Here There be Dragons (Book 4 in the Twilight Court Series) Page 29

  The dragons camped outside the walls of Castle Twilight. I may have agreed to their alliance but I wasn't going to allow them and their army within the walls of the castle. While they erected tents and made campfires, I met with Tiernan and several fairies whom I trusted. One of them was my maid, Mairte and her presence at the meeting raised a few eyebrows.

  I didn't care. If I wanted Mairte's opinion, I would have it and the rest of them could stuff their egos where the sun don't shine. So she joined us and smiled brightly at the twilight sidhe when they looked towards her in confusion. And damn if she didn't have some good suggestions too. That sure shut them up.

  Mairte pointed out that as my consort, Tiernan was the next in line to rule Twilight Castle in the absence of its monarchs. He was also a Lord of the Wild Hunt and a knight on the Star's Guard, so he was well equipped to handle any situation that may arise. After much discussion (mainly protests from Tiernan, who thought he should be taking the army to meet up with my father), it was decided that he would remain behind and govern in my stead.

  Then came the problem of how many men to take with me. I couldn't take a full army and yet I didn't want to ride among the undersea fey without a contingent of guards. Finally, we settled on sending twenty men and one twilight puka with me. This time, Cat wouldn't be left behind. She was very pleased.

  Tiernan was not.

  He brooded over it all night, restlessly tossing in his sleep and waking me on more than one occasion. I found myself passionately made love to on two of those instances and so, when we woke in the morning, we were both a little tired.

  I groaned my way through a nice hot shower and then dressed under Tiernan's petulant stare. I could understand why he was so upset, it really was becoming more normal than not that he be separated from me while I attempted something potentially dangerous. But it wasn't like I had invited the dragons to join us.

  “I don't like you riding off with those dragons,” he muttered for the eighth time that morning.

  “What do you want me to do, Tiernan?” I finally asked as I strapped my iron sword on over my leather breeches.

  I was dressed for war now, with a leather jacket set with metal plates, greaves strapped over my leather pants, and thick boots on my feet. I not only had my iron sword but also my iron dagger, and my hair was braided firmly away from my face and tucked down the back of my jacket. I pulled on a pair of leather gloves as Tiernan stood.

  “I want you to stay here while I lead them,” he said as he traced a fingertip over the silver star set into the front of my jacket. “But I know you won't. You wanted to be there and this gives you the perfect opportunity. I just wish I could go with you.”

  “This is part of the headache of dating a princess,” I shrugged.

  “No, Seren,” he gave a mirthless chuckle. “This is part of the headache of dating you.”

  “I know,” I leaned forward and lingered over our goodbye kiss. “But you love me anyway, right?”

  “I do,” he said firmly. “Remember that when you're surrounded by dragons.”

  “I will and I'll remember how much I love you back,” I smiled.

  “Alright,” he sighed and escorted me down to the courtyard, where a company of knights waited to ride out to the dragon camp with me.

  I kissed his cheek and mounted Cat, who was saddled and waiting for me in her horse form. She neighed happily at Tiernan and stomped her feet to show off a little. He rolled his eyes and gave her soft gray rump a smack.

  “Take care of our mistress, Cat,” he said to her and then I nodded to the knights and we headed out of Twilight Castle

  It hurt a little to ride away from Tiernan and I kept seeing flashes of our night together as I did; his silver eyes gleaming in the dark and his hands hot on my skin. I saw him above me again and recalled how the moonlight had caught him within its glow, turning his pale hair into a shining halo. But that hair darkened to deepest black at the ends, almost in warning. This man would be honorable and pure until you pushed him too far, and then you would see his darkness.

  I pondered how accurate that description was about Tiernan as I joined the undersea army. The kings were riding galanters, a type of aquatic reptile which looked similar to a crocodile but with longer legs and a sleeker hide. They were just a bit shorter than horses but they won on the intimidation scale.

  “Nice horse,” I said to King Zhayu.

  “Yours is lovely too,” he grinned over at me.

  “This is Cat, you met her yesterday,” I gave Cat's neck a pat.

