The Castle of Wind and Whispers

by Steffanie Holmes

  “If I had to be trapped in a medieval castle with anyone, I’m glad it’s you guys,” Maeve smiled.

  I clapped my hands, and six heads turned toward me. “Okay, next line of defense. If they manage to break through to the inner courtyard, we’re vulnerable because of the windows that face inward. But the windows on the first floor all have the security bars over them, so we’re good there. Our big problems are the kitchen windows and that huge glass panel in the drawing room that could be broken. We need to bar the doors to those rooms.”

  “I’m on it,” Arthur said. “I’ll shift those heavy dressers in the hall in front of the doors. I’d like to see them move those.”

  “Go,” Maeve nodded. Arthur ran off.

  “What about the secret passage in the kitchen?” Blake asked.

  “We’ll block the top of it, but I think we leave the bottom alone. It might be a useful escape route for us. We just have to hope like hell none of them notice the door in the back of the pantry.”

  “What about the Great Hall windows?” Maeve asked. “The ones overlooking the gardens could also be broken.”

  “The ditch is right underneath them. To get at those windows they’d have to either be giants or have access to some seriously sturdy ladders.” I thought of the garden shed down by the orchard, and all Flynn’s tools in the stable buildings. They might find a ladder in there. “Just to be safe, we’ll seal off the Great Hall, too. But we should get all these weapons off the walls. If they manage to get in here, I don’t want to give them access to an arsenal.”

  “Should we move the tapestries?” Maeve asked. “Dora said they were valuable.”

  “Not as valuable as our lives. We don’t have time.”

  Maeve and I started tearing the swords off the walls and piling them on the ground. After ten minutes of grunting and scraping in the hall, Arthur came into the Great Hall with a handful of blades and swords. “Ah, you’ve had the same idea.” He dumped his haul on top of our pile.

  “I really don’t think we did,” Maeve said. But Arthur had already made his way to the bottom of the stairs.

  “Everyone, come choose your weapon,” he bellowed.

  Before I could protest, footsteps clattered through the house as the boys and Aline converged on our weapon horde. “I want this one,” Flynn declared, grabbing for an enormous curved scimitar.

  I clamped my hand over his wrist. “No weapons. We’re not fighting the fae – these are people. They bleed red, just like us. They’re only outside because we frightened them, and they think it’s the only way. Having blood on our hands isn’t going to help us win the war with the fae.”

  “I agree with you, mate, really I do,” Flynn said, swinging the scimitar around like he was in a video game. I winced as he sliced off a corner of a tapestry. “But what if one of those bastards out there tries to kill me? I’m too virile and handsome to die tonight.”

  “You’ve got your magic,” I pointed out.

  “Only once they’re too close for comfort, thanks to those charms. Besides, I don’t think fighting them with magic is going to help dissolve this situation,” Maeve added, taking a sword and scabbard from Arthur and belting it around her hips.

  “Fine,” I growled, picking up a small blade and shoving it down the side of my boot. “But these weapons are only for self-defense, got it? We don’t want any more innocent lives on our conscience.”

  Everyone nodded vigorously as they swept over the pile, strapping swords to their hips and across their backs and shoving daggers down the sides of their shoes. Aline held up a beautiful narrow blade while Flynn stuck a mace into his trousers. Arthur hefted a large pike between his meaty fists, testing the weight. I shook my head. He tossed it into the hall and shot me a disappointed stare.

  “What do we do now?” Maeve asked, her big eyes staring up at me. She’d completely given over command to me. All other eyes in the room faced mine.

  This is all on me. Keep everyone safe no matter the cost.

  “We need to hole up somewhere we can see what’s going on,” I said. “We don’t know how long the charms will hold them back.”

  “Maeve’s bedroom?” Flynn raised an eyebrow.

  “Perfect.” The tower room was the highest point in the castle. We’d be able to see right down over the meadow. It would give us our first clue if our defenses had failed. “Let’s go.”

