The Fairy Tale

by Talia Haze

  “I want to go with you. I want to learn the stories of my tales and solve the riddles of the past!”

  My father could sense my hesitation. “But…?”

  “But I never trained. I don’t know how to fight. Would you send me to the Lingue-gue tribe to learn?”

  His smile returned and he laughed. “Never. I will train you myself.”

  “Really?” I had no idea what that would involve, but the thought of becoming swift and strong like my sister made me excited.

  “Of course, Gab! I can teach you how to fight.” He leaned closer and smiled. “I can’t teach you how to guide…and that is already what you do when you learn your tales by heart. “

  I smiled. When I thought back to our adventures in the fairy route, I understood what he spoke of. It didn’t matter that Stony took the book from us halfway through. I knew all the tales. I figured out the clues, and I was the one to ask when unsure. I felt so excited to be comparable to Angel.

  Aunt Beth-me was a concern of the past. He did like me-me. He loved me. And he was confident that I would be able to help him in the pursuit of grand treasures and ancient items. I finally accepted my ever-changing, ever-odd fate. I was a guide, an elvish princess, and soon, I would be a Tashin rider.

  “Father?”

  “Yeah, Gab?”

  “Could you tell me a tale of one of your adventures?”

  Father nodded and leaned back in his chair. “I’d love to.”

  Chapter Three

  The Bumpkin Girl Act

  After an early breakfast in the empty and still inn, we followed Father into the dim morning light. A stable boy walked close behind but continued past us. The sun had just barely peeked over the town, and the cold air nipped my cheeks. No one was about, and no light broke through the windows of houses.

  I jumped when Father’s loud whistle echoed through the air. He had two fingers to his lips and stared past the town. In a few moments, five horses sprang to us in response. I trembled back as Father grabbed the reins of a black horse with fiery red eyes. The other horses stamped their feet impatiently. I never rode a horse before and the beasts that stood before us were massive.

  “You ride horses?” Sean was amazed. He held his hand out towards one before quickly drawing it back. “They will not startle with dragons around?”

  “Not these,” Father replied. “These were bred in the mountain dragon kingdom of Hewa Baridi. We needed the speed.” The black horse snorted loudly and tossed his head. “The innkeeper only has one spare horse we can take. We will have to share.” He muttered under his breath, counting and looking over us. “We must evenly distribute the weights. Rebecca, you and Itsy will ride together,” he said, referring to Mother. “Kyle, you will ride with Zairae…”

  “Why must I, then?” Kyle objected.

  “Because you’re the lightest and Zairae is the heaviest,” Father answered, not interested in Kyle’s whining. “It’ll be better anyway; he’ll prevent you from doing something stupid…”

  “Scurry off, Renard…!”

  “Sean, you and Saramine can take Kyle’s horse. That settles the dragons. Here comes the stable boy with the extra horse. Avoid it, dragons; we don’t need any unnecessary trouble.”

  I stood where I was. I didn’t even know how to get into the saddle, let alone ride. Connie had lighted daintily on one of the dragon-bred horses, and skillfully drove it towards me. “My Moura,” she said, holding her hand out to me. I smiled weakly, and with Ryan’s help, settled behind her.

  “Are you ready?” Father’s horse trotted around our brigade impatiently.

  “Ready!” Kyle replied in a shrill scream.

  “Then let’s ride!”

  Father’s horse gave a spirited leap and darted into the woods. I grabbed a tight hold of Connie’s waist and closed my eyes as our horse jolted, then sprung after Father’s. We galloped on a wide dirt road, the horses following Father’s in single file. Travelers on the road quickly moved to the other side. We leapt over streams and clomped over wide bridges. My bones jarred and shook. I closed my eyes tighter. Every time the horse leapt over something, I could feel my stomach lift to my throat.

  We traveled in this manner for only half an hour before reaching a huge wall. It stretched high into the sky, just like the one at the last fairy route we had gone through. I sighed deeply as Father sprang from his saddle.

