Fey Hearted

by N. E. Conneely

  The two unicorns advanced, muscles rippling, heads down. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as hard as she could. She couldn’t let them get hurt trying to help her. Keep her paws on the ground and her mouth closed. Bring help to us because we can’t fight this foe.

  The scent of lilies and roses flooded her nose. As she watched, Dyna’s foot, which had been wavering between two possible targets, was pulled to the ground. The sphinx fought it, grunting and screaming as her muscles strained with her efforts, but the sounds died as she slowly lost the battle over her foot.

  Pearl lazily flapped down, lightly landing on Rose’s shoulder, and she reached up and patted the little dragon. “Thank you.”

  Sterling and Snowflake trotted over, and Rose petted them. When the teal deer and peryton joined them, she thanked them, as well.

  “How did you do that?” Silverlight said, pulling himself to his feet and rubbing his head.

  “You’re awake!” Rose grinned. “Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard.”

  “I’m fine now. My eyes were having a lot of trouble focusing for a while so I stayed out of the way, but you…you used magic against a kin fey. They are almost as magical as the elemental fey. To be able to hold one using magic…”

  “Are you complaining that I saved us from being eaten?” Rose had a feeling he was saying something important, but right now she was so relieved to be unharmed that she didn’t have it in her to process his words.

  “Rose, if that’s not a sign that you’ve been accepted by the magic, I don’t know what is.”

  Chapter 21

  “Are you sure?” Rose asked softly. She needed him to be sure because that was the only way she would believe that this was going to be her home for the rest of her life.

  A shadow fell over them, and Rose looked up to see Ember spiraling out of the sky. Rose swallowed hard; maybe she hadn’t been the reason Dyna had stopped. Ember could’ve done that, even from a distance, and he could be here to throw her out of the fey world for trying to use magic on a kin.

  Silverlight didn’t say anything as Ember slowly made his way to the ground. He landed gently, far enough away that the push of air didn’t knock them off their feet. With his wings folded, he walked closer, sat on his haunches, and studied Dyna.

  “What is going on here?”

  Rose spun around to see Waterfall marching through the snow.

  “Dyna approached us, gave Rose a riddle, and said that she had to answer or be eaten,” Silverlight said.

  Ember’s dark eyes narrowed. “Did you sssask for a rrriddle?”

  “No,” Silverlight answered as Rose shook her head.

  Waterfall looked over at the sphinx, who had stopped struggling against her magical restraints and was doing her best to look like the injured party. When Ember looked at Dyna, she turned her head to avoid his gaze.

  From Rose’s shoulder, Pearl chattered at the larger dragon. Ember looked at Rose, his eyes so intense they seemed to see into her soul.

  “Rossse, you bound Dyna,” he said.

  Rose moved her mouth but nothing came out, so she nodded.

  “Fey hearrrrted, you have found yourrrrr place. Be welcome, and be fey.”

  Ember was looking at her like there was an expected response. Rose swallowed twice. “Th-th-thank you. I am honored.”

  With a slight dip of his head, Ember turned to look Dyna squarely in the eye. “I will deal with thisssss one, thisss violator of pactsss and edictss.”

  Waterfall jerked his head toward the path, and Silverlight tugged at Rose’s arm. She slowly turned to face him, too surprised by the exchange to move quickly. He pulled again, and she stumbled forward a few steps. Pearl made an exasperated sound, heaved herself off Rose’s unstable shoulder, and flew over to Ember. Rose didn’t have time to ponder Pearl’s desertion because Waterfall came up on her other side, and the two fey half carried her away from the dragons and sphinx.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Away,” Waterfall said grimly. “Dyna’s punishment isn’t something you want to watch.” All around the meadow, elemental fey were even leaving for the safety of the woods.

  By the time the trio reached the brambles, Rose was retreating on her own. When she heard a roar, she flinched but didn’t look behind her. Not only would it have been impossible for her to see past the brambles but she didn’t want to know what was going on.

