Thea awoke still wrapped in Rai’s arms. The temperature had dropped overnight but the blanket and his body had insulated her well. She held still and didn’t stir, both because she didn’t want to wake him and because she enjoyed the warmth of pressing against him.

She mulled over the previous night’s surprising news. It should have shocked her that her lover and his brother belonged to some mystical race, but it didn’t. It’s not that she considered them supernatural, but the two of them had always stood out. They were taller than most men, strong, fast, and extremely quick-minded. They were both very fair-skinned and there wasn’t a girl in town who didn’t look twice at them. None of these were traits that she would have thought twice about. She’d always just considered that they were lucky, or well-bred. She thought about the times when Math had overheard her whispers to Rai and cracked a joke, or the times she’d tried to sneak something by Rai but he always seemed to notice. She didn’t know whether to believe they had some advantage to their sight or hearing, or whether they were just observant. She didn’t know whether it was remarkable at all; for all she could tell she might just be embellishing her memories with her new knowledge.

Whatever he was, though, he was still Rhaiven. He was still her Rhaiven. She had read that particular worry on his face easily last night. She wasn’t going to walk away just because he was now a fairy-tale being.

She did have worries of her own. Would he still want her? She didn’t know which tales of the Sidhe were true and which were exaggerated legends. What if he really did turn out to be

superhuman? Surely there would be a superhuman woman waiting for him – taller, stronger, smarter, and more beautiful. What if she couldn’t give him children? What if the children she could give him were smaller or weaker than a Sidhe woman would give him?

These were selfish thoughts, she knew. She had to put them aside as best she could. There were more important things to think about, like kobalds and dragons and scions and sorcerous keys. Not to mention the fact that her Rhaiven and his brother were supposed to somehow be tied up in those things. Khel had implied that they needed to decide whether to help. It didn’t sound to her that they had much of a choice. But even if they did have a choice, she knew them both well enough to know that they were not going to refuse. She knew at the same time that there was no way she wasn’t going with them.

Rai began to stir against her back as he awoke. He stretched one arm over his head with a yawn, then wrapped it around her and pulled her more tightly into him. He kissed her behind the ear and then was still, holding her, though she could tell by the sound of his breathing that he was awake. She put a hand over his and said nothing for a few minutes. Neither one of them wanted to let the chill air under their blanket just yet.

Eventually, she twisted and rolled her body onto her back, so she looked up at him as he lay on his side next to her. He bent down and kissed her softly.

“Good morning, love,” he said softly. She smiled up in response, then lifted her head to kiss him quickly on the lips.

“I’m going with you,” Thea said.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet. We’re going home first, we’ve got time to talk about it,” he replied.

“You know as well as I do that you’re not going to say no. I can see the questions swirling around in your head right now. You’re going to pester those poor Sidhe to death!” she said with a quiet laugh.

Rai smiled. “You’re probably right. You know me better than my own brother sometimes. I’m going to have to find out more about all this.”

“And I’m going with you,” she repeated.

“Thea,” he began.

“You know me as well as I know you. You think I’m not coming?” she interrupted.

He chuckled for a moment, looking down at her. Then he answered with a good solid kiss. She pressed her lips up into his and let her body melt against him, cupping his cheek in her hand.

Just as she was ready to settle into kissing him for hours, he broke off abruptly. He sat up and ripped the blanket off her. “Rise and shine, warrior princess,” he laughed. “It’s time to set off on our adventure!” He jumped up, pulling the blanket out of her reach. She grumbled at him, but didn’t take the bait and chase after. She stood slowly, stretching as she did.

Math was already up and helping Khel pack up the campsite. The sound of slow hoofbeats and soft whinnying accompanied Ulric as he approached the camp with two horses that had been tied to a tree on another rocky patch a short distance away.

“There should be enough bread and cheese left for you and Thea,” Math said.

Rai picked up the sack Math pointed out and fished out half of a loaf of bread and a small rectangle of cheese. He handed them to Thea, then picked the blanket up off the ground and draped it back over her shoulders. She tore off a hunk of bread and a chunk of cheese and handed them to back to him. They both ate quickly, but the camp packing was finished before they were.

“We’ll take you back to town,” Khel said. “We’ll stay for a night. I’m sure we can find a nice place to sleep,” he smiled at Thea. “But you two will need to come to a decision quickly. The Beast’s servants get closer to freeing him every day.”

“What if they say no?” Thea asked.

Khel shrugged. “Then I don’t know what we’ll do. We don’t know of any other way we might stop it.”

“Doesn’t sound like you think we have any choice in the matter,” Rai said.

“There’s always a choice. My job is to convince you that things will be very bad for everyone if you decide not to help,” Khel replied.

“So it’s to be a guilt trip then?” Math asked with a smirk.

“Not my intent,” Khel said. “But the facts are what the facts are. Personally, I have no doubt that both of you will be eager to help. I have seen enough of you over the years to be sure that you both know what is right and when you have a duty.” He spoke with a strange, wistful expression on his face.

