Natural Selection Preview
Natural Selection
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Natural Selection Preview
S.C. Stokes
Two weeks earlier.
Waking up in Foraoise Síoraí was a surreal experience. Kasey’s trip through Winter’s domain to the Falls had been cold, stark, and dreary. The Summer Court was its opposite. Particularly here, in Titania’s palace glade. The entire world teemed with magic.
The massive evergreen forests towered to unbelievable heights, such that Kasey expected them to collapse under their own weight, and yet she suspected they had stood tall for centuries before she’d arrived, and would endure long past her lifetime.
Standing at the window of her treetop abode, she stared down at the throng of creatures coming and going from Foraoise Síoraí. Some, like the pixies and centaurs, she recognized from movies and her study in the Archives. Others she had never even heard of, let alone laid eyes on. Like the cute furry creatures that waddled about on six legs, gathering seeds that fell from the mighty oaks of the glade.
Carwengil, Sanders had called them. Apparently, they ferried the seeds to the edges of Summer to enlarge her borders.
If it wasn’t for the fact she’d pinched herself a dozen times, Kasey might have believed she was dreaming.
Which would make everything before their arrival here a nightmare.
By fluke or fate, she had survived the Terminus, the Summer Queen’s suicidal errand. Kasey and Sanders had barely made it out of the Arcane Congress’ secret prison with their lives, which was more than she could say for many of the prisoners who had resided there.
Kasey could recall vividly the glee on Methuselah’s face as he’d released prisoner after prisoner. The dangerous wizards and magical creatures, most of whom had likely been incarcerated for good cause, were more than willing to take advantage of their release to return to their baser tendencies.
Here in the peaceful forest, it was easy for the trauma of the Terminus to feel like it was a lifetime ago. It was also easy to understand why Sanders had happily spent decades living here, in the Summer Court. Spared the passage of time that would have already killed him, Sanders had lived two lifetimes and still looked barely older than Kasey.
Leaving the window, Kasey headed into the bathroom to deal with her hair. It wouldn’t do to show up in court with hair that looked like a bird was nesting in it.
Particularly since the Sidhe seemed to never have a bad hair day and were possessed with an otherworldly beauty that made her feel a little self-conscious.
Fortunately, Sanders’ position in the court afforded him the luxury of private quarters.
Quarters. Kasey laughed to herself as she picked up the brush. It was more like a mansion formed between the titanic boughs of a dozen different redwoods.
Being the Summer Ray had its perks. She was used to people giving Noah a wide berth on account of the fact he was the Arcane Chancellor, but here it was on an entirely different level.
Here, it was like he was royalty.
Not for much longer.
Kasey changed into a freshly laundered set of black jeans and pulled on a white T-shirt and leather jacket. The fit was perfect, and the resemblance to her own wardrobe uncanny. While she wasn’t sure how the Summer Sidhe had done that, she was grateful not to be forced to wear one of the dresses the fae seemed to prefer.
Staring into a mirror of polished silver, Kasey fixed her hair. They’d been summoned to court and she was rather looking forward to it. Not for the bureaucracy but for what it meant.
Titania was about to make good on her promise to release them both from their obligations. It was why she’d embarked on this mad plan in the first place. Titania had protected her from the Arcane Council’s judgement, and Sanders had a life debt to the Summer Queen. Still, everyone had their price, and the Summer Queen was willing to consider both as a reward for releasing Marissa from the Terminus.
“What are you thinking?” Sanders asked, his smiling face appearing over her shoulder.
He was dressed in the uniform of his office, a brilliant set of intricate leather armour, inlaid with gold leaf and cinched at the waist with a woven belt of golden scale. The entire ensemble exuded the power that had gone into its creation. Although it was crafted from leather, Kasey suspected it was far more resilient than its appearance might dictate.
He cut a rather handsome figure in it.
“I don’t suppose they’ll let you keep that when you leave?” Kasey asked.
Sanders furrowed his brow. “Keep what?”
