Brena
Brena stumbled through dry leaves and brush, running downhill toward the river.
A huge golden bear stood on the shore. It rose onto its back legs. One of its legs still bled.
"Get on my back!" the bear shouted.
"Are you insane?" Brena yelled.
"Can you swim?" asked the bear.
"No, but—"
The bear charged forward and slapped her into the river with one giant paw.
The cold water pulled her fast into the deep center of the river. Angry and afraid, Brena struggled to stay above the water. She reached for anything she could grab.
Her fingers caught fur.
Bear fur.
She had no choice but to climb onto the bear's back.
There was no time to curse the faery beast or demand to go back. The bear swam like only fae could—fast and strong. The land blurred past them. They sped upriver, toward the east.
The distance they traveled in moments would have taken two days by canoe.
From her place on the bear's back, Brena saw weird snake-like creatures, glowing blue. One of them saw the bear—and shrieked.
The others all stopped what they were doing and shrieked too.
"Don't look at them!" the bear commanded. "Jump!"
Brena jumped.
Wet mud squished under her feet. As soon as she let go of the bear, the glowing Blue fae disappeared from her sight.
But she could hear them.
They attacked the bear. She heard hisses and heavy splashes. Ferns flattened on the ground.
The bear stood tall on her back legs, higher than any human man, fighting enemies Brena could not see.
Everything in Brena screamed at her to run. But how could she leave the bear—the Brunderfae—to fight alone?
The bear bled again. A long red wound opened on her side.
Brena acted.
She drew the only weapon she had brought—dagger made from the pointed tip of a deer antler.
She rushed forward and stabbed into the air, where the enemies must be.
To her surprise, she felt something—resistance.
Then thump.
Her next few strikes missed. Then something hit her back.
She slashed again—and her antler knife slid into something solid. Hot blood spilled over her arms.
"Touch my fur!" the Brunderfae shouted. "See your victory!"
Brena obeyed.
The moment her fingers touched the bear's fur, the invisible fae became visible.
She saw their backs as they ran.
The Merfae.
Enemies of the Brunderfae.
People said some Merfae were so beautiful they could trick humans into following them to their deaths.
Not these.
These had snakes for hair, blue skin full of boils, webbed fingers, and frog-like feet.
Two lay dead, gray-skinned, in the yellow moss and flowers of the Raft.
The others didn't stay to fight. They turned and gurgled, then melted into the swamp water and were gone.
The bear changed.
She became a tall, beautiful woman in a golden dress made of poppy flowers.
Brena touched the edge of her gown. It was as soft as spider silk.
"Twice now, you have helped me, human," said the faery. "Once from humans. Once from fae. You aided me both times."
"Did I?" Brena wiped the blood from her hands in the grass. "Or was this just a show? A fae trick? Surely the Golden Lady didn't need help fighting a few Merfae."
The Golden Lady tilted her head. She admitted who she was, but did not answer the insult.
"My wound makes me weak. The Blue Sister's people grow bolder every day. Before I was hurt, no Merfae would have dared attack me like this."
She looked toward the dead monsters.
"The balance is broken. The circle is cracked. All because of Death's Arrow.
"Those Merfae were medusae. If I—or anyone who can see Blue—had looked into their eyes, we would have turned to stone. Before, that curse would have passed. I would have turned back to flesh. But now, while Death's Arrow waits for a sacrifice, I can die like any mortal.
"So though it may not seem like it, your blindness to them was your strength. You saw the truth. I could not. That is why I need a human helper."
"Maybe," Brena said. She looked at the ugly snake-headed bodies. "But why me?"
She let go of the golden silk.
At once, the Lady's image disappeared.
"You took the arrow," the Golden Lady said. "Your light calls to me. You cannot run from your own compassion."
Run.
Escape.
Rthan.
Oh muck.
Brena's heart sank. She had left the Initiates. She had left Rthan.
She glared at the faery.
"Look, I wish I could help you, but you have the wrong woman! You must take me back to my people. Now!"
The Lady did not turn back into a bear.
Instead, she lifted Brena in her arms.
With wings of gold, the Golden Lady soared over river and forest, then swooped down and dropped Brena into a pile of dry leaves and pine needles.