Fay Tale - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Maidd opened his eyes to find a familiar white head peering down at him. He reached out and pushed the deer gently to one side before sitting up with a groan.

“I hate magic.”

“There is always a price to be paid,” agreed a nearby voice.

Maidd’s head whipped around to see Zara perched on a root nearby. Not too close, Maidd noted. About two ogre-lengths away. Which was a wise distance given his current mood.

“How do you feel?” the courtesan asked solicitously.

“Like a centaur clan used me for a new rug,” Maidd muttered, rubbing his aching head.

“That is a unique, but extremely poetic way of putting the effects of her foretelling.”

“Foretelling?”

“You saw a vision did you not?”

Maidd suddenly remembered the dubeks and the dead noble, and his head swiveled again.

“They usually don’t come true right away. Usually between one candlemark and five,” Zara added helpfully.

Maidd still looked around carefully in case he could sense any dubeks. But all he could see was Zara, the trees, the white deer, and Zara’s horse hobbled by a small patch of clover. It was tearing up the greenery with great enthusiasm.

With another groan Maidd got to his feet.

“How do you know about the forest lady?” he asked Zara.

“The white hart? I am currently her caretaker.”

“Then she needs a new one because she was nearly killed by an idiot noble,” Maidd growled.

“She won’t be hurt by any of the hunters, I assure you.”

“He would if I hadn’t scared him off!”

“Precisely.”

Maidd stared down at the much smaller man, green eyes glittering angrily. Zara didn’t seem overly concerned about the fact that an ogre was angry with him.

“She can see her future, dear. So she knew she was perfectly safe with you. The nobleman wouldn’t kill her because you stopped him,” Zara explained.

“And the visions?” Maidd pressed.

“She can tell more than just her own future, I’m afraid.”

“So what I saw is my future?”

“It is the future most likely to come true. But,” the courtesan held up a finger, “but with the knowledge you gained, you can assist or prevent what you saw from coming to pass.”

Maidd stared at him.

“You’re telling me you’re the guardian of a magical beast that can see the future. Not just her future but everyone else’s?”

“There are limits of course. The unpleasant manner you experienced being one.”

“Who are you really? Because no courtesan, royal or not, has access to this kind of magical power,” Maidd growled.

Zara smiled up at him.

“An ally. I hope.”

Then between one breath and the next Zara disappeared.

Maidd stared at the spot he’d been sitting, certain if he just looked long enough the royal courtesan would reappear.

“Over here, dear.”

Maidd whirled around and found Zara standing by the white deer. He gently stroked her neck while the deer nibbled peacefully at some grain the courtesan held in his hand.

“You’re a mage?” Maidd said slowly.

“Not quite,” Zara said with a smile. A stray ray of sunlight caught the white-blonde hair and set it aglow. “Guess again.”

“I’d rather you just tell me. In fact, let’s start with the fact that you invited me here to this hunt then proceed to leave me in the dust. And now there’s a deer who apparently can’t be killed because it can give me visions? What’s your game, Zara? Because we’ve just started, and I’m already tired of it. I want to know what you are and why you’re plaguing me with it,” Maidd growled.

The royal courtesan pouted up at him, but when that had no visible affect on Maidd’s irritated features, Zara sighed then poured out more grain to the ground from the bag that suddenly appeared in his hand. While the doe munched with eager enjoyment, Zara gently stroked her back before turning to face his guest.

“I am Fay. Half-Fay to be precise. That half grants me the magical abilities of most of their kind.”

The deer’s head shot up at the loud crack Maidd’s jaw made as it fell open. Zara had the audacity to chuckle before stroking between the doe’s ears in a soothing gesture. Reassured, the animal bent to its treat once more.

“My mother was Fay. My father was human. A mage from a tribe so old with a magic so odd that it kept me from becoming wholly Fay. I am a hybrid, of sorts. I must abide by the rules which govern Fay power, but I must also feed off the energy of other beings in order to use my magic.”

