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Tilak owned more houses than most Dwarves of his station. Allegiance to the King, any king, comes with privileges. Being the generous host he was, he'd given us a map, a master key, and permission to take shelter in any of his homes along our journey. As fortune would have it, we were a short ride from the next one, giving Sylos and I a chance to regroup and plan our strategy.
Anyone who saw us as a threat would not willingly divulge information about Lorelei and Adrius and their whereabouts. It was necessary not only for my own conscience, but for our success, to make this as peaceful as possible. Killing our way to them simply would not do, and Sylos needed to understand that.
"This is the Tilak’s second home?" Sylos scanned the upscale dwelling with its mossy stone walls and ample porch.
It was a single-story structure with a metal roof, likely to keep Fey out. I smiled at the irony. On the door was a note, scrawled in the worst penmanship I’d ever read.
"It’s from Tilak. He says he knows of the Dwarf’s relations we seek in the Dunedin Plains, and plans to meet us there," I said.
"How many homes does the Dwarf have?"
"At least a dozen along our path." This one was the first that seemed less hovel-like and more like a dwelling suitable for inhabiting.
Sylos dropped down onto the furry animal hide covering the bench while I worked to unlock the door. This was by far a step up from his last home. Wood floors instead of dirt, with two separate rooms and a wash chamber. It would be nice not to be forced to bathe outdoors. I let myself relax a little.
Finding beings who did not wish to be found was not only within my training as a Faerie Knight, it was something I was naturally good at. Under different circumstances, locating two beings in the Wyldes would be easy. They would leave behind tracks, or scents, or a myriad of other clues to indicate where they were hiding. But both Adrius and Lorelei had skills of their own, one of which being the ability to convince others to not only help hide them, but to cover their tracks as well. Tracking in rainy season on the plains was not an easy feat. We could use as much aid as we could come by.
Sylos and I surveyed the room, both of us cold, wet, and eager to bring this hunt to a close. I needed to have Lorelei safe and move on with my life. And if my life was to be spent as an exiled Prince of the Winter Court and a fugitive Knight of the Shadow Court, then I needed time to formulate a plan. Had I not been so caught up in my own thoughts, I would have noticed the foul stench in the air. But it did not take long to find the cause. A parchment hung by the mantle, dripping with wet blood.
A Witch’s blade was driven through it, the words inscribed with fresh blood. Whose? I wondered, as I approached it. My senses heightened, and both Sylos and I searched the cabin and the surrounding woods for signs of who had left it. When we came up empty, I tore the note from the athame's blade and read it.
It was a rhyme. I frowned, rereading the cryptic message.
Through cracks of time she will fall through,
Unless you know just what to do.
Before you seek the girl you pursue,
You must look and find what is true.
At a time where you once knew
The power of love's fatal view.
After the time that grief left you,
At the door of death’s dark view.
In the place dead grows anew,
It’s here that you will find your due.
This is the first of three such clues.
Sylos circled back to me. "Do you have any idea what this means?"
As I studied it, the meaning began to take form in my mind. I felt I should know of the place the note referred to, but I couldn't grasp it—though it sat there, just beyond the edges of my memory. "No, I don't. But someone does."
Hunger turned my stomach, and I set about searching for food and drink, while I pondered the riddle in my mind. I found some stale bread in the cupboard, and Sylos collected rainwater. We dined in silence—my head, as usual, a million leagues from where we were.
"Perhaps someone is messing with your mind, mate. Could be this note has no meaning at all."
"Anyone foolish enough to play such a dangerous game with me will lose."
Sylos snickered. "Sounds like something your father might have said. Not much of a sense of humor, that one."
He was joking. I knew this, and yet a frisson of annoyance ran through me. I glared directly into his eyes. My voice lowered, and a chill came down around us. "My father tortured innocents. He was known to routinely barter with the Shades, the deadliest and most demonic among us. He was a brute and a deceiver and a killer," I said with a hiss. "And I am nothing like my father."
Even as I spoke the words I could hear his cruel laugh inside my mind, telling me I was wrong. Again. Always. Telling me that I was, and always would be, exactly like him.
I got up, strode to the door, and opened it. I stood on the threshold, staring out into the night. If entering the hell I'd found myself in of late was the way to atone for past sins, then I would rather burn for them. This was far too painful. I twisted around to get a better view of where we were. Nowhere. That's where. Smack in the midst of it. And no closer to where I needed to be.
Where is she?
"We will find her," he said, addressing my unspoken question.
But I knew better. Nothing was as simple as it seemed in these lands. This would be no different. I slammed my boot against the wooden door, which tore from its hinges with a groan before slamming against the floor in a cloud of dust.
"We will find her," he said again.
A small metal ball flew through the open doorway and landed with a thud on the floor. It rolled, careening slowly toward us. When it hit the stone hearth, it stopped.
"What fresh madness is this?" I grumbled, moving cautiously. My gaze narrowed. Silver. Only a handful of beings in this realm had access to it.
There wasn't time to figure who had thrown it. The silver sphere split open, releasing a cloud of noxious smoke.
Sylos moved toward it, ready to pick it up.
"No!" I hollered that single word—but not in time.
With a thunderous crack the room began to rip apart. The walls and ground trembled with violent force. Floorboards splintered, and the roof shook violently. Pieces of the ceiling rained down over us. As we made for the door, we were enveloped in a blinding white light. Then another eye-searing flash as the walls exploded outward. Wood and stone collapsed down around us as we were thrown from the crumbling hovel by the force of the blast.
I landed hard, and my head smashed against the ground as shattered wood and metal buried me alive.