Fae of the North (Court of Crown and Compass Book 1)

by E Hall

  I swing my blade, dodging others, retreating sideways, lunging, thrusting, blocking. It’s frigid mayhem as the figures in red uniforms strike the Raven’s Rising. It’s pure chaos as the people of Raven’s Landing and bearmen clash with the king’s guards.

  Soren roars from the base of the steps, attacking a pair of the patrol with fervor, swinging a mallet in one hand, and warding off another guard with a blade in the other.

  A knee meets my abdomen and I double over, clutching my arms around myself. My body vibrates with pain and exhaustion, but also determination. I heave to my feet, dodging a heavy punch. I swing my leg around and knock over the guard, saving my magic for those who fight with it. You know, to keep things relatively fair. Magic to magic, hand to hand.

  I slide in the snow and kick the guard hard, finding a rhythm as we parry: arms swinging, fists connecting, blow after blow after blow.

  The sounds of blades, grunts, battle cries, and painful moans overpower the particular silence of the falling snow.

  A guard knocks me hard to the ground: my back and head slam into the edges of the stone steps. Stars twinkle in the dimness of day. Snow and feathers drift toward me. He swings again, but I roll over, scrambling to my feet. I scan the ground for a weapon as two more patrols back me toward the door to the castle. One slashes his sword at me, but I duck. The other tries to grab my wrist to restrain me, but I’m too quick. However, the castle hems me in from behind and there’s nowhere for me to go, but in. I run my hands over the engraved wood, searching for a handle.

  “Surrender to the king,” orders a familiar voice.

  I slowly turn, shaking my head.

  “Do you like the taste of blood?” the second asks.

  I recognize their voices from the wall at Bearsden: Moss and Heath.

  “You can choose freedom with the Rising or die in Leith’s service,” I offer.

  “You don’t seem to be in the position to wager,” Moss says, his long sword slanting and ready to slice.

  I look between their shoulders, lift my arms, and swiftly catch two knives that Soren pitches in my direction. The movement sends them both whirling around, but they quickly recover and engage us. Soren and I fall into cadence, swinging and slashing, protecting each other as the patrolmen take turns trying to defeat us on the stairs. We circle the place where Leith stood frozen, but he’s no longer in the midst of the clashing blades, the thick pummel of fists jabbing, pounding, and punching.

  That’s not good. In fact, it’s really, really bad. I had no idea how long my magic would hold him. I’d better start taking notes. I scan for Leith, but shrouded in black, he’d easily blend in with those united against him.

  The rumble of truth has arrived in the form of the people of Raven’s Landing standing up for themselves and crumbling the walls they’ve constructed out of fear. They’re the foundation of this kingdom and they deserve a fighting chance. This is what we can give them.

  The seers in their shawls and robes swing ropes with stones on the end. Shopkeepers, dressed in jackets woven to look like feathers fight with crude wooden tools, blades, swords, and chains. People who’ve remained hidden fight with fists and feet, swinging and kicking. Children line the wall, lobbing icy snowballs at the patrol, their crimson uniforms as red as the blood in the snow. The warriors of the Raven’s Rising continue to battle for all of our lives. And the bearmen invoke battle rage, topping all in their path, but I don’t see the silver king in their midst.

  I whirl, dodging a blow, as the slender figure of Leith appears like a phantom. He holds the stone he’d removed from his crown as it suddenly emits a blast of fire.

  The fighting doesn’t stop, but it slows as everyone dodges the flames.

  Members of the Rising fall as the patrol take the upper hand.

  I beat back a guard and then hasten down the stairs. A blur of black and red stain the snow surrounding the wooden bird.

  “Where are the ravens?” Leith demands as I approach.

  Soren storms down the stairs past me. “There are no birds.”

  He glances from the cage to the sky. “Then I’ll have to settle for one bird, one stone.” Without warning, he thrusts a ball of flaming, red hot magic in my direction, as though projecting its energy to destroy me, but I meet him with my ice magic, holding it out from my chest and concentrating my energy on restoring balance.

