"Merryweather, may I ask you a personal question?"

The pixie looked up at me with a wary expression but nodded, "Yes Lady Tegan, what is it?"

"How old are you?"

Merryweather blushed slightly and grimaced, then finally set their shoulders and held their head high as they replied "I am forty-one years old."

I nodded slightly and took a drink of my mead then asked, "Would you tell me at what age are pixies considered to be adults?"

They blushed a little brighter but replied quietly "Forty."

"Thank you Merryweather," I said before I took another deep drink of mead.

It was morning now and we were finishing up our last breakfast here. As I expected, none of us slept well last night. We were all tense, and I'm sure everyone was thinking about the confrontation that awaited us.

The pixie drained their own little glass of mead and asked, "Why did you want to know my age?"

I shrugged slightly, "I remembered you said you were the youngest in your family, and I was worried you might still be a child. If you were, I'd have ordered you to join your mother and stay hidden with the local pixie troop, rather than risk your life with us."

They looked a little surprised as they stared at me, then finally just nodded slowly "I see."

Once everyone was finished eating, I suggested "We all may as well bring wineskins with us. Incase we get thirsty up there, or need a drink afterwards."

The others were all silent as we finished getting ready. There were three skins of mead left and I brought all three, I figured Merryweather and I could share one, and I'd give the other two to Greenleaf. After the others each took a full skin of wine there were a half dozen left, but Siobhan took her knife to them.

She must have caught my questioning look, and explained "We already know our camp is going to be overrun. No sense leaving them a gift of wine."

"Right," I nodded.

We all got our personal packs on our backs. Merryweather was seated on my left shoulder again, and together we ascended the Duma Dé one last time.

No-one else was atop the Duma yet, we were probably an hour early. I led the others to the centre of the plateau.

Siobhan slipped her pack off and left it on the ground a few paces behind her then suggested the rest of us do the same. "If this is where we're making our stand, no point trying to fight with extra gear weighing us down."

We all followed her lead and left our packs on the ground behind us, then took up positions facing east as we waited for the King.

Kelly stood about a pace behind me and to my left, Keira was a pace behind me to the right. Laoise stood to Kelly's left, and Siobhan was next to her sister at the far end. Padraig stood to the right of Keira.

The twins had their bows in hand, arrows set. So did Siobhan, while Laoise had her crossbow loaded and ready. Padraig and I both had our bows as well, but tucked over our shoulders. He was holding my standard up, and of course I was going to use magic. I had the shield spell on the tip of my tongue again, but the spell I was reviewing in my mind was something else entirely. I was planning on doing the impossible and breaking things as usual.

With that in mind, I mentioned to my companions "Just a heads-up friends, I'm planning on doing some unusual stuff with magic. Kelly, Keira, I know I asked you two to be ready with shield spells, but maybe don't worry about that so much. That goes for the rest of you. It might be better to just focus on using your bows, leave the magic to me."

I got a few curious glances from my sept, but nobody questioned me. There were a few nods, and Keira said "Ok Tegan."

Merryweather asked quietly, "Where should I go? What should I do?"

"Could you take a position with Padraig? Perhaps you can sit or stand atop the pole with my banner, and keep watch from there for any trouble. If you see anything, let us know."

"Yes Lady Tegan," they replied, then flew over to join Padraig.

As we waited, I said to my companions "If Áine is present, try not to hurt her. I'm hoping she'll take over from her father when this is over."

"What about the prince?" Keira asked. "And Colm?"

I replied, "Leave the prince to me. If Colm is present and this turns into a battle, then do what you have to."

After a moment I added, "Actually if this turns into a battle, anyone on the other side is fair game except Áine. And I'd prefer the king and prince were left to me."

My companions murmured their acknowledgement, then we were all quiet again as we waited.

After about twenty minutes, Merryweather appeared hovering in the air before me. Their wings were buzzing and they looked agitated, as they spoke quickly. "Sorry I got bored and went scouting and they're coming now!"

"Thanks Merryweather," I replied. "Get in position, and maybe go invisible for now."

The pixie nodded and vanished as they flew in Padraig's direction.

A few moments later the first of the king's people came into view over the edge of the Duma. The first group was a dozen archers. Sir Colm was at the far left, Princess Áine was at the far right. The two men standing next to the princess were dressed like Colm, I figured they were both knights of the realm. The remaining men were outfitted like soldiers. All of them held bows in hand with arrows set and ready, and they all had swords at their belts, along with daggers and their quivers of arrows.

Half a minute after the archers were in position, two more groups came into view. About three or four meters to the left of the archers were a group of four men. Then three or four meters further left of them was another group, of five men.

These men were all slightly older, in the six-hundred to eight-hundred range, or fifty to sixty in human terms. Some of them were in fancy clothes with swords at their hips, others wore long robes. Three of them held staffs. I figured this was the group of mages. Eight of them had their eyes on me, and I had no doubt they had defensive anti-magic spells ready.

I couldn't tell if the ninth one was looking at me or not, he was in a cloak and had the hood up so his face was hidden. He stood at the far left, leaning against his staff as he faced towards my sept.