  The walk back to the house was slow. None of the creatures she’d seen on the way to the Elementals’ Field were around. It was as though they were hiding, which was something she intended to do as soon as she had her room to hide in. As much of a relief as it was to hear Ember say that Rose belonged, it didn’t make up for the experience with Dyna or the moments when she’d thought she was going to be sent back to the human world.

  When they got to the house, Waterfall held open the door and ushered them inside.

  “Silverlight hit his head. He needs to get checked out,” Rose said. It was the truth, but it would also buy her some time to think.

  “Rose, we need to talk,” Waterfall said.

  “Could we talk later? Silverlight needs to see Moonbeam.”

  He shook his head.

  “I’ll send Moonbeam in a bit. Please sit down. I don’t have much time,” Waterfall said. “Did you do anything to provoke Dyna?”

  “No,” Rose said. “She just landed in front of us, wouldn’t let us pass, and then said the riddle. She said I had to answer and maybe pass or maybe get eaten. I don’t know why she approached me.”

  “She said she was trying to help, that Rose didn’t know what the magic could do,” Silverlight offered.

  Waterfall looked at them intently. “What exactly did Dyna say?”

  Silverlight explained the encounter in more detail. When he got to the riddle, Waterfall snagged a piece of paper and wrote it down.

  “Is there anything you left out? Anything at all?”

  “I think she was doing magic when she was saying the riddle,” Rose said. “I could smell it.”

  “You’re right,” Silverlight said. “I don’t know what exactly, but I could hear the magic, too.”

  Waterfall frowned. “Both of you listen to me. Dyna thrives on discord. I don’t know what she was trying to do, but make no mistake, she was stirring up trouble. Furthermore”—he focused on Rose—“giving you a riddle outside of her territory, when you hadn’t asked for one, is a violation of the pact between us and the kin.”

  “Do I still have to answer the riddle?”

  “Under normal circumstances, no, but this is hardly normal. I need to do some research.” He sighed. “I’ll send Moonbeam to examine Silverlight. Stay inside until I return.”

  “We’ll be here,” Silverlight said.

  Nodding, Waterfall got up. He paused in the door and looked at Rose. “Don’t work on the riddle. Do you hear me, Rose? Don’t play Dyna’s game.”

  Waterfall finished telling the council and treis of the morning’s events and waited for their reaction.

  “Could I see the riddle?” Fireheart asked.

  Waterfall slid the piece of paper across the table. Fireheart read it intently, looking up from time to time as the conversation continued.

  “That is unusual, even for Dyna,” George said.

  Waterfall nodded. Moonbeam and Summersky didn’t react.

  “Troubling. Do you have any idea why Dyna would take such actions?” Fireheart asked.

  “No. Though the children mentioned that Dyna was doing magic as she spoke the riddle.”

  Moonbeam paled. “Oh no.”

  “Why? What does it mean?” Waterfall asked.

  “I think she cast a geas. Not only will Rose be driven to work on the riddle, but Dyna will be compelled to seek her out until the correct answer is given or Rose is dead.”

  Waterfall sagged into his chair. Both children were in danger, then.

  “How long until she comes back?” Summersky asked.

  That was the one
piece of good news Waterfall had to offer. “She can’t come back. Not anytime soon. Ember confined her to her lands. He was vague on the length of her punishment.”

  “That gives us some time, at least,” Moonbeam said. “In theory, the riddle could go unanswered for the rest of their lives. In practice, I don’t know that the magic will allow it to languish like that.”

  Waterfall rubbed his temples. This was not what he’d wanted to hear.

  “Does anyone understand the riddle? Clearly it should have meaning for Rose,” George said.

  “To the best of my knowledge, neither Rose nor Silverlight has solved the riddle. I told them to leave it alone.”

  “We need to know if Rose is working on the riddle. That’s the only way we can be sure that Dyna used a geas,” Moonbeam said.

