The Lost Prince

Page 53

“No! You win, okay?” Shifting my blades to both hands, I hurled them away, into the trees. They glinted for a brief second, catching the moonlight, before they fell into shadow and were lost from view.
“A wise move,” the cat-thing purred, and nodded to the faeries holding the girl. They dragged her upright and shoved her forward, as the rest of the Forgotten closed in. She stumbled, and I caught her before she could fall. Her heart was racing, and I held her tight, feeling her tremble against me.
“You all right?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” she replied, as the Forgotten made a tight circle around us, hemming us in. “I’m fine. But if they touch me again, I’m going to snap one of their stupid pointed legs off and stab them with it.”
Jokes again. Kenzie being brave because she was terrified. As if I couldn’t see the too-bright gleam in her eyes, the way she looked back at the place where Razor had fallen, crumpled and motionless. I’m sorry, I wanted to tell her. This is my fault. I never should have brought you here.
The circle of Forgotten began to drift forward, poking us with bony talons, forcing us to move. I looked back once, at the shadows that held the limp body of the gremlin, before being herded into the trees.
* * *
The Forgotten escorted us through the woods, down a winding path that looked much like every other trail in the Ramble, and deeper into the forest. We didn’t walk far. The narrow cement path led us through a dense gully of boulders and shrubs, until we came to a strange stone arch nestled between two high outcroppings. The wall was made of rough stone blocks and was a good twenty or more feet high. The narrow arch set in the middle was only five or six feet across, barely wide enough for two people to pass through side-by-side.
It was also guarded by another Forgotten, a tall, skeletal creature that looked like a cross between a human and a vulture. It squatted atop the wall, bristling with black feathers, and its head was a giant bird skull with blazing green eye sockets. Long talons were clasped to its chest, like a huge bird of prey’s, and even hunched over it was nearly ten feet tall. Kenzie shrank back with a gasp, and the cat-thing sneered at her.
“Don’t worry, girl,” she said as we approached the arch without the giant bird creature noticing us. “He doesn’t bother humans. Only fey. He can see the location of a single faery miles away. Now that the park is virtually empty, we’re going to have to hunt farther afield again. The lady is growing stronger, but she still requires glamour. We must accede to her wishes.”
“You don’t think the courts will catch on to what’s happening?” I demanded, glaring at the Forgotten who poked me in the back when I stopped to stare at the huge creature. “You don’t think they might notice the disappearance of so many fey?”
The cat-faery laughed. “They haven’t so far,” she cackled as we continued down the path, toward the arch and its monstrous guardian. “The Summer and Winter courts don’t care about the exiles on this side of the Veil. And a few scraggly half-breeds are certainly below their notice. As long as we don’t bother the fey in the Nevernever, they have no idea what is happening in the real world. The only unknown factor is the new Iron Court and its half-human queen.” She smiled at me, showing yellow teeth. “But now, we have the bright one. And you.”
We’d come to the opening in the wall, directly below the huge bird-creature perched overhead. Beyond the arch, I could see the path winding away, continuing between several large boulders and out of sight. But as the first of the Forgotten went through the arch, the air around them shimmered, and they disappeared.
I stopped, causing a couple of Forgotten to hiss impatiently and prod me in the back, but I didn’t move. “Where does this go?” I asked, though I sort of knew the answer.
The cat-faery gestured, and the Forgotten crowded close, making sure we couldn’t back away. “Your Dark Muse isn’t the only one who can move through the Between, little boy. Our lady knew about the spaces between the Nevernever and the real world long before Leanansidhe ever thought to take over the courts. The cave here in the park is only the anchor—it exists in the same place, but we have fashioned it to our liking. This isn’t the only entrance, either. We have dozens of tunnels running throughout the park, so we can appear anywhere, at any time. The silly faeries that lived here didn’t even know what was going on until it was too late. But enough talking. The lady is waiting. Move.”
She gestured, and the fey behind us dug a long talon into my ribs. I grunted in pain and went through the arch with Kenzie behind me.
As the blackness cleared and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked around in astonishment. We were in a huge cavern, the ceiling spiraling up until I could just make out a tiny hazy circle directly overhead. That was the real world, way up there, beyond our reach. Down here, it looked like an enormous ant or termite nest, with tunnels snaking off in every direction, ledges running along walls, and bridges spanning the gulfs between. The walls and floor of the cave were spotted with thousands of glowing crystals, and they cast a pale, eerie luminance over the hundreds of Forgotten that roamed the cavern. Except for the thin faeries and the dwarves with killer hands, I didn’t recognize any of these fey.
