“Excited to see your people?” I asked softly.
“I am excited to usher in a new era for my people. Whoever makes it through tonight, that is. I feel there will be a challenge. Where it will come from, I do not know, but it is coming.” She stopped as we reached her throne; the Ancient White Dragon behind it snorted at me by way of greeting, and I nodded to him. “When the challenge comes, will you stand with me?”
“That’s what friends do.” I gave her a genuine smile and reached my hand out to her. She grasped it, and I gave hers a gentle squeeze. “We’ve got your back.”
“Why would you have my back?” She looked genuinely puzzled. “It is on my person, and I dare say you cannot ‘have’ it.”
I looked at her in shock for a moment before I burst into laughter that I couldn’t stop for a beat. She looked like she was hurt that I was laughing at her. “It’s a saying where I’m from. It means that whatever you may face, I’m behind you to help and watch your back.”
“Ah, what a delightful, barbaric saying.” She patted my shoulder comfortingly. “Thank you. I have your back as well.”
“Well said.”
She sat on her throne and waved me to her right. Winterheart rested his head on her left.
“The court may enter,” she ordered to the servants at the door.
And they did. There were creatures that I had read about walking, moving, and giggling across the floor in their own respective ways, but all knelt once they came to stand before the queen. They kissed hands, they sought knowledge behind veiled questions, and more than a few eyed me hungrily for where I stood. Maebe was phenomenal. She gave as good as she got, even dismissing a few before they could pay their respects.
After they paid their respects to the throne, they ate and chattered among themselves. My friends roamed the floor, watched by Maebe and I. Some of the Fae would speak to my friends, especially Bokaj; his high Charisma must have made him more appealing to them, but nothing outright bad happened. Quite a few of the guests stood grouped closely together and whispered with their eyes on the throne. Eventually, the eating and whispering began to decline.
Finally, Maebe stood, and the royal Fae spoke, and I broke away from my staring into the crowd for any potential threats.
“Welcome, Court of the Unseelie. My court, long have I overlooked you due to a lack of interest. I was lost to my despair without a sense of direction. I had become bored of the doldrums of daily duty and withdrew. But not you. You have done your duties, taking care of my lands and my interests while I have contemplated the next step in forward progress. Step forth, my champions of the new era!”
My friends separated themselves from the crowd of Fae, and I stepped forward to stand to the right and slightly behind Maebe at her shoulder. The throng burst into chatter, some even boldly stated that a new era was a surprising idea from a sullen child. She didn’t even so much as blink. She let the skepticism build until I thought that someone may outright question her—then she continued.
“These creatures, my champions, will be marching toward a new goal in the Prime realm. They will go forth on their quest with our aid and support and will escort a few chosen Fae to act as catalysts for change and as ambassadors to a few larger cities once through. They will also be protecting our interests while in the Prime as I instruct on occasion.” She stepped closer to the crowd and smiled at them, all teeth and predatory glances. “Their judgement is my own, as they are my friends, and I am theirs.”
The volume in the room devolved into whispers about this being someone completely different and that there was a usurper on the throne. That she had gone soft and who in their right mind would befriend mortals let alone anyone. She was Fae royalty—what need had she of friends, when all should simply be satisfied to serve? Again, Maebe said and did nothing. She let them speak as they would, which was new to me, but then again—politics.
Am I right?
She didn’t need to ask anyone for help; she was queen. Anyone who stood in her way or in the path to her goals would be demolished, and that’s exactly the look and vibe I got off her in that moment. I couldn’t help feeling like I had bitten off more than my friends and I could swallow. Wouldn’t be the first time my eyes were bigger than my stomach.
“As time goes on, our foothold in the Prime realm will grow stronger and our influence will carry over. People will see how we aided our champions, and their people and our influence will grow further! Soon, we may shed our chains here and usher in a new era of prosperity and change for the Unseelie. No longer will the lies spread by the so-called ‘Court of Light’ be able to curse and slander our people. We will let our actions shout over their whispers. Stand with me, my court. Unseelie and we stand to gain so much more. Power unrivaled.”
