The Cuckoo's Eye

by Holly Campbell

  That was the night that had made me ill, when my brothers had been left to take care of me. I’d always assumed that night was a hallucination brought on by the illness and I’d misremembered things but I’d felt that same sense of raw power.

  I liked how that felt. I didn’t want to spend my life being weak and afraid.

  This was my opportunity. I just had to be careful how I handled things. Avoid Lyr if possible and when not possible, stick to public areas to prevent another incident. I also needed to determine why Rhydian had warned me not to eat. My appetite hadn’t return but I knew eventually I was going to have to eat something. I would study and learn what I needed to in order to survive in this strange place.

  I did my best and for the most part managed to stick to my intentions. I alternated between spending my time in the library, in my bedroom or in one of the communal areas. Lyr seemed to have realised that he had crossed a line and had been rather reserved around me, although I also noted that whenever he was nearby he tended to be more physical. Not in any unpleasant way or enough that I felt comfortable complaining, just small touches and sustained contact. Neala I struggled to get a read on. She had a way of talking that seemed friendly but always contained an undercurrent of something. I got the sense that the questions she asked weren’t what she was really asking about. She set me on edge.

  I still hadn’t found out why Rhydian warned me against the food despite my researching. I’d been on the verge of giving up, my appetite finally returning with a vengeance. I was sitting in the library, my stomach growling, a book balanced on my knee, when the cat had emerged carrying a package in its mouth.

  “Hey puss. What you got there?”

  The cat mewed and dropped the package in my lap. A familiar smell reached my nostrils, a smell that reminded me of home. With shaking fingers I unwrapped the package to find one of Nan’s potato cakes. I was positive it was one of hers.

  “How did you…?”

  Purring, the cat rubbed its head against my knee and settled down beside me. I nibbled at the cake, stroking the animal with one hand. It tasted like guilt and I struggled to swallow, forming a thick paste that bound my throat closed and made me cough. I didn’t regret leaving. But I did regret how I’d done it. My brothers, they hadn’t deserved that. They deserved to know that I was safe. And Nan… well, I didn’t condone what she had done but I wasn’t angry anymore. She had acted out of fear and unlike my mum she had owned up to her mistakes. She wasn’t a bad person.

  “Are they okay?” I asked the cat, my voice barely audible. It mewed and placed its front paws on my legs, rising up until its head was level with mine. “Please, tell me that they’re okay.”

  I tried to discern some emotion in the empty blackness of the cat’s eyes but there was nothing. Nothing that gave me any indication or understanding of what it had witnessed. I was overwhelmed by a sudden and intense pang of homesickness. I wanted nothing more than to feel my brothers’ arms around me.

  Tear ran down my cheeks, my eyes burned and turned the world blurry. I tasted the salt on my lips. I had no idea how long I’d been in the Otherworld. Time had lost meaning. But finally I felt something beyond the calmness, something real. I just wanted to go home.

  “There you are!”

  I wiped my eyes hurriedly and looked up to see Neala. She was dressed in red, a necklace of rubies hung around her neck that gave the impression of blood flowing from her throat. The cat hissed at the sight of her and darted off.

  “Are you okay sweetheart?” she asked, kneeling down.

  “I just… I miss my family. My old family.”

  “Of course you do. That’s understandable,” she said, wiping some stray tears from my cheeks. “We all have bad days. But it is important to put on a brave face for the people. Will you come with me?”

  I nodded and got to my feet. She led me down a section of tunnels I had never seen before.

  “I thought we could spend some time together. I know we’ve not had much opportunity to get to know one another.”

  She guided me into a dark cavern, pausing to collect a bucket that hung from a peg on the wall and a pair of thick gloves.

  “I know my brother is very fond of you Blair. He was always close to my sister and he took quite an interest in her children, her children’s children. As did I. But there comes a time when you learn that it is better just not to get too attached to people who are unlikely to remain very long.”

  Neala pulled on the gloves, looking down at her hands.

  “You say that like you knew they were going to die…”

  Her eyes flickered to me.

  “Nothing good ever comes of meddling with the affairs of witches. Liadan’s passing was unfortunate, but she brought that fate upon herself. And alas she also brought it upon the ones she brought into the world.” Neala paused, looking at me, her eyes cold as flint. “But enough sad talk. I want to show you something. Here.”

  She handed me the bucket and gestured to follow her into the cave. As I took hold of it, I felt the weight and the warm scent of copper hit me. Blood.

  I followed her hesitantly. I could hardly see my hand in front of my face and in the blackness, my other senses seemed to heighten. I was aware of breathing and the sound of something shuffling at the far end of the cave.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Neala whispered, her voice coming mere inches from my ear. “They can sense fear.”

  “What are they…?”

  She didn’t answer, just reached into the bucket and pulled out something. She tossed it, the item landing with a muffled splat. The effect was instantaneous, a terrible grunting and growling, the gnashing of teeth tearing into flesh and something hard scrabbling at the dirt.

