The Faerie War

Chapter 6

Six

Take the faerie paths to the other side of our realm where the Dragon’s Back mountain range is. Go to the foot of the peak that looks like a dragon’s tooth. Climb straight up for half a day. Look for a grouping of three tall rocks like fingers in a row. The entrance is at the base of the middle rock. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find.

Yeah. Right.

Eight days later and where am I? In the middle of flipping nowhere. At the foot of a mountain range. Disheveled, hungry, and frustrated. All because Kale, Violet’s father, sent me off on this mission. This highly important, highly secret, highly unsuccessful mission.

I dump my pack at my feet and stare up at the mountain peak I’m starting to hate the sight of. I think it’s the right one. It looks more like a dragon’s tooth than any of the others. Unless … dammit, they all look like dragon’s teeth. And I’ve climbed up at least five peaks in this mountain range. There’s no grouping of three tall rocks anywhere.

I close my eyes and rub my hand across my unshaven jaw. What makes this situation even more infuriating is that I have no communication devices with me. No amber, no mirror, nothing. Because what else did Kale say? It isn’t safe to use your amber. New magical technology allows people to track communication devices when you use them.

Terrific.

The guy is clearly paranoid.

And I’m starting to think the Order of the Guard doesn’t exist.

The Order of the Guard. A secret group of faeries guarding an ancient weapon that could destroy Tharros’ enduring power. I’d like to believe this Order really exists, but I have to admit it seems unlikely. It was only the hint of a rumor that led Kale to begin searching for them in the first place. And it took him almost a year to gather enough information on where they might be hiding. Barely anyone knew what he was talking about. It’s been so long since guardians destroyed Tharros all those centuries ago. Anyone who might have known about a secret weapon that could destroy the power he left behind is probably dead by now.

I sit on the nearest rock and weave a spell around myself to ward off the chill. It’s worse here than back home in Creepy Hollow. The leaves have only just begun to turn autumn gold there.

I want to go home.

Yeah. As much as I hate the thought of failure, home is where I want to be. I want to get back to fighting bad guys, solving crimes, and having Violet try to sneak up on me in my bedroom. I want to sit at the top of the gargan tree whispering secrets in her ear and kissing her.

But I haven’t forgotten the very last thing Kale said to me: Do not return until you’ve found them. This is very important, Ryn. Tharros’ power will be unleashed upon the world again, and this time, we need to destroy it.

I asked him why he wasn’t going on this mission himself, if it was so important. He said the Seelie Queen didn’t want him disappearing on some weapon hunt she believed was futile.

Seems the Seelie Queen and I agree on something.

If Kale is certain Zell’s going to unlock the chest of power soon, then shouldn’t I be at home getting ready to defend the Guild with everyone else? Violet’s contact at the Unseelie Palace may have already told her when Zell’s planning to attack. The Guild might be preparing for battle right now. And where am I? Wandering the wilderness like a fool looking for something that doesn’t exist.

But you have orders, a voice at the back of my mind says. Orders from a senior guardian who reports directly to the Seelie Queen. That’s not something you want to disobey.

I’ll give it two more days. That makes ten days. Surely that’s enough? If there’s no secret Order to be found out here, Kale can’t expect me to search forever, can he?

I want to see Violet.

The desire strikes suddenly, sending an ache through my chest. The longing to see her hits at least once an hour. Sometimes I want to hold her so badly my arms ache. Part of me is surprised she hasn’t shown up to demand why the hell I disappeared. I told her in the note not to find me, of course, but when did Violet Fairdale ever listen to me?

After running both hands through my messy hair, I stand. Two more days. Just two more days of silence and loneliness. Then I’ll be back at her side.

I climb the peak again. The one that looks most like a dragon’s tooth. After a few hours of steady climbing, I start walking in a wide zigzag. I don’t want to miss these mysterious three rocks again. The chilly air makes the sweat on my brow sting like ice. Tilting my head back, I see snow capping the peak. Thank goodness it doesn’t snow further down at this time of year. That would make this pointless mission even worse.

I stop when I see a slim rock pointing toward the sky. Now that is what I imagine when I think ‘tall rock shaped like a finger.’ Too bad there’s only one. Yup. One. Like this mountain is flipping me off. I start laughing, then stop when I realize how crazy the echoes sound.

I continue up. After several more hours of climbing, I figure I’ve gone too high. Seriously, those three rocks are not here. Maybe I need to get to the other side of this peak. Perhaps Kale left that part out of the instructions. Climb straight up for half a day. WALK TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PEAK. Look for a grouping of three tall rocks like fingers in a row.

Maybe. I’m doubtful … but maybe. I’ll have to try that tomorrow.

I head back down. The light fades quickly after the sun slips behind the mountains. I won’t make it to the bottom before dark. Not a problem. I’m a faerie; I can make camping on a rocky, sloped surface into a comfortable experience.

I drop my pack onto the ground. Darkness creeps closer as I consider what spell to start with. Transform my pack into a sleeping bag? Enlarge the tiny bit of food I have left? Create a fire that won’t die until I tell it to? Through the half-light, I see the finger-pointing rock I laughed at earlier. I find myself wondering if maybe, just maybe, there were once two other rocks beside this one. I stand up and head over to examine it, taking my pack with me.

I can’t help the half-groan, half-laugh that escapes me when I reach the rock that’s taller and narrower than I am. “Are you kidding me?” I say out loud. “This is what I’ve been combing the mountainside for?”