The crowd muttered some more, and then all in attendance knelt quickly. Maebe looked triumphant, her smile radiant against her dark, starry skin.
“Soo–” she began to speak, but a cold, cultured voice interrupted her. I turned to see someone seated on her throne. Not even Winterheart looked up at the individual.
“I am so glad to see that you have finally made some friends, little queen.”
He was tall, or long in this instance, as he lounged over the hand rests of the throne lazily. One leg draped in green rested over the armrest, and the other sprawled in front of the throne closest to us while his head and upper body leaned over the side closest to the White Dragon. He wore a matching green shirt of the same color and material that looked almost like satin. He propped his bald head on the knuckles of his left hand while his right drew patterns on the seat under his stomach.
I looked to Maebe for some clue as to who the hell was in her domain and saw that she, too, had bent the knee to this man. His gaze shifted to me, and his ears, much like Maebe’s, longer than a normal Elf’s but angled up and out rather than straight out like the queen’s, twitched. I felt a gentle but insistent tug at my hand and looked to see Maebe was trying to pull me toward her.
“Leave him,” the man commanded. The pull vanished.
“Who are you?” I asked. No sound escaped from any of the Fae, but I heard footsteps as my friends began coming closer.
“Mortals and their need to name things.” He smiled sardonically. “You’ve been told that names carry power here and yet you ask. Some would see it as an insult that you demand they define their being and declare it to you. I choose not to, for now. I am called many things. You may call me Samir, Zekiel Erebos. Bokaj. Jaken Warmecht. James. Yohsuke. Balmur. You are many things. Many names, but I will bestow upon you a title that none before have had here—wrong.”
My friends had gathered to my left and right, and I felt comforted by their presence. I didn’t know who this guy was, but this wasn’t looking good.
“Your being here is wrong. You do not belong.” He stood and every movement seemed simultaneously languid and dangerous. He stepped closer to us, and I could see more details in his face.
His features were striking: high cheekbones and such a chiseled jaw that I swore to myself silently that being around these manly-ass men was going to give me a complex. His eyes were purple, vibrant and swirling inside his head like whirlpools.
“You may join us, Maebe.” He waved the queen over with a gesture, and she hurried over.
“My friend, you must not speak to this being so.” She looked genuinely worried. “He is the physical embodiment of the very realm itself.”
“A what now?” Jaken asked.
“I am a manifestation of the will of this realm of Fae. Magic is powerful here, and our only God here is the realm itself. That is why your Prime realm’s Gods have not been able to come to your rescue or aid you as they have, presumably, before. I mean to remedy that.”
“Please, Great One, do not end them,” Maebe pleaded quietly.
“I will not. I simply want what is not meant to be here gone. All of them and another who tampers too much.” His swirling eyes alighted on all of us. “I mean none of you an
y ill will. You were sent here by blood sacrifice. Exiled. The queens have the power to right that wrong.”
“I had planned to–” Maebe began, but Samir held up a hand.
“I know well of your plans, child.” He sighed. “They are ambitious, ill thought, and mediocrely planned.” He grinned at Maebe as she frowned. “I approve. Chaotic and far reaching. You do your ancestors proud. No, that is not why I’ve come. I want the interlopers gone and the hunters who came by mistake. It took time to find it, but I did. Titania? Come.”
He snapped his fingers, and flash of warmth, light, and the scent of summer filled the air for a brief moment before an Elf the almost exact opposite of Maebe stood behind us. She was six feet tall with a slim build, and her ears were the same as the Unseelie queen’s. Her skin was almost the color of gold, long, wavy hair of pure white, and her irises were golden with white pupils. It was unnerving and captivating at the same time. Then I started to notice that she wasn’t as beautiful as her glamour made her appear to be. She was working hard to be more than “supermodel” gorgeous.
