by Amy Sumida
Neither man was happy with the other's attendance and their ire was almost comical. Except that Torquil was such a stuck-up, hard ass that he irritated me almost as much as he did Tiernan. If Torquil had gotten his way, I would have been traveling inside a carriage instead of riding in the open air on Cat's back. He had pointed out over and over that I'd be safer inside a carriage and I'd pointed out that a carriage was nothing but a moving cage and me traveling in one was like gift wrapping me for my enemies. I'd won that argument in the end.
The departure from the Twilight Court had been more emotional than I'd thought it would be. First of all, I'd expected to leave Cat behind but she made it very clear, through a series of horrible yowling episodes, that she was having none of that. Then there were well wishes from the fey, and finally, Keir's goodbye which involved a crushing hug and quick swipes at his eyes. I was shocked to find my own eyes watering and had to come to terms with the fact that it had only taken a few days for me to get attached to these fairies.
“Princess Seren,” Torquil rode up beside me.
“Yes?” I looked over at him with ill disguised impatience. He'd been bugging me the whole way and it had only been two hours. We still had a ways to go.
“I haven't been to the Human Realm in centuries,” he said stiffly. “I was only going to ask what it's like.”
“I'm sorry, Torquil,” I sighed. “What exactly did you want to know?”
“I've heard that humans can fly now but that can't be true, is it?” He shot a nasty look at Tiernan when the Count started laughing.
“I assume Tiernan is the one who told you this?” I asked as I shook my head at Tiernan.
“Yes and he won't believe me,” Tiernan said from my left.
“It's true but probably not in the way you think,” I said to Torquil. “We fly in machines. They're very large, some of the big ones can fit hundreds of people in them.”
“You're teasing me now too, Your Highness,” Torquil chided.
“No, I swear,” I held up my hand like I was a damn boyscout. “They use propulsion and air pressure to keep aloft.”
“What?” He frowned.
“Okay, have you ever taken a piece of paper and folded it so that it had wings?” I asked and he stared at me blankly.
“He's not going to understand,” Tiernan shook his head. “He's old fey, they think everything wondrous is magic.”
“I can understand science as well, my Lord Shadowcall,” Torquil sniffed.
“So the way it works is this; airplanes, the machines I mentioned, are made of metal and shaped roughly like a bird. They have wings that don't flap but just stick out straight to the sides and are shaped in a way which makes air move faster over the top of them than underneath.” I glanced around and saw the other knights urging their mounts closer so they could listen. “Attached to these wings are engines which propel the plane forward. When the plane moves forward, the increased air speed above the wings causes the air pressure, the force of the air against the wings, to decrease there, and the air pressure beneath the wings is increased. The air pressure beneath, now stronger than that above the wings, pushes up against the wings and lifts the plane. Meanwhile, the engines propel the plane forward and you have flight. I know, it sounds complicated and impossible but it works.”
“Amazing,” Torquil shared looks with the other fey. “What other kinds of machines are there?”
“Well, there are cars,” I shrugged. “Tiernan knows how to drive those,” I glanced at Tiernan.
“Poorly, according to the Princess,” he grinned.
“No, I said you drive like a maniac,” I laughed and looked over to see that Torquil was confused. “Oh, cars are like carriages without horses pulling them. They have engines like airplanes do.”
“My Lord Tiernan, you know how to handle one of these machines?” Iain, Tiernan's pale-skinned friend, asked.
“Sure, the Wild Hunt has one in every human city for our use,” he grimaced. “Though the one in San Francisco is now at the bottom of the bay.”
“Tell us more, Princess,” Iain urged.
“Um, okay, there are machines called computers which can access nearly all of the information known to humans. They can connect people around the world, allowing for an exchange of knowledge much faster than any book could offer,” I said.
“Anyone can access this knowledge?” Torquil's brows lifted. “Is it safe to provide unlimited information to the masses?”
“Sometimes not so much,” I admitted. “Dangerous information is protected with a type of shield and only certain people can get to it but if you're smart enough, you can break through those shields and steal the information. It can be a type of warfare.”
“I think I may have been wise to remain in Fairy,” Torquil announced.
“Both realms have their dangers and their delights,” I shrugged.
“Yes, indeed,” Tiernan gave me a wicked look. “I think I should like to accompany you to one of those clubs again. A non-Extinguisher one this time.”
“I don't think I've ever been to one of those,” I blinked as the thought struck me that the restrictions I'd lived with for my entire life no longer applied to me.
“What is a club?” Torquil narrowed his eyes on Tiernan. “I have a feeling you're not speaking of the weapon favored by trolls.”
“No,” Tiernan laughed and then looked him over thoughtfully. “Maybe we should take you along with us. It might do you some good.”
“I don't know if I like your implication, my lord,” Torquil glared at Tiernan. “But if Your Highness is going, than I shall too.”
“Oh, I've heard something like that before,” I looked at Tiernan and he chuckled.
“Don't you have to report back to the Wild Hunt?” Torquil pointedly asked Tiernan.
