Alliance

Chapter 5- Adcessitus

Adcessitus

Latin

Summons

-

a torrent of sweat
and
a wild tremor
overwhelm me
and,
i've turned the colour of drying grass
just before death.
-

To Sanya's (and Edmund's, though he would never say it aloud) relief, as the months turned from March to April to May, it became clear she was not pregnant. 
Edmund had listened to Susan and controlled himself- if not his thoughts, his actions. He hadn’t so much as touched Sanya- who would sooner have murdered her horse before thinking of seducing him, even though sometimes she did long for the return of their intimacy- but he really couldn’t help where his mind strayed to.
But Lucy, whom he was still angry at, he had not listened to- he hadn’t spent time with his Consort or tried to be her friend; the most one could say of him in relation to Sanya was that he didn’t try to control or bother her and was an easy-going man to have as a husband.

"Cheré-" Peter said, surprised, as the pink skinned dryad of the cherry blossom tree drifted up to him.

"High King Peter, our Queen has asked for an audience with you." She spoke, almost tonelessly. "As soon as possible."

"Our doors are always open, for anyone at all, any time-"

"No." Cheré cut him off. "She demands that you and your siblings to visit her."

That threw Peter off. 
"In Neráida?" 
That was the Faerie Realm, never ventured into by anyone but mystical creatures with fae blood in them.

"Yes." Cheré said, and brought out a tiny pinecone from her dress of vines and blossoms strung together. "Break it in two at the eastern edge of the Shuddering Woods, and you will enter her regia."

"I demand to know why we are being summoned like this!" The High King asked hotly, feeling dishonoured at being called in this way.

But Cheré said nothing and metamorphosed into her floral form, such that it looked like she had become invisible and the cherry blossoms on her dress and her skin faded into nothingness.
She fluttered away as she had come, leaving an irate Peter in her wake.

-

"Lucy- please remember these aren't the fairies we read about in- in- back where we came from." For the life of her, Susan couldn't remember the name of the place. It unsettled her, but she was sure it would come back to her. Besides, there were larger trout to treat. "These are different- bigger, less sparkly and far more cunning and vicious."

"The only similarity is that both have wings." Edmund added, leading them through the Woods. "Granted, one's wings can slice you in half while the other's will grant you fairy dust- I think, at least- so that's not much of a similarity either."

"We're here- see, the cherry trees are there- and the once frozen waterfall." Peter said, gesturing in front of him. "Shall I, then?"

"This might be a trap." Susan said, half afraid. "I know the Queen's been nothing but cordial to us in our reign- but remember, she was on the side of the White Witch."