Faytes of the Otherworld: Fayted

“Hey, hey!” Liam hollered after Dani. It was dark as pitch in whatever room they had just entered.

“Keep your voice down.” She scolded, feeling around in the darkness for Liam. She wasn’t sure how steep the stairs were that they were standing on and she didn’t want either of them to fall.

“We need light.” Liam pointed out the obvious.

“Give me a second.” Dani hissed, snapping her fingers. A bright orange flame sparked on her fingertips and the room illuminated.

“More books.” She breathed, holding her lit hand above her head. The light was enough to expose at least a dozen rows of books to the left and the right with a wide aisle in the middle and an old wooden table with benches sitting dead center.

Dani scanned around for some sort of lamp or luminary and spotted a few across the room on the back wall. She finished climbing down the stairs into the secret room and scurried over to the lamps. She opened the glass door to one and let her fingers graze the wick, igniting it instantaneously. The room grew brighter as she side stepped down the wall to light another as Liam finally entered the room as he stared about him at all the musty tomes.

Dani attempted to ignite another lamp; this one was more difficult to catch for some reason and she checked to see if there was enough fluid to even light it.

“That one went out ages ago. The other two blew out with a draft.” A lilting voice with a thick Scottish accent rang out from a darkened corner of the room.

“Liam?” Dani breathed, stepping back from the shadows.

A man stepped forward from the darkness and stopped mere meters from her. He wore royal blue leggings with leather-booted feet and a knee length tunic adorned with intricate knot-work to match. His long ginger hair hung over one shoulder and covered an emerald green eye.

“Don’t be fearful, lass. I won’t harm you.” His voice echoed as he casually sauntered towards her.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Dani backed up into the middle aisle towards Liam.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter.” He held his hands up, still approaching her.

“Stop where you are!” Dani called to him, thrusting out her hand as it lit up with white light.

The man let out a sound that seemed more like stifled wind than a breath.

“Another faery. I haven’t seen another faery in—what—two hundred years give or take.” He seemed amazed by Dani’s presence.

“I’m no faery....but you are?” Dani was still uncertain of him. She hadn’t met any other humanoid fae besides the Changelings and Evan.

“Yes, beautiful. I am.” He smiled and Dani noticed his pointy canines.

“And do you have a name?” Dani remained calm as she reached behind her for Liam. He took her hand and squeezed it firmly, pulling himself up close behind her.

“Tam Lyn.” His voice was smooth as he bowed to her.

“Like the Elfin Knight?” Dani recognized his name instantly.

“Just like the Elfin Knight.” Tam Lyn tossed his head back, his ember waves now falling behind his shoulders. His eyes were like jewels as he stared back at her and Dani could now see the sharp peaks of his elongated ears.

“And why are you down here, Tam Lyn?” Dani slowly walked forward to the table and perched on its edge, her feet resting on the bench.

“I was bad, apparently.” Tam Lyn started, coming to sit on the opposite end from her.

Dani tilted her head, waiting for some sort of explanation.

“I have what you would call a vice, so to speak; an insatiable lust for the fairer sex. Got myself in trouble one too many times for boffing many a milkmaid and shepherdess, amongst others. I also got myself into a fair amount of debt to the Unseelie and was wanted by some human scholars as well for—for pleasing their wives better than they could. Long story short, my own people sold me out to those scholarly folk and they stuck me in here for the last two hundred years into eternity.” Tam Lyn sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

“The Unseelie?” Dani wasn’t sure she knew that word, but it resonated somewhere.

“Yes, the Unseelie. The Dark Fae, the Solitary Ones, those that are not to be messed with. I was originally captured by the Seelie and when I was poorly rescued by that Margaret woman that claimed to be pregnant with my child, which was impossible, the Unseelie took me in after I escaped. I was not going to be some glorified glow bug’s sacrifice.” Tam Lyn rambled.

“The Seelie and the Unseelie. The Dark and the Light. I wonder if that is what is going on?” Dani pondered out loud.

“What? What is going on?” Tam Lyn’s eyes lit up with a strange glow.

“You don’t know, do you?” Dani’s brow furrowed as she shook her head.

“Darling, I have not seen a single soul in almost seven or eight years—I lost count.” Tam Lyn pointed out.

“They invaded. The Fae invaded and killed—I don’t even know how many. They ran everyone they didn’t kill out of the cities and rounded them up like cattle. I don’t know if there are many of us left.” Dani explained.

“They finally did it. Those bastards finally did it.” Tam Lyn spoke through gritted teeth.

Dani’s expression changed to one of confusion and she just shook her head slowly, wondering what he meant.

