He has a point, and it irritates me to admit it. The weather is harsh. I am alone with nothing but the clothes on my back.
"How do we get there? To the Fae?" I ask, stalling.
"We travel by Waystone. There's one close by. Come, see for yourself."
And so I follow him, but I don't commit. Not yet. Not until I see the Waystone. Not until everything begins to click.
Because the Waystone is familiar. I've seen it before, or one just like it. With Fen, when Ari was missing and we went in search of her.
It is a wall, hidden deep within a damp cave, decorated with symbols of the Fae, a handprint in the center.
I run my fingers over the carved stone. "How does it work?"
"Are you coming?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
I sigh. "I guess I have no choice, do I?"
He grins. "There's always a choice, Princess. But I like to make it a hard one."
"What about the horse?" I ask as Tavian presses his hand against the center stone print, against the spikes there, and his blood flows into the carvings.
"He doesn't like the travel."
I soon understand why.
The stone grinds open revealing a slab that Tavian leads us both onto. And then it begins to move, dropping into the earth, moving us quickly through the core of our world. "Where are we going?" I ask.
"Avakiri. The Fae kingdom on the other side of this world."
"Other side?"
"You’ll see soon enough." Tavian grabs my hand. "Prepare yourself."
"For what?"
Too late.
Gravity ceases to function and I barely contain a scream as we both begin to float. Tavian demonstrates how to flip over so that his feet are facing what was the ceiling. I do the same, and then gravity hits us hard and we both fall against stone, the floor now above us. "What was that?" I ask, rubbing a new bruise on my shin.
"We are half way there," he says.
Half way to the other side of the world I thought I knew. Surely someone must have discovered these secrets, but I can see why they would be so closely guarded. The vampires made the Fae almost extinct, save those kept as slaves. The Druids were put to sleep, the Midnight Star and all blood ties killed… and yet the Fae found a way to survive. To live. To regrow.
And now they have Ari.
It's still so much to absorb. For so long we have lived in this one routine, existed with our ways intact. Then this human girl shows up and everything I know about my life is twisted into something different. I don't blame Ari, of course. If anything, she's more a victim in this than anyone. But it makes me wonder… how have I become so complacent with the injustices I see? How have I grown so jaded in this world? And what will this trip to Avakiri do to me? To everything I believe in?
When the Waystone stops moving, the doors swing open, and we emerge into a different cave, filled with sparkling green crystal. I can hear running water and smell the scent of fresh grass. Tavian reaches out and waves a hand over me. I feel a shimmering of magic, then it fades. "What did you do?" I ask.
"I cast an illusion over you, to change your appearance," he's says. "I don't know how many would recognize the illegitimate Fae daughter of the vampire king, but likely Metsi would."
I'm touched by his concern and begrudgingly thank him.
We step outside, and into a different world.
No longer covered in snow, this land is a lush growth of tropical jungle, the sun bright and hot upon my skin. Before us flows a waterfall, hiding the cave with the Waystone. I run forward, eager to see more, skirting around the water and climbing a rock covered in green vines, overlooking a pond.
The water is so clear I can see the bottom. Colorful fish swim around as light flickers against their scales. The trees here are tall, with vines growing between them like ropes. Tavian leads us to a stone path decorated with ancient symbols and dotted with moss. Critters scurry through the undergrowth, and the sound of birds and other creatures fills the silence with hoots, chirps and whistles. It's a cacophony of life.
The trail narrows and turns into stone steps, placed so close together I have to be careful not to trip on my own feet. Walking up the steps—it seems there are hundreds—is its own kind of meditative exercise.
I'm entranced by the beauty and serenity of it all until we reach two carved sculptures that act as guardians to the entrance of a garden. When we walk through, it takes me a moment to understand what I'm seeing. At first, I'm taken in by the many waterfalls and pools of clear water dotted throughout, surrounded by explosions of floral color. But the sounds of nature are drowned out by the sound of dying men and women.
Bound to the trees by the rope-like vines are dozens of vampires, stripped nearly naked. They hang over the pools of water, branches curling around their flesh, piercing their skin, fusing with their veins. The enchantment drains away their blood, releasing it through the roots and into the water. The pools swirl with red as the cries of my people carry on the wind.