Having more faeries this round did allow them to go higher. I had no idea how they were carrying me though. Unfortunately, mid-flight they had an argument about which way to go and almost dropped me.
Once they’d all regained ahold of me, I looked around for landmarks. “Go right! I see the house, right.”
I swear the faeries never had a problem with right and left until now. My right leg went one way, and my left the other. We were all dropping for a few seconds, until Garbage whistled.
“Is THAT right, not other right!”
My limbs untwisted and we descended at a rapid speed toward the house.
I’d only been gone an hour or so, but it was enough for Flarinen and Kelm to put on their armor, and the rest of our merry bunch to load up on weapons and all gather in the front yard.
I was glad to see them, but yelling hello wasn’t an option. If I opened my mouth the only thing coming out would be a scream.
We were dropping in height but not in speed.
Covey was more of a hunter than the others and noticed the flock of faeries, and their passenger, first.
I tried mentally yelling at the faeries to slow down, but they were either ignoring me, or it didn’t go through.
Covey yelled and pointed so everyone turned around. Which was a good thing because at that moment the faeries hit an invisible shield of some sort and we all fell from the sky.
32
I’d really thought we had dropped more in height than we apparently did, as it felt like a long way to fall. Unfortunately, it also went far too quick and the ground was going to smack me in a second. A small part of my mind screamed to use a spell, but the rest of my brain wouldn’t stop jabbering long enough to form a word of one in my head.
Alric ran to where I was about to hit the ground and shouted a spell. I immediately stopped and hung in the air about three feet above him. The faeries kept falling and bounced off the ground a few times. They were far more bounceable than I was and I wasn’t worried about their rough landing.
Alric slowly lowered me until I landed in his arms. It would have been romantic if all of our friends weren’t crowding around us.
“What happened?” I couldn’t see a shield but I’d felt it when it knocked us out of the sky.
“The faeries stole you so we thought maybe they were working for the other side.” Kelm’s words started fast then died down as twenty-two faeries started pulling themselves out of the ground and glaring at him.
“Now, now.” Lorcan stepped forward, holding his hands out in front of the faeries. “Kelm isn’t a magic user. There was no way he could have dropped you out of the sky. Padraig and I made the shield to stop all flyers. We do apologize and will provide full recompense. However, you must agree that picking up Taryn and flying off against her will was rather rude.”
As much as I enjoyed being in Alric’s arms, I felt a bit odd with everyone around us, so I scrambled down. “It wasn’t their fault. They’d been ordered to grab me and bring me back. Not that they obey my orders that well, but apparently for some people they do.” I looked around at the houses around us. People might have ignored a full attack by a projected image of a mage and a pack of rakasa. They were not, however, ignoring a pack of faeries and a person falling from the sky. Windows had faces and a few were even open.
“How about we all go back inside? There are things to tell that don’t need extra ears listening.”
Everyone nodded and we trooped inside. Except Flarinen. He stopped at the door. “I don’t believe we are safe, I shall wait out here.”
He’d gone from mopey to snotty in a lot less time than I’d expected.
The faeries also declined to join us and sat in a half circle facing the door—and Flarinen. They didn’t look happy and even though Flarinen hadn’t dropped them from their flight, they looked like they were finding ways to blame him for it.
There wasn’t going to be an easy way to say what needed to be said, so I didn’t even try.
“Nasif and Dueble survived the explosion and ended up being flung a little over a hundred years into the future from when we left them. The elves who survived the battle with the Dark had all gone into hiding, and the people who moved into the areas past the ruins said they’d all died. So the two traveled around. They found out when the shield dropped on the enclave that there were elves alive.” I looked around and poured myself some water. I’d been talking fast and flying seemed to make me thirsty.
Lorcan’s eyes had lit up at his friend’s name. “Where are they? How do you know all this?”
I held up one finger and finished my water. “They are right outside of Null, they sent the faeries to get me, and they seem to be time challenged of a sort and can’t come into Null without getting physically sick.”
