Page 34 of Kingdom of Faewood

“Yes, your favorite guard still breathes.” He sneered. “Although, I’ve since fired him, so you shan’t be seeing him again.” He scoffed. “And now, after rescuing you so easily, I’m certain it wasn’t the Dark Raider who took you. Everyone knows the Dark Raider ruthlessly kills, so the fact that the guards were spared is proof it wasn’t him. And considering how easy you were to rescue, just further proves how wrong you were. They fooled you, Elowen. Most likely, it was a group of cowardly thieves who the kingsfae will execute as soon as they find them.” He gazed down his sharp nose at me. “Ithought I taught you better than that? How did you let them fool you so easily?”

I dipped my head. “I’m sorry. He said he was the Dark Raider, and his powerful magic was so...” I sighed, and a huge rush of relief pummeled me that Mushil hadn’t been murdered after all.But how did it appear that he had?Shaking my head, I added, “It doesn’t matter. It’s done and over now.”

Guardian Alleron clicked his tongue, then gazed ahead, but his cold disappointment clouded around me like a cool mist.

Shoulders slumping, my heart suddenly felt heavy. Sighing, I settled back, closed my eyes, and tried to dispel how foolish I felt. Guardian Alleron was right. Jax wasn’t the Dark Raider, and I’d been an idiot to believe my captor.

Another sigh lifted my shoulders, and I tried to get comfortable. It would indeed be a long day.Best to make the most of it.

But just as my mind began to drift to the promise of sleep, I stilled.

Nothing was around us.

No sound.

No movement.

The Wood had entirelystopped.

I bolted upright, my eyes flying open. Trees flew past us, and all of the guards still had their weapons raised. None of them appeared worried, and all seemed normal, yet...

The silence persisted.

I whipped around to face my guardian. “Guardian Alleron! I think?—”

Dozens of arrows abruptly whizzed through the air, their tips glowing with a magical essence. All of them hit the dome encasing us simultaneously.

Explosive magic pummeled the ward. It shattered into millions of glittering green sparks that cascaded all around us, falling in tiny glass shards to the road before disappearing.

I screamed just as the guards roared to one another and began to fire.

A dozen more arrows abruptly rained down on us, coming from everywhere.

Fifteen guards fell at once, tumbling off the carpets just as Guardian Alleron shouted, “The ward! A stronger one,now!”

The spellcaster clambered to his feet, his hands shaking and his face pale. Whispered words tumbled from his lips, but before he could repair the damage that had ripped through his ward, another arrow whizzed through the air and sliced clear through the spellcaster’s throat, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

My stomach lurched when the spellcaster tipped off the carpet. Blood smeared along the carpet’s edges, soaking into the fibers. Behind us, dead bodies lay in a pile, but the enchanted carpet didn’t slow. If anything, it picked up speed.

Tremors shook my entire body, and my magic sang inside me. The collar zapped and shocked me, wrestling my powers into submission, but my darkness tried to rise up anyway,clouding me protectively until the collar electrified me entirely.

Screaming, I fell back when a fresh burn scorched my neck, but the dousing worked. My magic settled back inside me just as the remaining guards jumped from the outer carpets to the inner one that Guardian Alleron and I rode on.

All of the hired guards continued firing even though neither Jax nor his friends were visible. The guards were firing blind, but Jax’s arrows continued to sail through the trees as though a phantom had shot them. And each arrow hit its mark.

Just like the first time. As before, everyone he hit died.

Or did they?

“Where is he?” Guardian Alleron seethed.

Faint hoofbeats abruptly reached my ears, the steady pattering of them growing louder and louder. In a burst of awareness, I understood how their attacks were always unseen.

One of them was using Mistvale magic to hide their appearance until the last moment. Anillusionwas covering them.Yes!Everything clicked into place. The guards hadn’t died. Whatever coated Jax’s arrows didn’t impale them but instead penetrated them with a potion that likely knocked them unconscious, yet hisillusionmade it appear that they died. The only arrow that had actually caused harm in the Dark Raider’s attacks had been when he’d shot at my guardian, probably doing so to fool my guardian into believing the others had actually perished.

Stars Above, only a fairy capable of wielding immenselypowerful Mistvale magic would be capable of that, which meant?—

“Get down!” I screamed.

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