Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
CAIRN
We walk back to the camp in silence. I can feel Therin’s eyes on me, waiting for the slightest hint that I might be hiding any remaining weakness from the casting.
I am. Of course I am. But I still make it to the camp without my legs giving out beneath me, even if it takes longer to get there than it should.
Therin pokes the coals of the fire back to life, while I lower myself to the ground nearby. A waterskin drops into my lap seconds later, followed by some of the leftover hare from last night.
“How long do you think it’ll be before we start seeing fae arrive?”
Just the effort of touching the Nightwild bond connecting me to them tires me. “Tonight, maybe. There have been a few more losses since they were freed.”
“Do you have any idea how the magic did it? Are they part of the Guard now?”
I’ve been waiting for him to ask since the night I freed them all. I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t before now is because we were focused on rescuing Alleria.
I think back to that night. To the rage, the frustration, the inability to reach Alleria, and feel the magic stir in response.
“No, they’re not part of the Guard.” That is the easier of his two questions to answer. I lift the waterskin and take a drink. “Can you feel them?”
“No, just the twelve of us, and you.”
I nod slowly. “It doesn’t feel the same as the threads holding me to the Guard …
or the blood bond tying me to Alleria. This is something different.
” I set the waterskin down. “I was still connected to Alleria when they started beating her.
Every strike came through the blood bond.
And there was nothing I could hit back at. Nothing I could tear apart.
“Everything inside me—the blood bond and the Nightwild magic—wanted to stop it. I could put a barrier around her mind, but I couldn’t put anything around her body to protect her.
And the helplessness … the rage of it…” I push the memory back down.
“I believe that the magic responded to my demand, to the frustration of not being able to free her, and took action in the only way it could.” I lift my eyes to meet Therin’s. “By freeing all the fae it could find.”
“But the iron. When you freed me, and the rest at the Dell, you needed human blood to do it. So how was it possible to free all those fae without being there?”
I bend one leg and rest my forearm on it, staring out across the fire. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“You have a theory. Don’t even try to deny it. I know you, Cairn. You’ll have been puzzling this out since it happened.”
“I’ve been a little preoccupied.”
He snorts. “What’s your theory?”
“I don’t have any way to prove it.”
“Humor me anyway. We have nothing else to do.” He nods toward the cold meat beside me. “And eat while you explain.”
“I think it goes back to something I did when I first captured her.”
I think back to the day of the hunt. Her bright-eyed enthusiasm when she stood at the fence staring at where they had me chained to a post. I’d already been planning how I might avoid being killed, even then.
“The forest around the Dell is ancient. I was certain there would be a fairy circle growing inside it somewhere. If I could find one, my plan was to use its magic to try and open a door taking me outside the forest, bypassing the wards.”
“You were collared in iron. How were you going to use magic?”
“My theory was that since the circle was external magic and not something I was drawing from myself, the iron might not have the same effect. As it happens, I didn’t attempt that working, but I was still right about my theory.”
“Oh?” Therin leans forward, picking some of the hare meat off the carcass and chewing on it.
“The damned antlers the mage forced onto me were top-heavy. I got entangled in some low branches. That’s where Alleria found me. Luck was on my side, and I captured her before she could kill me.”
Therin looks pointedly at the meat. I sigh, but tear some off and chew it.
“I found an unbroken fairy circle. The mushrooms were surrounded by ash, oak, and hawthorn. I hoped it was a sign that the magic was strong. I needed to rest, and I was desperate. So I stood in the ring, and drew on its magic. It worked. I could hold the magic and lay a groveward over the clearing to stop her from running.” I laugh softly.
“It didn’t stop her from trying, though.
Because it worked, and there was still magic left, I wondered if I could use it to break the collar.
“So, I drew on it again, then I cut Alleria’s palm.
I had a half-baked idea that if I could establish a blood link, I could use her later to get back inside the Dell and free the rest of you.
So I drank her blood, and then used her to break my collar.
In my enthusiasm, I forgot we were standing in the fairy ring, and you know how much those things love blood. ”
“You think the fairy ring magic did something to the blood link.”
I nod. “It’s the only answer that makes sense, because we know now that Alleria isn’t fully human.
Her blood alone shouldn’t have broken the collar.
The ring magic must have played a part in that.
My intention was to make a temporary blood link.
What formed was something else entirely, and there’s really only one answer for that. ”
“And that would be?”
“Ring magic binds, you know that. If there was any trace of it still in me when I forced the blood link on Alleria, it would have been in the working with everything else.”
