Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

" I just feel horrible." Carys could feel Cadell at a distance, but he was keeping out of sight as she and Duncan traveled north on horseback, through the forest and into the highlands. "I know he thinks this is a useless risk, but we're short on time. If this fae can help, it's worth it."

"He's not your father," Duncan said. "You don't have to ask his permission."

Darius had joined them at Duncan's request, walking next to them in unicorn form and guiding them through the mountain passes. He was bigger than Carys remembered, his shoulder far higher than their own mounts.

"I know, but he was feeling so awful about leaving Seren unprotected and then I did this."

"It's obviously important," Duncan said. "Since whoever killed Seren destroyed it or hid it, it must have something incriminating in it."

The idea that the journal had been destroyed had only just occurred to her. "What if it is destroyed? "

Duncan gave her a dark look. "That's the reason we're going to see this fae. She can find lost things even if they've been destroyed."

"She must be really powerful."

"She is." Duncan looked at the sky. "I do understand his anger."

Carys's horse tossed her head, tugging on the reins. "Eamer just threw it in Cadell's face that he didn't save Seren's life, and now I'm willingly going to meet a powerful fae." She tried to remember what Duncan had told her about how loose to hold the reins in her hand. "He must be so mad at me."

"What he is, is petty." Duncan glanced at the sky. "He's punishing you. He could have flown us by coracle faster, and then we'd have arrived in minutes instead of hours."

There was a shower of gold, and Darius appeared in human form. "Dragons are extremely petty." He looked at Carys, whose horse had stopped and was refusing to move. "Your horse is growing irritated with your inexperience and nervous as we approach fae land."

"She's growing…" Carys bit her tongue. "Okay, sure. So you want me to ride behind you?"

"No. I am too heavy for this animal to carry me and another."

In one movement, Darius scooped her off her horse's back and set her on the ground. He murmured something to the mare in a language Carys didn't recognize, then took the reins. "You will ride with Duncan."

"No." She looked at Duncan, then back at Darius. "I'll do better."

"Not without practice on flat land." Darius looked amused. "Ride with the human, Carys. He doesn't bite, but this horse will."

Carys walked back to Duncan on his horse. "Apparently my horse didn't like me."

Duncan tried to hide his amusement. "Give me your hand." He held his out and showed Carys how to mount the horse behind him. Then he scooted forward, keeping her hand in his and brought it around to rest on his stomach. "Scoot forward."

Her breath caught as she bumped up against Duncan's back, his firm butt resting right between her open thighs .

Her heart raced. "Okay then."

"Comfortable?"

"Yep."

Fine. It was fine. She was definitely not thinking about Duncan's hard abdomen under her hands or their legs pressed together or the warmth of his back or those very, very firm thighs.

None of that.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Are you cold?"

"Nope." Cold was the last thing she was.

Darius and Duncan guided the horses though the narrow trails that crisscrossed the highlands, climbing higher and higher as the hours passed. Duncan rewrapped his great kilt to cover Carys and protect them both from the mist. She hid her face against his back, drifting off to sleep more than once from the rhythm of the rocking horse and the long trail.

She woke from a dream of fog and whispers when she heard the cry of a hawk nearby. "How much farther?"

Darius answered her. "The Crow Mother lives on a mountain you will see when we ascend this ridge. There will be fog; you cannot see the top."

Crow Mother? Carys's mind whirled with the possibilities. Crows were associated with so many things in mythology, and most of them weren't good. Bad luck, portents of death, general dark deeds. They were also messengers, so she tried to keep an open mind.

"Will Darius go with us?" she asked Duncan.

"I will take you as far as I can," Darius answered. "She alone decides who may climb her mountain."

Carys's arms tightened around Duncan's waist. "So she might not let any of us up there?"

Duncan kept his voice low. "She'll want to speak to you."

She remembered the warning Dafydd had given her. "Because I'm from the Brightlands?"

"Yes." He glanced over his shoulder. "I'll be with you."

