Born of Oak and Silver (The Caradoc Chronicles) (24 page)

Anwyn
responded warmly, “Ah, yes, it is unsurprising that you are so greatly disoriented from your time in the vaults. Let us see, how long was it that you were there . . .” He paused, making a very human gesture of stroking his bristled chin while appearing to spend a moment deep in thought. His eyes had been averted from mine, but he returned his gaze as he spoke. “It must have seemed only one day and one night.” I nodded, which he registered before continuing. “Yes, how strangely time passes for you mortals . . .”

I knew where this was going. I only hoped Ayda was prepared for what was about to be revealed.

Anwyn leveled the blow with brevity. “Twelve mortal years have passed since you first entered the Silver.” Ayda gasped from where she hid behind me. Anwyn enjoyed her discomfort and grinned evilly as he continued. “I am sure you find that to be greatly disturbing. Therefore, I must do nothing else but strive to orient you to what is now the present.”

I nodded my head appreciativ
ely for his unnecessary courtesy. I needed to learn everything that I could from them.

“
The human year is 1877. You will find yourselves in what you will know as America, in a place that has been titled Mississippi. The name of the closest settlement is insignificant, and I shall leave you to discover it on your own at a later time. The barriers the Druids strove vainly to fortify have been eliminated. We now move freely amongst your human race, and enjoy the finest of all pleasures that your kind have to offer us.” His eyes left mine to find those of Ayda behind me, doing nothing to hide his lust for her from his gaze.

“Where are the
vaults you mentioned located?” I asked quickly to bring their attention back to me.

Anwyn
gaze turned into a glare. He was clearly annoyed that I had interrupted the amusement he and his companions were about to have at Ayda’s expense. “Scotland,” he said without a single note of inflection. “Edinburgh, to be precise.”

I was baffled. How had time managed to pass so quickly and so uncharacteristically if we had remained in our own world? Since our companions seemed to be in such a giving mood, I decided to press my lu
ck and ask them for more information. “I hope you’ll again forgive the simplicity of my own feeble mind, but how is it that time was able to pass so differently if we were not more than twenty-four hours within these vaults, and them being on Earth?”

“Yes
, you are forgiven,” Anwyn replied. “The design came from no other than our very own Maurelle. I do believe that you have already been most fortunate in meeting her.” He was probing for reaction, and I did not offer him one. “It was she who was instrumental in, how shall I say this, grafting portions of the Tylwyth to your mortal sphere—interweaving them, more or less. Now all of our Silvers are active, regardless of the cycles of your mortal day, and we are free to travel betwixt our worlds with the utmost of convenience.

“
For this we have you to thank, Caradoc. And so, on behalf of all of the Tylwyth Teg
,
I give you our most sincere proclamations of gratitude. It is not my place to reveal the minutiae of your service—that I will most humbly leave for the orchestrator. But allow me to say that the ability to collectively house all of our Silvers in your mortal sphere has made our integration so much more tolerable. Now we may partake of the joys of mortality, but continue to reside in
Tylwyth at will
.” At this he finally blinked, and although I had not noticed it before, to also breathe. The illusion was complete, and there was no longer any clear division between our species.

Welk
stepped forward, taking his place at their head instead of back. His voice was full of the proper inflection and tone that made his disguise of humanity complete, finished by a smooth, southern drawl. “You will find that your numbers have been reduced: both in the membership of your organization, as well as the global population. Perhaps it will console you to know that we made every concession to dispose of your fellow humans as painlessly as possible.”

I shivered involuntarily at his admission. Any death at the hand of the Fae was sure to
be horrific. The image of the remains of Brigid and rest of the Darragh Macardle family, shriveled and burned, flashed violently into my mind and left me with a sick pit in its wake. “I appreciate your consideration,” I said heartlessly.

Welk made no menti
on of my agitation. “You are more than welcome. I suspect it will also be of a great relief to you to learn that the elder Macardle is still counted among your living.”

The sweetest of mercies
. “Yes, it is. Again, I thank you.” I took a step away as an indication to them that I wished to leave. “In light of the new understanding of our current situation, I would think it most gracious if we were permitted to excuse ourselves from your presence in order to reorient ourselves.”

Welk, who appeared to be the actual leader of the group, nodded his head. “Of course. However, before you take your leave, I wish to advise you that our courtesy will not extend into our next meeting. Should our paths cross again, we shall experience no reservations about
disposing of you by whatever means we deem equal to the intrusion.”

I let them see that I understood, and
delicately began to herd Ayda away from them. Never once did I take my eyes off of them, until they too turned and walked away in the opposite direction and the birds again began to call out in the trees overhead.

I whirled
around quickly once I was relatively confident that we were safe. I looked Ayda over. Finding no visible injuries from our tumble out of the Silver, I tipped her face up to mine, and searched her eyes deeply seeking for any indication that something was wrong within their depths. She equally searched me, our breath coming out labored and ragged. We must have sensed the same need in the other because, without warning, we fell into one another’s arms.

My cheek rested against the top of her head as she shook in my arms.
I had thought to find tears when I drew away, but found instead that she was shaking with fury.

Her emerald eyes flamed
, resembling her grandfather’s almost identically. “What the hell are they doing here!? Do they think they can just waltz in and use whomever, whenever they fancy? If I ever see them again, I’ll give them something to fancy!” She was the embodiment of pure, defiant fury, and I found that I was entirely smitten.

S
he then turned her anger on me. “And you! You are one fine piece of work. Why would you waste an ounce of respect on creatures too vile to deserve it? I’d be ashamed if I were you! I am ashamed of you!” Her manner indicated that there was a real possibility I’d soon be receiving spit, a slap, or both on my face. I was steeling myself for all of them.

“Ayda, you have no idea what you ar
e . . .”

