Blue Ridge: Vol. 2 - The Search (4 page)

“Now don’t hurt him too much!” the Queen smiled. Nadia watched in horror as fists flew and legs kicked. Garth was powerful. He was able to rise partly to his feet with all four men on him. He was finally knocked back down face first and one of the men began securing his hands and feet with shackles. The Queen walked down to Garth and yanked his head up by the hair. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth.

“Do you think I don’t know what is going on in my own kingdom? Do you think I don’t watch the human world so close to this kingdom of the Realm?” she asked in a sweet voice. “
I Do
!” she screamed. Nadia put her hands to her ears and watched her drop Garth’s head back onto the stone. She looked around herself wildly and took off at a run. Her black hair streamed behind her and her legs felt strong.

“Stop her!”

Nadia could hear feet running behind her and saw several of the male courtiers stand with smug expressions. She was almost to the door when something made a cracking noise, and she tripped and fell. She slid across the floor and crashed into the doors. She immediately sat up and grabbed at the ropes with heavy balls on the end that were inexplicably wound around her ankles. She sensed movement near her and looked just in time to see an extremely muscular man blending back into the shadows. But man wasn’t the right word. He had the torso and arms of a man, but the rest of him, including his head, was that of a bull.

“
No way”,
was the last clear thought Nadia had before she passed into darkness.

*****

Foster couldn’t believe the turn of events.
A baby! A nephew! Here he was in trouble for even
dating
a human, and Dain had fathered a child with a Fae! A Fae or Sidhe had to seek permission to marry a Nephilim, and it was almost always denied, so it was certainly forbidden to just run wild and father children out of wed lock. Who exactly did he think he was? He wasn’t even allowed within the Realm without a guide before his twenty-one, and that was a month away!

“What are you thinking?” Warren asked interrupting his thoughts.

“What do you think I’m thinking?” Warren shrank back from the anger in Foster’s words. “I’m thinking Dain is a hypocritical idiot, and we are no closer to finding Nadia as we were when we entered!” Foster felt a moment of guilt for snapping at Warren, but quickly pushed it aside. Guilt was not going to help. Diana couldn’t take them where they needed to go, because she had no one to stay with the baby.
No one
knew about the baby. She delivered on her own. It was a miracle she and the baby hadn’t died.
The baby
would continue to be called
the baby
because she refused to name him until Dain came and named him himself.

“Where did that nut say we were to go?” Stefan asked with a grumble. He was becoming increasingly irritated as the day went on. They had stayed with Diana until after breakfast. She had insisted on feeding them before they journeyed on. Stefan tried to refuse, but she had threatened him with a rather large knife saying it was “rude”.

“We’re supposed to go to the Owl’s house.”

“Right.” Stefan muttered. “We’re going to ask a bird where we might find a human. Batty as hell, that one.”

“I think the Owl may be a person, Stefan.”

“Not a person. A Fae or a dwarf, or maybe it’s some kind of Elf.”

Warren looked confused. “Aren’t the Fae and Sidhe technically part of the Elfin race?”

Stefan gave him a hard look. “
Who cares?”

They walked further into the forest, watching for the landmarks Diana had told them about. Fallen logs, a tiny brook, left at the fox den. It was confusing for Foster and impossible for Stefan, but Warren was right at home. The only problem was keeping him focused on the task at hand instead of his trying to touch or look at every animal or plant that they passed.

“I think this is it.” Warren said and stepped towards a mound about four feet high. He bent low and knocked on the top of it. Something rustled from just under the top of the mound and the entire top opened like the lid of a box.

“
What!
” a voice screeched from inside.

“We wish to see the Owl.”

A small head poked out from the opening. Initially he was looking in the wrong direction. His head swiveled the other way, and the trio saw a skinny face with huge thick glasses perched on his nose. White hair ringed the bottom part of his head and when he climbed out, he stood about three feet high. He arched his back and stared up at the three of them.

“Great, a Gnome.” Stefan said aloud.

“What do you want?” His voice matched his craggy face.

“We are looking for a human. She may have been brought into the Realm against her will.”

“Well, I
may
have seen her.” He said slowly.

“Did you or didn’t you?” Foster barked.

The Gnome glared at him. “What will you trade to find out?”

The three of them looked at each other and back to the gnome. “I have a watch.” Foster said.

“I’ll take his bracelet.” The gnome said pointing at Stefan. Stefan held up his arm and pointed to the gold chain around his wrist.

“What? No!”

The gnome shrugged and began to climb back onto the mound.

“No, wait!” Foster yelled after him. He turned and looked at Stefan. “Please, Stefan, you can get another one when we get back.”

Stefan muttered and unclasped the bracelet. “I bought that half off the last time I was in Vegas!” he hissed tossing the bracelet on the ground.

“We can get another one!” Foster whispered back.

“Not half off!”

Foster shot him a look and turned back to the gnome. “You have your prize; now, did you see or hear about a human or not?”

The Gnome picked up the bracelet and studied it before clasping it around his neck. “A dark haired girl was brought through here yesterday. She was in the charge of Garth and two of the Queen’s soldiers. But she wasn’t a real human.”

“What do you mean?”

The gnome eyed them suspiciously. “What else can you trade?”

