He let go and I fell hard, although it was no more than a momentary discomfort. Back home I would have been bruised and stunned.
I rolled over onto my knees and stood up, turning from Lantis without giving him the satisfaction of a look.
“Stop right there!”
Pointing at the lux, I screamed, the sound of my voice louder and more demanding that it had ever been. Like so many of my other characteristics, I hardly recognized it.
The lux was grabbing at a small group of pale green children, or so they seemed to be. Like the lux, they were short and proportioned generally like human children, but their eyes were huge and their heads larger as well.
They huddled together against the threat of the lux, who continued to make feral animal noises as she clacked her long nails together close to their bodies.
When I shouted, she stopped suddenly, turning to me with narrowed eyes.
“Leave them alone!” I insisted, stomping over towards them. She frowned and backed away from me as I advanced forward, but moved alongside the group of frightened creatures, which obviously did not make them feel any safer.
The lux kept quiet, pouting and watching me carefully, but she obeyed my command so I let her alone while I turned my attention to the shaking beings in front of me.
“Hello,” I offered in greeting, not really sure what else to say. Could I ask them how they influenced me to write their call for help, if that was what it was? Did they know that I would get their message, and if so, how?
“You’re finally here!”
“Praise the goddess!”
“Save us all!”
The faith in me that these statements held within them, along with the adorable lilt in the voices that spoke them, melted my heart. I had no clue what they meant or what they needed me to do, and I wanted to pretend that I knew so that Lantis wouldn’t have any advantage over me.
Or that he wouldn’t realize that he had every advantage over me.
If I pretended that Declan had shared more with me than he had, Lantis might not try to lie to me, but I was sure that he already had and nothing would keep him from continuing.
Lantis had been lying through omission and with the facial expressions he used to convince me that I could trust him, along with his pretty words. For a moment I briefly thought that perhaps Declan had as well, but then I stopped myself.
That was just Lantis getting into my head and planting ideas to make me question Declan, and I didn’t have time to mull over that.
I had to take a chance and trust my instinct, which made me think that these sweet creatures, who truly looked like fairies from a storybook, were on my side.
“I am happy that you’re happy to see me, but I really don’t understand. Can you help me?”
The lux grunted, the noise incongruous with her delicately feminine appearance. Without looking her way, I hoped that Lantis couldn’t hear as well as she could, but there was no turning back now.
My usual reluctance to trust anyone had to be set aside, or not only would I be in more danger than I already was, but Declan probably would, too.
“Yes!”
“Anything for you!”
“It would be an honor!”
The chorus of responses, punctuated by a flurry of genuine smiles and several sets of clapping hands, reminded me of a group of preschoolers in anticipation of story time.
I sighed in relief just as a large, heavy hand came to rest on the top of my head. The happiness that permeated the small crowd in front of me faded into fear as they huddled together again, just as they had when the lux was bullying them.
“I don’t think it’s wise to bother our returned sister when she’s only just arrived. The problems of the common folk aren’t worth her time. Does she need to remind you of this?”
My gaze swept over the group, taking in each tiny face as it blushed, the faint green turning a grayish-purple as they all began to shake their heads.
What was he talking about?
I took a deep breath, which was a little difficult with Lantis’s hand resting, or rather pushing down on my head.
“I’m not bothered at all, Prince Lantis. I would really like some time to talk to these, uh, these . . .”
My voice trailed off as I searched for the right word to say. Were they truly fairies? They might be luxes, considering their similarity to the one, or several ones, I had encountered. Maybe they were something else entirely.
“Fairies, your highness.”
One of them stepped out of the huddle with her hand still stretched around the bodies of several of her companions, as if to comfort and reassure them even as she braved a response.
Your highness?
She was probably talking to Lantis, but he must have already known what they were.
“Don’t you look surprised, darling?”
Lantis’s sarcasm was proof enough that I was wrong, but that didn’t make any sense. Not that much did at this point.
“Apparently Declan is a keeper of a great many secrets. But the real question is, which ones?”
His laugh was low and menacing, but I reached out to stop the brave fairy from retreating again. She stared at my hand, her eyes, lashed feathery like an infants’, growing even wider.
“I have to be honest with you. I know very little of why I’m here, or even who I am, and I don’t know who to trust.”
I smiled, maintaining eye contact with her even as I listened to Lantis’s breathing grow heavy behind me. The lux had been still and quiet for too long for my comfort, but I couldn’t risk losing the trust of these fairies, who not only had the ability to call out for me, but did it for a serious reason.
One that involved their need for me, a need I refused to go unnoticed.
“We’ve been waiting for you, and will do anything to help.”
I ignored the lux’s snort. Her hearing was sharp and intense, a quality I would have to keep in mind.
“I will as well, once I know what I am supposed to be doing here. I admit that I know just about nothing.”
The other small fairies were watching me now, some of them with frowns of confusion that only made them look more adorable, like tiny, disapproving dolls.
“What do you mean?”