“Yes! I do!” she cut me off furiously. “I know exactly what I am talking about. You are supposed to be a defender.
Brimming with the desire to destroy every Fae that you see, and even those you cannot. But, but there you were cowering like . . . like . . . a coward!” Her normally creamy skin had flushed in her anger, her hair wild and standing on end, giving her the appearance of what I assumed a
Ban Sidhe
, or Banshee, would probably resemble.

I pulled away from her entirely
, and stood more upright. “A coward? Is that how you think of me?” My voice was calm, but everything else about me was murderous. Her face fell and she averted her glance to the floor. “Need I remind you that, had I fought them, there would have not been much of a fight in the first place? They would have killed me, Ayda, and easily. That would have left you to be the object to ‘strike their fancy.’ I couldn’t let that happen to you. So it was for you that I was a coward. Think of me how you like, it will not affect me further. However, I would ask you to remember that without the Sword of Light, there is nothing, even with all the help from the Earth that you, I, or anyone could possibly do to leave them with more than the slightest of bruises.”

Ayda shifted uncomfortably
, averting her eyes from me.

F
eeling an awkward silence creating a divide between us, I exhaled loudly through my mouth. In my heart I knew I couldn’t let things stay this way. I swallowed my pride. “I suppose a positive note to all of this is that I owe you some expression of gratitude. True to your desire and self-proclaimed purpose, you made sure that I stayed alive. Thank you.”

Her eyes danced to mine,
vibrant and joyful as a radiant smile broke across her face. “See, I told you that I would do it!” She jumped to her toes, lightly planting a kiss upon my cheek before she turned and resumed walking away from where we had left the Faery royals.

I rolled my eyes and followed her. I did not know where we were going, but it was bound to be better than what we would find in the opposite direction.

About an hour after stepping through the Silver, we stumbled onto well
-used gravel road. Wagons loaded with lumber moved down the roadway ahead of us. We followed them cautiously into what we discovered was a town named Kamarina.

Kamarina w
as small, but by many respects busy due to its relatively close location to the Mississippi River, and being the region’s only railway stop. Here, the trees were thick and green, and flowers bordered the many lush lawns areas. Women with children in tow bustled in and out of shops; men, although present, were highly focused upon completing the wide array of the day’s tasks. In many ways, it reminded me of Strasbourg, only much smaller in scale, trade, and capacity.

“Ayda,”
I held her elbow as I pointed with my other hand to a sign that overhung the walkway, “perhaps we should collect ourselves for a bit?”

She nodded emphatically.
Though she was still beautiful, with tendrils of raven hair falling loose from where she had pinned them before following me into the Silver, her emerald eyes were weary and her porcelain skin was smudged with dirt. I held my arm out to her, and graciously she took it, allowing me to lead her into the inn.

Our host, assuming
us married, gave us many wishes for a long and happy marriage as he handed me the key to his last available room. It was tiny, slightly dingy, and ill-equipped. Having looked over the room’s meager furnishings, I turned to Ayda. She stood at the one of the room’s two windows, taking in the view. I spoke, hoping that I might relieve some of the disdain that now furrowed her brow. “I know it’s not what you are used to, but it is only for the night. Just until I can figure out what we should do next.” I removed my winter coat, relieved to have its extra burden removed from my shoulders in the warm spring air.

“After that, I will see to it that you are accommodated more comfortably.”
              I sat down gingerly on the side of the bed. It was wonderful to sit on something soft as opposed to unyielding cobblestones. Ayda looked uncomfortable as she stood properly, alternating glances between me sitting so comfortably on the bed to just outside the window.

“Ayda, for Pete’s sake, forget propriety
for a moment, will you? It’s not like I haven’t known you for over two decades now.” Even though I’d said it, I still found the idea that we had been in the vaults of Edinburgh for twelve years extremely disturbing. “Besides, according to the landlord, we’ve just been married. So, come
ma belle
, sit, relax yourself for a moment. Shortly, I’ll see to finding us both a change of clothes. Once I’ve returned, we’ll go and find ourselves something to eat.”

Her shoulders slumped, and I heard as much saw her exhale slowly. “It’s not about the room or propriety
, Daine.” Her bright eyes danced to my own. “It’s about the fact that the world has moved on for twelve years, and we had no idea of its passing. We were just forgotten and left behind. We must send word to Grandad. I am sure he has been worried sick, and has most likely given up hope that either of us will ever be returning.” She flumped onto her back on the other side of the bed.

I reached out and took her hand
, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles. “I’ll see what I can do about that too. In the meantime, why don’t you rest? I’ll be back soon and then we need to eat. I’m starved,” I admitted with a smile.

She gave me a tight smile and nodded.

I then stood and moved to the door. Before closing it behind me, I instructed her to lock the door and not to open it for anyone but me. I closed the door gently behind me, waiting on the other side for the click of the door’s lock turning in place. I warded the door to discourage anyone from wanting to enter, and left in search of clothing for the both of us.

When I
returned, I wore a new set of clothing and carried three new fashionable dresses for Ayda, complete with coordinating gloves and hats. I had also sent a telegram to Washington DC, where it would then be transcribed and sent by steamer to France—where I hoped Bram was still to be found waiting for us. But just to be sure that he learned of our whereabouts, I’d sent another to Drumcliff Castle as well.

I found my wards unbroken and
left them in place as I entered our room. Ayda lay sleeping upon the bed in the same position in which I had left her. She breathed softly and looked so peaceful. I envied her this moment. I laid her dresses upon the bed, and set my dirty clothes bundle upon a chair. Rather than wake her, I quietly laid down on the bed beside her, pausing only to lightly dust a stray lock of hair away from her face. As I lay listening to her smooth and even breathing, soon I too was asleep.