A Midwestern Yankee In King Ovin's Court (Chapter 3- Coming Home)
Chapter Three
Coming Home
Kathy's eyes fluttered open as a nurse in a pink scrub uniform lifted her hip to look for the bedpan. "Under the bed," she said. The nurse yelped and flinched backward, smiling widely as she recovered from her shock. "Yeah, kind of stunned myself by getting up to pee last night, not being in my own bed and all," Kathy joked.
"I'm sorry, it's just that you've been out for close to four days now," the nurse said, tossing her hair back over her shoulders. "Kind of stunned me."
"Well, mom always told me I was stunning," Kathy replied. "I gotta pee again, by the way." The nurse, her name pin reading 'Jackie-RN', helped her to the toilet, then back to the bed. Kathy groaned a little as she adjusted herself on the bed with her two flat, institutional pillows.
"Your mother's been here every day since you came in," Jackie said, handing Kathy her water bottle. "She's adorable."
"Little woman, iron hair, nice glasses, total smartass? Makes you wonder how the hell a person that tiny could have any kids my size?" Jackie laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that's my mom. Five foot nothing, and her only daughter is nearly six feet tall." Jackie grabbed Kathy's chart from the end of her bed.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to fetch Dr. Kurtis," she said, walking off with a merry bounce in her step. Ten minutes later the good Dr. Kurtis (handsome enough to put thoughts in Kathy's head of a sexual nature) informed her that they'd found no abnormal brain activity or troubles, and that she'd been dehydrated and low on iron and vitamin D.
"So drink plenty of water and take some suppliments, Ms. Potts. I'm going to contact your employers to let them know you're to be off work for another two weeks at least, though, so you can take the time to balance yourself out, okay?" Kathy agreed to that, since she had another ten days of vacation coming to her anyway.
Around noon, Kathy's mother, Gertrude, came to check on her. Dressed well and professionally in a black skirt and white-and-blue wavy blouse, she handed Kathy a Milky Way bar from her purse after a long hug. "Tigger misses you, I think. I went over there to feed him and do the litter box and he was all frickin' over me," she said. "I swear to God, if I hadn't distracted him with a treat he'd have probably tried to stow away in my purse."
"Oh, he just loves his momma's momma," Kathy said in a warbly baby-talk voice.
"So they letting you out of here today?"
"Yeah, two weeks before I can go back to work. I kind of get a do-over on my vacation. Actually, I get extra time this way."
"Good, you need the rest," Gertrude said, pulling a can of Diet Coke from her purse for herself, then one for Kathy. "Take some time to frickin' relax."
"Yeah, I can catch up on all that crack I haven't smoked." Her mother almost sprayed soda on the floor, but she managed to swallow and wiped her mouth where some had leaked.
"Jesus, Kathy! Can you not be a smartass for a day?"
"I can give you an hour some time, but not now. I hate these places, mom, they make me nervous. It's a defense mechanism." She took a sip of her soda, her mood turning somber. "It makes me think of dad." Her mother said nothing, but took Kathy's hand silently in her own. Gertrude gave it a squeeze, which Kathy returned.
The doctor's timing was perfect, as he came in a minute later with Kathy's release forms. "These are for you, Kathy," he said, handing them over. "Just sign and date those, and I'll be back in a minute. Then you're free to go.The bottom sheet is yours, I faxed a copy to your employers so they know when to expect you back."
"Thanks," Kathy said. She began signing the forms, of which there seemed far too many. She looked up at her mother, shook her head. "It's like I'm signing some kind of peace treaty," she groused.
"They just want to cover their asses," Gertrude said. "Can't blame them, people are lawsuit happy. Back when I was a kid, the doctor could go in for an appendix, pull out your small intestine instead and just say 'whoops', and you were screwed."
"We've come a long way. Tell me mom, did they have the picture-box yet?" Her mother playfully smacked her on the arm and drank her soda, tossing the empty can in the trash. When Kathy handed the doctor his forms back, he closed the curtains for her to get dressed. Kathy's mother, ever resourceful, had brought a bag with a change of fresh clothes for Kathy in the event she came around and could go home. "Kind of weird," Kathy commented as she pulled her shoes on.
"What is?"
"I black out for almost four days and they don't find anything worse than dehydration and an iron and vitamin D deficieny. That just doesn't seem normal."
"Well, we're not normal people, Kathy," her mom jibed. "Come on, I'll drive you home. Don and I got your car back to your place the evening you were first here, in case you were wondering."
"Thanks momma," Kathy said, hugging her tiny mother.
"Not a problem, sweetheart. Let's go." Kathy left Hennepin County Medical Center with her mother then, bound for one of the oddest afternoons of her life.
