Magic Lessons

There are a few things I know you must be wondering. They may not be important things, but since it’s amazing how a few details can add to or take away from one’s satisfaction, I will answer three questions that must be driving some of you crazy:  1) Do faery men have to shave? 2) Do faeries have pointy ears? and 3) Can humans do magic?

These are valid questions. I didn’t think to mention them before.

Yes, faery men do have to shave, or else they will grow very long beards, which are unfashionable for any man who isn’t considered old. While I was on the run with three faery men, I never saw a single one of them shave, but only Jinge was scruffy. Apparently shaving is not done in front of women, which could be why most bearded faeries are old, married men. That, and they’ve invented a razor that will keep their hair from growing for over two weeks. After much pleading and coaxing on my part, Ciaran allowed me to borrow one. Best invention ever.

About their ears: yes and no. It turns out they used to have rather long and pointy ears that stuck out from their heads! Back before human genes were mixed into the pool, they all had ears like that. But nowadays their ears are just slightly pointed -- just a little less than Elves’ ears in The Lord of the Rings, and a little closer to Vulcans’ from Star Trek (I’m allowed to mention those, aren’t I? I feel like I should be citing a source or something). Some, like Jinge’s ears, are more pointy than others.

I had never noticed before that afternoon, when Ciaran and I had started walking to the small town in Washington, and his disguise had been dropped for a minute.

“Your ears!” I’d started laughing.

“What about them?” he asked defensively.

“They’re delightful!” I exclaimed. And so cute, I thought, as I reached up a finger to touch one. Ciaran grabbed my hand to stop me.

“Tsh. They’re just ears.” Ciaran had said, moving on. Still, I don’t think he minded, since smiled and he held my hand afterwards.

As for the last question, yes! Humans can indeed learn magic. I’m sure you’ve heard of all the great wizards and magicians back in the day. Merlin, Gawain, Shmendrick .... other people... It is rare, but having even so little as a drop of faery blood apparently enhances this ability. Another reason faeries don’t want to be in contact with the whole of human race. Anyway! All humans have the innate ability to perform magic, just like we have the abilities to become circus performers and Olympic competitors. Some are more able than others, as Ciaran was about to show me while we bounced up and down on the bare back of a gray faery horse on the way to the gate.

“You have a natural gift to resist persuasive magic already.” Ciaran was saying to me.

“Really?” I was rather pleased.

“Oh, yes. You’re very stubborn.” he replied, smiling. Less pleased.

“Now,” Ciaran began. “When someone wants to control you, they will probably start with the simpler methods, such as suggestion, which is one form of manipulation.” He went on to give me a list, as follows:

1. Suggestion, a soft, subtle form of manipulation that will make you think what you are doing is your own decision, a push to make any idea more desirable. When the mind is at its weakest, suggestion can be the only tool needed to control another person. It is strengthened doubly through physical contact.
2. Manipulation, using your fears, passions, opinions, and interests as weaknesses against you. Methods of Manipulation include: Illusions, Traumatic Memory Selections, and Confrontations.
3. Hypnotism, a strong, temporary binding of the mind. It is a link established during eye contact and sometimes through certain transparent stones. Once made, a link will hold until the desired task is finished, unless broken through other means.
4. Physical Control: the most difficult form to keep up, this method is the means of manipulating your limbs without taking control over your mind.  It is the most difficult because it is possible to break the link at any time, according to the strength of your will. This method is mostly a show of power, but is also used in combat, when you are already in motion.

   

          “Are you going to recite the whole chapter to her?” Donal interrupted from his horse, a few feet away.

          “Stay out of this! Now,” Ciaran continued. “When I first met you, I only used suggestion and a little manipulation. While listening to you talk and finding out what you liked, I was able to appeal to your desire to drop everything and run away. But you were able to think clearly. Do you remember why?”

           I shook my head. I wasn’t thinking clearly at all that night.

