Veil of Stars Page 6

  We returned to the path and began to follow the path that the rajamahs had taken. I shook my hair loose, hoping it would dry faster that way and took off my coat. While it was waterproof, I hadn’t thought to zip it up, and my shirt and bra were soaked. So I stripped them off, tied them to my pack to dry, and put my coat back on. I couldn’t very well take off my jeans, so I left them on, but luckily my boots were waterproof so my feet were still dry. Raven and Angel saw what I was doing and they followed suit.

  As the frosty sun returned and the clouds vanished, I began to focus on our surroundings more. The forest was mostly coniferous, though interspersed with bare-branched birches and oaks and a few maples. Herne had taught me how to identify dozens of trees. For him it was an innate ability, but it had taken me some time.

  The forest floor held scattered pockets of snow. It looked like it was melting, but we were a long ways from spring, it felt. The undergrowth wasn’t nearly as thick as back home, though ferns and bushes crowded the tree trunks, surrounding them like tutus around a ballerina’s waist.

  I listened closely, trying to pick up on any animals that might be near. The birds were chirping again—they had gone silent during the storm—and I tried to identify what kind they were, but I wasn’t much of a bird watcher. Once in a while the bushes nearby would rustle, indicating some creature passing through, but otherwise, the forest seemed oddly silent.

  “Where do you think we are?” Raven asked, after we had been walking for probably an hour. “The forest seems to be a large one. I don’t want to get lost.”

  “Newsflash,” Angel said. “We already are lost.”

  “She’s right,” I said. “We have no frame of reference except for this path. Say, the creature that elemental mentioned…does the name ring a bell with either of you? Star Hound?” I was sure I had heard it someplace before, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place it.

  “It sounds familiar,” Raven said. “Let me try to sort out where I’ve heard it.”

  Angel shook her head. “Not to me.”

  We were approaching a clearing and I cautiously stopped at the edge of it. It was like a turnout to the side of the road, open enough so that we could see that the storm seemed to have fully passed. But the sun was starting to set. I looked around the open space, noting a couple of downed logs, as well as what appeared to be a cushy mound of moss.

  “Let’s make camp here. We can light a fire and dry ourselves out.”

  They followed me into the clearing. Everything seemed safe enough, though I was still uneasy. The forest wasn’t exactly welcoming, but now that we were into it, I wasn’t feeling anything outright malicious. “Gather wood, and Raven, can you start a fire for us? I see some good-sized rocks, so we can make a fire ring.”

  While I gathered rocks to create a fire pit of sorts, Raven and Angel gathered wood. By the time we had enough fuel to last a few hours, the temperature had begun to drop.

  “Raven, if you’ll start the fire, Angel and I will gather some more wood. Then we’ll eat something.” I led Angel toward the edge of the clearing, near the back side of it. The sound of running water caught my attention. As we stepped into the thicket, we found ourselves a couple of yards from a stream that was flowing parallel to the path.

  “Well, we’ve found water, at least.” I knelt beside the stream and plunged my hand into the icy current. “Let me see if it’s safe to drink.”

  I closed my eyes, searching for any water spirits. At that moment, a woman rose out of the stream. She was soaked through, naked, gorgeous, and had the most flawless body I had ever seen. Her cerulean hair was one shade darker than her skin, and her eyes flashed a brilliant silver.

  My Leannan Sidhe self responded to her—she was Water Fae.

  “Hello,” I said, wondering if she could understand me. “Can you help us?” But my words came out in a language that I didn’t know, and while I knew what I had said, I couldn’t understand what my speech had translated into.

  She gazed at me for a moment, with one fleeting glance at Angel, then said, “I might be able to, sister of the Water.” She spoke in the language that had come out of my mouth and I understood her perfectly.

  I turned to Angel. “Do you understand what she’s saying?”

  Angel shook her head. “No, and I feel like I should get the hell out of here.” She was staring at the woman with wide eyes.

  I turned back, eyeing the water spirit. “Yes, I’m Leannan Sidhe—part of my heritage, at any rate. We’re strangers here, lost from our homeland. Is it safe to camp in the woodland?”

