Obsidian Prince, page 22
Those among the crowd reacted to John when he said that one word. The woman in the creek was among them. She stepped onto shore, taking a human shape in a blue and green dress with a bell-shaped skirt and corset forming a V at her waist. Shiny black hair was parted in a perfect line with little twisted buns over each ear framing a broad face with native American features. The other native Fae moved to stand with the woman who stood straight-backed and chin high. In oddly accented, but clear, crisp English, she said, “We will not leave this land, no matter who rules. Many of us hid in our other forms when they told us we must go. We will fight to stay.”
Alexander shook his head. “I’m not asking anyone to leave. That was a long time ago. If you wish to join society again, my people will help you make new homes here. I only ask that you obey modern law.” He gestured at Detective Jackson. “Find your place in Normal society or continue your sleep here. As you choose.”
The woman nodded to Alexander, then to John with a look of relief. “Dudanilvtsv. Agreed.”
She turned to speak to the other native Fae rapidly in a language Liliana didn’t know.
Alexander looked at John for a translation.
He shrugged. “I only know a few words of old Cherokee Tsalagi.”
Alexander raised a stone eyebrow. “I suspect it would be a good idea to learn more.”
“Yes, sir. There’s some basics on line, I think.” John pointed at the cypress Fae still on his knees, tears streaming from his eyes . “I know some of the old plains Indian trade hand language, too?” He made it a question to Alexander.
“Do what you can.” Alexander nodded permission for him to leave his post.
John turned behind him. “SET squad is yours, Corporal. Absolutely no firing unless one of us is directly attacked or the Colonel orders it.”
A young fox-kin with three tails stepped forward. “Yes, sir.”
Lieutenant Runningwolf slung his weapon over his shoulder by its carry strap, shifted to his less intimidating human form, and walked toward the man who had been a great spreading cypress by the creek with scars that looked like lightning strikes.
The rest of the non-native Fae stood peacefully in a line in front of the prince under Siobhan’s, Pete’s, and Detective Jackson’s watchful eyes.
Liliana wanted to go to the cypress man. His anguish tore at her heart. Defeat and hopelessness saturated every line of his body and his aura. “He needs healing,” she said softly, touching Doctor Nudd’s hand. “And not just of the body.”
After getting a nod of permission from Alexander, Doctor Nudd joined John. “Perhaps I can be of assistance?”
John nodded. “He sure looks like he could use a doctor.”
Carefully, and slowly, hands out, they approached the wounded native cypress Fae.
Liliana couldn’t help. She had to watch with her first and third eyes the line of Fae approaching her prince. Each dropped to a knee or some semblance of a knee, and stated what they wanted to do, whether sleep again or join society, stay or leave. If they intended to stay, Alexander asked for an oath of fealty to himself, and an oath to follow the modern laws of the land, both Normal and Other. The second oath he required the Fae to swear to Detective Jackson, as a representative of the human law, much to her surprise. And theirs.
Liliana’s third eyes let her spot honesty or deception, which she murmured to Alexander so he would know the true depth of emotion of those who swore loyalty to him.
With her fourth eyes, she watched John and Doctor Nudd slowly approach the cypress Fae, yearning to help him herself. The power and pain that radiated from him was compelling and heart breaking.
The man watched them warily, still blinking with tears still flowing, but his eyes now tracked the big custom automatic weapon John carried.
“Hang up a sec, Doc.” John lifted the carry strap slowly over his head and deliberately laid the weapon on the ground in front of the ancient Fae.
“Nvwadohiyada.” John repeated the word he’d said before. “Peace. We don’t have to fight.” He held up his empty hands.
The native cypress Fae shook his head slightly. He pointed to his ear. Blood trickled down the side of his neck.
John winced in sympathy. “He took that flashbang right in the face.”
“I can help.” Nudd held out a hand toward the man’s face. “If you will permit me?” He eased carefully closer, making sure the man saw every movement. He gave him every opportunity to avoid his touch.
