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Trillian and Morio were on their feet instantly, but before they could reach me, the two men intercepted them. I leapt to my feet and stumbled back from my attacker. The look in his eyes changed from guarded to dangerous and he brought his hands up. The crackle of magic raced between his fingers. Oh shit, he was some sort of mage.
Instinctively, I grabbed the horn inside my cloak. The Elementals within were awake. I could feel them waiting for my command as I circled with the sorcerer in a slow, wary dance.
I tried to key in on where he sourced its power from. If I tried to deflect the wrong energy, chances were I’d be a goner.
And then, my opponent shot a spell dead center for me. The energy roared like a cannon, an arrow of fire, aiming true and clear. I brought up the horn and summoned the Mistress of Flames. A force field came up, a wall of flame to meet the fiery arrow, and there was an explosion as the flames collided and cancelled one another.
No time to think. I summoned the Lady of the Land and focused on the ground beneath his feet. The soil shrieked as it ripped apart, splitting as the garden quaked, the ground rolling in waves. A crevasse opened below him, big enough to unbalance his footing. He fell into the hole. The ground rippled again and slammed shut.
Pancake, I thought. As in flatter than a . . .
My stomach lurched and I stumbled back as Feddrah-Dahns cantered up the walkway on one side, his father from the other direction. They stared at the ground and then over at me. In turn, I whirled around to check on Morio and Trillian. One of the men lay on the ground, dead, and Morio’s dagger was bloody. The other was nowhere to be seen.
“I munched your garden,” I said, shaking.
“No matter,” Feddrah-Dahns said. “What happened? What did they want?”
“What do you think he wanted? He was after the horn.” I turned back to stare at the spot where the magician had fallen. Whether he’d been crushed or suffocated, I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“You’d best make your way to the Black Beast without delay,” the King said. He turned to the Crown Prince. “Do as you wish and take Rejah-Dahns’s place. They need more protection than she can offer, and you have magic at your disposal.” Upala-Dahns paused, then spoke to one of his bodyguards. “Get someone in here to tend to that mess.” He nodded to the ground. “Make certain the sorcerer is dead. Find the other assailant and execute him. Burn the bodies.” With that grim order, the King turned and trotted away.
Feddrah-Dahns tossed his head, motioning for us to follow him. We hurried to a spot near the palace entrance. There stood Iris, next to a willow tree. She gave me a worried look, but said nothing as the unicorn let out a loud nicker.
“Have you everything you need for the journey?” he asked.
I nodded. “I have my bag with me, and I believe Morio does, too.”
“Right here,” he said, patting the bag he was never without.
“Good. Iris? Trillian?”
Iris held up her traveling gear.
Trillian shrugged. “There’s nothing I can’t do without. I always carry money and weapons with me.”
“Then we should make tracks and get the hell out of Dodge,” I said.
“Oddly put, but yes, we must leave now,” Feddrah-Dahns said. “I’m not taking bodyguards. We don’t know who we can trust, and there are things we must discuss in private. Hurry, follow me.” He led us out the western gate and back up the hill, occasionally looking over his shoulder. “We aren’t being followed. I don’t think my father realizes how concerned I am about the situation, which is a good thing.”
We kept quiet until we reached the portal and Feddrah-Dahns ordered our trip to the outskirts of Thistlewyd Deep. The jump was like most of the others, and when we emerged from between two gigantic cedars, I stopped to take a good look at the forest we were about to go charging into. I didn’t know much about this woodland. Most of what I knew about the great forests of Otherworld focused on Darkynwyrd.
“What kind of place is this?” I asked as we headed down the grassy slope toward the path leading into the forest.
“What do you mean? Cedar, fir—mostly coniferous woodlands here.” The unicorn glanced at me, puzzled.
“No, no. I can see that. I mean . . . Darkynwyrd is wild and primal, and filled with shadow-folk. What’s the nature of Thistlewyd Deep? I don’t remember hearing much about it when I was in school.”
Mistletoe, who was riding on Feddrah-Dahns’s shoulder, let out a snort. “You’re in for a surprise, my lady. This is far more dangerous than Darkynwyrd. This forest is ruled by Raven Mother—one of the Elemental Lords. Ladies? She’s cunning and devious, and delights in deceiving others to do her bidding.”
“Sounds like Morgaine,” Morio said, pressing his hand to my back.
“Delightful. I wonder if they know each other. Morgaine travels with a murder of crows . . . She probably gets into ravens, too.” I let out a loud sigh. “Can’t we ever go anyplace where the welcome mat isn’t set with spikes or traps or deadfalls?”
Iris clucked sympathetically. “I know. I know.”
We plowed through the knee-high grass as the afternoon slipped away. The Windwillow Valley was predominantly comprised of grassy plains, and the long blades waved in the wind like a verdant current, rippling with each gust. The susurration of their movement whispered on the wind.
Away from the forest’s edge, there were few trees through the wide valley, only small scrub and occasional lakes or ponds that offered animals and travelers a place to rest and refresh. The valley plains went on for days if you were afoot, bordered on the west by the Nebulvuori Mountains of the dwarves. They opened into the Sandwhistle Desert due south.