  Heat radiates from Leith, and my hand chills as I dash toward Soren to envelop him behind my protective shield, but he stands in front of the people.

  “Leave them alone,” Soren warns Leith.

  “Get them behind the wall of ice,” I shout.

  “No more walls,” the people call. “We want our freedom.”

  Another flame from Leith licks the boundary of the ice magic formed around me. I send a surge of energy outward, hoping to freeze Leith, to put an end to this violence.

  He tries to burn away the ice I created. Simultaneously, he volleys fire as I concentrate on strengthening the protective dome of ice.

  “You’re finished,” Leith screams as a wall of fire blisters and melts the ice.

  I tap deep into my energy, summoning my intention. I want to protect the people. To free them from tyranny.

  “You will burn,” the king hisses, his flames scorching the ice.

  “Give me your worst. And I will give you my best,” I roar, countering with all my strength. My ice wall thickens and I call for the people nearest to come close, but they’ve linked arms and form a ring around the king and me as fire and ice do battle.

  “We will not surrender. We will not retreat. We unite under the ravens,” they chant. “And if we don’t have our freedom then we’d rather meet our fate.”

  “Gladly,” Leith cackles and aims his blaze of fire from the stone at those nearest him in the circle. I thrust the ice energy toward the flame, desperate to intercept it before it lands on the members of the Rising.

  I douse the fire with frost and rush forward, desperate for Soren and the people to come behind the wall of ice, but it’s not large enough as Leith continues and expands his assault. The wooden bird we constructed splinters and then erupts into flames.

  The smell of burning, much like the ashpit, soon sends some people scattering.

  Again, I urge Soren to come behind the protective wall of ice, but his expression turns suddenly, strangely placid. His eyes close. I call to him once more. He opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. He’s frozen, a solid statue, much like Leith was, but I didn’t turn my magic on him. What happened?

  Leith advances on me with flames burning in one hand and a knife in the other, trained on Soren. A kraa summons our attention upward.

  All at once, there’s a swoop. A glide. The golden raven rushes through the sky. Torsuld, the rightful king breached the boundary and returned to his people.

  Soren’s frozen form disappears into the pulsing crowd as shoulders and elbows bump into me, jostling us apart. I struggle to get closer to him, but columns of fire blast from Leith as people throw themselves through the snow and try to flee.

  Looking to the raven in the sky, Leith calls, “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time. Your death will have to wait.” He spares one glance at me as I cast frost from my hands, sending out a lateral ring of ice instead of a wall, something to dowse the flames, but Leith steps into them and emerges in the air in the form of a blazing ashen-silver bird.

  I’m sent reeling backward and hit the ground hard.

  All who remain on the battlefield in front of the castle look up. The snow drops slowly now against the gray clouds as a golden bird and a silver bird clash high above. Their calls are fierce as they engage in an aerial fight with sharp beaks and claws.

  They swoop and dive, dip and charge. Silver feathers drift like the snow from the sky and the people cheer. But Leith is not overcome. He dive bombs the golden raven with talons outstretched. The golden raven whirls and rounds on the false king. Their cries fill the sky and the rest of us are silent. They ri
se and fall, evade and plunge, whip back and lock talons.

  If Leith is up there, where is the stone from the crown? I scan the ground. It could be anywhere.

  First, I must locate Soren. Amidst the people, I soon find him, an iced-over statue. I study his form beneath the Frosted Oblivion: his expression placid and his eyes mercifully closed to the horror before us. This must be the Frosted Oblivion.

  “I will undo this,” I say and breathe a kiss onto his frozen lips.

  Chapter 29

  Soren

  The world is cold and desolate, an empty icescape of death and undoing. I’m alone, searching and stumbling until a kraa rings through the air. The golden raven wheels toward me in the sky. I’m not sure if I’m dead, but blood doesn’t flow in my veins. My heart is frozen, another brick in the wall of no.

  The bird alights and becomes a man, a thunderous, mighty mountain of a man, yet he’s as colorless and immaterial as the cold air blanketing me in this dull place. I blink my eyes, but the movement is slow and I feel far away, even as he approaches.

