Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was dusk when they followed the narrow trail in the forest behind the house, weaving between the cedars and the pines, the rowan, birch, and the underbrush that grew over the worn path where deer tracks mixed with human.
Andrew walked with them, speaking with Duncan as Lachlan led the way.
“Two imps there.” He pointed at the base of a twisted pine. “Smashed against the roots. Nearly bit my hand in half, vicious little things.”
“Has there been anything besides the imps?” Duncan asked.
“Redcaps, the nasty bastards.” Andrew looked up, and Carys followed his eyes. “More wisps than usual,” he murmured. “Far more.”
Carys saw what he was talking about. They were still quite a ways from the gate, and yet the glowing blue wisps that marked it were dancing overhead like fireflies. There were way more than Carys had ever seen before.
“What does that mean?”
Cadell said, “I can feel the gate even from here. It feels… thinner.”
How did a fae gate get thinner?
Carys felt the familiar sense of dread as they approached a dense stand of red-berried rowan trees with a narrow path cutting into them.
She stopped in her tracks when a cold wave of foreboding passed through her.
Whispers and hissing sounds teased her ears as shadows reached toward them like fingers cut by the setting sun.
Carys forced herself to put one foot in front of the other, walking into the shadows whether she wanted to or not.
One choice. Angus.
But was it her choice or his that would decide her fate?
One choice.
Behind her, Naida began to hum, and it was the same song Dru had sung the first time he walked Carys and Duncan through the gate. The ellyllon might have found the melody soothing, but it did nothing to calm Carys’s fear.
“This is as far as I go.” Andrew stepped to the right of the path and crossed his arms over his barrel chest as his eyes reached Carys. “Be careful. It’s her they want.”
Carys paused in front of him. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Why do you think?”
Because you are of the Shadow, Cadell said in her mind. Your mother was born within it. By fate, you should not exist.
Duncan paused to lean closer and say something to Andrew; then he joined Lachlan on the path, reaching his hand back for Carys to hold.
“Do you think they resent me for it?” Carys put her hand in Duncan’s but turned to look at Cadell.
The dragon was already growing more inhuman, his eyes glinting gold, his wild nature emerging with every step they took.
Yes. His voice was a low rumble in her mind. That is why they want you.
“Who would resent you?” Laura piped up. “Wow, this gate feels weird.” She was looking around like the professional she was. “Carys, this is the first gate you went through?”
“Yes.” And the cold dread hadn’t let up.
“No wonder you were so freaked out.”
As they walked closer, the shadows grew deeper and the wisps circled. Carys heard them before she felt them, laughing whispers coming from low-hanging branches as dark and creeping shadows reached across the narrow path to trip her.
She felt a chilly finger reach across her ankle, and something cold and fluttering tickled her ear, as if an icy moth jumped from her shoulder and flew into her hair.
“Duncan.” She squirmed at the feeling of cold fingers running over her.
He must have heard the fear in her voice because he turned and grabbed her, tugging her in front of him and surrounding her with his solid embrace.
“Walk with me now, lass.” He put his mouth by her ear. “They can’t have you, can they? That’s why these wild fae are angry little bastards—because they know you’re mine.”
Lachlan had his sword drawn, his footsteps steady but relentless as he pushed through the hanging branches and thick darkness. “There are imps in the trees. And I saw a redcap watching from the roots of an oak tree we just passed.”
“So Andy is right,” Duncan said. “The woods are wilder now.”
Carys saw a shadow darting forward to her left. When she turned to look, she realized it was Godrik, dissolving into a dark mist as his wolf form took hold of him and he bounded into the thick woods with silent ferocity.
“Godrik?” Naida’s eyes went wide. Her mouth formed a small O; then she went silent and her eyes were sad.
“Hey.” Laura held her hand out to Naida. “He probably just needs to stretch his legs. He’s been human for a really long time.”
Naida took Laura’s hand, and the two women continued walking with Lachlan and Cadell bringing up the rear.
The whispers were everywhere in Carys’s mind, tugging at her ears and fanning their cold breath down her neck even as Duncan held her safe in the cage of his warm arms.
It didn’t seem to matter. She stumbled on a root that stretched toward her, nearly sending both her and Duncan tumbling.
“That’s it!” Duncan lifted his head and shouted at the trees. “You little bastards, just let us pass. You know us, remember?”
Whatever was in the trees laughed. Then another laugh. Another and another until wicked laughter echoed up the branches of the ancient forest. Vines swayed with the darting movement of the wisps.
