The shadows rose out of the trees and surrounded him, twisting like a shroud. When they unwound again, he was gone.
THANKS TOsome familiar old ruins near a stream, she soon knew exactly where she was—the edge of Lavana’s family’s hunting grounds, which meant Lavana was not far. So it might’ve been prudent for her to run as far and fast as she could from that place, but she was too exhausted.
So she set about it with all the focus and energy she had left. The Greengast River was not far. North of that were the estates of Damion’s family. And in the Brackwood, deep in the wild heart of the forest, was Tamia.
Primordial trees, ancient creaking dinosaurs, towered above her. Much of the Eastern Cliffs, a narrow province on the massive claw-like continent of the Lands, was hemmed in by deep forests. Their territory touched the high Northern Plains, the primeval woods of the central Heartlands, the southern canyons and golden coasts of the Bright Edge, and their jagged curving peninsula jutted out into the South Gulf, beyond which lay the Elf King’s Realms. If they were not bickering with the Heartlands about the exact boundary or with the Northern Plains over who was required to maintain the crossroads, they were watching the seas for exiles... or invaders.
Brittle needles crunched under her feet, which seemed to be moving slower and slower. Until, finally, she was forced to sink against one of the monstrous trees and close her eyes.
Sometime later, a glint of light blinded her as the sun shouldered away the night, gold rays cutting through the thready gaps in the trees.
Her throat ached and her head hurt, not from iron, but from too little sleep and lack of food and water. Pixie though she was, she was not immune to the needs of hunger and thirst. While she knew these lands, she was not so familiar with them as to know every small stream. The Greengast was still a day, maybe more, away.
A rustle in the underbrush stopped her breath. Shoulders tense, she scanned the rusty red floor of the forest. The blanket of dried needles glowed warmly under the sun’s burgeoning light.
She forced breath back into her lungs. The forest was full of whispers and creaks. Thousands of hidden creatures were either on their way to bed or just waking for the day. But their noises were far off and muffled.
“You’ve been away too long,” she chided herself after a moment.
But then a dark figure darted out from behind a tree.
She flinched, heart leaping into a run, though the rest of her body was too tired to even push off of the ground.
The furry little figure stopped just out of reach. He sat back on his hind legs, his nose twitching in her direction as if attempting to catch her scent.
At the sight of the rat, she eased back.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said. “You followed me all the way out here?”
He dropped to all fours again and ran to her, insinuating his head under her hand.
As soon as her palm touched his head, a word leapt into her mind.
“Yes.”
She snatched her hand away. Rats couldn’t speak. Not like that. At least, no rat she’d ever known. For a moment she wondered if it was a trick, some other creature in rat form. But he looked just like the rat from Lavana’s sewers with the ragged little half-missing ear.
Tentatively, she placed the tips of her fingers against his head. Memories of his flight from the guards came back to her, the pulse of fear zipping through his tiny body, the dull metallic flavor of ichor-gold in his mouth, images of her swooping him up, and the oddest sensation, when she had kissed him, as if being jolted out of a slumber. And after that, the world looked a bit different, clearer. Scents, too. They hadn’t changed, and yet, they weren’t the same. He wasn’t the same. He’d started to think. And he hadn’t been content down in the tunnels with his family anymore. So he’d decided to find her.
Drawing her hand away, she gazed down at him. Somehow, she’d opened up something in this rat’s head, bringing him to another level of consciousness, making him something... new.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to...”
He pushed his head under her hand again. This time, he was the one who gave his thoughts to her. Though they were not as fully formed as words, they were clear. He did not want her to be sorry. He only wanted to know what he was supposed to do now.
“Whatever you’d like to do,” she said to him, now that he understood her.
He sat back again, cocking his head, as if thinking about this. Then he turned and scampered away.
She sank back against the tree, allowing her eyes to close again. She’d brought a rat to consciousness. How such a thing was possible, she had no idea, but magic was like that, especially Pixie magic. It could grow and change, fade and disappear. It was as alive as they were. And since she had not used hers in such a long time, it wasn’t really surprising she had abilities she wasn’t aware of.
Unbidden, her mind turned to Kaelan. As rare as Princes were, being among the nobility, she’d known more than a few. Yet, she’d never seen one vanish as he had. His magic was strong, even though he was physically weakened. When he’d healed her...
An ache spread through her chest.
A Princely healing would’ve been quite useful at the moment. Even Endreas’s cool, lapping touch...
She pushed those memories away, disgusted. No wonder Kaelan wanted nothing to do with the Raes. Even though Endreas had hurt her, tortured her, the memory of his breath was still sweet, the thought of his touch still twisted some knot of need deep within her. The power of the connection between Princes and Raes wasn’t healthy if it filled her with yearning for someone as cold and manipulative as Endreas. But then, was he really any different than the rest of the Pixie nobility? What Lavana had done to her was excessive and cruel, but not unheard of. This was the way of the Raes. Lavana had decided she wanted the Enneahedron and nothing would stop her from claiming it, even though she didn’t actually require it to vie for Radiant. It would merely make her claim almost impossible to challenge. Yet instinctively, Magda understood, even respected her cousin. If she had been living here all these years, instead of in exile, she might’ve been the one torturing Lavana. She hated to admit it, but deep down, she knew it was true.
