Bartered to the Fae Lord

by Rylee Winters

  Gideon grinned. “I found him hiding in one of the rooms,” he said proudly, hooking a thumb into the top of his trousers and puffing out his chest. He was clearly pleased with himself.

  “Lady Elise,” Cassius greeted, inclining his head politely. His uniform was wrinkled, and there were patches and streaks of dust and dirt across his clothes and skin. His face looked worse for wear. “I’m so glad you’re safe. Lord Callum would be relieved if he knew.”

  “You’ve seen him?” she asked quickly, an anxious expression on her face. “Is he okay? How’s his wound?”

  Cassius shook his head sadly. “Only briefly before he was captured. He sent me to find you, to ensure that you were safe. Later on, I found out Varian’s men had overtaken the entire garrison. Lord Callum’s being held in the sitting room under heavy lock and guard. I don’t know how he’s faring, but his Lordship is a battle-hardened fighter—I’m sure he’ll be alright,” Cassius added the last part in an attempt to reassure Elise.

  But Elise knew he was only saying it for her benefit. “Are there any others who managed to escape or go into hiding? Where’s Aiden and Melody?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion as she tried to keep herself together. She tried to hide the fear and worry knotting her stomach and threatening to overwhelm her.

  Please be safe… she pleaded desperately in her mind, praying to the heavens for Callum to remain alive and to stay in one piece. If anything happened to him… She bit her lower lip.

  “Aiden gave himself over to the intruders in order to protect Melody. They’re being held with some of the trainees and instructors in the main hall.”

  Elise’s expression was grim. “What do you think we should do?” she asked Cassius, after taking in a deep breath, deferring to the Captain’s military expertise in this dicey scenario.

  Cassius was silent for a moment as he thought. “We need to get help. There’s not enough of us here to be able to overthrow the enemy.”

  “I agree,” Elise nodded. “But where can we go? What’s the closest place from here where we could rally a group of people to help us?”

  “What about my village?” Gideon suggested, speaking up.

  Cassius shook his head. “Not enough of the inhabitants know how to fight, let alone wield a weapon… No, no…” Cassius said gravely. “Lord Varian’s men are experienced soldiers, they’d make quick work of any villagers who tried to oppose them.”

  “But there’s no one else near us!” Elise argued, the exasperation clear in her voice. “Where on earth are we going to get help from then?”

  Cassius hesitated, but after a moment’s pause answered reluctantly, “We’ll have to go ask the King.”

  “But the King’s in the south,” Gideon protested. “It’d take at least a month to ride there at full speed on horseback!”

  “And how would you know where the King is?” Cassius interjected, eying Gideon with a sharp look.

  Gideon flushed. “I might have heard about it accidentally…” he started guiltily.

  “You mean, while you were snooping?” Cassius prompted, his voice sounding more stern than the slight trace of a smile on his face indicated.

  Gideon smiled ruefully, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I really didn’t mean to…sir,” he offered apologetically.

  Cassius waved it off with a shake of his hand. “Well, now that we’re all on the same page…yes, the King is in the south. We’ll need to get to one of the travel portals to transport us there. The closest one I know of is about two days away from here. If we ride hard and without sleeping, we can get there in a day and half…maybe.”

  Elise’s brow furrowed, deep in thought, like she was mulling over something. The creases on her face slowly cleared as she looked up and voiced what was on her mind. “The travel portal…I think I may know of one closer to here,” she said, watching Cassius’ face carefully to see his response.

  He frowned, looking confused. “Where? I’ve not heard of any portal closer than the one near Rankor village, south-west of here and I’ve been stationed at the garrison for over four decades!”

  “There is one—a much more ancient portal. It’s north of here and only about two hours away. I read about it in a book called ‘the history of Atria’.”

  The captain looked at her sceptically. “My Lady…” he started, trying to be polite, “it’s not that I don’t agree with the idea, but that portal may be long gone, broken, or out of commission if it’s that old. If we go there and the portal is no longer standing or doesn’t work, we’ll have wasted precious time.”

  Elise knew what Cassius was saying and understood his concerns, but her gut told her Callum and the rest of the captives didn’t have the four or five days it’d take them and the King’s army to travel back here. Callum’s life and the lives of the rest of the hostages hung on the edge of a steel blade, and for every minute that passed by, the probability they’d come out alive from this grew smaller and smaller.

  “That’s why we need to split up,” Elise finally said, her own voice wobbling a bit at the end even though she was making the suggestion. She knew this was a risky strategy, but what other choice did they have?

  “No.” Cassius shook his head firmly.