“Um,” the ogre managed. Meziroth’s horns, stones, and d-

“The feeding is nothing too serious,” Zara said, waving a hand dismissively. “I don’t need to slaughter innocents and bath in their blood. Just a simple energy transfer.”

“Well that’s…good?”

Zara chuckled again.

“I could drain someone to death if I chose. But as that would leave me with no further sources of energy, I would not be quite so stupid.”

“That’s also good to know.”

Zara leaned back against the deer in a suddenly seductive pose.

“I thought you might also like to know I can do a bit of shape shifting. Nothing too extraordinary in comparison to most Fay, but I’d certainly be able to size up to match your height.”

The courtesan’s smile raised the hair on quite a few places as his gaze caressed down the ogre’s body.

“So…” Maidd had to pause to clear his throat, “so let me get this straight.”

“Straight is hardly the correct term for this situation,” Zara purred at him.

“…let me get this correct.”

“Better.”

“You told me this really fantastically dangerous secret because you wanted to let me know you could magically make yourself big enough to ride my dick?”

“While that is one extremely important takeaway from our discussion today, it is not the only one, I’m afraid.”

Maidd went limp with relief, earning another chuckle from his companion. Zara straightened his position and returned to looking simply beautiful. He was being teased, Maidd realized. And he was very uncertain what to do about it.

Zara took his silence as encouragement and sauntered over to rest a delicate hand on the ogre’s massive arm.

“Dearest you are simply delightful, but no. I would not reveal such a difficult secret even for sex.”

“It’s good to have standards.”

This time Zara laughed.

“I am sure you will hear that I have none.”

“Those with fewer morals are harder to move on them,” Maidd quoted.

“Harder is exactly the word I was looking for,” the Fay murmured as he leaned against Maidd.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I must ‘erect’ a barrier between us.”

Zara stared up at him.

“…you didn’t.”

“I did,” the ogre said seriously.

Zara sighed deeply. Puns showed such atrociously bad taste in humor.

“That’s usually the reaction I get.”

“And yet you still tell them,” Zara said, shaking his head.

“I enjoy adding looks of dismay to my usual collection of horror, fear, and disdain.”

“I do apologize, darling,” Zara said, voice suddenly gentle. “I had meant to be here with you from the beginning, but a servant discovered the ruined outfit before I did and so she had to mend by hand what would have taken moments with magic.”

“Don’t worry. I plan on paying Bremen back in full.”

“I would help you but it would only encourage him, I’m afraid.”

“Yeah, I’d noticed how well you get along together.”

“I would drain that thrice-damned hairball to the last drop of energy if Aarav hadn’t forbid me. Regardless, there is much we ought to speak of,” Zara continued with an effort. “And now that I’ve found this dear escapee, I’d like to be more comfortable in the telling.”

The Fay waved a hand and Maidd could just make out the magical shimmer of a protective spell around the area. They would be safe from detection while they talked or listened as the case may be.

“Escapee?” Maidd asked even as he let Zara tug him toward a large, exposed root.

“I do not own the white hart,” Zara said as he settled comfortably. “I am merely a protector. Humans and magical kind alike hunt such creatures for their ability to tell the future. But given her abilities she has a tendency to take a stroll outside my protections.”

“I can see why they’d need protectors,” Maidd said. “Or maybe Guardian would be a better term.”

He smiled innocently at Zara who sighed deeply and chose not to comment.

“There is only one white hart at a time. Whenever one dies another is spontaneously born in the forest from a regular mating. That makes it an inconvenient, unreliable method of foretelling for the Fay. Up until recently, the King-Under-the-Hill had a much easier way in the Lady Aisha.”

Maidd’s jaw dropped for the second time.

“She can see the future?!”

Meziroth’s mighty spear! How did he manage to get involved not only with a magical beast who could see the future but also a seer?!

