Page 4 of Till Kingdom Come

Ellien shook his head and refused to discuss it any further, yet he seemed to be afraid of this Prince Bracca in some way.

I already knew the Dark Fairies could be a savage people, and I wasn’t anxious to meet their prince. All we could do was wait for Bracca to arrive and hope he wasn’t here because of something unpleasant. But I’d heard that you should never, ever put your faith in Fairies. Could that be true?

I watched Ellien pacing up and down nervously in front of the gate, in a state of agitation. He stopped and held out his hand to me, and I rushed over to take it.

“Don’t worry, Ellien,” I said. “It’ll be all right. I have my sword, and I’ll defend you if I have to. I won’t let this fucking prince hurt you.”

He stopped his pacing and took my hand in his. His eyes, as bright as jewels, flashed over at me. “My dearest mortal boy. How kind you are. Plain, but very sweet. Perhaps if I had known…”

It seemed an odd thing to say, and the remark about me being plain stung a little, though I knew I wasn’t anything special, though I supposed most mortals would be considered plain next to a Fairy. It wasn’t like it was the first time I’d heard it.

I wasn’t ugly, but there was just nothing remarkable about me at all. My skin was smooth and only unusual in the fact that unlike my brothers, I had no freckles or moles or any tiny imperfections anywhere. My features were completely average and devoid of anything that might serve as a distinguishing feature. At a glance I could have passed for anyone or no one in particular. Light brown hair, light brown eyes, slightly tanned skin—not one thing about me stood out—except for my skill with a sword. It was my one claim to fame, in my opinion. I squeezed his hand in reply, not knowing what else to do.

Suddenly behind us, I heard a loud cry from near the front gate and a tearing sound, like someone ripping paper. No, not paper, now that I could see through the shifting morning mists. It was a rip in the very fabric of the air itself. The torn edges literally parted, and I could see ice and snow-covered forests beyond. What kind of infernal magic was this?

I rushed toward it, followed by a few of Ellien’s most loyal guards—though fewer than I would have liked—and as I got to the spot, I gaped at the scene before me and drew my sword. I watched in fascination and terror as tall, handsome Dark Fairies began stepping through the gap, one by one, until there were twelve of them standing in the courtyard.

What kind of powerful spell was this? How did they simply materialize out of thin air in such a way? It was terrifying—so impossible and wrong and frightening that I stared at them in disbelief. I had never seen any magic like this before—I’d never even heard of anything like it—and I feared the Solarians had no defense against it either if these Dark Fairies had come with bad intentions.

The soldiers were all tall and extremely fit, dressed in black and bristling with weapons. They looked fierce and unyielding in their dark leather and furs. Their hats were trimmed in midnight-colored mink, and their long, fur-lined capes swept the ground, the hems crusted with snow. Their long swords were at their sides, and their gloved hands rested on the hilts. Their faces were frozen and stiff. One of them took out a curved horn and put it to his mouth. It sang out as clear and thin as winter birdsong.

We watched in stunned surprise as a young, powerful looking and terribly handsome man stepped through to face us. For a moment he stood poised in the opening, giving us a grim and dangerous look and holding his huge sword. Snowflakes whirled around him against a backdrop of dark night and frozen snow and ice. I heard the gasp of the Solarian soldiers and the name, “Prince Bracca” murmured by all them who were assembled.

I’d never seen a Fairy prince before, so I regarded this one in awe. Even here among the others, who were all handsome creatures, I could see the prince was something special. He was taller than the rest and quite muscular. His face should have been too bold to be so handsome, full as it was of strong angles and planes, but his beauty was undeniable. He had silver spurs on his heels that looked wickedly sharp, and he wore a hooded, fur cape that obscured his face a bit. His enormous, beautiful sword was held at the ready.

His gaze swept the crowd and apparently finding no threat, he pushed back his hood and looked at all of us. I noticed that his cheekbones were high and sharp, and his hair fell unbound in black, looping curls all the way to his waist. His green eyes were as dark and deep as a bottomless pool, and he had a fierce, intense gaze. There was a flash of red in those eyes as he glanced around at us. He radiated a sense of absolute dominance and power, and he also looked vaguely familiar—something about his eyes—but I dismissed the notion almost as soon as it came. Surely, I would have remembered if I’d ever met this man before.

