Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (159 page)

“I’m so sorry, Shade, did I frighten you?” Sylphi sneered slightly, studying Shade with inky black eyes. Her dark hair was down and a bit tousled, like she had just rolled out of bed. However, it still managed to have some shine. She also held a bundle of clothes and a towel in her arms, pressed to her chest.

Shade gave a small, nervous laugh. “Oh… hello, Sylphi. No, well, maybe just a little. How long were you standing there?” She tried to swallow her anxiety and stand a bit straighter. Nothing about Sylphi made her feel warm and fuzzy. The girl radiated iciness like an open window in the late winter.

“Not for too long, really; I was just going to freshen up.” She smiled her sickly, sweet smile, batting her eyelashes innocently. Her eyes were so dark, it was like staring into a pair of black holes. She continued to stare at Shade with her intensely black eyes and didn’t make a move to get out of the way. A chill ran through Shade, but she pressed her lips tight, attempting to smile back at the faery. The sight of her was unnerving to say the least. “Well, ok, I was just leaving. See you later.” She had to side step a bit to get around Sylphi, who was still not budging from her spot.

“Why don’t you just go home, Shade? No one really wants you here.”

Shade hung in mid step as she listened to Sylphi’s icy voice. The woman was still not moving but slyly snickering. “You’re too weak for this quest. Why don’t you give up before you fail miserably? No one wants to be out here in this forsaken wilderness with you anyway. Do us a favor and quit already,
half-breed
.” Sylphi hissed through her teeth, a menacing twinkle lingering in her gaze.

Well, heard that one before…

Shade glared at her in disgust. Shaking her head, Shade sneered right back. “I’m not a quitter, Sylphi. I need to do this, and nothing you say will change my mind. I don’t believe
you
have
to be here, though. You came by choice, remember? So did I… maybe
you
should go home.” She dodged Sylphi and stepped hurriedly through the doorway, ignoring Sylphi’s snide laughter.

I wonder what the hell her problem is.

The cold air slapped her hard once she left the facilities tent, and her hair felt instantly frozen. She didn’t stop, though; she hurried as fast as she could to her own tent, or what should’ve been her tent. All she found was Dylan sitting on the ground, patiently waiting next to her pack.

“What the…? Where’s my stuff? What’d you do with my things?” Shade felt her anger tipping the scales and tried to grab a handle on it before hollering at him. She breathed in slowly and deeply, averting her glare away from him. It wasn’t his fault that Sylphi had such a strange effect on her; she felt discombobulated. Her breath steamed like clouds floating out her nose and mouth.

He rolled his eyes almost as impatiently as she had jumped on him.

“Well, Dylan?”

“Ok, calm down. I, so graciously, put away your things for you, since you were taking so long in the bath. We’re leaving in just a few minutes, by the way.” He stood up and held out her pack, dangling it from his fingers.

She snatched it from him with her free hand, biting her lip as he walked off to the main camp without another word. She sighed, realizing she hadn’t even bothered to thank him. Why did it seem they clashed over everything? If they were going to be forced to spend so much time together, this would definitely have to stop. Kneeling down, she opened her pack and pulled out a sack for her dirty clothes. She stuffed them in and shoved it back into the pack.

This will just have to do until we reach the river.
The clothes had a slight odor and they needed a wash badly. Shade marched down the path to the main camp, joining the rest of the group. Ewan was already waving his arm around to capture everyone’s attention as she chose a large boulder to sit on and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
It’s already been a long day,
a
nd it’s only the butt crack of dawn.

“Alright, is everybody present? Soap, Jack, Braelynn,” the brawny man glanced about, squinting his eyes at the group. “Where’s Sylphi?” Heads whirled around and searched the group.

“I just saw her in the bath tent. She’s probably still there,” Shade muttered.

“I’m right here.” Sylphi stepped out from behind a tree and smiled at the group. Her hair was dried and slicked back into an even tighter ponytail than Shade’s. She looked radiant in the morning sun, all dressed in white furs with her pack strapped to her back. She waved at Shade, a sly smirk on her face. Shade frowned back, but not as confidently. She wondered how Sylphi had bathed, dried, clothed herself, packed and made it to the group so fast.
It’s probably a fey thing.

