She looked in all directions hoping for a sign or a road that could be followed, and when nothing appeared Damselfly simply took a single step forward and continued her mission to recover time, so Death would spare her mother’s life.
Damselfly was lost instantly.
There were no landmarks, such as a river, to follow, only an endless flat, dark plain. As no one had returned from the Evergarden, there were no true stories of how large the garden was or how to navigate the cold, dark tundra. All she could do was continue to walk and hope that she stumbled upon someone or something in the creeping fog. Alone with only her fears, Damselfly was never far from relapsing into a paralytic state, and only her bruised sense of hope inspired her to continue. There was also a permanent feeling of being observed. Damselfly had felt it almost from the start and could not rid herself of the sensation, no matter how much she told herself it was all in her head. To ease her sense of dread, Damselfly began to recite old stories and songs under her breath.
“How did magic happen,
Well, it was with the first child in the first garden,”
Damselfly spoke the familiar words and felt comforted.
“A whispered word telling a simple rhyme,
It all happened when the first sharing of Once upon a time.”
That was when she first heard him. Her song did not only illicit a response from within, it brought forward the shadow that had been watching from the darkness.
“In one ear and out the other,
It all disappears in The Never.”
“Hello.” Damselfly called into the darkness without response, so she tried another rhyme.
“Come listen close while I tell you a tale,
Of the Children of the Moon,
It began on a dark night with the wind blowing a gale,
Warning of the approaching misfortune.”
The princess waited breathlessly for a reply, and after a brief silence one came.
“One lone star that shines down on my madness, Everyone abandons me even the mistress.”
“My name is Damselfly. I am lost and afraid. Please help me.”
The princess’s plea was ignored as fog began to gather. Swallowing her fear, Damselfly continued the game.
“There is no reason, nothing is fair,
You may as well argue with a grizzly bear.
For the Peritwinkle is as mad as a rabid wolverine,
If you see him, it is sure to be the last thing you have ever seen.”
A deep resonating laughter filled the air and raised the hair on Damselfly’s neck. A shape appeared before her though his features were still hidden.
“Another voice screams I am clever,
But all this noise is really just The Never.”
“I’m sure you are clever,” Damselfly offered.
Though the figure seemed strange she was desperate not to be alone, and so she sang sweetly while moving forward very slowly.
“There was a man who could remember,
Every little thing that happened each day,
Yet in his young life he had never lost another,
That was not the way it would stay.”
Damselfly stopped only a few feet opposite the apparition, and she recognised him as Blakast the usurper. The man who had attempted a coup against her family and who she had watched being exiled to this place.
“There was a child who swallowed a bell,
She could not speak for years,
No one could she tell,
Her many dreams and fears,”
Damselfly sung while Blakast remained entranced.
“Every time the child opened her mouth the bell would ring,
A single resounding chime,
The child wished to laugh or sing,
To read aloud every story and rhyme.”
“More,” Blakast demanded.
“It is the darkest black,
A fetid watery prison,
Like living life with your head in a sack,
Until you lose all reason.”
“Yes,” Blakast hissed.
“The shadows are my only audience,
My heart and mind remain trapped,
As I have only patience,
A promise to be kept.”
Blakast squatted on his haunches so he was the same height as Damselfly who simply continued telling rhymes in the hope of communicating some bond between them.
“Before giants stomped,
Before Death called himself King,
The dragons had only just slept,
Three tribes in the east were battling.”
Blakast laughed to himself, crouching down and bouncing on his heels. Damselfly could only make out odd words though she heard one in particular repeated.
“What is The Never?” she asked.
Blakast froze in place as though surprised this young girl had read his thoughts. Having been alone for so long the usurper did not realise he spoke aloud.
“Are we in The Never? Is that what you call the Evergarden?” the princess guessed.
Blakast shook his head negatively.
“Where is The Never?” Damselfly posed.
Blakast slowly raised a crooked finger to point at his head.
The Never
I had a different name long ago,
Though recalling it is challenging,
Whenever I try to know,
It is like pulling on a rope that is attached to nothing.
You will not believe this wasted vassal,
Though I once stood tall as a giant,
I burned through magic like fuel,
Ran faster than a wolf on the hunt.
The wind whispers sweet secrets,
In one ear then out the other,
No matter how hard one tries to collect,
It all disappears into The Never.
