Firewyrm

by Erik Schubach

  Titania looked perturbed, like I had taken a toy away from her, then continued, “I wished to address the... unfortunate events of this evening.”

  I prompted, “You mean the frightened Firewyrm who had inadvertently burned her way through B-Ring and threatened the forest?”

  Yang shot me a scathing look as Riese muttered, “Shade, stand down.”

  Titania said from beside me as she was now walking around me, studying me again, “No, it is alright, I admire her directness.” Then she asked me, “But aren't Firewyrms just legend?”

  I could feel light playful magics that felt like a gentle embrace and smelled of all things green as it gently cajoled me. I slapped it away in my mind and she blinked in surprise then smiled widely, it was as frightening as it was beautiful. She dragged a finger along my shoulders as she passed behind me, giggling out, “So what the boy was prattling on about you is true...” Boy? What boy? Was she referring to my resistance to magic?

  She stopped in front of me and locked eyes with me, and I could see the flame where her pupils should be. And she was gone, speaking from her throne again. “Yes... a Firewyrm. My Firewyrm.”

  Commander Reise spoke up, “Where might we find this... Firewyrm?” He sounded disbelieving, then added, “your Highness? It caused a lot of damage, and we are still trying to locate all of the residents of the area to ensure there were no casualties besides those sent to medical with burns and smoke inhalation. And we'll need to know who released it into...”

  She waved him off. “Of course. That is why all of you are here right now. I wish for you to arrest the only person it could possibly be. It would do her good to work down in the mines in the Heart.”

  Then she warned, “But no, I will not tell you where Ember is. Nobody will touch her, nor will her existence be disclosed to anyone who hasn't heard Lieutenant Shade prattle on about it.”

  He started to say, “It put not just the citizens of Alpha-B at risk, but...” as I took a step forward to be even with him and I offered, “It's got the mind of a child. She was lost and afraid and didn't mean any harm.”

  Queen Titania cocked an eyebrow as Reise chastised me, “How would you...”

  I crossed my arms, realizing only after I did it how petulant it probably looked as I blurted, “Because she spoke with me... or sort of gave me impressions of... well she communicated her fear, and something about the 'big black', it was all jumbled.”

  Now the Summer Lady looked positively shocked as she told him while she seemed to study me with interest, like this was the first time she had seen me, “She is right. Firewyrms are lesser Fae, sentient, not animals. They mature slowly, and Ember is just over five thousand years old. With the physical and mental capacity of a three-year-old. They mature in a couple hundred thousand years.”

  President Yang spoke carefully, her brow pinched, “But the charter specifically banned any fire nature elementals, Fae, or other preternatural from joining the population of the Worldship, as fire is the most dangerous thing on a space vessel.”

  I didn't know of such a ban. I was under the impression that Queen Mab had basically tricked the Humans of Old Earth into giving seats to every single Fae and member of the preternatural races. I wracked my brains trying to think of what races in legends were not part of the population on the world. All that came to mind were Firewyrms, dragons, and demons. But even the Fae say that demons are just fairy tales.

  Could it be true that there were dragons on Earth that were left behind? I mean, if there really are Norse Firewyrms... And Firewyrms were Fae? If dragons existed, were they Fae too? I had so many questions for Aurora when we had lunch tomorrow. The only question was, what were the answers going to cost me? Even though I think we're dating-ish, not even she gives information up freely. It is just the nature of the Fae.

  The President blinked in shock as she asked, hurt, “You... you broke the contract?”

  The Queen looked mad that anyone would accuse her of that, even if it were true, but she schooled her face and then nodded and said with emotion in her tone, “I couldn't leave her... she's just a baby. I am willing to offer recompense to the Presidential Office for this minor oversight. Every elected president since Exodus has petitioned the Fae courts for offices in an A-Ring. And as I only hold dominion over the Alpha and Gamma-Stacks, as Winter holds the others, I am willing to grant Presidential offices and quarters in Gamma in recompense.”

