by Amy Sumida
The blanket he'd been holding wasn't a blanket at all, it was his seal skin. Tattered, torn, and covered in blood, he still held it as if his life depended on it, which I guess it did. His body was nearly as abused as that skin, bleeding in several places and cut so deeply in some of them that I could see more than bloody flesh. The dull custard-yellow of fat and gleaming white of bone had me swallowing hard.
I had to help him hobble out of the cell and I almost ran into Tiernan, who was bringing out a buttery sprite. No wonder I hadn't been able to see anyone in that cell; she was a tiny thing, just a little over a foot high. Her bruised body was huddled in on itself, her delicate arms wrapped around her emaciated chest, but her eyes stared up at me with the spark of survival. We led them into the guard's room and they huddled together in front of the fire with the prisoners who'd been freed by Aodh and Conri.
We ran back to the occupied cells. There were so many of them that we decided to go down the line and unlock all the doors first, urging out those who could walk on their own before we went back for the more critically injured. But word of our rescue had already spread and the prisoners required no urging. Those that could, stood waiting for us at their cell doors and once freed, they went immediately to help the others. It wasn't long before we'd emptied the entire length of cells. We found the guard room full of seelie when we returned but there was no sign of Aodh or Conri.
“I'll go help them. You stay here,” Tiernan ran off.
“Does everyone who needs assistance have it?” I asked the group and saw them all nod. “Will you all be able to walk?”
“Yes,” a bean-tigh answered, her elderly appearance tugging at my heart. “If you can lead us out of here, we will walk. We'll crawl if necessary.”
My throat constricted with her words, so all I could do was nod. They were all beaten, cut, or broken in some horrible way and yet they would have dragged their broken limbs across a field of glass to escape the Unseelie Court. After witnessing only one night of what they were put through, I know I would have too. I would have done anything to escape that existence.
I had to take deep breaths to calm my rising anger. I wanted to run out of that room and slaughter all of the unseelie for what they'd done. Instead, I focused on what I could do to help the injured seelie while we waited for the others to return. I pulled clothes and shoes off the guards and passed them out to the fey, tearing some of the clothes to make bandages for the worst of the wounds.
Then she came limping in.
A human girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Her hair was probably a bright, strawberry blonde normally but it was dingy with sweat and blood. Soft, doe eyes squinted in the low light, one of them swollen shut. She was covered in bruises and cradled a bloody arm to her chest. Aodh was helping her walk since one of her ankles appeared to be twisted.
“Here, let me help,” I took her from him gently. “What's your name?”
“Amanda,” she croaked out and I saw that she had bruises on her neck as well... in the shape of fingers.
“We're going to get you home, Amanda,” I whispered. “I just need you to hang on a little longer.”
“Okay,” she gave me a small smile and a cut on her lips cracked and began to bleed.
“That's all of them. Let's move,” Tiernan came up behind us with Conri. He was carrying a brownie and Conri held a kobold, a type of shapeshifting fairy.
The prisoners needed no further coaxing. We moved and we did so as quickly as possible. I had no idea how long we had before the guards woke. We couldn't kill them, bodies left behind might start a war. So I dusted them once more before we left and hoped for the best.
Nighean's count had been off just a little; it looked like there were only thirty fey. I cast a glance up the stairs as we passed them, thinking that perhaps the others were up there, entertaining their hosts. Then I pushed the thought away because if it was true, there was nothing I could do about it. I had to focus on helping the ones I could.
We made it out to the fresh air but it was clear the seelie were too injured to travel all the way back to where we'd left the carriages. So Tiernan, Aodh, and I scurried off to fetch them while Conri stayed behind to guard the freed fairies.
When I climbed into the driver's seat, I saw that the moth had left but I didn't really think anything of it. I was too busy maneuvering my coach back onto the road so I could follow Tiernan back to where we'd left the seelie. We barreled along, knowing that silence didn't matter at this point, they would most likely spot us under the glare of the sun. All we could hope for was enough speed to get back fast enough to grab the seelie and escape.
