by J. P. Rice
The door opened more, skidding harshly across the stone and threatening to break my eardrums. The butler emerged and held his arm out. The Red Cap marched through the door with his tower of a red hat nearly scraping the top of the castle’s door frame.
He studied us skeptically, his head bouncing back and forth. His eyes ultimately focused on the Sphinx and he asked, “How’d you get out?”
It was the first time I hadn’t heard him rhyme.
The Sphinx took a step closer, and although the Red Cap’s hat was taller than she, the mythical creature towered over the smaller man. “I left my cage. Long overdue.”
The Red Cap stepped back. “I agree.
But why on earth would you come see me?”
The Sphinx turned and gave me a nod. The Red Cap’s eyes moved to me. I said, “We are planning to rescue Queen Al.”
He fingered his beard, playing with it nervously with his pointer and middle fingers. “I ask again why come see me,
State your reason or up and flee.”
“We are looking for help in the rescue effort. You will be rewarded.” God, I was getting sick of saying that.
The Red Cap savored the words for a few moments and a wry smile came over his crusty, white lips. “A rescue mission is what I hear,
I liked Queen Al, she was a dear,
If help it is that you shall need,
Then for your cause, I shall bleed.”
I was stunned and almost couldn’t believe it. That had gone better than expected after the hassle at the Rosendales. Now we just needed to find out how many men the Red Cap was going to give us. “How many people do you think you can bring?”
His wry smile was still glued to his face, and he explained, “I’m afraid it’s only three,
It’s I, myself and then there’s me,
A great warrior, I once was,
On the field, my chest would buzz,
Those who live on the land I own,
Would be worthless, even the grown,
Fighters they aren’t, farmers they are,
You’d be dreaming upon a star,
For I’m the one you want to take,
I swear I’m genuine, not a fake.”
I scratched my itchy neck again. “So it’s just going to be you and your butler?”
He shook his head and his hat looked like a leaning tower about to go down until he stopped moving and the red stack of fabric ceased swaying. “No it won’t, it’s only me,
He is more worthless than a flea.”
The butler lowered his head and skulked away from the Red Cap, slinking into the darkness of the castle. My excitement was dying as it seemed that both attempts to build a substantial army had failed. I had some ideas in mind, but they would be much easier to accomplish with a decent fighting force.
We told the Red Cap about the meeting spot and got ready to leave. The old man was jacked up for the rescue mission. I didn’t know much about the Red Cap’s past but the old geezer had a thirst for adventure. However, the tiny man didn’t seem like a great addition to the team despite his raging enthusiasm.
I got onto the Sphinx and we took off again, darting across the Great Expanse on our way to the King’s Castle. The sprawling manor of the King’s Castle and its surroundings came into view about five hundred yards ahead. We circled the area a few times, being careful not to draw any undue attention, and flew over to the meeting spot.
The apple grove was situated on an overhang jutting out from the peak of Mount Royal. Strange place for ancient trees that’s branches stretched up toward the heavens. The apples were inedible because of the crop curse, but they sure did look delicious.
The location provided a perfect bird’s eye view of the castle. I’d never seen the outside of the castle even though I’d been inside. I had been knocked out when I had been taken inside the castle and I had used my return potion to escape.
The sprawling manor had a stone castle with several towers touching the sky. I noticed about a dozen fires to the south of the castle with a large group of sidhe in the area. Large catapult siege weapons were scattered around the castle, but due to the darkness of night, I couldn’t see much more.
“So it looks like the king has an army of men camped out on the south side of the castle. I can see the cook fires and wine barrels from here,” said the Sphinx.
I stood a few feet from the precipice and gazed down. Never a fan of heights, my stomach churned as my knees turned to jello and I took a step back toward safety. “There has to be close to five hundred men. And that’s not counting the guards inside the castle. This is not going to be easy. Although it never is.”
She backed away from the edge and sat down. “We get to use our ingenuity. Don’t worry, I have lots of ideas.”
My brain was still a little scattered from the pain meds, so I said, “Me too. But you go first.”
The Sphinx rubbed her nose with the back of her paw, flared her nostrils and smiled gently. “I will send some spies in to find out where Queen Al is located in the castle.”
I paced in front of her. “How are you going to do that? We just agreed that there are armed men swarming the inside and outside of the castle.”
“That’s where we have to use our brains, big man. What if we could send something in there that no one could see?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows.
Of course. “Faeries.”
The Sphinx’s thin lips curled up and cracked open, exposing her pearly teeth. “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I got to know a lot of faeries during my incarceration because they were the only creatures that could slip through the cracks in my cage. I just have to call on them.”
The Sphinx pursed her lips and formed a tiny circular opening. She exhaled, and a lovely tune sprang from her mouth. Glittery bits of gold and silver enchantment appeared in the air, carrying her magical whistling up into the cerulean sky.
She said, “We have to wait for them to arrive, but they will be here shortly. We can send them to scout around the castle too. What else should they be on the lookout for?”
“The Dragon Horn,” I told her.
“Of course. We talked about that back at the Rosendales. Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked with concern settling in her green irises.
“I’m fine,” I responded casually.
