Others in their force were less fortunate, with Unseelie falling around them. Some resisted as Cassia did, or dodged to cover, or had their own means of protection, but the numbers fell further still. By the time a host of the moth-winged sprites engaged Orlaith's pixies in a fierce aerial battle, Cassia had less than half of the people she started with.
Most of those remaining still made for a dangerous and enthusiastic band with no signs of pausing. It was all Justin could do to keep up with the crowd, doing his best to keep his shield at the ready and trusting in his armor's effectiveness against the tiny arrows as he raced along behind Cassia. He wasn't precisely sure of their directions, but thought the wood around them was starting to look familiar.
His suspicions were confirmed when sidhe knights emerged from cover at the edge of a clearing, forming up in ranks. More pixies and sprites emerged from the trees all around, aiming their bows at the oncoming mad rush. Cassia leaned forward, cutting the tethers binding the leopards to the chariot so they could maneuver and fight freely, while she just ducked down and rode out the wild ride, leaping out to engage a knight in close combat at the last second. Her chariot crashed into the assembled ranks on its own, and the leopards took up protective positions at their mistress's flanks.
The mob just behind her slammed into the ranks on the ground, while those suited to flight or climbing took to the trees to engage the archers. Justin thought he saw a weak point in the defensive lines and rushed for it, leading with the shield and battering a knight to the ground. As he did, he could see the sword and stone in the middle of the clearing, an honor guard, more decorated than most of the knights, standing around it on watch.
Before he could break free and rush them, the ranks closed, and he was forced backwards, only barely avoiding injury by spear. The faeries around him were nearly invulnerable, at least in the sense that they'd heal almost anything that wasn't made by cold iron—which no one here seemed to be using—but Justin had no such assurance.
He retreated backwards as his assailants were engaged by some sort of troll swinging a small tree like a club. He had to dive out of the way of the swinging tree himself, reminded that his allies had, possibly, even less regard for him in some cases than his enemies of the moment. He made his way back to Cassia and the leopards. The cats let him into their defensive circle, and the satyr, despite her wild, powerful fighting style and obvious rage, shifted to allow him to fight alongside her.
Even with all of his training, he had to admit that it was fortunate. Most of the sidhe clearly had many decades, if not centuries, of training behind them. Fighting almost purely defensively, and with the savage satyr and the leopards forcing opponents to be cautious, he was able to manage to protect himself, but unable to advance.
Cassia seemed to be having better luck. Even hit with several more pixie arrows and engaged by multiple sidhe knights, she managed to slowly force her opponents back. Just shifted after her, making slow progress, but progress towards the goal nonetheless. While some of the Unseelie horde were being pushed back, others, such as the troll who had provided him cover, were making similar steps forward, pushing the sidhe back bit by bit.
It was only once they'd broken past the treeline, forcing the knights fully into the clearing, that the situation became much worse. More sidhe emerged from the trees. Some of them were further knights, but these, instead of joining the ranks, protected individuals who were in lighter garb, and chanting. Justin stepped back on seeing them, taking cover behind a tree.
A blast of fire slammed into the chest of the troll, sending it flying back with a shockwave that followed. Bursts of light flashed all over the battlefield, emitting from behind the lines of the knights so only the attackers would be blinded. Justin hid his eyes only just in time. Numerous of the Unseelie weren't as fortunate. More fireballs launched into the Unseelie ranks, taking their own toll. Even when they missed their mark, the shockwaves that followed scattered the ranks of the Unseelie, forcing more of them to either retreat back into the woods or remain close to the ranks of the knights, which presented its own dangers.
Some of the Unseelie attempted to counter with their own enchantments. Greenish fireballs fired back, briar vines started to grow at the edge of the wood, and wisps of darkness started to creep onto the field, all heading for the knights. As soon as any of the enchantments reached the field, they weakened or disappeared entirely. The fireballs fizzled, or dwindled to small missiles which only left small scorch marks on armor. The briars wilted to something sidhe swords easily sliced through, and the darkness dissipated at the next flash of light. With the time they'd had to prepare, the Queen had clearly added plenty of protective enchantments to the clearing. She might not be able to do much to the sword itself, but the ground between the woods and the blade was another matter entirely. He realized, at the same time, that if they'd had time to put up the defenses, who knew what else they'd prepared.
