Page 9 of The Pactbound Angel (The Soul Mirror Duet #1)
A sharp, nauseous feeling gripped my belly with the sensation of being thrown violently backwards. The world lurched and tossed me about as though in a maelstrom. I sucked in a breath, and then recognized I couldn’t. There was no air. Panic rose in my chest, causing my heart to beat wildly.
And then it ended as soon as it started, only to find myself on the ground choking on weeds and dirt.
Rising to my knees, my burning lungs filled in a heaving gasp.
Everyone else around me did the same. The tents, sounds, and lights of the Fey Carnival were gone, leaving a prairie of purple grass in its place.
My heartbeat calmed, and the panic faded.
The Feylands.
Up ahead lay a large city, where Evraka would have been if we were still in Laeth. Instead, Leraska had called it Puldoni.
Or was it Dulponi?
We stood with a wobble, coughing, groaning, dusting ourselves off.
Mentally ticking off the list to ensure everyone was accounted for, I wasn’t surprised to see Leraska was absent .
The hope for a guide was pointless, anyway.
Why give us that information if she planned to join us?
We would see her at the Ivory Grove after our mission was completed.
Next to us, a cobbled road cut through the purple grass, leading straight to the city.
“Follow the road, then?” Raewyn said, uncertain.
I marched through the grass to step onto the road, looking both ways.
There was no one in sight. Taking off my flowered crown, my ticket, reminded Raewyn and Georgina to take off theirs as well.
Ramiren unpinned the spray of flowers from his lapel and dropped it to the ground.
Raewyn handed me hers, presumably to keep, after I flung mine into the grass. It was stuffed into my pouch.
She was always sentimental.
We looked around as we made our way along the wide stone path towards the city.The vibrant grass, knee high on either side of the wide path, blew and waved in a gentle breeze.
It was dizzying to see an unusual color for one thing when I was used to it being another.
The sky in the fading light was a soft red.
The purple grass. The green-colored stones of the road.
The air smelled faintly of lilacs, though there was no lilac bush in sight.
A hiss made us stop in our tracks as a long jewel-colored snake slithered out. “Greetingssss, travelerssss. You go to Puldoni? The time of the Great Wilderness is nigh. Beware the frog and toad, for they are at war.” And it continued to the other side of the path into the grass again.
We all watched it in silence until Raewyn burst into snorting laughter, “That was random!”
Great Wilderness? “And perhaps wise advice? I do not know this place.”
Georgina chirped, “Oh, yeah. Frogs and toads have been at each other’s throats for a long time.
Like a blood feud that probably started over who has the juiciest flies to eat.
” She leaned down and peered where the snake disappeared.
“And I think that was a seer snake.” She straightened and snickered.
“I bet they didn’t make that name up themselves.
Can you imagine them saying it? Ssssssseer Sssssssnake.
And what if his name was Simon or Sammy?
Sssssssammy the Ssssssseer Sssssssnake.”
M.A.L.C.O.L.M. beeped. “NONSENSE. A BLOOD FEUD? FROGS AND TOADS DO NOT HAVE OPPOSABLE THUMBS. THEY CANNOT HOLD WEAPONS.”
Georgina rolled her eyes. “Maybe they fight with their… paws? Hands? Hm, neither sounds right.”
I answered her, “Feet is correct, I believe.”
Georgina stared up at me with a challenging look. “How would you know?”
“I’ve heard of frogs having webbed feet.
” Why were we talking about this? We need to move, not ponder something so inconsequential.
Trusting everyone to follow, my feet followed the path to the city.
Changing the subject, I spoke again, “If we get into trouble, I hope everyone knows to stay behind me. ”
“Well, we wouldn’t stand in front of you, dummy,” Georgina spat.
My left eye twitched. “And M.A.L.C.O.L.M., of course. I assume your automaton knows how to fight?” The large brown machinery next to her had been built with a humanoid’s frame, complete with two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head with two glowing yellow orbs for eyes.
How do they function? Such complex creations began coming out of Tirvinir years ago, a few which I’d had the pleasure to see in person.
“He does!” Georgina said, a mix of pride and excitement as she patted the automaton’s flank. “He’s very scrappy.”
M.A.L.C.O.L.M. beeped. “DID YOU MAKE ME OUT OF SCRAPS?”
“No, silly. You were made from whole parts. I just mean… Oh, never mind.” Georgina sighed. “What about you, Ramiren? Are you scrappy?”
