A'lurejah: The Fae Princess

Chapter Twelve

     I turned and looked back to the mist, only the mist was gone, and in its place stood a beautiful, young Fae girl with flaming red hair. She bowed low when I looked upon her face, on one knee with her head bowed she said,

    “Your Majesty, an honor it is to finally meet you.” 

    “What is your name?” I asked her.

    “Antiel, your grace. I am the queens advisor, her closest friend, her handmaiden, her lady in waiting. I have been with Queen Verisiel since she was a young girl, I have been by her side from the beginning.” Antiel recoursed her memorized lines, face still bowed, on one knee.

    “Antiel, rise and tell me what yer doing here.” I demanded.

    “I am here as a gift from your grandmother, the queen.” She said.

    “I do not need a handmaiden nor a lady in waiting.” I retorted.

    “I am not here to be those things to you, I am, and always will be, the queen’s lady in waiting, never anyone else’s. I am here to bestow upon you the memories that she wishes you to know, I am here to heal you, and make you whole again.” Antiel said, “Please, say goodbye to your friends that we might begin, when I am done, I will take you to Merlin, and then I will take you home.” Antiel instructed.

    I turned toward Nyssa and Ranulf who smiled encouragingly at me, “Go, Ary. You must.” They said, they turned and walked back the way we came.

    “Come, you are not in any danger, your guardian would not have allowed me passage thus far if I you were.” She smiled sweetly at me, “Let us take a walk down memory lane. Quickly, for you do not have much time left in the night.” She said, holding her hand out to me beckoning me to come to her.

    I walked over and took her hand, and we sank to the ground, she sat criss crossed, “Place your head on my lap, you will need to lie so that we make a T shape, your head shall be up against my stomach, your feet straight out from my body.” She instructed. “Guardian, you may lay against her, and share her journey with her, but you must not intervene, you must not say anything and above all, you must not move.” She said firmly. “If either of you moves, and I am not done, it could cause us great harm.” 

    I laid down as she instructed and closed my eyes, she placed her fingers on my temples and took a deep breath, “My memories will guide you, relax and follow me in every scene, if I leave the scene, you must leave the scene too.” She said.

    I felt like I was falling backwards, it was a very strange feeling as I could still feel the ground underneath me and Antiel’s legs under my head, and her hands on my temples.  Soon my thoughts became Antiel's thoughts and I could not tell my mind from Antiel's. 

    It was a very strange sensation.  Memories raced in front of my eyes, making me feel dizzy, the buzzing sound of overlapping voices was very disconcerting. Suddenly, the memories slowed until they finally stopped on one specific memory. 

    I was standing in a throne room, not so different from Uncle Albion‘s, but much more ornate. The air around me felt heavier, like gravity had a heavier pull on me, I made a mental note to ask Antiel about that later.  The room was purely organic, there were no synthetic materials, such as metal or plastic. The room was ornate, lavish, and also very natural. There were gemstones and diamonds and gold all over the place, but it was also a compelled earth style living situation. The ground was hard compacted earth, the thrones were willow branches and wisteria vines, swaying this way and that, never sitting still, the seats were covered heavily with moss for a softer seat.   The tall walls and vaulted ceilings were lined with stone and had the most lavish pictures painted on them from top to bottom, painted with gold and silver and other beautiful colors. The pictures were inlaid with different gemstones to portray flowers or beautiful necklaces or other types of jewelry. The trees were painted on, but their leaves were inlaid with Emeralds. 

    Verisiel sat on the throne to the right of Aranhil, her thrown was petite, feminine, and had more lavish flowers on it than the king’s did. His was a large hard chair, very little moss and no flowers, just bare willow branches with a spot of green here and there where a leaf popped through. His chair had a lavish crown sitting at the top, embedded into the branches. 

    Verisiel wore a soft, kind face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were brilliant red, her hair was a soft emerald green, it hung loose and flowing to her knees. Though her eyes were sad at the moment, one could tell that they were kind, courageous.  She had a quiet strength about her, something that told me that she was mightier than perhaps her husband thought that she was. This was a woman you did not want as your enemy. 

    I bet she is more kind and compassionate than warrior, well unless someone crosses her or her loved ones. I thought to myself.

    Aranhil was a very proud man, his arrogant face was glorious and terrifying, unlike his wife’s kind gentle face.  This was a man who had seen one too many battles, a man with hard unforgiving eyes that looked as though they had not laughed in many years. A man without laugh lines, and man who never smiled. 

