Page 30 of The Shadow Path (Shadowlands #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“ W hat will they do?” Duncan asked. “Will they back you?”

“I don’t need them to back me.”

Carys nearly tripped over a root that jumped into the path. The way out of the forest was distinctly more difficult than the way in, and Carys was grateful that Dru was leading them.

“I just need them to not back my brother,” Dru continued. “And I don’t think they will. The Yuten fae are their own breed of creature, and they don’t like authority. They’ve ruled these woods for centuries, and they like their independence.”

“You mentioned something that Cian would offer them,” Carys said. “Could you offer them the same thing?”

“They want more babies.” Dru glanced over his shoulder. “More human children. More changelings sent through the gates. You think I should offer the same thing?”

Carys felt her stomach churn. “And Cian would offer that?”

“He’d offer, but he wouldn’t follow through. Population is how he maintains his influence.” Dru’s attention turned to the right. “The Shadowkin at the gates…” He trailed off, narrowing his eyes at something in the distance.

Duncan immediately drew his sword. “What is it?”

Dru took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Trolls.”

Carys blinked. “Trolls in the forest?”

“Yes.” Dru remained frozen. “And they have imps with them.”

“Oh fuck.” Duncan drew his sword. “Not imps.”

“Why are imps so bad?” Carys asked. “Aren’t they a little like— Ow!” She slapped her hand on her shoulder when she felt the sting, and her palm landed on something that crunched. “What the hell?”

Something poked at her palm, and a stabbing pain shot up her forearm. “What is that?”

When she removed her hand, there were two wide, angry black eyes glaring at her from her shoulder.

“Carys, brush it off!” Duncan shouted. “It’s an imp!”

“Brush— Ow!” She nearly bit her tongue when the tiny creature bared its fangs and lifted a needlelike blade that he drove it into Carys’s shoulder. “Get off me!” She swiped her hand against the imp, but the tiny fae creature opened its jaw to nearly ninety degrees and sank its teeth into Carys’s finger.

A spear of pain shot up her arm, but she managed to slap her hand down, and she felt the imp crunch under her palm. It squeaked and burbled before it slid to the ground and the moss crawled over its body.

That could not be good.

“They’re everywhere,” Duncan shouted.

A gang of imps raced through the forest, some flying with wings and others clicking and climbing from the ground, swarming Carys and Duncan with their gangly bodies, wicked little blades, and needle-sharp teeth.

She grabbed for an arrow and started brushing them off, taking care not to stab herself with the point.

Carys was able to shake off the next one that tried to land on her arm, but there were more coming. And more. They swarmed in the air like bugs.

Even Dru’s face was scrunched and his eyes narrowed as he batted the imps away from his face, but his focus was on two tall figures striding through the trees. “Duncan, get Carys away.”

“Are those trolls?”

“I’ll be fine.” He glared at Duncan and pointed to the edge of the forest where the light broke through the trees. “Get the nêrys ddraig back to her dragon!”

What is happening? She heard Cadell’s voice in her mind.

Just a bit of an imp situation.

Did they bite you?

Only once.

“Come on.” Duncan grabbed her and tucked her against his chest.

The big man was wearing a heavy cloak that the imps couldn’t seem to penetrate, and he’d pulled it up and over her as he bodily carried her through the forest and away from the swarm.

“What kind of place is this?” She hid her face against his chest. “Half-size fae with beetle wings, bloodthirsty sprites, and now trolls?”

Duncan paused, shaking his head and swiping one more imp away from his beard. “Dru is dealing with the trolls.”

Carys looked under Duncan’s arm and saw the ground buckling and the trees swaying behind them. Whatever Dru was doing looked like he was tearing the forest from the roots, and Carys couldn’t help but feel a kind of desperation when she heard trees crashing and branches snapping.

Nêrys, I’m coming to you.

“Let me down.” She could see the edge of the forest from the path where Duncan had been running, and between the trees, Cadell was waiting. “I need to get back to him before he burns down this forest.”