Ramiren’s mouth twitched in a smile. He put a hand on the hilt of his rapier. “Not nearly as much as your automaton or Lady Nathalia, but I can hold my own. My value lies in exposing and pointing out weaknesses for others to exploit, along with negotiation.”
Georgina looked him up and down. “I get it, so that rapier on your side is decorative?”
Ramiren looked down at her briefly as he walked. “No, I know how to use it. I just rarely feel the need to, when often words will cool tempers. But if push comes to shove, yes, I can hold my own.”
“What about you, Georgina?” Raewyn asked. “Can you hold your own?”
She frowned. “I have a crossbow in my tool bag, but I built an automaton so I wouldn’t have to hold my own.
” Georgina shook her head. “Which means we need to find the mischief hag who took my tools fast. M.A.L.C.O.L.M. gets hit, dinged, even pieces chopped off too often, and he’ll become a useless hunk of metal.
A paperweight. I need to be able to repair him. ”
M.A.L.C.O.L.M. beeped. “THAT HURTS MY FEELINGS, GEORGINA.”
Georgina replied evenly, “You don’t have feelings. You have gears.”
The automaton beeped again. “THAT HURTS MY GEARS, GEORGINA.”
Making sure to hide my smirk, we continued down the path to the narrow gates of the city.
Normally, even at this late hour, a city of this size would have caravans, people coming and going through the gates.
Merchants or carriages. Noise. Bustle. Not here.
Here, it was quiet aside from the distant clamor of the large fey metropolis.
Two guards, far shorter and even more stout than I, stood sentry in front of a closed gate. As we drew near, one called out, “Who goes there?”
I stopped and called back, “Travelers from Laeth, seeking refuge and rest. May we pass?”
They looked at each other, their faces obscured by helmets, and one nodded, moving to push the gate open. “We want no trouble, hear?”
“Of course not. One question though,” I said and moved forward into the city. “Why is it so quiet?”
The guard lifted his helmet visor. His glossy, pitch black skin and friendly black eyes with a small horn between them indicated he was a dyna fey.
With how strong they’re supposed to be, I’m not surprised they’re used as guards here.
“Oh, this is the King’s Gate. Most travelers pass through the Green Gate, since it’s wider and can better handle carts and wagons.
Might as well let you in here. No point in making Laeth travelers walk all the way around. ”
“Most kind.”
It was near dusk when we entered, and the city was beginning to come alive with stone taverns and rustic inns opening their doors to the merrymakers, drunks, and travelers who had come to spend their coin.
Lamplighters rushed about to fill their quota.
Street urchins peeked out from behind corners.
Carriages rumbled past. Well-dressed merchants rushed around us, their guards in their wake.
“We need to find a place for the evening,” I remarked sideways to Raewyn. “Have you ever stayed in Dulponi, Georgina?”
She tilted her head in mock confusion. “What’s Dulponi?”
Turning my gaze skyward, a few seconds were spent praying for patience. “Puldoni.”
She smirked. “No, I haven’t.”
My irritated grumble disguised in a rough throat clear, I asked the pactmaker, “Ramiren? Have you?”
“My apologies, Lady Nathalia. I haven’t.”
A nearby group of male elves were laughing and talking. Moving close enough so I wouldn’t have to yell my request, I asked, “Excuse me, could you please tell me a good place to stay for the night?”
One of the elves, a broad-shouldered fellow with tousled blond hair, looked me up and down and grinned in a lascivious manner. “In my bed-”
My muttered reply dripped with petulance. “Nope.”
The elves began to rib the rejected man as I went back to my companions. “Let’s just walk and find something. There are probably vacant inns along the main avenue.”
We followed the street, dodging groups ambling the opposite way, people stumbling out of taverns, and the general ruckus of a vibrant nightlife.
I’d visited Evraka many times, usually on a layover in-between caravan trips heading out from the Trading City.
The identical layout of Puldoni, however, was eerily similar, with small changes.
A toy store I’d once stopped at to buy presents for my twin brothers was a haberdashery here.
A mirror of Laeth, indeed.
The city took on a lively mood. Is there a holiday or festival being celebrated?
Shops still open kept their doors propped to let in the cooler air, lantern light, and customers drawn in by the savory smells or shiny sights of what the vendors offered.
Eventually, we looked up at a blade sign decorated with a large golden star.
“The Forever Inn. This seems as good a place as any.” I shrugged, moving to step inside.
“Wait, Nat!” I heard Raewyn yell behind me.
My hand paused on the swinging door. “Yes?”
Raewyn shook her head. “What if they don’t want us here? We’re not fey.”