Dark Faery IV: The Cantares

by Bridget McGowan

  “All is well?” Simon asked him as he took his seat.

  “Yes. There is a matter I would discuss with you later.”

  Simon nodded and introduced Nuala. She smiled and looked interested in Harry.

  “Nuala wishes to join us but is reticent because of our rule.”

  “Do you not thirst for Faery blood?” she asked, licking her upper lip, her emphasis on thirst and blood calculated to awaken blood lust in the others.

  “Some of us have never tasted Faery blood,” Flynn said.

  “Never? Simon you’re too cruel!” she replied, looking at Simon archly. “To deny your children –”

  “When they have learned the ways they begin to create thralls.”

  “Yet only you make Vampyres.”

  “No. Others have done. It is with my permission.”

  “Oh, the lord of all!” she remarked.

  “No one is forcing you to join us,” Zoe said, annoyed with the newcomer.

  “And some would not wish me to join?” Nuala countered.

  “No one has said that,” Simon replied, putting a hand gently over Zoe’s. “But you seem affronted by our way of doing things. This works for us. We don’t wish to be overrun with Vampyres.”

  “Some of us have lived long enough to find Faery blood as ordinary as anything else in the world, and being renegades difficult,” Kele said. “With so large a coven, there must be rules. Simon doesn’t dictate. We all have a voice. And if we feel put upon, we’re free to leave and resume our old life.”

  She turned to Harry. “Do you enjoy being part of the coven?”

  “I do, indeed. I know of nowhere else I’d prefer.”

  “You’ve heard from all. You know our rules. Would you wish to be part of our coven?” Simon asked.

  “Yes, I think I would,” she said, still looking at Harry.

  “Then it remains only for you to audition with us to determine whether or not you have the qualifications,” Simon replied.

  She inclined her head and they all returned to the rehearsal hall.

  They heard her play and sing on her own and then had her accompany them on several songs they hadn’t played since Fiona left. She proved her worth as a musician.

  “We will discuss it and have our answer in two days’ time,” Simon told her. “I would advise you to think long and carefully about our requirements. We do not lightly excuse offenses against our rules. Those who cannot keep them are put out of the coven.”

  Again she inclined her head, but her expression was amused, as if she thought these Vampyres took themselves altogether too seriously.

  Once she was gone the others looked at one another.

  “She plays well,” Caeli said.

  “And she has a good singing voice,” Zoe admitted.

  “You don’t like her,” Simon responded.

  “I don’t like her attitude,” Zoe corrected.

  “She apparently wants to join and has the musical qualifications,” Kele said. “The question is, will she abide by the oath, and why would she want to join if she had no intention of doing so?”

  “She’ll leave the first time she breaks it.”

  “Then why allow her?” Kele asked.

  “Why would she audition if she wouldn’t abide by our rules?” Simon asked.

  “That much is easy,” Kele replied, inclining his head toward Harry.”

  “No, certainly not,” Harry said.

  “I saw it, too,” Simon replied. “I can’t help feeling that she’s up to no good. Would she have some ill will herself or be working for someone else?”

  “Whatever she’s up to, she won’t be including me,” Harry said. “Don’t bring her in on my account. She’ll have to turn her interests elsewhere.”

  Kele laughed. “Taken with that light Faery of yours, are you?”

  Harry looked annoyed.

  “What is the general feeling without worrying about who she might have a romantic interest in? Shall we accept her or send her on her way?” Simon asked.

  “I hate to sound desperate, but we are short three members,” Arwen said.

  “And has that caused any difficulties? We’ve been without three for some time now,” Simon replied.

  They all agreed it hadn’t mattered.

  “Our limit has always been twelve. We needn’t have that many. She wants, for whatever reason, to be a part of our coven. Do we want her?”

  The discussion lasted for nearly half an hour. Zoe didn’t like her. Harry was hesitant because he didn’t want to be the object of her affections, but found her musical skills within the requirements of Shauna Faun. Caeli and Flynn thought she was just what the band needed. Kele and Calana didn’t trust her and felt she was up to no good. Arwen thought no consideration should be given to who Nuala did or didn’t have feelings for; she thought Nuala played devil’s advocate to discover their reactions, and had come back despite the Humans-only food restriction, so Arwen voted yes. Aranck thought she was clearly sent by someone like another Artemis to wreak havoc, and wanted nothing to do with this one.

  “It comes down to you, Simon,” Kele said.

  Simon was uneasy.

  “I don’t like the fact that she causes all of this dissent among us. I fear some will never trust her, and if they are correct, I’ll have to either ban her or destroy her. I’ve destroyed one already. I don’t wish to be in that position again. I fear I must vote no.”

  There was no outcry. The silent acceptance told him he’d made the right decision. And it fell to him to tell her when she returned.

  VIII

  Harry visited Rhiannon the next evening at their usual spot. They talked of her previous evening, and she assured him she had come to no trouble. He told her nothing of auditioning Nuala. First, he had no desire to create any jealousy, and second, he didn’t discuss coven business with outsiders. Instead he talked about tours they’d made in the past, and the places they’d seen, describing the foreign lands. She longed to see these exotic places, and was slightly envious of all the folk he knew.

