“Is that the Dun you spoke of?” she asked Warren.
He nodded without speaking. Alexi followed his lead as he took a step forward and another.
She followed the sound of wings with her keen ears. She listened as it circled back around them and then it shifted as whatever it was flying toward them approached. Pressure built in her head, pushing against her brain like a headache that never ended.
Alexi wasn’t going to stick around to find out what new nightmare this was. She heaved Savanna into a fireman's carry and ran. She blew past Warren who was still looking behind them.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
The pressure turned into the pounding of a beating drum. She managed to scream between clenched teeth, “Run!”
She couldn’t see the path and hoped her memory of the direction of the dun was accurate. The ground was uneven and muddy as she focused on putting on foot in front of the other. Air rushed past her as she ran. A swirling vortex of sound and pressure grew behind her. Warren appeared next to her, his long legs chewing up ground as he ran. His normally passive face flickered with fear.
The cacophony grew behind them. Alexi resisted the urge to turn and look. The mist parted. The castle walls were fifty feet away, on the other side of a dirty moat covered in green algae. The ruins of an ancient bridge partially spanned the water.
Her feet hit the rotting wood as the vortex behind her reached its peak. She didn’t know what was coming, but the pressure in her head was enough for her. As she sensed the magic on the verge of being unleashed she crashed into Warren. The elf tried to hold his balance but failed and splashed through the surface of the muddy water. Alexi heaved Savanna as far as she could through the air before diving in herself in a different direction.
Heat bloomed above her. She fought to swim down as the murky depths were briefly illuminated by the conflagration that stormed the surface. Water boiled above her as she swam down to root herself in the inky depths.
FOURTEEN
The muck in the moat shielded them from the heat and the flame even as the top layer boiled away under the onslaught. The light from the fire combined with Alexi’s preternatural vision, allowed her to swim through the moat and find Savanna. The witch struggled to stay under the water. Alexi grabbed her arm and jerked her down to hold her in a hug. After several seconds, and the fire still wasn’t out, Savanna’s eyes bulged. Alexi placed her hands on her head and pressed her lips to her friends. She exhaled the air in her lungs to the girl. After a few seconds, Savanna smiled, no longer suffocating.
The furnace subsided nearly thirty seconds after it started. Alexi let herself drift up, her head broke the water with a minimum of ripples. She stopped when her eyes were above the water line. A quick scan told her it was all clear and she pulled Savanna up who gasped for breath immediately upon breaching the surface.
Warren climbed out of the moat slipping on rocks and cobble as he floundered up to where the ruined bridge once stood. It was nothing more than a pile of charred wood and misshapen stone.
“What the hell was that?” Alexi asked as she hauled herself out of the water. The bank was made up of slimy cobble and mud. Savanna slipped. Alexi snatched out and grabbed her, preventing her from falling back in the water. Together they climbed out. Alexi behind her pushing on her to keep her moving and from slipping back.
“I don’t like this place,” Savanna muttered as she climbed, “I want to go back to the city with our coffee machines and our safe streets. I’m tired of every fuc—” Alexi interrupted her with one last shove to push her up over the bank. Savanna landed in a heap, rolling over to stare up at the sky.
“I swear, the last time I was here this was a garden, a wonderland. I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do.” Worry clouded his eyes as he spoke, she could feel it off him, but she didn’t need her empathy to know he told the truth. He searched around the outside of the castle, with its moss-covered stone, overgrown walls, and a broken bridge.
“This used to be beautiful,” he whispered as he shook his head and muttered to himself.
Alexi struggled out of the muck and flopped next to Savanna. She mimicked her friend and looked up to the sky.
“Well, now what?” she asked Warren without looking at him.
He didn’t respond.
When she raised herself up on her elbows he was examining the remains of the bridge. What time hadn’t seemed to destroy the fire had melted. He hopped from the slag heap on their side onto a foundation pillar. Then another and finally to the far side.
