by Peter Glenn
“Agreed,” LaLuna said.
Her answer surprised me. Didn’t she work for them? Then why didn’t she want to do what they’d suggested and bring them the baby? I shook my head in dismay. Nothing here made any sense.
“So, back to the human world, then?” I asked her, a little too much hope in my voice. Promise to Elden to look for his girl or no, I was ready to be done with this strange place.
“Eager to go back so soon?” LaLuna asked with a smile. I nodded. “I understand. The Seelie Court was not as welcoming as I’d hoped, either.”
Well, at least it wasn’t only me.
“Still, we cannot leave just yet. We have one more stop first.”
I blinked in surprise. “We do?”
LaLuna’s eyes took on a greedy look. “Yes, Sir Damian. We do indeed.”
Chapter Nine
“WAIT, WHERE ON EARTH could we possibly still need to go?” I asked LaLuna as we kept walking toward the portals.
I realized now that there was more than just the one I’d come through. Dozens, in fact. Part of me wondered where they all went, but only a tiny part. Most of me just shivered at the thought of using them again.
LaLuna sighed. “I told you, we have one more stop in the fae realm, not the human one. But we can go back to the human realm when we’re done there.”
Groaning, I pulled on my face. “Okay, bad turn of phrase. I meant where else do we have to go in the fae realm. We just talked to the head of the court and came up blank.”
“Not exactly,” LaLuna told me. “We didn’t come up with much, that is true, but we have a small lead to go on.”
I stared at her bemusedly. “How so?”
LaLuna let out a long, slow breath. “You have much left to learn of the fae and our culture, Sir Damian,” she said, gently patting me on the shoulder.
I opened my mouth to argue, but she shushed me. “It’s okay, I’ll explain. You see, fae cannot lie. It is against our nature to tell a falsehood, no matter how small.”
“Yeah, I’d gathered as much while talking to King Stuffy over there,” I muttered.
“King Stuffy?” LaLuna’s eyes went wide. “I’d keep my voice low, he may still be able to hear you over here.”
I gulped hard. “Warning acknowledged,” I whispered.
“At any rate,” LaLuna continued, “we cannot lie, but we can spin a tale such that you wouldn’t know whether or not it is the truth.”
“Meaning?”
LaLuna chuckled. “Meaning you have to listen to every word spoken with the greatest care, and especially listen for what’s not said.”
“Oh, okay.” Light was starting to dawn on me now. “I think I get it. King Oberon said he didn’t know of any Seelie fae that had the name Grace. Not that he didn’t know of any fae at all with it.”
“Exactly.” LaLuna grinned at me. “So that means he has heard of a fae with that name, it’s just not one of his.”
My expression soured. “But I thought the Seelie Court ruled all the fae?”
“No, Damian. Only the ones that think of themselves as ‘good’.” There was a strange emphasis on that word that made me think the way she used it wasn’t how I would mean it. It made me shudder once again. “There’s another kingdom in the fae realm. A darker one. The Unseelie Court.”
“Unseelie?” I’d heard that word somewhere before, though I couldn’t remember where. Maybe LaLuna had said it while describing the fae realm on the ferry ride over, or maybe it had been part of a warning from my mother years ago. I couldn’t recall at that moment.
But one thing was for certain; I knew it wasn’t a good thing.
My shoulders tensed, and I felt my chest start to tighten. “But don’t they hate all humans? I mean, more than King Stuffy back there.” I no longer cared if he could hear me or not. He’d kind of been an ass.
“Oh, that’s just a rumor,” LaLuna assured me, waving a hand dismissively. “They don’t hate all humans. Just most of them. And not all of them are bad.”
There was way too much emphasis on the “all” in that sentence for my liking.
“Ugh,” I replied, shaking my head. “Fine, let’s get to it. I did promise to protect you after all.”
