A Court of Song and Shadow

Chapter 16

We winnow into the forest right outside of Hybern's castle, as soon as we enter I feel a coldness flow through me—it is not the temperature.

"Something feels off here." Tanwyn points out and everybody agrees. The coldness becomes even harsher and it begins getting harder to breathe.

"What is happening?" Mor asks, I look up in the sky and I see an invisible shield forming around us.

"Shit." I whisper, "Why did we think Hybern would not have traps set to let them know when someone winnows in here?"

Everybody looks at each other with wide eyes as the shield is closing around us.

"We have to fly." Rhysand says as his wings release. I allow mine to come out as Cassian grabs Tanwyn and Azriel grabs Mor and we quickly fly up. I see Rhysand about to create a glamor around us.

"You idiot, we cannot use magic here without alerting them where we are." I shout at him, he looks at me with his brows furrowed but listens to me. We fly above the fog that is thankfully low in the sky and we fly in place there for a moment. I can see the wheels turning in everyone's heads as our plan just went to absolute shit.

"Until they realize who entered the kingdom, they no doubt will have extra guards and spells guarding the palace." Cassian, once again, points out the obvious. I cannot believe how foolish we were to not even have thought about the spells that were in place on this island. I allow my shadows to come forward and send them down to see what is going on, and Azriel's shadows follow mine. We all wait in silence for the shadows to return, and mine return first minutes later as they show me what they saw.

A group of Hybern soldiers examine the spot we were just in, looking for tracks of our footprints.

"Alert the King that we have a potential spy loose on the island, and lockdown the castle—"

I close the vision, seeing enough of what I need to see.

"They are locking down the castle," I think for a moment, "Until they find who has entered the island."

"Then lets give them someone to find." Mor says with a wicked smile, and I return that smile when I realize what she is telling us to do. Azriel's shadows return minutes later.

"They have headed off to track us, I found a spot for us to land without being detected." He says, and he starts flying back towards the ground. We quickly follow him and I land as quietly as I can.

"So what do we do now?" Cassian asks, not understanding what Mor was saying moments ago.

"We make a glamour." I say.

Rhysand and I begin creating a glamour of one single Spring Court spy, I ask Cass and Az to make certain movements so I can make perfect the glamour. We only have a few moments before the guards realize we are using magic again--hopefully they cannot tell what sort of magic. Rhys and I quickly finish up the false spy and we all climb up into the trees to wait for the guards to show up. I make the man pretend to rest next to a tree, and when the guards show up I make him look scared and begin to run away. I make sure to leave glamour footprints in the mud as the soldiers begin to run after the fake spring court spy.

"Tell the King it is a spy from the Spring Court, and we will have him captured very soon. Send more men out to hunt him." One guard says to another guard. 

"Of course, General Armont." The guard who runs the other way. I smirk to myself as our plan falls perfectly together.

We wait a while before we climb down from the trees and begin making our way to the wall that guards Hybern's castle. Rhysand covers our tracks in the mud as we walk and Azriel and I's shadows constantly keep lookout around us. None of us dare speak as the forest is a deathly silent around us. No animals make any noise, and not even the wind seems to dare tread down here.