Page 29 of Death of a Mortal

As comfortable as the new boots were from Greymore, our feet ached a few hours in. And since our argument, the bird had been nowhere to be seen—or heard.

The last advice the man had given us was to avoid the main road at night. Apparently, smugglers, both mortal and fae alike, liked to move their illicit goods at night. And doing their job was worth morethan our lives. So we headed off the road toward an abandoned-looking farm as evening descended on our first day on the road toward Dolvenar.

“Looks like no one lives here, but just to be safe, let’s stay out of the house. We’ll sleep in the barn for the night.”

Nella wrinkled her nose.

“Better than the woods with its magical beasts.”

She fixed her face and nodded her assent.

After a short walk through the tall grass and weeds surrounding the dilapidated property, we approached the barn with caution. There were no animals in the empty, sweet-smelling hay-bottomed stalls. I spotted a wooden ladder leading to an open space above, thinking a loft would be the perfect place for us to sleep out of sight.

We climbed up to find the space empty save for a few hay bales and took our packs off. It would be dark soon, so we settled down, and I made makeshift beds from the hay, using our packs as pillows.

When the sun was near setting, we laid down, and I felt more comfortable here than I had since we left Briarstead. In reality, it had been much longer than that since I’d felt content.

Just as I dozed off, voices made me bolt upright. I listened hard and heard the clop and crunch of hooves coming up the gravel path leading to the barn—right to where we were.

So much for abandoned.

I reached out for Nella’s arm beside me, and in the near-dark, I shook my head to tell her not to move. As long as these newcomers didn’t come up to the loft, we would be fine.

There were two distinct voices: one higher pitched and squirrelly, the other more baritone and gruff. As they entered the barn, their voices grew louder and more distinct.

“… can’t believe he’s dead. And we’re likely to go the same way if we stay here. Did your friend at the dock say if he had room for us?”

My interest was piqued.

“Yeah, but he asked for a damn arm and a leg to pay for passage,didn’t he?” said the squirrelly voice, sounding affronted. “Can’t afford that much, can we? And who’s to say even if we spent all that coin to get to Caelithar, how do we know it’s all real? What if it’s just rumors to lure mortals there and kill ’em?”

I’d heard the rumors about Caelithar around town back in Briarstead. The mortals and fae lived together there, peacefully and ungoverned. Allegedly. I had to agree with the squirrelly guy, though. It didn’t seem possible. Fae were typically cruel and reluctant to use their abilities to help mortals. Not so reluctant to kill them, however.

“How much better off are we here?” the baritone replied. “Mortals are disappearing left and right, and I don’t think they’re going on vacation. Would rather hedge our bets being smuggled to a mythical place than end up wherever Marv ended up.”

“Gods rest his soul,” Squirrelly said, sullen.

I shuddered. Whoever Marv was, he sounded as if he had met an awful end.

No wonder the couple in Greymore had been so apprehensive about us being there. What was happening to the mortals here and in Greymore? Was this happening everywhere in Ashenholt?

After what sounded like the horses being fed and watered, the last thing we heard from the men as their voices faded toward the house stirred a distant, unsettling memory in me.

“Ya know, I also heard that the king has a band of Umbrathren surrounding him nowadays, everywhere he goes. All that dark and gloomy magic shit gives me the creeps. Even the fae here fear Caedryn. I can’t imagine…” Their voices faded out.

The Umbrathren. The name gave me chills as I tried to remember what I had learned in school about the types of fae. Umbrathrens were the ones with dark, disturbing abilities. History taught us they once leveled whole armies with abilities like mind and emotional manipulation. The king had a group of them at his beck and call?Fuck.

Nella was the first to speak. “What’s an Umbrathren?”

She hadn’t yet had the chilling history lessons that I had in myfinal years of school. And even then, what the mortals’ books taught couldn’t be trusted. We only learned what the fae deemed appropriate for mortal minds.

“They can have all kinds of different dark abilities. Some have mind control, others can manipulate emotions. I think some can even raise the dead. Their magic is mostly seen as wicked. Some abilities are even illegal to use on others.”

She shuddered beside me and fell silent for a while as I pondered what Caedryn could be capable of with dark fae at his side.

“Do you think Caelithar is real?” she asked, bringing me from my haunting thoughts.

I hesitated, thinking. “I don’t know, but I have to think fae and mortals can live together, maybe if they aren’t ruled and manipulated by hateful kings and compliant queens.”