No one laughed and the conversation was carried on in hush tones as if the queen would be offended if anyone spoke too loud. A man began to tell some fae tale and Brett was half listening to it when the man said something about the dragon shifter fae. Brett sat up a little taller and noted the man was watching him. Either he thought to impart some wisdom to him, or he was taunting him for having any loyalty to the dragon shifter fae, Ena.
He talked about some war between the dragon shifters and the phantom fae and they had killed the invading forces and won the battle. Of course. He wouldn't have told a tale that resulted in the phantom fae's defeat. Though the tale was most likely skewed in the phantom fae's favor.
Already bored with Brett, the queen was speaking to Maracose. Brett's gaze searched for any sign of the girl, Freya, but he didn't see her. His thoughts drifted to the cemetery again. After saying some last words over his grandfather earlier today, the ravens had flocked all over the cemetery, and he at first thought they believed they would pick away at the dead body. He hurried to bury him, but the ravens only watched, sitting on the stones and the archway into the walled in cemetery, making no sound, listening quietly as he said goodbye to his last living relative.
When he was done, he had glanced around the cemetery, hoping the girl would show up again and he could talk to her. She appeared to be his age and he wanted to make her feel better.
With a heavy sigh, he'd walked out of the cemetery and followed the path, swearing shadows were hiding among the trees, watching him, until he reached the walled in castle, and entered the grounds. Everyone had turned to observe him, everyone who was working in the inner bailey—firing up swords, grooming the horses, washing clothes. So primitive, and yet he was beginning to feel like he belonged here. He certainly wouldn't fit in at home any longer. As soon as he found his grandfather's chamber, he was told that it had a workroom and a bathroom, and now it was his bedchambers.
Still wearing his sword-torn tunic and his britches and books covered in some kind of smelly chemicals the forensic scientists had used to determine whose blood he'd been wearing, besides his own, he'd sat down on the bed, head in hands, wondering how he was going to escape.
And now he was in the Great Hall, dining with the queen and still wondering how he was going to manage to leave.
A group of singers came in and sang in a language he didn't understand. He supposed he would have to learn their language next, though most spoke his. But some spoke to themselves in the other language, as if to keep secrets from him, and he didn't like it. They might not be saying anything that had anything to do with him, but he had every intention of learning the truth.
The music was as melancholy as the other, dark and epic sounding, like it would be great in a video game where he was fighting monsters. He never thought he'd be in a place where he was the monster.
He thought again about Mark and Bryan. Were they of the fae also? If so, what kind? Without him being there with them, would they give Ena grief? Not that she couldn't handle herself when it came to them.
But again he worried about Ena and the rest of them. Had they made it safely through No Man's Land?
The queen ended the dinner and said to Brett, "Mage, you will learn everything your grandfather shared with you and learn it by week's end. Then you will go through the trials. If you haven't learned them well enough, you will die. Simple as that." She smiled evilly. "So, dear boy, learn well. It's not like your human schools where you can flunk a test and get grounded until you make up the grade. Here, there are no make-ups."
Then she left him and Maracose joined him. "She will try to kill you in the first tests," he warned. "She's looking for a reason to replace you with another mage hopeful. Prove that you have what it takes to be the mage your grandfather was."
"But you told me my grandfather caused trouble for the queen," Brett said.
Maracose smiled a little wickedly.
Brett thought he had a friend in the man.
"Where is Freya?" Brett asked.
The man's expression turned thoughtful. "If you see your grandfather, you might see her there."
"See, you mean visit my grandfather in the cemetery."
Maracose turned his head and bowed it a little, but Brett didn't think the man had made a mistake.
"But you must use your time wisely, study hard, and learn well, or all will be for naught." Then he vanished.
Brett noted the courtiers all sauntering out of the Great Hall, speaking with each other, all but one, who was watching him, a smug smile on his face.
He was a little older looking than Brett, wearing gray trewes, black boots, and a gray tunic, a leather belt around that. His hair was sandy blond and he had vivid blue eyes as he bowed his head a little to him, but then glanced at the other doorway. Brett looked to see what had caught his eye. Freya. His heart skipped a beat. He looked back to see what the other man was doing. He had vanished. Brett ran toward the other exit, having to see the girl.
She was like a siren of the cemetery, calling to him in some odd way. He didn't know why she had such a draw, but he couldn't stay away from her. As much trouble as he felt he was in, he was certain she was worse off.
He ran through the keep and headed out of doors into the dark. He was surprised no one tried to stop him. But then he saw why. The gates were closed for the night.
A guard stood next to them, and Brett said, "I want to visit the cemetery."
"Tomorrow. No one goes there this late at night. Too dangerous."
"From the thieves? Wild beasts? Ghosts?"
The guard smiled at him as if he was an imbecile.
Brett tried to transport himself to the cemetery, but he didn't know how to do it.
"If you're trying to go there on your own, you can't," the guard said. "An iron gate exists beyond the wooden doors. And the walls are all filled with iron ore. You can only leave when the gates are open in the morning."
