Page 26 of The Shadow Path (Shadowlands #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“ T here was nothing,” Carys said. “From what I could see, I’d guess the human children had been glamoured. There were sleeping mats but no food. No signs that the kids had even been awake.”

“But the dragon children had been conscious the entire time,” Cadell told the group of allies as they sat in the library. “Demelza’s daughter was able to call to us when we got close enough. That’s how we were able to locate the fort.”

They were sitting in the library with Godrik, Winnie, Duncan, Lachlan, and Laura. It was nearly midnight by the time Carys and Cadell were able to return to Dafydd’s house.

Dafydd remained in Cymru with his people while Anwyn and Demelza guarded the children. That left Carys and Cadell as the only nêr ddraig in London to coordinate with Harold and his forces.

“How?” Duncan sat next to Carys, rubbing salve on her fingers, which were bloody from shooting. “Harold’s sorcerers and mages have been looking for ways to break through the fae wards, but nothing so far has worked.”

Cadell shot Carys a dark look and shook his head. “Dragon children have their own magic,” he said vaguely. “That’s all you need to know.”

They had both seen it. Carys and Cadell had seen the blood on the walls and the sharp rocks scattered on the ground that the small dragons had used to cut themselves and bleed into the soil that bound them. It was that dragon blood that had allowed the children to fracture the fae spells keeping them imprisoned and call out for help.

Fae didn’t realize how much iron was in dragon blood, and no dragon in the world wanted them to know. It made the creatures’ blood oxygen rich and helped their massive bodies to fly.

That iron also meant that dragon blood could break fae wards. At least enough for two small dragons to send out a distress call.

“What other news do you have?” Carys looked at Winnie and Godrik. “Are there any signs of the wolf children or the missing Anglian kids?”

“Nothing so far,” Winnie said.

Lachlan was staring at the fire. “At last count, there were forty human children missing in Alba and five wolves. No unicorns. Not a single one.”

Laura was sitting next to Lachlan. “You don’t think that the unicorns?—”

“No!” Lachlan shook his head. “I don’t think anyone suspects that they’re working with Cian and Orla, but it’s… odd.”

“Unicorn magic is elemental,” Carys offered. “It might be similar enough to fae magic that hiding their children wouldn’t be effective.”

Duncan added, “Or maybe they just didn’t want to piss the unicorns off.”

“But they were willing to piss off dragons?” Winnie shook her head. “I don’t buy it.”

“Maybe the fae want to keep the unicorns neutral.” Carys thought about the fae family in the forest who said they would try to seek shelter with the local blessing. “Unicorn blessings are powerful; no one wants to threaten them.”

Duncan glanced at Carys. “If the unicorns are neutral, they can be a safe haven for fleeing fae who had nothing to do with Cian’s plans.”

“So even the fae don’t want to provoke them?” Lachlan shrugged. “It’s as good a theory as any, I suppose.” Alba had the greatest concentration of unicorns in Briton. They were loyal to the Alban chiefs, but they were also aloof. Them being neutral wasn’t exactly a surprise.

Godrik was staring at Carys. “You did something. I heard the soldiers talking in the courtyard. They said you did something to break open the wards.”

Carys shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. I was on the ground, and I noticed this little tiny tree sprite that was hiding in a bush.” She looked around the room. “She was terrified. I mean, we have to assume that none of the wild fae like the sprites or the pixies or the brownies have anything to do with this.”

Godrik muttered, “I will admit that it’s highly unlikely that wild fae and minor fae were in on Cian’s plans, but they’re also not powerful compared to the high fae of Temris. Do these wild fae even matter?”

Duncan frowned. “I wouldn’t say that. Wild fae can be very powerful. They’re just more solitary.”

“And they tend to be loyal to their specific forest or river.” Lachlan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at the fire. “Or house for that matter. A brownie or an úruisg would never harm a child of their house.”

“Annoy it, maybe.” Duncan cracked a smile. “God knows Auld Mags used to play her pranks on us when we were children.” He glanced at Lachlan. “Particularly if we were annoying her. But harming them? Stealing them away from their beds?” He shook his head. “I can’t see it.”