Alexi heaved herself up with a grunt. The distance between pylons was roughly five feet, and it was a relatively straight line. She hopped to the first one. Then the second. The third one was covered with slime. She landed and felt her foot shifting. She pushed off again and landed on the last one in a crouch.
“You okay back there?” she asked Savanna without looking.
“Peachy,” Savanna replied from above. Little trails of light, like flares, dropped from her feet as Savanna hovered effortlessly in the air.
“A little warning next time,” Alex said, “I didn’t know you could do that.”Alex leaped to the far side, her boots planting firmly in mud. Savanna landed neatly next to her.
“Magic works differently here. It’s more pure, more powerful,” Savanna said by way of explanation.
Warren was already ahead of them examining the massive double wooden doors. Intricate carvings swirled around the door. Each one leading the eye in a wild pattern of circles and ovals that flowed together to the point where Alexi couldn’t tell where they began or ended. If not for the flaking wood, rotten edges, and moss covered bottom, it would be beautiful. As it were, it looked minutes from decay.
“Should we knock?” Savanna asked.
“Neat trick with the flying,” Alexi said.
Savanna gave her an impish grin, “I’ve always wanted to try that.”
Warren ran his hand over one pattern following it as it swirled about through what looked like a sea monster, to a map, to a tree. His fingers came to rest on the branch of the tree and he pushed in. The doors shook. Long unused cranks turned slowly and the massive wooden door raised. To Alexi, it looked as if it hadn’t moved in a century at least.
A cobblestone path led under the door into the courtyard. Together the trio moved through the doorway. Inside the keep was in no better repair. Many flags with symbols and marks she didn’t recognize flapped in the breeze on the inside of the wall. None escaped the ravages of time, holes, stains, and general decay marred each one. A massive keep dominated the center of the courtyard flanked by the ruins of fire-gutted buildings. A stable with nothing left but piles of hay and troughs, a smithy within only a forge and anvil and nothing else.
The path circled a giant mud puddle before stopping at smaller wooden doors that were the mirror of the big one they had just passed through. Alexi decided the puddle had been a garden at one time. Now the only green she could see waved on the tattered flags.
“I don’t know what we will find inside here. Be on your guard. Don’t accept anything from anyone, understood?” Warren asked. His face held no humor as he spoke.
Alexi nodded her understanding.
“Yep,” Savanna said. She was busy wide-eyed appraising the courtyard.
Warren pushed open the door. A warm gush of air flowed out carrying with it the scent of roasted meat and the sound of a delicate stringed instrument. The pleasant music drifted on the air. Each tug of the string sent shivers down Alexi’s spine. As it shifted to a lower key, Alexi’s heart caught in her throat and tears welled in her eyes. She looked to Savanna to see the same thing happen to her. The music shifted again,and a grin spread on her face.
“Dammit,” Warren muttered. He took off into the darkness, leaving the girls behind. Alexi peered hard into the passageway, but no matter how much she strained she couldn’t pierce the darkness.
Alexi wiped her face, determined to overcome the effects. A twang o
f the string sent a tingle of excitement down her spine to her legs and places music didn’t normally touch. Savanna cried out with a low moan and fell against the wall as her knees gave out.
Alexi took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She reached out in her mind for the place in her head that warned her of magic being used, but she found nothing. Suddenly the music stopped, leaving one last note hanging in the air. She bit her lip to keep from gasping and had to close her eyes to focus past the alien feelings that swarmed through her. As good as they may feel, they weren’t real, and she would refuse them. As the note faded she was able to relax, even though she could feel the flush of excitement that turned her skin red from her nose to her navel.
“That was interesting music,” Savanna muttered. Alexi took a deep breath to purge the feelings of longing and excitement from her body. After a moment she was able to trust herself to speak.
“I can tell you this, if I never come back here, it will be too soon.”
***
Warren sighed in relief as Alexi and Savanna walked hand in hand through the archway. He had feared the music would leave them incapacitated. He took his hand off Shaughn’s shoulder. The Fae smiled and whispered, “You owe me one, Tamlin isn’t going to be happy. She wanted them toyed with,” he said with a thin smile. Warren cursed himself for a fool. He let a pretty smile, and a thin excuse for a bargain lead him back here. Did he long for death so much that he would risk her wrath?
