I was beside myself with excitement at the thought of a chance to celebrate. As we journeyed, Glen and I would likely miss the Queen’s Light festival and so I threw myself into helping Eithrig prepare food and tables for the guests. This would be our only chance for a night resembling a festival and I wanted to make the most of it.
We spent the afternoon making an odd soup, which needed endless different ingredients and had to be left to boil for ages. Then we baked bannocks and bread, even some with berries Eithrig had collected.
To enter the inn that evening everyone, apart from small children, had to pay a coin and so the food was simply spread around the hall for everyone to take whatever they wished.
A band arrived, much to the locals’ delight, and took their place in a corner of the hall to play. The songs were familiar but had a strange twist to them, unlike when they were played at home. Hearing songs that reminded me of the festivals in the castle back home made me feel desperately homesick again, so I went to find Finnian, who would be a welcome distraction from my thoughts.
He was sitting with Ramsey and Thorfinn enjoying a bowl of that soup we’d cooked earlier. He quickly made an excuse to leave them when he spotted me hovering nearby.
“Evening lass,” He greeted me with a kiss to the cheek.
“Evening,” I replied with a grin, “I can’t believe you enjoy that soup.”
He laughed, “there’s so much of it up here, I would have a pretty hard life if I didn’t.”
“True, but I’m still doing my best to avoid it.”
“Let’s get some drinks instead, that sure took the taste out of your mouth last time.”
I elbowed him playfully and agreed. Eithrig was only too happy to serve us both. She oversaw the drinks as she didn’t quite trust Hamish not to get carried away. It wouldn’t do for the whole town to be sick and hung-over tomorrow, not with sailing to be done and fish to be sold.
We found seats and watched as the locals started to clear a space in the middle of the room. I could see Glen on the other side of the hall, talking to an old man with a beard so long it reached his elbows and fairy symbols tattooed on his arms and neck.
“I wonder what my ma and da would do if I came home tattooed like all of you here.”
“You’d suit a tattoo Morven, just something small to remember this journey,” Finnian said nodding seriously at the idea and I loved how willing he was to agree to things. He made everything more exciting.
“Perhaps on the way home,” I agreed.
“Perhaps.” he teased, mimicking my voice.
The music picked up its pace and the drumming got louder as the locals came together to dance. They clapped and cheered as they spun each other around, stamping and switching partners quickly. I noticed Glen watching intently, probably trying to memorise the dance so that he could teach it to everyone back home.
Finnian stood abruptly beside me and grabbed my hands to pull me out onto the floor.
“I don’t know this dance,” I protested, shaking my head wildly.
“I’ll teach you.” and with that, I was part of the crowd.
I was quite sure that I looked ridiculous, flapping my arms about and hurriedly switching to new partners whenever directed. Luckily the locals seemed amused by it and not at all annoyed about me ruining the steps.
Despite feeling flustered and mortified, I found myself laughing and enjoying the dancing. I felt like we had been welcomed into their little community here. It was almost like stumbling across another home.
The dance changed to one where you stayed with the same partner and so I was glad to be back with Finnian. I think we were both glad for an excuse to spend some time close to each other. Despite my joy, I couldn’t help but be angry that I was to be a changeling.
If I wasn’t a changeling, then this would likely be the extent of Glen and I’s travels. Finnian and I could consider a relationship, but no. Because of the fairies in the north we had to keep travelling north into wild kingdoms full of unknown danger, all to try and stop me from dying. It wasn’t fair.
The dance slowed and I rested my face on Finnian’s shoulder, focusing instead on his warmth and our gentle swaying.
The days passed, and with them my bruises faded. The pain in my chest eased and even my cut knees scabbed over and began healing, as if nothing had ever happened. I was happy to be back to my usual self with only breathlessness to worry about. Glad to have survived the experience. However, I was less pleased about having to leave the villages around the loch, which I had grown to love.
Eithrig and Hamish packed us many weeks’ worth of bread, dried fish and cheeses. We filled leather pouches with water and had our travel clothes washed again before we were finally ready to leave.
“I’ll miss it here,” I said to Glen one night, as we lay beside each other.
“Miss the village or miss a certain tattooed young fisherman?” he teased.
“Both.” I admitted with a sigh.
“Aye, I’ll miss it as well. Especially when we’re running from bears, fighting wulver and sleeping on the cold hard ground. Then I’ll miss it all.” Glen said making us both laugh, half amused and half nervous.
“At least we can return after we have our answers.”
“Hopefully we can let the villagers here know how to stop their babies being stolen as well. Somehow spread the word and save them,” Glen said making me proud.
I had almost forgotten that we could help more people than just me. I was glad that Glen was here with me, for the times when I was so busy feeling sorry for myself I forgot that I was not the last changeling in the land.
The next morning, we filled up on salty porridge and bread. Then we paid Eithrig and Hamish what we owed them and gave them a tearful goodbye.
