The fae man grunted and something in the air began shimmering as if light was awaking around him. That lilac glow spread to entirely surround him and to form trails of mist, but only briefly, before the effect waned, wore off, and died. As the glow died, a calm settled into the entire space.
When I looked, the fae was lying in a heap, his knees bent oddly, and Alesso was resting on one elbow, holding his side with blood dripping over his hands, staring wildly at the fae man.
One of the fae warriors dashed close and bowed down to look closely at Lyria, only for a second, until he ran back to the others. He yelled a strange word, clearly in the fae language, with strange, harsh sounds, and the others murmured. They began backing away. Dispersing.
“No!” Lyria yelled, pushed me out of the way, and rushed past me. Then Lyria was on top of the fae man I had thought Alesso had killed, but who was now trying to sit up, eyes veritably blazing. Lyria’s dagger met his chest before he was sitting up, and she drove it into the fae’s midriff, groaning through her teeth with the effort.
Alesso was struggling to sit up, too, and with that same strained move, plunged the sword between the fae’s ribs. I watched as he checked the fae’s face, and his own face twisted in grim reaction. Then he fell back again.
The fae was still able to mutter a word, an incantation, though he was lying down, his face in a grimace. It solidified in the air, floated free. Lyria caught it from the air between two hands, but it exploded and hit Lyria, throwing her off, sending her sprawling on the ground. It was my turn to rush. I kicked away the fae man’s sword and bowed over Lyria to see if she was alright.
Alesso beside us pulled out the bloodied sword, and the fae groaned and rolled onto his back on the sand. I turned back to Lyria to frantically check on her. “Oh my god, are you alright?” I began to gather her in my arms.
She sat up, pulling on my out-stretched arms, but just as I thought she was in my arms, I realized she was only pushing past me, climbing onto her feet. That’s when I felt the grip on my hair, and someone yanking me back by it. Disoriented, I tried to see who it was, as I was fumbling for my dagger.
Lyria, from beside me, leapt up, made her way to Alesso and the fae in a few moves, and I saw the fae move his hand to get his sword from the small distance where I had kicked it, eyes on Alesso. But Lyria was there first, grabbing that sword from him, raising it high, and driving it trough him…pinning him to the ground. His growl was horrifying. I couldn’t look, I turned away shielding my face, as the crunching of bones made me wince. I hid behind my hands.
The words that Lyria uttered through her teeth didn’t sound like any human language, but not incantations, either, at least not any familiar to me.
I realized the other fae were gone.
Lyria was still gripping the handle of the blade, still all tense, as if ready to pounce with the smallest sound. Then finally she seemed to relax, too. She shook off the blade and let the purple liquid, the fae’s blood, drip off, before wiping the tip to the fae’s cape. Only then she put the blade down.
“Always make sure their eyes stop burning,” Lyria said softly to Alesso, in a mixed tone of voice. “Otherwise you haven’t finished the job.”
“I didn’t finish the kill?” Alesso asked, his voice coarse, sounding genuinely surprised.
Lyria shook her head.
“We always have wizards with,” Alesso said, almost defensively. “I’ve killed these beasts, but when moving with the troops, we always have wizards with us. I know they’re important, they work their magic, but I don’t know what they do…It’s not enough to kill fae like human men? I thought they’d die after a sword cut?”
“No,” Lyria said in a soft whisper.
“With their heads cut off?” Alesso said, a question, and Lyria took it as such, a question, and said in the same tone of voice:
“Then, yes…I’m sure you’ve killed some without any wizards’ help as well. Wizards just do certain things, making sure.”
“Hmh.” Alesso rested his head back, breathing out heavily, and closed his eyes.
Chapter 5
From a small distance, Alesso grunted. Lyria went to him.
“Princess,” the soldier said, his voice hardly audible to me, then pulled a sharp breath. “No, I correct myself, my Queen, of course. You know what’s going on with me, don’t you?”
He waited, I waited, but Lyria didn’t give him an answer. I couldn’t see Lyria’s face.
Our small blanket camp seemed vulnerable in the open desert, the stars above offering lousy light.
“Could you help me out?” Alesso sounded strained. “Am I right to ask? Can you do it?”
Lyria picked up the gauze we’d been using and dried Alesso’s wounds again. More red and purple liquids had simply kept oozing out and wouldn’t stop: his blood, some of it having chemically reacted with the fae venom. I remembered hearing there was no antidote. I didn’t know if it mattered how badly you were bitten.
“How are you feeling? Does it still sting, badly?” Lyria asked.
“Well, it’s a fae bite,” Alesso grunted, half smiling. “It’s not getting any better.”
Lyria nodded, her shoulders all tense.
“I’ll likely need you to help me in a while,” Alesso said again.
“I understand.” Lyria pulled a nervous breath and her hand went to her dagger, briefly, as if without her thinking, but with the same move, she instantly pulled her hand back and let it be. By her shaking hand, I could tell how skittish she was. “I’m sorry about this. How quick it all happened. And how soon. We’re only hardly out of the Castle yard.”
Alesso huffed, not unkindly. “Don’t be sorry. I’ve made my peace years ago. Mercenary. I’m surprised I got all these years.”
Lyria started, but Alesso went on in a bafflingly nonchalant tone. “No, really, I’ve lived. Lost friends.”
Lyria was quiet for what I felt was a long time. Then she said again, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. My life, my battle. And I’ve felt old for years, you know. Not the kind of old you’re probably thinking, but I’ve felt at the end of my life.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Which probably doesn’t make an ounce of sense to you, but that’s how it is. Can you give me a minute?”
“My god…Of course.” Lyria sounded apologizing. She backed away on her knees, then clambered up to her feet and came over to me.
“And how are you feeling, Milla?”
I turned my eyes to meet hers and had no words. Her eyes glowed the fiercest lilac.
“I’m alright,” I said, to say something to answer the question. It was clear she had noted my reaction, but she seemed to brush it off and pretend to not notice.
“Are you scared, Milla?…It’s okay, if you are. I know I am. We’re in fae territory. Did you know this is fae territory, nowadays?”
I nodded. She was avoiding my eyes, and I thought she wasn’t aware of it, but she was:
“Is it my eyes? Are they showing? The Fae Sight?”
“Yes,” I said, relieved that we could talk about it.
She raised her hands to her sides, in a response that didn’t really say much.