Carys nodded slowly. “It would violate their bargain with the home. If the family living there was feeding the brownie or taking care of the forest where a sprite lived, harming that family would break magical rules.”

Laura said, “In our home, not even a powerful deity could make one of the Kheta Inwe betray the forest or the village they care for. It would go against their nature on an elemental level.”

“Fine,” Winnie said. “They might not have taken the children, but they didn’t stop Cian’s people from taking them either.”

Godrik lifted his chin. “Not every home in Anglia has a house fae. Most wolf houses don’t have them at all.”

Winnie narrowed her eyes. “You’re right. Most houses in the city don’t hold fae.” She stood and started to pace. “Hosting a brownie or a gnome in the garden is kind of seen as a country thing.”

Carys blinked. “Is possible Cian and Orla’s people only stole children from houses with no house fae?”

Winnie stopped pacing. “It’s something to ask. And it might even be a way for families to defend themselves.”

“If that’s true,” Laura said, “that means the brownies, the sprites, and the gnomes might be allies.”

Carys turned toward Godrik. “You asked me what I did in Maen Llia, but it wasn’t me at all. I told the tree sprite there were children locked in the fort, and she did something. That’s what the soldiers saw, but it wasn’t me. I’m almost sure it was the sprite.”

“There was elemental magic,” Cadell said. “It seemed that the earth itself responded. The ground broke open, but it was from inside the fort, not outside.”

“So the minor fae” —Lachlan leaned forward— “the brownies and the sprites?—”

“Mermin and the water serpents,” Winnie added. “There are so many in the Tamis.”

Godrik nodded. “And people still offer sacrifices to the river,” he said. “Even if they ignore the household fae, everyone recognizes the magic in the river.”

“Selkies, the Great Serpent.” Winnie’s eyes were sharp. “They could all be allies. We have to reach out to them.”

“You must have court mages,” Laura said. “I’d contact them first.”

Duncan pulled Carys’s arm into his lap and held her hand. “Cian’s court isn’t likely to coordinate with the wild fae, are they? In a way, they’re as bad as the humans are. They mostly ignore anyone who’s not high fae.”

“We should return to the castle,” Winnie said. “But I’ll ask the families with missing children about house fae. If they have them and those fae didn’t protect the children, they may be working with Cian and Orla’s people.”

“But if they didn’t,” Cadell said, “then Anglia has a powerful and overlooked ally that can help you find the missing.”

Godrik stood and held his hand toward Cadell, who took it.

They grasped forearms, and Godrik said, “I’m relieved your young are safe.”

“I wish the best for your hunt,” Cadell said. “If my nêrys and I can be of any help, please send a messenger.”

“There were ten human children being kept in that mound with the young dragons,” Carys said to Godrik. “They only remembered falling asleep; then they woke up in the fae mound when the wards broke open.”

“We can hope that the Anglian children are glamoured as well,” Winnie said. “It might be a comfort to their parents to know that they’re probably not terrified.”

“Wolf children won’t sleep.” Godrik’s voice was cold. “Fae spells do not work on them.”

Laura stood as well. “Has anyone heard anything from Orla or the fae? Have they made any demands?”

“Nothing specific.” Winnie held out a pamphlet. “Another one of these was dropped last night, but it’s doing nothing but causing trouble with the people.”

Carys looked over Laura’s shoulder and began to read.

The humans of Briton have forgotten their duties to honor the fae.

They mix with foreign magic and welcome Valachian monsters to their skies. They have forgotten who they are and from where their children come.

“We’ve got some gross fae nationalism happening with this one, huh?” Carys muttered.

Because the humans of Anglia forget their past, their fields will be cursed and their animals will lose the protection of fae blessing.

Honor the true fae king of Briton.

Bow to Cian, high fae king.

“Carys.”

She turned on her way out of the library to see Lachlan waiting in the hall.

Duncan still had her hand in his, and he squeezed it.

Carys turned to him and looked up. “Hey. Give us a minute, okay?”

