Book Two Wylan: Chapter 8

Kaelis

Chapter 8: Kaelis

1993

The stables. Maybe he’s at the unicorn stables, Wylan thought as he raced through the Severing Grove.

Furious with the cat-eyed boy’s recklessness, Wylan’s anger led him to have close calls with not one, but three different fae on his way to the village. He shot all three.

As he neared the village outside Tamsin’s mansion, he immediately noticed something was off. There was a charged energy in the air, and he heard cheering in the distance.

Sometimes, when new merchants rolled in with their wares, there was excitement. But nothing at this level. It was downright celebratory.

Sinking deeper into his cloak, Wylan stuck to the fringes of the town square.

Everything caught his eye. Brightly painted stalls were heaping with handpies, colorful cakes, and tarts; a booth with a puppet show entertained a cluster of fae children; and fae roaming through the crowd sold rainbows of ribbons, streamers, and cut flowers from large baskets.

Underfoot, there was a lot to see too. Cats of all sizes and colors pounced, trotted, and sprawled out in patches of sunlight. Some, the fae lavished their attention on, but most went ignored, existing in the space and going about their cat business unobtrusively. Frustratingly, there was no butter colored tabby among them.

As Wylan neared the stables, he saw in the middle of the square, there was a grand stage with a golden throne…and a wooden arch with a rope hanging.

This wasn’t a festival. It was an execution. He heard about these from the cat-eyed boy, but never actually witnessed one.

No. No. Please don’t be him. Nauseating dread swooped over Wylan. The stables. Wylan would check for him there. This execution probably wasn’t about him at all. Tamsin was constantly taking offense and tormenting or killing her offenders. This was probably just another nameless, faceless fae of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of inhabitants. Wylan told himself that as he pressed on.

He heard the unicorns before he saw them. They must’ve been hyper-attuned to the bloodshed that was about to take place because they whinnied, stomped, and tossed their pearly white heads in their paddock.

With the cluster of enslaved humans and fae focused on the majestic horses, Wylan snuck into the housed part of the stables.

You better be in here or I’ll kill you myself, Wylan thought as he frantically scanned for a yellow tabby prowling the area.

He was passing through a room with bridles and saddles and bags heaping with shimmering oats when a fae cried out, “Hey! What are you doing in here!”

He marched over to Wylan. Big mistake, Wylan thought. Quick as a blink, he shoved a rowan berry into the fae’s mouth.

The effect was instantaneous. The fae collapsed to the straw-covered ground, spasming and foaming at the mouth. He gagged and choked. Wylan thought about shooting him to put him out of his poisoned misery but realized he didn’t want to waste the arrow. It’d be over soon anyways. Probably.

Wylan climbed up a ladder to a loft. Praying that the wood wouldn’t creak under his feet, Wylan tip-toed on the higher ground, scanning the stables for any sign of the cat form of the cat-eyed boy.

He spotted him in the room with stalls for the unicorns. Most of them were empty except for a few holding very visibly agitated unicorns. One especially large, shaggy one was grunting and huffing and stabbing his horn into the wood.

The cat-eyed boy had the audacity to be napping on a hale bale.

You dick! Wylan seethed, climbing back down the ladder. “How could you be so stupid!” Wylan hissed at the snoozing cat. “We’re leaving now!” Wylan snapped under his breath.

The cat yawned.

“Get up! Now!”

The cat didn’t shift from his loaf-like resting position.

“Don’t make me knock you out! Because I will!”

“Who are you talking to?” A voice whispered behind Wylan.

“Shit!” Wylan jolted.

“Did you seriously think that was me?” the cat-eyed boy chuckled.

The cat that wasn’t the cat-eyed boy blinked open his golden eyes, shot Wylan a dirty look, and trotted off, annoyed by his interrupted slumber.

“We’re leaving, now!” Wylan jabbed the cat-eyed boy hard in his chest.

“My brother and sister aren’t here,” the cat-eyed boy whispered solemnly.

“OF COURSE THEY’RE NOT!” Wylan snarled under his breath. “How could you be such an idiot! The plaza is packed with fae.”

“It’s the perfect cover for us to escape unseen,” the cat-eyed boy argued.

“We can’t risk it. We need to make sure none of their eyes are even remotely on us,” Wylan said fiercely, “we’re going to release the unicorns.”

Without overthinking it, Wylan rushed over to the stalls, unlatched them, and swung the doors open. The angry, shaggy unicorn led the charge.

In his cat form, the cat-eyed boy sprinted to the paddock, and transforming back into his human form, he swung the gates open. As the fae and humans turned to the sound of the gates opening, the cat-eyed boy transformed back into a cat and fled the scene.

As the herd of unicorns stampeded out of the stables and into the crowded village square, Wylan and the cat-eyed boy sprinted for the Severing Grove.

