by LJ Rivers
I gaped. “A—Alun?”
“Ruby!”
“Alun!” I grinned.
He folded his arms around me and picked me up as if I weighed nothing. The beautiful boy who could turn into the most intimidating creature I’d ever seen, flung me around, surprising me with his strength.
He put me down, clasping my hands. “Man, am I glad to see a friendly face.”
“So am I!” I studied him. His shoulders had broadened, and he had put on weight, but he looked as ethereally gorgeous as I remembered. We might have had a brief encounter back in Perllanafal, but he had made a lasting impression. “You’ve grown up a little since I last saw you.”
“Yeah, I’ve been hard at work for Mr Goff, here. He treats me well, and I really like this place.” He lowered his voice. “It’s a tad gloomy, though, if you know what I mean?”
I certainly did.
“Alun?” Brendan crossed his arms. “Alun who?”
I giggled. “You remember when you were kidnapped by the Baker boys?”
“How could I forget?”
“Alun is the manticore I had to get past to free you. Remember I told you about him?”
“You mean he was my watchdog?”
Alun pursed his lips. “I’m sorry about that, though I’m glad Ruby freed you. She sort of freed me, too. I never would have found the courage to leave if she hadn’t been that kind to me, and I certainly wouldn’t have dared to follow you through the portal.”
“Wait.” I waved my hands in front of me. “How long have you been here?” Could it be? Was Charlie wrong after all? If Alun had come here recently, then maybe the time on Earth hadn’t passed as much as she thought.
“I’m not sure. It’s not as if Mr Goff has a calendar.”
“You have to tell me everything.”
Alun smiled. “Sure.” We started walking through the fields as he began his tale. “So, after that whole ordeal back at the Morgana farm, and with the police showing up, things got a little out of whack. The police had stunners and everything. They arrested anyone in sight.”
“Did you see Rhys and Mari?”
He grinned. “Well, I sort of took off the moment I heard the sirens, and I just kept circling the air for a while. I spotted Rhys’ truck bumping across the fields behind the Morgana farm. He took a shortcut. Actually, not really a shortcut, but I saw his truck speed off on the way out of town while the police raced towards the centre of it. I’m pretty sure they’re fine.”
“Oh, thank the Lady,” I breathed.
“Yeah, anyway, then the choppers came. A little too close for comfort, to be honest. I saw Auberon and a few others on a boat, following not far behind you. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I couldn’t stay in town, so I flew after you all to Bardsey Island.” He scratched his head for a beat. “Once there, everyone disappeared into that cave. I waited for someone to come back out. All night, in fact. When no one did, I eventually went into the cave myself, finding it empty, except for one dead wolf. After I buried him, I sat by the portal for a while. I knew I couldn’t go back to Perllanafal, and I don’t know what came over me, but I took a running start and ended up in Rhina’s Deep.”
My heart sank. It had only been hours separating our arrival. He must have been in the tunnels around the same time we were crossing the Seohl Strait.
Oblivious to my disappointment, Alun continued talking. “Luckily for me, the tide was at its lowest, and after wandering around in that maze down there for what felt like forever, I found my way out. That’s when I met Goff.”
A square piece of the ground in a bed of herbs rose next to the house, and a head peeked out underneath.
“Ah, we’ve got company.”
“Goff,” Halwyn said, wobbling over to greet his friend. “We need your help.”
“Do you now?”
“That is, our queen needs your help.”
Goff’s eyes widened underneath his thick brown eyebrows. Only his head and shoulders were visible while the rest of him was evidently below ground. “My Queen.”
I nodded at him, and the Goblin bowed his head into the surrounding herbs. He sneezed and quickly wiped his nose with his sleeve, still holding the trapdoor up.
“I gather the queen would like a tour, then.”
I glanced at Halwyn. He inclined his head at me, and the four of us moved up to Goff, following him into the ground.
