I made Glen cuddle me a while longer before we left. Following a well-worn road heading towards the snow-capped mountains, under which the castle lay.
I remembered all that the King had told us about how they stole human babies and forced them to work, but I was too exhausted to worry much about what our fate would be.
We couldn’t turn back and go south, not with Swift out there somewhere, looking for revenge. Our journey had led us here to this castle and so we had to face whatever was waiting for us.
I just hoped we would make it out alive.
Two fairies on horseback rode out to meet us on the final stretch of road before the castle. The two women were wearing dark thick wool and furs, which made me realise just how foolish Glen and I must look in our double layer of clothes. It was no wonder we were both freezing.
“What is your business in Norbroch?” demanded the blonde fairy whom I noticed, with a twinge of fear, was heavily armed.
“We wish to speak with one of the Queens of Norbroch,” I answered nervously, too which the blonde laughed, making me blush.
“The Queens do not simply meet with anyone who demands it,” said the other guard, who’s defining feature was a scar on her cheek, so deep it looked like someone had once stabbed her in the face.
My heart sank in desperation. We had travelled all the way to Norbroch, through mountains and forests, been attacked and enchanted, only to be turned away before we could reach the castle where the answers lay.
Whilst I panicked, Glen replied. “We’ve been sent to Norbroch by the King of Culhuinn.”
The guards shared a glance, clearly surprised. They stared at each other for a few moments, deliberating what to do, before the heavily armed one tilted her head towards the castle and the scarred one nodded. The first guard then turned, galloping off towards the castle at an alarming pace.
“Follow me.” the scarred guard said, allowing us to continue down the road at a much slower speed.
When we arrived at the courtyard of the castle, we were hurried off our horses and taken into a small hallway.
We were greeted by guards which made me feel sick with nerves. It was just like being arrested in Culhuinn except this time it was much more dangerous. If the King had been right about their hatred of humans we were really in danger.
“Hands.” The scarred guard demanded and after a moment of confusion we held up our hands, only to have our wrists bound tightly with thick scratchy rope.
We were then searched for weapons and our only defence, Glen’s small dagger was taken from us. Not that it ever did us any good. We had both forgotten about it when Swift attacked.
I kept my eyes on Glen, who was attempting to appear calm, whilst the guards spoke about us in hushed voices. I was struggling to control my breathing and not pass out when they finally came to a decision.
“Walk.” The blonde guard gestured towards another set of guards who began leading us through the halls.
I pressed close to Glen so that we were walking shoulder to shoulder, begging the Others not let them lead us down towards the castle dungeons.
“What brings you to my kingdom?” The Queen asked, moments after Glen and I were forced to our knees before her.
Despite being completely terrified, I noticed that the Queen was beautiful. Her skin was so pale I doubted she had ever seen the sun, which clashed with her thick black hair. Her poised demeanour made me feel like a child.
Her clothes were dark and, whilst they looked warm, they had none of the decoration that the fairies in Culhuinn wore. Her cheeks were hollow and her hands looked thin and pale, which made me wonder if she was sick.
“We were sent by King Ferchar,” I hurried to explain, but was cut off before I could continue.
The glass she had been holding shattered in her hand, sending shards of glass and water to the floor.
I risked a glance at Glen, who looked as stricken as I felt. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as my heart raced and stomach continued to churn nervously as we waited for her response.
The longer the silence lasted, the surer I was that I was either going to vomit, or something much worse.
The stone hall was painfully silent, except for the sound of Glen and I’s panicked breaths. The expression on the Queen’s face was completely unnerving and I focused on the trickle of blood, slowly dripping from her hand onto the stone floor.
When the blood began to make me feel even sicker, I turned my attention to the guard beside her stone throne. The guard looked younger than the Queen and was watching her closely.
As the moments passed by, I wondered if he too was unsure what she was thinking.
He wore a jacket, which was lined with fur around his broad shoulders, and reminded me of the people who lived to the east of Loch Fai. He was so muscular even Finnian would have looked weak beside him.
He remained expressionless and stoic until the Queen spoke and confirmed my fears.
I had angered her.
“Tormod, take them to a cell.” she said quietly.
“Wait... please we just want to ask you some questions,” I pleaded as the guards, and the one she called Tormod, came to collect us.
The Queen ignored my explanation and sat expressionless as Glen and I were helped to our feet and marched out of the hall, through a small door I had not noticed before.
We were taken along a dim and sparsely decorated hallway until we came to a thick wooden door, which the guard Tormod had to unlock before we could continue.
From there we were taken down a winding set of stone steps, the sound of rushing water growing louder the further beneath the castle we descended.
Far too soon, we came to a corridor with four wooden doors. We could hear no movement from behind any of them and one of the guards had to light torches on the walls so we could see.
It seemed like castle’s prison was empty. I wished it was staying that way.
