The Oaken Throne

by Sara C. Roethle

  Finn nodded.

  The Aos Sí behind them parted to let them pass as Oighear’s massive white cat joined them, ready to carry the fallen Snow Queen and Óengus away.

  Once Oighear and Óengus were out of sight, Ealasaid announced, “I must see to my mages. They do not know what has transpired.” She watched the Aos Sí warily.

  Maarav took her hand. “Are you sure you want to let Oighear go? Your parents—”

  She raised her free hand to cut him off. “She has lost her kingdom, and kin of her own. It is enough.” She glanced again at the Aos Sí, then back to Finn. “They are under your command now, correct? My mages will likely attack them on sight.”

  Finn nodded. “They will not approach the burgh if you don’t think it wise, though I would like for Eywen to remain with us.”

  Ealasaid glanced at Maarav, then replied, “One Aos Sí will be acceptable.”

  Finn nodded, agreeing, then took a deep breath. As the Travelers slowly retreated, she finally turned to Iseult. Her hero, even after she’d trapped him in roots. She didn’t need to ask how he’d escaped. She’d known all along, that despite any odds, he would always be there to save her.

  Anna knew she should be focused on the waiting force of An Fiach, but Eywen was watching her with a small knowing smile and she couldn’t seem to look away.

  Her friends were all watching, as were the waiting Aos Sí, and Keiren was crying while her father and Bedelia consoled her . . . but curse the gods, she didn’t care about any of it.

  She marched up to Eywen while his curious men watched on. She stopped within reach and peered up into his strange sapphire eyes.

  He raised a dark brow at her. “I told you I’d return for you.”

  She snorted. “I’m not fool enough to believe you returned just for me.”

  He snaked a hand around her waist and pulled her closer. “Perhaps not, but you will be the reason for everything else I do, from this point forward.”

  She wanted to kiss him more than anything, but the blasted Trow had come out of the forest, and the Pixies were now darting overhead.

  She sighed, then stood on her toes and kissed him.

  He wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss, pressing her against his cool armor.

  Though she felt stunned eyes on her, she did not pull away. Any who questioned her later could answer to her daggers, or Eywen’s army. This moment was hers.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Finn rode atop Loinnir, leading the way toward An Fiach. She had a feeling the sight of Aos Sí would have made them retreat, but they had nowhere to go. North was the direction from which the Aos Sí had come, west were the retreating Travelers, Finn, and everyone else, and south was the burgh filled with mages. To the east lay dense forests and insurmountable rocky escarpments.

  On one side of her walked Iseult, and the other Eywen. She itched to ask Iseult if his soul had been returned. With the barrier broken, it should have, but there really was no saying what should and would happen now that the in-between and their known reality were intermingled. She wanted to right the destructive wrongs she’d committed, but was it even possible? She glanced back at Branwen, walking near Naoki. She had many questions for her as well.

  “Do not venture too near,” Iseult warned. “They may still attack.”

  She scanned the line of men with shields raised defensively, some facing the burgh, some facing her and the Aos Sí.

  She shook her head. “I want to find out just who organized them, and why. I must know why they hate the mages so much.”

  “They fear them,” Keiren said, speeding up on foot to push herself between Loinnir’s flank and Eywen. “It made their smaller groups rather easy to manipulate in the past, though I never found their leader.”

  “Then it’s time we faced them, once and for all,” Finn decided.

  They reached the first line of men, though Iseult placed a hand on Loinnir’s reins before she could venture close enough that a released arrow might strike her. The men stood eerily silent, waiting. They knew they were outnumbered and outclassed by the mighty Aos Sí.

  “We would speak with your Captain!” Eywen called out.

  There were murmurs amongst the men, then the shields at the forefront parted. A lone man walked through, marching toward them bravely. His close cropped hair was an uncommon sight, but it was barely noticeable within his air of confidence. His gaze shifted past Finn to Naoki, likely quite a sight for one who’d never seen a dragon.

