Page 4 of Bound to the Orc King

“To plan, we need to know more about the dark fae,” I say, frustration eating at me. “Do they number in the hundreds? Thousands? Do they all have this shadow magic?”

“Do they all have the ability to fly?” Dravarr’s glare threatens to burn any foe where they stand. His moon bound bride, Ashley, is a human witch who can fly. If we face enemies in the air, she’ll be first in line to go up against them. As powerful as she is, she’s not a warrior trained to kill, and I would not squash her sunny nature by expecting such from her.

“We could leave the crystal somewhere isolated,” Wranth says, “like the Northern Wastes.”

“And let potentially thousands of our foe enter Alarria uncontested?” I shake my head. “No. The door to Avalon might be a danger, but it’s also a bottleneck. They can only come through one at a time. We must hold the door.”

“Ironic.” Wranth snorts. “Our people spend three-hundred years bemoaning that the doors of Faerie closed, but as soon my Naomi opens them, I wish we could close them again.”

“No, you don’t.” I clap a hand to his shoulder. “Visiting Avalon allowed you to discover the truth of who you are. And the door to Earth lets your bride visit her friends and family.”

“You’re right. I’m glad of all that.” His mouth twitches upward on the left in his familiar wry smile. Then his expression hardens. “But this…”

“We need the dragons,” Dravarr says.

“We need all of our allies,” I agree. Thank the goddess, these past few months, I’ve forged strong bonds with the other types of Wild Fae scattered across Alarria.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” I say. “We’ll keep the door at the campsite temporarily with a rotating guard of at least six warriors, using my people and warriors from the village.”

Dravarr grits his teeth and nods.

“We send messengers to the dragons and the others, calling for a meeting. Perhaps the dragons know of a way to lock a door of Faerie.” As the historians and knowledge hoarders of Faerie, the dragons are our best hope.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Wranth says.

“I haven’t either. All the stories say that once the doors are open, the magic of Faerie flows through them, making them impossible to close.” I press a fingertip to the wooden tabletop. “So if we can’t close it, we decide where to place the door to best defend against the dark fae.”

We hash out the logistics of setting up the rotation to watch the door, each of us putting ourselves in the mix. It’s late by the time we break up the meeting, the night air cool when we step out of the pub into the village green. The moonless night is dark with all the business-filled cottages ringing the open area closed for the day, but my eyes adjust fairly quickly.

“Thank you both,” I say. “It’s a good plan. We’ll meet again in the morning with more of the—”

Blinding light and the high shriek of piping horns cut across my words as the moon appears in the sky. The goddess!

My heart skips as she dives for me, her celestial music strident.

Light suffuses my entire being, filling me with her ringing command.

Magic thrums through me, tugging at the chain now anchored in my heart. I spin toward the north. By the time my eyes readjust to the sudden return of darkness, I know exactly where I must go.

All of the careful plans I just made mean naught.

I have been summoned.

I will go where the Moon Goddess bids me.

And at the end of my journey, I will claim my moon bound bride.

CHAPTER THREE

May

Light surrounds me with warmth and radiant joy—my mother sounds ecstatic to have found me!

“Mom!” I try to say, but I don’t seem to have a mouth or ears. I can’t feel my body. I’m nothing but light. The word pulses outward from me as pure thought instead of sound.

The music changes, the high bells quieting to let the strings thrum a haunting melody that makes my soul ache.

She’s trapped and lonely, so terribly lonely, and I’m the only person who can set it right.

---