Archon's Hope: Book III of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  And there were a lot of them...

  They seemed to appear out of everywhere. Nymphs came straight out of the water, Centaurs emerged from a concealed door in the side of a hill, about five of them, including a tiny little girl centaur about the size of a pony, four more otters swam out of the water, including two pups, which Burglar instantly snuffled at. It seemed he was well known as a big softie, as the little otters immediately climbed up into his fur along with the Pixies. About a dozen Wood Sprites seemed to pop out of trees in pairs, one pair to a tree, including the two from the lab, now restored to their natural green pigmentation.

  There were even a couple of creatures that just had to be gnomes. They came out of a hole in an Oak tree, dressed brightly, not a speck of dirt on them. I even saw what I was fairly certain was a pair of Vulture-toads sitting under the water, famed for their ability to vomit acid strong enough to melt stone, very rare indeed.

  They all came in close, the ones that I knew nodding to me.

  "Hello," I said lamely, and then to Bayano, "What was that?"

  "That was you creating the first Fairy colony the mortal realm has seen in nearly two thousand years, Lord," he said.

  "I'm not a lord," I said, "I'm just Mathew. And that doesn't really answer the question."

  "This is your place. When Lunson pulled your residual magic here, it created a place of power. When you invited us to stay, you solidified the bond between you and this place, you and us, and us and our new home."

  I thought about this for a second, all the while being watched by Fairy creatures. Jewel landed on my shoulder and grabbed onto my ear for balance.

  "Hello," I said, looking around.

  The little fairy grinned.

  "If all of you are happy to be here, then that's fine with me, of course. But there's no game here, nothing really edible," I said.

  "There is now," said an older looking Centaur. He carried a staff in his hand, a blue crystal at the top. He had green eyes and greying hair, but he looked strong and there were no signs of age in his posture. "There are deer and boar, fish in the lake and river, mushrooms, nuts and wild vegetables. We won't starve."

  "You brought boar with you?" I asked, "Aren't they dangerous?"

  "Nobody comes into these woods anymore," he said, "They belong to the Shade."

  "Alright," I said, "then make yourselves at home."

  There seemed to be a collective relaxation, and they all came in closer. They introduced themselves one by one or in groups. The older Centaur was the aforementioned Lunson, and it turns out that he was a Mage, after a fashion, the Fairy equivalent of a Druid. He seemed to take over from Bayano as my tour guide, and I got the impression that he was the boss around there.

  He introduced me to Mercucio's wife Kaliya (Lunson's daughter), and his granddaughter Kay, who burrowed her head into her mother's flank when she was introduced, just like any kid her age would have done. It made me smile, which relaxed her enough to take my hand and nearly crush it in a very firm grip.

  The nymphs giggled shyly as they were named to me, not saying much, but planting very firm kisses on my lips one after another before jumping back into the water, which left me blushing.

  Bayano introduced his mate, his brother and his two pups, who were still making a mockery of my guard dog, by the way.

  Then the gnomes, a whole family of them, the Rootheart Clan, I was told, the head of which was Bohar, the Root-worthy. He had his two sons, their wives and their four children, and all lived under the roots of my favourite Oak tree, which they had better not break, because I'd take the hump.

  Finally the sprites, who were named in pairs, both members of which had the same name. The ones from the lab were Fol'na, and the others were members of their extended family, including three pairs that contained a son or a daughter of theirs.

  It was all very overwhelming, and I suddenly felt very afraid for them.

  "Lunson," I said, beckoning him away from the group, who'd mostly slipped back into whatever they were doing before I'd turned up.

  "Lord?" he said.

  "Really, it's just Mathew. But I'm somewhat concerned. I have more than a few enemies, and I don't know that they wouldn't come here."

