by Amy Sumida
“What's happening?” I asked Reyne.
“I don't know.” He hurried back to the front of the cave with the alphas.
There was a bit of shouting, several barghests ran out of the cave, and then Reyne finally returned to give us the lowdown.
“There are six pups missing,” Reyne said. “The mothers trade off childcare so they can help the pack hunt. The woman who was watching the children today was knocked unconscious. When she woke, the children were gone.”
“We'll help look for them,” I said immediately.
“No,” one of the alphas said. “Thank you for your offer, Your Majesty, but your scents will only create confusion. We are capable of finding our children; don't worry. I'm sure we'll have them back by the time you join us for dinner.”
I nodded, but I could see the strain on the alpha's face. This didn't feel right.
“We're here if you need us,” I offered again. “We have the Griffins, who can search from the air.”
“We'll keep that in mind,” the alpha said. “For now, let's get you settled.”
He led us further back into the cave as Reyne exchanged a worried look with me. We all went quietly through the empty passages; the entire pack seemed to be in the forest, searching for the children, and it felt wrong to speak in the grim silence. Our large group was settled into a few barracks-style caves, shown the facilities, and then notified that a meal would be served in the main cave within an hour.
“It looks as if you'll be having an audience for your turn, after all, Torin.” Declan glanced around the room we'd been assigned.
Not only were we sleeping in it, but so were our Shining One troops.
“I'm not having sex with Elaria in a room full of soldiers,” Torin growled. “And this is hardly the time to be concerned with pleasure. There are children missing, Declan.”
“I'm just bringing some levity to the situation.” Declan sighed deeply. “I am just as concerned as you are.”
“Why don't they want our help?” Gage asked.
“I'm not sure.” I shook my head. “Maybe it's exactly as he said, and they don't want more unknown scents to rule out.”
“They have suspects,” Banning said, and we all turned to him in surprise. “Think about it; they must have someone they suspect of stealing their children. The last thing they need is our 'stranger' scents overpowering the one they're looking for.”
“Fuck this,” I snapped and headed toward the door.
“Elaria, where are you going?” Declan asked urgently.
“I'm going to talk to Reyne,” I said. “Maybe he'll know what's really going on.”
“They've already asked for our help once,” Torin said gently as he took my arm. “If they wanted more of it, they would ask for that as well. But what they've asked for is for us to stay out of their way. Let's give our hosts the courtesy of respecting their wishes.”
“But there are missing children, Torin,” I said angrily.
“Their children,” Torin pointed out. “Let them do what they can, and if it's not enough, I'm sure they'll appreciate our assistance.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “I'm going to take a bath.”
I headed toward the bathroom and then saw that it was also done in a barracks style. There were rows of stalls for toilets and then an open bathing area with overhead spigots. There were already some men bathing in the unisex showers. They weren't at all embarrassed by my entrance. Shining One males are generally good-looking, and these guys were no exception; they had nothing to be embarrassed about. But when they saw me do an about-face and scurry from the bathroom, their laughter followed me out. I went back into the sleeping quarters with a flushed face. I was blushing more on this single trip than I had in my entire life.
“What's wrong with the bathroom?” Gage asked.
“It's communal.” I cleared my throat.
“Barghests aren't shy,” Torin noted.
“Neither are most Shining Ones,” Declan added on his way to the bathroom. “Are you sure you don't want to join me, Elaria?”
“Declan, you need to watch yourself,” I said. “I'm a step away from taking you off the rotation completely.”
Declan sighed deeply, grimaced, and then left without another perverted word.
“Well, that shut him up,” Banning said with surprise, his green eyes widening.
“Tell a pervert that sex is hanging in the balance, and he'll do anything you want.” Torin chuckled. “Or nothing, rather.”
“You must use your power wisely,” Gage said in mock severity as he grasped my shoulder.
“Says the man with a foot fetish,” I huffed and headed for the bunks.
