by W. J. May
“Harenthall Library. It’s the oldest collection of books and manuscripts in the world. If there’s any kind of information on this stone, it would be recorded there.”
Ellanden and Evie shared a quick look.
“Go to the library?” the fae repeated incredulously.
The vampire nodded.
“You wanted to know what my father would say—he’d tell us to do that.”
Evie started nodding slowly, liking the idea more and more.
“So first we’ll go this library, figure out everything we can on the stone. Then we’ll find a way to navigate through what’s left of the Dunes so we can find the wretched thing and destroy it.”
Asher nodded approvingly. “And then we’ll come home and get grounded.”
She laughed out loud, feeling for the first time like they had a shot. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be no avoiding that one.”
Ellanden smiled along with them, then turned abruptly serious. “One last thing...we can’t freeze up like that again.”
It was true. It might have only been a few seconds. It might have been the last thing any of the friends wanted to admit. But it was true.
When the painted mob had burst out of the trees, the three friends had frozen where they stood. Unable to believe such a thing was actually happening. Unable to imagine how it might actually relate to themselves. It was a hard lesson to learn, but a necessary one.
Each of their parents had almost died a thousand times along the trail. Each of them had come back with stories too astounding and terrifying to be true. Anything less than perfection was unacceptable. Anything less than perfection would get you killed.
“We won’t,” Evie promised. “That’s behind us now.”
She wasn’t sure it was entirely true. But she prayed it was with all her heart.
“So where is this library?” Ellanden asked briskly, racing back through his water-logged brain to remember where they were themselves. “Is it in the High Kingdom?”
Asher shook his head.
“No, it’s actually closer to Vale,” he answered. “Between the Allusian Forest and Pinard Lake.” His friends blanked. “Where we had that great kebab.”
“Oh yeah, that was the best.”
“That’s ages away!”
“Then we’d better get moving,” Asher replied easily, lifting a sword off the grass and sliding it gracefully into its sheath. “You think your little concubines can help us find a way off this island?”
There was a sudden hiss from the far side of the shore.
Ellanden smiled sweetly. “I think my little concubines have excellent hearing.”
Chapter 11
As was the case with all great adventures, the men decided it should start in a bar.
“This is such a stupid idea,” Evie muttered, sliding stiffly into the booth. “We’re supposed to be on a quest to save the realm and you two are going to get us arrested for underage drinking.”
Once they’d settled on a direction, the naiads had been incredibly helpful with assisting the friends off the island and even further downstream. The cold was no longer oppressive, the current no longer thrashing them about in the waves. With each stroke of their arms the water in front of them turned as smooth as glass, shimmering faintly in the light of the morning sun.
Of course, the second they were through the violent waves started crashing once again.
Much to Evie’s surprise—given how intently the girls had been eavesdropping—they were also shockingly discreet. Prompted by the others Ellanden had casually mentioned how they were hoping to keep a low profile, but no sooner had he started to speak than Nadia held up her hands.
“We treasure you greatly, my lord, but we care not for the affairs of kings and queens. Our domain falls outside the borders of your kingdoms and we bear no allegiance to anyone inside.” She flashed a coy smile, reaching for his hand. “But if you ever wanted to come back and visit...”
She gave him a long, passionate kiss goodbye.
So did Nivea. So did Noelle.
So did Naveen.
It was mid-afternoon before they’d made it to the nearest village. At that point, the boys waited in the forest while Evie made her way quickly to the nearest merchant and purchased the fae a new shirt. Once they’d straightened themselves up to the point where they didn’t look as though they’d climbed out of the river, they headed to the closest tavern and there they sat.
“No one’s going to arrest us,” Ellanden assured her, pulling up a hood to hide his rather conspicuous white hair. “And no one’s going to withhold the liquor either. Ash, get the drinks.”
Evie giggled as the vampire rolled his eyes.
He was often asked to do these sorts of things, and with good reason. It was a rare person indeed who’d refuse to serve a vampire. Especially when he volunteered to pay for his drink.
“Whiskey?” he asked, pushing to his feet.
The princess began to shake her head, but Ellanden stopped her.
“Two whiskeys. And some poor slaughtered animal for yourself.” He nodded curtly at the others, as if this was very practical. “We need a proper toast to ensure the mission’s success.”
The others knew better than to question it and Asher made his way to the bar a moment later, drawing a fair amount of curious stares in the process.
Evie watched from the shadows. Sunlight was still streaking in through the windows, but they’d picked the furthest, most isolated spot. From there, she had an unencumbered view of the spectacle surrounding her friend. The lusty glances and ripples of fear that followed his every move.
“What if someone recognizes us?” she asked quietly, watching as a pair of shifters tracked him from the opposite corner. “Shouldn’t we be keeping out of the public eye?”
“You heard the naiads,” Ellanden answered just as softly. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, under the jurisdiction of no kingdom. Plenty of fae wandering around these days. Plenty of pretty girls with red hair. And I highly doubt the royal court is going to publicize our absence.”
