| |
––––––––
Scotland
––––––––
RUDY MADE THE SHORT hop from Gorm’s house in the woods to the closest portal that led to the Seelie realm. “You called?” he said to the stunning warrior who stood near the magical doorway. Emelia was wearing a silver dress rather than her usual armor. She looked far more feminine than he was used to in that outfit.
“Thank you for coming,” she said politely, but in a cold and distant tone.
“Where’s Jake?” the leprechaun asked, looking around for his friend, but knowing he wasn’t here. He would have sensed him if he had been.
“Jake Everett is still imprisoned in the goblin dungeon,” she replied. “If you take me to the rest of your team, I will explain why I am here.”
“Are you all right, lass?” he asked. She seemed different and he wondered what sort of hardships she’d endured at the hands of Sindarian and his men.
“I’m fine,” she said woodenly.
With a click of his fingers, he teleported them both to Gorm’s house. Pru, Harley and Leroy gaped at the fae warrior when she suddenly appeared before them. She wasn’t much taller than Asha and had jet black hair and dark blue eyes. All fairies were beautiful, yet she surpassed most of them. “I am Emelia,” she said in introduction. “The Seer sent me here to assist you.”
“Assist us with what?” Pru asked. She had her suspicions, but she wanted the fairy to confirm them.
“To rescue the dryad and to thwart the gorgon’s evil plans.”
“What the hell is a gorgon?” Leroy asked at the same time as Rudy had a revelation.
“Sheridan Harwood is a gorgon?” the little man said. “I thought they were extinct.”
“Hello?” Leroy said, waving his hand to get their attention. “Can someone tell me what a gorgon is?”
“Have you ever heard of Medusa?” Harley asked in a disturbed tone.
“Everyone’s heard of her,” the phantom replied, then his eyes went wide. “You mean the Master Archivist can turn into a freaky kind of reptile thing with snakes for hair and can turn people to stone with one look?”
“It explains the stone statues you saw in her dungeon,” the kid replied. “I’m Harley Reid, by the way,” he said to their newest team member.
“I’m Pru Weaver,” the witch said next.
“I’m Leroy Lacrosse,” the spirit said, grinning to show his gold eyetooth. “I’m the baddest ghostly mahfa who ever haunted the Earth.”
“You’re the one I saw in my vision,” Pru said. She’d sensed pain, shame, rage and hatred in the new arrival, but she hadn’t seen who would be helping them rescue Asha. Something bad had happened to the warrior. Something that had changed her on a fundamental level.
“What happened in the goblin dungeon?” Rudy asked. “How did you manage to get out, but Jake is still stuck there?”
Emelia settled on the couch next to Pru while Harley took the armchair Jake usually sat on. Rudy plonked down on the small chair. “All magic is suppressed in the goblin dungeon,” Emelia explained. “Jake was momentarily able to use magic due to a necklace his father gave him. He called on the blue gem and used it to send his allies back to the Seelie realm.”
“His father?” Pru exclaimed. “Jake met his Dad?”
“Who is he?” Rudy asked, squirming forward so he was sitting on the edge of his seat. He knew the fairy had to be high up in the Unseelie hierarchy.
“He is Lord Nicolaia,” Emelia replied. “One of the advisors to the Dark Prince.”
“I have so many questions,” Leroy said, shaking his head in bafflement at this turn of events. “Why didn’t the boss honky use the gem to get himself out? Who are the allies he saved? Why did his father give him the necklace?”
Sighing wearily, Emelia saw the beverages they all had sitting in front of them. “Would it be possible for me to have some of that?” she asked. A moment later, a mug full of the same liquid appeared on the coffee table in front of her. “You have a brownie?” she asked, looking around for the being who was responsible for providing the drink.
“His name is Tomlin,” Harley told her. “Gorm was his master before he passed away.”
“You have my thanks, Tomlin,” the fairy said politely, then took a sip of the substance she knew was called coffee. It tasted like a much weaker version of a beverage they had in her realm, but she figured it would grow on her. She told the small group everything that had happened in the goblin dungeon, including how Jake’s wings had manifested and how he’d obtained a dragon scale.
“Trust Jake to befriend a dragon,” Rudy said proudly. “I’m glad he managed to save the beast. I just hope the dragon can recover from its eons of imprisonment.”
