by J. S. Malcom
“Would you like some juice, sweetheart?”
“Yes, mama.”
She gets a glass from the cabinet, and I watch as she fills it with the bright orange liquid. It's the same color I saw in the living room, and my eyes go to the windows again where that same light still flickers.
“Mama, why is the sky that color?”
My mother looks at the window too, her back still turned to me. “That's because it's a new day, sweetie. Go have a look.”
I have no idea what she means, but she sounds happy. I walk to the door and swing it open, excited to look outside. But my neighborhood is gone, replaced by a city street on fire. Entire buildings are encased in flame. Smoke spirals up toward the sky, as a shrill alarm pierces the air. I cover my ears and stare as men on horseback charge through the streets, galloping over outstretched bodies. They have bone-white skin and long white hair. They're tall and muscled, with eyes of purple, bright orange and green.
I open my mouth to scream, but then feel my mother next to me. She reaches down and gently runs her fingers through my hair. She says, “Isn't it beautiful?”
“I'm scared, mama.”
I raise my eyes to see Raakel looking down at me, a grin spreading across her face.
“Don’t be scared, sweetie,” she says. “You made this happen.”
I sit bolt upright, gasping for air as my heart hammers in my chest. I look around, completely disoriented. I’m in a dimly lit room with a table and chairs. I see shelves of books and a map on the wall. Then it comes back to me—the soldiers, the fires, the crowds, facing off against those men and Esras bringing me here. Damn, no wonder I had that dream. One that, no doubt, will take its place in my personal nightmare hall of fame.
I look around again, but there's no sign of him. There’s a glass of water on the table beside the sofa, one that Esras must have left there. I reach for it with a shaky hand. The water is cool, and very much needed after my little trellberry wine binge. I drain the glass in a series of thirsty gulps, suddenly remembering more.
Oh, my God. What did I do last night? Did we…? No, we didn't. I would have, that's for sure, but Esras showed restraint. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that. Was I rejected? Um, yeah, maybe a little. But maybe trellberry wine doesn't have quite the same effect on Esras, who had the common sense to know it probably wasn't the best idea. In fact, maybe he chose not to take advantage of me when I was wasted, which only makes me feel better about him.
My head snaps up at the sound of voices coming from above. What I hear is muted and faint, but calm. Just men and women talking. Although, I can’t hear what they're saying.
I cross the room, ease the door open, and go out into the hall. There's no sign of Esras, but the voices grow louder. I keep walking, trying to listen as I come to the stairs and start to climb, staying as quiet as possible. I hear a woman say my name, and I freeze on the steps. I listen, making out a little more this time, as a man says “veil witch.” My heart starts beating fast as I try to understand. Has Esras been taken, and am I walking into a trap? I'm just not sure, and I consider turning back to hide in the room where I slept. Maybe I can get that back door to slide open, and make a run for it outside.
Then I recognize one of the voices. It's Esras, I’m sure. “Understandably, she was exhausted,” he says. “I thought it best to let her sleep.”
Okay, I still don’t know what’s going on, but I start to calm down. I highly doubt he'd be discussing my need for rest with anyone intending us harm. I keep climbing the stairs, enter a hall, and come to a door opening onto a room where people sit around a table. Suddenly, I realize where I am. It’s the same room where Cade and I met with Revlen. Sure enough, she sits at the table, along with some of those who were with her the last time, and it dawns on me that we just spent the night beneath the Gilded Gargoyle.
Then my mouth drops open at seeing Cade sitting beside Esras. Wait. Esras is a Seelie noble. Cade is, well, whatever he is. The rest of them are Unseelie rebels. What the hell?
At that moment, Cade spots me. He jumps up, a happy grin spreading across his face as he walks toward me. “There you are!”
I stand frozen, with my eyes flicking back and forth. And, I’m pretty sure, my mouth hanging open.
Cade wraps me in a completely unexpected hug, squeezing me hard enough that it hurts. “I was worried sick about you last night! I was freaking out, looking all over the place.”
Suddenly, I can't help but feel guilty. I mean, I did look for him, but he could have been killed ten times over while I sucked back trellberry wine and thought about jumping Esras's bones. I manage to find my voice, a blush rising to my face. “I'm okay,” I say. “We were, um, downstairs.”
This doesn't seem to bother Cade at all. In fact, he couldn't seem more happy. “I know! Esras told us. Thank God he found you or who knows what might have happened?”
I look around again, still shell-shocked. “You guys know each other?”
It's a stupid question since, obviously, they do. It's just that when Esras said he knew about my friend, the half-blood thief, I thought he meant that he knew about my friend, the half-blood thief. It never occurred to me that Esras actually knew Cade. Especially since, if I understand things correctly, they should be trying to kill each other.
It's Revlen who answers my question. “We do, indeed,” she says. She doesn’t add more, but she smiles while bringing her golden eye to bear on me. “How are you this morning?”
I almost forgot how stunning she is, with her honey blonde hair, high cheekbones and full lips. On her, the eye patch seems like a sexy accessory.
It's not an easy question to answer. I decide on, “A little… disoriented.”