  “Give me the key,” he ordered. Kyle handed it to him, and Father held the medallion to the wall. The door opened slowly, and bright light poured down on us.

  ~

  “How are you, Gabriella?” Connie asked. I dizzily nodded, and swallowed, trying to ignore the telltale feeling in my stomach. The day had been long. We took breaks only long enough for the horses to get water, but not nearly long enough for me to recover. Connie tried to teach me how to sit so I wouldn’t feel so rattled but to no avail. I must have thrown up four times, once almost getting her. The fast movement of the horses was just too much for my stomach.

  At twilight, we finally dismounted at the border of the Thenowe Kingdom in the land of Fogh. A large hill sat before walls, so we crawled up it and watched the group of a dozen guards below. I felt almost instantly better. I lay on the ground deeply breathed in the smell of grass and earth.

  Father slowly rolled to his back to face us. “They have increased their number. Usually there is only two or three at this gate. We can’t let them know that we are even in the kingdom. If a scout finds us, the palace will be on alert and we won’t be able to get the map half. One of the new faces will have to go down there and distract them. Maybe say there’s bandits or something…”

  "Oh, Bittersweet has her bandit ruse down pat,” Ryan said, grinning towards me. “Ten or ‘leven of them is what got us into Goldilocks’s place.”

  Father nodded. “That was a story I enjoyed hearing. Okay, Gab, go on. Don’t be afraid; I’m right here.”

  I wasn’t afraid. More nervous than anything. I pulled at the length of cloth that held my hair back and tossed it around until it was wild in my face.

  “Sean, you and Ryan go pursue her. Let them catch you. Afterwards, Gab, tell the guards where we are. They should come to investigate and Kyle, sneak around and blast any that remain…set to stun, please.”

  “Aww.”

  “Saramine, Rebecca, Zairae. Move about here so they come this way. When they near, fly to the gates. The night should cover your flight. The rest of us will sneak around with the horses and we will all meet up at the other side. Everyone got it?”

  “Got it,” grinned Kyle. “Let’s go.”

  I screamed as loud as I could. The sound startled everyone around, including myself. I screamed from excitement, from nervousness, from anxiousness, but not from fear. It felt we were once more in the wonderful fairy route, on some exciting mission. I had nothing to fear; I was where I belonged. And alongside my father and sister, I was invincible. It was a courage and confidence I had never felt, even with my time with the elves. I was in the company of my nearest and dearest, while doing what I loved the most.

  I stumbled a couple of times. I would have been more careful had I known that the hill was so steep. A thorny bush caught the edge of my sleeve, ripping it as I fell. Another scratched up my face. I cried out and clutched my sleeve to my shoulder. The guards were alert the instant I started screaming, and with the boys running after me while yelling, they were instantly armed. Still, I made my way with ease through the group and stumbled into the biggest guard in the center.

  “Help me!” I was so filled with excitement and dread that I spoke incoherently. I grabbed his shirt and cried out. Words had completely left me, but at least it made my farce more believable. I pointed behind me at the boys, who had turned upon seeing the guards. The guards didn’t know why they were chasing them, but swiftly tackled them to the ground.

  The guard I grabbed ran his hand over the tear in my sleeve. “What have they done to you?”

  The other guards brought the boys
closer. My senses came about me and I shook my head in a panic. “That ain’t all of ‘em,” I stuttered between frantic breaths as the others brought rope to tie up the boys. “That ain’t all of ‘em…”

  The lights were suddenly extinguished. I cried out in genuine surprise, and the guard’s grip on me tightened. “Go!” he commanded the others. “Go find them! All of you, go!” After making sure that the boys were tied tight, the other guards disappeared into the darkness.

  The first turned back to me, gripping my hips, but he suddenly seized before passing out loudly on the ground. Father stood behind him and put his hand down. “I can’t wait to teach you that,” he said with a grin. I smiled too.

  I couldn’t wait to learn.

  We reached the outskirts of a small village an hour after midnight. I shook myself awake as the horses slowed. At least my exhaustion diverted my nausea. We dismounted, and the dragon-bred horses quickly disappeared into the darkness. Ryan led the one we got from the innkeeper behind.

