Tressa's Treasures (The King's Jewel Book 1)

by Gordon, Belinda M

  I looked at him, incredulous.

  "You're not angry at me? You don't hate me?"

  He looked mystified. "Why would you think that? I'm yours, you're mine, and nothing is going to change that. Ever."

  "But this is all my fault."

  He took my hand.

  "No, it's Gilleagán's fault. He did this." He hesitated, as if something had just occurred to him. "Unless... is it possible that this Mór guy could have been controlling him?"

  "You mean holding Dominion over him?"

  Alexander nodded.

  "No. Well, it's not likely. He would have to know Gilleagán's true name, and with a Sidhe, that's nearly impossible. We hardly even know our own true names. Our mothers whisper it to us as infants so that only our subconscious knows what it is; then they take it with them to their graves."

  Alexander nodded as he took in this information. Then he stopped walking and pulled me by my hand, turning me to face him. He met my gaze and took my other hand. He spoke in a steely, serious tone.

  "Tressa, I'm asking you to help me, but there's something you need to understand. When I find Gilleagán, I'm going to kill him."

  I sucked in a shocked breath. Then I fought the numbness of guilt and grief that blanketed my brain, forcing myself to consider this journey's logical conclusion. The man I loved would kill my brother—or be killed by him.

  We kept moving, even as I struggled to work my mind around this revelation. Since I didn't respond to Alexander's declaration, he continued making his argument.

  "You think of Gil as your brother, the boy you grew up with and loved. But that's not him anymore. He killed your grandmother. He tried to abduct you and have you burned alive. He's taken my baby girl. You told me yourself that his soul is black."

  "Have you had a premonition of this?" I asked, grasping for reassurance.

  "No. I'm simply telling you: it is too dangerous to let him live, so I don't plan to."

  "Can you promise me that you won't get killed in the attempt?"

  He flinched and turned away. I knew he couldn't make that promise, no matter how much I begged.

  Deaglan Mór would hunt me for as long as either he or I lived. If Gilleagán was helping him—with everything Gil knew about me—it would be far easier for the Unseelie prince to hurt me. It was hard to admit that I would be better off with my brother dead, but it was even harder to deny.

  We had just reached the point where the flashlight was unnecessary when Alexander asked me to sit on a flat rock that lay near the wall of the cave. He knelt in front of me, so that we were level with each other.

  He reached into his backpack. "Órlaith told me I should show this to no one but you or her, and that I'm meant to have it and nobody else. Does that make sense to you?"

  He pulled a worn leather bundle out of his backpack. He unfolded leather straps to reveal a scabbard. A polished silver hilt, fashioned into a Celtic knot that I knew well, showed above the scabbard. The knot mirrored the one formed by the scar on Alexander's hand.

  He drew out the sword, holding it carefully in front of him. Runes etched into the sides of the blade added strength to the weapon.

  "My god," I gasped. "It's the Claíomh Solais."

  "Yes, that's what Órlaith called it. Nuada's Sword of Light."

  I dared not touch it, but I stared at it in awe. My entire life I had heard lectures about the treasures of my people. I realized then that I had never truly believed I would see any of them. I had never had faith that I was the King's Jewel of the prophecy.

  "Do you understand what this is? I mean, the significance of it?" I asked.

  "It's one of the treasures from the prophecy, isn't it?"

  "Aye, that's right. Did Mamó actually see it?"

  "No, I just described it to her."

  His aura lapped around the sword, making it one with his hand. Mamó had not seen the communion of his aura with the sword, and yet she had faith. She believed Alexander was meant to bear the sword.

  "Many will try to take this from you. It sings to the heart of every warrior. You will need to be careful around friend and foe alike," I warned him.

  The straps of leather attached to the scabbard were a harness. Alexander slipped his arms through the straps. The sword hung between his shoulder blades, much like the backpack had done. He only needed to reach behind his head to grab the hilt and draw the sword.

  He put the flashlight back into the backpack and hid the bag behind the rock where I sat.