Padraig must have known Nasif before he was attacked as well, he smiled when I said they were alive, but it dropped into a frown. “Time challenged?”
“They were out of time, if that’s what you’d call it, for over a hundred years. Both of them are now sensitive to time fluctuating areas—like Null. The faeries were right; Alric and I seemed to have fixed part of what was wrong with Null by going back in time. But it’s an odd time area.” I shrugged. Talking more about time travel weirdness wasn’t making it any clearer to me. “Oh, and they think they are both immortal now.”
“What? I really must talk to them. Well, Nasif at least. I am afraid I never knew your syclarion friend, but if you, Alric, and Nasif all vouch for him, he must be a fine person indeed.” Lorcan got to his feet and went for the door.
“Shouldn’t we be armed?” Kelm asked, and the way he was looking toward the closed front door I was sure Flarinen would be saying the same thing. Only with more attitude.
“Nasif is my friend and I don’t believe a thousand years would have changed that. However, if there is something amiss with this situation, I am as armed as I need to be.” Lorcan flexed his fingers.
That was true. I’d never seen him fight with anything but his formidable magic. I did note that even though they were also skilled mages, both Alric and Padraig were donning their spirit swords. I looked around for mine and realized that I’d left it up in the room I shared with Covey. I turned to go upstairs, then felt it in my hand.
I dropped it, but managed to catch the hilt before it struck the ground.
“You have to stop sneaking up on me like that.” I slipped it into the sheath, which had also appeared.
“I don’t know that it can hear you,” Padraig said as he walked by me toward the door.
“It can’t hurt, can it? Can you imagine if it starts playing games during a fight?” I thought I felt a slight twinge come from the sword. I didn’t care what anyone else thought—this thing understood me.
Once everyone was armed, we went outside to an interesting tableau. The faeries and Flarinen were playing a game. I actually did a double take and rubbed my eyes to make sure it wasn’t an elaborate trick by the faeries.
Nope. They were playing a game. They’d found a few nuts, rounded with age and being on the ground. The faery with the nut would kick it to Flarinen who would catch it and flick it back over their heads. Without flying, a number of faeries would launch themselves into the air, fight over control of it, then crash to the ground. The winner would then kick it to Flarinen.
“I taught them a game.” He flicked the nut back into the air as he spoke.
I looked from the faeries to Flarinen and back again.
“A game,” Alric said without a question.
Flarinen shrugged then flung the nut out again. “Yeah. It seemed like the thing to do, they just kept staring at me. Plus the other two flyers, and one crazy blue thing, are probably distracting anyone around us from what is going on here.”
I looked up. Sure enough Bunky and the gargoyle were half-heartedly chasing around a slowly descending Crusty. “You dropped the shield spell I assume?” I asked Lorcan, but it looked to me like Crusty and her escorts were definitely flying ove
r the area that the rest of the faeries and I had fallen from.
“Yes, once we realized the faeries weren’t doing anything wrong,” Padraig said.
“Where are Nasif and Dueble staying?” Alric had added a few smaller blades to his collection.
“Out a little past the city limits, they have a secret spot, but Nasif will be waiting outside of it to let us in.”
“I don’t know that all of us should go.” Flarinen had finished his game with the faeries and rose to his feet. “Kelm and I should stay behind to guard our possessions.” He nodded to Padraig, Alric, and Covey. “You have enough fighters.”
Alric looked ready to argue, but then nodded. “Agreed. But, I think some of the faeries should stay here as well.” He turned to where the girls were flying around. “You all know how to get to this secret place, right?” At their odd assorted chorus of affirmatives, he waved Garbage over. “Can you select five of the most dedicated faeries to stay here? Their job will be to come find us if anything goes wrong. Flarinen and Kelm will stay here, but they’d come find us if that changes in any way. Obviously, if someone attacked them.”
