Test of Fae

by S L Mason

  In the forecourt, we will be safe when we were inside the wall, first hurdle down. Two armed Fae cross the forecourt having spotted Janice. They make a beeline for us. The first man draws his brows together, staring at Janice in a hard manner. The second man gives me a once-over.

  “Kar-ol, how goes your time?” Janice inquires.

  “My time goes well as does my human hunting. How goes yours? Is this one a plaything?” Kar-ol’s eyes inspect Nick.

  “He’s strong. I thought it would make a fine addition to our kitchens.” They all three look him over and nod their heads. The second man continues to examine me with his eyes.

  “You look familiar, do I know you?” His vermillion eyes crawl over me inch by inch.

  I, in turn, sneer back at him.

  Janice, he cuts them off. “No, she’s a recent convert from another court.”

  “Well, that explains the hair.”

  I don’t understand what he means about my hair. It’s black. What’s the big deal?

  I want to open my mouth and say something, but what if it’s wrong?

  The wake waves surrounding us fascinate me. I can’t stop staring. An overwhelming sense of heaviness fills the area. More Fae, more wakes, each one strong and decisive. Every one demands my attention, like a meat grinder trying to mix and cut you up into small bits and then mix you into everything else, constantly turning and changing.

  Kar-ol remarks, “I have not been to a Seelie court in a long time. I find them boorish fodder for goodie-goodie behavior. Did you not become bored with all their goodness? How it oozes from them like honey out of a beehive?” He snarls one side of his face.

  “Yes, I was bored. No good can come from too much good. I was raised there and tired of it.” I give them the best reply I can dig up.

  Janice steps in. “I must take her to Deston. He will want to meet the newest member of his court. So, I will say my farewells.”

  “We are heading to see Deston ourselves. Shall we travel together?” Kar-ol offers.

  Internally, I groan. We’re trapped. If we say we want to stop by a room and pick something up, they’ll come with us.

  “I must drop this pet off in the kitchens. Go on ahead of us. We will catch up after. I’m perfectly happy to let you see his Grace first.”

  They nod their heads and cross their fingers, touching their foreheads in some kind of weird Fae salute. I do the same in return, mimicking Janice’s movements.

  Janice ushers me through a small side door to the castle, along with Nick. I hope we somehow reach Deston’s room using the elevators, but that isn’t going to happen. Nevertheless, I’m still hopeful.

  “We are not leaving Nick in the kitchen or anywhere else here,” I whisper.

  “No, we’ll leave him in your old room. No one will look there. They think you’re gone. The room is clean. It’ll be the safest place for him.” Janice returns.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “Well then, I’ll remove his enchantment. He doesn’t need to be standing in a room alone, brainless.” I murmur back.

  Janice doesn’t even turn his head. “If you do and someone does discover him, you will have given him a death sentence. Leave him enchanted. This way they’ll think he’s lost or someone misplaced him on purpose as a joke. Enchanted—he’s protected.” Janice returns.

  I grind my teeth. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t care what Janice thinks even if he says he’s loyal to me and wants to be in my service or a vassal or whatever the hell all that crap meant. I don’t believe him. I just don’t believe people.

  I think most of them are liars. Nick’s only with me because he wants one thing, his sister, and as soon as he gets that, he’s leaving anyway he can.

  “You better not be lying to me,” I say between grinding teeth.

  “Yes, because you’ll hunt me down to the end of your days and kill me slowly with a spoon digging my heart out? Perhaps you’ll thrust bamboo skewers into different parts of my body and slowly split them apart, watching me rage in pain before I bleed to death? Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all, not just from you. Others too, my lady.” He throws a side smile at me. “You are not the first person who has threatened to kill me. I’ve been alive a long time. I’ve had many enemies threaten to kill me in a thousand different ways, all sounded extremely painful. None have come true. I’m not saying you wouldn’t succeed. I believe you would. However, let’s not waste time blathering on about threats.” His hand brushes mine.

  I snap my mouth shut. He sure does make me sound petty.

