It was hard to say which was more awkward: the parade of welcome baskets for “Dame and Mrs. Ashwood” or Mira finding Echo tucked under her wing when they woke up.
“At least they gave us everything we’d need for a proper breakfast?” Healer offered.
If looks could kill, it was impossible to say which woman would’ve struck him down first.
The two zephyrni sat as far from each other as possible as Rosalie handed them their plates and put a pot of tea on the table.
“Newlyweds.” She chuckled to herself. “Go on and eat, girls. You just need to play along for a little longer. Think of Vivvy, dame knight lady, Ms. Echo. We all know the truth. Soon as we’re free of the city, we can get back to normal. Now eat your eggs before they go cold.”
“Not much worse than cold scrambled eggs,” Healer agreed.
Mira heaved a heavy sigh. “You’re right. We can figure out how to fix this on the way to the forest.” Echo’s feathers bristled. “Something wrong, my lady?”
“Huh?” Echo shook her head. “Sorry, lo—” She blushed. “M-My knight. Seems I’m not quite awake yet.” Clearing her throat, she poured herself a cup of tea. “Fix it.” She nodded. “Right. We’ll… We’ll figure it out. I mean, we’ve tackled demons and necromancers. A simple annulment shouldn’t be a problem at all.”
“Yeah.” Mira nodded firmly. “Yeah, this won’t be hard. Like you said. Necromancers. Demons. This is nothing. I mean, aside from Vivvy, it’s not like there’s anything legally binding us to each other.”
The knight’s eyes unfocused as Echo’s gaze darted to the feather darted in her hair, and, for a moment, everything tasted red in that distinctly Charlotte way…
“That’s the spirit!” Healer clapped Mira hard on the shoulder, knocking her back into herself, and out of whatever that was. “We could probably just say it was a misunderstanding. The captain saw the two of you together, heard you’d both taken the wee lass under your wings… literally and—” He shrugged. “One child. Two parents. Must be a couple. That’s the math, iddinit?”
Rosalie nodded exuberantly. “A cute couple at that!”
Tea sprayed from Echo’s mouth. “Rosie!” she coughed and sputtered.
“What?” the Yesha said innocently. “Just because you’re not doesn’t mean you’re not.”
Mira’s lips opened and closed, repeating those words silently. “First off,” she began, brow knitting in confusion. “How did that make sense? Second,” her wings mantled as she rocked forward. “Girl! Seriously? Not. Helping!”
The Yesha smiled toothily, feigning innocence.
“Alright, ladies, that’s enough.” Healer struggled to stifle a laugh. “We need to eat, see to the washing up, and meet our guide at the north gate. Anything beyond that can wait ‘til we get back.”
“He’s right,” said Echo. “Although.” Mischief curled the corner of her lip. “I suppose I could do worse than a knight…”
The knight’s wings flared. “Echo!”
Neither the demigiant nor shape shifter could contain themselves. Doubling over, laughter shook the table.
Appetite destroyed, Mira forced herself to eat, and left Healer and Rosalie to the dishes. It was the least they could do to repay her for the mortification. Plus, there were certain matters she and Echo needed to attend to.
Ever since Larris sur L’eau, Mira had been using Echo’s lemon-cashmere preening oil, and while it smelled wonderful—far better than her typical beeswax-almond—it would hardly serve them in the Falefal. Not unless they wanted to give anything with a nose a veritable map to their location.
They found Vadanian waiting at the north gate. Bark brown leather armor and a dark olive cloak clad him. His pack was light and ready. Such was the life of a ranger. Practicality above all else. No excess weight. Carry only what was needed. Hunt and forage for the rest.
“Dame Mira, allow me to introduce our guide, Master Vadanian Amakiir. Master Vadanian, Dame Mira,” said Echo.
“Morning.” Lips screwing this way and that, he looked Mira up and down. “So you’re the Hurricane, eh?”
Mira shrugged. “That’s what they call me.”
“Well.” Vadanian sighed. “By my count, that’s everyone. Come on then. Best be getting a move on. Unless, you’re having second thoughts.”
“Second?” A humorless laugh shook Mira. “I’m on about a hundred.”
A grin curled Vadanian’s lip. “Can’t say I blame you there, dame knight. Helluva way to spend your honeymoon, yeah?”