His choice of words was subtle, and I would have thought too subtle for faeries. He clearly wanted them to come find us if Flarinen or Kelm left the house—as well as if they were attacked.
Garbage narrowed her eyes and glanced at the two knights. She slowly nodded her head then winked. “We watch. I stay.” She pointed out four other faeries, leaving Leaf and Crusty to lead the rest of us.
This was a day of wonders. Flying by faery—twice, Flarinen playing a game, and now Garbage understanding something subtle. This might not be because of the trip Alric and I took, but this was definitely becoming a different world than we left.
With the faeries divided up, and Bunky and the gargoyle opting to stay with Garbage and her crew, we made our way to the edge of town. Unfortunately, flying at a high speed and with faeries who didn’t know which way they were going didn’t leave much time for noticing landmarks. Plus, outside of town there were few landmarks to notice. Lots of sand, rocks, and odd-looking plants. A small grove of woods up ahead was a welcome sight.
The faeries weren’t paying attention, instead they were dive-bombing the few birds we saw along the way. Lorcan had taken the lead, but he slowed down as we got a short distance into the thin clump of scraggly trees.
“Okay, now where?” He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the area.
“Girls…GIRLS!” I had to yell, but Leaf finally recalled she was in command on this and brought the other faeries over. “Which way do we go?
Leaf tore off to the left. Then doubled back, confusing the pack of faeries who were following her, and went to the right.
“Ladies.” Alric stood in the middle of the flight path and held out a closed fist. “I have sugar, good, solid, rock sugar. But I can only give it to you when you take us to Nasif.” He cracked open his fist enough to let the faeries see what he had, then closed it up tight.
I must have looked surprised because he winked at me. “Harlan gave me some tips before he left.”
The faeries all huddled together in the air. One or two would turn to look at Alric, then back to their huddle.
Finally Leaf came up to me. “Only work with you.”
I had a bad feeling I knew what she meant.
“You want me to lead?” Maybe deliberately misunderstanding would help.
“We need pick up. Only way.” Leaf nodded her head and darted forward to grab a hold of my arm.
Alric grabbed my other arm. “You need to find your way without picking up Taryn. Or anyone else.”
Obviously they could do it; they’d found Nasif and Dueble before they’d carried me in. Leaf was being more obtuse than usual. And she probably liked flinging me through the air. She was becoming more like Garbage every day.
“Is no can—”
“Taryn! Alric! Lorcan!” Nasif suddenly appeared from behind a bush and ran forward. He hugged me so fast he was little more than a blur. Then on to Alric and Lorcan. He actually lifted Lorcan in the air. A nice feat since Lorcan was quite a bit taller than him.
“Might I introduce my friend Covey? And I think you know Padraig?” I interjected after the two old friends finished hugging and patting each other on the back. I had a feeling we might want to leave Lorcan with Nasif when we went back. Those two had a thousand years to catch up on.
“Of course. A trellian, pleased to meet you, my lady.” Nasif bowed low and Covey actually blushed a bit.
“And Sir Padraig! I am happy to see you! I didn’t know you well before your attack, but I followed your work heavily.” He looked around. “Weren’t there more of you?”
Alric nodded. “Yes, two elven knights, but they stayed to guard our residence. You wouldn’t know them; both were born after the battle.”
Nasif nodded and looked at the sun. It was late in the day, but the sun wasn’t going to set for a few hours. A frown crossed his face. “I would like to meet them at some point, but things come out around here at dark. Unhealthy things that stay away from Null proper. We’d best get to our glen.”
Lorcan kept staring at him. “I can’t believe you are here and you don’t look like you’ve aged a day. How did Siabiane respond?” They started walking and I noticed the path was straight, not either direction Leaf had tried going.
Nasif chuckled. “I know, and you were always the young one. But it is so good to see you at whatever age. As for your fair lady, Siabiane wasn’t as surprised to see us as I would have thought. I do wonder how much of the rest of the world she sees. That was true back in our day, and even more so now.” His face was turned as we walked and since I was right behind them, I saw when the smile dropped. “She’s far more closed off than she was before…everything.”
