Through Time-Slamming

by Conn, Claudy

  “You can be certain that every possibility to find a final solution is being explored,” Suade answered. “I am not of royal blood, but my father is Nuad, Chief Tracker. I hear a great deal when he and my mother talk.”

  Frankie sighed. No one took her seriously because she was considered a child. Even Suade treated her like a child that needed to be reassured. What she wanted was to know the truth.

  She wasn’t like the other Fae, Daoine or Seelie. She had Sluagh blood, and that blood, she realized when she had met her father, made her a very different kind of Daoine Fae.

  She wasn’t sure what had activated this sudden mental and physical growth, but she knew that something was occurring inside of her. Also, her Fios powers had changed. They had blossomed beyond imagination. They were merging with her Sluagh bloodline and evolving.

  She sighed and let the subject go. She told Suade she wanted to return to the castle, and she wouldn’t have to babysit her any longer.

  Suade laughed and pointed a finger. “You are not a baby and we shall be great friends one day, for you are maturing rapidly. I can feel it in you, though I don’t quite understand it. Perhaps something happened to you during your time in the Dark Realm?” She shrugged, “Very well, I can see you are anxious to get back to the castle. Go then and I shall see you later.”

  Frankie shifted, but did not go anywhere near Tir Palace or the Queen’s chamber.

  She shifted to the Highlands in the heart of the Grampian Mountains, just outside Queen Morrigu’s Castle grounds. She put her hand to the earth and softly asked, “Tell me.”

  “What do you think grass and dirt can tell you?” asked a beautifully accented voice at her back.

  Frankie jumped up and nearly fell on her butt as she tried spinning around at the same time. It was done in all one movement. As she righted herself she stared.

  Before her, more handsome than Trevor, with black glistening locks blowing about his exquisitely good looking face was a Dark Prince.

  He was naked to the waist and Frankie gulped. She should shift. She needed to leave immediately, but her curiosity made her stay.

  His shoulder carried a tattoo of a Celtic cross. One bicep was banded with Celtic runes. Down one arm was a tattoo designed to protect him against the forces of Dark Magic and Frankie took it all in.

  He was bold, yet she did not feel evil emanate from him. She watched as he strode forward wearing only dark leather pants and sandals.

  She remembered him from the Dark Realm. She had noticed him at some point when she had been hiding behind Jazz. This one was called Graely.

  Some instinct kept her from shifting away.

  “I was not being sarcastic child. I was interested. What can the earth tell you?” he asked again.

  “Ye be Graely. I remember ye from the Dark Realm,” she answered.

  He cocked his head. “I am. I mean you no harm. You can shift away anytime you like.”

  “Are ye going to sound the alarm? I know ye can do that in yer head. Are ye going to tell them I am here?” she asked warily. She prepared herself to escape. At the least sign of a Dark Fae, she would shift.

  “No, you are but a child. Why would I do that?” he asked and took a step toward her.

  She hopped back and away from him. “Because ye be evil,” she answered in her pretty Irish lilt.

  “I have done wicked things, I know. Lately I have been wondering if I truly am evil. My father says I am not. Crystal says she believes I have redeeming qualities. I wonder. If they are right, then what am I doing here with my brothers?”

  “What do ye want from me?” Frankie got to the point. She didn’t have time or patience with riddles. Frankie preferred to say what she felt.

  “I am not sure. I know when I saw you touching the earth with such purpose, I was curious. You have not yet answered my question,” Graely said, spreading his hands out imploringly.

  “Why is it so important to ye?”

  “Because, you intrigue me. You are but a child, and yet I sense immense power in you. I can feel it growing inside of you, child. Tell me just what you are, for you are much more than a Royal Fae.”

  “Which shows ye that ye know nothing,” she answered pugnaciously. “Not royal at all and I think I should leave now,” Frankie said.

  “Did you get what you wanted from the earth outside our castle?” Graely pursued.