“You still haven’t told us why Jake didn’t leave the dungeon with you,” Leroy pointed out impatiently.
“The Seer had a vision,” the warrior told him. “She saw what would happen if Jake left the dungeon. He would have been killed by Prince Sindarian and the Finlarc sorcerers would have invaded Earth. A war would have broken out between them and the gorgon. This Sheridan Harwood plans to take control of your world herself. She would have pitted the humans that she has hypnotized against them. Ultimately, the Finlarc army would have won and then they would have aided the Dark Prince to invade other realms, as per their bargain.”
“Who or what are the Finlarc warriors exactly?” Pru asked.
“They are gigantic purple beings with six arms who wield magic staffs.”
“So, Sindarian is still going to go ahead with his plans to attack the humans?” Rudy asked. “I thought he only planned to invade this world to wipe out humans before the prophecy could be fulfilled. Why is he continuing now that he has identified Jake as his nemesis?”
“The Dark Prince made a pact with the leader of the Finlarc army,” Emelia explained. “He has no choice but to proceed with the plan. Now that the dragon portal has been destroyed, they can only use the goblin doorway, which is far less stable.”
“How is Jake going to kill the Dark Prince and stop the invasion to Earth if he’s locked up in the dungeon?” Harley asked. None of this made any sense to him.
“Jake won’t be the one who will kill Sindarian,” Emelia replied. “He will merely be the conduit that will bring the Dark Prince together with his greatest enemy. They must both escape from King Lod’s labyrinth for their quest to succeed.”
“I’m dead, yet I’m getting a headache,” Leroy complained, rubbing his temple. “How long will our boss be imprisoned?”
Emelia lifted one shoulder in a weary shrug. “The Seer doesn’t know. She only knows that Jake must lose all traces of his Seelie and human compassion and empathy. Only when he has embraced his darkness completely will he be able to leave his prison.”
“Is there nothing we can do?” Pru asked helplessly. The warrior had explained that time moved differently in the goblin dungeon. Hours here felt like days to the captives. The longer Jake spent there, the darker his soul would become.
“We can fulfil our part in the quest,” the fairy told her. “We must locate the dryad and free her. Our mission will be to find a way to defeat the gorgon. Their kind can usually only be killed by reflecting their own gaze back at them in a mirror. The Seer saw enchantments around the gorgon that prevent this from happening. Breaking the enchantment and turning her to stone the same way Medusa died is the only way to stop her.”
“Is she really all that dangerous?” Harley asked skeptically.
“Yes,” Emelia said simply. “This Master Archivist, as she calls herself, is allied with Prince Sindarian. His Finlarc allies are sending the fae creatures and beings to this world where they are more vulnerable. The gorgon’s minions have been tasked with destroying them when they can and imprisoning them and stripping them of their magic if they are immortal.”
“Why are they killing the fae?” Rudy asked in dismay at how far-reaching the Dark Prince’s plans were.
“So he doesn’t have any competition,” Pru guessed. “He probably wants to rule all realms and he doesn’t want there to be anyone strong enough left to stop him.”
“Sindarian can never rule both fae realms as he desires, so he will settle for ruling where he can,” Emelia confirmed.
“What do the Finlarc sorcerers get out of this deal?” Rudy asked shrewdly.
“They get to inhabit this planet,” she replied. “It is similar to their world, which is dying from what the Seer saw in her vision. They need a new planet to move to within the next few hundred years, or they will all perish.”
“That’s horrible and everything,” Leroy said. “But that’s out of our control. It sounds like something Jake will have to deal with when he breaks free from the goblin dungeon. We should focus on rescuing Asha before something bad happens to her.”
“Yes,” Emelia agreed with shadows in her eyes. “We must free the dryad. She will be instrumental in securing the future of the fae realms.”
“So, she really will have to leave Earth?” Harley asked sadly. Asha was like a little sister to him and he didn’t want her to leave.
“That is her destiny,” the warrior replied, but her expression told them she wasn’t going to explain further. “Have you located where she is being kept yet?” she asked.
“We know the rough area where she is, but Pru seems to think it isn’t going to be easy to get to her,” Rudy replied.
Tomlin whipped up a huge plate of cookies as they examined the map of Texas and tried to come up with a plan.