The cypress Fae clenched his jaw. His body tensed as if expecting some sort of attack, but he let Nudd touch the side of his face.
The old oak goblin closed his eyes. His healing magic flowed like water freed from a dam. Green light gushed from his fingertips and washed over the cypress Fae. The glow didn’t just soak into his ears, but flowed over his whole body, suffusing him in healing light so bright it lit the entire clearing, outshining the sun in broad daylight.
The rest of the awakened creatures gasped in awe, both native and immigrant.
The ancient Fae stiffened for a moment, then sagged, eyes drooping with deep relief. He murmured something in a language Liliana didn’t understand, then blinked. “Doctor.” He spoke in accented English. He raised a filthy hand that shook to touch the gnarled hand on the side of his head. He squeezed Nudd’s hand, a look of gratitude on his face. “The pain is … gone now. I hear and see clearly again.” He touched his chest and belly where not even scars remained of the horrible gaping wounds he’d had before.
Nudd looked at his own hand with astonishment. His gift had never manifested so powerfully.
“Sorry about the stun grenade,” John said.
The cypress man’s eyebrows scrunched for a moment, then cleared. “The weapon of light and sound.”
John nodded.
“I would have killed you all if the tiny warrior hadn’t used it.”
John grinned. “Well, then maybe not that sorry.”
The old Fae huffed, not quite a laugh. He wiped tears from his cheeks. His face showed no lines. He had to be centuries old, but he looked no older than a man in his early thirties. He looked at John Runningwolf for a moment. “You are Sioux?”
John nodded. “Lakota.”
“Why do you serve a white man?”
John’s grin widened. “The Colonel’s a long way from white, even in human form.”
“His power feels like the people from across the sea.”
Nudd explained. “His mother is a powerful Fae queen in Europe, but his father’s ancestors were Normals brought here against their will. No part of him is an invader or conqueror to this place. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all born within a hundred miles of where we stand. His ancestors lived by coaxing food from the earth with their hands. This land chose him.”
The cypress Fae closed his eyes as if what Nudd said caused him physical pain. “Four generations. So long.” He opened his eyes and his face was angry again. “And where are the principle people? Where are the people who were here for dozens of generations before that?”
John shrugged. “My girlfriend in college was Eastern Cherokee. She grew up near Maggie Valley.”
The old Fae gave a puzzled look.
“In the mountains, to the northwest about, um, about two- or three-days’ ride on horseback. I think. Pretty area.”
“Did they fight the ones who wanted to take our homes?”
“Eh, not really, no. The ones who didn’t go on the forced march mostly hid. Some of us Sioux fought, but all the wars all the tribes fought against the Europeans are over now, and um...” John rubbed the velvet short hair on the back of his neck. “We lost.”
The snarl appeared on the cypress Fae’s face for a moment, but then he sagged. “Lost. Long ago. While I slept and heard only the wind and the song of the brook. While I waited to die or for healing that didn’t come.”
“Yeah. Pretty much.” John gave him a sad look. “Things were bad for the Cherokee for a while. They got scattered all over. A lot of people died about two hundred years ago. About the time you went to sleep, I’d guess.”
“There was a village near here. Farms, homes. A young woman showed me newspapers. After just a little bit of practice, I could read them.”
John grinned. “Yeah, that was pretty cool. The Cherokee Phoenix. They still publish, although it’s in English these days.”
The man’s shoulders sagged again.
John shrugged. “The world changed. Not much point in being angry about what happened two hundred years ago. It eats you up inside, without bothering the people who did it in the slightest since they’re mostly long dead.”
“Two hundred years ago.” The cypress Fae closed his eyes again.
“Why did you sleep so long?”
“I was dying in body, tired in spirit. Bleeding inside and out. I thought to sleep forever here.”
John looked around the glade with the brook, the view of the hills, the fresh, alive feeling that indicated strong Green in the area. He nodded. “Not a bad place for that. If you want, you can go right back to sleep. No one’s stopping you.”
