Twist of Fae (11 page)

N
IKKI

I needed to think, so I decided to take a walk. Dinner had
been delicious and the Elf beer something else. These people, I mean Fae, were
truly wonderful folks. But all this talk of Dwarves had me wondering just what
was going on in this world. I thought fairy tales were supposed to have happy
endings, but if that was the case, someone had dropped the ball, and there was
a lot of work to still be done. I can’t believe I just said that. The part
about fairy tales, anyway. I don’t know what I stepped into but it was
definitely not that.

Ok, at least the Faerie part is real, I thought to myself,
as I stepped through the doorway to go back outside. There was a field nearby,
and many of them hadn't left when the sun set. They were milling about in the
moonlight, just enjoying themselves. Even Jay was having fun, or at least it
looked like it, based on the way he and the red headed Fae he'd been introduced
to were walking so close to each other. Still, feeling the need to be alone, I
kept going. Then I spied the stable that was adjacent to the inn and headed
that way to check it out.

It was the cleanest stable I'd ever seen. Oh sure, there was
hay on the floor, but everything was as neat and tidy as it could be. I checked
out the bins along the far wall and found them full of fresh oats and grains.
There was even a barrel of apples. They looked like they'd just come off the
tree. I marveled at how perfect one was as I held it up to the window to get a
better look at it in the bright moonlight.

"I think this bin's empty," I heard a woman's voice
behind me say. "Could you grab some apples and fill it for me?"

"Sure," I said as I reached down. I turned to see
who had asked, and almost tripped over myself when I saw the black horse
standing in front of the stall. I turned my head a few times to see if anyone
else was around.

"Yes, that should be fine," I heard the horse say.
Then the apples fell out of my arms and she reared up and whinnied in a voice
that almost sounded like laughter. Then the horse spread her wings, and as they
filled the stable, I stumbled, and this time fell right to the floor.

"Sorry to have startled you so, Princess," she
said, as I got up on my knees and stared at her. I realized then that she
hadn't really been talking out loud, but instead I'd heard the words in my
head. I looked around once more to make sure that no one else was in the room.

"How did you do that," I asked as I stood up, staring
at the huge wings that spread out on each side of her. "… and what are
you? Forget I asked that. You're a Pegasus aren’t you?"

"The correct term is Pterippus. But I am his
descendant, Althaea" she replied. "And you are Nikole, daughter of
Robert, the King of this land."

"That'd be me," I said, dusting the hay off of my clothes.
What's one more talking animal the way my day had been going? "Pleased to
meet you. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she replied.

"Why do I hear you in my head? Why don’t you talk like
the dogs do? With your mouth, I mean."

"Such is our way. The spoken word can be difficult for
us" she replied. "What use is our magic if we cannot take advantage
of it to communicate?"

"Good point," I said as I began to pick up the
apples. When I had them all, I put them in the bin in front of her stall.

"Thank you," she said, taking one in her mouth.
With a crunch it was gone.

Thinking I'd embarrassed myself enough for one night, I
began to walk away, when she spoke to me again.

"You will have to help them," I heard her say.

"Help them?" I asked as I turned back around.
"Help who?"

"These Fae," she replied. Then she bit into
another apple before continuing. "They will need your help if they are to
become more than what they are."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "How can I
help them become something more?"

"Ask your father," she replied. "Then, if you
wish to learn more, come back when the moon is at its highest and I will be
here. But tell no one, not even your father, that you do so." Then she
dipped her head as if making a bow and went back to eating apples.

What the hell was that all about? I asked myself, having already
decided to return. But, damn! I'd just had a conversation with a flying horse. How
many people can say that?

R
OBERT

A little while later I
was sitting in the field with Charlie lying beside me. I was leaning against a
tree with my hands behind my head when I saw Nikki leaving the stables. She
greeted several of the Fae that were still milling about before turning in my
direction.

"Dad," she said
as she knelt down beside us, her face lit up with the biggest smile I think
I've ever seen on her. "I just talked to a flying horse. Can you believe
it? She has wings and everything! This place is amazing!"