“Watch your step,” Goff called. A light flickered ahead of him from a torch on the wall. He grabbed it and continued his descent. It wasn’t too far down, perhaps only about fourteen feet deep, before the ground levelled out to reveal an immense space. Barrels, pots, vases, and various-sized baskets littered the room. All kinds of odours assaulted my nostrils: sweet, sour, bitter, and foul. It was hard to distinguish one from the other, and I did my best not to inhale too deeply.
“I see you’ve met Alun.” Goff gave the boy a firm slap on his back.
“We sort of knew each other from before.” I smiled.
“That’s right, so you did.” He guffawed. “Haven’t had this many folks from Eternal Sand come here in a long while, have we, Halwyn?”
Halwyn tapped his foot in the dirt. “Listen, Goff, we’re here for a favour.”
“I’m not surprised. Auberon’s soldiers are after our queen.”
I moved closer to Brendan. “How did you know?”
He shrugged, then swung open a door. “After you, Your Majesty.”
I looked at Brendan, who gave me an encouraging nudge. Collecting myself, I straightened and went into the next room. It was small and seemingly empty. That was if you didn’t count the two men who sat bound in a corner. Blue sparks crackled around their wrists, making me jump back a step.
I conjured a fireball in my hand and sent it to hover above the men, placing them in the spotlight. Dressed in all black, they wore a single emblem of a flaming staff on their shoulders.
“These are Auberon’s men,” I said.
“Indeed.”
Alun rubbed his arm, sliding one foot back and forth in the dirt. “I caught them on a boat on their way here.”
“How did you? I mean, they’re Sorcerers.”
Goff bent forward, laughing. “He’s got some stealth, this one. Of course, he has venom in his sting, so that helps. Puts these bastards straight to sleep.” He wiped his face with his palm. “The last visit we had from Mynydd Dewin was when Bellion was here, so you can understand why I do not want these men on Crochan. Now that I see you are here, it makes sense. I presume Avalon has a new monarch?”
“Not for long,” my boyfriend said behind me.
The Goblin held his palm up. “By the Lady, I hope not.”
Carefully taking another step backward, I pointed at the unconscious men. “What will you do with them?”
“Oh, I figured I could use them as test bunnies. You know, have them taste any new concoctions I put together to see if they have the desired effect.” He waved me back out of the room and shut the door behind us.
Halwyn scratched his bushy beard, gazing into an adjacent hallway. “Our queen is in dire need of your expertise, old friend. I do hope you’ll not make her bargain for it.”
“Oh, wouldn’t dream of it.” Goff cocked his head to the side. “Although, Her Majesty’s Royal Cropkeeper does have a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you agree, Halwyn?”
The older Goblin’s face flushed red, and I could almost see the smoke spouting from his large ears.
Goff laughed. “Ah, come on, Halwyn, if my services can help defeat those sons of the Nethers, I’m more than happy to do my part.”
“What exactly is your expertise?” Brendan asked.
Flashing a row of yellowed teeth, Goff slapped himself on the chest, then went into the hallway. We followed.
More barrels lined the walls until we reached the next room. Dried herbs covered the ceiling, fastened to thin lines of string crisscrossing above our heads. Arrows and arrowheads were neatly stacked in one corner, and a pile of axes
, along with a few longswords, lay in another. A giant hearth stood at the end of the room, reminding me of Elwood’s smithy back in Avalen.
“Weapons,” Brendan said with a smile in his voice.
“Weapons,” Goff echoed.
Halwyn wobbled to the hearth where a cauldron was mounted. Something was bubbling inside. “Leaves of Eternal Sleep,” he mumbled. “Well done, Goff.”
“I have already laced the arrowheads with it. Figured it might come in handy.” He carefully dipped a knife into the concoction and held it up. The violet substance swam around the blade, then sank into the steel, leaving the silver colour with a purplish tint. “Not even a Fae can heal someone who is injured with this.”
Brendan bumped my arm. “This is perfect. See, you’ve already got an armoury.”
“Sure,” I whispered. “But I’ve still got no army, and this is hardly enough weapons to enter into a war with.”
“It’s a start.”
