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My suite is located in one of the houses occupying the opposite end of the cavern from the Fairy King’s throne. I learned during my first visit that the locals call this cluster of buildings the ‘castle town’, and it exists mostly to give higher ranking fairies and their non-fairy visitors mortal-like accommodations, to cater to the sensibilities of the visitors. Frankly, fairies don’t like to live in such places. They tend to prefer sleeping in grottos, groves, pools, meadows, the sort of places one would ordinarily expect to find fairies.
The true residents of the castle town are the various maids and footmen serving those high-ranking fairies. As mortals, they are not comfortable living like fairies, so the servants’ quarters in the castle town are ideal for them. Similar mortal-style accommodations exist elsewhere in the castle for the rest of the non-fairy staff.
Once I and the rest of our traveling group were dressed for dinner, it would have been natural to expect the castle maids to escort us to wherever it would be held, but instead, they brought us out to the path in front of my building, where a group of fairies wearing odd clothing approached us.
Just wearing clothing rather than using their raiments is odd to begin with. Other than fairy knights wearing their armor, adult fairies just don’t wear clothing. But beyond that, these women were wearing what appeared to be…
Hazmat suits?
That’s the only way I can describe it, to be perfectly frank. Or I suppose I could call them somewhat retro beekeeper suits, since they had the same wide-brimmed hats with veils.
Either way, it was a really weird look. And my first impression was made worse by the fact that the suits seemed to be affecting my fairy sight. I could tell that they had fairy physiques, but the details were blurred.
My footman Khaulmar was leading them, but dressed in his usual livery. At a distance of a few paces, he halted and gave us a deep Dorian bow while those following him spread out in a slightly disconcerting way. Both Garen and the royal knights grew tense, priming themselves for action, while I exchanged wary looks with Serera and Dilorè.
Switching to my overclocked, multi-cpu version in dicey situations was becoming second nature for me. I opened up my spiritual vessel and expanded, bringing in my two most martial incarnations, Sirth and Fan Li, then realizing with surprise that I was easily handling both, as well as expanding my own mind. Had I somehow grown again, or had I simply not noticed how far I could go, after Eurybia upgraded me in Hamagaar?
No, it wasn’t growth. Somehow, I was using the vessel more efficiently now. Something had changed how I operated it, but I had no time to spare for thinking about it.
“What is the meaning of this?” Rod demanded of the lineup facing us.
Khaulmar, in very apologetic tones, answered, “Your Highnesses, please forgive the discourtesy to you and your companions. We are experiencing a unique emergency requiring unusual measures.”
Rod had spoken Ostish, Khaulmar answered in deferential Dorian. But of course, Rod was fluent in the second most common language of the kingdom. The prince folded his arms, his eyes narrowing just slightly.
“Whether it is discourteous or not depends upon your next actions,” he replied, switching to the same language and adopting very regal and distant style of speech. A cold, distrusting response.
I didn’t blame him. This situation was really suspicious. But Fan Li drew my attention to an important detail, and I decided to step in before Rod’s temper began rising.
“Your Highness, your escort includes fairy knights and and your own royal knights, while the people facing us do not appear to be armed at all. You have the luxury to listen to their explanation at leisure without forfeiting any advantage.”
He glanced at me. “Is this something you know about?”
“No. But…” I wrestled with how to explain why I wasn’t anxious and decided the best explanation was, “I can see enough in fairy sight to confirm they are unarmed, and these people should be working for the Fairy King. I trust my son, Your Highness.”
He blinked in surprise, then, after a moment of thought, relaxed slightly and nodded.
I glanced over at my maid trio. “I suspect you three knew this was coming, though?”
Khortys looked guilty, but nodded. “Your Highness, it isn’t anything bad. We’re simply under a quarantine.”
My anxiety levels immediately rose again. I wanted to know what her definition of bad was, if a quarantine wasn’t included.
Rod’s head tipped and his chin rose slightly. “Quarantine? There’s plague in the Fairy King’s Castle?”
Khaulmar drew attention with a loud throat-clearing, which Khortys reacted to with an immediate apologetic expression. She had clearly spoken out of turn.
He told Rod, “Your Highness, we have no evidence that the… malady… affects mortals. However, we aren’t sure about mortals with significant fairy blood, so we must still be mindful of fairlings and their offspring. The exact nature of the problem is something we cannot discuss until you’ve been brought inside. To be clear, the danger is found out here where we are and where you came from, not within where you are going. The castle town is exposed to the outside world. We are currently using it as a staging area for persons coming through quarantine into the safe zone. In order to come to where the Fairy King and his court now reside, you must pass through the decontamination process. These people are here to help you, and us, through the process.”
I frowned. “Then you and my maids have been living here while exposed to this illness?”
Khortys replied, “Your Highness, they are confident that it doesn’t affect us.”
My head was spinning through various possibilities, the worst being the Affliction that wiped out the Elder race… although, since fairy constitutions are not half magic and half-monstrous, I didn’t think the Affliction could affect them.
It seemed that Rod had heard enough to trust them. He nodded. “Very well. What is the procedure?”
Khaulmar looked back at the fairy to his right, who stepped up next to him, gave a deep bow and declared, “Please pardon me, Your Highness. I am Meren of the High Forest, a distant grandniece of your fiancée. We must first place a barrier around you and your companions, then we will walk with you while maintaining the barrier on your way into the decontamination facility.”
She might have thought that identifying herself as my relative would make her seem more trustworthy, but it actually heightened my wariness, for some reason. Perhaps I feared that it was a ploy to reduce my caution? The proposal to cast an area-of-effect magic around us did not help to set my mind at ease.
Meren nodded to the others, who began fanning out. It was soon clear they were intending to ring us. I moved over to join the prince, nudging my fellow royal knight aside. Rod’s eyes showed uncertainty when he glanced at me, but I think he recognized Tiana-going-into-protective-mode immediately.