  “I did.” She gave him a bright stare. “Ye have no idea what that is and ye won’t. I hardly know m’self,” Frankie said once again moving back and out of his physical range.

  “They call you Frankie,” he said softly.

  She snorted, “Tis m’name, but I’m wanting to know how ye know that.”

  “Will you tell them of this meeting between us?” he said ignoring her question.

  “Perhaps.” She was in a quandary over this already. If she told them they would sanction her for coming alone to Morrigu’s Castle and she would be even more confined than she already was.

  At that moment, she felt her father in her head demanding she show her location to him at once. She blocked him out, because she could. A talent she had discovered only in the last few hours and she smiled to herself. “I’ll be saying goodbye to ye now.”

  “Frankie—wait,” he called desperately.

  She stopped and frowned, puzzled at his intensity. “What do ye want Dark One?”

  “I…I am not sure, but I know one thing,” he answered.

  “What is that?”

  “Life as you know it is changing. And somehow we—you and I are connected as life for me has been changing as well. You are somehow always there...”

  She frowned at him. “M’Jazz would tell ye that sounds a bit…creepy.” She shook her head. “Graely, I will tell ye this, take it or not. Ye don’t have to be what someone else tells ye to be. Try and remember that ye have yer own mind, yer own will and just because ye be related doesn’t mean ye have to walk the same road as yer brothers. Ye can be whoever ye want if ye want it enough.” So saying the child, who sounded years older than her twelve on earth, shifted back to Tir and the Queen’s chambers.

  ~*~

  Jazz had taken a very stiff position. She knew she could die and tried not to flinch as she felt the cold blade at her flesh.

  As a human the Death Sword cutting her would be no more than a cut. She was Fae blooded now and she believed she could die from its bite. Jazz listened to her Trevor’s bluffing and knew what this was costing him. She felt his terror and knew that at the right moment she had to do something Suddenly, that moment came.

  Pestale relaxed his hold on her. Instead of trying to push forward to escape, she laid her head against Pestale’s chest which put her an inch away from the sword. Before she could think she brought up her knee and with her Fae strength kicked backwards neatly landing him a blow to his balls, with a speed she had never utilized before.

  He released his hold on her as he howled in pain.

  She knew he was still in Trevor’s clutches, she was a free woman. Trevor’s grip on his shoulder relaxed as Pestale bent over in sheer agony, unable to think as the pain shot through him.

  Trevor sliced through the air with his Death Weapon and smiled at Pestale’s discomfort. Trevor knew he could put him out of it with one final blow but he had the presence of mind to shift.

  Jazz knew that what she had done was risky. She breathed a sigh of relief as she fell against her mate and said, “That was close, Trev.”

  Trevor couldn’t speak. He just held her tightly and covered her head with kisses. She felt his hands wrap themselves in her loose tresses as he bent her head back to kiss her long and slow.

  His kiss tasted of desperation. When he came up for air, he said low and feverishly, “I can’t lose you, Jazmine Decker. Do you understand me? I can’t breathe without you. My life is yours and if you treasure my life, then don’t let anyone threaten yours.”

  She smiled as sweetly and reassuringly as she could and whispered, “I will be more careful. Bu
t honestly this was not my fault. How would I know that he was watching me? He came at me with a purpose. Why me?”

  “No doubt Pestale has witnessed what you can do. Your Fios Slamming has increased dramatically, my love. From now on you will be a target.”

  “Yes… but…” she started.

  “No buts, Jazmine Decker. Don’t you see it all? He has to get you out of the way. You can put down too many of his Unseelie at once. Part of his plan is to let them swarm and create terror in the human world. You are in his way.”

  “Trev, I can’t think about that now. I’ll watch my back because I’ve got to keep on Slamming them”, she said after a long moment.

  “So you do. Then don’t blame me if I don’t let you out of my sight. You need guarding as much as they need killing. You see that, don’t you?”

