Vesik 04 - This Broken World (34 page)

Some of the Fae began to square off once more. Others shied away from the tension rising between their leaders. Gwynn Ap Nudd stood in the center on one side. Hern stood opposite.

“You are marked traitor,” Glenn said. “The sentence is death.”

Hern gave one, sharp shake of his head. “It is you who has betrayed the Fae. You thought to lock us away and forget about your own people. We will rule this world as we were meant to.”

“Fool! Anyone in Falias is now lost to the Abyss. Have we not lost enough lives to this pointless war? Your soldiers are leaving the field. Without them you cannot hope to defeat us all. You will die for this, Hern, but I have seen enough death today. Leave.”

Hern took a hesitant step backwards. His remaining forces looked at each other, and as soon as Hern had that single moment of hesitation, their lines broke.

I sighed and cursed in relief as the Unseelie Fae trickled away from the battlefield. A few headed into the ruins of Falias. A few vanished. Very few stayed at Hern’s side.

“Leave,” Glenn said, and his voice deepened and grew in that one syllable. It echoed off the hills around us and returned louder than it had started.

Hern turned slowly, and then marched deliberately away from our line.

Something made a keening cry beside me and I turned to find Vicky curled up on the ground, trembling. I scooped her up and held her as her arms wrapped around my neck. “They aren’t dead, Damian.”

“What?” I asked. I ran my hand over her head.

She pulled her face away from my shoulder and looked at me. “I pulled them through the Abyss. I could feel them. They’re in our world now.”

Glenn’s focus changed from Hern to Vicky. “That’s not possible.”

At the same time as he spoke, a door creaked open on an impossibly thin, broken spiral tower. A Fae with large black eyes in a pale face stuck his head out. He gestured back inside the building as a smaller Fae, a child I thought, tried to look out the door beside him.

Both figures vanished back into the building.

“Gods,” Glenn said. He looked back to Vicky. “Thank you, child. It is good to have some small joy today.” He looked back to me before a fairy grabbed him from behind and spun him around.

Cara stood there, her armor bloodied and cracked. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking Glenn over. Her eyes paused at the wound in his chest.

“Shallow,” he said. “I am fine.”

I raised my eyebrows as Cara grabbed either side of Glenn’s head, leaned forward, and kissed him. It was not a chaste kiss. It was full of passion, and I had to fight not to let my jaw hang open. Cara was one of the most faithful people I knew, which meant …

“That’s your
husband?”
I said, unable to keep a squeak out of my voice. Cara. Glenn’s wife? Foster. His right hand man? I had a sinking feeling our living arrangements had nothing to do with chance.

“Certainly explains some things,” Zola said, tamping her cane on the scorched earth.

“Quiet you,” Cara said, pulling away from Glenn. “Falias is truly here then?”

Glenn nodded.

“Do we know how much of it?”

Glenn sighed and looked to the east. “All of it.”

Cara’s bloody hand massaged her forehead, leaving a streak of red behind as she frowned.

“Falias is a huge city,” Glenn said. “Its ruins will stretch from here through the coast.”

I thought I was going to puke. “You mean, everything from here to there is …”

“Destroyed,” Glenn said, closing his eyes at the word. “I fear some of your cities have been replaced by our own.”

“All those people,” I said. “What happened to them?”

Glenn met my eyes as Vicky buried her head in my shoulder again. “You already know.”

Distantly, it felt like thousands of voices screamed in my mind. As fast as they’d started, the sounds faded to a whisper and then to silence. I shook my head and stared at the ruins of Falias. Lost souls still flickered and glided through the air between the towers and smaller stone structures.

Aideen sat beside Foster. I wasn’t sure when she’d joined us, but the condition of my mind made it easy to miss things.

“So much death,” Aideen said, crossing her hands between her bloodied knees.

Cara pulled the younger fairy up to her feet.

Aideen raised her eyes to Cara briefly, but then her gaze locked onto Foster. The moonlight warped in his dented armor and his torn golden mail. A smear of crusted, dried blood hid whatever damage his right leg had sustained, and one of his wings hung limp, nearly torn off. Foster’s mouth tightened into a line, and his forehead creased. I watched as he slowly lined up his sword with the sheath at his side and slammed it home.

