I thanked the Others for not burdening her with that. Mine was the only gift she had ever taken. It took months for us to convince her that she was not a monster. That she still deserved our love.
Despite sometimes yearning to feel that power flowing through my veins again, I always believed that there was a reason the Others gave her that gift.
Finally, the reason was clear.
“What can you do?” Glen asked, unable to hide how curious he was.
He looked so eager to hear about it that I knew she would not resist. In the brief time that we had known the human and the changeling she had grown fond.
“I can remove gifts. I did it once as a child by mistake and the power has been slumbering inside me ever since,” Aelwen admitted as I squeezed her hand, trying to silently show my support and remind her that I did not blame her for what happened.
“So, you could remove Darach’s gift and stop him from ever creating another changeling?” Adair asked, to which Aelwen nodded.
I was glad he did not ask her about what happened when we were children.
“Wouldn’t that mean you could create changelings yourself?” Morven frowned, understandably suspicious.
“No, it is like releasing a bird from a cage. The magic does not linger here, it returns to the Otherworld.”
“Would you do it? Take away his gift as punishment for what he has done to the humans?” Queen Freya asked gently, not wanting to anger anyone else.
Aelwen sighed, a battle raging in her mind.
She had spent so much of her life pretending that she had no gift, not even her children knew what she was capable of. I was sure that she must have told her husband, Ronan, but we never discussed it.
I think she had always hoped that if she ignored it for long enough it would disappear.
The silence lasted so long that I grew concerned and was ready to call for our meeting to end.
We could meet again once Aelwen had time to make her decision. It was not fair for us to expect this of her.
Before I could voice my thoughts, Morven spoke.
“Please,” she begged, her voice thick with emotion. “You’re a mother, think of all the human babies stolen. All the parents who have to watch their changeling children die.” She took a shaky breath, “I’m not even human. I shouldn’t exist. Please, don’t let anyone else be born into this life.”
With that, I knew the decision was made.
I was not sure if Morven brought up that Aelwen was a mother so that she would feel guilty and accept, or if she truly was appealing to her motherly side.
Either way, it had worked.
Aelwen sprang from her seat and rushed to comfort Morven, whispering promises to stop him and hurrying to reassure her of her worth.
I knew all too well what it was like to truly despise yourself. From the distraught look on her face as she watched Morven, I could tell that Queen Freya did too.
Not for the first time I hoped that the King was being punished in the Otherworld. Nothing would ever be enough to make him pay for all the suffering he caused.
T he next afternoon we gathered again in the meeting hall. Adair suggested that it would be best to deliver Darach’s punishment in a formal setting.
Berwin had been discretely released when the humans were freed, so this would be my first sentencing since being crowned. I felt sick with nerves.
I did not deserve to decide the fate of other fairies simply because my father had been the king. As bad as I felt, I knew I did not feel as sick as Queen Aelwen looked. She would be the one removing Darach’s gift.
Usually it was as if light shone from within her, brightening the lives of everyone she encountered. This afternoon she looked miserable and resigned, we could all see that she was reluctant to do it.
I wasn’t gifted so I couldn’t imagine the toll using such power must take on a person, especially for a gift such as hers.
The hall was filled with people.
Glen and Morven were present, wanting to see justice carried out. The afternoon’s sentencing was the reason they’d journeyed north, to put a stop to the creation of the changelings.
Queen Aelwen was accompanied by Queen Euna, who seemed to have put aside her own unhappiness in favour of supporting her sister. Their guard Tormod was the only one from Norbroch present. They did not want the news of her gift to spread.
Queen Aelwen’s one condition was that no one was to ever learn of the gift she possessed.
William was by my side, as per usual, and so was Adair. We waited, listening to the rain battering down on the roof, for Darach to be brought in. Everyone was tense, no one daring to break the silence.
As we waited, I could not help but let my gaze drift over to Morven. She had been unhappy since we questioned Darach, but I hoped that seeing justice served would help put her at ease. If not for her sake, then for Nieve’s sake. I knew she would have wanted the changeling who replaced her to be happy.
I was roused from those thoughts as the doors to the prison opened and Darach was led in. He was escorted by four of William’s most trusted guards, his hands bound behind his back, before being forced to his knees before my throne.
I had watched countless fairies be sentenced by King Ferchar over the years, to all manner of horrific punishments. Never had I felt any desire to be the one doing the sentencing.
I noticed Darach looking smugly towards Morven every few moments, so I spoke to drag his attention away and protect her from his gaze.
“Darach, you are here to be sentenced for your crimes,” I began, hoping that I sounded more confident than I felt.
“I fathered many children through the gift the Others gave me, how is that a crime?” Darach asked, not the slightest bit repentant.
“You stole human babies from hundreds of families. You aided Laird Brochan in killing countless fairies. You sold human children into servitude. Almost every child you have created has suffered and died needlessly. Each of those is crime enough to deserve punishment.”
