He nodded and then leapt into the air, shifting with a rustle of wings. His raven body soared up over the spikes, rising higher, and then he froze mid-air. His wings crumbled, and his body twisted.
A howl was followed by a gust of air. It hit me in the face and pushed me back, almost knocking me off my feet. Veles grabbed me around the waist, bracing me with his sturdy frame.
“A trap?” His voice was a low rumble.
Goosebumps kissed my arms as I watched the air beyond the spikes. Slivers of color—blue and purple—roped together to form thick tendrils which wound around the Raven, holding him captive.
The air was alive. The air was alive with something.
And then the Raven was propelled over the spikes. He landed in the snow with a soft thud, still in bird form. Wind snakes surged over the barrier toward us.
Yelps and cries of exclamation followed as we were assaulted. Veles wrapped himself around me and brought us down into a crouch to shield us. What was happening? What were those things? The assault seemed to go one forever, when in reality, it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.
The air pressure dropped suddenly.
Veles’s grip on me slackened. “Are you all right?” His breath was warm on my cheek. “I think it’s over.”
I nodded, and he released me and then pulled me to my feet. The world was silent and serene again, only the gentle whirr of the cogs and the icy kiss of winter. It would be easy to believe we’d imagined the attack, except for the fact that everyone was still picking themselves up off the ground. Grendel rubbed his head. Roxy shook off a coating of snow. Finn groaned and used the silver wolf as a crutch to stand, and there, lying silent and unmoving in the snow, was the feathered form of the Raven.
“No.” I pushed past the men and fell to my knees beside him. “Raven.” His chest wasn’t moving. Did birds’ chests move? I had no idea. “Raven, please.”
I reached out to touch his silken feathered breast with the tips of my fingers and gently pressed down. There was no pulse. No heartbeat.
Veles gripped my shoulder. “Wynter, I think—”
“No.” I shrugged him off. “Don’t say it.”
He was a large bird, majestic, probably not used to being cradled, but that’s exactly what he’d get. I sat with him on my lap, the chill seeping through my clothes. And stroked his feathers.
“Come on, Raven, you’re stronger than that. You’re Morrigan’s right hand. You can’t be … can’t be …” A sob climbed up my throat and choked off my words, and the world blurred behind hot tears.
No. No more death today. No more. I clutched him tighter. “Raven. Dammit, wake the hell up.” My fingers heated where they made contact with his feathers. “You don’t get to die. You don’t get to bring me here and then check out. You wake the hell up now.”
My chest flared with heat, and then his body jolted, and his eyes snapped open. My face stared back at me, tear-stained but determined, and then my breath caught in my throat.
“Raven?”
A steady pulse met my fingers, and then he jerked from my grasp, hit the ground, and shifted. The air crackled with energy around his human form. He lifted his head to look at me.
“Who knew you could be so bossy, hmmm?”
A strangled laugh cut the air. Mine. And then I was falling into his arms, inhaling his familiar, beloved scent as he stroked the back of my head. The tension in the air lifted, and the fist holding my lungs captive released its grip. Everyone broke out in murmurs of relief.
We hadn’t lost another soldier today.
Finn’s calm voice killed the moment of celebration. “Those things are still out there.”
The lead balloon was back because he was right. We had a problem, and we needed to find a way through or around it.
I pulled out of Raven’s embrace to look up at Finn. His mouth was slightly turned down. His expression hooded.
“What do we do about them?” he asked.
Roxy padded forward to stand at his side. “Sylphs,” she said. “Air elementals. Aurelia must have them working for her as invisible guards.”
“And how do we get past them?” Veles asked.
“Oh, we don’t,” she said. “They’ll have warned the high guard about the intrusion. Someone will be along to—”
The whirring, which had been background noise up until now, intensified. The wall beyond the spikes was moving, a huge section of it lifting and melting back into the main structure, and from the aperture strode several hulking figures. Their massive boots crunched through the frost and snow as they marched toward us. Square jaws, intense glowing eyes, and bodies made of bronze and silver, just like the wall. These were metal men. Moving, metal men.
“Golems.” Veles stepped closer, his hand hovering at the small of my back. “Well, this is something.” There was a smile in his voice, a fond reminiscent edge.
I looked up to see him grinning.
“Veles?”
He shook his head. “A conversation from a long time ago. I wonder if she’ll recall.”
A spike of twisted jealousy stabbed at my heart. “You knew her well?”
He made an ‘o’ with his mouth. “You could say that.”
They’d been intimate. I could see it in his face and hear it in his voice. I ducked my head and squashed the wave of possessive anger that threatened to wash over me. Veles had a colorful past. Dagda had pointed that out when we’d spoken to him in the tower. But what Veles and I had was the future.
I smiled up at him. “Well, let’s hope you can charm her into listening to us and helping us.”
The golems stopped several meters from the spikes, and then one stepped forward. He stood with his shoulders back, eyes straight ahead, and opened his mouth.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” The voice was female. Completely at odds with the body it spilled from.
“Aurelia?” Veles bridged the gap between us and the spikes. “Is that you?”
The golem turned its head to look at Veles.
