Marvels and Misfits

by Scarlett Dawn

  “Barely,” Father snapped. Two minutes later of much shuffling, and my father asked, “King Athon, where is my daughter?”

  “M-mushroom,” King Athon’s raspy voice whispered, barely able to touch my ears. “Over…t-there.”

  “Holy Fairy,” Queen Alora muttered.

  Running boots pounded the frozen ground.

  Father fell to his knees outside of my shelter and quickly lowered to his stomach. His emerald eyes shimmered in the sunshine right outside the edge of the mushroom, staring into my one eye I had peeked over at him.

  Father stated with extreme calm, “Trixie, I’m getting you out of there. Hold on.”

  His left hand reached under the mushroom, and he jerked my bag out from underneath it, tossing the strap over his shoulder. Then he reached back under and grabbed onto my blanket with a tight fist. Father carefully pulled me out into the muted sunshine, my body dragging along the hard earth but finally free.

  King Traevon lifted me into his arms and stood quickly. He started walking immediately, growling, “She’s as bad as he is. Let us hurry.”

  “Queen Mikko had better have kept the fire going,” Queen Alora grunted—and sneezed hard. “He’s frozen solid.”

  “She probably passed out,” Father muttered, marching at a fast pace next to the other king and the queen. “She lost a lot of blood in the fall.”

  King Elon grunted, sounding breathless. “This Fae damned shifter is heavy. Queen Alora, get over here and help me.”

  They stopped, but my father didn’t.

  He stated simply, “I’ll see you back at camp.”

  * * *

  Father changed my clothes in the privacy of the tent—Queen Mikko was passed out—and then lay me by the fire that was dying out. He tossed two blankets on top of me before quickly building the fire to a roaring blaze.

  King Elon and Queen Alora tramped into camp with King Athon. The shifter king’s arms were slung over each of their shoulders, King Elon and Queen Alora carrying him between them. King Athon’s boots dragged on the ground, pulling his body back as they walked, and his head was dropped forward as if he were staring at the mist beneath him. He looked…dead.

  I opened my mouth and tried to speak. “D-did you k-kill him?”

  Queen Alora lifted an arched dirty eyebrow. “Princess Trixie, you don’t look any better than him, and he’s as alive as you are right now.”

  Oh. I blinked and turned my eyes back to the fire.

  Father brushed off his hands and stood, evaluating his work with the fire pit, and then glanced to the side. “King Elon, you’ll need to change his clothes. He will warm faster with dry clothing on.”

  King Elon nodded. “That sounds correct.”

  Father lay down behind me and snuggled under the covers, gifting me his body heat while King Elon went to take care of the shifter king. He rubbed hard at my arms, trying to bring them back to life. He asked, “Are you feeling better now? You spoke. That is a good sign.”

  “A l-little b-better.” My teeth chattered loudly. “W-what happened t-to you?”

  “I’d managed to get the rope tied around a tree before bloody birds took us right up into the air. Huge beasts of birds.” King Traevon snorted and shook his head. “They dropped us into a nest high up in a tree and then left for some reason. We made it down, but Queen Mikko was injured. She has a nasty cut on her arm that continues to bleed. We barely made it back to camp before the night caught us.”

  “W-we saw the b-birds.” I twitched my fingers, happy I was able to do that much right now. “I w-was…w-worried about you.”

  “I am fine, my daughter. Do not fret over me.” Father hummed softly in the back of his throat, his emerald regard peeking at me from the corner of his eye. Then his gaze moved back to the fire and stayed there, watching the flames leaping. “I do have a question for you, Trixie.”

  “Y-yes?” I wish my body would quit shaking.

  “Is there anyone special in your life that you would like to tell me about?”

  The pills. It was the bloody pills. I knew it.

  Damn him for asking me when I wasn’t thinking straight. I had to play it mellow. I needed to stick to my plan.

  “N-no, Father.”

  “Are you positive? I want you to know that even though I am a terribly busy man, you can always come to me with anything you want to discuss. I will make time for you, that I am here for you when you need me.”