“I will leave the technical description of her powers to the Lady herself should she choose to share them with you,” Zara continued, “but it is much more like reading the path of water in a stream. She can see where the water is most likely to go and even places it is likely to branch off into multiple rivulets. Or, if you will, future possibilities. But she cannot predict a boulder dropping suddenly from the side of the riverbank.”

“So…so she’s more like a very skilled helmswoman?” Maidd hazarded.

“Precisely. And unlike the hart she can tap into her power repeatedly...especially under duress.”

Maidd’s gut clenched at the undercurrent in the Fay’s words, and Zara laid a soothing hand on his thigh.

“Fortunately for both us and for the Lady, she was able to escape with the help of an ally.”

“You?” Maidd asked shrewdly.

“It is surpassingly difficult to contain someone who sees the future,” Zara said with a knowing smile. “It was in large part self-defense on my part. The King-Under-the-Hill used her abilities to keep track of his most potent dissidents. He is too powerful to have true rivals.”

“Oh joy.”

“Indeed,” Zara sighed, “and as I plan to kill him you can see where I might need to help the Lady escape.”

“You’re…you’re going to kill the King-Under-the-Hill?”

“I don’t plan to be the literal knife to his heart, no, but do I intend to make sure someone puts it there? Oh yes…”

Maidd looked into the pale blue eyes and saw past their beauty to the pain of centuries inside them.

“How do I help?”

Zara blinked in surprise.

“Beg pardon?”

“How do I help? With killing him, I mean. Or whatever part of your plan requires an eight span ogre.” When Zara continued to stare, stunned, Maidd continued, “look you and Lady Aisha and Majesty probably have it hugely convoluted plan all nicely plotted out so I’m asking where I fit into it and also letting you know that I want to help.”

“But-”

“I like it here, Zara. Pompous nobility aside, I’ve made more friends in the few months I’ve lived in Eirendyr than probably my entire life.” There was one village which was an exception but that had revolved around toads eating everyone else so he didn’t bring it up. “I want to make this my home. And if the three of you are going to send us plummeting into a war with the biggest power on the continent, then I’d better plan on helping out to make sure Eirendyr is still around to call home.”

Zara’s smile was soft as he gently squeezed the other man in thanks.

“You truly are a guardian.”

“I’m pragmatic,” the ogre said stubbornly.

“Of course.”

“So where exactly do I fit in here?”

“I can think of a nice, warm place you’d settle in nicely.”

“I draw the line at fucking in front of an innocent deer in a forest surrounded by nobility that want to stab me,” Maidd grumbled.

“They’ll simply have to wait their turn-”

“Zara!”

The Fay patted his knee with a chuckle.

“We need allies, Aarav and I. Allies which are both powerful, wise, and most importantly willing to think beyond the normal ken of things,” Zara said.

“So you chose me for my puns,” Maidd said seriously.

“Do not tempt me to turn you into a rock, my dear,” Zara said just as seriously.

“I’d prefer a flower.”

“We’ll see how the mood strikes me when your demise arrives. But let me conclude with this.” Zara held up three slender fingers to the ogre. “We require you for three things, darling. First and foremost being your physical prowess-”

“I’ll bet you do,” Maidd muttered.

“-while the second is your half nature. It will protect you against Fay magic far better than any spell I or Lady Aisha may concoct.”

The ogre sighed unhappily but didn’t protest the assertion that he was only a few steps down from Fay and Fay-touched in the abomination scale.

“Did Lady Aisha tell you?” Maidd asked.

“She certainly mentioned it, but I knew the moment I first beheld your impressive physique. You are not the first ogre I’ve known after all.”

From the sly smile Zara shot him, Maidd didn’t doubt it in the least.

“It’s the saliva isn’t it?”

“It is quite the potent bed warmer I will agree,” the courtesan laughed.

Maidd just shook his head. Who would have thought being the Guardian of a Princess would be his least complicated role?

“And what’s the third reaso-”

A sudden horn blast cut off their discussion, belting out the three trilled notes of the universal distress signal. Maidd saw again the dubeks crowding around the noble. The pain and horror as they gored then trampled him to death.

