Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
The fairy woman scanned the panicked faces of her people, her voice a harsh whisper. "Retreat back home. We stand no chance against the fairy Prince and his warriors."
I drew a sharp breath. The fairy Prince was also the werewolf King.
She turned her gaze to me, Torin, and Robert, her expression hardening. "Hayden will kill you and your crew.”
At least the tyrant hadn’t lied to me about his name.
Robert scoffed. “He won’t kill his own mate.”
The fairy woman cocked her head at him. “You sure about that?” She paused. “The fairy King killed his Queen about fifteen years ago. Like father, like son.”
If the fairy King was Hayden’s father, then the Queen he’d killed… Was it Hayden’s mother?
I tried exhaling slowly to calm down my breathing. My heart raced, nearly exploding.
Fifteen years ago? My mind tried to put the puzzle together, but I was missing a lot of information. The only thing I was certain of was that I’d met Hayden about fifteen years ago as a young boy. I found him barely breathing in the werewolf kingdom forest when he was fourteen.
The woman’s eyes flickered between us. "I can't trust anyone associated with the King or his son. Strangers from another realm are even more dangerous."
And with that, she turned around and ran toward her retreating men.
My heart squeezed painfully in my chest, and I stepped forward, desperation clawing at me.
“We have to follow them to safety. It’s our only chance,” I said.
Torin, Robert, and I dashed behind the fairy woman, who glanced over her shoulder. I spotted Ashton moving as fast as he could among the other fairies. One of the guardians supported him with his arm.
"Please. We're running away from him too. Save us now. Take us with you into hiding. I promise I'll explain everything," I shouted at her, breathless as I ran. “Please.”
Ignoring my repeated pleas, the fairy woman didn’t turn around anymore, but we followed her, hurrying into the bare, burned forest. The guardian fairies had mentioned their home was nearby, but I couldn’t see any other cities. Only tall, dark trees.
As we continued our flight through the forest, the air grew colder. The fairy woman leader took a hidden path, her steps light and graceful as if she floated above the damp earth.
Torin, Robert, and I stomped like a herd of elephants behind her, and I frowned at the loud crunching underneath our boots.
Although she didn’t look at us, she didn’t push us away again, and a glimmer of hope grew in my chest. I doubted she welcomed us, but perhaps she was too preoccupied fleeing the fairy Prince to turn us away.
I poured on more speed. I would never be Hayden’s prisoner again.
The forest seemed to close in around us as we raced through the undergrowth, following the fairy woman leader's swift movements. My breath came in short gasps, my heart thundering in my chest as I struggled to keep up.
The fairies moved with practiced supernatural grace, their powerful forms slicing through the foliage as if it were nothing more than whispers of air. I was grateful for my wolf spirit since it gave me the additional speed I needed at the moment.
The guardians and the fairy woman abruptly halted and walked several steps before bending over to enter a large burrow—an opening carved into a hill covered by dry grass and bushes.
My breaths came in short gasps, our hurried pace leaving little room for thoughts beyond survival.
Torin and Robert slid inside the burrow first. I expected to see their bodies flying out of it when the fairies kicked them out of their hiding spot.
But nothing happened. Crouching, I entered the large tunnel hidden beneath the gnarled roots of an ancient tree and faced the fairy woman, who crouched at the entrance as if she were waiting for me.
“I won’t ask you to leave our hiding spot right now because you’ll be captured, and the fairy Prince will find out our location,” she said, and the thought of Hayden’s hands on me caused a cold shiver to run down my spine. “But after our enemy disappears, I want you out of here.”
I tried to smile, but it felt strained. “They are our enemies, too. I’ll explain if you give me a chance,” I said, hoping we could hide with the Uprising Guardians at their home she’d mentioned. “If we talk, you’ll see we don’t mean harm.”
She squinted at me, and I could tell I hadn’t fully persuaded her, but allowing us to take refuge with the guardians was a positive sign.
“We can help you with whatever you need. If you let me explain, you’ll see we can be very useful.”
She made an “umph” sound with her throat, but then the fairy woman leader hesitated, chewing her bottom lip as she weighed our fate. If we could prove ourselves useful to her, she could let us stay with them. Then I would have an opportunity to talk more with her.
At last, she spoke, her voice a low growl. "Very well, but there is something I need help with. And you will tell me how you found your way into the fairy realm and how you are connected to our enemy."