  We strode deeper into the cave.

  "What can we expect when we get to the end of this?" Alexander asked.

  "There are usually guards at thresholds monitoring who goes in or out. However, this is an unknown threshold, so I'm not sure what to expect. When we enter the Otherworld I can call on the wind for Henry, my bodyguard. He’ll be able to come find us," I said.

  There isn't a line where the Human World ends and the Otherworld begins; it's a gradual change. A fey sensation that I associated with Faery filled the air and got stronger the further we walked through the tunnel. The closer we got to the Otherworld, the more my essence returned to me, building my strength.

  We pushed our way through a tangle of thin branches that covered the mouth of the cave and came out in a wide creek bed edged by dense woodland area. A grassland bordered the far side.

  Water was common at the portals between realms, but this creek was frozen. In fact, everything around us glistened with snow and ice.

  I should have known and prepared better. All of Tír na nÓg was in mourning over the death of our Queen Mother. The wintery scene overlaying the summer landscape was an expression of that grief.

  "Henry, I'm here," I called to my bodyguard, pushing his name into the wind. "I need you."

  Alexander turned, looking around him. He reached out and touched the flakes of snow on a frozen green leaf. "This might be a problem. We could get frostbite or suffer from exposure before we get to Sophia," he said.

  I caught the smell of a stinkweed pipe. Looking closely, I saw a thin cloud of smoke rising from behind one of the thick tree trunks to the west of the cave opening.

  "I think we'll be able to find what we need here."

  "Here?" Alexander asked incredulously.

  "Tradesman, show yourself," I called out. A face peer out from behind the tree and then retreat.

  "Tradesman, you know who I am. I command that you show yourself."

  The face peered out again grumbling under his breath. A small fae, not more than three feet tall, with gray scruffy hair and a pipe in his mouth staggered over to me. He wore a moss green suit and matching cap. He looked up at me with a surly expression. Reluctantly, he took his cap off and bowed.

  "Aye, My Lady. How can I be of service?" he asked sourly.

  "We are in need of suitably warm coats."

  "And what is that to me?"

  "Are you not a tradesman?"

  "Cobbler is my trade, madam."

  "Are you telling me that a Leprechaun of your great age and stature hasn't bartered his shoes for a wealth of other things?"

  "Whatever I have, 'tis mine. What right do you have to it?"

  "I look to buy something from you, that is all."

  It took a bit more posturing, persuasion, and outright bribery before I could get a long, fur-lined trench coat for Alexander and a warm, ankle length cape for myself.

  As we pulled on the outerwear, Henry landed on the frozen creek bed behind us with a thud that cracked the ice. The Leprechaun backed away, bowing, and then scurried off to his hollow trunk.

  I ran to Henry, who had been not only my bodyguard, but also a friend of mine since childhood. I hugged him around his long scaly neck. His reddish brown and mustard skin looked like the scales of a lizard, though they were soft and warm to the touch.

  He breathed through his nose, as he always did when I was around. Always acutely aware of my pyrophobia, he carefully avoided breathing through his mouth. Not that he would ever hurt me, but the o
ccasional puff of smoke still made me nervous.

  "Tressa?" Alexander sounded uncomfortable.

  "Alexander, this is Henry."

  ALEXANDER

  The Otherworld surprised me, although I'm not sure what I had expected. In many ways, it could have been any unfamiliar place on earth, albeit a cold and wintery place.

  The trees, though not exactly like the ones at home, were easily recognizable as trees. Most were a good thirty feet tall. Their trunks were bare of branches until two-thirds of the way up. The tops, clustered together, resembled a canopy of evergreens. A few of the trees, like the one where the snarly Leprechaun seemed to live were shorter and had twisted massive trunks.

  On the opposite side of the frozen stream was a meadow with curly grass and a spattering of large yellow flowers frozen in full bloom.

  Yet despite the familiarity, there was also an odd sense of otherness. The sky, pale lavender, gave the snow and ice surrounding us an unusual aspect. The air felt lighter, less dense. Breathing was easier. I moved faster.

