Stolen Scales

Chapter 29

Alai waits for Kyma to make her way down the hill before setting off, leading Kyma and Lyss to a dark and wooded area in the shadow of a much larger hill. As Alai continues leading them toward the hill, she starts to go around it, taking them to the backside. She reaches it first and crouches, brushing aside the long grasses at the bill's base. As the grasses part beneath her hands, they reveal a hole in the side of the hill. When Lyss sees it, she curses.

"For all the tides! Alai, why are we going into the sídhe? What is so important that we need to go in there. What's so important that Kyma needs to go in there? You know the sídhe are dangerous, even if we're not in the old lands!"

Alai stares at her for a few moments, then sighs. "You need to trust me, Lyss. It's too dangerous to speak of it outside the sídhe."

Lyss sighs and looks at Kyma. "Are you absolutely sure that you need to go in there for this? Do you even know how dangerous the sídhe can be?"

"No, I don't. And you can tell me of the dangers later. But I trust Alai, and I know that this matter is important."

Lyss sighs again, defeated. "Very well. But can I at least go in first? I'd like to make it as safe for you as possible."

Kyma glances at Alai momentarily, waiting for her to nod. Alai does so, and Kyma turns back to Lyss. "Of course."

Lyss smiles weakly and turns to the hole, sitting down before it. She takes a deep breath and positions her feet inside of it before sliding in. She quickly disappears from sight, and Kyma leans forward with a gasp, straining for any sight of her. She turns back to Alai.

"Is she alright?"

"She should be, the sídhe here aren't too dangerous."

As if on cue, Lyss shouts from down below. "I'm alright! You guys can come down, it's safe!"

Alai looks at Kyma. "Do you want me to go first?"
"No, I can do it."

Kyma sits on the edge of the hole and slides in. She falls for a second or two before landing on her feet with a thud. She looks back up to the hole looking both close, and very far away. When she just looks, it appears to be high above her head, but if she reaches her hand up, she can graze the bottom edge of the hole with her fingertips. She pulls her hand away and turns to Lyss, whose face is illuminated despite the darkness of the sídhe. Kyma turns to Lyss in confusion.

"What is this place?"

Lyss smiles weakly at Kyma. "This is a sídhe. Also known as a faery mound. They are magical places, but very dangerous, especially as they belong to the Aos Sí."

"Aos Sí?"

Lyss smiles. "They are faeries. We are technically one of them, but the lesser group. At the highest level are the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. I would tell you more, but I'm afraid that that part of our stories about the Old Land has been lost. All I can say is that the human world now calls the Aos Sí the Sidhe, when in fact that is the name of the mounds, their home. If we were all human, the sídhe would be even more dangerous for us to be in. But the danger is lessened by us being folk."

With a gasp, Alai falls down into the hollow of the sídhe. Instead of landing on her feet like Kyma did, her legs crumple and she falls to the floor. She picks herself up and stands, brushing her clothes down to shake off any dust.

"Well, shall we get to the point?"

"Yes."

Lyss looks between the two girls in confusion. "Can someone please tell me what this is all about?"

Alai looks at her, her gaze hard. "Can we trust you to keep everything discussed here a secret?"

Lyss frowns. "I can . . . but as Princess Kyma's permanent guard, I must alert the Queen if it is dangerous to Kyma."

"It shouldn't be, as long as you don't tell anyone."

"Then the waves will drown any words I utter."

Alai nods in approval and turns to Kyma. "Did you bring it?"

Kyma nods and sits down, pulling her bag off and setting it on the dirt floor before her. She opens the bag and pulls out the sheathed dagger, to Lyss' gasp of surprise, fear, and anger.
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I know this one is really short, I'm sorry! But this is where it wanted the chapter to end, and while I am the author, the book controls my pen/fingers. Were any of you confused by the sídhe? Tell me if you are, and I can try to explain it to you a bit better. Now on a different note, what do you think they will tell Kyma about the dagger?

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.