Lensy looked at Jerome, but he shook his head. “No,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
“We can’t trust them,” Pippi singsonged in a low, slurred voice right next to my ear.
“You have a better idea for getting to the fairy palace without alerting an army?” I asked.
She frowned. “That flighty little dryad doesn’t know how to speak without lying.”
Lensy’s gaze jerked to Pippi. “I didn’t lie. You just didn’t like what I had to tell you.”
“You were jealous,” Pippi said. “And you made up some ridiculous story—”
“Enough,” I said. “As fascinated as I’m sure we all are about what Lensy did to join the very, very long list of people Pippi hates, we have a bigger problem facing us. Have you got anyone who can lead us to the fairy palace?”
“Pippi?” Lensy asked, eyes going wide and a smirk forming on her now bark-covered lips.
Pippi elbowed me in the side, hard enough that it knocked the breath from me, and grinned with gritted teeth. “Pippi is the name of the most feared, most brilliant, most powerful woman in the Non. Chloe sees a resemblance between the two of us. She just can’t stop calling me Pippi.”
“Hmmm,” Lensy said. “Not sure I would make that connection.”
“Enough,” I said. Maybe it had been a mistake to bring Pippi. Her aggressive personality might help us against the nightmares, but it was becoming a major liability in the meantime. “You two can have a duel later. Right now, I want an answer to my question. Do you have anyone in your group who can lead us to the fairy palace?”
“Yes,” Lensy said. Jerome growled and shook his head, but Lensy didn’t look at him. “Her name’s Vervain, and she’s from a nomadic clan of pixies. She’s traveled this area extensively and has made several trips to the fairy palace from here with her family.”
“She sounds perfect,” I said. “So why is Jerome glaring at you like he wants to cut your skull open and eat your brains?”
“Gross,” Vin muttered.
“Because she’s eleven-years-old,” Jerome said. “She’s a little girl and she’s been traumatized. Her family was taken by the nightmares. She’s in no state to venture from here or face them.”
“Sounds like she has every good reason to want to face them,” Pippi said. “Revenge.”
For once, I agreed with Pippi. Sort of. “I’d like to meet her,” I said. “And find out what she’d like to do.”
Jerome frowned. “She’s…She’s been keeping to herself. I think just one or two of you should approach her. And I’d like to be there.” He glared at Lensy, as though daring her to argue with him. He had a bond with the child. Or, he’d never been to war, never had to choose between humanity and brutality. Never had to face the idea that further traumatizing a child might be the only way to save an entire country of fae.
I looked to Vixia, expecting her to have some say in the matter, since she was the same species. Vixia met my gaze and frowned. “We are both pixies, but we are from two very different clans. She considers me her enemy.”
I looked at Vin and Pippi, trying to decide who would most appeal to an eleven-year-old girl. I didn’t know children and I didn’t relate to children, so my first instinct was to choose Vin. She was the most likely to be compassionate and get the girl to talk.
“I want to go,” Pippi said. “I’ve been where she was.”
She flinched when I gave her a ‘what the fuck’ look. “My family wasn’t killed, but they abandoned me when I was twelve to the clan in which my betrothed lived. I hated them for it and I’ll go to my grave hating them for it. I understand what she’s going through.”
“She doesn’t hate her people,” Jerome said.
“No,” Pippi said. “But she hates those who took them from her and she feels abandoned, whether her family chose to leave her or not.”
I looked at Vin to see if she thought this was the craziest idea ever. I might be the leader, but human emotion was more Vin’s department. “It’s worth a shot,” she said. “I’ve got as little experience with children as you have, Chloe.”
“Okay, Jerome,” I said. “Lead the way.”
“I will stay here and speak with Vin about what we may be able to offer each other in terms of skill and fighting ability,” Lensy said.
Pippi and I followed Jerome out of the room and down a dark, earthen hallway.
***
Jerome led us to a large room with a roaring fire in the center of it. People of all species sat around the room, some talking and laughing, others playing games. Three young children spun in a circle and sang a song about goblin hordes. Every head turned as we walked through and most the looks we got were not friendly, not even from the children.
