by Rebecca Grey
“Well, out with it.”
“Why don’t you tell me about what you were doing that night I caught you in the woods? Now that sounds like a story that needs to be told.”
Red snorted, “Just so you can get those juicy details for Princess Maglehwhore, no thank you.”
I didn’t bother to hide the smile her word-play on the Princess Maggie's name gave me. Sometimes when Red wasn’t trying to be, she was funny. Though I didn’t think she ever meant what she said as a joke, it always tickled my dark humor bone.
“She won't entertain you, you know.”
“Excuse me?” I glanced away from the road. A few other wagons in front of us moseyed about the street, unrushed in their morning errands.They called and waved on occasion to familiar faces and business owners. That sort of enthusiasm was just plain exhausting and I couldn’t be bothered. When I gave Red my attention, my mouth sprung open, her words registering in my mind.
“If that’s what you're looking for, I mean. A fantasy romp with the princess of the Obtune Court.”
“And what makes you think I’m doing all this for a chance at the princess's virginity?”
Red snorted a second time, “She is no virgin.”
“Doesn’t matter. Answer the question.”
Wind blew over us, carrying the scent of the freshly baked bread that sat in the bakery's window. One of the last stores on this heavily crowded merchant street. The breeze tossed Red’s stick-straight black hair into her face, but she didn’t bother to move it.
“Isn’t that what most men who want to climb the ladder of success are trying to do?” her gaze remained forward, her knuckles taut as she folded her hands in her lap.
“That is not the wall that this particular ladder is leaning on.”
Her dark eyebrow lifted in question. “Well that’s good to know, because Princess Maggie prefers the company of women anyway.”
She what, now? That can’t be the truth. Not with the way she fawns over men. Had I actually seen her fawn over men though?
“I thought she was in love with what’s his name… that Prince from over yonder.” I pointed to my left, unsure of what direction that prince might live.
“By the mother,” Red brought her shackled hands up cupping her cheeks and rolling her eyes as she stared straight ahead like she was talking herself out of screaming in frustration. Finally, she sighed and turned to face me. “You’re so stupid. She doesn’t love him. He is merely her means to ruling sooner. And if you are going to pretend to be from around here you should probably learn the names of the noble fae. His name is Prince Dace, by the way. And he actually isn’t the prince anymore, if the rumor mill is correct.”
“Did he die?” I frowned. How could he just all of a sudden not be the prince anymore?
“No, his parents dethroned him.” She shrugged her shoulders.
The busy streets faded away. Homes came and went in the following silence. Above our heads, the sun traveled across the sky, moving the shadows over Red’s impossibly pointed bone structure with it. As the last of the houses blurred at the edge of my sight and the paved path to the Acture Court began, I slowed the wagon. Gently, I laid the reins over the wood panel in front of us. It was still an oddity to me that there was so much leather in this court when mine would kill for even a taste of that material.
“What are we doing?” Red sat up.
“I’m hungry, aren’t you?”
I reached into the open dray behind us and lifted the lid of the wooden crate that carried our food. The very kitchen Red had worked in had packed this crate and something told me Red had been very loved in her position, not only by the king. A long sandwich was carefully wrapped in cloth. I undid the material and tore it in half, offering one portion to her. Metal clacked together roughly as she lifted her bound wrists with a frown.
“Oh, right.” I shoved her half in my mouth, holding it together with my teeth, as I pulled the key from my pocket and undid her shackles.
Quietly, she rubbed her red wrists. Twisting in her seat, she turned to face me and shook her head. “I want the half that hasn’t been in your dirty mouth.”
With a roll of my eyes, I handed her what was supposed to be my half and tore my new half out of my mouth. The sandwich had a wonderfully seasoned spread on it. Thick cuts of meat, cheese, and a savory sauce that had soaked into the loaf.
“Shouldn’t I be eating the soup?” she pointed sourly, while taking large bites of the sandwich.
