by Sumida, Amy
“No, no, no,” Gráinne waved a finger in the face of the Hidden One. “My name!”
“Oh yessss,” he laughed again and I smiled as the rest of the phookas clambered about the remaining Hidden Ones, expecting as much attention as their sister was getting. “You're right, I already have a name anywaysssss. It's Taog.”
“Toook,” Gráinne sounded out the name slowly, then, “Taog, Taog, Taog!”
Neala shot me an amused look. “They may not like them so much after the pups keep that up for awhile.”
“They are beautiful children, missusssss,” Taog grinned, baring a mouth full of pointed teeth dripping yellow fluid. “You are blesssed and we are blesssssed that you share them with us.”
“Och now,” she waved a hand and blushed a bit. “You're welcome to play with them anytime you like. I'd be happy for the break.”
“Truly?” Another Hidden One stepped forward, two little boys climbing over the tusks that grew out of her wide, flat face at strange angles. “We like children,” she tossed her head a little and the boys swung around, squealing in delight.
“Sure, sure,” Neala nodded and the children all shouted with glee.
“Well, I guess no one wants to say hi to me,” I shrugged and started for the door, “or hear me read the book I brought.”
“Waaaaaiiiit,” someone slithered across my path, effectively blocking the door I was heading for. Claws clicked against its ridged hide in dismay. “Don't leave, Queen Vervain, we want to hear your story.”
“You're sure now?”
“Oh yes,” they all said together, even the phooka pups.
“Alright then,” I smiled to myself as I walked further into the room and found a flat rock to sit on. “Gather around but behave or the story stops.”
“We promisssssse,” Taog flopped down next to me and Gráinne climbed up on what I assume was his lap.
“This is the story of Urashima Taro,” I said as I held up the book for them to see the illustration of a Japanese boy riding on the back of a turtle. They all quieted and mouths dropped open as they stared fixedly at the book. “It was my favorite story when I was a little girl.”
I began to read, telling them about how Urashima Taro saved a turtle's life and then discovered that the turtle was the Sea Princess in disguise. They loved this, asking if she was like Queen Dubheasa, who had ruled over the Kingdom of Water until I killed her(she tried to kill me first). I told them she was kinda like her except the Sea Princess was nice. They laughed at that.
I went on to tell them how Urashima Taro had married the princess and how she kept him with her in her palace for many years. I showed them the pictures to which they ooohed and ahhhed appropriately. When I told them how he finally asked to leave and go home because of his duties to his parents, they asked why the Princess couldn't go with him and I had to explain that she wasn't a water sidhe who could live on land if she wanted to. She had to stay in her underwater palace. They didn't like that so much.
They did like it when the princess gave Urashima Taro a gift, a black lacquered box to take with him back to land, which he was warned to never open. The fey seemed to like gifts you weren't meant to open and they all nodded sagely when he opened it anyway. They knew the human wouldn't be able to resist and I got the feeling that this was a favorite trick amongst the fey.
They had a lot of fun shouting out what they thought would happen when Urashima opened the box. I was shocked by the amount of possibilities they came up with, and a little disturbed by the detailed descriptions, but when I told them he merely aged, that the three-hundred years he'd been away were suddenly brought back to him, they gasped, horrified.
“After all those terrible things you thought would happen to him when he opened the box,” I laughed, “you think aging is the worst?”
“It'ssss terrible,” Taog shuddered. “Thisss amussssed you when you were little? You truly are a terrifying Queen. We are honored to have you lead usssss.”
I shook my head and smiled. I'd have to be more careful in choosing books for them in the future. The fears of men and fey are very different.
Chapter Five
“Vervain, where have you been?” Arach caught up with me as I was heading back from the cavern with Neala and her children.
“Reading to the children,” I held up the book.
“My King,” Neala nodded and quickly led the pups away.
“Neala,” he nodded back and then returned his attention to me. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”
“What is it?”
