A Kingdom of Lies (Realm of Fey #2)

CHAPTER 18

Sheets of cold rain slapped down across the world around me. I was soaked to the bone, gripping onto the cage bars as though they’d break beneath my hold. My grip intensified with the horror of seeing Erix, knuckles white, mind screaming a maelstrom.

Gyah and Althea were huddled close to my side. It was clear that we all shared in the panic conjured by Erix’s presence.

What it meant, how it would end.

An intense shiver had begun, one I could do little to prevent. It prickled across my skin, chattering my teeth as it sent my jaw into a never-ending spasm, encouraged by the anxiety that had seemed to replace the blood in my veins. It pumped around me with vigour, causing a shooting pain to caress my heart as though a hand gripped and squeezed it relentlessly.

“Both of you,” Duncan shouted above the pounding of hooves in muddy ground. “Deal with this straggler.”

The two Hunters Duncan spoke to jumped from their horses. Feet squelching in the muddy ground, they pulled swords from their scabbards and approached Erix with confident strides. I winced as one almost slipped on their arse; lack of coordination wouldn’t help them when they reached Erix.

“Duncan,” I shouted, pressing my face between the bars. “Duncan, look at me!”

Reluctantly he turned, squinting through the rain with a displeased snarl. With my eyes alone I tried to display my honest concern. It was not that I cared if the Hunters were slain, but I needed Duncan to escape the impending slaughter and help me make it to Lockinge.

“I’ve told you, one man is no threat. We will be moving shortly,” Duncan shouted through the sleet, tipping his head in salute. “Sit back and relax.”

My hair was plastered to my face and head, encouraging a constant stream of water to fall into my line of sight. Blinking it away I shouted, unable to hide the frustration within my tone.

“You don’t understand! Your Hunters will not stand a chance, Duncan. Erix will kill us all, believe me, I have witnessed the twisted determination of his will.”

My mind replayed visions of Erix caving Tarron Oakstorm’s head in with his bare fists. What could he achieve with the weapon beside him?

“Then this will be fun,” Duncan replied, dropping my stare and turning back to face the doom before him. “Allow me to do you the favour of dealing with him. It would be my pleasure.”

“Fucking listen to me!”

Gyah gripped my shoulder, strong fingers anchoring me and chasing away the panic. “Let them face their end, Robin. Let us only hope Doran’s control on Erix spares us.”

It was not a risk I was willing to take. “Free us, Duncan,” I pleaded a final time. “You are going to need us.”

Duncan didn’t look back, but his deep laugh reached me.

I couldn’t catch my breath. My chest heaved and my hands grew numb. My legs would’ve given out beneath me if I hadn’t been strangling the cage’s bars.

The two foolish men that Duncan had commanded were close to Erix now. Erix had hardly moved a muscle since we’d first seen him. His swords still at his sides, stabbing into the muddy ground as he waited patiently.

All I could do was watch the final moments of their lives unfold before me. Perhaps they followed blindly because no matter if they died, they would have the promise of meeting their god, Duwar. Did they believe the entity was watching even now – judging their loyalty?

They reached Erix and stood before him with blades raised. I couldn’t hear what they said, but it was clear they spoke with him, the conversation one way. Erix simply looked past them as though they didn’t exist. His attention was entrapped elsewhere.

On another.

On me .

Frustrated, the Hunters released a battle cry and lunged forward. Erix joined their dance gladly. He moved forward, slipping between the Hunters before their blades had a chance to arch down towards him. His footing was confident, sliding across the wet, muddy bed and turning his body back to face them. As he did, his own swords followed. In a clean slice, one that severed through the rain itself, his blades passed through flesh and bone with ease.

Duncan hardly reacted as he watched his two Hunters die, their heads tumbling from their necks and splatting onto the ground. Their bodies followed, as though pushed by an unseen force. Blood sprayed out of the severed necks, a fountain of gore. He just stood there and watched, calculating how two lives had been taken so quickly, all in a moment.

Whilst Duncan was a prisoner to his thoughts, Erix kept moving, leaving the dead behind him as he began his approach towards his true goal. The blood-soaked metal of his sword made it appear as though they were forged by death.

