Secrets

Yet another chapter filled with background...

Though Cleven’s castle was somewhat dark and drafty, Liza found the grounds outside surprisingly chilly. She pulled her thick forest green cloak closer around her and cursed the dress she was wearing, although she had to admit it was surprisingly warm for material she had first assumed was so thin. She and Zayric walked briskly over the frosty ground, plagued by silence for a few long moments before Zayric cleared his throat.

“There are some things that you should know.” He began carefully, keeping his eyes trained ahead of him.

“About Cleven?” Liza asked, relieved that she wouldn’t have to introduce this topic herself. Since the king had told her that it was Zayric who was monitoring Cleven’s alleged mental deterioration, she had decided that the next person to interview would have to be him, though she had certainly not expected such an interview to take place so soon.

Zayric inclined his head. “Yes. My father said that he mentioned Cleven’s bouts of mental distress at the ball. How much did he tell you?”

“Not much. Just that Cleven was having them.”

“I suppose I should clear up a few things, then.” Zayric mused thoughtfully. Turning his head, his gaze bored in to Liza’s. “You have to swear not to repeat anything that I tell you, however. It is for your understanding only that you have this information, and only because it could bring Cleven closer to being cured. No one else is to hear of it. Not even Fallin, even he doesn’t know the whole story, and certainly not that impertinent best friend of yours. Do you understand?”

Liza shivered slightly and barely managed to cover a grimace. So he still thinks of me as the impertinent best friend. She thought drearily, but she forced her tongue to convey that she understood his terms instead of following her first impulse to poke deeper into his analysis of her character. Thankfully, Zayric didn’t seem to notice her discomfort and he turned his eyes to the ground before taking a deep breath to begin his explanation.

“You need to have the facts separated from the fiction. Almost three years ago the Fairy Queen visited us. As usual she spent some time strutting about the town and having peasants gawk at her, but of course she ended up in the palace with us. We had a private dinner the night before she left. Only my family and the queen were in attendance, which is why no one really knows the whole story of what happened that night. There were some… things that were said. Stupid things. Mostly from me. I was a lot younger then, in spirit if not in physical age. I… I was an idiot. I realize that. But she became angry and showed me a vision.” Zayric paused briefly, leaning against the wrought iron fence the bordered the boundaries of Cleven’s grounds and Liza watched a tremor pass over him and rested a hand lightly on his arm. “It insulted me and I was furious. I tried to hit her.” He closed his eyes, grimacing at the memory. “But my brother restrained me. Barely. And then she looked at all of us with eyes that were… otherworldly. I can’t even explain it. But then she cast the spell on Cleven. Except we didn’t know that she was doing it; she just sort of waved her hand a little and looked directly at him. Cleven… shivered and that was all. And then…” Zayric’s fists clenched tightly, causing Liza’s grip on his arm to tighten ever so slightly, but he didn’t notice. “She told us that Fate would see that my view would change, but only if Cleven changed too. And then she left.” Zayric straightened and pulled away from Liza, continuing to walk around the perimeter of the grounds.

“She left?” Liza repeated, dumbfounded. “But I thought that—”

“Everyone does.” Zayric replied swiftly, cutting her off. “The story that my father spread later was that Cleven became a beast that night so we captured the Fairy Queen and threw her in the dungeon until she would break the spell and Cleven was set to rights again in the morning, but the change was much more gradual than that. I believe the rumor is that Cleven originally changed at night and he was all right in the morning, but actually he originally didn’t change at all. A few weeks went by with nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen. But not long after that we… we began to notice how abnormally fast his hair was growing and after a month was over he couldn’t stand flickering lights. Agonizing months passed for all of us before my father finally requested an audience with the Fairy King and Queen.” He looked down at Liza. “Are you following all of this?”

“Yes. It’s fascinating. But what does this have to do with Cleven’s mind?”

“I’m getting to that.” Zayric snapped sharply. “Be patient and listen. But first, what do you know of fairy trade?”