"So you met Althaea,
did you?" I replied.

"Yeah. She said she
was a descendant of Pegasus, the one from Greek myth. She likes apples, too, although
I guess all horses do. But she has wings! I mean, most horses don’t have wings…"
Then she realized she was rambling and started laughing.

I began to laugh as well.
It was a full minute before we stopped and even Charlie seemed to be chuckling.

"But seriously,
Dad," she said as she caught her breath. "She said something that I
need to ask you about."

"What did she say?"
I asked.

"She said I needed
to help them become more than what they are."

"More than what they
are?" I repeated. "That's an interesting way to put it."

"I guess," she
answered, shaking her head. "But what does that mean, exactly?"

"It means we need to
help them move forward."

"Move forward? But
why? They seem to be doing pretty good to me," she said, sweeping her hand
over the grounds and then towards the forest. "Come on, Dad. No fumes from
engines, no noise from running air conditioners or planes. The air is clean. Hell,
people back home would die for this."

"That they
would," I agreed. "And that's why we have to make sure that this
place remains forever hidden from the humans. Because you can imagine what they
would do to it if they found out it was real. But as to the Fae, let me ask you
something. What do you think they were like a thousand years ago, or better
yet, two thousand?"

"I don’t know,"
she replied. "The same, I guess. But is that a bad thing?"

"No, it's not. Not
in and of itself. But there's more to it than that," I said. "Did you
see the way Cacilia and Handion reacted when they heard the Dwarves were
coming?"

"Yeah, I guess. They
seemed… what? A little afraid? Like maybe you'd do something stupid," she added
with a grin. "Okay, yeah. They were afraid."

"It's not just that
they were afraid, although Handion did make a good point. It's just that
they're locked in to these old ways that they don’t necessarily understand have
changed. That's what's holding them back."

"So, what? You want
to bring them into the twentieth century?"

"No," I said in
response. "That's the last thing they need. What we need to do is make
them understand that they are Fae, and that means something more these days.
Look, in the old days there was, I don’t know, call it an org chart of power
distribution. Gods on top, Dwarves and Elves next, then the various Fae below
that. That's all gone now.
The Fall
saw to that. But they're still
living like that's the way it has to be. We need to change that and make them
realize that they can stand on their own two feet. Have you ever seen the way
they treat the Dwarves?"

"No, but I can guess
from the conversation."

"Exactly, they bow
and scrape like there's no tomorrow. But it's not just our Fae, it's all the Fae.
They're still mired in a history so ancient that they can't see that
everything's changed. Just look how they treat us. Don’t get me wrong. Valen
and the others did a lot for the Fae when they were down and that shouldn’t be
forgotten. We're supposed to be royalty, for whatever that's worth. But these
Dwarves? This Grerin guy that hid in his castle while our folks were suffering.
They didn’t do shit for them and yet I should be careful because they're the
ancient big dogs? Bullshit! Unlike Valen and his folks, these Dwarves are
cowards, and we need to use that to our advantage."

"As far as the Fae
go, I don’t care if they want to stay hidden here in their lands. I'll admit
that the Dwarves have powerful magic. But that doesn't mean they need to kowtow
to them. I want them to know that there are other options. But more
importantly, I want them to know that there is nothing out there better than
they are. Each Dryad, each Fae that lives here among us, is as important as
anyone else. Not only that, but we're family and we watch out for one
another."

"Well, aren’t you on
a roll," Nikki quipped.

"Sorry about
that," I replied with a sheepish grin. "Too much thinking on my
part."

"So what are you
going to do?"

"You know me Nik, I'm
playing it by ear," I replied. "But I still have to be careful.
Cowards or not, they're still dangerous. Let me see what they have to say
first."

"Ok, Dad," she
said as she stood. "I've got a few things I still want to do and a lot to
think about. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sure thing," I
replied as she began to walk away. "Hey, before you go, have you seen
Jay?"

