Treasure Ch. 10

The dragons around them had quieted to watch the scene before them with interest. A few soft murmurs broke the horrible silence. Catherine stared at him in shock, but then a slow darkness hooded her eyes. She took the bowl Jiro pressed into her hands with ashamed compliance. For a moment, Adeon felt a stab of remorse, but fresh anger surged up when she only gazed gloomily into her porridge.

"Eat," he snapped as he released her shoulders. "I have enough on my plate without having to fret over your starvation." As he turned to storm off, he saw her give him a fleeting, reproachful glare before she took a seat next to Jiro.

--

"Well," Cael said, "this is cozy."

Outside, five dragons, their wings twitching from the gales of wind that were bursting over the rocks, and two humans stood with their backs to the mouth of the cave. The tension was palpable. Catherine, the hood of her cloak drawn snugly over her head, seemed to be taking great care not to look anywhere near Adeon, and each of the other dragons had distanced themselves from Jiro, who was standing at the rear of the group wearing a look of oblivious determination. Roane crouched near Catherine's side, a faint, twitchy smile playing at his scaly lips. Sher and Shax stood a little further away, their scales a glittering swath of copper against the grey stone landscape. The spiked ridges of Shax's brow were furrowed with worry. Cael, looking all for the world like a massive statue carved from ivory, was watching all of them with amusement twinkling in his wide, red eyes.

"Are we bringing more humans with us?" he continued cheerfully. "I'm sure the fey will be ecstatic."

"The man is staying," Sher muttered, a feminine rumble that was only a touch deeper now that she had donned her scales.

"He doesn't seem to think so."

Quietly and expressionlessly, Catherine slung herself up onto Adeon's shoulders. He watched her evenly, feeling the familiar pressure of her buttocks and the warm squeeze of her thighs. She did not look at him.

After enduring several moments of ensuing silence, Cael cleared his throat awkwardly and continued to speak. "While our numbers give us an advantage in battle," he said, "I feel it might behoove us to separate upon our arrival. If we're wandering into the cursed den of the Unseelie, we may as well speak with the Seelie. And if something were to go awry..." He shrugged, but a cruel smile was playing at his lips. "Well. At least half of us would remain safe. I don't much care where the lot of you go, but I believe that it might be more practical for this little peacemonger to approach Queen Oona of the Seelie." He jerked his head towards Catherine and Adeon. "My knowledge of the fey is not all-encompassing, but I do believe that they eat far fewer humans there."

For a moment, Adeon allowed warm relief to swallow him up. The Seelie court would be much more forgiving and much less dangerous than the Unseelie, where humans were often ensnared and imprisoned for eternity--for mere amusement, if they were lucky. But then realization struck him hard, and he winced.

"We have had encounters with the Seelie," he mumbled. "While I suspect my debts have been forgiven, I would rather not chance an audience with the Lady." From his shoulders, he felt Catherine lean down closer.

"Was that her rabbit that you ate?" she whispered. Almost immediately, Cael's inquisitive frown transformed into a wide-eyed stare.

"You ate one of the Lady's flock?" he said loudly. Around him, the other dragons looked incredibly confused. "And you aren't rotting beneath her hill?"

"Rabbits?" Roane asked eagerly. When everyone ignored him, he drooped with dismay.

"As I said, I believe my debt was forgiven." Adeon glowered at Cael, who only arched a thorny brow. "But not by the Lady. She may yet take offense. Were I punished, I would fear for Catherine's safety."

"I could go without you," she began, but he silenced her with a furious look from over his shoulder. Her lips thinned angrily.

"It seems your companion doubts our competence," Sher murmured darkly, her enormous violet eyes flashing. Beside her, Shax looked uncomfortable as Adeon turned his glare towards them.

"She will remain with me," Adeon hissed.

"The two of you will accompany me, then," Cael said loudly, interrupting Sher's response, which sounded as if it may have been rather rude. "The rest of you can seek out the Queen."

Roane looked crestfallen. "I hoped to join Catherine," he protested. His voice had ascended in pitch, nearly the dragon equivalent of a whine. Cael's eyes screwed shut in annoyance.

"While your motives may be pure," he said slowly, "I will not be held responsible for the actions of an unhinged dragon in the Unseelie halls." Roane, who now looked mortified, shrank down into a scaly, guilty ball.

"Don't you listen to him," Catherine said viciously. "He's only being rude. You're just as sane as the rest of us." Roane looked hopeful, and Cael rolled his eyes.

