I must look ridiculous, scrambling after Rhydian as fast as I can walk while wiping my chin with the hem of my robe. Oh fuck. Please, please let it be clear that it is breakfast I’m wiping off and not…er…Rhydian.
He strides out into an enormous courtyard. My mind whites out for a moment as a dim memory flickers of seeing this place on television for the Trooping of the Guard. The juxtaposition of my old reality and my new one is almost too much to cope with.
But there is no time to adjust, because now a carriage is rolling around the corner. Gold and ostentatious. Cinderella would be embarrassed to be seen in it. My gaze flicks to the four horses pulling it, and my heart forgets how to beat.
Those are not horses. Those are horse-sized deer. Shadow black, with glowing red eyes.
My jaw drops open as the giant deer trot right up to me. Their cloven hooves are silent on the cobblestones. Actual tendrils of shadow seem to twine and twist like smoke around their black antlers.
One of the leading deer curls its lips in the way horses do, but those are not horse teeth. Pointed, wicked looking canines gleam at me.
Rhydian yanks on my leash, pulling me forward and closer to these monstrous beasts. He bundles me up into the carriage, and as I sit on the plush red velvet, I actually feel safer. Being behind the beasts, in a stout, enclosed carriage, definitely feels safer than standing next to them.
The carriage lurches forward, and I yelp. My hand clings onto Rhydian’s thigh as if it is a lifebuoy in a stormy sea.
We whiz out of the palace and onto the streets of London. The carriage is smooth once it gets going, and I force myself to take a couple of deep breaths and to calm down. I look at my hand on Rhydian’s muscular thigh. He hasn’t moved it. So, I’m not going to either.
“Tell me what you see with your human eyes,” he says.
Oh right, yes. I have a job to do. I look out of the window and try to get my bearings.
My mind and my eyes argue for a moment. What I am seeing cannot be real. It is London, but empty of traffic. Nearly empty of people. No cars, red buses or black taxis. No cyclists weaving through the mass of humanity.
Empty streets. Weeds poking through the cracks in the pavement. It looks post apocalyptic, which, fuck, I suppose it is.
“Well?” asks Rhydian.
I force a swallow down my throat. “It looks as if my world has ended,” I say softly.
He flinches, ever so slightly. If my hand wasn’t on his thigh, I wouldn’t have felt it and I never would have known.
“I haven’t ordered them to stay inside,” he says.
“There is a frigging fairytale carriage being pulled by nightmare monster beasts roaming the streets, I’m not surprised they are staying inside!” I exclaim.
Even though I’m immensely relieved to hear that’s where everyone is and that the fey haven’t murdered them all.
“Shadow Elk.”
“What?”
“The creatures pulling the carriage are called Shadow Elk.”
I glare at him. How can anyone miss the point so utterly and completely? The bastard isn’t even looking at me. He is staring pointedly out of the window instead.
“What else do you see?” he asks.
I sigh in exasperation. “What do you mean?”
Silence falls. Nothing but the gentle creaking of the carriage as we drive through the eerie streets.
“I see nature reclaiming what has been stolen from her,” he says softly, as he gestures at the weeds. His head tilts up towards the tall buildings. “I see concrete monstrosities built as temples to human greed. I see prisons where humans toiled, away from the sun and the breeze, selling their precious time for money. I see misery and wasted lives.”
I lean back in the plush seat and cross my arms. Whatever I was expecting him to say, it wasn’t that. It sounds like something from the Matrix film. Or something some hippy influencer on TikTok might say. Regardless of what it reminds me of, it has pissed me off and I don’t know why. I mean, I hated my shitty job and my crappy life. I moaned about society and what a bum deal my generation had, just like everyone else. And none of that is a million miles from Rhydian’s declaration. Perhaps I’m simply insulted by his low opinion of humans.
“There is alsobeauty,” I say.
Rhydian turns to look at me. Amber eyes full of interest.
