by N. M. Howell
She didn’t have a chance against Aelon. She knew that. So, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her, putting as much distance between herself and that part of the castle as she could. She didn’t slow until she reached the edge of the trees of the surrounding forest, at the very far side of the massive hill that Greystone sat upon.
When she reached the protection of the overhead canopy, she allowed her pace to slow and tried to control her ragged breathing. She was hyperventilating, walking in circles back and forth beneath the trees, deep within the forest. She walked until she could no longer see the castle, the heavy trunks concealing her from view.
Running her hands through her tangled hair as she paced, she muttered under her breath in sheer anger. She hated her uncle more than she hated anything in this entire world. The mere thought of him made her seethe, her chest tightening to the point of her nearly being unable to drag in a breath.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” She began pacing again, her momentary distraction not enough to truly pull her mind from the awful trap it was in.
She tried to think of what she could possibly do to help her guardians. She couldn’t leave them behind, but if she returned to the castle, it would surely be the end of her. They were each trained in war and could defend themselves, but it was five against eleven. They had been captured in some strange frozen prison when she had fled, and she wondered if they had managed to escape themselves.
Her uncle didn’t seem to be kidding when he said that he was going to take them out and destroy her. She didn’t know what she had expected going into the castle. She knew that the warm welcome could only last so long, but she had not expected her uncle to treat her the way he had. He was still family, and her father, who was evil and caused destruction across the realm, he still treated her like a daughter. Her father hadn’t harmed her, at least not directly. She had expected the same from her uncle, who had been so kind to her as a child, despite his evil doings in the world around them.
Her eyes began to burn with tears again, and she blinked them away, cursing under her breath as she tried desperately to come up with a plan.
Waves of panic coursed through her veins, and she shook her arms out as she walked. Prickles of energy remained under skin from the magic she absorbed back in the castle. The hot, strange magic from her uncle still penetrated her bones, and she tried to shake it out of her limbs as she moved in attempt to dissipate the awful feeling, but it was no use.
More cursing came from her mouth. She hated what she had done, she hated herself for being who she was. She was a leech, a succubus, an evil god who had just stolen magic from others.
But it had worked.
It had allowed her to be strong against her uncle, forcing them back and allowing them a chance to escape. Well, allowing her a chance to escape. Her guardians hadn’t managed to get away.
She swallowed through a lump in her throat and collapsed, wrapping her arms around her legs as she shook on the forest floor.
“What have I done,” she said to no one in particular.
Rustling came from above her and she diverted her gaze up into the trees. A squirrel stood on the branch above her, staring down at her curiously. She wiped away the tears as she looked up at it, allowing herself to fall on her back, her chest rising and falling quickly as she tried to regain her breath.
“What should I do?” she asked the squirrel.
He cocked his head to the side and stared down at her, then dropped an acorn. It landed beside her head, and she picked it up and rolled it between her fingers.
“Well, this really isn’t much help, is it?” She tossed the acorn aside and shut her eyes, trying desperately to figure out what to do now that she had got herself into this stupid situation.
What had they been thinking, returning to the castle? She’d known it wouldn’t be the same. It wasn’t really her home anymore. They should have known they were walking into a trap.
They had been so stupid to have returned without a plan. Considering her uncle lay claim to the Otherworld and she was the daughter of the late king, she couldn’t believe that they had been so stupid in thinking that they could just walk into the castle. What were her guardians playing at? They were supposed to be her advisers, her protectors. They had told her to trust them, and she had. She would never be so stupid again.
A new wave of adrenaline flooded her chest at the thought of her guardians. She sprang from her spot on the forest floor, the dry leaves crunching beneath her feet and she ran.
She returned to the opening of the clearing and peered around a large oak tree, gazing out at the castle that sat far atop the distant hill. She had run a great distance and was lucky no one had followed her. Luck remained on her side, but she didn’t know how long it would last.
She knew she had to return, but she wasn’t strong enough to do so on her own. She needed help. But where could she find it?
The people had greeted her with such warmth in the castle, but she didn’t know whether that had been genuine or if it had been a ruse inspired by her uncle to lure Rhea in. She would never again be so gullible. She would never again be so trusting.
She reminded herself that there was a reason she’d escaped to the human world—because the shitty realm of the gods was not a safe place. The gods were evil. She was evil. She could feel it in her very core, and she needed to escape from it. She needed so desperately to run away, to be nothing again. To be a street rat, no better than a spec of dirt living on the streets of Detroit.
But before she did that, before she could escape and be selfish again, she had to save her guardians.
She placed her hands in her pockets and paused when her hand came upon a small piece of paper. She pulled it out and gazed at it, unfolding it and tracing the symbols with her finger.
“Crystalline,” she whispered.
That was perfect. She could join forces with her cousin, and together they could rescue her guardians. Crystalline had wanted to team up against Rhea’s uncle, and what better chance now than to join forces and take advantage of her resources. They could return to Greystone and save her guardians as a team.