“The armor,” Kasey said, setting the brush down on a living timber vanity beneath the mirror. “I thought it was a little much at first, but the more I see you in it, the more it’s growing on me.”
Sanders raised an eyebrow. “Got a thing for the knight in shining armor, huh?”
Perhaps being here was causing his head to swell a little. Maybe his ego needed a little bit of a haircut.
Kasey shrugged. “When you’re a Brooklyn four you’ve got to take all the help you can get.”
“Four?” His jaw drooped as he struggled to find a retort.
That was more like it.
Kasey placed a hand on his cheek.
“You’ll always be a ten to me, armor or not.” She looked him up and down. “But seeing you in it makes me want to drag you back to the bedroom rather than whiling away the morning in court.”
Sanders grinned as he closed the distance between them. “Sounds good to me.”
Kasey slid her hand down to his breastplate. “Easy, tiger, it won’t do to keep a queen waiting. Let’s get this over with so we can get out of here.”
“Right,” he whispered.
They’d not really talked about where they would go. After all, what was the use in planning for a future you weren’t sure was possible. It wasn’t until they’d safely exited the Terminus that Kasey had even started to allow herself to believe it could happen.
Sanders didn’t quite seem himself, but Kasey put that down to the fact he’d spent two lifetimes preparing for this moment. Perhaps he’d never expected it to truly come. Perhaps he never expected to be free.
And not a day too soon. They needed to leave and the sooner the better. The earth spirit’s vision had been clear. Now more than ever, the world was in peril.
And somehow Marissa was the catalyst.
She was a being of incredible power. Kasey had felt her will and seen the awesome fear with which she was regarded by not only the arcane Congress but by the other inhabitants of the Terminus.
Kasey, Sanders, and their crew had been fighting for their lives, but Marissa had swept the other prisoners aside like they were nothing. Those she hadn’t purged, had fled before her.
The sight of her had been enough to shake Kasey to her core, but it wasn’t until Marissa had been reunited with her mother, that Kasey realized the significance of what they’d done.
The King of Winter had conspired with the Congress to imprison his own daughter? Why?
Perhaps because he’d known she would tip the tide, upset the balance between Summer and Winter, threaten both the balance of seasons in Faerie and the fragile balance of the mortal realm itself.
And now she was free, and aware of her father’s betrayal, she would no doubt side with her mother. If the courts went to war, all would be lost.
Kasey wanted to tell Sanders of her vision but didn’t dare. Not here in the heart of the Summer Court where the walls had ears, and all were loyal to the Queen of the Seelie Court.
Sanders might be her champion, but Kasey didn’t for a minute believe she was safe. Not until they were out of Summer and free of it all.
“The court will be in session. Are you ready?” Sanders asked.
Kasey squeezed his hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be. I hope the Queen is a woman of her word.”
Sanders glanced sideways at her. “You know she has no other choice, right? She cannot lie.”
Kasey did know that, but she couldn’t shake the pit forming in her stomach. She was still waiting for the other boot to drop. “You and I both know there is a great deal of difference between the letter of a deal and the spirit of it. Who is to say she will honor her promise and let us go?”
Sanders smiled. “We’ve earned it, Kasey. It’ll happen, just you watch.”
Together, they descended the spiral staircase running down the outside of the redwood trunk. The height still made Kasey a little nervous, but she did her best not to look down.
The glade was quiet, a breeze blowing between the great boughs and carrying with it the scent of summer.
In the center of the glade was the Queen’s Court.
Its massive external walls seemed to have grown together from flowering trees, tangler vines and other greenery melded into shape by the will of Titania herself.
As they arrived at the hall, two Sidhe dressed in less ornate versions of Sanders’ armour pushed open the doors for them.
Addressing the Court, he bellowed, “The Summer Ray, Noah Sanders, and his consort, Kasey Chase.”
“Consort, huh?” Kasey whispered, trying not to laugh. “Bang buddy not formal enough for the Summer Court?”
“Kasey,” Sanders hissed as his cheeks flushed.
“After you, milord.” Kasey gestured to the door, and for the first time she got a good look inside the Summer Queen’s Court.
