Eris Vanserra Fanfiction-A Land Of Lavender And Thistle-Book One

CHAPTER XIX

Eris

"This is absurd. I have better places to be at than some shit hole of a tavern full of barbarian bastards."

"Oh, shut up already. This is our shot at getting information about this growing plague." Cassian countered, his voice quiet but loud enough for me to hear him. "Or, even better, it might be the key to ending this damn Darkness."

Little les than an hour ago, when I met with Cassian and Rhysand in the Spring Court, the two told me their spymaster had discovered a rumour regarding a male who was seen multiple times, standing near the dwelling Darkness in the Dawn Court. After further research, the same words coursed through the Summer Court, the Night, the Day and the Autumn Court – a hooded figure lingering alongside the stirring cloud of black plaguing the lands.

In just these last few days, this blight had stretched farther over the Summer Court. It was poisoning the icy creeks in the southwest of the Winter Court. And now, the seed which had been planted into the Night Court's eastern timberlands bloomed into the Dawn and Day Court. Meanwhile, my home was starting to have more and more cases of dead crops and vegetables in the west, and the number of ill subjects in small villages was growing by the hour.

"If your friend was able to get this far," I retorted, looking over the dimly-lit and stale-aired tavern in the Night Court, "I don't see why your spymaster couldn't have finished the job. Is he not as capable as Rhysand and the rest of his pack of fools would like to believe?"

The hood hovering over Cassian's head – a twin to my own – revealed only his lower face. I saw his lip curl as his fingers gripped the mug of ale tighter, when he bit out, "Watch your mouth."

Despite the hood of my dark, humble cloak covering my shoulders and shadowing most of my face, I hoped Cassian could glimpse my smile as I slid my gaze to the hunched figure at the bar. "I can see that you're trying, bastard boy. But, you should still work on that nasty temper of yours. Perhaps hold the leash a bit tighter, or do your brothers and your lovely Nesta do that for you?"

I glanced at him just when he lurched forward. Then, movement from across the cramped space snagged my attention.

"Keep your tantrums for later," I muttered, my fingers drumming over the splintered wood of the table while my other hand clasped the hilt of my sword. "Our target is on the move."

That seemed to be enough to calm him down before Cassian made to move whilst the buff male stepped out of the tavern. I stopped the Illyrian with a clap on the shoulder. When Cassian lowered his head toward me, the lanterns nearby irradiated enough of my face for the fool to see my warning look.

Yanking him back on the seat, I said through my teeth, "You really are a brute. Did you ever hear about patience?"

"Patience?" he hissed. "He is getting away. People are dying because of him. But you don't care about that, do you?"

Heat licked my skin, and I felt it menacing to flare over my bleaching knuckles. "Is bloodshed the only thing you Illyrians know?"

With the screech of my chair against the wooden boards of the floor, I strode for the front door of the tavern. Rain-damp air and sharp wind wished me hello as I sauntered outside; the scent of rain made me want to wait for it to come and wash over me.

But, my pleasures would clearly have to wait. I heard Cassian's feet approaching as I knelt and examined the muddy ground. I followed the trail of heavy footprints with my gaze, their pattern continuing into the trees overhead. Standing up, I clicked my tongue before a rustle sounded from the bushes at my left.

Cassian sucked in a breath; I peered at my old, cunning ghost hound as Axar padded toward us. I jerked my chin at the footprints, watching as the hound sniffed the ground. Before Cassian and I met near the tavern, I went back home, picked up Axar, then left him to wait in the bushes.

The canine growled, then I said, "Seek."

With a snap of his teeth, Axar dashed amid the trees. Cassian and I followed. I ran over logs and beneath the branches while Cassian glided between the tall pines. Axar was a blur of white where the hound raced up ahead, clawing through the soft earth. Then, an arrow wheezed past, missing Cassian's head for an inch when the male shot leftward. He cursed and I ducked behind a tree, calling for Axar.

As tension filled the wind shaking the dew-kissed branches, I looked to where the arrow went, finding it caved into a pine tree not six feet away.

My blood turned to ice.

The, raging flames burned at my fingertips, my sword drawn with Cassian gripping his Illyrian blade, as well. Our hoods were long since off and the male's dark hair waved in the wind as my red strands lashed at my face and shoulders. Signaling each other, Cassian and I shared a nod before each of us aimed to an individual direction.

Half crouching, I moved from tree to tree, pondering about where Axar was, when I heard him howl not far away from me. Clenching the hilt of my sword with embers singing in my veins, I swept over a mossy log, and faced a small clearing.

Axar stood in the center of it all, and Cassian paused at the edge of the clearing across from me. I mimicked his confused expression and paling face as Axar sat down, his silvery nose pointed at the figure sitting on the ground with their back against a tree. I scanned the pines, the bushes, the ground; there were no more traces in it, spare for Axar's pawprints and the trail of mud. It looked as if the person against the tree had been dragged here in a rather affectionless way before they were left here.

The chest and thin hands suggested it was a female, her clothes threadbare, dirty and torn, showing the ashen skin beneath. The wind was tainted with the reek of decay that made my gut roil. My nausea only increased when I noticed the black lines skittering over her arms, chest and throat. Thanks to the drape of tangled black hair, I couldn't se her face – but the coal-hued swirls that I saw were like veins, moving across her body, worming over it in pulsing motion.

I was going to vomit.

Axar did not move from where he sat, but he was bristling, a low and reverberating rumble kept coming from the hound as Cassian and I began to advance toward the corpse. When I glanced at Cassian, from the corner of my eye I could have sworn I saw a shadow looming about the dead female. When I looked at her directly, however, it was gone.

Stopping at a foot away, I removed some of her hair with my blade. I grimaced as I stared at the slithering black on her beaten face. Frowning, Cassian tilted his head and surveyed the girl as I squatted and made to reach for the pendant around her throat: two axes crossing each other with an eight-pointed star above them.

My fingers managed to only graze the rusty metal, when a bony hand clutched my wrist. My heart logged in my throat and I lifted my panicked gaze to the girl's face.

Despite the bruise that swelled her left half of the face, both of her eyes were wide open and it was like looking at wells of dark and despair. I tried to jerk free, but her fingers only gripped me tighter. Her lipless mouth curved as she spoke, her voice like stone rubbing off stone.

"He will find her. You cannot stop him. He will find her. He ... will ... find ..."

Her head sagged then, her eyes flickering close. I just stood there, perplexed as her hand slid away from mine, leaving a cold, liquid a feel on my skin. A moment passed and her chest rose and fell for the final time.

"What the fuck was that?" Cassian whispered.

I did not answer as I stood up and paced to Axar, patting the hound, his thin, pearly coat like linen to the touch. I glared in the direction of the arrow, still embedded in in the bark of the tree. From this distance, I could filter out the white feathers streaked with blue.

I didn't know what that fairy spoke of, or who was responsible for that demonic state she was in. But I did know that whoever stood behind it, whoever was engaged in these shadowy sightings and the spreading plague, was the one who fired that arrow at me a week ago, with faebane and curare.