There came the sound of crackling wings, and a buzzing sound filled Carys’s ears.
Lachlan turned and shouted, “Imps!” He waved an arm at Duncan. “Get her out of here now! Run!”
Without a word, Duncan hoisted Carys into his arms and followed Lachlan’s advice.
Her teeth cracked together as Duncan ran with her in his arms. Naida moved like a shadow in front of them, and Carys could barely see her.
Laura was behind—Carys spotted her friend running when she turned and looked over Duncan’s shoulder.
Laura held one hand up, and there was a golden glowing light that lit the forest around them and illuminated Cadell, who ran beside her with flashing gold eyes.
Lachlan guarded their rear, occasionally turning to sweep his short bronze sword through a thick cloud of what looked like buzzing insects.
Carys knew they were not insects.
An imp surged forward and buzzed her ear, snapping at the edge of it until she smacked it away. She heard a crunch and a squeal.
Nêrys, Cadell shouted in her mind. Hide your face if you don’t want them to make you bleed. Your blood will only excite them more.
She hid her face in Duncan’s shoulder and held on tight, but she could feel a line of blood dripping down her ear and neck.
When she heard the roar and felt the crackling fire within her, she knew Cadell was shifting. A moment later, her heart lifted in her chest, and she knew her dragon had taken to the air.
The trees are thin enough for me to fly, he said in her mind. I’ll wheel around and see if I can lay fire behind you to keep the imps from swarming.
Fire at the fae gate?
I feel no fae presence here, he said. This gate has grown wild.
It felt like forever, but Carys heard the change in the underbrush before she lifted her face. The crackle of dry leaves and branches gave way to softer steps, soil and moss and the smell of rich verdant life.
Duncan slowed his steps, his chest heaving as he continued to grip her tight. Carys hugged his shoulders and finally lifted her head to see they had reached a wide outcropping that looked over the hills of dark fae country.
Naida was standing on a line of boulders along the edge of the clearing, looking between the sloping green hills in front of her and the shadowy forest behind.
Laura panted beside her, the light she’d been holding nowhere to be found, but the pearlescent grey sky of the Shadowlands lit the dewy morning.
Lachlan still battled in the trees, slicing and beating back a dark swarm of imps that flew up the path.
Tell Lachlan to join you, Cadell said. I’m going to clear the edge of the forest.
She could feel him turning and flying back to her, their connection like a tether between his dragon heart and her own.
“Lachlan, get over here! Run!” She pointed to the sky as Duncan set her down. “Run!”
Lachlan turned and must have seen Cadell approaching. He slid his sword into the scabbard at his waist and waved at them all.
“Behind the rocks!” he shouted. “Get behind the rocks!”
Naida slipped behind the boulders and virtually disappeared. Duncan ran up and threw one leg over a low spot before he reached out his hand. “Come on!”
Without a word, he hoisted Carys over with ease, then turned and lifted Laura up and over.
“Down!” he yelled.
Lachlan was right behind them, flinging himself over the edge of the hill just as Cadell flew low, his emerald-green throat glowing with fire.
He gave a loud roar, and Carys heard high-pitched screaming from the shadowed tree line.
Naida, crouched underneath a grey boulder, covered her ears and closed her eyes. Her face a pained grimace at the chittering and clicking that came from the trees.
Cadell let out a spurt of fire, a warning shot, then lifted up over the forest, turned, wheeled around, and flew low over the edge of the trees, laying down a precise line of fire where the imps were still swarming.
The trees exploded, and the branches popped. Carys hid behind the boulders, looking through a crack in the rocks as Cadell exterminated the nasty crowd of imps and sent small creatures with blood-red hats disappearing into the safety of the forest.
“What are those?” Laura pointed to the small, gnome-sized creatures.
“Redcaps,” Lachlan said. “I’ve never seen them so bold before.” Despite the fire, the blood, and the imps, he grinned at Laura. “Welcome to Alba.”
Laura laughed a little bit. “Thanks?”
Duncan poked his head over the wall. “The ruins of the old castle exist on this side of the gate too,” he said. “The redcaps usually hang out there. I’ve never seen them in this part of the forest before.”
Cadell was flying overhead. Ask the fae woman.
Carys turned to her. “Naida, what’s going on?”
Naida still had her eyes closed. “I feel no high fae here. The only presence are the small wild ones, and they can’t control the imps or the redcaps.”