“This was left over from the days of old,” Sir Rodney said with a smile, looking at Sasha. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if Merlin charmed it this way himself.”
His smile was infectious and she couldn’t help the one he brought out on her face. The fact that Hunter and Shogun were slightly bristled but also contrite quietly amused her.
“You weren’t properly introduced before. These gentlemen are my top advisors,” Sir Rodney announced proudly. “Please show them the sigils you discovered at the death sites, as well as what was sent to you on the human contraption, otherwise known as a cell phone.”
Sasha dug in her pocket as the dire-looking advisors gathered around, inserting themselves between each seated person so they could get a better view.
After a moment, what appeared to be the eldest advisor spoke, pointing at each set of symbols. “These are different than the ones found on the young ladies’ bodies, milord. These be progressive spells, milord. Look at the three moons on each and how they ascend to the top of the sigil… how they gradually become fuller. Thus the magick darkens each night, becomes stronger and harder to cure. If it is not broken before the last night, there will be no cure.”
“This is why we need those who be not Fae,” another, gaunter advisor said, glancing around the table and pointing a bony finger at Sasha, Hunter, and Shogun. “The cure is one we cannot carry-and whoever did this was banking on our Fae secrecy… that we would not, in pride, reach out for help beyond our own in matters strictly Fae. The ones who did this were very shrewd, indeed.”
“Cold steel must cross the magick ring that holds each sigil,” the lead advisor said. “St. John’s wort with witchwood-the rowan, and enclosed with bundled bay leaf. That would break the spells set upon this castle and the places Ethan McGregor’s people be.”
“I don’t understand,” Sasha said, looking around. “How can we carry something to a place when we don’t even know where it is?”
The eldest advisor rubbed his chin and smiled a snaggletoothed grin. “Ah! To put a spell on a place as large as this fort, one must have the power of three.” He walked around the table and produced a small wand from inside his sleeve and doodled glittering gold spirals in the air as he spoke. “For a time-sensitive, progressive spell, one that relies on the sigils knowing when the light has cast and passed into moonbeams, it must be able to be exposed to the passage of time.” He spun around and clapped his hands. “It will be in the uppermost floors, hidden in the eaves, not in the basement where daylight never passes. The first death happened in the cellar as a ruse or mayhap to stop a young woman from telling the king all that she knew-something that would incriminate the spell-caster. But the source… aye, lassie, is in the eaves!”
“The power of three locations,” a third, thick-bodied advisor said, furrowing his already deeply wrinkled brow. “Dugan’s Bed & Breakfast… Finnegan’s Wake… and Ethan’s Fair Lady. The name of Forte Shannon of Inverness inscribed on the dark magick within the homes of members of the royal house is part of the root cause of this castle’s failed glamour.”
“Once the property changed hands, it became Ethan’s… Thus all who slept there as his family,” the lead advisor said, pointing his wand at Sasha, “helped the spell along.”
“All who ate there,” another said, “helped the spell along.”
“And they put a progressive agency into it,” the leader said. “That is what has hurt the Seelie Fae.”
“Aye,” the thin advisor muttered. “There are too many of us to do individual sigils for, but they went after the house of Sir Rodney.”
“But what about what my grandfather and I saw,” Hunter said, folding his arms over his chest. “We saw opaque spirit selves get up from the bodies of each of us, wearing symbols on each. It went after the wolf leadership and Sasha’s familiars, even her father, as well as my lieutenants.”
“Doppelganger attachments!” the leader said, looking around the room. “Insidious magick, the worst of its kind!” He walked away from the table and thrust his wand up his sleeve.
The four other advisors shook their heads as though Hunter had just said he had inoperable cancer.
“whatever it is, these are the symbols that Hunter’s grandfather saw,” Sasha said as calmly as possibly, letting them see the stored cell phone pics again.
“Well, man, tell us, is it possible to get this attack off our allies?” Sir Rodney said, standing and beginning to pace. “There must be something to do for this?”
“First things first,” the lead advisor said slowly. “They are wolves. They can track. If they go back to the three establishments and go to the top floors-the attic, the eaves, somewhere remote that isn’t used-where no one who wasn’t looking for something would go… they will be able to cancel the spell against the castle… which will remove the deleterious effects on all Seelie Fae that hail from Forte Shannon. They can lay the cold iron with the necessary herbs that we cannot touch. From there, we will have our glamour back and can send out search-and- destroy parties to aid them. Without proof positive, we cannot raid Unseelie Sidhe mounds or go after Goblins, digger Gnomes, Dwarfs, or Gremlins… Any of these could have been agents in delivering bits of hair, personal effects, the things necessary to make a bond to each victim’s etheric body.”
“To attack Sylphs,” another said and then clarified when Sasha frowned. “Air elementals, milady-we must be strong. Air elementals work in the etheric realms. When we attempt to remove the sigils from the etheric body doubles or the property they’ve been attached to, they will fight with all their might.”
“Our job is to first break the spell on the fortress, and then all Seelie Fae will be whole and can in turn help us,” Shogun said, glancing around. “That we can do-but what is witchwood… or rowan?”
“Our Wood Sprites can show you in the morning. But they cannot touch it. The plant is highly toxic to us,” Sir Rodney said. “Once you collect it, you must go out of the encampment. It is a toxin for us-you have to take it to the three locations, and then return to us with it washed off of your hands and free of your clothing.”
“How long do we have?” Hunter said, leaning forward on the table on his elbows.
“You have already lost three moons. You only have one more. Then the final moon in the sigils is the night of the Midsummer Night’s Ball… The stroke of midnight is also when the magick becomes strongest and next to impossible to break.” The lead advisor looked around and his gaze settled on Sasha. “You have a question. It is in your eyes.”
“Yeah…” she said, losing patience. “Let me get this straight. We hit the streets tomorrow, try to keep this on the down low from human authorities that will be crawling all over these joints that we have to go back into without the aid of shadow-jumping stealth… and we have to do this by tomorrow
Five small heads nodded in unison.
“Okay,” Sasha said, ruffling her hair up off her neck in frustration. “But all the while, we’re getting crazier and crazier-and now we’re finally thinking this is magick that could possibly only be delivered by the Unseelie.”
No one said a word. It was suddenly so quiet in the large meeting room that Sasha stood to keep from screaming.
“And these sigils of ours could be anywhere in the world,” she said flatly.
Again five heads nodded in unison.
“And we’re pretty sure that Vampires are involved, like we just found out tonight that the Buchanans were lying in wait for us, so these sigils could be on any of the abovementioned estates-which are heavily fortified.” Sasha walked around the perimeter of the table slowly as though hunting something in the center of it. “There has to be another way to break the Unseelie spell against specific individuals. I get it that you can unbind a group that was bound as a group more simply… but someone went after us on a very personal level.”
“They did, indeed, lassie,” the lead advisor said quietly. “There is a way… but…”
“Why us?” Sasha looked around the room. “If it’s the Unseelie, why us-the Wolf Federations? We’re not involved!”
“I’m afraid you are,” the lead advisor said calmly. “If you are our strongest allies, the ones who united our fractured Parliaments, then, sadly…”
“The friend of my enemy is my enemy,” Shogun said flatly.
“Yes,” Advisor Garth said with a weary sigh.
“That is some Vampire bullshit, if ever I’ve heard it,” Sasha said.
“With a weakened Louisiana Werewolf clan seeking vengeance and willing to aid in the confrontation,” Hunter said, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. “How do we fix this, reverse the dark spell?”
