It took ten trips to convey all thirty-two of them to the other side, as the raft could only transport three at once. Aully and Kindren went last with Noni. “For protection,” Aaromar told them. Should an ambush await on the other side, the two youngsters would have the opportunity to flee back into the giant’s land. “Our future lives and dies with you.”
It was a responsibility Aully wasn’t sure she wanted.
When they stepped off the wobbling raft and onto dry land once more, Aully turned to look behind her. The desert and grasslands of Ker were but memories now, the sight of them blocked by the massive trees of Stonewood Forest. She offered a silent prayer to her goddess, and was answered by the hypnotic tweeting of songbirds, a morose sound that did not fill her heart with hope.
Lady Audrianna guided her people through the woods, weaving an indirect path toward their home. The prince and princess were placed in the middle of the party for protection, their cohorts creating a wall of flesh around them. Aully found it more than a little irritating, as her short stature meant that her view was blocked on all sides. The only thing she could see clearly was Kindren, who held her hand as they walked. She kept her eyes on him, drinking in the wonder of his beauty. His devotion to her shone in his eyes whenever he gazed down at her, and she allowed his love to wrap her in a warm bubble.
They walked for an hour without running into any elves. The sun was bright in the sky, sending shafts of illumination through the dense canopy; the birds sang; the forest critters scurried through the underbrush, the larger predators trampling after them. Still, there was not a single familiar face to be seen.
“Where is everyone?” asked Aully.
“I don’t know,” Kindren replied.
“It’s not late. Should there not at least be some children out and about?”
“I don’t know. I have never been here before, remember?”
“Hush,” scolded Aaromar, his gray-green eyes squinting. “I think I hear something.”
The rest of the group halted in their tracks as Aaromar strode away from them, head cocked, ears twitching. Then came the sound of snapping branches, followed by thudding footsteps, and Aully’s breath caught in her throat. These were the sounds of men, not elves. Suddenly, she wondered if they had made the right choice after all. Using Kindren’s shoulder for support, she rose up on her tiptoes so she could get a better view.
Aaromar drew his sword and hunched down, preparing for whatever might come. When finally someone stepped into plain sight from the thick copse of trees, Aully let herself relax. They were elves after all—two girls and one boy, youngsters like her. She knew them well, and a smile stretched across her lips.
“Mella? Lolly? Hadrik?” she said, wedging her way through the wall of flesh. Hands reached out to grab her, but she slithered away. Once free she ran toward her three friends, tears in her eyes.
Her friends’ eyes opened wide and their mouths went agape, like they had just seen a phantom. Narrowly avoided Aaromar’s swiping hand, Aully ran headlong into Hadrik. Fourteen, yet already as tall as Aully’s father had been, the elf careened back on impact.
“Aullienna?” he said as she embraced him. “Aully?”
She drew back from him, and then looked to the left and right, where Mella and Lolly were waiting. There were tears in their eyes, and they leaned into her at once, the four of them becoming a tangle of arms and legs.
“We never thought we’d see you again,” said Lolly.
“They said you were dead,” said Mella.
“Who said she was dead?” asked the voice of Lady Audrianna, and the four young elves detached from one another.
Aully looked up at her mother. Her heart continued to soar until she spotted Kindren’s dejected expression. She tried to beckon him forward without speaking, but he averted his eyes.
The three youths bowed before Lady Audrianna without replying.
“I asked a question,” she said.
Still they were silent. Aullienna stared at their faces, and she realized that her excitement at seeing them had completely blinded her to their expressions.
“They’re scared,” she said, looking to her mother. Audrianna took a step closer to them, still looking regal as ever.
“Speak to me, young ones. What is it that frightens you?”
Hadrik lifted his tear-filled eyes. Aully did not like the look on her friend’s face one bit. She wished Kindren were holding her, especially when Hadrik began glancing this way and that around the clearing.
“Them,” he said.
