4. Timas
Chapter 4
Timas
“ K ing Timas, please come in.” I walk into the royal seer’s chambers, taking in the dark curtains and furniture that decorate the sitting room as incense fills the air. I think the seer mentioned once it was called Aloeswood, which is good for meditation, a fact I don’t need to know. Large paintings of seers long since dead hang on the walls, and I have always found their cloudy, white eyes disturbing. This particular seer has been around for almost five hundred years, serving me and my father before me. The last time I sat with her, she told me I needed to ‘seek the humans’ to solve my problem. ‘Absolutely insane,’ or at least that’s what I thought. But now the body count has increased to fifteen of my best spies and three of my best assassins, not counting all the people who have returned from the trip and have lost their minds.
“Would you care for tea or prefer to get right to it? I see you have returned to perhaps heed my advice?”
My shoulders tense. Does she think I am some petulant child who is not listening to her? A King must do his due diligence. I am not just hoping it will resolve itself, I have been working hard trying to solve this problem. Involving ourselves with the humans has never ended well, not to mention the council has been pushing back harshly on the idea that humans need to be involved at all. The trade agreements are enough for them.
It is well-known that we, the Fae, believe we are better than the humans and the Orcs. I confess this to be an accurate sentiment, but I try not to convey any conceit about it. I must show some sense of acceptance, seeing as I am the face of the Day Court. The Fae people are more refined and intelligent than the races of the continent—even the Night Court, before their exile, could claim that. For hundreds of years, we have sought ways to deal with our problems that don’t include gathering an army and conquering, though that might be the way of the past now.
The murders have not stopped, though they aren’t as frequent as they first were. We instituted stricter protocols for entering Sonas, requiring rigorous inspections before entering the city by the port. But it continues, and I am at the end of my patience even with the council. My people are not safe or at peace, and if I have to raise an army, I will do so in order to protect them.
I have tried every other way we could think of—inviting the humans might be our best chance at this point.
“Sit, sit.” I breathe out my annoyance and go and sit on one of the high-back plush chairs.
“I knew you would return. You were not ready to hear what I had to say last time.” The seer fiddles with her dress as she gets comfortable.
“Then why did you say anything at all? ”
“You needed to feel like you did all you could before returning to me,” she says with a cheer that I do not feel. She is such an odd woman dealing with the future. You would think she would be cold and off-putting, but she has always been very cheery but in an eerie way.
“Seer, I do not wish to play games. How do I stop them from killing my people? Stop them from trying to kill me?”
“Yes, they do seem rather determined to kill you. It’s interesting, don’t you think? You are the most powerful Fae King we have seen in centuries. As to your question: the first step, as I had said, is to connect with the humans. You need their support.”
“I do not know how that is going to root out the night court and stop this senseless slaughter. They won’t even tell us what they want. They just kill indiscriminately. In addition, you haven’t explained what kind of support I need from the humans. Your vague words lead me to no answers, more guessing than resolution.”
“Yes, it is rather pointless without a reason, though maybe their reason is more than you know.” What? Did that even make sense? “As you know, looking into the future is difficult. There are many possible outcomes, and I can’t tell you exactly what will happen.”
I feel my frustration rising with every word she speaks, causing a mild headache. I’m trying to take deep breaths, but my power is building up, and if I’m not careful, I will unintentionally expel it from my body. The floor starts to shake as I try to reign in the raw energy that pulses through me. All I seek is a straight answer, a clear path! It has been over a year of this, and I am getting to the end of myself.
Electricity crackles under my skin. If I looked in a mirror, I know my eyes would be darkened with faint lines of lightning crossing them. I like to think I don’t get angry easily, but this has been going on for far too long. The seer has information, and I swear she is being deliberately evasive.
“My King, I do not mean to agitate you—-this is just the facts of trying to see the future. To give too much and the fates would be mad, and to give too little, well…actually, giving too little doesn’t matter because the future would just be the future. Never mind, here is what I can tell you. You must invite the eligible women of the Human Kingdom to the spring festivals.”
“What! Why?”
“This is the first step in getting the support you need. You will find something valuable, and without it, you will be unable to stop the storm coming your way.”
I lean my arms on my knees and run my hands through my hair. The last thing I want to do is have several humans wandering the palace at such a critical time for my people. Opening our borders could also allow for more assassins to come in unnoticed. The 'sun' forbid one of them is attacked here, and I have to explain that to the High King.
Plus, the spring festival is a time for the Fae people to celebrate the new life about to grow on the islands and the time when Fae couples often come together and find love. This would be the first time humans have joined us for this festival, at least as long as I have lived. The last time I remember them coming was when my father invited a delegation for a visit over one hundred years ago. I was one hundred and fifty at the time and spending way too much time trying to avoid royal responsibility.
