“Spriggans!” shouted Thomas. Several of the goblin creatures—spriggans—suddenly howled in unison, their voices ululating and twining together to form an awful, hair-raising melody. A fierce wind kicked up, and dirt and leaves flew everywhere, blinding me. Mitchell shouted something to Thomas, but I couldn’t make it out over the sudden roar of the wind. Something grabbed me from behind, wrapping long arms around me and pinning my arms to my side. I struggled, managing to send a solid backwards kick cracking against the spriggan’s shin. It shrieked in my ear, deafening even over the wind. I threw my full weight to the side, panicked, but I hadn’t broken its grip. We both toppled over, and something stabbed into the back of my neck. I screamed, pain burning from where I’d been bitten.
Thomas shouted something furiously, and the creature suddenly released me. I staggered to my feet, turning to see more roots erupting from the ground and binding the spriggan in a cocoon of plant fiber, lightning fast. It screamed as the roots cut into it. I looked up in time to see another one running at Dietrich, who was dodging a blow from the first enormous monster. No time to think, I grabbed a rock from the ground and hurled it. By some miracle, it struck the back of the spriggan’s head, and it stumbled. The whirlwind abruptly died, leaving my ears ringing. Isana appeared out of nowhere and whipped a knife across its throat, then whirled to stab the big monster’s calf.
The beast roared in pain and rage. It swung the whip, which snaked around Isana’s arm. She screamed and fell back. The monster dropped to one knee, its tusked head now almost level with Dietrich. I had just enough time to notice that he hadn’t even drawn his knives when he threw himself at the creature’s throat.
The result was instantaneous. The second his hands met its neck, it screamed, a raspy, desperate sound. It tried to jerk away from him, then seemed to collapse in on itself. Its skin shrunk back, pulling away from its mouth and baring huge yellow fangs in a death grimace. It took one last rattling breath, then, with a sickening hollow crunch, fell to the earth.
There was dead silence, and I looked around to see a host of limp spriggan bodies littering the ground. Feeling weak in the knees, I took a tiny step toward Dietrich and the fallen monster. My stomach roiled to look at it. Where before its fur had been thick and coarse, it was thin and wispy, like the hair of something long dead. Its flesh was dry and desiccated, reminding me of a mummified body I had once seen in a museum.
“What…?” I started to ask, but I couldn’t get the words out. I collapsed to my knees on the bloodstained earth, pressing my hand over my eyes.
“A buggane,” said Dietrich, for all the world as if he were identifying a local species of butterfly. “Manx. It is a relative of the ogre, but more aggressive.”
“That’s not—I meant, what did you do to it?” I asked weakly, forcing myself to look up.
“I drained its life,” he said flatly. “Do you intend to stay there?”
I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak again—my stomach was churning violently. I forced myself to stand.
“Dietrich,” gasped Isana. We turned quickly—her voice was agonized. She was sitting on the ground, swaying dangerously. She made a weak motion towards her arm, which was still entangled in the buggane’s whip.
Deitrich swore and stooped down beside her. He touched the coil around her arm, then jerked back as if burned. I looked closer, and my stomach dropped. The whip had metal barbs woven into it at random intervals, several of which had sunk deep into her arm. “Herr Mitchell!” Dietrich barked.
There was no answer. I spun to see the sorcerer kneeling beside Thomas, who was lying prone on the ground some fifteen feet away. Mitchell’s lips were moving rapidly, and an ethereal light surrounded them. I tensed—they were both covered in blood.
Dietrich spat out a curse and grabbed my arm. I gasped in pain as his skin touched mine. Abruptly I found myself kneeling next to Isana, who had passed out, lying very still on her side. “Take care of that,” Dietrich snapped, gesturing toward the whip.
“What—” I began, then froze. Isana was—flickering. Her outline was blurred, as if I were looking at her through a pane of frosted glass. I turned my gaze to the barbs quickly. Despite their obvious depth, there was no blood where they had sunk into her skin. And… they looked suspiciously like they were made of iron.
I felt suddenly faint. The Greater Fae can’t bear the touch of iron, Thomas had said. “You’re… not human, are you?” I remembered how Dietrich had jerked away from contact with the barbs. “Either of you.”
“Samantha, if she dies,” Dietrich began threateningly. I shook myself. Somehow I managed to grip the coil with trembling hands, then set to work extracting the barbs. A strange haze settled over my vision, and I was becoming lightheaded. I fought to stay focused.
When I finally finished, I cast the whip away as if it were a live viper. Isana shuddered, but after a moment, her breathing seemed easier, and she once again appeared solid. I drew away, shaking.
Dietrich gestured sharply for me to move back, and I tried to stand. I stumbled, and he sent me an irate look.
“Samantha, if you cannot—” He stopped abruptly, his gaze falling several inches. I followed his gaze, then swallowed. My entire front was streaked with blood. I traced it back to its source, feeling numb. The back of my neck, where the spriggan had bitten me moments earlier. I could feel two puncture wounds. My fingers slipped on the blood. “Not deep,” I heard myself say, and then, with no further warning, I fainted.