“Alright, that should be everyone. We are heading to the great rivers. We will be getting wet, by the way. Shade, see Braelynn for water repellant charms so your stuff doesn’t get soaked,” he added as a side note, and then continued on. “We will be camping in the middle of the river lands. It’s made up of seven rivers that wind, turn, and meet together at the Pacific Ocean. The rivers are pure Faerie territory, close to human towns. There is to be no wandering across the borders, because the iron cites are too close to us along the coast.

He held up a large piece of parchment with a drawing of the rivers. They were vivid blue lines that twisted and curved around the vast green areas on the map. He pointed out the boundaries and again warned of the dangers of wandering too near a human city. Shade stared at the map, utterly confused. It looked so unfamiliar. If her sense of direction was right, they had to be near the coasts of California and Oregon. She didn’t recall seeing such a tangle of large rivers there before. This revelation had her waving down Ewan.

“Those rivers are not on ordinary maps. You said it is purely faery territory? Does that mean that the river lands are hidden from humans?”

Ewan nodded, smiling at her curiosity. “Why yes, Shade, aren’t you just sharp as a knife this morning. Yep, human maps look quite different from faery maps, but we have the real world maps. Mortal’s maps are only splices of the actual world. They don’t know it, but there are vast areas of fey lands that are protected by enchantments and wards. So in essence, the land looks a lot smaller to them than it is.” Ewan continued on, letting his finger trace along the borders on the paper. He then quickly rolled up the scroll map, ordering everyone to prepare to leave.

The desert wasteland twisted and blended into the lush forest of emerald green leaves and bushes. The land was riper and more fertile here, almost an artificially vibrant green. No matter which trail they took, Shade could hear rushing water in the distance. It surrounded them like endless background noise. The river lands were strange; there were islands between some rivers where they intersected and weaved together like a tangle of noodles. Then there would be long stretches of land that didn’t run into a river at all. Some of the islands sported bridges, while with others had none, forcing the group to wade through each river carefully. Even with the waterproof charm which Braelynn and Sary had placed on everyone and their items, Shade couldn’t help but feel the cold embrace of the water stealing the warmth from her body. It flowed around her thighs and the icy cold still seeped through her clothes.

She was left stiff from the frigid waters. With the charms, she did not feel wet, but felt quite dry, even though her teeth chattered and her body shook from the chill. It was a relief to emerge from the cold, wet trek through a river. Once out of the water, the sun warmed her immediately. Her stiff, frozen clothes stuck to her, remnants of a watery grave.

After about four of these submersions, she was ready to smack Ewan. Did they really have to walk through all that cold, muddy and swirling water so much? Her love of the outdoors, what little she did have, was washing away with each turbulent wave of river water.

Once they stopped to rest, eat, and do their best to warm up, Shade pulled the warm blanket Dylan had given her from her pack and wrapped it tightly around her body. Turning her head up to the sun, she soaked up its comforting rays. It felt amazing, like hot cocoa warming the core after playing in the snow and getting frostbite on your toes and fingers. She closed her eyes, not wanting to move. She felt frozen down to her inner marrow, and her lips were chapped and surely a sickly shade of blue after spending most of the day in the water.

“Hey, drink some hot tea. It will warm your soul.” Dylan handed her a steaming cup, his own secured in his other hand.

“Thanks, Dylan.” Shade happily accepted it, wrapping her fingers around the warmth of the drink, soothing her stiff joints. She drank it down in a gulp. The hot fluid felt great against her throat, warming her from the inside out. Still huddled in the blanket, she was afraid to break her cozy cocoon if she dared to move.

“Tired of the rapids, huh? They get old really fast, don’t they?” Dylan asked, attempting to sound friendly. “I don’t miss crossing them at all. You would think some idiot would’ve put a bridge or something on every river here by now. But faeries are lazy, you know. They’d rather fly right over these banks any day. Of course we aren’t all able to fly, let alone carry anyone else with us,” he said with a sigh. “So we have to do it the tried and true way, on foot. I think it’s because us faeries don’t like to disturb nature too much, so progress is limited.” He chuckled, shaking his head as he took another large sip of tea.

