“Welcome, sir, welcome,” he said in a booming baritone. How my I help you?”
“I was told you’re the one to see. My daughter is likely to be married in the next year or so – you know how things go with young folk – and my wife and I thought we should have some fine singing for it.”
“You’ve come to the right place for it. How many singers do you require?”
“I thought a soloist and two or three others for songs that don’t require a solo.”
“Ah, well, Polly Halftone is a fine soloist.”
“May I hear her?” Teilo asked.
Polly stepped forward and sang a somewhat nasal solo.
“Oh, dear. That wasn’t quite the voice I was looking for.”
“Never fear. Angharad Forte should please you.”
Another singer stepped forward, this one with the mannerisms of an engine, and nearly bowled him over with her overpowering contralto.
Legato beamed as she finished, waiting for Teilo’s praise.
“No, really, I heard the voice I wanted when I came in. Such a pure voice.
Legato made a face.
“That one is only an apprentice. You can’t expect –”
“That is the one I wish to have.”
“Certainly not! We have many –”
“I can afford better than those you’ve shown me.”
“She isn’t better. She is as nothing.”
Teilo considered a moment. “Very well. Good day to you, then.”
“But –”
“You will not give me the singer I want, so I will search elsewhere.”
“There is no elsewhere!”
“Good day to you,” Teilo replied, leaving the red-faced Legato to stew.
Teilo went to the tavern. He ordered a pint of malt brew and sat at a table.
“How did you fare?” the barkeep asked.
“Not well, I’m afraid. The director only showed me inferior singers. The one I heard that had true talent he wouldn’t hear of hiring out, despite my ability to pay well.”
“Oh, you’ll never get that one.”
“Why? Does she only sing for the priestesses?”
“No. He’d have her drowned if he could.”
“Why?” Teilo asked, distress plain in his voice.
“She’s an orphan of unknown heritage.”
“What matter is that?”
“The priestess doesn’t like her, but she dare not have anything done to her. The high druid is said to be a harsh judge. The poor thing lives in misery, and I doubt she has any hope in life.”
“I never thought to hear of prejudice amongst Faeries, except against criminals.”
“We have, perhaps, a higher standard here than in the other clans,” the barkeep said, not aware that he insulted Teilo by speaking thus.
Teilo kept his opinion to himself. He didn’t think there was anything high in the standards that kept someone beaten down without cause. Had he not heard the barkeep himself, he wouldn’t have credited the Cantares as such bigots.
When he finished his brew, he put his shivs with a few extra on the table and returned to the open air. The girl waited outside the tavern, twisting a handkerchief.
“Good sir,” she said with a slight curtsey, “I wish to thank you for what you tried to do. I would gladly sing for your daughter’s wedding if I were but allowed.”
“I have heard tales about you, and it is treacherous the way you’re treated.”
It is my fate. But thank you for your kindness. Only two others have been kind to me and I haven’t seen them in some weeks.”
“I wish I could do more for you, my dear. If they would let me adopt you, I would. My family could not help but love you.”
“Bless you, sir, bless you,” she said and dashed away lest anyone think she was bothering the visitor.
IV
Simon waited in the grove the next evening when Teilo arrived.
“Did you see her?”
“I did. She is as talented as you said. I listened to others, then requested her services. Master Legato refused. He said she had no talent and was only an apprentice besides. In any case, he wouldn’t allow her the job.”
Teilo told him what the barkeep had said, and what Rhiannon had told him.
“It is sad that she has so little to look forward to that she’d want to be one of us,” Simon mused.
“But she doesn’t know what you are.”
“She does. She has no fear of it.”
“I would adopt her,” Teilo offered.
“If the priestess allows it. Can you ask Aoife what can be done?”
“She is no longer High Priestess. She is the priestess of the Celestials.”
“Can she not intervene?”
“I will ask,” Teilo replied.
“If she does not, I’m afraid the girl will wish to die.”
Simon left abruptly, and Teilo went to visit Aoife. She was delighted to see him. She still looked as girlish as she ever had, even with her long golden hair in an intricate braid bun.
When he told her about the girl, she looked concerned.
“Alas, it is not the clan I have charge of.”
“There is nothing you can do?”
She shook her head.
“You could go to the High Priestess or to Dandriloc, but I have little hope of anything,” she replied. “The priestess has broken no laws. She has seen to the girl’s welfare. How did you hear of this girl?”
“You would not wish to know.”
“Simon,” Aoife commented, looking disappointed.
“He’d make her a Vampyre rather than see her dead. He fears she’ll kill herself.”
“I wish there was something I could do,” Aoife said.
“I would like to adopt her.”
She smiled. “That might work. Plead your case to the High Priestess – but leave all mention of Simon out.”
