After talking to my mom about deciding to break Sawyer out of Magic City Prison, I slipped into the shower. The water ran down my body in warm rivulets and I sighed. I was glad that the Ithaki hadn’t damaged the gravity-fed water tower when they’d ransacked Paladin Village. I’d missed this, showering with soap and shaving my legs, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss that little cabin in the woods and my time there.
My thoughts were a frantic tangle of how exactly I would get to Magic City Prison, which was in the middle of high-tech Light Fey City, and then how I would break Sawyer out. Sawyer had indicated that the vampires would be waiting for me to rescue him, which meant going there was a trap … but I had no way around that. I was a one-woman show, although I knew Sage would insist on going with me and I wouldn’t have it any other way … but still. How did two women break into a magic prison? I had seven days to get him out before they killed him, and that was not enough time, especially considering I was basically a wanted woman with a target on my own back.
I forced down the sob that threatened to come back up. Now was not the time for a breakdown. Sawyer had seemed so hopeless when we’d last spoken. It broke my heart. I’d be hopeless too if I’d just been sentenced to death by guillotine.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I was also worried about leaving Creek, but if you had to leave your baby with anyone for an extended period of time, it felt good when it was your own mother.
After turning off the tap and changing into fresh clothes, I slipped into the living room to find Eugene, Sage, and Rab all bent over a map of Magic City. They held steaming cups of tea and coffee and were speaking animatedly about something.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, frowning at the food wrappers and old coffee cups that littered the table. “Have any of you slept?”
Sage looked like a zombie, hair in a messy bun, dark circles under her eyes, her left foot tapping out a rhythm like she’d had too much coffee.
She grinned as I approached, her eyes widening, which made her look even more amped up. “Eugene knows a guy who broke out of Magic City Prison a decade ago.”
I froze, my heart picking up speed until it was a steady thump in my chest. “I … I need to see him. Who is it? I need him to tell me everything, I need—”
“He’s a troll,” Eugene said, putting up his hands. “Went into hiding years ago. Haven’t spoken to him in a decade.”
Shit!
I’d assumed a wolf friend, preferably one still alive and here in Paladin Village. I started to pace the room, my mind spinning as I chewed on this new information.
Rab stood, stepping in front of me. “We’ve been up all night. We’ve decided that we three will go and try to bring Sawyer back … while you stay and take care of the pack.”
I looked at Rab with what I hoped was a grateful expression and not one of murder, which was what I was currently feeling. “That’s really sweet, you guys, but I can’t let you all do that. I have to be the one to go.”
Sawyer was my fucking husband, mate, and baby daddy. No one was going for him but me.
Rab shook his head. “You are the alpha, the most important—”
“What if it was Willow?” I stopped him. “Would you trust anyone else to get her back?”
He sighed, shrugging as a defeated expression crossed his face. “You can’t go alone, and we can’t leave the entire pack without leadership.”
I nodded. “You, Eugene, and Star will lead the pack while Sage and I go. It’s been the two of us forever. We can do this together.”
I looked at my bestie as her face pinched, like she was fighting the urge to cry.
“I’m totally going, not even up for discussion,” she added to Rab.
He growled lightly, running his fingers over the long scar on his face. “We just got an alpha, we are just starting to rebuild…”
I nodded. “And when I bring Sawyer back, we will build back stronger than ever before.”
He sighed, giving me a curt nod. Then an idea struck me.
Troll.
The guy Eugene knew was a troll.
“Marmal!” I shouted, causing everyone to jump. “We can go see my troll friend Marmal. Maybe she can help us find this guy that Eugene knows!”
Eugene shrugged from his place on the couch, where he nursed a steaming hot mug. “The trolls are notorious for their gossip and stories. Maybe she’s heard of him.”
I’m sure she had. Marmal said people in Troll Village paid in gossip. If a fellow troll had escaped Magic City Prison, she would know the story and possibly where to find him.
“We’ll leave right away!” I started to look around the room for what to bring.
“Hold up.” Rab put his hands out. “Our people just settled here. They will want to see you first, to have faith in this new home you’ve brought them to.”
