Ok, this here is a LOOOOONG one, so I don't expect you to read through it in one go…though if you did it's be cool. 7000+ words for your enjoyment.
I just couldn't stop writing and it all got out of hand. This chapter wasn't supposed to be nearly this long, it just kept going, and it isn't even over! But tests are coming up and I don't know when I'll be able to post again, so I hope this is a hefty enough chuck of the story to tide you over.
Let me know what you think.
I don't know how we ended up in this part of the woods, or even that there had been a "this part". Cern had instructed that I walk behind him without bothering to threaten me should I try to run again. I knew he would catch me, just as I knew that once he did, the pain I'd felt before would be a welcome release from what he would do to me for my second strike.
As we tromped through the brush in what seemed a random direction, I felt that dip in pressure again, coming from Cern, like I'd just gone over the first big hill of a rollercoaster. My stomach knotted and then I couldn't look away from the ground. Only two seconds ago it had been covered in the first golden leaves of fall. Now the dead leaves were replaced with grass so green it seemed blue in the dusk light.
The trees too were different, strong and tall, healthier it seemed. Everything was healthier here. Then there were the flowers. There wasn't a single pastel color in the bunch, though they grew in patches everywhere. Most were dark tones, and in shapes I'd never seen. In fact, everything here seemed out of place, as if half the original plants in the forest had been ripped out and replaced with genetically perfected, exotic breeds.
I was ready to chance asking the god about it, but something floated out of the trees ahead of us and interrupted me. It was music, I realized, soft at first, then louder as we continued forward. The first sounds confused me. It was beautiful music, which could not be argued, primal in its heavy drums, and enticing with the seductive sounds of violins, but that wasn't it. Like the trees it seemed a mixture of all the world. There were moments when the melody was distinctly oriental and then it would shift flawlessly into something from the temples of India. As the music weaved between cultures, and though I was no expert in music, I found myself thinking that it was the most complex and beautifully composed piece of music I'd ever heard.
Up ahead of the surly god I saw the flickering tips of a great bonfire. I might have panicked if the trees hadn't opened up around us into a tremendous clearing, the fire at its center. Instead I went rigidly still as I took in what populated the clearing and felt as if my knees were giving out under me. I blinked a few times just in case, but nothing vanished and I was forced to accept that it was all real. Scattered about the clearing were groups of people - No, only some of them looked human, the rest were very obviously not.
The branches above us shifted and I jumped, snapping my head back so hard it hurt. The light was still dim, but it was the only reason I spotted him. I knew it was a "him" by the startlingly direct view of his package as he crouched down in the tree to watch me curiously. Every creature here seemed to be in various states of undress, and some, like this one, were simply naked.
It wouldn't have bothered me too much if his eyes hadn't been too big for his face and blinking the wrong way. His skin was a pale sort of yellow until it came to his chest which was colored in tones of red, orange, and gold, like the flashy coloring of a bird. The creature made a strange, deep noise, akin to the cooing of a pigeon, then dropped from the tree in a whirl of wind and feathers. His wings had been visible for only a second, reaching the span of his arms, and now seemed to have vanished into his skin. Now that he was closer, I saw that in the short messy spikes of his bronze-colored hair, feathers had grown as well. Black, red, and gold that covered the back of his neck and shoulders in soft down feathers. Cern, who hadn't cared until the creature blocked his path, gave a soft growl, and with an avian screech, the thing exploded back into the sky heading for the other side of the clearing.
Cern allowed me to cling to him for comfort after that, seemingly too absorbed in the celebration going on around us. We continued to walk into the clearing, the creatures parting like the red seas for their god, and I tried not to have a panic attack as this mind-blowing trip to Wonderland became a nightmare.
To my right, a middle-aged couple sat facing one another. They were dressed for a romantic evening out, her in a saucy black dress and him a slacks and a dress shirt. One sleeve however had been torn at the shoulder, and he was sitting calm and silent as his woman carved a chunk of flesh out of his arm and fed it to him. Gagging, I realized her lower legs had already been stripped to the bone, colorful scarves wound through the exposed blood-stained calcium. They both seemed completely unaware of this fact, and though reality dictated that they should have both died from blood-loss, there they sat, taking turns removing pieces of each other for the amusement of the creatures around them.
