Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (160 page)

“Ilarial told me to learn, but how do I learn? I don’t know a thing about fighting or handling a sword or knife.” She sighed, closing her eyes as she cradled her head on her knees, tears prickling behind her eyelids. She thought back to about what he’d said about not being paired with a female Teleen. She wondered if he had been paired or not, and if he had, where was his mate?

Dylan watched her thoughtfully. He nodded as though agreeing with her. His eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as he was in deep thought.

Shade wondered what it could be that he was thinking.

“I must train you, then. You’re right; you are weak without any kind of protection. If you were to be separated from us… well, I don’t want to think about it. You have a sword, right?” She nodded, thinking about the beautiful sword in her pack Ilarial had given her. “Great. Then we train today.” He stood, offering her a hand. “Grab your sword; I’ll teach you a move or two.”

Surprised, she took his hand, standing up and fumbling through her pack for the sword. Finding it, she waited, holding it slack in her hand.

“Alright, you need to stand ready; the easiest thing to do is to stand with your feet apart, knees bent. You can put one foot forward a bit. That’s right. You need to keep your body balanced, so you can move any which way during an attack.” He moved to stand next to her, his body facing her side. Reaching out, he adjusted her arms to put both hands on the hilt of the sword, bringing her elbows to a bend. He tugged and pushed at her limbs, making her almost fall over as he adjusted her legs. Coming behind her, he placed his hands on her hips and back, pushing again to make her straighten up her poor posture while still bending her knees. Her thighs screamed in protest.

“You need to relax, I’m not going to bite.” He snickered. Shade frowned but tried to do as he told her. “There. See? Flexed, ready to pounce.”

Shade nodded, feeling nervous at his proximity but excited at learning something about using a sword.

“Now, I want you to do this exercise: step forward, then back, then side to side, holding the sword opposite the direction you head, like a dance, counterbalancing each other, like partners.” His voice was just above a whisper, near her face. It sent a thrill down her spine.

“Wh-what?”

Dylan groaned, motioning to her to give up the sword. She did and watched him as he showed her what he meant. His movements were fluid and well-practiced. She gulped, hoping she could look more like he did and less like a clumsy ogre.

“See? A dance. Practice it.” He handed the sword back and stepped back to give her some room.

“That’s it?” she stammered.

“That’s it.”

Shade felt slightly disappointed but didn’t push him any further. Learning that “dance” would be plenty for now. “Okay, I can do this. Oh, Dylan?”

“Yes?”

“Were you paired off at birth?” She risked a peek at his face as she attempted her first move to the left.

“No, I was never paired at birth. But, our oracle, who’s about eight-hundred years old, did tell me a prophecy about it.” He sighed and stared out across the river.

“What’d she say?”

“She said that I’d meet my mate one day, one who’d never resided among us, and that my life would change forever. It’d be filled with great and challenging events, some unfortunate and some amazing.”

“Really? So, did you meet her yet?” Shade watched his face, calm and handsome. She found him intriguing in a way she could not explain. And to think just hours ago, he was getting on her last nerve.

Dylan turned toward her and studied her face, his flashing eyes amused at her questions. Giving her a smile, he reached out, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. Shade felt her heart jump, sending her skin flaring up at his touch. “I don’t really know. Maybe.” He continued to watch her, a sad smile playing across his lips. “Once camp is set up tonight, we will work on more sword fighting. Be ready!” He grabbed his cup from the ground while dusting off his pants. He walked away then without another word, leaving her stunned.

“Wh-what?
More
tonight? Dylan?” She stuttered and couldn’t spit out the rest of her words. He was gone and nowhere near her now. Shaking her head, she laughed to herself.

He’s so strange and drives me insane! Maybe that’s a good thing.

*****

SHADE STRETCHED HER
legs out before her, massaging her calves and working out some of the knots deep under her skin. They had stopped for a rest again after another horrible river crossing. She wondered if the fey ever even got sore.
Probably not.
She kept wondering what Dylan was thinking, too. Some of the things he did and said confused her. It made her frown at the thought of how nervous he made her feel.