  She stared at me for another moment, then gracefully inclined her head. “No more dangerous than anywhere else.” She grinned then, and I could see the razor-sharp teeth in her mouth. A kelpie! I slowly backed away, but she laughed. “I won’t attack you, given we’re both of the water, but tell your friend to watch herself.”

  The warning was clear. I turned to Angel. “Go back to the camp. Now. Don’t tarry. She’s a kelpie.”

  Angel gave me a nod and turned, carrying the filled water bottles with her. As she vanished into the trees, I turned back to the kelpie.

  “Can you tell me where are we? We were catapulted through a portal and have no idea where we ended up.”

  She regarded me for a few moments and then said, “Very well. You’re in Annwn, in the land of Caer Arianrhod.”

  “Caer Arianrhod?” I caught my breath. Caer Arianrhod was the land where the goddess Arianrhod dwelled and lived. The goddess of the Silver Wheel, Arianrhod’s castle—Caer Sidi—was in this realm, yet also in between the worlds, in space. Arianrhod ruled over reincarnation, fate, fertility, and childbirth.

  And then the kelpie’s words hit me—we were in Annwn. We could find Cernunnos’s palace and safely find our way home from there. “Do you know how we can find Cernunnos’s palace—or Brighid’s palace?”

  The kelpie narrowed her eyes. “They’re both far. Travel afoot will take you a long journey. And until you leave the boundaries of Caer Arianrhod, you risk being hunted by the Star Hounds.”

  Once again, I felt like I had heard the term before, but I still couldn’t remember what they were. “What are they?”

  “Arianrhod’s guards. They’re the predecessors of the Black Dogs, and they hunt anyone who isn’t native to this land. All of us born here bear Arianrhod’s mark—down to the smallest sprite. And since the dead pass through Caer Arianrhod on their way to greet Arawn, the majority who travel this realm live among the world of spirits.” She yawned, then smiled again, showing those razor-sharp teeth again. It was better when she was frowning. “You tire me now. Be off, before I forget our connections.”

  I thanked her and turned, heading back to Raven and Angel, who had managed to build a fire. Angel had rigged up a few long sticks close enough to the flames so the heat radiated around them, but they weren’t near enough to burn, and she had hung our shirts over them. She and Raven were standing close to the heat, butts toward the flicker of flames, trying to dry the rest of their clothes. I joined them, welcoming the warmth, although it made me acutely aware of how cold I actually was.

  “If you hear a voice urging you to go to the stream, don’t listen,” I said.

  “I told her already,” Angel said. “I knew the kelpie was dangerous the moment we saw her. She reeks of predator.”

  “She is, like I am,” I said softly. And it was true. Both sides of my heritage were dangerous, and I—especially with my Leannan Sidhe blood—was as deadly as the kelpie. “But I have some good news, at least. We’re in Annwn. In Arianrhod’s lands.”

  “Well, at least we know we’re not in some distant realm we’ll never find our way out of,” Raven said. “If we can make it to Cernunnos’s palace, we should be fine.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. But first, I’m going to try to catch us some fish. We need more food than half a protein bar, and even though it’s winter, there will be fish in the stream.”

  “You’ll have to do it without me,�
�� Angel said. “I’m too afraid of being caught by the kelpie. She had a set of mean-looking teeth.”

  Raven sighed. “Kelpies aren’t going to catch me, that I can tell you right now. But I don’t want to leave Angel here alone, especially if there are Star Hounds on the loose.” She shivered. “The Black Dogs are dangerous enough. I know, given my father’s one. But if the Star Hounds are their ancestors, then we’re in trouble.”

  I made sure I had my dagger, and I took Serafina with me, in case I was attacked while at the stream, though I dreaded using up the allentar arrows. That brought me back to thoughts of what was going on back home. We had been here, what…nearing two days? In that time, the entire world could have changed. And I had no clue what we’d be returning to.

  As I approached the stream, the kelpie was resting on the other side of the water. The stream wasn’t fully a river, but it looked deep and the current was swift. I debated on what to say, if anything. Finally, I decided that I’d have better luck if I asked for her help.

