The Halo Of Vakh (BOOK 1)

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

"The taste lingers," Faske said and the men behind him looked at each other. Arcturus rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"They aren't in Yensrotho," he drawled out, leaning casually against a tree. "Despite your magnificently wide ears, your auditory senses seem to have stopped working, Master Faske. They were last seen in Medlar."

They stood in the destruction that had gone across Yensrotho. The walls of nearby shops had crumbled and the beams used to hold the walls and ceilings were visible through the cracks. A few people lingered at the edges of the street. Most of them had scampered away the moment the seven men rode in on their stallions.

He saw Faske flush in anger and felt the crackle radiating off the Thunth.

"Yet, one of my sources tells me that Draedech was used here during the revolts. I -"

"Falargimea has many Draedechians in hiding. It is hardly of any consequence. We'll be heading on a wild goose chase if we keep following each and every signature of Draedech we come across."

"This one is familiar to the one we caught at the Vakh," Faske gritted out and Arcturus had the sudden urge to bash the councillor's head against a rock. Apparently, mules were this man's distant relatives.

"It is not," he said through clenched teeth. He tried not to look at the moon in annoyance. "This one is an entirely different signature. I can see the incompetence in this one."

Faske moved backwards, one hand splayed out in a mocking welcome.

"Do it then," he sneered.

He closed his eyes and reached into his surroundings, feeling the threads swimming and extending, pulling away. He tapped a finger at the bark, pulling the strings that had been disturbed. He felt a jerk at the end of his consciousness and pulled, tracing the string to the person who had caused the destruction in Yensrotho's central square.

For a moment, he saw nothing and then, a pair of jade eyes flashed before him, wide and horrified. They burned a deep green. He pulled himself away, hurriedly, getting away from the one image that had haunted his nights. The swing of black hair and pale hands missed him and he swayed where he stood against the tree, head spinning. He curled his hands at his sides and shook his head.

"What is it, sire?" one of the squires stepped up beside him with a waterskin. He waved him away.

"This was the work of a dryad."

His voice came out hoarse. He cleared his throat. He could not show weakness.

"A dryad? What is a Dryad doing in our territory?" Faske said.

"It's a big world, Master Faske," Arcturus replied, shoving his hands into the pockets of his obsidian cloak. "The dryads are cunning creatures. They roam among us without our knowledge. We did catch one of them, didn't we?"

He waved them forward.

"We must catch this one as well," Faske said, not moving from where he stood. "She might be a threat."

Arcturus growled low in his throat.

"Do you want the King's wrath upon you? Have us handed over to the Adarth bandits in the Lady Selene's stead?"

Thane's wife and children had disappeared the night Thane's sentence had been declared. The king was a hurricane in the building, ready to dismantle whatever came before him in his fury.

"His Majesty appointed me as the guide for this expedition and you shall do as told, unless, you want your head on a pike and your entrails adorning the castle walls for trying to undermine our efforts to catch the VannØrn, all for trying to capture a fae creature that does not pose a graver threat than the mortal enemies of the king."