I heard affirmations of assent around me, able to pick out everyone’s voice but Tony’s.
“Tony? Are you in?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’m in.”
I wasn’t going to beg him. If a guilt trip over my blindness got him there, then so be it. Besides, he was the new training coordinator. He obviously needed to get his ass in gear if we were going to have any hope of winning this war.
Just as we were leaving the exam room, Dardennes and Céline walked in. I could hear their voices and they sounded stressed, which was very strange coming from them.
“Jayne, you’ve been injured,” said Dardennes, worry seeping into his voice.
“You could say that,” I responded, wryly. “I hear it’s temporary, though.”
“That is truly a relief and welcome news,” said Céline, taking one of my hands in hers and squeezing it. “What happened? We have been fighting off attempts at entry in front of five separate doors. Luckily we succeeded in driving them away. We heard that you and your friends did as well. We cannot thank you enough for your efforts on behalf of the Light Fae.”
I gripped Scrum’s arm hard as I thought about Samantha shooting Becky and those Dark Fae elves hitting Falco with that arrow, not sure that what we’d done qualified as a success. Scrum patted my hand reassuringly.
“Could we talk about it tomorrow maybe? I’m pretty tired.” I totally wasn’t in the mood to explain how much I’d messed shit up tonight, and waiting a day wasn’t going to change anything.
“Yes, of course,” said Dardennes. “We will be awake well into the night, so you’re welcome to come join us after you’ve gotten something to eat, or even tomorrow, that would be fine as well.”
“Tomorrow sounds good to me.” I didn’t feel like eating. Thinking about Falco and Becky made me too sad to even go into the dining hall.
“Tony? Will we see you with the gray elves tonight?”
“Yes, sir, after I’ve seen to Jayne.”
“Very good, then. Until later or tomorrow.”
We parted ways at the door. The rest of us went in the direction of the bedrooms, arriving at mine after quite a bit of stumbling on my part, thanks to the uneven stone floors, which originally looked pretty cool in their ancientness but now were the bane of my uninjured existence. One trip from the clinic to my room had already resulted in one slightly twisted ankle and a wrenched arm from trying to hold onto Scrum as I went down.
Once I was inside and seated at the head of the bed with my back against the wall, I began. “Okay, guys. First, thanks for coming. I know you’re all super tired and would rather be in bed. Me too ... only sleeping not sitting ... and with none of you here ... but I want to know some stuff, and without eyes right now, I need more of your help than usual.”
“No need to explain, Jayne. We’re here for ya,” said Finn.
“Yep. No place I’d rather be right now,” said Spike. I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I don’t have a choice. I live here,” said Tim, sarcastically. I could tell, though, that he didn’t mind.
I didn’t wait for the others to chime in, continuing in a more subdued tone, “Okay, so first of all, I want to know about Becky and Falco. What’s going on with ... ?” I couldn’t finish because I was having a lot of trouble forcing the tears to stay away. I told myself I had to be military-minded about this, just for now – until everyone was gone and it was just Tim and me. But it was impossible to stay impassive about two of the nicest fae to ever walk this earth. My brain kept torturing me, recalling visions of their faces during their last moments in the Here and Now.
Finn cleared his throat, also clogged with emotion. “I don’t know about Becky, but I can tell you that Falco didn’t ... make it. The arrow pierced his heart, and it was spelled. If it hadn’t been, he might have been okay, but ... ”
“That’s dirty!” yelled Tim, clearly incensed, his voice much higher than normal, “The fae don’t play dirty like that!”
“Says who?” I asked, my ears not believing what they were hearing. “I’ve never seen one of those Dark Fae play fair yet.”
“No, that’s not true,” insisted Tim. “The fae have an innate sense of fair play. We fight, yes – but we fight fair so the real, true winner comes to the fore. We don’t stoop to those kinds of tactics.”
“Well, apparently the Dark Fae do. So we need to step up our game.” I turned in Tony’s direction. “What do you think, Tony? You’re the chess master, slash, training coordinator.”