“All of them suffered and died, except her,” Darach amended with a nod towards Morven who was staring at the wall behind me, refusing to make eye contact with him.
Her refusal to even look at him was sharply contrasted by Glen. He was glaring at Darach with such hatred, I worried we would have to stop him from trying to kill Darach once his gift had been taken.
“As punishment for your crimes your gift shall be removed,” I said simply, not wanting to draw the sentencing out any longer.
His gaze snapped back to me, his smug expression replaced by one of horror.
“That’s impossible,” he breathed, sounding uncertain.
“You are not the only gifted fairy.”
Before I could ask Queen Aelwen to step forward from where they stood at the back of the hall, the wooden doors at the entrance beside them opened.
To my disbelief, in marched Tomas with a handful of armed men. Without so much as glancing at the Queens or Morven and Glen, he strode forward to stand beside Darach. The guards rearranged themselves to let him past, watching William for orders.
“Where is my father?” He demanded and it took me a few moments to get over my shock and reply.
“How dare you burst into my hall without invitation?” I exclaimed, embarrassed that he had simply wandered in.
What would the Queens think of me when I was being shown such clear disrespect by my subjects?
“I have sent you countless messengers asking that you release my father,” Tomas continued as if I had not spoken, his voice harsh and cold.
Gone was the flirtatious fairy I had encountered at festivals and dinners in the past.
“I sent replies to each of your messengers with the same answer. Your father has committed multiple crimes and will remain in my prison until he is sentenced. Now, I’ll ask that you kindly remove yourself and your men from my hall.”
“I am swiftly running out of patience,” Tomas spat and from the anger on his face, I believed
him. “Release my father from your prison and I will say no more about this matter.”
“Enough.” William stepped forward, putting himself between me and Tomas who was growing angrier the longer our conversation lasted. “Queen Freya has asked you to leave this hall. Refusal to do so will see you and your men thrown out of the castle.”
“This should be my hall, my castle and my kingdom,” Tomas hissed. “King Ferchar promised my father that you and I would be wed, that I would become his heir.”
“The King is dead and your father will reside in the cells until I see fit to free him or punish him.” I felt my own temper rising the longer he refused to leave.
It did not surprise me that King Ferchar had tried to marry me off without my permission. What did surprise me was that Tomas believed it and expected me to honour the late King’s promise.
He sighed, shaking his head as if he was somehow disappointed in me. I opened my mouth, ready to shout at him, feeling my blood boil at his lack of respect, when he spoke again.
“You have left me no other choice.”
He threw his arms wide and a moment later, the hall descended into chaos.
I watched, frozen in horror, as the ground cracked and exploded around his feet. I had never known that he was gifted.
There was nothing we could do as his magic gouged chunks out of my hall and ripped apart the very stones it was made of.
My heart raced in panic as the cracks shot up the walls and across the ceiling, there was no way it would support itself much longer.
“You did this.” Tomas shouted over the sounds of splintering rocks.
The roof gave in and began to collapse just as the rocks beneath my feet crumbled and disappeared. Something heavy collided with my back, sending me sprawling to the floor.
I could do nothing but cower as my castle was destroyed around me. Chunks of stone pelting me as they fell, the sound of the destruction making it impossible to think.
If I had not already been on the floor, I would have fallen as I realised what he was doing.
He was going to bury us alive.
G len and I listened as the pompous fairy tried to convince Queen Freya to release his father. Hearing him complain that King Ferchar had promised to let him marry Queen Freya made me feel a little better about falling for his tricks. Even fairies had fallen for his lies.
As we stood there, I could feel Darach’s eyes on me. Could sense him willing me to look at him.
I made sure that my eyes never strayed from Queen Freya and the wall behind her. He could call me his child all he liked, but I would not give him the satisfaction of looking at him.
Just as soon as William got rid of the interruption, Queen Aelwen would be free to use her gift and Darach would never be able to create another changeling again.
We may not have succeeded in extending my life, but we had saved the lives of countless humans and spared generations of families from heartbreak.
That was enough.
Across the hall, Queen Aelwen was standing so close to Queen Euna that she was practically being held up by her. Her beautiful face looked haunted and I felt awful that she had to use the gift she so clearly despised, but it couldn’t be helped. She was the only way to ensure that no one suffered like this again.
Tormod was watching the fairy argue with Queen Freya and looked tense, as if he was expecting that the fairy would not leave quietly.
“You’ve left me no choice.” Tomas announced, the malice in his voice instantly making me want to run.
He threw his arms wide, and as he did, the stone all around us shattered and exploded.
Glen threw us down to the ground as slabs of rock and stone from the perfectly made castle rained down all around us.
I felt shards cut my face and arms so I screwed my eyes shut. Desperately hoping that the Others didn’t let us be crushed to death.
People were shouting all around us. Their cries mixing with the horrific roaring sound of a castle being ripped apart and the ground bursting up into the air.
Distantly, I remembered Granny Ethol telling us stories about a human who could make the ground crack and crumble. Never did I think I would feel the full force of that gift.
