by May Dawson
“Did the villagers tell you anything about these monsters?” I demanded, following Duncan toward Azrael and Tiron. Tiron had a delighted grin across his face.
Azrael looked from Duncan, to me, then back to Duncan, with a frown writing itself across his handsome features. He crossed his arms over his chest. “What have the two of you—”
“There are monsters,” Tiron interrupted, with a glance at Duncan, clearly having decided to take pity on him. “From the sounds of it, spring territory has been overrun with monsters. A nest of Ravagers have set up camp near here.”
“Why hasn’t Faer done anything about it?” I demanded. “Are his knights coming to help them?”
“I doubt the villagers would even appeal to the prince for help,” Azrael said. “Their village has stout walls and they close them at night.”
It was better than inviting my brother’s help when he had already killed some of them for rebelling against his rule.
“That’s hardly a solution,” I said.
“Oh, running and hiding aren’t options now?” Duncan murmured.
Tiron said quietly to him, “You make me wonder why I even bother being nice to you.”
“We have to help them,” I said.
“You can help them best by getting your memories back,” Azrael said firmly. “They’re safe for now, Alisa, and then, we’ll—”
A roar sounded from deep within the woods. Then, a second later, a shrill, high scream pierced the air. A child’s cry.
The four of us exchanged only the briefest of glances before we all drew our swords and plunged into the woods.
We ran through the woods at top speed. The flowering trees seemed to hurtle by. I jumped over a fallen log, covered in moss. The world was a green blur. The child kept screaming, and I followed the sound with my heart galloping frantically in my chest.
Then the sound abruptly broke off. That was even more terrifying.
We reached a steep hillside, where rocks jutted out and fallen logs were shaded from the sun by the slope. At first, I didn’t see anyone, and I searched frantically for whoever had screamed—or for their body.
The hillside was quiet.
Then I saw the huddled children in a tree that grew sideways from the slope; two Fae children clinging to each other in the woods high above. One of them was Jori, and I whistled softly.
She twisted to see me and relief washed across her face. She pointed down at the ground, but I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me.
I looked back over the ground carefully. The slope was covered with moss and with creeping vines, but in places it had eroded away, leaving fresh dark dirt…and collapsed holes.
“Guys,” I said quietly. “I think the monster’s in the ground.”
We weren’t dealing with Ravagers at all.
“Then it’s a good thing you whistled at it, isn’t it?” Duncan asked me through gritted teeth.
“Maybe you shouldn’t talk if you’re worried about the dangers of whistling,” I returned.
Azrael’s sword flashed in his hand as he twisted from side to side, getting the lay of the land. “Where’s the kid that screamed? Tell me they’re one of the ones up the tree…”
“I wish.” I was pretty sure that whatever had gone back into the ground had taken one of the kids.
I kept my sword in one hand and began to unbuckle my sword harness with the other. “I’ll go in after it.”
“The fuck you will,” Duncan exploded. “You’re going to crawl into the hole with the unknown monster? That is brilliant even by your standards, Alisa.”
He was so furious he’d been shocked into calling me by my real name instead of Princess. I should make a habit of shaking up his world.
“Well, you always promise me I’m the most poisonous thing in the Fae Realm, so I should be able to hold my own,” I reminded him brightly. I pulled off my sword harness and tossed it to him; I’d need to be able to move freely.
“There are definitely better ideas than this one,” Tiron said.
“Better a bad plan right off than a perfect plan in an hour,” I said.
“That is not remotely the right adage,” Azrael said. His voice took on a note of steel when he ordered, “Alisa, absolutely not.”
I raised my brows at him. “I can’t imagine what you thought using that tone would accomplish.”
I started down the slope; the hole was about halfway down to where the earth evened out, and turned into a sunnier copse of trees. The ground was slick and I dug my heels in, trying to take the hill slowly.
