Blood of Centaurs: Book 12 of The Witch Fairy Series (13 page)

It doesn’t take long for me to heal Dagda and Tana.  Kegan and Kallen have minor injuries on their hands from the iron and insist they can wait, but I heal them, too.  It’s important everyone is at their best as we figure this out.

“Fauns?”  Bayard is mumbling incredulously.  “Fauns are behind this?”

“Yes, Father,” Pholos snaps.  “Fauns.”  I can’t blame him.  That was the tenth time Bayard said it.

Kegan and Kallen have crawled down beneath the floor
to check things out.  “There are tunnels going off in a couple of different directions,” Kallen calls up.  I hadn’t really paid much attention when I teleported down there and then immediately teleported Dagda back up to heal him.  Not ready to explore the tunnels yet, Kallen and Kegan return to the surface.

“Tunnels?” Kono says.  She turns to Pholos.  “Do the Fauns travel underground?”

Pholos grinds his teeth together for a long moment before responding.  “It appears so,” he finally growls.

Dagda, his arms securely around Tana, is even better at growling. 
“Why did you not inform us of the danger of a Faun uprising?  We would have been better prepared.”

Pholos steps toward the Fairy King in a way that is too menacing for Kallen’s and Kegan’s taste.  They meet the Centaur halfway between his starting point and Dagda and refuse to let him by.  Not willing to attempt physically moving the two Fairies
who have enough magic between them to take down the entire assembly of beings around us, Pholos halts.  Grinding an angry hoof into the ground, he says, “We knew nothing of the Fauns’ plans.  There has been no indication of any type of uprising.”

He’s not lying because I don’t feel like bugs are crawling on me, yet I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t
quite the truth.  “Would you really have noticed?” I ask.

The look Pholos sends my way makes me want to hit him with magic.  The Centaur can look awfully mean when he wants to.  “I have eyes and ears,” he growls.

“Yes,” I say slowly, “but how often are they pointed at the Fauns?  You guys almost completely ignore them.  So much so, they need to scramble out of your way or they’ll get trampled.  You don’t really see them and I seriously doubt you listen to anything they have to say unless it involves something they are doing for you at the moment.”  The treatment of the Fauns has weighed heavily in the back of my mind since we arrived.  I had intended to talk them, get a feel for how happy they are before we left.  It seems things are as I suspected, they aren’t happy.  Far from it.

“Have the Fauns organized into a hierarchy?” Kallen asks Bayard.  Pholos isn’t really in the talking mood.  At least, not in a ‘let’s have a reasonable conversation’ kind of way.

Bayard takes a moment to consider.  “They have always had an unofficial hierarchy, I suppose.”  He doesn’t really sound certain of this.

“Who was the Faun who came to the Fairy realm with Pholos?” I ask.  The Fauns had a representative present when we gathered the heads of the various realms together to stand against my doppelganger. 

Pholos’ face turns red.  “My assistant,” he says.

“So, basically he was a random choice to represent
the Fauns,” I interpret.

Pholos isn’t ready to admit this.  “He was a logical choice.  Working closely with me, he is well versed in the workings of the realm.”

“Has anyone seen a Faun recently?” Kegan asks.  “I have not seen one since I arrived.”  Now that he mentions it, they have been distinctly absent as events unfolded.

“Which Faun owns this…dwelling?” Kono asks, her distaste of the hovel quite apparent.

Bayard looks first to Pholos and then to the other Centaurs around us.  There’s a lot of shrugging going on.  I suppose it’s reasonable that the King wouldn’t know where each Faun lives, but it seems someone would know.  It’s not like it sits on a crowded street in the middle of a Faun village.

Instead of pondering ownership, maybe we should be focusing on why Tana was left in a hovel in the middle of nowhere.  Perhaps because no other Faun structures will be affected when this one blows up
?  That would be my guess.

I am so glad Kallen’s reaction time mirrors mine.  Dagda and Kegan are only a
fraction of a second behind.  Between the four of us, we manage to contain most of the blast.  The other Fairies around us are able to prevent any major injuries from flying debris that escapes our magic.  If Dagda hadn’t brought his troops over, this could have been the disaster it was meant to be.