As his eyes snapped around the circle that we had formed to observe him, they landed on me. He looked me up and down for far too long, and I could have sworn he had a look of satisfaction on his handsome face. His gaze shifted as I stood there with the soldiers and fell on Ellien. The prince took a bold step toward Ellien, passing me and carelessly knocking into me with his broad shoulder, as I tried to step in front of him to block his path. Ellien flinched as Bracca easily shoved me aside and came forward. He looked cowed by the man, and he beckoned for me to come stand beside him. The prince glanced over at me as I quickly stepped around him, and his eyes swept me up and down again.

“I am Prince Bracca, son of King Larek,” the prince said without preamble. “You have incurred a debt of honor with my people, and I have come to collect your payment. You’ve offered me a fair trade and an alternate way of paying your debt, I believe.”

“Yes, I have, sire. And you have accepted my offer.”

The prince nodded. “Yes. Even though your soldiers killed our loyal captain without provocation, and according to the laws of the Fae, you are expected to repay that debt with your own life. Lucky for you, you have something I want even more, so I’m willing to bargain. I see you have it ready for me.”

“Yes. I-I do,” Ellien declared.

Trade? What trade? And what captain, for that matter? I didn’t understand what they were talking about, and I turned to Ellien in confusion, but he ignored my questioning gaze.

Then it came to me. One the first night I arrived in Solaria, Ellien had and I had drunk wine and he’d spoken to me of the Dark Fairy captain who had been accidentally killed right here in this same courtyard. He’d never said it had been Prince Bracca’s man, but that must be who they were talking about.

I began to go over everything I knew about the incident in my head, which really wasn’t much. A small contingent of Dark Fairy soldiers had suddenly ridden through the city gates of Solaria, unannounced and bristling with weapons one night about a month ago. They said they were seeking refuge from a group of ogres they’d encountered on the road. They had fought with the ogres, and one of their men had been injured and was in need of a physician.

But they had arrived so suddenly, as cold, distant and beautiful as the constellations, riding through the city gates without permission that they had badly frightened the Solarian guards.

The Fairy tribes were stubbornly insular and highly suspicious of all other tribes, so their reaction wasn’t all that unusual, though it was a bit extreme. The gate guards had immediately become suspicious and picked a fight with the newcomers, and though for all intents and purposes Fairies were immortal, they could still be killed in a violent encounter, and the death of one of them was considered to be a truly serious matter.

Lord Ellien had told me the Dark Fairies had been immediately surrounded by Ellien’s guards when they burst into the courtyard, despite their protests that they were only seeking refuge. Their captain, incensed at being stopped and confronted by lowly city guards, whom he had considered far beneath him, pulled his sword and attacked them. Though the other dark Fairy soldiers with him kept loudly insisting they needed help for their wounded man, the Solarian guards didn’t trust their intentions. The captain had attacked with his sword from the back of the huge stag he rode, injuring several city guards. The other guards angrily pulled the captain down, and as he fell, he tragically broke his neck and died there in the Solarian courtyard.

King Ellien, hastily summoned to the scene, had tried to question the remaining Dark Fairy soldiers, but they had grown increasingly belligerent and agitated. One word led to another, and though the others had eventually managed to fight their way out of the courtyard, they had vowed revenge, as they took their dead captain and rode away.

The next day a message was received from Prince Bracca. It was short but not at all sweet. He was demanding fair and equal compensation for the loss of his officer, according to Fae laws, or he said he would consider it a declaration of war and treat it accordingly. The message threw everyone into a panic. Prince Bracca was a formidable, frightening man with powerful magic and a fierce army at his command. Solaria and its lord were certainly no match for him.

I glanced over at Ellien and saw him wringing his hands. Bracca looked down at him with absolutely no pity in his face.

“I would, however, still like to hear your explanation for what happened. So I can tell his family.”

Ellien shifted his feet uneasily and straightened his posture. He stretched out his hand with his palm upward in supplication. “Your Royal Highness. Your captain rode in with the others unannounced. We had no idea of his intentions. And we didn’t kill him. Or not exactly. He was pulled down from his horse and landed at an odd angle. It was an accident, I assure you.”

---