Leandras cleared his throat before responding in the same language, though he said it in a flat, low mutter.
Like he couldn’t stand what he was saying.
The glowing, mostly naked stranger clicked his tongue again, and a sly smile crept across his face. “So you can imagine my surprise at learning the Laen’aroth has found himself tangled up in my thrisí like an insect in a web.”
“And I thank your thrisí for their swift and generous capture of us both.” Leandras apparently tried to return the smile, but it was dampened when his attempt to spread his arms for one of those annoyingly mischievous bows of his completely failed. Even tangled in a mess of pulsing vines fifty feet above the stranger, the fae apparently still got the general message across.
“Yes.” The neon-glowing magical stepped closer, though the entirety of the cavern still remained between them, and gazed up at Jessica for another round of scrutiny. “Both of you. Who is she?”
Leandras let out a satisfied hum. “I’ve returned, Ko’alyn. You see the proof before you. Who do you think she is?”
Ko’alyn’s orange eyes widened. “I would not expect a celebration, if I were you.”
“Not in the least.” The fae man gave the vines around him a little tug. “I don’t expect anything from the warren. Though I do humbly request a peaceful descent. Merely for my own sense of dignity, you understand. It’s quite difficult to follow proper etiquette when caught in a web.”
The other magical’s lips peeled away to reveal sharp canines that glowed with their own light. “A rare occurrence for you, ah? Poor etiquette. We had given up awaiting any return, Vem-da’án. Though falling through a Skirra tunnel into the underworld seemed far less likely until just now.”
“Underworld?” Jessica whispered.
Leandras replied with a barely perceptible shake of his head but didn’t look away from Ko’alyn. “I would be delighted to share my tale, Great Father. Once my feet are firmly planted on solid ground once more.”
Ko’alyn tilted his head, his gaze trailing up and down the fae’s suspended body before doing the same to Jessica’s.
A surprising warmth washed over her, and while it felt like it came from the vines still coiled around her limbs and midsection, she had the distinct feeling it came instead from those neon-orange eyes that seemed to blink maybe once a minute.
Their host tsked, then drove the butt of his staff down onto the stone floor with another loud crack.
The vines around Jessica and Leandras pulsed all at once with a combined light, then the air filled with groaning and rustling. Whether they were now considered prisoners or unintended guests, they found themselves slowly and gently lowered to the ground.
Jessica couldn’t bring herself to look away from the open center of the orange flower below growing steadily closer, even when movement from all over the cavern should have attracted her attention. But the vines moved her away from the blossom that had cushioned her and Leandras’ hurtling descent, and then she found her feet settling on the chamber’s stone floor.
The vines uncoiled softly, flicking against her skin and leaving her with the unsettling feeling that she was being tasted. A final tendril caressed the corner of her mouth before disappearing again into the darkness above the cavern. The other vines had already abandoned their glowing lights to darkness once more.
Then she noticed exactly what had been moving around them while she and the fae had apparently received the peaceful descent he’d requested.
Magicals just like Ko’alyn emerged from behind the pulsing curtains of shimmering vines along all the shelves in the cavern walls. Men, women, children—or whatever passed for qualifying them among this race she’d never heard of—drew aside glowing plant life, stepped out from behind large boulders, or seemingly sprang from the shadows and the ground itself to stare at the newcomers. Those who remained on their built-in balconies of stone peered down in interest. Those on the floor with Ko’alyn, who had to be at least some form of leader, converged behind the magical with the staff. Hundreds of these dark-skinned, glowing magicals with pitch-black hair and varying patterns of luminescent markings across every inch of exposed flesh—and there was a lot of it—gathered around Jessica and Leandras.
The only question at this point was whether that peace would continue now that the intruders had been released from the vines’ grip.
As far as Jessica was concerned, an attack looked a lot more likely than a warm welcome. Ko’alyn was the only one among them who smiled, but even that was feral, laced with a secret understanding behind those glowing orange eyes. Everyone else stared at the two strangers in their midst with pure suspicion and mistrust.
“My thanks, Great Father.” Leandras spread one arm at his side, placed the other hand against his heart, and finally had the chance to make his mocking bow.
Ko’alyn watched it with a growing leer. “Your thanks mean little to us, Vem-da’án. Merely your actions.”
“Then it would please you to know I’ve returned for—”
“I did not ask.” The magical’s staff cracked into the stone floor again. “You will not speak unless I allow it. I know what you seek.”
The men tensely sized each other up in wordless suspicion.
Then a woman at least two feet taller than Jessica but still a few inches shorter than Ko’alyn approached. She moved slowly across the circle of her people all around them, staring intently at Jessica. “And when word of the Laen’aroth’s coming spreads all the way to Ryngivát, everyone will know what you seek.”
Was she talking to Jessica, or just trying to burn a hole through her head with those glowing eyes?
Jessica swallowed and tried to smile, but the dark-skinned woman’s unyielding gaze made that nearly impossible.
Sure, she could talk her way out of a lot. This was way over her head.
For as much clout as Leandras thought he had on Earth, it looked like this scenario was way over the fae’s head too. Which meant they were at the mercy of all these magicals who didn’t in the least look like they were happy to receive visitors.
