Fae Queen

by Jen Pretty

  “Does any of this ring a bell?” He asked.

  “I don’t know. Now and then I feel like something reminds me of something else, but I can’t put my finger on it. I remember being trapped and running, but nothing before that.”

  “Ok, let’s go sit down by the fire, and I’ll tell you a story about yourself.”

  Armond detailed the story of how I found out I was Fae when Victor saved my life and took me to Homeland. When Luke came out, he explained about him and Evan teaching me to use my magic. Armond jumped back in to tell me of the cruel way he helped me finally use magic. Everyone was laughing, but it didn’t sound funny to me. My head was full of stories, but that was all they were. Stories.

  It was dinner time, so we ate and talked, and I relaxed in their presence. The red-eyed man, Roman, came and got some food, but didn’t speak to me. I felt like I should apologize to him as if I had hurt him, but I couldn’t remember how or when.

  When he left, I asked Armond, “Did I do something to him?”

  He wrapped an arm over my shoulders and said “No, he blames himself for what happened to you. He has been beating himself up for the last four days. He pulled you from the bottom of a lake, thinking you were dead. Nobody knows how you got there, or what happened.

  “I drowned? That’s how I lost my memories? He saved me?”

  “Yeah, that’s what we are thinking. He and Puck followed you for a long time after you came back to life, but the closer they got, the harder you ran, so they stopped and let Daisy trail you.”

  I owed him more than an apology; I owed him my life. I felt my brain shut down and strong arms picked me up as my half-empty plate hit the grass at my feet. Armond carried me to a tent and lay me down on a soft layer of blankets. Daisy curled in beside me, and Armond covered us both with a blanket.

  Daisy’s quiet snoring was strangely comforting. I knew that was a memory. It had to be. My body recognized Daisy even if my mind didn’t. I fell asleep thankful for having one certain thing. It was a strange thing to be sure about, though.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  I woke in the middle of the night. The moon was defined even through the canvas ceiling of the tent. I shifted Daisy to the side and slid out of the covers. Daisy grumbled a bit but went back to sleep. I crept out of the tent. Everything was silent. Even the birds who always seemed to follow me slept. I walked towards the campfire that was dying out but still glowed, giving off enough light that I noticed a figure sitting on the far side. I couldn’t make out his features through the smoke until he looked up and his eyes flashed red. Roman. My friend according to Armond.

  He sat still as a stone as I approached.

  “Hello,” I said as I took a seat on a stump to his left. Not directly beside him because I felt like he didn’t want me too close. He didn’t reply, just sat silently observing me. “I’m sorry,” I said self-consciously.

  He snorted, “What do you possibly have to be sorry for?” His voice sounded hard, and I looked away from him because the pain in his eyes matched my own and threatened to bring tears to my eyes.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. “But I feel like I did something to you.”

  “You died!” he cried and jumped to his feet. I flinched back from his outburst, but he didn’t come any closer. He was towering over me, his slim frame still intimidating. “You were dead. I had lost you.”

  When I looked up his crimson eyes glowed, his rows of sharp teeth flashed in the darkness and I flinched again nearly falling off my stump. His emotions were too intense. His reaction too strong. I knew then, not from memory, but from his response to me, we were more than friends. Right now, he looked like the demon I thought he was the first time I laid eyes on him.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered again as he spun on his heel and disappeared. It was dark, but I was sure he just vanished. People can’t do that. People don’t have pointed teeth and their eyes don’t glow.

  I had a feeling that there was a lot more Luke and Armond needed to explain to me.

  When Roman didn’t return, I stumbled back to my tent and tucked in beside Daisy. I knew tomorrow would bring new information that would require a clear head.

  I woke to the smell of coffee. I recognized the smell and that I loved it immediately. I laughed with relief. I knew two things. I slept with that duck curled up with me and I loved coffee. I woke Daisy with a poke. He quacked and bit my finger, and I just laughed harder. I kicked the blankets off and flew out of the tent but tripped over a man sleeping in the grass just outside the tent flap.

