“What?” I asked, alarmed. “Why me?”
“She doesn’t view you as a threat,” said Mitchell, as if this should be obvious. I frowned. I already knew I was both useless and helpless out here. There was no need to keep rubbing it in.
“Sir,” said Thomas quietly. “She’s not…”
“Isana isn’t going to hurt Samantha without cause, Thomas. I do trust her that far.” He looked back at me. “Go on,” he said. “It would be a great help.”
I looked at Thomas, who shrugged, though he was pursing his lips. I leaned back, thinking for a moment. On the one hand… Isana scared me. Not like Dietrich did, sure, but it was hard to think of being friendly towards someone who could totally erase your powers of free will. On the other hand, right now she didn’t look threatening. And if I could earn some points with Mitchell, who was the only person here able to answer my questions who didn’t terrify me… I’d do it.
“Fine,” I said, getting up. Still barefoot, I walked over to Isana, who looked up, surprised.
“Hi,” I said, sitting down near her, though I kept more distance between us than I had with Thomas. There was an awkward silence. “How are you doing?”
She looked at me with a wry expression. “Herr Mitchell has recruited you, I take it?”
“Umm…” Not much point in denying it. “Yeah.”
She shook her head, looking back over the water. It was a slow section of the river that we’d stopped at, and the swans from earlier were still placidly swimming, occasionally diving down into the water, only to surface again moments later. “He is not your ally,” she said quietly. She shifted her pack to one side. Something inside of it clinked. “And you should remember it.” A little chill ran over me. I almost asked her what she meant, but I decided against it. The fact that Mitchell was allowing me to be dragged through this world at all was enough to know that she was right. But it didn’t mean I couldn’t still do as he’d asked. Isana turned to face me directly. “Still, you may safely tell him that I have no intention of turning against this company,” she said coolly. “I expect that is his concern?”
No intention of turning against the company. Well, that was good, anyway. “What did you ever do to scare them so much?” I asked. “It’s like they all expect you to enthrall us into throwing ourselves into the river at any second.”
She sent me a startled look, but quickly masked the expression. “They have reason to fear,” she said quietly. “As do you.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, well. The worst you ever talked me into doing was getting on a plane. And let’s face it, it’s not like I was doing all that well in America anyway.” I looked at her sideways. “Not that I think you did me a favor or anything,” I added. “Just so we’re clear.”
A quick look of guilt passed over her face, but again, she smoothed out her features so quickly I almost missed it. “I would not have taken you from your home, had it been my decision,” she said quietly. “I am sorry for it. I know it has not been easy for you.”
I shifted, uncomfortable. “Why do you do what Dietrich says?” I asked her. “It’s pretty obvious you two aren’t fond of each other…” Isana sent a suspicious look in Mitchell and Thomas’ direction. “They didn’t tell me to ask you that,” I said. “I just… I don’t understand what’s going on here.”
She regarded me for a long moment, then sighed and turned away, apparently deciding I was telling the truth. “Please do not ask me about that,” she said at last. She shook her head, her long hair flowing around her shoulders. “I would rather not dwell on it.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. I wondered for a moment if she had been dwelling on it earlier, when she’d looked so miserable. She stood up abruptly and began to walk away. I hesitated, then stood to follow. She turned to look at me, exasperated. “What do you want from me, Samantha?” she asked sharply, though her gaze was more weary than angry.
I stopped. It was a good question. Answers? Some assurance that I was going to make it home in one piece? “I don’t know,” I said. “I just… Sorry. I’ll leave you alone if you want.”
Her expression softened, and she motioned for me to follow her. A little warily, I did. We got to the point where Mitchell had set wards around the campsite. There was no visible clue that they were there, and I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t witnessed him doing it. Isana contemplated the stretch of grass for a moment, then took my hand, stepping over the invisible line of demarcation. I felt a slight tingle run through me as we passed the wards, but that was it.
I shivered. “What would happen if I tried to do that without help?” I asked.
