by Linda Jordan
Spring was here, after the long darkness of winter.
The birds were nesting. New plants poking up through the soil. Trees beginning to bud out again.
So why did he feel so old and tired? So alone?
He adjusted his brown cloak, worn thin from centuries of use.
He followed the old dirt trail up to the mound, sensing something wrong.
As he came closer he saw darkness.
The burial mound had been opened.
Stones closing the entryway bashed into pieces. He stepped inside and in the darkness he could see the grave had been violated. Bones strewn around in a display of arrogance.
Whatever had done this had no respect for the dead.
The smell that lingered wasn’t from anything he’d ever smelled before. The intruder hadn’t been human. Or animal.
It was something else. Something that tickled his memory. But it was so long ago that he had only a vague recollection. A threatening shadowy figure.
Then even the memory was gone.
He puzzled over this. Normally, when the mounds were tampered with, it was curious humans. Sometimes malicious ones.
But never a mysterious being.
Fiachna picked up the ancient bones and arranged them as they should have been. He sang the songs of his ancestors to them, a strong melody of courage and love. He placed the scant pieces of ornamentation in their proper places.
Hours later, he used his magic to move large boulders to close the opening, sealing it with a song of the stone Fae, deep and rumbling. He placed chunks of turf over them until the mound looked undisturbed.
“Sleep again, my friend.”
He secured the grave and drawing strength from the land around him, Fiachna tied the mound back into the boundary of Faerie. The graves all anchored the boundaries.
“We are built upon the bones of the past.”
This would need to be reported.
He called and a raven flew up and landed on his outstretched arm.
“Hello my friend. You must go to the Luminary. You must tell him I have found a disturbed grave mound. It was not disturbed by human or Fae. It was something else, much older. He must know this.”
The raven made a gurgling sound and flew off to deliver the message.
The day was mostly over, and although he was exhausted, Fiachna continued on with his never ending work.
Checking the boundaries.
There was no one else.
Chapter 9 ~ Adaire
Adaire stared at Dylan. He was curled into a fetal position on the cold concrete floor, dark circles beneath his eyes. His skin had stopped weeping water. It looked shriveled, as if there was no more water to give.
The cold iron affected him and Skye the most.
Skye sat cross-legged, eyes flashing around, looking for a way out. She made small whimpering sounds. Panicked noises.
It was still dark in the cell. She had no idea how long they’d been there. No food or water had been offered. No contact with their captors at all. Or captor. She didn’t even know how many there were.
She could smell the sea on Dylan. Salt and fish. Skye smelled like feathers and clean fresh wind. Egan smelled like a fire burning wet wood. Smoke.
Egan was curled into a tight ball between Adaire and Skye, trying to share their body heat. His heat burned Adaire slightly, but she didn’t move away. He seemed more affected by the cold than the iron.
Adaire was only affected a little by the cold iron. It was iron that had been forged for a very long time over relatively low temperature. Cold forged iron had an energetic presence that hindered the Fae’s use of magic, and even their life. Humans didn’t generally use it anymore, having discovered stronger metals and alloys, which they generally heated at higher temperatures, releasing the energy trapped within.
Adaire was at home with most minerals. The cold iron weakened her, but not like it did the others.
She could see the spaces between the molecules in the iron bars.
Could she make them move?
Adaire let her energy wander over towards the wall. She gently explored the structure of the cold iron bars and the steel panels. She let her energy play with the molecules and atoms, trying to make the spaces larger in just one small area. It was difficult to tell in the darkness if anything changed.
Through the small holes she could feel life. Others. There were other Fae in the cell next to theirs. She could feel earth and water. No fire or air.
She shifted her body and turned to another wall. Shifting things around gently, not pushing. She’d save that for later.
On the other side of that wall, she felt no life. It was an empty cell. Death lingered in that cell. Its occupants had been killed. The elements inside, the energies that had been part of the dead Fae, were depleted. They begged for release. She held the space open so they could enter her own cell. Their energy flowed into Dylan’s, Skye’s and Egan’s bodies. There had been no earth spirit held prisoner there.
Egan sat up, watching her and the wall. The fire energy that had flowed into him had woken him. He look more alert from the infusion. Had he known the fire Fae who had died?
Skye and Dylan hadn’t reacted.
She let the molecules slide back, closing the hole and turned to another wall. Beyond it was a completely empty cell. Turning to the last wall, she found what she sought. Beyond that wall lay no more cells. No more cold iron. It was the way out, provided she could move the molecules.
She let go and collapsed her energy back into herself.
Adaire staggered back to the center of the room and plopped down on the hard floor. She’d gone too far.
She pointed at the last wall and said to Egan, “Mark that wall. It’s the way out.”
Then she collapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 10 ~ Skye
Skye came back to herself when someone else’s air drifted past, seeping in through her skin. It smelled stale and was imprisoned air, but different than the air in this cell. Its presence enlivened her, strengthened her waning energy.
