27 SCION
THE WILDES, NEAR THE BORDER OF UNDERNEATH
“Have you ever tried to cross the Hedge?”
Bael asked.
I looked sideways at my cousin. “Why the fuck would I have done that?”
“Just making conversation,”
he replied, his tone singsong. “Have you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not, but I have been here once before.”
After we’d both recovered from the incident in Inbetwixt, it had taken only a few days to cross the Waywoods and arrive in the Wilde land outside underneath. As this was a trip I’d made before, it wasn’t difficult to picture locations to travel to, and shadow walking was as simple as it was within the capital.
The Hedge was the name of the short stone wall that ran from coast to coast along the border of Elsewhere and Underneath. It had been erected by one of our ancestors long ago, and despite its mundane appearance, did an extremely good job of keeping both the Unseelie out, and the citizens of Elsewhere in. It was heavily enchanted, so that it was impossible to shadow walk past, climb, or tunnel under. The only entrance in and out was a small, heavily guarded pass. It looked like little more than a crumbling break in a stone wall, however, it was rumored that once one stepped over the wall into Underneath, the glamor would lift, revealing what truly lay beyond. Since no one had entered in some time, and even fewer returned to tell tales of the Unseelie realm, I didn’t know for certain if that were true, nor what we’d find if it were.
“What were you doing here?”
Bael asked.
“Performing an execution on a guard who’d been enchanted by the Unseelie.”
I cast Bael a sideways glance. “Sorry, I?—”
“It’s fine,”
he replied. “I know better than most what monsters they are.”
I nodded, still feeling a bit foolish for having brought up the Unseelie at all.
Bael’s mood had drastically improved over the last few days, as if he were almost excited to enter Underneath. I couldn’t imagine that was the case, but neither could I understand why he’d be putting on such an obvious affect.
I supposed I should simply be grateful.
For weeks things had felt strained between us—perhaps more on my side than his—but now that our goals were aligned once more, things had easily fallen back into the easy companionship we’d shared before I ever laid eyes on Lonnie Skyeborne.
It was midday when we finally made our way out of the Wildes, and appeared on the edge of a town, where the Hedge was visible in the distance. The air was hot and oppressive, and the ground under our feet cracked and dry. The closer one got to the Hedge, the hotter it was…like the land itself was warning us to turn back.
“Do you want to stop in the town?”
Bael asked.
“No.”
He grinned. “Me either.”
I glanced over at the rundown buildings and shook my head. It might have been smarter of us to stop and eat, perhaps catch a few hours of sleep, but now that we were so close I didn’t want to waste time. It had been days since the snake told us where to find Lonnie, and I feared she might have landed in the port of Underneath already. Our best chance to reach her would be when the boat came into harbor. Once Ambrose took her wherever he was going, things would get dramatically more complicated.
“The break in the wall is just over that hill.”
I pointed, and Bael followed my gaze toward the outline of a reddish-brown slope in the distance, that was really more of a small mountain than a hill.
“Shall we go then?”
he asked, moving as if to walk through the shadows once more.
I put out a hand to stop him. “No, we’ll have to walk. The magic from the Hedge will stop you from shadow walking, and I’m not sure what would happen if you were halfway into the shadows.”
He grimaced, perhaps also imagining the potential horror of being stuck between two places indefinitely. “Right. I suppose we’d better start walking, then.”
The entrance to the Hedge was just as I recalled it. The wall was only about three feet high, and the break within it looked more like a failure of time and weather than a gate to another realm. Standing beside the wall—or rather, leaning against it—were two obsidian armored guards.
Bael and I had agreed that I would do the talking when it came to the guards. It would have been easier to simply kill them, but as magic didn’t work well so close to the Hedge I was not sure if it was worth getting into a physical fight with our own, well trained, soldiers.
As we approached, it became clear that I needn’t have worried.
The two guards looked neither well trained, nor capable of winning any kind of fight. The closer of the two, a tall thin human, appeared to be asleep. The other, a middle-aged Fae male, stared off in the opposite direction from which we approached. He, at least, should have heard our footsteps long ago. I sighed. Fucking idiots, giving a bad name to the army as a whole.
I plastered a false smile onto my face, trying my best to seem as unthreatening and empty headed as the guards. “Hello,”
I called, loudly enough to alert anyone in a mile radius.
As expected, the Fae guard jumped, startled, and the one who’d been sleeping stirred.
I’d often had the occasion to notice that outside the capital, Fae rarely recognized me without Quill on my shoulder to provide them a clue of my identity. Still, I tensed slightly as the guards turned to look at us. They barely reacted, not a hint of recognition in either male’s gaze.
I relaxed. “We’re here to relieve you,”
I said when we stood only a few feet away.
“Ah, excellent.”
The human guard grinned, blinking the sleep from his eyes, and leapt to his feet. “Cheers, mates.”
