Love Charms (118 page)

Further up, sat a large, red brick
building with three tall smoke stacks blowing out puffs of white smoke that
smelled faintly of hot metal. Behind it sprawled a jumbled mix of thatched and
tiled roofs in what appeared to be a residential area. Past that, up on a hill,
loomed a medieval looking castle built of dark stone. Bright blue and yellow
flags lined the castle turrets, their fabric snapping in the wind. As our
escort flew past the castle and banked in preparation for landing, I saw guards
in tunics the same colors as the flags lining the walls. Tyllven flew in lazy circles,
spiraling closer and closer to the ground until the dragon finally landed in a
field just outside the city gates.

Flexing a wing until the tip touched the
ground Tyllven looked back at us and said, “You can slide down my wing, it's
faster than taking my scales.”

“Okay, thanks.” I pushed myself out of my
'seat' and climbed up on the dragon’s back.

I walked in the rough pathway his
vertebrae provided to where Tyllven's wing fused with its spine and made the
mistake looking down. Turns out 'don't look down' is good advice. I swayed as
vertigo hit me and visions of me plummeting to my death raced through my mind.

“Are you okay?” Jacob wrapped an arm
around me, pulling me close.

I leaned against him. “I'm just a little
dizzy.”

“Afraid of heights?”

“Kind of.” Elevators? No problem. On the
back of a big dragon who wanted me to use his wing to slide down a height
equivalent to a baby skyscraper? I most definitely had the heebie-jeebies.

“It actually looks like fun. I always
liked the corkscrew slides at the water park.” Jacob contemplated the wing
'slide' before us.

I looked at everything but the precipice
before us, Jacob's face, the sky, anything to avoid seeing how far we had to go
before we went splat. I had always hated those big water park slides. Roller
coasters too.

Jacob squeezed me tight against him.
“We'll go together.”

I tried to put on a brave smile, but the
'fun' we were about to have made my stomach churn. My definition of fun didn't
involve wondering how many times my body would bounce if I fell. “You probably
love roller coasters, don’t you?” I accused him.

“Oh, yeah. Especially the ones that go
upside down.”  Jacob peered over the edge and smiled.

“It is perfectly safe, I assure you,”
boomed the dragon.

Noticing my lack of enthusiasm, Jacob grabbed
my hand and squeezed. “Come on. We'll jump together, on the count of three. All
right?”

I gulped and nodded as he began to count
moving me ever closer to the edge. On two, he suddenly shoved me out into empty
air.

I went over the edge, kicking and screaming,
and landed, butt first, on Tyllven's wing. The wing sagged under my weight and
then recoiled like a trampoline, shooting me back into the sky. Out of the
corner of my eye, I saw Jacob next to me, also airborne.

Tyllven's wing was not without obstacles.
Several horizontal rods of bone formed a support structure for the elastic
leathery skin of its wing and they made for natural stopping points along the
way down (or nifty spots to break a bone if you weren’t careful). I caught my
breathe at the first one, waiting for Jacob, who was just a few seconds behind,
to catch up to me. He hit the bone with a solid thump and ended up sitting
backwards, facing up instead of down.

Panting, I said, “You pushed me.”

He shrugged. “Would you really have
jumped on three?”

“No, but...”

Jacob swung his legs around, grabbed my
hand before I could finish talking, and jumped, dragging me with him. On the
first bounce, he lost his grip and we separated. I screamed the whole way to
the next stopping point while Jacob whooped it up, obviously enjoying the
experience.

Deciding not to wait for Jacob, I went
ahead and jumped by myself on the next two stops. Instead of taking the great
flying leaps Jacob had forced on me, I eased myself down and tried to slide
more than bounce. The calmer, slower descent gave me more control and allayed
my fear of falling. Although, I didn't relax until I had gone far enough down
to ensure my survival if I did go over the edge. On the last descent, I joined
Jacob in a few acrobatic bounces and managed a whoop or two myself. It was
actually kind of fun, but I didn’t think I would volunteer to do it again.

