The Shadow Lands were a valley that separated the deserts of the Southern Wastes from the eastern lands. The valley had been the last refuge of those who fled the great forests destroyed during the Scorching Wars. They raced into the canyons, and there, Telazhar and his armies had hunted them down and slaughtered them en masse. The entire area, including the bordering Ranakwa Fens, were rife with the spirits of the dead—angry and frightened and still missing their homes.
Trillian fell silent, but by the look on his face, the wheels were turning fast and furious upstairs.
“How many sorcerers do you think that Telazhar has gathered, Trenyth?” It was a question we probably didn’t want the answer to, but it was important that we knew what we were up against.
“Last report I got from Darynal’s group before they disappeared was… well over three hundred. Telazhar swept through the Brotherhood of the Sun and gathered up the entire cult. And most of the guilds in the Southern Wastes threw their weight behind him. We’re talking an army of magic-wielding psychopaths twice as large as the one he commanded during the Scorching Wars. One sorcerer can destroy a village if he’s powerful enough. Three hundred—”
“Can rule the world, especially when they have an army of grunts behind them.” We all fell silent for a moment. All it took was one charismatic orator who held true power, and you had the makings for disaster. Put a Demon Lord at his back and a spirit seal around his neck and there was the beginning to the end.
“Right. I need to get back to matters at hand. I’m trying to find out how many villages in Elqaneve still stand, but the going is rough and gathering data is dangerous. There are so many dead here, girls. I don’t know… the Elfin race will rebuild but I don’t know if we’ll ever be the nation and people we were a week ago. Telazhar was trying for total annihilation, and he damned near achieved it.” And with that, he signed off before we could say any more.
I sat back, sighing. “I guess we should talk to Violet.”
Tanne, who had been watching silently, shook his head. “You really are up against the wall. For rescuing Violet… any time you need me? I’m ready and willing to go for it. All you have to do is ask.”
I realized that Tanne now knew far more about matters than we’d planned. But he seemed like an ally worth having.
“I’m surprised you aren’t in there, making sure she’s okay.” I cocked my head, wondering at how calm and pulled together he was.
“You know little about what I’ve faced, and the people I’ve lost. I’ve learned to focus on the matters at hand, to push everything else to the side, even when it’s ripping me up inside. I’ve learned how to separate my personal life from what needs done. My mother trained us well. The Hunter’s Glen Clan has a reputation of being the hope of last resort. People come to us who have tried every other outlet and failed. And we seldom fail.” He leaned back in his chair and a shock of his tousled blond hair fell in his eyes. He brushed it back, a faint, arrogant grin on his face. “Living in the Black Forest breeds strength.”
“We welcome your help.” I glanced at the others. I had a good feeling about Tanne. He was an oddball, but he was one of the good guys. “Before it gets much later, we should talk to Violet and the others. You know, of course, we can’t let them go home. We can’t chance Lowestar looking for them. He’d probably kill them outright, hoping to keep them from talking. Or out of spite.”
“That’s going to present its own problems. Where do they go?”
“We’ll decide that in a little while. Meanwhile, bring them in and let’s find out what we’re facing.”
By the looks of them, Nerissa had seen that they’d had showers and they were comfortably dressed in clean clothing that she’d scrounged up from our various wardrobes. By now, we were used to lending our clothes to stragglers who needed a change.
But the haunted looks in their eyes told me they’d been through hell. Violet started when she saw Tanne, and she broke into a run, racing into his arms. He held her tight, kissing her brow, kissing her lips, but then he gently disengaged her and pushed her to arm’s length.
“There will be time for us later,” he whispered. “Now we need to talk to you. To find out everything you know.”
Violet let out a long breath, sounding exhausted. “We’ve already talked to the dragon and Were. They know everything we know, and they wrote it down so we wouldn’t lose anything.” She turned to us, and a soft smile played over her lips. “Thank you. Thank you more than I can ever express. I didn’t think I’d ever make it out of there.”
Nerissa stepped forward. She gave me a light kiss before introducing the others. “You know Violet already. Meet Shay, Daisy, Fray, and this is Weaver.”
The four of them nodded, looking confused and more than a little dazed. Nerissa settled them onto the sofa, while the rest of us took the other chairs. Violet joined her comrades, looking a little less shell-shocked than the others.
Nerissa turned to us. “Shay was in there over a year. The others have been prisoners for between two and five months. Violet was the last one captured. They told us they’ve seen at least four Fae and two Weres come through the cells in the past five months. Shay doesn’t know how many were laundered through during the period between when she was captured and when Weaver was put in the cell next to her five months back.”
“So it’s not first in, first out.” I frowned. “I wonder what the criteria are.”
Weaver spoke up, his voice shaky. “I know. I managed to get one of the guards talking. He said that sometimes the transfer takes a while, and once in a while, a buyer reneges on the deal. Then they have to either find a new one, or they have to work out whatever the problem was.”
“The guards—were they all daemons?” Camille shifted to allow Hanna room to bring in a tea tray and some cookies. It was obvious that our housekeeper had been in bed; she was in a nightgown and her hair was braided back. But she never missed a beat—just like Iris, she was always on call.
“No, there were a few humans, too.” Weaver shook his head. “They’ve got a tight operation. By the way, I have to contact my superiors. You’re going to find out sooner or later so I might as well tell you.”
Shade glanced up. “He’s an operative for the Fly by Night Investigations Agency. A freelancer.”
Again with the FBN agency. Twice in one night meant it might be time to pay a visit to the business, especially since it was being run by a vampire. But that could keep.
“What were you doing there?” I accepted the bottle of blood that Hanna handed me. After the experience with the daemon’s blood, I thought I might stick to bottled for a while. The whole out-of-control thing had been frightening.
“Searching for Shay. Her family reported her missing, and the last known contacts were through Supernatural Matchups. Alex hired me to do some research. It led to me getting captured. We thought we were dealing with a kidnapper or serial killer—we had no clue the villain was the dating service itself. By the time I realized what was going down, it was too late. I have no idea why Alex didn’t come sniffing around—he takes good care of his people. Even those of us who freelance for him.”
“We’ll try to find out. But here’s the deal, peeps. You can’t go home. You can’t even come out of hiding. If Lowestar Radcliffe—the daemon who runs the slavery operation—finds out where you’re at, he’ll come after you. He won’t know if you’ve spilled any info or not, but he won’t take any chances. If nothing else, he’ll try to shut you up. Or he’ll kill you out of spite.” I shrugged. “You have to stay missing for a while.”