As Rei was speaking with the Banshee that once was Níala about where her body was, what condition it was in, and any other pertinent details, I watched my intended with interest as I tried to figure out a way to get Níala’s body back that wouldn’t get us all killed. Why were her ears and tails suddenly white? It wasn’t as if all color had drained from her completely. Her skin tone was still that pale gold of the Asian persuasion and her long hair was still jet black.

“Did she shapeshift without realizing it?” I wondered. I quickly dismissed that thought though. She had been working too hard to master her shapeshifting and had she seemed even more surprised at the development than we were. Had it been shapeshifting she would have merely returned to her standard Kitsune form, but since she hadn’t changed back that meant that something about her base form had changed that she had no control over, and that concerned me. While I hoped that it was nothing serious I did have to admit that the snow-white ears were very striking sticking out from her jet black hair.

I attempted to shake off my worries and focus on the matter at hand, getting Níala’s body back. I knew that Redcaps didn’t take trophies other than blood to dye their caps, so maybe it would be best to wait until they had left? No, the clock was ticking and we would have to face some of them eventually and who knew how much time Rei would need to repair her body to the point where she wouldn’t just die again from the wounds and blood loss as soon as she was resurrected. We would have to approach, but cautiously, so we could observe our enemies and attempt to take them by surprise.

I pulled out my phone and called Grell. “Hey Taelya, what’s up?” Don’t you just love call display, it saves you from all that awkwardness of waiting to hear whoever is calling you and lets both parties get right down to the business of what the call is about.

“You know those Redcap boot prints that your group found?” I asked. Then, without waiting for his answer I added, “Tell Venika that I need your group to follow them.”

There was a brief exchange on the other end and then he must have put the phone on speaker mode because Venika’s voice came over the line, faint but audible. “You want us to follow them?! I hate to break it to you Taelya, but even if we did manage to track them to their camp, the six of us aren’t going to be a match for a whole clan of Redcaps. If we get caught…”

“I don’t need you to follow them all the way to the camp, just until you reach us, and I need you to hurry as much as caution allows. Níala’s party already stumbled upon the Redcaps’ camp and got wiped out. Níala managed to get away but she ran straight into the scouting party. They’re bleeding her now and we need to get to her body so we can resurrect her.”

“Can’t she just give us any details when she respawns tomorrow?” the Sprite asked incredulously.

“No, because if we don’t get her back in her body in the next four hours, she won’t be able to respawn,” I quickly explained. “She risked this to warn us, and if we can’t resurrect her in time she’ll be stuck between life and death permanently.”

“Okay, what’s the plan then?” Venika asked grimly. I could hear the assent of the others in her group as well.

“You track them, and once you catch up try to stay out of sight and send me a text. We’ll try to get to the south of them and stay unseen. Once you’ve texted us that you’re ready we’ll try to catch them in a pincer attack,” I explained, laying out my very rough plan. Then I quickly cautioned, “No AOEs though, if we could get away with it then I’d just meteor shower them or something, but we can’t risk damaging Níala’s body any more than it already is. Rei’s going to have a hard enough time to repair enough damage to resurrect her and have her stay alive as it is. She might need Salem to help stabilize her, depending on what the damage is.”

“Okay Taelya, we’ll get there as quickly as we can. I’ll follow the tracks and have the others follow a bit behind so I can find a good spot to attack from. The Redcaps are less likely to see me if I’m on my own anyway since I’m so small. I’ll have Grell text when we’re ready to attack.”

With that our conversation was concluded and as my group silently maneuvered through the woods to find a safe spot and observe the Redcaps from the south I explained what we were facing in as quiet a voice as I could manage to carry to my companions' ears. Redcaps resemble short and somewhat stocky humans covered in muscles and have long prominent teeth, blood-red eyes, long skinny fingers armed with razor-sharp claws, and they wear blood-red hats atop their heads. They usually wear thick leather armor and carry bladed weapons and they drain all the blood from their victims to dye their hats, stealing their life-force. Their strength and durability far surpass that of mortal men as their skin and muscles are thick and extremely dense and they gain power from the life force of those they have killed through their blood. The darker red that the hat is, the stronger the Redcap.

