Chapter Twenty-Seven
I opened my eyes to darkness. Panic shot through me, but then I saw the shades of gray, moving slowly, and realized it was Tiernan's shadow ward. A turn of my head brought him into view, his head on a travel pillow and body angled toward me. Tiernan's expression was soft with sleep, but the sounds coming through the ward told me that others were awake, guarding us.
Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes. The image of the last briar warrior came to me. The wicked smile. The intelligence in its eyes. The blight wasn't just learning; it was evolving. It had fed upon us in a new way, taking our emotions to speed up its development. Taking our emotions for its own. Or maybe not. Every time I thought I knew what the blight was, it changed.
“Seren?” Tiernan's hand went to my back.
“Hey, baby.” I turned and bent to kiss him. “Are you alright? I saw you go down.”
“And I saw you surrounded by them. I'm fine, but what about you? After you killed the last warrior, you fell to the ground, unconscious.”
“I was just drained.” I rubbed my head. “I think it was taking our emotions to use, not just feed on.”
“Yes, it's still in survival mode. Humans say nature always finds a way. Well, this is Fey nature, and it has many ways to find.”
“Fey nature,” I whispered. “No, I don't think so. That implies it's natural, and although it may be based on nature, the Garden of Regret is not natural.”
“Maybe not, but it thinks it is. And belief—”
“Is a powerful thing,” I finished. “Yes, I know.”
“That thing embraced you.” He sat up. “It looked as if it spoke to you.”
“It did. It told me he's waiting for me.” I cracked my neck and stretched my stiff shoulders. “This is it, Tiernan. The Garden is near.”
“I know. I think that's why it retreated.”
“Retreated?”
“It could have kept coming, making new soldiers. That's what I feared would happen. But after you struck down that last soldier, the battlefield remained clear. I think it was testing our capabilities and empowering itself with our emotions. It's gathering its strength, Seren.”
I nodded. “I agree. But there's nothing we can do about it. We have to keep going.”
With a grimace, Tiernan smacked his ward, and the dark dome collapsed. He stood up and reached down to help me to my feet. Around us, several soldiers slept on pallets like the one we had used. The remaining soldiers circled our group, facing out.
“Get up, everyone!” Tiernan called. “Get some food in you. We'll be clearing the village soon.”
As the sleepers began to wake, a couple of Tiernan's guards brought us bread, cheese, dried meat, and flasks of water. We sat back down to eat, staring at the shrouded village. Nothing had changed. I would clear it slowly so I could follow the blight home. Hopefully, by the end of the day, the Garden of Regret would be nothing more than a regret itself.
I ate my meal, drank deeply, and stood up. Sleep had been what I needed—some time for my immortal healing to kick in. I felt refreshed and eager to get moving. Tiernan stood up, and a soldier cleared our pallets and pillows.
I summoned the Light and went to the stand before the village-shaped mound of blight. Starting small and working in precise blasts, I drove the darkness back, wincing at the terrible shrieks it made. Maybe I was overly sensitive after the last battle, but the shrieking seemed worse than it was at the other villages. Despite the increased volume, the blight retreated as it had before, with no warriors or King manifesting to make sinister threats. Only unconscious fairies huddled in groups.
I pressed on, leaving the awakening Basties to Tiernan and our soldiers. It was slow-going, but I kept my pace, watching every oozing withdrawal. Even after I pushed back the blight, the village remained ominous. There was a dark feel to it, as you might find in a fairy tale—the original stories that were full of murder. Or maybe a Dracula movie. But we were in a region aligned with Turkey on Earth, not Romania. There were no vampires there. Or even Baobhan-Sith. The White Women were Unseelie Fey.
Not one to be affected by ambiance, I was surprised when the hair on my forearms rose. In the other villages, I blasted back the blight to reveal bright, warm houses built with materials harvested without hurting the planet—wood from fallen trees and stones taken from the surface. Fairies do not cut down trees or dig quarries. Even the jewels we used were offered to us by the world or sung from the mountains by master jewel harvesters. That kind of compassion came through the finished product, be it a ring or a house. Fey items shone even when not enchanted. But these homes didn't have that shine. When I peeled back the layer of blight, there was little difference in tone.
I ignored the creepy feeling as I worked my way to the end of the village. Here was where I needed to be especially careful. I drew back the Light to only hit the edge of the oily tendrils as they slithered out of the village. They pulled back, inch by inch, until they took me into the forest.
While most of our soldiers remained behind to help the Basty, Tiernan and his King's Guard followed me at a short distance. The blight sucked itself out of plants and trees as I continued to drive it back—a web of disease burned away by God's magic. I hoped Anu's energy would save his sister. Without Danu, Fairy would collapse.
With excruciatingly slow progress, I tapped the blight into returning to where it had come from. After what seemed like hours, the ebony snakes led us to a cave, hidden by centuries of plant growth.
Tiernan stepped up beside me and motioned at the veil of vines, shrubs, and moss. The plants rustled and parted to reveal the large mouth of a tunnel. He pointed to the edge of the opening. “Look.”
I went closer. In the stone to the right of the cave mouth was a carving of a sun—the symbol of Seelie. But the carved lines of this stylized sun were inset with black stone instead of the usual gold. A scraping sound caught my attention, and I peered into the shadows. The blight gathered there, tendrils pulling in on itself but also reaching. Reaching for us and pulling back. Tentative.
“No reason to hold back anymore.” I blasted the blight.