That was kind of sad, but weren’t we all trying to appear to be things we weren’t?
Oh well.
She quickly knelt before Samir, her face a mask of serenity that I doubt I could ever pull off. “Lord of All Summers that Were and Are to Come,” she acknowledged him.
So he did have many names, but damn, if that wasn’t a mouthful.
“Rise,” he ordered. Gone was the understanding he had bestowed upon us. His whole visage held wrath and scorn. The material of his clothes began to move slightly, and I realized it was the same grass that we had woken up in when we first arrived in this realm.
“What can I do for you, Great One?” she asked, clearly uncomfortable calling anyone but herself superior.
“You have allowed one not of this realm to poison your mind and my land. No more. Call forth your advisors.”
“I have been trying to kill the beings not of this realm, Summer Sun. Please, they are there. I could finish them now if you would let me?”
“Raise a hand to my champions, and I will waste your entire court!” Maebe screeched and began to march toward her opposite.
“Enough!” Samir ordered and gravity seemed to shift. It was suddenly impossible to stand—so all knelt in that moment. “Call your advisors, Titania, or I go hunting myself.”
She looked horrified and scowled before following his orders. She clapped her hands twice, and the scent of ozone and the sea breezed in around us as three pale, wizened Elves in pale, bone colored robes appeared appeared next to the Seelie queen.
Samir surged forward and gripped the middle one by the throat and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.
“You dare attempt to spread your cancerous poison to my realm?” he growled and flecks of spittle splattered across the victim’s face.
He struggled, then struggled more as a sizzling sound began. Where the liquid product of Samir’s outrage had landed on the Elf’s face and clothes, the skin and material began to burn and melt as if eaten by acid. Then the screams began and were cut off a second later by an angry jerking motion from the bald being. The old Elf no longer struggled as the grass that made up Samir’s shirt had crept forward and grasped it by the broken neck. The body was dissolving, and the grass was absorbing it as it liquified.
“This creature’s council you kept and made sure to implement. It has been causing me no end of pain, Titania. I keep out of the Seelie and Unseelie politicking because seeing you feud brings me amusement and provides both factions function. In return, I give you magic, longevity, and status.” His face turned into a scowl and moved mere inches away from her. “THIS is how you repay your realm? You would see the very lands and peoples you are supposed to rule die? ANSWER ME!”
She cowered before him and actually stepped behind her advisors. “I didn’t know! I didn’t think that it could–”
“You lie? IN MY REALM?!” Samir shook with rage. The grass had long since finished its meal of whoever that poor bastard had been, but now it was longer and seemed to move like snakes toward the now sobbing woman.
The physical manifestation froze, then smiled coldly. The grass shrank and settled back around him as the same clothes he had worn and moved over to stand in front of Titania. He looked down upon her dispassionately and caressed her cheek. Her glamour faltered, then was gone completely. Everyone saw that she wasn’t what she led them to believe but stayed quiet because Samir was still close.
“You will pay, little child. You will pay, but first, you are going to help your enemy send her champions to the Prime realm.” He hushed her with a finger to her lips. “Ah, silence.” The sound of her sobs and pleading voice were gone. Her lips moved, and her shoulders shook, but nothing reached our ears.
“Now,” he turned his purple eyes toward us, “a reward on his behalf.” He closed his eyes and touched us, two at a time, on the forehead. As he put his hand on my head, I felt a rush of energy and got a notification that I had reached level 17.
He allowed us a minute to allocate our points appropriately. I pumped three points into Constitution; that put me at an even thirty and three hundred HP. With the other two points, I evened out my strength and put it at forty. Maybe swinging my axe a bit harder could help; we would see.
We murmured our gratitude, but he simply waved it away.
“For her crimes against me, Titania will be assisting Maebe in teleporting you back to your realm. Tell me, who was it who exiled you to my domain?”
“He calls himself Rowan, but he is a stronger entity than the one you just destroyed,” Balmur explained.
