Faire Eve

by Catherine Stovall

  She would have to ponder magic and voices later. As she stepped out into the alley behind the diner, Eve realized there were fey everywhere. They cheered and congratulated her until her ears pounded. Some reached out and gently touched her, as if trying to prove she was flesh and blood. Some shouted criticism and political statements but they were few. Heron muscled his way through those who would not move and managed to hustle her out of the alley and around the largest part of the crowd without being harmed.

  After the tiresome day, Eve could feel her body still protesting all she had put it through since her journey had begun. Heron’s silence was as welcome to her as his strong presence. She needed to think without the pressure of friendly chatter. She did not understand some of the things going on and she hadn’t given herself time to examine anything.

  Distracted by her inner turmoil, Eve lost track of time and space until she realized they were already entering the alley. She had forgotten the roses completely until Heron stopped and gave them a seriously puzzled look. He eyed her questionably and Eve felt a little embarrassed under his gaze.

  “Faya mistook Vandel as a kidnapper and they got into a fight. I was unconscious for a moment but then I came to. I saw them trying to murder each other and freaked out. This magical ball thing appeared. Faya says I made it but I’m not so sure. Anyway, when I dropped it, the roses grew.”

  Eve waited a heartbeat to see if Heron would actually respond. He surveyed the dark black petals, studied Eve, shrugged his shoulders, and nodded before walking farther into the alley. Eve didn’t catch the smallest glimpse of disapproval but she felt self-conscious. The magic sphere was yet another mystery inside the enigma of her new life.

  They reached the head of the stairs and Heron bowed to her in farewell. Eve took two of the steps and nearly chickened out, but the temptation to help Bibesia’s called her back to Heron. She wasn’t a matchmaker and she was not one of those girls who played love games like a pro. She put it to him as straight as she could. As Heron stared at her in mute astonishment, she blurted out something of a lecture of how a man should not ignore the flattering attentions of such a lovely woman as Bibesia. The look on his face turned incredulous.

  Eve didn’t wait for a response. The unlikely possibility that he would talk to her about any plans for a clandestine meeting or tell her he did not return the woman’s fondness sent her scurrying. Even if Heron did actually talk, Eve suspected she would be the last person on earth he would choose to discuss his love life with. Her cheeks burned as she went up stairs.

  As she burst through the door, the giggles she tried to suppress died in Eve’s throat. She felt odd and out of place being there alone. Not wanting to sleep in Faya’s bed, Eve dragged a plush, royal-blue comforter to the chair by the fireplace. The fire had long since turned to embers, forcing her to strain her sore body to kneel and add a small log.

  15

  She didn’t expect to sleep but as the fire caught and the reality of being safe and warm wafted over her, Eve’s eyes began to close. She drifted off with images of black roses and Eldon’s eyes swirling in her mind and found herself walking a familiar path. She was back in the forest that she had dreamed of before. She walked through the massive vegetation, which no longer seemed strange after seeing even a small portion of Evalon.

  She came to the fairy circle of gigantic rust colored mushrooms. Though returned to their formal splendor, Eve could not wipe the memory from her mind of the destruction and decay she had caused when she last visited. Squeezing through the small opening between the stems, Eve held her breath and moved cautiously. One touch was all it would take to send them crashing down again. One breath could bruise the delicate stems.

  Sitting down carefully, she waited for a moment to see if Bakezōri would come. Deep within the circle, the muted sounds of the forest barely crept through. Silence ensued but not the hushed quiet of the woods with the peaceful chattering and cheeping of the birds and small animals. A hollow stillness filled the space around her and left Eve feeling unsettled. A chill suddenly crept up her spine and sent a shiver through her heart.

  Eve stood from the forest floor, not bothering to wipe the dirt from her jeans, and spoke to the quiet nothingness. “Bakezōri, are you there? Bakezōri, where are you?”

  She could hear the panic in her own voice and it made the frosty air much more unbearable. She waited, her ears straining for any sound at all. After an eternally long minute, she heard a snap of twigs and a shuffling of something moving towards her. At first, she thought Bakezōri had come at last. When the silence seemed to deepen and the air turned to a bitter freeze, she realized something else altogether was coming for her.

