Chapter 90

“So you suspect Oonagh’s up to something, John?” Morgana queried me during a meeting called with Roxanne, Verenestra and William.

“Yes, almost certainly,” I replied carefully. “Though I’m not sure if it’s harmful to our cause or something that will be beneficial for us.”

“It would not be in her interests for the Vultoqi to win,” Verenestra mused thoughtfully. “But Oonagh always works to a plan ... or did.”

“Can see her hoping we’ll both lose,” Roxanne grimaced. “But I’m biased; I don’t like the bitch anyway.”

“That’s why I asked my Mage to attend,” I explained. “She may not like Oonagh but she’ll look closely at the situation and point out anything we missed.”

“Correct, John,” Morgana replied, adding. “I have no reason to like her at all. Too many of my friends died fighting her forces. However, that was the war and this is now, so let’s go over what she’s done and doing and see if we can glean what she’s planning.”

“First off, she contacted us and it wasn’t random,” I began. “She’d known about the Vultoqi and Nhuvla for some time before the contact. Second, she was unusually compliant over the Calvagh, though the doing of it did expose her isolation from the Fae mainstream, such as it is and she didn’t like it at all.”

“Yes, that was unusual,” Verenestra nodded. “I half expected her to refuse.”

“Since then, although appearing initially reluctant, she’s helped us consistently and truthfully with information,” I added.

“Aye, true. Odd that,” Roxanne agreed.

“We had no issues really on S’a a’Fae, not even when we drugged and capped her. I expected her to go mental over that and, when settled, come up with an exorbitant fee in compensation.”

“Perhaps she’s mellowing?” William interjected.

“No. You didn’t see the look of stark hatred she gave me when I told her she’d be forced to use the weapon if necessary. But what she wanted was pitiful compared to the indignity we heaped on her in forcing her to go there. No, she doesn’t like us at all, to put it mildly. But, she co-operates in every way that counts. Something doesn’t add up.” I summed up the situation.

“She has no particular reason to like you personally, John,” Verenestra replied. “Though the price was surprising, I admit.”

“True,” I chuckled. “My problem as I see it is, is she doing it because it’s necessary, or because she can somehow hit back against those who brought her down, yet still get out of it alive, or is there some other reason?” I shrugged.

“Ah, yes,” Morgana nodded. “Did anyone read her when she was capped?”

“Surface thoughts only,” Roxanne replied. “Unless Nesta went deeper.”

There was a flicker as Beanfeasa Nesta was summoned and teleported to the room.

“No, there were no hints of deceit, but a lot of bottled up anger and rage at having to submit to those she saw as enemies ... but also despair too and feelings of helplessness, that’s where the hatred was coming from, John. She hates you because she realises she’s now dependent on you to improve her life. That’s a bitter pill for her to swallow ... considering what you were to her,” Nesta reported. “But I only got a few hints that she knows a bit more than she’s telling. There wasn’t time for me to go deeper into her memories.”

“Wonder what she knows?” Morgana asked out loud in thoughtful tones.

“Probably an Oddrassi prophecy,” Verenestra replied, eyes narrowed in thought.

“So for the minute she’s OK to trust?” Roxanne asked.

“Yes, though I think we should hold back on antagonising her too much. She now knows what we can do and, as long as she doesn’t refuse point blank...” I replied, tailing off.

“You’re too soft, John. But for the moment, aye,” Roxanne broke in.

“I’m taking the threads over later; I’ll try to have a civilised conversation with her then,” I said, nodding to Morgana who had provided the threads.

“I think we both should, John. It’s time Oonagh and I had a ‘chat’, long past time,” Morgana interjected thoughtfully.

“Yes, my Mage.”

“Next time we cap her, Nesta, scan for her intentions, if you please,” Verenestra requested as the meeting broke up.

“Of course, my Queen,” came the reply as she winked out to where the rest of the gestalt were scanning.

Oonagh was back at work, creating what I had to admit was a beautiful garment made from the silk we’d provided her by way of thanks for helping us.

“Lovely,” I said as she concentrated on her work.

“Oh, it’s you. Got my fee?”

“Yes, but we need to talk.”

“We, do not. You want to talk, get it right,” she almost snarled.

“No, we need to talk. It’s going to affect how you are treated in the future,” I replied. Morgana remained silent, simply observing and taking everything in.

“You’ve already demonstrated how you’ll treat me if I don’t co-operate,” she grated out.

“True, but we want to avoid that.”

“That other Mage doesn’t!”

“I’m not her, besides, you needed to know what the consequences might be. I’m no longer your Nemesis or your enemy, Oonagh. Now what is it you want or are after?”

Oonagh just turned and stared at me, a whole gamut of emotions washing over her face, her hands clenching into fists and then relaxing slightly every second or so.

