We walk into the hut a few seconds behind Will and are met with a number of other Fae. Nate keeps an arm's length from me, which I notice but don't dwell on.
"She's the Captain's daughter." Will announces and a troll who takes up a whole bench by the fire huffs, reaching into his pocket and tossing a coin to Will who smiles accepting it. Have they been betting on our identities?
"Which makes him the King," Freya says from a table opposite, she smiles as a woman with shocking purple hair places a coin in her outstretched hand.
"A little healthy gambling," Will says in explanation and I nod. "So..."
The word hangs in the air and I realise we need to say something, I just don't know what. I look to Nate, who glances at me, then looks back to our audience.
"Give them a drink." The troll says, his voice warm and deep. I like trolls. A memory of the rock troll from the Shipwreck floods my mind and I smile.
Drinks are poured and we are ushered into seats around the large table taking up most of the space in the room.
"This is where we eat, a dining hall, if you like" Freya explains and I nod, it's a little crowded with the 6 of us so I can't imagine they have guests all that often.
"Is she a Shadow Mage then?" Purple hair asks and I look at Will.
"No." He answers with certainty. "But, she has a shadow sprite familiar."
I reach for Inkspot who has slipped back into my hair and seems to be peering out in a cat disguise, eyeing up the raven on Will's shoulder. Would he try to steal Jack away from Will? Would he be able to?
"Don't you dare," I whisper at him and he slips back into my hair.
"They're a powerful pair." Will admits and I smile surprised by that, I glance at Nate and find he's watching me. I try the bind to see what he's feeling but can't seem to figure it out. Maybe that's the feeling. He's trying to figure it out.
"How powerful?" She asks, and there seems to be a hidden point to her question. She's asking for more than just a judgement on my power.
Will's eyes darken as they settle on her, undeterred the purple haired girl sits back, taking his non-answer as confirmation of something. I'm struggling to keep up.
As if remembering we are here, she bursts out of her silent conversation.
"What are we doing?" She asks the group and by the tired reactions of the others, I deduce this is not the first time she's had an outburst like this.
"We're doing the right thing," Freya says and the Troll nods.
"We're harbouring the Ex-King and Queen of Albion, who are being hunted by the other Queen of a country that hates us." She was angry and I totally understood.
"I don't want to cause trouble. We can leave. Thank you so much for everything you've done so far for us." I move to push my chair back but Will shakes his head.
"No, your father wants me to keep you safe." He turns to the purple-haired girl, "Veva you know the plan. We keep them safe, we get them to the camp."
Purple hair is Veva, good to know.
"The Captain is soft coz it's his daughter. This is going to end badly. Mixing with royalty never ends well." She says staring at Will who avoids her gaze while I glance at Nate trying to gauge his reaction, he's completely neutral. Great.
"Come on, Ve', they could change everything, if we give them a reason to." Freya says, looking up from her knitting.
"There is already a reason to change, we are dying, they are killing us and it is wrong."
"I agree," I say. "For what it's worth, I agree with Veva." Everyone is looking at me now and I shrug. "We shouldn't need persuading, we don't, do we?" I turn to Nate who looks at me with the circumspect look he'd give me if we were in negotiations for new roads or a trade deal.
"Persuading of what?" He asks, playing dumb and I want to kick him.
"Do we need persuading that a Fae life is equal in value to a humans?" I ask him pointedly and watch as he hesitates briefly over the answer.
"No." He says a little too loudly and I take a breath hearing the hesitation, hearing the yes.
"Ok. Well, that backfired." Veva says, and I absolutely agree with her.
"Can you take us to my father's camp?" I ask Will, changing the subject.
"I can, but I have work to do first."
"Do you two know each other?" Nate asks, pointing between Will and me.
"No... I saw him once."
"And that was enough to recognise him in a pub?"
"Well, the shadows helped." I smile, "Nate, this is the Ferryman."
Nate smiles in disbelief. "The mythological person the Fae speak of?"
