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17
Harley had fallen asleep.
When she woke, she had found that Dustin already had stayed awake the whole time keeping watch, just as he said he would. His eyes were droopy as he struggled to keep himself up, but he still forced himself to move when it was time to leave. The sun had finally set, and as they walked out of the old shack they were met by the cool autumn night air. Harley closed her cloak in the front as best as she could to help block out the wind. Then, they set off, following the wall until they reached the arch that was the gate. It had no doors to it, and no guards stationed to keep guard over it. It never had, because their Kingdom had very few enemies, and the ones they did have never seemed willing to go to war. They had no need to keep watch over their gates and walls.
Little did they know that their very enemy was already within their own walls.
Harley and Dustin kept true to the path they had taken the night before when they had met Lisa. Going east, they ignored the forest that loomed nearby and stayed close to the wall. Harley shivered, feeling the cold bite from the forest air as it blew past her. Like the chilling breath of an evil Faerie.
"What happens if the hunter refuses to help us?" Dustin broke the silence with the question. Harley kept her eyes ahead as she replied, "Then we will have to figure out how to kill a Faerie on our own." A click from his tongue, "And how do you suppose we do that? Only the hunters know the secret."
"They had to learn it from somewhere. There may be some old legends or books that reveals the secret to a Faerie's weakness."
A heavy sigh came from Dustin as two figures slowly came into view. "I'm starting to wonder if the duel would have been easier than all of this pointless hunting." Harley shrugged with one shoulder, "Well, I guess so, except you may have ended up dead instead. I think this is a worthy alternative."
Their conversation ended as they approached Lisa and a man clad in a dark blue uniform, much like the uniform of the hunter they ran into earlier in the bar. Except this one didn't have pistols on his hips. Instead he was heavily armed with daggers and knives and viles containing mysterious liquids strapped into his belts. He looked more like an assassin than anything. Especially with the hood that kept his face veiled in shadow. Harley could barely make out a strong, bearded chin in the darkness.
"Here is your hunter," Lisa announced without any hint of her friendly smile. She was as serious as everyone else there. Then came a deep and husky voice from the mysterious male, "I hear one of you is of hunter blood." It seemed he was getting straight to business. Harley liked him already. Dustin nodded and lifted his sleeve to show the mark on his arm. The hunter tilted his head slightly, but Dustin spoke before the other male had the chance to say anything. "We need your help to obtain a Faerie heart."
The hood turned as he looked at Harley, then back at Dustin, and he crossed his arms over his broad chest. "If you want a heart, you will have to get one of your own. I'm not about to cause my guild to lose money over one of our hearts. They are nearly priceless." Harley shook her head, "We weren't asking for you to give us one. We want to know how to kill a Faerie." The man laughed, his shoulders bouncing from the movement. "You want to kill a Faerie, huh? Let me tell you, little miss. Killing a Faerie is no walk in the park. It's not as simple as shooting it with you little muskets or stabbing it with your little knives. They heal from those types of wounds. And they heal fast."
"We know, we've had our fair share of running to the Fae," Harley said, and Dustin shuddered. "We also know there is a secret to killing them. There is a way of getting around their incredible healing. We just don't know what that secret is." Once again the hunter looked between her and Dustin. Then his head inclined to the side. "Do you really expect me to tell you our secrets?" he asked. "Why the hell should I? What does my guild have to gain from it?"
Dustin crossed his arms and raised his chin to the challenge, "For one, we won't turn you in. We can promise silence, and you can go on your marry way without worry. Second, I may not be a hunter myself, but I am a Matthews. I can join my father's guild at any minute and turn them on you for not aiding me when I needed it. Is your guild willing get bloody to keep your secret?" Harley resisted looking at Dustin for fear of revealing his bluff. After what he said about his family, they weren't willing to go that far for him. Even if he did rejoin their guild.
"A Matthews," the hunter muttered, as if tasting the name for himself. Then, his lips curved into a serpentine smile. "I know your father. He is a man to be feared, and your brother isn't far behind him. In fact, he is a dear friend of mine. So forgive me for calling your bluff, but in his eyes you're nothing but a failure. A disgrace to the family." Dustin gave no reaction to those harsh words, but his eyes looked like he had been punched in the gut. Dammit. The hunter saw right through Dustin.
"However," the hunter continued. "You are a Matthews. Failure, hunter, or not, you are the son of my dear friend. So, I will be willing to give you some advice on how to kill a Faerie. But I can't get involved any further." Harley released a sigh of relief and resisted a smile of triumph. He went on, "You need the wood from a sacred tree. Sacred trees are like holy water to a demon. They don't heal from wounds caused by the tree. Make a weapon from one and you will have a Faerie killing tool."
Harley and Dustin exchanged glances before looking back to the hunter. "Thank you for the advice," said Dustin. The hunter just chuckled, "Don't thank me. Just because you have the tools to kill one of the Fae doesn't mean your odds for survival are any higher. Try not to get yourselves killed." Harley couldn't help noticing that the hunter didn't seem to know that Dustin had already been trained as a hunter since his childhood. Harley didn't know how to fight one, but Dustin did. All they needed was a weapon that could do real harm.
Lisa looked to Harley and Dustin with a small smile, "We must go now. The longer we are out here the greater risk we are taking at getting caught." Harley nodded, "We understand." Then they went their separate ways. Harley and Dustin began to go back the way that they came, following the footprints they had left in the soft ground.
A sacred tree. That was what they needed. But how to find a sacred tree was the tough part. She wasn't even sure what a sacred tree was. Although Harley was very familiar with the Fae, she never knew their weaknesses. And to find that a sacred tree was the key to killing them came as a surprise to her. She figured it would require magic from a witch or some kind of spell or curse. Or something.
"I know where we need to go next," Dustin interrupted her thoughts. She glanced up at him with a quirked brow. "There are many kinds of sacred trees. The baobab, oak, or ash tree for example." Harley slowly nodded, "I know where there's an ash tree. It sits in the middle of the King's courtyard."
"Exactly. We will have to sneak some part of the tree away somehow and have it crafted into a weapon of some kind," Dustin added. The only weapon that could be made from a tree is an arrow or some kind of dagger or stake. But having it carved into a weapon was not a skill she possessed. "How do we get it crafted?" she inquired with a tilt of her head. "I can carve it myself."
Harley paused and looked up at Dustin, blinking. "You know how to carve wood?" He looked back at her with a nod and a lopsided smile, "Call it a hobby of mine. I've done it since I was a child." Interesting. Harley rejoined Dustin on their trek back into town. They returned to the shack they used during the day, and there they discussed how they would sneak into the courtyard and steal a piece of the tree without getting caught. They agreed that night was the best time to do it. Harley would distract the guards, should any of them come question her. Dustin would sneak up to the tree and secretly remove some wood from the tree. Then they would high-tail it out of there. It sounded simple and cliche, but it was the only option they could come up with.
Instead of hiding out in the old shack for one more day, Harley insisted that they go to her little shed instead. She well knew that Nox might be there waiting for her, but she was going to need a disguise for their plan. Because she didn't plan on entering as Harley Sinclair. She was going to go in as Ferne Winters.
~
This one is a little bit longer, just as I had hoped! I hope you're all enjoying the story so far! It's really getting going now, so I hope you stick around to see what happens next!