Each and everyone of the dozens of Fae in the room were dangerous, nightmarishly so, but none more than the Queen of the Unseelie Court. Tamlin was as treacherous as she was deadly, he would need to watch his step around her.
“Warren, what brings you home during our court, you have no place here,” her deceptively sweet voice floated up from a hidden stairway. He turned in time to see her emerge from the shadows, her green dress complimented her eyes, and the open line from her neck to her navel did nothing to hide her voluptuous figure.
Throughout the room Fae turned and bowed. Shaughn played something suitably royal, while his twin brother, Thaughn, sang a haunting tune that stirred the chest.
“My queen,” Warren said. He knelt before her as he spoke. His hand shot out behind him to wave the two girls down, he hoped they would take his queue, but he couldn’t spare a look at the moment.
“Explain to me why I shouldn’t have you killed?” The room quieted instantly with her icy tone.
“Allow me to explain, the dark one invoked Invita’veritas and I had no choice but to bring them here,” he said with as much sincerity as he could. Of course Savanna couldn’t have invoked the right of passage, but Tamlin had no way of knowing that. Savanna did return an object to him which was precious and valuable. Either one would suit the bargain, but both would guarantee it. It wasn’t often a mortal had something a Fae found valuable or precious.
Tamlin’s pale lips thinned and her eyes lit with fire. Warren scanned the crowd for Pix and unsurprisingly he didn’t see his one time lover anywhere. If this were to be his death, he would rather she didn’t witness it. He closed his eyes and thought of the feel of her body against his as they made the transport. If it were to be the last time he saw her, it was a happy memory.
“Fine,” she said sharply, “They’re here now. They may stay. What, pray tell, are you after? I don’t think you will find the court as accepting of humans as it has been in the past,” she gestured to the marvelous tapestries that surrounded the room. Each one a near perfect representation of a person. Some fighting wars, others in cities, parties, dancing, a few in more passionate settings, “Our last several visitors are here for quite a bit longer then they bargained for,” she smiled dangerously as she spoke. Light laughter, like chimes, erupted around the room.
Warren gestured for the girls to speak. Savanna stood up.
“My name is Savanna Grace, your highness, and we seek the Well of Eternity,” she said with confidence. Warren hoped her sincerity, and her relative innocence would endear her to Tamlin…
Tamlin chuckled. He didn’t like the dark shadow that passed behind her eyes, or the knowing smile. Were they aware of her plight?
“You seek the Well? By the gods of old girl, you don’t ask for much. Perhaps you would like my crown as well?” More laughter from the collected Fae, but Warren saw no mirth behind Tamlin’s eyes.
“Cursin,” she commanded. A tall, thin Fae with eyes as black as night, and a beard of silver snow, stepped forward.
“Throw Warren in the Depths,” she turned to Shaughn, “Have them dance until they drop, the utter days of their life spent for our amusement.” Without waiting for further orders Shaughn strummed his harp. As a one of the people, Warren was immune to the magic, but the girls weren’t. He felt it wash over him even as it took hold of them. The music was lively, with a beat to follow. The girls immediately grinned and stomped their feet in time with the music. The dance itself was ingrained into the song, neither had to know it to perform.
Cursin’s icy hand with his slender fingers wrapped around Warren’s arm.
“Wait, you don’t understand, she’s sick and it’s our fault,” he managed to spit out as the cold spread over his body freezing him in place.
The Fae in the room cheered and applauded as the tune picked up. Savanna was already sweating, her shirt sticking to her breasts and back. Shaughn played faster, and his brother began singing. The girls feet responded to the quickened beat by moving even faster.
