Episode 9: Part 2
After having locked the doors, the knights sat by the warm fireplace trying to understand the little pantomimes and chatter of the two little gargoyles. They watched as the pudgy one named Yum-Yum made a menacing gesture causing the other one named Scratch to freeze up and topple over.
"I still don't get it," Quinton sighed as Laura stroked her chin thoughtfully.
"Okay… let's try it a different way," the Winter Knight said, "Does this have to do with Lord Elidyr? Is there danger here?"
The two gargoyles nodded while jumping up and down. A correct guess.
"Can you show us where the danger is?" Laura asked as she moved toward the door.
The two creatures hurried to stop her and keep the door closed. They gave affirmative nods but pointed toward the windows, and then the light of the fires.
"You want us to wait till morning when it's safer?" Connor guessed.
The gargoyles nodded again and pulled them over toward the fireplace before curling up to rest near the mantle.
"I guess we have no choice," Laura sighed, "If the gargoyles think it's better to wait, we have to trust them."
Quinton nodded and sat down in a nearby chair, "All right. Why don't you two get some sleep right now. I'll keep the first watch tonight."
Unable to argue, the other knights settled in for what would be a long and restless night. The next morning, everyone awoke and gathered in the common room before heading downstairs to the dining hall of the mansion. There they saw Lord Elidyr sitting at the table while calmly finishing his breakfast. He looked up and graced them with an angelic smile, "Good morning. I hope you all slept well."
Aside from Noelle, the other three looked a little rough around the edges but Laura cleared her throat and took the lead, "Well enough my lord, thank you. I don't suppose you know where Kristen is do you? We'd like to speak to her."
Elidyr wiped his hands with a napkin, "Lady Bloom? Oh, you just missed her. She stepped out a little earlier to relay a message back to her order. We're sorting out some little issues with the trade deal… nothing to worry about of course. Would you all care to join me for breakfast?"
"Perhaps the next meal," Quinton replied graciously, "We've got another little personal matter to attend to."
"What are you guys talking about?" Noelle asked in surprise.
Laura sat the Autumn Knight down at the table and smiled, "It's nothing Noelle. Why don't you just relax and keep our host company?"
"Oh God… did Connor put you up to this?" Noelle hissed quietly in annoyance.
Laura patted her friend's shoulder and spoke quietly, "Don't worry. I promise we won't cause any trouble. Just keep an eye on things here for us, okay?"
As the other three left the dining room, Noelle sputtered in protest before turning back to Elidyr with a polite apologetic smile.
Once outside, Connor turned to the two little gargoyles who had been tagging along with them, "Okay… I'm guessing Elidyr wasn't telling the truth about Kristen. Can you show us where he might have taken her?"
The three friends followed the two little creatures down a small path on the manor's grounds to what looked to be an underground cellar. The knights exchanged an uneasy look before heading deeper into the cavern.
Meanwhile back at the manor, Noelle ate breakfast at the table while Lord Elidyr called over one of his guards and whispered something in his ear. After the guard nodded and departed, the merchant lord gestured toward the goblet Noelle was drinking from, "You're enjoying the apricot nectar?"
"Oh yes. It's very good," the Autumn Knight answered politely as she set down her goblet and shifted in her seat. She didn't know quite why, but she had started to feel sluggish and her arms felt heavy. She had gotten a good night's rest so she knew it wasn't that either.
"Is something the matter?" Elidyr said gently as Noelle's head lolled back slightly and her eyelids fluttered.
"I just… I'm so tired… I can't… move," she sighed before seemingly falling asleep.
"Yes… that's what a little cockatrice venom will do to you," Elidyr chuckled as he rose from his chair, "First, I'll make a beautiful sculpture of you… then we'll see about your meddling friends."
Back at the underground cellar, the other three knights came upon a seeming dead end and looked about in confusion. Quinton examined the stones and furrowed his brow, "I don't see anything."
"And that's the way it's going to stay," came the rough voice of a house guard as a small pack of them quickly piled into the cramped corridor with weapons drawn. None of the knights had any time to respond, much less room to fight so they raised their hands in surrender as the guards encircled them.
"What are you three Tuathans doing down here?" the guard asked.