  “My brother never liked it down here. As a child he would run away. Liadan would accompany me when she was younger but…there was an incident when she was in her early years. She refused to join me after that.” She took another handful of meat from the bucket. The smell was stronger now, overwhelming everything else. “Kelpies are very misunderstood creatures. They are beautiful in their own way, strong and determined. But if they smell weakness, if they get the taste of blood in the air, they can be almost unstoppable. Liadan got too close one time. She was only young, she didn’t understand how vicious they could be when provoked.”

  The noises were getting closer, each throw landing a little nearer, drawing them in.

  “I want us to be friends Blair. In fact I’d like that very much. But I have to know that I can trust you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes…”

  “Because if I can’t, that would be a great shame. I think you could have a great life down here. You just need to evaluate your priorities.” Her fingers brushed my cheek and I felt a dampness lingering on my skin. “Think about it.”

  There was a loud whinny from near my ear and a whoosh of air as something passed by my face.

  “Can you feel them? I keep five of them down here. Diomedes, Podargos, Lampon, Xanthos and Deinos. They’re standing quite close to you now.”

  I felt warm breath, smelled the fetid meat. My heart skipped a beat. Neala gently took the bucket from my hands and tossed the contents far across the room, chunks of meat raining down. There was a thunder of hooves as the animals followed the carnage.

  “Let’s get back into the light shall we?”

  She guided me out of the cavern and hung the bucket back up. In the light I could see that her gloves were soaked with blood and I could feel it staining my skin where she had touched me.

  “You should go and wash up. Don’t want them following you.”

  She was smiling when she said it but the words were said in a tone that was unmistakably threatening. I nodded and hurried away.

  I intended to go to my room, to wash off the blood but my feet led me to the entrance hall. I slowed as I realised where I was. I wanted to go home. I wanted my brothers to protect me. I’d always said I didn’t need them to take care of me, that I was old enough to loo
k after myself but I was wrong.

  I pressed my hands to the wall, feeling for the section that wasn’t really there. I didn’t know how to get out of the chamber but there had to be a way. My hands glided through the walls and I stepped inside. Nothing had changed since my first time there, the day I’d arrived. I wasn’t sure why I had expected it to.

  “I want to get out of here…” I murmured to myself, wondering if maybe I could control the room somehow. There had to be an exit. Rhydian had come to the surface, and my family had to have. So how did I do it?

  My eyes were drawn to the small pools that the lake water cascaded into. I knelt and placed a hand so it just barely made contact with the liquid. Water, water was the one place I knew I had power. At the lake, in the rain. Somehow, when there was water I could access the fae blood within me. Maybe I could use it to get out.

  The water began to bubble and rise, spilling out over the top of the pool and running across the floor. As I watched, the same thing began to happen across all the other pools until the entire floor was covered with a low layer. It continued to rise, swirling around my ankles but I didn’t feel afraid. Not like I had in the cave with Neala.

  I heard the sound of movement in the water and turned.

  “What have you done?” The angry voice of the gatekeeper came a second before his hand clamped on my throat. Underneath his palm, my necklace pressed into my windpipe as he gripped me. The gatekeeper let out a peculiar strangled cry and I felt moisture on my throat as I choked.

  I lashed out wildly, my hand colliding with his head and knocking back the hood that covered it. His face was a mess of scars and withered flesh, his sockets two empty rotten holes that crawled with a mess of squirming, writhing maggots.

  The sight burned itself into my brain as the gatekeeper cut off my oxygen and sent me plummeting into the depths of unconsciousness.

  *****

  When I woke, I was no longer in the entrance chamber. I was instead in a room with walls completely covered by ivy. My hands were bound with thick brambled vines and above me I could see that the room stretched up endlessly. There were ledges set sporadically up the walls and as I looked around I realised was on one too. It was a little bigger than I was, giving me a little space to move before I reached the edge. I couldn’t see how far up I was.

  “Rise and shine sleeping beauty. Don’t roll over now.”

  Rhydian? I cast around and eventually spotted him, perched on a ledge a few feet above mine and across the empty space. He was similarly tethered, hands stretched above his head.

  “Rhydian?”

  “The one and only.” He said with nod of his head. “Small hint, don’t pull at the vines.”

  “Why?” I looked at the brambles. They seemed innocuous enough. Maybe cause a nasty cut but nothing worse than that.

  “You know those tattoos of mine you thought were cool? Well, pulling at the vines is how you get them. Just trust me and don’t struggle.”

  “Where are we?”

  “This is where they keep the prisoners. I spent a very long time here. Almost feels like home at this point.”

  “Why are you here now? More civil disobedience?” I arched my eyebrow. When he’d said he’d spent time in prison, this wasn’t what I imagined.

  “No. Lyr just gets jealous very easily. He wasn’t very happy when he found out I’d been kissing you. He put me down here so I wouldn’t get in the way.”

  “That is the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard… why would he be jealous?”

  Rhydian shook his head in disbelief and gave me a pitying look.