There was a pause while Tony measured his words. “Well ... I haven’t been fae for long, so I can’t speak about fair play from their perspective; but I can say that if we’re not willing to make hard decisions, to spell arrows for example, then we will be at a distinct disadvantage. And Jayne affected the green elves’ arrows with her power, so I don’t see how that’s any different.”
“But where does it stop?” asked Scrum, quietly.
“Where does what stop?” asked Tony.
“Well, how far are we willing to go? Spelled arrows is one thing – but I can think of worse. And my grandma used to say, ‘you can’t un-ring a bell’. Seems like that could apply here.”
Wow. The voice of reason coming from old keg-o-beer-himself. I was beginning to think that all of the daemons had secrets. First Jared, then Chase, now Scrum – hiding in the outward appearance of a clumsy oaf, but inside another story altogether.
“You’re right, Scrum,” agreed Tony. “There are some lines that we shouldn’t cross. Torture is one of them, in my opinion. We shouldn’t be doing things like that.”
“Tim says we are,” I said, without stopping to think about it first. As soon as it was out of my mouth, I regretted saying it. Now they knew Tim was a snooper. But the bell was rung, I guess. Come to think of it, I’d rung a lot of bells in my time that I’d wished I could un-ring. A lesson to contemplate another time.
“No, we’re not,” said Tony, firmly. “The gray elves are very clear about that. We don’t use torture, and I’m totally in agreement with them on that. We don’t need to do that to win.”
“Well, Tim says someone’s doing it here. He was outside a door when he heard someone inside being hurt.”
“Tim, tell us what you know,” demanded Tony. I could tell from the tone of his voice he was getting cranky. “Jayne, tell us what Tim was saying.”
“Who? Me?” said Tim. “Oh, I was just messing around. It’s nothing. Really.” He yawned overly loudly.
I frowned in his direction. “Stop dicking around, Tim. I know you weren’t lying before.”
“I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” Fake snores, coming from over near my dresser where his bed was stationed, reached my ears.
I rolled my eyes, earning only one gasp this time. Shit, I kept forgetting about the zombie eye thing. “Sorry. Listen, Tim. We need to find out what’s really going on here. I don’t like all the mystery and games. I’ve already completely trashed my eyes. Falco’s dead. Becky’s gone to who knows where. I feel like we’re only working with half the information we need.” I decided a little threatening was in order. “Come on. Cooperate. Or I’m gonna sic Maggie on you. Your wings will be fully grown, in what? Four days? Less maybe?” I had to give him both barrels – otherwise he was going to pixy around all night on this, and I was tired.
“You wouldn’t!” he squeaked.
“Maybe not. But I would move you to Scrum’s room. And put your stuff next to his pillow. So spill it. Give us the goods or you’re outta here.”
“You’d do that? Make me sleep next to gnome-head?”
Tim was disgusted by Scrum’s belief that hair shouldn’t be washed with shampoo – or anything else for that matter.
“Yes. Whatever it takes. So give it up. Who’s torturing who and where?”
Tim grumbled some more but then he started speaking. “It was in a hallway far from here. I followed Dardennes there one day. I don’t know who it was he was torturing.”
“
What?!” I said, shocked.
“What’d he say?” asked Finn.
“Who was it?” asked Spike. “Niles? I’ll bet it was Niles. He’s little, but he always looks like he wants to hit someone. And he’s got that axe ... ”
“No. Tim said it was Dardennes who went into the room.”
“No way. I don’t believe it,” said Tony, firmly. “He wouldn’t. Tim, tell Jayne exactly what you saw and heard. I’m sure there’s a misunderstanding somewhere.”
“I saw and heard what I just said. I flew down the hallway and followed Dardennes to a room where someone was being held. After the door shut, I heard screaming from inside. It sounded like torture to me. And I saw him go in there, so I don’t know who else it could have been doing the torture.”
I repeated his story to the others, then added, “I know when I was kidnapped by the Dark Fae, though, they had three people in the room at one point, and only one of them was actually doing the torturing.”
