Page 10 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse

“I should teach him some manners,” Jake said between clenched teeth.

“I think he’ll turn you into pulp before you teach him anything. He’s seven-foot tall, Jake. Besides, picking a fight is not going to help us.”

He kept glowering at the creature over my shoulder.

I grabbed his face and directed his gaze to mine. “Focus. Don’t forget why we’re here.”

Reluctantly, he relaxed, unclenching his jaw and shaking his arms at his sides.

I leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “Maybe we can find another way in. We could jump the wall.”

His sharp eyes glanced about as he nodded. “Let’s do that.”

We abandoned our spot in the line, walked back the way we’d come, and found a route that took us closer to the outer wall. The structure appeared to be made of vines and to surround the entire perimeter of the Seelie Court’s home. We strolled along a row of buildings along its perimeter, examining it closely.

Witchlights! Why didn’t we ask Kalyll to give us some sort of password that would let us through the front gate?

“There are guards every few yards,” Jake said, leaning close to whisper in my ear.

“And they’re watching us,” I said, waving at one of them. He stood impassive, showing no reaction to my greeting. “Maybe if I tell one of them I need to see the Prince, they’ll call him.”

“I doubt you would be the first one to try that, so I don’t think it’ll work, but give it a go.”

Rolling my shoulders, I walked closer to the wall and cleared my throat. “Hi, there,” I called out to the closest Fae who stood guard on the parapet. He ignored me.

“My name is Toni Sunder, and I need to see Prince Kalyll. Do you think you could call him for me? I assure you he’ll want to see me.”

The guard barely blinked. For all I knew, he didn’t speak English, and I was wasting my time.

“Please,” I said in my best groveling voice.

Still nothing.

Giving up, I turned back to Jake and shrugged. He scratched the back of his neck, considering. After a moment, he gave me a wicked grin.

“What?” I asked.

In answer, he shifted, his clothes falling to the ground in tatters, and ran straight at the vine-covered wall.