Rhae

"You can still back out." Lucien murmurs to her as they ride through the forest. "There would be no shame in that."

"There would be shame and she has already made a bargain with us." Tamlin call over his shoulder, his shoulders are tense, back rigid where he leads them along. Rhae doesn't blame him, they're literally riding into the one place he has feared for nearly 50 years. "No one is backing out now."

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Tam." She drawls and he snarls quietly. "Lucien was just being polite."

"It was a genuine offer." He grumbles, clearly annoyed at being pushed out the conversation like a child.

Rhae sighs, smiling at him appreciatively.

"I know, thank you for that."

He nods, pleased that she understands he's trying to support her.

"We're here." Tamlin calls and she straightens up, nerves bubble in her chest but she pushes them down. It's hard not to panic when she's essentially defenceless in this form. "This tunnel will take us to Autumn."

Tamlin nudges his horse, turning towards her with narrowed eyes.

"Once we cross the border there's no going back."

She raises her chin unperturbed by his challenge. Just because she didn't have magic didn't mean she was weak, and she certainly wasn't useless. Though her hand to hand combat skills were more than a little rusty.

"Will your family oppose us?" Lucien pauses in thought, worrying his lower lip. "Most are under the mountain, correct?"

He exhales sharply, "Yet they left the petulant brothers behind."

"Eager for daddy's approval?"

"Eager to hunt."

"They want Amarantha's favour."

"Or to stay under the radar." He muses, dismounting from his mare. "I can never tell with those two."

"Wonderful." She grumbles, moving to dismount her own horse. "Love having a good unreliable factor to our plan."

She jerks in surprise at the hands on her hips, whirling with a silent snarl to the High Lord who helped her down. The fuck does he think he's doing. Her eyes narrow on him but he's turned away, tugging his pack from his gelding's back.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." She huffs, pulling her own pack from the mare. "I've already agreed to help you, don't push your luck."

A muscle in his jaw ticks, "Has it really been that long since you've been around a refined member of society?"

Lucien snorts behind her and they share a bemused glance. Tamiln is hardly the gold standard of decorum with his brutish ways. But she's not going to be the one to point it out when they're already on edge.

"Let's get this over with." He grumbles and slaps the back of his horse, sending him racing back through the forest. The other two follow after and Lucien throws his hands up in annoyance.

"Seriously!" he demands, hands on hips. "I still had to remove my water."

"Your loss." She smirks, rolling her eyes before following Tamlin. "You can share mine."

"Thanks."

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It was a stunning view. After the darkness of the tunnel the midmorning sun was a welcome relief. Before them were the sprawling lands of the autumn realm.

Gentle hills filled with trees of auburn, gold and red. Villages were nestled around lakes in the field filled areas that joined Spring, Summer and Autumn. Though they would be forced to enter the redwood forests with their tower trees.

The very air felt different from spring, the magic that once hummed through the small flowers and plants covering the ground now travelled through the cool breeze that carried the fallen leaves.

It was less bright here, no more bright blue skies and gentle clouds. It was dull toned sky and descending fog that only heightened the raw brightness of the trees and the red terracotta roofs in the villages.

"Never fails to make me smile." Lucien murmurs from her side. "A softer beauty to the brightness of spring I find."

Rhae hums in agreement, he's not wrong. Spring comes in bright shades of beauty and delicacy, there's something richer and more decadent about Autumn.

"We need to move."

Tamlin clearly doesn't share the sentiment. In fact he looks worse for wear already. A pallor to his skin, a dullness to his hair. Being out of his court seems to have significantly reduced his power, his connection to the land.

It's a long walk through Autumn, interspersed with the occasional winnow. She makes no offer to help, a move both fae marks. They don't challenge her on it so they most likely believe that Rhae is conserving her power. Saving it for Amarantha.

And not that she doesn't have any. She's a dragon, the fact she can shift and breathe fire takes enough power.

Tamlin winnows them the last stretch to the Winter court border. It's never a good idea to magically cross the borders. Sets off alarm bells.

Three hours into their trek through Winter and she's cursing the gods. Why, oh why hadn't she kept up more with her training. Cardio, such an important thing that she seems to have neglected.

Lucien sniggers quietly at her. She elbows him in the side.

