* * *
Orin recited the verse with a lilting tone that sent a shiver up my spine. For a moment, he wasn’t the cruel black faerie who might stab me in the back, but a boy—reading words from a book that filled him with reverence.
He looked up and met my rapt gaze. I jerked my eyes away, embarrassed to be caught staring. I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what the heck that means.”
“It’s a poem. A human poem,” he said as if that explained it. “By Goethe? Erlkönig?” he said, incredulous.
I shook my head. “You might as well be speaking Greek.”
“German,” he said.
“Okay?” I replied, annoyed. Whatever.
He heaved a longsuffering sigh. “It’s a poem by a German poet named Von Goethe. It’s about the Erl-King. He’s a famous faerie, lord of the forest.”
“Awesome,” I said, still not getting what Orin was going on about.
“Gods, what do they teach you humans in school?” Orin said. “The Erl-King is a legend in the human world, too. But he’s a real faerie. Ancient. He is the ruler of this forest. His castle is nearby…”
My eyes grew wide. “Ohhhhhh! You think that’s the first checkpoint?”
“Houston, we have takeoff.”
“That’s not the saying,” I said, grateful to know something. “It’s ‘Houston, we have a problem.’”
“Same difference,” Orin scoffed, shoving his canteen back into his pack and shouldering it.
“So…where is this Erl-King’s house?” I asked.
“I’m…not exactly sure,” Orin admitted. “He’s notoriously reclusive. You don’t really find him unless he wants you to.”
“Oh!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Looks like Mister Smarty-pants doesn’t have it all figured out.”
“Mister Smarty-pants?” he said. “Is that some crude human moniker?”
“Yes,” I admitted frostily. “Though your nickname is actually Mr. Crabbypants.”
“And yours is Thorn in my Side,” he scoffed, taking a step towards me.
“Trust me, I want to be in nothing of yours,” I said, squaring my shoulders and facing him. Except maybe his sleeping bag, and then only because it looked so damn cozy.
All of a sudden, fury overtook me. Who did this asshole think he was? He was supposed to be the one person I could count on in this mad place, and instead, he treated me with nothing but contempt.
I shook my head. “You were the last person I ever would have wanted to partner up with—”
“At least we can agree on that,” he interrupted.
“But,” I said, ignoring the sting of his comment, “We’re stuck with each other. So don’t you think we should at least try to get along? Work together?”
“From what I see, you don’t have anything to offer this team. So yes, I will drag your dead weight behind me through this competition, because I have to in order to win it. But I don’t see much point in trying to work together. The clue was obviously tailored to the human partner as Von Goethe is human, but you didn’t even know that.”
I recoiled at his words, my mouth opening and closing. The nerve of this faerie… “How dare you…” I managed, but I was devoid of witty comebacks as my thoughts flew from my head. No one told me I’d have to be well versed in poetry. It was hardly the first thing anyone would expect to have to know in a race like this.
As we looked at each other furiously, I suddenly became aware of Ben’s blinking red light, just feet from the two of us, taking it all in. I huffed and broke off, turning from Orin. Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes and I didn’t want Orin to see them, let alone the rest of the world.
“Do you, at least, know a general direction?” I asked thickly.
“I think…that way.” He pointed.
“You think?” I said, my voice rising. “I guess I’m not the only dead weight on this team.” I knew the comment wasn’t entirely fair to him since I hadn’t even figured out the riddle, and definitely didn’t know which direction to head. But he was pissing me off something fierce! So I kept talking. “How are we supposed to find the Erl-King if you don’t even know what direction to head?”
“We might be able to help with that,” a sinuous voice said behind me.
13
I turned sharply.
Ben did the same, almost dropping his camera in the process.
Two staggeringly beautiful women, way too short to be human, stared up at me, their eyes bright with narrow green irises circling the largest pupils I’d ever seen. Those huge eyes put me at ease, the same reaction my body and brain might have to a crateful of puppies. These were no puppies, though. They were…
“Nymphs!” Orin spat out in disgust.
Okay, well, at least I knew what they were now. Standing at about equal height to my waist wearing clothes that looked to be made out of leaves, the two miniature women smiled up at me warmly.
“We know where the Erl-King lives,” they chorused, their two voices in perfect simpatico. The one on the right nodded her bouncy blonde curls as the other one, who had waist-long, dark hair, pointed out into the distance.
I followed her finger with my eyes. All I could see were trees, but that was nothing new. I’d seen nothing but trees for hours.
“Is it in the forest?” I asked them.
The blonde one nodded again and giggled. Her tinkling laugh made me almost want to join in.
I noticed Orin scowling out of the corner of my eye. They obviously didn’t have the same effect on him as they were having on me. Maybe faeries were immune to nymph magic? Or maybe Orin was immune to giggling. It certainly seemed that way, the joyless oaf.
I picked up the backpack I’d dropped to the ground and gestured to the nymphs to lead the way. The pair of them held hands and danced ahead, stopping only when they realized we weren’t following.
Orin stared at me like I had a second head. “What do you think you’re doing? You aren’t actually going to follow them are you?”
