by R. A. Rock
She stepped in and dealt him several blows to the chest that made him stumble back. But then he came at her again, bending low, throwing his shoulder into her stomach, and driving her into the wall. Her head hit hard, and there was suddenly two of him as she slid down to the floor.
Tessa crawled away, trying to get to her feet. The guard followed her and grabbed her arm, yanking her and pulling back to hit her with the knockout blow.
Finn smashed him in the head with an enormous Elixir-stirring spoon. The guard dropped Tessa, and she let out an oof as she hit the wooden floor again.
Tessa looked up at Finn, incredulous. “Really?”
He inspected the huge spoon. “It was handy.” He shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“I had him,” Tessa said, mad that what looked like an eighty-seven-year-old kid had nearly gotten the best of her.
“Right,” Finn said, lifting his hands in surrender. “Sure.”
“I did,” she said, touching her lip where it was split.
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks,” she said reluctantly.
“Come on,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her up. “I have a portal open. Jory’s already safe. We have to get out of here.”
Tessa let him tow her toward the vat that he and Jory had been hiding behind when all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice.
“Tess?” Nyall asked as he stepped through the warehouse door. Tessa went very still. “What are you doing here?”
Tessa turned to look at Nyall, and she saw he had a spell, which he threw at her. It hit her in the chest, and she reeled back.
“I’m sorry, Tessa,” he said.
“Shadows take the bastard,” Finn said, catching her as she fell. Tessa felt strange, dizzy. But Finn had her under the arms and was dragging her behind the vat and through the portal.
Finn dropped Tessa rather unceremoniously once they were through, and she watched as he closed the portal before the King’s royal guard could follow them. Once they were safe, he knelt beside her.
“Tess, are you okay?” he asked, checking her for injuries. He gave her his hand, and she pulled herself to sitting, still feeling unsteady.
“A stun spell,” she said, already sensing that the magic was wearing off. “I’ll be fine in a minute. Where are we?”
“Not sure. Jory asked me to bring us here. It looks like some sort of tunnel in a cave system."
Tessa gave him a surprised look at the same time that her ears registered the dripping of water somewhere farther in and the mossy odor the walls were giving off.
“I have to admit,” Jory said, sounding better, “that I did plan this. But I didn’t intend for there to be so much kerfuffle.”
“Kerfuffle?” Tessa said. “Those men were trying to kill us to get to you.”
“True,” he said, trying to looking contrite but failing. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, now, tell the truth, ancient one,” Tessa said, with a grin. “That’s the most fun you’ve had in a thousand years.”
Jory smiled.
“I like your sass, missy. And you’re right. That might have almost done me in, but it was a lot of fun. And thanks to your friend’s Unity Blades, we’re almost to safety. It’s just a little farther along this tunnel.”
Tess noticed Jory getting to his feet.
“Jory, don’t you think you should rest?” she said, worried about the old man.
“No,” he said, his voice sounding weak. “We need to get to my quarters. Come. They’re this way.”
Tess and Finn exchanged a look of concern but followed the ancient Fae, who led them through a maze of tunnels. His steps got slower and slower until finally he stopped and sat down, leaning against the cave wall.
“Jory, are you all right?” Tess said, crouching next to him.
“No, but that’s fine. It’s as it should be.” He closed his eyes. “I planned it this way. But I didn’t plan on all that running. It took a lot out of me. I’m not going to make it to my quarters.”
“Not going to make it?” Finn said, his eyebrows drawing together. “I have a lightening spell. We could get you there.”
“There’s no time,” Jory said. “But thank you. My Starlight is waning. I must do this now.”
“Do what?” Tess said. “You’re scaring me, Jory. You aren’t going to… die, are you?”
“Yes, but that’s as it should be,” he said again.
“You keep saying that,” Tess said. “What’s going on? You can’t die. You’re the Keeper of the Scroll. What will happen to the Scroll if you can’t… keep it anymore?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m leaving it in good hands.”
Tess huffed out her breath and knelt before him where he sat on the boulder, the sharp rocks on the floor of the cave digging into her shins.
“Can’t you explain, Jory?”
He took a shallow breath, eyes still closed.
“No, I haven’t much time left. I must do it now. There is no time for explanations. My part in the prophecy must be fulfilled.”
“The prophecy?” Tess said. “What part?”
“No time,” he said once more. "I will return to the Starlight whence I came.”
“What?” Tessa frowned up at the old man, who seemed to be getting more and more translucent.
“Press palms with me,” he said, and though Tess wasn’t sure why, she trusted him.
“Why?”
“Please, Tessa.”
She lifted her hands.
“Are you sure about this, Tess?” Finn asked, his deep voice concerned.
Tessa didn’t know why, but she was sure. And she nodded at Finn and pressed palms firmly with Jory.
Light glowed from their hands. But it didn’t feel like making a vow or Uniting. It was different. Tessa knew that the energy points in the palm could be used for other things than vows and merging magic. But she had never seen it done before.