Chapter 25
The silence in the cavern was overwhelming, especially with hundreds of these magicals staring at the intruders from every imaginable angle.
Finally, the dark-skinned woman removed her gaze from Jessica and settled it on Leandras. “You have come for your purpose, then.”
The fae eyed Ko’alyn, obviously searching for permission to speak, and the magical with the staff nodded tersely.
Leandras raised an eyebrow at the woman and dipped his head. “I have come. My purpose—”
“Your purpose is exaggerated,” Ko’alyn cut in. “And long overdue.”
“I agree.” The fae man’s sickly sweet smile widened, and he spread his arms. “Yet here I am.”
“Take him,” the woman muttered.
Ko’alyn looked at her in surprise and said something low in Xaharí.
She cut him off with a glare. “Take the Laen’aroth to the Mahayál. Let him see for himself.”
At her command, a dozen men from the warren stepped forward to surround Jessica and Leandras. Each of them drew a short blade from sheaths strung through belts of their minimal clothing. Loincloths were apparently all the rage.
“Whoa, whoa.” Jessica raised both hands in surrender and turned toward the woman glaring at Ko’alyn. “We don’t need to see any—”
“Jessica,” Leandras said in a fierce whisper, though his fake smile remained. “Shut up.”
She blinked quickly and turned toward him.
“Ati’ol has spoken!” Ko’alyn barked.
The warriors—or maybe just regular citizens, it was hard to tell—closed in around their alleged guests.
The woman, apparently Ati’ol, raised a hand for everyone to wait before stepping dangerously close to Jessica and looking her up and down. “The Guardian surprises us.”
In a fleeting moment of not knowing what the hell to do, Jessica let out a weak lau
gh and replied, “Yeah, I was pretty surprised by your light-up safety net too.”
Ati’ol’s eyes narrowed, then she turned her gaze upon Leandras. “Is she ill?”
The fae man sighed and briefly closed his eyes. “The journey requires a level of adjustment.”
“Hmm. We wish to see it pass soon.” The woman flicked her hand toward the far end of the cavern, then Jessica and Leandras were herded by a dozen mostly naked magicals shimmering with their own internal light.
Ko’alyn led the procession, his staff clicking down on the stone floor. The rest of the magicals remained silent, staring at the parade like Jessica assumed people used to gather around to watch a hanging.
At least, that was what this felt like. Whatever the Mahayál was, it didn’t sound good. They weren’t allowed to speak, Leandras couldn’t charm his way out from under the scrutiny of these magicals, and now Jessica could feel Ati’ol’s gaze on her back as she shuffled forward in the center of a dozen knifepoints.
Now it seemed a lot like the guy with the staff in front of them was just a mouthpiece. A female leader might have gone more in Jessica’s favor, if she’d dropped into this “underworld” city alone. But after everything she knew about Leandras Vilafor and what she suspected about the Laen’aroth, his presence in a community of magicals led by a woman—no matter what race—made it a lot more likely that the outcome would not be good.
Jessica hoped the fae hadn’t tried any of his tricks on Ati’ol in the past to get whatever he wanted of her. Otherwise, they were both screwed. These dark-skinned magicals obviously didn’t mess around.
Up ahead, the cavern illuminated with even more glowing plant life as their captors led the way. Once Ko’alyn led them far enough away from the gathering area in the center of the huge chamber, the magicals with their daggers still fervently aimed at Jessica and Leandras backed off a little.
No one followed them, but Jessica couldn’t help the feeling of being watched from every single angle.
If everything in this world was as sentient as Leandras had claimed, most likely they were being watched—probably even by eyes neither of them could see.
Jessica cleared her throat and leaned toward the fae. “What did you do to them?”
He shot her a quick sidelong glance and whispered, “Nothing.”
“Well this isn’t exactly a friendly welcome.”
“It is for the Naruli.” Still staring straight ahead at the back of Ko’alyn’s plaited hair shimmering with glowing beads and flowers, Leandras reached out to brush his fingers against Jessica’s hand. “They expect a certain persona from me here. It’s best if you keep your mouth shut.”
“She thinks I’m crazy, doesn’t she?”
He didn’t reply, but the dubious frown darkened on his brow.
“Why? Because I’m with you?”
“Later, Jessica. Our safety here is not guaranteed.”
She pressed her hand against her thigh so he couldn’t reach her without visibly moving closer. “And the Mahayál?”
“I have no idea what that is.”
Great. So they were being led off either to a party or to some kind of underground execution.
A small burst of thin black smoke emerged around Jessica’s hand. “I’ll be ready.”
Leandras instantly snatched up her other hand and squeezed it hard. “Don’t.”
His gaze remained firmly fixed on Ko’alyn, who had now stopped at the head of the procession. The master of ceremonies—or whatever the hell his title was—turned slowly around with narrowed eyes.
Jessica snuffed out the warning flare of her magic a second before the Naruli man’s gaze settled on her.
Okay, point taken. Apparently, surprising these magicals with a sneak attack was out of the question.
Ko’alyn eyed the two men closest to him and nodded. They looked at each other, then branched out silently to disappear amidst the endless hidden tunnels covered by glowing neon greenery.