A few days passed before Teilo was able to see the High Priestess. Talietha was as forbidding-looking as he had thought Moira Holly was in his youth. She stood tall, her long brown hair pulled back away from her face but left hanging freely down her back. She had a long nose and small eyes, making her look as if she were squinting. Although Teilo was a good head taller, her presence made him feel like a small boy. He thought she’d been appointed because she had the look of authority. The others he had known – Moira and her daughter, Aoife – were more approachable.
“So, you say there’s a girl in the Cantares clan whom you wish to adopt?” she asked after the formalities of greeting were finished.
“Yes, Milady.”
“How is it you, a Benevolent, discovered this child?”
He told her of his visit looking for a singer for his daughter’s wedding and how the choirmaster had refused his request as well as what he’d been told about Rhiannon by others.
“So, you couldn’t have your way and now you want to circumvent her master?”
“That isn’t it at all. That was the circumstance in which I learned of her plight. The Cantares don’t accept her as one of them, and she’s living with a woman who treats her ill. The woman is no kin of hers.”
“Have you spoken to the woman? Children lie.”
“No, milady, I haven’t. But I’ve heard the tale from others, not from the child. When I met her, my heart went out to her.”
“Wasn’t she given to the woman by the priestess of the clan?”
“She was, Milady.”
“Was a crime committed? An injustice done?”
“A crime? No. But I think an injustice was done to the child. She was placed with a woman who had no love for her and treats her like a slave.”
“So you say. I have heard nothing of the sort from those who live in the village. Mr. Feather, it seems you prefer to twist words to your own liking. I cannot intervene unless the priestess is derelict in her duty. That is a serious accusation.”
“I have twisted no words, but spoken the truth as I know it.”
“I’m afraid I can do nothing unless someone from her village comes forward with an accusation.”
“You won’t speak to the girl?”
“As I said, children are given to lies.”
The interview was over and Teilo flew home dejected. It had shocked him that the priestess believed children lied. He knew of no dishonest children in all of Faerydom. The Faeries prided themselves on their honesty.
Jessica tried to comfort him.
“Had Simon not interfered in her life, you’d know nothing of the girl.”
“But I do know it and to do nothing is wrong.”
“You’ve done what you could. You can’t countermand the High Priestess.”
“Still, there must be something we can do.”
“She did leave the door open to talk with the woman who keeps the girl now.”
It didn’t seem likely that the woman would relinquish the girl, but Teilo decided that was the best course.
Once again Teilo ventured into the lands of the Cantares. He asked the barkeep where the woman lived.
“I don’t recommend you try to tell her how to treat the girl,” the barkeep said.
“I wasn’t going to. I was going to ask her if I might adopt the child.”
The barkeep looked oddly at him. “Why would you want to do that? It doesn’t look good, you taking so much interest in a girl her age.”
“I don’t even know her age.”
“She’s nearly sixteen, I reckon.”
“I assure you I have no sinister plans. My wife and I are in agreement that we could take good care of her. My son and daughter could be like brother and sister to her.”
“Well, good luck. I hope you’re rich, because if the widow lets her go, she’ll want a high price for her.”
“She’d sell the child?”
“You’ll get her no other way, unless the widow dies. And if she dies now, you’ll be suspect.”
He thanked the barkeep for his information and went to the widow’s home.
The woman was every bit as unsavory as he’d been led to believe. Small and wizened, she eyed him suspiciously. She seemed to be sizing him up, and she clearly didn’t like strangers. She offered him a seat but no refreshment. He thought she must be over one hundred years.
“I had heard that you took in the orphan girl, and I would imagine it is a great hardship for you to feed, clothe and shelter her. She hasn’t a strong reputation in the community. My wife and I have children of our own, but alas, they are nearly grown and we would like the company of another child in our home. I wondered if I could lift your burden and take the responsibility of this child from you.”
“How do I know you have a wife or children? I have only your say so.”
“I could bring my wife with me on another visit here. We are goddess observing Faeries, and I have a good reputation in my community.”
“So you say. You might just wish to have your way with the girl. I have to look out for her welfare. And, if you were to adopt her, I’d lose my helper. That would be a great hardship for me.”
Teilo said nothing, but considered. She looked able-bodied enough, despite her age. She’d become comfortable being waited on hand and foot, he suspected.
“I could offer a financial compensation so that you could hire help to replace her.”
“Could you, indeed? And do you think I’m so cheap as to take a few coins for the worthwhile girl? She seems of great importance to you. And since I don’t really know what you would do with her, I need quite a substantial sum to guarantee that you’re not going to subvert her to evil purposes.”
He named a sum that was far beyond what she might expect to alleviate her conscience – a conscience he suspected she didn’t have. He saw a glow come briefly to her eyes before she hid her delight.
“I don’t know,” she said. “If you’d come with a wife, I might be able to see my way to agreeing. Perhaps we should seek the guidance of the priestess. After all, it was the previous priestess who gave Rhiannon to me. I wouldn’t want to offend.”
