“The Darks seem to have an unhealthy fascination with you,” he said, ignoring my question. “Do you know why that is?”
“One of their own took us to a cave,” I said. “In the eastern Dark Woods. All of us went in. He never walked out.”
“We heard,” Dimitri said. “Those that die in the Dark Woods tend to leave a bit of themselves behind. He echoed. He darkled. He was nothing but blood and bones when they found him.”
“Tiggy tends to get overzealous when his friends are threatened,” I said coolly.
“So you say. But you just don’t know, do you?” He looked back over his shoulder and said something in the tongue of the fairies. It came out low and guttural, almost like grunts. The cadence was stilted and staccato. As soon as he fell silent, the other fairies spread their wings, alighting from the trees and bushes and flowers. They spun in a leisurely circle around us. I felt something crawl along my magic. I felt soft. Dully muted. Tiggy growled low in his throat and tensed behind me. Gary came to my side, eyelids heavy. Ryan didn’t seem to be affected, worry darting along his face.
“What is this?” I asked, sounding slow and quiet.
“To keep our palaver secret,” he said. “You can’t be too careful these days. The trees hear everything.”
“But you’re their guardians,” I said. “Why would they betray you?”
He grinned. His teeth were sharp. “Who said anything about betrayal?”
I said nothing.
“You look for the Grand Prince,” he said. “He was taken, was he not?”
“You sound as if you already know,” I said. “Why ask?”
“Formalities,” he said.
“Games,” I corrected.
His smile widened. “Are you sure you won’t rethink that proposal? The conversation alone is stimulating.”
I shook my head, trying to ignore just how stimulated he seemed to be. It’s never okay to have a tiny man flying around with his erection near your face. “You deserve someone who can give you all you need. I can’t do that.”
The bravado faltered a bit. “I knew you were different,” he said. “The first time you came into the woods. I could have taken you then. You were just a boy. I could have taken you away from the human world and raised you how I wanted you to be. Molded you to be something more than you are.”
“I’m thinking you need to back up,” Ryan said, voice hard. “Right now.”
Dimitri paid him no mind. “But I let you grow. In the world of men. Where they are cold and careless and plot the most calculating plots they can to ensure their survival. They think only for themselves and not about the suffering of others. You see, Sam, it’s only about power.”
I thought back to Morgan and the way he’d evaded my questions. “What is it?” I asked, curious.
“Your Prince was taken by a dragon, yes?”
This wasn’t guarded information. It was all the City of Lockes could speak of in the days before we’d set out. “He was,” I said.
“And now you journey to bring him back,” Dimitri said. “His knight and his would-be wizard.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Don’t you wonder, though?”
Games, games, games. “About what?”
“About where it came from. Why now?”
I wanted to play his game too. “You would have experience with dragons, wouldn’t you?”
He looked agitated. “Careful, apprentice.”
“The Great White. I’ve heard the stories. Tell me. When did you last see him?”
“He is not your concern,” Dimitri said. “Gods have little time for mortal men.”
“But he’s not a god,” I said. “His clock ticks just like yours and mine. It may tick slower and longer, but it still ticks.”
“He’s not—”
“You haven’t seen him, have you?” I said.
Dimitri was silent.
“Is he dead? Is that why this new dragon is here?”
“No one understands the minds and wills of dragons,” Dimitri said.
“Including you.”
Dimitri’s smile returned. “The Dark Woods are deep. I can see far.”
“How far?”
“Your human mind could never understand.”
Dealing with fairies was an exercise in frustration. Everything went in misshapen circles. “Specifics.”
“I am specific. You’re just choosing not to listen.”
“And you’re choosing to speak in vague riddles.”
“The dragon is north,” he said. There was a bitter set to his jaw. “Where the Dark Woods end before the mountains rise. In the hills there is a keep, long forgotten. The road from Meridian City will lead you there. When you reach the village of Tarker Mills, head toward the mountains. There is a valley. You shall find your keep there.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why would you help us?”
“You demand answers and when I give them, you question me?” he asked.
“You never do anything without a price, Dimitri.”
He laughed. “This is true. A bit of advice.”
I waited.
“Stay out of the Dark Woods. There are things far worse than myself.”
“I’m not afraid. Of you or anything else. I have proven time and time again that I am more than capable of handling myself.” I turned to glare at Gary and Tiggy lest they decide to speak and make me a liar. They both just stared blankly back at me.
Dimitri flew up close. He reached out and put his hands against my cheek. “Chaos always rises from complacency. I like you, Sam. You are not like the others. I’ve always been able to see that. There is something inside of you that burns differently than anyone who has come before you. I thought to harness it for myself, but I won’t be the one to force it. But remember. The Dark Woods are known to you now. And you are known to them.”
He flew up above us into the swirling mass of the other fairies. They shimmered brightly in the afternoon sun. The tree holding Ryan released him, and the fairies disappeared into the woods, almost faster than the eye could follow.
We were left in the silence of the forest, and I felt the gold and green all around me.
