Noise stirred me from a deep sleep. Disoriented as I was, I could at least feel my triquetram around me which was an instant comfort. Then my eyes flew open as I remembered everything.

Sitting up, the cold of the night rushed over my back and shoulders where the furs fell away from my skin. The noises that woke me up were mostly of fae and scouts running around in some kind of alert preparations.

I turned my head to see Spaulder sleeping peacefully. Schula was asleep as well, so deep in comfort against Spaulder's warm scales that her mouth hung open as her breath came slow and steady.

Moving gently out of my furs, I slipped over to Spaulder's neck to check on the wound. Thank the Mother, it looked to be healing well.

Looking down at my hands, I flexed my fingers. My magic had somewhat recovered. Then I looked down at the grass where I had sat working on Spaulder. It was brown and dead. I grimaced, sorry that my witching magic was all I could pull from to heal him, but thankful for the nature around me to use.

Liana strode by, glancing my way with an armful of gathered wood. She stopped and tilted her head to the side. "You're awake."

"What's going on?" I asked.

She huffed, shifting her weight onto her left foot as she held the wood in her arms. "Two groups approaching, we're getting ready."

My heart nearly stopped. "Two? Who is it? Bara Khalja?"

Her eyebrows snapped together. "Look, I've got to get these for the Captain. Don't worry yet, it's not the warlock."

Liana began walking again at a brisk pace.

"Wait, but who?" I asked again.

She eyed me for a moment, then whistled toward the woods where I couldn't see because of Spaulder. "Blue! She's up!"

Then, Liana slipped away to finish her task.

I rolled my eyes. Some people just aren't easy to be around.

A moment later, Thain was rounding Spaulder's huge frame. My lips parted for a moment, registering that Liana had just summoned Thainalan the Ravager with a whistle.

And she called him Blue.

I pulled my lips inward, biting my teeth on them gently and trying to keep from smiling at what Liana just did. Thain was by my side in a moment, placing a warm hand on my back.

"You're awake, how do you feel?" He asked, gently.

I cleared my throat, standing to walk a few steps away. "I'm fine. Let's not wake them yet." I gestured to Schula and Spaulder.

Thain nodded and he directed me to walk with him. Following Thain, we made our way to a place in the trees where the Autumn fae had been camped. I could now see that whatever merging of the two groups that had happened in our absence was more significant than I had originally thought.

The fae had little more than firepits and makeshift groundcover to sleep on when Thain had arrived with them days ago. Now, what was in the trees was comfortable. I could see where Teyber's scouts had assisted in making small versions of their platforms high in the trees. Furs and food were distributed, and more was brought to this place for cooking and distributing. Whoever was sent to watch the trees would be taken care of.

I was impressed. The platforms were very spaced out just close enough to see the next one down, but spread out enough that you'd never know exactly how many fae were surrounding the spacious clearing.

Teyber was under one of these places, his arms bunching as he drew back his ax and sliced through a log cleanly. Liana was there, sorting the wood into piles by size. Two fae were working nearby, skewering selections of foraged food and cooking it over a small fire. Everyone was working to supply the forces that were here, and clearly stockpile more.

"We spotted king Diamid not far from here. It is as you said, he leads his people to the battle," Thain said.

Teyber glanced over his shoulder at us, then turned back to the wood he had been splitting and handed his ax to Liana. She nodded and grabbed the tool, taking over the work. He wiped the sweat from his brow and came over to us.

"And the other group?" I asked. "Liana said there were two."

Teyber's brow furrowed as he reached us, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's the thing, we didn't get a definitive answer from my scouts. Bakall scouted himself, and I trust him completely. But the account he sent back made no sense. His signals said both friend and stranger in one group approach from the west."

I raised an eyebrow. "How close?"

"Close. That's what worries us, we don't know if we're preparing more rations or preparing for battle," he answered with a sigh.

I chewed on my lower lip, my eyes settling in the middle distance, not really focusing on anything as I thought. There were too many things at play here. Too many unknowns. Could it be a trick of Bara Khalja? DuVarick?

I blinked, then looked up at Thain. "Has Puko returned?"

Thain shook his head, then I frowned.

"Wait, where is Nassir?" I asked.

Thain's face was, as per usual, unreadable. But Teyber grimaced, raising panic in my throat.

"Where is Nassir?" I asked again, urgency dripping from my words.

"After we finished preparations, just after you left to the marshlands, Nassir sensed something and set out to investigate," Teyber said. "I sent scouts after him to watch and report back what he found, but he evaded them somehow. They came back empty handed."

I froze. Nassir hadn't been himself lately. No, it went further back than that. Nassir had tried to hide it, but he hadn't been himself since he learned of Lark's murderer back in Eidelhein. The pain and rage on his face when Teyber was finally able to tell us that Bara Khalja had cursed her to her death caused something in Nassir to snap, and now with his enemies so close at hand...

A warm hand landed softly on my shoulder, and I looked up into Thain's silver eyes.

"You can't be the only one to worry about everything alone," Thain said slowly. "Go back and check on Spaulder, then eat something."

