I had to do this, so I swallowed my fear and started to climb.
* * *
Much to my surprise I didn’t die climbing up the vertical rock face. It took us forever because we kept having to stop whenever there was a small rock shelf so I could sit and try to slow down my heartbeats. There was one particularly frightening moment where my vision went blurry and I thought I would pass out, but I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and the spell eventually passed.
Dawn was wonderful and didn’t complain about the slow pace we were making, not even once. She only gave me words of encouragement and helped me keep my mind off the fact we were hanging off the side of a mountain hundreds of feet in the air.
After we reached the plateau we traversed a narrow path along the mountain’s edge. It seemed like years before we stood in front of the cave that led to the Wise Ones, but I knew it must have only been a few hours by the position of the sun in the sky.
Dawn had told me I had to go alone and so after mentally fortifying myself I plunged into the darkness. Even forewarned about the voices, when the whispered hisses started in my head I couldn’t stop my heart from beating furiously.
I tried to stay strong and brave, but the darkness was so complete and the voices, each one indistinguishable from the next, grew in volume until if felt like I was going to go insane. When my heartbeats reached a furious crescendo, I swayed, knowing I was going to lose the battle to stay conscious, and welcomed the silence with open arms.
* * *
I awoke on my side in a candlelit room with galaxies swirling overhead instead of a ceiling. It was blessedly quiet, and for that I was grateful. My hip and shoulder ached, telling me they’d taken the brunt of my impact when I fainted, but I was just glad I hadn’t struck my head.
I pushed myself up and stood on shaky feet. Feeling eyes on me, I turned to find four fae seated on rock thrones. Their skin was pearly white and each had two small horns. They looked exactly how Dawn had described them, down to their milky white eyes.
“Another princess of Faerie,” one of the Wise Ones said, and even though none of their mouths moved, I somehow knew it was the one who was seated directly in front of me.
“Hello, Wise Ones. Thank you for allowing me an audience,” I said, and then dipped into a small curtsy. I was unsure of the correct etiquette in this type of situation, but I was first and foremost a princess of Faerie. A lifetime of manners and decorum had been bred into me, not allowing me to be anything short of polite and reverent in this type of situation.
“Please rise,” the fae at the far end said, and I straightened. Their faces remained the same, lips not moving but I heard his voice in my head. “We are very pleased to see you as well, Princess Aribella of the Fall Court, daughter of Queen Beatrice and King Leonard, child born with a weak heart, selfless protector of Easteria.”
I gasped a little at their long-winded name for me which provided some very accurate details about my life, and also some confusing information.
Protector of Easteria? What did that mean?
It was just proof that these fae really did know the future like Dawn said.
“We know you seek answers,” one of them said, cutting off my internal thoughts.
“So ask your question,” another said, the voice infiltrating my mind.
Okay, they were getting right to it.
Dawn and I had gone over what my one question should be, so when they asked I didn’t hesitate. “What task do I need to complete to help bring an end to the curse on Faerie forever?”
We’d reasoned that since taking the heart of an Ethereum lord back to Faerie didn’t end the curse, only stopped it for a hundred years, I didn’t need to add that caveat to my question.
One of the Wise Ones rose, startling me. They’d been so still since I regained consciousness that to see one of them move now was a little jarring.
I held my ground as the unseelie approached me and then reached out a hand. I forced myself not to flinch away from him when he laid a palm flat against my chest, right over my heart.
“You have one question, and you don’t want to know how to heal your heart?” he asked.
I blinked back at him, chills running the length of my arm.
Of course I would give anything to heal my heart. My ailment had held me back my entire life, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind to ask that. My life wasn’t worth more than those of my people’s, and I said as much to them.
A small smile lifted the corners of the Wise One’s mouth that was mirrored on the fae still seated behind him. With a nod, he stepped back and returned to his throne.I couldn’t help but feel like that question was a test, but the look on his face told me I’d passed.
“Who accompanied you here today?” the Wise One who’d just retaken his seat asked.
“Dawn. Co-ruler of the Northern Kingdom and the Summer princess.”
Two of the Wise Ones exchanged looks and then one asked, “Not the Eastern lord?”