I growled, not excited to play politics right now. But he was right. I’d need to make a small appearance before I left. “Fine. Sage, you get two horses ready. Pack them up with enough food for a week and I’ll go make one round outside through the village. We leave in an hour for Troll Village.”
I wasn’t letting Sawyer die because I had to uphold some image.
Sage nodded and stepped toward me, pulling something from her pocket. “In all the drama, I forgot to give this back. Your mom held on to it for me when I went looking for you.” She reached out her hand and my breath caught in my throat.
My ring.
I plucked it from her palm and slipped it on my ring finger. It felt so foreign to wear jewelry after a year in the wild, and yet this ring felt like home. It made me miss Sawyer so much more. “Thank you,” I croaked.
Rab stepped outside, ushering me to do the same, and I nodded. Sage then handed me a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito, which I took gratefully. My hair was still damp, but I stepped out into the chilly morning air and took in the sights of my people, of our new home.
The first thing I noticed were the smiles. People were laughing, drinking from steaming hot mugs that had been heated over campfires, as they breathed in fresh air. After living off the land for a year, I couldn’t imagine hiding in a concrete bunker. Emotion clogged my throat when I noticed all of the fresh green grass, yellow and pink flowers, fern bushes. The land was still magically restoring itself, but it looked like it had become a garden wonderland overnight. Every tree was thick with leaves, every patch of ground covered in grass or moss, and each house still standing blanketed in creeping vines and flowers.
It was the physical manifestation of what I’d done in that cave by giving my magic to my people and this land, and it blew me away with pride and gratitude.
“The village has never looked more beautiful,” Rab said, startling me from my thoughts. “I checked on the fields a few hours ago. The corn, avocados, peaches, barley, peas, it’s all growing back at a rapid rate, with no sight of disease.”
A tear slipped down my cheek as my throat tightened. This right here made it all worth it. The year away, not being there for Sawyer, it was a hard choice, but I’d saved thousands of Paladins, and now thousands of city wolves, as this land would be their safe haven until we could take Wolf City back.
I inhaled through my nose. Mixed with the flowers was the smell of magic, my magic, Paladin magic. This land was special, and I think even the city wolves sensed that. Trying to push Sawyer from my mind and the sense of urgency I felt to get to him and to Marmal to find this troll, I forced myself to calm down and take a breath, to enjoy this moment of what I had accomplished for our people.
“A lot of people want to thank you,” Rab said. “Come on.”
I followed him into the little campsites where people were waking up and sitting in front of fires as they made breakfast.
“Thank you, Alpha!” a Paladin woman with one kid on each hip called out to me as I passed. I gave her a small smile and nodded my head. People were out and about, stretching and looking up at the rising sun. Imagine a year underground and then coming back to this Garden of Eden.
“She healed our land!” another said, and I suddenly felt awkward with the public attention, but continued to walk and be seen like Rab said. I didn’t want to be known as an absent leader, especially if I was going away for a while. I sipped my coffee and nibbled my burrito as I waved and nodded at people who we passed by.
We came upon an open field where a bunch of city wolves seemed to be surveying the land and pointing out different areas for building. I recognized one of them as the man who’d almost challenged me in the bunker. As if sensing me behind him, he turned. There was regret in his eyes, even shame. He gave me a small nod of his head and I nodded back. That was as much of an apology as I was going to get.
“Hey, I heard you’re leaving soon,” Willow called to me from behind. I turned to see her holding her daughter. The baby looked so much like her mother, all except for the beautiful brown eyes she had compared to her mother’s Paladin blue. She would forever be known in our community as one of the few Paladin children born without wolf shifter magic in the time that we had no alpha … and I would hold guilt over that for the rest of my life.
Still, she was perfect.
I’d been worried Creek would be born without a wolf since he too was born before I’d claimed the land, but I could smell his wolf just under his skin, something he got from his father and my city wolf lineage no doubt. In that case, his wolf wouldn’t emerge until around his first birthday, as was normal in city wolf genetics.
“Yeah, I’m just making the rounds,” I told Willow, “and then I’m going to get Sawyer and bring him back.”
She nodded as if she understood, and then booped her daughter’s nose. “I’m taking Daisy for a playdate with Creek, and then I’m going to make mashed corn soup!” She said the last few words in an excited voice to the baby, who blew a raspberry in her face.
