by Alison Pensy
Faen pushed his way through the crowd, and as people caught sight of him, they parted to either side like a wake made by a speedboat. Some doffed their hats, others acknowledged him with an incline of their heads, but one thing was for sure, Faedra could see he was very well known, and very well respected. Jocelyn subtly guided Faedra into doing the fairy sandwich thing again as they fell in line behind Faen and followed him in single file until they got through the crowd. Once through the hoards of people, they positioned themselves just behind and to either side of him. Faedra saw the king then for the first time. He was sitting up rigidly on a throne at the other end of the room and they carried on walking until they reached the steps that led up to the throne.
Faen came to a stop and kneeled in front of the king. Jocelyn did some sort of a curtsy, and Faedra tried and failed miserably to do the same. She had never been before royalty and had no idea of the formalities, but tried her hardest to not insult the king by her lack of etiquette. At least she was giving it her best effort.
“Your Majesty,” Faen spoke with respect and looked up at the king who gestured with his hand for Faen to stand.
Faedra had noticed that the room was now silent. Even though it was fit to bursting with people, you could hear a pin drop.
“Guardian, I knew you would come. I fear my worst nightmare has come to fruition.”
“Your Majesty, we found Elvelynn. She lives.”
“She lives? But I sent sentinels to her house to see if she was there and they found nothing. Where was she?”
“Ms. Faedra found her,” he answered and gestured a hand in Faedra’s direction. “She had been tortured and poisoned, and they had left her under the floorboards to die. She is with Bedowen now.”
Faedra thought she may have been mistaken, but she could swear there was just a hint of pride in Faen’s voice when he said it.
“Ah, Lillith’s daughter, of course,” the king said in dulcet tones as he rose and stepped down from his throne.
He was a commanding figure, moving with grace and assurance. He had the face of authority; experience seeped from every fiber of his being. She could tell just by looking at him that he was much much older than he appeared. He wore sumptuous robes made of heavy velvet that were forest green in color and edged with the obligatory gold trim. The same crest she had seen on the huge banner draped from the balcony outside, was embroidered onto his robes also. Faedra gulped and gave him a feeble smile as he came to a standstill in front of her. His presence alone was compelling enough to fill the entire hall they were standing in.
The king took Faedra’s chin in his hand and moved her face gently from side to side, examining her features with interest. At first Faedra felt incredibly uncomfortable, if not just a little intimidated, but when she dared herself to look into the king’s eyes, she saw only sadness there. “You are the image of your mother, my dear child,” he spoke in a whisper so that only she could hear. “You cannot even imagine what your being here means to me.”
She gave him a puzzled look, but he’d already let go of her chin and had turned to stand in front of Faen.
“Come,” he said to all three, “I need to speak with you in private.” He gestured to a door to the side of the room and walked ahead.
As they made to follow him, the room once more erupted into a frenzied hubbub. The people here obviously wanted some answers, and as yet, Faedra doubted that the king had been able to give them any.
They followed the king through an elaborately carved wooden door and into another vast room. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves full of books, an immense library by anyone’s standards. Faedra glanced at a few as they followed the king to where he had seated himself behind an imposing oversized desk in the center of the room.
“You have Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” she blurted in surprise, without giving a thought to the company she was in. She had just not imagined that the fae king would read Shakespeare. Especially the one about fairies, and wondered what he thought of it. She blushed when she turned to see Faen and Jocelyn looking at her incredulously, and decided it may be wiser not to ask.
“Indeed, my child, I found it very,” the king paused, “intriguing. Now, shall we get to the business at hand?”
“Yes, of course,” Faedra blustered as she walked over to join them. “Sorry.”
“No need, my dear. I understand that this is all, shall we say, new to you. You just turned of age yesterday, did you not?”
“Yes, Sir, I did.”
He rose and stepped around the desk until he was standing in front of Faedra once more. She had to physically stop herself from taking a step back when he suddenly brought his hands up to her neck. Her eyes widened with concern and were met with a warm smile, which made her relax a little. He untied the scarf and let it hang open around her neck, uncovering the amulet as his did so. She was surprised when he lifted it from her skin and held it in the palm of his hand to examine it. He looked at it with the warm expression you would give a dear friend who you hadn’t seen for a while.
“Well, I have to tell you, my dear child. You are the first Custodian since I passed the amulet to be hidden in the World of Men, to find themselves in this predicament. There has only been one other Custodian, in all that time, who has ever entered the Land of Azran,” he stared deeply into her eyes for a moment. She couldn’t quite read the emotion behind his gaze, then he sighed, averted his eyes, and laid the amulet carefully back against her skin. He turned and resumed his position behind his desk.
“Sire,” Faen said as soon as the king was seated, “do you have any idea who may have taken the book?”
The king shook his head. “Unfortunately, I do not, Guardian, but the situation is more involved than just the stolen book.” He hung his head and took a deep breath as if fighting to keep his composure. “Is the same thing happening in the World of Men as it is here?
“Yes, Sire, it is,” Faen replied.
