Divided against Yourselves (Spell Weaver) (26 page)

It was not just the size of the place. There was an energy, a life-force, even within the very stones themselves. They were not the grayish, whitish or faintly yellowed stones I had seen in earthly castles, but were more like marble, and, at least in the interior parts of the castle, highly polished, yet I was sure they had a toughness greater than earthly stone. They also had a faint but noticeable silver sheen to them. The glow of the faeries and the sheen of the walls would have been dazzling enough by themselves, but the light from the numerous torches made the courtyard seem almost like midday.

Sir Arian kept prodding us forward, through a massive door and into a great hallway. Corridors frequently branched off to the right and to the left, but Sir Arian told us to move straight ahead, toward what must surely have been the castle’s great hall. When we finally arrived, the place certainly lived up to its name. Statues of faerie and human heroes lined the walls. They were some distance away from us, but they had been sculpted so well they seemed to be alive, especially in the flickering torch-light. The walls were hung with multicolored tapestries of equally great artistic merit that portrayed great events in the histories of Earth and of Annwn, and they too seemed almost alive.

In the center of the room, large wooden tables had been set in a partial square, open on the end at which we entered the room, and at those tables sat the faerie elite, the nobles of Gwynn’s kingdom, dressed in a variety of outfits that faerie seamstresses must have spent days sewing. I couldn’t tell what kind of fabrics were used and doubted that I could find anything like them in our world.

At the center of the table, facing the entry door, was Gwynn ap Nudd himself, dark-faced and every inch as formidable as he had looked the last time I had seen him. Generally, faeries were of a somewhat more slender build, but Gwynn was massive, not literally a giant, but certainly someone you would avoid challenging to a wrestling match.

“Taliesin!” he shouted as soon as he saw me. “You are most welcome here. Step forward, that I may introduce you to my court.” I moved much closer to him and bowed.

“This youth is a reincarnation of Taliesin, King Arthur’s bard, and a great hero in this lifetime. He it was who spared us the trouble of having to deal with Ceridwen. Just today I am told he defeated an evil sorceress and helped rid our land of a dragon—and not just some pup at that, but a full-sized monster!”

“Your Majesty, I would have been the dragon’s dinner but for the help of the men you sent along as escort,” I replied, trying to keep from blushing.

“Heroic and modest as well,” said Gwynn, laughing deeply, as he always did. “Perhaps you will favor us with a song later.”

I was used to performing in this life, but entertaining hormonal teenagers at a school dance was a little different from being asked to perform for the king of the Welsh faeries and his entire court. Still, I nodded my assent. That was the kind of request I could not really refuse, especially under current circumstances.

“And is this the beautiful maiden you have come to save?” asked Gwynn, leaning over to look at Carla, still in her hospital bed.

“Yes, Majesty, this is Carla Rinaldi.”

“She labors under a great weight of dark magic, Taliesin. But I am told you know how to rescue her if you have enough power behind your casting. I myself will lend you my strength, and I think with that you will succeed.”

I almost fainted at that. Well, not really, but if anything was going to make me faint, that would have been it. Keep in mind that Gwynn had been worshiped as a god by some early Celtic groups. He had been thought of as the king of winter, ruler of the underworld, gatherer of souls, and leader of the wild hunt. Getting his help with the magic was somewhat like looking for AA batteries and finding a nuclear reactor.

“Majesty, I am overwhelmed by your generosity,” I said feebly.

When people said that they had no words to express their feelings, I had always kind of chuckled at them, but this was one situation in which I genuinely didn’t know how to express my gratitude. Gwynn, perhaps to avoid throwing me off any further, moved on quickly.

“Viviane! It has been long since you have actually been at court. You must be our guest more often in future.”

“Thank you, Majesty,” said Nurse Florence, with a bow.

“Shahriyar, another true warrior in our midst.”

“I try, Majesty,” said Shahriyar, also bowing.

Gwynn greeted Dan and Gordy equally warmly, then moved on to Carlos, whom he had not met before. Then he came to Khalid, and his eyes widened. “Well, boy, who might you be?”

