It was almost time....
"Why are we here?"
There was a note of desperation in the man's voice now; confusion, fear. It was not the first time he has asked the question. But she could smell it now, the vague edge of terror seeping from his pores. Fae turned to the man, chained to the wall spread-eagled, and sniffed the air. She crouched, naked, her long pale hair falling over her shoulders to trail in the dirt and shadows of the floor. She watched him intently for awhile, waiting for him to stop his struggling and look at her again. When he did she grinned suddenly and, slowly, ever so slowly, raised one thin finger in front of her lips. Shhh..., she told him with the gesture. Be quiet now….The man simply stared at her. Fae threw back her head and laughed.
She had been so different when he had first seen her the day before; small and blond, smiling helplessly up at him. She looked very much the lady, dressed in shimmering pale blue robes of airy light, her blond hair bound and curled, piled high and adorned with sparkling gems of blue and white. She had waited for just the right time for him to appear there near the Keep. So handsome; so brave in his bearing.
Help me, she had asked, turning helpless blue eyes up to him. I am so lost. Canst thou tell me the way back to town? I must get home right away. Just the right note of trembling breathlessness. Just the right amount of shattered pride. I fear I wandered farther than I should. Mine Papa warned me of such a thing. Now I'm afraid he will be so angry. Thou wilt not tell him?! O, please! Tears now, just enough to complete the tableaux. O, what will I do?
My Lady, he had bowed as expected. So handsome; so brave in his bearing. Do you have a rune to your home? I can gate you there and see you home safely before your father even knows you are gone.
And placing one small thin hand in his outstretched palm, she drew forth a rune with her other hand and smiled dazzlingly at him. Thou'rt most kind, Sire. Most kind….
He had not seemed overly surprised when they had stepped from the gate into the snowy windswept cold at the steps of a vast stone tower. She smiled up at him again, tugging at his hand which was still held firmly in her own. She produced a thin iron key and winked at him. He blinked in surprise, but she smiled again before he could say anything: Come inside a moment, before Thee go, she said, opening the door and gesturing him before her. My Master will want to thank thee for seeing me safely home....
Your Master? he said suddenly, feeling her hand slip from his even as the heavy iron doors clanged shut behind them, plunging the room into the wavering light of a few meager torches. He turned and in the shadowy darkness he saw that the woman has somehow grown thinner, her features sharper. With a start he realized that this was not the same woman at all. Even as she sidled closer to him, the beautiful smile replaced by a grinning leer, the once shimmering robes shifted somehow into shadows and then nothingness at all. And the piled be-jeweled hair was, at once, nothing more than the memory of torchlight, now pale long strands shifting in the shadows.
He was not frightened, not at first. Where did she go? he asked, backing disdainfully away from her outstretched fingers and leering grin.
Where did who go? Fae said in the noblewoman's voice. And then threw back her head and cackled at the man's surprise and recognition.
Just as suddenly she stopped laughing and crouched. But the grin remained just as he stepped back away from her one final time, into the wall behind him. At once, cold iron shackles sprang up from nowhere and caught his wrists and ankles, drawing them up and apart while Fae watched, fascinated.
For hours, one day into the next, she had crouched peering up at the human; watching intently as he struggled and tried to free himself to no avail.
Why are we here? he would ask over and over again. Fae had only replied with a grin or, sometimes, a laugh.
It wasn't until she could smell the vague edge of terror in his voice that she had answered, first grinning wildly at him, then raising a thin finger to her lips. Shhh….Be Quiet now…. Then, rising to stand on tip-toe, she pressed herself against his side and murmured quietly into his ear, "Master is coming now…." Grinning against his neck, enjoying his shudder, Fae slowly pointed past him, watching him follow her finger with his wide eyes, as a thin sliver of blue light suddenly rent the air. "He is here," she whispered into his ear again, then flicked out her tongue to touch his earlobe. He shuddered, and Fae grinned, dropping into a crouch at the man's feet. The man began to struggle harder as the gate manifested itself in the gloom.
Then Yallum stepped from the gate. He eyed the chained man, then Fae crouching at the man's feet. And smiled, hefting an emerald-inlaid skull before them. "It is time," he said.
Fae began to laugh.