Page 1061 of One More Kiss

Fin nodded. “It’s a good thing. They were killers. Their meal,” he nodded to the spot the rats were feasting when we came across them, “was a sentient Fae creature who lives in these parts. They hunt anything that moves, Fae and beast alike. We would have been their next meal.”

He studied me, his eyes tracking down my body and back up to my face. He nodded, happy I wasn’t harmed. Physically at least.

“I didn’t mean to kill them.” My voice was small. “I only wanted to slow them down so we could get away.”

“They are evil creatures. We have done a service to the Realm by dispatching them.” He cleaned his sword on the fur of one of the beasts and gestured for me to do the same. “We’ll clean our weapons properly at the Palace. Come.”

We set off, threading our way through the trees. Fin set a brisk pace and I was almost running to keep up.

We walked for maybe thirty minutes before he paused for a break. We were at the base of an incline in a shady clearing. The trees were foreign to me, but there was a feeling of peace and tranquillity.

“Here, drink.” He handed me a flask he retrieved from his belt.

I eyed it warily. He smirked, daring me to refuse.

Challenge accepted. When I shook my head he took it back and put it to his lips. He drank, long and slow, before holding it out to me again.

“Well now I’ll get boy germs.” But I was thirsty now. The power of suggestion.

He shrugged, a hint of a smile playing around his lips. “You could have gone first.”

I snatched the flask from him and wiped it with my sleeve, before drinking. To my surprise, it was water. And it tasted good. Maybe it was simply because we were so far from civilisation and there was no other water source.

“Thank you.” I handed the flask back and he returned it to his belt. “How far to go?”

“At the top of this rise you’ll see the Palace, on the next hill. It’s not far.” He patted his various loops and pouches, ensuring they were all in place. “Let’s go.”

He hadn’t really answered my question. I guess I’d see at the top of this ‘rise’.

Navigating the incline was quite the task. I’d have called it a small mountain, not a rise. It was steep and there was no path. A goat track wound along the side, but we cut straight up. It was hard going, and more than once Fin grabbed me as I began to slide backwards. He, of course, made it look easy. But I was puffing like a banshee by the time we crested the top.

The forest below stretched into the valley with a river running along the bottom and a road beside it. Open pockets of land with houses and organized garden plots were set at intervals, before the trees stopped and the land opened up. Wide expanses of land extended from there, all the way to the base of the mountain on the other side of the valley. At the top of that mountain was a castle.

“The Midnight Palace.” Fin gestured grandly.

From here it looked like something out of a Disney movie. All turrets and windows with strips of cloth flying in the wind. It was a long way away.

“Seriously, Fin? It will take us a week to walk that far.” I took the proffered flask without argument. It was still full of water. Some sort of magical, never-empty water bottle? I’d ask, but I was too tired.

Fin grinned, the slightly evil one that said he knew something that I didn’t and was laughing at me, not with me. “There’s a transit station just below. From there it’s mere moments to the Palace.”

I looked down. We were on the top of a cliff and there was no way we could get down easily. I shrugged. I’d trusted him this far, what was a little further? “Lead the way.”

He led us along the top of the cliff a way, until we came to a cleft in the rocks. As we drew nearer I saw there were stairs going down. They were hewn out of the rock, wide but with a big drop between each one. They zig-zagged down and disappeared from view beneath an outcropping of rock.

“Oh, goody.”

Fin’s grin got wider.

He went first, lithely jumping from the first step to the second. He turned and held his hand out to me.

I gauged the distance from one step to the next. I’d have to sit on the edge and lower myself down. If I jumped, I’d most likely overshoot and end up tumbling all the way to the bottom of the mountain.

I took Fins hand and stepped down.

We repeated this process over and over. Fin, stepping off and landing lightly, cat like. Him holding out his hand to me to help me down. I’d like to think I didn’t need the help, but it wasn’t true. Even if I’d been at my freshest I wouldn’t have been confident to tackle this giant staircase any other way. On my own, it would have been a bum shuffle. Sit on the edge, drop down, repeat. This way was slightly easier, even if I had to accept Fin’s help.

We eventually got to the bottom of the ginormous stair case. I felt shattered. Even with Fin’s help, it had been an epic effort. My legs were wobbly and I was out of breath. If I ever wanted to get fit for an iron man or any other sort of endurance exercise I’d come back here. Otherwise, never again. I refused to think about the journey home. I’d face that when I came to it. Maybe going up would be easier than going down.

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