Nica's Legacy (Hearts of ICARUS Book 1)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “Why are you so worried about that scent?” a voice asked in his mind. “What is it?”

  Luagh froze in shocked disbelief. “How are you doing this?” he demanded.

  “It’s my body and my brain, why wouldn’t I be able to do this?”

  Luagh started walking again, his mind racing. “How long have you been aware of my presence?”

  “About a week,” his human replied. “You had to know I’d figure something was going on after I started waking up with blood all over me.”

  Luagh shrugged. He hadn’t actually given much thought to that, though he realized now that he should have. “Do you know what I am?”

  “No, and I don’t care, either. I care that you’re strong and growing stronger, and I care that the stronger you get, the stronger I get.”

  “You are using the power I collect?” Luagh demanded, outraged.

  “Not yet, but I intend to.”

  “I gather that power for myself, not a worthless human.”

  “And you use my worthless human body to gather it,” his human replied. “Share and share alike.”

  “I do not understand what that means, human.”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know this city better than you, and I know all of the most powerful people. I know their names, where they live, what their talents are, and how to get in and out of their homes.”

  “And you will share this information with me?”

  “Of course,” his human replied. “Just as you will share the power with me.”

  Luagh thought for a moment, then smiled slyly. “We have a pact, then.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “Excellent. Now tell me, human, what is the fastest route back to your home from here?” His human gave him directions, and he resumed walking.

  ***

  “Did you feel that that?” Nim whispered as a shiver swept through him.

  “Dark magic,” Min replied, nodding. “It has to be the Changeling. Where did it come from?”

  “Ahead,” Nim replied. “It’s moving away now.”

  “It smelled us,” she squeaked with alarm. “It knows we’re here Nim!”

  “Yes,” Nim agreed, “but it’s leaving now. We can’t smell it, but we can follow the dark magic.”

  “No,” Min said at once. “It will catch us!”

  “We won’t go after it,” Nim said. “I just want to see if we can smell the human its riding. There aren’t any other people out right now so it will be the only fresh scent.”

  “Oh,” Min said. She bit her lip while she thought about that, then nodded reluctantly. “You’re right Nim, we should check.”

  The sprites flew cautiously forward, going from curb to lamp post to waste receptacle to doorway, pausing often to smell the air and search their surroundings. An hour later they flew to the top of the highest chimney they could find so they could keep an eye on their surroundings while they rested.

  “There’s no fresh scent of any human, no Changeling scent trail to follow, and the feel of dark magic has already faded,” Min said. “You know what that means, Nim.”

  “That it’s got enough power to not only hide its scent while it surfaces to hunt, but enough to hide the human’s scent too,” Nim said, nodding.

  “We mustn’t try to follow it any more, Nim. It’s too strong.”

  “You’re right, Min. It will catch us and squish us for sure.”

  “We can’t stop helping, though. Too many people need us.”

  “I know, but we can’t hide our scent,” Nim pointed out. “It will squish us before we even know it’s there. We can’t help anyone if we’re squished.”

  “We must ask Queen Eibhleann for a favor, then,” Min said, raising her chin the way she did when she was determined.

  Nim wished he was more shocked by the idea than he was, but he understood as well as Min how dire the situation was. “Agreed,” he said reluctantly, then added, “But only if she states her price clearly before the agreement is struck.”

  “She will want a favor in return,” Min said with an exasperated sigh. “You know that.”

  “Of course,” Nim replied. “But she must tell us what that favor will be, like you asked the Bright Lady to do, remember? That was brilliant, Min.”

  “Oh,” Min said, blushing purple. “Thank you, Nim.”

  “You’re welcome,” Nim said, then looked around at the dark city below them. “Let’s go to the Shining Isle now, Min. I don’t like this place.”

  ***

  Nica’s eyes flew open, her body tense, her mind alert and ready for action. Something had warned her in her sleep that she wasn’t alone. She relaxed as soon as she saw the sprites sitting on a pillow just a few inches from her face.

  “Good morning Min, Nim,” she said, then looked toward the window to see that the sky was just beginning to lighten.

  “Good morning, Bright Lady,” they replied in unison, causing Nica to smile.

  “What brings you here so early?” Her eyes widened. “Did you find the killer?”

  “No,” Nim said while at the same time Min said, “Yes.” They looked at each other, than back to Nica who was frowning in confusion.

  “We didn’t see it,” Min clarified. “But we felt its dark power, so it’s getting very strong. It can hide its scent now, and that of the human it’s using.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Nica said. “You’re going to have to stop following Quill around. Can you leave the city?”

  “We can,” Nim said, “but we can’t.”