We arrived just as the imposing onyx gates of the unseelie castle flew open. A contingent of knights shot through the gates and headed in our direction. The sight brought an adrenaline rush and we loaded the carriages like luggage handlers on crack. Some of the seelie suffered for our haste but no one spoke a word of protest. I think everyone agreed that it was better to be hurt during an escape than be recaptured.
I got the last fairy into my carriage and climbed up into the driver's seat. We were so full, I had one of the less injured fairies sitting up beside me.
“Allow me, Your Highness,” Conri jumped up on the other side of the seelie woman and took the reins. “I can handle horses almost as well as I do women.”
Conri spared a second to wink at me before he slapped the reins down hard, jolting the horses into action. I heard shouting from behind us and called out encouragement to the animals, especially Cat. I didn't want her to think I'd forgotten she was there. I was slowly becoming aware that animals in Fairy could understand what was said to them. Or perhaps being fey helped with that. Whatever it was, the horses put on an extra burst of speed and we raced through the sleepy forest like a shooting star.
“If you're listening again, Danu, we could sure use your help,” I prayed as I turned in my seat, gripping the roof of the carriage so I could watch for our pursuers.
In movies it seems that the background often fits the action. If something scary happens, the ambiance darkens to help set the tone. Maybe I'd seen too many movies because fleeing the unseelie through a sunlit forest, full of vibrantly colored leaves and happy birdsong, just seemed so wrong. Chirping was not an appropriate soundtrack for this situation.
But then the tone changed.
As soon as Aodh's carriage made it into the woods, a loud, tearing rustle came from behind us and the trees began to move. The seelie woman beside me turned to join me in staring as massive roots yanked themselves free of the ground, sending showers of dirt flying through the air. They slithered and crawled, moving the mass of their ancient trunks like hermit crabs across sand. Then they settled like old women, groaning and creaking as their roots dug into the road behind us.
Vines sprung out of the earth and snaked around the trees, weaving them into a living tapestry. Branches shivered as the thick cords reached all the way up to the treetops. Then bursts of color started to explode across the verdant backdrop; flowers. A beautiful mockery to the unseelie knights who were now incapable of giving chase. A joyous cry erupted from the carriages. We were safe.
“Thanks again,” I glanced up at the bright blue sky, which seemed much more appropriate now, and then set my eyes back on the road. “I hope I can repay my debt someday.”
“Who are you talking to?” The glastig sitting between Conri and me, asked. One of her goat legs was bent at the wrong angle but she paid it no heed as she stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Danu,” I said simply.
“Who are you, my lady?” She was still beautiful, despite the cuts that ran down her cheek and across her chest, and I knew she could use that beauty to seduce men... and then kill them. Still, I was happy to have saved her and I'd be just as happy to free the imprisoned unseelie.
“She's the Twilight Star,” Conri gave me a gentle smile and for the briefest moment, I saw behind the mask of the seducer, into the heart that Danu, and now I, believed in.
Chapter
Forty-Four
We couldn't risk taking the seelie back to the twilight castle and have my father discover what we'd done, so we had to take them directly to the Seelie Court. Unfortunately, the fairy mound which led to the Seelie Court was all the way on the other side of the Twilight Kingdom and we couldn't make it that far by nightfall. So after a few hours, we decided to make camp.
When I opened the door of my carriage, the moth that I'd completely forgotten about, flew out and landed on my shoulder. “There you are,” I gave it a quick glance before I reached up to help my passengers out.
“I don't know how you did it but thank you for bringing us a mending moth,” said an apsara, a fairy of clouds and waters, as she took my hand.
“A what?” I cocked my head at her as she found her feet.
“A mending moth,” she drew a graceful finger down the blood-red fur of the moth's body. “They can heal almost anything with their dust.” Then she leaned down to speak to the moth, “Thank you again, little one.”