“King Cian has received word of the missing fey. The Earth Kingdom has reported signs of a struggle and there are fey unaccounted for.”
“How many?” I thought back to the bodies I'd seen.
“Four missing, one site of conflict,” he said grimly. “It doesn't look good. All of the royals are gathering to review the evidence. We're expected to join them as soon as possible.”
“Okay,” I nodded and waved my hand outward, “lead the way.”
He grabbed my hand and hurried us out of the castle, his long legs striding easily as I hurried to keep up, my book still gripped tightly to my chest. He helped me into the royal coach and nodded to the waiting contingent of red caps, who I assumed were going along as our guards. Then he sat back next to me on the padded velvet seats and I felt the coach lurch forward, the sound of a large amount of big feet pounding along behind us.
It took awhile to get to the Earth Kingdom. We traveled along the Road of Neutrality, which encircled the Forgetful Forest, at the center of which was the Castle of Eight, home of the High King and High Queen. It was a large forest but the kingdoms were much larger, four immense wedges spanning out from the round rim of the road, and although the Earth Kingdom was right next to Fire, it was a bit of a journey to get there. Not only did we have to travel a ways down the road, passing the massive tree that marked the only tracing point in all of Faerie(and also happened to mark the border between Earth and Fire), but we had to go deep into the Earth Kingdom to find the site of the possible abduction.
I stared out the window in fascination. I'd expected the Earth Kingdom to be one large forest, similar, if not exactly the same to, the Forgetful Forest. Well, it was and it wasn't.
Oh, it began as a forest, with some trees even bigger than the mammoths in the Forgetful, but it slowly morphed into more. The super sized trees had the look of guardians to me and I had the feeling that had we not been invited to enter the kingdom, those trees would have held some nasty surprises for us. They seemed to shiver as we passed, a rustling of leaves before they settled into stillness.
After the Guardians, the forest thinned out and started looking more normal, well normal for Faerie. It was full of life, fey creatures running and flying amok through the breathing trees whose trunks expanded with each breath. Sun shone through the leaves, creating patches of gold along the trail we followed and every now and then something small and curious would fly up to the coach to investigate.
One little creature with dappled pink and purple wings actually perched on the window for a bit. It had sleek violet fur and arms like a squirrel with legs that ended in tiny talons. A hairless tail swished behind it as it cocked its head horizontally and surveyed us with round blue eyes that took up almost half his face. I started to reach a hand out to touch it but Arach stopped me, pulling my hand back and leaning in to hiss at the creature. It squawked, revealing tiny sharp teeth, and flew off into the trees.
“Best not to touch anything you're not sure about,” he grinned at me. “That one is carnivorous.”
“Ah,” I should have known better. The cuter they were in Faerie, the greater the possibility that they were dangerous.
Something I was surprised and a little enchanted to see, were the crystals. Scattered among the trees were huge crystal formations, half hidden by foliage, as if the earth had pushed them up so that everyone could enjoy their beauty. The sun sparkled off the gigantic points, casting multi-colored ra
ys all over the forest. There were deep purple clusters of them with tiny points, like the inside of a geode, coating boulders that melded into trees, making it appear as if the trees had been birthed from crystal. Then there were deep red points, reaching up to the sky in long columns, some as much as half the height of the trees. Smaller clutches of golden citrine peeped out of the deep green grass and some spikes were the color of the grass itself, although their spires sparkled in the patches of sun. The colors of the crystals competed with that of the myriad of faerie flowers blooming everywhere, their petals caught in the breeze and dancing in the air.
Then the patches of sun started to disappear and the humidity in the air went up. The plants became fuller and many had a waxy sheen to them. Vines grew around and off of the trees, hanging low over the path so that they sometimes brushed the roof of the carriage as we passed below them. Everything looked more lush and the smells of blossom and earth were more heady, almost palpable. I looked over to Arach with a question in my eyes.
