March 20, 2012

A Country Path in Late Spring
The path of mossy ground nestled
In between maternal hedgerows,
That overgrew atop, dimming down
The brilliance of the day.
- Mark R Slaughter

Long before the first golden threads of dawn, he set the rabbit at the base of a stone split in half. He had found the rabbit half a mile away, sprawled out dead beneath a fallen branch. There were lighter patches of white in its fur, around the mouth and ears, marking its age. Likely the rabbit had lived a good long life feasting on flowers and clovers before its time simply ran out. The branch was just as old and large and rotten, enough to have crushed the rabbit?s hind legs when it fell. If the animal had suffered, he had not known.

The stone had once been as large around as he was twice as tall, but now was split perfectly in half with a smooth face looking at him over a field of stripped and jagged bones. The refuse of a thousand million once living things littered the field for acres around. His mother?s grove was encircled by the living world of freshly sprouting deciduous trees, their variety numerous. There were noble oaks and ghostly ash trees, maples and walnut, chestnut and more. Not a single one grew roots beyond the circle of her borders, and what grass had once grown here had long been buried beneath skulls and skeletons.

Looked upon with the right, unclouded eyes, there could be read an epitaph on the smooth face of the central stone. Salvador knew the words by heart and needed not read them. Until the rising of the dawn, the stone was blank, however. Only the sun could make the words appear, only the turning of the season.

He set the rabbit at the base of the stone and stepped back six paces to crouch amongst the debris of the long dead. Old and brittle bones crunched beneath his boots. The pre-morning air was a comfortable blend of warm and chill, exactly the way springtime temperatures should be. He had not bothered to wear his coat.

Time passed silently, without a tick nor a tock to tell him when the hour had come. He needed no such manmade devices to mark the moment for him. The rabbit was a better device. A sighing breeze slithered through rib cages and eye sockets, first. He watched as the old dead rabbit?s fur was caressed by its invisible fingers. Then, bit by bit, he watched the body rapidly cave into itself.

At first it seemed as if the rabbit were waking itself from a long sleep, tilting its head back slowly in a groggy stretch. The mouth parted and the wide eye narrowed as if it were blinking the Sandman?s treasure out of its vision. Then the eye melted into itself, exposing the slimy socket. The fur along the hind quarters peeled away first, like a child?s teddy being turned inside out, replacing the soft fur with the interior fluff. The alteration spread from hip to neck across the length of the body in rapid succession until the head became bloated and the only thing that identified the animal as once being a rabbit were the bony hind paws and a long ear exposing a two dimensional face. In a few short moments more, even that was gone, all but a single foot and the shriveled remains of the ear, of which both could be collected for luck, if the whim struck him.

In only a few short minutes, Salvador had watched a process that would have normally taken a week. This was the sign he knew meant her waking. He had glimpsed only the barest shimmer of silvery white particles working itself into the rapid decomposition of the animal he had brought Her as tribute. When it was done, he saw through the corners of his eyes that silvery morning mist mingling with the first warming tendrils of sunrise. By then the sun had crested the horizon and spread its creeping illumination over the Bone Grove, his mother?s sanctuary.

And there, atop the split stone at the center, he saw the silver mist crawling to the precipice, coalescing and forming together into the shape of a woman. Her skin was dark, as were her eyes and hair. In contrast she wore only a long white dress. Her bare feet were tucked to the side as she sat straight and proper upon her rune-etched throne. She looked down at him with a face masked in perpetual stoicism, betraying not a hint of any underlying emotion. Her voice was a clear and crisp monotone that likewise expressed nothing of feeling.

?Good morning, Salvador,? she said, so calm and hauntingly ethereal. ?Happy birthday, my son.?

And there he knelt before her, bowing his head, as was only befitting toward a queen. With her waking, it was known, Spring had come at last. The Autumn Queen was stirring to tend to her domain. The dead had waited for her all winter long. They could wait a few hours longer.

One week later, Salvador returned to the Outback. He had expected the night to be no more eventful than sitting at the bar giving Jasper hungry stares and otherwise being an intimidating older brother to Rekah. Though they shared no blood, they were that close. He had known her for nearly as long as he had been truthfully alive. Of all those he had known, she was perhaps the only friend that remained.