The entire chamber was open to the elements. The boughs of the trees that formed the walls provided some shade to those within, but there was no roof. It amused Kasey to think of the assembled Sidhe in their court finery being driven into cover by a thunderstorm, but as she spotted the shaft of sunlight pouring through the open roof, she realized the more likely outcome.
Here, the weather was subject to Titania’s will. The shaft of sunlight seemed drawn to the Queen of Summer as she reclined on her throne, an impressive woven latticework of living wood and flowering plants.
The court watched in silence as Kasey and Sanders proceeded down the center aisle. As she walked, Kasey noted the vast array of creatures around her. They weren’t all Sidhe as she had supposed. Rather there were magical beasts from miniature pixies to mighty centaurs, and at the edge of the room several slowly shifting trees that Kasey supposed were Dryads, though she’d never seen one outside the pages of a book. The tree-spirits were guardians of the forest and shepherds of its glades.
The abundance of Sidhe, warriors and courtiers, averted their eyes as Sanders strolled past. Now more than ever, Kasey realized the magnitude of the office he held here.
At the end of the hall sat the Summer Queen herself. A lavender dress clung to her lithe form. Her hair seemed aglow with the light of the sun, and was worn high and interspersed with living flowers.
At her right rested a smaller throne. Marissa sat on it in autumn toned scale armor made from some sort of metal that changed color depending on how the light hit it. Unlike the other Sidhe, Marissa stared intently at Kasey and Sanders as they approached.
Kasey averted her eyes. She found holding the Sidhe princess’ gaze unnerving, perhaps it was the fact the Congress had locked her in a dungeon beyond fallen angels and otherworldly horrors.
“Summer Ray.” Titania’s words filled the hall. She didn’t raise her voice and yet, Kasey had no doubt everyone in the hall could hear it as if she stood next to them. “You have restored that which was taken from us. You have done well.”
The Summer Queen shifted her attention to Kasey. “And Kasey, child of the earth, friend of Summer. I bid you welcome to my court.”
Kasey’s mood lifted as she bathed in Titania’s praise, and yet she wondered at the words the Sidhe had chosen. How did the Summer Queen know what she was? Few people alive knew of her oath to the Earth Spirit, or her true nature as an Earthborn. Had Sanders told her? Was the queen of Summer omniscient or could she simply discern the sworn loyalties of others? Magic bound her oath; perhaps she could recognize it.
Kasey had more questions than answers, but she held her tongue, not wanting the court to know just how little of their affairs she actually understood. She was dealing with the Sidhe, after all. She couldn’t afford to play poker with her hand face up.
Sanders bowed deeply, and Kasey followed his example.
Titania nodded once, the slightest incline of her head. “I have summoned you here to discuss our agreement. Let all of Summer witness that their queen delivers on her bargains.”
Whispers punctuated the court, and Kasey wondered just how many of them were privy to the deal she had made with Titania, or Sanders for that matter. Did they know why he served as the Summer Ray?
“I must confess, I meant to convene this session last night, but it has been so long since my daughter and I were together, that we simply lost track of time. Forgive a mother this one indulgence.”
Sanders smiled. “Of course, my queen. We serve at your pleasure.”
Titania smiled. “I know, but we cannot keep the two of you indefinitely. So let us discharge your oaths. Kasey, I swore I would deal with your Arcane Council’s persecution of you, and I did. In finding the Terminus, and freeing my daughter, you have fulfilled your oath to me. Let all here know that Kasey Chase is a friend of the court, and has championed our cause. First at the Falls, in the breaking of Winter, and now in the freeing of my daughter from her wrongful incarceration. We thank you, Kasey. You’ve done more than you will ever know.”
That was precisely what Kasey feared: the far sweeping ramifications of having intervened in the animosity between the courts. The Winter Shard had already tried to kill her once. Now, Titania had announced her involvement in open court. Soon enough, the world would know what she had done.
