The Gossamer Gate (15 page)

Reaching out to touch the area where the fire ring had been the previous night, she found that not only did the earth look completely undisturbed, but it felt as if the grass was strong and well
established. Nothing had burned this ground. Yet she did feel a lingering tingle of the soothing, rippling water magick. At the very least, the sensation of the cool, liquid power assured her that she had not conjured the woman from her own imagination.

Rising to her feet, she saw the sun was not far above the horizon. The day was foggy and overcast, and she was feeling physically better than she had in a week. For the first time, she had rested deeply, lulled by a sense of security.

“I’ve come so far,” she told herself. “I’m almost there.”

Untying the horse, she walk
ed for a while to stretch her legs. Khiara had forgotten the pleasures of simply enjoying a summer day, even an inclement one. Although thin clouds obscured the sun, the air was sweet and fragrant. The gray mist cast a strange and magickal glow over the land.

The next thing she
knew, a sword was leveled at her throat.

“What…”
She gasped as she looked into the dark, narrowed eyes of the person holding the blade. He was several inches taller than her, clad in dark brown leather armor, including a helmet that concealed his features. She saw only those eyes full of rage, and her heart began to hammer at her ribcage. Never had someone looked at her with so much hatred as this fae warrior was directing at her now.

“Mortal,” he simply said, his voice guttural. He drew his arm back.

Khiara knew his intention was to cleave her head from her neck. With a cry, she turned and ran, clutching at the palomino’s reins.
I cannot lose the horse,
she told herself.

T
he tall faerie was on her heels, but his leather armor slowed him. However, the reach of his sword was enough to close the distance between them. She felt it nick the back of her thigh, and she gasped at the stinging pain. She knew if she turned, the blade would next thrust through her heart. Legs and arms pumping, she desperately tried to put distance between herself and her attacker, and still keep hold of the horse’s reins. Reaching blindly for the saddle, she made a frantic leap at the palomino. She managed to clutch at the saddle with both hands and haul herself halfway onto it. The horse slowed somewhat, and she quickly threw her leg over its rump, then urged it to continue.

Daring to glance over her shoulder, she
saw Liam’s familiar form standing between her and her attacker. The two men faced one another as the air hummed with strong elemental fae magick. Liam’s fire energy flickered all around them in the air, the sparks gathering together to form something larger.

Drawing her mount to a halt and turning, Khiara watched from what she hoped was a safe distance. The fae warrior was also pouring on the power, she realized, as a strong wind began to
blow through the trees. The zephyr quickly built into gusts that threatened to extinguish the magickal flames dancing between the two fae males.

“You will back down and leave this one to me,” Liam growled, an inferno gathering around him as he drew on his power. As if in response, Khiara’s own dormant energies flared up
within her. Everything in her wanted to be close to Liam, her magick tangibly leaning – yearning – toward his.

“The mortals will destroy us all, given their chance. Let there be one less to threaten our existence!” The warrior exuded not just power, but all the zealotry of a fanatic. “Her crime against the fae is known. Our enemies must be vanquished!” As he spoke, a burst of
wind churned the air, transforming the initial gusts into an eddying cyclone that swirled around them.

“This will not happen. Prince Ronan has demanded that no one harm her. It is for him to decide her fate. If he has his way, she will suffer enough to repay
faeriekind for an eternity.” Liam’s voice was calm, yet firm as he continued to expand the wall of fire that danced between Khiara and her self-styled executioner. With a gentle touch, she soothed her restless mount, even as her own elemental forces sought to merge with Liam’s. She could feel the blaze inside of her reaching toward his, forcing itself beyond her physical body. The dry heat scorched at the wind that whirled around them. Dried, fallen leaves flickered to ashes the moment they were caught up in the burning whirlwind.

For a brief moment, the warrior faltered, and Khiara thought they might be able to leave without any further confrontation. The fae’s furious gaze was upon her the moment she dared hope for a peaceful resolution.

“Do it and you will forfeit your life for hers,” Liam stated without inflection. The conflagration of faerie magick affirmed his vow with an eloquence that went beyond words.

With a yell of fury that Khiara could only describe as a battle cry, the armored fae charged past Liam and toward her. For a brief, infinitesimal moment, Khiara believed that Liam would rescue her once more.

And then she locked her eyes on the assassin.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as her magick drew back from Liam’s to entangle the armored fae. With each scorching tendril of power that touched him, with each ash that flaked away from the warrior, the cyclone lost another fragment of control. Time stood still for Khiara as she systematically deconstructed both the fae and his whirlwind in her firestorm.

When she blinked again a mere second later, she felt a tear streak down her face. What she had done should have sickened her, but she was no more remorseful about it than she was the night she had thrust that knife into Ronan’s heart. She cried for what she had to do; not for the person she had killed.