She wrapped her power around the foreign air, comforting it. Mourning its loss of the original Fae who hosted the energy. Where had the air element come from? It wasn’t exactly someone else’s soul, but it was close. And it was ancient and powerful.
Skye sat up and looked around, her vision clear in the near darkness. The iron cell hadn’t changed.
The others were awake, except for Adaire. She seemed diminished.
Egan burned brightly, he stood next to one of the walls. She watched as he shot fire at the wall, burning a spiral deeply into it. The metal glowed from his heat. Skye watched with awe as he melted a layer of the metal wall and heated up one of the iron bars. The smell of burnt metal filled the cell.
Then he moved back to them and plopped down next to Skye. She knew he was conserving his strength. She blew at him, fanning his flames a bit, sharing strength.
He smiled.
Dylan sat alert, on the cold concrete floor. He looked newly invigorated as well, reeking of salt and kelp.
“What happened to Adaire?” asked Skye.
“She moved the wall, I saw it,” said Egan.
He pointed, “In that room are two earth and two water spirits. In that one, there were two fire, one water and one air. In that direction, nothing. In that,” he said, gesturing to the wall he’d marked, “lies our escape.”
“How?” asked Dylan.
Egan said, “If she can open it wide enough, we can slip through and leave.”
“She’s not strong enough,” said Skye.
“And what about those others?” asked Dylan. “We all felt their presence. Can we help them escape too?”
“I don’t know,” said Egan. “I’m not sure if she’ll have the strength to open both walls. I can help some, but she’s far stronger.”
“If she can open the wall between these, then perhaps the earth spirits in the cell can help her open the other,” said Skye.
“It’s a gamble,” said Dylan. “We could weaken ourselves so much we don’t have enough energy or time left to escape.”
“It might take more time,” said Egan
“We don’t know how much time we have,” said Skye.
“I think we should try,” said Egan.
Dylan slid to an upright position. “You mean Adaire should try.”
“Can we do anything?” asked Skye.
“You burned the wall, Egan. Perhaps I can rust it.”
“Will that work?” asked Egan.
Dylan shrugged.
He moved towards the wall the two cells shared sliding like an amoebic human. It was very strange to watch. Skye noticed he didn’t touch the wall. About a foot away he spurted salty water at it in just one spot.
She wasn’t putting too much hope that rusting the wall would help anything. Not for decades. She knew they didn’t have that much time. They would dissipate before then.
After about an hour, Dylan said, “I can hear them doing the same on the other side. Maybe when Adaire’s stronger, they can help her. They must know we’re here.”
Skye listened and realized she’d heard them shooting water at the wall for a while. Dylan was just closer and louder.
Egan stood and went over to the wall he’d marked. He began flaming at it again. Melting more area, making the wall thinner. The cell began to get smokier. But one of the bars was completely melted through.
Skye decided to concentrate on Adaire. Letting her healing energies work on the dryad.
She knelt over her, letting her power flow into the earth Fae. Gently pulling her upward to a place where she could benefit from the healing. Bringing her back to a stable place. Helping build her energy back up.
Chapter 11 ~ Baylor
Baylor paced around the exterior of the cold iron cells he’d made. His dark skin made him barely visible in the low light of the abandoned warehouse. No one would see him. He could feel spring returning to the land, energy beginning to flow up from the soil. Smell the fresh rain in the air. The bare trees were budding out. Male frogs had begun to croak, searching for a mate.
His stomach growled with hunger. It had been days since he’d eaten.
His mouth felt dry. He should go find some water.
But he continued pacing a circular path around the warehouse.
This would be another hungry year. There would be no planting this year. Not until his people had reclaimed their land. There would be only fighting and war.
This was good.
They had waited thousands of years for this.
He felt the fog move through and knew she was here.
Cethlenn.
Wife.
Her bare feet padded on the concrete warehouse floor as she came into solid form, deftly avoiding broken bottles, cans and other rubbish.
“Husband,” she said.
He held out his arms and embraced her warm body and she his. Their bodies moulded together as if they hadn’t been apart for thousands of years.
He had missed her terribly.
His people had all separated in order to remain hidden. They were such powerful beings. Together they would have been too easy to track by the vile Fae.
“It has been so long,” she said.
“Too long since we separated.”
She nodded, looking around. “Are the others here?”
“Not yet, you are the first to arrive.”
“I have spent those years traversing the edges of Faerie. Watching it shrink. Watching them withdraw from the world. Except for a few strays,” she said, wearily.
“I’ve been spending that time collecting those strays,” he said, gesturing to the iron cells.
She cocked her head and smiled. “What will you do with them?”
“I’m not sure. Some have died, weakened by the cold iron. Others may serve as leverage with the Fae. If not, we will enjoy killing them, won’t we? As an example.”
Cethlenn sighed deeply. “I have watched the Fae kill so many of us. I’ve watched them kill humans. Then humans bred faster than even mice. They’ve driven the Fae deep into Faerie. But humans kill themselves and everyone else. There are too many of them. I am sick of death.”
