“You should get going,” Una suggested, “you have our M-AI contact, once you have things settled have Irvin contact us.”

“She’s right,” Blayney agreed. “Even wounded and disfigured A’Craig is probably long gone, I doubt he spent much time trying to heal his injuries before running to the Capital to inform the Court what was done here.”

“They’re right,” Caraid agreed. “You probably should have killed them. Leaving enemies alive, after maiming them, is only going to come back to haunt you. Sidhe have long memories, and you can be certain that some time in the future he will try to get revenge.

“Plus, there is no telling who Craig has backing him. Although one thing is certain, whoever it is, is powerful enough that he managed to have two Ranked Lords assigned as guards. Ranked Knights would have been understandable, but Ranked Lords?”

They were all right. Confronting Craig was probably a strategic mistake, but my anger at what had been done to Irvin demanded a response. I might have managed to hold my temper if he hadn’t been such an ass, but his vitriol and venom pissed me off. A’Craig may have been innocent of the degradations suffered by Irvin, but that didn’t change the fact that Irvin had been tortured by the same people that sent this supercilious Seelie Lord to harass Blayney.

I had to respond. It would have broken something, altered the moral persona I had nurtured. I was a creature of Nature, and Nature called out for balance. This wasn’t balance, but it was a down payment for the scales of justice.

I wouldn’t regret my actions, sometimes you had to ignore what the smart thing to do was and follow your instincts. This had been one of those cases. And I had to admit if only to myself, Craig had pissed me off. I’d wanted to rip out more than his tongue. He was lucky I stopped when I had, as cocky as he was, I could have left him with nothing but a torso and head. Stopping when I had, was the only concession I was willing to make to expediency.

I didn’t care if my actions were the smart thing to do.

“Amber. Pine. It may be safer for you to remain here too,” I suggested. Duchess Wynne had a valid point, Blayney might not be able to offer much protection, but it was something. At least until I was more than a King without a Kingdom or a people.

“I think not,” Pine refused instantly, “the more we learn, the better we understand the task Danu has set for us. You have been touched by Danu; it seems likely that events conspire to thrust you into circumstances and confrontations that will reveal how we can accomplish Mother’s will.”

There was no point in arguing or trying to convince them otherwise, I was not privy to the conversation they’d had with the Goddess. Danu’s thoughts or what she hoped her newest children would accomplish was between them. I let their decision stand, actually relieved that they insisted on accompanying me, I was reluctant to severe that connection the Goddess had proffered

.

The meeting broke up quickly after that, but I had one final task before I helped settle the Knockers lodging and insured, they would be safe and had the funds and wherewithal to survive. I paused when we had descended the stairs leading to the foyer, stopping Blayney and Una when we reached the front desk, I motioned to the receptionist. “It would seem her priorities and loyalties are for sale. She wishes to play the role of Craig’s stooge, she should join him,” I advised them.

. “You may be right, Your Majesty,” Una answered. She seemed to relish the idea and almost purred in delight as she confronted the Kelpie, “Gia. Pack up and get out. You have until dawn’s light to be gone or I will meet you in the Challenge arena.”

Gia didn’t bother grabbing anything from behind the desk. Face panicked, she tried to get around and out the door without coming anywhere near Una or Blayney. Once she reached the exit, she morphed into horse form and galloped for the edge of the colony. It would seem her fear of Una meant abandoning any belongings she may have not only from the office but from her home.

The Elders, as well as a large crowd, had gathered outside the building. Someone had noticed the condition of Craig and his bodyguards, the bloody and frantic scurry to run away had garnered the Herd’s interest. There had been no offers of help, just a stoic ambivalence masking the delight of every member as they watched the panicked and lamed Seelie despots running. The Kelpie had been forced to endure their unsolicited advice and prejudice; it was satisfying seeing them diminished.

The disbelief of Kelpie, Knocker, and Cernunnos as Gia overtook the fleeing Craig, solicited the first real laugh from Blayney since this entire fiasco had begun. Lord A’Craig’s ability to ride, his stability when mounted compromised, forced his retainers into a slow painful procession from the settlement. It appeared his group had likewise abandoned all possessions, at least what they hadn’t stored in spatial belongings.

Blayney motioned for a group of Kelpie to follow us, heading to where Craig had been living. The building was pretentious, a hulking mammoth constructed to dazzle and impress. It had no relationship to the fields and lakes ignoring the scenery and nature in exchange for decadence. An obvious attempt to bring Seelie civility to the Herd, it was ostentatious. The only possible reason for it to be built was to insult Lord Blayney and the Kelpie by proxy.

What made it even more atrocious was that it had been built in one of the fields that had been set aside as pasture and farmland, an area the Kelpie had been cultivating for crops. And as if the footprint of the building hadn’t appropriated enough land, additional fields had been replanted with sculpted landscapes, hedges, flowers, and trees.

Outbuildings, stables, and servant quarters had been added; the final insult, stables to pen, and contain mounts in a land where Kelpie ran free.

Craig may have not been a landed Lord, but he certainly had ideas on what the bare minimum standard to live comfortably should be. The only bright note in that monstrosity was that most of it had been built using array’s and glamour, similar to how my people had erected buildings when traveling.

Once everything was cleared out, and Blayney was sure no people or animals were still inside the stables or buildings, I was sure he would take great delight in deactivating the array and returning that behemoth to the spatial rift it had been stored in.

Returning the land to fields and crops was another matter, it would take an entire growing season to restore what had been destroyed.

I was bowled over when we got to Craig’s stables, delighted at what I found. It had been a year since I last saw Meala, she wasn’t happy about her confinement, but the Honey-badger remembered me and began prancing and pawing to be released. It seems once you’ve been adopted and claimed as a kit by your mount, the badger claims you for life.

Her enthusiasm did nothing to hide the obvious neglect that she had suffered. Her nails had been filed down to almost nothing, splintered and broken, it would take some time or a good healing spell to repair. More infuriating for her and I was that she was muzzled. It took a bit of tussling and wrestling to get her to hold still long enough to get her free. The slobbery kisses and adoration I received once that muzzle was released demonstrated just how badly she had been treated.

I had given no thought to her or the other mounts we had left at the top of the cliff. Realizing a year had passed had taken too much of my focus, especially when I found my people had been captured and imprisoned. It was only at this moment, as she danced in delight, that I realized that she was as much mine as I was hers.

There was no companion bond, no way to make her a member of the House. But our connection was real. Gently stroking her coat, I was infuriated once more at the neglect Craig had engendered. For a man that had been heavily involved in micro-managing Herd Blayney, he certainly had neglected his real responsibilities.

Grabbing the gear from my spatial ring, gear that Fego had supplied from Kel’s stable, I began the arduous task of untangling long ignored knots. There was no choice but to cut some of the worse, as burrs and thistles had been allowed to compound the problems. An infestation of bugs had been allowed to proliferate and Meala had open sores covering her body. Sores that were easily healed as well even if something as simple as a spell to ward against biting insects had been begrudged.

As I groomed her, I sent healing magic to strengthen and repair what damage I found. Re-growing fur and closing weeping sores. There was no hardship involved in removing infections, the mange that had been allowed to blossom, or repairing split claws. Meala was patient during my ministrations, her excitement at being reunited calming under my hands.

She was not concerned about enduring my cursing, words of anger, and promised retribution the more I discovered evidence of neglect. What I had done to Craig and his guards had not been enough I concluded once I had finally finished. If he was within reach, if he was still here when I found this, I would have taken his head.

It was a good thing he had run when he had.