Angel

by Plum Pascal

  To go from Seelie King—Lord over the fae, eldest and most venerable among my people—to a lowly servant of a former equal, forced now to view him as my sovereign? It may be comfortable banishment, but to lie and say it suits me is a disservice to all beings of light. The truth is, that imprisonment is worse than any hell. It’s done nothing but make me despise the chains of my immortality.

  Had I the choice, I would now jump at the opportunity to end my existence and dissolve into the nothingness of death. Numerous times have I envied Baron his death, envied the fact that he doesn’t have to face the agony of another day in a calendar chock-full of neverending days.

  Variant destroyed everything when he took power; he destroyed the balance we’d been so careful about preserving. Dragan and I were forced to watch as stability and prosperity were stripped from our respective lands. And, forced into exile, we had no choice but to allow Variant to rule us, because we knew what would happen if we rebelled…

  The same thing that happened to Baron more than a century ago.

  I hate Variant as much as I hate the city of Grimreap: both are unnatural, vile, ill-omened. But defy Variant and what good are we? We’d find ourselves walking the same path as Baron, winding up six feet underground with worms feasting on our carcasses.

  But now I wonder if I’d rather be alive and subservient than dead and free?

  ###

  Flumph

  My head hurt like I been gettin’ into Anona’s wine too much agin, but I know that ain’t why I feel like somethin’ one o’ her guards shit out.

  It’s this place. It’s dark, like it could be night if a full moon were out but there ain’t no moon. Just clouds, like thunder ‘bout to start rippin’ a new one ‘cross the sky. The clouds circle each other, like a giant whirlpool o’ gray darkness. Not ‘xactly the cure for an angry gut.

  This forest got scary-ass trees all over. The ground’s gray or black, I can’t tell. An’ not a hundred yards from us is a huge wall. ‘Course, most things are huge to a sprite, but I’m thinkin’ this wall be considered big to them others in my group, also. It go up an’ up, like it stretchin’ to meet the clouds. An’ it’s made completely outta stone.

  This place’s cold, too. An’ the trees look like somethin’ out one o’ my nightmares—like they about to develop mean-ass faces an’ start screamin’ at you, tryin’ ta grab you with them prickly-ass branches. An’ if there’s an owl in one of them tree-holes, I’m gonna jist fuckin’ die right here. Probly shit myself, first, an’ then die.

  I don’t like it here. Not one bit. But seein’ as how my wagon’s hitched to theirs, there ain’t a whole lot I can do ‘bout it.

  It’s quiet for a long time. I stay next to the angel an’ just watch her sleep. Whatever the fuck Cambion did to her, she almost unconscious-like. An’ Dragan real worried ‘bout her. He won’t leave her side, neither.

  That’s when it starts. From over the walls o’ the city, we start hearin’ screams an’ yells an’ I ain’t got no idea what the hell’s goin’ on. It’s enough to make me start shiverin’ again, even with the fire toastin’ my tender bits. My brain start thinkin’ ‘bout those corn-cobs and shitter-cats agin, or whatever they was called. I don’t suppose their names’d matter too much as they snackin’ on your liver.

  Dragan look worried, too, an’ even though I hate all these tall assholes equally, somethin’ ‘bout his expression gets me to thinkin’ maybe he ain’t all dick.

  He turn to the girl an’ sigh as he look at her. As weird as it sound, it’s like he care ‘bout her. It’s in the way he look at her—all that macho shit, like, melts away. Kinda crazy, considerin’ the guy’s, like, a wild beast.

  He’ll take first watch, he says. He tell the elf king the same, but when he look at Cambion, his eyes are real angry-like.

  “Elves don’t sleep,” Cambion say coldly, his eyes stayin’ fixed on the fire.

  “Fine. Then you take first watch.”

  Cambion nod an’ Dragan leave the camp in search o’ more firewood, I’m guessin’. Or maybe’s he gotta shit? I ain’t even sure if gargoyles shit. I means, I’m guessin’ they gotta ‘cause they eats…

  Guess I’ll ask him when he get back.