We found a good spot on a ridge to the south of the Redcap scouting party, where I had Nishalle set up her sniper rifle. It was a bit far for my liking, but I didn’t want to risk them discovering us, even accidentally until we were ready to engage. It also gave a good view of the clearing they were in, where Níala had practically run right into the Redcaps. If it had been anywhere in the forest but an open clearing then she could have used her Nyiir'dhraí racial ability to hide herself from them, but it would seem that luck just wasn’t with her.

“We’ll watch them from here, if we’re quiet enough then we should be able to hear them, with a little help,” I told the Tokh'dhraí assassin. “I want you to try to cover us from here when things go down, but don’t shoot until I give the signal or things go pear-shaped.”

Nishalle nodded and began to get set up as the rest of us crouched in the brush to watch the Redcaps. “I only spot four,” Kinara said after a moment. Kimmie wasn’t riding in her usual place on the Summer Court Yseil'dhraí’s shoulder. In fact, both she and Willow had retreated to hide in the back of our hoods as soon as we started getting close to the Redcaps. I could feel Willow shaking in fear from her current place at the back of my neck, hidden beneath my braids and hood.

“Fu… fiddlesticks,” I nearly cursed as a quick visual check of my own proved Kinara right. And Venika wasn’t even there to chastise me, so I guess that her constant corrections and attempts to get me to act more ladylike were beginning to have an effect. “They must have sent one back to the camp already to report about the village. Let me see if I can help us to hear what they’re saying.”

I focused my gaze upon our enemies. As Kinara had said, there were four of them, ugly and a bit taller and bulkier than Dwarves, with dark matted hair. Three of the four wore red hats, one was fairly dark but the two others were closer to fuchsia than red. That meant that one of them was pretty powerful while the other two were still young and growing in power. If the fourth didn’t have a hat it was fairly likely that Níala had been the first kill that it had participated in. Níala’s body hung upside down from a tree branch, she had been run through with a sword, had other various deep wounds all over her, and her blood was dripping into a metal bowl while the hatless Redcap seemed to be examining her.

I began drawing in mana and then carefully directing it as I focused my thoughts on us being able to hear them. Then I quickly spoke and drew the sigils as I let my magick fly. “Tanuus alysse siashe aentuire!”

“Skinny Fae,” a voice spat bitterly. “Hardly enough undamaged skin ‘ere fer a proper cap.”

“Oh ‘urry up a’ready Thurk. “She’s a’most blooded proper, so git skinnin’ so’s ya kin make yer cap an’ we kin git back ta camp.”

I could feel the color leaving my face as I crouched there, my fists clenched tightly enough that my nails drew blood from my palms. They had killed one of my people, someone that I considered a friend. They had killed her, blooded her, and now they were going to skin her like some sort of animal. And now, they would pay for it. I was not going to just sit back and watch this perversion of nature happen. The wind whipped and the sky darkened above us as thunder boomed overhead. “Nishalle, if you have a shot on any of those bastards, you fucking take it.”

“A’right a’ready, keep yer trous…” Thurk stopped speaking as the darkened sky lit up, another peal of thunder shaking the very air, and the bolt of lightning arced downward to strike the hatless Redcap and send him into convulsions. Even as the lightning struck Nishalle fired, hitting the monstrosity with the darkest hat in the head. He fell to the ground, but seemed to shake it off and stood back up scanning the area for whatever had hit him. I didn’t give him much chance to do that as I peppered the clearing with lightning, only being careful not to strike anywhere too close to Níala’s body.

“Holy shit… no fucking way,” I heard Nishalle mutter in astonishment.

“Did you miss?” Rei asked.

“No, I hit him right in the head, I can see the wound through the scope but it isn’t very deep, the bullet barely penetrated. How the fuck are we going to take these guys down?”

“They have to have weak spots, we just need to find them,” Lissany hissed.

“Well we’ll need to do it fast because any second they’re going to figure out that this isn’t a natural storm and that they’re under attack,” Nishalle pointed out.

The phone started vibrating in my pouch, but I had other things on my mind and I couldn’t afford to let up on them now. These things were tough, even Thurk, who didn’t have a cap yet was starting to get up and I had hit him dead on with a lightning bolt. “Daenyss, phone please,” I muttered, my brow furrowing as I kept pounding the Redcaps with lightning, wind, and hail. It wasn’t my only means of attack though as I was already reaching out with my mind for the trees to issue my commands.

