Fairysitters

Part 6

 

         Katy and Marcus tumbled through the ceiling of Target's weapon room, Katy landing on Marcus. She jumped up and shook him in a panic.

         "Marcus!" she cried. "Marcus, are you okay?!"

         Slowly, the glassy look in his eyes faded and he focused on Katy with some difficulty. "Katy, right?" he said uncertainly. She breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around him. "What happened? Where's Chris?" he asked, becoming more alert.

         "I dunno," replied Katy, looking around with him. She looked up and saw the door was gone. "I was sure the door opened underneath all three of us."

         Marcus' eyes opened wide. "Katy, what if...?"

         "No!" she interrupted. "Just stay calm for a second. She knows how to take care of herself. Maybe she went to find Target." Katy got up and rushed into the hallway. "Christine?" she called. "Chri...oof!" Katy fell back to the ground as she ran full force into something. She looked up to see what it was and realized it was Robin. "Aunt Robin!" gasped the little girl uncertainly.

         "Hullo, Katy," smiled Robin, picking her up. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

         "I was looking for Christine," she said in a low voice, avoiding Robin's eyes. Robin frowned, but kept her smile.

         "Well, you're the first little girl I've bumped into since dinnertime," returned Robin. There was a brief awkward silence as Robin waited for more and Katy avoided giving it to her. "Katy..." she finally began.

         "I...I gotta go find Chris," she said, sliding down from Robin's grasp. She turned to go back to the weapon room, only to run smack into Marcus.

         "Hey, didja find...oh...hi, Lady Robin," faltered Marcus.

         "Don't you "hi, Lady Robin" me, young man. You were sent to do a job. Now exactly what's kept you from it?" said Robin, waiting expectantly.

         "Well, I...that is, well...we..." Marcus looked desperately at Katy. Her eyes had been staring at the floor, but at this, she looked up at Robin.

         "Aunt Robin," she began, "are you real busy right now?"

         "I'm never to busy for you, dear," answered Robin, kneeling down to look at Katy.

         "Good," said the little girl seriously, "'cause I gotta tell you something..."

 

 

         Fallon, alias K'rin, was a teleporter. Not the best, she knew, but she was, at least, average. After all, she had grabbed little Christine right out of that door she'd made. And then sending Naomi and the child to Corwin's at the same time had taken some doing in itself.

         Anyway, she didn't even want to be the best, especially if it meant going through all the heartache her older sister had. All she wanted now was to 'port home and put this entire business out of her mind. Even as she thought this, she heard Naomi's voice in her mind: "You're in this up to your scalp, my pet, and don't you forget it!"

         She slid down the inside of the jar and stared at the blood that had splattered all over the sheets. The sight of it almost made her gag. She was too violent, Naomi was. But she's long gone and I'm here waiting for my doom in this glass prison, thought the fairy sadly. I guess the violent ones are the ones who stay alive around here. She sighed deeply, then began coughing as the stale air hit her lungs. It was getting harder and harder to breath, but she knew better than to panic.

         Oh, if only she'd have let me explain! I never wanted to hurt anybody! I didn't even want to do this in the first place! And I tried to be nasty so we'd have to leave, but even that backfired!

         "Doesn't anyone believe me?!" she shouted, standing up. The blood rushed straight to her head and she again fainted, just as Robin burst in the door with Katy in her arms and Marcus behind her. They were immediately arrested by the sight of the bed.

         "Oh, no!" gasped Katy.

         "Well," breathed Robin, not sounding anywhere near as fearful as she felt. "This is a sight, isn't it?"

         Marcus' mouth fell open as he saw the mess in front of him, but he remained silent. Slowly, Robin approached the bed and touched the blood. She held her finger up to Marcus and he recovered from his horror.

         "It's fresh," he said, his schooling coming back as he touched the bed himself.

         "Correct. Which means whatever happened must have happened quite recently. Check for more clues," she said, setting Katy down. As she stood up, she noticed the jar on the table, clouded with steam. Frowning in confusion, she opened the jar and emptied its contents into her hand. "Fallon?!" she gasped in surprise.

         Katy looked at the fairy in Robin's hand and said, "That's the fairy with Naomi!"

         It occured to Robin that she had never actually seen the two fairies, even when they'd come to report Christine missing. She had meant to, especially since Daina's judgement was not exactly of the highest caliber, but with Daina's recent antics and her own family to take care of, she'd...well, she'd simply forgotten. Now, she was quite sorry she had. It might have prevented this one from getting into trouble again. She placed a finger gently on Fallon's forehead, trying to revive her. "Are you sure?" she asked Katy. The little girl nodded emphatically and Robin sighed. "Poor gullible little Fallon. What has your loving sister gotten you into now?"