The metal rang through the quiet night as his eyes lifted to Gwynn ap Nudd.

“You could have prevented this, King.” Foster’s voice was so full of venom I almost took a step backwards. “Do not lead us into the Abyss. We won’t go quietly.”

He held his arm out to Aideen. They walked together, arm in arm, into the ruins of Falias.

Gwynn ap Nudd watched them leave in silence.

***

Most of the battlefield emptied after Hern’s departure. Only a few of us remained.

I crossed my arms as a silent darkness overtook the crater once more. “I can’t believe Glenn left.”

“There will be more fighting in Faerie,” Cara said. She inspected the results of her healing on the Old Man’s wounds. “Now we know what Hern is capable of. Glenn must protect Faerie.”

“The world is changed,” Aeros said, settling himself on the edge of the crater beside Vicky and Happy. “Hern destroyed a seeing stone in the battle between you and Anubis.”

“Christ,” the Old Man said. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. Blood still covered his body, a terrifying effect when combined with his scars.

“You understand what that means?” Zola asked.

The Old Man nodded. We all stared into the crater as the conversation continued.

“What’s it mean?” Sam asked as she walked up behind us with Vik. Jasper sat on her shoulder, just an innocuous little fur ball.

“A moment, please.”

I turned to see who spoke. I couldn’t help but smile as Hugh and Alan walked up to us. Wahya and Haka were with them, talking animatedly with Carter and Maggie.

“Hugh,” I said.

He extended his arm to exchange grips. Recent scars and blood were obvious across his entire forearm. I slammed my arm into his, and then did the same with Alan.

“Good to see you alive,” Alan said. “I had my doubts I’d be seeing anyone alive after this.”

“I know,” I said. I couldn’t help but stare at him, the boy that Philip had rescued so very long ago.

“What?” Alan asked.

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head.

I raised my eyebrows when Maggie hugged me.

“You did great, Damian.”

“I didn’t do much.”

She frowned at me and then looked at Hugh.

The wolf shook his head slightly. I wondered why, but there was more to worry about at that moment. Carter gave me a brief nod, and Haka waved, but both kept talking to Wahya. The golden werewolf was smiling.

Vik and Dominic stood beside Edgar on the opposite edge of the crater when I turned back.

“Vassili is gone,” Vik said.

“At least we know who our enemy is,” I said.

“Our enemies are many.”

I nodded.

“I am sorry, Zola,” Hugh said. “Please continue.” He projected his voice enough to silence the conversations around the crater.

“The world of the Fae is no longer hidden,” Zola said. Her voice was quiet, but the meaning behind her words struck like lightning. “Humanity will not come to us with open arms.”

“Not when their first encounter with Faerie cost millions of lives,” Edgar said.

“Millions?” I said quietly. I had no words.

Edgar nodded slowly. “Millions.”

“They will come for us,” Zola said. “Some of us can hide, as we seem normal.”

Sam snorted.

“Or normal enough, Samantha,” Zola said with a small smile. “Others, like some Fae. They are different, and Ah think we all know how well humanity deals with things that are different.”

“They go to war,” Edgar said.

Foster and Aideen slowly walked out of the golden glow of Falias. She leaned on his arm, and I could see his damaged wing had been repaired.

The reality of Zola’s words hit me at that moment. The entire world had been affected by the seeing stone. Every commoner on earth would be able to see the Fae. See Foster and Aideen walking through the wrecked city. See Aeros sitting on the edge of a crater. They would see everyone.

“But Foster’s wings,” I said.

“We can hide our wings,” Cara said. “It was not so long ago Faerie was not entirely hidden from the world. We have not forgotten how to hide.”

I stared at Foster, and Foster stared back. Even if you couldn’t see his wings, his face would stand out. How could you hide the angular features and sharp ears? He was seven feet tall when he wasn’t small, and now people could see him when he was small too. They could always see him.

My eyes trailed back to Zola. Her eyes locked onto mine.

“You begin to understand, boy. The world is changed.”

“What now?” I asked.

“For now,” Zola said, “we go home. Hard times lie in wait for the world. We must be prepared to help.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

I
blinked as I stood at the saloon-style doors in the middle of the Double D. Two men in military fatigues paid rapt attention to the man speaking to them. One of them even took notes.

