CHAPTER SIX（Untitled）Branikk

CHAPTER SIX

Branikk

"This is about as far from a speedy getaway as you can get," Aurora grumps, stomping the ground with a hoof. "More sluagh will come."

"I haven't forgotten the soul stealers. The gnomes are going to help us with that. You'll see."

"Gnomes don't help anyone."

"You simply haven't offered them the right kind of trade." I wave a hand toward the small imps playing in the yellow structure. "Gnomes love things."

"Things are useless. Things end up being more weight in the saddlebags you already burden me with." Unicorns weren't big on possessions, needing little more than meadows for grazing to remain content—or as content as the grumpy equine fae could be.

I pat the side of her neck. "Good thing you're so strong."

She snorts but doesn't disagree, somewhat mollified.

Grace stares at the gnomes, then at me, then at the gnomes again, her blue eyes full of uncertainty.

"Don't listen to Aurora. Gnomes are harmless." I step closer, happy my bride doesn't shy away from me. "Well, probably harmless. Actually, come to think of it, don't get on their bad side. I've heard they like to play pranks."

"You don't know?"

I shake my head. "Gnomes didn't exist in Avalon, the original realm of Faerie my orc ancestors came from."

Her brow creases as even more puzzlement clouds her beautiful blue eyes. I'm making everything worse instead of better. I keep forgetting humans know as little about Faerie as we do their world.

"We're in Alarria right now, which is one of the many realms of Faerie. They used to all be connected to each other and to your Earth. Fae and humans used to travel between the different worlds, which is why you have stories about us."

"Yeah, we have stories ."

I'm not sure what her emphasis means, so I continue. "Three-hundred years ago, all the doors closed, isolating each world. The Moon Goddess brought my ancestors and many other fae here from other realms, mixing us all together. Most of the beings here are Wild Fae, with animal forms or magic that connects to nature. Other types of fae, like elves, are still in their home realms. And now she brings us human witches."

"Witches!"

"Like you."

She stares down at her upturned palms as if seeing her hands for the first time. "So you're saying I really did all of that? Made those things appear?"

"Pillows," I purr, the memory heating my blood. "You made us many pillows. I'm only sad that we can't remain long enough to make them our bridal bed."

Her eyes shoot up to mine. "You don't know me. How can you be okay with this… this marriage?" She gestures back and forth between us.

"I know the goddess bound us. I know you bring special magic to my people." I shrug. "What more do I need to know?"

"Special magic." Her voice sounds dull and flat.

Why isn't she happier? She must not understand. "I know you didn't have magic in your world, but you do here. And it's the kind of magic orcs don't have. The ability to conjure something out of nothing is amazing and rare."

Yet my words don't cheer her. Grace's wide, expressive mouth presses into a flat line.

Before I can ask what's wrong, the cries of the gnomes come to a crescendo, and the leader flies from the opening of the castle to somersault across the ground. She comes to a halt, standing on one tiptoe, her arms and other leg stretched out in perfect balance, the moss cap still centered on top of her head.

The other gnomes tumble after her in a series of flips and squeals until they surround her on all sides. Each holds an outrageous pose, trying to outdo each other, a few even upside down, balancing on one hand, their impish faces full of mischief.

"We will accept your offering of the bouncy castle," the leader says as her body relaxes back to standing. "What do you wish in return? We have mined many fine gems."

At her words, the other gnomes hurry to pull walnut-sized chunks of green, blue, and red from their pockets, waving them in chubby fists.

"No gems." I untie the bag holding the sluagh from my belt. "I require a service instead. You must take this bag several miles in that direction." I point south, into the unknown, away from orc lands. "Then you must leave it in an underground chamber where nothing can kill the sluagh bird trapped inside."

They rear back en masse, then finally seem to notice the flock of birds hanging in the air above my head. Fingers jab at the sky, voices calling out, shrill with alarm. "Sluagh!" "By the goddess!" "It's a soul stealer!"

"It can't hurt you," I yell over their protests. "We've found a way to subdue the sluagh. I will tell you this information as part of my payment."

The gnomes huddle around the leader, pressed so closely together all of their moss caps seem to make a new patch of ground floating two-feet high. Furious whispers come from the clump.

"See." I nudge Aurora with my elbow. "They're going to hide all proof of Grace's magic and solve our sluagh problem."

"Humph." Aurora bats my shoulder with her horn. "I suppose your plan's not completely horrible."

"Thanks." I grin at my friend. I've known her long enough to know "not completely horrible" is unicorn for "damned good."

"How are they going to hide the bouncy castle?" Grace asks.

"Gnomes have a special earth magic. They travel through the ground."

"So they dig tunnels?"

"No. No tunnels." I shake my head. "They can move through solid dirt and rock."

"How? That's impossible!"

"That's magic."

"Why do I get the feeling that's going to be your answer for everything?" She frowns.

"It's the only answer I need." I caress a lock of golden hair that's fallen from the mass bundled on top of her head, coiling its softness around my finger. "Magic brought me you."

Her wide mouth opens on a little gasp, and a raging need to kiss her wells within me. I bite back a groan.

"We'll do it!" the head gnome's voice says. "If you also give us the pillows."

Perfect. We need them hidden away as well. I didn't offer them from the start because I assumed the gnomes would ask for something more and held them back to bargain with.

I turn back to my moon bound. "I'm sorry to give away the pillows and soft bed you made for us before we could make good use of it."

"I didn't make us a bed!"

"Of course you didn't." I smirk down at her and let my tongue tease around a tusk.

Pink flushes her cheeks, and her eyes snap fire as she pushes me away. I love it. I love how strong she is.