Jerome didn’t say a word to anyone, but kept moving, leading us down another dark hallway and into a second room, this one larger than the first, but empty and dim. About fifteen small, arched doorways were dug into the walls and Jerome led us straight across to the one smack in the middle. Jerome knocked gently against the hard dirt of the wall. “Verv, you up?” he asked.
“I’m not hungry, Jerome,” a small, prickly voice answered.
“I’m not bringing you food. There’s a couple of people here want to talk to you about leading them through the woods. You don’t have to—”
“I’ll talk to them,” the small voice answered, sounding closer. A petite girl, her hair a tangled mess that fell to her waist in dark brown, her eyes huge, and her mouth small, stared up at us, her gaze drinking us in and daring us to back down. It was the pixy custom not to meet another’s eyes, but Vervain didn’t appear to adhere to that custom. I’d learned that different clans within a species could have different rules of etiquette and different traditions, but the anger and defiance in Vervain’s gaze made me suspect she had dropped the habit recently.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Chloe and this is—”
“Evangeline,” Pippi said. “We’re going to go up against the nightmares, with every intention of sending them back into the nightmare realm or straight into hell. Want to help?”
Not exactly the gentle, compassionate tack I’d have taken, but Vervain’s eyes lit and a smile flirted with her lips. “Yarborough says no one can go up against the nightmares, he says we have to run and hide.” She spat the words like they put a bad taste in her mouth. “My father said only the weak run and hide. I don’t want to be weak.”
“Nobody wants to be weak,” Pippi said. “And we have tools, magic, that makes us stronger than the nightmares. All we need you to do is get us to the ruler of the nightmares. The empress.”
Vervain shuddered, bravado leaching from her eyes and her stance. “No one can defeat Ludwiggia,” she said, looking much more like the child she was. “Even the nightmares fear her…She…She made my sister. . .”
“Ludwiggia took your family?” I asked in my most gentle voice.
“She took me, too,” Vervain said. “But I escaped. She…She sent me away to be food for her…But I ran and I hid.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I behaved like a coward.”
“You did what you had to do to survive,” Pippi said. “There is no shame in that. Now, you will help us exact the revenge you so justly deserve.”
Vervain gazed at Pippi like she wasn’t seeing the immature, petty redcap the rest of us saw. She looked at Pippi like she was Santa Claus, a white knight, and a warrior princess all rolled into one. “Do you think my family might still be alive?”
I opened my mouth, but Pippi quelled my words with a look. “If they are, we’ll find them and we’ll give them back to you.”
My heart thudded with sick dread as Vervain looked up at Pippi with complete trust. It seemed unlikely that we’d find Vervain’s family alive and well, and Pippi had just given her a hope that might break her if it was disappointed.
“I’ll help you,” Vervain said. “I’ve never learned to fight, but I can get you there and I’m a good watcher.”
“Great,” I said. “That wou
ld be wonderful.”
“We should leave at sun-up,” Vervain said. “Traveling at night is dangerous because the shadows can move freely in the dark. I’ll pack my things. Where should I meet you?”
“Vervain,” Jerome said, his voice strained. “You don’t have to do this. You could draw them a map, you could tell them where to go.”
Vervain looked at Jerome and there was something wild in her eyes, like a child whose favorite toy had just been yanked from her hands. “I can’t draw. I need to show them.”
Jerome frowned. “It won’t be easy, child. Do you really want to face those things again?”
She didn’t hesitate, didn’t even flinch. “Yes. They don’t belong here. They are evil.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jerome said.
“What is your battle experience?” I asked.
He glared at me. “I’m going.”
I looked to Pippi for help. She shrugged, antipathy clear in her expression. “If he wants to commit suicide for the cause, who am I to stop him?” She turned to Vervain. “We’ll be back to get you at dawn. Do you think you can be ready to go by then?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll be ready.”
Pippi turned to Jerome. “And you?”
“I’ll be ready,” he said. “Come on, we should get back to Lensy.”
