The Hawk Lord by Amy Sumida

Chapter Thirteen

“So, there have been others like me?” I asked Dalsharan as I got dressed the next morning.

The wind was howling at the cave entrance, but nothing else had disturbed our sleep. I had slept lightly, thinking that the Farungal would find us for sure. The second time a random sound woke me, Dal had murmured that he'd warded the cave entrance and we were perfectly safe. But now we had to cross miles of Farungal land before we made it to open ocean and then, hopefully, the shores of Stalana—the human portion of our continent.

“There has been one other like you,” he said softly.

I looked up from the pallet where I was tying my boots. “Only one?”

“At the beginning of the war with the Farungal, a human soldier saved an entire army, possibly even the continent.” Dal was leaning against the wall, naked. No sense in getting dressed when he was about to shift. “His warlord, the Tiger Lord, had learned of a Farungal weapon that had the power to destroy our continent. The Tiger Lord sent a small unit of soldiers to infiltrate the Farungal camp, but they were discovered. The battle was brutal. They were vastly outnumbered and were forced to retreat. But while the others ran away from the camp, one man—a human man—used them as a distraction to sneak further in. He crept past the guards, who were focused on giving chase, and he found the weapon.”

“Fuck.” I got to my feet and grinned. “That's my kind of guy.”

“Indeed.” Dal smiled back and looked at my new fae body. “Your kind of guy exactly.”

“So, he found the weapon and stole it?”

“He found the weapon and destroyed it,” Dal corrected. “It was black magic, a thing of evil that had cost the Farungal dearly. Cost them so much, in fact, that they've never attempted to recreate it.”

“But what was it exactly?”

“A curse,” Dal whispered. “A curse that would have required the slaughter of a battlefield to release it.”

“How did he destroy a curse?”

“There was no way that he could have known what it was. He shouldn't have even been able to recognize it as a weapon. All he found was a bottle. But he was drawn to it. He said that he heard a voice. It told him what the weapon was and how to defeat it.”

“I'm not a five-year-old listening to a bedtime story, Dal,” I huffed. “You don't have to draw it out for dramatic effect. Just tell me.”

Dalsharan snorted. “I'm trying to tell you that a human has heard the Beasts before.”

“How do you even know about that?” I asked suddenly. “I didn't tell you the stones talked to me.”

“All of them talked to you?” Dal lifted his brows.

I frowned and thought about it. “No, the Hawk Soul spoke to me directly, but the others were talking in the background.”

“What did they say?” he asked urgently.

I shook my head. “I don't remember. Something about... nope, I don't remember.”

“It's all right.” Dal took my shoulder in hand companionably. “It's miraculous enough that you heard them.”

“You still haven't told me how you know about that.”

He waved a hand at his chest where the Hawk Soul lay on its freshly fixed chain. “It speaks to me all the time.”

“All the time? That's gotta get annoying.”

“Not constantly.” Dal rolled his eyes. “Just often. It told me that it saw the greatness in you. That you were meant for a different life than the one you were born into.”

“I am?” I whispered, something shivering through me.

“You are.” The Hawk Lord smiled.

I just stared at him, amazed at how incredible he was, how casually gorgeous and powerful, and how I now seemed to have a place in his life.

“Mathias, that was the human soldier's name, sacrificed his life to destroy the curse,” Dal went on. “He drank it.”

“He drank it?” I made a face.

“It was a potion meant for the Farungal commander. He would have taken it right before battle and become like a god. A dark, evil god. He would have swept across Stalana and then into Varalorre, crushing all of us under his heel. But Mathias had a pure soul, and the magic had no evil to enhance. All it could do was release its power and fury upon him.”

“So, he died?”

“He almost died,” Dal said with a wry smile. “The men who escaped went straight to the Tiger Lord. Upon hearing of their failure, he decided to take a more direct approach and led his entire army to the camp. They found the Farungal General shrieking in fury as he beat on the dying human soldier. The Farungal had been so enraged by the loss of their curse that they hadn't even noticed the Tiger Army's approach. They were slaughtered, including the General. Mathias, however, clung to life, and the Tiger Lord was moved to save him. He used his soul stone to give Mathias a piece of his soul, granting him enough magic to heal the damage done to his body and extend his life. But the Beasts had called to Mathias for a reason. They wanted him. They admired his pure soul. So, when the Tiger Lord gave Mathias a seed of life, they decided to nourish that seed and give it the magic to turn a human into a fae.”

“And that's what happened to me?”

“That's what happened to you.” He nodded.

“But why am I so damn white?!” I grumbled. “I had a really nice tan going.”

Dalsharan chuckled. “Your body has been remade. You're like a newborn in a way. You will tan again once you get in the sun. For now, you are as the magic has made you. And you are beautiful, Ravyn.”

“I am?”

“You'll see.” Dal smirked.

“There's only one other guy like me?”

“Ever since that day, warlords have tried to make another Valorian. They have granted pieces of their souls to humans who have impressed them with their great valor. But no one since Mathias has been favored by the Beasts. No one until you.”

“You're proud that you helped to make me,” I said with a grin.

“Of course.” The Hawk Lord grinned back. “It's a great honor for me as well. You are mine after all.”

I snorted. “Arrogant bastard.”

“Beautiful bird,” he shot back.

