Chalice of Life

by R. A. Rock

  Ethan thought for a long moment and then turned toward Tess. “I think I can.”

  “You think? This is my Starlight we’re talking about. I would prefer if you were sure.” Tess gave him a look of disbelief.

  “I won’t hurt you, Tess,” he said, gazing into her eyes. And she felt the truth in his words.

  “Okay.”

  “Hold still,” he said as he stepped back, looking at something the others couldn’t see and doing his magic-sight thingy. Then he straightened his arm. And using his pointer finger, he drew a small arc in the air above Tessa’s head. He studied it for another minute. He seemed satisfied because he looked down at Tess. “That should do it.”

  “So?” Tess prompted.

  “So. Close your eyes. Intend that you want to access the Keeper’s memories and a door should appear.”

  Tess shrugged and closed her eyes, following his instructions. Before her in her mind appeared a door made of what looked like solid gold, but Tess guessed that it was Starlight. It was glowing. And it smelled like baked apples. She reached out and pulled on the handle. It opened and she went through, coming into a scene as if she were suddenly a part of one of those movies Finn loved so much. She watched as the scene played out before her.

  Tess was in a spacious teepee. She had never been in one before but she knew the information because the Keeper had known it. In the middle of the tent-like structure was a shallow hole dug for the fire, which was burning low, the coals glowing like crimson jewels. The light was dim but she could make out a man, who she knew was Sakiwayo from the story. He was sitting on the ground cross legged on some furs, talking to the King, who Tess recognized right away. And there was a woman with black hair next to the King. She had her back to Tess. That would be Perdira.

  Tess listened to Sakiwayo as he spoke in an ancient language, which she could understand. She wondered how the Keeper had witnessed the scene. Maybe he had a spell that he could watch the Earthly Realm from Ahlenerra? Or maybe the King had transferred the memories to the Keeper? It would take a powerful Fae to create and use a spell like that. But the Keeper was that powerful. Of course, so was the King.

  Sakiwayo told the King the three place names, and as soon as she had the information, she pulled herself out.

  “A huge mound in the middle of the prairie?” she said, confused. “Does that sound familiar to you, Jayde?”

  Jayde yanked her phone out of her pocket.

  “It does,” she said, her thumbs tapping on the screen. A moment later, she looked up, vibrating with excitement. She turned her screen toward them to show a picture of a big hill. “Pilot Mound! We have our third point.”

  “Yes!” Finn exclaimed.

  Jayde dropped to her knees beside a container she had on the floor that had various office supplies in it. She scrabbled around in the box and pulled out a handful of things, talking as she did so.

  “In the story, it tells how many days’ walk each location is from where the Chalice was hidden.”

  “That seems like a pretty imprecise measurement,” Finn commented.

  “It was all they had back then. There was no standardized system of measurement.” She dropped the objects in a heap on the floor, continuing to speak. “So, after many calculations, I have arrived at what I think are the approximate distances.”

  “Oh,” Tess said, suddenly understanding the map. “And that’s why you drew the circles around each place?”

  “Yes, the radius—from the center of the circle to the outer edge—is the distance each location is to the Chalice, according to the story. I didn’t know in what direction they walked, so I drew a circle. But—”

  “Where the three circles intersect,” Tess interrupted.

  “Is where the Chalice should be. That’s right.” Jayde finished the sentence.

  Tess watched, breathless, as Jayde stuck a star sticker on the map and pushed a pin into a spot in the south of Manitoba. Then she sat down on the floor with a notebook and pencil and began scratching away in it. She used her phone a few times to punch numbers in, then wrote more in the notebook.

  After a couple minutes of this, she nodded.

  “Got it.” She jumped to her feet, picking up a small instrument and a pencil from the pile on the floor and used them to draw a perfect circle around the point she had labeled Pilot Mound. They all watched and Tess felt her hands trembling as Jayde made the final stroke that identified the point of intersection.