My eyebrows furrowed as I thought. She was right, she probably should be. I just hadn’t thought about it. The seat creaked underneath me as I stretched back and looked into the crate at the canisters of cabbage soup that waited.
“Oops,” I said through my large bite.
The smallest tinge of a smile lifted the corners of her lips, but quickly disappeared as she continued to eat and turned to face forward again. She ate slowly. Her jaw worked unrushed, chewing every bite thoroughly. I had expected her to scarf it down. But instead she was trying to make it last as long as possible.
“Don’t worry, there is more. Unless you want the cabbage soup.”
“No, but I’ll be happy enough if you undo my unwanted accessory.” Red’s attempt at a flirtatious smile looked much more painful than it should have been.
I huffed a laugh and leaned down. The metal key slipped right into the lock, the bindings on her feet opening to reveal the raw, red marks on her ankles.
“These must not be very comfortable,” I mumbled, pulling the metal away and setting it in the wagon behind us.
“Neither is this,” Red growled.
A jolt of pain bloomed at my nose and radiated up to the tears that formed in my eyes. Red’s fist had met my face in an unexpected jab.
“Fuck,” I snarled, grabbing my now-tender nose. My eyes had involuntarily clamped shut, and when I opened them all I saw was her thin frame frantically darting around the trees. “Are you kidding me?” I yelled. I prayed that the horse would stay put as I sprinted after her.
I didn’t think Red was this stupid. She was clearly not going to be fast enough. It wasn’t even a question of if or when I would catch her, but how on earth she really believed that there was a chance that I wouldn’t. Even with that pathetic excuse of a blow. My arms wrapped around her waist as I snatched her up in my arms before she could make it any further. She exhaled loudly.
Keeping her tight against me, I slid my chest up her back until I was upright again. With one hand I grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at me. Then my heart stuttered. Red was grinning. Ear to ear, her lips parted in a brazen, unashamed, giddy smile.
“You had to expect me to at least try,” she said.
I didn’t know what I expected. Not that. Not her tiny, fragile little hand bopping me in the nose before she tried to outrun someone with five times her max speed on his worst day.
“Please, don’t do that again,” I breathed, lowering my head to rest my mouth against her ear. “I need to be more careful around you.”
Like she was merely a small piece of luggage I needed to take with me, I lifted her, and carried her back to the wagon. As I passed the drivers seat, I snatched her bindings. She had brought this on herself. Without trying to be gentle, I set her down in the back.
“Welp, looks like you’ve won yourself some more time in these oh-so-glamorous shackles.” I held them up, rattled them, and pretended to be a cheering crowd as I clamped the metal back on.
Red winced, and the smile she wore just moments before had completely vanished. “These things hurt, you know.”
“I know,” I whispered, but I couldn’t hide my grin.
Red folded her arms over her chest, watching as I finished with her ankles. I pointed at her wrists. Her black strands bounced as she shook her head.
“I’m not doing this willingly, ” she laughed haughtily.
“Oh, I don’t need you to.”
I tried to slip my hand between her arms and she pulled away. Every time I
got near her she pulled away, until I had to climb into the back of the wagon and stand over her. The wood protested my weight with every step. I lowered my face to hers.
“Give me your arms,” I said, before prying them away from her body and binding them in metal again.
“You seem to be enjoying this, Keeper.”
“I would say that I wasn’t, but since you think I’m a bad liar, I’ll just admit that perhaps I am.” Slipping my arms under her armpits, I pulled her upright, and led her out of the back of the cart and into her seat.
Making a show of it, I plucked the reins from where they rested, straightened my shirt, and sat down. “Shall we continue on then?”
Red sighed, but didn’t bother to turn and give me her attention. If this was what every stop was going to be like, this might be the longest trip of my life. Without a thought, my hand rose and rubbed the tip of my sore nose.
FIVE
Dace
Blistering rays beat down on my skin. The excessive amount of sun that shone within the Heathern Court borders took perspiration to a new level. Sweat dripped off my chin, landing on Shavarra’s top and darkening the material in that spot.