  “That’s clear,” Nica said wryly.

  “Leaving is possible, Bright Lady,” Min explained. “But our help is needed. We cannot run away.”

  “I see,” Nica said. “That’s very brave of you, but you won’t be able to help anyone if you’re dead.”

  “That is why we asked a favor of Queen Eibhleann,” Nim said. “She asked a favor in return, and a deal was struck.”

  Nica’s eyes narrowed on the tiny people. “These favors involve me somehow?”

  “Yes, Bright Lady,” Min said, smiling widely. “You are very clever!”

  Nica sighed. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  “Queen Eibhleann will grant us the power to hide our scent for as long as the Changeling is free,” Nim said.

  “If you’re going to ask someone powerful for a favor, I’d say that’s a good one,” Nica said. “And what does she ask in return?”

  “To speak with you,” Min replied.

  “Oh,” Nica said, surprised. “That’s easy. When shall we go?”

  “It won’t work that way, Bright Lady,” Nim said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There is a barrier around the Shining Isle that cannot be crossed by anyone,” Min explained. “Except us.”

  “Why are you two the exception?” Nica asked.

  “Because we are the only two sprites with the gift of skifting.”

  “Skifting?” Nica asked. “What’s skifting?”

  Nim and Min looked at each other, shrugged at the same time, and nodded. Then Nim looked around the room before flying over to the door. “Watch,” Min said.

  Nica watched as Nim hovered several feet off the floor and just a couple of inches in front of the door. Then he flitted forward and pressed his body against the wood. He hung there for a moment, then just…disappeared. Nica frowned. A moment later Nim popped back into view again.

  “Did you just go through that door?” she asked.

  “Yes, Bright Lady, he did. I can do it too, but no one else can. Of all those trapped on the Shining Isle, we’re the only ones who can leave. That’s why we have to help. There’s no one else.”

  Nica nodded thoughtfully as she watched Nim return to the pillow and settle down beside Min. “Well, that’s a neat trick, but I can’t do it. So how am I supposed to get to Queen Eibhleann to speak with her?”

  “You cannot go to her,” Nim said. “She will have to come here, to you.”

&nb
sp; “But you just said that she can’t leave from wherever she is,” Nica said.

  “She will hear through Nim’s ears, and see through my eyes,” Min said. “It’s the easiest way.”

  “Will I be able to see her?”

  “Yes, in your mind, the same way that she will speak to you,” Min replied. “If you close your eyes it will make it easier. Will you agree?”

  “Of course,” Nica said. “What do I need to do?”

  “Nothing,” Min said with such obvious relief that Nica hesitated.

  “What if I’d said no?”

  “Then we would not have protection for our scent,” Nim said, but Nica wasn’t buying that. She stared at Min steadily until the tiny sprite gave in with a frustrated huff.

  “If you did not agree, then Queen Eibhleann would ask that we aid her in accessing your dreams while you sleep.”

  “Against my wishes?” Nica asked.

  “Not exactly,” Nim said, dropping his eyes as his face blushed yellow-green.

  “Say it,” Nica commanded.

  “We would not ask,” he mumbled.

  “Maybe I don’t want to talk to this queen of yours after all,” Nica said.

  Nim and Min fluttered their wings in agitation. “Please Bright Lady, don’t be angry,” Min said. “Queen Eibhleann did not want to do that, which is why she asked for this instead. It’s very important she speak with you for the sake of all who live on Apedra.”

  “All right, all right,” Nica said, holding her hands up. “I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you, Bright Lady,” Min and Nim said in unison. “We will begin now,” Min added. “Please close your eyes. When you become used to seeing her in your mind you can open them.”

  “All right,” Nica said, lying back on her pillow and closing her eyes. “I’m ready.”

  The darkness behind Nica’s closed eyes gradually lightened into a montage of color which slowly sharpened into an image of a tall, willowy woman standing barefoot among a field of wildflowers. She had long blue-black hair tucked behind pointed ears, bright yellow eyes, and sharply slanted black brows. Her skin was very pale, just short of white, and glowed with an inner luminescence. She was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her but, at the same time, Nica knew she would never mistake her for a human. Even the sprites with their blue and green skin, butterfly wings, and diminutive size looked more human to her.

  “I greet you, Nica of Jasan,” Eibhleann said with a brief nod of her head. Nica bowed her head for a moment longer in deference to Eibhleann’s rank, suddenly feeling as though she, too, stood in the field, while at the same time she could feel the sheets beneath her hands.

  “I greet you, Queen Eibhleann,” she said, setting aside the disorienting feeling of being in two places at the same time. “I apologize for being blunt, but I thought that you were a sprite, like Min and Nim.”

