by Anne Bishop
The two horses swung into an easy trot, apparently having decided their riders had tarried long enough. They moved silently on the wide trail through the woods, their hooves making no sound.
How did two witches end up with Fae horses? Selena wondered, not for the first time. Fox had shown up late last autumn, taken one look at Rhyann and tried to follow her into the house. He wouldn’t leave and wouldn’t let anyone else near him until she loudly announced that he belonged to her. After that, the dark horse with lethal hooves acted like a docile pet.
Mistrunner…She still wasn’t sure about Mistrunner. She’d been out in a clearing three years ago, celebrating the Great Mother and the full moon, playing with the power that swirled inside her. She’d braided the strength of the earth to moonlight, dazzled it with air and drops of water, warmed it with the heat of fire. When she was done, she’d stared at the glittering path that rose from the land and disappeared into the night sky, uncertain if she was delighted or uneasy about what she had done.
And then she heard the desperate, terrified scream, and shouted, “Here!”
A heavy mist poured out of the sky, obscuring the top end of her glittering path. A gray yearling burst out of that mist, galloping down the path she’d created as if it were a solid road, stumbling a little when his hooves touched firm earth. He raced past her, getting as far away from the path as he could without leaving the clearing.
Unnerved that something had come down a path she’d thought led nowhere and had no real substance, she’d unraveled the magic and grounded the power—and her glittering path disappeared. Which left her with a terrified young animal that had decided she was the only safe thing in a strange world. So she ended up taking him home with her and naming him Mistrunner.
She suspected he had come from Tir Alainn, but she still didn’t know what had terrified him or how he’d found her glittering path and recognized it as a way to reach the world…and safety. She never tried to find out who he belonged to—and she admitted to herself that part of her apprehension in meeting the Fae was that someone would recognize him and want him back.
“We’re here,” Rhyann said.
Selena blinked. “Where?”
“Where your body has been but you haven’t,” Rhyann replied testily. She leaned toward Selena. “We aren’t home anymore. You can’t get so lost in thought you’re not aware of the world. You don’t know what’s out there. Or who is out there.”
Feeling her shoulders start to hunch at the justified scolding, Selena straightened in the saddle. “You’re right. I shouldn’t let my thoughts wander so far. I’m just…I guess I’m nervous.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“You wouldn’t say that if the power was pulling at you the way it’s pulling at me.”
“Well, it won’t impress the Fae if you’re knocked out of the saddle on the way to this gathering because you weren’t paying attention to the low-hanging branch in front of your face.”
What an embarrassing picture that made.
As she brushed her heels against Mistrunner’s sides to give him the signal to move forward toward the buildings up ahead, she said in her best long-suffering, big-sister tone of voice, “Mother, grant me the patience needed to deal with a younger sister.”
“The Great Mother doesn’t care about such things.”
“She would if she had a younger sister,” Selena replied sourly.
“Maybe the moon is Her younger sister,” Rhyann said, a mischievous light in her eyes. “Maybe that’s why they play this constant game of catch-me-if-you-can.”
“It’s possible. The younger sister is always playing with the tides while the elder moves sedately through the seasons.”
“Sedately? Phuuu.”
“Brat.”
“Mouse breath.”
Selena’s mouth fell open. “Mouse breath?”
“Remember the time Mother found you in the barn with half a mouse?” Rhyann said primly.
“I was still getting used to changing into a puppy!” And had been learning, usually the hard way, to curb the instincts of a shadow hound that had hunted down its prey.
“And Mother wouldn’t let you change back until she was sure the mouse bits had gone through you—one way or another.”
She remembered the scolding that had followed the discovery—and the flat-handed whack on the head she’d received when she’d snarled at her mother for taking the rest of the mouse away.
“I only did it once,” Selena muttered.
“Which is one time more than I ever did it,” Rhyann said. Then she raised her hand in greeting to the man who stepped out of the cottage, followed by two women. “Blessings of the day to you.”
Faced with three strangers, Selena gave up the idea of leaning over and giving Rhyann’s braid a hard yank and worked to compose her expression into something more suitably adult. “Blessings of the day to you.”
The man stepped forward, nerves and temper plain on his face. “And what would the Fair Folk be wanting with the likes of us?”
“Chad,” the younger of the two women said, placing a restraining hand on the man’s arm. She studied Rhyann for a moment, then Selena. “What can we offer you, Ladies?”
“Your hospitality for the night, if you’re willing,” Selena said coolly. They’d been met with wariness and suspicion at almost every Old Place they’d been to since leaving home—because of her. Because she looked Fae, and the Fae, for reasons none of the witches in those Old Places understood, were keeping watch in a way that made the witches and the Small Folk uneasy.
“But…wouldn’t you be more comfortable in Tir Alainn?” the woman asked.
“I don’t know,” Selena said. “I’ve never been there. I am Fae because that was my mother’s legacy to me. But I am first, and always, a Daughter of the House of Gaian.”
That startled them.
The older woman, the crone of the family judging by her looks, said hesitantly, “You’re a witch and Fae?”
“Yes.”
A look passed between the two women, while the man watched them anxiously.