Faedra and Jocelyn listened intently, watching Faen’s every gesture and expression as the king continued.
“My daughter, Vivianna, was visiting with Elvelynn at the time of the attack. She was taken, along with the Book of Anohs,” he explained.
“I am so very sorry, Your Majesty,” Faen replied.
“There is more,” the king continued, looking gravely over at Faedra, which caused goose bumps to appear on her arms. “They have demanded I hand over the amulet in exchange for my daughter’s safe return.” He handed Faen a piece of paper with some writing on it that Faedra had never seen before.
“We cannot hand over the amulet, Sire. You know the implications of that. It is not just nature that would die.”
“I know that, Guardian. Do not concern yourself, I have no intention of handing over the amulet or…” and he stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Faedra.
The hairs on the back of Faedra’s neck bristled. She knew exactly what he was about to say. If he had to hand over the amulet, she would still be attached to it. She was the only one who could use it, or she would have to be dead for someone else to.
“You are the best I have, Guardian. I am entrusting you with finding the book and bringing my daughter safely back to me.”
“Yes, Sire, you have my word,” Faen assured the king.
Faedra couldn’t stifle it anymore and another loud yawn escaped. Three pairs of eyes all turned to look at her; she could feel her cheeks burn. Here they were talking about the impending doom of goodness knows how many realms, plus the kidnap of a princess, and she could hardly keep her eyes open.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled through her embarrassment.
“You are tired my child, tonight you will all feast and rest. You will need your energy for the journey ahead.” The king clapped his hands and two beautiful fairies appeared at his side. “See to it that they all get plenty to eat and the best rooms in the castle,” he commanded. They nodded their understanding and flew to hover either side of the group of three.
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Faedra looked at them, and although she admired their staggering beauty and was entranced by the way their wings beat rhythmically to keep them flying, she also realized how quickly she had become accustomed to being surrounded by fae. It dawned on her now that she hardly even noticed their wings anymore. They were as much a natural part of them as their arms or legs were.
“This way please.” One of the fairies said in a lilting voice, and gestured towards a different door from the one they had entered through, much to Faedra’s relief. She hadn’t much liked the idea of having to walk back through the rabble that was waiting for them in the great hall.
“Good luck,” the king said as they exited the library room. “If anyone can find the book and return my daughter, I know you will be the one to do it.”
Faen inclined his head in that gracious way he always did when acknowledging someone, and continued out the door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
They followed in silence behind the two fairies that the king had assigned to them. For the second time since they arrived, Faedra noticed that it was only her footsteps that could be heard on the hard marble floor beneath them. She looked over at Jocelyn and then to Faen to see if they were hovering above the floor, but they weren’t. They were walking just as she was, but they stepped so lightly their footfalls were whisper quiet. It didn’t help that she was wearing her riding boots that had fairly hard soles.
She started to feel embarrassed about the way her footsteps reverberated off the walls of the grandly decorated corridor they were walking down, and made a conscious effort to soften her steps. It was not easy; she almost had to walk on tiptoes. Try doing that when you need to keep up with others who are moving with definite purpose in front of you.
They turned a corner and walked down another corridor. Faedra could feel that Faen was deep in thought. She wasn’t quite sure what would be going through Jocelyn’s mind, though she had a pretty good idea her friend was wondering how Elvelynn was doing. They carried on down the corridor until it came to its conclusion at another big wooden door. One of the fairies pointed at it and it opened up before they reached it. All three followed the fairies through the door into a vast bustling kitchen.
Yet again Faedra looked around in awe. The kitchen was almost the same size as the great hall they had been in earlier, although, the ceilings were not as tall. Down the center of the room stood a long, solid oak table. Faedra guessed that it stretched about thirty feet long by about three feet wide, and along either side of it little people like Todmus were lined, busily preparing food.
Some were rolling dough, some were chopping vegetables. She saw one woman making a pie, and another peeling potatoes. Each of them had a specific task and they were going about it with studious enthusiasm. There must have been at least thirty people working in perfect harmony, making the table its own little industry. She scanned the rest of the room. From the ceiling hung vast cast iron racks from which pots and pans of all shapes and sizes hung. Down one wall of the kitchen were sinks and draining boards. A hoard of workers were busily scrubbing pans, drying them, and stacking them in neat piles.
On the opposite side of the room, the wall hosted several huge fireplaces, easily big enough for her to stand up in. A couple of the fireplaces had fires blazing in them with a hog turning on a spit above the flames. A couple of little men bustled about tending to the fires and keeping them hot enough to cook the meat roasting above. Another of the fireplaces did not have an open fire, but was home to an immense cast iron oven, easily ten times the size of the old fashioned stoves she had seen in history books back home.
No one had even given them a second look when they entered. The workers were so engrossed in their chores, and Faedra felt slightly relieved about that. She was feeling more and more like a fish out of water as each moment passed, but the minute she stepped foot into the vast kitchen a feeling of calm swept over her. Even though the kitchen teemed with life and people were going about their business with an energy that was almost palpable, there was just something about being in a kitchen that brought everyone to the same level.
