Fire Weaver (Fall of the Fey #1)

Chapter 7

The Council room in Willow-wood was filled with the leaders of the three races; Dir'dre, Draco, and Fair-folk. Vivalda and Tharoe were called to be present as well because they were both involved in what was happening. Lekinya, having never been around this many other types of supernatural creatures, was more than a little unnerved.

'What exactly happened the day you fled your home?' Caralax asked Lekinya. The Druid was terrifying with his scars and black eyes. Lekinya had to force herself to make eye contact with him, while her instincts screamed at her that she wasn't safe.

'The man – the necromancer — just showed up,' Lekinya said. 'I mean, he was just there one moment when before he wasn't. Terron, my mate, he asked what the man wanted and the necromancer said join me or perish.' Lekinya looked around knowing her explanation sounded poor, but it really was how it happened. She only hoped they believed her, 'we are a proud people and we don't follow anyone. We, of course, said no. Then, just as suddenly as the man appeared, the room was full of—of dead. But they were attacking us and killing us. We tried to fight back, but as soon as they went down they got back up. Nothing could stop them.' Lekinya shuddered at the memory of the sweet, metallic smell and the way some of the corpses were so old that they were only held together by dried out flesh that snapped and crackled when they moved. 'Terron called to flee and we followed our leader's order. That's how we came to be at the Nine Ladies.'

'Why didn't you ask for help?' Sara asked. She had the most beautiful skin Lekinya had ever seen, it seemed to shimmer and glow.

Lekinya sighed, 'we are proud, Terron especially. He maintained that we didn't need to seek help from the other creatures. Zereth was the only one who questioned that and he was made an example of.'

'Do you know what he wants in the long run?' Esmerelda asked. There was no need to ask which 'he' she was referring to. As the faery gestured, her sharp blue nails caught the light. Lekinya had a feeling they would be just as deadly as Draco talons in a fight.

Lekinya shook her head, 'if we had played along we could have possibly found out but, no, we don't know what his ultimate goal is.'

'Did he seem to have any weaknesses?' Caralax asked.

Lekinya thought about it before she replied, 'he stood back while his dead fought. I don't think he enjoys getting his hands dirty.'

Dire, a taller, greyer version of his son, spoke from where he leaned against the wall, 'does he have any recognisable features?'

'It can help to know what he looks like.' Sara said as she stood, she walked around the table and smiled reassuringly at Lekinya. She placed her hands on Lekinya's cheeks and said: 'just think about the necromancer and I'll do the rest.'

Lekinya shivered as she felt the brush of another consciousness against her own, but did what she was told. She closed her eyes and imagined the necromancer in his blood coloured robes and long brown hair. She heard gasps and opened her eyes to see that everyone else had their eyes closed. Sara stepped away from her and ran her hand down the side of Lekinya's face, almost lovingly, before going back to her seat.

'Obviously human,' Caralax stated, 'only a human would feel the need to dress that ridiculously.'

Lekinya saw Tharoe's lips twitch out of the corner of her eye and she tried not to smile herself. Caralax did have a point though, humans did usually feel the need to dress a certain way for the parts they played. Lekinya had seen proof of that many times while walking through Damnati. Esmerelda and Sara looked at Caralax with disapproval at his comment.

'We need to stop this man.' Kaafor stated and the gathered group nodded their heads in agreement.

'Lekinya, how many fighters do you have left?' Esmerelda asked.