    This is a man I would not want to anger. I thought to myself.

    There was a young man, handsome and buff, on his knees in front of them, he sat just off the dirt and stone steps that lead to the thrones. His head was bowed and silent tears could be seen dripping off his face.

    "M'Karyano, have you come to tell us that you have changed your mind?  You are denouncing this so called love for the mortal woman?"  His voice was exactly as I had expected it to be, hateful, as if the man before him was a cockroach to be squashed beneath his heel

    "No, my lord.” The young man paused, stood up and faced the king and queen,  “I have come to invite you to our wedding."  I gasped as I got a clear view of his face, the man speaking, the man who was on his knees with his head bowed, was my father. Young and handsome, before he was stripped of his Fae genealogy, before I had known him. 

    Suddenly there was a fierce anger in the air.  One could actually taste the bitterness and hatred emanating from the king.

    "This is foolishness!” Aranhil spat, his face red and his whole body shook with rage. “Renounce your love for this mortal, and come home, take your rightful place by my side learning how to rule your kingdom!  This is your last chance Beridhren!  You will not be allowed back here if you do not do this.  You will be exiled, you will be banished, your powers stripped from you, your throne taken away, your title stripped, you'll no longer be Fae, you'll be mortal!  Is that what you want?  To live and die like a lowly mortal?" He demanded.

    M'Karyano stood his ground, squared his shoulders and stood taller than he had been, no longer defeated and submissive, he said, “Then so be it.” There was no dispute, no hateful words from my father, he just simply accepted that my grandfather could not accept this mortal as his daughter-in-law. He had come to give his parents a last chance to change their minds, knowing that this would cost him

    "Then be gone from here and never come back, upon pain of death I tell you.  You are not my son, you are not heir to the throne, you will live a mortal life, and die a mortal death, you will have mortal magic.  Be grateful, for I only leave you with magic for your mother's sake.  Now go from this place, never come back. GO!"  Bellowed the king.

    M'Karyano bowed deeply and, remembering his courtesies, he backed out of the throne room, now a mere peasant, and walked out. Verisiel sat in her throne chair sobbing, anger ebbed in her eyes, but her loyalty to her husband and her king could not be broken, not even for her own son, especially not in public. I had a feeling that Aranhil would get a thorough talking to when they were alone, their marital ties might have just been broken. 

     My vision swam again, and everything blurred.  Memories blazed by me, making me feel disoriented and dizzy, before the visions came to an abrupt halt.

    This time, I was standing to the left of Queen Verisiel in a small wooden chapel outside of Honey River Cove. I knew this chapel well, I grew up attending this chapel. We were sitting in the far back, next to the doors, Verisiel had her cape and hood drawn up tightly around herself so that no one would recognize her. At the front, my parents were getting married.

    “M'Karyano, do you take Grayce to be your lawfully wedded wife, from this day forward, until death do you part?” 

    “I do, so promise, to stand by your side, in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad times, no matter what comes our way, from this day until my last day.” 

    “Grayce, do you take M'Karyano to be your lawfully wedded husband, from this day forward, until death do you part?

    “I do, so promise, to stand by  your side, in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad times, no matter what comes our way, from this day, until my last day.” 

    My mother wore a simple, plain dress, probably homemade in a bit of a rush, there was nothing ornate about it it could have been just another dress. It went down to her ankles, and underneath her dress she was wearing her normal everyday boots. My mother wore no veil, she had no flowers, and her ring seemed to be made of a willow branch. But the smile she bore my father would have made even the most ornate dress dim in comparison.

    Father wore what he had worn to see his parents, a simple black dress jacket and dark black pants, he had on an old pair of moccasin type shoes, and his hair was slicked back. His smile, too, would have made the rest of the room disappear. It was as if they each had swallowed half of the sun and the sun was now shining out of them. They kissed and the small gathering of people clapped and cheered for them.

    Grayce and M'Karyano made their way through the crowd to the doors, where they would mount horses and disappear into the forest for the next ten years.

    “Congratulations on your wedding, sir.” Verisiel said in a low tone as they passed. 

    “Mother! What on earth are you doing here!? He will kill you! You must NOT be here! Go, now, before he discovers you are gone!” M'Karyano was panic stricken, frantically wanted his mother to leave.