The color drained from Mira’s face. The rumor mill, it seemed, was relentless. Word of she and Echo’s supposed marriage had escaped the confines of the barracks. At this rate, the whole of Welmin would know within the fortnight. She could practically see the wall of welcome baskets for her and her “wife” from her brothers and sisters in the order waiting for them when they got back.
Wings going lax, she averted her gaze. “Let’s just go already.”
Vadanian cocked his head. Eyebrow rising, he glanced between the two zephyrni.
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Sling them packs and we can get walking.”
“Walking?” said Rosalie. “What about the mules? We’ve a wagon you know.”
The elf gave her a flat look. “You want ‘em to get eaten, la? The Falefal isn’t safe for nothing. They’d just bring something hungry to us within the hour. Probably less.”
Rosalie’s lips pressed into a thin line. “One moment.”
Collapsing in on herself, the Yesha shrunk down. Ginger fur spread across her body as everything she wore vanished within her. Face distending into a muzzle, her ears slid to the top of her head, transforming into a pair of fuzzy triangles.
With a swish of the tail, the ginger tabby that was the shape shifter sprung to Healer’s pack and climbed up onto his shoulder.
“Now we can get moving,” she said.
Soft feathers brushed Mira’s arm.
“Rosie, dear,” Echo began sweetly. “You can transform into any animal, right?”
The Yesha nodded. “Any natural animal, that’s right.”
Clasping her hands behind her back, Echo beamed up at her. “I don’t suppose you could, oh, I don’t know, maybe transform into an elephant?”
Rosalie laughed. “Terribly sorry, Ms. Echo ma’am, but I would need to have actually seen one before and I’m afraid we’re rather quite lacking for pachyderms in the marsh.”
[Figures,] Echo muttered in zephyrni. She sighed. “Ready whenever you are, Master Vadanian.”
He gave her a firm nod and started out the gate. “It’s a day and a half to the Falefal at a solid pace. We’ll stop around midday to eat then press on ‘til it’s time to make camp. We should reach the forest just before noon tomorrow.”
***
There were no easy roads to the Falefal. In fact, there were no roads at all. The reputation of the forbidden forest kept even the most ambitious settlers at bay. Neither desperation nor madness could convince a single soul to set as much as a homestead within a day of the accursed woods.
By the time they set camp that night, they hadn’t seen as much as a bird for hours. Yet despite the lack of all signs of life, Mira couldn’t help but feel as if they were being watched.
Maybe that’s what made her take the first watch. It wasn’t like she was going to sleep anyway. So far from the safety of civilization, she couldn’t possibly ask Echo to grant her reprieve from her nightmare.
But that feeling. Eyes. Upon her. Upon them. That made it infinitely worse.
She shuddered at the sensation.
Next to her, Echo shifted in her sleep. A tiny sound of agitation grumbled from the duchess’s slumbering form. Unconscious protests of the rocky soil beneath her.
“Although.” Echo’s words from that morning replayed in Mira’s mind. “I suppose I could do worse than a knight…”
Mira sighed inwardly. Even if there was a chance, I’d never be able to take it.
Scoffing at herself, she prodded the fire with a stick, trying to cast off the inescapable sense of unwanted attention.
“You alright then, dame knight?” came Vadanian’s voice.
Her chest tightened. She hadn’t heard the nu-sadis ranger wake.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Just uh… Must’ve been nodding off.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Go on then. I’ll take over watch from here.”
If he thought she’d make any protest, he was dead wrong. She was never one for watch duty. She’d do it, of course, it was part of the job, but just because it was didn’t make her any better at it.
At least, the added company banished that feeling. The weight of unseen eyes lifted with her start.
Just nerves, Mira assured herself. “You know,” she yawned. “It’s funny.” Rising from the rock she’d been sitting on, she stretched out her wings and shoulders. “It almost felt like someone was watching me.” Laughing softly, she staggered toward her waiting bedroll.
“Might’ve been,” said Vadanian.
Mira’s feet froze. The simplicity of the elf’s statement was the last thing she wanted to hear. Hand drifting to Frost Fang, she looked back to him, half expecting his eyes to be trained against the night, arrow drawn tight and ready to fly.
She found neither.
“Not all the spirits are in the forest, mate,” he said as he took the spot she’d just left.
***
Sleep didn’t simply elude Mira that night. It ran screaming into the darkness.