Kathy gave her mother one last kiss on the cheek before climbing out of her Jeep, hitching her purse up and making for the stairs. On the landing outside of her apartment door, she paused for a moment, listening once again as that tiny voice spoke up in the back of her mind. There's someone in there, right now, the voice said. Don't go in there. She shook the voice off, but as she unlocked the door, it chimed in again. Say goodbye to normalcy.
Kathy stepped inside, and no sooner had she shut the door than a fury cannonball rocketed at her from the S.S. Living Room Couch. Tigger bashed his head into Kathy's lower leg, purring up a storm, rubbing against her hard. "Jesus, buddy boy, you act like you've been without human contact for a year! Ease up!"
The apartment smelled like lemon Pledge and vanilla, compliments of a Glade plug-in air freshener her mother had put in by the couch. There was not a speck of dust in evidence as she passed through to her bedroom, changing into soft, baggy blue Hawkeyes shorts and a gray tank top, making herself comfortable. Her mother had cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom, and Kathy found on her bed a basket of folded laundry with a little note. 'Kathy, don't know your organizing system, Love Mom'. She felt a single tear running down her cheek.
"Damn it, mom," she said, putting the laundry away. Tigger observed from his post on her pillows, all neatly arranged at the head of the bed. She could hear his continued purring as she arranged her drawers, and as he followed her back out into the living room. Kathy's stomach growled, but she ignored it for long enough to turn on her television, put on The Talk, and grab her cell phone from her purse. She called the nearest Jimmy John's, placing an order for two turkey club sandwiches.
She didn't want two, but that almost-alien voice convinced her to get a second one.
Kathy grabbed a Coke from the fridge, her laptop from the kitchen table, and turned her television volume up. Tigger, nestled cozily against her leg, soaked up every moment of petting as she waited for her computer to fire up. When it did, she scrolled through her Facebook profile, finding a curious wall post on her account. It was dated on the day she'd gone to 'Magical Things' and blacked out.
It said, 'You remember the sparks coming from the wall?' It was posted by someone calling themselves 'TwinCity Sage'. This odd bit of doggerel made her think of her nightmare about the giant roaches, and suddenly she found herself wondering if that had been a nightmare after all, or something all too real.
A knock at her door a few minutes later brought her around with a start. She paid the delivery girl for her order, adding in a generous six dollar tip. Kathy took the bag with her sandwiches into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water from the tap. She took her glass out to the living room and set it on the end table next to the couch, then crossed the room to open the window a bit, as it had gotten muggy in the apartment.
As Kathy reached for the latch that would let her slide the window to the sideher eyes fell on a pair of tiny, shimmering figures, sitting on the railing of the walkway fronting her level's apartments. Harder look showed them to be humanoid, with feathery gossamer wings of pure white, their torsos casting an eerie but enchanting bluish glow.
"Oh my God," she breathed, staring wide-eyed out her window. "Fairies!"
"Pixies, actually," said a rich, authoritative voice behind her. Kathy yipped ad spun around, back pressed flat against the window and wall. "Fairy wings are translucent energy, pixies have the feathers." The thing which was speaking to her looked like a knight out of Arthurian lore, but with a head and hairy neck of a German Shepherd. Its lips had moved like a cartoon character's when it spoke, sending what little grip Kathy had on sanity closer to the edge.
After what you saw at the hospital, are the pixies and this dog-man really that big a surprise?Not really, she thought. Still, her mouth had gone dry and her muscles tensed up. "Wha, wha, wha," she managed.
"What am I, right? Where are my manners?" The dog-man rose and gave her a deep, formal bow. "I am named Daggeuro, my lady. I am a kennin, a dog faerie," he said calmly, soothingly. "My titles are as follows- I am High Knight of king Ovin's court, Lord of the Watch of Amermidst Kingdom, Blademaster of the kennin, Santo of divars, wielder of Boon and Bane."
"That's a mouthful," Kathy commented, still pressed against the window. "You don't always have to introduce yourself that way, do you?"
"Only when ettiquete demands it, such as now," Daggeuro replied. Kathy eased herself off of the window, turned, and drew the sliding blinds shut. "Why did you shut that? The day is pleasant outside."
"I don't want the neighbors to see me palling around with an imaginary friend my brain produced when I hit my head on that parking lot," she said cheerily.
"I'm very real, lady Potts," he said flatly. The dog-man steadily walked over to her, pulling something from his belt under the cloak he wore. He held up a small purple cloth pouch. "Grab it." She did, surprised by both her compliance and its weight. "Now, call your cat." Kathy made the kissing noises she used to get Tigger's attention, and the cat came to within two feet of her. "Drop the bag." She did, and something inside made a metallic jangling sound, causing Tigger to bolt, mrowing the whole while. "If I weren't real, the cat wouldn't have reacted. Lady Potts?"
But she was already drooping, eyes rolled back in her head as he stooped to catch her.
