Chapter 16 #2
Curse the fae’s endless love of riddles! Half of Gerard’s mind was already busy working through defensive tactics; he didn’t have time to parse out clever wording, too.
His sword would do nothing in a situation like this except irritate the castle’s owner on the way to devouring them.
Both pairs of competitors ahead of them had carried bows and arrows as weaponry, but none of those seemed to be slowing the creature down.
Unless this final clue (Jovar help him, this had better be the final clue!) led them to a trebuchet of monumental size …
“Aha.” Lorelei’s announcement came out in a gust of relief. “Of course. Keeping with the theme!”
“Which is?” he prompted, one eye still on the castle ahead of them.
“Waterfowl, of course.” Shaking her head, she prowled forward along the lakeshore. “Apparently we’re looking for a nest.”
… Something far too small—even in this oversized setting—to hold any useful siege engines!
Gerard bit back a growl of frustration. In any other situation where he was faced with an impossible threat with another soul at risk, he’d be ordering his partner to retreat for their own safety—but on this type of battlefield, Lorelei was the expert, and she’d only laugh if he ordered her to shelter behind him.
He had been hungry for a new type of challenge, hadn’t he? All those petty border skirmishes he’d been sent to quash over the years, none of them requiring any real thought or insight …
All those hours trapped in endless meetings of the privy council, listening to Otto’s self-aggrandizing monologues go on and on and fighting with all his might to maintain his patience, to remain a voice of reason without igniting the Emperor’s notorious temper so badly that Otto would dig in his feet and insist on having his way regardless of logic or common sense …
Jovar save him, Gerard would just have to find a damned nest.
Like the rest of this oversized garden, the curving line of the lakeshore was beautifully tended, with neatly trimmed grass leading from the water to the shell-lined pathway and from the other side of that pathway to the topiary border beyond.
It should have been a simple matter to spot a nest perched anywhere along that shore …
but as he scanned it, he saw nothing but green grass and the pale, empty path, studded by that arcing fountain.
Lorelei was already darting from one topiary bush to the next, ducking beneath each one to search within its shadows.
He started forward automatically to join that exercise—but as another, even louder roar sounded from the castle, followed by a third flung body, Gerard’s whole body stiffened in place with a resistance borne from well-honed instinct.
Wrong strategy. Checking underneath every single bush would take time they didn’t have—and they hadn’t found the answer to their last clue by inspecting every duck on the lake.
So, what else in this pristine landscape could hide—or symbolize—a nest?
This time, when he scanned the path with a hunter’s gaze, he wasn’t searching for an actual nest of sticks, but for the shape of a nest … and his gaze landed, halfway along that path, on the large, veined-marble bowl of the fountain.
More catastrophic crashes sounded to his right as even more of the castle wall exploded outwards.
With no time left for hesitation, Gerard lunged forward into a run.
Lorelei made a startled sound behind him, but he didn’t pause his thundering race down the path.
Small pieces of shell crunched and sprayed from beneath his feet; he didn’t allow himself to trip or slide.
He had achieved every improbable target he had fought for in his life. He would not fail now, with Lorelei’s life at stake.
The mounting chaos to his right turned into a dull visual and aural blur as all of his attention narrowed in on that stone bowl, closer and closer to his reach with every running step.
At first, all he could see was the sun-dappled surface of the fountain, kept at a continuous ripple by the steady arc of water soaring out and back into it.
As he neared it, though, more and more of the water beneath the surface came into view, along with glimpses of sloping calligraphy etched within the inner bowl.
Not another gods-damned riddle!
He grabbed hold of the bowl’s rim as he finally reached it. Deep within the transparent pool of water, he could see a plain white egg lying still at the bottom of the bowl.
Above it, running along the bowl’s inner surface, he read with intense irritation:
I can be stolen, given, lost, and broken; know me as true love’s token.
“What does it say?” Lorelei was only an instant behind him, panting for breath.
“See for yourself.” Turning away, he planted himself like a wall between her and the nightmarish scene beyond the lake, where an immense and terrible figure was pushing its way out through the crumbling wall, roaring all the while. “Perhaps we need to find a ring?”
“I’m not sure—oh. Oh.” The sudden horror in her voice was enough to make him flick her a quick, wary glance, despite the danger.
She looked suddenly pale and sick as she stared down into the depths of the water at the egg that lay on the marble bottom.
“I’ve heard of this, but I’ve never seen it before.
What a horribly cruel and stupid bargain to have made. ”
Gerard’s brows knitted together. “What do you mean?”
Fae bargains were notorious for their dangers.
Bound by deep magic, once made, they could never be willingly broken by either of the participants.
He’d read numerous warnings even before he’d felt the weight of them himself yesterday, when he and Lorelei had committed to their own bargain and scorching magic had sealed their agreement.
Still, as he gazed at the horrifying figure now emerging from the remnants of the broken castle, Gerard couldn’t imagine anyone forcing that monumental creature into anything.
An actual giant out of legend, the castle’s owner stood at least twenty feet tall, with unkempt long brown hair, a filthy, trailing beard, and only a tattered loincloth to preserve any final shreds of modesty. Excrement and blood covered his body, while mad, feral rage contorted his massive face.
Arrows soared towards the giant from one side of the broken castle, where the third partnership still crouched, but they scattered off his skin without leaving any marks.
What Gerard wouldn’t give for a whole array of cannons at his command!
Lorelei’s voice, though, was laced with what sounded bizarrely like sympathy. “The giant exchanged his heart for immunity to all other dangers. That’s the bargain that he made.”
“His heart?” Gerard’s eyebrows shot upwards, but this time, he didn’t turn.
The giant was already stomping into the lake to splash furiously towards them, the detritus-filled water reaching no higher than his broad, filthy waist. Gerard’s chest tightened as he drew his sword, already knowing that it wouldn’t be enough.
“Do you mean his actual, literal heart? Or—”
“Oh, yes,” Lorelei said softly. “It’s right here, trapped in that egg. All we have to do is crush it.”