Samir stepped forward and looked into Balmur’s eye a moment, then closed his own. “I see. It has been four and a half weeks since you were banished.”
“Fuck!” Yohsuke, Jaken, and I growled in unison. Not only had we only leveled once while we were here, that fucker had plenty of time to dig in and gather his power.
“Do not despair.” Samir smiled comfortingly or at least attempted it. It looked mostly predatory and came off disconcerting, but we tried to rally.
“I can help you, but it will take time.” He looked to the still kneeling crowd, then back to Maebe. “Are your delegates here?”
“No, they are preparing for the journey. They will be ready by dawn.”
“Excellent. Then they leave tomorrow at noon. Until then, Titania is my prisoner. We will be using your throne room here as the location for the ritual.”
Maebe nodded and knelt before Samir. “Dismiss your court Maebe. I sense you have won their support, and my approval has bolstered that.”
“Thank you, Deepest Shadow,” she whispered reverently. She waved her hand in a dismissing gesture.
Once they had cleared the room, no one but us, Samir, the queens, and Winterheart remained.
“Do you have any questions for me, mortals?” Samir turned toward us and eyed us with mild interest.
“Many, but I’m more concerned with getting the bastard who killed that kid and sent us here,” Jaken said. It was the first time I’d heard his voice deepen in anger.
I looked over at him and saw the fury in his features and realized that he was as angry as I was, if not more so, because he was still new to fatherhood. Not that one needed to be a parent to want revenge for child victims.
“You would have made an excellent Fae, Paladin. Too bad that your allegiance lies elsewhere. I will see to it that your vengeance is facilitated, at least in that you will be able to attempt exacting it. Past that, I cannot aid you. Magic, even as powerful as mine, has its limits, and my aiding you will cost me dearly.”
“Everything has a price,” I stated, dreading the answer to my next words. “What is yours?”
The bald Fae imitation, or was he actually a more true Fae than any of the ones here—fuck that train of thought. The headache that would likely be induced by a rabbit hole the size of Texas like that would have killed me. Samir looked at me, and his eyebrows, purple
like his eyes, rose a little in surprise.
“You would have made an excellent Fae as well, little fox.” He stepped closer to me, passing a horrified Maebe to stand before me.
“Thank you.” I looked up at him, not defiantly but just firm. He sniffed me like a dog would scent an offered hand.
“I smell your realm on you. You have the attention of the land Herself and Her protection. She has blessed you. I also smell something else.” He looked at Bokaj. “You have a companion, do you not?” Samir looked back at me. “And you? Call them forth.”
I looked to Maebe, who just stood there gaping at me and back to him. He just stared at me expectantly. A deep bass rumbling sounded to my left, and I felt Tmont brush past my leg.
“Ah, a panther.” Samir knelt in front of the great cat and looked her in the eyes. “I feel your strength, little one. Tell me, do you believe yourself strong enough to assist your master in what is to come?”
She sat once he asked and looked to her master for a moment.
“Don’t worry T, whatever comes, I know you have my back.”
She looked back at the Fae before her and hung her head. I got the feeling I knew her answer without needing to cast a spell. She was worried.
“I see.” Samir clucked his tongue and wagged a finger at her teasingly.
His voice rose slightly in a lyrical manner and took on soothing tones. Tmont raised her head and began to sway a little with the rise and fall of the sound. I couldn’t understand the language it was spoken in, but I could almost feel the melody unfold in my chest. Finally, he reached out and tapped the panther on her head, and I saw her whole body ripple with waves like you would see after throwing a pebble into water.
When the ripples moved across her, her body began to change. First, her fur darkened to a deep black, like Maebe’s shadows. Then her bulky frame began to slim down, and her muscles bulged a bit more. She wasn’t fat before, by any means, but you could tell she had a little extra slink in her. Now? Now she looked like a gym paid her to work out there. Her ears had tufts of long, black fur growing from them now that twitched as the song died.
Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1) Page 42