Read Online Song of the Fairy Queen by Valerie Douglas - Free Book Online

I find them,” the wizard said, her voice deep, low, her tone irritated. “Something blocks me, a brightness. I hadn’t thought Oryan had that much magic.”
    Haerold threw his wine cup violently at the nearest wall. It shattered, spraying dark red wine to dribble down the stone wall.
    “He doesn’t, or he didn’t. He’s found himself a wizard, somehow, to aid him,” Haerold snapped. “And when I find who that one is they will regret the very day they were born.”
    “How long until we leave this place?” the mercenary demanded. “My men grow bored, restless.”
    The city offered them little now, they’d plundered what they could, the rest had burned and most of the people had fled, those that could.
    Restlessly, Haerold paced. “The city is secure, it’s time to secure the countryside. Put the city to the torch. Burn it. We move in three days time…”
    “Yes,” the wolf-man hissed, with satisfaction.
    A breeze blew past Morgan and Jacob as the guard opened the door for a messenger.
    Below the creature’s nose lifted, scenting the air as the sorceress suddenly straightened, pressing a catch on her pendant so it opened into two half domes – like and unlike the little bowl Kyri had given to Oryan – and passed her hand over it as Kyri had.
    Morgan eyed it warily.
    It was a scrying bowl.
    “We have company,” the woman said, urgently, “someone watches.”
    She swung to her feet, looking around.
    The wolf man snarled as its muzzle lifted to catch their scent. It spun on its heels, moving fast, faster than many men on those unnatural legs.
    Jacob didn’t need a signal, he turned and raced for the door with Morgan close behind him.
    They both felt a certain measure of relief when the door to the hidden passageways closed behind them, but neither stopped, Jacob scrambling ahead.
    “Turn left,” Morgan called, his voice low. “Left. We can’t go the way we came, the whole castle will be alerted.”
    Jacob’s hand met emptiness on his left; he skidded into the turn, his body slamming against the wall.
    “What the hell was that thing?” he demanded.
    Nothing in Morgan’s experience explained it. He’d never heard of such a thing.
    “I don’t know,” he said.
    All he knew was that it hunted them.
    They descended through the darkness, feeling their way with their racing feet as best they could, occasionally stumbling – but not on a stair, more like a ramp. They scrambled and slipped on the damp, moldy stones to another level as they raced through the dark, narrow, claustrophobic space, barely wide enough for two men to stand abreast.
    A muffled howl of frustration, rage, fury and hunger, sounded distantly.
    Jacob fetched up against a wall but Morgan was on his heels.
    Dead end.
    “They haven’t found the entrance yet,” Morgan said, as he sought for the catch.
    A blast of air suddenly rushed past them and they heard a growl echo from the stone.
    Another unearthly howl shrieked out, but this through the hollow walls, to send a chill down their spines.
    Now they had.
    “Not good, Morgan,” Jacob said. “Not good.”
    The catch released abruptly, and spilled them both into the noisome moat.
    Morgan blessed it even as he charged down it with Jacob on his heels. He hoped the stench would cover their scent, their tracks.
    From out of the night he heard the baying, the call of those creatures to each other.
    “What the hell is that?” Jacob demanded.
    With a sigh, Morgan said, “Reinforcements. Run, Jake.”
    They ran.
    All they had to do was make it to where the now dry moat met the river and before the river spilled into the sea. If they could make it to the water… Somehow he doubted that those things swam well.
    How Morgan sensed it he didn’t know, but he ducked instinctively as something passed above his head close enough to ruffle his hair, even as a claw raked at his shoulder.
    With a whine of furious frustration the thing turned in midair to plant its feet on the opposite bank, its