Treachery Queen (The Callistra Chronicles #1)

TWENTY-SIX

PART FOUR — WARRIOR

There was only damnation on the day Pasiphae of Eo lived to die.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Truthfully, Pasiphae felt as if she was wading through water. Perhaps, even, moving in slow motion, her body unable to keep up with her roaring mind.

She tugged her dress high to give her legs room to move, struggling back up the hill. She had to navigate past trampled branches and toppled cups, puddles of bright liquids that either spilled from cups or spilled from mouths.

The woodlands were emptied of fae and humans now, save for the few that were so catatonic they lay twitching at the base of a tree. With the masses emptied out into the city, it was almost noiseless.

Pasiphae slowed her steps, not really knowing why she felt the urge to do so. In the faint distant, she almost thought she could hear the howl of a wolf, though those had not existed for thousands of years.

The palace walls loomed into view. From a highest turret, the sylphs shot into the sky like the reverse of a light beam.

Pasiphae crouched to a stop, panting heavily. She pressed up against a tree, angling her body out of view as three sylphs flew past, making low noises to themselves that sounded like tortured laughing.

After she was certain there was no immediate danger, Pasiphae stepped into open space, running towards the palace walls. She collided with the barrier fiercely, kicking and pounding and desperate for a way in. She could not see the sylphs so close to the looming wall, but she could smell them.

Pasiphae was thrown back in effort. There was no secret entrance that she had missed. The wall was just as solid as it had always been.

"What are you doing?"

Pasiphae clutched at her chest in fright, her head whipping up towards the sound.

Lauha Hollblood, the banshee, was perched at the top of the wall, one leg raised along the edge and the other dangling down. Her silver wings were collapsed on either side, slightly dampened from the rain.

"I'm trying to get in," Pasiphae said simply, lost for words.

Lauha's wings stood straight in a sudden whoosh and the faery flitted down unceremoniously. "This way, then."

She landed with a thump, backtracked a few steps, and then gave the ground a brutal stomp.

As her shoe squashed down on a small plant, nearby stones began to rattle, rolling out of the way.

The ground had split open in a perfect square.

Lauha glanced over her shoulder questioningly, and jumped in.

"Wait!" Pasiphae hissed, rushing over. She peered into the gap in the ground, but saw only darkness. She stuck her hand in, and the air that met her skin was damp with humidity.

"How did I end up here?" Pasiphae muttered to herself. She braced herself, then jumped.

Her boots splashed into a puddle as she landed, and the shock on her ankles sent her stumbling to her knees.

A flicker of light appeared from ahead, and then Lauha's face lit up by the torch she held in her hands.

"You realise there was a ladder, right?" she asked, pointing the torch.

Pasiphae followed the beam. There was indeed a metal structure descending from the gap in the ground, running along the wall.

"Now you tell me," Pasiphae muttered. She got to her feet, wringing out the dirty water from her dress. The sound of the howling wind outside was loud, but she felt none of the breeze. "Where are we? Who are you?"