"Yeah, I saw him when he came for Alice."
Will is watching us, well Nate, and I sip my drink as a distraction.
"So, you collect the dead?" Nate asks him, and I swallow quickly.
"I do" Will answers simply.
"Why?"
"Because I can."
"Can you really take them back to Faery?" I ask, curious.
"I can. The shadows aren't susceptible to the sickness, they protect me but only for a short amount of time."
"So, you bury all the Fae dead, just you?" Nate asks, incredulous.
"I take those that want to return to the burial mounds that are beside the entrance to Faery."
"Why don't we just build burial mounds here?" Nate shrugs.
"Because there are laws against it, your Majesty," Veva says and I cringe. How does he not know these things?
"Laws against burying your dead?" Nate shakes his head but see's my look and stops. "Really?"
"They prevent the Fae from owning land in Albion. If you don't own the land you can't be buried in it. A community tried in the first few years of the pact. A village of mixed settlers were happy to have a mound built in the common land, over time the new generation had built up antagonisms and as the elders died out it was decided the land should be reclaimed as pasture. The Fae dead were exhumed and burnt, which is sacrilege in their culture." I explain sadly.
"You know your stuff," Veva said approvingly.
"I want to help," I answer simply.
"I didn't know," Nate says softly and I nod, taking his hand.
"Maybe spending a bit of time with the Fae wouldn't hurt," I suggest and I'm relieved when he nods.
Having decided on a vague plan of action the four Fae begin serving up the stew, breaking a large heavy loaf that smelled of hazelnuts and handing it to each of us. Nate and I eat quietly listening as the four discussed the next steps in some plan. I'm starving, and focus mostly on eating, sad that there isn't much more than a few scoops of the stew each. I can't remember a time I finished a meal and still felt hungry. Pampered princess indeed.
"Right, so you three will prepare them with these two while I'm on collections," Will says, leaning back in his chair.
"Collections?" Nate asks, "You're collecting the dead?"
Will nods and Nate leans back in his chair. "I've trained as a doctor, so, if there are any people who aren't dead yet, maybe I could help them?"
Veva smiles at Will, who catches her eye and frowns.
"We'll see." He says finally and stands up from his seat. "For now though, help Veva prepare the bodies."
He pulls his coat around him and vanishes from the table in a wave of black. Envy pulses through me.
"Excuse my brother." Veva says, "He thinks he's cool."
He's her brother, that explains the bickering. They look nothing like one another though, Will is tall, slim and elegant in everything he does where as Veva is spiky, everything about her is cool with a hint of violence.
Freya gets up and starts collecting bowls, I go to help her but she shakes her head.
"Help Veva, my love, it's not a pleasant job but it's needed." She says kindly. "Aefric?" she addresses the troll, "Be a love and throw more logs on the fire."
The troll, Aefric, does as he's told, as Veva stands and pulls on her coat.
"Can you travel through the shadows too?" I ask.
"No, Will is an anomaly among our people." She says, heading out of the hut and expecting us to follow. "Usually Shadow Mages get killed off young."
"Why?" That sounds awful.
"Because the shadows are dark magic. Dangerous. Evil." She turns as she walks, a grin lighting her girlish face.
"Is that the story, or the truth?" I check.
Veva just grins, reaching the largest building on the rock, a long wooden hut, with barn doors. She pulls one open and motions for us to go inside without answering my question.
Stepping inside we are met by pitch black until Veva throws light into the air from her bare hands.
"How did you do that?" I ask amazed.
"I'm a Will o'the Wisp, light is my natural gift." She smiles and I glance up at the three balls of white light, they seem to have a faint flow of purple to the edges. "Right," she pulls my attention back to the room where long tables line the walls all filled with sacks of something. "We need to wash them, dress them, and place them on the cart for transport."
"What are they?" I ask, moving towards the tables.
"No, my Queen, who are they?" She uses the title bitterly and there's an anger in her voice now. "These are the dead Fae who need to go to Faery."