  Her instincts told Eve not to abandon the protection of the circle. She was safe within its bounds. She spun around, peering into the shadows that seemed to grow and darken with each breath. She could see nothing but she felt a presence. Something malevolent stared at her from the dark. It watched her with hungry eyes and snarled at her with a soundless voice she could not hear.

  Fear nearly drove her from her hiding place. It pushed her to the edge of the circle. Before Eve could step between the mushrooms, she saw something. A figure moved carefully but with purpose towards her. She could not see the face but the body was that of a man. Eve stepped back from the edge as he emerged from the shadows.

  He came into the shallow light of the clearing, fully revealing himself to her. He was a fey, though Eve could not tell if he were an Elf, a Sidhe, or any other. He looked ordinary, if anything he looked too ordinary. He seemed be in his mid-twenties and quite plain. His hair was a dull brown and his skin was not tan but not pale. He was average height and average weight for most the human men Eve knew. Of course, in Evalon, age was always questionable.

  He seemed to be studying Eve as she studied him. His eyes drank her in and Eve’s uneasiness grew. She couldn’t explain her fear. He seemed like a harmless man. Bakezōri was a more stirring sight, but Eve still felt afraid. She feared the frigid air that bit at her skin and seemed to get colder the closer he came. Something in the strangeness of his eyes made her feel slightly dizzy each time she chanced to look into them. A cruelty showed in the crooked smirk he wore, instead of a friendly smile.

  When he spoke, Eve wanted to scream. Images of ice grinding beneath metal filled her head, along with the sound of popping and cracking only ice under extreme pressure can make. The combination was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, ripping Styrofoam, and a toddler screaming as loud as it can. Eve forced herself not to cover her ears with her hands. She focused hard on the words and tried to block out the rest.

  “Faire Eve, it’s so kind of you to find me and save me the trouble of hunting you.”

  Eve raised her chin and tried to summon the queenly persona she had so bravely brandished with her friends, “Do I know you? Where is Bakezōri?”

  The man’s smile grew wider as he spoke, “The beast is no longer of any help to you. He is another pretty sculpture along the road to my revenge. Indeed, you do know me. We had a very brief introduction at the gate to the dusty little daylight land where you and your people are hiding. Thanks to the meddlesome Baku, I am able to introduce myself formally. I am Tiritchiq and your family owes me a great debt that I intend to collect.”

  As he spoke, the man’s eyes began to glow an eerie blue. Eve’s teeth chattered hard against each other from the cold, the dizziness threatened to make her sick, and the noise in her head grew louder. She sank to her knees. Giving in, she pressed the palms of her hands to her ears. Try as she might to block out his voice, it echoed inside her mind like a bass drum.

  “Come to me, Eve. Crawl from the damnable circle and come meet your death or your rebirth. The choice is yours to make.” The harshness in his voice cut through the grinding squeal in her head. She wanted to obey him, even though she knew it would be her end if she did.

  Fighting herself inch by inch, her body moved toward the edge of the circle. Tears streamed down her face as
she scooted on hands and knees against her will. He forced her from the circle. He couldn’t touch her so long as she remained inside its barriers. She knew she was safe there and yet, her body wanted to obey his demand.

  “That’s it, Faire Eve. A new little queen should learn to grovel at the feet of her betters. Your mother never had such sense and you will all pay.” The man laughed at his own success and gloated at the sight of her struggle.

  Eve glared up at him. Through gritted teeth, she swore at him in a rage. Her words caught in her throat when her eyes met his. The fierce winter brewing deep within the ice blue orbs burned into her. He was the thing from the forest. He had attacked her. The eyes had been so much larger before, but she knew that the frigid pain inside her freezing heart, was the same.

  Eve couldn’t fight much longer. Her muscles shook and cried out for release. Her physical self was winning. Only a few inches remained between her and the edge of the circle. In less than a minute, her hands would protrude between the stems. The man would win. He would have her and it would be death. She would never choose any other option that he presented.

