Trial of Thorns (Wicked Fae Book 1)

by Stacey Trombley

  Murmurs and whispers cascade through the blowing leaves growing louder, filling our ears, allowing us to hear little else.

  “What is that?” Tyadin asks, his voice mixing with the mysterious whispers filling the air around us.

  “Why do you think they call it the Whisperwood?” Rev asks with an amused tone. “The trees whisper to each other.”

  “No,” I say quietly. “It’s the shadows.”

  As if on cue, a dark mist clings to my legs and shoulders, rippling off of me.

  Rev and Tyadin both gasp, looking to their own appendages, only to see them bare of the dark magic.

  “Are you doing that?” Tyadin whispers.

  “No.” They aren’t my own—my magic is too depleted to cast that kind of power unnecessarily right now. No, this magic is part of the Whisperwood, a type of sprite, technically. “Don’t worry, they’re friendly.”

  He swallows. “Maybe to you.”

  Whispers circle past my ears, and I stop to listen. They’re coming.

  I pull in a breath and listen again. They know much more than I do, and every ally is valuable at this point. This way, they tell me.

  I smile and continue my march, shadows and mist sweeping over me and curling into a path ahead.

  “Is that...” Rev begins but stops.

  “Just follow them,” I tell him.

  Welcome home, the dark sprites whisper for only me. A comforting warmth fills my chest. A feeling I’m so unaccustomed to now.

  I hadn’t realized how much I missed this place. This magic.

  I sigh, following the shadow path to a nook beside the pathway. It’s a dead end.

  Hide, the whispers tell me.

  I look around the forest, still not quite familiar with our location, but I trust the sprites.

  I slip into the little nook, below twisted roots breaking free from the hillside leaving a small dirt and root covered hollow.

  “What are you doing?” Rev whispers.

  “Following the sprite’s advice. I suggest you do the same. They said they’re coming.”

  Tyadin crawls into the hole by me, and Rev waits. The sprites surround us both and Rev blinks when, I assume, we disappear into the darkness. “Wow,” he whispers and then joins us. He shivers as the sprites cover him too.

  Rev

  I crouch beside Tyadin in our shadow sprite-covered hiding place. This is absolutely bizarre. This shadow magic is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. It sings over my skin, slipping beneath my clothing and into strange places. I shiver as they tickle beneath my arms. Over my back and neck.

  We’re quiet, able to see out to the still forest, with those outside unable to see us.

  Finally, the subtle shifting of leaves hints the approach of an enemy. Caelynn’s breath shudders, and I bite my lip, resisting the urge to watch her bright eyes filled with awe, her beautiful lips curling into a subtle smile.

  I turn my attention to the pathway—what’s happening outside our hideaway is more important.

  “Did we go through a portal?” a sharp female voice exclaims.

  A bitter laugh echoes. “This is the shadow lands. They found a shortcut.”

  Good, they haven’t yet realized the key to the arena maze. This isn’t a shortcut—this was the only way to get here in a day’s time.

  Of course, it’d have been better if they hadn’t followed us at all. Then they’d have been lost for good, but I’ll take what I can get.

  “But we’re in an entirely different land now,” Brielle says, her eyes wide as she walks forward slowly.

  “We’re supposed to be,” Drake says. “The Black Gates, remember?”

  Brielle sighs, “Yes, but I heard Kari scream. We wouldn’t have heard her if she went through here.”

  “So?”

  “So, she’s back there somewhere, injured! We have to go back and find her.”

  “No,” Drake spits. “If she lost to Caelynn or Rev, then she’s lost her value. We move on without her. Besides, there was more than one reason I chose to align with Caelynn. I knew we’d spend a large amount of time in the shadow lands. The queen says it’s the most like the Schorchedlands, and Caelynn knows her way around here. We need to keep close to them.”

  Drake certainly knew more about this trial than anyone else. How fair is that?

