Flight (Children of the Sidhe)

by J. R. Pearse Nelson

  “Tell Ian I’ll help any way I can. Let me know if I’m needed.” Tessa told him, sincere in her offer if not in her intentions. Let him think she offered to make nice with her childhood sweetheart. She hated to betray him, but hopefully he’d never know she’d been the one to pass Abarta information. She would save him the pain of having his secret revealed to their entire community. To allow it to come out would be a worse offense.

  “I’ll tell him. Now I have to get back to work, Tessa. You’ll call me if you need me, right?”

  She would never call him in need. He knew that. She was older, and had always been the rock. That was her role. Besides, she’d never been much for crying or sniveling. Good old-fashioned work to take her mind off her problems was much more her style.

  Tessa got to it when her brother had left, cataloguing recent arrivals for the library. She hadn’t gotten far when a chime sounded throughout her home, seconds before a knock on her door. The ward let her know when someone approached, and had proven useful time and again, most recently when scheming Abarta had called on her. Too bad it hadn’t given her enough time to avoid their little chat. He’d invited her for a walk in the chill of a new-fallen night, and she’d accepted, ignoring her misgivings. That’s how well her last visit had turned out.

  Sighing, she rose from her work and answered the door. “Nemglan?” Her old friend stood on the doorstep. She hadn’t seen him in years, but they’d studied magic together and knew each other well.

  “Hello, Tessa. I trust you’re well?”

  Tessa smiled, and waved him in, only to realize he was dripping blood from a cut high on his shoulder. With an apologetic look, she did what came naturally. She burst apart, reforming in the shape of triple doves. She sang a bright series of notes and chirped, amused, when he dropped to the ground, in a deep sleep. She flew to her old friend and hovered, all three of her doves, above his wound. She cried healing tears into his wound and watched it close almost immediately – an ancient power passed down to her along with the triple dove shape.

  Tessa burst apart again and gathered her Sidhe form, fluidly casting the spell to clothe herself as she changed forms, a practice shifters quickly became adept at. She examined the wound she’d just healed. It wasn’t that bad, and hadn’t taken long to close. In fact, she might have overreacted a little. Maybe she shouldn’t have put him to sleep.

  She finally noticed the bird that hopped and strutted just outside her door. It jumped her threshold and squawked, an uncomfortable sound.

  The noise brought Nemglan around, and he rose unsteadily to his feet, watching the hawk.

  “Is it hurt?” Tessa reached for the hawk, looking for an injury, unmindful of the beak that could take a chunk from her finger. But despite Nemglan’s sharp intake of breath, the hawk didn’t bite Tessa. It hopped right onto her hand. She winced, and Nemglan went into action, grabbing a throw from a nearby reading chair and wrapping her other arm in it. The bird obliged, hopping to her protected limb, and puffing up the feathers on its neck. It closed its eyes serenely.

  “Yes, you do feel safe here, don’t you?” Nemglan asked the creature. The hawk gave no reply.

  “Is this a hawk I have here, or something else?” Tessa asked. Nemglan was Lord of the Skies, and took a hawk shape himself. Could it be...?

  “My son. I’m sorry to intrude, but it felt necessary at the time. I didn’t have time to explain any of this…” he gestured to the hawk, as if that clarified it, “…gently. He didn’t know of his parentage. His mother was human. You know of the threat facing the half-humans? The assassin has Nathan’s name. I could not let him find my son unprepared.”

  “Of course not,” Tessa said slowly. That didn’t tell her how they’d landed on her doorstep.

  “We came through the oakgate portal. You’re the nearest friend, and with Nathan in this condition…I don’t think he’s ever shifted before. He seems confused. When he calms down – most likely when he sleeps – he’ll return to his Sidhe form.”

  “His human form, you mean?”

  “Does this offend you? I didn’t realize you held your prejudices closer than your friends.” Nemglan shamed her without hesitation.

  Tessa could understand. You did what you had to when it came to family. Again her thoughts touched on Mikhail’s secret. Maybe she should have just told her brother what Abarta knew, and how he was using the information.

