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Kes looked around the room surprised to not see Anin or Ciaran. From the way he was laying on the bed, it looked like he had been tossed there and left as if someone had been in a hurry; although, surely Ciaran would have left Anin with him.
“Anin!” Kes tried to yell, but it came out more like a croak. He waited a few moments, but heard no sounds of any other living being in his quarters. His heart started to beat faster, because there could only be two reasons Anin would not be there with him. Either she was in the study with Etain and Ciaran, or she was gone. He tried to move his arm, but could not do more than twitch it. He was stuck there waiting for her to come back while he waited for his body to heal enough, or Ciaran to come help him along. He knew deep down if Anin were in the palace, her scent would be fresh instead of faded.
He feared for his nymph wherever she had gone while he was unable to go after her. The thought of her injured and alone made him violently angry. Gods, he hoped Ciaran was soon to wake. Kes was sure Ciaran had to be sleeping off his burnout after saving his life. There are only so many beings in the entire realm who could set a trap that powerful. He would find every single one who had a hand in setting him up, placing Anin in terrible danger. He promised himself he would kill them all slowly and imaginatively; perhaps then his anger would fade. He wished he knew if she was okay.
He reached through the bond that pulled from his chest and felt her at the other end, calm and alive. He breathed a little easier knowing, at least in that moment, Anin was okay. He spent the next several hours drifting in and out of sleep. When awake, he spent his time thinking through every possible suspect that could’ve been involved.
Sleep held restless dreams. He’d see his own pool of blood pouring out of him while he tried to stay awake and keep pace healing each stab wound. He’d slow and finally give into the darkness. All he could do was kneel and continue to lose blood. Each time, at the end, Anin would be there sobbing in a corner. She’d then be brought out and killed in front of Kes before he finally succumbed to his wounds.
Over and over he had this dream. Some versions were more gruesome than others; those he would wake from and seek Anin at the other end of the bond. Determination was taking over her emotions, and Kes sent as much support down the bond as he could.
The hours ticked by, yet Kes had barely gotten back his ability to move his fingers. He really needed Ciaran to come and help finish healing him, then they could create their own plan. Kes knew no matter what Ciaran decided, the second he was able to move, Kes was activating that tracking spell and going directly to Anin. He would not leave her on her own longer than necessary. He had made a blood oath to keep her protected, and not even one full night later, he had failed. Kes could only lay there staring up at the ceiling of his bedchamber, waiting and thinking. He begged any god or goddess listening to help heal him faster, and for Ciaran to wake.
Ciaran woke with a massive deep breath like he had forgotten to breathe while asleep. His eyes shot open, and he sat up rubbing the sleep from them. He needed to find Etain. He was kicking himself at that moment for not installing a tracking spell on her for times specifically like this. He recalled Kes saying he had placed one on Anin. Since both females were missing, it was likely they had both been grabbed by the same being. It was time to go see what state his cousin was in. Kes had still been very close to death when he left him. Ciaran teleported into Kes’s bedroom hoping to not find him cold and empty of life.
“It’s about time you woke from your princess nap,” Kes hissed at him. “I’ve been laying here for hours unable to move much of my body while wide awake. I know something has happened to Anin or she would be here. Now tell me what you know while you heal me, then I will find her and make whoever it is that took her pay for thinking they could take what’s mine!”
Ciaran decided to let the “princess nap” comment slide. At least Ciaran had been knocked out the whole time. Kes would have woken and had no knowledge of anything from the moment he was stabbed nearly to death until now; conscious but unable to do anything.
“Well, if you hadn’t walked right into that trap, we wouldn’t be here at all – would we?” Ciaran placed his hands on Kes and began to heal him. “You almost didn’t make it, cousin. It took nearly every drop of my power to get you to the point where you maybe wouldn’t die. I had enough power left to port you to your chambers, toss you on your bed, and go back to retrieve Etain and Anin. Unfortunately, when I got back, both cages were empty and neither were anywhere to be seen. Not a single soul had been watching them, because the smell of your blood sent half the room into blood lust, and the other half followed shortly behind after watching the first half. Either way, I didn’t have time to interrogate anyone before I passed out.”
Kes’s jaw dropped open, not out of shock over the behavior of the Night Court, but likely because someone was asking for a war.
“This reeks of the kind of shit the Day Court would pull. They set everything up perfectly and tried to kill me in the process. They knew I would go to investigate anything suspicious, and taking me out would leave you on your own. What I don’t understand is why take Anin and Etain? Anin is just a wood nymph, but she has a surprisingly deep well she doesn’t seem to know what to do with. And as far as I know, we are the only ones that know Etain is a powerful witch.”