Maidd was up and running before the sound had died away. He had only a general idea of the direction the horn had came from, but now the wide open space between the massive trees worked in his favor. He glimpsed a group of dubeks charge behind a distant tree and headed in their direction. Maidd skidded around the wooden behemoth just in time to see the nobleman loose an arrow, miss, then cry out as one of the dubeks knocked into him.

The human was flung off his feet and into the air for several spans before coming down with a hard thump. He tried feebly to scramble to his feet again but was too slow, too slow by far as the group of dubeks bore down on him.

Maidd’s staff went sailing across the clearing and embedded itself in the leading dubek’s side. The sheer power of the throw spit the hide and muscle beneath it like an overgrown roast on a spit.  

The wounded dubek collapsed with a dying bellow, toppling those behind it. Two at the back of the herd had enough time to swerve. One swung far and galloped off. But the other locked back onto the shrieking noble and charged. When it hit the wall of ogre, the dubek was the one that stopped.

Maidd snarled as the prongs of one horn pierced his palm before he was able to grip the concussed animal and heave. The dubek went flying back to the rest of its herd which had just started to pick themselves up. Down they went again in a tumble of claws and deadly horns. Only three of the original 7 got up again.

Maidd roared an ogre war-cry at them, claiming the prey behind him. The remaining dubek wisely turned and fled.

After a few moments proved nothing was waiting to spring out at him, Maidd relaxed. Not too bad for an unplanned rescue if he did say so himself. He flexed the gored hand and grimaced. That would leave a nice mark-

An arrow thudded into his back.

Slowly Maidd turned to find the young nobleman staring at him in horror, bow still raised in his shaking hand. The ogre reached back and yanked out the arrow in his flesh before holding it up between them.

“You couldn’t hit Meziroth on the ass during a fight for your life, but the moment everything’s quiet you decide shooting your rescuer is a great idea?”

Maidd stepped closer and the human’s trembling increased threefold.

“Do you know what ogres do when humans betray them?” the ogre growled. “We pick them up by their scrawny, ugly little necks and shake them until their spine snaps.”

Maidd punctuated the scene by snapping the arrow in two with a growl. The nobleman’s eyes promptly rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the forest floor. Maidd wished the ungrateful idiot had a little longer to fall.

He stared at the unconscious human for a moment before turning around and heading for the remaining dubeks. Claws and horns scrabbled at the sky as he approached. Maidd carefully avoided both as he headed for the dubek with his staff buried deep in its side.

Maidd tugged out the staff with a wet snick only to sigh. Cursed staff had broken after all. He used the remaining length to stab into the heart, or near enough to count, of the next dubek. He broke the necks of the last two. No sense in letting them suffer because of an idiot nobleman.

Finished with his task, Maidd walked back to the nobleman and squatted beside him. He gave the man’s cheek a less than gentle pat but received no response in return.

“It’s really not the best idea to just lay down in the middle of a forest with full of panicked, galloping dubeks.”

Nothing.

“Meat-eating dubeks in case you’ve forgotten.”

Still nothing.

Maidd sighed as only an ogre could even as he scooped up the unconscious human and slung him over one shoulder.

Just wait, Maidd grumbled as he headed in the direction of the manor house. In less than a day the rumors about ogres feasting on the flesh of innocent nobility will be running rampant. I honestly don’t know why I even bother.

While Maidd muttered his way through the forest, Zara stood nearby concealed with magic. He was near enough to watch the incident unfold but not close enough for the half-natured ogre to sense his magic. Beside Zara stood the white hart, still munching the mouthful of clover she’d had in her mouth when Zara had shifted them to watch the encounter.

“A pragmatist you are not, darling,” the Fay said, more than a little amused as he watched the ogre stomp off through the forest. “And that is the third reason.”

Having seen all he needed to see, Zara and the hart disappeared.