“They have talked about it for hundreds of years; taking their land back, their home. When the Mortals came we tried to coexist with them peacefully and share our land with them—our Mother— but they wanted more. Eventually, they drove us deep into hiding using violence and fear

mongering and ultimately, we just faded into the veil and stayed out of the way.

But there was a group of fae who wouldn’t take that as defeat. Thy wanted to avenge what had happened to their people and take everything back, but the other fae wouldn’t hear of it. They said our Mother wouldn’t want the violence in Her name that it would take to gain our heritage back.

So they defected and became the Unseelie Court; the solitary fae who would stop at nothing to eventually take back what was once theirs.

They slowly started to gain notoriety and popularity with some of the lesser fae that were snubbed by the aristocracy. Over time there became a perfect line between the Seelie and the Unseelie. Certain races fell into one category, while the rest resided in the other. I ended up with the rebels, even though I never agreed with the fight, because I didn’t obey the general rules of the Seelie like keeping my hands to myself, not exposing my body to humans, not giving a damn who I—well, you get the picture. I was reckless to them and was better off as an offering to the Earth. So off to the Unseelie I went, who did not like that I fornicated with mortal women either and that caused a whole mess in and of itself, but they never wanted to sacrifice me.

But I digress—the Unseelie’s popularity caused worry amongst the Seelie and they issued a decree across the lands that if anyone, Seelie or Unseelie, was found plotting, attempting, or actually harming a mortal or causing their death would result in banishment or execution.

Then it started, years before I ever ended up in here. The Unseelie began to commit terrible crimes against human kind. Red Caps began luring them to their death and painting their caps with the victim’s blood. Pucas led weary travelers off the beaten path with their Will o’ Wisp lights and then left them lost in the bogs and marshes, never to find their way home again. Boggarts went from innocent pranks to abducting human children. Changelings became more common and eventually, the more fearsome fae started lashing out.

The Seelie tried their best to quell them, but I guess their best efforts weren’t enough.” Tam Lyn finished with a sigh.

“So, this is a goddamn Civil War on top of a mass genocide?” Dani was floored by this revelation.

“Pretty much, sadly.” Tam Lyn was reluctant to agree.

Dani stepped down off the table and began to pace. Her mind was far away and racing a million miles an hour. What was she in all of this? Was she Seelie? Unseelie? Both? Neither? She had to fit in somewhere, but she didn’t know where. And she hadn’t understood the magnitude of things until now. How was she going to stop this? How was she going to put an end to all the violence and hatred that had been breeding for so long?

“How did you two get down here in the first place?” It dawned on Tam Lyn that no one had been down there for years and clearly anyone who knew about this secret room was probably long gone by now.

“A book popped out of the shelf up there,” Dani pointed to the ceiling, “And when I sat down to read it, I felt this rumbling beneath me and the rug covering the door was shook out of place. We popped the hatch and climbed down.” She responded, still very much enveloped in the fog in her head.

“Well, it is nice to have company. You two don’t have any food by chance? An elf can get hungry after not eating for several years.” Tam Lyn smiled at Dani.

“We have some sandwiches upstairs,” Liam suggested.

“Oh, that would be divine.” Tam Lyn continued to smile.

Liam nodded and with a quick movement, he was ambling back up the stairs to fetch food for the starving fae.

“You know,” Tam Lyn began after Liam had left the room, “I don’t usually do other fae, but you are just scrumptious.” He crossed the room with one swift motion and pulled Dani’s hips up against his lithe frame.

“I’m technically only half fae and no thank you.” She pulled herself away from the warm body and plucked a book off a nearby shelf.

“Come on, love. Look at you: thick hipped, buxom, a beautiful face, and the most intriguing eyes I have ever seen.” Tam Lyn followed Dani as she read the book in her hands.

“As flattering as your compliments are, I politely decline your offer. I am not interested in a meaningless shag, thank you.” Dani tried to be a bit more forceful in her speech.

“But when you leave, I will be here all alone and who knows when I will have a chance to embrace a woman again.” Tam Lyn extended his hand and turned Dani’s face towards him. His emerald colored eyes shone back at her lustfully.

She wouldn’t deny how attractive he was, definitely someone she could be interested in, but she was not going to sleep with him out of pity.

“I. Said. No.” Dani narrowed her eyes at him before turning away at the sound of Liam coming back down the stairs.

“Here you go. Fresh chicken with cheddar cheese on home-made bread.” Liam handed Tam Lyn a paper sack.

“Thanks, mate.” He gestured with the bag and grumpily sat down at the table to eat.

