Kingsbane

Chapter 11

    Grayson awoke alone, again. Yet, this time, Siva was not sitting in his chair. Instead, a folded sheet of paper occupied the cushion. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he hurried over to it, dread washing over him for a reason he didn't yet understand.
    Grayson,
     I hate to do this, but there isn't another way. If I want to save you, I have to take the chance of losing you first. I've gone back to Faery. Stay at the house. Rest. I left the recipe for your vitamin drinks on the counter. The herbs are color-coded for you. Please drink them, and wait there for Sverre. If you have not heard from either of us in two weeks time, I've failed you. In which case, please forgive me and tell Sarah that I am sorry to have broken my promise to her.
                            Siva.

    "Idiot!" Grayson hissed, though he had no true anger. He slumped heavily into the chair and looked out the window at the drizzly, gray morning. He didn't have time to wait. He was dying. How stupid could Siva be?
    Looking down at the note, his hand shook. A suddenly void had opened in his soul and he felt it would suck away any life he had left, like dirty water down a sink's drain. Couldn't Siva have just stayed by his side? Death hadn't been nearly as scary with him there, had seemed a vague and vacant mystery, and now, now it was all too real.
    He was going to die, here, waiting for the only thing that had ever made his broken body feel whole again. If only Siva was holding him when he took his last breath, it had not seemed so terrible. Stupid, selfish Siva. Why couldn't he just be happy with this little time they'd had? Why did he have to go off hoping to achieve far more than what was within their reaches?
    "Gray," He heard his sister whisper. He didn't look up from his hands as tears trailed down his face. "Siva texted me from your phone last night. He told me to come and look after you."
    "Don't you have school?" He managed to inquire around the sobs he was fighting.
    "It's exam week. I'm off today." Quietly, she wrapped him in a hug. "Go ahead and cry. Just don't wear yourself out too much."
    "I have to tell them, don't I?" He wept into her shoulder. "It's selfish not to, isn't it?"
    "I don't think so." She whispered, closing her eyes to combat her own tears. Seeing her brother so utterly broken was almost worse than watching him die. He'd always been so brave, and she'd never seen him cry before now. Again, her superman was made human. "There's nothing they can do. Mom will only cry, and Dad will just lock himself up in his office."
    "I'm sorry." He hissed, annoyed with himself for being unable to hold back his emotions. What a fool he was making of himself! It was one thing to sob like a woman while he was alone, but in front of his sister? It felt like failure. Still, he'd bottled up his pain too long now, and it could not be helped.
    "Grayson, it's really okay. You'll always be my hero, a few tears aren't going to change that." She pulled away and met his watery eyes. Her smile was sad, but still held a brightness that chased away the sorrow. "When you die, you'll just exchange that cape for wings."
    "You're such a corny little dork." He laughed softly.

    It didn't take long for him to be discovered. He'd walked only just far enough to be unable to see the outpost before a trio of Unseelie surrounded him. They stared at him for a few moments before one of them spoke.
    "Saw that General throw you over the line." The tall man stated, his dark hair falling around his shoulders. His left ear was completely missing and long scars covered his bare chest. "You new?"
    "No." He whispered, eyeing the long machete hanging from the other man's belt, and the glittering jewels ornamenting his wrists and ears. "I snuck across the border to see my sister and was caught before I reached the village."
    "We haven't seen you around here before."
    "It's a large territory." Siva could sense he was in danger, but had no idea how to conduct himself here. In any case, he was careful not to meet the man's golden eyes, knowing that on either side of the border, that was often considered a challenge.
    "We watch the border. We know who comes and goes. It would take skill to go undetected by us. Skills I doubt you have, especially if you were so easily caught by that fool Rafferty." With a nod, the man gave a silent order and Siva was forced to his knees by one of the others, and held at knife point by the other. "What are you doing here? What is your purpose?"
    "I told-"
    "You told me a lie."
    "I'm looking for someone." Siva admitted, "I will pay you for your help."
    The man snorted and squatted down before him, a brilliant, icy smirk on his lips. He lifted Siva's face with his forefinger and glowered down his nose at him. "If I want something from you, all I have to do is take it. But," Glancing up at the darkening sky, he exhaled through his nose. "I think it's best we finish this indoors. Unseelie is even more unpleasant after dark."
    "Let's just search him and leave him here to slow down the Goblins." The man who held the knife suggested. "If we don't get Boss his money before sundown-"
    "Shut your mouth." Sed snapped. "He'll get his payment, and this liar too."
    "I don't think-" The knife-wielders' protest was cut short with his own blade as Sed push Siva backwards and shoved the dagger that had been at his throat into it's owner's face. The wound was not fatal, but the man was certainly going to be blind in one eye and scarred badly.
    The man fell to the ground, holding his face, spewing curses and sobs. The other man sighed, and picked Siva up from the ground where he'd fallen and pushed him forward. "Let's go." He muttered.
    Siva followed Sed without complaint, prodded by the man behind him every once in a while when he grew too slow. This was definitely not good, but trying to escape now would certainly mean harm. His only way out would be bribery.
    "I'm looking for a man named Sverre." He ventured softly. "I have jewels."
    "Good, you can give them to my boss as payment for trespassing." Sed stated, as a dreary looking town came into view.
    It looked eerie sitting beneath the tall trees, black and barren, beneath a thick blanket of fog. If rumors were true, the mist never lifted. This was the first Unseelie city, Zwarte, which contained the Black Boardwalk and his brother's bar, the Red Rabbit.
At least he was getting closer.
    As he was led into the murky city, it became hard to see. Sed and his friend, however, seemed to have no trouble at all navigating through the muddy streets. Perhaps their eyes had adjusted to the blurry atmosphere. Siva tripped more than once over vagabonds laying in his path, drunk or dead. He could sense the Redcaps lurking in the shadows as they hurried down an alley, and as the sun set he began to hear the grumbling of Trolls nearby.
    "Pick up the pace." Sed commanded, grabbing his shoulder and up ushering him up a short flight of creaky wooden steps and through the back door of stone building. There had been a sign hanging above, but he'd been unable to make out the symbols in the fog. "Search him."
    Once inside, Sed's partner began to pat him down, removing the purple clothe bag from his pant's pocket. "Here." He called, tossing it to the half-deaf Fae who peaked into it curiously.
    His eyebrows raised and he quickly pulled the drawstrings, closing the little purse again. "That all he has on him?"
    "Yes."
    "Wait here. Kill him if he moves."
    With that, Sed disappeared around a corner, leaving Siva and the other man alone in what appeared to be a waiting area. It was small and empty. There was one dim lantern burning by the door, and a row of shabby looking chairs against the wall.
    "Where are we?" He inquired, turning to look at his crude escort.
    No response.