Daenyss reached into my pouch, extracting the phone and seconds later was answering, “Mistress’s phone, Daenyss speaking… Ummm… yes, we have found them… I don’t think it’s a storm… Mistress got a little upset… Thank you, Grell, I’ll tell her.” The Nymph took a deep breath and put the phone back in my pouch before speaking again. “Venika’s group are coming as fast as they can, Mistress. If we can keep the Redcaps’ attention on us they’ll attack from the rear as soon as they arrive.”

I nodded in acknowledgment of my Attendant’s words but I was far more focused on the clearing at the moment. Roots rose from the ground, shooting toward Thurk as another bolt of lightning struck him and sent him staggering back into them. The roots wrapped around his limbs, tightening their grip and pulling at them like I had done with the Vhasjin’dhur, even as I continued to pelt his companions with powerful winds, lightning, and now softball-sized hailstones as well. Redcaps may be strong and sturdy, but they couldn’t compare to a Chaos Beast. Still, it took a lot of effort and I could feel a headache coming from my over-use of Nature’s call when I finally ripped him apart to the sounds of his screams and a spray of crimson.

I staggered on my feet and Daenyss caught me in her arms. “Mistress!”

I smiled tiredly at her and managed to get to my feet. “I’m fine Daenyss, I just overdid it a little with the storm and tearing him apart. I just need a minute to catch my breath and do something about this headache. One down three to…”

Another scream of pain emerged from the clearing, cutting me off. I looked down to see one of our opponents with the fuchsia-hued caps screaming and covering its eye. “I think I found a weak spot. But that still should have fucking killed a normal person. I need more penetration.”

“I’m sure Pete can help you with that later,” I teased. “We have other concerns right now. Nice shot though, Sis.” I focused on pushing my migraine and near-exhaustion to the back of my mind. “Seriously though, to be honest, I was worried about this, Redcaps are tough nuts to crack so we’ll need to find ways to weaken them if we’re going to stand a chance. “Liss, how do you feel about doing something crazy?”

“Oh, you know me, Your Highness,” my Guardian said crossing her fingers and wearing a reckless grin. “Crazy and I are like this.”

Nishalle and Rei weren’t thrilled with the plan, but I needed them doing their part to make it work just as much as I needed Lissany doing hers. I hadn’t been kidding about it being crazy, but Kinara and I had prepared my Guardian for her task as best we could. If any of us could stand a chance one on one with a Redcap it was Lissany and between the magical protections that I had just imbued her armor with via my Magick Craft skill and the pair of protective spells that Kinara and I had cast on the Beastkin girl in the armor added to her innate regeneration and durability she might just have a chance. She had even switched to her hybrid jaguar form beneath her armor to take advantage of the extra speed and strength that she possessed in that form.

Between my earlier use of Nature’s Call and some pretty powerful spell work I was pretty damned tired, but once again I shoved that weariness to the back of my mind. We all needed to do our parts here and I was no exception. Nishalle had managed to keep them pinned down with sniper fire while I explained my plan, she had even managed to take out another pair of eyeballs so that now the one she had first injured was completely blind and the other one with the fuchsia-hued cap was missing one of his. Now it was time to put the plan into action.

Rei had changed into a Sprite form for this since she would need to move fast and couldn’t afford to be hit, so while she flew northward over the heads of our enemies with Níala’s spirit accompanying her the rest of us launched ourselves down the ridge and toward the clearing with reckless abandon. Lissany led the charge, heading straight for the strongest of the three remaining Redcaps and delivering a blow with her hammer that would have taken the head clean off of just about any other enemy, but merely sent him staggering backward several steps. Daenyss had her AK-47 out and peppered the half-blinded Redcap with a spray of bullets while Kinara and I both let off Scattershot spells. We had barely fazed the creature, the bullets had done little more than bruising it, and our spells had only caused minor burns.

Still, we had given Nishalle the opportunity that she needed. She slipped from the shadows of the tree to cut down Níala’s body and then she was off to the races and following Rei northward to meet up with the others. There, Rei and Salem could try to resurrect the fallen Nyiir'dhraí while the rest came back to attack our enemies from the rear. All that we needed to do was keep them focused on us and facing south. Oh, and staying alive would be nice too.

