Authors: Scott V. Duff
Then there were the faery, the
Royalty
of the Courts. They were old and powerful Fae. Their magic moved slowly but inexorably. They were a tidal wave waiting to happen. They didn’t have to start a resonance to create an earthquake. They
were
the earthquake. The only thing holding them back was the little white flag.
Kieran was the calm in the storm around me. Those emerald eyes were as settling as the breeze through a forest. Nothing had perturbed him today as he watched over us diligently, almost paternally. Just seeing him standing there centered me enough to begin playing the game that seemed so out of character for me.
“Time to get started, I suppose,” I said and started for the door. Once again, Dad and Peter fell in on my left and Kieran and Ethan, on my right. “No Wagner this time?”
“I had a hard time hearing last time,” Marty called as we passed through the doors. Caused me to grin as I came out.
I could swear it was like walking into an Edgar Allen Poe story, you know, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Just the end of it, where all you hear is a heartbeat. Boom, Ba-boom. The Quiver moved to my shoulders at my call, and a simple brush of will against the green Bolts locked them onto the owner of that heartbeat. Avenour. I advanced to the third step down and stopped.
Avenour slid off his huge stallion, keeping his standard held perfectly vertical just as before, and took the two steps to the moat.
“We seek audience with the Daybreak, Liege-Killer and holder of the Fountain, High Lord of Faery, known commonly as Seth McClure, son of Robert and Olivia, and brother to Ehran, at the behest of Her Majesties, the Queens of Faery,” he said, in English in one long breath while bowing slowly at the waist until he was perpendicular to the ground. “We bid you greetings, Lord Daybreak.”
“Greetings, Avenour,” I called, projecting my voice with a touch of Daybreak behind it. “And good evening as well to the other emissaries of the
Sidhe
.” Letting the undershirt glow as I lifted myself over the angry red, ley moat. His heart sped up again slightly as he stood and his eyes widened by a hair’s breadth.
“I accept the flag of truce but please understand my host’s concerns and stay on this side of the moat,” I said. “There are things that don’t react well to the presence of the Fae that are better left untouched.”
“As you wish, Lord Daybreak,” Avenour answered sweetly, bowing his head but keeping his eyes on me.
“Also, there is an error in your greeting that I need to correct,” I said, and I thought without blaming him, but he looked stricken. With an amused tone, I hurriedly added, “It’s not your fault, Avenour. I haven’t been exactly forthcoming about my realm, not that I ever will be. And this is still very new to me.”
“Of course, Lord Daybreak, I understand,” Avenour said, visibly relaxing, but it was an act. “What shall I correct for the records, High Lord?”
“Two things. First, I do not hold the Fountain of the Heart of Faery any longer as it no longer exists,” I answered calmly. “And second, I am Lord of Gilán.”
“That… is not possible,” Avenour stammered over the words.
“We’ve said that a lot where Seth is concerned,” Ethan called over the crackling moat. “Hasn’t changed anything.”
“Nor will it here,” I said, smiling at him. “I have enough to keep me busy without trying to convince Faery of Gilán’s existence. Shall we proceed?” I reached over the moat and brought everyone else over. “I believe that y’all know everyone here.”
“Certainly, Lord,” Avenour agreed. “And we have had some substitutions, out of necessity. Certain members of our party of last week have been… punished for breaking the Queens’ truce.”
“Can’t say I care too much for the choice of alternates,” I said coolly, glancing at each princess of the Courts in turn.
“Nor I,” muttered Kieran.
The Princesses stepped forward in a group with their mates, expecting to be presented first. The second couples from each side fell into line behind them in a near pyramid shape. The steeds backed away gracefully and stood attentively in the background, waiting. There was little question this time who was Seelie and who was Unseelie.
“Lord Daybreak, if I may,” Avenour said. “I present the Princesses of the Courts of Faery. From the Unseelie Court, this is her Highness, Princess –” Avenour said a fifteen syllable Fae word, utterly unpronounceable by the human mouth. “…also known as Larana in the human world. With her husband, Lord –” Again, Avenour said a huge Fae word unspeakable without an oddly shaped mouth. “…also known as Laranis.”
