by WB McKay
I returned Graulfv's smile and pointed at the seat next to me. "Sit."
"As you wish, Sophie," he replied, taking the offered seat.
"While we wait for the food, I could use someone to discuss this with." I pulled out On Seelie Fae and set it on the wooden table with a heavy thump. "Are you aware of what The Morrigan wants of me?"
Graulfv shook his head. "The Morrigan doesn't deign to share her plans with the likes of us."
He didn't sound displeased with that. It was just a statement of fact. "Elitist bitch," I said. His face remained impassive, but I thought I could see a sparkle in his dark eyes. "Well, I owe her a favor for helping us take care of the Orani. She is calling it in, and wants me to ruin her nemesis. Some guy named Aengus. Are you familiar with him?"
He looked at the cover of the book. "I've heard the name a few times. He is Seelie. Very powerful." He frowned. "I didn't know The Morrigan had a nemesis."
No doubt, he was regretting not taking out The Morrigan's rival long ago. He'd do anything to please The Morrigan. Again, I reminded myself, Not my circus, not my monkeys. I opened the book and started leafing through it. "Yep, Seelie and powerful is about all I know too. Hopefully there's something in here about him."
It didn't take long to find an entry on Aengus. He was a unique fae like The Morrigan. I scanned through the pages, looking for something useful about his power base and allies.
"Here," said Graulfv. "There is a long entry about his nature. It may prove helpful to better know your opponent."
I took a look at the passage he indicated and almost immediately began skimming. It was all flowery prose. "He's very into poetry and word games. Sounds like most fae, but if the book is making special mention of it, he's probably worse. He's all about love and romance, and is intensely focused when he finds something worth focusing on. To the point that he will rain down destruction to accomplish his goals." I sighed. "So, to sum up, he's super dramatic and loves to play games. He sounds just like The Morrigan. No wonder they're enemies."
"There is a section here about his weapons," said Graulfv, tapping a paragraph.
I scanned through the paragraph, picking out the details. "He carries two large spears, and he used to have two swords as well, but they've been gone for quite some time, location unknown." I chuckled. "Four weapons. Sounds like somebody's overcompensating." I made a droopy gesture with my finger.
Graulfv let out a loud laugh, pounding the table. By the time he calmed, the food had arrived. I guess that jokes about penises are pretty universal. "Let's read more after we eat," he said when he caught his breath.
"Agreed," I said, heaping mounds of meat, potatoes, and roasted vegetables onto my plate. I took a bite of pork and let out a moan. "Mmm. My compliments to the chef."
We ate in relative silence, the bustle of the other men a soft drone in the background. I could see into a couple practice rooms off to one side of the dining room where several clansmen sparred with ruthless efficiency. If I hadn't believed what Graulfv said about time having passed differently, their movements would have convinced me. All of Graulfv's men had been eaten by The Morrigan about a year ago in my time. Two weeks ago Earth time, I'd watched these same men fight and could tell they were dedicated to learning their weapons, but still new to them. No longer. They moved with the fluid grace that only came with hundreds of hours of practice. I wasn't at all sure I could take most of them without my magic now.
I ate way more food than is advisable in such a short period of time, but I couldn't say that I regretted it. It was delicious. The cook had also done some levelling up in those extra years they'd crammed into the last week. I pushed my plate back and sighed. "All right. Back to the Seelie fae."
I grabbed the book and looked over the section on Aengus. Graulfv pointed out where we'd left off, and I rolled my eyes. "It looks like we're getting into an area about some great love he had. She came to him in a dream. Ugh. Skipping. I don't need to read about some dude's wet dream."
Graulfv looked at me with a raised eyebrow, probably not understanding what a wet dream was.
"You can ask someone who isn't me about that," I told him, and promptly looked down at the book.
