“You may call me Ceridwyn. I am one of the protectors of the Dark Wood.” she replied, flying just ahead of me.
As we wove deeper into the woods, I stretched my senses out. I could hear the forest come alive with critters big and small. While we stayed on the path, I couldn’t see any of the creatures I heard. One of the lures of the Dark Wood was to hear noises that would make you want to step off the path. Unsuspecting victims often lost their lives in these woods because they didn’t know better. I did.
“How is Underhill doing? I hear that the heir to the Unseelie throne abdicated?” I asked a while later as I clambered over a fallen tree. Ceridwyn hovered patiently, waiting for me to cross over the large trunk and onto the other side of the path.
“Underhill is well, but the kingdoms are not. I’m afraid there is a current struggle for who the next ruler will be. It is up to the Fates. Atropos has left with Adaela, but Clotho has stuck around. She’s been weaving almost nonstop for the last several years,” she said, moving down the path as I finally joined her.
“I’m confused. How are the Fates, the Moirai, here in the Unseelie Realm? Aren’t they supposed to be the word of the Gods and Goddesses in Greece?” I questioned.
“Yes, but they were sent here on a mission only they knew several hundred years ago. Underhill is concerned that theirduty here will soon be over,” Ceridwyn replied as she scanned the forest around us. I suspected that we were getting close to where Baba Yaga was staying. Time moved differently in Underhill, but my internal clock thought we’d been walking for several hours, though it might’ve only been minutes.
I was so invested in the conversation that I stumbled on a root along the pathway. I righted myself quickly, not realizing that I’d summoned my dagger until I felt its weight in my hand. This dagger, which was named at my inception, was calledVindicta. I quickly summoned her back to her home so as not to offend Underhill.
“That certainly is concerning. Has there been much change recently, other than the struggle for the throne?” I asked Ceridwyn. She flew ahead of me. Her tiny, but full figure reminded me of the godmother from one of the stories I’d read from the human realm about a princess named Cinderella. I’d keep that thought to myself.
She glanced back at me, a fierce mistrust on her face at my line of questioning, before her long blonde hair whipped back over her shoulder. “I trust Underhill to know the magic of this realm. If Underhill is saying something is on the horizon, I believe it.”
We rounded an embankment, and Ceridwyn moved off the pathway, sinking us deeper into the forest. She was more on alert now than she had been in the last several hours. I stretched out my power as far as I could, checking for living beings. My powers allowed me to detect life around me as a potential nutritional option, which was convenient in times like these. I was in shape, so the increased heartbeat in my chest wasn’t from the long trek through the Dark Wood. I couldn’t tell if my senses were alerting me of danger, or if it was because of Ceridwyn’s behavior, but I couldn’t sense anyone near us.
In the distance, I heard what sounded like a crash and a roar. I briefly wondered if we were going to need to fight our way out when giant chicken legs with a house on top of it came barreling into the clearing near our location. Confused and alarmed, my heart began pumping with adrenaline as I wondered about summoningVindictaagain. A woman riding on the roof of the house swung her arms as if she were holding a lasso, laughing maniacally. I couldn’t help but join in.
“Well, if it’s not the card-carrying bitch,” I yelled up at her.
She climbed down from the roof of her home and slid the rest of the way down one of its legs. “Vada, it’s been a long time.”
I smiled as I walked toward her, “It has been what, two centuries, give or take?”
“Thereabouts. What brings you to my woods? Come in, come in. Let’s have some tea,” Baba Yaga’s house kept on bended knee as she beckoned me to follow her back up into it.
I turned to Ceridwyn to thank her for helping me pass through the area safely, when I remembered that you should never thank a Fae. Instead, I summoned a small vessel of mead and handed it over to her. “Ceridwyn, it was nice meeting you. I hope we meet again.”
“The pleasure was all mine, Vada. I’m sure our paths will cross again soon,” Ceridwyn replied as she made her exit.
As I settled into a bulky chair next to the fireplace, Baba handed me a cup. I took a sip and almost spat it out before letting itburn fire down my throat. “What the fuck was that? I thought you were handing me tea?” I choked, gasping for air as my lungs were set on fire.
“Ah, lass, that was just a wee bit of bourbon. It’s a human concoction. They call this drink a Hot Toddy. There is still tea in it, my dear. But be careful, it may be stronger than that demon mead you gifted to Underhill.” Baba took a hefty sip of her own tea, and I watched in fascination as she never even winced.
I took a smaller sip, letting the burn simmer rather than boil. “Well, it certainly has a… taste to it. How did you know what I gifted Underhill?”
Baba looked at me as if I were daft. “You realize I’m an oracle of sorts, don’t you?”
I rubbed my eyes in embarrassment. “Heh, yeah, I kind of forgot about that.” I took out the scroll Az tasked me with giving to the Crone and handed it over to her. “This is from Asmodaeus.”
She took the scroll and read through it slowly, then set it aside before her eyes lingered on me for a long moment. I couldn’t read the expression on her face, but I was curious by nature. Az knew this. I tried not to fidget while I awaited her reply, but I was sure I’d failed.
“Well, I guess the time has finally come,” Baba said as she stood back up from the table. She still had the face of youth, as all Fae did, but she showed her age in her eyes.
“The time for what?” I asked, sitting on tenterhooks.
“You know Asmodaeus. He’s always scheming about something. This time, he’s doing you a favor. It’s time we talk about your curse and what it’s going to take to lift it,” she said, while searching in a cabinet for something else. She came back to the table with a delicate scroll and a quill.
Yaga proceeded to tell me the story of a prophecy I could hardly believe. I was pissed. Relieved. Overjoyed. Anxious? Ididn’t even know where to begin to process it. The Crone had a vision several years ago. Underhill was certainly right that things were about to come to a head within the lands, but it sounded like this would irrevocably change the fates of the worlds. And apparently, it all started with Adaela ÓDubhlaoich, abdicated princess of the Autumn Court.
March 18th
Istuffed my face full of a massive breakfast burrito as we headed inside the gym. Aside from my house or the office, the gym was the likeliest place to find me. I was often ready to spar with anyone who would help me lessen the aggression my magic caused. It’d been more difficult as of late to contain my death magic. This wasn’t new necessarily, but it was speaking louder to me about looming threats—something I should have been cognizant of. I thought the power, though semi-sentient, was just bored of the monotony.
“Hey, look, it’s the muscle mommies!” Loki shouted. Everyone else in the gym stopped and hollered. My worst nightmare. I ducked my head and pretended to scroll through my phone. Athena flipped him off, then headed toward the locker room. I shook my head while finishing off the burrito, following Athena.