No, they wouldn’t do that. The second the realm knew they were missing, the land would be thrown into chaos. Half the people would be trying to find them. Half the people would be trying to ransom them for the best price. And they’d never know which half they were going to get.
The princess frowned as a darker thought echoed back to her.
“...a price,” she murmured.
Ellanden cocked his head. “What was that?”
She lowered her voice, leaning over the table. “Those men who attacked us—they seemed surprised by the royal seal on the carriages, but they still said we’d fetch a nice price. Landi...I don’t think they knew who we were. I think they assumed we were just aristocracy or something. Lords and ladies. Not anyone of royal blood.”
“Lucky for us,” the fae answered stiffly. “Otherwise they might have tried a lot harder.”
“But don’t you think it’s strange?” she insisted. “You implied that Bishop’s death and the attack on the caravan were connected. But the men didn’t even know who we were?”
He thought about it for a moment, candlelight flickering on his face.
“They could still be connected. It just means someone else is pulling the strings. It was the same thing with the servant who poured the wine.”
She shook her head quickly. “Wait—what?”
He flashed a faint smile. “You’re not the only one who likes to go sneaking around after dark. I listened outside the council chamber and heard the whole thing. The girl they interrogated had no idea what was going to happen. She was given the wine by the kitchen master, who told her to pour it for the toasts. The kitchen master swears the same thing. He pulled the bottles from the cellar same as always. He had no reason to suspect they weren’t the same vintage he’d always used before.”
“Yes—but they’re clearly lying,” Evie exclaimed.
He shook his head slowly. “They spo
ke directly with my father.”
She sat back in her chair.
It was one of the best and worst things about having Ellanden as a best friend. You could never lie to a fae. They’d always know.
“Two whiskeys,” Asher reappeared suddenly, sliding the glasses across the table, “and the blood of some poor slaughtered creature for me.” He flashed a grin before glancing back towards the bar. “I’m always surprised it’s so easy. I’m clearly too young. I wouldn’t serve me a drink.”
Ellanden picked up his glass with a smile. “Thirsty vampire comes to a bar? The man’s just grateful you’re looking at the menu.”
Asher shot him a sarcastic look, but clinked their glasses.
“I’m actually surprised you got something,” Ellanden continued suddenly. The vampire usually didn’t like to drink in front of them. The sight of him holding a glass of blood was a rare thing. “Didn’t you just have something before? You know, when...”
He trailed off, thinking of the moment in the woods when the vampire had suddenly joined them, blood dripping from his fangs. It was a side of him they’d never seen before. One that was a little unsettling. One that left them almost a little afraid.
Evie lifted her head slowly, staring between them.
“I didn’t—” Asher flushed and started again, pushing his own glass across the table. “I didn’t drink anything. I was just...I was just fighting.”
...with his teeth.
...like a vampire.
The princess froze for a moment, then flashed a deliberately cheerful grin. “Good thing you were, because there were a couple of close calls. Ellanden and I were just saying—”
“Yeah, I heard you,” he interrupted quickly, perfectly capable of listening all the way across the bar. “I think he’s right. Someone else must be pulling the strings.”
She thought about it a moment, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass. “...the same person who’s after the stone?”
It was a stretch, yet strangely plausible at the same time. Both things had come onto their radar on the same night. It wasn’t difficult to imagine they might be connected.
But it was difficult to throw another person into the equation.
The quest itself was impossible enough—finding a mysterious stone in the middle of a notorious hellscape on the other side of the realm. She didn’t like to imagine what kind of person might be attempting to do the same thing.
...if they haven’t found it already.
“Old enemies,” Ellanden murmured, obviously thinking the same thing. “Alwyn was killed by your mother. Nathaniel Fell was killed by your father.” He glanced at Asher. “The Carpathian Queen was killed by your father, and in a way I seriously doubt she could bounce back from.”
Evie nodded slowly. “Which just leaves...everyone else.”
In a way, it was one of the worst-case scenarios—that it wouldn’t be one of the usual suspects but a random player who was wielding the knife. There had been thousands of people fighting in the Red Knight’s army who had escaped his grisly fate. Thousands of people who had assimilated back into regular society without anyone ever being the wiser. Still dissatisfied with the ruling class, still willing to do something about it if the right opportunity came along.
Like a stone of darkness that can rip the world apart.
“Let’s not focus on the person,” Ellanden advised cautiously, “let’s focus on the stone. I don’t think we would have received a quest to go out and find it, if someone else had already beaten us there. We find the stone, we can stop everything else from happening. End of story.”
Again, he spoke with such confidence it was difficult not to be swayed. The princess shot him a smile, taking the first sip of her whiskey, while the vampire tried his best to smile as well.
Tried and failed.
“We’re ‘not focusing’ on a lot,” he murmured. “The forces of darkness that have already made the first strike against us...the fact that not all of us are prophesized to come back...”
The table fell silent as the friends stared down at their drinks.
Three people sitting at the table. Three people who loved each other like family, who’d do anything necessary to keep the others alive. And yet...one of them wasn’t going to return.