Her feathers were still ruffled as they approached the forbidden forest. Caution and exhaustion overrode its seeming mundaneness. It wasn’t just off putting, as if something was slightly amiss or the vibe was wrong. Nor was it a matter of reputation preceding.
There was simply nothing right about the tangled old growth. As if its existence stood in open defiance to nature itself.
The trees twisted against sunlight, as repulsed by it as they were drawn. Gnarled and foul things, bent like claws wrenched from the earth by a corkscrew, or molten steel cast into a frozen pool. Labyrinthine paths appeared within feet of each other, meeting, crossing, merging, and vanishing in the space of a blink.
But the silence. The silence was the static on the knight’s senses.
If it was just quiet that would have been one thing, but it was the absence of sound in open opposition to her senses that kept her hand at the ready. Every part of her knew the forest was loud. She could sense the birdsong and buzz of cicadas filling the forest, but at the same time, there was nothing.
“Right then,” Vadanian said, his voice no more than a whisper, but against the quiet arriving like the bark of royal guards clearing way for their king. “Shouldn’t need to say this, but from here on, keep that chatter to a whisper, and only speak if it can’t be avoided. There’s things in there that can nick your voice and your face just like that. Keep track of where everyone is at all times, and mind there’s five of us. Not six. Not seven. We don’t want to invite nothing to share the campfire.”
Healer offered a stiff nod and wrapped a massive hand around the mace at his side. Across his chest, a serpentine form slithered. Rosalie, in the form of a pit viper, curled around his shoulder, forked tongue wicking in and out.
“Don’t suppose you can call Orbish for an extra set of eyes,” Mira said to Echo.
The duchess shook her head. “Tried this morning. He refuses to manifest this close to the forest. Not even sure he can.” Her feathers rustled. “The energy’s all off. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”
“Don’t surprise me none,” said Vadanian. “Not much wants to deal with these bloody woods. It can look inside you, and make you see all them things you don’t want to think about. All the bad memories and dark secrets. Keep your wits. And remember, ain’t nothing in there is your friend.”
Mira’s muscles tightened. Hand drifting toward Frost Fang’s hilt, Echo took hold of her elbow to ground them both. The duchess’s throat rose and fell, magenta eyes trembling.
Wrapping a shaky wing around her, Mira couldn’t conceal her own gulp. “W-We’ll be alright, my lady. As long as… As long as we stick together.”
“Right,” Echo scarcely breathed. “So long as we’ve one another, we’ll all be fine.”
Arrow nocked, Vadanian inclined his head and led them into the understory.
If the forest’s outskirts were wrong, then being within it lacked any words to define them. Mira’s heart raced. Shadows rippled at the edge of her vision, but no matter how quickly she turned her attention there was never a source of disturbance to be found.
She felt like a rabbit. Always on alert, always prepared for the swooping hawk and pouncing fox, yet just as powerless if ripple coalesced into form. Her knuckles whitened on Frost Fang’s hilt.
Vadanian wheeled. Drawing up his bow, he loosed. Flights shrieked inches from Mira’s face. Her heart stopped.
Thunk! Thud!
Something fell in a heap behind her. She turned to find Echo collapsed on her knees, the nu-sadis ranger’s arrow buried in her heart. Mouth opening and closing, she slumped to the ground, unmoving.
Red filled the zephyra knight’s vision.
Traitor! The word formed in her mind as a low snarl welled in her throat.
Turning on the spot, she made to draw, but the weight at her elbow froze her in place. Glancing sideways, plumage like dawn caught her eye. There stood her mistress, right where she’d been since they’d entered the forest.
Hands clutching her knight’s elbow, horror filled Echo’s face as she stared down at the sight of her own body. Or rather, the thing that had stolen her form. In seconds, naught remained of the thing but moss, sticks, and muck.
“Told you to keep track of everyone, mate,” Vadanian said as he nocked another arrow. “The young ones, they tend to show up early. Ain’t the brightest, la? Try to replace who they can see. It’s the older ones deeper in you gotta worry about. Them bastards are smart.”
About the Author
A. S. Raithe is a fantasy author living near Pittsburgh with his wife and children. Always the creative type, it wasn’t until high school and being introduced to a local bestselling author that he found his passion for writing. He took time away from writing to attend college before being convinced by his wife to pick it up again shortly after their wedding. Outside of writing he enjoys exercise, baking, gardening, folklore, music, and hiking.
