(Note: this is an on-going story i am writing from my iPhone – forgive the typos please.)
My eyes were closed, but still I knew the sun was already up, and shining brightly in the sky. I could here the crows in the trees around me, the whole murder must have been hoping I was dead, the would have fed for days on me. Well, too bad my little crow brothers and sisters, find your breakfast somewhere else.
The thought occurred to me that they might want to check back tomorrow. They might find a buffet after tonight. I had death on my mind. Too long the Quiet War had been fought with sneers and silent atrocities, too long this insane diplomacy of clandestine warfare had endured; tonight I would set the sky on fire.
I opened my eyes, squinted as the sun beat down on me, and began to sit up. Sleeping beneath the fir trees might not have been the safest sleeping arrangements, but it had served the purpose. The dew on the grasses was my bath and morning drink as I made my way to the mound.
The mound is guarded, as it has been since the ice receded, by the Queen’s Demons. The Demons have been bred for this role within the mound. Less Fey and more monster, they are rarely seen within the Court, common faeries stand clear of them, and faeries fear little within the world that can be touched.
As I closed on the mound I felt them watching me, eyes of darkness and hate, seething and ready to devour me, hungry for my memories and the laughter I once knew. I saw the first of them come into focus, as if reality suddenly noticed he was there, and shown him so. He naturally stands two hands taller than I do, his hair is the color of the moonless midnight skies, right down to the starshine. A sneer strikes across his mouth, revealing fangs of blue teeth.
“Why approach, Blaise?” he asks is his ominous tones, singsong as they are. His left hand lays gently upon the hilt of his sword.
“I have no desire to fight you Conrad. This is not about you, or your Demon’s.”
“We stand to serve, and guard, our Queen. If you have issue with her, then you have issue with us.”
I look into his eyes, and could see my own fate there: destruction. I decided that I would pass into the mound, into the land of make believe and wonder, peacefully. I would find allies, if any were to be had, and then I would do this deed.
***
Stepping foot inside of the mound has always been a precious thing, like the first breath after a deep dive into the Pool of Thought. As your body slips into the shadow it seems to stretch into yesterday. For a moment there is no light, no sound, no sensation – just stillness; and then a brilliance not seen by mortal eyes is made corporeal. Streets of moss and clover, whispering, bubbleing streams of color-splash water run beside most of the walk-ways, inviting and ready to offer you a tiny sip; but that is the Queens Drink, and you must not partake.
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