Kathy awoke to find a German Shepherd looking down at her. It was a rather funny-looking dog, standing upright, wearing armor and a cloak and swords. "Shit," she rasped. "This is really happening, isn't it?"
"As I said ten minutes ago, I'm quite real," said Daggeuro. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe you're actually taking this all far better than most Awakened humans. You even used what I believe must have been a joke."
Kathy sat up on the couch, unsure of how she'd ended up there. "You lay me out here?" He nodded. "Thank you. Um, okay, what are you doing here? Is this the part where you say 'You're a wizard, Harry'? Because that would be pretty cool."
"I don't understand you," Daggeuro said, blinking at her. Well, he may not get humor, but at least he smells nicer than the last guy I had over, she thought. Like Irish Spring soap. It's nice. "What or who is Harry?"
"Nevermind," she said, waving his question aside. "I'm hungry. How about you?"
"Well, I could stand to eat," he said. "I've been relegated to going into fast food restaurants these last few days, since I'm not to return to the Ether Plane without you."
"Wait, what," she said, stopping in the entryway to her kitchen.
"Shall we talk whilst at sup," the kennin asked, grinning a canine grin that was, in a word, cartoonish.
"If you mean talking while eating, yeah, we should do that," said Kathy, once more in control of her nerves. She wasn't in shock now, as before. She was actually excited in a way she'd never known before. A faerie creature, straight out of folklore and legend, was about to sit down with her and eat Jimmy John's while talking! It seemed too good to be true. As the dog-man faerie stepped close, she reached out and wrapped her hand around his snout. His eyes went wide with surprise, and he strained against her grip.
Kathy let him go after feeling the sinews in his snout. "What in the seven hells was that about," he asked.
"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure the Mystery Machine wasn't going to show up," she said.
"What?"
"Making sure you're really a faerie person and not just some guy in a costume," she said. "I'm sorry, it's just that I always hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
"A wise course of thinking," Daggeuro said. He followed her to the small table, thanking her for his food and a can of Coke. He had a little trouble opening it with his furry hands, but he got it quickly enough.
"How the hell have you managed to hang around and go to restaurants without people noticing you," she asked after taking a bite.
"A minor illusion working. I'm not much good with magic, of any sort, so I made it vague but passable to those not looking too hard. I always have some mortal money with me to work with when I'm forced to come to this Plane." He took a bite of his sandwich and made a pleased sound in his throat. "That's quite good!"
"I agree. Now, what's this business of bringing me with you someplace?"
"Ah, yes, the heart of the matter. Miss Kathy," he said, folding his hands on the tabletop very primly. "You recently came in contact with a damaged twinning aura. Twinnings are magically enchanted buildings that are the same here as they are in the Ether Plane and the in-between, the space that ties the two Planes together. They are ancient, mysterious things. A power known as a wyldfire raged through this entire region five days ago, damaging that aura.
"Now, you are what is known as an Awakened human. That means that you already possessed innate magical talents and tendencies. There are not many humans with this potential anymore. Anyway, when you came in contact with the damaged aura, it ignited your soul, Awakening you in a most traumatic way. As such, my liege, king Ovin, ruler of the Amermidst Kingdom in the Ether Plane, sent me to come gather you to him for an audience."
Kathy tried to choke down another bite of food. "So, I'm going to meet a faerie king? All because of some accident?"
"Yes, though why exactly he wishes to see you personally I have no idea," said Daggeuro. "It might have something to do with other recent events. My only question is, do you consent to come? For his majesty was very clear that the choice must be yours to make freely."
"Okay, so something magical happened to me, and now a faerie king wants me to come to the world of magic and pixies and such, and meet him personally?"
"I understand if it seems like too much," Daggeuro began.
"When do we leave," Kathy interrupted.
Daggeuro watched Kathy pack her bag from the doorway, leaning against the frame, rubbing his chin. "I have to say, I've never heard of a newly Awakened being so, well, eager."
"Are you kidding me," Kathy asked with a nervous little laugh. "I've been dreamed of this kind of thing since I was a little girl! What kid doesn't think about mystical quests and adventures in faerie tale worlds?"
"I understand, Kathy, but you must realize that there are dangers in my world, just as there are here," Daggeuro warned. "It isn't all fluff and fun. The faerie tales you humans indulge in are truest in their oldest, grisliest forms. There are things in the Ether Plane that can rip a human apart with less effort than it would take you to cough." Kathy weaved around him, out to the kitchen, Daggeuro following closely behind. "And might I add that you're not a child, Miss Kathy."
"I'm well aware of my age, Mr. Daggeuro."
"Sir."
"What?
"Sir Daggeuro. But you are a human, and you are in my charge. You may be informal with me outside of court, unless otherwise needed. I meant no disrespect in saying what I did, Miss Kathy. I merely wished to make you aware of the fact that where we are going, you are a stranger in a strange land. Do you know how to defend yourself with a weapon, or unarmed?"
