"It's speaking!" The pixie flew forward, pulling at the loose strands of my hair that were now poking up every way from my sleep.
I tried to wave her off, her flying was too precise. She dodged any attempt I made to swat her away from my head.
"Will you stop that!" I stood, stretching my arms over my head to get away from her.
"Ooooh, don't mess with her! Vethari will be so, so mad," another voice whined from the side of the room. Only now did I notice another opening that led to the entry of this main room, though there wasn't any light to keep it bright enough to see within.
Out stepped a small person, its head looking out from the unlit room. It was the face of a young boy. His hands looked messy, black dirt underneath his nails. He had shaggy, brown hair that seemed filthy as well, and his eyes were colored like pale caramel. His pupils, however, looked like that of a goat. The iris long and horizontal. Off-putting to say the least.
"Who are you?" I took a step back.
"I'm Rolun, and she's Ke." The boy’s voice wavered as nervously as my own. The pixie finally let me be as she fluttered over to the boy and plopped atop his mess of hair. She pulled it forward as she sat upon his crown as though she was trying to drive him forward like a pony.
"I'm Penelope," I replied, "You said the name Vethari. Are you his captives as well?"
Did fae capture weaker fae? All I knew was what I'd read in the books, though there was much more I had to have been ignorant of.
The boy shook his head, sending Ke flying off and screaming at the top of her little lungs with her tiny voice, only holding onto him by the small strands of hair she had gripped in her miniscule hands.
"Captives? No, no, we help keep his home clean and tidy when he's away."
Rolun stepped forward, each step giving a soft click-clack sound that reverberated in the hollowed-out room.
My eyes trailed down to his small torso, covered with brown fur, unlike the fur Vethari wore, however, as it seemed to grow out from the lower half of his body. It led down to his backward-bending knee. Of course, to be expected, leading further on to hooves.
I let out a bit of a squeal but shut my mouth quickly. The goat-boy called Rolun seemed to notice my startled expression and took several steps away from me.
"I didn't mean to surprise you, Penelope."
Even if he was a faerie, he was still just a child. Or so I thought. As far as I knew faeries lived for hundreds of years, if not more.
'"It's okay. I was just taken aback. That's all."
I placed my hands onto the tattered skirts of my dress, pulling them into my hands so my fingers wouldn't fidget nervously. I didn't want to seem too afraid of a boy.
"Look at the human. What a nice human!" Ke fluttered around the room, now that she had released Rolun from her tiny grasp. The shy goat-boy came forward again. This time his head low as he kept his eyes to the floor, his hands fumbling together in what seemed like nervousness.
"Are you hungry, perhaps?" he asked, and for the first time in this encounter, I genuinely smiled at him. The thought of food overriding any other sense.
I nodded furiously, "Yes. A touch thirsty too."
Rolun grinned toothily at me as he trotted toward the small wooden box I had seen earlier. He opened it and stood on the front edges of his hooves like a child on their toes as he reached inside. I blinked, watching as his arms seemed to go down farther than there was space for. It was as though the box opened deep into the ground.
I rubbed my eyes, thinking maybe I'd been dreaming it from my rough sleep. But no, it was still so. A magical box?
"Honey and honey and honey and apples!" Ke continued to sing to her own tune as she was now hovering close to Rolun, watching whatever it was that he had been gathering from inside the box.
As he stood back to normal, he held a small glass jar containing what looked to be a fat honeycomb, swollen with honey. In the other hand, a plump apple and a waterskin.
Rolun trotted closer toward me, extending his arms to offer me the food. I could hardly contain myself as I graciously accepted what was being given. I popped the lid of the jar off, allowing it to fall to the ground as I dug my fingers inside. As I fished for the comb itself, I gobbled up globules of honey until I could break a piece off. Sucking on it, I also grabbed the apple. It was difficult to not shove all the plump, red fruit into my mouth with the honeycomb. I felt so desperate for sustenance.
