Lord of Legends

And then they came.

Memories. Not like the others, fragmented and seen through the prism of a dream, but solid and bright and real.

He lay in the shadow of great gray stones cupped in a circle of trees, his mind a voiceless sphere spinning inside his head. Two others stood near him: one was Donnington—like Ash, save for the darkness of his hair.

The other was Fane. While the human was not unimpressive, the Fane would draw all eyes to him wherever he appeared. His body was lithe and slender, his features finely drawn, his hair a richer nut-brown than anything that could be conceived on earth. His eyes were silver shaded with green, his clothes woven of light and thread so fine it could hardly be seen. He gazed at Donnington with contempt, everything about him speaking of power and arrogance.

“I kept my part of the bargain,” Donnington was saying. He gestured to the girl lying at his feet. “I brought her, as you asked. Where is my unicorn?”

The Fane slowly turned his head. Cold eyes surveyed Ash where he lay. “There,” he said.

“This man?” Donnington started toward the Fane lord, who moved not a muscle, and then stopped to stare at Ash. “He looks exactly like me!”

Cairbre—for that was the Fane lord’s name—smiled a little. “An odd effect of the transfer. You were the first human he saw when he passed through the Gate, so his body shaped itself in your image.”

Donnington shuddered. “He wasn’t supposed to be human!”

“He was cursed to assume human form in your world, but I expected this to be a temporary condition.”

“You’re saying it isn’t?”

“Oberon is still powerful. He will not be so for long.”

The human scowled. “Can it … can it understand us?”

“It has not yet learned human speech.” The Fane lord stared at the human until Donnington dropped his gaze. “You have said that you kept your part of the bargain, but you have not fully succeeded, either. The girl is resisting my power. I cannot bring her through the Gate.”

“Because you’re nothing but a ghost.”

“It has nothing to do with Oberon’s restrictions on our appearance in your world,” Cairbre said coldly.