Rekah was loyal. She had not run off to another world to live with an abusive and controlling lover, likely never to escape, except surprisingly seven years later. She had not involved herself with a jealous lover who insisted she mate with everyone under the sun except him for no valid reason. Most importantly, she had not died on him. He was one of the rare few who was willing to bet Rekah Illyriana was not as fragile and easy to kill as so many others of her protectors believed. And that?s where Jasper came in.

No sooner had Salvador parked his ass on a stool, then Jasper was approaching him. The last thing he had ever expected of the demi-fae was for him to bravely walk up to him with a regal and professional air that smelled nothing like fear. He paused a few steps off, just looking. Salvador himself settled a slightly weirded out, slantways stare on Jasper. Somehow being loomed over by a midnight snack was a little unsettling.

In no short order, Jasper stepped between Salvador?s stool and the one beside him and sat there. The demi-fae rested a foot on the lower run of Sal?s stool. He felt his brows lift high, and his spine stiffened. He tipped his chin toward his shoulder to better look at Jasper, down at his foot, and back up. He drummed a rhythm out on the counter with his fingernails and twisted to let his left hand rest on his thigh while partially facing his unexpected company.

Jasper?s eyes were dark, too dark; he could have speculated they were actually black at the time, but there was no way of knowing without asking for Salvador. The man had the gall to let his face settle into a courtly mask, the kind he saw the more pompous of his mother?s species wear whenever deigning to mingle with the common folk. ?I hope you had as good a night as I did the other night,? Jasper began, being the first to speak. True to his breeding, he didn?t bother to say hello first, much like Salvador himself was prone. ?Double-edged sword, and all that.?

Normally, that sort of comment would?ve earned a smug grin from Salvador. He felt the corners of his mouth twitch with the start of one, the edges of his teeth exposed for a tick of a second. But then the realization hit him of what Jasper was implying.

Only two nights previous, Salvador had mistaken him for any other common fairy. A little ball of flittering light, he had been, playing with the boughs of trees that had yet to bear their leaves or fruit. He had pounced on the creature in an instant, caught it, and realized in delayed fashion that his prize had been a miniaturized version of the fae-creature sitting as a man before him now. The results had been . . . interesting, and had left Salvador sharing a burning bed with some ravenously horny creature that at first he had thought of eviscerating. But then there had been Rei, and, well, that?s another story entirely.

Salvador?s spine went more rigid, the hidden spikes twitching silently along the vertebrae. He let lock into place his own mask, one that combined the taciturn nature of his father and the perpetual stoicism of his mother. He tilted his head like a bird, just slightly so to the side, and arched a single brow. Like his father, he was capable of saying so much without saying anything at all.

Jasper sighed, then. Maybe he realized that he couldn?t deal with Sal the same way he dealt with other fae. His face softened and he let the frustration and utter torment he?d been hiding flood his eyes. He turned the brunt of that gaze up to meet Salvador?s. ?I?ll not mince words.? Good, that was good. ?I know you have no patience.? Well, that depended on a great deal of what the circumstances were, but Jasper needn?t know. ?I need your help.?

Of course, given the demi-fae?s greeting, Salvador?s imagination automatically traveled into the gutter. He borrowed a bit of the sinner?s grace in this. Rusty eyes cut down to look at Jasper?s crotch, and he tipped a finger to point out the hidden naughty bits. ?What?? he asked. ?You having trouble getting it up or something?? That was a hope, assuredly. The last thing he wanted to imagine was Rekah, who was like a little sister to him, writhing in the throes of an orgasm.

Much to his dismay, the quip didn?t faze Jasper in the slightest. The demi-fae looked down, then back up, and oh so nonchalantly said, ?If you are needing comfort later, I can offer it.?

Wow. That had not been the reaction Salvador had expected. Most of the fae he had ever dealt with before abhorred the very notion of primitive, human mating practices, as they called it. His mother?s breed did not procreate that way. He felt his brows knitting tight as the confusion hit him. A few words he dared not utter rolled around on his tongue, and he grumbled at the foul taste of them. Though he wasn?t entirely certain what kind of comfort Jasper was offering, and he had to know. ?Are you offering me a f*ck here? Or??? Suddenly he wondered if Rekah had told Jasper about Rei.

