Faerie's Champion

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess forced her shaking hands to unclench the silken bag with a trembling sigh, only then accepting how fiercely she had hungered to pry open that pouch and embrace the secrets contained within, however dark and terrible they may be.

  Twilight snuggled deeper against his master. “Your choice is a wise one, my mistress. I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot you even had that silken pouch upon your person, keeper of our secrets that it now serves as. Come, let us rest, and on the morrow we shall speak of lighter things. For you are a questing knight of virtue, and I, your loyal familiar. And together, we shall unveil the mysteries before us, rescue your schoolmates and lover, and when all is said and done, you shall reemerge once more within the land of the living with yet more exciting tales to share with your friends.”

  Jess smiled. “Very well, dear one. Let us free our minds of the dark weight of ancient mysteries and tragic destinies, and focus instead on the present, as we stride boldly toward our own future, our fate one we choose for ourselves, using nothing more than the power of our free will and the might of tooth and blade!”

  “Well said, dear Jess,” Twilight gently licked her cheek, and within moments her breathing softened as sleep gently claimed her.

  Twilight spent some time gazing contemplatively at the brilliant nighttime sky overhead before he too closed his eyes, sleeping as deeply as he ever did, awaiting the gentle light of dawn curled up against his dread queen.

  47

  "My love, awaken. A new day lies before us!" Jess woke up with a gasp, heart racing, feeling suddenly confused and disoriented, striving to blink away her confusion. Before her, gazing down upon her with the bemused smile she had learned to love so well, was none other than Talvi.

  Jess shook her head, foggy with thoughts of mirrors and hideously twisted creatures sobbing in darkened caves. Talking beasts and inns of sod. Yet soon it all faded away like the morning dew as she found herself laying comfortably upon the silken sheets of her lover's bed, her heart racing even as he gently stroked her skin, caressing her cheek before kissing her so sweetly, his teasing eyes twinkling into her own.

  “My dear Jessica. Queen of my heart. How I missed you! You dreamed so deep, it was hard to find you again.”

  Jess gazed fondly at her terrible, beautiful lover and felt her heart ache with truths she yearned to deny, yet the sapphire eyed cat resting at her feet shaking his head solemnly forbade her from such an easy escape, even as Twilight's stare forced open jarring memories her faerie prince sought to cast in the light of a summer's dream.

  “You look beautiful as ever, my Talvi. Even in my dreams.” Jess favored her dream lover with a sad, gentle smile.

  Talvi gave her a playful wink and an approving chuckle. “You always were strong, my Jess. So terribly, beautifully strong. Indeed, my angel, my fallen angel, perhaps? Redeemed and reborn in the flesh of womanhood, ripe and lush. Will I find, when next I embrace you, the gentle silvery scars of wings long gone, faded with a hundred dances upon mortal coils, graceful woman that you now are? For I taste the essence of something so much stronger, tainted with love and sorrow and the most terrible of visions. It is no wonder we formed such a fierce bond, my beloved. Your heart is, after all, so very much like my own.”

  Talvi's smile was like the sun, burning dark clouds of doubt and fear away, and Jess had never wanted to cherish him so badly as she did at that moment, even knowing all that she knew, her lover's honeyed words filling her with such hope and longing. "Perhaps new wings of faerie and wonder can shine with the joy of endless possibility, as you sail aloft to shimmering white castles among the clouds, with me by your side, in this time cut off from ancient sin and virtue both."

  Her lover's lips gently brushed her own. "Wings of a queen, wearing a crown of glory, shining with such beauty as to rival the midnight sky, for all of Faerie to behold in wonder. For if anyone were fit to rule by my side, it would be you, my beloved Jessica."

  Talvi's fingers gently cupped her cheek. “This doesn’t have to be just a dream, you know. Come back to me, my dear Jess. My heart aches to hold you close, once more. Don’t you miss me? Our wonderful forays and picnics and festivities? Don’t you miss my touch? Holding you close throughout the night, your heart beating against my own?”

