The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Thirty

When we came out on the other side of the portal, we found ourselves in a clearing of twisting branches. It felt as though we walked into a cage by how tightly the branches of the blackthorns twined with each other. At the center of the clearing was a chair made of stone, and it was decorated with gold runes painted all over its surface.

It all looked so magnificently like a trap that I chuckled, especially when the entrance back to the temple winked out. We were all suckers.

Adrian gave voice to my thoughts. "We've been played. Dangit." He punched at the air in frustration.

"Yes, but by who?" I looked around

"By the use of the blackthorn trees, I would guess your father did this," Luke spat in disgust.

"But Father didn't know that Duir changed the exit, did he?"

"That doesn't sound like something she would share with her archenemy," Adrian put an arm around me, and I looped an arm around his waist.

"Maybe there is a spy," Dom said.

True. That made more sense. But it didn't let Duir off the hook. "I guess we ask the trapper and see if he'll reveal his brilliant plan."

Luke, Erick, and Venetto studied the trees while the vampires examined the chair. I turned to where the portal had been and saw that we were now boxed in.

"Can we burn the trees?" I looked at their bare, twisted branches.

Luke nodded as he broke a twig off of a tree and set it alight in his hand. "Yes, but they are dry. If we set one on fire, they would all light up, and we'd be stuck in a circle of flames. Venetto and I could get through, and possibly we could take you. But the rest of our court would be stuck behind the flames. There would also be a risk of the forest beyond lighting on fire." He brushed the ash off his palm then put his hands on his hips as he considered.

That's why he was regent. I would have set the whole forest on fire first, then tried to fix it. "How about hacking through it?"

Erick drew out his sword and hacked at the trees. Dimini screeched in pain at the first cut and flew off my shoulder to attack Erick like an angry hornet.

"Blasted faerie! What the hell is wrong with him?" He ducked from the tiny blade that Dimini stabbed at him with.

I groaned as I realized what was going on. "No, no. Stop. The lunantisidhe are tied to the blackthorns. If you injure the trees, you injure them. If you keep hacking at it, you might bring all of them down on us - and they won't be friendly." I'd read up on the little fae while studying other things about this world.

Luke snarled as he threw his sword down. "You are correct. Everything that's said about those faes is true, and we'd be mad to anger them."

When Dimini was sure they weren't going to cut any of the trees, he resettled on my shoulder and started to plait tiny sections of my hair while making a high-pitched grumbling noise. My gaze rested on the chair, sitting there looking all beautiful and menacing.

"So, with the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious here, I'm sure the message here is 'Sit in the damn chair, Matt.'" I approached the chair while I thought. I could bring Tylas, and Dimini with me. My summoning ring could bring Venetto. Everyone else would have to catch up. I reached up for my birds and plucked them from my shoulders. I wasn't going to risk breaking them again.

"Dom, can you take them?" I held out my hands to him.

He took them, but he gave me his best 'Don't you dare!' look. "You aren't sitting on that chair. I'll do it."