Faeswyn [The Maidens of Mocmoran 2]

by Wynette Davis

  But then the screaming stopped from inside. Her heart dropped into her stomach, yet she couldn’t worry much about what was happening inside as a fairy bared her teeth, rushing toward her with incredible speed. It took only a few seconds to deal with the fairy, showing her the lethal end of her knife. Then, she ran around the side of the house only to see several fairies feeding on someone in the middle of the front yard. She quelled her impulse to scream as she began to walk toward them. She was stopped in her tracks, seeing her father standing near the front porch with three fairies circling him like wolves eyeing their quarry. He was smiling. She knew then that he was entranced.

  “No! Daddy!” Several fairies turned to smile at her in a sickening, macabre way, showing terrifyingly wide grins, and their mouths full of teeth. Trikyia heard the soft fairy singing again. The fairies had bitten her father’s groin, bright red blood spurting from his body like a busted water hose. He didn’t yell out in pain, or scream in terror. She would only forgive herself for what she was thinking much later, but she was thankful that he was entranced. He didn’t feel any pain. She felt pain as he continued to smile, and then waved to her, as if he were merely saying hello, or, as she thought to herself, good-bye.

  In the next instant, the fairies left in a scurry of light and song, taking her father, and she was sure, other male relatives with them. She wiped away what she thought was fairy blood from her face, only to realize she was crying. But there were people inside the house that might need her help. She hoped.

  She ran into the house to see a bloodbath in the living room. They were dead. All of them. Her Aunt Ochsandaryia was lying on the floor next to the table. Her neck was a bloody mess of ripped flesh. Blood was still pooling under her body as she lay with her arm around her daughter. Trikyia looked away, seeing nothing but blood on her young cousin. A sound was heard in the kitchen, and she rushed in with hope in her heart that someone had survived, only to see a fairy groaning in the corner. Someone had thought to pour salt around her and she was stuck. Fairies and salt or salt water didn’t mix. It was why they stayed away from coastal towns. Salt was painful to fairies. Even a small amount in the air could render a fairy immobile with pain, or the fear of it.

  Trikyia walked over to the fairy wanting nothing more than to plunge her knife into her up to the hilt. But she thought of something better as she saw the salt container on the counter. She took it, walking closer to the fairy.

  The fairy had light pink hair that hung down her back, with pink eyes. Her flowing pink gown was stained with blood, and Trikyia immediately thought of her family in the living room. Dead. “What the fuck is your name!”

  “Why should I tell you my name, child?”

  “I want to know who is to blame for this. Tell me!”

  “Remove the salt, and I will tell you,” the fairy hissed in a hoarse whisper.

  Trikyia poured a small amount of salt into her hand and threw it at the fairy. The fairy screamed and writhed against the wall in pain. “Not gonna happen, bitch! What the fuck is your name, or I’m just going with my first plan to gut you!”

  The fairy stood staring at her. Her chest was heaving from either the pain from the salt, or the fear of it. “Mermahlinnahl. Now, release me!”

  “You can’t be serious. You and your fairy sisters just murdered my family, and you think I’m just going to let you go?”

  “Then wait, if you must.” Mermahlinnahl sneered. “My sisters will finish feasting and return for me soon enough.”

  Trikyia thought about that. She needed to leave. She needed to head to the barn and the secret tunnel beneath it, collect her nana and whoever was left of her relatives, and get the hell away from Drisa. At least for a while. Until they could figure out why… She looked back at the fairy.

  “Why did you do this? Fairies stay in the wildwoods. You don’t attack humans like this. Why?” Mermahlinnahl began to blur in front of her eyes, and she realized it was her tears as they fell down her cheeks.

  “For the queen. We fulfilled our part of the bargain,” the fairy said. She began to giggle in that rocks-on-glass way that fairies had.

  Trikyia’s mind began to work in overdrive. Fairies never attack humans in towns. The witches said Balaedras wanted to start a war between the humans and the fairies. It was Balaedras that did this. She began to feel heat burning inside of her. It seared through her belly until she felt nauseous with it.

