Elk bowed his noble head. “The Grendel is not a shadow. Not in this world. He was a fairy once.” Elk crushed a clotted chunk of sand beneath his foot. “Our power is driven by laughter, music, and light. But dark creatures from the Shadowfields began to infiltrate the Nightfell Wood. As a powerful fairy, he swore he would defeat them and protect the elves who lived there. During his battles, he discovered the strength of fear, sorrow, and pain.”
Elric knew the power of those forces. The lord who had ruled their village used fear to control everyone beneath him.
Master Elk turned away from them, but his voice was no less resonant. “The Grendel became very powerful. When he defeated an army from the Shadowfields, he believed only he was strong enough to be king. But he was not given the crown.” Elk turned back, and his eyes glowed white and glittered. “The Grendel tried to prove the queen wasn’t strong enough to rule. He attacked her. In that moment, his heart and his magic became as black as the Shadowfields themselves.”
Elk looked out at the Nightfell Wood. “Dark fairy magic is like a disease. Once it gets hold, it slowly poisons the rest of your power. But it is strong, and we have never had to face a dark fairy as powerful as the Grendel before. The light of our magic gets pulled into his shadow and lost. We have no power that can equal dark magic, but if we tried to use our own dark magic against him, we would become like him, poisoned and corrupted. We cannot destroy him. All we can do is protect ourselves against him.”
“But surely the magic of the queen—” Elric began.
Elk’s eyes flashed red. “The magic of the queen shields us, and in turn, we protect her. Since you are now tied to the queen’s heart as her chosen son, you must learn to protect your mortal life at all cost. That is your duty.”
Elric twisted the toe of his boot in the sand. He didn’t like being called the queen’s son. He had only come here to save Wynn, and he had barely ever spoken to the queen. He was here to give Wynn a better life than the one she had in the Otherworld. He thought he had achieved that. But now he was looking toward a lifetime of always waiting for an attack.
“Elric!” Wynn called from somewhere behind him.
He jumped and spun around at the sound of his sister’s desperate voice. He dropped his staff and ran toward her at the edge of the arena. She was running with outstretched arms, already determined to hug him.
“Wynn, what are you doing here?” he asked as she crashed into him and wrapped him in one of her tight hugs. He gave her a quick squeeze, then put her at arm’s length. Out of habit he scanned her, looking for anything out of place. “And what happened to your shoe?” he asked.
“Elric! I found you!” She clapped.
Master Elk swung his long cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it around Wynn, covering her head with the hood. “Princess, why are you outside? Does the queen know you are here?” His voice was hushed, but there was an edge of sharp command in it that made Elric’s blood run cold.
Wynn looked at him with wide blue eyes. “My brother,” she said, her words soft.
The Captain took Elric by the arm and led him a few steps closer to the palace but kept his body between Wynn and the wood. “Get her back to her room immediately. Keep her hidden,” he demanded. “Do it now. We will continue training in the morning, and hurry.”
Zephyr crept closer. Elk grabbed Zephyr by the ear and tugged him back. “You still need to work on your healing magic.”
Elric tucked Wynn under his arm as they marched back toward the palace. “What is wrong?” he asked. He still couldn’t believe she made it to him on her own without getting caught.
“Danger,” she said, pushing back Elk’s heavy cloak, but he tucked it back up. “They want the Grendel to see you.”
Elric’s mind tried to puzzle out what she was attempting to tell him. She must have heard something very upsetting to try to find him so far from the palace. “What did you hear?” he asked.
“They want the Grendel to see you. Hide me,” she said, still upset. “No fighting.”
They passed under the enormous stone archways of the rock towers, and the high branches of the palace tree. They still had to go through the gardens to reach the doors to the throne room in the trunk of the great tree.
“Wynn, I don’t understand,” he said. She flapped her hands in response and walked around in a short circle. Wynn only did that when her emotions became too overwhelming. She wouldn’t be able to tell him what had upset her in this state. It would also be more difficult to lead her to her room. “Look at the gardens. Aren’t they pretty?” he asked, to try to distract her.
Flowers bloomed in swirling arcs and circles of color. He glanced around for someone but the gardens were surprisingly empty. That was odd. For the past few days the palace had been mostly deserted too. But he had to focus on his task and find a way to lure Wynn back to her room. “Have you seen Mildred?” he asked.
Wynn shook her head and looked even more upset. “Mildred is not in my room,” she answered, her words so unclear he almost didn’t understand them.
No, she wouldn’t have seen Mildred lately; the hen didn’t like climbing the stairs. Mildred was getting fat staying in the kitchens. The first few weeks in the Between, he took Wynn down to the kitchens to visit her, but he hadn’t done it in several days. He knew Wynn probably missed her bird. If
