The Knights of the Faerie Queens, Part 9

A Demand For Alliance

The Knights of the Faerie Queens is a dark fantasy serialized novel. Two fey, charged with keeping their queens and their Courts safe, must hunt down a savage monster—no matter what secrets, creatures, and curses stand in their way.

In Part 8, the Wildlings revealed what information they had about the monster.

Caden broke the tense silence first, standing up and stepping back to his friends. He pressed his hand to Isayr's chest, physically pushing the werewolf back a step as he said, "We are here in peace, and that means in word also. Hold your tongue."

Isayr glared at him, but accepted the rebuke with a nod.

Seren stood and clasped her hands together. "The sun is on its way to sleep, and we have all been traveling for much of the day." She glanced at Caden, and the fey nodded. She smiled at him, then switched her gaze to Desma. "I suggest we take a break for food. And may I invite you all to the Star Court for dinner? It won't be our usual fare, but there should be enough to please everyone."

As Caden and Desma accepted, and the Shadow Court fey began to join the Star Court and the Wildlings on the same side of the river, Kestrel sank into the shadows of the pavilion. He didn't go far--just to the foot of the cliff, where the spray from the waterfall immediately dampened the side of his hair and his left shoulder. He wasn't avoiding the other fey, but he needed more time to study the Wildlings. To process the disquieting memories the light haired fey--Ekta--had dredged up.

Kestrel sat on a boulder, curling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them, watching the Wildlings. Even with Seren's invitation, they stayed a little apart from the rest of the fey--everyone else smiled, or introduced themselves, or welcomed them, but there was still a little bubble of space between them and the Wildlings. Whether that was because of the Court fey, or the Wildlings, he couldn't tell. Caden and the winged fey seemed to do most of the talking, while the two werewolves stayed silent, busying themselves by building a small firepit near the edge of the aspen clearing. Ekta hovered close beside Caden and the winged fey, but he was glancing back and forth, his brows scrunched into a puzzled frown.

Probably looking for me. Kestrel frowned, tentatively allowing himself to think back.

The earliest memories were happiest, he knew that. He remembered sitting at the edge of a sprawling, shallow pool of river, combing through fine sand and pebbles. His mother sat beside him, her quick fingers sorting through the rocks, tossing the discarded ones into river with loud glops, laughing when one of the stones landed into a cluster of water skimmers, making them scatter. "Oh look, Rel--I found one!" A white stone nestled in her palm, the flat surface etched with tiny, ring-like fossils. Water splashed over both of them, his father's voice shouting, "Stop digging for more rocks to bring home and come swim!" His mother picking him up, tossing him into the pool, and his father catching him before his toes had done more than graze the surface of the water.

The dark reflection of the trees hanging over the pool rippled, rose in jagged waves, became real tree branches overhead. The sound of something tearing, like thick, heavy cloth being torn in two, pressed in on him, stealing his breath and making his heart gallop.

Kestrel let out a gasp, shaking his head as he shoved the memories away. With a start, he found himself still curled up on the rock beside the waterfall. His left shoulder was soaked. Kestrel gripped the wet cloth in his hand, feeling it squish in his fingers, the cold dampness of it, the smell of wet wool and mossy rocks. His hair curled against his cheek, the cold brush of it startling him. There was a cold fist around his chest, crushing his lungs.

"Kestrel!"

Kestrel jerked his head up and nearly tipped off the rock. "Jasper!" He let go of his crumpled shirt shoulder, straightening up. It was dusk--the aspen leaves glimmered with the last wash of sunset, and he could see several campfires dotting the clearing, with fey busy around them preparing and cooking food. The scent of roasted meat and vegetables mingled with the smell of the woodsmoke.

"Sorry to startle you." Jasper held out his hand and, as Kestrel grasped it, helped him up to his feet. Jasper patted Kestrel gently on the shoulder. "All you all right? Wouldn't have thought you to be a loner, that seems like more of a Shadow Court thing."

"Or a Wildling thing?" Kestrel nodded to the further campfire, where he could see the outline of Sorley's wings against the flames. He couldn't see the others very distinctly from this far away, but he doubted they'd stray far from each other.

"Speaking of Wildlings." Jasper glanced over the gathered fey and frowned slightly. "He must be talking to Seren like I suggested."

Kestrel's heart jolted, an instant of panic that he wasn't there with Seren before he calmed himself. It wasn't like anyone would try to harm her here, in the middle of so many fey. "Who?"

"Ekta. The luxfey."

Luxfey? Kestrel frowned. He wasn't familiar with that type of fey. "What does Ekta want with Seren?"

