Kingdom of Thorns and Dreams Read online

  When they saw me, they laughed, all three of them gurning as their lips curled up at the edges, twisting their features hideously.

  With my two arms in front of me, hands clenched into fists, I snarled at them. The noise sounded like a puppy mewling. I am the first to admit that I hardly cut an imposing figure. Still, you have to work with what you’ve got. “I don’t want to have to fight you guys, but if you touch him again, I’ll be forced to kick your butts.”

  They stopped in surprise. Not one of them was expecting someone of my size to stand up to them. Then they laughed again, this time, a little too hard. It really hurt my feelings. The first didn’t know what was coming as I landed a punch right on his jaw, sending him backwards into the poker table and scattering the gold coins onto the floor. . .

  Before meathead two had a chance to respond, I kicked him squarely between the legs, dropping him to the floor.

  The biggest of the lot charged towards me, sending me backwards into the wall with his bulky mass.

  He pulled back his fist. Most men wouldn’t hit a woman, especially a woman so small, but he had no such qualms. I ducked to the right just in time to feel his fist go right through the plaster on the wall sending dust and rubble all over my jacket.

  “I just bought this!” I hissed, dusting the shoulder where bits of gray wall now decorated it.

  Being held up as I was, jammed between him and the wall, I didn’t have a lot of options for fighting back. . . I pulled back my elbow right to the wall and with as much force as I could muster, punched him in the face. He didn’t even blink.

  Dribble escaped the corner of his mouth as his fetid breath hit my nose. We were eye to eye now although my feet were a good two feet from the ground, and judging by the leer he was giving me, punching me was getting further and further from his mind as he worked out what else he could do to me.

  “Over my dead body!” I screamed, trying to push the brute away, but it was no use. He was so much stronger than I, even with fae blood running through my veins.

  Being this close to him, I could see that my first impression was true. He was definitely at least part ogre which meant he had no empathy or guilt at all. He’d crush me without shedding a tear.

  There was only one course of action left to me, and it was the one thing I’d hoped to avoid. Still, it was better than being killed by this thug or worse.

  My wings were safely hidden, curled up in the back of my jacket and currently crushed against the wall, but I didn’t need them to use magic. Instead, I closed my eyes and concentrated. Five seconds later, I’d built up the energy I needed to blast him. With a flash of light, the meathead flew through the air, leaving an ogre-sized hole in the plaster at the other side of the bar.

  I looked on the floor for the prince. He’d disappeared. When I looked up, I saw that the giant pile of gold had also gone.

  Unfortunately, the three ogres were still there and judging by the looks of them, they were really pissed off. They picked themselves up and headed towards me. My magic was depleted, and there was no way I’d be able to fight them off a second time. Pulling my jacket off, I spread my wings and flew as quickly as I could out of the bar and escaped into the night.

  When I felt I’d put enough distance between me and the bar, I floated back down to the ground in a dark street.

  The dead-end street was deserted with only a lone flickering streetlamp lighting it. Wildfell was one of Eshen’s seedier cities, and I was in a particularly rough part. Very few people ventured out at this time of night around here which is why I was surprised to see someone hiding in the shadows not ten feet away from me. He was nothing more than a shadow. Most people would have walked right past him and not even noticed he was there, but my fae senses noticed him immediately. He was a man, a tall man, and from the way he was hunched over, I could see he was injured.

  Not my problem

  I wandered down the road in his direction, wondering if it was the prince. As I got close, I saw it was, his bloodied and battered face, still dripping onto the bag of loot. He was so caught up in counting his new found gold that he didn’t notice me walk right up to him. Was this guy for real? He was happy to steal from ogres but too stupid to get far enough away before counting the treasure.

  “You’re a brave man to steal money from ogres,” I commented, bringing a cigarette from a crumpled box in my pocket and lighting it.

  The prince quickly glanced my way and took off again, spilling gold coins as he ran.

