by Amy Sumida
“Which means that they could be anywhere,” Arach concluded.
“Yes, my King.” Mallien inclined his head.
“There must be a way to locate them,” I argued.
“Faerie would know where they were,” Lugh suggested. “Let's go back and ask her.”
“We'll see if she answers,” I muttered. “She's been as distracted as the rest of the Fey.”
“She may not be able to sense them if the magic is fluctuating,” Mallien pointed out. “But as I have no better solution to offer, I agree with the High Prince.”
“Fine, let's go speak to.... hold on,” I interrupted myself. “We're forgetting someone—someone who isn't distracted and who could tell us where there's faerie magic on Earth.”
“Who?” Lugh asked.
“Alaric,” Arach answered with a grin.
I was wondering when you were going to remember me.
Chapter Eight
“Al!” I exclaimed. “It's good to hear the voice of a sane consciousness.”
Alaric, Consciousness of the Void, laughed in my mind before saying, Yes, Faerie seems... well, not herself these days.
“Did she tell you anything about what's happening in the Faerie Realm?”
Enough that I've determined the situation to be unstable and a threat to this realm.
“Yeah, that's about right,” I muttered. “Any thoughts? Maybe a suggestion?”
I would recommend warding the Earth as the Faerie Realm is warded but I don't think that's possible.
“I don't think even my star could do that.”
“Do what?” Arach asked.
“Ward the planet.”
“Why not? It has brought thousands of people back to life and wiped away the memories of millions more,” Arach reminded me. “How much harder can warding a world be?”
Remind the Fire King what a ward around the world would mean.
“It's not merely setting a ward. I'd have to create tracing points as well,” I explained. “And they'd have to be all over the world and then, all of the Gods would have to be notified of their locations and if I skipped one or someone forgot, they could get lost in the Aether forever. There's probably even more to it than that; those are merely the issues that spring to mind immediately.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Al, what about our theory on Faerie expanding. Do you think that's likely?”
It's entirely possible. You have changed the Faerie Realm a great deal, Vervain. Fertility, the seasons, time, and even a new kingdom. Such things can have a cumulative effect, collecting magical sparks until it becomes an explosion.
“Please tell me you mean that figuratively.”
“What?” Lugh asked. “Share with the rest of the class, Vervain.”
Mostly figuratively, Al said. It could have been literal—a magical explosion that has rippled out to Earth. All I can see are gleaming lines connecting the realms through the Aether—lines that weren't there previously.
“Alaric says there may have been a buildup of magic from all of the changes the Faerie Realm has gone through,” I finally clued the others in. “It may have resulted in a type of explosion that burst out to Earth. He says he can see new connections between the realms.”
“He doesn't happen to know how to cut those connections, does he?” Lugh asked.
You cannot cut magic like a thread. You must stop the flow and to do that, you either have to go to the source of the magic or the source of the explosion. You can touch the Great Nine Magics through your star, Vervain, but how you could manipulate them into pulling back those tendrils is beyond me. Finding the origin of the explosion might have better results.
“But if the explosion is the result of several things, how do we find the source of it?”
Not the source, the origin—the place where the explosion happened.
“Wouldn't that be all of Faerie?”
It could be, he conceded. But usually, explosions have an origin. I believe there's a precise location in Faerie where all of the magic came together.
“So, this could be a wild goose chase,” I grumbled.
Unfortunately, I have nothing else for you to hunt.
“He says we should find the origin of the explosion,” I summed things up for the others. “The possible site where the magic collected and exploded out to Earth.”
But first, you need to staunch the flow as best you can. I can tell you, or show you rather, where Faerie is leaking into the Human Realm.
“Thank you. I'd appreciate that.”
Images started surging into my mind.
Chapter Nine
On the second day of our mission to staunch the flow—yes, there were so many damn faerie spots on Earth that it took more than a day to get to them all—we were attacked.
The magic hadn't jumped from all of the new paths—I mean raths—so there were quite a few that withered after the rath was closed—no dragon fire needed—but every location so far had been more rural than urban. We'd come close to a few towns but had yet to find a rath inside a city. It felt to me as if the magic preferred the open spaces or perhaps it was easier for it to transform one type of plant into another instead of changing cement into something living. Whatever the case, we were in the wilds again, surrounded by trees, some of which were breathing, when a screeching child came running out of the forest at me.
“For my brothers!” the little boy shouted.
He appeared to be six or seven years old, blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned. A bandanna ringed his forehead like Rambo, mud streaked his cheeks, and a golden wand glowed in his hand. He pointed the wand at me—never a good thing in my experience—and light blasted out of it. The light hit me in the chest and I went flying. I smacked into a breathing tree, causing both of us to gasp, and then crumpled onto the gnarled roots. They separated to cradle me as if they knew the bashing hadn't been my fault.
