by Elise Kova
“No. He knows what he needs to do. Just like we have to press on. We came here on a mission; one we can’t deviate from.”
I look back over my shoulder. My stomach knots at the idea of leaving him behind. Shouldn’t Shaye want to charge after him? Doesn’t she care about him? Her love for him is just like all the love I’ve ever known—it’s dependent entirely on his use to her. When he is no longer useful, or would be a detriment to her, he’s cast aside.
“We should pick up the pace,” Davien suggests. He turns to face me. “Stay close to me, all right?”
I nod. “You don’t have to worry about me, I can keep up.”
“Good.”
Whatever pleasure I would’ve gained from his confidence in my skill on a horse is quickly gobbled up by the worry that’s consuming me. It’s as if Giles was never there. I look behind us and the wet earth has completely filled in the hoof prints. We’re not even leaving a trail he could follow. I hold onto my compass tighter; it might be the only thing that keeps me from wandering these woods until the day I die.
Shaye charges ahead, and Davien and I stay close behind. The skeletal trees that whiz past us have me jumping in my saddle. They come out of nowhere, a shadowy blur, and then they’re gone.
My stomach knots. I hold onto the reins and the compass for dear life. I scan the mist for a sign of anyone or anything.
In the blur of shadowed trees, I see a humanlike form.
“Did you see that?” I ask them both.
“See what?” Davien contorts himself to look at where I’m pointing.
“There was a person there.”
“It was probably a tree.”
“I swear there was someone,” I insist.
“Keep riding,” Shaye snaps back at us. “Only focus on that.”
I check my compass. We’re still headed due north. “How much longer do we think this will be?”
“At least another hour of riding,” Davien answers grimly.
Another hour in the soupy fog. Another hour to give whatever took Giles a chance to get us too. Maybe Giles merely got separated. Maybe. But even as I try and think that way, I know that’s not the case. There’s no way he could’ve separated by accident.
There’s something out there, stealthy, silent, hunting us. Somehow managing to track us even through all the fog.
I shudder. If only I could use the magic that was within me. If only I were able to learn how to hone it, focus it, fight with it. Instead, all I can do is run and try and put that magic in Davien’s hands as fast as possible so we can save this land.
A blur of motion startles me. I pull hard on the reins and tilt, causing my horse to protest loudly, rearing and stomping. We slam into Davien and his mount, knocking them off course. But luckily, his feet stay in the stirrups.
“What the—”
Before he can be mad at me, a breeze follows the slash of a weapon as it cuts through the air in the space Davien and I just occupied. Black hair, like the shadows that radiate off the Butcher’s cowl, streaked with white that almost matches the pallor of her skin. My eyes meet Allor’s.
I hate that I was right.
Allor plunges into the mist at our left, completely obscured in an instant.
“We’re under attack!” Davien gets Shaye’s attention. No sooner does he say it than Allor plunges from the mist once more.
I thrust my palm into him, pushing him from his saddle. It’s sheer luck that the blade of shadow Allor is wielding only nicks my side. The sharp pain startles me; I lose my balance and come tumbling down between the horses. Allor vaults over me.
The stomping feet of the startled mounts rumbles the earth. I roll, covering my head with both my hands, trying to make myself as small of a target as possible. One of the horses lets out a scream as Allor plunges her blade into its haunch. I scramble away before the mount comes crashing down. As I find my feet, I grab the other horse’s reins. She’s not going to take our escape if I have anything to say about it.
“No you don’t,” Allor snarls. I hold out my hand, willing magic to come to my aid. But nothing happens as the woman lunges. Davien tries to move in my periphery, but Shaye is faster. She leaps off of her saddle, twists in the air, and tackles Allor to the ground. The women roll as the remaining two horses stomp around them.
“You traitor,” Shaye snarls. Allor is already trying to fight against the pin Shaye has her in.
“Shaye—” Davien sprints over to Shaye, but the woman stops him in his tracks with a sharp glance.
