by T. J. Klune
“Quite,” I said, taking a step forward. I reached out and rubbed my finger on the top of his head. His eyes rolled back and his wings flapped harder. I had to think of another compliment. At least one more. Everyone knew that when you were attempting to seduce the fairy king to get on his good side, you had to pay him three compliments. So I said the first thing that came to mind. “I’ve always wanted to go for a mustache ride.”
“That’s nasty,” Tiggy declared. “That’s nasty, Sam.”
“We’re going to end up going to war with the fairies,” Justin said dully. “I can see it now. We are going to go to war with the fairies, and my father is going to murder me.”
“Sam!” Ryan barked. “I have a beard now! That’s better than a mustache.”
“Shh,” I said to Dimitri as his eyes darted over my shoulder. “Don’t look at them. Hey. Hey, little guy. It’s just you and me here. Just the two of us. Look into my eyes. There you go. Hey. Hey there, pretty eyes. You look… just swell.”
“What’s this about you being engaged?” he asked, crossing his tiny arms over his tiny chest.
“What?”
“The dragon said you were just engaged and that you were planning on having an orgy.”
“Hells to the yeah!” Kevin called.
“Oh, that,” I said hastily. “Just ignore him. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You know how dragons are.” Aha! An in! “Right? Dimitri? Right? You know how dragons are? Say, maybe a large dragon that no one has seen for a long time that I really don’t care about but I’m going to ask you anyway?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Oops!” I said, stripping my shirt off over my head before I threw it back over my shoulder. Water sprinkled down from the tree canopy above onto my bare shoulders. “How did that happen? My nipples are just out here and everything. And now I’m getting all wet.”
All the fairies gasped as one. Even Dimitri looked horrified.
“Wow,” I said. “That was not a reaction I expected. Rude.”
“What is this?” Dimitri whispered as the fairies began to murmur urgently behind him. “What have you done?”
I frowned. “What do you mean? I’m seducing you so you tell me where the Great White is and—oh. Shit. I totally didn’t mean to say that. Crap. Uh. Ignore what I just said. Heyyyy, you. You have to be at least as tall as you are to ride this ride. Mmm.”
“That’s enough,” Ryan said, coming to stand next to me as he glared at Dimitri. He shoved my tunic at my chest as if trying to preserve my modesty. “You don’t get to ride this ride. In fact, this ride is closed to the general public for repairs. And I’m the repairman. Therefore, I’m the only one that gets to… wait. Hold on. I swear this made more sense in my head. Okay. Maybe not. Taste steel instead, you fiends!” He pulled his sword from the scabbard at his side and posed in front of me.
“Dude,” I said in awe. “I love you so hard right now, you don’t even know. You douchebag.”
“Gross,” Justin muttered. “It doesn’t matter where we are. We could be standing on top of dead bodies or in the middle of the woods surrounded by naked men, and they still manage to find time to flirt.”
“Put down the sword,” Dimitri barked. “Don’t you see what he’s done? He’s been marked.”
Well shit. Justin was wrong. I should have planned more. This was all his fault. “Uh, no, I wasn’t,” I said, struggling to pull my tunic back on. It was wet and tangled, however, and wasn’t quite cooperating.
“Wizards,” Dimitri spat. “It always comes back to wizards. You do not see the creatures of the forest engaging in warfare. That’s because they understand and respect their magic. From the smallest of beings to the biggest, the magic is one with the earth.” He shook his head angrily. “And then you have men. Men, who seek nothing but more power. It’s never enough. There’s always a need for more.”
“That’s not true,” I snapped. “Not all of us are like that. We’re not Darks.”
“Really?” he said, fluttering toward me, ignoring the way Ryan snarled at him. “Why are you here? The truth, Sam.”
“I’m here for the Great White.”
“For more power, then. Just like all other men.”