Even though the food itself was rather simple, it was still the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten. More delicious than any of the finest cuts of game or the ripest of fruits. Certainly, better than anything I'd eaten at Gwen's little soirees.
They both seemed to just watch me, either in disgust at my lack of etiquette, or in horror at the capabilities I had to eat every morsel of food on offer. It wasn't long until I was full, only stopping once I had demolished the apple and half the honey.
The look on their faces turned to unabashed curiosity, causing me to flush in embarrassment. I licked my fingers clean before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
"Sorry," I wiped off any of the remaining fluids onto my dress. It was already ruined, so what difference a little stickiness?
Ke giggled, noticing how I was slightly flustered as she darted off. She flew around the ceiling as she sang about how I ate in a rather obnoxious way.
"Thanks Rolun. Now, can you tell me how I can leave this place?"
His head tilted to the side cutely, but he only shrugged his shoulders.
"No secret exits? No way you can magic me through the tree?" I was grasping at straws and kept pressing him for an answer, but he only shook his head.
"I can't help you. Vethari would be right peeved with me, he would."
His hoof tapped against the floor, watching me, awaiting a reply.
"Rolun, tell me why you're working for Vethari. What does he do here?"
"Mmm, what's it to you?" He grinned as Ke flew back down. Finally shutting her mouth to sit atop his head once again.
"Please? If you won't help me get home, help me at least understand why Vethari has brought me here? I'm nobody important." I pouted my bottom lip out as I sought even a drop of sympathy and information.
"Well, I guess I can tell you." He shrugged again, waving his small hand toward a bare corner of the room. As he did so, the small bits of roots that poked through the wall began to grow and warp into a makeshift chair.
"Whoa!" I jumped in surprise but followed Rolun as he walked toward the small stumps he had sprouted.
"You can use magic too," I said, mostly to myself, taking a seat on the surprisingly soft, moss-covered stump.
"Magic? That's not magic. All faeries are connected to nature in some way. It's natural. Real magic is something far more powerful, something only the high fae can do!"
He hopped onto the seat facing mine as Ke clapped her hands happily together, "Story time! Story time!"
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes as I found myself getting increasingly irritated with her, but I held back the frustration. I needed answers.
"So. Vethari?" I implored, trying to keep them on track.
He nodded. "Vethari is like a leader here. When Faariin is away, he takes his place when we need to make important decisions, mhm."
I ran my tongue over my teeth, focusing on the ground as my mind wandered.
He was a leader? Of high enough station to have servants, but that was surprising.
"How are Faariin and Vethari connected? Are they family?"
"No. Well. Kind of. Nah. Mmm, well, sort of." Ke went back and forth with herself at her weak answer to the question.
"Shush Ke! They're blood brothers. A long time ago most, if not all, of us faeries that live in these woods were part of the Seelie Court. Faariin and Vethari made a blood oath to connect them with one another forever."
It sounded ominous, though I'd read about the Seelie Court before. I wondered why they left? No, no, I needed to focus on getting more answers about Vetha
ri.
"Why are you working for him? I'm curious."
There was a silence, even from the little pixie whose glow seemed to dim at the question.
"Humans sometimes get too close to our woods. They hurt us."
I made a face, "For no reason?"
Ke pursed her lips, leaning forward to look down and over into Rolun's face as it took on a solemn look.
"Sometimes we leave faerie circles to find things we can't find in our world. Human things, like baubles and tossed clothes. We fix them and trade them with others," he breathed, sighing heavily as his gaze seemed transfixed on the floor, "The knights from the white city came before, and they found my mother and I while we were scavenging."
Oh.
Oh, no.
I could see where this tale was going leading.
