REALM'S END (BOOK OF FEY 1)

by Jules Hancock

  Gwenth pulled her hand out of his grasp. Briok’s skin on his hand felt rough, and scaly, it seemed to grasp at her skin. “Well,” her words came out a little breathy, for while Briok’s touch felt strange, she’d also felt a small electric spark as they’d touched. Gwenth cleared her throat, “I think your information might just be wrong fly boy.”

  “What?”

  “I was pulled through the wall earlier when I went into the tree and met Lillith and Sephoria, I touched these stones and clearly I’m alive.”

  “No that can’t be Gwenth,” Briok shook his head. “Something else must have happened. To use the stones to project an image takes much study, and to use them to travel takes even longer and a great deal of magic. Maybe you dreamt it all.”

  Gwenth’s beautiful green eyes flashed angrily as she turned on Briok. “What is it with you anyway?” I said earlier I dreamt it and you said then, it was real, now I say it’s real and you say it’s a dream? What is going on?”

  Briok gasped, he felt himself literally shoved backwards as Gwenth’s words hit him. He swiftly engaged his wings to stop himself before he hit the large group of stalagmites that stood behind him. Briok flitted out of her direct line of sight before he felt safe to try and understand what had just happened. How had she done that? How had this seemingly powerless girl used only her voice to force him away from her? “How did you do that,” he asked?

  Gwenth stood exactly where she had been before the attack on Briok, but her face normally pale with freckles was blanched ever whiter. “I…I don’t know,” and then she fainted.

  “Gwenth,” Briok shouted, as his wings carried him forward. He reached out trying to stop her fall, but Gwenth landed on the sand in a crumpled heap. Briok set down on the sand next to her fallen body; bending over Gwenth he gently reached out and touched her face. Her skin was warm and soft and he could see her eye lids twitching. He could smell a warm clean scent that seemed to cling to her skin, wafting up to his sensitive nose. Briok reached under her with his arms and lifted her warm body, into his strong arms, and flew her over to the resting place. Once there he laid her gently down. He knelt before her, and tried to arrange her limbs for comfort. He smoothed out her red locks, so that he could look at her face. He saw then that Gwenth was beautiful in her own way, not like a female of the Fey, but her features suggested more than he had first realized. He wondered how this young woman with no magic that he was aware of could command her breath that way. None of the Fey he knew could do such things. Were the stones helping her? He reached for the sacred water and poured some out wetting his hand and ran it lightly across her brow. Perhaps, she had not had her own awakening yet? Is that what held her magic back? The flicker of energy that had passed between them had not gone unnoticed by him either, he knew it was rare for an un-awakened fey to care about such things. Clearly there was an attraction but he knew that should not be, nor could it be. He shook his head, trying to pass the image out of his mind, for no matter what attraction came up, his heart was already given to one, it was long ago ordained and he could choose no other.

  Gwenth sighed as the water cooled her skin, her eyes remained closed, but Briok could see that she was relaxing from the power of the sacred water. He let her lie quietly, and flew over to the crystalline wall, near where they had stood before. Gwenth had said she had moved through the stones. Could that even be possible? Briok slowly searched the stone wall, for what, he wasn’t sure. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a glint of light. Moving closer, he saw, a red hair, wedged between two stones, just to the right of the translator stone. Carefully, he worked the hair loose from where it was caught and stood staring at it, his eyes large with disbelief. How could it be? This young woman shows up without any knowledge of magic, without any understanding of the Fey, and yet clearly she had gone through the wall, just as she had said. Who was she? Who, had that kind of magical strength, and how could she not know about it? It all seemed mind boggling. He bent over and whispered in her ear, “Come on now Gwenth, wake up.”

  Gwenth’s eyes blinked rapidly, and then she opened her eyes. She found she was looking up directly into Briok’s face. Her breath caught, and she felt a warm glow move through her body. Briok’s dark eyes were mesmerizing; she didn’t want to look away, but a sense of awkwardness came over her in nearly the same instance. “What happened,” she asked, her voice shaking?

