Chapter 6 Khiona
Was it possible? I’d only heard legends of the great—
A twanging plunk clanked through the air. Amador flicked a string on his lute, and it snapped, making another twanging screech. “She froze my lute,” he hissed at Aakil. “I can’t play.”
They started muttering about not having time or ice magic. Andar reached for a dagger on his leg. I raised a hand at him and strode toward the great bear. If this was the reclusive creature I suspected, only I had enough ice magic to hope I might stop him.
A moment later, he reached me, leaned his massive head over mine, and sniffed. His mouth was big enough for me to curl up inside it, and my hair flew haphazardly in the breeze he created by sniffing. I lifted both hands at him, pouring magic into the air to be sure he smelled it.
He stepped back and bent his head down to rest the tip of his horn against the top of my head. Excitement coursed through my body like a frothing wave in a frigid river. I was touching a dyrakongur. Had anyone ever done such a thing before?!
A soft growl reverberated through the creature’s body as images flooded my mind. Images of the three singers damaging winter magic as they wove their summer strength into a shield, tied it with music, and dragged it through the soil and air while they danced their way through my kingdom.
Anger replaced my excitement. They had attacked the magic of Kalshana, which meant they had attacked me. I spun to face them, breaking the connection with the great dyrakongur.
“How dare you?” I hissed, marching toward them.
Their confused faces twisted in fear. “Your Majesty?” Amador sputtered.
I pulled the moisture in the air into my hand and formed it into an icy dagger. “You think you can parade into my kingdom and attack it because nobody has heard of me in forty years?”
Amador dropped his lute and shook his head. “We’re not here to attack, Your Majesty! We’re only traveling through Kalshana to get to Kerebos so we can perform for the queen’s wedding there! We haven’t hurt anyone—”
“Lies!” I hissed, pointing my dagger at Amador. “The truth or none of you will leave this meadow alive!”
He paled, all his bright, flirty color fleeing his face and his voice trembling. “We are fae. I cannot lie.”
I paused. This was true. I replayed his words. Not here to attack. Only traveling through. Haven’t hurt anyone.
But I saw their magic tear through Kalshana in the dyrakongur’s memory. His heavy presence hovered a mere ten feet behind me, probably scaring the singers more than me. But how could both be true?
Andar stepped closer to me. “Your Majesty, I have a possible explanation.”
I raised a brow.
He waved at them. “Perhaps their purpose in Kalshana is only to reach Kerebos. It is the most direct path from the summer courts. If they heard the ice dragons’ drums, as we did, I suspect they made a shield.
But their magic is sourced through the summer lands, which I have expert knowledge of.
Here, their magic would not be as strong as normal, so they threaded it through their music.
But the summer and winter magics do not mix easily, so the shield might have cut through Kalshana’s magic like a knife, injuring the land and… ”
He glanced at the dyrakongur. “Injuring any creatures tied closely to the land’s magic.”
“My magic is tied to the land.” I pointed my ice dagger at Aakil. He was the most rational of the group. “I can’t have you tearing it up because you want to trespass.”
His eyes landed on my dagger tipped at his chest, and he bowed his head as much as he could without nudging the knife. “My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. We did use magic as your companion suggested to deter the dragons’ attention. We had no idea that it was hurting anything else.”
The dyrakongur roared, and Aakil flinched. “Well, we knew it was also keeping the bear away, but he seemed as problematic as the dragons.”
Amador had said the music helped with the wildlife. I should have known he meant it hurt them. My eyes narrowed.
Aakil started talking faster. “We knew ice magic was necessary to reason with the bear, but none of us have that. We didn’t think we were hurting anything, only keeping him away, like a shield.
We’re from the summer courts—we could have started fires or thrown flames if we’d wanted to attack or hurt him, but we didn’t.
We thought a shield wrapped in music hurt nothing and kept us safe… ”
He kept rambling, but I turned to Andar. “They are annoying.”
A smirk played along the corner of one of his lips. “Yes, they were blissfully silent when you froze them.”
Aakil stopped speaking abruptly and turned to Amador as if the other fae could come up with something to save them from being frozen again.
I dropped my arm to my side, and Aakil gulped in a deep lungful of air.
“Though perhaps you were right,” I said to Andar. “I’m beginning to think of several uses for three summer fae who owe me their lives.”
Bummel gulped out loud, and I broke into a sinister smile.
“We will make a bargain. You will swear allegiance to me, tell the world of my glorious return, and—” I glanced at their pack animals.
“Give me two horses.” I locked eyes with each of them, ending on Amador. “In return, I will let you live.”
Tugging on the magic in the air around them, I cooled the temperature—not to a freezing point, but to an uncomfortable chill to remind them that I had all the power in this bargain.
Their faces paled. “Your Majesty,” Bummel started, “we would love an animus—”
Aakil rolled his eyes and hissed at him. “Not animus. We’d love an alliance. Can’t do an allegiance. Or—”
Amador interrupted them both. “Your Majesty, what they are trying to say is we cannot give you our allegiance because we’ve already sworn it to the Sun King. As you know, fae cannot lie, so we would be unable to speak our fealty.”
I ground my teeth together. They were refusing me. I did not let people live who refused me.
“But,” Amador added, “we are happy to tell everyone we meet the splendid news of your return. And give you our horses. It is a small price for our lives.”
I was tired of these three—killing them, destroying the humans who had trapped me, and beginning the work of re-establishing my kingdom sounded far better than speaking with them any longer.
Andar stepped closer to me, but stayed just behind my left shoulder, as if he wanted to support me or lend me strength.
I turned my head enough to look at him. He raised one brow, silently asking if I needed anything.
Here was a fae who had actually reached out to me, protected me, caught me, and shared his own secrets with me.
He had given me attention and support when he didn’t have to.
During this one day he’d given me everything I’d ever hoped for in a friend and the sweet attention I’d tried to cultivate in a companion. If I could encourage him to continue that, it would be worth more than any magic wish he’d offered.
Certainly worth more than the lives of the obnoxious musicians. And Andar had made it clear that he wanted me to spare them.
“Very well.” I turned back to face Amador. “Our bargain will be your lives in exchange for two horses and your helpful telling the world of my return.”
His eyes widened. “Really?” he choked out.
Bummel grinned. “Your Majesty is exceedingly malevolent—”
“Magnanimous,” Aakil interjected.
I extended my hand, and they silenced themselves. How had the world produced three such irritating fae all at once?
It didn’t matter. I pulled on the magic surrounding us again. “The bargain.”
They each raised a hand and pointed it at mine. “I will grant your lives,” I said, “in exchange for two horses and your commitment to tell the world of my return as good news.”
“It is a bargain,” they each said in unison.
Magic wrapped around our wrists like an invisible hand, pressing against our skin for a few seconds and then fading away.
As the pressure eased, a small grey mark shaped like an ice crystal appeared on the inside of my wrist. A matching mark settled on the skin of each of the musicians.
A sign of the bargain. It would remain until the terms were fulfilled.