I looked into the open space spanning outward from the area of the mountain just below its peak we’d climbed to. The slow hum of my magic coming alive told me the place was one of the spots where the mortal realm backed up to Faerie.
“Are you ready?” I asked Zander sounding a lot more at-ease than I was actually feeling.
Once we crossed into Faerie the game was on. We would be leaving the relative security of the mortal realm behind and with it Zander’s mortality. The magic of Faerie would recognize his blood as Asteroth the moment we crossed over and begin to change him into Fae.
Belial had powerful trackers, fae with the ability to track other fae using their magic signatures, in his employ and once I crossed into Faerie it would not take them long to sense my returned presence to the realm. He also had the seer who told both him and the Order’s leaders about Zander. Her magic of precognition was strong. There was a good chance she would or already had seen my return to the realm with Zander. With what level of detail I could not say, just as I could not say if she would tell Belial or not if she did. The fact that she was willing to divulge information to both Belial and the Order left her intentions and allegiance both duplicitous and unclear. If she saw me returning to the realm with Zander and told Belial, his efforts to hunt down and capture me would be tripled.
Zander’s hand slid against mine entwining our fingers together. He gave it a supportive squeeze.
“Are you?” He asked me back.
“Yes.” I nodded affirmatively.
I was scared shitless of returning to a realm where the very man who had butchered my entire family still reigned through blood and terror, but that was the very definition of courage. Being utterly terrified of something yet choosing to stand tall in the face of it. Not being anxious would have just been stupid and naïve. I knew we had an uphill fight ahead of us that very well might be impossible for us to win.
“Are you?” I asked Zander again. “There is a good chance you won’t ever return. If Belial finds you, he will try his very best to kill you. If that happens before you have fully transformed into Fae and your magic has fully manifested, there is no doubt he will succeed. He might still do so even after you are Fae and come into your magic. It entirely depends on what type of magic manifests and how strong it is. Your facing Belial is a gamble. We do not know how the cards will fall.”
I wanted to make it explicitly, brutally clear exactly what was at stake and what he was choosing to sacrifice. A part of me hoped he would tell me he was not ready. Even refuse to cross into Faerie with me. That same part wanted him to turn away, climb down the mountain and sail back across the ocean to the safety of Anthame and the High Palace. He could live out the rest of his mortal days as a Roth, eventually taking up the Crown of Anthame and ruling the very human kingdom. Ironically, his future and full, long-lived existence would be a lot more certain than it would be in Faerie.
My heart sank even as it soared when Zander squeezed my hand in solidarity again.
“I am sure,” he answered resolutely.
I nodded my head in acceptance and resignation. I took a steadying breath, refocusing on the end objective. An entire realm of people needed us to return. If Zander could so gallantly meet an unknown fate head on than so could I. I was dragging him to it and I owed him nothing less.
I focused on the space in front of me, allowing my magic to come alive. The slow hum built to a crescendo until it exploded out of me in a wave of heat and energy. The air in front of us warmed then the space around it rippled. A tear appeared in its fabric that grew into a large hole that hovered inches above the ground.
I looked at Zander. He looked back at me and nodded firmly. Together, with our fingers still entwined, we left the security of the mortal realm behind.
---
We stepped out of the portal into the middle of a clearing surrounded by a densely wooded forest. After spending four human years in the mortal world, the magic and sights and sounds of Faerie overwhelmed me at once. Everything was so much more in Faerie than in the human realm. The foliage greener, the sky more azure, the sounds keener, and the smells bolder.
Despite the terror of Belial looming near, my heart recognized it had returned home and sighed in contentment.
“It’s beautiful,” Zander murmured beside me looking around in awe. “I don’t know what I expected to see, maybe a duplicate of the human world, but certainly not this. Never in all my imagination could I have envisioned a landscape so rich. It’s like I am looking around at the artwork of a master painter.”
“How do you feel? Any different?” I focused my attention on him.
I did not know if Faerie would recognize and begin to change him immediately or if it would take time.
“No,” he shook his head. “I feel the same as when I left the mortal world. Should I feel differently?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Draw your sword and keep it at the ready,” I advised as I did the same. “Belial could find us and come for us at any moment. When he does, it will be executed as a quick and brutal attack. He will sneak up on us, we may never see it coming, and he will strike out powerfully and definitively.”
Zander nodded his head in understanding.
“Where do you we go from here?”
“I am not sure where here is. These woods are unfamiliar to me. But if we start moving, we will eventually find a city. It will tell us where in Faerie we are and we can travel to the Order’s leaders from there. They have gone underground and are hiding out with one of the few fae elders willing to offer aid in our cause against Belial. The elders are Faerie’s oldest inhabitants and generally stay out of political disputes and the changes of its throne. They have existed for tens of thousands of years, seen the Crown of Faerie change from one head to another, and are too ancient and removed from the day-to-day machinations of fae society to be anything but indifferent to them. The Order’s reach has expanded so much that they have established an underground network of sympathizers and supporters in nearly every city small and large across Faerie. When we find the nearest city, we should be able to find information about the Order’s leaders exact location as well or at the very least who to seek out that has the information.”
