Not so empty since something gave a howl of pain, and blood splattered the air. A moment later, a Lycan appeared, one hand to his bleeding muzzle as he backed up. He lifted a hand to start another spell but stopped when I raised mine.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded and hoped Lady Snow wasn't on the verge of going berserk.
"I am the guard. You will not get past me to attack the others."
"If you mean the pixies and gremlins -- and whoever else might be with them -- you don't have to worry. And where were you when we came by the last time?"
"I was detained," he said with a snarl.
I did think he looked more than usually scruffy, and what might have been a nice suit now had a few rents and splatters that might be blood.
That meant the Lycan might know more of what was going on than the rest of us. We just had to get him to trust us.
I knew of one way.
I stepped back and drew the knife I carried at my belt. Everyone started to react, so I moved quickly, slicing across my hand, and holding it out.
"We are telling the truth," I said.
The Lycan knew what I offered with that hand. He stepped closer with a quick sniff and then leaned forward so that his tongue lapped quickly across my palm. I wasn't sure if the other two understood the ritual, but they held back.
The Lycan stepped back as well. He was more than a head taller than me, the tips of his pointed ears lost in a mass of dark curls and his slanted dark brown eyes blinking. I hoped he came to a decision soon so I could wrap my hand, but I just kept it held out and waited.
"Enough," he said. "It is the truth. We are allied, then, fae -- and fae friends."
He didn't particularly trust Sylph or Lady Snow. That was fine as long as he could work with me. I used a bit of magic to tear some cloth and wrap it around my hand -- awkward work, but Sylph helped tie it off. I was not going to use magic for something that trivial.
Lady Snow was not bothered by our companion, probably because he was more like her than me. I told him everything that I'd learned so far. Sylph and Lady Snow filled in a little bit more, but not much I hadn't already heard.
Lycan listened to us all with a grave frown and then gave a nod of understanding. "All of us, for one reason or another, have been drawn to this city and to this place. I have sensed the gremlins and the pixies in this place -- they are not far away. I am here to guard them, but now I see this is far more than they have realized. None of us can name the enemy yet, can we?"
"No," I said. "We can't even guess at the nature of what we face, let alone name it."
"Come with me," Lycan said. He gave a nod of his head to me, and I guessed he put me at the head of the group. I would have put Sylph, but she didn't seem bothered.
We finally slipped entirely into the area where humans would not find us. Not that I thought this made us any safer. This was an unusually dangerous group just on its own. The Lycan was not as much of a surprise as Lady Snow (whatever she might genuinely be) or Sylph. Lycans often hired out as guards to individuals and to groups.
This was a high-level Lycan, though. I knew that from that rather expert level of magic he'd used that almost got me killed. That made me wonder who had hired him because it was unlikely that he worked for the Gremlins or the little Pixies.
"I have the feeling everyone has been called out in this trouble," I said. Lycan dabbed at the cut on his snout and gave a quick nod. He even whispered a little magic and reshaped his face into something that would pass for human, as long as no one looked too closely. I didn't expect to find any humans in these crevices where he led us, but humans sometimes turn up where you least expect them. Or maybe he just knew more than I did.
Considering the situation, that wouldn't be difficult. I walked beside Lycan and wondered how to voice questions and concerns given the situation. It wasn't as though he blindly trusted this Lycan -- he was ready for any kind of trouble -- but he did hope that their new companion had some clue.
From the way Lycan looked my way, there wasn't much trust on that side, either. Good. If Lycan had been outgoing and chummy, I would have backed out of this as fast as he could.
"We have a dilemma," I offered and won a quick nod from Lycan. The other two said nothing, but I could sense their curiosity. "All of us have turned up at the same fortuitous spot, which means any of us might not be trustworthy. Despite that Lycan knows I have not lied, that doesn't mean I am telling the entire truth."
"And I have given you no reassurance at all," Lycan admitted. "Until now."
We had passed through another crevice. I had felt magic, but the stone had blocked how very much of it there was. I thought there was a bit of light --
And then I stepped through into a vast cavern filled with fae land creatures and globes of magic -- thousands of them stretched out so far that the opening must have been carved out under most of the city.
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