The unicorn slowed his horse to walk beside them. "You saved my child, Carys Morgan, so I will protect you as much as I can. But know that my powers are limited in fae strongholds. Just as the fae are less powerful among my people, I am less powerful among theirs."

"Got it." She nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me." Darius looked to the sky. "And definitely don't thank her should you meet."

"I won't."

Carys peered around Duncan's broad shoulders as the hills around them gave way and the sky cleared for just a few moments. Below them was a wooded valley with a river running through it, and beyond the river rose a rocky hill. The summit was covered in fog, and a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.

"It's beautiful."

"Aye." He put his warm hand over hers. "It is. Maybe someday you can come to Scotland and see the country the way you should have."

Her normal life seemed so distant that it was hard to respond. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "I'd like that."

Duncan didn't speak for some time.

"Do you still hate me?"

"What?" She looked at the back of his head. "When did I hate you?"

"You know when."

She reached back in her memory to the moment she discovered that Lachlan's dead wife was her mirror image. The moment she realized that her boyfriend's love might have all been an illusion.

"I did hate you a little."

"Am I lucky enough to hear a ‘but' in that statement?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm glad I found out." Was she? Yes. She closed her eyes. She hated not knowing things. "I am."

"Are you convincing me or yourself?"

"Do you wish you didn't know about this place?"

Duncan's great shoulders shrugged. "I hardly remember not knowing Lachlan. It's not the same."

"I wish I'd known Seren."

"She was a handful." Duncan chuckled. "A firecracker. Bold as brass and unapologetic about it."

"So basically my complete opposite."

Duncan glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know you well, but I don't think I agree. I think you've absorbed some of Seren just by coming here. There's more bold in you than you admit, Carys Morgan."

"Caw!"

Carys looked to her right and saw an iridescent black crow perched on the low-hanging branch of a pine. It peered at their party a moment before it flapped its wings and flew away.

"She knows we're here." Duncan looked up. "Cadell is near."

Carys followed his eyes and saw the magnificent profile of her dragon on the hill above them. He took to the sky, circling the mist-covered hill before he swooped back over the river valley below.

The rumble sounded again, and Carys realized that it wasn't thunder at all but the burgeoning glow of fire in her dragon's belly.

Darius spoke up. "Cadell is giving the Crow Mother a display of his power to let her know that you are his nêrys."

Cadell's brilliant green wings spread as he cut through the clouds, and then he arrowed down toward the valley, his neck stretching out and his mouth opening wide as he blasted a column of fire across the tops of the trees, banishing the fog from the sky and sending a blast of heat up the mountain.

As high as they were, even Carys felt the heat on her cheeks.

For a brief moment, the fog on the mountain in front of them cleared and Carys saw a hint of an old stone castle, its towers jutting out of the rock like craggy fangs. A second later, the fog was back, swirling around the castle and the hill it sat on.

Cadell came to rest on the hill across the valley as Carys looked up, hoping to catch his attention.

"I'm doing what I think is right," she murmured.

I am here, Nêrys.

"Duncan is with me. So is Darius."

You will not be hidden from the unicorn as this fae has not warded against his magic. Be careful and stay close to him for as long as you can.

"I will."

It took a long time to cross the valley and ford the river at the bottom. Carys took her boots and stockings off to keep them dry, but her lower legs were soaked after the effort. Even Duncan's warm back couldn't stop her shivering.

At the base of the hill, Duncan pulled on the reins.

"This is as far as the horses should go. They'll spook once we cross her wards."

"What?" She waited while Duncan dismounted. "Why? Do the fae dislike horses?"

He helped her down and quickly led his mount to the trees as Carys found a fallen log and sat on it to put her stockings and boots back on. It helped with the shivering. A little.

"It's a complex relationship. Horses have their own gods and their own magic. Fae can't influence them the same way they can humans." He nodded at Darius. "It's part of the reason that Darius can see through their wards while dragons cannot."

"Strange."

You smell of Epona's blood.

Epona, the goddess associated with horses. The goddess that the fae didn't like.

Darius dismounted and walked over. "We leave the horses here."