Chapter Nine
When I regained consciousness, I couldn’t open my eyes. You know the feeling. You’re aware of the sounds and smells around you, but you can’t force any of your muscles to move any more than you can will something to spontaneously combust. As I can now tell you from experience, however, the feeling is many times worse when it’s caused by something other than sheer exhaustion. My head throbbed. I could hear the sound of wind rushing through leaves, along with quiet speech. Each word pounded against my head.
“I don’t know,” Mitchell was saying heavily. His voice was strained, as if speaking hurt. “We are only a half-day’s walk from the court, but without help…”
“I will not be indebted to any other fae on this journey,” said Dietrich shortly.
“Then Isana will have to compel one. They can’t walk, Dietrich.”
“Do you see anything here that I could possibly enthrall?” asked Isana. Her voice was weighed down, weary. “If you were able to summon something, perhaps. Though I doubt your allegiance to Titania would allow you to do so.”
Mitchell made a noise of quiet frustration. “It would be unwise,” he said at last. “If we angered any of her creatures by compelling them…”
Someone placed something cool and damp on my forehead. Thomas, I presumed. An odd sensation washed over me, like I’d been submerged in a sea of cool vapors. The burning sensation in the back of my neck receded slowly. I stirred. Thomas put a light hand on my shoulder.
“Are you awake?” he asked, his voice very low. “Don’t open your eyes, just nod.” I managed a twitch to the affirmative. “Okay,” he said, under the continued conversation of the others. “Listen.” He made a frustrated noise. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this… Okay. Mitchell let something slip earlier, about you. I… I didn’t like the sound of it. I have an idea, but…” He trailed off. “Be on guard.”
My skin prickled. Be on guard? Against what, exactly? Abruptly my earlier revelation came crashing back to me. Dietrich and Isana. Who were they? What were they?
“…too dangerous,” Isana was saying. “We are very close, and there may be other contestants about.”
There was another silence, and Dietrich sighed. “Very well. How is her health?”
Thomas removed the cloth from my forehead, placing his hand there instead. “Her fever’s broken, I think. That charm I did counteracted most of the spriggan venom. But she’s going to be weak for a while.”
Venom? The back of my neck prickled. Well, t
hat would explain the fainting, at least. I decided my feigned unconsciousness had gone on long enough, and I stirred. This was in and of itself a herculean task, since I felt about as limber as a stack of lead pipes. I groaned quietly, and I heard cloth rustling as someone else joined us.
“Samantha,” said Isana gently as I opened my eyes. Behind her, Dietrich and Mitchell continued their conversation. “How do you feel?”
“Umm…” Like I was immobilized and a fae creature that I had previously believed to be human was sitting less than a foot away? I looked at her warily, and she exhaled softly.
“I did not want you to know,” she said. “I am sorry that you had to find out as you did.” She made as if to touch my hand, and I flinched away. She paused, drawing back. I looked at Thomas, who was sitting on my other side. He looked pale and a little drawn, but otherwise in one piece.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, voice low. He looked away, shifting his position.
“We all agreed it was best, since… I mean, you were already so overwhelmed by everything, and…” He squirmed under the look I was giving him. “And… sorry.”
“It was my suggestion,” said Isana. I forced myself to sit up. It was an effort, but I managed it. “And I am sorry for the deception, but I judged it in your best interest. You would not have been allowed to remain unenthralled had you panicked.”
My jaw clenched. I had just about had it with people deciding what was best for me without any consideration of how I felt about it. A slow burn of anger was working its way up inside of me, but I shoved it down. Now even more than before, I was in no position to let my temper show. I glanced at Thomas, who was keeping his eyes on the ground, looking unsure of what to do with himself. I forced myself to take several slow breaths, counting in my head while I did so. He wasn’t really the one at fault here, I reminded myself. Still, the fact that he’d thought it was all right to omit critical information that he could have told me stung more than I liked to admit. “Okay,” I said finally, turning to Isana. “Just… what are you, exactly?” Isana looked away, giving me the distinct impression I was about to get yet another brush-off. “Oh, come on,” I protested.
She shook her head, but not in refusal. “I am… somewhat unique,” she said at last. “There is not a name for my precise nature.”
“She’s basically a siren,” said Thomas. “You know, the creatures in mythology that would lure sailors to their deaths by singing?” Isana shot him an irritated look. “What?” Thomas asked, folding his arms. “I’m not going to keep lying to her. She was almost killed out here, she has a right to know who she’s traveling with.”
“Hold on,” I said, alarmed. I remembered her reaction when I’d quipped about everyone acting like they thought she was going to enthrall us into throwing ourselves into the river. “Do you make a habit of…”
“I do not,” said Isana firmly.
“Currently,” muttered Thomas.
“What?”
“Thomas,” Isana snapped. “I am aware of your dislike for me. There is no need to bias her.”
“Then tell her the whole truth!” He turned back to me. “She’s fae, so she can’t lie to you directly, but it won’t stop her from omitting key details. I wasn’t joking when I said not to trust her.”
“Hang on. She has lied to me, though,” I said. “Back when they first kidnapped me, she offered me a job.”
Isana looked faintly embarrassed. “I did not actually offer you employment. I only asked if you were seeking it.”
