“A half human, wisp princess bound by love to a kelpie king and in the company of a cat sidhe?” he asked. “Never has such a party of adventurers graced these waters.”
“Perplexing, isn’t it?” a voice asked.
Torn emerged from the shadow of a palm tree, empty hands spread wide as he swaggered toward us. His expression was all innocence, but I knew better. The cat sidhe lord had been up to something, I just wasn’t sure what. I probably didn’t want to know since at least then when the shit hit the proverbial fan I could plead plausible deniability.
With Fragarach the Answerer at my throat, that was likely the best strategy.
I gasped as Manannán swung Fragarach from my throat to Torn’s. Mab’s bones, I was happy to have room to breathe again, but a little warning would have been nice.
“Who are you to trespass on this isle?” he asked, frowning at Torn.
“Sir Torn, king of cats, lord of the cat sidhe,” he said.
King of cats? That title was new to my ears. I wondered what it meant, but I wasn’t the one asking the questions. I filed it away for later, if there was a later.
Manannán gave Torn a dubious once over. We were probably a sore disappointment for the guardian’s expectations for fae royalty.
“Why do you seek the silver apples of Emain Ablach?” he asked.
“I don’t,” Torn said, shaking his head. “I’m not the hero in this adventure, just the ruggedly handsome guide.”
“If you are their guide, as you say, then why did you not take part in the trial of water?” he asked.
Torn shook his head ruefully.
“Cats don’t like to get wet,” he said with a shrug. “And have you seen what sea salt does to leather?”
Torn waved a hand at his leather pants.
“Why did I not see you on the beach before now?” he asked.
“The beach isn’t really my style, I’m more of a shadows kind of guy,” Torn said. “Plus, I’d rather not get sand in my trousers. So I went to see Ailinn. The island’s defenses are set to deter those seeking the apple, not bored cat sidhe, so it was an easy trip. But apparently, Ailinn only shows herself to heroes. So I came back to wait here for these two.”
“Ailinn was not at her grave?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“No, but like I said, I don’t think she appears without a hero present,” Torn said.
“I am no hero,” Manannán muttered. He looked longingly up the hill in the direction Torn had come. “But I protect her grave in hopes that some day she will appear to me.”
“Do you have a message for Ailinn?” I asked.
I was grabbing at straws, but the pain on Manannán’s face was real. Love can make a person do crazy things. If the sea deity had taken on the role of guardian to this place in hopes of someday being worthy of a glimpse of his beloved, then maybe he’d be willing to let us pass if we carried a message to her.
Fragarach was back at my throat, but this time I was ready. I suspected that Manannán didn’t believe any words spoken without the sword’s compulsion. This guy had bigger trust issues than I did, and that’s saying a lot.
“You would carry my words to Ailinn?” he asked, a sanguine smile on his lips.
“Yes, if you let us pass,” I said. “All I need is your message.”
“Tell her…that someday I will be worthy of her forgiveness,” he said. “Those exact words.”
“I swear it,” I said.
Manannán lowered his blade and I slumped forward as the bargain settled heavy on my shoulders.
“Then I wish you luck on your quest,” he said. “Safe travels.”
“Safe travels,” I gasped.
The guardian sheathed Fragarach, spun, and leapt into the ocean at our backs. With the flip of a shimmering tail, the sea deity was gone. Manannán mac Lir was letting us onto the island. I smiled and shook my head. He’d even wished us luck on our quest.
Well, how’s them apples?
Chapter 39
I upended my boot, dumping sand onto the rocky path, and swore an oath to never wear leather to the beach again. My boots, gloves, and jacket were stiff from my little swim with the corpses and my jeans were caked with salt and sand. My skin was rubbed raw in more places than I could count and we’d only just made it off the beach and onto a path that plunged us into the false night of a thick forest.
Unlike the sunny, tropical beach dotted with palm trees, this place was filled with old growth trees that blocked out the sky as they leaned together in their death throes. I scowled at the murky path ahead. It was hedged in by a wall of writhing brambles, some with thorns bigger than an ogre chieftain’s tusk.
Going through the wall of thorns was not an option. There was nowhere to go except to follow the path ahead—a path choked with webs. Spiders, why did it have to be spiders?
“Torn, what the hell?” I asked. I yanked on my boot and pointed one of my blades at the webs that crisscrossed our path. “I thought you came this way already. What could weave those webs that fast?”
Please don’t say spider fae. Please, please, please.
“Like I’ve been trying to tell you, princess,” he said. “I wasn’t here for the apples, so the island wasn’t hostile to me. There was a different path that led right through those briars.”
I narrowed my eyes at the wall of thorns, but the path was no longer there. Neither was the one leading back to the beach. Well, fuck a duck.
Ceff—who had changed back to his humanoid form once our encounter with the sea deity was over—went over to the twisting vines and poked at them with the tip of his trident. A thick tendril lashed out in a blur of motion, snapping its thorns within an inch of Ceff’s retreating hand.
“Avoid the local flora,” he said.
“You think?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
I hadn’t planned on touching anything in this god forsaken place anyway, but I inched closer to the center of the trail.
