by Scott Duff
“Am I at war with Faery, Sir Elf?” I asked calmly.
“No, your Lordship,” he replied, not rising out of his bow.
“Are humans at war with Faery, Sir Elf?” I asked.
“No, your Lordship,” he replied, still not rising out of his bow.
“Yet you arrive under a flag of truce. Truce from what?”
“Considering the unprecedented manner in which his Lordship achieved his position,” the harlequin said calmly, still bowed, “Her Majesties felt it would be wise to assure all parties involved that we intended no harm in our first contact with you.”
Sounded reasonable and he looked like he was telling the truth. “Very well,” I said. “How do you know who Seth McClure is?”
“Before leaving Faery, both Queens gave me what I believed was a partial image of you. Upon seeing his Lordship, I now understand it was not a partial image.”
I barked a short laugh out. “Seth McClure accepts the greetings of the Queens’ envoy as well as the peaceful intentions of Her Majesties.” The elf rose smoothly out of his bow. If he noticed that I excluded the titles he listed, he made no mention of it, but his aura positively glowed with curiosity, amusement, and fear. I suppose I could understand all three as I had just attacked and killed someone theoretically as powerful as those he served directly. He thought he was a flea in monsoon compared to me. Marty was more of a threat right now than I was, not that I was gonna tell him that.
In one fluid motion, the eight elves dismounted from their steeds and the horses walked slowly forward, turning as sharply as creatures of their size can in a circle until they faced forward again in the rear of their group, mirroring the formation of their masters. I watched with a detached interest. It was eerie.
“Lord Daybreak, may I present—” the harlequin started, but I interrupted.
“A moment, Sir Elf,” I said, glancing back at the Castle steps. My family had moved to the edge of the moat along with pretty much everybody else. “My history with the elves in general is well known. You are no doubt aware that I have little to no knowledge of the necessary protocols required of this or, indeed, most other meetings with Elven Royalty. I have no wish to create any real or perceived slights to anyone at this juncture and certainly not to either of the Queens of the Fae.”
“Certainly, Your Lordship,” the harlequin said, bowing his head and smiling most curiously at me. “You have our assurances that none will be offended here today.”
“Very well, then. At least for today, let’s dispense with the Lord crap. I’d prefer to be called by my name,” I said.
“As you wish, Daybreak.”
Not what I had in mind, but whatever. I was amusing to them.
“Let’s start there, then,” I said. “How do you come by that name, ‘Daybreak’?”
“Other than to say it is the closest English word to the Faery word that is your name, I do not know. I was told it by her Majesties.” Okay, that was certainly oblique enough. I shrugged to idea back then for another day.
“And what is the purpose of tonight’s visit?”
“Merely introductions and assurances, Daybreak,” said the harlequin. “Though I understand the firsts bear a gift. Where shall I begin?”
“You,” I responded. Yeah, how stupid did they expect me to be, pick Winter over Summer?
“Me?” He seemed surprised but pleased with himself. “I am Avenour, a herald of the Summer Court. I am dispensable should you mistrust the banner of truce.”
“Avenour,” I nodded to him. The elves then began forming into a reception line behind Avenour, separating into their disparate courts. Glancing back over the ley moat, I caught Ferrin smirking at me. He shouldn’t oughta have done that. I caught Ethan’s attention and waved him over. He jumped the moat from where he stood—standing broad jump, no running leap or anything, just jumped it. It didn’t bother the power flow of the moat in the least. Let one of the elves try that.
“Would you get Felix to watch Ian?” I whispered to Ethan. “I’d like you guys over here and he’s a bit young to face them.”
“So are you!” he said laughing, then backflipped back into his footprints on the other side. His performance was noticed on both sides of the moat, and certainly by my father. Ethan knelt at Ian’s eye level and said a few words. Ian looked up at Mike, grinning. He ran across the aisle to stand with Felix’s wheelchair, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder protectively. I wrapped portals around the six men I wanted and moved them across the moat.
