by Sean Cullen
“How do I undo the… Compulsion- Thingy?” He jerked his head toward Deirdre.
“A Compulsion is a sincere wish given force,” Ariel said. “To remove it, an equally sincere wish is required.”
Brendan frowned. He looked at Deirdre and thought for a moment. She is my mother’s sister. She is one of the few true flesh and blood family members I have in the world. I wish I could ask her about my mother. I wish… “What was my mother like?” he said.
Deirdre shuddered and breathed deeply. She smiled and spoke. “She was half of my heart. She was beautiful. You remind me of her. I’m sorry I removed the Ward but I was just so happy to find you. Don’t think ill of me. I acted out of love.” Deirdre’s eyes were shining with tears. “You have her smile.”
Brendan knew she meant what she said. He felt the truth in her voice. “I’m sorry I told you to shut up.”
Deirdre laughed, and it was a sound that lifted his heart despite his sadness. “No harm done, darling boy.” She reached out and ran the back of her fingers over his cheek, and he felt tears smart once again in his eyes. “Who knows?” Deirdre said, her eyes shining. “Perhaps you have the talents of a Weaver, too, like me. Or maybe you will be a Healer, like your mother.”
He thought again of his Human mother at home, probably worried sick about him. He had always felt awkward and clumsy. He had never had any great talent. His father had tried to teach him music. His mother had introduced him to art. He had never been able to give them the satisfaction of being adept at either. Now he knew that he hadn’t really belonged there, and the pain of it was deep. Now he had found his people.
But was that really true? Surely, whomever you love is your family. He shouldn’t have to choose. These people may have a claim on him, but his mother and father had been there for his whole life. They had loved him and cared for him when he was sick, and taught him to be the person he was. He made a decision then and there: whatever happened, he would never leave them behind.
He squared his shoulders. “Now what? What’s next? I can’t stay here and hide from Orcadia forever. Tell me what I have to do.”
The Faeries at the table seemed to release a collective sigh of relief.
“I think you’re making a wise choice.” Deirdre smiled gently, grasping Brendan’s hand. “And we all know it is a difficult one.”
“So what do I have to do?” Brendan asked.
“The first thing is to get your wild talents under control.” Ariel stood. “You must be initiated.”
“Initiated?” Brendan balked. “Is this gonna hurt or what?”
Ariel laughed and so did many of those watching. “Not at all. Usually, it happens long before a Faerie reaches your age. There is no pain.” He extended his hand. “I will need the amulet, however.”
Brendan looked at him blankly. “What amulet?”
“When a Faerie child is born, his parents place a portion of their essence into a token of some kind. The token is then kept close until the child comes of age, when it is integrated into the essence of the child. Thus we ensure continuity from generation to generation. The child knows the parents on a deeper level and becomes fully awake to the world. In your case, the Artificers forged an amulet. It carried the spark of both Briach Morn and Bir-Gidha.”
“It is all that is left of my sister. Now it will become part of you,” Deirdre said softly.
“I don’t have an amulet,” Brendan said.
“It was wrought of gold, inset with gem stones. Inscribed with your name in the Ancient tongue: Breandan,” Ariel said.
“I’ve never had anything like that.”
Ariel sat back down. “This is not ideal.”
Deirdre gripped Brendan’s arm. “You’re sure? Think hard now. Your Human parents never mentioned anything like it?”
Brendan shook his head. “Nope.”
“Great!” Kim threw her hands up. “He lost it.”
“I didn’t lose it! I never had it!”
“He couldn’t lose it,” Ariel said. “It’s linked to him. It could only be stolen and then only by someone of the Blood.”
“Hold it.” Brendan held up his hands. “I don’t get it. Why do I need this thing? Can’t I just get initiated or whatever without it?’
“No.” Deirdre shook her head. “Not possible.”
“You need the token before you can become fully fledged,” Ariel said. “Until you find it, you will be vulnerable to anyone who chooses to strike you down. You will never be safe until you have it back.”
“Whoo-hoo!” Og shouted, raising his glass. “A Quest!”