Jasper remained unfazed, apart from the sigh and smearing a hand down over his face. ?Sal,? he said, oh so matter-of-factly, ?if you needed comfort and asked, I'm fae, I wouldn't turn you down. That's not what I need now though. You're . . . you're the only one of my type I know though. I know you're not all fae, in fact I can't even truly place you with my magic, it won't touch you. But I'm vulnerable here. The Earth doesn't recognize me. I barely have any energy half the time . . . and I have headhunters after me. I chose voluntary exile for a reason. They're looking for me? " Why was he just throwing all that out on the table? He stood then with the energy the confessing was making and headed to get the tequila out. "They've already taken my mother. How long before they put two and two together and go after Rekah?" The demi-fae threw in a glass for good measure, opened the tequila and poured for Sal before sliding it across. Jasper almost dropped the bottle when he leaned in against the bar directly across from him. ?I want her warded. You have to know someone who can help. I have no one here.?

Dear, sweet baby Jesus. That had been a whole lot of confession all at once. Salvador had been half tempted to take up an offer dropped by one of the Duels most notorious villains and jump into a ring to get beat upon, but then Jasper brought him tequila. ?Nnngh.? Damned bribery worked every time. He grabbed up the glass and chugged down the contents before spilling his own beans. There had been a lot for him to absorb, replay, rewind, and address appropriately. He thunked the glass down empty, looked into Jasper?s too dark eyes, and addressed the first curiosity. ?Mi madre is She Who Tends the Dead.? It was no secret. And what fae had not heard of her? ?And yes,? he added, ?I might know some people who can ward her as you?d like.? Though he?d be damned to think his own personal raging, murderous protection over Rekah wasn?t enough.

He watched as Jasper struggled with his inner thoughts. Salvador was no mind reader, aura sight aside, so he waited and listened to what the demi-fae had to further tell him. ?They have trackers. And blockers. They could tear her apart before I knew it. She has the protection of Earth, I tried it on her while she was walking. A shift. Nothing. She didn?t even stumble. The Earth is protecting her, acknowledging her bid for?? Something important went unsaid, Salvador sensed, but he did not press. ?Water,? Jasper said. Instead of what? The shrug told him nothing. ?It still spilled on her. Not as strong in that yet. The rest . . . I need help protecting her with.?

Salvador only understood half of what the fae was telling him. It wasn?t as if a half-breed like himself were welcome in those inner circles. His mother didn?t even bow to any Queens. Her domain was respected and revered as an independent nation unto herself. ?Nnngh.? He drummed his fingers on the counter, calculating and uncertain. ?If it?s death you want to save her from, there might be a way. But there?ll be a price.? There was always a price. ?And I won?t be able to start negotiating for you until the first of Spring.? Though he knew his mother would not approve of him asking a boon of her.

Jasper nodded his assent to these terms. He was fae; he understood that all bargains came with a price. ?I don?t want her hurt, Sal. Not over something that she shouldn?t have been in the midst of in the first place because I let my guard down.? On that, Salvador could agree, and foremost in his thoughts was that if Jasper was the cause for any harm coming to Rekah, he?d be the first to kill the little glittery bug. That thought was eradicated when next Jasper looked at the floor in front of himself and very, very quietly added, ?Thank you.?

Salvador hadn?t even agreed to anything as of yet, and the pesky little Rekah toy was thanking him? That was almost enough to shatter his guard. Almost. ?Should?ve thought of that before you started dating her,? he reasoned, pointing a finger at Jasper. He grunted and then waved off the thanks. ?Don?t thank me,? he said. ?I can?t promise you?ll like the deal.? Or if there would even be one. ?In the meantime,? he added, ?talk to Ali. He knows a thing or two about wards, I?m pretty sure.? That damned bubasti had all kinds of tricks up his sleeves, and plus he was just as murderously protective of Rekah as the rest of them.

?I don?t like this deal,? Jasper relented, ?but you don?t pick who your heart chooses; it suddenly finds you.? Wasn?t that the truth. He was staring now at the refilled glass of tequila, which Salvador hadn?t even noticed he?d refilled, like he might down it. ?It just happens.? A shrug and he closed his eyes, the court mask was failing him. ?I?ll talk to Ali, but he doesn?t know or trust me and looks as if he?d like to a bat to me if he could. Or worse. It?s why I pleaded with you first.? His eyes opened again, and Salvador realized his hair was changed somehow, lighter than it had been before. ?This has been eating at me since this all began.?

