Guardian (22 page)

Faerydae’s queenly demeanor slipped momentarily as she grinned at him and I caught a brief flicker of the pretty young girl Ian had probably fallen in love with at one time. But she quickly regained her attitude, leaning close again. “I overheard Aubrie speaking in the midnight garden. Though I could see no one there, he spoke to someone. He was very careful, speaking mostly in some kind of code. But they made plans to meet. Tomorrow night. On the RiverIsle.”

Ian’s eyes widened.

Suddenly Faerydae straightened and her face took on an angry set. “I demand you tell me where he is right now, half-breed!”

Ian fixed her with a knowing look and bowed slightly. “I would never think of hiding him from you, my queen. He sleeps like a young man after a night of carousing…just in the next room.” Ian flung a hand in the direction of the passageway just as Aubrie staggered out.

Faerydae plastered the appropriate look of horror onto her face and stepped around Ian, rushing to Aubrie’s side. “Are you well, my friend?”

Aubrie’s face was misshapen and nearly purple, his beautiful blond hair matted with blood. His clothing was torn, damp, and coated with filth. He limped noticeably and carried one arm against his stomach as if it pained him greatly.

He glared at Ian before responding. “I am fine, my queen, merely inconvenienced by a couple of bruises. Why have you come?”

Faerydae quickly filled Aubrie in on Drake’s invasion of their lands and he seemed to straighten as his aura burned more brightly. I watched in amazement as most of his injuries burned away under the deadly lift in his aura. “I’ll go at once to address it.” Then, after a final glare at Ian, and a smug look of dark promise cast toward me, he strode past Broud and out of the cave.

I noticed Broud made him squeeze past, not giving a single hair’s breadth to let him pass. I grinned at the Unicorn and I thought I saw a spark in one large, brown eye.

Faerydae touched Ian’s face and then turned to follow Aubrie out of the cave.

As soon as we heard Broud take off Ian grabbed my hand, reaching into his pocket for some faery dust.

“To RiverIsle?” I asked.

“To RiverIsle.”

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A mist clung to the trees and touched the surface of the water. The moist, dense air smelled of flowers and rich, fecund earth. As Ian and I walked along the river, our feet sank noisily into the marshy ground. Sound was deadened by the heavy mist, and I kept thinking I saw shapes moving through the trees. It was an unsettling place, filled with the mystery and clandestine aspects of its inhabitants. We’d only been there a few moments and I was already sick of it.

“Do we even know what we’re looking for?”

Ian turned to me, his features partially obscured by the grey, clinging mist. “We need to speak to King Rapha. He knows everything that goes on in his lands. He won’t want to tell us anything of course, but we’ll need to find a way to force him.”

I sighed. Nothing was ever easy.

The cloudy air in front of us gradually split into several tall, dark shapes. I jerked to a stop in surprise, placing a hand on Ian’s broad back. He looked up and stopped too, albeit with more grace than I had. He bowed his head slightly in ceremonial greeting. The tall, shadow-like creatures before us stood silent and unmoving.

“Greetings. We have come to speak to your King. May we join you as you return to Shadekiind?”

Silence beat at us for a long moment. We waited, knowing the unpredictability and contentiousness of RiverIsle’s inhabitants. Finally the tall form in the center stepped forward, illuminating a strong, square face and piercing black eyes. He lowered his heavy chin just enough to serve as an acknowledgement of Ian’s greeting but not a centimeter more…indicating his distrust of our presence there.

When dealing with shadow folk, it was more important to interpret their mannerisms than their words. They spoke more clearly with their bodies. Their words were often cloaked in innuendo and double meaning.

“You have trespassed on our land. We would ask why.”

I stepped forward. “We mean no harm, shadow friend. We have word of one of your kind who has suffered. We wish to bring news of her health to your king.

Ian glanced at me, surprise filling his long lashed, brown eyes. He gave me a tiny smile and winked. I fought the smile that threatened to lift the corners of my lips. I knew it was a brilliant stroke. As a people shadow creatures are very close knit. The loss of even one of their numbers is cause for great despair within the kingdom. I knew the young woman who currently rested in Tana’s rooms would have been missed. It was a good reason to be there. And one the Shadow King would find impossible to resist.

We would be granted an audience.

The shadow man who’d taken the lead turned back to the rest of his party and they disappeared.

Ian stiffened and I placed a hand on the long knife I’d shoved into my belt. Long moments passed, during which we searched the area around us carefully for signs that they moved to surround us. When they reappeared we were indeed surrounded, but the set of their bodies told us their arrangement around us was an escort formation, not a hostile one.

I forced my hand away from the handle of the knife and Ian’s hand dropped back down to his side. We shared a look of cautious relief.

“Come. Shadekiind awaits us.” The leader of the shadow men turned away and started walking along the wide and shimmering Isle River, toward the Shadowland Kingdom of Shadekiind.

Ian and I fell into step behind him, our hands close to the knives we carried. Though I tried to look relaxed and confident, I was all too aware of the five shadow men walking in a half circle around us. The tension in Ian’s shoulders told me he was feeling a bit tense too.

As we moved further into the shadow lands, the mist around the river began to thin and clear. The scent of flowers surrounded us and the vibrant hues of forest and water pulsed in the intense, clean light of RiverIsle. The waters of the vast Isle River ran clean and blue. I could see fish swimming in its depths, and the river bottom looked to be made of the whitest sand. It was breathtakingly bright and beautiful.

The irony of this was not lost on me. The lands for a people whose existence depended on their ability to become shadows were the most vibrant I’d ever experienced. Flowers were abundant, fragrant, and nearly iridescent with jeweled tones in the morning sunlight. Unlike the Faery Wood, the trees of the forest were set far apart, with enormous trunks. The leaves of the giant trees filled the sky above our heads in a bright canopy of light greens, purples, oranges, and deeper greens. Lush green grass and a thick array of flowers filled the space between the enormous trees.

