Chapter 141

141 Nicolas St. Claws

Skye, Tidas, Petrie, Lidia, and Lucas all sat back at the table, and gathered around Nicolas as he focused on his story. The incident with the so-called Ice Miser was near the time when Nicolas and Maevis stopped going to the palace.

Nicolas didn’t want to talk about their reasons for leaving the human world then; it would spoil the holiday. Pieces from his story would definitely create questions. Skye specifically, would eventually ask about it, but he would buy himself as much time as possible until then..

After everyone situated themselves comfortably, Nicolas began his tale: “We’d just finished a heated battle with the Meccano Kingdom. They tried to form an alliance with the Sync Kingdom, but those bastards have always served their own interests above all else..”

“I just finished my preparations for Yuletide, and was out looking for Maevis. She’d been distraught since Tiberius’ wedding, and kept going off into the wilderness on her own.. Not that she can’t handle herself, but she gets distracted easily when she’s upset..”

“Why was she upset?” Skye asked with worry in her voice, and on her features.

A sad expression crossed his face a moment before Nic replied; “You’ll have to ask Mae about it. Tis extremely personal, and not my place to speak on.. I don’t know if she’ll talk about or not, honestly.”

After a nod from Skye, Nicolas continued; “I was flying around on Hugo’s ancestor when I saw a child running through the woods. Several guards of the local lord were chasing her, so I intervened. I ran the guards off, and found out that they were ordered to destroy anything having to do with Yuletide.”

“I never understood why; was greed really his only motivation? I read a version that said he turned bitter over a tragic love,” Lidia’s voice had a soft undertone to it.

“That one made no sense to me. If his murdered wife loved Yuletide, why ban and destroy it? I’d make celebrating it mandatory,” Skye sipped her whiskey after she’d spoken.

.....

“Love? I thought he did it to control his people,” Petrie commented.

Becoming irritated with the interruptions, Nicolas snipped; “Do you want to hear the story, or extrapolate on the ones you’ve heard? My whiskey won’t last for both.”

Skye, Lidia, and Petrie apologized for their bad manners, then Nicolas continued with his story; “The child was named Maggie, and she was a cotter’s daughter for Lord Herod. She was hanging her stockings on her front door when the guards saw her. The announcement had been made That day. A lot of people had their decorations up for weeks beforehand, and he fined them for every decoration they saw.”

“She was so distraught that she didn’t realize who I was right away. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull!” Nicolas laughed out loud, causing his echoes to fill the room with merriment.

Everyone smiled and giggled, then listened contently to the elder Fae; “I took her home to find her door kicked in, and her home ransacked. Thankfully her parents hadn’t been home, but the guards had taken anything they deemed valuable. Pots and pans, candlestick holders: even the poor lassie’s doll!”

Disgust and anger traversed the group’s faces as they listened; “I couldn’t truly fault the soldiers since they were only following orders. I went straight to the lord and asked him to return the things taken, and allow the people to celebrate their holiday..”

Nicolas sipped his whiskey, then added; “He was pissed, haha!”

“Why?! What did ye do?!” Lucas questioned eagerly.

“Well for starters: I came into his courtyard on the back of a wolf. When talking rationally didn’t work, I threatened him-”

“With what? I don’t think one measly wolf would scare him,” Petrie inquired as he got up to grab more whiskey for everyone.

Nicolas grinned evilly; “It didn’t: until he called the rest of his pack..”

“Aye! Serves him right! I hope they chewed him up like rawhide!” Lucas drunkenly bellowed out.

“Sadly, no.. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and he lied. He knew Tiberius was a friend of mine, so he took out his frustrations on the townspeople. He fired the homes of any known to help me..”

“How awful! I hope he dies bloody!” Lidia expressed the feelings everyone shared.

“He nearly took me out instead! I was still looking for Maevis while all of that was happening. I was visiting a merchant I knew Mae went to on occasion for supplies and such; that’s where he found me.. Poor Malcolm nearly lost his shop! But we made it out due to.. my brother..”

Everyone stared at the old Fae; dumbfounded. None of the common stories had said Santa had a brother. Some ancient tomes had stories of Santa having a human brother, but those ones also said Santa was human. Skye had a theory based off of other stories where Santa would punish naughty children. His name was different, and most referred to them as separate beings.

The Nomadic Tribes combined the two; making him more of a warrior. It somewhat made sense, based on their traditions and hard lifestyles. Skye held the name on the tip of her tongue, waiting for Nicolas to say it first..

