Chapter 25 - The Message
25
The Message
The sweet sounds of birdsong filled the air around the little cabin on the edge of Cion. Morning light filtered through the fall-colored trees, casting shafts of orange and golden light on the misty forest floor. Further away, the bustling sounds of a city awakening were just audible through the trees.
Bobby and Landri generally slept through the sounds of the morning. They kept late hours out of necessity. Bobby served drinks at Dulia Hall from sundown onward, and Landri found that the best times to observe the workings of the city’s underworld were in the cover of darkness. Millandrian was always the first to wake in the early afternoon, and Robert started his day soon after.
A few rabbits were loping in the garden. Bobby watched them through the window. Perhaps out of anticipation, he had woken early this day. The sun was still hovering just above the eastern horizon, and Bobby knew he had only slept a few hours. He didn’t feel at all tired.
Landri’s warm breath came regularly against the back of his neck. The unicorn boy’s shallow chest was pressed against Bobby’s back, restricting his wings. His long arms were curled loosely around Bobby’s waist. Bobby started to edge off the bed. Millandrian made a sound like a very small puppy and tightened his grip.
Bobby smiled and ran his boyish hands over Millandrian’s thin arms. They slowly relaxed enough for Bobby to carefully lift one and slip out of bed unnoticed. He turned and looked at Millandrian. If he looked innocent when he was awake, he was purely saint-like when he slept. His snowy hair fell over his face, more tousled than it had been before sleep. The gentle eyelashes were purest white.
Bobby very quietly pulled on brown wool trousers and a green knit long-sleeved tunic. He packed a leather satchel with food and an extra change of clothes. On a whim, he grabbed a handmade cloth unicorn doll from a bookshelf and stuffed it into the bag, then buckled it closed.
Bobby walked back to the bed and leaned into it on one knee. He watched Millandrian’s still, creamy face for a minute longer, and then leaned over to kiss the boy’s cheek. “I’ll be home soon, Landri.”
Millandrian slept on. Bobby ran his hand across the glistening star mark on the pale forehead, then over the soft mess of white hair. For some reason, he still didn’t feel right about leaving him without a proper goodbye. Millandrian had known he was leaving, right? Another thought made his insides squirm. What if he never made it back? It would certainly be dangerous, especially if the Lucifer’s men were headed in the same direction. From what Millandrian had said, the League was not very forgiving to those who interfered with its workings. This was treason of the highest degree. For a moment Bobby wondered if it was a good idea to warn the Fae Lord, his mint-green eyes still fixed on Millandrian’s oblivious face. What was so important about the Dreamseed, anyway?
A face flashed in his mind’s eye. It was the face of a little girl, a bit sunburned, with big green eyes precisely the same color as his own. Bobby’s expression hardened. So did his resolve. His sister had been taken from Aurehaven by a member of the League when she was six and a half years old. She was able to escape, but had not been returned to the golden-walled garden for her own safety. Bobby touched the faint scars on the side of his neck. It was a wound he had received the very day Zibby was dragged away from him.
The League wanted Zibby. It had taken Bobby, Landri and their friend Lizzie years to discover why. The League was convinced that Zibby was part of a prophecy involving something important, some dangerous weapon called the Dreamseed. Millandrian, through his covert study of the League, learned that Lucifer’s men were biding their time until the Dreamseed came into its power. Now the time was at hand.
Bobby didn’t really care much about the Dreamseed, or the Prophecy or any of that nonsense. He did, however, care immensely about Zibby. He knew he had to protect her, even if she had been off the map for the last ten years. It was his responsibility as her brother.
Robert McRae gazed down into his lover’s face. This very well could be the last time he saw Millandrian. Bobby leaned further onto the bed and kissed him gently on the lips. Millandrian did not stir.
Bobby eased off the bed and buttoned a short, hooded cloak around his shoulders. He slung the strap of the leather bag over his shoulder and scooped up the little scroll of paper from the writing desk. Taking a last short look at the one-room cottage, Bobby left, closing the door softly behind him.
∞
Millandrian felt cold. He tugged at a corner of the thick woolen blanket and pulled over his shoulder, rolling to the other side of the bed. He felt better and began to drift back to sleep. Then he realized his feet were uncovered. He jerked them upward.
“Bobby, you’re stealing the covers,” he mumbled, pulling a little more violently this time. Somehow, the entire blanket fell into a heap on the floor, leaving Millandrian naked and colder than ever.
“Robert!” Millandrian sat upright, frustrated that he had been shivered awake. When he turned to glare at Bobby’s side of the bed, though, he only glared at a jumbled disarray of cotton bed sheets. “Robert?” He called a little louder, wondering if Bobby was wandering somewhere around the house. Millandrian got out of bed, a little confused. He always woke up before Bobby.
Landri pulled on a pair of white pants and padded softly through the house, peeking out every window. Robert was nowhere to be seen. He opened the front door and stepped outside. A gust of wind chilled him. It smelled like dead leaves. Bobby was nowhere to be seen.
Landri yelled a few more times, then went back inside, puzzled. It was then that he saw the writing desk. There was no paper scroll resting on the smooth oak surface.
Bobby took the letter. Millandrian stared at the bare desktop a moment more. Hadn’t Bobby said something about it last night? Hadn’t he said he wanted to fly it to the northlands?
“I thought you were half-asleep,” Millandrian said out loud. “I didn’t know you meant it.” There was no one to hear him.
Suddenly wide awake, Millandrian crossed the room once more, trudging through a pile of laundry. He stopped in front of the mottled old mirror.