Gage grimaced as Banning and Torin laughed their asses off.
Chapter Nine
The children were not found by dinnertime.
The main cave was nearly empty, with just a few barghests standing watch. There was a pot of stew boiling over a central hearth that we were directed to, and long trestle tables set to the side for us to eat at. Reyne took a seat beside my men and me, casting a look over his shoulder before he spoke.
“I've received word about our prisoner,” he whispered.
“What prisoner?” I blinked and then realized who he meant. “Eileen?”
Reyne nodded. “I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but she has escaped. I'm loathe to tell the barghests. They may think this is Eileen's doing, and then blame my people for losing her.”
“All right, let's think about this,” I said calmly. “Eileen escapes the same day that children go missing. Yes; that is suspicious, but what would she do with six barghest children in the middle of Primeval?”
“I don't know.” Reyne scowled. “The dryads are speaking to the trees. It can take some time to interpret their meanings, as they speak slowly and in their own language, but they should be able to give us some information on how Eileen escaped and where she was headed.”
“Can't you ask the trees about the new growth, the poison, and the other disappearances?” Rentar, Gage's older brother, asked Reyne.
“We have,” Reyne said softly. “We have exhausted every option available to us. The trees are as confused as we are. They seem to think the new trees are another species entirely, and that the poison is something coming from the soil. As far as the disappearances; they know nothing about them at all.”
“All right.” I looked at the other men. “Any ideas?”
“I think the question we should be asking is why someone would want to take barghest children,” Torin said. “Not just Eileen, but anyone. What can you gain from taking someone's children? Discover the motivation, and we can narrow down the suspects.”
“Taking children would give someone power over the parents,” Gage said immediately. “But who would want power over the barghests?”
Reyne dropped his spoon; it clattered to the table as he looked up at us.
“Reyne?” I asked urgently.
“The Trinity,” he whispered. “It must be the Trinity. We're nearly certain that they're behind the strange occurrences in Primeval. Now, the barghest pups are taken. It must be the Trinity.”
“To what end?” Torin asked.
“To control the barghests, as you said.” Reyne gestured futilely. “They have an army of redcaps, dryads, and leanan-sidhe who are loyal to them, but that wouldn't be enough to stop all of the races of Primeval if we were to rise against them. Having the barghests under their control would add some fierce fighters to their side.”
“This is all conjecture,” I said. “We need some proof. If the barghests aren't willing to let us search, we need to search on our own.”
“How are we going to search without alerting them?” Reyne asked.
“I can search without stepping a foot outside this cave,” I said as I stood.
Reyne stared at me in confusion while my men just smiled encouragingly. I stepped away from the table and closed my eyes; trying to come up with the perfect song to find abducted children. It seemed as if I
were always searching for missing people; I should have a song list prepared for this sort of thing. But I didn't, and I had to go with whatever I could think of. Luckily, I could transform the meaning of a song, twisting the words to become whatever I needed them to mean. I decided on “Wake Me Up” by Avicii. It was more about life in general than a search, but it had key elements that I could use.
As soon as I made my decision, the sliver of kyanite shivered in my throat, and my stone came alive. I could feel it in the caves—minute traces of it—but still; my jewel was near. I didn't need it to be close to connect with it, but it was comforting and empowering. I felt it rise inside me; the magic of communication buoyed by the strength of its proximity. Millions of years of patient knowledge and fortitude supported me, and then it burst around me; taking the music from my mind and bringing it to life. That was the beauty of my union with Kyanite; it gave me its magic, and I gave it a voice. A voice of pure music, but it was still a way to be heard by all.
The barghests and dryads froze when the music surrounded us, but our people explained what was happening to them in hushed tones; the Spellsinger was at work. The entire cave went still and watched me in rapt fascination as I added my voice to the music of my jewel. A soft, rolling sort of song; the words were just a touch shy of being uplifting. You wanted to feel hope within them, but you knew there was a seed of sadness in the lyrics; enough to make you listen with respect. This was music that connected people; a story that we all lived—the search for meaning and understanding. But I needed it to be more than that. I needed this journey—this search—to be for the barghest pups.