Standing up, she took her teacup back to Stephen, who seemed to like being the group’s cook and occasional dishwasher. He gave her a short nod, smiling as he continued to wash the soiled dishes. He wasn’t actually physically washing them, he was just moving his hands over them, making them rinse themselves in the river.

I need to learn that! That’d be useful back home!
Shade thought, turning back toward the group where Jack was talking seriously to Ewan. Maps sat spread out before them on a table.
Who brought the furniture?
Shade thought as she walked toward them. She still couldn’t get over the bath tent and the constant use of magic here. When she reached the two men, they were pointing at several spots on the map, plotting their journey.

“I think going over Fable’s Fair Bridge would be a better option, it goes closer to the cliffs of Raenin. We need to go past the cliffs and end up in Solare’s Beach. There’s a cave road there we can take to the inland forests, around the Santiran lands. If we go down to Maziel’s Pass, it will take us longer to make it to the beach, and it goes too close to Unseelie territory.” Jack’s hand was darting around the map at several points on the unfamiliar land.

Shade studied it while the men stood there thinking. She could see the cities of Portland and San Diego along one side of the great fey territory. There were areas marked off that showed the highways and smaller human towns. The vast wilderness that belonged to the fey was unbelievable. She traced the river lands with her fingers and found Solare’s Beach on the map. Shaped like a crescent moon, it was not very big at all. It had a small river that emptied into the ocean along one side. Next was Craven’s Cave Road, which wound around the cliffs of the beach and disappeared into a cave. Shade shuddered at the thought of going into another cave again.

“How do we make it across the cliffs?” Shade asked Ewan and Jack. They turned toward her and smiled.

“You have to walk down the west side of the cliffs or take a long rope bridge across this great river.” Ewan pointed at a line crossing across the largest of the rivers that bisected the cliffs.

Shade cringed because crossing a bridge held together by rope was not much of a comfort either.
Caves and unstable bridges; it’s my lucky day.
Her throat ached from nerves, and it felt as if there were a knot in it. “Really? Ah man, do we have to go on a rope bridge?” She glanced at Jack and Ewan. “And another cave?”

“You afraid of heights, Shade?” They said at once and laughed at the disgust all over her face.

“No! Of course not! It’s just, they’re so flimsy! It rocks a lot, and it just isn’t safe!” She crossed her arms and huffed away. Jack started coughing, trying to hold back his laughter while Ewan slapped him on his back.

When they had stopped snickering, Ewan cleared his throat, his face flushed and his eyes twinkling bright. He motioned for everyone to gather their stuff and fall back into line to leave.

Shade fell in with the group, still grumbling under her breath. She followed everyone out along the bank of the rushing river. She began to wonder just how long it was going to take to get to the Santiran Fountains. It felt like they had been gone forever. Her patience was wearing thin, especially with nature. Seeing the map made her feel even more sullen. The territory they were crossing was enormous and so vast that it seemed like they hadn’t really gone that far. So much had happened already, and they were not even close yet.

“Hey, having fun yet?” Soap asked as he hung back from the others and fell in step with her. She gave him a nasty look and didn’t like the fact that someone else from the group was making fun of her.

“Ok, Ok, no need to be harsh,” he said, losing his usual grin. “I was just wondering something, Shade. And I hope you would answer this for me.”

She sighed and turned back toward Soap. His contagious good mood was already flowing over her and taming her gloomy demeanor. She grinned back, nodding. “What is it?” She slipped on a damp, mossy rock in the slick grasses. Soap caught her arm and cradled her with his other one. Her face was so close to his, he could have kissed her. She laughed a bit and thanked him for catching her before he answered, straightening herself up.

“The voices, the ones you said are your spirit guides. Are they still bothering you? What do they say about us?”

Shade took a deep breath and thought about it for a moment. She hadn’t really heard from her spirit guides since they’d left the caverns. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t heard the voices at all since waking up from the attack. It had actually been kind of nice not to hear any noise in her head but her own thoughts. She stretched out her mind to find them but no one answered her inner thoughts. Panic suddenly swirled inside her as she felt a kind of emptiness without them.

