Chapter 117

OK, we miscalculated slightly. Instead of a perfect teleport Arwen brought us in at nearly three hundred miles an hour at a steep angle onto the plain of Jezreel. Fortunately Dhunvael and I were able to protect the Fae with inertial dampening as well as assisting Arwen with braking and heat dissipation.

“Keldravan,” I announced, sweat running down my forehead as the coating dissolved in front of us and the Royal guard, including Talshish, ported in en-masse to surround us.

“My Princess! John!” he shouted joyfully.

Suddenly Verenestra, William and Morgana were there as well.

“Little girl,” I whispered to Arwen, hearing her giggle as I carefully led her to her parents. Dhunvael and the Fae nervously followed us.

“Your Majesty, I return Arwen, Cirsan Fae Skarlett, to you,” I said formally as I dropped to one knee, sort of playing to the gallery. “I also present to you the last known survivors of S’a a’Fae, the Fae home-world.”

Arwen scrambled up into her mother’s arms as Verenestra came up along with William to give me a hug.

“I cannot thank you enough, John,” she finally forced out through her tears. Turning to Dhunvael and the Fae she greeted them with, “Please be welcome amongst your people.”

“John,” Morgana greeted me with a hug as my wives and Jukar ported in as well.

“My Mage,” I replied and returned the hug.

“Jude said to trust in destiny, but it was so hard,” she sighed, tears trickling down her face.

“I don’t think it’s quite over yet,” I replied solemnly.

“Yes, Oonagh,” she nodded and released me to my wives where, at times, I was unsure if I was being greeted or told off.

It was several days later that I stood alongside Dhunvael before an informal meeting of a few members of the Council who were gathered on Tír na nÓg along with Verenestra, Arwen and William as well as several Sidhe courtiers. Now though, most were being careful about using the words Sidhe and Daoine Sidhe since the true history of betrayal was becoming known.

“So, faster than light travel is possible,” Simon chuckled.

“It needs some ... refinement,” I replied. “Particularly the braking system,” I added, making Arwen giggle.

“No doubt. Which is why we’re discussing it here, not in front of the whole Council,” Simon agreed with a broad grin.

“How are the Fae settling in, Dhunvael?” Verenestra asked, changing the subject until Arwen had calmed.

“Carefully, your Majesty,” he replied. “They fear almost everything, but at least realise they are safe and have your good will in their favour.”

“That they will always have. I take it the scribes I sent have been polite and respectful?”

“Yes, your majesty. Each of the Fae is giving them a full account of their lives before and during the torment,” Dhunvael replied.

“An expedition is being planned to return and see if anything else can be recovered, perhaps even other stasis chambers, though this is unlikely,” Verenestra acknowledged. “Though admittedly this will not be for a while as the process needs studying. Nor do we know how Oonagh managed her transference.”

“It sadly is so, your Majesty,” he replied. “The tower used the lightning from the atmosphere to power itself and maintain a wormhole for our transference. The other towers collapsed when the people revolted against the harsh measures the Sidhe used to fulfil the commands of the Daoine.”

“Your people brought back a treasure trove of knowledge and details of a time that was forgotten, quite deliberately I’m sure,” William added.

“It seems likely, though I suspect the one you call Oonagh will have further clues, should she be captured,” Dhunvael nodded.

“Yes. Her knowing the way back to the home-world seems to indicate this,” Verenestra agreed.

“I had often wondered at the origins of the Fae,” Simon added. “I presumed someone knew but that the Fae chose not to reveal it.”

“We cannot know for sure, but it seems likely that when the Fae got here, the Sidhe guards killed off most of the Daoine, certainly the males, though many of the females will have ended themselves as well,” Verenestra admitted. “I have instructed the scribes to look through the earliest of our records, but what we may find might only be what the Sidhe wanted to be found.”

“This city Keldravan is an almost exact copy of the ancient capital of Keldronon,” Dhunvael added. “Our people led a far more urban existence though.”

“Our numbers have never been that great since time immemorial,” Verenestra replied. “Certainly never more than a million since the war against the Eminrephaimanakim ended. Not even the return of Oonagh and her army was enough to increase our numbers after the attrition against the civilised Earths. The stupid mating laws also held us back.”

“The Sidhe were always about control ... of everything really. Plus, in times of great need our women can produce multiple births,” Dhunvael noted.

“That trait is no longer part of our genome, I believe,” Verenestra replied. “Though again we are looking into it.”

“Deliberately removed when a stable population was reached no doubt,” Dhunvael sighed.

“More than likely,” she nodded.

“Has any more progress been made as to where Oonagh went, or how she gained access to the Royal chambers come to that?” Mage Sofya asked.

“Neither of the maids survived, so no, though we are checking the old plan John and Serice have, as well as simply not using them until we are sure,” Verenestra replied.

“We have as yet found no way to detect, let alone disrupt, a Heinrich ward, other than by destroying the room itself,” Seer Jemima added.

“All we can do is measure carefully and surmise where an entrance may be,” Mage William nodded.

“Any luck so far?” Simon asked.

