Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1)

by Christopher Johns

  She closed her eyes and digested the images I had shown her, and then she looked at me and nodded. Understanding flitting across her eyes.

  “Pastela was a powerful creature,” she said. “Highly entertaining to watch from time to time. She could not control you in the end, and you conquered her. Took her power for your own and did what many Fae dream of—became something better. Stronger. I can feel that while you suffered, she did not break you. Am I right?”

  I nodded dumbly—it was true. I had faced a lot of hardships, both back in life and in this world. Hell, we all had, but I never let them break me. Why start now? What I had failed to realize was that while my tormentor was dead and gone, she still had a small facet of control over my actions.

  Fuck that.

  “This is good. Perhaps I’ve gone soft over the centuries, but I find you intriguing. All of you. I used to be quite the tyrant, you know. These poor, pitiful creatures,” she waved her hand at the sculptures around us, “had displeased me once upon a time, and now look at them, immortal—forever frozen alive to remind those who would cross me or question my power. To remind them of their place in my realm.”

  I looked at the frozen Elf beside me and noted that it was true. The ice, while pure and clear, seemed to have eyes that moved in complete fear, slowly back and forth. It sent a spasm of fear down my spine.

  “I won’t freeze you, little fox,” she said quietly from beside me. “It truly has been a very long time since I’ve had guests. You all are safe. As safe as can be from my people and I, as my hospitality permits. Although, if any of your compatriots do something untoward, I can make no promises.”

  “I trust them to keep their composure.”

  “Let us hope.” She smiled again. “I would hate to have to add to my collection. Come, let’s go see if we can’t find you something cute to wear before our talk.”

  That wasn’t our talk? Fuck.

  We left the throne room through a small entrance beside the Dragon’s right hind leg. Not the sculpture, an actual. Fucking. Dragon. A white one, frozen solid to be exact, and she had lovingly named him Snowball.

  I had to give her credit; she had a twisted sense of humor.

  The halls were made of the same material as the rest of the place, I assumed. She wondered why we were trying to fight that mage, Rowan, in the first place, so I let her in on our mission without telling her that we were from a different planet altogether. I was playing her game, omitting information and telling half truths. I’m fairly certain that she had no clue what was going on outside her realm, so I wasn’t sure if she could tell I was omitting things.

  “This War you speak of, could he come here?” she asked after a thoughtful pause.

  “I imagine that he could. From what I have gathered after our first run in with an actual General, his people are capable of greater feats than even we are. Who knows what they can do, especially if they can use magic like he did.”

  “Healthy respect for the enemy is needed to understand and destroy them. Never under or overestimate them. If you plan for them to have access to the things you do, you will be better prepared.”

  I stopped in my tracks, dumbfounded by the wisdom of that advice. Then I hurried along after her when she didn’t stop. I should have expected it from an immortal queen of the fairy realm.

  We stopped in a room off to our right after a few minutes. The queen just barged right in, nothing said into a dark room.

  “Hello, my Darkest Lady,” a gravelly, albeit slightly feminine voice greeted us from a lit desk on the right.

  “Good day, Svartlan,” she greeted the figure. “Come, I have a task for you.”

  “Finally, you realize your views on fashion are outdated! Oh, how wondrous the clothing I shall make you! Oh, let’s start with a nice green dr–”

  The figure stopped talking. “Who’s this fine creature?”

  “My guest and your newest project. Say hello to Zekiel Erebos.”

  “Yes, yes he will do nicely. Oh, this darkness simply will not do,” He clapped, and a light flared to life from the walls. It was blinding at first, then lowered to a comfortable level.

  “Even better.” I could see the Orc now, easily a foot taller than I was. He was gaudily dressed in a gold silk blouse and silver silk trousers over his bulky frame. His muddy brown eyes looked me over. I covered myself bashfully.

  “No need for that.” He smiled. “I’ve got your measurements already. I’ve been doing this a long time.”