The wildlife was uncommonly colorful too. Brightly colored birds whizzed from tree to tree, bush to bush, leaving blurs of bright color behind in their wakes. Reds, yellows, bright greens and blues, even purple shone across their effervescent wings.

Small, furred mammals bounced between the giant trees, their coats bright yellows, oranges, and reds where I was used to seeing browns, blacks, and creams.

An animal that looked like a deer sipped contentedly at the river’s edge and lifted its beautiful head as we approached. It was a stark, clean white, from head to toe, and its eyes were aquamarine. It sauntered away as we came near, obviously only minimally concerned about our approach.

Everything seemed brighter and clearer. Each hair more distinct, every vein in every giddily colored leaf or flower pedal visible. I could see ultra fine hairs on Ian’s arms I’d never noticed before. It was like putting a microscope over my eyes, tuned to uber-perfect vision.

I smiled, starting to relax. A land such as this could not harbor the type of ugliness I had feared. It was a place made for beauty, and filled with peace and calm. I glanced at Ian, but his face still seemed cut from stone.

“I give you Shadekiind.” The leader announced. My gaze swung in the direction he was looking and I gasped, unprepared for the incredible beauty of the place.

Shadekiind was nestled on an island in the widest part of the Isle River, where the river split off into two parts, which wound around the mass of land at its center and rejoined a mile or two further down.

The castle didn’t rise into the sky so much as it rolled across it, like a line of small mountains forged in gold. The enormous palace was all rounded edges and rolling lines, cleanly constructed so that it melded into its natural environment rather than stood apart from it. The grounds that rolled down from Shadekiind and spilled into the vibrant blue waters of the Isle were lush green, speckled with an abundance of the largest, fattest flowers I’d ever seen. It reminded me, strangely, of the fields leading to the Land of Oz, from the fictional human movie.

Identical arching gold bridges spanned the quickly moving river on both sides, allowing easy passage from the far side of the river to the kingdom. Once over the bridge, a road of sparkling white stones led directly to the castle door. The identical roads ran together in front of Shadekiind’s massive door, which looked like it was forged from flawless, sparking Emeralds, and formed a perfect, white semi-circle through the lush grounds. No other roads existed on the small island. No gates or buttressing structure existed between Shadekiind and the rest of the world. I wondered at the folly of having such a place, where anyone with any idea of mischief could march right up to King Rapha’s kingdom and through his doors.

At the back of my mind I thought about the meeting Aubrie had planned, where just such devilry might already be in the planning stages.

Ian must have been thinking the same thing. “Shadekiind is not protected?”

The tall shadow man who led us toward the bridge turned and gave us a smug smile. “Of course it is protected. There is no greater protection in the world.” He didn’t elaborate further.

Ian arched an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. If I could contact the Watcher I could get the scoop. But alas…

As we approached the castle an hour later the vibrant green doors swung outward in silent welcome. No one stood inside, no one appeared to line the wide, arching stairs leading into the castle. The place was completely, eerily silent.

As soon as our small party cleared the massive doors they swung shut silently and closed with a heavy but subdued snick that sounded ominous in the otherwise silent place.

Gooseflesh pebbled my arms and I stepped closer to Ian. He reached out and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Stay very close.” He whispered to me.

I nodded. Never had I been more predisposed to cooperate.

We followed the shadow man toward a wall of ceiling high, golden doors at the far end of the long entrance hall. As we approached, the two doors in the center swung wide on silent hinges and we strode through without breaking stride. They swung shut behind us just as silently and efficiently.

The room we entered was cavernous. Our footsteps on the mother of pearl tiles of the vast floor echoed against walls that were well over a hundred feet high and came back to us multiplied, so that it sounded like we were a small, invading army rather than a rag tag expedition of less than ten.

I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin as we approached the throne in the center of the far wall. It was deeply padded in burgundy velvet and was wide enough for three people, looking more like a divan than a throne.

Slouching sideways on the throne, one leg dangling over the side to sprawl casually along the floor, King Rapha rested one thick arm on a bent knee and turned a reptilian gaze slowly toward us as we approached.

His attitude was so practiced and gauged for affect that it gave me the creeps.

Or maybe it was the slanted, bright green eyes in the wide gray face with thin, gray lips that was giving me a sense of the shivers.

Shadow kings are born rather than made. Only a few royal families in Shadekiind are born with the correct physical makeup to be kings and queens. While their subjects assumed a fairly normal appearance when not in their shadow forms, those of royal birth in Shadekiind were born virtually colorless, looking as if they had one foot in the shadows at all times. The unfortunate trade-off of this constant shadow-like appearance is that they cannot assume full shadow form within Shadekiind’s boundaries, making their protection upon attack a singularly challenging operation.

King Rapha focused his bright green eyes on me and a slow smile split his reptilian face. Unfortunately, even his teeth were a dull, light gray. “A visit from a kindred spirit. Welcome Monad Warrior.”

Shadow creature legend holds that, because of their ability to enter the shadows and become a separate entity from the physical world, the shadow creature shares a peculiar bond with the spirit world. But the spirit world holds many designations—from the lowly soul spirit, which is powerless and temporarily locked away from eternal rest as the result of some kind of unfinished business on Earth, to the powerful Monad spirit, which is a special, elite force of warriors created to practice the art of protection.

From my own experience, I knew that there was no evidence the shadow form resembled the elite Monads in any way. But political and self protective instincts kept this opinion safely locked behind my lips for the moment.