  Brielle stops, her eyebrows pinched in concern. “You’re saying we leave Kari behind, without even knowing if she’s dead or alive?”

  “Yes,” he says.

  Brielle swallows, pausing right in front of our hiding place. My muscles tense, not even daring to breathe—even though I know the sprites are very capable of silencing any noise.

  “They’re stronger than us now,” Brielle whispers, as she begins a slow walk after him.

  “Tomorrow they may be. But Caelynn used a lot of her magic, and Rev is still injured, or he wouldn’t have run. We still have the upper hand, but not for long.”

  Her expression crumples, but she follows after Drake, sprinting through the Whisperwood and away from us.

  I swallow hard, watching them disappear. “Fools,” I whisper. Although that’s not the right word.

  “Assholes,” Caelynn corrects. Yes, that’s better.

  They’re willingly abandoning Kari. I should be most annoyed with Drake—she’s his friend. His ally from the beginning. But it’s my friend I’m most angry at. Brielle should have fought for Kari. Refused to follow him, and he’d have had no choice. She chose the easy route.

  We sit in silence for another full minute before I dare another utterance. “What now?”

  Caelynn crawls from the nook and rolls her shoulders before pulling out her compass. She chuckles darkly. “I love this game.”

  “What?” Tyadin asks.

  Caelynn’s lips flick into a wicked grin that I can’t keep my eyes off of. “They assumed the portal would spit them out in the same direction they were previously heading.”

  I blink.

  “We go that way.” She points back past the portal.

  “The way we came?”

  She nods. “The portal turned us around. That way is north and we have to go ‘backwards’ to correct it.”

  Genius, I think but don’t dare say the word aloud.

  We quietly scamper back down the path away from Brielle and Drake, but Caelynn stops as we cross the stone archway. Her eyes linger on it.

  “What?”

  She turns back toward the forest. “Cover them?” she requests quietly to no one at all.

  Shadows leaps from the twisted foliage, and I jerk back. Little black mist-hands cling to my arms and legs. “What are you doing?” I say too loud.

  “Stay here,” she says. “The sprites will hide you if they figure it out and come back this way. There’s something I need to do.”

  Caelynn

  Black mist clings to Tyadin and Rev until they are all but invisible, even to me. I smile at their expressions as they disappear into darkness, open mouths and angry eyes.

  And then I sprint through the stone archway before they can argue.

  The world around me lightens, the wind blows against my skin softly and I blink in this entirely different world. Well, not literally, but it feels like a different world. The Whisperwood is something special indeed.

  My heart aches at the absence of the darkness of my homeland, and for the first time, I wonder if this is a mistake.

  I clench my jaw and run forward. I’ve already made the choice, I’m going to follow through.

  A few minutes later, I turn the corner and see her. She’s slumped against a tree, holding her thigh tightly. Her dark hair falls over her face, covering her dimmed eyes.

  I approach slowly. Her head snaps in my direction, and I stop, hands up. Her eyes are wide and wild.

  “Come to finish the job?” she says, her voice hoarse, her face pale.

  “Drake isn’t coming back for you. He’s moving on without you,” I say.

  She blinks, pain clear in her eyes, but her exp
ression betrays no other emotion. “Unsurprising.”

  I take a few more steps forward and then kneel in front of her.

  “What are you doing?” she says, jerking away from my approaching fingers.

  “Helping.”

  “No,” she says firmly. “Why?”

  “If you don’t complete the challenge by sundown you’ll be taken out of the competition. They’ll come for you. But at this rate, you’ll bleed out before that time.”

  A strange noise reverberates from her throat. Panic? Confusion? Shock?

  “I can stop the blood loss enough that you can survive this.”

  Kari presses her eyes closed. “I don’t understand.”

  I rip off a full strip of her pants to gain access to the wound at the inside of her leg. She doesn’t stop me.

  “I don’t need any more death on my conscience.”

  She opens her eyes and studies me quietly as I work, but she asks no more questions.

