Chapter 2

Leif crashed to the ground. She had inadvertently pulled him off balance when she'd drawn him through the portal. They were silent, stunned, relieved, and completely terrified all at once. As they crossed through Kristabell had felt pain, sharp and overwhelming, lance through her temples and she was fighting to maintain consciousness. She looked up and exclaimed, “Oh! I know where we are. That's the roller coaster at the P.N.E. fair grounds.” Then, she promptly fainted.

*

She opened her eyes then closed them. She'd had a brief view of someone's garage door. They were in an alley. She could rest for a moment longer. Rowan was talking, “I'm so angry with myself.” He was throwing bits of gravel at the garage door, hard. Kristabell could hear them ricocheting around the alley

“For crying out loud Rowan, stop throwing bloody rocks,” Leif growled. “You almost got me in the eye with that one.”

“I'm sorry,” Rowan sighed. “I just got six men killed and now we're in a strange world with an unconscious girl and I'm pissed off! Especially at myself. I've never fucked up like this in my life!”

“You couldn't have seen this coming. We all agreed with you that we were taking the best route. We all believed that the risks were minimal. You talked this over with Brian last night for an hour. Elves haven't been spotted in those parts for months. Even if you hadn't brought Kristabell, you said that you still had to talk to Lugh. We would have run into trouble no matter what.”

“I know, but I did bring Kristabell! You know what they would have done to her. I couldn't . . . I . . .”

“Rowan this is a war. You know that there is every possibility that Seamus might attack our home some day to try to get to you. I don't need to tell you that. You know that! You've said it yourself. Does it really bother you any less to think of Fenna or Nessa being raped and tortured? If you had left Kristabell behind that would have been a risk too. And as for what just happened, every one of us believed that if we could just make it to the grove, that we would be safe. Everybody knows that the elves are weakened in the groves. I can't for the life of me figure out what Seamus could possibly be hoping to accomplish by desecrating one of the groves. It's against the law. Both Fay and human, and the Fay will see it as an act of war.”

“He wants the trees for their power and,” Rowan paused, “I'm willing to bet that he had some clever plot to try to lay the blame at Liam's feet. Nothing would please him more than a conflict between Lugh and Liam.” Rowan threw another rock and Kristabell heard it hit Leif.

“Piss off Rowan! I know you’re angry but none of us saw this coming. It's not something we could have predicted. None of us saw this as a high risk journey. We expected a mellow morning ride, and none of us expected you to go back to the King's city without Kristabell. A run in with a band of approximately ninety elves and men in those parts is unprecedented. You kept her safe longer than anyone else could have and she got us out of there. Now lets just accept it and deal with the situation at hand!” Kristabell had never heard Leif talk so much.

“He's right you know,” she mumbled. She was lying on her side half on the gravel and half on Rowan's lap with his cloak under her head. She could hear the wooden roller coaster and screaming in the distance and Rowan's horse chomping on weeds next to her head. The world was spinning a bit but otherwise she seemed to be alright. She sat up so that she was sitting between Rowan and Leif, who were leaning against a garage door with their legs stretched out in front of them. Rowan was sitting there looking tortured and guilty, his eyes dark and angry. Kristabell tried standing and he was up in a flash making sure she didn't fall. She held out her hand to him. “Come,” she said softly. “We need to get out of here. We look like escapees from an S.C.A. convention and we need to get this horse out of sight.”

Rowan hesitated to take her hand so she reached out and took his. She could see it in his face. He was hating himself for what had almost happened and punishing himself inwardly. “Come,” she said more gently. “I know where we are. I know someone who can help us.”

They started walking. Leif took the horse's reins, leading him along as they went, heading west down alleys, avoiding the major streets, toward Trout Lake. It didn't take long. No more than an hour, but Kristabell could tell that it was a stressful hour for Rowan and Leif. This world was overwhelming at the best of times even for the people who lived here, but despite being battle hardened warriors, Rowan and Leif were scared shitless. Kristabell thought that they were going to pee themselves when a Mac truck boomed by as they were waiting for a light to change. By the time they made it to Sheila's house they were exhausted. Kristabell lead them down the alley and through the back gate into Sheila's garden. It was an impressive garden much like Kristabell's own garden at her parents house, with every inch of the small city lot given over to plants. The horse was munching on Sheila's kale. “Oh dear.” Kristabell sighed as she thumped down on the back porch steps. “This is my boss's house,” she explained to the two men. “She will, at least, be able to help us get to my parents’ place. We can figure out what to do from there, but I guess that you've figured out that we can't walk across the city like this. We draw too much attention and we're not supposed to have a horse here.”

The two men just stared at her dazed and then sat down on the ground right where they were standing. It would be an hour or two before Sheila would be home from the garden centre so all they could do was wait.