Stepping back, I say to the gnomes, "We accept your terms."

"Finally," Aurora grumps.

The gnomes tumble across the clearing, snatching up pillows as they go. When each reaches the place they emerged from the ground, they corkscrew back down into it in a blur of motion until the moss settles back into place as perfectly as if it never moved.

Only two gnomes remain, the leader and the man she sent into the bouncy castle first to test it out. She gestures him forward, and for the first time since they arrived, a gnome walks instead of somersaults.

He takes the sluagh bag from me with a solemn nod and disappears into the ground. The flock immediately begins to move, flying south, away from us.

"Your creations will be put to good use, making our burrows more comfortable." The gnome leader bows to my bride, then sets a hand on the bouncy castle. She spins, and in a blur of motion, the yellow structure is sucked into the small tornado of her form. They disappear into the place she came out of.

"That… that was way too huge to have fit in there." Grace crouches and tries to pick up the mound of moss, the green tuft unmoving because it's reattached to the ground. She turns wide blue eyes to me. "That's impossible."

I grin. "That's magic."

"What I want to know is what kind of magic it will take to get your asses moving." Aurora's tone is sarcastically sweet.

Angry caws fill the sky, and another flock of sluagh appears overhead.

"Too late." Aurora stomps. "I told you so."

"I thought you said the other sluagh flew north?" I unsling my bow.

"It did." She rolls her eyes at me. "A good half hour ago. Funny thing, birds. They can fly all over the place."

The soul stealer swoops overhead, diving straight for us.

I thrust Grace behind me, then nock and arrow and let fly. My magic thrums through me, connecting to the wooden shaft. The metal tip punches straight into the breast of one of the descending birds, killing it instantly. The bird and arrow tumble from the sky, but by the time they reach the ground, the bird has disappeared, the soul stealer's victim freed to finally find peace.

I loose another two arrows without pause. Then the flock is too close. I drop my bow to free my sword. The moon steel blade whirls through the air, slicing through bodies as quickly as I can.

Aurora gives and angry whinny, her horn lashing out.

Yet nothing we do hurts the sluagh at the heart of the flock, not really. You have to dispatch every single one of its victims to do that.

But it does veer to the far side of the clearing. The birds spiral down in a miniature tornado, the black bodies flying ever closer together until their wings touch. Yet instead of knocking each other out of the air, they merge. In a blur, they form a fae, body hidden by a swirling black cloak, the face never settling to smoothness, dark feathers rippling to the surface of the skin. Red eyes glare at us.

"God, your special-effects people are good," Grace mutters.

I shake my head. "The only thing special about soul stealers is how evil they are." They're the worst of the Wild Fae, and no one understands why the Moon Goddess brought them to Alarria.

The sluagh's voice is a chorus of multitudes, every one of its victims lending a different note. "What did you do to my companion?"

"We have trapped it where it will never harm another," I say, possibly lying. No one's certain if a trapped bird will survive indefinitely or die and free the rest of the flock.

"It cannot be."

"Perhaps you should talk to your brethren who dared to attack my village only a month ago." I pause for a moment. "Oh, wait. You can't. They're all dead."

"You're one of those orcs," it spits, voice full of hatred. Raising a red clawed hand toward my moon bound, it hisses, "But you're all alone, not a dragon in sight. Give me the one full of power, and I will forget your insolence and let you go."

I snarl, baring my tusks. "You will not touch her."

"And yet I already have. Her soul is sweet." Its mouth stretches wide, exposing numerous red, triangular teeth. It lunges forward. "I will have all of it."

Rage pours through me, a flood of protectiveness heating my blood. How dare this vile thing touch my bride? Hurt her?

I leap forward to meet it, bounding across the distance in only two strides. My sword sings through the air in a flash of silver, slicing the sluagh in two.

Its laugh morphs into the mocking caws of numerous birds as its body breaks apart into the flock. They dart toward my moon bound, red beaks ready to strike.

I whirl, my moon steel blade a flash of silver lightning, striking more birds from the sky.

"Grace, get a bag." Aurora charges forward and turns her side to my bride, presenting the correct saddlebag. My friend's horn spears first one sluagh bird, then another. "We can capture this soul stealer, too."

Without hesitation, Grace pulls a leather bag free and holds it out with its mouth open wide. Pride fills me. My moon bound is steady and practical.

The flock immediately breaks away and flies up into the sky with one last chorus of shrieking cries.

"Now it's really going to get more of them," Aurora says.

"I know." I gather what arrows are easily visible and scoop up my bow, slinging it onto my back. I ask Grace. "Have you ridden before?"

She shakes her head. "I'm pretty sure the wooden horses on carousels don't count."

I have no idea what those are, but I trust her judgment on the matter. "It's not a problem. I've ridden for years. I'll handle everything."

Including her.

My eager hands span her waist as I lift her into the saddle. Then I'm up behind her. Even though orc saddles are large, the two of us make for a tight fit, and she's pushed back into me.

Her body goes rigid, her muscles straining to hold her upright. Aurora springs forward, and only the strong grip of my knees on her sides keeps the two of us seated. My thighs cradle Grace's as her body falls back against mine, and I wrap one arm around her, palming her stomach to steady her. She tenses again.

"Relax into the motion, or you'll be even sorer from riding," I say. It's true, but it's not the full truth. I also love the way it makes her body melt against mine.

Her golden hair tickles my cheek, the scent of woman and some exotic fragrance filling my nose as I breathe deep. I fight down a possessive growl as my cock stirs, my magical stud also tingling with magic, knowing Grace is mine.

I pull her even closer to me. Mine. My bride.