Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (19 page)

“You think she even knows how to get back to the right place? She just traveled through a portal for the first time.”

Tatyana’s face showed that she had no clue what he was talking about, and she quickly brushed that confusion away.
That was
Harpy pride
working for him. It was a well-known fact that Harpies would do whatever it took to not appear weak in any way.
“Fine. I won’t kill you right now, but you will take me to Sarah.”

“No, you won’t,” Garrick replied. “And you
can’t go to that realm.” H
er eyebr
ows popped up to argue with him
and
he rushed on, “What if I promised to help her escape her captors and bring her back to you?”

She looked over him
,
considering. “Sit.” She bent her legs and curled onto the ground. She sat Indian-style on the hard-packed dirt in the center of their village. Garrick sighed and sat on the ground with Dani
perched
next to him.

“Why can’t we go to this realm of yours?” the Harpy leader asked.

“Because you’re not meant for that place. I don’t even know how you’d survive.” As much as it pained him to say it, it was the truth.
It was Fae knowledge that
Harpies survived on the essences of Fairies, and they were few and far between in the human realm.

“And yet our sister lives.”

“Your sister doesn’t have much of an existence to speak of. I already told you that she’s shackled down, unable to move.”

“She could be dying,” the small Harpy said.

“
Hel
,” Tatyana hissed at her.

The girl
’
s eyebrows narrowed,
and she snapped her mouth shut
as she dropped her gaze the ground. Garrick
regarded
the girl, recognizing a hint of kindness in her eyes. There was something special about the Harpy, that he was sure of. Her hair glistened more so than the others, as if she’d sprinkled glitter on herself. The sight caused him to
glance
at Dani, and he quickly assessed that she held the same glint in her hair.

Dani’s hand lightly touched his arm, appearing grateful that he had turned his attention on her. “Can’t you at least tell me what’s going on? I can’t understand a word any of you are saying.”

She was still in full Harpy form, sharing the same ashen skin as her
…
what were they to her, her half-sisters? And not for the first time, he was surprised to see the dark maroon of her eyes; not the lively blue they normally were. Even in her golden state, her eyes would shine blue
,
but not now. Not when she looked like the rest of them.
She hardly looked like the cold, hard killer that the others portrayed
.
S
he appeared scared and quiet. She acted like Dani.

He gave her a half-smile. “Take my hand. I’ll try to translate that way.”

Her eyes gleamed then as a smile spread ac
ross her face. She w
rapp
ed
her hand around his, not caring as the other Harpies whispered amongst each other at the sight of the contact.

It hadn’t escaped Tatyana’s notice either. “And you’re telling me that you would risk your life to save our queen’s?”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation. Did he mean it? Hell no.

“Then it is agreed. You shall return our queen to us and we will spare your clan.”

“What?” Garrick
’s eyes snapped solely on Tatyana
.

“It’s a bargain.” She shrugged. “What kind of deal would it be if you had nothing to lose?”

He had everything to lose. Harpies could deal out some serious punishment when they attacked en masse, and Garrick couldn’t help but envision the sight of them loosing their fury on his family—on everyone he knew.

“Now,” she continued, lacing her clawed fingers together, “How much time shall we give you before we start knocking off your family? Three days?”

“
Three days
,” Garrick growled. “I couldn’t get her free and back here in that amount of time. You have no idea what kind of prison she’s in.”

“Four, then?”

“We’re looking at
a
month. Minimum.”

The Harpy’s eyes narrowed angrily on him. “One week.”

“Three.”

Everyone’s eyes darted back and forth between them—even Dani, who apparently had no problem picking up on the language through their connection.

“Ten days,” she growled back.

“Two weeks.”

“Why should this take so long?”

“Because,” Garrick replied
,
“
w
e have to travel to another portal and find a way back to where your queen is held, and devise a plan to infiltrate the prison and extract her. Not to mention we still have to get her back here.”

“And why can’t you go the same way you came?”

“Too dangerous. We’d be walking right back into a trap.”

“It would not be a trap if we followed you through,” Tatyana said, exasperated. “We would have your back.”

“
Ha
.” He laughed. “No Harpy will
ever
be at my back.”

Tatyana jumped to her feet and let out a long, slow growl. She paced, and as she did so, Garrick looked at their surroundings, noticing that even more Harpies had shown up,
peering
down on them as they crouched on any surface they could find: tree branches, rocks, the tops of their tents. Some even balanced precariously on narrow objects that hardly looked like they could hold anything up—let alone full
-
grown women.

Garrick stood as well, not feeling remotely safe with so many Harpies surrounding him.

Tatyana focused on one of her sisters for a few seconds.
“Fine,”
she
growled, followed by words he’d never learned,
which
were clearly expletives. “Two weeks.” She stalked toward him,
and
Dani
sprung
to her feet
to block her from
reaching
him
. Tatyana stuck out her hand as if to shake Garrick’s.

He looked down at her
outstretched
hand and snorted. “Nice try.”

She
dropped
it
, a wicked smile curving her lips. “Clever Fairy. Fine, you shall have two weeks from today to return our queen to our clan. Failure to do so will cost you ten lives for every day you are late.”

“Perhaps we should keep the Gilded one,” another Harpy chimed in.

