The Torn Wing (18 page)

“It’s a tradition that Braeden, the very first high king of the Winter court, started a millennia ago.” He glanced over at Tiki. “That’s why faeries don’t wear wings anymore. Only the bravest—” he gave a soft snort— “or the most arrogant wear them.” There was a grudging note of respect in his voice. “Larkin is both.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

T
hey followed a faint trail, winding through trees that towered above their heads. The wind blew through the branches creating a soft music and as Tiki followed Sean deeper into the forest there was no doubt she’d entered a different world.

Stunted trees stood along the path, the bark of their trunks twisted into woody faces that seemed to watch their passage. Large, vicious-looking black birds with jagged wings and beaks hooked like scimitars flew through the branches overhead with raucous cries. Tiki shivered every time their shadows brushed her back.

More than once she could hear the tap-tap-tap of what sounded like tiny hammers, pounding away within hedgerows that stretched in crooked lines through the forest. She wondered if the sounds were that of leprechauns, but if so, the workers were well-hidden.

They stopped once to drink from a brook that gurgled through the trees. The water as cold and pure as anything Tiki had ever tasted. She cupped her hands and drank more and more, not caring about the consequences, until her thirst was quenched. The wind picked up and ruffled the leaves, making them flap and flutter, like voices muttering to one another under their breath.

“Do the songbirds come out at daylight?” Tiki asked after they’d been walking through the gloom for what felt like hours.

Sean laughed. “Not on this side of the wood. It’s never daylight here when the UnSeelie’s are in control. It’s always twilight or later.” He flung his hand to the left. “When the Wychwood meets Oxfordshire you’ll find birds again. And sunlight,” he added, almost wistfully.

TIME CEASED TO exist as they continued through the shadows. Tiki stumbled several times but caught herself before falling. Her stomach growled with hunger, but she was used to going unfed. She’d gone to sleep too many nights in the past with a hungry belly to worry about one more. But her thoughts of Rieker and what might have happened to him couldn’t be pushed away as easily.

Tiki searched for some way to learn more about this alien world to which Larkin swore she belonged. “Have you known Larkin long?”

“Yes,” Sean said over his shoulder. “All of my life.” His head swiveled to scan the forest as they walked. Tiki trudged along behind.

“Do you have brothers and sisters?” she asked.

“Faeries have great difficulty giving birth. I grew up without siblings and the man who cared for me died several years ago.”

“Oh,” Tiki said. “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sure if faeries cared about things like family or not. “I lost my parents too. They died of the fever over three years ago. It was terribly difficult, but I’ve found a new family now.”

“What kind of family?” Sean kept his eyes on the trail ahead.

“There are five of us…. and…” she hesitated, “and William. I don’t know if you know, but he’s quite alone, as well. Donegal… or…or Larkin…I’m not sure who anymore, drowned his family.” She bit her lip, wondering why she was sharing so much with him.

One side of Sean’s mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “That sounds more like something Donegal would do.”

Tiki pulled her skirt free from a thorn bush that had snagged the material. “How can you be sure?”

“Larkin tends to be more efficient than most. If she wanted everyone dead—they would have been dead.”

Tiki didn’t have an answer for that. Had Larkin indeed saved Rieker? Had Rieker been coming to the Otherworld? Had anyone told her the truth about
anything
?

Sean jerked to a stop. “Shh!” With a shock of surprise, Tiki realized he was holding his sword gripped in one hand and a whip in the other. He was half crouched and slowly turning in a circle, his eyes searching the woods that surrounded them. “Stay behind me,” he whispered. Tiki jumped to do as he asked.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“I’m not sure, but it’s watching us.”

Tiki exhaled slowly, trying to still the rapid pounding of her heart. “Give me a knife,” she said. She slid a long deadly looking dagger with a curved blade free from his belt. “I’ll take this one.”

His head jerked to the side as he tried to see her over his shoulder. “Do you know how to use that?”

She clutched the knife in both hands and turned so they were back to back, circling as he did. “I guess we’ll find out.”

They came boiling out of the shadows. Huge, grotesque figures with double-ridged shark teeth filed to razor-sharp points and claw-like fingers with six-inch talons. Snapping and biting, they swung their deadly hands at Sean and Tiki.

Tiki bit back a cry of horror and clutched the handle of her knife tighter, waving the blade at them in a threatening manner.

Sean flicked his wrist and wrapped the end of his whip around the ankle of the first beast and gave a ferocious yank. There was a loud *pop* and the ogre exploded into a much smaller creature that only reached to his knees.

“Spriggans,” Sean said, as the little creature made straight for him, snapping its jaws and trying to bite his ankles. The faerie gave him a swift kick and with a scream, the spriggan went flying into the underbrush and disappeared.

“So?” Tiki shrieked, frantically waving her knife to keep the three on her side back.

“Make contact with your knife and they’ll pop.” As he spoke, he sliced with his sword and another *pop* filled the air. “Their size is an illusion but their teeth are poison no matter how big they are.” His breath came out in gasps as he twirled to flick his whip at one giant who was almost on Tiki. “So don’t let them bite you.”

Tiki slashed her knife at a particularly ugly ogre who had a line of brown drool hanging from his lips. The tip of her blade cut across his hairy arm and just like that, he became small. As soon as his feet hit the ground he was running for her, jaws snapping. Tiki screamed and kicked the little beast as hard as she could. He went flying end over end to crash loudly in the brush.

By now, Sean had dispatched the other two and only one remained. But he seemed smarter than the others and stood watching them through small beady eyes, drool hanging from the triangle teeth that lined his jutting lower jaw.

He was facing Sean so Tiki turned and pointed her knife at him as well. He stood far enough away that he was out of reach of the whip, but with his giant legs he could cover the distance in two steps.

