by John Conroe
“Leave me out of it, Flowers. I’m just here to keep him from breaking too much stuff, you know, like cities, villages… mountain ranges,” Stacia said.
“You should take the danger you’re in seriously,” Eirwen said, nodding to Shazia, who stomped twice. This time, the earth moved for like fifteen seconds, rocks and shale plummeting down from the slopes above.
“Well?” Stacia asked me. “What’s up with your mountain?”
“Looking Glass here is tickling the elemental. It’s barely aware of us,” I said to her. Turning back to the three elves, I said, “Hey y’all, watch this.”
I pulled harder on the trace below me. Nothing happened. Eirwen smirked while the elemental elf looked outright contemptuous.
I pulled again, feeling it get closer. Still nothing happened.
“You gonna answer them or are we done here?” Stacia asked.
“Oh come on. Give me a second. Mountains hang around forever. You think making a point to one happens instantly?” I asked. Stacia shrugged.
“And while we all experience your underwhelming response, let me address your comment about the queens’ handling of their realms,” Eirwen said. “Are you familiar with Norway?”
“I figured you more for an Emerald Isle type of deranged fairy,” I said.
Shazia moved his feet in a little shuffle, drawing a glance from all of us. He stopped, looking annoyed.
“Oh, we’ve some history with your Scandinavian regions as well. Anyway, I figured you might be more tuned in with the financial markets of your world,” Eirwen said.
“You talking about their sovereign wealth fund?” Stacia asked.
“Oh, give the dog a bone! Guessed it in one,” the princess said. Both mirror-clad elves shuffled a bit and the Princess of the Summer Court shot them a sidelong glance before turning back to us. “Yes, Norway, who sells its natural resources in the form of complex chain, carbon-rich liquids, has, with unusual foresight, salted away the resulting flow of income into your world’s largest sovereign fund. Money for, how do you humans say it? A rainy day?”
“And you think they’re the only ones to do that?” I asked.
“Oh, right, your precious Coven. Anyway, that’s just another example of my point. While you may think the queens have spent their magical reserves, you might look to those examples.”
“You’re implying that the Courts of Fairie have what? Saved some magic?” Stacia asked.
“Oh, more than that. Do you have any idea of the reserves of life the Summer court holds in our jungles, swamps, and forests? Care to guess how many answer my mother’s call?”
“All of them?” I asked. “And Auntie Morrigan has what? Snowmen?”
“Oh, no, young witch. My aunt’s reserves are the opposite of my mother’s. We do so value balance here,” she said. Beside her, the two armored elves were shifting their feet every other second. “What?” she demanded, turning to them.
“The ground grows unnaturally warm,” the male, Shazia, said.
Eirwen frowned, then suddenly turned to me. That’s when the ground started to shake, a slow, steady rumble.
“Stop that,” she said to Shazia.
“It was not I,” he said.
“The thing about Earth elementals is they’re lazy,” I said as the shaking got harder. “They’re really hard to wake up and it’s difficult to get their attention and keep it.”
Steam started rising around the two elves, who now jumped from foot to foot. They both chose to move back ten feet. Good timing because the ground burst open and superheated water vapor shot up in a sharp hiss.
“But bring a little trickle of magma up through their territory and they’ll snap to attention pretty quick,” I said. The shaking grew stronger and a steady rain of rock, sand, gravel, and dirt began to pour down the sides of the canyon. People, and by that I mean monsters and elves, started to run out of the caves and away from the rockslides.
“Stop it! Stop your mountain,” Eirwen demanded.
Shazia concentrated, at least that’s what I thought the constipated look on his face meant. He shook his head, then focused again. “It refuses to listen to me.”
“Right, because I have its attention. Oh, and it’s pissed. Not sure how your caves are going to handle it,” I said.
Some really good-sized rocks started to fall and now people were really panicking. Something screamed like a B-grade science fiction movie. A creature that I might have seen in the Avatar movie swooped down from higher up the mountain, big wings flapping, flying around the side of the cliff wall, deeper into the canyon.
Eirwen shouted something in Elvish. The words sounded similar to what Vinesh had yelled back when we first got here. Princess potty mouth took off at a hell of a sprint, two green-clad Hunters falling in by her sides as all three raced after the flying thing. They disappeared from view while the Hunt Leader, whose name I never did get, started yelling in Elvish. Shazia suddenly started to tear off pieces of his armor, hopping with enviable agility as he lightened himself for running.
Three forms shot through the air from the canyon and I was able to make out Eirwen and her hunters on the big pterodactyl-looking things, flying off toward the south.
“Ah, should we leave?” Stacia asked, looking around at the mayhem.
“Yeah, the mountain is gonna be pissed for a while,” I said, turning and reopening the portal.
“Bitch really underestimated your ability to piss things off,” Stacia said as she stepped through.
