Chapter 6 #3
As they passed by him and up the drive he noted some of the dead men appeared a little worse after the long walk.
Several were missing hands and arms; one headless revenant passed him holding his own skull.
A couple were crawling, apparently after losing their legs during the long trek.
The containment spell he’d cast should have kept their bodies intact; why was this happening?
When he got out and went to one of the half-corpses dragging itself through the gates, he sensed nothing but the animation spell he’d used to bring the dead criminal back to life.
He had no more power to draw on for the moment to correct the problem, either.
“How did you shed my containment spell?” Bodach demanded, kicking the revenant.
The corpse raised its head and stared at him with its empty eye sockets, as if it could see him. Its jaw dropped and a low, scratchy keening sound came out of its mouth as it tried to give him an answer.
“Oh, shut up.” He stomped on it with his shoe until it stopped making noise and fell apart.
Bodach drove the truck up to the front of the castle, where a towering, hairy figure dressed in a hot pink baby doll dress trimmed in magenta lace was waiting as well.
That she resembled Bigfoot playing dress-up didn’t surprise him, for they had known each other since being kicked out of Elphyne to the mortal realm.
As soon as he got out of the rental truck the giant female lumbered over and frowned down at him.
“You’ve got stinky mortal corpses walking into your place, Gobby Boy,” Mirry said, turning her head and frowning at the revenants. “What’s that all about?”
He forced a pleasant smile for her, as the dark Fae outcast had long been one of his few allies.
She’d also helped him numerous times in the past when no other immortal would even answer his summons.
None of her aid had helped him find and claim Torra MacBren’s ancient druidess spirit, of course, but he couldn’t afford to burn this bridge just yet.
“They’re just temporary help.” He needed them to unload the truck and bring the crates inside, but decided to wait until Mirry left before he attended to that. The dark Fae giantess was too curious for her own good. “What brings you into my territory this late?”
“I wanted to warn you that you’ve got a real problem going on here.
I mean, other than losing your wall and the animated dead things.
” She gestured toward the woods outside the castle.
“I smelled it all the way over at my place tonight. It’s like a power sink or something.
What do the mortals call it…a vortex, yeah, that’s it. ”
Bodach squinted at the trees, the branches of which were stirring slightly. Then he saw the direction they were moving, as if being threshed by the whirl of a tediously slow tornado.
“It could be a microburst, too,” he said.
“There’s no thunderstorm to cause one,” Mirry countered. “Did you do something to piss off Chlíodhna again?”
“I haven’t seen the old witch for weeks,” he told her, leashing his annoyance.
Because Mirry had long ago befriended the melia, she was more sensitive to their magic.
She could also sense Chlíodhna, an ancient being said to be a distant ancestor of the forest Fae, whenever she was active in the area. “What did you mean by power sink?”
“I’m just guessing, Gobservant,” she admitted.
“It’s the only way to describe something this super weird and spinning the wrong way in the woods, like melia magic in reverse.
Their enchantments follow the rotation of the planet, while this one…
Oh, never mind. Just trust me, it’s bad.
You didn’t open another doorway into that spell trap, did you?
Because if you did, and you’re keeping it open, the chaos going on in there will spill out into the realm here. ”
“No, I haven’t.” He intended to, however, so he needed to get rid of her. “Thank you for coming all this way to tell me, but you should head out of here. Whatever it is, I don’t want it to hurt you.”
Mirry sniffed. “Come on, Goblivious. You always lie to me. I know because I can smell that, too. Why aren’t you honest for once? I put up with your smelliness, which is worse than theirs.” She flung a ham-sized hand at the revenants.
Somehow he’d managed to hurt her. The stupid immortal bitch was far, far too sensitive.
“Should I thank you for that? When I’ve done the same with some of your less than admirable qualities?” He thought about picking off one of the stray hairs she’d shed onto his jacket and showing it to her, but that would likely cross the line from complaining into taunting.
“I’m always happy to see you, aren’t I?” the giantess demanded. “I’m probably the last friend you have left. No, after what you did to upset Aosda, I know I am.”
“Why do you care?” he asked, perplexed now. “Don’t you have better things to do than worry about me?”
“Sure I do.” She looked down and shuffled her huge feet. “It’s just that, well, I was hoping maybe someday we could be more than friends.” She reached out as if to touch him, and then dropped her huge hand. “You know.”
“More than friends.” For the first time since he’d met the giantess he realized she must have had her own reasons for helping him.
The thought that it was out of affectionate hope for a future together made him want to scrub out his brain with acid.
“Mirry, you’re the forbidden spawn of the King of Nightmares and an unlovely member of the nearly extinct Fae Phrygian.
I’m the forbidden spawn of inbred goblin royalty who tried to sacrifice me to parasitic crystals so they wouldn’t offend the dark Fae Queen and lose their kingdom. ”
“See?” Mirry lifted her head to beam at him. “We’re perfect for each other. Besides, you can’t use your magic on me, and vice versa, so we’re a no-harm-no-foul couple, too.”
“Even if we could mate without my crystals killing you or you maiming me with your sizeable attributes,” Bodach said through clenched teeth, “I’m not inclined to be the sort of pet-level lover you want.
I don’t find all that fur attractive, so I wouldn’t be able to rise to the occasion and perform to your expectations.
I enjoy being sadistic; you’re sentimental and overly affectionate. ”
She moved her massive shoulders. “You say tomato, I say toe-mah-toe.”
Had she completely forgotten his repulsive true appearance? Bodach wondered. “We were cast out of Elphyne because we’re both forbidden spawn so dangerous we could destroy the otherworld. Any progeny we might produce would likely make the universe collapse and devour itself.”
She stared at him, her eyes glittering wetly now. “You know, you’re really mean sometimes.”
“I’m being realistic, you duh, uh, dear friend.
” Knowing now she could smell his lies forced him to forego the usual vapidities he would have offered to soothe her pride.
“You’re one of the most powerful dark Fae in the mortal realm.
No one can match your knowledge of potions and melia magic, and humans all adore you.
You can command legions of immortal beaus from the ranks of the dark Fae outcasts here.
I’m sure that someday you will find a male worthy of serving as your mate. ”
“Quit saying that like I’m going to make the universe collapse, huh?” Evidently mollified, she smirked a little. “All right, then, have fun playing with your dead mortals. I’m going to head up to Yosemite and see if I can scare some campers.”
Bodach waited until she disappeared from sight before he pressed the heels of his pink, sore-riddled hands against his eyes.
He then went and opened the back of the rental truck and surveyed all the crates.
He’d have to tap his last reserve of red crystal to have enough power to bespell the revenants in the best condition to come and unload the artifacts.
He wished he’d thought of that before Mirry’s unwelcome visit.
“It doesn’t matter,” he muttered as he pried open the nearest crate, from which he pulled a long, heavy object wrapped in dry-rotted burlap.
Through the tears in the wrapping the blackened gleam of steel shone.
“Soon I’ll have what I need to leave all this behind and take the kingdom that should have been mine long ago. ”