  Is this the Sea of Dreams like Kiki experienced? Perhaps, considering it turns out I’m half-fae—if what Leith said was true about my parents.

  “I am your king,” the man says. “Torsuld.” Then he adds, “I am also your father.”

  A scene appears on the snowy, white canvas surrounding us like the movies Kiki described.

  Vespertine kneels by a woman’s side as tears trickle from her eyes. He says, “You had a baby boy. He’ll grow up to be strong.”

  The woman smiles. She smiles my smile.” Hjaggson,” she whispers. “We are to call him Hjaggson, son of thunder.”

  “Mother?” I say into the icy void.

  No one hears me.

  The midwife in purple robes holds the infant—me.

  The woman receives the baby in her outstretched arms.

  I glance around, half expecting her to appear here, wherever I am.

  A raven perches in the window to her room and kraas loudly, warningly.

  The midwife’s image flickers. A smirk curdles on her lips as the baby’s mouth and his mother’s turns blue. “Frosted Oblivion,” she says in a deep voice that doesn’t match her feminine face. “You wasted your life, Hedda. Your son is cursed to die and so will you.”

  “No!” Vespertine instantly draws heat from the hearth, warming the baby before taking aim at the midwife with a blast of fire.

  The midwife’s image flickers again as she dodges the flame and then morphs into Leith. In addition to another shot of flame, the bird’s feathers drain of color and it turns the shade of late-day sunshine. Words appear on Leith’s skin. His thoughts, his confession. Inked. He sent Hedda away and tricked Torsuld into thinking she’d been disloyal. She hadn’t met her true love. No, she’d been locked in his chamber.

  “You,” my mother croaks, recognizing Leith.

  All at once, the now golden raven attacks, pecking Leith and driving him from the room.

  Vespertine assures my mother, “I’ve warmed the baby. I’ve staved off the poison, delayed its effects until he comes of age. That also means he won’t have access to his abilities. But—”

  “But it’s too late for me. I know.” Her voice grows faint. “Please, keep him safe and hidden. Let him live his life free of the burden of this castle. It must be his choice.”

  Vespertine nods. “He won’t know until he’s ready.”

  “What then?” she asks.

  “Like cures like, I’m afraid.”

  “And now?” my mother asks.

  “Now you will sleep, my queen,” Vespertine says.

  “And my baby will be safe.” She goes still.

  The raven’s cries echo from the window, and Leith screeches and howls in pain.

  Vespertine takes the baby and they both vanish down the hall.

  The vision dissolves.

  The world is white, then silver, then gold. I’m ice and fire. The moon and sun. Kiki and Soren bound together.

  She comes into focus as her lips leave mine.

  Unlike in the vision, I’m outside the castle, amidst the ongoing battle I fight alongside the people of Raven’s Landing.

  I shiver and link my arm around her, draw her close, and breathe in her sugar on snow scent. My teeth chatter as she helps to hold me up.

  “You’re okay,” she says.

  I don’t know that, not yet.

  On the bloodstained snow, the Raven’s Rising continues to fight the guards. In the air high above, a gold bird and a silver bird spin circles, waging battle.

  The vision repeats in my mind.

  Keep him safe and hidden. I was sent to live free of the king. Not safe, but free I realize now.

  Let him live his life free of the burden of this castle. It must be his choice. My choice. My choice for what? My thoughts dart and weave, much like the birds above. Vespertine’s comment about how life isn’t linear flashes in my mind.

  He won’t know until he’s ready.

  The same powerful force that compels my father’s flight, rises and rebounds inside of me like it’s desperate to escape. I know what I am. It’s my choice. I am ready.

  “I think what matters most is what happens next,” I say.

  As the battle in the sky continues, I reach into my pocket and produce the Holdr Horn. I take a deep breath, put it to my mouth, and blow. The earth and sky tremble. I blow again. My pulse vibrates like thunder ripping through my bones. I blow a third time, calling in the aid of the ravens, the spirit kings and battle arms in the mountain, the shield fae, and all the others from our journey. I’m sure the resonant sound can be heard all the way to the sun and moon.