Plaintively, my solitary fairy conversant spoke those four words with a mixture of disbelief and fear, just as Lantis’s fingers curled into my hair, pulling at my scalp. I refused to flinch.
I bit my lip to keep my mouth from falling open as I chose my words carefully.
“I’ve been away my whole life, and am only just learning about Faerie and how things work here. It would be helpful to have friends to answer some of my questions.”
An immediate low yet excited chattering grew quickly among the small fairies, but I purposefully kept my expression open and free of any anxiety or concern over their response. The lux, however, chose that moment to burst into melodious, horrific laughter.
“You? You would be friends with these. . . these . . .”
Her words disappeared as she doubled over, laughing. The fairy before me smiled tentatively.
“Do you mean it? Truly?”
I hesitated. Of course I meant it. I needed friends, and I needed answers. So why was it so hilarious to the lux, so unexpected to the fairies, and so angering to Lantis, who I could no longer ignore as my head began to throb?
Chapter Six
I reached out and offered the fairy my hand, but she only stared at it in confusion.
“That is a human custom, my dear. We have no such equivalent here.”
For all his disapproval, Lantis was quick to dismiss my gesture toward the fairy. I nodded to her, hoping that my obvious disconnection to my true identity wasn’t a deterrent to her willingness to help.
“I mean it. If I can help you and the others here, I definitely will. I just need some help figuring out how.”
My smile had to be sheepish, or maybe as confused as her look had been when I tried to get her to shake
my hand. Either way, she seemed to relax again, so I counted it as a success.
“There’s a poison in the land, and if it isn’t stopped soon, we’ll all die.”
My happiness was short-lived, brought to an abrupt end by her pointed statement. Was this why Declan had said I was the hope of Faerie? It would have been helpful if he had elaborated a little, especially if he, or anyone else, like perhaps these fairies, were expecting this tall order from me.
The floral scent of the surrounding area seemed to grow more intense as I forced myself to think as quickly as I could. What could I do to counteract a poison? I knew absolutely nothing about what it was or where it came from.
“Can you tell me more about it?” I asked, surprising myself with the calmness of my voice, which was not at all a reflection of the knot in my stomach.
Lantis grabbed my arm and pulled me back against him before I could get an answer or even react to his strength.
“Hey!”
I protested, but Lantis held me tight as I watched the frightened fairies back away again, their eyes flickering from the pair of us to the smirking lux and back.
“Now, now. Let’s get back on schedule here. Diversions are not acceptable.”
Finding out who I was and what my purpose was in Faerie was not a mere diversion, but I couldn’t say that out loud. I had to leave the fairies with some measure of reassurance, even if it was false.
If I couldn’t find Declan, who knew what was going to happen to me?
Even with Declan at my side, my fate was less than certain, but I knew that Lantis and the lux were in it for themselves. Whatever it was.
“I’ll talk to you again soon, okay?” I offered, not weakly as I felt, but more definite, as if I knew what I was doing, even in the midst of what was essentially a kidnapping.
It occurred to me that the woman who was pushing Declan in my dream last night had the same green hue to her skin as these fairies did. Was she poisoned too?
The lux began to wave her tiny hand fiercely at the fairies.
“Shoo! Off with you already!”
She hissed half-heartedly, as if there wasn’t any fun in it anymore but she was doing it anyway, just to see if she could get an entertaining reaction.
Most of the fairies were staring at me as they backed away, huddled close together with their arms around each other in a show of unity. Why were they afraid of Lantis? What had he done to them in the past, and what did they believe he could do to them now or in the future?
The lux was clearly in favor of Lantis, but until I could determine whether this was the same lux Declan and I had met earlier, I couldn’t really figure out what was going on with her. She was as unpredictable as my next steps in Faerie.
“Find me!”
I shouted as the fairies started to run, the lux slowing down with a half-hearted laugh as she watched them go.
“What can they do for you that I can’t?”
Lantis had turned his sweet-talking voice back on, but I wasn’t going to play along anymore. It was nauseating, although only on an emotional level.
Physically, I had never felt better. I couldn’t remember a time when I had been able to yell without wheezing, or push and pull against someone without exhausting myself. The harshness of the flowery smell around us, which had continued to rise, was sharp in my nostrils, unblocked by sinus congestion.
In the distance, opposite of the direction in which the fairies had taken, I faintly but distinctly heard another scream beginning.
“Oh, that is nothing. Just some difficulties we sometimes have with certain, ahem, residents of Faerie. Nothing to worry about.”
His eyes, their full whiteness glowing in the sunlight, did little to reassure me, but my options were limited. Go with Lantis, or stay here and figure my own way around Faerie.
Maybe the fairies would come back to help, but they were counting on me to save them, not the other way around. I also wasn’t so sure that Lantis wouldn’t take me with him by force, considering how he hadn’t cared about yanking my hair and literally jerking me around by my arms.
No, my choices were really down to one that was viable.
“Is it true that Declan will be there, wherever we’re going?”
