Chapter 3
Artemis didn't once take his eyes from the screen lest he found it all a figment of his imagination. Leaning over, he quietly told Butler not disturb him for the next little while, besides that, he felt a little dizzy. His mind felt leaden and heavy and he propped his head on his hands.
"Is this some sort of joke?"
"Joke? No, this is very serious. Although you may think it's a joke." Foaly snorted, "I'd imagine you're feeling a little sick right now?"
"I...what? My head, yes...dizzy..."
"I apologize."
"Oh shut up, Foaly. I'm going to assume something else now. Haven is in trouble."
One of Foaly's eyebrows shot up, he hadn't expected Artemis's memories to come back to quickly. "Well, since you brought it up. No."
"Well, what is? Obviously you wouldn't have triggered my memories unless something was wrong." Feeling a little better every minute that passed, Artemis felt emboldened. Then a thought struck him, "Is it Holly?"
Again, Foaly's eyebrows went up, "No, I believe Holly is quite fine."
Artemis remained silent, he decided to wait Foaly out. The stupid centaur was enjoying this time where he was in the dark of something big.
"No other guesses?"
"No, just my thanks. There has been a rather annoying gap in my memories it seems. Although it apparently was all there – something just didn't seem right. Everything made sense, it just didn't seem like I did what my memories had said I did." Artemis gave a sincere smile, something that didn't happen very often.
"Of course."
"Although, as time is passing us by, I have the strangest sense that I already know why you've contacted me." Artemis laughed, "In fact, I know exactly why you contacted me. You want to know what I know about what happened up in the North. I'm surprised you don't know yourself, considering all the tabs you keep on me."
Foaly scowled, he'd forgotten how annoyingly adept and keen Artemis was. Almost as if he read peoples thoughts. Creepy. "As you very well know, you translated what I have not as of yet, onto paper. Also, since we are both the only people who actually seem to care and know about this phenomenon, I figured we could work together on this."
Artemis leaned back in his seat and grinned coolly, "You don't have permission to speak to me do you, Foaly."
Foaly's scowl deepened, but he lied in spite of himself, "Of course I do. I wouldn't offend the Fairy world by speaking to the likes of you if it weren't permitted."
Smirking, Artemis nodded his head and agreed, "Of course." He knew that Foaly was lying, it was all in the eyes. He'd have to find out later, which meant that none of the other fairy folk could see him. He rubbed his temples, he felt like a computer, uploading a large amount of information – which was pretty much what was happening. Blinking back the blurriness that was determined to creep into his vision, Artemis continued, "If it's about what happened earlier today, I'm not going to tell you anything. Not until we can come to some agreement."
"Bartering time you mean?"
"Not the words I would use, but the same meaning. Let's negotiate."
Hours later, Foaly and Artemis came to an agreement. Artemis would never be mindswiped again – that was the largest part of the discussions. Artemis didn't want to lose any memory again. Smaller parts concerned a small fortune in fairy gold that Foaly was positive he could swipe somehow.
"Excellent. Foaly, it was good doing business with you. I'll expect the gold to be here within the week; you can have it delivered to my place under my name." It would be a relatively small amount – only a quarter ton of gold. "And because you're such a good friend," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "I'll give you the information of the goings up north...at least what I have at the moment."
"Good stuff. You can send it to me via this Human internet address."
Artemis's face remained unchanged as he replied. "The information is not so big that I cannot tell you, Foaly. It's merely a start, a name, a people."
"What?" Confusion sparked to life in Foaly, that and excitement.
"They call themselves...." Artemis let it hang, enjoying the look of annoyance rise up in Foaly, then his face froze and he quickly shut off his camera.
Foaly stared at the blank screen and shouted, "What!? What are they called? Don't you dare do this to me you little -"
"Ah, Foaly, still in here?"
Foaly reeled around quickly, shocked to the core, "Ah ha...yes. Hello Root, what are you doing here?"
Root grimaced, "The wife's giving me heck for constantly putting off her dinner plans. She's been trying to get us to go out for dinner for weeks, but I keep putting it off. So she, um, kicked me out for the night."
Foaly forced out a laugh and waited for Root to say more.
There was an awkward silence, then Root coughed and nodded towards the main computer, "Who you talking to? I heard you shouting something."
Another forced laugh came out of Foaly, inwardly he grimaced, they sounded so fake. "Oh no one. My computer is just acting up, must have something to do with the power surge earlier."
"Ah yes. Found anything else on it?"
Foaly answered truthfully, "Working on it presently."
Root nodded and hooked his thumbs on his belt, "Right then, I'll let you get back to it then." He took one last look at the computer Foaly was working on, then he sauntered out of the Ops Booth. Over his shoulder he muttered, "Good night Pony"
Refusing to be fazed by the poorly chosen old nickname, Foaly returned his goodbyes. Once, he was sure that Root wasn't going to return, Foaly turned back to his computer. There, blazing in white letters in a black communications link was the last words Artemis had sent. "THE THER DRACE."
Apparently, Artemis had tracked Foaly back and had gotten a small link into his computers while Root was talking to him. But at this time, it was inconsequential. At another time, Foaly would have been furious at having been traced, but again, this was now.
