by Conn, Claudy
No answer.
“They are not within.”
“Where then? And where is Frankie?”
A joyous and welcome voice at her back screeched out her name, “Jazz…Jazz…”
Jazz turned to find a twelve year old girl whose auburn hair bounced around her youthful, but lovely features diving at her. She was hugged with a fierceness that gladdened Jazz’s heart and she dropped a kiss on the top of Frankie’s head, “Hi, honey, how ya doing?” And then she looked her over and laughed. “Leather huh, they got you in leathers.”
Frankie stood back with a proud smile and waved a hand over her dark blue leather jacket with a black insignia at her left shoulder. Beneath the jacket a white T showed, and her matching leather pants made Jazz’s brow go up.
Frankie said “I match ye. I chose the colors of Lugh, for Trevor’s House.” She reached for Jazz once again, and held onto her like she would never let go. Finally the child put her face up to look sorrowfully at Jazz and said, “Oh, Jazz I have missed ye and now everything is all upside down. The Queen has gone off with Breslyn and Danté, and I’m worried. I’m not stupid and I know that things are going badly for the humans.”
Jazz looked past Frankie to find Ete and Radzia coming towards them. She had met them briefly but she liked them a great deal. She could tell by the grim expressions on their faces that Frankie was right on the mark. Things were not good.
Z came up and touched Frankie’s shoulder, “Hey, kid, was my company so bad?”
Frankie turned to her and grinned as she said with her pretty Irish lilt and tilted her head, “I love ye Z, but ye do understand, don’t ye?”
Z laughed and said, “Sure do.” She nodded at Jazz and looked at Trev. “Glad you found this little one because she sure is special.” She shook her head then and said, “This is not like before. You might as well know right up front, we will have a rare time with the Dark Fae this time…plus…” she looked at Ete and waited for her to offer more.
Ete said softly, “Some of the Council members attempted to stage a coup of sorts. They failed this time, but we do not have any doubt that they will try again.” Ete made a face and continued, “Their timing is of course, madly absurd.” We don’t have a moment to spare and they are distracting the other members with their brand of nonsense. I am inclined to think that Banzar is every bit as dangerous as Gais ever was; perhaps more so. He uses diplomacy and false arguments and charms. Those who will listen, believe that what he is giving them is truth.”
Trevor shook his head and turned away as he took this in. Seeing Frankie’s worried expression, he held out his arms and said, “What about me, little Fios? Got a hug for me?”
She threw herself wildly at him and while he held her he looked at his sister-in-law, Radzia, and asked, “Where has the Queen gone off to, Radzia?”
“That’s just it--we don’t have a clue, Trev, just off without a word to us. We were waiting for them outside the Council chamber,” she grinned wickedly and pushed her black hair away from her face. “But we did listen to every single word being said inside that room. Ete is a Council member, but the Queen asked her to remain with me. It was as though she knew what was going to happen, I suppose she thought if we were inside it would break out into…” Z grinned, “A brawl.” She shrugged. “All at once, the members came filing out and said the Queen touched Breslyn and Danté and shifted off. No one knows where they went. We just assumed they had come to her chambers.”
“Use your mind link, Z,” Trev commanded.
“Don’t you think I tried that already? Both Ete and I have both tried, but our guys have it shut down for some reason.”
“I don’t like this,” Trevor said.
“What about the Orb,” Jazz suggested quietly.
“I can’t. It has already returned to the Queen’s chamber. It won’t respond to me without her command,” he answered grimly.
“No, not the Orb of Time, the Lugh Orb,” Jazz countered with a soft smile.
“Ha-ha, our Jazmine Decker has a brain,” beamed Z, turning to Ete. “What do ya think?”
“What I think, is that we should wait before we try and track them. If the Queen wished us to know what she was planning or where they were going, she would not have asked them to turn off their mind links to us.”
Z sighed heavily, “Ete, why do you always have to make such sense? It is so damned annoying.”
Ete laughed and hugged her, “I have had centuries of compensating for my dear friend Aida’s wildness, which reminds me. Breslyn asked me to find his sister and position her and her mate, Desmond, at Killarney with Shee Willow and Shane. They will need to protect the inhabitants of their village if the Unseelie attack there next. For some reason the Queen believes they will target Killarney next.”
“Why?” Jazz asked puzzled.
“She did not tell us, but my guess is because of the position of the monoliths located at the Middle Lake. No doubt the Unseelie will want to get their hands on them because most of the Unseelie castes they brought out of the Dark Realm cannot shift, which works to our advantage. They will need portals set up to take their armies from one city to the next.”
“So now what?” Jazz asked looking at Trevor.
“Now that Pestale is out,” Ete said softly. “He will not only position his armies, he will go after Princess Royce. She must be kept where he can not get to her.”
Trevor smirked, “As though Pestale will get close to Red, with Chance forever watching over her. He never lets her out of his sight.”
“Nevertheless, Pestale will make it his business to try, we also know his weakness,” Ete said.
“Don’t be thinking you can use her as bait. Chance will never allow it.” Trevor shook his head. “So what do we do?”