“We're near the border of Water,” he nodded to the mist flowing through the trees, causing moisture to condense on the emerald leaves. “We'll pass it soon, as the kingdom widens out.”
“Where's the castle?”
“Crith-Fuinn?” Arach asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah, I expected it to be near the Road of Neutrality, like our castle and Water's.”
“It was.”
“Excuse me?”
“We passed over it fifteen minutes ago,” he grinned, he just loved surprising me.
“Over it?” I raised my brows. “It's underground?”
“It is the Earth Kingdom after all,” he shrugged. “The earth fey like their burrows and dens. They're where the stories of faerie mounds came from.”
“Huh,” I returned to watching the scenery.
The scenery was changing again. The way got steeper, our path going uphill for a bit before going down in a winding angle. At the crest of the path, right before it started to fall, the trees stopped. They just stopped, crowding around the edge of the valley we were headed down into but going no further. It became evident why as soon as I got a glimpse into the rounded depression we were skimming the sides of.
The entire thing was made of crystals. The rim of it was lined with trees, their roots trailing down through the rock a few feet, but that was the extent of the plant life. Amethyst, citrine, aquamarine, quartz, sapphire, you name it, it was there. Massive formations of glistening stones protruded and shone from every surface, including the path we were on. Beneath our horses hooves, crushed emeralds crunched and glittered in the bright sunlight. We were surrounded by jewels.
I reached out the window and skimmed my hand across the surface of a gigantic red stone, wondering if it could possibly be a ruby. The deep red of it made it worth a lot to begin with but the size, at least as big as the coach we were in, made it priceless. I moved to the other side of the coach so I could look down, over the edge of the path and into the valley's floor.
I heard Arach chuckle behind me but I didn't care, I'd never seen so many massive gems in all my life and I wasn't missing the sight of them from the vantage point I had at the moment. I hung my head out the window and sighed. Everything sparkled, rainbows shooting off rocks and back again as the light changed. The sides of the valley sloped down and leveled out to a smooth piece of quartz the size of a football field, which made up the valley floor. It was so clear, you could see several yards down into it, where it was backed by other stones, magnifying their color up to the surface. It was almost too beautiful to look at.
Through the center of the valley ran a river, it came down the side of the cliff closest to the Kingdom of Water, creating a waterfall the likes of which I'd never even dreamed of. The water splashed over the jagged crystals, adding mist and even more rainbows to the already glittering display. It ended in a small pool which narrowed into a river, flowing toward the path we were headed down, where it ended in another pool, this one so deep, I couldn't see the bottom.
“It continues underground,” Arach said, his face next to mine, “and runs behind Castle Crith-Fuinn.”
“This is incredible,” I whispered.
“It's pretty enough I guess,” Arach smiled at my shock. “You must admit it's a cold beauty and we fire fey prefer much hotter things.”
Yes, there's that,” I smiled before looking back out towards the group of fey standing besides the river, waiting for us to reach them. “This is where they suspect foul play?”
“Foul play?” Arach mulled the term over. “Yes, this is the place. I'm told it'll be quite obvious when we see it.”
The carriage slid to a stop and Arach quickly got out and then helped me down. I was expecting the ground to be slick, like walking over glass, but it was more comparable to unfinished marble. It had a good amount of traction actually.
We made our way over to where the large group was standing, staring at a spot in the middle of them. The red caps waited by the carriage but I could tell they were wary, their eyes skating from the assemblage to the rim of the valley and everything in between. Something had them unsettled.
Then I felt it, something off, like a piece of meat lodged in my teeth. I wanted to pick at it and pull it out. I frowned as a couple split apart from the main group and I saw it was King Cian and Queen Meara. They met us right outside the edge of the circle of fey.
“There's no trail but there are signs of-” Meara started but was cut off by her husband.
“There's no preparing them,” King Cian waved people back so we could be led to the center of the group.
