Thursday, November 24, 2005

Chapter 23 - Trouble

He landed hard on the earth. It was dark, too dark to see. He was lying on the ground somewhere. One hand was on bare earth the other in grass, so where he was, it wasn't the other side of the stone doorway by the pond. Even if he hand't made it to the pond, he would have landed on the concrete walkway that went around it and filled the space between the steps on the other side of the door and the edge of the pond.

A voice came out of the darkness. It was Liliana, and she sounded very sad. "Oh, Jeremy. What have you done? I don't know if I can help you now."

"Liliana?" He still couldn't see anything, really, but he was beginning to make out the grass in front of his face. His eyes were adjusting, and he could see that he was not in total darkness. He rolled over onto his back, and was stunned by the vast expanse of stars above him.

He had thought there were lots of stars before, but that had been a full moon night. Tonight the moon was new, there was no moon, nothing but darkness and stars. And so many stars! Even growing up in the country, he had never seen stars like this. He was dazzled, and it was only with some difficulty he could pull his attention away from the wondrous lights in the sky to realize that Liliana was talking to him urgently.

"Get up! Get up! You must go back!"

"What? I just got here!" Jeremy protested, nonetheless rising to his feet, but slowly, reluctantly. He was reluctant, precisely because he knew she was right, and that she would, rightly, insist, and that he would soon be back in his own world, and he wanted this moment -- this moment that was, as she had said, all we ever have -- to last as long as possible.

"Jeremy, you must go, now! Before--"

Suddenly there was a tremendous rush of wind, a flash of light accompanied immediately by the loudest burst of thunder Jeremy had ever heard and suddenly a whole crowd of faerie folks stood around them, including Liliana's family, King Oberon and Queen Titania. Suddenly it wasn't dark anymore, and Jeremy realized that all of the faerie folks, including Liliana, glowed slightly, with an uneartly pale gleam like phosphorescent rocks. Most of them had only slight glows, Liliana's was barely noticeable. But Oberon and Titania lit up the trees and hillside around them.
King Oberon spoke. "Mortal, you are no longer a guest here. You are a trespasser, an interloper. Do you know what happens to trespassers in my domain?"

Jeremy shook his head, too terrified to speak.

"They become my sport. Don't think because of my headware that I am one of the prey. I am a hunter, and tomorrow my hounds and I will hunt you, chasing you through these woods until you fall, exhausted, and my hounds tear you to pieces and I carve out your heart to take as my special prize."

Jeremy's blood froze in his veins. "But. But." He couldn't do more than stutter those words.

"Take him away."

Four dwarfs came over and each grabbed one of Jeremy's arms or legs and lifted him off the ground. They took him away, as he yelled "Wait! Wait! I didn't mean . . . I didn't know! It's not fair! You can't just . . . Wait!"

"Where are they taking him?" asked Liliana.

"To the dungeon in the hillside," answered Oberon. "Where he will lie awake tonight contemplating his fate until the dawn comes and the hunt begins."

"My lord," said Liliana, "I ask leave to stay beside him this night."

"No."

This surprised everyone. Even Queen Titania, who said, "But Lord Oberon, it is customary among our people that a condemned man be allowed a final night with his paramour. Is this not the Kingdom of Romance?"

"Yes, my Queen, but I suspect trickery here. He is mortal, and has no glamour or magic of his own, but if she is allowed into his cell, she will seek to aid him in some way."

"No, my lord. I wish only to spend one last night with him, to give him such comfort and solace as I can before he departs from the lands of the living and journeys to the night shore. I give my word that I will give him no glamour or magic, nor any other device or take any action to aid him in his plight. I only ask that he be allowed my presence and my words to comfort him. Truly."

Oberon appeared to mull this over. He seemed to sense a trap of some kind, because he took a long time deciding, but finally said, "I cannot see any way your words could be twisted to allow you to help him, so I can only warn you that if you do not keep your vow your punishment will be to share his. If you do ought to aid him, you will be stripped of your glamour, turned into a mortal, and hunted alongside him on the morrow. Do you understand?"

She bowed low. "I understand, King Oberon. You are wise and just. I will not forswear what I have spoken."

