Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend – Sheryl, the Fae-Touched

---

Merla was glad to leave the room.

Tensions were high and it was clear no decision was going to be made whilst Nowhere, the epicentre to where all of the animosity was being directed to – and one could argue it was coming from – until Taffeta got some space. It was getting dangerously close to sounding like the others did not want to help stop the Mirror’s Edge Cabal which had infiltrated into their court.

Merla was not going to let that happen. Not after what happened the week before. With the shadow of the Black Heart Cabal, though weakened, still lurking somewhere out there, this was now the second cabal making moves against a Seelie court. Even if the others left, Merla was going to stay and help the Witching Court. She knew how bad these fey could be. If they got a strong enough hold in the Witching Court, it would be too late to stop them.

It came as a welcomed surprise when Taffeta asked Merla what she thought. She knew how important it was that she say the right thing. She had to not only convey her own desire to help the Witching Court, but convince them, her friends to stand with her.

“From what I know, the Unseelie Cabals stand for everything that the Seelie Courts – Summer, Winter, Wandering, Witching, major and minor – do not.” She glances at Baine. “I know you tend to lump them all in together.”

The big man gives a half shrug. “I’ve come far enough to admit there’s a sliding scale of fuckery.”

She nods appreciatively, a half smile lifting her lips. “There is. And I’ll admit there are things in each of the courts we have visited recently that I have found kinship with and things that I did not understand. These cabals have been sowing dissent in a situation that’s already volatile. It is adding to the chaos. As long as they are weak from within, the courts won’t be able to protect themselves from what is coming. And there is something coming. We still don’t know who assassinated Queen Sarastra. Who’s to say she wasn’t murdered by a cabal?”

Merla locks eyes with Taffeta.

“I say we do this. If we can take some of them for questioning we should.”

Taffeta turns to the others. “What does everyone else think?”

BB thinks for a moment whilst Ghesh shares a look with Baine. Taavor is unsurprisingly silent.

“I think,” Baine starts quietly, “somewhere out there Sunday is saying ‘What gives us the right to be the police of every plane?’” He sighs. “But Sheryl’s is right. If this goes to chaos it’ll spill over to us.” He looks at Taffeta, hand falling to the maul at his side. “Let’s go and slap some people about.”

“I prefer conversation to slapping, but…” BB nods to Merla, “I know chaos, I can feel it, but… I don’t want to just wipe out a whole group of people.”

“I think that’s what makes us different,” Merla says, looking around at everyone. “We listen to people, but most importantly, we listen to our friends.”

They all look at Taffeta. She gives a small nod and then they head back in to tell Lady Josephine they accept the job.

---

The tunnel opens into a grand, circular chamber. The floor appears to be covered in water so it gives the illusion the red caps and eladrin are standing on water. Reflected in it is a large piece of quartz which lights up the entire room but when they look up there is only darkness.

A resplendent golden throne sits at the far end of the room upon which lounges a figure. Various colours swirl and reflect through their flesh and the effect upon their entrance is practically dizzying. Rainbows dance across their vision but Merla and her friends manage to keep themselves together.

“So! You’ve come to join, have you?” they speak, quieting the jeering redcaps and menacing looking eladrin with the sound of their voice. It is clear, like crystal ringing through water. “There can’t be any other reason for you to be here! You don’t like Queen Nicnevin?”

“I’d say we’re a neutral party,” Baine hedges, whilst his cindermaul is lit with flames.

The figure barks out a laugh that sounds like a wind chime. “Neutral! A fine idea.” They lean forward on one elbow. “You can go home if you want to but I think your talents would be much better employed in killing hags. You don’t like hags, do you?”

“Can someone interrogate or question this flashing motherfucker so I know whether there’s going to be a fight or not?” Baine grumbles to everyone, doing his best to not grip his maul tighter.

Merla takes that as her cue and steps forward.

“Ah, the Daughter of Summer,” the creature says, gesturing to her in a welcoming way. Merla inclines her head, mildly surprised this creature knows of her.

“We have not had the best experience with hags in the past. By ‘we’ I mean my friends here from the Material Plane.” She quirks an inquiring eyebrow. “But what is your beef with the Witching Court?”

“The Beef – that’s a good phrase, I like it, write it down,” they say to an eladrin standing nearby and they give the creature a confused nod. “The Witching Court believes in the powers of The Bargain. I’m all for a bargain but Nicnevin holds the greatest power in all the feywild and does nothing with it. Power you don’t use is useless. Like you in the back with the flaming weapons there.” They gesture to Baine and Ghesh, who also has his morning star wreathed in white flames. “If you don’t hit things with them, they’re just expensive torches.”

“It was recently pointed out to me that I’m a changed man but I haven’t changed that much,” Baine says, raising his chin. “We’ve come to figure out whether you’re enough of a dick for us to kill you with these expensive torches.”

