But Feddrah-Dahns gazed down at her, then slowly edged his way down to where he was kneeling on his front legs. He bowed his head to her.
"Priestess" was all he said, but his tone conveyed one hell of a lot. We'd only recently found out that Iris was a priestess of Undutar, the Finnish goddess of mists and fog. She worked with ice magic and snow, and I had a feeling we'd only skimmed the surface of what the Talon-haltija was capable of.
Iris curtsied and reached up to slide her hands over the downy hair of his forehead. He looked like he was enjoying the attention. She whispered something to him, and he whinnied. Backing away, she tapped me on the arm.
"Come help me in the kitchen."
I followed her, wondering what she wanted to tell me. We'd barely entered the kitchen when Iris spun around, her eyes wide.
"Do you know who that is?"
I shrugged. "Feddrah-Dahns, a unicorn from the Windwillow Valley. He showed up on the street outside my shop today with a goon squad from OW on his heels. They were intent on bringing him down with a blowgun. Something about him helping a pixie or something."
Iris shook her head with a puzzled air. "Camille, that's not just any unicorn standing there in your living room. He's the crown prince."
I stared at her. "Say what?"
"Feddrah-Dahns is the heir to the crown of the Dahns unicorns. You have a crown prince sitting—standing—in your living room."
"Holy Mother Moon." I slid into a chair at the table, unsure of what to think. "How do you know? He didn't say anything of the sort. Are you positive?"
"Didn't you see the etchings on his horn?" Iris leaned against the counter. "Surely you haven't been Earthside long enough to forget all that you learned when you were back home? Hell, I'm an Earthside Fae, and even I can recognize him for what he truly is."
"Find out what's keeping Chase, would you?" I hurried back into the living room. At the shop, I hadn't had enough time to focus on Feddrah-Dahns's horn. I'd been too busy keeping Lindsey from hurting herself and keeping the goblin brigade from hurting the unicorn.
As I slowly entered the room, Feddrah-Dahns looked over at me, and in that moment, I saw what I'd so thoroughly missed before. Or maybe he'd cloaked himself from me; it would be easy enough for him to mask his markings. As I watched, a golden glow flickered around his horn, and when I looked closer, I saw the faint markings etched on the golden spire that were indeed the sign of a king.
I shuddered. Unicorns were rare enough back in OW. Meeting one of their royalty was far from common.
The Court and Crown in our home city, Y'Elestrial, had treated my sisters and me like we didn't exist. We were pariahs, Windwalkers, half-breeds. But now that we were stuck Earthside, facing a bunch of demons and under a death threat, we seemed to be magnets for out-of-the-ordinary royalty. Elfin queens and unicorn kings were making their way to our door like stray cats.
Bringing my attention back to Feddrah-Dahns, I knelt into a deep curtsy. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness. I didn't recognize you until now. A poor excuse, but it's the truth. What may we do for you?"
Feddrah-Dahns let out a long whinny that sounded like a sigh. "It's what I can do for you, young witch. The new portals that have opened are producing mayhem of the worst kind. I told you the goblin and his cohorts stole something from me. It was a gift that I'd sent my assistant to bring to you."
"To me? What could you be sending to me? We've never even met."
A wave of dizziness swept over me, and I caught myself on the back of the recliner. Earth shift. When major portents streaked across the sky, or when a witch found herself at a crossroads, reality would jostle in a tangible wave. These shifts left me reeling with vertigo. Back in Otherworld, I'd barely noticed them—magic was so embedded within the land. But here, they caught me off guard.
Feddrah-Dahns flared his nostrils, a short burst of steam wafting out. "Shall we wait for your sisters to join us? This involves Shadow Wing."
I rubbed my temples. A twinge was forming behind my eyes, threatening to become a full-blown headache. "I think I need some tea."
He gave a shake of his mane. "As you will, my lady."
"Delilah and Chase will be right down. They got caught up with something on the computer," Iris said, entering the room. With a knowing glance at me, she added, "I set the kettle on for a pot of Richya tea. I thought you might need it."
