The Emerald Staff

by Alison Pensy

  Faen looked down at their entwined fingers and gave her a reassuring smile.

  “We will not let anything happen to you,” he whispered.

  “I know.”

  The trail they were walking became narrower the deeper they journeyed into the forest, until it became a single-track, barely trodden path. Faen guided Faedra to walk in front of him by placing his palm to the small of her back, the movement sandwiching her between him and his exiled friend. Although Etyran was doing his best to push the thick brush and low hanging limbs out of their way, the odd branch would spring back, and a couple had caught Faedra in the face. She could feel the brambles snagging at her clothing and understood why Etyran chose to wear a long thick coat, it was perfect protection against the dense thicket they were fighting their way through. After several more slaps in the face with low flying branches, Etyran came to an abrupt stop. So abrupt in fact, Faedra slammed hard into the back of him. He didn’t move with the force of it and she felt like she just walked into a brick wall.

  “You could at least warn me…” she started to protest but Etyran spun round, clamped a hand over her mouth, and put a finger to his lips with his other hand.

  Faedra’s eyes grew wide and she tried to settle the nauseous feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach. She held her breath and nodded to let Etyran know she wouldn’t breathe another word. He withdrew his hand and mouthed a ‘sorry’ to her.

  Faedra heard a metallic clanking up ahead and her blood turned to ice. She would recognize that sound anywhere. A second later she could hear the gravelly conversation as a couple of redcaps walked past them just a few feet ahead of where they stood. She was sure the pounding of her heart was so loud it would give them away, but to her relief the hideous creatures carried on walking, oblivious to the three cohorts hiding close by in the brush.

  Etyran turned back to Faedra and Faen. “We’re close. The base of the mountains is just up ahead. We have to get closer so that we can see when the guards are changing shift. There is a place nearby that makes a good vantage point. Follow me and keep extra quiet.”

  Faen and Faedra nodded their understanding and followed behind Etyran as he progressed forward. It was incredibly hard to be quiet when trying to force yourself through the brush. Faedra was certain they would be heard and captured before they even got to the foot of the mountain, but luck must have been shining down on them that night because no more redcaps made a patrol of that particular area before they got to Etyran’s vantage point.

  They made a short climb up and over some large boulders. From this point, they could peer over and look down at the entrance to the mountain, the boulders being tall enough to keep them from being seen from below.

  “I guess we should try to see if I can wrap the light around the both of us before we go down there.” Etyran said in a whisper.

  “What do you mean you guess you should see if you can? I thought that was a given.” Faedra uttered, a little perturbed by Etyran’s revelation.

  Etyran gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “Never tried it before but I’m sure it will work okay.”

  “Don’t you think it would have been a good idea to try this back at the shack, instead of out in the open where we’re like sitting ducks?” Faedra snapped, doing nothing to hide her annoyance.

  “Well, yeah I guess it would’ve been a good idea if I’d thought of it back then.”

  “Oh, that’s just great. What if it doesn’t work? Our whole plan hinges on you being able to do this.” Faedra was finding it hard to keep her voice to a whisper at this point. Her frustration was bubbling to the surface. At times like this, her power was a severe disadvantage because it was something she had to keep a constant rein on when her emotions started to peak.

  “Don’t you worry, little lady. If it don’t work, I’ll figure something else out,” Etyran said giving her one of his roguish smiles.

  Faedra blew out a sigh and plonked herself down on a nearby boulder. She buried her head in her hands and closed her eyes. “Oh, God, we’re going to die,” she mumbled to the ground.

  A second later she felt fingertips lifting her chin. She opened her eyes to see Faen squatting down in front of her. He didn’t need to say a word. His eyes spoke volumes and told her everything she wanted to hear. How the plan would work, that he wouldn’t let any harm come to her, and that they would get her father back. She smiled at him.

  He took hold of her hand and eased her up off the boulder. “Come on, let us see if Etyran’s plan will work.”

  With just a hint of hesitation she walked over to Etyran. “Okay, what do I need to do?”

  “Give me a hug.”

  “What?” Faedra gave him an incredulous look. It was a look she’d been perfecting over the past few months. Did she hear him right? They were about to risk their lives and he wanted a hug?

  “You have to be as close to me as possible for this to work. I can only bend the light around myself, so you have to be one with me.”

  Oh, she didn’t like the sound of that, at all. She rolled her eyes in what she hoped was a look of nonchalance, in an attempt to mask the uncomfortable feeling that was stirring at the thought of being that close to him.

  Etyran opened his coat and Faedra stepped forward, with just a hint of reluctance, until she was pressed up against him, then wrapped her arms around his back. He wrapped the flaps of his coat around her and encircled her with strong, powerful arms. She felt caged but not in a prisoner-like way. It was more of an ‘I’m safe in here and nothing can get to me’ kind of way.

  She looked up at him. “Now what?”

  “You’ll have to lean your head against my chest.”

  Faedra raised her eyebrows, the uncomfortable feeling rising in her insides. She heard a groan from her Guardian as she laid her head on Etyran’s chest, and pulled her head away again to look up at the man. He had her in such a tight hold she couldn’t move round to see Faen. But she knew straight away what had caused the uneasy groan from her Guardian. Etyran was looking at Faen with what she could only describe as a smile that screamed intense male smugness.

