by Natalie Erin
“Hey! Where are you going?” Keota asked, starting forward.
“Away from you,” she retorted. She began to walk a little faster but her short legs were no match for his long strides. She moved over the instant he was next to her.
“What do you mean?” he said in a confused voice. “I’m stranded! I might need a little help…”
“Too bad,” she said in a sharp voice. “The farther apart we are from each other, the better.”
She really seemed to mean it. Maybe she was diseased…it would surely explain her odd behavior and the strange color in her eyes. He didn’t want to be walking next to a sick person. “Why are your eyes pink?” he questioned abruptly.
“Excuse me?” She turned around and met his gaze, her one hand on her hip. Her eyes were almost hypnotizing. He couldn’t pull away from her stare, but even so, he backed away.
“Your eyes are pink. They look kind of funny if you ask me. I just want to know why. Are you sick?”
“The same reason that your eyes are gold. They just are. And unless you mean I’m mentally incompetent like you, no, I’m fine,” she said.
A small bird came zooming past his head and landed on Kiatana’s shoulder. “Hello Scarlet.” She greeted the small animal and gave it a few seeds from her pocket, ignoring Keota completely.
“Hello Kiatana,” the little bird said anxiously, hopping up and down. “I don’t have time for seeds today. The forest needs you! Some strange creature has moved in and is prancing around like he owns the place. You have to put a stop to it. If you don’t the wolves are going to kill the thing!”
Kiatana sighed, as if this was something she dealt with on a regular basis instead of a onetime occasion. She rolled her eyes and flung out her hand carelessly. “Lead the way Scarlet,” she grumbled. She paused to look around at Keota. She sighed once again. “Well, are you coming, or are you just going to stay here? Heaven knows every weakling that comes along into my forest I’m volunteered to look after.”
Keota ran after her. “You could understand him? The bird?”
“Of course I could. I understand all the animals. They are my only friends in this pathetic place that I am forced to call home.” Kiatana spat into the bushes.
“You don’t like it here?” Keota said, even more surprised that she didn’t like living in such a beautiful place.
“When’d you figure that out, Mister Intelligence?” Kia said as they climbed over logs and streams. “I’ve been stuck here since before I could wipe the drool from my chin. I just wish I could fly away to somewhere new and never have to see this stupid place again…but why does it matter to you?” Ignoring him once again, she called out to Scarlet, “So what is this thing’s name or does the beast simply not have one to our knowledge?”
“I don’t know. Those little wolf pups found him and keep calling him a Changer but I highly doubt that. Changers no longer exist. They went extinct hundreds of years ago,” Scarlet said snobbishly.
“I have to disagree with that one,” Keota said. “There’s about a million of them back where I come from.”
“Where do you come from? I’ve never seen you around,” Kiatana asked. Her hand was on the dagger again.
Keota looked away. “I needed to get away from home for a long time…I don’t think I’m going back.”
“Why not?” Kiatana said.
“I was in the army back in Nesting’s Haven, that’s where I live. Ever heard of it?”
“Not really,” she said quickly.
“It’s really far from here, not anything like this place. It’s an enormous dead volcano and we all live inside, it’s tropical and has lots of beaches…” Keota went quiet as he realized Kiatana was staring at him. “Sorry, I’m sort of rambling. Anyway I was in the army and we sort of got into trouble...”
“Whatever. I don’t want to hear your life story, I get the picture,” Kiatana said, cutting him off. Scarlet continued to lead them until they came to a large clearing. In the clearing were many animals from all over the forest. They were all circled around a dragon that seemed to be telling a story of some kind.
“Ionan! There you are! Are you okay?” Keota said instantly as he recognized his friend. He ran to the dragon’s side and instantly began checking him for injuries.
“I fare well, do you?” Ionan asked. “It was quite a nasty fall we had.”
“I’m fine,” Keota said, but Ionan looked him over as well.
“You know this monster?” Kiatana asked Keota, her face turning red.
“Of course, he’s my Changer,” Keota said, laying a hand on Ionan’s side.
“Your Changer?” her eyes widened. “You’re an Accompany?”
“Yes, super tall and super strong, with the ability to communicate with my Changer through mental pictures. What did you think I was?” He smiled quirkily.
Kiatana’s face convulsed into such a snarl that Keota couldn’t believe it was possible for a person to look so mean. She gnashed her teeth and said, “Then that changes everything. All of my creatures get over here right now! You too, Lottie and Lilja.” The girl gave a stern look to the two wolf pups who were trying to hide behind Ionan’s large claws. They regretfully slunk over to her side and lied down.
“Hey lizard breath!” Kiatana said, pointing a finger at the dragon, who brought his head back sharply. “This is my forest and I want you out of it right now! If you don’t get moving I’ll be forced to hurt you.”
The dragon stared at the girl like she was a tiny bug. “I am Ionan and I don’t think a mere mortal could do much harm to me. I am a Changer you know.”
“And I am the ruler of this forest, so get out!” she said.
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Keota began, not noticing the tension, “but in order to be ruler of the forest you would have to be...”
“A fairy? No duh genius. What did you think I was, a human? With these eyes?”
Keota didn’t know anything about humans, so her eye color had never struck him as odd, but he had been taught a little bit about fairies. Now that he thought about it fairies were naturally smaller than humans and had wings too. Their hair and eyes were oddly colored as well, and could come in any color. If she really was a fairy, it was no wonder she didn’t trust him. He had trespassed on her realm, the area she had authority over. If things went wrong with the land or the animals, it was entirely her fault.
