I scoured the area a moment to let him think on it before stating, “Wouldn’t be surprised if he was looking for some kind of leg up over his peoples’ long-time rival—however he thinks he can get it.”
Telfino’s face was a mask of thought. This kid would make a hell of a ruler.
“And you think he could be the one responsible?”
I shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe.”
He sighed. “I will speak to my advisers and go over the list of subjects who have come into our village. I do not recall anyone but the ambassadors from each of the Fae monarchies coming into our city. Do you think I should pull them in for questioning?”
“No.” The last thing we needed was to tip them off. “Put out the word for people not to travel alone and for people to watch for suspicious activity, but don’t give anyone a hint that you may suspect someone specifically.”
“Let that lull them into a false sense of security,” he muttered to himself. “Yes. I can trust you with this. Please. Help my people. I will assist you in whatever way that I can, but this cannot continue.”
QUEST ALERT!
High Elf Highway Robbery – Someone has been stealing from the new king of the high elves, and that is just unacceptable. Find who or what is responsible, and either tell King Telfino or bring him evidence that they have been stopped.
Reward: Better relations with King Telfino and his people, ten thousand gold pieces, and a possible favor in the future.
Failure: Should you fail to find those responsible, King Telfino’s people may choose to believe that you or Maebe could be responsible. You don’t want that.
Accept? Yes / No?
I accepted it for the group; it would be better that we do this as best as we could, as quickly as we could.
“Thank you.” King Telfino sighed in relief. “Do not worry. You will have my assistance in this matter, and it will go a long way in helping to offer my people a chance to show them that outsiders are capable of good as well as harm.”
“I hope to be of service.” I smiled genuinely. The kid was alright.
“I must go and see that things are set in motion.” He pointed toward the guards that were still leading my friends toward the palace but outside it rather than inside. “May the healers set you all quickly to rights.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
With that, he left. His hurried approach to the palace alarmed the guards at the doors, but he waved them aside.
Oh well. I caught up to the others and went to see about this ‘healing’ that really just consisted of being prayed at, doused in holy water and then a glance for horns and demon scales.
King Telfino must have told the healers about Yohsuke being an abomination Elf because they paid him little mind once he proved he could take his horns off.
They kept Balmur with Bokaj and Tmont with them for further observation, but they encouraged us to leave.
Yohsuke touched his earring before leaving to let them know we would be available if needed.
I filled the others in on the quests that I had gotten from Maebe and then King Telfino.
“So you gonna share these or what?” Muu asked.
I rolled my eyes and did so. They all accepted.
“We have leads?” James asked, taking out a notebook and enchanted quill.
“Yeah.” Rather than risk being overheard, I switched to using our earrings to converse, I suspect that it could be the Seelie Fae trying to get the upper hand over Maebe and her people. She suspected there were spies among the high elves attempting to learn how to commune with the world the way they do, but something must have happened to up their schedule because they may be kidnapping people with a special tie to learn it or take it.
So then we start looking for Fae that don’t belong here. Simple. Yohsuke shrugged.
Dude, I doubt it would be that simple, Balmur’s voice interjected, startling us. Sorry, you were talking to all of us, right? Anyway, Bokaj has been filling me in since I had my little… fit. They would likely know that you can see through glamours and have an item that could hide them from that. I doubt their enchanters haven’t found a way to counteract the ability to see through glamours by now, so they could reverse engineer something. Sorry, shop talk. But yeah, they may have a way to hide from you.
Fuck. Yohsuke kicked the ground. Okay. So we have to investigate some other way.
Or we can draw them into a trap, Balmur suggested.
Goddamn, it was good to have the whole team together again!
We fucking missed you, man, James smiled as he spoke to the other man mentally. It’s good to have you back.
Good to be back. They brought me something to eat, and I’m hungry as hell, so I’m gonna eat now. But we should plan later. Bokaj will keep bringing me up to speed, so don’t worry.
The rest of us had reached the palace entrance and walked through to find the King standing by his seat at the head of a large table filled full of food and drink.
“Please, join me for lunch. I am eager to learn more about all of you.” Telfino smiled sweetly as he motioned to chairs on either side of the table. “Sit, do not stand on ceremony.”
He seems like a good kid, but don’t say anything about not being from Brindolla if he doesn’t bring it up. I know that there was a big stink about it in the throne room and with the asshat gnome, but we don’t know what he knows, I warned the others as I sat down on the left side of the table.
The others sat down, and we chatted a little. Turns out that the king looked young because, by Elven standards, he was young, but for us, he was in his late sixties.
“My age was a point of contention among my mother’s advisors, but they saw wisdom in letting someone also beloved by the Mother rule the kingdom.” Telfino took a sip of his water before looking to us, then me. “Have you spoken with them concerning your findings and current quest? I saw that it was accepted by several others.”
“I told them a little about it, but we were going to have a strategy meeting about it later, away from prying ears.” I blinked as I lazily observed the servants and guards around us, then looked back to him.
Smart kid, but still a little overzealous or wet behind the ears. Either way, I think he got the idea.