I turned back to Avenour. “Are introductions necessary on my side? Your intelligence of us always appears to be so much more complete.”
Avenour hesitated before answering. “It would, perhaps, be advisable for the gentlemen you’ve brought over here. Most of the ladies and gentlemen on the other side are known to us.”
“On my right, my father, Robert McClure, only recently returned from a long absence,” I said, holding my right hand out by way of presentation, turning slightly to him. “I believe that Her Majesties are aware of his departure but not necessarily his return, though he was with me when I left the battlefield and that they are aware of.”
Avenour started to say something but I moved too quickly. “My brother and my master, Ehran, I believe is known to Faery. It is under his tutelage that we gained position in the Games some weeks ago.” Dad’s aura spiked in surprise.
Kieran leaned over and whispered, “You ain’t heard nothing yet.”
“This is Ethan, my brother, who also participated in our battles at the arena and was instrumental in defeating the Loa,” moving down to the last on the right and cutting Kieran a quick look. I left the details of Ethan’s parentage private and turned back to the center. “This is Peter Borland, another of my brothers. He accompanied and assisted me in the battle against the Rat Bastard as well as in his last games. Next to him is Gordon Cahill, son of Felix Cahill, Duke and owner of the lands on which you are standing, brother of the man currently guarding the Castle. Gordon also accompanied and assisted in that battle. The man next to him is Michael Ferrin, the last winner of the Sealbreaker’s Games and quite an effective fighter. He, too, stood with me against –” Pushing a little energy out I used the troll name, as grating to my bones as it was.
“Perhaps I should amend that,” I said, turning back to face the elves as a whole. “The three of them held MacNamara’s army at bay while he and I fought.” There were one or two raised eyebrows in the elven retinue at the idea that three men could hold back an elven army even for a short time. That was the affect I was going for.
“Daybreak,” Avenour asked, “should I consider the brevity of your introductions as a model for our own?”
“If it offers no insult,” I said. “It’s late and I still have work to do today.”
“I believe no insult is taken, Daybreak,” he answered smiling. He had an interesting curl to the corners of his smile, almost turning into a spiral.
“A moment, Avenour,” called a melodious voice to our left. A Winter elf dressed in dark blue fading into lighter shades and highlighted in green across his chest stepped forward. One of the guards on the Unseelie Court. “Daybreak, it has been said that you, even prior to taking the mantle of Liege-Killer, are able to ascertain the loyalty of our kind with but a glance.”
“Is that difficult to discern?” I turned and asked Peter. He nodded a yes and I shrugged. “I can tell, yes, but I’m not sure I’d say ‘at a glance.’”
“I wonder if you might entertain a wager on that talent?” he asked coyly. I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to continue. “That we can ascertain how you’re doing it and disguise our loyalty before you get to the end of the line.”
“And the wager?” I asked.
He acted like he was considering it for a moment, then said, “Perhaps we could arm your companions more suitably against, say, one of the empty cages?”
I laughed out loud, barking really, his suggestion caught me flat and I kind of cramped up. Pete
r came up beside me, gently patting my back and making sure I didn’t choke in front of so many people.
Peter said to the still smiling elf, “I believe what Seth is saying here is that to even entertain the idea of giving away a gift of your liege would be too much of an insult to both. Considering he hasn’t even been offered it yet and none of the six of us would agree to the wager, you should also be glad that he has agreed to hold no ill will from this meeting.”
“My apologies, Your Lordship,” the elf bowed low, almost touching his forehead to the ground. “I was rash in your apparent youth and took an unwise gamble. I shall discuss an appropriate penance with my Queen.”
I’d regained my composure listening to him, still wore a smile over it.
“Don’t worry about it, big guy. Like Peter said, I hold no ill will. Consider this a learning experience. And I have a counteroffer that I actually think you’re gonna love.”
I leaned back into Peter, sharing the view of the property that I was getting. Very hard to see. Eighteen that I found, spread out across the grounds.