I jumped again at the sound of the bird creatures and turned to find a small gathering of them. The one which had spoken (or whatever it was trying to accomplish with that noise) seemed to be female and colored more brightly than the first, this time in shades of purple and blue. Her chest was bare, breasts colored in blue and silver, and when she shifted the thing in her arms, that was mixed with red. The bird-creature gave another cry then twisted her too-long neck to tear into the man she'd been gripping. At the same time a male bird-creature swooped in to join her, pulling at the loosely hanging arm until it tore from the body and he flew away to eat it.
All around me was that thrilling, confusing music, and the animal calls of beasts I had only dreamt of, and some I could have never imagined. The air was filled with cheers, laughter and sobbing, and I felt as if I might collapse from fright alone.
"What is this?" I murmured, but was ignored by the god as he led me through the clearing. By now the Fae were taking notice and all seemed to be quieting as he approached a natural stage of sorts in the earth and greeted the few creatures that had dared gather there. Some fled to the other side of the stream that ran right along the edge of the stage, but most were comfortable or curious enough to remain. The rest stared at me as if I were the first human being they'd ever seen. Some were even bold enough to close the path between me and Cern and trap me in the crowd.
I was frozen at first, starring at the one who had moved directly in front of me. A man, and clothed in dark red harem pants and a woven, gold vest, conceptually the same as Cern's. His feet were bare and clawed by thick, black nails, like his abnormally long fingers. He stared at me unblinking as he reached out to touch my hair, and when I flinched back his hand snapped out, just as fast, to catch me.
I yelped, afraid he would hurt me and the things around me moved back, glancing at Cern guiltily to see if he'd noticed. The bastard was busy speaking with a gaggle of female…things all covered in shaggy fur that wasn't quite long enough to shield their multiple breasts.
I turned back to the twacked out Krishna-wannabe and his…whoa…purple eyes and he smiled, moving too close to me again. I didn't have the ability to scream. Even when I tried, the creature tightened its grip in my hair and rendered me mute again.
It seemed to be scaled, like a lizard, along its hairline and the backs of its arms. All black like the claws. Like the ridges that lined his sharp cheekbones and that disappeared into his tightly bound black hair. The creature didn't release my hair and now the other things I couldn't see were closing in around me. I felt things tug and prod at my bondage clothes while the creature held me still, starring silently and close enough to bite me if he wanted to, which I hadn't quite assessed yet.
Something with tiny needle-like claws ran them along the exposed flesh of my thigh as if feeling for the wounds and I tried to twist away, finding myself held still by more things in every direction, meeting fur and feathers, and scales. Everything had grabbed its piece and was inspecting as much as it could.
"Ganesh. Off." I heard the boom of Cernnunos' great voice and the Indian creature flinched, releasing my hair and spinning around as the others skittered off into the gathering crowd. The moment I could move my head again, everything kicked back into motion and I dashed to Cern's side with a frightened cry though he grabbed my arm just as harshly as they had and growled that I "behave myself lest he lose his temper again."
Asshole.
Now that the Fae weren't suffocating me I could see all of the raised ground, like a dais and at its center, placed to look over all of the clearing, was a great, knarled tree stump. Not just any remarkably huge tree stump, mind you, this one had been grown, with obvious help from Cern, into a chair. The stump was molded with a seat and the smooth bark behind it rose proudly upward as if reaching for the stars. It was his thrown, I realized, and it was growing out of the ground. Apparently, he was a God-King, at least in his mind.
Cernunnos stood before his thrown, standing tall and proud before his followers and for just a moment he seemed to draw in the light of the bonfire and release it through his skin. I stared, at him and the creatures flocking toward us as Cern took his seat, pulling me to my knees beside the thrown like a dog. The bastard even ran his fingers through my hair. I would have argued this if it weren't comfort I desperately needed.
It seemed no words were needed between the god and his Fae. They gave a great cheer for him, bowing, or attempting to do so in the various shapes they'd been molded into, and then they returned to their games with fervor.