  “Do Vampyres have love interests?”

  “Yes. At least some do.”

  “So, do you have a wife or girlfriend in your coven?”

  He laughed. “No. We don’t actually marry. We form relationships that might be short term or last decades, but I have none at the moment.”

  “Have you ever?”

  “Once, long ago, when I was a rogue.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “The life of a rogue can be dangerous. She met the sun.”

  “How?”

  “She was trapped by a Human. We’re usually too quick for them. Light Faery are rarely captured, and it’s almost unheard of for one of us to be captured. Apparently she was hiding under some flower leaves, and a Human was picking the flowers. She thought her skills were greater than they were. She was caught along with the flower. She bit the Human. He saw her and closed his hand around her before she could escape, and put her in a jar, not understanding what she was. As the sun rose the next morning, she burst into flame and was lost. The Human found only ashes when he awoke.”

  “How did you discover this?”

  “I was on my way to see her when I saw what happened. I couldn’t save her. I tracked them back to the Human’s home, but I was unable to rescue her.”

  “Couldn’t you perform a spell to open the jar?”

  He smiled sadly. “We can glamour ourselves so that Humans can’t see us, and there are spells that light as well as dark Faeries can perform on small objects to make them smaller for ease in carrying, but there’s no spell that works on Humans or their inanimate objects. There was no way for me to open the jar. Even Vampyres haven’t Human strength. I knew what would happen in the morning. And in the evening, I saw her ashes in the bottom of the jar, still where the child had left it.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you. It was long ago and is of no consequence now.”

  They talked o
f lighter matters until she had to return to Widow Breve’s house.

  After Rhiannon left, Harry sat by the stream and watched the water falling over the stones. He was unaware that he was being watched from a distance, that his whole time with Rhiannon had been observed. Only after he left the clearing did Nuala come out from behind a tree and sit in the spot where Harry had been. She smiled malevolently.

  *

  Nuala was smug as she approached Simon’s office. He sat at the desk writing a new song.

  “Your thrall sent me here,” she said.

  “Yes,” he said, rising from his chair.

  “Have you come to a decision?”

  “We have. It was a difficult one to make, but we’ve decided that we can’t accept you in the coven.”

  She looked shocked. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

  “I don’t make decisions in isolation. Everyone has input, and votes.”

  “A vote? I thought you were in charge.”

  “I am. But everyone must be able to get along. From the way you presented yourself, a majority felt that you wouldn’t follow our pact.”

  “So, your girlfriend decided she doesn’t want me, and that’s it?”

  “More than half of the coven voted no,” he said sternly.

  “You’ll never find a better musician. I’m the best that’s out there.”

  “You should go,” he replied.

  She stared at him, but he made no move to do anything. He had given his judgement, and she was now no more than a pest to him.

  She flitted away so quickly a light Faery would have said she disappeared.

  Later, Harry came to see him. Simon was still working on is latest song, but put it away for the time being.

  “I can return later,” Harry offered.

  “No, I’m having difficulty with a verse, and I could use a break.”

  Harry was surprised. It never occurred to him that songs didn’t flow effortlessly from Simon’s mind. His songs always sounded as if they did.

  “I’ve been to see Rhiannon. She’s quite unhappy. She even asked to become a Vampyre, or even a thrall. I convinced her being a thrall wouldn’t improve her lot in life. But regardless of what I tell her, she wants to become one of us.”

  “And you would also wish it.”

  “I didn’t encourage it or suggest it. I tried to show her the horrors of it.”

  “She didn’t run away screaming when we showed fangs,” Simon chuckled.

  “Her life is drudgery. She has no hope of anything.”

  “She is alive, Harry. I know you have feelings for her –”

  “All well and good for you to say, Simon. You have Zoe.”

  “Who begged me to turn her. And I had the same objections with her then that I have now with Rhiannon. Only when she was on the point of certain death did I intervene. No, she didn’t want to be a priestess. But there were ways of not being a priestess that didn’t involve death. She was alive and I took that from her. But only when there was no other choice for life.”

  “So I have to be content to watch her suffer.”

  “In two years she can be free of Widow Breve.”

  “Two years! Two years of remorseless suffering! How can you condone –”

  “I don’t condone any of it. I would thrash the lot of Cantares for their wickedness. Time was when the Cantares deserved their acclaim. They have fallen now into the trap of pompous contentment. They need their comeuppance, but it isn’t up to us to give it.”

  “I don’t care about them. I care about Rhiannon.”

  “I know,” Simon replied. “I understand your suffering. Truly, I do.”

  “Some would say we’ve forgotten our nature.”

  Simon’s eyes flicked in anger and he stood his full height.

  “We have, I would think, evolved to a higher standard. We do not twist things to our liking because it’s convenient. None of us – at least none in our coven – enjoys seeing others suffer. But there is no threat to her life, so as yet we can do nothing but keep watch.

  Harry nodded. “I’ll leave you to your song making,” he said and left.