He wondered if bribery would work. Then he figured he didn't have anything to use to bribe anyone anyway. Disappointed, he returned to his grandfather's chamber and walked into the workroom, shutting the door behind him and was about to lock it when a hand shoved against it.
Freya. He looked into the girl's dark brown eyes and couldn't find his tongue.
"I need you to save me," she said, so softly he almost couldn't hear her words. And then she vanished.
***
Before dawn, and not something she'd ever done before but Ena and her people had been through so much together on this journey, she couldn't help herself, she gave each of them a hug. Not the humans though. She glanced at Bryan and Mark who had their hands shoved in their camo pants pockets. She was not buying them new clothes. They would have to earn the money for it and buy their own. At least the women had washed their clothes and they were clean—for the moment. She'd already told them they'd be her gardeners, but they had objected right away, saying they didn't have a clue how to keep plants alive, which had Addie and Kerry smiling, until Ena gave them a sharp look. They were supposed to be her gardeners only they couldn't keep anything alive either.
"We want to come with you," Bryan said. "You could use us. We aren't of any use to you here. We already proved we could fight."
Mark nodded in agreement.
"The other dragons said that they were going to have more trouble on the return trip because their focus would be too divided. If you're going to take your brother's treasure, you'll need someone who can fight with you," Bryan said.
"I'll have my brother's staff. He has guards. I did not," Ena said.
Mark chewed on his bottom lip. "We want to go. We want to fight. We've trained for years, if Brett didn't tell you. It beats being in school or… gardening."
"This is not a game," she said, angry, trying to change their minds. She didn't want to get them killed any more than she wanted to deal with Halloran's people who would resent the humans just as much as he would.
"What do you think we were doing out there?" Br
yan said, angrily. "We were saving your treasure!"
"You saved the horses and my people as well." She bowed her head to them a little in concession. "All right. You may go with me. But you will follow my rules."
"Can we have swords like Brett had?" Bryan asked.
"No. We will be transporting you to the airport in Edinburgh, and then flying to Dallas. From there, we will transport back to my kingdom. You can't carry weapons. When we arrive at my brother's castle, I'll see that you get swords and daggers, whatever you need." They would not be the precious weapons that Brett carried with him.
The boys exchanged looks, then nodded.
The flight from Scotland seemed to take forever and then they had to transport to their various residences. They decided to go together just in case they had trouble. They were careful to arrive in the woods with a view of their fortresses, checking things over first to ensure that Prince Grotto or the king's guards were not there to arrest them.
Ena immediately regretted that she had not put Bryan and Mark in fae clothes. Her brother would be more than furious with her, but she decided that she would have them wear some of his clothes. They just stuck out too greatly among her people. Though in the woods they did blend in well.
At Olaf's keep, they found everything looked normal. But they still didn't trust the situation. Olaf said, "I'll take one of the humans as my prisoner, say that I got him on a mission. I'll know right away if there's trouble inside."
"You can't take us both?" Bryan asked.
"No. It would be too suspicious. I'll take Mark, the less mouthy of the two of you."
The dragons all smiled. But not the humans.
Ena prayed this would work or that someone would warn them if they were about to have trouble.
Olaf and Mark went to his gate and he talked with his guards a moment and again, everything seemed normal. He walked inside and Ena couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Olaf would be able to sense it also. When he disappeared inside the keep with Mark, the rest of them listened quietly for any sounds of anyone approaching.
No one. The birds chirped in the trees and the breeze ruffled the leaves, but other than their hearts beating and their ragged breathing, everything else was quiet.
Which is what disturbed her. No one in the castle was working.
"It's too quiet," Ena whispered.
"We take out the guards," Alton said. "But he spoke with them as if there was no trouble."
"There was no trouble with them. It's too quiet, I tell you. Something's wrong. And he hasn't come out," Ena said. "Stay, I'll—"
"No, Ena. If they're looking for anyone, it's you. I'll fly away from here and come in at a different angle and see if I can see anything. Then I'll enter the castle walls. If they see two of us, they might think better of fighting us," Alton said.
"Be careful," Ena said, grasping his hand.
He pulled her in for a kiss. She hadn't expected that, and the way he'd been talking to Princess Esmeralda, Ena thought maybe he'd changed his mind and was looking for a princess to wed.
He released her and she saw Amerand frowning at him. Alton smiled a little, then flew off.
"He hasn't been doing a lot of that lately, has he?" Kiernan asked Ena.
Bryan folded his arms, looking cross, and shook his head. "Hey, we don't have swords," Bryan said. "If Mark had to fight—"
"He's supposed to be Olaf's prisoner. That would look a little strange if he had a sword," Ena said.
Alton flew over the castle from the opposite direction, and the guards all looked up at his shadow, then he landed at the entryway and shifted. He began to walk toward the gate, but as soon as he did, one of the guards blocked his path.
Her heart pounding, Ena shifted. This was so not good. She flew off before anyone could say a word to her and headed to the ramparts, picked up a shocked guard, and carried him off to the forest far away from where the others were waiting. Alton, seeing what she'd done, shifted and flew off after her.
Alton reached her as Ena paced in dragon form, growling at the guard. He had his sword out now, but he knew he couldn't fight her, and he looked like he'd rather live.
