by Alison Pensy
CHAPTER TEN
“Are you alright, Faedra?” Jocelyn asked as they moved forward down the path.
“You look a little pale.”
“I think I’m about to have a meltdown,” Faedra replied.
“Don’t be silly, Faedra, you are human. Humans do not melt, not that I have ever witnessed.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Jocelyn. Two days ago I was a normal – well, I admit some odd things had been happening to me, but that’s beside the point – seventeen year old. Then yesterday, bam, I turn eighteen and, all of a sudden, I find out that I descend from an ancient Celtic bloodline, who were once fae themselves. My dog morphs into a man in my bedroom, scaring the living daylights out of me, and turns out to have been a fae all along. I am Custodian of an ancient fae amulet that has the power to control weather. An evil, murderous redcap attacks me, and more are still after my blood. If that’s not enough, I’m about to step through an invisible door into another world, your world. So please excuse me if I quietly have a meltdown.” She admitted to herself that she was being a tad melodramatic at that point.
“My dear Faedra, there was nothing much quiet about that,” Jocelyn snickered.
“You get the gist, though?” Faedra grinned.
Jocelyn gave her a warm smile, put an arm around Faedra’s shoulders, and gave her a squeeze. “I think we are going to be great friends,” she stated.
Faen rolled his eyes again and held up his arm to direct Faedra towards the portal. “Come, the portal is up ahead.”
Faedra couldn’t see anything, even when she squinted her eyes. All she saw was the gravel path laid out ahead of them. They had only walked a few yards when Faen and Jocelyn came to a stop. Faedra had no choice in the matter, her hand was still being held by Faen’s. She had to confess it reminded her of the way she used to feel when her father held her hand as a child. It was strong and sure, and made her feel safe, and dare she admit, cared for.
Jocelyn stood on the path in front of them and said something in a language that Faedra was sure she had never heard before. She looked with bewilderment up at Faen.
“She was speaking an incantation to open the portal,” he replied to her unspoken question.
“But if you need an incantation to open it, and it’s definitely not in English, why would you need to guard it?” she asked Jocelyn.
“Because, my dearest Faedra, some silly person got drunk one night,” Jocelyn replied. Although she spoke in her usual musical voice, Faedra could sense she was somewhat disgruntled by that fact. Faedra looked at her blankly.
“Many years ago a man was walking through the church-yard as a short cut on his way home from the pub, he was very drunk and talking to himself. When he got to where the portal was his slurred speech sounded similar to the incantation. The portal opened and he walked straight into Azran.”
Faedra’s eyebrows shot up. “I bet that caused a stir.”
“Somewhat,” Jocelyn continued. “He had been walking around Azran for a while, watching us flying around and going about our business before one of the king’s sentries spotted him. They carefully extricated him through the portal back to your world, but the vision stuck with him. Luckily, because he was so drunk, no one believed him, but it started, what do you call it, an urban legend?”
Faedra nodded. “I’ve heard about that legend. Wow, so that really happened?”
Jocelyn nodded. “Every now and then someone will try and see if there is anything to the legend and try and get through the portal. No one has succeeded since, but the king decided that he was not willing to take the chance on another human accidentally stumbling into our world. I was assigned to guard it and make sure only those who should, could pass.”
Faedra thought it best not to admit to the fact that she had considered trying it out when she was younger, but had never gotten around to it.
“It’s open,” Jocelyn said, motioning for them to follow her. A second later, she disappeared right in front of Faedra’s eyes. Faen stepped forward to continue after her but Faedra was glued to the spot, staring at where Jocelyn had just vanished. Her heart started to pound, and she found herself feeling incredibly nervous. What would they find on the other side? Did it hurt traveling between realms? Would she be able to get back home? She felt Faen give her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. She searched his eyes and found reassurance there, too.
“You will be fine, Ms. Faedra. I will not let go of you.”
She gave him a feeble smile and allowed him to lead her forward. At that moment she had an epiphany. She knew without doubt that she would follow him to the ends of the earth, his or hers, it didn’t matter anymore. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“We are through, Ms. Faedra,” Faen whispered in her ear.
Well, that was quick, she thought. Somewhat of an anticlimax really. She was thankful that there was no pain, just a tingle that shot through her whole body, but was gone almost instantly. She exhaled and opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped again. She had a feeling that was going to be happening quite frequently in the foreseeable future.
