“Well done, you,” I grinned.
“Get ready,” Tiernan said back to us. “They're taking the bait.”
And they sure were. A large group of dullahans rode out of the gate on huge black steeds. They brandished their whips in their hands and had their heads attached with the collars we'd seen in HR. The gate was left wide open behind them and all of us snatched the opportunity to slide down the hill and sneak into the unsuspecting village.
Glamours firmly in place, we crept down the streets of Dathadair like a gaggle of ghosts. Not even Cat made a sound. The lanes were cobbled and uneven but that worked in our favor, dampening the noise of our boots. The open layout helped as well, with only cottages set back from the road, no steep walls nearby to echo sound. I glanced over as we neared the first cottage and then looked back for a longer perusal.
This was no quaint cottage of wood and plaster. This was a building made of bones. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, reminding myself that there was a purpose to every fey and that it wasn't for me to judge the way they lived. But as I passed the fourth bone house, it became harder for me to remain neutral. Everything in me rebelled against the thought of living within the dead. How could you raise children inside walls made of people?
With morbid curiosity I stared at the dullahan homes. Fences were made of thigh bones latched together with sinew, paths were strewn with crushed bone, and I don't even want to guess what they were using for plaster; it was a putrid gray-green in the moonlight. Skulls stared back at me balefully from the corners of the roofs, mouths hanging open to serve as downspouts for the rain gutters. I shivered, my hand twitching in Tiernan's grip.
“It's just illusion,” Tiernan whispered to me. “They aren't really made of bones and flesh.”
“They aren't?” I whispered back and then looked closer, focusing hard enough to see past the glamour and view the real homes beneath; cottages of mundane wood and stone. I sighed in relief.
“Illusion can be just as important as truth,” Raza whispered behind us. “Sometimes even more so. We fey, love our illusions.”
“Alright, we need to stay silent, we've reached the keep,” Tiernan whispered back to everyone.
The door for the keep wasn't open or unguarded but we subdued the guards easily enough and set them on the ground around the corner. We rushed inside but we didn't know where to go. If the prisoners were being held in cells, they'd most likely be in a basement level but if they were being treated as well as Mal had implied, they'd be placed in rooms above ground.
“I smell him,” Raza whispered exultantly. “This way,” he pushed ahead of me and we were left to follow his footsteps since Raza's glamour was strong enough to withstand my clairvoyance.
So down the dank hallways we went, chasing the sound of soft thuds on the bare stone floor. I could tell when we were getting closer because those footsteps came faster and I had to increase my pace to keep up with them.
The dullahan had been telling the truth. Raza led us to the top floor of the keep and we ended up racing down a long corridor to a guarded door. The guard could hear us coming and was able to focus long enough to see some of us. Though I don't think he ever saw Raza because he didn't even glance at the dragon-djinn before Raza knocked him unconscious. Unfortunately, that was where our momentum stopped. Raza's glamour fell as he growled and slammed his fist into the door.
“What is it?” I dropped my invisibility too.
“It's barred by magic,” he searched the edges of the door for some kind of weakness.
“Can't we break the spell?” Sarah asked.
“It's keyed to the dullah-” Raza stopped mid-word as he stared at Sarah. “Come here,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Then he placed her palm on the door handle. The door swung open and Raza smiled. “You're handy to have around, Sarah.”
“Handy,” I laughed and everyone looked at me. “Because he used her hand to- oh never mind. Let's go, the door's open.”
“Dad?” Rayetayah stood within the open door, gaping at all of us.
“Son,” Raza pulled Raye into a hug. “You're alright.”
“I've been waiting for you,” Raye said with the trusting assurance of a child. “I knew you'd free us.”
“I had a little help,” Raza nodded back at us. “Is everyone with you?”
“Yeah, we're all fine,” Raye turned and waved his hand back into the room. I had a brief glance of a huge crowd.
“Flight members too?” Sarah asked as she tried to peer around Raye's wings.
Raye flinched just slightly when he saw Sarah and I noticed that her shoulders tensed. But then he went on casually, “They're all fine. We were comfortable enough, considering.”
“Great, that's great,” I interrupted. “But we gotta go. It might not be as easy to get out of Dathadair as it was to get in.”
“Right,” Raye turned. “Come on, everyone, we're going home!” The people behind him started to cheer and he shushed them quickly. “We need to be fast and as quiet as possible.”
Then they started filing out; witches and raven mockers alike. Parents held somber children and tried to keep them quiet as we rushed them through the corridor and down to the stairwell at the end. I went along the line urging anyone who could glamour themselves to do so but some of the children weren't able to work the magic yet and their parents stayed visible with them.
I took a deep breath and looked to Tiernan. How were we going to get them all through the keep and then out of the village in full view. If the riders returned and started searching the village, it would be difficult to hide even with all of us using glamour but with some of them visible, it would be impossible.