“Over the years?” Math asked.

“I’ve come to town a few times over the years. I’ve met, or at least seen, a lot of the folks who live there. And people gossip. You can learn a lot when you listen and pay attention. I knew your brother and Thea were an item before you did,” he said with a wink to Thea.

Math shook his head. There was no shortage of strange new information from this man. The two of them finished loading up the horses. Even riding double would leave one person without a mount, so Khel and Ulric led the horses while they all walked.

The camp was about an hour from Trey’s farm by road, and the town was another few hours past that. They planned to be traveling a little longer than that because nobody wanted to walk down the road past the farm. They all thought it better to avoid the risk that more of those things may have arrived by tunnel. The fact that they wouldn’t get a visual reminder of the missing family and the corpses of the creatures was just an added bonus.

Thea walked next to Rai, hand in hand. Khel led the way, seeming to be right at home despite the fact that no road was in view. Math and Ulric followed behind with the horses. The ground was dry and the land not thickly wooded, so the travel was easy. It was still early autumn, so the maples were starting to show their brilliant reds but the oaks had only just started hinting at their yellows and coppers. They walked quietly, and time passed quickly. They crossed the roadway into town before they knew it and turned towards home.

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Once on the road, Khel dropped back next to Rai and Thea. Thea took the opportunity to question their companion and rescuer a little more.

“So, what are the Sidhe?”

“We are just men, no different from you,” Math answered.

“But you are different. You look different. You have… abilities? Magic?”

“We look different because we have lived apart for thousands of years. We have kept our bloodlines separate for the most part. Where we haven’t, in most cases we have been very selective when we merge bloodlines with a Dhuine.”

“Dhuine?”

“That’s our term for your people. For those who exiled us. Or those we exiled ourselves from. Even our own histories are unclear about what exactly happened.”

“You can marry one of us if you get permission? From who? Do you have a king?”

“No king. We had an emperor once, ages ago, but no more. We have a council of sorts that chronicles and protects our bloodlines. Almost all of us follow their directives voluntarily. There are always a few who don’t, not enough to really worry the council.”

“You mean they tell you who to marry? All your marriages are arranged?”

“Not quite. They tell you who to have children with. In most cases those end up being the same people, but it’s not necessary.”

“Why on earth would anyone go along with that?”

“It’s a pact our ancestors entered into when we first withdrew. We honor it because we see the benefits it has granted us, and we choose to pass those benefits on to our descendants.”

“What benefits?”

“Well, we’ve already mentioned them. As a people we tend to be taller, stronger. We live in deep forests and in caves, so our eyes and ears are sharp. But more than anything else we value the mind. The sages and intellectuals of our people have discovered wisdom that your people have never seen.”

“That’s why the girls can’t keep their eyes off those two, then,” Thea motioned to Rai with only a hint of jealousy. Rai rolled his eyes and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“A side benefit of the rest of it,” Khel smirked.

“But what does that have to do with controlling who marries who?” Thea asked.

“That’s part of the wisdom that our sages have gained. Think of it like this: you look a little bit like your mother and a little bit like your father, right? You have your mother’s eyes, but your father’s dark hair, for example.”

“How do you know that?” Thea asked.

“I come to town once in a while, remember? I’ve seen them. I remember when you were born.”

Thea didn’t answer. Her mother had died when she was young. This man might have known her.

When she didn’t say anything, Khel continued. “If we take that same idea, we can apply it to other things. If your mother and your father are both tall, chances are you will be tall. If your mother and father both have sharp minds, you will probably be quick-witted as well. So our Creche chooses the pairings that will most likely produce children that will enhance our people as a whole.

“The Creche is that council you mentioned?”

“That’s right. They keep the records of all our family lines. The journals and cross-references are said to be massive.”

“Why don’t they just have a contest, pick the best man and the best woman, and make them have lots of kids?” Thea thought for a moment, “I guess you’d have to have more than one best couple, because the children of the first couple can’t get married.”

“And that’s the rub. You have to mix the bloodlines a lot. If the family line gets too pure, things move in the opposite direction. As your people know, when the parents are too closely related the children become thick-headed, and sometimes are even deformed. You can’t just pick the strongest bloodline and ignore all the others. It’s a very delicate balance. Those seeking admission to the Creche study for years before they are even allowed to participate in the discussions.”

“That’s an awful lot of effort just to make me a handsome fiancé,” Thea joked, bumping Rai with her hip.

Khel smiled, “Those two, as you might have guessed, are a little outside the plans of the Creche.”

“What does that mean? We’re outcasts?” Rai asked.

“Not at all. You would be welcome among our people. It simply means that your mother was half Sidhe. Her Sidhe father went outside the direction of the Creche and made his own choice, that’s all.”

“So does his family line end?” Thea asked. “Do your people even care about that?”

“The Creche will observe it. They will decide. It has happened that a bloodline has been maintained. There have even been rare cases where it was sought out. But to answer your second question: we don’t worry much about it. We care about our descendants, we are interested in our ancestors, but we don’t have royal families or titles handed down by inheritance.”

