Raven-Mocking (Book 3 in the Twilight Court Series)

by Amy Sumida

  The village actually looked closer to a Sunnydale then it did a Dathadair. There was a collection of cottages, each with its own little garden, painted in cheerful colors. At the center of town, there appeared to be a bubbling fountain in a courtyard, and at the far end was a huge castle keep. Castle walls encircled the entire town and guards were posted along it. But even with the presence of the guards and the shadows of the night, Dathadair had more of a homey look than a foreboding one.

  “Are you ready?” Raza asked us.

  “Yes, this is a good vantage point,” Tiernan agreed. “Go ahead and set the fire, then join us back here. We'll sneak down the cliff and hopefully through an open gate.”

  “Excellent,” Raza turned and rushed away.

  “Okay, everyone, here we go,” I said to the others. “Cat, you stay here and watch our backs.” Cat whined. “You can't glamour yourself to be invisible,” I chided her. Then she disappeared. “Cat?” I gaped at the empty space and suddenly she was back again, panting happily like a puppy. “Well, you told me.”

  “She's Goddess-touched, remember?” Tiernan whispered. “She glamoured herself into a dog, why wouldn't she be able to go invisible?”

  “Pretty soon she'll be running Twilight,” I chuckled. “Alright, you're in too, Cat. Just stay close and don't go running off anywhere.”

  Cat looked at me like I was being silly.

  “Done,” Raza said as he joined us and suddenly shouting was heard from below.

  I angled my head to see flames blazing in the distance and dullahans gathering on the city walls.

  “I hope you were careful with that fire,” it suddenly occurred to me that starting a forest fire in Fairy wasn't such a good idea.

  “It's a collection of logs I cast out into a lake,” Raza smirked at me. “The fire won't spread.”

  “Well done, you,” I grinned.

  “Get ready,” Tiernan said back to us. “They're taking the bait.”

  And they sure were. A large group of dullahans rode out of the gate on huge black steeds. They brandished their whips in their hands and had their heads attached with the collars we'd seen in HR. The gate was left wide open behind them and all of us snatched the opportunity to slide down the hill and sneak into the unsuspecting village.

  Glamours firmly in place, we crept down the streets of Dathadair like a gaggle of ghosts. Not even Cat made a sound. The lanes were cobbled and uneven but that worked in our favor, dampening the noise of our boots. The open layout helped as well, with only cottages set back from the road, no steep walls nearby to echo sound. I glanced over as we neared the first cottage and then looked back for a longer perusal.

  This was no quaint cottage of wood and plaster. This was a building made of bones. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, reminding myself that there was a purpose to every fey and that it wasn't for me to judge the way they lived. But as I passed the fourth bone house, it became harder for me to remain neutral. Everything in me rebelled against the thought of living within the dead. How could you raise children inside walls made of people?

  With morbid curiosity I stared at the dullahan homes. Fences were made of thigh bones latched together with sinew, paths were strewn with crushed bone, and I don't even want to guess what they were using for plaster; it was a putrid gray-green in the moonlight. Skulls stared back at me balefully from the corners of the roofs, mouths hanging open to serve as downspouts for the rain gutters. I shivered, my hand twitching in Tiernan's grip.

  “It's just illusion,” Tiernan whispered to me. “They aren't really made of bones and flesh.”

  “They aren't?” I whispered back and then looked closer, focusing hard enough to see past the glamour and view the real homes beneath; cottages of mundane wood and stone. I sighed in relief.

  “Illusion can be just as important as truth,” Raza whispered behind us. “Sometimes even more so. We fey, love our illusions.”

  “Alright, we need to stay silent, we've reached the keep,” Tiernan whispered back to everyone.

  The door for the keep wasn't open or unguarded but we subdued the guards easily enough and set them on the ground around the corner. We rushed inside but we didn't know where to go. If the prisoners were being held in cells, they'd most likely be in a basement level but if they were being treated as well as Mal had implied, they'd be placed in rooms above ground.

  “I smell him,” Raza whispered exultantly. “This way,” he pushed ahead of me and we were left to follow his footsteps since Raza's glamour was strong enough to withstand my clairvoyance.

