Page 5 of Stone Sentinels (Shadow Guardians #6)
FLUMPH
The Veil
The cottage smell real sweet-like, all sugary and chocolatey and stuffs. My round little belly growl an’ Noni come runnin’ into the Mother Heifer’s room with a plate o’ cookies. I up here’s ‘cause Pyre told Noni an’ me ta keep an eye on the Queen bitch so that what I’m doin’.
Them cookies lookin’ real tasty, but I don’t asks her for none. I can’t start treatin’ her different ‘cause we sayin’ we friends an’ all. Then she gonna go an’ get a bigger head than whats she already got.
Noni climb up to the window by me an’ then summon the plate o’ cookies up to us. She wave one big one in my fuckin’ face, tryin’ to tempt me an’ whatsnot. It look real good, with chunks o’ chocolatey bits.
Queen bitch ain’t doin’ much. She sound asleep across the room, snorin’ even.
“Want a cookie, Mr. Flumph? Noni make them real special for her friend.”
“Maybe.”
“Noni make the cookies with dark chocolate pieces to make them real extra special for Mr. Flumph.”
I take the cookie from her hand an’ gives it a little nibble, hopin’ she ain’t tryin’ to poison me or somethin’. “HOLY FUCK THESE GOOD!” Thems explodin’ on my tongue like the best damn cookie I done ever had. I love chocolate, most sprite do, but this better than anythin’. I looks over an’ Noni grinnin’ at me again, so I shoves a cookie in her face.
“What Mr. Flumph do before he join Mr. Dragan?”
I don’t like thinkin’ bout my time with Anona, but Noni been nice to me. An’ I know she ain’t gonna tells nobody if I real honest. “I work for a butt-ugly demon an’ a clusterfuck o’ her demon pissheads that didn’t treat me good. I were their slave. They tell me what to do, all bitchy-like, till I don’t think I worth nothin’ but the scraps o’ food Anona feed me.”
“Oh, no! Was Mr. Flumph scared?” Noni ask.
“...I was... back then, but not no more. I ain’t the same as I were. Fetchin’ water an’ haulin’ bowls o’ slop around were better than gettin’ kicked in the head. But when Anona start bringin’ in ladies, ones that don’t got nowheres else to go, an make ‘em fuck the demons for food an’ bed, that when I know I gotta gets outta there.” I munch on my cookie, gettin’ crumbs on my little tunic an’ the window. “Only when Pretty get there that I finally do somethin’ bout it.”
“Noni understands,” she say. “The naughty king used to be Noni master. He very mean to her, make her do things she didn’t want to do, and he hit Noni. When things got really bad, he get mad at Noni and make her leave the castle. She almost starve when the soldiers trample her. When Master find Noni, that be the best day ever. Noni love Master.”
“What the naughty king makes you do?”
“Noni was told to pull the carts with the wings on them to the trophy room and put them in the shiny boxes on the wall. She have to use her magics on other faeries and spy for him.”
“Ain’t you spyin’ now?” I asks in a real soft voice as I look over at Mother Heifer. But she still passed the fuck out an’ droll even be rollin’ down her chin.
“Oh, this different. Noni want to do this. Before, Noni spying got other faeries taken to the big sphere they call the Threst . Noni never been inside, but no faerie that go in there come back out.” The little brownie shiver, an’ I pats her hand. Maybe we is friends. Maybe Noni more like me than I think. She smile, an’ we get back to watchin’ the Mother Heifer where she sleep.
She been real quiet lately, not talkin’ to mirrors or projectin’ in her sleep like before. It borin’ an’ I rather be out watchin’ the satyr gettin’ him’s butt kicked, but I gots a job to do an’ I’m gonna do it.
***
MORRIGAN
I cannot speak with Variant or Theren while the sprite and his brownie companion watch me at all hours. The days continue to drag as I try to overhear what progress the others have made. I want the book of prophecies that Dragan and Eilish have, but the brutish gargoyle rarely parts with the blasted thing. And now I have Aima and the satyr to deal with, as well. As my former student, Aima seems more suspicious than the others. She may need to be taken care of, and quickly. I don’t care if Theren has a soft spot for her. Anyone who gets in my way becomes a casualty.
I watch as Eilish trains in the clearing with the others. She’s getting stronger. Whether she becomes a threat or an ally still remains to be seen. I must continue to make them think of me as a neutral party, not taking sides with the light nor the dark, while ensuring their beliefs that I wish to restore the balance. This lie is necessary to make them trust that we have a common mission.
But I am the only one who truly understands that the balance is harmful to the natural order. Only the strongest should be permitted to survive. Peace welcomes weakness, and weakness breeds opportunity for annihilation. But chaos... chaos nurtures instinct. And I have seen instinct inspire the sort of strength necessary to claim power so that survival is a possibility. Silvanus, however, sees things differently.