  He stopped roughly twenty paces away, his eyes once more on Finn. “I am the Captain of this contingent!” he called out. “What do your people want!”

  Finn looked to Ealasaid, standing with Maarav, intentionally far from Eywen, untrusting of the Aos Sí in general. Some here now might have been present during the first attack on the burgh. Naming them as allies might take some time, but . . .

  “We’ve come to protect those within the burgh!” Finn called out. “Surrender your attack, or we will be forced to advance!”

  “We fight for Migris!” the man shouted, “and those lost in the burghs of the countryside! We will not relent until those deaths have been avenged! Advance on us if you must!”

  Ealasaid let out a loud sigh, then advanced toward the man, heedless of the army waiting behind him.

  Maarav cursed under his breath, then followed.

  “Should we stop them?” Eywen questioned.

  Finn shook her head. “This is her battle. Let her do as she must.”

  She glanced at Iseult as he let out a visible sigh of relief.

  She smiled softly at him. She’d put him through quite a lot, but she was finally ready to stop fighting everyone’s battles. She was even ready to stop fighting her own.

  The war might be far from over, but her part in it, finally, was at an end.

  “What are you doing you fool woman?” Maarav hissed, catching up to Ealasaid’s side as she approached the lone man whose eyes were set in determination

  “This hatred will never end with fighting,” she growled, intent on her task. Stopping just a few paces away, she stared down the muscular man before her, more determined than he.

  “What is your name?” she demanded.

  The man eyed her cautiously. “Radley,” he replied curtly. “And you are?”

  “I am the leader of An Solas,” she announced, “and I would like to tell you my story.”

  Radley’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded for her to go on.

  “I grew up in a small burgh in the Northeast,” she began. “My family had a small farm. Life was simple. Then we began to hear reports of men terrorizing villages. They called themselves An Fiach . . . ”

  She continued her story, every painful detail, even including how Oighear had used An Fiach to torture those she cared about. By the time she finished, Radley was blinking at her in shock.

  “That cannot be true,” he muttered. “My men are good men. We fight to protect innocent people from the Faie, and from mages who would see them harmed. Mages destroyed Migris.”

  Ealasaid shook her head. “Oighear destroyed Migris. It was the Faie.”

  Radley sucked his teeth, then shook his head. “Even if that is true, we cannot allow the mages to gather like this. We cannot allow such a threat to exist.”

  Ealasaid sighed. “You know this threat,” she gestured toward the burgh, spotting a few mages watching them from the wall, “exists because your people forced us into this position, do you not? Our only choices were to band together, or to die.”

  It was Radley’s turn to sigh. “For that, I apologize, my lady, but it does not change where we are at now. I must protect my people, just as you must protect yours.”

  “So we’ll kill each other for no reason?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.

  He glanced past her toward the waiting Aos Sí, then shook his head. “I know when I am outmatched, and I will not sacrifice my men in vain. If you will allow our retreat, we will leave you.”

  She tilted h
er head. “You will leave us, only to attack again in the future, despite the risks?”

  Radley nodded. “Perhaps.”

  Maarav leaned toward her shoulder. “It may not be wise to let them go,” he whispered. “You will always be waiting for another attack.”

  Ealasaid turned slightly to look up at him. “And I will always be ready for it. I will not be like the men who devastated my village, or any other village for that matter. I will not lash out at that which frightens me. I will simply grow stronger to rise above it.” She turned back to Radley. “You may retreat, but be warned. This land has been claimed in the name of the mages. You may not understand it yet, but a barrier has been broken this day. Magic will likely only increase. You may find that one day, your supposed enemy will be the man looking back at you in the mirror.”

  Radley bowed his head. “And just so you know, my lady, there are reports of Reivers gathering in the far North. They will take advantage of this war.” With that, he retreated to rejoin his men.

  She had wondered what Conall had been up to since taking advantage of the mages in the North, but that was a problem for another time.

  Maarav placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “Woman, you never cease to amaze me.”

  “Why thank you,” she replied with a smirk, then turned to rejoin Finn and the others.