  “Oh, yes, of course,” he said congenially.

  And that was how most of my trip to Unseelie went; in a congenial but tense awkwardness. We made camp for one night in the Twilight Forest and my knights not only surrounded my tent with their sleeping pallets but also posted a watch. We were taking no chances with the dragons. A king's word may be strong but that old tale about fairies having to tell the truth is complete crap. The fey could lie and they could do it very well. I wouldn't put it past Zhayu and his fellow kings to turn on me whenever they saw fit. So I wouldn't feel safe until I was reunited with my father. And even then, I might still worry a little.

  These were fairies who held no respect for Danu and they didn't fear the Sluagh either. Without the restrictions of faith or fear and with a questionable level of morality, it was hard to put trust into the dragons' vows. So instead, I placed my trust back in Danu's hands and hoped that the future she was guiding me to was one where the dragons didn't betray me. Again.

  I had tried to scry Raza before we left but he never answered. I assumed that he and my father were already on their way to Unseelie Castle so that's where we headed too. I hoped that was it and that it wasn't something as silly as him not hearing the call. I really didn't want to spend another day tromping all the way to Craos-Teine if we got to Unseelie Castle only to find that they weren't there.

  I needn't have worried. When we stepped from the Unseelie Forrest and into the clearing around the base of Castle Unseelie, we walked onto a battlefield.

  “Sweet Danu,” I whispered as I surveyed the battle from the treeline.

  Roars, screams, and crashes loud enough to shake the trees competed with grating shrieks and wails which sounded as if they were pulled from the darkest abyss. Shivers ran down my arms and Cat started to tremble beneath me. The twilight knights around me murmured in low voices but I could still hear the fear in their words.

  “Is that the Sluagh?” Queen Daiyu asked cheerfully.

  “Yes,” I whispered and then cleared my throat to answer more loudly, “Yes, it is.”

  “It appears that King Uisdean has called upon the mutants to defend his kingdom,” Zhayu added with glee. “Yes, Raza would be considered a usurper and that gives Uisdean the right to call up the monsters.”

  “Perhaps this fight will be more fun than we'd thought,” Bixi started to smile.

  “Wings,” Yazi muttered enviously. “Damn surface dragons.”

  I followed his gaze to where Raza soared above the battle with his two cousins. His crimson body was like a wound in the sky, very hard to miss. He was significantly larger than the other two dragons but the sleeker black and bronze beasts had speed and flexibility on their side. They twirled about him, slashing and biting at the creatures Uisdean had released while Raza breathed streams of flames onto the Sluagh.

  Nearby, Rayetayah flew, battling with sword and fists. He may not have been as effective as the dragons were against the Sluagh but he was holding his own. On the ground below, an Asian dragon I assumed to be Chad, was equally hard to miss, despite being surrounded by fairies. His scales were bright turquoise and his long, dandelion-yellow whiskers undulated around him as if he were underwater. Every swipe of his massive claws sent unseelie fairies flying through the air.

  Still, despite the dragons, the deserters, and the assistance of Twilight, it looked as though Raza was losing.

  The sounds of the battle had carried over to us through the trees, warning us
of what we'd been approaching. So we had unpacked and prepared, leaving our supplies behind, to head into the fight unfettered. I had added a sleek silver helmet to my ensemble but as I surveyed the pandemonium, I was tempted to remove it. Although it had an open face, metal panels hung down around my cheeks and restricted my peripheral vision. So what was more important; being able to see all around me or protecting my noggin from a blow?

  I tossed the helmet aside and shouted our battle cry, “Twilight!”

  Cat ran into the fray despite her obvious fear and my brave knights followed us without hesitation. Everything was so tumultuous, so disorienting. The clamor of it all. The flashes of swords and teeth. The violent rumblings of magic. Fairies rushed each other with furious frenzy and it looked to me as if they didn't know who to fight half the time. The Sluagh sure didn't.