  "They would find that most unhealthy," he replied, an almost predatory gleam in his eye, "Within the bounds of the forest that we now claim, we are difficult to find. Within the bounds of your place of power, we are strengthened and protected far beyond anything even a Fairy Queen could manage on her own. On the island, we're nigh invincible. In the event that your life is ever threatened, go there. It is protected as only the hearth and home of the Fae can be, even more so with the mingling of your strength with ours."

  "My family, my parents," I said, worried, "Could they come here too?"

  "That's why the cat is with them; to protect them and move them here, or to wherever you are, if the house is threatened. They are of you, and so are of us, too."

  "Thank you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."

  The safety of my family had been a growing concern of late. My parents were out of the country a lot for work, but they weren't gone all the time, and I worried about my various enemies finding them.

  "Perhaps now you realise how much what you did has affected us. You gave my daughter the love of her life back, the father of her child. If we can keep you and yours safe, we shall. And don't worry about the cat. He's very fond of you, and your mother, especially. He'll tear anything that gets near her or your father to pieces."

  I didn't know what to say, so I just smiled and bowed in the Fae fashion. I spent more time with them, getting to know my new 'tenants' a bit better; I only realised how late it was when I heard crashing through the undergrowth towards the house.

  "Matty!" shouted my father. Burglar barked and the Fairy creatures disappeared (standard procedure). Well, except the Pixies, they dropped onto Burglar's back, except for Melody, who draped herself over my shoulder.

  "And you knew all about this and didn't tell me," I said, prodding the little creature.

  She giggled and grabbed my finger before I could withdraw it. They were surprisingly strong.

  "In here, Father," I said.

  "Where have you been? You've been gone hours- Oh!" he said as he saw the enhanced environment and went quiet for a moment, "Old Mister Willis wasn't kidding, was he?"

  Mister Willis was our groundskeeper. I'd imagine that he would mention something like this, even if he didn't necessarily understand it.

  "Matty, why is there a doll on your shoulder- oh God it's moving!"

  "Hey, I am not a doll!" Melody complained.

  "It spoke!" Father said, going pale.

  "She, Father, she spoke," I said as the other two darted up from Burglar's back and landed on my other shoulder and the crown of my head.

  He gulped audibly, "Sorry," he said, "What are they?"

  "Pixies," I said with a smile.

  "Are they friendly?"

  "Mischievous, but otherwise harmless," I said as Meadow rubbed her head against my ear and Jewel settled herself cross-legged on my head, grabbing onto my hair.

  "Anyway, dinner. You're late, and your mother isn't happy."

  "Can we come?" Jewel asked.

  "Um, sure, the more the merrier?" Father said.

  I grinned as the pixies tittered and I followed my father, Burglar hot on my heels.

  My mother didn't take the existence of fairies well.

  Screamed a little, in fact.

  But then the Pixies introduced themselves and chatted to her, and she belonged to them in under ten minutes. Nothing Magical; just the fact that they were so damned cute, and my mother was a sap for anything like that. My father looked on in horror as he realised that we now had three Pixies to add to the Warp-cat in the increasingly crowded house.

  Mother asked what they liked and made them some sort of chocolate pudding mixture that they literally dove into, it went all over the table, and all over them. I couldn't help but laugh
at the ecstatic sounds that they made while they gorged themselves.

  They licked their fingers and simply stripped off their tiny dresses before diving into the sink.

  "Both of you, eyes front," Mother said.

  "I wasn't looking!" Father protested.

  "I have a girlfriend," I said, focussing on my dinner, not that it helped, the girls just resumed their perches on my shoulders and head, completely naked.

  "Girls, clothes, you're making my father nervous," I said.

  "But not you?" Meadow said with a giggle.

  "Can't see you," I pointed out.

  "We can change that," Jewel replied.

  "Clothes," I insisted.

  "Ooh, I like it when he's bossy," Melody said. They fluttered out the window and didn't come back for about ten minutes, at which point they were dressed in fresh leaves.

  "You know, I have some old Cashmere sweaters, I could make you dresses," Mother offered.

  "Really?!" they all said at once, standing up a little too quickly and pulling my ear.