  The uncomfortable feeling flared into anger at that point and she let go of her grip around his back and placed a palm on his chest.

  “Stop it. Right now,” she said in a whisper laced with warning.

  “What?” Etyran’s expression turned to one of mischievous innocence. “I was just giving him a hard time. We used to do it all the time at the Academy.”

  “Well, don’t. We’re already having a hard enough time as it is, we don’t need you adding to the mix.”

  “Alright, alright,” he over emphasized to Faedra, then looked up at Faen. “Sorry, mate. No hard feelings?”

  Faen looked like he was biting his tongue, his jaw tight. Faedra thought he looked as uncomfortable as she felt about this whole arrangement.

  “Let’s just get on with it, shall we?” Faedra said as she put her arm back around him and once again rested her head on his chest.

  “Okay, ready?” He asked.

  She nodded against his chest. In the next second she felt the most unusual sensation running through her. It felt like she had just dipped her toe on the still surface of a pond, but instead of the ripples flowing outward from the intrusion in perfect symmetry, they traveled up her body until she felt as if every fiber of her being was fluid. The rippling sensation flowed in waves and it took her a few moments to get used to it.

  “Oh,” she whispered. Her balance waning just a little as she tried to get a handle on the feeling. Etyran tightened his hold on her in response, to steady her.

  “It takes a bit of getting used to the first time,” he admitted.

  “Does it feel like this all the time you are bending the light around you?”

  “Yes, but I’m so used to it now, I’d forgotten how uneasy it can make you feel.”

  Remembering why she was snuggly-pressed against the hard planes of Etyran’s chest she asked, “Faen, can you see us? Is it working
?”

  To her relief he responded in the positive. Her Guardian could not see them; they were totally invisible to his eyes.

  She blew out a sigh of relief and eased herself away from Etyran’s hold, shooting an uneasy glance in his direction. She thought she saw disappointment flash in his eyes as she stepped back from him, but it was gone in an instant and replaced with his usual roguish demeanor. She shrugged the thought off. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, we haven’t got you in and out to see the Gatekeeper in one piece yet.”

  Faen stepped over to them and they all turned to peek over the boulder they were hiding behind.

  “It won’t be long before they change the guard,” Etyran said. “We better make our way down there. Follow me and be as quiet as possible.”

  Faen and Faedra nodded in agreement. They followed Etyran until they were as close as they could get to the redcaps without being seen. It made Faedra’s skin crawl to be this close to the grotesque creatures that were busying themselves with guarding the entrance to the mountain. But if this was going to work, she had to control her feelings towards them. She couldn’t afford to let her emotions get the better of her and risk their plan of getting to the Gatekeeper unseen.

  A few moments went by and the redcaps stopped their patrolling and she could hear noise coming from up ahead. The redcaps that were standing by the entrance moved off ahead to greet their replacements.

  “Now,” Etyran whispered, opening up his coat to allow Faedra to get close to him.

  Faedra stepped in and wrapped her arms around Faen’s friend just as she had a short while before. Her heart was pounding and her throat had dried up. Etyran wrapped his arms around her until she was snuggly cocooned against him.

  “Faedra,” he whispered.

  She looked up at him, eyebrows raised in question.

  “Calm down, I can feel your heart pounding. I don’t need an accidental shock in there, it would blow our cover.” He sounded compassionate but Faedra could see the concern in his face.

  She turned to seek out her Guardian knowing he was the only one capable of calming her when she got like this, as much as she hated to admit that fact.

  Faen saw the fear in her face and stepped towards her. He took her face in his hands and focused on her eyes. He could feel the telltale tingle running through his fingers that warned him she was having a hard time controlling her energy.

  “Faedra, breathe for me, take a big deep breath.”

  She nodded and did as he asked. Concentrating on his eyes, she pulled on his calming energy through his fingertips and into her cheeks.

  Faen could feel the tingle recede from his fingertips as she took another deep breath.

  “Good. Now Etyran will not let anything happen to you, and I will be waiting for you right here when you come back. You can do this, Faedra.”

  Faedra nodded her head again. Her throat was too dry to allow any speech so she didn’t even try. She knew she could trust Etyran. She knew her Guardian wouldn’t let her go through with this if he didn’t trust his old friend to get them out in one piece, but nevertheless, she felt almost bereft when she felt the ripple go through her and knew that Faen could no longer see them.

  “We need to go now,” Etyran whispered.

  She looked up and nodded her head in agreement, tightening her hold on him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Faedra swallowed hard and let her eyes close for a long second as Etyran started moving towards the mountain’s entrance. She put her feet on his as instructed by him earlier, and it reminded her of why she was doing this crazy stunt and putting others in danger, too. This was how she used to dance with her father when she was a child. He would dance her around the floor with her feet perched on top of his. She swallowed down a lump and bit back a tear at the thought. She had to be strong if she had any hope of rescuing her dad.

