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HEXAM TOOK THE LEAD as he and Asha slogged across an open field. One nose rose to sniff the air while another snuffled at the soggy ground. The third head swiveled from left to right and occasionally glanced backwards in search of danger.
Asha kept pace with the hound, grateful for his company. Most of the dangerous beasts and fae creatures had been sent to Earth by Prince Sindarian and the land was eerily empty of life. Jake and the rest of his team would be working with the groups that had been set up by the various governments around the world. They intended to send the creatures back here, but it would take a long time to evict them all.
A low growl warned her that Hexam had spotted something. All three of his heads were looking upwards, orange eyes squinting against the driving rain. “What is it?” she asked, peering up as well.
Her answer came in the form of talons reaching for her as a gigantic monster swooped down through the gloom. She didn’t even have the time to scream before she was snatched up and was being carried away. Her hood fell back from the wind rushing around her and she was blinded by the rain. The air became thin when she was flown to the peak of a mountain. Then the talons opened and she was falling.
Screaming in terror, Asha mentally reached out for any nearby plants in desperation as she plummeted from the sky. Responding to her call, branches reached up and formed a dense leafy cradle that broke her fall moments before she would have hit the ground.
Stunned and winded, Asha lay on her back with her eyes shut, trying to relearn how to breathe. A vine reached out and tugged her hood down to cover her face from the rain, which she found strangely amusing. She got her breath back and began to giggle uncontrollably. In response, the vine pressed against her lips, warning her to be quiet.
Reminded that there was a predator nearby, Asha went quiet. She silently asked the tree what sort of creature had snatched her up. It told her the beast was a hippogriff and her blood ran cold. The hippogriffs in the Seelie realm worked for the Court and patrolled for intruders. The ones here would be as evil as every other being that roamed the land and would see her as food.
As if in confirmation, she heard piping cries coming from somewhere below. Rolling over onto her side, she peered through the leaves and saw it wasn’t the ground, but a nest about ten feet below her. Three hideous gigantic chicks were clustered together. Their mouths gaped open, waiting for food to be delivered to them. They had the heads and wings of eagles and the bodies of lions. Even in their baby forms, they would rend her apart with their beaks and claws.
A shadow passed over her as their mother or father soared overhead. Asha was hidden in the leafy cocoon, but she was still in danger. She asked the tree if it could take her to the ground and it complied. Keeping her hidden from the hippogriff that was circling above the nest, she was passed from branch to branch until her feet touched the ground. She’d learned her lesson about traveling across open fields. It would be far safer to stick to the forests when she could from now on.
Putting her hand on the trunk, she thanked the tree for its help. A branch came down and lightly touched her on the head in response. They seemed different from when she’d first visited the Unseelie realm with Jake and Rudy. Something had changed and it was probably to do with the chaos and imbalance. They were less hostile to her even when she was in her dryad form now. Maybe they knew she was fated to save them.
She had no idea where she was, or which direction to take to reach the Unseelie palace. Without Hexam, she had no one to guide her. Responding to her need again, the branch pointed off to the east. The plants had decided to show her the way and she bowed her head in gratitude, then began to walk.
It wasn’t easy making her way across the mountain range, but the plants helped her when she needed it. Vines would descend to carry her across dangerous territory or to lift her over obstacles and swollen creeks. It occurred to her that she could travel by one of the larger trees back to the palace now that she was alone, but her instincts told her not to. She had a feeling she was being led where she needed to go and she wasn’t about to attempt to alter her fate.
Darkness had fallen before she heard the thunder of gigantic feet approaching. The ground shook and terror froze her in place for a few moments. She fled towards the nearest tree, but it didn’t respond to her plea to save her. Spinning around when she heard hoarse panting, she drew a breath to scream when a massive head swooped down. Then a wet, warm tongue licked her from her feet to her face and she realized who the beast was. “You scared the life out of me!” she scolded Hexam as he shrank down to his normal size.
Too happy that he’d found her to be ashamed that he’d frightened her, the hound raced around in a circle a few times before galloping back over to her. He butted one of his heads against her and she hugged him hard. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said, nearly in tears that her guardian had managed to find her. He must have run in his gigantic form like the devil was after him to have caught up to her.
Grinning with all three heads, he licked her again, but only slobbered on her face this time. She used her cloak to wipe away his drool that had probably already been washed away by the rain. “We should probably avoid crossing open fields in the future,” she warned him and received a woof of agreement.
Hexam had learned his lesson that sometimes the fastest way wasn’t always the safest way to travel. He’d lost Asha for an entire day and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. It was his duty to make sure she was safe and he wasn’t about to let his guard down.
After another night spent sheltered by the trees, they resumed their journey at first light. Not that they could see the sun through the dense clouds. Asha’s stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast the day before. Hexam trotted over to the base of a tree and sniffed something, then one of his heads swiveled to her.
She dutifully crossed to him and crouched down to see a cluster of mushrooms. “Are you sure these are edible?” she asked doubtfully. Shaped like a bell, the tops were purple and the stems were black. They practically screamed that they were poisonous.
Hexam bent one of his heads and delicately used his tongue to pluck up one of the mushrooms. He chewed, swallowed, then grinned to show her it was harmless.
Figuring she probably wouldn’t die from eating the fungus, Asha broke off a small portion and gingerly tasted it. She waited for a couple of minutes for searing pain to cripple her, but nothing happened. The mushrooms would probably have tasted a lot better roasted and covered in melted cheese or something, but they were edible. Between the two of them, they ate all the purple mushrooms they could find nearby, then resumed their trek.
It quickly became apparent that the trees were leading her away from the Unseelie palace. Hexam began to walk to the south, but the trees pointed them to the north east. “I think we’d better go where they’re leading us,” Asha decided. They wouldn’t tell her why they were guiding her away from where she was supposed to go, but she would have to trust them.
Hexam looked at her skeptically, then gave the canine version of a shrug and trotted beside her down the path the trees pointed them towards.