I smiled. Willow was such a natural mother, and I loved the name Daisy. In all the drama I’d totally forgotten to ask what they’d named her. I had a dark thought then. What if Sage, Sawyer, Walsh and I all died and none of us made it back? Who would take care of Creek? My mom was great but she wasn’t a warrior. What if the Ithaki attacked and she died too and there was no one to take care of my son? Panic seized me.
“Hey, Willow, Rab…” I looked at them both awkwardly, deciding something in the spur of the moment. They stared at me with concern, probably because I sounded on the verge of tears. “I, uh, my mom’s going to be looking after Creek while I’m gone, but if something were to happen to her, and my dad … and I didn’t come home…” I blew air through my lips nervously. “If anything happens to me, will you make sure Creek is taken care of?” My throat tightened with emotion at that thought, but it was a very real thing to have to think about right now. Sage and I were going on a dangerous mission and I needed to know my son would be okay.
Willow grabbed her heart, clutching Daisy closer to her as tears lined her eyes. As a new mother, I hoped she understood my panic.
“I hope that never happens, but if it does, that baby boy will have a long and happy life,” Willow promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Me too,” Rab said. “We will provide for him and protect him with our lives, as if he were our own.”
A huge weight lifted off of me then. That was what I needed to hear. Now I was ready to go fight for my man.
The horses that the Paladins kept on the back side of the land had grazed the wild grasses and drank from the stream over the past year, so they were in pretty good shape. Sage was able to convince two of them to wear a saddle, so we were in luck. It had been a year since either had been ridden, but they seemed okay with it, other than some twitchy tails. I couldn’t go into Wolf City and get a car and just drive on over to Troll Village, so this was the next best thing. Saying goodbye to the Paladin Village this morning had been hard. Our two wolf packs were trying to start fresh, and I was supposed to be their leader and I was leaving. But I had to do this.
Because I was linked to this land, I knew our territory without even looking down for the blue stone crushed path. I felt it like a guideline just under my skin. Some parts felt and smelled like home and the others were foreign. Not that it mattered much since the Ithaki had broken the peace agreement and we were at war with everyone. But, luckily, it was a short trek through the Wild Lands on horseback and to the edge of Troll Village.
The problem was that Marmal’s farm was at the very outer edge, near Vampire City, and we were going to have to come up through the entire village to find her. Once we stepped inside troll territory, it would be a full day’s ride. I’d painted Sage’s face with blue paint and dressed her to look like a Paladin trader. Wearing deer skin that barely covered our asses was no big deal after our year in the woods. We’d also braided our hair and tied two carved bone ornaments onto the ends. We had some goods to sell that Willow had hooked us up with, and most importantly I was wearing my cuffs. No one should be able to smell what I was, other than a wolf. The face paint and deep hood over my head should also hide my identity if I was on some wanted list.
We guided the horses up a steep hill through the last stretch of Wild Lands and I was pleased to see the small rock fence at the top indicating a territory change.
Troll Village, here we come.
“Owww wooaaaw!” an unfamiliar voice shouted a battle cry from the trees.
“Ithaki!” Sage barely got the warning out when an arrow whizzed past my head and sank into the ground, right in front of my horse. My mare reared upward, as I tightened my thighs around her to hold on, and gripped the reins for dear life.
Dammit! Those bastards.
Pulling a throwing knife from my thigh holster, I spun my horse around and eyed a streak of red cloth in the treetop.
“Hiya!” I spurred my horse lightly and she took off running in the direction of the Ithaki hiding in the tree. Throwing the knife, there was a yelp. A woman dressed in red rags fell backward out of the tree, clutching her chest, and hit the ground with a thud, dying instantly.
I’d killed many squirrels that way in the Dark Woods.
I relaxed a little, releasing the breath I’d been holding.
“Look out!” Sage screamed just as what felt like a boot thudded into my back and I went flying off my horse. I spun awkwardly in mid-air, falling backward just in time to see the vampire-Ithaki sailing through the air after me. He was covered in dirt camouflage, but I could smell him, that metallic vampire smell mixed with hot wires for fey magic. The air whooshed out of me as I hit the ground hard, and for a second I couldn’t catch my breath. It felt like my lung collapsed, but I’d had the wind knocked out of me enough times to know that wasn’t the case.
