Chapter Ninety

Coming out the front door, Nik was furious to see a group of police officers waiting outside.  His anger peaked when he realised that one of them, a female officer, was questioning Dory.

Heading straight for the most senior looking of the trio, he launched into a furious attack, demanding to know what they were doing there and why they were harassing his wife and son. 

The police officer's response came as a complete shock to him...

"Nik Splicablee, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Pete Roman and of conducting numerous criminal conspiracies under the name of "the emperor of evil".  You do not have to say anything, but anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence against you." 

"You have to be joking!  Where do you think you're going to find evidence to prove any of that?  I will ruin you for making these accusations!" 

Nik was so furious as he saw his plans crumbling around him that he failed to notice the fairy flying up behind him as he confronted the police officer.  He began to cast a spell to confuse the officer, intending to wipe all three of their minds of anything to do with his activities.

Before he could complete the spell however, a cheerful voice interrupted him.  

"Well, Nicodur of Shadows Falling, what are you doing here, casting your evil spells on these poor hapless mortals?  I see you've been up to your old tricks again, bespelling that poor woman so she can't see anything but what you want her to"

Turning around to face the interloper, Nik sneered "Well, if it isn't Robin Goodfellow, coming around poking your nose in  where it isn't wanted yet again.  So, who has sent you here?"

"Sent me here?"  The stranger's laugh was full of merriment, "No-one sends me anywhere as you should know full well Nicodur!  I go where I wish and none shall hinder me.  As for what I am doing here, as no doubt would be your next question, you and your lovely dark queen have been interfering long enough here and I do not choose to allow your schemes to come to fruition.  Now, release all these mortals from your wicked spells and begone!"

 

Nik's response to this ultimatum was to fly swiftly over to where Dory was standing watching the proceedings with confusion.  As he did so, he reached out to try and drag Coryn with him, but Coryn dodged back out of his reach.

Seizing hold of her, he cast a swift spell; "Fine, I'll release my spells, but just tell the little brat when you find her that I've still got her mother and now you've forced me to release those spells she knows exactly what she's allowed me to do to her precious daughter and how she's ignored her for so long!  If she wants to free her mother from my power she'll have to come find me, if not, well, as you know, blood will call to blood..."

And with those words, there was a sudden distortion in the air and Nik disappeared, taking Dory with him!

After some lengthy discussion, the police officers left to make a search of the island, although Robin warned them that this was unlikely to have much effect as Nik had doubtless travelled to one of the faerie realms to escape.

Neither Mira nor Coryn were particularly keen to trust Robin, although Mira at least recognised his name from old tales, until Taliesen came up to him and made it perfectly clear that he at least trusted him.

Having accepted Taliesen's judgement, Mira and Coryn were keen to get an explanation for everything that had happened, but Robin insisted that he only wanted to tell the tale once and asked Taliesen to bring Elenie home first.

Elenie had been quietly reading in her refuge when she sensed Taliesen calling her.  Leaving the room for the first time since running away, she found him outside waiting for her.

After being reassured that everything was safe for now and much urging, she mounted Taliesen and he took her home.

The first thing she saw as Taliesen teleported the two of them back was her grandmother standing with her brother smiling happily and waiting for her.  Sliding off Taliesen's back, she ran over and threw her arms around Mira, crying with happiness and relief. 

Once Elenie had finished hugging Mira and Coryn, and the three had cried on each other's shoulders freely, the remaining family found Robin and went into the house to listen to the promised explanation over a meal. 

"Coryn will have gathered from my confrontation with his father that the two of us have known each other for a long time.  Nicodur, or Nik as he called himself to you, is a faerie knight from the unseelie court of Morgana Le Fae."

At this point Coryn interrupted, "Unseelie court?  What does that mean?"

"We faeries mostly live in courts, individual realms within Faerie, ruled by a powerful faerie individual or couple.  Those courts fall into two opposing factions, the seelie and unseelie, in so far as it affects you mortals, the seelie courts are those who enjoy mortal creativity and happiness while the unseelie courts enjoy your pain and despair.  

"The relevance to your family, and the reason that Morgana sent Nicodur here, is that there is a very old prophecy surrounding your family.  A distant ancestor of yours was a faerie, although not a powerful one who became lost in the mortal realm.  When her absence was discovered, a seer in the court she had dwelt in made a prophecy about her descendants and since then various courts have been trying to identify your family.  Morgana wanted to hijack the prophecy and use it for her own ends.

"At this point I have a slight confession to make, I found your family some years back, but I wasn't sure if you were the ones we had been searching for.  Elenie here was an infant at the time and I cast a spell which would bring any faerie heritage she had to the fore.  Unfortunately, I was called away by events elsewhere and when I returned Nicodur had already wormed his way into your family.  Fortunately, a chance meeting with some visitors from another planet gave me the opportunity to break his hold and here we are."

Everyone was silent for a while, then Mira asked the obvious question, "So what now?  I don't feel happy staying here when that creature knows where we are, and I feel sure he hasn't given up on his plans or he wouldn't have taken Dory with him."

"If you wish, I can take you to a safe place, Ynys o Niwl, the Isle of Mists, is a place partway between the Faerie realms and the mortal realm, it is ruled over by one of the seelie courts and I know the lord and lady of that court well.  Also, I understand that Elenie has been helped by a young mage recently?  The Glyndwr family have been living in Ynys o Niwl for many centuries and I know young Ieaun's family only left in response to a vision his mother had about Elenie, so I am certain they would be glad to return there."

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Challenge Notes: Although in the story, Nik has disappeared, taking Dory with him, in terms of the challenge they remain part of the household (as Elenie did while she ran away) and will move out properly once Elenie (whom you will have probably guessed is the heir) ages to young adult.

The new world I am moving them to is an adapted version of Howell Island (found here) and will have an almost entirely supernatural population, primarily made up of fairies so I would be everso grateful for any sims anyone would like to donate to me to populate it with :)