Feyland: The Dark Realm

Chapter Twenty

Tam kept his grip on Jennet’s arm, kept her moving forward. That was some insane stuff going on back there. The ‘dead’ programmer… he wasn’t sure he believed it, that someone could get sucked into a game like that. And the dark faeries creating some kind of gateway into the human world by sacrificing Jennet? Totally crazy.

Yet it all made a kind of creepy, convoluted sense. He needed time to think.

Right now, though, they needed to get out of Feyland.

“Jennet - what is the Wild Hunt?”

“It’s a ghostly gathering of huntsmen and hounds. According to legend, if you see them you either go crazy or die.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I don’t know what happens if they catch us.”

“We’re not sticking around to find out.”

The last bit of light slipped out of the sky. In the distance behind them, he heard a series of excited yips, then the baying of hounds. The worst part was, he understood the cries. Scent! Blood! Our prey! The Hunt was on their trail.

“Now, we run,” he said.

He let go of Jennet’s arm and took her hand. He didn’t think she’d turn around and try to go back to Thomas, but no way was he letting her fall behind. Thomas’s last words repeated in his head, matching the pace of his running steps, the push of breath through his lungs. Keep your lady safe. Lady safe.

She wasn’t his lady, of course - except in the sense that he was a knight, and her in-game champion. Or something. But no matter what, he would keep her safe.

Maybe the faeries were planning to use her life to open a gateway between the worlds. His blood chilled at the thought. No way did he want the creatures in-game showing up in the real world. Games weren’t fun if you couldn’t turn them off.

“Slow… down,” Jennet panted.

“We can’t.” He scanned the edge of the road. “Do you see anything that looks like white trees?”

A sound like far-off thunder rolled through the air. Tam looked behind them. There was a growing darkness in the sky. Shapes, forming out of the clouds. But these weren’t the kinds of things kids saw in clouds - no dinosaurs or cartoon faces. These were spectral hounds with huge, shining eyes, and half-human figures on galloping black horses. And at the front, the leader of the hunt, a huge dark figure with antlers spiking up above his head. The Huntsman turned and Tam felt his attention focus on them, like a spear of black ice.

The entire Wild Hunt was visible now, a dozen mounted figures riding hard toward them. He could see the flash of hooves, the glowing eyes of the hounds. Panic pushed him and Jennet forward. The breath rasped in and out of his throat. Trees - where were the damn trees? There! A scatter of white up ahead marked the grove.

He risked another look behind them, and then wished he hadn’t. The hounds were too close, tongues hanging from their mouths, black paws eating up the distance. He and Jennet weren’t going to make it.

He let go of her hand and turned to face the hunt. Fear and adrenaline pumped through him as he drew his sword. If he made a stand, slowed the hunt for even a minute, she could get away.

“Go!” he shouted. “I’ll hold them off.”

“No. Not without you.”  She stopped running and doubled back to stand with him.

“Jennet!”

“Together or nothing, Tam.”

There was no more time for arguing - the Hunt was upon them. Tam pointed his sword at the nearest hound, waiting for it to get in striking range. The wind whipped Jennet’s pale hair around her face and she raised her staff. She gestured, and a searing white light flashed out from where they stood, making Tam wince.