My eyes skimmed until I found a section referencing the lava kingdom of Derinia. That caught my attention. I'd seen that place on my first trip through Faerie. I hadn't realized it was a "kingdom". It had looked just like an ocean of lava to me. It wasn't far from the castle. The book claimed the king was a close ally of Aengus. I flipped through the book until I found the section dedicated to the king of the lava kingdom. I read one passage aloud. "The king of Derinia holds sway over those who dwell in the land of fire with the aid of a magical mask." That brought a smile to my face. "A magical object. That's something I can work with."
CHAPTER FOUR
"Well, I'm off then," I said, pushing back my chair and standing.
"To a land that is an entire ocean of lava?" asked Graulfv
If I didn't know better, I'd have said Graulfv was getting smart with me. "Yes. I'm sure there is some sort of illusion or glamour hiding some more hospitable land in there."
Graulfv nodded, rubbing his beard. "So, you'll just fly out over an ocean of lava, looking for land that may or may not exist?"
I frowned. "You're laughing at me, aren't you?"
He finally smiled. "Maybe a little. You are very impatient."
I returned his smile. "So I've been told. You'd better have a superior idea if you're going to give me shit."
"Let us learn more about Derinia before we rush out to conquer it," he replied, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
"We?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "We."
"Hmm. Let's table that discussion for the time being." He nodded, but his grin didn't falter. He thought he had me. He was probably right. There was a time when I would have rather gone on a mission like this solo. I wouldn't even have thought to ask for help. Now, I'd learned the benefits of having a team of people I trusted. "I didn't see any more in On Seelie Fae about Derinia. Do you know where we can research?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. We call it the library." He stood and walked toward a door at the back of the dining hall.
"I hope they'll take an Arcata library card because I don't have an address in Faerie."
Graulfv ignored my comment, probably because he had no idea what I was talking about. He'd been in Faerie for a long time. I doubted he even knew what a library card was. Going down that line of thinking, my grin faltered. He was here because of The Morrigan, and so was I. She'd been insistent the first time we'd spoken that I would come to Faerie and train with her. Now I was here without a specific end date.
I shuddered. No, I would not end up stuck in Faerie.
"Graulfv," I said, and then hesitated, something I wouldn't have done a year ago. I wasn't sure if what I was about to say was a sensitive subject for him. I guess I cared about that now.
"Yes, Sophie?"
"Um, I was just wondering, do you ever think about going back to Earth?"
He blinked in shock. "The Morrigan lives in Faerie."
"Right, yeah." I nodded. "That's how you roll, I guess." That was the least amount of judgment I'd ever managed when he said something like that. Look at me, open minded about the cult crazies. Well, it was a start.
Graulfv passed through a dozen identical halls and doorways, delving far deeper than I'd ever been in the castle. The air got cooler and drier, and there were no windows. When we stopped, we were in a gigantic library. There were thousands of books.
"Just wait until I tell Owen you held him captive here and didn't even bring him to the library," I said.
"You want me to wait for you to speak with him?"
"Never mind, Graulfv."
"But, I can—"
"Shhh. So, you know how to work this library, Smarty?"
Without hesitation, Graulfv walked to a shelf smaller than the rest, but still as tall as I was.
"This is where we keep
our books on Faerie. We don't get out much, so we read when we're not practicing our fighting skills."
That would explain how his speech had become as modern as it was. I was pretty sure I spotted some recent human-written paperbacks on a shelf across the room. "So, have you read anything on Derinia?"
"No, but there is a book here about some of the local lands of Faerie." He tapped a finger to his lip while he scanned the shelves. "A large book with a red leather cover," he said to himself.
"That's helpful," I replied. "That only matches about a third of the books here." The same was true of most of the books on Owen's trove shelves. The fae seemed inclined to cover all of their books in red and black leather. "Anything more specific so I can help you look?"
"No need," he said, pulling a gigantic red book off the shelf. He took it over and set it carefully on a table. He handled the book reverently. I must have been some sort of magnet for book geeks. Not that I minded. It was nice having lots of bookish types around. It saved me a lot of time and paper cuts. "Let's see what we can find."