“What? No! That’s not—” I stopped myself. Because he was speaking the truth, wasn’t he? There was a reason I was gathering the dragons of Verania, aside from a prophecy. I felt stronger after I had them at my side. I felt… powerful. “Okay, look. It’s not like—”
“And he has risen,” Dimitri ranted. “And now you have been marked for consumption. You’re lucky to have survived once, Sam of Wilds. How you did, I will never know. But do not mistake that for anything more than it is. You were lucky. When the shadows begin to spread, apprentice, it becomes evident that gods have little time for mortal men.”
And a memory burst through the chaos of my mind, rising and—
The Great White. I’ve heard the stories. Tell me. When did you last see him?
He is not your concern. Gods have little time for mortal men.
But he’s not a god. His clock ticks just like yours and mine. It may tick slower and longer, but it still ticks.
The Dark Woods are deep. I can see far.
How far?
Your human mind could never understand.
Specifics.
I am specific. You’re just choosing not to listen.
You never do anything without a price, Dimitri.
That is true. A bit of advice. Stay out of the Dark Woods. There are things far worse than myself.
I’m not afraid. Of you or anything else. I have proven time and time again that I am more than capable of handling myself.
Chaos always rises from complacency. I like you, Sam. You are not like the others. I’ve always been able to see that. There is something inside of you that burns differently than anyone who has come before. I thought to harness it for myself, but I won’t be the one to force it. But remember. The Dark Woods are known to you now. And you are known to them.
—the words from that long-ago day in the forest echoed in stunning clarity.
“You knew,” I breathed.
The fairies fell silent.
Dimitri cocked his head at me.
I held my tunic in my hands as I took a step toward him. “That day. In the Dark Woods. When we were going to rescue the Prince. We discussed the Great White. And you warned me. You told me that chaos rises. You knew.”
“I am of the Dark Woods,” he said stiffly. “I know many things. Like when magic burns part of the forest away in a burst of life. Tell me, Sam. How did you do it?”
“Is it alive?”
“The bird you brought back to life?” he mocked. “Really, Sam. How could I possibly know that?”
How did he know about— “The Great White.”
“Should it matter to you?”
“You owe me.”
He laughed. “And how do you figure that, apprentice? You have done nothing but make a mockery of me and my court. You do not respect the ways of the—”
“You were supposed to guard the seal to the shadow realm that held Myrin.”
“Oh snap,” Tiggy said.
“How do you know that?” Dimitri snarled, and I had to remind myself that even though the fairies were small, this was still their forest. The trees answered to them and no one else. I didn’t want to fight, because there was a chance we would lose.
“Something Randall said,” I told him. “In Meridian City. He said that the seal was supposed to have been safeguarded. He never said by who and I didn’t think to ask, given that Feng attempted to assassinate us shortly after.”
“I knew it was him,” Dimitri hissed as the fairies buzzed angrily. “The traitorous fool. How dare he come into my woods and betray us all. Does he still breathe?”
I shook my head slowly. “Burned. By his own bombs.”
Dimitri sighed, shoulders slumping. “We were the guardians. But we became… distracted. At our own revel
ry. Fairies are not that different from dragons in that we are consumed by thoughts of treasure. And the Dark Woods are full of treasure. My lust for gold and gems blinded me from my oath.”
“You were trying to warn me,” I said quietly as Ryan leaned against me, letting me know he was there. “In your own way, you were trying to warn me about what was hidden. You knew about the prophecy.”
Dimitri’s wings drooped. “The gods are… fickle, Sam of Wilds. They always have been. I had hoped it would be the same concerning you. I know that Randall and Morgan of Shadows wished for the same thing. That you would never have to know the weight of shadow.” He eyed my scars closely.
“It’s a small price to pay.”
“Being marked? Or being consumed?”
I shook my head. “He won’t. It won’t get that far.”
“Can you predict the future now too?”
“No. But I know what I’m capable of. And I’ve done what’s been asked of me so far. I have four dragons at my side. I just need the fifth. And I need you to show me the way.”