“It’s me, Veles.”
“The Veles I knew did not have horns. He was a man of refined beauty.”
Veles flinched as if she’d struck him. But then his face smoothed out, and the corners of his mouth curved up wryly. “And the Aurelia I knew wouldn’t lock herself away and leave her people to starve to death.” He canted his head, so the sunlight glinted off his wicked horns. “Sometimes, forces beyond our control manipulate us into unwanted change.”
“You were gone for a long time,” she said. “Death came, but you did not.”
“I can explain everything, but you need to let us in.”
The golem’s gaze ran over us and stopped on Fenn. “What is this? What have you brought to my gates? Is this a trap? A coup?” The golem took a step back. “You allied yourself with the wrong monarch, Veles. This man is a monster. He’s tormented our lands for too long. Killed my emissaries and refused to parlay.”
The world began to rumble. The wall was shifting, opening here and there. Cannons emerged, black and lethal-looking, ready to fire at us.
“Aurelia, it isn’t what it looks like,” Veles said. “Listen to me. This man is the winter king, but he has no memory of it. The kingdom is being run by his daughter, Rayne, who is under the influence of Oblivion, the dark taint that has infected our lands.”
It was a rushed synopsis of our situation but concise and to the point. The golem speaking with the autumn queen’s voice turned its head in Veles’s direction. Its smooth metallic face was emotionless, but the glowing eyes flared in response to Veles’s words.
“You claim Alaron has lost his memories?”
“It’s the truth. You know Alaron just as well as I do. You know in your heart he would never hurt innocents. And you know he would never turn his back on you.”
A deep silence followed his words.
“Aurelia,” Veles continued. “We need your help. We need to find a way to restore the king’s memories. If we can do that,
then we have a chance to free his kingdom from the taint’s grasp.”
“The black veins …”
“Yes, the black veins.”
“I purged my keep of all those with the black veins,” the queen said softly. “They wrought evil and brought death.”
“It’s how Oblivion spreads. Let us in, and we can work together to stop it.”
“You’ve never lied to me, Veles. And Alaron was always honorable. I have found it hard to reconcile the man I have heard tales of with the man I knew, and this, your story today, however fantastical, makes more sense to me than the many years of horror that have been inflicted upon us in Alaron’s name. I will admit you to the keep, but first, you must submit to an inspection. I cannot allow the black vein into my sanctum.”
“Agreed,” Veles said.
“Remain still,” the queen instructed.
The breeze picked up, and then the wind began to howl. It battered at our bodies and tore at our clothes, and then blue and purple tendrils bloomed in the air on the other side of the spikes.
“You will now be inspected,” Aurelia said through the golem.
The tendrils rushed toward us.
Chapter Fifteen
The golem with the queen’s voice led us into the keep through a guarded arch and into a courtyard filled with people, so many people, and tents. Gray and brown tents. Fire blazed in pits lining the circumference of the courtyard, and the chill was instantly reduced. Fey men and women sat outside their tents, shoulders slumped. Many didn’t even bother to look up to inspect the newcomers. It was as if they had no will to raise their heads.
“These are the ones you saved?” Veles asked.
“Yes,” the queen said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. The food stores are finite. We took in able-bodied men, and women able to feed their children.”
“And you left the other children to die.” Roxy’s tone was accusatory. “Children. How much does a child eat anyway?”
“More than we could spare,” the queen said flatly.
The atmosphere was one of despair. It pressed down on our shoulders. It was only when we left the courtyard to enter the main building and it slipped away that I realized how oppressive it was.
The golem led us up a flight of stone steps and along a balcony that looked down onto another courtyard. He drew us through another door, down a corridor, and onto smooth marble floors polished to a sheen. After that the turns and corridors we took blurred into a tapestry of stone, metal, and ornate carvings until we were being ushered into a large room with wall-to-floor windows that allowed the sun to stream in and pool across the floor like liquid gold.
A woman stood in the center of the room with her back to us. The golem froze and then spun on his heel and left the room. The woman slowly turned to face us.
This had to be the queen, and she wasn’t what I’d been expecting. She was small, fine-boned, ethereal-looking, but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in presence. Her eyes were slate gray, sharp, and probing. Her mouth too thin to be voluptuous. Whereas Rayne had dressed in flowing robes, Aurelia was in tight britches and a tunic. A sword sheath was strapped to her side but empty at present.
“Speak,” she said. “Tell me your story, and I’ll judge the truth of it.”
All eyes were suddenly on me. A week or so ago, I would have wilted under the pressure. But not now. Not today.
I stepped forward. “Your Majesty. My name is Wynter Ashfall, and a few days ago, I found out I was born from a shard of Morrigan’s soul.”
She stared at me blankly. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
Crud, she didn’t recall Morrigan. “It should. Let me explain.”
I began to speak. Retelling my story, telling Fenn’s story, Raven’s story, Veles’s story until we were at this point. At this moment where we needed her help to find a way to restore the winter king. When my words ran out, she began to pace. She walked the room as if the constant movement would somehow help her process my tale faster.
I leaned in toward Veles, keeping my voice low. “How long will she do that?”