They walked in silence for a bit, while she pondered what he had told her. They were holding a brisk pace, despite the constant conversation. They should arrive in town by noon. She hoped her father had been able to handle the place with the help of Sarys's boys. She hoped her father still had the help of Sarys’s boys this morning to cover for her unexpected absence.

The first warning came from Ulric, behind them. “Khel! Watch the sides! Kobali!” he shouted.

Thea spun towards his voice, then followed his look to the right. The grass beside the road rippled as if in a breeze, but a breeze that only blew on one small patch. As she looked, more of the grass started moving, in some places dropping out of sight. A now too-familiar hole opened up beside the road.

Ulric grabbed his long, curved sword from its scabbard hung off the horse’s saddle. Khel sprinted the few steps to the horses and did the same. He barely had it clear before the horse reared, eyes wide and wild, mouth foaming. Ignoring the animal for the moment he stepped to the side of the road, in between his companions and the holes opening up beside them. Ulric stepped to the other side of the road, where more holes were opening up.

Within seconds, three of the creatures sprang from the holes and lunged at Khel. He intercepted the first easily, gutting it effortlessly. A backswing caught the second at the shoulder and cut it clean down to its stomach. A sold kick knocked the third one back, where he took off its head with his next swing. Ulric was just as busy on the other side of the road, but more attackers were climbing out of the ground and joining the attack.

Thea spied another sword hanging from the saddle, either a spare or one left behind by the two departed Sidhe. She lunged for it, pulling the razored length of steel free. Math also ran for the horses, coming away with two bows and a handful of arrows. A Kobald lunged for him. Thea gripped the sword in both hands and brought an overhead swing down on its head, intercepting its attack. The blade sliced clean through, spilling the thing’s brain into the dust. Rai met him a few steps later and relieved him of one of the bows.

“Get on the horses and go!” Khel commanded.

Math and Rai, arrows nocked, ignored him. Khel fired at a pair that were skirting around Ulric and heading for the three in the center of the road. His arrow grazed the leg of one. Rai’s arrow was a little more accurate, taking his in the shoulder. The thing barely slowed. Rai dropped his grip down the bow and smashed the stave into the thing’s face. It rolled back on the road, but immediately started getting up. Math took a different approach, grabbing one of his arrows and driving it down into the top of the other’s head. Thea put the point of her sword through another’s chest with a clumsy thrust.

“Thea!” Khel said, “They are the scions. Get them out of here.”

“We’ll follow. Get on the horses!” Ulric joined in.

A dozen of the things were pouring from the holes.

“Get on,” Rai ordered, pointing to the nearest horse. Thea put a hand on the pommel and a foot in a stirrup and started to lift herself into the saddle. She was thrown clear almost immediately as the horse screamed and reared. One of the vile creatures had fastened its jaws on the horse’s leg. A powerful kick sent the thing flying, but the tendon was torn. The horse was hobbled.

“Run for it!” Khel yelled. They were nearly surrounded, but the circle had not quite closed over the road ahead. Rai grabbed her free hand and ran for the gap, Math close behind. Khel and Ulric brought up the rear.

Rai reached the open road when the earth opened beneath him. He disappeared as the ground gave way, exposing a wide pit covered only by a thin crust of dirt and sticks. He released his grip on the Thea’s hand to keep from dragging her after him but pulled her down to her knees before he was able to let go. A large rectangular pit had opened up across the road. It was more than just a hole dug in the ground. Most of the dirt covering it had collapsed when Rai went through, but the remaining weave of sticks covered with mud and dirt revealed that it was constructed. A pit trap.

Thea looked down. The hole was maybe eight feet deep. Rai lay at the bottom, looking up at her, pain on his face. Dark tunnels opened up at floor level on each side of the pit. He started to struggle to his feet as the kobalds began screeching to each other. More shrieks came up through the tunnels below, and an instant later more of the creatures followed. Rai, still holding his bow, swung it around, trying to beat them off. Math nocked an arrow and fired into the group, but they kept swarming out from the tunnels. He only had a few arrows left, and he launched them all into the mass, to no effect.

The creatures above ground poured past them. Khel and Math and Ulric swung wildly around them with sword and bow-staff, felling the ones they could. The rest ignored them and leaped down into the pit. Rai stood at the bottom and laid about him with hands and fist, sending little bodies flying. But his strength was no match for their numbers. They clawed and bit at his arms and legs and chest, and clambered on his back, until his clothes were shredded and soaked in blood. Red streams poured down across his nose and cheeks from cuts and bites on his head and face. Thea watched helplessly as they overwhelmed him, their weight bearing him down as he roared in defiance.

Then he finally screamed as the monsters dragged him feet first towards a tunnel. He kicked and thrashed more wildly still but couldn’t fight off so many. His feet and legs slid into the tunnel. He reached out, holding desperately to the walls, but the creatures broke his grip. Thea’s eyes locked with his for a moment, hers in despair, his in fear, before he disappeared completely into the dark.