We would be following the road north, which was rarely used. If the map was correct, we would travel up through the Fairy Hills and then through the Fairy Forest, before arriving at a castle at the base of a mountain range. We would hopefully come across a few villages on our travels, but the woman had not known their precise location.
Glen and I decided to pay coin for two horses to take us up the road to the Fairy Hills. The horses we purchased were used only on these roads, and the seller assured us that once we dismounted they would wander back down the road and return home. It seemed unlikely to me that a horse could do that but he was confident enough that we didn’t question it.
The climb through the mountains would be exhausting, and we didn’t want to be tired before our climb even started.
“I’ll be seeing you on your way back then Morven, just ask around for me. I’ll be somewhere around this loch,” Finnian said, as we were saying farewell.
Glen had already gone out to the horses to give us some privacy, much to my embarrassment.
“We will. If I don’t come back, then just know that I had the best time here at the loch with you,” I said, blinking furiously to stop myself getting emotional again.
Goodbyes were always so difficult.
“None of that! You’ll come back down that road having sorted out the fairies in the north, and you’ll be full of tales about the adventure you had. Alright?” he said stubbornly.
“Alright,” I agreed.
Before I could say anything else, his arms were around my waist, pulling me close. Then, to my surprise, he leaned down to gently kiss me.
Distracted by the feeling of his warm lips against mine, I realised that my arms were hanging limply by my sides. After a few moments of debating what to do, I settled for gripping his leather coat tight. It was only when I felt him smile against my lips that I realised I was stopping him from moving away.
Reluctantly, I released him.
“Now you go have that adventure Morven.” he placed one last quick kiss on my lips before pushing me gently out of the door to face an amused looking Glen.
“Ready to go?” he asked with a smirk, to which I could only give a dazed nod.
M eeting with the Laird
s and Ladies was never my favourite thing to do, and I liked it even less when Aelwen was away. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as Laird Lus, who was unfortunately in charge of overseeing crop growth, approached me.
I already knew what he was going to ask me, thanks to Aelwen’s warning before she left for Wulvendach. She had said no to his suggestion the moment he voiced it, but still he thought trying me would be a promising idea. He was a surprisingly large fairy, and I often wondered how much of the crops he consumed himself.
“My Queen,” he greeted dramatically, performing a ridiculously low bow in front of me.
Beside me I heard Tormod cough to hide his laugh. It always amused me to see just how low some of the Lairds would bow, especially when they wanted something. I was not sure who started the rumour that the closer to the ground you got when you bowed, the more likely the Queens were to agree to your proposal. I was grateful for them anyway, it was the only fun part of these meetings.
“Good to see you Laird Lus,” I said, although I was sure my expression conveyed just how unhappy I was to be in his presence.
“I had been hoping to see you here.”
He clearly thought that small talk would make me more likely to agree to his request. Oh, how wrong he was.
“This is the designated meeting time in which Laird’s, like yourself, can raise issues with the Queens of this kingdom. Last time I checked I was one of those Queens.” I said scathingly.
“Yes, your majesty,” he forced a laugh, “I will get straight to my point. The kingdom of Culhuinn has a much larger crop yield than us here in Norbroch, and I think I know how we could improve our own.”
“That is because Culhuinn is a much larger kingdom than Norbroch. But do tell me your wonderful plan,” I mentally prepared myself for what the fool was about to suggest.
“I think, your majesty, that with the use of humans for labour, we could vastly improve our crop yield and farming practises. Perhaps even improve all aspects of our kingdom.”
I felt Tormod stiffen beside me and I sighed heavily. Even with Aelwen’s warning and time to prepare myself, I felt a surge of anger and had to fight the urge to slap the stupid fairy right across the face. How dare he.
“How exactly would the employment of beings weaker than ourselves improve this kingdom?”
“You misunderstand me, my queen. Not employment, we would simply take the humans from their land. Give them no choice but to work here for us, like they do in the south.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that we do not produce as high a yield because here the weather is less suitable for crop growing? Not to mention the fact that we have much less space free for crop planting?”
“Each of those are problems we can’t control, but we can control the labour. Free labour is exactly what we need. Trust me, my Queen.”
“I do not trust you. In fact, I am beginning to doubt you are who this kingdom needs in control of crop growth. I seem to recall you inquiring about this with the good Queen Aelwen not more than a few weeks ago and being told the exact same thing,” My last slither of patience was gone. “Our answer is no. The answer will always be no.”
The Laird’s face paled slightly and he looked increasingly flustered. He had clearly assumed that Aelwen and I did not converse about the proposals made, so had hoped to convince me, and that I would then convince her.
He should have realised that I was the Queen least likely to ever agree to use feeble humans as free labour, and that he would soon be looking for a new job.
“Come Tormod, this audience is over,” I said, striding from the room without a backwards glance.
Aelwen and I ruled Norbroch together and we would until the day we died. No pathetic Lairds or Ladies would divide us, no matter how hard they tried.
10 YEARS AGO
“Are you not angry that you were stolen from your family?” I asked, as Lachlann and I wandered through the Verch forest, careful on the snow which had frozen and turned icy overnight.
