Cages

Fey

I spin in a circle, twin daggers raised before me, eyes scanning each unfamiliar character with heightened suspicion.

“Join us, join us.” The chant echoes in my bones, a chilling wail rising in an echoing melody against the rocky earthen ceiling above us. Every hair on my body stands on end.

The lithe figure atop the carved dais leans back in his throne, a cruel twist on his lips. “It’s the only way you’re leaving here alive,” he reminds me. As if I needed reminding. I’d heard stories of him all my life, worn my socks inside out, handfuls of dirt in my pocket, rowan berries around my neck, and salted all my food and drink because of him and his people.

I had come here to end things.

It looked like that was going to have to pass to someone else. Hopefully not my daughter. Please, not her.

“You’re not all sunshine and rainbows, you know. You can stop pretending you are. You have blood on your hands.”

“The blood of monsters.” I spit. He clicks his tongue at me.

“We may not be of your kind, but we are still people.” He spreads his hands wide, indicating the remnants of revelry scattered about the cave.

“Like hell you are.” I hiss under my breath, trying to slow my spin as I start to feel dizzy. My feet don’t slow. My heart thuds hollowly in my chest as I recognize the chant, the wailing…it made music. I had been spinning to their ‘music’. The daggers tremble before me, and I clench my fists so hard my knuckles begin to strain to break free of the skin encasing them.

He gets up off his throne and stalks slowly towards me, robes trailing on the ground behind him. I focus my gaze off to the side, avoiding the furred animal legs, the tail, and the antlers protruding from his head.

“Devil.” I snarl.

He clicks his tongue again. “That’s not my name, and you know it.” The circle surrounding me parts for him, and he steps into the ring, taking my wrist in his hand and forcing me to drop the dagger. He spins me slowly around, pointed teeth peeking out through his smile. “Would you like to know my name? I would like to know yours.”

“You’ll have to settle for disappointment.” I refuse to meet his green eyes. My other dagger clatters against the smooth stone floor.

“Such a shame.” he whispers, pulling me closer to him to whisper in my ear. “No matter. I will simply give you a new one. One befitting your…new status.” A cup is handed to him, and he accepts it, drinking deeply from it before pressing it insistently against my lips even as I try to twist my head away. It splashes up my nose as I thrash against him, and I choke on it, opening my mouth just enough to gasp for air, and then the edge of the cup hits my teeth, and I lose all my senses.

I’m not sure how long it’s been that I’ve been here at court. The parties flow endlessly by, my king at my side. We sit atop the hill, watching another sun set below the horizon as our subjects flow through the entrance below us. Another revel. I’ve lost track of what we’re celebrating a long time ago. I drink and drink each night so I don’t have to remember the things that make my whole chest hurt with an intensity that I am afraid will one day crush my ribs. Sometimes it helps.

We stand and go below ground to the party. During the spin of our second dance, I hear a quickly stifled scream from above and look curiously up. He follows my gaze.

A young human woman struggles in the roots entwined above us, holding our lit chandeliers. The creature holding me laughs in delight and releases me to clap his hands. My heart sinks. Another failure.

A few of the smaller creatures go and bring her down. As soon as I see her face, I look at the floor. It’s like looking into a mirror.

“Well, well, well! Isn’t this a touching reunion.” the king beside me drawls lazily, looking from her to me. “I hadn’t realized it had been so long already. You humans sure do grow so quickly.” He draws the words out to hurt me. I hear her hiss of disbelief. I feel her spit land on my cheek.

“Monster.” she accuses me simply. She’s not entirely wrong. But it wasn’t my choice. I open my mouth to tell her that, but my teeth and my tongue won’t move.

The chant begins again. Join us, join us.

Don’t. I want to beg. Go home. Go to your father and don’t ever tell him you saw me here.

“You left!” She screams. “You didn’t even have the decency to die!”

My chest feels like splitting in two.

“She could join us, you know.” he whispers in my ear. “She could be the new princess…the next queen. You could give her the throne.”

I shake my head, but it doesn’t move.

“Your choice.” he whispers, before stepping away from my side. “Join us in the revel. You would never have to fear for your life. Never go hungry or without shelter.” his voice fades away from me as I struggle to close my eyes against what he’s saying.

“You’re all monsters!” She yells.

“Are we?” he asks. “What have we done to you?”

“You stole my mother!”

“She came to us.”

“You kill our people!”

“We kill those who come to kill us. We have shown several of your friends mercy. Shown them the way home when they’ve wandered too far. In fact, we even spared your life once. Do you not remember? Alone and crying, tucked between two tree trunks. Even though you had killed one of ours, we did not harm you. For you were young and…misinformed. We led you home and bandaged your wounds.” I frown. I don’t remember that.

“That was before you stole my mother!”

He sounds…almost reasonable. Where is the catch? And...why, if this alleged event had happened, which she had confirmed it did, was I unaware of it?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” It was a whisper, but it came out of my mouth.

Even he turned to stare at me. “Why did you never tell me?” I demanded, my voice growing stronger. Her eyes could spit fire.

“You would have left me out for them. Said I was ‘tainted’, like the others! That if I had been touched by them, I might as well be one of them! And now look at you! Run off to be with him.” Tears run down her face, making it no less fierce.

He clicks his tongue again. “We would never do such a thing to a child of ours. Come, we will take care of you, as we did back then.”

My mouth opens and closes as I recall all the tales I heard as a child, of a people wild and different in the woods. People who drank blood and danced naked by moonlight. Savages who killed just for the joy of killing. I placed that next to my lived experiences with them. Of parties and wine and singing and dancing. Of running for the cover of the trees at the mere sound of voices. Of hiding…of fear.

“This is all my fault.” I whisper as it clicks into place. Well, maybe not entirely, I hadn’t started the stories. But I had known enough to know I needed to dig deeper for answers, and I hadn’t. I hadn’t gone looking for the truth.

He watches me carefully, and for one of the few times since I had met him, I look him in the eye. His expression quickly changes to one of surprise. So quickly I’m not sure what the initial expression was.

“Tell me your story.” I say.

“I–what?” He blinks at me, confused.

“Tell me your side of the story. From when the first settlers arrived here.” I gesture my daughter from the floor and lead her away to the dais, settling her in a chair brought from the floor and placed next to mine. I sit beside her, one hand on her arm in what I hope is a reassuring manner. He follows, caution embedded in every step.

“Why?”

“Because I’ve never heard it. And by now, I should have.”

“You never asked.”

“I’m asking now.”

He sits beside me. “It’s a long story.”

“When you are done, we will both have a choice. To stay, or to leave.” I tell him. “You owe us that choice…as people. But we owe you a chance to tell us what happened to you. Why you do what you do.”

And he does.