She continued to stare out the window. “You’re going to need more, many more. But that will come. Now, I want you to tell me everything from when you met this Alric.”
It took a while to tell the story. Things I didn’t think were important, such as how many goras had been in jail with me when I got locked up in Beccia, would be vital to Mathilda. But she never responded when I asked her what difference these tiny details made. She’d just nod, sip her tea, and then gesture for me to continue.
I was definitely ready for sleep three hours later when I finally got to the battle of the Spheres. She held up her hand when my tale of the basilisk ending up destroying the rakasa was interrupted by three yawns on my end.
“I think that’s enough. The more recent events are clearer for me to see and you need more rest.” She didn’t get up. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I’d washed, and then tumbled into bed. I’d not even slipped into any dreams I was aware of before the world around me exploded in light and sound.
Chapter Four
I threw myself out of bed; glad I had kept my nightclothes with me and was at least wearing something. The explosions that woke me settled down enough that I could tell they were coming from outside the cottage and it had been the thin walls that made them feel like they were in the room with me.
I slowly opened the door, just in case I was wrong and there was a problem inside, but the hall and living room were dark and quiet. The front door was ajar and a strange glow was coming from the garden.
I reached to pull the front door open completely when two black shapes dove at me. Bunky’s gronking was enough to make me jump a foot in the air.
“Guys, I need to see what’s happened,” I said, then waved them off as both Bunky and Irving dipped down trying to push me back as well as bump the door closed.
The glow started dimming outside, but I could hear Mathilda’s low chanting. “Guys, what’s that coming in from the kitchen?” It was mean, and they’d both be annoyed with me, but it worked. Both constructs looked away long enough for me to get the door open and run outside.
The glows I’d been seeing were faeries. A lot of faeries. And they were all glowing like the glow bugs that came out in the summer in Beccia. Only unlike those bugs, each faery glowed a different color. Most likely whatever color they were but it was too dark to see more than outlines. I caught the tail end of whatever they’d been doing, but it mostly looked like they’d been zipping around like my girls on tea. They were bright enough that I could see Mathilda off on the edge of her gardens. She was hunched over something and chanting.
I moved forward before Bunky and Irving could try pushing me back again.
Aside from the chanting, things were eerily silent. I couldn’t see anything that caused the explosions that woke me up, but I knew I’d felt them.
“Anything I can help with?” I kept my voice low, but had been torn about speaking. Sneaking up on a spell-chanting magic user was a good way to get fried.
“Ah, there you are, Taryn,” Mathilda said. She poked at something on the ground in front of her. “I believe we have our culprit.”
I peered around her, but all I could see was a man-shape curled up in a ball. I doubted Mathilda would have been actually beating him with her stick, so his position was probably a result of her spell chanting. I was more interested in the dimming faeries. Glancing around, there had to be hundreds of them. But they were not only losing their glow, but vanishing altogether.
“Who are they and why are they glowing?”
“Hmmm?” She finally looked up from the prone form of her nectar thief. “Oh, them. Yes, well, our own faeries gave out a cry when they bravely cornered this hooligan. A pack of locals dove in for an assist.” She tilted her head, watching as the lights vanished. “As for the glowing…well, I have to say that is new. Not that I see much of the local faeries, at least not in a large group.” She held up her hand, palm up to the night sky. “Garbage Blossom, if you would please?”
I tamped down the bit of jealousy at the quickness with which Garbage flew to land in Mathilda’s hand. I was glad they loved me, but that kind of response would have been handy in the past year.
Garbage stood at attention on the palm of her hand. She looked riled up. She wasn’t wearing her war feathers, but her well-used war stick was in her hand. She noticeably wasn’t glowing.
“Why are these other faeries glowing?” Mathilda waggled her staff at the prone shape on the ground without taking her eyes from the tiny orange faery.
Garbage stuck her lower lip out. “They show off. Was could do. Then no. Now some.” She forgot she had her staff in her hand and almost whacked herself in the head as she crossed her arms in an enhancement of her scowl.
