Dark Fae Outcast: A Fae Urban Fantasy Novel

By Autumn M. Birt

Lost magic. Fading hope. A dying race.

Trapped in our world, the fae are dying from drugs, contaminants, and hopelessness. Kicked out of the dark fae court for tainting his body and magic, Riasg only wants one thing: to die a bit faster. It’s already the end of his world, after all.

But while scoring his last hit, he discovers something that shouldn’t exist. Not anymore. And he can’t ignore it as much as he wants to. But to save what might just be the last hope for his kind, he might first have to save himself. And that is a lot to ask...

Especially when the Dark Queen’s Huntress tracks him down. Riasg knows the Queen of the Dark Fae will do anything to possess the last hope for their kind that he hides, but how can he resist her Huntress when she offers him the one thing he craves more than even hope?

Has he found a companion he can trust at the end of the world, or is this just another of the Dark Queen’s tricks?

Dark Fae Outcast is book 1 of the Tainted Fae, a dark tale of the end times – not ours. Theirs. Enter an urban fantasy world of darkness, slow death, lost magic, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of hope. Pick up Dark Fae Outcast today!

**This book was previously published under the title the Light in the Darkness, book 1 of the Cailite Ré.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Autumn M. Birt
• Release date: Jun 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463764206

Autumn M. Birt

Autumn (also known as Weifarer and Autumn Raven) is a travel and fiction writer currently based in Maine where she lives in a small cottage lost in the woods, which she built with her husband and with the supervision (and approval) of two Cairn terriers.With a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucknell University in Studio Arts and English, Autumn once considered a career in illustration. However, an ecology course at Virginia Tech led to a Master of Science degree in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from the University of Maine in Orono. After graduation with her M.S., Autumn has worked for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. This was a great job that not only let her help the environment and protect local agriculture, but also gave her a paycheck big enough to support her writing habit until finally ... at long last she is now a full time writer and on-line educator!

Book preview

Dark Fae Outcast

Dark Fae Outcast

Autumn M. Birt

Autumn Writing

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please visit your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The Tainted Fae

The Tainted Fae

Book 1: Dark Fae Outcast

Book 2: Dark Uprising (publication early 2021)

Book 3: Fae Revolution (publication early 2021)

Book 4: The End of Time (publication early 2021)

Learn more about the series and release dates on its page at https://www.autumnwriting.com/tainted-fae/.

Epic Fantasy books set in the World of Myrrah

Rise of the Fifth Order Series

Born of Water Novel Companion

Born of Water

Rule of Fire

Spirit of Life

Games of Fire Trilogy

Spark of Defiance

Gates of Fire and Earth

A New Goddess

Untold Stories from the World of Myrrah

Learn more about the elemental magic world of Myrrah, access larger maps of the world, discover Untold Stories, character lists, and find out about upcoming sequels online at AutumnWriting.com and the Rise of the Fifth Order

Other books by author Autumn M. Birt

Black Blood, Black Throne

Book 1: Born to Darkness

Book 2: Ebonrue (coming late 2021)

Book 3: Lost Heir (coming late 2021)

Book 4: Broken Throne (coming late 2021)

Book 5: Dragon Blood (coming late 2021)

Friends of my Enemy Series

Book 1: Stories from the War

Book 2: After the War

Book 3: Battle for Europe

Book 4: The Fight for Peace

Short Stories

The Lost Heir

Ellswood

Iron Bound

A Bargain’s Price

All is Lantern Light

The Old Ways

Contents

1. Outcast

2. The Stranger

3. Rune of Warning

4. Return to Doras Mór

5. The Spiral Path

6. Temporary Refuge

7. Death Reversed

8. The Llysieuol

9. Outsider

10. The Hunter

11. The Edge of the Abyss

12. Efflyn’s Hounds

13. The Dark Queen

14. Wind River

Go Social!

Excerpt from Born to Darkness

About the Author

Connect with Autumn Online

1

Outcast

Y ou are so drugged up you can’t even stand.

Efflyn’s shove sent Riasg stumbling out the door to fall onto his backside. The drugs weaving through his veins doubled his vision as if he could see time again, witnessing both Efflyn’s push and an offered hand to help him rise in overlapping vision. But when he blinked, she stood above him in her regal dress with her perfect face set in a sneer. Seeing him watch her, she spat on his chest.

You were powerful once. Is this what you want for yourself? She swept an arm over his prone figure where he lay crumpled in the mud in clothes where the additional grime hardly mattered.

You pushed me. Riasg ignored the fact he slurred. He called power to clean the filth from his clothes. None came. Panic cut through the drugs feeding his high.

Efflyn looked down at him as if he were as low as a human. I hardly needed to. You no longer have a place with us. Do not return.

The triple weave of his vision showed the door closing to him thrice. He could not be barred forever. Riasg clawed his way to the door and used its bulk as support so he could rise to his shaking legs. The silver latch did not budge. Riasg tried again, shaking the door with wild strength.

Doras Mór was the only home he had. Words of power, potent curses, and nonsense flowed from his lips. It had no effect. Because with ola thrumming through his veins, he had no more magic than a human. Without power, he could not break into the faery hill.

Emotions flooded his system and boosted the drugs he’d consumed. Pleasant numbness swept over and through him. He released the locked doorknob, no longer caring what it was or where it led. Riasg sank to the ground as if falling into a summer field. The world he hated disappeared into a golden haze.

