Kontessa
1347 Words
Kontessa
“Gossamer thread to cover bareness,
Edmon fairy locks her with sweet caress,
Sweet kiss with hot tenderness.”
Book 1 set 1
That night in the pub, as she enjoyed a cod dinner, her girlfriend served her drinks. Ale had always been her favorite. The smells of fish and steak permeated the air as the night went on, and ale kept coming.
At around midnight, the Captain of the guard came into the place and came directly to Kontessa.
“We need your help, demon,” the sharp-featured blonde Captain said. "There is a ship in the harbor which needs looking at. The crew... Well, you’ll see. A couple of my men are on it, but we need your help."
Kontessa stood up as her girlfriend, Marjory, walked by, and she grabbed her arm. "I'm going to be out late, but I'll see you tonight, OK?"
Marjory smacked Kontessa hard on the rump playfully. “You better be home, or I’ll come hunting you down,” she stated quietly but with a passion of promised delights showing in her hazel eyes.
The demon smiled. "Lead on, Captain."
Kontessa liked the eminent young Captain; he came from a prominent family, old and honorable with ties in the Empire across the sea. His form held a great deal of muscle, too. Kontessa remembered one altercation the Captain once fought and knew she would be hard-pressed to hold her own against him.
By the wayside, the ships filled the harbor and lined the wooden docks. The hour being late, many ships' lights were out. One galleon in particular caught Knotessa’a eye, its forecastle emblazoned with gold shown in the moonlight.
The night held a chill, and the demon knew the water to be cold, and she was not looking forward to being any closer to it. She descended the ladder to the longboat, and the contingent of men rowed to a rather poorly kept schooner. She dipped her hand quickly into the water to test her theory, and it held a chill. She shivered. When they reached the schooner and climbed aboard the white vessel, Kontessa saw that as you stepped onto the deck, glyphs were carved into the wood. She did not recognize any but one, and that one was possession.
A figure lay over the wheel at the helm, clinging in a death grip onto the spokes. She saw the fingers first to be drawn and skeletal. Grey skin pulled taut over bone, with each joint clearly visible. The face she saw next in the moonlight, skin pulled back tight over the cheekbones, cheeks sallow and sunken.
"Below decks are the same," Remarked Captain Taylor. "The entire crew the same; what do you think caused it?"
"I don't know, but we can't let it happen to any more of our merchant's vessels. We need the trade, and I would not trust anything on this ship to bring anything but death. Tell me, Captain Taylor, what does this ship carry?”
"Silk, I think. Do you think it safe to bring it ashore? I'm sure the partners would be happy."
********
Kontessa had a feeling that she would need a friend in this. The Captain talked her into leaving port on the high tide the following day to retrace the route of the Santey. The ship hailed from the Empire across the inland sea so did its star charts. There hopefully, they would find the cause of the death of the ship's crew.
But soldiers and sailors were dull, always after the same thing. s*x. And almost none had a clue as to how to please a woman's mind. She also knew who she wanted on this trip, Taylenel. Maybe she could get him out of that damn blissful fey forest long enough to show him a good time. She would do anything to see him smile. He would never forget her, Clarissa, his love.
She went to the tower outside of town; the tower was dark but silver inlaid with vines and flowers in circular patterns for its doors. Glyphs and protection symbols lined the top. She used the lion head knocker, and a boy answered. "How may I help you?"
"I wish to see your mistress about a crucial matter only she can handle," stated Kontessa.
The boy nodded and turned to lead Kontessa up the stairs and into a dark room lit only by three candles. An old woman sat at a fire that burned low but bright as if lit by magic as if it were a portal to the stars.
“How may I help you?”
“I wish to contact a friend, a fairy. Can you do this?”
The old woman made a sign in the air and pulled back her shawl to reveal pointed ears. Her eyes were silver when she stepped into the light of the candles. When she let the shawl drop to the floor, long, silver hair came to be revealed.
"It will cost extra to get through the fey seals, and I have to ask the fey queen," the old elf remarked. "But if you are friends, as you say, then it will happen.”
She went over to a silver bowl in the corner of the room. "What is the name, demon."
“Taylenel.”
"That's enough. To name a thing is to have power over a thing," she said. "And knowing the fey Queen will help. I can scry her into her crystal pool."
She spoke Taylenel’s name over the oil in the bowl; the oil let off a fragrance that the demon could not place. "What is in the bowl, may I ask?"
“Oil from the Elwith plant from the east. It is rare and costly, but my services do not always come cheap. Speaking of which, you owe me fifty for this, fifty gold."
Kontessa handed the elf her pouch of gold, and the elf put it on the table next to the bowl. "That should do it."
The incantations being spoken Kontessa could not understand; it was in a language unknown to her. Shapes drawn in the oil glowed a faint blue. An image took form in the oil showing the beatific fairy face of the Queen.
“Hello,” the old elf whispered.
“I can sense you. Who are you?” asked the Queen. “Ah, Celia, welcome to my home. How can I help you pray to tell?”
“I have a one here who wishes to speak to a Taylenel,” said Celia.
“It’s me, your Grace,” whispered Kontessa. Following the lead of the old elf. “I need Taylenel. He needs to come to me. I need to get him out of the fey world for his own sake.”
“I know. All he does all day long is sit and gaze into this pool. My heart aches everlasting. Let me get him; he is always right here. Here he is, my Champion. Here is the good fairy Taylenel. Listen to her. You cannot spend eternity at my poolside."
“Kontessa,” declared Taylenel. “It’s been some time, have the voices gone with the demon we slew.”
“Yes, dear friend, I hope your longing has eased,” said Kontessa. “I have something for us. Death has come to a ship, and I fear it will only increase."
“I don’t see how I can help.”
Kontessa smiled with all she felt. “Dear friend, you underestimate yourself. Can you get him here, sorceress?”
"Yes, for a fey, it will be easy, for they exist in-between anyway. Come, stand over here. Are you ready good fairy?”
Taylenel looked at his Queen, and she smiled and nodded.
The old elf touched a ruin carved in the floor, and it glowed white, cold white. A portal opened in the air surrounded by cold white light also, and the fairy strode through
- Writer