Over the past year, the faeries had been demonstrating new tricks. Hearing me when I mentally called them, the ability to go through solid objects, and briefly the ability to transport beings much larger than themselves far distances. Sadly, that trick hadn’t stuck around. Unless one counted them picking me up and flying off with me. I shuddered at the memory.
The glowing must be something like those. It really wasn’t new, but it was something old and lost that was coming back. The faeries were dangerous enough as they were when I first got them; I wasn’t sure their returning old skills were a good idea.
Mathilda nodded slowly and smiled at Garbage. “Never fear, wee one, all that was once will be returned. Now, many thanks to you and the other ladies for catching my thief.” The tip of her staff glowed. “Shall we have a look?”
Most of the wild faeries were gone, but the ones remaining joined in as my three yelled, “Is not finished!”
“A male faery?” I could see him a bit better now with her staff light, but he was too curled up to see well. The most noticeably missing things were the wings. I’d seen the mythical male faeries twice. Once a few months ago when we ended up in Null, the second when we were in the sands near the Spheres and a few had poked through to our world to eat some nasty tiny creatures called gloughstrikes. In both cases, my faeries expressed their complete annoyance of them.
Maybe the girls were just jealous that the boys were human sized and they weren’t.
“Male faery?” Mathilda nudged the form with her foot. “Now those haven’t been around since far before my time. Ladies? You are certain?” She released Garbage but all three hovered nearby, glaring at the male faery.
“Is yes. No finished. Go back!”
“Is cute?”
“Yum!”
Garbage, Leaf, and Crusty all spoke as if they said one sentence together. One with different meanings.
I realized that in my conversation with Mathilda last night, I’d forgotten a few things—the male faeries being one item. But it was damn hard to keep track of over a year’s worth of weird happenings. “I’ll explain more later, but yes, male faeries, yet this one doesn’t have—”
The word ‘wings’ was swallowed as the male faery jumped to his feet, unfurled wings I’d not seen, then vanished. Bunky and Irving had been hovering overhead and both dropped to where the faery had last been, but from their movements, there were no clues as to where it had gone.
“Good! Stay gone!” Garbage glared at the empty space.
Mathilda picked up the small jug the faery had been curled around, put it in her shed, and then placed a few layers of spells over the shed. “I’d actually been keeping the spells low; I wanted to catch my thief. But for now, I think I don’t want to contribute to the drunkenness of a mythological being who may or may not be finished.”
“Not finished. No be back here.” Garbage was annoyed, but even more disturbing was the fact that she looked worried. That wasn’t a common look for any of the faeries.
“What’s wrong?” I tried holding up my hand, but I wasn’t too surprised when she didn’t land on it.
“Not is time.”
Leaf and Crusty flew up behind her shaking their heads. Even though both of them had been more intere
sted in the male faery, neither looked happy now.
“Can you be clearer?”
“Not. Is. Time.” Garbage just slowed down her words, but didn’t change them.
Mathilda peered into the now extremely dark woods around us. The wild faeries, and their odd light, had vanished. “I think we might want to take this inside.”
We trooped in and with a wave of her hand Mathilda re-lit the fire in the hearth and about half of the candles in the front room. I rubbed my shoulders as a chill left me. I hadn’t even realized I’d had it.
The faeries flew in as well and landed on the sofa near each other in a circle. They were chittering in native faery and didn’t look happy. Bunky and Irving flew directly to the rafters and settled in.
“I don’t suppose you speak faery?” I nodded to the three.
“Sadly, no. I’d hoped you might have picked it up over the years. It’s an odd language and I think they change it regularly. The few words I’d ever been able to pick up, changed context the next time I heard them. Now tell me about the times you’ve seen these male faeries?”
I quickly started filling her in on the rest of the events.