Duncan glanced at his Shadowkin, then back at Carys. He nodded. “I’ll wait for you in your room,” he said loudly.

“Thank you,” she said, “for informing the entire first floor about that.”

Duncan shrugged before he dropped her hand and walked toward the entry hall.

Lachlan watched him walk away, his arms crossed over his chest. “Walk in the garden?”

“Sure.” She was exhausted, but she’d rather have this conversation sooner than later.

He followed her toward the kitchen and then out the door to the vegetable garden. Her room overlooked the back garden. If Duncan wanted to watch them talk, she wasn’t hiding anything.

“You and Duncan are together now,” Lachlan said.

Carys walked past the beds of rosemary and turned to him, her arms crossed over her chest. “We are.”

Lachlan nodded, and his eyes were sad. “I can’t blame you. He’s a good man.”

“He is.”

“Does that mean…” Lachlan cleared his throat. “I mean, will you be moving to Scotland?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.”

Lachlan stared at the fountain burbling in the distance. “I’m going to step back,” he said. “Rory wants to be king; I do not.”

Carys blinked. “But at the coronation?—”

“I’m man enough to know when I’m not suited for a role,” Lachlan said. “I love my people, and I’ll be honored to serve in my brother’s court. But during all this, the people have rallied around my father and Rory.”

“Because you’re here.”

Lachlan shrugged. “He took advantage of the timing to consolidate his influence there. It’s not something I would have thought to do. But it’s something a king would do.”

“Ah.” Carys nodded. “So you think he’ll be a better king because of that?”

“I hope so.” Lachlan sat on a stone bench and looked up at her, his vivid green eyes glowing in the torchlight. “Either way, I don’t want the crown. Far better if it goes to him.”

“Okay.” Carys walked over and sat beside him. “You know that’s not why I decided?—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Lachlan said. “I see how you look at him.”

She laughed a little bit. “With annoyance? Irritation? How do I look at Duncan?”

Lachlan’s voice was soft. “The way I wanted you to look at me.”

Carys blinked. “Lachlan?—”

“Maybe that was the way that I used to look at Seren,” he murmured. “She was the beginning and end of my world, but she drove me absolutely crazy at times.”

She cocked her head back to look at the starless sky. “I’m going to think about that later. I’m not going to be able to stop myself.”

Lachlan frowned. “What were we doing, Carys? Was it all just grief for the ones we lost? Seren? Your parents? I know I love you. I still love you. Even while you’re choosing him. There’s this…” He clenched a fist to his chest. “I feel this ball of anger in my chest that I know you don’t deserve. I’m jealous as hell. But I can’t hate either of you.”

“We loved each other.” Carys felt tears creeping up again, and God, she was tired of crying, but she couldn’t seem to stop. “We loved each other, Lachlan. We really did. I know that.”

“But you love him more.”

Yes. She didn’t want to say that; it felt cruel. She swallowed the hard lump at the back of her throat. “Maybe it’s not more or less. Maybe it’s just different.”

Lachlan nodded. His shoulders were tense. His muscled arms crossed over his chest. “I can accept that, but I still love you. If my love is not what you need right now, I accept that too.” He looked at her. “But know that I’ll never stop loving you. Not ever.”

Lachlan picked up her hand, lifted her palm to his lips, and pressed a chaste and fervent kiss there. He closed his eyes and whispered, “I will always love you, Carys Morgan. Good night.”

Blinking back tears, Carys watched him stand and walk back to the house.

Then her eyes rose, and she saw the curtains in her room snap shut.

Carys was wrapped in Duncan’s arms when she heard a tap on her door early the next morning.

“Carys?” Duncan’s voice was sleepy.

She pulled away from his hold and sat up in bed. “It’s Cadell.”

You need to wake up.

It was early morning, and she could already hear the house stirring. Horses were neighing in the courtyard, and the heavy beat of dragon wings sounded overhead.

“Go ahead.” Duncan rolled out of bed and cleared his throat. “I’ll go back to my room and get ready.”