  Nemglan cleared his throat. “That was uncalled for. I’m sorry.”

  “No, I was just thinking that I understand your situation. Will you stay here with your son?”

  “Actually, I want to go help track down Abarta. Am I inconveniencing you?”

  “I don’t know what to do with children.”

  Nemglan regarded her carefully. “You misunderstand me. My son is grown.”

  “His human blood must run strong if he hadn’t shifted until now,” Tessa pointed out, just to needle him.

  He gritted his teeth and then forced a smile. “You may be right. I have no idea. We only met today. I guess you’ll have to see for yourself. So you’ll look after him for a few days?”

  “Why not? I’m just cataloguing books. I’ll see that he’s comfortable. Return when you can. I’m sure he’ll have questions, and I don’t have any answers for him.” Tessa hoped she wasn’t making a mistake. Now she had one of the half-humans her blackmailer was looking for right under her roof. The solution to her problem had just dropped in her lap – or onto her arm, as the case seemed to be. She didn’t think she could betray a friend, though, even to save her brother’s secret. Having too much information and being unable to use it was enough to turn Tessa’s mood sour.

  “Thank you. I will return as soon as I can.” Nemglan handed her a bag she guessed was his son’s and left quickly, sparing only a glance for the hawk. Maybe it was better that way. It obviously hadn’t been a smooth introduction.

  Tessa sank to the floor, the hawk still perched on her arm. “What shall we do now, my feathered friend?”

  The hawk looked at her, as if in reproach. Then it hopped to the floor and walked in the opposite direction, shunning her.

  “That’s just as well. You make yourself comfortable. I’ll just be over here.” Tessa returned to her work, but dire thoughts plagued her.

  She’d tried so hard not to focus on the subject of her brother’s secret…but her present company brought her mind back to it again and again. It seemed every sign today told her it was time to face facts. Her own family was just as affected by recent turmoil among the Sidhe as Nemglan’s.

  Mikhail’s secret was a half-blood daughter of his own, a three-year-old girl whose mother was half-human and half-Fomorii. Tessa had seen the girl, and neither she nor her mother were monstrous. That was a blessing. Yet the blood was there, an ancient enemy embraced in the dearest way. Her brother shared a child with that race that had attempted to invade Underworld just a few months ago. If it came out, Tessa didn’t know what would happen to her brother’s career. Their family would be eternally stained by such a connection.

  Tessa ground her teeth together in fury. How could Mikhail be so stupid? She sure hoped it had been worth it, because now the news of this child threatened everything they held dear, one way or another.

  Her choices were grim. She could let it come out, the news of their mingled blood, or she could go along with Abarta. If she gave him the bird boy…

  Tessa’s gaze found the hawk, now standing on one leg in the corner, his neck feathers still ruffled. As she watched, his form shifted; it was like watching the aura separate from the body, then snap back into place, with the body in a different form. She’d expected an adolescent, and was shocked to instead see a grown man.

  The man huddled on the floor, his hands pressed to his temples. His eyes were still closed in an attractive strong-jawed face. He had the characteristic high cheekbones that gave him a look of the Sidhe, but she would have taken him for a human if she hadn’t known his heritage, just a particularly nice-looking o
ne. When his eyes snapped open, he retained the piercing element of the hawk in brown eyes flecked with amber.

  He stared, unspeaking, and Tessa didn’t know what to do besides stare back. Her peevish mood flashed to angry for a moment. She’d offered to help, and minutes later this ignorant half-human was dropped off for her to babysit. What was she supposed to do with him? Tessa was a solitary creature by nature, and this situation was likely to test her last nerve. She should just take him to Abarta, he was exactly what the blackmailer was after.

  Except that her lofty morals and soft heart seemed to be getting the best of her.