I shrugged. “Look around. We’re in the middle of nowhere. We have nothing else to go on. So why not?”
Orin rolled his eyes at me. “I’ll tell you why not. We’re in the middle of a race. A race designed by people who want to see action at all costs. Do you think they are going to send pretty little creatures to take us exactly where we need to go or do you think they might send cute nymphs to lure us into danger? Which scenario do you think makes for better viewing?”
I had to admit he had a point. The only action, so far, had been Sophia getting caught up in the vine monster. I knew John would want to see more of the same. Still…I glanced back at the nymphs. They were ballroom dancing while waiting for us. Both had their eyes closed and wide smiles on their faces as they twirled each other around to the sound of their own music. Even my cold dead heart was lifted at the sight of it.
I shrugged my shoulders and took a step towards them, calling to Orin over my shoulder. “Suit yourself, but I’m going to follow them.” Even if he was right, we had no leads to the location of the Erl-King’s house. No leads but them.
I had to stifle a smile as I heard a muttered string of expletives followed by the sound of Orin’s footfalls behind me. Not that he really had a choice in the matter. Not if he wanted to win. He could bicker with me and call me dead weight as much as he liked, but he still had to cross the finish line with me to be crowned the winner. Thinking that way made me feel a little more powerful. The guy might act like he wanted me dead half the time; but if push came to shove, he’d have to save me. Without me, there was literally no point to him participating in this damn race at all. I decided to hold on to the thought for when things got bad because let’s face it; we’d had it easy so far.
Despite my apparent trust of the two nymphs, I did take to heart what Orin had said. As I followed them through the darkness of the woods, I was careful only to tread where they had trod and to keep an eye out for any traps.
They kept a few paces ahead, singing a pretty
little tune in harmony. Orin made sure to stay behind me.
Ben had disappeared completely, but I knew that didn’t mean we weren’t being filmed, it just meant that he was probably wearing some kind of magic cloaking device. We’d been told that most of the time we’d not see our cameramen and women. The execs had told us it was because they didn’t want to ruin the ambiance for us or distract us, but I knew the real reason—it was so we would forget we were on TV at all. If the cameras were in our faces all the time, we’d all be guarded, but if we couldn’t see them, we’d do and say things that we wouldn’t normally let ourselves do in front of fifty million people.
I felt my stomach rumble again, realizing I’d eaten nothing but Ben’s illicit protein bar since morning.
“Can we stop? I’m hungry.”
I’d wanted Orin to say it first, but after a few hours of hunger pains, I was willing to look like the weaker of the two of us.
The nymphs scattered, both heading quickly in different directions into the woods. I’d barely had time to register where they’d taken off to when they came back with handfuls of berries that they offered up to me. The berries were plump and glistening, and I could honestly say I’d never seen anything that looked so delicious in my life. I reached out to grab one when Orin bounded forward, knocking the berries all over the floor. “Those are bellow berries.”
“What?” I turned to glare at him while the two nymphs giggled behind me. I’d never heard of bellow berries before.
“Eat one of those and your insides will liquefy, before turning to gas and within ten minutes your abdomen will literally explode.”
I surveyed the berries scattered all over the ground with new horror.
“I told you not to trust them!” He kicked out, aiming for the nymphs, but they were too fast for him. They ran just out of sight into the woods with Orin in pursuit.
I hesitantly followed him, knowing it worked both ways. He was stuck with me, but I was also stuck with his sorry ass. I’d barely run more than twenty feet when I crashed right into him, almost sending the pair of us toppling over the edge of a cliff.
“Watch it!”
I took a step back, my heart pounding at the steep drop right in front of us.
“Sorry. I guess you were right. I shouldn’t have trusted those nymphs.” I could hear them giggling from somewhere above me, but they were hidden out of sight in the leaves above us.
“Actually, you were right to trust them. Look.”
I turned my attention from the branches above my head and looked out. We were right at the very edge of the forest, and below us, stretching out for miles, was the most incredible view.
“We can see the entire playing field from here,” I murmured, taking in a deep breath and mentally plotting a route. The magical walls that surrounded us shimmered faintly in the distance, showing me the scope of what we were dealing with. My eyes flicked to the right and spotted the large city I’d seen when I’d first arrived in the faerie realm. My heart squeezed painfully, thinking of Cass. She was somewhere in that city, I was sure of it. Orin pointed out a castle a mile ahead and I nodded. It looked as good a place as any to head next, and was hopefully the Erl-King’s lair.
Orin was going painfully slowly down the rocky path, but even with the great deliberation he was giving each step, he still managed to trip. I dashed forward and caught hold of his bag, holding it tight to stop him falling right over the edge.
“Maybe I should go first here, and you can follow my path,” I said, pulling him back against the cliff face.
Climbing was easy for me. Dad used to say I was part mountain goat. I might not be able to do much in this place, but I knew my strengths, and this was one.
“I think that would be a prudent decision.”
Wow, the guy was actually agreeing with me. Getting him to agree was one thing, passing him on the insanely thin path was another. He pulled his bag from his back to enable him to push his body straight to the cliff face.