"Cassia, we need to fall back!" he shouted over the din of battle.
Whirling, slashing, and kicking, Cassia, Maxwell at her side, showed no signs of being willing to give up an inch of the ground she'd gained. Jude took notice, moving to help protect Justin as the squire lunged back into the melee, despite the risks, knocking aside one of the sidhe spearmen trying to find an opening to stab at Cassia. "We need to retreat!" he shouted again.
Cassia growled at him instead, and with fewer Unseelie venturing beyond the edges of the woods, he noticed that the sidhe ranks were closing in around them, and more carefully aimed arrows were coming their way, only barely fended off by armor and Cassia's own enchantments. He turned to cover her back, fighting back to back with her, with the leopards guarding the pair, all whirling and moving and slashing at anything that came too close, while their opponents tried to trap them.
Justin took a spear to the side. His armor kept it from being worse than a scratch, but he could still feel the warm trickle of blood down his skin. His counter-slash broke the spear before it could do more harm. He managed to fend off the first efforts to close in and take advantage of the wound. Between the pain and the fatigue of the long run and the battle, he almost missed the next detail. When the knights gave up on trying to take him down, they retreated, but further back than they had been. A quick glance confirmed that the rest of the knights around them were falling back too, with a few spears trying to prevent Cassia from following them.
Dropping his sword, he grabbed for the back of Cassia's armor and pulled. Not expecting the grab, he caught her off balance, and was dragging her backwards towards the wood when the fireball hit where they'd just been standing. He registered heat washing over him, but without any hint of pain. The shockwave was something else entirely. He held on tight to Cassia as he, she, and both cats were launched back into the woods.
Landing heavily, he tried to pull her back further under cover, with a few more of the Unseelie closing around them defensively. Cassia sat up groggily after a few moments. "We need to retreat, now," Justin repeated. "We did everything we could. We have to rely on the others now."
"And keep these lot busy with a chase," Cassia agreed, shaking off the cobwebs. The whistle that followed was met with an answering growl and whine. Noticing the cause for distress, Justin found the spot Jude had dragged Maxwell too, both burned and bleeding, but the bareheaded cat far worse off and not moving. He confirmed that Max was still breathing, then lifted the leopard over his shoulders. Jude limped after him as Cassia rallied her troops, regrouping those who would listen to form up for a fighting retreat, leaving the sword behind.
Chapter 36: Quest for the King
Ashling led the girls in costume on a circuitous route. Even with her help, they ended up having to hide several times in order to avoid various patrols. Seelie or Unseelie, it didn't matter. Cassia and Justin were out for attention, while the smaller group needed to evade both the Queen's people and the Gray Lady's. Much as the Gray Lady had come and gone quickly with just a word of warning, they'd been sure that
it had, indeed, been a warning, and sending the raiding party after the sword definitely hadn't been quiet, or patient.
The need for stealth slowed them down; the extension to their route slowed progress further. At the very least, both were relieved when they reached the foothills, even if the walk became more difficult. In matters regarding Riocard, they'd been pretty sure the pixie would stay focused and take them the right direction—but with Ashling, it was never a sure thing until a task was complete.
The walk turned into a climb, occasionally treacherous, moving up nearly vertical stretches of rocks and hoping for the stability of handholds, whether in the rocks, or of the various climbing vines or small trees growing amidst the rocks. Lani had recovered their gear from the previous trip and restocked. This left them with heavier packs, but at least they had rope and climbing tools, making the way a little easier for whoever was taking their turn trailing the other, once they managed each stretch.
A couple of times, on seeing caves or dark recesses in the rock, they thought they were nearing the end of their journey, but each time, the crow passed it by and kept climbing, occasionally circling back to make sure the girls hadn't been lost.
