Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series)

by Conn, Claudy

  “Where in the Dark Realm are we, Rolo?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Oh just great—thought you knew your way around here?” Rolo had once belonged to the Dark King and had lived in the Dark Realm hundreds of years ago.

  “How should I? I was never taken outside the Dark King’s retreat—so very different from all of this. It was a place he created for his human woman. I brought you to that spot—to where it was, but something has happened … It doesn’t seem to be here any longer.” Rolo sounded baffled.

  What was I going to do with a baffled Seelie Hallow? No help there. I raised my arms in exasperation, and my hands brushed up against something. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it wasn’t repulsive—good thing so far. And it wasn’t gooey, but then, oh jeez, it vibrated. I jerked my hand away from it as I hurriedly jumped back and stared hard, but at that moment another thing caught the corner of my eye both grabbing and diverting my attention. That slithering thing was in fact moving in my direction, and it was closer—much closer …

  “Rolo …”

  “Touch the fabric once more, Daoine Princess,” Rolo said softly. “I think you have discovered something new—something that occurred after I was separated from my Dark King.”

  So I did touch. I pushed in fact, and it felt like an electric current went through me and then back against the invisible wall—and that was what it was, some kind of invisible wall.

  “Enter, Daoine Princess—we have been waiting,” said a voice without gender, without feeling, something like what you might imagine a computer-generated voice might sound like if it wasn’t given the ‘human’ touch.

  “Rolo?”

  “If I had shoulders, Princess, I would be shrugging them.”

  “Oh great, just great,” I said but heard a hissing sound at my back. I turned my head and saw that the thing that had been slithering towards me was the most enormous anaconda I had ever seen, and this one was a Dark Fae, with coal empty eyes and teeth as large as a shark’s. Moreover, this one was a Dark Fae caste with Dark Fae powers …

  I turned back to the invisible wall that was presently parting like a curtain and showering me in a blinding ray of light.

  I took a chance and stepped through!

  * * *

  Being a Fae Prince and realizing that I was helpless made me want to put my fist through something. I smacked myself across my head. How could this have happened? Why hadn’t I seen it coming? Why wasn’t I there when she needed me? How did I not save her when she jumped into the pit?

  Aaron Dunbar was backing away from me. I saw him, but I didn’t have time to bother with him. I had taken care of Sally already, and she was safe. Now I had one thing I had to do, but first I hurriedly sent a mental message to Breslyn. If he could he would go after the black sorcerer and deal with him while I attended to my Z.

  How had this come about, you ask, and rightly so.

  Earlier, I had made a complete and thorough search of the MacClennys’ toolshed, and all had seemed quiet there. At that point in time, my enfant had not been there, and thus there had been no scent of my Z.

  It seemed odd at the time, but I was too intent on finding her and didn’t give it enough consideration.

  I was, however, struck with the notion that I should have disobeyed my queen (as Bres and I have done so often) and dismantled the black portal. However, on my queen’s direct orders I had left it in place.

  I didn’t take time to listen to the portal and believed it wasn’t active, so I left it and went in search of my Z. All roads led me back to the toolshed … and damn if the bloody pit wasn’t alive and active. Something in my gut earlier (humans are right to listen) told me I should have dismantled it. I have a better understanding of humans than my queen has. I knew that leaving such power within their unpredictable reach was not wise. Yet, in this instance … I followed her direct command. At any rate, I realized too late that the damn thing was secretly alive. If one listened, one—a Fae that is—could hear it breathe. Definitely should have closed that portal. No sense keeping it alive.

  I was still searching at that point for my Z and decided I would close the pit as soon as I located her and had her safe.

  I decided to check MacDaun. It wasn’t likely she had returned there, but there was the outside chance—and I had to try …

  She would not have disobeyed the queen for nothing. If she left where the queen had asked her to stay, she must have had what she thought was a good reason. What was that reason? What could have prompted her to take off?

