“Maybe we can see about finding some food first,” he said. “Drinks later.”
Sachihiro let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Let’s go see if Opis can get us some grub.” He started walking, but stopped abruptly and turned around. “Hey, where’s Tannyl?”
Adelaide spun around and sensed something to her left, hidden against a backdrop of foliage. She jabbed a finger at it. “There he is!” she shouted proudly.
“Hey, Tannyl, where you going?” Sachihiro called out. “Opis is this way. Just wait till you see what Squirrel and I can do with a fistful of nuts.”
The shadow shifted and slowly approached. Tannyl had a dark look in his eyes. Adelaide shivered, but thought it was from the coming cold. She rolled the sleeves of her shirt down and crossed her arms. It didn’t help.
Tannyl stood before the group, looking at each in turn. “I have to go somewhere else,” he said.
“Wait, so you’re just leavin’ us?” Sachihiro asked.
“Just like that?” Alexander asked.
Tannyl nodded and looked away.
Sachihiro threw his hands in the air. “Oh, wonderful. First, Erlen vanishes, and now you’re going too?”
“Weren’t you going to say goodbye?” Jaydan asked.
Tannyl looked at the man, but quickly glanced away again, his eyes hard. Adelaide shivered again. The elf looked angry, but he felt like something else. She didn’t recognize it.
“Not much for goodbyes,” Tannyl said. “You know that, so let’s not make a thing of it.”
More of his emotions leaked into Adelaide’s mind. She still couldn’t identify the swirl of energy, but she knew how to fix it. Or at least thought she did. She walked up to Tannyl and put her hands on her hips.
“We’ll go with you, then,” she said.
Tannyl stared back. Alexander put a hand on her shoulder. “Addy, hon, we need to get you to Wolverhampton to see your friend, remember? Lilacoris should be back soon.”
She pulled away and shot a frown at Alexander. Turning back to Tannyl, she raised an eyebrow. “But we can help you.”
“No,” he said flatly.
“Why not?” she protested.
“I said no. And I will not explain myself to a child.”
“But why not?” she pressed.
Something snapped behind the elf’s eyes and he took a single sharp step toward her. “You’re not coming. I’m going alone.” His eyes bore into her. It still wasn’t anger she sensed. But the way his face was contorted, Adelaide found it strange that it could be anything else.
He turned and began to walk away, but Adelaide lunged for him, snared the back of his leather vest, and pulled. He whirled on her. She held her ground.
“When are you coming back?”
“I’m not,” he said.
“Then we’re going with you.” She took a step forward to show her intent.
“No, you’re—”
She stomped her foot, cutting him off. She jabbed a finger at his chest. She felt anger now, but it was her own. “You can’t leave us,” she shouted, far louder than she intended. “We’re a family. Sachihiro said so. And Miss Hastings said families don’t leave each—”
Her words vanished under a sharp burst of pain at her cheek. All the sound in the world disappeared in that moment as she stared up at him. Tannyl’s hand was still extended, held at his side, having completed its task. She tried to speak, but only a weak cry came out. She collapsed onto the ground under the weight of a million tears.
Tannyl’s hand struck Adelaide like a bolt of lightning and echoed through the canopy of Vylarra like a roll of thunder. The air was suddenly too thin to breathe. Jaydan wasn’t sure his eyes had recorded the event correctly, but then she fell and he knew what had happened.
Alexander recovered first and lunged for Tannyl, glaive leading. Jaydan dove for Adelaide. He slid to her side just as Alexander thrust for Tannyl’s belly. Tannyl twisted aside with ethereal grace and, like a viper, struck at Alexander’s throat with stiffened fingers. Alexander crumpled beside Adelaide, gasping for air and finding none. Jaydan looked up at Tannyl, his mind still lagging behind his eyes.
He stared back, opened his mouth a fraction, then shut it and turned away. Adelaide moved at Jaydan’s side, tearing his attention away from the traitorous elf. Alexander was still clawing at his throat, trying to breathe, but Jaydan knew the man would recover in due time. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen that attack used.
