Faerunners

Faelands

Tallis drifted through a cold mist of pain and exhaustion, sinking deep beneath the waves of dreamless black and only occasionally breaching the surface into awareness. He pried one eye open and found himself staring up into a field of stars.

Am I dead? he thought.

He wrenched the other eye open and tried to sit up. All his muscles were knots of cramps and pain. They wouldn't hold him. Pain meant he was alive though, and he couldn't see any storm owls around so he took that as a good sign. He was still somewhere among the living. He shut his eyes again.

"Val," someone said. "I think he's awake."

A pleased grunt answered the voice and a pair of hands slipped in under his arm. There was something comforting about them. They were strong, steady, and warm and whoever they belonged to lifted Tallis into a sitting position. He cracked an eyelid again.

He was in a forest of light. The trees around him had thin trunks and long drooping branches. Their bark glowed with a soft violet light. Leaves hung down in long streamers that kissed the forest floor and each strand was studded with twinkling blue points of light, like the fruit of these trees were the stars themselves. Fat toadstools squatted between the trees and a soft teal glow spilled out from beneath their domed tops. The grass beneath him was the iron grey of the sea on a winter morning and it was soft and smooth. It felt more like fur than grass.

Maybe he was dead after all.

"Where am I?" he rasped. His throat felt like all of the sand in the gold dunes had been packed into it.

A Greater Fae knelt in front of him. She was built like the trees, tall and willowy with pastel blue skin, and a rack of delicate but sharp antlers. "Welcome to the Highlands," she said. Her voice was like a January breeze and it sent a shiver down Tallis' spine.

He shot Valerie a worried look. "Why are we here? What's going on?"

"We're here," she said, handing him a glass bottle. "Because Cold Iron knocked the stuffing out of us."

The Greater Fae in front of him looked him and down and then nodded. She turned to address Valerie. "This one will be fine. Feed him, water him and he'll recover."

Valerie folded her arms across her chest and let out a huff. "I think he can feed and water himself."

Tallis sniffed carefully at the bottle he'd been handed. It smelled like water. He took a quick sip and let out a contented sigh. It was the coldest most delicious water he'd ever tasted in his life. He guzzled down the rest of the bottle.

He threw the bottle away. "How's everyone else?"

"It's touch and go." Valerie shrugged. "Callan is even tougher than he looks. He'll bounce back, but it's only once in a blue moon that a Fae regrows an ear." She pointed to a strip of cloth stuck to her left cheek with some kind of green paste. "I'll have a new scar but that ain't nothing to worry about. Aragam," she paused and took a breath collecting herself. "I just don't know. They staked him with Rowan wood."

Tallis' brow furrowed and he shook his head, not understanding.

"It's bad stuff for Fae creatures," Valerie continued. "There's a reason we use it to keep them away."

"Can I see them?" He pulled himself to his feet with a groan. A dull ache that had nothing to do with his physical pains sat in the center of his chest. People had gotten hurt because of him. They might die, and it was his fault.

Valerie didn't answer. She simply turned on her heel and started walking away. Tallis did his best to keep up and she led him to one of the tall trees. Pushing the curtain of leaves aside, she waved him inside.