Tressa's Treasures (The King's Jewel Book 1) (32 page)

"A cave. I found a cave. I was taking you to it the other day. It seems to go very deep. I hadn't gotten to the end of it yet, but the entire thing is veined with River Rock."

"That's why there was River Rock in places it shouldn't be!" I reasoned aloud. "It must be a threshold. That's why my grandfather was so secretive about it. That's why it was so important for you to find it. My god, there's a threshold to Faery right here!"

"There's something else," Alexander said. He hesitated, glancing at Matt. "I'll tell you on the way."

"Matt, go explain to Brenna what has happened. Ask her to find Shamus and tell him. He’ll be wherever they laid out Mamó's body. Tell her I’ll be there soon, so she needn’t come back here until she sees me again." My mind raced, trying to remember any lost detail. "Oh, and tell Rosheen and Keelin to finish here and return as planned to the palace."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

We made hasty preparations. I ran to my house and grabbed a velvet bag of cut stones that I kept with a small collection of jewelry supplies. They might be helpful, either for their monetary value or their healing properties. I also picked up a small dagger from my dresser drawer, spelling it to stay hidden in my jeans pocket.

Alexander met me in the driveway between the houses, a backpack slung over his shoulder. We headed toward the woods. He walked so quickly that I struggled to keep up; I lagged a few steps behind him.

We walked straight across the estate, cutting across the circuitous walkways and garden paths, toward the far northern corner and entering the woods at its thickest spot. We hadn't gone this way on the morning we had found the hiker.

Through the rougher terrain of the forest, Alexander slowed down and took my hand to assist me. I struggled more than I had the last time. My store of energy, my essence, was nearly vanquished. Alexander was silent as we walked, and I was afraid to break that silence.

I thought about Gilleagán and what possible reason he had for taking Sophia. Was it to hurt me? Maybe he did see her as a pretty trinket, just as with the fae of old. I had never known a Seelie who had fallen. Could that be a factor? I decided it would be best not to consider what he might be planning.

Finally, Alexander stopped. He moved away some fallen branches and debris from the side of a boulder. He uncovered a gap between the boulder and the rocky mountainside behind it.

"I found this second entrance after exploring the cave. It's much closer to Pine Ridge. The other entrance wasn't on the estate itself."

He pulled a flashlight out of the backpack. "We’ll only need this for a few hundred yards."

I nodded. Every threshold was the same in that once we were close enough to the Otherworld, tóirse stone along the interior would glow and illuminate the way.

The cave was narrow, but the ceiling was high. The ground was surprisingly even, considering it was uncultivated. Alexander stayed close to me as we made our way through the cave.

"We need to talk about something before we go much further," he said.

I nodded, thinking this was the point where he told me that after we had rescued Sophia, he never wanted to see me again.

"I know these people have hunted you for your entire life, and I'm sick at the idea of putting you in any more danger, but I'm going to need your help if I'm to have any hope of saving Sophia."

I looked at him, incredulous.

"You're not angry at me? You don't hate me?"

He looked mystified. "Why would you think that? I'm yours, you're mine, and nothing is going to change that. Ever."

"But this is all my fault."

He took my hand.

"No, it's Gilleagán's fault. He did this." He hesitated, as if something had just occurred to him. "Unless... is it possible that this Mór guy could have been controlling him?"

"You mean holding
Dominion
over him?"

Alexander nodded.

"No. Well, it's not likely. He would have to know Gilleagán's true name, and with a Sidhe, that's nearly impossible. We hardly even know our own true names. Our mothers whisper it to us as infants so that only our subconscious knows what it is; then they take it with them to their graves."

Alexander nodded as he took in this information. Then he stopped walking and pulled me by my hand, turning me to face him. He met my gaze and took my other hand. He spoke in a steely, serious tone.

"Tressa, I'm asking you to help me, but there's something you need to understand. When I find Gilleagán, I'm going to kill him."

I sucked in a shocked breath. Then I fought the numbness of guilt and grief that blanketed my brain, forcing myself to consider this journey's logical conclusion. The man I loved would kill my brother—or be killed by him.

We kept moving, even as I struggled to work my mind around this revelation. Since I didn't respond to Alexander's declaration, he continued making his argument.

"You think of Gil as your brother, the boy you grew up with and loved. But that's not him anymore. He killed your grandmother. He tried to abduct you and have you burned alive. He's taken my baby girl. You told me yourself that his soul is black."

"Have you had a premonition of this?" I asked, grasping for reassurance.

"No. I'm simply telling you: it is too dangerous to let him live, so I don't plan to."

"Can you promise me that you won't get killed in the attempt?"

He flinched and turned away. I knew he couldn't make that promise, no matter how much I begged.

Deaglan Mór would hunt me for as long as either he or I lived. If Gilleagán was helping him—with everything Gil knew about me—it would be far easier for the Unseelie prince to hurt me. It was hard to admit that I would be better off with my brother dead, but it was even harder to deny.

We had just reached the point where the flashlight was unnecessary when Alexander asked me to sit on a flat rock that lay near the wall of the cave. He knelt in front of me, so that we were level with each other.

He reached into his backpack. "Órlaith told me I should show this to no one but you or her, and that I'm meant to have it and nobody else. Does that make sense to you?"

He pulled a worn leather bundle out of his backpack. He unfolded leather straps to reveal a scabbard. A polished silver hilt, fashioned into a Celtic knot that I knew well, showed above the scabbard. The knot mirrored the one formed by the scar on Alexander's hand.

He drew out the sword, holding it carefully in front of him. Runes etched into the sides of the blade added strength to the weapon.

