Dagger's Sleep, page 14
part #1 of Beyond the Tales Series
Captain Degotaga nodded. “Very good.”
Daemyn reclaimed a pack from one of the guards. Instead of strolling next to Captain Degotaga, he matched his stride to Rosanna’s.
She wasn’t sure why walking in stride with him felt so natural, as natural as matching her paddle stroke to his. “How much farther to Tuckawassee?”
“We’ll be there tomorrow morning. The Cheyandoah Trace is just ahead, and we’ll stay at Fort Last Chance tonight.” Daemyn held a branch out of her way. “It’s a small outpost. This isn’t a high priority trail to protect. Too rough for a whole army to easily move through. The Cumber Gap to the south is your father’s primary concern.”
The Cumber Gap. The place her grandfather was killed fending off the Tuckawassee the last time the tensions flared into a fighting war.
The trail before them opened and leveled out, joining a broader trail than the one they had been on.
Daemyn reached a hand and pulled her up a large step formed by a gnarled root. “Welcome to the Cheyandoah Trace. Part of it, anyway.”
Rosanna stepped onto the worn track, wiggling her toes in her moccasins as if she could feel the history soaked into that dirt. The Trace was flattened and hardpacked from hundreds of years of human and animal feet alike.
This trail had once been the jewel of Tallahatchia. The trail, the bridges, and the runners that traversed them, connected the seven kingdoms together. The rivers made them kingdoms, but this trail united them.
Within a few miles of hiking, the trail ended at the lip of a small gorge about thirty feet wide and as many feet deep. At its bottom, a creek bubbled over rocks in miniature waterfalls a few inches to a few feet high.
The stubs of two rotting posts were barely visible on this side of the gorge. The rope bridge that had once strung between them and the long-gone posts on the other side had rotted away decades ago. Even the boards were gone.
A thin trail, newer than the Trace, switchbacked down into the gorge, across the creek, and up the other side.
How much easier would it have been in those long past days when the bridges still stood? Travelers like her could’ve crossed that gorge in a few strides on a sturdy bridge instead of trekking down and back up while carrying their gear.
“The bridges must have been a sight to behold back then. We still have a few that my father and ancestors maintained in Neskahana, but it must have been amazing to cross all of Tallahatchia without ever descending below the tops of the mountains.” Rosanna halted to close her eyes and try to imagine it.
“It was.” Daemyn’s voice was low, almost as if he was looking back into the past with her. When she glanced at him, he shrugged. “Or so I gather from the stories. It was the bridges the Pohatomie and Tuckawassee destroyed first, even before High Prince Alexander fell under his curse.”
Would the high prince rebuild the bridges and Tallahatchia’s unity when he was restored to his rightful throne? Or were the Seven Kingdoms too fractured, too broken for a high king to unite them any longer?
Daemyn glanced past her shoulder. “Go on after Captain Degotaga, Princess.” He strode around her and reached to steady Nikan. Nikan’s face had paled. With only one hand and the blood loss, he’d struggle to navigate steep descent.
Isi grabbed Rosanna’s arm and tugged her forward, following Captain Degotaga and Chogan. The rest of her guards trailed behind her.
When they were halfway down the gorge, Isi leaned closer. “Daemyn seemed to be awfully interested in talking today.”
“He’s our guide.” Rosanna shook her head and glanced over her shoulder. Daemyn remained out of earshot, half-carrying Nikan. “Besides, I’m supposed to wake up High Prince Alexander. Doesn’t that mean I’m his match or something like that? Waking him up with true love’s kiss?”
“Don’t see how you can do that if you’ve never met the man. Unless he looks terribly adorable in his sleep.” Isi gave an exaggerated flutter of her eyes. “If that’s the case, I might kiss him first.”
“Go ahead.” Rosanna slid the last few feet to the bottom. She balanced on the wet stones as she crossed the small creek. “Let’s hope we survive long enough to have to worry about how to wake the high prince. Things are only going to get harder from here.”
The grin dropped from Isi’s face. “I know. But I’ll get you through it.”