  “Hey, sister of the Water, can you help me? I need to catch some fish, and I don’t have a fishing rod.” I wasn’t sure if she would even answer, but it was worth a shot.

  She stared at me for a moment, then dove beneath the surface. So much for that.

  I looked around for a branch that was long and thin enough to use for a pole and found one that had broken off of a nearby fir tree. As I tried to figure out what to use for a fishing line and used my dagger to saw off the small limb, a noise made me glance over my shoulder. The kelpie was on my side of the shore now, and she placed nine trout on the ground.

  “This should keep you for the night and to break the morrow’s fast.” Before I could thank her, she once again disappeared into the icy water.

  I waited for a moment, but she didn’t reappear, so I picked up the fish, which were so fresh they didn’t even smell, and carried them back to the camp. They were slippery, but I managed to cradle them against my chest.

  “You can’t have had that much luck in such a short time!” Raven gaped at my catch.

  “No. Our frenemy the kelpie gave them to me. They’re freshly caught.”

  “You don’t think they’re spiked with some drug, do you?” Angel asked.

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

  “Give them to me, I can clean them.” Angel had a dagger of her own, though she was reluctant to use it, but now she dug into the fish with it, effortlessly cleaning them. After she was done, I ran back to the stream with them to rinse them off. When I returned, Angel fixed them on a stick to roast over the fire. The other three, she packed inside a pile of snow near us for morning. We drank as much water as we could and I carried the bottles back to the stream to fill them up again.

  The smell of roasting fish made my stomach rumble as the three of us sat around the campfire. Our clothes were dry and we redressed in our shirts and bras as the evening wore on. The moon rose high—it was going to be a clear, cold night. We poked around, finding more wood, and Raven added an extra oomph to the fire with her magical flame, which amped up the warmth.

  “What do you think’s happening at home?” Angel asked, checking on the fish.

  I shrugged, my arms wrapped around my knees as I scooted closer to the flames. “I don’t know. It seems so far away right now. But at least we know where we are.”

  “I wonder if the dragons won,” Angel murmured. “I keep thinking about DJ.”

  “I’m sure Cooper’s keeping him safe,” I said, though I knew it wasn’t much help. All our loved ones would be frantic about us, and we were frantic about them. Well, most of them. The only reason I wasn’t worried about Herne was that he was a god, but Talia and Viktor and Yutani could be killed. “I’m trying not to second-guess what’s happening. There are so many variables.”

  We fell silent as the evening wore on. The hot fish in our bellies made us sleepy. I took first watch again as Angel and Raven curled up beneath the Mylar blankets. The stars wheeled overhead, and as I watched them, I thought of Annwn, and how vast of a realm it was. Would we ever find our way to Cernunnos’s palace?

  A sudden howl in the distance made me shiver, and I paused, wondering if it was one of the Star Hounds. I made sure Serafina was ready, and nocked an arrow, cocking the crossbow so it would be ready the moment I needed her. As the night wore on, I sat in the darkness, watching the flames, missing Herne, and Mr. Rumblebutt, and all my other friends. But mostly, I kept coming back to the question: Would we still have a home to return to, and what would the world be like when we made it home?

  Chapter Six

  Raven had taken over, and I was deep in a dreamless sleep when she woke me up.

  “You need to get up, Ember. I hear something.”

  I sat up slowly, trying to get my bearings. The fire was still burning brightly, and overhead, the moon shone down out of the cloudless sky. As I slipped from beneath the blanket, the chill of the night hit me full force and I shivered.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Raven pointed to our left, toward the tree line. “I hear something. I’ve heard something for the past twenty minutes, but I thought it might be the wind. Now, I’m not so sure. There doesn’t seem to be a breeze.”

  She was correct. Neither bush nor tree were stirring, and yet when I listened, I could hear what she was talking about. It was a soft rustling, like something skulking through the bushes. I motioned to Angel’s sleeping form.

  “Wake her up. We don’t want to be caught a woman down.”

