Intertwining Destinies

Chapter 19

A light, cold breeze blew through the clearing where the fae had gathered together for a night of story-telling. However, as the last words were uttered by the bard, a collective shudder went through the entire crowd. Emerald sat still, staring at the elf. He could not mean what she was thinking. Was he foretelling a nuclear holocaust? A vision of golden robotic creatures overrunning a vast corpse-strewn vale with a mushroom cloud in the background, erupted in her mind.

As the cold wind swept loose some strands of her hair, she again became aware of her surroundings and with a jolt, discovered that a pair of yellow eyes was holding her gaze. Talisen's expression of curiosity was quickly shifting nearer to a realisation. Emerald's hand shot up to adjust her hood further down to hide her, but she found it had blown completely back, giving the elf a full view of her face. Her fingers moved feverishly over her shoulders, and with haste, she pulled up the hood to cover her head.

She felt a tug on her arm and saw that Carol was already standing, and the assembled fae were leaving their seats. She jumped up and pulled Carol away from the fire to lead her in between two groups of trolls, to hide themselves from sight.

"We need to get out of here!" Emerald whispered, breathless. "That elf looked like he recognised me or something. I don't know; he was looking at me strangely."

Carol tried to spy past the trolls behind her, but Emerald pulled her along. "No! Let's go home! Please," she pleaded.

She received an exasperated look from the part-green girl. "Fine. Let's get going."

Emerald sighed with relief as they began making their way back through the familiar lantern lit forest path. However, she couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that Talisen had somehow figured out that she was not faerie, but just a regular human with exaggerated eye make-up. She kept looking back to make sure they were not being followed from the clearing.

"No one would be coming now. There's a feast and then dancing. You would've enjoyed it," said Carol.

"Yeah, but this isn't the right time. I need to get to the Bureau and tell them what I've just learned. You know what the government's like - they won't think twice before loading their missiles and jets and bombing the Irish coast as soon as they get the whiff of the location of the Golden Army."

"Whoa! You think it could get that serious?" Carol asked, with a trace of worry.

"Of course! Prince Nuada isn't someone to sit and wait for the princess to turn up with the third crown piece. He'll do anything to get it back from her. I've got to warn Hellboy and the others before it's too late!"

They broke into a jog through the overgrown bushes, without a care for their scratches and cuts as low lying tree branches scraped across them. When they reached the gates of the cottage, Carol traced some complicated designs over the wooden door with the tip of her middle finger.

"What're you doing?" Emerald watched curiously.

"Giving the door the password."

When Carol had completed the ritual, the door swung forward and they went inside. They immediately noticed the folded clothes placed on the sofa, and a pot labelled 'sugar' sitting on top of them. The wartcap they had met earlier, came scurrying forward at the women's entry.

"How did he get in?" Emerald asked, as the wartcap approached Carol's foot, and both heads began rapidly bobbing and speaking.

"That's their special power. They can get in anywhere." Seeing the alarmed look on Emerald's face, she hurried to explain, "But they're forbidden from revealing a secret dwelling like mine. So, it's cool."