The crowd raised their glasses and cheered. Something in their tone made Brendan’s heart sink.
“Oh no,” he groaned.
Kim smirked. “Oh no is right.”
74 Warp Warriors are a bizarre phenomenon. They are formidable with weapons and have the added bonus of being able to teleport minute distances. These tiny spatial shifts make them very difficult to strike. Many Human legends of invincible heroes were based on the exploits of Faerie Warp Warriors: Achilles, Beowulf, and Lancelot are typical examples. Many modern Warp Warriors end up pursuing careers in professional sports.
PART 3
The Quest
Yet Another Note from the Narrator
Ha! You thought that the whole story would wrap up at the Swan, didn’t you! Fools! Burned you! There is at least another third of the story to go!
I mean, honestly! You are holding the book in your hands. There is still a wad of pages ahead of you. Did you think they were just blank pages put there to deceive you? That would be a horrible waste of paper, and I am anything if not conscious of environmental issues.
Or did you think I’d merely doodled little pictures on all the remaining pages? Certainly, my doodling is renowned in World Doodling Circles. In fact, I was once torn between pursuing a career in doodling and being a narrator, but in the end, I decided that the world would be a darker place without me to narrate the important stories.
So, no doodles. Just more story. Brendan has already gone through a great deal of struggle, but there is always more struggling to do. Life is worthless without struggle. Struggling is also a good source of cardiovascular exercise. I struggle three times a week and I’m as fit as a horse. Well, not a horse. Perhaps a small shaggy pony. But I’m fit and that’s the important thing.
Without further ado, let us get on with the story.
ALLIES
“A Quest!” Og had cried, delighted. Something about his giddy exclamation had filled Brendan with dread. He looked to Ariel for an explanation.
The ancient Faerie seemed uncomfortable for the first time since their conversation had begun. He pursed his lips and sighed. “Oh, dear.”
“Oh, dear what?” Brendan demanded. “What, oh dear? What does he mean, ‘a quest’?”
“You have lost your token. You must find it or forever be banished from the presence of the Fair Folk,” Ariel explained.
“Lost it?” Brendan said, incredulous. “I’ve never even seen it before. How could I have lost it? How am I supposed to find this thing? I don’t even know what it looks like!”
“When you were taken and hidden among the People of Metal, your father would have given you the amulet. No one could have taken it from you unless they were Faerie.”
“Again,” Brendan said through gritted teeth. “Anyone could have taken it. I was a baby. A Faerie could have easily taken it. How could I stop them?”
“No Faerie could have found you. You were under a Ward,” Ariel insisted. “A powerful glamour forged by one of the strongest of our kind shielded you from Faerie eyes. Now that the Ward is removed, your true nature will be revealed to Humans. Perhaps more dangerous is that you will be visible to Orcadia and those who follow her. You will be vulnerable until you find your token and undergo the initiation.”
“Who could expect me to be able to hold onto an amulet?” Brendan was totally exasperated. “I was an infant! Anybody could have taken i
t from me. Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘Easy as taking candy from a baby’? Well, just substitute amulet for candy and you see my point.”
“If it were just any amulet, I would agree,” Ariel said. “However, this amulet had its own Wards as well, attuned to you. It would be invisible to Human eyes. Only another Faerie could have removed it from you and to do so would bring dire punishment, should the theft be discovered.”
“So some other Faerie took it. Maybe they destroyed it.”
“If they had,” Og interjected, “you would be dead.”
Kim nodded soberly. “Og is right. It contained an essential part of you within it. If it were broken or destroyed, you would perish.”
Brendan felt a chill pass over his heart. “I hope it’s a sturdy, high-quality item,” he said in a dry tone that hid his anxiety.
“Of course it is,” Og declared. He thumped his chest and burped loudly. “Made it myself, didn’t I?”
Brendan didn’t find the declaration reassuring. “So what do I do now?”
“Now you must find the amulet,” Ariel said simply, leaning back in his chair.
“It sounds like an impossible task,” Brendan said. “How can I possibly succeed?”