We stood amongst the royalty of Faerie, surrounded by others I assumed were trusted companions and guards. King Cahal of the House of Earth held his Queen as his vines, which grew out of his dark green skin and wrapped around him, shivered, creating an unnerving rustling. Queen Aalish trembled along with the vines, her green eyes, almost the exact color of Cahal's leaves, focused on the ground before her. Strands of her bright yellow hair were stuck to her perspiring face but they were almost indistinguishable from the color of her skin, so that I could barely tell where hair began and skin ended.
Next to them stood the King and Queen of Air. King Fionn's eyes were black, from rim to rim, so it was hard to tell if he was looking at the same spot as the Earth royalty were but I think it was safe to assume he was. His black hair was notable only because of the almost modern, human angle to its cut, it fell just past his ears in a sharp forward line. His tan skin made him look even more human but the magnificent monarch butterfly wings sprouting out of his back matched his inhuman eyes.
His Queen, Breana, had the same type of wings as he, and it made me wonder if that was a common pattern or if they were only for the royalty. They were monarch wings after all. Her true black skin wasn't at all common though, I'd seen very few fey with skin of that color. It made her vibrant green eyes even more vivid and the white of her dress so shocking it seemed to glow.
Lastly, there was the newest royal, King Guirmean, who'd been appointed King after I'd killed his Queen. Well technically the Ring of Remembrance, my father's ring, had killed her. Anyway, he didn't have a Queen yet, so he stood alone, his turquoise eyes focused, like all the others, on a spot on the ground before him. His dark blue skin looked moist, like it had been spritzed with water recently, and I wondered if the King of Water had to carry a spray bottle around with him. How inconvenient.
Finally, we made it past them and were able to see what they were staring at. Arach gasped and pulled back a little and the other royals seemed to cringe with him. I was the only one who didn't show a reaction, merely staring at the scorched crystal with curiosity. The quartz was cracked deeply and gouged with furrows that seemed to flow out of a central spot, a curved depression wide enough to have cradled a small fey body. It was spotted with blood, not a lot of it but enough that it was evident that something vicious had been perpetrated.
I stepped closer, the fey inhaling sharply when I dropped
to my knees next to the spot and ran my hands over the gouges. There was some kind of residue in them and I lifted my finger to my nose to smell it. It was clear and odorless, with the consistency of gel. I knew it even as I went through the motions of lifting my hand, if it had a scent, my dragon would have picked up on it immediately.
“Vervain,” Arach was standing beside me, talking in a low voice. “It's not always such a good idea to touch places where magic has gone wrong.”
“How are we going to figure out what happened if I don't touch it?” I looked up at him. “I don't sense anything except that something bad went down, do you?”
“No,” he glanced at the other royals, who all shook their heads, “nothing.”
“Faerie charged me with finding the killer,” I sighed. “If that means touching a little bad magic, then so be it.”
I pressed my hand back to the crack and felt it pulsing beneath me, hot and pounding like a wound. Whatever had been done there, it had hurt the earth. I frowned as I stared at the scorch marks. Were they moving? I reached out a finger and touched one, then heard the rushing of a multitude of wings as it flowed toward me. Arach cried out and pulled me back just as the dark mass shot through the spot I'd been in and flew straight up into the sky, with the screech of angry birds.
“What the fuck was that?” I watched as it continued to speed away.
“This is not fey magic,” King Cian was staring after the thing as well, fear tightening his features.
“Do you know of any magic that could crack the quartz like this?” I sat up, giving Arach a grateful look before I went back to studying the damage.
“A battle perhaps,” King Cahal was the one who answered. “This valley has stood firm for all the years I've ruled. My heart is as heavy with sadness over its injury as it is over the loss of my people.”
“Who's missing?” I was going to collect as much information as possible and sift through it later.
“Brownies,” he shook his head, “four of them. Gentle fey but they can be vicious opponents if you attack them. I can't imagine why anyone would want to take them.”