Dammit. We didn’t need this, not so early in our journey. From the grunts and noises of struggle just beyond, it sounded like Sage was in her own battle. I had about two seconds to decide whether I should take off my cuffs and blast this bastard into powder but expose my scent, or keep covered and kick his ass in my human form.
I decided that he still might not know who I was and just attacked because we were wolves and he was a dick.
‘Stay covered,’ my wolf agreed.
Finally, I was able to suck in a lungful of air before the bastard reached me. With a grunt, the Ithaki and I crashed together. He landed on top of me, but I was able to get my legs up in time so that he crashed into the bottom of my boots. Kicking out with all my might, I launched him off of me as he screeched, arcing through the air before he hit the ground with a thud. Knowing I had only seconds to act or he’d be on me again with his vampire speed, I popped up onto my feet and threw myself forward. Pulling a stake from behind my back, the one I always now kept in my waist belt, I grappled with him as he reached for me.
Grabbing my right stake arm, he grunted, trying to keep me from stabbing the shit out of him. His fingers pressed so hard into my wrist that I whimpered, afraid it would snap. He was inhumanly strong, and I was very much human level strength right now, which was annoying.
‘Plan B. Take off the cuffs,’ my wolf said.
‘You read my mind,’ I growled, trying to reach for my cuff with my free arm just as the vamp-fey froze, a guttural breathy grunt leaving his lips as blood dripped from his mouth. I looked down just in time to see the front tip of a stake poking through his chest. Glancing back up, my gaze met Sage’s.
“Thanks.” I breathed a sigh of relief as the dude went crashing to the ground. A black network of veins crawled up his neck and his skin sank in as he started to decompose.
I studied my bestie. Sage’s hair had been pulled from its braid and she was covered in dirt, same as me but otherwise unharmed.
“Welcome,” she breathed, trying to catch her breath. “I would have used the gun but didn’t want to accidently shoot you.”
“Appreciate that.” I gave a sly smile.
Sage slung an arm around me and I chuckled. Where there was trouble, I could always count on her.
“I totally had him,” I added.
“Totally.” She winked.
Our horses waited just a few feet away as we scanned the trees, preparing for a possible next attack. When nothing came, I nodded. “Well, let’s move on I guess.”
She bobbed her head in agreement but said nothing; she didn’t need to. We were both thinking it. Hopefully that attack wasn’t a portent for what the rest of the trip was going to be like.
As we got onto our horses, they climbed back up the hill and jumped over the small three-foot-tall cobblestone fence that signaled our leaving the Wild Lands and entering Troll Village. We immediately came up behind a few stone buildings and into a bustling marketplace.
“Showtime,” I muttered to Sage, who nodded, pulling the hood lower over her bright red hair. We both made quick work of patting off the dirt and leaves and evidence of our recent scuffle as we led the horses to an open area at the back of what looked like a market.
Trolls hurried about, running from stall after stall and buying items in a rush. Sage and I shared a look. Something wasn’t right here. They were fighting each other to push to the front of the lines and acting aggressively. My head snapped to my right, where I noticed two women warring over a small jar of honey.
What in the hell is going on here?
“Traders!” someone screamed, and then the crowd turned toward us. They rushed forward, pressing in on Sage and I. My horse reared upward as I yanked her reins, clenching my thighs and trying not to get bucked off.
“Back up!” I thrust a hand out to the trolls rushing us, and they obliged.
“What have you got? Any corn?” a woman asked with desperation in her gaze.
I frowned.
This wasn’t the Troll Village I’d visited over a year ago. Had the war done this? Were they low on food?
I nodded. “Blue corn. Some deer skins. And seeds.”
At the mention of seeds the crowd went nuts. They rushed forward, grabbing at my legs, and I was about to panic when a gunshot went off right beside me.
Everyone hit the ground, covering their ears, and I looked over at Sage, who held a sleek black handgun.
“Be civil or you get nothing!” Sage cried.
Okay, we’d agreed no guns on this trip unless absolutely necessary, but I guess that was needed lest I be torn apart by this mob.
Scared into compliance, they lined up one by one, single file. There must have been fifty people in total and more coming out of their houses and huts to see what was going on.