"You were right." I glanced at the clock. Quarter past six. There was a sudden movement at the archway leading into the living room, and Menolly stood there, in all of her waxen beauty. Pale and petite, with a nimbus of burnished copper braids that floated down to her shoulders, her skin was whiter than any woman's skin should be. But other than that, it would have been hard to tell she was dead, until you glanced at her face. Her story echoed through the haunting eyes with which she viewed the world. Menolly had experienced far too much pain to ever be innocent again.
"Good evening," she said softly, gazing at Feddrah-Dahns. "I see we have company."
Just then, Delilah and Chase clattered down the stairs. Compared to Menolly, Delilah was almost a giant. At six one, blonde and athletic, she towered over both myself and our younger sister.
"Chase said—oh my, he was right." Delilah skidded to a halt in front of the unicorn and sank down on the ottoman. "You're beautiful," she blurted out.
Feddrah-Dahns switched his tail. "Thank you, mistress feline. Now that you're all here, could we get down to business?"
Just a hint of impatience in his voice which, for a unicorn, meant he might as well be throwing a fit.
"Of course." I motioned for Menolly to join me on the sofa. "Feddrah-Dahns is the Crown Prince of the Dahns Unicorns. I met him in front of my shop today when a trio of thugs from OW tried to kill him. Something about pixie theft."
"Ah," Menolly said, nodding. "Pixies are notorious thieves. Almost as bad as goblins."
Feddrah-Dahns let out a loud sound that sounded suspiciously like a snort. "Pixies are nothing like goblins. And not all pixies are scoundrels. This one happens to work for me—he's my assistant. He was carrying something of grave value that I entrusted to him. He came through one of the newly discovered portals, but we didn't realize he was being followed."
"The goblin and his cronies?" I asked. It made sense that they'd been on the pixie's trail rather than it being just some random encounter.
The unicorn whinnied. "Yes. They waited till they were over here to steal it. They tried to kill Mistletoe, but he managed to get away. He contacted me via a Whispering Spell, and I immediately came Earthside to help him. I should never have delegated the task to him in the first place, but if I could foresee the future, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
"Mistletoe? I take it that's the pixie?" Delilah asked, leaning back against Chase's shoulder. She looked ready to throw her arms around the unicorn's neck and plant a big sloppy kiss on his nose. Delilah loved anything that walked on four feet. Well, almost anything.
"Yes. He's been with me for two hundred years now and is an excellent assistant. Mistletoe managed to retrieve the object just before I came through the portal. I was on my way to meet him near your shop when the goblin and his group showed up again, only this time, I was in their path. As were you. Meanwhile, Mistletoe seems to be lost. He hasn't tried to contact me since this afternoon."
"Just where is this portal?" I asked, poking Delilah in the arm. "Get a map so we can mark it down." She scrambled up and grabbed our atlas of Seattle off the bookshelf, flipping it open to where we'd marked most of the major magical hangouts or junctures.
Feddrah-Dahns shook his mane. "The portal leads from the Windwillow Valley directly to a small park near your shop. It's overgrown and looks forgotten. Tiny, really. With a holly tree and a rowan tree on it."
Delilah pored over the map for a moment. "Got it. I'll bet you anything it's this square right here." She showed us a small dot of green on the map that indicated a park. Wentworth Park. And it looked to be two blocks square at the most—short blocks, at that.
"We'll check it out in a little while. We'll need to set somebody to guarding the portal. Someone who won't be noticed." Yeah, like that was going to be easy. Just one more thing on our already overloaded plate. If any FBHs managed to cross through to Otherworld, we'd really be in trouble. The OIA had promised Earth's government that we wouldn't allow any humans over to Otherworld unescorted.
Delilah jotted down a note. "Got it. I think we can probably find a couple of nature devas there who might actually help us out."
"Good thinking. Nobody would notice them anyway." I turned back to Feddrah-Dahns. "Please, continue."
"Mistletoe has never been Earthside. I have no sense that he's dead, so he's probably just lost. But I guarantee that the goblin and Sawberry Fae are still after him. You must find him before they do. We cannot allow the gift he carries to fall into their possession."