"Well, actually, he's looking for you. He came and found me right after everyone got settled. I guess some of the Wildlings are still willing to talk to me." Jasper's lips twitched into a snarky smile. "He's at the pavilion."

Kestrel's stomach twisted. Why was Ekta talking to Seren? Why was he so eager to find him?

Wordlessly, a knot clogging his throat, Lestrel followed Jasper through the scattered groups of fey to Seren's pavilion. The two queens sat at a low table, and Ekta knelt next to Seren as they conversed in low voices. Ekta spotted them and scrambled to his feet, long limbs looking awkward as he tried to avoid bumping into Seren or Desma or toppling something from the table.

"Rel!" he said, sending a jolt of surprise up Kestrel's spine.

How does he know my nickname?

"I wasn't sure that it was you, but I didn't think there could be that many fey with that color of hair!"

Kestrel frowned. "What?"

Ekta pressed his hands together, fingers twining and untwining around each other as he fidgeted. He glanced at Seren.

"I told you," she said gently, "he doesn't remember much about his life before he came to the Star Court."

It wasn't entirely accurate, but at this moment Kestrel wasn't going to correct her. Besides, for all Seren knew, his memories truly were gone...he'd never shared the half-dream, half-nightmare pieces of his life before that would sometimes come to him in the moments between sleep and wakefulness. He'd never gone chasing those moments himself, not until now.

"Not to mention he doesn't see colors, so he might not know about his hair," Jasper said in a light, joking tone.

Kestrel rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jasper, no one has ever pointed out that I have lavender-colored hair before. I have absolutely no idea what color my hair is."

The snarky comments had the desired effect--the tension in the pavilion broke as everyone quietly chuckled.

"Sorry," Ekta apologized, bowing a little to Seren and nearly knocking a cup off the table. "Sorley's always telling me I need to clean the wax out of my ears and listen better." He glanced at Kestrel hesitantly.

"Seren's right, I don't remember my life outside of the Court," Kestrel lied, the taste of the words bitter in his mouth. I remember my parents. I remember you, somehow...

Ekta fidgeted again, then said, "Can--can we talk somewhere privately?"

Kestrel nodded, and the two of them left the pavilion, walking to the edge of the forest. Ekta paused right on the edge of the dim light, just as it became hard to see. Kestrel stopped and faced him, desperately wishing that he could take a few steps further and disappear into the shadows. He'd once thought that he would welcome anything or anyone who knew of his family outside of the Court, but instead of feeling excited and joyous, his stomach roiled, and he tasted bile in the back of his throat. Why was he upset to the point of making himself sick?

Ekat fidgeted with the corner of his tunic, staring into the dark shapes of the guardian holly trees as if he suspected that something lurked beyond the border. Kestrel noticed that here, in the semi-darkness, the glowing effects of Ekta's eyes, hair, and freckles seemed more pronounced. The tall, skinny fey turned, and the glow ghosted behind him, momentarily giving his hair a pale halo.

That can't be a good trait to have in the Deepwoods.

"I'm your cousin," Ekta suddenly blurted out. He ruffled his fingers through the hair over his forehead, smoothing it to one side. "I keep trying to figure out a way to ease you into it, but I don't think there is a way to do that, so...there it is. Cousin. We're cousins. My dad's sister was your mother."

Kestrel blinked, but before he could say anything, another memory intruded. A smaller version of Ekta--maybe around five years old, though still tall and stick-like--skipping down a leaf-strewn path, singing something about picking blackberries. He was swinging a basket, and with every swing, blackberries tumbled from the basket, splotching the path with purple juice.

Another memory. Ekta's hair glowing in such a strong, sudden burst of light that it made him wince to even remember it.

"You remember!" Ekta said.

Kestrel nodded, heart thumping in his throat and ears. "You still do the..." He gave up and made a flaring motion with his hands. "I remember. You used to do it to scare off the fireflies."

Ekta laughed, and the glow of his hair and freckles and eyes brightened a little, washing out the other features of his face. "I'd forgotten about that." He grabbed Kestrel's arms, pulling him into a tight hug. "We never thought we'd find you again!"

Kestrel returned the hug, arms tightening around Ekta as the memories snuck in. Ekta's joyful cackle was only different in that it was deeper, the laugh of an adult rather than that of a child. He felt the same--skinny and bony, Kestrel's head only coming up to his ribs. Even when they were children, Ekta had always been the taller.

"I remember you," he stammered again, fingers curling into the back of Ekta's shirt. An anchor in the shadows.

Family.

He had a family outside the Court.

Thank you for reading this installment of The Knights of the Faerie Queens!