“Send one of your men in bird form to provide warning to the council,” I suggested.
Rayfe shook his head. “None of the ones with me can take that form.”
Interesting. “The staymachs can.”
“Yes,” Andi put in, “but they’re not that intelligent.”
Right, right. “You can take the form of a rather large black hawk, as I recall,” I pointed out to Rayfe. One that had caused considerable chaos by shattering the window in the throne room.
He laid a possessive hand on Andi’s thigh. “So can Andromeda. She can take any form, as your mother could.”
“As some others of our family can,” Andi added.
“Can you shift back and forth, as much as you like?”
“No,” Rayfe said, giving Andi a stern look, as if he spoke to an old argument. “It’s as tiring as putting in hard, physical labor. Being distracted or exhausted can lead to fatal errors.”
“That’s not an issue at the moment,” Andi inserted.
“So the pair of you could go defend this Heart, whatever it is. Get there ahead of them and we can come up from behind, trap Terin and his confederates between us.”
“It’s not that simple.” Andi’s brow knitted. “Even with Stella, I’m not sure how they think they’ll get to it.”
“Explain,” I told her.
“Don’t order me about, Ursula,” she snapped. “It’s a secret I can’t reveal.”
“You’re going to have to reveal something if we’re to rescue Ami and the babies. While I’m sorry for your internal politics, my aim is to rescue my sister, niece, and nephew. What happens to this Heart is immaterial to me.”
“She’s my sister, too.” Andi glared at me.
“Losing control of the Heart would have dire consequences for the Twelve, as well,” Rayfe spoke over her, running a hand down her hair, adding his glare to hers.
I hated secrets. Especially ones with dire implications.
Andi scrubbed her hands over her scalp. “I don’t know why I didn’t see them going for the Heart. That’s big. It should be a major point in time, with many possible outcomes.”
“Dire ones,” I added, and Harlan flicked me an amused look.
“Okay, look.” Andi leaned forward. “I want you to swear to Danu that you won’t use this information against Annfwn.”
Rayfe’s face darkened. “Andromeda—”
“No. If she swears, she won’t go back on it.”
I held her gaze for a long moment, sorting the possibilities. The long-term implications of such a promise.
“Look at her,” Rayfe growled, sounding remarkably wolflike. “She can’t do it. There is your answer.”
I didn’t rise to the bait, but turned it over in my mind. All the conflicting loyalties. Salena had set all this in motion to protect Annfwn—that much seemed clear—and had expected me to be part of her plan. But there was more to it than that. She had to have known that I’d grow up wanting to protect the Twelve also. I wished I knew what she had wanted from me.
Until then, I’d have to grope my way through.
“I swear to Danu,” I said slowly, “that anything you tell me about the Heart of Annfwn will be information I hold secret and will use only for the greatest good.”
“As you see it,” Rayfe snarled.
“Yes. I have no other measure to offer.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Andi decided.
“Andromeda—she is her father’s puppet.”
“No.” Andi seemed to be speaking to me. “She’s not. She never was. I trust her.”
“I’m sitting right here,” I commented drily.
She ignored the tone. “The Heart of Annfwn is more a—”
“Shouldn’t I step away?” Harlan interrupted.
“Why bother?” Andi gave him a distracted look. “Your pledge to Ursula will hold you to whatever she vows.”
“Danu take it—you knew!” I accused her, and she gave me a bland look. “You might have warned me.”
“I did warn you. Now—the Heart is not a thing so much as a place. I’m not going to tell you where it is, except that it’s situated in such a way that only a shape-shifter—one with the ability to take multiple forms—can reach it. It’s not exactly the source of Annfwn’s magic, but it acts like a heart in truth, circulating and refreshing the magic. The right person can control the magic from there.”
“Control the magic in what way?”
She sighed a little. “Among other things, the barrier.”
Aha. Very interesting implications there. “The right person—one with the mark?”
“Yes.”