“What choice do we have now? Do we just wait, is that it?” Radzia shook her head and made a face. “Although waiting is definitely not my style, I’m really not any good at twiddling my thumbs.”
As the women chattered Jazz noticed Trevor and wondered what he was doing as he stood away from her.
Shock thundered through her as suddenly he shifted off.
Chapter Seven
HE SMUGLY LOOKED the Queen up and down showing disrespect. Breslyn was shocked and felt wild fury at the Royal Prince.
Danté called him a blackguard. He was calculating his next move, surveying the castle grounds.. And for all Breslyn’s outward show of anger he could see he would not easily be fooled or taken. These two were formidable foes.
Pestale wanted his next strike to be meaningful, and notable. He wanted to tear out the hearts of the humans they would encounter in the larger cities. He wanted to invade their minds with terror. He wanted them all to cower and bow to him as they promised their allegiance.
Aaibhe stood silent. What was she doing?
Was she really here to negotiate? He didn’t think so, but he would play her game.
He stared right at her and said quietly, “You wish to spare the humans, but I do not. I wish to use them in the end…to serve.”
“We can discuss a better situation for you,” Aaibhe said at last. “A living Realm with life for you and yours, but the abominations must be returned to the Dark Realm.”
“You don’t have to give me anything. I can get whatever I want on my own and I don’t care how many have to die to achieve what I want,” he scoffed.
Hordly’s grin took in both Breslyn and Danté. It was taunting and evil and Breslyn was provoked into taking a threatening step towards him.
“Death is what you will achieve for yourself and those who stand beside you,” Breslyn snapped.
At that moment, with his Death Sword held high, Trevor shifted in and lined up beside his brother and Breslyn.
The Queen had obtained all she needed to know, and now she had to get her loyal princes away. She put up her hand and chided, “Trevor!”
Pestale put up a hand, “So you call a meeting and think to allow your princes to destroy us?” He laug
hed. “Think again.” And with that he and his brother, Hordly shifted off.
The Queen eyed Trevor, “I did not request your presence my young Prince.”
He stood straight, “Nevertheless, I came to protect you.” He glanced at Breslyn and Danté who grinned, “Couldn’t leave it just to these two.”
Some ribaldry comments were exchanged before the Queen said with an affectionate smile, “To my chambers.”
In Morrigu’s Castle, Hordly went off to play with one of the village women he had taken from the fray earlier as the Unseelie fed. Hordly had a better use for these women.
Pestale thought about the Queen. Had she actually believed he would strike up some kind of arrangement with her? No, of course she did not. She was there for one reason only, to get a reading of him, his brother, his grounds.
He shook his head as he paced. He didn’t have the time or the inclination to play with the Queen and her royals, even though he enjoyed the notion that she might, be open to negotiations perhaps not now, but at some future hour.
He was consumed by one thought, the total subjugation of the human race, and then the Seelie Fae.
First he needed the monoliths. He needed these portals in order to deliver his lower castes into Dublin and other cities. First it would be Dublin. He wanted to swarm Trinity and destroy it with all of its ancient manuscripts and young fresh humans.
He thought about his two remaining brothers and a frown descended over his features. He paced for a moment--both brothers worried him, and for very different reasons.
Hordly was a savage. His desire for blood could be lethal to his ultimate goals. He needed to kill and maim and while he could use that now, he would have to curtail that need for the future.
Pestale knew that to win this war against the Seelie Fae, he needed cunning, not barbaric blood letting. Oh, bloodletting was certainly part of the plan, but only at first just to get everyone’s attention.
He knew the human military had been sent in to investigate the slaughter of the little village in the valley.
He knew the human scientists would work with the bones and find that they had been picked clean, but they would not understand, they would be shocked at the DNA they would find for it would make no sense to them.
He was going to have to make a stand and show them what he could do. They would try and spray him with bullets, but their efforts would bounce off the shields. He wouldn’t lose time healing from the temporary wounds from the bullets.
The humans posed no threat, but the Seelie Fae were altogether different. No Unseelie, or Dark Magic shields would work against Seelie magic.
His advantage with the Seelie was his army. He had the numbers and he didn’t care how many Dark monsters were slaughtered.
It wasn’t unexpected that he and his brothers had natures so different from one another. Hordly was all about fulfilling his needs without thought to consequences.
And then, there was his brother Graely. Graely was a puzzle he had not yet figured out. He wasn’t sure what he would do with Graely for he had an absurd affection for him. If he had to, he could allow him to be destroyed…if he had to.
The Seelie Fae did not understand them, which was another advantage he had. The Seelie Fae underestimated them. The Seelie Fae thought them nothing more than cold blooded monsters without loyalties. To some extent this was true, but he did have a need for his brothers. Eternity is a long time without kin.
When the Dark King had created them, he had done so using a different formula each time. Hence, he and his brothers, though only a few months apart, were so very different from one another in both looks and nature.
Hordly had been given the blood of a vampire, perhaps because of the Dark King’s whim to see what would result. Pestale had always suspected that Graely had been given a great deal more Seelie DNA, by the Dark King, evidenced in his father’s preference for Graely.