Ariel’s face became deathly still. “You must. If you don’t, you will have no protection. Orcadia and her ilk will find you and either destroy you or turn you to their dark purposes. Your Human family will be endangered. You will have nowhere to hide. Without being fully initiated and integrated to your Faerie powers, you will be a danger to all those around you. You will have no control.” He shook his head sadly. “It pains me to cast you out once again when we have only just found you, but this is our Law. We must follow the Law or we are doomed.”
Brendan looked at his face and saw that there would be no change of heart. He looked to Kim, and she shook her head. “Can’t you help me? At least tell me where to start?”
“Ain’t done,” Og said, staring at the glass held between his scarred hands, unable to meet Brendan’s gaze. “No one in this room can help ye, son. Ye have to do it all on yer own. It’s the rules!”
“But we have to help him,” Deirdre said suddenly. “He has no idea what to do. He’s a special case. Not just because of who he is but because of his circumstances. He is ignorant through no fault of his own.”
“Deirdre, no,” Ariel said firmly.
“You can’t send him out there alone,” Deirdre insisted.
“No!” Ariel thundered. The entire room fell silent, and even Deirdre seemed cowed. For an instant all the lights dimmed, and Brendan saw a shadow in Ariel’s eyes, a hint of the power that lurked beneath his gentle exterior. “He must follow his Quest and retrieve his token. Alone! That is the Law!”
No one spoke. Brendan saw how Ariel commanded them all with the force of his personality. He could easily imagine Ariel in ancient Greece striking fear and awe into the hearts of his worshippers.
Brendan looked around at the Faeries gathered there, the people he had never imagined existing before today, and felt despair. He suddenly didn’t want to lose them. “This isn’t fair! You pulled me out of my Human life, and now you’re kicking me back out into the street?” He looked at Kim beseechingly. “You can’t do this!”
“I’m sorry, Breandan,” she said softly. “I can’t help you any more. I’m bound by the Law as much as you are.”
Brendan looked at her, this girl he’d never truly known. He saw how much this was hurting her, too. “Okay. I understand.”
“I’m sorry…” she said miserably.
“S’okay.” Brendan hung his head. He didn’t want to whine. His dad had always told him that life wasn’t fair. You had to do your best with what life gave you. He would succeed or fail, but he would do his best. “That name they call you…”
“Ki-Mata.”
Brendan stood up from the table. “I think I’ll call you Kim, if you don’t mind. It suits you.”
“You and you alone may call me that,” she said. “Be careful, Brendan.”
He shrugged. “I’ll do my best. Thanks for watching out for me at school. You were a good friend. I just wanted you to know that in case I never get back here.”
She smiled but said no more. Og’s hand fell on his shoulder. Brendan looked up into the beefy, red face. “Here, son. Take this.” He held a ham and cheese sandwich in his hand. Mustard dripped over his knuckles.
Brendan looked critically at the offering. “Is it a magical sandwich?”
“Sadly, no,” Og admitted, laughing. “Delicious but not magical.”
“No gifts,” Ariel said.
“It ain’t a gift! It’s provisions. He’s hardly had nothing to eat, Ariel. You won’t begrudge him a morsel for the road?”
Ariel pursed his lips. “Hmmm. All right. I will allow it. Now, Brendan, you must be gone. Return with the amulet and the doors of the Swan will be open to you. Good luck.”
Brendan took the sandwich. “Thanks, Og.”
“Uncle Og! And enjoy the sandwich!” He winked a great blue eye and clapped Brendan on the back. “Just be careful where you bite,” he said cryptically.
So Brendan walked slowly across the room toward the door. Faeries called out to him as he wove his way through the crowd, patting his back, wishing him luck. He came to the door and found Leonard standing there, massive arms crossed over his huge chest. There was a slight gust of wind and then Saskia appeared by Leonard’s side.
“You be careful, mon,” Leonard rumbled. “It be a dangerous world out there!” Saskia smiled at him but said nothing.
Brendan smiled weakly. Leonard pushed the door open to reveal the rainy green. “You come back soon. We’ll be waitin’ for ya.”