“And Stella has the mark, but she’s a babe in arms. She wouldn’t be able to shape-shift to take herself to the place, would she? You didn’t.”
Andi’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Not until I got to Annfwn, no. Which was a problem for me. Tala babies with strong blood can and do shape-shift in the cradle. That’s part of why I wanted Stella here. It can make for some interesting moments.”
Harlan glanced at me, amused, and I recalled his comment about having shape-shifter children making for interesting parenting. Not something I could get my head around.
“Okay, so Stella shifts, but she still has an infant’s mind, right? She wouldn’t have the ability to intelligently manipulate the Heart for years.”
“Which is why this makes no sense,” Andi agreed.
“What about Amelia?”
“What about her?”
“You heard Dafne—Ami has this idea that Glorianna wants her to open all of Annfwn’s magic to the Twelve. She might be thinking of taking down the barrier, to restore balance or some such. Perhaps Ash and Terin have convinced her to join forces with them to do just that.”
“Ash wouldn’t go along,” Rayfe said. “He has no love for Terin.”
“You have no love for me and yet we’ve found common cause,” I pointed out ruthlessly. “Ash is committed to freeing the Tala from the prisons of the Twelve and returning them and other by-blows with Tala blood to Annfwn. Which means bringing your barrier down.”
“No, it doesn’t. We were working on that already,” Andi protested. “We were making great strides on my ability to consciously alter the permeability of the barrier when Ash left to—”
“To go to Ami,” I filled in. “At which point Stella was abducted and made to seem as if she died. A plot like that would discourage pursuit, so it could not have been intended to lure Ami here. She and Ash coming after Terin would have been an unintended consequence. Not predictable.”
“But not entirely unwelcome.”
The new voice startled me. By the time I became aware that a fox had darted in from the trees, shifted into a man, and spoken, Harlan, Rayfe, and I were all on our feet, swords drawn. The man shook his head slowly and made a tsking sound. “If I don’t return very soon, unharmed, the princess and young prince will die.”
“Terin, I presume.”
He gave me a slight bow, full of mockery. “Your Highness. I’m surprised you don’t remember me. I was a guest of Ordnung for some time while you were in residence.”
I had not placed him as one of the Tala prisoners. Odd. “What happened to your perimeter guard, King Rayfe?”
“Something I would also like to know. You’ve laid out the stakes, Terin,” Rayfe growled, looking supremely pissed. “Do you truly expect us to believe you have the Princess Amelia in your custody with no proof?”
Terin smiled, not nicely, and signaled. A wolf parted the shadows between the trees and deposited a length of bright, red-gold hair in Andi’s lap. Darker rust smears marred it in places. Edging over, I crouched beside her, which also put me between her and Terin. We exchanged grave looks. Ami’s hair was unmistakable. Andi touched a fingertip to the dried blood and gave a slight nod.
Danu take them all for hurting her. I let the anger flow, using it as Kaedrin had taught me so long ago. “You’ve signed your death warrant, Terin of the Tala.”
His saucy smile faded into a grim line. “No. Salena did that. I’m just doing what she forced us into, for self-preservation. To save Annfwn. Once you believed in that,” he accused Rayfe.
To his credit, Rayfe stayed calm, though his eyes glittered an unnatural blue in the shadows. He’d moved subtly to cover Andi from the other side. Harlan, though he’d remained where he was and kept his attention ostensibly on Terin, showed me in the lines of his body that he scanned the forest for signs of our guard or more of Terin’s people.
“Queen Andromeda has saved Annfwn.” Rayfe had an implacable expression. “The barrier is within our control again.”
“While you sit cozily with Uorsin’s heir,” Terin sneered. “It need not be this way. The babe shall be ours entirely, free of Uorsin’s taint. And you, Andromeda—you shall come with me and show me how to reach the Heart, so the babe can be taught. If you behave, you, your sisters, and the boy child can go free. You all will be allowed to leave Annfwn forever. Decide. Time is running out.”
