Fire and Ice (26 page)

The glacial halls were lit with an eerie glow. Much like Elyssium in Mythlandria, trees and vines grew inside as well as out. Only here they were lifeless, stony things, embalmed in walls of ice.

We rounded a sharp corner, through a patch of dead brush growing through the icy floor. Adrius stopped.

“What? What's wrong?” I asked, moving closer. The wool cape I was wearing did nothing to ward off my shivering.

“Shhh. We're being watched,” he whispered. “Over there, behind the tree.”

I froze. “There's something after us?” I foolishly hoped we'd clear this place without any more trouble.

“This… complicates things.”

Moving closer I strained to peer between the trees. “Shouldn't we run?” At least if we managed to get outside, we stood a chance of outrunning whatever it was. Right now we were sitting targets.

“Why? It will only follow.”

“What do they want?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“Does it matter? If it wants you, it will have to go through me.” His eyes narrowed. “Stay here,” he ordered, pushing me behind a column.

I was too panicked to argue.

“And whatever happens, don't move.”

I froze in place as Adrius moved silently down the frozen corridor. I was still scanning the area when I saw it. Two yellow-green slit eyes, glowing from the shadow of a tree, above a shining row of needle-like teeth.

“
Redcaps,
” I breathed. Those eyes were not something easily forgotten. My breath caught in my throat, making it impossible to scream. I wanted to run, yet my legs refused. The creature crept out of the shadows and slithered across the ground, inching its way toward me.

“The she-elf thought she could get away from us,” the goblin hissed. “There is no escape for you
. Not ever
.”

Just as it reached for me with blackened claw-like fingers, Adrius leapt with laser like speed, between us. The tip of his sword pressed against the creature's throat. A single drop of black liquid dripped down its withered neck.

“Don't. Even. Try.”

In that moment it was hard to tell which was more terrifying, the deadly tone of his voice or the Redcap.

He grabbed the creature, pinning him swiftly to the ground. “Lorelei, are you alright?” His gaze fixed on his target, daring the creature to move.

I tried to tell him I was fine, but couldn't get enough oxygen to my lungs to speak. The Redcap fought, kicking, twisting, and struggling to break free, but Adrius held him effortlessly in place. The small albeit vicious creature was no match for an Elven warrior. His hands wrapped around the creature's throat and he slammed its head against the ground with enough force to erase the sadistic grin plastered on its face.

“You will tell me what I want to know,” he whispered, his voice cool and deadly. Adrius pressed the diamond tip of his blade against its throat, glowing green smoke swirling around them. “Where is the map?” he snarled.

The goblin thrashed in a renewed effort to break free.

“What did you do with it? Answer me, creature. I promise, this is your last chance.”

The Redcap suddenly stopped struggling and slowly lifted its head. With a guttural sound it spat a green gelatinous substance at his captor.

Adrius ducked, as it flew past his face.

“I'd sooner rot,” it hissed, choking and laughing at once. My eyes darted around, certain the noise would draw more unwanted attention.

Adrius was lethally calm. His mouth curled into a dark wicked smirk and fury lit his eyes. In a voice that was shockingly peaceful by comparison, he simply said, “Your choice.”

With a sharp quick thrust, he plunged his sword into the goblin, skewering him through, then swiftly removed the blade. The goblin let out a piercing wail, collapsing in a heap on the ground. The twitching subsided and eventually became still.

I turned away, trying to calm the waves of nausea that threatened to spill the meager contents of my stomach. Dropping to the ground on my knees, I doubled over taking shaky breaths. The scene was terrifying… I had never witnessed anything killed before. Not like this. But what disturbed me most was seeing Adrius like that. It was the way he had slain the Redcap. A cold, calculating, merciless anger had taken him over… something dangerous, feral, that went beyond mere survival. This was a side I'd never seen before, the dangerous lethal hunter. It was frightening to see him in this new light, which made little sense since I was fully aware he had saved my life, once again.

He fished around in the lifeless body, locating the map it had taken from us back in the cave. Adrius cleaned his sword, on the goblin's tattered rags, returning it to its sheath before turning toward me. His eyes full of uncertainty. Taking my elbow, he helped me up, searching my eyes. Was he surprised by the depth of terror he found in them? I stared back, eyes wide as though looking at the face of a stranger.

The acidic stench of the goblin filled my nostrils, and my stomach heaved again. He had returned to normal — no resemblance of the lethal warrior remained. Just Adrius. I relaxed a little yet kept my hands clamped together, not wanting him to notice they were trembling. But I could never fool him.

He took them in his, his long fingers wrapping around mine and held them to his chest. I drew in a staggered breath.

“Lorelei.” He stroked my cheek. “It's alright. It's over…This time.”