Alton shifted so that he could talk to the man. He'd been to Earth before and watched some of the silly shows. The ones where one cop would play the good guy and the other the bad guy. Ena was definitely the bad dragon in this scenario, her eyes glowing bright green, threatening, a little bit of smoke coming out of her nostrils. She was fire-breathing mad.
"What's going on? Talk quick or we'll kill you and go for another guard who will tell us the truth."
"They know Ena's gone. Or… was gone. They know that you'll side with her. That you'd come back for your treasure. They want to imprison you."
"What have they done with Olaf?"
"They've taken his staff hostage. Threatened to kill them if he doesn't stand down."
"And allow them to take him prisoner," Alton said.
"It doesn't have to be that way."
"Which side are you on? Are you with us or against us?" Alton growled, his sword out.
Ena wasn't taking a chance that the guard could cut Alton. She would incinerate the man quickly.
"I've been with Olaf since he was a lad. Since his parents were murdered under the old regime. I stand by him now. But the rest of our people… my wife, even, they've got them holed up in the dungeon. Only a few of us were allowed to stand guard so that Olaf would think everything was all right."
"Okay, we leave you here and come back for you when—"
"No, I'll fight, too. I have to help."
Alton slapped him on the shoulder. "All right. Ena will take you back. I'll get the others."
Ena didn't hesitate and she thought she'd nearly given the man a heart attack when she lifted him so suddenly off the ground and he cried out in surprise.
When she set him on the ground in the inner courtyard, everyone looked shocked to see him back in one piece, their eyes wide and mouths gaping. She flew toward the doors, but then had to shift to open them.
The guards ran toward her and she sure hoped the man hadn't lied and he and the others actually intended to kill her. As a fae, she was so much more vulnerable than a dragon. She could fight, but against ten armed guards, she didn't stand a chance.
Still she moved aside to allow one of them to open the door, not wanting her back to them. One of them rushed to get the doors and pulled them open. Inside, they heard chaos, screams and roars and crashing.
Olaf was fighting for his life. She ran inside, shifting as she did and flew in the direction he was fighting.
She heard some of the men running for the dungeon, and she hoped that meant they were going to safeguard Olaf's people.
Three of Prince Grotto's guards were dead. She attacked another who was trying to kill Mark, while the human had picked up one of the dead men's swords and was fighting the guard.
Olaf had disappeared down another hall, and she thought she heard him roaring in the kitchen. Suddenly the whole keep shook with angry roars.
It didn't pay to piss off a pack of dragons. Not as close as they all were to each other.
They might fight each other over mates a bit, but when it came to anyone else, they stuck together.
Before long, the dragons and Olaf's staff formed up outside, hugging each other and the guards who were kin to them or not.
Olaf and Ena turned into their fae forms. Olaf began giving orders. "Get the wagons ready. I want the women and children and non-fighting men to fly to Edinburgh. They can transport to the hawk fae kingdom and they will be accommodated. Now. So pack anything you'll need for your new home. As for all able bodied men, and I mean, only the fighters, we'll transport the treasure through the lands to reach the hawk fae kingdom. No one is obligated to go with me, but any who do will find a home with me."
Everyone looked a little worried, as well they should be, but the people hurried to get the wagons ready, and the women and children and a couple of male cooks and garde
ners who had never fought in their life all transported to the Dallas airport.
"My castle next," Kiernan said, his face red with anger. "If that bastard has done the same to my people…"
Ena was certain he had, unless the prince had only just begun to set up the traps at all the castles. While Olaf's guards headed out with the wagons for the treasure hidden in one of the nearby caves, Ena and the other dragons were about to go to Kiernan's castle, intending to leave the two humans with Olaf's men, but they insisted on going with them.
"I swear the two of you have a death wish," she said.
Both smiled a little at her.
She scowled back at them. She didn't want to feel any obligation to these two.
When they reached Kiernan's cliff side keep, they were at a disadvantage. It was completely barren near the top of the cliff. So they waited below in the trees. This time Kiernan took both the humans as a ruse. They were secretly armed this time. Ena hated to use them in such a manner, the guards wearing chainmail and so much better protected. But many of these men hadn't seen any fighting in recent years, whereas Bryan and Mark had, so that slightly gave them an advantage.
They hadn't been gone long when Bryan ran out yelling, "All clear!"
She shook her head. Somehow it didn't seem very dragon honorable to have a human telling them the way was all clear. But she was glad that Kiernan's place was okay.
"That means our castles still might be clear," Amerand said, sounding hopeful.
"Or not," Alton warned him. "Let's go."
They found Kiernan organizing his people. The women hurried to get their stuff together to leave while the guards prepared the wagons. Thankfully, they'd just moved his treasure nearer the phantom fae border, so his men would retrieve it and wait with the others.
They heard horses coming and everyone paused to listen. One of the men on the ramparts yelled, "It's only Prince Grotto's men."
The dragons all smiled. The humans looked confused.
"He's trying to assure Prince Grotto's men they have no clue they're in for trouble as soon as they reach the gates, and the guard wanted to warn us they're coming," Ena said.