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Kerrie was frantic. It was really that simple. She was frantic with worry and nothing anyone could say would make things better except that they'd found Lady Gwendaline and the children and they were alright and that Lord Gwynne was awake and alright. Everything happening at once was too much for her.
Pete was no less worried, but someone had to stay sane in all this mess, especially since Kerrie had collapsed after hearing that her adoptees were missing. At the moment, he sat beside her in the Countess' Courtroom, waiting, with most of the other fae in the realm. Mistral sat in a corner, away from everyone, his own grief pulled tightly around him. One by one messengers and Castles fae alike returned to the Court with only one message, there was nothing new to report.
Then sounds of a commotion outside drifted into the silent and worried Court. Pete looked up curiously and nudged Kerrie. "Something's up."
Kerrie looked up slowly, her face leaden with nothingness. As the sounds grew louder, she started to look interested, as did more and more of the fae in the room, including the Countess Estella on her Seat. Then the noise was outside the doors of the Court, and it was obviously shouting voices, some of them high pitched, almost like children. Kerrie put a hand to her throat, almost too scared to hope.
Then the doors crashed open and three children rushed into the room, a little girl and two boys, one of them a Nocker childling, the little girl holding up something shiny as they ran straight for Estella, one of the guards hot on their tail. A fourth person, a young man who was rapidly taking on lupine features, struggled with the other guards.
"My apologies, your Excellency," the running guard shouted as he caught the little girl and the two boys attacked him trying to free her, all three shouting at the top of their lungs that she be let go, they had to talk to the Countess.
Kerrie came perrilously close to fainting. Her children were alright. But why did they need to speak with Estella? Pete held her back from running to them. "They've something that need's doin', though I have no idea what it could be."
Estella stood and everyone fell silent. "Let them speak, Douglas. The girl holds Gwendaline's Signet ring." A gasp of surprise filled the room as the import of the observation sunk in.
Lisa shook herself free of the Troll's hands and stepped forward to kneel before Estella, while most of the Fae of Castles-in-the-Air, including Sarah, Tabby, and Daniel hugged each other and themselves in joy. "Rhydian stole Lady Gwendaline."
Mistral looked up suddenly, the numb grief that had surrounded him suddenly replaced. He stood, but stayed silent at Estella's motion. The child wasn't finished yet.
"Rhydian stabbed Lord Gwynne, and he also killed Morgan. He's cold, terribly cold. Ya gotta rescue her, and quick."
A startled breath filled the room at the pronouncement. A dozen voices whispered the same, terrible word. "Dauntain." Mistral's face went completely flat with rage. Somehow it didn't surprise him. It horrified him, but didn't surprise him. Would that man never die!
Estella took in the news silently, casting one inquisitive glance at Mistral. Then she looked directly at the enchanted child in front of her. "You have done the Kithain a great service today." The child positively glowed under the praise, as did the two boys. The young man who accompanied them was calmed down by now and stood quietly off to one side. "What would you like, as a suitable reward . . ." Estella fell silent as Sarah hesitantly motioned to be recognized. The grandame nodded to the girl, who approached the Seat respectfully, to whisper with her for a moment, a surprised and pleased look coming across her face. Then she turned back to the child. "As a reward for your exemplary service to the land, and to the Lady who shelters you, you are hereby granted a Knighthood, recognized by the Dreaming itself." A bright glow of Glamour surrounded the aging Countess, a bit of it spinning off to envelop the little girl. "Rise before me, Dame Lisa, and take your proper place among us."
Lisa stood, a look of absolute joy-filled wonder on her face, and adoration for the Countess, and for Sarah. Her joy was so great she didn't know how she was going to hold it all, she wanted to shout it out to the world, but she didn't know how. She turned to face her brother and they're newfound friend, and she hugged them both, and then all three were hugged by Brandon, and then more and more of their friends drew near to hug them all out of joy.
Estella motioned to Mistral to approach her during the celebration. "Do you know where to find the Dauntain?"
"Aye, your Excellency. I have my ideas. I thought I'd killed him already."
"Do what you have to. You are the vessel of my judgement in this. For his murder of the Baroness Morgan he is condemed to death, and his death will not lie on your soul. Take who you need to and bring your wife home."
Mistral nodded. He was going to kill Rhydian anyway, but it never hurt to have official sanction. And this time he'd make sure that he stayed dead.