“Yes,” I agreed. It was a start. Now all we needed were people to wield these weapons, then add a crapload more to our armoury, not to mention people to join my supposed army. Piece of cake, right?
“And,” Goff jutted his broad chest out, his round stomach following suit, “our former queen, may her essence find peace, had the foresight to ask me to store something else for her. She banned most of them from her queendom, but I kept what I could on her orders.” He bent down and picked up a case. It was no bigger than two feet wide and maybe a foot deep. “Gloves,” he said.
Alun came to life and fetched a pair of gloves from the top of a barrel. The men swapped items, and once Goff had the gloves on him, he carefully opened the lid on the case. He reached into it and retrieved an all too familiar object. The sting of a Nadredd.
“Now this,” he said, “this will give you an edge.”
I sighed. “I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but Auberon has the actual Nadredd on his side. This will hardly put a dent in his defences.”
“Nonsense.” Goff huffed. “He may have recruited the Nadredd into his ranks, but those beasts have a hard time reproducing, and after the Dywyll War, there were not many of them left. I’m guessing he’ll only have a few handfuls of Nadredds in his army, and either way, you do not kill a Nadredd with their own sting. No, these are for the Sorcerers. To kill a Nadredd, you have to cut off their heads.”
I grimaced.
“Why their heads?” Brendan asked.
“Thick scales,” Halwyn interjected. “Magic doesn’t bite on those beasts either. Nor do force fields, and not even fireballs. They are all but impenetrable.”
“Except for their one vulnerability,” Goff offered. “Their necks. No scales, just a lot of flesh. Even the Nadredd bleed. Queen Morgana herself painted the Avalonian streets with their tar-like blood. Now, so will you, Your Majesty.”
Morgana. I stared at the Nadredd stings, the same objects that had killed my ancestor. I would annihilate every last one of them if given the chance. For her.
A chill made the hairs on my neck stand on end. I rubbed my arms, looking around the room. “Rowan?”
Goff and Alun tilted their heads at me.
“Rowan? I’m here.”
My brother stumbled out of the shadows by the hearth. He was breathing heavily, one hand resting on the hot surface of the stone construction.
“I’ve been jumping around above ground, trying to find you. Took me a while to figure out where you were. I knew you had to be close, though.” His words spilt out in a hurry.
“How?”
“I don’t know. I sensed your presence, I guess. It’s as if the shadows know you as well as they know me.”
“What’s going on?”
“Right.” He put his hands on his knees, catching his breath. “A small ship just docked. Auberon’s men, more than twenty as far as I could tell, headed in the direction of Rhina’s Deep.”
“They’ll find nothing there,” Halwyn said. “That entrance is still barred.”
Rowan looked around the room, straightened and strutted over to the arrows. “Nice work.”
“Don’t touch the arrowheads,” I cautioned.
“Because?” His hand hovered over the arrows.
“Leaves of Eternal Sleep.”
“Excellent.” He grabbed two fistfuls of arrows and stuffed them into the quiver on his back. “Now, we have to go before they find Halwyn’s cottage. Lady Carolina is in danger.” He offered me his hand.
I glanced back at the others. “It’s too far for them.”
Alun straightened. “Not for me. I’ll get them there.”
I nodded, clasped Rowan’s hand and stepped into the shadows.
Chapter Eight
I thought I had mastered moving within the shadows pretty well, at least for someone who less than a year ago didn’t know it was even possible. But watching how Rowan manoeuvred in the surrounding darkness was fascinating. Thank the Lady I was such an avid runner, because I really had to go almost flat out to keep up. The path from Goff’s farm to Halwyn’s snaked along stone fences, through a small forest, and up and down several hills and ridges. When turning sharp corners, I usually had to slow down to find my footing, jumping from one shadow to the next, as the centrifugal forces came into play. Rowan, however, didn’t seem to be bothered at all. One second, he was enveloped in a cloud of darkness, the next, he simply let go of it and pulled a thread or two of shadow from under a branch or rock and slipped inside it. I hadn’t moved this fast in the shadows before, and running behind—and studying—my brother was actually improving my shadowwalking skills along the way.