Laranis bowed a half-bow and the Winter Princess gave a quarter of a curtsey in her skin-tight black dress. I found it interesting that I could look at this couple and see that they were both sultry as hell but it didn’t touch me at all. The last time I’d seen her, it had affected me, but not this time. Looking at her, I felt like I was more looking at a fine painting.
“And from the Seelie Court, her Highness, Princess –” Again Avenour went for a long Fae word, this one about twenty-two syllables. “…Commonly known as Leonette, and her husband, Prince –” This Prince may have been younger than the Princess as his name in Fae was only twelve syllables long. Not a given, but certainly a likelihood. “Currently known as Leod on your world.” They both gave the same bow and curtsey combination that Winter gave. Exactly the same, not a degree higher or lower.
Then they spoke. It was uncanny that two such willful elves could do anything together, much less in unison, but they managed beautifully.
“We bear greetings to you, Lord Daybreak,” they said, melodious, perfectly in tune. “In the names of the Queens of Faery and
Sidhe
, Lieges of the Shadow Lands, we congratulate you on your victory at the Rite of Ordeal and Challenge. While we do not know how you managed to take and hold our brother’s Fountain, then take his mantle at his death, we will honor the ancient codes. We will allow the establishment of a realm within the Wyldes of Faery, under the same restrictions or even other arrangements could be made. They will be happy to discuss that with you at your convenience.
“Further,” their voices dipped in tone, almost reaching the alto range, “we wish to apologize for our envoys disloyalty and disrespect to the truce. We owe you a debt of appreciation for not declaring war on us. With deep regret, we must also offer condolences. Since the binding cages were returned with the envoys, the faery that you tried to rescue would not have survived the night.
“And finally, we wish to thank both you and your brother, Ehran, for returning the balance,” they chimed together, then fell into a deep curtsey. It was fairly shocking.
“Thank you, ladies,” I said, turning up the power on the shirt to about a third of full. “That was quite a welcome. There are a few misconceptions in there and I’m not really sure how to handle them all. Suppose we just go in order, then.
“I accept the welcome and congratulations from the Queens and from you and your husbands,” I said as pleasantly as possible. “And while I appreciate the offer of a realm within the Wyldes of Faery, I believe that Gilán is enough for me. It would be a considerable length of time before I outgrow it, I think, though at some time in the future, it might be nice to, perhaps, hunt for game to stock preserves and that sort of thing. Just an idea for the future.”
I took a quick glance at the two other couples standing close by. They’d have to be lobotomized not to be paying attention to us. “As to the matter of breaking the truce,” I said, much more harshly and more brittle than I wanted, “I know the Queens are without complicity there.” Deep breath.
More calmly, I said, “Now, I suspected the cages on the wagon were some kind of binding mechanisms. But why would you think that my faery would die without that?” They looked at each other, faces tight in concentration. “Perhaps you could consider answering as yourselves rather than this unified body? It would make this part a little easier on you.”
They both held still for a moment then seemed to become themselves again, ceasing their lock-step movements. For a brief moment, their hatred for each other and their relative dislike of me shone through with bright clarity before being brought under control again.
“Because performing such a powerful binding on even as few as a thousand that would pass through from parent to child,” Larana, the Unseelie Princess, was the first to speak. I noticed again that the sultry, sexual sound of her voice was there, but it merely washed over and away from me now. “Takes an enormous amount of will and energy.”
“The cages allow for completing the task in smaller stages,” Leonette finished, stretching. Her jutting breasts and cocked hips weren’t lost on my teenaged mind, but she’d lost the exquisite sensuality her magic projected, at least on me. “That way, some of them would have survived the night had you worked to process them.”
“Looked like it would hurt,” I said, shivering at the memory of the cages.
“Oh, yes, it does,” the Winter Princess smiled, her eyes alight with power.
