Red Hood's Revenge

strike, the fairy burst into cloud, becoming no thicker than smoke from a campfire.
    “Stop him!” Talia shouted, slashing through the smoke. Already Jhukha was flowing over the top of the wall.
    Sunlight sliced into the fairy from Snow’s mirrors, burning holes through the smoke, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
    “Snow, you and Danielle watch the doorways.” Talia knelt beside Rajil. “He can’t save you. If I have to fight every guard in your mansion, I will.”
    Rajil sniffed. “He’s not fetching help for me.”
    “Zestan,” Talia guessed. Having heard Talia’s name, he went to tell his mistress. “Can he travel by fairy ring?”
    “He’s not going anywhere,” said Snow. She pulled a mirror from her choker and threw it after the departing fairy. The mirror shattered in mid- flight, turning to a stream of glittering dust which merged with the smoke. “If he tries, the mirror should scatter him across half of this world. He’ll spend the next year putting himself back together.”
    Talia grabbed Rajil by the throat. “Release Faziya and tell us where to find Zestan-e-Jheg, and you may live to see another sunset.”
    “You’d ask me to betray Zestan?”
    Talia fought the urge to strike her. “Have you seen Jahrasima today? Have you looked upon your people and the damage left by the Wild Hunt?”
    “The Hunt came for you.” Rajil sat up slowly, wide eyes watching Roudette and Talia both. “ You led them here. Surrender yourself, and Jahrasima will be safe.”
    “Until the next time Zestan sends the Wild Hunt out on an errand.” Talia handed the sword back to Danielle, mostly to avoid the temptation to use it. “Remember the oath you swore. To protect Jahrasima and its people with your blood. To pledge yourself to your city above tribe and family.”
    “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Rajil snapped. “This city wouldn’t exist without the help of the fairies. Where would we be if we had rejected their aid? Roaming the desert like Kha’iida savages. Squabbling over what little water we could find. Warring among ourselves, as we did for the hundred years you slept. They saved us from barbarism. Zestan will turn all Arathea into a jewel.”
    “By enslaving us?” Talia asked.
    Rajil spread her arms. “Do I look like a slave to you?”
    “You look like—”
    Danielle coughed, and Talia caught herself. She didn’t have time to fight with Rajil.
    “The fairies wish to serve us,” Rajil said, pouncing on the opening left by Talia’s silence. “We are their penance. They will make this land a paradise.”
    “Tell that to the people mourning the loss of their homes and loved ones,” Talia said softly. “Tell that to Queen Lakhim. You know Zestan means to kill her, right? Her and her grandsons both. Would you side with the fairies against your own ruler?”
    “Asks the one who murdered Prince Jihab.” Rajil spat.
    Sparring with Rajil was a waste of time. “Zestan-e-Jheg is a deev.”
    For a heartbeat, she saw doubt in Rajil’s eyes. “Impossible.”
    “Look at the power she wields. Look at the way she loosed the Wild Hunt on the Kha’iida and on your city.”
    “The Wild Hunt are a tool of God, sent to punish—”
    “They will return tonight in force,” Talia snapped. “They will tear this city apart to find me. You’ll be the raikh of a dead, ruined city . . . assuming they leave you alive.”
    “Zestan wouldn’t harm me.”
    “Which is more important to her, protecting a human or finding me? Your friend Jhukha didn’t hesitate to abandon you.” Talia leaned closer, lowering her voice. “Give me Faziya. Tell me where to find Zestan. In return, I promise to protect Jahrasima from the Wild Hunt.”
    “What are you doing?” Danielle asked.
    “What she should have done.” Talia nudged Rajil with her foot.
    Rajil hesitated. “Zestan’s influence was growing even before you awoke. Most of the fairy families in Arathea now pledge their loyalty to her, though few have ever seen her. It was only a year ago that she sent Jhukha to me.” She glanced about. “This is his menagerie. His magic that binds the traitors into these forms. Even if I wished to help you, I couldn’t restore them.”
    “All I need is for you to identify her,” Talia said, trying not to think about that. “I’m looking for a Kha’iida woman. She would have come here roughly one month ago. She would have asked about the Wild Hunt, and about Zestan.”
    “The jackal,” Rajil