Considering that Khalid had been homeless for about three years, his life before had not really prepared him to chat with royalty. However, thanks to Mrs. Sassani, he did look a little like an Abercrombie and Fitch commercial, and he was certainly sharp enough to follow our leads.

“My name is Khalid, Majesty,” he said and made a passable bow.

“I might have wondered why Taliesin would include someone so young in his party, but you are more than just human, aren’t you?”

“Actually,” said Khalid in a very timid voice, “Tal did not include me. I…hid and sneaked through the portal into this wonderful place.” Khalid lowered his head and did not meet Gwynn’s eyes, perhaps expecting a reprimand of some kind. Instead, Gwynn responded with another one of his belly laughs.

“Taliesin, I think the boy has some of your spirit! May it serve him as well as it has served you. Khalid, you may have sneaked here, but you are as welcome as anyone else.”

I had expected Gwynn to ask more questions about Khalid’s nature, but again he moved on. Perhaps he had somehow picked up on how uncomfortable Khalid was with that nature.

“Stanford? Bold as ever, I see. But there is something different about you this time.”

“Yes, Majesty, in the battle against Ceridwen I was…awakened…much as Tal was four years before.”

“I thought so,” said Gwynn, leaning over the table and giving it a resounding rap with his knuckles. “There is someone mighty within you, to say the least. Who were you once?”

Now it was Stan’s turn to be uncomfortable. “I… was…King David of Israel, Your Majesty.”

Gwynn looked inquisitively in Nurse Florence’s direction. “Viviane, more than mere coincidence seems to be at work here.”

“I have sometimes thought so myself, Your Majesty,” replied Nurse Florence, “but there doesn’t seem to be any way to know, at least not yet.”

“Well, the purpose will be revealed in good time, no doubt,” said Gwynn. “In any case, Stanford, welcome to my court!”

Stan, obviously puzzled, bowed and stepped back. By this point he was not the only one who was puzzled. Sure, it was a pretty large coincidence that King David and I had been reunited after all these years, but what was Gwynn implying? That it was fate? That some higher power was manipulating us? I would have to talk with him about this situation when I got the chance.

“And now, visiting heroes, please do us the honor of joining in our feast—”

“Majesty, we cannot,” replied Nurse Florence quickly.

Gwynn winked at her and chuckled. “We will waive the usual rules, Viviane. You may all eat and drink without becoming tied to this realm.”

At a gesture from Gwynn, an extra table was brought in and set for us with amazing speed. The faerie servants were clearly as fast as the faerie knights. Nurse Florence moved to look after Carla, but a couple of faerie healers appeared at just that moment and promised to take care of her while Nurse Florence ate. We waited for Nurse Florence and Sir Arian to sit, and then the rest of us scrambled in. I ended up with Sir Arian on my left and Stan on my right. In front of us were a variety of silver plates, goblets, and utensils that looked as if someone spent twenty-four hours a day polishing them. I remembered how impressed I was at the pre-homecoming party at Carrie Winn’s, but this experience promised to be far, far above that one.

“I…I don’t suppose they have anything kosher,” mumbled Stan, not wanting to be rude but clearly uncomfortable at the thought of a roasted pig being shoved at him.

“Stanford, you may have whatever you wish,” said Sir Arian. “Just think of it, and it will be brought.” He spoke loudly enough for Shar and Khalid to also hear, and they both looked relieved, having probably just had the same anxiety as Stan.

“But,” said Nurse Florence, glancing at the silver goblets in front of each of us, “no alcohol!” Sir Arian raised an eyebrow. “I know that except for Khalid, they are all adults by the standards of Annwn, but in the society from which they come, they are still below the legal drinking age. I’m the only legal adult in the party, and I am responsible for them.”

“Aw, Mom,” said Dan jokingly. “I could really go for a beer right about now.” It looked as if a faerie servant was actually approaching at that moment with a frosty mug, but one withering glance from Nurse Florence sent the servant back to the kitchen.

