by WB McKay
Before I realized what I was doing, I launched another volley of magic, and another. On the first hit, The Morrigan released Graulfv. On each successive hit, she took a tiny step backward. My rage continued to boil until my thoughts were only of one thing. I wanted to see The Morrigan lying cold and dead at my feet. I would not abide her threats any longer. Ball after ball of magic hurled from my hands to her body until I felt drained. My hands fell limp at my sides.
The clansmen had spread out, moving away from The Morrigan. I had to blink several times to clear my vision. All I could see was the glowing arc of my bright magic dancing in front of me. It was like I'd looked directly at the sun. Then, with growing horror, I realized it wasn't just my vision. The glow was still there, and it was radiating from every pore on The Morrigan's body.
A long, shrill cackle spilled from the glowing light, and I could just make out the shape of her wings as they spread wide. With a whoosh that swirled the hair of the nearest clansmen, The Morrigan launched into the air and quickly flew out of sight.
"What have I done?"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Graulfv's gentle hand on my shoulder startled me. The crowd of clansmen had dispersed. I had no idea how long I'd been staring at the sky where The Morrigan had disappeared. "Should I have followed her?"
"What could you have done?" countered Graulfv.
I shrugged off his comforting hand and marched toward the castle entrance. He stayed at my side. "I could have tried something."
"The Morrigan is a force of nature. She'll do as she wills."
I didn't stop walking until we slumped into our seats in the dining hall. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to let this happen." I didn't even want to imagine what The Morrigan was doing with the huge dose of death magic I'd given her. "I don't even know what to do with myself."
Graulfv smiled. "Well, we are in the dining hall. I think eating is probably the first order of business. I'm sure you'll feel better."
I fixed him with a withering glare that was completely undermined by the audible rumble of my stomach.
The tiniest smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, only visible as a twitch of his mustache.
"Don't you dare say it," I said, my voice cracking into a laugh halfway through. "Damn it. I don't want to eat right now."
"No, you want to brood," said Graulfv, nodding sagely.
"Yes," I said, automatically, then realized the negative connotations of his words and resumed my earlier glare. "It's not fair to be all wise at me when I'm..."
"Hungry," he finished for me, his smirk turning to a flash of white peeking through his whiskers.
"Gah!" I thumped my clenched fists on the table, rattling the silverware. "Since when have I been completely controlled by bodily urges and irrational emotions?"
It didn't take Graulfv's glance up at my brow to tell me. Sure, I'd always been impulsive, but I'd been getting better at that, and then… I'd "won" the Fleece. I'd grown much more volatile ever since. As usual, when I thought of it, I wanted to hurl the crown away from me. I'd done it on a few occasions. Sometimes it stayed away for a while and appeared without notice. Other times it shattered into separate golden feathers and then reassembled on my head immediately. Either way, I couldn't rid myself of it. The worst thing was that a small part of me wondered if I shouldn't just keep it. I might never have rescued Owen if I had been without the Fleece. Erik Bresnan would still be on the fae council without its influence. It had its uses.
I sighed. The best I could do was keep going forward and deal with every shitty situation as it came. "Fine, bring me some food."
Thankfully, the kitchen had switched over to lunch. If I ate a third breakfast, I would have had to grow hair on my feet Hobbit style. The food, as usual, was delicious. There were more vegetables than normal, and while I didn't recognize most of them as something that grew on Earth, I had to figure they had a good variety of vitamins. They were all different colors. I'd read somewhere that was the goal.
If only nutrition could occupy my thoughts forever.
I pushed my plate away with a sigh. "I think we should leave for Derinia in the morning. We don't know how long it's going to take to get there."
Graulfv nodded, his mouth still full, and his plate half covered in food. Man, I even ate like I was dying of starvation. He finished chewing his bite. "Is there anything you wanted to go over this afternoon?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so. I'll let you enjoy the rest of your day." I caught the direction of his glance, and smiled. There was a tall, thin man who looked a bit older than most of the other clansmen smiling behind his slightly graying beard. "Try to make sure you get some rest, too."
It was hard to tell through his beard, but I thought I saw him blush. "I'll do what I can."
"Well, I'm going to see if I can spend more than half an hour away from a plate of food." I stood and patted him on the shoulder. "See you in the morning."
I had no idea where I should go, so I didn't pay much attention. I took turns at random. At least that's what I thought. When I ended up in the hall that connected the main castle to the dungeons, I wasn't so sure.
The metal grate at the end of the hall was open, and no guard stood watch. I was glad to see that. It meant that the clansmen weren't holding anyone. I almost turned around three different times, but every time I found my feet taking another step. A few minutes later I'd climbed the stairs to the level where Owen had been held while the charmed necklace had drained his magic.
My hand wrapped around the cold metal of the bars and I let out a heavy sigh. Owen had wanted to be there so desperately, and I had an idea how he felt. Life would be so much easier without my magic. It would be so much harder to accidentally kill someone if I was mundane.
Humans were still somewhat of a mystery to me, but the more I learned about Faerie, the more I realized my own people were an even bigger one. How did powerful fae live with what they were? Were they all complete sociopaths that only cared about themselves?
