Blood buzzing through my veins, I threw myself to my feet and aimed my blade at the spot between the unseelie’s neck and shoulder. I didn’t give a care in the world if I killed the bastard. My blade bit into him and stuck. He shrieked and bared viciously sharp teeth and a blood-red tongue. Stumbling back, he took my sword with him, jerking the hilt from my shaking hand. I lunged to grab it, and the fae used the opportunity to smash his club against my exposed side.
Pain shot through me, and my breath left in a rush. I crumpled to the ground and curled around myself. I was shocked that the fae had taken the sword slice to the shoulder without dying or at least passing out.
A circle of red light shimmered in the mossy earth around me. The unseelie avoided me then, attacking the others instead as they vied for a spot at the base of the treasure tree.
Sure, I probably had a broken rib, but I had to get up there to that damned gold. Was I still allowed to participate? What did the red circle mean beyond the fact that the fae weren’t permitted to injure me further? Would that rule be forgotten if I left the circle?
I tried to see over the teeming mass of fighting bodies, swords flashing in the setting sun, and clubs swinging like handless arms. There was no point in trying to get Lucus’s or anyone’s attention. I was invisible to them this far away.
Well, I couldn’t just sit here and nurse my broken rib or whatever it was. If only I could heal myself like Nora had healed Hekla.
A female unseelie rushed over and set warm hands on my side. I began to fight her but realized she was a healer. Her tunic was half red and half black, and she bent her head to her work, magic tingling across my injury, and a sigh left my lips. I forced myself not to look at her. I knew if I did, her lure would distract me. It was hard enough sitting still for this instead of leaning into her herb-like scent and the thrilling delight of her closeness.
Before I could thank her, she was up and gone along with most of my pain. The red circle that had protected me disappeared, and I wasted no time dashing for the tree and starting my climb again, this time without my sword. I didn’t want to waste precious minutes retrieving it and didn’t want to have to carry its weight as I worked my way through the dense branches and clusters of dark leaves.
I was sucking wind by the time I was within arm’s reach of the treasure. On tiptoe, I grasped for the bottom of the basket, but my fingers found only air. I was so close, but not quite high enough.
An unseelie female with chestnut braids was only one branch beneath me. The branch I needed to reach was too far away to simply climb to. I’d have to jump and grab for it. Taking a breath, I went for it, throwing myself through the air and praying I wasn’t about to give every branch I’d passed on the way up a full-body high five. My hands hit the branch, and I gripped the gnarled wood, my knuckles cracking with the effort. I slung my leg over and raced to beat the female fae to the chest.
I gripped the bottom edge of the gold-filled basket.
Vines shot from the basket, and cheering erupted from below. More vines grabbed both me and the gold with a surprising gentleness. As I was lowered to the ground, I scanned the playing field for Hekla and Lucus. Hekla was there. Not far from where we’d started with Lucus standing over her like a guard. Blood ran down her face, but she was saying something to him so at least she was alive. Fae healers were working on the Binder as Nora stood beside them, her gaze pinned on me. Her eyes seemed to say Please let you and yours be the key to getting us the hell out of here. It was the most normal expression she’d shown yet.
Arleigh swept through the air, the leaves on her wings undulating and her hair floating around her otherworldly face. “Congratulations, Mage Coren.” She held out a hand, magic flared around her fingertips, and the vines holding me and the treasure retreated. Speaking to a guard with wide-set eyes, she said, “Take the gold to the mages’ camp.” Facing me, she smiled. I fought a shudder. “You’ll have the opportunity to use your winnings in games of chance in the near future if you so choose.” She glanced at Lucus. “We fae will do much for gold, won’t we?”
Lucus looked like he wanted to gnaw her head off, but he lowered his gaze respectfully. “Of course, Queen Arleigh.”
The queen clapped her hands and flew above the crowd. “To the list!”
I remembered in the medieval times people had called the joust the list or the lists. It was a derivative slang thing that branched off the words they’d used for the walls in the jousting area.
It was time for Hekla to meet her dark unicorn.
Chapter 19
The fae began moving across the bloodied meadow toward another section of the forest. I fought the flow of bodies—there were so many that they couldn’t all take flight—and headed for Lucus and Hekla.
Hekla, blood caked along the side of her face, was on her feet by the time Nora and the Binder walked up. “Your guy here is a gem, and that’s not sarcasm,” Hekla said with a shaky voice. “I’d be long gone if he hadn’t hung out here with me. An unseelie tried to take my head off with a club.
