The Lady of the Lake

Creepy Elf Queens

I drifted aimlessly through the depths of the loch and watched the glimmers of fish darting through reeds and small rocks. Brushing a seaweed-like curl of hair away from my face, my other hand waved playfully at a passing eel. It's tail flicked a fraction faster than normal for a moment in my direction before it swam on.

I was only on the outskirts of the loch—no creature with any common sense went deeper. There were things in here with me that were said to be able to instill fear so penetrating that you went mad. 

It was said that there were fish that were as large as small mountains with teeth like razors and creatures with arms that slithered like snakes and had a grip of steel. Few had seen them and few ever told but one thing was for certain: monsters lived in this loch. Yet they kept to the deep and the crevices and ravines and humoured all the life that rested in the shallows.

The surface above me was distorted by water but the sun still shone strongly, and if I reached out and really tried, I could feel tendrils of its warmth wash over me. No matter how much I loved its bright light, it didn't call to me as the cold depths of the loch did. Water was in my blood–literally as I was an Undine—and I loved it with all my heart. 

It was home.

I was one of the many orphans that fate had created with its cruelty. Kindness is not the fae way and I would have died if it weren't for my home. The fish brought me weeds and the water kept me strong. The marsh birds were always eager to spread horrific stories of the deep and I grew up wild and fierce and happy.

Shadows passing over the surface of the water interrupted my thoughts. Little folk zipped overhead, sand stirred in the distance as undines surfaced and spriggan cackles echoed from their hidden caves. Everything came alive as they headed for the council meeting held once every moon cycle.

Taking a deep breath of water through the gills on the side of my neck, I reluctantly kicked off from the pebbly bottom, leaving my refuge and racing to the edge of the lake. Surfacing —like every time— hurt. I was used to it by now but the sensation of the gills on the side of my neck closing and my lungs taking the first breath of fresh air always felt like claws on granite—awful. As my gills faded into my skin, my earth lungs took the first gasp of grating air. I pushed back my long mane of dripping silver locks. 

Dark skin still gleaming, I reached the Meeting Place or compita: crossroads. The clearing was protected by warrior tree folk and elves and hidden by a thick veil of lichen. It was well guarded and a sacred place of peace and diplomacy—no blood was ever to be spilled here.

As I entered with the mass of others, my gaze zeroed in on the empty throne in the centre. A throne that had been crafted of the purest glass and said to have been forged with iron for our queen. A queen who had been absent for 18 years: The Lady of the Lake. No one knew where she had gone or if she was dead, but no one was powerful enough to take up her mantle and stand in her place. Everyone knows who wanted to though—Chrysalis. 

We had no ruler but one—even though the different branches of fae folk had their own monarchs and Chrysalis was one of these monarchs. She was the queen of the elves and had the grandest forces and the most resources. She wanted the throne very badly. 

Our Court was known amongst the fae across the world as the Aos sí – people of the barrows. We were a court little known in the legends (knowledge of us is nothing compared to the other seasonal and solar courts) but despite this, we are a court of dangerous chaos, not nearly as structured and in control as the Tuatha dé Danann of the North, but beautiful and deathly terrifying in our disorder. 

Our land reflected this. With a forest that expanded on for near forever and a lake as bottomless as the ocean, everything we had defied natural law. No one knew quite how it worked, but the Aos si court existed without making a single dent in the human world—our own little pocket of reality.

Chrysalis called for everyone's attention and the clearing grew slightly quieter as most folk settled down. Unfortunately, not everyone.

I hissed as a drunken dwarf rammed into my side and caused me to stagger right into a pair of masculine arms. Muttering a few choice cuss words, I looked up at the face of the male who caught me and couldn't help the beaming smile that formed on my lips. "Xan!" I whispered happily.

My best friend laughed. "Hey Ari."

I looked at his attire and snickered. "That's what she's got you wearing? I swear it's one of the worst ones yet."

He pulled a face and tugged on the tight high collar of his tight tunic. "You know what mum says..."

"That it makes you look like you're the prince you're supposed to be, I know." Truth was, he looked great. The tunic was a forest green colour that matched the emerald specks in his feline chocolate eyes and its severe cut showed off his high cheekbones and arched Elvin ears.  His skin was a warm gold and a circlet of deer antlers rested on his forehead. Xaniphe was the second son of Chrysalis and an utter disappointment to the queen of the elves. Instead of following his brothers' footsteps and studying royal tradition and courtly fanfare, he hung out with the unruly water sprite and went and trained in sword fighting with her soldiers.

He shook his head shaking free tightly styled shoulder-length golden brown hair. "She's still got me wearing these things every gathering. I swear they get tighter and tighter as though she's trying to squeeze out all the disappointing parts of me."

I scoffed. "If that was an option you would be walking around in tight corsets all day."

"True."

He turns back to his mother and his angular face draws into a stern severity that I barely ever see when it's just us.

"Hey," I tug on his arm. "Is it just me or are they taking longer today?"

They had talked about the usual stuff so far—boundaries, humans entering the forest, but now, Chrysalis had a grave look on her face as she talked. "-getting to the point where it's dangerous. We can't keep losing supplies or it will have serious, negative effects on the security of our court."

"What's this about?" I asked Xan.

He shook his head. "Supplies and weapons have been going missing. Mother posted even more guards, but it still hasn't had any effect on the thefts."

"It's getting serious?" Without those supplies, our defense against malevolent forces could go down exponentially.

"Yeah."

As I mulled over the repercussions of that statement, a slight tugging sensation started pulling gently at my limbs. I turned around, looking for anyone who could be doing this (maybe a harmless prank?), but no one was even looking at me, they were all focused on the dwarven councilor who was addressing our mining resources. A second later the feeling was gone.

"Is everything alright?" Xan queried, a whisper of concern in his eyes.

"I think so," I said, turning back to the front.

My eyes immediately met Chrysalis' chlorophyll ones as they narrowed on me talking to her son.

A slight chill worked its way up my spine.