“Two likely places, but tradition states we can only repair, not remove,” he replied with a wry smile.

“I suspect there must at least be one entrance that can be opened. It’s where Oonagh initially fled after all,” I added.

“We can look later, John. I value your insights into these things,” Morgana replied.

“We need to find her!” Verenestra concluded. “Had it not been for John my daughter would have perished and I doubt that damned woman will ever give up!”

“We will do what we can, your Majesty, but it will not be easy,” Talshish spoke up.

“I know, Tal, I know. It was not criticism, just fear speaking,” Verenestra replied quietly as Arwen snuggled in closer to her.

The meeting wound down after that, though Simon and Sofya questioned me closely on the use of tachyons in regards to instant teleportation and no doubt a new area of study was begun by the Council and the Fae, the term the Sidhe were now beginning to use as their primary designation when speaking of themselves.

Morgana and I strolled into the now unused Royal chambers accompanied by Jemima, Talshish and Serice as well as a squad of guards and went to the areas they suspected were hidden entrances.

“We cannot find anything that will unlock the entrances, assuming that there are entrances there,” Talshish admitted.

“It’s for an emergency,” I said, thinking out loud. “Therefore it needs to be easy, though not necessarily obvious. Oonagh entered here and either went to there, or there,” I finished pointing.

“Yes, John, but as you can see, there’s nothing to do until you reach the points of entry,” Talshish replied.

“Checked under the carpet?” I asked with a grin.

“Yes, John. Nothing, not even any knots in the wood,” he replied with a matching grin.

I carefully scanned the area, noting only a small fireplace with the ubiquitous tools, yet thought it was within reach of one of the entrances. Walking over I examined the fireplace which wasn’t lit and looked unused and used a small torch to look upwards in the chimney.

“We checked that too,” Serice said into the silence.

I looked at the long poker and noted the hook on the end, not really unusual, but potentially it could be used to pull a lever. Taking it I used it to reach up the chimney until I felt something move before reaching past it to pull what seemed to be a small cast iron ring downwards.

There was a sharp click and the entranceway opened on silent hinges revealing a startled Daoine Sidhe observer/guard who went down swiftly and silently to Talshish’s blade.

“How did you know to try that, John?” Serice asked.

“Had to be done quick but out of normal reach, plus I doubt the fire is ever used normally,” I replied.

“Well done, John. I can’t even detect the ring,” Morgana added. “Now let us see what we shall see.”

Two guards led the way toting their plastic coated assault rifles along with their thin silk gloves. The rifles themselves had been modified by the Council to remove virtually all steel outer parts, but the Fae could still be affected by magnetism so the gloves were used to minimise that effect even further even though we’d de-gaussed the innards as well as supplying them with caseless ammo.

We Mages had meanwhile drawn our Glocks and were following behind the guards, carefully scanning anything that might be in our way.

The stairway led down several levels until we were under the known foundations of the palace before we reached a simple door, though there was no guard. A glance through a port in the door showed the inside to be a barrack room where several Daoine Sidhe were resting or doing the basic chores of a soldier living in a barracks.

“Grenade,” Morgana said quietly.

“Grenade,” Jemima repeated, handing her a couple.

There were a couple of clinks that sounded loud in the darkened corridor, but probably weren’t before Morgana after counting to three popped the two grenades through the port in the door and stepped back slightly.

There were two almost simultaneous bangs before the squad rushed the room using their guns to take down any surviving Daoine Sidhe. Two rushed forward to attempt to kick open the door at the far end of the barracks whilst we Mages carefully checked the various side rooms finding only two cowering female Daoine Sidhe guards who were all too willing to surrender and be placed in cuffs to be escorted back to the Royal chambers. By this time the guards had managed to shoot out the lock in the far door and dodged inside before sounding an all clear.

Serice then summoned us to the room that the guards had forced open and along a narrow corridor. Inside was an almost exact copy of the Throne room in miniature save for the full-sized throne in it. There was no sign of Oonagh, but it showed signs of having been in use recently. There was also a bookcase holding several tomes, a few of which were warded, that Talshish was studying at a distance with interest.

“I believe there must be another exit somewhere as the throne seat is still warm,” he stated.

“Plus we haven’t yet accounted for even half the guards we know she took with her,” Serice added.

Morgana’s eyes flickered slightly as she switched to infra-red to trace any heat sources and slowly moved across the room to a plain wall and reached up to place her fingers on a certain spot to rotate a hidden disk that clearly was the opening mechanism for another hidden door which slid up silently and looked as if it was simply designed to confuse an attacker long enough to aid an escape.

“Much easier if they’ve just left,” she chuckled.

The room revealed was a bed chamber and also appeared to lead to kitchens and another barracks as well; also there was also another stairwell that led upwards into the city of Keldravan itself I believed.

“Unless she has other access to the palace, I believe it now to be secure,” Morgana announced as we found several other access points to the hidden passage we’d already discovered, as well as one leading to the area under the Royal kitchens.

“I still rather doubt Verenestra will use the Royal chambers until Oonagh’s dead or captured,” Serice replied.