I’m here! she shouted with her mind. Cadell, just leave it. I’m almost to you right now. Dru stayed behind to take care of the trolls.

“Haven’t seen trolls in the forest before,” Duncan shouted. “They usually keep to the ports and the mountains.”

“Why do you think they’re here?”

“They’re greedy.” Duncan grunted. “Well, some of them are. If Cian paid them enough, they’d fight for him. But only if they’re convinced he can win.”

“Can he?” She stepped from under the shadow of the trees and fought the urge to run to Cadell.

“Can he win?” Duncan shrugged. “Anything’s possible, Carys.”

They walked away from the forest and into the waist-deep waving grass of the hills.

Cadell was lying on a hillside, his glowing gold eyes watching the thrashing trees in the distance. The fae prince is powerful.

“Cadell says Dru is powerful.”

“I’ve never seen him fight,” Duncan said. “He always seems to be able to talk his way out of things.”

Carys .

“What?” She turned to look for Cadell, but the moment she turned her head, the dragon that had been on the grassy hillside was gone.

Carys .

Carys turned in circles and saw the plain empty of everything and everyone save for the golden, waving grass and a white mare and rider silhouetted on the ridge that overlooked the forest.

Carys Morgan .

“Hello?” Carys walked toward the rider, who turned away and disappeared behind a rise in the hillside where a white chalk outline of a horse marked the beginning of Saris Plain.

She walked up and over the hill, but by the time she reached the top, the horse and the rider were gone and the plain filled her field of vision, empty save for a herd of wild horses that grazed among the grass.

“What do you think?”

Carys turned to the right to see the woman with long wavy hair standing next to her.

“I’m dreaming again.”

“This time you are not.” Rhiannon smiled a little bit. “I simply wanted to show you the plain as it looked before you were born.” She spread out her arms. “The plain as it should be. Isn’t it beautiful?”

The long golden grass waved in the breeze, and while there was no sun shining, the air around them was warm and the light bright.

“It’s beautiful.” Carys turned to her. “Why are you here?”

“You were wondering why the fae prince came to this place,” Rhiannon said. “You were wondering why Aine’s son chose Saris Plain.”

“Yes.”

“Because more than just the fae prince waits. More than Elatha’s son is hungry for power,” the horse goddess said. She bent to Carys’s ear and whispered, “You must not let them spill blood on Saris Plain.”

Carys blinked and the woman was gone. In the distance, Cadell waited for her, and Duncan was calling her name.

“Carys, where are you wandering off to?” The blacksmith hiked behind her. “Dru’s back and we should?—”

“We shouldn’t spill blood on Saris Plain,” Carys said. “She told me not to.”

“Who?”

Carys closed her eyes and tried to remember her face. “I don’t… I can’t remember the details, but I’ve seen her before. In London.”

“Your mother’s Brightkin?”

Carys shook her head. “No, not her.”

You must not let them spill blood on Saris Plain.

“We shouldn’t fight here,” Carys murmured. “There’s something about this place.”

“We shouldn’t fight anywhere,” Duncan said. “And you’re not going to. Dru may be determined to go to war with his brother, but that fight is not yours.”

You must not let them spill blood on Saris Plain.

“You’ve got stab marks in your shoulder” —Duncan was still yelling— “and your face is slashed.”

He touched her cheek, and Carys was surprised when his hand came away bloody. She hadn’t even felt it. “That wound is going to get infected. Imps are nasty creatures, Carys. We’re going back to London. This has gone far enough.”

You must not let them spill blood on Saris Plain.

Carys stared across the swiftly passing landscape of Southern Anglia as Cadell flew them back to London.

Duncan was fuming.

Cadell was silent.

Dru was staring at her.

“What did the horse goddess say?” he finally asked.

“She said that we shouldn’t spill blood on Saris Plain,” Carys yelled over the wind.