Being me is so frustrating,
Not knowing today from tomorrow,
This could be my end or only a beginning,
Like falling down a well with no bottom.
I see a light at the end of this tunnel,
One lone star that shines down on my madness,
To reach it is impossible,
Everyone abandons me, even the Mistress.
A voice in my head whispers I am strong,
Another voice screams I am clever,
A third hisses that everyone else is wrong,
But all this noise is really just The Never.
Who can diagnose if they are sane?
Like looking into a mirror of broken glass,
Does everyone think like my brain?
Or is this world just a comedic farce?
Where does this struggle end?
When my enemy lives within my cranium,
Should I call him friend,
Or evil phantom?
I am never alone, even in exile,
This unwanted passenger,
Whispers poison in my ear all the while,
He says you cannot escape from me, because I am The Never.
“That is terrifying,” Damselfly commented.
Blakast dressed in a black shawl that covered him like a raven’s feathers bobbed and weaved like he could not remain still. Damselfly had another question for her strange companion.
“Who is the mistress?”
Blakast tried to remember the woman that had changed everything and taken over his life. Each time he caught a brief outline of her face, a blinding light erased everything. “Mistress,” the usurper muttered. “She is the mistress.”
Damselfly understood that he could not or would not answer, so she focused on her own challenges: how to find the Fairy King in this strange and hostile land.
Then she had an idea.
“Blakast, I am looking for the Fairy King. Do you know where he is?”
The princess felt hope surge through her body as Blakast instantly reacted to the legendary sorcerer’s name in a way that revealed he knew much.
�
��The Fairy King has great magic, Blakast has little.”
“Do you know where he is?” Damselfly asked.
Though Blakast may have been classed as crazy, he was not dumb. He remembered enough from the fragments of his past to realise that any hope of escaping the Evergarden depended on magic. Blakast did not have enough power over magic to create the desired effect; however, the Fairy King was a great magician and perhaps he could. The usurper had wanted to use the girl to ingratiate himself with the Fairy King and now it seemed like she was willing to be sacrificed.
Blakast was suspicious.
His mania created a creeping level of paranoia that never truly abated. The Never was always watching and waiting to trick him.
“Why do you want to see the Fairy King?” Blakast questioned.
Damselfly was surprised by the direct enquiry. More so because she did not have a ready answer other than the truth, which seemed ridiculous.
“I wish to meet a great sorcerer,” the princess replied.
Blakast was extremely pleased with himself, because he saw in the girl’s hesitation a lie; she was trying to trick him and now he knew it.
“I might know the place.” Blakast grinned malevolently.
“Oh, good,” Damselfly exclaimed.
Blakast, disappointed at the girl’s pleasure at his response, was quick to back track.
“He may not still be there and it is very dangerous,” the usurper warned.
“I cannot turn back now even if I wanted to,” Damselfly responded.
Blakast had felt the same when trying to escape The Never. For a second he started to feel a kinship with the girl and wondered if it was wrong to lead her straight to the Fairy King. Clearly this was another trap laid by The Never. Blakast ignored his conscience and continued with his plot.
“I will go check. You stay here,” Blakast ordered. “Can’t I come with you?” Damselfly pleaded.
“No, it is too dangerous.”
With that, Blakast sprang into a hobbled run that soon took him out of sight, leaving Damselfly alone once again in the dark.
Blakast soon discovered the Sprite camp. He clung to the shadows watching everything before revealing his presence. Sprites have an excellent sense of smell to alert them of any intruders. Fortunately, Blakast had managed to remain undetected. A strong baritone voice was singing a familiar Sprite song as the usurper observed from his position.
What is a Sprite?
What is a Sprite?
Nothing but delight.
They are a branch of the fairy family,
With no magic but plenty of ingenuity.
A Sprite is built for survival,
We ride our Baywolves into battle.
Every one of us follows our king,
Until the day we win.
Then Sprites will have power,
Greater than any sorcerer.
My friends are called Hiccup, Grapple and Fatlip,
Lickspittle, Havenot and Nosedrip.
One truly fearsome band,
Now you finally understand.
We love mayhem and creating a crisis,
That is what a Sprite truly is.
