Chapter 5 #2
‘When I was about ten or eleven, some men came. I noticed one had ears like mine. I was excited. So na?ve. Nanna, Soral, Bandy, Tash and I were by the river. They attacked us without warning, and I was knocked out. When I woke, the others were gone. Taken. They left me when they saw my ears, I suppose. They were there for humans, not fae. I found out later that they must have been slavers from the Dark Realms. They’d found a way into the Light, a way that shouldn’t have been possible after the Breach was closed to the Light, and they’d taken my family. ’
I let out a long breath, my pity for Locke strong, but my anger at him still stronger.
‘What happened to them?’ I ask quietly, looking down at my bread, but no longer wanting to eat anything.
‘I don’t know for sure. Sold into the Dark Realms is a certainty. I looked for years, but I never found a trace of them.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say, and I find that it isn’t a lie.
Even after what he’s done, my heart aches for the fae child who lost his brethren twice.
He shrugs, not looking at me now.
‘How did you get here?’ I ask and grit my teeth, at once wanting to take my next impulsive question back.
How did this turn into a discussion about his tragic past?
I don’t want to know any more about this man, this fae mage who lied to me, took me to the pits, stole my memories, put something in their place that made me do anything to live without remorse no matter who I hurt…
killed. I don’t want to feel sympathy for him, excuse his actions.
But I am curious, I realize. More than curious. Perhaps he worked some other conjure on me as well, one that makes me unable to ignore him despite my fury and my abject disappointment in his true character.
‘I travelled around the Light, joined some mercenary groups who modelled themselves after the disbanded mercenary army, the Dark Brothers. But nothing really stuck. I was young. Impulsive. Then, I met a man in a tavern one night. I’d begun to look more fae by then, and the humans were starting to notice.
He told me a story he’d heard about a village in the Ranges where it was said there were fae folk.
I hadn’t met any of my own kind, so I came here to find them. ’
He shrugs. ‘Anyway, joined the fae guard when I was told that the Underhill had a spy network who were saving humans who’d been taken as slaves to the Dark.
I suppose I thought I might find some clue as to where my family was taken.
When they realized I had an affinity for magick-wielding, they sent me to study conjuring in Dead City for a time. ’
‘Did you find what happened to your family?’
He shakes his head. ‘I never have. But that’s why we were in the Dark Realms, why we were travelling with Bere and his group of slavers. We’re trying to save humans, Bryn. That’s what all this has been about.’
‘A noble cause,’ I say quietly, pushing my plate away. ‘But not all humans. Only the ones from the Light. You don’t give a fuck about the slaves in the Dark Realm who were born into their chains.’
‘Bryn.’
His hand moves across the table as if he wants to touch me. I snatch my hand away, afraid he actually will, almost afraid I’ll let him.
‘It’s not that we don’t care,’ he says with a sigh. ‘We did try to save them. At first. At the beginning, all humans were welcome here. Even other creeds of Dark Realmers as well.’
I regard him with some surprise. I’m not sure what I thought, but it wasn’t that everyone had lived here all together.
‘Why not anymore?’
‘Because the ones who had been in the Dark Realms for too long or were born there… It’s as if they couldn’t live outside of their chains, Bryn.
Life out here was too different for them.
Some ran off in the middle of winter and were found dead in the thaw.
Others killed their brethren for scraps though everyone here is given a roof over their heads at the very least and never allowed to go hungry.
We tried putting the Light Realmers on one side and the Dark on the other, but that just made things worse. ’
He lets out a deep sigh and shakes his head a little.
‘Some of the Dark Realmers got it into their heads that the Light Realmers were keeping food hidden from them, that they were lying to them. One night, they started a fire and they killed more than twenty other humans. Some were from the Dark, but many were women and children who’d settled here after being stolen from the Light.
Then, they tried to get to the Underhill.
They weren’t successful, but the destruction of Halsford was complete.
The winter that year was very hard, even with the Underhill’s help. ’
I look away.
‘I’m not surprised, I suppose,’ I say softly, remembering the other humans I grew up with, lived with.
How they were with each other. With me. There was little honor amongst them.
They’d tell tales to the masters on each other to get a blanket or an extra portion of food without a second thought.
Many would betray their own kin for whatever they could get.
‘But they’re not evil, you know. There were some who were kind, who tried to make things better for the others.’