Cern's fingers slipped away from my hair and I watched him sit back in his thrown. Funny how masculine his posture was. He reminded me of Captain Kirk lounging in his captain's chair on deck. I took a moment to appreciate this, catching his eyes only once before he was back to gazing out at his people.
Well…person. Female.
The Fae was tall and willowy with pale, nearly iridescent skin and veins that from here seemed red. She wore only a sheer, golden length of clothe that draped around her, not that it covered anything. She was watching Cern from her place by the fire, and had moved directly into its light, running her hands along the dark silhouette of her body beneath the fabric. The god's mouth tipped up ever so slightly at the corner and she grinned widely, spinning back into her dance for him.
Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention to the human she's been dancing with. He was handsome, with olive toned skin and straight black hair that had been bound tightly by more golden fabric. He wore loose-fitting linen pants and no shoes, swaying to the music as if in a trance. His upper-body was covered in dark tattoos, all curling around his chest and down his arms and symbols like the ones I'd seen around Josep's cabin door. At least I thought they were tattoos, until I realized the dark color was oozing down from the lines when he moved. The Fae woman laughed, spinning wildly and stopping behind the human. She reached around him to run a long-nailed finger along the decretive lines of his chest. When he flinched, she only chuckled, and used her nail to carve a new line into the rest of the pattern.
"For you, my lord."
The soft voice made me jump, clutching at Cern's boot. The thing that had spoken was short, hardly the size of a child, with a chubby, angelic face and tightly curling dark hair across his head…and his legs…which weren't legs at all. His knees bent the wrong way and where he should have had feet, there were small cloven hooves. I looked at Cern in disbelief before turning back to the creature.
A satyr! A real live satyr and it was right in front of me! I felt as if I'd been thrown into the land of Grimm fairytales. Which, score one for me, I was now thankful for reading. Now I knew to watch my back, if tonight hadn't sunk that one in far enough.
The satyr, who spared me an arched look for my reaction, held out a silver goblet to his god with a bright, child-like smile. The metal had been etched in more of those strange symbols, but I didn't have time to inspect them as Cern took the goblet and drank deeply.
"The ceremony begins with your word, my lord." The satyr bowed as Cern gazed out at the Fae. "Your children have been lost in your slumber."
"It was not my intent to leave you so long, Komos, but it was necessary." Cern handed the goblet back to him without looking away from the celebrating fairies. "This world has changed since last I saw it."
"Many things have changed, great Cernnunos." The satyr, Komos (what a weird name) glanced at me and offered a smile, "but that is the way of this world. Change is constant and necessary."
Cern nodded, but it was obvious he wasn't really listening, not that the Komos minded. He seemed focused on me now, which I wasn't completely comfortable with. Glancing at his lord, he inched closer and handed me the silver goblet with an encouraging smile, motioning that I take drink. I arched a brow, and looked down into the cup, breathing in the aroma inside. Sweet like berries and exotic fruit and the warm carmine pink color of roses. Figuring with all the other things they did right around here, wine would be the best, I lifted the goblet to my lips and began to drink.
Cernunnos, seeing this, suddenly grabbed the goblet and jerked it from my hands before I could taste it. A threatening growl rumbled from deep within his chest and the satyr fled with his tiny deer-like tail between his legs. I however, starred up at him in confusion and a little irritation. Was I not allowed to enjoy thing like everyone else? Did he intent for me to just sit here? Seeing my angry, he decided to explain.
"You must never consume that which has been created by the Fae." Came his simple reply, but I scowled at him.
"Why not?" It sounded familiar, like something I'd read as a child, but I wasn't up to speed on my fairy tales nowadays. Even though it was becoming obvious I should be.
"Any mortal being who consumes our food or drink is bound, eternally to this wood, and any other home of the fair folk. Accept all, so as not to offend, but consume nothing." He motioned to the couple I'd seen before. They were still merrily mutilating one another, the woman now threading gold and red scarves through the exposed bones of her man's arm while he fed her a piece of himself. Each was laughing, but even from here I could see the gleam of the fire light reflected off their tears. They were in pain, but could not, or would not stop.
"You see the mortals here, who have violated those rules, and others. These are the souls that wandered too far from the path or were led here. They stole from us or stumbled upon this wood, and once they have seen us, they are never to leave. They are now the playthings of the Fae."