Dani watched him silently as he took a bite. He ate as if he’d been eating all those years he claimed to miss food. No voracity with each mouthful or noises of enjoyment, just slow bite after slow bite. She thought it odd for someone who hadn’t had physical sustenance in so long.

“What exactly are you looking for? I am assuming if all of this happened while I was cold-heartedly left alone to die down here, that the library is now abandoned? In ruins?” Tam Lyn finished his last bit of the sandwich and brushed the crumbs off his fingers.

“No. The library still stands with most of the town now living inside its grounds. That’s basically what they call the town now: Whitmore.” Liam explained, handing a bottle of water over for Tam Lyn to drink. This he gulped down hungrily, draining the bottle in one long swig.

“Well, bravo to the humans. Keeping literature alive.” Tam Lyn’s tone was smug.

“Weren’t you once human though? You don’t seem like you have a hatred for our kind, but a general distaste is obvious.” Dani was curious about Tam Lyn’s actual history, though all she knew was the lore.

“First off, you are not human. Second, I was never human either and I don’t hate humans; but I will say that mortal-kind is rather arrogant, selfish, and tyrannical. I’ve been around a while; I’ve seen it.” Tam Lyn kicked back on the bench and began picking at his sharp teeth.

“And the Fae aren’t? You started this conversation with a rather haughty assumption—and how am I not human?” Dani had a lot going on in her head and was quickly shifting gears between subjects.

“Like I said…I’ve been around for a while. Yes, we fae can be quite full of ourselves, but we generally don’t take it out on others. If we have battles it usually has to do with stopping the Unseelie from destroying the human world and look what happened! Humans are blood-thirsty, power hungry fiends who fight over things like whose God is the real God, and over natural resources that should be available to all living beings and—hell! They kill others because they look a certain way or come from a certain lineage. Fae don’t do that! We protect our own and cultivate growth and wisdom! The Unseelie are an unfortunate product of human nature—not of faery. But with that being said, I do not agree with what the Unseelie are doing; stooping to their level. Not all mortals are bad, as much as I speak ill of them as a whole. I met many a fine woman over my years. I was never human like the lore suggested; just a very human-like fae in my lust and reckless tendencies. I saw how much fun they had in the beginning and I wanted to be like them. I soon learned how cold and heartless they could be.” Tam Lyn finished with a rough sigh and proceeded to pick at his fingernails.

“You slept with their wives.” Dani pointed out the obvious reason he was down here in the first place.

“I didn’t just sleep with them, love; I enlightened them. After being with me they realized how awful their mortal lives were. How boring and redundant; how petty and controlling. They wanted to be free and I broke the chains that bound them.” Tam Lyn smirked triumphantly.

“Well aren’t you a regular Faery Jesus.” Dani was slightly offended. She still identified with being human, even though she now knew that she was fae. She grew up in the mortal world; it was all she knew. She tried seeing it from his side, but it still sounded a bit assumptive of him to generalize a whole race of people.

“You still never told me why you think I’m not human.” Dani was going to push the subject till she got an answer.

“Dani, is it?” Tam Lyn now sat with his legs crossed, arm gesturing at her as he spoke. She nodded as he addressed her.

“Dani, you reek of Fae. From the moment you popped that hatch, I could smell you, but I wasn’t sure. At first glance, you look fairly human; but those eyes, those eyes, Dani…they are something else. Something that rings a bell in the back of my mind, something that twinges deep inside me when I first looked at them. That confirmed it for me. You’re a faery in a mortal suit, darling. I don’t know how that is possible, but you are most definitely fae.” Tam Lyn had now leaned in closer to Dani and she could feel the warmth of his breath on her chilled skin.

“My mother was human. A perfect vessel, apparently. I am human; a part of me is. No matter what anyone says, I am still part human and I grew up human. I may smell like Fae, whatever that means, but I am most certainly not full-blooded.” Dani stood up for her mortal side. She knew that her scent drew the Fae to her, but she never figured out why. She didn’t even think that she was fae until a couple of days ago.

“Fae have a scent. Different ones have different smells, but there is always an underlying note that identifies a fae with another fae. Like a wild, earthy scent. Can you not smell it on me? Have I been in this dank environment so long that I have lost my appeal?” Tam Lyn looked worried.

A thought struck Dani. That night in the field with Nissa when she so foolishly called the goblins to her, there was that faint musky smell when Nissa had picked up Orin’s scent. She also noticed that similar earthy spice when she had been so close to Evan under the Oak tree.

“I don’t know; I wasn’t trying to smell you.” Dani felt odd uttering those words.

