Mistfall (9 page)

I finally came to a small clearing in the
thicket of the forest. One of them had leaves as large as
elephant’s ears. I bartered with the hamadryad of that tree and her
friends. In return for leaves and branches, I magicked them up
satin ribbons in a myriad of colors and tiny tinkling bells to
decorate their trees with.

Why didn’t I just use my magic for, say four
star hotel accommodations? For starters, it’s a lot more work and a
waste of magic. Secondly, I’m trying not to attract attention.

The wind traveled upon the branches of the
trees like spirits in flight. Were the hamadryad’s talking? If they
were, I only hoped it wasn’t about me.

I imagined a crude sort of A-frame tent in my
head and before me appeared my work. Satisfied with the shelter my
leaves and branches had turned themselves into. The wind kicked up
again and I turned around, looking for the gossiping hamadryads.
Finding none, I retired for the evening. It had been a very long
day.

I grabbed Willa’s letter from my bag, wanting
to read the rest of it before nightfall. Lying on my side upon the
soft grass and velvety moss, I removed the contents of the envelope
and began where I left off.

This is the true story of what happened to
our kind, the Iblian jinn. Two hundred years ago, our world was a
different place. Otherworld beings weren’t as united as we are now.
There were various alliances of course, but never lasting
peace.

Various attempts were made to unite the
myriad of species. It was one attempt, a shame on all of our
histories, which brought us together as we are now.

The leaders of the factions agreed on one
thing. They were tired of living in hiding from the humans.
Together we drove the humans off their lands. We forced our
superiority on them.

Only the Fae did not join us. They were the
gods’ first creatures in this world, older and wiser than the rest
of us. They warned us of what was to be our folly, but their words
fell on deaf ears.

Many justified our actions, claiming we’ve
done no worse to the humans than they had done to their own kind.
Barbarism and genocide became the rule and not the exception. Some
though, believed we should work with humans, not against them. This
caused a rift between the leaders. Infighting began soon after.

Iblis wanted to rule over all, humans and
Otherworlders alike. The Erlking Abelard (you know him as King Abel
of the Elves) wanted a democracy, governed by a body of equal
representation of all species of Otherworlders.

Though Abelard’s words and actions were
just, his thoughts were not. He too wanted to reign supreme over
all beings. Abelard was deceitful, using charisma and pretty words
to sway those who sought equality.

He did it too. Most Otherworlders backed
Abelard. Only those who resided in Hades: demons, Ifrits, and
ghouls supported Iblis.

Iblis enslaved his own kind, the Iblian
jinn, to counter Abelard’s mighty Aelfadl. He bound the Iblians
using many forms of forceful persuasion. Murdered family members,
torture, and kidnappings were modus opperandi for Iblis, a means to
his own ends. In the end, all the Iblians agreed to be bound.

Both we and the humans fought a war with two
fronts, against each other and against ourselves. The atrocities
committed by both sides, human and Otherworlder were so great, the
gods intervened.

We had angered the gods. Their children had
turned against each other, trying to become like the gods
themselves.

The gods reduced otherworldly numbers by a
third as punishment to us all. Iblis was dealt with the harshest.
His Iblian army was reduced to ash, cowardice being their crime.
When Iblis showed no remorse for his actions that contributed to
the loss of the Iblians by his own hand, he was condemned to spend
eternity in Hades.

The humans were shown mercy. The youngest of
all the species, they were still learning to be civilized. This
fact would later be remembered by Iblis, fueling his hatred and
empowering his future schemes.

The veil that separated our world was thin,
easily passable by humans. Now the Mistfall was reinforced by the
gods, so that no human would pass beyond it into our world again.
That was the extent of the human’s punishment.

We were all warned that if we ever tried to
dominate the Earth again, the gods would destroy us all.

Fighting on all sides stopped, in an effort
to appease the gods. No one claimed victory and the war was largely
forgotten. The humans today barely mention the War of 1812 and
completely deny our existence.