He was sitting next to her now, their sides slightly touching, she could feel his body heat closing the gap between them. Shade turned to watch him more closely. His unusual, steel-colored eyes glinted in the bright sunlight. The deeper they ventured into the wilderness, the more relaxed he appeared. His face had grown softer and younger in the light of the afternoon. She wondered if nature gave off some kind of natural Xanax to the fey. Everyone seemed more at ease, maybe just a touch tired, but no one was complaining. She guessed that it was better than having a group of grumpy, pissed-off faeries. Who knew what they were all capable of doing if pushed too far?

Dylan’s hair was still short, but growing faster than a human’s hair would. It was dark and shiny, with silver highlights peppered throughout. He had shaved that morning and his skin still shone smooth, with no lines to betray his age. She wondered how old he was, remembering that Ilarial had mentioned how they were immortal. Besides Soap, no one had volunteered to say how old he or she really was.

“Dylan? Can I ask you something?” He turned toward her, eyes wide with surprise. She should probably speak to him softly more often because it was nice to see him shocked.

“Yes, of course. Go for it.” He placed his cup on the dirt in front of him and sat Indian-style, his arms relaxed on his thighs.

“How old are you? How long do faeries live?” She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, clinging to the blanket and keeping it shut.

“I’m two-hundred and forty-six years old. My brother Darren is only one-hundred and fifteen. We’re immortal, but only to a certain extent. The fey are kind of delicate in a way, more so than humans. We can wither away, if we choose. We barely exist on the little strength that human hearts give us. Imagination and strong belief in us keep us going; your world is fragile when it comes to this matter. It’s almost like a human curse. We are tied to mortals in more ways than one.” Dylan paused. He glanced at Shade but quickly turned back to stare down at his cup as he continued.

“When we wither, we choose to leave this world. Our mother was five-hundred and three when she decided she no longer had it in her to carry on, allowing herself to wither into dust. It only took two days. Just two days and slowly, what was a strong, bold, and amazing woman turned into dust and ash,” he said with a hint of emotion leaking through his cracking voice. “Life is not easy for the fey. The exiles wither faster because of the toxicity of living in or near the iron cities. Smaller faeries go faster, too. We have stronger clans, like the Guildrin Clan, and our enemies, the Unseelie are much stronger than our group of Teleen. Our sized faeries are the closest to humans in appearance. My people, the Teleen, are more fragile, dying off as time goes on. Very slowly, of course. There are not many Teleen born each year, so our numbers have dwindled as some of us die. If the world was stronger, and the magic in Faerie was not so faded, we could be true immortals and live forever.”

“Why is your clan dying? I would think you would be the strongest since humans have a lot of iron in their blood. It would be hard for any fey to live near us or among us, but you guys are fine with it.”

Dylan was staring back at her now. His eyes narrowed, amused as he thought about what she was asking and saying. He licked his lips and looked back over the river. The constant roar seemed to fill the silence between them like an unwanted third wheel. Shade waited impatiently for his answers. She stared at the river while she waited for him talk to her.
At least I beat the rivers,
she thought, knowing she’d bested the icy waters today and had nothing to prove.

“Well, it has a lot to do with there not being many mated pairs in our clan. Teleen females are rarely born to our clan now, and those who are get paired off quickly and stay together for life. If you’re not paired with one, as a male, you are out of luck. That is, unless a free Teleen faery woman shows up out of nowhere,” he said quietly as if he didn’t think that was possible. “What’s bothering you, Shade?” Dylan’s deep voice was more like a harsh whisper. He was even leaning a little toward her to muffle his voice so no one else could hear.

“I don’t know. It’s just that compared to all of you guys, I’m so weak, Even though you say you have vulnerabilities, you are still more powerful than me. I don’t know how to do magic or any kind of fighting. Without you guys here, I would be useless… helpless.” Shade took a deep breath before continuing. “It’s all so intriguing, but it scares me so much. There are so many things I don’t know. I’m as good as dead out here against other fey.