They had just walked through an ornate stone archway. It was similar to the one at the entrance to the cathedral grounds near her home in Norwich. They were now standing in a tropical paradise. Although Faedra had never actually been to a tropical paradise, this is how she imagined it would look. Minus the ornate stone archway that looked somewhat out of place standing alone in the vegetation. They were surrounded by lush forest, and flowers of all shapes and colors carpeted the ground. The air smelled so sweet she thought she would be able to stick out her tongue and taste it. Up ahead, a waterfall cascaded into a deep aqua pool of crystal water, which flowed into a stream that meandered past where they were standing. She looked into it and could see brightly colored fish swimming around. A couple of the fish jumped up out of the water and made small splashes as they dove back in.
“You live here?” she asked Faen and Jocelyn, her voice full of wonder.
“Welcome to the Land of Azran, Ms. Faedra,” Faen announced with grandeur.
Jocelyn looked very pleased with Faedra’s response to her world. A world she was obviously very proud of.
A rustle in the bushes distracted them and all three turned their heads at the same time. Faen drew his sword halfway out of its sheath and then slid it back in when the creature making the rustling noise appeared. He was a little man with a squat face and big pointy ears. He had rosy cheeks and kind eyes, a leprechaun perhaps.
“Todmus, my friend.” Faen walked over to greet the little man.
“Mr. Faen, it’s always a pleasure to welcome you back to Azran,” Todmus said with a sincere smile.
“Todmus, we need to travel to the City. Do you have three horses we can borrow?” Faen asked the little man.
“Yes, Mr. Faen,” he snapped his fingers. “They will be ready momentarily.” Then he cast his gaze over to Faedra; his eyes grew wide when they rested on the amulet. “So the legend is true?”
“It is, Todmus, but I know I can rely on your discretion in this matter.”
“You can trust me, Sir. I did not see or hear anything.”
“Thank you, Todmus. You have long been a faithful friend and loyal citizen.” Faen said as he patted the small man on the back.
“This way, Sir,” Todmus motioned for them to go through the small opening in the bushes. Faen went first and Jocelyn last, sandwiching Faedra in the middle. Faedra had a feeling she was going to be a fairy sandwich on several occasions throughout their journey to Elvelynn’s.
They walked a short distance on a narrow winding path through some dense vegetation, until they came to an opening. There waiting for them were three pure white horses.
Faedra sucked in a breath. “Oh, beautiful.” she breathed as they wandered over to the horses.
She stood beside one and stroked its neck. It’s hair felt as soft as silk to her fingers.
Faen wandered up beside her. “Here, put this around your neck,” he said as he conjured a beautiful silk scarf out of nowhere and tied it gently around Faedra’s neck. “Not everyone in Azran is as trustworthy as Todmus.”
Faedra looked down at the scarf, it covered the amulet nicely. “Thank you.”
Faen inclined his head and gave her a leg up to mount her horse. She watched as he walked around to his horse, rose gracefully in the air, and lowered himself onto his saddle. Jocelyn, with a couple of beats of her wings, did the same.
“Err, if you can fly, why are we riding?” Faedra asked.
“ We have much ground to cover to get to Elvelynn’s. We will ride part of the way and fly the rest,” he answered. Without further ado, he kicked his horse into a gallop and flew off at speed down the dirt trail that exited out the opposite side of the clearing from which they had entered.
“Come on,” Jocelyn squealed with excitement, and the two of them galloped off behind her brother.
Jocelyn and Faedra fell into a steady pace behind Faen, who kept the lead. They continued at a gallop for what seemed like several miles until Faen adjusted their pace to a steady canter. The lush forest flew past them in a blur of green.
“I don’t know how much longer my legs will be able to take this,” Faedra admitted to Jocelyn after a while. “Most people think that the horse does all the work but my muscles are starting to feel like jelly.”
“Brother,” Jocelyn called out to Faen. “We need to steady to a walk for a while.”
Faen didn’t question her. He brought his horse down into a trot then slowed to a walk, Faedra and Jocelyn followed suit.
“Thank you,” Faedra said with relief to her friend.
“Do not mention it,” Jocelyn replied with a warm smile.
Faen kept the lead several yards up ahead of them. Faedra noticed his head scanning the woods from side to side. It was obvious that he was keeping a lookout for anything untoward, which left her and Jocelyn able to talk. They fell into easy conversation. Jocelyn was very amiable; Faedra felt like they had been friends for a long time, and, in an odd way, they had.
“Jocelyn?” Faedra asked after a lull in their conversation.
“Yes?”
“What’s with the wings?” she continued, nodding in Faen’s direction.
Jocelyn drew her eyebrows together in confusion. “I do not understand.”
“Your brother, he hides his wings. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Glamour does not work on us, Faedra. I see his wings just as I always have, but he hides them from you?”
“Yes. He won’t let me see them, but won’t give me a reason why.”
She gave her brother’s back a knowing smile. “That is very interesting.”
“It is? Why?”
