Chapter 4

“Erin? Erin, are you listening?” Emory looked at Erin somewhat bemusedly as she jerked her attention back to the present.

Erin wondered if she should tell Emory about the dreams she had been having. The dreams that woke her out of a restless sleep with a heart pounding start. Always the same dream, with minor variations in theme, involving a thin evil looking woman dressed all in black. “Sorry, just gathering a bit of wool. You were saying?” Erin said with a hint of a smile.

“I was saying, Erin, that this is an important event we are sending you on, not some sort of walk-about in the wilderness. First, your mother and father have designs and reasons of their own for this trip. I don’t much like or care for either of their reasons, up front, but...” and Emory shrugged. “Anyway, you are getting into an area that we need to make certain, and I do mean deadly certain, you understand what you are walking into.”

Erin nodded in understanding and looked at Emory to be certain she could read his expression.

Emory merely snorted and then went on. “Erin, when you leave the safety of the city you will also be leaving the area that is most strongly held by our forces, and into which we can pour resources quickly. The further south you go, the longer it will take for rescue if it becomes necessary.”

“Emory, is there something you aren’t telling me?” Erin asked.

“Erin, it is not so much that I am not telling you, as I cannot see what is ahead. The future of this undertaking is very darkly shrouded. When I cannot see what is to happen, I get naturally paranoid, and based on experience, rightly so!” Emory stood and walked over to the window that looked out onto the courtyard. “Look, Erin, all I can do is go with my instincts. I don’t like this, not one damn bit! We are sending you into certain peril, and I cannot make either the King or the Queen see reason. Oh, I’ve convinced them to assign extra security, as well as assign Laurel and your bodyguard, but ... I can’t help but feel even more vulnerable than when Mordrant was about.

“Okay, enough pussyfooting about! Either spill it, or stop with the veiled hints!” Erin said as she too stood and walked to the window.

“Erin, can I tell you a story?” Emory paused until she nodded, and then indicated that they both should sit again. “Erin, this is a tale of loss and mourning.”

“Long ago, when your father was but a young lad, the world of the fairy was strong and wondrous to behold. Your Grandfather, King Oberon, ruled a kingdom that stretched from here to the southern shores of the Pacific Ocean. As most old folk do, I remember it much less clearly than I suppose it really was, but take my word for it that this was a time of peace and beauty.

With the passing of your Grandfather, in a ‘hunting accident’, the kingdom was thrown into mortal strife. Your father is the right born King, but was too young to rule in his own right. Mordrant is a bastard from a dalliance with a witch of a woman, and I don’t use that term lightly, that Oberon was too want to undertake while away from the throne. As a result, the kingdom was thrown into chaos, and that chaos survives to date. Outside the strong fortresses in mortal cities like Seattle and Tacoma, the length of the King’s Justice now is the length of a sword.