Preparations for the rescue weren't long in the taking. There were, however, so many volunteers to be in the rescue party that Mistral ended up having to dictate who was staying home. In the end, he took with him Daniel, and Sarah, and, much to the surprise of the fae, he also brought the werewolf, Brandon. No one understood why the sluagh decided to bring a Garou on his quest, but no one questioned him either. This was his party, he'd invite who he wanted to.
Finding the path to the ruins of Rhydian's Keep wasn't all that difficult, either, since Mistral had been there once already, and the way that the Dreaming got colder as they got closer was a fairly accurate indicator that the Dauntain was still in residence. The rescue party, however, was not prepared, at all, for the harsh and ugly snowscape that the ruins had become, the ice and the snow lacking all of their customary beauty.
"Well, we're here." Sarah murmured, the other two agreeing with her, only Mistral was silent. "Where inside do you suppose they are?"
Mistral looked around. "In the lower levels. I know a way in. Follow me."
"To the ends of the earth, if need be." Daniel's voice softly rumbled as they started towards the frozen ruins.
Gwendaline watched Rhydian carefully as he paced back and forth, raging against Mistral, and Leonine, and the rest of Faerie society. It was possible that he had never been so dangerous as he was now, simply because in his rage he had turned to embrace the Winter.
"You are MINE!" he shouted.
Gwendaline sneered at him. "Never. You have never truly had my heart, and you will never own me. Even when I was your befuddled prisoner, my heart belonged to one man, and one man alone, and he is even now on his way to take me home."
"He doesn't even know you're here, how can he steal you away? You belong to ME, and I will not have that which is MINE stolen from me again!"
Gwendaline saw a shadow move in the opposite corner of the grey stone dungeon room, and smiled, then turned a smirk on to Rhydian. "Then prepare to fight, for my husband has arrived."
Rhydian whirled around, pulling out a sword, only to have his blade stopped by another, and found himself face to face with a very angry Sluagh. "I should have made sure you were dead the first time. I won't make that mistake again." he whispered, and the fight was on.
The other three companions made their way along the walls over to where Gwendaline was chained. They were about to reach her when the shadows around them coalesced into demonic creatures that attacked them with a fury to match that of the Sidhe and Sluagh in the center of the room. Daniel and Sarah fought back to back, with Brandon beside them, until finally he let out a roar of fury and grew several feet into the terrifying man-beast that the Shifters were so well known for.
"Go for Gwendaline!" Sarah shouted at Brandon, and he nodded to her, the only indication that he heard her voice above the sound of his own blood as he ripped his way through shadow-creatures to the unafraid Baroness. The chains holding her provided a momentary confusion, before he simply tore them out of the wall and ripped the metal apart, freeing her. Then he picked her bodily up, and waded back through the chaos to Daniel and Sarah, roaring the news of his success.
Mistral allowed himself a small smile as he fought the Dauntain who had been his greatest enemy. His emotions were firmly under control, for even though he hated the Sidhe with a passion unmatched, it did not rule him. Rhydian's anger, though, was a different story. His rage had fueled his descent into Winter, and even now it ruled his actions. Mistral grew more calculating with his fury, Rhydian grew more rash, until at last he made the final mistake that Mistral had been waiting for, and his blade slid home through the Sidhe's heart.
There was silence in the ruined Keep for a moment as Rhydian looked incomprehensably at the blade in his chest. Then the silence was barely broken by the soft whisper of a sluagh's voice. "You die here, Rhydion of Eiluned and Gwydion. You are condemned to death by the laws of the Kithain, and I am going to make damn sure you don't come back to haunt us from this one." He pulled out a dagger from a sheath at his belt, a real dagger. Then he plunged it into Rhydian's chest with one smooth motion and watched as he fell backwards. A moan seemed to escape from all the shadow creatures around them, for all action had stopped, and then the rumbling began, and the stones of the keep began shaking loose and falling.
"Uh oh, looks like the house is about to finish falling down around us." Sarah pointed out, "Let's get out of this basement and watch the pyrotechnics from a safe distance, alright?"
No one disagreed with her.
Once outside, Brandon set Gwendaline on the ground, as he shifted back down to his human form and she ran right into Mistral's arms. They held each other closely for a long time, long enough for the three companions to grow slightly uncomfortable with everything. In the end, it was Daniel who spoke up.
"You know, you can continue this back at Castles, and you don't have to have an audience then."
Gwendaline smiled softly as she reluctantly stepped back. "Yes, let's go home."
