Meanmna: Book One of the Daearen Realms (16 page)

“Holy crap!” I said as we exited the building. I had forgotten that we were in the water and the last thing
s I expected to see were three blue whales. The babies were the size of a mini-van and the mom was the size of a stretch Hummer limousine.

“
Your chariots,” Mick said as he swept his arm to the whales and bowed.

“Is our ride hiding behind the whales? Reenacting Pinocchio isn’t on my bucket list.”

“You’ll love them, Sarette. I’ve been working on these babies for a year.” Mick tapped on one of the little ones and I heard a clang of metal. Mick took out his wand, said an incantation, and a blue spark came off the end. The two smaller whales stopped swimming and I could see they were tiny submarines.

“
Wow! You built these? They’re amazing!” I walked over and took a closer look. “Are you an inventor? Or are mechanics and welding your thing?” I ran my hand along the perfectly welded seams. “Just wow, Mick! I’ve never seen anything so fantastic.” Mick stared at me with surprise. I waited for an answer, and waited, and waited.

“Since Mick has lost the ability to
speak,” Mica said as she walked over and put her arm around Mick, “I can answer. He’s an inventor. He has an entire wing filled with completed, unseen, brilliant projects.”

“Why in the world are they unseen?” I asked.

“I have other responsibilities that take precedence and I never thought they were good enough.” Mick shrugged.

“Now you’re preaching to the
choir. Would you show them to me some time? If you have anything else half as awesome as this, who knows what we could utilize it for in the kingdom.”

“Thank you. You are always welcome at Hasani Castle, Princess Sarette,” Mick said.

“I also think that once I ascend to the throne, you should consider being part of my war counsel.” I seemed to be slipping into royal mode more often lately.

Mica gasped and Mick dropped to one knee in front of me. “It would be my greatest honor, Princess.”

All my regal feelings seeped away and I was once again lost as to how to react. I had spent so much time trying to think of how to act, I was sick of it. “All righty then, that’s settled.” Clap, clap. “I think you should show us how these babies work and we should get out of here. But first, I need a hug. I’m a hugger, and having you down there on your knee is just plain awkward.” Everyone laughed and Mick stood up and gave me a hug. Mica away wiped a tear and hugged me too.

Mike pointed and gave orders. “
Elwin, you will take the rear. I made it the lookout post; there aren’t any blind spots there. Sarette, I outfitted yours with a bed so you can sleep. You must be exhausted after using so much magic.” Mick opened the mouth of the middle whale so I could peer in. The inside was the size of a one-person tent with a mattress on the floor.

“I love it. Thank you. I can’t wait to see what else you
have.” I gave him another hug. Mick smiled and walked over to Elwin’s whale sub. I joined Mica in front of the biggest whale.

“
Princess, this is Maggie. She will be dragging the smaller subs and be the first line of defense,” Mica said without looking at me. The whale she was petting looked at me and blinked.

“Wow
! May I?” When Mica nodded, I began to pet the whale. “I’m so sorry about Ray. You liked him, didn’t you?”

“I’ve been in love with him since we were kids. I always knew he didn’t feel the same
for me, but I always hoped that would change one day. I am so sorry. I should have seen this coming, and I can’t believe I didn’t see him for what he really was.”

“
I don’t think anybody who loved him saw him for what he really was. Don’t blame yourself, Mica. It’s not your fault.” I stopped petting Maggie and gave Mica a hug. “Besides, you are way too good for him, even if he hadn’t turned out to be a sociopathic maniac.”

Mica laughed and said, “
Godspeed, Princess, and Goddess save the queen.” She ended our hug and walked to her brother. Mick put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple.

Elwin walked over and
picked me up in a hug. “I’m going to miss you on this journey,” he whispered into my ear.

I nuzzled into his neck and mumbled, “I’m going to miss you, too.”

Elwin walked to my whale with me still suspended in his arms. “I’ll see you in five hours.” He began to lower me. I lifted my head, looked in his eyes, and pulled him to me for a quick, yet spine-tingling, erotic kiss. He set me down and I waved at Mick and Mica before I crawled into my whale sub where I had just enough room to sit up. I smiled as Elwin closed the whale’s mouth. A small light came on near the head of my bed. I got myself and my stuff settled into the small space, then lay back on the bed.

A few minutes later
, I heard a bang on the side of the sub and Mick said, “Godspeed and Goddess save the queen, Princess.”
You better get used to hearing that,
I thought,
‘cause they certainly like to say it.

I felt the sub move.
My mind was racing as I thought about this morning’s revelations. I now knew who one of my enemies was, but how to proceed with that information still eluded me. I needed to rest, so, I counted backwards from one hundred and fell asleep around seventy-five.

I had wished for dreamless sleep to help me get some much needed rest, but the God and Goddess had a different plan. I had the town square speech dream again, but it was different this time. Instead of being blurry and out of focus, I could see that the dream was taking place in the village we had just left. It must have been how the town looked before it was burned and abandoned. I could tell who was speaking in the square now—it was Ray.