The creature spreads its arms and the beams of light coming from it do another dizzying dance. “All I want to do is destroy the Witching Court so I can rule it myself and use its power for my personal gain.”

Merla turns to Baine, the question clear in the tilt of her head.

“Well I think that’s the decision then,” the big man says.

“I think so,” she agrees.

Merla is already running her hand across the harp strings by her side, weaving the magic of the music into a multicoloured ball of light, whilst Baine utters a word to mystically mark the creature as his quarry. And then there’s an explosion of prismatic colours across the room as Merla lets the spell loose.

---

Ghesh drops the redcap captive onto the lakeshore and they try to scramble away, but they surround him before he even manages to move an inch. Once they defeated the creature, Volga, the cabal’s hideout started to collapse and it became a race to get through the illusioned maze, back to the entrance. There was a panicked moment where Ghesh was struggling trying to position the hand mirror that would allow him to exit so both he and the redcap could see the reflection of the door they needed to walk through. Thankfully, he was able to make it work so they both got out.

“Anyone want to ask this redcap anything before we hand ’em over?” Taffeta asks the group. “Are we going to hand em over?”

“I’m not saying nothing!” he growls crossing their arms.

“You don’t need to,” is Taffeta’s deadpan response.

Merla nods to Baine and simultaneously they both cast their respective spells: Detect Thoughts and Zone of Truth.

“You’ll get nothing from me!” he repeats, looking back and forth between the two, uncertainly.

“What’s your name?” Baine asks with a smirk.

“Simeon,” he blurts out, then blinks in surprise. “Hey!”

Baine chuckles. “Who was your boss working for?”

The redcap presses his lips together a deep frown folding his face.

“Come on, you know this,” Merla coaxed, trying to lull him into letting his guard down. “You’re a strong warrior but sometimes you just can’t resist a little magic, you know?”

The redcap looks back and forth between her and Baine, the mix of sweet words and intimidating presence doing a number on it’s thoughts.

“Uh, I, uh, I don’t wanna say anything…” …they’ve already killed Volga, what more do they want…I mean they always said there’s a queen or someone who ultimately rules all the cabals but I never knew who that was…I don’t get to know the names of those kinds of people…

The smile freezes on Merla’s face. A small scribble of note, something written down but she forgot until this moment flashes through her mind. She had been so caught up with who the Cabals were and finding them that she had nearly forgotten.

Quietly, almost to herself she says, “The Queen of Air and Darkness.”

Baine looks at her. “That doesn’t mean anything to me.”

She doesn’t elaborate.

“Why the iron booties?” BB asks, genuinely curious. “What’s the advantage? As someone who doesn’t wear shoes, I’m intrigued.”

“They’re for kicking you,” the redcap says proudly, his grin showing off his sharp teeth. “For standing atop your enemies.”

“What’s your favourite colour?” Baine asks, though his eyes linger on Merla.

“Red.”

“Do you know of any other cabals?” Merla interjects, her expression fiercely intent.

The redcap pulls back a bit but even as he answers, the spell tells her he does not know anymore.

“No.”

---

“How was your playdate with Fankie?” Merla asked, an amused twist to her lips as she walked up to Astra. The others were waiting for her just outside of the Tower of Promise.

Astra tossed her shimmering mane. “I kept the Great Hound occupied. He’s not as simple as his lolling tongue might suggest you know.”

“Really?” Merla tried to keep the amusement from her voice.

“Yes. Though he got thoroughly confused when I spoke to him directly, the Great Hound and I trained in aerial vs. land combat whilst you were in the Cabal lair. I obviously have the advantage having greater freedom of movement but there were a few times where he managed to tag me quite well.”

Merla glances over Astra and sees a few muddy paw prints on her flank and hind quarters. She nods.

“Of course, I gave as much as I got,” Astra preened. “That’s why my hooves are so scuffed. Which, speaking of, Merla would you be so kind?”

The small woman obliged, casting a simple prestidigitation that cleaned her companion’s hooves to their naturally beautiful and pristine state. Astra casts a scrutinising eye and seems very satisfied to be free of unnecessary mud and dirt.

“Were you able to agree to something with Lady Josephine?” Astra inquires absently as Merla continues to clean her shimmering, moonstone coloured sides.

“I was. I just need to figure out how I will make it,” she muses. “It does mean no immediate audience with Queen Nicnevin but that is alright. A small step in a direction is better than none.”

The others were gathering into a circle, knowing exactly what to do so Merla could plane shift them all back to Daring Heights. She unhooked the tuning fork to the Material Plane from her belt and stepped into the circle next to BB, who placed a warm hand on her shoulder. She breathed in to centre herself, stuck the fork against her knuckles and cast the spell.