“About that…” Katy paused. She could feel her face redden, so she kept it down as they walked. “I…how are…I was told fairy babies happen…differently from humans.” There. She said it. Now she could wallow and die of her embarrassment.
Thankfully, Aisling just smiled and fingered with one of her yellow curls. “They are.” She cast a sideways glance at Katy and came to a stop just at the edge of the meadow. “You’re wondering how, aren’t you?”
Katy’s cheeks burned as she remembered her first day of training. “I mean, I know how human babies…come.” Well, now she just sounded ridiculous. “But the other fairies told me it’s…unlike humans?”
“So that’s what’s bothering you?” Aisling let out a laugh, but it wasn’t cruel, just humored. “Well, have no fear, my dear. Babies come about the same way for fairies as they do for humans.”
Katy let out a huge sigh of relief.
“I suppose the timing is what’s different. And a little bit of magic, of course,” Aisling continued, tapping her chin again. “For humans, once man and wife are joined in matrimony, timing is…well, up to the humans. For fairies, once man and wife have had their wedding night,” Aisling chuckled again as Katy blushed, “a woman can come with child anytime lightning strikes close by.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Humans must have both parents present whenever a child is given life. But for fairies, it only takes once. Even if a male fairy is married and then he dies, as long as he has been married…in every sense of the word, his wife can conceive even after he dies. All that is needed is lightning.”
Katy thought for a moment. “Why lightning?”
“Because lightning is how we get our magic. It’s what separates us from humans.”
“And everything else is the same?”
“The length is different as well,” Aisling said. “Pregnancy for a fairy is an unusual event. Many human women will bear five or more babies in their lifetime. Most fairies, if they have children at all, have only one or two. Only the rarest have more than that in their lifetimes. And it’s not for lack of wishing, I can assure you. But when a fairy finds she is with child, all the clan’s females gather and prepare. It's quite a joyous celebration.”
“How long do they celebrate?” Katy asked.
“The length of the pregnancy.”
“Which is?”
“Three days.”
Katy choked on the berry she’d just popped in her mouth, and they had to stop for her to cough it out before she could speak again.
“Three days?” she gasped. “Why?”
Aisling laughed again. “Why does it take humans nearly ten months? Because Atharo made it that way.”
She had a point.
Katy frowned as she was reminded precisely why she was asking questions, and that sobered her up. “But Peter is a man. I mean, he is a rhin, so that could change things, I suppose. But no children have been born between the two races.” She paused. “Isn’t that right?” How she hoped she was wrong.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen it in my lifetime.” Aisling said, stooping to help Katy up a rather steep ridge. If there had ever been a path, it was long gone now. “But then, I’m not omnipresent.” She pulled Katy to a stop and began pulling a few twigs and leaves out of her hair that Katy hadn't known were there. Aisling’s smile was gentle, however, and her green eyes were bright and warm. “I’m not sure that it matters, though.”
Katy tilted her head in confusion, but Aisling just touched her cheek.
“Remember what we talked about with trusting Atharo? This will have to be one of those areas in which you have to decide whether or not you truly trust.”
That wasn't the answer Katy wanted to hear, but she pursed her lips and nodded. She wasn't ready to make that decision yet, but there was no use in arguing.
“I’m sure you have more questions,” Aisling said, coming to a stop, “but don’t worry. I will find you later and we can continue this conversation after.”
“After what?” Katy asked.
Aisling smirked. “After you’re finished reuniting with Peter. And preferably after you’ve gotten rid of his enemies. Now, remember. Use your mind to feel for power. Not just your eyes.”
“What—”
But before Katy could even ask, Aisling gave her a little shove, and Katy stumbled through a hedge of bushes and found herself standing between Peter and a group of palace guards.
38
Into the Valley
“We need you to return with us,” one of the guards said, nudging his horse forward. Peter vaguely recalled his name as Captain Emmet. Or Edward. Or something like that.
“I most certainly will not.” Peter raised his sword, and the man stopped.
“Now would be a fantastic time to see that raging rhin we’ve heard so much about,” one of the men behind him whispered.
“It’s not like a candle that you light and blow out at whim.” Peter scowled.
“If you come quietly, this will all be easier for everyone.” Captain Emory. That was his name. Now, Emory advanced another step. Before Peter could shout at the captain to stay back, a familiar figure stumbled through the trees.
“Katy!”
Katy looked back and forth between Peter and the palace guards, her blue eyes wide.
“About that raging rhin,” Peter said in a low voice as he took off his water skein and laid it on the ground. “You don't really want to see him.”
“Why?” the man behind him asked. The others in his little search party exchanged nervous glances.
“Because Donella was right when she said he was dangerous.” Already, Peter could feel it rising up inside of him, like heat from an ancient dragon’s belly. As he had begun to suspect, the creature only ever showed up when Katy or his ability to protect her was threatened in some way. And now, the sight of her slight form between him and the enemy filled him with panic and an unspeakable rage. The world changed color, as did his newly reclaimed sword.
