I tried to hold to the power I used for the wall as I turned, but I could feel it weakening even more. Whatever rushed in behind us would easily breakthrough. There wasn't even time for Sylph and Lycan to escape --
I threw more power into the matrix. It seemed to pour out of my blood, out of my breath. I felt as though I would become nothing more than magic and lose myself in the wall. Maybe that would not be so bad. I could be the magic that kept all the others safe, and perhaps that wasn't so bad.
Everything seemed to be going dark around me. I thought I must be failing. My legs gave way, and I went to my knees, but I still tried to hold on while the roar of noise rose around me, burying me in this place I didn't understand.
Then I felt power.
Fae power, spreading all around me, pushing back against the Chaos. Colors appeared in my darkened sight and gradually transformed into the lines of magic made by fae of many types, working together.
I didn't understand. Had I lost track of time? Had I lost my link to the world and only now came back? Was I even where I thought I should be?
King Pixie led a mass of color and shapes, a roll of magic that took me several heartbeats to sort out and realize that this was not an attack.
The fae came from the cavern where they'd been hiding. Not all of them -- there would have been too many -- but enough that their magic brightened the darkness, formed up with more of our dark allies, and made a wall that pushed out into the Chaos.
King Pixie shouted orders and directed the others into groups. He seemed to understand the entire situation at a glance, and while I watched, he wove a massive wall of such lovely magic that I stared in wonder.
The battle was not done. If there was a sign of intelligence in the Chaos, it showed itself now. Something seemed to push back, and for a moment, I almost felt as though I sensed something watching us, testing, moving --
I reached for it. I think I felt something like surprise, as though it had not realized there was intelligence on our side, either. We did not understand each other. We could not, really, reach a point of understanding.
Not yet.
The Chaos began to retreat even as I watched. White and dark moved, spun in circles, spread out, and pushed. I let my own little magic slip out of the matrix and stayed where I was on my knees, with Lycan and Sylph still standing guard over me.
The Queen of the Fae and the King of the Pixies directed the enterprise, and even the dark creatures around us listened to them and obeyed as best they could. I tried to pay attention, but what I finally learned was that they had not only stopped the spread of Chaos, but began pushing it back out of this realm.
"We'll push it out of all the other realms as well," the Queen promised when I finally limped over to stand by her. The darkness and the wall we'd made moved forward by unexpected bounds so that I found myself standing in the light of the sun without having to walk very far.
The Queen -- my mother -- unexpectedly put a hand on my arm, her fingers tightening. "You did well, Cowan."
"Oh, you do know my name," I said with a quick smile.
"Yating told me."
I laughed. I supposed I was a little lightheaded still, or I would not have made such a joke. I tried not to tremble with weakness, and I mostly wanted to go home...
Home to my place in the human world? Or back to the fae lands?
"What is going to happen with the humans?" I asked.
"They are already telling tales about miracles, magic, and tricks. We'll help spread rumors of all kinds until even those here will be confused about what they saw. We've already made certain that only a few pictures survived. No video from surveillance cameras will show anything helpful. Yes, Cowan, I have been reading your reports. Come now. Time to go home."
I stared at her, stunned by the words. Really go home? I had started considering it briefly but then thought about all the work I still hadn't done here.
"I should stay --" I said and almost shook my head, but I feared the world would move if I did, and I wouldn't stay to my feet. "There is so much I haven't done--"
"You'll be back."
"You need rest," Slyph said. She leaned forward and stared into my eyes, startling me. "You did well. We will meet again."
She dropped into the ground with a little brush of dust. I stared at my feet for a moment and then looked at Lycan. He gave a single nod and walked away. I could see a crowd of his own people not far away.
Yating had taken his place back at the Queen's side. He looked more startled than relieved. I felt about the same. Things had changed too quickly.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
The Queen looked at me. "We go home, Cowan. We go back to the castle, and we plan on what we will do next. This is not the end of the war, you know. Too many things have changed. We are at a crux, and I can't be sure that we can keep the knowledge of our existence away from the humans much longer."
I shook my head, but it was not really dread that I felt this time.
I wondered if the humans might not need a little magic. Maybe I'd bring it to them.
After I rested.
The End ... for now.
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