Once we were on the ground, Tyllven
looked down at us and said, "If you go straight through the gates and
follow the main road until it ends, you will come to the castle where King
Wyllven waits for you.”

“Thanks for the ride,” Jacob said
starting to head for the gate.

I grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. We don't
go anywhere without Tyllven.”

“But I am much too big to get into the
city like this," the dragon protested.

“Transform.” I narrowed my eyes and
didn’t budge.

“It takes too much time and the King is
waiting.”

“Then we'll just stay here with you and
the King can come to us.” To emphasize my point, I sat on the ground. I didn't
believe a word the dragon said and I wasn't about to walk through Wyvrndell
without a guide. Outside of resort areas like Magic Sands, you took your life
in your hands to walk alone in Fairy. I remembered the warnings on the travel
agent’s contract. Tourists who wandered off resort property didn’t come back.
Humans were prey here, defenseless prey that the Sidhe viewed as fair game.

“Sofia, what are you doing?” Jacob leaned
over me, a puzzled look in his eyes.

“If we leave like he says, we will have
forfeited safe passage.” I took the contract out of my back pocket and waved it
in the air.

Understanding dawned in his eyes.
“There's a forfeit clause in the contract.”

“Probably. Here.” I handed him the
contract again, which he took and skimmed it for a second time.

“I don’t remember seeing anything like
that before, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was one.” His eyes scanned
the document rapidly.

The dragon heaved a great, sulfur laden
sigh. “I cannot be your guide. I am due elsewhere. Just go into the city, you
won't come to any harm.”

“I don't think so,” I said with a bright
smile.

Tyllven frowned and shifted uncomfortably
from one stubby foot to the next.

“Here it is. I found it,” Jacob whispered
to me as I watched Tyllven try to come up with a response. “If we," he
paused running a finger along the scroll until he found the relevant section
and quoted it to me, “forsake their protection, e.g. leaving a designated
liaison behind or telling them to leave, our safe passage is null and void.” He
rolled the scroll up a look of disgust on his face. “Tricky bastards these
Sidhe.”

I nodded. “Yep, it's a good idea to
assume there's some kind of trick involved in everything they do. Tricks are a
cultural thing.” The Sidhe practically invented the practical joke, except
theirs usually had teeth, sharp teeth that wanted to bite.

“I should know better. I actually
do
know better. I'm a lawyer after all and here I was ready to just walk off into
town.” 

I reached up and patted him on the arm.
“Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it in no time.”

He gave me a thoughtful look. “I'm
curious, what would've happened if we lost our safe passage?”

“Truthfully, I'm not sure. I know they
can hold us subject to their laws and punishments, none of which a human would
survive. We would be easy pickings for magical predators with no hope of
rescue.”

“Magical predators?”

“Humans have some value here and there
are rumors of slave trafficking. I've even heard renegades exchange humans here
for magic.”

Jacob shook his head. “You're kidding.
The magic mafia? I thought they were just a bunch of crackpots.”

“It's what I've heard.” Renegades, also
known as the magic mafia, were humans who sold magic to the highest bidder.
They had formed a sort of black market for magic and weren't above kidnapping,
theft, bribery, and even murder to achieve their goals. They worked outside the
law to secure power for themselves with a few charms and magical trinkets left
over to sell at exorbitant prices. Secretive and furtive, no one knew much
about them other than they existed.

The dragon cleared his throat, ending our
conversation. “I think the King has sent someone for you. Look behind you.”

I turned to see a tall man with pale blue
skin, a pinched face, and large pointed ears walking towards us. A long sleeved
robe in an iridescent turquoise flowed around his lean, almost skeletal frame
as he moved.

Dipping his head in greeting he said,
“I'm Jocyllen. The king sent me to guide you through Wyvrndell.”