The guards’ eyes grew nearly as large as mussels upon seeing Katy, but Captain Emory seemed to recover his voice first. He dismounted and held a hand out to Katy.
“You as well, miss,” he said, seeming oblivious to Peter’s transformation. “Donella has been most concerned about the well-being of both of you.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Katy said, taking a step back. “So please don’t ask me to do that.”
The man at Captain Emory’s right had just taken another slow step when Peter plowed into him at top speed. Violent hatred sparked and exploded in his chest, loathing for anyone that would raise a hand toward her. The man flew a dozen feet in the air before hitting a tree.
A third guard had his sword drawn in an instant. He shook, though, as Peter stalked toward him. But just before Peter lifted his own sword, the guard’s sword rusted and crumbled to the ground.
Even in his monstrous state, Peter stared along with the guard at the hilt in the guard’s hands, all that was left of the original weapon. The other guards gaped as well.
“I suggested—” Katy’s girlish voice made them both look up, “—that you take your comrade—” she indicated to the unconscious guard by the tree he’d hit, “—and all go home. And tell Donella that the autumn fairy will not be coming.”
“Please,” Captain Emory said in a quiet voice. “I don’t want to see bloodshed. And I can guarantee you that blood is the way this will end if someone doesn’t negotiate soon.”
“There can be no negotiating,” Peter growled. “Not on this.”
The guard with the disintegrated sword looked at Katy, then Peter, his mouth agape like that of a fish. Then he slowly began to reach to the back of his leg, but before he’d pulled the knife from his boot, Peter snarled and leaped toward the horses. The horses reared, and the guards went scrambled back to rein them in, stopping only to lift their fallen comrade from the ground. In less than two minutes, the little path was quiet, with the exception of chirping b
irds and the occasional chatter of a squirrel. As soon as Peter straightened from his defensive crouch, he could feel the creature melting away, and along with it, its desire for blood.
When he turned, another desire quickly took its place. The men who had followed him were gone, and they were alone. Before either of them spoke, however, they heard shouts from the valley. Without a word, Peter and Katy broke into a run.
***
They crested the hill that looked down on the valley, and Peter heard Katy gasp behind him.
The entire camp was in tumult. Women and children ran from the valley, but the fae palace guards followed and pressed them back or followed them into the sky. Below, men fought, swords clanging and echoing through the valley as fairies above traded attacks with their gifts, wind, ice, and rain. Even lightning filled the air. Peter’s skin tingled with the presence of so much magic. He could see Captain Markus, William, and Karel fighting below, as well as the majority of the captain’s men. Tomas was standing in front of a group of women and children, warily facing two guards with ropes and chains in their hands.
“We need to draw them out,” he whispered to Katy. “Away from the families.”
“That shouldn't be too difficult.” She gave him a grim smile. “We’re wanted more than anyone else on this isle.”
Peter nodded. Then they could pick the guards off, one by one. Peter cringed as he realized how many they would have to kill in order to restore order. There were at least two dozen. But, he steeled himself. He was a soldier. And they had been given chance after chance to leave them alone. And now these people, foolish as their choice may be, looked to him to be their leader. Maybe he could at least help Katy avoid any kills. He might be trained in death, but she wasn’t.
“You’re here!” Malachi appeared from behind a bush. He was breathing heavily, and trails of sweat lined his cheeks and face.
“What are they doing?” Peter asked.
“They want to round up all the traitors.” Malachi leaned closer to Peter as he crouched on the ground. “They’ve already killed three of our lookouts and two of our fighters. Captain Markus said to split up and for everyone to run!”
A cry of rose above the cacophony. Peter looked down at the closest little skirmish between a heavily armored guard and a female fairy who had been hurling useless balls of snow at the guard’s breastplate and helmet as she tried to flee. He had just raised his sword with one hand and held a binding chain in the other. But everyone around them froze as the chain rusted and disintegrated in his hands, just like the sword of the man Peter had fought only moments before. In awe, he turned to look at Katy.
Her jaw was taut, and her hands were raised slightly, shaking as she held them there. Never had she looked so terrifying.
Or so beautiful.
As soon as the guard’s chains and weapon were gone, she turned her attention to the next closest guard, one who was advancing on a young man wearing a blacksmith’s apron, who had stumbled and lay on the ground.
The guard placed his sword against the young man’s neck as he pulled his own chain from his belt. But just as before, the chain disintegrated before he could wrap it around the young man’s wrists.
Peter gaped at Katy. “How…”
Katy’s lips twitched. “Apparently, autumn fairies have the power of destruction after all.” Then she let out a heavy breath. “Can you try to get them all together? I can reach more at once that way.”
Peter didn't have to be asked twice. He pressed a hard kiss against her temple before turning to Malachi.
“You stay here. Do whatever she says.”
Malachi nodded, and Peter was tempted to tell him not to stare too hard either, but instead, he sprinted down the hill. As he went, he couldn't help but wonder at the fact that the creature within him wasn't rising up.