  Elise looked back at Cassius, silently standing her ground.

  “No!” he repeated again, this time more vehemently. “I can’t allow you to go off alone like that, unprotected. I promised Lord Callum I would keep you safe!”

  “I could go to the south-western gate and you and can accompany Lady Elise to the northern one,” Gideon interrupted them with his suggestion.

  This time it was Elise’s turn to say no. “Absolutely not! That’s way too dangerous! You’re just a child and you have even less fighting ability than me!”

  Gideon flushed in embarrassment, but stuck out his chin stubbornly. “I’m small and quick. I could run and hide from any attackers.”

  Elise crossed her arms, swinging them out in a negative gesture. “Nope, not happening. That’s the final decision.” Then seeing Gideon’s crestfallen face, she added, “You’re too valuable to risk. We need you when we return to help us execute a sneak attack on our enemies by using the secret passages.”

  Her words mollified Gideon to some extent, and the gloomy atmosphere hanging over his head seemed to lift a bit.

  “I can’t, Lady Elise…” Cassius renewed his defense, his tone desperate and pleading. “If anything were to happen to you…Callum…he would never forgive me. And I’d never be able to live with myself either!”

  Elise hardened her eyes into steel. “This isn’t up for debate, and Callum’s not here right now and in no position to be making these sort of decisions. If we don’t take this chance, everyone in this garrison could die. This is the only way.”

  Cassius breathed out a heavy sigh, knowing he’d lost the argument. Of course he knew Elise had a point—several good points if he were to admit it to himself honestly! But Callum… He closed his eyes for a brief second.

  “Okay,” he said finally, opening his eyes. “But I don’t like it. I don’t like this at all.” He made his statement clear and firm.

  Elise answered his words with a wry smile. “Neither do I. But it’s a chance we’re going to have to take. Now, let’s figure out how we can signal to Gideon to get his help once we arrive back with the King’s army.”

  The three huddled their heads together and over the next half an hour, hatched up a plan. It took them another twenty minutes to prepare provisions for Cassius from the kitchen, and to find weapons to arm themselves with.

  All the while, they moved through the secret passageways, with Gideon leading the way as they went first to the kitchen, then to Cassius’s room to gather the remaining necessary items.

  Elise also took the opportunity to sneak into Callum’s room, and luckily found the bow and arrows Callum had gifted her with were still there, sitting on the desk. She took them, planning to use them on any enemies who tried to attack her on her journey.

>   Another fifteen minutes later, Cassius and Elise found themselves crouching down in the woods just outside the high, solid walls of the garrison. They’d managed to sneak out from the place using a small tunnel that wound around just underneath the wall, the opening hidden under a heavy clump of bushes underneath some tall oak trees outside.

  Meanwhile, Gideon had been tasked with sneaking into the stables to acquire two horses for them. They waited with trepidation, both too on edge to say a word, but finally, a few minutes later, they heard a light sound of hooves accompanied by a gentle nickering. A moment after, Gideon’s face popped into sight as he turned the corner behind a large pine tree.

  Two horses with saddles on them, trotted leisurely on either side of the boy, while he held onto their reins and tried with a great deal of effort, to keep their movements as quiet as possible.

  They both hurried over to Gideon as he pulled the horses to a stop, Elise letting out a breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding.

  “Good work, lad!” Cassius murmured, patting the boy on the back, impressed by his resourcefulness. Despite how dire the situation was, Gideon blushed with pride, chuffed by the Captain’s compliment.

  Elise squeezed the boy in a quick hug. “Yes—you did well, Gideon!” she echoed Cassius’ praise, hoping he’d be okay while they were gone.

  “There’s no time to delay, we must be off,” Cassius declared, already loading his provisions onto the back of one of the horses. Elise nodded in acknowledgement.

  She bent down and gripped Gideon’s shoulders firmly with her hands, lowering her head so their eyes were level. “Keep out of sight and out of the way. We’ll signal to you once either one of us is back,” she instructed. “Don’t do anything stupid or take it upon yourself to suddenly play the role of hero. Got it?”

  Gideon nodded to show he understood and feeling comforted now she’d obtained his promise, Elise ruffled his hair and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, before rising.

  Securing her bow to the saddle of her own horse, she adjusted the strap of her quiver she wore over her shoulder and on her back, before putting a foot on the stirrup and hoisting herself up and over to sit on the saddle of the horse.

  One of her aunts had owned a farm, and she’d often rode the horses they owned when she was younger, during her vacations there, but it had been a long time since then and she was a little rusty.

