The Surah Stormsong Trilogy

by H. D. Gordon

  They hit the floor of Aria’s apartment moments later, landing with heavy thuds, no grace or ease this time. Charlie tucked his head instinctively, going into a roll. This was a good thing. His shoulder struck the edge of the coffee table rather than his head.

  Aria had taken the brunt of her fall through the tailbone, and she lie flat on her back now, staring up at the ceiling, panting with exhilaration.

  Charlie pulled himself up onto the couch, the air tearing just as rapidly in and out of his lungs. “What the hell?” he said.

  Aria tensed and sat up, glaring at him with her bright green eyes. “What?” she asked.

  Charlie spread his hands, his eyebrows going up, ignoring the flash of pain in his bleeding shoulder. “Why didn’t you kill her? Why didn’t you kill Tristell?”

  Aria pulled herself up, wincing slightly. “I think you mean, thanks for saving my life, Aria,” she said. “And why didn’t you kill her? You’re the one who went there with the intentions of taking a life. I only said I was looking for answers.”

  Charlie supposed she was right. But, still… she’d had the Fae Queen in her clutches, and she’d just let her go. “She all but admitted to killing your mother,” he said. “She’s started a war between the Sorcerers and the Fae. I guess I just thought—”

  “Well, you thought wrong,” she snapped. “I don’t know much about Sorcerers, but Fae children are raised to take life very seriously, to respect all living things.”

  “You’re half-human aren’t you?”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Charlie sighed, sat back on the couch, ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry,” he said, and meant it. The girl relaxed her stance a bit, clearly sensing his earnestness. “You’re right. Thank you for savin’ my life. Again. It’s not you I’m upset with. This has all just gotten so messed up.” He looked down at the knife still clutched in his hand. “If my brother had been any slower… if I’d been any faster, he’d be dead right now. I’ve accomplished nothing but gettin’ you in trouble.”

  Aria let out a slow breath and took a seat in the armchair across from him. Whatever hostility she’d held toward him a moment ago was gone. She was clearly good at accepting apologies.

  “Let me tell you something, Charlie Redmine,” she said. “I’ve never needed anyone’s help getting into trouble, and don’t worry about me. I’m not as stupid as my pretty face makes me out to be.” She grinned, but it was without joy. The grin of someone freshly broken. Reaching into her leather jacket, she pulled out a rectangular device Charlie was unfamiliar with. There was a screen covering the front, and Aria pressed a triangle on the surface of it.

  Out of small speakers on the side, the Fae Queen’s voice said, “Elisa meddled where she should not have. It cost her her life. Now release me before you really piss me off. I’ve got a kingdom to steal.”

  “You recorded her?”

  Aria’s grin was gone, but she nodded once. “I needed something I could bring to my superiors. When I told them I thought Tristell was responsible for my mother’s absence, they told me I was mistaken, refused to look into the matter any farther. At least now… at least now I know.” Her voice cracked a touch on this last part, and Charlie’s stomach clenched as he came to a late realization, and now he felt doubly bad about having snapped on her a moment ago.

  “You…you didn’t know your mother was dead until Tristell told you,” Charlie said.

  It was not a question, but she nodded anyway, and Charlie had a feeling the girl did not trust herself to speak. She was obviously battling a storm of emotions with valor.

  “I’m sorry, Aria,” he said. “I lost my parents when I was young as well. Lost everyone I loved, actually. Except for my brother.” He rubbed his jaw, which was in need of a good shave. “And I guess he’s as lost to me now as he ever could be.”

  Silence hung between them a moment. Then, Charlie said, “Will she come for you now?”

  Aria seemed glad for the change in subject. “Who, Tristell?” She waved a hand. “No one knows my location outside of the Peace Brokers, and something tells me she’s got bigger fish to fry.” She shrugged. “But I guess if things go her way, she’ll get around to me eventually. Tristell is not known for her forgiveness, and I held an iron blade to her throat.”