The biggest problem, eventually, turned out to not be the difficulty of the climb, or the exhaustion of doing so, but the exposed nature of the mountain faces. Without cover, and having to move slowly, it turned out to be inevitable they'd eventually be seen. They were nearly knocked from the cliff face they were climbing when a burst of fire impacted the stone behind them, a shockwave following the explosion. Lani just managed to roll up over the top of the current expanse onto level ground, and grabbed for her friend's wrist before the impact shook her free.
Though they had covered a lot of ground, it now didn't seem nearly high, or far enough, and they picked up on signs of flying dots in the distance coming their way, leaving them pretty certain that pixie arrows were going to be a problem soon. Adrenaline took over, and the pair launched themselves back up the mountainside, moving with less caution than before in their haste to get to cover without being trapped. The haste almost caused a couple of falls, as untested handholds gave way, but each time, quick rescues were made, or the second grab found something more solid.
"This way!" Ashling finally called, the first thing she'd said in ages, as Red-Riding-Megan was pulling herself up over another cliff face and onto a longer stretch of mostly level ground, dotted with sharp rock outcroppings. When she reached down to help Lani, a small dart missed her hand by inches, embedding into the rock. Another two found homes in nearby plants. "Hurry!" she called down.
Lani was hurrying her best, but was having trouble reaching a couple of the handholds. Nearly being hit with a couple of pixie arrows from the oncoming archers wasn't helping. “Go on!” she shouted. “Get to cover.” This was ignored, and soon rope got Lani up the last bit.
They were almost to the rocks when Lani screamed, tumbling over, clutching at her calf, where one of the arrows was embedded. With help, she dragged herself behind the rocks, struggling to stay awake. As soon as they had brief protection from the rocks, she went through her pack with increasingly numb hands. She needed help to get the caffeine boost gum out of the pack, unable to manage the finesse of the wrappers. She didn't at all care for the faux-energy-drink artificial taste, but the gum helped, if only barely.
A glance back over the rocks confirmed the pixies closing in. Gambling, Red-Riding-Megan wrapped the cloak around her and stood, doing her best to belt out the lyrics to a song. Out of breath and frantic, nothing magical happened, but at this height, the pixies, who may have heard of the experience with the winds in the clearing, or even been there, were taking no chances. The butterfly winged patrols scattered, ducking and diving for something to hold on to.
In the brief lull, both girls took off as fast as they could manage after Ashling. "You're sure that thing is going to work?"
"If we can make it to the cave," Lani called back, having a rough time managing to dig the compass out of her pocket as they scrambled.
"It's right up there!" Ashling shouted back to them, darting around a bend.
A handful of tiny arrows hit the rocks behind them, another punching a hole through one side of the red cape, entangling in the fabric without hitting flesh. Even with the renewed rush of panicked energy at being shot at, Lani barely managed to stay upright, lurching and almost falling before catching herself on an outcropping. "Keep going," she tried again.
The other two turned back for her anyway, though she needed some additional support to walk in a straight line, struggling to stay awake as they walked, focusing on Ashling's assurances that the cave was close now.
Two moth-winged shapes streaked by overhead, racing for the cave without any attempt at firing at the girls, just to warn whoever was on guard inside. As they moved, there was another out-of-breath attempt at singing. This time, with level ground to fall onto if things went badly, or having noted the earlier failure, the patrols behind them barely slowed down.
The cave entrance came into view, a huge, icy maw in the midst of gray stone. They could see the jagged, reflective surfaces just inside, and numerous possible passages into the cave. Lani clutched tightly at her compass, gesturing with the other arm which way they should be headed as they made the cave mouth, while being almost pulled along by her friend as much as she was managing to run on her own.
Lani went dead weight as another arrow jabbed into her shoulder, and the compass hit the ground, rolling and clattering along on the stone. Ashling doubled back, landing and shouting encouragement, but couldn't offer much more help while Lani was dragged along. They just made the mouth of the cave ahead of more arrows, taking cover, and starting to head in the direction Lani had been pointing, when figures emerged from the darkness within the cave. Pixies and sprites landed, or hovered behind them as they stopped, several armed figures emerging from various passages to block their way.