  Jayde scooped up the tools and dropped them in the container. She picked up the star stickers, choosing a larger star, and plucked a yellow pushpin from the box. Then they all peered at the map with her.

  “Kettle Stones Provincial Park,” Jayde read. She pressed the pushpin into the dot on the map and stuck the larger star sticker beside it. “I’ve heard of it. My Kookum went there a couple times but I never have.”

  They all crowded closer to see.

  “It’s in the middle of nowhere,” Ethan said, examining the point on the map. “Is there even a road to get there?”

  “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” Finn said, quoting one of the movies he had devoured in the past few days. “What about your sweet Lilium jet, Ethan?”

  “I guess we can take Lily.” Ethan considered the idea. “We’ll just have to find a clearing to land it in.”

  “Yes, awesome,” Finn said, whacking his fist on the wall where he’d been examining the map. “We can fly right on in there and pick up the Chalice.”

  “If only it was that easy,” Tess said. These guys were so optimistic. “You think those Hunters will have left it there for us to just go and pick up?”

  Ethan frowned. “I didn’t think of that. Of course, they won’t have just left my sweet Lily by herself. Either they might have already impounded her or they’ll be guarding her. We’ll have to find another way to get there.”

  “What about the Passageways?” Jayde said.

  “Yep, good idea, Jayde,” Finn said. “And we still don’t need roads.”

  “That is good because there’s definitely nothing paved that leads out there,” Jayde said, continuing to gaze at the map. “It’s the middle of the bush.”

  “The bush, like a little shrubby tree?” Tess said, bewildered by her word choice. “How can a whole place be in a bush?”

  Jayde laughed. “It’s what we call the forest in northern Manitoba, especially when we’re referring to someplace isolated or a really dense section of the forest that you can barely walk through.”

  “Ahhh,” Tess and Finn said at the same time.

  “My Kookum used to tell me the Kettle Stones were a place of great spirit. She said that if you sat down by Swan Lake, which is nearby, and if you were very quiet and still, then you might see one of the little people. I always wanted to go there.”

  “Little people again?” Finn repeated, aggrieved.

  “Faeries,” Jayde corrected herself.

  “You humans have vastly misrepresented us,” he said to Jayde in a plaintive voice. He stepped closer to her so that she had to look up at him. “Do I look like a little person?”

  Jayde eyed him, her admiration clear. “Not at all,” she said, and Finn actually colored under her gaze.

  Tess glanced at Ethan, who rolled his eyes. She really needed to change the subject and get things back on track.

  “I hope you’re all prepared for what we may encounter,” Tess said, her voice a warning. “Getting the Chalice won’t be easy.”

  “The Crown was pretty easy,” Finn pointed out.

  “Are you kidding?” Tess said, incredulous. “That was in Ahlenerra. This is the Earthly Realm. The King wouldn’t have taken any chances that the humans would find the Chalice. Besides, I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Crown was well hidden and protected. If we hadn’t had help from Perdira, nobody would have found it yet again this Hundred Years Ball.”

  “You do have a point,” Finn conceded.

  “So, what, we’re talking booby traps?�
�� Jayde said, putting her hands on her hips like she meant business.

  “Booby?” Finn choked on his laughter. “You mean the same word as for…”

  His eyes dropped to Jayde’s breasts and it was the human’s turn to blush.

  Yeesh, Tess thought, annoyed by their flirting. Get a room. Then she frowned at the thought. She didn’t want Finn sleeping with Jayde. If she couldn’t move on, then she didn’t want him to. She wasn’t ready for him to find someone new.

  “Yes, booby traps, Jayde. Magical ones. And probably worse.” Tess rolled her eyes at Finn’s silliness as he continued to snort with laughter.

  “Worse?”

  “Spells,” Tess clarified for her.

  “Ah, English,” Finn said to himself, still chortling. “I’ll never get tired of your expressions.”

  “This is not going be like any other ancient artifact you’ve recovered before, Jayde. It’ll be much more dangerous.”

