A Fey Harvest (4 page)

“There's no trail but there are signs of-” Meara started but was cut off by her husband.

“
There's no preparing them,” King Cian waved people back so we could be led to the center of the group.

We stood amongst the royalty of Faerie, surrounded by others I assumed were trusted companions and guards. King Cahal of the House of Earth held his Queen as his vines, which grew out of his dark green skin and wrapped around him, shivered, creating an unnerving rustling. Queen Aalish trembled along with the vines, her green eyes, almost the exact color of Cahal's leaves, focused on the ground before her. Strands of her bright yellow hair were stuck to her perspiring face but they were almost indistinguishable from the color of her skin, so that I could barely tell where hair began and skin ended.

Next to them stood the King and Queen of Air. King Fionn's eyes were black, from rim to rim, so it was hard to tell if he was looking at the same spot as the Earth royalty were but I think it was safe to assume he was. His black hair was notable only because of the almost modern, human angle to its cut, it fell just past his ears in a sharp forward line. His tan skin made him look even more human but the magnificent monarch butterfly wings sprouting out of his back matched his inhuman eyes.

His Queen, Breana, had the same type of wings as he, and it made me wonder if that was a common pattern or if they were only for the royalty. They were
monarch
wings after all. Her true black skin wasn't at all common though, I'd seen very few fey with skin of that color. It made her vibrant green eyes even more vivid and the white of her dress so shocking it seemed to glow.

Lastly, there was the newest royal, King Guirmean, who'd been appointed King after I'd killed his Queen. Well technically the Ring of Remembrance, my father's ring, had killed her. Anyway, he didn't have a Queen yet, so he stood alone, his turquoise eyes focused, like all the others, on a spot on the ground before him. His dark blue skin looked moist, like it had been spritzed with water recently, and I wondered if the King of Water had to carry a spray bottle around with him. How inconvenient.

Finally, we made it past them and were able to see what they were staring at. Arach gasped and pulled back a little and the other royals seemed to cringe with him. I was the only one who didn't show a reaction, merely staring at the scorched crystal with curiosity. The quartz was cracked deeply and gouged with furrows that seemed to flow out of a central spot, a curved depression wide enough to have cradled a small fey body. It was spotted with blood, not a lot of it but enough that it was evident that something vicious had been perpetrated.

I stepped closer, the fey inhaling sharply when I dropped to my knees next to the spot and ran my hands over the gouges. There was some kind of residue in them and I lifted my finger to my nose to smell it. It was clear and odorless, with the consistency of gel. I knew it even as I went through the motions of lifting my hand, if it had a scent, my dragon would have picked up on it immediately.

“Vervain,” Arach was standing beside me, talking in a low voice. “It's not always such a good idea to touch places where magic has gone wrong.”

“
How are we going to figure out what happened if I don't
touch it?” I looked up at him. “I don't sense anything except that something bad went down, do you?”

“
No,” he glanced at the other royals, who all shook their heads, “nothing.”

“
Faerie charged me with finding the killer,” I sighed. “If that means touching a little bad magic, then so be it.”

I pressed my hand back to the crack and felt it pulsing beneath me, hot and pounding like a wound. Whatever had been done there, it had hurt the earth. I frowned as I stared at the scorch marks. Were they moving? I reached out a finger and touched one, then heard the rushing of a multitude of wings as it flowed toward me. Arach cried out and pulled me back just as the dark mass shot through the spot I'd been in and flew straight up into the sky, with the screech of angry birds.

“What the fuck was that?” I watched as it continued to speed away.

“
This is not fey magic,” King Cian was staring after the thing as well, fear tightening his features.

“
Do you know of any magic that could crack the quartz like this?” I sat up, giving Arach a grateful look before I went back to studying the damage.

“
A battle perhaps,” King Cahal was the one who answered. “This valley has stood firm for all the years I've ruled. My heart is as heavy with sadness over its injury as it is over the loss of my people.”

“
Who's missing?” I was going to collect as much information as possible and sift through it later.

“
Brownies,” he shook his head, “four of them. Gentle fey but they can be vicious opponents if you attack them. I can't imagine why anyone would want to take them.”

“
Is this about the size of one of them, do you think?” I waved my hand over the depression in the quartz.

He looked startled by the question, then leaned over to look closely at the indentation. “No,” he said with surprise, “that's much too small to have been a brownie. Whatever was thrown into the quartz, it wasn't my missing fey.”

“Okay, well here's the next obvious question,” I looked up at him and then gave a glance at the other royalty. “What
would
fit in there?”

They all peered at the hole, looked at each other, and gave it some serious thought.

“Too big for pixies,” Arach started.

“
Too small for a selkie,” King Guirmean added.

“
Possibly a fachan could fit,” Queen Breana looked to her husband, who nodded in agreement.

“
Okay, a fachan,” I looked at Arach. “I'm not familiar with those.”

“
They are about that big,” Arach pointed to the hole which was a bout two feet long and one foot across. “They have one leg, one arm, one toe, one finger, and one eye. Their body is covered in hair and feathers, including a mane of feathers that will ruffle up before they attack.”

“
They can attack with only one leg and one arm?” I blinked wide eyes at him.