Liza nearly groaned. What could fairy trade possibly have to do with Cleven? She wondered mutely. Her eyes darted upward and she noticed a little finch with a strange flutter in its wing sitting on one of the iron posts of the fence. Recognizing it as the one that she had rescued earlier that morning, she absently reached a hand out to it and waited for it to flutter lopsidedly on to her fingers. She stroked its feathers gently as she answered. “Nothing much. I know the fairies give us silver and pure water from the clouds and I know that their army is in reserve to help us win wars against Galandrin and Solymeth and the other surrounding countries. Why?”

“Your tutor didn’t teach you very much on fairy-human economics, I suppose.” Zayric muttered bitterly. “Lucky you. Anyway, we’re essential to the fairies’ survival. We can live without protection and silver and cloud water, but they can’t survive without us. We grow their food and send it up to them. Obviously you can’t grow food in the clouds, so they trade with us. Prices stay reasonable because everyone thinks that they’re more powerful than we are, even though our population is nearly twice the size of theirs. The reason that a percentage of Calassian peasants die of starvation every year is because we have to send about a third of our crops to those damn fairies.”

“Except I thought you didn’t care about the starving Calassian peasants.” Liza interrupted before she could stop herself. “I thought you didn’t care about peasants at all.”

“A pure-blooded Calassian peasant is worth far more to me than any fairy ever will be.” Zayric snarled, his words dripping with distain. “But this does tie in to the history, I promise. After my father realized that Cleven was becoming more beast than human, he went before the King Asper and Queen Alarken and threatened to embargo the fairies’ food supply if Alarken didn’t reverse her spell on my brother.”

“And she refused?”

“Not exactly. The Fairy King and Queen asked for time to speak with their advisors and to negotiate, which my father grudgingly granted them because he’s far too cautious. A few days later Alarken visited again and formally refused to lift the spell, giving some stupid reason involving Fate and how she couldn’t change it. That was when my father snapped. He captured the Queen that night and used the threat of an embargo to force the rest of the fairies in the kingdom who were able to create the enchantment on Cleven’s castle and then banished them from our kingdom. It was strange; the Fairy Queen never really resisted, and neither did she have bodyguards or anything. It was almost as if she wanted to be captured. We cut into her wings to keep her here and now she really is in our dungeon. She’s been there for over a year, now.”

“What about the embargo?” Liza asked, confused. “Didn’t that happen? Are the fairies starving?”

“No. My mother managed to talk my father out of that. We’re still waiting for the fairies to make the first move. In the mean time we haven’t managed to get anything out of the Fairy Queen except a cryptic message and your name. That’s why my father was so anxious to find you.”

“What was the message?”

Zayric shook his head. “That I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t help anyway. But that’s why everything has been tense. Even though the threat of embargo has been dropped, we still have the queen and we know that the fairies must be considering war, but they’re taking an abnormally long time to strike. Food is still given to the fairies in exchange for slightly higher prices, but in general not many people know the real cause of the war. The threat of the embargo is a fiercely guarded secret, which is why you’re not allowed to tell anyone. I doubt even Fallin suspects that such a threat was ever made. But now, to your question. For a little over a year, Cleven’s physical form has been beastlike, but lately his mind is starting to become far more beastlike as well. There are times when he becomes much more… vicious. He screams and growls and rages and then he never remembers after the episode is over. Last time I was here he nearly impaled me with those claws of his. Have you noticed anything?”

“The ghosts have said some things like that.” Liza responded delicately. “But I haven’t noticed it myself. He’s been perfectly sweet. Why is it happening?”

“I think it has something to do with the Fairy Queen and her sophistry. But we’re afraid that if Cleven keeps deteriorating it’s possible that he’ll be come fully a beast. He’s been a little… hard on me, especially last time I saw him. The incident happened before you came back, so maybe your presence really does suppress it for some reason.” He fell silent for a few seconds and then looked sharply up at her, his eyes wide in sudden panic. “You aren’t a fairy are you?”

Liza nearly laughed. “How could I be? You don’t see any wings on me, do you?”

