Page 29 of Owned By the Fae
Rikoth murmurs something about me being a cunt, and I let him hear my answering chuckle as I pass back through the wall to meet them on the other side. I watch them enter through the door that I've opened, but I stay out of sight, and I don’t let any of them know where I am.
‘Are you here?’ Dane murmurs from next to me quietly so the others in front don’t hear him.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I'll be close by.’
‘Good. It might be best if you remain unseen.’
‘What is this place?’ I ask again. ‘It looks very old.’
‘I wasn't lying before. I don't know. I haven't been told much. I'm not trusted completely yet.’
‘We were gone a long time,’ I murmur, glad he can’t see my eyes rolling.
He nods again.
‘I saw the Harbinger.’ I don't know why I'm telling him, especially not now. It’s not as if he’ll care anyway.
But he stiffens.
Interesting.
‘When? Where is she?’
‘Earlier. She didn’t see me. Her room is where the other elites have their chambers.’
He doesn’t say anything else, and we traipse across the green courtyard, trying to skirt the remains of the bodies of those who fell here long ago.
‘These are human,’ Dane murmurs to me as he glances down at a skull. ‘Fae heads are a slightly different shape. I wonder what they were doing out in the Dark Realms so long ago?’
I glance up at the main castle in front of us, which must have been very grand once, with its ramparts and the high towers, which have long since fallen in.
‘Prospering, it looks like,’ I murmur.
At the main door of what must have once been the main hall, Vern hesitates. He looks back, takes a breath, and pushes it open. It falls off its hinges, banging down with a thud that echoes through the whole place.
‘Well done,’ Rikoth scoffs. ‘Scale the wall and scream that we’re here, why don’t you?’
Vern’s eyes narrow at him, but Rikoth turns to Dane, ignoring the other elite.
‘Do you sense anything? Conjures? Creatures? Traps?’
Dane closes his eyes for a moment. ‘No. There's something, but it's old. Weak. We should be safe enough so long as we keep our wits about us.’
Rikoth nods, and he and Vern go inside first. Dane conjures white light, a large ball of it that floats above our heads and follows us.
There’s scuffling as we make our way inside, but Dane shakes his head at the others’ inquiring looks.
‘Rats and the like,’ he murmurs. ‘Stay in the light, though. We all know the dangers that lurk in the shadows in the Dark Realms.’
We get to a staircase.
‘We need to go up there,’ Rikoth murmurs. ‘I'll go first.’
I’m surprised that he’s willing to. I’d thought him and the other elites a bit pampered and likely cowardly, but I’m reminded that underestimating them could be a fatal mistake.
Dane stops Rikoth before he can begin the ascent. ‘I have the light, and if there's anything up there, you might need a conjurer at the fore.’
Rikoth looks a little annoyed but steps aside.