“A thousand years of helping to hide our people can do that to a person.” Lorcan said softly, but he nodded in agreement.
We came to a pair of desert trees, little more than sparse, straggly shrubs. If shrubs could be said to grow six feet high. Nasif held up his left hand and we all stopped, even the faeries who had been arguing among themselves. He chanted a few words too rapidly to understand, and then raised his right hand in a flamboyant gesture.
In between the two trees a space began to grow, golden at first, then finally clear. It was more than a little disturbing to see a patch of deep green between two shrubs in a desert.
“Come on in. Dueble’s probably got an early supper on for us.” Nasif went through the portal, but stayed right inside and motioned for us all to come through. Might have been the power of suggestion, or the fact that breakfast was a while ago, but I swore I smelled chicken and potatoes.
The glen—a much more fitting name than oasis—looked as it had when I left, except the two stone houses had merged into one. I shook my head, but they were now one giant building.
“Ah, yes, impressive isn’t it?” Nasif came up behind me after the others had cleared the portal. “We don’t often do it, but with more people coming in, we thought a larger space would be handy. It’s more technology from Dueble than magic from me, however.”
We moved closer to the house and Dueble came out in an apron. Anyone who had bad feelings about syclarions, even me, would have a hard time with his bright and happy face and a flour-coated apron.
“Welcome! I’m Dueble,” he said as he shook Lorcan’s hand vigorously before moving on to Padraig and Covey. Covey looked startled; her people were not great friends with the syclarions. But since that had happened after Dueble’s time, he wasn’t aware of it. If her handshake had been a bit stiffer than the others had he gave no sign.
“And Alric!” Dueble didn’t give Alric a handshake, but picked him up off his feet. “It is so good to see you again.” He beamed to everyone then waved toward the house. “Please come in.”
The two houses had merged into one inside as well. I went and touched one of the new stone walls. It felt solid. Looking down I could see lines in the stone
floor. Faint ones, but lines none-the-less.
“Surprising, isn’t it? It took years of calculations, but I did it.” Dueble wiped his hands on his apron.
“Do you two get that many visitors out here?” My friends were looking around the house but they had no idea what it had looked like before. I agreed the tiny houses I’d seen earlier would have been problematic for a group, but considering Nasif and Dueble were pretty much hiding from anyone in Null, a larger place didn’t make much sense.
“Not really…okay, not at all. Nasif has felt we need to keep a low profile in this area because of the Event. But our glen can get cold in the winter, so we share our houses so we don’t have to go back and forth.”
“The Event?” Part of me felt I didn’t need to or want to know what anything called The Event was. There were a lot of events going on around us and I wasn’t fond of how most of them were turning out. But as usual, curiosity won.
Dueble bobbed his head. “Oh yes, the end of the world. Very exciting stuff!”
33
My friends had been walking around the house as Nasif showed them little touches. The faeries had taken over the table and I knew they’d be getting out some ale soon. And Dueble was calmly and happily telling me about the end of the world.
“Excuse me?” I couldn’t think of anything more intelligent than that. The silence of the people around me said they’d heard Dueble as well.
“Now, it’s not what you think,” Nasif said. “It is quite exciting, however.”
Alric looked from one to the other. “The end of the world would be exciting? How?”
“No, no, no. The event we are studying is the end of the Ancients’ world. And we are getting closer to finding out the truth of what happened.” Dueble added on the last bit with a gleam usually only found in the eyes of relic treasure hunters upon finding a huge haul.
“The relics might not have been from a weapon against the Ancients after all.” Dueble’s eyes got huge and he shrugged to Nasif. “I am sorry, I know your theory wasn’t ready, but these are our friends and I got carried away.”
The Golden Basilisk (The Lost Ancients Book 5) Page 26