  “What shall I do for him, Lady Darkest?”

  “The works. He and three others wear cloth and leather, one in a metal shell, and the other seems to be content to just wear pants, strangely.”

  He stood there aghast for a moment. “Hmm. Just pants. I see. What a savage he must be, poor thing. I’ll get started right away. Do you have a color preference Master Erebos? Style? Oh, how stylish these clothes will be. I will create such things of beauty.”

  “Nothing too complicated, please,” I said, holding out my hand to stop him. “I need function, not fashion.”

  I saw his face fall, visibly saddened. I sighed and looked to Maebe.

  “You may make all of them one fashionable set of clothes to wear should they have need of them.” Maebe eyed me while she spoke to her tailor. “Color and style, so long as they are simple, are up to you.”

  “Oh!” The Orc grinned, his tusks flashing brightly. “Oh, you will not regret this! Darkness, please, send the others along shortly. I shall need their measurements. How long?”

  “For functional wear, as soon as you can. It needs to be sturdy. Use the best materials we have available. And Svartlan? Do your best work. The fashionable clothing? It can wait until you have at least two outfits made for each them. Svartlan, do make tomorrow’s outfits formidable and functional, won’t you, dear? Court will be in session.”

  The big man was already in motion, waving that he had understood us and had work to do.

  “Do you have something–” A pair of cloth trousers landed on my head before I finished the sentence. “Thanks!”

  I slipped them on. Black like my fur and soft against it, too. I thought I would be keeping these.

  I followed Queen Maebe out of the room and then down the hall a bit more. After a series of turns, we came to a guarded wing where every door appeared to belong to a different chamber.

  We walked into the final one on the far left. A large figure stood guard at the end of the corridor outside, taking up most of the wall. It wore a cloak to blend in. I couldn’t get a good look, though.

  “Don’t stare too long. It makes her angry,” the queen said as she entered the room. “Red Caps take offense to being stared at when they are trying to remain unseen.”

  I remembered reading about them. Stories said that they were large creatures who dyed their hats or heads in the blood of freshly fallen foes. I shivered at the thought.

  We were in a lavish sitting room. A couch of white was situated in the middle of the room before large windows on the far wall displaying quite the odd scene. On the left side of the room was a snowy, desolate waste, and the other side was a lush forest teeming with life, like the cold had no effect on the life there.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Maebe said as she stepped up beside me. “I’ve always been so bent on destruction that I did not spend the time to admire the beauty of life. I allow the light lands to encroach so because it please me. It pleases me to know that every bloom, every creature that inhabits this portion of that land is alive only because I will it and that I can take that at a whim.”

  “Sounds like you enjoy the thought of that,” I quested. Not a question per se, but a gentle nudge to continue.

  She nodded, almost sadly. “I did, at one time. Over these last couple centuries, I’ve become bored. Morose, even. Where my art was a joy before, I find it empty. There is no thrill left for me here anymore.”

  “I see.”

  “You cannot begin to see, mortal,” she said sadly as she
laid a hand on my shoulder, “but I appreciate that you are trying to understand. For centuries, I have born this responsibility. I took the title from my mother, who ran her court much more assertively. There was a Fae with vision. She almost conquered the whole of the realm. Even sent a few of our kin and some slaves to the Prime realm. They were likely your ancestors. The Kitsune tend to be on the darker side of the Fae orders, since they have a more mischievous streak, and my mother did love exotic creatures. As far as I am concerned, you are one of the flock, returning to the bosom of your motherland. Welcome home.”

  “Sadly, I cannot claim this place as my home.” I had to think of a way around this without her getting that the jig is up. “Home is where my son is. Where all my loved ones are.”

  She nodded. “I do not understand that, but the sentiment is not lost on me. See that you and your friends meet my expectations in the coming days. Do so, and I will see that I help you return to him how I can. You have my oath.”

  “And what will you require of us?”