“I don’t know what he wants.” She opened the door to see her dragon in human form, already standing on the other side with his arm braced against the top arch of the doorway. “What’s up?”

“We’re hunting with Godrik today.” Cadell glanced at Duncan. “The human can join us. Bring your sword.”

“Done.” Duncan threw his overcoat over his shoulders and frowned. “I mean, I would anyway, but is there a specific reason?”

Carys knew before Cadell said it. It hit her like a flash. “The iron. If the iron in the children’s blood could break through the wards?—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Duncan growled. “What children’s blood?”

Cadell stepped inside the room and closed the door. “The young dragons who were being held in the fae fort cut themselves to break through the wards and call out for the horde. If the iron in their blood could fracture the fae spells, it’s possible that any fae fort that is holding a wolf child might fracture from the iron in your sword.”

Only five living people in all of the Shadowlands knew that Duncan’s sword was forged with dragon blood, and they’d tried very hard to keep it a secret.

“So we hunt with Godrik.” Duncan nodded. “Guess the rumors about my blade are about to become more fact than rumor.”

“It’s worth it if it finds these kids,” Carys said.

Duncan leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Not even a question in my mind, lass. I’ll get dressed and meet you at the stables.” He glanced at Cadell. “You two flying or riding?”

“I’ll fly overhead and spot from the sky,” Cadell said. “Carys can ride with you and Godrik’s people so we can communicate.”

“Good thinking,” Carys said.

She watched Duncan open and shut the door before she started to get ready. Cadell turned his back and watched the fire as she moved behind the screen in the corner by the wardrobe.

“You’ve settled on the surly one then.”

Carys had known he was going to bring it up. Cadell acted like he had no interest in her personal life, but he was as nosy as Laura was.

“Yes,” she said. “He’s…” She didn’t know what to say.

The human one? The smart choice? Those weren’t the reasons she’d fallen in love with Duncan.

“You love him,” Cadell said simply. “You don’t have to explain.”

Okay. Well, that was a relief. “He understands me.”

“He does. So does Lachlan.”

Carys was half-naked when she poked her head out from behind the screen. “What’s that supposed to mean? Now you have an opinion?”

“I’ve always had an opinion,” Cadell muttered. “Are you ready?”

“No.” She ducked back behind the screen and pulled on a fresh linen tunic. If she was riding, she’d get sweaty, so she didn’t want to wear wool. The days had been far more summery than cool. “I don’t need your opinion. It shouldn’t matter.”

But it does, he said silently.

“I know it does,” she hissed. “And I don’t understand why.”

“Because I am your dragon.” His voice was soft and mildly amused. “And I am older and wiser than you.”

“Okay, old and wise dragon.” She belted the tunic around her waist and walked toward the fire. “Why is Duncan a better choice than Lachlan?”

“He’s not.” Cadell turned. “But he is the one your heart wants. That’s what matters.”

Carys let out a slow breath. “It hurts, but I love Duncan more.”

“Lachlan’s pain is his own responsibility,” Cadell stood at attention with his hands behind his back. “Duncan Murray is an honorable man who cares for you and is a fierce protector of the people under his authority and care. I respect him greatly.”

Carys nodded. “Okay. You’re right.”

“And he makes you laugh,” Cadell added. “He also makes you angry.”

“That’s a good thing?”

“Anger isn’t the opposite of love, Nêrys. The opposite of love is indifference.” He raised an eyebrow. “And you have never been indifferent to Duncan Murray.”

She rode the beautiful mare named Leuca from the stables that morning, the dappled grey greeting her with a stomp and a toss of her head.

“I brought you an apple,” Carys said, holding out the shining red fruit to the mare. “And I’m sorry it’s been so many days since I visited.”

The mare laughed a little bit, and Carys remembered who she was. “You’re Epona’s daughter, aren’t you?”

A short whinny in response.

Carys leaned close and whispered, “My mother was born here. She was Shadowkin.” It was the first time she’d said it out loud. “She served your mother when she lived here. I think she loved her very much.”

Leuca turned and pressed her cheek to Carys’s body, letting out a happy huff.

