Through Time-Slamming

by Conn, Claudy

  “I am your Queen, whether you like it or not. Now leave the grounds or I shall remove you and you won’t like where I send you,” she said softly but with purpose.

  “You will hear me first,” he growled. “For I will be avenged.”

  She sighed heavily, saddened by what she would have to do next. “Is that what you have reduced yourself to a creature that hides in the brush and promises vengeance?” The Queen said in a lofty voice, but suddenly she felt a vibration from something she had thought secured elsewhere. Somehow Banzar had gotten his hands on it—the Royal Scepter. She had to wonder if he knew how to use it.

  He threw his cloak over one shoulder and held the Scepter out and in her face, his own marked by a sneer.

  Aaibhe laughed softly and said, “Do you think you can hurt me with that? It was created to protect the Queen.”

  He sneered. “It did not protect Queen Bridget.”

  Aaibhe had enough. She took a menacing step towards him and said, “You know nothing! How dare you even say her name! Our slain Queen would not raise her sword or her Scepter against her consort even in battle. It was late for him because he saw and regretted his actions. Now get thee to your hovel and think about what you owe your brethren!”

  “I owe them all. I owe them a world without war—without you. We don’t need to protect the humans from the Dark Fae. Let the abominations have at them. They are nothing to us.”

  “Stupid fool!” the Queen shook her head, but before she could put out her hand and call the Scepter to herself, he raised it high and slammed it into the earth.

  And Aaibhe was gone.

  Banzar stood, very pleased with himself. He hadn’t been sure it would work. Now all he had to do was eliminate Ete. Ete was next in line for the throne. Ete had the power to find and free the Queen. Thus, Ete was a threat that stood between him and his ultimate goal.

  ~*~

  Jazz hugged Frankie and Ete reached out her hand to the child. “Thank you, dear. for sitting with me while Breslyn and Danté are busy elsewhere. I dearly need the company.”

  Frankie had already formed affection for the gentle princess and immediately took up a chair beside her to ask, “Are you feeling well?”

  “I am,” Ete said. “The Queen gave me an old Fae remedy for my trouble. It was both horrible tasting and effective.”

  Jazz broke in to promise that she would return as soon as possible and shifted out saying she wanted to find and speak with the Queen.

  She was conflicted. She felt she should have insisted that she go with Trevor. She wasn’t really a Fae subject and couldn’t be ordered about. She didn’t really need permission from the Queen, and yet she wanted her opinion before she went in search of Trevor and Deimne.

  She smiled ruefully to herself as she realized that she also wanted Aaibhe’s approval before she went headlong into anything.

  Something tickled her Fae brain and then her human gut told her to find the Queen and find her fast. Something was really off. She could feel it in the air.

  Jazz arrived at the edge of the Rose Garden in time to see Banzar bang the Royal Scepter into the Earth and witnessed the Queen’s immediate disappearance.

  Without hesitation and without thinking, Jazz called for her Death Sword and shifted behind him.

  She was quick, she was skilled and powerful and she meant business. She held the hilt of her sword at his throat as she grabbed the Scepter with her free hand and held it away from him. “Uh-uh-uh,” she cautioned. “You don’t want to move, for I am told that even a scratch from my Lugh Death Sword could mean your sure demise. Probably it would be long and torturous from just a scratch.” She felt him stiffen and stand very still.

  His voice was full of hatred as he spat, “Human!”

  “Thank you I am; and Fios and Fae. Hmmm…so much more than anything you think you are. Now, what have you done with the Queen?”

  “What she deserves. I sent her off and out of my way while I secure Tir,” he said with diabolical laughter. Jazz realized Banzar was on the edge of madness.

  She couldn’t keep him like this forever and then it came to her just what she had to do next. Without another word she shifted with him to the Royal Guard and Tracker’s Pavilion.

  She barely set foot on the marble flooring when she found that she and Banzar were encircled by some very large members of the Royal Guard. They looked annoyed.

  She said, “A prisoner for you. He has done something to the Queen with this!” She shoved Banzar away from herself and made certain one of the guards held Banzar in place so he was unable to shift away. She stepped back and held up the Royal Scepter.

