Page 36

Chapter 36

Rahk

Once, I told my old friend Ash, right before his wedding night with his new human bride, that he didn’t need to be nervous—he just had to be sweet to the poor girl. I’m not taking my own advice very well, now am I?

I rub my sore temples. I’m trying to wean off my ollea and adjust to the scents of the human world, if that is even possible. The result is a constant headache.

A knock at the door. “Master Rahk?”

“Come in, Edvear.”

He comes in, wringing his hands. I go back to scribbling away at the letter I’m writing to Queen Vivienne.

“You think me foolish,” I say when he shuts the door.

“It seems . . . sudden,” he replies, somewhat diplomatically.

“I didn’t have another alternative.”

“None at all?”

I sigh, put down my quill. “If I did, they didn’t present themselves to my consciousness at the time of necessity. I had to protect the girl, and I couldn’t kidnap her.”

“Why did you have to protect her? She’s not your responsibility.”

I give a dry chuckle. “That is the question, isn’t it? I suppose I could have handed her over to her stepmother and washed my hands of the mess.”

“No one would have blamed you.”

I would have . I clench my jaw. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had knowingly placed Kat in danger and walked away. It’s like Pavi all over again. I’m doing things I don’t want to do because I cannot let someone I care about be hurt.

“What are you going to do with her now? Surely you won’t take her back to—”

“I will not take her to Faerieland. Whatever happens, she will stay here.”

I cannot take her with me into Faerie without creating such a scene as would rival the overthrow of the last High King. There is nothing to gain from bringing Kat to Nothril. Only many, many things to lose.

“So you will leave her here when you go—”

“I need to spend more time hunting the Ivy Mask,” I interrupt sharply, twirling my pen. “It’s been three weeks since we came, which means I only have little more than a month until Pelarusa comes to join me.”

Once she’s here, there is no way I’ll be able to get the Ivy Mask to free Pavi.

Edvear shudders at the mention of my sister. The thought of her here, in Ashbourne of Harbright, is laughable. And frightening.

“You should have more credibility with Queen Vivienne, now with Lady Vandermore as your wife,” Edvear says. “It might help solve the problem of the troll.”

I tilt the feather of my pen toward him. “Indeed. I suppose it wasn’t such a terrible idea to marry the girl after all.”

Edvear hesitates, and I brace for the question I won’t want to answer. “Do you have a better idea now for how long you plan to stay in the human lands?”

I cannot leave until I have the Ivy Mask, but even then, I might have to stay longer to finish Ash’s errand. Now that I have a wife . . .

I shake my head grimly. “I’m sorry. I do not know yet.”

He nods quietly, trying to hide his anxiety over not being able to plan.

I hand Edvear the sealed letter I’ve written. “See that this is delivered to the queen immediately.”

When he’s gone, I wipe my hand down my face. At least I haven’t married her my people’s way. That will spare me a more . . . permanent bond. A permanent bond would be the worst possible curse I could give either of us.

I get to my feet. My swords rest beneath the heavy desk, tucked away so no human will find them and fear. I pull them out and strap each one on, pulling the leather buckles tight across my chest. Their weight is familiar—a reminder of what I am. And what Kat isn’t .

Still, my mind flashes back to when she tightened these buckles for me when my fingers slipped, her face upturned and concerned.

I leave my study, keeping my steps quiet, and make my way outside.

I cannot keep dallying. I need to catch the Ivy Mask. Thus far, I’ve been more passive in my search, believing that he will quickly fall into my hands with the traps I’ve set.

I’ve underestimated him. He is skilled at evasion, which has enabled him to rescue so many of our slaves. My respect for this nameless vigilante grows. Perhaps if Pavi’s life wasn’t at risk, I would enjoy savoring the hunt longer. Who knows when I’ll get such a good chase again?

Well, I’m not underestimating him anymore. I will tighten my net. One of these nights, he’s going to make a mistake. A mistake that will cost him everything.

I spread my wings. The night smells of wood and wind, strong enough that I can almost forget the constant thread of decay beneath it all. I leap into the air, flying as swiftly as I can through the night sky to the forest’s edge. There has been something niggling at the back of my mind since the Ivy Mask’s last raid. I knew the exact moment he entered the forest, and the exact moment he left—thanks to the spells I set up. The time was shockingly brief, especially since a large portion of it was spent at the kravok’s lair.

My memory of him resurfaces: a sweeping cloak meant to conceal the form of the wearer, but he wasn’t large. He was slender, neither particularly tall or short, and the ankle that I caught beneath my foot was thin boned. His mask made a sad face, stitched ivy leaves covering every inch of it save for the eye slits—slits that were so thin I couldn’t even glimpse the color of his irises.

He can move quickly. Since the cart has not been moved, I must assume all his progress was made on foot, speaking to his physical fitness—and he has excellent knowledge of the Paths in Caphryl Wood. The Paths that transcend time and space and make travel through the Wood possible instead of a death sentence.

But no matter how quickly he moved, there is no possible way he was able to successfully sneak the slaves out of their posts in that short timeframe. He has allies in Faerieland. People—or a single person—who gets the slaves ready, and then the Ivy Mask is the one who escorts them out of Caphryl. I need to find this person.

To do that, I need to find out what Paths the Ivy Mask took on the last raid.

I pull out my human pocket watch. One hour and fifty-three minutes—the entire time the Ivy Mask was inside Caphryl Wood. Twenty-nine spent traveling to the kravok’s lair, hiding, fighting the monster, before he escaped. That leaves eighty-four minutes between the moment he left the kravok and the moment he left Caphryl.

“Who goes over yonder?” cries a loud voice. “Ymer will grind your bones to make Ymer’s bread!”

I sigh, turning toward the great lump of troll not far away. “You know you’re going to have to leave, Ymer,” I call. “You don’t want to stay in the human lands. Why don’t you make it easier on both of us and just leave now?”

“This is Ymer’s land!” he roars, swinging his club into the ground. He reeks of rot even at this distance. “Ymer will not leave it!”

“The ruler of this land will bid you go. You know it will happen. You might as well go squat somewhere else instead of waiting.”

“You are not the ruler of the land! Ymer does not listen to your poisonous lies!”

“You couldn’t have sent anyone else to deal with this, Ash?” I growl under my breath as I steer clear of the troll’s club and march through the sparking, tall grass to get to the Wood.

Now comes the fun part: spending the night walking Paths to see which ones fit the timeframe. It’s not as daunting of a prospect as it would be if I didn’t know the targeted court based on news I received this morning.

The Pyrenar Court.

I mark the minute on my watch and begin.

The Ivy Mask went to Valehaven . I shake my head in disbelief, staring down at my watch as I stand on the rocky shore of the Maltun Sea. A bridge spans the rushing river emptying into the sea, and beyond it, a white stone palace rises above the cliffside. A thin crescent moon hangs above the towers.

He used the Path from the Pyrenar Court to go to Valehaven, and then from there back to the human lands. Since he left no scent trail, I couldn’t have tracked him. That is how he managed to lose me and make it back to Harbright before I caught up.

It’s brilliant.

It is a great shame that this fellow must die.