“Using implication to deceive. They do that all the time,” said Thomas, sending Isana a faintly disgusted look. “You almost have to think like a lawyer when you’re talking with them.”
Well, thank you for the warning, I wanted to say. It would have been nice to know that, I don’t know, three days ago? I had another line of questioning to pursue, though. “And Dietrich?”
They both suddenly looked uncomfortable, glancing over their shoulders in unison.
“He’s…”
“Dangerous,” said Isana quietly. “Very. But there is little he can do that you have not already seen.”
“He’s another creature that’s fairly unique,” said Thomas. “There’s not an easy way to classify him, but he’s very powerful—fae royalty, actually, which accounts for his attitude.” He frowned. “At least, somewhat. His title is the Alder Prince, son of the Alder King.”
“Alder…” Something jogged in my memory. Suddenly, realization came crashing down in the form of the entry on the Erlking in Thomas’ book. The Erlkönig (Alder King, or Erlking) is an ancient and powerful being… vengeful and cruel, possessing the ability to cause illness and death with a single touch… Erlking, Alder King. The being that had haunted my nightmares as a child. And I’d been blithely traveling along with his son.
“Are you all right?” asked Thomas. I felt weak, and I was sure the blood had drained from my face. “Wait a minute—have you heard of him? Of his father?”
“I—there were a lot of families with German ancestry where I grew up,” I said, taking a leaf from Isana’s book—tell the truth, but omit a key detail. I still didn’t want to give away the fact that I understood the language. “I’ve heard the story, yes.”
“Good,” said Thomas, though he was still watching me with concern. “Dietrich’s father is easily as bad as the stories say. Dietrich himself… he’s frightening, but he can be reasoned with. Still, he’s feared even among the fae. With good reason.”
“I saw,” I muttered, remembering the twisted shell that had been all that was left of the buggane. I swallowed, thinking back on the battle. It was only now beginning to hit me how narrowly I’d escaped being killed. I took a slow breath. “Earlier, with the spriggans… that was you, who got that one off me, right?” Thomas nodded, looking relieved that I’d changed the subject. “Thanks.” Not very eloquent, but it’s hard to sincerely thank someone for saving your life when they’re complicit with the folks who endangered it in the first place.
I looked around, trying to get my bearings. You can guess how successful I was at this; I could see we were in a reasonably flat stretch of land, near a copse of trees, but that was it as far as landmarks went. All this told me was that we’d migrated at least some ways from the site of the spriggan attack. “How long was I out?” I asked.
“About four hours,” said Isana. “We are only about half a kilometer from where we fought—we could not go far, with myself injured, and you and Thomas unconscious.”
I winced. I’d forgotten that he’d been injured, too. “What happened to you, exactly?” I asked him. “There was a lot of blood…”
“None of it was mine. One of the spriggans was carrying… I’m not sure what you’d call it, but it was a device that interfered with magical energy, which is how they destroyed the wards. It caused a surge right when I was handling a large amount of power. Mitchell managed to redirect most of it, but the backlash still knocked me out. I’ll be weak for a few hours from the shock to my system, but I’ll recover.” His expression took a grim edge. “That sort of device only really impacts human magic users. It wasn’t a coincidence that that group attacked us. Aerenia sent them, we’re certain.”
I shuddered. As if things weren’t bad enough, now we had a faerie queen sending thugs after us, specifically armed to target the weaknesses of the group. “Hang on,” I said. “You were knocked out by a… magical backlash, you said? And you were still working that charm on me?”
“Mitchell was acting as Shadow. It didn’t hurt me.”
“Oh.” I glanced over at Mitchell, who was still conferring with Dietrich. I should probably thank him for that later, but I found myself not very inclined to do so. Again, it’s hard to be grateful to someone for helping you with a problem that they largely created. I sighed. “So what’s the plan now?” I asked.
“That,” said Mitchell, approaching with Dietrich, “is an excellent question.”
“Do you feel you will be able to walk
soon?” Dietrich asked me. I cringed, refusing to look directly at him. If he’d made me edgy before I’d seen him kill a creature three times his size with barely a touch… “Well?” he asked sharply.
“Not really,” I mumbled. He made a frustrated noise. “Look, I’m sorry, I just…” I forced myself to stop talking. I was not going to apologize for being injured to the person—fae creature—who had brought me here in the first place. I stared at the ground, realizing that I was trembling again, and not from weariness, either.
“You could go ahead with Isana,” Thomas suggested. “You can still reach the Court in time for the opening ceremonies. Sam and I just need a little time to rest. We could catch up.”
Dietrich shook his head. “She must be there from the start.” Thomas suddenly looked even more pale than he had before.
“Why?” I asked, finally looking at Dietrich.
“The reasons behind our actions are not your concern,” said Dietrich shortly.
I swallowed, glancing at Thomas. I desperately wanted to ask him what he knew, what he’d referenced earlier when he’d told me to be on guard, but he shook his head a fraction of an inch. I looked back at Dietrich. “I think…” I stuttered a little, then started over. “It is my concern,” I forced myself to say. I steeled myself, then added, “Besides, you owe me a few answers. The puca, remember?”
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