Chapter the Sixth: The lady Lays...

I dreamed again.

I dreamed because it was night time and I was in bed. But I understood that I was not sleeping.

The velvet blackness and the crystal streams of light were once more stretching into infinity from around me. I felt as if I was back at home.

No, that wasn't right, it was not my home but it was a place that felt like it.

I felt at ease, this was a place of safety. I knew a deep peace.

I was naked and I lay down in the darkness watching the streams course around me. Great eddies in the flows of the sparkling points swirled about me, spinning gracefully in from one side of my vision and out the other. Some lights joined them and some were left behind. I realised I knew what these lights were, they were, for want of a better word; 'souls.' Each one displaying the connections to their neighbour.

I recognised the impressions of Valerie and Amy alongside me as deeper blackness against the black. Their own streams coalescing in their centres, miniature paths of light spiralling in towards the nexus. Their channels connected through me to each other and to the rest of the pattern around us. As I concentrated, I could also make out the curves of the people near us as we slept, the bright glow of the neighbours awake next door, the twinkling of their young kids asleep behind them. The blackness took on more and more texture and meaning as I regarded it more closely. Instead of the bland, black plane I'd conceived previously, it had the look of a vast landscape of burnished black enamel. The pits and humps of each person stretching out from me in less and less distinction. The plane folded up and away in convolutions that brought some of the groups closer to others and caused some points to be separated.

What I'd taken to be ribbons of light were not cables or conduits but rather the co-ordinated migration of these individual 'souls' as they were motivated by forces either singly or en mass. I was so utterly absorbed in the wonder of the place that, at first, I was unaware of any other presence. But then my eyes began to discern a coalescence in the ambient gleaming and as I sat up to observe this phenomenon, it began to gain more and more shape. I could see that it was a human figure long before the details were revealed. As they became more distinct though, I found that I had to stand. This figure demanded my undivided attention and what is more, my absolute respect.

A woman stood before me. Naked save for a white gauze chiffon dress, a simple drape over her shoulders and down to her feet, concealing nothing. But whilst nothing was concealed, the overall effect was one of classic formality. This woman was someone to whom I should defer. I also knew, never before and never again, would I see such beauty. This figure who stood before me was everything that could be considered beauty.

She defined the word.

She smiled at me and I was on my knees almost as soon as the orgasmic effect of the gesture hit me. I gasped and clasped my chest as the joy of her being flooded through me. I had tears on my cheeks and my throat was constricted with emotion. Raw eroticism can not do justice to the pure sensual joy that her body could provide. I wanted to have her, for her to have me. To slather her with my tongue. I could only imagine the delights of her sex around my member, on me, surrounding me.

I knew, within myself, with absolute certainty, that to engage In any form of lovemaking with this regal being would be to forfeit my entire soul to her totally. I was willing to throw myself at her even so. That said, and with my fear as a shield, I fought a near losing battle to keep my ardour under control.

The lady gently raised her perfect hand and waved her fingers around my head. My scalp tingled in anticipation of a mere touch but she did not make contact. As her hand completed a full circle, my mind cleared and I found myself able to look at her with more objectivity, like viewing the sun's brilliance through a black glass. I was able to return her gorgeous smile. Then she spoke, and I nearly lost myself again. The music of her voice was as captivating as any symphony and she, once again, had to provide a filter for me to cope with the emotions. I heard my name from her lips and felt the warmth of her welcome.

"Daniel, seed of the Stonecutter," (my grandfather had been a Mason, I later discovered) "you are welcome. We receive you gladly."

I saw from her stance that she expected a formal reply and so I bowed as correctly as I could judge I should and told her that I was "at her service always."

She smiled again, as if this was a foregone conclusion. "You have questions I am sure, and we have things to discuss" she said, drawing her perfect arm aside to indicate that I should follow her. We followed what I could make out was a path through the bundled cables of light until we descended into what became almost suddenly, I swear, a wooded glade. One minute the blackness of the background was set off by the flashing ribbons of light and then the next, they gave way to vine laden trees and a soft grassy hillock. I made out other figures waiting nearby. As if this was a court, they all bowed as the lady swept by. I wandered behind her bemused by the experience.

Finally she came to a place that was unarguably her throne. A lofty pile of blossoms and leaves, garlands of flowers and cushions. Here she settled into her ease with a grace that would shame a swan. I too, found myself sinking down to a similar couch, sighing with the sheer luxury of it.

A taller figure appeared at my shoulder and I had to crane my neck to see up into his face. The old man wore the black robes of a courtly advisor and the stately head-dress topped a visage that seemed to have seen far more years than should be possible for a man. He spoke, a clear masculine tenor.

"You are welcome Daniel John. Your presence is a welcome addition to our lady Mab's court. I am Bran, her highness's privy counsellor. You are here that you might learn something of us and of our hopes for you."