* * *

The dungeon in the hillside was a hole dug into the side of the hill and fitted with a door. It had no windows except a small one in the door, which was barred with heavy iron bars. On a night this dark, there was almost no light at all coming in the window, and the place seemed like a cave deep in the earth, save Jeremy could, just barely, see his surroundings a bit. He was chained by an iron band around his left wrist to a ring set into a part of the wall that was solid rock. The chain was long enough to allow him considerable freedom of movement. He could walk around a bit, sit with his back against the wall, or lie down, but he couldn't reach the door. There was neither bed nor any other furniture.

He had only been there a short while when he heard the noise of keys jingling and the door opened. Liliana rushed to him, and they held each other tightly as the door clanged shut behind her.

"Liliana! What are you doing here? Are you . . . " he couldn't even voice the awful thought of her sharing his fate.

"No. Among our people a condemned man has the chance to spend one last night with his lover, if he has one. So I am here for you."

"I don't suppose you can get me out of this."

She shook her head. "Even if I was willing to break our own laws and take a chance on sharing your fate, the fact is that what magic I have probably couldn't help you. You are held by cold iron, over which I have no power and can't even touch without pain."

"Then how can your people be holding me like this?"

"Your jailers are dwarves. They alone among the fey have power over iron. They can mine it and smelt it, make useful things of it. That is why of old they had the most traffic with men. Because we can't use such things, we can't abide it. But they could trade with men for things of value." She shook her head. "But none of that is important. What's important is that I wish I had never . . ." she broke into tears. "This is all my fault."

He held her close and stroked her hair. "There, there. It's not your fault. I brought it on myself. All of my problems are always my own doing. You didn't make me come. You even tried to stop me."

She nodded through her tears, "Yes, but I lured you in the first place. I watched you and wanted you and came into your world hoping to catch your eye. If I hadn't set my sights on you you wouldn't be here now."

He was startled. "You set your sights on me? You chose me deliberately, came to my world just to meet me?"

She nodded, miserable. "I'm sorry."

He laughed. "Wow. I never . . . I would never have thought someone would have . . . gone out of her way just for me like that. I . . . I'm flattered. I really . . . I don't know what to say."

She looked up at him, confused. "Wait. You're happy that I did this to you?"

He shook his head and waved his hand. "You didn't do this to me. You chose me and you came to me and you've given me a wonderful life these last few months, more wonderful than any previous time in my life. Well, sure, there have been some bad times too, and I've been frustrated by your absences and wished we could be together more, but on the whole I've been happier than I've ever been. And this," he waved his hand again. "This isn't your doing. Sure, if I hadn't met you, it wouldn't have happened. But it's not your fault."

He held her again, gave her a big bear hug and she shouted in sudden pain and jumped back.

"What is it?"

"The manacle. The band on your wrist. It hurts me to touch it."

"Oh. Sorry. I don't think I can get them to take it off."

"No, she agreed. We'll have to be careful."

She urged him to lie down on the floor, and lay down next to him.

She spoke very quietly, so that only he could hear her.

"I had to swear not to help you to be allowed to come to you, but I want you to remember our time here together, the last time we were in this land."

"You mean Midwinter Night?"

She nodded. "I cannot tell you more than that you should remember that night. It will give you comfort."

He understood from the intensity of her tone that she was talking about something more than comfort in remembering happier times together. But what?
Jeremy tried to remember what happened that night. He couldn't remember anything that could help him now. He shook his head and shrugged. "I don't understand."

"Keep thinking. Mayhap it will come to you. Meantime, the guards will be expecting us to lie together, so we shouldn't disappoint them. Is there anything that we have never done that you would like to do? For if you do not remember what I hope you remember, you will never have another chance."

"I . . . what?"

"I am here to make love to you one last time," she explained patiently. "That is our custom. That is why I've been allowed to come. If we don't make love, they'll be suspicious. So make love to me, Jeremy."

It was awkward and clumsy and physically not very satisfying, but knowing that he would very probably die in just a few hours lent it an urgency that heightened both the tension and awkwardness but also the pleasure and release at the end. He cried out as he came, and she cried out as well, and collapsed on top of him, not even caring that her arm was burnt where it landed on his manacle.

