by Unknown
Alexander released a frustrated sigh, praying he wouldn’t regret his decision. Gideon was a good man. Alexander didn’t want Rowena to punish Gideon in one of her twisted ways. Gideon shouldn’t be punished for his actions.
“’Tis my crystal that will guide us,” Alexander said. “All ye have to do is hold on. Here,” he said sticking his arm out, “Wrap your arm around mine. Kaelyn, come here and hold on tight.” Alexander encircled one arm around Kaelyn as she wrapped her arms around him. Gideon locked his arm with Alexander’s other one. Alexander reached up and squeezed his crystal thinking of the Isle of Skye and the year 1160.
That was the last thing he remembered.
* * * * *
Kaelyn blinked a few times before she could keep her eyes open. Even though overcast shrouded the sky, the glare hurt her eyes. Slowly, she sat up and immediately grabbed her bruised side. She looked down and realized she had been lying sideways across a large stone.
Where was she? How did she-. As her memory came flying back, she began moving faster, spinning around on her rear-end. Where was Alexander? Where was Gideon? Had they became separated when they traveled through time?
A rhythmic whooshing sound caught her attention and she rose. She was atop a large wall of cliffs, looking out into a churning ocean. She glanced around, realizing she hadn’t landed on a stone, but a grave marker. It was the burial ground of the mortal men who had once served the Guardians.
“Alexander!” she shouted, turning around. A moan sounded to her left and she quickly followed it. “Alexander,” she said with some feeling of relief. “Are you-.” The moan hadn’t come from Alexander, but from Gideon, where he lay behind a large fallen log. “Gideon!” Quickly, she ran around the log and went to help him up. “Are you alright?”
Gideon shook his head, focusing on Kaelyn. “Aye, lass. Remember, I’m immortal,” he said with a smile. “A silly wee fall like that willna hurt me.”
“I can’t find Alexander,” Kaelyn said panicked. She put her hand up to her head as tears filled her eyes. “What if he didn’t make it? What if he’s in some other time? Gideon, we have to find him!”
Gideon grabbed hold of her arms making her look at him. “Lass, we’ll find him. I ken Alexander. He’s fine. Let’s spread out a ways, but not too far, ye ken?” Kaelyn nodded and both vigilantly went in opposite directions shouting Alexander’s name.
The wind grew heavy, sending her hair darting around her head. The waves crashed below and the tall grass thrashed at her legs. The wind whirled in her ears, but she still heard the small croak. A croak sounding more like her name. Kaelyn went to the edge of the cliffs and glanced down, careful not to get too close.
There, beneath her on a ledge, Alexander laid sprawled out. He began to move when she lay down on the edge, reaching over. “Alexander, grab my hand!” she yelled frantically to him. Alexander sat up and gingerly rubbed his head. He sat dangerously close to falling off the ledge and plummeting to the roaring ocean below. He was immortal, but it made her sick to her stomach thinking of him falling all that ways. “Grab my hand,” she yelled again.
“Lass,” Gideon called out from behind her, “did ye find him?” Gideon ran over, crouching down next to Kaelyn. “Alexander, Alexander,” he shouted loudly. “Grab my hand!” He glanced at Kaelyn. “Step back, lass. I’ll get him up safely.”
Kaelyn relinquished back a step, hating that she couldn’t help. She watched as Gideon slid almost half his body over the edge and intertwined his feet around a jumbled ball of roots stuck firmly in the ground. After a few unbearable seconds, Alexander’s hand reached over the edge.
A huge sigh escaped her. Immortal or not, she knew she had almost lost him. Thank God Alexander had taken Gideon, because the rock face was sleek and sheer with nothing to grab onto. Kaelyn would never have been able to pull him up by herself.
Once Alexander crawled over the edge and rested safely a few feet away, Kaelyn ran over, sinking to her knees. She bent down over his body and held his head. A tear drop fell on his cheek as she kissed his cheeks, eyes, forehead…anything she could reach.
Alexander laughed. “I’m alright, Kaelyn.”
Kaelyn pulled back. Blood was on his hairline above his forehead. “You’re hurt!”