“I've already reported to both the Hunt and the European Fairy Council,” Tiernan replied calmly. “The Council wasn't thrilled to hear that Aideen's allegations were all an elaborate plot hatched by our King but they understood King Keir's need to protect his daughter. In fact, they've assigned me to keep an eye on her,” he paused to grin at me. “They think it's a good opportunity to join forces with the humans in a goal we've been working towards separately. They see you as a link forged between us, Princess, and they were happy that we were able to smooth things over with the Extinguishers and move ahead with this union.”
“Were we?” I lifted a brow at Tiernan. “Able to smooth things over with the Extinguishers, I mean.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Last I heard, they were simply relieved that there wasn't some horrible weapon being invented to kill humans. That and the fact that you're a fairy princess, went a long way in smoothing ruffled feathers.”
“I wonder what my father will say to all of this?” I murmured to myself.
“His Majesty is the one who created the ruse, Princess,” Torquil frowned.
“She means the human who raised her,” Tiernan shot a quelling look at Torquil before he leaned over and took my hand. “He will understand, Seren. He loves you.”
“But the explanation he was given includes the fact that his wife cheated on him and his daughter is not really his,” I squeezed Tiernan's hand. “He loved my mother and her betrayal is going to crush him.”
“He can't hold her actions against you,” Tiernan reasoned.
“You don't know my father,” I shook my head and sighed. “At least not this father.”
Chapter Thirty
We made camp for the night in a little clearing. A massive purple and silver tent was erected for me to sleep in, despite my protests. A fairy princess doesn't sleep on a mat alongside her knights. It seemed like a waste of time and effort to me but they actually got it up pretty quickly and mine wasn't the only tent they pitched. There was a communal tent for the knights. I guess being closely attuned to nature didn't equate to wanting to sleep in her loving arms.
It was around dusk that a shivering coolness coasted over me and had me running from my
tent. I had just changed into a new set of leather pants, which I'd chosen to wear along with short tunics for the journey. Thankfully, no one expected me to parade around in fancy dresses through the forest like some Tolkien elf. The belt I'd been fastening over my tunic, fell away as I rushed to the middle of our camp.
My skin was prickling and there were fluttering sensations at the edge of my consciousness, like something was trying to get my attention. My heart raced as I peered through the thick growth of trees and shrubs crowding around the perimeter of the clearing. Something was approaching, I could feel it coming at me from all directions.
Leaves of golden green, pumpkin orange, rust, and deep emerald, shivered everywhere I looked. Fairy flowers with delicate fluted, sharp bladed, or swooping oval petals in all the colors you can imagine, bent beneath a rushing wind that stopped just as suddenly as it started. The sky was lavender above me, darkening little by little to purple, and directly overhead there was a solitary twinkling star. I stared at it, completely enraptured for a moment, until the murmuring of voices drew my attention back to the ground.
The knights were gathered in front of their tent, watching with awed expressions as fairy creatures came pouring out of the forest. Tiernan separated himself from the group and ran over to stand beside me, hands out to his sides warily, but the other fairies seemed to find no threat among the animals and neither did I. I put my hand on Tiernan's and pushed down gently, letting him know it was alright. He gave me anxious eyes as I stepped forward and was instantly surrounded by the fairy creatures.
Animals resembling deer, predator cats, dogs, rabbits, rats, and even bears brushed against me. Birds circled above us, crying out sharply, and insects crawled beneath carefully placed paws. Fur of every color and every mixture of colors, slid under my hands. Eyes, from the largest sparkling orbs to the tiniest black beads, stared at me while sharp talons dug happily into the earth around me and the flutter of wings brushed against my cheeks.
I held my arms out, welcoming them mentally and physically. I could feel them; their heartbeats and their souls like little shining orbs of flame hovering around me. The clearing was overflowing, the mass of bodies stretching back into the forest, but I was touching them all. We were joined together for one glorious moment and my heart had never been lighter.
I felt the luxurious lift of air beneath my wings, the rapturous delight of running through fragrant fields on steady paws, the rich taste of blood on my lips, and the bursting sweetness of berries in my mouth. I felt earth around me; a comforting womb, scales over my flesh; protecting me from harm, feathers ruffling in the wind; lifting me to the moon. I was a creature of dusk and dawn, of twilight. I ruled the space between night and day. This was my moment, my world, and nothing could deny my power here.
Then the sun set completely and the animals lowered themselves around me as if they were my court. The birds came down to the earth, the insects massed together, and the beasts bowed their heads as if in prayer. I bowed with them, to them, acknowledging our new connection and the gratitude I felt for it. We were family and we would look after one another. I vowed it silently to them as I felt their love and loyalty slide into my bones. Then the magic receded like the tide and they with it, so that when I opened my eyes again, they were gone.
The knights however, were still there and they came forward to where I'd knelt and they knelt as well, pulling steel swords from their sheaths to lay before me. I blinked in confusion as Tiernan came up from behind me and laid his own sword down.
“We gave you our fealty already, Princess Seren,” Torquil whispered reverently, “but now we give you our hearts. You are our Twilight Star; the creatures of Twilight themselves have just crowned you. There is no truer testament to your sovereignty. Take our swords and our love for they are yours forever.”