  Yang's disappointment turned to one I was quite familiar with whenever politicians were given a political boon, a scheming smugness as she wondered how she could use this as leverage against her rivals. I could see her quick mind going through the possibilities. Ah... there was the president I voted for.

  She inclined her head in acceptance, then I could see her eyes widen slightly when she obviously made the realization that she would be living among the people she idolized. Been there done that, I actually preferred the C-Ring since everyone in the A-Ring treated me like an outsider and I definitely didn't feel welcome there even though it was a necessity with me being forcibly assigned to FABLE.

  Yang, on the other hand, was half-Elf, and that would afford her some respect, as the Elves were seen almost as equals in the estimation of the Fae. The prestige of being the first President invited to dwell among the Fae would give her more political clout than any of her predecessors.

  I did note and tried to hide the smile threatening on my lips, that it was in the Gamma-Stack, not Alpha. The Queen was distancing the President as far away from her as she could while making it look like restitution for breaking the charter. I froze, realizing the Summer Lady was watching me piece it all together. She smirked then turned away.

  Reise looked around then said, “We'll need to see where you are holding the Firewrym. How have you hidden it on the ship for so long? I just queried Mother and she can't find it on the ship's schematics and all her scans are coming up empty.”

  The Queen flicked her finger and the commander glurked, his mouth covered with leaves and vines. “I didn't bring you here to investigate. As I said, there is only one possible suspect as she is the only one who can lower the wards to let Ember escape. I want you to arrest Queen Mab.”

  Then she looked at me. “And all know that since you...” She looked down her arm and finger at me, “are her pet, you are bound to not arrest her. You wear her mark to assure you do not. That is why the Grindle is here too.”

  I growled, “I'm nobody's pet. And how can you be sure it was Mab?”

  “This is tedious. As I have said, only she and I can drop the wards at the doors of Ember's pen. And since I know it was not me, then logic dictates the only possible answer. That it was the Winter Lady. Only she can visit my Ember without me, as I can her Flame.”

  I looked at the commander who was still trying to pull the leaves off his mouth and contemplated her words. The Greater Fae couldn't lie... so... “Wait... Flame? There's another Firewyrm on board?”

  The Queen closed her eyes, looking to chastise herself for her slip, then she opened them and smiled innocently, to devastating effect. “Did I forget to mention that? Yes, Flame is Ember's older sister. Mab and I have been raising them.”

  I nodded as I wondered how Mother couldn't locate two flaming creatures who have been hiding somewhere on the world since the Leviathan was built. Maybe thermal... “I've tried thermal scans, and structural resonance scans, there is just no place on my schematics where a Firewyrm could be. I cannot scan the Palaces though.”

  That was a thought. Instead of complaining about Mother listening in on my thoughts through the neural interface of my armor again, I decided to ask point-blank to see if she denied it. “Are you hiding Ember in your palace? Where Mother isn't allowed to scan?”

  The woman actually tittered. “You want information from me for free? I have already volunteered more than was needed to implicate Mab. I never thought she'd go that far. What do I get if we play your game?”

  “The satisfa
ction of knowing you helped the people of the world instead of just sitting in your shiny palace looking down on us all?” I mirrored her sweet innocent smile with malice.

  She chuckled at that as the President started to reprimand me but Titania raised a hand stalling her as she gave me a wicked grin. I almost backpedaled as the Queen was beside me in a blink, whispering in my ear. “Why shouldn't I look down upon you? You had my son spaced.”

  My body shivered, it was all I could do to stop from running away screaming. Instead, I turned my head to look her straight in the eye, knowing that she could enthrall me into a drooling mess of desire in an instant, but I wanted her to see the truth as I spoke low so the others couldn't hear, “I didn't do anything, HE brought it on himself by killing people, harvesting their organs.” Then I hissed, “He harvested my eggs and tried to steal my will.” Then I reined in my rage and whispered calmly, “That is why he was found guilty under the law and was spaced. Did I take pleasure in being the one to carry out the actual sentence?”

