Poison Lady of Gull
Chapter 1
The Argument
Poison was nervous, whatever she said to the others, she was nervous! She stood outside the door to the Phaerie Lords chambers and took a deep breath, then knocked. There was no reply, of course there wasn't; he had 'summoned' her here, but he couldn't be bothered to answer the door! He thought he was so high and mighty, well she couldn't be bothered to hang around here forever. She knocked again – as loudly as she could, if he didn't answer this time she was gone. But before she could turn heel and leave, he called through the door, "Enter." She sighed, well it looked like she would have to speak to him then, she pushed against the door to open it, but it wouldn't budge. It didn't seem to matter what she did, the world was against her! "The door won't open; I can't enter if your door is locked!" She yelled back through the door, ignoring the snickers she received from the passing Phaeries. There was no reply for a moment, then the door opened, and the tall, irritated Phaerie Lord was looking down at her; "I am not so foolish, of course the door was open, you are just human- you are weak!" Poison stared him down for a moment, then brushed past him into the room.
"You wanted to speak with me." She was still smarting about his 'summons' if she was honest with herself; and she refused to use his title. "I did, I summoned you here human because I have another job for you. Your friend, the girl, got herself into some trouble and is in the dungeons at the moment..." Before he could complete his sentence, Poison interrupted. "Where are the dungeons? Let her go! What did she do?" He rolled his eyes and turned his back on her, walking across the room to the window. Poison wasn't even angry that he'd just turned his back on her, she was too worried about Peppercorn. She thought for a moment, then decided that there was no way of helping Peppercorn if she made Aelthar angry, so she would have to swallow her tongue and be polite. She thought this might be stretching herself a bit far though, and decided to start off by being quiet.
After she had been quiet for a minute or so the Phaerie Lord spoke again; "You're little friend got herself into trouble, that is all you need to know. She will be executed tomorrow, on my orders, unless you agree to my conditions." Poison sighed resignedly.
"Very well, what are your conditions?" He turned to face her finally, "You must use your connection to the Antiquarian, Fleet isn't it? To get me a certain book from the Library, if you tell anyone of your quest, or who sent you on it, I will kill your friends!" He had learned, thought Poison, that the best way to get to her was through those she cared about. "Which book?" He smiled a knowing smile, and Poison felt her stomach twisting into a knot of pure hatred.
Before Poison left, she turned to the Phaerie Lord and said; "I need some reassurance that you won't just take the book and kill me and all my friends anyway, you were planning on it after I had retrieved the dagger, we heard you through the grate outside your chambers." His eyebrows creased together, "You told the Lady Asinastra that I was the one who sent you and you did not return with the dagger. Scriddle told me. You broke our bargain, not I." Poison couldn't argue that she had been the one to tell Asinastra, but she had returned with the dagger. Scriddle must either have forgotten to give it to his master, or he had lied. Probably out of hatred for her and her kin. She sighed and shook her head, "Very well, I will not break the deal this time, but I did return with the dagger, I gave it to that awful Goblin, servant, thing, of yours."
As Poison was walking away from Aelthar's rooms, she spotted Andersen, he flicked his head at her, in a clear indication that she should follow. She did so and after a while they came upon a locked door, Andersen sat down outside the door and waited. Poison put her ear to it, what greeted her was Peppercorn's voice; "Why do you have me here, where's Poison and Bram?" She gasped angrily when she heard the reply, clearly in the voice of the irritating little imp; Scriddle. "The Lord Aelthar wants you here, so you'll be here! I don't know or care where you're human friends are." He snapped at her. She heard Peppercorn sob a little. Well, her friend wasn't in any danger at the moment, and she was going back to have a chat with Aelthar!
"You... you useless excuse for a human being, you took her and you tried to use me! How dare you? Coward!" Poison had managed to open the door all by herself now she was in such a rage, the Lord Aelthar had looked mildly surprised when she'd stormed into his chambers, but he seemed to recover fairly quickly; "Don't insult me; I am not a human being by any stretch. Of course I tried to use you; why else would I have asked you in here, you knew very well that, even if the girl had really been imprisoned, it would have been I who had her there on some trumped up charge! What's the difference? I would have done that, but this castle has no dungeons, so I had to rely on your ignorance." Poison was stopped by this, it was true, her first thought had been that he had made the charge up to get her to comply, so what was the difference really? This anger wasn't about Peppercorn, it was about Azalea, her sister, who could be grown up, or in agony, or dead by now. But he wasn't going to give her sister back yet, so she just had to deal with what was current – revenge would be sweeter the longer it had to mature.
"Just get your servant to release my friend; she's no use to you now. If I tell anyone that you have locked her up you'll be thrown out of this realm! I may be an ignorant human being, but I have friends in high places, and if that doesn't work, I will tell everyone which book you wanted me to steal." She wasn't afraid to assert herself now; she had remembered the promise made to her by Fleet, no human could be harmed here. Aelthar looked down at her angrily, but she knew she had won this round, a small smile tugged at her lips, she didn't mean to smirk at him, but there was something in her that couldn't help antagonising people. Aelthar rose to it and grabbed her arm, his grip was bruising. She let out a gasp of pain, apparently there was a difference between hurting and harming someone in this realm, "Listen to me you little worm, what are you to me, any of you humans? You. Are. Nothing! I will release your friend only to save myself the trouble of having to explain myself to the Antiquarians, but you – Poison..." He said her name, for the first time, as though it were dirt. "You will die by my hand, in my realm! Phaerie's have long memories, do not forget; you have enemies in high places now!" With that he released her arm, she gasped and fell back, supporting herself against the wall.
When she had gathered herself she stood up as tall as she could to make her reply. Though this was nothing compared to his impressive 7 feet. "Lord Aelthar of the Phaerie folk, you hold no power over me, nor over any of the people in my realm. I have thought for many years that we should have unite under one leader and fight back against our suppressors, but we won't because no such leader has come along. Well there is talk that the Heirophant is writing one or perhaps writing the downfall of your people, but who knows? I'm not waiting around, I've been waiting around my whole life! I will be the leader my people so desperately crave if that is what it takes, because we will never be treated like animals by you again, never!" With that she took a deep breath and calmed herself, "Now, take me to Peppercorn." His lips twisted, as though he wanted to scream at her, then he managed a cold smile and walked swiftly from the room.
When they reached the room that her friend was being held, Poison saw Andersen disappearing around a corner, he had been waiting there all this time she thought with a smile. Aelthar rapped on the door, "Scriddle, open the door." The door opened and Scriddle appeared, looking irate, he didn't notice Poison at first. "My Lord, you have been longer than expected, have you got it, did the human filth manage to acquire the book?" Poison pushed passed the Phaerie Lord; who was blocking her way. When she faced Scriddle, she stared at him for a moment. "I am not human filth Scriddle, you are; you're the shame of some human woman, and you are an insult to our race. I am Poison, poison to you if you cross me again! Do not forget it." Then she passed him also, until she was in the room with Peppercorn, who jumped to her feet and ran to hug her. Poison hugged her back, only now admitting to herself how scared she had really been for her stupid, loving friend.
"Poison, oh Poison, he told me that you and Aelthar wanted to speak to me in here, and I believed him Poison, I believed him!" Poison stroked her hair, "Shh, don't worry, I would have too, you're okay now, we can leave." She took her friend's hand and pulled her from the room, not even sparing the Phaeries a glance.
This whole story has been revised since I haven't written for it in so long! I will be uploading more chapters soon.