“Incoming!” a Centaur shouts.  He rushes to Bayard with several others and once again the Centaurs attempt to
protect their King from flaming arrows.  The fire and arrows’ origins cannot be determined through the haze of the explosion.  This was well planned.  The Fauns knew I would find Tana and they knew I wouldn’t come alone. 

But what they didn’t plan for is me being sick of th
is crap.  Sick enough of it, I’m going to draw so much magic, I am going to terrify even my husband with how much I have within me.  I am pulling it from the earth so hard and fast, the ground around me is trembling.  Even doing blood magic couldn’t focus my energy better than I am at the moment.

“Um, you guys may want to back up,” Kegan advises, well, everyone.

Worry and fear mix together in Kallen’s voice.  “Xandra, you are very close to causing an imbalance of major proportions.”

Yeah, I feel that, too.  I just don’t quite know how to calm down at the moment.  It’s like my whiny inner child has decided to take over. 
She’s saying with each pull of magic that she never wanted to come here.  She never wanted to work with either the Sasquatch or the Centaurs.  She never wanted to get twisted into the dynamics of the Faun and Centaur relationship.  She never wanted to bring Zac here and she never wanted to send him home thinking he made Tana disappear.  She didn’t want to have to rescue any member of our envoy from a death threat.  She didn’t want to be attacked by flaming fricking arrows.  More than once.  Granted, no one else wanted to do these things either, but that’s beside the point.  Needless to say, my whiny inner child is pretty damn powerful when she’s this riled up.

Taking Kegan’s advice, everyone except Kallen backs away.  I glance up at his beautiful face and I see the decision in the depths of his green eyes.  He’s not going anywhere.  Even if it means suffering the aftermath of my magic.
  I’ll try really hard to keep that from happening.

Two pinches on my back indicate the arrival of my wings.  Whether they are here to help contain my magic or make it stronger, I don’t know.  I turn my attention to the trembling ground.  Kneeling, I place my hand palm down on the dirt.  “Find the truth,” I say in a voice that echoes through the cracks forming in the earth.  My magic releases in a blinding
ray of Angel light.

The world around me stills.  Even the smoke in the air stops moving.  Not a single chest around me rises to take a breath.  I am no longer in the Centaur realm.  I am in Angel time.

My wings announce the presence of another Angel.  “Xandra?” Ray says behind me.

“Hi, Ray,” I say, not turning. 

“What are you doing?” the Archangel of Order and Harmony asks me.

“I’m seeking the truth.”

“You are tapping into a power I did not know you possessed,” Ray informs me.

I begin walking, steering around the remnants of the hovel and the flames that are no longer truly lit.  “What power is that?” I ask, still not glancing back toward the Archangel.

“Mine,” he says.

Okay, that makes me stop.  And turn around.  There is Ray in his brilliant, Archangel glory.  His beauty is radiating outward in a soft glow.  Strange, I’ve never seen that happen before.  I cock my head to the side and study the phenomena more closely.  It’s not radiating,
it’s being pulled.

“How am I doing this?” I ask.

Ray shrugs.  “With you, it seems anything is possible.  I do not suppose Raziel gave you a heads up about this?”

I can’t help a short laugh.  “You know him better than that.”

Smiling fondly, Ray says, “Yes, I do.”  He looks around us.  “I am afraid I am at a loss.  I know where we are, but as I am not omniscient as our friend is, I do not know why.”

“I was supposed to help mediate a truce between the Centaurs and the Sasquatch.”

Taking in the site of the explosion and the flaming arrows littering the ground, Ray asks, “How is that working out?”

“Poorly,” I drawl.  I turn and begin walking again.  “But I believe I will find answers this way.”
  I can feel the pull between Ray and me now.  I feel badly about it, but since I don’t know how I’m doing it, I don’t know how to fix it, either.  So, I’m going to do what I set out to do.  I’m going to discover the truth.

Ray has caught up to me now.  We walk along in silence, his long legs keeping pace with my shorter ones.  With him this close, his aura surrounds me and I experience a calm I can rarely attain on my own.  I am surprised this doesn’t lessen my magic since it was anger and annoyance that caused it to go wonky like this.  But it doesn’t.  Not one iota.