  He couldn’t bear to be in Simon’s presence just then. Simon could make an exception if he wanted. If Rhiannon had been Simon’s interest – no, he knew Simon spoke the truth about Zoe’s creation. While it wasn’t fair to Rhiannon, it also wasn’t fair to deny her what life could offer if she could just get away from the Cantares. But she was only sixteen.

  IX

  As Rhiannon walked through the village, a woman strolled up to her from behind and came alongside her.

  “It’s a lovely day,” the woman said.

  “Yes,” Rhiannon replied.

  “Are you excited about singing at the Beltane festival?”

  “I’m not singing.”

  “Really? I thought you were a singer.”

  “If you’ve come to taunt me, you needn’t bother.”

  “Taunt you? Why would I?”

  “Folk here seem to delight in it.”

  “I don’t see why anyone would. I’m sorry that you’re not singing.”

  “Thank you. Are you a Cantare?”

  “No.”

  “Oh. I didn’t think I’d seen you in the village before.”

  “My name is Nuala. I’m visiting.”

  “Oh. I’m Rhiannon. It’s nice to meet you. Do you sing?”

  “I can. But I, too, was refused admittance to sing with a group.”

  “The Cantares are vile to anyone who is not one of them.”

  “So, you aren’t either?” Nuala asked.

  “I really don’t know. My parents were killed when I was young, and I was given to the Widow Breve.”

  “Is she nice?”

  Rhiannon looked around. No one was near enough to hear their conversation.

  “No, she isn’t. She treats me like a slave.”

  “Why don’t you run away?”

  “Where would I go?”

  “Don’t you have a boyfriend who could help you escape?”

  “No.”

  “A pretty girl like you?”

  “Do you really think I’m pretty?” Rhiannon asked.

  “Of course. And I simply don’t believe you have no beau.”

  “There is someone I like.”

  “I knew it!”

  “But he isn’t from this clan.”

  “Doesn’t sound like you want to live with this clan, anyway.”

  “But he’s –”

  Nuala looked innocently at the girl, as if she knew nothing about her dalliance.

  “Please don’t tell me he doesn’t return your affection?”

  “No – I mean, I don’t know. I think he likes me. But there are problems.”

  “Like what?”

  Rhiannon shrugged. “I don’t think I should talk about it.”

  “Suit yourself,” Nuala replied. “It seems to me there are two choices if you don’t like your lot in life: run away or die.”

  Rhiannon stopped and stared at the woman.

  “I must be keeping you,” Nuala said. She disappeared into the crowd.

  Rhiannon stared after her long after she was gone. Other Faeries flitted past, some bumping into the girl staring in the middle of the path. No one had ever suggested to her that she might die, although she’d considered it herself before.

  Perhaps that’s what everyone was waiting for. Perhaps everyone wanted her to die. Did Harry? He seemed so nice. She thought he liked her, even if he wasn’t willing to make her a Vampyre.

  She flew off to the stream.

  Harry appeared a short time later to find tears rolling down Rhiannon’s face.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked, half-kneeling beside her.

  “Harry, do you think folk believe I’d be better off dead?”

  “No!”

  “Do you?”

  “Of course not. I’ve been trying to get folk to listen to me and help you out. What brought this on? Has the Widow Brev
e –”

  “It wasn’t her. A stranger spoke with me and said if I were unhappy I had two choices: run away or die.”

  Harry looked shocked. “I can’t believe anyone could say such a terrible thing. A stranger, you say? Not a Cantare?”

  “No, although I never found out her clan. She said her name was Nuala.”

  Harry started. She wasn’t accepted in Shauna Faun, so now she was seeking revenge. How did she know about Rhiannon? Harry thought she must have followed him.

  “Rhiannon, I know of this woman. Do not listen to her. She likes to hurt people.”

  He held the girl until she was calm. The scent of light Faery enticed him. Only his anger over Nuala’s visit kept him from being overcome by Rhiannon’s scent.

  *

  “Nuala’s out for revenge,” Harry told Simon the next evening.

  “How do you know?”

  “She sought out Rhiannon and suggested that if she wasn’t happy she should either run away of kill herself.”

  “How did she know she wasn’t happy?”

  “Apparently they fell to talking. Rhiannon assumed people would wish her dead.”

  “Are you sure she intentionally sought her out?”

  “I have no proof, but she showed an interest I didn’t return. It wouldn’t surprise me to find she’d followed me. And if she can’t have me, she’ll see to it no one can.”

  “We’ll have to find her out.”

  “I told Rhiannon to stay away from her, that she’s dangerous.”

  “Rhiannon may not have a choice, if Nuala is intent on vengeance. We may have to keep closer watch.”

  Harry didn’t make his obvious suggestion. Simon wouldn’t take this assault from Nuala as proof that Rhiannon needed to become one of them.

  X

  They received a letter from Colm, Simon’s friend from the Isle of the Dark Cove.

  “I’ve met someone who shows remarkable musical talent. I wondered if I might send him to you. He’s one of us.”

  His letter continued with information on how the Faeries who had joined him after they’d defeated Artemis were doing.

  Simon was pleased to hear from Colm, and satisfied that Artemis’s cohorts were doing well.