“Were they able to track them?”
“To a point. They tracked them into the town but lost them. However, earlier this morning Luna did a location spell—she called on the spirits, and we think we have the answer.” She pushed a pad of paper over to me, and I looked at the tidy and precise writing. Even in a crisis, Ysandra was composed.
I picked it up and read aloud.
Look to the east, in the gloom and the shade.
Deep in the cavern where water runs through.
Near the sweet station, in honeyed glade.
Where your quarry sleeps, waiting for you.
“I am pretty sure I know where it is,” Luna said. She looked tired but focused. “I used to go out there with my folks because they put in time volunteering at the community gardens next to Sugarbee’s Honey. The company owns over a thousand acres on which they grow wildflowers, for their honey. Obviously, they keep bees.”
I stared at her. “Do you know of a cave near there?”
“There were several. I used to play around them, but I never went in. My mother would have trashed me if I had. Zoey did, though. She was always getting in trouble.” She shrugged. “But there is a creek out there, and I think it runs through at least one of the caves.”
“Then we head out. Not going to be so easy since it’s winter. We have a little over four hours till sunset. How long will it take to get there?” I stood up. “We don’t want them to have any advantage that we can spare.”
Kaylin struggled to lean forward. “I can’t go, but I will tell you this. Remember: They’re cornered. They’re desperate. They won’t hesitate to destroy anybody who gets in their way now. The game is over and they know it. They have nothing to lose.”
And on those solemn words, we armed up. Two of the guards took Kaylin home while we checked our weapons and made sure we had everything. Check brought reinforcements from the Barrows. We were going in thirty guards strong. I put in a call to Regina’s secretary and gave her the information of where we were headed. If we didn’t find them by dark, it would be nice to know the cavalry was on the way.
We headed out. The guards followed Grieve and Chatter, on foot at their top speed. Peyton, Luna, Rhiannon, Ysandra, and I took Ysandra’s car. I wondered how long we could go on like this. It had to end soon. There was no more wiggle room.
The afternoon was dark, and so we drove with our lights on, just to be cautious. The road to Sugarbee’s led east, into the Cascade foothills. During summer, it was a beautiful drive, but now, with Myst’s unending winter still claiming a full grip on the land, it was treacherous. We wound through the narrow two-lane highway, through snow-covered fields interspersed with ravines tangled thick with bramble and briar. The trees, tall firs and spruce, were blanketed with a heavy layer of snow, weighing down their limbs till they were touching the ground. And every sweep of the headlights caught the swirl of fresh flakes, muffling the road with an icy silence.
Grieve and the rest would meet us at Sugarbee’s. They could move so fast that—given the traffic and roundabout way—it wouldn’t take them much longer than our car.
Ysandra was driving, and a moody silence filled the car. The miles passed by until, twenty-five minutes later, we pulled off onto a side road. This would take us out toward the Snoqualmie National Forest. The snow was deeper here and coming down faster.
“You have snow tires on this thing, don’t you?” I glanced uneasily out the window. The SUV was small—a CRV. We were making decent headway, given the afternoon traffic and how icy the road was. But SUVs tipped at the most inopportune times, and I was nervous as we went by some of the ravines. Tumbling down one did not appeal to me.
She gave me a humorless snort. “Yes, I do. Trust me, I don’t want to go skidding off the road any more than you do.” With a glance at her GPS, she pressed a button and the device started, giving her step-by-step instructions to reach Sugarbee’s. The going was slower than normal, and traffic was starting to build. A number of techies lived out in the rural areas and commuted into the Bellevue-Redmond area for work.
Another thirty minutes and we reached the turnoff for the honey company. It was closed for the year, although a small store was open, selling holiday gifts. Ysandra pulled into the parking lot and turned to Luna, who was sitting in the backseat.
“Change places with Cicely. I’ll need your guidance from here on out. GPS can’t give us those cave locations.”
Luna shivered in the icy air, but I barely noticed it. Being the Queen of Snow and Ice had its perks. I hurried into the back as soon as she scrambled into the front, and I saw that she’d locked the door. We waited there for another fifteen minutes until Grieve popped out from behind a tree and waved at us.