We do not need to walk far for things to fall into place.  Yes, we were led to this isolated place to be ambushed.  But I admit, even in the Ray induced peace and harmony I’m feeling, I’m shocked to my core when I see who did the ambushing.  I can’t help it.  I begin to laugh.

With raised brows, Ray says, “I fail to see the humor in the situation before us.  Care to enlighten me?”

I spread my arms out before us.  “This is beautiful.  Poetic justice.  This is where the real problem lie the whole time.”

Ray glances from me to the immobile beings in front of us and then back again.  “I am still lost,” he admits.

I shrug.  “You probably had to be here to really get it.”

After a moment of silence while I ponder this new twist in the puzzle of peace, I say, “I think I brought you here because I was seeking the truth.”  I turn to the Archangel.  “You are the truth.”

Ray smiles but he is still confused.  “Your mind works in ways I will never truly understand.  It is a beautiful thing.”

He must mean it
as a compliment because I don’t feel like bugs are crawling on me.  “Don’t you see?” I ask, pointing again at the beings standing motionless before us.  “I came here to help find peace and harmony.  But neither of these things can be built without at least a basic foundation to start on.”  I laugh again.  “I knew this.  Deep down, I knew this was part of the problem practically from the time I set foot in this realm.”

Understanding begins to swirl in Ray’s eyes.  “For peace and harmony to truly exist, there must be equality.”

I smile up at him.  “Exactly.”  I turn back to the long row of archers before me.  Like their counterparts, they aren’t modest.  Neither the Centaur females nor the Faun females bother with coverings for their breasts.  Their varying shades of long hair is pulled back from their faces, well away from the fiery arrows in their bows.

This changes everything.  These beautiful half-women, half-horses and half-women, half-goats have changed everything.  And I love them for it.  I don’t care right now the means they used to bring about change, though I may later when I’m not in Ray’s presence.

My eyes focus on the second row of archers.  It appears not all of them are female.  There are several male Centaurs and a few male Fauns sprinkled into the mix.  A closer look at one of the Centaurs increases my understanding of the situation.  The resemblance is too clear to miss.  Bayard has more to worry about than Pholos trying to take over.  It seems neither of his sons appreciate the way he has ruled this realm. 

Focusing on Ray once again, I stand on my toes and kiss him lightly on the cheek.  “Thank you for helping me understand.”

He chuckles.  “Perhaps next time you can simply invite me to meet you.”  He winks at me.  He’s not angry I summoned him this way.  “Say hello to Raziel for me.”

I nod.  “I will.”  With a smile, Ray disappears.  Now that I understand, it’s time for me to return, as well.  I pull myself out of Angel time and the universe awakens once again.

Several archers in front of me are poised to release their arrows so I use my magic to stay them.  It is only now they notice my sudden appearance.  To them, it seems I have materialized out of thin air.

An older Centaur woman trots forward, her bow firm in her hands.  “We have no quarrel with you, Fairy.  Take yourself from here.  Return to your realm and leave us to right the wrongs of this realm.”

I sigh.  “I really wish I could.  But, I can’t.”

Obviously displeased by my answer, the Centaur raises her bow toward me.  “Then you will stand as our enemy?” she demands to know.

With a theatrical wave of my hand that isn’t really necessary, I make her bow disappear.  “I don’t like having things pointed at me,” I say.  Without the theatrical wave of the hand, I make the bows in the hands of the others disappear, as well.

“You deny us our desire for equality?” the Centaur demands
in a feral growl.

I shake my head.  “Definitely not.  I just don’t like to be threatened.  What I would like to do is talk to you about what you are seeking.  Equality is a pretty vague term.  This conversation should also include those you are fighting against.”

The Centaur snorts.  “Bayard will not hear us.  Pholos is no better.  They have the male Fauns so beaten down, they are useless to our cause.”

A suspicion is forming in my mind.  It’s confirmed when the Centaur who must be Bayard’s older son joins us.  “Mother, who is she?”

“You’re Bayard’s first wife,” I say.

The Centaur nods.  “I am Fraya.”

“Xandra,” Kallen says from behind me.  I could feel him approaching.  “Are you alright?”

I smile at him.  “Yes.  Meet my new friends.”  I introduce him to Fraya and her son, Fayon.  Fraya’s brows rise at the term friend, but she still greets Kallen politely.  “It seems our agenda has changed,” I tell my husband and even I can hear the glee in my voice.  Hopefully, we will
be able to leave this realm knowing true change has occurred.  Or at least is well on its way.