"We could ask you the same thing," Connor retorted defiantly while the guard pinned him to the wall and frisked him for weapons, "Did Lord Elidyr put you up to this?"
"Shut up," the guard snarled as he reached for a hidden lever and pulled it, revealing a secret room most likely used as a sort of dungeon. To everyone's shock, they found Kristen there in the center of the chamber, frozen up to her shoulders in ice.
"You made it too easy," the guard snorted as he and his comrades shoved the three knights into the prison chamber. "Lord Elidyr wanted us to keep you out of trouble and now he'll deal with you when he's good and ready."
Before they could charge back toward the exit, the rocky trapdoor slammed shut again. Quinton growled and kicked some dust at the door, "Great! We know what's going on now, but we walked right into a trap!"
"Kristen! Are you okay?" Laura exclaimed as she and Connor rushed to help their mentor.
The Druid nodded and took a breath to steady her chattering teeth, "I'm fine… except for being frozen in a block of ice and all."
"Hold on, we'll get you out of here," Connor said as he channeled a gentle stream of Summer Fire through his ring to melt the frost. While he and Laura worked to thaw Kristen out, Quinton pounded on the enchanted trap doors of the cavern trying to find an avenue of escape. Despite his shouting and efforts to find a weak point in the wall, the Spring Knight gave a discouraged look as the doors didn't show any signs of giving way.
He turned back and saw that Kristen had been freed from her icy state. As she sat down and tried to warm up while stretching her limbs, the others gathered around and asked what had happened.
"Last night after dinner… I got jumped by Elidyr and his guards," she explained, "It turns out that Elidyr is a bit of a nutcase who is big into collecting people who are either important or beautiful. Those sculptures we were all looking at? Those are all real live people who have been petrified into stone."
"Hmph… I'm a little offended that I wasn't targeted now," Laura said in mild sarcasm causing Connor to elbow her lightly.
Kristen continued, "Elidyr said he was planning to turn us all into statues and ransom us off to the highest bidder… whether it's our own Druid friends or Lord Balor."
"What? How would he even do that?" Quinton asked in shock.
"The cockatrice venom," Kristen explained, "He's developed various mixtures of it for his own evil schemes. If it's concentrated in the just the right way, it could theoretically turn you to stone and only be broken by a powerful anti-venom potion."
Laura quickly rose to her feet, "We've got to get out of here then and free all those victims who were turned to statues!"
"More importantly, Noelle is in danger," Connor exclaimed in fear while helping Kristen stand, "We left her back at the manor to keep an eye on things."
Quinton put his hands on his hips with a sigh, "Except how are we going to get out of here? The doors are too thick to blast and too heavy to move."
As if in response to that very question, the cavern doors began to open slowly and everyone looked in shock to see their two little gargoyle friends hanging off the switch to open the prison door from the outside. Apparently they had hidden and waited for Elidyr's guards to leave before coming back to help.
"What clever little devils," Laura grinned while hurrying out and scooping them up. As the others exited the underground cavern, they took a moment to thank their little allies before regrouping.
"Okay everyone… I think it's time we go put Elidyr out of business for good," Connor said firmly while clenching a fist, "Kristen, are you going to be all right?"
The Druid caught her breath before recalling her own staff, "Oh I'm coming along to fight too. If he intends to do this to other Druids too, then I'm not going to let him get away with it."
Laura set the gargoyles down and reached for her own ring to call her armor, "All right you two… it's time for battle so it's up to you to lead on."
Meanwhile, Lord Elidyr stood in his art studio propping up the paralyzed form of Noelle on a pedestal. Though she could not move her limbs or her mouth, she remained barely conscious enough to know that she was in great danger. The Elf put her in a graceful standing pose and stood back to examine his work. "Now my dear… you are going to be a lovely new addition to my gallery."
He ambled over to a small stone font that he kept in the corner of the room. In it bubbled a strange dark purplish liquid. He took a phial from his shelf and filled the glass beaker with a little bit of the liquid. "Coackatrice venom is a potent thing, isn't it? Just a single little drop of it diluted in your drink was enough to numb your entire body… but with this concentrated mix, I can petrify a whole person to become a work of magnificent art. I wonder how much Lord Balor would be willing to pay for you and your friends?"
