Chapter Two - Part Two
By Darrell Walker
Darrell Walker's Homepage
Brian followed Marcus through the hallways of the freehold. He still hadn't figured this place out. On the outside it seemed an enchanted Faerie palace, while on the inside it resembled an alien starship. Brian glanced at the display and computer panels as they passed. They seemed to be spending a lot of time doing nothing. Marcus stood before a door. It opened with a slow hiss. "Wait in here, Brian." He motioned for Brian to enter the room. "I'll see you later."
The door closed behind Brian with a soft hiss. He stood in an opulent sitting room, decorated in Victorian style. Brian's mind goggled at the striking contrast of a Victorian chamber and a futuristic starship. He looked behind the other door in the room and found that it opened into a bedchamber. A huge round bed rested within the floor. The room smelled of sandalwood. The wispy silken tapestries covering the walls stirred in an unseen breeze. Brian closed the door to the room, feeling much more comfortable with the sitting room. He quickly found a table with some kind of punch. It tasted fruity and seemed to be more than a little alcoholic. Brian shook his head, downing a glass of the cool punch. The woman was trying to get him drunk!
Hours passed. Brian soon grew bored, deciding that Victorian rooms weren't very entertaining--there wasn't even a stereo. He plopped down on the thick rug in the middle of the hardwood floor. For the first time in hours he could think, and the previous events came crashing into his awareness. It was too much. Almost before he realized it, Brain’s hands were packing his pipe, full.
"Okay," Brian said to himself, puffing on his pipe, letting his body relax, and trying to order his confused mind. "It would seem I'm a Faerie." Brian thought about that, decided it was pretty cool. "Then it would follow that I can make magic of some kind." He thought about those monsters with the teeth freezing in front of them, they're eyes going wide in awe. His eyes widened. He'd already done it! Brian pulled the sword out of his belt, held it up before his eyes. The warm, golden light of the room glinted off the shining blade, which seemed to be some sort of blue steel alloy. Soulguider, the word seemed to whisper through his mind. Not just a word, he realized, a name. Soulguider.
Brian lowered the sword hastily as the door to the hallway slid open and Cassandra entered, the room seeming to grow warmer and more intimate with her arrival. "Brian, it's so nice to finally get a chance to talk with you. You wouldn't believe how busy I've been lately. It's a small miracle in and of itself that I noticed your Chrysalis. If it wouldn't have been for my Seer, Drugaurd, I wouldn't have realized your importance, my Prince." She bowed before him. Brian blushed. "You see, Dan has brought us together. I will help you with these first steps in your rise to power."
Brian shrugged, "If you say I'm a prince, then I'm a prince, but it's completely new to me."
"Oh, you're not a Prince any more, Brian," Cassandra said cryptically, "but soon you will be again. Soon." She shrugged, seeming to put the matter out of her mind. She smiled at Brian, and her eyes seemed to glitter. Or maybe it was just the light. Brian swallowed, suddenly feeling trapped. "I have looked forward to your arrival. You have no idea how much status having a Prince in my bed will give me."
"But I'm not in your bed," Brian stammered. But he was; his mind ground to a halt as reality seemed to quiver around him. He lay under the covers, naked, in the round bed he had seen earlier. This was impossible. Brian looked back to Cassandra and his heart stopped. She lay in the bed next to him, seeming to glow with an inner light. It was almost as if Brian could suddenly see infrared radiation and she was boiling hot. Her face radiated a surreal beauty that was nothing close to human. Brian's mind whirled, but his body seemed paralyzed. He couldn't move his eyes from her face. Gradually, he became aware of her heat beside him; she was naked too. Then she moved on top of him, her soft, firm body pressing down upon him. Brian couldn’t deny that her soft skin felt wonderful, but this was all wrong somehow. His mind was all muddled, and it wasn’t from the pot.
"Oh, I beg to differ," she purred, tracing a finger along his jaw. She felt him tremble at her touch. She doubted he would ever resist her, but if he tried the powerful Glamour she'd woven into her cantrip would keep him passive. She wasn't going to take any chances.
Brian's mind floated in a haze, watching events unfolding before him from a distance. Maybe he shouldn't have had that smoke....
Few can comprehend the supernatural beauty of the Sidhe. Had Brian known how highly the odds were stacked against him, he might not have tried so hard. In the end he could deny neither her beauty nor her power.
Afterwards, Brian slept, exhausted, and dreamed. He dreamed of a mortal woman with raven hair.
Brian groaned as the lights in the bedchamber came on, flooding the room with warm brilliance. He rubbed his fists in his eyes, yawning.
"Come on, Brian, it's time for breakfast. After that, I'm going to start teaching you the sword."
Brian squinted up at Marcus, his eyes slowly adjusting. "Sword practice?"
"Come on." Brian hurriedly got dressed and ran a brush through his hair as he followed Marcus out of the room.
"Where did Cassandra take off to?" he asked.
"I don't know the Lady's affairs," Marcus said, looking hard at Brian.
Brian brushed hotly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the knight. Brian followed him to a warm breakfast. He could barely eat the food the cook heaped onto his plate. His stomach was all twisted up. His mind whirled, trying to sort through the tangle of emotions Cassandra had left him with that morning.
Then he followed Marcus to a practice-room in the Freehold. It resembled a gym of some kind. There they took practice swords and Marcus began showing Brian basic techniques. Brian swung his sword, trying to guide it smoothly through the form, his face a mask of concentration. The feel of the sword in his hands felt familiar, and his body seemed to remember the motions. Brian's eyes flickered closed as he remembered....
...The assembled Fae cheered as Brian whirled, his sword flashing in his hands. The blade sliced into the troll facing him. The troll fell to his knees, groaning as Brian pulled out his sword. "Hail the victor!" the Sidhe cried, grabbing Brian's hand and thrusting it into the air. The crowd cheered again. Brain’s exultant smile faded as a Sidhe in black armor stepped up, his dark, curved sword at the ready. Brian turned in slow motion, his throat tightening at the feeling of evil flowing from the dark knight....
....Brian staggered, Marcus' sword had stabbed through his defenses. The blow knocked him to the ground. "Brian, you should have had that one," Marcus chided, his handing reaching down to help Brian to his feet.
Cassandra watched her Prince at play far below. She smiled to herself as she let the curtain fall back in place over the tower window. Already he looked more the Sidhe Knight and less the human teen-teenager. "Soon my Prince will be King, and he will need a Queen at his side--to guide him with her wisdom." Cassandra's smile widened. She would have to add on to the Freehold...."