Unless I was on a job, I never really had to deal with powerful fae until I met Owen. He lived in that world constantly. Maybe I should talk to him about how he had learned to cope. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to have to come to terms with being one of them. The denial I'd worn so carefully on this subject had left me far behind. Instead of feeling strong at the thought of my own power, I felt vulnerable.
If I embraced this part of my identity—if I couldn't go on ignoring it—what did that mean for my life?
Without windows, it was hard to tell how long I stayed in the dungeon. It almost felt like it could have been days. When I took stock of my condition, I realized it was probably a few hours. I had to go pee, but it wasn't intolerable.
I made my way back down the stairs, pushing aside my pensive sadness. Even if it were possible, I wasn't ready to give up something intrinsic to who I was in order to live a life of mundanity. As flawed as the life of fae could be, I didn't want to give magic up. My crow form, and my new inbetween form, were as natural to me as my human shape. It was unclear who I was becoming, but I wanted to believe I could still be myself. Without magic, I definitely didn't know who I'd be. Somehow, someway, I had to believe I could keep the best parts of me. There wasn't another option. I needed to get some rest, finish doing The Morrigan's dirty work, and get back to my real life. Somewhere along the way, I would figure out how to deal with the Fleece situation, and then how to handle my growing magic.
I was a strong, badass woman. I could handle it.
The cold air of night had seeped into the castle while I was in the dungeon. As I passed the dining hall, I could hear the sounds of the crackling fire beneath the raucous shouts and songs of the clansmen.
The idea of sitting down for another meal in that room and staring at The Morrigan's empty throne—all while trying to avoid thinking about what she was doing with my magic—held no appeal. Sitting in my room and attempting sleep was even less appealing.
The library was
the only place in the vicinity of the castle that offered any solace. The huge shelves of books didn't judge me. They simply offered their black and white pages as a safe harbor.
I picked a one at random and found myself reading a book with a cover so badly damaged I couldn't make out the picture. It was a mass market paperback, the kind found on the shelves in airports and grocery stores. I liked them because they were small and easy to hold in one hand. I could eat while I read.
I didn't want to sit in the dining hall, but that didn't mean I was a machine. I was still hungry. The cook had popped out of the kitchen and saw me looking forlorn in the doorway. I unwrapped the package he'd given me and found a metal container full of hearty stew, and a huge piece of soft bread.
I was three chapters in before I realized the book was a romance. It was so offbeat and funny that I hadn't even thought about the fact that the romance was the central plotline. I never thought of myself as a mushy romance kind of person, but fifteen chapters later, I couldn't remember having eaten my food, and tears of happiness were drifting down my cheeks.
The main character had been ready to give up her career to be with the man she loved, but he had made it clear that he wanted no such thing. Instead, he invested in her book store, showing how much he believed in her. It was so damned sweet. "This was just what I needed." I sniffled.
A throat cleared, and my eyes locked with Graulfv's. It took all the self-control I had not to hide the book behind my back. He seemed to read the look on my face and then gave me a knowing smile. "That's my favorite," he said simply.
"Really?" I couldn't help the doubt that flooded me. He'd said he liked the romance books, but this one felt like it was so targeted at my sensibilities that it seemed weird for someone so different from myself to enjoy it.
"Yes. I've worn the cover to shreds."
"It really is a perfect escape," I replied.
"It is. Do you mind if I sit and read a while with you?"
"Not at all." I looked past him, expecting the man from the dining hall to be with him. "Your night not go as planned?"
Graulfv grinned and took a seat in the chair next to mine. "Oh, no, it did. He's sleeping, but I still had too much energy. Reading helps calm my mind." He grabbed another romance book off the nearby shelf.
I smiled. "Good. You deserve nice things."
Graulfv didn't look up from his book when he said, "So do you, Sophie."
I shrugged, and we both opened our books.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The next day dawned clear and bright. Graulfv and I had stayed up reading way too late, but somehow, it hadn't translated into being tired the next morning. Maybe it was the magical power of a good book.
In addition to reading, we'd talked some about our strategy for the ball. Somehow, I hadn't thought about what Graulfv would be doing. I just assumed he was going to be accompanying me, despite the fact that we hadn't done anything to get a costume for him.
We continued our discussion over breakfast. I took a big sip of my coffee and let out a sigh. "So, you'll be with the other security escorts in another room off the main ballroom?"
Graulfv nodded. "Aye. We'll be milling about, having ourselves a nice, lower class time. They wouldn't want us grunts muddying up the beauty of the masquerade."
I swatted him on the arm. "I bet you'd make a dashing figure at a masquerade." I looked him over, imagining his simple gray clothes as a fine suit, and his beard styled into one of the latest fashions. "I'm half tempted to make it happen, just so I can see it."
He chuckled. "Wouldn't want to do that. We'd mess up our whole plan."
I smiled. "Yeah, I guess there is that." I took a big bite of biscuit soaked in sausage gravy. "When I'm done in Faerie, I may have to kidnap your cook."
Just by the subtle twitch of his beard, I knew he was suppressing another comment about how much I loved to eat. "I'll see if I can get him to write down some of his best recipes for you."