"But, I can go see-"

"Wren," Teyber said so sharply that I was startled into silence. "The best thing you can do for us, for the whole of the Wyldes, is to recover your triquetram to the best shape it can be in before a fight finds us."

Teyber squeezed my shoulder gently. "You heard him."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Wake me if-"

"We will," Teyber and Thain said in unison.

I held back my smile, biting the inside of my cheek. "Fine."

Then, a screech loud enough to shake the trees erupted from behind us. I covered my ears, my eyes watering as I fell into Thain. But the sound ended as soon as it began.

"What was that?" Teyber asked.

My feet were moving before Teyber even finished his thought.

I already knew. I knew in my bones just as I knew when we found him in the cave on the beach. Spaulder.

Thain was right behind me as we burst from the trees and ran to the giant dragon who was now on his feet. His tail was thrashing, his neck flailing in the air, his wings outstretched.

"Spaulder!" I screamed. "What is it?"

Schula was under him, holding his leg tightly. I could see her trying to stroke his leg and sooth him, but Spaulder was having none of it.

'Spaulder!' I tried with my mind. 'Spaulder, what is it?'

'He draws near!' Spaulder roared in my head and I winced. 'The fiend that would raise a dragon from their rest! His foul magic burns!'

Spaulder roared again, I covered my ears with my hands and ducked down to avoid getting knocked over from the force from his beating wings.

'Something is wrong with his neck!' Schula called through our minds, the only way she could be heard over Spaulder's lament.

My eyes flew to the gash on his neck. I had just checked it before walking with Thain to the trees, what could have changed in that short amount of time?

'Spaulder, I need to see it to help!' I tried to reach him, but he was mad with pain, and he wasn't reacting to me anymore.

"Help me get up there!" I called to any who could hear.

Thain's hands were on my hips in a heartbeat. Kneeling down and holding me in front of him. "Stand on my knee, I'll spring you up."

I had no time to dwell on what was probably a foolish plan, but Spaulder needed me and I didn't hesitate to obey. I stepped back and up until I was standing on Thain's raised knee, his hands holding me steady.

"Now!" Thain called, and I jumped. Thain stood at the same time, and with his hands lifting me as fast as the powerful fae could go, he had me leaping high enough into the air that I could reach for Spaulder's neck.

My eyes went wide as I grappled onto Spaulder's lower neck, sliding down to the base of it as I fought to even stay on him while he writhed and thrashed.

Shit. Spaulder really was huge.

'Spaulder!' Schula was trying to call out to his mind again as she stood under his neck. She pressed her hands over her head to his chest, the cool magic sinking into his burning scales and hopefully soothing him. 'You need to calm down or you'll hurt Wren!'

That caught his attention. He still seemed to be in a great deal of discomfort but his movements did become less volatile.

Slowly, I was able to climb up and reach a hand out to inspect his neck. The paste I had kept there was drying out, so I pulled away a chunk of it, crumbling as I dropped it to the ground. I could make more, but what  I wanted to see under the layer of medicine was a layer of fresh skin. What I found instead was something long and strange to the touch, buried in Spaulder's neck.

I shivered, my skin growing cold as I grabbed at the thing that didn't feel like it belonged.

Spaulder roared in pain again, and I yanked. Whatever was in  my hand came free, and I tumbled to the ground as Spaulder flung me in another fit of pain.

Thain caught me, thankfully, and helped me to my feet as I stared in my hand. A small snake of some kind had made its way into Spaulder's wound, and my stomach churned threatening to empty itself right there.

"Ugh!" I tossed the thing down and good a better look. The snake looked long dead, parts of it already falling to pieces, the lifeless eyes not quite the right shape anymore.

Schula was calming Spaulder down, soothing him with more cool ice as he settled down to the ground again. His breath came in short bursts, his fury radiating off his hot scales.

"What is that thing?" Thain asked.

The snake, which by all accounts looked dead, suddenly moved its head appearing to look at me. The jaw unhinged as it laughed, moving in a horrid, unnatural way.

"See you soon, Wylde Witch," it cackled in a voice I knew all too well. Bara Khalja.

I reached out a hand and burned it. The snake shrieked, a horrifying sound coming from it until I burned the flesh away completely, leaving bits of blackened bones and nothing else.

"What in the Stars name...?" Thain murmured.

Schula spat at the remains of the snake. "Evil bastard."

I moved to Spaulder's neck, pulling away the rest of the medicinal paste I had put there. The snake must have buried itself into it when we were sleeping and it struck when our defenses were down.

"He wants to do more harm to the greatest threat here," Teyber said, approaching Spaulder carefully. "Are you alright, great one?"

The captain of the scouts walked softly on the grass, giving all of us space as he watched.

The big dragon peeled open an eyelid and studied Teyber, then Schula, then Me. 'I will not fall so easily.'

Schula stroked a hand on Spaulder's head. "Yes, but he thinks he can harm you. He did harm you."

"And he knows where we are," I added.

Thain hummed, folding his arms across his chest. "That is to be expected. But this attack was too close. The warlock is too close."