  “I’m ready, Tess,” Jayde said seriously. The next second, she grinned, clapping her hands together with enthusiasm, which Tess found infectious. “So, I guess we should get packing. We’ve got a Chalice to find.”

  Chapter 41

  The morning after their brainstorming session, the four of them stood before the door in the Passageways that led to the Kettle Stones. Tess reached out and turned the knob.

  Nothing happened.

  “What’s wrong?” Jayde said.

  “It won’t open,” Tess said.

  Finn tried, then Ethan.

  “What the hell?” Ethan said, and then understanding dawned. “Well, I guess we know we’re on the right track. The King locked this door. So no one would go down it and find the Chalice.”

  “Stars and Shadows,” Tess said, struck by the idea. “I bet you’re right.”

  “So, now what?” Jayde said, looking frustrated.

  Tess knew the feeling. They were so close.

  Ethan scowled. “Now, we figure out how to get Lily away from those damn traitors that call themselves Hunters.”

  “You are so lucky,” Jayde said as Finn flew around her. She held out her hand and he landed on it, tilting his head to see her better. The strong prairie wind that was blowing was a serious threat to the Faeries but they had assured Ethan that they could handle it. Tess had learned to fly in adverse conditions as part of her soldier training and she had taught Finn what she knew.

  Jayde looked pretty in the mid-morning sunlight, her black hair blowing out of its braid and her dark eyes lit with delight. Ethan could see why Finn was flirting with her. She was a little small and mortal for his tastes, though.

  “That whole Tinkerbell thing is a very serious misrepresentation,” Finn declared, his voice as tiny as his body.

  “You keep saying that,” Jayde said with a smile on her face like a little kid who woke up and caught Santa putting gifts into her stocking. “Don’t worry, Finn. I think you’re very manly.”

  “Now you’re just making fun of me, Jayde,” Finn said, his small voice disgruntled.

  Tess laughed and shifted to her small form. The faeries had explained that as long as they were close to the Omahk, there would be enough magic to shift. So, they had taken Jayde’s vehicle and parked as close as they dared. Now Tess and Finn were going in using their flying forms. That way, they could assess the situation and figure out how to get Lily back.

  “Here,” Ethan said, handing Tess the earpiece he usually used with his security detail. It had been in the jacket pocket he had grabbed from his office when he’d left his house to come save Tess and Finn. It was the leather jacket he usually performed in, which was why it had his earpiece shoved in the pocket.

  Doyle had walked him through setting it up with his phone, and now Tess could use the earpiece as a walkie talkie. Ethan had hung it on a string and he gently dropped it over Tessa’s tiny head.

  It hung there like a too big necklace. She flew up off the car hood.

  “It’s fine,” she said.

  “Not too heavy?” Ethan asked.

  “Nope. I’m good.” Ethan had a feeling that she would have said that even if it was too heavy. “Finn, you ready?”

  “Ready,” he confirmed.

  “We’ll be in contact the whole time,” Ethan said. “If there’s any trouble, just get out of there. We can take a bus to the Kettle Stones if we have to.”

  “Of course,” Tess assured him. “We won’t put ourselves in danger. But having the Lilium jet would make things much easier. Surely, it can’t be that hard to outwit a bunch of Hunters stupid enough to remain loyal to the Church?”

  “Good point,” Ethan said. “Still, be careful. Their whole lives are about ridding the world of paranormal creatures that don’t belong—according to them. It’s what they live to do.”

  “We’ll keep that in mind,” Finn said, flying up off Jayde’s hand and blowing her a kiss. “Tessa?”

  Tess flew up and turned toward the Omahk.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Tess and Finn alighted on the pile of stones in the middle of the Medicine Wheel.

  From the earpiece, Tess heard Ethan’s voice.

  “My sweet Lily, we’re coming for you.”

  Tess shook her head. Frickin’ Ethan.

  They landed on the side away from where the Lilium jet sat, waiting for them.

  There were Hunters. Not that many. But more than Tess had expected.

