Reshina
When I woke, it was a slow slide back into clarity. It took me some time to grasp where I was and what had happened. I pressed a palm to my temple, chiding myself at the two glasses of yagsmead I had gulped down at the tavern in Heartstone.
I wandered into the washing room to splash my face with water and swish the taste of sleep from my mouth. Standing at the basin, I sifted through everything that had happened since I bled onto that snow.
The curse of Heartstone Castle had dragged me into it, playing the part of the woman who could end Arthur’s curse—the same curse that I had delivered to his father decades ago.
The Underrealm was built by many hands. Fine hands that knew carpentry and masonry. Where were they now? Who had built these vast corridors and that great hall of carved stone monuments?
Ishtak must know. She must retain the knowledge of something that had been lost to time or reason, and more than I needed to quell the rumbling in my stomach, I needed to find her.
My daughter would be leaving for her arranged marriage within two months, and I needed to help her prepare. There was much to do. She’d need a wedding gown, dresses as a queen, advice on life with a man you did not know—these were the details I could provide my daughter and I intended to.
I slipped into my heeled shoes and clacked loudly across the marble floor, thinking better of wearing them and leaving them beside the bed instead. On bare feet, I lifted the hem of my gown, slipping out the door of my room.
The corridor was still lit, though the hall I slipped quietly down looked exactly like the last. I was soon lost, turning which ways I thought were correct, only to find myself in the same forked path or one that was identical to another.
After the seventh turn that led me back to the corridor with my room, I shifted, giving up on legs and flew instead.
When at last I turned down a corridor with a subtle change in the light, I found it opened up into the great marble stone hall.
I shifted back into my Ravenfae form, exhausted, angry, and more determined than ever to leave the Underrealm for good.
I ran across the black floors, my wings helping to carry me until I stood with cold feet in front of the western corridor.
A breeze shifted toward me, the scent of decay bringing with it a foreboding dread. I shivered but stepped forward, ready to face what might await me in the consuming dark.
The corridor was no more than a roughly paved path through black stone, chipped and jagged enough to pierce my skin if I wasn’t careful of my hands and footing.
The walls closed in around me as the light from the hall faded away, forcing me to feel my way forward, searching for any sense of light or life.
I walked through the black tunnel, growing colder by the minute and unable to settle my heart with a sense of unease drifting heavily through the air. A clicking sound met my ears and my head snapped up, hitting the edge of a sharp stone.
I cursed in true Goddess fashion and pulled my fingers away from my wound, slipping one into my mouth to taste blood. A drip slid down my forehead, and I wiped it away, scraping my fingers across the wet rocky walls rather than my gown.
The first echo of clicking was soon joined by another, then another, until the clipped sounds resonated through the tunnel, engulfing me completely. They came from ahead and behind, but I continued on, certain that I could face whatever creatures sounded in the dark.
I could not.
The first nip came from the humerus of my left wing—just a pinch, but enough to make me jerk to the right, gasping at the sharp needle-like pain. Still without light, I reached behind my back, brushing at my wing to swipe away whatever it was that bit me.
The second time, it was a piercing bite of sharp teeth at my right shoulder blade, enough to surely draw blood if not flesh ripped from bone.
I swiped my arm quicker, hitting something other than rock.
The creature clicked as it fell somewhere at my feet with an echoing thump before I was bit again at my ankle, then thigh, then wrist—forcing me to stumble backwards.
Before I could fall, I pulled from my power and swung my arm in an arch, stunning all the creatures in my presence.
The biting stopped. The clicking far ahead did not.
If I continued, I’d be able to stun dozens at once, but the more I did, the shorter they’d stay still.
I stepped over and onto whatever was attacking and turned, racing back down the tunnel as fast as I could towards the entrance, the bites on my skin burning in a fiery rage.
The incessant clicking grew and the ominous truth that I would not be able to outrun these creatures came forefront to my mind.
“Ishtak!” I hollered, hoping she could hear me wherever she resided in the corridor. “Please! I need your help!” I stumbled over a jutting rock, cursing as I fell onto my knees, catching myself with my hands just before my face could smack into the hard ground.