Brendan nodded. He took one last look back at Kim, Ariel, Og, and Deirdre. They were all watching him, save Deirdre, who was slightly turned away and looking down at something she held in her hand. Brendan recognized that stance: she was trying to send a text on her phone without anyone seeing. Presently, she stuffed her hand back into her pocket and looked up at him. She smiled at him reassuringly. Og raised his whisky glass while sucking mustard off his knuckles. Ariel nodded. Kim merely looked steadily back and mouthed the words “Be careful.” Brendan waved and stepped out into the night.
And so he found himself, immediately soaked to the skin and shivering in the downpour, holding the soggy sandwich. He was miserable, depressed, and alone.
He turned around to look at the Swan but it was gone. The doorway was gone. A blank wall stared back at him. There was no hint that it had ever been there at all. He could not go back.
“Where do I start looking for something that I didn’t even know existed?” He felt utterly miserable. He held up the sandwich, which was dissolving in the rain before his eyes. “Even my sandwich is ruined.” In disgust, he threw the sandwich onto the grass.
“Ow!” the sandwich squeaked.
Brendan almost leapt out of his skin. “Who said that?”
“Uuuughh,” the sandwich moaned.
“Will the weirdness ever end?” Brendan said to the rain. “I’m talking to a sandwich.”
As he watched, wide-eyed, the top slice of bread flopped over to reveal a tiny person, her clothes smeared with mustard and mayonnaise, lying on a bed of ham. The person in question had small fly wings and pale mauve eyes. “Oh crap.” She picked at her tight brocaded coat, trying to wipe mustard off. “That’s not coming out.”
Brendan reached down and scooped the person into his hand. Sitting on his palm was a perfectly formed little woman dressed in a tight-fitting red velvet suit. Her hair was fireengine red and her cheeks were flushed. Brendan peered closely at her. “You’re a… Diminutive?”
“Bah,” she spat. “I don’t stand by that modern malarkey. I’m a Lesser Faerie and proud of it!” She thumped her chest and tried to stand but fell back onto her bottom.
Brendan sniffed. “You’re drunk!”
“Never! Not a bit of it! I never touch the demon liquor. Not m
e! Ha! Drunk, he says! The idea!” Finishing with a huff of disgust, she glared at him, her tiny arms crossed defensively over her chest. A sly look came into her eye. “Something sweet, now! I wouldn’t say no to that! Ya have anything sweet in your pockets, your grace?”
Brendan frowned. Digging into his pockets, he found the packet of gum that he’d used to strike a bargain with Skreet in the Undertown. He held it up.
The little fairy spat. “Sugarless? Poison! Poison, I say!”
“Forgive me,” Brendan said sarcastically. Digging in the pocket of his trousers, he was pleasantly surprised when his fingers closed on a small hard object. He pulled his hand out and revealed a small after-dinner mint furred liberally with lint. “How about this?”
The Lesser Faerie’s eyes lit up. “Yes!” She zipped forward and snatched the mint from Brendan’s fingers. Without a moment’s hesitation, she stuffed the entire sweet, lint and all, into her tiny mouth. Brendan marvelled that she could even encompass the entire morsel. It was like watching a normal-sized person stick a softball in her mouth. With great effort, somehow, she managed to stuff the whole mint in. “SnarffffffmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMM MMMMM!”
The effect was immediate. The tiny creature began glowing, brighter and brighter, as if she were a tiny star. The raindrops falling on her fizzed like drops of fat in a frying pan as they struck her. Brendan had to shield his eyes from the intense glare.
“Yesssssss!” The Lesser Faerie began zipping around erratically, shooting here and there at random. “Sugarrrrrrr!” she shouted. She divebombed Brendan’s head and then whirled around his ears in tighter and tighter circles.
“Hey! Calm down!” Brendan cried in alarm.
Then, as suddenly as the fit began, it ended. Her light winked out, and she fell with a soft plop face-down in the mud.
“Sugar…” she mumbled. Snores, impossibly loud for such a minute creature, rose to Brendan’s ears. He bent down and picked the tiny woman up in the palm of his hand.