"My mother heard someone approaching and told me to hide. She did her best to defend us, but they killed her as I hid. I don't know why. They might have just been angry because we took some quartz we found outside the city where they throw everything away." The haunted look on his face disappeared as he shook his head slightly, forcing a smile and shrugging again. "Maybe they just didn't like us because we're fae and look scary to them. Faariin always patrols the woods in and out of the circle, and so does Vethari. Luckily, Vethari was got to us in time to at least kill most of the humans too. He can do real magic."
The sadness that was once in his voice was replaced with admiration and excitement.
"He didn't even touch them with his hands. He just made a fist and squeezed a knight until they popped, right out of the armor! It was like stepping on a berry." He grinned brightly, swinging his little hooves to and fro.
I paled at the thought. They had to have been knights from my city. But the way he spoke about something so gruesome, so gleefully, was off-putting. Especially when it came from a child.
"Anyway," Rolun continued, "He helped me back here. There's not a lot of satyrs in our village, so I didn't have anyone else to cling to after mother's soul left to the Great Beyond. So, he took me in. He needed someone to watch his home when he went out on patrols, anyway. So, here I am!" He crossed his fingers, nodding quickly.
"Why don't you go find other satyrs then? Do you prefer it here?"
"Well, I like it here. Faariin is a fair leader, and Vethari is powerful. Plus, most satyrs live in the Seelie Court. My mother and I left when our leader decided to break away from his court. It wasn't all that great there anyway. Much better here."
From what I'd read, fae had two courts. The Seelie Court, or day court, and the Unseelie Court which I believe is the night court. Something akin to good and evil, but I'm sure there were far more nuances to it than that. It couldn't be put so simply, I'm sure.
"So, this isn't a court, then. What are you?" I tilted my head to the side, curious.
"We're courtless faeries. We just all live together and try to stay away from humans and fighting between the two court factions. It's happier this way, I think."
All I could manage was a nod. I didn't completely understand the intricacies of the fae, but perhaps I'd need to learn more about them if I were to have even a semblance of an opportunity to flee back to my home.
"Penelope?" Rolun asked again, his hooves click-clacking onto his chair.
"Yes?"
"Why don't you like us?" he piped up. I squinted at him, confused.
"What do you mean, I never said I didn't like you."
"Mm-mm. But humans hate us. They want to kill us all. Why do you wanna do that?" The innocent look on his face began to crack my heart.
"Not all humans want to hurt faeries." I leaned forward, speaking softly to him as if it was a shared secret amongst us.
His brightened up as I spoke.
"My mother? She loves faeries. She loves everything about them. She taught me some things of your kind as well. So not all humans hate you. Some of us are nice."
Ke began to cackle, flying around the room so quickly I couldn't keep my eyes trained on her as I leaned away once she took flight.
"She loves us, she loves us!" she sang.
Rolun grinned wide at my words, his teeth just as pointy and sharp as Vethari's own. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up yet again as I nervously looked at them.
I had to remind myself he was still just a child. Whether he was a human child or a faerie child, it did not matter. Children were children.
I hoped.
"If Vethari is so great, can you tell me a little more about Faariin? Is he as nice to you as Vethari?"
Rolun instantly sucked in his lips, pressing down on them as he watched me.
No, not me. Over my shoulder toward something else. The hairs on th nape of my neck stood on end at the presence that seemed to suddenly appear in the room out of nowhere.
5
"Go ahead, Rolun. Is he a good fae?" Vethari's voice was cool and calm.
Rolun hopped off his makeshift chair and pranced over to the supposed 'high' fae. "Welcome home, Vethari! Let me take that." The boy extended his hands toward the small wooden basket that Vethari had hanging from his forearm. He let it go, allowing the satyr to accept it.
Ke, I now noticed, was nowhere to be seen. Her glow emitting from a small pot that hung from the roots atop the ceiling. Hiding as it seemed.
My captor payed little heed to my presence as he walked from behind me toward the mass of furs sprawled over the floor. Sitting down with a heavy thud and crossing his arms. His eyes closed with a soft breath.
I sat still, focusing on him as Rolun set the basket atop the lid of the magical box, exchanging it for several scrolls within the container. He trotted back to his master, passing them over.