“Great. I'm Sofia and this is my
associate Jacob.” I stepped forward and held out a hand.

Jocyllen stared at my hand for a moment,
his own remaining clasped behind his back, and said, “If you will follow me
then.” He turned on his heel without waiting for a response and made his way to
the gate.

Huh. Maybe Dragons didn’t shake hands.
Maybe I’d just insulted my host. Whoops. With a shrug to Jacob, who appeared to
be as confused about the handshake as I was, I moved to follow Jocyllen. Being
a good four feet shorter, I had to run to keep up with his long strides. At the
fast pace he set, it didn't take long to reach the gates of the city where the
guards let us pass without challenge.

Tyllven had dropped us off by the market
entrance, and, fortunately, the streets were packed. Our guide had no choice
but to slow down, otherwise I might've had to forfeit safe passage from sheer
exhaustion. The slower pace allowed us to not only catch our breath, but to
also take in the sights around us.

We walked on the outskirts of the market,
behind the vendor tents which made it difficult to see the wares up for sale.
Every once in a while, though, a tent would have its side or back flap up and I
would catch a glimpse of handmade pottery made with, if the sign above the tent
was correct, pixie dust. Another stall featured a robe maker whose proprietor
shouted to us that he made the King's own robes. One tent even sold discarded
dragon scales, which given their size and iridescence would make nice serving
platters.

Beings of all shapes, sizes, colors,
jostled their way through the market with us. Some, like the elves, were taller
than our guide, others, such as the gnomes, were no taller than my knee. Jacob
and I, beyond being human, stood out simply by virtue of our fair skin. The
Sidhe don't naturally have white skin. Light shades of green, pink, blue,
lavender yes, but never white. Several people did a double take at our
appearance and whispered amongst themselves pointing. Outside resort areas,
humans were still something of a rarity. Although that was changing with some
of the new human-Sidhe economic initiatives.

I didn't dwell on the stares as Jocellyn,
breaking through the thickest part of the crowd, began to lengthen his stride
again, forcing us to run. He did not seem inclined to wait and our smaller legs
struggled to keep him in sight. Jacob yelled for him to slow down once, which
he acknowledged by stopping for one split second before taking off again at an
even faster pace--I suspected as punishment for our complaint.

“Sheesh, they are really doing their best
to get out of this safe passage stuff," Jacob panted beside me.

I nodded, not having the breath to spare
for speech. If I had been able to talk, I would've told him that, while it
wasn't unusual for the Sidhe to use trickery, flat out running away from their
safe passage obligation was a bit gauche. It smacked of desperation.

Jacob was saying something about oaths
and breaking their spirit when I caught the first glimpse of Mark in the throng
of people around us. I stopped short. “Mark?” He shouldn’t have been there. The
dead cannot cross into Fairy. How was he there and why did he look so solid?

Jacob, having passed me by, turned and
backtracked. “What is it?”

I brushed past him impatiently. Every
fiber of my being was focused on the familiar face smiling at me. “Mark,"
I called again with a wave.

Mark returned my wave and blew a kiss as
he stepped back from the crowd and moved further away. Instead of his ghostly
hovering, he looked to actually be walking with his feet touching the ground. A
confused hope leaped in my heart.

“No, wait! Don't go!” I broke into a run,
elbowing people out of my way, frantic to get to Mark.

Behind me, Jacob shouted a warning of
some sort, but I didn't care. All that mattered was finding Mark. Touching him.
Pressing my body against his. I followed Mark down the street and around the
corner into a small alleyway where I ran right into him.

“Easy princess. I'm here.” His blue eyes
met mine and his mouth crooked into a smile.

I gazed up into his face. “Is it really
you?”

“Yes.” His eyes sparkled at me like
sunlight scattered on a calm sea.

“But how?” My voice cracked. I couldn't
believe he was here. How had he come to stand in front of me? Mark was dead,
wasn't he? Or had it all been a bad dream?