“She’s not going—” Rayfe boiled with constrained violence but stopped when Andi stood and laid a hand on his arm.
“Yes, I am.”
“I forbid it.”
She nearly rolled her eyes. Stopped herself. “I see more now. I have to go.” They exchanged a long, wordless communication, and he lowered his sword.
Andi looked to me. “Keep your blade sharp, my sister.”
“Always.” I turned my attention to Terin. “And the hostage exchange? When shall my sisters and nephew be returned?”
“All in good time, Uorsin’s heir. Horse form, if you please, bastard niece of mine.”
Without hesitation—perhaps so Rayfe couldn’t stop her as he so clearly strained to do—Andi shifted into a horse, storm gray with a black mane and tail. Terin leapt onto her back and dug his heels viciously into her sides, spurring her to gallop off into the night.
Rayfe cursed low and long in his native language, then called out to the guard. None answered. Harlan gave me a small shake of his head, conveying that he’d detected nothing either while we negotiated. Rayfe picked up the skein of Ami’s hair, looking grim.
“I’m following. I apologize for leaving you here, but I have no choice. I can’t let them hurt her.”
“Go,” I told him. “We’ll be on your trail.”
Without another word, he shifted into hawk form, launching into the sky, black on black.
“So much I don’t like about this,” I commented to Harlan. “But I see no other path than to saddle up and bring Fiona with us. If we ride all night and tomorrow, perhaps finding a diagonal back to—”
The night forest exploded. We’d never sheathed our swords, but the creatures were on us with such devastating speed we nearly failed to keep them off. I palmed a dagger, nailing a wolf in the eye with it, but three more leapt at me. At my back, Harlan bellowed and swung his great sword, cleaving a clearing around us. I stepped into the space he created, which at least put one of the monster trees at our backs. Only marginally helpful, as razor-taloned birds fell on us from the branches.
After that, I became the fight. Nothing but clicking from one target to the next.
Defend, parry, attack.
Defend, parry, attack.
Defend, parry, attack.
One corner of my mind sent prayers to Danu that we would live to retreat and regroup.
Another part of me took a fierce, almost sexual joy in fighting beside Harlan. We passed targets off to each other as if we’d practiced it for years.
My speed.
His strength.
He dug in, an immovable, unassailable bulwark that sent one creature after another off bleeding into the shadows.
I spun, danced, maneuvered, guarding his flank, creating a double-bladed whirlwind that nothing penetrated.
Nothing much. I became aware of a few nasty bites singing with blood and pain when there were, at last, no more comers. I weighted back in one leg, ready to spring, surveying the twitching bodies, scanning the rustling leaves. No movement in my arc. In the corner of my eye, Harlan cut the head from a large black wolf, grunting with the effort, then performed a similar scan.
“Clear?” I asked.
“For the moment, it seems.” He was out of breath. Understandable.
“We should move. Hopefully they didn’t kill the horses. If we can’t ride out, we’ll have to find a more defensible location.”
“A sound plan.”
I moved forward, exercising caution, lest any of the fallen were thinking to ambush us. Harlan’s tread seemed louder than usual behind me, uneven. I glanced back. “You okay?”
He nodded, grim. “Get to the horses.”
The three were hobbled out where we’d left them to graze in a grassy meadow at the edge of the trees. Terrified, but unhurt. The Tala love animals. A foolish miss to my mind. But a stroke of luck I’d take. No doubt Terin had thought us easier to kill than that.
Harlan grunted and once again I turned back. Just in time to see him sink to his knees.
“Danu—you’re injured!” In two strides, I had him under the shoulder, easing him to the ground. His arm wrapped protectively around his gut told me all I needed to know. “Stubborn man. Let me see.”
“Ursula.” He refused to budge his arm. “Take your steed and go.”
“Not on your life.”
He laughed, a hollow sound. “I’m afraid so.”
Terror, keen and ice-cold, such as I’d never felt before flooded through me. “I’m not leaving you. Let me see.”