Frank’s silver hair was cut short, almost military, and the light casting part of his face in shadow made me realize he’d lost even more weight than I’d thought. He pointed to the north, and I heard him say werewolves.

I pushed through the doors, Bubbles and Peanut trotting along behind me.

The man taking notes nodded. “The locals said this was the place to go.”

“We’ll help where we can,” Frank said.

Bubbles let out a quiet growl. Both the men took half a step back when they saw the bristly green cu siths.

“What
are
those?” the younger, bearded man said.

“They’re harmless,” Frank said. He paused, and reevaluated his statement. “They’re usually harmless.”

I walked closer to the trio. “Hello.” Bubbles stayed at my heel while Peanut bumped up against Frank.

“Evening,” the older man said. I glanced at his uniform. He didn’t have any rank or identification.

“Who are you?” I asked, cutting right through the bullshit.

“If I had to guess,” Frank said, “my money is on Rangers.”

The two men stared blankly at Frank.

“Special recon,” Frank said, raising one of his bushy eyebrows. “Sent to find out if we’re a threat or a potential ally?”

“I’m not saying you’re right,” the bearded man said, “and I’m not saying you’re wrong, but what in the hell gives you that idea?”

“I was an Army brat,” Frank said. “My father was stationed at Hunter for a few years.”

“Ranger?” the bearded man asked.

Frank shook his head. “Major in the Air Force.”

The two men looked at each other, and the older man nodded before he spoke. “We’re recon,” he said. He didn’t elaborate further, and Frank didn’t push him.

“The sign out front,” the bearded man said. “It’s rather conspicuous.”

“It didn’t used to be,” I said. “Before the whole world was … gifted with Sight, commoners couldn’t read it.”

“Handy,” the man said.

Bubbles crept forward, sniffing as she went. Her tail popped up and down as she bumped her nose against the bearded man’s hand. He reached out slowly, and started scratching her behind the ears.

“That’s a huge dog.”

I almost started to explain what Bubbles actually was, but I just said “Yeah.”

“So that video really was real?” he asked Frank.

“Yes.”

“I appreciate you being so open with us.”

Foster walked up from the back at his full seven-foot height, wings extended. The two men didn’t even flinch, so I was pretty sure they’d already met the fairy.

“Your message has been sent,” he said. “It will take some time, but it will arrive.”

“We appreciate your assistance, and I will be sure our allies are aware of it. Take care of yourselves. Strange days lie ahead.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” I said under my breath as they walked through the front door. I turned to Foster. “What was the message?”

“Seems the military wants to meet Gwynn ap Nudd,” Foster said, his eyes following the two rangers as they walked past the front of the store. “I can’t imagine that being a good idea.”

“What did Cara say?” I figured she’d be the one taking the message back to Faerie if anyone was going to.

“She’s going to talk to Glenn,” Foster said. “Aideen went with her.”

“Humanity just had a blindfold torn off its eyes,” Frank said. He turned to look at me. “They’re going to be trigger happy. This could get bad, very, very fast.”

“It’s already bad,” I said.

Frank nodded in agreement.

“What did you have to tell them?” Foster asked.

“Not too much,” Frank said. “I just confirmed what they’d already seen on the video. They were happy to hear the blood mage was dead.” He frowned slightly. “I didn’t tell them who Ashley is. They seemed keenly interested in her.”

I stared at Frank. I was so used to his bumbling, nice guy persona, I sometimes forgot he’d been a damned arms dealer. One does not last long as an arms dealer by being stupid.

“What about the Pit?” Frank asked.

“Taken care of.”

“They found Vassili?”

I pursed my lips. “Allow me to rephrase. Partially taken care of.”

Foster laughed. Peanut hopped around in a circle and bumped up against the fairy. “They raised Vik to be the new Lord,” he said as he scratched Peanut’s ruff.

“Good,” Frank said. “Vik will be great for them.”

Foster and I both nodded.

“I just want Sam to be safe,” Frank said, keeping his eyes toward the front of the shop.

“We’ll make damn sure of that,” I said.

Bubbles growled beside me. I smiled at the cu sith and scratched her ears. I frowned as her tongue shot up over her head and wrapped itself around my wrist when I tried to stop petting her.