The Shadowed Path

17. Reine

17

Reine

Rhys, Troubadour, and I furled our wings. We feared they would only be a drag on our retreat should they become entangled in the trees. Thick trunks crowded the trail through the woods and seemed to reach down with gnarled branches to claw at our hair and clothing. Once the path itself became littered with leaf mulch and other debris, we slowed to a trudge so we wouldn't accidentally leave it. Without Ellerin to guide us, we had to be extra careful.

Without Ellerin to guide us, would we make it? What had he been thinking?

He'd been thinking he would distract the kraken, or whatever it had been, and save us. I had to hope he had more tricks up the sleeves of his robe than he'd shown us. Yes, I wanted to go back and save him, but I also couldn't leave Lawrence and the humans to their own devices for too long. Who knew what stunt John might try to pull, or how Kestrel might accidentally manifest some sort of destructive power?

Troubadour's question broke through my rumination. "Penny for your thoughts, Princess?" His soft tones hit my ears like warm saltwater—simultaneously soothing and somewhat irritating in its surprise.

"Trying to figure out what I could have done. What I have to do."

His eyebrows darted up his high forehead in what I surmised was surprise at my honest answer, and he nodded. "Makes sense."

"Well, you have her here," Rhys grumbled from behind us. "You wanted to talk to her so badly. Go ahead and say what you need." He didn't finish the sentence, but its conclusion hung in the air—and then leave us alone, dark Fae scum.

Those of us in the Light Court hadn't gotten along well with those in the Dark Court, and the two royal families had given up trying to mingle several hundred years before Rhys or I had been born. Consequently, while we might know of our counterparts, we still missed a lot of details. Like how Troubadour fit in with the high darks. He carried himself like a prince, and I guessed he could be a nephew to Lilith, but I couldn't remember any of the princesses aside from Desdemona, my mother's opposite.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I asked in a gentle, inviting tone and shot Rhys a look to dial back the hostility.

"Yes, but I don't know that this is the proper place or circumstances." Troubadour gestured to the forest around us. "As you well know, these woods can hide nasty surprises."

"But we'll be in the Gray Zone soon, and I don't expect you to accompany us outside of your lands."

The snap of a twig jerked my attention to a curve of the path in front of us, and three figures stepped out of the mist and blocked our way. The greens and browns of their attires had allowed them to blend in with the forest. They all wore similar clothing—short variegated green cloaks with hoods pulled up to hide their hair and faces, which were also masked from the nose down, high boots, fawn-colored pants made from some sort of thick cloth that resembled the microfiber of the Earth realm, and rough-spun gray shirts with tooled dark brown leather vests over them. I couldn't see the designs, but I guessed they had spells etched into them to repel physical and magical attacks. Worse, they held weapons, long knives that glowed ice blue and sang with their own lethal music.

"Fae steel," Rhys murmured behind me. "Fuck."

"Fae princes don't use Earth curse words," Troubadour and I said in unison, and in spite of the sudden direness of the circumstances, we met each other's eyes with smiles. He winked. I turned away with a blush and a laugh.

"What do you want?" I asked the Fae in front of us.

"Your lives," the one in front snarled.

Troubadour stepped forward, but not in front of me. "I believe you have the line wrong, gentlemen. The proper answer is, 'your money or your lives.'" He fingered the strings of his harp but didn't play anything. I suspected he was already planning a spell. Behind me, the warming air told me that Rhys was gathering his strength, although I didn't know what he could do. Would his defensive spells come out as flawed as his wings?

"Think you're so smart, don't you?" The Fae highwayman didn't advance, but he shifted his weight forward.

A line of flames appeared in front of him, and Rhys growled, "No further, peasant. Let us pass, and we may let you live."

I'd had to commend his nice bravado later. Illusions and spells were all I could expect from an already exhausted Fae prince…and myself.

The three would-be assassins disappeared, and Rhys doused the flames.

"Were they actually there?" I whispered to Troubadour. "I thought I could sense them, all of them, magic and everything."

He nodded, his eyes narrowed. "They were there. And they're more than common thieves or murderers."

"I agree."

I searched within to find what strength I had in reserve and shivered at the answer—not much.

Rhys spoke up. "Well, we can't just stay here."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "No, but I don't want to move forward until I know what to expect."

Troubadour snickered, and not kindly. "Isn't that a useful philosophy?"

"Sometimes it can be."

"Here," Rhys said. "I'll go first. Then Reine in the middle, and Troubadour behind."

"Wait," I protested. "I'm not a damsel in distress who needs your protection."

"No, but you're the one of us with the life that's most valuable, at least in terms of, well, who we are." Rhys shrugged, and I admired his intelligence in not saying we were all royalty. Although, it would be easier to survive a kidnapping attempt than an assassination.

Once we'd gotten into position, I told him, "You bring up a good point. Do either of you think they know who we are?"

Troubadour answered. "Maybe. Their blades aren't cheap, and their energy is masked, so it's possible that someone from either capital sent them."

"Brilliant." That meant someone definitely knew I'd returned and meant to cause trouble.

We walked forward in single-file, which we would have had to do anyway since the trail narrowed. I scanned the trees and mist for signs of the strange Fae, but nothing appeared. Rhys set a fast pace, and Troubadour and I marched after him. We almost bumped into him when he bent to retrieve something.