I think he wouldn’t have, but that unfailing strength had bled away and he couldn’t resist me. Dark liver blood covered my hands before I managed to cut away his leather armor. It pulsed out, hot, fast. I pressed down to staunch the bleeding. Too much. The slick, ragged flesh shifted under my hands, sliding away.
A mortal wound.
“Don’t weep, my hawk,” he whispered, wrapping a hand around my wrist. “Not for me.”
“Thrice-damn you,” I gritted out, my vision blurry. “Don’t you dare die.”
“Sing for me.” His voice had become thready as his lifeblood pumped into the ground.
“I won’t let you die.”
“Even you can’t fight death, my valiant warrior. Lay my head in your lap and sing me a lullaby. You promised.”
I wanted to argue I’d never promised any such thing. I wanted to badger and bully him into getting up again. But any fool could see he was dying. I’d seen enough of it to know. I rolled up his shirt and packed it into the wound anyway, to forestall death as long as possible, and then did as he asked, gently lifting his head so he could lay it in my lap.
He gazed up at me, eyes no longer sharp. “So beautiful.”
I caught the sob. “I do love you. I should have said so.”
“It’s all right. I knew.”
“Of course you did. Arrogant hire-sword.”
“I wouldn’t trade it. Any of it. Knowing you. Loving you. The greatest privilege of my life. Even knowing how it would end, I’d do it again.”
“I’m sorry I was so hardheaded.”
“You are perfect. Sing me to sleep.”
So, I did. My voice croaking around the tears, I sang the only lullaby I knew.
Sleep deep, sleep now,
Under the moon, Moranu’s cowl.
Danu’s stars light your way
To Glorianna’s dawning day.
32
I sang it three times.
He said nothing more; his breath slowed to nothing. He was gone.
I couldn’t make myself check to be sure. As if, maybe if I just sat quietly, I wouldn’t have to face that I’d lost him forever.
That I sat there in an open meadow under Danu’s merciless stars, all alone.
“Glorianna take you, Ursula! Where are you? I know that was you croaking in that frog’s voice.”
Was I hallucinating? It couldn’t be Ami calling out to me. “Ami?” I said, but no soun
d emerged. I cleared my throat. “Ami!”
“Oh, thank Glorianna!” She burst through the trees, dressed in leathers, hair cut raggedly short, carrying a dagger. Several impossible things together. But Ami it was. She ran to me and fell to her knees beside me. “Are you hurt? You’re covered in blood. Ash! Come help me.”
“Ash is here?” My brain felt stupid.
“Yes. Here he comes. Ash—she needs help.”
“Not me.” I grabbed her hands as Ash came striding up, a bundle strapped to his chest. “Harlan. Ash, you have to heal him. Can you?”
Ami stared down at Harlan’s face. “Who is he? I’ve never seen this man before.”
“It’s a really long story. Ash, please! I’ll pay any price.”
Ash’s uncanny green eyes flashed from my face to Harlan, and he unstrapped the bundle, handed it to Ami, and knelt down. “Let me see.”
“His side. I tried to stop the bleeding, but . . .”
“Essla.” Ami kept her voice soft. “I think he’s—”
“Don’t say it.” My voice cracked, along with my heart. “I can’t bear to hear the words. Please try, Ash.” With a sense of desperate despair, I prayed with all my might to Danu, offering her whatever she required of me. Surely she would not have guided Ash here at this moment, only to hand Harlan over to Glorianna’s arms. I didn’t know how to withstand that kind of crushing defeat. I’d watched Ami receive the corpse of her true love and badgered her terribly. Awful of me. “I’m sorry I was cruel to you, Ami. When you were grieving. I didn’t know how it felt.”
“You were right to do it. You kept me from going off the cliffs long enough to heal.”
Heal. An impossible concept.
“He’s alive,” Ash said, sounding terse, “but barely. I need some room here.”
“Wait.” Ami put a hand on his shoulder. “At what cost? You can’t endanger yourself.”
The Twelve Kingdoms Page 31