“Be careful,” Sean said, a weapon in each hand, poised to attack.

“They’re slow, but they can be tricky and their wounds are deadly.”

The spriggan pointed at Tiki. His voice was low but surprisingly clear. “We want the girl.”

A chill crawled down Tiki’s spine, a shudder shaking her shoulders. The idea of being possessed by something that looked like
that
was too frightening to even consider.

“No.” Sean snarled the word. “She’s mine.”

Surprised by his answer, Tiki glanced sideways at him. As she did, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye behind them.

“Sean!” She screamed as she twirled. Another spriggan was so close his clawed hand cast a shadow on their heads. With a wild war cry, Tiki sprang into the air and shoved her dagger clean through the creature’s palm. At the same time, the spriggan who had spoken lunged toward Sean. With a mighty swing Sean sliced its head from its body. Two loud *pop*s filled the air.

Tiki and Sean stepped and kicked at the same time, sending the last spriggans sailing into the forest.

“Come on,” Sean said, grabbing Tiki’s hand. They ran down the path for what felt like half an hour before he slowed to a walk. “All right?”

Tiki nodded, pressing on her side where a stitch made it hard to take a deep breath. She was shaken, but unhurt. “You?”

He grinned at her in a surprisingly charming way. “Never better.”

TIKI COULD BARELY drag one foot in front of the other. They’d been walking for hours and the weight of her dress seemed to get heavier by the minute. Sean had gone a short distance ahead to scout the trail when Tiki stubbed her toe on a rock and fell on all fours. Her knee slammed painfully into another rock and she cried out as she landed. In a blink, Sean was by her side, helping her up.

“All right?”

“Yes,” Tiki said, annoyed with herself as she regained her feet. She started to brush her skirts then stopped. What was the point? She wiped her hair from her forehead with the back of her hand. “Maybe we should rest for a bit?”

“The cottage where we’ll stop is just ahead. But first I think we should get rid of this dress.”

Tiki gazed at him in alarm. Did he expect her to walk through the forest in her undergarments? She flinched as he raised his hand at her, but to her surprise, her dress melted away and she wore a pair of brown bark trousers and a leaf patterned jacket. On her feet were shoes made of softest brown leather.

“You look like a wood nymph now,” he said with a sparkle in his eyes, “though most don’t wear clothes on their upper half.”

“I’ll be keeping my jacket on, just so you know,” Tiki said, tugging the edges tight and crossing her arms over her chest. She lifted her chin at him but he chuckled and turned away.

“Not much farther now.” He pointed to an impenetrable thicket. “Just there.”

There was no sign of a cottage anywhere to be seen. Tiki eyed the sharp brambles and wondered how Sean thought they could possibly navigate through the thicket without being cut to shreds. As if in answer to her unspoken question, Sean snapped his fingers. Like writhing snakes, the vines unwove and became mist-like, opening a path to a stone cottage buried beneath the growth.

“After you,” Sean said with an absurdly formal bow.

Tiki’s lips curved in a smile. She hadn’t thought there was anything she could possibly find to smile about on this day. She trudged the last few steps and pushed open a small wooden door to enter the one-room cottage. Behind her, she heard a whispering and turned in time to see the vines whip back into position to shield the cottage before Sean closed the door.

Before she could move, the faerie blew on his hands and a ball of light flew from his fingers to light the grate. Cheerful orange flames flickered toward the chimney, casting a warm glow throughout the room.

“Thank you for helping me,” Tiki said with a grateful sigh, smoothing another wild strand of hair from her face with dirty fingers. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so tired. She wondered at the look on his face as she sank onto a small chair woven from birch branches. Had she said something wrong?

Sean pulled up another chair and sat across from her. His black hair was still smoothed back behind his head and though his scars were as gruesome as ever, he looked as fresh as though they had just met in the Great Hall. He leaned back and propped his foot on a nearby round of wood, his head cocked to one side.

“Tell me—is it Tiki or Tara?” he asked, his expression unreadable.

Tiki lifted her chin. “You tell me—is it Sean or Dain?” She kept her own expression as blank as his.

Something flickered in his eyes before one side of his mouth lifted in a grudging half-grin. “Touché.”

Tiki didn’t smile. “Are we dueling?”

Now the smile spread across his face, though there was an underlying hint of mockery. “Life in the world of Faerie is always a duel. We know no other way.”

She stayed perfectly still, measuring him. Two could play at this game. “Am I part of the prize or one of the pawns?”

His eyes glittered and she thought she caught a flash of respect. “That remains to be seen, now, doesn’t it?”

A long silence stretched between them.

“It’s Tara,” Tiki finally said, “though I’ve some reason to doubt my parentage.” She kept her lips closed in a firm line. “But my
friends
call me Tiki.” She challenged him with her eyes. “Which name do you prefer?”

A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I like them both.”

Just like a faerie, Tiki thought. Never a straight answer. “What about your name?” She raised her eyebrows. “Or should I say name
s
?”

There was a sharp intensity about him as he looked at her through slitted lids. “You have a special kind of sight, don’t you? Quite rare, in fact.” He rocked the chair he had balanced on two legs. “Until recently, I’d only heard rumors that it even existed at all.”

“How’s that?” Tiki didn’t want to show her ignorance or that her curiosity was piqued.

There was a note of awe in his voice. “You can see through glamours.”

Tiki straightened in her chair. She could?

“I’m curious—what did you see about me that reminded you of Dain?” He held his hand up to his scarred face then swept it along his body. “I look nothing like him.”

“It’s your eyes,” Tiki said. “You have Dain’s eyes.”

“Ah.” Sean cocked his head to the side. “That is fascinating.” He was quiet for a minute before he jerked his chin at her. “What about the rest of me? Do I remind you of Dain?”