We kept our blades leveled as we made our way through the forest. We walked in the direction in which the foliage seemed to grow less dense rather than more. Eventually the forest gave way to the outer edges of a town. We stopped at the first shop we came to. The little bell over the shop’s door chimed as we entered.
“How can I help you?” The shopkeeper spoke without raising his head to see who walked in.
“We need cloaks,” I said walking up to the counter behind which he stood. The more we could conceal ourselves while traveling within the town and any other city the better. “And I need a change of clothes. Not another dress, pants,” I added.
Unlike in the mortal realm, the shopkeeper would have what I requested. Female fae only wore dresses when the occasion called for them. Otherwise, we dressed much more practically.
I had a good four inches on the shopkeeper in height so when he finally looked up from the ledger book he scribbled notes in, he had to tilt his head up at me when he spoke.
“What do you have to offer in exchange?”
Shit. I’d forgotten about that. Faerie’s economy was not like that of the mortal world, which operated on a capitalistic system of monetary coins in exchange for goods. The gold coins we still carried on us meant nothing in Faerie. Power, magic, status, and the services one could offer another in exchange for what they needed were the currency used by the fae.
“I don’t have anything you will think of as valuable with me at the moment, but I can offer to owe you a favor of your choosing at a later date and time,” I bartered with the only thing at my disposal.
The shopkeeper looked me over. His beady brown eyes giving me a thorough perusal. He assessed whether I was someone he could use to his advantage.
“You seem physica
lly strong but your magic is useless. There is no favor I would need to call on you to fulfill in the future.”
He returned his attention to his ledger book, properly dismissing me.
I opened my mouth to say something more, but Zander cut me off.
“Come on, we can find another shop. Perhaps someone willing to be more agreeable.”
The shopkeeper’s head snapped up at the sound of Zander’s voice. He assessed him in the same manner he assessed me. He must have been more impressed by what he saw in Zander because his eyes sparked with interest.
“Now you, your magic is barely beginning to come alive, but it promises to be strong. You, I could use.”
“For what?” I interjected suddenly feeling protective of Zander.
I did not like the metaphorical wheels that turned behind the shopkeeper’s eyes as he greedily looked at him.
“That is none of your concern and irrelevant to the transaction. I will give you the cloaks and clothes you require in exchange for a favor promised to be answered and fulfilled by him.”
Zander looked to me to make the final call.
I mulled it over. I didn’t need the clothes, but we needed the cloaks if we wished to move through Faerie inconspicuously. However, I did not like the idea of Zander owing the conniving fae anything. Still, we needed the cloaks.
“Agreed,” I finally sighed, deciding between the lesser of two evils.
The fae nodded gleefully.
“Sign here,” he said pushing the ledger book towards us. “It will leave a magical imprint behind that will enable me to call on you when I require payment.”
“How so?” I asked suspiciously.
“Don’t ask questions. That is not a part of the deal. Either accept the terms as agreed upon or get out.”
Zander stepped up to the counter before I could argue more. He picked up the pen sitting in the book’s opened spine and signed his name in long , elegant letters.
I expected black ink to ooze from the pen as he did so. A bright, red fluid that looked suspiciously like blood did so instead. When Zander finished it blazed copper. The flames died down and the black ink I had originally expected remained on the paper.
“What wa—“ I started but the shopkeeper held up a hand to silence me.
“Don’t ask questions remember.”
He reached beneath the counter and flung two capes and a change of clothes for me across it. He pointed to a closed door, behind which I could change.
Zander and I exited the shop with the capes wrapped tightly around us. The next place we stopped at was a market for food. We would have run into the same problem of no goods or services to barter with, but the stocky woman with pointy ears and daggers for teeth had a penchant for collecting shiny objects. We gave her the useless gold we carried and she gave us a sack, instructing us to fill it with breads.
As we left the market I felt eyes on our backs. I abruptly turned in a sharp arc. The fae watching us tried to take cover behind a nearby building but they were not nearly quick enough.
“We have followers,” I said quietly to Zander.
His gaze followed the direction of mine. It softened when he saw what I did.
“It is okay. You don’t have to hide. We won’t hurt you,” I soothingly called out to the tail we’d picked up.
Two small fae, one male and one female, both no more than five years in age cautiously stepped out from behind the side of the building.
We walked to them. I knelt down when we reached them.
“Is there a reason why you are following us?” I asked in concern.
They were too little to roam the streets alone.
“We…we saw you leave with food at the market,” the boy said. His tiny pinkish lips trembled as he spoke.
“You seemed nice enough and we thought you might share,” the girl looked fearlessly into my eyes.
Her silver gaze matched her brothers except where his was timid and gentle hers was brazen and strong.
Good for her. If they were alone, as I suspected they were, she would keep the both of them safe.