“Would you be a Lady of the Moon?” the crone asked.
“I am,” Selena replied.
“You’re gathering with the others to see who will become the Huntress?”
“Yes.”
The crone smiled. “Come in and be welcome, Ladies. Oh, yes, you are welcome.”
As Selena and Rhyann dismounted, the man, who introduced himself as Chad, said, “If you’re easy about it, I can take your horses to the barn and give them a light feed.”
“Is there somewhere they could graze for now?” Rhyann asked.
“Aye, there’s a pasture by the barn. We’ve been keeping the animals close since—” He stopped, his lips pressing together in a tight line.
Since the Fae started arriving, Selena finished. There was anger here, and she was going to find out why. It was becoming clear that the Fae were distrusted and disliked, even feared, and nothing short of desperation was going to make the humans and witches welcome their presence.
“We’ll go with you to the barn,” Selena said. “It will help these two settle in better.”
Chad turned his head, and called, “Parker. Come help with the horses.”
A boy appeared in the doorway. He hesitated for a moment before joining his father. His eyes were wide, his face filled with awed delight.
“Oh, they’re beauties!” Parker said.
Both horses snorted and laid their ears back tight to their heads.
“He was talking about you, not me,” Selena said dryly, resting a hand on Mistrunner’s neck.
The boy said hastily, “Oh, you’re pretty too.” He gave his father an anxious look.
Rhyann burst out laughing. “Let it go, laddy-boy, and just show us where to put these two.” She stepped around Fox until she was facing the dark horse. “Behave. If you act like the gentleman I know you can be, perhaps the boy can be coaxed into giving you a treat.”
Both horses swung their ears forward.
Selena pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
Chad cleared his throat, and muttered, “This way.”
They followed father and son to the barn. The horses were unsaddled and given a quick rubdown before being escorted to the barn door that led to the fenced pasture.
Keeping her eyes on the boy, who had continued into the pasture with the horses, Selena said quietly, “Now. Tell me why you’re angry with the Fae.”
“It’s nothing to do with you, Lady, and I’m sorry we didn’t give you the welcome guests deserve.”
A flash of anger sizzled under her skin. She struggled to bank the branch of fire that wanted to answer the heat of her feelings. “Do you know what’s been happening in the east? Do you understand that Sylvalan is at risk?”
“I understand well enough,” Chad replied. He kept his voice low, but it was edged with temper. “I understand well enough that more than trouble could be heading our way. Mother’s tits, woman! The minstrels have been singing songs about the Black Coats and their evil for months now. And a few days ago, the baron who rules this county came to the Old Place to pay his respects. The baron. A responsible man, one who looks after his own, but he’s never come here. Came near to scaring my Ella out of her wits when he showed up with the squire and a handful of guards.”
“What did he want?” Rhyann asked.
“Said the last barons’ council made him realize he’d been neglectful of some of his duties. Said the Old Place wasn’t part of the land he ruled.”
“It wouldn’t be,” Selena said. “The Old Places belong to the Mother’s Daughters.”
Chad nodded. “He wanted us to know that it was his intention to be a good neighbor, and if we needed help from his people, we need only ask.” He smiled. “He meant well, but this isn’t his home village and he doesn’t spend more than a couple of days here each year to make sure the squire and the magistrate are keeping things right and proper, so he didn’t know how things stand with us here.”
“And how do things stand?”
“The squire is my father’s cousin, and one of the guards who came with the baron that day is the brother of my older brother’s wife. Ella’s brother is the village blacksmith. So, you see, we’ve already got ties to the ‘baron’s people.’ Doesn’t matter if those Black Coats come here or come to the village. We’ll stand together.”
“I’m glad to hear it, but you haven’t answered my question about the Fae,” Selena said.
Chad’s expression hardened. He was silent for a long time, watching Parker’s slow return to the barn. “They aren’t good neighbors. Oh, I know they all live in their grand Tir Alainn, but that’s no excuse for—” He blew out a breath. “If they want to go riding, there’s plenty of open land. There’s no reason to ride down a man’s crops, spoiling the harvest he needs to feed his family or sell at the market. They’ve no right to steal chickens from the tenant farms. They’ve plenty of coins in their pockets. They can buy a chicken in the market same as other folks. And they’ve no business seducing young girls and leaving them with babes in their bellies. I’m not saying it’s all the man’s fault, but if he sires a child, he should do right by that child.”
“The Fae aren’t the only ones who walk away from their children,” Selena said flatly.
He gave her a measuring look. “No, they’re not. And that’s not right, whether they’re human or Fae. But you asked about the Fae, so I’ve told you how it is.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And to be fair, we don’t see much of them, and there were a handful of Ladies who rode up the other day to pay their respects. They gave Ella some gifts as thanks for letting them gather in the Old Place. Ella said they seemed…embarrassed…by the way the other Fae were acting.”
As Parker reached the barn door, a high, young voice behind them said, “Papa?”
Chad turned. “Yes, Hayley-girl?”
“Mama wants to know if you’re going to keep our guests in the barn all day. She says the food’s ready for the table, and Gran’s gone back to her cottage to fetch Grandpapa to come eat with us, and the Ladies might like to wash up a bit before we eat.”