“Ishtak!” I cried again, shaking, burning, my wounds on fire, my head throbbing.
A monstrous roar echoed down the corridor and with it, the sound of pounding feet headed straight for me.
I had nowhere to go, nowhere to escape the creatures creeping closer and the monster rumbling my way.
I tried to shift, seeing it as my only way out of the mess I’d gotten myself into, but the wounds on my skin burned hotter each time I tried.
Whatever came from the teeth of those creatures, it was powerful enough to hinder the Goddess of the Ravenfae from the full force of her abilities.
With a deep inhale and shove away from the wall, I chose to run forward, deciding to meet what I suspected would soon find me, rather than face the ravenous creatures behind me, already nipping at my heels.
“I’m here!” I shouted as another roar sounded off the walls, bits of rock tumbling onto my head in its wake. “Arthur! Please!”
Teeth tore at my flesh again, this time enough to take me down where I kicked and fought with everything I had, tearing my own nails into cold, bony bodies, and slamming the creatures as hard as I could into the walls.
I cried out in pain, screaming as one of them leapt onto my chest, biting at my neck with teeth so sharp, I felt my skin rip into ragged strips.
I dug my nails into the creature's spine, yanking it off me when a mass of fur and muscle leapt over my body, tearing into the creatures at my feet.
I yelped, backing myself away, whimpering at the sound of flesh and bone crunching under powerful jaws, hearing the sockets popping as limbs were tossed against the walls.
“Mistress!” cried Piffle somewhere behind me, and I turned my head to see a shuddering light, barely illuminating the walls surrounding the massacre happening at my feet.
Squinting in the glow, the only thing I could discern was a massive form of dark fur, hinged legs and claws sinking into the most disturbing creatures I’d ever seen.
The walls in the great hall did not accurately portray the Underfae that lined the walls of the tunnel.
They were no larger than a small child, with spindly arms and legs of gray skin that was so thin, purple and blue veins pulsed throughout.
Each had an oversized head with long, needled teeth jutting over purple lips, and black eyes so large, they put Piffle’s to shame.
Without hair, each was almost identical to the last, and as the ripping and tearing continued, I found my feet again, backing away straight into Piffle who tried to catch me before falling.
“We must get out!” he cried. “Come, Mistress!”
He tugged and pulled at my skirts, and I began to follow before swinging my arm behind me again, pouring just the right amount of my Cursebringer magic into the scene to freeze as many of the Underfae that I could.
I’d meant to stun them all, the Beast included, but my power had no effect on him as he continued to rampage his way through the creatures.
I followed Piffle through the rest of the corridor, the violent scene behind us growing fainter as the light from the great hall grew ahead.
When we stumbled out, I collapsed, turning and scuttling away from the entrance across the cold marble floor. “How do we close it?”
Piffle stood worriedly, holding his torch forward as if to light the way. “They won’t follow. They cannot live outside of the dark!”
A booming yelp came from the tunnel followed by a rumble I felt through the floor, sounding off the walls and into the hall.
“Master!” Piffle shouted from a cupped hand, not daring to enter again.
I wiped the blood from my chest, regaining some of my strength, though my wounds were refusing to close. Rising on steady feet, I flew halfway across the hall before my wings faltered. Scraping myself up, I continued on foot, the slap of my bare feet the only sound I could hear.
I didn’t care to see what came out of that tunnel—my captor was occupied, and I saw an opportunity to find my way out from the Underrealm. If Arthur was a Beast who roamed the lands above, he must have a way to the surface.
I intended to find it.
I tore through one of the tunnels to the east of the hall, skidding around corner after corner, finding myself lost over and over until I met a set of long stairs rising upwards through the stone walls.
Frigid air billowed fresh snow onto the top steps, revealing an entrance to the surface.
A solid black door, carved in intricate details, resided opposite the staircase, but I had no time to investigate further.
Before I could look back towards another rumble tearing through the Underrealm, I lifted my skirts and sprinted up the stairs, meeting the surface of Heartstone Castle and a land drenched in white under the silver gaze of the moon.