Here they are. The three fingers in a row. It’s just that two of them must have been knocked down at some point, leaving nothing but a patch of jagged stone at ground level on either side of the pointing finger. I crouch down and examine the base of the middle rock. I brush away loose dirt with one hand while creating an orb of light with my other hand. The white glow illuminates an arrow carved into the stone. I run my finger along it as I consider using a simple doorway spell. It probably wouldn’t work, but—

Light explodes from the rock. A second later, I’m hanging upside down in midair. Pain tears through my body. I try to grasp at my magic, but it slips away like water through my fingers. I writhe about, but I can’t escape the pain and the invisible force holding me upside down. After willing myself to calm down, I notice the shape of a person silhouetted against a doorway of warm light.

“Who are you?” he asks. My first instinct is to try to read his emotions, but it doesn’t seem possible to feel anything other than agony.

“From … the Guild. I have … the Seelie Queen’s … token.” I squirm around and slap at my right back pocket for the ring Kale gave me. It’s a one-of-a-kind piece, like all the Queen’s jewelry. Her symbol is engraved in the metal beneath an oversized emerald. The ring falls to the ground. The man bends and picks it up.

“You’re a guardian?” he asks.

“Aargh … yes.” I keep as still as possible so he can see the markings on my wrists.

He snaps his fingers. I hit the ground. The pain evaporates, but I’m left feeling like a troll ploughed through me. “I’d … I’d like to speak to whoever’s in charge,” I say, “about the two missing rocks. Because it’s taken almost nine days of searching to find this place.”

“Nine days? You’ve done pretty well then,” the man says, “considering the point is for us not to be found.” I sense relief and a hint of excitement as he reaches for my arm and pulls me up. “Come inside. We’re desperate to know what’s going on, but we weren’t sure if there was anyone left out there who still remembered us.”

Feeling shaky, I reach for my pack and follow him through the rock’s narrow doorway and into a large sitting room. It’s like a faerie home, but concealed within a rock instead of a tree. “What are you talking about?” I ask.

He seals the doorway behind us, then turns to me. “The faerie paths. It’s the only hint we’ve had that something’s gone wrong. Well, that and the tremor.”

I stare at the man, getting a good look at him for the first time. His anxious eyes are a very pale blue, like the strands that run through his blond hair. Like all adult faeries, he looks to be in his early twenties. But his eyes have that aged look I see on those who’ve been around longer than several decades. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was sent here to find the Order of the Guard and the weapon they’re hiding. I don’t remember any tremor.”

His confusion matches my own. “It happened about a week ago. If you’ve been searching this area for nine days, you would have felt it.”

I think back to a night when I woke to find myself rolling out of my blankets and down a slope. The ground felt as though it was moving beneath me, but by the time I got to my feet, all was still and quiet. I’d put the incident down to bad dreams and restless sleep.

“Okay,” I say slowly. “And what was that about the faerie paths?”

His frown deepens. “You haven’t tried to use them?”

“No.” Unease squirms around in my stomach. I wish this guy would get to the point. “What’s happened to them?”

“After we felt the tremor, my brother walked down to the foot of the mountain. He opened a doorway to the faerie paths and found a raging storm inside. He couldn’t go through.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “What? How’s that possible?”

“We don’t know. We started imagining the worst. A battle, maybe. A war going on somewhere.”

A war going on somewhere.

Violet. My family. Calla.

I blink. I step back, my eyes searching the room for … I don’t know what. “I have to get back. I have to …” I reach inside my jacket and pull out my stylus. I rush to the nearest wall, writing the words before my stylus even connects with the—

“No! Don’t open it in—”

Crack!

I’m thrown back against an armchair as a fork of lightning shoots across the room and strikes a table, splitting it in half. Icy bullets of rain pummel my raised arms. Wind pins me down. I’m almost blinded by continuous flashes of lightning. The wind begins to diminish, then vanishes along with the rain and lightning. I lower my arms. The doorway has closed.

The faerie gets up from the floor, wiping rain from his face. “That was entirely unnecessary. Weren’t you listening to me about the storm?”

I was, but … “But my family!” I climb to my feet. “I have to get back to—”

“You can’t. I’m sorry, but there’s no way for you to get to them.”

I push my hands through my wet hair. “I need … I need your amber. Or a mirror. Something I can use to contact someone.”

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid we don’t have anything like that.”

“You—what?”

“Communication with the outside world would make us vulnerable.”

“But what if you need … I don’t know, something?”

“We’re completely self-sufficient here. We don’t need anything.”

This is un-flipping-believable. “Are you telling me you haven’t left this mountain in centuries?”

“If we want to know what’s happening out there, one of us will journey for a day from here, then take the faerie paths to a city or town. We can’t take the chance that someone might follow us back through the paths to this hiding place.”

“It’s not possible for someone to follow you unless you’re stupid enough to let them hang onto you!” I yell.

He remains calm as he says, “Do you know that for sure?”

I’m about to tell him that of course I know that for sure, but something Violet told me not too long ago echoes through my mind. Did I tell you about the time Zell followed me through the faerie paths without having any contact with me? And now I’ve opened a doorway inside the hiding place of the weapon that’s been kept secret for centuries. The creator of that storm could be on his way here right now to destroy it.

Okay, stop freaking out and think about this. I lower myself into the armchair and cradle my forehead in my hands. I don’t actually know what’s happened. There may not have been any attack yet. This could be Zell’s way of isolating everyone to make it difficult to coordinate a defense for when he does strike.

Emotions that aren’t mine dig their fingers into my chest. Anxiety, irritation, curiosity. I hear footsteps, followed by another male voice. “What’s going on in here? Who is this?”

“A guardian from one of the Guilds. He’s been sent for the weapon.”

I raise my eyes and meet the gaze of a man bearing a close resemblance to the faerie who let me in. He nods his head slowly and says, “After centuries of waiting, the time has finally come.”