by Gavin Green
Chapter 25
Neela braved the sporadically heavy morning showers in seeing to her duty for the magistrate. Since the night before, she had been keeping track of the human Kate McCarthy. She remembered sitting deep in foliage of the trees that lined the Lynch property until the lights went out in the cottage late into last evening. Neela decided she must have dozed off afterwards, because she woke groggily just before dawn. Nothing seemed amiss, so she felt no need to tell the magistrate about her long nap. He, Devlin Ryder, had marked her and Moyna, so he would know if she had strayed from her duties if he chose to check.
The ethereal mark placed on the two pixies - common to be used on any low-caste in service - was only a locational indicator. Some other high-borne would place deeper marks upon their servants for empathic linkage, or the use of a servant's senses, or sometimes even limited telepathy to direct that servant remotely. Neela was of the opinion that the magistrate was a self-reliant fae for choosing a simplistic mark.
The early morning fog was thin off the lake, and quickly replaced by intermittent showers. Hidden and dry within the tree boughs, Neela watched the humans McCarthy and Lynch as they saw to various outdoor chores with their dogs in tow. After spending time with the donkeys and seeing to their welfare, the woman went back to the big cottage while the man went to the new utility shed near where the pixie hid. Neela couldn't see his activities from her vantage, but felt the glamour pouring off Lynch in his apparently creative endeavors.
The sounds of tools tapping and grinding in that shed were followed by periods of curious silence. The sequence repeated a few times until Lynch went back to the cottage. Sometime later, the couple hurried out to their dark vehicle. They were laughing as they hurried to escape the new downpour, their words blurred in the hush of the rain.
Preparing to follow once the humans departed, Neela's simple mind had forgotten her nap and the guilt that followed. She had no memory of last evening's events when it appeared her consciousness drifted, but that was by design. Gone were the memories of Harkin the rude harpy forcibly taking Neela by her neck to Enochia's haven, where the oracle placed her own mark upon the pixie before having her returned with altered recollections.
When the vehicle finally came to a stop at a small, secluded house to the southeast of Ballaghadaere, Neela was aware that the magistrate was using his mark on her as a homing beacon. Using that mark, the pixie felt her temporary dismissal by him. She knew to return to Sir Ryder's base camp and await further instruction.
While glad to be of service to such a powerful fae, Neela felt the natural longing to travel aimlessly through the area, going where whim took her and her sister Moyna. From the warmth of children's laughter around the village, to the remote solitude of a pond hidden in a shady glade, the simple creature felt the urge of freedom. That liberty would not come just yet, not until she was released from service. However, that time would come sooner than she expected.