  “Fine, guard me then big guy,” she said and turned back to the battle. She could see they were beginning to make headway. She couldn’t kill with her Slamming power, but she could bring them down and let the warriors have at them in systematic form.

  Suddenly, many of the castes that could not shift were running towards the dolmens. She saw Ete and the other little Fae that she knew as Shee Willow rush towards the Portal to block it. She heard Ete chanting the spell to remove the monoliths.

  Seelie Warriors rushed to Willow and Princess Ete’s side, even as a bloody battle raged at their backs.

  Silently Jazz added her voice to the chant.

  Something was wrong. It wasn’t working.

  Jazz ran towards Ete and heard Trevor shout, “be careful!” She turned to see him engaged in a battle with two grotesque creatures and making short work of them.

  She reached Ete and flanked her side to repeat the spell in ancient Danu. A moment later the space that the Portal had once filled was empty.

  They knew Pestale had successfully recalled it before they had started their chant.

  Jazz heard Ete shout out worriedly to Willow, “Shee Willow…behind you!” They were under attack by more than ten or twelve insect-like gross beings. They were drooling and spitting. Jazz wanted them dead. With her Death Sword in hand, she Slammed them, without hesitation. She then began the job of driving home their deaths quickly and quite thoroughly.

  Jazz turned from the dead that were strewn all over the grassland and saw that Ete had moved on and into another smaller group.

  Jazz took a stand and began something she had not tried before. She widened her scope to the maximum as she spun in place.

  Shee Willow covered her. Taking off the heads of drooling giant insects as Jazz took their magic and threw it back at them full force.

  Jazz grinned at Willow and returned her attention to the remaining hordes, taking them down for the kill with her Slamming.

  Jazz stood and stared at what had once been a lovely grassy slope. She grimaced and shook her head when she saw the destruction in front her.

  Trevor was at her side, he caught her up in his arms and whispered, “My sweet love, you have depleted yourself. I felt your energy sap…” He bent and kissed her ear and then held her face. “I will take you home.”

  “No can do. No rest for the weary,” she smiled at him. “I am a Fae now, we don’t get tired.”

  “I am not certain that is true when you use your Slamming ability. Remember that you are part human, and humans can feel fatigue. It is complicated.” He frowned as he stroked her cheek and added, “My sweet-life, I sense you are depleted.” He touched her lips with his own, brushing them lightly with a kiss. “And you will need to be strong for later.” His eyes told her just what he meant.

  “Aww baby, don’t ya worry about that,” she said only half teasing. It felt good to kiss him, right there in the middle of a battle, to feel him, and connect with him. They had to end this war and get on with their lives. They had to take Frankie away from all this and give her a childhood.

  He looked around, “Jazmine Decker, I think we have this well under control thanks to your Fios magic.”

  “I’ll just go help Ete clean up. and then, you and me Trev…,” she smiled at him and felt a surge of adoration as she saw the look of love and passion in his glittering gold eyes.

  ~*~

  Hordly and Pestale had taken to the lake and dived low beneath the Monoliths. The battle on the slopes of the Middle Lake saw bloodletting as it had never done before.

  Through a careful mind linking, they worked the ancient words. These were no longer Danu Seelie words, but altered by Dark Magic. Pestale believed from an earlier trial that this was far more effective.

  The trick was to work the spell before the Royals got to the monoliths. While the Seelie were busy destroying his Unseelie throng, he and Hordly transported the Monoliths to Morrigu’s Castle.

  Their ravenous monsters had been sacrificed without a second thought. That was precisely why he had brought these lower castes to battle the Seelie. He had brought them to divert the Seelie, to test them and see their strengths and weaknesses.

  Many of the Royals had a very clear weakness, and that weakness was love.

  So many of them seemed to have lovers they would die for.

  How odd to give up one’s life for another.

  He thought he could use this against them. It made them weaker and more vulnerable.

  The castes he was taking back to the castle with them had fed earlier in the smaller villages near the castle. They would multiply every time they fed on humans. The Seelie would have an unending distraction for the Royals and their warriors while they went about the business of taking control of Ireland and Scotland.