  I wrap the cloth around her thigh above the wound and tie it tightly. Bright red drips over my fingers. I drip three droplets of a healing potion onto to the open wound.

  Lastly, I hand her my water container. She stares at it for a long moment before closing shaking fingers around the bottle and bringing it to her lips.

  “It’ll be a very long night,” I tell her. “But you should live.”

  She licks her pale lips and nods, her eyes closed again. “Thank you,” she says as I stand and walk away.

  “He’s going to kill you, you know?” she says to my back.

  I stop.

  “Rev,” she clarifies. “I know him. He’s smart, so he’ll take your aid while he needs it, but it won’t stop his thirst for vengeance. It’s the only thing he’s ever really wanted.”

  I swallow without turning toward her, but I nod just the same. “It would be a fitting death,” I admit before continuing my march.

  Her bitter chuckle echoes behind me. “You are not at all what I expected.” Her soft voice is nearly lost in the breeze as I walk down the path.

  I do feel a tad guilty for leaving her in this condition, but if I did more, she’d be a liability. I doubt Drake’s betrayal is bad enough to make her change sides, even if we were able to recuperate her. And in order to win, I need less competition. She can’t continue. This is the best I can do.

  Around the bend, my stomach drops as two forms come into view.

  My heart pounds wildly, hand already gripping my sword, until I realize its only Rev and Tyadin. I raise my eyebrows, forcing my body to calm—not a threat. Not yet, at least.

  I keep my eyes cast low, avoiding their studying stare. How much did they see? Hear? Anything?

  “It was safer to hide through the portal,” Tyadin answers my unvoiced question. “Besides, those sprites tickle.” He shivers.

  I nod absently and walk past them, through the stone archway. The air around me buzzes and shifts until comforting shadows cover me. I pull in a long breath.

  Home.

  Tyadin and Rev follow silently, and when I take the southern pathway at a run, they follow.

  Rev

  I can’t keep my gaze from jumping to her.

  Our feet pound heavily on the dirt pathway, curving through the dark forest. She takes the lead, presumably knowing where she’s going—or at least pretending to.

  This is her homeland, so I assume she’s at least vaguely familiar, regardless of how long she’s been away. At the very least, these shadow sprites are happy to help her.

  I watch her hair, more silver than blond in these shadowed lands, swaying as she sprints. Her fingers curled into fists, the tension in her shoulders obvious.

  I have no idea what to make of this girl. My enemy. My brother’s murderer. Beautiful and powerful and... kind? She’s everything I never thought she could be.

  She went back to a fallen foe and... helped her. For no reason. For no gain of her own. She admitted to an enemy that dying by my hand would be a fitting death.

  What in the world does that mean? I can’t even imagine it.

  Does she wish to die? I suppose I could understand that. She doesn’t seem to be overly proud of herself, although she clearly wears indifference as a shield. Perhaps Tyadin is right, and it’s all an act? Perhaps beneath her steely exterior, she’s as broken as I am.

  Or perhaps this kindness is an act. Maybe she knows I am still a threat and wants me to lower my guard.

  But if that were true... why not kill me when she had the chance? When it was clearly in her best interest. I saw the pain in her eyes in that moment. I remember clearly the panic on her face when Drake handed her the dagger. An obsidian dagger just like the one she’d killed my brother with. Just like the one I killed her with during the orb of terrors trial. I saw the moment determination hit her eyes and knew she would turn against them before they did.

  But why? Why not kill me when it could give her all the things she wants? She could still try to win the trials, and if she lost, she’d have one hell of a consolation prize—a pardon.

  Now what does she have? All or nothing on winning these trials.

  Killing her, I realize, is going to become harder and harder the more time I spend with her. But I am certain of one thing—I will never forgive her. Banishment is a forgiving punishment, and I wouldn’t ever dream of giving her anything less.

  Just the thought that my father would consider pardoning her is a bigger punch in the gut than the thought that he wants me dead. Which is really sad when I think about it.