Chad grinned. “She said all that, did she?”
“She said more, but she told me to fetch you.” Hayley looked disapprovingly at her brother. “And Parker has to wash his hands before he touches the bread. He’s dirty.”
“Am not,” Parker said.
“Are too.”
“We’ll all go in and wash up before we sit at your mother’s table,” Chad said firmly.
Rhyann slipped her arm through Selena’s as they followed Chad and the children back to the cottage. “Younger sisters,” she said sweetly. “Aren’t they wonderful?”
“Phuuu,” Selena said.
Dianna gazed hungrily at the beautiful gardens and terraces she could see from her window in the Clan house. She took a deep breath and let it out in a luxurious sigh.
She was back in Tir Alainn. Finally, she was back in Tir Alainn after all those weeks of being chained to Brightwood in order to anchor her Clan’s piece of the Fair Land, living in that miserable cottage crammed with other Fae, hearing the muttered complaints about where she rode her pale mare, what she ate, where she sat, as if she hadn’t been forced to give up everything for their sake. And now there was a challenge to her position as the Lady of the Moon.
She wouldn’t have been challenged if she hadn’t been chained to Brightwood, if she’d still been free to travel through Tir Alainn and visit the other Clans the same way her twin, Lucian, could do.
Well, it wasn’t going to happen. She would meet the challenger and show that upstart she was still the Lady of the Moon, still the Huntress. And after her rival yielded, she would spare the bitch’s life in exchange for a small service. Her rival would have to return with her to Brightwood and become the anchor for the Old Place’s magic. Her rival would have to live in that cottage and listen to the complaints. Her rival could spend sleepless nights looking out on land that demanded sweat and hard work. Her rival would live in the human world—and she would be free to return to Tir Alainn.
Dianna turned away from the window to stare blindly at the tastefully decorated room.
No smells from a chamberpot. No stains on the bedcovers. No chipped vases or cracked mirrors.
If she lost this challenge…if her rival was actually strong enough to ascend and steal her place as the Lady of the Moon…
She would end up back in Brightwood, back in that cottage, trapped forever as the seasons changed, summer giving way to autumn and autumn yielding to unforgiving winter. Even the thought of having to spend a whole winter in the human world was more than she could bear.
Lyrra did it last year. They aren’t even her Clan or kin, but she stayed in the cottage with the cold and the winds driving in storms from the sea.
That was Lyrra, whose refusal to accommodate the Lady of the Moon and remain at Brightwood had forced that duty on her.
No matter. She might even forgive the Muse someday—once her rival was settled into that cottage at Brightwood.
So she had to win. She had to. Because after she returned from the Old Place where the challenge would occur, she had no intention of leaving Tir Alainn.
Selena felt Rhyann shift, pause, then roll over to face her.
“Can’t sleep?” Rhyann asked sleepily.
“No,” Selena replied. “Too many thoughts, too many feelings.”
“Mmm. You always think too much.”
“Did you notice how excited Ella and Mildred were about me standing with the Fae for this gathering?”
“You’re one of their own. Why shouldn’t they be pleased?”
“The way they fussed over the dress to make sure all the creases and wrinkles were out of it, you would think I was preparing for my wedding.”
“Oh,” Rhyann said, yawning, “they wouldn’t have fussed over you half as much if you were just getting married. Hun
dreds of women get married every year. But there’s only one Lady of the Moon at any time.”
“Thank you for being so comforting.”
“Welcome,” Rhyann mumbled.
“Rhyann?”
“Erf?”
“What if I lose?” Selena made a noise that sounded terrifyingly like a laugh changing into a whimper. “Mother’s mercy, what if I win?”
“You get to be the Lady of the Moon.”
“I’ll be expected to give orders to people I know almost nothing about.”
“That shouldn’t bother you. You’re always bossy.”
Selena just sighed. Nothing would be gained by pointing out that Rhyann could be equally bossy.
When she thought her sister had fallen back asleep, Selena whispered, “I’m afraid I’ll change.”
Rhyann stirred. Propped herself up on one elbow. “The moon waxes and wanes. The tides ebb and flow. The seasons turn, each in their own time. Ever changing, never changing. Of course you’ll change. The dance of life spirals, remember? Even when you return to a point, you’re not in the same place. The dance would have changed you, whether you’d come here or stayed home.” She leaned over and kissed Selena’s forehead before laying back down. “Don’t worry. If you start to act too much like them, I’ll still be nearby to help you remember who you are.”
Selena smiled in the dark, Rhyann’s sleepy reassurance giving her more comfort than anything else could have.
“Good night, little sister,” she said softly, feeling love swell inside her.
“Good night, mouse breath.”
Chapter 8
new moon
Aiden sat in the shade of one of the Clan’s courtyards and plucked idle notes on the harp, letting his mind wander just as idly, drifting on the sound. He looked up when a boot quietly scuffed the paving stones.
“Are you working on a new song?” Taihg asked. The Clan’s bard looked ready to retreat if the Bard wanted privacy—and also looked hopeful that he could sit in the courtyard and listen to a song come into being.