The fourth, and youngest brother, killed by Lana the Milesian, he was sure, had also been given even more of the Dark King’s Seelie blood. Pestale had always attributed his youngest brother’s sense of humor and his smile to that fact.
The Seelie Fae were unaware of these facts.
Pestale grinned at the thought. The Seelie knew nothing about their origins, and that was a great advantage.
Morrigu had found a strapping young human male who she had taken to her quarters. He had seen the two together, and it was very odd, she seemed quieter, content, as did the human.
He thought of Princess Royce. His earlier encounter with Trevor had brought her image to his mind; an image of red hair floating around her beautiful face. He had thought he loved her on sight. She had made him think he was capable of love.
He could hear her laughter, see her smile, and imagine her body naked beneath his. Why had Princess Royce chosen the Milesian over him? Why?
No matter. He would conquer all, and then he would make her his slave for a time and then perhaps after he was tired of her...
He looked across at Graely who had come into his chamber and apparently moved off to stare out the window at the lovely valley of the Grampian Mountains. Graely was a problem.
Pestale had noticed how withdrawn he had become.
He knew Graely had never enjoyed the killing. He always did what he was told to do because he was loyal to him alone, not to Hordly, but to him. It was beginning to take its toll on his sensitive brother. It was why he did not give him missions that required him to devastate the humans. There was no need. Graely could be used for other matters.
Soon, Pestale thought with determination, he would rule over all.
They would descend much like the black plague, first into Dublin, and then quickly into London, Rome, and New York. The entire world would bow to him when he was done.
When the human numbers were reduced and they had been beaten and ravaged; he would offer them salvation if only if they submitted to his will.
They would take his offer because humans were weak.
He would not allow his need for Royce overtake his good sense.
Gais had done that, he had put his obsession with Aaibhe the Seelie Queen, before all grander goals, and it had been his ruin. Pestale knew that he was too smart for that. He could see her beautiful face, but his eyes narrowed as he thought of her rejection.
Princess Royce needed punishing and when the time was right she would receive that punishment, after he had used her to serve every need.
She would be his and he would teach the shrew a lesson.
He had his father’s Death Swords, two of them that the Dark King had left forgotten in Morrigu’s Palace in the Dark Realm.
One he had allowed Hordly to carry hidden and ever ready, and the other was always within his own grasp, a blink away.
Graely could not be trusted to wield a Death Sword.
Graely was not yet up for the fight, for the mass killing. And though he was a loyal brother, he was not certain Graely could carry out the worst of his plans.
In fact, he had quite made up his mind that Graely needed watching.
Chapter Eight
“MY QUEEN,” TREVOR said bowing his head. “I know you did not go to draw Pestale out to offer him a deal. So tell us, why you went to meet with the scoundrel.”
“I needed a reading of him, of the grounds,” she answered succinctly. “Now we have other matters to discuss.” She looked at Breslyn and Ete, “Princess Aida and Shee Willow report that the Monoliths have not yet been attacked by the Unseelie.”
“Shall I go and help them?” Trevor offered at once.
“No, they have the matter in hand, and what we need to do is spread out our forces. If Pestale gets his hands on any of the dolmens, he can use them to transport his lower castes into the large cities. We can not allow that. He has already used the Stonehenge Monoliths to shift his army to Morrigu’s castle in the Grampian.’ She shook her head, “I had forgotten about that castle…it has stood hidden in magic since she ran after the Dark King and entered
his Dark Realm to be with him.”
Jazz said, “It is kinda sad really. I mean I know she is crazy and evil and all that, but to run after a guy and then be stuck in such a place after he leaves you.” She shook her head. “I don’t think much of this Dark King.”
Trevor grinned and took her into his arms and kissed her forehead, “Sweet life, my very own sweet life.”
Jazz felt her insides melt as she looked into his gold eyes. How had she gotten so lucky? He was everything any woman could want and then some.
Standing to one side, she glanced at Frankie as she masked her emotions. Jazz thought something was going on with her. Without warning Frankie shifted off.
“I’ll be back,” she told Trevor. “I’m going after Frankie.”
He nodded and she took off following the girl’s scent, a residue that each being leaves as they shift through the atmosphere.
Frankie stood at the edge of a large and serene lake. She had plopped herself onto the grass, hugged her knees to her chin, and looked absolutely miserable.
Jazz dropped onto her rump on the soft grass beside her, and put her arms around her to hug her close, “Hey, sweetie, wanna talk?”
Her big hazel soulful eyes looked up at her and she said, “Do ye know, Jazz? Do ye know who m’father is?”
Jazz sighed, “No one tells me anything either, but I’ll make you a promise, because you deserve to know. Everyone should know who their parents are, so if I find out, I will tell you. How is that?”
A loud swish of air brought their gaze up from each other and made them both look skyward.
Brilliant blue, just as all the colors in Faery were, Jazz thought as she shaded her eyes from the bright sun. All colors, all life forms, especially the birds in Tir were accentuated. What met her gaze made Jazz think she had somehow slipped into a fantasy. It was the only conclusion she could come up with.
Iridescent white wings that were opened wide, made a rush of sound as they gracefully flapped in the sky. Hovering over the girls was an angelic male with white gold hair and sparkling eyes.