“You could be a half-breed.” Zayric mused uncertainly, stepping away from her a little, almost as if he thought her very breath was toxic.

“I’m not half fairy, Zayric. That’s ridiculous. And besides, I don’t think fairies even have magic without their wings. Why would I help at all?”

“I don’t know. But you do. He’s obviously calmer around you, or you would have noticed something by now. It’s good to know that you can keep him stable. Was he all right the night of the ball? I know you had that arrogant fool and his sick friend here to keep an eye on him.”

“Tam didn’t say that anything unusual happened and neither did Cypress.” Liza informed him, emphasizing her friends’ names to encourage Zayric to use them too, although she knew he wouldn’t.

“Good. That means that he should be able to hold his own for a little while when you’re gone, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking you to come to the ball next week.”

“Why are you inviting me, Zayric?” She asked boldly, trying to ignore her pounding heart.

“So you can entertain me. And I’m sorry, but my father isn’t going to let me only invite you without also extending an invitation to the rest of your family. He’s gotten enough grief from them about summoning you to the castle, let alone living in Cleven’s.”

“I really am sorry about that.” Liza responded, sounding it, even though technically it wasn’t really her fault. The finch peeped softly, but she hushed it by stroking its back some more, careful to avoid its bad wing.

“It was just a colossal mess that would’ve been better to never have happened, but I suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now. I think we’ve managed to bribe your family into keeping quiet about it, though I don’t trust them.”

“You don’t trust anyone.” Liza pointed out. “But in this regard I quite agree with you.”

Zayric made no reply, and a few moments later the companions had reached the little shed where Cleven kept the beautiful swords and practice swords. Zayric lingered a few moments in front of it and Liza could almost see him straining not to open it.

“If you need to practice your swordplay, by all means do so.” She encouraged him quietly. “I like to poke things with sharp objects when I’m upset too.”

Zayric turned swiftly and gaped at her in surprised. “You practice swordplay?”

“Only a little. Of course I’m not supposed to, but I have a wild streak just like anyone else does.” Liza enlightened him with a twisted little smirk.

Zayric spun slowly back toward the shed and took out a small key identical to Cleven’s from around his neck and opened the lock. He selected two practice swords and handed one to Liza, then rummaged around for the thick, protective shirts and helms that went along with the swords.

“Um, your highness? I really don’t think that this is such a good idea.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Zayric shed his blood red cloak and hung it on one of the posts of the fence before tossing her a smaller protective shirt and helm and fiddling with his own. “You said you knew some swordplay. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Fear and embarrassment kept Liza rooted to the spot. “But Zayric this isn’t at all a fair fight. You’ve been doing this almost every day since you were small and I only learned the bare basics a few years ago and I only get to practice intermittently!”

“I don’t care. If you only know the basics, then show me that you know the basics.” He wriggled into the shirt and gave her a stern look. “Or were you lying to me?”

“No! Of course I wasn’t! I’m just saying that—”

“Well then if you weren’t lying, I order you to get into that suit and face off against me. You’re the only girl I know who knows the first thing about this sport, aside from my mother. It’s a refreshing change.”

“But I’m in dress.” Liza pointed out desperately, feeling perspiration slip down her skin even in the cold air.

“So?” Zayric asked slyly, and Liza could almost feel his smirk even though his mask was hiding it from her sight. “That’ll just make it a little more of a challenge.”

After stalling and hesitating for a few more minutes, Liza finally gave in and set the little finch down gently on the fence post. She ruefully took off her cloak and hung it next to Zayric’s, shivering in the frosty air. “It’s not like you need me to have another handicap against me.” She complained crossly as she wriggled into the long, tight protective shirt and donned the helmet. “You’re going to completely flatten me.”

“I’ll go easy on you.” Zayric promised graciously and slipped easily into en guard.

“Yeah right.” Liza moaned. “Like I believe that.”

“You see?” He teased. “I’m not the only skeptical one.”