  “Shit!” I yelled as I tumbled to the ground. My face bounced off the dirt, and I ate a bit of grass in the process.

  I pushed myself up and looked over my shoulder as I wiped my tongue on my shirt sleeve and swore I saw a freaking unicorn. I blinked, and it was just a man. A super smug looking man who screamed trouble with a capital T.

  I rubbed my new split lip that was already swelling and smeared a drop of blood across my face. I grimaced at the copper penny taste on my tongue. Ugh.

  “Why are you laying in front of my tent?” I grumbled.

  Roman appeared between the man and me.

  “Shit!” I said again, but under my breath this time, as the shock of his appearance hit me. Roman was standing there in his boxers. He might be a demon, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look.

  Roman spun away from me and stomped up to the man who had been squatting on my stoop -- if you can call the grass in front of a tent a stoop.

  “What’s the matter with you, Puck?” Roman yelled.

  The smug man, Puck, just lifted a shoulder, “Just protecting your queen,” he said before he turned and strolled away, whistling a tune.

  Queen. Everyone kept calling me that, but I didn’t feel like a queen. I felt out of place, like a fraud.

  Roman stomped after him, leaving me to rub more dirt off my face and aim myself in the direction of the coffee smell. Coffee would fix it.

  I found the coffee in the open area beside the fire pit. There were a whole group of warriors around the fire eating and talking until they saw me, then they stopped talking and fell to a knee again bowing their heads. This queen thing was not for me.

  “Let’s not do that, ok?” I suggested to the men who sat up and picked up their plates cautiously. They were still eyeing me.

  I walked up to a small makeshift table, and there was the black gold I had been looking for. I poured a cup and added a bit of honey as I didn’t see any sugar. My first sip wasn’t quite as good as I thought it would be. It tasted bitter, not quite right.

  Armond walked up and laughed at the expression on my face. “It’s not quite as good as home, is it?”

  “I don’t know; I was expecting something else. I thought I remembered coffee.” I replied taking another sip to try and confirm this didn’t taste like it should.

  “No, you’re right, this isn’t quite as good. I’m glad you’ve remembered something though,” he rubbed my arm as he walked by and poured himself a cup.

  We sipped our coffee type drink while the sun rose above the trees and the rest of the men finished eating their breakfast. Armond produced a cookie from a glass jar and handed it to me.

  “I think I remembered these cookies first. There were some in the bag. Did you leave that for me?”

  “Yeah, I brought the cookies with me when the hunters and I left the house. Your favourite kitchen lady makes them and, when she found out I was leaving to come here, she sent me with a couple dozen of them. I think she misses you.”

  “These men are called hunters?” I asked indicating the last of them as they retreated to the forest.

  “Yes, they are your hunters. Lex, why don’t we sit down?”

  “Ok, I should probably hear this whole tale. Maybe it will jog something else loose.”

  So, Armond and I sat, and he told me more stories. A story of Fae hunters and Vampires and Shape Shifters and Witches. He told me about the elders who helped me and the Vampire master, the one who
tried to break me. The story was long and complicated, but I drank coffee and absorbed the information. It didn’t feel as wild as I thought it should. Like part of me already knew what he was saying was true, before he had said it at all.

  After he finished, we sat digesting what had happened over the last several weeks. It sounded like my life was pretty shitty for the six months before this Victor guy saved my life in the back alley and he opened my eyes to the wild magical world that changed everything.

  Finally, Daisy waddled out and quacked, breaking our silence. He hopped up on the small table and rummaged around in a basket. He pulled out two slices of bread and hopped down. He came over and sat beside me, and I pet his soft feathers.

  “I can’t believe I named this poor duck Daisy,” I said.

  Armond laughed, “You know, he is also a dragon.”

  “WHAT?” I almost dropped my coffee. Daisy quacked loudly in offence, then took his bread and waddled back to the tent.

  Armond chuckled. “He helped you save me from the witch.”

  I lost all my humour. The witch was a problem.