  Jess bit her lip, clenching her eyes shut fiercely, flooded by a season's worth of memories. Sweet as honey and wine, sweet as only the halcyon days of summer could be. Laughter, closeness, joy and celebration, the glorious festivities of a season within the faerie prince's magnificent court. The wonder and pageantry of it all. Serving her lover so sweetly at dinner, basking in his gentle approving gaze, eyes that promised such forbidden delights when evening passed on to night, and they were alone to feast upon each other.

  Walking hand in hand along mysterious winding paths through Talvi's magnificent garden, beholding hybrids and blossoms beyond anything she had ever gazed upon in all her years at home. Even now a few seeds still she had kept, yet she knew any blossoms she grew upon mundus would be but a pale reflection of the wonder and splendor of his massive, magnificent garden here in Faerie. Already she missed it, and him, with an ache so intense she shuddered in hopeless longing.

  “Yes, my beautiful prince, I do miss you. My heart aches for you more than words can say.” Jess wanted to say more, so much more, but the hot tears she choked back distracted her, as did his gentle touch upon her lips. He kissed her then, first gentle, questing, then sweetly, passionately, and she felt herself throbbing with a fierce and sudden need for him, right then and there.

  "No!" she cried out, gently pushing a suddenly nonplussed Talvi away, taking deep ragged breaths as she tried to collect herself. "Talvi, dear Talvi, you have to tell me, what happened to Rulia? Why do I feel like I am trapped in a sweet dream when I am with you? Utterly content, yet utterly unable to awaken? And Talvi, please, I have to know… what can you tell me about the Mirror of Truth?"

  And with her last query, said as it was on the heels of her concern for her friend, everything changed. Her lover's soft lips, curved in a bemused smile, about to shower her with sweet honeyed reassurances about her dear Rulia, she could all but taste it, was instantly silenced. His lips pressed into a hard line as he coolly rose from what Jess now realized had been their entwined caress, she naked in silks upon his bed, armed with nothing more fierce than pillows. She held herself close and shivered before her lord and master’s reproving gaze.

  “What is it you wish to know about the Mirror of Truth, Jessica de Calenbry? What possible interest could such an artifact have for you?”

  And Jess was suddenly overwhelmed with the icy certainty that before her stood a creature as fierce and primal as the seasons themselves. One in the heart of his domain, the fount of his power. And Jess knew, just absolutely knew, that somehow, this terrible being before her that she felt such love and dread and awe for in equal measure, was no innocent observer to the grand game being played within his kingdom.

  Talvi was a participant. A key player, in fact. His suddenly calculating gaze, fierce grimace, even the brooding shake of his head gave it away, as did the power she was finally awake enough to sense emanating from him.

  Jess's voice trembled when she spoke. “The cage. With that mouse and wingless bird. A cage within a cage, songbirds trilling so fiercely whenever they cried. The cage you so distracted me from with your sweetest touch, a passion I can scarce describe, and when my mind took the briefest respite from bliss endless hours later, all trace of it was gone.” Jess swallowed, blinking away hot tears, brilliant diamonds sparkling upon their bed. “Yet that was not just a golden cage of mysterious pets, was it, my beautiful prince? They represented the other fork on the path.”

  Jess choked back a bitter sob. "You tried to force my choice, didn't you, Talvi? The one thing even I can sense you are forbidden to do!"

  If possible, her lover's expression grew even colder. "You know not of what you speak, Jessica de Calenbry! Choice? There is no choice for either of us! For you to fall i
nto my arms, for me to overcome the curse that the cruel strands of fate strive to weave about me, that is destiny! Our destiny, Jessica!"

  With a sudden grimace, he shook his head fiercely, opened eyes now gazing upon her beseechingly, as if pleading for her understanding, and as quick as that, her cold chill of dread was replaced with an aching need to console him. The man she had loved and been loved by, had held in her arms for a full season, needed her desperately. She was of a sudden overwhelmed by visions of celebration and laughter, glorious rides through wood and dell on pristine unicorns, and sweet, sweet caresses under the light of the brilliant moon, safe and warm in the arms of the man who loved her.

  Jessica scrunched herself in a ball, fighting hard not to lose herself to her aching need for him, even as her tears ran freely down her cheeks, now dropping to the floorboards with crystalline notes of sorrow, her heart wrenching in pain, even as his imploring words rippled through her, melting all attempts to harden her heart against him.

