With a sudden decision she regarded her Princes and they shifted, arriving just outside Morrigu’s castle walls.
A moment later Pestale, and his brother Hordly stood before them.
Pestale crossed his arms and asked, “Ah, have you come to beg?”
~*~
Trevor with Jazz’s hand tucked into his own shifted to the Council Chambers, but it was empty.
“What is this?” he said out loud with an accompanying frown. Then without another word he shifted them to the Queen’s private chamber and knocked before entering.
No answer.
“They are not within.”
“Where then? And where is Frankie?”
A joyous and welcome voice at her back screeched out her name, “Jazz…Jazz…”
Jazz turned to find a twelve year old girl whose auburn hair bounced around her youthful, but lovely features diving at her. She was hugged with a fierceness that gladdened Jazz’s heart and she dropped a kiss on the top of Frankie’s head, “Hi, honey, how ya doing?” And then she looked her over and laughed. “Leather huh, they got you in leathers.”
Frankie stood back with a proud smile and waved a hand over her dark blue leather jacket with a black insignia at her left shoulder. Beneath the jacket a white T showed, and her matching leather pants made Jazz’s brow go up.
Frankie said “I match ye. I chose the colors of Lugh, for Trevor’s House.” She reached for Jazz once again, and held onto her like she would never let go. Finally the child put her face up to look sorrowfully at Jazz and said, “Oh, Jazz I have missed ye and now everything is all upside down. The Queen has gone off with Breslyn and Danté, and I’m worried. I’m not stupid and I know that things are going badly for the humans.”
Jazz looked past Frankie to find Ete and Radzia coming towards them. She had met them briefly but she liked them a great deal. She could tell by the grim expressions on their faces that Frankie was right on the mark. Things were not good.
Z came up and touched Frankie’s shoulder, “Hey, kid, was my company so bad?”
Frankie turned to her and grinned as she said with her pretty Irish lilt and tilted her head, “I love ye Z, but ye do understand, don’t ye?”
Z laughed and said, “Sure do.” She nodded at Jazz and looked at Trev. “Glad you found this little one because she sure is special.” She shook her head then and said, “This is not like before. You might as well know right up front, we will have a rare time with the Dark Fae this time…plus…” she looked at Ete and waited for her to offer more.
Ete said softly, “Some of the Council members attempted to stage a coup of sorts. They failed this time, but we do not have any doubt that they will try again.” Ete made a face and continued, “Their timing is of course, madly absurd.” We don’t have a moment to spare and they are distracting the other members with their brand of nonsense. I am inclined to think that Banzar is every bit as dangerous as Gais ever was; perhaps more so. He uses diplomacy and false arguments and charms. Those who will listen, believe that what he is giving them is truth.”
Trevor shook his head and turned away as he took this in. Seeing Frankie’s worried expression, he held out his arms and said, “What about me, little Fios? Got a hug for me?”
She threw herself wildly at him and while he held her he looked at his sister-in-law, Radzia, and asked, “Where has the Queen gone off to, Radzia?”
“That’s just it--we don’t have a clue, Trev, just off without a word to us. We were waiting for them outside the Council chamber,” she grinned wickedly and pushed her black hair away from her face. “But we did listen to every single word being said inside that room. Ete is a Council member, but the Queen asked her to remain with me. It was as though she knew what was going to happen, I suppose she thought if we were inside it would break out into…” Z grinned, “A brawl.” She shrugged. “All at once, the members came filing out and said the Queen touched Breslyn and Danté and shifted off. No one knows where they went. We just assumed they had come to her chambers.”
“Use your mind link, Z,” Trev commanded.
“Don’t you think I tried that already? Both Ete and I have both tried, but our guys have it shut down for some reason.”
“I don’t like this,” Trevor said.
“What about the Orb,” Jazz suggested quietly.
“I can’t. It has already returned to the Queen’s chamber. It won’t respond to me without her command,” he answered grimly.
“No, not the Orb of Time, the Lugh Orb,” Jazz countered with a soft smile.
“Ha-ha, our Jazmine Decker has a brain,” beamed Z, turning to Ete. “What do ya think?”
“What I think, is that we should wait before we try and track them. If the Queen wished us to know what she was planning or where they were going, she would not have asked them to turn off their mind links to us.”
Z sighed heavily, “Ete, why do you always have to make such sense? It is so damned annoying.”