  “You ok?” Briok asked, as he leaned in closer, ready to catch her this time in case she relapsed.

  Gwenth self-consciously ran her hands over her face and down her feather covered arms. “Ya, I’m ok, but how did I get here? Wasn’t I standing over by the wall?”

  “Ya, you were, but you fainted after you blasted me.” Briok, offered his hand to help Gwenth sit up.

  The memory came flooding back and Gwenth began to shake, and felt shock descend over her mind. “How?”

  Briok reached out with the water flask, and held it gently to her lips. “Here drink some of this. I think you’re in shock.” He gently guided the flask to make sure the water got in her mouth. “Good, now lean back and let the water work,” he pushed her gently back into the sand. “By the way I was wrong, while you were recovering I found this,” he said holding up a long red hair. “It was wedged between two stones, near the translator stone. I guess you did travel through the stone wall. I’m sorry.”

  Gwenth felt the water’s effervescence rushing throughout her body. It seemed to warm and cool her everywhere at the same time. She could hear Briok talking, but the water had her firmly within its trance, or it did till she heard the words, “I’m sorry,” suddenly that snapped her back to her senses. “What wait a minute did you say you were sorry?”

  Briok’s exasperation was clearly written on his features. He wondered how this naïve girl could know about magic. “Haven’t you heard a word, I’ve said?”

  Gwenth was chagrined. “No, not really, I’m sorry Briok I was just following the bubble trail.” She blushed.

  “What bubble trail are you talking about?”

  “You know, the water,” she mumbled. “The bubble trail, the water makes, as it moves through your body. Don’t tell me, that the bubble trail isn’t real either! Gwenth hurriedly rose to her feet and stomped off towards the stalagmites.

  “Gwenth, stop please! I’m sorry, no of course it’s real and so was your journey through the wall. It’s just that even most Fey can’t feel the water going through their bodies, so it caught me off guard when you said you could.” Briok flew over to where Gwenth was standing with her back to him. Briok reached out and gently touched her shoulder. “Please come back and sit down Gwenth, we have so much to discuss.”

  Gwenth turned around and slowly raised her eyes to look up at him through her long lashes. She saw the young fairy man hovering before her, and she smiled when she saw his distraught face. “So you really apologized huh, well since I sort of missed it maybe you could do it again,” her right eye brow arching upward as she smiled up at the Fey.

  Briok felt his heart thudding, as he watched Gwenth raise her face toward him, and shine her smile upon him. He was struck by the craziness of the situation. On the one hand she was a naïve child, and on the other hand she was beautiful young woman, even if she wasn’t a Fey. He could feel his cheeks flushing and so he cleared his throat and turned and flew a safe distance, so as not to have to share his emotions with Gwenth. He shrugged; she probably could read his mind anyway.

  “Yep,” she said walking back over to where they had created her a little camp.

  Briok swung around quickly, “Really?”

  Gwenth slowly settled herself into the warm sand. “Yes of course silly. I think it’s only right since I missed the first apology that you do it again. Don’t you?”

  Briok nearly fell over when he understood, where she thought the conversation had been going. “Oh sure, I mean, I guess so. Ah well then, I was saying I was wrong. I found proof that you did go through the wall, so I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubt
ed you.”

  Gwenth watched as Briok seemed to stumbling over himself. She had the distinct impression she had missed something important, again.

  “I’m still asking myself, how did you push me away with only your voice?”

  Gwenth thought a moment and just shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know,” she said waving her hand about the air. “This world, the cavern, your wings, and this task you think I’ve come to do, is just too much for me. I don’t even want to be here and well, it’s all pretty hard to believe and even if I believe this is all happening, it doesn’t mean I understand any of it,” she said, as a tear slid down her cheek.

  Briok watched in disbelief. How would this young woman be strong enough to do magic against the elders of the Realm when she cried over everything. It all felt hopeless. His thoughts turned once again to getting her safely away, and letting his world go on waiting.