We followed him back through the tunnels to the room where we’d been held prisoner. Everyone was awake and Benny and his crew had emerged from some unknown location. “Still no sign of Frost or Hieronymus?” I asked Vin.
“None. I’ll go with you to find them.”
“You can’t go anywhere,” Lensy said. “You’ll only draw unwanted and dangerous attention to us.”
“We’ll take our chances,” I said. “We do know how to be inconspicuous.”
Lensy’s entire body tensed. “You are no longer in the Non, princess. You will not always get your way. You will stay here until I tell you it’s safe to leave.”
On the one hand, we needed Lensy’s support and that of her team. On the other hand, we’d already convinced Vervain to go with us and, for all we knew, Lensy and company would be more trouble than they were worth. “Show us the way out,” I said in a sweet voice. “Or we’ll tell every nightmare we encounter where to find you.”
Lensy strode over and stood nose to nose and toe to toe with me. “Do you dare come into my home and threaten me?”
Pippi, of all people, got between us, pushing us apart with her palms on our chests. “I don’t think you understand, Lensy. Chloe’s husband is out there and he’s with her mother’s advisor, Hieronymus. Without them, we won’t make it very far in the fairy castle.”
“You won’t make it far at all, even with him,” Lensy said with a sneer. “Ludwiggia knows everything that happens in that castle. She’ll know you’re there before you’ve made it three steps into the building.”
“I’m sure we can manage more than three steps,” a familiar voice said.
I spun to see Hieronymus, his hands bound and his face red, being prodded forward by a huge troll with a pike. “We found them trying to sneak in through the fourth quadrant,” the troll said.
“Where’s Frost?”
The troll stepped aside to reveal Frost, limp and bruised, being carried by three elves. I ran to him and patted him, feeling for damage. I could feel his lungs fill and empty as he breathed. “Did you tranq him?”
One of the elves looked at me like I was speaking a different language. “We hit him with a dart. He’ll wake up in an hour.” He dropped Frost at my feet so hard that Frost twitched and groaned, even in his unconscious state.
I dropped to my knees and pulled his head onto my lap, smoothing his damp hair. “This is my husband you’re throwing around,” I said, glaring at the elf. “Show a little respect.”
The elf looked back and forth between me and Frost, disgust obvious. “He attacked us. He stalked us and ambushed us from behind. Said we’d taken his wife and he needed to know where to find her. Said he’d torture us for answers if he had to. I’d likely be dead if Fentroy hadn’t come up behind him and darted him.” He nodded at the troll. “I see no reason to be gentle with a beast who wished me dead.”
I smiled down at Frost, my heart warming. Was it wrong that his determination to find me and his willingness to hurt others to track me down made me happy and proud? Probably, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“I’ve spoken to Mercury and Vin about the capabilities of my people,” Lensy said, kneeling next to me. “They can fill you in. I need to prepare my warriors and get together the needed supplies.”
“I’m not making any decisions until Frost is awake and can weigh in,” I said. “So go ahead and prepare, but don’t be surprised if there’s a change of plans.”
“Frost?”
“My husband,” I said. “The man in my lap, Aiden Frost, is my husband.”
Lensy nodded, accepting my answer, and rose to stand. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. Let Jerome know if you need anything and I’ll—”
“I’m going with you,” Jerome rumbled in his gruff voice.
Lensy froze and turned to face him. “You’ve never fought anyone, Jerome. You got angry when Yarborough killed a spider last week.”
“The spiders kill all the other pesky bugs,” Jerome said. “I wasn’t feeling sorry for the spider, I was being practical.”
“And I’m being practical when I say you aren’t going,” Lensy said.
Jerome stomped over to her and snarled. “I’m the one knows Vervain best. I’m the one she comes to when she has nightmares. I’m not letting her face those monsters alone.”
Lensy’s face softened with understanding and sympathy. “And what will it do to her to see you hurt or killed by those monsters? Stay here. Be the safe haven to which she can return.”
