The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages #3)(55)

“Ah-von-ash?” Finn questioned, slowly sounding out the word.

“The horned creature you are so rudely lying upon,” the little woman explained. Her fellow winged friends continued to flit about, glittering in the sunlight.

Finn sat up with a start, forcing the little woman to dart out of the way. She looked back at the unicorn, horrified that she’d somehow offended the rare creature.

The unicorn stared back at her with glittering blue eyes, not seeming to mind.

“Her name is Loinnir,” the little woman buzzed next to Finn’s ear. “You have been granted a great gift by her presence. She once belonged to the Snow Queen.”

Finn gasped. Did she mean Oighear? So not only had Finn escaped imprisonment, she’d stolen Oighear’s personal unicorn?

She turned wide eyes to the tiny woman. “And who are you, that knows so much about ah-vooh-nash?”

“Aonbheannach,” the woman corrected. “I am Corcra, den mother to my pixie clan.”

“Corcra,” Finn began hesitantly as Loinnir rose up behind her, “could you please tell me where I am?”

Corcra sighed, though it sounded more like a high-pitched whine. “How in the tattered wings should I know? We’re in the middle of nothing. I’m leading my clan on our migration, somewhere far from the Snow Queen’s ice. We die in that sort of cold.”

Finn stood, kicking away the bedroll still tangled around her boots. “Could you perhaps point me in the direction of the nearest road?” she asked distantly, her attention once again caught by the dazzling, colorful display of pixies.

“Aye,” Corcra replied, dipping down to once again hover in front of Finn’s face. “We’ll have to cross it on our way to the coast. In return, perhaps you could provide a distraction for us. It is in our best interest to stay out of sight from the world of men, and the world of the Snow Queen alike.”

Another of the pixies, a tiny man with pale green wings and hair, flitted near Finn’s injured arm. “I smell blood,” he buzzed, his voice only a few octaves lower than Corcra’s.

“You have already eaten today,” Corcra hissed.

Finn’s pulse raised a few notches as she took a deliberate step away from Corcra and her kin.

Not seeming to notice, Corcra flew in Loinnir’s direction, then turned to face Finn. “Let us depart. She says you may ride her again.”

Finn scowled at the heavy saddle, still on the ground where she’d left it with the bridle. She would have trouble lifting the saddle onto the tall unicorn any day, let alone with an injured arm. Dismissing the idea, she instead rolled up her bedroll, tied the two satchels from the saddle around it, and carried the bundle toward Loinnir.

Once again, she looked at the tall unicorn doubtfully.

As if understanding the issue, Loinnir knelt on her front legs, allowing Finn to drape her bundle across her shoulders, before climbing up behind it. Having respectfully forgone the bridle in favor of allowing the unicorn to lead the way, she intertwined her fingers with Loinnir’s silky mane, then Loinnir raised herself.

A fluttering sound announced Corcra, seconds before she landed on Finn’s should.

She shivered. “Don’t think for a moment that I’ve forgotten that blood comment.”

Corcra chuckled. “Do not fear, we are mostly carrion eaters. We’re not likely to taste your blood until you’re dead.”

Her shoulder’s stiffened. “That’s not terribly comforting.”

“It wasn’t meant to be,” Corcra replied. “Still, our small hands are more than capable of stitching your wound, and Loinnir will carry you as far as she can, though I doubt she will remain in the land of men with you. I’m not sure why you would want to travel one of their roads.”

“How do you know I’m not one of them?” Finn inquired, beginning to relax. She still needed to find her friends, but for the moment, it was nice to have conversation, and an offer to tend her wound.

Corcra chuckled. “Loinnir once carried the Queen of the Aos Sí. She would only willingly leave her mistress for a more fitting queen, and not a simple human one.”

Finn chewed on her lip, wondering how much she should divulge to Corcra. “I am no queen,” she said simply. “I am no one at all.”

“Many women have said such a thing,” Corcra replied, “only to later move entire nations.”

Finn smiled softly, though she knew Corcra was wrong about her. She was tangled in a web with spiders approaching on all sides, not the queen, but the prey. Queens might be capable of moving mountains, but her only business was staying out of their way.



“What do the Dair plan?” the female Aos Sí demanded.

Iseult barely even noted her graceful features, her black hair, or the black tunic and breeches she wore. They did not matter. If he could not escape, at the very least, he would not speak. He would die with honor. It didn’t matter that he had no idea what the Dair were planning. He would give the Aos Sí nothing.

The Aos Sí woman growled, and Iseult braced himself for the pain of a hot poker, or perhaps a blade, but the pain never came. The woman stalked past him until her footsteps faded out of hearing range, only to be replaced by new footsteps heading toward him.

He tried to keep the surprise off his face as Oighear moved around his chair to peer down at him. She blinked intelligent, lilac eyes, as if she were reading his thoughts.