Sighing, I nodded. Some of the tension in my shoulders lifted.
Everyone settled and quieted. As I looked out of the burrow, the nagging feeling that this opening was wide enough for us to fit but also wide enough for Hayden and his men to find us washed over me.
"Are you sure about this?" I whispered. The pounding of my pulse rang in my ears. I pointed at the wide entrance. "It seems…too obvious."
My body pressed against the damp earth, and Torin’s body beside me radiated tension. His muscles coiled like a tightly wound string of a crossbow, ready to unleash his force upon anyone who dared to threaten us.
The fairy warrior gave me a sharp look of displeasure. With a wave of her slender hand, a massive boulder appeared before the entrance, sealing us within the confines of the burrow. But I could still see through the illusion as if I had put on sunglasses with smudges on the lenses.
"An illusion—the only way we’ve been surviving," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "It won't last long, so we must hope that the Prince and his men pass us by quickly."
I opened my mouth to ask her more about the power of illusion, but she made a gesture to her mouth, signaling for me to remain quiet.
“Don’t make me regret my decision,” she said in a low voice.
The guardians disappeared from the tunnel, leaving me, Torin, Robert, and the fairy woman. I wanted to ask her where her men crawled to, but the woman focused on holding the illusion, her hands still up in the air.
Her magic must have been much stronger than Greyson’s. He needed the help of an amplifying Lunarimar crystal to cast illusions.
We huddled together in the darkness, our breaths mingling as we listened intently for any sign of our pursuers. The forest outside was eerily quiet.
Time seemed to stretch on endlessly, each second a torturous eternity, until the faint sound of footsteps finally reached our ears. Hayden and his men were close, their voices carrying through the still air as they searched for us.
"Stay still," the fairy woman murmured, her eyes locked on the illusionary boulder that stood between us and certain death or imprisonment or torture.
As the footsteps grew closer, I wondered if perhaps I had merely traded one form of captivity for another. I had followed this stranger and promised her a favor in my attempt to gain her trust, which could be very costly.
Holding my breath, I watched as the fairy warriors continued walking, and the sounds of pursuit began to fade, growing more distant until they disappeared altogether. I let out a heavy sigh.
"Thank you," I whispered. “What is your name?”
“Seraphina,” she said, dropping her hands to her sides.
The air at the burrow’s entrance cleared.
“I’m Breanna,” I said, then pointed to Robert and Torin, introducing them by their names.
She glanced at them and started moving deeper into the tunnel. “Follow me, newcomers. To the City of Water. There’s something you’ll have to do for me.”
At first, we had to crawl, but after a moment, the tunnel opened, and we stood. As we walked, soil and damp earth surrounded us. This secret tunnel was similar to the man-made ones in the vampire and werewolf kingdoms.
We emerged in the City of Water. I breathed deeply, taking in the scents of the velvety flowers to inhale their rich perfume. The flowers decorated the village, their petals lolling.
"Here, we are safe…for now," Seraphina told us, her voice tinged with sorrow as we walked along smooth mats of soft moss.
Small cottages dotted the colorful landscape, their roofs crooked, the paint peeling, but no one seemed to care about the city's dire conditions. At least it wasn’t in ruins.
Children played nearby, laughing as they sprinkled dew over each other from blades of grass and delicate blooms. On the hillside, a field of wheat swayed with the gentle breeze.
Fairies worked in the fields, wearing worn-out, faded clothes like ours, except the men wore long white robes that almost reached their knees.
Following my gaze, Seraphina said, “We make food, but we’re running out of supplies, and it hasn’t rained as much this year.”
I smiled at her, grateful that she’d changed her mind and decided to help us avoid Hayden because she needed our support.
“You have a strong will to survive,” I said, a dull ache forming in my chest.
"We have sacrificed much to preserve this small piece of our world, and we will continue to fight for what is left,” she said, glancing at me.
“Your fairy markings shocked me, but I’m willing to listen to your story.
Although you traveled with Ashton and showed him understanding and kindness, this is your chance to further prove yourselves. ”
“What do you want us to help you with?”
Could it be something terrible? Something that the fairy woman couldn’t do herself? My chest tightened as I tried to take a deep breath.
“In order for you to understand, I have to show you first.”