  It quickly became obvious to Faedra that Etyran knew what he was doing, and she was thankful they had bumped into him in the forest. His close observation of the redcap’s operation was key as he scooted them past the disgusting creatures, using their distraction when changing shifts to the pair’s advantage. It only took a few moments to make it to the mouth of the mountain but to Faedra they felt like the longest moments of her life, moments filled with tension and anxiety.

  She held her breath as one redcap marched so close to them she almost brushed it with her elbow. The redcap must have sensed something was close, because it looked around disconcerted for a moment. Faedra and Etyran froze on the spot, not daring to breathe or move lest they arouse more suspicion. If the redcap reached out, it would have felt them standing right next to it, but after a few seconds, it shook its head, turned, and carried on patrolling in the opposite direction.

  ***

  Once inside the mouth of the mountain, Etyran leaned up against the wall and let out a breath, even his steady resolve was momentarily shaken. Faedra leaned into him trying to control her energy. The adrenaline pumping through her system was starting to make her shake and her heart was threatening to pound straight out of her chest and into her partner-in-crime’s.

  “That was close,” he whispered, then looked down as he felt Faedra shiver against him. “Are you okay?”

  Faedra shook her head into his chest but no words followed. The encounter she’d just had, being that close to a redcap again, had shaken her to the core. Memories of what happened behind the hotel played a big factor. Fear mixed with adrenaline was not a good combination if you possessed a power like hers.

  Etyran could tell she was starting to lose control. Where her hands were clinging to his back he could feel a distinct tingling sensation. If she didn’t keep a handle on her energy, she could accidentally shock him, blowing their cover and they’d be in serious trouble. He didn’t want to contemplate that scenario at the moment.

  He looked both ways along the dark stone cave, lit only by a few torches dotted sparsely along the cave wall. He couldn’t see any guards but he knew they patrolled this corridor, he’d seen them come and go from the mouth of the mountain enough times on his scouting missions. To the best of his knowledge from observing their routine, he approximated there were four inside the mountain at any one time, which meant one could immerge from around the corner at any second.

  Faedra shivered again, her head still buried in his chest. He had to calm her down, and sooner rather than later; the tingling in his back was getting stronger. Etyran wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t have much experience with the female variety. Everyone thought because of his looks, he had his fair share of the ladies, and he was happy to let them think it. Who was he to argue? If the truth be told, though, underneath all his roguish bravado, he was actually quite intimidated by women, especially the one he held in his arms at that moment. The Custodian was the most important and treasured human to the fae realm.

  He thought for a quick moment about how his friend Faen had calmed his Custodian a little while before. His touch had been so natural, so warm, and Faedra responded to him in a way that had Etyran fighting a twinge of envy. Etyran didn’t know if he was even capable of such compassion, it was not something he’d needed to use before. The tingle in his back grew stronger and was a powerful reminder that if he was going to learn about compassion, and calm the frightened girl in his arms, he better be quick about it.

  He moved a tentative hand up to her head and stroked her hair in slow soothing strokes. “Shhh,” he whispered against the top of her head. “You need to calm down. Your dad needs you right now. I need you right now. You can do this, Faedra. Take a deep breath and concentrate on holding in your power. I can feel it on my back.”

  Etyran felt her stiffen just a little. The movement was so subtle that if they hadn’t been more or less glued together, he wouldn’t have noticed. A moment later her shivering ebbed, then the tingling sensation died down. He could feel it being pulled away from him as she drew it back into her hands.

  ***

 
It surprised Faedra when she felt Etyran’s hand on her head, smoothing her hair. She tensed slightly at his touch, knowing it wasn’t her Guardian’s, but then was grateful when it delivered the same calming response. She concentrated on her breathing and the reason they were there. She could feel herself regain control of her energy and pulled it back from her hands, up through her arms and into her core like she was reeling in a watering hose on one of those wheels. In fact, she imagined doing just that and found it made the process easier.

  Once she had her power under her control again, she glanced up and gave Etyran a sheepish look.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I’ve only had this power a few months and I still don’t have complete control over it yet, especially when I get frightened or angry. Right now, I’m both, so I have double the concentration to contend with.”

  Etyran met her gaze and held it for a few long moments, then brushed an errant strand of hair from her cheek. “No harm done.”

  Faedra could feel her cheeks heat up at the intimate touch and quickly averted her eyes.

  “I’m not sure how far down this cave the entrance to Zutherindal is, so we will just have to keep going till we find it,” Etyran whispered breaking the awkward silence that followed his intimate gesture. “Are you ready?”

  Faedra didn’t look up. She whispered her answer into his chest. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” She wasn’t really ready, wasn’t ready for any of this, but what was she supposed to say? No thanks, I think I’ll go back home now and leave my dad to suffer at the hands of an evil fairy princess. Thanks for risking your neck and all, but I’ve had enough fun for one day.

  They started along the cave corridor. Faedra found she was having to have complete faith in the man she was glued to that she’d only known for a few hours. Given their introduction, she had to give herself credit for trusting him as much as she did. She was moving backwards as Etyran moved them forwards along the cave, and she couldn’t see a thing, which to her mind was probably for the best at this juncture.