  The elf king just stare into the fire, not sayin’ nothin’. For someone that don’t sleep, he look bone tired. Probly owin’ to all that healin’ he had ta do recently. An’ that fucked up spell he put on the angel that wore her out almost as bad as the Atacomite did.

  “Maybe you should give sleepin’ a shot,” I venture at the elf. He cuts me off with an icy look, but I finish my sentence anyway. “You look like shit.”

  “Elves don’t sleep,” he repeat. “They meditate.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  He seem surprised I don’t know. “It’s when you focus on focusing on nothing.”

  “What?” Still, I don’t get it, so’s I hope the next explanation’s a bit clearer.

  “Usually four hours meditation is as good as a full eight hours sleep for most creatures,” he continue, apparently not interested in enlightenin’ me as to what the fuck he be talkin’ about. “But I may need more than the usual to recover, owing to that asshole.” Then he wave in Dragan’s direction. “I don’t belong here,” he say, and it sounds like he’s talkin’ to hisself again but then he adds, “none of us do.”

  The fire crackles.

  Cambion walk a handful o’ paces away from the fire an’ sits cross-legged on the ground. His eyes don’t close—instead, they just roll back in his head, leavin’ only white an’ scarin’ the livin’ bejeezus outta me. Combined with the howls, the night is startin’ to look like one o’ my nightmares.

  I hear the girl besides me start to breathe funny an’ when I look over at her, her eyes are open an’ she be awake. But she lies there on her back, just starin’ up at the sky like she wonderin’ if gargoyles shit too.

  “It’s just us,” I say to her.

  She rolls her head in my direction an’ smiles, real pretty-like. “Thank you, Flumph.”

  “Fers what?” I ask, all confused.

  “For everything you’ve done for me,” she answer an’ sigh. “I owe you a debt I can never repay.”

  “Fers what?”

  “For helping me get away from Anona.”

  “Oh, that,” I say an’ get to start thinkin’ ‘bout it. “Wells, you could set up a payment plan.”

  She laugh. “Once I have some money, it’s yours.”

  Then she get real quiet while I start thinkin’ ‘bout bein’ rich. Then I realize we basically all alone. “You got left with the wrong guy to stay awake an’ protect you,” I say ‘cause I’m the only one left awake, seems like. Thoradin disappeared with Dragan when he went off ta take him a nice ripe stone shit.

  “We’ll be safe tonight,” she tells me in her low voice. I eye her like I ain’t buyin’ what she sellin’.

  “How’s you so sure?”

  She opens her mouth like she’s gonna say somethin’, then stops. A second later, she says, “I trust Dragan.”

  “Wish I did, too,” I grumble. Then I remember something. “What’d ya mean, when you said you was more’n just an angel?”

  “I said that?” she asks, surprised.

  “You don’t remember?” I ask, and she shake her head. “When Cambion was doin’ the Enchantment of True Seeing on ya, he asked if you was angel an’ you said yes, but you was more.”

  “I don’t remember,” she say an’ look like she lost in her thoughts for a while. “I don’t remember any of it, actually.”

  “Well, you looked like you was in a lot o’ pain, so can’t say I blame ya.” Then I look at her closer. “I gotta wonder what else you is, though. I’m hopin’ it ain’t some demon that’s gonna show up when them shadow dicks are out playin’ in the forest an’ that elf king got his eyes rolled back in his head.”

  She laughs and it sounds like the tinklin’ o’ a bell. Real nice-like. Then she look real tired again. “I don’t know
what I meant by that, Flumph,” she says an’ sound frustrated ‘bout it. Then she take a real deep breath. “Tell me about Anona,” she say, changing the subject. “And the precincts.”

  Hearin’ the bitch’s name makes me feel like some o’ that fire is burnin’ inside me. My wings start goin’ an’ I feel myself lift up off the forest floor.

  “Well, we ain’t got enough firewood for me to tell ya all the names I got for Anona. But the precincts are easy ‘nough. Hundred years ago—way before I was born—when Variant took control, he divided the kingdom, light an’ dark, into seven precincts an’ picked seven lords to watch over ‘em. People who were loyal an’ what not. Most o’ them are rough places. Filled with all the forgotten junk the mortals left behind. It’s good for the lords, though, ‘cause all they gotta do is follow all Variant’s edicts. ‘Course, they don’t. Anona’s been in trouble more’n once for disobeyin’ King Variant.”