The Powers That Be were created soon after.
Our history too was altered. All Iblian jinn were blamed as
belligerents. There were none left, save Iblis (and myself, but
I’ll get to that), to defend themselves and he was stuck in the
underworld. Otherworlders shifted their blame to ignore their own
acts in the war.

The gods spared me. I fought against the
evils that the Otherworlders were committing. As Iblis’s wife, I
could never walk again in the lands of our people. I’ve remained on
the human side of the Mistfall, these past two hundred years.

My actions and banishment were not forgotten
by the gods. I still had a purpose to serve. Once finished, I was
promised eternal peace in return.

If you remember anything I have ever taught
you, remember what I have written here.

Willa

I was dumbstruck. Willa was Iblis’s wife? I
just couldn’t imagine the master of evil and my kind, caring Willa
as husband and wife, no matter how hard I tried.

On top of that, all these years of believing
I was being hunted because of who I am and it turns out it’s more
or less to keep the true history of the Otherworlders a secret. If
anyone found out about me, the truth as they know it would fall to
pieces. We all know how politicians like to tell the truth. I think
my death is the more likely of those scenarios.

I know what you’re thinking. How do I even
exist? I used to think that perhaps some Iblians escaped and made
me before they were killed off. I asked Willa once who my parents
were. She told me, “You are a gift from the gods.” I was beginning
to think she may have been a bit more literal than I had previously
thought.

Currently, I was repressing that thought. It
was neatly stored behind the cobwebs in my brain. I never concerned
myself with parentage before. There would only be more questions
than answers if I went down that road. Who cares where I came from
anyway? I’m here and that’s all there is to it.

Another long day had taken its toll on me,
causing my eyes to droop and my brain to shut down. It was all I
could do to put the letter away before sleep came over me. The
dreams that followed would only screw with my head more than it had
been reading that letter.

“Mags,” a familiar voice called. “Mags, are
you alright?”

Dazed, I blinked and looked around. I was
sitting near a pond John and I used to picnic in. John also
happened to be sitting across from me.

“I’m confused,” I admitted, shaking my
head.

He handed me a water bottle. “It’s no wonder,
we’ve trained hard. Between using your magic and fighting you’re
exhausted and dehydrated.”

“That must be it. I could swear though that I
was just-.” I never got to finish the sentence. John had grabbed me
by the shoulders and was looking at me with eyes that could melt
into any woman’s soul.

He was smiling. “The brain gets a little
funny when you’re dehydrated. Eat some food and drink the water I
gave you. You’ll feel better soon.”

I nodded dumbly and did as I was told. The
cool, refreshing water revived my dry throat. I had forgotten what
I was saying to John and any lingering questions disappeared.
Matter of fact, I felt better than ever!

“You were right,” I smiled. “I feel fantastic
now.”

“I knew you would.” He stood up and offered
me his hand. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

I took his hand as he helped me stand. We had
only gone a few steps when a faint rumble came from my stomach. I
turned around to grab an apple from our picnic basket, but there
was nothing there.

“Where’s the apple?” I murmured to
myself.

John had heard me. “Is that what you
dropped?”

I gestured to where we had just been sitting.
“I didn’t drop anything. I hadn’t even grabbed one yet.”

Concern etched itself in the lines on his
brow. “Yes, you did. I have it right here.” John held out his hand
and in it was the bright green Granny Smith I had been looking
for.

“Keep eating, you’re still not at one hundred
percent,” John ordered and gave me the apple.

I felt fine. I wasn’t tired and most
certainly wasn’t dehydrated. The water I had been drinking was a
welcome treat, but not necessary. Why was the hottie of my dreams
trying to shove food down my throat? The last thing I could
remember was falling asleep in the forest, alone.

A scene flashed in front of me. Melissa,
John, and three others obscured by hoods, were at John’s home,
sitting at his kitchen table. John was calling my name, but there
was no sound.

