Chapter 4

Tyler, Samdy, Sol and La arrived at the palace. Tyler and Samdy climbed off of Sol and La.

Tyler and Samdy waved to them as they walked to the castle. Wonder what the picnic will be like? Pegland was waiting for them when they got to the door.

“Hello. Her majesty wants to speak to you, Tyler.” She waved her hand to open the door.

After they walked in, Tyler glanced at the portraits some more as they strolled down the hallway.

“I’ve seen there are dogs and cats in some of the pictures, but I haven’t seen any around here. Could you tell me why?”

“That’s because the dogs are at the Land of the Dogs, and the cats are at the Land of the Cats. One of my aunts, Kaie, went to the Earth Realm and decided she liked dogs and cats a lot. She rescues ones that are mistreated or ones without owners. I’ve been to the lands a few times. I like the dogs and cats, especially the dogs, because they’re so nice. I asked Grandmother if I could have a dog, but she said not until I got a little older.”

“So these other pictures are of your family?”

“Yes, except for my aunts Mabon and Cydia. My aunt Mabon’s the queen of the Unseelie Court. I don’t know why exactly, but it has to do with the Great Faerie War. My aunt Cydia went to a realm close to the Earth Realm and got involved with what my Grandmother called the wrong crowd. She said the beings were evil, and Cydia became one of them. I’ve never met either one of them. She has pictures of them in her room.”

Hock and Pegland stopped them before they entered the throne room.

“Samdy, go with Pegland to the kitchen and help her pack for the picnic. Tyler, Queen Morganna will like to see you now,” Hock said.

Pegland flew as Samdy walked behind her to the kitchen, while Tyler and Hock strolled into the throne room. Queen Morganna sat on the throne waiting for them.

“Hello again, Mr. Walsh. I assume you enjoyed yourself at the saloon, especially after meeting Marta.” She smiled.

“Yes, I did.” Tyler grinned.

“I’m glad. I thought you deserved a nice calm before the storm,” she paused and said, “Hock, you said you had something to tell me and Mr. Walsh.

“Yes, my Queen. Dylan has been given the ability to travel between courts. She gave it to him last night.”

“You’ll need the same gift. My daughter’s plotting something as we speak. I can feel it. Come forward, please.” She waved her hand over Tyler’s eyes. “She doesn’t want the prophecy to come true and will do anything to stop it.”

“What’s the prophecy, and why are you against your daughter?”

“I can’t tell you everything now, but it all started only a year before the Great Faerie War. Mabon became rather rebellious and power hungry. She made visits to the Earth Realm knowing she would risk exposure. Mabon didn’t want to wait until she was twenty like her other siblings did to rule a court. She became friends with torans, gorans, sorans, the three beautiful angels, elrons, orons, and sheshes. Her father, King Farian, and I thought nothing of it at first because they didn’t have a court to call home. We were going to let her rule over them if she would have waited a few months. Six months before her twentieth birthday, Mabon gather those faeries and attacked the palace in the middle of the night. Son and Lo, the royal unicorns at the time, were first to see them marching to the castle. They gathered everyone they could such as Sarlo, the head leprechaun, Sarta, the head vampire faerie, Pendie, the head water nymph, Timenia, the head mermaid, Ramkin, the head brownie, Queland, the head pixie, and Bock, the head dwarf and Marshall at the time. They fought as hard as they could to keep Mabon and her army out of the palace. Her army outnumbered them. Eventually, they fought through their defenses and rammed down the castle door. Farian and I fought her and her army by ourselves until I was able to send telepathic messages to my other children for help. My dear husband was killed by a poisoned arrow dipped in an Earth Realm alcohol.” Tears came to her eyes as she continued. “Mabon shot the arrow that killed him. My children came, and Mabon and her army retreated. After that, I banished her along with her followers into a dark land called the Unseelie Court. I turned her faeries into dark creatures: torans became trolls, gorans became goblins, sorans became sirens, the three beautiful angels became the three wise hags, elrons became elves, orons became faeries, and sheshes became banshees. I hated doing that. I hate banishing my daughter, the faerie of light. I’ll talk to you about the prophecy later, but you needed to know this to understand it. Pegland and Samdy should have lunch ready now.” She turned to Hock. “See if they are ready.”

“Certainly.” Hock walked out of the room.

“What you just told me, reminds me of when God threw Lucifer, the angel of light, out of Heaven. He and a band of angels wanted to overthrow God. They didn’t, and God banished them to a dark, fiery pit called Hell. That’s when Lucifer became known as Satan.”

“I know about what you have told me. My daughter, Cydia, knows Lucifer. I’ll tell you all about that later too. Come outside with me, and we’ll wait for Pegland, Samdy, and Hock.”

“What happened to those main faeries you were talkin’ about?”

“They were killed. The faeries you have met are their offspring except for Sol and La. They were life mates next in line to become royal unicorns. They were all wee ones when they had to claim their positions. I had to finish training the leprechauns because their father had died.”

“Where does Samdy come in all of this?”

“I’ll tell you this. He’s part of the prophecy. Samdy must not know this, understood.”

“Yes.” Why would a child be a part of the prophecy?

They reached the outside of the palace. Pegland, Samdy, and Hock were waiting for them.

“Sol and La, Sol and La, Sol and La!” shouted Queen Morganna.

They appeared before them.

“Take Mr. Walsh and Samdy to the ocean.”

“We’d love to,” La said.

Tyler and Samdy climbed on Sol and La and galloped away.

Queen Morganna, Pegland, and Hock were waiting for them at the shoreline of the ocean. Dimenia, Sendie, and Charlo were there also. Tyler watched the faeries work together as they laid the feast on the blue and pink sheets.

“This is quite a spread,” said Tyler.

He took in the splendor of the ocean and surrounding land. The flowers seem to take a life of their own, moving about even though the wind was not blowing.

Samdy walked up to Tyler. “Here’s some horned faerie punch. It’s really good and sweet. Try some.”

“What’s a horned faerie?”

“They have large horns and resemble an Earth Realm mule most of the time. They’re shape shifters. They can change into anything. They don’t like faeries from other courts. They really hate humans.” He handed Tyler a navy glass.

Tyler took the glass from Samdy. He took a glup of the punch.

“Not bad. Food and drink like this makes a man want to stay here instead of going home.”

“Hi, me friend. Nice to see ye again,” said Charlo.

Tyler sat down on the sheet and pointed at the unfamiliar foods to his right. “What are those?”

“Fried elf tenders, siren blood dipping sauce, and banshee sticks,” said Sendie.

“What are an elf, a siren, and a banshee?”

“Elves are sneaky and mean creatures. Sirens are beautiful but deadly to human men, and banshees are wrinkled, old-looking and can scream loud enough to peel the skin off a human. All of them are tasty to eat, and the only way I would have them around.”

Tyler tried the foods a little at a time. Hmmm, this spread’s great!

“Do ye have a family where ye come from?” asked Charlo.

“Only my twin brother, Dylan, who’s over in the other court. What about your family?”

“Me have a darlin’ misses and twenty wee ones. Ten of them are lovely lasses and the other are handsome chaps. Me very proud of me family.” Charlo grinned.

Hock jumped up. “I just had a vision of Dylan coming close to our border!”

“We must go back to the castle. Sol and La, I want you to take Tyler to the opposite border. Tyler, I need you to find out what is going on over there. The prophecy will completely unfold very soon my friends,” Queen Morganna said.

Pegland snapped her fingers, and the food and sheets disappeared. Tyler climbed on La and waved to everyone.