  Gwenth continued crying. “You know what I think? I think this is all just a bad dream and maybe I’m lying in my bed having a nightmare and will wake up soon and go and have tea with my father and step-mother. That’s what I think!” She then began to sob all the harder, for she knew by the pitying look on Briok’s face that that she wasn’t dreaming at all and that made it all the worse.

  “Here now, don’t go on so, you’ll deplete your life force with those tears. You’re just in shock at so much change. Even if you don’t save Lillith or our world, I promise to see you home safely if I can, so stop your blubbering now and drink some of the water.”

  “I don’t want any more water! Can’t you see that it’s part of the problem? I’m not a hero; I can’t save Lillith or your world. I just want to go home,” she said. She made her way across the sand and lay down, hiding her face behind her arms.

  “Ok, well you rest, we don’t have to talk about the cavern anymore or any of it, just try and rest. I will come back tomorrow,” and before she could argue, Briok flew out the mouth of the cave and headed for home.

  Gwenth wiped her eyes and watched in surprise as Briok flew off. Rising to her feet she made her way to the door, heeding his caution about stepping outside, she got as close to the entrance as she dared. Gwenth stood close to the wall which was covered in flat crystals and watched as Briok flew along the shore line into the setting sun. Gwenth sighed but after having been inside for so long she was loathe to moving away from the door. Briok had said the Rowan had put a spell on the door so that no one would want to come here, so she felt safe in staying near the door for a little while. The night breeze was cool and the air was fresh and salty. It felt good to breathe the air in. From the cavern entrance, it struck her the view was oddly quite similar to what it would have been from home, but her view was restricted to open beach and the sea below. She darted a look at the opposite side of the cavern entrance, but as it stood farther out in the open, she felt she dare not try to see the harbor from that angle in case she exposed herself to someone’s view.

  Meeting Dembys

  Gwenth sighed and moved back through the inner cavern. Briok still had not told her the story of Lillith, though she felt too exhausted to really care. She just wanted to lie down. Sitting down in the warm sand, she thought of all the things that were different here, and of all the things that were similar too. Moving her eyes across the crystal wall, a shimmer of light caught her eye. She forced her exhausted body up again, left the warm sand behind, and walked over to the wall where Briok had pointed out the translator stone. She reached toward the stone, and then hesitated, before her courage reasserted itself and she placed her fingertip lightly on the tiny purple stone.

  Abruptly the cavern air felt heavy, and there was a pressure behind her eyes. Instead of being pulled forward into the wall this time, it felt as if the wall was waiting for her to take action and step through. Steeling herself she took a deep breath and stepped forward. A rush of disorientation came over her. Once more she found herself in the small room with no windows, which she now knew to be inside the body of the Great Rowan.

  “So you came back did you? I wondered if you would.”

  Gwenth turned and found Lillith sitting alone at the small branch like table which held a single tea cup. Smiling at her, she walked over. “Yes I came back. I need some answers, and it seems as if they are hard to get.”

  “Oh is that it, or is it more likely that you don’t want the answers you are getting?”

  Gwenth was surprised by Lillith’s reply. She gave the young Fey a searing look; all the while Lillith sat smiling in a completely beguiling way at her, finally Gwenth couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I suppose you are right. I am having a very hard time, you see, believing this is all real.”

  Lillith jumped lightly from her seat. “Here sit down I will get us another cup of tea, and answer as many questions as I can,” and then Lillith disappeared.

  Gwenth sat down gently on the branch bent into a seat and let her eyes roam about the room, her mind struggled to comprehend. It was a little unsettling to consider that she was inside of a living tree.

  Lillith reappeared. Setting the second cup down on the table, she looked at the tree a moment and another seat appeared, fashioning itself from the tree wall. Lillith pulled the seat closer to the table and sat down. Her hand reached out and she patted Gwenth’s knee, while she poured tea with the other hand.