  That wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard him say before. Too bad my childhood and the last twelve years of my life said otherwise. He was the King of Elves. He was always too busy to simply chat.

  “I am p-positive, F-Father. There is n-no one s-special.”

  King Traevon sighed heavily. “What about the pills in your bag, Trixie? Why would you bring them here?”

  “F-for you.” Keep it simple—easy answers.

  “Truly?” King Traevon’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “Y-yes.”

  Father grunted. His eyes lifted back to the fire. “May I tell you a secret, my daughter?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “You deserve the absolute best soul mate that the blessed Fae can give you, but I doubt I will ever think anyone is good enough for you. But, please, when you do meet that special someone, don’t be afraid to bring him home to meet me. I promise to not be a complete asshole—maybe only a slight one.”

  “I’ll h-hold you t-to that, Father.”

  Like I would ever bring my soul mate home. Revolting.

  Father rubbed at my arms again. “I hope you do.”

  King Elon damned near dropped King Athon into the fire when he tried lying him down. “Queen Alora! A little help would go a long way right now.”

  The merfolk queen muttered under her breath but helped to lie the shifter king safely down next to the fire. Their blankets were thrown over him next to help trap in body heat.

  Queen Alora glared down at him. “I hope you do not expect me to cuddle you like King Traevon is with Princess Trixie. That will not happen. I don’t care how frozen you are.”

  “T-thank…f-fuck,” King Athon croaked.

  Father laughed quietly. “Well, King Athon, I think you will be all right since you are smart enough right now to stay away from another royal. Your mind isn’t completely bloody well fucked up from the Blood Forest’s wrath.”

  Holy Fairy. Father doesn’t know how true that is.

  “No o-one is p-pretty enough here for…t-that.” King Athon smiled a little, just a twitch at the corner of his frozen blue lips. “Unless y-you are o-offering, King T-Traevon, t-then I might reconsider.”

  Father laughed hard. “You are your same old self, just a little more blue in color. You will be fine, though. We won’t do anything today just to make sure you, my daughter, and Queen Mikko have the proper time to recover.”

  * * *

  “Wake up!” Queen Alora chirped. “The day is bright. And we have an artifact to find.”

  I started to turn…but I was trapped under heavy limbs.

  Not bloody again.

  I opened my eyes and glared at the shifter king lying halfway on top of me—and snoring. I griped, “Can someone get him the Fairy off me?”

  Father groaned and rolled over to face me. His slow blinks were full of half-slumber. “I can cut off his arms and legs if you would like, my daughter?”

  “I’ve already thought of that.” I sniffed. “But then we’d have to carry him around. And he weighs too much.”

  “He would be lighter without his limbs.”

  “That is true.” I pulled my dirty blanket back up over my face. “Dammit all, I am too tired for all that. I think I will just sleep a little longer instead and save the butchering for another day.”

  “Grand idea,” Father intoned. “Everyone, we are sleeping in today. We had a rough day yesterday with frozen royals, so go back to sleep.”

  Queen Alora chuckled darkly. “I wanted to do that, anyway. We shall set off on our quest when we are refre
shed.”

  The snoring abruptly stopped. King Athon’s rasping, sleepy voice asked, “Is it time to get up?”

  “No,” I stated quickly. “Go back to sleep.”

  King Athon stretched like a cat, rubbing against me, his leg shooting out so far he kicked my father. “I cannot, elf. But nice try.”

  “Just go back to sleep!” I whined under my cover.

  King Athon snorted, his stretching limbs dropping back down onto my body with a distinct thunk. He growled, “Everyone, it is time to get your Fae damned asses up. We have a mountain to climb today.”

  The other four rulers and I groaned.

  King Athon snarled, “Do you want to leave this cursed place or not? We must find the fucking artifact to do so.”

  “It is warm in here right now,” Queen Mikko muttered.

  “That does not mean sleeping in.” King Athon chuckled under his breath, ignoring her plea. “Or severing the limbs off one another. We have Fae shit we have to do, so let us do it and be done with this place.”