  “Queen Balaedras ordered the fairies to attack humans,” Trikyia said. “To attack Drisa to begin a war. And when Drisa asks Teveoch for help, she’ll offer it in return for the kingdom. That fuckin’ bitch!”

  “Who are you, child? Too wise, you are. No fear, you have. What is your name?” Mermahlinnahl asked her suspiciously.

  “Why don’t you just call me death,” Trikyia said as she stabbed her knife into the fairy, turning it inside of her, before pulling it upward, all the while watching the fairy’s eyes become lifeless.

  She stood near the fairy until her body began to disintegrate into the splotch of goo left by fairies after their death. Then she stood, making her way through the living room, taking blankets from the sofa and table cloths to cover her aunts and cousins with. She knew her nana had a portable TCD in her end table drawer, so she made her way up the stairs to get it. She would call the Daenisnae constable and let them know what had happened. They could all stay with neighbors until the house could be livable again. Drisian’s were like that. They were neighborly and helpful.

  She stood in the doorway of her nana’s bedroom. She didn’t move. She couldn’t. Why didn’t she leave? She told her to get the kids and leave. She was going to stop by the barn and gather them up. But her nana lay in a pool of blood in the middle of her bedroom. Trikyia glanced over to a far corner in the room. That was all she could do was glance, because she knew what the mound of small bodies were. She began to shake, and dropped to her knees on the floor.

  It was then that she heard the faint moan come from her nana. “Nana?” she said, crawling over to her, not caring about the large puddle of blood she was crawling through. There was a large, mangled bite on her shoulder and another on her right side. Trikyia gently picked up her head, laying it into her lap. “Nana, it’s okay. I’m going to heal you.”

  Glaeonawyn shook her head. “I’ve lost too much b-blood. I’m cold, h-honey. It’s too late.”

  “No. No, no, no, no. You stay with me. I can do it.”

  “‘Kyia, I won’t be the same. You know that,” she said slowly. “Like your dog.” She took several shallow breaths. “You brought him back, but he was changed. I don’t want that, baby.”

  “Why didn’t you leave, Nana? Why?”

  “Tried. I…I tried, but l-l-little Jeielia was up here. I had to get her.”

  Trikyia looked over at the mound in the corner. “You were trying to protect the kids, weren’t you?”

  Glaeonawyn only gave a slight nod. “Didn’t…work. I…love…you, ‘K-Kyia.” Glaeonawyn breathed the last out heavily, and was still.

  “Nana?” Trikyia shook her body, but she knew. And then she felt it well inside of her. The scream. She let it out. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed until her voice was hoarse, and she had no more tears left to shed.

  She didn’t know how long she sat holding onto her grandmother’s body, but she finally stood up. She went to the end table and took the TCD out of the drawer. She put it into her ear, going to her bedroom to gather a few things she thought she might need, putting it all into her backpack, and leaving her suitcases. She had no home to return to. Every relative she had—that she loved—was dead or soon would be, as she thought about her father and uncles.

  She walked back into her nana’s bedroom taking the spread from the bed and draped it over the children’s bodies in the corner. She did the same with her nana and her favorite quilt from the chair by the window.

  “May the goddesses protect your essence. All of you,” Trikyia said, standing stone-faced in the bedroom doorway. “I’m
going to kill her, Nana. Balaedras. She was the cause of all of this. I might not be able to kill her yet, but she will die because of this. I promise you.”

  She walked down the stairs, carefully scanning the house for any fairies that might have come back. Confident that she was alone, she contacted the constable.

  “This is Trikyia, daughter of…” She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. “Constable, my family was attacked by—”

  “By fairies? You’re the third family in Quith that’s reported a fairy attack, Trikyia, is it?”

  “Yes, sir.” She wiped at her tears again as she left the house.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, may the goddesses protect their essence. We’ll come as soon as we can. We’re trying to get some help from some of the other kingdoms with this problem. I don’t understand this. Fairies have never attacked like this before.”

  “It’s only the beginning, I’m afraid. I’m leaving Drisa, Constable. I can’t stay here.”

  “I understand. We’ll handle everything for you. Where will you be?”

  “I’ll have to contact you on that. I don’t know right now. They’re…they’re in the house. At least the younger ones and the women. The fairies took…”

  “I know. Don’t say anymore, child. May the goddesses protect you, and guide you well.”

