Page 39 of How to Keep a Fae

“I do,” my father says simply, offering nothing. “We lost contact with some of our people tracking a band of Blighten across your land.”

My father’s rapid swing from pleasantries to what I presume is the reason for his visit gives me a sense of whiplash.

“Blighten bastards are too familiar with our lands,” Silas growls. His demeanor comes across as less polished than his brother’s, a little uncivilized, maybe. “They would not be the first people to suffer from crossing paths with their kind.” He nods to my father. “I presume they were important?”

“They were tracking the keystone. When we lost them, we likewise lost contact with the keystone.”

Keystone?

Instinctively, I know this isthekeystone—the one we lost long ago. We have others. My father carries one around his neck. He used it to call the portal to bring us into this world, and he will use it to take us back.

But we lost one to the Blighten when a fae expedition stumbled upon their world. The expedition members were killedexcept for the keystone bearer, who was tortured over a period of many years, seeking the secrets to the portal.

He told them nothing.

Then they gave him back the keystone and released him.

Made insensible by the ordeal, he fled.

They tracked him, and when he opened a portal, they followed him through, slaughtering the unsuspecting fae on the other side.

The Blighten took the keystone, only this time, they knew how to use it to reach our world. They brought armies of orcs. The great city of Sendar fell, we retreated to Sanctum, and the endless war began.

Say what you will about orcs. They are not as stupid.

Ever since, a rotation of imperials has been tasked with tracking the missing keystone. There have been many failed attempts to retrieve it, although none in recent years that I know of. Perhaps this was another failure that cost the lives of our people.

I understand why we try. Our negligence affects not only our lives but the lives of the many innocent worlds the orcs raid at their leisure.

“…they were on the road to Tyden, south of River Eve.”

The keystone was here—close. I feel a strange prickling at the back of my neck. I’m stepping into a thread stretching through space and time, connecting pivotal historical events. The keystone changed everything. It is the reason the Blighten still invaded our world, gathering slaves from villages, burning forests, and establishing bases on our once peaceful lands.

We will never be free of them, never be able to cut them off while the keystone is in their hands.

I knew my father was important.

“Aurelius was at Sendar,”Cecil said.“How many can say as much? His experiences stretch over many lifetimes.”

He has been important for a long time.

“… that is as much as I know. I intend to follow them across your lands with your permission.”

“Of course,” Bram says. “I can provide the necessary documentation, and men too if required. As my brother pointed out, the Blighten’s human minions have been sighted too often for comfort, even this far south. Their unlimited access to fresh slaves via the portal has ramped up of late. I can only presume they have recently found a bountiful world and are plundering with greedy abandon.”

The prickling sensation returns tenfold.

Silas rises as Bram talks, opening a drawer on a tall bookcase. He rummages, checking scrolls before returning to the table where he spreads out a map.

“Here is the location you mention.” He stabs a thick finger at the map. “There are two main routes from here, but a landslide cut off the pass into the mountain in spring, leaving only one. The Blighten bastards are all up in our business and would know as much. Even so, they are using the seaport here.” —He slides his finger across the map— “Darkmouth is one of the busiest ports in Imperium. From here, they can sail directly for Bleakness.”

Jayga came from Bleakness. Once known as Port Ardin, it was assimilated by the Blighten long ago.

“Even so, they have a presence in Darkmouth,” Silas continues. “We have close ties to the lord there. It is in everyone’s interest to work together on this. The large, dense population of the sea port makes it easy for the Blighten’s human scum to hide, meet, and plot. It may be the men you seek were going to meet with associates there. They may be taking a ship back to Blighten lands. Either way, my money is on Darkmouth being their destination and your best bet for picking up the trail.”

“Then that is where we shall go,” my father says.

Bram invites us to stay the night. It is late, and my father accepts.

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