  “Be who you are, and when the time comes, which I’m certain it will, defend yourselves. That is all.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “No, little fox. Nothing else, and though you do not call this place your home, you are welcome here. Come, I will show you to my chambers. We will dine there and speak of other, less formal business.”

  We exited through the door that we had used to come in; the stoic Red Cap eyed me as we walked by into the chamber across the hall.

  The bedroom was truly lavish. A stark contrast from the white of the other room, it was all black. The light from the multitude of specks on the ceiling that looked like the stars kids would put on their ceilings provided plenty of light to see by, especially paired with the moon painted in the corner opposite the door. The silver light of the crescent moon shone down on the darkness and gave all the furniture a silver lining. It was exquisite. The queen’s furniture was plush and looked to be only slightly used. Tables had freshly poured wine and hot food on them that smelled as heavenly as the room looked.

  “Sit, please.” She motioned to the first couch closest to us. I obeyed and eyed the corners of the rooms where the darkness seemed thickest. “Don’t worry, Zekiel. We are alone here.”

  “We weren’t before?” She laughed her throaty laugh, and it made me smile for some reason.

  “Now, share a meal with me before we begin our discussion in earnest.” Her voice took on an almost imperceptible musical lilt that I hadn’t noticed before.

  Was she letting go of her glamour since we were alone? I didn’t think that my True Sight was getting stronger the more I looked at her.

  She brought a platter of food over. Mountains of meats, potatoes, and vegetables were piled all over it. She carried it like it was a small plate in one hand and sat it just behind our goblets like it didn’t weigh probably sixty pounds. Like I said, it was a mountain of food.

  The goblets were both of a lighter colored metal, studded with modest gems and light filigree. She picked up her own and offered me the other. I accepted, taking my drink and hissed as it burned my palm immediately. The drink spilled in my hurry to get the offending goblet out of my hand, and it landed on the floor.

  A look of concern fell over Maebe’s features, then exasperation. I began to offer an apology, but she silenced me with a wave. She snapped her fingers, and a dark shadow pulled itself out of the darkest corner of the room beneath the painting of the moon. Then a second came out. Each shadow had a Goblinoid shape—long floppy ears, stubby limbs, and oddly shaped heads. She pointed at the goblet, and one of the shadows came forward, collected it, and absorbed the liquid on the floor through its hand. The shadow took the cup, then returned to the corner it had come from. The other stepped forward and offered me a golden replacement that looked almost exactly the same as the original goblet.

  I took it and thanked the little creature. It seemed to look at me with its shadowy eyes, then decided that it was finished and slunk away back to its home in the darkness under the moon.

  “My apologies, Zekiel,” Maebe said after a sip of her wine. “My shadow servants try to anticipate my will and do their best, but they can only think so much. They didn’t know that you were a Lycanthrope, as I only had a minute knowledge of the past, a mere glimpse of each scene. I have broken a deep and much abided law among the Fae. You would be well within your rights to defame me.”

  “I won’t,” I said simply as I sipped my wine. It was good, really good. The fruity flavor of the beverage was something unlike anything I had ever tasted. I couldn’t stop a small gasp after I finished swallowing it.

  “Shade Berries. I grow them in the hoarfrost, and they ripen rarely. I have a batch that bloomed twice in the last century. This was from the second ripening. It pairs well with the food on that platter. Let us dine.”

  We ate in comfortable silence. Well, as comfortable as a mortal could be with an immortal queen who could freeze him into an immortal sculpture, but hey—I liked trying new things.

  The food was delicious. The meat was tender and the potatoes fluffy. The veggies lended an earthy tone to the meal that I could appreciate, especially paired with the fruity flavor of the wine. I praised the chef, and the queen opted not to share my praise, saying that she would get a fatter head than she already had. As our meal settled, we sat together and watched the stars above us. Some shifted and moved like the very cosmos themselves, radiating different colors and intensities. Shooting stars flew across the cloudless expanse—it was as breathtaking as the Fae next to me.