  “I gotta make sure things don’t go her way, Aria,” Charlie said, though he felt guilty. She had just found out her mother was dead, and he was asking her to risk her life again.

  To his surprise, the Halfling girl only blinked at him, studying his face. After a moment, she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, and gave a single small nod. “Where do you want to go?” she asked.

  “To help Surah.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  She nodded. “Though I have a feeling she won’t be happy—”

  Aria was cut short when something came crashing through the large windows of the living room. Glass shattered and rained down like diamonds, catching in Aria’s hair and scattering about the floor. The something was actually a someone, a muscular male Fae with silver hair and eyes… and a long sword clutched in his hands.

  Charlie barely had time to blink before the intruder charged forward, blade aimed straight at Aria’s heart.

  CHAPTER 39

  SAMSON

  The sky was a steely gray, the clouds shifting and snaking above the trees of the northeastern jungle. Rain was coming. All the animals of the jungle could sense it on the wind. The cave dwellers took to their caves, the burrowers to their burrows. The green and brown trees—hundreds of miles of them, a veritable sea of green—rippled and bent in the gale, moving as if they were something alive.

  The only sound was the rustling of the leaves, the occasional snapping of branches. Samson sat at the base of one of the older trees, an enormous conifer that had stood longer than any other living thing Sam could think of. He watched in silence, his large head resting atop his paws, as pine needles rained down around him. He watched them but did not see them falling.

  His eyes were turned inward, replaying the fight with Drake, thinking of Surah. Always Surah. Something was wrong with her, and he needed to know what. He stood, stretching his powerful muscles, leaning forward on his forepaws and then back, bending his spine. His rear right leg still ached from the fight, but he could wait no longer. He had to go and check on his Sorceress, because he could feel in his bones that something was very wrong.

  “You’re leaving,” said a familiar voice, breaking into the thoughts in his head. It was not a question.

  Sam turned around and looked at Mila. His wife. His mate. The cat he’d sworn fealty to. He didn’t want to lie to her, but how could he explain so that she could understand? He couldn’t. He said nothing, only looked at her with unblinking amber eyes.

  “If you go,” she said, communicating in that silent way of theirs, “the pride will follow.”

  The pride will stay here. I will return shortly. You have my word. He turned to go. Sam felt guilty beyond expression, but there was no time. Something told him Surah needed him now. He wished he’d never left her, though he knew there had been no other choice.

  “It doesn’t work like that anymore, Sam,” Mila snapped, stopping him in his tracks. He’d never heard her voice as commanding as it was now, and it surprised him enough to hold him still.

  “You don’t get to just walk away when you want to,” she continued. “You’re our king. If you’re going to look for trouble, the pride has to go with you.”

  He spun around to face her once more. Her sleek black coat caught what little light was left of the day, and her bright, feline eyes stared back at him with a defiance that was uncannily similar to the kind Surah affected when she’d set her mind on something.

  Who said I’m going to look for trouble? I’ll be back before the sun rises.

  Mila took two steps forward, so that the two of them were nearly nose-to-nose. “Anything that has to due with Two-Legs is trouble. I
wouldn’t think I’d have to tell you this. You have responsibilities here. Don’t you care about that? Haven’t you any honor? Or have you been living among them so long that there’s none left in you?”

  For a moment, Samson was too shocked by this to respond. Then his frustration flipped on and anger flooded through him. Some part of him knew that Mila had a point, and that it wasn’t her he was truly angry with, but that part was smothered as the urgency of the situation increased.

  His head lowered and his teeth bared, a sight that would have sent lesser creatures running. A low rumbling sounded from deep in his chest, and his eyes flashed in the manner of a true Beast.

  To her credit, Mila did not move an inch, didn’t so much as blink or flinch at Sam’s undoubtedly intimidating reaction. She only stood her ground, met his gaze, and held it. Ironically, this also reminded him of Surah. His wife and his mistress seemed to have many traits in common.