“Yeah, but one of them was ordering it,” said Tim.
“Tim’s right. Only one was bringing the pain – but the others were telling him to do it. No one was innocent in that room.”
“Well,” said Tony, matter of factly, “the only way we’re going to get to the bottom of this is to go see for ourselves. Who’s going?”
“Right now?” asked Spike. “It’s pretty late, don’t you think? We already missed dinner.”
“I’m not going to be able to sleep if I don’t find out what’s going on in that room,” I said, standing next to my bed. “Scrum? Could you please lead the way?” I held out my hand for his elbow.
“Jayne, I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”
“I know you don’t. You never do, party pooper. Let’s go.”
Never one to fight me too hard on anything, Scrum shuffled over and took my hand, putting it on his arm. “I’ll go. But it’s under protest.”
“Fine,” I said, brushing his caution aside, “Who else is with me?”
I heard Tony’s voice off to my right. “Get Tim, Spike. We’re all going. Just in case.”
I smiled. My friends were sticking with me, even though I’d pretty much shown I wasn’t exactly worthy of undying, unquestioning support. Please don’t let me screw this one up. I didn’t know how much longer they’d stick around if I didn’t start getting some things right – all the way right, not just partially, half-assed right.
We made our way down the hallway, walking a long distance that involved a lot of tripping on my part before we reached the door that Tim identified as the likely candidate. The torture chamber.
“What do we do now?” whispered Spike.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought this far,” I whispered back.
“And you wonder why you’re not on the war strategy team,” snickered Tim.
I reached up quietly to flick him in the butt, but he moved out of range, grabbing onto my ponytail and hanging from it. I gritted my teeth to keep my retort from flying out. This was no time for games. There could a bleeding, angry Dark Fae behind this door.
“Give me some space, guys. I’m going to open it,” said Tony in his trying-to-be-brave voice.
Scrum stepped back, taking me with him. I heard something clank loudly and then maybe feet, dragging across a stone floor with grit on it. The next thing I heard was the sound of the door creaking open, some chains rattling, and then the collective gasps of my friends.
“What?!” I whisper-yelled. “Who is it? What is it?”
Nobody was answering me, so I spoke up in a normal tone of voice. “Who the hell is in there, guys? Talk to me.”
“Jayne?”
The voice that came from inside the room nearly stopped my heart.
“Chase?”
Chapter 3
“Chase? Is that ... you?”
“Yes,” was the weak answer.
I dropped Scrum’s arm and rushed headlong into the room, not caring that I couldn’t see shit.
“Jayne! Stop!” yelled a chorus of voices.
The sound and urgency of it caused me to falter in mid-step. “Why? It’s Chase.”
“No, it’s not, Jayne,” said Spike, suddenly at my side, using his incubus speed to get to me first. He gripped me by the shoulders and pulled me back towards the door. I heard Scrum now, making that grunting sound that told me he was wrestling with someone who had put me in danger. It was mixed with the sounds of clanking chains.
“What’s happening?” I asked weakly. I detested that tone in my voice, but I couldn’t help it. I was at a complete loss. I hated not being able to see anything. I knew I’d heard Chase’s voice. It had to be him sitting there. Why was Scrum putting him in the daemon squeeze?
“Oh, boy,” said Tim in a slightly breathless voice, hanging onto my hair a little tighter than usual. “That explains it.”
“What explains what, Tim?”
“The torturing. Or the yelling anyway. It’s a buggane.”
“What the fuck is a buggane, and why does it have Chase’s voice?”
“What’s he saying?” asked Spike.
“He’s telling me what this thing is. What does it look like, Spike?”
“Well, it kinda looks like Chase, actually. Only ... hairier. And gross.”
“Tell her, Tim, so she can tell us,” said Tony, “What’s a ... buggane?”
