.
Diur, with his face, torso and arms hidden under heavy bandages hiding horrific injuries, hardly looked like someone I should be bothering with any matters of importance, but he was the best choice available to me here. I had many questions about how he had spent the last ten thousand years, but I felt confident he was in a position to know more about demonkind than anyone else I could consult in this place.
After Dilorè departed, I told him, “I would like you to have a close look at these two, paying special attention to their spiritual powers. Their fairy sight seems to be affected by some curse or spell.”
His one visible brow wrinkled. “In what way?”
“Hold on,” Feraen interrupted. “Before you tell him, I should like to check something.”
Saying that, she unsheathed her sword.
Diur spat out a cursing word in some language I didn’t know, then a pair of outriders formed in the air between his cot and Feraen, instantly expanding into a pair of proxies which then solidified into a seemingly human man and woman, each holding weapons in middle guard position, ready for battle.
She froze, shocked at their sudden appearance. The room became a tableau for several heartbeats.
Neither of them had the black hair or eyes of Elders. I wondered if these might be images of Servants from his past.
I grew annoyed. “Diur, you are not to use your proxies or outriders. It’s too much of a strain on your pneuma.”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he tried to rise. Melione and I immediately pressed him back down onto the cot.
“Stay put,” I told him firmly, then looked at the fairy knight. “Lady Feraen, I take it you have a reason for drawing your blade?”
She recovered from her surprise, looking past the two warriors between her and Diur.
“I would like to ask you what this blade looks like, to you?”
In harsh tones, he replied, “A rather vile demonic weapon, and would you please explain your intention by carrying it?”
Her mouth bunched into a troubled moue, then she sheathed the blade once again. “So you see it that way, too.”
It occurred to me, the scabbard for that weapon was an amazing artifact, itself. It almost completely blocked any leakage of the demonic mana, and didn’t allow any of it to be seen from within the sheath.
Diur looked at me. I explained, “It seems that neither of these two full-blooded fairies can see the demonic mana on that thing. They also could not recognize demons who were disguised as humans, even though it was plain as day to my cousin and me.”
He was still wary, but he scowled as he pondered the news.
While he was thinking, I told him, “Dismiss your proxies, Diur. You can’t afford the cost in your condition. It is wearing you down.”
He looked at me with a dissatisfied glare, then the two warriors disappeared like soap bubbles.
After a pause, he stated, “It isn’t something I’ve heard of before. Certainly, spiritual arts can fool fairy sight, as can techniques with Celestial components like our cloaks. But that sword is doing nothing to disguise itself. They should be able to see it without trouble.”
“Could they have been somehow blinded to demonic mana, without affecting their other fairy senses?”
He pondered some more, then answered, “Certainly, that seems to be the best explanation, but it’s hard to imagine a means to do it. The person who could verify that is the same person that I need to see. If anyone can figure this out, it’s Morrígan.”
# # #
“You want to bring those two along to Tëan Tír?” Pasrue echoed, sounding more than a bit astounded.
I had sent those two to take lunch in the mess hall while I rejoined Dilorè. She was in discussion with Rod, Allia, Ryuu, Pasrue and Talene when I found her.
“They need to see her,” I insisted. “And they could become her key to figuring this out!”
“If she needs test subjects, she already has Feraen’s grandparents,” she noted.
“Involuntary, defiant prisoners and cooperating witnesses who want to be cured are two very different things. Feraen and Lilhàn acknowledge that their senses are being distorted by something, and they want to help discover the cause.”
Pasrue frowned, but Talene was nodding her agreement with me. She had her own point to add, as well. “As long as they are blind to demonic mana, they are in danger of being manipulated by fellow clan members under demonic influence. It would be better to keep them isolated from contact with Old Grove until they are cured.”
Thanks to the focus yesterday turning immediately to the Berado army, Rod had not heard until now that I was part of our plan to bring Diur to the Fairy Queen. He was unhappy with the idea, and his objections increased once I told him I wanted to bring Dilorè with me.
“If she’s going, then why are you needed?” Rod demanded. “She can protect the air boat, and we can send the healer to take care of him!”
I vigorously shook my head. “I will not send a sweet, innocent maiden like Melione into that lion’s den! Your Highness, we’re bringing him to the palace of the Fairy Queen! You can trust me that anything you’ve heard about young maidens and fairies is not an exaggeration!”
He gave me an odd look in response which, once I understood it, caused me to blush deeply. “I’m the Fairy King’s granddaughter and a fairy knight, Your Highness. I can defend my chastity. Melione is defenseless!”
Ryuu, who was still remaining silent around me, looked nonplussed by the exchange, but Talene and Pasrue both were fighting to keep smirks off their faces as Talene told Rod, “Her Highness has a valid point, Your Highness. You should not send a mortal girl into that place.”