Alexander wiped his finger across his head and looked at the blood on his fingertips. “Nay, lass. ‘Tis already healed. Dinna worry,” he said softly, realizing Kaelyn had thought she lost him. “Everything’s alright now.”
Kaelyn ran her hand through her tangled hair. “I-I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” she mumbled on the verge of breaking down.
Alexander ran his thumb down the side of her face. He knew it wasn’t just this moment making her upset. It was the buildup of everything. Everyone had a breaking point and she was close to hers. “Lass, you’re the bravest, strongest woman I’ve ever known. You’ll get through this and see it to the end. I ken ye can do it.” Kaelyn nodded, smiling weakly. Alexander leaned up, kissing her on the lips, making her forget her worries.
“I hate to break this up,” Gideon said from beyond them, “but ye said we have to find the fairy cave below, aye?”
Alexander let his kiss linger for a moment before pulling away. “Morna said the cave was below the burial ground. We can only get there at low tide.”
Gideon glanced over. “I dinna think it’s low tide yet. Mayhap, another hour or so.”
Alexander looked up in the sky. “From the looks of it, we have maybe three or four hours of light left. We’ll need to be ready to go when the tide goes out.”
“Then let’s find where we’ll go down and get ready,” Gideon said.
Alexander gave Kaelyn one more kiss as his gaze asked the question if she was ready to move on. She let out a deep breath. “Let’s go.”
* * * * *
After waiting over an hour for the tide to go out, they finally made their way down the cliff side. Gideon found a spot where the decline wasn’t as sheer. They walked through waterlogged ground, scrambled on the rocks for footing and hand holds, and finally descended to moss covered boulders. They backtracked a few yards along the rocky shore so they would be below the burial site above. As the tide went out, mussels and oysters littered the newly exposed, rocky ground.
Kaelyn, out of breath, glanced up at the canyon walls. They had to be at least a hundred feet tall in some spots. The three of them would be trapped if they weren’t out by the time the tide came back in. They found the cave entrance, which had a squat stone wall, maybe three or four feet high, built in a half-circle around the entrance.
Alexander reached his hand out, helping Kaelyn over. The cliff wall had two rectangular holes on each side about the size of a doorway. “Which side?” Kaelyn asked.
Alexander stepped through and within seconds came back out the other side. “Either,” he said. “They both lead to the same chamber.”
Kaelyn held onto Alexander’s hand once more as he led her inside with Gideon following. Kaelyn’s skin began to tingle and her hair stood on end. Something was down here, she was sure of it. They walked through one dark cavern and continued toward a ray of light at the opposite end of the chamber. When they got there, Kaelyn saw an entrance to another room. A lush, grassy mound lay in the center of the cavern with delicate, white flowers sprinkled over it. The light they had seen was a spotlight shinning down on the mound. Kaelyn looked up, but couldn’t find how the light was supplied. There wasn’t a hole in the cavern roof.
“I think this is it,” Alexander said. “Did Morna tell ye what has to be done?”
Kaelyn’s hands grew clammy in anticipation of this either working, or not. She wasn’t sure which she wanted to happen. She turned to Alexander. “I need to do this by myself. Would you wait over by the entrance?”
Alexander’s mouth thinned. He paused a moment before giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be close and I’ll be watching from the doorway. If ye need anything, I’ll be there in but a second.”
&nb
sp; Kaelyn nodded. He kissed her once more, quickly on the cheek, and then he and Gideon took their places by the entrance. They rested their hands on their swords and Kaelyn knew they’d be drawn in an instant if needed. That still didn’t comfort her as much as she liked.
“Okay,” she said softly, releasing her breath, “here goes nothing.” Kaelyn sunk to her knees at the edge of the mound and put her hands on the grass. The cool damp blades pushed up through her fingers. She lowered her head and closed her eyes. She began doing as Morna had directed. She thought of the Fae and of their blood running through her body. The blood of her ancestors. Her arms grew cold and tingly. Calming vibrations reached out from the grass, fluttering up her arms.