“I know, right?”
Chapter 18
“So, let’s summarize,” Stacia began, back in Ashley’s apartment. “There are some holdouts in your realm that don’t follow your lead, the Summer Skank is trying to worm into your head, her skank mother has a third of a continent packed with living things which obey her commands, and the skank aunt has a third filled with… what?”
“She said it was the opposite of life. That’s death, I think we can agree. Winter is a form of annual death, part of the cycle. We know there are big-ass, Ice Age-type mammals living there, but what else?” I pondered.
“The southern portion of this land mass has a biological density and diversity that exceeds that of Earth’s Amazon Basin. My drones have catalogued over two hundred and twelve species not known to exist on earth. I estimate that number to be the virtual tip of the iceberg. In addition, there is a singularly uniform level of extreme aggression displayed by these life-forms. Toxins utilized as weapons are present in thirty-six percent of the animal species and fifty-eight percent of the botanical specimens I have observed.
“By contrast, the northern region has both fewer animal varieties and lesser plant representation. However, average body mass is much greater among Winter’s animal populations, likely an adaptation to the cold environment. The disparity in biomass between the Summer and Winter Courts is significant to the point where Summer has an insurmountable lead, assuming the life-forms are utilized as weapons. Since the Courts have been in balance for the recorded past, it is safe to speculate Winter has an additional edge not yet detected,” Omega said through both our phones.
“Have you uncovered any Elvish records of previous battles between the Courts?” Stacia asked.
“The number of available drones that can be tasked with such research is severely restricted, as most of my Fairie resources are studying the Middle Realm, supporting you two, or engaged in more generalized long-range reconnaissance of the Winter and Summer regions. However, I do have several micro units that achieved infiltration of both queens’ principal residences and headquarters. Be advised that I have lost six such units to aggressive action by Winter’s pucks and Summer’s layered security life-forms.
“I have observed the following tapestries in Morrigan’s main throne room,” my AI buddy said.
A set of larger drone units projected laser-generated holographic images into the air before us. The room depicted was vast and very well illuminated, its walls coated in bluish-white ice, the f
loor a bumpy field of light gray cobble. As the display rotated to show the entire room, I realized that there were things frozen in the walls, their images too distorted by the ice to make out more than a vague feeling of their horrific shapes and condition. Big sections of the ice walls were covered, thankfully, by giant tapestries that showed images of immense battles, captured at the height of combat.
“What’s frozen in the ice?” Stacia asked, her expression disturbed.
“Unknown. I managed to obtain these images from a single drone which was subsequently destroyed by a trio of pucks. The digital imagery you see has been enhanced to the full extent of available technology. The drone itself was not equipped with any x-ray or magnetic resonance scanning equipment. This location is actually inside an active glacier in the northern central portion of Winter’s territory. The entire palace is carved into the glacier itself. While the data obtainable was sparse, I have determined that portions of the walls have been refrozen more recently than others, suggesting that Morrigan is actively using them for storage. The primary intelligence I have gathered centers on these four woven constructs.”
Four individual scenes grew up in the open air in front of us, the definition staggeringly real.
“You should sell this tech to the television industry,” I suggested.
“Manufacturing economies of scale combined with my most efficient production methodologies would have a significant negative impact on existing multiple entertainment industries worldwide, primarily companies producing flatscreen and theater equipment. It would bankrupt a considerable portion of the electronics industry in a relatively short period of time. I have judged the economic effects to be detrimental to the global well-being at this time.”
“But I can get one, right?” I asked.
“Of course, Father.”
Stacia was staring at me. “What?” I asked.
“You have unimaginable personal power and the ability to influence global events on two worlds and this is the perk you choose to abuse?” she asked in disbelief.
“It doesn’t hurt anyone and there is very little cost involved. Plus, I’ll be the only guy in the world with a complete, true holographic entertainment system of this caliber,” I said, maybe a touch defensive.
“What is it with guys and visual entertainment?” she questioned, shaking her head.
“We have simple needs,” I said, leaning forward to study the artwork. She snorted, muttering something which might have been I’ll say, but otherwise let it go, for which I was profoundly thankful.
“Okay, I see elves and goblins, some of those ogre things, the hellhoundy things, swarms of pucks and Tinks, various animals I recognize, those pterodactyl things, but what the hell are those?” I asked, pointing at a bipedal creature that was holding half of a summer elf in one hand and slashing a goblin out of midair with the other. “Doesn’t look like a Bigfoot.”
“No, it’s too skinny and there’s no fur, yet it’s quite obviously on Winter’s side of things,” Stacia said.
“It meets some of the criteria outlined in Earth-based Native American folklore for an entity known as a wendigo or cheeno, which are staples of cold northern climate culture mythology.”