  Nuad shifted in with ten of his Trackers. He nodded at her as he walked up and she handed him the bronze scepter. “Nuad,” she said with some relief. “Banzar slammed this into the ground and the Queen was gone.” Then she gasped as Banzar broke away from the guard that had been holding him.

  “Relax, Jazmine Decker, he can not escape us. We have already lowered the veil of Danu over him. He is our prisoner and can not shift or leave the Pavilion. Now tell us exactly what you saw,” Nuad said calmly.

  With a relieved sigh, she regarded Nuad. “I saw him slam that…” she pointed at the scepter into the ground. “Just like I said the Queen vanished.”

  Nuad’s glittering eyes narrowed as he turned and looked at Banzar. “How did you get this?”

  “I have my ways…there are many things I am capable of,” Banzar said.

  “Include dying in that list,” Nuad snorted. “I repeat, where did you send our Queen?”

  He shrugged, “I don’t really know. I read somewhere that it could send the Queen off indefinitely and so I did.” Again the laughter that Jazz believed comes with overwrought obsession. He stopped suddenly and said, “Ete is next.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Jazz took a step towards him. “Nuad, Z would say this one needs dying and she would be right.”

  “You can’t put me to death,” Banzar shouted and sneered. “Only the Queen can do that…and she is gone.” The laughter took him over again.

  Nuad stepped right up to him and landed him a facer that sent him reeling and quieted him. His roar was up close and very personal, “What have you done with my queen?”

  “I sent her away, far away” Banzar giggled. “Oh put him out of his misery,” Jazz said with a shake of her head.

  “He is right, only the Queen can order his death and we haven’t had a Seelie Fae put to death in eons.” Nuad said quietly. “I must consult with Breslyn.

  She eyed Banzar, “You are certain he can’t get away?”

  Nuad smiled at her and arched a brow, “You question us?”

  She laughed, “At this point, I question everything.”

  And together they shifted.

  ~*~

  Thousands upon thousands of years ago, when Danu still thrived, Trevor had only been a youth, what humans would call a toddler. He only knew the old tales of the Gorka and how Queen Bridget and the Dark King had captured the last remaining two--just before their falling out.

  He had heard stories of the slaughter of so many Fae, and had formed a picture of the grotesque creatures in his mind. He had heard about the brave caste of Sluagh and how they had taken to the skies to defeat the Gorka.

  These were Fae eating monsters and Deimne was the last of his brave caste. Trevor knew the stories that the Gorka was the reason that Deimne was the last of his kind. For the moment looking upon the ancient beast, he could only stare. It was a sentient beast. It was huge grotesque dragon whose tongue was black, forked and spiked. Its venom paralyzed its victims they would then die slowly. Sometimes the beasts ate their prey immediately while they were still alive, other times after they would wait until they had been preserved for a while and kept alive in a slimy cocoon, to be chomped down on at the beast’s leisure.

  Trevor watched the ancient three-eyed dragon with disbelief. He watched the jets of fire scorch the land as it flew over. He found the sound of the monster’
s roar deafening, and he saw death before him for both Deimne and himself.

  Death Swords would not kill the Gorka unless the weapon was plunged into one of its three eyes and to do that, one had to get close to that lapping dangerous tongue.

  Deimne took to wing, a look of horror and determination on his face and Trevor tried to stop him, calling out, “Wait, Deimne, don’t go till we get reinforcements!”

  But it was too late; Deimne flew straight up ready to distract the beast from the village below.

  The Sluagh had witnessed the devastation and havoc the Gorka had committed against his kind on Danu and Trevor could see that Deimne was determined to destroy it.

  This was not acceptable.

  Deimne was Frankie’s father. He couldn’t allow him to be killed. And then Trevor got an idea.

  What he needed to do was shift onto the Gorka’s long neck. He would hang on and divert it, keeping a shield around his body against the poisonous goo oozing from its leathery flesh. He would call on his Lugh chain and beat at the beast to distract it from Deimne. Together they could do this, until Deimne could get a shot at one of its eyes.

