Lauki's Arc

Chapter 4 of 18

The keep took them in past midnight. Frog warriors led Lauki and Torra down a hall of black stone. Skull mushrooms glowed on the walls. A red carpet ran the length of the floor, its border dark as tar. Lauki kept his hood low over his horns. He had traded her family's blades for a princess's debt, and neither felt safe. One frog warrior would not leave his side. He was broad, his skin scarred, a bone cleaver at his back. He stared at the shadow under Lauki's hood. "You walk stiff for a guest," he said. "Show me your head." Lauki froze. If the warrior saw the ivory horns, he would call the garrison. A demon caught inside these walls would not walk out. Torra reached for him, but two more warriors blocked her. "I said show me," the warrior growled. He raised the cleaver. A voice cut through the hall. "Lower that." A man stepped onto the carpet. Black wings folded at his back like a moth's. His armor was dark and etched with silver lines. Purple eyes swept the room. The frog warriors dropped to one knee at once. This was no swamp lord. He wore a crown of black gold set with red stones, and he moved like he owned the stone under their feet. "Tiberius Darkwing," the winged man said. He looked at Lauki's hidden face, then at the two mismatched eyes beneath the hood. "A fey'ri. I felt him cross into the marsh." He turned to the scarred warrior. "You would cleave a cousin of the fey." The warrior lowered the cleaver, but his jaw stayed tight. "He hides horns, my king. That is demon." "Half demon." Tiberius stepped close to Lauki. His wings brushed the mushroom light. "And half fey. The horns are mine to judge, not yours." He reached up and pushed back Lauki's hood himself. The ivory horns caught the green glow. The warriors tensed. "Look well," the king said. "He is under my eye now. Touch him and answer to me." The scarred warrior stood. He looked once more at Lauki, then bowed his head. "As you say." He turned and left with the others. The threat in the hall bled away. Lauki breathed. "Why?" he asked. Tiberius studied him. "Fey blood is rare above ground. Demon blood rarer still." His gaze slid to Torra, and something sharpened in it. "You both carry old lines. I have use for that." He drew a folded map from his belt and tapped it against his palm. "Your safety here is mine to give. It is also mine to take." He walked away down the red carpet. The horns were bare now. The frog warrior was gone. But Lauki had not escaped the debt in the swamp. He had only handed himself to a fey king who wanted his blood, and who now knew the exact road to reach Torra's noble world above.