I was floundering, unsure of what to say or do, when a ripple of magic crept over my arms and guided me. I laid my hands upon the swords before me. They began to glow and then twinkle like the evening star above us and when I'd finally infused them all, I pulled away and saw that my fingers still glowed with magic. I stood and felt the power of the in-between rise inside me.
“For your swords, so nobly pledged to me, I give the blessing of victory, that they shall never fail you,” I spoke in a voice lower and sweeter than my own, and I knew it was the magic speaking through me. The Goddess, Danu. Her presence was like the return of my mother, a loving, maternal embrace, and I let that love pour through me, just as she urged me to do. “For your love, eternal and unconditional, I offer you mine in return. You will not face my enemies for me but beside me. We will stand together and I will guard you as you guard me, value you as you value me, fight for your needs as you fight for mine. Will you stand with me?”
“We will stand with you and for you,” Tiernan's deep voice washed over me. “We are now the Star's Guard.”
I turned to him and he lifted his hands to me. I wrapped mine around his and helped him to his feet. Then I turned and did the same with every knight there. When I lifted the last knight, who also happened to be a woman, they all shifted into a circle around me and I took their swords from the earth and laid them back in the hands which would wield them for me.
“That was a rare and beautiful thing,” Gradh, the female knight, whispered.
“I've only heard tales of it,” Tiernan admitted. “I didn't even understand it at first.”
“The last time the animals swore fealty to a monarch was when they swore it to your father, Princess Seren,” Ainsley added. “His brother, the Unseelie King, has never been crowned by his creatures.”
“Hush,” Torquil admonished him. “Don't sully this moment by speaking of the Dark King.”
“Yes, you're right,” Ainsley nodded. “I'm honored to be here and be a member of your guard, Your Highness.”
“The Star's Guard,” I looked over the ten men and one woman standing before me. A shiver of magic coasted along my arms and I knew these fey had been chosen for me, not by my father but by Danu herself working through him. “Thank you,” I whispered to her, to the goddess I'd only just met and yet whose love I could feel stronger than any I'd ever known.
Chapter Thirty-One
We reached the fairy mound which led to Gentry Technologies at mid-morning the next day. The knights had set up camp again, intending to wait there until Tiernan, Torquil, and I returned from the Human Realm. I was comforted, knowing they'd be there when I returned, which gave me pause. How had I changed so much in such a short while? I told myself I couldn't be changed so easily. Had that been a lie? Where was the self-reliant Extinguisher who kept the fairies in check? Where was Seren Sloane?
A soft nudge to my shoulder reminded me that Cat had shifted into her canine form and when I looked over to her, it was to find her staring up at me like she had every intention of following me into the fairy mound. I sighed and held her face in my hands.
“Look, little Cat,” I smiled at the silliness of the name. “You need to stay here and guard my back while I go into the human world.” She whined and I set stern eyes on her until she quieted. “I can't take you there, you'd cause a big scene and we need to be as low profile as possible. You have to stay here.” She whined again as I walked to the mound but she stayed put.
I looked over the door and frowned. On this side of the mound the door didn't have a picture of a star over a fey landscape. Instead, it had a picture of the Earth, a globe done in silver inlay over a gold background, with North and South America facing out. Earth on this side, star on the other, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the doors were more than barriers, they were signs showing where the path led.
I stood before that gold and silver sign, staring at the representation of Earth, and reached deep inside myself to find the old me. Something solid and shivering with intensity rose up in my chest. Ah, there she was, struggling with the weight of this new world but still alive, still fighting to be heard. It hadn't been a lie; a new appearance wouldn't chan
ge who I was but new people could. New family and friends. They were changing me and maybe I could accept that but only under my conditions. I needed to get back into my birth world and remember who I was so that I'd have the strength to bring it forward and merge it into the person I was becoming.
I needed to get back to my father.
I turned the handle and pushed gently but Tiernan laid a hand on mine with an apologetic smile. Oh, right, fairy princesses didn't walk into realms first. Their guards went ahead of them to make sure it was safe. This rankled a little, as I'm sure Tiernan knew it would, but the feeling gave me hope that I was still the woman I'd been raised to be.
I nodded and stepped back so Tiernan could go first. Then I went into the passage behind him and Torquil took up the rear. The door closed behind Torquil silently and the narrow passage went dark. I tensed but kept walking forward and as I did, the passage brightened just a little, enough that I could see there was no longer earth surrounding us but empty space. I flinched, totally unprepared for that. The last time I'd been through, I hadn't really been paying attention.
“Don't stray from the path,” Torquil whispered and laid an encouraging hand on my arm. “Just keep walking forward and don't be scared, Your Highness, this is your place. You have power here. If you don't wish it to be dark, then bid the light to shine.”
“Just like that? I just ask light to appear?” I asked but even as I spoke, a bright glow began to illuminate the emptiness around us.
When I looked out into the vast nothing which eventually swallowed the light, I shivered and wished I hadn't looked. The light immediately toned down to a softer glow which only revealed the ground beneath our feet. It was just a few steps more before Tiernan opened another golden door and we stepped out into the basement of Gentry.