"And you're fine with this?" I asked, with more than a little acid in my tone. "You just let them torture all those people?"
The god-king laughed, and the things that gathered in the shadows and trees around us snickered as well.
"I do not let them do anything." He said, glancing out at the creatures so that they fell silent. "It is not my place to rule their every action. I do not command them, Mira. I am bound to the laws, just as they are."
"But you're…aren't you the fairy king or something? Oberon of the new age?"
Cern shook his head, a twinkle of humor in his impossible eyes, "I am no Oberon, child, and this is not a pretty, human fairy tale. Here, death and pain are understood and accepted." He chuckled, "Your world is not as benign as you wish it to be."
I took a long, composing breath, deciding it was better not to argue further now. He seemed to have chilled quite a bit since we'd gotten here, but I was in no hurry to piss him off and get myself stabbed again. Or worse.
"Relax, little one," Cern smiled as he leaned back into his throne again, brushing the hair from my face. "Remain at my side and you will find no threat here."
"Only from you," I replied before I could stop myself. His fingers in my hair tightened and I held up a placating hand as the things hidden in the brush around us began to whisper amongst one another. Chittering, high pitched sounds and strange almost-human replies, none of it in English, and it all set me on edge. Hoping to calm him again, I nodded toward the Fae.
"What is all this?"
Cernunnos released my hair with a resigned sigh and settled back into his throne. He gazed out at the great bonfire and the Fae swaying and dancing to the endless beautiful music. The smoke that rose from the flames was tinted red and smelled of spices and when the wind sent it over us it made my head a little fuzzy.
"This is a Bacchanalia in my honor."
"Shouldn't Bacchus be here then? I heard these were reserved for his crew. Also that these were orgies."
Cern arched a brow, either irritated or not quite understanding my words, "You heard wrong." He said simply, then motioned toward the dancers, "It is a celebration of pleasure and excess in honor of my return to Windsor."
"Return?" I asked, fanning away more of the scented smoke, for all the good it did.
"Like the others of my kind, I have slept away the centuries. It became…necessary to wake."
"So there are other gods around?" I asked, feeling equal shocks of excitement and fear. He noted this with a tiny smirk and nodded.
"Once there were many. Ours was a race strengthened by the ritual and praise of Man. His blind devotion was kindling to our power."
"What happened?"
Cernunnos looked up at a sky unaffected by pollution and its billions of stars, taking a slow breath.
"Man slowly forgot his gods and moved to a nameless deity he had created for himself. One he was free to defy and forget at his leisure, and without his ritual and sacrifice, some of us forgot how it was we had survived in the first place. Those who did, grew weak and eventually faded into time. The few who remain have scattered. They hide in their old temples and hidden cities with the remnants of their followers, or slumber in hopes that Man will call to them again."
"But not you." I said, looking him over as if he wore the secret sown to his clothes. The god-king chuckled, reaching out to stroke my cheek thoughtfully.
"Never me." He replied, "I still have my followers here, those who know beyond a doubt that I exist and therefore cannot forget me."
I laughed, "So you cheated the system."
He continued as if I hadn't spoken, but smirked all the same, "There is also a number of my flock in your human world, those who pray to me for guidance or greed. I slept to quiet the tedium of eternity, but it bored me just the same."
I wanted to ask about the other gods. Which ones had been strong or (in Cern's case) smart enough to withstand time? Which had faded? Part of me wondered if I'd ever meet them…if I already had. Cern, however, had other things in mind.
"Enough prying, little one," he said with a wicked grin, "This is a celebration, honor me with a dance."
"I can't. I-"
"Dance for me, Mira."
Before I could refuse again, I was on my feet. The music wasn't something I was used to, or had ever heard before in fact, but somehow, my body knew the steps. I moved in a languid pace to the heavy drums, then my arms slowly rose into the air, twisting like serpents in the growing haze of red smoke.
The smoke was denser than it should have been, and hugged close to me like warm fingers. Suddenly I wasn't mortified by the fact that he had control of my body, instead I was starring down at myself.
It seemed that my clothes were melting off.