I grimaced. "Hopefully, I can convince Phoebe to cook some of them for me. I can find my way around the kitchen, but everyone I know makes better meals than I ever manage."
Graulfv surprised me by raising a glass. "To keeping the company of better chefs than we."
"That's my kinda toast."
I finished my plate of carbohydrate delight, and had half of another before we gathered up our gear and headed out of the castle. Our fireproof armor sparkled in the midmorning light. "Well, we're off. Let's hope we don't get turned into crispy critters along the way."
Graulfv didn't respond. Instead, he broke into a song in a language that was more throat clearing and harsh consonants than vowels. Still, it had a cadence to it that made the boring task of putting one foot in front of another easier to bear. Before long, I was trying to sing along, and the song transformed into broken laughter as often as verse.
In no time, we'd journeyed through the rolling hills that surrounded The Morrigan's castle and made it to the edge of the molten sea of lava. It was continuously writhing and bubbling with almost no skin of cooled rock on top. Occasionally, in the distance I caught sight of a large creature breaching the surface, sending up a splash of molten rock.
I kept checking on the bag slung across the small of my back, expecting it to start smoking. I didn't want to lose my fancy new costume.
I felt no heat, but previous experience told me that being this close to lava should have been uncomfortable. Despite its terrible source, I was very glad we had our armor.
Graulfv found a stick away from the edge of the lava rock shore of the sea, and poked at the lava experimentally. The tip burst into flames. So, there was definitely a limit to how far the magic extended.
We watched the stick burn. The flames died about a foot away from his hand. I snugged my bag closer to my back and cinched the strap I'd wrapped around my waist tighter. The bag didn't stick out that far, but I didn't want it to swing loose and catch fire. Graulfv did the same with his own bag.
"Well, now that we have that sorted, where is this cave's entrance?" I asked.
A shrug was Graulfv's only response. Without words, we decided to break up and go in opposite directions. I tried not to let pessimism get the best of me. There were miles of this rocky coast for us to explore. The last time I'd searched a rocky coast for a cave entrance, Art and I had searched for hours, and never even found the way in. To be fair, it turned out we had to start a fight with some pirates before the cave entrance was willing to magically show itself, but that was exactly why I hated these kinds of searches so much. "Stupid fae and their love for caves," I muttered.
I'd walked what I estimated to be a mile without so much as finding a deep hole before deciding to turn back. Graulfv met me a few minutes later at approximately the same place we'd started.
"Any luck?" he asked, his expression mildly hopeful.
"No. I guess that means you didn't find anything either?"
He shook his head.
I loosened the straps on my bag and spun it around to my front. I dug out the book that Graulfv had found with information about Derinia. Graulfv had said the only mention of how to get into the cave was about "riding the sloof". I'd assumed it was some sort of transport system to take you in. "I can't believe that if there is a train car or something that takes you into the cave that we wouldn't have seen it by now."
"Do you mind if I take a look at the book?" asked Graulfv, holding out his hand.
I slapped the book on his palm with a huff. "Of course not, it's your book, and I can't read Latin anyway."
"Hmm," he said after a minute of scanning. "It mentions calling the sloof." He read quietly for several seconds. "The book waxes a little poetic, so I'm not sure I'm understanding it correctly. It says something about three short, shrill whistles."
"Have you ever read Dr. Seuss, Graulfv?" He shook his head. "Three whistles for the sloof. How many red fish show up for that? And will they have green eggs and ham?"
He gave me a funny look.
"I gu
ess I shouldn't have said anything after you told me you hadn't read any Seuss, but I couldn't stop."
He bit his lip, and appeared to be thinking something over. Hopefully he was carefully considering whether we should whistle for the sloof, but I thought he might have been puzzling over the green eggs and ham. If it was the first thing I was served upon returning to the castle, I would not be one bit surprised.
My eyes drifted back to the vasts ocean of lava. Another huge creature broke the surface, looking like a whale straight out of hell. "Wait, this isn't Earth. It's not like there is public transit in Faerie, right?" Actually, I wasn't sure about that. I never knew what to expect in Faerie. I looked to Graulfv. "Do you know how to whistle?"
He nodded and brought his fingers to his mouth. He did that thing where he put his fingers between his teeth and blew, making an incredibly loud whistle. I'd always been envious of that talent. For the longest time I'd thought it was magic that only some fae possessed.
I rubbed my ear. "Great volume, and you have the shrill thing down. Now do the three short whistles."
I covered my ears, not wanting to hear the high-pitched sound at full volume. There were three short blasts, then a moment later, a low, whistling moan echoed across the lava. The following silence was eerie, and gave me just enough time for the fear to take root in my gut. It was broken with another sullen cry, much closer.
Thirty seconds after Graulfv's whistle, one of the creatures I'd been watching in the distance heaved out of the lava, flopping its enormous girth onto the rocks only a few feet away from us.
I jumped back, letting out a shriek. It's mouth gaped open at least seven feet, lined with a double row of teeth that were six inches long. It was like being tossed right into a scene from the movie Jaws. I could practically hear the audience screaming "Run, you idiot!"