Elidyr stopped as he heard a loud crash from outside and the sounds of shouting. The merchant lord hurried to the windows and saw three armored knights and a Druid break down the front door and clash with his house guards. Kristen led the way, batting aside a guard with her staff before throwing another two across the front hall with a burst of green magic energy. At her flanks, Quinton and Laura fanned out and locked blades with several guards who poured in from the side hallways. Unfortunately, those guards didn't fare much better as the Spring and Winter Knights easily took them all down with stunning blows or non-leathal sword strikes. While they clashed in the front hall of the manor and pushed forward, Kristen waved the Summer Knight on, "Connor! We'll take care of these clowns. Go help Noelle!"
Connor gave a nod and charged up the mansion's main stairwell with Scratch and Yum-Yum showing him the way. Elidyr growled and went to fetch a rapier from his desk, "Idiots… useless guards. I'll just have to take care of this myself."
As he rushed up the stairs, Connor locked swords with several guards blocking the way to Elidyr's studio. The Summer Knight parried a strike and threw a guard down the stairs while forcing the other two back. As he blocked another strike, Connor punched a guard out while kicking the other one into an empty pedestal, knocking the Elven soldier unconscious. He continued to charge down the hallway and slashed the locked studio door open with a blazing sword strike.
Inside the studio, he saw Elidyr waiting with a rapier while Noelle stood paralyzed in the corner on a small pedestal. He leveled his sword on the noble, "It's over Elidyr! Drop your weapon and surrender now!"
The noble sighed and dipped his blade in the font of cockatrice venom, "Such theatrics… like something out of a fairy tale. I suppose you fancy yourself the knight in shining armor who's going to save the fair maiden?"
"I'll settle for the pissed off knight who's going to kick your ass from here to Summer," Connor growled as he locked blades with Elidyr. As the two combatants clashed, the venom on the blade bubbled and hissed causing Connor to withdraw and dodge a slash which struck a wooden potter's wheel and turned it to stone.
"What the hell?" Connor gasped in surprise.
Elidyr laughed and gestured toward the font, "I coated my blade in cockatrice venom. If one hit penetrates your armor, you can think again about kicking anyone's derriere. Perhaps you'd like to surrender instead?"
"Sorry Elidyr. I don't surrender to madmen. It's just one of my quirks," Connor retorted while backpedaling and deflecting aside another sword blow of the noble. Elidyr growled as the Summer Knight maneuvered around the studio and dodged another thrust from the venom coated blade. The rapier struck a wooden shelf and a wide swath of it solidified into stone.
"You annoying worm! Are you too afraid to duel me head on?" Elidyr snarled as Connor pivoted sideways and pulled off some curtains of the small room's window to snare his foe's blade. Like the shelf, the cotton curtains petrified into stone as well but it threw Elidyr off balance and allowed Connor to kick the noble back several feet to the ground.
While Elidyr groaned and slowly tried to stand, the Summer Knight spared a moment to turn and check on Noelle who was starting to shake off the effects of her paralysis. As her muscles began to loosen up again, Connor quickly caught her and carried her off the small pedestal so that she wouldn't fall.
"Noelle... are you okay?" he asked in concern as he eased her to the floor.
She weakly turned her head and gasped, "Connor... look out!"
The Summer Knight turned in surprise to see Elidyr had risen to his feet and brandished a small wand. The noble gave a haughty sneer and leveled his glowing implement, "You stupid human. Your compassion will be your undoing."
In a flash, Elidyr fired a bright jet of magic energy from his wand while Connor raised his blade to try and deflect the attack. The Summer Knight gasped again as the magic bolt overpowered his defenses and threw him back violently against the wall. Connor slumped sideways in a daze while his sword clattered away.
Elidyr ambled forward and leveled his venom coated rapier over his stunned foe with a sniff, "You fought well Sir Knight, but you shouldn't have gone poking your nose where it didn't belong. Now, it's time we end things."
Before the merchant lord could thrust his blade into Connor, he froze as a powerful gust of wind filled the studio and he heard Noelle's voice, "I agree. It's over for you."