I frowned, not sure what to say. We hadn't been here an hour and already we were under attack because of me. He watched me carefully for a moment longer, before letting go of my hands.

“We got what we came for. Now let's get out of here,” he said.

I gave a weak nod, hoping my legs wouldn't give out. If he noticed my slight wobble he didn't mention it.

“If you're planning on going back the route you came, you might want to rethink that plan.”

We whipped around to find a stout bearded man, no more than four feet tall, standing behind us. He wore a Viking-like helmet and engraved chest plate and carried an axe slung over his shoulder.

“Tilak. At your service, my lord.” He gave a low bow, tipping his helmet. My mouth gaped open, but Adrius extended his hand in greeting.

“Tilak was once one of Octãhvia's staff. He infiltrated her castle and delivered pertinent information to the Elven guard on her actions.” Adrius nodded at the dwarf. “Our thanks, Tilak. If you
have any suggestions on the best way out, we'd like to hear them.”

“Lucky for you, lad, there's more than one way into her majesty's fortress of death,” Tilak replied. “And more than one way out.”

The route we had entered by was no longer an option, so we searched for another escape, slinking down one icy passageway after another, traveling in stealth down countless halls.

“The Redcap was bringing the map to Octãhvia?” I asked, keeping my voice to a whisper. “But how would it help her find me exactly?”

Til
ak looked at me incredulously. “You don't know, lassie? It's spelled with necromancer magic from the underworld. In Octãhvia's hands it's not only a map to Faerie. It's a map to
you
.

Suddenly it made sense, the glowing dots of light moving across the surface of the map… I'd been one of them. I didn't get a chance to ask who the other lights represented, before the wonderful luck I'd been cursed with reared its ugly head.

Adrius held up his hand and we came to an abrupt stop.

Armor clanged and a chorus of rasping metal filled the air. Servants of the ice witch surrounded us, encircling us with a shimmering wall of black light, pulsing with dark magic. Adrius gripped my hand as bit by bit our surroundings began to vanish from sight. It only took a heart-stopping second before I realized, it wasn't the room that was disappearing—

We
were.

In front of us appeared a throne of black ice, layered with dagger-like shards jutting in every direction. Adrius swore under his breath.

“What kind of a greeting is that for someone who was nearly family…” A disembodied voice came from within the icy lair. Only the puff of her breath lingering in the air gave a clue as to where it had come from.

“Octãhvia, always a pleasure,” Adrius said to
the vapor, animosity pouring from each word.

A ghostly woman materialized from the frosty air and floated toward us on a flurry of snow and ice. Glistening ice shards clung to her shoulder-length blue black hair. She grinned brilliant and clear, as though her teeth themselves were made of ice, the reflection was almost blinding.

The woman stepped toward him, and raked a long blue fingernail across his face, leaving a frosted welt.

“I can't help but notice you are now this girl's traveling companion.” Her eyes shifted curiously in my direction. “Yet you have a vow of fealty, if I remember correctly, darling. Did you actually think I'd forgotten? That I wouldn't be hurt by your little tryst?”

“
You
— forget something so depraved? Impossible,” Adrius replied.

“So, am I to assume you are delivering the little Sidhe halfling to the underworld then? I would be more than happy to assist with the transportation of her soul in any way I can.” She grinned amicably, as though she'd just offered to help me study for finals. With a step forward, her blue-tinged nails reached for me.

The sound of rasping metal filled the room. “I'd rethink that if I were you.” His sword aimed at her, swirling green smoke curled and hung frozen in the air before crystallizing and falling like viridian snow.

The witch smiled. “
You
— are threatening
me
— with
that
?” she laughed. “Surely the son of Elyssium knows it would take more than an enchanted Elvish weapon to dissuade me.”

“Perhaps.” He smiled in return, his eyes dark and calculating. “But you couldn't save them so quickly.” He redirected his aim, pointing at her two monstrous white tigers, the pair that had escorted us from the entry.

Octãhvia paused briefly, annoyance flashed in her emerald eyes. “How dreadfully rude, darling. I can't im
agine why you'd greet me with such hostility.” She pouted, her eyes staring invisible ice daggers in my direction. Thin layers of frost coated my skin.

The corner of her mouth twitched, suppressing a smile as she lowered her hand. Those beasts were apparently the only lives she had any compassion for.

“Wise decision,” he said, leveling his gaze. He didn't lower his sword even as a thin gold filament slithered out of the cold and coiled around his ankle. “Now, we can discuss other things.” Not once did his eyes leave hers, ignoring the chain that moved like a living thing to bind his legs together. I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

“…Like, letting the girl go free.”

My breath caught in my throat — he was negotiating my release, but what about his?