  She ended the communication, and started running across the field to the only place she knew to go.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Faeswyn was content to lie in Naihr’s arms as he and Draeis watched one of their shows. She wasn’t interested in the show. She was interested in being in his arms. She’d lain in Draeis’ arms earlier, and thought how lucky she was to have her husbands to love. She was happy, but she still couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. As much as Draeis and Naihr told her she was only subconsciously feeling the after effects of what happened with the witches and fairies that night, she knew it wasn’t the reason.

  She felt it then. The chill down her spine. She sat up from where she was lounging against Naihr. “Babe?” Naihr said to her.

  She stood up from the sofa, and went to stand at the back door. “Something…” Her words were lost in her throat as she saw someone running toward the house in the distance. She could barely make out the form in the dimness of the night, but they were definitely running.

  “Hey,” she said, turning to Draeis and Naihr. “Someone’s running up here.” She stared out at the darkness again and gasped at seeing who it was. “It’s Trikyia!”

  Both Draeis and Naihr rushed to the door. “Trikyia? What the hell? This late?” Naihr said. But they all rushed out to her as she came to the porch, breathless and covered in blood.

  “Trikyia! By the goddesses!” Faeswyn said. She hurried over to grab Trikyia from the porch steps, putting a comforting arm around her.

  Faeswyn carefully walked Trikyia into the house. Draeis brought a blanket to her from the bedroom. “What happened, Trikyia?”

  Faeswyn continued to hold her in her arms, feeling the tremors from Trikyia’s body as the young girl shook with either fear or shock. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe now.”

  “No,” Trikyia said softly. “No,” she repeated more forcefully. She pulled away from Faeswyn. “No, I’m not. None of us are. The fairies. The fairies attacked the house. There were so many of them. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t…” She took a deep breath, and seemed to dismiss any fear she might have felt.

  Faeswyn saw the young girl she once knew die, and in her place the young woman Trikyia had to become. “They killed everyone. They’re all dead. All but the men. But they’re probably dead now, too. They took the men.” Trikyia glanced around at them all.

  “Tell us,” Naihr said, taking a seat on the arm of the chair.

  “There’s nothing to tell,” Trikyia said. “Balaedras made good on what the witches said she was going to do. I-I didn’t want to believe them. I thought they were just lying like witches do, but it wasn’t. There was a fairy trapped in the kitchen.”

  “Trapped?” Faeswyn asked, and then nodded knowingly. “Someone poured salt around her. Thank the goddesses. Trikyia, honey, where is Glaeonawyn? Did she get away?” Trikyia started crying again, and Faeswyn gave a worried to Draeis and Naihr. “She got away, didn’t she?”

  “I was fighting fairies in the yard,” Trikyia said softly. “I killed eight, not including the one that was trapped in the kitchen.” She sat up, wiping at her eyes, and sniffing loudly. “There were fairies…They—they were eating…” She took a deep breath. “I saw Daddy. He was surrounded by three fairies. He waved to me. I knew he was entranced, because when they attacked him, he didn’t scream out or anything. They took him in fairy skurry, and they all left. I went inside the house, and saw… They were all dead. My aunts. My cousins. That’s when I heard the fairy in the kitchen. She all but confirmed what the witches said. It’s Balaedras!”

  Draeis stood and started to gather things into a large bag he’d taken from the hall closet. “Faeswyn, we have to leave.”

  “He’s right, Faeswyn,” Trikyia said, staring at her. “They won’t stop. Three other farms were attacked tonight. The constable said as much when I contacted him about the attack.”

  “No. No, we have to look for Glaeonawyn,” Faeswyn said with a shake of her head. “She got away, didn’t she, Trikyia?”

  Trikyia shook her head as she started to sob again. “I told her to leave! I told her to hide. To get whoever she could and hide. We had a plan in case the royal guard of Teveoch ever came to Quith. We were supposed to head to the barn, and hide in the tunnel there. I told Nana to hide. I-I-I thought she’d run to the barn, but she didn’t. I found her on the floor in her bedroom. She tried to protect the children from the fairies. She tried, but…”

  “No!” Faeswyn wailed. Draeis was immediately by her side.