  A few moments of concentration made her reasoning very plain—it was the warlock! She would have viewed the warlock’s continued presence as unfinished business, and being Z, she would have believed herself capable of handling him herself.

  She hadn’t thought it out. She didn’t realize that Gais was pulling the warlock’s spidery strings, making Aaron Dunbar more powerful than he would otherwise have been. Right. Best go to visit Sally on the outside chance Z had stopped by there, if only to pay her a short visit …

  Would Sally know where Z had gone off to? No. It was a hopeless errand, as I had come to know my enfant; she was forever running about without informing Sally, anyone actually, where she was going.

  Still, and because I wasn’t sure at that moment what else I could do, I shifted to MacDaun and went to the kitchen in search of the housekeeper. What I found was Sally’s apron thrown carelessly onto the table.

  That was not like the MacDauns’ loveable housekeeper. I scanned the house for her and realized she was not inside. And then it came to me in a wave—his scent, the warlock’s scent. Why had I not picked it up as soon as I entered? Because I hadn’t been looking for it—that was why. I hadn’t been tracking as I should have been. Damn the man’s lost soul. He had been here, and Sally’s scent was mingled with his. My eyes closed involuntarily. Dunbar had Sally.

  Z would do anything to save the dear woman. However, it was an odd ploy for Dunbar to use. Warlock he might be, but he was nothing compared with a Fae Daoine princess. She could shift in, touch Sally, and shift out with her. Later she could do a memory spell to ease Sally’s mind regarding the shifting.

  So, then, taking Sally would be a fruitless effort. Why had he done so? Something was there I wasn’t seeing. He must have the housekeeper somehow out of Z’s reach or power. He would use that fact against my Z—he would threaten to harm Sally.

  The question now was, where had he taken the housekeeper, and had he already gotten his hands on my enfant again?

  I went outside and began tracking. This time, Treaty or no, this warlock was about to make his way to hell!

  And so I found and secured Sally, and then I found my Z. Which brought me to this moment in time.

  Aye, I’d found her, but before I realized what she was going to do, before I realized what Dunbar was going to do, she dove into the pit after the remote she believed controlled the bomb he had attached to Sally.

  And even as I called to Z, even as I extended a magical net to envelop and keep her safe, the black abyss had already swallowed her whole.

  I knew it was hopeless. What was even worse was that I knew she would not be able to shift out of the Dark Realm.

  The portal to the Dark Realm is a one-way trip for any Seelie Fae who is not equipped with the means or the training to return, and she had not yet acquired either.

  I, however, have both.

  I dove into the pit, leaving Dunbar unattended—hoping either Breslyn or Ete would find and deal with him. I had only one purpose: to find my enfant and keep her safe …

  ~ Two ~

  THE CURTAIN HAD parted, and that blinding light was like a ball of yellow fire bursting in front of my eyes. I put up my arm to shield myself and remembered: I am Daoine—keepers of nature, right? In charge of fire, yes? Yes, damn straight, yes! I put down my arm, frowned at the blazing ball, and demanded it retreat. Poof—gone with the thought.

  What lay past it was took my breath away—literally—and t
hen I was encased almost instantaneously with frigid air. I started to hug myself and then remembered. Daoine—I could shut off the sensation of cold. The human in my brain was forever making it difficult, but I got it done.

  I turned on my Fae thermostat to protect the human reaction to the frigid air. Doing a slow spin, I got a sense of the structure I was inside. Glass in huge lengths, like wide spears, shot out at angles everywhere, something like a modern glass sculpture.

  What looked like ice but was in fact crystal hung from pointed shafts of glass, and the glass rose at least fifty feet into the air, but it wasn’t just a glass structure. It was, I knew instinctively, the Dark King’s hideaway.

  Here was where he had created a home for his chosen human. I had to wonder (if fleetingly) how a being so completely superior in mind and body had fallen in love beyond redemption with a human. However, I didn’t have time for that. Evidently, he had, and this was where he kept her safe from the crawling creepies. Here was where for thousands upon thousands of years they had spent time together. Where were they now?