I slipped off of my horse and grabbed the trader bag that Willow had packed us. Sage stayed on her horse, gun in hand, as she stared down at the scene below.
I knelt, opening the red cloth and smoothing it into the ground as I laid my items out. There were gasps, and ohhhs and ahhhs as I arranged the seeds.
“She’s got seeds!” someone said from deep in the line, and my brow furrowed again. I looked up at Sage, who held her gun trained on the crowd, and she shrugged.
The first woman came up from the line clutching an old blanket. “I’ll trade you for five seeds?” She sounded unsure, like she knew it was a shitty trade. To be honest, the trader items were a front. I needed information, not a blanket.
It was a ratty-ass blanket too, the edges torn and frayed, and why the hell did everyone look so skinny? I didn’t want to act too clueless and raise the alarm that I clearly didn’t know what was going on in the magical world, but I had to find out why they looked half-starved and were fighting over seeds.
I swallowed hard, lowering my voice. “How about you tell me about why everyone needs seeds so bad? Why you are all fighting over food? Then I’ll give you any five seeds you like.”
Her eyes glittered with excitement at the prospect of being able to hang on to the blanket and the seeds. She leaned forward, nodding. “The vampires burned down all our farms nearly a year ago in order to force us to fight in the war against the wolves.” She licked her lips, eyeing the broccoli, corn, squash, and carrot seeds I had.
Those bloodsucking motherfuckers! Burned down all the farms!
Marmal.
“All the farms? Did you know someone named Marmal? Marmal from Rose-something.” My heart pounded against my chest as I struggled to remember where my friend was from. The lady shrugged.
“Yes, all the farms, but I don’t know any Marmal. Can I have my seeds?”
I nodded and she kneeled down, picking five seeds out carefully and then running off like she was escaping a fire. The man who was next looked at me quizzically.
“I know of a story about a Marmal from Rose-something. Might be your same one, but it will cost you ten seeds,” he whispered.
He’d been eavesdropping.
I nodded. “Deal.”
He was chubby, clearly not as starved as the others, and his nostrils were so big I could see his brain as he towered over me. The tusks in his cheeks were yellowing.
“Marmal of Rosedale was one of the first farms to burn. She lived near the vampire border.” His voice was scratchy like he was a smoker.
Excitement thrummed through me. Rosedale! That was it. “Yes. That’s her! Did she get away safely?”
He nodded. “She lost everything. But last I heard she’d been hired over at Trip’s barn in the Dark Fey lands. She’d got a knack for animal husbandry.”
Oh my God. Marmal. She was breeding animals for that asshole Trip in order to feed herself? In the Dark Fey lands! My mind spun with the news.
“Thank you.” My voice cracked and I indicated he could take the seeds.
Leaning down, he picked out his seeds and then left, a bow and arrow tied across his back.
The next person came holding some type of family heirloom, a beautiful brooch that was an oil-rubbed bronze color and inlaid with turquoise.
“Was my mother’s,” she said, voice shaking. “Twenty seeds?”
I couldn’t take these people’s things just for food. What kind of leader did they have that he was letting them starve like this? I didn’t know the rules, but why weren’t they going out one of the gates into the human world and making a fucking Costco run?
I would be.
“Just take the seeds. Keep the brooch.”
Her mouth popped open in surprise and she just stood there as if she didn’t trust me.
“Come on.” I waved my hand to hurry her along. I needed to get moving. I was going to give away all these seeds to these people and then I was going to see Marmal and Trip. My goal was still to find the troll who’d broken out of Magic City Prison and talk to him, but I had to check on my dear friend first.
Thinking ahead, I reached down and grabbed about fifty seeds, putting them away in my pocket in case I had to barter them with Trip for Marmal’s release. I didn’t know if she was a slave or an employee who could quit at any time, but I wasn’t leaving her there with him.
No way.
Each person came to my little seed store and I gave each one five seeds for free. I wanted them to start their own garden and hopefully get more seeds from that and rebuild their community. The trolls were known for farming, so this was a devastating blow for them no doubt.
Once my trading cloth was empty, I packed up, and as we left, the smiles and waves as they watched us depart made me feel a little better about what we’d done.
