A Sacrifice of Names

Chapter 15

Dreadful, that was perhaps the only right word Earie could come up with to describe the day-long journey. At one point, after hitting a rather profound bump in the road, she even realised how much she had taken the bus rides to campus for granted for all these years.

They had reached the border of the Court of Light long before sunset. Keely had been right, time moved rather oddly in this place. The closer they got to the middle of both courts, or the Quiet Lands, as they called the abandoned piece of land between both courts, the more balanced light and dark became, but it would not take long before the days would grow shorter the closer they would get to the Shadow Court's borders. Crossing the border into the Quiet Land had not exactly been thrilling. Apart from two weary-looking men nodding their heads towards those who passed Earie had not seen anything that indicated they had passed a border. Still, she wasn't going to underestimate it either. The regent hadn't exactly come across as a man who didn't have some vicious tricks hidden up his sleeve.

They were watched, she was sure of it. Watched until the last of the carriages passed the border, because after that everything went eerily silent.

She wasn't quite sure what she had expected from this specific piece of land. On the map that Keely had shown her a few days prior she had seen small drawings that indicated a forest, and the closer they had gotten to the border, the denser the forest had become. The Quiet Land was a green wasteland. Nature had taken over in a way she had never seen before. Unfortunately, that also meant that the quality of the paths grew worse, even worse than they had been up till that point in her opinion.

Afraid she would end up with a tailbone injury Earie, therefore, made the decision it would be better to walk for a bit. The carriages passed at foot pace, nothing she couldn't keep up with. At least Innogen's training had increased her endurance a little.

A few others had made the same decision, and while she was getting a few curious glances, Earie wisely kept her mouth shut. Anything she said now could jeopardise the entire mission. And thus, until they reached a suitable spot to make camp for the night, she played stupid and kept a polite smile plastered onto her lips.

✒

"No tents?"

Brenhin looked over his shoulder, flashing a weary grin in her direction.

"Why would we? The skies are clear," he mused before pushing himself up. "A cosy bedroll is all you need to sleep beneath a roof of stars like this? Never done so?"

She had, as a child in her grandmother's back garden, but that was beside the point. With everyone out here it would get a lot more difficult to slip away unseen before dawn. At least a tent would have given her a little more cover.

"I prefer a little privacy, that is all."

He laughed, "never knew you lot could be so prude."

Earie raised an eyebrow. "That has absolutely nothing to do with being prude or not."

This in-between land was uninhabited. No fae of any sort had even made their home here. Not even sprites, nymphs, or any manner of creature did. Not even animals, which made the place eerily quiet. Sneaking away later under the guise of wanting to find a small body of water to bathe in would be easy, hoping Keely and Innogen had caught up with them by now and follow her.

A little revision in their current plan of action was perhaps needed at this point.

Earie sat herself down with a small sigh, absentmindedly massaging her calves with the tips of her fingers. So far she had only seen this path leading through the dense forest. No turn, or even a sign that indicated where they were. Close enough to the Shadow Court's border, she had picked up from another faerie's conversation with one of the guards. Not one mention of the other border though, the border that would take her back to her own world.