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Chapter 17
Bree
The next morning,Bree was awoken by the sound of horses. They were neighing and stomping their hooves on the ground. Bree jerked awake fast, jumping to her feet within seconds. She whirled towards the animals, who were yanking at the ropes that had kept them safely inside the clearing at the edge of theforest.
Bree turned to Eurig, confusion and panic rippling through her. What the hell was going on? What had spooked to the horses? Eurig was staring at them with a frown, his hands hanging limply by hissides.
“What’s gotten into them?” Bree asked. There was no one else around. There was nothing she could see that should have caused this kind of reaction inthem.
“They started acting like this when the moon began to rise.” Eurig’s voice was edged in worry. I have done a sweep of the perimeter, checking to ensure that there is nothing lurking nearby that would cause the horses to be soafraid.”
Bree raised an eyebrow. “There wasnothing?”
Eurig gave a quick shake of his head. “Nothing at all. No beasts, no fae, nothing. I worry that they will bolt as soon as we untiethem.”
Bree frowned and glanced toward the forest. Eurig was right. The horses were so spooked that there was no way they could get them to ride on, not like this. And then a strange realization dawned in her head. She glanced at the forest, at the moonrise, and then at thehorses.
“They know that we intend to ride into the forest this morning,” Bree whispered. “And they are afraid. Not that I can blamethem.”
“But how could they know?” Eurig asked, his eyes slightlywidening.
“They just know. They can see the moonrise, and they understood that we camped out here last night. The horses in the fay realm are smarter than many would believe. I saw it with my own eyes, back in Otherworld. My friend, Nora, was able to communicate with them. They understood her, and she understood them. They knew far more about how the world worked than I ever would haveimagined.”
Eurig let out a heavy sigh. “If that’s the case, then we truly cannot continue forward. Not on horsebackanyway.”
“Then, I guess that means we have to walk.” Bree knew how it sounded even before she spoke the words aloud. Crazy, especially considering the beasts that haunted this forest. But Bree had started this mission, and she was determined to finish it. She had to find answers, and the only way to do that was to keep movingforward.
Eurig didn’t respond, but he didn’t argue either. Instead, they gathered up their supplies in silence, taking what they needed from the bags slung across the horses. Strangely, it was if the animals understood their change of plans, as they ceased their neighing and their stomping and fell still and silent while Eurig and Bree collected everything they could carry themselves. When they were ready to leave, Bree untied the horses and took a step back just as they stormed away from the perimeter of the forest. She could not blame them really. Bree might have Taveon’s power of immortality, but the horses didn’t, and she did not want a single creature to perishneedlessly.
“This is going to be one hell of a walk,” Eurig said as they finally stepped foot into the thick forest that held so much darkness and fear. “The village is probably two more days on foot from here. We could have reached it within hours on horseback but now we will have to camp at least one more time in the middle of thisweb.”
“Luckily, you have me,” Bree quirked with bright grin that didn’t match the turning in her stomach. “When beasts attack, I can use my powers of screaming and running away to fightthem.”
Bree meant it as a joke, but Eurig didn’t seem to find it funny. He pressed his lips together, the pink skin turning white with the pressure. “You are only invincible because of the bond you share with Taveon. We do not know how far that bond stretches. Don’t get too cocky. We don’t want to find out the hard way that your connection to him only works when you’re in closeproximity.”
“So,” Bree said with a wince, desperate to change the subject. “We didn’t have a chance to talk about those travelers you found. How did they look when you came across them? Were they…aware,awake?”
“You mean to ask if they’d been affected by the curse.” Eurig shot a sideways glance her way, hoisting the heavy bag higher onto his shoulder. “I had wondered the same thing when I came upon them. It could be the answer we need, without going further into the forest. Unfortunately, their bodies were too mutilated by the beast for me to tell whether they’d been alive and awake when he’d come uponthem.”
“Damn.” As horrible as the incident had been, it could have given Bree and Eurig some insight into how far the curse had permeated throughout these lands. She should have known when he’d said nothing about it, when he’d insisted they keep moving forward with their plan to trek through the forest that held so many dangerous creatures, creatures that Bree did not know how tofight.
“That said, they were not merely helpless travelers. They all had swords and bows and arrows. As far as I could tell, not a single arrow had been fired. It did not look as though they had tried to fight back, which wouldsuggest…”
Bree tightened the grip around the bag handle that dug heavily into her shoulder. “It sounds like they were affected by thecurse.”
“There’s no way to know for sure, but it certainly seems that way.” Eurig suddenly stopped, wrapping his strong hand around Bree’s arm and yanking her close to his side. Her heart trembled, but not from fear. She couldn’t help but notice that his hands were so large that his fingers encircled her arm completely, the tip of his thumb curling over the tip of his shortest finger. She could feel the warmth of his touch through her thin tunic, lighting up a fire that blazed right in herbelly.
“What is it?” Bree asked, her voice more ragged than she’dintended.
“I thought I heard something,” Eurig said, cocking his head. “Did younot?”
Bree stiffened and scanned her eyes across the thick forest, but the trees were far too tightly clustered for her to see anything more than bark, branches, and brush that weaved together into a tapestry of green. “No. But when I became a Light Fae, I wasn’t lucky enough to get some of the more enhanced powers, like a better sense of hearing. If you heard something far away in the distance, then unfortunately I wouldn’t have been able tomyself.”
Eurig stayed frozen for another solid minute before shaking his head and letting go of her arm. Bree stared down at the place where his fingers had encircled her skin, and a strange part of her yearned for that hand to be on her once again. “It’s probably nothing. This forest is home to a million different sounds and smells. If it was something dangerous, then we would definitely know bynow.”
Bree shivered, even with his reassurance that nothing was wrong. Just the idea that something might be out there, watching them, was enough to send chills deep into herbones.
Eurig and Bree continued onward for what felt like years. The entire forest looked exactly the same. Tree after tree after tree, leaves all glowing with silver and green. They managed to make it all the way to their clearing without any incidents or any sign of dangerous beasts. Eurig got started on the fire while Bree gathered some more wood to last them through the night. He was insistent that nothing would bother them, not as long as they kept the fire going. But Bree wasn’t convinced. That half bird creature had attacked when she’d had the fire blazing behind her. What was to stop another one from doing just thesame?
