Page 39 of Faerie Fate (Fae Academy for Halflings #7)

Chapter Twenty-Six

I t twisted something in my soul to have the fae turn against me, even though I’d expected it.

Shifters weren’t allowed in the Fae Academy for Halflings, after all. I’d had to sell a favor to a witch for a potion to hide my identity.

In this case, Mike must have felt a thousand times worse than I did as the fae soldiers pressed closer, corralling us.

“Look at what we’ve got here! Blood traitors. Disgrace to the crown,” one of the soldiers muttered with another step.

Moonlight glittered over their armor, polished to a sheen. The intricate pieces were heavy enough to withstand a powerful blow but made no sound when they moved.

Mike faced them all with his expression stern, his eyes steely. “Stand down. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

The soldiers paid no attention to him, pressing forward until the tips of their weapons nicked our skin. The slightest wrong move would gut us. Bronwen slowly lifted her hands into the air.

“I don’t think you have any authority here, Michael,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

“Round them up,” the nearest soldier grunted. “We’ll take them back to the palace. Let the king decide what to do with them.”

One of the soldiers laughed. “It will be the same as he does to all of them.” His tone indicated it would be something painful and fun for them. Not for us.

Body shaking, I faced them, forcing frost into my eyes. Bronwen squeezed her own shut.

I never expected to go down without a fight, and I definitely had no intention of going anywhere with these men.

I also never expected Elfhame to move first. She threw a blast of pure earth magic at the soldiers, powerful enough to crack through their line and fissure the ground between us. The fae soldiers flew backwards into the night-darkened woods.

“Run!”

Elfhame looked down at the damage she’d caused, ignoring Poppy’s yell.

“There’s still movement,” Elfhame’s mate called.

The fae recovered quickly, their weapons drawn and their blades gilded with magic of their own.

Ah, shit.

Someone grabbed the back of my neck and forced me down but the blast of fae power singed a few stray hairs at the top of my head. The stench burned my nostrils and when I looked up, Elfhame and her husband held small round discs glowing a vibrant blue.

The shields protected them from the magic and the dregs of the fae spell dripped away like rain on a window.

Mike was sprawled at my side, and somewhere in the distance Noren let out another baleful howl.

A chill skittered along my spine as my awareness heightened.

Poppy pushed me forward and away from the attacking soldiers, making sure we were out of immediate harm by the time the pixies used their weapons.

Her body covered mine, her other arm reaching toward Bronwen. The witch’s face remained expressionless but she’d gone the color of snow. She raised a hand and a small shield of thickened air blocked us from flying debris.

Elfhame whispered words of power and set the discs in her hands flying. The weapons exploded, a blue hue lighting up the night and disintegrating whatever fae happened to stand in its direct path.

There…and gone. Poof. Morsana-fueled weapons were more dangerous than I’d credited them for.

“You need more proof about how deadly the pixies are with their weapons?” Poppy shouted.

Her voice clanged through me. Afterimages superimposed themselves above the scene playing out in front of me and I might have stayed there, frozen in place, if Mike hadn’t pinched me.

“We have to go!” The terror in his eyes widened them awkwardly in his face. “Now!”

Even though the pixies were no bigger than a human forearm at their largest, their weapons landed like atom bombs. They glowed unearthly and dangerous. A small sword, drawn by Elfhame’s husband and growing longer as I watched, lopped the head off one of the fae soldiers.

All because of the morsana.

Bronwen spat out a curse. I army-crawled using my elbows, Bronwen ahead of us and leading the way through a tangle of legs. I felt every bruise on my skin, every rock underneath me.

The pixies had responded to the ambush with such ferocity it stole rational thought right out of my brain.

They were poetry in motion, their tiny glowing bodies dwarfed by the deadliness of their weapons.

The fae soldiers thought they’d caught a boon when they found us but they had no chance of winning this fight.

This was what made the morsana bloom such an important pixie resource, and what had made a war between the pixies and the fae worth fighting.

Several of them who’d been on the outskirts of the hunting party lunged at the pixies with renewed vigor despite watching their comrades fall. Their magic rippled gold and bright, the same sort of ancient gold as the artifacts that Mike and I had used.

I wasn’t moving fast enough for her liking so Poppy sent a blast of magic our way to get the three of us into the safety of several trees. Noren waited there, his body vibrating with tension. He barked a greeting when he saw us. Several colorful orbs clung to his fur.