We gave him a thumbs-up and headed out, this time at a slower pace with Luna directing. Easing out of the parking lot, we followed the road for another half mile, then turned to the left, which led into a park opposite the wildflower fields belonging to Sugarbee’s. The gates were still open; it wasn’t dusk yet, so we eased in and Ysandra managed to find a parking space where she could plow through the snow. It was obvious that no other vehicles had come through here recently.
When she shut off the motor, Luna said, “Along that trail there, then through the woods a little, and the caverns aren’t far off. If Geoffrey and Leo are in there, however, we’ll play havoc finding them. The cave system is like a maze and, at least when I was a kid, they had warning signs up all over the front. They were afraid that somebody would go exploring and get lost. The entrance isn’t on one of the main trails, but it was near a big sign that gave information on the area and the wildlife around here. I hope it’s still up, though I’m pretty sure I remember the way.”
“Well, there’s Grieve and the others,” I said, pointing to the trailhead. “Let’s get this show on the road. It’s already two ten. That gives us a little over two hours to find them and stake them. And as we saw yesterday, that isn’t always enough time.”
We hopped out of the car and met up with Grieve and the guards. Silent, we followed Luna as she took the lead between two of the burliest men. She needed to be up front, but we wanted her to be protected at all costs.
Luna, Peyton, and Ysandra couldn’t walk atop the snow like the rest of us, so we had to go at their pace. One of the guards walked in front of Luna, breaking the trail for her, which did help speed us up a little, but it was still slow going, and I knew the three women and Rhiannon had to be cold.
The snow was coming down in thick flakes, sticking to our lashes, dusting our hair and clothes, but we moved through it unspeaking. While Geoffrey and Leo would still be asleep, they might have brought day-runners with them. Even though we hadn’t seen any other vehicles out there, we didn’t dare take a chance on alerting anybody. So we went on silently.
Finally, Luna stopped, looking frustrated. “I know it was off this trail somewhere, but I don’t see that sign. Everything looks different in the winter.”
I moved up beside her. “I have an idea. Everyone, wait here.” And then, stepping back, I began to transform into my owl self. Thank heavens I didn’t have to strip anymore. As my body began to shift, a freedom raced through me, although the gashes on my legs seemed to hurt worse during the transformation, and I wasn’t sure why.
Arms became wings, fingers became feathers, and as I took flight, soaring over the others, I breathed easy for the first time in a while. But the freedom turned to high alert as I swooped, dipping a wing, and then headed off, following the trail, scanning the ground from above. I needed to find the sign Luna had been talking about.
The snow was trickier in owl form, and I picked up the pace, slowly beating my wings as I did my best to keep a straight path through the storm. From above, the world was a frozen wonderland, brilliant and white and covered in chill mist that swirled up from the falling snow.
I began to make sweeps, to the right, then the left, and then—I saw what looked to be a pile of wood under a mound of white. I slowly circled in, trying to discern what it was. As I approached closer, I saw that it was a sign, broken and falling apart. I remembered what Luna had said and flew off the main path, searching among the trees until I came to a clearing near the frozen stream. And there, beyond the stream, against the rock face of the fern and moss covered cliff, was the cave opening.
Bingo. Found it. Now to bring the others.
I will get them. I can speak to Grieve. Ulean took me by surprise, but in a good way.
Ulean! I didn’t know you were here.
You truly thought I’d let you go off on your own without watching over you? I am bound to you, Cicely. And then she was gone and I settled in a tree near the cave.
While I was waiting for them, I glanced around, looking for any sign of day-runners, but there were no footprints in the snow, no sign that any mortal had walked these woods for as long as it had taken the snow to pile up. I did, however, see a deer meander by, stopping to eat a few leaves off one of the fern fronds peeking out from the white that blanketed the area. And a fox raced past, chasing a mouse. My instinct to hunt stirred in my belly—the mouse looked like good pickings, but I repressed the urge, letting the fox have his dinner.
