Legend 4 - Free Falling (17 page)

“I have had the opportunity to observe him. Danté, he is a demon … and has no doubt thought to find a place in the New Order Gais must have promised him. He has connections to the MacClenny couple, as they use his bank for their little bed-and-breakfast business … it all fits.”

“Huh,” escaped my lips before I could stop it. I was as much surprised that the queen had observed all this as I was to learn that Mr. Jaffrey was a demon. I had often seen him about town and never suspected. What was wrong with me?

As though reading my mind the queen said, “You couldn’t have known. He wasn’t born a demon. He created himself as one when he murdered his wife and fed her to the pit at the MacClenny toolshed without their knowledge. His is but a very small power … a great deal of show without substance. He is of no consequence—however, he has an artifact that belongs to us. I want it returned.”

“Wow!” I forgot myself again. Everyone in town had talked about Banker Jaffrey’s poor missing wife and what could have happened to her. This was unbelievable. Jaffrey was a demon? I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “You mean, like a ‘from hell’ demon?”

The queen smiled fondly at me. “Yes, like a ‘from hell’ demon.” She moved away and said over her shoulder, “I have called Ete here to escort Radzia back and stay with her until you are recovered.”

I watched her as she glided in that graceful ‘floating’ style all her own. She moved up close to Danté, and I wondered what she was doing.

I saw her just barely touch his cheek as she whispered something I could not quite hear (I am certain because she did not wish it to be heard), and I felt my eyes widen as I saw Danté’s eyelids droop.

The queen lifted her hand, and he floated towards his bed where he was laid, now totally asleep.

Aaibhe smiled as she turned to me. “Danté and Breslyn both learned the knack of getting past most of my spells, so this will not last long … but at least the time will give him a chance to recover what he lost when he healed the human.”

I stared at Danté for a long moment, not sure I liked the situation and absolutely positive there would be holy hell to pay when he woke up. However, thankfully I wouldn’t be the one doing the paying … and I doubted he could get even an apology from the queen. Oh … he was going to be angry.

The atmosphere jiggled, and I turned to find a newcomer in Danté’s room. I recognized the diminutive Fae immediately. Things seemed to be moving along quickly, just like I liked it. Action, not talk. Aaibhe smiled fondly at the Fae she held her hands out for and said, “Ah, Ete.”

Ete was a gentle beauty whose long auburn hair reached her waist. She had a winning smile and cast her lovely eyes about, taking in the situation immediately. “Oh my Queen … he will not be pleased when he awakes.”

The queen’s eyes glittered appreciatively. “No, he will not, but one must pay for displeasing one’s queen.” She added with an inclination of her lovely head, “Ete, you know what to do … and I trust you will make certain our little Daoine … will be able to fulfill the prophecy.”

During the queen’s and Ete’s short conversation, I had a moment to look at Breslyn’s mate. She was about my height—which was quite petite for a Fae—only five-foot-four, and dressed in a blue tank top, jeans, and sneakers, obviously already in human Glamour. She walked over, took my hand, and gave it a squeeze. “We are going to be great friends—you and I.”

And without another word we shifted. As we stepped out of the shifted atmosphere I was surprised to see that Ete had delivered us to the front steps of the bank. People passed by, but if they noticed our unorthodox arrival, they gave no sign of having done so.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“Well, I thought we could safely go in and visit with our banker demon and get a ‘lay of the land’ so to speak. We should know him first before we try and question and then contain him, don’t you think?”

Oh, I liked this Ete a whole lot. “Yes, I do. Come on … and then later you can tell me about this prophecy thing.”

“Do you mean Danté did not tell you?” she returned in some surprise.

“That is exactly what I mean, and since I seem to be a part of it, I think I should know about its contents, right?”

“Oh absolutely right.” Ete beamed as she looked at me, and oh yeah, I liked her a whole lot!

* * *

Mr. Jaffrey sat behind his desk and looked like an ordinary kind of guy. He wore his graying hair neatly parted and combed. His face was thin and lined, and his eyes cool and brown. His lips were thin, and his smile perfunctory. He’d never meant much to me on the few occasions I had seen him about, but now I had decided he was a weasel.