“I guess it is because you are new to this. You thought you were human, so why would you be trying to sniff out other fae? Here, come sit.” Tam Lyn waved her over and she carefully scooted up next to him.

Liam was just observing the whole time, still slightly in shock overcoming face to face with a full-blooded fae that didn’t want to kill him.

“Take a good whiff, my dear. Tell me what you smell.” Tam Lyn pulled the hair back from his shoulder and exposed the milky white skin of his neck. Dani noticed a tiny freckle that was shaped just like a heart.

“You want me to smell you?” She scrunched up her face. She wasn’t sure she wanted to take a big whiff of an ancient faery who hadn’t probably bathed in over two hundred years.

“Yes. I promise I won’t bite; unless you’re into that sort of thing.” Tam Lyn wiggled his ginger brows.

Dani glanced at Liam, who just shrugged, and rolled her eyes before slowly leaning into Tam Lyn’s exposed neck. She oddly felt like some sort of vampire from the novels she had grown up reading as she came closer still. She could almost see Tam Lyn’s pulse beneath the flawless flesh; within inches of his body, she began to hear the blood flow underneath his skin.

“Don’t be shy.” Tam Lyn’s voice rumbled close to Dani’s ear as she took a deep breath, exhaled, and then inhaled strongly through her nose. The scent that hit her almost knocked her back. She hadn’t been expecting it to be so strong—or so sweet.

“Well, what do you smell? I don’t think I have ever had another fae describe my scent before…human women always told me I smelled like sex.” Tam Lyn chuckled.

“Well,” Dani sat back up, her messy bun grazing Tam Lyn’s chin as she pulled back. He shuddered at the soft graze. “I smell…chocolate, but like, dark chocolate. A hint of, I don’t know—sandalwood maybe? And then there is this smell of freshly turned earth, like when you are digging a hole to plant something and the soil is warm and moist in the spring heat.” Dani had gotten lost in the imagery evoked by Tam Lyn.

“Don’t stop. You’re turning me on.” He reflexively reached out and pulled Dani to him swiftly. She felt him tense up beneath her as he gripped her roughly around the waist.

“Hey now.” Liam stepped forward, breaking the gaze that Tam Lyn had locked on Dani.

“Mortals: always ruining faery fun.” Tam Lyn shrugged and stood to stretch and readjust himself.

“Us humans call that an unwanted advance.” Liam shot back, pulling Dani close to him. Apparently investigating Tam Lyn’s fae scent had heightened her sense of smell. Liam smelled faintly of strong bergamot tea, natural musk, and old leather; probably due to the worn brown jacket that he wore in the cooling weather. His scent was heady with a hint of something deep—red currant maybe?

“Yes. I have been accused of unwanted advances once or twice.” Tam Lyn screwed his mouth to one side and sidled off down a row of books.

“You alright?” Liam asked as he looked down at Dani. He reached out and wiped away a damp lock of hair that had clung to her mouth with his thumb.

“Uh, I’m fine.” Dani fumbled for the words as his fingertips touched her face.

“You’re looking for some way to combat them, eh?” Dani and Liam heard Tam Lyn’s voice echoing from a few rows down.

“Oh, yes. That. Yes, yes we are.” Dani muttered. They got so wrapped up in talking about how vile humans were that she had forgotten that he had asked what they are looking for. She hadn’t gotten to tell him, but he knew.

“Well, this may be all you need. At least as far as fighting them, but I’m not sure how to stop all of this.” Tam Lyn came back down the row, holding an old wooden box with Celtic knot work and other sigils on the lid.

“What is that?” Dani circled the table and left Liam standing by himself.

“This,” Tam Lyn popped the lid and flipped it back, “Is a very special book.” A book was nestled snuggly inside with the title The Book of Sith.

“A Star Wars book?” Liam sounded oddly geeky when he asked.

Dani snorted, “It’s pronounced Shee; the Sith, also referred to as the Aos Sí, are the mound people. The Fae. It makes sense that a Scottish fae would have a book about Scottish fae in his possession.” Dani smiled and reached out to take the book.

Liam was a bit embarrassed and Tam Lyn didn’t move as she slipped the book out from under him.

She opened the tome and immediately shut it.

“Helpful. Very helpful. But is there nothing down here that can tell us how to defeat the Unseelie?” Dani was poignant and Tam Lyn was gesturing wildly around his head out of confusion.

“How do you know about the Sith? The Aos Sí? And did you even read the book? What is going on?!” Liam had started to chuckle at Tam Lyn’s pantomiming in front of him.

“Calm down, Casanova. My mother educated me well on the Fae. She was a damn smart woman when it came to their realm and magick. And as for the book, I did so read it.” Dani set it down on the table.