“Not a damn thing!” Stefan roared stepping forward and grabbing him by the front of his shirt and bringing him eye level. The gnome’s legs kicked in the empty air, and he tried to claw at Stefan’s hand. “Tell us what you know, or the next person to come by will find pieces of you for at least a mile!”

The Owl stopped struggling and nodded his head rapidly. Stefan sat him on the ground and motioned for them to lower themselves so they were slightly closer to the gnome’s level.

“They brought her through yesterday, but the Queen has spies everywhere; she already knew. She waits like a spider to catch them in her web.” He said and clenched his fist for emphasis. “The girl was being carried by Garth. She didn’t look awake.”

“Was she hurt?” Foster asked, his eyes widening.

“No, at least she didn’t seem to be, but she wasn’t awake. They took her to the hollowed trees. That’s where the soldiers take prisoners sometimes, you know for questioning or whatever.”

“Do you know if they are still there?”

The gnome shook his head rapidly. Rumor is that they passed through the market a few hours ago heading for the castle.”

“Oh no.” Warren whispered.

The gnome nodded his head. “Oh no, is exactly right. She won’t like one like her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the girl isn’t really human!” The gnome spat. “I tried to tell you that already!”

“Then what is she?” Foster asked quietly.

The Owl rolled his eyes in frustration, as if they were dense and couldn’t understand a simple arithmetic problem. “She’s
Fae
of course!”

Foster stood slowly. His breath caught in his throat and he shook his head in amazement. “The Queen is a Sidhe. Why wouldn’t she like her?”

“Have you seen her?”

“Yes.”

“There hasn’t been one like her in over eighteen years! She is dark elfin. That makes her powerful.”

Foster stood and backed away.

“Foster?” Warren asked. Worry creased his forehead and Stefan looked at him with a frown.

Foster held up a hand and stood a few feet away. “Just give me a minute.”

Warren and Stefan talked with the gnome quietly for a few moments. Foster watched through hazy eyes as the little person talked animatedly using hand gestures to help express what he was saying. Stefan stood and came to stand beside Foster.

“The gnome seems to think that Garth and the soldiers have no idea of what she is. They think she’s human. He also seems to think Nadia won’t even know it if she wasn’t brought up in it. She doesn’t know what’s inside of her does she?”

Foster shook his head. “She was adopted. She told me that sometimes she knows if someone is telling the truth by staring at them. She said it has something to do with the eyes.”

“The Queen wants to make sure your grandparents never take the throne again. She has been manipulating both sides for years. It has all been a
lie
, Foster. They never wanted to change the old ways. She wants a war between the Nephilim and all members of the Fae and Sidhe. Once that is completed she will create a problem so the Sidhe and Fae will war. She wants the entire Realm under her rule.”

“What does this have to do with Nadia? Correction, Naida.”

“What’s that?”

Foster gave Stefan a quick explanation of Nadia’s beginnings.

“Maybe she is half human? Why else would a Fae take their baby into the human world and leave it?”

“I don’t know, but we are going to have to get to the castle. For all we know that witch wants Nadia’s blood to drink.”

The owl gave them instructions on the best way to get to the castle without being detected.

“But there is no guarantee! Remember, the Queen’s spies are everywhere! Trust no one!”

They left with more questions than they came with. The forest was alive with sound and movement, but no longer mesmerizing and beautiful. Now it was a playground for the Queen’s minions, and every shadow was a spy.

*****

Nadia was in a complete panic.
She could feel her heart hammering in her chest and sweat was running down the sides of her face.

“Girl?”

Nadia stopped her pacing and leaned her head on the bars in front of her.

“Garth?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you hurt?”

Nadia wasn’t sure how to answer that. “You kidnapped me and were going to hand me over to that horrible woman. Do you really care if I’m hurt?”

“She played me for a fool, girl, she has played many of us for fools.”

“You’re hurt, though, aren’t you?”

He grunted and Nadia could hear him sliding closer to his door as well. “Just a little. My kind heals quickly so there’s no worry.”

“Garth, the thing that stopped me, it wasn’t a man.” She said in a shaky voice.

“No, it’s not a man. Not entirely. It was a minotaur.”

The odor from the dungeon was burning Nadia’s nose. It was a mixture of urine, sweat, and fear. She looked around again and tried to determine how far underground or into the side of the mountain they were. It was impossible to tell. The only light was from a couple of torches secured within the wall. Nadia leaned her head against the metal bars of the door again and let tears slid down her face.

“You really didn’t know about the Realm, did you?”

“No. I’m just this ordinary girl trying to go to college part time. That’s where I met Foster. He was in one of my classes.”

“And you didn’t notice anything odd about him?”

Nadia felt a flash of anger. “He’s not odd! He’s beautiful and kind and I fell in love with him in less than a day!”

“Calm down! I only meant, didn’t he seem otherworldly or something?”

“No he didn’t.”

“Would it have changed your mind about him if you had of known?”

Nadia paused and thought about Foster. She thought about his impossibly green eyes and his tall lithe frame walking towards her. She thought about his smile and how she felt like a little girl on Christmas morning every time he looked at her. “No.” Her voice rang out clear and reverberated on the stone walls. “No, it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference.”

*****