Allegiance, page 9
‘Why are you doing this?’ I whispered.
‘I have a task for you. But before we go further, you need to understand this. Nobody dictates the affairs of my kingdom to me. I do not care for the judgement of ten assemblies, nor do I care who you are betrothed to. I have decided that Leif may have you—if you can manage to behave yourself. But your mother still does not win. Has she not a son lost in the human world?’
A lump came to my throat. My brother—the twin I hadn’t even had a chance to know—would languish on Earth somewhere, sick and suffering and aging, while I would be allowed to make a life in Faera. And who knew what fate had befallen my birth parents? Tears began to leak from my eyes.
‘When you arrive at the castle,’ the king said, ignoring them, ‘Stay away from me. You are a constant reminder of all I wish to forget. And take care you never mention the names of your parents in my presence.’
Somehow I managed to remain standing when all I wanted to do was crumble.
‘Release your wings now, Marla, we need to be in Faera.’
I turned my back to him and removed my pyjama top, clutching it to my chest as I opened my wings and gave myself to the sun.
I thought the king would take me directly to the castle. Instead we arrived in a small courtyard outside a set of silver gates. While the guards standing on either side of them busied themselves bowing to their king, I pulled my top back on and glanced around. We seemed to be close to the peak of a mountain, smaller than the one King Telophy lived in, but formed from the same smooth white stone called willa. The mountain remained in its natural state, but the courtyard glittered with trapped rainbows where the rock had been cut.
I walked to the edge and peered over the side. Scattered down the mountainside all the way to the sparkling river below was a sea of flowers—shades of yellow and pink and white. Their nectar-sweet perfume rose into the air like mist, tickling my nose. I drew a deep breath, filling my lungs. As the fragrance came into me, the strangest thing happened—my anxiety slipped away, my muscles becoming loose and my mind, light. The sensation lingered before easing into a kind of vague feeling of wellbeing.
Drawing a few more deep breaths, I followed the dazzling blue ribbon of the river as it wove around the mountains before vanishing amongst the trees. I wondered if it met the lake at the base of King Telophy’s castle. I looked up and around, soon finding the king’s home rising above the forest, glorious and majestic, its multiple spires gleaming as white as snow. Even from this distance I imagined I could see the multi-coloured prisms buried inside, sparking into the lavender sky. Wondering if Leif was there, I called to him once more. Again, there was no answer. King Telophy called out to me and the guards heaved the gates open.
I went to the king and peered inside the gates. The cave-like space darkened a little towards the back, before narrowing into a passage. My blood rushed. ‘Where’s Leif?’ I whispered.
‘Doing my bidding,’ the king replied as he caught my wrist and took me inside. Fighting the urge to struggle, I went with him to the back of the cave where he released me with an instruction to follow. We entered the passage, which immediately began curving down into the mountain. Occasional sunstones lit the gathering dark, their reflected light turning the hewn walls around them to rainbow glitter. King Telophy explained we were within his kingdom’s prison, that he’d brought me here to speak with one of the prisoners—a woman called Arelle. The name was familiar, and when he informed me that sixteen years ago she’d made a changeling of a newborn baby, I recalled why. Leif had told me her story not long after we’d met—she’d left her toddler son in the care of a teenage girl called Maia. Tragically, the boy had fallen to his death from his home in the treetops. Several years later when Maia gave birth to a daughter, Arelle had made a changeling of the baby to avenge the death of her son.
As we made our way deep into the mountain, King Telophy told me that one of his guard had informed him Arelle seemed somewhat softened to the idea of revealing what had become of the changeling. ‘But until she informs my guard absolutely,’ he explained, ‘I will not reward her with my attention. She knows this. At present she is merely rambling.’
‘So why do you think she’ll tell me?’
‘You are experienced with the human world, are you not? You know first-hand the life Arelle condemned that child to.’
The same life he’d condemned me to. Something like nausea mixed with venom crept up my throat. How on Earth was I going to live under the same roof as this vile man? But I didn’t have time to think about it because he was explaining what I was to do—use whatever means I could to get Arelle to speak, and when I had the information, inform the guard who would notify him.
We arrived at a steep stairwell; so long the bottom of it vanished into darkness. I wondered what lay hidden in the black and hoped I wasn’t about to find out. We descended—the temperature dropping slightly—and arrived at a landing a short way down. An arched entry led to a passage on the left. The man standing guard inclined his head to King Telophy before following us into it. Soon we came to a series of small cells carved into the stone, each enclosed with a gate. As we passed, the prisoners within reached through the bars, crying of their eternal love for the king. He acknowledged each with a tender smile. The sight of it filled me with a kind of horrible awe—what a contradiction this man was.
We stopped outside a gate. King Telophy touched a finger to the sunstone embedded in the wall opposite and at once the light inside turned from dim to brilliant, shining brightness into the little cell. Through the bars, I could see a woman, curled into a ball on a bed of soft bark stuffed inside a hollowed log. She glanced up, blinking in response to the light and springing to her feet with a cry when she recognised the king. He instructed the guard to unlock the gate. When it was done, he took my elbow and moved me inside. Immediately the woman fell to the floor and began grovelling at the king’s feet. I felt sick all the way to the bottom of my stomach. Then, giving the prisoner no time to enjoy his presence and without another word, King Telophy left us alone. I moved to the corner, sat down and drew my legs up, burrowing my face into my knees.