  So down the dank hallways we went, chasing the sound of soft thuds on the bare stone floor. I could tell when we were getting closer because those footsteps came faster and I had to increase my pace to keep up with them.

  The dullahan had been telling the truth. Raza led us to the top floor of the keep and we ended up racing down a long corridor to a guarded door. The guard could hear us coming and was able to focus long enough to see some of us. Though I don't think he ever saw Raza because he didn't even glance at the dragon-djinn before Raza knocked him unconscious. Unfortunately, that was where our momentum stopped. Raza's glamour fell as he growled and slammed his fist into the door.

  “What is it?” I dropped my invisibility too.

  “It's barred by magic,” he searched the edges of the door for some kind of weakness.

  “Can't we break the spell?” Sarah asked.

  “It's keyed to the dullah-” Raza stopped mid-word as he stared at Sarah. “Come here,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Then he placed her palm on the door handle. The door swung open and Raza smiled. “You're handy to have around, Sarah.”

  “Handy,” I laughed and everyone looked at me. “Because he used her hand to- oh never mind. Let's go, the door's open.”

  “Dad?” Rayetayah stood within the open door, gaping at all of us.

  “Son,” Raza pulled Raye into a hug. “You're alright.”

  “I've been waiting for you,” Raye said with the trusting assurance of a child. “I knew you'd free us.”

  “I had a little help,” Raza nodded back at us. “Is everyone with you?”

  “Yeah, we're all fine,” Raye turned and waved his hand back into the room. I had a brief glance of a huge crowd.

  “Flight members too?” Sarah asked as she tried to peer around Raye's wings.

  Raye flinched just slightly when he saw Sarah and I noticed that her shoulders tensed. But then he went on casually, “They're all fine. We were comfortable enough, considering.”

  “Great, that's great,” I interrupted. “But we gotta go. It might not be as easy to get out of Dathadair as it was to get in.”

  “Right,” Raye turned. “Come on, everyone, we're going home!” The people behind him started to cheer and he shushed them quickly. “We need to be fast and as quiet as possible.”

  Then they started filing out; witches and raven mockers alike. Parents held somber children and tried to keep them quiet as we rushed them through the corridor and down to the stairwell at the end. I went along the line urging anyone who could glamour themselves to do so but some of the children weren't able to work the magic yet and their parents stayed visible with them.

  I took a deep breath and looked to Tiernan. How were we going to get them all through the keep and then out of the village in full view. If the riders returned and started searching the village, it would be difficult to hide even with all of us using glamour but with some of them visible, it would be impossible.

  “I need you two to look within and search for the magic inside you,” Raza said to Tristan and Sarah. “Try and bring it forth, glamour yourselves to look like a normal dullahan.”

  “Why would that help?” Sarah's gruesome dullahan smile was set in place firmly now and it kind of creeped me out a bit to see it on her when she was being so serious.

  “Because then you can act like guards escorting some prisoners through town,” Tiernan caught the idea. “Now that your dullahan magic is
enhanced, a small glamour should fool anyone into believing that you're pure bloods, even another dullahan.”

  “Oh,” Tristan nodded. “Okay. Let me try.”

  Within moments, Tristan looked like a full fledged dullahan, metal collar around his neck and everything. Sarah pulled back a little in horror, shaking her head in denial.

  “It's just an illusion, Sarah,” I laid my hand on her arm and she flinched. “Dullahans are obviously good at illusion. You can do this and remember, Danu promised to change you back when we're done. This is only temporary.”

  “Right,” she took a shaky breath. “Just an illusion. Temporary.”

  Then she closed her eyes and concentrated. Just as with Tristan, a glamour settled over Sarah in a low shimmer, changing her into a full dullahan. She opened her darting dark eyes and grinned her dullahan grin, and I couldn't help giving a small shiver.

  “Alright,” I looked over the visible raven mockers. “Can all of the parents with children who aren't able to glamour come here and stand with Sarah and Tristan?” I asked. “They'll be your make-believe guards,” I said to the children. “I need you to be brave for just a little bit longer and then we can get you home, okay?”