“Hunh,” I grunted in response. “Well, I appreciate the Queens’ condolences and concerns regarding the faery folk I rescued, but it’s unwarranted. Before I left Gilán to come here, they were properly bound to my realm and have survived there since. And further, the geas has passed quite nicely from mother to child without a problem.”
Several seconds passed without a movement among the faery. It was incredibly eerie. Leod, the Winter Prince, was the first to rouse himself.
“Your pardon, Lord Daybreak,” Leod said, his voice almost low enough to be called a high tenor. “This matter is confusing to us. You present us with much the logic puzzle. Repeatedly casting a binding of that magnitude is—” He made an exasperated noise, spreading his hands out in defeat of finding a strong enough word.
“Good thing he only did it once, then, eh?” Dad said from behind me. I quickly raised my eyebrows and nodded, a cocky “yeah” on my face.
“You—” Leonette started to say something but stopped, her eyes a little wider than they had been. Kieran stepped up beside me and slipped his arm across my shoulders.
“Yes, Simone,” he said, his tone companionable and pleasant, belying the distaste he had for her. “He did it all at once. And there were over a million of them.” All the elves blanched.
“But we have searched…” Larana muttered, followed by Laranis with, “and searched and found nothing!”
“The Bleak worlds and the Nether Reaches?” Dad asked.
“Oh, the dragons must have loved that,” commented Kieran as they shared a brief chuckle. Both Gordon and Ferrin looked at them funny, doubtless resolving to ask about the comments. I know I did.
“Yes, well, you can’t see me without my help, so that’s not really much of a surprise, is it?” I said, boosting the undershirt’s power output to about half. “But let me show a small, very small, amount of circumstantial evident to support my claims.”
Glancing up toward the Castle, I saw Jimmy stand up from the doorframe and nod to me. Then I looked quickly around us, choosing a space to my right. “May I have this area here, please?” I asked, making Avenour and the Winter side take a step back. “That’s good, thank you.” Wrapping a portal completely around Jimmy and the faery guarding the flowerpots, I brought them to us, making certain that I put Jimmy as close to the brownies as possible. The foundation Stone reformed the shelf beautifully without the slightest drop in height for them.
“I have a gift for each of the Queens of Faery to thank them for their patience and consideration,” I said, stepping over the flowerpots, gleaming in the multiple lights. The brownies stood to the rear of the energy shelf and as near to Jimmy as they could manage without making it obvious. Ellorn, though, valiantly stood between the two pots, feet spread apart to shoulder width, hands clasped behind his back, and a huge, toothy grin. I winked at him to show my approval.
Turning back to the Princesses and indicating the two carrying cases, I noticed their attention was rapt on the white and red flower that almost glowed in the unnatural light of the lamps around us. “If you’d like to step a little closer, you’ll notice its delicate scent is quite lovely,” I said quietly and as if in a daze all four of the royalty eased forward until they could smell the delicate aroma. Stepping across their field of view, I pulled the front cover of the Seelie Queen’s pot first, as it was on the left, then the Unseelie Queen’s, also touching one of the sides to make the stone orchid rise.
“The diamonds serve two purposes,” I said as step away to face them again. “They’re primary purpose is to serve as a communication conduit to me. As such it is available to anyone her Majesties allow access. It merely requires touch and will to activate. They’re secondary purpose is the gift itself.
“Each is locked to the Queen herself,” I continued, adding a large amount of Daybreak’s severity to this small part. “The stone flowerpots were made by my Palace staff and, I believe, some of the surrounding clans, Ellorn?” I looked to the smiling brownie for confirmation.
“Yes, Lord Daybreak,” he answered in a steady singsong. “Arwene brought several sets of seeds far from the south to runners near the Road and another clan to the northeast brought us a specific texture of stone we needed.”
The Unseelie Queen’s stone flower now had them enrapt, though they still inhaled slowly from its fiery white cousin. It took about a minute before their eyes began to shift back and forth between them. I wasn’t trying to delve into their minds, but I knew well enough that they’d dismissed the diamonds as nearly insignificant.