The wylds are not terrifying, no,he said, the tone of his thoughts weakened even more.They are treacherous, as I’ve said, but then, so are we. So are you. They are beautiful if you see them the right way. Majestic. Really fucking disturbing, though, most of them.
So then…like you,she surmised with a grin, pausing to rip off her shirt, wipe him down with it, and toss it aside.
He didn’t so much as spare her near-nudity a glance.Like you.He paused as they reached a fork. Hethought about the direction, leaning against her heavily. He was fading fast.
I’m good,he said, and if he thought his admission was believable, he was sorely mistaken.I’ll make it,he tried again, and maybe that was truer.It’s not far now. The wylds have rules, and the Celestials mostly do their duty in managing the balance. This part is a bit…deranged, which is why they end up in the catacombs, but that’s because it’s an extension of the fringe. In other parts of the wyld, there are some truly beautiful places with lovely creatures and kind beings. They’re in secretive places that not many of my kind know about.
Your kind?
The highborn and gentry and above. The nobles, you’d say. The upper class, even. My kind doesn’t seek out the mysterious places of this land. They don’t communicate with the lesser fae and certainly don’t lower themselves to encounter the faeries and wyld things that make this land thrive. And that leads me to the real dangers of this realm. Thereallyscary places that will take more than vigilance to survive. It’ll take cunning and planning, backstabbing and betrayals. Alliances, many of whose throats you’d cut if needed.
The courts,she surmised.
Yes. The courts, ruled by the various thrones making up Faerie, and no court is as cunning, as conniving, as that ruled by the Obsidian Throne.
That sounded a lot like the dealings of Demigodsin the human realm. She filed that away for future reflection.
How do you know of these secret wyld places?she asked, her side throbbing. Fuck, that poison was intense.
I have traveled all over this realm seeking the chalices. Before I knew the most powerful of them had been hidden in the human realm, I sought them in my lands.
The most powerful…were hidden? By whom?
He pointed to the right. She barely registered a path leading away. It was only after she had changed their trajectory that he answered.
By past Celestial kings and queens. The legends say that the gods would not destroy their objects of power, and so the Celestial High Sovereign hid them across the Great Barrier—the fringe—never to be found and used against their kind.
Whichneverworks.
In the end, it seems not.
And so all you did was follow the breadcrumbs.
That is an enormous oversimplification, which discounts all the many hours I spent under the guidance of the most boring scribe ever to walk the enchanted lands—which is saying something, because they are all mind-numbing—but sure, I followed breadcrumbs.
She felt a smile bud through the pain, barely able to feel her legs now.
I’m starting to question whether the poison that touched my skin is actually fatal,she reflected.
I can’t feel my legs at all. I’m telling them to move, and it seems to be working, but they also seem like a separate part of me.
Oh. Well, I’m not so bad off as that. Good news.
For you, yes. Unless I die. Then you’re equally fucked.
Very likely. At least she had the disgruntled wylds to keep her company. They really did hope she tripped on one of the rocks.
The embankment rose on both sides, the trees not having changed but the leaves growing fuller on the branches. Ivy wrapped around the trunks of some, and as she watched, the vines uncurled slowly. They sensed visitors and wanted to check them out, maybe claim a prize for the trees that were so fond of squeezing creatures to death and drinking the spoils.
This place is going to drive me mad, I think,she whispered, realizing belatedly that it was a thought and not actual words.I wonder if Lewis Caroll took a trip through Faerie before he penned his stories.
I don’t know who that is.
She crinkled her nose as a mysterious echo ghosted by the trees. Not a sound so much as a whisper of a thought. A dark and murderous desire as yet unvoiced.
Don’t bother.She was still mentally whispering.Being used to all this, you’ll probably find it boring. I might be changing my mind about how scary this place is.
He didn’t respond, and the images in his mind,having gone from the wylds to the court they’d be heading toward, had stopped. He staggered, stumbling more frequently, and reached out with his bad hand to brace on things that weren’t there.