“You two go! Leave her to me.”
Allor breaks free and thrusts upward with a dagger made of shadow. Shaye ducks and knocks Allor’s arm away, forearm to forearm. Allor reaches across to grab Shaye’s shoulder, and her leg frees and wraps around Shaye’s body. They grapple.
“Go!” Shaye locks eyes with me. The command isn’t to Davien. It’s instantly clear she’s charging me with the care of her king while she stays behind. I’m stuck in place, too stunned to move. “Go!”
I move, swinging up onto the stallion that was Davien’s. The man is already moving for Shaye as she grapples with Allor. I pull my foot from the stirrup closest to him and hold out my hand.
“Davien!”
“You’re not escaping!” Allor shouts, launching Shaye from her. The Butcher regains her footing in a blur, using the momentum to hurl a projectile toward us. I kick the horse, maneuvering it deftly out of the way as Davien dodges.
Shaye lunges from the fog, clawed gloves made of shadow covering her hands. She goes for Allor’s throat, misses, and connects with her shoulder. My stomach churns at the gore.
“Davien,” I repeat, loudly, getting his attention. His gaze darts between Shaye and me.
“Damn. You. Go!” Shaye snarls, barely managing words between Allor’s relentless attacks while still partly focusing on us.
Davien finally is moved to action. But he doesn’t move for Shaye. He sprints to me as I round the horse to meet him, the fog continuing to part as I turn.
“Move,” he says.
“I’m the better rider, get behind me,” I snap back. I can’t believe he’d even think otherwise. Luckily, Davien is only startled for a moment, and then he obliges. He throws his foot in the stirrup and swings into the saddle behind me. “Hold on tight.”
With a shout and a kick, I push the horse into the fog. The skirmish turned me around, but my compass is in my pocket. We’ll figure it out later. All that matters right now is that we get away.
Get away, and leave Shaye behind. My stomach churns. She can take care of herself, part of me wants to say. Yet I’m already sick with worry. She’s just a fae. But she’s not. In the time we’ve spent together, she’s become more than that to me. She’s Shaye, the woman with a darker past than my own. The woman whom I wanted to see aid in the killing of Boltov and liberation of the fae wilds.
She’s… Giles was right; she’s a friend.
Davien shifts behind me. He’s looking back. But all I’m focused on is forward—dodging the skeletal trees that emerge like new enemies from the mist.
“Shaye,” he murmurs.
I slow the horse at the sound of conflict and longing that’s so present in her name. “We could go back.”
“No… You did the right thing. We have to keep on. She’s fulfilling her duty and her oaths to me by giving us a chance to escape.” He speaks like a king, but the words are clearly forced, each more difficult than the last. “Moreover, there’s no way we’ll find them again. And hopefully no way Allor can find us.”
I twist the reins in my fingers, and we continue on at a trot. It’s quieter than a gallop. Hopefully we’ve lost Allor for good. She must have tracked us all the way into the fog. I curse inwardly; I hope she’s dead.
“You did the right thing,” he says softly, his breath moving the small hairs on the back of my neck. There’s no space in the saddle for two. It’s uncomfortable and leaves nothing to the imagination as his body is pressed against mine. His hands
are on my hips, lacking anywhere else to be.
“Leaving Shaye and Giles behind doesn’t feel like it.”
“We have to keep going. Everything is riding on you and me. The sacrifices of Shaye and Giles, Vena, of all of Dreamsong are riding on this one shot. As long as we get to the lake and transfer the magic from you to me, all of the sacrifices are worth it. No matter what the cost was.”
I have no response to that. What could I say? That I disagree? It’s not my place to even if I did… I don’t know if I do. I don’t envy the choices that he has to make, the position he’s putting himself in, the responsibility he bears.
My hand leaves the reins and rests lightly over his. I want him to hold me and tell me everything will be all right. I want to hold him and reassure him he’s making the best decisions he could. Even though we’re running for our lives, even in a situation like this, I want to comfort and be comforted by him.