Ete and I walked into his office, and since I didn’t have a real clue what we were actually doing there, I took my cue from my Daoine friend.

She eyed him, and her smile and the tenor of her voice was sweet, but the words that came out of her mouth would have made me choke had I been drinking something. I wasn’t drinking something, and I still choked.

“Mr. Jaffrey … we know, so it will be useless to deny it. We know what you are … and what you have been doing.”

Jaffrey got to his feet and assumed outrage. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Is there a threat in there, young lady?”

“Oh …” said Ete sweetly. “We aren’t threatening you … yet. Do sit down before you create a scene I am certain will not end well for you.”

He sat tentatively, eyeing us warily and biting his bottom lip. “Who are you—what do you want from me?”

“It doesn’t matter who we are … or what we might be. What matters, or should matter for you, is … are you going to come out of this whole?”

“Now, that was a threat!” he snapped.

“Not at all—I simply posed a question to you. So tell me, do you think you can survive this thing that you have involved your coven in?”

“My coven?” His voice was scarcely a whisper. He narrowed his eyes. “I knew joining those idiots would lead to trouble. I knew it. I will withdraw … they are all going to scatter anyway.”

Ete and I glanced at each other. I knew what she was thinking because I was thinking the same thing. What did he mean join? Wasn’t he the leader? Or was he just trying to be clever? He didn’t seem very clever—demons rarely were.

“Scatter? But they haven’t yet, have they?” Ete pursued.

“No, damn fools—I told them the night that we were seen … but …” He leveled a stare at Ete. “How do you know any of this?”

“How indeed—we know that and more, so much more. Our Trackers are gathering up the remaining coven even as we speak …”

This surprised me for only a moment, and then, of course, it made sense. The queen would have dispatched her Trackers to gather up the people on the list Danté had presented her.

“Me … are they coming for me?” He was back on his feet, and this time he was heading for the door. When he reached it, he found it locked. He turned, and his eyes were beginning to enlarge and turn a strange shade of yellow. His face was changing into a lizard skin, and he moved to pull down the Venetian blinds before he stood to hoarsely spit at us, “Do you think you can take me? DO you …? Look at me—I am might and magic …”

Ete laughed. “You are a reptile and a turd … and we—we are Daoine princesses.” She took my hand, and we were engulfed in gold mist. She offered sweetly, “You have one chance to survive this exchange, demon … tell me who the leader of the coven is, and tell me now without further nonsense.”

The demon licked his lips with his lizard forked tongue and said, “I don’t know … I tried to find out, but he was shielded … we weren’t able to see past his shield.”

Ete sighed and asked me softly, “Shall we send him to our queen so that she may decide what to do with him, or shall we kill him now?”

“Oh, that’s right … he isn’t human. We can kill him without breaking the Treaty.” I smiled sweetly at Jaffrey, who was changing back into human form.

“No … no … I told you all I know,” he pleaded.

“I think he is telling us the truth, Z.”

“Then shall we send him to Tir—to the queen? We might as well. Best get him out of the way where he can do no more harm, and Aaibhe might want to question him further, before deciding his fate,” I suggested.

Ete laughed and said, “My dear friend Aida will love you.” She flicked her wrist, and the demon was gone. A moment later, so were we.

I had no idea where she had shifted us to so I blinked and tried to make sense of my surroundings. We were in a house of Georgian style, and the interior was exquisitely decorated with antiques and furniture of the 1800s. I looked at Ete and whispered, “Where are we?”

“This is Jaffrey’s house,” Ete said softly. “Queen Aaibhe told us he has our Seelie artifact, so this is the logical place to look. This artifact is from the queen’s matriarchal line, and how they came to be in his hands is a mystery.” Ete sighed and added, “No doubt when we scattered our Hallows and artifacts all over the earth to keep them out of the Milesians’ hands, we erred. I am only happy that Jaffrey didn’t realize what such an artifact could do—you see, it is a Sacred Seelie Hallow.”