  A shadow fell over the sky as I shrugged into the coat Tressa had secured. The air whooshed around us. I looked up and saw a massive, scaly underbelly. I glanced at Tressa, but she and the Leprechaun were still bantering and she didn't seem to notice the beast.

  The creature dropped down behind us with a thump. His weight broke the surrounding ice.

  The Leprechaun ran away, disappearing into the dense forest. I crouched and reached for the sword. Before I drew it out, Tressa ran toward the beast. He lowered his head for her to hug it around its neck.

  I released my grip on the sword hilt but remained crouched; stunned into motionlessness as I assessed the animal in front of me. He stood about seven feet tall, though from head to tail he measured about three times that. His wingspan was even longer. His huge claws and teeth proclaimed him as a formidable adversary—or ally—in a fight.

  I finally stood and gawked as she caressed the beast. Apparently, the huge animal was an ally then. "Tressa?"

  "Alexander, meet Henry."

  The dragon is her bodyguard. I let that sink in, readjusting the image I’d had in my mind of a burly warrior.

  "His name is Henry?" I asked, incredulous. The name didn't suit the creature.

  "Well his real name is unpronounceable, so we just call him Henry."

  "He's a dragon, right?"

  "Aye, of course. What else would he be?"

  "Don't dragons breathe fire?" I asked, astonished by her lack of fear with the enormous animal. She cooed and petted it as if it were a dog or a horse, yet it was big enough to swallow us whole.

  "Henry has been my bodyguard since... well, since I was born. He’s very careful about his fire breathing when he's around me." She rubbed the dragon's scaly neck. "Aren't you, boy?"

  She looked at the dragon as if she were listening to it. "This is Xander. We're Handfast."

  The dragon stretched his long neck toward me and sniffed then he turned his big head back to look at Tressa.

  "Aye, Henry, that's right. He's human."

  "You can talk to him?" I asked incredulously.

  "Now stop that. Don't be rude," Tressa said sharply.

  "I was just asking."

  "Oh sorry, I wasn't talking to you. Dragons communicate telepathically. But I don't know if it works with humans." She glanced at Henry. "Okay, so no, it doesn't work with humans.

  "Henry, what does the court know about the happenings at Pine Ridge these past few weeks?" Tressa asked.

  Silence stretched on while she listened to Henry's answer. I shifted from foot to foot as I waited.

  "Well, what's he saying?" I asked, impatience winning out.

  She held up a silencing finger. After another minute, she turned to relay the conversation.

  "It sounds like Shamus has done a good job of describing what happened until the point he told Gil to go see Mamó. She sent him back to court with a message that Gil had fallen and that I was in danger. She planned to bring everyone here as soon as she was able."

  Tressa turned back to address the dragon.

  "Henry, Gil killed Mamó." The raw grief in her voice prompted me to move closer to her. "I don't understand it either, really. She was going to expose him, and I guess he thought she had bequeathed the Aura Sight to him."

  "No, she gave it to me, which seemed to make him even angrier. Henry," her voice cracked, "he's kidnapped a child. Xander's daughter."

  The dragon snorted hot smoke from his nostrils. Tressa so trusted the dragon that she merely flinched.

  "Well, Xander, you and Henry have something in common," she said. "You both think Gil should die."

  I was growing impatient with this inactivity. My hands itched to do something. My daughter was in dangerous hands; I had to get her back before any harm could come to her.

  "So what's the plan?" I asked, hoping to get things moving.

  "There's been no word of Gil coming through a threshold yet. All the guards are on the lookout for him. They know that the human child with him is not his to take," she said, relaying what Henry had told her. She then turned back to the dragon.

  "The Niagara Falls threshold is the closest to Pine Ridge, so it makes sense that he would go there. I think we should go that way to head him off."

  The dragon evidently had a lot to say about that. He snorted and scratched at the ground with his huge claws, communicating his dissatisfaction with this plan.

