Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (35 page)

She started cackling then, and slowly picked up her spoon.
 
I saw the evil glint in her eye before she did it, but by then it was too late – the spoon had already come up swinging, delivering a harsh blow to Tim’s tiny body, sending him flying into her black brew pot.

“Nooooo!!!!!!”
I screamed, lunging towards the pot to save my little friend.
 

The witch pointed her wooden spoon at me, muttering under her breath.
 
I
was
two steps away from her
and my feet suddenly froze.
 
I looked down and was shocked to see that they had grown roots into the floor.

“What the
fuck!”
I screamed, desperation in my voice.
 
Then I tried to get Tim to help himself since I was stuck.
 
“Tim!
 
Fly out of there!
 
Fly out!”

The witch reached into the pot and started pulling something out.
 
It was the limp form of my friend.
 
She held him up by his little body.
 

I started to sob.
 
“You
killed
him!
 
You horrible awful bitch!
 
You complete
asshole!
 
Why did you do that
?!
 
He’s a
nice
pixie you fucking
hag!”

The witch was completely unaffected by my insults and runaway emotions.
 
She held Tim up to the light, examining him from all sides.
 
I was horrified at her casualness in the face of this murder and mayhem.

“Put him
down!
 
You don’t deserve to touch him!
 
He is one hundred times the fae you are!”

Through my anger I began to feel something.
 
It was The Green – connecting with me through my pain.

“That’s it, you heartless bitch.
 
Now you’re gonna be sorry.”

I used the pain and anger I was feeling and channeled it directly into The Green.
 
I felt the wave of energy coming to my aid.
 
It was roaring through the channel I had created.
 
This was something I had never felt before.
 
It was
more raw
.
 
More sharp.
 
More everything.
 
I didn’t care at this point if I went up in flames too.
 
I had lost my friend Tony, knocked out my friend Chase, and now my little friend Tim had been murdered in front of my eyes by a callous bitch and her evil wooden spoon.
 
She was going to pay ... ”

The witch looked over at me and began speaking.
 
I was two seconds away from blasting her to the Underworld where she belonged when her words began to sink in.

“Girl.
 
He is not dead.
 
I have merely made his wing removal less painful for him.
 
Power down or you will miss all the fun.”
 
She looked at the floor by my feet.
 
“You’re standing over a ley line right now, you know.”

What?
 
“You’re lying.”
 
He had to be dead.

“No.
 
I don’t lie.
 
I despise lying.”

For some reason, I believed her then.
 
Even Tim had told me she didn’t like lies.
 
I held off sending The Green into her ugly, haggy face; but it stayed with me.
 
I wasn’t ready to let it go.
 
The withheld energy was making my skin tingle all over and the pent up energy made me giddy.
 
Either I was going to have to blast the shit out of her soon or let this link go; I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it.

“You’d better hurry the hell up if you don’t want me turning you into dust, old woman.”
 
It was partially an idle threat, since I didn’t know if I was even capable of doing that, but it sounded good.

She opened up one of the jars on her table.
 
From inside she took a pinch of some powder.
 
This she carefully sprinkled over one of Tim’s wings.
 
I watch as the wing wrinkled up a little bit and then fell off.
 
She caught it with the lid of the jar, gently placing it down on the table.
 
She whispered to herself, “Beautiful green wing.
 
Green, green, green ... every good brew must have something green ... ”

Then she shuffled over and held Tim’s limp body out to me.
 
“Power down before you hurt yourself, girl.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding, putting out my hand to take my friend Tim from her.
 
I let go of The Green, thanking it for being there with me.
 
It slowly receded, leaving me feeling a little bit emptied.

She put Tim in my hand and said, “Sit!” in a demanding voice, pointing to a chair off in the corner.
 
I looked down and noticed my feet were no longer rooted to the floor.
 
They looked normal again.

I pulled up the bottom of my tunic to make a sling, laying Tim gently inside.
 
I walked carefully over to the chair, making sure to jostle him as little as possible.
 
My throat was hurting from the pain of unshed tears.
 
He looked so pitiful in there, with just one wing and a shriveled up stump next to it.
 
I sat down with him cradled in my lap.

“Shit,” was all I could say.
 
I was so sad.
 
Why did this have to happen?
 
Why were witches so mean?

“The most powerful spells require the most powerful sacrifices.”

“You needed something this big to heal my other friend?”

“The wing?
 
No.
 
That is for something else.
 
Your friend’s problem is simple to solve, as is your hearing problem.”

I looked at her, my mouth hanging open in shocked anger.
 
“That is so unfair!”

She frowned.
 
“Not at all.
 
You made the bargain.”

“You named the terms.
 
They weren’t negotiable.”

She smiled at me, flashing me those witchy bitchy teeth of hers.
 
“Everything is negotiable, my dear.
 
Everything.
 