           “You were properly grounded. Thoughts of other people and responsibilities chained you down.”

           “So you’re saying I worry too much?”

           “That can be a good thing -- not often, but it can -- thinking of other people is especially helpful. When you’re facing an illusion, or a disguise of someone you know, that’s when you have to think of that person very hard, until you notice something is off.”

            “Okay. I think I get it.”

            “Do you want to practice?”

            “Eh? How?”

            “I’ll suggest something, and you try not to do it.”

            Since there wasn’t much else I could do while sitting on the horse behind him and holding on to him for support, I agreed. Ciaran touched the back of my hand with one finger and asked me if my nose itched.

Oh, you devil. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.” I could definitely feel the itch starting to drive me insane. The human mind is so easily swayed! I clenched my hands together and said “No!” and it went away suddenly. I sighed in relief.

“Hooray!” Donal cheered. “You passed!” Ciaran was laughing, shoulders shaking.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t enjoy that quite so much.” he said.

“What’s next?” I asked. “Another form of manipulation?”

“Ooh! Ooh! Can I do it?” Donal asked.

“No.”

“But she asked me first!” the Faery King whined.

“Fine, go ahead.”

“I have an easy one.” Donal moved his horse closer to ours. “Look here, Ashlyn.” he pointed to his face, and I saw his eyes flash.

Immediately, the dimly lit brush around us vanished, and the night turned black. I fell forward, all at once alone on the horse. A shiver sneaked up my spine as I heard a noise behind me, like some sort of hungry predator's growl. I grabbed the horse’s mane and kicked my heels into her side. An animal -- a huge animal -- was chasing me. I glanced behind, and saw claws and teeth.

It took all I had not to scream. But wait, this was an illusion, right? Donal had -- it was just an illusion that I was seeing? What could I possibly do to make it go away?

“You’re not real, you’re not real.” I muttered. So this is how my sanity would die. “Stop!” I yelled. The panther-like creature caught up to the horse, passed it on one side, and leapt at me, teeth aimed for my throat. “You’re not real!” I shrieked.

That must have been enough. My eyes opened to see the two other horses and people, and my arms were tightly wrapped around my faery’s waist.  

“You did the panther illusion, didn’t you?” Ciaran was saying. “I think my ribs are broken now.”

            I reached out and grabbed the Faery King’s cloak. “WHAT THE HECK, DONAL? I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!”

           “Oy, keep it down, we’re still close to the human village.” Jinge called back.

          Reluctantly, I let go of him and hissed, “How was that easy?”

          “Well, it’s a really easy illusion to cast while on the move.” Donal explained, head bowed. “I’m sorry! It scared me when I was a student too, but learning how to cast it was really fun. I’d forgotten.”

          “We’ll do much less scary illusions from now on, okay?” Ciaran promised.

          I plopped my head against his back and groaned. “I’m taking a break!”

Our Tough Traveling Continues

As Jinge and Donal saddled up their horses and consulted the map again, I walked over to Ciaran and stood next to him timidly, squeezing my hands together.

           After a while, he said “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

            I nodded. “I’m sorry we’re not going with your plan.”

            “Yeah, I’m really not happy about it.”

“It’s an age-old argument,” I said. “When two people are unwilling to let the other be in danger, or make the sacrifice. It’s borderline cliché, in fact.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No.” I sighed. “But you can’t protect me to the point of controlling me.”

“Controlling you?” he looked at me in surprise.

“I mean, if I say I’m willing to risk my life for something important, it’s my decision, not yours.”

“What about my decisions? You said yourself that I wasn’t allowed to come close to dying.”

“Oh, yeah, I did.” I scratched my neck, embarrassed. “Well, I can’t stop you either.”

“I still don’t like the idea.” Ciaran said.

I reached for his hand and held it. “I know.” We stood that way for a while.

“You’ll just have to be sure to save me.” I said. “Even if he hurts me, and even if he wipes my memory and sends me away, you can find me again.”