  “I’ll talk to Silverlight,” Waterfall said.

  “Ask him if Iris means anything to him,” Fireheart said softly.

  “Iris?” Summersky asked.

  George’s brow furrowed. “Is that the answer to the riddle?”

  Fireheart nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “It doesn’t mean anything to me,” Waterfall said. “I need to wait until he won’t connect my inquiry to the riddle, but I will ask Silverlight.”

  “Does anyone know what Dyna meant when she said, ‘You do not understand what the magic can do’?” George asked.

  Heads shook around the room.

  Fireheart sighed. “I am unaware of any way the magic could harm Rose.”

  “We could be reading too much into those words,” Summersky said, her voice soft.

  “I still want to know why Dyna gave Rose that riddle,” Moonbeam said.

  “Agreed,” Waterfall said. “I will see what I can learn from Ember.”

  “We must agree on one other point: do we tell Rose the answer?” Moonbeam asked.

  “No,” George said. Waterfall and Summersky echoed his sentiments.

  “But she would know what Iris means, and that would help us understand Dyna’s motives,” Fireheart protested.

  “No, we would be playing Dyna’s game,” Waterfall said. “I will have Silverlight watch her, see if she works on the riddle. If she does, we will deal with it. Until then, she should move on with her life.”

  “I agree,” George said. “Rose is happy here. Whatever Dyna is doing cannot be for Rose’s benefit, and I see no reason to promote discord.”

  “Vote?” Moonbeam asked. They all glanced at one another, and one by one, they nodded. “All in favor?”

  Fireheart was the only one who didn’t raise his hand.

  “The majority has spoken. We will not tell Rose the answer to the riddle,” Moonbeam said.

  “Is that settled, then?” Fireheart asked. When everyone nodded, he continued. “I can’t help but wonder if this is related to Rebecca being sent back to the human world or to the attack by the wilds.”

  The pavilion was silent as they contemplated his words. Waterfall did not want to believe that the events were related, but there were more than casual connections. For the first time in hundreds of years a fey hearted had been sent home. Shortly after that, the wilds attacked and targeted another fey hearted. They retreated, only to have a sphinx force a riddle upon Rose and threaten to kill her.

  “I don’t know. It seems like too many events with a common thread for it to be a coincidence.” Waterfall shook his head, not sure what else to say.

  They debated the events and the ways they could be related for some time, but after an hour, all they knew for sure was Rebecca’s fate and that Rose attracted excitement. When the meeting ended, they had agreed on two things: they would not tell Rose the answer to the riddle, and as abundant as their questions were, there were few answers to be found.

  Other than a mild concussion, Moonbeam had declared Silverlight healthy. With some rest and time, he would be fine. However, his father seemed determined to ensure that rest was hard to find.

  “Father, I have never gone against you or acted in a way that damages the fey. Why must you ask this?”

  “I need to know if Rose works on the riddle, nothing more.”

  The request put him in an awkward position, pitting his loyalties against each other. “If she asks me for help, or if she talks about it, I will relay the information; however, I won’t question her on the subject. Dyna’s actions were disturbing even to me, and I wasn’t the target. Thinking about the riddle is natural.”

  Waterfall rubbed his temple. “Why are you being difficult? This is a simple matter. If she works on or solves the riddle, I must know immediately.”

  Since his current tactic wasn’t working, Silverlight tried something different. “What would you do if you were in my place?”

  As a child, his mother had often told him of how she had fallen in love with Waterfall. He was the charming and confidant fey who’d taken her from the human world and was her mentor when she came to the fey world. By the time she was a member of the fey, they were deeply in love, and they had made their bond official a short time later. His mother had also told him of Waterfall’s stubbornness and tenacity.

  “If I were you, I would do as I was told.”

  Silverlight laughed. “You? Who once told a dragon it couldn’t use your house as a sunbathing spot because its snores shook the entire dwelling?”

