When all four of us were finally back together, I sheathed my knife and stated, “They’re efficient. Well trained.”
“Agreed,” King Elon stated, scratching at the mud and brown grass caked on his throat, attempting to rub it off. “We can make it through the first set of guardians but not the second without being seen.”
Minnie’s lips twitched. “I have an idea.”
“What is that, my love?” I asked, curious about what her skillset could bring to this discussion. She still recruited and trained a small army in Jarisbur—one that still remains hidden, even five hundred years later. My soul mate was…pretty fucking amazing. “If we attack, it has to be from a distance.”
She lifted up one finger. “Give me a moment.” My soul mate closed her golden eyes and placed her hands on the ground, digging her fingers into the dirt. “There are too many to defend ourselves against. Stealth will be needed.”
The three of us watched brown vines curl around her fingers, her flora elf magic working slowly on this foreign land. The vines slithered around her forearms up to her biceps and began curving over her shoulders. Vines grew and split, covering her neck and head, down her back and hips until she was utterly one with the background. Then tiny brown flowers bloomed and completed the look to perfection.
Igrinned.
Minnie opened her eyes, barely seen through the slits in the vines and flowers. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re a bloody genius,” I mumbled in admiration.
The King of Dragons grunted and nodded in approval. “Can you do that to all of us at once?”
“I may need to do it one at a time.” She shook her head slowly, the vines softly moving with her. “Fairy feels different than our realm. It was harder than normal to do this.”
King Elon cocked his head. “You can handle the magic from far away?”
“At home, it would be easy. But I think I’ll feel better if I can keep eyes on you.”
“I agree. Which means you need to go last, love.” I stared into her eyes through the brown flowers. “Are you comfortable with that?”
She nodded and began letting the vines fall away and started on the gorgon king’s body, watching her work closely while she asked absently, “Do we have an entry point decided yet?”
“Second window on the left.” King Ula pointed at his target. “It’s open.”
“Nice vision.” I locked that away in the vault of my mind. “See anything else in there? What will we be sneaking into?”
“That, I couldn’t tell. But it’s the closest accessible window to our current location. Plus, there are more open entries, so I don’t think it’s a trap.” He squinted at the weak sun that continued to burn our skin with its rays, baking the land under us. “I imagine it’s hot in there right now. The breeze would be needed.”
“If I hear anything, I’ll try for a different window.” King Elon said but swiftly shut his mouth when the vines grew over it, a tiny slit left for him to breathe.
I watched my soul mate's work until I nodded at the completed product. “Nicely done.”
“Thank you,” Minnie stated humbly—with a wicked, proud look in her eyes. “Let us crawl back to our trees.”
Waiting for the right break, we did just that.
The gorgon king moved to infiltrate, dropping back down to his stomach. There was an efficiency to his movements, fluid…like a snake, making me shudder in place. He crawled patiently and smartly, not one guardian even looking in his direction, quickly covering the ground in less time than I thought possible. The gorgon king passed the first group of patrolling woodland sprites and, just as quickly, bypassing the second group.
I smirked when he apparently did not like the allotted window the dragon king had mentioned and, eventually, climbed into one farther down—smart gorgon, don’t trust the Fae.
Minnie bent and dug her fingers back into the dirt, and instantly, she started working on the King of Dragons while I watched the window the gorgon king had entered.
I chuckled softly, seeing his head peek up.
He looked in our direction and gave a thumbs-up.
Then his head popped back down like a mole.
I nodded at the dragon king. “It’s safe.”
Then I watched the man move. He wasnotas fluid as the gorgon king, more like an itchy bear dragging his body across a field.