“Would it be worth it to you?”

“What?”

“If you forgot everything about the Faery world, and had a chance to start over without a regret, would it be worth it to remember all of this?”

“Of course it would! What are you talking about?”

“I just -- I’ve been really selfish. Plucking you from your ordinary life, dropping you back in, without even considering that you might want a normal life for once --”

“Yes you did!” I couldn’t believe this guy. “I don’t know what kind of warped person you think you are inside your head, but you’ve been really nice to me, and I really like you! I don’t know how this is going to end, but I don’t want to lose any of my memories, especially not the ones with you.” I held his hand tighter. “And if that happens, don’t let me miss you for the rest of my life without even knowing why.”

“Ashlyn,” Ciaran began in a quiet, strained voice. “That’s the least that could happen. You don’t know Brand. He’s had a very... cruel side to him, ever since we were children. It was years before I could protect myself from him. He’s always been stronger, smarter, and equipped with a silver tongue that would get him out of trouble. Next to him, I’m powerless.”

“Physically, or...?” I asked.

“In most ways. He’s always had the upper hand with me. If there was something I wanted, he’d be sure to take it, just to show me that he was the best. I left to live on my own just to get away from him.” he paused. “I didn’t want you to know this side of me. When I met you, you were so free of everything that I grew up saturated in. Look, I know this sounds petty, and it is petty, but... I never wanted you to meet him.”

Ciaran covered his face with his free hand. “I thought if he never found out about you, then he couldn’t take you away from me. He’s already tried, so it’s too late for that, but letting you fall into his hands like this is the worst idea imaginable. Still,” he turned to face me with a rueful smile. “That’s why it should work. I doubt he’d expect us to do something this stupid.”

“So you’ll go along with it?” I asked.

            “Unhappily, but yes.” he kissed my cheek and pulled me into a hug. “But I’m not sending you in unarmed.”

           "All right, no one said you had to." I replied.

           We joined Donal and Jinge. The sun had about an hour before it would set, and it was getting dim in the trees.

“We’re ready to go!” I said.

            “Good! We’ll be heading East.” Donal answered. “And quickly. It just occurred to us that someone may have noticed our sparring match earlier and may now be coming to investigate.”

“Yeah, I thought we were supposed to be hiding. What was with that?”

Jinge glanced somewhat sheepishly at the tree he’d cut down. “He wasn’t training seriously enough.”

“We should be all right. I did lock all the gates.” Donal said.

“There are other ways for him to find us.” Jinge reminded him.

“He'll still have to find a way to get to us. And I don't think he's worked out transportation yet.”

“Transportation?” I asked.

“It's sort of a new invention.” Ciaran explained. “We’ve developed a way to transport ourselves to various locations in both worlds. Although it was used by the faery king anciently, hardly anyone has done it since. It’s the technique we used to transport you to the cottage, since you'd been there before. It helps if the person has been to both locations before. Only a few people besides us have actually done it successfully. You're the first person to be transported long-distance.”

“You mean you experimented with me?” I felt alarmed. I hadn’t taken them for mad scientists.

There was a pause. “We knew it would work,” Donal said uncomfortably.

“Yes, I mean, it was our first time trying it with someone else long distance, but we'd practiced the basics so many times --” Ciaran added.

“Why are you two babbling on?” Jinge interrupted, and turned his rather frightening eyes towards me. “It worked, and you're not dead or captured. There's nothing to squawk about. Brand might know where we are, so yes, we should start moving again. If we stay away from the human town no one should notice me, and we'll make it to the gate in a few hours.”

“Fair enough.” I shrugged.

We mounted the horses again, and Ciaran pulled me up behind him. “You’re going to learn how to resist mind control before we reach the gate.”

            “Oh, am I?” I held onto him as the horse bounded forward.