As the men gawked and I climbed to my feet, buoyed in part by roots, the kid ran, ducked behind a tree, and disappeared.
“A Thaisce!” Arach hurried to my side and ran his hands over me. Once he was assured that I was unharmed, he headed after the child. “I don't know who that small god was, but I'm going to roast him and have a little snack before dinner.”
“Funny that you should say that,” I muttered as I walked after him.
There was no point in rushing; I knew the kid would be long gone. He wasn't the type to stay and fight, more of an ambush and flee kinda guy.
Arach sniffed the air. “He traced. But we can track him.”
“Forget the Lord of the Flies; he's not worth the effort.” I grabbed Arach's hand and drew him back to the clearing where the other men were waiting with shocked expressions on their faces. “We don't have time to chase him.”
“But, Vervain, he attacked you.” Arach gaped at me. “You want me to just let that go?”
“I killed all of his brothers.” I frowned in thought. “I think I ate them too. It was awhile ago; I don't recall everything that happened. But if I did eat them, they deserved it—just desserts.” I snorted at the play on words. “He must have heard about how I'd been turned human and thought he'd get some vengeance. We've been expecting my enemies to start showing up since Hermes never did a follow-up report about me getting my magic back. I'm actually a little surprised more gods haven't made the effort.”
“Was that a reference to the book or is that god really called the Lord of the Flies?” Lugh squinted at me as if he were still processing what I'd said.
“A reference to the book. Come to think of it, I never got his name.” I squished up my face. “I probably should have looked up his name, what with killing his family and all.”
“When was this?” Arach asked me.
“Remember when Zeus got barbecued?”
Arach blinked. “Yes.”
“That little boy was one of the pitmasters, as it were. He had a belly full of Zeus when we first met.”
“That child is a cannibal?” Ro
ry asked with horror.
“A cannibal god or rather, a god who turned cannibal,” I corrected. “They were eating other gods to acquire their power. And he's not really a child.”
“And here I thought the Tuatha were vicious,” Lugh muttered.
“Stick with me, kid, I'll show you all kinds of horrifying things.” I winked at him.
“Gee, that sounds great!” Lugh exclaimed sarcastically.
“Let's get back to work.” I took another look around the forest, just to make sure the kid hadn't come back for another go. “Hopefully, we won't have any more interruptions from little orphan Canni-bal.”
Chapter Ten
Night found us at the Killington Mountain Lodge in Killington, Vermont. No, I'm not making that up, that's the name of the town, and I didn't ask why. Frankly, I had enough horrors in my head—along with all of those damn pictures of raths that Alaric had put there—to deal with anything else. Two days in and we still had several spots to go. At this rate, I'd be caught up to the time I'd left the God Realm and could pop over and give everyone an update without using my ring. Which leads me to the reason why we weren't going back to Faerie every night. First, it wasn't worth the trips we'd have to make back and forth to the Great Tree, and second, I wanted time to catch up so I could bring my other husbands in on the mission.
So, we were sleeping in Vermont.
It was lovely, actually. The weather was warmer than England but still a bit crisp at night—the kind of crisp that's enjoyable. Fall was already starting to show its auburn face there, tinting several trees gold and rust, and there was that smell in the air. The almost-Fall smell that's hard to describe. It's probably the combination of dying plants and cooling soil, something unpleasant like that, but I liked it. Of course, that could be because my dragon sensed that things were getting dry enough to burn.
We'd checked in and said goodnight to our team, then headed upstairs to a relatively nice hotel room with an odd color scheme of gray and orange. We'd gone shopping on the first day when it became evident that the work wouldn't end by nightfall and we'd all need a change of clothes among other things. I wasn't the only one with a satchel to lug around now. I set the satchel down, stretched, and smiled when I heard the sound of rain. I went to the window to verify that the patter against the glass was indeed a light rainfall.
“I miss our sons,” Arach said as he stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I snuggled back against him and continued to gaze out at the rain. Despite being a Fire Faerie, I loved the rain. It reminds me of home—my first home in Hawaii. The house I'd paid for and lovingly decorated myself. I didn't get to see a lot of rain anymore, what with one home having the weather of Africa and the other located in the Kingdom of Fire. Only the Weeping Woods had the humidity I craved. I still had my house in Hawaii but I didn't have a lot of time to visit. Mostly, my lions used it when they wanted to visit the islands.
“I miss them too,” I said softly. “But I always miss someone.”
“That's better than having no one to miss.”
“Very true.” I glanced back at him. “You're calmer here.”