LaLuna’s face broke into a wide grin. “You have my gratitude for that, Sir Damian.” She squeezed my arm gently, then looked away. “Fortunately, the Unseelie Court is easier to reach than the Seelie Court, but it’s still far away from here. We would do well to use a portal to shorten the journey.”
“A portal?” My face paled at the thought of going through another one of those.
“It’s necessary, unfortunately,” LaLuna replied. “At the very least, we need to go through one to leave the Seelie Court’s audience chamber. Though I suppose we could take a shorter portal this time and still walk a good portion of the way.”
“Thank you,” I said, my face giving away my relief. I didn’t want to spend one more minute in a fae portal than I absolutely had to.
“Well, we should get going.”
She had stopped walking and was standing right in front of one particular portal. This one had a slightly different look from the others. It still looked kind of like a shimmering mirror held in place by vegetation, but the image upon it was darker. More insidious, in a way that unnerved me.
“This is it, huh?” A knot formed in the pit of my stomach.
LaLuna nodded. “This will take us to the edge of the Unseelie territory, or so I’m led to believe. It’ll be a bit of a hike from there, and you’ll need to keep your guard up, but it’ll get us there.” She looked straight at me, worry plain in her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to take the portal that goes right there?”
“Uh-uh.” I shook my head vigorously. “I’ve had enough of fae portals to last a lifetime already. If I have to take one, it’s going to be the shortest one.”
“Very well.” She held her hand out, pointing directly at the chosen portal. “After you, Damian.”
I took another hard gulp and straightened myself as best I could to bolster my confidence, then I stepped into the shimmering image.
The world stripped away from me again as my surroundings began to shimmer and shift, but this time, I didn’t feel like I was falling or drowning. In fact, the portal felt almost pleasant, like it was eager to have me leave the previous area. Or perhaps it was eager to have me arrive in the new one. I couldn’t be sure.
Whatever the reason, this trip was far better than the last two had been, and I arrived on the other side of the portal completely unscathed.
I emerged into a land that was hard to describe. I could see the sun shining overhead, in about the same position it had been in when we’d gone into the elder’s hut earlier, but the light from it seemed to be muted somehow, like something was blocking part of its light and heat.
As a result, I shivered almost immediately upon entering this strange world. My clothes were still a bit wet, especially my shoes, and there was a slight breeze that sought to steal what little warmth I could muster. I rubbed my arms with my hands, and it helped to ward the seeping chill off a little, but I was desperately regretting not bringing my jacket to the fae realm.
What had happened to it, anyway? It had been on LaLuna when she’d created the portal, but once we were deposited in the fae realm, it had somehow disappeared. Another garment I’d have to replace when I got out of here. Damn.
If I got out of here, I corrected myself. Have to remember to think positive.
The darkened land stretched out before us in a series of rolling hills adorned with houses and other dwellings, and plenty of farmland. A path cut straight through the middle of it all, leading towards the peak of a distant mountain. I surmised that the mountain top must be where the Unseelie Court lay.
“How was it?” LaLuna asked me as she emerged from the portal and stood next to me.
“Not bad, honestly,” I admitted. “I liked that one a lot better than the others.”
“You did, huh?” S
he bit her lip, which worried me. That was the gesture she made when she was nervous. But what did she have to be nervous about?
“Pfft.” I waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. Let’s just be on our way to the Unseelie Court, okay? Don’t want to wait around in this cold forever.”
LaLuna nodded and offered me a slight smile. “Indeed. Let us get going.”
I didn’t need any more encouragement. We started walking up the pathway toward the distant mountain. It looked to be an hour or more out, but the walk would do me some good anyway. Help burn off the calories from that scone earlier. Those extra five pounds at my waist weren’t going to remove themselves, and I never had been one for going to the gym.
Along the way, I spotted several fae that I thought I recognized from LaLuna’s descriptions. There was a small hovel full of boggarts off to the left of us, and a group of brownies playing around a stump off to the right. Seemingly harmless, though I knew enough now to know that wasn’t the case.