Pushing the memory of that conversation out of my mind, I focus on today. It’s been three months since I spoke to the seer, and today is the day that the nobles from the Human Kingdom will be arriving. The sun rises in the east over the channel, reflecting its light and causing it to dance on the waves. The smell of roses and lavender floats through my bedroom window, reminding me that not everything in this world is frustrating. It’s peaceful this early in the morning, and I try to soak up what little of it I can before it gets busy. Spring has finally come to the Day Court, and the Spring Festival is about to begin—an exciting time for the people. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this festival. Hopefully, this will go a long way in allying with the Human Kingdom. It’s the only thing I could come up with from the advice the seer gave me. Though I have no idea how it will help, this ‘support’ is supposed to be somewhere in the Human Kingdom.
Inviting the most influential human figures and eligible women to our festival proved to be an excellent opportunity to make connections and show good faith to the High King. Despite my council’s objections, I don’t see any other way to put on such a display. We have sequestered ourselves away from the continent, perhaps this will show our desire for an alliance. Maybe we need them as a proxy army? I am unsure. They share a border with the Shrouded Forest—perhaps that is the way we need to get in. It makes more sense to do that than go through the constantly unstable Orc lands on the continent’s eastern side.
Despite the opportunities, never in my two hundred and fifty years did I imagine I would invite the humans into our city. They have historically been greedy and power-hungry, and for a race that has no special powers or abilities, they think rather highly of themselves. I am still determining how this will help us, but I’m desperate and out of options.
These murders are causing tension between me and my people. They are losing faith in my abilities to protect them. I can’t blame them, but I am determined to be the King they need. Bringing the humans here was a good idea—I can only pray it is not a mistake.
Lost in my thoughts, I hear a knock on the door of my chambers.
“Enter!” The guard stationed in front of my door walks in and hands me a message orb. He bows deeply and exits the room. Turning the orb around in my hand, it floats above my palm, I start to read its message, pulsing with light on each word.
“Your Majesty, the first of the human caravans have arrived. The council requests a meeting with you before you attend to other duties.” The orb puffs in the air, leaving a light mist in its wake. It is a faerie device used to send messages and can only be heard by the person it is intended for. It is a very secure device for private messages, though I wonder why my chamberlain wouldn’t tell me directly. Perhaps it is because we have so many new guests arriving.
The door opens again, and my second-in-command, Milori, walks in.
“Good morning, your Majesty.” Glaring at him, I head towards my closet to grab my clothes. “Oh, stop being such a grumpy kitten. We have guests. This should be fun!”
“First, kittens aren’t grumpy, they’re cute. Second, this is not fun. This is stressful. You should be far more stressed than I am, seeing as you oversee the security of the ENTIRE palace.”
“Did you just say cute ? You are a softy at heart.“ He clasps his hands and bats his eyes at me. What an idiot.
“Don’t make me regret the choice to make you my second in command.”
“Who else were you going to choose? No one else would put up with your insanity day in and day out.”
“I’m the King. It would be required whether they like to put up with me or not.”
“Obviously. Well, I came by to see if you need to spar—perhaps releasing some of that pent-up stress would be healthy.”
“As much as I want to best you yet again in a sparring match, the council has requested a meeting.” Milori groans at that. Honestly, his behaviour is unprofessional, but he only acts this way around me and never in front of others.
“What do they want? We know they aren’t happy and that we don’t trust them. Let’s simply ignore them and do what we want. ”
“As enticing as that sounds, I refuse to act like the Night Court. The Night Court King did not value outside input, and they were exiled for it.”
“That is a very short and holey summary of what happened at the Night Exodus.”
Grabbing my robe, I slip my arms through the holes. “That may be, but I refuse to go down that slippery slope. So I will hear what they have to say and then I will spar with you, though I don’t know why you like losing so much.”
“Ha, just you wait! I have a few new tricks up my sleeve.”
“You know, I think you need to find a bond. You spend way too much time getting beat by your King.”
“I’ll get bonded when you do—which is when, by the way? Rumour has it you are picking a human bond! How scandalous .“ He whispers that last bit.
“You know I am waiting for my Spirit bond.” Milori goes quiet at that. There hasn’t been much I have ever really wanted. I have dedicated my life to my people, but one thing I have always wanted is my Spirit Bond. The elusive bond that connects two Faes so wholly together that nothing can pull them apart. When their spirits intertwine, this unbreakable bond between the two is formed. It has been an increasingly rare occurrence among our people since exiling the Night Court. Scholars have guessed it is because our spirit bonds are in the night court, but those are only theories. I do not want a chosen bond, I want the unbreakable love of my spirit bond.
“You’ll find her, Timas.” I nod because, after two hundred and fifty years, I’m beginning to lose hope. But that’s not what I need to focus on right now. Right now, I need to focus on the human caravans and the council.
“Let’s go. Let’s see what they have to say.” I say to Milori as I head to the door. This is going to be a long week.