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"That, young Gavin, is the at the heart of all matters of which we speak." the wizard scans his array of books and letters seeming about to begin but hesitates. His eyes dart from one text to another and then, drawing in a deep breath as pulls the spectacles from his nose and drops them onto the open book before him, he begins to tell his tale."I'm sure you are aware of the growing tension that has arisen among the elven kingdoms since the last appearance of the High Faerie King at the Seelie Court. It had always been his custom to fete the lords of the elvencourt at the midpoint of the year but he has not presided over the solstice courts in many a year. Rumor has it that he has withdrawn to an even remoter land than the Faerie realm, perhaps all the way to the realm of wild magicks whence he came at the beginning of this age."
"Lord Oberon's absence has spurred dissent within the Seelie Court. Some are content to sit idly by and await his return while others seek to dissolve the Seelie Court and let each lord rule as he will with no higher authority. With no High King on the Faerie throne it is inevitable that the peace among the elven kingdoms will end and even the pact between the elven kings and the mortal kings of old may be broken. War among the elvenkings will then spill out of Faerie into the realm of humans. There are rebels in the elven court who would gladly break that oath made long ago and seize the lands in the mortal realm which were once their domains. Chief among these renegade lords is one who has dubbed himself the Erlking and claimed sovereignty over the whole of the Moonshae Isles. The Erlking has set his throne upon the earth and on the darkest night of midwinter calls together the creatures of gloom and shadow to people his Unseelie Court in mockery of the Faerie King. He now threatens the elven kingdoms to pay fealty to him or face his gathering host. If the elf-lords of Moonshae bend the knee to him then humankind would stand no chance against the combined armies of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. If they oppose him then we risk these lands becoming the battlefield in a war for Faerie." At the thought of this the old man seems for a moment to shiver and draw the velvet mantle of his robe a bit more tightly around his neck.
Gavin listens with a feeling of uneasiness growing in his heart, for he can't help but remember several occassions on which his mother received guests that gave him a very suspicious feeling. They were elvin emmissaries, but he knew they had not come from the palace of the High Faeire King. On those nights, Gavin was instructed to take a long walk through the woods and not return until his mother's guests had left. He knew they were discussing very grave matters, but he knew not the substance of their conversation. Were these agents of the Erlking come to sway his mother to join the rebellion? And if they were, then what was her answer? Za'rea, his mother, had become a powerful sorceress, he knew, and therefore would be a formidable foe or ally in this war, and as an outcast, her allegiance was unclear. Surely, either side would court her. And as much as Gavin wanted to believe his mother would side with the Seelie Court, he knew in his heart that there was a dark presence about her, something he could never quite understand. And so, he could not be sure.
ReplyDeleteGavin brushes aside these thoughts of his mother, still unwilling to reveal this part of his story to the old wizard.
"What a horrific thought," he says at last. "All of elvenkind and mortalkind overrun by this dark power! No where and no one would be safe. Is there anything that can be done to stop this growing threat?"
"It depends on who does the doing, my friend. The combined power of the Seelie would be more than a match no doubt for that horde of skulking wretches that kneel at the foot of the Erlking. His minions have thus far been drawn from the downtrodden and dispossessed of Faerie, the twisted creatures that Oberon's might had banished to the gloom of darkest night. With the indomitable will of Oberon to unite the Seelie to one purpose the darkness would be routed as shadows flee under the gleam of the full moon, but without his presence to bind their resolve the power of the elf lords is scattered like the flickering light of the stars when the moon has fled. Yet the high king of all Faerie is absent from his throne and his vassals now quarrel among themselves. Cut off from one another like so many points of light in a gathering darkness the Seelie have left themselves vulnerable to the Erlking's growing power. Some of the weaker lords have been conquered by him and other have over to him willingly. Each one of these losses saps the strength of the Seelie court. The Erlking has succeeded so far in cutting off the great elven nations from one another by seizing the wild lands in between. The dark forests and lonely roads are his domain and his hosts gather in the disused corners of the realm like cobwebs. There was a time when one strong leader worthy of the throne could have succeeded and led the Seelie to victory but I fear that time may have passed."
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