Up ahead, a small river cut across the path. It didn’t look too deep, but it was maybe fifteen feet wide, and even small bits of water could be tricky if you weren’t careful. Plus, there was no telling how deep it actually was until we were in it.
“Needing to cross the river?” a cheery voice said from slightly behind me.
I jumped and spun around. No one had been there a moment earlier, I was sure of it. But now, there was.
The creature greeting me was a gnarly-looking fae gentleman a little shorter than I am. He was wearing a golf cap, had a stout nose, broad shoulders, and short, stubby hands and feet, and his whole body was covered in some sort of short, fine hair, almost like an animal’s fur or coat.
“Um, yes,” I said slowly. “Yes, we are.”
A broad smile creeped up on the fae’s face. “Look no further. I can turn into a horse and carry you both across the river for a small fee.”
“Why, thank y–” I started. I cut myself off before I could finish the sentence. A trick. There had to be a trick in here somewhere.
“Your offer is most gracious, but we will ford our own way,” LaLuna said a moment later, bowing slightly.
The fae looked from her to me and frowned deeply. “Are you sure you don’t want a little help? ‘Tis the least I could do for ones such as yourselves.”
“No, good sir. We will forge ahead on our own.”
He took the hat off his head and held it in both hands, looking up at me with giant doe eyes. “Please, good sir. I have three children at home. They need supper. This is how I earn me keep.”
I peered deep into his eyes and could feel the sadness in them. A small part of me wanted to accept his offer. What would it hurt? It’s just a little money, right? That small part grew and grew, and I found myself reaching for my wallet.
“No, thank you,” LaLuna said gruffly. She put her hand between us and pulled me away. “We will forge our own path.”
“As you wish, milady,” the fae said in a solemn tone.
The fae bowed as well, then backed away from us. As he did so, I found my doubt and unease returning, like someone had flicked a switch back on in my brain. Had he just used magic on me? I was really starting to hate this place.
Before we could do much else, I watched with grim fascination as the fae turned into a horse, true as his word, and ran right into the water without us. About halfway through the river, his body disappeared completely into the stream.
I felt slightly sick to my stomach. I’d been this close to accepting his offer, too.
“He was going to drown us, wasn’t he?” I asked LaLuna.
She nodded. “It was a kelpie. They’re not to be trusted near water.”
I winced at the near miss and nodded at her, sporting a grin.
Not having any other option, we walked right into the river. I was still a little worried about that kelpie, but LaLuna assured me we’d be just fine. Whatever. She knew this place better than I did.
As I suspected, the water wasn’t that deep. We walked forward several steps, and the current started to pick up, but the water only ever came up to mid-thigh on me or so. Had I been smaller, more like the size of most of the fae I’d seen, I likely would have been swept away. But LaLuna and I were able to cross the river just fine without any help.
Of course, the water did nothing for the seeping cold that was threatening to freeze me where I stood. Was the wind picking up as we crept upward in altitude, or was I just imagining it?
I shivered again, and this time, LaLuna must have seen it, because she rubbed my back for a second. I caught the faintest flash of blue energy behind me, then I started to feel warmer. I wasn’t quite sure what she’d done for me, but I could fight better against the cold now. I cracked her a smile the next time I caught her looking at me, and she grinned back.
Sadly, it did nothing for the sloshing water in my shoes, but you can’t win them all. At least I no longer felt like my bones were going to shatter.
We walked a while longer, passing a small village full of duergar milling about, fussing about this or that. Their speech was animated, but I couldn’t make out a single word of it. Past them was another hovel filled with what I believe were gwyillions. Hideous little female fairies that seemed quite at home on this treacherous mountainous path. I steered far clear of them. I’d heard they could transform into goats and trample people just for looking at them weird. Not something I wanted to mess with.