  We clattered up the stairs. Arthur lifted Maeve and carried her in his arms, the way he’d done when she first arrived at the castle. Aline trailed along behind us, looking like she didn’t know if she was invited or not.

  “Rowan, can you go and grab the mattress off your bed for Aline?” Maeve asked. Rowan darted off and Aline’s shoulders relaxed a little bit. Maeve didn’t know how to act around her mother, but when it came to the crunch she wouldn’t make her fend for herself.

  I stood in front of the arched window. From here, I could see over the briar hedge at the bottom of the garden and into the meadow beyond. A crowd of fifty or so people had gathered around the entrance to the right-of-way. As I watched, two of them ran at the gate, but bounced back into the grass as if they’d hit a trampoline.

  The charms are holding for now.

  But how long that would last? More torches moved along the road, heading for the front gates to Briarwood. Eight figures broke off from the main group and started down the boundary, heading toward the sidhe to try and get through the back of our property. My breath caught in my throat – what would they have done to us if they’d caught Maeve and Blake there earlier, when they were in the dream world and powerless to stop them?

  Beside me, Aline whimpered. I wondered if she was thinking the same thing. I tried not to feel anger toward her. We’d made it back in time, that was what mattered. Now we had to focus on what came next.

  “I’ll take first watch,” I said. No way was I going to get any rest tonight. “The rest of you try and sleep. We need to be strong and rested.”

  “Okay, but you need to actually wake us up, “ Arthur growled. “No being the martyr and staying up all night so we can sleep. We need you to rest, too.”

  “Deal.” I had no intention of waking them up, but Arthur didn’t need to know that. We shook hands. He crushed my fingers under his grip.

  Rowan collapsed on the bed, his eyes boring into mine. An unspoken message passed between us. He was afraid – for Maeve, and for me. I was afraid, too. Aline collected blankets from the box at the end of Maeve’s bed and made up the mattress for herself, while Arthur, Flynn, and Blake lay down beside Rowan.

  “Corbin, I’m scared.” Maeve wrapped her arms around me, her deep hazel eyes watching the scene outside the window.

  Me too. I squeezed her shoulders, wishing on all the gods that I had the power to protect them all. Briarwood had seen too much pain and death. I was all that stood in the way of ruin, and I wouldn’t turn my back on my loved ones. Me too.

  26

  MAEVE

  A chorus of snuffles and snores rose up around me. Warm bodies pressed against mine, limbs tangled together like a hot bowl of Mom’s spaghetti Bolognese. My head rested against Flynn’s chest, which rose and fell in a steady rhythm. This is the best way to sleep.

  If I could actually sleep.

  I’d been staring at the ceiling for hours, straining my ears as though I might somehow be able to hear what was going on outside. How could I sleep while people stood out there with torches ready to burn us alive? How much longer would the protective charms hold us?

  I sat up, my bladder screaming. Arthur stood at the window. He’d cleverly set his alarm clock so he could wake up and relieve Corbin. That exchange had happened a half hour ago. Corbin hadn’t looked happy to leave his post (clearly, he never intended to wake Arthur up), but he’d snuggled down into Rowan’s arms and fallen asleep in minutes. He didn’t stir as I slid out from under Blake’s arm and joined Arthur at the window.

  “No change,” he said, wrapping his huge arm around my shoulder. His eyes
never left the scene outside. “We’re still holding. Why are you up?”

  Far below, figures surrounded the walls of the cottage, their glittering torches still glowing. At the front gate, a tow truck and a couple of tractors had torn the iron gates off and now banged against the invisible barrier, trying to break it down.

  “I’m just going to the bathroom,” I said.

  “You should wake someone to go with you. None of us should be alone, even in the castle.”

  “It’s literally at the bottom of the stairs. I’ll be fine.” The boys weren’t able to build an ensuite into the tower without extensive plumbing work, so they’d given one of the bathrooms on the second floor over to me. They’d decorated it in the same jewel tones as my room, and a brand new claw-foot bath took up half the impressive floor plan. I’d already filled it with Rowan’s handmade soaps and organic skincare products from Clara’s shop. It smelled like a rose garden and I loved it.