Silent as an ant crawling across the dirt, countless forms popped up from the dense foliage, some dropping on vines from the treetops. There were at least fifty, Dezren all, pale skinned and slender. They were older elves whom Aully had known her whole life, but a few had their bowstrings drawn, arrows aimed at Lady Audrianna, and the rest kept their hands close to the hilts of their khandars. She recognized Enton, Liliquick, Agnon, and Frellum, among others, all of whom had served her father well over the years. These were the elves who had been chosen to keep watch over the forest in the absence of the lord and lady. Not a single one appeared friendly.
The new arrivals formed a circle around the thirty-two survivors who had fled Dezerea. They then parted, and a single elf approached, his jaw rigid, his blue eyes brimming with arrogance. Aully knew him immediately—Ethir Ayers, the elf Bardiya had accused of
murdering his parents. Panic filled her. She dropped her hands to her side, curled her fingers into claws, and began whispering words of magic as the elf drew closer to her mother. Slowly she raised her arms, ready to do to Ethir what she had done to the sandcat on the day Kindren had almost died.
But before energy could leap from her palms, her arms were forced to her side and a hand was pressed over her mouth. She struggled against the grip, but it was too strong.
“Leave her be!” she heard Kindren shout, and when she glanced to the side, she saw her love charging toward her, his sword held high. He never reached her, though, for an arrow pierced his shoulder not a moment later, dropping him to the ground. She tried to call out to him, but the fingers that bound her would not loosen their grip. The rest of those who had made the journey, including Aaromar, dropped their weapons and huddled close together.
Aully was hauled to her mother’s side, the hand of her unseen assailant still pressed firmly over her lips. Lady Audrianna did not flinch, not even when Ethir stopped mere inches from her and leaned in so close their noses were almost touching. Aully’s eyes widened, and she kicked all the harder, torn between concern for what might happen to her mother and what had already happened to Kindren.
Ethir glanced at Hadrik, Mella, and Lolly. He jutted his chin at them, and they took off running, disappearing into the trees. He then stepped back and scowled as another elf dragged Kindren toward the rest of the group.
“Mordrik, release her,” Ethir said.
The hands holding Aully finally fell away, and she ran to her love’s side, gaping at the arrow that still protruded from his flesh.
“What is the meaning of this?” her mother asked, voice icy.
“You are no longer wanted here, Audrianna,” Ethir said. “You should have remained dead.”
“You haven’t the right.”
“We have
every
right.”
“We shall see about that. I demand to see Detrick right this moment. If he truly believes that he can—”
Ethir’s fist struck Lady Audrianna’s face with such force that her nose shattered on impact. The
crack
was loud as a thunderclap to Aully’s ears. Audrianna teetered to the side and then collapsed, landing hard on the ground beside Kindren. Aully was thrown into a panic as the surrounding elves descended on her fragile group. She remembered the day the Quellan had turned against them, the day she’d watched her father’s head fall from his body. She sobbed and sobbed, certain it was happening again. The last thing she saw was Kindren’s hand squeezing hers tight, and then a bag was flung over her head, covering the world in darkness. She was hauled off the ground and carried, unable to fight her captor. Her body bounced up and down, up and down. Her senses were muffled by the sack, and she could only hear indecipherable sounds.
Suddenly something hard whacked her in the head, then in the legs, and she began to sway. It was a weightless feeling, and she began to feel sick. She clamped her mouth shut, closed her eyes, and prayed for the goddess to keep her safe.
We made the wrong choice, Celestia,
she thought.
I am sorry.
Eventually the sick feeling passed. After a while, she heard muted voices, and the creak of hinges, and then her ankles, the only part of her not covered by the sack, were brushed with cool air. The sounds that assailed her were much louder now. She could make out distinctive voices, the tramping of feet, the
thud
of spears being jabbed against a wooden floor.
She was carelessly tossed to the ground, landing hard on her side and jarring her elbow. The sack was then lifted from her, and she was blinded by brightness. Covering her eyes with one hand, she curled into a ball, ready for whatever horrors awaited her.
For a long moment, no sound reached her ears but breathing. Feeling eyes upon her, she swallowed her fear and dropped her hands from her face. To her astonishment, she was in a place she
knew well—the courtroom of the Lord of Stonewood. She was sprawled out in the middle of the floor, with elves standing guard to her left and right. In front of her, sitting in the Lord’s Chair that had once been her father’s, was her Uncle Detrick. He was dressed in a simple robe and his long russet hair was tied in a knot atop his head.