  I’ve always known he hated me. He doesn’t think I am good enough.

  He’s probably the biggest reason I wasn’t named heir already. If I win these trials and retrieve the cure, the queen will have basically no choice but to choose me. There would be riots in my court—if not elsewhere—if she were to spurn me again.

  My father may hate me but my people don’t.

  I’m so lost in my own thoughts that I almost don’t notice Caelynn coming to a stop up ahead, and I halt just inches from ramming into her.

  My chest is so close to her back, I can feel her warmth. I can hear her rapid breathing. I freeze, every muscle tense, afraid to move.

  Not wanting to move.

  My breath is heavy, and I can see her silver hair dancing against it. Caelynn doesn’t move, though the skin on the back of her neck grows goosebumps.

  I look past her, at the sparkling black arch—a hundred times the size of the portal we passed to get here. She takes a step forward, saving me from my awkward closeness. Her steps are slow and measured, her eyes cast up to the onyx stone surrounding her.

  “Have you seen it before?” I ask.

  “Many times,” she says, her voice soft as velvet. I swallow.

  I blink and break my intense stare at her emotional reaction to the Black Gate and visually search for something out of the ordinary. At the foot of the right arch column there is a bright red stone. I approach until I’m close enough to notice a message written along the top.

  “Here,” I say to the others. The message is simple. “Pass through the gates. Find the caves. Answer your riddle.”

  “Riddle?” Tyadin says. “I hate riddles.”

  “It says your riddle, not the riddle,” Caelynn says, her voice back to normal, her spell broken. “Do we each have our own?”

  I shrug. “I guess we’ll find out. Do you know of a nearby cave?” I ask her. We could spend an hour searching, assuming it’s within a mile of here, but it would save precious time if we could find it quickly.

  “Possibly. But the exact path...” She pauses, her golden eyes growing dimmer, then flickering back. “Well, my memories are a bit hazy.”

  “I can help,” Ty chimes in. “Do you know the general direction?”

  Caelynn nods and points past the massive black stone arches. The air between shimmers like a mirage.

  I shiver because passing through the Black Gates looks simple, but I know better. Much like the Ruby Well, it’s legendary. It’s a
Shadow Court rite of passage for adolescent fae. Had Caelynn been old enough to complete the ritual before she became a convicted murderer?

  She stares at the arch, face blank but eyes wide, full of more emotion than I’ve seen from her. “What should we expect?” I ask her.

  She pulls in a deep breath and shrugs. “I’ve never passed it before.”

  Tyadin’s mouth falls open. “How? Why?”

  “I was banished a few months before my ritual.”

  I swallow, turning away from the tears in her eyes, from the way my stomach aches. From the desire to comfort her. What the hell is up with that? Mortal enemy, remember? I tell myself. She deserves this pain.

  “I was told you’d be shown your future,” Ty says, also looking away from her.

  “Nothing specific,” Caelynn says. “It’s said to whisper your own thoughts back to you. The things you’ll think just before your death.”

  I swallow. “Well, that’s pleasant.”

  “Why would they make that a rite of passage?” Ty asks.

  “They say only the strongest can face their own death and continue forward. Death can be an ally like any other.”

  My head whips in her direction. She meets my stare, with a determined gaze.

  “Are you ready to meet death?” I ask her breathlessly.

  “I’ve been ready for a very long time.”

  Caelynn

  I clench my jaw, staring at a stolen moment of my childhood. It’s a moment children fear but are also eager for because several rights are unsealed after this ritual. We are allowed to travel to the human world, for one. We are allowed to seek a mate and leave our parents homes, though most don’t for several years. We begin our trade-specific training. Our magic grows to its strongest in the years after the ritual.

  I’m going to complete it now. My heart aches but warms at the thought.

  It will never be like it should have been. With my parents and the Queen of the Whisperwood standing on the other side, ready to greet me. With a full celebration planned for the day after.