Suddenly the ground shook beneath my feet. I gripped my sword more tightly, leaning back as tremors ran beneath my boots, threatening to knock me the rest of the way down the slope. The tree the Fae children had hid in tilted dangerously as a line of dirt lifted underneath it, fracturing the tree’s roots with an explosive sound like an axe roaring through.
The dirt bubbled up from the ground in a path as wide as my arm, moving from the tree toward me.
“There it is,” Duncan said, his voice resigned. “There’s what comes of whistling.”
I could hear the males behind me, already sliding toward me, starting down the hill.
The ground suddenly exploded open. Little bits of dirt rained down on me from the power of that explosion, and I was blinded for a second.
I blinked, and I saw the monster’s gaping maw as it protruded from the ground. It was like an enormous worm, but something different, something with a mouth full of teeth. It rapidly slithered across the ground toward me.
“I don’t know why the hell you guys are so down on Earth,” I said. “It seems better and better to me every minute I spend here.”
“That thing doesn’t belong here,” Azrael said. “It’s another little present from the rift.”
The thing shot at me, rising off the ground. I ducked to one side, and it barely missed me. Part of its body slammed into my shoulder. I lost my balance on the hillside, felt my heel slip out from underneath me. I landed heavily in the dirt and started to slide.
I clung to my sword desperately and grabbed for anything along the hillside to stop my momentum, so I could get back on my feet and stop the monster.
Tiron’s wings suddenly shimmered into the air. The snap of his wings drew the monster’s attention and its head turned toward him. He skimmed through the air toward me.
The worm-monster snapped at him, but Tiron’s wings were already folding, and he hit the ground as the maw struck above him. He landed beside me, offering me a hand to stop my roll. I caught his corded forearm, and he pulled me up to my feet as his wings beat again, raising us both into the air.
“Look out,” Azrael called a warning, but we were already flying up, out of reach of the monster.
A child’s scream drew my attention to the tree. The last of its roots were ripping loose of the earth, and the enormous trunk was about to tip over. It would probably crush the children as it rolled if they even survived the fall.
“Help them,” I told him, and he nodded.
He looped down toward the ground, gripping my forearms and letting me dangle, and I dropped. I snapped my wings out for balance, feeling them rip through my tunic. This time, with my wings to steady me, I landed lightly on my feet.
He was already soaring to rescue the kids.
I was on the slope above the worm-monster now; Azrael and Duncan were trying to outflank it. The thing dove back into the earth, but it was clearly agitated and now it wanted to hurt us—or eat us, I couldn’t tell which. It went deeper now, but there were clues about its path as it had to come closer to the surface, winding around roots and rocks that it couldn’t just break through. Plumes of dirt rose where it almost broke the surface, and I started down the hill, trying to help the guys surround it.
“Kids are clear!” Tiron called as he zoomed with them above us all, carrying them to safety.
The thing burst out of the earth again, right at Azrael’s feet. He cursed and stabbed it, his feet slidi
ng out from him too. Since he was falling anyway, he fell on top of it, driving his sword deep into the thing’s body.
This time when it slithered under the earth, it took Azrael with it.
“Let go!” Duncan screamed at him, but he was too late. Azrael, sword and all, vanished into the hole the monster had just left.
Duncan stopped, his eyes scanning the ground. I could tell he was frantic, but the next second, icy calm washed over him.
I searched for a way to help Azrael too. My own heart was pounding. I was ready to plunge into the labyrinth beneath the ground, but I wasn’t sure that was the best way to rescue him.
Suddenly the monster surfaced again. Azrael still clung to it, and he gasped for breath as he wrenched the sword loose, then plunged it in again.
The monster roared and went to dive back into the earth. This time, Azrael struck one last time with the sword, then threw himself off the thing’s back. He landed hard on the ground, slamming into a stone.
“Are you okay?” I called.
He scrambled up with a gasp. One powerful arm automatically sheltered his ribs, as if he’d broken some of them. “I’ll live. But I might not want to after seeing that damned thing.”