The fairies behind him began to fly up and surround Ryan and me, spinning in a slow, lazy circle. I felt the flutter of wings against my ear and cheek, my neck and shoulder. They didn’t speak, but I could feel the energy flowing within them, like a swarm of bees just underneath my skin.
Dimitri floated in front of me. “Men,” he whispered, shaking his head. “They bring nothing but death and destruction. Are you afraid, Sam of Wilds?”
Ryan put his hand in mine, squeezing tightly.
“I am,” I said. “But not of you. Not of the Great White. Not even of Myrin.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
“That I won’t be able to do the right thing when the time comes.”
He flew forward and pressed his hand against my forehead. I tried to ignore the fact that his blue dick was swinging right in front of my eyes. Honestly. I knew the worst people. “You are right to be afraid,” he said as his people swirled around us. “I told you once that the Dark Woods were known to you and you to them. I can see it in your head that you’ve stood before a god. But he was made of nothing but stardust. How would you feel standing in front of a god made of flesh and bone?”
“You know where he is,” I whispered.
And the king of the Dark Woods fairies grinned, razor-sharp. “Oh yes. Because he has awoken. And he is expecting you.”
Chapter 18: The Great White
“SURE,” GARY muttered to himself. “Let’s keep going into the Dark Woods. Nothing creepy here. Oh, no worries about anything. So what if there’s no path left? And so what if we’re following someone who gets their point across by bad-touching? Nope! This sure wasn’t a bad idea at all. I mean, we’re only where pretty unicorns such as myself don’t go for very good reasons. Because of the dying.”
“There, there,” Tiggy said, and I looked back behind us in time to see him brushing his fingers over Gary’s mane. “Pretty Gary. My pretty Gary.”
“Damn right I’m pretty,” Gary snapped. “Even in the middle of a forest adventure that I want no part of, I am godsdamn gorgeous. It’s how I do. Give me more compliments so I feel better about everything.”
“I like your tail,” Kevin said. “Especially when it’s up in the air.”
“Dude,” I scolded the dragon. “Now is so not the time.”
“Just because you’re not getting compliments,” Gary said with a glare, “doesn’t mean you get to take away mine.”
“I like it when your tail is up in the air,” Ryan told me.
“Aww, babe.”
“I want to go home,” Justin mumbled.
“Chin up, dude!” I told him, trying to sound cheerful. “If you’re into that sort of thing, I’m pretty sure Dimitri’s been eyeing you a little bit. Or you can just wait till we get back to the castle and I’ll totally find you a boyfriend.”
“Because that worked so well last time,” Justin said.
“Oh,” I said with a frown. “Right. My bad. No more personal ads because of people who want you to be their meat puppet.”
It had been five days since Dimitri and his fairies found us in the Dark Woods and dumped a few more revelations in my lap. Most of that time had been spent trekking deeper into the Dark Woods than I’d ever traveled. The canopy above wasn’t so thick that we couldn’t see the sky, but it was still eerie being this far in. The Dark Woods were the heart of Verania, and I didn’t know that anyone had actually been to their center and made it out alive. It was a wilderness that would most likely remain untamed for generations. There was no incentive for men to spread into the Dark Woods; in fact, all the stories of monsters and Darks were enough to keep even the bravest from going too far.
Except for us.
Because we were a special kind of stupid.
Kevin had had a difficult time at first, knocking down trees left and right, much to the horror of the fairies. They way they’d screamed, you would have thought he was murdering their families. We had all stared at them when, after Kevin crunched a particularly large tree, they started wailing and hovering above the tree, shrieking in a language I’d never heard before that reminded me of birds.
Dimitri had not been impressed.
He told Kevin to fly.
Kevin refused, saying he was not going to leave his beloved to the wild machinations of the forest.
Gary had rolled his eyes at the dragon’s protectiveness, but unfortunately, his erection had given him away.
Which was not something I cared to remember.
Boundaries. We really needed new boundaries.
