Bavarthos motions his hands, like he was waving someone over. Suddenly, a satyr appears with John in tow.
"John!" I jump up happy to see him looking unharmed.
"Mary." He comes over to me and holds me tight, kissing my forehead as he rubs my back to soothe me.
"See, he's unharmed. I would apologize except when you left me no choice but to force you to come to talk to me... Well.." He drips sarcasm and if I could, I'd smash his smug face into pulp.
"So what is so important to talk to me about?" I snap.
"OOOhh kitty has claws.." He chuckles, "You know,... I'm no ally to the Erlking. You know...other than accidentally taking your men's lives, ... who were not supposed to be there in the first place.....I've never done anything personally to you for you to be so callous with me." He straightens up slightly as he seems to be getting to business now, but his dramatic facial expressions and way of speaking continued on.
"Please sit and hear me out at least."
John gives me a look to at least listen and I glare at him momentarily before sighing.
"Very well. Talk." I say taking my seat as another chair appears next to me for John.
"Since it's obvious you like to.. go straight for the.. kill...." He emphasized every bit of that statement staring directly into my eyes, giving me an ironic smile.
"I and someone else I know, ... would love to lend a hand and help you destroy the Erlking and his forces. We feel it would be.... beneficial to everyone involved ..... Fae and Human alike."
'Beneficial? To whom?' I think to myself as I give him a skeptical look.
"Beneficial in what ways? What would you get out of it that would make you want to help us?" I ask him.
I don't believe what I'm hearing from Bavarthos. Even though Thietain told me that he's not exactly our enemy, he practices dark magic. I've helped save some of his would be sacrifices, knowing what he's done to others.... I can't trust him.
His lips pursed annoyed, as you see the gears turning in his mind. He sits back his fingertips touching with his hands spread and suddenly drops them and sits back up straight.
"How would it not be beneficial to get rid of that arrogant, manipulating, tyrant who wants every single living creature to bow in terror before him? I have my personal reasons for why I want him gone. None of them involve the same plans the Erl-king has for the human race. That I can absolutely assure you, Mary, dear."
"I don't understand why you kidnapped my husband then. Why not contact your brother, Thietain, or any of your siblings for that matter, to talk to them. Why do you want to talk to me? I'm not in charge of this army only a portion of it."
"Thietain.... little brother...." He mutters with a smirk and shake of his head before grinning like he knows something I don't know.
"What has my ... little brother told you about me? Please don't leave out details."
The evil grin that cuts across his face has me taken aback. Thietain did say he was not our enemy. He sure looks like the bad guy right now though, but why does he want to know this information?
"Why do you want to know what he has told us about you?"
"I'd like to know... so I can better understand why ... you are so defensive and hostile towards me, when I merely trying to be an ally in all this." Bavarthos said matter of factly.
'Well I guess that makes sense.'
Before I am able to respond, John speaks up.
"All your family that is working with us have made it clear that you are a dark magic user, a possible and dangerous threat, and that you are a force to be reckoned with. You were exiled for using your magic on the king and have been missing longer than the Queen."
I put my hand on Johns and he nodded to me for me to finish.
"He said that you are no saint, but you helped your mother and him make our hidden strongholds. That those are the real reason you were banished. That you are not our enemy but we can't count you as an ally either." I watch for facial clues on Bavarthos to try and gauge what he's thinking but he's showing an excellent poker face.
He blinks a few times and then huffs, "That is it?"
Me and John nod to him after giving each other a questioning glance. 'Should there be more?'
"Well, now you can count me as an ally. Trust me,... you're going to neeed ... my help. You notice he's been pushing outward from the places he's invaded? Right now, it's probably like shooting fish in a barrel at most of the fronts right?"
Bavarthos looks at us and seeing our nods of confirmation he gives a wicked grin arching a dark eyebrow.
"He's going to start moving a massive... amount of troops at each of these locations.... and it's about to become brutal, true warfare. I can help,... along with my people,.... to ensure that the Erlking gets a surprise and will help turn the tide that's about to pull everyone... out to sea to drown, back to a much brighter future. So are you willing to take a helping hand? Or are you going to let everyone drown in this tsunami of soldiers about to flood the lands?"