    “Do not worry about your father, son, he will not be an issue.” She said, a deep sadness blanketed her whole body.

    “Mother, what has happened?” M'Karyano asked.

    “Not here, not today, I did not come to spoil your beautiful day, I came because I now can, I came to give you what little I can give you for the time being, soon I may be able to do more for you, but only time will tell.” She said.

    “Mother, tell me what has happened.” M'Karyano demanded.

    “Your father’s heart is weak, sending you away was just too much for him, he lost his son and his only heir in one move, and he deeply regretted his rash decision almost as soon as he had said it. He took ill not long after, and he’s not doing good, the healers do not think that he will make it, he sent me to see your wedding, and to give you our blessings.” She said. “I cannot restore what he took from you, not unless he passes away, only he can do that while he still breathes, but our blessings and well wishes are a lot for him to give you right now. In time, things may change, if he survives.” She explained.

    ‘Keep me informed of any changes in his condition, you know where we will be.” He told her. 

    Verisiel nodded her head and stood aside, allowing them to leave the chapel.

    "Do not worry about any of that.  It's all okay.   But that's meant for another time.  Now!  I want to meet her, this girl who has captured my son's heart so fully!"

        My vision swam again, memories blazed by, this time lasting longer before I was thrust into another memory.

    This time I was in the, now familiar, Avalonian throne room, standing beside Verisiel’s throne looking down on the floor at a broken, crumpled, mess of a man.  

    Looking at Aranhil she could tell that something had changed.  The fire that was once a blazing hatred was now replaced with compassion, the haughty attitude was replaced by fear and worry; something was very wrong.  The tension in the room was so pliable it could have been cut with a knife.

    "M'Karyano? What has happened?  Tell us why you’re so broken?" The king asked gently.  I was touched by his kindness, tears shone in his brilliant blue eyes. The broken man could do nothing but sit and sob, shoulders defeated, the life that had been inside of him seemed to be waning. He was broken, and he could not speak. Aranhil stood up and walked to his side, dropped down on one knee and embraced his son, “My son, my beautiful son, tell me what is wrong, tell me how to fix this!” The king’s voice was thick with desperation.

    "My wife, Grayce, she hasn't been right for weeks.  We've lost two babies, in the last two years and after losing the last one months ago, she hasn't been right, but in the last six weeks or so she has been worse.  Refusing to eat, and drink anything.  She just lays there in bed staring out the window.  I'm losing her, we are all losing her, and I can't raise my six children without her. I need your help. Please, help her?"  He struggled to get the last bit out between the sobs that had taken a hold of him.  Aranhil sat and held his son for a long time, thinking about this dilemma.

    “She would need to be brought here, our healers would need to take a look at her, study her, run tests, things that they cannot do out there.” He spoke softly, as quiet as a whisper.

    “Yes, Father, I will bring her here, to you.” M'karyano said, still crying.

    Queen Verisiel stood up, walked over to them both and put her hand on his shoulder, "We will do what we can to help her, and if nothing can be done, we will provide you assistance with your household.” She reassured him.

    “Go, now, time is short, bring her to us, and we will do what we can for her.” Aranhil stood up and helped his son up off the floor.

    My vision swam, a few memories passed by, and then I was back in Avalon again.  There was a commotion outside the great golden doors, shouts, and people talking urgently, M'karyano's voice came in quick, dangerous tones.

    "Get out of my way man!  If you know what is good for you, you will let me enter!"  

    “You, sir, have been banished, and mortals are not allowed to enter these gates! Turn around and leave!” The guards at the gates shouted.

    Verisiel came up behind them as silent as a mouse,  "Guards, open the gates and step aside now!"  Verisiel commanded.  "Come, we have a room prepared for her." She told M'karyano as he stepped through the gates.

    M'karyano followed his mother's hurried walk to the healing rooms, "Quickly, get her up on the bed, there is no time to waste."

    Two Fae healers in white robes took Grayce from M'karyano's arms and laid her on the bed.  As soon as her weight was no longer in his arms, M'karyano sank to the floor and wept.

    The king began barking urgent orders, I jumped, not realizing he was in the room too.  I could see the desperation in Aranhil’s eyes, his voice was thick with worry, he was trying to make things right, trying to be there for his son now, when M'karyano needed him the most. 