So instead of Kevin flying or killing more trees, the fairies had flown ahead and coaxed them to lean away, creating a winding path through the forest where the trees bent at odd angles, all to avoid Kevin’s feet. The control they had over the forest was impressive, which made me wonder why they allowed the Darks to stay there to begin with. I asked Dimitri, but he started spouting off a long speech about the balance between good and evil, and literally four seconds later, I was bored out of my mind and started collecting pinecones. I had picked up about thirteen before one of the fairies saw me and starting screaming that I was picking up forest babies and taking them away from their homes. That, of course, had set off all the other fairies, and if you’ve never had a hundred naked men flying around your head while they scream at you for stealing forest babies, then I absolutely recommend avoiding it at all costs.
Nights were spent around a fire while the fairies blinked in and out as they whispered to the trees.
So to say that by the fifth day we were all cranky would be an understatement. The trees were getting thicker, and it was getting harder and harder for Kevin to make his way through without crushing anything. Gary was wet and miserable. Tiggy’s nose was leaking like a faucet. Justin didn’t want me to find him a boyfriend. Ryan liked when I lifted up my tail. Dimitri was still naked.
All in all, not one of our best adventures.
(Except for the Ryan thing. That was pretty okay. We had tried to sneak away one night to get a little alone time while everyone was sleeping, only to be interrupted by Gary opening his eyes and shouting, “WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING? CAN I GO? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT IS HAPPENING? CAN I GO?”
I didn’t get laid.
Gary got punched in the throat.
Fair is fair.)
It also didn’t help that we’d been steadily climbing all day, heading toward what felt like a more mountainous region of the Dark Woods. I didn’t remember a mountain range on any map of the Dark Woods, and the peaks weren’t anything in comparison with the Northern Mountains, but we were much higher than I’d ever been in the Dark Woods.
I just wanted this whole thing to be over with so we could go back to Castle Lockes and sleep in our own beds. I missed my parents. I missed the King. I missed Pete and the City of Lockes. I missed the labs. And I missed Morgan so, so much. I needed to apologize more than I’d already done. I wanted everything to be set r
ight between us. Then I could do the same with Ryan, promising him that I would never keep anything from him again for as long as we both lived (the length of which I didn’t much like focusing on). After that, we’d kick Myrin’s ass and have our happily ever after.
That was what kept me going.
It was enough.
“How much farther do we have to go?” Gary asked behind me.
“I don’t know.”
Two minutes later: “How much farther now?”
I ground my teeth together. “Still don’t know, Gary.”
Three minutes later: “So, question.”
“Gary.”
“How much farther?”
I almost choked him to death. I only stopped because his neck was larger than the grip of my hands. I told him as much. After he shrieked at me for the next half hour for apparently calling him Fat Neck, he said, “It’s just a question. Ask Dimitri.”
“You ask Dimitri.”
“This is your quest, asshole.”
“You’re on this quest with me, asshole.”
“I’ll show you an asshole!”
“Yesssss,” Kevin hissed as he stepped over a tree that had bent itself almost horizontal.
“Dimitri,” Justin said loudly.
“Prince,” Dimitri said, fluttering back toward us.
“Would you tell these bitches how much further we have to go?”
“Of course, my lord. Bitches, we’ll arrive when we arrive.”
“Ooh,” Tiggy said. “Tiny man’s got words. Tiggy smash?”
I sighed. “No, Tiggy. No smash.”
“You lucky,” Tiggy told Dimitri. “I smash. I smash gooood.”
Dimitri didn’t look impressed. Which made me impressed, because Tiggy was scary as all fuck. It was about then that I realized I was an extraordinarily complex person, because my logic typically made no sense.
It was a rather disconcerting revelation to be had in the middle of a forest.
“I need to go talk to Dimitri,” I said to Ryan, pitching my voice low so no one could overhear.
Ryan glanced at me, reaching up and wiping water from his beard, which was just unfair, as I wanted to rub my face against it. His lips quirked at my obvious interest. “You sure about that? We could probably just sneak off for a little bit. Try to put this thing to some use.”