It was like something was pouring out of Jory and into her. She breathed deeply as the flow of magic increased and filled her up until she felt as though she couldn’t take any more.
What was going on?
“Tessa? Are you all right?” Finn’s voice sounded afraid and as if it were coming from somewhere far away.
But she couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. She was held by the magic, pinned in place. A shot of fear went through her, and she wondered what the old man had done to her.
All of a sudden, a huge shockwave blasted outward from him. When Tessa came back to herself, Jory looked older and more frail. There were dark shadows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before. His skin was papery thin and white, and there seemed to be Starlight shining through it. He was glowing from the inside out.
“Tessa,” Finn said when she opened her eyes. He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. “Stars alive, are you all right? What did he do to you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Then she glanced down at the old man and realized that he looked like he was about to keel over. “Finn, how are you not unconscious from the magical shock wave?”
He held up a grey stone, then stored it back in his satchel. “Protection spell. I activated it when we started on this chase.”
“Jory,” she said, turning to check on the Keeper. “We’ll take you to your quarters. So you can rest. Is that all right?”
Jory nodded, but he looked so pale and wan that Tessa wasn’t sure he would make it back. He suddenly went limp, but Finn let go of her and caught him, laying him carefully on the ground.
“I’ll use the lightening spell and carry him,” Finn said, his face troubled. “I hope he’s going to make it. We’ll be in big trouble if you’ve somehow killed the Keeper of the Scroll, Tess. If he’s killed, no one will ever find the Scroll, and the Severance will never end.”
“I know, Finn,” Tessa said, fear and worry making her tone impatient. “I know. What could have drained so much of his life force?”
<
br /> “Chasm and Shadows, Tessa,” Finn said. “Are you serious? He did something to you. You were out of it for at least a minute, the both of you glowing. Somehow, whatever he did took most of his Starlight.”
“What did he do?”
“I have no idea.”
Finn poured what looked like fine sand into his hand and moved his hand over Jory, ready to sprinkle it. Right then, Jory opened his eyes.
“No,” he said, and Finn pulled his hand back. “No spells.”
“Jory,” Tess said, kneeling beside him and taking his hand. “What’s going on? Please tell us.”
“Jory.” Tess felt tears in her eyes but she refused to let them drop.
“You will end the Severance. You’ll figure it all out."
She nodded as one rogue tear fell and dropped on to the Keeper’s robes.
“But how?” she asked.
“Tess, you are…” The Keeper drew a shaky breath and began to cough. Tess could hear the sound of feet pounding down the tunnel.
“I’m what, Jory? Someone’s coming.”
Nyall appeared around the bend and ran toward them.
“Tess,” the Keeper whispered. “You’re the…”
He lifted his hands and struggled to take off an amulet that he was wearing. Tess helped him and then ducked her head so he could put it on her.
“For you,” he said, and what color he’d had faded from his cheeks. “Because you’re the...”
Before he could finally finish his sentence, the old man’s body began to shine more and more brightly until he grew too radiant to look at, and with a burst of light like shooting stars, he disappeared.
Gone.
“Tess,” Nyall said, his eyes wide and appalled. “What have you done?”
Tess snapped out of her shock. “Nothing,” she said, jumping to her feet. “I’ve done nothing.”
“Nothing,” he repeated. “Was he the Keeper of the Scroll?”
“Yes,” she said, feeling horribly guilty.
“You killed him,” he said, horrified. “I’ve heard of ancient Fae dying in a burst of Starlight, their bodies disappearing completely. You’ve killed the Keeper, Tess.”
“No, Nyall, I swear,” Tess said.
At the same time, Finn spoke. “She didn't do anything.”
“Right,” Nyall said, not believing them in the slightest. “I was here. I saw it all. When you took the amulet off of him, he died. Maybe the amulet was the only thing keeping him alive. I don’t know. But as soon as you took it off him, he disappeared in a burst of light. You killed him, Tessa. And you’re going to have to answer for it.”
Nyall spoke into the enchanted pin that all the King’s guard wore in order to communicate with each other over long distances. The spell also allowed them to find each other.
“All guards report to my position immediately. Someone has killed the Keeper of the Scroll.”
Chapter 32
“No, Nyall, please don’t do this,” Tess said. “I didn’t kill him.”
“Being a spy in the Dark Court has completely ruined you, Tessa Callahan,” Nyall said, deep disappointment in his eyes.
“What?” Finn said, but Nyall ignored him.
Tess glanced frantically back and forth between Finn and Nyall, who wouldn’t stop talking.
“Before you ran off to be a spy, I considered you a sister. A friend. But not anymore. I don’t know who you are anymore.”
“Nyall,” Tess said, hurt by his comments and terrified about what this revelation would mean for her relationship with Finn. “That’s not true. You know me. You know I wouldn’t do this.”
“The Tess I used to know would never do this,” he said. “But how can I discount what I’ve seen with my own eyes?”
“Nyall…”
“And how do I know that the Dark Queen doesn’t have some control over you?”