"You're right. We're all perfectly mad," he said. Then his wings extended, and he shot them all one last exasperated look from over his shoulder. "Can we carry on, then, or would you all rather quarrel until dusk?" he snapped, and then he dove from the face of the mountain.

The rest followed suit until only Adeon, Catherine and Jiro remained, and Adeon watched the human soldier evenly as he approached their side. "No," Adeon said. Jiro didn't even blink. "It's too dangerous." When the soldier's expression didn't change, Adeon brought his face very close and indicated to the ground at his feet with a massive claw. "Stay," he finally said in a frustrated snarl, and then he followed the other dragons in their plummet from the mountaintop. While Catherine did not scream, her arms gripped his neck like a noose as the air roared past them. When his wings extended to even out their descent, they loosened, but her fingers twitched weakly against his flesh. He smiled to himself and dipped slightly to the side, relishing the way her little heartbeat rattled unevenly against his shoulders. However, despite his teasing, she never reprimanded him.

They flew in silence for quite some time, stoic as the ground passed beneath them like a minuscule strip of brown moss and weeds. Roane snapped playfully at a nearby flock of geese, and when he glanced over his shoulder to watch their passing, he blinked.

"Strange," he said. "Strange, strange, strange. Very strange."

"What?" Sher grumbled impatiently, and he cocked his head, still gazing pensively at the ground behind them.

"Do you think he has wings?" Roane mused. "That man with all the swords and the strange hair?"

"No, Roane," Catherine's voice said glumly. "Otherwise I'm sure he would have tailed us." Roane looked at her for a long moment, and then his lips spread into a satisfied smile.

"A little man with wings," he decided cheerfully. "How extraordinary."

Frowning, Adeon looked over his shoulder, and his heart stopped for a moment in his chest. Far behind them was a little speck of a man, trudging methodically across the flat landscape. He was growing ever-distant, but his pace was still swift.

"Is he following us?" Catherine said, an awestruck note to her voice.

"How did he scale the mountain so quickly?!" Shax yelped. "Oh, gods, Kai will be furious if we leave him wandering the land like that--"

"And wander he will," Adeon interrupted. "We told him to stay; he's following us at his own peril. We can't very well drag him along and expect--"

"Oh, of course," Catherine said from his shoulders. Despite the brightness of her tone, her sarcasm was a viscous, tangible thing that dripped heavily from each syllable. "He's just a human, after all. I mean, what use could he possibly be?"

Adeon felt the muscles of his face contort painfully, and his eyes rolled so far heavenwards that he temporarily lost sight of the world around him. From his side, Shax shot him a concerned look.

"So, should I--"

"Do it," Adeon sighed. Shax curled in the air and dove downwards, a liquid motion that sent him streaking towards the ground in a blur of copper. "Are you quite happy?" he asked dully, glancing over his shoulder. While she didn't meet his eye, the stoniness in Catherine's expression might have dissipated, if only slightly. His brows rose in query. "Exactly how long do you plan on sulking?"

"I'm not sulking," Catherine muttered--at least, as much as she could mutter while the wind was rushing past them in a roar. It was a valiant effort.

"Suit yourself."

--

Adeon's wings gave a few last beats as he descended, and Catherine let out a loud "Oomph," as his impact with the ground dislodged her from his shoulders. She toppled down to his feet, her hands shaking as they clutched fervently at the ground beneath them. The trees rattled wildly as three other dragons swooped above them. Sher, Shax and Roane were traveling further south towards the other end of the woods, leaving the rest of them here, in the depths of the Black Forest, much closer to the Unseelie court than Adeon had ever hoped to find himself.

Cael dropped Jiro abruptly from his claws when they landed, but the soldier still landed in a graceful crouch. Cael's enormous maw lowered itself to inches from his face, and he only regarded the dragon calmly.

"Our mission is dangerous enough without you bringing iron into the fairy halls," Cael said. "Unlike the rest of these idiots, I could bite your head off and sleep soundly, so I'd suggest--" He cut off as Jiro's hand began a slow descent towards the hilt of his sword, and his upper lip lifted into a snarl. "Oh, you understood that, did you?" he snapped, but Catherine scrambled to her feet and lurched forward to clutch at Jiro's arm.