I was there, but felt a million miles away.
Why was he calling my name as if he had lost me if I was standing
right there? Who were those hooded things?

As soon as I realized this was no dream, no
memory of things that had happened in the past with John and I,
everything went fuzzy. I could no longer make out the lines in the
hewn timbers that were his walls. I tried to focus on anything from
a withered plant in the windowsill above his kitchen sink to the
chair John was sitting on, but to no avail. It seemed the harder I
tried the more everything went out of focus.

I blinked to try and clear my vision and I
was once again by the calm waters of the pond. John was shaking me
gently. I was trying to hold on to the vision I had, but it was
quickly forgotten when the sound of his voice broke through my
muddled brain.

“Mags? Mags, I’m serious. If you don’t eat
I’m going to force it down your throat.”

Like a dream you instantly forget the moment
you wake, my mind cleared and my attention was once again centered
on the man in front of me.

“I’d like to see you try,” I countered.

His hands slid down from my shoulders and
grasped my arms firmly as he pulled me roughly to himself and moved
his head to kiss me. We were so close that I could see a thin sheen
of sweat on his forehead. He was panicked and I realized something
was off. I wrested my arms from his hold and pushed him away.

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“Mags, it’s okay, you’re just not well,” he
cooed.

“That’s crap. You’ve never once called me by
my real name. If I’m not well, how do I know that?”

I grabbed for my sword, but it wasn’t there.
The holster that was always strapped to my back was missing as
well. John lurched forward, attempting to reach me and I summoned a
fireball to throw at him. My magic was gone as well. I had no
weapons, no magic, and warning bells were going off in the back of
my head, trying to remind me of something.

My heart was getting faster and pounding
harder. I didn’t think it could take much more without exploding.
Breathing became difficult; I was only able to take short, shallow
breaths. Blackness swirled around the outer edges of my vision,
threatening to encompass my sight completely.

I was on the verge of blacking out when the
world shifted and I was once again standing in the middle of the
kitchen.

John was addressing the three hooded beings.
“She’s too strong, I couldn’t hold onto the dream. Did you find
her?”

“We have,” the one in the middle
answered.

Everything went dark again. My sleep became a
dreamless grey void. When I woke, all I would remember was another
dream about a memory of John and I.

I woke to the sounds of leaves crunching. The
forest was pitch black, not even the moonlight could pierce its
thick cover. I couldn’t create a light source without giving myself
away. I had slept with my sword, so I was ready and waiting to
strike out at whatever was stalking around in the dark.

“Mags,” a voice whispered, “are you
there?”

Whoever it was, it had to have been friendly
or less than hostile. The night stalker was also an idiot. I stood
silently, my breathing still, refusing to give my position away. I
was irritated that whoever was stumbling around was letting it be
known that we were here to Hades only knows what goes bump in the
night. Either I’d have to kill something or my stalker was going to
have to learn a hard lesson on the finer points of stealth.

“Mags,” the voice called louder, causing some
of the trees to shake their branches at the intruder. I recognized
the Darwin Award winner. Luca was the interloper trying to wake the
dead and he was standing only a foot away from me.

Catching him by surprise, I tackled him,
rolling away before he could fight back. He scrambled to his feet,
but I swept my leg out and knocked him off his. He growled in
frustration and a giggle escaped my lips.

“Who’s there?” he demanded.

“Relax there cowboy, no need to get testy.”
Not being able to see sucked. Besides, thanks to him we may as well
have a bright red neon arrow pointing at us. I preferred a campfire
instead and went about creating one.

“What the fuck was that for?” Luca shouted at
me once he could see properly.

“Nice language. That was for alerting the
entire forest of our location jackass.”

He gave me a puzzled look. “In the
Wildwood?”

“What’s the Wildwood?” I asked, not too
interested in the answer.

“You don’t even know where you are?”

I don’t know if the look of sheer amazement
on his face was because I truly didn’t know the name of the forest
or if he thought I was just stupid.