  It seemed to happen in slow motion. She watched her hand lift and come slowly back down to the ground outside of the circle. An eternity of tiresome and grueling torment passed in the short time she had no control over her body. Before her fingers came to rest on the moist mound of moss, the world began to tremble and shake. The man stumbled and his spell broke. Eve jerked her hand back into the circle as the entire forest quaked.

  She heard Eldon’s voice calling out her name. She felt warmth on her shoulders and something suddenly jerked her from the forest like a yoyo on a string. Eve’s eyes sprang open and Eldon’s face was so close to her that she screamed. Her breath fogged in the freezing temperature of the room. Her tears left trails in the light frost clinging to her cheeks.

  She jerked back from him hard enough to send the chair over and she found herself on the floor with a thud. The weight of the large comforter twisted around her flailing limbs and trapped her. Eve struggled in vain to free herself from the binding fabric and panic surged through.

  In one hard jerk, Eldon had her free. Before he could speak, she threw herself into his arms. He forgot his anger, he forgot that he had come to escort her to the diner so he could yell at her for trying to pull rank on him. The chill in the air brought them both back to the attack outside of Shawd. The frozen room was a quick reminder that the young girl had been very close to dying on his careless watch.

  He wrapped his arms around her, trying to lend her the heat of his body. Eldon kept forgetting she was young, fragile, and humanlike. He saw her as a Sidhe more and more because of the changes in her appearance and attitude. Her current condition was a hard reminder that she was not a schooled royal.

  A few minutes later, her sobs slowed into sporadic hiccups and she stopped shivering hard enough to rock both of their bodies. Eldon gently pried her arms from him and scooped up the comforter. He wrapped her securely in its warmth. He righted the chair and pulled her down with him into it. They sat for a while with her cradled like a child in his lap. He held her tight to him, not admitting to himself that he liked the way it felt to have her so near to him. He told himself he only meant to comfort his queen and not to hold a girl that made him feel things he had never felt for another.

  At last, Eve raised her head and let her eyes meet his. The gold reflected eerily in her tears, making her even more dazzling. She meant to speak, to push herself off his lap, and to act like a grown woman instead of child. She wanted to thank him and to save herself from further embarrassment. She knew she should tell him what happened in her sleep. He needed to know who the monster was but she couldn’t speak. She was more mesmerized by her reality than she had been in the dream.

  Eldon seemed lost in the moment with her until she tilted her head closer to his. She longed to kiss his lips but he jerked his head away and spoke gruffly to her. “I will wait for you outside.”

  “No!” She didn’t mean to scream but she panicked at the thought of being alone. “Please, stay in the kitchen but don’t leave me alone. You have no idea what I experienced in the dream. The man, the Tiritchiq guy, he wanted to kill me. That’s why I was so scared. He was in my dream, he was making me so cold, and he tried to force me from the circle even though I didn’t want to. Please, I don’t want to be alone.”

  She hated the whine in her voice. She didn’t want Eldon to see her as a weakling. If he kept rescuing her, he would never learn to respect her as person or a queen. Just one more time, she needed saving. She swore to herself she would be stronger next time. The fear clung to her. She needed him once more. She needed someone who would keep all the bad away, for a little while longer.

  Eldon grew solemn and his forehead creased with worry. Carefully, he asked, “What did you say his name was?”

  “Tiritchiq,” Eve pronounced it ter-it-check just as the horrible man in her dream had.

  Eldon’s blue eyes widened with shock. He reached out and grasped her arms. The simple contact caused a spark inside her but his urgent words did not allow the fire to burn.

  “Are you sure he said Tiritchiq? Could it have been anything else? Any other name?”

  Eve shook her head from side to side. She wanted to pull away from him. His fingers painfully dug into the flesh of her upper arms. She could have never imagined Eldon feeling threatened by anything. He seemed to be a god to his warriors, not afraid to face anything except maybe for her. The sight of his concern did not lessen him in her eyes. It made him more real and less out of her reach.