“Does it have eyes?” Duncan asked. “That’s my life motto. Everything dies if you stab it in the eye.”
“If that’s your only guiding philosophy in life, that explains why you’re like this,” I cut in.
Azrael’s voice was raspy and broken, but he managed to say, “I think it’s a hunting dust worm—from the same world as the Ravagers. No eyes, very acute sense of vibrations. That’s how it hunts its prey.”
“That would be why you don’t whistle at it,” Duncan told me helpfully.
“How do we kill it?” I asked.
“Its heart is located just underneath the band at the third segment,” Azrael said. “I couldn’t reach it. I tried.”
“I couldn’t even fucking count to three if that thing had dragged me under the earth, so I think you’re doing okay, brother,” Duncan admitted. “How do we get to the third segment?”
“I’ve got a plan now. Azrael, you are so useful.” I told him warmly. “That’s why you’re my favorite.”
Azrael winked at me. “Trust me, Princess, that’s not the only reason.”
Duncan groaned. “Dust worm, take me away.”
I began to stomp my feet.
“That’s it,” Duncan said, “She’s really lost it now.”
“It will come for me,” I explained. “But I can fly. I’ll soar as soon as it attacks. If it tries to follow me, it seems like it can get some height—which means it should follow me up into the air, exposing more of its segments.”
“Okay, Princess Bait.” Duncan was already moving closer to me, though he stayed far enough back that he wouldn’t be caught in the worm’s attack. “Sounds like the best plan we’ve got.”
Or the only plan we’ve got.
Azrael pressed his hand to his ribs, trying to heal himself, but he still moved down the hillside toward us. Dirt streaked his handsome face and clung to his hair and clothes, but those magnetic purple eyes of his were still bright.
The ground shook beneath my feet. I leapt into the air just as the thing exploded from the ground. The yawning maw chased me so fast that I wasn’t sure my wings could beat fast enough to pull me into the sky before its jaws snapped.
It dove for me, those teeth closing on the space where my legs had been just a second before.
Then Duncan drove his sword over his head in a mad, two-handed plunge that struck all the way through the monster’s body. It let out a roar before it dropped toward the ground. As he yanked the sword out, worm guts splattered all over him.
The creature tried to reach him with that vast mouth, but just as it snapped against its leg, it fell sideways. It was a last reflexive attack before it died.
The three of us panted and stared at the thing, which was still now on the hillside.
“Is that really it?” Tiron asked. When we looked up, he floated above the three of us. We were all covered in dirt and filth and worm guts. He looked like an angel, with his hair floating around his face and his wings outstretched. “That seemed pretty easy, actually.”
Duncan stared at him for a second, then turned to Azrael and me. “I’m going to murder him. Any objections?”
In that particular moment, I couldn’t think of any.
But there was no time to celebrate. “What did the kids say?” I asked Tiron.
“There was a third child. The monster took him down into the earth.” His face was grim, every bit of joking gone. “He might have swallowed him whole. And—they don’t think it’s the only one. They hadn’t seen the worms before today, but they think there are more.”
“They’re frightened children,” Duncan said. “Maybe they aren’t the best witnesses.”
“Look at that, you’re the optimist now,” Azrael muttered.
There might be more. Swell.
I edged toward the hole. If there was a chance a child was still alive in there, I had to go after them.
Chapter Four
Azrael saw my movement and frowned. His voice was urgent as he called, “Alisa. No. Don’t even think about it.”
Oh, I knew it was a terrible idea to think about it. If I stopped to think about it, I probably would never take the two more steps forward, then plunge head-first into the hole. I wriggled my body down into the narrow cavern.
Behind me, I heard someone curse. Actually, maybe all three of them cursed.
There was the sound of dirt falling behind me at the entrance, but I couldn’t look back to see. If the monsters lacked eyes, it didn’t matter if I formed a ball of light, it wouldn’t draw them to me anyway. I palmed my magic, and light flickered into existence in my palm.