  FOUR

  When Nathan lifted his head to find a woman, beautiful beyond words, standing over him, he thought maybe he’d lost his wits. He’d been in the middle of an open field, watching the birds. He’d had a conversation with one – he stifled the urge to laugh, chalking that up to nerves. Then he’d flown. Like a bird. As a bird. A hawk. His favorite. Now he was somewhere else, naked, in front of a beautiful woman. He should probably be embarrassed, but he couldn’t get himself to really feel anything. He was probably in shock.

  He focused on the woman again. Her trim figure, clothed in a satiny red dress, stood tall, taller than most women. Her hair was platinum blonde, and just brushed her jaw. Her eyes stunned him, and that’s when he realized she wasn’t human. No human woman looked like this.

  She blushed, and Nathan remembered he was naked. She waved a hand, and he was clothed in a pale gray sweater and black pants, the fabric softer than anything he’d ever felt. He did a double take; sure his mind was playing tricks on him.

  “Who are you?” he uttered, before he could stop himself. His curiosity had gotten away with him.

  “I’m Tessa. A friend of your father’s.”

  “My father,” Nathan growled, staring at the ground. His skin crawled and itched, and he wondered for a moment if he would change again. He couldn’t remember how it felt, but he was scared.

  Maybe she saw the panic in his eyes, because Tessa knelt next to him despite his sullen tone and placed a comforting hand on his arm. “Do you want to sleep? I could make you sleep. It might help you recover some perspective.”

  “That’s quite an offer. What are you, a doctor? You’re going to give me a pill?”

  “A pill? Is that like a spell? I know some of the best spells – you won’t feel a thing, I swear it.” She smiled, and while he was sure she meant to be friendly, he was alarmed.

  “Where am I? And what are you?”

  Tessa took a moment to reply. First she just watched him as if she was trying to guess something. “Did Nemglan tell you nothing?”

  “He told me I had to join him, and then changed into a hawk and bit me. I guess I changed?” He looked at her for confirmation.

  She nodded abruptly.

  “We flew, and then he said we came through the portal. We came here. Where is Nemglan?”

  “He left to help track the assassin. I gather you’re on his list, and your father got to you just in time.”

  “He just left me here? Where’s here, anyway? You haven’t answered. Where did that portal lead?”

  “You’re in Tir Nan Og – the Land of the Young. The land of your people, the Sidhe.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “In your world, people may call it Otherworld.”

  “And the Sidhe?”

  Tessa gave him a snide look. “I believe in your time we’ve been made into faeries of lore. Tiny scraps of magical things with wings. Ah, look…apparently we do come with wings.”

  Nathan stood and paced away from her. What the hell was she so moody about? He was the one who had just been told he was in another world, and part…Sidhe?

  “He told you nothing?” Tessa asked.

  Nathan could tell she was mad to be the one spelling it out for him, but he was grateful. “I’d rather not talk to that man, anyway. Can you help me get home?”

  “You can’t go home. You’re not going anywhere until Nemglan comes back for you.”

  “I don’t wait for anyone’s permission to do anything.” Nathan stopped pacing, turning to face her, his hands clenched at his sides like he could defend himself from the onslaught of emotional pain at the sudden reappearance of a father he’d never known. His mother had it rough, and this guy had just left her to that life while he flitted around the Land of the Young?

  Tessa stood in front of him, watching him with something akin to curiosity. Her stick-straight hairstyle and those high cheekbones that gave her an exotic appearance also made her look severe. Maybe if she smiled every so often...but that wasn’t his problem. He realized he’d been staring at her, and her eyes had narrowed like a cat’s, making her look even more severe than before.

  Nathan decided it must be a mistake. He was nothing like her. Half Sidhe? What the hell was that? A race out of old world mythology...faeries, essentially. They appeared as the good folk in tales about changeling babies and pretty young men and maidens whisked off for a hundred year dance. Fucking ridiculous. For the first time, the possibility that he was losing his mind entered his consciousness.

  All of a sudden, Tessa burst apart right in front of him, her shape reforming into three doves that circled and wove around the large room. At once, they flew toward him, and in a flash she was herself again, standing in front of him.

  He jumped back. “What the hell are you?” he shouted. “You could have warned me.”

