The Shadowed Path

19. Reine-2

When we crossed the stream, which took only a brief appearance of wings, I had the sense we'd taken a step that couldn't be un-taken, like if we'd crossed back, we'd only be back on the same side of the stream. Faerie could be tricky like that. While Fae were known for reversals and deceptions, our land had a determined will of its own, sometimes manifested in something like the Shadowed Path.

Once we landed, we found footsteps showing that Lawrence, Sir Raleigh, and the humans had made it that far, too. I glanced over my shoulder to check the position of the sun and found it difficult to locate. As before, the thick clouds of the Gray Zone obscured its light such that it appeared as a faint moonglow, which hovered over the trees on the other side of the river.

"I hope they're not too far ahead of us. We need to find someplace safe for the night."

"Can you call the grimalkin?" Rhys asked. "It's attuned to you."

"It's a he, not it, and good idea." I closed my eyes and reached out mentally to find Sir Raleigh's energy. I couldn't imagine him as his Faerie creature self, though. I brought to mind the way he purred as he curled up in a ball in the crook of my neck when we went to sleep, his tail tickling my pointed ear. That's how we communicated, not in words but in touches, like many owners and their pets, although he'd turned out to be much more. Underneath my concern for the humans had been a fear that Sir Raleigh would be hurt or worse, or that he would decide to stay in the Gray Zone since he was a creature of the gray Fae.

"Mrrrowr?" The sound came from the tree line ahead, and I started forward.

"Sir Raleigh? Where's my kitty?"

Rhys frowned at me. "Really? You're referring to that thing as a kitty?"

"He's my sweet kitty, even if he can look scary. He wouldn't hurt me. Maybe you should get a pet. Then you'd figure it out."

When I reached the trees, I looked around, but I couldn't see him. Then I heard a rustling to the left and had almost stepped off the path into the thick fog that wound through the trees—did it never burn off outside of the light Fae lands?—when Troubadour caught my arm.

"Remember where you are. It could be a trick."

"That's true." I sighed and willed the irritation at being kept from my goal to subside. He had a good point. "Thank you for reminding me."

We trudged through the woods until a flickering up ahead made us stop to get our bearings. We switched to secret conversation so no one would overhear us.

"Is that a fire?" Troubadour's voice felt like honey to my brain, and I had to not succumb to its charm. I doubted he was intentionally trying to bespell me—most times, Fae couldn't control how their secret voice sounded to others.

I wondered how mine sounded to him when I replied, "It looks like it, but who would be stupid enough to build a fire on the path?"

"Unless it's another illusion." Rhys made a little flame dance over his fingertips, much like I had done with Kestrel earlier. It made me more worried for the humans and others.

We crept forward until we could see a wall of flames across the path. The trees knit their branches just above the top of the fire, so we wouldn't be able to fly over it.

"What now?" Rhys asked, and I could tell he wanted me to answer.

Being in direct line for a throne, I was highest-ranking Fae, although the two Fae with me had proved their initiative to this point. In fact, Troubadour answered before I could.

"This is the Gray Zone. We need to figure out whether it's real, and if it's a gateway."

It did look like it could be a gate to a different part of Faerie, a different realm, or even a dimension. The Gray Zone did have the interdimensional quicksand, after all. And razor grass. And large things that sounded frightening and probably looked worse, although I hadn't stuck around long enough on my previous visit to actually visually confirm anything.

"How can you tell what it is?" I asked Troubadour.

He pulled his harp from under his cloak and strummed it. The barrier across our path didn't do anything, but a dark figure appeared in the middle of the flames. It wore a cloak of black, and I couldn't see what lay beneath the hood, which covered its face.

"Does everyone in this place have to wear a hood and mask?" I didn't bother to hide my exasperation.

Perhaps I'd thought a little too loudly because the newcomer raised its head and said in a sibilant voice, "Perhaps you should recall who you are, Princess."

I put my hands on my hips. "Who are you to tell me who I am?"

It mimicked my posture. "And who are you to forget it?"

That did it. I was sore, tired, getting hungry again, and I needed to see my cat and human friends and…well, whatever Lawrence was to me. We could figure that out later. I managed to stand as straight as I could, ignoring the twinges along my spine from wing support muscles that hadn't been used in several hundred years.

Thunder rolled around me, and the words of an old spell came back to me. "I come like a storm in the night." Electrical energy tingled along my spine, then through my shoulder blades and fingertips. "Give way for your princess, douser of flames and bringer of true light." I held my hands about a foot apart and generated a ball of shimmering blue light, shot through with storm energy. A new verse came to my mind, then, and I tried to clamp my lips over it, but the words tumbled out. "Make way for your queen of shadow and light, water and flame, wind and stone!" Then I held the energy ball above my head and lobbed it at the gate. When the two collided, the flames turned blue and disappeared. The hooded Fae bowed low, then also winked out of sight, and the trees straightened.

I glanced to either side of me to see Rhys and Troubadour looking at me with mingled respect and fear. Then both of them bowed.

"Oh, Hades. I so did not mean to do that."

A dark furry shape bowled into me, and a delightful, "Mrrrowl?" reached my ears just before I landed on my ass.

Although Sir Raleigh most resembled a cat and purred his happiness, he also licked me in a wide, wet swath across my cheek with a large sandpaper tongue. I didn't mind. I hugged him to me, careful not to crush his wings.

"There you are! Where have you been, silly boy?"

He stepped back and c****d his head in a clear signal for me to follow. I staggered to my feet, suspecting I'd end up healing some bruises in some uncomfortable spots from that tumble.

Troubadour cleared his throat from behind me. I noticed he stayed well clear of the grimalkin.

"Begging your pardon, Princess, but you keep strange company. Why do you have the grimalkin with you still?"

I felt the wrinkles form between my eyes as I scowled at him. "Why wouldn't I? He's my…" I almost said pet, but Fae creatures weren't pets. "He's my protector, and my friend."

Sir Raleigh licked his chops with a smug look, which I supposed was as close as he would get to sticking his tongue out at someone.

Troubadour looked between me and Sir Raleigh. "'Tis true that such creatures can be sent as protectors, but once their function is over, they traditionally return to the one who summoned them. If he was your protector while in the Earth realm—and I sensed him to be as such—why is he still here?"

I rubbed the top of Sir Raleigh's soft head. "Why, indeed? Is it possible he decided to stay with me? His summoner gave him the form of a cat, after all. They do have minds of their own." A whisper of memory teased me—Ellerin saying something similar. I had known with my gut sense that Ellerin had summoned Sir Raleigh, and I also knew with that certainty that the grimalkin's mission wasn't finished yet, that he was more than a protector. Perhaps mediator would be the best term, and I turned to him.

"You're here to bring me to my next challenge, aren't you?"

Rhys pointed to the darkening sky. "Don't get too ambitious, sis. We need to find somewhere to shelter. The Gray Zone is no place to be exposed after sunset."

I turned to Troubadour. "So, it's either go with the grimalkin or wait to see what happens here in the woods. What do you think?"

Troubadour sighed and said, "Lead the way, cat."