Jessica watched them until they disappeared, then Ko’alyn led the remaining group forward again.
If she didn’t know better, she would’ve thought she’d just watched three magicals have a wordless conversation. But telepathy wasn’t real. Not without a high-level potion for breaking into someone else’s mind, and even that was a one-way street.
Unless, of course, someone also happened to have a glowing pendant handed down through generations of Gateway Guardians that let a sentient bank into their head for two-way communication.
Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have the bank’s support right about now.
Leandras walked stiffly beside her as they were ushered through a narrow corridor rippling with tiny glowing roots in all neon colors. He didn’t say anything else, but the fact he hadn’t stood up to say anything at all in warning to these underground magicals didn’t bode well.
Then again, he hadn’t actually openly defied the Requiem members who’d come blasting into the bank. Or Jensen’s cronies. Or Mickey and the wave of attacking idiots who’d tried to stop the second phase of the reckoning at the warehouse.
Sure, the fae had helped Jessica with more than a few things she was unequipped to handle on her own, but that wasn’t enough. He knew exactly what she could do—what her magic could do—but he’d basically just told her not to use it.
Which meant he either knew exactly what these magicals escorting them now were up to, or he was afraid of what would happen if they fought back like they’d been doing since the beginning.
Jessica swallowed and let herself study the fae man’s profile again before leaning toward him. “If you tell me right now what’s going on—”
“I said it’s not the time, Jessica,” he growled. “But you and I are about to discover that together.”
He nodded at the end of the passage, where the stone opened up into another chamber glowing even brighter than the Naruli’s giant receiving room.
Ko’alyn pounded his staff into the stone again with another crack, and the ten men surrounding them pulled back to form a line behind their guests.
Or prisoners. That was still up in the air.
Ati’ol’s second-in-command let out a warbling whistle, then stepped into the next chamber with his chin dipped all the way to his chest and his arms spread wide. The tip of his staff in one hand brushed against a massive fern leaf glowing neon-blue, and the entire plant curled away from him.
One of their entourage prodded Jessica and Leandras roughly in their backs—thankfully with his hands and not the drawn blade—and muttered something in Xaharí.
Leandras lifted both hands in concession and nodded. The guards backed off, then the fae man stepped forward into the brilliantly lit chamber. “Stay close.”
“Oh, really?” Sarcasm through whispering wasn’t exactly the best way to get her point across, but she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice. “I figured I’d just go wandering around this place all on my own.”
“That would get us both killed.”
Had he really not picked up on that, or was he just trying to enrage her into submission?
Jessica was about to remind him he was the one who’d chosen the wrong tunnel and led them down here into this mess, but when she saw his eyes widen and the silver light flare brighter behind them, she closed her mouth.
There was no way to keep herself from slowly turning toward the center of the next chamber to see what had made him look so surprised, awed, and disappointed all at once.
A massive willow tree four times the size of any she’d seen on Earth sprang from the hard stone at the chamber’s center. Jagged shards of rock had burst free from the ground where the thick trunk had sprouted—some purely black like the walls and ceiling, some glistening like precious gems under the brilliant light. The tree itself shone with bright internal energy, illuminating everything in a blazing white.
It made Ko’alyn’s skin turn the color of freshly laid cement, picking up strands of dark blue in his hair and completely eradicating
the glowing marks of light across his flesh. Leandras’ silver eyes were muted, his usually pale skin now waxy and colorless. Jessica glanced down at her own boots to find them washed-out. The tree’s light didn’t erase the fae’s illusion around her body so much as mute it.
Everything was muted compared to the glow radiating off the tree, which looked like it was made of crystal instead of wood. Shards of light fell like rain from the branches lifting all the way to the ceiling and drooping back down again, filling the space entirely. Some of these branches had even grown into the rock walls.
Tears shimmered in Jessica’s eyes. Probably just from the glare.
Maybe because this might have been the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
Leandras shuffled forward, trailing his gaze up the thick crystalline bark of the tree and gazing at every branch. His frown had deepened, and when his mouth popped open, Jessica almost expected him to scream.
Instead, he groaned. “What have you done?”
The odd question snapped Jessica out of her awe.
In a place as beautiful as this—where she could literally feel the sacredness of that tree humming through the air and jolting up through her own limbs—why the hell did he sound like Ko’alyn had just shown him the dismembered bodies of his family?
“You’ve been gone a long time, Vem-da’án,” Ko’alyn whispered, stepping aside to view both the blazing tree and the agonized fae man at once. “Nature takes its course.”
“This isn’t nature.” Leandras slowly shook his head. “The Madraqór—”
“Made its own choice. Perhaps you were careless in the leaving of it.”
With a hiss, Leandras turned on the Naruli man and stalked toward him. “You speak to me of carelessness? You know just as well as I do what it was meant to do. What it must never become!”
“And yet it has.” Ko’alyn gestured toward the tree again but glared right back at the fae, apparently unfazed. “The Laen’aroth’s plans have withered with this world, ah? You took too long, and the Madraqór took matters into its own hands.”
The Poisoned Veil (Accessory to Magic Book 4) Page 24