Worlds Without End by Caroline Spector

bit paler than normal, but after the night we’d had so far, that was to be expected. He looked up at me and gave a little smile. I found myself smiling back, oddly happy at that moment.
    “This is hardly a laughing matter.” came a voice from beyond the edge of the faerie light. All the elves and faeries bowed down immediately. I squinted into the darkness. A ghost-like form moved forward. As it stepped into the ring of light, I saw that it was a woman. She was dressed in a white flowing gown. Her fiery hair was pulled back severely from her face, but left to cascade down her back almost to her heels. The brilliant blue eyes were unchanged. The skin as pale and white as milk.
    Alachia.
    Silence stretched out between us. I hadn’t seen her in the flesh since 1941.
    “So.” she said at last. “You’ve come. And the hard way, too.”
    “Well, we can’t all have the prerogatives of age. I wish to speak to Lady Brane Deigh.” I said. “She rules here now.”
    Alachia smiled. It was chilling.
    “Power is a fluid thing.” she said. “You’d do well to remember that.”
    Once that sort of remark from her would have frightened me. But that was far in the past. Now there was a larger threat at work. Not just to me, but to the survival of the world. And then, I was older now, too.
    “Perhaps you should mind your own advice.” I said. “You’ve let so much pass through your own hands.”
    “Caimbeul.” she said brightly, ignoring my last remark. “How good it is to see you again. But really, you need to improve your choice of companions. You know what they say about the company you keep.”
    She slipped past me and took his arm, leading him away from me toward the castle.
    “Do come, Aina.” she called over her shoulder. “We mustn’t keep Lady Brane waiting.”
    I watched her lead him into the night until all I saw was the white blur of her dress.

She opens her eyes. The world is upside-down. No, it’s her perspective that’s off. But isn’t that always the way of it?
    Sitting up, she sees that she’s been lying on the ground. The fall leaves covering her rustle and slide away, revealing her naked body. How she came to be here in this wood she doesn’t remember. But she thinks she should know.
    Then comes the pain.
    It burns and stings like a thousand hornets. Her skin is on fire and she cannot stop it. As she looks on, small, round welts appear on her flesh. Sharp points burst through the welts , puckering the skin.
    Thorns.
    13
    No mortal being could have traversed the path to Lady Brane Deigh’s castle. But then, it wasn’t designed for mortals. The Sleagh Meath loved anything that might confuse or baffle mortals and so took great delight in the corkscrew turns, disappearing paths, and other annoying tricks to fool the unwary traveler.
    But I had seen all these games before. The Seelie Court was but another incarnation of something much older and more sinister. How many of them remembered, or even knew, the full story?
    Politics was a tricky business, and I’d done my best to stay out of it for most of my life. But now it seemed I had no choice. I was the only one who appeared to be willing to take the chance. No, I was the only one willing to see the threat of the Enemy for what it was—the ruination of the world.
    I had to grasp hold of this thought because all my old fears came back to me in this place. Once I foolishly thought that power would protect me from harm. How I discovered the error of that belief is another tale.
    For now, I kept up with Alachia’s lead. She glided over the rocks as though they weren’t there. Each turn was taken with a casual nonchalance, and all the while I could hear her keeping up a steady banter with Caimbeul.
    I knew their history was a long one, and I wondered if she knew how much my life had been entwined with his. And how far back it extended. Part of me hoped she didn’t know, relishing the secret. And a part wanted her to know. Wanted her to know that