by Mark Albany
“I think it’s pretty important,” I said, and walked over to them while sheathing my sword. The others joined us as well.
“As important as pointing out at the undead aren’t following golems anymore?” Faye asked, looking around at all of us. “Meaning that they’re probably following another, higher power and doing its will?”
“I thought we talked about that,” Aliana said as she moved closer to me and wrapped me in her arms. I thought that she used her wings too, as she pulled me closer and hungrily kissed my lips.
“Hello there,” I whispered when she pulled away, stroking my hair.
“You had us worried back there,” she whispered with a chuckle, nuzzling at my neck for a moment before turning back to Faye and Norel. “What do you mean, what is she?”
“Well, she’s cured of Abarat’s influence, that much is clear,” Norel replied.
“You’re welcome for that, by the way,” Lyth said. Her left arm was wounded. Norel could probably heal it, since she was powerful enough to do so. Unless she needed some rest. I needed some rest as well, and maybe some healing, although my bruises and cuts were comparable to the wounds that everyone else had.
“Lyth’s ability to break Faye from Abarat’s control is rather interesting,” Norel said while looking the elf up and down. “As is the sword. Swords, I suppose I should say. And yet, the bigger question that’s facing us is just what the hell Faye is!”
11
At Norel’s insistence, I turned and gave Faye another look. Sure, I had noticed something different about her before, and yet the details had completely slipped my mind. Of course, my mind had been on the horde of other problems facing us, so I had an excuse for my distraction. That, and the fact that I was still having trouble staying on my feet. I hated this feeling of exhaustion. I would have to see about improving my fighting stamina later, although of course it was my fault for charging in and trying to take control of a situation that I had absolutely no chance of taking control of, and thus wasting large amounts of my power early in the fighting.
Then again, I supposed that it couldn’t hurt to increase my stamina anyway.
My attention was currently better served in studying Faye a little closer. I narrowed my eyes, realizing that her hair had changed color from fully blonde to something a bit closer to silver, although the curls remained the same. Another thing I’d failed to notice was the fact that she was now in clothes or armor similar in modesty to Aliana’s, making it eye-catching in a way that I never would have imagined Faye to be. Her facial features all appeared to be the same, though. While she was the same person, there was just something different about her. And I didn’t think that I could come up with a better explanation for it until some other details were provided.
“So, what are we looking at, here?” I asked, stepping closer to the Official. “Are you still Faye? Or are you that mist-creature that came up from the gravestone?”
“The what now?” Norel asked, looking around.
“It’s a long story, we’ll explain later,” Lyth said and shook her head. “Although it does involve Grant getting kicked around by a misty ghost creature.”
“Shut it,” I snarled at her, and she grinned in response.
“I’m still the person I’ve always been, Grant,” Faye said with a smile, looking around at the rest of the team, trying to make sure that none of us would attack her as she spoke. “Just… more of me, I suppose. Faye, though? Really? That must have been Abarat’s version of a joke. The elf has a terrible sense of humor.”
I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer. “I really hope you can explain that as well.”
She rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine, if you need the whole story. Although I think you might need to sit down for the duration. You in particular look like you might just collapse.”
I wanted to protest, but there was little point in lying. Aside from Lyth and Faye, I wouldn’t be able to get any lie past the rest of the team, which meant that Aliana guided me over to the steps of the castle behind us while the rest followed and gathered around. Braire was the last to walk over, with her beasts coming in through the gates to join us. I watched the bear move closer, padding gently across the snow. The size of the creature made the ground shake with each step. I couldn’t imagine the kind of terror that anyone who faced him must feel. Yes, I did remember the terror that came with a dragon swooping down on enemy ranks. I wasn’t sure why the thought of a bear attacking was that much worse.
It moved over to me first. It didn’t look quite as horrifying when it wasn’t tearing through the undead with its powerful jaws and monstrous paws, but I couldn’t help thinking that there would be more than enough time for me to see him do that again. With one eye missing and the scores of battle scars on its body, it seemed less scary and more…protective. Whether or not all the injuries came from protecting Braire during the war, I knew that it held her closer than anything I could imagine.
I wanted to thank it for keeping her safe, but I didn’t see how I could. As it moved closer, I reached out to gently run my fingers across the fur of its neck. It was softer than I thought it would be, and the skin underneath, even with the scars, was less coarse. I smiled and leaned closer, and I felt its nose gently sniffing and brushing the bristles on its lips over my bare skin. I jumped back when teeth started to graze over me. Braire was laughing as the bear snorted, sniffed, and growled before it ambled over to where she sat.
Faye remained on her feet. Since she had only been an active participant in the latter part of the battle, I realized that she had the most energy left.
“A long time ago, before any of you were alive, except maybe you, your grace,” Faye said, nodding her head in deference to Lyth, who narrowed her eyes. “A long time ago, the kings of the elves asked the fae to ally to them. The fae were not war-like people, and, aside from a few among us, loved peace and were unable to defend ourselves from the ravages of the other races of the world.”
