Wylde Magic | Book 3

Seven: The Wyldes Once More

After days on the trail, the sight of the outpost filled me with happiness. 

I needed a bath. We all needed a good meal, and a roof that provided enough safety that we could spend a day gathering and hunting. 

The outpost provided all of that, but it still didn't provide one last thing that I was hoping for. Information.

"Stars, what a sight for sore eyes," Schula sighed, gazing down the slope to the outpost. 

"I don't sense any others within," Spaulder added. 

"It looks as though things have not changed since last you knew, Thain," Nassir added. 

"Hmm," Thain hummed and walked forward, putting himself as the first to enter the outpost. I noticed his sharp eyes bouncing around, looking for signs of others. Besides Spaulder, he was probably the best one to lead us in terms of safety and spotting other beings before they spot us first. 

The slope to the front lawn of the outpost was easy. The cleared training yard out front where Schula first taught me stretches and muscle building was now a bit overgrown from not being used. My eyes swept by the neat fence posts with weeds trying to overtake them. The chimney held no smoke, and the washing from the spring rains told me it hadn't been used recently either. 

"What is the purpose of this place?" Spaulder asked softly.

"To guard the mountains that separate the Wyldes from the mortal men who wouldn't survive it," Thain said. "The darker creatures within our borders would wreak havoc outside of them, and men in our ranks have proven an ill fit in our history."

"An outpost of importance, then," Spaulder said. "Why abandon it? It would seem to me that even with these magical barriers falling apart, the need to station an outpost would be even greater."

Thain opened the door to the building, looked around inside, and nodded us in. As we walked through the doors, Schula and Thain went straight for the table and chairs.

"Normally you would be right, Spaulder," Thain said. "But in the last year we've been encountering an unknown danger in this area. It killed one of the Wyldes's strongest fae, and several others since then."

"Galavan," I whispered.

Schula turned to me, our eyes meeting in remembrance for the fallen fae. She nodded solemnly. "We attended his funeral in the Spring lands last year."

"You were sent to investigate that with others from the four courts," I said. "You never found what killed him in the end, did you?"

Thain shook his head. "Not what killed him or the others. Half a dozen good fae have been taken down in the same gruesome manner. Whatever it is, it doesn't like fae poking around the edge of the Wyldes."

A chill ran down my spine as I shivered. I had seen enough horrors in the Wyldes in my short months than I ever wanted to see again. I could only imagine what someone as long lived as Thain had seen, and I didn't want to think about what unknown monster could elude a whole group of fae as experienced as Thain.

"They were all killed right here?" Schula asked, looking around. "Are we even safe at the outpost?"

Thain nodded. "I've been keeping things away. And all of the deaths were to fae who wandered away from this place. Deeper into the mountains along the borders of the two lands. The dead were also counted as lone fae. Mostly outpost scouts who patrolled while the rest of their triquetram were here at the building."

"And we number five," Nassir said. "I am sure we will be fine for one night."

"We'll have to be," Schula murmured. She looked at me, then Spaulder as she let out a slow breath. "Stars, I can't wait to get to Eberon's estate, if just to feel like my time on the road has finally ended for a while."