The now-blind Redcap was getting up and since I figured that he would be just as dangerous, if not even more so, flailing around blindly, I reached out with my Nature’s call once again. I was really going to feel this once all the adrenaline wore off, and I knew it, but I needed to at least keep him temporarily out of the fight to make it more even. Thick roots shot up from the ground, wrapping him up in a thick wooden cocoon, but I was so busy securing him that I barely saw one-eye’s ax swinging toward me in a vicious arc that would have cut me in two if Daenyss hadn’t knocked me to the ground. The ax whiffed through the air missing us both by inches.

One-eye recovered quickly raising the ax, only to take all five blue balls of fire from Kinara’s Scattershot spell to the face, hissing in pain from the burn. By the time he had brought the ax down both Daenyss and I managed to roll out of the way. All that we could really do was keep dodging, keep hitting, and running, but rather than wearing them down it seemed to be having the opposite effect. Lissany wasn’t really doing much better than us. Sure, she was holding her own, but the pair were at a stalemate and it looked like my Guardian was beginning to tire from the effort. Her movements seemed slightly slower and her blows weren’t hitting quite as hard.

I watched one-eye carefully as I gathered mana and considered my next spell. I needed to think of a damn weakness to exploit against these guys, but first I really needed that ax out of his hands. “Kiara aeluine!” The brilliant flash of light from my spell went off right in front of his face, momentarily blinding his good eye again “Tierre liantuir!” The second spell caused the handle of the ax to burst into flames and old one-eye dropped it like a hot potato. I wasted no time, drawing and chanting the sigils for a third spell, “Kaida siashe!”

The smoldering ax flew southward, as far toward the rocky ridge we’d been on earlier as I could hurl it with my mind. It was out of his hands now, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t hurt us, especially since he looked pissed off enough to rip us all apart with his bare hands. The three spells in quick succession had me barely able to stand. None of them had been all that powerful, but I had been channeling a lot of mana, and casting a lot of spells and I had used Nature’s Call twice. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep this up and the others didn’t look much better off.

Singing and war-cries filled the clearing and as the effects of Lark’s song hit I felt like I just drank a barrel of espresso. I got to my feet nimbly evading the charging one-eyed Redcap as our reinforcements entered the clearing. Lissany was now beating mercilessly on her adversary but now she had Pete and Rob helping her. Venika hit one-eye from behind with a Flame Arrow spell, but it just shrugged off both that and Grell’s blacksmith hammer to the eyeless side of his face. Nishalle managed to slice the side of his armor open with her katana, but it wasn’t deep enough to even break the skin beneath.

“These things have to have a weakness, how can they be so damn powerful?” I mentally grumbled as I backed out of one-eye’s reach and tried to figure out how to overcome such power and strength. “Wait, power! Redcaps get their power from the life energy imbued in their hats! I managed to take that first one down because he was capless!” I drew in mana and started to speak and draw the sigils for my combustion spell. It was a simple spell, the first I had learned, but I was going to put as much power into it as I could manage. I focused my intent and all that power on one-eye’s hat and let loose. “Tierre liantuir!”

The bloody hat burst into flames as one-eye screamed. I wasn’t sure if it was anger, pain, or something else, but I had a feeling that it might just be all three as he fell to one knee. Venika seemed to catch on immediately and followed my example by throwing her own combustion spell at the cap of the one that her daughter was currently smacking silly with her war hammer and renewed vigor. It scorched the hat, but it didn’t burst into flames. That cap was a dark red and probably contained a lot more life force than the one that I had just destroyed though. “Venika! Kinara! All together, put everything you have into it!” I called out. As one we all drew in mana and focused on that cap as we spoke and drew the sigils. “Tierre liantuir!”

He screamed, staggered, and tried to make a break for it, but Lissany quickly caught up and grabbed his arm. “I didn’t say we’re finished yet asshole, you’re not going anywhere!” He took a swing at her, but Lissany shrugged it off and refused to let go, giving Rob time to grab his other arm so Pete could help finish him off.