“Oh darling, don't be so dramatic. I was just having a bit of fun with your new toy. I mean neither of you any harm. If fact, I'm not the least bit interested in the human halfling — yet.” She shrugged. “You can keep her.” She looked me over, her steely eyes full of false pity. “Poor thing came from the shallow end of the gene pool. She could no more weave a simple transfiguration spell than undo, oh…
let me see
, let's say, a curse placed by a black witch.” With a sniff of distain she refocused on Adrius. “Sad really… I looked forward to the challenge of a worthy adversary. It's so hard to find suitable opposition these days.” She looked back at me the way one looks at a small, not-too-bright child. “It's sort of like a tennis match for one,” she said, not hiding the condescending tone.

“Maybe you should give them a racket instead of slicing out their hearts and freezing their souls,” Adrius countered evenly.

“I'm not leaving you here,” I whispered. Why wasn't he slicing through the chain, or at least trying to free himself?

Octãhvia narrowed her eyes, and the full weight of her stare pressed down on me. Cold whispered through my veins embracing me in the darkness of her foreboding power. She laughed, and I expected a blood-chilling sound. But instead it was light, airy, l
ike the sound of ice cubes tumbling into a crystal glass. When she spoke, ribbons of frost filled the air, and then flurries of ice crystals drifted mutely to the floor. I shivered, brushing the fine dust of snow from my arms and face.

Every possible exit was flanked by two heavily-armed, burley guerrilla-men, all with the same long black hair and pearlescent skin, cloaked in full length crimson robes, lined with black satin.

I flinched under the bitter sting of her gaze. My lungs burned as I drew in a shallow breath. It was getting more and more difficult to breathe in the frigid air.

“I'm always willing to bargain, dears. Perhaps we could barter an arrangement.”

“There is nothing you have that I want.” As I spoke my breath hung visibly in the air between us. Determined, I stared up into the blackest, most unfeeling eyes imaginable. They were more than inhumane, they were impassive. It brought physical discomfort to look at her, but in that moment I didn't care. “What makes you think I'd be willing to bargain with you?”

“Oh, but there is, dear one… There
is
something you want.” She nodded, a smile dancing in her eyes. “So I know you will bargain with me.”

The coolness of her voice left traces of frost on my skin. Octãhvia's icy eyes shifted briefly to Adrius.
“You have something
I
want. And…” Her voice hushed, “…
I
have something
you
want. From what little I know of humans, you place an interesting amount of importance on the value of a life. Fortunately, most of us in the Nevermore are not similarly afflicted. There, by my cats.” Her long bony fingers pointed toward the corner of the room.

A filigreed cage of ice hung a few feet from the ground. The shape of a woman sat hunched in the center, her knees drawn up under her chin. “But she is not just any Faerie.” She smirked. “This one happens to be your Faerie appointed to you by way of favor.”

I froze. Green girl, she was
my
Faerie?

Adrius ground his teeth. “What are you not telling me, Lorelei?” he murmured under his breath. “A Faerie can only be linked to another when a favor involves a physical exchange… so what happened?”

“There might have been a small incident,” I said, chewing my lower lip. “She took my singing voice.” I shrugged one shoulder determined to make light of it.

He sighed. “Anything else you've been keeping from me. Anything at all?”

My gaze fell to the ground. “No. And it's fine. I got it back.” I hated lying to him, but at this point what choice did I have? I wanted to tell him the truth, but every time an opportunity opened up, the truth would only further endanger our lives.

Octãhvia watched us with an amused smirk, like we were her personal performers, and when our hushed argument was finished she broke into applause. “Brava! Brava! Very good!” Veins and tiny bones protruded from the rice pap
er skin on her neck as she threw back her head in laughter. “Yes, darling, the Faerie was sent by your father. And while I imagine you have many abandonment issues, I am sure you would like an opportunity to know more. Find out why he did the things he did.” She moved with the grace of a dancer, her fur cape dusting the snowy floor behind her. “Find answers to the questions that plague your darkest dreams at night, while you sleep in the house of the elf king and long for the forbidden touch of his son.”

Cringing, I felt my checks scorch.

Out of the corner of her eye, her pupil-less gaze darted toward Adrius. “Or perhaps your nights are solely filled with… Faerie dreams?” She grinned, arching her brows.

The heat in my face worked its way down, drenching me with perspiration that rapidly cooled and turned to frost. I hoped Adrius wasn't watching too closely. Most of my nights were spent dreaming of him, and there'd been one especially startling dream about Julien that had me weirded out for most of the day. But she wasn't talking about Adrius or Julien. She was talking about my dreams of the Shadow fey… Zanthiel.

