After a few steps, she looked back, but the man sat on the ground where she left him. She continued a ways in the moonlit night, but he didn't follow.
Alone in a strange land, Selina followed the road. The light breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees around her. At one point, she thought she heard steps and looked back but saw no one. Part of her wished he would step out from the darkness, to calm her fears of the unknown. Nevertheless, she continued.
After a while, she winced from the blisters on her feet not fully healed. She had only rested a day from her last long walk, no thanks to Faldon and his gang. If she saw him again, she'd slap both cheeks this time, man or beast.
She soon found a place to sit near one of the trees and took it. The next day would be a long one, and she had no doubts the man followed her. He followed her every step since Breach's Pass, so she didn't expect him to stop then.
She didn't want this. She only wanted to heal the king before she died. Tired and frustrated beyond reason, she closed her eyes to shut out the world.
Selina pulled her cloak around her and curled up in the crook of the tree's protruding roots. With some reluctance from her empty stomach, sleep came.
* * *
Selina awoke to a soft tickle on her cheek.
She brushed it away, but it returned. "Go away."
"Wake up," a feminine voice whispered.
She opened her eyes to a moonlit night. A silvery feyquin stood out from the darkness. Selina blinked, uncertain whether she was dreaming.
"I came to help you escape Faldon."
"How? Why?" Selina rubbed the crust from her eyes and stretched. Her body ached from sleeping in the awkward position. She groaned and stood up with twinges of pain throughout her back. "Who are you?"
"A friend."
"I thought feyquin disliked humans." She stretched out most of the kinks.
"Most of us do. But I would rather oppose Faldon." The feyquin jerked her head up, her blue eyes shimmering in the moonlight and her silvery coat taking on an ethereal glow. The beauty stunned Selina. "Hurry! He's near. If you wish to escape him, follow me."
The feyquin took a few steps away, and looked back. "Hurry!"
Selina checked the shadows around her—no sign of Faldon, but that meant nothing—and made her way to the feyquin, who led her into a cluster of trees. The last thing she wanted was for Faldon to cause trouble. "What do I call you?" she whispered.
"I am Relia. Enough talk. He'll hear us. Hurry now. Follow me."
Selina hesitated a few steps into the trees, uncertain about going off the road. She didn't know the land of Vastorn. Getting lost was not an option she wanted to consider.
However, if Relia would help her reach the Ivory Palace, she wouldn't argue.
Selina continued after the silvery figure. This seemed almost too easy. A voice of caution whispered through her mind, but she pushed it aside with the desire to escape Faldon.
Inside the forest, a wave of dizziness passed over her. Selina blinked. When she looked up, the feyquin waited a few steps ahead. She forced her feet to continue, and her head cleared. The trees grew vibrant with hues from green to almost a transparent pink the further off the road they traveled, welcoming her despite the dark of night. Selina gazed at the surreal beauty sparkling by moonlight. She had never imagined such a place hidden there.
"What is this?"
"No questions. Come. We're almost there."
"Almost where?"
"This way."
Selina followed, afraid of being left in the forest. She stumbled on a thick root protruding from the ground but caught herself with a low branch. In that moment, a shudder passed through her, seizing her breath and chilling her heart.
The beauty melted away, replaced by ugly, twisted trees, dark and foreboding. The air closed in around her, humid and stale. She stopped and tried to see through the sudden gloom. Silence surrounded her, except for the feyquin's steps ahead. This couldn't be real.
Faldon would never find her, and she wouldn't find her way out without help.
The silvery feyquin merged into the darkness, but the thump of her steps remained.
"Faldon comes. You must hurry."
Selina shivered, but not from the cold. Nothing looked familiar. "Where are we?"
No one answered.
"Hello?" Selina backed against a cold trunk, alert to the stifling silence. Her heart pounded in her ears. "Relia?"
"I am here." The voice took on a taunting tone. "We are all here."
"Who are you?"
"My sisters and I."
Selina searched through the darkness, but little moonlight pierced it. Only faint outlines showed her where the trees stood. Her mouth went dry. "Wh—Where are you?"
"Here."
She jerked to the right. Something moved in the darkness.
"Where?" she asked.
A creature stepped into a clearing before her, a shadow in the wan moonlight. It resembled the feyquin in structure, but nothing else. Rather, this beast was skeletal, some sort of scaly hide over its bones, eyes sunken into black pits.
She gulped and pressed her eyes shut. It couldn't be real!
When she looked, three of the skeletal creatures stood before her, but she heard the thump of steps to the side. The warnings of the feyquin raced through her mind. "Night mares!" She had to escape, but they surrounded her.
"They told you."