         "That's your sister?" asked Marcus, who had silently joined the group.

         "Oh, no, nooo!" exclaimed Robin quietly. "If she were, I'dve never gotten her into this." She paused as Fallon stirred weakly, then said, "This is Naomi's sister."

 

 

         "...stupid, asenine, lying, backstabbing, UG-ly female I've ever had the displeasure of making!" I said as nonchalantly as I could to Naomi. "And YOU," I nodded at Corwin, "are the most self-centered, idiotic, re-run of a bastard I ever created." Naomi almost joyfully sashayed over and jackslapped me into next week. As I was shaking off the pain, Corwin began to chuckle and walked over to me.

         "Now, now, such language isn't befitting a lady of your position," he said, patting my cheek. "Besides, we mustn't anger Naomi!"

         OH-yeah, I thought to myself with a smirk. He's definitely asking for it. I lunged at him and he stood laughing quietly, waiting for me to acknowledge the shackles on my arms and legs. He didn't have long to wait. This wasn't the first time I'd jumped like that and my wrists were getting pretty sore. When I could finally think rationally and speak calmly, I took a deep breath and said, slowly, "What exactly do you want from me and where is Christine?"

         "Patience, my dear "creator", patience. All in due time."

         "Yeah, I got yer due time," I muttered, jangling my chains meaningfully. "I wanna see the kid and I wanna see her now. Otherwise, you don't get jack from me in terms of cooperation."

         "Oh, I will most certainly get your cooperation, my dear, whether you see her or not. Or, shall I say, whether you see her alive or not?" I closed my eyes and found myself recalling the immortal words of Daffy Duck: "Shoot 'im now, shoot 'im now!!!"

         "Did I mention how much I loved this dining room/holding area combo?" I said, purposely changing the subject. "Have your cake and watch your prisoners, too. Very efficent." He snapped his fingers and pointed to the door. Naomi nodded and left in that direction. "Fetch my slippers, slave!!!" I hollered after her.

         "Don't antagonize," said Corwin. "She might be inclined to bring your sister up in a less than desirable fashion."

         "I don't care what the heck he dresses her in as long she's okay," I replied.

         "She," he corrected.

         "He," I smirked. "Cut to the chase already."

         He sighed. "Very simply, I want controlling interest over you. I want your every decision, your every creation, your every move to be mine."

         "You want my body?" I returned blandly. "Don't you think a sex change this late in your career might ruin your chances as a mercenary lord?"

         "You know what I mean." He turned away from me, a serious look on his face.

         I looked up, then ducked my head with a stifled giggle. O-kay, I thought, so far, this is yesterday's news. 'Course, I don't wanna hurt his ego or anything. Might as well make it look good. I shifted my jaw into defiance position as I spoke. "And if I don't?"

         "Then I sell your stock." Great, I thought. I'm being held captive by a mercenary lord/business exec. I've been watching too many soaps lately.

         "Y'mean kill me?"

         "Exactly."

         I pretended to turn this age-old idea over in my mind, thinking about how Kathy'd be rolling in the aisles with laughter by now, then said, "Yeh, but then you still don't get what you want."

         "There's always Kathy," he shrugged.

         "Who you'd have to get to first," I agreed.

         "Of course. Christine will make us a door..."

         "Right. She's too strong to fall for any of your crap."

         "Who do you think made the door to your room from here? Or did you think you'd walked?"

         I paused, trying to keep my cool. He was starting to worry me, ever so slightly. "So you caught the kid off guard. Big deal."

         "Nevertheless, you'd be surprised what small children will do with a little encouragement...especially if they're convinced it'll keep someone they love dearly alive." He waited for me to come back and I wisely remained silent. "At any rate, the Lady Kathy loves the child as much as you. Or, if that isn't enough, I could use Christine to get that other dear child...oh, what is her name...?"

         "Katy," I breathed, closing my eyes.

         "Yes, that's the one. If I had them both and then presented my offer to Lady Kathy..."

         She'd do anything, I thought. Not good. "What about Chris?" I asked.

         "She stays in my possession no matter what you choose to do."

         Uh-huh, I thought, with a sigh. Maybe if I didn't start these conversations with lesser beings so self-assuredly, I might not get myself into stuff like this. Already, my mind was working like 60 thinking of ways to weasel out of the whole deal. It must have been written all over my face, because he smiled again.

         "Think it over, won't you? I'm going to check on my new (here he paused to flash that cocky grin that seems to run in the family) toy." He left in the direction Naomi had gone.