"I used to wrestle with my older brothers growing up," she said, stuffing several Cokes into her heavy-duty backpack. "That doesn't count though, does it?"
"Not really, no. And you'll have no use of your magic until you've learned how to properly channel the necessary energies." Kathy stopped what she was doing, staring at the kennin knight.
"Magic? I have magic?"
"You are Awakened, Miss Kathy. That's what it means. However, we know nothing yet of what sort of powers you are aligned with, so I couldn't even begin to hazard guessing where to begin with your instruction. None of which, by the way, is germaine to our current discussion."
"You're right. I have to call my mom," Kathy said, walking to the living room. "I have to have her come grab Tigger for now, take care of him until I get back."
"That's already been arranged in the event you accepted the king's invitation," Daggeuro said. Kathy, cell phone in hand, tucked it slowly in her pocket, eyebrow raised. "The sage who owns the store where you had your Awakening will tend to your home. The woman who owns the company you work for is an Adept, aware of the Ether and faerie, but with no power of her own. Adepts are a lot more common among humanity than the Awakened."
"Soooo, one of your people is going to talk to her?"
"King Ovin already had a missive sent explaining your circumstances."
"Seems kind of convenient," Kathy remarked.
"Trust me, it was not," Daggeuro said. "Miss Kathy, you must understand that no major event escapes the notice of king Ovin, not as regards what occurs within the borders of his kingdom. He is a man of unsurpassed knowledge, wisdom, and power, with the full resources of his territories to call upon. When the wyldfire tore through this region, he knew of it immediately. When you were Awakened, the king, queen, myself, and a dozen other members of the court sensed it. That his majesty saw the need to prepare for things to be seen to in your mortal life was not some function of a deus ex machina, or fate, or destiny. It was the careful, thoughtful execution of a noble king's orders, given based upon his thousands of years of life."
Kathy, feeling like a child who has just been imparted a life lesson in the form of a lecture, looked away, sighing. "Sorry," she said. "I had no idea."
"It's quite all right," Daggeuro said, putting a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. "Would that we could count on coincidence to be ever-present, a sure sign that the gods were keeping watch over us. But no," Daggeuro said, looking down and to the side, his eyes exhuding a queer sadness. "The halls of their palaces lay dusty and silent, I fear. The gods only make themselves felt when it seems they are about to be forgotten entirely." The pair shared an awkward silence for a long minute while Kathy zipped up her bag.
"So," Kathy said, bobbing back and forth from the balls to the heels of her feet, looking at the floor. "We need to do anything else before we go?" Daggeuro reached inside of his cloak to the back of his belt, fidgeted with something there. When he pulled his hand out, he held a dagger in a black sheath, encrusted with gems. Kathy took it gingerly, pulling the blade free. The blade itself was of some black metal, engraved with silver inscriptions of some unknown language. "What's this?"
"It is a dagger of dragon bone, Miss Kathy. I give it to you as a tool, and shall in a moment teach you of its initial use in your hands. First, are you certain you wish to be part of the business of the Ether Plane?"
"Yes," Kathy said enthusiastically.
"Very well. Say farewell to your pet, Miss Kathy, for he cherishes you and will miss your company."
"Wait, I can't bring him with me? If Dorothy could do it, why can't I?"
"Who is this Dorothy you refer to?"
"Wizard of Oz, it's an old movie. You say you've visited this world and you didn't catch that?"
"My apologies for not being quite so well-versed, but now that you have accepted your role in coming events, we must away to the king with all haste," said Daggeuro. Kathy scooped up Tigger and spent five solid minutes petting him and babytalking him, letting herself cry a little at her parting from him.
"You're sure this person you guys have will take good care of him, be good company?"
"Only the very best," Daggeuro said. "Now, draw out the dagger, Miss Kathy." She pulled the weapon free of its sheath and held it aloft. "Now, focus your mind, your thoughts, on the image of using that blade to cut a way into the in-between, the realm between Planes. When the image is fixed in your mind, cut the air with the dagger."
Kathy held the blade up, quickly thought about cutting the air itself, and swiped the blade in a downward slash. Nothing happened, however. She looked to Daggeuro, who just shook his head, tapping a spot next to his canine ear. "Focus," he said quietly. Kathy closed her eyes, conjuring the image of herself cutting open a rift in the air, a swirling purple-and-blue vortex. Eyes cracked slightly open, she slowly slashed downward, her arm meeting a queer resistance in the air as the dagger tore a hole in the fabric of reality.
"Holy crap, I did it," she rasped. A pair of strong hands shoved her shouting into the vortex from behind.
"Indeed you did," Daggeuro said, following right behind.