"Agreed." Duncan guided his horse to a stand of pines. "We'll tie them up here and go the rest of the way on foot."

Darius lifted his nose and smelled the air. "I smell no predators nearby, but tie them loosely, human. They do not owe us their lives."

"Done." Duncan walked back to Carys. "Ready to do some hiking?"

She looked up at the pine-covered mountain shrouded in fog and shadows, then down at her newly warm feet. The sun had never seemed farther away, but she knew in her gut that clues to her sister's death lay at the top of that dreadful hill .

"Hiking is the one thing I can do in this crazy place." She nodded. "Ready."

The way was narrow and rocky, but it curled up the mountain like a slow-moving twist of smoke, drifting back and forth over the face of the hill. Verdant green brush quickly gave way to dense pine and cedar, and the way was strewn with needles. Carys's feet were slipping on the damp forest path, so they had to move slowly.

Duncan took up the lead, his steel-core dagger hidden away in his boot. Carys walked behind him, glad she was an experienced hiker but wishing for her modern boots, which would have been a vast improvement over the stiff leather she was wearing. She had taken a jar of honey from her saddlebags and tucked it into the pocket of her tunic.

Bonnie had been confused when Carys asked for a dressy, embroidered tunic that morning to wear with a pair of practical wool trousers. Carys suspected that arriving in work clothing would be offensive to any fae, much less a powerful one, so she wore her dressier boots, the nicest leggings she could come up with, and she'd braided her thick hair into two plaits that fell over her shoulders. A fur-trimmed cloak both dressed up the outfit and kept her warm.

Darius brought up the rear, still in human form and wearing nothing but his linen wrap and a cloak over his broad shoulders. He said he preferred to climb mountains in human form as his natural form wasn't as nimble on narrow, rocky paths.

Crows and blackbirds visited them regularly, squawking from the trees as they climbed. There was no other birdsong on the mountain, and the quiet pressed against her.

"It feels like the fae gate," she said.

Duncan glanced over his shoulder. "There's a reason for that."

She looked through the trees, halfway expecting to see blue lights dancing in the shadows, but there was nothing to break the darkness, which was almost worse .

Skittering from the brush, a massive rat darted out of the bushes, making Carys jump back and nearly fall into Darius.

"It's fine," the unicorn said. "She has an affection for the creatures."

"Rats?"

Darius nodded. "They're smart and sociable, much like crows."

Okay, he had a point. That didn't mean Carys had to like them.

As they walked, her ears grew familiar with the quiet, and she perceived more and more rustles in the bushes. There was life there, though it was the scurrying, stealthy kind. Something climbed in the trees overhead, jumping from branch to branch. Carys didn't think it sounded like a bird.

She felt something over her shoulder, the sense of a predator watching them, but when she turned, she saw nothing.

"It's not a wolf," Darius murmured. "But you're not wrong."

The fog became thicker, blocking any view of the valley below and any glimpse of Cadell in the distance.

"This is what he meant, isn't it?" She looked at Darius again. "That he wouldn't be able to see me."

Darius looked around the fog, his eyes intent on the grey mist. "We have crossed her wards now. Even my own senses are dulled."

Duncan spoke from the front. "Good thing some of us haven't ever relied on magic to stay alive." He continued trudging up the hillside. He picked up a branch and gripped it, using it as a walking stick.

Darius called out. "Human, what are you doing?"

Duncan turned. "What?"

Carys looked back and saw that Darius's eyes were wide.

"You've taken something from her forest," he whispered. "I cannot protect you from that."

Duncan looked at the stick in his hand. "It's a stick."

"It's hers." Darius shook his head. "An unwise acquisition."

Duncan was still looking at the stick in his hand when Carys heard the rumbling in the distance. It took a moment to register, but then she looked at Duncan and felt her heart speed up. "Something is coming. "

He turned to the low crashing sound that echoed through the trees. He peered into the darkness and stepped off the path, bracing his massive body on a pine trunk rooted to the sloped hill. "Carys, run. Back to the horses now. I'll distract it."

