Descent into the Depths of the Earth (10 page)

At least a dozen faeries served as escorts. Escalla scowled.
On a good day, she could cream almost anyone in the clan, but with her spells
depleted from three combats in a single day, she no longer stood a chance.
Whatever happened, Jus and Polk would catch most of the damage. Seething with
hate, Escalla tried to crush the helpless feeling of being dragged back into
Daddy’s house as she flew out over the lake.

“Come on, guys. Let’s get this done.”

The Justicar shrugged his armor into place then strode
forward on his strangely quiet boots. Behind him, Polk refused to move. Instead,
the teamster turned to Escalla with a vacuous smile.

“My dear, I really don’t think this is any business for
mortals.”

Escalla planted her fists on her hips. “What?”

“Why, I think I’ll wait here. Thank you, Escalla. Gosh, but
the weather is nice!”

Turning her dire gaze upon the faeries, Escalla snarled. “Oh
ha ha ha. You blitzed an idiot with a charm spell.”

Something flickered in the air. A charm spell shot from a
faerie toward the Justicar and shattered on the shield thrown up by the man’s
magic ring. Cinders hissed, Jus jerked his head around, and the hell hound’s red
eyes focused on an invisible shape lurking behind a tree.

There!

Escalla threw up a hand and shoved a single spell toward the
hidden faerie. A reeking cloud enveloped the culprit, sending him reeling and
retching off into the bushes. Escalla watched the faerie go, unshipped her ice
wand, and noisily pumped the activation slide. “What did I tell you about my
friends? Try it again, and I’ll get nasty!”

Grinning happily, Cinders wagged his tail.
Burn!

“Not yet!” Escalla looked at the stepping stones. “Cinders,
some of the stepping stones are illusions. Just keep your eyes open.”

Looking bored with it all, Tielle hovered over the surface of
the lake and said, “None of them are illusions. We have better things to do with
our time.”

“Good. Then let the Justicar carry you and hold you tight.”

Tielle looked annoyed. She made a pass with her hand, and
half of the stepping stones disappeared, leaving only blank water in their
place. Escalla flew out to lead the way, hovering protectively close to the
Justicar.

“Polk, come on. Follow me.”

“Why yes. What a lovely suggestion!” Polk beamed vacuously,
his voice vapid and formal. “May I just say how pert you look today?”

“Polk, spell or no spell, nobody ever uses
pert
in
normal conversation, all right?”

Jus jumped and strode awkwardly from stepping stone to
stepping stone, his heavy bulk strangely graceful, his armor and sword quiet
through long habit of stealth. Polk bumbled along in his wake, leaving his mule
staring forlornly after them. Escalla flew along in silence, flanked by a dozen
faeries and refusing to so much as even glance at her sister.

In the deep waters of the lake fish swam—giant cuttlefish and
little stingrays, all faeries shapeshifted into animal form. In the trees
overhead, animals watched the travelers, each creature showing intelligent
faerie eyes. Watched from a dozen directions, Jus, Polk, and Escalla made their
way across the lake toward a giant garden that glimmered with bright flowers.

At the shore stood a circular grove of gnarled, ancient fruit
trees. Escalla jerked her thumb at the fruit trees as Jus passed them by.

“Plane trees.”

The Justicar turned. “Plain trees?”

“No, plane trees—like a tree of the various planes of
existence.” Escalla shrugged. “That grove leads off to other planes—primal
energy, negative energy, fire, water, that sort of thing. You need a key taken
from the plane you’re heading to—amazingly useless.”

The garden made a ring of light about a faerie palace, an
airy thing all made from pearl-gray wood. A long path led toward the palace
doors. Beside the path, a lawn hosted a dainty party attended by a dozen faerie
folk. The faeries mingled, gossiped, and intrigued. Fawn and satyr servitors
poured drinks, while animated plants played music upon lutes. A bevy of female
orcs knelt servilely about a faerie lord who was wreathed in fiery robes. All
conversation stopped, and all eyes turned as Escalla marched out from the trees.

A faun approached and bowed, ushering Escalla along the path.
Escalla waited for Jus and Polk, keeping them at her side. Surrounded by guards
and stared at by faeries and servants alike, the three companions walked slowly
through the party and headed for the palace doors.

The silence was nerve wracking and irritating. Whirling,
Escalla turned to face her peers.

“Yes, it’s me! I’m back! You all seen enough? And you? And
you?” The girl pivoted in mid air, tugging her skirt tight.

