Page 60 of Burying Venus
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Aubrey said, voice broken by the occasional whimper. ‘What is he? I don’t know what a buggane is!’
With a whistle, the faerie looked to Dermot, comprehending. ‘You haven’t told him a thing,’ he crowed. His smile did not falter as he went to Dermot’s side. ‘Isn’t that horribly cruel? I intended to kill him without deception or trickery. Yet you cart him about like a pet.’
‘Enough of this,’ Dermot said as Aubrey hugged him from behind. ‘Take us to Fand. I have business with her. It can’t wait.’
The faerie’s laugh was a bright, happy chime, like Maldred’s. ‘Come along then. So long as your friend doesn’t run away, now he knows his companion is a liar.’
With one finely arched hand, the faerie grabbed Dermot’s wrist and tugged him along, sauntering forward with a flick of his braid.
‘I didn’t mean to,’ Dermot murmured, not acknowledging he’d engaged in deception. ‘I knew you wouldn’t believe me, and you’d be entirely right. Please, Aubrey, I’m so sorry.’ Hearing the faerie titter, he inched Aubrey forward so they could walk together.
‘What is he? Who is Fand?’ Aubrey asked, staring at Dermot with red-rimmed eyes. ‘I don’t understand. Please, Dermot, I’m scared.’
Chest welling with love, Dermot wrapped his arm around Aubrey. Even in fear, he was inoffensive. ‘Don’t be frightened, I’ll always protect you. And, as for the rest, I’ll tell you when we have a moment. Just know, no one will hurt you.’
He’d feared Aubrey would hesitate but instead he drew closer. Whenever the faerie looked back at them, Aubrey hid his face in Dermot’s shirt, affectionate as ever.
Finally discerning where the faerie led, Dermot recognised an old church, dilapidated and past repair. The brickwork was loosening. It was enclosed by countless graves, all finely laid out so each body was given a wide berth, tombstones dispersed throughout fields as if cattle had once grazed there. Dermot said nothing, lips in a tight line, realising they’d seen naught but poverty and death.
He'd imagined a fairytale castle with great rows of ivy man could climb; a tower not unlike Aubrey’s. Sorely disappointed, he watched as they neared the cliffside. The church was perched on the edge of the island. Warily, he eyed the faerie, for it would be just like one to push them into the sea below.
Reality seeped away as two women raced passed them, flowers woven into curls as they moved undaunted by Dermot’s presence. Laughing as they noticed him, they called out in a language he could not understand before hastening away. Dermot tightened his grip on Aubrey accordingly, knowing they were truly amongst faeries.
He recognised Fand without need for a guide. She was the sole watcher of the scene, stood alone while other faeries danced carefree. Grey hair wisped around her in thin strands tinged with old brunette. She stood expressionless by the cliff as they ambled towards her.
‘Mistress,’ said their guide, smiling at Dermot before stepping away. ‘These two say they’ve been sent by Aleyn. Are they welcome here?’
Fand stood at an unnatural height despite her waifishness, the silhouette of her face angular and gaunt. A grey bird accompanied her, which Dermot recognised as a pigeon as she came closer. Hair obscuring much of her face, Dermot instinctively pushed Aubrey behind him.
‘Yes. I received word yesterday,’ Fand said. Raising a hand, she slowly stroked the pigeon. ‘You complain about Maldred.’ Though they stood apart, her voice carried despite the sea frothing below.
‘I mean no trouble. I played a part as well, but he…’ Dermot said quickly, aware she’d made no move to stop the buggane.
Fand signalled for Dermot to pause. ‘Say no more. I know your burden. He is my son.’
Dermot stood ashen. Coaxing Aubrey further back, he fell into a bow. ‘My most sincere apologies, Your Majesty. I did not know.’ If he were a witch, he would’ve cursed Aleyn. The bastard had surely known; his shock at Maldred’s name was proof.
Laughter came from the cliffside. Fand’s voice was hoarse, unlike the pretty chimes of other faeries. ‘Right yourself. Myhusband and I did not use titles. We were mere protectors of the isle, and I was a simple wife. Maldred is but a child. But is it true, Dermot, that the current ruling family are under this spell?’
‘Yes,’ Dermot said. Fand spoke in monotone and without malice, but she wouldn’t be ignorant of Aubrey’s heritage. ‘They’re out of control and have started burning defenceless villagers, and I fear they will do more.’
Fand’s slight figure did not waver. She remained fixed, the tempest having no effect on her deceptively small frame. ‘It should do no harm, but humans disguise themselves behind façades. That is precisely the issue. The potion reveals a person’s true self. If they are filled with resentment, sadism, or any sort of violent urge, they will act out their desires.’
So, then, the blame could feasibly be passed on. If Robert had been magnanimous in public, he still intrigued privately. Whether he’d have hunted witches of his own accord, that was unknowable, but Dermot knew in his heart the fault was his. Robert would’ve simply deprived them of housing, increased taxes, and forced more women into work. Maldred’s coaxing could not even rightly be called deception.
Raising one skeletal hand and pointing at Aubrey, Fand said, ‘He is afflicted.’
Fumbling a little, Dermot did not have the strength to acknowledge her. His eyes stung uncomfortably, tears welling until he furiously rubbed them away.
‘But he is pure at heart, so you needn’t be afraid,’ Fand said as if having observed Dermot’s embarrassment. Some magic must’ve enabled her to see through her hair, for he could no longer discern flesh. ‘Come here, Dermot. You are a child of this island, still under my protection. Let me offer what I can.’
Daring wait no longer, Dermot stumbled towards the cliff with shaking legs. After all had been revealed so blithely, Aubrey would despise him. Though Dermot hadn’t taken the poison,still resentment festered, and his anger came freely and without provocation. If he hadn’t met Maldred, perhaps he would’ve simply set the castle alight.
‘We prepared this for you after receiving Aleyn’s letter. It will not reverse the damage but will somewhat restore normality. Your lord’s misdeeds will return to the back of his mind, and he will not act outside of established boundaries in your society.’ Fand’s voice remained fixed, though she reverberated across land and sea like a storm. ‘But that is precisely the problem, you see. Every day men devise a new method, adding another vice when they tire of the last, and then younger, crueller men take their place. That is the way of you people. You will come to accept another tyranny, which gives way to worse, and so do we move away from the golden age known to your ancestors, but not to you.’
Only after that speech did Dermot recall the man who’d once been their god. ‘We were promised protection once. Where did it go?’
Fand turned so that she faced the cliffside, makeshift veil shifting. Her disfigured skin lay bare as she watched Dermot. ‘I did not wish to say. Perhaps it is easier to believe old gods linger if they do not act, even in the face of enemies.’ Her chapped lips pursed uncomfortably. ‘But it is not so. Many years ago, we resided here peacefully. Every person was provided for, so long as they left an offering of rushes every year. Though my husband had no need of them, it was the small labour itself that he respected. No god needs fruit, water, or coin. It is not worship, but reciprocating that shows love. That is what my husband believed, anyhow. It was his habit to shield the place from wayward travellers, invaders who might do harm. That was what he did when we saw ships on the horizon many years ago. But still the captain sailed on, undeterred. My husband was puzzled by this and went to greet him.’ She raised a skeletal finger at thesea, accusatory. ‘He landed just there. You cannot see it now, the land has been lost under tide. My husband waited on the cliffside for this traveller, where I stand now. But I was hiding nearby with Maldred, who was just a child then.’