The court cheered but Kasey couldn’t help but feel like the Queen’s ringing endorsement had just put a target on her back. Not only with Winter, but what if the Arcane Council or Congress had agents in the Summer Court? She would be public enemy number one for the Arcane Congress.
Her heart beat faster.
Kasey shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Titania had to know what she was doing. That realization almost distracted her from the fact the queen had only spoken to half their bargain.
“Summer Queen,” Kasey began, trying her best to keep her voice firm. “You will recall that the bargain we struck included not only delivery from the Arcane Council, but also the freedom from obligations and wellbeing of Noah Sanders, your Summer Ray. As we can see, he is very well, but I would see him released from his obligations to you and the Court.”
That sent a shock wave of whispers and discussion through the assembled courtiers.
“Silence!” Titania addressed the court. When the noise died down, she turned back to Kasey, a porcelain smile gracing her features, though there now seemed little sincerity in it.
“All things in their proper order, Kasey.” Titania leaned back in her throne. “You might be in a rush to return home, but be warned there is commotion among your mortal governments, fallout from my daughter’s rescue that cannot be avoided. Perhaps you might consider dwelling here for a time, while it blows over.”
A while. How long was that? Sanders had lived here for decades while the Congress’ interest in him had waned and those who had hunted him in his former life presumed him dead.
As far as Kasey could tell, there was nothing that traced directly back to her. There was a dead Summer Sidhe and sunken vessel on the island that formed the gateway to the Terminus. There was also the fact that in the process of unleashing Marissa from her confinement, Talora, once emissary to the Summer Court, now a living breathing Wendigo, had been released from the inner sanctum.
As far as Kasey could tell, the attack on the Terminus had Summer’s handprints all over it. Which was likely why Titania had so decisively tried to draw her into it.
For some reason, Titania wanted her here, and if the Congress’ ire was directed toward her, she would have no choice but to hide behind the queen’s skirts to survive.
That was not a luxury Kasey believed she could afford.
Not if Summer was about to unleash hell on the rest of Faerie.
“I appreciate your warning, my queen, but I must return all the same. I have duties I must see to. I have not seen my family in some time, and I have obligations there also.”
The Summer Queen nodded but didn’t look happy about it.
“As for my Summer Ray,” she said, turning to Sanders. “My champion, you have excelled yourself. You owed me a life debt, and you have served me well. As mortals measure time, you’ve spent most of a life in service and lived beyond your years. In repayment of the balance I set you a task I didn’t truly believe any mortal could accomplish. But through your talents and perseverance, you have undone my husband’s scheming. Five centuries, my daughter has languished in the Terminus. Now she is restored to her rightful place at my side.”
“I owe you a great debt, Summer Ray.” Marissa fixed him with a look that bordered on flirtatious. “And I look forward to the opportunity to repay it.”
“I was simply doing my Queen’s will.” Sanders smiled politely as he glossed over Marissa’s forthright suggestion. “But with your leave, my Queen, I would retire and live the remainder of my days in peace.
“Retire?” Marissa interrupted. “Mother, surely you do not mean to allow such talent to be wasted. Were my own retainers half as capable as the Summer Ray, I’d never have been removed from your side.”
Titania regarded Kasey and Sanders with eyes that had watched centuries come and go. Kasey’s heart skipped a beat.
“Perhaps things have changed in my absence,” Marissa replied, “for when I last walked these halls, the Summer Ray was released by death. None set aside the mantle.”
“It is unusual,” Titania agreed. “Though we were also at war, and in fairness, none of them lasted half as long as my current champion. My husband is both cunning and violent, and my champions often paid the price. Noah has been singularly successful both in thwarting their progress and surviving their machinations. So, as I have sworn it, so will it be. I cannot keep him against his will.”
Kasey fought the urge to punch the air with her fist. They’d done it, and all the court was witness to it. She couldn’t back out now.
Marissa looked positively agitated. That made Kasey happier than it ought to have.
“But…” Titania paused long enough for the court to go still. “The Congress will retaliate for our incursion, and I can only protect you while you are here. So, my Summer Ray, I would not turn you out into the cold, nor would I keep you against your will.”