         "Aww, man, you..." I stopped, then kicked the wall angrily. Darned if I couldn't think of a snappy comeback...!

 

 

         "So Naomi mirrored bodies with me so she could sneak in without being caught and she asked me to come along to make it more believable. Naomi's original intent was to split Christine and Daina up gradually so Christine would come with us to Lord Nightshade willingly, but that backfired when Christine found out about our relationship to him," sighed Fallon to Robin, Katy and Marcus. "I didn't want any part of it and I said so, but...well, you know Naomi."

         "Unfortunately," drawled Marcus. Robin gave him a quick silencing look, reminding him he was listening to Naomi's sister. She turned to Fallon again.

         "I understand," she reassured her.

         "Which fairy were you?" asked Katy.

         "K'rin," came the reply.

         "But then why were you so mean?"

         "I hoped that maybe Lady Daina would hate us both and make us leave." said Fallon. "But then Naomi said that I was helping her be more believable, so I didn't know what to do."

         "Have you any idea what Naomi and Corwin had planned for Christine?" she asked.

         Fallon shook her head negatively. "I don't think I was intended to be around this late in the game," she said wryly. "Besides, the whole thing's probably been changed now. But I think I know where they are. My sister drugged the Lady Daina with a poisoned knife under the chin and took her through a door that disappeared after she went through it." As she spoke, she made a motion with her finger as if to demonstrate how the poison had been induced.

         "Which explains the blood on the bed," said Marcus softly.

         "And the quick getwawy," nodded Robin.

         "I'm almost positive I saw Lord Corwin's dining table on the other side before they left." added Fallon.

         "We gotta go help 'em!" said Katy.

         "So let's go!" said Marcus, jumping up and heading for the door.

         "Just a minute, you two," said Robin. "Exactly how do you plan to get there in time with no door?" Both children stopped, then looked at the ground in disappointment.

         "If only I could make a door here, too," sighed Katy.

         "Well, how're we gonna get there?" asked Marcus, shrugging in confusion.

         Robin looked at Fallon with interest for a moment, then said, "Fallon, you say you've successfully transported two people to the castle already?"

         "Yes, but..."

         "Then that's how we'll do it," said Robin determinedly. "I'll go and... you said Target chased one of Christine's dream images through a door to the forest?"

         "Yes..."

         "Then he'll keep there, I suppose..." She turned to look at Marcus and duly noted the look of longing in his eyes. "Very well, Marcus," she sighed, "you may come along in Target's stead."

         "Yessss!!!" he hollered, leaping into the air. Suddenly realizing he was making a scene, he caught himself in mid-exaultation and said, "I'll get my bow, m'lady." He bowed out into the hall, where his excitement, although less audible, was still evident. "Oh, yesyesyesyes, FI-NAL-LY...!"

         "Robin, I'm still not very good at this." began Fallon, as Marcus' voice died away. "Naomi says that I..."

         "Oh, what does she know?" interrupted Robin, irritated by the mention of the name. "You listen to her far too much, I think." Fallon looked down at the ground, embarrassed, and Robin sighed. "Fallon, I'm not condemning you. I'm giving you good advice. You're much better than either you or Naomi give you credit for. The fact that you could teach Christine to use powers that aren't even yours is truly remarkable."

         Fallon blushed. "Christine had that dream image power in her all along," she replied in a low voice.

         "There, you see?" retorted Robin. "You're doing it again. You're so used to standing in Naomi's shadow that you've completely missed your own potential." She paused, seeing the other fairy's eyes become misty. "Fallon, please. Stop following in your sister's footsteps. She's merely using..."

         "But so are you!" cried Fallon, looking up tearfully. "You're using my powers the same way she is! You don't care about me or my feelings!"

         Robin's facial expression never changed, but her entire manner stiffened with the sting of Fallon's words. "I think you know how wrong you are without my even telling you," she replied coolly. Fallon stared at Robin, one of her few true friends, and immediately regretted having spoken. Even back in Pyrope, Robin had always protected her and cared for her the way her real sister should have.

         Katy walked quietly up to Fallon and put her arms around her waist. "Honest, Fallon, we wouldn't use you like Naomi," she said, her innocence penetrating the entire mood. "We just really need your help." Fallon looked at the little girl with a gentle smile and returned her hug.

         As they did, Marcus ran in with his crossbow. "Ready!" he announced, slowing to a halt as he looked at the two women and the child in front of him.

         "Are we?" asked Robin, still looking at Fallon.

         "Yes," replied Fallon determinedly, standing up and taking Katy's hand. "We are."

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