I stood up, hoping to seem more confident that I actually felt. Lantis looked at me, his pearly gaze moving quickly over my expression and stance.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, my dear. Now, be a darling and come along. You’re nearly eighteen years late to your own party, so we don’t want to take any longer than we have to.”
My self-styled consort and the giggling lux stood on either side of me, and when Lantis offered his arm to me again, I ignored it, letting both of my arms hang down beside me. We began to walk, and I kept pace wordlessly, my thoughts bouncing from one question and worry to the next until I noticed the path begin to narrow.
The screams had stopped again, after growing louder for a time as we walked in silence, an eerie feeling that I was following the yellow brick road into the haunted forest creeping over me. But now, with the path changing and the greenery and bright flowers closing in, I could hear the chatter of insects and small animals, the sounds rising in pitch.
Lantis and the lux moved closer to me out of necessity, and I when I felt a small bite on the back of my leg, I was certain that the lux had pinched me.
No matter. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of a response, although I couldn’t help but twitch a little when it happened, mostly out of surprise.
Suddenly, Lantis raised his arm and swung it backwards, his eyes narrowing at me. I thought he was going to hit me, but as I stepped away, pushing the lux into a flourishing shrub, he laughed and brought his arm to a spot in the air in front of us where the path faded.
“Owwwww!”
The lux whined, rubbing her arms and hopping on one foot. She fixed me with a vengeful stare, but Lantis ignored her.
The sun rose in the sky, impossibly quick and bright, and with a flash reminiscent of the one that had followed me during my descent away from Declan, I was pulled forward and fell, Lantis’s hand holding my arm tightly as he tumbled along with me.
“You’re a very bad creature!”
With a hiss, the lux jumped up from the grass where we landed, and rushed away, not bothering to look back at us.
Lantis laughed, offering me his hand as I pushed myself up, ignoring him. How many times was I going to fall and get back up today?
“She may come to regret her words some day. Some day soon.”
His words interrupted my thoughts, and I had to consider what he meant. The lux, right. Why would she regret them? She had treated me like garbage, whether or not she was a single lux or not.
Her actions during my time with Lantis alone were enough to make me feel less than friendly towards her. She had been a horrible bully to the fairies, and from my long experience with bullies, I knew how they must have felt.
I longed to find them and try to soften the damage the lux had caused.
“We aren’t far now, but I must warn you. News travels fast in Faerie, which is a blessing and a curse.”
The calm stillness of an open meadow with no forest or end in sight had me turning in circles to find something, anything, in the distance that would indicate a change in environment, but I was listening to him.
He would warn me to protect his own interests, but it was still good to know. Anything I could learn would be helpful.
Was Declan here? Would Lantis tell me that, at least?
“Your arrival is good news for some, and bad for others. Very bad for others.”
Good for the fairies, and bad for . . .
“She has an unpredictable sense of humor, and while Declan has brought you here, it isn’t quite in the manner she expected.”
Chapter Seven
I still didn’t know who this she was, but Lantis seemed to think that I did. Or maybe he was teasing me.
Without answering, I kept my eyes on our surrou
ndings, hoping he would continue to give me information, even if it didn’t make any sense. Why should this person care if I was in Faerie or not, unless she was like Lantis?
Even if she was, what kind of hold did she have over everyone that made them so concerned for what she thought?
The landscape reminded me of pictures in a textbook we had back in tenth grade, of rolling miles of wheat and corn fields out west, with an endless quality in the sky that framed them. Although this was a mix of grasses and flowers instead of other wheat and corn, it had no distant stopping point, and was both beautiful and unsettling.
“If you plan to overpower her, you’ll need to learn much more about Faerie. It might be your true home, but your unfortunate circumstances have made you quite ignorant of it, and of those of us here.”
Wait, what did he say? Overpower her?
Why would I want to do that?
“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean by that, but I agree that I need to know more before I do anything.”
Lantis’s eyes rolled up and down. I couldn’t tell if he was rolling them at me, like he was incredulous or annoyed, or if he was just looking around. The tiny pupils weren’t visible, and all I saw was the shine of light on them as they moved.
It wasn’t very encouraging.
“When will we meet up with Declan?”
Any mention of Declan hadn’t been appreciated by Lantis, but I couldn’t help but ask. A gentle breeze blew against us, and the tall grasses and flowers swayed together.
I remembered the despair in Declan’s eyes when we had been in another meadow earlier, and how I had fallen to my knees as I realized that if he had lost hope, I would be alone in my optimism.
Was he alone now, or, as a native of Faerie, did he know where to go and where to get help? Had he made his way to the place where he had planned to take me? Was he waiting for me there?
“You shouldn’t do that, it’s so obvious.”
Lantis looked across the meadow, his hair a dark ripple as the breeze tugged it, then let it fall as it slowed. The curls reminded me of Declan’s, and I wished he was here with me instead of Prince Lantis.
The Weight of Dreams Page 3