Mark of the Fool

The Ravener was in the fae wild.

It was a theory.

Only a theory.

But, if it was true? Much could now be explained.

Weeks spent searching Thameland—every river, hill, mountain, forest and glen they could find—had turned up nothing. No Ravener. No sign of Uldar’s body. No sign of his throne.

But what if the Ravener had never been in the Material World in Thameland?

They could have searched for a thousand years and never found it.

“Shit, that explains why those Ravener-spawn disappeared outside Uldar’s Rise!” Theresa cried. “They slipped away through…but wait, we didn’t find any fae gates near there.”

“Fae gates can be impermanent,” Baelin said, running a hand through his beard. “They are tales of mushroom-circles appearing one night and being gone the next.”

“True…” Alex said, “And I don’t remember any mushroom circles around when the Guide was hunting me. He could just slip in and out of the fae wild whenever he wanted, bringing Gabrian and anyone else he wanted with him. Gwyllain didn’t seem to need a fae gate to appear near the Research Castle either.”

“True, but they are fae.” Prince Khalik pointed out. “I cannot imagine Ravener-spawn being able to slip in and out of the fae wild on their own power.” He looked at Merzhin. “Were there any records in the past of the Ravener making its home in the fae wild? Or of Ravener-spawn travelling to-and-from there?”

“No.” Merzhin shook his head. “As far as I am aware, the only connection between the Ravener and the fae is that Uldar had dealings with both. Unless, the original Ravener—the demon lord twisted by fae magic—had that power. …was there anything in Uldar’s notes that would let it travel between the fae wild and the material world?”

Alex shook his head. “We didn’t find anything like that.”

“No ability to transport itself, except by flight,” Baelin mused. “Though, it seems it can gain incredible control over the space within itself by diverting its power to its core.”

“I see,” Merzhin said. “Then the Ravener seems to have no ability to travel between Thameland and Och Tir Nog without a fae gate. And the army has been using Lord Aenflynn’s gates to travel between the material world and the fae wild. But they have not mentioned seeing Ravener-spawn there.”

Drestra gasped, her eyes growing wide. “Oh…oh by the spirits. By the Traveller! There are Ravener-spawn in the fae wild!”

“What’re you talking about?” Alex asked

“Aye, what’s all this, Drestra?” Cedric asked.

“Cedric! Hart!” Drestra hissed. “What did we give Lord Aenflynn? What did we give him instead of Thameland’s children?”

Cedric stopped dead.

Hart’s large eyes grew even larger. “Shit! Shit! That tricky bastard!”

“We gave ‘im bloody Ravener-spawn,” Cedric murmured.

Alex fell silent as his mind worked.

A key turned in a lock within his mind, and he shuddered, feeling as though the icy waters of a wintry sea had been poured on him.

The Ravener had stolen Uldar’s throne.

Hadn’t it?

What evidence did they have for that?

Ravener-spawn tracks. Muddy Ravener-spawn tracks. Muddy Ravener-spawn tracks that utterly disappeared in the wilderness, without a trace.

“We gave him bone-chargers,” Drestra’s voice crackled, simmering anger and shame in her tone. “There were otherRavener-spawn tracks in Uldar’s sanctum but…”

“If the Ravener is in the fae wild, then how would it be there without Aenflynn knowing?” Khalik asked. “If it does not have his blessing, then at least, it must have his tolerance.”

“What were the exact words of the deal you made with the fae?” Baelin’s voice was soft, but his gaze was piercing and his eyes hard as stone.

“One hundred and twenty of your monsters, to be given once per moon in groups of thirty or more, not less. In return, you will have the service of one of my fae warriors for every three monsters you provide me.” Drestra quoted the fae lord, her voice crackling. “In addition, you Heroes will have full access to the fae gates, letting you cross the five highways of my realm and quickening your travels across Thameland. Your armies will have use of the same, though you will all be under fae law while travelling through the fae wild. If any of you violate our laws, you will be subject to our punishments.”