He tried to help Adelaide up, but yanked his hand back as soon as it touched her fair skin. He shook his hand and stared at it, dumbstruck. Before he could generate an explanation, a wash of heat struck him with enough force to send him stumbling away from the slight girl. He rolled on the rough bark and looked at her, squinting through the haze. Adelaide was on her hands and knees, hands curled into claws. Jaydan could see the heat radiating off her. Alexander found his senses and retreated a safe distance as well. He heard Sachihiro swear from somewhere behind him.
“You self-centered elven spawn of shit,” Adelaide growled, her voice nearly unrecognizable. She lifted her eyes to Tannyl. The tears that ran down her cheeks turned to steam with a sharp hiss and small tendrils of black smoke curled up from the corners of her eyes. She rose into a crouch. Her breath came in ragged gasps. “I could kill you, Tannyl,” she hissed. “I could kill you!”
Tannyl stopped for a moment and glanced over his shoulder, but didn’t linger. Jaydan looked back at Adelaide. Sweat ran openly down his cheeks. He tried to rise, but fell against the heat. He tried to speak, but his mouth had turned to sand. The only relief he found was in the chill that her words set along his spine. He knew with utter certainty that she meant every one.
Sachihiro knew that if he didn’t act Adelaide was going to kill Tannyl. He didn’t know how. His mind was still trying to piece together what he had just witnessed, but that fact was not in doubt. Alexander looked like he would soon pass out from lack of air, and Jaydan huddled against the ground trying to find some reprieve from the immense heat that burst from Adelaide in thrumming pulses.
He ran at her, but after just two steps he hit the wall of heat. It was just as tangible as an actual wall, forcing him back. His face flushed, and sweat ran free. He squinted and wiped at his eyes. Adelaide was no longer crouching. She was running.
Sachihiro did the only thing he knew how to do. He swung his lute into position and set to playing with everything he had. He dropped into the most powerful charm he knew, each pass of his fingers drawing magic into the strings of the instrument. He didn’t know how to channel as Jaydan described, but he knew how to play. And when he was playing it just happened. Like breathing. There didn’t seem to be a better option.
He directed the charm at Adelaide’s back, blending each note into the next until no single one could be discerned. Sachihiro could see the music rise from him like an ethereal snake, a single tone of unending complexity. The series of runes glowed beneath his palm and he felt a surge of energy. His legs stiffened and his back arched near the breaking point, but he continued to play. Twisting his head to the side, he focused on Adelaide. She had nearly closed the gap. In the clarity of the magic flowing through him he could see the skin on the back of Tannyl’s neck begin to blister. Still, he didn’t turn to face her.
The magic snapped after the girl, lashing at the air. Even in the chaos and desperation, Sachihiro saw it for the beautiful thing it was. For just a moment, he allowed his mind to conjure the image of his uncle. Brengan Teller smiled warmly and began clapping with an enthusiasm Sachihiro had never witnessed in life. He banished the image and turned back to his magic. It crashed into Adelaide with an explosion of color. A backlash of energy shot through Sachihiro, dropping him to his side, stiff as a board.
Sachihiro caught his breath and blinked the tears and sweat from his eyes. Adelaide lay on the ground where the charm had struck her. The air was calm and cool once more. She wasn’t moving.
And Tannyl was gone.
Alexander ran for Adelaide as he had never run in his life. His eyes scanned beyond her, looking for any sign of Tannyl. He saw only a distant glow of green. His eyes flashed back to Adelaide and he fell at her side, ignoring the pain in his throat. Breathing was still difficult, but that didn’t matter. Sachihiro and Jaydan stumbled after him, and they surrounded the still girl.
“So help me, Sachihiro, if you hurt her,” Alexander said.
Sachihiro held up his hands. “It was just a charm. I saved her and Tannyl and this whole city, if I’m not mistaken. Give me some credit.”
Alexander shook Adelaide gently. Her skin shone with sweat. Her hair was matted and tangled. Her hands were locked into claws.
It seemed like forever, but finally Adelaide’s head lolled to one side and her eyes fluttered open. They adjusted and looked at the three faces staring down at her.
“Addy, are you all right?” Alexander asked, holding his breath.