The magic bowed to my will and entered my voice; echoing off the stone walls and into Primeval. I felt the forest pause; the fairies, creatures, and even the plants stopped to listen. I pushed the power outward, urging the forest to help me find these lost children; help me carry the weight of this burden and lead the little barghests home. A keening howl added itself to my song, and I felt the hearts of those searching parents; filled with fear and desperation. I gathered that feeling and poured it back into the music, giving my quest even more strength.
Then I saw them; six children of various ages. They were crying; clutching each other. They were crouched in a cage, and it seemed to be jostling about. The bars were metal and covered by canvas, but light came in through the bars that formed the base of the cage. The whole of it was being carried by a large fairy; I could see the back of his legs through the bars. I couldn't tell what kind of fairy he was, or where in the forest they were.
Rage filled my chest, and I pushed my vision outward. But as I began to expand my sight—my music creeping through the canvas—I felt a powerful presence. Someone knew that I was there; knew that I was looking for them. A shield slammed over my vision, and then another, and another. Before I could engage the magic and try to break through it, I was completely locked out, and my vision disappeared.
I ended the song abruptly with a frustrated screech.
“Elaria!” Torin was on his feet immediately. “What happened?”
Torin reached for me, and—without thinking—I pushed him away. I sensed the other men around me, and opened my eyes to see them all standing there; arms limp at their sides as they stared at me in shock. I looked up at Torin and saw that his expression was the most surprised... and the most hurt.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered. “I don't know why I did that.”
Torin nodded but didn't say anything.
“What did you see?” Declan asked me.
“I saw the children,” I said. “But before I could determine where they are, something blocked me out.”
“As Thomas did with the Sirens,” Torin muttered.
“Yes; exactly,” I confirmed. “Whoever has the children; they also have some powerful magic.”
“It's true,” Reyne whispered as he stepped up to us. “You make magic from music.”
“You doubted it?” Torin asked.
“We hear a lot of rumors here.” Reyne shrugged. “Echoes from the Jewel Courts. Usually, we ignore them. It's hard to know what's truth and what is gossip on the wind. We knew when you were crowned, though, Queen Elaria.” He paused to stare at me a moment before he went on. “We heard that clearly. We heard Kyanite rejoice.”
“And you still didn't believe?” Declan asked in surprise.
“We did,” Reyne admitted. “But it's one thing to have faith in something, and another to see the truth with your own eyes... or hear it with your own ears.”
“Yes; it is,” Torin said softly as he gave me a pensive look.
“You saw the children?” One of the barghests asked.
“I'm sorry,” I said gently. “I saw them being carried away in a cage; that was all.”
The barghest cursed, ran to the cave entrance, and began to howl.
“That can't be good,” Banning noted.
“He's notifying the pack that someone has taken the children; they aren't merely lost,” Reyne said grimly. “They will come to the same conclusions as I have—that the Trinity is most likely behind this—but I have no idea how they'll react. Nor do I know why the Trinity has taken the children. Perhaps they intend to use them as bargaining tools, as we used Eileen. If they have heard of your recruitment to our cause, Queen Elaria, the Trinity may want you in their custody. And if the barghests are informed that they can trade the Spellsinger for their children, I'm certain they will attempt to do so.”
“Perhaps we should find another place to rest for the night,” Gage suggested.
“We have no wish to battle desperate parents,” Rentar agreed.
“I'm fine with it,” Arnold—one of Banning's strongest Blooders—said with a smirk.
“No; you're not!” Banning snapped. “We do not fight people who are acting only to save their children. Not unless we absolutely have to.”
“So, let's not make them have to,” I said. “Everyone grab your shit; we're outta here.”
“Fuck,” Cerberus grumbled, “now I have to run? This just keeps getting worse.”