I felt my eyebrows rise. I had never seen a Hallow, although both my parents had mentioned them often during my early cultural training. “What does this one do?”

“There is the rub. Our Hallows take on a life of their own and very often evolve beyond their original purpose. All I know is the queen wants it back and is certain it is here … somewhere. Another problem we have is that we cannot sense our own Hallows, so we have to take our time and search it out. Trevor, Danté’s brother, is on another mission—otherwise we could have called him in to help.”

“What did Jaffrey want with it, if he didn’t know how to use it?”

“He probably collected it for its beauty … for the feel of the magic pulsating inside it. Being a demon, he would have been drawn to it once he encountered it. Our Hallows and artifacts have a habit of turning up in all sorts of shops.”

“Ete … if he isn’t the coven’s warlock leader, and I don’t think that he is … then, if he told the coven leader about the Hallow …”

“Precisely why we are here—I don’t think he’s turned it over yet, but no doubt he bragged about it to the warlock. Once it is noticed that Jaffrey is missing, the coven leader might search for it.”

I cut her off with a finger to my lips. Someone was in the house. I was certain of it. I had heard a movement coming from upstairs. We exchanged glances, and she took my hand as we shifted to the second floor.

~ Sixteen ~

DARK FAE OF various hideous shapes and sizes met our gaze—all of them grumbling in ancient gibberish while they stomped and slithered over the oak wood floor. I tried to listen in to what they were saying, but I didn’t think it was Danu—it sounded like some kind of monster speak!

However, judging from the way Ete motioned for me to be still so she could hear what they were saying, I figured she did understand their strange language. I would have to ask her about that later.

“It is an abomination of Danu … and they have a strange dialect,” she whispered to me. I nodded and waited.

Luckily (or maybe it was Ete’s smarts), she had shifted us just opposite the room they occupied, which was large, open, and of all things, a billiard room. We were hidden behind the door to what was apparently the master suite.

We took turns peeking and were able to see them moving about (it sure wasn’t walking); they all seemed more than a little agitated.

“They are tired of waiting … they want to go out onto the streets of MacDaun and feed … but apparently they have to wait here,” Ete whispered.

“I wonder why?”

She shook her head, and we returned to studying their movements. We could see one of the grotesque beings holding what was obvious even to my inexperienced eye a Seelie Hallow. We Seelie Fae couldn’t find them easily when they were hidden, but when they were visible, there was no mistaking what they were…

Bam—first problem shoved its face in front of ours. The uglies didn’t have just one Hallow in their possession—they had two!

“This is beyond horrible, Z—they have two of our Hallows! We cannot allow them to deliver them to Gais, which means we can’t just signal and wait for Nuad and the Trackers to arrive.”

“Right—I have an idea.” I reached up in the air for my sword, and it appeared almost immediately. “Let’s go get our Hallows.”

She yanked me back as I went forward. “Z, if they can shift, they will scurry out of here with the Hallows as soon as you go in.”

“Then, we’ll take them by surprise. We shift in, grab the artifacts, shift out—no fuss, no bother!”

“Tricky,” Ete said.

“Listen to me, Ete … I am going to shift into the face of the one holding the artifact that looks like a disc. I can see another one holding the other artifact right behind him. In we go, back to back—in and then just as quickly out—to Tir … one fluid movement. These are Dark Fae, clumsy, slow-moving, and I have learned these lower castes
can’t think quickly
.”

“Right then, as you say. In and out—one fluid movement,” Ete repeated. “Because we must …”

“That’s right. After we get the Hallows back to our queen, we can come looking for these beasts and finish them off. Agreed?”

“Brilliant … but still a bit tricky.”

“Tricky how?”

“It doesn’t leave room for the unexpected, and Z … I am worried about the unexpected.”

“What unexpected—how could there be an unexpected?”

“There always is …” Ete said on a sigh.

“Come on now—in and then out.”

So just like that and without further ado, we shifted in, and as it happened we were in place perfectly—back to back.

