Page 151 of The Shadow Path
“They’re just standing there,” Duncan growled. “What the fuck do they think they’re doing?”
“Just a little lower, Cadell!”
The dragon grumbled, but on the final pass over the Éiren troops, a pass so low that she could see the gusts from Cadell’s wings stirring the banners, Carys saw it.
The enchantment was so strong she felt it from the sky.
Duncan braced himself against the wall of the coracle. “What is that?”
“Do you see it?” she shouted. “Duncan, Cadell, do you see it?”
There is a fae ward over the entire army,Cadell said.
“What is that?” Duncan shouted.
“They’re enchanted.” She craned her neck to see out of the arrowslit and spotted the fae commanders in front of the troops watching them. “Do you see it? Dru did the same thing on the boats as we brought the army through the river gate, but this is even bigger.”
“They’re bloody frozen in place.” Duncan narrowed his eyes. “I bet if you started shooting at them, they wouldn’t move an inch.”
“The Éiren people did not march on Briton.” Carys pointed to the troops on the ground. “Those soldiers probably don’t even know where they are.”
Duncan nodded. “Look at the crown princess. She’s not moving either. Cian has enchanted his own daughter.”
Princess Finola, her long brown hair blowing in the wind of Cadell’s wings, was as frozen as the troops behind her. She wore gold-and-silver armor that didn’t appear to be just for show.
She was a formidable-looking woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties; she had a strong jaw and a steady brow.
The crown princess was the kind of woman who looked like she could lead soldiers into a battle, but she was frozen in place as Cian and the other fae looked at the dragon flying over them, seemingly unconcerned by anything overhead.
Break the enchantment,the voice whispered in Carys’s mind,and you end the battle.
“There.” Carys spotted hunched figures in green robes crouched at the front of the columns of troops. “Do you see them?”
I see them,Cadell said.But my fire will not penetrate fae wards.
That’s why Cian and the fae commanders seemed so unconcerned.
Break the enchantment,the voice came again.End it before more blood spills.
Duncan looked at her, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “What do you want to do? Should we head back and tell Dru? He could break his brother’s ward to get to Cian.”
“Dru is in the middle of the battle.”
There was one other option, but Carys knew that neither Duncan nor Cadell was going to like it.Cadell?
Yes, Nêrys.
Duncan’s blade can break that ward.
Yes.The dragon’s voice was cautious.It could.
Carys walked to Duncan and put her hand on his shoulder. “Cadell is going to drop the coracle in front of the line!” She pointed to the ground. “We can use your blade to break the ward,and then Cadell can kill the fae who are enchanting the troops without killing the entire Éiren army.”
King Harold was in Saris. Crown Princess Finola was in Saris. Maybe with the fae out of the way, a ceasefire could happen before more blood spilled.
“Let me get this straight,” Duncan yelled over the roaring wind. “You want us to run in front of thousands of heavily armed Éiren soldiers andbreakthe spell that’s keeping them from joining this fight?”
Don’t be ridiculous, Nêrys. Let the surly human out, and you stay in the coracle. I will lay down fire along the front of the Éiren army and kill the fae sorcerers who have enchanted the Éiren troops. He’ll be fine. Probably.