Nate is already at the table nearest him, I presume he'd recognised the room for what it was quicker than me. I'm still trying to make sense of it all.
There are about 15 in total, Veva quickly removes the bag from a body at the end, moving it onto its own table. It's a small female elf, her white-blonde hair cascading from the wood. It has red in it.
"Blood," Veva says. "There was a riot, in a marketplace, in Tinderdown."
Nate nods, "I read about it, three Fae were killed."
"Well, here she is." Veva motions to the body. "Mariendi, named Endi for short." She handed me a card that had been placed with the Elf."
"Please take my daughter, Mariendi, back to the Evergreen Woods of Faery. May she walk in the dappled light of spring until I come home to her. Endi believed in you, and so I entrust her to your care." I read the note aloud and look at the pale girl lying before us, she looks perfect. Like a porcelain doll, except her head is crushed in at her temple.
Nate is studying her. "They said the Fae died from crush injuries but this is a wound like someone took a rock to her temple."
"Well done, King Doctor, that's exactly what happened," Veva says, preparing cloths and water for us to wash her.
"That wasn't reported." He says, frustrated.
"No, well, it wouldn't be. It was your guards that killed her." Veva lifts a foot and begins washing the dirt from around Endi's ankles.
I pick up a cloth and do the same with her hands. Her fingernails are broken, and blood pooled around the edges where she fought. Faint bruises on her arms show where she'd been held, too soon to death to show.
Nate is still staring at her face, "Why would they do that?" He asks no one in particular.
Veva stares at him, "Because she's an Elf, and they could."
"That's no reason." He says and she huffs looking at me.
"Can you shut him up? Because I won't have this conversation about every body in here."
I take a breath.
"Nate, why don't you collect the clothes?" I say, he nods absentmindedly.
"Freya has them," Veva says and Nate slips out into the dark to find Freya.
"He's not seen it up close before," I say.
"Have you?"
"Not really, but I knew it happened."
We work in silence until Endi is clean, drying her skin so the water won't freeze on her. Nate brings the clothes back, and we dress her while he and Aefric start to clean the body of a Goblin named Gryddli. His body is covered in scars and Aefric tells us he was a warrior for centuries in Faery, his low voice rumbles in the cabin as we work.
"It was claimed that he and his company defeated the last dragon." Aefric chuckles, "that is if you believe there was one."
"Dragons aren't real?" Nate asks.
Aefric smiles, "Oh they're real, I just don't believe we've seen the last of them."
Nate stares in wonder as he buttons the Goblins shirt up.
"How did he die?" He asks.
"Froze to death in a doorway," Aefric says, sadness washing over him. "Still, it's not the death that's remembered, it's the life."
We place the cleaned and dressed bodies carefully into a cart that has coffin-like slots built into it. After cleaning two more bodies and hearing their stories, Veva and Aefric decide to call it a night.
"We'll carry on in the morning," Veva says as she closes the door. "Be up nice and early."
With that she walks away, leaving Nate and me alone. We don't talk as we head back to our hut, the fires gone out but neither of us cares all that much. I kick off the boots and realise the only clothes I have are the ones I'm wearing and climb into bed in them.
Nate does the same and we lie there, facing each other in the dark not speaking. I'm not even looking at him. The faces of the dead Fae swim before my eyes. Their injuries and stories haunt me. The bruises on Endi's arms where she was held, and the question that arises. Who held her, and why? Too many horrific answers flow to me and I want to forget it all.
Inkspot runs against my neck and I calm down a little. The sprites in the cabin are chattering to each other and that's soothing. Nate lifts a hand to my cheek and wipes away a tear with his thumb. I didn't realise I was crying.
"We'll make it better." He says and I look up at him.
"How?"
"I'm working on it."
He offers his arm and I move over, resting my face on his shoulder. We lie there, lost in our thoughts until sleep finally sneaks in and takes us.