Arelle’s curiosity got the better of her after a while. ‘What is your name?’ she asked. I looked up. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching me. Though the cell was lit with only the light from the single sunstone together with a deep slit that let more of the soothing flower-scented air than light in, I could see she wasn’t in great condition.
‘Marla,’ I told her.
‘I am Arelle,’ she said.
I nodded and glanced around the cell. There was little furniture, just a desk, a stool and a small cupboard. The walls were bare aside from a painting—man, woman and child.
‘You must be someone important to have been brought here by the king himself.’
I shrugged. ‘Not really.’
‘And filled with sun too…’ She tipped her head to the side. ‘How strange His Majesty allowed you to keep it.’ I had no idea why that should be strange but didn’t want to show my ignorance by asking. After a moment she added, ‘It has been a long time since I have known the sensation… It is cold down here and one becomes… weak—tired and weak.’ She watched me intently for a little while, then giving up all hinting, said, ‘Would you give me just a little?’
‘Is that even allowed?’
She crept over to sit beside me. Laying a frail hand on my arm, she said, ‘Who would know?’
King Telophy hadn’t told me not to, and it could only build trust between us, so I extended my hand. She clutched it inside both of hers and caught the sun I released. I watched her eyes roll up and felt uneasy as I listened to her sigh. After she’d taken more sun than was good for me, I pulled my hand away. I was weaker than before, but she looked like a different person.
‘Thank you,’ she said, retreating to her bed.
‘No problem, I guess.’ After a while, I gestured to the painting. ‘Cute little boy.’
‘Ellier… my son.’ She gazed at the image. ‘You know my story?’
‘I’ve heard a little.’ I looked at the floor.
‘And you don’t approve of my retribution?’
I glanced up and caught her eyes with mine. ‘I can’t imagine what you must have gone through, but… wasn’t it an accident?’
Arelle straightened and her voice was bitter when she said, ‘I asked Maia to keep my son safe but she allowed him to fall to his death.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I told her and a short while later, added, ‘But you can’t bring him back by hurting other people.’
Quietly she said, ‘I thought it would soothe me to know Maia suffered as I did.’
I watched her for a moment. ‘And has it?’ When she didn’t answer I continued, ‘It’s the child who suffers most not the mother.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘I chose a good home for Maia’s daughter.’
Her words were like a spark to a bonfire and at once I knew exactly why King Telophy had chosen me for this task. ‘I grew up on Earth, with the best family ever, but one way or another I’ve suffered every day of my life. My twin is still suffering there, and all because of some choice our birth mother made. I’m just like that Fae baby you condemned to the human world!’
Her eyes opened wide as the challenge dissolved from her features. ‘How have you suffered?’
‘Don’t you know what mortal Fae endure on Earth? You should have done some research before you inflicted it on that poor little baby.’
‘I know the Fae cannot reach immortality there.’
‘So you’ve sentenced that girl to death. But there are so many other problems apart from that. Mortal Fae have hardly any tolerance for the human world!’
‘I did not know…’
‘So you don’t know she’s allergic to just about everything? And that her lungs are so clogged that every breath she takes is an effort? Or that often her skin itches so badly she wishes she could tear it off?’
‘You can’t know all this,’ she whispered.
‘I can because I’ve lived it.’ I got up and closed the distance between us, stretching my arms out to her. She gasped at the sight of the rashes climbing up the undersides of my arms. I returned to the corner. ‘Arelle, if that girl has managed to survive you owe it to her to come clean. You’ve put her through sixteen years of hell.’
Arelle said nothing, so I continued. ‘Answer me honestly—has the pain you’ve inflicted made you feel even a little bit better?’
She lifted her head and looked at me, wiping the tears sliding down her cheeks as she admitted it hadn’t. After a moment she said, ‘My husband has been trying to convince me to confess.’
‘Why hasn’t he done it himself?’
‘He remembers nothing.’
‘My betrothed told me that when that girl loses her immortality, King Telophy will release you from prison but remove his allegiance from you both.’
‘We will be protected without it.’
I didn’t know how that was possible with everything Leif had told me of the Shadow Fae, but I only said, ‘Still, you have a long life ahead of you to regret what you’ve done.’
Arelle was silent for a long time and held a hand up to quiet me when I opened my mouth. I realised she’d been speaking to her husband telepathically when finally she said, ‘All right, Marla, my husband wishes my confession and it is a struggle to deny him in any case.’
She was saving face, but that was okay. Any way it came, I would take the information. I watched her, waiting.
Arelle looked to the ceiling and drew a long breath, releasing it slowly before beginning her explanation. ‘When Maia was acquitted of any wrongdoing in Ellier’s death, I was furious. So furious I was prepared to gamble with my soul to inflict my own justice on her. Win or lose, my suffering could only be eased.’
