Akyran's Folly

es of how the world was before the arrival of mankind. Tales of when there was only o

vast network of Fae and elvish cities on every contin

how to live amongst us, welcoming them into our cities and our homes. But mankind was prolific, and although the

t was not enough for mankind who feared and envied us. They began to hunt us down, cu

goodness in mankind, and those that wished to eradicate them, resulting in a di

rules to prevent further trespass against us, for we have l

ther so that Akyran's breath stirred my hair. I could feel his body h

avy with their decadent perfume. Night-time creatures moved through the undergrowth with caution, aware of the predator

to be. He inclined his chin and indicated with his eyebrows that we should edge to the front. We bellied aro

it had felled, the sound of bone cracking beneath the mighty teeth loud and the rip of meat

ther Fae hunters, closing in on the beast, thei

attack. I threw my spear, and saw it embed in the manticore's neck, deep enough to stick, as Akyran rammed his, with his body weight behind it, into its chest. I hea

onto its powerful hind legs,

ike, using the broken

ements of the other hunters, a

Aim for the chest and

ed on Akyran again as he reached for the broken shaft of the spear. I ran in, seizing

crimson across the composting leaf matter. My initial throw had hit the jugular, but the spear's lodgement had prevented

e yelled to me

nued to hound it, fighting to the very end. I drew my needlepoint dagger, and leapt onto its back, driving my blade into

his hand and lifted me to standing. "The kil

shoulder and c

atch our breath. He removed a b

ght tomorrow," he told me casual

han a sip of the alcohol within, to chase the chill of the night from m

nst the bite of the spirit. "My parents are actually thinking of interv

u be gon

e the hunters and servants butchered the mant

adies of the court except for the convenience of ready bedfellows, and he never paid much mind

s peck, he had never shown any further interest in me, treating me much as he did my brothers, as if he had forgotten my gender somewh

his eyes to know that they were just dreams. There was no heat in his gaze

me," he sai

led out of my admir

ion. "Pack a couple of pretty dresses and portal over with me

ngled our blood line with mankind, and were well placed and influential in the court. Our parents had been friends for centuries,

ould go because he asked it of me. It was how

placing it, handling me with casual familiarity as he did so. His touch sent a heat through me the burnt fierce

let on. I had a new dress, one that I was eager to wear. The ball at Court

re corpse. Its fur would go somewhere in his quarters. The barbs on its tail and various other pa

shoulder, narrow of waist, long of leg and strong of arm, combined with the dark fall of hair and his blue eyes, and a face many bards had w

d the removal of the

ore tomorrow," he decided, looking up at the moon speculatively as we made our way through the trees

lauded by poets and bards alike although I always found the polished veined stone and the gossamer fine curtains th

reflected in the floor, and the etiquette of undergarments beneat

from, the castle of the Dark Court did not amble along the mountainside, but stood rigid

out exactly as the one below. Except for the ground floor, which was not given to accommodation like the levels above it, but to the busine

ved in by the guards – we were well known to them, our comings and goings making us frequent passers-by and Akyran was, after all, the heir-apparent. We travelled

looming white Fae-rose, a bloom rare and highly sought after for its perfume and as spell components and protected in this gard

t," he said

e tight curve of stairs towards the top floor. Only the archers who watched over the keep from the upper

stle echoed hollowly as many of the chambers were empty, the servants taking advantage of the reduced demand on their time and sticking clos

g and gambling before the fire in one of our apartments and crawling into bed next to each other to sleep off the drink, still fully dressed. I had spent many such night

hair back from my face. "Get a few hours of s

aid with a grin. "Good night," I watched him co

way, he had said, to abscond with me on adventures in the middle of the night, rather than search me out in the lower levels. My parents had held hope

gear, leaving my clothing over the back of a chair, and crept into bed naked. Akyran would wake his manservant and make him pour him

s, imagining Akyran naked and bathing, the water running across his skin, sticking his dark hair to h