Castles-in-the-Air was preparing for a celebration the likes of which was rarely seen in the Banality-locked world. The news that Lady Gwendaline had been recovered and was on her way home swept through not only the Barony, but also the neighboring Baronies throughout Estella's County. Though the celebration would be in Castles, Estella herself and the other three Barons, that included the Baron-Regent Marbles O'Riordan, would be there to honor the Baroness who had endured so much, and to celebrate the freeing of the city from the touch of one more Dauntain.
Kerrie was absolutely beside herself with preparations when, out of the blue, Lord Gwynne suddenly awoke, shouting out the terrible news of Rhydian's perfidy, though thankfully everyone already knew. Still, his was one more voice that helped to seal over the terrible breach of trust that Rhydian had engineered when he murdered Baroness Morgan, and caused Sir Daniel to be blamed for it. Kerrie would have run herself into a nervous breakdown had all of her duties not been joys for her to accomplish.
And then the rescue party returned triumphant, bearing the much-loved Baroness with them, and the skies above Castles-in-the-Air well nigh hummed with joy and Springtime warmth to belie the autumn weather of the mundane world. The first to meet her was not, as was usually suspected, Kerrie and Pete, who had acted as one as Seneschal for the Holding, but their offspring, adopted as they were, Robbie and his sister, Dame Lisa. Truly that was one announcement that was a cause for much joy. The younglings' friend Snickersnack was close behind them, somewhat hesitant to approach the Lady, but he was in the end persuaded to present himself to Gwendaline, pulled kicking and screaming by Dame Lisa if the truth be told, and he was accepted into the fold of Castles-in-the-Air, much to his seeming chagrin.
And then the day of the celebration dawned bright and clear, a beautiful autumn day towards the end of November, when much of the mundane world around them was also giving thanks for the blessings in their lives.
Castles-in-the-Air had probably never been host to so many fae since the day the Barony had been rocked with the news of the Baron's death, but this time the joy overshadowed the overwhelming sorrow of that terrible night. There was light and laughter and music and dancing to shake the stars from the heavens, and even the childlings of the land weren't sent off to bed at the usual hour, but allowed to remain as long as they could stay awake.
It was towards the latter part of the festivities, when the first joy had subsided and some of the more quiet and restrained activities had commenced, the tale-telling and the singing, when a messenger arrived at the party and was announced into the celebration with a note of curiosity.
"His Lordship, Quelthalas Morningsong, Royal Messenger and Emissary from his Majesty's court, King Rualtha of the Coastlands." The royal messenger entered and bowed inclusively to the partiers.
"If it is not too much trouble," he murmured urbanely to the crowd, "I'd like to speak with Countess Estella. I was told that she was here tonight." Estella stepped forward to speak with the emissary, and then with Gwendaline who directed them to an alcove where they could speak at length.
Rumor buzzed around the chamber for quite a few minutes, the speculations growing larger and larger with every mouth they passed through, until at long last both Estella and the emissary emerged and Estella spoke quietly with Gwendaline, before Gwendaline called for silence throughout the chamber. "It seems that there is a royal proclamation to be read, and since most of the Kithain in the County are here tonight, then this is the logical place. Copies of the proclamation will be made available to each and every resident of these parts, but first, since I know all of you are as curious about it as I am, I will defer to Lord Morningsong."
The emissary bowed to Lady Gwendaline as she stepped to the side and he stepped forward. "Well, since I know all of you are just bursting with curiosity, I'll dispense with reading all of the pleasantries that scribes so delight in inserting everywhere they can in a royal announcement, and get right to the meat of the matter. Let it be known to the lands under the benevolent eye of Estella of Fiona that his Majesty knows of the troubles that are plaguing your homes, and that his gracious Seers tell him that your lands especially are going to be blessed with growth the likes of which has never been seen. Therefor, in his wisdom and understanding, Countess Estella is hereby granted the title Marquessa of all Mountainview, under the direct guidance of his Majesty. In keeping with being the Marquessa of such a growing land, she is hereby directed to raise or create as many counties as she sees fit and to divide up her lands as is most appropriate. Those counties are then to oversee the arrangement of Baronies and if, appropriate, Knightly demesnes."
A wave of stunned murmurs washed over the crowd. This, of all, was not what they expected to hear, true, there was a higher population density of faerie to mortal in Mountainview than in the outside lands, but they hadn't thought it of that much concern for a move such as this to be made.
The emissary bowed to Marquessa Estella, then to Lady Gwendaline, and then to the crowd. I must bid you adieu for now. I have a long road to travel." Then he took his leave of them, leaving Mountainview's inhabitants to discuss the developments, and to consider the tremendous changes coming to their land.