I had no idea what she was talking about but didn’t have time to ask because she carried on.
‘Elad did his best to help me come to terms with the ruling, but soon my anger had infected him also and before the day was out he agreed that Maia must pay for the death of our son. That night we retreated to the privacy of the forest floor to form a plan. In whispers we spoke, with only the light of a single sunstone to protect us. What we didn’t realise was that although we could not be heard by our Fae neighbours, others were listening and forming a plan of their own.
‘We were lost in the details, going over this point and that, making sure we had every step perfectly clear when something dark shot into the haven of light around us. There was a crashing sound and as we leapt to our feet the sunstone hurtled from between us, vanishing into the trees and plunging us into darkness. Before we had time to react a voice came from the forest. ‘Do not call your king. We mean you no harm.’ Then from amongst the trees crept the Shadow Fae. Clinging to Elad, I watched them come—one, two, three, four. Their bodies shone with just enough sun to see that although he was tall and well-formed, the fifth was younger. Unlike the others, he was strikingly beautiful, his hair dark as night and features fine and proud. But he was limping and weak, his blood carrying no more than a few drops of sun. We soon learnt that two nights before he’d come close to losing his life, victim to the blade of one of King Telophy’s guard.
“We would bargain with you,” one of the males said—a pallid streak with glowing eyes. “My grandson must live. Provide him with regular sun until he becomes immortal. After that, he will confuse the parents of this future infant you would dispose of.”
“We do not wish to dispose of the child,” Elad said, disgusted, “only make a changeling of it.”
“I know not what this means. Only feed my grandson in safety and he will do what you ask.”
‘Silently my betrothed and I scoffed at the offer. We knew the Shadow Fae were not capable of what they pledged. But rather than be attacked then and there we told the creatures if they saw us safely home we would consider the offer, and that if we agreed, meet them in the same place the following night. When they requested it, Elad allowed the boy to feed from him—as a sign of goodwill he told them, thinking they would take his sun in any case. The creature made a careful gash in Elad’s wrist with the diamond he wore around his neck and enjoyed his first ever session of unhurried feeding. As you know, the Shadow Fae must take our sun slowly or risk burning.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ I said, swallowing down my revulsion at the brand new pictures in my head.
‘Oh, yes, our blood cools the sun inside of us to a degree but still, the creatures must take care. But, allow me to go on…’
‘Of course,’ I told her.
‘We arrived home safely and spent the next hour or so discussing our encounter. The boy—Elad pointed out—looked different than the others; despite his injuries and lack of sun, not so gaunt. Not only that but he was taller and more pleasing to behold. Why was that? Perhaps there was something in the claim. If not why would the creatures think to make such an offer? We prayed it was so because there would be so little risk compared with the alternative. All we would need do to make a changeling of Maia’s infant would be swap the child with a human baby, have the boy confuse Maia and Armand, and afterwards, have him confuse us so the details were lost to us when and if the king questioned us.
‘The next night we made our bargain with the creatures.
‘We came to know this shadow boy well over the next year or so—became friends with him in fact. We learned his name was Mirresen and that he was indeed different from the others. One night Elad asked him the reason. He told us he had a special place amongst the Shadow Fae.’
‘What kind of special place?’ I asked.
‘He said he was the first Shadow Fae Prince and that when he reached immortality he would become King.’
‘A Shadow Fae king?’
‘Yes, and all of his claims were true because we kept in contact with him after he reached immortality and when several years later Maia finally gave birth, he told us he was at our service.’
‘Weren’t you afraid he’d do something awful to the baby?’
‘Why would he? The Shadow Fae crave our sun and infants have so little.’
‘So what happened?’
‘I cannot say for sure because, as arranged, the Shadow King confused us so we would not remember.’
‘But you said you left Maia’s daughter in a good home.’
‘Mirresen informed me so… to ease my mind.’
‘And you trusted him!’
‘Shadow Fae or not, he is a king and made a vow. Besides, I know I would have chosen well for her.’
‘But how does any of this help us find her if you don’t remember anything?’
‘My home is in the forest. Hidden beneath a pale yellow stone beside the stream that runs beside it is a letter containing a record of what happened. I wrote it before Mirresen confused me.’ She went to the cupboard and from the assortment of objects on top, chose a tiny ceramic bottle. ‘Sprinkle this on the paper,’ she said handing it to me. ‘The guards believe it to be perfume, but you will see it is something more.’
I turned the bottle in my hand a couple of times, closing my fingers around it as I called the guard.
King Telophy arrived a few minutes later and when he came into the cell with a warm smile for her, Arelle seemed to forget everything else. ‘My king,’ she cried and dropped to the floor, and began kissing his feet.
I watched, disgusted.
‘You do well to observe such fitting reverence, Marla,’ King Telophy said, catching me. I looked up as Arelle continued to slobber all over him. His eyes had frozen over. ‘Perhaps you will learn from it.’
I said nothing, just lowered my face again. Hadn’t he seen enough grovelling from me today?