    "Bring in the novelty healers, get them in here now, get the seekers on stand by. We need to get her stable before the searchers can do anything with her, get them here now! “  Aranhil quickly turned to Verisiel, “Verisiel, do something for him,  take him and get him food and water and rest, and if he won't go, make him.  He needs to be here when she comes back, he's no good to her or his children if he's not in his right mind."

    Verisiel nodded and touched Beridhren on the shoulder lightly.  "Come M'karyano, let us go to the great hall and get some food."

   M'karyano looked up and dried his eyes, he stood up and turned to follow Verisiel out of the room.  "Yes, mother.  As you say, so shall it be."

   I was shocked at the change, M'karyano just got up, stopped crying, and walked out of the room like everything was fine, like his wife was not dying on the bed.

    Do not worry princess, it is only temporary, the queen has put a spell on him so he will eat and sleep while they work on Grayce.  It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he cared too much and he needed to be there when she woke up.

    Antiel's distant voice came in through the memories, helping me understand. I immediately felt better, and continued to watch the healers.  Time seemed to pass very slowly.  First the novelty healer took hours to get her stable, then the seekers took several more hours seeking out the root cause of her illness.  Only then could the real healing began, and that took the rest of the night and all the next morning.

    Suddenly my vision swam and I was in a different room, a massive cafeteria where Verisiel and Beridhren sat at a table.  From behind her a group of guards came marching forward, but only one of them went up to Verisiel and whispered something in her ear, she immediately stood and told M'karyano to follow her into a bed chamber, confused, M'karyano asked,  “Mother, what is happening?” 

    “Your father has been ill for ages, after he sent you away, his heart hasn’t been as strong as it was. He’s tried to do all that he could to make things right between you two, and helping Grayce was his last act of kindness he could show to you. He has something he needs to tell you, something he should have told you a long time ago. Go to him, quickly, I will be outside.”

    “Son, come, sit with me.” Aranhil said, beckoning his son forward.

    “I am so sorry, father, for keeping this gap between us, I should have come to you sooner.” Beridhren said.

    “Hush, now, it is my time to speak, and your time to listen. This was not your fault. All those years ago, I allowed my pride and my ego and what I thought would be best for the realm to come in between us. Can you ever forgive me for all these years?” He asked, M'karyano nodded, unable to speak.

    “Now, your title and your Fae name has been restored to you, should Verisiel fall ill, you are to take the throne.I restored your birthright to you a long time ago, but never got to tell you.  You are my true heir, it is your birthright. I love you, son, now and always. Love her with everything you are, and you will do well in this life.” He said, he exhaled his last breath and left the world. 

    A knock came to the door and M'karyano got up, and answered it.

“Come, quickly, you need to be there when she wakes up, they have news and need to brief us before they wake her up.” Verisiel said.

     A few minutes later,  the three of them were walking quickly back to the healing rooms where Melinda was. Beridhren was torn to pieces, barely able to hold himself together.  

    They bowed low and stood up again, “Your majesties, we are getting ready to wake her up, we wanted to tell you what we found first and make sure you were both here when we did.” Verisiel nodded and they continued, “She is pregnant, your majesties. She is carrying a rare child, a child that is half fae, half human. She is powerful, strong, and almost more than Melinda’s body can handle. We will need to monitor her carefully, closely, to make sure that she is capable of going home. When she does go home, she will need constant care, and Beridhren will need assistance.” 

    “She’s pregnant? You’re sure?” Beridhren asked shocked. “But, that’s wonderful!” He exclaimed.

    “Your majesty, if I may speak plainly?” Verisiel nodded again and he continued, “Grayce's body may not be capable of carrying the child, at all. From what tests we have been able to perform, the child’s anatomy appears to be more fae than human, and Grayce's body may not be compatible. If the child and the mother are incompatible, we may have to take steps to remove the child to save them both.” 

“What does that mean? Remove the child to save them both? How does removing the child, save the child?” M'karyano asked, astonished that they would even consider this “saving them both” .

    “Your majesty, we are not talking about a willful or unwillful abortion, we are talking about removing the child from the mother’s physical womb, leaving behind the placenta, the child would be placed in an external womb and placed next to the mother, they would stay in close contact at all times, allowing both mother and child to thrive better. We would have total access to both of them, keeping a close eye on them both, ensuring that they remain healthy and happy throughout the pregnancy.” The healer explained.

    “Okay, alright, let’s wake her up and tell her.” M'karyano said.