Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 240: Sieph's Death

I had to stop and collect myself as we slipped into Sieph's room and I saw my daughter, alive, for the first time in over twenty years. She was sleeping peacefully, her face framed by hair that shimmered with silver and gold metallic highlights. Even though she hadn't faced the ascension chamber, her metal affinity was apparent in those silver and gold tinseled locks.

I reached forward to brush a loose lock of hair from her face, hair so soft I wanted to lose myself at the moment. I wanted nothing more than to clasp her to my chest, to hug her with all my might, and never let her go. She was returned to me hail and whole; she was my breath, my life, and I didn't have time to savor the moment. The plan the Oracle had outlined didn't allow for it.

"Seeba will see you through," the Oracle explained. "There are choices you have to make, choices that will determine the outcome of this night's events, so she can offer no further help but to offer guidance, a path through shadows and around doors to arrive at your destination.

"Sieph's future and your destiny will be determined in one moment. When you see your daughter, you will be tempted. Tempted to hold her close, to scoop her up and escape through a portal into the Summerlands. Or tempted to stay and fight, to kill those invaders that would steal your daughter, kill your people, and force you into CERN.

"I warn you now if you choose either of those paths, Paradox will not be resolved, and you may only regain your daughter only to see her killed to unravel the tangle Paradox will have created.

"Take this," she said, handing me a crown of Oak and Hawthorne, "when you arrive at your daughter's room, place this upon her head. She will remain in Sleep for the amount of time we have agreed on, and when she wakes, she will have the memory of you and your House locked behind a seal that can only be broken the next time the two of you meet.

"You have already lived these past twenty years, you know that you and Sieph never meet during that time, so there is no way that seal can be broken, and her memories restored. She will remain safe in Cait Sith for years, and we will see her delivered without harm to Queen Wisteria, the Knocker Monarch, a member of the Tuatha de Danaan Twelve.

"Tybalt will have his people create a fictitious account of why her memories have been lost, who her family is, and bribe or buy an appropriate position in House Wisteria."

My hands were fumbling with that crown, replaying the conversation with the Oracle again, hoping that I might find some flaw in her words. But even if there were no words spoken, even if she had said nothing that would stop me from waking Sieph and professing my love, I couldn't take the chance.

I looked at the crown I was holding. Oak and Hawthorne leafs weaved together, the enchantment for Sleep almost blazing with unrestrained power. I was trusting the fate of my daughter on my knowledge that the Cait Sith were honorable. They were as tightly bound by duty; they would see Paradox resolved. They were too tightly linked with Wild Magic and the Wild Hunt to believe for a moment they would lie, or that their motives were anything but honorable.

Hands shaking uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face, I settled that crown unto my daughter's head. The sound of grief was torn from my throat as I watched as the artifact began activating the enchantment that would lock her in Sleep for at least a decade. Forcing hands that trembled to steady, I lifted a lock of her hair, sectioning a segment before cutting a lock.

"Take her," I said before I could change my mind.

Seeba was gentle as she gathered Sieph into her arms, already opening the rift. As she turned, she took that side-step necessary to move from here to there. There were no lingering goodbyes, no question about my certainty. She had been given a script to follow by her King, and nothing short of death would force her to deviate.

Now. There was nothing left but to wait. Wait for those who would defile my daughter's room and set the stage for the last part of this drama.

That wait wasn't long. I heard the sounds of voices raised as dawn approached. The sounds of weapons clashing as people that had been assigned guard duty over-night engaged those who would take the path of a slaver. We had been betrayed. The Oracle had helped me gain the insight to finally understand what had happened this night, and who the Judas had been that sold our freedom for the Sidhe equivalent of thirty pieces of silver.

My memories of this night had been clouded, lost in grief at the knowledge that my daughter had been taken, hostage. I had worried about how to replace Sieph, how to create a simulacrum that would last. It would require me to tie my illusion to a life-form. That had been the sticking point as Seeba, and I waited to enter.

The solution came to me as I waited. Why should I bother to try to come up with a false image? They would enter this room to capture, but they would find instead that battle was joined, and they were forced to kill Sieph.

It would be much easier to use the lock of hair I had clipped as proof of her demise. They had never allowed me to speak with my daughter, only supplying messages that could have been created completely of glamour and illusion.

It would mean a release of intense magic to set the stage. Sidhe did not die easily, and even if she was overwhelmed by guards, her ability to regenerate wounds and heal would see her safe. But there were ways.

I withdrew a protection artifact from my spatial ring and began to tinker. Adapting the device to release an explosive burst of metal and magic. It would destroy everything in the room. I hadn't invented the device. During the last major war between the factions, this device was used as a weapon. It had gone far toward leveling the playing field. The Seelie would have lost that war if not for Knocker's ingenuity.

I locked and barred the door, using my control of metal to turn hinges and locks into melted slag. Keeping people out wasn't the goal. I wanted them to come. But it would seem suspicious if it was too easy to gain access. I couldn't be certain that everyone that came to capture my daughter would enter the room. At least one would probably survive to report back to their masters.

And come they did.

The noises of fighting petered out, as one guard after another was slaughtered. The sounds of battle were replaced by the sounds of footsteps and doors opening and closing. They were searching, believing that their goal was within reach.

I watched silently; fury contained as the door to my daughter's room was opened. Her bed was rumpled and obviously empty. I hadn't bothered to make it appear as if she was sleeping, snuggled safely beneath a duvet.

There was no need.

Two men slunk into the room, using hand signs to point toward the bathroom.

I had hidden behind a [No See] illusion. Waiting for this exact moment.

They never had a chance.

Sidhe blood ran green, the copper in the body part of the heme group that allowed for oxygen transportation, part of the mechanic involved with hemoglobin transportation. The metal was also vital for the electrical transmission between neural stimuli. For any other Sidhe, that knowledge wouldn't matter. For these two who had the bad luck to enter this room, it meant their death.

I waited until they opened and entered the restroom door before I took control of the metal at the molecular level. The copper that was contained within their bodies made inert. Their bodies simply died, my control of the copper disrupting the electrical signals that controlled the heart and brain.

I had been correct that a lookout had been left guarding the door and watching the hall. But that was even better. I wanted someone to report. Triggering the defensive artifact, I tossed it into the room they were searching.

Still hidden behind my [No See] glamour, I invoked my strongest protections of magic and metal to shield me from the explosive blast that resounded throughout the Keep once the device detonated. They would investigate the events that had transpired, but they would have to conclude that they had triggered the explosion that killed my daughter.

Scene set; I used the cover of billowing smoke to open [Portal: Summerlands]. It was time to trust the synergy of Summerlands and System and head back to the future.