Cedric spoke up. “I added: an’ if we betray you, then you will command your fae warriors to set on us and rip us to shreds. If ya betray us, then any Ravener-spawn we’ve gifted t’ ya will make things nasty for ya. We’ll also have folk ready t’care fer yer elderly changelings in two moons’ time.”

Baelin stared at them for a long moment.

He sighed.

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Deeply.

“You were doing your best, and I sincerely respect that. But…that was not the best deal, my young friends.”

“What do you mean?” Hart asked.

The night seemed darker.

“Deals with devils and fae are tricky things: games of words and intentions. One thing you must always remember is that—when a deal is made somewhat adversarially—that the words themselves are far more important than the intention behind them.”

“Words only have power because of the meaning we give them,” Alex whispered, his mind working faster and faster. Every stream of consciousness seemed to spasm in his mind. “But meaning is given by the speaker of a word and by the listener.”

“Indeed,” Khalik added. “You taught us to convey meaning with our bodies.”

“Aye, but what’s this got t’do wit’ th’deal?” Cedric sounded near panic. “Why was it a bad one?”

“Because you gave the word betrayal no meaning within the deal you made,” Baelin said grimly. “It is up to your understanding of the word. And…the understanding of the fae lord you dealt with.”

“Betrayal’s betrayal!” Cedric insisted. “Ain’t no two ways about it.”

“Is there not?” Baelin raised an eyebrow. “If Aenflynn were to simply allow the Ravener to hide in his realm, would that be a betrayal?”

“Aye, it would!” Cedric shouted. “He’d be helpin’ our kingdom’s enemy!”

“Would he?” the chancellor asked. “Or would he be simply allowing it to do as it wished? Further, even if one could make that argument, is he betraying you or the kingdom of Thameland? If ya betray us is what you said you bound him with…who is ‘us’, precisely? Likely—to a fae—that means the ones making the deal with him: you, Drestra, and Hart. You were the ones there at the time. You made the deal. Not the kingdom of Thameland. Not the king. Not Alex. Not Merzhin. You.”

“I…but…Ravener-spawn’ve been tryin’ t’kill us!” Cedric insisted.

“And yet you have only grown stronger in the face of such trials,” Baelin pointed out. “A fae could argue that by—shielding the Ravener long enough for you to be challenged—he has helped you.”

“Oh, by the Traveller…” Drestra’s voice sounded pained.

“Yeah, just like you helped us by sending us against monsters in the Barrens of Kravernus,” Alex murmured. freew𝚎bn𝐨𝘃𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝚘𝗺

“Precisely, and the moment you can argue meaning within such a contract as this, that’s the moment you’ve lost,” the chancellor said darkly. “There is no court to hear arguments, or barristers to argue for meaning and intent when it comes to Old Magic. The closest things to arbitrators for fae pacts are—in fact—the lords of the fae.”

“Shit!” Cedric swore.

“But it gets worse,” Baelin said.

“How?” Hart demanded.

“An’ if we betray you, then you will command your fae warriors to set on us and rip us to shreds. If ya betray us, then any Ravener-spawn we’ve gifted t’ ya will make things nasty for ya,” Baelin repeated. “You did not define what ‘betrayal’ means…but you did define the consequences. Old Magic will punish those who violate a pact. Usually. However, in your phrasing, you forsook Old Magic’s potential punishments by saying that punishment will lie in your own hands. Essentially, all that the fae lord will need to worry about—if he were to violate your deal, even by his own interpretation—is for you to become aware and then have full right to have your bone-chargers ‘make things nasty for him’. He has little to fear from such creatures. Meanwhile, he has full right to set his armies upon you. Further, “If any of you violate our laws, you will be subject to our punishments,” is what he added to the deal. You are now bound by fae law, and will suffer its esoteric punishments if you break it. Now, fae laws concern the fae…but that likely means that if you were to take any action against Aenflynn or his kingdom, you would be subject to terrible magical punishments.”