“We’ll focus on what we can,” Evie said firmly, stopping the trembling in her hand by squeezing harder on the glass. “We find the stone and destroy it. That’s our quest.”
The fae lifted his glass with the ghost of a smile.
“To the quest.”
The others joined him, raising their glasses as well.
“To the quest.”
Wherever it may lead...
SO FAR, THE QUEST HAD led from a bar to an old man named Pete.
He was a trader who lived at the edge of town, but the worn boots and well-used wagon had caught Ellanden’s eye. The second they made it out of the tavern he walked across the street and struck up a friendly conversation with him, casually asking about the places he travelled to trade.
When the prince expressed confusion, the old man instantly whipped out a worn leather map and stretched it out across his mule. A few minutes after that, he invited them for dinner.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Evie asked for the hundredth time as they walked beside the wagon, heading towards the outskirts of town. “What if he turns out to be—”
“What—dangerous?” Ellanden glanced down with a flash of mischief in his eyes. “The man’s about nine hundred years old, Everly. I think we can take him.”
She elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
“You never know,” she hissed. “Alwyn probably was about nine hundred years old, and he turned out to be one of the most terrible people the world has ever seen.”
The mule took that moment to lift its head with a loud bray.
“...and I don’t like the look of that mule.”
Fortunately, the princess’ fears turned out to be unfounded.
Pete and his wife Rebecca had lived in a little apple orchard since the dawn of time, and were positively delighted to have visitors. While she set about making a mouth-watering stew he took the friends into the living room, spreading out the map between them.
“So where did you say you kids were travelling?” he asked with a frown.
“To a town called Dagos, just outside the High Kingdom,” the fae answered instantly. Now, if anyone were to interview the old man, the trail would lead right back the way they’d come. “My friend has some family waiting there, but I’m afraid we’ve gotten a little lost...”
They’d apparently come to the right place. With a burst of excitement, the old trader started spouting off directions and random factoids about the best trails to take and why—tracing his finger slowly through the mountains back towards the borders of the Damaris kingdom.
The friends nodded along, listening quietly, but in reality their eyes were somewhere else.
Just like Asher said, the famed library was nestled between a mountain range and a lake. To complete the image, there was even a little sketching of it on the map. A breathtaking tower with winding staircases that stretched all the way to the sky. Once they’d gotten out of the mountains, the journey to get there was relatively simple. A direct path took them all the way to the gleaming steps.
Of course...it wasn’t a path they could take.
No force in heaven or hell would stop Dylan Hale from searching for his daughter. He would turn the kingdoms upside-down until she was back in his arms. Cassiel, Tanya, and Aidan were probably already out looking; and if that wasn’t enough, Katerina could simply shift into a dragon and sweep over the realm from corner to corner—looking down from the sky.
No, they couldn’t take the direct path. They couldn’t take any main roads. If they wanted to make it to the library undetected, a more creative kind of navigation was required.
As the old man prattled on about seasonal weather patterns Asher lay a hand on the edge of the ma
p, leaning closer as if to get a better view. Four fingers stayed curled, but one tapped lightly on the paper—pointing to a specific spot. Evie and Ellanden peered over his shoulder.
Then froze perfectly still.
Back in the day it had been called Aluthan’s Hammer, named after the man who’d founded it. But now it was simply known as ‘the mine’.
A series of endless tunnels and caverns that stretched beneath the length of the Allusian Forest. Once a prosperous mining community for those seeking oil and gems, the entire structure was abandoned when five hundred people went to work one summer and never came out.
It was speculated that a portion of the ceiling had collapsed, crushing them to death. Others, with a darker imagination, theorized that they’d merely been trapped—screaming for help miles beneath the ground with no one to hear them, condemned to slowly starve.
Of course, that gave way to rumors about cannibalism. And that let rise the theory that the entire place was haunted. Needless to say, the mine was abandoned and the entrance was sealed shut. Every now and then, groups of local teenagers would dare each other to break inside. Those who managed to make it into the darkness never returned.
He must be joking.
Evie looked up quickly, studying the vampire for any trace of humor. A choice like this meant a fight, but he looked completely serious. Sure enough, Ellanden rose to the occasion.
He looked only a second at the mine, then set his jaw and shook his head sharply. But Asher lifted an eyebrow and glanced back at the map. The message was clear.
How else do you expect to get across?
Ellanden glanced back at the table, a flicker of panic in his eyes.
The vampire might have a point. But one way or another he wasn’t going to allow himself to die in a deserted mine shaft, buried hundreds of feet beneath the ground.
He shook his head again, angrier this time. It looked like he would have done even more if Pete hadn’t taken that moment to look up with a benign smile.
“Did that answer your question?”
“ALUTHAN’S HAMMER?” Ellanden cried furiously, pacing back and forth across the lawn. Like most children of the fae, he’d been taught to call things by their proper name. “Have you lost your mind?! I’m serious, Ash—are you actively trying to kill us?!”