What would history say about her quest years from now? Would she be a hero who saved her country? Or was she on a hopeless, last-ditch effort for a doomed nation before unending war consumed them all?
THE FORT’S STOCKADE silhouetted sharp against the orange sky as the sun set to the west. The figures of men with bows and arrows appeared between the sharpened points of the stockade’s logs.
But beyond the stockade, a ridge stood against the sky. On the other side lay Tuckawassee.
As Captain Degotaga halted them in front of the gates, a voice boomed out. “State your business.”
Daemyn stepped next to Captain Degotaga. “Daemyn Rand, requesting entrance for the night.”
The men on the stockade stirred, and an order rang into the night. One of the two wooden gates swung open.
Captain Degotaga led the way inside. Rosanna stared up at the solid walls and the ranks of solemn men along the parapet. Fort Last Chance. The last outpost in Neskahana. Their final chance to stop an invasion if it came from here.
A stocky man with gray hair down to his shoulders clapped Daemyn on the shoulder. “Ar . . . Daemyn! Glad to see you made it here in one piece.” The man peered past Daemyn and pointed at Isi. “That her? The promised princess?”
Wait, how did this man know about her? Mostly about her, anyway.
Daemyn’s mouth twitched in his version of a smile. He steered the gray-haired man past Captain Degotaga, who had a hand on his long knife, and halted in front of Isi and Rosanna. Daemyn gestured to Rosanna. “Princess Rosanna, this is Captain Hezekiah Boda. Hezekiah, this is Princess Rosanna and her bodyguard Isi Degotaga.”
Captain Boda bowed. “It’s an honor.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Rosanna glanced from Captain Boda to Daemyn and raised her eyebrows.
“Captain Boda is a relative. He received the message I sent from Castle Deeling.” Daemyn leaned against his hardwood staff. “And when we leave tomorrow, he’ll keep an eye on our back trail.”
Something in her relaxed. After two weeks not knowing if Major Beshko followed them, they would have someone watching their backs. If all was well, Captain Boda would have nothing to report.
ROSANNA EYED THE CREST of the ridge in front of her, the border of Tuckawassee. Captain Degotaga and Daemyn strode in front of her without pausing, as if the thought of entering Tuckawassee didn’t daunt them as it did her.
She had only four guards around her now, along with Isi, Captain Degotaga, and Daemyn. They’d left Nikan and Ahanu behind at Fort Last Chance.
Isi linked her arm through Rosanna’s. “Together?”
Rosanna gave a firm nod. “Together.”
They strode forward two steps, then three more, and crossed the mountain’s crest. The mountains fell into the distance below them, the sharper peaks rising all around them with their tree-covered tips stretched toward the sky.
They were in Tuckawassee.
Shivers traced along Rosanna’s spine and fingertips.
They hiked silently, faces tight, as if all smiles and laughter had been left behind at the border. Daemyn scouted the path ahead, moving with the wariness of a deer sensing the hunter’s presence.
That night, they camped in a cluster of boulders near the headwaters of a small mountain creek that Daemyn said would lead them to the mighty Tuckawassee River as it carved its way down the mountains’ sides.
As Rosanna gnawed on her supper of dried venison and even drier hard biscuits, a flash of light in the distance caught her eye. She stood, moving to where Daemyn leaned against a boulder at the edge of the circle. The light came again, from near the ridge they had crossed that morning. “What was that?”
“Hezekiah. Sending a message.” Daemyn didn’t take his eyes from the blinking light as he answered her. His mouth tightened as the light’s random pattern continued. “He and his men spotted a band of eighteen Tuckawassee following our trail, led by a woman. He tried to delay them, but they got away.”
“Major Beshko.” Rosanna wrapped her arms around her stomach. She’d thought it would be better to know for sure, but was it? Or was it worse feeling the danger creeping closer behind them even as they strode deeper into the danger before them. “How far back?”