“But…” Drestra’s voice crackled. “We needed their army at the time, and ways to transport ours. So many more would be dead if we hadn’t made that deal.”

“Admirable, and your intentions were good. You simply lacked experience with such matters to properly protect yourselves in such a pact. As such, we have to be open to the possibility that Aenflynn might not only be tolerating the Ravener in his realm, but actively sheltering it.”

“And maybe it might help him in return: after all, he knew Uldar. So, if Aenflynn has access to more Ravener-spawn because the Ravener decided to help him, then…what if he stole the throne?” Alex said. “Ravener-spawn could have gotten into the sanctum, taken what they were after, and then the fae whisked them into the fae wild once they were in the woods.”

“So, uh,” Thundar mumbled. “What could a fae lord do with the corpse of a god and his throne?”

“Much.” Was all Baelin said. “And he’s had them for months, if this is all true.”

“We’ll have to make sure whether it’s true or not,” Hart said. “Let’s go to the fae wild right now and—”

“No,” Alex said.” Not yet. If Aenflynn or the Ravener have done anything with that throne, we need to be completely ready. The Ravener’s made its first move, trying to cull us: the last thing we need is for it to annihilate our kingdom while we’re rushing into the fae wild half-ready. We don’t have a lot of time, and our allies need to know what’s going on.”

“But, if Aenflynn’s got Uldar’s throne—” Cedric said.

“Then we need to get it away from him,” Alex said. “But we have an advantage: he doesn’t know that we suspect him yet.”

“He might soon enough,” Drestra whispered. “He knew a lot about all of us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has spies everywhere: the moment we picked up that mushroom and figured out what was going on, we have to assume that some fae saw, and ran off to tell their lord what happened here. Oh shit, that’s why he’s been avoiding meeting with us. He didn’t want to give anything away.”

“But he will have no reason to hide once he knows that we know,” Khalik said. “And if he unites with the full power of the Ravener…”

“Then we’re cooked,” Alex said. “But we have…I don’t know…minutes? Hours? We’ll have to get our equipment: and inform the king and the army, so they’re prepared for an attack from the Ravener and our fae ‘allies’. We don’t want them getting slaughtered.”

“At the same time, I am going to return to Generasi and my personal domain to gather resources,” Baelin said. “Assuming that this fae lord or the Ravener has somehow accessed the divinity locked in Uldar’s throne…then this fight will be one we will need all of our resources for. And the moment we step into the fae wild, we should assume that both the Ravener and Och Tir Nog’s full fury will be directed at us.”

“We’ll need everything we have access to, then. The king and the army have to be warned, and anything we can gather from Generasi will be useful.

“Maybe…Toraka Shale…can lend you…some golems…” Claygon suggested.

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” Alex said. “Professor Jules should be told, maybe we can hire monster hunters from Generasi to increase our numbers…”

“I suspect I might be able to convince Councillor Kartika to lend resources to this battle,” Baelin offered. “Thameland is allied with Generasi, and this will be a most crucial point in that alliance.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “Okay, then. Everyone, I’m going to be doing a lot of teleporting. Make sure you regenerate your mana. We don’t know exactlywhat we’re about to face, but we’ll need every ounce of our strength to face it.”

In the uppermost chamber of a castle in the fae wilds, a lean figure sat upon a white throne. His eyes were fixed on the closest window and the starry horizon outside, while his concentration was bent on the seat of power beneath him.

“Thank you old friend,” he whispered once again.

He waved a hand and smiled at something beyond the horizon.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the chamber door.

“Yes?” he called pleasantly. He was in a fine mood, indeed.

“Sire, there is a Ravener-spawn at the gate!” his servant called through the door. “It requests an audience.”

“Show it in,” Lord Aenflynn said smoothly. “I am curious as to why our new ally needs me at this hour.”