  The unseelie defectors had confused the mutated fey of the Sluagh. They'd been called upon to defend Unseelie but there were unseelie fairies fighting against them. So as I waded into the gore and blare, I saw more than one sluagh monster strike at an unseelie fairy on their side. Perhaps Uisdean's advantage wouldn't last so long.

  Then the sea dragons and their army rumbled past me in a gorgeous blur of vibrant colors and a screeching battle cry, the likes of which had never been heard before upon land. The ground trembled and even the Sluagh paused as the kings of the Court of the Nine Sons entered the combat.

  No, Uisdean's advantage would not last very long at all.

  I finally caught a glimpse of my father. He rode in the thick of it all, striking down opponents with vicious precision and making a slow headway towards my uncle. Uisdean sat on a shining white horse beside his crazy queen. They hadn't even joined the effort to defend themselves but instead, sat high on the castle road, watching other fairies die for them. In all honestly, I was shocked they were even outside the walls. I had half expected Uisdean to hide within his castle and wait us out.

  But then he did have that insane undead wife now.

  And Rue sure looked like she was enjoying the show. She smiled wide and licked her lips occasionally as her eyes darted from bloody scene to bloody scene. Her horse, a white which matched Uisdean's, pranced beneath her in response to her excitement. It turned my stomach. Almost as much as killing my first opponent did.

  I didn't have anything against these fairies and I certainly didn't want them to suffer for supporting their king. But if I wanted to get to Uisdean and remove him and his insane bride from the thrones, I needed to strike down those who stood in my way. It was the vicious but simple fact of war. Kill or be killed. If you can't deal with it, you have no business being there.

  A blade came swinging up at me while a stream of fire shot at me from my other side. I fought fire with fire, tossing out a wall of burning thorns to block the flames as I turned the sword strike away with my own sword. My opponent made a horrible sound as the iron in my blade poisoned him but it was cut short by Cat's hooves, which she brought down upon his head. I looked away from the body and saw my father directly ahead of me. I began to work my way towards him with my knights following my lead.

  Fairies were tumbling over each other to get a chance at the Twilight King, some literally being thrown by others in his direction. Keir's Guard was supplemented by mine and they did a fine job of protecting their king while simultaneously giving him room to launch his own attacks. But they were faltering and the Sluagh was almost upon him.

  I had no idea how long this fighting had been going on before I'd arrived but as I watched a fallen fairy heal himself and get back to his feet, I realized that with magic and immortality on both sides of the battle, it could become endless.

  And yet, there were bodies strewn across the earth and the grass had been churned into cinnabar mud from the addition of blood and hooves. The fey could kill each other, it just took the right blows with the right velocity... and iron especially helped.

  I began to strike more rapidly, clearing a path for me and my men. We had to reach Keir before the Sluagh did.

  But then another threat appeared before my father; his sister. Moire; Bress' mother, was riding a white horse painted with red designs. She wore glossy red armor and her snowy hair was pulled back in one long, intricate braid, which hung down her back. She pointed an emaciated finger at my father and thorny vines encircled him, forcing his arms to his sides.

  She cackled and pulled a sword from her belt. Keir's Guard closed around him but they were suddenly overwhelmed by a horde of red caps and could do no more than defend themselves. My father twisted against the vines and they began to give way but I knew he wouldn't free himself in time.

  Moire lifted her sword and I screamed.

  The sword clanged down upon the length of another strip of steel and I gasped as Bress tossed his mother's sword into a swirling arc with the strength of his own attack. He was on foot. It appeared that he had crept up between the red caps to slip between his uncle and mother. Moire gaped at her son as Keir freed himself from the vines.

  I wasn't close enough to hear what Moire screamed at Bress but I'm certain it wasn't affectionate. Bress stood his ground admirably, even when his mother's horse reared, dangerous hooves pawing at the air. Keir rushed forward and scooped up his nephew with one arm, swinging him up behind him onto his horse.

  Bress immediately lifted a hand and lightning began to flash within his fist. He stared hard at his mother and called something out to her. As he lowered his hand, Moire Thorn turned her horse around and fled to the safety of the high road and her unseelie brother.