The flashing light ended in the darkness. Daemyn turned to her. “Not even a day. They’re catching up.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alexander
One Hundred Years Ago
ALEX GASPED FOR BREATH as he and Jadon jogged as fast as they still could after their third day of rough travel. Castle Firlin perched next to a broad bend in the Buckhannock River. The castle was nothing more than a ten-foot-tall wall ringing a broad stretch of land filled mostly with wooden buildings and a single, tall stone tower.
At this time of night, a few hours past midnight the morning of the new princess’s eighth day, the massive wooden gates were locked tight, though due to the day, the guards were alert and pacing as if they could stop the Fallen Fae’s curse on their princess through their watchfulness.
Alex could’ve told them it would do no good. His parents had stationed guards in the room with them from midnight on. Still he’d been cursed.
As he and Jadon skidded to a halt in the torchlight in front of the gate, the guards pointed their spears and bows and arrows down at him. The guard in the center brandished his spear. “Leave. This castle is closed tight for the night.”
For the first time since they’d left Castle Eyota, Alex withdrew his signet ring from the underneath his shirt, untied it from the leather cord, and slipped it onto his finger. The sapphire in its center shone even in the low light of the torches. His mission was at an end. Now was not the time to hide his identity.
Alex raised his hand for them to see the ring. “I am High Prince Alexander of Kanawhee, son of High King Atohi of the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia. I demand that you give me entrance.”
The guard peered down at him. “How do I know you’re the high prince? Just because you’re flashing a fancy ring at me doesn’t mean anything.”
“It will to your seneschal. It’s his job to recognize my signet ring and seal.” Alex huffed out a breath. The guards probably should be complimented on their diligence, but he didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with them at the moment. “I order you to fetch him at once and to give us entrance while we wait. At best, you will have given the hospitality due your high prince. At worst, you will have a rabble-rouser you can throw into the dungeons. Do you wish to risk my wrath if I am who I say I am just on the small chance I might not be?”
It was so obvious. Even with the guard’s lesser intelligence compared to Alex’s own, the man really should’ve seen it long before this.
The guard scowled. “All right. You may enter while I send men for the seneschal.”
When the gate was cracked open, Alex strode inside, his head high. He didn’t bother checking to see if Jadon followed. Of course he did, once again carrying all their packs.
They were shown a bench where they could sit and wait. Alex sat, but he couldn’t help tapping his foot. Yes, it was the middle of the night, but surely the seneschal would jump to respond when he heard who was at the gates.
Finally, the guard returned, leading a small, wiry man with thinning hair. Though small, the man carried himself and his weapons with an easy confidence.
Alex stood and held the hand with his signet ring up for the seneschal to inspect. “I am High Prince Alexander.”
“Hmm . . . yes. I suppose you are. The ring is right.” The seneschal eyed him. “You realize it’s the middle of the night. And not a good time for our king. His wife died yesterday, and the new princess will be cursed before today is out.”
Alex hadn’t come all this way to be lectured by a lowly seneschal. “I know. But this is of utmost importance. I don’t even have to speak with your king. I came to speak with the Fae who will gift a blessing to your princess. It can’t wait. I don’t know when I will have another chance to find a Fae.”
“No, I suppose not. They don’t exactly come and go at the beck and call of us mortals, even for kings.” The seneschal cocked his head. “I’ll lead you to our princess. But I warn you. We’re all very loyal to her and to our king. If you do anything that threatens them, I won’t hesitate to respond in kind, high prince or no.”
What was in the rivers up here in Buckhannock that so many citizens from the mountain peasants to the castle seneschal were willing to threaten the high prince to his face? It really was astounding. If Alex hadn’t been in such a hurry, he would’ve pursued the matter further. Perhaps he still might, once he returned to Castle Eyota free of his curse and with an abundance of time to deal with insubordination.
But right now, the minutes were ticking by. For all he knew, the Fae had already come, given a gift, and left.
“I understand.” Alex strode forward to force the seneschal to start walking.
The seneschal made some sort of humming, huffing sound and took his place in the lead with a few quick steps. He led the way, turning toward a row of the cottages along the outer wall instead of the tower. Probably another precaution as the king tried to prevent his newborn daughter from receiving a curse.
