Chapter 1
I rested the basket filled with fresh apples against my hips and swiftly made my way through camp, until I came to the huge open space at the centre. Soldiers chatted cheerfully amongst each other, either spread throughout the crooked tables and benches spanning the whole space or standing casually against the wooden posts supporting the canvas ceiling. Some of the men tipped their heads in greeting as I passed by their tables to lay a few apples on the centre trays, and I smiled back, ignoring the now familiar glint of their sharp canines. Some of the older soldiers, mostly generals and weathered warriors old enough to have seen the turn of a few centuries, only acknowledged my presence out of respect for the house I belonged to.
I didn´t mind – I rather preferred their attention stay elsewhere. Better to pass unnoticed than to incur the twisted curiosity of the Fae.
I looked around the space, my eyes scanning efficiently all the tables. My role in this camp for the past week - and at least for the next - was to make sure the tables were never empty of food, and the cups of wine. As a human among the Fae, and one without any particularly remarkable talent - be it cooking, painting, dancing, singing - it was not at all the worst place for me to be at. I did write some poems, which the courts occasionally fancied turning into songs to play at their revels, and I knew how to play the lute; but those things weren’t valuable right now.
Instead, General Halvar had put a wooden tray on my hands and said that weaving around men while filling their plates and cups was a smart way to discover their secrets without them knowing any better. This way, we can find unrest among the men and extinguish it before it grows too hungry, he’d said. Stay out of trouble. That is how you can best serve this house.
I crossed the large canvas covered space. On the other side, the General strayed from where he had been speaking with a young man dressed in the dark red and gold livery of the Queen.
“Daughter,” he called, coming to rest his long fingers on my shoulder. I smiled in answer. I never quite knew how to call him - he wasn’t my father, not really; but he had raised me since I was ten, teaching me the ways of the Fae, how to wield a dagger and then a sword, and how to behave in front of kings and queens. If I fit in with the Fae, I owed it to him and his daughter Izla.
“You will be there for the festivities tonight?” Halvar’s eyes were dark with thought, and if that wasn’t indication enough that something had happened, then the fact that he’d asked me if I would come certainly was. Tonight was the Queen’s 500th birthday, which meant all the armies camped on the grounds around the capital city were supposed to pay their tribute by celebrating however much they could. To be absent was considered a disrespect - so of course I would be there.
“Is something wrong?” I looked back at the emissary from the Queen, now disappearing beyond a dark green tent.
Halvar guided me out of the large space, away from the cunning ears of the soldiers and their families. His dark, shoulder-length hair blew softly across his face in the cool breeze, the late afternoon sun shining on the coiled pommel of his longsword. I put the basket down by my feet, waiting.
“The Queen sent word,” he paused, pursing his lips. I could tell something was upsetting him. “There are rumours about discontent among Mirenne’s court. Her generals are restless. They want action. They claim that, since we came to the capital, we’ve done nothing but sit idly while the Queen schemes with her council up in their glass towers.”
My eyes trailed over the extension of our camp, to the mountains a few miles north. There, nestled between two dark gray peaks, the Silverstone fortress stood proudly, its tall glass spires reflecting blindingly the orange glow of the setting sun. “But you’ve been to meetings,” I said, frowning. “All of you - rulers of the lower courts and their generals. You don’t mean to say that Queen Nieven is holding out on information,” I said, more of a question.
Halvar followed my gaze across the plain, over the extension of the gathered armies and to the Queen’s fortress. “The Queen is being careful. She knows declaring war on the Isles could mean devastating losses for the continent.” His eyes met mine, and I understood his meaning. Not just losses among the Fae - the human lands would be caught in the crossfire, too. “But the northern courts hunger for blood, and soon they’ll tire of revels and meetings.”
“And you think they’ll try something, even with all the armies gathered under the Queen’s banner?” I asked.
The northern courts had always been the cruellest and most ruthless among the Fae. Their ancient customs and savage appearance had always scared me more than anything else in the Fae lands, and I was grateful they dwelled up north, far away from the human villages.
The General fixed me with his hard stare. “I fear it is exactly because of the gathering of the armies that someone might try something.” At my furrowed brow, he explained. “Mirenne has always been clever. Even before ascending to rule her court, she ate at the table of many Lords and Ladies. She has many allies. And if not that, she surely has many favours to collect, because she has eyes and ears everywhere in the north.”
He paused, letting me finish his line of thought. Mirenne had many friends and Fae who owed her - and they would all be somewhere in this sea of tents and banners gathered in the plain below the gates of the capital city.
“If she makes a move, she won’t be alone,” I finished. Halvar nodded, his lips drawn in a thin line. “How many?” I asked, thinking through my mental list of all the courts, their allegiances and feuds.
Halvar’s hand came around my upper arm, and he pulled me away from the path of two Fae carrying a long wooden bench. Three more followed, each carrying a barrel of wine. The festivities would begin soon.
“I’ll take care of it,” Halvar said, his voice low. His hands came to rest on my shoulders. “I’ll send men to each of the northern courts to gather information on where they stand. And I, myself, will go to Mirenne’s camp.” I shook my head, about to tell him how that couldn’t be such a good idea, but his hands tightened their hold on my shoulders. “We are both warriors. I’m sure we can come to an agreement, if there really is something amiss.”
“Of course,” I said. But now there was a weight taking shape in my chest. The more I thought about it, the more it appeared similar to fear. Deep down, I knew it was only a matter of time before trouble stirred among the northern courts. Halvar knew this, too.
I picked up the empty basket at my feet and turned, but the General grabbed my hand. “If you see or hear anything strange, you know what to do.” His eyes shone a fierce black. “Stay close to your sister, and you both come find me. If you can’t find me, search for one of my men. And if you can’t do that either, you run.”
“I know,” I assured him. Run south, until we either found somewhere safe to lay low or we reached the human lands. “We know what to do.” I bit the inside of my cheek. I really didn’t like the way the conversation had strayed. “Tell me it won’t come to that,” I murmured. “Tell me these rumours are all a misunderstanding.”
Halvar lifted my chin with his fingers, one of his rare smiles showing the sharp ends of his canines. “All will be well, daughter.” He gestured to the tents behind me before his hand rested back on the pommel of his sword. “Now go. I believe Izla is very excited to show you what she has been working on for tonight.”
A smile pulled on my lips at that, and I hurried back towards the General’s tent, the sun setting behind my back.