  Uisdean snarled and shouted as he pulled Dagda's club from his belt and held that dreaded weapon aloft. His personal Guard surrounded him as he headed down the road, right past his retreating sister, and into fracas. My stomach clenched as I continued to fight off numerous attackers. The unseelie had noticed my iron sword and knew they needed to take me down as soon as possible. And the Sluagh seemed to agree.

  A grotesque shape dove out of the sky, talons and teeth flashing, and swooped before us. Cat screamed and her front legs buckled. I had swung out with my sword towards the creature but ended up tumbling over Cat's head. I had only a moment to recover before the thing was on me again. A bubbling mass of grayish-green flesh held numerous bulging eyes and skeletal wings rose up from its misshapen shoulders. Still, as broken as it appeared, it attacked with great strength, sending me back into the mud with a powerful kick to my chest. I swung my sword wildly, trying to hit it as it flitted about with more grace than it should have had.

  I probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for the knights who came to my aid. Oh, and Zhayu. As my knights sliced at the sluagh monster from the sides and I defended myself as best I could from its front, King Zhayu undulated his extensive form through the fighting and rose up behind my attacker. One bite and the creature's head was gone, leaving a twitching body to fall to the ground before me.

  Zhayu snatched up the rest of the corpse and slithered away, happily munching.

  My knights closed in around me as I rushed over to Cat, who was on her side, right where she'd fallen. The clang of steel was sharp in my ears but I could still hear Cat's pathetic whimper. My hands shook as I dropped to my knees beside her and saw the gaping wound in her pale chest. That thing had hit her near the juncture of her leg, slicing deep enough to nearly sever her limb.

  “Cat,” I whispered and dropped down to lay beside her. “Change, Cat. Shift into your other form. Hurry, girl.”

  She trembled against me as shouting erupted around us and the press of bodies became almost unbearable, horse hooves pounding the earth dangerously close to us. Cat's horse shape shimmered and twisted, shrinking into the form of a huge canine. I eased closer to her, a sharp pain lancing through my leg where I must have been hit. I ignored it and pulled her over to me, cradling her head to my chest as I held a hand to her wound. It had shrunk with the change but it was still there and still bleeding so heavily that it gushed through my fingers.

  Tears fille
d my eyes as I laid my head back into the mud and stared up at the clear, bright sky. What had I said about wanting to die in the fresh fairy air? How naive I was and how quickly I had gone from a warrior to a liability. I knew then that I should never have rode Cat into war. She may be my protector but she was also my weakness. I couldn't get up and keep fighting after my horse had been cut down beneath me. I loved my horse too much.

  So I laid there, failing my men, my kingdom, my father, and Raza, all on behalf of my beloved Cat. If she was going to die, I would hold her through it. She wouldn't be left alone to bleed out in the mud while I strode on without her. I just didn't have it in me to leave her. And maybe that meant I wasn't strong enough to be a princess. Maybe it meant that my fathers, both Ewan and Keir, would be disappointed in me, but I didn't care. Lying in that cold, wet earth, holding my best friend in all the worlds as she died, I didn't care about anything but her.

  “Don't worry,” I whispered to her. “I've got you. You won't be alone.” She shifted enough to lick the tears from my face and I cried harder. Even as she died, she tried to comfort me. “Shh,” I stroked her silky muzzle. “Just be still now. It's okay, Cat. I'm here.”

  A horrible screeching rent the air as everything went still around me. The sky above me filled with red. Crimson scales blocking out the sun. They hovered over me, gusts of wind whipping back my hair as Cat whimpered and nuzzled her frigid nose into my neck. I pressed my palm to her face and tried to warm her.

  The knights around me drew away, giving Raza room to land. And then his sleek stomach was over me, thick dragon legs set firm to the earth on either side of me and Cat. His wings stretched wide as he crouched and lowered his face to roar. I looked down the line of his neck and saw a tumbling mass of the Sluagh pause. They cocked their deformed heads and chittered to each other in garbled tones. Tentacles dripped slime over the mud and enormous claws clicked together. The mutant fey gathered their courage and started to leap.