Detrick looked down at her, eyelids raised. “Aully?” he said, his voice as surprised as Hadrik’s had been earlier. He looked at those standing guard. “Why was I not told that my niece had returned? What was I not told that she was
alive
?”
“Because we just now discovered her, Detrick.” Ethir appeared from behind Aully, wiping blood from his knuckles. “Along with Audrianna and thirty others. Oh, and I believe the prince of Dezerea was with them as well.”
“You shot him with an arrow,” Aully growled. She reached out toward him, words of magic on her lips once more. Ethir grunted and ground her hand into the floor with his heel. She shrieked.
“Stop that!” shouted Detrick. “You did
what
? Ethir, what is going on here?”
“The prince is alive, Detrick,” the hard elf replied. “He is being cared for as we speak.” He lifted his foot and Aully withdrew her hand, clutching it tightly to her chest.
“And Audrianna? Where is she?”
Ethir smirked. “Resting. She had a…rough go of it.”
“And the rest?”
“They were taken to the bathhouse for cleaning,” he replied with a chuckle.
“They are not to be harmed, are they?” asked Detrick.
To Aully, it sounded like an actual question, and she was thrown into confusion once more. Though her uncle sat in the Lord’s Chair, he was not acting like a Lord.
“That is not for us to decide,” said Ethir.
Detrick frowned, looking from Ethir to Aully. “Please, leave us,” he told the guards. “I wish to speak with my niece alone.”
The elves saluted and exited the chamber single file. Only Ethir lingered.
“You too,” Detrick commanded. “Alone means
alone
.”
“I cannot do that, my Lord,” the militant elf replied. “You know very well…”
“Go, Ethir,” said a new voice, one Aully had never heard before. “I think we can handle a young girl on our own.”
“Yes, my Lord,” said Ethir. He bowed in reverence and backed away. The door clicked shut behind him a moment later.
Aully slowly rose to her feet, gazing to the left, in the direction of the chamber’s darkened washroom. Her eyes grew wide as she watched an elf who looked very much like her father stride proudly from the shadows. He was tall and slender, his hair smooth like satin, his eyes dark like the river at night. When he reached Aully, he knelt down before her, then took her injured hand in his and kissed it. His smile lit the room.
“I don’t think we have ever met, have we?” the elf said, and the mirage was broken. His smile was too forced; the way he carried himself was all wrong; and his hands were too rough when he touched her. There were lines on his face that weren’t quite right either, and his eyes had a sprinkle of gold in them.
“Who…who are you?” she asked.
“I am your long-lost brother,” he said, as if it were simple, obvious. “Carskel Meln, come home at last.”
Aully was in a daze as she hefted her body off the floor. The weight of the world seemed to press down on her shoulders, and her thoughts were jumbled. She had heard her mother whisper that name while in mourning for Brienna.…
“You were exiled,” she said. “Sent away by our parents.”
She heard Detrick snort, which was answered with a nasty look from Carskel. When he turned back toward her, his calm had been restored.
“I was in love once,” Carskel said, almost wistfully. “In love with the most beautiful elf in all of Stonewood. Alas, she loved another, a
human
no less. That, I could not allow. I was determined to make her love
me
, so I snuck into her room one evening, and we made love then and there. It was beautiful.”
Aully’s face twisted in confusion. “What?”
“Your own
sister
!” Detrick shouted. He rose from the chair once more, this time storming across the floor toward them. “You attacked Brienna while she slept, you rotten bastard.”
“Silence, Uncle.”
“No! I will not let the same evil happen twice.” He gazed at Aully, his eyes panicked, his tone desperate. “He forced himself on your sister after the First Man defeated him in a duel. He took her, beat her, and left her bloodied. She would have been ruined for life had Cleotis not ordered his best mage to dull her memory!” Turning, he pointed an accusatory finger at Carskel. “Your brother was not exiled. He
fled
. The coward ran before Cleotis could get his hands on him, or else his head—”
Carskel grabbed Detrick by the font of his surcoat and yanked him close.