Red Hood's Revenge

her.”
    “What of Faziya?” asked Talia. “Where did you send her?”
    “I told her to return to the temple,” he said with no hesitation. “She refused. She spoke instead of the raikh.”
    “Rajil.” Talia’s expression was sour. “Will she know how to find Zestan?”
    “I couldn’t say.” Uf’uyan sighed. “There are rumors she follows Zestan, seeing her as the savior of Arathea. If Faziya went to her . . .”
    Roudette twisted her hammer in her hands, unable to stand another moment of that oily voice. “What do you gain from betraying your mistress, serpent?”
    He actually laughed. “What could I possibly hope to gain for myself when you mean to kill me? I serve one master, and I help you because it’s my duty to do so.” He pointed to the desk. “Please bring me the scroll with the faded green ribbon.”
    Snow walked over to pick up the indicated scroll, studying it before handing it over.
    Uf’uyan unrolled the parchment to show an image of green mountains beneath a cloudless blue sky. The paint appeared cracked, lines running through the mountains. “Do you know what this is?”
    “I do.” Roudette had seen similar illustrations growing up, though none had been as elaborately painted. “The church preaches that the fairy race fell to our world in Arathea, far to the south. The first fairy hill was no mound of earth ringed by toadstools, but a great mountain of green crystal containing all of your magic and power.”
    Snow studied the parchment. “They say the peri retreated to the mountain after banishing the deev, that they remain there to this day.”
    “Waiting to return to Heaven,” Uf’uyan said. “Look more closely.” He touched the cracks where the paint had flaked away. Instead of stained parchment, the missing paint revealed black shadows. “It’s said that if the faith of Arathea should fail, the peri’s home will crumble, and the deev will emerge from their underground prison.”
    “Your point?” Roudette asked.
    Uf’uyan picked up the torn remains of the scroll. “I believe Zestan-e-Jheg is a deev.”

CHAPTER 12

    “I MPOSSIBLE.” TALIA SEARCHED UF’UYAN’S face for any hint of deception. Deev were monsters from childhood stories, nightmares hiding in the dark rooms of the palace where Talia and her siblings dared one another to go. “The deev were imprisoned, guarded by fairy magic and mortals both.”
    “And what mortals were assigned that duty?” Uf’uyan asked.
    Talia pressed her lips together. “The Kha’iida.”
    “I hope I’m wrong. For if one deev can escape, others could follow.”
    “Did you tell Faziya of your suspicions?” Talia asked.
    “It was Faziya who planted the idea. We spoke of the Hunt’s attacks on Kha’iida tribes. She grew emotional, denouncing the Hunt’s cruelty, calling them no better than the deev. I asked if that might not be truer than we realized. She left shortly thereafter.”
    “If she believed Zestan to be deev, she had no choice.” Talia glanced at the others. Snow’s brow was wrinkled, and Danielle looked lost. Switching tongues, Talia did her best to explain. “The deev were always stronger than the peri. According to the stories, the only reason the peri won their war is because we helped them. Peri magic created champions. Each tribe sent forth their strongest warriors. The peri enchanted those men, making them strong enough to face even the most powerful fairy. Each fighter received a weapon crafted to slay the deev. Those weapons have been passed down to this day. The peri won, but they weren’t able to destroy the deev. Instead, they trapped the deev deep in the earth. The peri retreated to the mountains, leaving the tribes to watch for the deev’s return.”
    “The Kha’iida?” Snow asked.
    Talia nodded. “In old Arathean, the word Kha’iida means oath keeper: those who swore to guard this world against the deev.”
    “That’s why Zestan has been sending the Wild Hunt against them,” Danielle said.
    “Every Kha’iida is a threat to her.” Including Faziya.
    Uf’uyan coiled and uncoiled his tail, the naga version of pacing. “The raikh keeps a fairy garden atop her mansion, tended by magic and inhabited by creatures from every corner of this world. I’ve seen it many a time, back before Rajil renounced my teachings in favor of Zestan. Her menagerie . . . those are not the shapes they were born to.”
    Snow was whispering to Danielle, summarizing the conversation. She paused to