Carys didn’t hear the horse’s words like she could hear Cadell’s, but words popped into her mind, and she somehow knew they were from the horse.

I see you. Welcome home.

“My mom always had a strange reaction to horses when I was young.” Carys laid the saddle pad and blanket over Leuca’s back, chatting as she readied the horse for the day. “I used to think she didn’t like them, but maybe it was too painful for her to have that reminder of Epona in the Brightlands.”

Leuca whinnied again.

Duncan walked into the stables. “Who are you talking to?”

“Leuca.” Carys nodded at the horse. “She’s Epona’s daughter.”

“Ah.” Duncan nodded. “Like your mum.”

Carys smiled. He was so quick. So unexpectedly intuitive. “Yes, exactly.”

“She’s a lovely girl.” The big man stroked along Leuca’s cheek and reached for the saddle that was waiting near the door. “A good friend to have today. I just spoke to Godrik, and he plans to ride hard. There are two different fae forts where they think there might be children hidden.”

Carys wasn’t an expert rider. She’d become much more comfortable on horseback since her first trip to the Shadowlands, but she was likely the least experienced rider in the hunting party that day.

“I’ll stick with Leuca.”

“She’s more experienced at being a horse than you are as a rider.” Duncan put the saddle on the horse, securing the girth and fixing the stirrups for Carys. “If it comes to it, just give Leuca her head and hang on. She’ll know what to do.”

When the mare was ready, Duncan helped Carys up and then patted the mare’s flank before Carys nudged her forward and walked out to the courtyard.

Godrik and the wolves were already waiting, Godrik on horseback and the rest of the wolves in their fur.

The North Wolves of Anglia were massive beasts who were immediately distinguished from the wild animals they mimicked. Their heads came nearly to the shoulder of Carys’s mount, and their eyes were wise and human, though they moved exactly like wolves.

Like the dragons, North Wolves could speak silently to each other, so Godrik was already moving toward the forest when Duncan joined her.

“We’re riding south,” he said. “There’s a fae fort near Effra Green that’s just risen in the past week. The farmers in the village say that the unicorns that lived in the woods south of the green moved farther into the forest three days ago.”

“The same day the children were taken?” Duncan asked.

Godrik nodded. “It’s been surrounded by Harold’s men since the attack, and I want to take a closer look. Four children from the village are missing, and it’s near to a small pack that roamed near the woodland where another child went missing.”

Carys knew at least five families must have been going insane for days, and the sense of urgency caused any enjoyment of the bright, warm morning to flee. “Are there still fae in the forest even though the unicorns have left?”

“Yes.” Godrik raised a black eyebrow. “Might be a good time to test your theory, Lady Carys.”

They rode south through Hyde Forest and headed toward the river, crossing the wide stone bridge over the Tamis and escorted by a pack of over twenty North Wolves.

Carys didn’t know how long they rode, but Cadell was in the sky overhead, and the light was as bright as it got in the Shadowlands by the time they crossed the narrow Effra River and saw the fae mound rising in the middle of a village green.

Sheep and donkeys were grazing around the base of the mound, and the green was patrolled by a line of red-coated soldiers. Other than the grazing animals and the stoic soldiers, nothing moved.

The town looked as if it were frozen. No shopkeepers called out, and the few pedestrians on the cobbled streets were silent and watchful as they passed.

The fairy fort looked as if it had been there for years, not three days. Thick grass carpeted its high slopes, and flowers sprang from the earth. Daffodils spread across the village green, their bright yellow blooms bobbing between the black-faced sheep.

Two of Godrik’s wolves crossed the soldier’s perimeter and padded over to sniff around the base of the mound. Whatever it was they were searching for, they turned back with drooping tails and went to sit near Godrik’s mount.

The wolf dismounted from his sturdy horse and walked over to Carys and Duncan.

“They don’t smell anything. The scent of fae magic is so strong that it drowns everything else out.”

Carys looked at Duncan, then down at his sword.