Tamlin snapped up Warrens jaw. Her fingers ground his cheeks into his teeth, “Impossible, no bargain was struck, our magic isn’t at work here. She is sick from her own worlds maladies.” He couldn’t pull himself free as she spoke. He couldn’t even move his shoulders as the ice spread over his entire body. He glared at her, “I told you when you did it, unleashing that on the Earth would one day lead to its destruction,” he remembered the day well, his honesty had gotten him banished.
She pushed her face nose to nose with him. Green orbs pierced his. His mind winced as she entered him, searching for the truth of his thoughts. Hers was a power no Fae could deny.
“My queen,” someone said from out of Warrens sight. He couldn’t see his face, but he knew the Tapestry weaver well enough to know it was him.
“Speak Wren,” she said without taking her eyes off of Warren.
“Perhaps with Dominus—occupied—the rules have altered,” he said quietly.
“Dominus…,” Warren began, “he shouldn’t be doing anything but sleeping… unless…gods no.” Suddenly the crazy world outside the walls made sense. He knew what was wrong and why his idyllic homeland was a nightmare instead of a paradise. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of weeping. It didn’t take long for vigorous dancing to go from fun, to pain. Savanna spun circles with tears rolling down her face while she was forced to smile and laugh. Alexi faired much better, but then the Fae didn’t seem to know that she was special.
“Tamlin, let us go, let us seek him out and fix this madness before it’s to late for our world and theirs?” He could see she wanted too but without a bargain she wasn’t inclined too let them do anything. It was her way. The way of his people.
“I’ll stay, like you wanted,” he said, knowing it meant never returning to Earth. It pained him to think of losing another home.
“You can’t go outside, none of us can. The Treefreelings and that thing have trapped us in here. Besides,” she said with contempt, “that ship sailed ages ago, I’ve moved on,” she let him go and signaled to Cursin. The snow elf released his icy grip. Warmth flooded through his body and he collapsed to his knees.
“Then name your price and I will pay it, but let us help,” he said.
Tamlin drifted away from him as she watched the girls dance. Savanna’s face was three shades darker than normal and her breath came in ragged wheezes. Alexi… Alexi wasn’t even winded. A line of sweat formed on her brow, but other than that she looked fine. Warren couldn’t help but admire her beauty and grace as she danced
. Fae dances weren’t easy for mortals, but Alexi handled it like she was born to them.
Tamlin seated herself in the overly large chair she used as her thrown. Her chin wagged in time with the music. A dangerous glint in her eye formed as she watch Alexi circle the room in a large loop while she leaped off of things. A dreadful fear bubbled up inside of Warren.
“I want her,” she said with a smirk, “ if she will stay and dance and keep me warm on the cold nights, they,” she gestured at Alexi and Savanna, “may seek out Dominus.”
“I can’t agree to that for her, you’ll need to release her,” Warren said.
Tamlin snapped her fingers. Shaughn let the last note of his harp hang in time with his brothers voice. The two sounds faded from the air as one. The girls danced until the very last echo faded. Savanna immediately collapsed. Alexi covered the fifteen feet between them before she hit the tile and caught her. She eased her friend the floor before turning her gaze on the Fae.
“Bastards,” she spat, “Get her some water,” she growled. No one moved. The amusement in the air from their pain was obvious. In a heartbeat Alexi’s aura changed from mundane to something else… something dangerous. Warren could feel it in his bones.
She roared at them, her voice projecting through the room and boomed off the walls, “Water, now!”
Warren found his feet moving on their own accord, the surprise on his own face mirrored on the rest of the court. Only Tamlin stood still. Wren, appeared next to Alexi with a tankard of mead.
“Tis not water lass, but it will heal her all the same,” he said as he handed it over. The sense of danger broke and Alexi was just human again. The spell on the court ended and the murmur that followed alarmed Warren. If they thought for one moment she was a threat, Alexi would never leave the realm alive.
He watched carefully as she lifted the goblet to Savanna’s lips. With the first sip her eyes widened, by the third her color had returned to normal. Warren remembered well the sweet mead the Fae made. He could almost taste the berry flavor on his tongue.
Blood Sacrifice (Faith of the Fallen Book 2) Page 13