Artemis didn't once take his eyes from the screen lest he found it all a figment of his imagination. Leaning over, he quietly told Butler not disturb him for the next little while, besides that, he felt a little dizzy. His mind felt leaden and heavy and he propped his head on his hands.
"Is this some sort of joke?"
"Joke? No, this is very serious. Although you may think it's a joke." Foaly snorted, "I'd imagine you're feeling a little sick right now?"
"I...what? My head, yes...dizzy..."
"I apologize."
"Oh shut up, Foaly. I'm going to assume something else now. Haven is in trouble."
One of Foaly's eyebrows shot up, he hadn't expected Artemis's memories to come back to quickly. "Well, since you brought it up. No."
"Well, what is? Obviously you wouldn't have triggered my memories unless something was wrong." Feeling a little better every minute that passed, Artemis felt emboldened. Then a thought struck him, "Is it Holly?"
Again, Foaly's eyebrows went up, "No, I believe Holly is quite fine."
Artemis remained silent, he decided to wait Foaly out. The stupid centaur was enjoying this time where he was in the dark of something big.
"No other guesses?"
"No, just my thanks. There has been a rather annoying gap in my memories it seems. Although it apparently was all there – something just didn't seem right. Everything made sense, it just didn't seem like I did what my memories had said I did." Artemis gave a sincere smile, something that didn't happen very often.
"Of course."
"Although, as time is passing us by, I have the strangest sense that I already know why you've contacted me." Artemis laughed, "In fact, I know exactly why you contacted me. You want to know what I know about what happened up in the North. I'm surprised you don't know yourself, considering all the tabs you keep on me."
Foaly scowled, he'd forgotten how annoyingly adept and keen Artemis was. Almost as if he read peoples thoughts. Creepy. "As you very well know, you translated what I have not as of yet, onto paper. Also, since we are both the only people who actually seem to care and know about this phenomenon, I figured we could work together on this."
Artemis leaned back in his seat and grinned coolly, "You don't have permission to speak to me do you, Foaly."
Foaly's scowl deepened, but he lied in spite of himself, "Of course I do. I wouldn't offend the Fairy world by speaking to the likes of you if it weren't permitted."
Smirking, Artemis nodded his head and agreed, "Of course." He knew that Foaly was lying, it was all in the eyes. He'd have to find out later, which meant that none of the other fairy folk could see him. He rubbed his temples, he felt like a computer, uploading a large amount of information – which was pretty much what was happening. Blinking back the blurriness that was determined to creep into his vision, Artemis continued, "If it's about what happened earlier today, I'm not going to tell you anything. Not until we can come to some agreement."
"Bartering time you mean?"
"Not the words I would use, but the same meaning. Let's negotiate."
Hours later, Foaly and Artemis came to an agreement. Artemis would never be mindswiped again – that was the largest part of the discussions. Artemis didn't want to lose any memory again. Smaller parts concerned a small fortune in fairy gold that Foaly was positive he could swipe somehow.
"Excellent. Foaly, it was good doing business with you. I'll expect the gold to be here within the week; you can have it delivered to my place under my name." It would be a relatively small amount – only a quarter ton of gold. "And because you're such a good friend," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "I'll give you the information of the goings up north...at least what I have at the moment."
"Good stuff. You can send it to me via this Human internet address."
Artemis's face remained unchanged as he replied. "The information is not so big that I cannot tell you, Foaly. It's merely a start, a name, a people."
"What?" Confusion sparked to life in Foaly, that and excitement.
"They call themselves...." Artemis let it hang, enjoying the look of annoyance rise up in Foaly, then his face froze and he quickly shut off his camera.
Foaly stared at the blank screen and shouted, "What!? What are they called? Don't you dare do this to me you little -"
"Ah, Foaly, still in here?"
Foaly reeled around quickly, shocked to the core, "Ah ha...yes. Hello Root, what are you doing here?"
Root grimaced, "The wife's giving me heck for constantly putting off her dinner plans. She's been trying to get us to go out for dinner for weeks, but I keep putting it off. So she, um, kicked me out for the night."
Foaly forced out a laugh and waited for Root to say more.
There was an awkward silence, then Root coughed and nodded towards the main computer, "Who you talking to? I heard you shouting something."
Another forced laugh came out of Foaly, inwardly he grimaced, they sounded so fake. "Oh no one. My computer is just acting up, must have something to do with the power surge earlier."
"Ah yes. Found anything else on it?"
Foaly answered truthfully, "Working on it presently."
Root nodded and hooked his thumbs on his belt, "Right then, I'll let you get back to it then." He took one last look at the computer Foaly was working on, then he sauntered out of the Ops Booth. Over his shoulder he muttered, "Good night Pony"
Refusing to be fazed by the poorly chosen old nickname, Foaly returned his goodbyes. Once, he was sure that Root wasn't going to return, Foaly turned back to his computer. There, blazing in white letters in a black communications link was the last words Artemis had sent. "THE THER DRACE."
Apparently, Artemis had tracked Foaly back and had gotten a small link into his computers while Root was talking to him. But at this time, it was inconsequential. At another time, Foaly would have been furious at having been traced, but again, this was now.