“Aurehaven!” He half-shouted into the mirror. He knew it wasn’t necessary, but he wanted to be sure he got through, and fast.
The mirror’s surface seemed to be decaying from the inside. The little black shadows that speckled the aged quicksilver were growing and multiplying. For a moment, the mirror went almost completely black, and Millandrian could only see his worried-looking reflection in shadowy glass. He tried to smooth out his bed-mussed hair.
The moldy-looking spots grew sparse again and Millandrian peered through them impatiently. He was looking into a rather dusty version of a small section of Aurehaven. The leaves of the trees were golden there, putting even the gilded wall to shame. It snaked adjacent to the mirror, weaving in and out of trees.
A few blocks of various stones in various sizes were stacked next to a long stone workbench. He expected to see Lizzie there, but he did not.
“Is anyone there?” He shouted again. There was no answer. He could hear birds singing in the trees. They sounded tinny and artificial. He bounced on the balls of his feet impatiently. Certainly someone was around. “Oi, this is really important!”
Something small and grayish bounded up to the mirror. It was a dog, composed entirely of stone, but living. It wagged its broken stub of a tail at him.
“Hey, boy!” Millandrian leaned in closer to the mirror. “You wanna help me out, little guy?”
The terrier bounded up to the mirror, placing his front paws on it, still panting happily.
“Yesh, you’re a good boy!” Millandrian said, feeling stupid. “Now go get Lizzie, Okay? Go get Lizzie!”
The dog cocked its head to one side, one ear sticking up comically. It looked at Millandrian intelligently through granite eyes.
“That’s right! Go get her, boy!”
The stone dog started licking the glass furiously, his tail wagging so fast it could have been vibrating. Millandrian clapped his hand over his eyes. “Sure, Landri. Talk to a dog.”
“Get down from there!” It was a woman’s voice. “Go on, shoo!” The dog jumped down and ran around a pair of stone shoes, yapping happily.
Millandrian dropped his hand and shook hair out of his face. “Keep! Keep, can you hear me?”
A pair of pretty marble legs came into view, followed by the hem of a dress of the same storm-cloud shade. “Millandrian?” Keep had to duck to see into the mirror. Her beautifully carved ringlets fell into view, along with a prettily formed face with a few cracks along one side. “Hello, there! How are you, dear?”
“I need Lizzie, now!” The words spilled out of Landri’s mouth. Keep nodded and ran out of view, the granite terrier at her heels. Millandrian found himself wishing he had greeted her a little more kindly. He waited, leaning from side to side in an attempt to see more of the garden. Finally Lizzie appeared, running as fast as she could toward her side of the mirror.
Lizzie looked precisely the same as she had when they had first met over ten years ago. In all appearances, she was a little girl, around six or seven, with lots of freckles and a curly mane of fiery red hair. She was dressed entirely in bright green, save for the ornaments of gold that adorned her hair, arms and clothing. Her expression, though, was one of serious, grown-up concern.
“Millandrian, what’s wrong?” she panted. She must have run from halfway across the garden.
Landri paused for a moment, truly not sure what to say. “Bobby’s gone.”
“Gone?” Lizzie’s face showed apprehension. It did not suit her childish features. “Gone where?”
“To the northern country,” Landri explained. It didn’t sound as drastic when he was telling someone about it. “He’s taking a letter to the Fae Lord up there-“
“Yuki? I wish I’d known…I would have gone too.” The momentary anxiety was melting away from her face. “He’s a nice guy, that Yuki. A little snooty, but once you get over the fact that he’s got half the world under his control-“
“It’s not just that,” Landri fumbled. He had to explain the situation better. “Long story short, Yuki’s got the Dreamseed. The League is sending someone to get it…oh, no…” Anxiety crossed Millandrian’s face again. “I didn’t tell him they were sending Red. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him to know…”
“Calm down, Landri. Red’s not gonna get your boy.” Lizzie’s green eyes drifted to the side. She seemed to be thinking very hard. “Listen…I know you won’t like it, but it might be a good idea. Yuki is a very powerful Fae, and he can take care of Bobby when he gets there. Bobby can travel through the air much faster than a vampire on land.”
Millandrian took a deep breath. “So you think he’ll be alright?”
Lizzie nodded decisively. “He’ll be fine.”
Millandrian grabbed a handful of his own hair and clenched tight. “I think you’re crazy.”
Lizzie thought for a moment. “What if I send Bonjiron after him? At least that way he’ll have protection.”
Landri thought of it, slowly nodding. He let go of his hair. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Send Bonjiron.”
Lizzie nodded. “Good. I’ll get him out there straightaway. Bobby should be pretty easy to find, especially for our Bonjie. Are you gonna be okay?”
“I think so.” Landri thought for a moment. He blinked back oncoming tears. He hoped Lizzie couldn’t tell through the corroded old mirror. “He’s never left without telling me before.”
“Sweetheart, how about you come stay with us until he gets back?” A smile tugged at one corner of her bright lips. “We all miss you. And Bonjie and Bobby can come straight here when everything is taken care of.”
Landri smiled a little in return. “That would be…really great, Lizzie. Thank you.” He took another deep breath and let it out, feeling calmer. The air was cold on his skin. He realized he was not wearing a shirt. Through the mirror, he would appear to be naked. His cheeks flushed pink. “I’ll be out there this afternoon, okay?”
“We’ll be waiting!” Lizzie grinned. “So long, Landri.”
“Goodbye, Lizzie.” The image began to decay again. He watched Lizzie’s chubby fingers waving until she faded into blackness, then watched his own image reappear.
“Everything will be fine,” he said softly to his reflection.