I glanced down at the book and my eyes almost immediately glazed over. "Sorry partner, I'm not going to be any help. I can't read whatever language that thing is written in."
"It's Latin. Many of our fae texts are in Latin." He glanced at my bag. "That's what On Seelie Fae is written in as well. It must have an enchantment that allows you to read it in your native language."
"All right, can you give me the CliffsNotes version of that then?"
I started to explain what CliffsNotes were when he responded, "Of course."
My brow wrinkled, then I saw a shelf full of the yellow and black summary books just to my right. "That's cheating," I muttered to myself.
Graulfv ignored me, skimming through the giant tome on the table. He flipped pages with blinding speed. "Ah, here we go." He stopped on a page and read silently. "That would explain why Derinia was hardly mentioned in On Seelie Fae," he said to himself.
"What?" I asked, but he ignored me, his fingers passing quickly over the text, occasionally turning a page.
He muttered a few more things that I tuned out, not wanting to drive myself crazy wondering what he was talking about. Instead, I looked around the library. It was an eclectic mix. There were books spanning all of English-speaking history. They were both fiction and non-fiction, and the subject matter varied wildly. There was everything from encyclopedias to poetry.
When Graulfv looked up from his book, my curiosity got the better of me. "How many of these have you read?"
"Most of them," he replied. "Though I do tend to prefer the fiction."
I picked up a book with a mostly naked man and women embracing on the cover. There were dozens more romances on the shelf I'd pulled it from. "Even these?" I asked, quirking a brow.
He didn't rise to my teasing. "Some of my favorite novels are of the romance genre, though that particular book is complete tripe."
"Huh," I said, giving him an appreciative nod. Not many men would readily admit to reading bodice rippers. "I think I like you, Graulfv."
That brought a blush to his cheeks. "I appreciate that, Sophie."
I smiled and he turned his gaze to the fae book he'd been reading. I returned the romance to the shelf, and thought about asking him for some book recommendations later. I hadn't done any fun reading in a while. When this trip to Faerie was over, Owen and I would have to go on that vacation. I had no doubts he'd appreciate it if we packed a bag of books with us. Heck, he probably already had that bag packed.
"This book is informative," announced Graulfv.
"And what did it inform you of?"
"Derinia is a land of Unseelie fae. This explains why we didn't find much information in your book."
I raised a brow. "Weird. On Seelie Fae clearly said the king was an ally with Aengus." I smirked. "I guess the dividing lines between the two aren't as strong as The Morrigan insisted they were in Faerie." I nodded. "It's good to see her be wrong."
Graulfv continued, "Unfortunately, it appears you were also wrong. There is no illusion or glamour that hides the land portion of Derinia."
"So there is no land?" I asked. "It's just a sea of lava?"
"No. It's hidden underground."
"Ugh. Why are so many fae obsessed with caves?"
Graulfv shrugged.
"Well, now we know what we're looking for," I said. "Let's go."
"According to the book, the underground is filled with lava and beings of fire." He pointedly looked me up and down. "Do your feathers repel fire?"
I heaved a heavy sigh. "Are you getting sassy with me, Graulfv?"
His face stayed suspiciously calm.
"You obviously have more to say. Get it out so we can get moving."
"In addition to the fire inclined people and animals that live in Derinia, the land also attracted those who are impervious to the heat." He pointed to a passage that I still couldn't read. "Unfortunately, Derinia was involved in quite a few skirmishes some years ago, and their enemies discovered the usefulness of the skin of those fae."
"So, they made armor out of the skin of those animals?" I smiled. "That's good. We just need to find some of that armor, or if we're pushed to it, then we can find one of those animals and have someone make us some. Where does the 'unfortunately' come in?"
"It was both animals and people that were impervious. All of them were hunted for their skin to the point of extinction."
"Fuck," I said, my breath blowing out in a whoosh. "Fucking Faerie, man."
Graulfv nodded, his lips set in a flat line. "It's been a long time since their extinction. The armor is now exceedingly rare."