  That wild flapping wakes up in my chest.

  Kiki looks up at me, her expression muddled with concern. “I didn’t hear it.”

  No, but I did. Maybe I wasn’t summoning the others, but my true self.

  Golden feathers drift like snow and the raven, my father, is nowhere to be seen. With an angry squawk, the silver bird alights on the ground and transforms back into a man emitting a pitchless laugh. “An easy defeat,” he says in the direction of the sky. “And I see you’ve thawed.” He turns to Kiki as a deadly smile spreads on his lips. “How generous; she’s sacrificed herself and taken in the curse.”

  My heart stutters. Like cures like. She’s a frost fae. Frosted Oblivion must be fae magic. I thought her sacrifice to the king before was to get into his graces and make her move for the stone in the crown. Only, she actually sacrificed herself for me.

  She squeezes my hand.

  “I’m sorry, Soren. It’s up to you to grant the people their freedom. The throne is rightfully yours and you can carry on this quest to stop the Shadow Army.”

  “Did you know you’re the antidote to Frosted Oblivion?” Did she know that by kissing me and waking me, she took in the poison? I gather her in my arms.

  Her eyes shine, but not from the glitter beneath them. “You’re their leader,” she says, but her voice doesn’t quiver. She’s sure, solid.

  I don’t break her gaze as Leith says, “Nephew, we could still be great, together. You’re a valiant fighter. You could lead the Shadow Army beneath my might.”

  “Is there a way to break the curse?” I ask.

  “There’s no way to fix a frozen heart, Soren. The only solution is to rule alongside me.” Leith doesn’t mask his eager pleasure as he leans closer.

  “Do you have something to cure her?” I demand again.

  Kiki’s skin pales against the snow as if her blood already runs cold.

  Leith scoffs. “Pledge your service to me, Soren. Take your rightful place in Fjallhold.”

  She shakes her head. “Don’t listen to him.”

  Leith poisoned me. He gave me the Frosted Oblivion when I was a baby and yet continues to plead and lie. Battle rage builds inside and presses against my bones, tightens my muscles, and seems to consume me.

  “You’re the heir, Soren. This kingdom can also belong to you.” Leit
h’s thin smile spreads wide and greedy across his face.

  “Yes, yes it does.” Vespertine told me to take the throne. I step forward and clear my throat. “Your rule is over, Leith.” Disdain shades my voice.

  “And you think you’ll take over?” He cackles. “You could rule by my side or fall under my heal.”

  The ice in Kiki’s eyes traces me from top to bottom, freezing me all over again, dismantling me, reminding me there’s something stronger than might. It’s my choice. The time has come.

  My battle rage simmers as I summon it to the surface. I came to fight for freedom, and I won’t stop until we all have ours. I see no other way to defeat Leith except for this.

  I awaken what I now know is my companion form and feel the shift begin, tearing me apart from within...and like my father and other ravens, I may never be human again.

  “I’m not afraid of dying. I am not afraid of living. I’m afraid of what will happen if I let go of your hand,” Kiki whispers as her teeth chatter.

  “Whatever happens in the present, we’re doing this for the future,” I say, kissing her forehead.

  The sky is white with clouds, the land black with battle, but my heart beats red and full of hope and love for these people, my people, Raven’s Landing, and Kiki. Given our small numbers, and defeating Leith and the patrol stacked against us, I let my rage spill over as I step toward Leith.

  He was right. This is just the beginning, of war.

  My human form as I knew it dissolves and I morph into a mighty raven that’s as big as a night howl.

  Chapter 30

  Ineke

  Through the veil of ice, I’ve watched helplessly at the battle rages on. I didn’t dare close my eyes and fully succumb to the spell, but I can no longer resist. I’ve learned little of my fae powers—I wonder if there’s an academy I could’ve attended like I did to become a Peace Officer. College for magical beings or something.

  Focus, Kiki.

  I took a risk, kissing Soren the first time and the last time. I’d have sacrificed myself for him, to come back from the Frosted Oblivion and fight for his people, but I also held onto the hope that I might somehow be immune to its effects.