Maybe she should just risk shifting and fly the last stretch.

"We should find a place to rest for the night." Tamlin has paused ahead of them, scanning the surrounding winter wonderland before them.

They'd thankfully skirted around the frozen lakes and desert ice tundras of the Western and central areas of the court. The North and East areas were mountain ranges bordered with dark forests and frozen streams.

They had stuck to the forest edge, keeping hidden in its shadows but following along its edge as a guide.

It was swiftly growing dark, a frozen chill permeating the air. They'd freeze if they're not careful. Working like a well oiled machine the three of them had a shelter, fire and food cooking away within the hour.

Sequestered just inside the forest, against the root mass of overturned tree the tree of them huddled down in layers of blankets and simple enchantments. None of them wanted to risk using enough magic to set off any warnings.

The magic here seemed to be in the water, every footstep that crunched on snow had her wincing. Feeling as if she were stepping on a spider's web. Maybe she was.

Rhaemarys isn't sure if she wants to meet the spider.

Conversation is kept to a minimum, all of them too tired for anything more than shovelling hot food into their mouths. For a while the only sound was the occasional hiss from the male when they couldn't be patient enough for the stew cool down.

Rhae didn't have that problem. She's a dragon, why the fuck would fire burn her. Which irritated Lucien and Tamlin. If she had more energy she'd pick up one of the burning logs and watch them panic.

Instead they were soon to fall asleep and even quicker at snoring. Or rather the males were, she was kept away by the life surrounding her.

It was...dangerous, being a dragon surrounded by snow.

They were most vulnerable in theri human forms but depending on what abilities they had the opposite could harm them. Not that there had been differing abilities for a millenia. Breeds such as smokebreathers, ice krakens and sundrakes had long since been extinct.

All but the dragons (as in the draca, draco, drakan or drakes that all translated to fire wielders) had died off when Rhaemarys was still in school.

Which really puts the time line into perspective.

But she was a fire wielder surrounded by ice, making her one of the most well equipped to survive if she played it right. Unless the ice got to her in human form when she wasn't burning at such a high temperature.

Essentially she couldn't fuck up and waste her powers that would result in a burnout.

Fun times.

The owls seemed to hoot agreement with her assessment. Her eyes had quickly adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see the foxes and rabbits that scurried through underbrush to their homes as the nocturnal creatures came out to play.

Rhae had to be careful. Had to remember she was no longer in the human realm where the worst thing at night were animals... and people.

The last thing they need right now is to be caught by one of the frozen creatures.

But they were being watched.

Followed in fact. She had suspected it for some time, hours even. Initially Rhae had planned on attacking, or at least holding them hostage for fear of Amarantha reaching them before their bargain could be enacted.

Except curiosity had clung to the fae scouts scent, a lightness and passion underlying the emotions. There was no damp scent of rot or soil. No signs of them residing underground. No scent of trauma, depression or the sharp tang of grief.

No, this little fae hadn't been under the mountain.

More of them have gathered, over the brow of the hill while three scouts watch them. They have no doubt marked the High Lord, the Emissary and... the what?

The million gold question.

Who was she?

Perhaps a harlot. A slave or plaything for the lordling but they had shared no warmth. A guide– but she had not led the group. Certainly not a guard for she had shown no strength. She wonders what they suspect of her.

What should she suspect of them? A resistance group. Amarantha wouldn't have used fae, at least not unsupervised. There would have been one of her cronies, ilk like an Attor or Wyvan (yet another dragon experiment offshoot this time an abomination of the Wyvern) stalking them in the night.

Rising to her feet she carefully steps around her companion, shouldering her thick cloak and straightening out her hair and clothes. One should always look their best when meeting with Rebels.

They tend to like all the pompous acts and posturing despite their typical hatred of regimes. Always wanting to tear down those deemed as having more, as being greedy or cruel. Most also liked explosions and dramatics. Some got off on the theatrics of it all.

These ones seemed more controlled. Militant and refined.

Rhaemarys wants to meet the spider now.

A/N: Okay so this chapter came out of nowhere, I had no intention of writing about her journey to UTM and then this idea blindsided me. So one day of writing, three chapters and I've already left the plan behind... oh well.

Any suggestions on how to save myself?