“What do you think of Azran so far?” Jocelyn said lightly, trying to steer the conversation down a different path.
“Don’t try and change the subject, Jocelyn. Why is it interesting?” Faedra pressed.
Jocelyn sighed. “I should not have said anything.”
“Oh, don’t you start. I’ve been hearing that a lot lately,” she thought back to Rose at the festival. “I’ll keep pestering until you tell me.”
Jocelyn looked thoughtful for a while. She was trying to find the best way to explain what she wanted to say. “It is very rare for a fae to have feelings for a human, but if that should ever happen we tend to be very cautious about it,” she paused and looked to see how Faedra was digesting the information so far. Faedra was engrossed, hanging on Jocelyn’s every word.
“Go on,” Faedra encouraged.
“Well, if we were to have feelings for a human, we would want to know that those feelings were mutual before we would show our wings.”
Faedra looked at her in obvious confusion.
“Let me see, how do I explain this?” Jocelyn continued.
She looked around as if she would get the inspiration from the trees or the sky. “Ah, yes, I know. In The World of Men it would be like someone who is rich, having feelings for someone who is poor. The rich person would want to make sure that their feelings were reciprocated because of who they really were and not just because they had lots of money. Therefore, they might have a tendency to hide that fact until they knew for sure that the poor person liked them despite of, and not because of, the fact they were rich.”
“Ah, I think I understand what you are getting at,” Faedra nodded in response to Jocelyn’s explanation.
“You see, our wings have a tendency to, how shall I say, enchant humans.”
Faedra gazed at Jocelyn’s stunning wings again for the umpteenth time. She had to admit she was having a hard time taking her eyes off them. They were indeed enchanting.
“I see what you mean,” she agreed.
She let the information sink in for a moment. Faedra was one of those people that would get the punch line of a joke a minute after everyone else had finished laughing at it. “Hold on a minute,” she searched Jocelyn’s face while she spoke. “Are you saying that Faen has feelings for me?”
Jocelyn just smiled warmly.
“But you must be wrong on this one. I know for a fact that he doesn’t,” Faedra stated bluntly, looking at Faen’s back.
“Are you so sure, Faedra?” Jocelyn asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. He always acts as though it’s an inconvenience to be lumbered with looking after me,” Faedra insisted.
“My dear Faedra, my brother has been with you every step of your life for the past eleven of your years. He has had the very rare opportunity to spend time with you when you thought no one was watching. You have been at your most uninhibited in those times. You, shall we say, have completely enchanted him.”
“So answer me this then. Why does he act so detached around me all the time?”
“I cannot answer that, Faedra, but I am sure he has his reasons.”
Faedra turned her eyes forward to gaze at Faen who was still several yards ahead of them. She thought for a while about what Jocelyn had just divulged to her, then shook her head. No, she must be mistaken.
They rode in silence for a while. Faedra was in a daydream, still trying to absorb what Jocelyn had told her. She wasn’t quite sure how long they had been riding in silence, but was torn from her thoughts by a gasp that came from beside her. She turned to look at Jocelyn and was shocked to see the look of horror on her friend’s face.
“What it is, Jocelyn? What’s wrong?” Faedra asked, but she didn’t need Jocelyn to answer. She could see for herself what had shocked her friend. “Oh, no, not here, too.”
Her heart sank as she observed that the forest around them was dying. Some of the trees still had green leaves, some had leaves that were turning, and some were already devoid of all foliage. They had walked from summer to winter in just a few paces. Up ahead of them all the trees were bare, the grass was brown, and the flowers were wilted and shriveled. The air didn’t smell sweet anymore either. There was a dank mustiness to it now, and Faedra could taste its sourness on the back of her throat as she breathed in.
Up ahead she could see an opening in the trees. When they eventually reached it, they came to a stop side-by-side. She gaped open-mouthed once more. They were standing on the edge of a valley. Laid out below them, and as far as the eye could see, was brown, dying countryside. There was a city in the distance. It looked like a good-sized city, with a castle that stood proudly in the middle. She could sense that this view would usually have held such radiance that it probably would have taken her breath away. As it was, she wanted to weep at its lifelessness. Jocelyn did weep; big fat tears rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto her dress.
“Oh, Brother, what has happened here?” Jocelyn asked Faen.
“I do not know, Jocelyn, but I fear the worst,” he replied stoically.
“The castle, it does not sparkle anymore,” she cried.
Faedra l
ooked at the castle in the distance. It did indeed have a lackluster appearance. She could see the remnants of its grandeur and imagined it sparkling when it was in its previous condition, but right now everything, including the castle, looked insipid.