After about five minutes, we passed Halwyn’s farm. Two shapes emerged from the Goblin’s gate, a white wolf and what used to be a kitten, but now looked more like a lynx. They had no problems keeping up with our pace. I glanced at my Shifter friend now and then, admiring the animal I had seen for the first time less than a year ago. Her icy blue eyes looked ready to shoot lasers, and her muscles worked in perfect harmony underneath the white fur.
“Watch it,” Rowan called.
I fixed my eyes on the path ahead, ducking just in time to avoid running into a low-hanging branch. Still, neither Rowan nor I broke our stride.
The path from here to the shore went slightly downhill, so even if it was maybe a pancemile longer, we would likely cover it in another five.
“Are you all right?” Rowan asked, his voice practically untouched by the fact that we were running at full speed.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said, enjoying the sensation of running freely again. It had been a while, if one didn’t count zigzagging through the streets of Avalen, that was. I missed my morning run. And my sneakers.
As we approached the shore, Rowan slowed down. The descent to the sentries’ hut was steep, and the path formed a Z-shape over the last two hundred and fifty yards. Rowan let go of the shadows, which dissolved into tiny, dust-like specks before vanishing. The sound of lapping waves against the rocks accompanied a salty scent in the dark afternoon air.
We crouched behind a rock next to the path and leaned out to each side. Kit rubbed against me and dropped flat in the withered grass. Jen had also stopped, but wisely stayed a few steps behind us and out of sight of anyone who might look up from the rocky beach.
Outside the sentries’ hut, a bonfire burned, casting an orange glow in a fifty-yard radius. The boat Rowan had seen was moored to a large pole on the beach. Next to the pole lay an inanimate body, the flickering light of the flames shining off his Juniper cloak. A few steps further towards the hut lay another Juniper sentry, equally inanimate and a head shorter than his dead colleague. I bit my lip, holding back the angry words in my mind.
“Stay alert,” Rowan whispered. “They can’t be far.” He got up and started down the path, an arrow already nocked in his bow.
We made the descent in a couple of minutes, stopping every so often to look and listen extra carefully. As we approached the dead sentries, a whooshing sound ensued from over the r
idge we had just descended. The manticore sailed over us with a large net in his strong talons. This time, however, his net didn’t hold two of Auberon’s scouts. As Alun gently lowered the net like an expert helicopter pilot, Brendan slashed it open with his sword. He jumped out into an attacking stance, his eyes darting from side to side.
Brendan’s co-passenger on Air Alun, Goff, tumbled out of the net, landing not quite as gracefully on his short Goblin legs. Brendan slid the tip of his sword gently under the rope around Alun’s body and cut the net loose. As it dropped to the ground, I noticed there were several leather bags and satchels inside.
The manticore alighted and took a position next to Rowan, its giant tail sweeping from side to side.
“Where is Halwyn?” I asked.
“We dropped him off at his place, though he wasn’t too pleased about it,” Goff said. “But I told him to stay and protect Wadyan and Lady Carolina.”
“Good.”
“So, where are the soldiers?” Brendan asked.
“Rowan said they were headed in the direction of the portal,” I replied. “Rhina’s Deep.”
“Makes sense,” Goff said. “Auberon might think you’re making a run for it.”
I smirked. “Well, he wasn’t far from being right about that.”
Jen made a low, rumbling sound from her throat, motioning with her head towards the pitch-black sea.
“I see it, luv,” I said. “B? There’s someone out there.”
Brendan advanced with careful steps. About five yards out in the water, a third Juniper cloak was wrapped over a pointy rock. Brendan waded into the water and leaned forward, reaching his sword out at the fabric. As the tip caught, he pulled it towards him. He sheathed his blade before bending down to grab the third sentry, lifeless like his fellow Junipers. Brendan backed up onto dry land, dragging the soldier with him.
“Sorry, Ru.” He placed the soldier on the beach and draped the cloak over his head.
“How many sentries are there on Crochan Island?” I asked Goff.
“Four checkpoints with three on each.”