In the dream it looked like Ray had amassed the entire town as his subjects in darkness.
He told the town he would claim the Spirit crown and the Spirit magic that comes with it, by force if necessary. He said that if they followed him they would never want for anything. He never said that he would allow darkness to rule the realm, but as he was speaking a black aura formed around him like a shadow. I looked through the crowd during the speech and could see a change whenever a fey chose to follow Ray. The black aura around Ray would start snaking out like octopus tentacles and touch the fey in the chest. The fey would shimmer, and his or her aura would turn black.

I stretched myself awake
. I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but I think I slept most of the whale sub journey. I decided to study my new realm for the rest of the ride. I got the map out of my backpack and found our destination, Brough. It was on the northwestern edge of the lake. I spent the next half an hour memorizing my kingdom. It was getting easier to think of this as my kingdom, my realm, my fey. It was all my responsibility.

I felt the whale
sub slow its motion and come to a stop. I didn’t feel us move, but my ears were popping and I could tell that we were rising to the surface of the lake. I waited because I had forgotten to ask how to get out of the whale. There was a knock on the sub, followed by a clicking noise, and then the mouth opened to reveal Elwin standing on the lake surface with his hand out for me. I took his hand and crawled out. He reached in and grabbed my backpack as I put my weapons belt on.

We were about fifty yards out from land
and I couldn’t see a town from where we were—just miles and miles of rocky shoreline. It looked like the beach at the end of the
Goonies
movie
.
Elwin took my hand and we stepped away from the subs. The whales went under the water. I saw a spout of water about twenty yards away and heard Maggie, the lead whale say,
Godspeed, Princess, and Goddess save the queen. If you need me again, you only need to ask. I am always at your service.
I saw two more spouts of water and I knew that Maggie was dragging the two baby whale subs behind her.

We walked to the shore and climbed a hidden stone staircase cut into the side of a small cliff. We reached the top
, and from this perspective I could see Brough in the distance. We started walking a path that led to a bigger road. It wasn’t paved, and there were deep groves that carts had cut into it. We had walked about a half mile when we saw a firefly blinking on top of a boulder on the side of the road.

Elwin bent down and listened. The firefly blinked several times and then flew away. “Melinda sent something to help us blend in.” Elwin walked around the boulder and stuck his hand right into it. He pulled out a large, dark-gray bundle. He shook and unfolded the bundle to reveal two capes. He handed me one and I put it over my shoulders and on top of my backpack. “You need to keep your hood up while we are in this area. Brough is like Switzerland, completely neutral
for the most part, but there are plenty of fey here who would sell their own mother for a price.” Elwin grabbed both sides of my hood and pulled it up. He held onto it and looked into my eyes before he slowly moved in for a tender kiss. He let go of my hood and asked, “Ready?”

“Just a minute.” I took the front of his cape and pulled him down so we were face to face. I looked at him for a second
, then pulled him to my lips, hard and fast. I heard him gasp in surprise, but he quickly deepened the kiss. With a herculean effort, I broke the kiss and gasped, “Let’s go.” I let go of Elwin’s hood and put my hand out for him. We walked hand in hand toward the town.

Brough was a typical fishing
port. Ships lined the harbor. Bars and hotels lined the street we walked down. There were several streets that led down to the harbor, but we stayed on the main street as Elwin led us to the Brough Wayfarer Inn. On the outside, it resembled a European hotel or an Old West boarding house.

“We need to check into the hotel,” he said. “I need to find someone
tonight, but it shouldn’t take too long.” We walked up a set of stairs into the lobby that held a couple of beat up chairs and a check-in desk.

“We have a reservation under the name of Hill,” Elwin flashed a wad of cash and the clerk took it and put it into his pocket.

“I see it right here, Mister Hill,” the weasel-eyed man said as he wrote “Hill” in a huge leather-bound reservation book on the desk.

When
the clerk looked toward me, I turned my back to him and ran my hand up Elwin’s chest. “Is there food here? I think we need to eat before we continue our honeymoon . . . Don’t you think?” I then communicated telepathically to Elwin,
This guy is giving me the creeps. Let’s get out of here now, please.

“
We don’t have room service, but the place next door will deliver.” He handed Elwin the menu and a large metal key that had a tag with “Room 210” written on it. “Your room is upstairs and to the right at the end of the hall.”

I kept my face partially blocked as we walked upstairs and found our room.

The room looked like one you’d find in any Holiday Inn. One queen-sized bed with a sag in the middle, a small desk, a table, and a couple of chairs. The bathroom was off to our left, with a wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom and open closet. I set my backpack against the wall by the bathroom door so it was ready for my shower. I lay down on the bed and stretched my aching muscles. I felt Elwin looking at me from across the room. I raised my head. “What?”

