“Let’s find the others,” I said.
Cathbad handed me the torch, and we walked around the perimeter of the castle, glancing from side to side for signs of our comrades or attacking beasts.
“What happened to you?” I whispered. “One minute, we were standing in front of the vines, and the next, everyone was gone.”
“Something grabbed me from behind and tossed me away,” he whispered back. “Before I could shout a warning, it filled my mouth with fur.”
“They’re trying to separate us.”
I rubbed at my sore chest, not bothering to add that whoever was behind these attacks probably wanted my companions dead.
The ground crunched underfoot but silence muffled up the sound. We kept close to the twisting vines, which seemed to ripple and writhe in the edge of my vision. I squeezed the Sword of Tethra, readying it for a sudden attack.
Cathbad raised a hand. “Do you feel that?”
“What?” I asked.
“That breeze.”
“But there’s no wind,” I whispered.
“Then someone must be moving the air with strong magic.”
“Drayce.”
We burst into a run, raced alongside the wall, rounded the corner, and stumbled to a stop. Two torches lay on the ground, illuminating Drayce and Aengus standing back-to-back, each slicing at horned, man-sized creatures with their swords. The monsters leaped from the dark with claws outstretched, but Drayce’s shadows wrapped around their necks and pierced their guts, raining down torrents of blood.
“Why isn’t he cocooning himself with shadows?” I whispered.
“He wants to destroy them,” Cathbad replied.
A pair of arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into the air. I gasped and Cathbad yelped, but a female voice said, “It’s Rosalind. Cathbad, stop squirming.”
I held the torch aloft and twisted around to find her face covered in blood. “Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing fatal.” She flew several feet above the ground and to the vines. “Please wait here. His Majesty and Aengus have nearly finished.”
After slipping the Sword of Tethra back into its hilt, I placed a foot on the juncture between a wooded vine and one of its thick branches and then reached for it with my free hand. Cathbad and I secured ourselves within the vegetation, and Rosalind flew over Drayce and Aengus, illuminating the monsters with her torch.
She cast the light mostly on Aengus’ side, who didn’t have the advantage of shadows and being able to see in the dark. The two males continued slashing and stabbing at the creatures, thinning their numbers.
Cold fear trickled down my back. The Fear Dorcha must consider them the biggest threat.
“Shouldn’t we do something to help them?” I asked.
Cathbad flinched and then glanced down at my hands, which were covered in dried blood. “Can you touch salt, Your Majesty?”
“I haven’t tried since losing my humanity,” I replied.
He climbed down a few feet, saying, “Then please wait here, and I will salt these vines.”
I was about to ask why, when a tendril the size of a silk thread wrapped around my wrist. With a snarl, I snapped it off, only for another tendril to coil around my ankle. Something the thickness of my little finger snaked around my neck. I peeled it away and yanked it out by the root. Our presence must have triggered the vines to come alive.
“Hurry,” I whispered.
Cathbad grunted his agreement and disappeared into the dark.
Snarls and snorts and screams filled the silence as the battle continued. I elbowed a twisting stalk, pulled at questing leaves, and stomped on encroaching branches, waiting for Cathbad’s salt to subdue the vine. Right now, I wished I had flames to burn the vegetation or a leather glove to wrap around my hands. I itched to plunge an iron dagger into the wretched plants.
After what felt like an eternity of struggling, the vines groaned and shrank, making me cling onto their woodier stems to keep from falling. The battle ebbed to a few whimpers as the remaining creatures scuttled back toward the forest.
“Finally.” I turned my gaze to the vines, which now resembled desiccated trees instead of lush, green plants.
“Your Majesty?” Rosalind appeared at my side. “I’m sorry for putting you in danger.”
I shook my head. “If I stayed on the ground, those creatures would have surrounded me or something would have attacked from behind. Besides, those vines didn’t start moving until after you left.”
Relief spread across her features, and she glanced down to where Drayce, Aengus and Cathbad climbed the vines.
“I tried the front door, but it’s jammed, ” Cathbad said from several feet below. “Now that I’ve rendered the vines dormant, we need an alternative means of approaching the interior.”
Drayce climbed to my side, his worried gaze searching my face. I smiled and nodded, indicating that I was fine.
He closed his eyes, loosening a breath. “When those things surrounded us, I feared that they had taken you.”
I rested my head against his shoulder, inhaling his reassuring, leathery scent. “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head and smiled. “And you?”
“It’s not me they want to kill,” I murmured.
We fell silent, staring into each other’s eyes as Cathbad and Aengus climbed to our level. In the glow of Crom Cruach’s molten gold, Drayce’s eyes were a deep, pine-green mingled with stars of emerald. My heart clenched. How many more obstacles would we need to cross before we reached Melusina and the Fear Dorcha?
I tried not to think that we had three more of these Courts to liberate until we could free my kingdom, tried not to think of what it would take to put Drayce back on his throne.
“What next?” Aengus’ voice cut through my musings.
Drayce tipped his head back and squinted up into the vines. “I see an open window on the top floor.”
“They’ll be waiting for us,” I said.
“Then they had better send more than a pack of beasts,” he replied with a grin.
Aengus huffed a laugh. “Well said.”
Some of the tightness in my chest loosened at their good cheer.
The patch of dead vines was broad and strong enough to accommodate the four of us and contained branches thick and twisting enough to provide footholds. As we climbed,