A burst of something—a deeper darkness—came from one of the cottages. Shouts. A flare of torchlight that did little to pierce blackness.
The seneschal raced forward, drawing his dagger as he ran.
Alex ran after him, though he didn’t bother with his dagger. If it was the Fallen Fae delivering the expected curse, weapons wouldn’t do any good. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Jadon’s footsteps, but he didn’t look. All that mattered was getting to that cottage in time for the Fae’s gift.
He burst inside at the seneschal’s heels. They were just in time to see a blur of darkness swirl and vanish. A stocky man with a crown perched on his black, curly hair rocked a baby in his arms, crying as if he didn’t care who saw their king openly sobbing.
Alex probably should go to the king, ask about the curse, or something like that. But, not yet. Instead, he scanned the room. He didn’t see the Fae here. Maybe he wasn’t too late.
Then, the Fae was there in a luminescent glow that seemed to emanate from the Fae’s clothes and skin. The Fae’s form was enough like a woman for Alex to think of her as she, though the Fae was so much beyond human that she wasn’t female the way a human woman was.
Her skin was gold as the sun, her eyes like the warm coals glowing on a winter’s day. But most stunning were the crystal wings spreading behind her, many pairs of them. They were shaped like a butterfly’s wings, translucent like a dragonfly’s, but etched with patterns more intricate and delicate than the most pristine snowflake.
He stepped forward, but the seneschal halted him with his spear. “Wait until after the princess has been given her gift.”
Alex swallowed back his impatience. The sobbing king probably could use some hope after the week he’d had, but Alex had been living with his curse for nearly twenty-one years. He needed it gone, and he needed it gone now.
The Fae’s voice was a golden whisper, too soft for Alex to hear what the gift was, though the king stopped weeping.
The Fae turned away from the king and the babe in his arms.
“Wait.” Alex shoved the seneschal’s spear out of the way and dashed forward. “I must speak with you.”
The Fae halted in a corner. With everyone rushing forward to surround the king and princess, the corner was as private as it could get in this tiny cottage.
Alex couldn’t look the glowing Fae in the face, so he stared at the log corner post instead. “I need you to remove my curse.”
Warmth bathed his face from the Fae’s light. “To remove your curse is beyond my power. I am but a messenger. I speak only what I am given.” Her voice was a whisper with all the power of a waterfall.
“Please. You have to try. I can’t fall asleep forever just because of some evil Fae’s whim.” Alex nearly grabbed the Fae’s arm but stopped himself. Something told him he wasn’t allowed to touch, even a sleeve.
“A whim of one of the Fallen ones, yes, but still the Highest King’s plan.”
Alex didn’t understand. If this was some plan, then why must he sleep? It wasn’t fair. “Why? Why didn’t that Fae just curse me with death and be done with it?”
“That is not a power they possess, for they do not have the authority to decide when life ends here and begins beyond.” Only the warmth in the Fae’s tone kept Alex’s anger from boiling out of his chest and into words. When he finally glanced up at the Fae, the fiery eyes were somehow sad. “They are the Restless ones. True rest is denied them, so they turn even sleep into a curse.”
If this Fae couldn’t end his curse, then was he doomed to sleep until the world ended?
No, he wouldn’t allow that to happen. There had to be a way he could end it before it even began. “Are you sure you can’t even try?” Surely if the Fallen Fae had the power to unleash a curse, a Loyal Fae could undo it.
“Only the Lord of the Fae has the power to give and to take. I am but a messenger. I speak only what I am given, even now.”
Alex drew himself straighter. If this Fae wouldn’t help him, then he would go to the Lord of the Fae himself and demand that he remove Alex’s curse. “Then I will go to the Fae land. How do I get there?”
A soft smile illuminated the Fae’s golden face. “You will find the entrance to Beyond in the heart of the water’s veil. The breeze—the breath that created all breezes—will guide you.”
What did that mean? Alex glanced over his shoulder at Jadon. Could this Fae get any more cryptic?