I turned as I heard one-eye scream again. Nishalle had managed to get another slash in with her katana, slicing clean through his leather breastplate and leaving a shallow wound on his chest. It wasn’t deep, but she had managed to cut him. He was furious, swinging at her wildly with his fists, but she just kept dancing out of the way to get in cut after cut as Kinara and I pelted him from opposite sides with Scattershot spells. His swings were getting more off-balance and one-eye was staggering more with each swing until he finally collapsed to the ground in a dead heap.

She hadn’t cut him all that deep, and our spells had only caused minor surface burns so I guessed, “Lindwyrm venom?”

“Yeah, I figured that we were going to need an edge so Pete and I coated our swords in it, used the last of that first thermos, but at least we know it works on these guys if we weaken them enough first. She nodded her head toward the Redcap that Lissany and the others had been fighting who was collapsing to the ground as well, now that the pair of Beastkin had let go of his arms.

We had one Redcap left to take care of, but he was blind and contained so once we had destroyed his cap we made short work of him and then headed northward to join Salem and Rei. I had nearly collapsed from exhaustion once Lark’s buff wore off, but I managed to make it there under my own power. When we arrived Níala was alive but unconscious. Since Rei was unconscious as well I assumed that she had decided to use her Hands-on Healing ability after resurrecting her to ensure that the Nyiir'dhraí wouldn’t just die again before she could be properly cared for.

Salem was watching over them and was beginning the sigils for a spell to defend them as soon as she heard us approach. Most of us might be Fae or Beastkin and able to move quietly through the forest, but Pete and Grell weren’t and Pete’s a big guy so he makes a lot of noise when he’s not being really careful not to. “It’s okay Salem, it’s just us, “Daenyss assured the Liyun'shael, who relaxed visibly and ceased her casting.

“Looks like Níala is okay, Rei used her special ability?” I asked, looking over the pair in concern.

“Yeah, there was a lot of damage and we couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t just die again from her wounds or blood loss. I promised to keep them safe until you got here.”

“Thanks, Salem, good job,” I said as I hugged the tiny Moss Maiden. When I pulled away I groaned and said, “I guess all that remains is for me to cast a spell to take us all back to the Glade. I’d rather not wait around for something else to attack and we should report in.”

“You’re doing nothing of the sort Missy!” Venika snapped. “You can barely stand because you over-exerted yourself again. You should have stuck to the plan and waited until we were in position.”

I looked away guiltily, gently stroking Willow’s tiny form. I knew she was right, I had made a good plan, but I was the one who risked it all by going all vengeful Fae on them. “I’m sorry. They had her hanging from a tree, draining her blood. They were going to skin her. I couldn’t let them do that to her, not while I could prevent it.”

“I wouldn’t expect otherwise Taelya, but we’re a team so next time please warn us if the plan is going to change or you feel like summoning a hurricane,” the Sprite gently chided me.

“So, you… ummm… saw that then?” I asked, my cheeks flushed.

“Saw it?!” Salem asked with a stunned expression. Even if that storm hadn’t hit as far as the Glade, every Fae there could have felt how angry you were. Poor Venika and Silverheels had to hide in my medical bag to be safe from the high winds and hail. Thankfully it didn’t last long. It cleared up completely by the time we met up with Nishalle and Rei.”

Venika nodded in agreement, “I don’t even want to think about how tired you must be after summoning that and fighting the Redcaps. So no more spells for you right now. You can teach me the Exodus spell and then I’ll use it to get us all home.” Her tone and the Mom-look would allow for no arguments.

Venika had managed to learn the spell well enough to teleport us all home by dinner time. I was quiet during my evening meal, though I did make sure to eat enough to replenish my energy. I had used a lot and Salem hadn’t been exaggerating when she had said that the storm had reached as far as the Glade. I could claim that I was just too tired to hold a conversation, but in truth, there were two reasons for my silence and that wasn’t one of them.

Firstly, I was embarrassed that I had gotten so angry that I hadn’t even realized how powerful a storm that I had created. No wonder I was so wiped. Nobody had gotten seriously hurt or anything and everyone could understand the reason for my anger, but I still felt ashamed that I had been that oblivious in my desire to make the Redcaps pay for what they were trying to do. I needed to exercise more caution and not let control of my emotions slip like that.

