by Talia Jager
“Quick. Over here.” I waved her to a crevice between some rocks. “Pull your wings in. Stay here.” I led my horse to some big bushes and stroked his head. “Stay here. Be quiet,” I told him. Animals could understand us, so I knew I didn’t have to worry.
In Autumn Land, Aurora’s white and blue wings and dress stood out. I grabbed my long, brown robe from the horse and hurried over to where Aurora waited. Draping the robe over us for camouflage, I said, “Be very quiet.”
The horses rode close and stopped just feet from where we were hidden. “Any sign of them?” a voice asked.
“Looks like someone’s been here. Do you think the Iron Fae have been hanging out here?” another voice asked.
“It’s possible. It is a neutral area,” a third voice answered.
“But this is in the middle of all of our lands. The Iron Fae would have to go through one of our lands to get here. It was probably just some of us that came through here.”
How many were there? Who were they? Very carefully, I peeked out and saw four scouts; surprisingly there was one from each land. “Let’s keep going, to the outer lands.”
The horses galloped away and after a minute. I took half a step back. Aurora turned to face me. Being so close to her made my heart race. My body shook as I held back the desire to kiss her. With our eyes locked, I ran the back of my hand down her soft cheek.
It took everything in me to step back and whisper, “Stay here. I want to make sure they’re gone.” I placed the cloak over her and walked out to the clearing.
I waited a few minutes to let my body calm down after being next to her before returning to her side. “I think it’s safe.”
“So they were searching for the Iron Fae?”
“Yes, but the scouts that were just here? There were four of them: one from each land.”
“Working together?!” Her eyes lit up.
“Yes. You need to get home.”
“I will. It’ll be a long walk, but I should make it by sunrise.”
“I’m not going to let you walk. I’ll take you.”
“If you get caught…”
“I won’t.”
Aurora mounted the horse first, and I got on in back of her, pushing away the tingling feeling that spread throughout my body. As we entered Winter Land, the chilly air hit my face like a thousand pin pricks. My teeth chattered a few times. I wrapped the robe tightly around me.
“Land here,” Aurora said.
Once the horse was down, I jumped off and helped her down. “Would you like me to walk you home?”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” She smiled.
“Of course.”
“I’ll be fine. The castle is literally through the trees. You can’t be caught here though. You need to go.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Count on it.”
I climbed aboard the horse and took off toward Summer Land. I made it back home just in time to change clothes and meet my family for the morning greeting. Keir smirked when he saw me, and I winked back.
After breakfast, I stopped my father before he disappeared into the great hall. “Father?”
“Yes, Sorin?”
“Could I sit in on the daily briefing?”
“Of course.” He pushed open the doors. Everyone stood, and we walked in and took seats at the table. Once we were seated, the knights and scouts sat down.
“Good morning. What’s the report?”
I recognized one of the scouts from the falls. He began speaking. “We followed a trail we believe was the Iron Fae. It led to the falls, but they weren’t there. We continued on but couldn’t pick the trail back up.”
“What do you propose to do next?”
“Keep searching. They’re circulating. I think they’re planning something.”
My father looked at the High Knight, Cahir. “Do you concur?”
“I do.”
“Very well. Send a team of scouts out.” My father gave the order. “Are there any other issues to discuss?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Dismissed then.”
The knights and scouts hurried out of the room. I found myself wanting to go with them. “Father?” I approached him. “May I go with the scouts?”
He looked up surprised. “Why?”
“I’d like to see what they do. How they track. I want to learn more.”
After studying my face for a moment, he said, “Just be careful.”
“I will. Thank you.”
I ran out the door and waved at Cahir. “Wait!”
“What is it, Sorin?”
“I’m coming too.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. My father gave his permission.”
“All right.”
“Sorin!” Keir ran up to me.
After greeting his son, Cahir walked away.
Keir asked, “Where are you going?”
“To look for the Iron Fae.”
“You’re crazy!”
“I want to learn.” I lowered my voice and added, “I need to keep busy.”
“You got her home okay?”
“Yes.”
“Be safe.”
“I will—” And then I thought of something I hadn’t before and took a few steps away from the others. “If something does happen to me, will you let her know?”
“Of course, but nothing will happen to you.”
I smiled and holstered my sword. “Thank you for having faith in me.”
There was one scout on a horse, and he gave a short whistle. Six other scouts began to follow him, and I joined in. We walked down a path that led out to neutral land.
One of the scouts, Jastra, walked next to me and said, “They want me to be your guide.”
“Great. Can I ask some questions?”
“Of course.”
“Do you just look for footprints?” I asked.
“No. That only works when there is snow on the ground or it’s muddy.”
“So how do you track?”
“We look for other signs. Broken bushes, trampled plants, animals scurrying away, and the call of the birds. The Iron Fae are smart and stealthy. They know how to hide. They know how to evade. But we’re smart too, and we’ve found them before,” Jastra explained.