I had my sword pointedly lethally at the grotesque and drooling lizard holding the disc. Ete had her sword in hand and ready.

She managed to get her artifact into her hands almost at once. I hadn’t thought her capable of quick thrust and kill (she was so sweet), but she immediately sliced the damned Dark Fae in half just before she called to me, “Hurry, Z …
shift now!”

As it turned out, Ete was correct. The unexpected chose that moment to happen.

I had the Seelie disc in my hands and was just about to shift out when one of the Dark Fae ferociously rushed at me and made a grab for it.

I held tight and kicked him in what I think was his gut, and eww, it was gooshy! Just then another one made a grab for me or it, I was not sure, and I turned my sword on him while still balancing the disc with one hand.

He grabbed at my sleeve, and I sliced his head in half. Oh damn … more goo …

Time to shift out before another one grabbed hold of me, because now, they were all rushing me at once and my hands were full.

I blinked, and nothing happened. I tried again (blinking didn’t cause the shifting to actually operate—it was just a hard habit from childhood). One of them had my arm, and I thought I would just shift us both to Tir, but …

My shift gear still wasn’t working. My shifting switch was out of order! What the heck?

And Ete was gone … I was supposed to be right behind her. I had the artifact, but something was pinning me in place. It was as though I were glued to the hardwood floor under my sneakered feet.

And then I saw what the problem was. It was all around me, some kind of gold netting, not unlike the one Nuad, our chief Tracker, used to hold a Fae in place and keep a Fae prisoner from shifting off. It had created a prison all around me.

How could a Dark Fae have it? Only Nuad and his Trackers were privy to this Seelie weapon. Nuad couldn’t be the traitor … he just couldn’t be!

Stunned silent, I couldn’t even scream after her, and then I saw him coming towards me. He wore a black hooded robe, and I knew in my heart, here was the coven leader—here was the warlock we had been looking for …

* * *

I felt the sleep the queen spelled me with try to hold me down. I felt it envelop me, and for a moment, only a moment, I began to slip away …

However, a part of my brain that I had schooled long ago against such spells, even from the queen, was wide awake and shouting out …

A growl ripped through my gut, up my throat, and out of my mouth. I tore myself from the damnable spell and shook it off as though it were a featherweight sheet.

I am Danté, a royal prince and faithful to her service. I have lived through the best and worst times on Danu. I have attended her all these thousands of years, and this treatment was uncalled for!

I knew her intentions were to speed up my recovery,
but not now
 … now when I needed to guard and protect my
enfant!

She should have known better than to think she could keep me in a restful state against my will for too long. She should have …

Wait—something was wrong—I felt it in the atmosphere …

Jumping to my feet, I felt as though a steel ball had just slammed me in the gut. My
enfant!
“Z …” I breathed out loud.

A bond had formed between Radzia and me. When she was overly anxious, I felt it—when she was angry … or …

Her fear
charged through me, and its tentacles took hold of my conscious mind. She was in trouble!

I scouted her out in my head and got her last coordinates. I shifted there only to find myself in a large billiard room full of Dark Fae jabbering at one another.

They were stunned at first, which gave me the opportunity to call for my death weapon just as they stupidly attacked me. I made short work of them, but it was obvious that while my Z had been here, she was no longer.

Where was she? I went into my mind to feel for her, but she was no longer there …

Impossible … and then I realized she had to be unconscious! Something or someone had her and had put her under somehow … perhaps with drugs. More fool he—the drugs would wear off faster than the villain could know.

In the meantime, I was helpless to find her. She could be anywhere!

I felt the frustration bubble from my insides and travel through my veins. I needed release. I raised my fists, and the primal call was thunderous as it exploded into a roar, “I’m coming,
enfant
 …
I will find you
.”

I had to calm down, but my enraged blood was tearing through my brain and demanding action.

Yes, action, but I told myself I had to be practical; my action had to stem from logic. I had to exert control. I swept my hands over the room, for I was a Royal with many abilities and the art of scrying was one of them and available to me, but on a limited line. I could feel her essence and another’s—ah, Ete’s essence—all around me. They had been here and in battle.