The truth was, I had been forgetting things since the trip to Philly. I assumed it was from the medication. “The Dragon Horn should be somewhere within the castle but I have no idea where it would be. If they can find that, I can blow in it and bring the good dragons to our cause. We also want to know exactly how many men are camped out on the south end. And then obviously anything relevant they come across.”
Before the Sphinx could respond, I remembered something else. “I do have a return potion too. If we can get inside and find Queen Al, I could send her back to the earth’s surface with just a little bit of this liquid. And then we can do the same. That way, we avoid the sidhe army outside the castle.”
She cocked her head to the side. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving the people who pledged to help us for dead. I have an idea for the sidhe too.”
I stopped pacing and plopped down next to her. “Would you like to let me in on the little secret?”
“I suppose since you helped me escape, I will. What is the one thing that the sidhe are extremely susceptible to?” she questioned with her eyes opened wide.
I patted her on the back of the mane. “Iron.”
She trembled under my touch, probably because of centuries of minimal contact. “Exactly. Most people underestimate the power of a group of faeries. I do not. We can have them insert some iron into the wine barrels and thus eliminate that problem.”
I had to admit that was a brilliant plan. “That could work well. If we could eliminate that threat, we could rush Queen Al out of the castle and only have the dragons to worry about.”
She bit her bottom lip. “We need to find some iron, though.”
I dug into my hip pack a
nd pulled out an iron flask. I wore the hip pack to sneak in some iron and a few other things. The really important stuff like the return potion was in the inside pocket of my protection suit.
I held the silver object out for the Sphinx. “Will this work?”
Her chin moved up and down. “That will work perfectly.”
“Then it’s just the dragons we have to worry about.”
“Only the dragons,” she said with a laugh, peering down at the castle. “They will be a bigger problem. I don’t have any remedy for that if we can’t find the Dragon Horn.”
“I’ve killed a dragon before.” I wasn’t bragging. It was the gal darn truth. “It wasn’t easy and took a lot out of me, but it can be done. I’m not sure about taking out a lot of them though.”
“We’ll put that issue on hold for now.” She faced me and asked bluntly, “Are you sure the queen is still alive?”
“As far as I know. The Celtic Gods said that she was. But anything can happen down here, so that’s impossible to say. I do know this; I’m going in anyway. If that means I have to find her first, so be it. I’m the reason she’s in this mess and I’m not leaving without her.”
The Sphinx got back up and craned her neck to check out the area around us, seemingly restless as a fugitive. “That’s noble. Why do you say that she is here because of you?”
I lowered my head and turned away. I mumbled, “I really don’t want to go into it right now, but it was my fault.”
The Sphinx seemed to notice the hurt in my eyes when I looked up at her and didn’t pry anymore. I didn’t want to regurgitate the story, which would just make me feel bad. I’d done the right thing with Reg and now it was time to correct this situation with Alayna.
Redemption awaited.
But the path to it was laden with pitfalls and gambits. I’d already abetted in starting a war between the shifters and vampires. As if that wasn’t enough, I’d gone with Jonathan on the fateful trip to Philly. And I couldn’t forget about the trip to hell where I had made some enemies. With all that behind me now, I hoped to rescue my mentor from certain death.
A faint buzzing sound from above grew in volume as I looked up. A bunch of faeries hovered above the Sphinx. I watched as one of the faeries flew into the Sphinx’s ear and a smile developed on her face.
The Sphinx said, “Thank you. It’s nice to be outside once and for all. I need some help. I need a few of you to run reconnaissance missions in and around the castle.”
The faeries buzzed with glee as the Sphinx continued, “There are a few specific items we want you to be on the lookout for. But if you see anything out of order, be sure to report it back to me.”
The Sphinx went on to explain the specific items to check on. She divided the faeries up into groups, each unit assigned to a separate mission.
Chapter 28
As we waited for the sun to go down, the Sphinx used her razor-sharp claws to create small strips of iron from the flask I had brought. She had to make them small enough so that the faeries could carry them and insert them into the wine barrels.
I looked down at the freshly sparked fires on the south end of the castle and got a whiff of the burning logs. A few of the fire pits had spits with whole animals rotating slowly over the flames. Even up on the mountain, I could smell the newly kindled firewood and the charred skin of a pig. It reminded me to eat, so I grabbed the meal pills from my hip pack and popped one in my mouth.
I gently bit down on the sides of my tongue to create some saliva, tilted my head back and downed the pill. The supplemental forces from the Rosendales still hadn’t shown up, nor had the Red Cap. I was starting to think that they had second thoughts about the suicidal mission.
The sun sank over the horizon, leaving the land in an orange dusk as darkness tried to take over. One group of faeries darted off, zooming toward the castle to fulfil their pledge to find Alayna and the Dragon Horn.
Another group carrying the strips of iron flew down the mountainside in the direction of the sidhe warrior camp. A third group had been assigned the duty of gathering any applicable intel they came across. The Sphinx and I were unfamiliar with the interior layout of the castle, so the faeries provided a wonderful service.
