Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The portal closed behind them with a snap, and they were in the oldest part of the castle grounds, under an arch that was part of the ruin of the old bailey. Soldiers challenged them, then stood down when they saw her.

Mr. Humblebee just sauntered past the armed men as if he belonged there. He'd scrambled out from under the bushes in the backyard to join them in crossing Between at the last minute. Now, he walked as if they hadn't just been through a harrowing experience. Cool as a cucumber. That was Mr. Humblebee.

"We need the healer," Amalie said to the closest soldier who was wearing his armor, including the helm. That was new. The castle must be on high alert for some reason. "Please send a runner to let my parents know that I've arrived and that I have brought two guests, one of whom was injured in a demon battle in the mortal realm. He needs immediate treatment. Send another runner to get the healer, please."

"Yes, milady," the soldier replied, moving off to do her bidding. The others remained, and one came over to her. She recognized the man.

"Geoff! Good to see you," she said to the soldier who had been a playmate of hers when she was just a child. He was fey, of lower rank than she, but a good and decent person who hadn't held her mixed blood against her.

"Can I help your friend, Lady Amalie?" he asked politely.

"Yes, you can. Thank you. And you can drop the title. You'll always be just Geoff to me as I am Amy to you, all right?"

"If you say so, milady," he said, sending her a twinkling wink meant to tease. She sighed and couldn't help but smile. There were some good memories of her childhood here at the castle, and Geoff was a big part of them.

He took Billy's other arm and put it around his broad shoulders. Geoff was a big strong soldier, but Billy was larger still.

"Billy Kinkaid, this is Geoff Lightheart, a childhood friend of mine. Geoff, this is Billy and Gavin Kinkaid." She gestured to the man on her other side who stood stock still, his gaze on the castle turret and the pennants flowing in the breeze. When he heard his name, he shook his head and looked over, nodding at Geoff.

"Pleased to meet you," Gavin said politely, earning a nod and brief smile from Geoff. Fey were sticklers for etiquette most of the time and had a low opinion of the informality of the mortal realm.

"Are you two brothers?" Geoff asked Gavin in a low voice, keeping their conversation private from the rest of his men who stood off a few yards, keeping watch.

"No, sir. Distant cousins, though we only just met the other day," Gavin replied, keeping to the bare bones of the story.

Amalie approved of his discretion. Nobody here needed to know of the strife between Billy and the Kinkaid Clan.

They didn't get a chance to speak further because the castle's healer—still old Jonas, Amalie was pleased to see—came rushing around the corner with the silver chariot that was the fey version of a wheelchair.

Mr. Humblebee was riding on top. Apparently, he'd gone to get the healer too. He bounded down and slinked off into the castle once the chair stopped, well familiar with Amalie's family home after having visited several times with her.

"Lady Amalie, how nice to see you. What have you brought me?" That was Healer Jonas, straight to business.

She described the circumstances of the injury and what she suspected while the healer and Geoff helped get Billy into the wheelchair. They took off at a fast pace, going back around the corner of the old castle, heading for the healer's rooms, which were conveniently on the ground floor, for just such occasions. Amalie glanced back to make sure Gavin was following along.

She needn't have worried. Geoff had Gavin next to him as he pushed the wheelchair along the paved pathway. To call the contraption a wheelchair didn't really do it justice. It was sparkly and ornate, like just about everything in the fey realm.

"It was a Tauror from the second demonic realm." She walked alongside the healer as he kept a close eye on his new patient. Billy was starting to look even worse, and she was glad they'd finally found the help they needed.

"A Tauror, you say?" Jonas asked as they walked and shook his head. "There'll be poison in the wounds then, of a magical variety. You did the right thing bringing him here. I suppose he was battling the Tauror to defend you in some way?"

"He was," she admitted. "While I was battling a rogue witch. He was distracted by the mage battle, and the Tauror slashed him while he was in his beast form."

Jonas looked up at her sharply. "He is a shapeshifter?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "As is Gavin. They are lions." She sent Gavin an apologetic look. It wasn't very polite to out someone as she had just done, but in this case, Jonas needed the information to treat Billy.

