“Blocked? By what?"

"She says she doesn't know, but you know her. I suspect she knows but won't say. She said to tell you she sees you standing tall with a large muscular human male beside you. He reeks of magic, she says.

Does this sound like your Daniel Davies?"

Grace grimaced. "Yes. Yes, it does."

*

Grace peered down into the massive crater that had once been Yanwey.

The crater was five miles in diameter and was clear of all debris.

The centre was devoid of a central peak other than a small, raised area. The surrounding walls were steep and sloped down to an almost level floor. She could see from the rim that the very rock of the crater had been scorched black. The middle of the crater reflected the sunlight like black glass, and surrounding it was a small lake of brackish water, likely bubbling up from the water table.

The region surrounding the crater was devoid of all life and plant for another five or six miles around it. Ejecta was not in evidence, and Grace knew the entire city had been vaporised by the death of the male Phoenix. Phoenixes don't just burn when they die, they erupt in a sudden burst of heat equal to the internal fire of the sun. It is over in a flash of intense white light.

Grace was certain and hopeful the citizens of Yanwey had felt nothing.

Knowledge of the loss of Yanwey was being tightly controlled, despite the rumours, and now all the roads leading to the remains of the city were blocked by platoons of Arbuckle army regulars. They allowed no one to pass from the human lands or the Fae. Grace had glared at them until they allowed her passage.

No one blocks a Night Fae Princess, she snorted.

She slowly started down the steep incline of the crater. Dirt and rocks broke free under her feet and slid down the crater wall, building up content until minor avalanches proceeded her. She angled her descent and kept her eyes glued to the terrain above and below her.

There was a horrible smell in the area. Like the smell of air after a lightning strike mixed with the smoke of a campfire burning out of control, but it was far richer and acrid. It stuck to the back of her throat, and she had to hack and spit black phlegm to clear it.

The worst part was Grace was certain she could also faintly taste roasted chicken and thought of the Phoenix.

Nothing remained of the city. Yanwey had always been the neutral city of the combined Fae. It sat between the mountain ranges to the West, where the Night Fae dug deep and built their underground cities in darkness, and the Light Fae to the East, living high in massive trees, always seeking to get closer to the heat and light of the sun.

Yanwey sat smack dab between to the two races and was occupied by an equal measure of both the Night and Light Fae. It was the one place where they could both meet to settle disputes. With it gone, Grace feared for the worst.

Mother said war was coming early. This is likely a large part of the why.

After two hours, Grace finally found her way to the centre of the crater. She squatted and closed her eyes. She reached out with her mana and tried to detect magic. She was sensitive enough that if a male Phoenix egg had appeared here, as it should have done when the Phoenix perished, she would sense it. Even a trace remnant would be sensitive to her like a candle in the night.

She opened her eyes. She felt nothing. Nothing at all. No magic anywhere near for miles.

"Fuck me sideways," she said. "There should have been a male egg here. Where did the male Phoenix go if not into his egg at rebirth?

He was destroyed on his death, that's clear." She looked around the crater. “This is all perfectly normal. So where is his egg? And why is there still a female egg?"

She had held the female egg once Daniel had given it to her. She had felt the female Phoenix inside, deep in slumber. She now wondered if it knew what the male Phoenix had done to Yanwey.

Daniel could have ransomed the egg to the King for a dukedom. She had never told him, her oath pulling at her to fulfil it.