"Please, Jiro," she said quickly. "We're going to need someone to wait for the others and watch for trouble. Could you please just wait here? Please?" After a minute of contemplation, he lowered his hands and stalked towards a very large tree near the end of the glade, then dropped down moodily into a sitting position at his base. Catherine seemed to be pondering something. "And if we aren't back in two hours...could you come for us?" she added after a moment. Still looking reproachful, Jiro bowed his head. "Thank you," she said awkwardly.

Adeon watched him shrink into the distance as they began to walk forward, and he arched a skeptical eyebrow at Catherine, who was keeping pace by his side. "Do you think he even understood you?"

"I don't know," she said. And then, with a wince, "I hope so."

The trees were growing denser still around them, and finally, Adeon and Cael halted before a wall of narrow trees and began to shrink down. Adeon watched Catherine with amusement as she stood with her back rigidly turned to Cael, who had shifted back into a nude, unhealthily pale-looking figure who was stepping into a pair of trousers. She passed Adeon his clothes wordlessly, and he took them with a grateful bow of his head that she did not return. Mere feet from certain danger and she was still fuming. Gods above.

"When you speak to the King--" Adeon began, glancing back at Cael, and the other dragon cut him off with a bark of laughter.

"You think the Unseelie King owes me a favor?" he snorted. "Gods. I'm flattered that you thought so, but even if I were to accomplish such a thing, I'm sure he'd just have me killed."

"We're not going to see the King?" Catherine asked slowly.

"Even speaking with him would be gambling with our lives. I'd like to avoid it. Wouldn't you?"

"And how do you propose we build an army without first speaking to him?" Adeon murmured, thrusting his feet into his boots. Cael wriggled himself into his saffron shirt and smiled back at him.

"The one indebted to me is a commander of the highest rank," he said. "I'll simply order him to send his men to the mountains tomorrow, and then we'll leave that godforsaken place. Easy enough, I think."

Catherine peered up at him in confusion. "But we came to form an alliance--"

"If you'd prefer an audience with King Finvarra, I can hardly stop you. Maybe you'll succeed. Maybe he'll accept." He turned to face her and knelt closer. "Or maybe you won't," he added, "and the King will turn you into stone and keep you as a statue for his banquet hall...if you're lucky." Catherine swallowed.

"Enough," Adeon rumbled, and Cael straightened with a smirk.

A faint snap came from deep in the nest of brambles to their left. Adeon froze with one arm in his sleeve, and Cael's head shot up and turned towards the source of the noise, fixing the area with an eager stare. He held his head level and still, like a cat preparing to pounce.

"You think they sent us a welcoming party?" he inquired, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Hush," Catherine whispered. Her spine was rigidly straight, her face pale with worry.

"The truce still stands," Adeon said. Still, he never took his eyes from the brambles as he pulled the rest of his shirt over his head. "There's no danger. Not unless we--"

He was cut off as a streak of silver went whistling past Cael's left ear. Cael's muscles coiled with lethal precision, and he sprang into the mass of leaves and thorns wearing a look of pure glee. After a series of wild rustling noises, a hoarse cry erupted from the green and Cael came tumbling back into the clearing with a dark shape clutched in his arms.

The figure was lithe and small and decidedly female. Wisps of black hair--most of which had been woven into a long braid that was punctured messily by quartz-like crystal points in the pleats--fluttered over whiteless eyes that were little more than pools of black in her heart-shaped face. Her skin was the color of the sky just after midnight, inky and tinged with violet. Her pointed nose crinkled fiercely, and lips the hue of ripe plums snarled in frustration as she thrashed in Cael's arms. She was dressed in tattered black leggings and an old black bodice that was fashioned out of some alien-looking leather. Silver-gauntleted hands tipped with impossibly long fingers rose to swipe angrily at Cael's face.

"Look what I found," Cael announced. Adeon glanced warily towards Catherine, who was watching in horror as Cael lowered his face into the crook of the woman's neck and inhaled. She jerked away from him, but he only stood and crushed her back against his torso. "What should we do with her?" he continued, seizing her flailing arms as easily as if they were thin branches waving in the breeze.

"Release her, and do it quickly," Adeon said slowly. "We don't want to incur--"

"She struck first." Cael's smile was twisted with mischief. "She's fair game according to the truce. And very outnumbered," he whispered into her pointed ear, eliciting a soft groan from her throat that was raspy from terror. Or...something else. Adeon watched the pair of them suspiciously. Something wasn't quite right.