  I did my business, then sat on the edge of the bath and stared out the narrow arrow slit beside the vanity at the sky beyond. Stars glittered across the sky like torches in the heavens. For the first time, they didn’t fill me with wonder – only dread.

  How long until the villagers break through?

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement on the vanity. The mirror swirled with a dark mist that congealed in the center. After a few moments it settled into Daigh’s face.

  “You’re hiding inside your castle, instead of fighting them?” he sneered. “That’s not the daughter I raised.”

  “That’s right, I’m not the daughter you raised, because you didn’t raise me. Enough people have already died,” I shot back. “That’s the whole reason I’m trying to get you to take this deal – to save lives. We can’t go around dishing out justice just because the villagers are scared of us.”

  “Why not? When people fear you, they obey you.”

  “I don’t want people to obey me. I want them to leave me and my guys the fuck alone.” I glared at him. “Present company included.”

  Daigh tilted his head to the side. “Such righteous anger. And yet, if the enemy outside were fae…”

  “Same deal. Maybe in the past humans have been cruel to the fae because they were greedy or afraid. It doesn’t mean we can’t try another way. But you have to stop trying to slaughter us all first. I don’t want to hurt the fae, but…” I touched the dagger I’d carried down with me. “We will defend ourselves.”

  “I’m not trying to slaughter you, my daughter.” The rhyme sounded lyrical, intentional, on his lips. Daigh laughed. “I’m here to help save your skin. And maybe the skins of all your fellow witches, since you seem so attached to them.”

  “You can do that by telling me if you’ve secured the loyalty of the fae, if they’ll support our agreement.”

  “It’s too early to say, but the evidence is compelling. The fae see now that the dream cannot possibly be any future I bring about.”

  “There’s no way to know that.”

  “But there is. Because I’d never impale my own daughter on a stake and burn her flesh off.”

  Air leaked out of my lungs like a punctured balloon. It was me on the stake all along. I ran my hand over my cheek, imagining the skin peeled away, the muscle and tendons below exposed to fire and carrion birds, my body burning while I screamed for mercy. My stomach churned.

  Burned alive, just like my parents in the Ferris wheel fire.

  “You saw the sixth stake,” I choked out. I tried to remember where Daigh had been standing in the dream, but it wouldn’t come back to me. I’d been too focused on the scarred and broken bodies of my guys, pierced through the chest and blackened with fire. Why did Daigh see it and not me? Perhaps my subconscious had blocked me from seeing it, knowing that it would distress me. I dug my nails into the enamel rim of the bath.

  I leaned forward as my stomach heaved. Bile rose in my throat. I coughed, fighting to hold back my dinner. Through the mirror, Daigh made tutting voices.

  I pressed my hands against the tiles. Their coolness brought me back to the present. To Daigh in the mirror and the mob outside.

  Do your duty, I reminded myself. Protect the coven. Protect the earth at all costs.

  The urge to puke subsided, and I rose shakily to my feet. I stood at the window and gazed down at the mob outside. Surely they didn’t intend to—

  The door to the bathroom flew open. “Maeve, are you—” Aline’s eyes widened when she saw the face in the mirror. She tripped over the hem of Flynn’s pajama pants in her haste to scramble to the basin. “Daigh! What are you doing talking to Maeve—ow!”

  “Get away from him,” I grabbed her wrist before she could touch the glass and yanked her away. “You don’t know what touching that mirror might do.”

  “He wouldn’t hurt me!” she whimpered.

  “Don’t be so sure of that. It’s kind of your fault he’s stuck in the fae realm in the first place.”

  “Just let me talk with him. I can help you.”

  My body twinged with indecision. On the one hand, this was my mother, the woman I’d wanted to get to know my entire life. On the other hand, the only connection we really had was our biology. She was technically only a couple of years older than I was, and she was a complete flower-child who believed in astrology of all things, so she wasn’t exactly a mature, sensible influence. Her presence at Briarwood had unsettled everything. And I wasn’t entirely convinced she’d make the right decisions when it came to Daigh.