He knew Aoife would have balked at the sum, saying it was beyond what anyone should expect as compensation for the loss of a servant. This priestess was an unknown, and now to learn that it had been the previous priestess who had turned the girl over to this woman gave him some hope that she was just and civilized, as the Cantares didn’t appear to be to him.
Seeing the priestess was something that had to be arranged, so Teilo had to come yet again a few days later. This time, he brought Jessica as well as Bran in his druid robes and Dawn with him. He hoped that, not only having a wife with him, but also having a wife who was the daughter of a former High Priestess – since Aoife was considered disgraced, it wouldn’t do to remind them that Jessica was her sister – would count for something. It also wouldn’t hurt to show he did, indeed have children grown, and one a druid.
Teilo had never met Eleni, the priestess, but when he and Jessica were led into her audience room he wasn’t surprised that she seemed as stiff and formal as the Cantares he had met so far. She insisted his children wait outside.
Eleni was fair of face and slender, long white-blonde hair in curls, making her look almost childlike. She was quite aware of the effect her looks had on others.
Teilo introduced his wife, noting her relationship to Moira, told her of his desire to adopt Rhiannon, and his conversation thus far with the widow.
“So, you think we do not treat our own well?” Eleni asked.
“I have no doubt that you treat your own very well. I am led to believe Rhiannon isn’t one of your own, and she seems a burden on your community. I would only wish to alleviate that burden.”
“I am not unaware that you wished to hire her as singer for your daughter’s wedding. Could it be, perhaps, that you wish to circumvent our choirmaster?”
“Indeed, no. My daughter is not yet betrothed, and I heard nothing from your choir that would incline me to have a Cantare singer perform at her wedding. We may contract for musicians, but we are having no singers. Even if we did decide to allow Rhiannon to do the honors, I would give the choirmaster the requisite fees for her service, since she is being trained here.”
“And what of her training? Would that continue if you adopt her?”
“I leave that decision to her.”
“Of course, the choirmaster may decide she is no longer useful to the choir.”
“That is as may be. She could find ample opportunity to sing wherever she goes.”
That did not please the priestess.
“This decision to place her was given serious consideration by my predecessor, Dyllis. It sounds to me as if you wish to buy this girl, and we don’t wish to set a precedent for purchasing our children.”
“I offered money only to offset the cost of hiring a helper, since the widow seems in need of such help. It was not meant as a purchase price for the girl.”
“I don’t like the look of it. Your wife is related to two priestesses who have dealt with Vampyres. You, Mr. Feather, have also had dealings with them, I understand?”
“I no longer do.”
“It taints you and your wife both. I’m sorry; I cannot allow a child in the care of this community to be contaminated by contact or potential contact with dark Faery.”
“Is there nothing we can do?”
“I’m afraid that is my decision and it is final. Rhiannon stays with the widow and you must seek elsewhere to find a child to adopt. But let me assure you, Mr. Feather, it will not be in the village of the Cantares.”
With her decree made and no protest from the widow, who stood silently throughout, the interview was over. Teilo and Jessica returned home dejected.
V
Simon paid Teilo a visit a few days later. He stood just beyond the trees. Teilo felt the slight tingle in his arm and went outside.
“From your look I would say things didn’t go as you’d hoped,” Simon remarked.
“Indeed, they didn’t.”
&n
bsp; He related to Simon all that had happened. He half expected Simon to be delighted, since there was now no one to stand in the way of his changing her. Instead, Simon looked dismayed.
“Times are strange when the priestesses forget justice,” Simon said.
“I don’t know what else I can do.”
“The High Priestess has barred your way unless you would be an outlaw.”
“I have no wish for that.”
“Then it is up to us. It was good you didn’t mention she has already had dealings with us. They might do to her what they nearly did to Zoe.”
Teilo shuddered.
“And you’ll turn her?”
“Not unless I must. But we can at least befriend her and help her. We don’t only think to turn folk.”
“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“Thank you for your help, Teilo.” Simon unfurled his wings and stepped away from Teilo.
“You’re not going so soon?”
Simon smiled. “After all these years I’d think you’d wish to be rid of me.”
“I have ever thought us friends.”
“There was a time –”
“Let us not think of the bad times,” Teilo said. His memory housed kindly thoughts of Simon and his coven. He remembered only bits and flashes of their lair, and if he witnessed any unpleasantness from the dark Faery, he had long since forgotten it.
Simon nodded. “I’m afraid I must go. Harry has need of me. Until next time.”
He flitted off and Teilo watched long after Simon had disappeared.
*
The nine remaining Vampyres rehearsed for an upcoming concert. They had managed to rearrange the music so that Fiona, Calana and Lucas weren’t missed by anyone in the crowd. The light Faery didn’t have the names of the band lest a name crop up long after it was assumed new members had replaced them. The light Faeries were glamoured in such a way that they forgot the exact details of faces after a few weeks.
“We were once only three,” Simon reminded them whenever a complaint about the lack of members arose.
Dark Faery IV: The Cantares Page 2