  As Raven went to wake Angel, I gathered my bow and quiver, nocking an arrow and putting the safety on. We were all within range of the campfire, which made us visible targets. I tried to decide whether it was wiser to douse the flames than keep them lit. As long as we were visible, we were potential pincushions for anyone with a bow. But if we extinguished the campfire, and there was something out there, we’d be fighting blind when it attacked. I decided to make an executive decision. Even though it made us more vulnerable, the fire would give us an advantage should anything come out of those woods.

  “What do you think it is?” Angel asked, now awake.

  I shook my head. “I have no idea. Maybe an animal, hopefully something like a fox. But it could be something else, too.” I kept coming back to the Star Hounds. I still didn’t know enough about them to gauge whether they would be found running around the woods or not. If they were Arianrhod’s guards, it stood to reason that they would be near her castle. But if there were others — not employed in her service — then they could easily be out here in the forest.

  Raven poked me in the arm. “Remember, I’m carrying my wand. But I don’t want to use it unless absolutely necessary. Consider it a last chance solution.”

  I gave her a sideways glance. The fact was, Raven was carrying a wand that could destroy buildings. “Yeah, we do not want to waste the power of that weapon. You can use that once before you have to charge it, correct?”

  She nodded. “Yes, so we want to save it. I’d hate to use it and find out there was only something like a bear out there.”

  “Don’t you think standing around talking is going to give them more of an advantage?” Angel said. “Whatever they are.”

  She was right, but I wasn’t sure what else we could do. Wandering into the forest to discover what was watching us didn’t seem like the best idea, especially in the middle of the night.

  “Do you really want to go trekking into the forest? In the dark? I don’t want to use up the flashlights any more than possible.”

  “Do you think the kelpie might know what’s out there?” Raven asked.

  I snorted. “She’s helped us twice, once with information and once with the fish. I’m not sure I want to push things for a third favor.” Another thought occurred to me. “I wonder if this forest is part of Y’Bain.”

  The massive forest of Y’Bain spread across most of Annwn. The gods weren’t allowed inside of it, and the woodland was filled with dangerous creatures. I
had been in the forest before, and knew firsthand how easy it was to get lost in there. Even if I could get in touch with Herne, he couldn’t come rescue us here. Which meant—if that was where we were—we’d have to fend for ourselves until we found our way out.

  “If we are in Y’Bain, neither Herne nor Kipa can come to the rescue us.”

  “That’s why I haven’t used this,” Raven said, pulling out a coin. “I remembered I had it this morning.” She was holding a silver coin the size of a silver dollar, with the figure of a stag on it. “Herne gave this to me before Kipa and I left for Kalevala. I’ve been holding onto it. He told me if I were to hold it and think of him, he would come to help. I forgot I had it while we were still out in the open plains. But I know it won’t work in this forest if we are in Y’Bain, so I’ve held off trying it. If I use it, and he can’t come, it’s a waste.”

  I stared at her for a moment. This was the first time I had heard that Herne was in the habit of giving away coins to summon him. “I wish you had thought of that when we first landed in Annwn.”

  “I wish I had, too. I carry it in a little pouch in my backpack whenever Kipa and I have to go somewhere that might prove dangerous. It’s not that I don’t trust Kipa, but it’s always better to have two gods in your side than one.” She looked crestfallen. “I let us down. I was so dazed by the transfer over here that I completely forgot.”

  “Don’t fret,” Angel said. “We all make mistakes and we all forget things. It’s human nature, and it’s the same with the Fae and the Ante-Fae. We’re all prone to shock and surprise, and none of us ever expected to end up in Annwn when we headed out for the battle between Typhon and Echidna.” She glanced over at the tree line. “Can you still hear whatever it is?”

  I closed my eyes and focused on the trees. There it was, balancing on the edge of perception. I listened closer. The sounds weren’t random, but rather—methodical, as though someone was pacing first to the left, then to the right. I had the sudden image of a big cat in a cage, watching its captors. The sense that we were intended prey hit me full force. I opened my eyes and spun, staring at Raven.