Don’t forget that.”
 
Then she laughed maniacally, her eyes glinting with madness.
 

Even my sadness didn’t stop the trickle of fear I felt in that moment.
 
This witch was certifiably crazy.
 
I needed to get the hell out of there, with or without the secret brew for Chase.
 

I was eyeing the door, trying to figure out how fast I could move without hurting Tim anymore than he was already hurt, when she started speaking again.

“Here you are.
 
Two potions for one pixie wing.”
 
She held up a small blue jar and a leaf.

I looked at her suspiciously, not moving.
 
I was still considering making a break for it.

“Come.
 
Don’t be shy.
 
Your friend paid dearly for these things.
 
You don’t want him to wake up and find out that you left them behind, do you?”

She was right, the horrible bitch.
 
I stood cautiously.
 
“What do I have to do with them?”

“The brew?
 
Bring it to the witches who are caring for your friend. They will know what to do with it.
 
Tell them Maggie sent it.”

I walked over and took it from her while keeping my eyes on her the entire time.
 
No way was I going to totally trust a hag that turned my feet into roots and whacked my friend in the head with a spoon.
 
I hoped like hell the witches in the compound could test this brew before they dosed Chase with it.

She held up the leaf.
 
“Eat this.
 
Swallow all of it.”

“Why?
 
What is it?
 
What will it do?”

“It is a laurel leaf dipped in an oil extract of mullein and ... some other things.
 
After its digestion, you will be able to hear the voice of your pixie friend and the voices of other smaller fae as well.”
 
She leaned in closer to me and dropped her voice.
 
“Be sure this is something you really want to do, before you commit.
 
Once the leaf is eaten, there is no turning back.”
 
Then she laughed her ass off over some private joke I probably didn’t want to know the punch line of.
 

I took the leaf from her and looked down at my friend.
 
He was lying there, still passed out from his wooden spoon concussion.
 
I only thought about it for one second before I popped the leaf into my mouth and started chewing.
 
He had made this sacrifice for me; I wanted to be able to hear whatever it was he wanted to say to me, from now until the day he flew out of my life.

“Fuck
balls
, this shit tastes horrible!”
 
I stuck my tongue out, broken pieces of bitter, burning leaf stuck to it.

“Eat it all, and swallow it too, or its effects will be ... unpredictable.”

I chewed, trying hard not to gag.
 
I’d never tasted anything so bad in my entire life.
 
It was like licking a car battery and the bottom of a dirty broom at the same time.
 
Yeah, it was
that
bad.

I swallowed with effort, pieces of the leaf still floating around my mouth, sticking to the sides and back of my throat.
 
I think I would have sacrificed Tim’s other wing for a soda right then if someone had offered.

I moved towards the door, still chewing and making horrible faces that reflected the taste sensations going on in my mouth.
 
I held the bottom of my tunic up gingerly, trying to make sure my pixie sling didn’t move too much.
 

“Well, thank you for ...
ack
!
...
everything
.
 
I’m going to try to remember to be grateful to you, even though right now I hate your bloody guts.”

The witch smiled.
 
“I just adore your honesty.
 
Come back and visit me again!
 
Bring another of the wee folk.
 
I can always find a use for their wings or toes or horns or eyeballs ... ”

I stared at her in horror.
 
“You’re nuts, you know that?”

She shrugged.
 
“I’ve heard worse.”

I walked out the door, but remembered I’d forgotten something.
 
I turned to ask her the question.
 
“Hey, you said you felt me on the ley lines.”

“Yes.
 
I did.”

“Can I do that?
 
Feel other fae on the lines?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Do you think ... ” my mouth was moving too fast for my head to catch up.
 
I almost asked her if we could spend some time training together.
 
Was I nuts?
 
“Never mind.
 
Goodbye.”

“What?
 
What were you going to say?
 
The truth, girl!
 
Tell me!”

“I was going to ask if you thought we could train a little together, but then I decided that was a bad idea because you’re a fucking nut case.
 
And that’s the truth.”

The witch smiled, totally unoffended by my insult.
 
“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

I laughed nervously.
 
“Actually, I don’t.
 
I followed the pixie here.
 
I have no idea where I am.”

“You are in the Dark Forest.”

“The ... Dark Forest?”

“Yes.”

“And who exactly lives in the Dark Forest?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Why the Dark Fae of course.”

“Holy
shit!”
 
I jumped from the doorway and started jogging away from her, back in the direction I had come.
 
I shouted over my shoulder, breathless with nervousness and fear, “I have to go now.
 
See you later!”
 
Like in a hundred years
, I muttered under my breath.

I talked to my unconscious friend while I ran, picturing the door at our compound as hard as I could.
 
“I cannot
believe
you brought me into the Dark Forest.
 
Are you
nuts?
 
What if they catch me out here?
 
What if I get lost?”