The guards looked at me suspiciously as they shoved me roughly into a cold, dark cell. They left, their booted feet thumping on the stone floor. I heard the wooden dungeon door creak and slam shut. Even the cackling laughter of the old woman dissipated, then . . . silence.
The Black Wolf
I looked around, my eyes adjusting to the darkness. Moonlight streamed in through a small, barred window, which was high up on one wall of the dungeon cell.
I heard some scuffling and my heartbeat sped up. “Who’s there?”
A young boy who looked about my age stepped out from the shadows. He was tall and lanky with blond hair that was more silver than gold and that reached past his shoulders. “Good eve to you, my lady.”
I glanced behind him. Another, dark-haired person stood motionless, leaning against a wall and hidden in shadows; I couldn’t see his face clearly.
“We mean you no harm,” said the fair-haired boy. “I am Kalen, and the surly one over there is my friend, Finn. Don’t worry about him, he’s just upset about being caught.” He stopped to take a breath, and before I could say anything, he started talking again. “Not to say that I am not upset too, but Mother always says there is no use worrying about something you have no control over. What is going to happen, will happen. There is nothing you can do about it.”
Finn stepped out from the shadows. “Do you have to be so cheerful all the time, Kalen? We are in Oblek’s dungeon. You know no one gets out of here alive.”
Kalen scowled at his friend. “You just can’t be optimistic can you?”
“I would,” Finn retorted, “if there was something to be optimistic about.”
I got up from my corner, slowly moving closer to Kalen. Finn shot me a dark look and stepped back into the shadows.
I instinctively liked Kalen. He spoke extremely quickly, but he seemed like a sincere person, saying whatever came into his head. I looked closely at him when the moon shone through the window. Kalen’s eyes had changed color, from violet to silver and back, while he was talking to me. And I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but I could swear that his ears were slightly pointed.
I shook my head. Maybe I was so tired I was hallucinating. I lowered my voice. “Who are you?”
Kalen grinned. “Never seen one of the fae before, have you?”
“Fae?”
Kalen nodded. “I have heard in the northern kingdoms they sometimes refer to us as fairies.”
My eyes grew wide. Fairies. Was he serious? He didn’t look like any fairy I had read about. I knew it wasn’t possible—fairies didn’t exist. But I thought magical worlds didn’t exist either, and look how wrong I’d turned out to be.
Why had Oblek locked them up in the dungeons? He had even mentioned that they were to be executed at dawn. Were they dangerous?
Kalen furrowed his brows in confusion. “You don’t seem to be from around these parts.”
I shook my head; what could I say? That until tonight I never knew this strange land existed? I had no idea who to trust, but if Oblek wanted them dead, then at least I knew they were not on Morgana’s side.
I glanced at Finn from the corner of my eye. “So, um, you’re both fairies?”
“Yes, but we do prefer to be called fae.” Kalen stuck out his puny chest. “Where are you from?” he continued, but obviously became tired of waiting for an answer and proceeded to answer his own question. “Probably from Andrysia or Kelliandria.” His eyes widened. “Or maybe you are a tribal princess captured from Rohron? Although I thought the people from Rohron had darker skin.”
I nodded, intentionally silent. I wished I had a map of this world. “Do you live nearby?” I tried to move the conversation away from myself.
“Yes, and we are some of the last few left in Illiador. Most of the fae live in Elfi now.”
“Elfi?” I repeated after him, sounding very silly, even to myself.
Kalen lifted his brows. “Surely you have heard of the land of Elfi, the kingdom of the fae that lies to the south?”
“Oh, that Elfi,” I said, trying to cover my lack of knowledge. “Yes, yes, of course I know Elfi, kingdom of the fae.” I was talking quickly—too quickly—and Finn was looking at me with an unfriendly glare.
Kalen was oblivious to his friend’s mistrust of me and continued with his story. “Ever since Morgana became queen, our kind have been tortured, brutalized, and killed. We’ve been run out of our homes, had our festivals banned, and had our houses burned. Some say that Morgana is trying to run all the fae out of Illiador, since so many have left these lands and gone back to our homeland. Our village in the Goldleaf Forest is the last one left.”
Finn stepped forward. “That’s enough, Kalen. You can’t tell her everything; she may be one of them. Who knows why they have put her in here?”
Kalen’s eyes narrowed and briefly turned silver. “Are you a mage?”
My eyes widened. What was a mage? I knew it had something to do with having magic, but I wasn’t sure. Oblek seemed to have some sort of magic—I had seen him use it on my uncle, and I had felt it when he tried to choke the life out of me.
“I am not a mage,” I said quickly, trying to cover up my dumbfounded look. “I just need to get away from Lord Oblek, or he is going to take me to Queen Morgana.” I hoped that using their hatred for Morgana would spur them to help me.
Kalen’s grew wide. “Why, what did you do?”
I didn’t want to say too much. Not that I knew much to begin with. I still wasn’t sure whom I could trust here, but these fae definitely seemed like a safer bet than Oblek. “I didn’t do anything. It’s because of my
