Indebted to Faerie

by WB McKay

  The dragon stepped out of the way on reflex and I thought I was free to do as I chose. See? I thought at the Fleece, proud of myself for not giving in. Then, a hand clamped around my upper arm. "I must insist—"

  His voice cut off into a choked gasp when my fist plowed into his solar plexus. The hand dropped from my arm. It probably wasn't advisable to do something like that when my plan was so close to completion, but I'd had enough of his snooty shit. See? I thought again at the Fleece. I realized I was basically arguing—with myself, no less—that punching a guy made me a good person. Morals are complex shit.

  Graulfv wasn't far from the entrance. He was talking to a small group of men near one of the slightly less lavish buffet tables.

  The whole room grew silent at my approach. I could only imagine what was going through their heads. I'm sure none of them could envision one of their masters walking into the servants' party. Also, they were seeing a giant butterfly walk across the room, so that was probably weird too.

  "Graulfv," I said, not bothering to look at the people gathered with him. "You have thirty minutes left to enjoy your party."

  "Understood, my lady," said Graulfv, placing a hand to his heart and bowing his head.

  That reminded me so much of the old Graulfv it was hilarious. I walked away, letting his companions wonder about my giggling.

  Mr. Snootypants was upright once again and waiting for me by the door.

  "Say another word to me and I'll take you down for real this time," I said, not even bothering to slow down as I brushed past.

  For once, he listened. No guards rushed to detain me, so I assumed I'd gotten away with it. It hadn't gone according to plan, but it had worked. I could only hope for as much when I stole the mask.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  It had been twenty-five minutes and Tiberius was still making his slow progression through the ballroom. If he didn't hurry it up, Graulfv's distraction would come too early. If that happened, the plan was moot. I doubted the king would be going into any darkened corners with someone he didn't know.

  I tapped my foot impatiently and managed a laugh when I wondered what an impatient butterfly would look like. It sounded like the beginning to some hilariously stupid dad joke.

  I heaved a sigh and scanned the room for the king and his phalanx of guards. They'd disappeared. "What the hell?"

  "Please, follow me, Ms. Morrigan," said a cool voice to my left.

  My startled gasp drew a faint upward motion from one corner of Tiberius's mouth. "I didn't see you there."

  "A bit of magic to bring the tiresome meet and greet to an end." He waved a hand out toward the crowd, though his eyes were glued to the top of my head. "If I simply walk away, someone is bound to feel slighted. Besides, you had been kept waiting long enough."

  He stepped into the privacy alcove, as he'd called it, followed by only three of his guards. The remainder took up a position outside the room. That would be good for taking the mask, but it might be a problem once it was time to leave.

  Tiberius led the way to the far end of the room, sidestepping the whole way so he could keep looking at my crown. Drunk on desire as he was, I'm not sure he realized he was doing it. When he finally stopped, he reached blindly for the wall behind him, patting the surface until he landed on a starburst pattern in the upper right corner. It pushed in with a barely audible click. The wall slid down into the floor, making a doorway.

  "After you, my lady," said Tiberius, holding out his hand.

  Despite the shiver that ran down my spine, I did as he asked. He followed, and his guards trailed after him.

  Like any villain's secret room, it was beautiful and radiated power and wealth. Thankfully, it was decorated as a sitting room with comfortable couches and chairs scattered organically rather than being set up as a bang pad with a giant bed in the center. I hadn't known what to expect from a place entered through a sex room.

  "A lovely room," I said, hoping the compliment would get the conversation started. It would look less suspicious if we were talking when Graulfv got to work. I didn't need the guards outside deciding they should come in here to protect their king. "Did you decorate it yourself?"

  His laugh was long and a little bit derisive. "A king doesn't have time for such mundane things. I have people take care of such things for me."

  I shrugged. "I have a hard time letting people do things for me that I'm perfectly capable of doing myself."