The mixture of lightly armored knights and redcaps made for a motley alliance, but at least for the moment, they were working in obvious unison. Peadar took the lead of the group, spinning his bat around in one hand, his grin just getting bigger and bigger as he approached the girl in the red cloak.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? I'm impressed you made it this far. Good job. Afraid you're not going to be rescuing Riocard today, though. Unless..." he paused, as a thought occurred to him. "Unless you want to call that favor in?"
Around the cave, hands on weapons tensed as the sidhe, redcaps, pixies, and sprites all glanced at each other nervously, suddenly uncertain of the alliance, and who would turn what way if Peadar mutinied for the sake of seeing his debt canceled.
Ashling took the moment to drag the compass back over, lifting it with a strain, and shoving it upwards, determined to see Riocard rescued. Pulling her cloak around her a little tighter, Red-Riding-Megan made an effort to wake Lani up, in hopes of getting her advice, while the silence and uncertainty in the cave stretched on. With Lani still fast asleep, she finally looked down at Ashling and her compass, then up at the lead redcap, and shook her head. "No, no. Not now. We surrender."
Chapter 37: The Dance
Despite the apparent dimensions of the grand ballroom and the sheer numbers of faeries gathered, even with the distractions, the room kept taking more guests, with enough room for everyone to dance or watch from the walls. Elevated recesses lined the walls, providing smaller dancing or spectating space for the pixies, sprites, and others, so the smaller folk could stay out from underfoot.
Faeries of both courts were gathered, but even amidst the tension earlier in the day, the enchantments on the room prevented violence. Some members of both courts mingled, while others kept to their own. Muttering grew as the first skirmishers from the chaotic fight earlier arrived. A group of sidhe knights led a number of prisoners into the room, marching up to the Queen where she sat on the grand chair at the head of the room. "The scouts report the fight is still going, but we captured these. W
hat should be done with them?" the highest ranking knight asked.
Orlaith waved a hand dismissively. "Release them. This is an exciting time of year. They're surely just getting some energy out. I trust no one has been seriously injured?"
"A few lost limbs, eyes, and wings are the worst of it. Everyone will recover. No sign of cold iron," he reported, guessing at the Queen's meaning.
Orlaith nodded. "Very well then, just a bit of fun. Set up an extra patrol of the doors, and make sure those brought in from the scuffle don't head back out to it.”
Both the knights and the prisoners being released bowed to the Queen. There were a few glares exchanged between both ranks, but that was the extent of it, before the knights moved to reinforce the watch at the main doors, while the Unseelie who'd followed in Cassia's wake filtered out onto the ballroom floor.
More of the groups were brought in, some unconscious, delivered to some part of their delegation, some on their own, simply filtering back after their excitement died down, some in chains—released as soon as they reached the ballroom. After the first few, it became routine, with many groups barely taking notice.
That changed, commotion rising again, when a small band made their way in. While they were accompanied by a number of sidhe knights from the door guard, Cassia, Justin and the small band with them had all arrived free. Jude and the now-conscious Maxwell limped along at Cassia's sides, helping lead the small procession. Cassia marched towards the Queen. Despite the enchantments on the room, her glare was sufficient that of the accompanying knights and the Queen's guard, only General Inwar didn't put a hand to a sword hilt. Orlaith remained relaxed, lifting a brow and waiting.
Just as Cassia was about to speak, a greater commotion arose from the halls outside. All heads, including Cassia's, turned to try to figure out what the new disturbance was. Peadar led a band of mixed sidhe and redcaps, walking to escort Megan on either side. A crow was on one shoulder, a pixie on the other, and a groggy-looking Lani alongside. The red hood was pulled over her head, and she walked, head bowed in defeat. They were led up to the grand chair. Cassia's scowl grew deeper still, seeing the prisoners.
Foul is Fair Page 16