            “Yep! And you’re going to learn how to hide and protect yourself as well.” he called over his shoulder. “I want you to be out of the way once the fighting starts.”

“How are you going to teach me on the back of a horse?”

“You can hear me, can’t you? That’s how you’re going to learn.”

           I sighed. All day, while we had been walking, planning, and being anxious, I was hoping to doze off and rest while he held the reins. No such luck. And sadly, no naps for the bait-to-be.

Our Perplexing Tale Resumes

The Faery King, his cousin, and his bodyguard discussed Ciaran’s plan with much enthusiasm (or perhaps heat would be a better word).

“That is a terrible idea!” Donal yelled.

“But --” Ciaran was taken aback.

“It wouldn’t even work! You had how long to come up with a plan of attack?” Jinge agreed.

“Oh, come on!” Ciaran appealed to me, his last ally. “It wasn’t that bad, was it, Ashlyn?”

I couldn’t help him, purple eyes or not. “I’m sorry, maybe it was the terms you used, but I didn’t understand it at all.”

“See?” Jinge said. “I keep telling you, you’ve got to make it simple: distract, and attack. We’ll give him everything we’ve got while he’s busy.”

“What if everything we’ve got isn’t enough?”

“Then we’ll die, and he’ll take over.” Donal answered.

“What?” I yelped.

“We won’t die so easily. Besides, anything is better than going to see that woman.” Jinge added.

“Woman?” I asked, still lost. Ciaran had used names and places, but I’d missed that part.

“Don’t ask.” Jinge advised. “Just, don’t.”

“She might be a horrible woman, but she’s our only ally!” Ciaran argued.

They continued to hash out strategies. After a few more minutes I was able to piece together the plan no one liked: we were to go see a horrible aunt figure, get her help (which I think consisted of influence and connections), hide in the city near the castle, and secretly distribute the truth about Brand and the king’s death to the public. It was going to take a few weeks (perhaps longer), but it would eventually get the people on our side, and if we hid well enough, it wouldn’t come to fighting Brand face to face without an army. After understanding it, I was against it as well. A few weeks...!

I took the grocery bags over to the grazing horses, and began transferring the supplies to the saddlebags. I had nothing to offer in the planning department; strategy has always been hard for me. In games like chess I could only fudge my way through move by move and hope to win through luck, because there was no way I could predict what the other side would do two turns later. If I stared at the board very hard, I could plan a knight’s path to check the king, but that never did any good, and the poor horsey never made it that far.

“Did you buy food for me?” Donal asked sweetly, suddenly appearing beside me.

I jumped. “Yes, lots. And treats. Do you like oatmeal cookies?” I held up the plastic package.

“I love them!” he said as if he hadn't almost been killed by his friend a half hour ago. He took the cookie sandwich and smiled at me, scrunching his eyes into little half-circles. “Thank you, my lady.”

I laughed, and felt my anxiety ease a little, so I gave him a half-bow. “You're welcome, your majesty.”

“So,” Donal glanced back at the others, who were still arguing. “How was your walk with Ciaran?”

“Hmm?”

“Are things better? Did he talk to you properly?”

“Uh--” I looked confused, so he explained further.

“Did he explain everything? I told him he'd better. You looked unhappy –- both of you did.” the boy grinned suddenly and nudged me with his elbow. “So it went well? Did he kiss you?”

I felt my face redden. “Aren't you still at the age where you think kissing is gross?”

That wiped the grin off of his face (not my intention, I assure you). It was an insult to his approaching manhood. His blue eyes grew large and filled with hurt. “I’m nearly sixteen! You wound me to the heart, madam.”

“No, no, I'm sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

Donal laughed. “I'm joking. I know I'm short.” He turned to go back to the others, but stopped and looked over his shoulder with a sincere, dazzling expression. “I just want you to know, for the future, after this is all over... I'd like having you nearby.”