I closed my eyes, my breath letting out shaky and slow. "There aren't enough of us to defend this place. But if he reaches the bones that lay here..."

"There will be," Teyber said. "The Spring court is nearly here."

I lifted my head. "That's right, King Diamid."

As long as he truly was on our side.

Teyber nodded. "We just need to hope he holds no...grudges."

I grimaced.

Schula sighed. "He knows where he leads his people. He must at least suspect, especially with Wren being..."

I shook my head, rubbing gently circles around Spaulder's wound as I pressed more healing magic into it. "There's little we can do about it now. Thain managed to make peace with your scots and the Autumn fae. We just need to hope that counts for something when Spring gets here."

A rushing of wind from the west carried a sound with it that caused me to still. It was nearly as though my ears weren't what heard it call out to me, but something else inside.

I stood up, letting my fingers fall from Spaulder's neck as Schula took over trying to sooth him with her ice.

"What is it?" Thain asked softly.

I shook my head, then my shoulders followed in a shiver. "I don't know. Teyber, the other group approaching. What direction were they coming from?"

Teyber pointed right into where the wind carried the odd sensation. A sound that I couldn't quite hear yet, but I knew it was there. It was warm and familiar. In a way I couldn't explain, it felt like spices, the moon, and bones.

I looked back down to Spaulder. "How is your neck?"

Spaulder grunted. 'Much better than it was a moment ago. Run, little one. To whatever tugs at you.'

My head snapped back to the direction of the sensation.

It couldn't be. They would be weeks away yet, if not months.

I took a few steps into the wind. "I think..."

"Caw!"

My heart skipped. My feet moved faster. Then faster, then fasters till until I was running as fast as my elven blood would carry me. I ran across the open fields, nearly stumbling over half-buried stones and ruins twice before I cleared the distance of the lost elven city and burst into the tree line on the other side. My eyes were streaming with tears from the force of the wind and the running into it, but I didn't dare blink much for risk of missing something important.

Then the sound grew to life. I was closer now, close enough to hear it. Feel it. It was enchanting, it was a sisterhood that I had known on the full moon as I danced and watched dancing. A thrumming of soft magic, the kind that quietly lived under the leaves by your feet and stirred in the still air of summer. The magic around me danced to life under the touch of the Mother's daughters.

Through the trees, leaping clear of the stream and over rocks dripping with moss. The trees wound and bobbed, the vines underfoot struggled to disturb my footing as I raced westward. It should have occurred to me that no sound would have carried across a city and through the forest as far as I had been running, but I could still sense it. It wasn't so much a sound as a feeling in my bones, and I knew it as easily as I knew the color of my hair, the feeling of taking a breath, the movement of my fingers. It was only now in the strange presence of the Wyldes that I could recognize it so strongly.

As I raced through the trees and up a slope where the thick trunks thinned out and the ground grew rocky, I saw the first signs of them.

A humming chant they kept up as they walked. Most enrobed in black or gray, covered in feathers and bones and herbs of the earth. No adornments of finery but ones of practical magic. The witches came over the ridge, and on the shoulder of an old woman in the front was a fat black raven.

"Caw!" Puko called out from Mila's shoulder and took off to meet me. I ran to him, colliding in a mass of feathers and limbs as I cried out. 

"You're here! You're all here!"

I held Puko tight as I strode over to Mila, bringing her into a tight hug while she chuckled. And the others were around me too. Gilly and Purda and so many witches all around me. They surrounded me with their warmth and their soothing chant as tears dripped from my chin.

"Mila," I hiccupped between words. "There are terrible things happening here! Bara Khalja, and the Winter court is-"

"Shhh, child," Mila said, patting my back. "I got your letter. We come to right the unnatural evils here, the Mother wills it."

"The Mother wills it," The witches around us echoed.

I let out a slow breath and stood straight, wiping off my face with the back of my hand. 

"There is more you should know, child," Mila said. "We travel with others, and we come with one of yours."

I blinked. "Others? What others? And one of my what?"

The witches began to move aside, forming a path for me to walk to the top of the ridge. I loosened my grip on Puko and Mila took him into her arms instead. I walked forward, reaching the top in a few short strides as I looked down at the approaching figures on horseback.

My lips parted as I took in the sight. 

Clad in greens and silvers, their beauty and grace not diminished outside their elegant walls from the keep far in the south. The children of the elves, save for two figure near the front on horseback.

Atop a pair of chestnut mares, Fandor and Kaldor. My father. In Kaldor's arms a still figure lay. Cuts across his body and his breath coming in harsh, shallow dregs. Nassir.

My heart nearly stopped, it was all too much.

The witches, the elves, and my beloved friend was hurt. There was a battle nearly upon us, and an enemy of the elves would be here at any moment.

Of everything I could have said, called out, cried for, the only word to leave my lips came out weakly. "Father."

His face twisted in a sad warmth. "Wren, my daughter. We are here to help."

This changes everyhting. If we can keep the factions on our side from fighting one another, we might stand a change.

And with such a terrible battle nearly at our doorstep, we needed to be-

No.

We were.

We were ready.