“Excellent, thank you—all of you.” He bowed his head, steepled this fingers, and closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath and exhaling, he was back with us.
“Are you okay, your Majesty?” Muu asked, the ridges of his brow wrinkling slightly in concern.
“Yes, Master Muu, thank you.” The young king tried to look light and breezy, but I finally noticed the signs of exhaustion in him that I hadn’t been able to note among my friends.
The kid looked stressed the hell out, and it was affecting him. Was he worried that he wasn’t safe? Was there no one here he could trust? Could his people afford for him to? That was a lot to put on a kid. Sixties or not.
Hey, man, they like animals here, right? Yohsuke asked me.
I looked at him, confusion on my face, so he continued his thought, If they like animals so much, why don’t you pretend to be an animal friend of his and keep watch over him so he can get some rest?
You can get the fuck out of my head now, thanks. He snorted, and I looked to the king, chipper now as he stood.
“Thank you all for attending this meal with me.” He bowed his head slightly. “It has been enlightening. I bid you all good day. Please, do not hesitate to ask the guard where to find me. They have been instructed to bring you to me should any of you ask for me.”
“Thank you for that, your Highness. I must go on some business, but my friends will take great pains to find what they can while I am away. Good day, your Highness.” I stood to confused looks from my friends, except Yoh, and stepped out of the room.
Nobody fuckin’ panic—I’m not leaving. I need to go talk to Maebe. Then I’m going to watch over the king, I told the others as I was leaving.
Could’ve said that first. ‘Bout gave me
a heart attack, Muu grumbled sullenly. Go do what you gotta do and let us take some time to level and think.
I snorted. How many times had I seen him, or rather—not seen him in combat until he was rocketing toward the ground and an enemy at breakneck speeds? Yeah. Heart attack. What a character.
First, I went toward the canyon wall where it was secluded and dark so that I could contact Maebe.
I sent my awareness into the shadows and cast Shadow Speak.
A few seconds later, Maebe’s form began to rise from the shadows, and her awareness touched mine. It seemed with my awareness in the shadows like this, more detail could be seen. I could sense her minute changes and flecks of emotion in greater detail than I could before.
That was pretty dope.
“You are alive,” she said breathlessly.
I grinned. “I told you I would do everything I could to come back and make sure Balmur came with us. He’s here, not exactly okay, but we’re getting some help with that. How are things there? I heard you had to leave and go to your people?”
“I did. While I was away, some of my people began to disappear and were replaced by highly intelligent, powerful, Dofilnarr, a race of changelings that we had thought we hunted into extinction.”
Oh boy. “And you think it was these Doflinor people who are doing this?
“Dofilnarr, dangerous beings Zeke,” she warned, a tone of don’t-you-even-dare in her voice. “Beings that almost took over my court centuries ago. Beings that did take over the Seelie Court completely years before that.”
“Well, how powerful can they be?” Then I realized—oh. The Fae hunted them almost to extinction. “Scratch that. How do we figure out who has been replaced if there are any here?”
“That is what makes them so powerful.” She sighed. “You cannot. Not unless you have… Fae Iron weapons!”
We had some of those. We had access to a lot of them, and not to mention, my arm was one.
“So what, you touch them with it, and they burn or something?”
Maebe shook her shadowy head. “You need to bleed them with it. A small prick will do, but it causes their form to drop for only a second. Otherwise, they adapt everything that their mark has to offer. Including some of their abilities.”
Fuck. Fuck.
“Okay, baby, you good?” I asked, a new sense of dread creeping into my breast.
“I am well. What is wrong?”
“I need to be sure that my friends are who they say they are and then watch over King Telfino. His people are being kidnapped.”
“Fuck,” she spat vehemently. I was more than a little taken aback by her sudden use of foul language, and I would definitely be teasing her about it later. “Go. I will return to you once I finish checking for the spies here.”
“Good luck, and I’ll see you soon.” There would be time for us to love on each other later. Rather than calling to the others, I called Kayda out of my collar and spoke urgently as she caught up with my memories.
“Go find King Telfino and watch him.” She shrank down to her parrot-sized form so as to be stealthier. “If you see any of the others, do not stop, and just show me where they are, okay?”
She ducked her head and took flight, lifting effortlessly into the air and around the palace toward the front. She flooded my mind with images of Muu, Yohsuke, and James walking out of the front entrance to the place. I thanked her, shifted into my owl form, and took off much the same way she had.
As my friends came into sight, I dropped from the sky and plummeted silently. The first one I nicked was James, right on his neck, and nothing happened other than his hand snapping to the spot with an, “Ow, the fu–”
I shifted into my fox form and slid a pointed nail across Muu’s hand along the back, and he grunted.
Then I looked to Yohsuke. He held his hand out, and I took my Fae Iron hand and poked his finger, observing him carefully.
Nothing happened. They did look pissed.
“Say nothing to no one. Once I make sure the others are good, I’ll let you know what’s going on. Stay together.” I looked around. “Where’s Jaken?”
“He went to go see Questis about something. I think it was about a design or something?” James said and pointed toward the entrance to the palace.
