CHAPTER 3

I took to breathing in and out my mouth when the Hunters lit a pyre sometime in the late morning. It didn't take long for the sickening scent of burning skin to thicken in the air as the body fuelled the flames. Above the bedlam of the camp, I was certain I could hear the popping and crackling of the fey's bones as the fire ate past layers of flesh and muscle, devouring far deeper.

Like twigs in a hearth, her destruction sounded so painfully… mundane. As though something horrific didn't melt away within the fire. Her body turned to ash as though that was what she was meant for.

An overwhelming, guttural pain in my stomach did wonders at smothering the foreign ache in my chest. From frantic beats of a large bird's wings, it shifted to something calmer. Like that of a subtle flutter of an insect. I'd swallowed back gags, whereas a few others in the cramped cage let their guts spill across the floor. Still barefoot, splatters of vomit splashed freely against them, only urging me to empty my already empty stomach. Not to disregard the old, dried puddles of sick that told tales of what had been witnessed before I arrived.

It became clear what would become of the useless fey.

Death.

My mind flirted with ideas of escape. Wychwood was so close, a wall of trees that gave way to only shadow beyond. If I could get out, somehow break free and run, then I could find help beyond it.

But thoughts were soon shot down by the arrow of reality. More Hunters flooded through the camp as the hours passed by. Countless horses pulled black metal cages, unloading their cargo just as they had with me upon arrival. Whatever this was, whatever these men and women were doing, was organised perfectly. Convoys of Hunters arrived, unloading cages only to fill them again with others. But the fey they carted into the cage-on-wheels each had the metal cuff around their neck. It was soon obvious that those were of more interest to the Hunters. Kayia, the mother of the small child, said it was to do with their blood, but what was so different about it?

Kayia cleared her dry throat and pointed to a horse and cart that had just been loaded with chained fey and begun to leave the camp. "They keep doing this, taking some but leaving others. Those fey they–" She paused, inhaling a shaky breath and lapsing a hold of her child who held onto her for dear life. "What they did to her will happen to the rest of us. I know it."

"You said it was their blood?" I asked, gripping the cold black bars and squinting to try and see something, anything that would distinguish the fey that left, from us.

"It has been whispered in court about humans who prey on our kind. Hunting for those of us who possess abilities. Magic. I was a fool to think it was only threats to keep us away from this side of Wychwood. But alas, it was not a threat. Did you not hear the same warnings from your court?"

I shook my head, not willing to admit the truth of my heritage. "When I arrived, one of them said something about a test."

"They did the same with me and Lia. But we, like you, seem to be the unlucky ones."

Although my mother was a mystery, I knew much about the fey. It had been required learning during schooling. Teachings of the four courts and their histories, those who ruled them and the power of what it meant to be fey. It had been hundreds of years since the Wychwood Accords were signed by the royal lineage of all courts and the firstborn human king. Since then, the fey had very much kept to their realm and the humans to theirs.

Until now, I guess.

I fought the urge to lift a finger to my own ears. They had usually made me stand out stark against the humans I lived among. But here, in this cage and with those around me, I looked no different.

I belonged.

"Did your… court say anything more about what happens to those with… magic, when they're taken?" I asked, forcing a smile to the small girl who huddled between us. I was cautious as she listened in quietly, and there was something about her wide stare that screamed of intelligence, as though she could see through my illusion of skipping the questions I did not want to answer.

"It is not certain." Kayia's pale brows pinched, causing lines to spread across her forehead. "The humans have longed for power for generations. If it was not for the accords, they would have demanded it long ago."

I remembered one of my teachers saying something similar to Kayia. Even at my young age back then, I clung to the idea that the humans signed the accords to keep their kind safe from the powerful fey. But now I knew the truth. The fey signed for the very same reasons. A two-way mirror, each side of Wychwood and its boundaries.