I was even more confused than before. "And just why am I am here?" I asked.

"You are here because our queen demanded it" was his forthright reply. Queen Mab cast an indulgent smile at me, and suddenly it all seemed perfectly reasonable.

"But why me? What is it that I have done to receive this gift?" I opened my hands and looked at the beautiful queen. Bran made as if to reply for her but she waved her hand to quiet him and spoke to me imperiously.

"It is not a gift, human" The queen smiled ferally, causing a thrill of fear to course through me. "This power is given unto you in return for your acceptance of a contract."

I didn't like the sound of 'contract' and asked quickly "What contract? Is this power going to be withdrawn? Who are you? Why do you call me 'human;' are you not a woman?" the words gasping out as if I was surfacing from a dive.

She made a laugh like a tinkling bell, but a very sexy one, and sat up. Her body glowed in its perfection. She had skin so smooth and clear that the chiffon of her gown simply whispered across the full slopes of her breasts. I swear, I could see a glistening of honey from the shadows of her pubis.

"And why did you choose me?"

She grinned, her teeth dazzling, and leant forward to accentuate her charms (well, it worked for me).

"So many questions, but I suppose it is fitting that you be curious as to your choosing. Your lineage made your selection an easy task. You are known to us, we once knew your family as great allies. We call you 'Human' because that is what you are. Is it not?"

"Well, yes" I began "so what are you?"

"We are of the Tuatha De Dannan, the Sidhe." Her pronunciation of the name made it sound like a cross between 'Shee' and Thee' but I'll be damned if I can say it properly even now.

She continued;

"Our race has known the rule of the Earth and it has suffered the coming of the Humans to take our throne and usurp our nature. Your kind took the ways of our people and rusted them to a sad, pale remnant of the fine robes we could weave and wear with such grace. "

She sighed and sat back. Bran continued as she was showing signs of either sadness or anger; I could not be sure.

"We lost the war." He began simply. " It was determined that The People should live in separation from the humans. The Sidhe agreed a treaty, by which we were to abide for all eternity. Our two peoples would live in different planes of the same world. Sidhe and Man could only contact on certain occasions. Humankind took the victors' spoils, the warmth of the Earthly plane and the colours of the land. The Sidhe now live in what you would refer to as 'reservations' only able to move onto the Earth when permission has been granted or at the will of a human. Your dreams are often cause for our release, and our power derives essentially from your beliefs. He explained that the Sidhe 'fed' their energies from Human emotions. Controlling and liberating the responses of a Human was their special power.

Bran, smiled kindly at me. "... But, we have become enamoured of our place in the world, our powers have grown since the defeat and we have made ourselves into a contented race. This realm is no longer a place of imprisonment, it is a home."

He recited a list of family names and deeds and victories and most of it went way over my head. He was in his stride, evidently relishing the chance to tell me of his history. But then his face clouded as he suddenly got back onto the subject at hand.

"Contentment only extends so far. There are factions amongst the Sidhe who have found allies on the Human plane. It is possible that they intend to achieve another matching of our races. Should the powers of the Sidhe be unleashed against Humanity, there would be a rout that would leave us all diminished. Both peoples have need of the other, a war would be suicide. That is why we request your agreement to act on our behalf in your world as we work to dissuade the ones of the Tuatha who have taken the path less fortunate. The human called Peter Shaw is their chosen one."

He made the name sound like a single, ugly word.

"His hideousness is as great as your beauty" Mab added with chilling insight.

This man had as much power as me and was obviously experienced at using it.

According to CNN, his empire grew daily.

"The ugly ones in our population have put all their hopes in his success. If we can overcome him, our universe can be saved. But if we fail, neither the Sidhe nor the Human plane will escape ruin."

I was being given the chance of a lifetime. Maybe of all lifetimes; but it was such a massive request. I had no way of telling what the outcome of the contract would be. And how could I consider myself to be some sort of hero? The responsibility was a weight I didn't feel able to carry. I felt guilty about the base way I'd given in to my sexual instincts. Surely I should have been able to control myself?

"I don't know whether I am worthy to do this. Your 'free trial' " I saw in Bran that this was exactly what my acquisition of the powers was, "... I have not used it in a very controlled way so far. There have been women I have used immorally."

"Your Human morals are of no consequence to us." he replied smiling. "Our people have no such concept. We embrace the desire to find amusement. We have often made free with individuals of your world. When there is no evil in your heart, your actions are not evil."

"And your heart is not so dark as you believe yourself to be." The queen spoke up gently, enhancing the levity of the discussion. "You actually carry the responsibility well and we have surety that you are the chosen one."

I looked from Bran to Mab and then at all the expectant faces of the various figures in the court. Taking a deep breath, I decided:

"OK. I hope you aren't going to tie this contract up in some of your famous legal wrangling but I agree, for the use of these powers, I will find and stop those people who are acting against us all."