Sanders was silent, and Kasey could almost see the cogs turning as he considered the Queen’s words.
Titania’s singsong voice filled the room. “I cannot be without a champion, and I cannot take the mantle from you without killing you, so you must set it aside. I just wonder how you hope to keep the two of you safe without it.”
Titania’s words in Kasey’s apartment came back to her. It is difficult for me to protect him from himself. I am confident he would walk into oncoming traffic if he thought it would spare you from misfortune.
Kasey shook her head. That was Titania’s gambit. She would use Sanders’ desire to protect her to keep him from leaving her service.
Noah went to speak but the Queen raised her hand. “Know this, my Ray. It has been some time since you felt what it is like to be mortal. When I found you, you were a shadow of what you are now. The Summer sun rises, and with it your power, and an eternity with which to enjoy it. If only you were willing to linger here a little longer.”
Kasey’s heart wrenched. The duplicitous, manipulative witch.
Even her limited dealings with Titania told her this had been the queen’s plan all along. She had offered him his freedom and couldn’t be conceived as breaking her oath. But she also baited him back in with the promise of power, longevity, and safety.
She wanted her champion. For the summer sun to rise, winter would have to wane and the most direct route was war. The meaning of her vision was apparent.
At the field of the world tree, Summer would be the aggressor.
“Sanders,” Kasey whispered, “we survived the Council. We can survive the Congress. We don’t need to stay here. Even without the Summer Ray’s power, you’re still the most talented wizard I’ve ever met. You don’t need this. We don’t need this.”
“A touching sentiment,” Marissa said with a laugh, “but mortal life is so short, subject to all manner of frailty and failings. Is that really what you want, Summer Ray? To run forever, when you could be wielding strength and influence, the likes of which no mortal has ever known? Stay with us. Fight with us. You will want for nothing.”
“Don’t do this,” Kasey pleaded, clasping his fingers with hers.
Sanders turned to her. “What happens when they come for us, Kasey? Winter, the Council, the Congress. We can’t hold them all off. There will be no peace. We’ll be running forever.”
“You’re the most talented wizard I’d ever seen,” Kasey replied. “We’ll find a way.”
Sanders pressed his palm to the leather chest plate. “You don’t understand, Kasey. So much of what I am is tied to my place here. Without it, I don’t know who I am, and I don’t think I can protect us.”
“Fight with us, Noah,” Titania said, “and I will ensure a place of safety for both you and Kasey in perpetuity. When we triumph, you can live in peace all the remainder of your days, which here will have no end. Isn’t that what you really want?”
Worry was etched deep in Sanders furrowed brow. She was getting to him.
“I only want you,” Kasey said. “I don’t care about the rest of it.”
She couldn’t tell him what she truly feared. Not here in front of the Summer Court. But the truth was terrifying. If he sided with Summer, and she with the Earth Spirit, they could well be on opposite sides of a war.
The world could not allow Summer to win. No matter which way she looked at it, she was bound to lose, and her heart couldn’t take it.
“Why not stay here, Kasey?” Sanders said. “We’ll be safe. A little while longer, and this will all blow over.”
Kasey pulled her hand from his. “I can’t stay here, Noah. Are you coming with me or not?”
Noah swallowed and that hesitation pierced Kasey to the core.
Kasey closed her hand. Tearing her eyes from Sanders, she looked up at the Summer Queen. “I appreciate the offer, your highness, but I will need to take my leave.”
“As you wish,” Titania said, her expression unreadable.
Was this what the queen wanted?
With her heart twisting itself in knots, Kasey decided she’d had all she could take of Sidhe hospitality and duplicity.
She bowed, turned, and headed for the door.
“Kasey, wait!” Sanders called after her.
She hastened her pace down the aisle toward the doors. It felt like an eternity, but she wasn’t going to let Marissa or the Summer Court see her cry.
Swallowing, she threw open the doors and stormed out of the hall.