Adrius stepped forward, the thin gold filament made a noise in protest. He aimed his sword at the witch. “You will not speak to her that way. Do you understand me?”

Octãhvia raised her hand. A stream of jagged shards of ice flew at him, slicing through the chain, piercing his arms and pinning him to the wall. I ran to help him, but her boney hand wrapped around my upper arm, numbing my flesh beneath her
touch almost instantly.

“Relax, darling.” She purred. “I have no desire to kill the charming young prince. However, I will end
the faerie's
life without a thought, if I do not get what I want.” She pointed across the room.

I struggled to pull free. When I looked at Adrius a moment later the frozen spikes had melted, and he slid to the ground. Growing crimson stains spread across the white shirt under his vest.

Octãhvia released me and stepped back. My arm burned,
but all I could think about was Adrius and healing his wounds. I held my breath and ran to him, placing my hands on each of his arms.

With cold spreading in my heart I looked around. It was a scene from an ancient Roman coliseum… A frail waif hanging perilously out of reach from three ravenous white tigers. I'd never considered the mental stability of animals before now, but there was something crazed about these tigers. The way they paced frantically, teeth bared… frothing at the mouth. It was as though they possessed the souls of the criminally insane. It wasn't just a hunger they waited to satisfy; it was bloodlust.

Fauna
. What was she doing here? The caged green faerie dangled above the predators and she looked understandably terrified. A faint luminescent glow illuminated her skin, but it diminished with each passing moment. If the light was linked to her life-force, then she was fading quickly. From what I'd learned of Faeries, they couldn't survive these temperatures for long. At least not the Seelie fey who existed in the Summer Court. Iron chains bound her arms and legs, burning into her skin, leaving it raw and bloody. I looked away, unable to stand it any longer. It was impossible to consider that this being, which had caused me nothing but trouble, was worth trading Adrius for. Yet it was unthinkable this could be the Faerie's fate… anyone's fate. How could they place so little value on a life?

“Take me instead!” I pleaded. “I'm the one you want. Take me and let the others go.”

“No, Lorelei.” Adrius put his hand on my back as he stepped in front of me. “You're not the one she wants. I am.”

I stared at him, my mouth gaping yet silent.
What was he doing?
Was this some sort of a trick, a ruse to free us all? Considering how well his
let's just knock on the door
plan went, I was justifiably concerned. I couldn't let him risk his life this way. Shaking my head, I watched him walk toward the witch, his golden green eyes matching her icy glare.

“You can't do this,” I whispered.

“I have to.”

“No, you can't leave us, not like this.” I stared at the fey which dangled inches from the salivating jaws. Her lips were blue, her ankles and wrists were swollen and raw from the iron chains that bound her. Was she really sent by my father? Was it possible?

I lunged forward to grab hold of his arm

“Lorelei… It will be alright. Trust me.”

“I do trust you. It's her I don't trust. Look at what she's capable of.”

He pressed his lips to my ear. “Go with Tilak. Take the map.” Pulling away, he gave me a grave stare. “And for the sake of my sanity, promise me, you won't do anything crazy.”

“Oh,
blah blah blah
. This is all so touching, darlings, but you need not continue with the dramatics. Adrius knows he is worth more than this fey, and more useful to me alive than dead… for now.” She smiled, gliding a few feet away from us. It was the longest I'd ever been close to this woman, and my bones ached from the bitterness of her presence.

“I desire much more from him than merely his soul.”

My blood ran cold.

Her black fingernails raked across his chest. I felt him stiffen — whether from pain or revulsion, I couldn't tell. But I wasn't letting go of his arm. As though clinging to him would somehow ensure a happy ending to this nightmare. How had it come to this so quickly? I placed myself between Adrius and the witch queen.

“You're not taking him —
or his soul.” I fumed, burning with a protective fury. Octãhvia cocked her head to the side, her bluish lips curled into a thin, cruel smile. She seemed delighted and
perplexed at once by the challenge.

“Hmmm — you are more fearless than most of your kind, dear.” With no more than raising her eyebrow, the ceiling split, releasing a lightning bolt of ice tearing through the room. A small ball of ice fire formed in her hand, and leaping cobalt fames danced in the air, sizzling as flakes of snow came in contact and melted instantly into water.

Adrius shouted, “NO!” and shoved me out of its path. The ball of fire pummeled him full on, the blue flames twisting into arms which entangled him, dragging him to the ground writhing in agony. I screamed, running to help him but one of the hooded guards grabbed me. I stared helplessly, as his body contorted in pain, his veins straining against his skin. Flames had coated his skin in a thin layer of ice. The elves were resistant to the cold, but no one could survive this for long. “No, Stop, please! You're killing him!”