These sentiments might well get me killed. This is why you don’t dare let yourself love. All I have to look to is Giles. He was left behind by the woman he loved. Shaye had no problem pressing on without him. And if it weren’t for the magic in me, I doubt Davien would have a hard time leaving me behind either.
I try and shake away the thoughts by reaching for my compass. “Oh no,” I breathe.
“What is it?” Davien asks. Though I know he can see over my shoulder what the problem is.
“Do you—” As I’m about to ask, I feel him move. I glance back and he’s already pulled out his own compass. Sure enough, it’s doing the same as mine.
The glowing light spins, brightening and fading each of the wedges of crystal one after the other. No wedge is illuminated for more than a second. Even when I bring us to a complete stop, the compass continues to show no stable direction.
“What’s happening?” I glance behind us nervously. Everything is still so quiet, so still. Allor could be half a world away, or right behind us. I want to keep going, but doing so without a heading seems almost more terrifying than facing Allor.
“It must be something with the old barriers that surround this place.” He curses under his breath. “Hopefully whatever is trying to throw us off course will be twice as bad for Allor or any of her allies that might be lurking.”
“What do we do, my king?” I ask, looking back. His eyes widen slightly. He realizes before I do what I said. My king, as if I am part of this world. One attack from Allor and my tone has shifted since the morning.
“We keep going straight,” he says after clearing his throat.
I purse my lips. We were utterly turned around in the scuffle. And even if I somehow guessed north correctly, I know from my father’s sailors that it’s impossible to make any kind of accurate heading without a compass or other bearings. But I also know, at this point, it would be worse to try and turn around. Hopefully we get lucky and the lake is just beyond our field of view.
“Eventually we’ll hit the road,” he says reassuringly.
“Or, even better, the lake.” I try and be optimistic. I’m pretty sure I fail. “Do you think Shaye and Giles are all right?”
“I hope so.” He sighs heavily. “I was afraid of them coming, afraid of something like this happening.”
“You thought we would be attacked?” He could’ve fooled me.
His grip tightens on me for a second. “I knew it was possible.”
“Yet you treated me as if I were crazy when I shared my suspicions of Allor with you.” My words are a little sharper than I wanted them to be. I’m sure he can hear between them, I told you so.
“I didn’t see it.” He sighs and holds me a little tighter. I can feel his fingertips against my hip bones. His body as he leans into me. “You were right, and I was wrong. Somehow, a human knew more about my people and my world than I did.”
“I don’t think that’s the case.” I scan the fog, trying to focus on anything but him. The things this man does to me…the way he makes me feel…it’s all going to be my undoing. “You trusted the people underneath you to keep you safe—to be skeptical for you. I was naturally hesitant, doubtful, ready to assume that fae were the dangerous creatures from the tales my father told me as a girl that I couldn’t trust I needed to look out for.”
He chuckles under his breath. It warms my neck. I pointedly ignore the heat that shoots through me at the feeling of it.
“Doubting everyone is no way to be a leader.” I force myself to continue speaking. “Real leaders have faith in those underneath them.”
“You speak as if you have experience with leadership.”
“When I was younger, my father had many people looking up to him in the trading company. I saw how he managed them. I also knew many of his captains and I could always tell the good captains from the bad ones—I could see if someone had the traits of a good leader or not.” Except for my father. He was the one person my best judgments failed me on. The one person I gave the benefit of the doubt to for far too long. He was never the leader I saw him as. If he was, he would’ve managed our household better. He would’ve curbed Joyce and Helen’s worst tendencies, not allowed them to be cruel as they were to me.
“So what do you think about me, then?” His question makes me glance over my shoulder. I scan the fog to make sure no one is coming up behind us, using it as an excuse to not meet his eyes. “Do you think I will be a good leader?”
“I think your kingdom is lucky that you’ve returned to them. Anyone is lucky just to be in your presence.” The words are as surprising to me as they are to him. His gaze softens, posture relaxes.