I looked over at Tiggy and Gary. “What the fuck is going on?”
Gary looked into the forest. “I suppose there is a bright side. You didn’t have to get gay fairy married.”
CHAPTER 13
I’ve Got Wood and I’m Ready to Masticate
WE MADE our way back to the main road before I thought to use the summoning crystal. I pulled it from the pack on Gary’s back, the others standing around me. Ryan’s eyes looked pinched and I wondered if we were friends again. I didn’t think I was mad, but I didn’t want to admit that it took a tiny naked man to help me get over it. I didn’t say that out loud because it sounded all kinds of wrong.
It didn’t help that there were too many questions I had for him. Why he seemed so keen on defending my honor. Why had he intimated he’d grown up in the slums. Why he was the way he was (meaning why, out of all the people in the world, was he my cornerstone). Granted, these were questions I was never going to ask, knowing full well my expectations would make the reality that much more crushing.
I told myself we were friends. Anger can turn to bitterness, and we couldn’t have that between us. Not when we needed to trust each other to stage a rescue from a dragon.
“Not a word from any of you about being in the Dark Woods,” I warned them. “Morgan can be a bit… touchy.”
Gary snorted. It was green this time. “Touchy. Right.”
“Maybe because you can’t take two steps inside before something bad happens?” Ryan said.
“I’m so glad you’re with us,” I told him. “Because of the way you point out things.”
There was a small smile on his face that my heart absolutely did not trip all over.
I held the crystal in the palm of my hand in front of me. I thought of Morgan and felt something pull in my head, like a hook had
lodged itself in my brain and tugged. It was borderline unpleasant and I felt itchy all over.
The crystal flashed in my hand, a dull pulse as it grew warmer.
Then it was almost as if Morgan was standing right next to us, his voice loud and clear. “Sam?”
I opened my mouth to say how awesome it was, that this crystal was the coolest thing ever, to assure Morgan we were okay and most definitely traveling on the Old Road like he instructed us to. Instead I said, “We went into the Dark Woods and I almost had to get gay fairy married again and now I feel really bad and Ryan got bad-touched by trees and Fairy King Dimitri was cryptic and annoying and apparently has a size kink.”
Silence. Gary, Tiggy, and Ryan stared at me with wide eyes.
Morgan sighed.
“I feel better,” I told everyone. “Do you all feel better? I do. Honesty is like a balm to my beleaguered soul.”
“I don’t even know why I tell you what to do,” Morgan said.
“Because it makes you feel special?” I guessed. “Because you are.”
“You think I’m special,” he said flatly.
“Yes.”
He sighed again.
So I said, “How’s the castle?”
“You’ve been gone four days.”
“Things can happen in four days. Like… stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Sure. You know. Things.”
“I’m still going to yell at you, Sam.”
“Dammit,” I said. “Are you sure? Because you don’t sound sure.”
“I tried to tell him no,” Ryan said. “But you know how he gets.”
“Do I ever,” Morgan said.
“Ha, ha,” I said with a scowl. “Are you guys finished? I would like you to be finished.”
“What were you thinking?” Morgan said, sounding slightly pissed.
And that made me angry. “I was thinking that I’m twenty years old and more than capable of handling myself,” I retorted. “I was thinking of the fact that it’s been days since Justin was taken. I was thinking that the quicker we moved, the quicker this would be over and everything could go back to normal.”
“But at what cost?” he asked. “I don’t even want to know how you got away from Dimitri this time. Last time was a fluke. What did you promise him?”
I blanked on that. “Nothing,” I said. “He let us go.”
“What? Why?”
“I asked him to,” I said. “And he did. And then he did his whole cryptic wood fairy thing.”
“You asked the fairy king to let you go and he did,” Morgan said.
“Yeah. He still wanted to marry me, but I convinced him I wasn’t right for him.”
“I don’t even know what to do with you anymore,” he said faintly. “Every time I think I’ve got you figured out or I’m even beginning to scratch the surface, you do something else that just contradicts everything I know.”
“You sound like that’s a good thing,” I said.
“Most of the time,” he agreed. “I don’t know if now is one of those times. I asked you to stay out of the Dark Woods, Sam. I wouldn’t have done so if I didn’t have explicit reasons.”
“Then explicitly explain them.”
“I didn’t think I had to. You killed a Dark wizard. They will want revenge.”
“And that’s it. That’s all it was.”
“Isn’t that enough?” He sounded annoyed.
“You’re not telling me everything,” I said. “And I don’t know why.”
“Even if I wasn’t, it’d be for good reason,” he said. “Not to mention the fact that you have other priorities right now. Not everything concerns you, Sam. You need to focus on the Prince and then getting to Randall. Nothing else. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” I said. “We’re going to have a long talk later, you and I, about keeping secrets.”
“Are we?” he said. “I look forward to it.”
I debated keeping the whereabouts of Justin from him just for spite, but I wasn’t that type of person. Well. Not completely. “Dimitri told us where Justin is.”