Fraya and Fayon visibly tense and I don’t need to turn to know why.  “It’s time for everyone to sit down and talk,” I tell them as Dagda and the other Kings approach
with their soldiers.  “But we don’t need armies for this conversation.”  Using the magic I have not released, I create a barrier separating us from the armies on either side.  Only Dagda, Kegan, Tana, Bayard and Yerwen are brought forward to meet us.  On the other side is Fraya, Fayon and Twill, the leader of the rebel Fauns.  It must be my Angel wings that are giving me this knowledge of their names and roles.

It takes a few minutes to get everyone calmed down once the Kings are near enough to the females to figure out what is going on. 
In the meantime, I create a large round table tall enough for the Centaurs and create soft stools for those of us not that tall.  We might as well be comfortable as we talk.

Bayard may have a stroke pretty soon.  Yes, his deep, dark secret
was to seek out this other son and name him as his heir, but what I didn’t discern from his secret is that he hasn’t ever actually met Fayon before.  He has had spies watching him as he grew, but he never felt the need to meet him in person.  That’s not creepy or weird at all.

When things finally calm down, we are able to get everything out on the table.  Basically, the Centaur and Faun women want to be treated as equals. 
No surprise there.  Being the old King set in his ways that he is, Bayard baulks at the idea.  Until it is pointed out to him that the females in this realm outnumber the males.  They have also built an intricate tunnel system underground to give them the upper hand when it comes to sneak attacks.  They have cleverly hidden the trap doors so that they are near impossible to find.  That’s why we couldn’t find the trap door under the barn that was used to kidnap Tana.  It’s there, just really well disguised.

The females of the realm and the males who have chosen to stand with them have been training for years for this uprising.  As most of the men went off to their jobs, the women used the time to learn to out skill them in warfare.  I love these women.
  I really do.

As for the Sasquatch?  The numbers have tipped in the Centaurs’ favor
in regards to their armies.  With the women willing to defend the realm alongside the males despite their differences, the Sasquatch’s chances of winning the war are dwindling quickly.  Compromise moves up to the top of their priority list.

After listening to Fraya’s proposition, Yerwen grinds his teeth until I fear he’ll never be able to chew an apple ever again. 
“You are suggesting that we send agricultural workers here to clear small patches of land to farm for our realm yet we remain in the realm that is dying around us?” he snarls.  I’m pretty sure some tooth enamel dust escapes his mouth as he says this.

Fraya nods.  “Yes, that is what we are suggesting.  If you are growing crops here, you will be able to leave some of your fields fallow.  It wil
l take many years and the introduction of various fertilizers, but the soil in your realm can once again be made healthy.”  She is one smart Centaur.

“This is a generous offer,” Dagda insists.  He has been impressed with Fraya, as well.  She has all the right answers whether the males of her realm want to acknowledge it or not. 
My biological father even agrees to forgive her and her rebels for their kidnapping of Tana.  Mostly because Tana insists that he does.  He’ll do anything she asks right now he is so happy she is safe and sound.  “The ecosystem of this realm will be minimally impacted and yours will be strengthened.  Most importantly, you will have the peace you seek.”

As much as Yerwen wants to argue, he can’t unless he wants to admit that his goal all along was complete domination of the Centaur realm.  I’m glad I didn’t let Kono in.  She would be openly hostile by now.

In the end, a temporary peace treaty is hammered out between Yerwen and Bayard.  The details need to be worked out, but it’s a start.  Dagda agrees to leave some of his forces behind under the service of one of his best generals to help keep the negotiations on the right track. 

As for the females of the realm gaining equality, this is not for us to negotiate.  Only those of this realm can determine what makes them equal.  But, I do promise to come back if Fraya and Bayard cannot
come to an agreement.  Or if Pholos tries to take it upon himself to end his father’s life and go against Fraya and Fayon.

After several long hours, we are all exhausted.  Fraya and Bayard have a long road ahead of them.  One that can only begin to be paved today.  It’s time for
them to back away from the table and digest all that has happened so far.

As for myself and the ones I love
, we can go home.