Chapter 5 #2
“It is possible. But I would imagine Vane just moved that from elsewhere to here as that is simpler and there is no shortage of thrall beds in Vylenor.”
Kerik sits down on the pallet. “Magic is confusing.” he waves an arm in the air. “Everything about this place is confusing.”
“The mortal realm is also confusing. One can get used to either.”
Kerik says, “And the faerie kneeling on the cushion? The dark-haired one with the Queen? Is he the king?”
“He is not. I don't know his name. He’s new, but his position on the dais suggests he is Exeinil’s latest thrall. She does take consorts from time to time, but even then they would not be styled as king or anything like it.”
Kerik looks down at the thrall bed. “I assume I am allowed to sit here?”
“Actually, you should not sit without permission to do so, but you may do as you will in this chamber when we are not observed.”
“What a generous Master. I will become spoilt.” Kerik lies back on the thrall bed, stretching out, giving Perl a display of his well-shaped body. “And this is where I am to sleep?”
“As I said, you can do as you will, in this chamber unobserved. You can take the bed, if you wish. Or we can take turns.”
“You’re not worried about someone finding out you sleep on the floor with your thrall in your fine bed? You have already told the court you are besotted with me. Perhaps we ought to sleep in the bed together with me at your feet, ready for service. If you can resist me.”
Perl sniffs. “I can resist you.”
“Are you sure?”
Curtly Perl says, “I am chaste. I have no interest in such things.”
Kerik looks quite surprised at this. Although he cannot know quite how strange it truly is. Men in Azuria take such vows for all kinds of reasons, but chastity is unheard of for the fae. For Perl, however, such a thing is necessary.
“Very well,” Kerik says, his surprised expression turning to one of bald amusement.
“So, if you can bring yourself to explain one more thing to me. How about you tell me why you kept me locked up for five years and what we’re actually doing here.
You said there was no time to explain, but surely we have time now. ”
“It is a very long tale.”
“I like a long tale.”
Perl nods. He does owe Kerik Darekul an explanation for what he has done to him. And he always knew that when he woke Kerik from sleep he would have to give it. He just never expected to be doing it in his old chambers in Vylenor. “Have you ever heard of the Bellator?” he says.
“The demons?”
“They are more than simply demons.”
“Are they? All I know of the Bellator is a children's story.
A fable that long ago the world was ruled by Bellator demons who drove out the fae from the world, but when the fae were gone they enslaved all the men, so the fae decided to get revenge by ridding the world of them and they sent five fae princes with five magic swords to destroy them.
The Hevelikar claimed to be descended from these fae princes, but of course that was Hevelikar lies. It's just an old story.”
“The reality is a little more complex.”
Kerik frowns. “The reality? You mean that story is real? The fae really did send five princes to fight demons?” He looks as if he does not think the fae could fight anything.
Perl sits down on the bed. It makes a soft, familiar creak.
It is time to tell this story. The story.
A story he has told before. “It is true. But the real story is this. Long, long ago, a thousand, thousand years ago, the fae and the demons lived in the Amber Forest, one of the most magical places in this world. While the demons chose to remain in the forest, the fae travelled. They lived in Azuria, Ismagaar, Fanost and Vashti and on Pluma. Over time the fae realm stretched into Jur-Mattan, Klish and Sofilio in the east and far into The Waste.”
Kerik scoffs. “There are no fae in any of those places. Most men don’t believe the fae existed at all, and even the ones that do, claim the fae only lived here, in these frozen isles. And only long ago.”
“And yet…?” Perl glances around the chamber.
Kerik gives a grudging nod of acceptance. “I suppose so. Faeries certainly do seem to exist.”
“And perhaps you can begin to accept that some things that you were taught are not actually the case. Although the fae realm may have diminished in size, there is evidence of us everywhere in the lands where we once dwelt. You have surely seen fae ruins? The glossy black stone called archenwud that is actually wrought from the wood of magical trees in the Amber Forest. They are all over the Fanosti plains.” Perls stops and smirks.
“I forget, you have never been to Fanost.”
Kerik rolls his eyes. “I thought you were telling me about why you abducted me, not trying to convince me that all the lands of the Azurian Empire really belong to the fae because of some old ruins.”