Blakast stepped out from the shadows applauding generously. The Sprites looked up with concern until they recognised their guest, and then each of them returned to their preoccupation. The camp leader, Bullring, stood a foot taller than any of his peers. His flat nose was pierced by a large gold circlet and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
“Look who it is, boys,” Bullring announced.
“The magician who can’t do any magic.”
The other Sprites laughed in a high-pitched squeal. Blakast nervously joined in and before he could point out that he did know some magic, another voice spoke up.
“What was his name again? Blaggard the Unpopular.”
This clever play on words brought greater mirth to the Sprite camp. Bullring, who had been looking for something to delay his boredom, was quick to join in.
“No, chums, his name is Breakfast the Unbearable.”
A chorus of fresh laughter infected the camp with tears rolling down the Sprite leader’s amused face. Blakast fingered the dagger that he hid under his robes. Unfortunately, the numbers against him were too great.
“Are you sure, boss, because I thought it was Blackness the Unsavoury,” another voice ventured.
After a period of unreserved mockery, Bullring managed to contain his own laughter long enough to speak.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Blakast the usurper, who had smiled through the whole contagious hysterics, although his eyes remained humourless, replied.
“I need to see the Fairy King.”
The camp faded in to silence at the mention of their esteemed leader.
“You got an appointment?” Bullring questioned.
“No,” Blakast admitted.
“Well, no one sees the boss without an appointment.”
“How do I make one?” the usurper responded.
“You have to go through me.” Bullring swelled with his own importance.
Blakast was powerful enough to deal with a single Sprite; unfortunately, he was vastly outnumbered, and the Sprites were confident because they had the most powerful sorcerer in Fable as their benefactor. Ignoring the dark voices in his head, Blakast remained calm, playing the Sprites’ game.
“I would like an appointment to see the Fairy King.”
“What is so urgent?” Bullring enquired.
“I have a gift for him,” Blakast offered.
“What kind of gift?”
Blakast struggled to control the conversation. He had little leverage and The Never was constantly trying to trick him into a mistake.
“A girl.” He decided to play his hand.
“What would our king want with a girl?” Bullring dismissed.
“There are no girls in the Evergarden,” Grapple argued.
“This girl is special,” Blakast pressed. “She can sing better than any instrument plays and knows all kinds of fairy tales.”
Bullring was beginning to get uncomfortable; he had thought Blakast was wasting their time though now he was not so sure, and the Fairy King was not known for his understanding.
“Where is she?” Bullring demanded.
“I can bring her to you in exchange for an audience with the king,” Blakast bartered.
Seeing the usurper’s idea, Bullring decided to steal it. Perhaps the Fairy King would be happy and grant him the praise.
“Find the girl and bring her here,” Bullring ordered.
Blakast looked around helplessly, knowing there was nothing he could do. The Never had defeated him again, and it was the best he could do to escape the camp.
I want that girl,” Bullring roared as his minions scattered in all directions to search for their quarry.
Damselfly was wondering if Blakast would ever return. In the dark, swirling fog it was easy to understand how a mind could create something like The Never to avoid being alone. The Evergarden was as solitary and desolate as she had been told. Still Damselfly began to overcome her fear. She remembered how scary it had been to leave her home and family behind at the beginning of her mission. The obsidian woods that she had experienced in the Wintergarden were equally as creepy and nothing hiding in all this fog could compare to a full-grown Peritwinkle. Or to the terrifying creatures she had glimpsed in the Magicgarden gaol. Damselfly had faced her deepest fears in the Dreamgarden and survived so that facing a leviathan in a game of riddles had seemed possible. Damselfly had come farther than she could ever have imagined when Death set her this task. The obstacles she had hurdled were staggering and there was no way she was going to give up now.
“You have one second to retrieve my timepiece or I will take your mother to the other side.”
Damselfly would keep fighting for her mother no matter what. Time remained broken and with that knowledge came hope. The princess thought she heard something and hoped Blakast h
ad returned. She held her breath to listen and when no sound presented, Damselfly thought it had been a trick of the mind. Then a laugh came from somewhere not too distant.
A pair of eyes blinked from out of the darkness before Damselfly realised she was surrounded.
“Take me to the Fairy King,” she cried.
A raucous group of Sprites emerged from the fog, laughing at Damselfly’s commands.
Thronegarden Page 23