‘I don’t dispute that, Bryn,’ Locke says carefully, ‘but how can you trust such people when a small misjudgment of their character can cost you your life, your children’s lives, your home?’
I say nothing. I don’t have an answer.
‘Anyway, the fire was still smoldering when it was decided by the Underhill that the Dark Realmers could no longer stay here. It wasn’t my decision.
It wasn’t even Dane’s. But, now, only those from the Light Realm are permitted except with special permission, and there are strict rules for everyone. ’
‘So that’s why I have to go to the Council.’
‘Yes. I had hoped, since you helped with the mission, that Dane might be able to grant my request that you stay, but he says the Underhill won’t allow such things anymore.’
Locke stands, taking his empty plate to the sideboard.
‘We’ll enter the Hall as we did yesterday.
The Council will be in attendance. Dane, who you met.
Tavish, a human who owns the Trading Post in the village, Calder, a fae who’s also on the Fae Council, and two other humans called Wren and Shore.
An enforcer from the Underhill will take you aside.
Do not lie to him. He’ll know if you do. ’
‘And, after that, I’ll be allowed to stay?’ I ask, clasping my hands together only to release them when he notices.
He says nothing for a moment too long.
I frown at him, my heart beginning to beat faster. He said he’d bring me here, I realize. He nor the others ever said I could remain. That wasn’t part of the deal.
Tricky fae.
‘I’m going to do everything I can to ensure it,’ he promises. ‘The dress is part of that. Make sure your hair is combed and neat. You need to look the same as the others here. The Council is more likely to vote in your favor if they see you as the same as the Light Realmers at first glance.’
I nod jerkily. ‘I’ll make sure. Anything else?’
‘Yes. If that doesn’t seem to be working, we need another card to play. Jak said you weren’t born in the Dark Realms. You were taken from somewhere else?’
My jaw tightens. They’ve been talking about me. What else has Jak said?
‘It’s important,’ he says when I don’t answer.
I sigh.
‘I don’t remember myself, but that’s what I was told,’ I mutter, not telling him about the vague memory I have of the man in white and learning my letters, though I’m not sure why.
‘I was taken there as a child, young like you were. I remember trees, which didn’t grow in The Barrack, but that’s all. ’
‘What do you mean? You were taken to where?’ he asks with a puzzled expression.
‘The Barrack.’
‘You were there for that many years?’ His brow furrows. ‘I don’t understand. Why were you in The Barrack for so long? Why were you never sold? It was merely a stopping place, I thought. Slaves were resold quickly.’
So, Locke doesn’t know everything.
‘They couldn’t get rid of me,’ I tell him. ‘You heard Warrior, didn’t you? What he said in the pits?’
Locke nods. ‘I heard.’
‘Well, anytime they tried to get rid of me, someone would get hurt or die. Until you came.’
‘Until we came,’ he murmurs. ‘And you’ve always been…Kismet?’
‘As long as I can remember,’ I grind out. ‘And are you going to tell the Council, anyone else here?’
He looks at me sharply. ‘No, Bryn, and you shouldn’t either if you can help it.’
‘Shouldn’t be too difficult. I never speak about it,’ I say, standing up. ‘Warrior just had sharp eyes and telling Jak was…a mistake. But, just so I know, if I was of a mind to say something, why shouldn’t I?’
‘The humans here will think it’s proof that you’re Dark Realm. The Underhill may try to use you.’
Use me. I know about that. I shiver, remembering Warrior’s threats.
‘What for?’ I ask.
He sighs. ‘They aren’t evil, Bryn. They’re just ruled by fear.
Much has befallen them. The Council Five will do anything to ensure the safety of the Underhill.
That makes them dangerous to you. Tell them that you were taken to The Barrack from elsewhere, that you were told you weren’t from the Dark Realms, and leave it at that. ’
My lips thin. The Fae Council don’t sound much different from how Locke’s friend, Dane, described the Dark Realm slaves to my ears, but I don’t say my thoughts aloud. I doubt Locke can change the minds of the Underhill any more than I can.
‘But I’m not sure where I came from,’ I argue instead. ‘They never really said specifically. It was just implied. It might have been a Dark Realm. I have no way of knowing.’
‘Exactly. You don’t know. If you’re careful with your words, you can’t be caught in a lie.’
Locke pours himself and me some water from a jug and sits down again, drinking deeply. I eat my bread. My hunger hasn’t quite returned, but I’m thinking now that I might not get the chance to eat for a while.