I blinked. He gave me a thumbs up, jingling his key bracelet. I realized that Donal had just given me his permission as head of the family to go ahead and marry his cousin. My eyes jumped to Ciaran, my faery, who was drawing maps in the dirt, a few locks of hair escaping from his ponytail. Butterflies took flight in my stomach as he felt my gaze and turned to smile at me. I blushed and glanced away.

“Donal, wait!” I found myself saying. “Don’t eat that cookie until you’ve had a proper dinner! It’ll make you sick!”

“Aw, you’re no fun!” The Faery King complained, about to take the first bite. I handed out trail mix and sandwiches, and we ate. This was done in blissful silence, but then the planning resumed.

“If we take him by surprise, and at night, we can do it!” Jinge insisted.

“Fine. Then I’ll be the distraction.” Ciaran said. “You two can come and save me.”

“He’ll kill you!” Donal said.

“Ouch. But no, not if you’re fast enough. Besides, he’s known me the longest, I think he’ll want to gloat a bit first.”

“No!” I interrupted, grabbing his sleeve. “You are not allowed to come anywhere close to dying.”

“One of us will have to.” Ciaran said apologetically.

“Then I will!” I said.

“You will not!” he argued, frowning at me. “I can at least defend myself, but he’ll do whatever he likes to you.”

“I don’t know,” Jinge spoke up. “She is rather famous. And you have to remember, Brand does care about his image. He’ll only kill as long as he can make it look acceptable to the kingdom. He’d kill me instantly (if he could), and if you or Donal attacked him it’d be justified, but a weak human girl?”

“Hey!” I objected. I worked out regularly, after all.

“He’d be more likely to just keep her prisoner.” Jinge continued. “He might also wipe her memories and send her back, since that’s what he wanted to do in the first place. But unless she’s an actual threat, I don’t think he’ll harm her.”

“But he could. We’re not using her as bait.” Ciaran all but glared at him.

“It’s better than one of you getting hurt.” I told him.

“No, it’s not!” Ciaran yelled. “Do you think any of us could live with ourselves if you died?”

“What about the opposite?” I yelled back. “This whole mess started because of me! How do you think I’ll feel if I’m completely useless?!”

Ciaran shook my shoulders for emphasis. “You’d be alive, and that’s what’s important!”

“Stop it. Both of you.” Donal said quietly. “Jinge is right, and Ashlyn has the best chance of survival if she is captured. We’ll be close by the whole time, and none of us will die.” Donal stood up straight, facing Ciaran. “But if we do, we’ll die protecting each other.”

Ciaran’s hands dropped from my shoulders, and he shook his head, walking away to the edge of the clearing.

Donal blew the air out of his cheeks. “You’d better stay safe, Ashlyn, because if not, he’s going to kill me.”

“And then I’d have to kill him,” Jinge added. “So don’t die, okay?”

I laughed without mirth, glancing at Ciaran’s back. “I’ll do my best.

Do you really think it will work?”

“Yeah, if we do it right.” Jinge said. “Donal can lock and unlock any entrance to the castle, so once we get inside, we can get him cornered, and attack him all at once.”

“So how do I distract him?”

“It’s likely he’ll want to question you about our plans, so that’s a start. You can argue, get him talking, monologuing, etc..”

“What if he just locks me up instead of talking to me? Or if he sends me back right away? Then you’ll have no distraction; he’ll just be waiting for you.”

“That’s a good point.” Donal agreed. “We’ll have you be found, and then attack before he locks you up. That will work, right?” he asked Jinge.

“Er... we’ll work out the details before we reach the gate tonight,” Jinge said. “But we have a good chance, yes.”

I nodded, and we started packing up the camp and getting the horses ready. My hands shook, not because I was afraid of what might happen to me, but because Ciaran had been so angry. Arguing with a friend had never been a big deal, if you remember how John and I got along, but I'd never made any of my friends that angry. Then again, this was about life or death, not about how disgusting banana peppers are.