Tormod unlocked the first wooden door and opened it to reveal a stone cell. Rather than throw us in he gestured that we should enter.
I’d once thought the mountain valleys felt suffocating, but now I wished to be back there more than ever. Despite our many troubles, this was the first time I’d ever truly regretted coming on this journey.
I cursed myself for being so eager to find answers and save my own life. I should have remained at home, content with what little life I had left.
“Please, if you would just let us explain,” Glen tried, but the guard shook his head.
“Queen Euna has ordered that you be imprisoned for the time being,” he said, and a flicker of hope sparked in my mind at his words.
I’m not sure I could have stopped myself from sobbing if he’d said that we were to be imprisoned forever.
Glen took a step forward and I hastily closed the distance between us, not wanting to risk separation. Another guard, who had remained silent, stepped forward and cut the rope that bound our wrists with a small dagger.
The moment we were unbound Glen and I grabbed onto each other’s hands, fingers intertwining so we wouldn’t be separated.
Tormod gave us a pitying look before saying “in” with such finality that we could not resist any longer.
With that final word, our freedom was gone.
T he King and the Queen were buried side by side in a small courtyard, alongside generations of those who ruled before them.
The King had been organised, as well as egotistical, whilst alive and had their gravestones carved years before his death. Each was carved with a figure vaguely resembling them, not that anyone would ever visit the courtyard to see them.
It was strange to watch as their personal guards lowered their lifeless bodies down into the graves, filled them with rocks and then lay the gravestones flat over the top.
I felt like I should be crying. Should throw myself on top of the graves, wailing at the loss of the two people who brought me into this world, but I didn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to shed a tear.
<
br /> When I confided in William he told me that the Lairds and Ladies were gossiping about my strength and bravery, despite losing both parents so young. Brave and strong were two emotions I did not feel. I wasn’t sure I had ever felt brave or strong.
Instead I simply felt sick, as my stomach continued to cramp due to the poison. The healers said it would be a few days before it was completely out of my body.
The same day as the burial, my coronation took place. The Kings and Queens of Culhuinn were crowned in a simple ceremony in the great hall. Every Laird, Lady, and the most important common fairies, were invited to watch the spectacle, before joining what was left of the royal family for a feast.
I had always assumed that I would be older when I took the throne. Older, wiser and more prepared.
It was only as I walked through the excited crowd, towards the throne, that I finally felt the urge to cry. I was in no way ready for this.
William by my side gave me strength. He had promised to help me, and that the kingdom would support me. I held onto those promises and hoped desperately that the Others would ensure his words came true. The thought of being alone on the throne was too much to bear.
In Culhuinn we had no intricate rituals. To be crowned, one simply had to don the crown in front of an approving audience. Adair once told me that in some human kingdoms they had to climb mountains before being crowned. With trembling hands, I lifted the crown. Its weight surprising me so much that I almost dropped it.
It was a thin band of metal, carved with runes to ensure that the wearer would be protected by the Others. I knew the runes were a lie. The King had been wearing the crown the night he was poisoned.
I turned towards the eager crowd, placed the far too heavy crown atop my head and sat down on my cold stone throne.
The crown felt heavy and wrong, sat in amongst the plaits Mae had spent all morning working on. I kept my chin up and smiled to the crowd, breathing slowly through my nose whilst my heart raced in my chest.
There was a moment’s hesitation, before they erupted into cheers and applause. Each Laird and Lady shouted well wishes and thanked the Others. The noise in the hall built to such a level that I could barely focus, the heavy crown all that was holding me together.
I raised a hand and a blissful silence descended on the hall.
“Let us begin the feast,” I called, thanking the Others when my voice didn’t shake.
With that, they forgot all about their plans to win my approval and hurried out into the stone courtyard, where Alasdair had been beheaded, for the feast.
As I watched them go, I was painfully aware of the lack of human presence at my coronation, specifically the lack of Nieves presence.
Foolishly I had convinced myself that she would appear. Sneak away from her work to see me and prove that she still loved me the way I loved her.
I had tried to visit the kitchens, under the lie that I was simply greeting the humans and overseeing work, but was quickly shooed away every time. Usually with a pocket full of bannocks or a pie for my trouble.
Nieve did not want to see me, and the rest of the humans were helping her avoid me.
The feast seemed to last all night.
I lost track of how many times a Laird or Lady would wish me well as Queen, before suddenly remembering why I was crowned and hurrying to offer their condolences.
I couldn’t even use food as a distraction, every time I raised a glass to my lips or took a bite of food, my stomach burned in anticipation. Just waiting to be poisoned once again.
There wasn’t a drop of hawthorn wine left in the castle. William had ensured that it was all poured out the day after we were poisoned. He had also placed guards in the kitchens, to oversee the production of my meals and ensure that no one tried to take my life again.
We were still investigating who had poisoned our wine. The girl who served the wine had been distraught at the accusation and begged me to spare her life. It was clear that she knew nothing about it and so we let her go.
