Through the Fairy Ring

Chapter Thirty-Three

Drostan and I trudged along. After seeing his brown eye peeping sideways at me through his shaggy bangs for the thirteenth time, I said, "Okay, what?"

"I've been thinking about Amena. I hate to say it, but it's looking more and more that she's responsible for all of this trauma."

"Arden would say we don't know anything for sure."

He winced. "She kidnapped a kid and left him in a cage. The woman who raised me was a very different person from the one she is today. She was the kind of Pixie you could count on to be caring and honest. She definitely wouldn't have taken advantage of anyone, and she would never have caged a poor boy. It's like she's gone nuts. I don't know who she is."

"The Queen's hidden who she's become because she's kept secrets from you. I think there comes a time in everyone's life where we realize our parents aren't who we thought they were. When you're a kid, your parents are your life. Then we grow up, and we find out they aren't perfect."

He dropped his head. "You're right, but this goes beyond not being perfect. I protected her when I shouldn't have."

"You were trying to be a good son and Pixie."

We walked in silence for a bit, and then Drostan said, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but how can you go and be Edlark's concubine?"

I kicked a rock off the pathway and watched it bounce into the grass. "If the kids died because I didn't, I could never live with myself. It would be a worse prison than Edlark's offer."

"But aren't Arden and you...involved."

A laugh barked from my throat. "That's a good word. Involved. Yes, but we've never been together. You know Breeju is his wife, and he's too good a man to deny his duty as a husband, even though they've never really been husband and wife." I sighed. "It's complicated. And I still have to save Meara and Garron, even if it means giving up being with Arden."

My mind wandered into the territory of what it might be like to be someone's concubine. Would Edlark make me sleep with him? The mystery of having sex with a Fairy was a little frightening. What happened with his wings? I guessed they meant he'd always be on top.

And then we were at the Fairy Ring. I walked into the center and smiled at Drostan. "Well, I'm sure we'll see each other again some time."

"You've got the map?"

I patted the pocket of my jeans. Before we'd left the Devil's Tower, Drostan had drawn me a map so I wouldn't get lost the second time around. "I think I'm good to go."

"Good luck then."

The lump in my throat prevented me from speaking. Drostan murmured the chant to send me to Shee-Elan, and within seconds I was standing on the familiar rocky beach. Today the sky was clear. Birds similar to gulls circled overhead, searching for tasty morsels on the sand. They had the same appearance as the sea-faring birds, but their coloring was like a peacock's feathers, teal bodies with purple accent feathers. I took a moment to enjoy them wheeling and dipping in the sky, aware I was only procrastinating against the inevitable. Still, it was as if I couldn't make my feet move. Like I'd grown roots and would remain on the beach forever.

"Come on, one footstep at a time," I muttered. With a sigh, I took the first step and then another, saying Meara's name when the left foot took a step and Garron's with the right. It was all I needed, and soon I arrived at the village where the pathway ended and where I'd met the Beetak previously. Frightened of running into another one, I hid behind a large clump of rosy-colored flowering bushes and pulled out the map.

The path reappeared just past the last thatched-roof home, and a forest lay maybe a hundred yards down the way. Once the trees swallowed me up, I felt a little of the tension in my shoulders release. My mind tried to wander back into the events of the last two days, but I cut myself off.

"No, Hazel. You're not thinking anymore." I scanned the woodsy surroundings to distract myself. A light breeze blew the tree limbs back and forth in gentle arcs, and the sun shone brightly through the trees. By all appearances it was a typical sunny day, but an undercurrent of wrongness permeated the serenity. I shook my head. Maybe the stress of going to Edlark had gotten to me.

But the ominous sense of being watched remained.

"Now what?" I muttered, casually glancing behind me while also speeding my pace. If something was out there, I didn't want to give any indication that I was alert to them.

The harder I listened, the deeper the silence grew. The lack of birds chirping to each other prickled the hair on the back of my neck.

I couldn't see it, but there was something out there.

Keeping the majority of my attention on my surroundings, I stretched my mind, reaching for the well of Earthforce magic outside my regular awareness. The thick forest prevented any real heat source for Fire magic. I wasn't very good at using the dirt and rocks yet. They were very reluctant to move from their spots and so took too much energy to use in a fight. No water around. That left air. I pulled some of the magic into my mind, breathing deeply to maintain control of the wild energy.

A twig snapped behind me, to my left. I spun around and searched the woods. A sapling swayed, as if someone had brushed past it, but no sight of who might have caused the motion.

I centered my stance for maximum stability, and pulled the breeze down from the treetops. My hair fluttered, and my shirt flapped.

A growl came from up the road behind me. I pivoted, twisted the wind around my body, and sent it spiraling down the path. The creature waiting at the end squinted against the wind which flattened heavy black fur against its head.

Oh crap. It was the creature who killed Arden's horse.

The creature crouched to the ground, as if readying to leap. I jumped to the right and sent another blast along the path. Loose dirt and pebbles peppered the creature. It snarled and pawed at its eyes, blinking furiously.

I ran deeper into the forest, keeping the creature in my peripheral vision, and scanned the ground for a big stick. Wind wasn't going to cut it. I needed a weapon or a heat source to make Fire magic. Or both.

Only twigs and large fallen tree limbs scattered the ground, but a trickle of sunlight bounced against the shadows of the forest floor ahead of me. I ran as hard as I could toward it, jumping over logs and tree trunks. Behind me, the crackle and crash of forest debris clued me in the creature was gaining.

I ducked my head and narrowly missed poking my eye out on a low-hanging branch. My chest ached, and my feet kept getting caught in the logs scattered on the ground. I hazarded a glance backward.

The creature had slowed as well, its balance affected by all the logs. Even still, it was gaining, just at a slower pace. I attempted to jump a gigantic downed tree that stood chest high, but the twigs underfoot shifted, and I smacked into the side like a bug on a windshield.

"Damn." Something had tunneled through the nest of grass, twigs, and branches beneath the tree. I scurried through, but caught my hair and shirt on the still leafy tree limbs underneath. I yanked at my sleeve and tore it free. I fell backward, and the hair snagged in the tree ripped from my scalp.

Tears filled my eyes, blurring the black shape that sailed over the top of the tree. I scuttled backward and blinked my eyes. The creature came into focus on my right, a snarling, snapping blockade. I broke a stick off the underside of the tree and jabbed at its face and eyes.

It backed away several steps and gave me a look that chilled my blood. Once again, with an intelligence beyond an ordinary animal, the wolf creature surveyed me. Maintaining eye contact, it slunk over to a grassy patch a short distance away and lay down, crossing its paws as if it had all the time in the world. From where it lay, it could see if I left from either side. I was trapped.