When I thought about all the huge creatures I’d battled over the past few years, I realized it was easy to overlook a tiny being like a faerie. Their size provided countless opportunities that didn’t exist for larger creatures. And together, they had the combined strength of an ogre.
Even in the dreary light of dusk, I could tell that the Sphinx was nervous. It was apparent that the Master—whoever the fuck that was—had used fear tactics on her during her imprisonment. The Master had purged the Sphinx’s zest for adventure over the years, convincing the mythical creature that it was a privilege simply to be a prisoner.
If we were able to take out the king, she could live freely in Sleepy Willow or anywhere she wished for that matter. I suggested, “Maybe we should give you a new name since you hate Knelly Knell. You never have to answer to that name again.”
The Sphinx sighed deeply and a proud smile formed on her gentle face. It was as if my words had given her some wind beneath her wings. “What do you suggest?”
I didn’t have any names in mind although I had been thinking about a name for my first child. I still didn’t know what the sex was going to be, so I was researching both male and female names. “What do you want it to be? What do you like?”
“Gee. I’ve never really thought about it before. Give me a minute.” She inclined her head to gaze up at the stars in the sky as a dreamy look spread over her fair face. “How about Kovana?”
“That has a lovely ring to it. Kovana it shall be. What are you going to do after all this? Provided it works out the way we have planned.”
“I’d love to stay around here, but there’s too many bad memories. I want to do some exploring, just not sure where yet.”
“Isn’t it great to know that you can go anywhere? Do anything?”
“Can you tell I’m trying to contain myself? Am I scared? Sure. I’ve been inside that enclosure for so long that I never had any worries. I dreamt of getting out, but I’ve never had the feeling of being chased like I do right now.”
I chuckled. “I’ve made enough enemies in the short time I’ve been in this business to know that feeling. I constantly hear footsteps behind me. And most of the time, someone is chasing me.”
“Now that I’m on your side, I’ve got your back,” she promised.
“Thanks. I wish the world wasn’t so scared of things they don’t understand. I wish you could walk freely down a city sidewalk in Pittsburgh. Although the times are changing. My son gets accepted more often than I’d expected he would.”
“Why wouldn’t your son get treated well?” she asked, her words dripping with genuine concern.
“Because he’s a demon. You look like an angel. People might be scared of you at first, but then I think they would lighten up. My son is a goblin. A Bugul Noz to be precise.” I looked up to the plump moon resembling a pregnant belly and I thought about Burn.
The Sphinx asked, “Isn’t that a type of leprechaun?”
“It is. Some say it’s a fairy spirit, but most agree they are in the leprechaun family. But his particular look has been portrayed as evil so often that most humans believe he has evil intentions. He’s not the little Irish guy in a green suit. Hey. I just thought of something. You should come live with me,” I offered.
She sat back down but I could tell she was still nervous. She lifted her head to the night sky and said, “I want to be free to run and fly in the wild. I bet you’re mashed right in the middle of a metal city.”
I shook my head. “I don’t really like the city that much. I have a little farm outside the city. We haven’t started growing anything yet, but we could plant whatever you want. And there’s a bunch of vegetarian restaurants around for you to eat at.”
She tossed her head from side to side, contemplating my off
er. “We do make a decent team. If we come out of this alive, I’ll think about it.”
That was the slap of sobriety I needed to wake me up from our dreamy, starlit conversation and focus back on the task at hand. If either of us dropped our guard for a second, it would be game over. “The offer will always stand.”
Kovana would fit right in with my goblin son, my half-demon friend and the shadow hell hound.
A faint humming modulated into the tell-tale buzzing sound of the faeries’ wings chafing together as they moved. A large group of faeries in the form of a storm cloud flew up over the precipice and circled above the Sphinx.
One of the faeries flew into Kovana’s ear. I waited in suspense as the Sphinx nodded occasionally, seemingly agreeing with the words of the faerie. The miniscule pixie emerged from the Sphinx’s ear canal and rejoined her friends who were hovering just below the lowest branch of the apple tree.
Kovana turned to me. “They inserted the iron strips into every one of the wine barrels. There was a slight problem.”
There always was. Every. Single. Time.
The Sphinx continued, “Apparently these guys like to drink heavily. There were more barrels than we had anticipated. So the iron content might not be enough to kill them, but it should make them violently ill for at least a day. And that should be all we need.”
That meant we had to strike quickly. I jumped up and started pacing. “The dwarves and faeries should have been here by now. And the Red Cap hasn’t even shown up. And he had a much shorter trip. Now we have to decide if we want to strike before the King’s men recover or wait for help.”
The Sphinx got up and nudged me with her shoulder. “Relax, Mike. You’re getting all worked up. Why don’t you wait for the other groups to return?”
I feverishly scratched my neck wondering when the hell this itch would stop. The Sphinx was right. Apparently another side effect of the pain medication was that I got fired up at the strike of a match. If the Sphinx’s kiss was the final cure, I could ditch all the pills and start to feel normal again.
I hadn’t felt normal since I’d discovered my freakish talents a few years ago. But getting shot and the resulting pain meds made me feel like another person. No sir, I didn’t like it. I just had to fight through it, rescue Alayna and figure it out after that.