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That bout was worse than the last. I almost missed the publishing deadline. Please. Please. Please. Don’t mention “my cousin Dave” again or you’ll never find out what happens in The Prince of Two Tribes.
Enough about “my cousin Dave”! Let’s get underway. Many readers have been writing me with questions. “What’s the Pact?” “Are there Faeries in other countries?” “How do Faerie powers work?” “Is a platypus a mammal or a reptile?” All good questions, but only three are relevant to our story. I hope the book will answer them. But I thought the Pact might deserve a little explanation of its own. Therefore, I’ve decided to write a prologue for you, which I have pithily entitled… ^ 1 See Book One of The Chronicles of the Misplaced Prince. ^ 2 Although, annoyingly, the Dalai Lama has forgiven me. Just another reason to be disappointed in him. ^ 3 See Book One of The Chronicles of the Misplaced Prince. ^ 4 See Book One of… oh bother! I suppose I have to recap some of the action in Book One. Otherwise, I’ll be writing the same footnote over and over again. ^ 5 A synopsis is a brief summary of a larger body of work. By its very defi nition, a synopsis is brief, but I added the word brief before synopsis. Why this lack of economy with words? I’m paid on a word-by-word basis. So, in a way, I should be glad of the opportunity to pad my wallet with an unnecessary summary of the fi rst book. And I am, now that I’ve thought it through. ^ 6 The Other Side is a netherworld where Faeries live apart, able to watch our world but not participate in it. A Faerie may return from the Other Side rarely, and only for a brief time. ^ 7 Could have said erased. Said expunged. Deal with it. ^ 8 I’ve often wondered why flies are so attracted to ointment. Very little research is available on the subject.
Prologue
The battle was over.
Black, oily smoke rose, drawn into long, dark ribbons against the leaden sky. In the west the sun hung low on the horizon, staining the blanket of clouds a bloody red. The wind swirled around the hilltop, whipping cyclones of snow around the silent figures who surveyed the battlefield.^ 9
The war was at an end, with great loss to both sides. The Alliance of Free Humans and Fair Folk had defeated the Dark Ones and their army of Human slaves. Now the victors stood on the hill, waiting to decide the terms of peace. Their faces, still begrimed with blood and soot, were grim. Many Humans had been killed and many Fair Folk sent on the final voyage to the Far Lands.^ 10
They stood in the centre of a ring of ancient stones, their black surfaces etched with intricate symbols. Each stone stood higher than a tall man’s head, and together formed a rough crown for the hilltop. In the centre stood a single stone, twice as tall as the others but of the same dark rock. Around this solitary stone, the victors were gathered. Pennants attached to long spears snapped in the breeze.
“A woeful day, my Lords,” said Merddyn, the most senior of the Faeries and leader of the Fair Folk. He appeared to the Humans as an elderly man, though still tall and sound of limb and bright of eye. A long white beard, matted with mud and filth from the battle, hung down the front of his simple black armour. His sinewy arms were bare and patterned with tattoos. “Much is lost, but we have gained an important victory. Our rebellious brothers and sisters have been brought to heel. Now perhaps there will finally be peace between our peoples.”
“Aye, peace,” said the Human King, scowling through his thick beard, black and streaked with grey. His face was smudged with soot and blood, a patch covering the scarred socket where his left eye had once been. “Peace. But for how long? What’s to keep your folk from rising against us once more in times to come?”
“You have no right to insult us in this manner,” one of Merddyn’s commanders said disdainfully. “We have fought by your side to bring the rebels down. We have even slain brothers and sisters! Such a sacrifice, turning against our own… ”
Merddyn laid a hand on the Faerie’s shoulder.
“Forgive Ariel.” Merddyn smiled sadly. “The war has been hard on him, especially raising arms against his own brother. To question his sincerity is unkind.”