  "Ow, easy up there!" I said.

  "Sorry," Jewel said, "Here, I'll kiss it better."

  Which she did, it made me blush. Jewel laughed and hugged my head.

  After dinner, I said goodnight and showered. I found the three Pixies in my room, darting to and fro looking at everything. I read, watched some TV, which those three loved, but needed a lot of explaining for. Finally I was ready for bed and settled down.

  The Pixies didn't leave. They curled up right next to me, leaving their dresses on my bedside table so they wouldn't crumple in their sleep. I didn't look. They tucked themselves in under my blanket and sighed happily as they fell asleep.

  Yes, I'm aware that it was a little strange.

  No, I don't care.

  I woke up with them all over the place. Melody was on the pillow next to my head, her tiny naked bottom an inch from my nose (here's hoping Pixies don't have gas), Jewel had somehow crawled under my hand and was using it as a duvet; Meadow was tucked in under my chin. All three were snoring, tiny little sounds that were very sweet.

  And that was more or less the pattern for the first two weeks of the holiday. I walked Burglar twice a day and spent an hour or two at the Grotto (which was what the residents were calling it). I chatted with most of them, learning about their species and their likes and dislikes. It was quite educational, and fun besides.

  The Pixies followed me more or less everywhere, asking questions, poking into things. I'd managed to draw the line at the bathroom, but that had been under extreme protest, and even then I found them dropping into the tub with me from time to time, much to my embarrassment. My mother made them tiny dresses out of cashmere, as promised, and they loved them. Mother was already ordering things off Amazon so she could make more complicated outfits, and the girls were near-ecstatic at the prospect.

  I spoke to Cathy four or five times a day, which helped, but wasn't a substitute for her presence. The Pixies helped a lot with my missing her, though. Cathy nearly had a small fit when one of them appeared in front of the camera.

  Naturally they all took to her, doubly so once I'd explained who and what she was to me. Towards the end of that first week, Cathy spent as much time talking to the Pixies as she did talking to me. It was a pleasant routine, and I very much enjoyed it.

  It was all going so well...

  Oh, a word on the Graves family Christmas.

  It wasn't a small affair. Three days before the Day, the grandparents would descend on the house, occasionally with one or both of my uncles and up to four cousins in tow, but always the grandparents. This year it would just be the grandparents. The house was big enough that there was plenty of room available as it had been bought with the idea of a much larger Graves brood in mind. Even though my parents had decided to reprioritise their work after Des and I were born, they still loved the house and couldn't bear to downsize (which was good, because the Grotto meant that we were never going to be able to move).

  All but one of my four grandparents preferred Des. Not that you could blame them, he looks like the quintessential Champion of Light, and at that point I looked like something that had clogged up a wood-chipper. My paternal Grandfather, though, was different, he was like my father in grey, and he did his best to make up for the deficiencies of the other three.

  When he heard that I had Magic, he was the one that wrote to me. He'd opened the letter by telling me that he'd always suspected I had Magic, because there was no other reasonable explanation for how I'd been beating him at chess for so long. It made me laugh; that was Grandpa. The others were Grandmother and Grandfather, he was Grandpa. He was a theoretical physicist in his day, and still kept up with the field, one that I had every intention of following him into. We often chatted about the relationship between Magic and Newtonian Physics; I was looking forward to seeing him.

  The day before he was supposed to arrive, I was sat the study. It was a huge space near the front of the house where my parents had their desks and the majority of their work-books along with a comfortable sofa in front of a big TV next to a fireplace, which was crackling away merrily. Burglar was snoozing in front of the fire with Grommit using his massive flank as a pillow. I was lying on the sofa, with a book in hand and the Pixies were sleeping in a heap on my belly and chest.

  The phone rang and my father picked up. Naturally I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, and I wasn't willing to Magic it. The Pixies tolerated a lot from me in that regard, but I'd agreed not to use it in their proximity when they were sleeping; it woke them up rather rudely and they tended to be in a snit for a while afterwards.