“The fae?” I asked, looking at Aliana, who nodded.
“The children of the forest, they were called,” the djinn said. “I thought they were long extinct. Lost, as she said, to the ravages of the other races of the world.”
“Not important,” Faye said quickly, shaking her head. It had to be a sensitive topic for her. “Back in the day, the elves did what they could to preserve our forests and leave them untouched for us to live in. In exchange, they commanded what few fighters we had, and those skilled among us made for them weapons of power that allowed them to better defend us. I was among the former. A fighter, outfitted with weapons of power to defend our people. But the elves fell, and while our alliances were eventually for naught, we knew that we had made the right choices. No offense, Grant.”
I hadn’t realized that there was any until she mentioned it, but as I thought about it, it made sense. There was only one power on earth capable of pushing the elves back, I thought. Humans. Me. No offense.
“None taken,” I said softly, bowing my head.
“When the last of the elven kings that had allied with us fell, his final words were to make this world for him to rest. As he drew his last breaths, I stood by his side, and when he died, I put his blade in a place that only I could find, should his heir come to claim it. At the end of the war, Abarat came here, looking for a weapon that would win the war. His heart was dark, and his purposes known to me, so I denied him the weapon. He did not take it well.”
Faye turned away from us, walking around the courtyard. I realized that the brambles were receding, growing back into the ground, if that was possible.
“We fought here, and he… bested me,” Faye said softly, looking around. “He realized two things, then. One, that I would never give him the weapon, and second, I was the only one who could give it to him. He decided to tear my soul from my body, and he buried it and surrounded it with pure iron. He took my body and used it as a tool for his own purposes, guising me as human and making me the Emperor’s Official when he had influence o
ver the world again.”
“If you don’t mind me interrupting,” I said, and she nodded. “What about… well, no way to say it, but flirting. When you were doing that, was that under Abarat’s influence, or…”
I let my voice trail off, not sure where I was going with that. I realized that I didn’t want to be saying this aloud in the presence of three women that I was sleeping with, but as I looked over, the expressions that I saw were amusement from Norel, interest from Braire, and… I wasn’t sure why, but arousal from Aliana, who was leaning forward.
“No, that had nothing to do with Abarat,” Faye said with a small smile. “Even with him in control, some parts of my real self have surfaced from time to time. The attraction was part of me, trying to break through his hold.”
I needed to change the subject. Aliana’s mind was going places that distracted me from the topic at hand, which was… something. I needed to find out what it was really supposed to be. I couldn’t remember, with Aliana’s mind drawing mine to rather more interesting topics.
“So, if your name isn’t Faye,” I finally said, breathing in to calm myself down, “what is it? You did say that Abarat called you that as a joke, or something to that effect.”
“Yes, he did,” Faye grumbled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “My real name is… rather more difficult for you lot to pronounce.”
“I think you can try us,” Aliana said with a small smile.
Faye tilted her head, smiling at the challenge as she said her name.
Or at least, I assumed that she did. What came from her lips was a long series of sounds and enunciations that I couldn’t make out. I even heard a couple of whistles mixed in, making me narrow my eyes. I was only partially sure that she wasn’t pulling our collective legs.
By the time she finished, I needed a moment to try and remember anything that I could use by way of a handle to understand what she said.
When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I shook my head. “You wouldn’t happen to have a nickname, would you?”
“I do,” she replied with a chuckle. “You can call me Faye.”
“I was under the impression that you didn’t like that name,” Norel replied as she pushed herself up from her seat on the steps.
“Well, it’s the name for my people, of whom I appear to be the sole representative,” Faye said with a shrug. “It might have been Abarat’s idea of a joke, but damned if I’ll let him use our name against us. Call me Faye, friends.”
“Faye it is,” I said with a nod. I pushed myself up from my seat, brushed off the snow that had collected on my trousers, and offered her my hand. “I know that it might not be my right to ask, being what I am, but we would be honored to have you on our side for the coming fight.”
“Don’t be like that,” Faye said, ignoring my hand and stepping in to wrap her arms around me in a hug. “Of course, I’ll fight with you, if only to hand Abarat his annoyingly arrogant ass.”
“I’ll take it,” I said with a nod, although it took me a moment to get over my surprise before I hugged her back. I hadn’t expected this kind of response from her, but it was a welcome sort of surprise. There were enough people who wanted us to fail out there, so it was good to have her on our side.
I looked at her and patted her on the back. “I think we’ve hugged for long enough.”
“Agreed,” Faye said with a nod, pulling back with a chuckle. “Before I leave, though, this place is, or rather was, under my protection. I would like to verify that none of the abominations that followed us here remain, as well as maybe fix the place up. I do owe the elf who lies here a great deal.”
“Have at it,” I said, after taking a moment to confirm that everyone else in our party agreed. “I would prefer not to spend the night here or in the damn tunnels that we were, and I suppose, are still in.”