“I had no idea…”
“Be alert, patient, and careful. We take it slow. Otherwise, we miss things.”
About an hour into the hunt, the two scouts in front veered off to the right side and started looking around. “What are they doing?”
“They must have seen something.”
“Do we all go over?”
“No. We wait.”
A couple of minutes later, the scouts came back to the group, and we started walking again.
“You said you found them before? What happened?”
Jastra glanced at me and then responded, “It wasn’t too long ago. We caught four of them. They were crouching near Winter Land.”
My mind drifted to Aurora and what she would be doing right about now, but I quickly bit down on my cheek. Thinking about Aurora meant acknowledging I had feelings for her and I couldn’t. I focused back on the hunt.
“And what happened?”
“We brought them to the judgment center, and we left.”
“I haven’t heard about this at all.”
“You wouldn’t. Only the royals and those of us who caught them knew.”
I wondered what happened to them. Would my father tell me if I asked him?
There were some faeries up ahead, and our scouts came to a stop. I realized the three on horses were the other fae from the falls. Knowing I should act surprised, I said, “What’s up with them?”
“We’ve been working together since we found the Iron Fae near Winter Land. It makes sense. That way all of the lands are covered. Nobody is trespassing.”
“Good idea.”
The faeries from the other lands joined us, and we continued on our search for Iron Fae.
“How do you pick where you head next? Like why are we going this way today?”
“Last night, we spotted an Iron Fae. We sent our chasers after them, but—”
Suddenly, the scout directly in front of me fell to the ground. Jastra grabbed out his weapon, so I did the same. Four faeries jumped out from the woods. Shocked, I stood frozen. They didn’t look different at all. Nothing screamed out they were Iron Fae. I would never have known they were our enemy. They were from various lands, and that surprised me too. For some reason, I just imagined them as one kind, looking different from us, but the same as each other, and that wasn’t the case at all.
“Sorin!” Jastra called, and I snapped back to attention just in time to block a weapon from striking me on the shoulder. I swung my sword and fought my attacker. He was good, but I was better. I quickly got the upper hand and knocked his weapon out of his hand. I had no idea what they wanted me to do with him next. Capture? Injure? Kill?
Sensing my apprehension, he hit me with a blast of air, knocking me over. I jumped back up and sent a fireball. The Iron faerie quickly held up a shield deflecting the fireball.
I realized these Iron Fae didn’t know I was the Summer prince and, even more importantly, didn’t know I was an Elemental. I could take them by surprise.
I sent a fireball at the Iron faerie farthest away for distraction, then I made the ground rumble hard enough for them to lose their footing. With a blast of air, they plummeted to the ground. I walked over to Jastra and helped him to his feet.
“Look out!” Jastra yelled.
Before I had the chance to turn around, someone came up behind me and placed a cold, hard object under my chin and yanked back on it. Immediately I felt weak. It must be iron. It couldn’t have been anything else. Nothing else had such an instant effect on us the way iron did.
“Not so strong now, are you?”
The iron made me feel drained and tired. I couldn’t even raise my arms. It was not a good feeling to be so helpless.
Another one of the Iron Fae stood up and closed the space between us. “Looks like we got an Elemental here.” He lifted my arm and examined my markings. “Not a full one.” He jerked my arm to look at the marking on the back of my shoulder. “And a prince! What good luck! What shall we do with you…”
The bar under my neck got tighter, and I gasped for air. An Iron faerie and an Autumn faerie battled a few feet away. A couple others were struggling to get to their feet.
“If we kill him, it’ll send a message,” the one behind me said. “Not even the royal family or an Elemental is safe.”
The Iron faerie in front of me nodded. “True.”
“Or take him back with us, and use him as leverage.”
“Either option is intriguing.”
Despite the danger I was in, all I could think about was Aurora and how I didn’t want to die. I wanted to see her again.
“Let’s bring him back and let Isolde decide. Cuff him.”
The guy behind me dropped the weapon and shoved me to the ground, then the one in front of me kicked me in the gut. I felt a knee in my back, and someone grabbed my wrists and put a pair of cuffs on. I lifted my head just in time to see a wave of water coming at us.
I held my breath as the water hit full force. When it passed, Jastra helped me up, and the Winter faerie waved his hand, turning the water to ice and trapping the Iron Fae.
“Sorin. You okay?” Jastra asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.” I coughed.
The Winter faerie came over and said, “Hold still. I’ll freeze the cuffs.”
I felt my hands get cold for a minute, and then the iron cuffs fell to the ground in pieces.
“Well, now you know what we do,” Jastra said. “Still interested?”
I glanced down at the Iron Fae frozen in ice and nodded. “Yes. Who is Isolde?”
“Their leader.”
“We need to take this Isolde down.”