The man looked up at the sky. He let the dappled sun shine on his face and took a deep breath. “I am alive.” He nodded to Doctor Nudd. “Thanks to a healer of the people who invaded, I am hale. I have slept enough.”
Liliana’s attention was drawn back to her third vision, which she had focused on the line of people waiting to speak to Alexander. She saw a flare of orange rage as the pine-goblin who sneered at Siobhan earlier came close. Outwardly, he seemed as respectful as the others.
The spider seer stepped past the petite native wild hydrangea sprite swearing a heartfelt oath to the new land ruler, as if merely walking along the line. Her footsteps were as silent as she could make them. She stopped directly behind the goblin.
When the goblin stepped forward for his turn, he dropped to his knees with a flare of triumph and rage. He bared yellow spikey teeth at Siobhan where she stood in front of Alexander’s knees. As he touched the ground with his hand, Liliana felt the roots of the many trees move under the earth. Ignoring the sudden tight grip on her ankle, she popped out her arm blade and cut off the arm/branch that touched the earth just above what passed for an elbow.
The pine goblin had only a moment to look startled at his forearm and hand laying on the grass. Around them, the roots that had shot out of the ground now waved aimlessly. The barrel of Siobhan’s automatic weapon came up to his forehead and fired.
The muffled brrrdddttt of automatic weapon fire exploded his head in sap and bark and splinters. It left no doubt that Siobhan’s ammunition was effective against Fae.
Alexander smiled dangerously showing silver needle teeth, lifted his own hand, and the roots that had been trying to grab him and everyone near him, switched their target. The roots pulled the pine goblin’s still twitching corpse rapidly under the earth which moved out of the way to make space.
Liliana saw no sign even of fatigue in her prince as he gestured to smooth the ground again. Within moments, the area was covered with bright grass and wildflowers, as if the pine goblin had never been. The Green in this area channeled through her prince made them all strong.
He looked up at the rest of the waiting Fae, those who had sworn to him and those who hadn’t yet. They all showed signs of shock, some with the beginnings of fear, some with anger. “In case anyone else intends to use this chance to get close to me and cause harm, you should know that my consort sees into your souls and knows your true intent.”
Liliana tensed for a moment as she knew everyone would be staring at her now. But it was a tactic. Like when she stared down every lion who might have called challenge. She could not show fear or nerves. This was a form of combat.
She turned to face the crowd, threw back her hair with all eyes wide, and bared her fangs at them all.
Everyone, even the rock trolls cringed when her eightfold gaze fell on them.
It was weird to discover that as much as she hated being stared at, nearly everyone else there showed deep unease when she stared back at them with all her eyes unashamedly open. A heady feeling filled her. For once other people could be made uncomfortable by HER stare.
While Liliana swept her stare across the crowd, fangs bared and arm blades out, Siobhan popped out the magazine from her Kel-Tec and pulled a new one out of a pocket of her baggy pants.
The Fae, led by the pretty little hydrangea sprite, all started kneeling where they stood, showing respect, or possibly just fear, not just to Alexander, but to Liliana.
None showed anything in their auras that Liliana could identify as hostility or challenge. Not after the pine goblin’s very sudden death.
“Like I said, make an example of one.” Siobhan popped the new magazine into place, ready to fire again.
“Mmm.” Alexander sighed. “I’d hoped to avoid that, but I can’t argue that you were not correct.”
When Liliana’s many-eyed stare fell on the native cypress Fae, he looked back with admiration in his aura and a nod of respect. “The consort of the man you serve.” He spoke to John and pointed at Liliana with his chin. “That one who sees souls and severs limbs. Also, your tiny Guardian, the one who chose to use a weapon that did no lasting harm to stop me, rather than the one that explodes heads. They are like yunwi tsunsdi.”
Nudd looked confused.
“Little people,” John explained. “Invisible nature spirits. Kind of badass. A few let me see them up in the mountains. Just show them proper respect and you’ll be okay. Usually.”
“I suspect people frequently underestimate such small warriors.” The cypress Fae had an odd smile on his face as he looked at Liliana.