When Alex turned back to ask for more answers, the Fae was gone. No warning. No flash. Just gone.
Daemyn reclaimed a pack from one of the guards. Instead of strolling next to Captain Degotaga, he matched his stride to Rosanna’s.
She wasn’t sure why walking in stride with him felt so natural, as natural as matching her paddle stroke to his. “How much farther to Tuckawassee?”
“We’ll be there tomorrow morning. The Cheyandoah Trace is just ahead, and we’ll stay at Fort Last Chance tonight.” Daemyn held a branch out of her way. “It’s a small outpost. This isn’t a high priority trail to protect. Too rough for a whole army to easily move through. The Cumber Gap to the south is your father’s primary concern.”
The Cumber Gap. The place her grandfather was killed fending off the Tuckawassee the last time the tensions flared into a fighting war.
The trail before them opened and leveled out, joining a broader trail than the one they had been on.
Daemyn reached a hand and pulled her up a large step formed by a gnarled root. “Welcome to the Cheyandoah Trace. Part of it, anyway.”
Rosanna stepped onto the worn track, wiggling her toes in her moccasins as if she could feel the history soaked into that dirt. The Trace was flattened and hardpacked from hundreds of years of human and animal feet alike.
This trail had once been the jewel of Tallahatchia. The trail, the bridges, and the runners that traversed them, connected the seven kingdoms together. The rivers made them kingdoms, but this trail united them.
Within a few miles of hiking, the trail ended at the lip of a small gorge about thirty feet wide and as many feet deep. At its bottom, a creek bubbled over rocks in miniature waterfalls a few inches to a few feet high.
The stubs of two rotting posts were barely visible on this side of the gorge. The rope bridge that had once strung between them and the long-gone posts on the other side had rotted away decades ago. Even the boards were gone.
A thin trail, newer than the Trace, switchbacked down into the gorge, across the creek, and up the other side.
How much easier would it have been in those long past days when the bridges still stood? Travelers like her could’ve crossed that gorge in a few strides on a sturdy bridge instead of trekking down and back up while carrying their gear.
“The bridges must have been a sight to behold back then. We still have a few that my father and ancestors maintained in Neskahana, but it must have been amazing to cross all of Tallahatchia without ever descending below the tops of the mountains.” Rosanna halted to close her eyes and try to imagine it.
“It was.” Daemyn’s voice was low, almost as if he was looking back into the past with her. When she glanced at him, he shrugged. “Or so I gather from the stories. It was the bridges the Pohatomie and Tuckawassee destroyed first, even before High Prince Alexander fell under his curse.”
Would the high prince rebuild the bridges and Tallahatchia’s unity when he was restored to his rightful throne? Or were the Seven Kingdoms too fractured, too broken for a high king to unite them any longer?
Daemyn glanced past her shoulder. “Go on after Captain Degotaga, Princess.” He strode around her and reached to steady Nikan. Nikan’s face had paled. With only one hand and the blood loss, he’d struggle to navigate steep descent.
Isi grabbed Rosanna’s arm and tugged her forward, following Captain Degotaga and Chogan. The rest of her guards trailed behind her.
When they were halfway down the gorge, Isi leaned closer. “Daemyn seemed to be awfully interested in talking today.”
“He’s our guide.” Rosanna shook her head and glanced over her shoulder. Daemyn remained out of earshot, half-carrying Nikan. “Besides, I’m supposed to wake up High Prince Alexander. Doesn’t that mean I’m his match or something like that? Waking him up with true love’s kiss?”
“Don’t see how you can do that if you’ve never met the man. Unless he looks terribly adorable in his sleep.” Isi gave an exaggerated flutter of her eyes. “If that’s the case, I might kiss him first.”
“Go ahead.” Rosanna slid the last few feet to the bottom. She balanced on the wet stones as she crossed the small creek. “Let’s hope we survive long enough to have to worry about how to wake the high prince. Things are only going to get harder from here.”
The grin dropped from Isi’s face. “I know. But I’ll get you through it.”