“You would be thrown back,” said Isana simply. She walked toward the riverbank. Upon reaching it, she stepped in, the water reaching just past her bare ankles. She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Is that… safe?” I asked timidly. “Mitchell and Thomas were talking about this river, all the things that live in it…”
She looked amused. “There are very few fae creatures that I fear, Samantha.”
“Must be nice,” I muttered. She chuckled.
“Still, you should stay out of the water,” she said. “I do not know how it would affect someone with no magical ability… and besides, I believe it would make your friend nervous.” She nodded back towards the others. I followed her gaze. Mitchell wasn’t watching us, but Thomas was, and he did indeed look concerned, even at this distance. I wasn’t sure I’d use the word ‘friend’… Thomas was more in the category of ‘person working with my kidnappers who I didn’t hate as much as I really should.’ I waved to show I was fine, then turned back to Isana.
“I have missed it here,” she said softly. She closed her eyes again, clasping her hands together behind her back.
“I never thanked you,” I said after a moment. “For talking Dietrich into agreeing to answer some questions. Back with the puca, I mean.”
She turned to look at me with a serious expression. “My primary motive at that moment was not to assist you,” she said. I bit my lip. I wasn’t precisely surprised that she hadn’t been acting with my interests in mind, but I was surprised that she would admit it. “I simply want this quest over with quickly. I did not want Dietrich’s stubbornness to slow us.”
“Why?” I asked. “You seem to like it here.” Better than I did, anyway.
“Being here is not the problem,” she said quietly. Then, louder, she said, “You should release him from that bargain.”
“What? Why?” I asked.
She turned to face me. “Dietrich is not the sort to forgive being forced to comply with someone else’s wishes,” she said. “He may have promised not to harm you, but he can still make things very unpleasant if he desires. He is creative that way,” she added in a low voice as she turned back to face the water.
“Is this how you talked him into it?” I asked, glowering at her back. “Telling him that you’d persuade me to let him back out of it?” She cast me an amused look but didn’t answer. I sighed. Fine. I looked back over at the swans just in time to see one dive down into the river. “Would it kill someone to give me a straight answer?” I muttered, watching for its reappearance.
“Be still.” Her voice was suddenly sharp. It was such a rapid departure from how she’d been speaking to me that I instantly clamped my mouth shut. In my experience, it’s never good news when someone’s mood changes like that. She leaned forward, her muscles tensed, one hand on the knife at her left hip. She scanned the water, her gaze intense.
A dark shape reared out of the river, water streaming off its body. The swans exploded into flight, trumpeting in fear. I stumbled back, and the creature wheeled to face us, snorting. It had the shape of a dark grey horse, but by this point I would have been an idiot to assume that’s what it was. Aside from the fact that it had just burst out of a river, its mane and tail, still dripping streams of water, were made of kelp and reeds.
Isana motioned for me to stay where I was. The water horse took several steps forward, ears pr
icked as it looked from me to Isana, then back again. It tossed its head, flinging water in a wide arc from its mane. Isana walked several paces toward it, the current of the river now up to her shins.
“There is no prey for you here, kelpie,” she said, her voice ringing clear. “Leave.”
The last word was laden with power. Even not directed at me, I felt the compulsion in her voice, and I had to struggle to remain still. The kelpie let out a shrieking whinny, then reared up on its hind legs. It pivoted its body, diving back into the water. In an instant it was gone from sight, the river soon erasing even the ripples it left behind.
Isana straightened, turning to glance at me. I swallowed. There was a fierce light in her eyes that I hadn’t seen there before, and I suddenly understood Thomas’ insistence to be wary of her.
“Sam!” Thomas was suddenly beside me, grabbing my shoulder. “Are you all right? Those things eat people, it could have killed you!”
“I’m… I’m fine,” I managed. My heart was belatedly accelerating, as if it had just now realized the danger. Dietrich and Mitchell had also materialized. They must have started running the second that the kelpie had emerged out of the water. I’d been so focused on it that I hadn’t even noticed.
“That was well done,” said Dietrich to Isana, speaking in German. I stared at him. It was possible that I found this more startling than the appearance of the kelpie. Was he actually complimenting her?