When he woke, the door to Doras Mór was gone. Riasg rolled to his side as his stomach cramped. Heaving, he spat drool and bile into the thick mud as his body sought to rid itself of what he’d taken. Ola created an emotional bliss while it killed his body. But everything in this world was killing him anyway. Who cared if he made it go a little faster as well as a lot more pleasantly?

Riasg lay in the mud realizing the answer to that question. Efflyn cared. Not so much about him exactly, but because their kind was rare enough. Especially one such as he who actually wielded some power, or had before he’d polluted himself. Riasg shifted again to glance at where the door to the faery hill should have been. He saw only grass and didn’t know if it was the drugs blocking his sight or that he really was barred.

Sod it.

Riasg rolled to his stomach and used a trembling arm to lever himself to his knees. That set him heaving again. Spitting saliva that tasted like acid mixed with gasoline, Riasg used his growing anger to push himself upright. The world tilted like it was glued to a kid’s seesaw. Cold sweat peppered Riasg’s upper lip and the back of his hands as he curled them into a fist. If he waited, it would pass. Or he’d fall unconscious again.

Stomach twisting like a nest of snakes, he waited for fate to determine his next few moments. In a rush of warmth, the sickening grip eased. Riasg released a wavering breath, relieved to feel better and possibly happy to be alive. Body spasming so that he staggered as he walked, Riasg struggled away from the grassy hillside toward the path that led to the valley.

Amid branches holding tiny, light green leaves, roofs rose in staggered heaps. Even from the quiet of the hills, traffic horns echoed, and a low hum constantly growled from the nearby expressway. He remembered what it was like when the world could be truly quiet; when the entry to Doras Mór would only appear in isolated hills days away from any humans. He wished he didn’t.

Weaving like a drunk, Riasg fell against the corner of the first building. Hard sunbaked warmth from its stones eased the jittering in his blood to a lingering weakness. He rested his forehead against the rough bulk, happy he’d fallen into an old structure. If it had been modern with vinyl siding, it might have killed him in the state he was in.

Down the alley where the trail ended, a few last shrubs petered out to concrete and a busy thoroughfare. Others, dozens and dozens of others, walked briskly in the opening between the buildings. Ants, Efflyn had called humans ants once. Riasg thought ants a higher species.

But a town of humans, despite the commotion, held food. And body vibrating as if he would disintegrate, Riasg needed something other than ola in his system soon. Or he needed more ola; then he could be done with it. Riasg squeezed his eyes closed at the hunger the thought evoked.

Not today, he whispered to himself. He didn’t want to destroy himself today.

But it was the craving stirring in the back of his chest that pushed him away from the building and sent him stumbling along the alley. People parted around him, sidestepping where he stood as if he were dog shit.

The old section of the town lay farther to the east near the river. Where he stood amid busy streets, traffic lights, and so many people, held modern faced shops and little food other than a small cafe. Riasg took a step toward its lacquered wood front door and stopped. He had no money. Worse, he had no magic to pretend he had cash or trickery to take what he needed. He might as well have stayed on the hillside and eaten grass.

A town like this would have a shelter or someplace that served food, but it would be located on the same streets where he could get ola or where the gritty dust would be enough to kill him. His best bet was the clean streets of the old city where tourists dabbled like fancy ducks at the rich pickings of false history. With any luck, they’d leave behind an unfinished meal.

Riasg took a left and trudged toward the river, happy at least to walk downhill as the world dimmed then pulsed too bright in the next breath. Numbness to a blinding headache alternated with each step. He had just enough awareness of what he was and how he looked to avoid the main pathways before reaching the narrow streets and stone cottages of the old city. The last thing he needed now was to be picked up by the cops and thrown into a plastic-lined cell, locked away from the sun and wind. He’d prefer to die by Efflyn’s hand. She was his queen, and it was her right.

Back alleyway dumpsters provided stale bread and wilted greens. It was fresh enough and claimed to be all natural on the packaging, which was an added benefit the dregs of the city wouldn’t have provided. The people who lived in the slums wouldn’t care what taint their food held, nor would they throw away something stale. If he’d gone to the shelter, it would have been to fight for scraps while looking for ola. Here, it took fifteen minutes of trash diving to come up with a small meal that he bundled under the filth of his shirt to take to the park.

Greenspaces threaded through the city. It was an illusion of wild, but it was all his kind had left. Nowhere truly belonged to them anymore. Sitting amid the dirt and plant litter, Riasg leaned against a tree and let dry bread soften in his mouth to something he could chew as he watched people walk briskly along cement pathways. Beyond them, the city stretched toward distant hills.

The sun would set soon. He had no place to go and no magic to protect him. Riasg gagged on the mouthful of bread. He didn’t know why he bothered to eat. Death would come soon.

Tears leaking around his closed eyelids, Riasg leaned his head against the tree. The thick trunk shifted as a breeze caught the upper branches. A moment later, the remnants of wind brushed his cheek and scattered old leaves across slowly greening grass. He’d made it to spring. Dying in the winter amid the bleakness of this world was too much. But now he could find a last dose of ola and walk into the hills to die amid growing plants under a starlit sky. At least it would be starlit if he walked far enough, which meant he needed to find ola and leave soon.

Riasg downed a handful of limp lettuce and stuffed the bread in his pocket. Compared to the lavish dinners he’d feasted on in Doras Mór, it was a pathetic last meal, but it was edible. And, as his innards trembled as he stood, he’d need more than will to get him into the fields outside of town. After all, poor willpower had succumbed him to ola. He couldn’t trust himself.

Bones that felt like they disintegrated with each step, Riasg shuffled out of the park. People stared. He should have changed his clothes if he didn’t have the magic to clean himself or even a glamour to appear to