Back at their treehouse, Wylan rounded on the cat-eyed boy, “They already know we’re out here. We need to be more careful!”

“You’re amazing,” the cat-eyed boy said, awed. “Quick thinking to let the unicorns out like that, and I knew you had it in you to shoot with that bow and arrow.”

“We need to be more careful!” Wylan insisted. “No more trips to the village!”

“How about if I told you no more trips to find the cave?” the cat-eyed boy retaliated.

“That’s not even remotely the same, and you know it!” Wylan snapped. “They already know you can transform into a cat.”

“The village is full of other roaming cats. I blend in with the rest of them. You even confused me with that cat in the stable,” the cat-eyed boy said. “You killed the fae that knew.”

“Two of them. The third one survived. And if they know, you can bet other fae, and maybe even Tamsin herself, knows,” Wylan said grimly.

“Salt,” the cat-eyed boy said abruptly. “It’s another one of their weaknesses.”

“Salt,” Wylan repeated skeptically. “In my world, we keep them in containers on our tables. A lot of us like to shake it onto our food. I’d never guess that of all things could hurt fae.”

“I got this from a merchant traveling through,” the cat-eyed boy held up a colorful pouch. “You’re welcome,” he tossed it at Wylan and beamed.

Wylan caught the pouch and peeked in. White grains of salt glimmered back at him. “I’m still mad at you,” he said bluntly, passing the pouch back.

“I have something else for you. It’s not a cake or the things you talked about … but …” the cat-eyed boy said, looking shy for the first time.

He passed over something dangling from a silver chain. It was Wylan’s skeleton key. The way the cat-eyed boy looped it, Wylan could wear it as a necklace.

“That really is something,” Wylan said. He pulled it on and let it lie flat over his shirt. It was the same place he used to wear his Polaroid camera.

“There’s one more thing. But you have to lean in closely,” the cat-eyed boy said softly. “It’s for your ears only.”

The intimacy of it made Wylan tingle all over. He leaned forward.

In a voice barely above a whisper, the cat-eyed boy said, “Kaelis.”

“Wylan,” Wylan whispered back.

***

A rhythmic scraping noise dragged Wylan out of his sleep. He blinked open his eyes to see that the twin suns were just beginning to break through the heaviness of night. The noise intensified. What the hell was that? As Wylan slowly sat up in pursuit of the noise, he noticed Kaelis wasn’t curled up next to him.

The scraping and scratching continued. Sleep still had its hooks in him, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

Kaelis’s back was to him, and he was hunching over, focused on something Wylan couldn’t see.

“Kaelis? What are you doing?” Wylan asked, his voice thick with sleepiness.

The noise abruptly stopped as Kaelis froze.

As the fog of sleep cleared, Wylan realized he knew what the sound was. It was an eraser on textured paper.

No. He can’t be doing that. There’s no way. I’m imagining things.

Eager to prove himself wrong, Wylan sat up straighter and raised his voice. It was a demand, not a question, this time, “Kaelis! What are you doing!”

Without giving Kaelis a chance to explain himself, Wylan shot up from his nest of blankets and cushions and rounded on him. His sketchbook was laid out open to two pages of maps, or what were complete maps that were now partially erased.

“You,” Wylan said in horror. “You’ve been the one changing my maps! What the hell is wrong with you!”

He snatched his sketchbook and held it possessively to his chest.

“You said you were going to help me when we met!” Kaelis cried.

“I could’ve been out of here by now!” Wylan snarled as white, hot hatred surged inside him. His heart beat up a storm in his chest and throat, and his face burned like it was set on fire.

“You said we were going to find my brother and sister, and then we’d find our way out. But you’ve only been looking for the cave. You haven’t helped me like you said, Wylan,” Kaelis retaliated.

“So you decided to sabotage me?!” Wylan cried. “I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to find that fucking cave, and by now I could’ve ten times over!”

“I don’t know where the cave is,” Kaelis said quickly.

“Thanks to you, I don’t either,” Wylan seethed. “Were you the one who was also messing up my maps before we met?”

Kaelis was silent.

“Wow. So you were stalking me, too?” Wylan said disgustedly. “I can’t believe you. You’ve been tricking me into thinking I need you. I’m done. I’m out. You’re on your own.” Wylan aggressively started rounding up all of his possessions.

“I’ve been on my own! All this time! You’ve only been looking out for yourself! I need your help. I need you,” Kaelis’s voice cracked. His eyes were glassy, and his slitted pupils dilated so widely that his eyes were nearly all black.

“So you wanted to keep me trapped here with you?!” Wylan demanded. “That’s not what friends do, Kaelis.”

“Please, please, please hear me out,” Kaelis begged.

“Why should I? You’ve been lying to me for as long as I’ve known you. How can I trust anything you’re going to tell me?” Wylan crossed his arms.