  "What's going on?" I demanded, having a hard time keeping my tone civil.

  "He doesn't want us—well, especially me—to get involved in this. It's too dangerous," she translated reluctantly.

  I addressed the dragon directly. "Henry, I'm going after my daughter. Believe me, nothing will convince me otherwise."

  Henry snorted a black cloud of smoke, causing Tressa to step away from him.

  "But the risk for Tressa is unacceptably high," I continued. "If you agree to help me find Sophia, we can take Tressa to a safe place to wait for us."

  Henry seemed to approve of this idea.

  "You're not going without me," Tressa said indignantly.

  Henry and I both turned on her.

  "Tressa, be reasonable," I said. "Gil knows you’ll come after Sophia. This whole thing is a trap to get you to Mór. If Henry is willing to help me, there's no point in putting you at risk."

  I felt certain Henry was telling her pretty much the same thing; still, she shook her head stubbornly.

  "I will not sit at the castle with nothing to do but worry. I'd go insane. Besides, you need me to communicate with Henry, and if Sophia is hurt, I'll be able to help her more than either of you."

  It was irrefutable that if Sophia were hurt, we would need Tressa. Although I despised putting her at risk, we had no other option.

  "You might as well give in," Tressa said, "because I will have my way with this."

  "Okay, fine, I give up. How do we get to the threshold?"

  "We ride Henry, of course."

  "Of course," I muttered.

  The dragon lay down to allow us to climb onto his back. Tressa sat in front of me, holding onto a leather strap around Henry's neck. I put my arms around her and held onto the strap as well. The dragon leapt into the air with surprising grace. His expansive wings flapped with a strength that sped us through the air.

  I looked down at the topography below and knew in an instant that we were going the wrong way. "They aren't coming in through Niagara Falls," I shouted to Tressa. "They're coming through somewhere in Alaska."

  "You're sure?" Tressa asked.

  "I'm sure."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  TRESSA

  I was grateful for the Leprechaun’s cape once we were in the air. Flying with a dragon tended to be cold anyway because of the height and speed they flew. With the land completely frozen in grief, that day it was absolutely glacial.

  We flew over villages with smoke curling out of chimney tops, over the city of Findias, carved into the mountainside, over
a large frozen lake that glistened in the sunlight.

  Henry started his descent after passing over an ancient stone cathedral that lay in ruins. As we drew closer to the threshold, the sounds of a battle floated up to us. Henry pulled up and circled around instead of landing.

  He telegraphed his intentions, and I shouted them back to Alexander. "He's going to fly over so we can get a view of what's happening down there."

  We flew over a battlefield several hundred yards from the cathedral ruins. I easily picked Gilleagán out of the squad of a dozen or so dark-clothed Unseelie Rebels; his golden hair blazed in the sun.

  The rebels fought against three dragons, throwing their spears high into the air. They held shields that blocked the dragons' flames, evaporating the firestorm into the air.

  They had taken down a young female, judging by her size, with a dragon net. She struggled fiercely to get free. Her fiery breath melted the snow and ice all around her, but the netting remained impervious to the flames. It held her captive and incapacitated.

  Henry made a second pass over the fighting below, but there was no sign of Sophia.

  "Henry, let's drop Tressa off by the ruins. She can wait there while we help your friends. We need to get to Gil so he can tell us where he's hiding Sophia."

  Henry didn't give me time to argue. He swooped down, landing in the churchyard. I slid off him and he flew away, Alexander still on his back.

  I went inside the cathedral to find shelter from the ice and cold. Most of the roof and half of the walls had collapsed long ago. I made my way to a section capable of providing shelter from the elements, a corner where the roof and walls had survived intact.

  I caught the broad sounds of the fight in the distance, but not in enough detail to know what was happening. While straining to listen to the battle, I heard the crunching noise of something coming through the woods. I crouched inside the corner, feeling exposed in the crumbling building.

  I froze when footsteps came my way, not wanting to draw attention to myself. When the sound of movement stopped directly outside where I hid, I held my breath.