Isana sent him a venomous look. The strange, wild light had not left her eyes. “I said I would do all I could to assist, and I will,” she said, her voice tight with bitterness. “I know you need her in one piece.”
What? I looked quickly at Dietrich, forgetting for a moment that I was not supposed to let them see that I could understand the language.
“I was not referring to your protection of the girl,” he replied with a dismissive gesture. Thanks, Dietrich. “Your abilities have recovered well. To bend a fae creature to your will with a single word is a great improvement. I had worried, after you were so weakened…”
Isana gave him a smile that was like poisoned sugar. “Concerned, Dietrich?” she asked softly, her voice carrying a dangerous undercurrent. “Some might find that touching.”
Thomas nudged me. “Come on,” he muttered, edging back toward the campsite. “Away from those two.” Apparently you didn’t need to understand the language to feel the tension between them. I shook him off. I needed to hear this.
“Watch your tone,” said Dietrich flatly. “Must I remind you of—”
“There is no need to remind me of anything,” she said, still in that soft, dangerous voice. “I will never forget what you’ve done. Or what you are doing.”
“Consequences for your own actions,” he said, voice chill. “I had thought perhaps you would show more respect, knowing that you are no longer the only one who can suffer for your choices—”
“Stop. Talking,” said Isana, the words charged with power. Dietrich’s jaw snapped shut. Surprise flew over his face, followed by rapid fury.
“Isana,” barked Mitchell. Isana whipped around to face him.
“Sleep,” she said, and Mitchell collapsed in a heap by the riverbank, unconscious.
“Hey!” shouted Thomas. “What do you think you’re—”
“Calm yourself, Thomas,” Isana said, casting him a disparaging look. He blinked, suddenly looking dazed. Isana turned back to Dietrich. She smiled faintly, a hair-raising expression. “Step forward.” He did, after a few seconds of straining against the power in her voice. “I could have you drown yourself, you know,” she said softly. He twitched, the muscles in his neck standing out. “It might almost be worth it.”
“Isana, please!” I startled myself by saying. The smarter part of me was screaming in my head to shut up, not to call her attention, and I clamped my jaw shut. She didn’t look at me, though there was a slight, unidentifiable shift in her expression. I swallowed. “Please.”
Abruptly Isana stumbled back with a cry. She fell to her knees in the river, her face ashen. Dietrich wrenched himself back a step, looking at Isana with contempt.
“You are not the only one who is stronger here,” he said. Isana gasped, color draining from her skin. “I trust you will not forget again.” Her muscles convulsed, and abruptly both Mitchell and Thomas seemed to come back to themselves. Mitchell staggered to his feet.
“Stop it!” he shouted, after a bare second spent taking in the scene. “Dietrich, stop!” Thomas grabbed my hand, pulling me back several feet. Dietrich looked scornfully at Isana, then abruptly turned away, walking back towards the campsite.
“Do you still insist you can control her?” Mitchell demanded loudly. Dietrich didn’t answer or even slow, stepping past the wards without a second’s hesitation. Isana slumped. Color was returning to her face, but she was trembling badly.
I wavered for a second, then took a step towards her. Thomas caught my hand again. “Did you not just see that?” he demanded, sounding shaken. “I don’t know what that was about, but—”
“What did he do to her?” I interrupted.
“What did he do? She just enthralled the whole company!” He gave a nervous little twitch. “She shouldn’t even be able…”
I pulled away from him. The whole company, he’d said. Well, he was right—I wasn’t part of this group. And neither, really, was Isana.
“Thomas.” Mitchell looked pale. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” said Thomas. “I just don’t understand how…”
Before I could lose my nerve, I walked over to the river bank. Isana had managed to stand. Her clothing was soaked through, but she barely seemed to notice. I extended a tentative hand. She looked at me as if startled, then shook her head a fraction of an inch, glancing Dietrich’s way. I let my hand drop, and she stepped onto the bank, still shivering. She sent a hate-filled look toward Dietrich, but the expression faded after just a few seconds, replaced by exhaustion and resignation.
“Go,” she said softly to me. “I thank you, but go.”