She rubbed her eyes as if she’d just woken from a long nap. “Jaydan,” she said sleepily.
“Yeah, Addy?”
“What’s a pecker? And why did the man put it in the honey hole?”
Sachihiro coughed and sat back on his heels. Alexander glared at him, but let out a quiet sigh of relief. She was alive. That was good enough for now.
Jaydan clapped Sachihiro on the back. “I was wrong, Sach. Maybe you could charm Tannyl with that new lute you got.”
“Heh. Not even sure how I did it. Just felt… right.”
“I’m just glad it worked. Another squirrel wouldn’t have been much help.”
Alexander scowled at both of the men and turned back to Adelaide. She wiggled into a sitting position and yawned loudly. “Addy, do you remember what happened?”
She frowned at Alexander and then rolled her eyes. “Of course I remember. A giant flying turtle is hard to forget.”
“Anything else?”
“We danced,” she said with a smile, glancing at Sachihiro and then back to Alexander. “Why are you asking such silly questions? Are you losing your memories, Alexander? Miss Hastings said that can happen when folk get old and wrinkly. But you’re not wrinkly yet.”
Alexander looked at Sachihiro, who was grinning like a fool. “What did you do to her?” he whispered.
He shrugged. “Just a charm, like I said.”
“But she doesn’t remember.”
Sachihiro tugged at his beard. “Is that such a bad thing?”
Alexander turned and smiled at Adelaide. “Wait here just a bit, Addy, all right?”
She nodded and began adjusting her boots, tying and retying the laces. Alexander stood and dragged Sachihiro aside by his elbow. Jaydan followed without being asked.
“I’ve got to agree with Sach,” Jaydan said. “Whatever she just did… might be best if she can’t recall.”
Alexander massaged his temples. “Do you know what she did?”
“Uh, well, not exactly. Magic of some sort. If I could get a sample of her blood, perhaps I—”
“No,” Alexander said, with enough force to set his throat on fire again. “Clearly, she doesn’t know what’s happening to her. First, she protects us from those shadowy things, and can’t remember, and now this. She could have hurt someone. Or herself.”
“Well, I, for one, don’t blame her,” Sachihiro said.
Jaydan nodded. “What are we going to do about Tannyl?”
Alexander felt his pulse quicken. “I’d like to track him down and punish him like the spoiled child he is,” he said. “But Addy’s our main concern, and if he wants to leave, then the problem solves itself.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Sachihiro said.
“You don’t agree?”
Sachihiro looked at Jaydan. The smaller man rolled his eyes. “Look,” Jaydan said, turning to Alexander. “We understand she’s just a little girl, but there’s some weird shit going on with her. And I don’t just mean her magic ability that she keeps forgetting. It can’t be coincidence that Woodhaerst was destroyed just before she appeared like she did in the middle of our forest. And it can’t be simple chance that those shadow creatures invaded Paladrix the night we arrived, attacking her first. And then in the roses—”
Alexander cut him off with a wave of his hand. His head was pounding. “I know. Don’t think I didn’t have that same thought. Are you saying we don’t help her? You going to suggest we just leave her like Tannyl wanted to from the beginning? Someone or something is trying to kill her.”
Jaydan shook his head. “Certainly not. I care about her just the same as you. Sach too.” Sachihiro nodded vigorously. “I’m just saying we need to be careful. There’s clearly some bad shit going down in both our world and the Fae’s, and Adelaide is right in the middle of it. And that means we are too.”
Alexander looked back at Adelaide. She had fixed her boots and seemed to be testing them out, leaping from one spot to another. Jaydan was right, he knew. But Adelaide wasn’t the only one who found herself with new abilities and no knowledge of how or why. He had replayed the battle in the roses over and over again in his mind, but had yet to come up with an explanation. He shouldn’t have been able to move so quickly. His glaive shouldn’t have shone like it did. He didn’t even know how to properly fight. He was a farmer, not a fighter. The glaive he carried wasn’t even his. It was his father’s. He’d never touched it until the day he had left home.