By which I mean, I left one realm to visit two more, witnessed a battle, found out that I'm notorious in Scintillia, and bunked down drunk with the same Seelie noble who helped me escape from Faerie the first time. Not to mention, felt pretty much fine about having sex with him. Kind of a busy night.
“Of course,” Revlen says. “It stands to reason. Would you like some coffee?”
Thank God some things appear to be universal to all three realms, coffee being one of them. How that came to be, I can’t imagine, but I’m not about to argue. “Coffee sounds great, actually.”
Revlen gestures to an open spot beside Cade, where he’s taken his place back at the table. Revlen fills a cup of coffee from a carafe. “Milk and sugar?” she says.
Come to think of it, I haven’t yet seen what a cow might look like in Faerie. Hopefully, nothing like a golork. “Yes, please.”
Revlen brings me the coffee and then takes her seat again. She gestures to the people I haven't yet met. There are just two men this time, and one other woman. One of the men has very dark skin and jet black hair, while the other appears to be what I'd think of as Middle Eastern, although that frame of reference must mean nothing here. The woman is fair, with short auburn hair and blue eyes. Even seated, I can tell she's taller than the men. She wears a tank top revealing broad shoulders and muscular arms.
“This is Ecubon, Tonorf and Verin,” Revlen says, indicating them in order of seating.
I nod to each of them, not quite sure what to say. Nice to meet you. Now let's go kick some Seelie ass? Actually, it's probably about right, except for the strange aspect of having Esras at the table.
Revlen breaks the ice. “Cade tells me you came back to save another one of your friends. I have to say, we're quite impressed with what you've managed to accomplish.”
Pointing out that, technically, Ellie wasn't my friend feels like splitting hairs. But I have to set the record straight. On top of which, I really don't want them to overestimate my abilities, which have proven to be extremely unreliable in this realm. “Esras helped us escape. If it wasn't for him, we never would have made it.”
Revlen nods. “We’re aware of how he assisted you.”
Oh, of course. I suddenly realize that's how she knew to begin with, and could tell Cade abo
ut it. The information didn't reach her through some mysterious informant within her rebel network. Esras told her. Well, damn. This place may be strange as hell, but it’s never boring.
Revlen reads my expression correctly. “That's right. Esras has been a sympathizer for some time. As you can imagine, he assisted you at great personal risk.”
Her words remind me of something I've wondered about a few times. But it's not like I ever thought I'd see Esras again, and with all that went on last night I forgot to ask him.
I turn to Esras. “Wait? Doesn't your family know you helped us?”
I mean, how can they not, all things considered?
He shakes his head. “There were no actual witnesses, and we were too far away from my father's men for them to see us clearly. On top of that, even if they had their suspicions, they'd be very hesitant voicing them to my father.”
Right, in that respect, things here aren't much different than in my realm. People fear the rich and powerful. No one wants to tell them what they don't want to hear, not if it means their job. Or, possibly, their head.
Then something else occurs to me. “But we escaped on horseback.”
Esras lifts an eyebrow. “And you can imagine how upset the guards were to later discover that someone had released them all from the stable. Presumably, the same two women who used one to escape.”
I lift an appreciative eyebrow of my own. “Well played.”
He nods, just a hint of a smile tugging at his lip. “Thank you.”
Revlen is grinning, I notice. As are the others at the table. It would seem approval is unanimous when it comes to pulling one over on Luchtane Ferndelm's thugs.
“True, Esras helped you escape the property and get across the Barrens,” Revlen says. “But it was you who broke a changeling spell. Which, as I'm sure Cade told you, is quite an interesting development.”
I shrug and say, “I take it that's a new one.”
Revlen studies me for a moment, and the feeling I get is that she's confused why I'm not more impressed with myself. But, hey, I've been pulling off impossible stunts since I was a child. Most of the time, I find my unique abilities more annoying than impressive. After all, without them I might have had a normal life.
“Yes, that's absolutely a new one,” Revlen says. “As in, no one has ever undone a mage's changeling magic.”
My head swivels back and forth between her and Esras. I focus on him. “Wait, I thought…”
Esras stares back at me as he takes a sip of coffee.
I try again. “I just figured you could all do that sort of thing. I mean, it’s fae magic.”
Esras sets his cup down. “Create changelings? Definitely not. Only a mage would hold that kind of power. And right now, there’s essentially only one mage.”
I let that one sink in for a moment. “So you can't undo that kind of spell?”
“I'm afraid most can’t achieve that either,” Esras admits.
That answers another one of my questions. I've wondered why he wouldn't help someone like Ellie until someone like me came along. But he had no way to return her to the human realm. In a place that has so far made no sense, at least some things are starting to make sense.
“Okay, let's circle back to that other thing,” I say. “Why can only mages create changelings?”
Why do I have the weirdest feeling that I know the answer?
A moment later proves me right, when Esras says, “Because only mages have access to that level of magic.”
Yep, bingo. “Can we talk about that? Because I found this magical globe thing in that house where I was being held—” Realizing what I'm saying, I stop and add, “Sorry, Esras. But I found it in your father's study.”