She looked at Darius, but the unicorn didn't move.

"What should we do?" She looked at Duncan. "We can't leave him alone with whatever that is."

"We can't protect him," Darius said.

Duncan's eyes were locked on the darkness. "Carys, go back to the horses. Now."

Whatever was coming through the forest was getting closer.

Darius said, "Run past Duncan. Up the hill."

"What?"

"Carys!" Duncan shouted. "Why aren't you gone?"

"She won't let you in a second time," Darius said. "If you want this visit to matter, keep walking and leave Duncan."

"Darius, what are you telling her?" Duncan shifted, lifting the branch like a baseball bat. "Get her out of here."

"Carys, run up the pathway." Darius urged her on. "Run now."

"What?" Duncan turned and glared at the unicorn. "Get her back to safety!"

"Do it." Darius's voice was steady. "Run past Duncan. Leave him here and go up the hill. Whatever is coming does not have a taste for you. Keep climbing."

Her heart was racing, and she looked from Duncan to the unicorn, back to Duncan.

Duncan's nostrils flared. "For God's sake, woman, run!"

Darius put a hand on her back and pushed her past Duncan on the path. "You heard him—run."

Carys's feet moved automatically, racing up the hill, past Duncan, past the monster coming through the trees, toward a vengeful, jealous fae who liked rats and kept monsters to attack anyone who took a stick from her forest.

"Carys! "

She paused, gripping a pine branch, and looked back at Duncan just as the monster broke through the trees. The bear's feral roar shook her bones as it reared on its hind legs, bellowing in anger.

Duncan jumped between the bear and Carys, holding the tree branch like a bat. "Darius, get her out of here."

Carys saw the bear's red, furious eyes. "No!"

Darius pushed her up the hill even though every instinct in Carys fought against leaving Duncan alone to fight the beast.

"It's going to kill him! That bear will?—"

"Keep walking."

"Why are you so calm?" She wanted to scream. "That bear will tear Duncan to shreds. He has no gun, no sword. All he has is one?—"

"It's not real, Carys."

She slipped and scrambled up the path, turning to snatch one last look at Duncan with her heart in her throat.

He was facing the animal, the branch still held up, as the bear snarled and batted at the branch.

"Come on, ya foul-breathed bastard," Duncan shouted. "Why are you looking at them when it's me who's angered your mistress?"

She yelled at Darius. "It looks pretty fucking real to me!"

"We're almost there." Darius yanked on Carys's arm and dragged her away from the fight. "Don't distract him and he'll be able to face the beast down. He knows the rules here; you don't."

He didn't fucking know the rule about picking up a stick though, did he?

Carys swallowed the lump in her throat and kept running up the path. She felt dread creep up the back of her throat as they reached the top of the hill. Fog still whirled around them, and the rain was pounding on their back. She was soaked to the skin and shivering from fear, adrenaline, and pure, bone-chilling cold.

When the fog cleared a little, she blinked. "What is that?"

While she was expecting a massive castle like the one she'd seen from a distance, the building that met them was anything but grand.

The cottage was thatch-roofed and made of stone, a round chimney in the center of the building pumping out a stream of smoke that blended into the drifting fog that had grown suddenly still.

Crows flapped and squawked around the cottage, flying from tree to tree and eyeing Carys with interest. One flew over and dropped a shiny silver locket at her feet before he hopped away and watched her with a single shining eye.

"Don't touch it. She wants—" Darius's voice cut off as a shower of gold swept over him and turned him from human back to his natural form. The golden-brown unicorn reared up a little bit, clearly perturbed that the fae magic had taken his voice when she needed it most.

"Don't touch the locket," Carys whispered to herself. "Don't take even a stick." She swallowed hard. "I'll remember."

She put her hand in her pocket and gripped the jar of honey. She hadn't come empty-handed. She was visiting the fae, but she wasn't coming with nothing.

Darius tossed his head and whinnied.

She turned back to the stone cottage when she heard the door creak open. Whatever this building was, it seemed to be inviting her in.

Carys gathered her courage and walked to the door.