  “As you can see, that is not the case,” Eibhleann said with a faint smile. “I am Queen of the Seelie Court of the Tuatha De.”

  Nica’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did you say Tuatha De?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “You’re real!”

  Eibhleann’s smile widened. “I am indeed.”

  “I’m sorry, Queen Eibhleann,” Nica said. “I do have better manners than that. It’s just that I’ve read so much about the Druids and Tuatha De of Earth, and often wondered how much was real, and what happened to them.”

  “Do not trouble yourself, Nica of Jasan, I am not offended,” Eibhleann said. “In truth, it makes explaining who and what I am much easier.”

  “That’s a relief,” Nica said. “Min and Nim said you wanted to talk to me.”

  “In a sense, yes,” Eibhleann replied. “What I would like to do, with your permission, is place information, in the form of memories, into your mind.”

  “What sort of information?”

  Eibhleann smiled. Most humans would have asked how she could do such a thing. “Information that will answer all of your questions about me, the Tuatha De, Apedra, and the Changeling.”

  “That’s a lot,” Nica said, trying hard to quell her excitement. “I would love to know all of that, so I’m very tempted. But will you first tell me why I’ve been chosen for this?”

  “If you like,” Eibhleann replied.

  “Please,” Nica said.

  “In the interest of time and necessity, I will not explain those things you needn’t be told at this moment,” Eibhleann said. Nica nodded, and she continued. “We were attacked by the Xanti. As a direct result of that attack all of the Tuatha De became trapped on the Shining Isle, a Changeling escaped the Unseelie realm through a crack in the Iron Gate, and the heart of Apedra, that which we call Udari, was severely damaged. Using the scrying basin, I searched the future for a solution to our plight. As I believe you are aware, Nica, everything the Xanti touched became chaotic.” Nica nodded again. “Their chaos altered our future, but there are some things that do not change. For example, that I exist did not change, but my actions and the outcome of them did change. Do you understand?”

  Nica frowned, considering. “I think so. Perhaps not fully, but some.”

  “It is enough,” Eibhleann said with an approving nod. “When I looked to the future in search of an escape, I saw a human girl. Every possible pathway, chaotic as they were, led to this one girl playing a critical role in our future, as well as the future of Apedra. But, sadly, I also saw that the Xanti’s chaos would touch her, changing what her life should have been.”

  Nica frowned. “Is this girl supposed to be me, Highness?”

  “Yes, Nica, it is you.”

  “No,” Nica said, shaking her head. “That can’t be right because the Xanti never touched my life. They were destroyed when I was only six years old.”

  “I did not say that the Xanti touched your life, Nica,” Eibhleann corrected gently. “I said that their chaos touched your life. The Xanti touched the lives of others who were closely connected to you. It was indirect, but it was enough.” Nica’s eyes widened, but she remained silent, so Eibhleann continued. “Once the chaos touched your life, there was no telling what would happen for certain, only possibilities. Where those possibilities repeated themselves is where I focused my attention in hopes of finding some sort of pattern in the chaos. Surprisingly, I found a couple of events that appeared to be immutable. If I could nudge circumstances around those events one way or another, it might result in a future for you, and if we were very lucky, for us as well.”

  “You…changed the future?” Nica asked.

  “No, that would have been disastrous,” Eibhleann said. “I could not touch or alter anything the Xanti had already changed, or would change. Doing so would have changed the chaos itself, and I’d already found a small sliver of hope there. If I changed it, that hope would vanish and it was entirely possible that a new hope would not exist to be found.”

  “Yes, I can see that,” Nica said in a low voice.

  “There were many problems that I need not go into here,” Eibhleann continued. “Suffice it to say that, in the end, there was only one option. I had to go very far back into Earth’s past and make one small change.”

  “How far?”

  “Hmmm…we do not keep track of years as humans do,” Eibhleann said thoughtfully. “Perhaps three thousand of your years.”

  “How could anything that far back affect my life?” Nica asked, dumbfounded. “I wasn’t even born on Earth. I only visited it once when I was five or six, for just a couple of weeks.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that,” Eibhleann said. “That, in fact, was the key. I could not risk changing your life directly in any way. So I had to touch another’s life, instead.”

  “I apologize, Queen Eibhleann,” Nica said, embarrassed at herself for interrupting. “Please, go on.”

  “When our planet died, many thousands of years ago, I managed to save the heart of our world, that which we call the Udari, along with a few fragments that had broken off of it,” E
ibhleann continued. “It is Udari that allowed me to create a living world from the stone and ice that Apedra once was. Even a small piece of Udari holds great power.”