  Good. I figured the guy owed me anyway. If I’d not have been in the bar, helping him out, he’d probably not have made it out alive.

  I followed his trail of coins, stopping to pick up each one in the dim light until I got to the end of the street.

  The prince had run himself into a dead-end and was now crouching in a corner trying not to be seen.

  “So much for being brave, huh?” I shouted out to him. “Just stupid maybe.”

  Ok, it was practically treason calling a member of royalty stupid, but I figured he deserved it. Besides, what exactly could he do? If he had me arrested, he’d have to explain where he was, and I figured he wouldn’t want to do that.

  “I’ll give you half my money if you let me pass,” he shouted out.

  Interesting! He’d won a fair wad of cash, more than I had expected to win when I first walked into the bar. I suspected his offer had less to do with the fact he had seen me beat up the ogres and more to do with me keeping my mouth shut. I took a drag on my cigarette and inhaled deeply.

  “You’ve got a deal, Your Highness.”

  I emphasized the Your Highness bit. If I could get even more money out of him, it was worth a try.

  He slowly ambled over to me, a look of wariness in his eyes.

  “Thanks for helping me out back there,” he said, handing me a small bag he’d filled with coins. I could tell by the weight it wasn’t half of his winnings.

  “No problem,” I replied, dropping the cigarette to the floor and stamping it out with my booted toe.

  Up close, he was good-looking. I’d only ever seen him smartly dressed with perfect hair on TV, but now that he was in front of me and covered in blood, he’d taken on a dangerous quality. It suited him, made him more real somehow. His usual clean-shaven face had a layer of stubble covering his chiseled chin, and his light blue eyes regarded me warily. I could tell he didn’t do this kind of thing often. . .

  I was just about to ask him for more money, ok, extort more money from him, when I heard voices behind me. I turned to find the three ogres heading quickly towards us. A ping sound followed closely by a bang told me they’d brought guns with them.

  Without thinking, I put my arms around the prince and took off into the sky.

  It was only when I landed three miles away by my home that I realized I’d been shot.

  Chapter 2

  “Where the hell are we?” asked the prince, gazing around the tree that was my current home.

  I’d spent a lot of time building a one-room home up an old oak tree on the edge of Eshen’s biggest forest. It wasn’t much, but it had a bed, a chair, and most importantly, a TV. I hadn’t figured a way to hook it up to electricity, so I watched the TV using magic. It was a pain, but it worked.

  I turned to the prince. “I think we have more important things to worry about than where we are right now,” I snapped. A bullet had gone clean through my left wing. It was one of those weird wounds that you don’t notice when it happens because of the adrenaline, but once you do notice, whoa, it hurts like hell.

  “They shot you?”

  “Did they?” I replied, not even trying to hide my sarcasm. I pulled my wing around to get a good look at the damage. At least the bullet hadn’t gotten stuck. It had gone right through me. I wasn’t quite up for trying to pull a bullet out of me. The adrenaline was now gone, and exhaustion had settled in, not to mention agonizing pain. Magic would repair my wing, but not in the state I was in. I’d have to try and sleep through the pain first
to recoup some of my energy before I even attempted to repair myself.

  “Anything I can do?” asked the prince, stepping up to me. I noticed concern in his eyes as he took in the wound.

  “Just shut up and let me sleep,” I snapped. So I wasn’t going to win any awards from the royal family, but the way my night was going, I didn’t much care. I was too busy looking forward to the sweetness of oblivion only sleep or excessive alcohol could bring. “You can take the couch.”

  I pointed to a raggedy moth-eaten couch at one side of my little wooden tree house. There was no way I was giving him my bed, prince or not.

  “Here? I can’t stay here,” he blurted in alarm. “I’ve got to get home.”

  He stood and walked over to a window. I smirked as he peeked outside. As I always flew in and out, I had no need for a ladder, and we were more than fifty feet in the air. He was going nowhere. Not tonight anyway. I jumped into bed and pulled a blanket over me.