  “Don’t worry. What do they say…? It’s just like riding a bike,” she murmured to herself, as she pulled on the reins and squeezed her knee against the side of the horse to make it turn. The mare grunted softly, but obeyed her command. She was a little wobbly on the saddle as the horse moved, but it wasn’t too bad.

  “Good luck, Lady Elise,” Cassius said, giving her a nod, and to Gideon he imparted one final message. “Hold the fort down in the meantime. I know you can do it. We’re depending on you.”

  With those words, Cassius turned his horse south-west and rode away, and Elise and Gideon quickly lost sight of him in the cover of dense foliage and trees. There was very little snow left on the leaves and ground now that spring was around the corner.

  “Godspeed, my Lady,” Gideon said as he bowed goodbye.

  “Thank you, Gideon. I’ll see you soon.” She gave him a tight smile and a second later was riding fast away, headed north; her heart hammering against her ribcage, as she hoped with all her will she’d find the portal there.

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  Elise felt the hope she’d been holding up until now draining away fast. She estimated she’d been riding for over two hours, and she still hadn’t spotted any sight of the portal she’d read about in the book.

  She was pretty confident she’d ridden in the right direction, since her girl-scout days were ingrained into her memory despite the lack of practice over the years.

  Just as she was about to head to the left and search the unexplored area further in that direction, her ears pricked up. She heard a strange, rustling noise coming from a short distance away.

  Something large was moving through the trees, making its way towards her…

  It didn’t sound human, and she was pretty certain it was an animal of some kind.

  A strange disquiet fell over the forest.

  Her horse let out a whinny, stomping uneasily on the ground beneath her. She patted the mare on the neck, trying to get her to settle down, but the horse seemed to grow more distressed.

  Suddenly, something came crashing through the tree-line some twenty yards away behind Elise. She spun around and caught sight of an enormous, terrifying dark creature emerging from the trees.

  For a moment, Elise stopped breathing as she stared in horror at the beast that seemed to be half-wolf and half-bear! It was covered in pitch black fur which contrasted starkly with its demonic, red, glowing eyes.

  The beast emitted a threatening snarl and leapt forward, bounding towards her and the mare. The sound woke Elise abruptly from her frozen state.

  Elise spurred into action, gripping the reins tightly in her hands. She pulled hard as the mare released a high-pitched whinnying cry, reared up, and bolted, galloping away into the trees.

  The nightmarish creature chased after them, running on all fours. Elise chanced a glance back to see it racing a short distance behind them, the sight of it and its proximity making her shudder.

  She pressed herself flat down against her horse’s neck, spurring the mare on faster in a race for life and death. Hanging branches and leaves whipped at her face and body as they sped deeper into the forest, trying to escape the beast pursuing them.

  She could hear it growling behind them, the sound getting louder and louder as it gained on them.

  Shit! Elise’s heart plummeted as the fear of the beast overtaking her on horseback was becoming all too real. She thought her stomach was going to regurgitate her last few meals as the horse made an abrupt turn and leapt over a fallen log, landing with a solid thump onto the ground, the motion jostling Elise hard in her saddle.

  She was beginning to realize there was no way they were going to outrun this creature. It’d been chasing after them in hot pursuit for ten minutes now, and did not seem like it was tiring or even close to relenting. She predicted it wouldn’t be long before it caught up to them.

  Spotting a clearing up ahead through a gap in the trees, Elise steered her horse towards it. She waited until they were well inside the clearing and a good distance away from the tree line, before bringing the horse to an abrupt stop. She manoeuvred the mare so its flank was parallel to the edge of the clearing where she predicted the beast would emerge from, and readied herself.

  “Stay still!” she commanded the horse, giving the reins a solid tug before releasing them to free her hands.

  Unclasping the bow she’d secured to the saddle, and drawing an arrow from her quiver swiftly, she nocked the weapon and twisted in her seat so she could aim the weapon directly towards the crashing sound of the creature’s approach.

  She didn’t have to wait very long for it to reveal itself.

  There was a flash of black fur between the foliage…and then some tree trunks. A moment after, the creature was leaping into the clearing, heading at high-speed towards her, growling, it’s mouth pulled back to reveal its sharp, jagged teeth.

  It all happened so fast…!

  Elise took aim, her heart rising up and lodging inside her throat as fear and adrenaline rushed through her blood, and shot the arrow towards the beast’s heart. But just as she released the bowstring, the mare moved under her, jostling her in her seat, unable to hold back its skittish nerves.

  The arrow missed its mark and hit the beast in the shoulder. It reared back, roaring in agony and rage as the metal tip pierced through its flesh.