Shavarra hadn’t woken up since we were ambushed in the Acture Court. I took relief in the fact that she was still breathing. Even if sometimes I would have to stop walking and press my ear against her chest to make sure. It was the subtlest movement of her breast bone and the faintest rhythm of her heart that pushed me forward at such a pace.
My feet ached. My whole body felt sore really, but I didn’t give in to the pain or the exhaustion. I didn’t let myself think about the blood that ran down my arms. Some of it was mine, I knew, but the majority was from small wounds that had already closed. Most of it was Shavarra’s.
For her, I continued. Nymphs who had chosen to follow me, chosen to shape our future, or free a peaceful people, marched on behind me. Bodies were strung up in their arms like wilting plants. Though the crying had long since quieted from both the wounded and the grieving. Some carried the dead. Friends or family they couldn’t leave behind. Once we reached our destination I would make sure we gave them all a proper burial.
I wished sometimes that my dreams would give me something useful. Would have shown me some sign of this attack during our travels. But no, somehow I still only saw her. Yet, I didn’t resent her. My punishment for wishing away my crown was clear. It was loving someone so unattainable, for so long. It wasn’t her fault that the gods had chosen to make me some sort of freak obsessed with a person who hardly knew me. Crown or not, here I was fighting. These people were no longer alone, and neither was I. It gave me pride, the same pride I suppose the other noble fae got from their courts, when this group looked at me the way they did. These people trusted me to show them the way. Trusted me to save them and their families.
Though, I had already failed. The grim cries of sorrow throughout the night were enough to tell me that. But they still looked at me the same when the morning came, when we continued on as if the small attack couldn’t hold us down.
I was thankful to the gods, to the nymph’s Mother Nature, or whoever else was responsible for allowing us to make it here, mostly unscathed. The surprise attack had been scary and it left a few with additional injuries, but we had only lost a few nymphs. One had already been questionable and nearly paralyzed on his cot beforehand. I shrugged to myself. I tried to rationalize that his already declining health made him less of a valuable being. Technically, it did. Shitty train of thought, Dace.
We moved as quietly and unnoticed as we could as we skirted around the edges of small towns on the way to the Heathern Court capital, Meridat. It was clear as we traveled that the fighting within this court was not done. Some towns waged their own battle as their nymphs fought back. Even from our mostly-hidden path we could hear the clash of powers and raised voices. Some wanted to help, but I turned them down with a short shake of my head. We couldn’t lose any more numbers. We just couldn’t.
The fighting had faded, much of it so long ago that it was easier to pretend like I hadn’t heard it at all. Still, the more I pretended, the worse the remorse got.
Now I could see the light at the end of the trail. Trees leaned away from our path, no longer keeping us in their cool shadows, and at the end was the long valley between us and what was now Ryker’s castle. If I closed my eyes I could see it’s sandstone walls atop the hill, and the absolutely absurd amount of steps it took to reach any entrance.
I leaned back, jostling Shavarra against me as I adjusted my grip. The stiffness in my back grew and throbbed, my backpack bouncing behind me. Just a few more steps and we would be at the valley.
“We are almost there,” I grunted loudly to the parade of people behind me. A small wave of excitement pressed them forward. A few children in our company giggled and ran ahead of me. “No, please stay behind me,” I shooed them. Better I be the first in the line of danger than them.
Slyke had taken his position at the back of the group once more, and Jesseline took her time walking up to my side. She pressed her fingers against Shavarra’s neck, taking her pulse as she walked backwards, watching me.
“We’ll make it in the nick of time. I think she’ll be okay once she sees a healer,” Jesseline nodded to herself. “I’m going to go ahead of the group, warn them of our arrival.”
“I agree. Let them know we need medical attention.”
The air around her blurred in a haze as she pulled her hood down from her face and completely disappeared. The last of the old trade route stopped. Blades of grass sprouted in the fading dirt and multiplied into the open valley that bloomed year-round with dots of purple and white wildflowers.