“I’ll wager that I make yours seem like a social gaffe, while theirs…” I snapped my fingers dramatically, though the action had little relevance to the eighteen portals I wrapped around the camouflaged elves. Kieran went roving about the property a half-second after he felt me jerk them in, scanning for more on a different level. Good, two pair of eyes are better than one. Peter snapped up separate cages for each as soon as he felt them land. These weren’t the same pens as Dunstan’s. These were much stronger and resistant to anything the elves might throw at them. The prisoners had little room to move.
“Theirs?” I continued, manifesting the armor in full form. My hands came to rest on the grips of each Sword, habitual now. All of the elves went positively rigid, fantastically so. It made their previous jobs as statues look like a night in Rio during the Carnivale. “Avenour, would delivering spies under a banner of truce not be considered an act of war? Would this be enough for me to mistrust this particular envoy?”
“Indeed, Your Lordship, it is,” he voice trembled. I believed he didn’t know, but it was possible he was just seriously surprised they were caught.
“Brothers, did I miss any?” I asked without turning around. They responded with three negatives in various cordial and pleasant ways. “Your name, Winter Elf?” I asked the gambler.
“Seneca, Lord Daybreak,” he answered, bowing almost to the ground like Avenour.
“Avenour, Seneca,” I called, waving them both forward and dissolved the helmet to show my sincerity. Expression and voice were all they had to work with, after all. “I have a task for you and while I have no doubt that your Queen has charged you similarly, I wish to add to it. First, each of you shall report to your respective Queens first, prior to any member of this envoy. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Daybreak,” they said in unison.
I yelled back at the rigid elves, “If any of you has a problem with that, speak up now and we can discuss it one on one.” No one moved a muscle. “Good,” I said calmly, not amplified in the least, by me anyway. The elves, though, heard every word, and Marty made sure the other side of the moat heard, too. “I understand the desire of your kind to underestimate mine and will consider this a learning experience for her Majesties’ upper echelons. I do not see it reflecting in any way on either of her Majesties. However, so that I will make no associations to names, faces, and spies, I think it best to return the entire envoy without introduction, lest I get an attack of adolescent amnesia.” Ethan snickered behind me. I’d missed that. Even if was only a few days.
“I have much to do this evening and I’ve already had a very long day. Is there anything else?” I asked irritably.
“Should we perhaps appoint a day and time when another envoy may have an audience?” asked Avenour.
I looked back at Gordon, stressed now. “Cahill, may I obligate you again?” Using his family name meant I was asking for the use of his property—the Castle—again, which technically he had control of with Felix recuperating. Felix could have interjected and no one would have thought any less of anyone. I think.
“Sure, if you show us that little trick you just did,” he said, grinning and crossing his arms across his chest, puffing up.
“You mean finding them?” I asked him, throwing a thumb over my shoulder at Peter’s cages. Gordon nodded, still grinning. “I’d have done that anyway. I’m surprised one of them hadn’t shown Marty yet.”
“Ethan and I are searching for the entry points,” said Peter. “We’ve got fifteen of the eighteen so far. Ehran is studying the craft used to camouflage them.”
“So far,” Kieran said, turning back from staring at the energy cages. “I see two hundred and eighty-seven different weaves of magic here. Of those, twenty-eight of them have between four hundred and eleven hundred variations. Of the others, many have variations, but not as many. This should not be a difficult ward to build.”
“Will that satisfy your condition, Gordon?” I asked him, smiling broadly and sweeping into a bow.
“A most excellent trade, Daybreak,” he answered with equal facetious pomp.
“Will a week be enough time?” I asked Avenour. “Of course it will. You threw this together in hours.” Why give him a choice? “A week’s time, then, just before sunset. I haven’t gotten to see the Castle at sunset yet. I’ve been told it’s a beautiful sight.”
“As you wish, Daybreak,” they responded in unison.