All these heartfelt confessions were almost too much. Salvador only just met the man a week ago and he was asking him for help? Asking help of the one creature in all of Rhy?Din who literally wanted to chop Jasper up into tiny bits and fricassee him in a nice sweet marinade?

Having noticed the way Jasper eyed the glass of tequila, he nudged it toward him. At the mention of his reluctance to approach Ali, he cut the shadow of a sharp grin. He had suspected as much, assuming that Ali was even aware of Rekah having a boyfriend. After all, the fool had tried adopting the girl in as if she were an orphan child needing a home and schooling, once upon a time. He thought he could be her father. ?Tell Ali I sent you to him, and that might make him less?? What was the word he wanted here? He turned a hand over and back. English wasn?t his first language, and his vocabulary wasn?t very large. Unable to come up with a good word, he skipped to the next matter of business.

?Do you know the names of those hunting you? What kind of fae are they?? In the interim, Salvador could, at the very least, hunt the hunters and keep them occupied. Boy had a hunger that needed tended to, after all.

?In Dienau we mostly had Elemental fae,? Jasper said. Speaking of his homeland made his skin grow cold and the nudge of the tequila could no longer be overlooked. He had stepped back away from the bar and the Spaniard, but now went to a lean against it again and he took the glass, tipping back half of its contents. ?But Dienau wasn?t ours to begin with. We overtook it with the help from the elements because they had gotten too heady with power and ignored their calling. And now, my people are left in the same predicament. They?re getting antsy with peace, well . . . some of the elements. Fire especially.? Anger glittered in his eyes, the court mask had just dissolved. He didn?t give an eff anymore. ?But they have other fae they?ve gathered to their cause. They want me because of my third name I?ve never formally gotten. So they?re hunting me. I could shift the tides and win their war.? There wasn?t any boasting or pride in the words, they just were. Facts were facts. ?So all kinds. Tasty. Very tasty.? Perhaps he thought he could tempt Sal with that alone. He finished off the tequila and reached for the bottle to refill it.

Salvador actually liked that, the fact that Jasper had let the mask go. He preferred it when people were real. The corner of his mouth twisted up slightly in silent appreciation. As much for the real and unhappy Jasper before him as for the giving into the tequila. ?I?ve dealt with fire,? he mused, thinking of the demon he had bedded only two nights previous.

It wasn?t easy to explain his blood lust, how devouring his other-kin revitalized him the way communing with the Earth revitalized Jasper. ?I?ll keep an eye out for them,? he offered. Free of charge. The killing of a few fae would be payment enough for him.

Before leaving for the night, leaving Jasper and Rekah to have time together, he had to know a certain truth about Jasper?s particular breed. He asked, ?Does iron harm your people??

?Fae enchanted silver,? the other fae informed him. ?You?re thinking of the sidhe.? Interesting how the fae knew so little of each other. Salvador knew, but had never considered himself to be part sidhe. His mother had never identified herself as one, only fae. Simply fae. So fae that a wizard had gifted her with the name Faye where before she had had no name. Or was she Sidhe Who Tends the Dead? The two words sounded identical, that was true.

Salvador nodded, a form of silent thanks for the information, which he stored away to mingle with the plans he was brewing. Rising from the stool, he told Rekah to come by the house in the morning. At the least, he had a fae enchanted silver dagger in the weapon room that he intended to give her for self defense. Later he intended on having other weapons specially crafted for her. He knew a guy.

Before he made it out the door, however, Jasper opened his big mouth and reminded him, ?And the offer for comfort still stands if you need.? His words were quiet, very quiet, but Salvador heard them clear as day.

He stopped and turned to stare over the crest of his shoulder at the demi-fae. He frowned. ?I don?t think you know what that offer means, hombre.? Because to Salvador it meant breaking his promise to Rekah. There was no guarantee that he?d be able to control himself if Jasper were offering himself up on a sexual silver platter to him like that. The shrug and don?t-give-a-f*ck expression on the demi-fae?s face told him of suicidal tendencies. ?Some day I may take you up on that offer,? he warned. And it was a warning. The only words he left with them before he took his leave.

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(Taken from live play with thanks to Jasper.)