"Yeah," she
said. "He's headed toward the stream snuggled up to some woodland Fae that
Plataia introduced him to. He's fine."

"Thanks," I
said with a laugh. "I'm sure he is."

N
IKKI

Jay hadn't returned yet, and Dad and Charlie were asleep by
the tree I'd seen them at earlier. The moon was high above me and I was headed back
into the stable to see what this flying horse wanted to show me. I wasn't sure
exactly what was up, especially since she'd asked me not to tell anyone we were
meeting. But I'd done some research of my own about her kind during the last
few hours, and the fact that they were revered for their wisdom was just one
thing that had piqued my curiosity.

When I walked into the stable, the flying horse, Althaea,
was already waiting. In the moonlight, she was magnificent. Black as night, her
feathery wings spread out behind her, she looked every bit the noble being that
I had imagined.

"Come," she said, as she folded her wings and
walked up to me. "We must go." Then she bent down.

"What?" I asked. "You want me to get
on?"

"That would be the fastest way," I heard her say.

Holy shit! I was going to ride a flying horse! I stepped closer
and put my left hand on her back, then placed my foot where her wing connected
to her side and pushed myself up onto her back. As she stood, I moved my body
and tried to sit up. I held tightly to her neck as she walked out the back part
of the stable. Without another word she began to trot, then she leapt, and I grasped
her tighter as we suddenly rose up above the trees.

"Do not be afraid," she said. "I will not let
you fall."

Her words comforted me and I slowly released the death grip
I had on her neck and tried to sit up. I craned my neck to the side and forward
to see around the front of her wings, and saw that we were now much higher and
doing lazy circles around the inn. There was a moment of vertigo, but it soon
passed and as I lightened my grip, she took off over the forest.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You will see," she answered. "But first,
what do you think of your lands?"

Looking back, even with the moon shining above me, I could
barely see the inn we'd just left. Beyond that the forest spread out until it
ended in a dark band of nothing. Turning forward I saw miles of trees ahead,
occasionally broken by winding lines that I had to believe were streams or
rivers. There were lights that shined, and I guessed that was where Fae must
live, but we were now too high to see anything in any detail. From this vantage
point, I could tell that I'd seen just a small part of this place my dad called
Fae.

"Looks pretty big," I said, noticing that we
seemed to be going a lot faster than I expected.

"Before
The Fall
, your lands were much larger.
Yet your kingdom fared better than most."

Within minutes, the scattered lights among the forest faded
away, and soon there was a nothingness below us that even the brightest moon
couldn’t pierce.

"Where'd everything go?" I asked, trying to see
something in the gloomy night below.

"We travel now over the dead lands."

"The dead lands? I've heard about them. Just what are
they?"

"They are exactly what they appear to be. Lands long since
dead after the destruction wrought during
The Fall
. Nothing grows there
now, except in very few places where the water still streams above the surface.
Did your father not tell you this?"

"He told us about
The Fall
," I said.
"But there hasn't been a chance to go into much detail."

"Good, he has arrived," she said before I could
continue.

"Who has…?" I started to say, but then I saw that a
white winged stallion had appeared to the side of us. He was every bit as
magnificent as Althaea was. But where she was jet black, he was all white, from
his hooves to the tip of his wings, with feathers white as snow.

"Do not be afraid," Althaea said, as she fell in line
behind him.

Afraid of what? I wondered, as her wings began to beat faster
and faster. There was a clap of thunder and the world suddenly went dark. A
moment later I found myself squinting in the bright light and, once again, I
was somewhere else. Looking below I saw what looked like desert. Then, as we
got lower, ruins appeared.

"This may get uncomfortable," Althaea said.

"What?" I asked, and then registered the heat.
"Why didn’t I feel anything before this?"

"When we fly we are not always where we appear to be.
The layers between worlds protect us, but when we emerge at our destination, we
must return to its world as well."