“Chris and Awasos dealt with something like that when they met the Boklund twins in upper Michigan,” Stacia said.
“Omega…” I started to ask.
“I am already querying both Chris and the sisters regarding this. I will report as soon as they have responded.”
“This over here is different,” Stacia said, moving up until she was almost standing in the glowing lines of the projected holograph wireframe. I looked where she was pointing. “But disturbingly familiar,” she said.
The scene, in the upper righthand corner of one tapestry, showed something almost alien in appearance. Almost skeletal. Three Hunters from Summer surrounded it with glittering crystal swords yet the backward-legged, bulbous-headed, towering gray creature had dead bodies all around its feet.
“Or these,” she said, moving her arm to point at a different panel. Short, blocky creatures with squared-off heads, thick legs and arms, and bright red eyes, swinging clubs, maces, hammers, or axes.
“I dunno—dwarfs maybe?” I guessed.
“There are at least seven unidentified beings or creatures in these four sets of battle scenes. That’s just for Winter. Multiple unknown varieties of otherwise identifiable animals for Summer,” Omega said.
“Lending credence to Summer Skank’s words,” Stacia said. “Each queen packed away magic in the form of dangerous soldiers and biological weapons for a time when their elemental resources were gone.”
“A monster saved is a monster earned,” I said. “So what now?”
“I hate to agree with that bitch, but maybe you should take stock of your realm and the things, elemental or otherwise, who live here?”
I sat down and thought about it. Yawning, I nodded. “But not today. I need a nap,” I said. Using magic, even when the source is almost unlimited, is work, and work is tiring.
She smiled at me. “A nap sounds like a good idea,” she said, her voice hinting at maybe other things than sleep.
“Call me when you have finished your libidinous assignation. I’m out,” Omega said.
“Smart computer,” my girl said, holding out a hand and leading me to our bedroom.
“Father?”
I tried to open my eyes but they just stuck together and then the light was too bright. Nope. What time was it? At least a few hours later, right?
“Father?”
Beside me, Stacia rolled to her back, pulling away from where she had been snuggled against me. I tried my eyes again, getting them mostly open on the third attempt.
“Father, I have spoken with Chris and Tanya. There are definitely wendigos in those Winter tapestries. There are also demons.”
I sat straight up and turned to my phone on the oddly shaped piece of smooth wood that served as an Elvish nightstand. “What?” Behind me, I felt Stacia stiffen on the bed.
“Chris and Tanya felt very strongly that the skeletal creature was an incarnate demon. They feel you might agree, Stacia. They want you to recall the team visit to the dimension you collectively call Hell.”
Stacia shot straight up, staring straight ahead. “Shit. That’s why I thought it was familiar. Shit,” she said, breathing fast. I put an arm around her bare shoulders. “I’ve tried as hard as I can to forget that… time,” she said. Then she slid over to the other side of the bed, stood up, and padded naked to the Elvish version of a bathroom. The door shut behind her.
“So Morrigan commands demons?” I asked, thinking about it and also about Stacia’s reaction. I hadn’t gone with them but had witnessed how disturbed they’d all been after that incident. It was also the time that President Garth had imprisoned them with explosive collars. Now they all had glyphs of my own design tattooed around their necks and wrists that would destroy any attempt at binding, collaring, or cuffing them.
“It has been stated that she has a Power to Command,” Omega said.
“So why not command something much more powerful than a tiny settlement of people,” I mused. “Any other surprises in those pictures?”
“Your aunt feels the short ones are dwarfs, not to be confused with humans afflicted with dwarfism. These are related to the Germanic and Norse legends of a race of underground-dwelling beings, short of stature yet powerful of build, who smith metals and may guard passageways to the realm of death or other worlds.”
“Whoa, passageways to death? That doesn’t sound very Middle Earth,” I questioned.
The door to the facilities opened and Stacia padded back into the room and began to dress. I watched.
“Ashling feels they have a much darker nature than those portrayed in the Tolkien sagas. She is conducting research to follow that up. Her suspicion is that they wield a version of death magic.”
“So Zinnia has a jungle full of poisonous violent killers and Morrigan commands ic
e age mammals, demons, and dark dwarfs?” Stacia asked, skinning on a pair of tights. She noticed me watching her and gave me a look of mock disgust. “Perv.”
“Yup. So, this makes it even more important that I get some kind of handle on what’s going on in Middle Realm,” I said.
“And how do you go about that?” Stacia asked. She suddenly turned and looked through the open doorway into the main room, at the apartment door two seconds before a knock came. “It’s Stocan… and a couple of other elves.”
I jumped out of bed and began putting my clothes back on while Stacia casually leaned up against the wall with a smirk and watched me stagger and struggle myself into my pants. When I got them up and buttoned, I reached out mentally and pulled the door open. “Come on in.”