The gleaming latex of my pants beaded like mercury and rolled off my legs to puddle and eventually evaporate in the grass. Meanwhile my corset seemed to have skipped a step and was simply evaporating in curls of smoke that mixed with the red tinted haze. I tried to speak, to cry out in indignation and humiliation, but my voice had been stripped away, and my mouth refused to obey me.
I had drawn attention in the crowd while I danced away my clothing. Some jeered and laughed, others whistled and called out words I didn't understand. I would catch sight of Cern when I spun; sitting calmly back and watching me with an expression I couldn't translate without scrutiny.
The music changed, becoming slower, primal again, and as it did, so changed the wind. It spun the smoke from my clothes and the fire around me like a whirlwind until I couldn't breathe. And then something was pouring down my skin, like water. I looked down to find a thin, pearlescent material bleeding down my torso and replacing the melted corset. It slowed as it coated my arms, becoming just a touch more translucent than I would have liked as the wind dried it into light fabric.
I gazed up at Cern, watching indifferently from his thrown, and could hardly think straight. The thick liquid got to my hips and began to stretch toward the ground in ribbons, all at different lengths, that dried quickly and fluttered around me. Wind whipped up under the dress and separated the material, making it ripple like clothe, but it molded back to my skin just and quickly, and appeared to harden like glass.
The crowd cheered again, ooh'ing and laughing and speaking that incessant alien language while I tried to wrap my head around what had just happened. Everything was so loud and moving so fast that I couldn't think straight. The wind whipped my skirt and the thousand ribbons of glass came back to life, rippling in the air before lying still and hardened again. I lifted my hands, and plucked at the tight sleeve of the dress. It was soft to the touch like cashmere, but flawless and glossy as glass the moment it was still.
"What the hell is…"I felt like I'd just been thrown into a movie directed by Salvador Dali. Then it occurred to me that I'd been speaking and moving without any resistance. Just as I realized I'd regained control over my body, the music swelled again and I was a puppet again. It was different than before. Now my movement held rhythm, timing. Each had a meaning, like a prayer, spoken with my body.
And all for him.
The Fae had joined my dancing around the fire, and those that could not played the enticing music or began the whispers of a chant. It steadily grew, until I could make out the words, but not their meaning.
"Eko, Eko, Azarak."
Cern's eyes fell closed a moment and he took a deep breath. When he opened them again his irises seemed to be glowing. Or was it all of him? It was as if he were set to a dimmer switch, with light steadily brightening beneath his golden skin.
"Eko, Eko, Zomelak"
My dancing, along with all the others, was growing faster. The music was wild now, fervent and crazed and demanding and we threw ourselves along with it, unable to help the infectious exhilaration.
"Eko Eko, Cernunnos."
And then the music stopped and an excited murmur swept the crowd. I closed my eyes, feeling my body collapse with the ending of the song, arms thrown out above me and head down before Cernunnos as if I were praising him. Breathing heavily, I pushed myself up to glare at the god who had puppeted me. He only flashed a seductive smile and stood, raising his arms out to the Fae, and speaking the closing line of their chant, to applause and animal cries of joy.
I let them all cheer and continue their celebration alone; unable to stand for shock of how easily I had lost control of myself. I remained on the ground, simply breathing. He had just slipped into me and taken over; like I was a suit he wore for his follower's amusement. I felt violated and used…and just a touch more afraid of him than I had been before.
As the crowd quieted and returned to their festivities, Cern moved to my side, crouching down to sweep the hair from my shoulders and trail his fingers lazily down my spine.
"Do you like your dress?" he asked, humor coloring his passive tone. He knew I was angry with him and the bastard found it funny.
My voice was a little breathy as he helped me back to the cushioned place beside his throne and sat down. "I would have liked it more if I hadn't been naked in front of the fu-friggin' world."
He smirked at my attempt to censor myself and swept one leg over the arm of his throne, lying out across it casually. "Do not be so prudish, Mira. It is silly custom fostered by your close-minded religious figures." He handed me a small cup, made of polished grey stone. "Relax, little one. Enjoy yourself for once."
I didn't take it and glared at him. "What is this, a test? I don't want that."