The Forgotten escorted us across the chamber, down a long, winding tunnel with fossils and bones poking out of the walls. More passageways and corridors wound off in every direction, bleached skeletons staring at us from the stone: lizards, birds, giant insects. I saw the fossil of what looked like a winged snake, coiled around a huge column, and wondered how much of the cave was real and how much was in the Between.
We walked through a long, narrow tunnel, under the rib cage of some giant beast, and entered another cavern. Here, the floor was dotted with large holes, and above us, the ceiling glittered with thousands of tiny crystals, looking like the night sky. A burly fey with an extra arm growing right out of his chest stood guard at the entrance, and eyed us critically as we approached.
“Eh? We’re bringing humans down here now?” He peered at me with beady black eyes and curled a lip. “This one has the Sight, but no more glamour than the rocks on the ground. And the rest of the lot are all used up. What do we need ’em for?”
“That is not your concern,” snapped the cat-faery, lashing her tail against her flanks. “You are not here to ask questions or attempt to be intelligent. Just make sure they do not escape.”
The burly fey snorted. Turning away, it used its extra hand to snatch a long wooden ladder leaning against the wall, then dropped it down into a pit.
“Get down there, mortal.” A jab to the ribs prodded me forward. I walked to the edge and peered down. The ladder dropped away into black, and the sides of the hole were steep and smooth. I stared hard into the darkness, but I couldn’t see the bottom.
Afraid that if I stood there much longer I’d get forcibly shoved into the black pit, I started down the ladder. My footsteps echoed dully against the wood, and with every step, the darkness grew thicker, until I could barely see the rungs in front of me.
I hope there’s not something nasty down here, I thought, then immediately wished I hadn’t.
My shoes finally hit a sandy floor, and I backed carefully away from the ladder, as Kenzie was coming down, as well. As soon as she hit the bottom, the ladder zipped up the wall and vanished through the opening, leaving us in near blackness.
I gazed around, waiting for my eyes to adjust. We stood in the center of a large chamber, the walls made of smooth, seamless stone. No handholds, no cracks or ledges, just flat, even rock. Above us, I could barely make out the hazy gray circles that were the holes in the floor above. The ground was covered in pale sand, with bits of garbage scattered here and there; the wrapper of a granola bar or a chewed apple core. Something had been down here recently, by the looks of it.
And then, a shuffle in the corner of the room made my heart skip a beat. My earlier thoughts were correct. Something was still down here with us. Lots of things. And they were getting closer.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kenzie’s Confession
Grabbing Kenzie, I pulled her behind me, backing away as several bodies shuffled forward into the beam of hazy light.
Humans. All of them. Young and old, male and female. The youngest was probably no more than thirteen, and the oldest had a gray beard down to his chest. There were about two dozen of them, all ragged and filthy-looking, like they hadn’t bathed or eaten in a while.
Staring at them, my nerves prickled. There was something about this group that was just…wrong. Sure, they were ragged and filthy and had probably been captives of the Forgotten for a while now, but no one came forward to greet us or demand who we were. Their faces were blank, their features slack, and they gazed back with no emotion in their eyes, no spark of anger or fear or anything. It was like staring into a herd of curious, passive sheep.
Still, there were a lot of them, and I tensed, ready to fight if they attacked us. But the humans, after a somewhat disappointed glance, like they were expecting us to be food, turned away and shuffled back into the darkness.
I took a step forward. “Hey, wait!” I called, the echo bouncing around the pit. The humans didn’t respond, and I raised my voice. “Just a second! Hold up!”
A few of them turned, regarding me without expression, but at least it was something. “I’m looking for a friend of mine,” I went on, gazing past their ragged forms, trying to peer into the shadows. “His name is Todd Wyndham. Is there anyone by that name down here? He’s about my age, blond hair, short.”
The humans stared mutely, and I sighed, frustration and hopelessness threatening to smother me. End of the road, it seemed. We were stuck here, trapped by the Forgotten and surrounded by crazy humans, with no hope of rescuing Keirran or Annwyl. And Todd was still nowhere to be found.
There was a shuffle then, somewhere in the darkness, and a moment later a human pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He was about my age, small and thin, with scruffy blond hair and…
A jolt of shock zipped up my spine.