"Ah. I have never met a lion shifter before. What I've heard about their heartiness and resistance to magical poisons is good." Jonas looked at Gavin for the first time. "Perhaps you would give me the benefit of your knowledge, as I fear your cousin will be out for some time while we work on him."

Amalie looked down to see that Billy's head was drooping. He was unconscious. Fear squeezed her heart, and she gasped, barely able to hold back a sob. When she looked up again, Jonas was watching her with those shrewd old eyes of his.

"Fear not, milady. He will prevail. I will see to it."

She didn't get to answer as they arrived at Jonas's treatment rooms. Geoff and Gavin lifted Billy out of the chair and placed him on a raised bed. Jonas clucked over the wounds as Gavin deftly relieved Billy of the shirt he'd helped him put back on before they'd left the mortal realm.

Amalie stood on one side of the bed with Gavin while Jonas stood on the other. Geoff, she noticed, had stationed himself by the door to the big room, should he be needed.

"Are there other wounds?" Jonas asked quickly, not even looking up from his examination as he conjured a mage light so he could see better.

"No, just the ones on his side," Gavin replied before Amalie could answer.

"And he was in lion form when he was gouged?" Jonas followed up with another question.

"Battle form, actually," Gavin replied. "It's the half-shift between lion and human. The shift back to full-human healed the gouges a bit."

"So I see," Jonas agreed, probing the wounds delicately with tendrils of magic. "But the poison prevented full closure. We will have to deal with that first before the natural healing can take place. It's the poison that is causing his unconsciousness and the power drain." Jonas looked up at Amalie and Gavin. "Please stand back a pace and avert your eyes. This may flare a bit as the spells interact and could harm your vision."

Amalie did as she was told, looking at Gavin. He seemed reluctant to look away, but she touched his arm at the crucial moment, getting his attention.

"It's best to do as Healer Jonas says. He doesn't mess around when it comes to his craft. Billy is in good hands," she assured Gavin, reassuring herself at the same time.

"I can't believe you grew up in an honest-to-goodness castle," Gavin muttered in response, making her smile in spite of the tense situation.

"It's faerie. There are a lot of castles here," she replied as casually as possible. She had been raised in privilege, but she wasn't really accepted by anyone other than her family and their retainers. Her mixed heritage made her unappealing to the rest of the fey.

Just then, her father burst into the room, looking around. When his eyes settled on her, he came directly to her.

"Are you well? I heard you were hurt!" He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her from his superior height. Her father was a tall, fair-haired, fey warrior-mage of great renown.

"I'm fine, Dad. My friend, Billy, was gouged by a Tauror, though." She gestured toward the bed where Billy lay as Jonas worked on him.

"Thank the Goddess," her father muttered, pulling her in for a big hug. She hugged him back. She'd always loved her father's bear hugs. He gave them rarely, but when he did, she felt safer than anywhere in all the realms.

When he let her go, he looked more fully around the room, settling on Gavin, who had stepped away to give them some room. "Who's this?" her father demanded.

"A new friend and estranged cousin of my friend Billy. Gavin," she addressed the younger man, motioning for him to come forward. "This is my father, Lord Aclodonne, Archmage of the Lumerian School of Magecraft. Father, this is Gavin Kinkaid of the Kinkaid Clan, a lion shifter from the mortal realm."

The Archmage offered his hand to Gavin in the human manner, and Gavin shook his hand with alacrity.

"Pleased to meet you, Lord Aclodonne," Gavin said politely.

"This man is your cousin?" Amalie's father looked from Gavin to Billy and back again.

"He is, though we've only just met. His family was estranged from the Clan back in his parents' time," Gavin explained succinctly.

"It's a long story, Dad," Amalie intervened, taking her father's arm. "Grandmother sent Billy to make sure I was all right after the coven was attacked," she told him, derailing his initial line of questioning. "She's fine, and the coven survived intact, but it is believed that followers of Elspeth were trying to drain their power to give their leader a boost after traveling back to the mortal realm."

Her father's eyes narrowed. "Elspeth is back in the mortal realm?"