“Ah.” He nodded. “It is sacred ground to her.”

It wasn’t just because of the sacred ground. There was something else. Something about hunger and power. Something she couldn’t quite grasp as Cadell began to circle down, down, down to the city.

“You’re going home,” Duncan said. “Enough is enough.”

“I’m staying.” She needed to be here. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but she needed to stay.

The dragon flew over the heavily wooded park on the eastern edge of London, and Carys saw the snaking river in the distance as it twisted and gleamed in the silver light, its water flowing ever outward toward the sea.

Something is wrong.

There was a horn in the distance and bells ringing over the city.

“What’s going on?” Duncan leaned over the edge of the coracle. “Cadell, do you hear that?”

The horn blew again, a steady, ominous blast that sounded over and over again.

Dru stared at the wooden wall of the coracle, and Carys saw the air around him shimmer with magic. He closed his eyes, and she saw the shadowy horns rising again over his head in the red glow of the dragon’s body.

Cadell, what is happening?

He is swimming toward the sea. The dragon’s voice was solemn when it came to her mind. There are two dragons following him, but he will not speak to them.

“Who?” she shouted.

“The Great Serpent.” Dru breathed out slowly, and his eyes were black and wide. “He is returning to the sea.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Duncan growled. “The Great Serpent is the protector of the Tamis. The guardian of the city. If he leaves, what the hell does that mean for London?”

In all my years on the earth — Cadell’s voice was solemn— never has the Great Serpent left the river.

“Are you sure he’s leaving?” Carys strained to see more as Cadell swooped down over the city and followed the river, flying behind two smaller dragons who soared over the water, tracking something below. “Maybe he’s just going to check something out.”

“There!” Duncan pointed at a great ridged fin that surfaced for a moment before it submerged. A rippling current of gold trailed after it, and as soon as Carys saw the gold waves, she finally saw the massive outline of the largest snake she had ever seen in her life.

It was nothing like she had imagined, more primordial monster than eel or whale. There were golden-brown scales down his back and large, fan-shaped dorsal fins that rose on his spine, rising and falling through the water as it moved.

It twisted through the city like the river that was its home, passing Lud’s Hill and the coronation throne, swimming by the king’s castle and the white tower next to it, dipping under the bridges where panicked Londoners pointed and yelled.

As it swam, the humans across the city ran toward the Tamis, and Carys could see small creatures—otters, river fae, and seals—slipping from the grassy banks of the river and following.

Mile by mile, the serpent swam as Cadell and the two other dragons trailed after him.

One of the dragons in front offered a curious cry and flew lower down to the surface of the Tamis where the serpent rose, answered with a bellowing call that ripped through the water and the air, then disappeared back into the deep.

Where is it going?

He only says he must return to the sea.

What does that mean?

For the first time since she’d known him, Cadell was speechless.

Duncan spun on Dru. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“Your father is a sea god!”

“I have done nothing.” And yet despite the panic below, despite the confusion of the dragons, the dark-haired fae did not look surprised. If anything, he looked slightly amused. “He’s a sea monster, Duncan. Did you think he was tame?”

“He’s supposed to protect the city,” Duncan growled. “If the Great Serpent is abandoning London, what does that mean for you and your allies?”

Dru shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Is this a game to you?” Duncan was shouting. “Because there are people I love following you into battle. And I’m half tempted to throw you over the side of this coracle right now.”

I do not know either. Cadell’s voice was soft. Perhaps the surly human is correct. Perhaps you should return to the Brightlands, Nêrys.

And leave you here to fight without me?

This is not your home, Cadell said. He is correct. This is not your battle.

“I’m staying.” Carys looked at Duncan. Then at Dru. “I’m staying.” She felt a surge of defiance in her breast. “Because let’s be honest, I’m going to battle with a dragon.” She leaned toward Dru. “A fucking dragon . Your brother may have magic and power and maybe even a serpent longer than four school buses, but he does not have dragons .”