He took a few steps forward, as if to walk past us, but the Fae guard threw out his hand to block his partner. “Hang on.”
He gave us a skeptical once over. “Never seen you before. Where’d you come from?”
Part of me was almost relieved. I was glad he didn’t recognize us, but if both the soldiers had left without question at the word of two strangers, it would have shattered my faith in our army as a whole.
“Inbetwixt,”
I said vaguely. “Just arrived today.”
The Fae male cocked his head, his skeptical expression melting. He laughed. “Too bad. I was hoping you were from the capital.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why?”
The soldier sneered. “The rumor around the village is that the royal family had their asses handed to them by the rebel army. We sent word to the capital and all the nearby outposts hoping to get some confirmation, but haven’t heard anything.”
“Why does that matter to you?”
Bael asked, seeming unable to keep his mouth shut any longer.
The guard laughed again, giving Bael a once over. “You must be new. If you’d done as many years of service to those bastards as I have, you wouldn’t be asking why it matters. The moment I know for sure they’re all dead, I’m leaving and never looking back.”
“Then I’m sorry to tell you they’re not all dead,”
I said through gritted teeth.
The male frowned. “That’s a shame. Any idea who survived?”
Bael and I glanced at each other. Of course, we were all well aware of how the people of Elsewhere despised us, but it was fucking surreal to hear oneself talked about like this. At least he hadn’t said anything about Lonnie.
“Does it matter who survived?”
Bael asked.
“Course,”
the guard said easily. “You know they used to send their precious raven prince down here to hunt down deserters? I want to get out of here, sure, but I’d slit my own throat before willingly meeting him. I’d reckon he’s more monstrous than anything over the wall.”
I smiled tightly. “Yes, I’m sure he is.”
I stepped forward to brush past the guard, aiming to end this conversation quickly. We’d pretend we were taking their place guarding the wall until they were out of sight, then cross the border without any further trouble. Easy, except…
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about, Cyrus,”
the human guard said. “The royal family isn’t even in charge anymore.”
I jerked, having nearly forgotten he was here until he’d spoken. In response, the Fae guard—Cyrus—grinned at Bael and I, as if we were sharing a joke at the expense of the human. “Ignore him. I’ve tried to explain the hunts to him a dozen times, but he doesn’t understand.”
“I do fucking understand,”
the human snapped. “We threw a party in the pub in the village when that human girl took the crown. I’m telling you, Cyrus, you don’t have to worry about the bird king or whatever the fuck he’s called.”
“And I’ve told you,”
Cyrus sighed, exasperated. “They killed her. Must’ve done, right? Since nothing really changed after she won.”
“You don’t know that,”
the human grumbled.
Cyrus grinned at us again. “I swear, he never shuts up about the Slúagh queen. All the humans act like she’s the incarnation of Aisling herself, but I’m sure that either that girl is long dead, or they’re keeping her as a pet and by now she’s been fucked so hard she’d wish she was they killed her.”
My pulse pounded loudly in my ears, like the ominous ticking of a clock. Then, before I could think what I was doing, my fist connected with the soldier’s jaw, sending him crashing to the ground with a resounding thud. “That’s my fucking wife you’re insulting.”
With a maniacal chuckle, Bael swiftly took down the other guard, his lion-like strength evident as he effortlessly subdued the man. The air crackled with tension, and within seconds, we were standing in a puddle of fresh blood, two obsidian armored corpses at our feet.
I breathed heavily, and looked over at Bael, almost anxious. I wasn’t really sure what had come over me, but certainly that had been an overreaction and I didn’t want to hear him point it out.
To my great relief, he only shrugged. “No great loss, I’d say. They wanted to be free of their post anyway…now they are.”
I let out a long breath. “We need to move,”
I said sharply, my mind “Before someone else comes looking for them.”
Bael grinned, seeming invigorated by the violence. “Lead the way.”
Nodding, I turned to face the Hedge once more. With a deep breath, I took a resolute step over the wall, and blinked as the glamor immediately faded and it suddenly became very clear why this was the only point at which one could cross into Underneath.
Before us stood a massive and seemingly endless chasm. Jagged rocks jutted out from the fiery lava below, and the foul-smelling steam rising from the depths only added to the ominous aura of the place. The sound of crackling lava and hissing steam echoed, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of sulfur and ash, reminding me uncontrollably of the scent of Wilde magic that hung over Aftermath and followed wherever the afflicted went.
Directly beneath our feet, a narrow bridge stretched precariously over the gaping chasm, its length disappearing beyond my range of vision.
I looked back at Bael, and was slightly unnerved to find him beaming with excitement. A sense of unease washed over me, but I shoved it to the back of my mind. Somewhere beyond this chasm, my brother was holding Lonnie hostage and I would find her…even if it killed me.