The god-king laughed, "This is not from the Fae. It is…"he paused to examine it a second, frowning at its strong smell. Even from here, I knew what it was.
"Whiskey?"
"Yes. I believe you favored it at the leech's bar." He handed it to me and took the one offered to him by Komos, who had snuck back to the dais when I wasn't looking. "It is…interesting."
"It's also a bad idea." I said, setting it down in front of me. I could still feel the whiskey from earlier, more would make me foolish. Almost immediately a stubby legged, furry thing bounded forward and snatched it up. He was followed by several odder, stubby creatures who fought over the small amount of whiskey.
"Well." Cern said, arching a brow at the things and sending them scuttling back into the bushes with childlike peals of laughter. "it seems you're right."
My smile spread before I realized it and I opened my mouth to reply, but a murmur swept through the crowd. When I turned, the Fae had parted for three creatures. The first was a tall man who was dressed, to my surprise, like an average person, in a pair of dark jeans and an open button-down shirt. He was attractive, the way all of these creatures seemed to be attractive; in a harsh, inhuman way. Too handsome, and the female beside him was too beautiful.
The female drug a bound human girl behind them forcing her to kneel when they reached the throne. She was one of the scarcely dressed Fae, with only a red and gold scarf that wrapped around her breasts and draped down her legs. When they looked up at their god, I saw that their skin, which had seemed only pale and human before, was colored with goldish-red markings, like tiny iridescent scales up the sides of their necks and down their arms. The male was the first to speak, bowing deeply and motioning toward the thin human hiding behind her long brown hair.
"For your gifts of protection, and for the love of all that follow you, we humbly offer you the remaining years of this human." He bowed again as the female piped in.
"We know we do not offer much, great king, but her soul is pure. The most befitting of a God." I looked between the two of them, glaring at the female. Her eyes were bright, and a strange orangish color, the irises swollen a touch bigger than they should have been. She caught my eyes a moment and smiled, but I couldn't hold them and turned to Cernunnos instead.
The god had righted himself in his throne, and now gazed impassively down at the human girl, arms bound behind her back and gagged with more of those stupid golden scarves. Her hair had been braided with gold ribbon and beads into an intricate design on the back of her head, and they'd dressed her like a maiden from medieval Europe, in a thin white dress that concealed nothing in the light of the bonfire. She raised her head timidly up to meet his powerful gaze and only managed to hold it long enough for him to nod.
Another excited murmur swept the gathered Fae as the pair went into motion. The male procured a serrated blade from one of his pockets that looked as if it were made of bone, and cut the human's hands from their bindings. Her wrists were quickly seized and held out at her sides, while he grabbed her hair and forced back her head.
"Cern?" I asked softly beside his throne, but he ignored me. "What's happening?"
The orange-eyed female took the blade from the male and smiled merrily up at Cern before moving to the side where she lifted the blade to the girl's throat.
"Oh my god." I breathed. They were going to kill her! Sacrifice her in the god-king's name as if this were ancient Rome. "No! Cern, stop them!"
This time her heard me and frowned. "I will do no such thing."
"But they'll kill her!" I hissed through my teeth standing up. The girl had begun to struggle, much to the amusement of the surrounding Fae. Her eyes swept over the crowd in panic, wide and glassy. The poor thing was terrified!
"Cernunnos, please!" I looked back to him as the Fae began to pull the blade across the girl's throat.
"Halt." His voice boomed out over the crowd, swallowing the music. Everyone went instantly still and the god turned a cold look on me.
"You would have me spare the life of this child?" he asked, nodding toward the muffled, sobbing girl. Thin rivets of blood trickled her throat where the blade had managed to cut, staining her white dress. Seeing this, I took a deep breath to steel myself and nodded.
"Yes."
Cern sat strait in his throne, hands one either armrest, and fixed me with a steady gaze. "You ask much of me human. This is twice that you have demanded what, by all right, is mine."
"But she's only a kid!" I cried, not caring if the Fae heard me now, "You can't just-"
"Silence." he bellowed and the fire flickered as if shrinking away from him in fear. "You dare to tell me what I cannot do? Do you assume that as my consort you have the right to insult me?"
"No, I just-" but he cut me off.