“We fly from here. The horses will find their way back to Todmus,” Faen announced as he stepped down from his horse with a grace that was not lost on Faedra.
Faedra took both of her feet out of the stirrups and jumped down from her horse as she always did back home. Not the most graceful of dismounts, but the one she had been taught from her very first riding lesson, and old habits die hard. Jocelyn lowered herself down with a couple more beats of her wings. They stood still, hardly daring to breathe as they looked over the dying valley spread out ahead of them. Before Faedra even had time to register what ‘we fly from here’ meant to her, there was an arm wrapped around each of hers and she was being launched off the side of the valley wall, which up until this point, she hadn’t considered to be that steep.
“You could at least warn me when you are going to do stuff like this,” she squeaked as her heart lurched into her mouth and her stomach did cartwheels.
The wind blew in her face and whipped through her hair. Jocelyn had hold of one arm and Faen the other, and they were looking ahead, concentrating hard. She had to admit, it was the most incredible feeling to be flying outside of a plane. A bit like being on an amusement park ride without being strapped in. She couldn’t decide at that point if the queasy feeling in her stomach was a product of just being launched off the side of a hill, or the fact that her heart was saddened by the devastation below them.
They were flying low to the ground now and she could see close up how dead everything looked. The queasy feeling developed into a definite knot in her stomach, and her question was answered. Thoughts of the book flew through her mind almost as quickly as the ground passed beneath her. The realization that something had happened to the book was quickly taking shape and that didn’t bode well for anyone in any realm, least of all hers. Remembering what her mother had said in the letter, that combining the book and the amulet would give the user the ultimate power to control not just plant life, but the weather, too. Whomever had the book made it very clear that they were going to get their hands on the amulet, too; only that could not be accomplished unless she were dead.
She closed her eyes and tried to change the subject that had now taken on an obsessive quality in her brain. She felt herself being moved and opened her eyes to see that Faen had taken hold of her. He was carrying her as he did last night when they had returned to the party. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a questioning look.
“Jocelyn was growing tired,” he answered. “She is not used to carrying extra weight when she flies.”
“Sorry, Jocelyn,” Faedra called over her shoulder.
“There is no need to be, Faedra, I am not as strong as my brother. I am glad I was able to help him up to that point,” she said with kindness.
Faedra now understood why they had made part of the journey on horseback. They had an extra body to carry. She assumed it would be much like her trying to carry someone a great distance, and knew for a fact that she wouldn’t have had the strength to do it for very long, either.
“We don’t have too much further, Ms. Faedra,” Faen said looking ahead.
Faedra looked in the same direction and could see the city looming closer in front of them. A huge wall encircled the city in a protective manner. It looked medieval, but in a much more beautiful and less rugged way. As they got closer, Faedra could see another ornate stone archway just like the portal, but this one was several times bigger. Jocelyn slowed and lowered herself to the ground just in front of Faen who did the same. He lowered Faedra to the ground, but her legs instantly collapsed underneath her. They had turned to jelly, what with the galloping and the flying, she wasn’t sure how much more her body could take that day. In a flash, Faen scooped her up before she had a chance to hit the ground.
“Sorry, Ms. Faedra. I had forgotten the affect flying with us has on humans,” he said apologetically. “Your legs should return to normal in just a few minutes.”
They stood in front of the archway for a moment, almost hesitant to proceed any further and have their suspicions confirmed. As though, if they didn’t have them confirmed, everything would go back to how it was. After a moment, they walked forward. Faen was still carrying Faedra and Jocelyn stood closely by their side. The three of them a united front against whatever lay waiting for them on the other side.
Faedra looked up in awe at the underneath of the archway as she was being carried through it. A beautiful mosaic of a fairy kneeling down to admire an exotic flower just like the ones near the portal, adorned the ceiling. They got to the other side of the arch and stopped. Faedra turned her attention to the scene unfolding before her. What she imagined after seeing the mosaic, as once being a peaceful and calming place to live, was in utter turmoil.
“I think my legs will hold me now,” she whispered to Faen.
She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she felt him tremble. This was his home and it was in disarray, it must be having some effect on him. He lowered her to the ground keeping a steadying arm under hers until he was sure she was stable enough to stand on her own.
All three stood side-by-side, just as they had on the edge of the valley, and watched the chaos unfold before their eyes. People were running in all directions, panic and desperation on their faces. Some were crying, some were carrying small children, some had stopped and were looking around with dazed expressions. What were once quite obviously areas of lush greenery, like miniature parks and gardens, were now brown and dying. The city seemed to be dying from the inside out. A lump developed in Faedra’s throat. She was determined that if there was any way she could help restore this majestic place to its former glory, she would move heaven and earth to do so.