“I can help her with the cleaning,” Aliana said, jumping lightly up from her seat and excitedly flapping her wings. “I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of exploring while we’re here.”
“And you’ll need my help as well, since tracking the undead across this place will require my help and that of my friends,” Braire said, looking decidedly less enthused about the prospect. She looked and felt exhausted as well, I thought. She took a moment to walk over and wrap me up in a hug, and gently punch me in the shoulder.
“Don’t you dare pull something like that again,” she whispered and lightly kissed my cheek.
I laughed, rubbing my shoulder. “I… didn’t mean it?”
“I know, but still, don’t,” she replied, leaning in for another kiss, this time on my lips before she pulled away to join Aliana and Faye as they made their way to the gates. The brambles were almost gone by this point, leaving the courtyard open and actually quite beautiful, with a fountain now visible, although the water looked like it was frozen over in a fairly eternal winter.
I made my way over to where Norel and Lyth were still seated, the latter inspecting the sword that she had been gifted with. Well, she had done more than her fair share in earning it, I supposed, and more on top of that with fighting to keep it.
I sat next to Norel, who smiled and leaned into me as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She sniffed and made a face.
“You need a bath,” she pointed out.
“I think we all do,” I replied. She nodded while running her fingers over my back, where a couple of bloodied holes were. I immediately felt her start to work her healing magic.
“So,” I said, playing with her hair as she worked, “why didn’t you want to join them in exploring this place? I assume that it has some sort of significance to elfkind.”
“It does,” Norel said softly, looking up into my eyes with a small smile. “But for me personally, it has a deeper meaning, one that I would rather not dig into.”
“You were here when it was destroyed, weren’t you?” Lyth asked, still running her fingers over the blade.
“What happened?” I asked in a soft voice. “Although… if the memories are too sharp to dwell on…”
She shook her head. “Nothing like that. The battle of Daryhan Castle was barely a footnote in the human history books. The elves had lost the war in the north for the most part, with most retreating to the larger fortifications in the south. This was a last stand of sorts. What few elves that hadn’t been able to retreat fell back here. This place wasn’t built for a long-term siege, so we were forced to abandon it after a few weeks, after sustaining heavy losses. I stayed behind when they marched in and tore it all apart. They didn’t care about the history and meaning that the building had, not even the beauty and effort that had gone into building it. All they saw was a tactical fortification that they had no need for. They pulled it apart, stone by stone.”
There wasn’t much emotion in her voice, but I felt it seeping through our bond as I pulled her closer. She hugged me closer as well, gently pressing her cheek against my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and kissed the top of her head.
“It’s not your fault,” she said, mumbling into me. “It was a war. Things were done that would never stand up under the morality of the life that we know now.”
“War morality?” I asked as I ran my fingers through her hair. “That’s the excuse you give for humans tearing into this piece of elven history?”
“Well, yes,” Norel said softly, looking up at me. “You don’t understand the kinds of decisions that go into fighting a war like that. Making decisions daily that will cost lives, knowing that not making those decisions will cost more. They bring out a side in people, humans and elves alike, that is rather unique.”
I couldn’t understand what she was talking about. I could criticize all I wanted, but the fact remained that I wouldn’t know what I would or wouldn’t do in a situation like that until I was faced with something similar. I still wanted to blame those long-ago humans for tearing down a piece of history like it meant nothing, and I still would, but I wasn’t going to pretend that I
knew what had driven them to do something like that.
All I could do was what I did now: wrap Norel up in my arms and help her forget the horrors that she’d experienced. I looked up and saw that Lyth had stopped playing with that sword of hers and was watching us with an odd look on her face. When she noticed that I was watching her, she smiled, shook her head, and turned her attention back to her new sword.
12
The hours came and went as Aliana, Braire, and Faye finished off what remained of the monsters that had followed us into the tunnels. There wasn’t much of a way to tell how time was passing in this place, as the sun seemed poised directly overhead from the moment that we arrived, hours before, until the point when we decided to go. The day seemed to drag on, anyway, and I wondered if it had more to do with the fact that I had been tired for so long that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be whole again.
We headed back the way we’d come, through the forest. Faye had to stop for a moment, as it appeared that the monsters had come through by breaking the spell that was supposed to keep this place hidden. I didn’t even know how they were supposed to have done that, but I had been able to pass through with only some difficulty. I was out of my depth here, and wasn’t in the mood to think critically. Maybe something that we could do tomorrow.
We stepped back into the tunnels. I realized that I hadn’t missed them even a little bit as we backtracked our movements through them.
When we reached where the cave-in had happened, the question of how the monsters had reached us, and more importantly, how Aliana, Norel and Braire had reached us, was answered.
“They tore through the place,” I said softly, looking around. “They dug right through the cave-in. How?”
“They didn’t care about more dirt coming down on them,” Aliana pointed out, raising a hand with some light to show where a couple of the monsters had been crushed under the rocks. “They just cared about getting to the other side. As quickly as possible.”