Even sucking in, I still had to hold onto him as I sidled past, lest I fall to my death over the edge. Slowly, I edged past him. Feeling his body pressed against mine was a strange sensation. I’d spent the last twenty-four hours wanting to be as far away from him as possible, and now we were as close as we could possibly get. It would be easy for him to push me over the edge right now. He wouldn’t even have to use his hands. He could literally breathe out quickly, and I’d be freefalling. I glanced up at him, wondering if he’d had the same thought, but his eyes were wide, filled with terror.
“You’re scared of heights!” I marveled.
“Just hurry up,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
I edged past him quickly, a smug feeling taking up space in my chest. There was no doubt in my mind he was scared of heights. The cocky bastard had finally shown his true feelings about something. The only thing that confused me was the fact that he’d been safely backed against the cliff face. I was the one with all the risk. Had he actually been worried that I would fall? Now that was a confusing thought.
The path widened slightly, and some of the tension left me. The terrain was still difficult going, but at least, the chances of falling to our deaths were significantly reduced.
Once at the bottom, it was a short walk to the strange castle. I’d not noticed from so far away, but the four towers that made up each corner were covered entirely in vines and leaves. It was as if the castle were a living thing.
I opened my mouth to say as such when I felt something touch my arm. Swiveling around, I saw it was only Orin.
“Thank you… for helping me back there.”
My already open mouth widened in shock. Orin had actually thanked me. “Maybe you walked through a spell on the way down. You’re not acting like yourself.”
He gave me a brief smile, shocking me further still. “Very funny,” he replied, going back to the Orin I knew. “Maybe instead of wasting it on snark, you could put your brainpower to work figuring out how the hell we’re going to get inside?”
I made a face at him. But as I looked at the castle once again, I wasn’t sure my brainpower would be enough.
14
As we walked closer to the huge castle, the sound of music reached our ears. Music and…merrymaking. Laughter and voices drifted over the walls towards us.
“Maybe he’s having a party?” I suggested, half-joking.
“He probably is,” Orin replied matter-of-factly. “Faeries are notorious for their revelry and debauchery. Their parties last for days…weeks.”
“Do you think we could get ourselves invited somehow?”
Orin looked at me appraisingly, then looked back at Ben, who had materialized with his blinking red camera. “Humans are enough of a novelty in Faerwild that your presence here might warrant an invite in.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why do I suddenly feel like bait?”
“Once you’re in, wriggle off the hook and find the clue at the next checkpoint,” Orin said with a wide smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
I scowled.
We rounded the corner and approached the front gate.
“Jacq,” Orin said, turning suddenly and grabbing my upper arm. He loomed in my vision, tall and imposing and so very fae. “Don’t touch anything. What I said about the forest applies double to this castle. It’s dangerous.” Then he spun and stalked towards the gate.
“Aww,” I called after him. “I could almost believe you care.”
The guard at the gate was a well-muscled faerie of a type I had never seen. Satyr perhaps, if I remembered from the Greek history unit in my World Civilization class. He had little pricked horns poking from his curly hair, and his feet tapered to cloven hooves and legs covered in wiry hair. He would almost look friendly, but for the wickedly sharp lance clutched in his gloved hand.
“Name,” he asked monotonously.
“Orin Treebaum and Jacqueline Cunningham,” Orin said smoothly. “We’re Faerie Race contestants. The Erl-King has invited us to the gath
ering.”
Huh. I didn’t realize he knew my full name. A parchment scroll materialized in the guard’s other hand, and he scanned down it.
My stomach flipped, and I braced myself for the spear to be leveled at us. My mind already raced for an alternate solution to gain entry. Scale the wall? We had some rope in our packs, but no grappling hook…maybe climb a tree?
“Enjoy the party,” the goat-faerie said, snapping the scroll shut and stepping aside.
I struggled to keep the shock off my face and paste a look of entitlement there instead. Maybe all of the contestants were on the guest list.
The inside of the Erl-King’s castle was the most extraordinary of the strange and wonderful sights I’d seen since crossing over the Hedge. It was like being inside a huge living tree. The walls were crowned with ivy vines and foliage; other walls made of undulating wood somehow magically formed around doorways and windows. Furniture was carved wood as well as if the craftsman simply sang the wood into form. Not a joint or nail was visible anywhere. My dad, who fancied himself an amateur woodworker, would kill to get a look at this. Hanging from the ceiling high above us were lanterns lit by some sort of faerie glow, a soft white light that lent the space a faerie tale feel. It was extraordinary.
As we passed from room to room, our boots muffled on the packed dirt floor, I finally quit gawking and turned to the task at hand.
Orin had a look on his face that was even more grumpy than normal.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“It feels wrong,” he said. “Why did they let us in so easily? Suddenly, I feel like I’m wriggling on the hook too.”
“Welcome to the club, chum. Maybe the hard part was breaking the riddle…” but even as I said it, I knew that sentiment was foolishly optimistic. They’d make each part of getting to this checkpoint difficult if they could.
“Let’s just be careful,” I amended.
A wide arching set of doors yawned before us, light spilling out from the room beyond together with a jaunty tune of fiddle and flute.
The Sorcery Trial Page 10