I grinned. Then I remembered something. “What was Gremara talking about when she said the Farungal were cursed and it was the Fae's fault?”

Dal sighed deeply. “It happened a long time ago, before I was born.”

“That is a long time ago,” I teased.

“Yes, it is.” He didn't laugh. “I'm two hundred forty-six.”

“You're what?!” I screeched.

“The Fae are immortal, Ravyn.”

“Yeah, I know, but... wow. You're really old.”

Dalsharan grimaced and rolled his eyes. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”

“Yeah, I do. Go on.”

“Our history records say that the Farungal were once dragon-shifters. Shapeshifters like the Sidhe but more powerful.”

“More powerful than the Sidhe?”

He nodded. “They had magic back then, not just spell craft, the magic of nature.”

“Like you have.”

“Precisely,” he said. “Their beasts were bigger and stronger than ours, but we weren't at war then so it didn't matter. They kept mainly to Alantri, and we stayed in Varalorre. Until a Farungal caught sight of a Hawk maiden flying along the coast.”

“A hawk, eh? What a coincidence.” I grinned.

“I didn't make up the story, Ravyn,” he chided me.

“Okay.” I grinned. “I believe you.”

“The Farungal tried to woo the Sidhe woman, but she refused to be swayed. He scared her, with his leathery wings and fire breath. But the male couldn't stop thinking about her. He became obsessed and searched for a way to make her his. He started twisting the magic of nature, altering it with spells that worked with darker energies. Blood, death, and pain. He used anything that could give him power over her. And she went to him.”

“Oh, no.” I shook my head. “Here it comes.”

“Nothing happened right away,” Dal surprised me by saying. “They married and lived for many years peacefully. The Hawk woman bore the Farungal man several children, which surprised both races.”

“Because you both have such a low birth rate,” I murmured.

“Yes. The combination of the two races did well, though the children born had mixed magic and physical features. No one cared about their strange appearances. In fact, many thought them to be beautiful. Farungal started journeying to Varalorre to find themselves mates, and we welcomed them. There were great parties held to promote such unions and many of our kind married theirs.”

“Shit, really?”

“Really.” He nodded. “But we had no idea that they'd been using their twisted magic against us the entire time. The first Farungal had taught his brethren his dark arts, and they had used their spells to sway us, to seduce us. More children were born, but they were born of grounded Sidhe and had no wings. The Farungal didn't like that. As dragons, they ruled the sky. They wanted children that were as strong as they were.”

“Oh, no,” I whispered.

“Yes,” Dal went grim. “They worked their magic upon their children.”

“And turned them into monsters?”

“No. I mean, yes, the children were transformed into the creatures the Farungal are today. But they weren't the only ones affected. We don't know exactly what happened, but we suspect that the Farungal accessed evil forces to alter their children. Forces so dark that they killed the light inside themselves and that death spread throughout the entire race.”

“The entire race paid for what a few did? That hardly seems fair.”

“As I said, we don't know for certain what occurred.” Dal shrugged. “They may have tapped into the power of every living Farungal to cast their spells. I don't know. All we know is that after the children were changed, all the Farungal changed. They became twisted creatures, stuck in a wingless half form. Denied the one thing they were after and stricken of all their natural magic.”

“Sounds like Nature kicked their asses,” I murmured.

“We believe so.”

“What? I was joking.”

“The Goddess and the Beasts are not like the Gods of humans,” Dalsharan said gravely. “They don't wait for death before they punish evil. Many fae believe that the Farungal offended the Great Mother, and it was she who punished them. That she took their magic and the power of their beasts, cursing them into a monstrous existence with only their dark spells to cling to. However the curse came about, they have always blamed us for it.”

“For being super sexy and making them want you?” I huffed.

“Desire can be destructive,” he whispered.

“Yeah, if you're a crazy, evil motherfucker,” I huffed.

Dalsharan looked away.

“Hey, you don't think it's the Fae's fault, do you?” I asked him in surprise.

“No,” he murmured. Then in a stronger voice, he repeated, “No. The fae who had been seduced by Farungal returned to Varalorre after the transformation. The magic holding them in thrall had broken when the Farungal were cursed. They were the source of our information about the curse, and I see no reason for them to lie. It is simply sad for anyone, even the Farungal, to be denied the Mother's light.”

“Wow, you pity them.”

“They are pitiful creatures,” he said softly. “But they are also vicious and cruel. The war began shortly after the return of the released Sidhe.”

“So, humans had nothing to do with it?” I asked, suddenly pissed.

“No, they were simply caught in the crossfire.”

“That's why you fae help us,” I whispered. “Fuck, that's disappointing.”

“You thought we fought for humans out of the goodness of our hearts?” He smirked at me.

I shrugged. “Well, that and the fact that if the Farungal get past us, you're fucked.”

“You are one of us now, remember?”

“I'm still processing,” I muttered.

“We could have abandoned Stalana,” Dal said sternly. “We could have stayed behind our wards and fought the Farungal from the safety of Varalorre. But we refused to let humans pay for something that had nothing to do with them. That is why we fight beside you.”

“Okay, I guess I can accept that.” I grinned.

“Thank the Mother, we have Ravyn's approval,” Dal said sarcastically as he pushed off the wall. “Now, get your flight rig on, Corporal. It's time to go home.”