“You’re not like any of the other humans that end up here. Tamsin has no power over you,” Kaelis explained. “You’re cleverer than she ever thought you’d be.”

“Do you even really have a little brother and sister who were taken by the fae? Or was that a lie also?” Wylan demanded.

“It’s not a lie!” Kaelis said fiercely. “They were, and you’re going to help me get them back like you promised!” Kaelis jabbed Wylan’s chest below his skeleton key necklace.

“I don’t owe you anything!”

“Without me, you’d be sleeping in the woods and totally defenseless,” Kaelis objected.

“Without you, I’d be back home by now, you selfish idiot!” Wylan screamed.

Jerkily, he changed out of his pajamas and yanked on a clean set of clothes. He tossed his sketchbook into his backpack. The backpack was almost comically too small for him now, even with the straps fully extended to fit across his broader back. Undoubtedly, he was in his late teens by now. Maybe even his early twenties.

Wylan chose the case of arrows that hung on his hip instead of across his back and grabbed his bow.

“I’m going for a walk. You follow me, I’ll shoot you,” Wylan snapped.

***

I can’t believe Kaelis. What a shitty thing to do, Wylan stomped away from the Severing Grove. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be home by now.

Maybe it was time he rethought his strategy. He couldn’t count on trying to find the cave anymore. There had to be other ways in and out of Tamin’s realm.

The assassin was able to fly in, tornado-like, but what about all the traveling merchants? With their cow or unicorn-driven wagons, heavy with goods, there’s no way they were passing through the cave and facing off against the fearsome creature inside it.

Maybe there are other, I dunno, portals in parts of the realm, Wylan racked his brain. It wasn’t like he could ask one of the merchants, right? London might know, but now that Tamsin knew London was keeping secrets, it’d be riskier than ever. He’d have to be prepared for anything.

There are probably still those wanted posters hanging around the village, but they don’t look like me anymore. I’m a man now. Wylan couldn’t believe his eyes the last time he washed. He knew his body was changing again, but didn’t expect to see his reflection looking so … so … adult.

Maybe I can blend in now, Wylan considered. As much as Wylan hated to admit it, Kaelis had a point. He really hadn’t been helping Kaelis search for his siblings. Maybe he would be able to pick up on something Kaelis missed.

He circled his way back to the Severing Grove. Along with the usual clinking, tinging, and ringing of the iron charms in the trees, he heard a strange noise.

A bizarre creature emerged from the brush. It had a lion’s body, goat hooves and horns, and a spider-like head with eight eyes and pincers jutting out.

Maybe it won’t notice me, Wylan’s heartbeat pulsed in his throat as he sized up the beast. But if it does I can defend myself. His sweaty hands tightly grasped his bow.

He crept along an area with the densest trees, using them for coverage. Then, underfoot, a branch snapped. It sounded gunshot loud. Wylan’s heart raced faster and he clenched the bow even harder.

The creature uttered a screechy noise and turned its eight yellow eyes onto Wylan.

Immediately, he drew an arrow. It whistled through the air. Instead of sinking its sharp tips into the creature’s lion-like body, the arrows bounced off like they were made of rubber.

“What?” Wylan gasped. He fired another arrow and another, and they also bounced off. His weapon was useless. He grasped around frantically searching for anything else he could use as ammo. The only thing within reach were small rocks at his feet. Tossing tiny stones wouldn’t cause any damage.

I can’t kill it with my bare hands, Wylan panicked. A tree! Maybe I can climb a tree! But can I outrun it!?

“That’s an Alltán!” Kaelis’s voice called from above Wylan. “Your arrows won’t be able to stop it!”

“No kidding!” Wylan replied, trying to not feel hysterical. It felt like he was minutes away from being gored to death by the horned monster.

The cat-eyed boy was crouched in a tree a few feet away, “It’s vulnerable to attacks overhead!”

“But its body is–”

“The eyes! We have to aim for its eyes!” Kaelis commanded.

“WITH WHAT!?” Wylan cried. “PEBBLES? STICKS? DIRT?!”

“Leave it to me,” Kaelis said, quick as a blink, disappearing back into the trees.

“What am I supposed to do? Run in circles?” Wylan panicked under his breath.

Then it hit him. The creature was a lot like the chimera from the library book about Greek mythology Wylan checked out from the library for the summer reading challenge last year. Because the chimera was made up of multiple animals, it had multiple weaknesses. Maybe this one did too.

How was the chimera slain in that book? A hero flew in on Pegasus, didn’t he? And he attacked the creature with a spear. Wylan didn’t have any flying horses or stabby sticks on hand. His fate was literally in Kaelis’s hands.

Wylan scrambled up a tree with low enough branches. But with a few good batterings from the goat horns and chomps from the pincers of the creature, Wylan knew he’d be in danger again.