Questions filled my head, clogging my throat. I had so much to ask. Even now, caged like an animal with the rancid smoke of burned flesh teasing my nose, I wanted to devour the knowledge of this woman. I'd never been with someone like her. Like me. It was unheard of for the fey to pass beyond Wychwood, losing the protection of their kind. So the idea of ever asking the questions that burned deep within me felt like a distant possibility.

"We need to get out of here," I whispered, keeping my voice low as two guards walked past the cage. "There are more of us than them. We could overthrow them if we acted as one –fight our way out."

Kayia huffed in amusement. "I admire your mind, but it seems that you have been reading too many stories. It is not worth the risk. What they did to her, they will do to us."

I looked around the cage to the faces of exhausted fey. To the children, squashed between adults, whose eyes were swollen from crying and cheeks red and raw.

"I have no doubt we will meet that fate whether we do something about it or not. And I would rather go knowing I tried my best to change this forced fate. Kayia." I gripped her cold, stiff hands. "We have to try."

"I told you…" Tears gleamed in her eyes, her lips pursed with tension. She knelt down, hugging her child close to her chest but not once dropping her unblinking stare from mine. "It is not worth the risk. This is our doing, leaving the protection of Wychwood. We would not make it back within its boundaries before an arrow struck our backs. All we can do is wait and hope that our queen sends aid for us."

Looking at the small child, I could understand Kayia's worry. And deep down, I knew she was right. They would not make it. Looking beyond them, I could spy the edges of Wychwood standing like sentinels of bark and thick leaf in the distance, taunting me.

"Then what?" I asked, thinking of my father. I'd tried hard to keep the image of him from infiltrating my mind. But seeing this woman holding her child only stabbed at my heart like a serrated blade.

He would've returned home to find me missing. Or perhaps he wouldn't have checked on me, trusting I slept soundly, not wanting to disturb me. He often fell asleep on his armchair, only for me to wake him in the morning. But today, he would sleep far later than he normally would.

"We wait and pray that they send someone to retrieve us." Her gaze flicked in the direction of the woods, and I could only imagine who she must have been referring to. Her queen. Some fey royal from one of the four courts.

Raised voices and shouting distracted us both from the conversation. It was different to the other noises that filled the camp. For this was fuelled by determination and fury.

A young woman, perhaps no older than me, ran from a gaggle of guards. She weaved through cages, leaping over piles of rubble, her fire-red hair trailing behind her. Although it was pointless, because the guards were not chasing. They didn't need to. Not when a long chain trailed from the thick, metal cuff around her neck that ended in one of the Hunters' hands.

Like a dog, she was leashed at the neck. However, it did little to stop her from trying to get free.

A small gasp escaped me as the Hunter tugged hard on the now taut chain. I almost felt the very wind being knocked from her lungs as she flew backwards, slamming her back into the ground.

The entire camp watched on, but not in the same way they had with the execution. This was different. The first time the crowd didn't whimper in defeat. Instead, they began making clamour, shouting threats to the Hunters who toyed with the flame-haired fey.

Lia spoke up and muttered a name.

"Althea."

I didn't look down at her as I witnessed this Althea clamber from the ground and face off the Hunters. Waves of poppy-red curls flowed down her back. She was tall; even from a distance, I knew she was likely inches taller than me. And her body was broad and strong. The muscles in her arms flexed the brown material of her shirt, the leather of her breeches bunching as she lowered into a fighting stance, knees bent and fists raised before her face.

She spoke to the guards, but she was far enough away that I couldn't hear her. But whatever she said caused them to howl, throwing their heads back as they laughed to the sky.

The fey around me mumbled again, some snarling and hissing. And again, like Lia had said, I heard her name, clearer this time.

"Althea."

One of the guards was urged forward by the others. He stepped Infront of Althea and raised his fists to greet hers. Then they both moved, Althea a clear step ahead, in strength, speed and precision.

With as little grace as a newborn calf, the Hunter thrust forward and was bested in seconds. It was impossible to see what happened, for in one blink, he was laid out on his back as Althea darted towards the next Hunter.