As the last of the gods, he no doubt wishes to take the throne for himself.
Whatever his endgame may be, it stands in the way of my future glory and I cannot allow his plans to come to fruition.
A knock sounds on the door, and I call for whoever it is to enter. It is Aima. She rests against the wall, chest heaving from her spar in the clearing. “Supper will be served soon.”
“Thank you for telling me,” I answer, wondering at the true reason she has appeared here.
She studies me with narrowed eyes. “I’m wondering when the real you is going to show itself.”
I bite my cheek and turn to face her, putting my back to the window. “Pardon?”
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but I know you talk to Theren. He spoke of you constantly, said you were counseling him. And then he disappears, and the Unseelie Court is making decisions without their king.” Aima steps further into the room and slides her gaze from my head to my feet. “All of us have fought and bled for our cause, for dethroning those who are abusing their power so that we may restore the balance and begin rebuilding the Realms. I don’t want to think of you as a traitor, Morrigan, but sooner or later the inconsistencies in your lies will come back to haunt you.”
“What do you know?” I hiss. “You don't understand what it truly means to bleed for a cause. I’ve been around since the ancient times of mankind and I’ve survived every war. Crusades and holy battles, conquerors and false prophets... I’ve lived it all. Swords and shields are nothing compared to the weapons the humans had at their disposal, and yet they fell like all the rest. Every dawn of life has its setting sun, Aima—that is why mortality is so beautiful. I taught you that long ago. I had hoped you would have remembered.”
“So, is that what you believe this is?” she demands. “Our reckoning, our cleansing fire that will burn this world asunder?” Aima’s eyes plead for answers I will not speak of. Not to her. “You are weak, Morrigan. More so than any loss of power could ever cause. You are weak because you’ve given up. There’s more to life than just surviving. If not for you, Abedon, and the rest of the gods vying for power, the worlds would have continued as they were. The fae and the mortal realms would have existed with barely any knowledge of one another.”
“You know nothing, Aima!” I yell at her. “You speculate and listen to rumor rather than open your eyes.” I move over to the bed to pull my robes on. “Time will tell. And when it does, only those who are strong enough to understand the truth will bear witness to the new dawn.”
“Help me see it, then. If I’m blind to what’s happening, then show me the way.”
“No.”
“Why, if you have nothing to hide?”
“Because you are unworthy,” I snap. “All of you are. Continue this fight and I will be by your side, but knowing what is to come will not change the path ahead. Not even mine.” The lies may indeed be my undoing, but they are necessary. I cannot afford for one of them to go off on a mission to find Abedon and ruin everything I’ve worked so hard to set into place.
Aima takes a deep breath and retreats from the room, but not before casting a look over her shoulder. “I know you loved Abedon, but don’t let whatever happened destroy what good may still linger in your heart. Unless you wish to die alone, forever watching the world around you as an outsider.” She leaves me, and I hear the telltale sound of fluttering wings as the sprite follows. For a moment, I smell the scent of freshly baked cookies on the air.
For the first time, I am invited to dine with the rest of them. I pretend that my health has improved enough that I can make it down the stairs. Supper is quick and without much etiquette as the lumbering fools around me shovel food down their gullets. I pick at the contents of my plate, eating just enough to satisfy my hunger and their curiosity. No one asks me questions on this night, and for that I am grateful. Once they all toddle off to bed, I pretend to sleep until the little creatures that watch me doze off.
Then I project myself to Variant, who stands in his trophy room, surrounded by garish displays of severed angel wings.
“What news have you?” I ask. I take in the sight of his bare torso and intense features. Variant strolls toward me, bearing the cocky smile of a king like a second skin, and I feel myself growing hot.
“A ritual of tantric magic, one that requires two sacrifices.”
“What of it?” My gaze flickers across that mouthwatering expansion of muscle on his chest. “We’ve heard of rituals more often than not, and they have led us astray more times than I wish to admit. How is this different?”
“Because the tantric magic requires the sacrifice to be a necromancer,” Variant whispers seductively. “He, along with someone with magic in their blood but no true arcane powers, must complete the ritual of their own free will. Once it is done, they will rupture, and upon the altar will be a crystal capable of tearing open The Veil.”
I am impressed. I must admit.
“Where is this altar?”
“Cogost Mountain,” he replies. “Deep in the belly of the mountain rests a temple that was once used to honor the necromancers and their practice.”
“Can the crystal and talisman be fused together by magic?” I ask.
“I will need to speak to the artificer, but it is possible in theory.”
“Ask her immediately. And, in the meantime, I will focus on getting out of here. There is too much to be done for me to sit around and wait any longer. Keep reading about the ritual and tell me everything. I’ll be in touch soon, Variant.”
My soul floats back into my body. And this time, the snoring little sprite in the window does not see me.