“Okay, let’s say that’s true. How does a botched blood link become the catalyst for breaking all iron collars across the entire kingdom?”
“Because I didn’t leave it alone.” I rub my hand over my jaw, and reach for the waterskin to take a drink before continuing.
“My own power was weak, nowhere near the strength required to do what I needed.
So when we reached the ward stones, I used that bond again.
I poured power, blood and intent through it like a bridge.
I think the ring magic made it hold when it should have snapped.
“Somehow she managed to connect to me when I was freeing you all at the Dell. She linked into my mind and saw everything I was doing. That was the first indication that whatever I’d done wasn’t a blood link.
The Nightwild magic became aware of her.
It felt her through me, saw that connection hold, and wanted her for the Guard.
” I shake my head. “It started weaving itself through the bond I’d made, using it to draw her in.
When the mage was tearing through her … When she accepted what it was offering, it didn’t have to make something new.
It followed the path I’d already carved between us.
“It brought a human into the Guard, or what we thought was a human anyway. When the magic spun out of control, it carried that human part of her signature with it. Through her thread and through the bond. She was in the magic the moment it left me.” I pause to take another bite of hare.
“Every collar it touched was hit by fae magic carrying the imprint of her half-human blood, threaded with fairy ring magic. As each collar broke, it made the next easier … until it took nothing more than a thought to shatter the rest.”
Therin drums his fingers against his thigh, then looks at me. “That’s a lot of theory built around one desperate mistake in a fairy ring.”
“I know.”
For a while the only sound is the soft crackle of the fire. I reach for the waterskin again, then stop when I realize it’s empty. A second skin hits my chest.
“Drink the water, and eat more food.”
“I don’t—”
“Eat the hare, Cairn.”
I give him a flat look, but tear off another piece of meat, mostly because arguing with him will take more strength than just doing what he wants.
Therin watches me out of shrewd, silver eyes. “She surprised me, you know. Even with that bond you have tying the two of you together, I thought she’d break. Fragile human female.” He laughs quietly. “Who knew she’d turn out to be a halfling?”
“She’s stronger than any of us give her credit for.” Strong enough, maybe, to handle what I’ve sent her into, and forgive me for it.
“Stronger than even she knows, I think.”
“You like her.” I don’t know why that surprises me.
He rolls his eyes. “I do. And I think that her being part of the Guard isn’t just because that blood link went wrong.
The Nightwild magic doesn’t make mistakes.
She fits.” He stretches out on his bedroll beside the fire, tucking his arms beneath his head.
“And you like her too. If I had to guess, I’d say your feelings for her go deeper than like. ”
“I’d say that’s none of your concern.”
He laughs. “Get some sleep. I’ll wake you if anyone comes. ”
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“Cairn.” His voice is quiet, but there’s steel beneath it. “Sleep.”
I close my eyes, intending to humor him, and it seems like only a moment before Therin’s voice brings me back to alertness.
“Cairn, they’re here.”
I open my eyes to a night sky, brightened by firelight.
“Did you let me sleep all day?”
“You’d have woken up sooner if you hadn’t needed the rest.” He shrugs, and hands me a waterskin. “Drink. Refresh yourself. They’re about halfway across the vale.”
Pushing myself up into a seated position, I take the skin, drink, and hand it back. Rolling my shoulders, I get to my feet.
“Let’s go and meet them.”
We walk out through the trees, and the vale opens in front of us, mist settling low across the grass. The small group of fae are a hundred yards away, moving cautiously across the ground.
One spots us, and calls out in alarm. As one they drop closer to the ground, making themselves small enough to avoid arrows. We stop, raising our hands to show we’re not holding any weapons.
“You’re safe here.” Therin steps in front of me, hands still raised. “We’re waiting to take you home.”
“Home?” A female moves to the front of the group. Her eyes move from Therin’s face to mine, and her lips part.
“My prince.” She falls to her knees.
“No prince,” I correct her. “The Nightwild Guard holds no allegiance to the courts. You know that.” I step around Therin and crouch in front of her. “By what name should we call you?”
“Maerith.”
“Please stand, Maerith.”
I hold out a hand. She hesitates, then slowly places her palm in mine, and I help her to her feet. My gaze shifts from her to the small group of fae huddled behind her.
“All of you are welcome.” I raise my voice. “You are safe. Come. We have food and warmth. Tomorrow, we will return you to Underhill.”