Now she knew why they led her away from the feyquin. Faldon might have stopped them.
"What do you want?"
"You."
"M—Me? Why?"
"You're strong. Your life will feed us for many nights."
"No. No, I won't." She gasped and took a step to the left, but the outline of another stopped her. She wouldn't get far.
"Selina!"
The faint voice lifted her with hope.
"Here!" Hurry!
"Where? Keep talking!"
"Surrounded by awful beasts. I'm here! Hurry! I don't know—"
A hiss by the one she guessed was Relia interrupted. "Faldon!"
"He will be too late," another said. "Hurry, take her!"
"Hurry!" Selina called. "They're going to kill me!"
A blazing light burst from the darkness behind the tree, and she covered her eyes with her arm. The tramping of hooves and confusion expressed by the night mares gave her the chance she needed. She slipped around the tree with her eyes down and followed the source of the light. It filled her with warmth and strength.
"This way!"
At the dimming of the light, she dropped her arm. With his free hand, the man motioned for her to join him. From his other shone the light.
"What did you—"
"No time." He grabbed her hand. "This way." He closed his other hand, casting them into a black thicker than catacombs beneath the temple with the lanterns out. She had no choice but to let him lead her, but she was glad to do it.
"How can you see? How did you make light—"
"I can. That's enough for now. Hurry. If we don't reach the edge of their domain before sunrise, we'll be trapped in the Land of Shadows."
He didn't have to tell her again. Selina held tight to his hand and he held tight to hers. The security of his grip filled her with confidence. He guided her between trees without stumbling or running into them.
They reached the edge of the dismal forest as the sky lightened. Fresh air filled her lungs. Selina smiled, ready to rest, but the man pulled her forward.
"Keep moving. We're not out yet."
"We're not?"
"It's an illusion." He waved his hand and the trees surrounded them again, though sparser and faintly lit. Dawn arrived.
Selina ran on, afraid to let go of his hand, though he showed no inclination to release his grip. Maybe she was wrong about him.
They stepped out of the trees as the sky brightened to a light sapphire.
The sky continued to lighten in the east as they moved beyond the trees. When she thought
her chest would explode from breathing hard, the man stopped and loosened his grip.
Selina squeezed his hand while catching her breath. He hesitated, bedraggled black and gray hair in his face. She had never seen him in any light in that form.
"Thank you," she said.
He stared in silence, but she caught the flash of his cheek.
"You're welcome?" she prompted.
He nodded and took a step away, but she held on. "Where are you going? Stay with me...I—I'm sorry I misjudged you." She let go of his hand in shock of what she said. A new warmth spread up through her.
His lips twitched with uncertainty, until he turned to the east and dropped his shoulders. "It's too late."
"Too late?"
"Too late for me."
"Why?"
He stepped away from her as the sun crested over the horizon. The moment it touched him, his body stretched and grew. Clothes tore off.
He groaned, a pitiable sound that made her wince in sympathy with the transformation.
Not long after she apologized to the man, a gray feyquin stallion stood before her, familiar in every detail.
"That was you. I thought—I suspected, but I never saw."
He stood before her, his head low, though the fire of his pride burned in his dark eyes. "Now you know. Such is the curse I bear. A more grievous crime could not be committed on one of my kind, but the curse of Sorvin fay Renald."
"How is becoming a man a curse? Why couldn't you tell me?"
His ears pinned flat and he reared up so his hooves rocked the ground when he landed. She jumped back. "It is! I lost everything, or weren't you listening to Dewel? Humans betrayed feyquin long ago, but I tried to end the hatred and fear. What thanks did I get? Betrayal!
"To be the enemy is the worst insult! No mares will have me like this; I'm no longer worthy as a leader if I cannot fulfill my duties to the herd. I'm not me when I'm a man."
She stood in silence, unsure what to say when his reasons made sense. Faldon stood facing her, the fire fading from his eyes.
The faint thunder of hoofbeats broke the awkward silence. Three feyquin came into view over a nearby hill.
"Faldon!" Bastien trotted to within a length of the gray.
Selina watched, seeing them through new eyes. She never learned the history of the feyquin. Her studies hadn't gone in depth into the history of the creatures across the Sunders Mountains, since none came beyond the boundary of the Shammel River on the Hallor side. Fewer historians took the time to speak with the creatures.
"You made it!" Bastien shifted his gaze to her as she stepped up beside Faldon. "We feared the worst."
Faldon's nearest ear flicked towards Selina, but he made no move to threaten her approach.
"Not a moment too soon," Dewel said, joining them with Meris.
Faldon turned his head to her. "My curse is revealed by sunrise."
The others looked at her, their ears forward. Selina crossed her arms. "Yes, I saw him change."