  “You haven’t figured it out yet? Look, anyone with half a brain can see that the queen and prince have issues with one another. They’ve been in an uneasy truce for centuries, both waiting for the other to slip up.”

  “I got that much, thanks.”

  “But you… you tip the scales. Lyr can’t take the throne without a female of the royal blood on his side. He needs a queen. That’s why he wants you here. He’s grooming you to be his bride so he can take over. He can puppet you from behind the scenes and have control.”

  I took a moment to think about what he’d said. The thought made me feel slightly sick.

  “And what about the queen? What does she want from me?”

  “She just wants you dead. Maybe she’ll keep you around if she thinks she can use you to get rid of Lyr but you’re more of a threat to her position than he is. Same as the rest of them.”

  “I thought my family was killed by the dog?”

  “The beast.”

  “I can’t call him that. He lost any intimidation he might have had when he let me rub his belly.”

  “Gross. And you’re right, technically they were slaughtered by the beast. The dog. Whatever you want to call him. But…” He sighed. “Look I wasn’t around when Liadan was, or when most of your family were in fact. But I was there when Cliona was alive. I was born a little before she was and we were very close.”

  “If you’re about to tell me you slept with my mum, I really don’t want to know.”

  “I didn’t. We weren’t like that. We were friends. I was her bodyguard actually. I was the first male guard in the taibhsí in a millennia. My mother had been one before me but… they’re not meant to have kids. It’s a trade-off, they give up their lives for the lives of those they protect. My mother was a banshee… which makes for a very stressful childhood I can tell you. Most children don’t have to worry about dropping down dead when their parents yell at them. She never meant to have children but my species are… persuasive. She was supposed to give up her role but she refused. And then she got hurt. So I was determined to make her proud. I became Cliona’s personal guard. We went everywhere together.”

  “What does this have to do with anything?”

  “I’m getting to that. Cliona was pregnant with her first child, Rohan. We decided to go for a walk. Cliona was still technically a juvenile which meant the queen was her guardian. So she told the queen where we were going, it was a spot where we thought it would be safe. It was a place hardly anyone knew about. It was enchanted. And yet… we were found. And we were hunted. Only three people knew where we were. I was one. Cliona was another. The queen was the third.”

  “You think she set the beast on you?”

  “I’m sure of it.”

  “Is that why they put you in here the first time? Because you accused the queen?”

  “No, I’d be dead if I’d done that. Cliona and I had been running for ages. We didn’t feel safe coming back and the beast was persistent. After a while it wasn’t just him chasing us. I don’t know if the queen said I’d abducted her or something else but we were being hunted by our own kind. We split up so I could draw them away and she could make it to safety. They caught me. The queen wanted to know where Cliona had gone, I refused to tell her. She kept me down here, hoping I would break. After her death was reported, I thought they would kill me too but they just left me to rot. Until Lyr came to me with an offer.”

  “To get me.”

  “Yes. He said you were in danger, that the beast was near and he wanted me to get you away from him, maybe see if I could convince you to come back with me. In return, I would get a full pardon. And here we are.”

  “If you cared so much about my mother, why would you bring me down here, knowing the queen wanted me dead?”

  “The queen wanted you dead, no matter where you were Blair. But I knew that down here, she was less likely to make a move. She wouldn’t risk losing her position to take you down, that’s why she gets others to do her dirty work for her. But now you’re in here, all she needs to do is knock you off the platform and say you fell.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes, lying back on the ledge.

  “I just wanted to go home…”

  “Well now I’m glad you’re down here. The second you set foot up there, that witch of hers would be all over you.”

  My eyes flickered open and looked up to Rhydian. One thing about
his conspiracy theory didn’t really make sense, something I remembered Lyr telling me.

  “I thought witches and fae hated one another.”

  “We do. But there’s a bunch of reasons why a witch would agree to help a fae. For one, fairy blood is highly powerful. And with royal fae… that witch could make herself almost one of us.”

  “If she wasn’t there… would it be safe?” I asked, his comment stirring the beginning of an idea inside of me.

  “Well… as far as I know the queen only has the witch and the beast. The beast seems to have a fondness for you and I doubt the queen would come to the surface herself. She’d probably find a new person to help her but it would take a while.”

  He lapsed into silence. The two of us sat on our ledges, both wrapped up in our own thoughts. I wondered if Rhydian was thinking about Cliona. I was still upset about him deceiving me but it made more sense now. I could understand it, even if I didn’t excuse his actions. I tried to get into a comfortable position, which was difficult with my arms secured. I tried moving a little, trying to get the brambles to give. The thorns cut into my skin, sending rivulets of blood running down my arms.

  “Don’t,” Rhydian said. I jumped. I hadn’t realised he’d been watching me. “Try to sleep. It makes the time go by quicker.”

  BLAIR

  I tried to do what Rhydian suggested but I didn’t quite succeed. After a while the ivy on my wall parted and a door opened. Lyr was there, looking unimpressed.

  “Evening Blair. How are you enjoying our dungeon?”

  “It’s impressive. But I would rather like to leave it now.”