Page 108 of A Song of Ash and Moonlight

Ryder nodded once but said nothing. I wondered if anyone else could see past his rigid posture and stern glare to the terrified hope shining in his eyes. I clasped my hands in my lap and stared at my fingers. I would not go to him. I wouldnot.

“I followed him through…gods, I can’t even describe it. A city of white stone, all of it gleaming in the moonlight as if lit from within. Great houses with no doors or windows, just breezeways and promenades open to the night air. Music everywhere, the streets running gold with honey and jewels, or maybe it was…I don’t know, maybe it was blood. The place kept shifting, you see. Whenever I looked at it just right, the surface of it flickered and changed, then snapped back to itself. Everyone dancing…grand theaters full of roaring creatures…humans fighting each other in pits…”

His eyes drifted shut, his face contorting in pain.

Yvaine’s words whispered ominously through my mind.Moon by day, fire by night. Come and dance. Don’t try to fight. The beauty of shadows, the garish sunlight. Spin for the watchers, their revels so bright.

“What creatures did you see?” Father demanded. “Olden creatures? And humans were their prisoners?”

Talan nodded weakly. “Yes, so it seemed, and then…they found me. A clan of them. Old family friends.”

His voice went dark there at the end.

“A clan of demons?” Gemma whispered.

“They sniffed me out. I don’t know how. They set chimaera on me—three of them, leaping down from the rooftops. They shouted awful things at me, curses that lashed at my skin like whips.Human-fucker, they said.Traitor to the blood.”

Father looked away, his hands in angry fists. I didn’t dare look at Gemma.

“Ianto came back to me, helped guide me to the moonlight road. He wasn’t alone.” Talan’s voice came weaker now, his words less clear.He was fighting hard to stay awake, to tell us everything he could. “There were others—birds, creatures, forest beasts. They fought off the chimaera. They…they were helping me. Showing me the way out. The demons—gods, they were beautiful, shining like waves, all of them sleek as cats. They shot the creatures who were helping me. They fell around me, and I tripped over them. Someone must have been helping them help me. I can’t reason how else it could have happened. Some wilder instructing them to lead me out of there…”

Talan wet his dry lips. The room was deathly quiet; even the fire in the hearth had begun to die.

“But one of the chimaera got me before I found the road. I couldn’t disguise myself anymore. The demons pursuing me must have been working some kind of magic to stop me from doing so. I couldn’t even see the beast’s face, what aspects it wore. Its claws tore me open and knocked Ianto flat. There was venom in its claws, and teeth. The pain was…” He shuddered. “Lightning in my veins. I think one of the demons’ arrows caught it then, by mistake. Sending chimaera after me wasn’t enough for them, apparently. They wanted to make certain I was dead. The beast reared back, roaring. If that hadn’t happened, I think it might have killed me. The moonlight road wasn’t far. I could see it shimmering at the edge of my vision. I scooped up Ianto and crawled toward it. I crawled and crawled, and then…I was here.”

“Here,” Ryder repeated tensely. “You mean where Farrin found you, in the hedge maze?”

Talan nodded, squeezing his eyes shut.

I went cold with fear. “But how did the road know to bring you here?”

He shook his head wearily, no longer able to speak.

“Such a powerful construction of magic as the road he described might have been able to read his thoughts,” Father suggested, “at least enough to take him where he wanted to go.”

“Maybe it was curious to see where that would be,” Gemma said quietly. “A demon trespasser someone clearly wanted to help? The road—or whoever made it—might have wanted to know more about that.”

Father burst into action. “Gilroy?” he shouted.

A moment later, our butler entered the room. In his sleeping cap and dressing gown, he looked too dear, too vulnerable. Everything suddenly felt that way, as if the whole façade of the house had been torn down to reveal the fragile people cowering within.

If Gilroy was surprised by the state of the room, he betrayed nothing. “Yes, my lord?” he said smoothly.

“Wake everyone and arm them,” Father said. “Carbreigh’s crew is already patrolling the grounds, but I need the household on alert as well. Organize shifts, post staff at every window and door. I trust your and Mrs. Seffwyck’s judgment. I’ll be leaving soon for Fairhaven and will come find you before I depart, give you further instructions.”

Gilroy’s eyes did widen a bit at that, but he paused for only an instant before replying, “Yes, my lord,” and hurrying out of the room.

“Fairhaven?” I asked.

Father nodded. “The Royal Conclave needs to know what’s happened, as does the queen. They’ll want to know everything about Moonhollow and ready the Upper and Lower Armies to invade. It will take time to put together such regiments, with everyone scattered in the wake of the abductions. Farrin,” he added, “you’ll go to Rosewarren, request aid from the Warden. The Roses should be prepared to join forces with the armies. We’ll coordinate from those locations. No doubt the Warden has means to communicate with the queen directly from the priory.”

I opened my mouth to protest—this was happening too quickly, too rashly. Aninvasion?—but Father cut me off before I could speak.

“I know this seems extreme,” he said, “but we have to act now,before we lose our chance. Talan,” he continued, “tell me more about where precisely you were when you first saw the moonlight road. What were you thinking about at that exact moment? What was the temperature of the air? Were there any notable landmarks? Had you been in the proximity of any particular magic just prior to finding the road?”

Talan cracked open his eyes, his face horribly pale. “I smelled…fire and flowers. I smelled rain. There was cinnamon on my tongue. The sea roared and roared.”

“So you were near a coastline? But you said you were near Marrowgate.” Father looked impatiently at Madam Moreen. “Is he delirious?”

---