  He took a seat on one of the chairs, his spiked armor digging holes in the expensive fabric. "Please sit," he said, and tapped his chin. "Yes, I can almost remember what that was like. Once you let your ambition free, you'll be so busy you won't have time to do most things for yourself."

  I took the offered seat, putting me closer to the king. The three guards had taken up positions along the wall behind him.

  "I don't have much in the way of ambition. I enjoy my job at MOD and plan to keep doing it."

  "What is this MOD?" It was difficult to pay attention to him. The Fleece was urging me to loosen my hold. It would love to put the king in his place. We wouldn't have to hurt the guards if we had them on bended knee, adoring me. Images of how easy it would be were flashing in my mind, becoming clearer and clearer. I didn't think the king had noticed me pause, with his attention still on the Fleece, but he asked again, "What do you do for them?"

  "Magical Object Division, a part of the Faerie Affairs Bureau. I'm an agent. I recover stolen objects." I reached up to remove the Fleece from my head, aware that I needed to pay attention and the Fleece was making that difficult. I stopped myself at the last second, realizing how strange that would look to the king, whose mouth had fallen open while he watched my hand move.

  Tiberius shook his head and then scoffed. "You're not going to continue working as some low level flunky. Leading Volarus is a full time job. You must understand that."

  My brow wrinkled. "What are you talking about? Volarus is run by the fae council."

  This time his laugh was long and genuine before it drew to a close with his eyes going round. "Are you serious?" He leaned forward and gripped the arms of his chair. "You removed one of the most powerful members from power at your whim, without the council's approval, and you think they still hold any real power?" He chuckled. "Oh, that's delightful." He stretched out his neck and scratched the length of it with two fingers. "And problematic. If you're not stepping up to rule and the council is seen as powerless, that will leave a power vacuum. It will cause chaos." He'd been managing to lower his gaze from the crown an impressive amount while he talked, but as he finished up his eyes zoned in again. "You are The Morrigan's daughter. Perhaps that is your goal."

  Even through the dampening effect of the hidden door, a commotion could be heard outside. Some of the tension in my neck eased. Finally. I didn't think I could stand arguing with the Fleece any longer. The door dropped long enough for one guard to scurry in and whisper to one of the three watching over us. I doubted the king noticed, his focus was so absolute.

  With the door open I could hear shouts echoing through the ballroom. Graulfv was doing one hell of a job with his distraction.

  I stretched my hearing to the limits, but I couldn't make out what the guards said to each other. As the new guard retreated, I hoped he would head toward Graulfv and take a couple of his buddies.

  The door closed again and one of the guards bent down and whispered in the king's ear. I heard the words "commotion" and "nothing to worry about".

  Tiberius made a dismissive gesture. "My apologies Miss Morrigan. It seems one of the revelers became a little rowdy. My guards are dealing with it. Nothing to worry about."

  "That's good," I said, giving him my most devious smile. "That means I don't have to listen to any more of your bullshit justifications for enslaving an entire nation of people."

  I used his shock at my words to gain the extra second I would need, and snatched the mask off his face. It was surprisingly light considering the power it held.

  So
mething collided with the side of my head, sending me reeling. One of the guards hadn't been as shocked about my commentary on their king. His fist felt like a ton of frozen bricks.

  My mask was knocked askew, obscuring my vision. I tore it off and tossed it aside, breaking the illusion of the costume. The guards had taken up a protective stance around their king rather than attacking. They were, however, between me and the door. I backed up and put a chair in front of me. It didn't provide much cover, but it was something. We were in a standoff, me and these four guys, and it would be so much easier if they moved first, but they had to know they were better off waiting me out.

  My confidence wavered. I could use the mask to distract them, but the mask was the priority. I couldn't let them have it back. I needed a plan.

  The Fleece called to me, but I resisted.

  It could be so easy. We took better care of the gorgon than you could have alone.

