Caught in the Act (Dani’s POV)
“Next time Kat sends me on a mission, I want details on just how exactly I’m supposed to get there,” I complained to myself. Sneaking into Maht, then into Vallen’s house, and opening the gateway to the Forgotten realm had all sounded easier before I realized it was a two-day ride by horse from the Dragon’s Nest or a day’s ride from the Fairy Circle via horseback. Now is a good time to point out that despite my adventure with Kat, I still didn’t ride very well and Ghost was less than enthusiastic about having me on his back and not his mistress.
The horse shifted under me disobediently. I reached out and stroked his mane. “Come on now. I don’t like this any more than you, but we’re in this together.” Ghost snorted loudly but began his journey again towards the gates of the city. Maht was in view and I knew if I could just keep the horse moving I would reach it by nightfall.
Maht was a city unlike most I had come across so far. Instead of favoring one race over another, its citizens were a mixture of all the races, both Darkling and Fae in origin. Humans who knew and understood the many different races lived, worked, and loved alongside them. To keep the city safe, there was a massive wall around the perimeter that reached over five stories in height. Dotted along its height were a number of towers that gave guards vantage points that could easily see for miles. Deep at the city center stood a high-rise tower offering a view from easily thirty stories above the earth. Vallen lovingly referred to the tower as his perch when he spoke of it.
As the sky grew darker I pushed Ghost harder to make the gate. I did my best to ignore the sounds from the woods around the road. “Please don’t eat me,” I told the shadows. To my relief, and apparently Ghost’s as well, we arrived unscathed. The guard at the gate tower stopped me long enough to ask questions about who I was, where I was going, and what I was doing arriving so late in the evening. “I’m meeting some friends here before we travel on to the portal to Everbloom together. I’m not the best rider, so the journey took me longer than I expected to arrive at our meeting point.” The guard looked at me funny before shrugging and waving me through the gate.
I found an inn with little difficulty and stabled the horse there for the night. Securing a room for myself, I gave an alias, unsure of how much digging Vallen might do later concerning Hue’s return from the dead. After a meal I excused myself and made my way through the alleyways and shadows until I arrived at Vallen’s manor, located in the Northern part of the city. A short stone wall ran around the property, guarded by a heavy iron gate. The windows were dark and I hoped that the help had already left for the night.
As stealthily as possible I moved around the perimeter of the property until I located the servants’ back entrance. Taking my courage in hand, I reminded myself that even if Vallen were to catch me, he wouldn’t harm me. He would no doubt be upset, and rightfully so, but he would never harm me. I turned the knob, prepared for it to be locked. I had prepared spells for a locked door and practiced them repeatedly. To my surprise the knob turned easily and the door swung open, giving me access to the kitchen.
Cautiously I stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind me. The rooms were dark, so the going was slow as I felt my way along the walls looking for doors. I didn’t know where the entrance would be for the lair below, but I knew it would be hidden. Closing my eyes, I blew some Pixie dust into the air.
“Hidden from sight but not from mind.
Show me that which I seek to find.” I focused on finding a secret door.
When I opened my eyes, I could see the faint glowing outline of a door from across the room. Excited, I rushed towards it and connected hard with a massive table. I heard dishes clatter and clank around me as I scrambled to right myself and hope that nobody else heard my clumsy display. I crouched down and waited for what seemed like a forever, tensed for the lights to come on and a menacing voice to demand I show myself. The voice and lights never came for me.
Once again I made my way towards the glowing outline of the door across the room, this time with my hands extended in front of me to prevent another accident. When I arrived at the wall it only took a moment for me to figure out the locking mechanism, allowing the door to swing open. I stepped into the narrow stairwell and closed the heavy door behind me. With a flip of my wrist my pixie dust illuminated the many steps as I quickly traveled down them.
When I reached the bottom, my breath caught in my chest. It was beautiful. A white oak glowed with the magic of the Fae. Small blue lanterns danced from its limbs where it grew up into the stones of the manor all around me. Beside it sat a wading pool of crystal clear blue water. Shimmering around the pool was a glowing wall of wards to protect it. I stepped close and touched its surface lightly with my fingertips. At first it was uncomfortable, but the longer they were there the hotter and more painful it became, until I had to pull back with smoking skin. “Well that’s not helpful,” I commented.
I blew a handful of Pixie Dust at the shimmering protective shell. It sizzled and smoked. I recited spell after spell, but none of them seemed to crack or cause a change in the barrier. After hours of trying I was growling in frustration. “What do you think you are doing?” An angry voice snapped behind me. I whirled around to find a red-faced Young with a sword drawn on me.
“Young,” I said breathing a sigh of relief. “You scared the hell out of me,” I told him.
“That should be the least of your worries,” he told me, without lowering his weapon.
“Young, help me open this thing,” I asked him.
“Why would I do that?” he replied, narrowing his eyes on me. “For that matter, how do you even know this gate is here?”
“I learned of its location from one of the books your brother loaned me,” I told him.
“Is that so? But why are you here, Lady Dani? Vallen would be here too, if you were supposed to be here.”
Sighing, I met his gaze fully. “Alizeyah has gone to retrieve Hue from the afterlife. My job in this mission is to make sure the gate is opened so they can leave the Forgotten Realm.”
“Do you know what you are saying? She will die trying to make the swim, and even if she makes it, the gods have forbidden us from fooling with the balance of life and death. I can’t allow this to happen.” He shook his head. “My brother will be deeply hurt you are here. Leave before he finds out, I beg you. Your betrayal will devastate him.”
“I can’t do that, Young. I am sworn to Alizeyah’s cause. You understand duty.” I opened my hand and prepared to coat him in pixie dust and knock him out.
He looked at my hand, knowing what I was going to do. He bit his lip. “You can’t open the gate,” he said flatly. “But I can.”
“You’re going to help me?”
“Yes, but only if you never tell my brother what happened here today. You must deny any involvement. Let Princess Alizeyah take responsibility for the betrayal and pay whatever the price is. Do you understand?” he asked.
“What is the penalty?” I asked, already fearing what he would say.
Young shrugged. “It’s not for me to say. My brother Vallen will make that decision.”
“I hate leaving her to take the fall, but it won’t matter if we don’t help her get out of there.” I bit my lower lip and watched as he came closer.
Young walked to the edge of the pool, and with a blast of Dragon fire he drove his sword into the stone ground. A golden gateway appeared in the shimmering wards and opened. In the reflection of the water I could see a long path leading down to a massive blue lake. “Now what?” I asked.
“We wait and see if Princess Alizeyah really is capable of surviving a walk between worlds. Not even I have dived to the bottom of the lake and out the other side. I’m told the only creature to have ever survived it was my Grandmother, the Lady of the Lake.”