Elidyr glanced over to see the Autumn Knight had staggered to her knees and called up a wind gust with her ring. With her ring's magic, she had also summoned her sword which glowed with orange energy. Without wasting any more time, Noelle hurled her blade sidearm and surprised the Elf. Elidyr raised his own guard but the powerful strike from the Autumn Knight knocked him backward and threw him into the small font filled with cockatrice venom.
As the font tipped over and shattered on the ground, the liquid venom spilled all over the fallen Elf. Elidyr frantically tried to stand up again as he watched in horror while his whole body began to rapidly petrify into stone. He gave a panicked shriek while trying to run, "No! This can't be happening to me! No!"
Before Elidyr could get any further, he completely turned to stone and because he was already off balance, he fell forward. The two knights stared in horror as the petrified Elidyr fell to the ground and shattered into a million stone shards. Connor and Noelle exchanged a shocked look and tried to steady their breathing before their companions barged into the room, expecting a battle. To their surprise, they found their two friends safe amid a ruined artist's studio.
"Noelle! Connor! Are you two okay?" Kristen asked as she eyed the shattered remains of Elidyr.
Noelle nodded slowly as Connor helped her rise and walk over toward the others, "We're fine. I'm afraid we can't say the same thing for Lord Elidyr."
Laura eyed the ruins of the studio and gave a worried look, "As glad as I am of that, you have to realize we just killed a Sidhe lord. Surely the Winter Court is going to come down on us now."
Kristen calmly shook her head, "Unlikely... Elidyr broke the Accords of the Seelie Courts. One of those laws ensure that a host is supposed to ensure safety and hospitality to invited guests. Because our Druid Orders are recognized by the fey, we are entitled to those protections too."
She tapped her staff on the ground, "We'll send for officials of the Winter Court to deal with this. We'll have them come with anti-venom potions and the victims who were turned to statues will back up our stories too."
Quinton sighed and sheathed his weapons as he glanced at the remains of Elidyr, "Sorry. I guess none of us liked your work. Everyone's an art critic, huh?"
After having summoned some local magistrates of the Winter Court, the next day was spent sorting out the events surrounding the untimely end of Lord Elidyr. Grateful servants of Silver Peak Manor who had been too scared to stand up to the merchant lord's tyranny did not hesitate to corroborate the stories of the Hibernian Knights and thank them for their intervention. To their added relief, the magistrates brought along several potions to counteract the cursed cockatrice venom and free several victims who had been petrified at Elidyr's cruel whims.
After being cleared of any wrongdoing, the five were thanked again by the residents of Silver Peak and told that the Winter Court would contact the Elder Druids to work out some fair reparations for Elidyr's actions. After portaling home and returning to the antique shop in Somerset Valley, Laura smiled toward Quinton and patted his shoulder, "Well now... it seems our little trip wasn't a complete bust. You're planning on giving Kayla that gift the manor's servants presented you?"
The Spring Knight smiled and patted the small wrapped parcel that he carried under his arm, "Yup. I just know she's gonna love this colorful stained glass panel. Maybe if Kayla hangs it in her dorm room, it'll help her think of me every time she sees it."
The Winter Knight nudged him gently, "All right Mr. Wallace, let's not get ahead of ourselves now."
While they bantered, Kristen smiled and shook her head while setting down a small pack of supplies and gifts that the grateful Winter fey of Silver Peak had given them. She was about to open the bag when she heard some scuttling in the corner of the room.
Everyone looked over in surprise and saw that the two little gargoyles Scratch and Yum-Yum had followed them home from the Faerie Realm and snuck into the shop.
"What in the Dagda's name is going on here?" Kristen exclaimed as the two little creatures hesitantly approached.
"Aww, look! The two little guys wanted to come along with us," Noelle giggled while bending down and holding out her hand. The two little gargoyle creatures scampered up and climbed into her arms for safety. "Can we keep them Kristen?"
The Druid mentor crossed her arms and gave a mild frown, "Listen, they helped us stop an evil fey lord but those two belong back in the Faerie Realm. Can you imagine how much trouble they'd cause here? Where will they stay?"