"You grow bolder by the second, child. Mind yourself before I am forced to correct you."
"Fine! Geez!" I huffed, holding up my hands and trying not to melt under the intensity of his gaze. "Then we'll do it your way. Can't you give her to me instead?"
"There is nothing in this world that comes without price." He growled, "If you wish to barter for her life you must offer me something of equal value. Lives are not cheap."
My attention went back to the girl, probably barely in her teens. She'd stopped struggling to watch us as all the others did. When her big brown eyes met mine, the hope there nearly broke my heart. I had to do this.
"I'll give you my body." It had worked before, I thought, but my face warmed as the surrounding Fae began to laugh. To my utter humiliation, they howled at my expense and the girl's brow furrowed in fear. Cern's head fell forward a bit and he shook it before meeting my eyes.
"Your body is not worth the life of another. Even if it were, it already belongs to me." He arched a brow "Do not insult me. What is your real offer?"
"What do you want?" I asked, embarrassed and lost. He tilted his head slightly, searching my expression.
"For the life of this girl?" he thought a moment, still perfectly calm. Completely indifferent. "What do you treasure? I want what is precious to you."
I shook my head, "I have nothing. All that I valued has already been taken." I thought of the hunters, of my family. My mother and father's smiles. My sister's laughter.
Cernunnos inclined his head. "Not all."
The god-king stood slowly, and started toward the girl. His movements were fluid, almost lazy, but the Fae gave him a wide birth. They knew firsthand how dangerous he could be. I never wanted to.
"You are noble, Mira, but you know not when to pick your battles." He approached the girl, lifting her slowly to her feet by her arm. "Look at this child. What is she to you?" He walked her toward the dais until I could see the fine tremble in her thin frame. She was terrified of the god, not that I blamed her.
"Is her life really worth what it will cost you?"
I hung my head, "I can't just let her die." There were far too many deaths to my name as it was. Cern didn't look convinced.
"And if her death meant your happiness, what then?" I frowned ready to refuse but he continued over me.
"If I gave you the life of your loved ones, what then?"
The world seemed to still around me, "You can bring back my family?" I nearly whispered the words, fearing that I hadn't heard him correctly.
"Of course I can. One life for another; you would chose which life."
"But…" my knees were starting to wobble. "You…you can just-"
"I cannot bring souls back to their original bodies if they are irreparably damaged or destroyed. It is within my power to create new ones."
A murmur swept the Fae as Cern waited for my reply. He was testing me, I knew that. He wanted to see if I was really as noble as I acted, and didn't think I had the guts to go through with this anyway. But his offer…it was the one thing if wanted more than anything and he was waving it my face and laughing.
My chest began to tighten even as I considered the thought. I let it happen in my head; saw my mother once again at my side holding me, kissing my hair. My father strumming his guitar to put me to sleep though he knew I'd be too busy singing along. My little sister, smiling brightly as she always had in the face of everything, 12 years old with a spirit brighter than the sun. My vision swam with tears as I imagined what it might have been like to have my family back, then straightened my spine, trying to make my voice strong.
"I am not so selfish that I would trade an innocent's life for my own gain." I swallowed the lump in my throat and met Cern's frighteningly serious anti-freeze eyes. "My family is gone. I can't change that."
The god-king released the girl to fall back to her knees in the grass and crossed his powerful arms. "Then I will take what's left of them."
I didn't understand, "What?"
"Your memories, Mira. For the girl's life I will have the memories of your loved ones."
I couldn't speak as a wave of fear took me. Though it sounded preposterous, I knew he could do such things. If he wanted, he could reshape the stars, but it if he did…my memories were all I had left of my family. Their smiles and laughter were my anchor to the world, my reminder that it still held some good.
The girl blinked away her own tears and gazed up at me pleadingly and I stared right back, feeling sick and hating her as I never had another person for what I was about to do. Even more I hated myself for a conscience that wouldn't allow the loss of an innocent life. Not like this. Cern might have taken my soul, but sometimes I could fight the dark. Distantly I wished that me humanity was already gone. That I could have let this go without hating myself, but it was impossible. Feeling sick with grief, I raise my eyes to the god and nodded.
