CHAPTER 13
The drop in temperature was so swift; the severity of it took us all by surprise. The fire was stoked, and more oil lamps were lit, as the night seemed blacker. I looked at those around me, and I knew at that moment, I would do everything in my power to halt this vile mutiny and restore the balance. My friends were ready to give up their lives to follow me; I would not let them down.
That night a storm grew, and the first of many blizzards began. We were well prepared, but the rest of the country, the ordinary mortal folk, would be taken by surprise. By morning we had scouts reporting an increased number of deaths and injuries among the mortals due to car crashes, hypothermia and various other things which could be put down to accidents. We knew already, the Gremlins had already begun their work, and had a lot to do with some of those 'accidents'.
While we still could, we topped up our stores and told the troops around the country to help out anyone they could, human and fairy alike. There wasn’t much else we could do for now. Our troops did what they could and through their vigilance they managed to thwart the Gremlins on quite a few occasions. A group from Oswald’s clan had managed to avert a rather large disaster. As they look just like tall humans, when their wings are covered, they were on patrol in a shopping centre when they saw some Gremlins. They followed them in secret to the rafters of the building, where huge air conditioning and heating fans were placed. They managed to stop them as they were loosening the holding bolts. They had been too slow for one though and it did fall, crashing through the roof. It had landed on a decorative fountain at one end of the shopping centre. Screams rang out and panic followed. A few people had been injured, but no one had been killed, thank goodness for that. As the centre was so big, people on the other side of it knew nothing of what happened so the panic was quickly settled and the area closed off. The tannoy asked everyone to leave as there had been a technical fault, so the disaster had been averted. There had been hundreds of people in the centre, taking refuge from the cold and stocking up on supplies. If all the fans had collapsed through the roof; there wouldn’t have been many survivors.
It was in the third week we heard disturbing and upsetting news. A group of Seelie Fairies, known as the Blessed ones, had been checking on some mortals in a village near York, when they had been attacked by a group from the Slaugh. The Slaugh were formidable creatures, said to be a host of the unforgiven dead. The Seelie had spotted a couple of children, one of them had fallen on the ice and had been hurt, they had gone to help when they were cornered by the Slaugh. Some of the Seelie managed to think quickly, and flew with the children to safety. The others were caught and had to stand and fight. The Slaugh had sharp spears and small axes, and had been taught well how to use them. We had arrows, which were no good in this close proximity, and shields. It was by no means a fair fight, but we did our best. Luckily a few of our shape shifters were nearby and came as large fierce dogs. The Slaugh retreated and the fight was over. We had managed to kill two of their kind, but had lost five of our own. This was the first Fairy bloodshed, and it brought home to us the reality of the battle ahead.
Our spies reported their rumours and lies had only scared off a few lowly Duergar. The Witch and Dagdar made a powerful couple, and fear of their wrath prevented most of their group from leaving. We were trying more elaborate lies, but we needed to show some sign of our power.
We gathered again and agreed to send the word across the country. The enemy must be hunted out; if we could not take them prisoner, then we had no other option but to kill them. We could no longer take the defensive, we had to attack. We had to send out a message that we could be just as aggressive in our quest.
I felt the blood of many would now be on my hands. I now realised some of us must be lost for the greater good, but it didn’t make it any easier for me.
We sent Hippogriffs out to tackle the growing problem of the Cu Sith. A growing number of Villagers had been reported missing, and piercing howls had been heard in the night. We knew the villagers had fallen victims to the evil Fairy dogs and had to stop them. The hybrid Hippogriff was seen as a mix of lion, horse and eagle. It was very strong, yet fast and wily. They were sure to be victorious over the Cu Sith.
We had reports every day. We had won a few of our skirmishes but lost men in the process. I had always hated the idea of war and the thought of bombs and guns were disgusting to me, but I had never realised how savage a Fairy war could be. Our troops had not been shot; they had been hacked to death, or ripped apart by claws or sharp teeth. Fairies had had their wings chopped off before death as an act of degradation.
The human world was fairing a bit better but not much as unfortunately the spread of flu was taking its toll on the population of the country, although our herbs and spells had reduced the severe effect amongst those we had managed to protect.
Others however had not been so lucky. Inevitably, the old and ill were hit the hardest and hospitals were reported to be overrun and unable to cope. The death toll was rising, and the inevitable panic had taken over in some places.
With weeks of severe snow and blizzards, the country was already beginning to show signs of collapsing into chaos.