"How do you know what he's about to do?" John raises a brow up at him.
"I have my sources of information, just as you have yours." He scoffs in realization. "Oh, that's right, I'm sorry,.. had yours." He lets that sink in us for a moment and I go to check with Thietian.
"Those won't work here." Bavarthos says as I pulled out my phone.
'Damn, that's right.'
"How are we supposed to discuss things without Thietian though?" I ask him.
"You're a smart woman. I think he'll trust your judgement on the matter. My brothers and sisters... well they can all eat dirt for all I care. So what will it be there, Mary, Sin? Can you stand your feelings of disgust towards me long enough to bring that monster down from his throne or do you want to watch as he begins to destroy everything you once knew?" Bavarthos asks giving me a jokers smile.
I look to John momentarily before saying anything.
"I need some time to speak to my husband about this, privately." I tell him firmly.
"Of course, of course. I'll leave you all to talk then." Bavarthos stands and turns fluidly walking out through a door set back in one of the tunnels.
Leaving us in silence, I glanced around at the shadows and was shocked to notice they had disappeared as well.
"When did they leave?" I ask John confused.
Johns brow furrowed in thought as he started to describe what happened.
"When Bavarthos left the room, they just disappeared, but not like how we snap. They just faded away."
"Hmm.." I hummed my response and continued. "So what happened after you went to the trees?"
"I was scanning the area, to mark the targets, when it started to rain. Then I'm not sure, my vision went black. The next thing I remember is waking up in a room here and one of Bavarthos servants came and asked me how I was feeling and made sure I didn't need anything. They took me to him when I asked for an explanation of why I was here. That they tried to ask you to come and you refused and so naturally they did this to get your attention. The servant took me back to the room but I was told I may explore if I wished."
"So you went ahead and explored, right?" I grinned at him.
"Naturally, given that kind of freedom, how could I not?" John shrugs and smiles.
"Did you find anything we should be aware of before discussing this possible partnership with him?" I raise a brow as I wait for his answer.
He takes a minute going over his recollection of what he saw.
"Mary, from what I could tell, I don't know if this place is just a front to get us as allies, or if he really only does what he has to at times, but there's nothing here. At least that I saw until the Satyr came and got me to bring me here."
"I don't like how we are not able to discuss this all with Thietian though. We're missing something I think and I worry if we accept his help and we destroy the monster and his army, that we will later let a dragon out of it's lair."
"That dragon would be Bavarthos, that you are worried about?"
"Him or this other person involved that he's mentioned. I just don't know John.... What do you think?" Unsure of how to proceed, I try to get some direction from John.
"Well, let's put things into perspective here. We know he practices dark magic, which involves some type of sacrifice that must be made, and we know he's done that. Now we don't know why or how for most of it, but he has used it for good by making the strongholds. So he knows where all of them are and has never attempted anything on them, so I don't think he has any real intent to cause us harm."
I nod my head seeing his reasoning so far.
"We know he is a dangerous person, but hell Mary, so are we if you think about it."
"Yes but his family seemed extremely worried and concerned that after all is said and done, that he might try to take up the throne by succession. They were quite adamant about not wanting that situation happening, they obviously had their reasoning for it."
"Yes, but we don't know what the reasoning is. Hell, look at history with monarchies, power struggles within ruling families has always been a constant battle. If you remember correctly, they also didn't want Thietian vying for the throne either."
I sigh hard, "Yes, I have to agree with you on that point. It doesn't help, I don't trust Thietian's brothers and sisters either. Also he didn't do anything to harm you. I think by this time, every one of our enemies know our weak spots are each other. He used you to get to me, to talk.... So I guess we should maybe start making an agreement with some stipulations. Too bad we don't know how to make those blood oath contracts that Thietian had made."
John nods, retrospect evident in his thin lipped mouth and pinched brows. "So where should we start?"