Delilah glanced back at me and shoved her hands in the pockets of her denim vest. "Well, I am a private eye. It shouldn't be that hard to find him. Pixies aren't that common in the city proper, and an OW pixie will stand out like Miss Manners at a food fight." The black crescent tattooed on her forehead shimmered, and a cold breeze suddenly wafted through the room.
I folded my arms as a looming prescience descended in the room. My radar was picking up something big and scary, and it was coming directly toward us. "Just what is it that you brought Earthside? And how do you know about Shadow Wing and our fight against him?"
Feddrah-Dahns gazed into my eyes, and I felt myself falling into those sparkling depths. "I recently had an interesting discussion with Pentangle, the Mother of Magic."
There was our answer as to how he knew about Shadow Wing. Pentangle, one of the Hags of Fate, and Queen Asteria were working together from OW to help as much as they could in our fight against the demons.
A sudden chasm yawned in the pit of my stomach, threatening to suck me in. I really didn't want to hear the answer to my next question, but it needed to be asked. "The goblin and his cronies aren't working alone, are they? You said they took up the chase back in Otherworld?"
"No, they aren't." Feddrah-Dahns scuffed the carpet with one hoof. "They're working for one of Shadow Wing's spies. Apparently the Demonkin have eyes and ears in Otherworld, too. Queen Asteria, Pentangle, and I agreed that you should carry this weapon. After I dispatched Mistletoe with it, Pentangle discovered we were being spied on. The goblin and his thugs are part of a network of spies that thread through both OW and Earthside. They're led by a greater demon here in Seattle. As far as we've been able to find out, he's a general in Shadow Wing's army."
"Shit," Menolly said, standing. She floated up to the ceiling and perched near the chandelier. "I wonder if this has anything to do with the third spirit seal and the Raksasa that Rozurial told us about." Rozurial was an incubus who had helped us defeat Menolly's sire. He was also one damned handsome dude, though I knew enough not to wade in that pond.
"Of course!" I jumped up. "The Persian demon." I whirled back to Feddrah-Dahns. "Are we right?"
"You are." He nodded gravely. "He's very dangerous and tends to leave his enemies alive in order to extort them. Our research shows several other rogue mercenaries have tried to take him out, and not one came close. He's got help, we know that, but his aides tend to disappear after a year or so."
"Then Shadow Wing truly does have his fingers spread throughout both Earth and OW." I frowned. "Highly unsettling. If they're after what you're bringing to us… it's not the third spirit seal, is it?"
Feddrah-Dahns shook his head, whinnying softly. "No, but what I am offering you will aid you with your magic against the demons, and they certainly don't want that to happen. While the Fae fight among themselves and ignore the growing threat, the Cryptozoid Alliance has agreed to help you in the greater battle. We stand by Queen Asteria and Pentangle is this decision."
I let out a long sigh. Sometimes, when it seemed we were terribly alone in our fight, a ray of hope broke through. I glanced up at Feddrah-Dahns, gratitude swelling in my heart. "We need all the help we can get," I said.
He leaned down and gently nuzzled my face. "Wipe the moisture from your eyes, Camille. We will do all we can to ensure you are not alone in this. We cannot send an army, but we can send you aid."
"So what is it that Mistletoe is carrying?"
Feddrah-Dahns shook his head, his mane glimmering under the lamplight. "In my family's possession, we've guarded an item from ages past. My father bade me bring it to you, since the need is so great, and the enemy so dangerous. It is my fault that Mistletoe's in danger—I thought he'd be able to handle the task." His voice dropped, and his luxurious long lashes slowly blinked, fluttering in the invisible breeze.
Whatever it was had to be powerful. There was no way the crown prince of the Dahns unicorns would venture Earthside without damned good reason. I waited.
After a long pause, Feddrah-Dahns let out a long sigh. "We're offering you something no human… no Fae… has ever before been allowed to touch or to see. I'm bringing you the horn of the Black Unicorn."
Chapter Five
Delilah, Menolly, and Iris all started to talk at once. I remained silent, crossing to stare out the bay window overlooking the front porch.