What would history say about her quest years from now? Would she be a hero who saved her country? Or was she on a hopeless, last-ditch effort for a doomed nation before unending war consumed them all?
THE FORT’S STOCKADE silhouetted sharp against the orange sky as the sun set to the west. The figures of men with bows and arrows appeared between the sharpened points of the stockade’s logs.
But beyond the stockade, a ridge stood against the sky. On the other side lay Tuckawassee.
As Captain Degotaga halted them in front of the gates, a voice boomed out. “State your business.”
Daemyn stepped next to Captain Degotaga. “Daemyn Rand, requesting entrance for the night.”
The men on the stockade stirred, and an order rang into the night. One of the two wooden gates swung open.
Captain Degotaga led the way inside. Rosanna stared up at the solid walls and the ranks of solemn men along the parapet. Fort Last Chance. The last outpost in Neskahana. Their final chance to stop an invasion if it came from here.
A stocky man with gray hair down to his shoulders clapped Daemyn on the shoulder. “Ar . . . Daemyn! Glad to see you made it here in one piece.” The man peered past Daemyn and pointed at Isi. “That her? The promised princess?”
Wait, how did this man know about her? Mostly about her, anyway.
Daemyn’s mouth twitched in his version of a smile. He steered the gray-haired man past Captain Degotaga, who had a hand on his long knife, and halted in front of Isi and Rosanna. Daemyn gestured to Rosanna. “Princess Rosanna, this is Captain Hezekiah Boda. Hezekiah, this is Princess Rosanna and her bodyguard Isi Degotaga.”
Captain Boda bowed. “It’s an honor.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Rosanna glanced from Captain Boda to Daemyn and raised her eyebrows.
“Captain Boda is a relative. He received the message I sent from Castle Deeling.” Daemyn leaned against his hardwood staff. “And when we leave tomorrow, he’ll keep an eye on our back trail.”
Something in her relaxed. After two weeks not knowing if Major Beshko followed them, they would have someone watching their backs. If all was well, Captain Boda would have nothing to report.
ROSANNA EYED THE CREST of the ridge in front of her, the border of Tuckawassee. Captain Degotaga and Daemyn strode in front of her without pausing, as if the thought of entering Tuckawassee didn’t daunt them as it did her.
She had only four guards around her now, along with Isi, Captain Degotaga, and Daemyn. They’d left Nikan and Ahanu behind at Fort Last Chance.
Isi linked her arm through Rosanna’s. “Together?”
Rosanna gave a firm nod. “Together.”
They strode forward two steps, then three more, and crossed the mountain’s crest. The mountains fell into the distance below them, the sharper peaks rising all around them with their tree-covered tips stretched toward the sky.
They were in Tuckawassee.
Shivers traced along Rosanna’s spine and fingertips.
They hiked silently, faces tight, as if all smiles and laughter had been left behind at the border. Daemyn scouted the path ahead, moving with the wariness of a deer sensing the hunter’s presence.
That night, they camped in a cluster of boulders near the headwaters of a small mountain creek that Daemyn said would lead them to the mighty Tuckawassee River as it carved its way down the mountains’ sides.
As Rosanna gnawed on her supper of dried venison and even drier hard biscuits, a flash of light in the distance caught her eye. She stood, moving to where Daemyn leaned against a boulder at the edge of the circle. The light came again, from near the ridge they had crossed that morning. “What was that?”
“Hezekiah. Sending a message.” Daemyn didn’t take his eyes from the blinking light as he answered her. His mouth tightened as the light’s random pattern continued. “He and his men spotted a band of eighteen Tuckawassee following our trail, led by a woman. He tried to delay them, but they got away.”
“Major Beshko.” Rosanna wrapped her arms around her stomach. She’d thought it would be better to know for sure, but was it? Or was it worse feeling the danger creeping closer behind them even as they strode deeper into the danger before them. “How far back?”