I frowned, a thought occurring to me that made me shudder. Dragons were close to impervious to fire, though he said they couldn't handle lava. "Did they ever use dragon skin?"
Graulfv nodded. "Their scales were found to be inferior to the point of being almost useless. They lost a lot of their fire resistance when the dragon died, and they weren't impervious to begin with."
"Who says that weakness doesn't have its place?" I asked, my tone biting. Faerie was all about worshiping power, and dragons were often near the top of that pyramid. It was ironic that the only thing that kept them from being wiped out was the relative weakness of their ability to resist fire. "Well, it looks like we're in for a bit of a mission before we start our mission. Does the book have any leads on where we can get some of this disgusting armor?"
"I didn't see anything," he replied.
"Of course not," I sniped, then softened my features. Graulfv hadn't done anything to deserve my ire. I patted him on the shoulder. "You did a great job. Now I have some hope of going into Derinia without being turned into a crispy critter."
"We do," said Graulfv, his not-so-subtle reminder that he intended to come with me.
"Graulfv," I said, surprising myself with my ability to say his name without sounding like I was choking. "Finding one set of this armor is going to be hard enough."
He grinned as if he'd been anticipating this argument. "It's lucky I will be aiding you in your difficult search. If we can't find two sets, I will return to the castle."
"I really did name you right when I called you Smarty," I replied, giving him an irritated scowl. "Fine. You can come along to locate the armor." His grin turned up several notches until it was almost disfiguring. "Don't suppose you have any ideas where to look?"
"None at all," he said. His grin didn't falter.
"Great, that means we only have my idea to work with, and it's tremendously stupid."
CHAPTER FIVE
On Seelie Fae was incredibly helpful in bringing my terrible idea to fruition. To top it all off, my intended destination wasn't even far from The Morrigan's castle.
So, in just a couple of hours I found myself standing in front of Aengus's castle, Graulfv beside me, reading an annoying sign. "Those who do not belong will be eaten," I read aloud, and scoffed. "Come at me, assholes. A lot of fuckers have tried to eat me and failed."
Graulfv grunted in the affirmative. He hadn't tried to eat me, but he and his previous batch of recruits had tried to kill me once. It hadn't turned out well for them. It both made my spine stiffen in pride, and served to remind me of the weight of the crown on my head. I'd had to kill a lot more in the last year than I was comfortable with, and the Golden Fleece seemed rather fond of the violent solution.
Unaware of my grim thoughts, Graulfv started forward, drawing my eyes to the jaw-dropping view of the castle. I had no idea how much time had passed since I'd entered Faerie, but I was pretty sure it shouldn't be sunset here. That didn't seem to matter though, as the castle and the orchard of blossoming cherry trees in front of it were bathed in golden light.
The castle itself looked like it came straight out of a Disney movie. It had at least a dozen turrets of varying size and style. Each one of them was topped with shining silver or gold and served to enhance the glow of sunset.
Despite the giant orchard of cherry trees in full blossom, I couldn't smell the flowers. That fragrance would have really brought the effect together into full on Disneyland sweetness. The smell might have been there though, buried under the myriad magical odors that inundated my senses.
I really needed to practice honing my magical sense of smell so that places like this didn't threaten to overwhelm me.
I let out a sneeze and the blossoms on the trees ruffled in an undulating wave. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that big of a sneeze," I grumped.
Graulfv had gotten a bit ahead of me and I rushed to get back in the lead. This was my expedition after all.
A moment later, the trees erupted in motion, the blossoms forming into a cone and veering straight for me.
The blossoms weren't blossoms, but bugs with pink fluttering wings. It made me smile to watch them swirl around me. "Well, that's an interesting welcome," I said.
Graulfv's only answer was a shout of pain.
I turned around to see what had happened, and could barely make out his form in the cloud of pink insects. Instead of swirling around him like they did me, they coated his body from head to toe. More screams ripped from his throat.