“Gloughstrikes? You’re certain?” She interrupted me. “Those are also something from the distant past. And something no one would ever want to return. They are deceptively slow moving, but can take out anything they touch. Your friends would never have woken up.”
I shrugged. “That’s what Padraig and Lorcan called them. They were guessing at first, but they seemed sure once they tracked them down in their books.”
She busied herself fixing tea. “I know Lorcan, and it is tragic what hardship has befallen young Padraig. I will get a full description of the creatures when your friends arrive.”
Every time she mentioned them coming I got a chill and a flood of happiness. I missed them all, with the exception of Flarinen. That elven knight had come down a few notches in his own opinion of himself during our trip, but he was still annoying. Yet I had no idea how any of them were going to feel about me abandoning them. And there was always that issue of me turning into a rampaging monster and possibly stomping on them.
Mathilda didn’t comment on what was going on in my head. She claimed she hadn’t been reading my mind, but if she’d read my face before, it was probably clear now. She stayed busy finishing the tea.
“Ladies? Do you have something you want to share?” She handed me a cup but was watching the faeries.
“No.” Garbage folded her arms and glared at the other two.
“Yes.” Both Leaf and Crusty nodded enthusiastically, and they’d both moved out of arm’s reach of Garbage. If my little orange faery wasn’t careful, there was going to be a coup.
“Now, Garbage Blossom, you know you need to tell us important things.” Mathilda patted the chair next to her and Garbage reluctantly flew over.
“They not right.”
Even I could hear the lie and Garbage knew she’d flubbed.
“Fine.” She waved to Leaf and Crusty before sitting down with a scowl on the chair next to Mathilda. Apparently, she wasn’t going to stop the others, but she wasn’t going to participate.
Leaf and Crusty stayed on the sofa. “The boys bad,” Crusty finally said after a few moments of silence.
“Not done. Not ready. Means bad side.” Leaf solemnly nodded. Considering I knew she’d been attracted to more than one of the male faeries, I was surprised.
“Girls, just because they aren’t finished doesn’t mean they’re bad. They saved us more than once.”
Crusty’s response was lost in the sound of people running through the forest entirely too close to this cottage. I looked to Mathilda, the alarm on her face was enough to bring me to my feet. My on again, off again sword was in the spare bedroom I’d slept in, but in an instant it appeared in my hand.
Mathilda was already to the door, but nodded at the flash of steel in the firelight. “I understand now what you meant. That is an extremely unpredictable weapon. But it might be warranted now.” She held her staff in her left hand as she opened the door with her right.
The faeries regrouped in the air, flying a bit above Mathilda. I was right behind, with Bunky and Irving bumping into me as they tried to get out.
Darkness engulfed the forest, but the shapes of a dozen people running were lit by the torches they carried.
Once I realized that they were running past us, not to us, I lowered the tip of my sword.
“Who’s out there? Where are you going?” Mathilda had also relaxed her stance, but her staff was held firmly.
“We mean no harm to anyone. We’re from the Halin farm and syclarions are attacking and burning everything around.” A tall, rangy man slowed down and stepped closer to the clearing in front of the cottage. “They’re heading to Beccia to destroy it.”
Chapter Five
I clenched the grip of my sword tighter. I knew where the Halin farm was, or rather the massive conglomeration of farms that joined to create the Halin farm collective. There were at least a hundred people who worked and lived there—it wasn’t good if the ones moving past us were the only ones left.
“Why are they attacking?” I told myself they must have misunderstood. Beccia was a quiet, drunken, digger town; there was no one who would be attacking it. But a tiny part of my mind twitched in fear. The few friends I had, who I hadn’t left behind at the Spheres, still lived in Beccia.
The man looked over his shoulder, but the flow of escaping people had mostly slowed down. None of them were stopping to talk to us or ask for help. “They came through three hours ago; our farm is the main source of food for this region. They destroyed everything. They told us Beccia was going to pay.” He shook his head. “We’re too close. We’re not stopping for a few more hours. If you were smart, you’d run too.” With that, he ran to join the stragglers.
