Redvyr waited for me to move alongside him and pointed to the great oak tree. “There.”
I stared as we drew closer, seeing steps carved into the trunk, winding upward into the sheltering branches. Though the branches were covered in snow, I could see the walls of a home nestled high in the boughs.
“How do you know Tylok?” I looked up at Redvyr walking beside me, Wolf on my other side. “He’s a shadow fae, you said.”
“We met him on our trek this way when he first moved into the valley with his wife, Farla. He had some leatherwork to trade for some of our grain. Since then, we’ve stopped here each winter to give them a sack or two of our haul from Hellamir. It keeps him and his wife and children going for a while, since they rarely travel down to the Borderlands for provisions. They prefer to stay here in the valley.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I noted softly.
His beautiful eyes slid my way, but it was the quirk of his mouth that held me captive. We were lost in each other for a moment when Wolf suddenly chuffed and stopped walking. Redvyr instantly pushed me behind him, and the other wolves had frozen too, all growling.
“Do you smell that?” Bezaliel whispered.
“Yes.” Redvyr’s voice had dropped deep, his hands and his hands flexed at his sides.
“I don’t hear anyone,” added Dayn.
“Bezaliel and Leifkyn, stay with the females.”
Hallizel fluttered out of Tessa’s hood, the closest place near to the baby. “I will go too.” She flitted off up into the branches of the tree.
Redvyr and Dayn strode stealthily toward the steps carved into the trunk and began to climb, circling upward until they disappeared into the house.
I waited, still and quiet, terrified of what they sensed that I could not. “What do they smell?” I asked Bezaliel.
“Blood. And something else…that doesn’t belong here.”
A whistle echoed from above.
“It’s all clear,” said Bezaliel.
Then Hallizel zipped down straight to us. “Lord Redvyr says keep Tessa and Jessamine down here.”
We closed the distance to the trunk, the wolves flanking us. I stared up but saw nothing at all except the floorboards of Tylok’s home up in the branches.
“I’ll stay with them,” said Leifkyn.
Bezaliel clapped his hand on his shoulder and hurried up the winding stairs, taking two at a time.
Dayn’s expression was dark and grave as he peered back the way we’d come from the woods, sniffing the air.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s an unfamiliar scent. An unpleasant one at that.”
“A barga or something?” Tessa circled around the huge trunk of the tree, Hallizel fluttering next to her.
“No.”
I circled around to the other side, marveling at the craftsmanship of the staircase. A shadow fae wouldn’t need stairs since he had wings, but his wood fae wife would. He took great care in carving and smoothing them for her. There was even a decorative ivy design swirling along the trunk of the tree, something to make Farla smile.
Footsteps announced that the others were coming back down. I continued around the tree, noting an iron hanger that held an unlit lantern.
“What did you find?” Dayn asked.
“Tylok’s head,” Redvyr answered, his voice rough with emotion. “But not his family.”
“No!” shouted Tessa.