  “My dear beloved Jessica, please understand, I have chosen to fight the cards fate has dealt me. I have the courage and conviction to rebel against order imposed by another, an order so restrictive that all choices are constrained, save that I willingly embrace my own death! And this I refuse. I absolutely refuse! Can you truly blame me for this, my love? Have you yourself not rebelled against injustice and cruelties you have seen in your travels? Have you yourself never fought against the ordered way of things, when you felt it choking away your dreams and everything you hoped to be? Forcing you into cruel chains of binding, simply for the pleasure of another who would lord their power over you? Tell me you have never faced such struggles yourself!”

  And Jess shuddered, her lover’s words resonating deep within her. She knew all too well what it was to rebel against stifling bureaucracy, conformity, the rigid expectations of others. Whether it was refusing to wear dresses before even her first moon cycle, avoiding her mother's attempts to teach her needlepoint, accounts, or anything domestic save nurture plants which she loved, to coaxing and wheedling her father to teach her the arts of war, Jess was determined to live life on her own terms, to walk the path through life that suited her best.

  And when someone strove to push her, to manipulate her, she would push back. A thick wall of stone exploding into shattered rubble, a shrieking woman forced to peer at her death below, simply because, when all was said and done, Jess would allow no one, no matter how powerful, to think they could get away with manipulating her without facing dire consequences in turn.

  Besides, she absolutely hated wearing those damn dresses.

  "Yes, Talvi. I know what it means to struggle to break free of other's expectations. The need to carve your own path through life," Jess confessed, earning a relieved smile from Talvi, his expression once again adoring, filled with love, even as he gently stroked her cheek. She felt her heart race, yearning to hold him once more, and she closed her eyes tight when his lips gently caressed her own, melting into his arms again, utterly unable to keep herself from falling into his embrace.

  “Then you know the struggles I face, my love,” he gently crooned. “The terrible demons of expectation and demand that I must do battle with, these agents of compliance demanding my very life! Oh Jess, don’t you see? It is not my uniform or princely duties that I object to, but the expectation that my life must be sacrificed, that I must die, for the sake of a prophecy that benefits another!”

  Jess shivered, holding her lover close. “Oh gods, Talvi! I don’t want you to die! What is the nature of this terrible threat that would bind you to its cruel fate? We shall face it together!”

  Her lover stopped kissing her then, gazing at her with a bemused quirk of his lips that Jess found so fetching. “Will you then, my love? Can you? For the foe I face is the very turning of the seasons, my love.”

  Jess blinked. “I don’t understand.”

  Her lover sighed then, gently stroking her cheek as he sinuously unwrapped himself from her, to pace about their vast bedroom, shaking his head, running his fingers through dark spiky hair that Jess found so fetching, reminding her as it did of another, though for the moment she could not even recall his name.

  "It is the turning of the seasons themselves, dearest Jessica," Talvi's said. "I was born in the first days of Spring, to dance among the wood nymphs, to sport amongst the woodland elves and fly astride the backs of pegasi, soaring to castles of dream high upon the cloud tops, entire cities blowing their horns in my honor and cheering for my coming as I would celebrate with faerie of every name and description, even as we drank and feasted in endless palaces of wonder."

  Talvi smiled in fond remembrance. "Why, even the most daring of mortal bards, living legends wrapped as much in myth and dream as the filaments of mundus, had shared a drink with me upon my coronation. Truly, a wondrous and perfect Spring it was, my love."

  Jess was captivated, gazing upon her lover's wistful smile, his distant gaze beholding wonders of dream and fantasy she could only imagine. Experiences she yearned for every time she had Delved into the depths of the Dreamrealms, experiences that were his birthright, that had colored every day of his existence. And with a soft dreamy voice Talvi continued to speak of the many sights and wonders he had beheld that had filled him trembling with awe at spectacles of unimaginable beauty; mystical mountains perpetually banked in fog that nonetheless sported palaces made entirely of gold and precious gems, fountains of water sweeter than nectar, magnificent gardens tended by cyclopes jealously guarding fruit so sweet and tender it would leave a mortal in a dream-filled daze for weeks at a time, only to awaken fresh and rejuvenated as if they had just reawakened to the cusp of adulthood, their youth and vitality once again restored.