“As for the webs,” Torn said, licking his lips. “I’m thinking spider fae.”
Crap, I knew it. I may have taken up moonlighting as fae pest control lately, but so far I hadn’t been asked to clear out any spider fae nests. I’d counted myself lucky that the urban jungle I call home wasn’t their favorite nesting grounds. Judging from the webs that clung to every surface, I was guessing creepy, old forests were more to their liking.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” I grumbled.
I slid one of my throwing knives back into its wrist sheath and pulled a machete from where I kept it nestled in the small of my back. It was a new addition to my utility belt, one I’d rather not have to use. I preferred throwing knives, since they allowed me to keep a safe distance, but if I had to get up close and personal, the machete was a better option than one of my daggers. The blade was too long to be street legal, heck it handled like a sword, but it had a better chance of keeping my enemies at arm’s length than my daggers did and the iron in the blade would be effective against fae.
It also was a useful tool for chopping through the threads of spider webbing as big around as my wrist. With a throwing knife ready in my other hand, I began hacking a path.
We’d cleared a couple hundred yards of web when I felt the first drips hit my leather jacket.
“Rain, seriously?” I asked. “How can this get any worse?”
“You just had to ask, didn’t you princess?” Torn asked, voice thick with sarcasm.
“That is not rain,” Ceff said, pointing to a hole in my jacket. “Last I knew, even the poisoned human world does not have acid rain that destructive.”
They both looked up and I followed their wide-eyed gaze to the trees thick with web above our heads. I wished I hadn’t. I tightened the grip on my knives as eight beady eyes stared back at me.
Apparently, whacking at the spider fae’s web had rung the dinner bell. If I’d taken the time to think about how spiders hunt their prey, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Not that we’d had much choice. The is
land knew we were here for the silver apples and now we were the flies in the spider’s web.
Yanking our weapons from the sticky strands we’d been cutting, we each took a step away from the web until we stood weapons out, back to back. Before the web even stopped vibrating, ten more spiders crept toward us. The largest spider, still hovering over our heads, descended further down its thread. We were surrounded.
“Anybody got any ideas?” I whispered.
“Besides run like hell, not really princess,” Torn muttered.
“What do we know of the spider fae, any weaknesses?” I asked.
“It depends on the type,” Ceff said. “As with regular spiders, the spider fae are varied. At a guess, I would say these are similar to black widows.”
As we talked, the spider fae converged on the area of disturbed web, but they didn’t attack. Not yet.
“Okay, I have an idea,” I said. “Whatever you do, don’t move.”
Slowly, I shifted my blades to one hand and detached a water balloon from my utility belt. The holy water inside the balloon wouldn’t harm the spider fae, it was loaded for demon, but I was testing a theory. I palmed the balloon, raised my arm, and lobbed it to our left.
Spindly legs skittered along the sticky web, carrying the orb shaped bodies of the spiders at astounding speed. The spider fae chased the balloon, rearing up and pouncing on it. They tore the balloon to shreds, fighting over the measly meal—all except for the giant spider above our heads.
“How did you know they’d go after it?” Torn asked.
“Lucky guess,” I said, remembering not to shrug at the last second. “I figured if they hadn’t attacked already, it might be because they couldn’t see us, or rather feel us.”
“They hunt by following the vibrations in their web,” Ceff said.
“Appears so,” I said.
I carefully tugged a lighter and a lump of raw iron from my pocket.
“On my mark, run as fast as you can, weapons out,” I said. I flicked my eyes to the giant spider that continued to dangle over our heads. “I’ll create a diversion behind us, but we need to clear the web ahead. I’m guessing fire will work faster than cutting our way through, and it’s too late to worry about pissing off the island. Ceff take the lighter and set as much of this on fire as you can. Torn watch his back. I’ll take care of our drippy friend.”
I pointed up and Ceff and Torn grunted their agreement. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was a start. I slipped the iron from its protective covering, took a deep breath, and heaved it with all my strength, throwing it as far behind us as I could.
Ceff and Torn sprinted forward, hacking and burning their way through the web. At our movement, the spider above us dropped further down the silk thread, its mandibles dripping venom onto the path at my feet. With a flick of the wrist, I threw one of my knives, striking the spider in a cluster of eyes. It shrieked and tore at its face, trying to dislodge the knife.
I took the machete in both hands, leapt up, and whacked the dangling spider, splitting open its abdomen like an ichor filled piñata. As soon as I hit the ground, I rolled to the side, away from the sizzling pile of goo.
The spider shrieked again, its cries mingling with the hisses and squeals of its friends. The other spider fae were learning the hard way not to eat cold iron. But after seeing the effects on the first few, the other spiders were getting savvy to my trick—and were spinning this way.
“They’re coming!” I shouted.
“It is burning too slowly,” Ceff said. “We will have to stand and fight.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing,” Torn said, a predatory look on his face.
Ceff and Torn may be ready to fight, but we were seriously outnumbered. I’d been lucky with the first spider fae, having the element of surprise on my side, but that advantage was long gone and I was pretty sure that none of us would survive a single spider bite. If only the web would burn faster.
Burn, damn you, burn! Heart racing, skin glowing, my power raced up to the surface and the small fires that Ceff had set with my lighter exploded into balls of flame.