“Calmer?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Less sexually aggressive.”
Arach blinked. “You're right. The urge has lessened.”
“That's interesting,” I murmured.
“Indeed,” he agreed. “It appears that being in Faerie is the trigger.”
“It wasn't your magic but the magic of Faerie that was affecting you. So, it was Faerie itself that caused your behavior. I wonder if the other men have noticed a difference?”
“I'm sure they have.” He lowered his lips to my ear to add, “Do not go inquiring, A Thaisce.”
“I wouldn't. I was just wondering.” I laid my arms over his and sighed in contentment. It was nice to just stand there and relax for a moment. To just—“What was that?” I straightened and peered through the rain.
“What?” Arach shifted to my side and stared out the window with me.
“There, by the treeline.” I pointed.
Something gleamed—two somethings. They looked like eyes except that they glowed. It wasn't a sheen like the reflection of a cat's eyes, but a true glow.
“It's too low to the ground to be a person,” Arach noted.
Then the thing ventured into the wan light from a nearby lamppost. It wasn't a person, though it was as large as one. Shaggy, dark fur covered its canine body. It swung its head to the side as if searching for something. Or perhaps it was simply getting its bearings. Then it howled.
“A bargest,” Arach growled as he spun and ran for the door.
“Damn!” I snarled as I snatched the keycard off the dresser and slipped it in my jeans' pocket.
We barreled down the hallway but were held up at the elevator. As we waited—Arach impatiently shifting from foot to foot—the other men joined us.
“Saw it too, did you?” I asked them.
“It seems that our fears have come true except in the opposite way,” Mallien said grimly. “Something has indeed come through the rath but instead of leaving Earth, it has arrived.”
“Yes, yes, we figured that out,” Arach growled as he rushed into the elevator. “We need to get that bargest back to Faerie before a human kills or catches it. Or vice versa.”
“If anyone sees it, they'll probably think it's a wolf,” Lugh said.
“With glowing eyes?” Arach asked.
“Humans believe what they want to believe,” Lugh argued. “As long as they don't have a corpse to dissect, we should be fine.”
We ran out of the hotel, the startled night clerk jerking back in his seat as we passed. I briefly considered turning up my body heat to keep myself dry but the amount of heat needed for that would likely produce steam and could even burn my clothing. So, I only spiked my internal temperature high enough to combat the cold. It may have been Summer but it was late Summer and also night, making the rain chilly.
Our group darted across the lawn, toward the bargest, which was still roaming the edge of the treeline, held back by water and wariness. It saw us coming and lowered to its haunches, looking as if it was about to put up a fight. But as we drew near, it realized what we were and its fight instinct switched suddenly to flight. It leapt into the forest and sped away.
“I've got its scent,” Arach snarled and took lead. “Split up and circle it.”
The men behind us veered off, going out to either side before circling forward. I stayed with Arach; I'd caught the scent too. The bargest was afraid.
The rain thinned under the tree canopy, though the drops seemed larger. It made it easier to see, especially with the enhanced sight I had from all of my beasts—dragon, wolf, and lion. My instincts took over and I leapt over obstacles with barely any thought, all of my focus on the animal I pursued. I could hear the others around us and I was certain the bargest heard them too. I hated scaring it but we needed to get it home and we'd just closed the rath it had used to get there. That made us its only hope.
An eager growl from my husband warned me that it was time to hem the beast in. I drew up beside him, then slowed to a stop. The bargest was directly before us, its breath spraying water from its nose and its sides heaving. Glowing eyes darted everywhere, searching for a way out.
“It's okay,” I said gently. “We only want to take you home. You don't belong here.”
The bargest's ears poked up. Most fey creatures can sense what a faerie is saying, if not comprehend the words precisely, but when he took a deep sniff, he started to shiver. My words may have been calming if I hadn't also smelled like a Dragon-Sidhe. Every fey animal knew to fear us. Not because we hunted them but simply because we smelled like a superior hunter—top of the food chain. The bargest whimpered and crouched, preparing to fight despite its terror. Even a mouse will bare its teeth when cornered.
Arach sprang before I could say another word. He landed on top of the bargest, grabbing the beast in a strangl
ehold at neck and waist. They rolled and vanished—traced away in a second. The rest of us walked up to the spot and stood staring down at the patch of wet leaves where man and beast had been. We waited, hoping silently that Arach had made it through the Aether with the bargest.
In a few seconds, my husband reappeared and announced, “The bargest is home.”
“Thank goodness,” I said in relief.
Arach frowned and sniffed deeply. “I wouldn't go thanking anything yet, A Thaisce. It didn't come through alone.”