“No,” he said. “She doesn’t belong here.”

“And where does she belong?” Tatyana asked. “If Harpies do not belong in your realm, and she does not belong here, then where
does
she belong?”

Garrick’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t answer her. He didn’t know; and the smile that Tatyana gave him suggested she saw that fact clear on his face.

She gave him a single, tight nod. “The two of you will break Sarah free. But remember that we will be taking our own measures if you do not hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Agreed.”

Dani sighed against him, the tension having left her body as the agreement was made. He felt the change in her, along with something else he hadn’t expected. Her body shuddered as her claws receded, her skin returning to the soft, fair human flesh.

The change caused an uproar amongst the Harpy clan, their screeches and hisses loud and wild all around them. At Tatyana’s command, the chaos quieted. But it didn’t cause the Harpies’ curiosity to ebb. A few slowly made their way toward Dani, looking over every inch of her skin, touching her hair and her smooth, wingless back. She slapped a few of them away, but finally gave in as she found that none of them meant to hurt her. “Old one,” was whispered throughout the clan as if the sight of Dani was truly awe-inspiring even to them.

It didn’t escape his notice that Tatyana glanced at the little quiet Harpy before
her gaze settled on
Dani again. Garrick turned his own attention to the little one, noticing the look of shock across her face.

Tatyana brought his attention
back to her.
“You may utilize Dani the Gilded in your quest to return our queen. But know this, Fairy, if you do not return Sarah within two week
s’
time, we will kill ten of your kin. And I know exactly which ones we’ll take.”

****

The trip to Oileán na Túir, the
Isle
Garrick
had grown up on, had drained him of all his strength. Dani needed some help turning Harpy once more, and when she did so she returned to the golden state that had all the Harpy’s looking at her in wonder
and
awe.

Probably the same way he was looking at her.

He had assumed that teaching
her
how to fly would take a while, but she proved a quick study and was flying perfectly in no time.

As the Harpies took to the air, they flew South
e
ast, toward Oileán na Túir, guiding Dani toward his homeland. As for Garrick, he’d exhausted himself by tracing over and over, appearing suspended in the air for seconds at a time before tracing again, ensuring that Dani stayed in his sights.
She was scared of the Harpies, which was only compounded as
they surrounded her
in flight.
Finally he’d spotted his Isle and made a final trace there, regaining as much strength as he could as he
waited for
the Harpies
to
fly toward him. Watching their nearing forms, he looked around, startled to see evidence that they had camped on this ridge before. He had no doubt it was them, not with so many similarities to the camp on their own Isle.

Finally, the Harpies landed all around him, their faces appearing grateful for the break from the long trek. They stretched their arms and legs, and even their wings. There was a lot going on, but Garrick ignored it all. He was focused on their leader.

Tatyana’s eyes
tracked
every move Dani made, as though she couldn’t decide if she were friend or foe. But when she caught sight of him watching her, she stiffened. “Do not forget our deal, Cyne,” she said. “We’ll be watching.”

She
let out a signal of some sort as she and the others shot into the
air, their wings flapping rapidly as they whisked away, heading back to Annera.

“Well,” Dani breathed. “What did she just say?”

Garrick
faced
her. He’d almost forgotten that she could only understand the Harpies when the two of them had touched. “Just a friendly reminder,” he said casually. “How was it?”

“The flight? Good. I mean, I’m a little tired, but it kinda felt good.”
He gave her a pointed look and she rolled her eyes. “It was scary,” she admitted. “I don’t trust them.”

Yeah, he didn’t either.
“Do you think you can change back?”

“I don’t know. I guess all I can do is try.”

Garrick folded his arms, taking in every detail of Dani’s body. She closed her eyes, her face creasing in concentration. Her body started to thrum and shiver. She released a breath as her wings disappeared into her back, her claws receding into the tips of her fingers,
and
her hair lightening to the natural red that glinted in the sunlight. He could only watch, fascinated by the beauty of it.

When her transformation was completed, she opened her eyes, letting out another breath. “Whew. I guess I did it.”

“I guess so,” he said, smiling. He looked her over once more, noticing the tattered clothes that hung in shreds over her body, barely covering what needed covering. What was he going to do with her? What he’d said to the Harpies about them not belonging in the human realm was true. So what should be done with Dani? He didn’t know now, but he had to make a decision sometime within the next two weeks.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Garrick traced to the house he’d grown up in, popping into his room. He looked around, inhaling the familiar scents of home and listening for signs of anyone nearby. There were sounds coming from the main floor, but nothing he could pick up on on the second level of the house. He opened his door and hastily made his way to his sister’s room, grabbing a casual dress from her closet. He doubted it would fit Dani, but it was better than the tatters she was currently sporting. He traced back to Dani and handed her the dress.

“It’s not much,” he said as she took it greedily.

“Thanks,” she said, stepping into the
fabric.

Garrick turned his back so she could pull on the clothing in pe
a
ce.
She was dressed in no time.
He faced her again, assessing how she looked in his sister’s
clothes
.
They definitely weren’t her, but at least no one would think her a beggar—or worse.
Hiding the smile that threatened to curve his lips, he said, “Let’s go.”