Escalla sped forward in anger, shoving past two beautifully
liveried centaurs and throwing open the palace doors. A vast hall stretched
before her, a place of moving murals and carpets that shifted shape and form. A
hundred faeries lined the way, most of them dressed in brilliant, alien finery.
There were guards dressed in bright red mail and faerie dragons fluttering
through the rafters eating flower arrangements. Escalla took one look at the
crowds and sagged back toward the ground.

“Oh
bugger.”

Tielle whirred forward to whisper to a scowling major domo.
Faerie maids in exotic fashions eyed Jus and whispered sourly behind their fans.

Escalla pulled in close to the ranger and whispered quickly
in his ear, “This is not Clan Nightshade! This is way more than Clan
Nightshade!” The girl suddenly spied a slim, hypochondriacal faerie surrounded
by rings of courtiers. “Oh futz. It’s the Erlking!”

Jus pulled at his nose and asked, “The who?”

“Oberon! Hen-pecked consort to the queen bitch herself!”
Escalla quickly looked for avenues of escape. “I think this
is
the Seelie
Court!”

Turning, Jus regarded his friend. “Escalla, just what exactly
did you do when you left here?”

Escalla managed to look both annoyed and evasive all at once.
“Well I
may
have requisitioned more than I was strictly allowed to.” The
girl waved her hands in outrage. “Hey! Faeries don’t age, man! So letting your
kids know they have an inheritance is unfair. So I just prematurely
requisitioned what was mine.”

Jus regarded her with leveled brows. “You stole daddy’s
wallet and ran away from home?”

“There was more to it than that! You had to be there!”

Polk beamed good will at the whole universe. “Why, it seems
to be a splendid place! Why ever did you leave?”

Cinders flattened his ears, scowling at the fripperies and
gave a growl.
Illusions. Old magic.
The dog almost sneezed in disgust.
No fun here. All spells.

Escalla applauded. “Thank you, pooch! Polk, we’ll have a
little shared lesson on mind/body phenomenology later on, if we’re all alive.”

“But it’s so pretty!”

Escalla glared. “Polk, say, ‘I am an idiot.’”

“I am an idiot.”

“Great! Now shut up and enjoy your charm spell before I make
you take off your pants!”

Jus looked disapprovingly about the room. It was pure luxury
and opulence, and much of it pure illusion designed to stroke the senses. Dour
and spartan, Jus was the antithesis of the entire faerie way of life. Faeries
kept well away, staring at the mortals as though they carried a disease.

Tielle emerged from the crowds and looked her sister up and
down. “They want to see you. Do you care to dress properly first?”

“Just tell me why I’m here.”

“Oh no! Little surprises are always such fun.” Tielle gave a
nasty smile. “This way to daddy-kins. Hop hop! And
do
tell your mortals
not to scuff the rugs.”

Today Jus’ boots had trampled through muddy streets, forest
streams and dirt, and he could not care less about the rug. Escalla girded
herself and flew through the parting crowds, finally finding herself confronting
her mother, her father, and a host of unfamiliar faces.

Her father turned. Powerful and solid—for a faerie—his poise
was somehow similar to the Justicar. His hair was long and steel gray, his beard
pointed, and his eyes sparked the same green fire as his daughter. He took one
look at Escalla, split his face into a rough smile and crushed Escalla in his
arms.

“Honey blossom!”

He wrestled the girl from side to side, making her eyes
bulge. With a great bass roar of a laugh, the lord of Clan Nightshade hugged
Escalla for all that she was worth.

Trapped in her fathers arms, Escalla struggled upward until
she could catch Jus’ eye. “Guys, this is my dad.”

Overjoyed, Escalla’s father ruffled the girl’s hair. “And
this, this is my Silly Scellie!”

Cinders sniggered, thump-thump-thumping with his tail.
Silly Scellie!

Jus looked amused, and Escalla spiked him with a snarl.

“Just keep laughing,
Evelyn.”
Escalla gave a long
suffering sigh. “Gang, this is Charn, Lord Nightshade, my father. Daddy, this is
Polk, a transport consultant; Cinders, a sentient hell hound skin; and here”—the
girl cast a look longing for help toward Jus—“is my friend, the Justicar.”

Big, solid, and rough cut out of pure honesty, the Justicar
bowed to Escalla’s father. The faeries scarcely came up to his knees, but he
managed to bow toward them with vast dignity.