“It was necessary.” Liam approache
d and lay his hand atop her knee. “You are not a bad person or a faerie killer. That is a person who would have killed you first. He had fair warning.”

Khiara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The air was eerily calm once more, but this time the stench of extinguished flame lingered on it. “It makes me sad that somebody could hate a person so much. Not just that they could hate me, but that any person in any world could hate another so thoroughly, that all they want to do is see them die. We see it every day in the mortal realm, and it
’s something I will never understand or accept.”

Liam reached up to entwine his fingers with Khiara
’s. When her tearful gaze met his, he kissed her hand tenderly. “No rational person ever will.”

****

She followed him, relieved to leave the encounter with the sword-wielding faerie far behind them. The horses’ loping canter left a long ribbon of road between them and the scene of the tragedy, but Khiara knew it would take more than that to forget what she had seen and done.

When Liam finally slowed his mount to a walk, Khiara drew even with him. “What was that about?” she asked. She knew there was no need to explain her question.

“Some of the fae feel that it is wrong to try to keep our species alive with humans, and will do all that they can to prevent the possibility of half-breeds. Others despise humans for their heartless murder of faeries in the mortal realm.”

“We murder our own just as cruelly,” was her halfhearted protest.

“Not everybody sees all sides of a matter,” Liam reminded her, his tone like that of a schoolteacher instructing a student. “Without the protection that being Ronan’s consort will offer you, you will be a target as long as you wander the Otherworld.”

“I already tried the get-out-of-jail-free-card by dropping Ronan’s name once. It didn’t work.”

Liam glanced at her, but said nothing in response.

Khiara moved her gaze down to the road, then back
up to her companion. “While I appreciate you coming to my rescue, I don’t trust you. I certainly don’t want you traveling with me. You’ll just cause more trouble, and you’ve caused plenty already. I have only one more day to find this damn gate and get home.”

Liam
still did not say anything, but kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

“Did you even hear me? I don’t want your help,” Khiara’s voice rose with her exasperation.

“You would be dead if not for my help. I have saved your life several times. You should be more grateful.”

Khiara gaped at him. “
I can’t believe your nerve sometimes. First of all, I think I managed to defend myself pretty well back there. You may have saved my life a few times now, but you’ve also kept me from getting to Sean. I said ‘thank you’, thinking you were sincere in your desire to look out for me. I actually thought you were my friend. But it turns out you’re playing some weird little game, and I can’t trust you any more than I can trust any other person in your world.”

“Fair enough, Khiara. I wouldn’t trust me either.” The faerie bard’s expression was as inscrutable as his terse statement.

With a sigh, Khiara rolled her eyes and accepted that fact that – for the moment – he was not going anywhere, no matter how hard she tried to get rid of him. Shaking her head, she decided to pay attention to the scenery, instead of her own irritation. The frustration soon faded and left her pondering the best way to deal with Liam’s presence. There were certain advantages to having him along for the journey, like the sense of protection and the fact that he had an intimate knowledge of the Otherworld.

But w
hat concerned Khiara the most was that she wanted him to have an intimate knowledge of her.

Chapter 1
5

“This is not a good sign.” Liam put his hand up to wave a
t the gloom. “We don’t usually get this sort of weather.”

“What does it mean?” Khiara asked tentatively, not sure she wanted to know the answer. It seemed the further north she had traveled, the
darker it became. The thick mist hung around the land like the heavy fog that presaged a thunderstorm. It rose from the cool ground into the sultry air, engulfing them. She could barely see the road ahead and would not have been able to see Liam if they had not been riding side by side.

“We are near Ronan’s palace, and Oberon is sending his hunters after us.”

As Liam said this, the wind picked up and wafted through the mist. Khiara thought the breeze would have the effect of reducing the gloom, but instead it only seemed to cause it to swirl around them. The wind whipped at them as it increased in intensity, and Khiara had to hold her arm over her eyes to keep bits of dirt from getting into them. Liam was shielding his eyes too, his whole body tense and radiating the heat of elemental fae magick.

At that moment, they heard a screech in the sky above them. It was hard to gauge whether the sound came from behind them, in front of them, or directly overhead. The mist surrounded them, blocking their view of the sky, and causing sound to echo from all directions. Khiara turned her head frantically, unable to discern anything through the impenetrable fog.

“Shit. Run!” Liam ordered, kicking his mount in the flanks. Khiara did the same, and both horses leapt into a smooth gallop as the first attack came from overhead, soaring just past them.

“What is it?” Khiara cried. She felt something pass within inches of the top of her head and heard the sound of flapping wings close to her. She was surprised
whatever was chasing them through the oppressive mist did not slam into her.