  I narrowed my eyes and growled out louder, “Yes.”

  She chuckled from her throne. It was disconcerting when she did that. I looked up at her as she said in contemplation, “I can see now why Mab keeps you around. You are... interesting, and not afraid of us.”

  Actually, I was terrified.

  She continued, “Just for the way you spoke with me just now, I would normally have had you growing roots, and learning the folly of such impudence adorning my bedchambers as a tree. But since I can't fault you for my son's minor indiscretions, I find myself liking you.”

  Then she shrugged. “A deal then? I answer three questions for you, and you agree to run along with your partner to arrest the one responsible for releasing my dear Ember and causing this whole mess.”

  “Or how about you stop playing Fae games and... mmpf” Graz buzzed out of my helmet in distress as vines tied a handful of leaves in my mouth. I could actually taste the magic, they weren't real, it was a spell. I grabbed them and yanked them away, they couldn't grab hold of me and dissolved in my hand as I started to pull a mag-strip from my belt. “Queen Titania, I bind you by law for using magic against...”

  President Yang snapped out, “Lieutenant Shade, stand down!”

  The Summer Lady again put up a halting hand then cocked her head at me, nodding. “I see why you are so fascinating to Mab and Sindri now... and why that old doddering fool, Oberon, favors you. Even our magics cannot bind you for long.” She had just been testing me? And the mention of her illegitimate son's name brought up an involuntary shiver. He... had made me a victim, and I feel perpetually broken because of it.

  “Please, let us play. Deal?” she asked.

  I told her, knowing I'd likely not even get three answers from her if I didn't, “You realize we'd arrest the one responsible whether we make this deal or not don't you? You should just be forthcoming with your answers.”

  She shrugged and I sighed, “Fine. Three answers, but only to questions I specify as part of the bargain. And not sealed with a...”

  I felt as if I were on fire as power poured into me, singeing my very soul as the Summer Lady kissed me. My icy lips sizzling with steam. A tiny portion of me was aroused by the kiss and then she let go of me and I dropped to the ground gasping as she said, “Done. Sealed with a kiss.” Then she said from her throne as she licked her lips, “Are you sure you aren't Fae? Your wording was quite specific.”

  She had the sort of incomprehensible world-building magic that Mab had, and I let Daniel help me to my feet as I swayed, my body trying to recover from so much magic being forced into me.

  Graz said, “Umm... Knith?” as she stared at my lips.

  Yang gasped.

  I absently reached up and heard the familiar clink of my gauntlet on ice, then froze. I retracted the nano-panels from my fingers and touched again. My upper lip was still ice, but my lower lip... it burned like fire without singeing my skin. Fuck me sideways and space me naked, I had just been marked by another Fae Queen. Why?

  She said smugly from her throne, “Couldn't allow Mab to be the only one to hold sway over you. So now ask your three questions, a contract is a contract after all.”

  I glared at her then slowly smiled. “No. Our investigation will uncover the truth anyway. But now, the Queen of the Summerlands owes me three answers. I'll hold onto those questions for some future time. And you get to simmer, knowing that you owe me.”

  As I started to turn to leave, she hissed, “Insolent Human, don't think you bested me!”

  I felt sluggish as my lip flared, I looked at my feet and I was starting to grow roots. I pushed at the magic, growling at it as I started to feel stiff. “Get... off... of... me!” Titania gasped and I tore my foot from the ground, snapping roots.

  My anger got the best of me, and I shouldn't have done it but I growled back at her, “Like a mere Human bested your son, a Greater Fae?” It was petty of me and I regretted it the moment it passed my lips.

  She was incensed as she swung her hand to point at a tree beside the throne which was bearing flowers and fruit. “And he's paying for that failure now!”

  My heart started to beat faster, the panic was rising in my chest as I blinked at the impossible. How had I not seen it earlier? The tree by the throne was reaching to the lights like the others, only one branch was but a stump. And I recognized the pretty man in the bark of the trunk, the sneer on his lips when he had been turned to wood so familiar. I took a step back stumbling to be caught by Dan.

