Descent into the Depths of the Earth

at anything. Try to lookpast the surface. Most of it’s an illusion. You can get the knack of telling.”Escalla sounded sour. “Careful of the wildlife. Anything about the mass of afaerie probably is a faerie. No trout is a trout, no cat’s a cat. Thebored ones can get pretty strange. Don’t stare, or they’ll try and get pushy.”

“Hmph,” the Justicar grunted. “What if we’re attacked byone?”

“Cut it fast and hard. Give it time to throw a spell, andyou’re dog meat. But don’t do it. I’m almost out of spells.” The girl shrugged.“They have a dueling code-one on one fights are your own affair if you make it aformal challenge.”

“Are they all magic-users?”

“Yeah. All of them.”

Jus rippled his finger tips along the hilt of his sword. “Should we try to bring in Enid and have her bust us out of here?”

“Not yet.” Escalla’s antennae stayed stiff and high, testingmagic currents in the air. “I need a way to get you guys clear of here before Ido anything cute.”

Heaving a frustrated, angry sigh, Escalla paced, drawing Polk and Jus down beside her. Polk had filled his moustache with hardtack crumbs. He seemed to regard Escalla with newfound awe.

“So this is a faerie palace! A gateway to adventure!”

“Yeah.” The girl gave a sneer. “And I’m a princess.” Polk andJus both gave her an appraising look. Escalla angrily waved her hand. “I toldyou that when we first met! A faerie princess, I said! No one believes me! No one ever believes me!”

“Can’t imagine why.” Jus scratched his head and left it atthat. “All right, so what’s the story? Why are they after you? Why are we here?”

“Well they weren’t shooting to kill, so that means they wantto talk.” Escalla ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “I hate thisplace! I hate these people!” She turned her face away. “Here’s the run-down.This is Clan Nightshade, my clan. They’re exiled from the Seelie Court over somecrap you and I could care less about, so Clan Nightshade is a rogue. Fought their way through three different planes and ended up here, holed up on the Flanaess.” Her voice was toneless. “Faeries usually live in a sealed society-theSeelie Court. It straddles several planes of existence-very old, nine clansalways stabbing one another in the back. Spawned a dark goddess once and has kept out of mortal affairs ever since.”

She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“Nightshade is trouble. They are my clan, so don’tunderestimate them. We learned magic the hard way.” Escalla kept her faceneutral and guarded, her eyes flicking left and right for signs of scrying spells. “The Seelie Court clans are a lot more inbred, more reclusive, moreformulaic.”

Jus slowly stroked his fingers through Cinders’ hair. “Butthese are all faeries like you, right?”

Escalla gave the man a sharp stare. Small, slim, and somehow sinister with her pointed ears and tilted eyes, she suddenly seemed no joking matter.

“Clan Nightshade is personally responsible for neutralizingand imprisoning a goddess.” The girl narrowed her eyes. “You’re still thinkingof elves and pixies. Don’t. Faeries are the true folk. Imagine arace of magic-using, flying creatures that can change shape and go invisible at will.” The girl bitterly pitched a piece of grass into the wind. “Elves are tofaeries what skinks are to black dragons. Don’t make the mistake of thinkingthat just because something’s short, it can’t splay your lungs all over thegrass.”

Polk recoiled, looking Escalla indignantly up and down. “Butyou’re not nasty! You’ve got honor and guts and good intentions!”

“Polk, I’m the girl who didn’t fit in and ran away.”

She hunched over, cradling her head in her hands. The Justicar dragged Cinders over beside Escalla. Heaving a tired sigh, the little faerie reached out to scratch the hell hound’s ear.

Cinders look after faerie.

“Thanks, man. You’re my favorite pooch.”

Sensing that some of the plants were clearly spies, Jus looked at Escalla as he spoke. “What happens now? Why are we here?”

“I have a few suspicions.” Escalla’s hand tightened onCinders’ fur. “I’m eldest daughter to the clan head. Whatever they want, it’sno good news for me.”

“Are you in danger?”

“Not immediately. It’s not like I broke any laws. Plus I’vealready taken down some of the clan’s best spell slingers twice today. They knowI’m not quite the same little girl who ran away from home.”

A fanfare of trumpets pealed out across the lake. An instant later, a row of brilliantly clad little creatures popped into view. They seemed to be a type of pixie-shorter than Escalla and far, far sillier, with longcricket’s legs and eyes like an insects. The creatures blew on heraldic hornsthen tittered with mirth as they rolled their eyes at Polk and Jus.

“Summon come! Summon come! Come to biggie lord! Leave mortalsto play game with happy grigs!”

Sharing a look of seething annoyance with Jus, Escalla rose to her feet and said, “Grigs. I hate these guys.” The faerie planted her fistson her hips. “Now hear this! These are my blood companions. A spell cast on themis a spell cast on me.” The girl turned dire eyes on the shocked little grigs.“I mean it! Tricksie-tricksie, pay back doubles!”

The grigs scuffled their feet and pouted.

“Mean!”

“Yeah, well I’m that one! Remember me? The mean ladyis back again!” Escalla swatted at the little sprites, who scattered sullenlyaway. “Half-wit relatives! You can bet your butt they don’t have to put up withthese little buggers in the real Seelie Court!”

Peeking out of cover all around the island were a host of tiny little shapes-all pixie-like, all small, all less formidable that the purefaeries Jus had seen. Jus settled Cinders securely into place upon his helmet and looked at the forest sprites.

“These are all related to faeries? Why so manyoffshoots-pixies, sprites, grigs, atomies…?”

“Chaos wars.” Escalla led her way through the ranks of hidingsprites. “Lotta pure bloodlines were split up. Goblinoids, giants, dragons.Faeries took the brunt of it. That’s why we turned reclusive.” The girl hadreached the shore, and here a party of lean, elegant faeries awaited them. “We’re summoned. Come on. Let’s go meet the family. Keep your eyes open and yourmind straight.”

Jus and Escalla both flexed their hands, each feeling for the rings that kept them safe from charm spells.

At the water’s edge, Escalla’s twin awaited them.

The newcomer was pure faerie. The lean lines, the aristocratic face and air of cool intelligence instantly marked her. In shape and face, she could almost have been Escalla. A little rounder in the eyes, far,far plusher in the bosom, but as alike as two sisters had a right to be. She had dressed herself in tight white lace with a glint of silver on her hand. Escalla’s leathers looked stark and almost primitive in contrast to the othergirl.

The lace-clad figure sketched a mocking little bow and said, “Sweet sister.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Escalla turned and jerked her thumb towardthe other faerie. “Guys, this is Tielle, my little sister. A total bitch.”

Polk doffed his cap. Jus merely gave a brief nod of his head. Turning back to her sister, Escalla stared the other girl up and down. The two females exchanged looks that dripped with pure disdain.

“So Tielle. You porked-out.”

“Yes. They’re called breasts.” Tielle looked at hersister with a sour laugh. “Love the outfit. Is it uncured leather, or isthat smell all your own?”

“Ha! You kiss so much butt, I’m surprised you still have anysense of smell.”

Looming like a vast black giant above the faeries, Jus cleared his throat in a bass rumble. It brought the exchange of insults to an end as both sisters flicked a glance up at the human.

Tielle gave a wrinkle of her nose and said, “You’re summonedto the clan council.”

Escalla gave a sniff and replied, “Why do I give a damn?”

“Daddy’s asking nicely. And we have visitors.” Tielle clickedher fingers to summon more faeries. Male and