  They looked scared but most gave me nods. The others were given pep talks by their parents, who then nodded to me. We were as ready as we could get.

  “Let's go,” I said to Tiernan as I glamoured myself invisible. “Cat?” I felt her nudge my side.

  We filed down the stairs; hundreds of invisible people and a group of twenty parents with their children, being led by two dullahans. I honestly didn't have high hopes for us and as we descended past the lower levels of the keep, I began to pray. I knew Danu said she'd be with us but it never hurt to make sure. Then a hand touched my cheek and I was sure. She was there, guiding us, and we were going to make it.

  We passed by a few dullahans but they simply nodded to Tristan and Sarah, who nodded back. We kept walking out of the keep, going at a modest pace so we wouldn't attract too much attention. One dullahan approached us as we headed down the steps but Sarah said something to him about giving the children some fresh air and amazingly, he bought it.

  My heart started to slow down to its normal beat when we made it out into the village. I had faith now. I trusted that Danu would see us out, and when we reached the happy little fountain in the middle of Dathadair, I started to smile. I looked back at Sarah and her group and saw that the raven mocker parents were starting to relax as well, hugging their children and whispering encouragement.

  That's when the riders flooded the courtyard.

  We all froze as they surrounded Sarah and Tristan's group, one of the riders approaching the witches. The rest of us eased towards the side and I felt the soft nudge of Cat leaning against my leg. She was panting in dismay, her body tensing in preparation for a fight. Then a hand gripped my upper arm and a face pressed against mine.

  “Get my son out of here,” Raza whispered urgently. “I'll stay behind and make sure the rest of them get out safely.”

  “No,” I started to protest but he shoved me into someone and I felt warm hands grip me, feathers brushing my skin. Cat gave a soft whine and one of the dullahan riders looked in our direction.

  “Get out of this village now,” Raza hissed at us and I felt myself pushed along.

  We all pressed together, silently shuffling away from the group of terrified parents and children, and it was all I could do to set one foot in front of the other. Raza was with them, I told myself. Danu was with them. If a goddess and a dragon couldn't save the mockers, than no one could. But every bone in my body rebelled against leaving people behind... leaving children behind.

  A child's wail froze me for a second but we were nearly to the gate and I felt a hand slip into mine and pull me along urgently. I almost jerked away anyway but then a roar rumbled through the night, booming out like thunder to urge me on faster. And then the screams of grown men rose above those of the children.

  My group ran out of the open gates of Dathadair and clambered up the hill into the concealing arms of the Unseelie Forest. At the apex, I turned back and dropped my glamour, looking anxiously toward the village. The sky was lightening and I could see the central square clearly, though most of it was blocked by the massive body of a dragon.

  The dragon tossed its head and a dullahan went flying; head and body separating to land in two different places. The body got up and instantly started searching for its head. I might have laughed if things hadn't been so dire. But then I saw the fleeing mockers led through the streets by two dullahan impostors and I did laugh. I laughed in relief and thanked Danu as twilight coasted over Fairy and rushed through my veins.

  “We're not safe yet,” Tiernan said as his glamour fell and I looked down to see lavender sparks dripping from our joined hands. “We've got a long way to go, even if most of us can fly.”

  “Right,” I looked over my shoulder to the mass of mockers and witches, all staring at me solemnly, and wondered what the hell we'd been thinking when we made this plan.

  “They're out of the village!” Raye rushed to the slope and started down it to meet the families halfway. He helped them up the hill, Sarah and Tristan bringing up the rear.

  Just as they crested the ridge, Cat gave a little bark and I looked down at her where she had pressed in tight beside me. She ran off into the forest, weaving through the dense foliage as if she'd caught the scent of some small prey. I cursed and chased after her, the twilight energy still riding high in my blood. I found my feet leaving the ground as I ran, magic coating the soles of my boots.

  “Cat, this is not the time,” I growled as I pushed aside obstacles with a wave of my fingers. I was leaving a glittering trail of lavender behind me but I didn't care. I needed to grab that stupid puka and get back to the others. “Damn it, Catriona, I'm leaving you at home next time. Now get your furry ass back here, we have people... we..”