“Nobody’s ever going to know,” said Gordy, somewhat less jokingly. “All the faerie warriors get to drink what they want. Anyway, I just turned eighteen.”

“Which is not twenty-one, now is it?” replied Nurse Florence.

“My parents let me have champagne on New Year’s Eve,” pointed out Carlos.

“And if your parents were here, they could let you have whatever you want, but I…just can’t,” said Nurse Florence, almost apologetically. “I know this is awkward. I suppose it is the nature of our relationship at school that makes me insist.”

“Being the school nurse is just your cover, isn’t it?” asked Gordy, still looking for a loophole.

“And to be good at that ‘cover,’ I have to live it,” replied Nurse Florence with an air of finality.

Having figured out that the moment was awkward, Sir Arian started suggesting different kinds of juice. I found it hard not to giggle over the whole situation, though I think Gordy was actually a little irritated.

Once we all got past the beverage-selection impasse and focused on what we wanted to eat, we were served fairly quickly. Nurse Florence had pineapple juice and what looked like the world’s largest fruit salad. I think she had been thinking about the meal from a diet standpoint and was a little overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the thing—why are women always on diets? Nonetheless, it did look as if someone had been cutting and artistically arranging fruit for hours to produce the salad, and once Nurse Florence got started, she quickly seemed to forget about the whole concept of calories.

Sir Arian had what he told us was roast boar; the idea was not especially appealing, but I had to admit that it looked very tender. I had always been a sucker for Thanksgiving dinner, so I ended up with turkey—you know, the kind that is so well prepared it just melts in your mouth, accompanied by the smoothest gravy ever, sage dressing, buttery mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce that seemed to have been made from fresh cranberries. Stan got equally well-prepared roast lamb, with mint jelly that he swore was prepared from fresh ingredients. We all knew, of course, that our various selections had to have been magically created, but who cared when they were that good?

Just as we were finishing, I heard Gwynn’s booming voice. “Now it is time for Taliesin the bard to sing for us,” an announcement that was followed by raucous applause. I had forgotten all about Gwynn’s earlier request, and I rose somewhat nervously. Faeries were used to hearing some of the finest singers and musicians in the universe. I
was
good—but was I good enough for this crowd?

By the time I had walked to the center of the room, a group of faerie musicians with a variety of instruments had assembled to accompany me. I couldn’t exactly do rock for this audience, so I searched Taliesin 1’s memories and performed some of the songs that had been popular at Arthur’s court. My magic flowed through the words to keep me in sync with the musicians, who seemed surprised but pleased by how well we coordinated without rehearsal. The audience responded well, and once I loosened up, I actually enjoyed myself. Since Halloween, Carla’s illness had left my band on hiatus, so this was really the first public performance I had done in a couple of months. It reminded me of why I had been drawn to music in the first place, even before I had been awakened and actually became a good performer. Well, I shouldn’t be overly modest. Perhaps a great performer.

When the performance ended, the faeries applauded enthusiastically, none more so than Gwynn himself. “Taliesin, it has been ages—literally, since I have heard a human musician who could really perform. Your songs have filled me with joy.”

“I am happy that I was able to please Your Majesty and the court,” I said solemnly, trying not to blush too obviously.

“Now we should retire,” suggested Gwynn. “We faeries sometimes do feast all night, but tomorrow, Taliesin, you, I, and Viviane have a great work of magic to perform, and we should be well-rested. I have summoned servants who will show all of you to your quarters and see to your needs.”

After we had said our good-nights and turned toward the door, there was indeed a row of faerie servants waiting for us, but something struck me as odd. All of them were incredibly good-looking. Yeah, I know, faeries in general are good-looking by any reasonable human standard, but these seemed to be a cut above the norm, even for faeries. The one who gestured to Nurse Florence was a man, but all the others were women, which seemed like a weird coincidence. It’s true that teenage guys sometimes have overactive imaginations, but I did begin to wonder about how broadly the faeries were ready to interpret the phrase, “see to your needs.”