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I have been kidnapped.
Let’s be frank. That’s a sentence I should never utter. Logically speaking, a fairy knight possessing my level of spiritual capacity and magical power cannot be at risk of abduction. But that claim depends upon the opponents being a reasonably normal gang of criminals. These were anything but normal criminals.
I also state in my defense that I was not at my best when it happened. Or, to put it more bluntly, I was unconscious.
The frantic and disorganized pace and pattern of activities leading up to and following the battle in Oseri pushed me into the middle of events with neither a plan nor a good understanding of what was going on. That’s not to say I didn’t do the right thing, or that I wouldn’t do it again. None of my decisions, nor those of my other personas, which are, after all, also my decisions, fail the common sense test or look wrong in retrospect. They only look like the hasty decisions made in a vacuum of information, as one unknown piled upon another.
Which is why, until the train and its inhabitants reached the main rail network, my incarnations remained on guard despite the spiritual deficit their activities were causing, that was pushing my resources farther and farther into the red. Which made the fall that much harder when it came.
It began with Sirth. As the train passed the switch sending it off the Oseri spur and onto the Inland Main Line, theoretically the safety of civilized territory, she suddenly coughed and went down to her knee with an arm over her midsection. She grinned over at Daq, who was also recognizing the seriousness of their situation at that same moment.
“Everyone, looks like I’ll be leavin’ now,” she announced to all who still stood guard on the railroad coach roof. The strange feathers which always poke out of her hair from their roots in her temples turned a strange gray-black color and her face twisted with pain. Anyone who could sense spirits would perceive a distressed cloud of them surrounding her.
“Laylin!” an alarmed Ryuu barked, and the priestess rushed to the side of the alien captain. Her hands were already full of Healing mana as she knelt.
“You can’t do nuthin’ fer me, girly,” Sirth rasped at her with a grin. “I’m already dead.”
Daq frowned and shook his head. “Let go of it, Captain. I’ll explain to them.”
She nodded, and her kneeling image dissolved into nothing.
“Do not be frightened,” Daq told the frightened priestess. “We are not living beings, and we possess no physical substance of this world. Your medicines would have no effect on us.”
“But…” she stammered, still trying to see the missing Sirth.
“She simply had to leave, and I do, as well,” he stated while holding out a hand to help her back to her feet. “We are overtaxing the resources of our hostess in this world. She needs rest, and that means we must rest, as well.”
“She was in pain!” Laylin protested.
“No longer,” he assured her. “She was merely suffering the effects of attempting to stretch herself too far, in the same manner that I am. It’s Her Grace’s sense of responsibility for the civilians below that is affecting us, I suspect. We need to entrust their safety to you all and let go of it.”
Lady Serera demanded, “The resources of your hostess in this world… is Tiana alright?”
“In the sense of physical welfare, Her Grace is fine. We have not pushed her to such a serious extent. But all citizens of the Mortal Realm have limits, and we are reaching hers. We must allow her to rest.”
He paused, waiting to see if there were further questions. Then he stated, “It has been an honor fighting alongside everyone. Perhaps we shall meet again.”
And that’s where he left. I think Fan Li remained in the back of Shindzha’s head for a bit longer, but the [Blood Sigil] on Bruna’s back and Daq R’mion’s effigy both vanished in that moment.
Which left only my effigy in Narses Castle, which was more-or-less unmanned at that moment. Fan Li, spooked by the sudden power loss in every corner of her normally tidy network, derated its performance to that of the lowest class of effigy, the Blood-And-Qi refinement stage, and sent all excess spirit and condensed blood back to our main body in Sky Ocean.
Technically, nobody was using it, but it contains what amounts to a ‘black box’, a minimum recorder function which retains what it senses during such times for later playback. Thus, I have a ‘memory’ of what transpired around my bed, and I can offer the following account because of it.
The villains struck later that day, after the train reached Narses, safely delivering the refugees to the housing I had arranged for, earlier. Led by the dastardly ringleader, a certain Lady Serera, the gang of unruly fairies descended upon my suite in Narses Castle, overwhelming the panicked chambermaids. Naturally, this attracted the attention of my husband, who was already aware of my involvement in the emergency in Oseri.
“Her Grace is only asleep, Fair Ladies!” Syl was protesting as he and Mir both entered.
“Hohohoho. She would surely be awake by now, if that were the case,” Serera pointed out while pinching the maid’s chin. She added in teasing tones, “We’re making a terrible amount of noise, you know?”
“Fair Knight, please don’t distress the maids, too much,” Rod requested. “They have a hard enough job right now, as it is. Her Grace was quite adamant that we trust her and not disturb her.”
The ‘Fair’ honorific, to politely address those of Fairy kind is a bit old-fashioned, and my staff and my husband rarely use it, given they are very used to having fairies around, but facing so many at once was probably intimidating the mortals into amping up the etiquette.