Noelle thought a moment and gave a hopeful smile, "Maybe they could stay here with you in the shop? You know... be like an extra little set of helpers, or guard dogs, or something?"
Kristen grumbled and voiced audible reluctance before giving a narrow look to the two creatures, "I'll let you stay here for now... but you two have to promise to stay out of sight and not cause any trouble. Is that understood?"
Scratch and Yum-Yum gave enthusiastic nods and jabbered excitedly before hopping out of Noelle's arms and scrambling up to Kristen to hug her pant legs. The Druid could only sigh and roll her eyes to herself, "I just hope I'm not going to regret this."
While Laura and Quinton began walk over and play with their newest gargoyle pets, Connor opened the gift bag and rummaged around for a small wrapped parcel. Once he found what he was looking for, he pulled Noelle aside and offered it to her. The Autumn Knight gave a confused look as she took the parcel, "What's all this?"
Connor simply shrugged and cleared his throat, "An early Christmas gift... and my little way of saying thank you for saving me from Elidyr."
"You don't have to thank me for that."
Connor shifted slightly, "Okay, then let it be my way of apologizing for that little argument we had back at the manor. I was really worried about you and I was probably a little out of line too. So, I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize for that either," Noelle said gently, "You were the one who came to save me, remember?"
Connor glanced away sheepishly, "Well... regardless, I still told the servants how brave you had been so I asked that the gift they gave me be one for you instead. So, just open it okay?"
Noelle opened the parcel and gave a delighted smile as she pulled out a small set of wind chimes made of bluish crystals of the Winter Fey.
"I know you like meditating and all so I figured you'd like a set of chimes to listen to while you do it."
"Oh my gosh... that's so thoughtful and sweet," she said in surprise, "Thank you."
The Summer Knight cleared his throat again, "Listen Noelle… I might not be able to speak French and I don't know the first thing about fine art either… but I think I'm still able to recognize something beautiful when I see it."
Noelle gave a touched smile and reached up to give Connor a little kiss on the cheek, but was interrupted as the two gargoyles scampered up and tried to get their new human friends to play too. While Scratch clambered up Connor's back and clung to his shoulder, Yum-Yum gave a gentle tug at Noelle's leggings. Despite his disappointment at the ruined moment, Connor laughed gently and walked back over toward the others with the gargoyle hanging off his back while Noelle picked up the other pudgy creature and carried him too.
Despite everything that had happened, this was a moment to celebrate. Justice had been done, the bonds of friendship and fellowship had been reaffirmed, and a temporary peace had returned to Somerset Valley. As the holidays of Christmas and New years fast approached, the five could only hope that their well earned respite from battling the Fomorian Host would last just a little bit longer.
Meanwhile, Lord Gwydion of the Summer Court stood on the high ridges at the other side of Somerset Valley. As he watched over the town, the Warden of the Golden Wood exchanged an uncomfortable look with the Sidhe lord of Winter who stood beside him. His counterpart, a warrior of Winter wore a magnificent silver hauberk with blue robes denoting his equally highborn rank. Like Gwydion, he was equally tall, fair, and graceful though he had a much sterner taciturn manner about him. The Winter Sidhe narrowed his cold blue eyes and spoke in a calm but serious voice, "We can't afford to wait much longer Gwydion. Our Kings and Queens will be waiting. The Court of Stars has ordered us to fetch them their chosen representative."
The Summer warrior nodded while watching the snow begin to sprinkle down from the cloudy skies, "I know that Sigurd. It's not often that the Four Courts have a special congress, much less agree on an action like this."
Lord Sigurd grimaced, "If our informants' reports are in fact true, then I'm afraid we all will have to start working together more… as much as I hate to admit it. We cannot allow Leanansidhe to turn the Sluagh loose upon the people of this valley. If those knights are going to potentially face a horde of undead monsters, they're going to need more help."
"I'm not disagreeing with you," Gwydion frowned to himself, "I just think we should try and let the humans enjoy the peace of their holiday a little bit longer… while they still can."
Sigurd crossed his arms with a patient sigh, "You Summer Court folk were always too soft hearted toward the mortals for your own good… very well. For now, we will just have to wait."