  Except Surah loved him enough to let him go when he’d told her he had to. “I don’t expect you to understand,” Mila, he told her. “I just need to make sure she’s all right. Once that’s done, I’ll return to you and fulfill all my duties as king.”

  Her glowing eyes narrowed a touch. “And when she’s not ‘all right’? When you find your precious Two-Leg needs you to pull her out of trouble, and that you can’t return to fulfill ‘all your duties as king’?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Mila. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

  “Then the pride’s coming with you.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “It’s not your call.”

  “The hell it isn’t!” He all but roared, his voice was so loud in her head that now she did cringe, if only a touch. He released a slow breath and forced himself to calm down. “I’m the king. You said it yourself. This is my decision. The pride has no stake in this battle.”

  Mila blinked at him, the expression on her face saying this was one of the stupidest things she’d ever heard. “You are our stake in it!” she shouted back. “You stupid beast. Don’t you understand that if something happens to you we’re lost? Without a strong leader, like my father had been before you killed him, we could find ourselves on the brink of extinction again! How can you not see that this isn’t just about you? How can you be so selfish?”

  These words were like a slap to Sam’s face, probably because they rang with a certain air of truth. For a long moment, he could think of nothing to say. When words finally did come, they sounded lame to his own ears.

  “I have to go, Mila.”

  She said nothing to this for what felt like a very long time, or maybe Sam was just feeling every second as if they were hours. Either way, the answer she gave revealed she could be as stubborn as Surah as well—yet another quality the two females shared. He thought under different circumstances, Mila could learn to love the Sorceress as well.

  But this was the hand they’d been dealt, and the choice he made next would affect the lives of many, feline and Two-Leg alike.

  “Then go, Samson,” Mila said, “but know that if you do, the pride will follow. You hold our fates in your paws.”

  CHAPTER 40

  CHARLIE

  The girl was quick, having obviously inherited her agility and athletic ability from the half of her that was Fae. Had she been any slower, any slower at all, the intruder’s blade would have gone straight through her chest, would have killed her instantly.

  As it was, Aria did an impressive forward roll, right between the male Fae’s spread legs, ending up behind him. All of this—including the impressive entrance made by the male Fae crashing through Aria’s living room window—happened within a matter of seconds. It happened so fast that it took Charlie longer than it probably should have to go on guard, and by the time he snapped to realization, Aria was already preparing to take the newcomer on.

  “Dude!” she said, gesturing around the apartment at the broken glass. “Who the hell is going to pay for that?”

  The male Fae looked a bit surprised at this reaction, but he was clearly here to do a job. “Aria Fae?” he asked, his silver eyes narrowed and sword still held at the ready, waiting for another opportunity to strike.

  Aria had adopted a fighter’s stance and scooped up a wooden staff that had been resting against the wall. By the marks on it, Charlie could see the weapon had seen good use, but thought her a fool for choosing it. One didn’t choose bow against blade.

  “The one and only,” Aria replied. “I’ll assume Tristell sent you.”

  “You’ve offended the Fae Queen, and I’m here to kill you,” said the male Fae. His silver gaze flipped to Charlie. “Watch it, Sorcerer,” he said. “I was only sent for the girl, but I understand that you’re wanted by the Queen as well.”

  Charlie clenched his jaw. He was pretty sure between him and Aria, they could take this guy down, but he’d have to be the one to kill him, since Aria had obvious hang-ups about taking life, and that made things a bit harder.

  “She’s no queen of mine,” Charlie said.

  The male Fae disregarded this as if Charlie hadn’t spoken. It was clear in his stance that he was preparing to strike at Aria again.

  Aria held her staff in her right hand, lowered but ready. She held out her left hand the way one might to an approaching beast. “Just hold on a second there, buddy,” Aria said. “You don’t have to kill me. We could pull a Snow White and send you back to Tristell with the heart of a dear or something. What do you say?”

  “You’re a Halfling,” replied the male Fae. It was not a question, and his silver eyes studied Aria in a way Charlie wasn’t sure he liked. “And a child,” the Fae added.