  Loud, raucous laughter echoed in the night as we made our way down the busy street. I felt barely awake, but the townspeople acted as if the day had only just dawned. Father and the others didn’t bother to put on their hoods and scarves; I doubted if anyone in the street was even sober enough to recognize them. We passed several men stumbling about, stepped over dozens who lay keeled over on the road, and walked around many small dancing groups.

  “That is where we shall stay the night,” said Stony as we approached an inn. He looked at Connie over his shoulder, who fidgeted nervously. “It is the only inn that is close. Do not be alarmed when we enter. There is no danger.”

  As we neared, a strange combination of unintelligible noise and song greeted us. When we climbed the steps, the noise became deafening. Someone flew past the door just as we reached the threshold. He smashed into a table, sending the other patrons into hysterical fits of laughter. Everyone fought, drank, laughed or played cards in the most random of places. Two men stood atop a piano, arms slung across each other’s shoulders and sung incoherently into their half-empty bottles while someone else pounded recklessly on the keys.

  We timidly walked behind Father as he led us through the mayhem towards the innkeeper. He sat upon a stool and leaned on the counter, comfortably. We followed his lead and sat at surrounding stools and tables, but we could never hope to remain as composed as he. The chaos of the bar didn’t faze him at all; when a man slid across the counter, Father simply moved his hands out of the way and after the man had passed, he leaned on the counter once more. Shattering glass just became ambience, and at every moment, men kept falling near my feet.

  The innkeeper turned at Father’s polite cough.

  “Evening, Renard.” Men sitting nearby turned at the innkeeper’s indifferent greeting. “What have you acquired as of late?”

  “My children,” Father answered, simply. Some of the men began pointing and whispering. I shifted uncomfortably. Why did everyone stare at us so?

  “They are beautiful, Syrah,” the innkeeper agreed with a yawn. An old man collapsed onto the bar, between me and Father, and stared at his face closely. I leaned back. The man smelled almost as terrible as the goose girl had.

  “You’re a…you’re a Tashin rider!” he cried out, trembling back onto the floor. I scoffed. And why should he be so afraid? Could he not see what was happening all around him? Father seemed nearly as uninterested as the bored innkeeper, and didn’t respond. “It is you!” the man’s shaky hand pointed to a wanted parchment hung on the wall. The innkeeper rolled his eyes.

  Father turned to examine it. “Oh. Yes, I do suppose we do bear quite a resemblance to each other.”

  Kyle gaffed. The noise slowly quieted except for the occasional, “Hey, look!”

  The once-raucous bar company soon became more solemn than church priests. I kept my head forward, concentrating my breathing and trying to glance back from the corner of my eyes. Angel’s hands were ready. What would such a large group of drunken, rowdy men do to us? That parchment’s price read 100 gold pieces.

  “We will need several rooms this time,” Father continued to the innkeeper. His voice seemed to echo in the silence. Though his eyes never left those of the innkeeper, I could tell he paid close attention to the patrons too. “Perhaps all that you have left. Now, it is late, and we are tired. Please have your company settle.” The innkeeper shrugged. “We will also need that small stable prepared for us in for the morn.”

  “And supper?” the innkeeper asked. Father grinned.

  “It is far past supper. Breakfast in the morning, however, would be appreciated.”

  The innkeeper spun on his heels. “It will be done, Renard.”

  “Renard,” a man repeated as sat at the end of the bar, “and his infamous Tashin riders. Desired but hated. Feared but respected.” The noise of laughter and shattering glass slowly started up again, no one apparently interested in any kind of reward. Angel relaxed. “You have two women and four girls. Six females. What are you to do with so many? Surrounding yourself with them is such a waste. They will just make it easier for you to be captured.”

  “Not so,” Father answered, not looking at the man, but opening a scroll. I leaned to look. A map! A map ripped in half and covered in crudely drawn symbols and directions. “See how I do not fear getting captured, even as I sit before you, women and all. Perhaps they shall make it harder for you to do anything of the sort.”