How was she going to get home? She’d used a rift to store the Libro Sanguis, the tome to which her ancestor Carys had bound himself. It had been the only way to keep the arcane tome safe. But she had never tried to travel through her own rift to or from Faerie.
Now she was hardly feeling in the right head space to experiment with magic that could leave her stranded between worlds, or worst yet, torn asunder.
You need to move, Kasey.
The irony of the words echoing through her mind wasn’t lost on her.
“Where have you been?” Kasey hissed at the Earth Spirit. “You drop that vision on me last night and then just nothing. I expected a little more urgency.”
Not now. They’re watching you.
Kasey turned and found the Summer Sidhe that had been standing guard staring at her.
She didn’t have a plan, but she started away from the hall as quickly as she could manage without drawing extra attention.
Once she was out of earshot, she asked again, “What’s going on? Where have you been?”
Waiting. I needed to know where your loyalties lie.
“So you knew that was going to happen?” Kasey replied as she picked her way through the trees. “A little warning might have been nice.”
Like warning you that the course you were pursuing could destroy the world? I’m pretty sure it came up.
She might have asked for it, but Kasey wasn’t in the mood for an I told you so. “Enough, smartarse. What do you mean I need to move?”
The Summer Queen wants you here. Like all Sidhe bargains, she’d like you to believe it’s your idea. But if that doesn’t work…
“She’ll find another way,” Kasey finished the thought. “Great. Well, slight problem. I’m not sure I can get out of here without help.”
I will provide the way.
The words were comforting, but not particularly insightful.
Kasey wove between two massive oak tree trunks, her heart pounding.
“If you’ve been listening in, I don’t know that home is any safer than here,” she said.
I did try to tell you the damage you’d cause by venturing there. But on the spectrum of beings wanting a piece of you… Well, the Congress is infantile, the Summer Court is a bad hair day, and the evil you released from the Terminus is apocalyptic.
“Evil I released? You mean Marissa?” Kasey asked.
Move. The Earth Spirit groaned. Head right, toward the Ash trees.
Kasey wasn’t much of a botanist, but after seeing the Earth Spirit’s form, the gargantuan World Tree, she knew the distinctive boughs of an ash tree when she saw it.
In between the clusters of oaks and redwoods stood a glade entirely comprised of ash trees.
The Glade of Renewal, the Earth Spirit announced.
“So, what now?” Kasey asked, slipping between the trunks as she pressed deeper into the woods.
Behind her, Sidhe voices rang out. “This way.”
They’re coming. The Earth Spirit’s voice grew louder inside her mind. Deeper into the glade.
Sweat ran down her brow. Kasey mopped it with the back of her wrist, only managing to smudge it across her cheek.
One of the trees ahead was different. Its trunk was narrow and twisted, and it forked at her head height, splitting into two trunks that were each buried in the earth.
Not trunks, but legs. Legs covered in roots and vines.
Her eyes tracked up the twisted legs to its torso. A dense tangle of splintered timber grew out of its back like a bramble thicket.
Talora.
The Sidhe-turned-Wendigo had her eyes closed, and was entangled in a dense mass of vines growing out of the earth. Power coursed through the vines, pulsing with magic Kasey could feel, even at this distance.
From the Queen’s words, Kasey expected Talora would be restored to her dainty fae form. But if anything, she appeared to be growing layers of plate-like timber hide over her twisted bony form.
“What’s going on?” Kasey asked. “What are we doing here?”
Leaving, the Earth Spirit replied. This glade has both the power and the pathways we require.
The Sidhe voices grew louder but were drowned out by a splitting noise that sent a shiver down Kasey’s spine.
The trunk of one of the mighty ash trees had split open, but instead of timber and sap, the inside of the trunk was a sea of stars.
“What is this?” Kasey asked. “A portal?”
No. Portals between realms are opened and closed by magical beings. The Ways are always open if you know where to find them.
“Is it safe?” Kasey asked.
The voices grew louder. “She’s in the Glade of Renewal.”
Safer than here.
“Fair enough.” Kasey took one last look at Talora, and then charged into the starry abyss, unsure what to expect on the other side.
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