I hesitated, but I obeyed, allowing Thomas to escort me back over the wards ringing the campsite. Isana did not follow for a long time.
Chapter Eight
I don’t think any of us slept well that night. Everyone was quiet in the morning as we ate, then rolled up our blankets and stuffed them into our packs. I didn’t try to initiate any conversation. I had spent a good portion of the night reading from the Bestiary (courtesy of Thomas’ rock lamp), trying to jam more information on fae into my brain. I didn’t like the fact that if Isana hadn’t been standing right there, I would have been kelpie-bait before I even knew what a kelpie was. I might be practically defenseless, but I didn’t have to be clueless on top of it. Plus, studying helped distract me from the fact that Dietrich and Isana had attempted to kill each other, and that there was no guarantee that it wasn’t going to happen again. Apparently no one wanted to talk about it, either; no one spoke beyond the bare essentials of communication as we set out for the day.
We kept close to the river, eventually coming to rocky terrain. At one point I caught sight of what looked like an enormous snake with vivid white markings, but it slithered away, vanishing into the water before I could even point it out to either Thomas or Mitchell.
There was what might loosely be called a path along this stretch of river, but as we climbed up steep hills, we had to move away from it; the spray from rapids and twenty-foot waterfalls made the shale dangerously slick. Mitchell and Dietrich consulted briefly on our route, so by eavesdropping I gleaned the information that we were probably only another day or so from the border to Aerenia’s realm. I had mixed feelings about that; on the one hand, I had no desire to walk into a nest of the Unseelie fae, which Thomas’ book described as ‘varying in power, but universally cruel and malignant creatures’. On the other hand, hiking through Alfheim for days on end and encountering fae there hadn’t exactly been my idea of a fun outing either.
We turned away
from the river, soon returning to grassy, hilly knolls again. Mitchell took to drilling me on fae creatures again as we walked. I felt that I was doing much better in terms of accurately answering his questions, but he seemed agitated, hounding me on even minor errors. I lost track of how many times he made me recite the general rules as well (Be polite. Don’t eat fae food. Be cautious with gifts, exchanges, or bargains. Got it, Mitchell). As the day wore on, he got increasingly terse with me. I did my best to ignore this; tension was still high among the others, and I didn’t want to be the one who set off an altercation by starting an argument. All in all, it was a great relief when Dietrich called a halt for the night. I laid down on top of the thin blanket from my pack, too exhausted from the pace and Mitchell’s instruction to even remove my shoes before I fell asleep.
I awoke to the feeling of electricity shooting through my body.
Before I was even fully conscious I staggered to my feet, then promptly stumbled into Thomas. He grabbed my wrist and put one finger over his lips. I scanned the campsite quickly. It was near dawn, and in the purple twilight I could see the others, all awake and standing as well. They were facing different directions, all surveying our surroundings with intense focus, though I didn’t think anyone could see very much in this light.
“What’s going on?” I muttered, so low I could barely hear myself.
“Something’s testing the wards,” Thomas replied, equally quiet. He released my wrist, scanning the darkness. “And—” He jumped.
“What?”
“The wards just evaporated. I don’t know how—”
Mitchell shouted, and I whipped around just in time to see something huge and muscular, covered in coarse hair, burst out of the darkness. The thing screamed a challenge and rushed us.
The next moment was utter insanity. Mitchell shouted something, and a tree root burst out of the ground, lashing around the creature’s leg. Thomas grabbed my shoulder for support, pain crossing his face. The creature shrieked from a tusked mouth and severed the root with one swipe of its lethal claws. Seconds later, a score of smaller dark shapes scuttled out from the shadows of the wood, suddenly in among our party. One of the grotesque goblin-creatures rushed me, suddenly swelling to three times its original size. I dove out of its path, narrowly avoiding being stomped on by the first monster, which was carrying a long whip and heading for Dietrich. As I scrambled to my feet, Isana threw herself between another of the smaller-but-rapidly-growing goblins and myself, knives drawn. She struck like a snake, one knife slitting its throat as the other gutted it. Blood sprayed, and the creature sagged back to its smaller size as it died.
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