A Deal with the Darkling?

FROM THE JOURNAL OF DOROTHY CANE

Journal Entry no. 1:

Euphemia had run off and broken her engagement to Leoppold. They were to be wed on the day of the solstice, which was yesterday, and she didn't show up. The Faey Courts have summoned the Canes for the noble family of Yumierra had sought for a trial against the us.

The faeys had always held engagements with the highest regards. To break a promise of noble union is considered taboo and Euphie had done just that. She ran off with nothing and just vanished from the kingdom.

I don't understand the younger faey generations at all. They are too wild and don't give much respect to the customs and ways of the faey people.

I will need to end this entry now as a servant came and informed me that father have called us to gather in his study.

Journal Entry no. 2:

The Faey Courts are merciless. This isn't right. Why should we suffer for the choices none of us made? The way they went into our minds and probed the depths of our subconscious was uncalled for. Everything I ever kept hidden, exposed to the public as if it was something up for bidding.

I felt so humiliated.

It was as if they had stripped us naked in front of all the noble families. Some of the servants went mad. Julius had stopped speaking and had just cowered in the corner of our plain white holding chamber.

It was a good thing they allowed me my journal so that I could keep myself sane in this forsaken glass castle.

I'd do just about anything to get us out of this predicament.

Dear great spirits, guide us.

Journal Entry no. 3:

Julius has gone mad. The Canes are now just mere used-to-be nobilities. Our magic gone, everything we ever had, stripped away by the Queen herself.

Leoppold Yumierra made sure all of us would suffer. He was able to grab hold evidence of Euphemia in the human world, pregnant with a halfling.

It had been days in the kingdom, but almost quarter of a year had already gone by in the human world. Time doesn't always flow the same here. Euphie married the human she fell in love with.

Euphie… wherever you are, I hope your choice will make you happy. Because if it does not, I will break your neck and the neck of the person who stole your heart from the faeys.

Journal Entry no. 6:

Euphemia had just given birth to a healthy baby boy. She appeared in front of our doorsteps in the human world and introduced the little bundle of joy.

It seems leaving the faey kingdom for good had cursed Euphie too. She had aged. Her glowing skin lost its beauty. But her child's sweet smiles and her husband's reassuring embrace were enough for her to keep on.

Euphie was happy.

Journal Entry no. 7:

This journal had been stashed for so long now. Red visited us just this morning and the sneaky little lady almost got a glimpse inside this worn-out note.

We have lived in the human world for almost sixty years now. Normally in the Faey Kingdom, death wouldn't be much of an issue as time itself didn't flow like here in the human world. As the drink of the faeys weren't allowed to us, we aged and our body ached.

Julius had long been gone. And I regret the decisions I had made.

He tricked me.

I always thought no matter how evil one was, as a faey, truth was the only thing you could express. Honesty no matter how cold it could get, was embedded in all of the faeys.

I sold off a precious life in exchange of another yet the dark faey twisted his words and betrayed the contract. Even as I had made a deal with the darkling, my husband still died.

Julius, you are dearly missed my love. When I look into the full moon my heart aches to see you and touch you again.

This will be my last entry. Perhaps, my choices both good and bad, will bring me comfort once death claims me and I shall be with my husband again.

Red sweetheart…

Seek out Kleister Lakschmidt. When I'm gone, he will know what to do. Bring him my prized cookie jar and Sir Arthur, sweetie.

Forgive me.

I love you, dear sweet child.

==========

"Dear spirits." Archer gasped in disbelief. "It can't be."

"Dorothy made a deal with the darkling?" Ari chimed in.

"What kind of deal? Who is this Kleister Lakschmidt?" Red asked them.

Ari chanted a quick tracking spell onto the journal but it seems like he couldn't get anything from it. Dorothy couldn't be tracked.

To track, one uses an object that has a strong connection to the owner. The magic connects the energy shared by the object and the owner and that's what makes the spell work. There were only two explanations if you are unable to track someone.

Either they were somewhere a tracking spell is barred, or they were cold as ice dead. He shook his head and Red understood what he meant. She couldn't deny it any longer.

"Is grandmama—" Red trailed off and her tears began to spill yet again.

Grandmama was gone.

"We don't know for sure yet Red." Archer tried to reassure her.

He pulled her close and embraced her. Red bawled once more. Huge droplets of tears fell drop by drop and Ari was dumbfounded. What did Dorothy ask of the darkling and how did she come into contact with him?

There was more to the journal entries that they had read. A few pages had been ripped off deliberately. Perhaps this Kleister could give light to the things that transpired within the walls of Dorothy's apartment.

Sir Arthur had started to hiss vehemently into something that was hidden under Dorothy's lounge chair. Archer squinted his eyes and saw a dark blob the cat had caught in between its claws.

"Ari…" Archer called called his brother's attention.

"What is it now Archie?" Ari said, a bit irritated as his train of thoughts had been disturbed.

"Do you know what that thing is in Sir Arthur's tiny claws?" Archer asked them cryptically.

Red wasn't done crying but she peered into what Archer pointed at. The feline had something in his claws and it looked like what you would usually see in oil spills with the way it's dark surface gleamed rainbows in the light.

"What is that?" she asked.

"That is something only greater daemons leave behind when they get wounded. Living daemon blood." He explained to Red. "How come Sir Arthur could touch such a thing without getting burned?"

Ari glanced at the feline and truly, the cat seemed fine with the blood like it was just nothing out of the ordinary for him. He thought about the name Dorothy mentioned in her journal. It ringed a bell, though he wasn't quite sure where he heard the name.

And then it dawned in him. Lakschmidt. The elemental weapon maker of noble descent from the Southern Auroras. He stood straight and both Archer and Red jolted from his sudden movement.

"We are going into the Faey Kingdom to search for Lakschmidt." He announced. "And Red, we will need you to become well versed into the customs of the faeys."

Red looked into Ari's serious face and wiped the tears that fell from her eyes.

"I am ready. What to do I need to do?" she said.

"You will become the Lady of Southern Auroras and claim your right as the descendant of the noble Canes. You will need to be prim and proper."