  “Ladies, as much as this display amuses me, we should continue our discussion before your friends upstairs start to miss you. I came tonight to deliver an important warning about a discovery I made upon returning to the underworld.”

  “Why didn’t you say this before?” I demanded.

  “You didn’t ask.”

  By Athena, fae were so infuriating. “Okay, fine, what’s this top secret thing you discovered you couldn’t tell me before?”

  “My spies reported Liah and some of her main guard were missing. I’ve been trying to figure out what they’re doing. Finally, I captured one of her sprites and managed to wring the truth out of her – they’re up on earth.”

  “I thought none of you could return to the earth now you were in the underworld,” I threw my hands in the air. “Instead, you’re all back and forth like a yo-yo.”

  “Anything can be had for a price,” Daigh sighed. “What’s a yo-yo?”

  I answered his question with another. “What price did you pay to bring those fae here tonight?”

  “Nothing you need trouble yourself with, my dear. You should be more concerned about Liah. The sprite says she wants the coven out of the way before the Slaugh ride.”

  I gestured to the window, where the villagers continued to ram the gates with their tractors. “She can join the club.”

  Daigh laughed. “She will do just that.”

  Right, that made sense. If Liah joined with the humans, they could work together to get through our defenses.

  Except, it didn’t. “Liah hates humans. Will she really accept their help?”

  “She doesn’t need to,” Aline said, squeezing my thigh.

  Of course. Fae can use compulsion. I can’t believe I’d forgotten. Liah would be able to force the humans outside to do her bidding. They might even be under her control right now. My chest tightened with fear at the idea.

  “Liah knows she won’t be able to cross the wards of the castle,” Daigh said, as if I needed it explained to me. “But she will use the humans to draw you out.”

  “Yes, yes. I’ve got it now,” I snapped. I sank my head into my hands. What could we do? We couldn’t fight the fae without leaving the castle, but we couldn’t risk hurting the villagers trying to get through them. And if they fought us with the fae behind them… my mind flicked back to the image of the guys impaled on those stakes.

  It’s not going to happen. We’ve got to find a way. Think, Maeve.

  “If you want to stop her,
you have one path open to you, and you need to choose quickly. Turn back the magic on the defensive charms. Allow the villagers entry into Briarwood.”

  “Why would I do that? Isn’t that giving Liah exactly what she wants?”

  “It creates a distraction. The villagers surge forward, eager to get their hands on the evil witches. Liah and her fae lie in wait for the humans to deliver you into their hands. Meanwhile, you have escaped to a safe location far from Briarwood, such as your friend Clara’s family hall, where without restriction you can attack her at your leisure.”

  “This isn’t Star Trek. We can’t just beam ourselves to another location.” I think. I looked to Aline for confirmation, and she shook her head.

  Daigh gave me a puzzled look, but continued. “There is a secret passage in the cellars. The last wine rack contains a spring-loaded door. Push it in the right place and it will swing open, revealing a narrow passage that will admit one witch at a time. It will bring you out in the forest near the Raynard estate.”

  “How do you know about this?”

  “I lived in this castle for many months,” he said. “I was here specifically to hunt for weaknesses the fae could exploit. Many times I used the tunnel to return to the sidhe without the witches knowing. It’s your only chance to escape the castle without the humans capturing you. If Liah compels a human to capture you, she can get close enough to your boys and compel them to break the wards that protect the castle.”

  Shit, shit, shit.

  “You’re telling me we have to abandon Briarwood Castle.”

  “To save your skin and give you a chance against Liah, yes.”

  “But it’s not a solution. It’s only a delaying tactic. They’ll eventually figure out we’re not in the castle and they’ll find us and we’ll be in exactly the same situation.”

  “Think of it more as a tactical retreat. You buy yourselves time and room to move. You can sneak up behind them and take Liah by surprise. I recall you saying you have a weapon that will stop the Slaugh.” Daigh rubbed his chin, his eyes sparkling. “One wonders why you haven’t used it yet on the humans.”