Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (17 page)

“Today, the changeling Jayne attended her first day of training.
 
We suspected, taking her into these sessions, that she is an elemental.”

Some whispering started but then calmed down when Dardennes continued.

“We have confirmed that she has a strong – or I should say
very strong
– affinity for Earth.”

A fae stood at the back of the room.
 
I couldn’t see who it was because he was too far back.
 
“How did you confirm this?”

Céline stood from her chair at the head table.
 
“I personally submitted myself to a test of her connection.
 
I can verify that she communicates with The Green ... ”

The murmuring around the room began before she finished, so Céline raised her voice to be heard for the last bit, “ ... and The Green does her bidding.”

The roar of voices that burst forth was unmistakable.
 
These fae were pissed.

Chase’s hand stayed dry and warm.
 
Mine went cold and clammy.
 
He squeezed me reassuringly and stepped closer.
 
His big, warm bulk made me feel safer.
 
All I could think was thank goodness he ate all that meat; I’m sure his appetite helped keep him so huge.
 
I was never going to think badly about that buffet of squiggling meat again.
 
As far as I was concerned, he could eat that shit at every meal.

Dardennes held up his hands for quiet.
 
“There was a second test for Jayne today as well.”

Everyone settled down, only an occasional whisper leaking through the hushed silence.

“The Lady of the Lake, Naida, tested the changeling Jayne in her realm.
 
Jayne entered the lake and connected with the Water element.
 
She was accepted into the kingdom of the water sprites.
 
Therefore, we have confirmation from Naida that Jayne also has an affinity to Water.
 
We do not yet know if she commands
It
.”

There were some angry looks still, but not the outbursts I had been expecting.
 
I guess water wasn’t such a big deal to them.
 
Or maybe it was the whole idea of me commanding the elements that pissed them off.

“And finally, the reason we called you here, the changeling Jayne was given one more test.
 
By the green elves.”

All of the fae were looking over to our right, where the green elves were seated and standing as a group.
 
I recognized one face as he separated himself and came over to stand next to Dardennes at the head table.
 
It was Robin.
 
He looked fine.
 
He was moving a bit slowly, his face expressionless, but he was alive.
 

Well, I guess that means I’m not on trial for murder.

“I have asked Robin of The Green to give you his firsthand account of this test ... Robin?”

Robin kept his hands on the wood of the bow resting over his shoulder as he spoke.
 
“The changeling Jayne was assigned to our group for the afternoon.
 
She was escorted to the training field by our new recruit, changeling Finn
.
 
The green elves had conferred with the council and determined our first order of business would be to familiarize her with the mission of the green elves and to determine what her skills could do to enhance or inhibit ours.
 
I informed the changeling of our plans.”
 
He paused and looked first at the head table and then out to the audience before continuing.
 
“That is the last thing I remember saying.
 
My next clear memory is that of waking up inside the compound, in the infirmary.”

Robin finished his monologue, and you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
 
It was silent for a full five seconds.
 
Then the room erupted in yells, murmurs, and the sounds of people getting up and moving around.

I looked out at the fae in front of me.
 
Only a few of them were still sitting.
 
The rest of them were standing, yelling at fae around the room, at the elders at the head table, or at the fae right next to them.
 
It was total chaos.

The blare of a horn rang out across the room.
 
The noises of the fae quieted quickly, and they all took their seats – some of them reluctantly, especially the dwarves.

“Please, friends, we need to determine what happened and what this means for our people.
 
We ask that you listen and withhold judgment until we have all of the facts.
 
That is the purpose of our meeting today.
 
Before we leave tonight, and I mean tonight, not this afternoon, because we will stay here as long as we have to, we will know what we are dealing with and what our plan should be.”

The room was quiet again with only an occasional whisper breaking the silence.

Dardennes addressed Robin.
 
“Who else was present at this event?”

“My first crew, the changeling Finn, and the changeling Jayne.”

“Changeling Finn!
 
Come to the front!” ordered Dardennes.

Finn strode down the middle aisle, head held high.
 
He gripped the wood of his bow that hung over his shoulder, looking the part of a proud green elf.

He turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with me.
 
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it briefly before letting go.
 
Chase still held on to my other hand.

“Does Robin of The Green’s telling of the event match your memory of what occurred?”

“Uh,” Finn started talking, but his voice cracked.
 
He was nervous, but he continued on.
 
“A
-hem
, um, kinda.”

Niles stood up to speak, cranky as usual.
 
“Did it or didn’t it?
 
It is a simple yes or no question.”

Dardennes looked over at Niles, but didn’t admonish him.

Finn squared his shoulders.
 
“No.
 
It did not.”

The murmuring threatened to rise up again, but a sharp look from Dardennes stopped it from getting out of hand.

“And how was it different from your memory of events?”

“Well, what he said is what I remember to a point.
 