  “I wanted to heal her, but she’d lost too much blood. My healing gift is useless if someone is near death. I couldn’t do that to her, Faeswyn! I wanted to heal her, but I couldn’t! I couldn’t!”

  Naihr sat beside Trikyia, hugging her close as she sobbed into his chest. “May the goddesses protect her essence. All of them.”

  “She died in my arms,” Trikyia said, with her voice somewhat muffled in Naihr’s chest. “I held her in my lap, and the last thing she said to me was that she loved me.”

  Faeswyn wiped away the tears shed for her friend. “She did, sweetie. She never stopped talking about her ‘Kyia.”

  Trikyia nodded her head. She stood up, wiping away at her tears. “I’m going to kill Balaedras.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Draeis said as he stood, looking intently down at the young girl. “I know you’re hurting, Trikyia. I can’t begin to imagine the pain you’re going through right now. But taking on Queen Balaedras and her entire army is suicide.”

  Trikyia stared back at Draeis as if he were an idiot. “I’m not stupid, Draeis. I didn’t mean right now. I’m fifteen years old. But I swear before the goddesses that I will kill her one day. I’ll kill her and every fuckin’ fairy out there.”

  “Great,” said Naihr. “Good. Fantastic. I hope you do. Shit, I’ll even help you plunge a knife into her black heart. But right now, we have to leave. If Balaedras is sending fairies here to start some kind of fairy-human war, we can’t stay. Not only because of fairies, but because royal guards are going to start to come here in droves.”

  “I agree,” said Draeis. “We have to leave tonight.”

  “What about me?” Trikyia said with wide eyes. “My family is dead. My daddy is… What about me?”

  Faeswyn put her arm around Trikyia. “You come with us,” she said, looking at Draeis and Naihr, who both nodded to her. “As you said, you’re only fifteen. We’re your family now. Trikyia, you’re young, but you’ve seen more and done more than any fifteen-year-old girl has, or should have. I can’t say that I’m going to raise you, but I can say that I’m going to guide you, and love you as a sister. As I always have.”


  “So… Where is it you’re going?” asked Trikyia.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Faeswyn said. “Go into the bathroom, and…” She caressed Trikyia’s cheek. “You need to clean up, sweetie. Then we’ll talk.”

  Trikyia nodded and made her way down the hallway. Once the bathroom door closed, Faeswyn turned to look at her husbands. “What about my animals. I can’t just leave them.”

  Naihr was gathering a few things into a pack. “Open the paddocks and pens, and let them go. It’s better for them to wander wild than starve in their paddocks. Someone will take them in.”

  Faeswyn nodded, but then used the TCD to contact a neighbor to tell them she was leaving indefinitely. They agreed to take her animals. “So where do we go?”

  Draeis and Naihr shared a look. “Yaeltaran,” Naihr said. “Balaedras is attacking the weakest kingdoms. Once she gains Drisa, she’ll try to gain Jroan, perhaps Ja’Kahl.”

  “Ja’Kahl is weak, Naihr,” Draeis said. “But King Dothmeadon of Jroan is already in Balaedras’ back pocket. So she already has it. Ja’Kahl may put up a fight, though.”

  “Zinvia is too strong, as is Balknae. Tulor will probably be next,” Naihr said. “She’ll gather strength from the armies of Jroan and the population of Drisa after it acquiesces. Then, she’ll attack Tulor, leaving Zinvia and Balknae surrounded.”

  “Unless Valwithia, Zinvia, Yaeltaran, and Balknae unite and fight against her,” said Draeis. “We need to head someplace where we’ll have safety. That has strength, and one where fairies will never go.”

  “Yaeltaran,” Faeswyn said.

  “Yaeltaran,” Draeis and Naihr repeated.

  A few minutes later, Trikyia came out of the bathroom in clean clothes and all remnants of the bloodbath she’d experienced washed away. She still seemed to be in shock, but Faeswyn knew that was to be expected. They put what they were taking into the back of the car as Faeswyn stood on the porch speaking to Glywyn. “At least it’s easier to get into Yaeltaran now,” she said.