  I jerked my blanket down from my face. “Really? You are utterly ridiculous.”

  He shrugged a shoulder, and an evil smile tilted up his lips. “Deception is a valuable tool. I’m sure your father has taught you that well.”

  I tilted my chin up. “He has done no such thing.”

  “You just proved my point, Princess Trixie.” King Athon pushed off me and sat up to run his finger through his tangled white hair. It appeared a bit greasy without the regular washing. Mine probably looked no different—gross. He added, “I do have an idea about the artifact, but I will only tell you if we have camp picked up within thirty minutes.”

  That…got everyone moving.

  Thirty minutes later, we had eaten and were properly packed to change locations once again. We stared at King Athon, waiting for him to explain his words from earlier. We had done as he’d wished, he needed to fulfill his debt.

  King Athon glanced at all our scowling faces. “Maybe I should have let you sleep longer.”

  King Elon rolled his green eyes. “Just tell us.”

  “All right.” King Athon shouldered his bag. “It has to do with the nursery rhyme Isabella taught Princess Trixie.”

  Father asked slowly, “What do you mean?”

  “I think we need to go to the highest point and find the tallest trees. There we will find the artifact.” King Athon lifted one dark eyebrow. “Why so, so high, thee say… These trees do thee see. Yay, see… Thy treasure is found. And we are already proving our ‘worth’ by taking the hard path that is the mountain together and not killing one another as the originals did.”

  Queen Mikko gradually nodded while holding her injured arm. “I agree with you. That does make sense.”

  “I agree, too.” I peered up to the top of the mountain. “That will be a hike up there, but I think that’s where it is.”

  “I think King Athon is correct, as well,” Queen Alora stated.

  “As do I,” King Elon added.

  We turned to Father when he didn’t speak.

  “What? My mother gave the advice. Of course, I bloody well agree with it.” Father shook his head in exasperation. “She was never wrong, and she enjoyed telling me so every chance she got.”

  I snickered behind a fist. He wasn’t lying.

  I bet she still did it.

  As one, we walked toward the mountain.

  I stared up at the rocky terrain, every last ounce of it sharp and biting. One fall, and you would be cut deep. It was a deadly climb, but I was willing to do it with these five rulers to save the realm.

  With one foot up on the deadly mountain, we all stopped.

  The mountain began to tremble right in front of us.

  Sharp rocks tumbled down. Logs rolled over grass.

  We weren’t leaving at the first sign of trouble, though.

  We darted forward, each of us scrambling on the slope.

  I grabbed purchase wherever I could. Rocks sliced into my hands, and my blood splattered the ground. My knees slammed into the earth repeatedly. I bled there, too. I crawled and gritted my teeth against the horrendous pain, rocks like tiny blades stabbing into my palms. I ducked a boulder that flew over a hill and crashed down, wobbling and rolling away.

  I grabbed onto Queen Alora’s outstretched hand and allowed her to pull me up behind a black tree. It was as large as the gates on my father’s castle, more than enough room for the others to take shelter behind.

  Queen Alora and I worked side-by-side, helping the others get to safety. She hauled King Traevon and King Athon up the remainder of the way, while I grabbed King Elon’s and Queen Mikko’s hands and heaved them up the last few steps to the small, flat land beneath the massive black tree.

  The five rulers and I stood with our backs pressed to bark, heaving in large lungful’s of oxygen, while the mountain continued to rain down its anger in fatal force—all hit the other side of the tree and around, but not where we safely stood.

  I looked down where we had been.

  By the Fae, we had made it quite a way up.

  If we fell here, we were dead.

  Queen Mikko peeked around the corner of the tree. “I’m getting ready to go again.”

  The rest of us nodded. Blood stained us everywhere.

  We were ready to face it once more. We braced for it.

  A deep voice asked, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  The six of us froze in place.

  Our heads turned first, and then our bodies followed.

  We faced the tree. And the tree had a face.