Ciaran thought about it all for a moment while he continued healing Kes. Just a few more moments and Kes would be good enough for them to move.
“Do you remember the other human I found on the night of the hunt? The mad one?” Kes nodded. “Well, he might not have been the type of mad we had originally thought. He told of this being called ‘The Shepherd’ who had been hunting down witches. The Shepherd told humans about ‘the Beings of Light,’ the ‘God of Light,’ and how they all lived in the ‘Kingdom of Light.’ The man was entirely unwavering in his convictions and would gladly do anything this Shepherd asked of him. He said he had never seen the Shepherd, but had seen glimpses of his hands which glowed golden. All of this sounded like the fucking Day Court to me.”
He finished healing Kes as well as he could, though he needed most of his energy reserves to face whoever or whatever had taken Etain. He took a step back and helped his cousin sit up.
“The way I see it,” Kes said, “we can either go to the dungeons and see if we can quickly get anything out of the madman, or I can set off this tracking spell and hope the two are together.”
Ciaran thought about it for a moment. “Let’s divide and conquer. You get a map out and zero in on Anin’s location, and I will go quickly to see if the man knows anything else about who may want Etain. They could have simply taken her because she is mine, but it doesn’t hurt to be thorough.”
Ciaran wasted no time porting to his fun room and was shocked to find it completely empty. He wanted nothing more than to rage and smash everything, but then he thought about Etain and how she needed him. Instead he began closely inspecting every inch of the room to see if he could find any evidence to prove who let his prisoner go.
The only thing he could find was a spot on the ground where glass was shattered, likely containing a spell at some point. Too much time had passed, so he was unable to get a clean scent on what kind of spell it could have been. The only thing he could smell for sure was there had been a Day Court being in this room. Although, he could not be certain if that was who helped the human escape, or if it was perhaps one of his previous prisoners. Considering the door was still sealed shut giving the illusion of there not being one, he assumed the shattered glass had likely contained a teleportation spell. That also meant whoever had helped the man had been able to teleport in and heal him in some capacity. Ciaran doubted the human would have been able to crawl even a few feet on his own in the state he had left him in.
Seeing no reason to linger any longer, he ported to Kes to find him marking a spot on the map. Kes looked up and could read on Ciaran’s face something was wrong. “Did he have any new insight?” Kes asked.
“It seems not one, but two humans are missing from my care.”
Kes’s downy brows furrowed, and he seemed to be at a loss for words. “Well, that is unfortunate, but we can worry about him later. I have located Anin’s general location. It seems she is moving along one of the old forgotten roads on a direct path to the Day Court. I can not let Anin cross the boundary. I’ll never get her back if she does. I must be off immediately.”
Ciaran thought the chances were high whoever had taken one must have taken both. Maybe they had enlisted the help of the man he had in his dungeon. He told Kes as much, and the two gathered as many weapons as they could carry. Then they changed into clothing which offered a bit more protection than what they had worn to the ball a full night ago. Kes was still covered in blood, but did not spare a moment longer to clean himself off. It took no time at all for them to be ready, and they promptly ported to Anin’s last known location.
They were standing on a nearly overgrown road surrounded by dark woods and could make out the sound of a wagon ahead of them. Kes slinked off into the woods while Ciaran did the same on the other side of the road. They stayed hidden in the trees as they made their way up towards the sound of the wagon and kept pace with it. Ciaran could only see two beings: a large hooded figure driving the wagon and Anin tied up in the back. He could see her working her hands together. The rope that bound her wrists was nearly frayed enough for her to break free.
Ciaran stopped and waited for the wagon to get ahead. Then he crossed to the other side of the woods and sprinted silently to where Kes was still keeping pace with the wagon.
“It’s hard to see from this side, but your nymph nearly has her hands free. I suspect she will be making her move soon. We should be ready to step in. I want the driver alive. He may know where Etain is.”
Ciaran couldn’t mask his disappointment at not finding the two females together. He had no idea how he was going to find Etain and the thought made him feel despondent. He tried not to panic and readied himself to deal with the foe in front of them.
“We will find her, Ciaran.” Kes put his hand on Ciaran’s shoulder in a rare moment of affection.
Ciaran nodded, and the two took off after the wagon again just in time to see Anin sit up and begin working on the rope binding her feet together. The hooded figure at the front of the wagon noticed Anin was close to freeing herself and began to slow the horse. Just as the wagon was coming to a stop, Anin leapt from the back and sprinted towards the trees the second her feet touched the ground. She tried desperately to untie the rope that wrapped around her torso, preventing her from taking flight.