I felt as if we crouched together in the rubble for hours, clutching each other tight, when eventually it stopped. Leaving my ears ringing and my heart racing.
Where there had been a fully formed roof, now there were only a few stray beams of wood remaining. The rain was pouring down onto the chaos all around us and I let myself imagine that it was the Others, sending us help.
Everywhere I looked, the fairies that arrived with the gifted fairy were fighting with the castles guards, those who were still alive anyway.
I could make out a few limbs in between slabs of stone and forced myself not to think about the bodies trapped beneath the rubble.
The once flat hall was now a wild rocky terrain, with the colossal remains of walls and the roof separating the hall into sections.
We could no longer see Queen Freya or the Queens, who had been across the hall from us before chaos began.
The wall behind the throne had been completely knocked down. I desperately hoped that Queen Freya had not been thrown out of the castle with it, I doubted even a fairy could survive that.
My ears were still ringing from the sound of solid stone being torn apart, but I could hear Glen shouting beside me.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
Glen’s vibrant red hair was coated in grey dust, as was his face and clothes. Seeing it made me cough and wheeze, realising just how much dust there was floating around. In amongst the dust, some of which was now running down his face because of the rain, I could see cuts and blood from the blizzard of rock we’d been caught up in.
Pulling me to my feet, Glen frantically looked around for anyone who wasn’t fighting. In the chaos, it was impossible to tell who was winning the fight.
“The Queen.” I shouted, my voice only just loud enough for Glen to hear over the clashing swords and fairies shouting.
Glen knew what I meant and so, hurrying as fast as we could over the uneven wet rubble, cutting our hands in the process, we scrambled to find Queen Freya and William.
As we worked to get to the other end of the hall I found myself coughing more and more. Whilst the freezing rain helped to dampen and dispel some of the dust, our movement was releasing clouds of dust from in between the bricks and roof.
Every so often we would step on an unsteady piece of stone, only for it to go crashing down, sending us toppling with it.
By the time we made it to the other side of the hall I was exhausted and ready to give up.
Though the wall was gone, the floor was more intact and so we were able to stand on relatively flat ground. It looked like the fairy had blasted the stone away from himself, that’s why we were so badly affected at the back of the hall.
We still had some rubble to climb over, but by now I could see that Queen Freya was cradling her advisor, Adair, in her lap. They were talking frantically so I hoped that whatever injuries he had were not fatal.
William had unsheathed his sword and was fighting the gifted fairy. He seemed to be less skilled than William and so had to focus on defending himself, not ripping the rest of the castle apart.
We let ourselves pause for a few moments and I tried to catch my breath.
The fairies were still fighting all around us, but they appeared to be evenly matched. Screams of anger, rather than pain, echoing around us.
Pausing for breath was our biggest mistake.
“I am taking back what is mine,” Darach suddenly shouted with a manic look in his eyes.
He lunged towards me from where he had been hiding, behind what looked like the remains of a wooden table, crushed by the collapsing roof.
I scrambled back onto the pile of rocks behind us, cutting my fingers to shreds as I frantically tried to put distance between us.
G
len pushed Darach away from me, shouting at him with language so foul I was glad his ma wasn’t here to hear him.
My head swam as I looked at the chaos all around us. William fighting the gifted fairy, Queen Aelwen and Queen Euna separated from us by a wall of fighting fairies and Glen, trying to fight a fairy intent on taking away the magic which gave me life.
“Please, help us.” I whispered, hoping that the Others were watching us.
How could this be the fate they had kept us alive so long to face?
The gifted fairy, growing bored of his fight with William, once again released his gift upon the ruined hall. With another deafening roar, rock was torn apart and flung towards the cowering Queen Freya, Adair and William.
The walls continued to crumble and the remaining wooden ceiling beams fell from their precarious position onto the fairies below. Too engaged in fighting to realise that they were about to be hit by wooden beams.
The rock I was perched on was unstable and as the fairy continued to unleash chaos, the stone beneath my feet gave way. Sending me tumbling down with it.
Glen had been caught up in the rock directed at Queen Freya and so there was nothing to stop Darach from scrambling towards me.
I cried out to Glen as I scrambled away, my hands slipping and sliding on what remained of the wet stone floor.
My back hit a wall of rock and wood. With a sob, I realised that I had nowhere left to go. Laughing in a way that made me feel sick to my stomach, Darach closed in on me.
Behind him, Glen and William were stumbling to their feet, but I knew it was too late.
They were too far away to stop Darach from ending my life.
Glen and I were the children of farmers, not meant to be here in the north, dealing with evil kings and magical abilities greater than anything we could have imagined.
The moment we’d stepped foot in the fairy lands we had made a mistake. There was no way I was getting out of this alive. I was too weak.
Glen screamed my name me as Darach sank to his knees beside me. Slowly raising his hand, chuckling gleefully.
The Changeling's Journey Page 29