She nodded back to him, a half bow.
Nudd grinned. “People always underestimate Siobhan and Liliana.”
John grinned. “Siobhan is the sprite. She made all our weapons and she kept me from getting knifed in the back at a bar.” John pointed. “That’s Liliana. She killed the biggest werelion I’ve ever seen. Sliced his head right off with one of those blades on her arms.”
Nudd added, “Siobhan saved my life once when the local king of the lion-kin pride tried to kill me. She fought him to a standstill one on one, sword to sword. Liliana saved all of us from getting blown up and burned alive shortly after that.”
“Those are tales I would like to hear,” the cypress Fae said with the beginning of a tired smile. He got to his feet. He stood straight with a look of wonder as he moved without pain, tall, slender body whole and unmarked. The smile faded. “I see that Elohi loves the beautiful man of shimmering black stone. Her spirit flows strong through him and answers his call. But I cannot swear to obey a foreign chief. Especially when I know so little about him.”
“Let’s talk to Colonel Bennet about that.” John shrugged. “I suspect the two of you can work something out. What’s your name?”
“I am Agasga.”
“Lieutenant John Runningwolf. This is Doctor Nudd.”
Agasga nodded to the craggy man who appeared to be centuries older than him. “I am in your debt.” He touched his unmarked chest and abdomen gingerly. “I did not think to live to see another day. You have given me a new century.”
Doctor Nudd didn’t know if the native Fae used the same system of barter, favor for favor that the European Fae did, but Agasga had acknowledged a debt. “I would ask a favor of you in return. Let the old enmity go. Live in the modern peace.”
“That is not so easy a favor to grant.” His eyes were dark pits for a moment, looking back into another time. “You don’t know what I have seen.” Then he sighed. “But I will try.”
“You can stay with me while you get adapted to the modern era. I have plenty of room.” Nudd held his hands up. “If you wish, of course.”
“You offer me your home when your people’s ancestors took mine.” The cypress Fae huffed a small chuckle that didn’t seem like he thought anything was funny. “The world has greatly changed while I slept.”
Liliana smiled, admiring Agasga’s resilience to so quickly accept the changes in the world. Not to mention his rather magnificent, lithe build and the firm squares in his healed belly. Sharp cheekbones and a prominent nose might have made him look severe, but his eyes were large with thick lashes that almost looked feminine.
Even this ancient wounded warrior would live in the modern peace Alexander offered. Pride swelled in her chest as she looked up at her obsidian prince.
Alexander accepted pledges of fealty and obedience to a rule of law and all around her, the many kinds of people calmed. Some even smiled. There was a feeling of hope for a better future. Alexander was going to be a great king.
If she could keep him from being murdered.
Chapter 20
Losing Time
Liliana spent the rest of the week in a frazzle, searching and searching, but nothing changed. When she got up on the morning he would die, she sniffed the rose Alexander gave her and her eyes burned. It had bloomed wide, almost completely open. The petals were more than half red. The rich scent reminded her of how much she would lose if she couldn’t find a path where Alexander lived.
She fought to claim Alexander’s heart as hers, but it was a two-edged sword. Her heart already ached to be close to him always. The thought of failing him ripped at her soul.
And that was to say nothing of the land. She still didn’t know what would happen to the land that had bonded so strongly with the prince if he died. The Green kept getting stronger in Fayetteville. Alexander clearly caused that. If he died, would the land grieve? Would the Green fade and die with him?
Would I?
She met Pete and Siobhan at the Starbucks down the street from her house each morning to see if they had learned anything new that might help. Detective Shonda Jackson had been recruited to try to find information about the assassin that would come for Alexander.
Siobhan and Pete were also worried about Ben. The teacher was becoming suspicious of Pete's nature. The more hints that Ben Harper got that Pete was somehow different, combined with his glimpses of the peculiar nature of some of the children he taught, the more disturbed he became. Pete's beloved wasn't sleeping due to nightmares.