Something had happened when he fell. One didn’t survive such a fall, and memories didn’t just vanish like that. He couldn’t explain the new fighting ability any more than the connection he felt with Adelaide. It was more than a simple need to protect a child. He knew what that felt like. This was something more. He felt bonded to her. He knew if he failed her, truly failed her, then his own life would simply cease to exist. There was no choice. Not anymore.
“Whatever is going on,” he said, his mind made up, “is happening to her, not because of her.”
The others nodded slowly. “What do you suggest, then?” Jaydan asked.
“We find out,” he replied. “And we stop it.”
“Uh huh…” Sachihiro said.
He could read the doubt on his face. “She says she was told to go to Wolverhampton, to see Thiladir. She thinks he can help her. Maybe he has answers. We continue on that way.”
“And if Thiladir is the problem?” Sachihiro asked.
“Then it’s like I said, we fix it.”
The ride down the lift was a long one, but to Tannyl it felt like an eternity. He couldn’t get his senses to function or his body to move. His sense of time vanished as well. And his thoughts slowed to nothing. He doubted even death could cure the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Betrayer, monster; he was both.
The lift shook when it reached the ground on the outskirts of Vylarra, shocking Tannyl to life again. He took an automatic step forward and collapsed. He landed on his knees, but managed to stay upright. He looked at his hand. It was shaking. It didn’t seem a part of him. I should cut it from my body, he thought. But it had been the only way. He couldn’t put them in danger. It wasn’t their penance to pay. That knowledge did nothing to still his hand.
He stood and looked back at Vylarra. Nothing but rough bark stretched in all directions. He knew they were thousands of feet above him, hidden by the canopy, but he could imagine how they felt. How he had made them feel. It set his teeth to grinding. He hated it just as much, if not more, than they. An earned hatred. And not one that could be erased.
“Stop thinking like that,” he whispered. “This is for Fae’Na, not them, and not yourself. Damn them.”
It took some time to accept it and even longer to coerce his feet into moving. But in the end, he had nowhere to go but forward.
Nearby, two elk were tied to a tree. Tannyl scanned the surrounding forest. It was as dark as it was quiet. He untied one of the elk, mounted, and steered it along the path he knew by heart. The moon did little to light the way in the thick Fae forest, but it didn’t matter—the elk respo
nded to his emotions and desires. And there was only one thing on his mind.
Chapter Thirty-Two
SACHIHIRO LOOKED AT the others, scratching his head. Alexander urged him on with a stiff nod. Jaydan shook his head in that exasperated way.
He turned back to the figure and the giant green gemstone. The glowing stone towered over them, but as bright as it was, he didn’t have to squint. The figure had two hairy hands pressed to the stone, its back to them. Billowing robes covered its body, embroidered with vines and star-shaped leaves. No way was it human.
Sachihiro cleared his throat and stuck out his chest. “Sir,” he said, stage voice in full effect. “Or madam. We’re looking for Opis.”
The figure didn’t move. He heard Jaydan sigh from behind him. Farther away, Adelaide continued to skip about, singing softly to herself.
“They obviously can’t hear,” Jaydan said. “Or they would have reacted after the third time you said that exact thing.”
“Well, you try it then,” Sachihiro said in a huff. “I’m doing my best. Maybe we can find someone else to ask.”
Jaydan gestured around him. The upper level of Vylarra was immense, spanning thousands of feet in all directions, but there was no one else to be seen. In fact, as far as Sachihiro could tell, Vylarra was completely empty. He hadn’t heard or seen anyone else since arriving. He presumed there was much more of the city in the lower levels, but someone should have been nearby.
“Just give him a poke,” Jaydan suggested.
“Fine,” Sachihiro said, too tired and hungry to argue. The sooner they spoke with the All-Mother, the sooner they could leave the Fae Wyld. And as fantastical as the world was, it made Sachihiro uneasy. And homesick.
He walked up to the figure and tapped him aggressively on the shoulder. “Excuse me. We really need—”
The figure whirled about and sent Sachihiro sprawling onto his back. He rolled aside and leapt to his feet, hand going to his short sword. A fur-covered face looked back at him, beady eyes blinking fast.
The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) Page 20