Finally, after I was certain there were no dangers that I could sense, I flew to the ground and returned to my normal state. As I stood, shaking my hair back, a noise made me whirl. How the hell had anybody managed to sneak up on me? I had been keeping a close watch.
No person stood there, but an Ice Elemental. It bowed to me, stiffly, and tilted its head, as if it were waiting. And then I saw yet another join it, and I realized they were drawn to me because I was their Queen. I ruled their world. Wiping my eyes, I wondered how I might communicate with them. How could I talk to them? And could they help us?
As I was hesitating, unsure what to say, a rush of wind encircled me. Ulean had returned.
The others are on the way. What have we here?
How can I speak to them? Do they know I’m their Queen?
Yes, they do. I suggest you speak into the slipstream. Focus on the meaning, not the actual words. They may be able to understand you, because it is your nature to communicate with them. Ask them to guard the area against the Shadow Hunters—Myst is surely not that far away.
With that thought, I hesitated no longer. As I spoke into the slipstream, I tried to focus on the meaning behind what I was saying.
My friends…I would have you guard this wood. I would have you keep the Shadow Hunters at bay. Here I visualized Myst and tried to force the essence of her cruelty and the vicious nature of the Shadow Hunters into my thoughts. Do not let them enter these woods. Destroy them if you see them. They bring death to our people.
Stopping, I waited to see if they’d react. And react they did. They gave me another short bow and turned, gliding off into the woods again, seeking, hunting the Hunters.
Will they tell the others of their kind?
Yes, I believe they will. But Strict can instruct you better in their ways than I can. You have much to learn, Cicely, but a lifetime in which to learn it.
At that moment, the others burst into the clearing. I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. 3:05. “We have a little over an hour left. There are the caves; let’s get a move on.”
Ulean, can you go inside, see if you can find Geoffrey and Lannan?
I’m on my way.
I told the others what she was doing, and we cautiously navigated along the stream bed. The creek wasn’t terribly deep, but it ran along as far as we could see, with boulders peeking out of the frozen water that covered its surface, curving and bending to fit the topography of the forest.
The last thing we needed was for someone to crash through the ice. Finally, finding no way over without crossing the surface, I instructed Check and his men to carry the other women across. Rhiannon and I could walk atop the ice, along with the rest of the Cambyra Fae.
Once over the ice, we hurried to the entrance of the cave. Ulean was waiting for me. Agitated, she blew this way and that, which told me there was trouble.
What’s going on?
I found the way to their chamber, where they sleep in their coffins. They’ve been here before, Cicely, that much is obvious. But there is a problem. The way is barred and you will have to fight through.
We have thirty guards with us, what could withstand our force? Surely the day-runners can’t fight us off.
Not day-runners. If only it were so easy.
Then who is in there guarding them?
Ulean howled. Shadow Hunters. They have over a dozen of Myst’s people in there—although I cannot find the Mistress of Mayhem herself. But the Shadow Hunters look starved, and they are scuffling for blood. The bloodlust runs thick and harsh, and I can feel them aching for the kill.
I stared at the cave. Shadow Hunters! Had Geoffrey made some sort of alliance with Myst after all? But no, they were at war.
How…what the hell do you think is going on, then?
They are chained, with plenty of give to the chain. I think he captured them and is holding them like a pack of wild guard dogs.
As I reluctantly turned to the others and told them what we were facing, my heart sank. Shadow Hunters…we had come through so much already in the past couple of days, and while I knew we would soon be facing Myst again, I’d hoped not to have her people along for the ride this time.
“Then the guard goes in first. Your Majesty, you and the Summer Queen must stay out here. We will fight this battle.” Check was doing his best to sound firm, but I shook my head.
“I know that’s probably smartest, but I cannot allow my men—and they are my men since I am the Queen—to go into battle against the Indigo Court without me there. It’s unthinkable.” I held up my hand. “No arguments. But know this: We take no quarter from them. Kill every Shadow Hunter in the place that you can lay hands on. And do it quick and clean. I don’t care if they might know where we can find Myst. We don’t have much time. We need to mop this up.”