"My god," I gasped. "It's the
Claíomh Solais
."

"Yes, that's what Órlaith called it. Nuada's Sword of Light."

I dared not touch it, but I stared at it in awe. My entire life I had heard lectures about the treasures of my people. I realized then that I had never truly believed I would see any of them. I had never had faith that I was the King's Jewel of the prophecy.

"Do you understand what this is? I mean, the significance of it?" I asked.

"It's one of the treasures from the prophecy, isn't it?"

"Aye, that's right. Did Mamó actually see it?"

"No, I just described it to her."

His aura lapped around the sword, making it one with his hand. Mamó had not seen the communion of his aura with the sword, and yet she had faith. She believed Alexander was meant to bear the sword.

"Many will try to take this from you. It sings to the heart of every warrior. You will need to be careful around friend and foe alike," I warned him.

The straps of leather attached to the scabbard were a harness. Alexander slipped his arms through the straps. The sword hung between his shoulder blades, much like the backpack had done. He only needed to reach behind his head to grab the hilt and draw the sword.

He put the flashlight back into the backpack and hid the bag behind the rock where I sat.

We strode deeper into the cave.

"What can we expect when we get to the end of this?" Alexander asked.

"There are usually guards at thresholds monitoring who goes in or out. However, this is an unknown threshold, so I'm not sure what to expect. When we enter the Otherworld I can call on the wind for Henry, my bodyguard. He’ll be able to come find us," I said.

There isn't a line where the Human World ends and the Otherworld begins; it's a gradual change. A fey sensation that I associated with Faery filled the air and got stronger the further we walked through the tunnel. The closer we got to the Otherworld, the more my essence returned to me, building my strength.

We pushed our way through a tangle of thin branches that covered the mouth of the cave and came out in a wide creek bed edged by dense woodland area. A grassland bordered the far side.

Water was common at the portals between realms, but this creek was frozen. In fact, everything around us glistened with snow and ice.

I should have known and prepared better. All of
Tír na nÓg
was in mourning over the death of our Queen Mother. The wintery scene overlaying the summer landscape was an expression of that grief.

"Henry, I'm here," I called to my bodyguard, pushing his name into the wind. "I need you."

Alexander turned, looking around him. He reached out and touched the flakes of snow on a frozen green leaf. "This might be a problem. We could get frostbite or suffer from exposure before we get to Sophia," he said.

I caught the smell of a stinkweed pipe. Looking closely, I saw a thin cloud of smoke rising from behind one of the thick tree trunks to the west of the cave opening.

"I think we'll be able to find what we need here."

"Here?" Alexander asked incredulously.

"Tradesman, show yourself," I called out. A face peer out from behind the tree and then retreat.

"Tradesman, you know who I am. I command that you show yourself."

The face peered out again grumbling under his breath. A small fae, not more than three feet tall, with gray scruffy hair and a pipe in his mouth staggered over to me. He wore a moss green suit and matching cap. He looked up at me with a surly expression. Reluctantly, he took his cap off and bowed.

"Aye, My Lady. How can I be of service?" he asked sourly.

"We are in need of suitably warm coats."

"And what is that to me?"

"Are you not a tradesman?"

"Cobbler is my trade, madam."

"Are you telling me that a Leprechaun of your great age and stature hasn't bartered his shoes for a wealth of other things?"

"Whatever I have, 'tis mine. What right do you have to it?"

"I look to buy something from you, that is all."

It took a bit more posturing, persuasion, and outright bribery before I could get a long, fur-lined trench coat for Alexander and a warm, ankle length cape for myself.

As we pulled on the outerwear, Henry landed on the frozen creek bed behind us with a thud that cracked the ice. The Leprechaun backed away, bowing, and then scurried off to his hollow trunk.

I ran to Henry, who had been not only my bodyguard, but also a friend of mine since childhood. I hugged him around his long scaly neck. His reddish brown and mustard skin looked like the scales of a lizard, though they were soft and warm to the touch.

He breathed through his nose, as he always did when I was around. Always acutely aware of my pyrophobia, he carefully avoided breathing through his mouth. Not that he would ever hurt me, but the occasional puff of smoke still made me nervous.

"Tressa?" Alexander sounded uncomfortable.

"Alexander, this is Henry."

ALEXANDER

The Otherworld surprised me, although I'm not sure what I had expected. In many ways, it could have been any unfamiliar place on earth, albeit a cold and wintery place.

The trees, though not exactly like the ones at home, were easily recognizable as trees. Most were a good thirty feet tall. Their trunks were bare of branches until two-thirds of the way up. The tops, clustered together, resembled a canopy of evergreens. A few of the trees, like the one where the snarly Leprechaun seemed to live were shorter and had twisted massive trunks.

On the opposite side of the frozen stream was a meadow with curly grass and a spattering of large yellow flowers frozen in full bloom.

Yet despite the familiarity, there was also an odd sense of otherness. The sky, pale lavender, gave the snow and ice surrounding us an unusual aspect. The air felt lighter, less dense. Breathing was easier. I moved faster.

A shadow fell over the sky as I shrugged into the coat Tressa had secured. The air whooshed around us. I looked up and saw a massive, scaly underbelly. I glanced at Tressa, but she and the Leprechaun were still bantering and she didn't seem to notice the beast.

The creature dropped down behind us with a thump. His weight broke the surrounding ice.

The Leprechaun ran away, disappearing into the dense forest. I crouched and reached for the sword. Before I drew it out, Tressa ran toward the beast. He lowered his head for her to hug it around its neck.