“What? Why would you go alone? They’re fae warriors.” I sat up, worry starting to knot in my gut. I should have been there with her.
“It’s okay, Milla, I spent summer after summer with them, watching the blades fly…But about Rayern and our wait for Cantillion. Something’s not adding up. I can’t put it in words, but I know something’s off.”
“What makes you think that?”
“The mood, that’s all. They were polite and all, but I’ve been around fae, I mean, I can read their nuances. At least, I’d love to believe so. Something’s off. It’s a gut feeling, nothing concrete, but it was just so unnerving. Rayern was all cool smiles, soldier conduct. He talked in the formal phrases of the fae language, so I had a hard time following. Rayern wants us to wait, of course. Cantillion is almost here, he says…Now, that might be true, even, but I’m starting to think, is that a good thing? Rayern’s face when he said it! I might be imagining things, but…I’m worried that Cantillion’s likely almost here. And suddenly I’m having a very bad feeling about this.”
“You think we should leave?”
“No, see…” She fisted her hands theatrically, huffing out, frustrated. “Who else can we turn to? Cantillion’s our only hope.”
I didn’t say anything. I could see it in her eyes that she had thought this over many, many times — perhaps she hadn’t even slept much — and everything about her spelled determination. I reached out a hand, and her lips curled into an immediate, soft smile, as she grabbed my fingers. Her smile grew perfectly brilliant for a moment.
“Want to learn a secret fae spell?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes. “Promise not to ever tell anyone I taught you?”
I swallowed, as she crossed her fingers with mine.
“These are fae, you’ll need a shield spell,” she whispered. “Just promise to never mention this to anyone. They’ll think I’m shielding you, but I can’t have my eyes everywhere, you’ll need your own spells. Want to do this?”
“Am I going to get everyone killed?” I said with a smile.
“No, unless you can somehow protect them to death,” Lyria laughed, and added, just to clarify, “You can’t.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 16
I put my dagger in its holster and paused to open up my water flask, which I had just closed, and took a quick sip. Lyria was waiting patiently outside the tent door, watching the plains. I laced on my shoes. I was lucky to have relatively practical shoes, as a chambermaid. Lyria had walked all our journey in her delicate, pointy-tipped shoes, which were of course lovely at court but hardly practical here. But she hadn’t complained.
All set up, so we’d have to take apart this tent now. A shame. I stood up, and suddenly Lyria twirled around, her hair flying.
“They’re here!”
I rushed to crawl out the entrance to stand beside her. A group of fae was approaching, fifty, sixty men, some of them riding on strange gray, furless beasts like lizards with long legs. The soldiers wore silver helmets, red capes, and tunics, and carried long swords and spears. One man jumped off the lizard he’d been riding. He looked taller than even most of these giants, dressed in fancy armor, and carrying a boastful helmet with tufts of crimson feathers.
“That would be him,” Lyria muttered to me. “My supposed tutor. Bully. Mean bastard. Namely, Cantillion.”
“Lyria! I need an explanation,” Cantillion called out. “Do tell me, why have you come to fae lands without speaking to anyone? It might even look like, to someone less intelligent than us, of course, that you were trying to sneak past our guard on ill intentions?”
“I was simply faring to my Summer Castle,” Lyria said in a tired voice. “But at the moment, enemies have overtaken it. The human lands are at war and my castles have been seized. We were supposed to come to Galandea to wait for my allies to organize their troops and come to my aid, and Galandea is my safest fort.”
“Wait for allies, eh? Powerful allies?” Cantillion asked, his eloquent, predatory eyes squinting in a way that was hard to read, apart from apparent pride and arrogance. His face was uncannily human, save for the strong jaw and cheek bones and the shape of his slightly curving, thick neck. It was also unnerving how his purple eyes had that same glow as Lyria’s, whenever Lyria’s lit up. However, Cantillion’s eyes were like veritable furnaces, burning even in bright daylight. Also, the constant scanning of the surroundings made him seemingly greedy to be in control of everything.
“I’d say they’re somewhat powerful, in human terms,” Lyria said, matter-of-fact. She looked like she had been about to say more, but bit on her tongue.
“And who are these allies?”
“Kings of some of our neighboring lands, most of them dear old friends of my father’s. You might know of some? King Refes? King Iopon?”
“Ah, yes. Both names are familiar to me…” Cantillion half-swallowed the rest, trailing off. “How interesting. But if they’d be willing to come to your aid, might they not come to your rescue, I wonder? If anything were to happen to you?” Cantillion’s smile was almost human, but the kind of scheming, calculating human, who’s looking for wins and gains.
“No. Don’t you dare,” Lyria said, voicing it as if putting her foot down. “And to be honest, Cantillion, if you snatch me away…me, your tutored halfling, whom you’ve been teaching fae ways every summer, as everyone knows…and take me to Fae, which happens to be teeming with fae warriors…I don’t think there’s a chance in heaven that these kings would come after me. See, people already think I’m one of the fae, more or less. To them it might seem only natural, if my castles here were seized, that I’d go to the Fae Kingdom. Many would not care. So, holding me hostage really won’t get you much. Certainly not those back-up armies for your coup. You would be wiser to let me go, so I can talk people over for better reasons. For prizes. For something they can gain. For something sensible.”
Cantillion flung a hand in a frustrated gesture. “People…You simply do not follow logic.”
“Oh, we follow perfect logic, if you’re only able to fill in the matters of the heart, Cantillion…With your fae logic, you lack that crucial piece.”
“You’re insulting my understanding, now? You halfling mutt…” Cantillion’s voice was more amused than angry. “But we still need human allies to take over the Fae throne, in case you’ve forgotten about our agreement? I’m still waiting for follow-up. Shall we finalize that deal, at last? I’ll help you with your castles, you get me kings with decent armies to take to slay the Fae Queen. I still have my eyes on the throne of the Fae Kingdom…I think the crown would rather suit me, and by all the blazing skies, I’d sure know what I’d do with the realm, if I got the chance to show anyone. I haven’t lost my hopes on that.”
“And I encourage you in that, I do,” Lyria said, again the diplomat, but her voice was strained, even a little shaky. “Nothing would please me more. We have enough fae attacks all over the villages, on countryside roads, everywhere, and would love that to stop, and if you got in power…I have trust in you, you would hold them back.”