“No Fae either. And yet, he has done it,” Ryleth, the one with the white braid, answered coolly.
“What do we do, Ryleth? Hex is dead!” The blonde Fae’s anxiety rose. “Her younglings will not hunt the creatures in the forest for us. The village will be overrun in days!”
“I am well aware, Tela,” Ryleth said tightly. Her lips pressed together. “I was the one to make the original deal with Hex.”
Tela dropped her head. “I am sorry, Ryleth. I should not have spoken in that way to you. I am just afraid!”
Ryleth’s expression softened. “We all are, but we must keep our heads.”
“I did try and stop him by coming to get you, mistress,” the human male simpered. “But he was intent on destroying Hex.”
That’s not true! Finn cried.
It seemed like this male human could stoop ever lower. He felt Rohan struggling to speak. He wasn’t the only one. Finn heard a muffled voice coming from a person out of his vision.
“Bring the other Unmarked One here,” Ryleth directed and made a come hither gesture with her right hand.
Unmarked One? Finn thought. What does that mean?
He soon realized what it was. On Thomas’ left forearm was a tattoo that glowed red like a brand. Another human was hustled over into view. Finn recognized the foppish, young man that had been with Rohan when Finn had actually encountered him in the Lupine Woods. Memories fully cut through Marikoth’s magical amnesia upon him. His mind was suddenly clear. Not that it did him any real good. Rohan and his companion were trapped there while Finn was trapped in his mind. All of them might die, but while there was life there was hope, and Finn wasn’t giving up. Yet things were clearly dire.
There was a glowing bond over the companion’s mouth. With a snap of Ryleth’s fingers, it was removed.
“You traitor!” the man swore at Thomas. “You utter traitor, Thomas! We saved you!”
Thomas meekly said, “I serve my mistress.”
“Serve your--you were staked out to be killed!” Rohan’s companion snapped. “She must care for you very much if she allows that!”
Thomas tossed his black-haired head back and said archly, “I was framed!”
“Maybe you were, but you’ve shown yourself to be scum!” the foppish man snapped. “If you’ve caused harm to him, you will pay!’
“I had to warn her about your plans to kill our guardian!” Thomas answered in that simpering way that made Finn wish to throttle him. “All I did promise was to take you to a healer. I did. Here she is.”
“You liar! You bastard!” Rohan’s companion shouted. “We were looking for a healer! We saw you being led away like lambs to the slaughter, and we followed! We wanted to help you! He had to kill the spider to do that!”
A healer? Finn let that statement sink in. A healer for me! Rohan and this man were seeking help for me when this happened! Now they are both captured by the Fae!
“You wanted to help thieves, murderers and rapists?” Ryleth inquired with an arched brow in Common.
“W-what?” The foppish young man goggled. “No! We had no idea… but even if they are guilty of such crimes, feeding them to a giant spider is not civilized!”
Ryleth cracked a smile. “I see.”
Tela hissed, “A human talks about being civilized?! I will show him our justice--”
Ryleth put a hand on Tela’s arm to keep her from rising.
“What is your name, human?” Ryleth asked him.
“Serxio,” Rohan’s companion answered.
“And who is your master or mistress? You bare no mark of what House you belong to,” Ryleth stated.
“House I… I belong to no House! I belong to myself!” Serxio gasped out.
Slaves, Finn realized. She sees a human, and she believes he must be a slave. So that’s how the Fae view us.
He all too readily remembered Marikoth’s behavior towards him. Marikoth who believed that they were related. Marikoth who would see him die with no emotion, with no care, with nothing. Because Finn might get in the way of his plans, whatever those were. Finn was no better than a slave.
“I do not understand how a human could be Unmarked,” Tela hissed in that strange liquid language. “Could they have been born in secret?”
“Even if humans could hide themselves from us and bear young, they could not survive out here,” Ryleth answered in kind. “But there have been… disturbances by the Wall.”
Tela’s eyes widened. “You think--think they’re from the human lands? But that would mean--”
Ryleth made a motion for her to cease speaking. “We will learn exactly where they come from and who they belong to.”
Serxio’s eyes were fixed upon Rohan. “What have you done to him? To my friend?”
Finn very much wanted to know that too. He was desperate to know. For while he could see out of Rohan’s frozen, cracked eyelids, he could feel nothing of the other man’s body or soul.
“He is alive. For now,” Ryleth answered, and Finn’s heart rose up into his throat. “But I doubt that will be for long.”
“What?! He killed a spider, a monster, not one of your people!” Serxio cried.
Ryleth let out a dry laugh. “Actually, he has killed our people. Countless of them actually. If half the village survives, I would be grateful.”
“What do you mean?” Serxio asked.
It’s not his fault! Finn thought fiercely. He was doing it for me! He was only there because of me!
“You spoke of civilization earlier. We are… we have been civilized longer than humans have existed. But, in this time, we cannot simply house those that break our laws indefinitely,” Ryleth explained. Her mouth flattened slightly as she spoke as if she was not satisfied with this. “Everyone must contribute to the whole. These humans committed crimes for which death is the punishment. Their deaths would have renewed our agreement with Hex.” Here she grimaced as she tilted her head towards the dead spider. “And Hex, with her children, would have killed the predators of the forest rather than our people. Now… Hex is dead. Her children will seek revenge upon us. Even if we can fight them off, the other beings that will come now that Hex is gone will destroy us. So your friend’s actions in saving these criminals has condemned who knows how many to death.”
“That’s not-- that’s not what we intended!” Serxio paled. “I swear it! We--we saw people in danger and we acted.”
“But you did so without full information,” Ryleth answered dryly as she rose gracefully to her feet. “We must abandon the village and make our way to Aymar. We have no other choice.”
Tela gasped. “To the summer palace?”
Does she mean one of King Thalanil’s palaces? How will I get to Rohan and Serxio if he is taken there? Finn wondered and his heart clenched.
“Yes, Tela. We can no longer simply send messengers to the king,” Ryleth said almost wearily. “He must see how out of balance things are here beyond his royal walls. He must be made to understand how dire things are.”
“But will he even see us?” Tela looked at Ryleth uncertainly.
“He…” Ryleth stopped as she caught sight of something on the ground.