“It’s the Sluagh!” Liam shouted, panic edging his voice.

“What’s that?” Khiara turned to look over her shoulder, but the fog still had not broken. The ground and sky were mistier than they had been in all the days she had been here. She heard whispers in the sky, and again had no idea if they were behind, above, or before them. Then she discerned the beating of wings once more. It was far more frightening than anything she had seen in the Otherworld thus far.

Have no
“It’s the faerie hunt,” Liam explained breathlessly. “You may know it as the Wild Hunt. Oberon has sent the Sluagh to find us. Normally they pursue and take the souls of dying men or late night travelers. However, this time they are coming for us. Oberon must have specifically ordered them to attack us.”

“Why?”

“Our father has always sided with Ronan. The Queen is a capricious woman, but she is also a compassionate and decisive one. If she didn’t like you, you would already be dead. The King, on the other hand, is where Ronan learned everything he knows about toying with his prey.”

Something soared just over their heads
once more, and Khiara cried out as something caught at strands of her hair. She pulled her head away as forcefully as she could, disentangling herself from that deadly grip. With a shudder, she leaned low over the palomino’s neck.

“Will they hurt us?” she shouted.

“I don’t know what they’ve been ordered to do,” Liam answered. “They might only have been told to bring us back to the King. Or they might have been told to kill us. If they catch us, it won’t exactly feel good, no matter what.”

There was another screech, and Khiara saw a faerie with feathered wings descending from just
in front of her. She crouched as low as she could on her mount, and the grasping hands just missed her. “What the hell do we do?” she cried as the winged faerie quickly changed course to avoid a collision with the ground.

Liam pulled his right hand back, clenched it in a fist, and gather
ed his magick. “I can hold them off; nothing more. To kill one of them would be a far worse transgression than any other in the faerie world. We do not slay our own kind.”

A
sphere of fiery energy encircled them, radiating out from Liam. As the Sluagh dove toward them once more, they changed direction the moment they touched the scorching shield, hissing in pain. Their frustrated shrieks pierced Khiara’s ears as their pursuers continued to dive at them from the air.

“How long can you keep it up?” Khiara asked, feeling her personal magick flare in response.

“Not long enough to find shelter,” Liam called back. “If you can lend me your fire, though, I can strengthen the shield. We need to work together.”

Khiara nodded and let her fire do what felt natural – merge and meld its energies with Liam’s. The road was becoming rougher, and they had to swerve to avoid rocks and ditches that they could only partially see through the fog. Still,
she concentrated, blending fae and mortal elemental fire to keep the Sluagh at a distance.

“We are entering wild territory, and it will be almost impossible to run from anything soon.” Liam’s narrowed eyes dart
ed left and right as he scanned the air.

Khiara felt the shield around them intensify as she poured more power into it, willing the heat of her energy to buy them the time they needed to find shelter. The Sluagh attempted to attack once more in a united group, and
the fire magick repelled them. They ceased their attack, driven back by their inability to breach the shield. They turned back in the direction they had come to retreat into the thinning mist and clouds.

Liam led the way up along a small, wooded hill, then into a vast cave that the mist had not penetrated. Both travelers released the powers they had called and took a moment to catch their breath.

“Wow!” Khiara gasped. “I think I might be running out of lives here. I outran the Red Caps and now the Wild Hunt.”

Liam nodded in agreement, then slumped and
slid off his mount before he could say anything.

“Liam!” Khiara
dismounted and ran to his side in time to keep him from collapsing to the hard, rocky ground of the cave. He was too heavy for her to do anything more than cushion his fall, but she managed to keep him from hurting himself. She crumpled beneath him, holding him in her arms. “Liam?” she whispered.

“I’m just tired,” he groaned, his eyes shut tightly as if he were in pain. “I need to rest.”

“You must have used everything you had,” she said, stroking his brow. “I had no idea your magick would take so much out of you.”

“I’m not as powerful as you think. That’s why I’m just a bard.” He attempted a smile, but then grimaced. “You’re more powerful than I will ever be, but I couldn’t let them take you back to Oberon.” He opened his eyes to look at her. “If you’re going to stay with anyone here, it should be me.”

“You’re just as bad as the rest of them,” Khiara said with a chuckle at his declaration. She eased him to the ground and said, “You just rest and recover. I’ll take care of everything else.” She rose to her feet to get the bedrolls off the horses’ saddles. After covering him with a blanket, she peeked out of the cave.

The mist was still thick, but had diminished somewhat. There was no sign of life
, and no sound except the distant rumble of thunder. Heavy raindrops began to fall through the fog from the gray clouds in the darkening sky.

