Page 114 of The Shadow Path
“The fae are the ones whotookthe children, you idiot.”
“And the fae are the only ones who can open those gates.” Carys started to run toward the sound of screaming. “Dylan, we need their help.”
A rust-skinned wyvern had braced her wings wide and was sweeping fire across the top of the hill. Carys could see blackened bodies scattered on the hillside and others running away.
“This is madness.” Carys turned to Dylan. “We’re never going to get them out without fae help.”
Dylan’s eyes turned hard. “What about you? Do you have fae powers?”
Carys blinked. “Oh my God, is that what people think?”
Dylan shrugged.
“You’re idiots.” Carys ran to the nearest copse of trees she could find and knelt down, pressing her face to the ground. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She felt the earth move beneath her, as if it were sighing. When she lifted her eyes, she saw the wide, frightened gaze of a tiny tree sprite, her cheek blackened from ashes and her wings drooping. The creature was hiding in the brambles and trying to blend in.
“I’m sorry,” Carys whispered. “I know you didn’t have anything to do with this.”
The sprite clung to the branches of the bush that was shielding her.
“Can you open the gate?” Carys asked. “There are stolen children inside. That is what is making the dragon so angry. She’s frightened for her child.”
The wood sprite crawled to the base of the bush and whispered something into the ground.
The earth beneath the bramble began to rumble and shake, and Carys had a flashback to the forest god that had risen and trapped her foot.
“What did you do?” Dylan shouted.
Cadell called out to her from his position near Demelza.Carys, what is happening?
I asked for help.Whether they got it was going to depend on how much power that little sprite had and how much she could rouse.
Carys had a feeling that the gentle residents of this mountain valley just wanted all these dragons to go away.
A moment later, the ground went quiet and Carys’s heart sank. Maybe the earth was too angry with the dragons. Maybe the fae wards were too strong.
Demelza rose on her back legs and spread her wings, her head turning up as a scream of rage and sorrow erupted from her throat in a feral and gutting cry to the sky.
Moments later, a bright green light erupted under the soil. It arrowed through the valley, turning and twisting around rocks and roots, arrowing toward the fae mound where bodies were scattered and the grass was charred and black.
“What is it?” Dylan’s voice was in awe.
“I don’t know.”
The glowing green power disappeared under the mound, then moments later, the earth yawned open and Carys could hear children’s screams.
“No!” She ran toward the black, gaping hole, but no sooner had she reached it than a dozen children crawled out of the darkness, two of them running straight toward the hovering dragons while the others stumbled and blinked their eyes with confusion.
“Mam?” A little girl rubbed her eyes. “Tad?”
“They’re human!” Carys ran toward them, ignoring the two small human-shaped dragons who were immediately enveloped by a squadron of dragons who hid them from view. A moment later, Demelza took off, a coracle clutched in one foot while Anwyn hung from her other leg.
Dylan let out a sigh. “They’re safe.”
“Tad?” a little boy called. “Jory?”
Carys took the hand of one child and reached for another. “The other children need help.”