  Just as he was about to shift, he heard Pestale charging at him and turned to see the Dark Prince, with his Death Sword drawn and pointed at him. What was Pestale doing? He couldn’t hope to win in a hand to hand battle.

  Trevor regarded him as he took a stance, a sneer crossing his face. He wondered where Hordly had gone, and then all at once, he knew.

  Trevor couldn’t move.

  Something held him in place.

  He couldn’t budge and with a heavy sigh he saw what it was. A Golden Net... the Gold Wiele, one of the few things that could hold a Fae in place.

  He should have known that Pestale could have stolen one from his father, who must have had a store of them.

  He tried shifting, knowing that he would not be able to do so. He couldn’t go forward, he couldn’t go backward, and shame flooded through his blood as he tried to think. How had he allowed himself to be trapped like this? How?

  Of all the possibilities they had considered, he had never thought of the Golden Net, or the Gorka for that matter.

  He was helpless. His Jazmine Decker had been right. When they first met she had told him he was arrogant, and he was. He had insisted on meeting with Pestale, believing he could handle and manipulate the outcome. He had been wrong. This was no time to consider his faults. He had to find a solution to his present predicament.

  He had already tried to mind link with the Queen as agreed, but he hadn’t been able to get through. He tried again with the same results.

  He would not mind link with Jazmine Decker, for his beloved would shift in on the spot and be killed by Pestale. He had to keep her safe, he had to keep her away.

  Danté, his brother.

  He would try to mind link with Dante! He made the attempt, but got nothing. “What the hell was wrong? Where was everyone?” he said to himself

  The next thing he knew Pestale was laughing victoriously. He pushed him down then grabbed his feet, and drug him over the grass and jagged rocks along the hillside.

  Pestale stopped and laughed, “That was fun, but now I think I will shift us to your cell for as much as I would like to remain here and watch the Gorka kill and eat your Sluagh friend, I think Hordly and I need to get you secured.” He glanced at Trevor’s face and their eyes locked in hatred. “You know why, don’t you?”

  Trevor did know why. It had come to him in a gush of horror.

  “That little woman of yours, the Fios is in my way. She needs to die and after I take her lovely body over and over and make it mine while you watch, then I will kill her slowly. When she is dead and you have suffered knowing you caused her death then, I will kill you.”

  Trevor closed his eyes. So that was why he had called this meeting. He had the Gorka to keep Deimne busy while he took him prisoner. Pestale wanted to use him as bait to trap his beloved.

  And the devil was in the right of it; Jazmine Decker would come to him.

  He had to do something. He had to think because they were in what he had heard his beloved call shit’s creek. He knew that his sweet love would come to save him the moment she realized what had gone down.

  By Danu, they were in trouble!

  ~*~

  Breslyn and Danté stood side by side and in the silence they heard Nuad. When the ancient Royal Tracker had told them all he knew, Breslyn turned to Danté and shook his head, “You know of course, where the Scepter sent Aaibhe.”

  Danté sighed heavily, and then arched his brow, “I do, but I’m wondering how you know, Bres.”

  Jazz had watched these two with interest, and asked, “You know where it sent her? And why do you look like that?” They both looked defeated. She put a hand to her mouth, “Please don’t tell me she’s…”

  Breslyn turned to her with a rueful smile, “Bloody Hell, of course not, but, getting her back will not be easy.”

  Radzia touched Danté’s arm and said, “Will Aaibhe be okay?”

  Danté patted her hand and nodded absently as Jazz watched the flitting expressions in his golden eyes, she couldn’t help but notice they were just like Trevor’s.

  “What about Trevor? Shouldn’t he and Deimne be back by now?” Jazz stuck in worriedly.

  Danté frowned and once again turned to Breslyn, “She is right, they should be back by now.”

  “They are extraordinary warriors and know what they are doing. What you and I have to do now is find a way into the Pixie Realm and retrieve the Queen,” Breslyn answered, going over to drop a kiss on the top of Ete’s lovely head.