The ever dutiful Tormod was trailing slowly behind us, attempting to pretend he was not there and give us privacy.
“I am angry, but what can I do about it? There’s nothing to be done,” Lachlann answered with a frown.
“Are you sure there is nothing you can do?”
He sighed, “I wouldn’t want to abandon everyone I know, and there is nowhere we could all go to escape the King. He would find us before we could make it far enough to hide.”
“I could hide you here.” I said, surprising myself. Though I knew that I meant it.
I did not care if it risked the new and fragile relations between our two kingdoms. The more I learned about King Ferchar, and the way he treated the humans, the less I wanted anything to do with him.
Lachlann took my hand, “I know you would Euna, but I can’t.”
We wandered in comfortable silence for a while longer, the snow crunching beneath our feet echoing loudly through the trees. Lachlann’s hand in mine felt like the only source of warmth in the whole, vast forest. I was anchored to him.
A short time later, we came across an area of the forest where huge stones, carved with the symbols and runes of the Others, were scattered. I always sensed a higher presence of magic here near the stones, and today was no exception.
I became aware that I could sense another being nearby and tensed, as did Tormod who hurried to my side. I knew that I could always count on him to be quick when he thought his Queen was in danger.
We stopped walking, which caused Lachlann to throw a confused glance at me. I simply shook my head and placed a finger to his lips so he maintained his silence.
I never felt worried about danger. I trusted Tormod with my life and I knew that I could likely defend myself against most threats. Lachlann, on the other hand, looked horrifically fragile and human all of a sudden. I worried that he would not be able to defend himself, should we be attacked.
Both fairies and humans were mortal, although we fairies age much slower than humans and can heal much faster. The realisation that I was worried for Lachlann, and that I might not be able to protect him, turned my insides to ice.
He flinched beside me as the source of all our worries suddenly revealed itself and the silence was broken as Tormod laughed.
From amongst the trees a will o’the wisp appeared, a tiny flying fairy carrying a bright lantern. As a child, my father told me that the light was so bright to human eyes they could see nothing but a floating burst of magic. Often, they were tricked into following it to their doom. Thankfully, Lachlann made no move to rush off towards the will o’the wisp and it looked to me with a questioning glance, waiting to see what I would do.
The will o’the wisp watched at us curiously. Floating in a circle around the three of us, waiting to see if it could persuade one of us to follow. I always feel wary of them as it is well known that they speak with the Others and the Otherworld. That they obey the commands of the Others when they are not spending their free time trying to trick humans. It is an odd mixture of habits.
“It wants to see if you will follow it. If you do, it will lead you off into the forest. You will become so lost that not even your King will be able to find you,” I explained to Lachlann, who still looked bemused.
It saddened me to realise that he was never told these stories as a child, as he had no parents to raise him. I highly doubted King Ferchar took any time to teach his human servants about the Others and magic.
“You could find me.” he smiled, still watching the little fairy and its lantern curiously.
“I would send Tormod to find you whilst I sat and enjoyed a nice drink back at the castle,” I teased.
Lachlann made me feel younger than twenty-two. As father died whilst we were still young, I felt a duty to our kingdom to mature and become wise as quickly as possible.
Aelwen did also, but she still managed to find the time to fall in love with multiple men and women, and sneak out of the castle to go on romantic evenings with them. She would
come back smiling and seemed to float around the halls happily for days after. Her strange, almost obsessive, behaviour had always confused and annoyed me until now.
Now, I noticed my thoughts turning to Lachlann when I should be focusing on more important things.
I felt happier. It was as if a weight I had never known I was carrying had been lifted. I realised that I was happier than I had been since before Aelwen and I became orphans, before the responsibility for this whole kingdom fell on our shoulders.
The will o’the wisp eventually lost interest in us and floated off amongst the snow frosted trees, whether to trick some unsuspecting wanderers or to obey the silent commands of the Others, we would never know.
Seeing it made me wonder just how much the Others cared about the lives of us here in Norbroch and across the land.
We returned to the castle a few hours later, by then Lachlann’s nose was bright red from the cold and I was eager to get him a hot meal. A human I had never seen before was waiting for us. He had blonde hair, which was pulled back into multiple plaits, and he was smirking. I had a moment of panic as I wondered why he looked pleased to see us. Imagining him telling the King about us. Our whole relationship ending in disaster before it even began.
Fortunately, Lachlann embraced him when they met, so I assumed he was another stolen child that Lachlann had grown up with. Tormod and I were left as awkward bystanders for a few moments whilst they greeted each other.
“My Queen, this is Alasdair, another servant of the King,” Lachlann eventually introduced him.
“Pleasure to meet you,” I said stiffly, wanting to make a good impression but unsure how.
“The pleasure, is mine your majesty. Lachlann speaks very highly of you.” he said as he gave a low bow.
“Lachlann should not be speaking about me at all,” I gave Lachlann a glare which made him laugh. “I am sorry to say I have heard nothing about you.”
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