“Indeed,” Hyacinth agreed, her voice oozing disapproval. “The late king’s brother, Maelgwyn, is a powerful warlock. He worked for his brother for the majority of his reign, but Maelgwyn was ever dissatisfied with his own abilities. With the king’s resources and blessing, he was able to push the boundaries and discover new, ever more… unnatural powers. All in the name of service to the crown. When the king died, Maelgwyn used these powers to trick the throne.”
“Tricked the–what? How can a throne be tricked?” Was she implying that a chair was sentient?
Before I had time to contemplate such an impossible claim further, Hyacinth continued her irrelevant tale. “He placed a curse of eternal sleep on his nephews. As they were physically unharmed, but subdued, the throne assumed them dead and passed to Maelgwyn.”
“Sucks to be them,” I muttered. “But what’s this got to do with me?” More importantly, how did it affect my going home?
Hyacinth turned a sympathetic smile on me. “There are gateways between our world and yours. That is how you arrived here. There was a time when humans and witches alike travelled freely between Neath and Earth, though your kind were not always receptive to ours. The Fae would even pay the occasional visit to Earth, though their magic is greatly weakened there. The gateways are called rifts, and they are scattered throughout the courts. After speaking with Sister Sage, we have determined that you arrived through the Blood Gate.”
“I did?” I scanned the map, searching for the name etched in gold. If I’d come that way, why couldn’t I depart that way too? I feigned curious innocence as I asked, “Where’s the Blood Gate?”
Nobody answered. Maybe I wasn’t as subtle as I liked to believe.
“An incredibly reckless choice,” Sage offered, as though I’d had any say in the matter. I suppressed a scowl, channelling my glare at the map. There were no words. Nothing to mark the Blood Gate, at least nothing I understood.
Hyacinth patted my arm. “Savage beasts roam those mountains. Let us just say you are exceptionally lucky that Sister Sage found a living woman, rather than a corpse.”
Maybe making a bid for The Blood Gate wasn’t such a good idea, or maybe… maybe I wasn’t as good a liar as I believed. Maybe the witches knew exactly what I planned to do and were trying to put me off. To frighten me.
Either way, that rift had brought me here, which meant it could take me home. I’d managed to get here well enough without anything eating me, there was no reason I couldn’t do it again.
Hyacinth continued her history lesson. “As powerful as Maelgwyn is, even he cannot cast a curse without a caveat. Everything must exist in balance. Just as you were wounded, nature provided the ingredients for Sister Sage to heal you. It is the same for all things, even magic. A curse cannot exist without a way to break it. It is said that only a human can wake the princes.”
The hairs on my arms rose to attention as a cold sense of foreboding settled over me. I was starting to see where this was going, and I didn’t like it one bit. I glanced at the door again. Somehow, it looked further away than ever.
Sage appeared at my elbow, glaring at the map as though it had been Maelgwyn’s accomplice. “I’m certain he thought himself both clever and amusing, choosing the most incompetent species in the realm. To make an already unlikely achievement all but impossible, Maelgwyn sealed the rifts. The human world is toxic to fae, weakening their powers greatly, and so your side of the gateways remain open, though I believe they go some way to repelling your kind. We, however, are trapped here. As are any hapless humans who stumble into Neath. Believe me, there have been many.”
A bubble of hope swelled in my chest. “Well, can’t one of them break the curse? Where are they?”
“Dead,” Sage said with all the emotion of a weatherwoman announcing yet more rain. My little bubble popped, skewered by her answer. “In the early days after the casting of the curse, Maelgwyn sent out beasts. Great monsters of his own creation. They hunted down and killed every human. None survived. For many a decade, humans continued to come to Neath, keen to break the curse and earn the reward, but they all failed. As time went on, fewer arrived until, eventually, they stopped.” She lifted her moss-green eyes to mine. “You are the first in over two and a half centuries.”
Bad. This was very bad. The worst.
“And certainly, the first to arrive completely unarmed with at least a vague idea of why they were here.” Sage spoke with a tone of distinct disapproval, as though I was somehow at fault.
I blinked, straightening my spine at the audacity. “None of this is why I’m here! I’m here because I took a wrong turn in a cave, that’s all.”
Sage levelled a cool glare at me. “So you say, girl, but why do you think you took the wrong turn? You are meant to be here.”
Sweat pricked between my shoulder blades. Nope. Absolutely not. I was meant to be at home, eating snacks and watching TV from under the safety of a fuzzy blanket. Breaking curses was for main characters in the shows I liked to watch, not for me. I was a boring, ordinary woman with a boring, ordinary life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Don’t be stupid. What about all those other humans? The ones who died? Were they meant to be here too? Meant to die? I’m sorry, but there’s absolutely no way I’m getting myself killed trying to save some princes I’ve never even met.”
Their fate was definitely unfortunate, but there were worse things happening in the world. Not that I was cut out for dealing with those either, but still. Besides, for all anyone knew, they might be enjoying their nap. It would be rude to wake them.
Sage narrowed her eyes in assessment. “They were here because they chose to be. I knew many of them myself. The last one, Georgina, came of her own free will. She wanted to break the curse. Fate had no part in it. This is different.”
“It’s different because, unlike them, I’m going home.”
“You cannot.”
“I can.”
“Mother above,” Sage muttered, rolling her eyes. “I am not about to repeat myself, girl.”
“Aliza,” I snarled. “I have a name.”
“Yes, and I have a job to do. The curse must be broken, and like it or not, you will be the one to do it.”
“Why do you even care? You’re not a - a fae.” Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure what a fae was. The term rang a distant bell in the dusty corners of my memory, maybe from some fairytale my grandparents had read to me, but I couldn’t conjure an image of what, exactly, I was supposed to die to save. “What does it matter to you?”
“It matters to all the people of Neath, not only me.” The witch turned her attention back to the map, but Hyacinth stepped closer, offering me a gentle smile.
“As you know, without human men, witches face extinction, but that is not the worst of it.” She heaved a sigh, her smile fading into an expression of sorrow. “Maelgwyn has not been content these past centuries. He has the throne he coveted, he has his unnatural power, but it has not been enough to sate him into peace. In the years following his rise, Tir all but one fae kingdom fell to him. Since then, he has waged constant war against Tir o Gaeaf, the last court to stand between Maelgwyn and witch territory. If Gaeaf falls, we fall. There will be no free lands left in Neath, no free people.”
“Do his people suffer?” I asked, my voice soft, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. It would only make turning my back on them harder. Ignorance was bliss, and yet, I asked anyway.
“Yes. Many have tried to flee.”
“Tried?”
“They died for their efforts. The immortals died when they crossed over Maelgwyn’s borders. Those that remain are enslaved or… used. The king is, for want of a better word, a scholar. He is hungry for knowledge. Knowledge he gains from the suffering of his people.”
An image of a dissection floated across my mind, unbidden and unwelcome, particularly as the humanoid subject, who resembled Pansy, was still breathing.
“Not only his people,” Sage grumbled. “His agents often prey on the free fae of Tir o Gaeaf. They come by night, moving through the shadows and spiriting children from their beds, never to be seen again.”
Despite my determination to remain unmoved, I shuddered. It was the stuff of nightmares. Every child’s irrational fear come true. The more I learnt of this world, the less inclined I was to stay. A place where the monsters under the bed were real was no place for… well, anyone, but least of all me.