  Priorities. With the Fleece distracting me, taking on the king and his three guards wasn't something I was a hundred percent sure about. In a bigger room, or a place with more than one exit, or even if their whole goal wasn't simply to keep me in this space, I would have liked my chances better. I still favored my own odds, but I had priorities—priorities that needed a hundred percent certainty. I slid the fingers of my left hand up my right sleeve. The mouths of all four men, including the king, were set into grim lines.

  The wand had just cleared my sleeve when a ragged yell echoed through the room. Black flashed in my peripheral vision. The king's face was contorted in rage. I turned to the side on reflex, and was jerked backward into the wall.

  When I looked down at the giant ice spear, I thought I'd been impaled. But it was just my costume.

  This went downhill quickly.

  "Don't you dare harm my mask!" shouted Tiberius, and then remembering he had three guards at his disposal, ordered them, "Kill her!"

  I'd been so happy the costume allowed me full range of motion for fighting. The material was tough, meant to last a lifetime. That kind of quality also made it difficult to rip, even once it had been impaled by an ice spear. I couldn't tear myself free.

  Three swords of ice whistled through the air, planning to divide me in pieces.

  Desperate to hold onto the mask and the wand, but sure it would do no good if I was dead, I let go and shifted to my crow form, bringing the costume with me but dropping the wand and the mask. Once I reached the ceiling, I looked down to check on them. The three guards hadn't managed to stall their momentum, and were crashed together where I'd been standing. I plummeted behind them and shifted to my human form, landing in a crouch. I lunged for the back of one of their legs and pulled it out from under him. He fell forward into his buddy, both of them confusing the third, but I didn't have time to watch the comedy show. I scooped up the wand and the mask and stuffed them down the front of my costume.

  A death light hovered over my palm. Quick as a thought, four pulsing lights whipped through the room and connected with four chests.

  I'd dialed back the power on my magic, so when they slumped to the floor, I knew they would rise again. While there was no doubt in my mind that Tiberius deserved death for the way he'd treated the people of Derinia, I didn't think that was for me to decide. The people would decide his fate. All they needed was for me to destroy the mask.

  The wand was smooth in my grip. I didn't even remember taking it back out. With a resolute flick, I tapped it to the green swirled face of the mask. The iridescent glow of the lines faded. The magic was dead.

  My thoughts were scattered by a chorus of shouts erupting throughout the ballroom. "Damn Graulfv, did you get carried away?"

  I looked down at the mask in my hand, unsure what to do with it. I was fairly certain it was powerless, but there was always the risk. Much more than that, I didn't want to see it again. Just the thought of what it had been used for made me want to vomit.

  My fingers loosened and I dropped it to the floor. It hit with a muffled clatter. I stomped. And stomped. I kept going until the largest piece wasn't bigger than a fingernail. If it still held any power, I couldn't have done that, so I was satisfied. I was satisfied on another level, too. Tiberius had used the mask, and I'd destroyed it. I might have been a monster, but I was a different kind than him. I'd find a way to fight the power of the Fleece. I could be a force for good. I'd done a good thing.

  The secret door slid open and revealed a scene of pure bedlam. Blood hung on the air like mist after a heavy rain. Shouts blended together in a cacophony of horror. The people of Derinia were free, and they were taking their vengeance.

  "I did a good thing," I repeated to myself.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I had to find Graulfv and get out of there.

  Of course, that was easier said than done.

  Many of the guests had returned to their most human form and were engaged in a fight for their lives, so I couldn't count on his human form standing out.

  I shifted into my new winged, human form, but then realized the air was swirling with fire. Flying over the crowd wasn't a great plan. I suddenly missed that armor I'd come in with. Until I found a replacement, there was no leaving. I would have also liked to avoid fighting anyone with fire magic, but that didn't seem like an option, either. I'd at least avoid the fire elementals, who were raining flame on various parts of the ballroom.