Finally two more men came into view. They stepped into the gap between the two groups of mages. The one with the crown was obviously King Cathal, and the younger man next to him had to be Prince Odhran.

The king was about seven hundred and fifty, or in human terms he looked to be in his late-fifties. He was a tall, slim man with short dark hair. I figured he was at least six feet tall, and looked like he kept in shape. He was clean-shaved, and the clothes he wore looked fancy without being too ostentatious. He was armed, with both a sword and dagger hanging from his belt. The crown on his brow wasn't gaudy, it was a fairly simple gold circlet with some bejewelled ornamentation around the top at regular intervals.

I wondered if I'd get a chance to take a closer look at it later, to see how it was made. I was curious to know how the gems were set and if the crown was made from a single piece of gold or if it was multiple parts welded together.

Prince Odhran was a much less impressive figure. He was a few inches shorter than his dad, he wasn't as fit, and his clothes were more gaudy and pompous. I knew he was around three hundred and fifty, to a human he'd look to be in his late twenties. He had slightly messy light brown hair. Like his father he had a sword at his belt. And like his sister, he was also holding a bow and had an arrow set on the string. But where Áine actually looked like a warrior, Odhran looked like a rich man's son who liked to play soldier.

There was about twenty meters of space between our group and theirs. It was a little far for any kind of comfortable conversation, but it was a good range for archery or magical combat.

We all sort of stared at each other for another minute or two, before I decided to go first. I took a few deep breaths then raised my voice and began my little speech.

"King Cathal, I apologize for the disrespect I have shown you. As you know I was raised on Earth as a changeling, and my knowledge of fae customs and protocols is lacking. I don't wish to fight you, and as you can see I did not bring an army. All I want is to live my life in peace. I came here to ask your forgiveness, and to ask that you drop all charges against myself, my friends, and my family. I ask you absolve my family and clann of any blame, as my actions have always been my own. And I ask that you allow me to continue living my life in peace."

I paused a moment, then added "I know you're unhappy that I asked to meet you here. This meeting was not my choice either. I wanted to remain at my own home, as I'm sure you wanted to stay at your palace. Let's both agree to leave each other in peace."

The king seemed unimpressed by what I had to say. Prince Odhran looked even less impressed. The prince scowled as he and his father exchanged some quiet words, then the king took a deep breath and called out his terms to me.

"Tegan Vale of Clann Brádaigh, I offer you one chance to surrender. You and your fellow traitors lay down your weapons and submit yourselves to my rightful orders. If you refuse, if you resist, you will all die. Not just the six of you, but your entire clann. I will see your mother and father put to the sword. Any fae with the name Brádaigh or Vale will be executed. Your clann will be destroyed, all its territory will be seized."

He paused for breath then stated, "Make your choice carefully Tegan Vale. It is not just your life which hangs in the balance, but the lives of everyone you know, every Brádaigh in Otherworld."

As he spoke I felt my blood turn cold, as my first reaction was fear for my family and friends and our entire clann. Then I relaxed again, as my fear gave way to my own cold resolve. Whatever happened here today, I wasn't going to lose sleep over it afterwards. Whatever I had to do to the king or anyone else here, it would be self defence. I was looking out for myself, and my clann.

Siobhan remarked quietly, "He didn't use your title. That was a deliberate snub."

"I noticed that too," I replied quietly.

It was time for me to put my plan into action. I knew we weren't going to resolve anything with talk, so the next step was an overwhelming demonstration of magic.

"Well?" the king demanded, "Time is running out, child. Surrender, or I give the order and your entire clann dies!"

I called back, "King Cathal, surely you've already been told what I'm capable of?"

The king's expression darkened, "I've heard the stories. I think you'll find I'm a lot harder to impress. You'll also find it a lot more challenging when you're facing eight of the top mages in the realm."

"We'll see," I stated. My eyes flared brightly with magic as I unleashed the spell I'd been working on for the past week.

Eight of the nine mages standing with the king deployed their anti-magic defences, but their defensive spells were all wasted. My magic didn't target the king, or the prince. In fact it didn't target anyone at all. Instead, it was directed downwards, into the royal Duma Dé beneath my feet.

A very slight shudder passed through the air. Kelly and Keira noticed it immediately, as did Laoise. All but one of the mages standing with the king looked alarmed. So did the king, and about half of the archers, including Colm and Áine.

I couldn't see them, but I knew the army camped on the plain below and the troops who'd gone around the Duma to our camp would feel it too.

The king looked at me and demanded, "What did you do?!"

I had a hard time acting calm. My heart was racing and my body was almost trembling. I hoped if anyone noticed they'd attribute it to fear or nerves. I took a few breaths and forced myself to sound calm as I replied, "I've just taken away the magic, your majesty."

I saw his mages and the other magic-sensitive fae grow more agitated. Kelly and Keira both looked at me as well, they were almost as uneasy as the enemy.

"Across the entire Duma?" the king called back. He was trying not to sound too shocked, but I could see in his eyes he was worried.

"No," I responded. In as confident a voice as I could muster, I stated "I've taken away the magic in all of Otherworld!"

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