A Fey Harvest Read Online Free PDF Page A

to hiss at the creature. It squawked, revealing tiny sharp teeth, and flew off into the trees.
    “ Best not to touch anything you're not sure about,” he grinned at me. “That one is carnivorous.”
    “ Ah,” I should have known better. The cuter they were in Faerie, the greater the possibility that they were dangerous.
    Something I was surprised and a little enchanted to see, were the crystals. Scattered among the trees were huge crystal formations, half hidden by foliage, as if the earth had pushed them up so that everyone could enjoy their beauty. The sun sparkled off the gigantic points, casting multi-colored rays all over the forest. There were deep purple clusters of them with tiny points, like the inside of a geode, coating boulders that melded into trees, making it appear as if the trees had been birthed from crystal. Then there were deep red points, reaching up to the sky in long columns, some as much as half the height of the trees. Smaller clutches of golden citrine peeped out of the deep green grass and some spikes were the color of the grass itself, although their spires sparkled in the patches of sun. The colors of the crystals competed with that of the myriad of faerie flowers blooming everywhere, their petals caught in the breeze and dancing in the air.
    Then the patches of sun started to disappear and the humidity in the air went up. The plants became fuller and many had a waxy sheen to them. Vines grew around and off of the trees, hanging low over the path so that they sometimes brushed the roof of the carriage as we passed below them. Everything looked more lush and the smells of blossom and earth were more heady, almost palpable. I looked over to Arach with a question in my eyes.
    “ We're near the border of Water,” he nodded to the mist flowing through the trees, causing moisture to condense on the emerald leaves. “We'll pass it soon, as the kingdom widens out.”
    “ Where's the castle?”
    “ Crith-Fuinn?” Arach asked with a raised brow.
    “ Yeah, I expected it to be near the Road of Neutrality, like our castle and Water's.”
    “ It was.”
    “ Excuse me?”
    “ We passed over it fifteen minutes ago,” he grinned, he just loved surprising me.
    “ Over it?” I raised my brows. “It's underground?”
    “ It is the Earth Kingdom after all,” he shrugged. “The earth fey like their burrows and dens. They're where the stories of faerie mounds came from.”
    “ Huh,” I returned to watching the scenery.
    The scenery was changing again. The way got steeper, our path going uphill for a bit before going down in a winding angle. At the crest of the path, right before it started to fall, the trees stopped. They just stopped, crowding around the edge of the valley we were headed down into but going no further. It became evident why as soon as I got a glimpse into the rounded depression we were skimming the sides of.
    The entire thing was made of crystals. The rim of it was lined with trees, their roots trailing down through the rock a few feet, but that was the extent of the plant life. Amethyst, citrine, aquamarine, quartz, sapphire, you name it, it was there. Massive formations of glistening stones protruded and shone from every surface, including the path we were on. Beneath our horses hooves, crushed emeralds crunched and glittered in the bright sunlight. We were surrounded by jewels.
    I reached out the window and skimmed my hand across the surface of a gigantic red stone, wondering if it could possibly be a ruby. The deep red of it made it worth a lot to begin with but the size, at least as big as the coach we were in, made it priceless. I moved to the other side of the coach so I could look down, over the edge of the path and into the valley's floor.
    I heard Arach chuckle behind me but I didn't care, I'd never seen so many massive gems in all my life and I wasn't missing the sight of them from the vantage point I had at the moment. I hung my head out the window and sighed.