  “Ha!” laughed the man. “A woman? A woman’s place is…”

  A dagger broke through his mug and stuck in the table. The man gasped the shards in his hands.

  “That was just my daughter.” Father still didn’t look up, though a smile parted his lips. “My wife wouldn’t have been so kind as to miss.”

  He was so calm; so cool...and a little arrogant. My tension slowly released, and I lay my head upon my hands. He didn’t fear getting caught? Even with all of us? His arrogance had to be well-founded. Angel’s certainly was.

  “A lucky throw,” the man agreed, grabbing another man’s mug and taking a drink. “But what if one of them were caught off guard?” He spun around and threw a fast punch at Saramine. I sat up in a start, but Saramine put her hand out in front of her face, catching the man’s fist. She had been talking quietly to Connie, but turned to look at the man, her dragon eyes flashing a yellow warning. She wasn’t prideful like Father and Angel; she probably just grew the reflexes fighting the ambassador and simply defended herself. Still, the man trembled at Saramine’s quick response, even more so at her eyes and leaned back.

  Father only looked up briefly, before returning to his map. “That was foolish. What would you have done next had you succeeded?”

  Father didn’t speak in a rude manner at all, but the man’s countenance changed, and he stared at Father, fearfully. He stood quickly, knocking Kyle from his chair as he passed. Kyle had been sleeping with his head on the table and wasn’t pleased with the unexpected awakening.

  “Mind your manners!” he demanded, holding his hand out. He froze where he was, but before I could wonder about his change of mind, I noticed his startled face. Apparently, he had stopped against his will.

  “Not tonight, Kyle.” Stony sat at the end of the counter, eyes closed, and arms crossed. He really lived up to his name; I had forgotten that he was even sitting there. Kyle was released and went to return to his seat. Finding a new target, the man kicked the chair from under Kyle, who fell again on the floor.

  “Wretch!” Before anyone could stop him, even Stony’s bizarre power, Kyle kicked the man, sending him flying across the bar.

  “Kyle!”

  Now, the entire bar company jumped to their feet and charged. I cried out, but they weren’t after me. Three men lunged at Kyle, and were instantly defeated. Another ran near, wielding a sword.

  “I’ve told you about this!” scolded my mother, waving her hand. The man’s sword dropped, and he went flying through the door.

  “He started it!” whined Kyle, p
ointing and sending a sparking blue line into another man’s chest. Father, Mother, Rebecca, and Kyle fought the torrent of men, throwing each of them from the bar or into walls. The rest of us sat where we were, in too much shock to move, in too much awe to be nervous. Angel’s hands rested on her daggers, but she stayed as she was. She did once say her attacks were fatal, and she hesitated raising hand against only drunks. Stony just sat on his stool, quietly meditating as if nothing was going on…though I did hear him make a heavy sigh.

  Chapter Four

  A Thirst for Adventure

  “Now, that was tiring!” Father laughed as he ordered drinks for my mother and himself. The fight finished quickly, and those would-be contenders went about their business.

  “Kyle, you have been warned,” my mother scolded angrily. “You cannot just start fights whenever someone makes you upset. Zairae gave you powers for defense…nothing more! Why do you think we are wanted everywhere we go?”

  “Oh, yes! Because it’s my fault, then!” Kyle snapped back. For someone so small, he sure was ferocious. “It wasn’t my idea to take things out of the lands…!”

  “And who wanted oh so very much, the bowl of Old King Cole?” complained Father looking up from his mug. I turned to Kyle excitedly. “Or the bow that killed Cock Robin? If we didn’t take those items, perhaps we’d be in the clear.”

  “Whatever…”

  “You have the bow that killed Cock Robin?” asked Angel, genuinely interested.

  “Yeah,” Kyle answered as if it was nothing to be proud of. He unlatched the bow from the quiver on his back and handed it to Angel.

  “How do you find all these things?” asked Angel, softly rubbing the bow.

  “Not easily,” Kyle answered. “You’ll see all the trouble we go through when we start looking for…”