She swallowed another lump in her throat as her heart sank. She didn’t think her guardians would have that long, if they were even still alive now. She felt it in her heart that they were, though. She could still feel the small tug of energy connecting them together, all five of them imprinting heavily on her heart.
She closed her eyes and let her tears stream down as her breathing and heart rate slowed.
“Shit,” she swore again. How the hell was she going to get to Crystalline? She didn’t even know her way around the castle grounds anymore, let alone the distant regions farther away. She had no way of tracking down her cousin in the north. She hadn’t given her any more of a hint to her whereabouts apart from the bare minimum.
Pausing again, she turned back to the castle, narrowing her eyes. Sucking in a slow, thoughtful breath, she realized what she had to do. Rhea leaped forward, using the exceptional speed she’d inherited from her fae mother as she ran back to the castle as nothing more than a blur in her surroundings.
As she neared the castle walls, she skidded to a halt when a loud bang sounded in front of her. Her blood ran cold when a massive cloud of black smoke pulled her gaze up to the far side of the castle. She wanted to run, to scream, but she couldn’t move. Her limbs were stuck and her mind raced, wondering who had cast the spell that caused such a great explosion.
She quickly shook her head and sprang forward again, running as fast as she could in the direction of the castle. She took a sharp right when she neared the first wall, running around the corner and staying low as she passed a series of tall windows overhead.
Slowing her pace, she tiptoed down a set of stairs toward the dark interior stables. She was fortunate that no one was around, after her uncle had given the orders to leave him in peace.
Looking around frantically, she tried to remember back to when she had been young and s
pent time in the stables with the servants. When she gathered her bearings, she ran down the long corridor and up another set of stairs into one of the interior courtyards where the stables were. She hid behind a wall, pressing her back against the rough stone as she gazed about wildly.
She caught sight of movement in the far corner and held her breath. She counted to three, then realized the moving forms were animals, not people. Breathing a sigh of relief, she clung close to the edge of the courtyard as she made her way to the horses.
“Oh, hey there beautiful,” she whispered to her stallion as she ducked under the wooden gate into the area to where the animals were kept. He snorted at her, huffing a hot breath into her hair as she wrapped her arms around his large neck, giving him a strong hug. “I’ve missed you.”
The horse nudged her shoulder with his nose, and she kissed the soft flesh above his nostrils. She then slowly unclasped the lock on the gate and let him out, her eyes darting this way and that, on guard for anyone who may give her presence away.
The horse’s hooves were heavy on the ground, and fortunately the thick straw blanketed the sound. She carefully led him forward, flinching with every one of his steps. They were quiet, but should anyone be paying attention, they would’ve easily seen Rhea and her horse exiting the stables. She couldn’t risk being seen.
She walked the stallion down through the stables toward the large opening that led away from the castle. She held her breath the entire time, not knowing who would appear if anyone was watching her from the windows above, but as they neared the opening, excitement filled her and she awkwardly jumped up on the giant horse’s back.
The horse immediately sprang to life, bolting forward as fast as he could. The wind whipped Rhea’s hair into her eyes. She held on with all her strength, her legs tight around his wide back. She wished desperately he had been saddled, but he seemed aware of her unease and galloped as smoothly as possible. She dug her fingers into his mane, whispering what a good horse he was.
The sudden noise of their escape drew attention of nearby workers, and three tall men came running around the corner dressed in light armor, mud spattered on their faces. They must’ve been tasked with guarding the stables, but fortunately for her, they hadn’t been very good at their job.
Leaning forward, Rhea’s knuckles grew white as her grip tightened. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced against the oncoming wind as they exited the castle walls and escaped to their freedom. With one final glance back to the castle, a single tear fell from her eye as she steadied herself, watching the massive structure disappear into the landscape behind them.
It killed her to be running away. She felt cold and hateful and weak for leaving her guardians behind. But this was the only way. If she returned alone, she knew it would be to her death, and theirs.
As they neared the top of the hill, she directed the horse north. Together they galloped, her own body meeting the horse’s rhythm as he ran. She ran her right hand along his smooth mane as she grew more confident riding bareback. Rhea focused all of her energy into the massive beast as he carried them far away from Greystone toward the north.
Rhea’s mind raced as she tried to come up with a plan to convince her cousin to return with her. But as they rode, she realized that she’d never met her cousin and she had no real way to know where she was, or even what she looked like.
The caves to the north was all she knew from the note, but she didn’t even know exactly where that was. She hoped that if she journeyed far enough north, she could find some sign or direction. She swallowed hard. It felt like a stone was sinking into the pit of her stomach as the prospect of finding her cousin grew more difficult in her mind. Even if she could find her, they had never met. Besides, why would her cousin risk her own life against Aelon? To save five guardians she had never met? It was madness.
The journey was longer than Rhea had anticipated, the rhythm of the horse’s galloping pulling her into a trance. Her mind was numb and her body grew weary, but she hung on tight as she rode the beautiful horse who was so strong he hadn’t stopped for even a moment. The winds sang in her ears and her vision blurred as she focused on the steady rhythm, her own body becoming indistinguishable in her mind from the horse’s back.