  All seven hundred of the servants’ stairs mock me. With heavy feet, I begin the slow, circular climb. It’s a good thing Janice and I are separated by Nick’s bulky form. Otherwise, he would’ve seen the daggers in my eyes, trying to stab him in the back of his head for making me walk up all these stairs. Finally, we reach the seventh floor. My feet know exactly where my room is, and I unlock the door with a whistle. Quickly pushing Nick inside, I double Just because he pledged himself to me and some weird flower grew out of the ground doesn’t mean he’s loyal. It also doesn’t mean that I trust him. He still has pointy ears, and his loyalty will always be to the Fae, never to humanity. No matter how much I resemble Fae now, it doesn’t mean I’ll ever be Fae on the inside. I’m always gonna be me, and I hope some part will still be human.

  We crest a hill, and it’s probably the same hill for all I remember. There’s a ridiculous fairytale style Fae Castle, Deston’s castle. He’s probably in there, lording it on high with all his Fae minions and sycophants. Every one of them is jockeying for position with their multi-colored hair and their light eyes, wrapping themselves up and leaves and pretty flowers. It makes me sick. It doesn’t change what they are, which is fucking evil.

  “So, do you have any idea of how are going to get inside?” I examine the portico.

  “My lady, I would walk all of us under the archway into the forecastle, but they‘re heavily armed.” Janice pointed at Jake and Tom. “They would need to leave their weapons behind. If you could pass for being enchanted, we could all walked in. My lady, you resemble Fae more than human.”

  His words sting me. I don’t want to pass for Fae. Even if it did save Olive, I’m human.

  “Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think Tom and Jake are going to give up their guns. You need to come up with a better plan for rescuing Olive. Maybe we should just float in,” I query.

  “That will never work. Protection lines surround the castle, and the enchantment on the walls disallows flying over, you must find a way through a valid entrance. The only person who can fly unencumbered is Deston himself.” Janice responds.

  I broke the last protection enchantment that was supposed to keep people out. I don’t how difficult a spell that was. It seemed pretty easy to break to me, but that’s me. The only truly intricate spell I’d seen was Brad’s, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do anything for Brad and his half-horse problem.

  I look over at Brad, he can’t remember anything, he is more horse than man. With the belt gone, he won’t change anymore, but that doesn’t make him what he was. He can’t go with us.

  “I got my own plan, and here it goes: Jake and Tom, you’ll stay outside the castle and find somewhere to hang out. Don’t go killing a bunch of Fae, like rogue humans who magically got in here. No one will buy that shit. Nick and I are going inside. Nick’s our enchanted human.” I release the breath I’d been holding and wait for the push back.

  “You want to enchant me?” Nick exclaims.

  I bite my lower lip and nod my head. “Yeah, do you trust me?” I ask.

  Our eyes meet, and Nick stares me down.

  “If I hadn’t met you on the surface, I wouldn’t trust you now. But yeah, if it gets us inside and puts me one step closer to finding Nikki, that’s the only thing I came for.” Nick thrusts his hand at me. I take it. He doesn’t shake but cradles my hand, closing his other hand over mine. He then drops them and runs his fingers through his hair. He isn’t thrilled.
<
br />   I raise my voice and sing the notes to enchant him, watching his eyes glaze over. They turn milky-white as his mouth goes slack and his shoulders relax. His arms lose their tension and slide down thoughtlessly to his side.

  “You’re very good at that,” Janice comments. “You managed to focus it directly on him so it wouldn’t affect anyone else. That takes true talent. There aren’t many Fae who have the strength to do what you just did.” Janice’s words irritate me. I don’t want to be talented.

  I shoot him a look from the corner of my eye. “Yeah, I’m real thrilled. I’m better than most of the Fae. I already knew that.” God, I sound like such a bitch. Biting the inside of my lip to hold back the ‘I’m sorry’ that naturally wants to follow.

  “As you will it, my Lady,” Janice replies.

  I roll my eyes. This whole ‘my lady’ talk is annoying. I’m not nobility. I’m some regular girl from nowhere Texas.