  It was Sindri.

  My mouth worked soundlessly until I finally ground out hoarsely, “Sindri? But... but he was spaced. He was... convicted and... spaced. I did it myself.” The world spun, not making any sense.

  She was all smiles now as she said, “Yes, he was, and yes, you did. My son had made a deal with a Remnant captain from his cell during the trial. You spaced him, which is a cruel and unusual punishment for a Fae, as it does not kill us, our bodies just freeze and we float endlessly through space, aware and awake the whole time.”

  Shrugging she was suddenly standing at the tree caressing the cheek of the man I hated more than anything. “As it was, Sin floated out there for six hours until the Remnant wreck was able to retrieve his frozen body. He was brought before me and now he is paying the price for failure and for the sins he perpetrated on the world. I may keep him this way until we reach our destination. The foolish boy.”

  I looked from her at the leafy Sindri, to the President who was looking sheepish and then to the commander who was still gagged. He and Yang didn't look surprised. I tried to make any sense of the world, then grabbed a mag-band. “Restore him. I'm taking him into custody.”

  She shook her head and giggled. “You cannot. He was tried for his crimes already and was sentenced to spacing. You yourself carried out his sentence, did you not? Since the sentence was passed and executed, he cannot be tried a second time for the same crimes. It is the double jeopardy loophole in the laws which we all must abide.”

  I wanted nothing more than to slap the smug look from her pretty face, then chop down the wooden Sindri and use him as kindling. But President Yang was telling me with regret, “It is true, Knith. We didn't wish to upset you when we learned of this, but there is nothing to be done for it as they are following the letter of the law and not it's intent.”

  This was the first time I had witnessed that she didn't seem enamored with the Fae.

  I just stumbled back again and heard myself saying, “I need to go. Need to think.”

  Titania said from where she now stood at the doors, “I expect you will be having your partner arresting Mab, post-haste.”

  I blinked at that, pushing aside the shock and... fear... that was eating at me and narrowed my eyes at her. Her outrage at her son's demise was all just an act. She had been playing me for a fool, having him right next to her throne-like that the whole time. I really hated the Greater Fae.

  I ground out, “We will
conduct a thorough investigation, and will bring the guilty party to justice as I promised. If when the investigation concludes that the Winter Lady was involved, only then will she be arrested.”

  I heard her chuckling as Keller paced me as we left the guards escorting us. I looked up at the man. “I need some time to process this. We can start the investigation in the morning.” He just nodded as he studied me. Then I asked the air almost desperately, “Mother?”

  “Tac-Bike ETA, thirty seconds.” She replied quickly.

  I nodded in thanks as Graz landed on my shoulder, looking sympathetic as Mother started playing a song, called Heavily Broken by a group named the Veronicas, in my head.

  As usual, very apropos.

  Chapter 4 – Stray Cat Strut

  I had a fitful sleep when I got home. I woke up with a headache, I rubbed my eyes as I sat up in bed, groaned out, “Oww... I really hate the Greater Fae.”

  A voice beside me in my bed said, “Really now? All Greater Fae?”

  My eyes shot open and I looked over to see an overly amused, breathtaking woman sitting beside me, biting her lower lip to hold back a grin.

  Aurora Ashryver, the Winter Maiden, Princess of the Winter Court, was perhaps the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes upon, with her doll-like features, flawless skin, flowing white and silver hair, with those sublime pointed ears sticking through her locks, were coupled with bright violet eyes which always had me gaping at her.

  I shook my head as I heard Graz's muffled voice coming from my nightstand her family had commandeered as their home. “Really put your foot in it this time, Knith, you're dumb even for a big.”

  My eyes were locked on the amused princess in my bed, the left one twitching at the thought, as I said to the side like Rory couldn't hear me, “Shut up you flying rat.”

  Then to Aurora, I said, “That's not what I said.”

  Mother, ever so helpful, said in a tinny tone, “Negative, the voice records show that you did indeed...”

  “Not helping!”