message as her skin tingled gently as if she were lying in the noonday sun.
A few seconds later an arm slipped around her and Laurel clung to it as Tamani’s cheek settled by her hair. “Go to sleep,” Tamani whispered. “I won’t let anything else hurt you.”
“D-d-david, he’s waiting…”
“Don’t worry,” Tamani soothed, stroking her arm. “He’s sleeping too. Shar will make sure he’s safe. You both just need to rest now.”
All she could do was nod as she nestled against Tamani’s chest and let everything else slip out of her mind.
Gentle fingers trailed through Laurel’s hair as she slowly stretched and rolled onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and met Tamani’s.
“Good morning,” he said with a soft smile as he sat beside her head.
She grinned, then her eyes looked up at the star-filled sky and the small lamp still hanging from the branches above her. “Is it?”
Tamani laughed. “Well, it’s very early in the morning I suppose, but yes.”
“Did you sleep?”
He shook his head. “Too much to do.”
“But—”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve done worse.” His smile dropped away and his jaw squared. “It’s time to go.”
“Go where?” she asked, sitting up.
“To take care of the trolls before they finish killing your father.”
“Trolls?” She shook her head. Surely she’d misheard. She’d sat up too quickly, that was all. “My father? You can help my father?”
“I don’t know,” Tamani admitted. “But it won’t matter unless we take care of the trolls first.” Tamani tilted his head very slightly to the side. “Come on out, Shar. I know you’re listening.”
Another man stepped silently out from behind a tree Laurel would have sworn was much too small for him to hide behind. He had the same confident stance as Tamani and the same green eyes. His roots were green too, but the rest of his hair was light blond and long — pulled back away from his face. Shar had the same perfection she still wasn’t accustomed to seeing in Tamani; his face was rougher though, full of sharp angles where Tamani’s was soft. He was taller than Tamani — almost as tall as David — with long, wiry limbs and solid arms and chest.
“Laurel, Shar. Shar, Laurel,” Tamani said without looking at the other faerie.
Laurel stared, wide-eyed, but Shar only nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, listening as he leaned back against the tree he had just stepped out from behind.
“I should have realized it was the trolls trying to buy this land. The creatures you described can’t be anything else. We need to take care of them before those papers can be signed.”
“Trolls? Like real trolls? Are you serious? Why would…trolls…care about buying this land? Just because you guys live here?”
Tamani glanced over his shoulder at Shar before turning back to Laurel. “No. It’s because the gateway is here.”
“Gateway?”
“Tamani, you go too far,” Shar growled.
Tamani twisted his body back around. “Why? Don’t you think she, of all fae, has a right to know?”
“That’s not your decision to make. You’re letting it get too personal.”
“It
“We stick with the plan,” Shar insisted.
“I’ve been sticking with the plan for twelve years, Shar. But trolls mere hours away from gaining title to this land and undoing everything we’ve worked for is not part of the plan either.” He paused, glaring at his companion. “Things have changed, and she needs to know what’s at stake.”
“The Queen won’t be happy.”
“The Queen has spent most of her reign making me miserable. Perhaps it’s best if the tide changes for once.”
“I trust you, Tamani, but you know I can’t hide this.”
A long moment passed as the two men studied each other. “So be it,” Tamani said and turned back to Laurel. “I told you once that I guarded something very special. It’s not something I can pick up and move — that’s why this land is so important. It’s a gate to the realm. The only barrier over a gateway to Avalon.”
“Avalon?” Laurel breathed.
Tamani nodded. “There are four gateways in the entire world that lead to it. Hundreds of years ago, the gateways were open. They were still secret and guarded by those who knew of them, but the fact is that too many knew. Since the beginning of time, trolls have been trying to take over Avalon. It’s such a perfect piece of earth that nature is not the only abundant resource there. Gold and diamonds are as common as sticks and stones. They mean nothing to us except as decorations.” Tamani grinned. “We like things that sparkle, you know.”
Laurel laughed as she thought of the glass prisms she had strung across her bedroom window years ago. “I thought that was just a personal preference.”
“Never met the faerie who didn’t,” Tamani said with a smile. “But the trolls have always tried to bribe their way into the human world with money. Some trolls spend their entire lives treasure hunting, and Avalon is too great a treasure to pass up. For centuries, it was a place of death and destruction as the trolls tried to overrun and destroy us and the faeries desperately tried to protect their home. But during the reign of King Arthur, everything changed.”
“King Arthur?
“Not a bit, though like everything else, the stories never quite got it right. I tell you this, if you want to keep a secret, turn it into a human story. They’ll mess it up so badly in a hundred years, no one would ever be able to separate the truth from the myth.”
“I’d take offense except, so far, I’ve found that to be completely true.”
Tamani shrugged.
“What did King Arthur do?”
“Mostly it’s what his magician Merlin did. Arthur, Merlin, and Oberon—”
“Oberon? Shakespeare’s Oberon?”
“Shakespeare was hardly the first to memorialize him, but yes, that King Oberon. Together with Arthur and Merlin, Oberon created a sword that held so much magic that whoever wielded it was sure to come out victorious in battle.”
“Excalibur,” Laurel said breathlessly.
“Exactly. Oberon, Arthur, and Merlin led the greatest army Avalon has ever seen into battle against the trolls to banish them forever. Faeries, Arthur and his knights, Merlin and his three mistresses, and Oberon himself. The trolls never had a chance. The faeries purged Avalon of the trolls, and Oberon created the gates to guard against their return. But even for a Winter faerie, it was more magic than any living plant could bear. The greatest faerie king in history gave his life to make the gate I guard.”
“It’s all so incredible,” Laurel said.
“It’s your history,” Tamani said. “Your heritage.”
Shar grunted behind him, but Tamani ignored him. “That’s why it’s so important that this land not fall into the hands of the trolls. The gateways can never be destroyed — but the gates that guard them can. And if the gates are destroyed, Avalon will be open to anyone. Our home will become a place of war and destruction again. We have records of the terrible revenge the trolls took on Camelot, and we can only imagine the similar fate that awaits Avalon if they find their way in.”
“Why now? My mom’s been trying to sell this land for ages. They could have bought it years ago.”
Tamani shook his head. “We don’t know. Honestly, I’m almost afraid to find out. Trolls hate losing. They never make a move unless they’re sure they can win. Maybe they’ve gotten a really big group of them together. Maybe…maybe…” He sighed. “I don’t even know. But they have some kind of secret they think will give them an advantage. And unless we find out what it is, we may not stand a chance.” Tamani paused. “We didn’t think they even knew where this gate was.”