She began seeing gold, streaks of frozen metallic shades flashing past her as they rode on. A sound kept repeating in her ears, something nearly indistinguishable but familiar. Traemarr, it said. Traemarr, Traemarr, Traemarr...
The words keep repeating as she rode, each step from the horse repeating the sound in her mind, echoing all around her. It took her a long while for her to be pulled from her daze. She gazed down at the horse, her eyes wide as she realized the sound in her head was coming from him.
“Traemarr,” she said to him. He neighed as they ran, and she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “Is that your name?”
The horse nodded his head up as he galloped, his speed unrelenting.
Rhea laughed, a soft sound filled with such joy. “Traemarr, what a beautiful name.”
Taelor had told her that the horse would tell her his name. She hadn’t quite believed him, unsure how exactly he would’ve managed such a thing without speech. But this was incredible. Their minds seemed to be connected, just as their bodies were as they rode together in harmony.
“Traemarr,” she repeated.
The two rode together for another hour, and the sun hung low in the sky when the terrain changed and they finally slowed. The forest around them was becoming denser, and they had to wind around thick trunks and tangled root systems as they made their way deeper.
She’d heard of the great forests to the north, stories making their way back to the Castle about all sorts of horrors that lay within it. Bandits and robbers and criminals, hiding within the depths of the trees, capturing and robbing unsuspecting passersby.
Rhea was on alert, sitting up tall as she gazed about them as they walked. She figured they were probably mostly rumors, but she couldn’t be too careful. She wished she had grabbed the daggers from her room, but it was too late to go back now.
They walked through the forest in silence for some time, and the dampness settled into her skin as they traveled. It didn’t take long for them to pass through the thickest of it before the trees began to thin once again.
They emerged in a large clearing, the mountainous region suddenly becoming rocky and overbearing. A deep silence set in around her and she shivered. Traemarr neighed and flung his head to the side and she held on tight. He was obviously becoming agitated by something.
Rhea glanced around, expecting someone to step from the rocky terrain. No one emerged, and she urged Traemarr onward over the unfamiliar rocky terrain.
The air grew drier as they headed away from the forest, and the setting sun was cool against her skin. She shielded her eyes against the sunset that cast an eerie yet stunningly beautiful red and orange glow around the mountains, the rocks cascading down the hills like lava in the warm light.
Rhea couldn’t help looking all around in awe; the terrain was so foreign and fascinating. It was so different than the lush hills and farmland around Greystone. She had never seen anything quite like it. It reminded her of images of the Grand Canyon she had seen back in the human world.
They walked for ages, the sun nearly setting behind the horizon as they circled the region for the third time. Rhea was about to give up hope of finding her cousin, but the loud cracking sound of a rock breaking pulled her attention to the direction from which they’d come.
Rhea jumped and Traemarr nearly ran away spooked. She had to grip his mane tightly, murmuring sweet sounds to him in effort to calm and steady him. Her heart raced in her chest, and her skin ran cold when a soft laugh startled her. It came from behind a rock. She turned the horse around and panic filled her as her gaze fell upon eight heavily muscled warriors with their weapons pulled out and pointed straight at her.
Rhea braced herself to run, to kick Traemarr into high gear and bol
t away. Her mind raced, trying to decide whether she should flee or fight. She realized that on the rocky terrain they had no hope of moving very fast, and spears could catch them before they got far enough away.
She couldn’t fight, as she had no weapons. And besides, she would be no match up against these strong-armed warriors. It looked like they were trained in battle, with scars littering their faces and their weapons and armor glinted with dents and scratches.
She finally swallowed through the lump in her throat and sat up straighter on her horse’s back.
“I come seeking someone,” Rhea finally said, her voice steady.
The warriors stepped forward, raising their weapons higher. She gazed down along the edge of a spear that was raised up to her face, mere inches from her nose. She swallowed again, her heart racing wildly in her chest as panic coursed through her. Her arms shook and she held Traemarr’s mane tight so tight her knuckles became numb.
“Who are you and why have you come,” one man said, his voice hoarse and gruff. He stepped forward, and pulled off his helmet, revealing long, tangled hair and a sun-weathered face with wrinkles and scars that made him look terrifying.
“I come in peace,” Rhea said. She swallowed again as the men stepped forward.
She looked around the terrain for a way out, desperate to get away. But just as she nearly acted on impulse to run, footsteps sounded from before her. She glanced up to see a tall, hooded figure approaching them from the distance.
The man’s heavy boots crunched in the rocks. The warriors stepped aside, bowing their heads in deference to the man in the hood.
Rhea’s eyes went wide and her heart continued to hammer in her chest, but she sat frozen in place on Traemarr’s back, unable to move. Unable to react.
When the figure finally reached her, Rhea gasped. The shoulders were narrow, and hips curved. Though the form was massively tall, standing nearly seven feet with heavy muscles on long limbs, there was an elegance to the figure. It was a woman, though one much larger and much stronger than she had ever seen before.