“All right,” the Scotsman grumbled. “Let’s paint a target on my back.” He sighed and swung his leg over his horse as he got to the ground. “Carys, is the dragon near?”

Carys mentally reached for Cadell, who was flying in broad circles around woods that bordered the green. “He’s nearby.”

Duncan glanced at Harold’s soldiers, then back at Godrik. “You’re not seeing anything you’re about to see, understand?”

Godrik looked confused, but he nodded anyway and looked at Carys. “Is this about the magic you used for the dragon children?”

“Again, that was not me,” she said. “Does everyone here think I have some kind of fae magic?”

“You’re a Brightlander who can talk to dragons,” Godrik said. “Yes.”

Carys walked next to Duncan as he crossed the line of red-coated troops and strode across the green. Then—like a highlander in a movie—he pulled the steel sword from its scabbard, the silver glinting in the sun, and drove the blade into the earth just at the base of the newly risen ground.

The soldiers around them muttered in low voices, and the wolves barked and yipped as the earth around the mound rolled like there was an earthquake. The sheep bleated and the donkeys brayed, scattering from the green as the soldiers moved closer.

Godrik’s shoulders went back and his eyes went wide. “I don’t know what that was, but I heard something.”

A wolf sat back on its haunches and threw its head up, howling into the air; then another joined it and another.

“They can hear the children!” Godrik shouted. “There are children under the ground.”

Half a dozen of the wolves ran to the side of the mound and began to dig, furiously churning the earth and tearing at it with their claws as others in the pack continued to howl.

But no matter how much they dug and how much the earth climbed in piles behind the digging animals, the holes they dug seemed to fill as quickly as they created them.

The wards are still intact, Cadell said into her mind. I can feel them. There is a crack, but nothing that will let them break through.

Can you break them?

Not without bleeding myself, and you know how dangerous that is.

Carys knew that if she asked it, Cadell would offer his own blood to free whatever children were trapped under the earth, but it would be a massive risk. There would be no way to hide what had broken the fae wards, and if the whole of Briton discovered what dragon blood could do, Cadell’s kind could be hunted.

“Duncan, can you drive your sword deeper?”

“I can try, but I don’t know if it will help.” He pushed the blade farther into the ground, but Godrik shook his head.

“I can hear them now. I can feel them, but it’s like they’re behind a wall. And now they can hear us and they’re panicking.” The burly man’s chest was heaving in anger and frustration. He threw his head back and shouted, “Damn you to hell, Cian Elathason!”

Carys heard the soldiers begin to yell, and the villagers were running toward the mound, drawn to the howling wolves and the rumble of the earth as it began to shake and roll.

But no matter the rocking and churning, the smooth surface of the green mound did not break open to reveal any way inside.

Carys was starting to feel desperate when she heard a low, droning hum from the forest south of the village.

She turned and saw a dark figure coming through the trees, singing a song in a low, familiar voice.

The wolves grew quiet. The soldiers froze.

The humans in the village turned toward the voice; then one by one, they fell silent, sat down wherever they were, and listened with rapt attention and adoring faces.

Carys saw Duncan staring at the figure as if he was caught in a trance. “Duncan?”

The big man gripped his sword and shook his head. “Damn fae.”

Dru walked from between the trees, a green cloak thrown over his shoulders and twigs and feathers trailing from his hair.

Despite his wild appearance, the dark fae’s face was regal, and the dancing lights of sprites and pixies followed behind him like a luminous cloud.

“The fae.” Godrik growled. “He dares show his face?—”

“Quiet.” Dru raised his hand, palm up, and the wolf disappeared in a shower of silver and gold sparks until there was no man and a massive wolf crouched near Godrik’s horse.

The gelding reared and Godrik let out a nasty growl, but Dru continued to walk forward, kneeling before the green earthen mound.

“Duncan,” Dru said quietly. “Take your sword from the earth. You’ve upset its magic.”

Duncan pulled up the sword, and the soil spit it out with a stretch and a settling rumble.

Then Dru put his hands deep into the earth, lifted his voice in a new song, and the side of the green, flowering mound crumbled away.