“That means a lot to me.”
“Even from a human?” I stare forward once more, reminding myself of what I am to him—of everything we can never be. I can’t love him. Even if I was oblivious to the poison that was love, I couldn’t love him of all people. In the next day, the magic will be gone from me, and we will be nothing. He even said as much himself.
“How many times must I say it? Especially from a human, so long as that human is you. Katria, I—” A noise from the right startles me. I jerk, nearly falling from the saddle. He holds onto me, keeping me in place. “What is it?”
“Did you hear that?” I whisper.
“Hear what?”
There it is again—the sharp sound of a high note being played on a lone fiddle.
“It sounds…like music.” I continue to stare into the fog where the sound seems to be coming from.
“Music?” Davien hesitates. “Perhaps this is the haunting that everyone speaks of.”
I shift in the saddle and tug on the reins lightly, changing our course to the direction of the music.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know,” I confess.
“We should move away from it. We’re not far from the border of mer folk territory. It could be some kind of siren call.”
I don’t think it is, but I don’t know how to explain to him why I think that. As we move through the fog, a lute joins the fiddle. There’s the soft thrumming of hands on drums, and I hear the chiming bells in the rattle of tambourines. I’m just about to make out the melody when Davien speaks again.
“Katria—” he places his hands over mine on the reins “—we should head in the opposite direction.”
“No.” I shake my head and glance back at him. “I don’t think we should.”
“This might be some kind of magic to lure those that aren’t heirs of Aviness away from the keep. I don’t hear anything.”
I can recognize the song now. It’s one my mother played. I can almost hear her voice on the edges of my memory, hazy, echoing back to me from a distant time. A song of safety, a song of home—that was what she had called this melody. It had no words but she would always hum along as her fingers danced on the lute. I heard this song recently, didn’t I? When? I search within myself but find nothing.
“You need to trust me,” I say firmly to Davien. “You didn’t with Allor. Do it now. My gut tells me that this is the right di
rection.”
He purses his lips. I think he’s going to say no. But, then, to my surprise, “All right, we ride for no more than an hour. If nothing changes by then, I get to decide our new course. And we flee at the first sign of danger.”
“Deal.” I bring the horse’s pace up to a trot. “Thank you for trusting me. I know you had a lot of reasons not to.” I think back to our time together at the manor and that fateful night that set us both on this path.
“You’ve also given me a lot of reasons why I should trust you.” He lightly caresses my hips, fingers trailing down my thighs, almost absentmindedly. I wonder if he realizes he’s doing it. I don’t point it out because, dangerously, I don’t think I want him to stop. “You saved my life back there. You risked yours for mine.”
“I acted without thinking.”
“And your instinct was to save me.”
“We shouldn’t speak. We don’t want to give away our position and I need to listen to the music.”
He sighs softly. He knows I’m cutting him off—that I’m avoiding this conversation at all costs. “Very well. We can speak tonight at the keep.”
I hope not. I hope to never speak about what I did. Because if I do, then I might be forced to unpack all these complex feelings that I’ve been trying so desperately to ignore. But, even ignoring them, I almost gave my life for him.
I push the thoughts from my mind and focus on the music. After a little bit, I begin to hum along. Davien sits a little straighter, body tensing.
“Is that the song you hear?”
“Yes.” Well, in all honesty, what he heard me humming was the harmonies my mother would sing to the melody. Wordless sounds that are more music and emotion than anything coherent.
Davien chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief. “Then yet again, you were right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s the melody of the Aviness family. It was played at all of their coronations. It’s one of the oldest songs of the fae. If you’re hearing it here and now then the barriers that protect this place must be calling out to the magic in you.”
I can’t fight the swell of pride I feel at being right. “See, it pays to listen to me.” I toss my head back to shoot him a grin. His grip tightens and pulls me back in the saddle, and my head lands on his shoulder.