  In a voice as soft as a feather, she asked, “Who is he? He said he owed my family revenge. He has done something terrible to Bakezōri the Baku. He told me to come out of the circle and choose my life or my death. He forced my body to move.” Her renewed sobs left her words broken. “Who is he?”

  Eldon’s voice was rough and unsteady. Eve was asking him to tell her things he did not want to say. “Tiritchiq is a northern dragon.”

  Eve looked at him with disbelief. A talking unicorn, sure she could handle that, but a dragon was more than she expected. “How can he be a dragon? He was a man. He looked like a regular guy, except for his eyes.”

  Eldon could barely believe it himself. Elsie had told him the dragon’s breath had caused the curse that had nearly killed Eve but he thought she was a crazy hag. “The dragons are not scaly beast all the time, Eve. Here in Evalon, there are only two ways to create a dragon. A good man with a weakness in his heart is born of light and turns to darkness so completely that it transforms him into a monster. The dark magic allows him to appear as a man, but inside, he is a terrible monster. Alternatively, a man born of the darkness sacrifices so much to the light, willingly and with love, that the power of light does the same. A northern dragon is one of darkness and southern dragons are those of light. Tiritchiq is a dark dragon.”

  “You can stop him though, right? Since we know who is trying to hurt me, we can assume he caused the cold sleep. You can make it stop.” Her faith in him shined like a full moon on a cloudless night.

  “The legends say a Tiritchiq’s wings are carved from glaciers and his heart is as black and cold as an Alaskan night. He is no typical dragon. He has scales stronger than the toughest armor and teeth the size of boulders that are sharper than the finest blade. He breathes fire, as all dragons do. However, his frigid flame freezes his victim to the core of their soul instead of turning them into ash. The ice traps both the body and the spirit inside until he chooses to draw upon the victim’s power. If we face him, Faire Eve, I do not know who will win.”

  “Even in the form of a fey, he is strong. If he were able to cross into your dreams, he is more powerful than anyone ever imagined. Only the Baku can enter dreams, he must have Bakezōri. Go, get ready quickly, we must tell the others.”

  Eve grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a top from Faya’s closet without even looking at them. While she changed, the images created by Eldon’s wor
ds haunted her. She had never seen an actual dragon, of course, but she could only imagine what it would be like. She had seen the dragon statues in the little shops in the mall. Carved from pewter with red glass eyes, the dragons were all wings, claws, and teeth. Picturing one in the flesh and as large as Eldon described, gave her a new fear.

  In Evalon, she learned all the fairytales held some truth and most of the truths were more fantastic than a human imagination could ever fathom. If the same were true for the dragons, the northern dragons would be the fiercest of all monsters, worthy of their own Wes Craven or Stephen King film. She feared for Bakezōri. She bowed her head in a silent salute to a fallen friend. He had been the first to tell her what she was, even though she hadn’t quite understood.

  Pulling all of her fear, anger, and pain into herself was like balling up ten pounds of lead and dropping it inside her heart. Eve felt more weighed down and exhausted than before she had fallen into her restless and disturbing sleep. The chill of the two attacks still clung to her skin like an invisible layer of frost. She wondered if she would ever be warm or safe again. Her only relief came when she realized the potions Elsie had given her had healed her broken wrist and other injuries completely. Discarding the brace, she rubbed the tender skin.

  Eldon waited for her in the kitchen. He cleared his mind enough to attempt a weak smile for her benefit but Eve was not convinced. She expected him to swoop out the door the minute she appeared, but he handed her a mug of hot tea and nudged her gently onto one of the high bar stools instead. Picking up his own steaming mug, he leaned against the counter and looked at her over the rim.

  “I didn’t mean to frighten you more when I told you about Tiritchiq. Since the beginning of time, mothers have told fey children the story of the dragons. I was shocked to hear you speak of him and it would be easy to blame it all on him. To believe the stories and say there’s nothing we can do, because he is the ultimate evil, would be simpler.”