"What will we do now?" Meris asked.
Before he could answer, Selina spoke. "Take me to the king."
They all looked at her.
"Let me heal him. He'll put Sorvin in his place...Won't he?"
"Unless Sorvin has other intentions for summoning you. I can't let him lift his side of the curse."
"But if that's his purpose, wouldn't you want to know? Couldn't you use the same information to break the curse on yourself? And he may want only to cure his father of illness."
Faldon watched her for a long time in silent contemplation. She found it hard to accept him as the strange man who accompanied her, but she saw the change with her eyes, confirming what she had suspected. In either form, he alluded to his other form as another presence. She wanted him to be the man. That part of him had been more considerate. He was right in saying he wasn't himself as a man. He was better.
The others nickered in that strange language of theirs. Faldon's ear flicked towards them, but his head remained turned aside to her.
"What could it hurt?" Selina muttered. "My life will end in a couple months at the most."
At something from Meris, Faldon pinned his ears and lunged. Meris whirled, escaping bared teeth by inches.
Selina jumped back, startled by the sudden threat. However, Faldon never attacked her but stood between her and the others.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"He swore he would take you himself if I didn't." Faldon spoke in the calm voice she knew from his human form.
"Keep your promise, Faldon," Bastien said. "If you're cured, you can challenge Ballik. You promised us mares. We won't have it if you can't win."
Faldon pinned his ears and lunged at Bastien. The other stallion's ears flattened and he whirled. Hooves flew at his face, but Faldon swerved to avoid it. He bit a chunk of hide on Bastien's shoulder. When Bastien pulled away with a squeal, a bloody wound remained. Faldon spat out the hide in his mouth and turned to kick, but Bastien ducked.
The ordeal ended, but Bastien stayed away from the group.
Faldon stood with his head up on a proudly arched neck, watching the other. "You doubt me?"
Bastien shook his head, sending dark mane slapping into disarray across his long neck.
"Take her to Antorin," Dewel said. "If Sorvin has other intentions, we'll stop him."
"I won't cooperate with him." Selina hoped Faldon listened to reason. He saved her life from the night mares. If she could help him, she would, though she wished she could make him see the advantage of what he considered a curse. He could be the perfect ambassador to bring the peace he sought.
Faldon stared at her, a hint of humanity in those dark eyes.
"Isn't it worth the chance?" Meris said.
With his head low, Faldon walked to within arm's reach of Selina. "He'll try to force you to his way. Sorvin is not a patient man."
"You'll be there. I'm not afraid." She hoped he didn't see the flush that warmed her cheeks. Although he demonstrated his true behavior, she knew the humanity within him. He cared about his principles with more passion than anyone she knew. That realization intrigued her, and she wanted to learn more.
Faldon took several steps away. "Come. You'll need supplies in Dorrinton."
Selina took a deep breath and followed, relieved that he finally conceded. And after what she learned, she didn't want to walk into the Ivory Palace without the feyquin.
After a brief stop in Dorrinton for provisions and rest, Selina set off with the feyquin. Faldon rejoined her at night, after disappearing briefly and returning as a clothed man. She could only guess that he went off to transform where he could find clothes. He never explained himself and she wasn't inclined to ask.
He changed since their encounter with the night mares, arguing less and answering her questions. She learned about the stories passed down through generations of a time when men rode feyquin into battle as partners defending their lands against monstrous invaders.
"I don't believe it." She couldn't imagine any of the feyquin allowing humans on their backs.
"It was long ago, a time when demons and other monsters terrorized the lands." Faldon walked next to her, his head level with hers. "Men and feyquin fought together. After the wars subsided, men settled down and chased feyquin from the best grazing lands. Despite the betrayal, we continue to chase off horrors. Most humans fear us now, unaware of the truth."
"I can understand why, after what you did to me."
"It was not our intention to cause harm." He spoke in a gentle voice.
Selina bowed her head, sorry for her behavior, her eyes on the path before her. "I know."
"I'm tired, Selina. Tired of fighting with men for the right to live in peace. Tired of trying to keep my pact with Antorin's great-grandfather for grazing lands. I'm tired of being blamed for men's troubles. And I'm tired of Sorvin's treachery. My only consolation is that he shares my curse."
Selina straightened at what she now suspected. "How does he share
your curse?"
"Demons delight in causing torment and trouble, and their favors always come with a price. In Sorvin's case, he takes the shape of a feyquin at night."
Selina let her breath out in a gust, which burst into a fit of laughter. It forced her to halt to catch her breath. Her sides ached and tears wet her cheeks. Sorvin, a feyquin. And Faldon, a man.
A Turn of Curses Page 5