“As long as it takes,” he said. “Pacing always helped her think.”
Once again, that fond tone.
Finally, Aurelia came to a halt. “It does sound familiar. The name Morrigan.” She pressed her fingers to her temple. “The great tree … It sounds like something I once read about.”
“They’re both real,” the Raven said.
“And you.” She raked him over. “You too are familiar to me.”
“We met several times. I was Morrigan’s messenger.”
She winced and sucked in a breath. “It hurts to think too hard on it.”
“Oblivion’s influence,” Veles said. “It has tainted the people, the soil, and our minds.”
“But not you,” she said. “Because you were trapped in Nawia behind a magical wall created from the Tuatha’s personal shimmers.”
It wasn’t a question. She was simply running the information I’d given her through her mind.
“Those that were on the other side of the shimmer remember,” she said.
“Yes.”
She took a deep breath. “I do not take kindly to having my faculties interfered with.” Her gaze fell on me. “I suppose this all came as a shock to you also?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “That would be an understatement.”
“And yet, here you are. A human with the soul of a goddess. You’re here to save us.”
“Not just you but Yav too. If Faerie falls, then the mortal realm is next.”
“But right now, Oblivion doesn’t have full control of Faerie,” she said, her gaze narrowing. “Because it doesn’t have the whole of Morrigan’s soul. You have the final shard?”
I nodded.
She canted her head, looking for all intents and purposes like an intimidating marionette. “Then tell me why I shouldn’t have you placed under lock and key this instant? The keep is clean of the taint. You would be safe here. If Oblivion can’t get to you, it will never be able to break free of Faerie. We can, like you suggest, put Alaron back on the throne and stifle the conflict. People will remember the truth, and the taint will lose its power. We could win. But if you go back out there, there is a chance that you might be taken, and then we’d all be doomed.”
It was the very argument the group and I’d had a day ago, and the answer was the same.
“That may have been true a day or two ago, but now that the shimmer has fractured, it’s only a matter of time before it comes down. As it stands, even if we restore Alaron to the throne, Oblivion will be strong enough to spread into Nawia and beyond. We must kill it. And I’m the only one that can do that.”
“Then our fate is dependent on what occurs first—the shimmers failing or your murder of Oblivion. If you are the only one that can kill it, then we must keep you safe until it’s time to do so.”
My skin pricked because her logic was sound, and my reasoning was based on my desire to complete the task I’d taken on. “I’m not staying here.”
“You won’t have a choice.” She said it as if it was a fact.
Maybe to her, it was. She was a queen, after all.
“Aurelia.” There was a snap to Veles’s tone. He exhaled through his nose. “You’re right, of course.”
What? I glared at him. What was he doing?
“But,” he continued, “I fear without Wynter to hold us together, our party will falter and fall apart. She is our lynchpin. She is why we are all here. Together.”
“She saved my life,” the Raven said. “Twice.”
“I’ve seen her in battle,” Grendel said. “I wouldn’t mess with her.”
She was responding, her mouth was moving and words were coming out, but my ears were buzzing.
The power was rising inside me.
How dare she threaten me?
I lifted my chin. “I’ve had Oblivion in my mind and pushed it out again. I’m not mortal, Aurelia. I ha
ven’t been since I set foot on fey soil. It isn’t your place to tell me what I can and can’t do. It’s your duty to give me what I need in order to complete my mission.”
There was an authority to my tone that stunned even me, but the power inside me kept me stoic and my expression neutral.
Aurelia studied me for a long beat. “It would go against my better judgment to allow you to leave.”
“It isn’t your choice to make.” I took a step toward her, taking my power with me like an invisible shield.
She flinched but didn’t back away.
“I came to you for help. If you can’t give me that, then you’re of no use to me.”
It was my voice, but the words weren’t mine. They were borrowed from her, Morrigan—the goddess connected to me by my soul.
Aurelia met my gaze levelly, and what she saw there must have satisfied her because she smiled. A small, cold smile. “Why do I get the impression that I may not have been friends with this Morrigan person?” She took a deliberate step away from me and then nodded. “Very well. We will do it your way. But on one condition. You will take one of my golem guards with you.”
It was my turn to nod. “Agreed.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and the power within me that was standing to attention took a back seat.
The queen turned her attention to Fenn. “Alaron sent a message a week before the first attack. He … You said there was danger coming, and that we must convene. You said you would come to me.” She tucked in her chin. “You never came, but your winter did.” She walked around me, toward Fenn. “I thought you betrayed me. I thought you’d gone insane. I thought that maybe the black veins got you. There was no way to know for sure. You didn’t accept the invitations to parlay, and you killed my emissaries.”
“Not me,” Fenn said.
“No. I know that now.” She touched her chin with her forefinger. “First, we need to figure out if your memories are missing or if they are simply hidden.”
“You can do that?” Fenn asked.
Her smile showcased tiny, even, white teeth. “No, I can’t. But my Knowledge Keeper can. He has studied the art of mind diving.”
Mind diving? “What is that?”
Fate’s Destiny: Heart of Darkness Book 3 Page 8