Autumn's Traitor, page 1
AUTUMN’S TRAITOR
HANNAH PARKER
AUTUMN’S TRAITOR
Text copyright © 2022 by Hannah Parker
Map copyright © 2022 by Hannah Parker
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Any names, places, characters and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
First published in the United States in December 2022 by Counterpoise Press
Identifiers:
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920726
ISBN 978-1-7367414-4-3 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-7367414-5-0 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-7367414-3-6 (ebook)
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To find out more about Counterpoise Press visit www.counterpoisepress.com
To find out more about Hannah Parker visit www.hannahparker.com
For Mom and Dad
CONTENTS
The Events of Book One
I. Allies And Enemies
1. Dahey
2. Kaisa
3. Larken
4. Dahey
5. The Guardian
6. Larken
7. Kaisa
8. Larken
9. Kaisa
10. Dahey
11. Kaisa
12. Dahey
13. Larken
14. Kaisa
15. Larken
16. Kaisa
17. Larken
II. Tournaments And Treason
18. Dahey
19. Larken
20. Kaisa
21. Larken
22. Kaisa
23. Larken
24. Kaisa
25. Larken
26. Kaisa
27. Larken
28. Kaisa
29. Larken
30. Kaisa
31. Larken
32. Kaisa
33. Larken
34. Larken
35. Larken
36. Larken
37. Roone
38. Larken
39. Kaisa
40. Larken
41. Larken
42. Kaisa
43. Larken
44. Larken
45. Larken
46. Larken
47. Larken
48. Larken
49. Kaisa
50. Dahey
51. Larken
52. Kaisa
53. Larken
54. Ziegan
55. Kaisa
56. Larken
57. Larken
58. Kaisa
59. Kaisa
60. Larken
61. Dahey
62. Kaisa
63. Larken
64. Kaisa
65. Larken
66. Larken
67. Larken
68. Larken
III. Seige And Smoke
69. Kaisa
70. Larken
71. Larken
72. Larken
73. Dahey
74. Larken
75. Dahey
76. Larken
77. Dahey
78. Larken
79. Dahey
80. Larken
81. Dahey
82. Larken
83. Dahey
84. Kaisa
Acknowledgments
Pronunciation Guide
About the Author
THE EVENTS OF BOOK ONE
Seventeen-year-old Larken lives in a village visited by the fey every year. Her story begins on the day of the Choosing Ceremony, when the fey come to select a human girl to bring back with them, from which the girls never return. They need the girl for an unnamed “special task”, and in return, the fey reward both her family and the villagers. Larken’s friend Brigid was Chosen last year, and ever since Larken has dreamt of reuniting with her. The Prince of the Autumn Court, Finder, arrives, and chooses the butcher’s daughter instead.
Castor, a disgraced member of the Black Guard, soldiers who prevent humans from entering the faery realm, raves that the fey are killing the girls. Larken meets with Castor because she is worried about Brigid, and Castor convinces her that the fey use the girls for some nefarious purpose—and that a deal has been struck between human rulers and the fey allowing this to happen. Larken enters the faery realm hoping to save Brigid, the butcher’s girl, and discover the truth about the “special task.” She catches up with the butcher’s girl and the fey as they stumble into a pack of monsters. The butcher’s girl dies, but Larken saves Finder’s life. Finder explains that a life debt was created between them. Until he saves her life in return, they are bound. Larken cannot return home, and if either of them dies or is harmed, the same will happen to the other. Finder explains that the faery king, the Starveling, demands a tithe every year from each of the faery courts: a human heart. Finder now has no tithe and the Starveling will punish Finder’s court and Larken’s people. Unable and unwilling to use Larken instead, Finder suggests to his faery companions and Larken that they work together to overthrow the Starveling. Larken begrudgingly agrees.
Dahey, Finder’s companion and cousin, suggests seeking help from the Dark Priestesses, who tell them that the Starveling can be killed. Two of the three Priestesses attack, claiming they had orders to kill anyone who seeks to bring down the king. But the third Priestess gives Finder a magical knife and urges him to find the Guardian who will give the knife its power. Larken was bitten by one of the Priestesses and she falls ill to its poison. They seek help from a pack of female wolf shapeshifters known as the Warga. Afterwards, Larken and her companions reach the Guardian’s domain. The Guardian demands that Finder speak an incantation when he kills the Starveling and claims that the words restore the knife to its full power. Finder is suspicious of the true meaning of the words, but fears he has no other option.