  “You sure you really want to go in there with this pointy-eared bastard?” Tom looks at me through his eyebrows at me.

  “Yeah, it’s the only plan that’ll get us in with the least amount of resistance. That is what we’re looking for. We’re trying for stealth, not brute force. I mean, you are the only two soldiers around. Nick doesn’t really count as a soldier. He’ll fight as hard as he can and he’s strong, but let’s face it, you’re trained and there are only two of you. Better off leaving you here and doing it my way. I’ll leave the horses with you. If I were you, I’d find a stand of trees and hide in it. Not mushrooms!” I arched an eyebrow at both of them.

  “Now, that little lady sounds like a good time. What do you say, Jake? We go hide in a stand of trees and pick up off some Fae from a distance?” he chuckles.

  Jake takes his turn at bravado. “That does sound like a good time, Tom. Twenty bucks says I get the first.”

  “The hell you will. It’s fifty that I’ll get the first Fae.” Tom retorts as they move away.

  I shake my head and watch them bickering. I touch the blue stallion on the side of his face, rubbing it and scratching between his eyes.

  “Go with them. They’ll protect you. If anything, you’ll be free in the forest to live as you want.” The blue stallion snorts and tosses his head up and down. He turns and walks away with his friends following him.

  Brad wouldn’t go anywhere unless I instruct him to. I place my hand on what is left of his shoulder.

  “Brad, you have to go with the horses. They’ll keep you safe and show you what you can eat in the forest. Listen to them and Jake.”

  He mindlessly turns and canters away. I watch the shift of his hips and his hindquarters. My throat swells with the lump lodged in it.

  I need to figure out what’s going on here, and Fae have to pay.

  Rhyming crap, I hate that.

  I want to kill someone. I want them to pay for all the pain and suffering. I know it’s not going to resolve anything. You have to kill the right person, and maybe that might fix the problem.

  I swallow back my rage, “Lead on, let’s get this done. I want Olive and Arty, and then I want to get the hell out of here.”

  Janice nods his head and steps in front of me, taking the lead.

  It’s another ten minutes from the hills to the castle proper. I trudge ahead while Janice takes everything in stride as if it’s just a stroll in Fae and nothing to be remarked upon. We approach the moat and the giant arched entryway with the spiked portico.

  Everything in fairy is natural. From a distance, everything appears man-made and normal, but up close you can see it’s different. The stones of the castle could’ve grown there, but the texture is all wrong. The stone is white marble-ish, but it glistens and glimmers in a crystalline fashion.

  The portico itself could’ve been metal, but the truth is if you look closely, you can see the dark vines of some plant interwoven, making it harder than stone. The sharpened tips glisten as if they are metallic and capable of slicing you to ribbons if the portico comes down.

  The archway is perfect, but it’s as if someone sang it into existence. Its design is unusual. Instead of being a smoothly rounded circle at the top, it’s in waves, scalloped with a Moorish slant.

  In the forecourt, we will be safe when we were inside the wall, first hurdle down. Two armed Fae cross the forecourt having spotted Janice. They make a beeline for us. The first man draws his brows together, staring at Janice in a hard manner. The second man gives me a once-over.

  “Kar-ol, how goes your time?” Janice inquires.

  “My time goes well as does my human hunting. How goes yours? Is this one a plaything?” Kar-ol’s eyes inspect Nick.

  “He’s strong. I thought it would make a fine addition to our kitchens.” They all three look him over and nod their heads. The second man continues to examine me with his eyes.

  “You look familiar, do I know you?” His vermillion eyes crawl over me inch by inch.

  I, in turn, sneer back at him.

  Janice, he cuts them off. “No, she’s a recent convert from another court.”

  “Well, that explains the hair.”

  I don’t understand what he means about my hair. It’s black. What’s the big deal?

  I want to open my mouth and say something, but what if it’s wrong?

  The wake waves surrounding us fascinate me. I can’t stop staring. An overwhelming sense of heaviness fills the area. More Fae, more wakes, each one strong and decisive. Every one demands my attention, like a meat grinder trying to mix and cut you up into small bits and then mix you into everything else, constantly turning and changing.