  I stepped forward, thinking this had to be something like a giant glass central hall, and then suddenly the house spoke. I jumped nearly ten feet into the air.

  This voice was different than the computer voice that spoke earlier. This one was clearly programmed to sound like a man’s, or rather a male Fae’s voice. I had no doubt I was hearing a version of the Dark King’s voice because the accent, the tone, the texture were beautiful beyond description. It swept through me and made me feel warm and welcomed as he said, “Enter, Daoine Princess. We have been expecting you.”

  Okay. I immediately collected myself and my thoughts and whispered to Rolo, “Is that actually the Dark King or some kind of recording?” I didn’t think it was a recording, but neither could I believe he was somewhere in the house casually welcoming me.

  “It is his beloved voice—so dear to me,” whispered Rolo. “But he is not here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know,” was all Rolo answered.

  I released a long sigh. I don’t know if I was relieved or disappointed. I think I’ll go with relieved. From the corner of my eye I noticed a semi-hidden partition, and just as I turned my full attention on it, part of it slid away, leaving a wide, arched opening. I drew on some inner strength I wasn’t sure I really had—maybe I was bluffing … who was I bluffing, myself?—and said in an aside to Rolo, “I don’t like this.”

  “Hmmm, I understand.”

  “Is that all you have to say? No reassurances?”

  “Not certain—this, all of this, is not what I expected. The palace was different when last I was here.”

  “Great … just great …” I mumbled (and seemed to be thinking or saying quite a bit lately), and then I jumped out of my skin as a transparent image of a woman—yet, not quite, as there was an aura of her that was not ‘just’ a woman—glided towards me.

  She was exquisite, like a Greek goddess, with flaming red hair that reached her butt and eyes that seemed to glitter sky blue. There was something ‘peaceful’ about the curve of her lips and the set of her expression.

  Who was this? Definitely sensed human in her, but so much more …

  Could this be the Dark King’s woman? Something deep in my gut, told me, oh yeah, this really was the Dark King’s consort. She was more, so much more, than I expected. And when she spoke, my entire mind and body relaxed. Can’t say why, but that was what happened when she said, “Welcome, Daoine Princess … do come in and take refuge with us in our home.”

  Her manner was old world. Her confidence was encompassing. Her facade was warm and welcoming, and I was sure it came from within, but I reminded myself that she was the Dark King’s consort … and what did that mean to me?

  “Thanks,” I said, looking right at her holograph (for that was what it was in a manner of speaking—I was sure she had somehow projected herself in 3-D). “Please, though, who are you?” I wanted confirmation of what I believed I knew.

  “I am Crystal—once human, now in a manner of speaking as much Fae as thee. I am the king’s consort, and I bid you welcome.”

  “How are we conversing? I know you aren’t really here—you are projecting an image of yourself …”

  She laughed, and it was an enchanting sound that made me smile. She said softly, “Think of our experience together as something much like talking with someone with your webcam. I am somewhere else and am projecting myself so that you may be comfortable.”

  “Why not face to face then?”

  “The king, my beloved, keeps me hidden from the evils of the Realm outside. He keeps me hidden from Morrigu, and from his four Dark Royals who once tried to … harm me. The king has created a world for us apart from this awful Realm. However, he is away on one of his adventures in science and thus has me safely closeted elsewhere. He is aware, however, of your … unexpected arrival into the Dark Realm and asked me to stand in for him.”

  “Stand in for him in what way?”

  “My beloved sees things beyond our scope. He has … evolved.” She sighed. “As he wishes me to do, but I, you see, am not ready for that step. He is infinitely patient. He wishes me to interact with you, in the hopes that I might then begin to feel differently about the process of evolving.”

  “How would interacting with me do that?” I know I was scrunching up my face over the problem. Could I believe her? Was this real—or was it a trick? I mean, I had grown up on some frightening tales of the Dark King and his Realm.

  “I am not sure …”

  I decided to go for something else. “Can you get me out of here?”

