Suddenly, a dark shape fell from the trees and landed a few feet away from where I stood with my horse. It was Kalyll, holding a small someone by the neck. Unceremoniously, he threw the person on the ground, and in one swift motion, pulled out his sword and pressed it to their throat.
“No.” I jumped from where I stood, pushed him, and fell to my knees protectively in front of what was, indeed, a child. “Don’t you dare hurt her. She’s just a child.”
“How dare you interfere?” Kalyll raised his weapon and pointed it at me instead.
“You can threaten me all you want, but you’ll have to go through me to get to her,” I spat.
“My pleasure.” He moved his arm, ready to lop my head off. The darkness I’d noticed moving around the skin of his eyes returned, this time revealing itself as veins that seemed to pulse with black blood.
“Kalyll, stop.” Arabis’s preternatural Susurro voice resounded through the trees, directed straight at the prince.
He stopped immediately, blinking, his eyes clearing. He looked between the child and me, then took a step back.
“I… I’m sorry.” He looked confused and lost.
Arabis came closer, wrapped an arm around his elbow, and pulled him away.
I sat frozen for several long seconds, trying to understand what had just happened, except there was no time to think about it because the child scrambled to her feet and shot straight through the trees.
“Hold it there, little scoundrel.” Silver stepped from his hiding place and snatched the kid by the scruff of the neck.
The girl, who couldn’t be more than seven years old, kicked at the air. “Let me go. Let me go.”
I got my first good look at her. Her skin was brown, and her bushy hair a bright green, like leaves in the spring. She had pointed ears and huge green eyes that made her look like a scared fawn. Her nose was small as was her mouth, which looked like a tiny rosebud. She wore a sort of crown made from wood with a green gem in the middle of her forehead. For some reason, she reminded me of little Muriel.
Silver glared. “Not until you explain why you’re attacking unsuspecting travelers on the king’s land.”
“This is not the king’s land. This is my people’s land.” She hissed, then a thorny branch sprang from her shoulder and poked Silver’s arm.
“Ow.” He dropped her and rubbed his arm.
She started to run again, but Jeondar appeared in front of her. “Where are your people? Why are you alone?”
“Because you killed them, you monsters.”
Jeondar frowned, looking confused. “What happened, child?”
He kneeled in front of the strange girl, a type of Fae I’d never seen before, and had no name for it.
“You know well what happened,” her voice broke, an undeniable pain in every note.
“I am sorry, but I don’t.”
“You lie. You lie like all of them.” She sank to the ground, looking defeated, and began to cry.
“Oh, the poor dear,” Cylea said.
“We have just come from Pharowyn in the south,” Jeondar explained in a gentle voice. “We don’t know what happened. Is your family… where are they?”
“They’re all dead,” she sobbed. “All of them.”
Seeing the agony in her expression, a knot formed in my throat. Jeondar exchanged a glance with Silver.
“What is your name?” Cylea asked.
The little girl shook her head.
“I am Jeondar, and these are my friends. Silver, Cylea, Dani, and that one over there,” he pointed at the narrow tree behind me where the arrogant redhead was still reclining, “that one’s Kryn. You can trust us. We mean you no harm. I promise.” Jeondar placed a fist on his chest.