  “How did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Make a seat from the tree?”

  “Oh that. Well, I asked the tree in my mind. We are connected that way and she provided it, that’s all.”

  Gwenth picked up her tea cup and sipped at the warm spicy drink. So I’m sure you have your reservations about my saving you? You know I don’t know any magic right?”

  “Ah, so that’s it. You are afraid of not being able to save me. The Rowan, says not to worry; you are ready now, just as you are. You will use your magic when you need it.”

  “How is it you can talk with the Rowan like that?”

  “The Rowan says it is like when you were young and talked with your little doggie back home. You knew she answered you though you couldn’t say so to anyone.”

  Gwenth mulled this over in her mind. She did think the dog had talked with her, but had never said so. “Alright, I don’t know how the Rowan would know that, but it is so. “

  Lillith’s orange eyes watched Gwenth, “Isn’t there more you want to ask,” Lillith said, as she sipped her tea.

  “Yes I suppose there is, probably much more if truth be known. How did this place come to be and how does the Rowan know of my world? How can you and I be related? Am I a witch then or a Fey? How am I going to get home supposing I do manage to save you? What if I can’t save you?”

  Lillith put her small hand up at his point. “Whoa, slow down, too many questions at once and the Rowan will only confuse me. First off you came here from the magic in you and in the Rowan, because you are related by ancestry, so it is within you to just come. You will always know home in the same way that your Scotland will always be home too, so will this place always call to you because it is in your blood to know. As for blood, well on one side or the other you are Fey, but Rowan says you are more too something even stronger, not a witch exactly, she thinks, perhaps a young Goddess. As for getting home a way will present itself, though none of us know what that way is as of right now and if you can’t save me then we will both die, because I am your ancestor, so by the very fact you are here you clearly will save me. Now can I ask you a question?”

  Gwenth stared at the calm young fairy. She sat her tea cup back down. “Yes of course,” she said.

  “How is Briok?”

  “Briok, oh well Briok is fine, though he is cantankerous if you ask me, and somewhat rude, but he is alright I suppose.”

  Lillith laughed, “Well that is a new side of him I’ve never seen, cantankerous and rude. Of course he was younger, when I was first imprisoned here but he was such always such a gentle wee lad then.”

  Gwenth was startled. “Yo
unger then you; that can’t possibly be, he is clearly older than I am and I would guess you are younger than I am.”

  “Well that is where you are wrong. When I was imprisoned I was much older then he, it is only the Rowan’s powers that has kept my youth in-tact, while everyone outside has gone on ageing. As for your age, surely Briok told you how we age much slower. Even he is many hundreds of years older than you are right now.”

  Gwenth blushed and looked down at her lap, “He did tell me; it’s just so hard to believe. So it’s true then. Do all the Fey live such long lives? He seems so much like the age of the boys back home; it’s hard to remember he’s older.”

  Lillith nodded.

  “Does the Rowan have anything to say about how I am to go about freeing you?”

  “She says only that it will be much like when you would lie on the heather and dream your stories awake.”

  “Dream my stories awake? What does she mean by that?”

  “I have no idea, I hoped you would know.”

  “How does she know about my dreaming, and how do you two communicate? I can’t hear anything or anyone talking.”

  “She knows from plucking the energy from your aura. Everyone has energy coming from them all the time. She is just better at reading it then most. She says you are easy to read, and while normally she thinks you should learn some protection, it seems useful, somehow, so she will not bother you with lessons for now. As for the communicating, I am with her, in her, of her now. It is like knowing your own mind, but bigger I think. We cannot be separated except in death. She could speak to you directly, but she feels even that may be too much for you.”

  Gwenth sat quietly for a while, and considered all Lillith had shared. She looked at the Fey girl, and she sense there was some bit of knowledge she was forgetting, but it was if it was stuck in the corner of her mind and would not come loose.

  “Rowan want’s to ask you a question if you please?”