Villainy

For the second time I awoke to a lovely golden morning in the Faery world. I had slept very deeply and was at the Neanderthal Level of Grogginess for a few minutes. What, you didn’t know about the Neanderthal level?  It is now an official term. It is an incredibly thick feeling, overwhelming one’s mind and motor functions. Even opening one’s mouth for a yawn is a feat of athleticism. Rolling over and trying to sleep it off doesn’t help, either, because no sleep can be comfortable after that depth of unconsciousness.

However, instead of the nightmarish castle, I opened my eyes to see I was in that dusty, cramped cottage I had saved Ciaran’s life in, except this time it was clean and cozy, with the smell of scrambled eggs and French toast in the air. The bed I was still snugly wrapped in was soft and comfortable instead of creaky. I lifted my head to see my faery scrambling those eggs, wearing an apron, and having managed to tie his long. black hair up and still look masculine.

I watched Ciaran tip the eggs onto plates next to the slices of toast, and dress the toast with strawberries and whipped cream. He saw me watching him and smiled sweetly, stopping what he was doing and coming over to hug me.

“You seem surprised." he said tenderly. "Were you dreaming again?”

“That’s a silly question. I always dream.”

“I meant about the past. You woke up confused yesterday too.”

“Did I?”

“You don’t remember? You’d had a nightmare.”

“I dreamt about Jinge dying, and my getting captured.”

“That’s all over now. We used our backup plan and got you out, remember?”

I shook my head sadly, because as I reached out my hand to meet his, it was painfully obvious.

“No.” I said. “You’re not real.”

The illusion melted all away to reveal the stone walls of the castle. I rolled onto my back and looked around my room of confinement. To my right, Brand was sitting in a chair, knees on his elbows, chin in his hands, watching me calmly. I yelped and jumped away when I saw him.

“Too good to be true, eh?” he asked, unphased by my negative reaction to his presence. “I should have had him burn something. What was your backup plan?” he added abruptly.

My heart thudded painfully after the initial panic subsided. “We didn’t have one.”

“Mmhmm. Then where do you think those two would have gone after leaving?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah. Well you see,” he got up and strolled around for a bit. “While you were here, dreaming happily, I was out all night looking for those two troublemakers. They set off another marker at my brother’s old hideout, and disappeared again. Can you give me any thoughts on where they would try to go after that?”

I could tell he wasn’t the cheerful faery I’d met last night. He was still pleasant and had the same carefree tone, but his eyes were hard and his words had an underlying edge to them. There was a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.

“I have no idea.” I let my grogginess turn into a voice of irritated sincerity. “You’d know better; you’ve known them for years. I was only with them for them for a few days!”

Brand smiled. He was rather gorgeous, and it was terrifying. “That is a good point. But I wonder just how much I could get you to say if you were too afraid to be noble?”

My stomach lurched. “You-- you want me alive and well, don’t you? I mean, won’t it look bad for you if I get hurt?”

“Will it?” With a lightning-quick movement, his thumb was against my throat and pressing hard against my windpipe. “I could make it look as if you’d gone mad and killed yourself. Don’t count yourself as someone valuable.”

I thrashed and flailed against his arm, as helpless as a headless chicken. (You can’t really be strangled that way, you know. It just hurts like the dickens.) He released me as suddenly as he had attacked. I gasped for breath, massaging my poor throat.

“What was their backup plan?” he asked again.

“They planned to hide in the city for some political strategy, but they didn’t say where!” was all I could think of that didn’t give anything away. “I don’t know how that will help you. It was Ciaran’s plan, but it got shut down.”

“They didn’t mention any other places that they might hide?” he leaned his face closer to mine.

“...They weren’t specific! They didn’t want me to know too much, and I didn’t understand half of what they did say.”
           He kept his eyes a few inches from mine for much, much longer than comfort would dictate.

“They never said any names.” I lied. I didn’t remember the names, anyway.

Finally, Brand leaned back in his chair. “Unless Ciaran’s gone cold, and the boy is too scared to try and come after me, they’ll be here soon enough. We shall have to wait until then, you and I. We might as well go eat breakfast. Come on.” he stood up, and looked at me expectantly.

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather just eat in here--” I began, my fingers cradling my throat.

“Oh, you thought you had a choice?” Brand grinned and flicked his index finger in my direction. I was being pulled up by my hair, and scrambled to stand up and relieve the horrible tugging. It stopped, but now my limbs were moving on their own. My arms waved like a windmill. My legs and feet marched up and down on the bedspread.

Brand laughed. “Now hop like a rabbit.”

I did exactly that, hopping all over the bed and onto the floor. He laughed even harder. It became more and more ridiculous until--

“Stop it!” I stamped my foot indignantly. My muscles relaxed and shook a bit as self-control pounded through my veins again.

“Not bad.” Brand said. “I’m mildly impressed.” He opened the door and waited for me to pass through it. “I may even let you have French toast with strawberries now.”

            I grabbed the dressing gown from a hook on the wall and wrapped it over my pajamas. Please come soon, Ciaran. I thought, as I hurried through the door. Please come and save me from this nutcase.