Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 284: Gwydion

"I'll ask again," I said, now that I had forced him to look away, "who are you?"

"I am Gwydion fab Don, one of the twelve Underhill Kings," he replied reluctantly. I had forced the man to bow his head in the strangest battle I'd ever engaged in, but that didn't mean he was willing to concede. He might still decide to attack, but now that he was talking, I hoped the chances of that had lessened. The possibility seemed remote since he had lost our first encounter.

"One of the Sidhe that has chosen to hide, to forsake their duty to protect their people. To scurry below, to hide in Underhill like cowardly rats instead of facing the Fomorians and Man?" I sneered, my opinion of his actions obvious.

"You speak as if I or any of the other Kings had a choice," he replied angrily. "Do you think we would have retreated, that we would have gathered as many of our people as we could and hidden Underhill if there had been any other choice?"

"Wasn't there?" I demanded. "Duchess Boadicea seems to believe otherwise as she fights at the front lines. Duke Cavan seems to believe otherwise as he welcomes those refugees that have been displaced, those Sidhe not hiding Underhill. Queen Morgan le Fey seems to think otherwise as she holds out against the Fomorians and the tides of Man.

"How is it they have a choice to fight and protect, but you are helpless? Why have you been forced to retreat to Underhill?"

"Because they were not bound by [Geas] and forced to retreat," Gwydion answered, his voice tinged with fury and despair.

"Who could place a [Geas] to bind twelve Kings and force them to hide Underhill?" I demanded in disbelief.

"We held a conclave when it became obvious that our people were losing the war. We had done well enough against the Fomorian invasion, but when the race of Man began their pogrom, we knew that our defeat was inevitable," he began explaining.

"Lleu Llaw Gyffes, High King of Sidhe, decided he would divide our people and appoint a King to lead each division he created Underhill. Seelie, Unseelie, Knocker, Wisp, Brownie, Selkie, Slaugh, Goblin, Redcaps, Banshee, Pixie, and Kelpie were chosen and divided amongst each Underhill.

"He then placed a [Geas] on those he chose suitable, the twelve Kings. He anointed each of us, investing us with a small fraction of his authority, proclaiming each of us King or Queen, and ceding his Right of Rule in the process. Once he had divested himself of most of his power and control over each Underhill, he triggered a [Geas] that he had woven, using his royal blood as the power behind the binding.

"That [Geas] restricted and bound each of the twelve Kings to Underhill. He forced us inside. Trapped us. The [Geas] meant we were unable to leave until the armies of Man had faded from memory or Ragnarok began," Gwydion recounted.

"Each of us gathered as many people as we could, those that would follow us, those that would hide before we parted the veil betwixt and between. Many answered our summons, but Llew Llaw only allowed a fortnight to gather the Sidhe at each location.

"Twelve separate Kings relaying messages across the land commanding Sidhe to gather. The summons devolved into chaos. No one was certain who to obey. No one knew if each of the Kings appointed by Llew Llaw had the authority to command them.

"There were many who refused, because of that confusion. Many who refused because they thought to retreat from the world and to hide Underhill a betrayal of our people and our nature.

"Those who our retreat a betrayal argued that we were stewards of this world, creatures of nature, connected with and to the planet. To abandon that connection would mean we were no longer Sidhe. And if we weren't Sidhe, what were we? What reason was there for our existence?

"Those that refused to enter Underhill because of that belief decided they would continue to fight and stand against the invasion of our land. They decided to fight even if it meant they would die, and did so in defiance of the High King," Gwydion finished explaining.

"And what about those Sidhe that aren't included in the list that you mentioned?" I asked. "The Hobgoblins, Bannick, Merrow, Hags, and Changelings? Those people that you have not named but are still Sidhe? Were they given access to Underhill?"

"No," he admitted, his shame at that admission clear. "Lleu Llaw Gyffes is powerful, but not so powerful that he could share his authority with ever race and species of Sidhe."

"Then why force the Sidhe to divide and escape Underhill by race?" I wondered.

"Because of his enmity with some of our people. His disdain for those that he didn't include. His bigotry and bias against the most monstrous of our people. As for the changelings and mixed breeds, he would wage a pogrom of his own to weed out and destroy any Sidhe that had even the smallest trace of the blood of man running through their veins if he could," he informed me.

I wish his claim surprised me, but I wasn't. The ugliness of bigotry was not limited to man, unfortunately. On Talahm, that bigotry was why the Seelie and Unseelie factions had divided our people and contributed to some of our bloodiest wars. In truth, we had killed more of our own people than Zeus or Odin ever had, all because of faction. The fight between Seelie and Unseelie had almost been our undoing in our distant past.

I would not excuse that ugliness or that bigotry, nor would I ignore it. We were a diverse species, hosting races both beautiful and monstrous. We should be able to appreciate that diversity, no matter its appearance. No matter its bloodlines.

"If you are [Geas] locked to retreat Underhill, why and how are you here now?" I asked.

"There have been changes occurring lately. Magic has returned. My magic, long lost, has returned. Spells I haven't been able to cast for thousands of years are slowly returning. And the [Geas] that High King Lleu Llaw Gyffes has placed on me weakens as those magics return.

"I cannot travel far from the fairy ring that opens the passage to Underhill, I rule, but I can enter and exit as I please now.

"Something has changed.

"Something fundamental.

"I wasn't certain how that change was possible until I witnessed two events. The Sidhe dead rising and entering the Summerlands, and the appearance of the Demi-fey. They have been lost to our people for so long most have forgotten they ever existed, but I remember.

"Once I understood what I was seeing, I thought to use scrying magic. My ability to part the veil had gotten stronger, and I wanted to try to see what was causing these changes when the spell exploded.

"The waters I was using to scry calmed immediately, but no amount of effort on my part could pierce the veil. Something had been done to hide whatever or whoever was causing these changes," he said.

"I had given up, deciding that it was more important to discover just how effective the change to my magic was when I felt the fire from your battle. The protections that guard Underhill were strained fighting those fires. I came out to see what or who was so powerful that even Underhill groaned under the weight of magic.

"That's when I saw you fighting the Fachen. The magic you unleashed was more powerful, more potent than anything I have ever seen. It rivaled the magic of the Firstborn. Those Sidhe that woke to our original world, borne fully grown.

"Not since Brigid and Cu Chulainn, mother and father, of the Sidhe, has there been magic so potent. The first High King and Queen eclipsed even our greatest druids and magicians. Legend credits them with giving birth to every race of Sidhe. Their power for creation and destruction almost God-like."

"Legend?" I asked. "Have they died?"

"No one is certain. Some say they have become true Gods and left the world behind. But there is another rumor, a darker tale of treachery and deceit, that hints at betrayal. The story of Taranis, their firstborn son, deceiving his parents and delivering them into a trap. A trap devised by Odin.

"There have been rumors that Brigid and Cu Chulainn have been chained, held prisoner in a dungeon by Odin so that their blood could be stolen. We heard rumors that their blood was being used in powerful rituals, and it was only by using their blood that Odin was able to destroy the World Tree.

"No one knows for certain if that is the case. What we know is that the World Tree was destroyed. And we believed that the destruction of the World Tree was the portent that foretold the death of magic for our people.

"That moment was when our magic began to fade, and the fey began to wither and die."