“I’m bored,” she said finally. “I need something to do when I do not have clothing on order. I have no friends. I have no life. I was intending withholding the information I have on Nhuvla and watching this Alliance that cast me down go up in flames by way of revenge. But then realised that I very much wanted to live and saw an opportunity to ... entertain myself, even if it was with those I loathed by helping them fight a new enemy.”

“Have you made no friends here?” Morgana spoke into the silence that followed Oonagh’s outburst.

“They do not speak to me.”

“Have you tried to speak to them?”

“Errr...”

“Thought not.”

“I just do not know what to say,” Oonagh confessed. “‘Hello, I’m Oonagh, former queen and enemy of the state’ doesn’t seem a good opening line.”

“They’re Dökkálfar. Technically they’re in the same boat, if with somewhat less blood on their hands,” I chuckled. “Have you spoken to Saress?”

“Who?”

“You mean you’ve never tried to speak to your bodyguard and learn her name?”

“I did not think I was allowed...”

“Saress, if you please?” I asked out loud.

“Yes, Mage John?” she replied, uncloaking.

“What are your instructions regarding the former queen?”

“I am to protect her from any unofficial attempts on her life; report to Regent Taqual weekly on any activities she is involved with and aid and assist her in any legal business she may have, should she ask.”

“I was not told this!” Oonagh burst out.

“It’s on your release papers from the arrondistrium,” Saress replied with a wry smile. “It’s not my problem if you don’t read the stuff you’ve been given.”

“How many attempts on her life so far?” I asked.

“Only three, pretty amateurish stuff so far,” she shrugged. “The Order of Druchii are known to be planning an assault, but Regent Taqual has informants embedded with them since their fall from grace and with the formation of the Battalions.”

“Her business?”

“Is being shunned by all major outlets; however my mother, her sister and my sisters as well as a few friends of ours have placed orders as the quality and style is remarkably beautiful. They will not however be forthcoming to strangers as to the source of their good fortune.”

“All you had to do was ask,” I chuckled, looking directly at a deflated Oonagh.

“I ... I never thought to ask,” she replied miserably. “I simply assumed all hated me and I withdrew from the world, showing them naught but hate in return.”

“Saress is not your friend, however she will look out for you until you can manage on your own,” Morgana added.

“This is so,” Saress agreed.

“Would it be possible for your mother to act as an agent for Oonagh as an outlet for her work?” Morgana suggested.

“I will ask. It would certainly improve the sales if they were thought not to come from a tainted source,” Saress nodded.

“Your personal opinion of Oonagh, if you please, Saress?” I requested.

“Her name is hated in Fae society as a memory of a barbaric past and reign. As a person she is arrogant in bearing, though is coming to realise how this affects the responses of those she comes into contact with. Since her release she has worked hard, sold much that was precious to her to gain this building and was grossly overcharged for it. Her wares, though beautiful and elegant, barely make a profit due to her being unable to purchase the base materials at trade prices. The silks she received by way of reward from you will be the first time whereby she will have a reasonable income from sales to actually be able to buy some basic necessities rather than create them, with the attendant poorer quality of such goods. She is no longer the person she was in the arrondistrium, but still has a long way to go before being accepted into Fae society, even at the peripheral.”

“You need to change your attitude, Oonagh, and accept help when it is offered,” Morgana stressed. “Start treating people decently ... even if they spit upon you, and in time things will improve for you. Few, if any, have any reason to like you. Even to this day I see the faces of those friends I lost when fighting your forces. Yet, like John, I do not bear grudges and will treat you fairly in any business dealings. This however is commensurate with you improving your attitude and aiding us to deal with the Vultoqi.”

“I ... I will try,” Oonagh sighed. “But, there are times when the memory of how I lost everything becomes almost overwhelming. At those times I feel such hate for those who cast me down, though I cannot blame them for doing so.”

“We have much we could hate you for too,” I shrugged. “My wife Thea died when fighting Goibhniu in the Valley of Resolution simply because the Daoine Sidhe, or indeed the Sidhe, did not and could not learn that they were not superior in any way to humanity and that the days of slavery and the hunt were over, as well as the eating of our flesh,” I replied grimly.

“Yet you were always reasonable when speaking to me?” Oonagh asked in puzzled tones.

“I do not bear grudges and my Thea would not wish me to carry a burden of hate. Besides, I know she’s in a better place. She told me so herself after you failed in the destiny challenge we faced,” I shrugged.

“I often wondered why you did not wipe us all out.”

“Verenestra was the key. She showed us a side of the Fae we knew we could trust and admire. Once she gained power, she led her people away from barbarity into unity within the Alliance, as equals, not superiors,” Morgana replied.