  I stopped in the middle of a dirt road and looked up into the molasses colored eyes of a very large horse. No, it was a puka in horse form. My heartbeat sped up and I started to lift my magic-filled fingers but then I realized that the trappings it wore bore the royal crest of Unseelie and it was hitched to three other pukas which were pulling a gleaming sin-black and silver coach.

  Cat was running towards the door of the coach, yipping happily as it opened. I stepped back to watch one shiny, black boot hit the dusty road and then another. A head lifted above the barrier of the coach door but all I could see was a midnight velvet hood. Still, I knew who it was even before he spoke.

  “Catriona,” my Uncle Uisdean purred to my puka. “How lovely to see you again.”

  “Uncle Uisdean?” I blinked at him in shock as he closed the coach door and oozed up to me.

  “King Uisdean,” Tiernan, who had evidently been behind me the whole way, was already recovered from the shock of seeing the Unseelie King on some random backwoods road, and was bowing like he was in the middle of court.

  “Hello, my darling niece,” Uisdean aimed his sharp smile at me and then nodded to Tiernan, “Count Tiernan.”

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted as more fairies broke through the treeline behind us.

  “The Goddess called upon me,” for a moment, Uisdean's face glowed with wonder and worship, and then his expression cleared and his usual smirk settled in. “She said you needed transportation,” he waved a hand backwards and behind his coach I saw a line of wagons waiting for us.

  “Sweet Danu,” I breathed. “I never would have thought she'd use you to save us.”

  “I admit that I see the irony in it as well,” he strode forward and peered at the group behind me. “But one must not ignore a request from our Goddess.”

  “No, one must not,” I huffed as a dragon roar echoed, coming closer and closer until Raza circled overhead.

  I waved Raza down and he settled on the road nearby. The pukas immediately went crazy, rearing and crying until Raza shifted into man form. Cat just w
atched the show with casual curiosity, glancing at the unseelie pukas in what appeared to be amusement. The pukas settled as Raza joined us and Uisdean immediately removed his cloak and handed it to the dragon-djinn.

  “Lord Raza,” Uisdean smiled. “I'm relieved to see that you're unharmed.”

  “As if my death would pain you,” Raza chuckled as he accepted the cloak.

  Then a horn sounded and Uisdean lifted a brow, “Should we wait for them? It may prove entertaining.”

  “I'm rather surprised that they're brave enough to give chase after the roasting I just gave them,” Raza looked back towards the village with a perturbed glare.

  “I guess you're losing your touch, old friend,” Uisdean laughed and gave Raza a pat on the shoulder.

  “Wait,” I blinked at the two of them. “You're friends?”

  “Why does that shock you?” Uisdean lifted one wicked, black brow.

  “I didn't think you had any friends,” I grimaced at my uncle.

  “And I didn't think you could think,” Uisdean smiled sweetly back at me.

  “What are you; five?” I huffed.

  “You threw the first glove,” he gave me a sassy look.

  “Punch,” I growled. “I threw the first punch.”

  “Hardly,” Uisdean scoffed. “You couldn't land a punch on me, little Seren,” he swept by me and I rolled my eyes. “Now are we fighting or leaving?”

  “Leaving,” I started waving our people forward. “I'm not risking the children.”

  “Fine,” Uisdean sighed and nodded to his unseelie knights.

  The men rushed forward to help our fairies and witches onto the wagons. I started to join one of the groups but Uisdean took my arm and escorted me back to his coach. I got in grudgingly, simply because we didn't have time to waste arguing, and Cat jumped in after me. Before Tiernan could climb in with us, Uisdean shut the coach door in his face.

  “I need a moment with my niece,” he called out to Tiernan and I heard Tiernan race off to one of the wagons, cursing in Gaelic as he went.

  Soon we were rumbling down the road, headed away from Dathadair and its unsettling occupants. Unfortunately I was left alone in a coach with a new unsettling occupant. I frowned at Uisdean as Cat settled on the floor between us.