  Kar-ol remarks, “I have not been to a Seelie court in a long time. I find them boorish fodder for goodie-goodie behavior. Did you not become bored with all their goodness? How it oozes from them like honey out of a beehive?” He snarls one side of his face.

  “Yes, I was bored. No good can come from too much good. I was raised there and tired of it.” I give them the best reply I can dig up.

  Janice steps in. “I must take her to Deston. He will want to meet the newest member of his court. So, I will say my farewells.”

  “We are heading to see Deston ourselves. Shall we travel together?” Kar-ol offers.

  Internally, I groan. We’re trapped. If we say we want to stop by a room and pick something up, they’ll come with us.

  “I must drop this pet off in the kitchens. Go on ahead of us. We will catch up after. I’m perfectly happy to let you see his Grace first.”

  They nod their heads and cross their fingers, touching their foreheads in some kind of weird Fae salute. I do the same in return, mimicking Janice’s movements.

  Janice ushers me through a small side door to the castle, along with Nick. I hope we somehow reach Deston’s room using the elevators, but that isn’t going to happen. Nevertheless, I’m still hopeful.

  “We are not leaving Nick in the kitchen or anywhere else here,” I whisper.

  “No, we’ll leave him in your old room. No one will look there. They think you’re gone. The room is clean. It’ll be the safest place for him.” Janice returns.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “Well then, I’ll remove his enchantment. He doesn’t need to be standing in a room alone, brainless.” I murmur back.

  Janice doesn’t even turn his head. “If you do and someone does discover him, you will have given him a death sentence. Leave him enchanted. This way they’ll think he’s lost or someone misplaced him on purpose as a joke. Enchanted—he’s protected.” Janice returns.

  I grind my teeth. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t care what Janice thinks even if he says he’s loyal to me and wants to be in my service or a vassal or whatever the hell all that crap meant. I don’t believe him. I just don’t believe people.

  I think most of them are liars. Nick’s only with me because he wants one thing, his sister, and as soon as he gets that, he’s leaving anyway he can.

  “You better not be lying to me,” I say between grinding teeth.

 
; “Yes, because you’ll hunt me down to the end of your days and kill me slowly with a spoon digging my heart out? Perhaps you’ll thrust bamboo skewers into different parts of my body and slowly split them apart, watching me rage in pain before I bleed to death? Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all, not just from you. Others too, my Lady.” He throws a side smile at me. “You are not the first person who has threatened to kill me. I’ve been alive a long time. I’ve had many enemies threaten to kill me in a thousand different ways, all sounded extremely painful. None have come true. I’m not saying you wouldn’t succeed. I believe you would. However, let’s not waste time blathering on about threats.” His hand brushes mine.

  I snap my mouth shut. He sure does make me sound petty.

  All seven hundred of the servants’ stairs mock me. With heavy feet, I begin the slow, circular climb. It’s a good thing Janice and I are separated by Nick’s bulky form. Otherwise, he would’ve seen the daggers in my eyes, trying to stab him in the back of his head for making me walk up all these stairs. Finally, we reach the seventh floor. My feet know exactly where my room is, and I unlock the door with a whistle. Quickly pushing Nick inside, I double check the corners and cupboards to make sure no one is lurking in hiding. After, I close the door on Nick’s milky, vacant eyes.

  “You could’ve escaped from your room at any time?” Janice exclaims.

  I raise my eyebrows and give him a half-smile. “Yeah, but where would I have gone? I looked human.” I reply.

  “Yes, but you no longer look human. How is that possible?” he inquires.

  “Well, isn’t that the question of the year?” I sneer.

  check the corners and cupboards to make sure no one is lurking in hiding. After, I close the door on Nick’s milky, vacant eyes.

  “You could’ve escaped from your room at any time?” Janice exclaims.

  I raise my eyebrow and give him a half-smile. “Yeah, but where would I have gone? I looked human.” I reply.

  “Yes, but you no longer look human. How is that possible?” he inquires.

  “Well, isn’t that the question of the year?” I sneer.