“
They defend themselves quite well, actually,” King Fionn answered. “When you are so limited, you do what you must to survive. They also carry a big club.”

“
Hop softly and carry a big stick,” I nodded and huffed a laugh.

“
They are spiteful creatures,” Queen Breana said softly. “The only members of the House of Air unable to fly, a punishment leveled upon them years ago for some horror one of their ancestors did.”

“
Could they be angry enough to murder other fey?” I asked.

“
Are you sure they're dead?” Queen Aalish asked with large, sad eyes.

“
I'm sorry,” I said gently, “but Faerie has told me she felt them die.”

“
Oh,” she looked away as her husband put his arm around her.

“
Fachan are vicious enough to do this,” Breana got back to my question. “Though I can't imagine why they'd take out their anger on brownies.”

“
Are there any other fey around this size?” I pushed forward.

“
A trow maybe,” King Cahal stared at the hole as he continued to comfort his wife. “Or a fir darrig, and both are angry fellows usually. Boggarts wouldn't fit, they're the size of brownies but I'd sooner expect this kind of treachery from a boggart than any of the others.”

“
Cause they're brownies gone bad,” someone in the non-royal part of the crowd murmured but they quieted when King Cahal looked up angrily.

“
Okay,” I nodded, “that's a good start. Anyone else?”

“
I can't think of any water fey who would fit into that hole and be able to be this far from our sea for any length of time,” King Guirmean added. “I'm sorry.”

“
No, that's good,” I looked thoughtfully at the blood spotting the crystal, “we can rule out the water fey then. I need a handkerchief please.”

Arach handed me one and I used it to wipe up a sample of
the blood. I sniffed it but it was unfamiliar, I'd never smelled it before. I held it out to Arach.

“
Could you determine which type of fey this blood belongs to?” I asked him.

“
Not with blood, no,” he took the handkerchief and sniffed anyway. “Blood is too specific, I would only recognize it if I'd scented the blood before. I could tell you by scent of the body, which type of fey it was but not with blood. I'd have to taste it to discover more about the fey and I'm loathe to do that after what we've just witnessed here. There could be dark magic left in it.”

“
And there's no other scent here,” I said grimly. “It's as if it's been taken along with the fey.”

“
Quartz stores magic,” Queen Aalish lifted her head again. “I believe that's why the dark magic was still within it. I think the quartz pulled it down, trying to absorb it. It's why this place is so sacred to us earth fey, inside this crystal lies millenniums of fey magic. To stand here is to become a part of that magic, to feel connected with it, and now the heart of my kingdom has been wounded and the magic feels wrong.”

“
Wounds heal, my love,” King Cahal stroked his Queen's hair as she leaned into him once more. “The quartz will repair herself.”

“
The quartz stores magic,” I murmured, my brain trying to work something through. “Could that magic be tapped into? Could the brownies have called upon it to defend them only to have their opponents magic prove stronger?”

“
Stronger than the quartz?” King Cian inhaled sharply. “The brownies could have called on the magic, they are earth fey and so are already connected to it, but it would be up to the quartz itself to decide whether to give of its power.”

“
Let's say that the quartz decided to help the brownies,” I
urged, “what would it take to defeat the stone, to crack it like this?”

“
Something beyond the capabilities of any fey I know of,” King Cian said firmly before dropping his voice to a whisper, “even I.”

“
What if multiple fey pooled their magic together?” I stood up finally.

“
No, not possible,” the High King's words were certain but his tone wasn't.

“
Okay,” I shot Arach a look, deciding to let it slide. No sense in pushing someone to a conclusion that may be wrong in the first place. “So we have a hole the size of either a fachan, a trow, or a fir darrig. We have the blood of an unknown fey but most likely the assailant, and we have witnessed a strange magic depart the scene of the crime. This has been more helpful than I was expecting.”

“
You think this is helpful?” High Queen Meara raised a ruby red eyebrow.

“
Sure,” I shrugged. “All we have to do is get a blood sample from every fachan, trow, and fir darrig in Faerie and compare them to the one we have here,” I gestured to the hanky Arach still held.

“
That's not as simple as you make it sound,” Arach rolled his eyes.

“
Okay,” I shrugged. “I guess you could just see if any of those three types of fey are missing too. We can use the blood to verify the culprit once we narrow it down.”

“
Now that,” King Cian said with a grin, “is a much better plan.

Chapter Six

The Earth royalty politely invited us to return with them to Castle Crith Fuinn for dinner. Everyone accepted the offer and we all headed back the way we'd come, towards the castle entrance.

Right before we reached the Guardian trees, we turned left down a side path and followed the Earth royalty's carriage up to a mountain into which a pair of massive doors were set. We were let off in front of the doors and then our horses were led to the side, where the coaches were lined up. The mountain soared above us, covered in thick foliage which twitched with animal life. The entrance was set back into it, vines and ferns hanging down around the edges.

I stared up the immense length of the doors, admiring the detailed carvings of what I assumed were earth fey frolicking amid unusual plant life. Each door appeared to have been made from a single piece of wood, a feat only possible in Faerie where the trees were large enough to accommodate. The wood shone like glass around the carvings, smooth all the way to the edge, where it met the mountain. There were no visible hinges and I had no idea how they were attached or how we'd get them open.