She leapt over the chain, thrusting a kick towards another one closest to her. A thrill sliced through me at the sound her foot made as it connected perfectly with bone. The entire camp heard the crack and cheered, screaming with glee. Which seemed to encourage her to fight harder, sharper.

By the time she reached the third, no one was laughing. Other Hunters ran from tents and out of carts towards the fight.

Althea moved as though she was a reed in the wind, body twisting out of the way of fists and outstretched legs. One Hunter pulled free a sword from the belt at his waist; stabbing it forward. I was certain it would cut her down, but she spun at the last moment, missing the edge by inches. Dancing around the outstretched blade, she took the slack chain from beneath her and wrapped it around his neck. He dropped the sword and reached for the chain as she pulled hard. His eyes bulged, and a gargled sound broke free from his throat as he tried everything to pull free.

But like a spider, he was fully entrapped in her web.

"She has come for us," Kayia spluttered from my side. She grabbed onto me, tugging excitedly at my arm. "I told you. I told you they would."

"Who would?" I asked, watching as the fey girl shouted at the Hunters around her. She held the strangled Hunter's back to her chest and yanked hard on the chain. She was clearly negotiating with them, lips moving quickly as she got out what she had to say. But it was not working. Slowly they surrounded her, stepping inward to encase her in a circle of their bodies.

"Althea Cedarfall."

Something about her name registered in my memory, but too much was happening for me to latch onto it. I looked back to Althea, unsure how she would help free us. She was seconds from being overtaken by a haul of bodies herself. She snarled, face contorting into a mask of fury, all while the Hunter's face turned blue as the air was kept from him.

The scene soon changed as the tides of her fate went from in her favour to against it. In seconds she was accosted by countless Hunters who bundled her as one. They didn't stop coming until she was overwhelmed completely. I couldn't begin to comprehend how it took more than five to control her.

A wave of black-clothed bodies threw themselves at her until she was unseen among their huddle. All I could hear was the thwacks of fists and boots as they rained them down upon her.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped a hold of the bars before me. The fluttering in my chest intensified one again. I screamed, joining in with the rest of the captured fey. Swept away by the tidal wave of emotion around me, no one stayed silent as they watched on.

"Cowards. Release her. Let her fucking go!" I shouted alongside those around me. Even Lia screamed, crying Althea, Althea, Althea , as if it was the only word she knew.

I was certain the cage rocked as the bodies threw themselves within it. Althea Cedarfall meant something to these fey. Something grand, for even Kayia shouted, spit flying from her mouth. She'd not long been defeated but now stood with the demeanour of a warrior. They all did.

"Monsters, you monsters! You dare touch the child of Cedarfall."

"Leave her."

"Me, take me! Let her be!"

I couldn't distinguish one plea from the next. It went on, the sky alive with the cries of countless fey. And the shouting soon did something, because the huddle of Hunters dispersed, leaving only two who stood over the very still and very quiet body curled in on itself.

The Hunters moved quickly towards each cage, thrusting swords within the bars to keep the chaos at bay. They tried to obtain order with violence, but there was nothing to calm the feeling that poured from the people around me.

It was intoxicating.

I hardly registered the young Hunter who came towards our cage. But Kayia watched and waited. As he closed in on the cage, she thrust two spindly arms out of it and wrapped them around the back of his neck. With a great heave, she pulled him forward, pressing his face between two bars.

"Help!" was all he managed to splutter as nails raked down across his sun-kissed skin, ripping ribbons of flesh from his face.

More fey closed in around us, each trying to throw a fist or cause him pain as Kayia did. A wall of bodies formed between me and the guard, thrusting me backwards as they all rocked forward.

Lia screeched in terror, and I reached for her just as the hulking body of a fey male almost trampled over her.

"It's okay" I said, pulling her into my arms. "I've got you."

"No," a voice sounded above the noise. "It is I who have you."

One moment Lia was in my hold, the next, she was not. Pulled free by the gloved hands of a Hunter who'd taken a moment in the bedlam to open the cage door behind me.

Her scream did wonders at slicing through the disorder. Even Kayia stopped her attacking, realisation and horror darkening her eyes.