  “Um, I’ll be eighteen in like a few months,” Aria said, “so I wish everyone would stop with the ‘child’ thing, but whatever. If what you’re trying to say is I’m too young to kill, then I totally agree.” She smiled, flashing her perfect teeth, and the girl once again awed Charlie. He could see that her charm alone was giving the male Fae pause.

  That was good. If she could distract him long enough, Charlie might be able to take him out. He had none of the same reservations about killing as Aria did. He didn’t like it, and every time he took a life the memory haunted him, but he also had no illusions about war, and what war required.

  And in the middle of a war, they all were.

  “What could a Halfling child have done to offend the Queen?” the Fae asked, his long silver hair spilling over his wide shoulder as he tilted his head to study her.

  Charlie slipped his hand behind his back slowly, so as not to draw any attention, and removed the iron dagger he still had possession of. If he could get a little closer, he could easily take this guy down.

  “You ask that as if she’s hard to offend,” Aria replied. “And what does it matter? Aren’t you just her assassin? Someone who does as they’re told?”

  This seemed to offend him. “I’m paying off a debt,” he said. His eyes flicked over to Charlie, who stood deceptively still.

  “Does payin’ off that debt include killin’ a child?” Charlie asked.

  “Mind your business, Sorcerer,” the Fae snapped. “And I can smell that iron you’re hiding behind your back. Make a move with it, and it’ll be your last.”

  One side of Charlie’s mouth pulled up in a smirk. He was used to being underestimated in a fight. “Is that what you think?”

  “It’s what I know.”

  “Oh my God,” Aria said, and coughed loudly into a balled fist. “I’m literally choking off you guy’s testosterone right now.” She pointed the end of her staff toward the Fae. “What’s your name?”

  Charlie thought the Fae looked like he didn’t want to answer, but did anyway. “Arrol,” he said.

  Aria nodded. “Well, Arrol, are you going to kill me, or what?”

  Arrol relaxed his stance a bit, but Charlie kept his guard up, aware that this could be a trick. Aria didn’t appear alarmed, but Charlie noticed she still held her staff at the ready.


  “Is there another option to killing you, Halfling?” Arrol asked.

  Aria’s brilliant smile grew wider. “There are always options, Full-blood old man.” She paused. “See how weird that sounds? So I won’t call you that if you stop calling me ‘Halfling’ and ‘child.’ Sound good?”

  “The Fae Queen sent me here to kill you. Said you’re a traitor to the crown, and if I brought proof of your death, it would end my debt to her. See the problem here, Aria?”

  Aria tilted her head. “All of that may be, but I don’t want to die before I even get to kiss a boy, so you see my problem here, Arrol? Also, if you’re in her debt, you messed up somewhere along the way too.”

  Arrol’s hand tightened around his weapon, his silver eyes narrowing. Aria held out a hand again, like a lion tamer. “Charlie,” she said, without taking her gaze off the Fae. “Don’t attack him. He’s going to help us. He hates Tristell almost as much as we do.”

  “Don’t dig into my emotions, child,” Arrol snapped. “It’s impolite. Haven’t you learned any manners living among the humans?”

  “Yes, actually,” Aria replied. “For one thing, I’ve learned that entering through the doorway rather than smashing through the window is the polite thing to do. Why do you hate Tristell?”

  “I don’t hate her.”

  “You don’t like her, either, which puts us on the same side.”

  “I can’t move against her,” Arrol said, and it looked as if it pained him to do so.

  Aria’s head tipped back as she came to a realization Charlie wasn’t privy to. “You swore to her,” she said.

  Arrol nodded.

  “I hope whatever got you into her debt was worth it.”

  Arrol’s gaze went distant a moment, but returned quickly. “Depends on who you ask.”

  “Well, then you should be really excited,” Aria said, grinning. “Charlie here has a really powerful girlfriend, and she’s going to kill Tristell. So you see, you don’t have to kill me. Your debt to Tristell will die when she does.”