Elfhame’s children.

“We should fight!” Bronwen was the first on her feet and practically jogged back into the fray. “We can’t leave them alone.”

She might have made it if Mike hadn’t jumped in front of her.

“We’re leaving.” Mike’s voice was ragged.

Screams cut through the silence behind us. Bronwen let out a weak breath. “We have to do something!”

“You want to go? You’re signing your death warrant.” Poppy hiked a thumb over her shoulder and ducked when a rogue spray of blue light split one of the trees in half. “You’ll never make it back to the future. But sure. Go get yourself killed.”

Mike held out a hand and I slapped my palm to it, letting him drag me off my stomach. I glanced at Bronwen and the tense set of her shoulders, the paleness of her face that gave her emotions away, her heart cleaved in two.

“We can’t leave them,” she insisted, having to lift her voice to be heard over the buzz of so much magic.

“They know what they’re doing. You don’t,” Poppy snapped, marching over to physically drag Bronwen away. “You’re sitting ducks.” She reminded me so much of Barbara right then.

Another blast of magic caught us unawares and a sinkhole opened up close enough to send Mike staggering back. His free arm windmilled and I tightened my grip on the other, hauling him upright before he dragged us both down.

“Move!” Poppy barked out the order.

Okay, no more hesitating .

Several pink blurs streaked past us. The rest of Elfhame’s children? My heart broke. Please let them not be caught in the fighting. Please let them make it out .

Useless, I forced my deadened legs to carry me further from the melee. This wasn’t natural. This wasn’t me. I’d– always found myself dead center in a fight. And now I was running?

Pounding footsteps grew louder behind us. Several of the fae soldiers were giving chase. Their armor didn’t slow them down. They were nimble, graceful, jumping past obstacles and clearing them easily.

I sucked in a breath and ran for my life. Noren kept a steady breakneck pace ahead of us. Bronwen grunted and stumbled, and then Poppy was there, kneeling next to her, helping her rise. Just in time, too, as a fae soldier swiped his weapon at the air they’d just vacated.

Poppy waved a hand and one of the downed tree limbs lifted on its own and slammed into the soldier. He landed on his ass with a grunt.

Noren turned back to us, curving his body around the group of children riding between his shoulders to protect them. A twig cracked and more soldiers popped out of the gloom. Two of them broke off, heading for Noren, and rage obliterated everything. Almost.

“You leave them alone!”

“Tavi, don’t!” Mike yelled.

Too late.

I launched myself at the soldier, using my weight to shove him back. He kicked me to free himself and fumbled to drag something from his chest plate. I grabbed a fallen branch while he was distracted.

But his buddy stepped up and thrust his sword at me. The metal sliced clean through the branch I held.

“Take care of the beast!” the man called. “I’ve got this one.”

“Beast? Beast? ” My own wolf rose to the surface at the thought of anything happening to Noren. “You’re going to regret that.”

I shifted my claws and attacked before the fae realized exactly who—or what—he was up against.

Everyone moved at the same time. Mike grabbed Bronwen before she threw herself into the fray, Poppy struggling to maneuver them both out of the way.

My heart thundered but I met the fae parry for parry. He struggled in vain to avoid the cut of my slicing claws.

Pixies screamed around us. A great rumble forced the nearest trees to draw their roots out of the ground, animated by a blue glow. I barely gave the glow a passing thought. The fae soldier divided his attention between me and Noren, trying to decide which one of us he really wanted to go after.

I stepped between us and purposely blocked out the children’s sobs.

A low scraping growl reverberated in my throat. “Leave. Them. Alone.”

Before I had a chance to do more than posture, Bronwen came out of nowhere in crow form, having freed herself from Mike. She pecked at the soldier’s helmet while he swatted, trying to dislodge her, and knocked it from his head.

I ducked low and slashed my claws at his Achilles tendons, severing the left, then the right. Bronwen dove at the same time and pecked at the man’s eyes.

“Go, go!” I shooed Noren and the kids into the forest. His yellow eyes narrowed on me, his dark tongue sweeping over his bared teeth but he drew in a great breath and took off. I followed, Mike close behind me, and Bronwen flying past us all.

Poppy caught up and leaned in close. When she spoke, her voice held an edge. “You are determined to kill yourself, aren’t you?”

My claws sank back into my skin as I let go of the magic. “It’s not my fondest ambition, no.”