  She knew her fight was far from over, but finally, for once, she was not afraid.

  The Aos Sí, An Fiach . . . Keiren watched it all numbly. Her father and Bedelia remained with her, why, she did not know. She did not deserve their sympathy.

  She’d been such a fool. A scared little girl, unwilling to let go of her long dead mother.

  Ealasaid didn’t so much as glance at her when she and Maarav passed by to rejoin Finn and their other companions.

  “What will you do now?” Bedelia asked, startling her out of her revelry.

  She shrugged. “Oh, the usual. I’ll likely lock myself away in a tower for some time, planning my vengeance upon Niklas for using me.”

  Bedelia snorted. “You know, Ealasaid will need help in the time to come. You could consider it your penance.”

  Keiren laughed bitterly, finally turning to look at her one-time lover. “She likely wishes me dead.”

  “Not everyone is like you,” Bedelia said hotly, the blood stains on her face and clothing giving her a wild appearance. “Some of us,” she gestured to herself, then to Àed, “are capable of forgiveness. This bitterness you hold so dear will slowly turn your heart to ice.”

  Àed eyed his feet through the entire conversation, just as unable to discuss emotions as she.

  She raked a finger through her hair, wishing her cheeks weren’t burning for all to see. “Bitterness is all I know. It’s all I’ve ever had.”

  Bedelia sighed. “You’ve had love, you were just too blinded by hatred to see it.”

  Her shoulders slumped. She felt absolutely ridiculous standing there, near two mighty armies, with droves of Faie lurking in the nearby forest, arguing about feelings.

  “I suppose I could help her deal with the Faie nuisance that’s soon to come,” she muttered. “If the Aos Sí no longer need a queen, the other greater Faie will likely be free as well. It will be utter chaos before long.”

  “Now that’s more like it,” Bedelia said smugly.

  Keiren snorted. “When did you become so confident?”

  Bedelia smiled. “When you forced me to stand up for myself. It gets easier the more I do it.”

  Keiren rolled her eyes, then looked down to her father. “And you? What do you have to say about this.”

  “I’d say I need a dram of whiskey, or six,” he grumbled. “Let’s get to the inn. I’m sure the mages will be celebratin’.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. She knew there would be a great deal more penance for her crimes, but buying a dram of whiskey for Bedelia and her father was a good place to start.

  With An Fiach retreating, and Ealasaid, Maarav, Bedelia, and Àed returning to the burgh, it was time for Finn to see to the Faie. They waited for her near the forest, just past the new saplings that were once the Cavari.

  Accompanied by Iseult, Kai, Anna, and Eywen, she stopped in front of the lead sapling, Sugn.

  She looked down at its delicate branches, resisting the urge to snap them off.

  “He killed my daughter,” she said to no one in particular. “All this time . . . ” she trailed off, shaking her head. She turned to Iseult. “Your people never committed the grave crime of which they were accused. Sugn cast the blame upon them, and I blindly believed him.”

  Iseult placed a hand on her shoulder, with a soft, sad smile on his face. “You have set things as right as they can be. My people are free.”

  She wiped a tear from her eye. “And you?”

  He nodded, a new sense of light shining behind his normally cool gaze.

  Anna, Kai, and Eywen stood back silently, watching the exchange.

  Finn smiled up at Iseult, then lifted her hands to remove the gold locket from around her neck. With trembling fingers, she stood on tip toe and fastened it beneath the curtain of Iseult’s hair.

  He lifted the locket, running a finger across its gilded surface.

  “It was meant for my daughter,” she explained, “but I must let go of the dead. If I wish to live, then I must learn to let go.”

  He nodded. “I will keep it for now. Perhaps, someday, you will know just what to do with it.”

  She smiled, then turned back to the others. “Shall we see to the Faie?”

  Kai nodded, though he watched the saplings warily. “Are we sure we don’t want to cut them down?”

  She reached out to Sugn’s sapling, sensing none of his malicious power. “Their power has been returned to the earth. They will watch this land grow and change, uncontrolled by them. It is a fitting fate.”