"You let her go this instant!" Catherine cried, and the moment that Cael glanced up at her, the fairy woman gripped his arms and sent him flying over her shoulder.

Cael seized her left ankle as he crashed to the ground, pulling her down on top of him, and they collapsed into a writhing mass of chaos. Cael slung one of her thighs over his shoulder and scrambled upright, pinning her underneath him and grabbing around for her hands, and the fairy woman gritted her teeth as she brought up her other leg to wrap it around his chest. Like liquid, she twisted her hips hard and slammed him down onto his side on the forest floor, then wriggled upwards to entwine her legs tightly around his neck. Catherine lurched forward, but Adeon held out an arm to stop her. The crooks of the fairy woman's knees curled threateningly around Cael's neck, but Cael only closed his eyes contentedly as he felt her thighs squeeze his throat. Her fingers were knotted firmly in his white hair, keeping his neck exposed and his sharp teeth far from her flesh.

"Cael," she spat in a fierce whisper. Her voice was rough like claws scraping tree bark, but not unpleasantly so. It rumbled like a purr in her throat. Cael's pale lips split into a grin.

"Lucia," he sighed, like her name was drops of honey on his tongue. Her mouth twisted with disdain and repressed amusement, and she constricted his throat briefly with her leg before releasing him. He watched her cheerfully from the ground as she stood. To his left, Adeon saw Catherine's face crumple in confusion. "You're getting better, aren't you? I hope you haven't been grappling with any other men in my absence."

"Several," she said, retrieving her knife from where it had buried itself into a tree trunk and slipping it casually into a sheath at her hip. "All of them stronger and much better-looking than you."

"Oh, darling, I adore the way you abuse me," Cael groaned. His head lolled back languidly, and Adeon saw a flare of warmth blur his eyes like heat shimmering over sand. "Tell me more of my shortcomings, whisper them softly into my ear--"

"Excuse me," Catherine stammered, and the entire clearing turned to stare in her direction. She promptly turned pink. "Do you...know one another?" Still smiling widely, Cael pushed himself into a sitting position.

"We're madly in love," he said. "Can't keep our hands off each other." He grazed her calf with his fingertips, and she rewarded him with a scathing look before moving out of his reach.

"If you continue to touch me, you'll find yourself missing fingers," she said. "Why are you here?"

Cael rose to his feet and stretched. "I couldn't resist the allure of my beloved," he said. She watched him evenly, looking superbly unaffected by his flattery, and he slouched in resignation after a few moments. "And I might be looking for a favor," he added.

"You'll get nothing from me, which is far more than you deserve."

"As eager as you are to lend your assistance--and I'm touched, really--I'm afraid it won't be necessary." While she lacked irises, Adeon could have sworn that he saw Lucia's gaze begin a skyward trek in exasperation. "Although you could guide us through the gates," he offered. When Lucia's expression didn't change, he leaned in close. "It's the least you could do, since I let you win," he concluded delicately. Murderous rage flashed across her face with the intensity and brevity of lightning.

"Or I could relieve you from your insufferable tongue. It's going to get you into trouble someday." Her long fingers toyed with the hilt of her knife as she met Cael's stare challengingly, but then she turned on her heel and began to march forward. Cael trotted eagerly behind her, and Adeon and Catherine both followed after a moment's hesitation. "Perhaps your audience with the King would benefit the both of us," she said from over her shoulder. "There's always a chance that he might rid me of you for good."

"I don't necessarily want the King," Cael mused, gazing thoughtfully up at the forest ceiling above them, which was inexplicably leafy even in the dead of winter. "It's Niallian I need to speak with, the dodgy bastard."

"You think Niallian is going to lift a finger without consulting the King?" Lucia asked wryly.

"With the proper incentive."

"You're dangerously optimistic, as always."

Cael inclined his chin to regard her with amusement, ruby eyes glittering. "I missed you, too."

Lucia's upper lip arched in disgust. "Don't flatter yourself," she muttered. Her pace quickened, and Cael watched her dreamily as she stormed ahead of them.

"So shameless, the way she chases me," he said to no one in particular. His stare played blatantly over the fabric that was straining over the firm swell of her rump, which bounced in time with each booted step.

Adeon glanced down near his left shoulder, where the top of Catherine's head was bobbing. Her soft pink lips were parted in awe as she surveyed the forest around them, which was metamorphosing into something dark and lush and twisted. The sunlight was dim through the tree canopy, and it cast crooked shadows that slithered over her body as she walked.