Damn it. “You guys go back to see Bokaj and Balmur. Act like nothing’s up, but don’t take no for an answer and don’t tell anyone what’s going on.”
Yohsuke nodded and shepherded the others toward the healers’ quarters. I shapeshifted, took off past the two guards at the front gate, blowing through their surprised faces.
I banked right and found Jaken on his way toward Questis’ rooms with his sword naked in his hand.
I pushed myself harder to beat him to the door and sliced his face with my Fae Iron wing as I flew by. I didn’t catch a glimmer, shake, or anything as I flew face first into a wall.
Where the hell were you on that one, Owl!!
The instinct simply snorted. You have much to learn of aerial combat, Druid.
Asshole. I shifted and stood slowly.
“You okay, man?” Jaken, too concerned about my well-being to care that I had just cut him, hustled over to me.
“Yeah, man, I’m fine,” I mumbled. “What’re you doing?”
“I was going to see Questis about upping the fighting time for my dancing sword and shield from what they are.” He pointed at his long sword. “Why?”
“I can’t say. Just put that away and get in my collar. We have a thing to do that can’t wait.”
He touched the collar and filtered in as gray gas. I shifted once more and took flight, the owl taking pity on me and helping me navigate the crystalline halls.
We arrived at the healer’s quarters, and I flew in through the window, shifting and landing to let Jaken out with my friends looking at me expectantly.
I looked at all of them cautiously before stepping over to Bokaj and Balmur and pricking each of them with my green and purple hand. No change.
I sighed in relief. “Thank the Gods.”
You wanna explain what the hell is going on? Yohsuke asked, slight worry in his voice.
I explained what Maebe had told me, and their expressions said it all. The same thing I had said.
Fuck.
So that means we travel in pairs at a minimum, James posed. We keep constant accountability, and if anyone is alone, we check them. Zeke is the only one who should be immune?
I poked myself, taking a point of damage as blood dribbled out of my left index finger.
Okay. Pairs. Zeke pokes himself when we see him. Anyone sees something, they say something. Jaken sighed. This got complicated fast, man.
I nodded. Yeah. It did.
They were believed to be extinct though, right, so there can’t be too many, but we have to be safe. You guys hatch a plan, and I’m going to go take care of the king. Maebe will be with us when she can.
The others gave a thumb up and turned to talk to each other telepathically as I turned to fly away.
Be safe out there, man, I heard Balmur grunt. I looked back to see him eyeing me, evident worry in his features. I could say I felt the same. Getting a friend back after what had felt like so long and after so much trauma and watching them walk away… It had to be a lot for him.
I nodded once and took off toward the palace.
Kayda sent me an image of a lavish room, high in the rear of the palace where she sat on a rail.
I picked myself up and flew higher, arcing over a tower and under a walkway of some kind. I dipped lower, and after a moment, found what I was looking for.
I landed next to Kayda, my owl form slightly larger than her current size.
Cute, her mind touched my own, and I settled my feathers. I hopped off the ledge, shifted into my fox form, and wandered inside.
The room was as I had said—lavish, but not in the way one might think. This room was nothing if not covered in nature. The floor was a grassy meadow, complete with brilliantly b
looming flowers in a rainbow of colors, shapes, and sizes. A tree, thick and tall, grew straight through the roof that was no longer there. As I looked up, I could see through the illusions and see that this tree was the true top to the palace. The tree below was merely a crystal knockoff of the true tree.
Bushes grew along the sides, holding platters of items and children’s knickknacks.
As I walked further in, I could see that a portion of the tree was naturally hollow, like it had grown that way, with a mat of thick moss that grew inches off the ground with blue fungus at the corner that reminded me of pillows.
Across from the bed was a bookshelf with a toadstool that the king used as a seat at a small desk held by branches.
I wandered over and sat on the floor next to him, then shifted into my fox-man form and cleared my throat.
Startled, the king put a hand out, and a deep green bolt of energy flew my direction.
“Highness!” I barked and rolled aside, just barely managing to get out of the way.
He realized it was me. “Master Zekiel, you startled me. To what do I owe this visit?”
“My friends and I were concerned for your wellbeing,” I started. I stood and walked closer to him.
He seemed to take my sudden closeness in stride, but he was slightly stiff.
“Highness, have you been sleeping?”
He blinked, smiling. “Elves do not sleep, Master Zeke, and please, when we are alone, you may call me Telfino.”
“Sleep, rest, meditative state, whatever it’s called—you need more of it.” I took his hand in mine, much braver than I felt and lightly nicked his skin. He hissed and drew back his hand, but other than a pained look, nothing changed. “And now I can trust that you are truly King Telfino. We’d better chat.”
I told him the gist of my conversation with Maebe, heavy on the details about the Dofilnarr and how I had made sure that the others in my party were good. He was interested in the bit about Fae Iron, but he was mostly worried.
“And you think they could be partially at fault for my people disappearing?”
I nodded grimly. It sucked. And it was going to be shitty.
“I know it’s going to be hard, Telfino,” I corrected myself before calling him some form of placating name or honorific, “but your people need you to get some rest. I’ll watch over you and try to think of a way for us to catch whoever or whatever is at fault.”
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