Page 44 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
Suddenly, I wasn’t there at all anymore. Behind us, Zev was kicking dirt over the fire as Shiel and Finch leaned in close to whisper.
“It shouldn’t have been able to smell us with the border,” Shiel hissed, both sets of their eyes refusing to leave the bear.
I could practically hear Finch gritting his teeth. “Not if it just stumbled upon us.”
Only then did I finally managed to tear my own eyes away from the bear.
I looked up at Finch first, and then Shiel, both their faces grave.
“You think it was sent after us?”
Neither of them answered right away, which was as much an answer as anything.
“Who…” I trailed off, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
It would make more sense if this was Icarus’ doing than anyone else, but we were a long way from the Wildness. Unless this creature had been following us for weeks, which was, I supposed, entirely possible.
“It doesn’t matter,” Shiel said, at last. He finally turned and waved at Zev, who went to start untying the horses.
I, myself, turned back to Finch. His eyes were narrowed as he looked at the bear, now growing close to the edge of his circle.
“Won’t it just stop at your border?” I ask in a whispering hissing mixture.
The cub has clearly spotted us, now just by scent but by sight. It walks towards us with a fearful curiosity, it’s head cocking to the side as it sniffs the air, measuring some scent on the air, testing it.
Testing us.
“To answer your question,” Finch said, after a moment, “It should. But it will only hold so much before it’s rendered useless. It’s supposed to keep fiends away in the first place. It confuses our scent, disorients them. It won’t actually stop one from crossing.”
As the bear drew nearer and nearer the border, it acted like the herbs and potions put off a foul smell. The smell was apparently bad enough that the creature finally stopped right at the edge of our line, its feet shuffling as if in increasing discomfort beneath it. It might have been only a cub, but it had long enough claws and teeth to make my shoulders shudder.
No wonder Zev wasn’t eager to face it.
I could only imagine what the mother looked like.
Shiel sighed. He’d once again returned to a place over my shoulder, but this time, he held two sets of reigns in his hands. His eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any further signs of life.
“No mother yet but she’s bound to arrive anytime. We need to go, now.”
“Yeah,” Finch said, wrinkling up his nose as the cub once more swatted at the foul-smelling border between us. “Before that thing decides we’re worth crossing the border.”
Zev’s feet crunched to a halt in the gravel beside us, completing our party.
“Should one of us decoy and the rest of us run?”
Shiel let out another deep breath before answering Zev. “That’s probably the best plan we have at the moment.”
“It’ll add some time before we reach the Eastern Court,” Zev said.
“But it might increase our chances ofreachingthe Eastern Court,” Shiel countered. His lips pressed together for a moment as his eyes once more scanned the horizon. “If someone sent this fiend after us, there are sure to be more to follow.”
As if on cue, a low, mournful sound echoed down the side of the mountain.
It was only one at first, the sound of it making even the cub’s head swivel to face the direction it had come from. But then there were more, each one joining in until it was a full, melancholic chorus.
All three of the boys swore.
Shiel bared his teeth like a creature himself. “Wolves.”