“What in the shadows?” Torn yelped, brushing at a singed patch of fur that dangled from his ear.
Wide-eyed, I reached for the power that poured from me and focused on the web choked path ahead. Burn, burn it all, burn it to the ground. Flames leapt, heat knocking me to my knees. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth and crawled forward. Tears blurred my vision and smoke choked the air.
I looked behind us to see the spider fae waving their legs and chomping their mandibles at the shimmering air. The flames were keeping our attackers at bay, but that wouldn’t last. We had to get out of here. I scrambled forward, letting out a shriek of my own when a hand grabbed my jacket and pulled me forward.
“Come, we must hurry,” Ceff said.
“Wha…” I nodded, a cough cutting off my words. I pointed to the spider fae behind us and Ceff shook his head.
“Leave them to Torn,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head and pulled me to my feet. My lungs screamed at me as we ran, spots forming before my eyes a sure sign that I wasn’t getting enough oxygen.
We made it to the top of a shallow rise, above the worst of the smoke, when I heard the groan and snap of wood. We ran faster, Torn close on our heels as a huge tree fell behind us, blocking the trail. As the first spider climbed onto the fallen tree, the dead wood burst into flames. That should keep them busy for awhile.
As I watched, the silhouette of the injured spider fell onto its back, legs curling inward. That was one opponent we wouldn’t have to deal with later. As I turned to go, I saw the legs of the other spiders reaching for it—not to rescue it from the flames, but to devour its corpse. I don’t imagine that spider fae woke up this morning wanting to become dinner for his brothers, but I knew better than most that you don’t always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes, you just might find…you get what you need.
Chapter 40
I bent down, hands on my knees and coughed, spitting out a mouthful of soot and phlegm.
“You going to be alright, princess?” Torn asked. “That won’t hold them forever.”
He pointed at the wall of flame rising up from the felled tree that blocked the path at our backs. I sighed, ran my tongue along my teeth and spit the last of the soot and ash from my mouth.
I needed the cat sidhe’s nagging like I needed a hole in the head. My head pounded with each word.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said.
I kept my expression wry, but inside I was reeling. My wisp power had fueled the flames, which was something I didn’t know was possible. It wasn’t a bad skill, if I could ever figure out how to do it again. I shook my head. No time to worry about that now.
I straightened and surveyed the trail ahead. The worst of the sticky web had burned, leaving drifting piles of ash and puddles of sticky goo at our feet. The wall of thorns wriggled, forming sooty clouds as they shook off debris. The brambles may not have burned, but they looked like they’d been dragged through Hell and back.
My companions didn’t look much better.
Torn’s collection of feathers and fur, that normally adorned his leather clothes and hung from his scarred ears, were singed and smoking. Soot streaked Ceff’s face and he’d lost his shirt somewhere along the way. We looked like soldiers limping into battle, and perhaps we were. We still hadn’t faced Ailinn and her magic apples.
“Come on,” I said, ignoring Ceff’s sideways glance. “Torn’s right for once. We need to get a move on.”
Ceff took the lead with Torn bringing up the rear. That left me in the middle, a position I normally would have argued with. The middle was for the weakest link, but right now I had to admit that I wasn’t up for more fighting. As the last of the adrenaline washed from my system, I felt all the aches, pains, and fatigue of the day’s trials—and the weight of the faerie bargain that siphoned off what little streng
th I had left.
We walked for what felt like an hour, but was probably more like five minutes when Ceff called a halt. We’d found the spider fae’s nest.
As Ceff and Torn scanned the area for threats, I took in the grisly scene. Apparently, this was where the spider fae kept their food. I shivered and rubbed my arms, surveying the larder full of tasty snacks.
Cocoon shrouded skeletons hung like macabre decorations from the branches of moldering trees. Some of the cocoon shrouded bodies had dropped to the ground in a heap, too much of a burden for the rotten, worm eaten wood.
As I examined one such bundle where it protruded from the ground, leaves and mulch writhed and heaved, swallowing the body deeper into the earth. My stomach roiled and I looked away.
Okay, right, stick to the path.
Ceff waved me forward and we continued past the bodies. But just as we were about to turn the bend, I caught movement to our right. Ceff and Torn hadn’t found any spider fae, but that didn’t mean there were none here.
I strafed left, blades out and at the ready, but it wasn’t a spider. It was one of the cocoons. It was moving.
“Ceff, wait!” I said. “I think this one’s alive.”
“Come on, princess,” Torn said, bringing up the rear. “We haven’t got all day. Time moves differently in the Otherworld, you know that.”
I did know that from my experience in Mag Mell. If we dallied too long here, there was a chance that we’d return too late to save Jinx or the city. It was one of the things that I’d worried about since being plunged into this place, but it didn’t change the fact that someone was trapped here. I couldn’t just leave them like that.
“We can’t leave them here to die,” I said, testing the ground with the toe of my foot as I inched to the edge of the trail and toward the writhing bundle.
“Sure we can,” Torn said, tossing his hands in the air. “Just keep walking.”
Ceff gave Torn a glare and came to stand at my side.