Secondly, I was worried about Rei. I wasn’t worried about her going overboard with her healing ability and passing out. It wasn’t the first time that had happened after all, and every previous time, both she and her patient had woken up in perfect health, even if they were both really hungry. No, what had me concerned was the current color of her tails and ears, or rather lack thereof. They had remained snow white since we had first encountered Níala as a Banshee. The color had yet to return when I had had Lissany place her in our bed and that worried me. I didn’t know all that much about Kitsunes though, so as I silently ate I decided that I should talk to someone who would.

The obvious choice for that was Sahnae. She had come from Spring Server, which was located in Tokyo and Japan was where the Kitsune legends had originated. She had also mentioned before that while there were only a few Kitsunes on Autumn Server, they were a lot more common on Spring Server. So as we were finished eating and everyone started to group off for post-dinner conversations or activities I approached the Duchess of the Spring Court. “Sahnae, I was wondering if you could come to my rooms for a talk, I’m worried about Rei.”

The green-haired Yseil'dhraí didn’t even need to take time to consider it, she merely nodded. “If I can assist in any way then I would be happy to, for both you and Rei.” As we walked to my rooms I could hear her sigh before she offered advice on an unrelated topic. “You and Narek need to talk, Taelya. You can’t keep ignoring your Pájar like this. Family is important, especially to us Fae.”

“You know about that, huh?”

Sahnae merely smiled and nodded. “I have eyes and ears. I suspect that I may even know how it came to be.”

I groaned as we reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hallway. “You’re right, but Nishalle and I don’t really have a dad in real-life, he abandoned us and our mom when we were little. It’s awkward for me. Besides I’m not the only one doing the avoiding.”

“I realize that you don’t really know how to interact with a father figure, but the two of you can learn that together. You need to get to know him better as a person. I suspect that he would do anything for you or you Mahair. He would do anything for the Fae, even if it causes him great suffering,” Sahnae offered with a sigh. “He too has reasons for avoiding your mutual relationship. Perhaps you should try to discover them, maybe then you can forgive him.”

I was a little lost on just what she was talking about, but she was right about me needing answers “What? Forgive him for avoiding our relationship? I’m not so shallow that I would hate him for doing something that I’m doing myself,” I replied feeling a little offended.

The other Yseil'dhraí shook her head sadly. “No, you would not, but it is not his avoiding your relationship or even the relationship itself that you’ll need to forgive. You’ll need to forgive him for how it came to pass.”

We had reached the door to my rooms now and I was frowning as I reached to open the door and led Sahnae inside and to the bedroom. I didn’t want to think about it anymore, especially while I still had a migraine from over-use of my magick and Nature’s Call. I was glad when we reached the bedroom and I gestured to my fiancée laying sprawled out on the bed fast asleep, her snow-white fox ears twitching in her mussed up black hair. “What’s wrong with her?”

Sahnae looked her over with a faint smile and turned to me, “There is nothing wrong with her.”

“But her ears and tails turned white,” I insisted. “They were always red before and they’re not changing back.”

“You are asking the wrong question Taelya,” she advised gently.

“Wha…” I started to ask in confusion. Sahnae didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with her at least nothing serious enough to talk about, so then why the hell were her ears and tails white? She said I was asking the wrong question, so what was the right one? If there wasn’t anything wrong with her, why had she changed like that? Finally, I asked, “Why are her tails and ears white now?”

“That, my dear, is the proper question,” Sahnae said with a smile. “I have told you before that Kitsune are a lot like the Fae?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, you said something like that, I think. Mahair said something similar too, that we’re sort of like cousins.”

“Yes. We Fae are children of the Goddess Danu, created by her own hands for a purpose. We are here to manage the balance of the natural world and the flow of mana. Kitsunes are the children of Inari as much as we are to Danu, and they too were created for a purpose. Kitsune are messengers of Inari and they share as close a bond to Inari as we do to Danu. Danu marks her favored children, our features and Danann’syr shows other Fae that we are those that She approves of to lead our people. These features and her marks are not mere accidents of birth, we have them because Danu sees the potential for great things in us. Inari has her favored children too, those that She sees potential in. It is they who are chosen to manage the balance between the living and spirit worlds. White ears and tails mark these favored children. There is nothing wrong with Rei, my dear, Inari has simply appointed your lover as a spirit-shepherd.”