The flashing light ended in the darkness. Daemyn turned to her. “Not even a day. They’re catching up.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alexander
One Hundred Years Ago
ALEX GASPED FOR BREATH as he and Jadon jogged as fast as they still could after their third day of rough travel. Castle Firlin perched next to a broad bend in the Buckhannock River. The castle was nothing more than a ten-foot-tall wall ringing a broad stretch of land filled mostly with wooden buildings and a single, tall stone tower.
At this time of night, a few hours past midnight the morning of the new princess’s eighth day, the massive wooden gates were locked tight, though due to the day, the guards were alert and pacing as if they could stop the Fallen Fae’s curse on their princess through their watchfulness.
Alex could’ve told them it would do no good. His parents had stationed guards in the room with them from midnight on. Still he’d been cursed.
As he and Jadon skidded to a halt in the torchlight in front of the gate, the guards pointed their spears and bows and arrows down at him. The guard in the center brandished his spear. “Leave. This castle is closed tight for the night.”
For the first time since they’d left Castle Eyota, Alex withdrew his signet ring from the underneath his shirt, untied it from the leather cord, and slipped it onto his finger. The sapphire in its center shone even in the low light of the torches. His mission was at an end. Now was not the time to hide his identity.
Alex raised his hand for them to see the ring. “I am High Prince Alexander of Kanawhee, son of High King Atohi of the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia. I demand that you give me entrance.”
The guard peered down at him. “How do I know you’re the high prince? Just because you’re flashing a fancy ring at me doesn’t mean anything.”
“It will to your seneschal. It’s his job to recognize my signet ring and seal.” Alex huffed out a breath. The guards probably should be complimented on their diligence, but he didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with them at the moment. “I order you to fetch him at once and to give us entrance while we wait. At best, you will have given the hospitality due your high prince. At worst, you will have a rabble-rouser you can throw into the dungeons. Do you wish to risk my wrath if I am who I say I am just on the small chance I might not be?”
It was so obvious. Even with the guard’s lesser intelligence compared to Alex’s own, the man really should’ve seen it long before this.
The guard scowled. “All right. You may enter while I send men for the seneschal.”
When the gate was cracked open, Alex strode inside, his head high. He didn’t bother checking to see if Jadon followed. Of course he did, once again carrying all their packs.
They were shown a bench where they could sit and wait. Alex sat, but he couldn’t help tapping his foot. Yes, it was the middle of the night, but surely the seneschal would jump to respond when he heard who was at the gates.
Finally, the guard returned, leading a small, wiry man with thinning hair. Though small, the man carried himself and his weapons with an easy confidence.
Alex stood and held the hand with his signet ring up for the seneschal to inspect. “I am High Prince Alexander.”
“Hmm . . . yes. I suppose you are. The ring is right.” The seneschal eyed him. “You realize it’s the middle of the night. And not a good time for our king. His wife died yesterday, and the new princess will be cursed before today is out.”
Alex hadn’t come all this way to be lectured by a lowly seneschal. “I know. But this is of utmost importance. I don’t even have to speak with your king. I came to speak with the Fae who will gift a blessing to your princess. It can’t wait. I don’t know when I will have another chance to find a Fae.”
“No, I suppose not. They don’t exactly come and go at the beck and call of us mortals, even for kings.” The seneschal cocked his head. “I’ll lead you to our princess. But I warn you. We’re all very loyal to her and to our king. If you do anything that threatens them, I won’t hesitate to respond in kind, high prince or no.”
What was in the rivers up here in Buckhannock that so many citizens from the mountain peasants to the castle seneschal were willing to threaten the high prince to his face? It really was astounding. If Alex hadn’t been in such a hurry, he would’ve pursued the matter further. Perhaps he still might, once he returned to Castle Eyota free of his curse and with an abundance of time to deal with insubordination.
But right now, the minutes were ticking by. For all he knew, the Fae had already come, given a gift, and left.
“I understand.” Alex strode forward to force the seneschal to start walking.
The seneschal made some sort of humming, huffing sound and took his place in the lead with a few quick steps. He led the way, turning toward a row of the cottages along the outer wall instead of the tower. Probably another precaution as the king tried to prevent his newborn daughter from receiving a curse.