  Waterfall’s face relaxed, and the mood lightened. “That may be, but this is important. Do what you will, but Rose’s life could be at stake.”

  Being mysterious was one of his father’s favorite pastimes, and this was one time that Silverlight didn’t enjoy it. “I shall do my best, but it is difficult to know what information you need when you’re this vague.”

  Waterfall shrugged. “I’ve said all I can.”

  That was as much as he was going to get from his father on that point, but there was one thing that continued to bother Silverlight. “Why did Dyna seek us out, and what was she saying about the magic?”

  He threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. For the time being, Ember has banished her from Veles. She’s confined to her territory, but Ember was vague on the length of her confinement.”

  Silverlight suspected that both Ember and his father had more information than they were willing to share. Since he was being asked to spy on Rose, it was unlikely he would get that information out of Waterfall.

  “Ember was impressed that Rose motivated the magic enough to bind Dyna. He can’t recall a fey hearted so new to the land being able to do the same. Frankly, I would’ve guessed that the magic would be indifferent to Rose’s troubles.”

  “Nothing magical was indifferent to her troubles,” Silverlight said dryly.

  “True enough.” Waterfall chuckled. “I need to be going. Keep me informed.”

  As he said good night to his father, Silverlight wondered exactly what it was that Dyna was trying to accomplish because she sure had managed to get a number of the fey stirred up.

  When Waterfall arrived home, he found a note on his door. His request for a meeting with a representative of the kin had been granted. The next day, he set out for a place he had only visited a handful of times before—the Kin Woods.

  Hours later, after walking deep into the forest, he dropped his pack on the ground, pulled out a canteen, and took a drink as he examined his surroundings. Towering trees stood along a steep hill, and tucked in the woods, the kin were watching him. An alkonost peeked over the edge of a nest high in a tree, and a small sphinx sunned itself on a rock. From past visits, Waterfall knew that over the hill was the Kin Field, which abutted a lake from which a river ran toward the coast. Luckily, the kin representative would be meeting him here so he wouldn’t need to climb the hill. Waterfall was grateful for the reprieve. It had taken him five hours already just to reach this place, and the return trip would not be any shorter.

  A centaur crested the hill and started picking his way down toward Waterfall. The horse portion of his body was a deep bay with a black tail, which matched the black hair tie
d away from the man’s face. There was enough of a chill in the air that his human half donned a jacket and gloves. As he neared, Waterfall marveled that such a large creature could move so quietly.

  The centaur made it down the hill, came to a halt in front of him, and studied him closely. “Waterfall of Veles, father of Silverlight, I, Kellen, welcome you.”

  Waterfall bowed his head. “Greetings, Kellen of the kin. I am here to ask you about the actions of one of your own, Dyna the sphinx.”

  “The message you sent said as much. I doubt I will be able to give you the information you desire.” Kellen sighed. “We do not support Dyna’s actions, but we are unable to stop her.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” Waterfall’s words were sharp.

  Kellen’s tail swished. “Careful. There are many here who sympathize with Dyna. However, to answer your question, we must follow the edicts of the elemental fey. One of those is noninterference with your kind, much like what is written into the pact between our peoples. Those of us who wish to stop Dyna cannot do so without violating those rules, even if she is one of our own. If we were to try, it would be a bitter fight. Dyna is one of the strongest among us. It is Ember’s job to enforce the edicts and punish violations, not ours.”

  Waterfall did not allow his surprise to show on his face. He had known that the agreement between the kin and the elementals would mirror the one between the kin and the fey; however, it surprised him that controlling their own was not allowed. It did explain why Ember was taking such an active role, though.

  He focused on the point Kellen had made that led to Waterfall’s next question. “What do you mean sympathize? Does that have anything to do with Dyna saying that Rose did not understand what the magic is capable of doing?”

  Kellen pursed his lips. “The magic favors Rose. Such potential surrounds her. While I find it fascinating, there are those who feel that a fey hearted can never truly be fey and should not be thusly honored.”