Esras lifts both eyebrows this time. “You gained access to the Amulus? That's not—” He shakes his head and tries again. “Apparently, it is possible, for you. For anyone else it wouldn't be possible.”
I realize that everyone is staring at me. I just keep stepping into more and more fae shit, don't I?
“Don't you have access to the, what's it called again?”
“Amulus,” Esras says. “And no, I don't have access.”
This is turning out to be the morning when I point out all the things Esras can't do. Sorry, Esras.
“So, how does it work? The magical thingy? The network? Whatever it is.”
Again, everyone stares at me, although I'm pretty sure I know why.
“That’s what we're trying to figure out,” Verin says. It's the first time one of Revlen’s associates has spoken. Way to kick things off, Verin, by pointing out I'm a total idiot. Then again, she doesn’t look like a woman to pull punches.
I hate to do this to Esras again, but I sort of have to. “Even you don’t know how it works?”
Esras shrugs, but thankfully that smile plays on his lips again. Right, he’s humble to begin with, so he’s not exactly threatened by my outing him as not being all powerful. “Well, you’re right about it being a network. And I understand the underpinnings, if not all of the intricacies. That’s because only those who created it fully understand those aspects.”
“Those with the right level of access,” I say.
“Exactly. You’re getting the picture,” Esras says. “The system was laid in place over a thousand years ago, by Vintain’s High Mage predecessors.”
Wait. This crap has been going on for a thousand years?
Another one of Revlen’s people joins the conversation. This time, Ecubon. “Following the War of the Courts,” he says, understandably perceiving my stunned silence as confusion. “Have you heard of those?”
So, there’s no doubt that I was discussed before making my entrance since, obviously, Ecubon knows I’m human. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be asking the question. “The war fought to gain control of the magic.”
“Exactly,” he says. “I wasn’t sure how much you might know about fae history.”
Clearly, he means only to keep me in the loop. “Not very much,” I say. “Thank you.”
Ecubon nods and Esras continues.
“Before that time, all fae had some level of magic. Some more than others, but it had nothing to do with whether you were of Seelie or Unseelie ancestry. And, by the way, many believe that at one time there was no such distinction made between our people. I, for one, agree. As do many other Seelie. It’s not the Seelie in general who are despised by the Unseelie. In fact, it’s a very small ruling minority.”
I have no doubt that Esras realizes he’s part of that minority, and it’s sad to think he’d be despised by most he’s trying to help. At the same time, I understand. He can’t both openly work with the resistance and remain a valuable asset. At least, not yet.
This time, it’s the guy next to Ecubon who chimes in. Tonorf. “Many feel it’s an entirely artificial ethnic classification,” he says. “One created by the prolonged period of cultural isolation following the war.”
Definitely more helpful information to fill in some of the blanks. “So, basically, those who gained control of the power not only kept it to themselves, they kept to themselves.”
“Exactly,” Verin says. “Well put. In other words, it’s much more a matter of social hierarchy than anything intrinsically biological.”
Okay, I’m starting to like her better.
Esras continues. “Once the power was seized, the High Mages devised a system whereby only the Seelie would have access to it. Each Seelie noble house was given an object like the one you discovered. That object, what we call an Amulus, channels magic from the main source.”
“Kind of like electricity,” Cade says. “There’s the main turbine generator, and then there are conductors and transformers, all working to distribute power. Eventually, that power is stepped down until it reaches an electrical panel in a house.”
His eyebrows arch proudly following his explanation. God, he really is such a nerd.
“But houses have outlets where we plug into the power,” I say. I turn to Esras again,
but he gets where I’m going. He holds out his hand to show me a gold ring with a deep red stone.
“All Seelie wear a charmed object of some nature,” he says. “In my case, it’s this ring. For others, it might be a pendant or a bracelet. The objects differ, but they all serve the same purpose.”
“Hang on,” I say. “So, if all the Unseelies took away all of these objects, they’d hold the power?”
Esras shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. For one thing, it’s quite difficult for someone without power to take an object from someone holding it. Essentially, one side remains magically unarmed. Add to that, to make a difference, they’d have to somehow gain control of them all at the same time. Which is, of course, logistically impossible. And, if needed, the same magic can be redirected to another object.”
I speak softly as I get the picture. “So, even if they got power, they wouldn’t be able to keep it.” Damn, it’s really insidious. Kind of ingenious, but still totally warped. Then I remember what Cade said before. “Where’s the generator?”
Esras doesn’t hesitate. “Within the palace, I’m sure.”
Interesting. Because that’s exactly where I’m going at the very first opportunity. How I’m going to pull that off, I have no idea, but it’s the only way to free Julia.
“But we’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Revlen says. “We know we can’t cut the source of that power. Not yet, anyway. But we do know that same power has started to destabilize. It’s becoming more and more unpredictable.”
“Why?” I say. “I mean, why after all of this time?”
Even as I ask, a chill ripples down my spine. Deep within myself, I know the answer. I felt it in that moment when the ley line reached out to me. Clearly, she’s chosen this time to finally fight back. Almost as if she’s been waiting for something. Or someone.