“But without you here, we barely can hold out if that archfiend returns!” Allia, who was also unhappy with the plan, complained. “If you take Dilorè as well, we won’t last!”
“I don’t agree,” I told her. “The Orestanian mages that relieved us down there can defend against an archfiend even on their own. Royal Army combat mages are powerful battle assets, and the ones Uncle Owen sent are a special forces unit.”
They had better be capable. They had to hold the fort down there until Allia’s company and other forces returned to begin the exploration and conquest of Ilim Below.
“I understand that,” Allia replied patiently, “but I’m concerned about him going after the princess rather than the cavern! We’re about to escort her back to Dausindiu! Without either you or Dilorè…”
Once the flying boat returned from its run to Tëan Tír, it would bring Amelia to stay with Owen’s sister, Queen Gloriana of Arelia. But they would be guarding her until her housing and protection were settled, and the flying boat would get back to its job of ferrying Orestanian personnel into Gado.
Pasrue interrupted. “Lady Serera will be joining us. She is on her way as we speak.”
Allia blinked, caught off guard. “Lady Serera? As in the fairy knight, Serera of the Gray Mountain?”
“The same,” Pasrue nodded. “His Majesty sent her to assist King Owen, and Owen has asked her to guard his daughter.”
“Since when?” Allia demanded.
“Since less than an hour ago. Once he heard that Tiana and Dilorè needed to head back to Tëan Tír, he dispatched her.”
“Then are we needed to escort Her Highness at all?” Ryuu asked. “With a fairy knight guarding her…”
“A fairy can’t win a battle by herself, Mr. Kowa,” I told him. “Not in chess nor on the battlefield. The trick is to coordinate her with the forces on the ground.”
I suspected he was developing an inferiority complex with respect to fairies. It would be rational for a normal mortal, but I wasn’t sure it was healthy for the guy who was supposed to be the hero.
That’s why this was the moment to bring up the rest of my plans. “And since we are on that subject, I need to make an additional request.”
Rod’s eyes turned wary, Allia’s turned dour, and everyone else just looked at me with curiosity.
“In addition to Dilorè, I want Lady Chiara and Mr. Kowa to come with me.”
“Me?” Ryuu retorted, caught by surprise.
Rod scowled, shooting the hero a suspicious look. “Why him?”
I let a momentary laugh at Rod’s jealous expression slip out. “I thought you would ask, ‘Why Lady Chiara?'”
“That, as well,” he nodded, frowning still. “She needs to be sent to Father for arraignment.”
“I would like you to release her to my custody for a while, Your Highness,” I told him. “She can pay back some of her debt by assisting me.”
“Unless something extraordinary turns up in her defense, she will most likely be paying it back with her life.”
I nodded, pursing my lips and reminding myself that, before being my Servant, she was a defendant in a capital crime. “That is true, Your Highness. But for now, she is a valuable resource who can assist me in service to the crown. Could you please allow it, as a personal request from me?”
Yeah, maybe it was unfair to play that card, but I had my reasons.
The furrow in his brow deepened as he considered it. I had to give him credit; he was giving things a lot more forethought than Rod normally gave. Maybe responsibility was maturing him.
“Alright,” he nodded. “But this is not royal clemency. She remains an accused traitor while in your custody.”
I nodded and then lowered my head. “I have heard and clearly understood, Your Highness.”
“That’s all fine, but why me?” Ryuu demanded.
“I am bringing Dilorè and Chiara to a special training ground, which is very nearby Tëan Tír,” I told him. “You need it as well.”
In fact, my mountain was so near to Tëan Tír that I suspected Oberon had selected that valley as his home grounds due to its proximity to his mother’s old residence.
Ryuu’s expression immediately darkened.
So did Allia’s. She demanded, “Training for what?”
I looked from one set of lowered eyebrows to the other, then sighed.
“There is something critical missing. Mr. Kowa had it during those six months while I was journeying with him, but after we parted ways, it went missing. I don’t know if it happened in the Carael Mines, or sometime after that, but this Mr. Kowa…” I jabbed my finger at his chest, “is not the hero that my mother summoned. I’m taking him to that training ground to get it back.”
Allia set her jaw. “His Majesty put me in charge of his training.”
I glanced at Pasrue, then noted, “Miss Pasrue seems to have the means to contact Uncle Owen. Shall I ask His Majesty to put his future daughter-in-law in charge of it instead of you, or will you permit me to train him on a temporary basis?”
Her glower didn’t change, but her words did.
“Fine. Do as you like.”
“Don’t I have a say?” Ryuu demanded. “I don’t agree with you! I’m a lot stronger now than I was back then!”
“No,” I told him. “As long as your performance threatens the safety of my friends, you have no say at all. I’m a member of the royal family that you work for, and just this once, I will exercise my privilege. You’re either going on the air boat willingly, or I’ll hogtie you and fly you there myself.”