“She’s not lying.” Liam’s arms were crossed.

“Well, I’ll be damned. But to answer your question, I have nothing in my library of secrets on how to defeat the Unseelie besides full out warfare. I don’t think there is a magickal cure-all to blast them into the abyss, or just make them think clearly for once.” Tam Lyn grabbed the book and put it back in its box a little sheepishly. He was hoping that with the production of the book, Dani would have swooned and praised him, but that hardly happened.

“Wonderful. I still want to take a look around.” Dani wandered off without another word.

“She—she is something else.” Tam Lyn jabbed his finger in her direction.

Liam exhaled, “I know. Trust me; I know.”

(*)

“Nothing. I mean there are a ton of really interesting books down here, but nothing tells us how to defeat them. Just more defense strategies and weapons.” It had only taken Dani a little over thirty minutes to read every book down there and Tam Lyn had calculated that there were at least several hundred books.

“Well? What should we do?” Liam figured that they had hit a wall.

“Take a break. A nap. What time is it?” Dani rubbed at her eyes.

“Much later than I realized. Almost eight.” Liam checked his pocket watch.

Dani realized that she could have checked her own, but she wasn’t thinking clearly. There was so much information running through her mind that she still hadn’t sorted it out yet. Maybe she had read too fast and needed to go back and read it slower.

No, she had the information; she just had to wait for it all to settle.

“Sleep sounds good. We don’t leave until tomorrow anyway.” Liam pointed out.

“Shall we go up then?” Dani started backing towards the ladder and Liam began to follow, but Tam Lyn didn’t budge.

“Coming? You’re free now. I opened the door for you and everything.” Dani joked, trying to get the fae to finally come up for fresh air after two hundred years.

“Would if I could, love.” Tam Lyn shrugged and shifted uncomfortably on the bench.

“What do you mean?” Dani didn’t understand how he couldn’t just climb the ladder with them.

“I mean, don’t you think that if I could have left, I would have already. There are no locks on that hatch, nothing to keep it closed. The wood wasn’t always warped and fae are really strong; I could have burst out of here, taken everyone down, and been on my way in no time.”

“What is it then? Magick?” Dani all of a sudden felt bad for the lustful fae.

“Yes. The men that put me here were not only scholars but Hermetic Magicians. That magick is a bitch to lift, you know. They even left me with books on the stuff and I still couldn’t figure it out.” Tam Lyn had come closer to the stairs, but Dani noticed when he couldn’t go any further. His toes were about ten centimeters from the ladder.

“Give me some time, okay? Just give me the night and I will figure something out. Just the night.” Dani tried to assure him.

“You won’t come back.” Tam Lyn was smiling, his fangs glistening in the light pouring down from the hatch.

“Yes, I will. I will come back tomorrow; we have to leave by mid-day. I will be back before then with a solution.” Dani reached out past the barrier that kept the ginger headed fae deep in his dungeon.

“Fine. I’ll wait, but promise me.” Tam Lyn narrowed his eyes at her.

“No.” Dani shook her head, “Absolutely not.”

“Promise me.” Tam Lyn pushed his toes hard up against the invisible wall that separated him from the rest of the world, trying to get as close to Dani as he could.

“I won’t.” She shook her head.

“Then I don’t think you’ll really come back. Nice meeting you Liam, Dani. It’s been fun. Too bad I couldn’t have at least tasted you.” Tam Lyn winked at her.

“I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon.” Dani locked eyes with Tam Lyn before turning and breezing past Liam up the ladder.

“Nice meeting you.” Tam Lyn gestured to Liam before disappearing into the shadowed corner of the room.

(*)

“Why wouldn’t you promise him? All he wanted was your word.” Liam caught up to Dani as she walked briskly through the lower level of the library.

“I gave him my word,” Dani spoke forward without looking at Liam.

“You could have just said ‘I promise’ and at least give the man a little hope.” Liam scolded her.

“No, it doesn’t work like that. You can’t just promise a fae anything. You make a promise; it’s binding. If I didn’t figure it out in time, which I will, he would have had me bound to my promise and I wouldn’t be able to leave until I figured it out. If for some off chance that I couldn’t figure out what is going on and it took me, let’s say, a few months to decipher it; I would have to stay here till I released him from his spell. Would you want to leave me behind?” Dani had stopped in her tracks and turned heel to face Liam.

“Oh. Well, no. I wouldn’t leave you behind. I’m glad you know these things.” Liam apologized in his own way.

“And soon you will too,” Dani assured him before continuing her walk back up the stairs.