Around me were the ridged walls of the tunnel, scraped through the dirt. I hadn’t gone deep yet, so broken tendrils of roots hung around me, but ahead, the tunnel dropped and turned and twisted. I lost sight of the way ahead.
“None of us can come in after you,” Azrael called. “The tunnel is too narrow. But if you get in trouble, we might be able to move the dirt to get you out.”
I’d thought Tiron might be able to fit, but his shoulders were broader than mine. I could barely squirm my way in here.
“I’ve got faith,” I called back.
“I said maybe, Alisa,” he said. “What do you see?”
Despite his warning, hearing his warm voice behind me made me feel better about being in a claustrophobic tunnel with carnivorous worms. I told him what I saw around me.
“I hesitate to tell you this,” he said drily, “because I know what you’ll do with the information. But dust worms nest. That’s where they bring their kills.” He hesitated then said, “and their stores for winter. They don’t always eat right away.”
I smiled at the confession. There was a chance I might find that child.
“Thanks, Azrael.” I knew how much he hadn’t wanted to encourage my mission.
He kept talking , but his voice grew muffled as I headed deeper in. I wiggled a little further and found the start of a long slope down. Even with my light blazing, I couldn’t see all the way down that tunnel; the end of it was lost to the plunging darkness.
“You probably won’t be able to hear me anymore after this,” I said, my voice steady. “I’m going deep down.”
“Alisa,” It was Tiron’s distant voice. “When you’re trying to get back out, remember you have power we don’t have. You can make things grow. You can force a path back out.”
“I’ve got it,” I said, with far more confidence than I felt at the moment. Something dragged over my face in the darkness, and when I reached up to swipe it away with an edge of panic—spider—I realized it was just another shred of root. I pulled it loose, then cupped it between my palm and the hilt of my sword. “Any last wisecracks? Duncan? Everyone else was helpful. Want to call me names one last time for good luck?”
There was a long silence, and I thought he wasn’t going to say anything. I wriggled forward, my hands slipping in the loose dirt as I began the long descent. I dug my elbows and knees into the ground, shimmying forward, trying to keep myself from sliding head-first into something I couldn’t see.
“I’m sure that any venomous, child-eating, thirty-foot horror-worm with any common sense is absolutely terrified of you,” Duncan said finally. His booming voice was almost lost to the dirt walls. “You’ll be fine.”
I smiled to myself as I slithered into the darkness. Duncan always knew just what to say to make me feel better.
As I worked my way down the slope, a hideous smell washed over me, something rancid and sickly sweet. I gritted my teeth at the appalling odor and then gasped as I saw movement ahead of me.
A face materialized out of the darkness at the bottom of the hole, not a monster’s terrifying mouth. A Fae child was frantically trying to crawl up toward me, but he kept slipping back in the loose dirt.
“It’s all right, I’ve got you,” I promised.
I muttered a word to my light, and the ball of light zoomed forward, hovering halfway between us. The light illuminated a tear-streaked but determined face. I kept crawling toward him, digging my elbows in hard now so I wouldn’t accidentally slam into him.
“There’s more worms,” he told me. “Please, please, don’t leave me. There are babies down there—they tried to eat me but I was able to get to the tunnel, but eventually—”
Panic washed over me. I was almost to him as the tunnel began to heave.
I glimpsed the maw that opened behind him, just as I reached him. I grabbed his arm with mine and screamed, “Grow!” as I channeled all my magic into the root. I imagined what I wanted to happen, all the while clinging fiercely to the boy’s arm.
I felt my magic tingle through my veins, coming alive, and then suddenly the root was growing up through the ground, racing ahead of us. Limbs exploded to either side, forming a ladder.
There was suddenly open space around us. I pushed him up the ladder formed by the root, twisting to put my body between him and the worm. Then I turned to face it, with my magic in one hand and my sword in the other.