The fairies motioned for them to follow down to the end of the table. They spoke to a couple of the women working there who looked up to acknowledge the three, nodded their heads, and shuffled themselves, and the food they were preparing, further down the table to make room at the end. Three chairs appeared out of nowhere and the fairies gestured to Faen, Faedra and Jocelyn to sit and make themselves comfortable. Faedra noticed that Faen waited for her and Jocelyn to be seated before he sat himself. Within a few moments, a couple of the little people walked up and placed plates full of food on the table in front of them.
“Thank you,” Faedra spoke to them as they bustled around her, laying an empty plate, cutlery, and a goblet before her. She was responded to with a warm smile and a gracious head bob, just like the one Faen was famous for. They didn’t speak but the fact that they gazed intently at the amulet hanging on show around her neck, and then quickly averted their eyes, did not escape her, but it did not make her feel as nervous any more. She had accepted the fact that the amulet was now as much a part of her, than she was of it.
She turned her attention to the plates of food the dwarves had placed in front of them, and recognized a rumbling deep from within her stomach. She was starving. There was a plump, steaming hot chicken, surrounded by dishes of steaming, brightly colored vegetables. A dwarf with a pitcher made his way around to all three of them, filling their goblets to the brim. He lingered next to Faedra, shooting a quick glance at the amulet before scuttling off into the pantry again.
Faen gestured for Faedra and Jocelyn to help themselves to the food first.
Ever the gentleman, Faedra thought as she gave him a warm smile and leaned in to pull a leg from the chicken. Dark meat was definitely her favorite. She scooped some vegetables onto her plate and tucked in.
“Do you have any idea where we go from here?” Faedra asked Faen between mouthfuls.
“Tomorrow we journey into the pine forest to summon Kernunnos,” he replied, after careful thought.
“How will Kernunnos be able to help, Brother?” Jocelyn asked with interest.
“Um, would someone care to enlighten me as to who Kernunnos is?” Faedra asked, slightly disgruntled. She only started learning about this stuff yesterday, and although she understood that she was at the bottom of an extremely steep learning curve, it irked her how everyone talked as if she already knew what they were talking about. Most of the time she felt horribly in the dark, and she didn’t like that feeling at all.
“Kernunnos is Lord of the Woods,” Faen stated, before turning back to Jocelyn to answer her question. “My dear Jocelyn, I believe Kernunnos can help us because he is closer to nature than any other entity in our realm. Because of what the book controls, he may be able to sense its whereabouts through nature here or in other realms. I am hoping he can point us in the right direction. At the moment, it is the only hope I have to start looking for the book.”
A thought suddenly occurred to Faedra. All color drained from her face and she had trouble swallowing the food in her mouth. Jocelyn noticed her sudden change of demeanor and her look turned to one of concern. Faen noticed the unsettled glance that Jocelyn was focusing across the table and turned to see what had caused such a rapid change in her expression. Faedra’s face was as white as snow as she looked blankly into space.
“Whatever is the matter, Faedra?” Jocelyn asked.
Faedra brought her focus back and looked at Faen. “Dad thinks I’ve gone riding. I’ve been gone all day, and now it’s nighttime. He’ll be worried sick; he has no idea where I am.” She spoke with fear and desperation in her voice. It was breaking her heart to think of her dad panicking over her disappearance, and there was no way to let him know she was safe, cell phones didn’t work between realms.
“Do not worry, Ms. Faedra,” Faen responded reassuringly, “your father will not know you are missing. The time in Azran ticks diffe
rently than in the World of Men. We can spend much more time here if needs be. You will still have only been gone a few hours.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, not quite being able to believe what he was telling her, and imagining her father’s panic stricken face on the phone to the Police.
Faen gave her a warm smile. He knew the great lengths she had gone to over the years to prevent giving her father any cause to worry about her. A quality he admired and respected. She cared more about those she loved than she did about herself.
“I am sure,” he replied. “Your father is blissfully unaware of your whereabouts and I will make sure it stays that way. We will return to the World of Men in plenty of time before he would start to wonder where you have gone to.”
She heaved a sigh of relief and the color returned to her face.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He inclined his head.
After they had finished their meal, the two fairies appeared.
“We have prepared your rooms for you.” they sang in unison and gestured for the three to follow. They all got up and continued behind them. Faedra was looking forward to being able to flop onto a bed and finally get some sleep. She was exhausted and imagined that what she was feeling must be similar to jet lag. She had never been on a long haul flight but her friends had, and how they had explained it to her, it had sounded just like she felt.
They followed the fairies up umpteen spiraling stairs, along what seemed like miles of corridors until they eventually stopped. The fairies pointed to three doors that were adjacent to each other.
“You will find everything you need to make your stay comfortable,” they sang. “If you find you need anything further, you only have to ask. One of us will attend to your needs directly.”
“Thank you,” Faen, Faedra and Jocelyn replied together.