  “Good point,” Kai agreed.

  Her heart feeling lighter than it had in over one hundred years, Finn turned and led the way toward the forest and the waiting Faie.

  Anna stuck to Kai’s side as they journeyed toward the forest, while Finn, Iseult, and Eywen walked ahead.

  “Do you feel any different?” Anna whispered, leaning near his shoulder. “I mean, since the barrier broke?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I felt the shift, but I don’t think it’s changed anything for me.”

  Anna let out a heavy sigh. “So it’s just me then, and the Aos Sí. I feel . . . ” she trailed off, glancing at him. “Well for instance, I can see the difference in you now, beyond the physical. I can sense Finn’s blood, and the Dearg Due’s.”

  “Can you perhaps tell me what will happen to me in the end?” he questioned.

  Anna shook her head, then faced forward. She stopped walking. “No, but maybe they can.”

  Ahead of them, Finn and the others had nearly reached the tree line. Within the tree shadows waited the Trow, Pixies, and other strange Faie. Not far off were three of the Dearg Due, huddled within the shadows, their eyes squinted against the sun.

  His heart stopped. The last time he’d encountered them, they had tried to kill him.

  Anna gripped his arm. “We must ask them what’s happening to you. Perhaps there is a cure.”

  He shook his head. “I’d rather light them all on fire.”

  The decision was made for them both when Finn veered off course, straight toward the Dearg Due.

  “Blasted woman can’t keep to herself,” Kai muttered, then jogged toward her. He knew Finn had veered to address the Dearg Due on his behalf, but as always, it was not her issue to bear.

  Reaching her, he turned to face the monsters in the trees. He immediately recognized the one who’d bitten him, held him hostage, and fed him blood to save him. All the while thinking he was Dair, and therefore worth saving.

  Glancing at him, Finn took his hand, then turned toward the Dearg Due. Iseult and Eywen waited patiently as Anna caught up and walked on the other side of Kai.

&n
bsp; “Why have you come here?” Finn asked, raising her voice to be heard across the distance. “You have gravely injured my friend. I fear you are my enemies.”

  The three white haired women each lowered to one knee, though their backs remained erect, submissive, yet still proud. “We have come to thank the Oaken Queen for freeing us from servitude. The other Faie told us what occurred. We no longer need swear fealty to the Snow Queen, nor any other.”

  “So now they’re monsters without a leash,” Kai muttered. “Lovely.”

  “As for your friend,” the lead woman began, rising. “He is not injured. He has been granted a great gift, one normally forbidden amongst my people.”

  Kai snorted. “Hardly.”

  Though his words had been quiet, the Dearg Due whipped her gaze to him. “You are a liar. You told us you were Dair. I never would have given you my blood otherwise. For a male to be granted our gifts,” she shook her head, tossing spider silk hair from side to side. “You should be honored.”

  “So he will not die?” Anna asked, having reached his side.

  The Dearg Due addressed her. “No, he will not die, Gray Lady. He will live longer than his mortal life would have allowed, with gifts no mortal should have. Normally, we would eliminate such a mistake, but as thanks to the Oaken Queen, he shall not be pursued.” She turned her gaze back to Finn. “That is all we have come to say. May we be free now?”

  Kai watched as Finn bit her lip. The Dearg Due were dangerous predators. She would not want them roaming free to hurt others.

  “You may,” she replied. “But keep to the borders of the Marshlands, and never enter Garenoch.”

  The woman bowed her head. “It will be as you say. The marshes shall become the Realm of the Faie.” She and her sisters turned and stalked off into the woods.

  Kai shook his head in disbelief. How could she let them go? He turned toward Finn. “They will kill again. You know this?”

  Finn nodded, her gaze distant. “I have destroyed the balance of this land, freeing the greater Faie and allowing magics to run rampant. This is all I can do to bring a new balance into being. There must be light and dark. Life and death. It can be no other way.” She turned to smile at him. “Just not your death. I have not given up my selfish ways entirely.”