Page 120 of The Shadow Path
Carys didn’t hear the horse’s words like she could hear Cadell’s, but words popped into her mind, and she somehow knew they were from the horse.
I see you. Welcome home.
“My mom always had a strange reaction to horses when I was young.” Carys laid the saddle pad and blanket over Leuca’s back, chatting as she readied the horse for the day. “I used to think she didn’t like them, but maybe it was too painful for her to have that reminder of Epona in the Brightlands.”
Leuca whinnied again.
Duncan walked into the stables. “Who are you talking to?”
“Leuca.” Carys nodded at the horse. “She’s Epona’s daughter.”
“Ah.” Duncan nodded. “Like your mum.”
Carys smiled. He was so quick. So unexpectedly intuitive. “Yes, exactly.”
“She’s a lovely girl.” The big man stroked along Leuca’s cheek and reached for the saddle that was waiting near the door. “A good friend to have today. I just spoke to Godrik, and he plans to ride hard. There are two different fae forts where they think there might be children hidden.”
Carys wasn’t an expert rider. She’d become much more comfortable on horseback since her first trip to the Shadowlands, but she was likely the least experienced rider in the hunting party that day.
“I’ll stick with Leuca.”
“She’s more experienced at being a horse than you are as a rider.” Duncan put the saddle on the horse, securing the girthand fixing the stirrups for Carys. “If it comes to it, just give Leuca her head and hang on. She’ll know what to do.”
When the mare was ready, Duncan helped Carys up and then patted the mare’s flank before Carys nudged her forward and walked out to the courtyard.
Godrik and the wolves were already waiting, Godrik on horseback and the rest of the wolves in their fur.
The North Wolves of Anglia were massive beasts who were immediately distinguished from the wild animals they mimicked. Their heads came nearly to the shoulder of Carys’s mount, and their eyes were wise and human, though they moved exactly like wolves.
Like the dragons, North Wolves could speak silently to each other, so Godrik was already moving toward the forest when Duncan joined her.
“We’re riding south,” he said. “There’s a fae fort near Effra Green that’s just risen in the past week. The farmers in the village say that the unicorns that lived in the woods south of the green moved farther into the forest three days ago.”
“The same day the children were taken?” Duncan asked.
Godrik nodded. “It’s been surrounded by Harold’s men since the attack, and I want to take a closer look. Four children from the village are missing, and it’s near to a small pack that roamed near the woodland where another child went missing.”
Carys knew at least five families must have been going insane for days, and the sense of urgency caused any enjoyment of the bright, warm morning to flee. “Are there still fae in the forest even though the unicorns have left?”
“Yes.” Godrik raised a black eyebrow. “Might be a good time to test your theory, Lady Carys.”
They rode south through Hyde Forest and headed toward the river, crossing the wide stone bridge over the Tamis and escorted by a pack of over twenty North Wolves.
Carys didn’t know how long they rode, but Cadell was in the sky overhead, and the light was as bright as it got in the Shadowlands by the time they crossed the narrow Effra River and saw the fae mound rising in the middle of a village green.
Sheep and donkeys were grazing around the base of the mound, and the green was patrolled by a line of red-coated soldiers. Other than the grazing animals and the stoic soldiers, nothing moved.
The town looked as if it were frozen. No shopkeepers called out, and the few pedestrians on the cobbled streets were silent and watchful as they passed.
The fairy fort looked as if it had been there for years, not three days. Thick grass carpeted its high slopes, and flowers sprang from the earth. Daffodils spread across the village green, their bright yellow blooms bobbing between the black-faced sheep.
Two of Godrik’s wolves crossed the soldier’s perimeter and padded over to sniff around the base of the mound. Whatever it was they were searching for, they turned back with drooping tails and went to sit near Godrik’s mount.
The wolf dismounted from his sturdy horse and walked over to Carys and Duncan.
“They don’t smell anything. The scent of fae magic is so strong that it drowns everything else out.”
Carys looked at Duncan, then down at his sword.