Just as Eliza had predicted, the bout did not last very long, but she found that she enjoyed herself much more than she thought she was going to. She could tell that Zayric was, indeed, true to his word about not fighting her with his most lethal techniques, and she was surprised to find that, although his blunted blade flew skillfully through the air, she was able to parry his thrusts more often than he was able to actually hit her. Even more surprising, Liza managed to get two touches on Zayric, which filled her with so much pleasure she found it hard to describe.

Nearly half an hour had passed before Liza held up a hand and leaned heavily against the fence, signaling Zayric to stop. When his mask came off, Liza’s stomach somersaulted as she beheld his grin.

“You’re better than you give yourself credit for.” Zayric declared. “Though you’re right, you do make some rather elementary mistakes. Take that helmet off and let me show you.”

 

            Another hour of lessons ensued and toward the end of that time Cleven came loping out over the hard packed ground.

 

            “Oh Zayric, you’re not giving the lady lessons, are you?” he groaned upon spotting them. “I’ve been looking all over for you! We’d thought you had eloped or something.”

 

            “Where would you come up with an idea like that?” Liza asked suspiciously, trading a displeased look with Zayric.

 

            “Actually it was Tamarisk’s idea, but I’m fairly certain that he was joking.” Cleven reported. “Lady Ellyra, you must be freezing in that dress. Come back inside. You two need to come eat and warm up. There’ll always be time for more lessons in swordplay later.”

 

            “I suppose there will.” Zayric conceded with a dramatic sigh, collecting Liza’s practice sword and gear from her and stowing them safely in the shed along with his own. “Come, graceless lady.” He said, turning to Liza and taking her hand. “Thank you for entertaining me for so long.”

 

            “My pleasure, humble Prince.” Liza returned, smiling brightly.

            Cleven’s eyes glimmered with amusement as he turned back to the house, padding slowly along on all four paws and keeping in step with Liza and Zayric. Well what do you know? He thought happily. Tam was right. Maybe there is some hope for this kingdom after all.

 

*

 

 

            Baron Sellworth waited until the little party was safely inside before transforming back into his natural fairy form. Being such a small bird made him feel cramped and sore, but for the salary that Chancellor… or rather, Lord Larch was paying him, he couldn’t bring himself to complain. The thin, dark fairy stretched his arms high above his head and leapt lightly down from the fence on which he had been sitting. Much of the information had been easy to gather once he had managed to get inside the castle. He wasn’t quite sure why Lord Larch had asked him about Prince Cypress’s health, but luckily he would be able to report that he was recovering from his illness. He felt a small pang of guilt as he realized that he would not be able to share this happy news with King Asper, but he trusted Lord Larch enough to follow his rules. A full- fledged democracy would be much better for the kingdom; he was sure of it. Though he didn’t quite agree with Larch’s going behind the king’s back to achieve his goal, he agreed with Larch’s ideals.

Sellworth’s lightly tan lips twitched in a satisfied smile and he turned his dark brown eyes up to the sky. How lucky that he had escaped the castle in time to see the Prince Zayric and to listen to his side of the story. Lord Larch would be extremely pleased. He twitched his gold- edged wings and fluttered up into the sky, climbing higher and higher toward the fairy kingdom in the clouds.

 

Author's Note

Of all the chapters I've written, I think I like this one the least. It feels draggy to me and I feel like I shoved too much information into such a small space. Of course, this is also the last chapter I wrote for NaNo 2007, which might have something to do with it (it's filled with the disappointment of falling 9,000 words short of the goal). Anyway, help with this would be nice. Maybe the ploddiness is my imagination?

Reviews

[Hannah!]

I can't dislike this chapter, because it answers a lot of questions that I've had since the beginning. There was a bit of a rush of information, but I don't see how you could have handled it differently. Once again, the fact that two characters doing most of the talking are moving seems to help things out a lot--it's not so much the action as it is an imagined rhythm that comes when you walk and talk with people. I liked it, anyway--I think it is mostly in your imagination.

I knew that bird was important. I had completely forgotten that Lord Larch had been planning to call on a shapeshifter. And yay! More Liza/Zayric characterization and interaction. ^_^