Winter's War (Her Guardians series Book 4)(30)

“If this is a trap, I will destroy you and everything else,” I warn her, before turning and walking through the ward, pulling Freddy with me. When we get through, it’s nothing like I would have expected. The ward is hiding a whole town underground, with lights strung across the ceiling and dozens of tents on the ground. Various people stop to stare at us and me at them. They are very different, and I can tell from one glance around that they are mainly halfs here. Some angels have white and black mixed wings, some witches’ hair is mixed, too. One teenage boy stops and stares at us. His black hair has bright-blue tips that match his blue eyes. The boy looks at Freddy for a long time before smirking and running off.

“This is no trap, we want something as well, and we need to show you our life. The ward is blessed, it will only let those who mean us no direct harm through,” Soobeen says as she stops next to me, and the silence of all the people who stare at us, seems to carry her words. The underground cave is amazing to look at, it is really something. I love how the lights are hung on the roof of the cave, and in the walls, there are carved steps and little caves. The only things that concern me are the tents and the amount of people that must live down here. There is no sunlight, no running water that I can see, and no plants. It isn’t a great way for anyone to live.

“Then, show me,” I respond, smiling kindly at her.

“We will be fine from here,” Soobeen tells her sister and Chesca, who bow at us before walking away. These three must be the current leaders of the halfs. People start to move away from us when they leave, and noise seems to return to how it was before we came here.

“For too many years, we have hidden underground and away from both humans and supernaturals,” she tells me. “Please let us walk as we talk,” Soobeen asks me, and I nod, putting my hand on Freddy’s back to lead him away from whatever he is staring at.

“Why hide from humans?” I ask her as she walks next to me. We make our way to a long path in the middle of the tents and some little make shift shops by the looks of them. I pass a group of children playing. The children can’t be older than seven, and they are running around a stick in the ground. Their laughter is sweet, even to my ears.

“The humans are just as bad as supernaturals. We do have some humans here, with their half children. But then, we have a lot of half humans whose parents didn’t want an unnatural child.”

“‘Unnatural’ is not a word I would use to describe anyone half human,” I say, feeling defensive because I was half human and lucky enough that my mum didn’t care.

“Yes, I agree. You say this because of who you are but then everyone knows your story, Queen Winter. You were fortunate not to have powers as a child, no outward appearances that give you away. Most of our people are not so lucky and ‘unnatural’ is a word we hear far too often,” she tells me, just as a man walks past, and I almost stop walking. The man has his mark on his face, the vines of a flower all over his forehead and also, he has fur on his arms. I don’t know what he is, but he nods at us both before walking on.

“I understand,” I tell Soobeen.

“Safe still?” Atti asks in my head.

“Yes, and you won’t believe what is down here,” I reply and follow Soobeen as she gets to a large tent. She slides inside through a flap, and I hold it open for Freddy before following myself.

“Please sit,” Soobeen offers and waves a hand at three old-looking chairs seated near a fire. There isn’t much in the room to look at, not that I expected much. The bed looks years old, and the furniture is the same.

“You know what we want, what we need,” I start to say, and Soobeen holds a hand up.

“You should know your grandfather came to us, only a day ago,” she tells me, and my blood runs cold as I stand up off the seat. Freddy pulls his sword out and moves closer to me.

“I don’t see him here, now, and that’s lucky for you,” I respond, and she laughs.

“I wouldn’t bring you here if that was so. Now, boy, put the sword away and both of you should sit down,” she suggests, and I place my hand on Freddy’s arm.

“It’s okay,” I say, sitting first, and Freddy keeps eye contact with Soobeen as he puts his sword away and sits down.

“He gave us two days to make a decision, fight with him or die. He could walk through our wards like they didn’t exist, and I don’t believe it was because he wished us no harm. The army of demons he brought with him told me he was never here to discuss peace.”

“Not much of a decision. Knowing the demon king, he will kill you, anyway. The same deal was made with two of the angel princes, now both of them are dead and thousands of their people,” I respond, and she nods. She must have known about what happened to the angels.

“We have three thousand men and women, who are strong and can fight. Mixing our blood makes some of our abilities extremely strong,” she tells me.

“How many children and people that cannot fight do you have?” I ask her.

“Five hundred.” She responds, and I nod. I look around the tent that has holes in it, the fire that is made from old wood and little else, they don’t have much but they have been on the run so long.

“I have a suggestion,” Soobeen says, and I nod, wanting to hear it.

“You will have our support, our alliance, and we will fight on your side. I will bow to you as Queen, and all your mates as our Kings.” She tells me just what I wanted her to say. This is what we need.