  His stories captivated Jess, filling her with a nameless longing, a terrible ache she feared could never be quenched, a hunger never sated. Even now, she yearned to grab hold of his hand and together travel in search of mystical lands lost to legend, even in this mythical realm; to adventure with laughter and excitement filling all their days, forever. And on some level she knew this was possible, the terrible price to be paid one she could forget about and never be troubled with again, should she but wish the niggling thoughts away.

  She sighed then, fighting back tears as she tore herself free of her lover’s imploring gaze.

  Some duties were of such terrible importance that they must be seen through, no matter how badly they wrenched the heart, no matter how much she wanted to wish the hideous weight of obligation away. Nonetheless, it took a fierce act of will for her to say what needed to be said.

  “Talvi. My love. You know my heart yearns to be with you, sailing through the skies on wings of pegasi even now. But my heavy heart would only sink us, I fear, until my duties are at last discharged, and I am free to follow my dreams once more. Talvi, the reason why I came to your wonderful realm in the first place was to find the students that went missing from my school. And for all that I saw them a time or two during our wonderful feasts, I cannot recall having seen them since, and even when I did try to engage them, it was like they could see naught but the fae lords they served. Like they were hardly themselves at all.”

  Jess forced herself to meet her lover’s suddenly icy gaze once more, chilled with the certainty that that which she yearned for most desperately was now forever beyond her reach.

  “Talvi, my prince, please, for the sake of our love, tell me what happened to those girls. And what is so important about this Mirror of Truth?”

  And as sudden as that, the room went from a balmy summer's day to a frigid chill as cold and unforgiving as a winter storm. Jess shivered, blinking as she saw her breath plume in the air.

  "The Mirror of Truth. What a warped and twisted version of the ‘truth' it chooses to show!" Talvi spat the words out like a curse. "It shows but one, only one version of the myriad of possibilities the lands of Faerie offer! I, who have danced with heavenly sprites and sung with the ancient dwarves of Yeld, I who have stolen into the sacr
ed garden of Olympios, plucking the golden fruit of life from under the great Cyclopes' very eyes, I who have dared to learn the whispered secrets of ancient lore known only to dragons and creatures darker still, I refuse to be tied to the ravings of ancient crones who choose to dance upon the harpstrings of mortality, upon the yearnings of mundus! What need do we have for those realms, when all is said and done?" His words were harsh with contempt, but his eyes were pleading, and tore into the depths of Jess's very soul.

  "Can't you see, my love? The mirror shows no truth but the truth of mundus. It chains us to the seasons, to the cycles of life and death. And all for what? So we may more easily link ourselves to their realms? Are we truly so desperate for their yearnings, their dreams, that we would resonate even our existence within their paltry mortal coils? A pox upon that!" Talvi roared. "We have the secrets, the knowledge, and at last the power to rise beyond such petty limitations! And what need have we to appeal to the lost dreams of souls trapped within mundus, when we already have here, deep within our bosom, the cherished dreams and passions of maidens most fair?"

  Jess felt a deep sense of dread roiling in the pit of her stomach, the dark certainty that truths covered with the sweetest gloss and spun sugary perfection nonetheless held within them something bitter. Something horrific, even.

  Jess swallowed, forcing herself to speak, hating the tremble she heard in her voice. "Tell me true, Talvi. Those girls, lost here, that was no accident, was it?"

  Her lover tilted his head, his cold gaze suddenly unreadable, even to her. "My dear Jessica. They suffer not under our care. They have no want, no sorrow, no pain at all. They are immortal in their flawlessness. And they will be, forever." Talvi smiled then. "Did you not see how gracefully they moved and danced with their lovers fair in our balls and galas? Every movement an act of exquisite perfection. Never have mortals moved with such fae grace as they do under our care. Do you not see, my precious rose? We have done nothing they have not themselves desired. We have given them the perfection they so desperately crave. Endless feasts of sensual delight, fare to rival anything to be found in the mortal realms, endless dances with lords of Faerie most fair, an eternity of nights rapturous, their innocence forever renewed, to be forever surrendered in the height of bliss. It is a dream like no other, a dream no mortal soul could hope to find, outside our pristine realm of Endless Summer!"