Any second now, Kaelis! Wylan screamed internally.

“Adventurer!” Kaelis called out. Crouched in a tall tree he branished the colorful pouch. “Salt! It’s one of their weaknesses. Just like the fae!”

“You want me to dump salt in its eyes?!” Wylan cried. The thought that he’d have to get that close filled Wylan with a surge of terror.

“If anyone can do it, it’s you!” Kaelis asserted. As Kaelis leapt from one tree to the next, getting closer and closer, Wylan saw it happen as if it were in slow motion. A branch snapped under Kaelis’s bare foot, and he went plummeting to the ground.

Kaelis screamed as his human form floundered in the air, as if trying to transform. His efforts were in vain, and his body thumped hard onto the forest floor. Crooked and splayed out, he was unnaturally still. The pouch of salt thudded to the ground by his feet. Thankfully the fabric was strong enough that it didn’t burst on impact.

“No, no, no,” Wylan chanted as he scrambled out of the tree and sprinted to Kaelis.

Kaelis’s eyes were open, and they blinked dazedly at Wylan.

I have to get that thing away from Kaelis! Wylan snatched up the salt pouch and sprinted directly for the creature, even though every fiber of his being screamed against it. He couldn’t let Kaelis die. He was going to slay the Alltán.

The creature uttered another shrill screech and flexed its pincers. It ran head on towards Wylan.

“YEAH? COME ON!” Wylan screamed, trying to psych himself up for what he had to do. He snatched a handful of salt and when the creature was two arms length away, Wylan flung the salt at its eight eyes.

There was a loud sizzling noise, and black curls of smoke rose as the grains sunk in to the Alltán’s eyes. It screamed and reared, shaking its head as if trying to clear the salt out of its eyes. But it was too late. Wylan hurled another fistful of salt, blinding the creature further.

The black smoke intensified and the sizzling crackled more loudly. Clumsily, the creature staggered in the opposite direction as Wylan and charged straight into a thick tree. Its entire body thudded to the ground. It was motionless. Maybe it was stunned. But with the damage the salt did, it more likely was dead.

Wylan sighed with relief and rushed back over to where Kaelis fell. He was in the same position.

“It’s done!” Wylan said breathlessly.

“I knew you could do it,” Kaelis said. Maybe he was trying to grin, but to Wylan it looked like a grimace of pain.

Kaelis struggled to sit up.

“Gimme your hands!” Wylan pulled Kaelis to standing.

Kaelis cried out. His left leg buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. He sat flat on his butt, with his leg bent in front of him. Wylan’s fingers gingerly probed at Kaelis’s ankle. Kaelis cried out again and batted Wylan’s hand away.

“I think it might be broken,” Wylan said in horror. “Or sprained at least.”

“This never happens,” Kaelis moaned. “Never. I don’t fall.”

“Well, you did this time,” Wylan said darkly. “Can you shift into your cat form? I can’t get you back to the treehouse like this.”

“I can try,” Kaelis said, clenching his jaw. His cry of pain turned into a yowl, and the butter colored tabby lay in front of Wylan. Gently, Wylan scooped him up. Holding Kaelis to his chest, careful not to squeeze or bang his hurt leg, Wylan scaled to the treehouse and settled Kaelis onto their blankets and cushions.

Kaelis shifted back into his human form. “I’ve never seen an Alltán out here.”

“The fae can’t make it out here, so what if Tamsin sent it?” Wylan asked. “I’m still mad at you, by the way. You having a broken or sprained ankle doesn’t change the fact that you lied to me. You really hurt me, Kaelis.”

“I’m sorry,” Kaelis said, his face crumpling. “I didn’t mean to.”

“All you needed to do was talk to me, Kaelis,” Wylan stressed.

Wylan knew Kaelis wasn’t the only one who had an apology to make. He needed to do the right thing.

“I’m sorry too. I’m sorry for not helping you with your brother and sister like I said I would. I’ve been so focused on finding the cave and trying to not to let these fucking fairies kill me, that I didn’t consider that I was hurting you too,” Wylan sighed. “How long do you think it’ll take you to heal?”

Kaelis was paler than usual. “Probably a few days,” he said stiffly, gritting his teeth.

“I’ll go into the village tomorrow,” Wylan said, hating the idea as he said it. But he knew there was no way around it. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

It’s back to the present with 32-year-old Wylan making some questionable decisions in Chapter 9, “A Trip to Wonderland” next Friday May 22nd. 🧚🏻✨🪞🗝️

Were you riveted by this latest installment in Wylan’s fight to survive in Tamsin Thorncott’s realm? I’d be grateful if you clicked the heart icon to “like” this, drop a comment below, and tell a fantasy lover in your life about it! 💖