“Yes! I would love to hear that tale.” Dawn caught on and handed them each a piece of fruit. “Would you tell it to us? I just heard it from a friend but he didn’t know the whole thing.”
The men took the fruit from her and thanked her and we sat beside them on the rocks.
“The Shadow Heart is a crystal in the shape of an anatomical heart. It’s worth more than gems or gold,” he said, and I could not breathe for a second.
It was real? Maybe I really could save my people.
“When the founding fathers of our realm first came here, they created the Shadow Heart to power our world. But the magic it contained was so valuable that they hid it.” The man took off his hat to reveal a slightly balding head and dramatically threw his hat into the air and caught it on his head. “In the place where all of Ethereum’s most valuable treasures are buried.”
“Where?” Dawn and I said at the same time.
“In the center of the Jewel Spring Mountains,” he answered. “In the deepest mine within Mount Grimhorn.”
“No,” the redhead broke in, “I heard it was at the bottom of the southern coast. Near an island shaped like a heart.”
They began to argue back and forth and I crumbled, a little defeated. I shared a look with Dawn and she frowned. It seemed like they weren’t sure where it was.
The man with the hat looked me firmly in the eyes. “My great granddaddy was a treasure hunter. He said it’s in Mount Grimhorn.”
I swallowed hard. Stryker’s kingdom. Within his precious mountain range. Could I go there without his permission? I didn’t even know. Though he did say he would help me in whatever way he could.
“Well, thank you, gentlemen,” Dawn told them and we bid our farewells.
We reached our horses and I turned to Dawn. “I feel like I should go to Mount Grimhorn to look for the Shadow Heart. It’s too much of a coincidence that we met these fae right after hearing from the Wise Ones. It feels like fate.”
Dawn nodded. “I think you are right. I’ll go with you. It’s a few days’ ride, which will stretch our provisions, but we can make it.” We saddled our horses and were about to ride out when a woman ran after us.
“Lady Dawn!” she cried.
We turned in our saddles. The woman ran at us carrying something black in her hands; I couldn’t make out what it was. As she neared, I noticed they looked like burned corn cobs.
“What is it?” Dawn asked the lady.
“The fields. They’ve all turned black, the crops gone, the water too.”
My stomach sank. Black water. That’s how it started in Fall Court. Was it happening here too? It was certainly what the Wise Ones hinted at.
Dawn leapt off her horse and rushed to inspect the corn, then she looked up at me with terror in her eyes.No food and no clean water on top of a plague was a disaster for any leader.
“I need to get to Zander,” she told me.
I nodded. “Of course.”
Dawn grabbed a few pieces of the corn from the woman to show Zander and told her she’d be back with reinforcements in two days’ time.
When we saddled back up, Dawn pointed her horse north. “Come on. We can figure out the Shadow Heart once—”
“No,” I told her, pointing my horse to the east and pulling out my map. “I’m going to save our people. You need to help Zander and take care of your kingdom. But I need to find this Shadow Heart if we have any hope of ending the curse for good. We don’t have time to do both. I have to go on my own.”
Dawn glanced back at me with surprise. “Aribella. You don’t know the land, you could be hurt, or—”
“I’m not fragile,” I growled.
Dawn tilted her chin, giving me a proud look. “Okay, Aribella. Go to Jewel Spring Mountains and look for the Shadow Heart. When you’ve found it, come back to Noreum and we’ll figure out what to do. You’ll have a home in the Northern Kingdom for as long as you need one.”
I heard what she didn’t say. That without my faestone dagger and the black heart of an Ethereum lord, I wouldn’t be returning to Faerie anytime soon. So she was offering me what she could: a home.
I nodded, and then felt badly for snapping at her. “I’m sorry, I—”