“Malcolm and I had beaten most of them; he was an Earth user like Mae, and she’d trained him herself. He was tough, but we both nearly died.. That was when Krampus showed up, and saved us from being roasted like a Yuletide turkey,” Nicolas grimaced when he’d mentioned his brother’s name.

“He was returning a special magical item to me that I used to deliver the toys. Krampus guarded it most of the year, then I would use it on the one night a year. He didn’t have access to it’s power, and the power of it drew me like a moth to a flame.. I nearly lost myself to it on a few occasions, but my brother always pulled me back from the brink.”

“I Still can’t believe that he’s yer brother! That’s incredible! Is he the one who delivers toys now?” Petrie asked.

Nicolas’ expression went solemn as he explained; “No... My brother died shortly after our raid on Lord Herod.. That’s all I’ll say on the matter tonight. Yuletide is meant for merriment!”

It was painfully obvious that Nicolas didn’t want to discuss his brother. Skye wondered how much of the legends about him were true. Krampus was the B-side to Santa the Claws. Naughty children were taken away to his ice castle, and punished for their bad behavior. Some stories even said he ate the naughty children he took.

Petrie explained his people’s legend of Santa the Claws. Skye was surprised to learn that his particular tribe saw Krampus as something separate, and to be feared. According to their traditions, milk and cookies were set out as a snack for Santa as he delivered presents. The cookies were for Santa, and the cream was to appease Krampus.

All Fae were affected by cream and milk. Shasta personified the addiction that can easily develop, if not drank in moderation. It was exactly like alcohol to humans. Fae could drink human liquor, but they had to drink almost twice as much to equal the same effects of cream.

“Krampus preferred milk and cream. To him, it tasted better than the ‘human swill’ that I prefer. He never really liked humans because of how he was always treated. He looked like a demon, but he was my brother..”

A deep sadness covered Nic’s face as he started to lose himself in his thoughts. Tidas brought him back to earth by asking him what happened to Lord Herod. He was curious since there were lords with the last name of Herod that had attached themselves to Marco. He wondered if they were a direct relation, or a branch family, but he lost the thought as Nicolas picked up his story again.

“After my brother saved us, we rallied the cotters and townspeople behind us, to storm his castle. We lost a few, but ultimately breached the it after a half-day. He’d tried to bargain his was out, but that only made us hate him more. He tried to set up a trap, but it was one of the oldest tricks in the book. He had archers lined along the balcony. Not that it mattered..”

“Krampus’ skin was as hard as dragon’s hide, and he was an excellent fighter. I was always jealous of my brother for being human sized, even though I know that it’s due to our mothers..”

Best

“I don’t understand: why was he human-sized? Did he still have wings, like you?” Skye couldn’t help from asking.

Nicolas smiled at the princess for her enthusiasm; “No, no wings. But he could run faster than anyone I’d ever met. He’d give the prince a run for his money, and he wasn’t even a Tank!”

Skye grinned as Nicolas’ emotional state became positive quickly. She felt bad for drudging up his past. He clearly didn’t want to talk about his brother, but her impulse to ask questions was triggered. She was learning many things, and didn’t want to forget. One thing in particular, Skye wanted to ask about, but she decided to wait until he’d finished the story. It wasn’t about his brother directly, but Skye was curious as to the magical item they had. She vowed to ask as soon as he was done with his story.

“After all was said and done: Tiberius had stripped him of his wealth, and passed it to his next of kin. He kept the land, and divided it up evenly amongst the surrounding lords so no one could claim favoritism. Tiberius was one of the smartest men I ever knew... I’m glad to see his disposition passed down through the generations.”

“Thank you for that, Nic. Tis no greater compliment to me, than to be compared to my ancestor,” Tidas thanked the old Fae by filling up his thimble with whiskey again.

“How did you beat the miser?! Ye never actually said,” Petrie asked.

Nicolas turned to face Petrie before speaking; “We wound up using the item on him.. Ima not even sure what became of him; he just disappeared!”

Unable to hold her Curiosity back any longer, Skye asked the old Fae; What is this item ye been speaking of?”

Nicolas smiled hesitantly before replying; “It’s the strongest magical Anything, on this planet. It was part of the Royal Collection for years, but no one knew what it was. I only figured it out by accident.. The item is called the Northern Star..”