  “Can you fly me home? I really can’t be out all night.” His voice sounded more panicked now. Seriously, my home might not be a posh hotel, but it wasn’t that bad.

  I shut my eyes and feigned sleep. Fly him home? Was he joking? Ass!

  “Ok, if you can’t fly me home, can you at least fly me to the ground so I can find my own way home?”

  “Goodnight,” I said in reply and smiled. Five minutes later, I heard the springs of the couch squeak.

  The next morning, I woke up to the sound of humming. I cautiously opened one eye to find the prince setting out a box of cereal and a bowl and spoon.

  Sitting up, I stretched my wing around myself. It had already begun to heal on its own. I pulled all my magical energy into a ball within me and shot it out along the wing. Almost immediately, the hole closed up followed by a slight burning smell. I wiggled my wing a little to make sure it was completely healed and let it fall back behind me.

  “You’re awake,” pointed out the prince.

  Duh!

  “I’ve made you breakfast,” he continued proudly. As he’d forgotten everything but the cereal, I figured he wasn’t used to serving someone else. Not that I could blame him. I didn’t have anything else available, not even milk.

  I took the bowl and filled it with the cereal. Better dry cereal than nothing. The prince watched while I ate.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, seeing the dried blood on his face. “No running water. I can take you to a stream to wash before I drop you off at the palace.”

  The look of relief on his face was palpable. He probably thought I was going to keep him hostage. Not that the thought hadn’t occurred to me. I looked at the tiny bag of coins he’d given me and weighed the situation. I could try asking him for more, goodness knows I could do with the money, or I could let it go. Maybe his parents would give me a reward for bringing him home. If his presence wasn’t already missed, it would be soon.

  I began to wolf down the bowl of dry cereal, wishing I’d thought to go out and buy some milk yesterday. I noticed he hadn’t gotten a bowl for himself. Then I remembered I only had one bowl and spoon. Still, he’d forgone breakfast so I could eat. I peeked up at him, feeling his eyes on me. He looked like he was working up the courage to say something. I waited, wondering what it was going to be. I didn’t have long to wait.

  “Listen, this is a little bit delicate. I really shouldn’t have been at the bar last night.”

  No shit!

  “Uh huh,” I mumbled, chewing on the dry cereal.

  “It’s just...well, I don’t...”

  “You want me to take you home without anyone noticing?”

  “That about sums it up, yeah.” He gave me a shy grin. It was cute the way his lips turned up at the ends, creating dimples in his cheeks.

  I didn’t like the way my heart gave a little leap. What was that all about? He was a total and complete ass. He had more money than he knew what to do with, lived in a palace full of servants, and had still tried to stiff me out of my promised share of the winnings. It made my blood boil, especially, as he’d seen the state of the place I lived in, which could only be described as a complete dump.

  “What were you doing at the bar anyway?” I asked him. “You don’t need the money.”

  “Not everything is about money,” he replied airily, brushing me off. He stood and put the cereal packet back where he’d taken it from.

  It seemed he wasn’t about to talk. Fine, I’d take him home and be done with him.

  After breakfast, I picked him up and flew us both through the skies, being careful not to be seen.

  The palace was miles away in Eshen’s capital, Knightfall, and even with my fae strength, I was exhausted by the time we landed in a small wooded area behind the palace.

  “Thanks,” he said and ran off without even a goodbye.

  Yep, total, complete, and utter ass! I should have asked for more of the money after all. There was no way I was going to meet the king and queen now to claim some kind of reward. No doubt, he’d come up with some excuse as to why he’d been out all night, all the while counting his winnings. Winnings that he didn’t need.

  On the way home, I flew over the castle. It was really extraordinarily beautiful, with grey stone walls and dark blue spires. I tried to see if I could spot him running through the grounds, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Oh well, with any luck his parents would catch him, and, at least, he’d get into trouble if nothing else.