“Of course he did,” Morgan muttered. “And he just volunteered up this information without asking for anything in return.”
“To be fair,” I said, “he probably felt bad about the tree molesting Ryan.”
“Everyone should feel bad about that,” Ryan said.
“I don’t,” Gary said.
“I don’t,” Tiggy said.
“I sort of do,” I said. “But not really.”
“I’m going to leave them here,” Ryan said, leaning over and speaking into the crystal. I tried not to even think about his breath on my hands.
“I don’t blame you,” Morgan said. “I’ve thought about it countless times. Where is he?”
“In a keep to the north. The fairy said it was forgotten. It’s in a valley outside of a village. Tarker Mills. I’ve never been there before. I don’t think I’ve even heard of it. And if they were having problems with a dragon, why has nobody spoken of it before? Surely they would have seen it coming and going.”
“That’s near the mountains,” Morgan said. “They grow corn. And no, you can’t sell them on the firework corn.”
“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” I said, even though I really was. A hamlet whose main crop is corn? It was destiny.
“I’ll see what I can find out about a keep,” he said. “I’m assuming there was a structure there at some point. A tower. A church. Something. Head to Meridian City. Check in at Old Clearing to make sure it was the dragon attacking the sheep and burning the earth. I want you out of those woods as soon as possible, Sam.”
“Because of your secret reasons,” I said. “Friends don’t keep secrets, Morgan.”
“Wizards do,” he said. “Stay safe. I’ll tell your parents you are alive and as foolish as ever. I’m sure they will be pleased.”
“Love you, boo,” I said.
He groaned before the crystal went dark.
I looked up at the rest of them. “Well, I think that went well, don’t you?”
“Morgan’s going to murder you when we get back,” Gary said.
I shrugged as I put the crystal back in the pack. “We won’t be back home for six months,” I said. “He’ll calm down by then.”
“He remembers long time,” Tiggy said ominously. “He remembers everything.”
“Nah,” I said. “We’ll just buy him some chocolates from that shop he likes or I can just alter his memories. Either way, we’ll be fine.”
“Candy or memory alteration,” Gary said. “Those aren’t extremes.”
“You’re extreme,” I said.
“Thank you.”
“Shut it. Let’s beat feet before it gets any later.” We started walking down the road. I only made it four steps before I realized we weren’t being followed. I glanced over my shoulder as Gary and Tiggy continued on.
Ryan stood where we’d left him, hands curled into fists at his sides.
“You cool?” I asked him as I walked back up to him.
“Six months,” he said, staring off over my shoulder.
“What?”
“You said you were going to be gone for six months.”
“Well, yeah. You knew this. I told you. And then you acted like a chump and didn’t speak to me for two weeks.”
“You never said how long. You said it would be for a while.”
“That is a while.”
“Why?” he asked, finally looking at me. There was something in his eyes I couldn’t quite figure out. The closest thing I could make it to be was anger, but that didn’t seem right.
“Why what?”
“Why do you have to go? What are you leaving for? Where are you going?”
I hesitated. This was dangerous ground. He knew nothing of cornerstones, much less the fact that he was one. I couldn’t tell him that he was a big part of the reason I was leaving, because the longer I stayed, the more difficult it would be as he didn’t belo
ng to me.
“Away,” I said. “I’m going away because I have to. To learn better control of my magic.”
“Morgan’s your mentor,” he said, like he was trying to argue with me. “He can teach you.”
I shook my head slowly. “Not everything. Not this.”
He took a step toward me and his eyes were so green, like the trees in summer, and all I wanted to do was to tell him this. To tell him that when I stood by his side, I felt right. I felt even. My head was clear and my heart was clean.
He said, “What is this?”
A question that could be taken so many ways.
I took the easy way out. “It’s a wizard thing,” I said. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Where?” he said.
I looked away. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Randall,” he said.
I turned to walk away. And made it three steps.
“Sam.”
I didn’t turn back around, but I stopped.
“The King told me,” he said.
I said nothing.
“About what happened. About how you ended up at the sparring fields.”
“Ah,” I said.
“Is it true?”
“No,” I said. “I lied to the King because I could.”
“Don’t do that. Just… don’t. You deflect. You always deflect.”
“And you always jump to conclusions without having all the facts.”
“I didn’t mean—it just… he’s my—”
“I know,” I said, trying to put him out of his misery. “He’s yours.”
Silence. For longer than there should have been.
Then, “I’m sorry. I should have never—”
“I know,” I said and walked away.
Eventually, he followed.
DUSK WAS falling as Gary and I gathered firewood along the edges of the Dark Woods. Tiggy and Ryan were back at the river’s edge at the camp. Ryan said he wanted to bathe, and there was no way in hell I could be in the same vicinity as Ryan Foxheart with soap-slicked skin, so I immediately squawked and volunteered to get the firewood. Or, rather, that’s what I meant to say. Gary assured me as we walked away that it just sounded like I was barking.
We were slowly trudging our way back to camp when Gary said, “You and Knight Delicious Face okay?”