  “Frankie our little Fios Sluagh, I shall entrust the safety of my Ete to you. While the Queen is elsewhere, Ete is acting matriarch so this is a very serious job.” He touched her chin and Frankie sat up straight.

  “Ye can count on me, Prince Breslyn, but I am a bit worried about m’da.”

  Breslyn looked at Danté and said, “Radzia and Jazz will secure the Lugh Orb and you can see your father and Prince Trevor. How is that?”

  “Oh aye, that is good,” she smiled at him.

  Danté took Z into his arms and said softly, “Enfant, you won’t do what I won’t like, in my absence?”

  Jazz heard the question, not the order and smiled to herself. She absolutely loved these Fae, all of them.

  Z sighed and said, “How boring.”

  “That is not an answer,” he said dropping a kiss on her full cherry lips.

  “Danté sweetheart, I love you. Now go and save the Queen,” she beamed at him.

  He shook his head and shifted off with Breslyn. As they left, Radzia turned and looked at Jazz with a shocked expression.

  “Jazz, something is wrong! Just as Danté left, I thought I heard Trevor call for him.” She closed her eyes and the Orb appeared. She set it on the table and Jazz felt her insides start to shake because when Z asked for it to show her Deimne and Trevor, all they got was black smoke.

  “I’m going to them,” Jazz said.

  “Not without me, you are not!”

  They shifted and the first vision they got was horrific.

  The land was black and smoke filled the air. There was a stench that neither Jazz or Z had ever encountered.

  There was no sign of Trevor. They heard a bellowing sound from above, like an animal going full throttle after its prey. They looked up and through the dark smoke, they saw Deimne flying a zigzag pattern as he tried to escape the Gorka while keeping it diverted from the village of Killarney.

  For a moment, both Z and Jazz were taken aback by the unbelievable sight of the powerful three-eyed beast and then as it dawned on her that Deimne was scarcely holding his own, Jazz went into immediate action.

  This beast was more than flesh and bone, it was magic. It was different than Fae, but it was magic all the same. Those that use magic, must pay a price, Jazz thought as she got ready to enact a price.

  She concentrated all her thoughts into one and for a sec
ond she felt grossed out by the impact of the creature’s powers. She brought those powers to herself, collected it into a mass, and then with a sweeping breath of Fios turned Fae, she then returned that mighty magic full force against the beast.

  She Slammed it with all the magic she had collected and added a pinch of her own. The Gorka was stunned first and then from the impact went reeling backward in the sky. It tumbled over itself as it plunged downward toward the earth.

  That was when Jazz saw Pestale standing at the peak of a rolling foothill. He held something in his hand and Jazz concentrated her vision on that something.

  She was surprised to discover that it was a pendant of some sort. It hung around his neck from an unusual gold chain. She watched Pestale as he chanted and pointed the pendant at the Gorka.

  Suddenly, she felt what should have been an invisible netting encasing the Gorka and easing its descent. Then the beast vanished. No doubt Pestale had used the link he had created with the Pendant to shift the creature away.

  She hadn’t a clue how it was done, but she knew not only with her human gut, but with her newly settled in Fae senses that this was the case. Then Pestale turned and his dark eyes met hers.

  The hatred he felt was palpable.

  Even at the huge distance that separated them, she saw and felt the look he gave her. If he could he would have killed her with that look..

  He turned away from her abruptly and then when he regarded her again. She heard his words carried by the wind.

  Black magic brought his voice and it surrounded her like a web that repelled and disgusted her with its intensity, “Fios, you will be mine, you will bend to my will, and you will do as I say…”

  His voice seemed to swipe at her soul. It held so much confidence that what he had just told her would definitely come to pass. She felt her body shake with fear for Trevor. All at once she knew and her heart sank.

  She knew it was a fact. Pestale had Trevor! He had somehow overpowered and taken Trevor.

  This repeated itself in her mind and she could think of nothing else. Trevor was Pestale’s prisoner. Where was Trevor? Where had Pestale taken him? And how was she going to free him? She had to do something before it was too late.