Khiara stepped out of the cave and gather
ed wood and dried grass. She did it as quickly as possible, as the thunder became louder and louder. She dropped her first armful in the cave and went outdoors to gather more. The raindrops were still fat and few. She brought a second armful of twisted, dry sticks to the cave. The patter of rain increased as she went outside to search for thicker branches and logs. There were enough around the wooded side of the cave for her to make two trips, before the rain began to fall in earnest.

When she returned to the cave the final time, she arranged the dried grass, twigs
, and smaller branches in a shallow pit to start a fire. Digging into her bag, she found a book of matches and lit the kindling. As soon as the fire was strong enough, she added larger branches. The cave slowly warmed, and she put on the first of the fat, knotted logs she had found.

Once the blaze was established, she went back to Liam. He was breathing shallowly and steadily, asleep.

Khiara glanced at the entrance to the cave. There was a bright flash of lightening and a loud thunderclap outdoors. Since going outside to look around was out of the question, she decided to explore the depths of the cavern.

Taking one of the longer sticks out of the fire, she held the gnarled branch before her as a torch. There was a corridor off the foyer of the cave and he
r gaze traveled from the ceiling – from which a cage hung – down to the pit just below it. The door to the cage hung open, and she wondered if faeries actually used it to imprison people. The very idea made her shudder.

Walking further down the corridor, Khiara found what appeared to be a number of empty caverns branching off from either side of it. The final one at the end was spacious and full of glittering piles of coins, gemstones, and more. She stopped and looked inside, taking her time as she walked around the room. There were suits of discarded armor, swords, and even pieces of clothing scattered throughout the room. The glimmer
ing treasures reflected the firelight in golden flickers across the cavern.

She
finally walked back to Liam and set the torch back on the fire The storm had diminished, as had the fog, but now the sky darkened with the night. The rain was steady and heavy. With gratitude for warmth and shelter, she lay down near Liam and the fire, and slept through the night, lulled by the sound of the rainfall.

****

With just one day remaining, Khiara was beginning to wonder if she would be able to find both Sean and make it to the gate to the mortal world.

They win in faerie tales
, she told herself.
Have you ever heard a real life story of this happening? Of course not, because any person who gets stuck here in real life would never make it home again.

“What is it?” Liam looked at her as they rode.

“I was just thinking,” was her vague response.

“You do that often.”

Khiara shrugged and focused on the road ahead.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m sure that it doesn’t even matter.”

“Well, why don’t you tell me about it anyway?” Liam suggested, clearly intent on coaxing an answer from her. “We still have a long day ahead of us.” This certainly
seemed true, as the road wound before them with no sign of civilization. The mist that surrounded them was not as thick as it had been the day before, and had changed from a heavy gloom to a blend of blue-tinged gray.

With a glance at him, Khiara said, “What is there to say about my thoughts? I figure this is an impossible task. But I’m foolish enough to keep going, because…”

“Because?”

Khiara sighed. “I keep going because if there’s a chance that I can have what I want, then I have to persevere. I can’t give up. No matter how uncertain I feel, no matter how much I think I’m giving in to my fear, I know that I have to keep going.”

“Why do you have to keep going?” Liam persisted.

“Because no matter what happens,” Khiara said, looking up at the sky, “if I stop, I give up any right I have to my own life. It’s when people give up that they lose their dignity and their reason for living. Whatever happens, I just have to keep going or I’ll hate myself. If I choose to let a bad situation keep me down, how can I grow in life? I won’t live my life as a victim. I’m going to take control of any situation I possibly can, and keep working to attain the things I want.”

“What is it that you want?” Liam asked.

“I want to live with dignity and honor. I want to attain and share knowledge. And, though it sounds so fucking silly and trite, I want love in my life.” Khiara bowed her head as she laughed at herself. “I’m not just talking about the love my friends have for me. I’m talking about romantic, all-consuming, impractical love. It sounds completely ridiculous.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It does when every time you love someone, they have absolutely no interest in you. I should have learned to give up by now.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Liam said. “You already have given up on love.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me after all these years. It certainly seems to have given up on me, no matter how much I grow or learn.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well.” Khiara finally turned to look at him. “The first time I fell in love, I was fifteen. It hit me like a ton of bricks. His name was Evan and, wow, he was not just adorable. He was funny and playful, and I just wanted to be with him all of the time. We met during the summer at a local college program for academically talented eighth and ninth-graders. We only knew each other for that summer, but I hoped we would stay in touch after that. But the night before we were all going home, he said that he had to talk to me. He took my hand and brought me into a quiet room. I thought for sure he was going to tell me that he cared about me too.”

“But he didn’t?”

Khiara shook her head. “No,” she answered, her throat closing with tears as she remembered the pain. “He told me that he didn’t feel the same way. He was holding my hand and kneeling in front of me, and I just started crying. He was upset too. I could tell he didn’t want to hurt me.”