Why have they been silent? Maybe they’re gone for good now.

“Honestly, I haven’t had them talk to me since Darren attacked me. It’s funny, my whole life I wished they would just shut up and now–now I miss them.”

“Well, it’s probably just the rivers; they’re quite magical, you know. They say that the rivers are the roads of dreams. Once you stand by one, the magic is too strong. It can literally turn a fey into a near mortal. We can’t use too much of our magic here; the river won’t have it. That’s the myth, anyway. It’s like dead space to our kind, the in between of worlds. I think it might be affecting you, too. I literally can’t change around the rivers. I can only use a simple glamour and charms. It’s strange….”

Shade nodded as they continued down the slippery banks without speaking again for a while. She wondered if Soap wanted to ask her anything else. He seemed more quiet than usual. This would have bothered her more, but concentrating on not slipping on another rock or mossy wet patch kept her attention for now. They reached the edge of the bank to another crossing area. She groaned as she watched the front of the group submerge themselves up to their waists in cold river water. The rush of the current wasn’t as strong at the crossings points, but she loathed the cold feel of the water. She reached the edge of the bank and watched as Soap strode right on in without so much as a whimper.
Man up, already
! She sighed and dipped her feet into the icy water, sucking in a breath.

She was near the other side when she heard some shouting. She straightened up to see further up the bank where Ewan, Jack, and Than were wildly shouting at someone, someone she couldn’t see from her position in the river.

“Shade, come on, I think we’re being attacked. Hurry!” Sary waved at her frantically and held her other hand out to her. She took it and pulled herself up out of the rushing waters. The chill was there again, and her teeth chattered together. She was pretty sure her lips were blue with cold. Sary kept half turning and pressing her on to follow, practically dragging her along.

Soap had already left his position in front of her to join Jack and the others, who were now taking shelter behind some trees and drawing weapons. Shade found a large tree trunk to hide behind as arrows started sailing by, buzzing like bees as they flew. She felt drugged and sluggish from the cold. She had the blanket on, but in the cover of the trees and with no hot tea to drink this time, she was not recovering as well as before. Huddling against the tree and pulling the blanket around tightly for warmth, she was still shivering. She peeked around the tree as there was a break in the flying arrows. Whoever was attacking them had either run out or was restocking their weapons.

Jack was yelling at someone. Everyone stood their ground, hiding in their makeshift covers. She couldn’t see who or what they were yelling at. She strained to hear anything… and then suddenly it came, a voice. The gravely laugh was in the distance, but whoever it belong to was not too far away.

“You can’t hide forever, little half-breed. I know she’s with you. Just hand her over, and we’ll be on our way.” The voice screeched through the trees.

Who is that? I’ve heard that voice before,
Shade thought as the cruel laugh made her cringe. She strained a little more to see across the trees, spotting the owner of the voice. Lady Blythe was perched on a branch not too far above Ewan and the others. The Queen of the Dryad’s skeletal, translucent wings were fluttering so fast that Shade could barely see them. If there hadn’t been a slight breeze whirling around her, the tiny wings would have gone unnoticed altogether. Shade’s heart pounded; she knew just what they wanted but not why.

“We will never give her to you, Blythe! You are far beyond your borders, and you have no rights here. This is neutral territory. Be gone already!” Jack’s voice was strong and sturdy. He did not seem afraid but was definitely on the side of caution.

“You stupid fool! You dare insult me? I am Queen here. The trees are
my
domain, no matter where! You give me the Halfling and I let you leave alive, otherwise you can all die, and I still take the girl. Choose wisely!” Her cackling voice echoed through the air.

Shade didn’t think it was possible, but she felt even colder than before. She worked hard to keep her teeth from chattering again, praying silently that the old hag of a faery would leave her alone. She didn’t look like a nice faery from the ‘fairy’ stories of Shade’s childhood. She looked vicious, dark and ruthless flying up there in the branches. Shade’s heart was racing as she glanced around, trying to think of a way to get away from there.