“Your Highness,” Sir Gald protested quietly, “I am currently His Highness’s body man.”
That means something different to us in the Royal Knights than it means in the US. He was saying that he was currently the one detailed to get in the way if an incoming strike is about to hit Rod. He needed to be standing next to his protection target to do that.
But I asked, “Can you fly him out of here?”
He had no answer to that, of course.
Khaulmar came to join my maids as the fairies took up positions around us. Then, without any warning, a magic circle appeared beneath our feet. All my instincts were screaming to grab Rod and go, but I quickly saw what it was doing and my tension turned into confusion. A sphere had appeared around us, invisible to mortal eyes (except, possibly, Mireia’s), that was clearly meaningless against mortals, fairies or vampires.
Hm, Durandal mused.
Sirth also reacted.
– Aye, this is an odd witchery, isn’t it? I’ve lost contact with my spirits.
I glanced at Dilorè, and she nodded. “It’s a spirit barrier.”
Meren told us, “Your Highnesses and all companions, for your safety, please remain within the barrier as we move. Please follow me.”
But then I noticed Terese looking very uncomfortable– ill, actually– and immediately grew concerned. Turning back to the fairy, I demanded, “Hang on! What will this magic do to an Elemental?”
Meren looked surprised. “An elemental, Your Highness?”
I told Terese, “Your mortal camouflage, please drop it, Miss Terese.”
She looked self-conscious, and hesitant. I sighed and said, “Please. I think they’re doing something that is bad for you.”
After an additional moment of hesitation, she closed her eyes, put her hand on her chest, and immediately she became thick with Dark mana in my fairy vision.
Mind you, in regular vision, she looked like the same Terese. But in fairy sight, she now looked like a fairy whose magical physique consisted entirely of Darkness.
All the fairies let out exclamations. Mireia, too, looked shocked.
I turned back to Meren. “What is it doing to her, Miss Meren?”
She immediately barked one word to the fairy next to her.
“Ho!”
It’s an Ancient Fairy word, but fairies use it as the imperative Stop! since it comes out so much faster than literal ‘Stop’, Felinta!
The magic circle disappeared.
It delayed us an hour, and badly frayed the patience of one Prince Roderick, but we couldn’t just abandon Terese here. While waiting, I remembered Lucy and checked with her, but the barrier hadn’t bothered her at all, to my surprise.
“Perhaps being inside the stone protected her?” Serera theorized, but Dilorè disagreed.
“No. Didn’t you notice? The sphere was entirely Light magic. A Light spirit like Lucy would be the least bothered, but Terese is essentially a Dark spirit in possession of a human-like body, so it hurt her the most.”
Terese, for her part, was horrendously embarrassed to have caused the delay. I told her several times that the real cause were the ones who planned this without considering the possibility of an Elemental visitor.
The discussion and the delay continued, with no progress.The fairy mages were still debating how to handle the problem an hour later, when Aunt Tenre appeared, similarly suited up. She had come to investigate the delay. She heard the cause and immediately frowned.
“Was bringing an Elemental along with you your idea, Child?” she demanded.
Well, ‘Child’ is an improvement from ‘Monster’…
“Miss Terese has been Mother’s lady’s maid since I was a small child, Din’nedo,” I insisted. “I brought her along to attend to Mother when we… when we recover her.”
The Lady of the Valley’s eyes immediately softened and her response came out much gentler. “I see.”
She turned to the environment-suited fairies, addressing Meren. “I will escort this one personally. They won’t know how to decontaminate her, anyhow.”
Meren looked troubled. “Your Highness, we have a procedure!”
Her Highness was unimpressed. “Your current method does not accommodate Elementals, so I believe your point is moot.”
She then told the maid, “Come along,” and began walking.
A flustered Terese looked toward me, but I gestured for her to go.
Once she caught up, I saw a different sort of field surrounding both, a mystery magic that my aunt had silently cast. Meren stared at them, probably frustrated at the bigwig who had just completely nullified one hour worth of debate and brainstorming, then gave up and had her people rerun the original ritual, setting up the sphere of Light magic once again.
The actual process of ‘decontamination’ was very simple. Once we had walked to a stone circle a short distance north of the castle town near the wall of the cavern, a different direction than the Fairy King’s throne, we each advanced individually to the center of the circle, stood there about a minute, then walked to the other side, where we were made to don similar ‘hazmat suits’.
Well, that’s what it looked like to the mortals, anyway. When I stood in the center of the circle, a massive riot of colors and waves of mana afflicted me and left every sense I possessed dazzled and reeling. I almost couldn’t walk straight. But several mortals had gone through ahead of me without noticing anything, so my vertigo attack went nearly unnoticed. At least, it seemed like the fairies, who knew what I was going through, were the only ones who noticed, and they looked sympathetic.
I soon realized we were being walked entirely out of the castle, although in a different direction than the ‘main entrance’ through which we had arrived. We were emerging onto one of the ‘sunning spots’ that litter the hillside (remember, the Fairy King’s Castle is just a big hill with scattered trees and stone piles and a small arena at the summit from the outside) to find a small air boat using it as a dock.
This was a much smaller craft than Miröen’s ‘launch’. It was a wide, open-decked craft with an awning, about six paces from stem to stern, with a two-person crew, a mage at the controls and another mortal working as deckhand.
Meren explained, “The entire area was under quarantine, not just the castle town.”
“Where are you taking us?” I asked as she stepped up on the boarding ladder.
“The Royal Grove, Your Highness,” she explained. “The Castle is currently compromised. Other than personnel wearing these suits, manning vital facilities, and mortals working in the castle town, we have entirely evacuated it.”