  “I can, but it is his wish that you stay a bit if only to fulfill your need to become who you should be. It is what you must do if you are to defeat the Seelie traitor and destroy his and the Dark Princes’ plans.”

  “The Dark Princes who now follow Gaiscioch?”

  “Perhaps they follow him. Perhaps they use him,” she answered softly.

  “How am I supposed to do all that—defeat them? Because I have to tell you, Crystal, I haven’t a clue at this point. I don’t even know where to look for a portal to get home, much less find Gais’s plans and destroy them. The portal I arrived through was gone when I looked back for it.”

  “You will be successful when you use your mind, Daoine. We have watched you, and you are ready to take the next step. Do so—it is time.” She tilted her head ever so slightly and said sweetly, “And so nice to see you once more, Rolo, and I must say, I like the company you have chosen to keep.”

  With that, she was gone. “Rolo!” I demanded. “Was she real—was that the Dark King’s human everyone has talked about?”

  “Oh yes, isn’t she wonderful?” he said dreamily.

  I rolled my eyes. I mean really. “What do we do now?”

  “Use your Daoine mind … just like she instructed.”

  I thought I had been doing so, but apparently not enough, and grumbled. “Well, damn, if I knew how to do more of that, don’t you think I would have done it already?”

  * * *

  Fitting through the black portal had been an uncomfortable experience for two reasons: I am a warrior Seelie large of build, and I am Danté, Seelie Royal, whose vibrations did not match with those of the pit!

  This particular portal was made centuries ago, and it was made from gypsy magic. Gypsy magic is not always very accommodating.

  Being the oldest in the House of Lugh, I have seen many battles, many times, and have had many experiences. Traveling through goo has never been one of them.

  “Danté,” I told myself as I passed what seemed an interminable time through the tunnel of the dark portal, “your enfant will be the end of all that you were,” and then even in that uncomfortable tunnel I felt myself smile, for she was also the beginning of everything I would ever be.

  When I arrived on terra firma, I vowed to avoid any such portals in the future, and I shook myself free from the tentacles of the black goo coverin
g my arms. I thought myself clean, straightened up, and had a look around. Ugly as hell—oh, wait, it was hell!

  And the devil was there to greet me. Gaiscioch stood grinning like a Cheshire cat who had just discovered a tasty mouse. His four Royal Dark Fae princes were at his sides, and he held his death weapon high and pointed at me.

  I am no mouse. I shook my head as I grinned right back at him, a grin that was probably more a sneer than a smile. “Where is she, Gais?”

  “The Daoine?” He shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t have her. I suppose she didn’t feel equal to defending her father’s honor—she shifted away from me afraid for her life, and …” He bowed his head mockingly. “Not being a Royal, or a Tracker, I don’t have the ability to track a Royal princess. She covered her scent too well.” He peered at me, his eyes brilliant but different from what I remembered, and I realized that he was losing who he was as the Dark Realm seeped into his system.

  “So you just let her get away?” I made a menacing move towards him, and the four Royals with him moved in front of him as one unit. They were different from one another, though all were as handsome as any Seelie Fae while devoid of real Fae essence. Gaiscioch pushed them aside to take a step forward and lightly swing his death sword.

  “Careful now …” I can be sarcastic when I want. “You don’t want to cut yourself … the poisoning of your blood would be a long and horribly painful death.”

  “Cut the crap. You are in my Realm now, subject to my law.” He circled his sword in the air and then pointed it at me. “I’ll wager the queen has not given you permission to enter …”

  It was an odd thing, but I had been looking at one of the devilishly handsome Dark Royals, and when Gaiscioch called the Dark Realm his, I saw him involuntarily flinch. There was no time to consider it as I snapped an answer back at Gais. “And I am just as certain that by now our queen is aware of the shift of power from one Realm into another. She is all-knowing, and you would do well to remember that. The Daoine princess is my mission. I am expected to guard her at all times and therefore don’t need permission to enter this Realm or any other.”