A burst of something—a deeper darkness—came from one of the cottages. Shouts. A flare of torchlight that did little to pierce blackness.
The seneschal raced forward, drawing his dagger as he ran.
Alex ran after him, though he didn’t bother with his dagger. If it was the Fallen Fae delivering the expected curse, weapons wouldn’t do any good. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Jadon’s footsteps, but he didn’t look. All that mattered was getting to that cottage in time for the Fae’s gift.
He burst inside at the seneschal’s heels. They were just in time to see a blur of darkness swirl and vanish. A stocky man with a crown perched on his black, curly hair rocked a baby in his arms, crying as if he didn’t care who saw their king openly sobbing.
Alex probably should go to the king, ask about the curse, or something like that. But, not yet. Instead, he scanned the room. He didn’t see the Fae here. Maybe he wasn’t too late.
Then, the Fae was there in a luminescent glow that seemed to emanate from the Fae’s clothes and skin. The Fae’s form was enough like a woman for Alex to think of her as she, though the Fae was so much beyond human that she wasn’t female the way a human woman was.
Her skin was gold as the sun, her eyes like the warm coals glowing on a winter’s day. But most stunning were the crystal wings spreading behind her, many pairs of them. They were shaped like a butterfly’s wings, translucent like a dragonfly’s, but etched with patterns more intricate and delicate than the most pristine snowflake.
He stepped forward, but the seneschal halted him with his spear. “Wait until after the princess has been given her gift.”
Alex swallowed back his impatience. The sobbing king probably could use some hope after the week he’d had, but Alex had been living with his curse for nearly twenty-one years. He needed it gone, and he needed it gone now.
The Fae’s voice was a golden whisper, too soft for Alex to hear what the gift was, though the king stopped weeping.
The Fae turned away from the king and the babe in his arms.
“Wait.” Alex shoved the seneschal’s spear out of the way and dashed forward. “I must speak with you.”
The Fae halted in a corner. With everyone rushing forward to surround the king and princess, the corner was as private as it could get in this tiny cottage.
Alex couldn’t look the glowing Fae in the face, so he stared at the log corner post instead. “I need you to remove my curse.”
Warmth bathed his face from the Fae’s light. “To remove your curse is beyond my power. I am but a messenger. I speak only what I am given.” Her voice was a whisper with all the power of a waterfall.
“Please. You have to try. I can’t fall asleep forever just because of some evil Fae’s whim.” Alex nearly grabbed the Fae’s arm but stopped himself. Something told him he wasn’t allowed to touch, even a sleeve.
“A whim of one of the Fallen ones, yes, but still the Highest King’s plan.”
Alex didn’t understand. If this was some plan, then why must he sleep? It wasn’t fair. “Why? Why didn’t that Fae just curse me with death and be done with it?”
“That is not a power they possess, for they do not have the authority to decide when life ends here and begins beyond.” Only the warmth in the Fae’s tone kept Alex’s anger from boiling out of his chest and into words. When he finally glanced up at the Fae, the fiery eyes were somehow sad. “They are the Restless ones. True rest is denied them, so they turn even sleep into a curse.”
If this Fae couldn’t end his curse, then was he doomed to sleep until the world ended?
No, he wouldn’t allow that to happen. There had to be a way he could end it before it even began. “Are you sure you can’t even try?” Surely if the Fallen Fae had the power to unleash a curse, a Loyal Fae could undo it.
“Only the Lord of the Fae has the power to give and to take. I am but a messenger. I speak only what I am given, even now.”
Alex drew himself straighter. If this Fae wouldn’t help him, then he would go to the Lord of the Fae himself and demand that he remove Alex’s curse. “Then I will go to the Fae land. How do I get there?”
A soft smile illuminated the Fae’s golden face. “You will find the entrance to Beyond in the heart of the water’s veil. The breeze—the breath that created all breezes—will guide you.”
What did that mean? Alex glanced over his shoulder at Jadon. Could this Fae get any more cryptic?
When Alex turned back to ask for more answers, the Fae was gone. No warning. No flash. Just gone.