“That’s what we’re trying to do.”
“Have you ever found their home base before?”
“No.”
“That should be our number one priority.” I coughed a few more times. “What happens to them?”
“Brom will stay and watch. We’ll go tell the king, and he’ll make the decision.”
“And what about Murphy?” I asked, looking at his lifeless body with the iron arrow sticking out of it.
“We’ll send someone to take care of him too.”
“Let’s go then.”
Back in Summer Land, my mother actually fussed over me for two minutes while our healer healed my body. When she was done, my father asked me to join him and Cahir in his study. I entered and closed the door behind me.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Tell me your opinion of what happened.”
I told my father what went down and how I felt about it. “It was the Winter faerie that saved us.”
“Hmmm. Seems to be the second time they’ve come to our aid recently.”
“I think working together is imperative.”
“I do believe you’re right.” He looked deep in thought.
“I also think we should put more focus into finding their leader than finding them.”
“But the ones traveling around are more of an immediate danger,” Cahir argued.
“I’d suggest keeping half the guard here to protect the land and sending scouts and knights to find their home base,” I proposed.
My father looked at Cahir. “What do you think of that?”
“I don’t think he’s thought it through. No offense. He’s just a kid with no experience in this.”
I mashed my lips together and fought the urge to fight back. “I’m one of the best warriors in the land.”
“You’re strong. You fight well. But this is strategy. Let the adults think these things up.”
Fuming, I stormed out of the study and went directly to my mother. After I filled her in, she said, “Sounds like you have a good plan, Sorin, but if your father and Cahir think they have a better one, it’s best to let it be.”
“I see. I’ll just keep myself out of danger until you let me grow up.” With that, I walked away. I continued out of the castle and to the training fields, where I picked up a bow and arrow and practiced.
Keir found me there later. “Want someone to fight?”
“Yes. You willing?”
“Sure, as long as you agree not to kill me.”
“I’ll restrain myself.”
We both picked up a sword, stood facing each other, and soon the sounds of clanging reverberated throughout the field.
“Still frustrated?” Keir asked.
“Yes.”
He tossed his sword down and waved his hand. “C’mon.”
I put my sword down and engaged with him in hand-to-hand combat. Keir was good, but I still got him on his back within a few minutes.
“You want to talk about what’s pissing you off?” he asked, sitting up.
I filled him in, and he listened. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re right. You have a good plan.”
“Why don’t they see that?”
“You’re not mad at me, right? Because I can’t control what my father does.”
“No, Keir, I’m not mad at you. Thanks for sparring with me. I needed that.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Train hard and go out with the scouts if they’ll let me. I can’t get them to listen to me if I have no experience.”
“I didn’t think you’d quit.”
If anything made me want to see Aurora more, this was it. I wanted to break every rule and go see her, but I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so I stayed put. I trained more in the next few weeks, not just regular stuff, but with Berilo too. I went out on a few scout hunts, but it felt pointless.
The monthly meet-up couldn’t come soon enough. I was out the door as soon as my parents went to bed. I didn’t waste a second mak
ing my way to her. Last time, our meet-up had been cut short, and I felt gypped.
Keir, Raina, Aurora, and I were the first ones there. Aurora’s face lit up when she saw me and she ran my way. I took her in my arms, and our eyes locked. Smiling, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss me.
Then she rocked back and looked me over like she was trying to find something. “You’re okay,” she said.
“Yes. You heard?”
“About you going out with the scouts and being attacked? Yes. I heard. Do you know how hard it was for me knowing I couldn’t be with you?”
“Yes, because I felt the same way when it happened.”
“You could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t. One of your kind saved me,” I told her.
“You’re upset. Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Would it help talking about it?”
“Yeah, Sorin, we’re good listeners,” Raina said. “Talk to us.”
So I did. I filled them in on everything that happened in the last few weeks. As the other faeries joined us, they sat around and listened too.
“So there really are Iron Fae out there trying to attack?”
“Yes, and I don’t think our armies are doing enough. They’re just worried about the ones roaming close by.”
“There must be something else to it,” Navin said.
“Like?”
“Maybe a deal? Something political? Some reason they can’t find the home base.”
I nodded. “You might be right.”
Raina handed me the Merry Berries. “Tonight you should definitely have more than one.”
“I agree,” I said with a laugh and threw four of them in my mouth.
Aurora took a few too and passed the basket. Within minutes, the anger subsided, and I felt happy. We danced and chatted and then Aurora brought me to the Winter Land part of the falls, and we lay on the ground and moved our arms and legs to make snow angels. After we were done, I didn’t move even though it was cold. I reached over and took her hand. She was staring up at the night sky.
“What are you scared of?” she asked.
Losing you, I thought, but didn’t say out loud. “I’m not fond of heights.”
“I’m scared of bridges,” she whispered.
“Bridges?”