They cross through the Spring Court, battling threats lurking in a labyrinth and withstanding torture by Etain, Princess of the Spring Court. Although they escape, one of their companions, Madden, dies. They reach the Starveling. During the battle, Finder saves Larken and ends their life debt. He speaks the words demanded by the Guardian and kills the Starveling. After the Starveling falls, a memory curse is lifted from the court rulers. Finder remembers that the Guardian had been imprisoned by the Starveling, the Dark Priestesses and the court rulers long ago after wreaking havoc with a magical language he created. By using the knife, speaking the words and killing the Starveling, the Guardian is now free.
Finder urges Larken to return home while he and Dahey return to the Autumn Court. One of their companions, Saja, accompanies Larken. They encounter a group of Fomari who seem determined to trap them in the human realm. During the fight, Saja senses through the dornán bond that Finder is hurt. The Fomari claim that Dahey is now their master, and Saja and Larken piece together that Dahey has concocted a plan to take Finder’s place as ruler with the help of the Dark Priestesses and the Guardian. He commanded the Fomari that killed Finder’s tithe and pushed Finder to seek the Guardian. Dahey plans on taking Finder back to the Autumn Court and imprisoning him for treason and to take his powers by force using the Guardian’s magic. Larken and Saja return to the faery realm to save Finder.
PART I
ALLIES AND ENEMIES
1
DAHEY
Airodion
* * *
Two sides of the same coin, people had always said about him and Finder. They looked more alike than their twin fathers. Yet as a boy, Dahey had longed to look more like his cousin. He would have given anything to have Finder’s green eyes and dark auburn curls instead of his own brown gaze and light red hair. Everything Finder did, Dahey also wanted to do.
But they were not boys any longer.
Finder stood on a raised dais in the middle of the throne room. The Weeping Metal chains wrapped around his wrists and throat prevented him from moving—or using his powers. The skin beneath the metal was red and oozing. The white linen of his shirt was rumpled and dirty from days in the dungeon, and his red curls were matted with sweat and blood.
General Reddon shifted beside Dahey, where they sat with the rest of the council facing the dais. Dahey wasn’t a member of the council, but they had invited him to participate in Finder’s trial. Reddon’s long black hair slipped over his breastplate. He was young but levelheaded, and it hadn’t surprised Dahey when he had been elected. He caught Dahey’s gaze and inclined his head. Dahey and Reddon had trained together as swordsmen at the Autumn Court’s military academy. Reddon’s estate had fallen on hard times the previous year, and Dahey had offered to let him repay his debts to the crown by working as a swordmaster at the academy. Dahey had been close to Reddon ever since and knew the male was loyal to him.
Dahey gazed out at the crowd. The room was packed with hundreds of fey. They hovered between the double row of white marble columns running from the front of the room to the doors in the back. The columns were carved to look like massive tree trunks, their branches sweeping high into the domed ceiling. How many times had he and Finder played in this room as children, weaving between the columns, running their hands along the marble trunks—so lifelike they felt as rough as real tree bark? How many times had they laid beneath the branches, staring at leaves car
General Pike droned on, going over the details of their journey, filling in the Autumn Court fey about the Starveling’s death. Dahey’s stomach was in knots, half from the trial’s proceedings and half from the oath that pulled at his gut, demanding he return the knife to the Guardian.
The council had decided that he must give the knife of power to them. Anxiety had spiked through him at the thought of being separated from the knife, but he knew he would find a way to retrieve it, especially if the trial went as planned.
Soon, he told the oath.
Only a week had passed since Dahey had brought Finder to Shadeshelm. His gaze caught on the puckered wound marring the skin between Finder’s collarbone and shoulder. The wound should have healed by now—after all, it wasn’t meant to be a mortal wound—but the Weeping Metal hindered its progress. Dahey remembered pulling his sword from Finder’s chest and his cousin’s subsequent cry of pain.
Finder never wanted to rule, Dahey reminded himself firmly.
“…attacked by the Dark Priestesses. One of the three dark sisters gave Finder a knife of great power and sent him to a being known as the Guardian.”
The Guardian had assured Dahey that once Finder spoke the words, the knife’s power would overwhelm him, and that Finder’s powers would come to Dahey. And it had almost worked—until the human girl, Larken, had brought Finder back.
Dahey drummed his fingers on the table. Larken. A glimmer of respect flared to life in his gut. He had grown to care for the human girl, but he would not allow her to stand in his way.