Tim cleared his throat and then used his best documentary narrator voice to explain. “A buggane is a low-fae creature in the Here and Now, usually a minor demon in the Underworld. While in the Here and Now, the buggane likes to dwell in caves and other dark and dreary places, usually near lakes and waterfalls. Buggane usually shun the company of other fae ... ,” he dropped the narrator voice and continued, “ ... which makes me wonder what he’s doing in this room. He must have been snooping around or something for Dardennes to have brought him here.”
I repeated what Tim had said as word-for-word as I could.
“Oh, and tell them that he eats human or fae flesh. And that he can take on the appearance and voice of certain people or fae if he so desires.”
I shivered at the thought. “Tim says he can do some shape shifting stuff and he’s a cannibal.”
“No, that’s not what I said! You have to tell the story right. And use the flair voice that I’m using. It’s way better that way.”
“Okay, so he’s not a shape-shifter. He just can look like and sound like another person or fae.”
Tim grumbled, “It’s better when I do it.”
“Well, get a bigger voice then,” I said testily. “I need to know what’s going on here, Tim, and I can’t see shit, so stop messing around. I’m seriously running out of patience with you.”
“Jayne,” came the Chase voice, pleading from across the room, “Help me. I need to get out of here. How can I protect you if I can’t be with you?”
I trembled at the sound, involuntarily backing away a step. “Holy shit, could that get any creepier?”
“No,” said Finn, matter of factly. “It damn sure couldn’t. He even looks kinda like Chase. He ain’t no dead ringer, but he’s close enough to fool me for a second.”
I almost wished I could see this bastardized version of Chase, just because I missed him so much. But I was probably better off only having the real Chase in my mind. No need to give my nightmares any more material.
“So what’s the deal, do you think? Why is he here?” I asked to no one in particular.
“Who cares? Let’s get outta here,” said Finn, obviously anxious to go.
“I want to talk to him,” I said. I had no idea what information I could get from this creature, but I needed to know how he got here, and why he was impersonating or indaemonating Chase.
“So, uh, buggane. Why are you here?”
“My name is not buggane. My name is Chase.”
“Your name is not Chase! Don’t say that! Chase is my friend and I don’t appreciate you taking over his voice like that.”
“Well, he does,?
?? was the sly reply.
“I doubt it,” I said angrily. “So tell me how you ended up here. You’re Dark Fae, right?”
“Yes, I am Dark Fae. I’m here because I was taken by a Light Fae silver elf.”
“Where were you when you were taken?” asked Tony.
“I was in the Green Forest.”
“Where in the Green Forest?” I asked, impatient with his evasive answers.
“Near the place I believe you call the Infinity Meadow.”
I had been there with Chase the day he was pixelated by Tim, just before I handed him over to the Dark Fae healer who somehow ended up recruiting Chase over to their side – one of my more spectacular screw-ups to date.
“What were you doing there?” asked Tony.
“Protecting Jayne from the orcs.”
His words made me momentarily speechless, especially since they were said in Chase’s voice and I couldn’t see the bastardization of his face. Plus only a few fae knew I’d run into orcs out there.
“What?” said Spike, “that’s a bunch of bull. You’re pretending to be Chase and you eat ... people. You were probably there to eat her.” Spike’s voice came directly at me then. “Jayne, don’t listen to this ... monster thing. It’ll say anything to trick you, I’m sure of it.” He sounded disgusted. “Let’s just leave.”
I held out my hand to stop him. Something about the buggane’s voice, maybe because it sounded so much like Chase’s, I don’t know, but I had to hear his explanations. I hadn’t decided yet that he was entirely full of it, especially because he knew about the orcs. And I had gotten away under pretty bad odds – four of them against Tim and me. I should have bit the big one that day, but I didn’t. I had written my escape off as proof of my amazing skills of enemy evasion, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“What do you mean, you were protecting me?”
“I was given that duty. The assignor didn’t tell me why, only that I must do it to pay my debt. I have been unable to do this, so I have been in much pain.” He let out a howl that made all the hair on the back of my neck and head stand up. A shiver passed through me, and I felt a corresponding one on my shoulder as Tim reacted.