  “How did Variant win?” she asks as she look over at Cambion. “One king against two…”

  “Three,” I correct her. “Baron.”

  “Baron?” she repeat.

  I nod. “Yessiree. Vampire king. Two kings o’ dark. Two kings o’ light. He’s dead now, though.”

  “Dead?”

  “Oh, that’s right—you was passed out when we was talkin’ ‘bout it. Accordin’ to Cambion, Variant killed Baron—don’t go sayin’ that out loud, mind ya. Round here, you’d get demons sent after ya for talkin’ heresy like that.”

  Eilish is quiet for a long time, as if her mind is workin’ real hard on somethin’.

  “Baron was his name?” she ask finally.

  “You got dirt in your ears? That’s what I said, ain’t it?”

  “And you’re sure he’s dead?”

  She actin’ real dumb an’ I’m figurin’ everythin’ she just went through is fuckin’ with her head. “Cambion seemed real sure.”

  “Hmm,” she says an’ drums her fingers on her thigh before she look up at me agin. “What if he’s not?” she ask, her voice all thoughtful-like.

  “Not what?” Girl has finally lost it, she’s once again makin’ no sense. It happen sometimes with addicts, when they go past the point o’ no return. Senseless babble. But I’m lookin’ at her veins, an’ I don’t see no green. Maybe the cold worked its way up to her brain an’ is, like, short circuitin’ it or some shit.

  “Not dead,” she say. “My memory… I don’t know… Flumph. But I have a feeling I came here for… a reason.” She’s strugglin’ to speak. “And we need all of them. Dragan and Cambion… and Baron.”

  “I told you, Baron’s dead. Dead as they get. Floppy dick, worms in his eyes, bone snacks for the dogs, D-E-D, dead.”

  She shake her head again. “Maybe he was, yes, but…” She look all confused. “I have this feeling that… that he’s not dead.”

  “What?”

  She swallow an’ look all kinds o’ confused. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how I know Baron’s not dead; I just do.” Then, she look at me an’ her eyes go all wide an’ I’m thinkin’, like, she definitely crazy. “I just know… Baron’s alive.”

  “Look, angel. Your head ain’t screwed on straight. Baron’s gone.”

  She nod but she don’t seem convinced. “Angel,” she say like she ain’t never heard the word before.

  “Why don’t you show ‘em your wings, anyway? It’d make things lots easier for me… well, for us.” I move closer to the fire, the air ‘round us feelin’ colder still. The warmth starts to make my eyes droop.

  “I can’t,” she say. I notice her eyelids startin’ to droop, too. Her breath gets real slow.

  I feel like I could fall asleep, but even though I can’t see it no more, I know that big tall wall o’ the city is right behind us. And maybe it’s jist on account o’ my overactive imagination, but I can’t help but feel like that howlin’ is gettin’ louder.

  FIFTEEN

  Silvanus

  The Raven Forest,

  Shadow Realm

  The forest floor stretches infinitely beneath my bare feet. I feel the trees shake the earth as their spiraling roots reach out to greet me. It is here—in this forest, outside the edges of an inhospitable city—that I have been called. I am father to these forgotten trees, deformed and rotting, that rise from the ground despite never knowing sun. But, as there is light, so too must there be darkness. And I welcome the darkness as gently as I welcome the light.

  Shielded behind the thick base of a tree, I watch them: five beings. Three are creatures of the light, two of darkness. Those of the light grow weaker as the seconds turn to minutes and the minutes turn to hours. And one, the female, is closer to death than any of them realize. She is the reason I have come.

  I grab hold of the bark and centipedes, thick and black, crawl out to greet me. And with them, giant Drehegs, many-legged insects with long antennae that twitch in response to me. The wind whistles my name as it blows through the skeletal trees. Creatures of this dark realm have already noticed my arrival and they shyly venture forth. I hold out my hands and welcome them, encouraging them, speaking the language of the wind.