  “So, you find your brain yet?” the man named Puck who I had tripped over when I got up asked as he swung down onto to log beside me. Armond informed me he was also a Unicorn.

  “Ass, I haven’t lost my brain, just my memory.” He curled one side of his mouth in a mischievous smile.

  “I can help you remember. You are a warrior.” He looked at Armond “Put a knife in her hand and spar with her. Even if her mind forgets, her body wont.”

  “How the hell can I hold a knife with this hand?” I held up the crooked hand for him to see.

  Puck snickered. “You do just fine. I’ve seen you.”

  “It’s not a terrible idea,” Armond agreed. “I taught you; we sparred well together.”

  “Alright, as long as you take it easy on me. I don’t remember any fighting.”

  “She needs to box.” A voice came from behind me. When I turned around, it was Roman who stood there.

  “Well we don’t have a punching bag here,” Armond replied.

  “I’ll fight her,” Roman countered, never taking his eyes off me. “She can hit me. It won’t do any damage but tape her knuckles. She’s more likely to remember fighting with her fists. She has been boxing since she was a little girl.”

  “You’re probably right. Our Lex is scrappy,” Puck agreed with a crooked smile.

  That was how I found myself in a clearing a little farther through the woods. It was where all the hunters gathered to spar and practice and stay in shape for the upcoming battle with the witch. They were waiting for me to be ready before we travelled to save the king’s son, Aldridge, who was still missing.

  Roman took his shirt off and smiled when I stared too long.

  “I expect a broken nose and don’t want to ruin my shirt.” I think it was a distraction tactic. One of the hunters firmly taped by knuckles and Luke came to watch, his presence calming me, but I still felt jittery and expectant, my blood pumping and hands shaking a bit.

  Roman approached me with a cool look in his dull red eyes. “You can’t hurt me, Lex, let go.”

  I took an awkward swing at him, and he easily slapped it away.

  “Do better.”

  My fists came up, and it felt comfortable like that. I relaxed my stance until I could easily bounce on my toes and then let my body take over. I was throwing combinations and a couple of times came close to hitting him. He was way too fast and very good at evading. He never threw a punch, though. I stepped up my tempo and added some kicks that felt natural, dodging in and out, trying to land something. Finally, it was like he slowed down just as my fist was flying towards his jaw and his head flipped backwards.

  “Fuck.” I dropped my fists and rushed forward to make sure he was ok, but he was smiling. His sharp teeth had cut his lip and blood was running from his mouth down the front of him, dripping off his chin, onto his chest, as he had predicted.

  “There she is,” was all he said before smiling at Armond.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. It was like you slowed down.”

  “It wasn’t his doing, Lex,” Armond said from the sidelines.

  I looked back at Roman. He just raised a brow at me. Armond had said I could slow time when he was telling me my whole backstory, but I guess I assumed I would have to relearn how to do that or wait for my memories to come back.

  “Now, we spar. You ready?” Roman asked, smiling with blood-stained teeth. He noticed me staring at them and snapped them together twice. Something about that action made me laugh. He froze and bit his lip almost looking like he would cry at my reaction.

  “I’m ready,” I said breaking the awkward moment and bringing my fists up into a fighter’s stance.

  Roman dove at me but I slowed him down and aimed a fist for his ribs. He sped up again as I hit him, and I dipped out of the way. He swung around to kick me, but I slowed him again and spun out of the way, releasing my magic. I could feel it pull in and out of me like my magic knew what to do even if I didn’t.

  We continued around the clearing, dodging and weaving. The feel of using magic seemed natural and easy. I didn’t hit Roman again, well, not hard anyway. When I didn’t dodge fast enough, Roman caught my shoulder with a punch hard enough to spin me around and knock me over. I didn’t get the chance to hit the ground because I was suddenly scooped up and found myself riding on the back of a white horse. I screamed and slammed my magic out. All I managed to do was stop my steed mid-stride, launching me face-first into the dirt. My previously busted lip had a matching scraped forehead. The air was entirely knocked out of me, so I lay on the ground gasping till I caught my breath. Then I laid there and moaned for a while too.