A warm, soft hand reached under her chin. “You finally came home, Caelan.” Kaelyn raised her head, only to find an eight foot tall, surreal creature standing before her. The Fae queen herself. Kaelyn knew to the very marrow of her bones. The queen had huge, beautiful, black doe eyes with long, dark lashes, almost an alien-like quality to the eyes. Her narrow nose was straight and slightly turned up at the end on her long oval face with, plump, blue lips. The queen’s hair shimmered gray-blue, offsetting her light, silver-hued skin. White gauzy fabric floated around her body as if it were a dream and time stood still.
Kaelyn was speechless. The creature was beyond beautiful. More beautiful than anything she’d ever seen in her life. Kaelyn glanced back to Alexander and Gideon. What did they think?
“They can’t see me, Caelan,” the queen said, using Kaelyn’s Gaelic name. Her voice floated around the cavern walls in an airy and feminine resonance, but commanded presence all the same. “Only a true Fae, or a human from our bloodline can call upon me. You after all, are the only descendant left. It is you I have been waiting for…for a millennia.”
“I-I know,” Kaelyn began nervously, “The thing is, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m not this great savior everyone’s waiting for. I’m just a girl. I-I can’t do this.”
The Fae Queen smiled. “We all make sacrifices. Some harder than others.”
Kaelyn glanced back at Alexander. “I can’t leave him,” she whispered.
“Caelan, do you know what we are? What every living thing in existence is?” Kaelyn slowly shook her head. “We are all energy. True, pure, beautiful energy. The Fae create life. We don’t end it. When a living creature lives its last days, their energy continues on forever. We all unite again.” She reached her hand out once more and cradled Kaelyn’s face. Slowly, she guided Kaelyn to stand up. The queen navigated Kaelyn’s hand, leading it up to cover over the Fae queen’s own heart. “You are our savior.”
A warmth Kaelyn had never felt before ran through her veins. All the fear, the insecurities, they disappeared. “Close your eyes and watch,” the queen said. Kaelyn closed her eyes. A movie of pictures played in her head. Images she couldn’t stop, rewind, or fast forward.
The years went back slowly at first, beginning with Kaelyn in Colorado, working as she had every normal day of her life. Then, time picked up, speeding backwards, flipping images faster and faster. It stopped at the beginning of time. The beginning of the Fae. And then, the movie played.
The Fae and Mother Earth were one. They nourished the Earth making the soil ripe and fertile. Once a Fae died, it would go back into the earth, nurturing it with its energy, repeating the cycle.
The movie panned out to a throne with the first Fae Queen. She ruled flawlessly as everything worked together impeccably. Until, humans began roaming the Earth. Some Fae grew sick with diseases left by the humans. Others starved from when the humans picked crops, but never planted more.
The Fae’s numbers decreased rapidly, until only a few hundred remained. They had to move to the caves and hide, for humans didn’t understand them. The queen ordered her warriors to go above and capture fourteen females. She wanted to impregnate the human females and have her bloodline continue after she was gone, for disease had struck her. The first queen didn’t have much time left.
This new creation of Fae and human combined would be stronger and it was her hope they would survive in the human’s world. Out of the fourteen pregnant women, only one delivered a child with the look of a human. The other thirteen women died in childbirth as they delivered half-Fae, half-beasts. The little beastlike creatures’ skin was cold and pale, and their eyes were as blue as the sky. They had strong powers, much too strong to walk amongst the humans.
The Queen loved them all the same. She wouldn’t have them destroyed. Instead, she decided she would raise them deep in the caves with the remaining Fae.
The human-like child was also raised, but by a human family above. The small baby girl grew into a woman. She married and had one girl child who would have had a girl child, and so on, and so on, carrying the Fae line through the centuries.
The queen grew weary knowing her body could no longer continue. She passed her throne to the new queen who now stood before Kaelyn. When the old queen died, her body turned to dust, but left a bright, shining orb, an orb that held a millennium of power. Too strong for an ordinary Fae, and much too dangerous for a human, the new queen ordered it to be hidden deep in the caverns of the earth, and sealed behind a door.
She thought all was well once the life force was hidden behind the magical Sacred Door. For only a chosen one, with Fae blood, could open the door, but the thirteen half-beasts, half-Fae were devious and caused trouble amongst the Fae. The new queen, feeling no attachment to them, banished them from the Fae caverns.