"What are you doing?" I hissed. "What did you just pick up?"

Rhys grinned. "Shhh! I'll tell you later."

We rounded the curve, and I had just drawn a relieved breath when something cold grabbed my wrist and dragged me off the path. I couldn't see who it was, and the world tilted. Wave after wave of fatigue crashed over me, and I struggled less and less effectively against whatever held me as it drained my strength.

A clear, high note vibrated through the air, giving me a burst of energy and dispelling the fog in my head. I pulled with my captured hand and aimed my other elbow outward. It stung as something crunched into it, and the cold vise left my wrist. I stumbled backward into Troubadour's arms. He handed me off to Rhys and played another note, then another, a series I somehow recognized as slowing time. The figure of the leader of the strange Fae trio appeared in flashes, his hood down and his nose streaming blood. One eye already swelled shut with a bruise.

"Good for you and your bony elbows," Troubadour said.

"Thanks." I rubbed the joint in question, thankful I hadn't further injured myself. "I lucked out. He wasn't expecting me to fight back. He has quite the energy-sucking ability. Is that still rare, Troubadour?"

"Yes, quite."

The vision of the strange Fae stabilized. He held his nose and came toward us again. This time Rhys captured him in a cage of fire, and he couldn't break out.

I glanced around for the other two. "Have either of you seen where the others went?"

Rhys pulled something out of his pocket, two stones about the size of pound coins that glowed slightly with the blue sheen of labradorite. "There aren't any others. He used these."

He handed one to me, and I tested its weight in my palm. It tingled against my skin. "Mirror stones. Clever."

Troubadour walked over to the Fae in his cage of fire. The captive poked at the flames and drew his hand back, shaking it. "Let me go."

I joined Troubadour in front of the curved wall of flames. "Not until you tell us who sent you and how you aren't high Fae and yet have two major powers—time-sped invisibility and energy drain. Someone must have loaned you their ability."

Troubadour continued to study the would-be assassin, his arms crossed and his harp dangling from one hand. "There's something very familiar about this Fae. Something having to do with what I wanted to tell you, Princess, although it won't come as news anymore."

"Which is…?"

"I couldn't detect the identity of the light Fae who approached me to help him with summoning the soul-eater, but I could tell one thing beyond the gender. He'd borrowed abilities from a high Fae, a very high Fae, which means someone in your grandmother's circle. Someone who is invested in you not reaching your goal here."

"This isn't entirely new news, but I thank you."

The captured Fae sneered, and the light from the surrounding flames turned what would have been a handsome face into a grotesque mask of shadows. "You think you're so clever, Princess, but you have enemies. Some of them could be traveling with you."

I drew myself up to my full height and summoned my Fae princess power. "As your princess, I command you to tell me who hired you to eliminate me."

Rhys joined us. "And as your prince, I command you to tell us who loaned you their powers in order to finish us off."

The traitor grinned and opened his mouth, but not to answer our questions. The energy built around him, and he would have to tell us, or he would explode. There was no way he could outrank us, and yet he resisted. He shook from head to toe, and sweat poured from his face. With one trembling hand, he pulled something that looked like a large blueberry from the pouch at his waist and popped it in his mouth.

I grabbed my brother by the wrist. "Rhys, douse the flames, now!"

He did so, but it was too late. The prisoner bit down on the berry, and like a wax candle in a fireplace, he melted from the top down. First his hair fell out, and then his skin poured off of him. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from losing what little I'd eaten that day. Although I was a physician and had seen my share of corpses, the sudden decomposition of one in front of me, leaving nothing but a putrid pile of clothing filled with rotting flesh, invoked a sense of horror from my very core for both that and what he'd just done.

Rhys had gone white. "He…he took a suicide berry."

I put my arm around his waist so he wouldn't topple over. "Thanks for stating the obvious, Rhys."

"That means no coming back, no waking after ten millennia, no new life. He's dead-dead."

"Yes." I bowed my head. "May the gods have mercy."

Rhys pulled away from me. "We don't have gods, Reine. All we have are Fae politics and unreasonable standards. And now we don't even have a path to follow." He gestured around us, and it was true. The path had disappeared, and all I could see were trees in the same view in every direction.

A crunching sound at my feet made me look down, then step back. The forest floor sucked in the remains of the dead Fae. Troubadour reached down and grabbed the leather scabbard holding the Fae-steel knife. The clothing it had been resting against disappeared into the earth.

Troubadour proffered the weapon and its casing. "Princess, for you. It looks like you're going to need to defend yourself."

"Thank you." I hesitated. "What favor will I owe you for this?"

He smiled, showing me the slight points to his teeth, like he had the first time he'd come to me through a medium. "Just remember me. That's all I ask."

"In what sense?"

"You'll see. But at least you're re-learning how to be a Fae."

This time I took the knife and buckled the belt around my waist. It shrank to fit, feeling odd as it slithered against my skin in its adjustments. That only confirmed that the weapon and the belt/scabbard had come from the high Fae craftsmen. Common Fae couldn't afford such luxuries.

"Well, then, shall we find the Path again?" I asked with feigned confidence.

"Lead the way, Princess." Troubadour smiled at me, and this time I felt the warmth coming from him. Underneath his bravado, I sensed the possibility that he might actually be a good Fae, although that would remain to be seen.