They had fought the Dark Fae. Ete … had taken something … one of the Hallows, and she had shifted out, but something had pinned my Z in place there … right there.

I strode over hard, and as the scent of a human—not quite human—came to my nostrils, I felt the sneer pinch my upper lip. I was beyond angry. Someone had dared to touch my
enfant
,
and I would kill him with my own two hands … human or no!

And now I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who this human was.

Ete and Z had been separated because there had been two Hallows, and each of them had gone after one! Z had held onto hers and fought with her sword … but he had managed to capture her.
How?
And where did he have her hidden?

I had his scent and had already realized, when I singled it out in my memory, just who this player was. He was the coven leader … he was potent, and I knew where the damned warlock resided!

* * *

I called to Danté in my head, but I knew that two things would keep him from hearing me. One, he was under the queen’s sleeping spell. And, two, I was caught within the gold Wiele, the netting of the Trackers, which would keep me from getting through to him. The Wiele was like a soundproof prison; while it didn’t actually touch me as a normal net would, it created a prison wall all around me!

I was in a temporary jam. Yup … had to think. Where was the creep taking me? Who was the creep? And why did his scent seem so familiar?

He had stuffed me into the back of his dark van, and I was sure I had never seen this particular van around town. Who could it belong to?

I had two aces in my pocket, well, not quite in my pocket, but in my hands. I had both my sword and the Seelie Hallow. He couldn’t get at either without lifting the netting prison that held me.

Ha!
Okay, work on that one
, I told myself. Hmmm. First, send the sword where he couldn’t have at it and surprise him later with it. Would my sword be able to get through the netting? I silently sent it off, and, yes, oh yes, it got through, whispering my name to me softly as it left.

Okay, one plan executed. Now, the other. I ran my hand over the Seelie Hallow, and damn if it didn’t throb to my touch as though it were alive. Could it communicate? My mother had said that some Seelie artifacts had the ability to communicate with us.

“Okay, disc … can you tell me what you do?”

“Many things, Daoine Princess.”

“Wow—how did you know I was a princess?”

“Does it matter?”

I thought about it, and although it did matter to me, other things mattered more. “Right, okay …” I continued to whisper.

“The human cannot hear us … you are within the shield of Nuad … and I can only be heard by a Seelie Fae.”

“Right, so does that mean he can’t use you either?”

“No—very few can actually use me, and then only if I allow.”

“What about me? Is there something you can do to get me out of this gold netting? Can you help me shift out of the Wiele?”

“Not precisely, but I can help you.”

“What does that mean? Not precisely?”

“I can shift you with the Wiele still intact.”

“Okay—that’ll work. Shift me to the queen.”

“Would that I could, Daoine Princess. I can only shift you short distances while you are in the Wiele.”

“Fine, disc … would you honor me and shift me out of this van?” My mom had always taught me to be polite to our Seelie Hallows.

“Ah, a true princess—as you wish.”

No sooner had the Hallow agreed to shift me than we had done just that. I landed with a thud and a bump and a big “Ouch!”

I looked around. We were in the middle of a field. “Where are we, Hallow?”

“I don’t know,” it answered in that sweet voice.

“Hmm … okay, I can’t just keep calling you Hallow. Do you have a name?”

“The Dark King called me Rolo.”

“The Dark King … the Dark King? I don’t understand how that could be! You don’t seem evil … are you evil?”

“No, I don’t think so. Why would you think that, Princess?”

“Well … isn’t the Dark King evil, and didn’t he make a lot of evil things?”

“No, he is not evil, but, yes, many evil things were created in error … his many errors in the early days of his self-confinement, but I am not one of those things. I was his when we lived in Danu.”

“What did he use you for?”

“He did not quite use me—we were friends, and I awarded him … things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Most importantly, I awarded him a glimpse into another universe … a universe that Fae may not shift into, but one in which I can send whomever I please. Would you like to go there when we are out of this situation?”