“
Nothing. I need a shower. Do you mind if I go first?” I shook my head no. “I can eat anything. Order whatever you want. Food shouldn’t take too long to get here, so go ahead and eat if I’m not out when it arrives.” He walked into the bathroom.

I looked at the menu and decided on the one word I recognized, pizza
. I called the number and ordered by asking for “whatever is your most popular pie.” I passed the time looking out the window. Even from this angle, Brough looked like a regular seaside town except for the occasional use of magic. I watched a woman sweep her porch; not with a broom, but she passed her wand over the area and . . .
poof!
All of the dirt flew off the porch. A man with a large cart, filled with who knows what, was walking down the road. Nothing was pulling the cart; it was moving along on its own.

Elwin was taking a long time in the shower so I moved back to the bed and closed my eyes. I was almost asleep when I heard a knock on the door.

“Pizza.”

“
I’ll get it,” Elwin said as he walked out from behind the wall. “You stay back.” I couldn’t stop staring at him with only a towel wrapped around his waist. His back was sexy and I was memorized by the way his muscles moved as he reached the door and handed money to the delivery guy. Elwin shut the door, crossed the room, and put the box on the table. I stared at his naked torso. My goodness! He was so beautiful. Elwin cleared his throat and I had to blink a couple of times before I could focus on his face. He looked amused. “Go ahead and eat. I’ll be right out.”

He walk
ed behind the wall. Once he was out of sight and I was able to break free from my trance, I got up to inspect dinner. I had no idea what the pizza toppings were. Vegetables I think, but I had never seen neon polka-dotted vegetables before, so I had no idea. I grabbed a slice and inhaled it before Elwin walked out, fully dressed.

“
Do you like it?” Elwin grabbed a slice and started eating.

“
It’s delicious!” I took another piece. “So, I had a dream during the trip here. I think there might be a way to recognize whether or not a fey has turned dark.”

“I’m not sure if that’s possible.”

“Do you think of darkness as a tangible object, or more of an idea?”

“I’ve always thought of darkness as an idea, the
philosophical approach to decision making and one’s life path.”

“What Ray was doing was not philosophical.”

“True. I’m not sure how much unrest was here before your father left, or if that was the catalyst to what has been happening for the last seventeen years. When there was no king on the throne, fighting began and it hasn’t stopped since. That’s what the darkness is.”

“Sound
s like the fey are becoming more like humans,” I said and shrugged my shoulders.

“What? That doesn’t make sense
.”

“What doesn’t make sense is
that everyone has been constantly happy for thousands of years. Think about Ray,” I offered. “I’m sure he was happy with what he got for a while, but when Tessa came into the picture, everything changed. Once that jealous, no-fair-she’s-mine attitude became part of him, darkness took root in his heart.” I looked at Elwin, who was wearing a rather confused expression. “Maybe if everyone stopped blaming the boogie man, i.e. darkness, and started acknowledging that these issues are normal, and dealt with them as such, we could get more accomplished.”

“Ray aside, that’s the way it’s always been though.” Elwin took another bite of pizza. “Everything has had a natural evolution
. Families merged, marriages happened, names changed, rulers changed—it just always worked out. There has always been a natural progression to determine who is in charge of the other four elements. There has never been fighting to decide who rules. In fact, the only fey family that has remained in power for our entire existence has been the Keltoi family. Your family is the only family whose name never changes. Whoever marries a Keltoi, becomes a Keltoi, no matter the sex. What were you saying about a way to see if a fey is dark? What was your dream?”

“I’m not going into the dream; but, I think a fey’s aura might change if they are dark. I’ll try to see if I’m right when we walk out of town tomorrow. There’s no point in explaining if it was just a dream and not a clue.”

“You look at things from a different perspective than any fey I’ve ever known.” Elwin embraced me and whispered in my ear, “I think we have a real chance at winning with you, Sarette. Never doubt yourself.”

“
I think the jury is still out on that one. I need to take a shower.” With that, I squeezed Elwin, grabbed my bag, and went into the bathroom.

After my shower, I found Elwin sound asleep on top of the bed. Poor guy, he didn’t get any sleep on the trip to Brough. I cleaned up the pizza mess and set the trash outside the door. I looked for my map in my bag and couldn’t find it where I put it. Then I saw that Elwin had it rolled up in his hand. I very carefully pried it out of his fingers and spread it out on the desk.

I spent
the next two hours studying my realm. I was feeling confident that I had all major elemental castle locations down, and most of the major cities. Satisfied with my progress, I left the map and got my iPad out of my backpack. I grabbed an extra blanket out of the closet, snuggled up to Elwin on the bed and spread the blanket over both of us.

I had
n’t used my iPad since I got here, so the battery was still nearly full
. I need to figure out how to get this converted to magic.
That sentence would have seemed really strange a week ago. I had only read a chapter when I fell asleep.