Every ounce of air within my lungs escaped me as we stepped into the clearing. Half of the valley had been turned into something like the training arena in the Acture Court. A little more pieced together, and a lot less polished than theirs, but I could see it nonetheless. Behind it, the soft tan walls of the castle were no longer visible behind layers and layers of green, leafy vines that had climbed and covered all of its surfaces.
Nymphs had paused whatever activities they had been attempting to complete as they saw us. My eyes scanned their faces looking for Jesseline. Looking for Ryker. Bodies moved in a swarm as we rushed forward, and the crowd of waiting nymphs parted.
Jesseline was next to Ryker, talking quickly and quietly. Ryker nodded, stopping to point at a nymph and call out an order.
I squeezed Shavarra tighter to my chest, “It’s okay. We're here. We made it here. You’re gonna be okay. You have to be okay.”
Soft brown curls bounced behind Ryker in a taut ponytail that revealed her sun-kissed face. Light freckles dotted the bridge of her nose, her full lips pressed together in worry as we finally met in the middle.
“Please,” I said hoarsely, as emotion swept over me, an unusual onslaught of happiness and fear. “I didn’t know where else to take them that wouldn’t give Windre away. Shavarra...” I took a deep breath to steady myself, “We were attacked on the way here. Shavarra hasn’t woken up yet.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Ryker whispered, pinning me with her citron green eyes. Gently, she brushed her hand over my fingertips, where they dug into Shavarra’s leg. She pointed to the nymph who had appeared at her side.
The young man, with fish scales carved into his skin in a strip over one of his eyes, offered his arms. “I’ll take her to the healer.”
“Thank you, thank you,” I murmured, passing her over. The sudden lightness of my arms left me swaying, feeling a bit unbalanced as I watched him carry her up the remainder of the hill and toward the vine-covered castle.
“How many do you have with you? How many more need medical attention?” Ryker tilted her head to look around me.
My brain felt frozen as I opened and closed my mouth a few times. How many had been at the refuge? How many had died? How many did I find at Shavarra’s home? How many? How many? How many of us were left?
“Dace!” Ryker grabbed both my hands and pressed them together between hers, bringing my attention back to her. I hadn’t realized how badly they had been trembling until the shaking calmed under her touch.
“Your hair has grown again,” I said roughly.
She breathed a laugh and shook her head. “Hair does that. It grows. Can you answer my questions?”
“No, yes,” I pulled my hands away from her and scrubbed the sides of my face. It itched where the shadow of an unmanicured beard was growing in. “Um, maybe fifty total. The people on the stretchers are the most critical, but we have quite a few who could use a good look over. Some have dead they wish to bury”
“Okay. Follow me. Let’s get everyone where they need to be.”
She turned toward the castle, the end of her ponytail brushing between her shoulder blades. She looked different from the slave I saw in the Heathern Court, and still different from the version of her I saw in the Acture Court. She looked stronger. She looked like she was fulfilling her destiny.
She no longer wore the paper-thin servant uniform, and didn’t wear the training outfit the Acture Court had offered either. A soft white, nearly sheer, button-up over a thick black bra, tucked into brown khaki shorts that had been rolled and cuffed mid-thigh. It looked like she had dug through my wardrobe and mended the clothing to fit her taste. Very fitting for someone who had taken over the castle and kept the grounds for her cause.
Nymphs turned to watch our party walk through them. Some jumped into the procession to help carry the injured and escort the few that limped. They smiled at each other excitedly. It was a feeling buzzing in the air, an electricity in the atmosphere that told us this was where we were supposed to be. This was their new home.
I winced with every step we took up to the waiting open doors. My body was screaming for the breaks that I didn’t allow on the last leg of our trip. Even my lips were cracked and dry as I ran my tongue over them.
Inside the castle, the air cooled. A huge relief from the sun that we had all waited for. Vines covered most of the surfaces inside the building, too. Pictures and furniture were shattered or remade into something totally new. Bricks in the walls were clearly missing where the vines had dipped inside them. Honestly, I was surprised this castle was still standing after what they had done to the place.