The thirteen beasts, one woman and twelve men, traveled to a secluded cave, making it their home. They honed their powers, creating thirteen Immortal beings from magic to help the Guardians create a world and life without humans.
They called themselves the Guardians, because they moved into the same caverns as the Orb of life. They meant to get back at their Fae brethren and make sure they could never take the orb back. If the Guardians couldn’t have it, neither could the Fae.
Some of the Guardians knew right from wrong and continued to look upon the Fae as their creators, their “God”. But one had very powerful gifts, not only of magic, but of persuasion. And this Guardian could persuade most. She wanted the throne of her mother, but had never received it. Instead, she had been ousted by the new queen. The Guardian, Rowena who had honed her powers to be one of the most powerful, was out for revenge. She wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted. A throne. Human slaves to rule. A kingdom all her own as big as eternity.
Kaelyn blinked as the movie in her head faded away. She opened her eyes and looked up at the queen. “You won’t fail us, Caelan,” the queen said, calling her once again by her true Fae name. “I know you won’t. The power of the white light is in you.” The queen dropped her hand away from Kaelyn and glanced over Kaelyn’s shoulder staring at Alexander. A small smile touched her lips. Kaelyn followed the queen’s gaze. Alexander grasped the crystal in his hand looking as though he prayed over it with his eyes shut. “He worries about you,” the queen said softly.
“I know. I care about him.”
The queen smiled and then looked back down at Kaelyn. “Now go. Save us, Caelan. ‘Tis your destiny.”
“Wait,” Kaelyn quickly shouted, stopping the queen. “I still don’t know what I’m going to do about Cain, or Rowena,” she mumbled.
The Fae Queen smiled. “Use your power. As for the orb, don’t let anyone else get it, but you. Now go.”
“Wait!” Kaelyn frantically shouted again. “Where is it? Where am I supposed to go?”
“Why the Grampian Mountains,” the queen said with a smile. She motioned over to Alexander and Gideon who still stood on guard by the door. “Your friends will show you the way. And remember, the door can only be opened two times in a year’s cycle. Beltane and Samhain. It’s when the door calls to you, Caelan, and you grow restless. Your body will answer the call this time, for Samhain is arriving. Go, be safe my Caelan.”
Kaelyn was about to speak when the queen disap
peared into thin air. Kaelyn realized she was in her previous position, still kneeling down on the ground with her hands on the mound. Had she ever even moved? Kaelyn let out a frustrated sigh. The queen forgot to tell her how she opened the door.
Open your hand, the air in the cavern whispered. Kaelyn slowly opened her palm, finding an elegant golden skeleton key, the size of her palm. So, it was real. She would really have to go through with this.
She rose as shuffling sounded behind her. Turning around, she noted Alexander’s concerned look. Gideon continued guarding the entrance. Alexander slowly shook his head. “It didna work?”
Kaelyn silently walked over, stopping when she stood before him. She looked down at her closed fist and he followed her gaze. Upon unfolding her hand, Alexander’s eyes grew large. A glowing key pulsated light for a blink of an eye.
“It did work,” Kaelyn said softly.
“But I-“
-“Only a bloodline of the Fae, or a true Fae can call upon the queen.”
“So, ye spoke to the queen?” he said with an expression of disgust. “Did ye ask her about the silly prophecy?”
Kaelyn nodded, slowly looking up at Alexander. “I have much to tell you,” she said softly.
“Kaelyn, Alexander,” Gideon yelled from the entrance, “the tide is coming in. We need to leave. Now.”
Alexander glanced down at Kaelyn. Her forehead creased. He could tell she was in deep thought about what had just transpired. He leaned down and tipped her chin up, meeting her mouth as she leaned up to him. “Come. We’ll talk tonight.” He placed a gentle hand on her lower back and guided her toward the exit of the cave.
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Grampian Mountains!” Gideon yelled, slamming his fist down on the wooden table. Kaelyn fidgeted, hoping none of the other guests at the inn would hear the two furious men. She had spent the last hour repeating what the Fae queen had told her.
