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A moment later they had shifted into the darkest part of the castle. They stood at the top of a long, winding, and narrow set of stone steps that led them to a small, weathered wooden door.
Trevor hesitated. He didn’t want to shift directly into Pestale’s midst, for he hoped to take them by surprise. He murmured a gypsy chant to disguise their scent in the spell of concealment. It would only buy them some time to evaluate the situation before making a move.
“Was that language you spoke Danu? It sounded different in my head.”
“Quite right.” He smiled at her. “It was Romany—a Gypsy spe
ll Bres taught me a few months ago. Romany will translate, as will any language in your head, now that you are Fae and that Fae is growing in you, but the spells have to be learned. Breslyn said that the Dark Ones were not adept in Gypsy spells and would not see through them immediately. It will only buy us time before they realize we are near.”
A moment later they entered the huge dungeon chamber, hovering in a mist of darkness, near the rafters, a skill he had taught her just that morning and one that she had picked up easier than she had some others. The room was full to overflowing with Unseelie of every imaginable caste, horrifying to look at, repulsive to smell, but what was worse was the swirling dark opening that went from floor to ceiling. Although it was only a few feet in width, it seemed to be getting larger with each moment.
They took in the scene with eyes wide open, and Trevor knew they were in for serious trouble.
* * *
Jazz’s mouth fell open as she stared at the horde of Unseelie monsters. They jostled one another, and little skirmishes broke out, diverting attention to the fights. Pestale had more than once put up his hand and called for an end to it.
The dungeon had to be at least fifty feet wide and eighty feet long.
Insect-type beings the size of cows, snakes that stood on two legs and were the size of basketball players, and grotesque, elephant-sized pig-like creatures snorted and bumped and grumbled. And then she saw a horde of green humanoid types, standing quietly behind the three Dark Royals.
“What are those, the green guys? They look almost like—”
“They are the Green Babblers. The sound they make can kill a human a hundred feet away, and then they feed on the dead body.” He pointed with his chin. “Those, the giant insects, they like to feed on live humans. Now and then over the years, one or two escape and feed until we locate them and return or destroy them.”
She grimaced and swallowed hard. She had even in her worst nightmares never pictured so many monsters of so many different castes collected into one chamber. Their numbers spilled over and into a long hall she could only assume led outdoors. They were, as she had worried, lined up and ready, so ready for their trip into the Human Realm, and they were going en masse. They looked anxious, and they looked damned hungry!
“Trev …” she whispered, feeling her body go numb.
The time has come to use the pendant. We must inform the queen. He didn’t speak out loud but in her head. Another skill he had taught her and had her practice over and over yesterday.
It was a unique sensation to hear him inside her mind, but she complied immediately. She grasped the pendant and mentally recited the required chant.
Nothing, she said in his mind.
Don’t stop. Keep calling for her, he answered.
Another moment went by before the queen’s image appeared, and she said, “I know—I have felt the shift in the universe. There are two voids in the atmosphere, and we are not certain which one he will try and use.”
“My Queen,” Trevor whispered, “he has the Green Babblers at the head of his army—we must stop him, or the loss of human life will be … disastrous.”
“Indeed, do what you can on your end.” And the queen was gone.
“Jazmine Decker … this is … grave,” he said as he turned to her.
“What should we do first?”
“There is something stored at the Retreat, something Crystal showed me when you were in transition. I will have to get it into the heart of the portal.”
“What is it?”
“Iron, hundreds of iron rods, spelled by the Dark King, but I will have to get to the Retreat and manage its delivery here. Because iron can affect a Seelie Fae as well—and in that quantity there is no saying what it will do to me—I will need you to help me shift it here.”
“But you are a Royal. Iron affects Royals?”
“In quantity, it can.”
“Well, I have human in me, so I betcha I’m immune and can help you get it here.”