Ok, I thought to myself. I have no idea what that meant. But
whatever was going on, it was certainly getting warmer. As we circled, I
realized we were heading for a batch of ruins that stuck out like broken toys among
the sand.

"What is this place," I asked as she lowered her
head and I stepped down into the hot sand.

"This was once the home to many Dryad, or to be more
precise, the Aigeiros. Unlike the Fae of your kingdom, they were of the black
poplar, and not the oak. But Dryad will suffice to describe their kind," the
other horse said, then it bowed its head. "Well met, Princess. I am Leukos."

"He is my sibling," Althaea said.

"I kinda figured that part out," I said as I
brushed the hair from my forehead. It really was getting warm here. "So
why are we here?" I asked, pointing toward the crumbled ruins in front of
us. "And how did it become day all of a sudden?"

"You wanted to learn more," she replied. "And
as to the time of day, this place is on the other side of the worlds from your
kingdom."

The other side of the worlds? As in worlds, plural. I wasn't
even going to try to understand what that meant, either.

"About that," I said in reply. "It's not
really my kingdom… at least not yet, if I understand what you mean by the
phrase."

I walked a few steps closer to get a better look at the
place. It might have once been a temple. It did look like something I might
have seen before on the History Channel. Crumbling stone columns surrounded a
collapsed roof of stone and what might have once been timber. The place might
have once held a stage, or some other kind of platform, as collapsed stone and
tile floors littered the area in front of me.

"These lands were once ruled by a Dryad named Erato. Her
kind, too, served Demeter. She was also once the oracle of Pan; until his
death, that is. She later married a King named Arcas in the human realm, and
bore him three sons. Arcas later perished, and Zeus, grieving his loss, placed
him in the heavens for all to remember. After his death, and once her sons had
reached manhood, she returned here to her birthplace, to live among those of
her kind," I heard Leukos say as I stared at the ruins.

"Okay," I replied. "But what’s that got to do
with me?"

He didn’t answer, but Althaea continued the story.

"During
The Fall
, when the battle between the
Gods first threatened these lands, The Dwarf King Grerin offered aid to Erato,
and for a time, the land was safe. Then one evening, Grerin appeared in her
chambers and let it be known that he had yearned for her for some time. But Erato
rebuffed his advances. She told him that her love for her dead husband, whom
she believed looked down upon her from the heavens each night, was such that
she could never love another."

"This angered the Dwarf King, who stormed off without
reply. The next morning, the Dwarves that guarded these lands had disappeared
and Erato was nowhere to be found. Not long after, the battles between the Gods
reached these lands, and soon after that, the kingdom fell; leaving only these
ruins to serve as testament to those that once thrived here. One day, even they
will turn to dust, as will the memories of those that once dwelled here."

I was beginning to wonder what the hell the point of this
was, other than to tell me that these Dwarves weren't the good guys. My dad had
mentioned feeling manipulated in some of his dealings with other beings, and I
wondered if that was what was happening to me now. I could live with that. I
had to deal with egotistical cops all day. Especially when working the field. I
can't tell you how many times someone told me to impound something that had
absolutely no value as evidence. But woe be it that a lowly CSI tells some
detective that. But they'd learned. At least now they brought coffee when they
had stupid requests. Of course, from everything I'd heard, these creatures were
supposed to be above all that, but who really knows?

"I appreciate the story. I really do," I said, the
heat now making me uncomfortable. "But my dad already told me that these
Dwarves were assholes. So unless you have something else to show me, we might
as well head back."

"Perhaps it would be best if she explained the rest,"
Althaea said, with a quick upturn of her nose to indicate the area behind me.

"She?" I asked, turning. I was suddenly pushed
forward and almost stumbled down a staircase of roughhewn stone steps that I
knew hadn't been there a moment ago. It was dark and dusty, and it looked like
the entrance to an old chamber that, until recently, and I'm talking like
seconds ago, had been covered and blocked for ages.

