Trice asked again, ignoring his brother’s exasperated sigh.
“Because those raiders weren’t the only ones looking for you,” the captain informed us, making me frown as I had a bad feeling about this.
“But how?” I asked in a wary tone that spoke of my distrust, and for good reason when he said…
“The King knows of your witch.”
7
A King of Dragon Fire
As soon as we were told of the King’s knowledge of the witch, Trice, Gryph and Vern all took action by arming themselves. This naturally caused an adverse effect by the army once more raising their weapons and pointing them our way.
“Come ‘ere, lass,” Trice ordered in a stern voice that said he meant business.
“But I…” I started to try and ensure peace when Trice practically growled at me, cutting me off,
“I think ye hae said more than enough, don’t ye lass?” Trice said, giving me a pointed look and referring of course to my overload of information I had offered up on a platter of words with no real prompting. Meaning that, yep, the look he gave me that said, ‘you’re a pain in my ass, woman’ was totally warranted this time.
However, the moment I was about to walk towards him, giving Trice what he wanted, was when the captain intervened, stopping me with his words.
“That won’t be necessary,” he stated, before he raised an arm again and ordered his men,
“Lower your weapons.” I let out a sigh of relief as I knew with one look around us that we didn't have a chance of escaping this type of soldier. But I also knew that the McBain brothers would never give up without a fight and they were proving that point by not yet lowering their own weapons. So I made the decision to prevent a chance of anyone getting hurt and instead of walking to Trice, I turned to the captain, ignoring the growly shifter’s demand.
“Explain how your King knows of the witch?” I asked.
“I'm afraid you will have to ask that of him yourself, for he wishes to meet with you, young Princess,” the captain replied with a bow of his head to show his respect, doing so for what I guessed he thought was addressing royalty.
“So you do know who I am?” I tested.
“As I said, you will have to take it up with my King,” he replied, not giving me an answer.
“What mak's ye think we're gonnae follow ye, especially noo ye hae admitted tae knowing oor enemy?” Trice said, making the captain smirk before informing him cryptically,
“Every kingdom has its spies, shifter, you should know this.” I frowned in question, but it was one I didn’t get chance to ask before the captain was voicing his orders once more.
“Now ready the gateway!” he shouted, and at the very back of his men, four cloaked Fae beings emerged. However, none of them showed much of themselves, not from beneath the heavy veil of thick material of their cloaked robes. Robes that covered every inch of their bodies, including the large hoods that swooped down low over their faces. Each of which was edged with a thick border of elvish symbols that looked magical in origin.
They each took their positions, spreading out along the rows of soldiers, before raising up their hands and chanting in an ancient language I had no hope of deciphering. I only knew that it was the source of power needed to reopen the gateway that they had first stepped through. This was after they moved their hands at the same time, as if they were each spelling out something secret, because a light started to emerge following the path of their fingers as if igniting some forbidden message on an invisible page.
Seconds later, the same glowing symbol emerged before each of them. It was one that looked like a number 2 was connected to a vertical key at its side. A key that had two fang shaped lines where the head of the key would fit inside the mechanism. It finished with a sideways V shape underlining these ‘fangs’.
But then the moment the symbol was finished, the air surrounding us started to distort as if heat was rising from the ground, creating a shimmering wave of colours. It then started to split as if a rainbow wall had been slashed in two, reminding me of when petrol lay on the top water before someone ran their fingers through the effect.
Then suddenly each of these portal masters made a slashing gesture with their