too. The murderer would be doing the same.

  After a long moment, the chirp of nearby insects returned. Lilani shifted, trying to wriggle her foot under the leaves to make less noise. She stood slowly, gritting her teeth as she reached for a tree behind her. She couldn’t stay here all night. Bending, she found a chunk of wood and flung it into the darkness, listening for the rustle as it landed. Another noise came from nearby, someone moving behind her. Faelyn? He should have been to the left, not behind her.

  Lilani nearly growled in frustration. There had to be a way to know if there was someone out here besides her and Faelyn. She spotted a branch within reach above her and leapt up to catch it. “I’m here,” she said breathlessly. “Show yourself.” She pulled upward, out of harm’s way.

  For a moment, silence. Then, “Lilani?” Faelyn’s voice to the left as she thought. Behind her, she heard another noise before Faelyn called, “Are you moving?”

  “No, that’s not me!” A feeling of dread washed over her, making her stomach do a nauseating turn. She hooked her legs around another branch and swung over as something smacked against the trunk of her tree where her head had been.

  “Faelyn, run!” she cried, struggling up through the dense branches. They snapped and snagged at her clothes, her hair. She heard a whoosh of air below her, and one of the limbs broke away. She pushed higher into the tangle as the dense twigs gouged her flesh. With terror clogging her throat, she closed her eyes and tried to climb higher, but the limbs were as thick as a basket.

  “Lucian!” she shouted. “Help!” By the elders, she hoped he wasn’t already here and trying to kill her.

  Someone cried out below her. She peered down. Another shout, then another. Three people? The brush rustled as if someone was rolling over the leaves. Lilani fumbled for a match in her belt pouch and lit it against the side of the tree. The underbrush below her waved and twisted. When the match burned down to her fingers, she swore and let go. A pile of old leaves beneath her tree ignited.

  “Let go! It’s me!” Faelyn’s voice.

  An oomph came from the tangle below, followed by a cry of pain. Faelyn popped into view, holding his stomach and breathing hard. The crackle of leaves spoke of someone fleeing into the night before Lucian blinked into life. He leaned against the trunk of Lilani’s tree, holding one hand to his chest while the other held his sword. Blood trickled over his fingers.

  Lilani clattered down, dropping her shroud. “Lucian, how bad is it?”

  He lowered his hand. Lilani raised his shirt to find a slash, the blood trickling down his belly. It didn’t seem too deep. She hoped. He pressed a hand to it as Lilani turned to Faelyn.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Just punched in the gut.” With a few swift steps, he stomped the fire out of existence. “Are you trying to burn the forest down?”

  “Yes, I hate it.” He snorted as if she’d made a joke, but she meant it. The scratches and gouges on her face and hands stung. A cut across her jaw bled slowly, and she wiped it with her palm.

  “Follow me.” Lucian turned to the darkness again. Lilani kept a hand on his back, and he kept his weapon out. She hoped he’d managed to wound their attacker, whoever it was. She kept thinking of that feeling of dread that had washed over her, the feel of the tattered lands.

  By the time they broke out of the forest, the moon had risen. The road wound in the distance like a pale ribbon. The forest was a wall of blackness behind them.

  “Can you
shroud?” Lucian asked.

  When they both answered yes, he vanished. Lilani summoned her magic again, using her fear as Faelyn shrouded, too. They kept hold of one another and moved toward the road, then along it. Lilani was tempted to look back, but she resisted, knowing she wouldn’t be able to see anyone. They had to return home before their attacker, before Burani. They couldn’t have him spreading lies about how they’d struck first or something like that. She didn’t need her people chasing their tails questioning her while they needed to repair the pylon and flush out any conspirators in their midst.

  * * *

  When someone shook her awake, Vandra grumbled, muttering about how she’d just gone to sleep, but her eyes were gummy, and her mouth tasted of grit. When she crawled out of the tent, the rising sun cast just enough light to see. Burani was already up, his gear packed. Vandra rubbed the sleep from her eyes, ate the rations handed to her, then pulled her pack over her aching shoulders. She was still half asleep as she walked, the pack making her stiff and clumsy. And grumpy.

  Late in the day, they finally spotted the Seelie Forest on the horizon. Burani picked up speed. Vandra tried to match him, but the twins held her back.

  “If he wants to run, let him,” Pietyr said quietly. “We’re not headed all the way inside.”

  Vandra gritted her teeth, but he was right. The pylon was their true destination. She wanted to see Lilani, but she wasn’t welcome deep in the Seelie Forest. Even with Burani, the seelie might still take her prisoner. It was a delay she couldn’t afford.

  “Burani!” Vandra called. “Will you ask the empress to send Lilani to the pylon? We’ll still need assistance. Help.”

  He turned and grinned, the first full smile she’d seen from him. “I come, promise.” He pointed farther north. “Go that way. Meet you.”

  Then he left, walking fast, one hand held to his side—which was probably aching like fire—but it didn’t slow him down.