Page 38 of Monsters of Air

The hem of my dress was soaked, my feet frozen and aching, my hands coated with a fresh sheen of blood. By the time Philit darted into the wide mouth of a cave I wasn’t sure I could take another step. I slunk onto the hard stone floor, watching the others disappear into the dark as I caught my breath.

“Get the fire going,” Philit said as he tossed the Fae to the ground, the man giving a grunt at the impact. He immediately tried to crawl away, but Philit placed one giant foot on his back, pushing him back down.

The Fae grunted, blinking at us through swollen and bruised eyes. His face was halfway disfigured from Lander’s punches, but that didn’t seem to deter him with the way he grinned, looking right at me. He didn’t look angry though. He just stared and smiled.

“Stay down,” Philit commanded, leaning over him. “You are our prisoner, and we expect answers.”

The Fae laughed and turned to Philit, his quiet grin replaced with the same smile as the Fae who had murdered my father. My blood was beginning to boil.

“You really think I am going to tell you anything about us. You’re babies. I am not your prisoner. How naive you are.” He laughed again, the sound a taunt in the dark. Zilon and Landers looked over from where they had been building a fire, both of them raging.

Damn. The egos on those guys. The Fae knew exactly what he was doing.

“You are going to tell us anything we want,” Philit continued, the claws on his toes pressing into the Fae’s back. I could have sworn I saw blood there, but he didn’t even wince.

“What will you do if I don’t? You can’t even start a decent fire. How do you expect to survive with only that as your heat source?” If he kept this up it was going to be ugly. The cave was big, but not big enough for three dragons should they shift, and they were all already raging enough to do so, the air was practically crackling.

“Ignore him,” I begged the dragons, but I was pretty sure I was just talking to brick walls. Angry brick walls.

“You’ll be dead, and I’ll walk out of–”

“Shut up, Fae bastard,” Landers snapped, his fist speeding through the air and hitting the already bruised side of the Fae’s face with a crack.

“Why?” He smiled, red teeth sparkling. “I’m just telling you what’s going to happen. None of you are adept enough to take care of the divine. You’ll get her killed. She’s safer with her own kind.”

“She is with her own kind!” Zilon growled out, he looked about ready to punch him too, but instead turned and went back to the fire. “We will protect her.”

“How is that working for you, whelp?” The Fae chuckled, bloody spittle flying from his mouth. “Big man there,” he taunted, a bloody smile turning to Landers. “He doesn’t even have the brawns, let alone the smarts to handle us.”

“Can we gag him?” Landers asked, already pulling fabric out of one of the bags.

“Just stick some of the meat in his mouth,” I offered. The stuff was tough enough it would take him hours to chew through.

Even he was starting to get on my nerves, and I had an eleven year old sister who never stopped talking.

“Go ahead. Gag me. Kill me. Do whatever you want. It will not stop us. King Neyil of the Fae will get his divine, even if it means stepping over your corpses.”

“Is that so?” Philit laughed. “Is he the reason you are able to move through these mountains? Past all the wards meant to keep you out?”

Wards, I spun to Philit. Wards meant magic. Like what the Fae could do, like what only the Fae could do. I had heard the travelers whisper of those things when they passed through Lixny, but Magic was forbidden. Landers looked as uncomfortable as I did at their mention. Zilon just nodded and stepped closer.

I logged it away, that I was going to have to get answers for.

The Fae laughed. “You believe so much of your legends that you cannot even comprehend the Fae being more powerful than some measly wards. Wards are meant to be broken.”

“They’re still intact,” Philit growled, his claws pressing in deeper. That time the Fae winced, although the sound was swallowed by his smug ass grin.

“Are they?”

Philit’s eyes widened and he turned to look at the entrance to the cave, and then to Zilon who sped back to the opening as if he was going to check on them. Not that there was anything there to check, just the darkness of the mountain side, the faint light of the moon and a few snowflakes that were drifting down from the heavens. I was suddenly happy to be in the cave.

“Tell us what you have done! Why are the Fae taking our riders?” Philit was raging now, spit flying from his mouth as he yelled.

“Our. Your. You know nothing.”

“Stop playing mind games,” I yelled before Philit really lost it. “Tell me then, if you won’t tell them. Why are you willing to lose so many Fae to get me?”

“Do you even know what you are capable of, you divine child?” the Fae asked, his taunts instantly fading to a whisper. “Do you know what your very blood is worth?”

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