  That was his first goal. Hordly had no goals other than to pleasure himself and would do what he was told as long as he was able to envision his rewards. He thought of Graely and wondered where he was.

  Then he thought of Tir and Queen Aaibhe’s face when they would at last storm the Fae Isle and kill as many Seelie as they could.

  Pestale’s dark eyes glimmered with the vision this created in his mind. It wasn’t that he hated the Seelie Royals as a whole, it was simply a matter of survival. They would not allow him to live in the manner he was meant to and they had to be eliminated.

  He wanted to rule a world he had been denied.

  He wanted to show his father what he was capable of achieving.

  As Pestale and Hordly rose out of the lake, their dark hair was wet with glistening pearls of water; they hovered over the edge of the lake well away from the fray.

  Pestale looked toward what was left of the battle. The Unseelie had been defeated. Because that one female had extraordinary power, there were only about fifty of them left standing.

  Suddenly Pestale felt a piercing gaze.

  Prince Trevor of Lugh was staring at him.

  He felt the Prince’s hot angry glare and realized that he felt a fierce hatred for him. Trevor of Lugh was in his way. Perhaps he would be the first Royal to die.

  He had an idea. “What now, brother?” Hordly asked.

  “Hordly we must return to the castle and recoup,” he told him.

  Without another word, they shifted.

  They stepped into the chamber Pestale had set up as his war room and Pestale paced for a moment.

  He had seen death in Trevor’s eyes. This prince would disobey his queen and kill him if he could. He wanted his ounce of revenge for that other pretty’s death because he saw a threat to the pretty Fios.

  And he would use that. Perhaps the Seelie was too brave?

  He would have to lure him in and trap him. He would offer the prince up for trade, get what he needed and then kill him.

  That was the plan.

  He said to his brother, “We will return and allow the non-shifters to feed on the remaining neighboring towns near the castle.” He sighed and asked, “Where is Graely?”

  Hordly shrugged, “He said something about this being a lost cause, and I haven’t seen him since.”

  “I don’t know what to do about him. He can’t seem to wrap his mind
around the idea that we will rule this Realm.” Pestale shrugged. “Never mind him. We don’t need him right now but when we do, he will do as we ask.”

  “Did you leave enough non-shifters in the village?”

  “I did,” Hordly laughed. “They were eating everything in sight, humans, animals, everything.”

  “Good, that will keep the Seelie busy for a time.” He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and Hordly grunted in agreement.

  Pestale paused. It occurred to him that he had a family. Why not be satisfied to live in the Highlands to take a woman or many women and live a life of comfort in this beautiful realm. The darkness that was deep inside and now a part of him welled up and balked at such a mundane notion. He felt a sneer cross his face as the fiber of his being demanded he not only live, but rule!

  “Hordly,” he said on a determined note. “We know what these Royals mean to do and what abilities they have.. Next time we will have a surprise for them. Next time we get our hands on a Royal we will use him to get what we want.

  ~*~

  It didn’t take long for the Royals and their warriors to vanquish the abominations that were left behind by the Dark Princes to die.

  Jazz learned the knack of slicing and dicing quickly. Ete had showed her what to do early on in Inverness. She Slammed, and then helped kill. Her heart hurt over the process. She couldn’t help but think that these were monsters and needed to be destroyed, but she had a moment’s sympathy for their plight.

  They had been created as beasts. They couldn’t be tamed, or educated; they just were beings the Dark King had made during his learning process of making life forms. They were his mistakes as he tried to create sons, four Royal Houses for his own pleasure. These mistakes were left to fend for themselves. She knew they needed to die, but her heart felt for them.

  She made each kill a quick one.

  She turned to find Ete backing away from the grotesque arena of blood and gore. Ete shook her head, and a pained look came into her eyes before she put a hand to her forehead and another to her stomach. She reached out for Jazz’s arm for support, and moaned.