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He gave us a nod and went back to his task, apparently content to have given us an explanation. It seemed to leave even more questions in its wake though and I doubted he wanted to sit down and go over the history of corruption with us.
We had been dozing against the tree by the fire after filling ourselves with whatever meat it was that they had hunted and cooked, when a sharp whistle rang out, rousing me faster than anything else could have at that point. The warmth of the flames still licked against any exposed skin, yet a shiver ran down my spine as all of the men in the camp burst into action. Most grabbed a weapon of some kind, and then a few others were weaving spells, the magic crackling along my senses.
"Give me a sword. I can help you fight," I called out to nobody in particular.
One of the men turned to throw a sword in my direction, and another one stopped him. "Are you stupid? That'll just draw them to her. We're supposed to be protecting her. That's the whole reason we're out here."
"What do you mean it'll draw them to me?" I demanded.
"Really don't have time to get into this right now," the fae who stopped me from getting a weapon called as he swiped his blade toward one of the feral fae.
The one who had been about to throw me the sword turned and said, "Your moon marked. Your magic is strong and that's what they're drawn to. I should have thought before I tried to give you a weapon. Stay in the center of the barrier."
Even though I hated it, I did as they asked and grabbed Wyn by the hand, pulling her into the center with me. "I don't want you to get hurt," I said to her.
A shriek had me backing up even further, and as I looked across the field of fae I saw what looked like a feral beast clawing at the barrier, and suddenly I understood how the feral fae got their names. As the noise came again I realized that shriek wasn't even the right word for it. It was like the creature had multiple notes in its scream, all coming out at the same time. In a way that seemed to be calling for backup because the otherferal fae that were around it suddenly turned and converged on the point where it was scratching at the barrier.
I watched the way that they were attacking the barrier. Their faces were distorted, a deep red, almost purple, with what I could only assume was something akin to rage. They bashed themselves against the magical barrier, bouncing off, sometimes crushing fingers and breaking hands as they punched and hit at the magic.
The guards that were with us would step through the barrier for a moment, cleanly slicing through necks or across chests. Anything to take them down while they could.
The feral fae were mindless. There was no sense in their attacks. They just threw themselves at the obstacle in their way.
Another multi-tone screech sounded, and I turned toward it, only to find a secondary group attacking from the other side. They were drawing more and more of the other fae in the area that were apparently feral.
The corruption was too far gone for them to maintain any cognitive abilities, but they seemed to be feeding off each other's sounds. Each group shrieking to the other. The resonance in their tone made me feel like my head was spinning.
The mage behind us stumbled over his words for a second. Clearly the noise was affecting him as well. It was enough for the barrier to flicker and one of them to get through the magic.
It made a beeline toward my little group, but was struck down by one of the guards before it even came close, which was a relief. The head of the fae rolled toward me, thanks to the fact that we were on a slight hill.
I had seen plenty of battles in my time, but severed body parts still unnerved me for some reason, especially heads. The last thing I expected, though, was for its eyes to turn and fix on me, going from a milky color to a deep greenish-black. It wasn'tjust restricted to the irises where a pupil would normally be. It was their whole damn eye.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight, and the world around me seemed to go quiet.
"Found you," the head said. Its voice was thin and wispy, as though it was barely even there, so much so that I wondered if I had imagined it. The black eyes quickly bled back to their misty blue, which became completely lifeless.
As it sat at my feet for a moment, I was too stunned to do or say anything. It was only when I turned to Wyn who looked equally as pale that I thought maybe it hadn't been completely in my imagination. When I looked over and made eye contact with the feral fae closest to the barrier, I watched as its eyes bled to black. It's tattered cream robes stilling as something took it over completely.
"We found you," it's voice called, sending a chill down my spine.
Slowly, one by one, each of the feral fae became...Aware. It didn't seem like it was their own personal awareness, but more like it was somebody controlling them, like they were puppets.
As soon as their eyes bled to black, they joined in this chant ofwe found you. I had no idea what it meant, but it was terrifying.
Suddenly the remaining ferals began to attach themselves to one another in a way I'd never seen before. As they laid their hands on each other, they seemed to grow stronger, passing the strength on through each fae until they were touching the one in the cream robes. The ones behind it seemed to lose the consciousness that had been possessing them.
The one in the front in the cream robes shook his head, seeming in some kind of clarity, before it muttered something and placed its hand against the barrier. A sound from directlybehind us startled me, and I turned to find that the mage had dropped to the floor, gripping his head.
The barrier dissolved around us. The faint blue sheen that had been in the air was gone.
To my surprise, most of the fae that had attached themselves to the one in the front dropped to the ground as though they were nothing more than used dish rags. The one in the front stepped forward. It's black and green, eyes flashing as it watched me.
Some of the guards tried to come toward it, but with a flick of its hand they flew backward or fell to the ground. I had no weapon, no way of defending myself, and no way to protect Wyn other than with my own body.
I glanced over my shoulder at the other group of fae that had been attacking from that direction, only to find a similar situation. Most of them had dropped to the floor, completely lifeless, but there were two on that side that were heading toward me.
The three of them came at me in a triangle formation, so I had nowhere to run that wasn't toward one of them. The one that I had seen break the barrier spoke, returning my attention to it. The voice was both feminine and masculine at the same time, high and low pitch. Almost creating that same resonance that they had before.