  “So why would you ever choose to hide your true self with glamour?” I asked softly, worried my voice might disturb the stars above.

  “Such impatience.” She chuckled. I looked over and saw that the glamour was indeed gone. Her skin mirrored the ceiling above us. I saw what she hid with glamour in silhouette, and it was a beauty that was alarming.

  Her deep green eyes sparkled in the silvered light, her dainty nose leading to thick lips that looked like pillows even though they were moving. Her jawline, high cheekbones softened by the lights and shadows. She glowed. She wasn’t simply royalty or Fae—she was celestial. She chose that moment to look at me and laugh.

  “You really must pay attention if you want to learn anything,” she chided me gently.

  I don’t know what it was, but here in this place, she seemed gentler.

  “This is one of the reasons. It’s difficult to order someone’s death and have them be afraid when they’re so distracted by my beauty. Do you know how annoying it is to know that everyone in a room is imagining you nude? Fantasizing about what they would do to you, willing or no? How infuriating it is to know that and not be able to control it. Even one such as I who could crush most with a thought cannot crush that disgusting side of other creatures.”

  She shifted, her fingers in her hair. “There are times when it is empowering, like nothing can stop me and I have the utmost control—creatures at my beck and call for no other reason than that they admire my beauty and wish to curry my favor. Eventually, it all boils down to knowing that they see that one side, only that side, and will do anything to possess it or claim it. They want that one thing or a variation of it, and it makes my flesh crawl. Do you know how it feels to be seen that way? As someone else’s fantasy?”

  “I can say with absolute certainty that I do not.” She laughed at my blunt honesty. “Seriously. I’ve never really been one to have been all that attractive to anyone. At least not in my opinion.”

  “That is unfortunate. That is why I use glamour to blunt my looks so that my edicts and orders are obeyed and I am feared.”

  “And since power is everything to the Fae, that fear is instrumental.”

  “Exactly. The Fae have a version of your True Sight. It’s diluted and less powerful because the truly powerful of our kind used to attack creatures with it, to keep others from seeing what they didn’t want seen. Over the millennia, the trait evolved into what is known today.
The practice is still widely popular among the royal Fae.”

  “So you’re going to kill me?”

  “Normally, you would have been a fine addition to my collection, but the audacity you and your friends had to call upon me the way you did intrigued me. I decided to wait until I knew more. So I will learn more.”

  She sat up and looked at me. “What was it that you did to be banished here? Tell me of the state of Prime.” I went to open my mouth to speak, but she held a hand up. “This room is warded and enchanted to prevent falsehoods. If you lie, I will know. I am asking you, though, that we dispense with the half truths as well. Tell me truthfully.”

  QUEST ALERT!

  WHAT TO SAY, WHAT TO SAY?

  The Queen of Ice and Darkness has asked you to inform her about the current affairs of Brindolla and the state of the fight against War without falsehood and half-truths. Choose whether you want to divulge this information or if you want to dodge it.

  Reward: Unknown.

  Accept? Yes/No

  I took a moment to think, drew a deep breath, and released it slowly. I chose yes.

  “I need your oath that what I tell you, you will tell no one else unless the need to do so is dire. What I am about to tell you has implications for all realms.”

  She seemed to think on it a moment while taking a sip of her drink. Silence was drawn out long over the span of that moment as I waited. Finally, she nodded and swore on her throne that she would divulge this to no one unless the need was great.

  Much like we had with the High Druidess in Terra’s Escape, I gave her the summary of our mission in Brindolla. I told her about our quest to stop War’s Generals and how one had banished us to this realm, but this time, I didn’t hold out any truths or information other than our being summoned here from another world.

  “And with us here, Prime is in danger. Hell, all of the realms attached to this planet and its reality are probably in danger. If one of the Generals could figure out how to send us here, it’s only a matter of time before they come to take the realm of the Fae too.”