“She doesn’t.”
There was a lull, and Finn spoke into the silence.
“Tess, is this true? Are you a spy in the Dark Court?”
Finn’s voice was low and even, as if speaking slowly and quietly was the only thing keeping him calm.
Tess turned toward him and swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“And have you been deceiving me the entire time we’ve known each other?”
She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. “Yes.”
He nodded, dropping his eyes.
“Finn, please, let me explain—”
Finn held up his hand, and she stopped talking.
“I can’t…” he said.
They all turned when about twenty guards ran into the section of the tunnel where the three of them were standing.
“Arrest them!” Nyall shouted. “They killed the Keeper!”
“I’m so sorry,” Tess said to Finn, shifting into her tiny form and flying swiftly away down the tunnel toward the Keeper’s quarters. When she glanced back, Finn was nowhere to be seen. He had probably used an invisibility spell. The twenty guards were all in their tiny forms as well, chasing her. Nyall stood there in his regular form, furious and glowering at her as she zipped away.
Tess sped up, flying as fast as her wings could carry her. Even though she didn’t know where she was going to go. If this tunnel ended at the Keeper’s quarters as he had said, then she was going to hit a dead end soon.
What she would do then, she had no idea.
As Tess flew as fast as she could down the tunnel, she began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Maybe it was from whatever the Keeper had done to her. She did have that feeling of being overloaded with magic, which usually presented symptoms like this.
Her flying became erratic, and she bumped into the cave wall, hitting hard and falling to the ground, stunned. She could hear the humming of the guards’ wings as they approached, and she tried to get up but fell down again.
The guards were coming.
They were going to arrest her.
She would never end the Severance if she were captured.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Tess made a desperate effort and got to her feet, only to collapse again a moment later. She lay there, unable to move as the guards flew into sight, zooming down the tunnel in tight formation.
Shadows take me, Tess thought. It's over.
Then, inexplicably, they stopped.
What the…
“Where’d she go?” one of them asked.
“She’s just gone,” another added.
“The tunnel ends in a dead end, so where could she have gone?” the first one asked, perplexed. From where she lay, he seemed to knock on the air, but Tess heard the sound of his knuckles hitting hard rock.
What in the name of Severance was going on?
The guards all looked around, talking amongst themselves in confusion.
Tess was finally able to sit up. She tried to think.
The guard had said that the tunnel ended in a dead end. But Tess looked around and saw that there was plenty of tunnel continuing ahead of her.
And how could they not see her?
She suddenly realized that it must be an illusion—a protection spell that the Keeper would have on his quarters to keep out intruders. But then why had she been able to fly through the wards? She watched in bewildered relief as the guards flew back down the tunnel.
No time to figure it out now. She needed to get out of there.
Tessa tested her wings. They seemed fine. She flew up into the air a little. All was well.
Tess decided to continue down the tunnel and see if she could find a way out. After only a few seconds, she spotted light filtering down into the tunnel. When she looked up, she could see a hole. A way out.
She flew up and out, finding herself on a hill quite far away from Asmoore. She could see it in the distance. Not only had they walked and flown a long way, but there must also be a spell on the tunnel so that you walked farther than it seemed you had.
Tess landed lightly on a nearby rock and stared at th
e lovely view without seeing it.
Her life was in ruins.
Nyall, her oldest friend, thought she was a murderer. Finn probably hated her for lying to him. The Keeper was dead, so she would never get the Scroll and end the Severance. Plus, the Dark Queen would find out now that she was a spy, which would definitely put a target on Tessa’s back. And the King would think that she had killed the Keeper and would want her arrested for that crime.
Tess swallowed hard, trying not to throw up.
What was she to do?
Where was she to go?
She had no friends except Nat, and she couldn’t go back to the Dark Court to ask her for help. Lorcan, Nyall’s brother, was a friend, but she couldn’t endanger him by asking him for help. She wouldn’t do that to him. He was a kind, gentle man. An artist. He was ill-prepared to help a fugitive. And he didn’t deserve the trouble she would bring. It was enough to have messed up her own life. She wouldn’t destroy anyone else’s if she could help it. No, she would have to do this on her own.
She needed to hide. And there was only one place she could think of where no one would come looking for her.
The Borderlands.
On the border that the Cyclopean Forest shared with the Unseelie lands, there was a zone that was so dangerous that no one from the Unseelie Court policed it, and the Cyclops population steered clear as well. It was called the Borderlands, and nobody wanted to go in there because it was unlikely that you would ever come out.
It was the hideout of the worst criminals from the Unseelie Court and other lands, as well. The Borderlands were the last place Tess wanted to go. Especially since, as Captain of the Guard for the Dark Queen, she had probably been the reason many of the criminals had ended up there.
It would be horribly dangerous. But if she could reach that place and then hide out so that none of the criminals knew she was there, she would be safe from reach of both the King and the Dark Queen. She would buy a powerful cloaking spell so that they couldn’t find her magically either.