Chapter Ten
We strode out of the barghest village—I'm still not sure if “village” is the right word for it—while the few barghests who'd been left behind watched us go impotently. I'm sure they realized that they should stop us, but they also realized that they were outnumbered, and the mere effort would be ridiculous. As soon as we were fifty feet away from the cave, Reyne called down some vines and got us all into the trees. He insisted that it was the only way to evade the barghests and their strong sense of smell. Cerberus agreed with him but added that we should ward our last few steps in addition to the treetop precautions.
It took awhile to get so many people into the trees. At least we had the Griffins to help. They transformed into their griffin forms and carried several of our soldiers up. Then we scurried across the enormous branches, following Reyne deeper into the forest. It was rough going. Thankfully, we'd had some time to rest and eat a hot meal, but we were still tired. By the time Reyne found us a good spot to spend the night—again, in the trees—it didn't take long for us to fall asleep.
I woke with the dawn; sunlight filtering in through the bower of leaves Reyne had formed for me. We had all slept in beds of woven branches so that we wouldn't roll out of the trees while we slept. As soon as I stood, the branches disengaged and spread out to catch the light in their leaves. I stretched as well and looked to the horizon; the lush green of Primeval seemed to continue forever. Birds rose from the emerald sea in flocks—like froth off ocean waves; diving after cresting.
“It's beautiful,” Torin whispered as he came up behind me.
Torin placed his hands on my waist hesitantly, and when I didn't flinch, he slid his arms around me and leaned into my back.
“I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to be together last night,” I said to him.
“I'm not Declan,” he murmured. “I can wait.”
I laughed a little and sank back into his embrace. Then I sighed and just enjo
yed the moment; watching the sunrise with Torin.
“Can we talk about what happened yesterday?” He asked.
“The barghests?” I looked over my shoulder at him in surprise.
“No; the way you pushed me away when I tried to touch you,” he said.
“After I sang,” I clarified.
“Yes.”
I sighed deeply. Torin and I had been through a rough patch. He had helped me save some Sirens—my family—from a Witch who had them under a spell that we called the Rooster. The spell was called Rooster, not the Witch. The Witch was Thomas Frost; a man who had been a close friend of my father's. When I killed Thomas, he tossed the spell onto me; bonding me with magic that forced me to have multiple lovers. The magic needed their energy to survive. Originally, the energy it fed on was lust, but I had been able to change its requirement to love. I thought that had been a good thing, but it had limited me. I could only be with men I loved. That hardly sounds like a bad limitation; except when you have a limited amount of time to find someone to love—so that you can feed a living spell and not burn away with it.
I had almost died, and it was partially Torin's fault. There; that was the issue I'd been avoiding. I had been with Torin when the Rooster Spell (RS for short) had been cast on me. It drove me into a mindless state, and then into Declan's arms. Torin had discovered Declan and me together. Torin had been reasonably upset over what appeared to be a betrayal, but then he had become unreasonable when I tried to explain what had happened. Torin had refused to see me or speak to me for months. Still, I had held out hope for us and did everything within my power to get him back.
Meanwhile, I had to search for someone to replace Torin. I had Banning and Declan's love to sustain me, but they weren't enough; the spell wanted at least three lovers. So, with the help of a love spell, I had found Gage. Torin had nearly ruined that relationship before it began. Again, I understood his anger and frustration, but Torin's actions had almost led to my death. In the end, Torin had come around and joined our motley crew (sorry; just some Spellsinger humor). We had worked things out, and the Rooster Spell forged a bond between all of us; proving that it gave as well as received. We were stronger together; the spell magnified our magic and connected the men in ways that we were still discovering. I could sense them if I tried, and I'm certain there would be even more benefits to our union in the future. But even though I loved Torin, and I was overjoyed to have him back, that time apart had wounded me. Torin had wounded me, and I hadn't dealt with that pain yet.