Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 258: Threats and Truths

The Sithern gave shape and form to the World Tree it had grown, and a true Underhill now existed with the addition of the fairy ring. Anyone having business with the embassy would have to brave that fairy ring, not something most people would be brave enough or knowledgeable enough to try.

Not that there was any danger, it was more fear of the unknown. Or the myths and legends that spoke of fairy rings, Underhill, and how a person that journeyed Underhill would stop aging, only to die of old age when they left. Or of how eating or drinking anything Underhill would lull a human into a dreamlike state that they could never wake from.

I gave the Sithern another nudge, asking for a solution. The Embassy had to be accessible to everyone, even if the main area of the Sithern was kept hidden. The primary function of the building, at least as far as the citizens of Derva was concerned, was one of diplomacy. There had to be facilities that anyone could visit to satisfy those requirements. Lord Clive would need to be able to meet with his counterparts.

The Sithern responded by creating a winding staircase that wrapped around the tree. An intricate travail of vines serving as a banister that ended at a platform. A platform where a normal door was located, allowing those other than Sidhe an environment they were more familiar with.

Sidhe architecture often made use of trees, building into them creating hollows to make enough floor space for homes and businesses to exist, so the solution the Sithern came up with was in line with whom the Sidhe were, but not so drastic that the people of Derva would find it confusing or frightening. The temple and art that Indrajit found offensive was gone. The art transformed and placed in the new embassy.

Each work differed between offices and halls, and the paintings and statues now sported the aesthetic that a Sidhe would find most pleasing. The Sithern had reproduced the ritual and Revel that had given it life and sentience. Paintings, reliefs, frescos, and statues a permanent reminder of the circumstance that had given life to Fairy and the Sithern.

The Oak was grown using the bounds of property that Saanvi had sold and donated when she made her decision not to break that beaker of blood. But it looked like it took up so much more territory because the Sithern expanded upwards. The homes in and behind hadn't moved one inch, but the addition of illusion and glamour made it appear that they were miles away, each at the foot of Underhill that the Sithern had created.

Indrajit found himself transported away from where the entrance had once existed, his senses telling him he was at the bottom of the newly created hill. In truth, he was exactly where he had been when he confronted me. It was only the illusion that made him appear so far away from where he had started.

"Tricks," Indrajit sneered, "this is the vaunted skill of illusion the Sidhe place so much stock in? It pales before Vishnu and the righteous principle of truth; He will not be fooled."

"Tread carefully," I warned as I watched him begin to manifest Murtis, the holy image that would empower his spell. Each Rajah was anointed and blessed, able to conduct the Puja, a phase of Hindu worship. They couldn't manifest the spark of the divine in the same intensity that the Hindu swami could, but as a Rajah he had the ability to invoke the Divine. In this instance, he was engaged in Vyashti prayer to create that connection.

This type of prayer was personal, even selfish in matters that the person offering the prayer did so for the sake of themselves. Individual gain, removal of unhappiness, spiritual progress. He was calling upon the divine to remove me and mine.

"If you complete that prayer and the Hindu trinity answer, I will lay this offense before the Senate," I warned. "The Hindu Pantheon will be censored, and that stigma will be attributed to you."

His Murtis images stuttered and faded before he could finish the Vyashti and move to mantras and yantras. He didn't want to believe me, but he was aware that my words might be steeped in the truth. He, like the rest of the people of Derva, had watched King Teigh execute thousands of Olympians before the Senate, brave the Halls of Senate to lay accusations against Odin, and prove his accusations and win before a quorum of individuals that would have been better served to side with Olympus.

"What have you done with Saanvi Patel?" He demanded, ignoring the botched attempt to level Divine retribution against me and the Embassy.

"I can play law-smith as well," he warned when I didn't answer his question fast enough. "Kidnapping a resident of Derva is enough to have you expelled, and your entire embassy forced to decamp, your diplomatic bonafides revoked."

"Maybe," I agreed, "if you could prove that we had something to do with the young woman's kidnapping.

"But you can't. And the moment you demand we answer the spurious charge of kidnapping before your government is the moment we respond in kind. We will present our own evidence of your wrongdoing and mistreatment of the young woman.

"Evidence of a Rajah that has manipulated people and events to beggar a woman. A Raja, that has co-opted that young woman's family, buying their approval for his actions, and their refusal to offer aid. A Raja, that manipulated events to kill a young Vaidya, noted for his skills and talents because he coveted the man's wife.

"Lay your charge of kidnapping, Rajah Indrajit, and we will answer those baseless charges in person, and we will level our own charges backed with proof and witness testimony," I promised.

"I see," he hissed, finally understanding there was nothing he could do here. I knew he hadn't given up; he had demonstrated that he wasn't the kind of man that would capitulate or back down when he wanted something. His ego wouldn't allow it.

His frontal assault had been stymied, he would now turn to the shadows, the underbelly of Derva to have our people harassed, even killed.

I knew it was only a matter of time before he tried to kidnap a Sidhe he deemed important enough that he could broker a trade; I thought about letting him try his hand. Whatever Sidhe he might kidnap would respond without any measure of restraint. I wondered how many Derva would die before he realized the stupidity of that plan.

I was perhaps the youngest Sidhe that King Teigh had sent as part of the embassy detail, and I had already reached the Knight Rank. There were people he might hire, including the Kallar, those of the thief caste that practice Kalaripayattu.

I wasn't certain how Sidhe martial talents could stack up with practitioners of Kalaripayattu. While researching Derva, I had come across the Kallar people and their martial art, but the information was thin at best. The practice of this martial technique was unique across all Pantheons, acknowledged as the oldest practiced martial art technique in existence.

I wasn't certain how a fighting technique that was both a deadly fighting style and a healing art could have evolved. And Kalaripayattu was an evolved style, it had grown throughout the ages to embrace the tenants of Yoga and Ayurveda. The addition of these disciplines helped to increase the effectiveness of the Kallar fighting techniques. The Kallar were so well versed in the workings of the body because of their study of Yoga and Ayurveda that it made it easier for them to kill. Or to heal.

That knowledge was useless against the Sidhe. Our bodies were pointedly different. Our pressure points located in different areas, that is, if we had pressure points to be exploited. I thought it highly likely the Redcap and Slaugh could ignore those types of attacks completely. And if they could, they would respond by swallowing the Kallar or biting off their heads.

"One more note of caution," I said, not caring if he heard, but speaking loud enough that those gathered or watching from hidden alcoves would know the truth. Perhaps this would stay his hand and he would not sacrifice people needlessly, sending them to die against the Sidhe.

"Saanvi Patel is no longer on Derva.

"She and her children sought and were granted asylum by Fairy last night. She will never set foot upon this planet again."

I hadn't lied.

The Sithern was not part of Derva.

And Saanvi was changeling.

She could never leave the bounds of Fairy now that she had been transformed. That didn't mean she was trapped in the Sithern on Derva. She could use the portals to move to Talahm, any of the other Sithern embassies King Teigh might open, or Ijal when Ryu finished claiming it.

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