I turned to look back, and the two flying horses just stood
there, nodding their heads. Feeling a bit like Alice, I nevertheless started
down, wondering all the way if a white rabbit was waiting for me at the bottom.
It wasn't. Instead, I found myself staring straight down a long dark hallway. I
was lucky if I could see a whole twenty feet into it, but I went ahead and
walked as far as I dared, not wanting to lose the light of the entrance that
was now behind me.

I stood there for a moment, letting my eyes get used to the
darkness. At least it was cooler down here, I thought to myself. Then I
squinted, seeing what seemed to be a small sliver of light just visible ahead.
Figuring I was already committed, I walked further down, my feet crunching on
small pebbles. I hoped that there wasn't anything larger, because I couldn’t
see a damn thing on the floor. After a few minutes, I was convinced there was
something on the other end, because the light grew stronger. Beginning to jog,
I hurried down the tunnel to see what was at the other end.

It was either that or go back, something I was hesitant to
do, since I'd already come all this way. I eventually came upon what looked
like an ordinary doorway. There was even an old, rotting, wooden door, half
hanging from the hinges. What it was doing here was beyond me. I thought I
heard a soft brushing noise from within, so I cautiously stepped inside. What
the…?

"Good, you're here," the woman said, stopping her
sweeping when she saw me come through the doorway. "I'll never understand
why humans use these things." Then she leaned against the broom and wiped
her brow with a handkerchief she pulled from a pocket. "Sorry about the
clutter. Kids, you know, always making a mess of things, even when they're
supposedly all grown up."

She looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had black hair with
curls that stuck out of a bandanna she wore like a scarf. She was wearing blue
jean overalls and black converse tennis shoes, and I wondered again if I hadn't
gone crazy.

"I think I might be in the wrong place," I said,
half stuttering the words. I might have just stepped into a fantasy novel but
this was the weirdest thing yet.

"Nope," the woman said. "This is where you're
supposed to be."

I turned as she said that, but the way was blocked. Flipping
around again, I hugged the wall where the doorway had been just moments ago.
"…and you would be?"

"Call me Gaea," she replied, her lips slowly
forming into a smile.

"Gaea," I repeated. I don’t know what I'd been
expecting but it certainly wasn't this. "Gaea?" I said again, this
time as a question. "Earth Goddess. Mother to the Gods. Are you saying
that you're that Gaea?"

"That would be me," she replied.

"I'm sorry," I said as I stepped away from the
wall, my head shaking in disbelief. "It's just that… and not that I
haven't already been having a strange day, but… and please, pardon me for
saying this, but you just don't look like that Gaea."

"Of course," she said, letting out a long sigh.

As she sighed she twirled her fingers and then, once again,
I was somewhere else. This time it was a temple, but not the crumbled ruin I'd
just seen. This one was new. Flowers hung from the rafters and vines twisted
down from the top of the columns. Her statue stood at the entrance and she now
sat on a golden throne.

"I…am…Gaea!" she said in a loud voice, standing
and pointing her finger at me as lightning flashed and thunder shook the ground.
This time, she was dressed in a Greek inspired, white gown, with gold thread
and a belt with some type of golden grain woven throughout it. Her long, curly
hair, reaching almost to her waist, flowed down her back. "Kneel before me
and hear my words!"

I just stood there, dumbfounded.

After half a minute her eyes rolled and she twirled her
finger again.

This time I almost jumped as I found myself seated in a comfortable
chair. Sitting at what looked like a kitchen table, directly across from her.

This time, she was conservatively dressed in a purple outfit
with thin tufts of lace on the collar and sleeves. Her hair was pulled up in a
twist-and-tuck bun, with braids above the ears. She held a small pitcher in one
hand. "Milk?" she asked.

"Pardon me?" I replied, still somewhat in a daze.

"Do you like milk with your tea?" she asked, this
time pointing at the flowered china teacup in front of her.

"Sure," I answered. "I guess so."

She poured some milk into the cup and set it down before
picking up a teapot and pouring in the tea. Then she pushed it towards me,
along with a bowl of sugar cubes.