“My Lord Charn.”

“Capital! Capital to meet you!” Escalla’s father took one
daughter under each arm—Escalla suffering patiently, and Tielle coldly smiling.
“So you are the ones who have served my daughter so loyally while she roamed in
the worthless wilds!”

“They’re not servants, dad.”

“Of course not, dear!” The man gave his girl a shake. “But
she’s home! She has returned to home and duty at last.”

A silken movement came from the crowds. Escalla’s mother
appeared, cool as ice and regarding her prodigal daughter much as she might
regard an insect specimen.

“Escalla.”

“Mother.”

“You decided not to dress.” Escalla’s mother took a drink
from a tray proffered by one of the scantily clad orc servants. “No matter. For
our purposes, nothing could be better.”

“Purposes?” Escalla’s voice lowered the temperature of the
entire hall. “Someone tried to kill my friends this morning, then some imbecile
tried bribing me with candy and flowers.” The girl ignored her father and faced
her mother. “Do tell me all about your little
purposes.”

“It is called
obligation.”

“I don’t care to be obliging.” Dusting herself off, Escalla
disengaged herself from her father’s arm. “Dad, why am I here?”

“You are here because a great day is here! A
family
day!” The faerie lord beamed. “The court has rescinded our exile. Clan
Nightshade is to be brought back into the fold!”

The news hardly hit Escalla like a thunderbolt.

“Oh whoopee.”

“It’s provisional.” Escalla’s father took hold of her elbow
and propelled her through the crowds. Scowling faeries made way as Jus and Polk
lumbered in Escalla’s wake. “But here, you see? Old comrades all together once
again. Old faces to rediscover!”

Escalla made a wry little expression. “I’ve never seen any of
them before, Dad. We were exiled about a zillion years before I was born.”

“But comrades still! Kith and kin! Even representatives from
the inner court itself!” Charn spread his hands to show his daughter that the
palace halls were filled to overflowing. “Many of them will be staying here with
us while a few formalities are handled, but it’s a new beginning for you. They
want us to take the lead in wonderful new plans. It will be time for
you,
girl, eldest child of the clan head! Think of all the changes you can make!”

“Nothing changes, dad.” An old bitterness and nightmare shone
through Escalla’s words. “You make castles out of clouds, mountains out of
molehills, and nothing ever happens.”

Lord Charn looked left and right, used a spell to shield him
from prying ears, and whispered cautiously in his daughter’s hair. “There has
been a change in the power balance, and Nightshade holds the key. The clan that
defeated and imprisoned the Faerie Queen of Wind and Woe, the clan that knows
where she is hidden… we are about to become a
power
once again.”

The man clamped Escalla on the back, his voice picking up as
his spell faded. “And so! Faces for you to know! New relatives! Kith and kin!
Here is Faen, Lord Half Moon. Lord Faen is knowledge-keeper to the Seelie Court
and advisor to Queen Titania herself.”

A thin faerie with a long wisp of a goatee gave Escalla a
courtly bow. Several mages of the Half Moon clan stood with him, all sharing a
conspirator’s smile with Escalla’s father before appraising the girl. Her
outlandishly stark clothes and aggressive air seemed to meet their secret needs.
They inclined their heads and turned to one another with significant little
smiles as Escalla passed.

Jus trod carefully behind Lord Charn. Escalla was aware of
him covering her back; she could feel the ranger watching her mother and her
sister. Cinders’ tail wagged. Towing her through the room, Escalla’s father
dragged her from one knot of courtiers to another.

“Ah! Escalla, here is Fareel, Lady Mantis.” A sorceress and
her entourage bowed in a rattle of outlandish insectoid costumes. “Here is the
priestess of Corellon and her acolytes. This is Jenna, princess of Clan Raven.”
Suddenly his eye lighted on his true quarry. Escalla’s father seemed to swell
with new energy. “Ah, and here is someone just for you!”

Waiting at the foot of a fountain stood a faerie cavalier, a
youth eel-slim and armed with a delicate silver rapier. His black silk shirt had
ribbons bound about the upper arms—kill ribbons from a dozen duels. The cavalier
looked Escalla up and down. Her leathers were tight as a second skin and showed
an astonishing amount of breast and thigh. She half turned, her figure svelte as
a velvet cobra, and raked her audience with a haughty glare. The faerie cavalier
preened his moustache and whispered approvingly into a neighbors ear, reaching
out to take a tiny goblet of wine.