“All of you. Go. Stop him.” Duncan pulled forth his own sword, using the flat side of it to hit the backs of the remaining Hunters. “In Duwar’s name, kill this man. His blood will be sustenance this night.”

“Sustenance,” the Hunters cried in return. There was nothing confident about their cries. They were timid. Pathetic.

I knew we were doomed as the remaining Hunters rushed forward to meet the Berserker. I watched, helpless behind cage bars, as Erix cut his way through the men and women; it was rare to see another’s blade intercept his.

The closer he got the clearer I could see him. Shadows hung beneath his lightning-silver eyes. His black leathers were drenched in mud and gore, the white edges of his tunic and sleeves as sharp as the two swords he swung. He was striking, in both horror and power. And he was looking right at me, hardly paying any attention to the humans he cut down. They stood no chance against him, nor did they slow him down.

“This is it,” I said quietly, voice buried beneath the cries of dying Hunters. “All this for nothing. Doran has won again .”

Althea was at my right, Gyah to my left. Caged like animals, we were as useless as the humans whose blood now fed the earth.

“Do not give up yet,” Althea said, “We are safe within the cage. When Erix is finished with the Hunters; he will have to take us out. In here, surrounded by the iron, it will nullify his natural abilities. We can take him.”

“Althea, I could kiss you!” Gyah barked a laugh, one that sang of relief. “Your mind is truly brilliant, do you know that?”

Althea blushed, rain darkening the reds of her hair as it hung in wet strands across her shoulders.

“Then we know what to do.”

“Get Erix in the cage, then fight him. It will be hard, but remember it isn’t the Erix we knew anymore. At least in here it will be an even playing field. Let him come, for I have something I would like to say to him.” Althea watched, unblinking and fearless, as Erix faced the remaining Hunters.

I heard Althea, but somehow my mind refused her words.

He looked like Erix. He walked like Erix. He was the man I knew, the man I loved and the one who killed my father.

“Robin, can you do this?” Gyah asked, noticing my distant stare. “Can you face the man who killed your father and provide him the relief from Doran that he requires?”

I couldn’t answer. Seeing Erix had taken me back to the helpless feeling I’d experienced when my father had been killed before me. Even then I had refused to believe he was the one responsible, even though it was his hands that stole my father from me.

In my mind I’d worked hard to convince myself that it was Doran who was to blame. He’d ripped Erix’s will from him and replaced it with his own. The Erix I’d come to know would never have hurt me.

But seeing him now, without his puppet master, I couldn’t help but wish to take all my pain out on him.

“Yes,” I replied through gritted teeth, jaw aching beneath the pressure. “I’m ready. I can do this.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Duncan said, snatching our attention to the back of the cage. None of us had noticed him, our focus demanded by Erix and the death he left in his wake. “I think I’ll take you up on your offer after all.”

“I am afraid that offer has been retracted,” Gyah said through a grin. Her dark skin was slick with rain, her golden eyes narrowed as she glared at Duncan. “Good luck out there, Hunter.”

Duncan peered around the cage, wincing as the final Hunter died at the end of Erix’s blade. His stare was calculating; I could almost hear the wheels turning in his mind.

“Run, Duncan,” I said suddenly. “Get out of here and go whilst you can. He will not follow you. It is me he wants.”

Duncan sighed, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a closed fist. “Unfortunately, no can do. I’m going to need you alive, Robin. You’re my bounty.”

He thrust that fist through the bars and dropped something into my waiting palm. I knew what it was the moment the cold metal touched my skin.

It was a key. It was a chance.

“Free yourself and fight. Or are you going to let this Berserker ruin your only chance of avenging your father?”

His words hit a chord inside of me, the note beautiful and deadly.

Duncan tore the cloak from his shoulders, leaving it in the mud at his feet. He spared me a final glance, lips pulled tight, and shoulders squared, his question hanging between us. Then he left, stalking around the cage to greet Erix.

I wasted no time.

Althea gasped as I took her by the shoulder and turned her away from me. “The second you are out of this cage, you run. Both of you. This is the chance you have waited for. Get to the army, tell them about the fey in Lockinge. Perhaps numbers to help.”