Up ahead, the environment shifted even further. There were still plenty of plants and rough grasses peeking up between the cracks in the terrain, but far fewer houses and nothing even coming close to a village. The colors changed, too. Gone were the vibrant greens and soft colors, replaced by a sea of orangish leaves and fields of brownish red.
In addition, the path got rougher, the angle becoming more steep to the point where we had to climb in some spots instead of simply walking. We made our way mostly in silence as we trudged onward, spurred on by the need to reach the court at the summit.
I glanced upward and could no longer see the summit, but looking down, I could see that we’d come a long way. I figured we must be getting close now.
“Care for a little help up the mountain?” a new voice said from behind me a few minutes later.
I groaned a little. It was just like the kelpie from earlier, I was sure of it. But although the path was getting rougher, I didn’t see any major obstructions this time.
With a small sigh, I turned to face the new threat. “Yes?” I said in an exasperated tone.
The fae’s little beady eyes lit up. This one was the size of a dwarf, but twice as big around, and he had a rather large pickaxe in his stocky hands. He was wearing a miner’s cap and torn trousers that matched the landscape.
“You want help?” The little guy said, grinning. “Glad to hear it. The name’s–”
“No!” LaLuna shouted, stepping in between us. “My apologies, my friend here meant it as a question, not as an affirmative.”
The fae’s eyes darkened, and his face turned into a scowl. “Are ye sure you don’t want just a little help? The path gets pretty rough up ahead.”
I glanced at the pathway again. It was remarkably clear and smooth. More so than the last little bit had been.
“But, it’s–”
LaLuna cut me off. “We don’t require your services.”
The fae shrugged its broad, muscled shoulders. “Suit yerself.”
He gave us both a little bow, then vanished into thin air, chuckling all the while.
“What was that all about?” I asked LaLuna.
“Never mind that. Just an overly opportunistic fat dwarf.”
I shook my head a few times and turned back around only to gasp at the sight that now stood in front of me. Sitting there on the road not five feet from us was a large, mossy boulder that couldn’t have possibly been there before.
“Ugh, so it is like the kelpie and the river, then, only in reverse!” I groaned.
“Indeed,” L
aLuna replied. “Only this time, it would have been more fatal, I’m sure.”
She was probably right, but I was in no mood to scale a boulder. That dude’s pickaxe surely would have come in handy right now. Of course, I figured that was kind of the point of his little trick.
“So, how do we get past this?” I asked LaLuna. “Both sides of the path alongside the boulder look pretty sheer, with no obvious handholds.”
LaLuna shrugged. “We’ll have to climb it, I guess.”
“Very well,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s shimmy up this thing.”
I felt around on the surface of the rock for a handhold and found one a little bit above where it was comfortable reaching. I jumped and managed to grab onto it easily enough, though. I held onto the spot with both hands and pulled myself up until I could wrap my hand around another spot farther up. It was sweat-inducing work, and my hands felt raw as they scraped against the harsh edges of the boulder, but there was nothing for it.
LaLuna was right below me, making the same leaps and moves. Only she seemed to be having an easier time of it. Climbing had never been my thing.
About halfway up, my hand slipped, and I fell, landing squarely on LaLuna’s shoulders with a loud grunt, straddling her head.
“Phew!” I exclaimed. “That was close!”
“Should have taken the closer portal,” I heard LaLuna mutter below me. But she pushed me back up and off her all the same.
We made the rest of the climb easily enough and were soon on the other side of the path. I took a glance around. The scenery had changed completely. Gone were all the plants and signs of life, replaced with large, craggy stones and dirt.
But on the bright side, we were almost at the top now.
“Now, this time, please let me do all the talking, okay?” LaLuna asked as we crested the last rise.
“Of course,” I promised. I made a zipping motion over my lips. “No more outbursts from me. Not like the last two times.” I gave her a broad smile.
She shook her head and sighed. “Please, Damian. This may be our only shot to get information on Grace.”