Jerome shifted, his hesitation clear on his face. But the hesitation lasted only a moment before steel entered his stance and his gaze. “I’m going with her. If I can’t protect her, at least she’ll know I tried.”
Lensy shook her head. “You won’t be a help, Jerome, you’ll just be one more person we have to protect, one more person who will distract us from the fight.”
“I don’t want your protection,” Jerome said. “I’ll protect her and myself.”
Lensy opened her mouth to protest, but her expression hardened and she said nothing. As part of the rebellion, it probably wasn’t the first time she’d had to make a difficult decision or watch someone she liked make a poor choice. She wrapped her arms around her own torso, as though trying to protect herself, and exhaustion lined her features. “Fine,” she said. “But I’m not crying for you if you get yourself killed. I’m going to say I told you so to your dead body.” Her words held more sorrow than venom and I was more than certain that Lensy would spend the rest of her life grieving for Jerome and blaming herself if anything happened to him. I couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for her to be the protector of so many who were unable to fight for themselves, and to know that at any moment the nightmares could show up and destroy them all.
***
Frost woke while Vin was explaining what she’d learned from Lensy about her people. The rebellion Missella led hadn’t been an army of brute force, but a varied group of fae with different skill sets and different strengths. Missella had known she couldn’t overthrow the fairy kingdom with raw force alone, but she’d intended to take it apart from the inside out and to change public opinion one person at a time. She’d had extensive spy networks and a wealth of information, but she’d also been exceedingly paranoid about being discovered and she’d shared the entirety of what she’d known with no one. Each of her rebels had only the information they needed to do their jobs.
Her paranoia had extended so far that she hadn’t even kept records of what she knew, but trusted herself to remember it all. She hadn’t counted on dying. She hadn’t counted on the nightmares becoming a greater threat than the fairies. And she’d made no co
ntingency plan, no back-up option. By all accounts, Missella was a genius and an amazing leader, but her lack of planning would mean all her brilliant ideas, all her strategy and knowledge were forever lost. Her years of dedication to the cause, worthless.
“According to Lensy,” Vin said. “The nightmares used Missella to take out who she believed were the biggest threats to them.”
Maybe I was tired, but nothing she’d said made sense. “What?”
“The nightmares got inside Missella, Chloe. All her thoughts, all her knowledge, they took it and they used her to kill the members of the rebellion who were the most powerful, the most unique, the most capable of doing real damage to the nightmares.”
Frost growled low in his throat. He was awake, but he hadn’t sat up, his head still in my lap, his eyes just barely open.
“Basically,” I said, “we’re no better off than we would have been if we’d never found the rebels.”
Vin nodded. “There are ten members of Missella’s band left, not counting Lensy and Yarborough. All of them are new recruits, all of them are untested in the field, and all of them are terrified of the nightmares.”
“But Lensy thinks they’ll fight with us?”
“They aren’t cowards like Yarborough, but that doesn’t mean they won’t run at the first sign of real danger.”
“We’d probably be better off without them,” Benny said. I hadn’t realized he was listening until he spoke. He was sitting up, but leaning against a dirt wall, and he looked exhausted. Maybe the drugs from the darts affected dragons differently than the rest of us, because he and his crew looked completely beaten. “We need people who’ve actually got a clue how they’re going to react when the fighting starts.” He sighed. “As soon as I can move, Chelsea and I are going to head out and try to recruit more dragons to the cause.”
Frost cursed and I narrowed my eyes at Benny. “You don’t think two dragons flying over the countryside will alert the nightmares to our presence? Or at least make them suspicious? It was enough of a risk for you to fly the three miles to get us here.”
Benny shrugged. “Dragons live here. I can’t imagine they never spread their wings and fly.” He sighed. “Unless the nightmares have caged all the dragons and put them to work as slaves. But it doesn’t matter. Chelsea is a telepath.” He waved a hand without looking at me. “Before you get all excited, she can only talk to other dragons, and she can only talk to them if they’re within two hundred miles and she gets high enough to send a message. We’ll fly up, send the message and come right back.”
Fairy, Neat (Fairy Files Book 6) Page 10