  A serpentine Hireb, blue and rubbery, crawls along the forest floor with its twelve legs before clambering up the bark of a tree just beside me. Its lightning breath incinerates its prey before it constricts them with its coils and eats them alive. But it does not threaten me and neither do I threaten it, for I am as much a part of the Hireb as it is a part of me.

  Fashes, awakened plants gifted with the power of intelligence and mobility, cautiously poke their heads out from around the stationary trees. Conifer-like needles grow across their bodies in clumps of dagger-like points—needles which can puncture armor. But the Fashes’ main defense is the poisonous pollen they release when threatened. That pollen will dissolve the flesh of a creature within seconds.

  The dwellers of the shadow forest assemble in and around me. As I walk forward, they part ways, allowing me passage. I stroke the head of an Uluucb as I glide by and the crustacean-like creature purrs up at me, brandishing its massive claws. Reaching down, I run my fingers along the jagged, golden shell of the creature’s horned back. Though the night creatures welcome me back to their forest openly and joyously, I explain I cannot tarry. I do not mean to offend but I am needed, all the same.

  I am here for the female.

  When I reach the edge of the fortified clearing, I realize I cannot proceed forward. Wards protect the perimeter of the camp and while I could cross them easily, I do not want to draw attention to myself. Thus, the female will have to come to me.

  She sleeps beneath a dark tree, her white and tangled hair fanned out beside her. Her skin glows weakly with the power of light, but that glow fades even as I watch. There is an innocence about her that does not characterize the others. She is not well, however, and her power wanes with each breath.

  I watch as the two shadow figures take leave of their comrades and disappear into the forest. Meanwhile, the male of light retires to the far corner of the encampment and loses himself to his own mind.

  Briefly, I stop the flow of time for all creatures of the forest, save myself and the female. The sprite beside her is halted mid-speech and stands with an open mouth. I smile, finding the image humorous.

  According to my intentions, the sprite will appear invisible to the female, as will the male of light. She will imagine she has been left alone.

  I inch toward the fire, still burning, and sniff the air. The forest is silent, but this silence is misleading—I could summon a forestry cacophony, if I so chose. I could make the ground blossom with insects, the sky above become thick with bats, the unending night darken with terror. Such is the sway I have over the natural world.

  ###

  Eilish

  I awake at the sound of a loud crack, as though something heavy has stepped on a dry twig. I have the uneasy sense I’m being watched. When I glance around, though, I find I’m alone by the fire, now reduced to simmering coals. Th
e night is even colder than I remember and the thin sheet around me does little to quell the icy tongue that licks at its edges.

  Fear takes hold of me as I strain to listen for more sounds, pulling myself to sit upright. With the waning light of the fire, it’s impossible to see anything beyond the redness of the coals and my own body. A chill creeps over me that doesn’t have anything to do with the cold night.

  Where is everyone? And why am I alone? I suddenly worry for them, for Dragan, mostly.

  Crack.

  Another twig breaks; I strain my ears even harder. My eyes are useless in the dark, thus I attempt to rely on my other senses. Then it occurs to me that if there is something out there, hunting me, I’m basically useless to defend myself. My body is too weak to fight. My nakedness feels even more uncomfortable now. And my head is nearly splitting in two with the pain of my last seventy-two hours.

  I want to call out to Dragan, to find out if he’s nearby, but on the slim chance whatever’s out there doesn’t see me, I have no desire to alert it to my presence. ‘Course, even if I wanted to call for help, fear is currently acting like a gag in my mouth.

  I hear another sound… breathing?

  My heart pounds and sweat has broken out across my forehead and the small of my back.

  You need more light, Eilish, I tell myself. Light repels creatures of shadow.

  Leaning over the fire as quietly as I can, I blow gently into the coals. The red-orange glow intensifies briefly, but as soon as I release my breath, the coals grow tired once again. I glance to my right, where I notice a pile of kindling left by Thoradin. It’s maybe five feet away. Swallowing hard, I reach for the twigs and what looks like dried and black lichen. I grab a handful and throw it on the coals and a few seconds later, the fire ignites again, roaring back to life. My surroundings become marginally visible.

  I look up and immediately frown at the sight before me. A small red fox stares at me from just beyond the perimeter of our camp.

  You’re seeing things, Eilish, I tell myself.