“No, Robin. We fight with you–”

I cut Althea off, panic surging up my throat and out in a wild scream. “Erix will kill anyone to get to me. You included. I can’t lose either of you. Please. You need to run. If we beat him, I get answers from Lockinge. If we lose, then at least he will not kill me.”

I hoped that was the case anyway. I was sure Doran had grand plans for me, death not being one of them. At least not swiftly.

The key slipped into the cuff around Althea’s neck with ease. Even with the violent shaking of my hands I managed to turn it and the cuff snapped open. It fell to the ground; the echo of metal against wood was beautiful, the sound of freedom.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t leave you,” Althea said, wet hair stuck to the curves of her face. “There are other ways of getting what you desire than going with the Hunter. Let Erix deal with him. I promise we will find another option.”

I saw it then, in Althea’s defiant amber eyes. The look of a woman who, like me, had made their mind up.

But Gyah was different. She wouldn’t risk Althea. Duty and pleasure, that’s what she said.

I couldn’t hold Althea’s gaze, instead turning to Gyah who was ready to be freed. “Gyah, you know what you need to do.”

“I do indeed,” Gyah replied, practically ripping the iron cuff from her neck, and throwing it to the ground just as I pulled the key free again. Her hand wrapped around mine and squeezed, golden eyes brimming with her power. “Good luck.”

I smiled, letting her take the key from my fingers and turn me around.

“Do what?” Althea studied us with wide, unblinking eyes. It was hard to tell if she cried, or if it was droplets of rain rather than tears that cascaded down her cheeks.

I couldn’t answer her. I’d let Gyah carry out the necessary.

The key also worked for the cage’s gate, unlocking it with ease. Old hinges groaned as I threw it open. One by one we clambered out of the iron prison and the feeling of power returned within a single breath. I almost lost my footing at the rush. My magic had returned, no longer imprisoned by the iron cage, or the cuff around my neck.

Magic flooded through my body, filling veins with ice and my soul with a storm. A pressure built in my bones, so intense it was a miracle my skin didn’t flay apart. It was wild, strong like the force of a wild boar, but I focused on it and kept it close. It certainly felt good to have my magic back. I’d need it against Erix – every last ounce.

It was clear Althea and Gyah felt the same, but there was no time to enjoy the feeling.

“You’ve come all this way for him,” Duncan’s demanding shout reached us. I looked in his direction, Gyah shifting forms in a twisting of flesh, wings and talons. “Not that my opinion matters of course, but do you not think that behaviour is rather… creepy?”

“Ready to fight,” Althea shouted, eyes ablaze with the fire that had been smothered until now; rain hissed upon impact with her boiling aura. “Follow me–”

Althea didn’t get very far.

Gyah snatched Althea from the ground, making her gargle on a surprised scream. Winds billowed as Gyah extended her wings and pounded them furiously. Her urgency was to get Althea away from here. That was our plan – removing her from harm’s way. I heard my name screamed from far away, but it faded as my friends flew away.

Slowly, I turned to Duncan who continued goading Erix.

I’m not ready .

But I didn’t have the luxury to turn away from this. I had to face Erix. The time would have always come around; I’d only hoped it would not have been this soon.

I walked around the perimeter of the cage to greet him.

“Nothing to say?” Duncan shouted. Bodies of the Hunters littered the ground, the horses they had ridden no longer in sight, fled from fear, most likely. “All this way, all this effort and you cannot even spare me a word. Come on – give me something big boy.”

Duncan held a sword, broad shoulders blocking out Erix who stood before him. His confidence was palpable, almost foolish and misplaced. Mud was splattered across his boots, his clothes drenched through. He must have sensed my presence for he stopped bouncing from foot to foot and spared a quick glance over his shoulder, not an ounce of worry creasing his focused, stoic face.

But Duncan was not the only one to see me.

The sting of Erix’s eyes itched across my skin. I stilled, unable to take another step, feeling like I had only moments before, locked within the cage – absolutely powerless.

“Hello,” Erix growled, lifting one of his swords and pointing it towards me, “little bird.”