"My true name is Tianalamara," she whispered in his ear. "I don't want you to die without knowing it."

After they made love, they sat quietly together. Jeremy tried and tried to remember what anyone did or said that would give him a clue to how he might escape this prison. Did someone say something about cold iron? Did someone say something about hunting? Did someone say something about locks and how to pick them?

Nothing. There wasn't anything that happened that night that shed any light on his current predicament, as far as he could see.

"Can you give me a hint?" he asked.

"I already have."

"I mean another one."

She shrugged. "I can offer you only words of comfort, according to my vow. I can only say again: remember Midwinter Night."

He thought a bit. "I have a question," he said finally.

"What?"

"Why did you tell me your last name was Dougal?"

"It means 'dark stranger.' Which is what I was. Am."

"Dark? Your skin is as pale as the moon."

"My hair. Dark hair. Also my . . . I bring darkness into men's lives. As I would have done yours eventually, I'm sure. And as I have for certain now, albeit not in any way that could have been forseen."

Jeremy didn't like to think about the fact that he wasn't Liliana's first lover, but of course she was probably hundreds of years old and had probably had many men like him over the years.

"That's why I had you call yourself 'Hugh' when you were here. 'Hugh' means guest, and I wanted to remind everyone that you were a guest, and could not be harmed."

"Ah." Something about that last phrase, "could not be harmed," teased at Jeremy's brain, but he couldn't quite make it turn into something meaningful.

They held each other and didn't talk. Just her presence did, indeed, give some comfort to Jeremy, miserable though he was.

Dawn came and the cell grew light. The jingling of keys came again and the door opened, and a dwarf came in and released Jeremy from the manacle, then motioned for him to follow and left the cell. Jeremy and Liliana came out together, holding each other so closely they resembled a four-legged body with two heads and no arms.

"Hugh-that-is-not-a-guest come forward," said Oberon.

Jeremy stepped away from Liliana. No, Tianalamara, he thought to himself.

"You will be given twenty minutes head start before I release the dogs. Do you have anything to say before I send you into the forest?"

Jeremy's brain raced.

"King Oberon?" it was Liliana.

Oberon frowned. "Yes?"

"I wanted to thank you again for allowing me to spend the night with my lover before he becomes prey for your hunt. You were as gracious as you were the night of the Midwinter party at my father's house."

Jeremy knew she wasn't making idle chatter. She was telling him that Oberon's presence at her father's house was what she had been trying to remind him of.

". . . could not be harmed." Of course! Oberon was already committed not to harm him when he'd bumped into him, which meant --

"Wait!" shouted Jeremy. "I claim King Oberon's pardon! He granted it on Midwinter Night! I claim it now!"

There was a complete and utter silence throughout the realm of faerie. Not a bird chirped. Not an insect hummed.

Finally, Oberon sighed and shook his head, and the surrounding onlookers let out the collective breath they had been holding.

"Yes, I did grant you my pardon, mortal. So I suppose I won't be hunting this morn after all. But even so, my pardon has a price, and there must be consequences for your rash act."

Jeremy stood waiting, wondering how bad it was going to be.

"First, you will not come back to this land. I do not mean you are forbidden. I mean it will become impossible. Even if someone conjures you a gate, it will not work for you. You will go through it yet remain in your own world. You will no longer dream, or if you dream, it will be only of mundane things, a day at work, a trip to the store, nothing fanciful, for fanciful dreams come from visits here by the mind when the body is sleeping.

"You will never come here, and no one here will be allowed to come to you. You will never see your lover again. Not just as a punishment that for her sake you violated our laws, but because you are banished from any contact with faerie whatsoever.

"You will live, but your life will be much less satisfying and interesting than it has been. Just as my day will now be less satisfying and interesting because I do not have you to hunt. Now begone!"
Oberon waved his hand, and before Jeremy could do more than reach out to Liliana, before he could even remember that her name wasn't Liliana, but Tianalamara, the whole crowd around him and the hillside and everything vanished, and he was standing by himself, reaching out to someone who wasn't there, in the middle of Tower Grove Park, a few hundred yards from the fountain park.

Liliana. Tianalamara. She had saved his life.

He would never see her again?

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