  Black bark curved with a smirking mouth. A knot on the tree was its broken nose. The black bark swirled with sunken, yellow sap eyes. Two miniature tree limbs were the bouncing eyebrows on a decidedly arrogant face. Black shadow leaves sloped down from a long hanging branch, its hair where it hung over part of its left eye.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. This was…unexpected.

  A little frightening, but even more exciting.

  A tree was talking to us!

  Silent ticks of time passed by in our shock.

  Tree Man asked again, “Are you sure you want to climb this mountain?”

  Father lifted his bloodstained chin high. “Yes. We are sure.”

  The black leaves shook side to side. “I do not think that is a wise decision. You have already hurt yourselves. You should turn back.”

  King Athon crossed his arms over his torn shirt, red blood smeared all over it. “We know we will be hurt, but we are going up the mountain.”

  “What if you die?” Tree Man questioned, the sap narrowing in his eyes. “What would that accomplish?”

  “We don’t plan to die,” Queen Alora coughed into her bleeding fist. “We will survive.”

  Tree Man chuckled quietly. “You remind me of my son. He is just as foolhardy as you are.”

  Queen Mikko stepped toward the tree with clenched fists. “We are going up the mountain. Are you planning to try to stop us?”

  “Oh, no. I will not stop you.” Yellow sap eyes swiveled to me. “And what of you? Are you as reckless as the rest of them?”

  “Apparently so. I will be going up the mountain along with them,” I stated and shrugged one shoulder. “We will survive it together as we have been doing so far. I am not worried.”

  Tree Man’s limb-eyebrows wiggled. He glanced at each one of us with quiet consideration. He said, “I must admit, it did not take you six as long as my brothers and I had bet on. I have lost a year of sparrows because of this. I’m not entirely sure I wish to help now.”

  King Traevon took two steps forward, standing with the toe of his boots against its trunk. “Help us? What did you have in mind?”

  “What I wait here every day for.”

  “And what is that?” Father pushed.

  “I do as my Fae creator shaped me for. I judge those who stand before me, and I take passengers to the top of the mountain,” Tree Man explained severely. “To those who are worthy. A
nd only those who are worthy. You will not make it without my assistance. That is what I am here for, as are my brothers around us.”

  “Are we worthy?” I asked softly. “Do you believe we are?”

  His limb-eyebrows bounced again. “You have all shown respectably worthy traits during your time in the Blood Forest. But I am not sure if you are worthy of finishing the task you are truly here for.”

  “Why?” King Elon’s back straightened sharply. “Our kingdoms are prospering. We are wonderful rulers. And we only want to keep our people from dying, from the realm being destroyed.”

  Tree Man’s shadow leaves ruffled, and his voice boomed and shook the ground further. “Because I have not decided yet.”

  When the leaves stopped rustling, I asked delicately, “What must we do to prove our worth to you? Please, help us understand. We want to save our beautiful realm.”

  “You, I like,” Tree Man stated quietly. “If they were only more like you. While you spoke to the rat, another slayed the deer. While you offered your ointment to help, the same person stole it from your bag when you weren’t looking. While you explained your abandoned feelings to one, that person did not truly listen. While you were near death, two stood to take your only nourishment.”

  I had wondered where my ointment had gone.

  The tender-hearted, genius queen was a thief.

  I think I liked her better for it.

  I shook my head in the charged quiet. My resulting smile was small. “I am not perfect, either. None of us are. We all have our faults, just as the Fae do, just as you do. Just as the sun in the sky does. That doesn’t mean we aren’t worthy of what we have when our whole hearts are for our people to live. We are perfectly imperfect royals doing the best that we can—just as you are doing your best with the talents you have been gifted.”

  The five rulers didn’t move. They didn’t even breathe.

  They knew they had screwed up and were hoping I was able to smooth it over in the royal way of politics since Tree Man only liked me. When we were home, I was going to rub that in my father’s face a little bit—just a little bit. Though it could as easily have been me who had messed up with hidden eyes watching us all the time. I had merely been lucky.