Of Tea...and Things

A Long Awaited Meeting

Their whispers were cut short as the crowd grew suddenly silent in anticipation, for there was the Fairy Queen herself in the very bottom of the little dell, upon the rising sides of which her followers and allies were seated on every side. Said she in delight, "you have all done very well, we have gathered much data and scouted out the area in question without the locals discovering that anything is other than we would have it appear. Soon we will be able to actually put our grand scheme into action, and when we have succeeded, men will be but the myth and we the reality in this onetime stronghold of the mortal race!" There was much excited chatter at this, but someone ran to the lady and interrupted further grand prognostications to pass along some vital message, which did nothing to put her into a cheery frame of mind.

Roared she at the gathered minions, "who has broken my strict mandate not to manhandle, maim, or otherwise interfere with the locals?"

The she-goblin screeched eagerly, "nay Highness, it is nothing of the sort! I bring you a gift! The very chief of the men hereabouts! And that traitorous little imp who has sought shelter in the creature's house!"

"Come forward," said the Queen grimly, causing Iris to shudder in dread, but in nowise fazing her goblin companion. They and their captives were pushed forward by the anxious crowd of creatures, wanting nothing whatsoever to do with the fools and whatever punishment the Queen would likely mete out.

"You ridiculous fools!" scorned the Lady, once she had looked over captives and captors alike, "Have you any idea how dangerous this is?"

"I'm sure we can arrange things to look perfectly ordinary, milady," protested the goblin, "none needs know anything out of the ordinary is happening in this sleepy little district."

"It is not of that I am wary," said the Queen coldly, frigid as a winter midnight that shatters the very stones in its grasp. She eyed the vampire stonily, "of what are we leery, bloodsucker? Your people are ever being hounded and harassed by these very pests, so much so that you have a peculiar name for them, well?"

"The Bloodless!" spat Iris, in a perfect display of vampiric disgust.

The Queen glared at her, "and why would you involve yourself in a plot sure to bring them upon us?"

"We did not pause to think, madam," said Iris honestly; the goblin, staring daggers at her seeming betrayal, silently promised that if she survived the Queen's ire, the goblin would take matters into her own claws. Iris flashed her fangs in warning and the irate creature actually cowered back in fear, eliciting a much pleased smile on the would-be vampire's part.

"And now what is to be done?" growled the Queen, "Every moment we keep these creatures here means your precious Bloodless might just show up to rescue them and destroy our plans! Take them and be gone, and consider yourselves likewise banished from all aspects of our plot and the Wood itself!"

"No Mistress!" begged the goblin, ripping the magnificent dress with her grasping claws as she pled for mercy, a crime perhaps even more heinous than disobeying a direct order on a covert mission for the Fairy Queen.

The Queen looked down in disgust upon her ruined gown and snarled, "kill them all!"

Iris's only concern now was the imperiled and helpless imp, she tried to hasten to his side to do something, anything, to keep him from being hacked to bits by the overly zealous crowd hoping to please the Queen with their efficiency, but sadly found herself in just such dire straits. It is very difficult to save someone else from such a messy fate when one's own person has suddenly been reduced to so much ghastly carrion.

"Now," said her Majesty, once the messy details had been attended to, especially the matter of her ruined Third Best Dress, but happily she had a spare, a lady of breeding always did!, "back to business!"