"No one on our side has confirmed it for sure, but her followers are certainly acting as if she is," Amalie reported. "Billy came to warn me at Gran's request. One of the coven members was a traitor, and she came after me. She summoned a Tauror, and Billy fought with it. He was holding his own until I foolishly left my safe room and distracted him. That's when he got gouged." She couldn't help looking over at Billy. Jonas was still clucking over minor adjustments to his spell work, but she could see the major part of his job was already done.

"He fought the Tauror in lion form?" her father asked, looking speculatively at Billy.

"In battle form," Gavin corrected gently. "He would have prevailed if his concentration hadn't broken at a critical moment."

"What saved him?" Lord Aclodonne asked, one eyebrow rising in inquiry.

"Gavin did," Amalie replied. "He bounded in from the side in lion form and knocked the Tauror off Billy. Then, they battled it together until I opened a portal, and they pushed it through."

"Where did you send it?" her father asked, turning back to her.

"Back from whence it came," she replied, blinking up at her father.

Where did he think she'd send something like that? Sheesh. He had to give her a little more credit than that. She may have chosen to live in the mortal realm, but she hadn't forgotten everything he had taught her.

"While Healer Jonas sees to your friend, we can join the rest of the assembly for breakfast. Your mother is likely wondering what's keeping us," her father said.

"I'm sorry, Father. I want to stay with Billy until he is out of the woods," she said softly, watching Billy's face, slack in repose but still handsome and strong.

Her father was silent long enough that she looked up. She read speculation as he watched her and then looked at Billy on the bed. Then, he frowned. She spoke to forestall anything he might've said. She'd had enough of fey meddling in her love life.

"Why don't you take Gavin into the dining hall, Father? And tell Mother I'll come see her as soon as Billy wakes up." She sent a speaking glance to Gavin, but he was watching Billy and didn't notice her.

"If it's all the same, I would like to watch over my cousin as well, sir. I was sent to safeguard him and letting him get so badly injured on my watch won't look good to my Alpha when I get back," Gavin admitted.

Amalie's father was diverted enough to sigh and then turn to address Gavin.

"I give you my word as Archmage, that neither your cousin nor you will suffer any ill treatment in this realm. You are guests of my house, and my daughter vouches for you. That is enough for me to extend my protection to you while you are here."

"It's okay, Gavin," Amalie offered. "I'll stay with Billy. And Healer Jonas will be nearby. For all his gruff demeanor, he is the kindest soul I know. He won't let anyone, or anything, bother Billy while he is here. I promise." Amalie gave Gavin a smile. "Besides, don't you want to see the castle? You know… So you'll have details for that story you're going to write when you get home." She chuckled, and he just shook his head, though a soft smile played about his lips.

"I'm not much for words, ma'am," he protested.

"From all accounts, shapeshifters are people of action more than words, is that not so, Mr. Kinkaid?" the Archmage asked politely.

"Please, call me Gavin, sir. And, yes, many of us would rather just get on with things rather than talk about them. Of course, then there are people like my cousin, Sam. He's got a strategic mind and always thinks ten steps ahead of everyone else. He's been trying to get me to broaden my perspective , as he puts it, which is the reason he sent me on the mission to watch over Billy."

"I can see we're all going to have to have a long conversation once your cousin awakens," the Archmage said, looking at his daughter, then Billy, and then back to Gavin. "But for now, it is time to eat. I don't know what part of the day it was where you came from, but would you like to join us for breakfast?"

"I would be honored, sir," Gavin replied. "Shifters never really say no to a meal. Unless…" He looked a bit sheepish. "I've heard old legends about how you should never eat anything in faerie. Is that true?" he asked Amalie.

She smiled at him. "Well, let's put it this way. Neither I nor anyone in my family has any interest in entrapping anyone from the mortal realm and making them stay here. For one thing, my mother would be really, really mad and make us stop immediately. But I wouldn't be too trusting of every fey you meet. Some have played mean tricks on humans in the past, and that's where a lot of those dire warnings in the fairy tales come from. But you'll like breakfast in the castle. It's wall-to-wall food, and the cooks are terrific."

"All right then. If you're sure," Gavin hedged, giving Billy's unconscious form a pained look.

"I'm sure. Go. Eat. I'll keep an eye on Billy," she assured him. "Father, I will be in once Billy is awake. Please tell Mother not to go out of her way. I'll be in to see her as soon as I can."