  “Sorry. I just feel better – calmer – after I do that. You’ll understand soon enough.”

  He looked down, knowing she was right. He swallowed against a sudden lump of fear lodged in his throat.

  She softened, moving toward him. She reached out a hand and patted his arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll teach you.”

  He changed the subject, his skin tingling where her hand had been. The contact felt good, and he craved more, but he’d never show this creature such a longing. “So what are you? What’s with the three birds? How is that even possible? You’re one…then three…then one again? That’s stranger than having a hawk shape.”

  “It’s a family trait, one passed seemingly at random through the female line. In my dove form, my song can lull the sick or wounded to sleep, and my tears can cure them of many ailments,” Tessa listed her abilities while watching him closely. Some humans had been known to lose their minds when brought to Tir Nan Og. She hoped this favor wouldn’t result in a crazy human occupying her ancestral home.

  “That’s…the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. I think I must be dreaming.”

  “You look mighty pleased at the idea I’m stranger than you. But you’re half human, so here you’re the oddity. A rather adorable oddity, I will say.” She gave him a smile that bordered on wicked, and he knew she was trying to make him uncomfortable, not actually coming on to him.

  “You’re not bad looking yourself, faerie. But I’m not interested.”

  Tessa gave him a cold look, her jaw clenched.

  Nathan said, “How about this: I’ll just go back home now and Nemglan can come have a chat there if he wants.”

  Tessa stepped toward him, and again placed her hand on his arm. He resisted the urge to move closer to her. “Nathan, let your father have a chance to seek the assassin. Give him tonight, and tomorrow morning if he has not reappeared I’ll take you through the portal myself.”

  He doubted she meant to do any such thing, but he knew nothing of portals. What choice did he have but to trust her? His father apparently did.

  “You say that with such distaste.”

  “I haven’t been beyond the veil in many years. Your world was never to my liking. Too much clamor, too many vain and stupid mortals. I enjoy my scholarly life here. My home is quiet, even by Tir Nan Og standards.”

  “Mine, too,” he told her, for some reason. She was still standing so close, looking at him with eyes like jewels. “Quiet by vain and stupid mortal standards, anyway.”

  “So you’ll stay?” She gave him a
n encouraging smile, like she spoke to a child throwing a tantrum.

  “Tonight. That’s my only guarantee.”

  FIVE

  Nathan paced some more after eating a snack out of his bag. Tessa offered him food, but while he looked at it with longing, he turned her down. She’d smiled at that. So he knew something of the old tales. She didn’t know how half humans responded, but the food of Tir Nan Og was addictive to humans. It was one trick Sidhe had used in the past to trap humans here.

  Nathan’s pacing finally annoyed Tessa enough that she showed him to a room. He radiated tension as he followed her up the stairs. He needed to settle down or he was going to shift again.

  “I’m sure Nemglan will return by morning – time flows more slowly here in Tir Nan Og, so he’ll have a day or two beyond the veil in the course of your stay. Do you need anything else?”

  “I’ll need more water, but not until the morning.”

  “And food. You’ll need to eat, Nathan.” She wasn’t sure why she confronted him with it tonight. It could have waited until the morning.

  “I don’t want to eat Otherworld food.”

  “But you’ll chance the water?”

  “Do you think it’s safe?”

  “I could try a spell to ensure it.” Tessa entered a guest room and looked around. She hadn’t used this room recently, but all appeared ready for her unanticipated visitor. The walls were cream colored, and the dark wood floor had a woven rug in red and black. The enormous bed took up nearly half the space, and a fireplace stood in the center of the opposite wall.

  “Again with spells?” He frowned as he followed her into the room.

  A single window showed the deep gray of a Middleworld night. This world moved between dawn and dusk, but never had a true night. The dusk deepened until you’d think you stood on the border of night, and then the dawn would stretch out before you, leading to the new day. Underworld was exactly the opposite. They never had a true day. What would seem to be pre-dawn light would give way to dusk, and a night that stretched on and on.