Night Seeker (24 page)

The anguish in his voice echoed in the chamber, but there was nothing any of us could do to make him feel better about savaging the Fae. So I decided the best bet was to let it be.

I glanced around, but we were alone. “She had to be guarding something, so what was it? Surely not the heartstone—she couldn’t be the only guardian they’d set over it. So what was she protecting?” The magic was still
heavy, but the longer she was dead, the lighter the energy was getting. I was almost able to stand on my own.

Chatter nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense to me.” He patted Grieve on the arm. “Come on, let’s have a look around and see what we can find.”

Grieve slowly stood, his face and fingers wet but clean. He rested his gaze on me, almost as if afraid of what he would see. I gave him a soft smile and blew him a kiss but didn’t go near. The Indigo Court side of him was near the surface and I didn’t want to set it off again. He seemed to understand.

Rhia and Kaylin struggled to their feet. The weight of the energy was still heavy, but we were all able to stand now. I sucked in a deep breath. The perfume in the air was clearing out. As I began to poke around, Grieve stared into the pool, his gaze fixated on something below the surface.

“Whatever she was protecting is in the pool.” He motioned and, following his direction, I could see something glimmering in the center of the shallow water. It appeared to be made of brass, or copper. As I wondered just how we were going to get it out and remain dry, Grieve began to stride into the water.

“No!”

He stopped and turned back to me. “What?”

“There might be something in the water that we can’t see.” I was getting paranoid of every move we made.

Grieve shrugged. “There might, but there’s no other way to find out what she was guarding and I think we will need whatever it is.” He turned back to the water and, focusing, steadied himself as he walked farther into the pond. When the level of the pool reached up to his chest, he sucked in a deep breath and dove beneath the water. I stiffened, waiting for something to erupt from below the surface, but nothing happened.

As Grieve broke through the glassy surface again, he held up a small brass box. It was intricately embossed with an oak leaf design, and was about the size of a box of checks, with a hinged lid. While there was no lock, it seemed tightly closed.

Grieve stared at it for a moment, then handed it to me. “Open it. I cannot.”

I cocked my head, looking at him, but he didn’t explain. As I slowly touched the lid, a tremor ran through my fingers and I caught my breath. A cool wind gusted by and Ulean was at my side, whisking this way and that.

I’m not opening Pandora’s box, am I?

No, but you open the door to a dangerous path and an even darker journey. But go on it you must. Lainule has given her consent, and therefore, wherever it leads, I will surely go with you. Open this box and there is no turning back. Open this box and you have sealed your fate.

Do you know what lies within?

Yes, I do. I was here when it was first placed in the waters, a thousand past a thousand years ago and beyond. I was here when the Black Annis was charged to watch the pool. Very few could have killed her, but she was not a match for one from the Indigo Court.

Was she the reason Grieve had to come with us?
It suddenly occurred to me that Grieve was here for more reasons than the fact that he’d been part of Lainule’s realm. If we were to battle Summer’s guardians, we needed someone from the outside. Because even Chatter was no match for the Wilding Fae.

There are many reasons Grieve is here. This is the ascent to a culmination of events set in motion far in the past, the day you first met Grieve.

When I was Cherish, right?

No, long before that. In times neither of you yet remember, destiny had a hand in the machinations of the realm of Summer, and the Indigo Court through you. You can walk through the fire, Cicely. Or you can put the box back in the water, turn, and go. But your choice—regardless of what it is—will alter the destiny of both realms.
Ulean swept around me, a driving force.

I stared at the box, my hand on the lid. I could feel it. This had been waiting for me. For a thousand years and more, it had waited for me to come.

I had to make a choice. I glanced up at Grieve. We could run away together. The thought struck me as quickly as a lightning bolt and disappeared just as quickly. There was no place
to
run. If we let Myst win, she would spread out, her Shadow Hunters growing, breeding, feeding, and eventually a good share of the world would be once again encased in ice—only this time it would be ice formed of the frozen blood of her victims.

I shook my head.
I will not run or turn away. I will meet the challenge, regardless of what it means for my future.

Then you were truly well chosen. Open the lid, Cicely.

Ulean’s gusts blew steadily around me, rippling across the waters. I sucked in my breath and opened the lid.

Within the flat, narrow box rested a pair of keys—one golden, one silver. They glimmered, and as I slowly reached in and took the silver one in my hands, a slow, cool rush began to rise through my body. I caught my breath and, not knowing what pushed me, turned to Rhiannon and held out the box. She held my gaze for a moment, then lifted the golden key.

We clasped hands and turned to the water. Something within was compelling me and apparently Rhia as well. As we faced the pond, the keys tightly in hand, the pool of water began to bubble. It fumed and frothed and rippled out in concentric circles as if something had jarred it from below. And then the water began to surge out, a ringed tidal wave splashing toward us out of the shallow crater in which it lay. I panicked—that much water could drown us, but as we stood there, facing the oncoming surge, something inside whispered to be calm, to wait.

“Get behind us!” I barked the order to the others, and Chatter, Grieve, and Kaylin crowded in without argument.

As the surge foamed out of the bowl and toward us, racing white steeds leading the wall of water, I sucked in a deep breath. Rhia did the same. We steeled ourselves, closing our eyes, but the expected impact didn’t come. Instead, it was as if we were standing on boulders in the center of a rushing river.

I opened my eyes, cautiously, to see the waves swirling around us, splashing us as they rolled by. But Rhiannon and I—and the men behind us—stayed dry as the waters parted around us.

It felt like we were in some surreal revenge-of-naturemovie. The surge seemed to continue for hours, but it must have only been a few minutes, and then the path cleared.