“But we must retake our home,” said Balor.
How could she not understand this?
“What will we do with all the humans that populate it? They’ve paved the land. Built huge buildings. Our land has been changed.”
“Destroy their cities. Tear the buildings down. Flood the land and cleanse it of humans.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s possible. They are as tenacious as fleas.”
Water sloshed around his feet and the wind picked up.
Balor said, “Corb and Conand are here.”
A huge man with a hump on one shoulder and one leg longer than the other limped into the warehouse, accompanied by pools of water.
The breeze brought another man. His waist-long hair and beard blew in the wind which swirled around him. He floated in the air even as he came into solid form.
“We have come,” said Conand, the North Wind.
“Good.”
Corb of the sea asked, “How many will come?”
“I do not know,” said Balor. “I don’t know how many heard the call. I don’t know how many of us are left.”
“I was killed,” said Conand of the wind. “But we cannot die.”
“I was killed,” said Balor. “But no one can kill death.”
He smiled.
“Some of our blood was tainted though,” said Cethlenn. “Even our own daughter mated with one of them. We lost her and her children.”
Conand nodded. “It is so with many of our kind. There are few of us left.”
“I represent Domnu. Mother of us all, she of the deep abyss of the oceans. She cannot come here, but will do whatever we ask. She longs for revenge,” said Corb.
Balor nodded.
Domnu’s presence would be more than any of them could stand. She controlled the deep oceans. It was not time to empty them. Yet. But if that’s what it took to displace the Fae, he would see it done.
“Do you have a battle plan?” asked Conand.
“I have ideas. I will wait to see how many of us there are before I decide which one we shall use. But our time is here. The Fae have mostly retreated into Faerie. They have dwindled in number. They are weak. I have spent decades capturing the few who stayed out in the world. But I’ve finally finished. They are contained in these iron boxes. We can attack Faerie unhindered and without warning. They believe we are all dead. Fools.”
Conand nodded.
“How long will you wait for the others?” asked Corb.
“We have waited thousands of years. I only called for you two days ago. We will wait two more days. In the meantime, let us find some food. I am starving,” said Balor.
“Are humans any good to eat?” asked Conand.
“Too stringy,” said Cethlenn. “I think we should look for sheep or cattle.”
“Cattle,” said Corb.
“Let’s go hunting,” said Cethlenn.
“I’ll stay here,” said Balor. “I’ll call again and wait for the others.”
Cethlenn, Corb and Conand went out into the night, taking the fog, wind and water with them.
Balor walked on the wet floor around the wall of iron boxes, back to his stool. He picked up a wooden pallet and tossed it onto the fire as if it were a small stick. The wind brought the smoke in his direction. He breathed it in deeply. Willing to take the fire’s power and mingle it with his own.
Being a giant was easy in this world of small humans.
Chapter 12 ~ Dylan
Dylan stood staring at the wall of the cell. The cold iron set his teeth on edge. As well as the rest of his body. It was as if his body was screaming at him get out of here—you’re going to die otherwise. He hated this place.
The cold iron bars were backed with steel. The cold iron was probably weaker
and more vulnerable to rust.
He pulled water up from the earth below, through the concrete and onto the bars of cold iron. It was salt water. They must be near the sea. He could taste the green kelp, smell the salmon as the water flowed through his body and out the tips of his fingers.
After it hit the wall, it ran down to the floor and across the concrete back to him, his skin filtered out anything other than the water and then sucked up the water and shot it back up to his fingertips, keeping a steady flow going.
He could feel water hitting the other side of the wall with more force than his. There were two water spirits in there. Adaire hadn’t been able to open the wall long enough for him to identify what type they might be: Sprites, kelpies or any of the other varieties of water guardians. Or even if he knew them.
It was enough that they were trying to help.
Eventually, he had to stop. He stood there, slightly drooped over, resting.
Otherwise his energy would lower beyond his ability to recover. Finally, he dropped down into a small pool of water still on the concrete. Taking solace in the wetness.
Vaguely, he noticed Adaire was standing. She walked over to the wall and touched it with her bare hands, which amazed him. How could she stand the iron?
He could tell she was shifting things around with the wall. Water began to seep through from the other side, then stopped. He could feel the other water spirits resting too.
The hole was large enough he could sense two earth spirits come to the wall. They were helping Adaire do whatever she was doing.
He knew the metal hadn’t rusted much, but the constant water on it, for hours on end had weakened it somewhat.
Skye came up behind him and touched his shoulders. He felt her energy mingle with his. Even though she was an air spirit and couldn’t normally share energy with him, she was obviously a healer. Matching his energy, she helped him recover.
He basked in her breeze and napped sitting up, dreaming of the ocean on a summer day. Dylan dreamt he heard gulls crying out as they surfed the wind. Crows dropped mussels on the rocks, trying to crack them. Shore birds with long legs walked among the tide pools looking for food. Kelp baked in the sun, perfuming the air.