  A man with light green skin stumbled and fell in the center of the room, looking me straight in the eye. On instinct, I took a step toward him, but before I had a chance to decide on a course, a lava slug engulfed his body. When the slug moved away, only a pile of ash marked where the man had died. I scanned the room and found half a dozen spots like it.

  To my left, two of the king's guards threw ice spears. More often than not, the ice melted into harmless water before hitting their targets. It kept them far too busy to notice me.

  The snooty dragon attendant wasn't, though. He came at me, human teeth bared in a snarl. He didn't bother trying to burn me, he wanted to rip me apart with his bare hands. Why me? I thought, then the cold sensation of realization washed down my spine. I could finally see our interactions from his perspective. I was complicit in his oppression, attending a ball held by his oppressor, revelling while he suffered. He was definitely trying to kill me, but I couldn't kill him.

  A death light caught him in the chest, mid-leap. He tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

  Then, like I'd been painted with a laser sight, everyone in my vicinity turned toward me. The first fireball singed my left arm, but luckily missed my wings. I moved quicker after that, dodging more fireballs than I could count. I flung knockout balls left, right, and sideways—one of the good things about being surrounded was that I didn't need to look, anyone I hit was one less person coming after me. When a small opening cleared, I drove hard toward my exit. Where I could, I used my fists. There was no way I was getting out of Derinia without needing more magic than I had; I needed to conserve where I could.

  Someone else picked up on the idea, and I caught a fist hard in the gut. I doubled over. You can't survive this without killing, the Fleece reasoned. You are capable of so much more than this.

  Hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me upright. My vision was blurry, and I lifted a death light—the real deal—to my hands. I'm sorry, I thought, sure this time that the thought was all mine.

  "Sophie!" I was having a hard time staying on my feet. Someone was bumping into me. "You need to fight!"

  Smarty. "I'm here." I quenched the death light, and brought forth ones to knockout my opponents. My vision cleared. Graulfv was fighting so close that he was in danger of tripping over me. He was keeping the few Derinians still nearby off me. I used my magic to knockout the one closest to him.

  "Back to back?"

  There's a better way, the Fleece thought, and the hardest part of ignoring it was knowing that it was right. It didn't matter, though, and I knew that, too. I was doing things my way. I held onto that thought and bloc
ked out all the rest.

  Back to back with Graulfv, we shuffled carefully toward the door—more carefully than I would have on my own. The exit was flooded with people pouring in. The townspeople were arriving. Thanks to Tiberius and his love of spectacle, everyone knew where to go in order to take out long pent up aggression.

  Graulfv caught the direction of my glance and said what I was already thinking. "This isn't going to work. We'll use too much energy not killing these people."

  He was right. We couldn't find our way through those doors. I swung Epic to the left and danced a death light over my palm, scaring away a small group that had looked our way. For the moment, we were alone. What do we do, what do we do… The Fleece's suggestions were so loud in response that I could barely hear myself asking the question, let alone hear my own answers. I looked frantically around the room, spotting death and mayhem everywhere I turned. The fire elementals were still filling the air with flames. The slugs were gleefully mowing down every party guest they could find. Their costumes made them easy to spot, even when they deactivated the enchantments.

  "I really wish I didn't look like a fucking butterfly right now," I growled.

  "I think we have bigger problems than your attire." Graulfv was panting, blood slicked off his arm. We'd been standing still long enough that a puddle had formed.

  "You're wearing your fire armor, right?"

  He nodded.

  "Go," I ordered him. "Don't argue. You can make it through that crowd. I'll have your back from here with my magic. The Derinians won't be fighting you when you leave me, you'll be okay."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I can join into a group of party guests and use them for shields," I said, the idea only occurring to me as I spoke. "I can't do that with you."

  "You go first, Sophie."

  "Don't fight with me, Graulfv."

  "I've always been under the impression you were worried I didn't have enough of a mind of my own, Sophie." He grinned at me. "Disagreement is the best way I can honor your wishes."