I could not muster the energy to care who the culprit was. Whomever it was likely had a good reason to want King Ferchar dead, and they wouldn’t have been the only one considering murder.
If I hunted down and executed our attacker, the King would once again win and another family would be left devastated.
It didn’t matter what I did. I couldn’t win.
I found that being Queen meant the loss of my freedom. I hadn’t even realised that I had any freedom left, until it was suddenly ripped away.
I could no longer escape to my meadow, spend my days in lessons with Adair or roam the halls with William. Instead I had an endless stream of meetings to attend.
Lairds and Ladies from all over Culhuinn were desperate to meet me and gain my approval. How I was supposed to know a person’s character after a few moments I had no idea, but my smiles and compliments seemed to placate them all.
One unexpected pleasure of those meetings was finally getting to meet William’s father and brother Urraig. They looked so similar that I would have known they were related right away, I couldn’t help but stare. Although as Queen, perhaps I had the right to stare.
My first change to the court was appointing Adair as my advisor, much to the King’s old advisor’s disgust. He was a horrible old man who cared more about profit than anyone in Culhuinn. I easily ignored his complaints and allowed William to remove him from my sight.
It would have been foolish of me to start making drastic changes to the ruling of the kingdom before I’d had a chance to speak with the Lairds, Ladies and common fairies, but I could not resist getting rid of him.
“My son, Tomas, asks that you visit him,” Laird Brochan announced after our meeting.
The meeting had consisted of him boasting about the crops and livestock from the farms near his home, and me fighting the urge to point out that it was the farmers who should be boasting, not him.
“Give him my thanks,” I said with a forced smile. “As you know, I have much to do here in the castle.”
He nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment.
“It was a bold choice, picking my brother, Adair, as your advisor.”
“A good choice,” I replied simply, desperate to avoid conversation with a man that aided in the creation of the changelings.
“Might I suggest a new choice? I know I would be a far greater help than that...”
“I have made my decision.”
As I glared at him, wondering how two brothers could be so different, I was struck by an idea. An idea so great that I was oddly proud of myself.
Perhaps I was fit to be Queen.
“There is one issue with which I need your assistance,” I said as sweetly as I could manage.
“Anything my Queen,” he hurried to assure me. Likely already imaging the reward he would demand in exchange for his help.
I glanced cautiously at the other members of the court, who were still mingling nearby. Hoping to make it appear as if what I was about to say was meant only for Laird Brochan’s ears only.
“I need to find a certain fairy. A fairy with a very specific gift.”
He nodded, looking eager. To my frustration, it was clear that he had no clue who I meant. I fought back a sigh. I had hoped to be subtle about my request rather than say it outright.
“Bring me the fairy that can create the changelings,” I demanded, and to my surprise his face lit up.
“Yes. Yes, my Queen. I can do that,” he hurried to assure me.
His excitement was sickening.
It baffled me that he made no attempt to hide what he was part of. Stealing babies from their families and forcing them into servitude clearly wasn’t something he felt any remorse about.
The Laird left the castle shortly after our meeting, returning home to collect the gifted fairy and bring him to me. Whilst he was away Adair, William and I had time to plan what we would do.
Change was coming to Culhuinn. I would make sure of it.
“
The King and Queen of Culhuinn were poisoned and killed within their halls. The culprit has been apprehended and dealt with. Queen Freya sends a message of friendship and hopes to maintain the close bond between our two kingdoms.” the two women before me repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.
Messengers were sent between castles and kingdoms to spread news throughout the land. These two women were travelling to Wulvendach, to inform the wulver that I was the new Queen.
The messengers I’d sent to Norbroch the day before travelled in a much larger group, armed and ready to defend themselves against an attack.
The King had ensured that relations between Culhuinn and Norbroch were completely ruined, so no messages of friendship were sent up north. The messengers were simply to deliver the news and then retreat. I hoped that the group made it back alive.
Although the King had despised the wulver and looked down on them, the relationship between our two kingdoms remained surprisingly strong.
The wulver are a peaceful race, who keep to themselves and stay amongst their mountains. They had never been involved in any of the previous wars. Not even those that tore down the old kingdoms and built up the ones that stood today.
The benefit of that was I wouldn’t have to worry about hosting them here in the castle. They would simply send back my messengers with good wishes and a token gift.
Adair and I had discussed the possibility that the King’s death could mean improved relations between our kingdom and Norbroch, as it would be beneficial for us both. But I wasn’t counting on it.
If our messengers returned unharmed I would thank the Others and be done with it.
The changeling and the human would have arrived in Norbroch by now. I just hoped that whatever they did in the castle didn’t reflect too badly on me before I could even announce my new title.
I was plagued by thoughts of my messengers running into an army of northerners marching down south, enraged by whatever the King told the changeling to do there.
The Changeling's Journey Page 21
