DISCONTINUED A Court of Blood and Night Rewritten

8

When I woke up again, my head pounding. Lucien was propped up against a tree nearby, rubbing the back his own head and wincing. Tamlin was just a meter or so away, unconscious. So it wasn't just me who'd been targeted by... Whatever that was. But why was it only us three? I tried to see if I could recognize anything, wondering if maybe we were in a different part of Prythian, or maybe even in the mortal lands, because we certainly weren't in the manor, anymore. I didn't recognize the woodland around us. The trees towered over me, and the ground was littered with bushes and other plants. It was like the forest from the Mortal Lands, but much fuller. It didn't seem like Prythian at all.

"Where are we?" I muttered, sitting up, too. My head pounded a bit more, but then it eased to nothing. With a groan, I pushed myself to my feet, grabbing a thinner, younger tree trunk for support. When I was sure I could stand on my own without falling, I let go of it.

Lucien was surveying the place silently from where he sat, but he finally said, "I don't know. But the magic here is... Different. Harder to use. I think we're strangers to it. I think this magic has a different..." his brows furrowed as he tried to think of the word, that metal eye narrowing. "Base to it. It has the same fundamentals when it's being used, but how you summon it is different." He shook his head. "Wherever we are, we certainly aren't in Prythian." Despite his calm demeanor, his scent was full of fear. I knew I wasn't much better.

I could feel it, now, what he'd been acknowledging. It was harder to use, but only just. I knew, somehow, maybe on an instinctual level, that for Lucien and Tamlin, using magic here would take its toll on them. But for me, the magic was more flexible, more willing to listen to me. I could still keep the glamour on my arm without thinking about it-- there was just a slight pressure in the back of my head, a whisper of resistance. Maybe it was because I wasn't born Fae. Maybe it was something else.

Tamlin jerked awake. His green eyes shot open, and he looked around almost frantically. Upon seeing Lucien and I, he relaxed a bit. But he still growled, "What in the Cauldron's name is going on?"

Lucien shook his head again as he carefully got to his own feet. "We don't know."

As Tamlin worked on standing up, I surveyed the area, myself. Sunlight filtered through the trees just enough that I could see, and the place was stunning. Once everyone was standing on their own and able to walk, I said, "We should check everything out. We don't know what could be out here." Tamlin looked like he might protest, but Lucien nodded and began pushing through the plants without even thinking to ask his High Lord for permission. I blinked. That was new.

We carefully began to scout out the woodland, no destination in mind. I kept an eye out for anything strange, but there was nothing but our footsteps and the sound of animals carrying on with their lives. But there was something-- a concentration of magic, as if there were many creatures gathered somewhere. I could feel it, just barely, and I began to push toward it, splitting away from Tamlin and Lucien as I struggled to get through the near-impenetrable vegetation.

"Feyre!" Tamlin hissed at me, and their footsteps stopped. "Come back, you don't know what's out there!"

But I kept walking toward that concentration of magic. Lucien, who'd begun to follow, inhaled sharply. I glanced at him to see his metal eye narrow. He looked at me and nodded. He'd felt it, too.

Tamlin followed us reluctantly as he too picked up on the realization that there was a concentration of magic, and Lucien took up the lead, carefully moving so he wouldn't disturb anything and give us away. We silently followed, our steps just as careful. Suddenly, Lucien stopped and turned around. "Let's go back," he said tightly, glancing at Tamlin. Before I could open my mouth to argue, I heard a cry of shock.