  I finally let go of my magic when I saw Roman approaching. He body slammed the white horse that I now saw had a horn in the middle of its forehead. It was Puck. My trusty war unicorn. Armond had told me about him, but not that he would scoop me up and run off with me. I thought he just carried me into war.

  Roman and Puck kept fighting in the underbrush until I heard Roman groan and then a slightly bloody-faced Puck came marching out.

  “You didn’t kill him, did you?” I asked the freaking unicorn that stood before me. It was one thing to hear you had a battle unicorn. It was another to see it.

  The unicorn was suddenly a man. A naked man.

  “Oh my God, why are you naked?” I screamed, covering my eyes.

  “I didn’t kill the vamp, just taught him a lesson about sparring too hard before you are back to your old self. I’m naked because I was having a nice relaxing bath in the river when that idiot hurt you.” He hadn’t moved away yet, so I kept my eyes covered.

  “I’m going back to my bath,” he said when I didn’t reply. I heard him walk off and when I thought he was far enough, I uncovered my eyes and stood up gingerly to check on Roman.

  “Are you ok?” I asked as he heaved himself up. He had a lot of bloody spots on his chest.

  “I’m fine, Lex,” he muttered while rubbing the blood off his chest with his hand. He mostly just smeared it around, which was disturbing.

  “Does he do that often?”

  “Stab me with his horn?” he said with a humourless chuckle. “Yeah, I guess he does. More so when you are around, though.”

  “Why is that?” I asked, curious about the dynamics I was missing.

  “He is yours, and you are his,” he said, as we started back towards camp. “It’s a symbiotic relationship between elves and unicorns.”

  I stopped walking. “I’m fae. Armond said I’m fae.”

  He spun to face me. “We only just found out. He probably didn’t want to confuse you.”

  Well, I was confused now. “So, I’m not fae?”

  “You are the fae queen, and you are half-elf.”

  That was confusing. How could I be the fae queen if I was half-elf? Whatever. As we turned and started walking again, I took Roman’s hand in mine withou
t thinking, and we both startled. I dropped his hand and looked away. It didn’t feel right to hold the hand of a man I didn’t know, even if my body seemed to remember him.

  “Tell me about the last time you saw me, before here, I mean,” I said, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between us.

  He frowned and looked at the ground. “We returned to find the village burned to ashes and Kingsland was under attack. You killed the trolls, but the king was already dead. We headed for the portal to the witch’s world, but I think you accepted your powers and then almost drowned. Maybe you did drown.”

  He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. I could tell it was affecting him, relaying the story. He took a few more deep breaths and continued. “Daisy found you at the bottom of the lake, and I fished you out. Then you ran like hell.”

  I let that soak in for a minute. I remembered running like hell. I remembered waking up and being scared. If I tried to remember before that, there was something about a duck bopping my nose. Daisy.

  “Why did the trolls burn the village and kill the king?”

  “Because the witch wants all the power, and Trolls are assholes who will work for anyone. She is trying to take the magic of this land by destabilizing the whole world. I’m pretty sure if she is successful, she will aim for earth next.”

  “We can’t let her do that.”

  “Nope,” Roman agreed, kicking some leaves.

  We walked along in silence for a moment before clearing the trees and coming back into camp. Daisy waddled over to meet us, and I scooped him up. His soft feathers tickled my nose as I lay my cheek on his back, still thinking over the witch problem. I had some magic, but I still felt utterly cut off from my past, and my magic didn’t feel whole.

  Back in camp now, Roman sat down on a log in front of the fire. I sat beside him and kept trying to piece together the missing parts.

  “I am missing something, Roman. Something big. Like half of me is still locked away. I feel empty.”

  “We were going to wait till you had some memory back, but maybe it will jog your memory if I just tell you.” He turned to face me. “You have magic that you pull from the ground, from all around you. It’s stronger than your own magic and appears it's connected to your elf heritage. You haven’t used it since you came back from the lake.”