  “How many did you count?” Finn asked.

  “Four.”

  “You missed the one inside the jet.”

  “There’s one inside?”

  They peered around a large stone, watching as the woman inside got out, said something to one of the ones stationed beside the jet, and then went over to the black SUV sitting a few feet away. She climbed in, started the vehicle, and drove off.

  “What’s going on, you two?” Ethan’s voice came through the earpiece. They had turned it way down so that only the tiny faeries would hear it with their supersensitive hearing. They didn’t want the Hunters, who also had excellent hearing, to pick up on the sound.

  “Four Hunters,” Tess said, glancing around. “One just drove off and left the others to guard the area. We have three stationed around the jet and one closer to the Medicine Wheel.”

  “Weapons?”

  “All armed,” Tess confirmed. “Each with something different, it looks like.”

  “Hunters all have an affinity to a certain weapon,” Ethan told her. “That’s probably why they each have something different.”

  “Copy that,” Finn said, using some spy jargon he learned from a TV show.

  “So, what’s the plan, Stars?” Ethan asked.

  “Want to drop in on some Hunters, Finn?” Tess asked.

  Finn laughed. “I’d love to.”

  “We got this, Ethan. Give us a minute.”

  Tess and Finn grinned at each other, flying up into the air. The enormous blue sky of the Canadian prairie had been swept absolutely free of clouds, and Tess got that feeling of freedom she always had when she flew. She wondered why she didn’t fly more often, it felt so good. They went up high so as not to be noticed. Then came straight down, hovering over the Lilium jet.

  “I’ll take the one at the back,” Finn told her.

  “I’ll get this one on the left,” Tess said, taking off the earpiece and holding it in her left hand, though it felt super heavy this way. “The others won’t be able to see what’s happening.”

  She flew quickly to the guard she had chosen and landed on her back near her neck. Then she smiled. This was the fun part. She closed her eyes and suddenly turned big, clutching the earpiece in her left hand so as not to lose it. The guard fell down with a grunt, her body not ready to support a full-sized Fae woman on her back without any warning. Tess punched the Hunter twice in the head and she lay still, unconscious.

  Tess transformed back to her tiny form and flew over to check on Finn. She hooked the earpiece over her head again because it was much easier to car
ry that way, though it still pulled on her neck, making it sore. His Hunter was lying on the ground, too.

  “So far so good,” Tess said, reporting in to Ethan and Jayde. “Two down. Two to go.”

  They repeated the procedure and the Lilium jet was theirs. Ethan and Jayde showed up a minute later in Jayde’s vehicle. Within five minutes, Ethan had them airborne and they were all strapped into their seats and on their way to Swan River, Manitoba.

  Chapter 42

  It was afternoon as Ethan flew in close to the town of Swan River, roughly following the highway. He spotted what looked like a closed-up gas station with a large parking lot a little ways out of town. He knew he only needed twenty feet square to land Lily, but he had only been flying her for a few months, and he didn’t want to damage her. He’d rather have more room than not enough, which made the big parking lot perfect for landing.

  He flipped the switch that changed the aircraft from flying horizontally—for forward movement—to flying vertically, which was for takeoff and landing. Watching carefully, he observed the thrusters rotate until they were pointing down instead of back. Then he slowly made his descent, straight toward the ground. He put the aircraft down on the parking lot so lightly that he hardly felt it when they touched the asphalt.

  “This is a sweet little bird,” Jayde said after they had landed and she was unbuckling the two belts that crossed her chest. “Do you have to be a pilot to fly one?”

  Ethan turned his head to look at her where she was sitting in the back. The cabin of the Lilium jet was much like that of a car and held five people, including the pilot. Since the vehicle was electric, it was extremely quiet. That was because it had no combustion engine. The mortals really were quite clever in the ways they got around not having magic.

  “Yes, you need a pilot’s license. But only a recreational one. It takes about thirty hours of flying. No big deal. What, you want one of these, mortal? Better start saving your pennies.”