“How close are we to Beccia?” In the past month I’d been vaguely following a low mountain chain. Honestly, I didn’t care where I was going as long as it was away from my friends. And Alric.
Mathilda stayed silent for a few moments, watching as the last lights from the torches shrank to tiny specks.
“We are about a two-hour walk, an hour at the pace they were keeping. Why would syclarions attack Beccia? Or a farm?”
“They are trying to cut Beccia off from supplies, but Beccia is an open city, there’s nothing to keep invaders out. It wouldn’t be hard just to storm it; they wouldn’t need to destroy supplies.” Sometimes when things had been slow going on our travels, Alric would teach me things about strategy. It was something we could work on that didn’t involve me firing off spells. He’d explained about starving a castle or compound out…but there was no way that would be needed with an open town. And Beccia had few defenses. Unless the entire mass of thieves and thugs decided to join in and try to fight to save it. But they were probably going to be the first ones to run away.
“Things might have changed since you’ve been gone.” Mathilda turned and went back into the cottage. We followed her in. “How long since you first left for Kenithworth?”
I put my sword down on the sofa then plopped down next to it. “That’s a good question. It seems like it’s been years; what is today’s date?” I ran my fingers through my hair. We’d left Beccia for Kenithworth to look for Alric, not realizing he was with us, disguised as Carlon. Then the mayor of Kenithworth had sent his syclarion henchmen after us at a dig we’d been hired for. One that resulted in me finding the emerald dragon relic.
“It’s the eighteenth of Farith.”
My heart started racing, but not at her words. The mayor. He’d been heading toward Beccia as Flarinen and his knights dragged Alric and me back to the hidden elven enclave. He and his army of syclarions. I didn’t know if he was working with Nivinal or had his own nasty agenda. But he knew far too much about the relics, and my involvement in finding them, than was healthy.
“We have to go help Beccia.” I bounced to my feet and dropped back into t
he sofa as the lack of sleep hit me—even though I’d had a nap earlier. Most likely, Mathilda had already slipped a sleep spell on me.
“You have to rest. And I need to see what I can find out about these goings on. Usually someone in the woods has an idea of big things coming our way. Yet, I’ve heard nothing.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hall and was already heading out the door. “I’ll investigate and we’ll leave in a few hours.”
The faeries looked up to follow her, but I shook my head. “I think it’d be better if we stayed out of her way. Stay out here and keep an eye on the cottage. Wake me if anything happens.” I looked up to the constructs watching from the rafters. “And you two keep an eye on the faeries.” I went to pick up my sword, but it vanished. Hopefully, it went back in the bedroom. Most likely, it went back to wherever it took off to when it disappeared.
I hadn’t seen it much during our wanderings, not even when the wolves first stalked us. Not that it would have saved me had the faeries not convinced them to leave us alone, but it could have slowed my demise. Maybe it preferred two-legged enemies. Unfortunately, wherever it had taken off to, my sword was nowhere in sight as I fell into bed. Again.
My dreams were chaotic, vivid, and vanished the minute I opened my eyes. I was left with just a vague feeling of unease. Which could have been caused from way more things going on right now than just a dream.
Mathilda was back and bustling around the cottage. The sun was up, but the faeries and constructs were gone.
“I take it we’re going?” My emphasis was on ‘we’re’, I was going whether she did or not. Beccia wasn’t where I’d grown up, but I’d spent most of the life I could recall there. And I had friends there. I wasn’t going to abandon Foxy and his dryad wife Amara.
“Yes. There has been some sort of change to Beccia, something other than being under attack. The syclarions started moving in a few weeks ago, but just appeared as travelers. Then a few days ago, an attack on The Hill came. Three mages were killed, but they pushed the syclarions back out of the city. Then something odd changed about Beccia.” She shook her head. “My sources don’t speak the way you or I do, so details were missing.”
The Diamond Sphinx (The Lost Ancients Book 6) Page 3