"No," she gasped, reaching helplessly as Lia was dragged away. "My daughter, no!"

Lia kicked out as she was lifted free of the cage. I sprang forward, reaching for her ankle before another Hunter could slam the door closed.

"Give her back." Spit flew from my mouth as I lost myself to frantic emotion.

"Feisty still?" the Hunter replied, a familiar grin tugging the corners of his thin, pale lips. "Did you not learn your lesson last time, fey scum?"

Somewhere behind me, Kayia screamed again, but I didn't dare look back. No. My focus was on Lia and not letting go.

"You cannot have her," I seethed, hissing through a clenched jaw.

Lia split her mouth in a silent screech, her face pinched with terror and pain. Pain I was causing her. But I couldn't let her go. No matter the marks my fingers left across her small, delicate ankle. At least she would still be alive. At least her head and shoulders would stay connected to one another, and her body would not be thrown into the flames of the burning pyre.

"And if we cannot have her –" He loosened his hold slightly, enough for me to pull hard. Like butter over a flame, she came free from his grasp and fell onto me. Down we tumbled to the ground of the cage, the wind knocked clean from my lungs. "Then we will have you. Someone must act as a reminder as to what happens when you fight back. And I think you are far more deserving."

Gloved hands found my body and tore me out of the cage.

No one stopped me from being taken. Not as I had done for Lia.

No one called my name.

I couldn't fight back, for the agony in my chest was excruciating. The fluttering was now an army of winged beasts, violently flapping to break free from the cage deep in my chest. My breathing hitched as I was dragged across the ground, the sky shifting above me; all my hands could do was uselessly drag alongside me, dirt sinking under my nails.

Above me, the Hunter smiled. The sun haloed behind his head, covering his features with shadows. "Don't worry, lad, they will all meet the same fate as you. A little secret between us, but when we have filled our quota, and your powerless, pathetic kind are not needed, you will all be left as feasts for the crows and wolves. Nothing more."

We came to a stop, and all I could register was the smell of copper. It was stronger here. Forced onto my knees by unkind hands, I could see the permanent shadow of blood that stained the ground beneath me. And the stump, the one the fey woman's head had rested upon, waited before me. Deep, uneven lines scarred the surface. Old and new blood covered all memory of brown and cedar of the wood, leaving only different shades of red across it.

A hand pressed down on the top of my back and slammed my face down upon the stump. I winced, cheek and jaw throbbing beneath the impact. But the pain was nothing like that in my chest.

Was it my heart? Was I going to die long before the inevitable blade was forced down on my neck? I'd heard of older people passing from heart failure. That was what this felt like it could be, that my heart was about to explode within my chest.

The ground seemed to shake as heavy footsteps closed in on me. I could not see the executioner, but I knew he loomed over me.

Unlike the woman, I didn't face the crowd of caged fey. I could not allow myself to see the faces of those who watched on. Instead, I faced the bloodied ground beneath me, chin scraping the hard bark at the edge of the stump.

"Your kind is worthless. Be grateful we waited this long to purge you from this realm."

I pressed my hands before me, fingers splaying across the ground. Cold tickles of grass rubbed beneath my palms as I dug my fingers into the blood-soaked dirt.

The man was speaking again, but the thundering in my chest finally broke free, filling my entire being with a cold, frozen knowing.

I pinched my eyes closed and steadied my breathing. In and out, I breathed. One long shuddering breath after the next, the shiver built beneath my skin. There was no explaining the feeling, beside the desperate need for freedom. An urge to release. There was no holding it back, this torrent inside.

My eyes shot open, and a shout clawed its way out of my throat. Breath fogged before me in a cloud of thick, white smoke that confused me for a moment.

Then I let go. A key turning, unlocking a box I had never recognised before. And the sensation that followed was of pure bliss. It was unexplainable and unimaginable. Euphoric and free.

Beneath my hands, a sheet of pure crystallised ice exploded outwards, spreading in a wave of unstoppable, frozen mist, devouring everything in its path.