  Back home, I turned on my TV, settling myself for a day of slobbing about. I barely ever watched it as it was powered by magic.

  Watching it drained my energy, but I was eager to see if the prince’s disappearance had made headlines. It hadn’t. I turned the TV off and sighed. I’d made a bit of money last night, but not nearly enough. Worse still, I couldn’t go to the same bar again now those ogres knew me, so I’d have to fly even further afield.

  I spent the whole day feeling annoyed that I’d let myself get ripped off. What was wrong with me? It wasn’t as though he’d done anything nice for me other than getting some cereal and a bowl from the cupboard. I’d saved the ass’s life! Surely, that was worth more than a few coins in a bag? By nightfall, I’d made up my mind. The prince owed me, and I was going to get what was mine. He’d promised me half his winnings and only given me about a tenth. I pulled my coat on and eased my wings through two slits cut in the back.

  The journey to Knightfall was uneventful but much easier without having to carry another person. It was only when I got to the palace that I realized I didn’t know what I was going to say. It was hardly likely they were going to let a fae into the grounds. In Eshen society, we barely came above ogres.

  I fluttered to a halt about a hundred yards from the palace gates, wondering if it would be easier to fly over and sneak in rather than speak to the guards when a man on a black horse came riding through from inside.

  He was wearing a hood, but I caught a glimpse of his face as he passed. It was him. Maybe my luck was changing, and I wouldn’t have to speak to the guards after all. I followed the horse through the streets, watching him from the air. Eventually, he came to a stop outside a large brick building and jumped down from his horse. From the horse's saddlebags, he pulled out two bags, one of which I recognized as the bag with the money in it. Excellent!

  “Hey, Prince,” I shouted out to him as I touched down about ten feet behind him. He looked over in surprise until he saw who it was who’d shouted him.

  “Hey! I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

  “You have?” He had? I’d been thinking about him all day too. About how I wanted to wrestle all that gold from his thieving royal hands. I wondered why he’d been thinking about me. A tiny spark inside flared, but I quickly doused it.

  Focus! I said to myself as I took him in, seeing him properly for the first time without all the blood. He’d shaved and combed his dark blond hair, but he still had a bruise just under his right eye.

  “Yeah, I lied to you, and I felt
bad. Plus you saved me, and I never really thanked you properly.”

  “You lied?” Of course, he did. He stole things, he cheated. Why wouldn’t he be a liar too? I was just astounded that he was telling me the truth now.

  “Yeah. About the money. I don’t win money for cheap thrills. Here, come with me, and you’ll see what I do with it.”

  He held his hand out, and without thinking, I moved forward and took it. What was wrong with me? His hand was warm and soft as a prince’s would be. It didn’t match the manly features of his face. I hated to admit it to myself, but holding his hand made me feel something I hadn’t expected to feel when I set out. It made me feel happy.

  He guided me through a small door at the side of the building into a large kitchen that smelled deliciously of home cooking. Almost immediately, tens of children ran up to him, hugging him. Each one was dressed in rags, but they were clean, and their hair was brushed

  He patted them on their heads and hugged each one in turn as he walked through them all until he got to a large table.

  He emptied the first bag out. It was full of food. Apples, sandwiches, chocolate. The kids crowded around, picking up anything they could get their mitts on.

  An elderly woman walked through the internal door. Her eyes lit up when she saw what the noise was all about.

  “Rory!” she walked over to him and pulled his face down until it was even with hers, and then she kissed him. “We weren’t expecting you tonight. What have you done to your face, child?”

  “Just a scratch, Martha. Here, this is for you.” He passed her the bag of money. When she saw what was in it, tears sprang to the corners of her eyes.

  “Oh, thank you, Rory,” she cried. She pulled him close to her and kissed him again. “This will pay for the new boiler. Ours packed it in a few days ago, and we’ve had to share beds to keep warm.”