Vethari reached out to grab them without even looking. It must have been a daily routine for them.
His eyes snapped open once he unfurled the first scroll and began reading them quickly. Almost as soon as the scroll opened, he tossed it to the side.
After five or six of them in total, he allowed his arms to fall back over his head.
I sat awkwardly, watching him as I snuck a glance at Rolun who too sat in silence. After a few moments passed, Vethari's left eye snapped open, glancing toward me. My skin crawled.
"I'm aware that you have questions to ask of me. Hurry and ask."
How rude.
I cleared my throat, straightening my back, and mustering up what courage I had.
"In fact, I do. And the first question I have I'm sure you're well aware of."
Vethari snorted at my words, an annoyed pull to the corner of his lips as his eye snapped close made my face burn with a mild frustration. He angled his body more toward me, lying further on his side, "No, I cannot let you go home. It's a risk we cannot afford to take."
I scrunched my face, "What risk? What’s my purpose of being here? Why don't you just use me for one of your sick faerie rituals and sacrifice me."
"Is that what you want?" The golden fae's grimace turned into a smirk, amused at my anger. "Faariin would thoroughly enjoy the idea. Relish it, in fact."
I made a face at him, "Obviously not. But you still should answer me."
He clicked his tongue, his exposed abdominal muscles flexing as he moved to sit up, arms falling to his side now. His fingers dug into the clay floor as he turned himself to face me completely. "I said to ask questions, I didn't say I'd answer them."
"Vethari, please! After... everything," I blushed at the memory of our night together, "Can you please just answer a question."
I heard the flitting of Ke’s wings, but my eyes were downcast, becoming a bit embarrassed, and unable to look the faerie in front of me in the eyes.
"I'll indulge you in one answer. Ask it."
I sighed, repeating myself, "What is my purpose of being here?"
Vethari cleared his throat, and I heard his knuckles crack.
"Your purpose is to aid me in my plan."
I waited for him to continue, but he said no more. With a hard huff, I finally looke
d back up at him, glaring. "That's it? You can't tell me more than that?" I threw my arms up in frustration.
He shrugged, still grinning, "Yes, that's it. I've answered two of your questions now. Shouldn't you thank me for being so generous?"
I wanted to roar at him, but I couldn't muster the strength to be any angrier than I was already, so I backed off.
"Fine, thank you," I spat, rising from the ground.
Vethari watched me as I rose, placing an elbow onto his knee, resting his face within his palm. "So now that you're mine, what shall I do with you?" The tone of his voice made my skin crawl again. It was eerie and hinted at something I no longer wanted to do with this disgusting fae.
"Excuse you. I am not some object that can be owned, faerie. I'm a lady! Not a gown, or a ring."
His eyes roamed over my figure, but I stayed my ground.
"You don't look like much of a lady with how filthy you are, and your dress all tattered. More like a young peasant girl pretending to be a lady."
I'm sure he foresaw my oncoming bombardment of insults as I grabbed the ripped shreds of my dress that still clung around me, hardly covering my upper thighs, and pulled them forward to hide as much of my exposed flesh as possible. He raised a hand as I opened my mouth to release my onslaught of hate and spoke.
"As you're to remain here for a time, you'll need to at least make yourself decent. And to smell nice. I couldn't dare to be seen allowing a pet to look unpresentable."
He winked, my hands balled into fists, clutching the pieces of cloth tightly in my hands, the scraps of the gown preventing my nails from digging into my palms.
"You'll give me a bad reputation with that bad attitude of yours as well." His raised hand turned palm up, and he snapped his fingers together. As signaled, the satyr hopped off his basket, with Ke fluttering close to his head of matted hair. "You're not looking any better, Rolun. Go to the river and take the human with you. Maybe you can both wash some of the stink from your bodies."
Solitary Fae (Humans vs Fae Book 2) Page 3