I smiled down at her approvingly.
“Where are your parents?” Zander asked from beside me.
I winced at his question because I knew the answer. The story they would tell us would be one all too familiar among the many orphaned children of Faerie.
“We don’t have any,” the boy answered meekly, looking down at his feet.
For all of her bravery, the girl’s eyes glistened with a fresh sheen of wetness.
“When is the last time you’ve eaten?” I asked the pair.
They looked away from us. It was all the answer that I needed. Zander handed me the sack and I handed it to the girl.
“Here, take it,” I told her.
Their silver eyes widened in shock and tentative hope.
“All of it?” she asked disbelievingly.
“Yes, all of it,” I smiled at her.
They needed it more than us. Zander and I could take care of ourselves.
The girl rushed toward me throwing her arms around my neck. The surprising move made me lose my balance and tumble to the ground.
---
I hated leaving the children behind. The food would last them for days but it would eventually run out and I had no clue where or even if they had adequate shelter. I suspected not. But we had done all we could for them. Like the rest of Faerie, what they really needed from us was for us to find the Order’s leaders and with their help remove Belial from the throne. It was the only thing we could do to permanently improve their situation.
“Are there many orphans in Faerie?” Zander asked me as we wandered through the town checking door after door of its many establishments.
“Yes,” I said. “More than there should be.”
I stopped to check the door of yet another business only to find nothing. We moved on to the next.
“Belial is a tyrant who rules through death and fear. Those who oppose him, those who speak out against him, and those who do not automatically fall in line with his decrees are made a quick example of. His pitilessness has left a lot of fae children orphans, myself included.”
Darkness settled in Zander’s eyes at the mention of Belial’s atrocities, especially the crime committed against me. A spark of red ignited within the darkness, but it disappeared as swiftly as it appeared.
“Is this the kind of symbol we are looking for?” Zander asked running his fingers over a carving in the right corner of a wooden door.
I stepped closer beside him to look at it. Two triangles lying on their sides touching at their points with a vertical line running through the center of where they met sat etched into the door. It meant justice. it was the Order’s symbol and very discreet way of letting sympathizers and supporters know the people behind the door were also sympathizers and supporters of the Order.
“Yes, it is.” I closed my fist and gently rapped on the wooden door.
The rectangular peephole cut into it slid open. A set of eyes looked through them.
“Who is it?” A gruff voice called out.
“A friend in search of aid,” I responded with the words that would not get the peephole shut in my face.
“And what type of aid do you seek?” The voice asked roughly.
“The aid of a friend,” I responded again with the Order’s code phrase for a supporter in need of help.
The voice grunted and the peephole slammed shut. A moment later the door opened. A petite woman with bright orange hair whose stature did not at all match the tone of her voice stood proud behind it. She motioned for us to enter.
“Are you hungry? Bertha can get you food?” The woman asked motioning to the fae behind the counter of the bar across the room us as we settled into one of her tavern’s booths.
“We would be ever so grateful,” Zander responded for us.
She nodded to the fae she called Bertha. Bertha nodded back then disappeared into the kitchen.
Zande
r and I sat on one side of the booth and she sat on the other.
“My name is Marie,” she extended her hand across the table between us.
“Skyler,” I said taking it.
Zander did the same, offering his name as well.
Marie studied him intently. “Your magic is just beginning to manifest as if you were a babe and yet you sit before me clearly past the age of manifestation. How is that possible?”
Zander and I exchanged a glance. Yes, she was a supporter of the Order, but we were both thinking the details of who he was were better left unrevealed. We would find the Order’s leaders first and with them decide whom to reveal Zander’s identity to and when.
“It is okay,” Marie spared us having to come up with a lie. “We are living in dangerous times where our very lives and the lives of those around us may hinge on the secrets we keep.”
“Thank you for understanding,” I told her graciously.
Bertha sat plates loaded with more food than even I could consume down on our table.
“Eat,” Marie commanded. “Then we will speak of the aid of a friend you seek.”
Bertha came back to clear the plates away once we’d eaten our fill. Marie stood and motioned for us to follow her up the tavern’s stairs. She led us into the small interior of an upstairs parlor room.
“Sit please,” she pointed at a sweetheart sofa near us.
We did as requested. She settled into a chair situated off to the side yet still intimately nearby.
“How can I be of assistance?” Marie asked.
I decided to be frank. I was not good at speaking in codes or with complex wording.
“We are in search of the location the Order’s leaders have gone underground to. I told you my name is Skyler, you may also know that to be the name of the ward of Belial. We are one in the same. Belial murdered my parents when I was a child just as he did the parents of the Lords and Princesses of Faerie. I am more than a sympathizer to the Order’s cause. I seek the destruction and removal of Belial from the throne as actively as any of its leaders and am just as invested in it. They sent me on a mission to retrieve something valuable to them and perhaps the whole of Faerie. I have it. Now I need to locate them to deliver it.”
Chaos Page 12