He took a moment to accept that I was agreeing, and when he did he shook his head, his expression filling with pity. "You must say the words, Mira."
"I agree to trade my memories for the life of this girl."
He arched a brow, "All of your memories?"
"The memories of my family." I corrected quickly. One had to be careful in such spoken contracts. He could have accepted as the jeering Fae seemed to be hoping, and left me a vegetable, but he didn't. For whatever reason, he pitied me.
Not enough it seemed.
"Done." Cernunnos said with a finality that made my head spin. I braced myself for pain, or the invasive feeling of fingers picking through my brain, but nothing changed. There was no pop, or flash, or indication that he'd just stripped pieces of my life away. Instead I stood there waiting, until fear and anger forced me to speak.
"I don't understand. "I frowned and the god-king have me a solemn look.
"Tell me about your father, Mira." He said gently, "How old was he?"
"He was…" but I trailed off. 30? 40? I had no idea!
"And your mother, what did she look like?"
I sucked down a breath, "She had…um…" I tried to picture her hair, but couldn't recall the cut or even the color. Did she have green eyes or blue? When she smiled, had it been shy, or had it lit up the room? The harder I tried to remember, the harder it became. There was nothing. They were completely gone.
"Oh god." I breathed as the world began to spin. What had I done?
The girl was lifted back to her feet; the gag pulled from her mouth and shoved my direction. I caught her automatically, but pushed away the moment she steadied herself, fearing that I might attack her. To distract myself, I spoke.
"What's your name?"
She gazed passed me to the God, but answered with a voice light and tinkling like Colette's. "Etain, miss." Then she turned her tear-filled eyes on me and wrapped her arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder. "Thank you, Thank you! God, thank you!"
I couldn't respond, couldn't move. What was there to say? You're welcome? Thank you for making my life that much harder to bear?
The girl pulled back and moved as if to stand at my side, but her hands were…stuck at my shoulders? She was jerked back into place when her fingers refused to release me. I scowled, pushing against her, but her grip only tightened.
"Cern!" I cried, but he only watched as the girl began to convulse, coughing harshly until red was splattered across her already blood-stained dress. We looked at each other in confusion a moment and then the world opened up beneath us.
Everything was moving and there was a roar in my ears that drawn out my own scream. Etain's eyes had rolled back into her head and her mouth had opened for a scream, but the sound that escaped was more like a strangled croak. Then she exhaled, and the breath was endless and seemed to come from the deepest part of her.
Like wisps of smoke, I watched, unable to move, as light poured out of her mouth, and as it did, her skin paled to a deathly grey. I sucked in a breath to scream again, but only succeeded in breathing in the light, and then I couldn't stop. It clawed its way down my throat, taking root inside of me.
I was sucking the life out of her! When this realization finally came, it was too late to do anything. Etain's arms were shriveled remnants of what they used to be, and her face had become a sickly gaunt mask of deterioration. As the light disappeared into me, she gave a final soft cry, something that sounded like a breathless "thank you" before her body went limp and then, as if it had never existed at all, disintegrated into the wind.
I stood frozen a long moment, simply starring at the place the girl should have been, at the bits of dust that stuck to the fine hairs on my arms and shimmered in the firelight as they floated to the ground. Etain, I thought, or what was left of her, and then I looked up at Cern. "What just…I don't-"
"You wanted her remaining years, Mira. That was the bargain."
"No…Cern she just…why would you…" but I couldn't complete a sentence and after a few more attempts simply let out a sob. "You let me kill her."
"Tell me," Cernunnos asked slowly, over the cries of his excited followers. "Was it worth being noble?"
I couldn't answer him, couldn't do anything but stare into the dirt as he moved back to his throne. The Fae slowly went back to their festivities, leaving me to stumble down from the dais and toward the trees. I didn't know where I was going, but none of the creatures followed me. In fact they parted as I watched, eyes wide and starring sightlessly ahead. Was this what shock felt like?
Was it worth being noble? I thought, replaying his words over and over in my head.
No. It wasn't. It never would be.
KOMOS - A young Satyr boy (satyriskos) who became the cup-bearer of the god Dionysos (in a role similar to that of Zeus' Ganymedes). He was the demi-god of festive banquets.