Page 59 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
“Wasn’t this supposed to be the way to the Oracle?”
Shiel followed the line of my shifting gaze. “She was supposed to be near here. Maybe the path is hidden by the smoke?”
A gentle, grey haze hung in the air, obscuring the far reaches of the forest. Up above, the sun had only just begun to turn the sky a slightly lighter shade of grey. The hours confining us to Icarus’ court had just passed, and not a moment too soon. Shiel didn’t look like he was about to get struck down for helping me leave the court, but I supposed only time would tell.
I didn’t know much about the consequences of breaking a deal yet, and I hoped I’d never have to.
Shiel was turning in a slow circle, his eyes on something I hadn’t yet seen.
“The trees,” he whispered, his voice low and feet moving carefully, as if he was trying to make as little noise as possible. “It’s like they haven’t noticed us yet.”
I finally saw what he meant.
When we’d first arrived at the edge of Icarus’ court, the first thing I’d noticed was the trees. They bark was twisted into those eyeless faces wherever we looked, twisting and turning wherever we went as if they watched us back. But here, beneath the quickly thickening smoke, they were still.
The whole forest was.
“You know,” Finch said, backing up as his eyes scanned the trees for any sign of movement. “I never liked how those trees looked at us before, but somehow I like this even less.”
“I agree,” Zev said, once again grimacing when he reached for the sword that wasn’t there
“Whatever the reason, we’re going to use it to our advantage,” Shiel said. He turned slightly, checked something overhead, and then settled on a space between two particularly large trees. “We need to get out of the Wildness before Icarus comes after us, and if we aren’t having to fight the trees off too, all the better.”
No sooner had he spoken, however, then we heard it.
A raven.
Its lonely caw echoed out, our heads swiveling to search it out amongst the treetops. Finch spotted it first, his hand reaching to grab a stone, but before he could throw it, the raven had taken flight. It flew up above the sill trees and let out another, solitary cry, and suddenly, the forest was coming alive.
Not with branches and vines, but with crows.
Hundreds of them, taking flight and crying out as they flew towards the one gathered over us.
They were like a giant, living beacon, drawing Icarus and his soldiers directly to us.
There was no time for careful tracking. No time for seeking out the Oracle nearby. There was only time for one thing.
It was Shiel who called out the order.
“Run!”
No sooner had our feet begun to hit the ground then we heard them, too.
Icarus must have spread his guard out throughout all the surrounding forest, because we’d barely made it out of sight of the tunnel before we began to see distant flashes of movement through the smoke.
Shiel let out another swear and with nothing more than a glance at his men, Zev and Finch once again shifted into foxes and took off—in opposite directions. My footsteps stumbled a bit as I watched them disappear, only for Shiel to take my hand and pull me onward.
“We have to get away from here, confuse the guards before they have the chance to corner us.”
“But Zev and Finch…”
“They’ll turn into ravens before they get caught.”
The idea was actually kind of…genius. It was enough at least to help me stop worrying about them and focus on trying not to get myself caught. It was everything we could do to run without tripping over branches and logs that weren’t eventryingto catch us too this time. I had no idea where we were going, where Shiel was trying to take us, only that I had to keep on going.
We were just starting to make progress, the sounds of guards growing more distant, the flickers of far-off movement happening less and less, when suddenly the smoke started to clear.
And just like that, all of a sudden, I was nearly knocked to the ground with an overwhelming feeling ofdread.