“I spoke rashly and thoughtlessly. I apologize, Lord Ariel.” The Human King bowed his head slightly. Ariel grudgingly returned the gesture. The King continued. “You have been true to your word, but the fact remains…Your folk live long. I will pass away, and so will my children and their children. How can we ensure that in the future Humans will be safe?”
“The generations of the People of Metal^ 11 may pass quickly compared to ours, but remember this: though your time upon this Earth is shorter, you are also more fertile. You will soon greatly outnumber us. That, in essence, is what sparked the conflict between our peoples.
“The time has come for us to go our separate ways. We separate until Faeries and Humans learn to live together in peace, without jealousy and fear. While we wait for that day, we will come to an agreement. We will mark out the boundaries of our future.”
The Human King nodded grimly. “So be it. We shall have a Pact.”
“First, some unfinished business. We must deal with the prisoners.” Merddyn raised a pale hand and beckoned to a knot of people waiting at the bottom of the hill. The Human and Faerie warriors moved forward, forcing a group of shackled figures ahead of them. The Humans carried heavy swords forged of dull black iron, their armour a hodgepodge of leather and metal plates. They were heavily bearded and scarred, and they were all male. The Faerie warriors also wore armour, crafted of thin pieces of glimmering crystal. In their hands they carried weapons made of the same ghostly material, fancifully carved and decorated but deadly nonetheless.^ 12 The Faerie troops were made up of both male and female warriors, long-limbed, lean, and dangerous. Some bore tattoos that wound in intricate patterns of leaves, stylized animals, and flames over their entire bodies. Shimmering colours tinted their skin and hair.
Marching together, the warriors of the two races prodded their shackled prisoners up the path until they arrived before the Human King and Merddyn.
The prisoners were weighed down by iron collars that hung from their necks, bound by lengths of chain to fetters on their hands and feet. As they came to a halt, they fell to their knees under the weight of the iron that was already burning painful welts on their skin. All save one.
The leader of the vanquished Faeries strained to remain upright despite his pain. He clenched his teeth as he raised his face to look at his captors. The Humans, including their battle-hardened King, took an involuntary step backwards as they saw the naked rage and hatred that twisted the otherwise handsome face. Merddyn didn’t flinch. He met the fierce gaze with a stony glare of his own.
“Tain Mab Dubh.” Merddyn’s voice cut easily through the howl of the cold wind. “Tain, Son of Darkness: this is the name you chose for yourself. You defied the will of our rightful Council and took up arms against family and friends. You declared yourself above and outside our Law.” Merddyn’s voice commanded the attention of all. “You are finished. You and your followers have lost the battle and the war.”
Tain laughed. “Wise Old Merddyn. Selfless Merddyn.” The Dark Faerie Lord sneered and spat at Merddyn’s feet. “Merddyn the Fool. With you by my side we could have crushed the People of Metal. Now you would have us living as outcasts on the edges of the world, left to haunt the dark and lonely places. Ghosts! Worse than ghosts, for are we not flesh and blood?”
“Tain, you are wrong.” Merddyn shook his head sadly. “To fight the Humans is futile. One might as well take up arms against the tides of the seas or the winds or the air. They will outnumber us ere long. An honourable peace is what we must have to ensure that we survive.”
“Pah! Peace? Slavery! The People of the Moon were born to rule. You have doomed them with your cowardice. You are all cowards!”
Ariel lunged forward, too quick to be restrained, and struck the prisoner across the face with the back of his mailed hand. The crack of the contact echoed on the hillside. Tain staggered and fell onto his face.
“Keep your idle taunts to yourself, dog! Merddyn fears no one, least of all you!”
Tain forced himself up onto his knees. He grinned, bright blood drooling from his split lip. “All slights will be remembered, Brother Ariel! Lapdog Ariel! Your treachery will be remembered and avenged,” the Dark Faerie hissed. He lunged against his chains but succeeded only in pitching himself forward onto his knees.
A Faerie in exquisite armour inlaid with pearls reached out and restrained Ariel. “We all have reason to be