The moth shivered happily and I gaped at it. Then I looked the apsara over and saw that her wounds had been healed. No bruises marred her dark skin, there was no blood in her long, straight, ebony hair, and her exotic, Indian features were perfectly smooth, instead of swollen beyond recognition. Indian as in saris not buckskins, by the way.
“It even worked for me,” Amanda climbed out of the carriage to reveal a brand new face, a healed arm, and a healed ankle.
“Damn,” I whispered and looked down at the moth. “You did all that?”
“And more,” the selkie man who'd been in such bad shape just hours earlier, climbed out with a huge grin. He and his sealskin were whole, which meant he'd be able to slip it on and go home to the ocean.
“He's probably worn out,” a tengu, a mountain fairy originally from Japan, climbed out of the carriage, his beak making the words sound hollow. He shook out his wings, which had previously been broken, and stretched his shoulders as he sighed. “I thought I'd never feel this good again. Thank you, my lady and thank you, tiny healer.” He bowed gallantly to the moth and it lifted off my shoulder, hovering before the tengu a moment before it flew away.
“Now I wish I'd sat inside,” the glastig limped over to us with Conri's help.
Cat had slipped her reins by shifting into dog form and raced over to me. She sat contentedly beside me, her jaws hanging open so her tongue could loll out with her heavy panting. I gave her an absent head scratch as more healed seelie piled out of my carriage.
“I'm so sorry,” I said to the glastig as I glanced at the other injured fairies getting out of Tiernan's and Aodh's carriages.
“It's alright,” the glastig grinned. “I'm happy enough to be free of the unseelie.”
“Still,” I sighed as Cat leaned into me, “I wish I'd known what that moth could do. I would have asked him to bring along some of his friends.”
As soon as I spoke the words, the air shivered and a loud fluttering sound came from the forest. In a cloud of shimmering gray and red, more mending moths swooped into the clearing. The injured fairies gathered around me with hopeful expressions as the moths came to rest on my hair, arms, and shoulders. Cat backed away respectfully.
“Whoa, that was fast,” I whispered as I held my moth covered arms out, careful to not injure their delicate wings. “Do you guys wanna help us out? We've got a lot of hurt fairies here and we would really appreciate anything you could do for them.”
The swarm left me instantly, spreading out among the wounded. Glittering dust drifted down, settling in cuts and seeping into skin. Flesh knitted together, bones mended, and limbs twisted back into proper alignment. I just watched it all in awe as Cat returned to my side and Tiernan joined us, sliding his hand into mine. I looked over and saw him staring down at me with a tender expression.
“I've never seen someone call the menders,” he whispered. “They're known to be fickle, giving their healing dust only to those who catch their fancy, and then only when the need is dire. To see them give so freely and in these numbers, is astonishing. Miraculous.”
“I was astonished before you even told me all of that,” I blinked as the glastig's leg settled back into place and she did a happy jig. “I didn't even know this kind of healing was possible.”
“You know, they're like you,” he mused.
“The moths? How so?” I set my attention back on him.
“They're half fey and half human,” he gave a little smile. “Well, not human but from that realm.”
“You mean they were bred of regular old moths from the Human Realm and fairy moths from here?” I felt my eyes widen. “I didn't know that was possible either. How did they even meet?”
“Moths have been migrating here from the Human Realm for about fifty years now,” Tiernan explained. “Their numbers are dwindling there and some species are going extinct, so they've begun to seek refuge among us.”
“Extinct moths?” I lifted my brows.
Then a happy cheer went up from the healed fey and I looked over to see the moths fluttering back towards me. I held my arms out to them again but they only swirled around me this time. I guess their work was done.
“Thank you,” I whispered as soft wings fluttered against my skin. “We won't forget how you helped us. Goodbye, my menders.”
They swooped up together in one glorious mass of color and disappeared into the forest in a spiraling parade. Grateful goodbyes came from the group of seelie and when I looked over, I saw Aodh standing in the middle of a happy, hugging crowd. He pulled away after awhile and sent me a wide smile before he began organizing the fairies into groups. Within moments he had them building campfires, gathering bedding material, and starting a pot of stew with the supplies we'd brought. He even got Conri to help.