Dahey wanted—no, needed, to rule the Autumn Court. He deserved it more than anyone. Until he could figure out how to take Finder’s powers, however, his only hope was to rule as regent in his stead.
“Finder used the Guardian’s knife to murder our king,” Pike said.
A murmur rose from the crowd—they knew the Starveling was dead, but they hadn’t heard the details of his demise until now.
Pike clasped Dahey’s shoulder. “Dahey was right to bring this treasonous act to the council.”
Dahey nodded, ignoring Finder’s glare from the dais.
“May I speak in my defense before you decide my fate?” Finder asked softly. Pike extended his hand, gesturing for Finder to continue.
“Do not pretend that the Starveling was some benevolent king,” Finder spat. “He never cared about the wellbeing of the Autumn Court. He only emerged from his den for the tithe—which was agonizing for all of the court rulers.”
“Why did you kill him?” Reddon asked.
“As Pike already explained, I was tied in a life debt—”
“Yes, we know about Larken,” Reddon waved a hand. “But even then, you could have gone to the Starveling and begged for his mercy.”
“He demanded that we bring him the hearts of innocent girls,” Finder growled. “Does he seem like a merciful being?”
“The sacrifice of so many young girls is… regrettable,” Reddon said, “but the tithe was a burden you should have been willing to bear for your court. We don’t need a ruler who shrinks from his responsibilities. And there is a matter of Embryn Navallen’s death.”
Dahey’s breath caught. Embryn. Finder’s dearest friend, who had died when they had tried to rise up against the Starveling once before. But she had been Dahey’s friend, too. He remembered wisps of her dark hair, her crushed elderberry scent.
“Don’t,” Finder whispered.
“It is difficult to believe that this wasn’t an act of revenge,” Reddon finished. “A ploy that could have cost us all our lives.”
Dahey smiled. His nerves melted away. His court was on his side.
“Enough. Let us vote,” Pike said. “Those in favor of declaring Finder Fairburn unfit to rule—”
Every member of the council raised their hands. Shocked gasps rose from the crowd. The murmurs grew into a roar.
Pike stood. “Silence! For crimes of treason against his court and killing the Starveling, we declare Finder Fairburn unfit to rule. Finder, you will be imprisoned until your powers give us a new ruler. Dahey Fairburn will rule as regent in your stead.”
Dahey closed his eyes, shutting out the look of rage that marred his cousin’s face. But a smile still touched Dahey’s lips. He was going to be regent. And once he figured out how to take Finder’s powers, he would be king.
Despite it all, a tiny sigh of relief escaped him. There had been a chance the court would rule that Finder should be executed for his crimes. Dahey had never wanted to see his cousin dead; even when the knife had overpowered Finder, he had wanted his cousin to live. All he wanted were the powers.
“No,” Finder snarled. “I’m the only one who knows the true history of the Guardian thanks to the breaking of the Starveling’s memory curse. I will protect this court.”
“Be quiet,” Dahey snapped. His cousin had never cared about this court. Not like Dahey did.
“He’s going to take the powers from me,” Finder spat, jerking against the Weeping Metal chains.
More murmurs from the crowd. Dahey glanced around, his heart beating quicker in his chest.
“Impossible,” Reddon snapped. Dahey’s shoulders relaxed. “The magic chooses the ruler. You should know that more than anyone, seeing as how much you loathe ruling this court. We honor our rulers because the magic chooses them, and you have abused that privilege.”
“Pray your powers leave you soon,” Pike said. “We declared Osiron Fairburn unfit to rule, and soon after, the powers sought another. I suspect things will not be any different this time.”
Dahey jerked at his father’s name. He couldn’t stop himself from searching for his face in the crowd, but his father wasn’t there.
“I know how to use the powers. A new ruler will have to be trained,” Finder said. “Dahey betrayed his dornán bond. Do you want a regent who would stoop so low to overthrow their prince?”
“Again, what you speak of is impossible,” Pike snapped. “No one can break a dornán bond. Dahey already told us that you released him from his oath. And we will train any new ruler as we always have.”
Dahey clenched his fists. It didn’t matter that he needed to be trained. He would train day and night until he mastered the powers. It would be a joy to learn them. He would respect and use the magic, while Finder had only ever shunned it. His court needed a ruler who would use the powers to protect them, not someone who would hide them away.
“You need me,” Finder said firmly.
“We need a ruler who wants to rule,” Reddon said coldly.