I sealed the armor for effect. “A final word before I send you on your way, then, Lords and Ladies of Faery: an insult to me or my host will not fare so well again. I would suggest asking any who have stood before me in the past, but none seemed to have survived having done so, either human or elf. Now leave and take your trash with you.”
Unlike the smooth and relaxed ease that marked their dismount, the elves took their steeds with amazing quickness and rigidity. Seneca and Avenour were more amicable when mounting their horses, probably because I was still with them. The elves slowly turned their horses and queued up to leave, waiting for the only two to have spoken to lead them away. Shame rode their auras. I had no delusions that the shame was not for the actions, but for getting caught. Even the horses hung their heads down as they walked slowly into even lines of Winter and Summer. Once Seneca and Avenour took the head of the lines, Peter herded their spies to the end by upending their cells and dropping them en mass.
“Cahill, you may want to open the gate from here. They will be moving with a quickness,” I said loudly, intending my words for Marty. The moat became very turbulent, thrashing roughly against unseen banks as the gatekeeper several miles away rushed to open the cast iron gate with his recently returned second.
“Yes, they will,” echoed Felix’s voice through the Castle’s front and driveway as twin jets of power, as thick as their horses were long, rose from the moat high into the air, forming into fists. Orange and red, like the moat itself, these were angry fists held by huge and muscular forearms. “Seth said leave,” Felix’s voice all but shouted and the fists came down hard into the ground on either side of the drive, emphasizing the last word with thunder and making the earth tremble. The elves were a blur of movement on the road as the spooked horses moved from standing sullenly to scared for their lives. The spies disappeared more slowly, sprinting at top speed after their lords.
We all watched as the elves raced through the gate, disappearing through the veil between worlds a mere foot past it. When I turned around to the Castle, everyone was looking at Felix, shocked that he had made such a display, especially given his condition. It may have sounded like Felix, but the one responsible for the dramatic display of the Castle’s power was the fourteen-year-old on one knee with his fists on the ground in the doorway. Martin was hidden from view by most of those still inside the moat.
Those of us on the outside had a better angle. We could see the little man just inside the front doors. Gordon just exploded with pride and w
e all applauded.
“Very impressive, Martin,” I called, as I thanked the weapons and sent them to their home again. I wasn’t alone in my praise; it was an impressive display. Marty stood, blushing and slowly dissipating the energy in the fists back into the moat. The aura of power that surrounded him, adding to his own natural aura, was immense and kept anyone from rushing up to him. Still, Ian eagerly moved up the steps with Felix maintaining a hold on him to keep a safe distance. Enid was suddenly at the bottom of the stairs, tear stains streaked her face. Fear, love, relief, pride, and hatred all tore through her at once as she watched her baby son do things she never wanted him to know how to do.
I didn’t either, Lady Cahill, trust me. And I didn’t want to do this next bit, but if wants were wishes…
“Excuse me, gentlemen, but I’d like to have a word with my brothers,” I said and sent Ferrin, Gordon, and Dad across the moat to the steps. Then I setup some seriously powerful opaque and soundproof shielding around us, sealing the four of us into a twenty-foot square space.
I wheeled around on Kieran and let my anger at him out, shouting, “You cannot keep doing this! You could have been killed and Ethan with you because you felt you had to prove something. I don’t need that Kieran. You were happy when I accepted familial ties and when it doesn’t suit you, you want to throw them away. Well family doesn’t work that way. You don’t get to decide when your family gives a damn about you and when it doesn’t.” I shoved an arm out, pointing at Peter. “Family helps each other in trouble.” Then I pointed out at the glowing walls that kept us blocked from the outside to where the Cahills still waited for Martin to finish powering the Castle down.
I felt Dad push against my wall. He’d crossed the moat when I wasn’t looking and wanted in. Frankly, he picked a good time. I pushed the walls back to include him. “Family supports, argues, fights, yells, jokes, pokes, picks, and screams, but it does not run away and it does not shut out! You shut me and Peter out and that cannot happen again.”