  "Hello?"

  "This is he."

  "Really? Well, that's excellent news."

  "What? Of course he'll be here," Father said, sounding agitated.

  A long pause. He looked over at Mother and then at me.

  "No," he said, "I'm not doing that."

  Another long pause. His face contorted into a grimace.

  "Unacceptable."

  "I will call you back."

  He slammed the phone down.

  "Something wrong?" Mother asked, looking up from her computer.

  "That was Small Pine, Des is making progress, they think it would be beneficial for him to come home for Christmas."

  "That's great!" I said, which disturbed Melody enough for her to open one tiny eye menacingly until I brushed my fingers gently along her back. She settled down.

  "They also say that they dare not risk him coming home if you're here, Matty," Father said, looking down.

  There was an uncomfortable silence.

  "Oh," I said finally.

  "Not happening," Mother said, "I'm not having it."

  "Will it help Des' recovery?" I asked.

  "The quack said it would," Father said, obviously torn.

  "Then I'll go spend Christmas with one of my friends, I'm sure one of them will take me," I said, trying to sound happy about it. Naturally the tone of my voice woke the Pixies. They each stood and walked along my chest until they could put their ears to my heart, at which point, they immediately started crying. That didn't help at all.

  I pulled them into a hug while they bawled themselves out and my parents looked on, mortified.

  "Really, it's fine," I said, stroking their little heads and backs like I do for Cathy before turning back to my parents, "I'll make a few calls."

  "No!" Mother said, "You gave up your birthday, you will not lose Christmas, too!"

  "We'll have another little one afterwards, it'll be fine," I said, smiling, "Really it's just a few days postponement. Anything that helps us get back to a proper family Christmas again is a good thing."

  Both parents looked so guilty. I tried to reassure them, not that it worked over much.

  I left them to confirm with Small Pine, and went to call some people.

  Naturally I couldn't spend Christmas with Bill or Cathy. Cathy was in Micronesia and Bill's parents didn't like visitors. T
hat, and you don't intrude on a family Christmas. I did call both of them so I had my story straight. I intended to break into Windward and stay there, but as far as my parents were to know, I was with Bill. I said I might spend some time with Tethys, who didn't do Christmas, and I made sure Cathy knew that up-front. She didn't care.

  That's the point about really loving someone; you trust them. Cathy and I loved each other. That, and she knew me well enough that if I were the succumbing type, I would have done it ages ago. It was a matter of pride now.

  Both of them were rather mortified that I was getting booted out the house for Christmas. Truth be told, I wasn't too happy about it either, and some small part of me rather resented that my parents didn't fight harder to get me to stay, despite my insistence.

  Des would be arriving on December 23rd, the next day, with Spelleater Manacles firmly in place; he was still a risk to himself and others. Well, a risk to me; I would need to be out of the house before he arrived.

  I packed a small bag and took the time to talk to the Fairies, and especially the Pixies. They would all be staying out of the way while Des and the other relatives were in the house. Grommit would resume his disguise as an over-large black Norwegian Forest Cat and watch my brother very carefully (Bayano translated Grommit's intentions for me), ready to put fangs and claws into anything that threatened his family (apparently he'd fully adopted us).

  I was gone that morning, flying towards Windward in my shadows. The Pixies had made a scene when I left, which made Mother cry, which made Father cry (we're not the most manly men in the Graves family, me being the worst of the lot). I reassured them all, made sure that the Pixies would stay away from my brother, and left before it could get any worse. Burglar howled as I left, it wasn't a good day.

  All that made worse by the fact that I was going to spend Christmas alone in an empty room without so much as bedclothes. I had a sleeping bag, a laptop and a pile of DVDs; not much, but enough to entertain me for a few days. The school still had electricity and running water, so I'd survive and be relatively clean doing it. I was at school long enough to break into my old room through the window, dump my things and then I was off again, flying into Stonebridge.