I mean, that’s what the plan was originally, but right before the exercise started, Robin kinda stopped for a second and then said we were s’posed to do somethin’ different than what he told us before.”

Finn eyed Robin nervously.
 
Robin wasn’t looking at anyone.
 
He just stared at the floor, confused, as if he was trying to remember something he couldn’t.

I looked over at the other green elves.
 
They all looked like Robin – like they were wandering around in the weeds in their minds.
 
Something or someone had messed with their heads.

“What did he instruct all of the green elves to do?”

“Well, he said ... he said ... um, I’m sorry sir, but I don’t remember.”

Now Finn was doing exactly what all the other stupid green elves were doing – staring off into the distance trying to piece everything together
.
 
Idiots.

“I’ll tell you what he said, if you want.
 
It’s not like I’m ever going to forget it as long as I live,” I said sarcastically, looking at Robin first,
then
Dardennes.

“Please, Jayne ... enlighten us.”

“Well, first he said what he told you he said; then he closed his eyes, did some kind of meditation crap, and then opened his crazy ass eyes and said, ‘I would like to see your powers of self-preservation,’ or something like that.
 
Then he tells me I have thirty seconds to make a plan.
 
Next thing I knew, all his elf buddies are lined up, putting arrows in their bows, getting ready to turn me into a fae pincushion.”

The looks of shock on the faces of the fae were priceless – including the look on Robin’s face.
 
I couldn’t help myself.

“Yeah, you heard me right.
 
Those shitheads were going to
kill
me.
 
What I did, I did in
self-defense
.
 
They had it coming.”
 
I nodded my head for emphasis.
 
No way was I going to be sorry for trying to save my own ass.
 
If they thought they were going to get an apology out of me, they were nuts.

The green elves were staring at each other, horror written all over their faces.
 
Some of them even had tears in their eyes.
 
Tears!
 
Man, were these elves sensitive or what?
 
How the hell did they consider themselves to be warriors of the forest if they were going to cry over one nearly worthless changeling?
 
They must’ve had a real pity party over all those dead orcs.

I think some of the other fae in the room where in agreement with me on that one.
 
They were all looking over at the green elves like they were cuckoo or something.
 
Sucks to be Finn, I guess.

“Excuse me, changeling Jayne, but did you say something about meditation?”

This question came from a little wrinkled guy at the head table.
 
I don’t remember ever seeing him before.
 
He reminded me of the hag – old and wrinkly, wearing a gray cloak.

“Yes.
 
I said that Robin had, like, a
zen
moment.
 
Right before he gave the kill order.”

Robin grabbed his chest when I said ‘kill order’, like he was having a heart attack.

“What do you mean by that?
 
What did he do?”

“He closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, sat there a couple seconds, then looked straight again and opened his eyes back up.
 
And when he did, they were all screwed up.”

“In what way?”

“In what way were they screwed up?”

The little man cleared his throat. “
A-hem
.
 
Yes.
 
That is what I meant.”

“Well, his whole eye, the color part, was black.”

Robin’s head dropped to his chest.
 
The other elves joined him in this solemn gesture.
 
So did Finn.

I leaned towards Finn and talked out of the corner of my mouth.
 
“What the hell is wrong, Finn?”

“Shame,” is all he would say.

The wrinkled interrogator said one word.
 
“Witches.”

The room exploded with noise again.
 
People on the left side of the room were yelling at people on the right.
 
A group of people in gray tunics at the back of the room were
waving their hands around wildly, some of them brandishing staffs above their heads.
 
It was starting to look ugly.

The horn went off again, and everyone settled down, reluctantly this time.
 
Man, I had to get one of those horns.
 
I wondered if Netter could find one.
 
What would I call it?
 
The ‘shut the fuck up’ horn?
 
That seemed to fit.

Dardennes began speaking again.
 
“I think it would be fair to say that today we had some interference with the test by an outside source.
 
I will assume for now that the outside source is Dark Fae.”

Someone in one of the gray tunics stood up in the back.
 
“The Light Fae witches deny any involvement in this incident!”

More murmurs now, some even from the head table.

“How is she standing here now?” yelled a voice from the crowd.
 
“If the Dark Fae witches interfered and the green elves were given the order to kill her, how did she survive?
 
We all know that no one escapes the warriors of The Green.”

Hmmm
.
 
Some respect for the green elves.
 
Can I get a whoot whoot!
 
These fae were crazy.
 
The green elves might be all super badass most of the time, but earlier today they were crying for their mommas.
 
That didn’t seem all that warrior-like to me.
 
Dammit
, I wish Tony were here right now so we could mock these guys hard.
 
Or so I could mock them hard and Tony could smile indulgently.
 
I wonder if he got my email
.

“Perhaps Robin can shed some light on that for us,” said the wrinkled old man at the head table.

“I can help too, I believe,” said Céline.
 
“I believe I had a taste today of what Robin and his men experienced at the hands of our young Jayne.”