Not that it mattered. As soon as people began to see what was happening to the palace guards and connected it with the fairy that was now rising from the hill, they either shouted in victory or tried to flee. Peter caught three of the guards and held them until one of his own men could take them before he bounded off to find more.
The battle was over in less than ten minutes. Peter, Tomas, and the others had rounded up the majority of their attackers and herded them into a ring in the center of the valley. But just when nearly all the guards’ weapons had been destroyed, the disintegration of one stopped mid-sword. Peter looked up to see why.
The creature inside snarled when he realized one of the fae guards had escaped and was flying toward Katy, hurling lightning bolts as he went. Katy held her hands up, and the lightning didn't seem to be hurting her, at least not the way it would anyone else. But her eyes were wide with fear, and Peter knew deep down that she would never think to kill the attacker on her own.
But he would.
Like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, Peter hurled himself toward them. Anger made him roar when he realized he couldn't reach them where they hovered in the sky. Looking around, he saw a crossbow on the arm of one of the soldiers. He grabbed the bow and aimed it up at the fairy. Without a second of hesitation, he loosed the arrow.
The fairy tumbled from the sky. But as he did, he released one last bolt, which struck Katy. She fell, and though Peter ran as hard as he could, he didn’t reach her in time.
To his great surprise, something else did.
A wind flew up, spiraling toward her as though it were dancing. It caught her and slowly spun her several times before laying her gently on the grass.
Peter was at her side before she was even fully on the ground, gathering her up and cradling her in his arms.
“Katy? Katy, are you alright?” His voice sounded strangled as he touched her face, praying for any sign that she was well.
To his relief, she coughed several times before her eyes fluttered open. She squinted up at him. “Peter?” Then she pushed herself higher and looked around. “What happened? Are they gone?”
Peter could have danced for relief, but instead, he hugged her again until she tapped his arm. He immediately loosened his grip and helped her to her feet. Several of the women shooed people away, forcing them back several feet as the entire camp suddenly seemed to have gathered around them, pushing closer for a better view.
“I don’t know.” Peter glared in the direction that the fairy’s body had fallen. “From what I understood, Donella wanted to keep you alive, but that might have changed—”
“Nothing changed.”
Everyone looked up to see a woman in a white cloak walking toward them from the direction of the forest.
“And you would be?” Peter asked.
“Peter.” Katy coughed again. “This is Aisling.”
At the mention of the woman’s name, the crowd around him gasped, and at least half of them kneeled. Even unshakable Shauna lost her composure, and Karel’s eyes looked like they might fall out of his head.
Peter huffed. “I’m afraid everyone else seems to know something I don’t.” Again.
The woman named Aisling laughed, her large yellow curls bouncing as she did. “I’m afraid I’m a bit of a myth around here, and with good reason. But as to Donella’s orders, they still stand.”
“How do you know?” Peter asked.
“Because after I left Katy with you, I decided to visit the palace to see what your friends there had in store.”
“That was fast,” Peter muttered.
Karel threw him a dirty look, but she just smiled. “I know a few shortcuts. Anyhow, there I learned there would be an attack on the rebel camp.” She pursed her lips. “I’m afraid I came as fast as I could, but I didn’t realize the attack had already begun.”
“This was a test,” William said.
Peter nodded. “They wanted to know what we were capable of and how soon they could proceed.”
Aisling nodded. “I think now, though, after the show you’ve given them, they’ll be delaying their full attack for at least three or four more days, so that should buy you
some time.”
“How do you know?” Peter asked.
Katy gave Peter a warning look, the same one she had used with him when he was a boy, her signal to kindly shut up. But Peter ignored her and continued to study their rescuer.
Their rescuer, however, didn’t seem offended in the slightest. “You learn a few things when you’ve watched humans and fae for the last thousand years.”
Whatever Peter had expected her to say, it hadn’t been that.
“Thousand years?”
“Have some respect!” Shauna hissed. “Don’t you know who this is?”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” Peter said.
“Peter,” Katy said. She was still out of breath, but she gestured to their newest guest. “Aisling is known around here as the forest spirit, and she lives in Autumn.”
“You were the one by the tree!” Peter exclaimed, more to himself than to her. And yet, she nodded.
“Aisling also,” Katy continued, this time fixing him with a meaningful stare, “knew the first Autumn Fairy.”
“As much as this is something I wish to see,” Karel said, sheathing his sword, “I think we should also move this little reunion inside.” He nodded at the hills. “You never know how many spies Donella might have nearby.”
Peter nodded, Karel’s words snapping him out of his awestruck daze. “Right.” He looked at the crowd of several hundred that now surrounded them. “We need to clear the camp and set up more guards on the periphery. Markus, I want a report on casualties and the new numbers of our fighting men.” The captain nodded and turned to go.
Peter looked back down at Katy. Every time he saw her, it was like the first time all over again. But with his joy returned the aching sorrow of the decision he had made before, the only way he could keep his promise to both Katy and his isle at the same time.
“If you’ll excuse us,” he said, taking her hand and nodding to the others, including Aisling, “Katy and I need to have a moment to talk.”
The Autumn Fairy of Ages Page 32