I glanced behind us to see the water rolling through the opening through which we’d come. The Black Annis’s body was gone, swept up in the flow.

“Look.” Rhiannon’s hushed voice focused my attention again and I turned back to the crater that had been the pool of water. There, in the center, a pillar had thrust itself up from the ground. Formed of what looked like skulls, the bones were interlaced with amethyst and quartz, peridot and garnets. A grisly tower, with a door in the center that was gold on top, silver on the bottom, with two keyholes.

A tremor started in my legs and worked its way up to my heart.
This was it.
This was the beginning of the last leg of our journey. We were nearing Lainule’s heartstone. I glanced over at Rhia and she nodded. We stepped forward, into the crater, and crossed the sloping bottom toward the tower.

Grieve, Chatter, and Kaylin silently followed behind us. They did not question or try to interfere. Once we reached the tower, we could measure its true height. It was thrusting out of the ground like some gigantic stalagmite, a good twenty feet high. And from here we could see that the skulls were intermingled with leg and arm bones, woven together in a tapestry.

The bones were purest white, shimmering with both their own light and the light of the gems. I wanted to reach out, to caress one of the skulls near me, but when my hand neared it, a low hiss made me withdraw. A golden green snake wove its way out of the eye socket, staring at me as it coiled, waiting. I nodded to it. There were guardians still, and we’d have to walk softly from here on out.

I turned to Rhia. “Are you ready?”

She nodded. “Yes. I think…we have to do this at the same time.”

And so we stepped up to the door, inserted our keys, and on the count of three, we turned them, and the tumblers clicked into place.

The door slowly swung open, the keys staying within the locks. The archway was rounded, and the floor within was tiled just like the passage through which we’d first come—the stones shimmering from some dark and brilliant internal light.

I looked at the others, then stepped through. As I passed the entryway, a hush descended, and once again the pressure of ancient magic fell on our shoulders.

Grieve slipped up to my side and motioned for me to stop. “Let Kaylin take the lead. I sense he is needed here.”

I nodded, pressing back against the wall to allow Kaylin to slip by. We were working as a single entity now, trusting each other’s instincts. Kaylin stopped beside me, touching my cheek.

“You and Rhiannon…life will never be the same,” he said, then faced front. We fell in behind him, single file—me, then Rhia, Grieve, and lastly, Chatter brought up the rear.

The passage was short, opening into a room. But in front of the room, a lone maiden sat. I would have called her a girl, but she was dressed in a flowing gown and her
hair rippled with gold, spilling down her shoulders. She looked as fragile as a butterfly caught in a strong wind. At first I thought she was a spirit—and maybe I was right, but there was no way in hell any of us were going to touch her to find out. The power surrounding her was so strong it shoved us back, like a giant hand separating her from us.

She was playing a stringed instrument that looked like a miniature harp. I listened, trying to catch the music, but the moment she strummed the strings, the wind caught up the sounds and tore them from earshot.

Who is she?

Ulean danced by, whispering as she passed.
She is the Maiden of Knowledge. The Daughter of the Air.

Is she one of the Wilding Fae?

No, she is far more than that. She is…she simply is. This is but one of her avatars.
Ulean softly rested on my shoulders, her susurration tickling my ears.
You must answer her questions to pass. If not, she will rip you to shreds.

Answer her questions? What kind of questions?

I do not know. Whatever she chooses to ask.

I bit my lip. What the hell was I going to do now? I knew—as sure as I knew my own name—that there was no way to defeat this being. The Maiden of Knowledge was beyond fighting. I had the feeling that if I reached out to touch her, my fingers would slide through. But if she chose to go on the offense, her attacks would be all too physical.

How do I—

Do not ask me more. You must figure this one out by yourself, Cicely. It is forbidden for me to help you in this.

I sighed. Ulean would never deny me if it was possible for her to help, so I knew she was speaking the truth. I looked at the others and shook my head, then stepped forward. The Maiden of Knowledge looked up at me, her luminous eyes glittering in the dim light of the passage. I wondered how long she’d been sitting here. How long had she been keeping watch? Did she ever speak to anyone? Did anyone ever come to visit her? And would she ever be free?

Feeling unaccountably sad—her existence seemed so lonely—I moved forward to the point where the energy field stopped me. I cleared my throat. She watched me, unblinking, a soft light washing over her face.

What should I say? What should I do? And then a thought crept into my mind. She was waiting for me to speak. Perhaps, being the Maiden of Knowledge, she was here to give aid and advice.

“We come seeking passage. Will you help us?” My voice seemed out of place, and even though I was speaking softly, it echoed through the chamber as if I were shouting. I winced at its coarseness. Normally I didn’t notice my voice, but here, in this place, it sounded rough and harsh.

The Maiden of Knowledge paused, then she strummed her harp, and this time her voice came crashing through the air, so beautiful it made me want to weep and fall to my knees.

“What is it that you seek? Why do you wish me to grant you free passage?” Her words thundered through the air, and I realized that if the wind hadn’t caught up her singing, it might have deafened us with its force.

I stammered, taken back by the power of her presence. Suddenly frightened, and feeling like a bull in a china shop, I struggled for an answer that would suit her. “I am looking to help Lainule—the Queen of Rivers and Rushes. She is in danger. I come with her permission.”

“Why should I believe you?” Her gaze was now fastened on mine and I felt like she was probing my mind, turning me inside out, shaking out my innermost thoughts to examine them. She rifled through me, stripping away layers of an onion, searching. The feeling was heady and terrifying and intrusive.