“He's a natural leader, that one,” I observed and then caught Tiernan's expectant expression. “Oh, right, you were telling me about the moths going extinct.”
“You know how they're attracted to light?” Tiernan took up right where we'd left off.
“Sure,” I nodded. “Moth to the flame and all that.”
“Well they actually navigate by moonlight but the lights of human cities confuse them and they end up swarming beneath street lamps and becoming prey for night birds and bats.”
“Oh, wait, I think I heard about that... Project Dark Skies,” I nodded.
“Project Dark Skies?” Tiernan lifted a brow.
“It's called light pollution and it doesn't just affect moths,” I continued as I remembered an article I'd read about it. “It hurts a lot of birds too, causing them to migrate too early or sing at night. They can even get so confused that they fly into buildings. Not just the birds either, there's a lot of nocturnal creatures hurt by artificial lighting. Project Dark Skies was actually created so that we could see the stars again but then they discovered so many other reasons for promoting darkness. Like saving moths. In fact, the reason I remember the article is because I was surprised to learn that moths pollinate crops, just like bees do.”
“Yes,” Tiernan had a small smile. “They're just as important as bees are but most humans think of them only as a nuisance.”
“That's why these people created Project Dark Skies,” I nodded, “to raise awareness. They also try to get cities to install motion detecting street lamps and encourage private citizens to use motion detecting lights outside as well, or at least cut back on the number of lights they have on at night and to stop using bug zappers.”
“I admit, I'm a little shocked,” he blinked at me.
“That I know so much about light pollution?” I frowned at him.
“No, that humans are trying to do something about it,” he held up a hand when I started to get offended. “We didn't think they were even aware of the harm they were causing. You must admit that they have a history of hurting the Earth and then figuring it out and trying to fix it after it's too late.”
“Yeah, okay,” I huffed and then a thought occurred to me. “But how did the
moths get here?”
“They asked us to bring them,” he shrugged, “and so we brought them through. We assumed the humans would try and change things after the moths went extinct and then the moths could return safely to the Human Realm and help save the ecosystem. We gave them sanctuary and I believe it was that kindness that inspired the birth of the mending moths. It was their way of repaying the debt. Magic often responds to great emotion and their gratitude must have been significant.”
“Wait,” I touched his arm. “Creatures from the Human Realm can communicate with us too?”
“We're fairies, Seren,” he gave me a confused smile. “We speak to all animals. It's kind of our thing.”
“I thought it might be something limited to Fairy,” I shrugged. “Now I know.” Then I gave a huffing laugh. “Going to the zoo will be an entirely new experience.”
“Yes, I imagine it would give you a fresh perspective,” he took my hand and started walking me through camp. Cat followed closely. “Did you leave word for your father, like I advised?”
“Yeah, I left him a note saying that I went back to the Human Realm with you to try and speak to my dad again,” I sighed as I watched the fairies quickly get our little camp in order. I didn't like lying to Keir but all of this was worth it and I was pretty sure he'd understand.
Tiernan brought us to the edge of camp, where a bush grew, heavily laden with large, round, canary-yellow berries. He pulled a handful free and gave them to me before taking some for himself. I popped one into my mouth and savored the honeyed sweetness of it before tossing one to Cat. She snatched the berry from the air and chewed happily before she decided to cut out the middleman and went directly to the source to harvest the berries herself.
“That was Danu, wasn't it?” Tiernan asked me in between bites of berry.
“Blocking our pursuers in a creative and very dramatic way?” I asked with a lifted brow. He just lifted his brow back. “I'm pretty sure it was,” I shook my head as I watched Cat expertly divest the bush of its bounty. “You know, I was raised Catholic... in a fashion. My rosary was made of rowan wood,” I laughed when Tiernan grimaced. Rowan wood was a strong charm against fairy magic. “But I'd never thought to see the day when I prayed to Goddess for help instead of God.”