“The fae no longer claim those lands. What is done was done long ago. But there are other fae ruins that you do not know have such origins. You have lived in many buildings that are built with fae magic. The Rose Palace, for example, was built from the ruins of the Hevelikar Rose Temple, using the stones created with fae magic. Those pink stones that sparkle in the light do so because of fae magic. They are also wrought of archenwud, spell-forged so they turned rose-pink instead of the usual black. There are more such structures you will have seen. The Starlight Tower where I kept you for five years is an old fae keep. Ceruleum was once a great fae city and the fae built the Ivory Palace, now the property of your father. And there are more: The Caverns of Voluptue, a source of powerful erotic magic and The Pillars of the Gleam.”
Kerik holds up his palms. “I see. And I suppose that could be true. These are all strange buildings with mysterious origins. And what does any of this have to do with me and why you decided to abduct me?”
Perl nods and says, “I did tell you it was a long story. Perhaps if you could simply let me tell it you would understand. As the fae lands expanded the fae split into three distinct groups. The Bell-ai who lived in the colder parts of the world, the Jura-il who lived in warmer lands and the Merek-dur who lived below the sea.”
“So which are you?”
“Clearly, I am Bell-ai. Ice fae. The Jura-il are very rare in these times and the Merek-dur no longer leave the sea. Because of course, that golden age of the fae ended long ago. Due to some terrible misadventures. Because of some things the Bell-ai did.”
Kerik leans in, as if finally interested. “What did you do?”
“Once the Bell-ai lived all over Ismagaar and in Northern Azuria. And some of them still lived in the Amber Forest, where, you will recall, the demons also lived. Those demons were not what you would call demons. They were slow creatures, who lived mostly underground. Strong, but quite simple. More like beasts. Some Bell-ai fae had ambitions to wipe out the other races of fae and take their lands and oceans, but the Bell-ai fae could not survive in the warmer lands of the Jura-il or beneath the sea. They thought the demons could help them. Demons seemed to be able to live anywhere untroubled. So those fae bred with the demons of the Amber Forest. At the beginning it did not work, the babes did not survive, but the Bell-ai were determined and eventually they successfully mixed their blood with the forest demons. This created a new race of creatures. The Bellator. But the Bellator were not what the Bell-ai fae expected. The Bellator did not want to fight for the Bell-ai in their battles with other fae. They were stronger than the fae and far more intelligent than the forest demons. They had fae blood and many of them had magical abilities. Some think the Bellator may even have stronger magical abilities than the fae who sired them, drawing on the natural power of the Forests of Amber. These creatures, the Bellator, are more like what you would think demons to be. This happened a thousand, thousand years ago, around the time mortals were beginning to come to the fae lands from The Cradle. Perhaps drawn there by the Bellator, or perhaps for no reason other than the simple changes of time. The Bell-ai gave up on trying to use the Bellator as soldiers for their war and left them in the forest. For many years all the races of the world lived on the land in their different ways. The three different types of fae, the Bellator, the mortals and the few forest demons who had survived what the Bellator had done. Although even they died out in time. Or seemed to.”
“So, the Bellator aren't actually demons?”
“They are demons with fae blood, created by the Bell-ai fae.” Perl takes a breath.
“For a long time the Bellator mostly lived in the Amber Forest, but mortal men were starting to live there too. The Bellator had grown in number and there was one who you might think of as a king. In the texts he is sometimes called The King of the Earth. Life was hard then, in the Amber Forest. There was famine and harsh winters and The King of the Earth told the mortal men of the Amber Forest that the fae were their enemies and the cause of all their hardship. The Bellator persuaded those men to join with them and make war upon the fae. The Bellator would help the men drive the fae north, into The Waste and the isles beyond Ismagaar. They even told the men they would require a tribute to help them do this.”
“A tribute? Even though it was their idea?”
Perl nods. “The Bellator are as wily as the fae. As good at making slippery bargains. They told the men they would have to make a sacrifice. A great one. And the men of the Amber Forest agreed that the Bellator could take some distant isles. Or the lives on them. These were the most eastern of the Klishian isles. Pia and Prim.”
“Pia and Prim?” Kerik frowns. “So this is a Priam story? Pia and Prim the lost Klishian isles sunk to the bottom of the Priam Sea. They aren’t real.”