The other maids had my bed ringed, bravely hoping to hold back the amused fairies, who for their part were well-aware that my faithful Servants stood no chance of stopping them, if they actually tried to force the issue. For fairies dealing with mortals, they were being quite deferential, and I imagine they were doing so for my sake, as their little sister.
The gang in question, you see, although it included Amana and was led by Serera, was mostly composed of my elder siblings.
The twins, Alore and Diddere, answered him with a complaint. “What’s all this ‘Her Grace’ nonsense? She’s a princess, so call her properly!”
But Serera corrected her. “Your mother insisted on prioritizing her title as Duke of this land. Little Tiana is simply continuing her mother’s ways.”
Velerè, the eldest, gave Rod a brow-wrinkled stare. “You resemble Mother’s latest lover quite a lot. Are you the boy that took my baby sister as a bride at such a ridiculously young age?”
Rod isn’t the most sensitive in many other ways, but he has a strong sense of danger, bordering on the supernatural in the way sword masters have, honed through years of instruction from Uncle Arken and Uncle Matthias. I’m certain he understood what a dangerous individual he faced at that moment and knew why she considered him a cradle-robber.
And yet, he simply raised his chin and stated, “I take pride that I am indeed the husband that your grandfather arranged for Her Grace, Fair Lady. I consider it my greatest honor.”
Having successfully deflected responsibility to Oberon, he shifted his eyes to the woman beside him. “Mir, are you able to tell if there’s anything wrong with Ti?”
She answered him with a rueful smile and a shake of the head. Her healer’s perception was strong enough to see past the fiction of the effigy’s ‘physical’ nature into the reality of mana and blood without any form she could heal.
“Naturally not,” Velerè declared, “Since this is merely a proxy. We’ve come to collect it in order to reduce the strain on Little Tiana.”
Rod grew cross. “I wish you had kept that secret from her people, Fair Lady.”
Serera added, addressing the maids, “All of you, keep those words secret and don’t let them leave this room.”
For their part, the maids were simply perplexed, because they had every reason to believe the [Blood Effigy] in the bed was me. Nevertheless, Syl bowed her head and stated, “Certainly, Fair Knight.”
“Enough of this,” Mitozin declared, and throughout the room, a fine mist began forming. Invisible hands within that mist pulled back the covers, revealing to everyone present that I remained in the state that Mireia and Rod left me, which is to say, in all my glory, and I floated upward in that state as Mitozin’s cloud solidified beneath me. She floated as well, to join me atop her foggy magic carpet. Perhaps realizing I would be embarrassed in that state, she had her ‘cloud’ flow over me lightly, to at least give me some coverage.
“What are you doing?” Rod demanded, because the maids were too flabbergasted to speak.
Princess Alore, the elder twin, answered him. “Your Royal Highness, my older sister has already told you. We are collecting this proxy in order to reunite it with our little sister. I understand that you are already aware how she is sheltering in a rather special place. We’re all eager to go see it ourselves, since only Little Dilorè and Aunt Serera have had the pleasure so far.”
It seems that this was Fan Li’s request, made to Serera after Sirth and Daq passed out and shortly before she, too, went catatonic. Hence, this kidnapping party.
“Fair Lady, Ti is staying here for the sake of her people and their morale! We are in the middle of a war!”
Lady Serera laughed. “Your Royal Highness, you are aware by now of the dragon that appeared in the northern frontier of her duchy. You simply tell your people that, after it threatened her safety, Little Tiana’s sisters abducted her against her wishes in order to bring her to a place of safety, for her sake and that of her daughters. This action also protects the castle by removing the dragon’s target from it. You were powerless to stop us, and you will ensure the safety of her realm until she has recovered and can return.”
By this time, Mitozin and my effigy were floating through the french doors to the balcony, and Rod certainly was powerless to stop them. In the effigy’s memory, I can see the frustration in his eyes as he recognizes he can do nothing about it, and I very much regret making him feel that way.
To follow us, Amana grew her wings, as had the twins, being sylphs, and they left the way I would have, leaping into flight, with Serera joining them a moment later.
Finally, instead of blinking out of existence as she had before, Velerè took flight in a way very reminiscent of Lhan’s new flying form, simply blowing upward like a leaf caught in the wind. But before doing so, she stepped close to Mireia and whispered something into her ear, before kissing her on the cheek and tousling her hair like a favored grandchild. I have no idea what that was about.
Our passage was through the same shortcut to Sky Ocean that Dilorè and Serera had been using, as apparently arrangements with Little Jia had already been made. And thus, they completed the wholly unnecessary abduction of the Duchess.
While, maybe not wholly unnecessary. It’s true that I or Fan Li could have dissolved the effigy remotely, but by doing it this way, my sisters had created the spectacle of the ‘abduction’, which not only prevented the perception that I ran away from the war but transmitted to my people instead the idea that my sisters, the Daughters of Deharè, now had me under their protection and were perhaps coming to their aid as well.
I suppose I need to thank them.