Kiatana wasn’t letting him out of her sight for a minute. She instead stepped closer to Keota, her finger still up, beginning to poke it into his chest. “Listen here you. I’m a forest fairy and this is my forest. If that thing belongs to you, then you need to get it and you both need to leave.”
“You need to hold your tongue,” Ionan threatened, taking a warning step closer. Kiatana waved a hand at him in irritation, not bothering to turn her head.
“If you are a fairy then why are you living so close to humans? They could catch you at any time, you know. Humans kill fairies. You’re lucky they haven’t eaten you yet!” Keota gasped.
“You actually think that humans still exist,” Kiatana rolled her eyes. “They all died off years ago. That settlement is a bunch of abandoned old houses. The other fairies and all the animals are all that’s left of the world.”
Keota gave her a confused look. Ionan stepped in and said, “Keota, stand up for yourself! Tell this tiny speck to leave us alone!”
“You really are an idiot aren’t you?” Kiatana said, pushing the boundaries even more. Ionan hissed a warning, but she paid him no attention.
“No, I am not an idiot. I’ve just never been here,” he answered. He didn’t mind being insulted by her…he was used to being verbally abused anyway, and his curiosity overwhelmed his injury.
Kiatana looked at him with distaste, and then something seemed to come to her as she stepped away and began pacing. “You’re not from around here, right? And you want to get away from your family, right?”
“Well, I’m sort of already away…” Keota said.
<
br /> “Keota, how much did you tell her...” Ionan growled.
“Of course we want to get away. As far away from home as possible, at least for a little bit,” Keota said quickly before Ionan could finish.
“Well then, maybe I should give you the grand tour,” Kiatana smiled mischievously. “We both want to run away, and I don’t personally care who you are. Don’t ask me questions and I won’t ask you any. You’re the perfect excuse I need to leave. What do you think?”
“Go for it Kiatana,” Keota answered. He realized how badly she wanted to get away by her willingness to run off with two complete strangers, especially ones whom she thought were dangerous (and ones she practically hated in the first place). “I’d be happy to see the earth all the way through.”
Ionan shook his head. “I must object to this idea. Keota and I should go alone.”
“Call me Kia. I hate my full name.” Kiatana said to Keota, ignoring Ionan completely. “Now come on, let’s go! I’ll just hurry up and grab some things and…”
“Wait! You’re leaving?” a tiny voice cried out.
It was the small bird that had spoken to Kiatana a few minutes before. He fluttered up and over the three and hovered expectantly before them.
“Yes. He wants to see the world. What we know of it anyway,” Kia jabbed at the Accompany as if it were not obvious that he had just spoken these things a little while before.
“You can’t leave!” the little bird burst. “If you leave the forest you’ll die! We’ll all die! I don’t want to be killed!” Scarlet sobbed. The other animals moaned in annoyance at his panic.
“I won’t die Scarlet…I think,” Kia said. “That’s just a silly rumor.”
“It could be true,” Scarlet shot back. Confused, Keota asked, “Excuse me, what does he mean by…”
Kia held up her hand in his face to cut him off. “I want to leave, Scarlet. You’ve known this forever. And if I want to go, I’m going. You can come with me.”
The bird shook his head. “Just like that?” he asked. “No supplies, no food, no idea where you are going, and not knowing how long you’re going to be gone for?” It was obvious he was scrabbling for whatever excuse he could to get her to stay.
“I have no need to eat, and neither does my Accompany. We do not feel the weather or bodily needs as you do,” rumbled Ionan.
“He’s right,” Keota nodded. “We never eat or sleep. We get our energy from sunlight.”
“Well, that's just dandy for you and His Majesty here,” puffed Kia, “but I however do have to eat and sleep sometime, your Royal-ness!”
Ionan gave her a loathing look and Keota frowned. Scarlet almost fell out of the air as he begged, “Well, can you at least prepare for whatever you’re going to be doing before you go galloping off?”
Kia looked at him. They knew she was battling with her desire to leave immediately and the fact that she would need a decent plan. Ionan and Keota looked at her expectantly. Finally, to their disappointment and Ionan’s even greater annoyance, she said, “I guess I do have to pack. We can leave in a couple of days.”
Kia didn’t even glance at the other two before walking back into the forest with her animals. He noticed that she rose up on her bare toes when she walked and the lightning in her pink eyes when she looked at him. Those pink eyes seemed to give his whole body a shock.
“Ridiculous. There’s so much we could be seeing already!” Keota was shaken out of his thoughts as Ionan began to complain. “May we leave her here now? She doesn’t exactly seem like a jolly old traveling buddy. Come now, let us go.”
“We’re not leaving without her, Ionan. That would be mean,” Keota said to his Changer in a reprimanding tone.
“And she was just so polite to you back there? She’s as welcoming as the outside of a cactus,” Ionan said, snorting.
“Enough,” Keota ordered. “We’re going with her, and that’s an order.”
Ionan sniffed, smoke furling out of his nostrils. “Absurd...silly bodily needs…” Angrily he changed into a brown hawk and flew up into the trees to pout. Keota watched him leave, then followed the path Kia had taken, wondering what mysterious items fairies took with them when traveling.
ALL THE OTHER animals had left the clearing Ionan had fallen in. Only Lottie and Lilja still sat in the image where Ionan’s giant front paw had rested, their bushy tails wagging with wonder and excitement. A real live Changer! Some of the other animals hadn’t believed him, said Changers had died out years ago, but they were wrong! The twins quivered with happiness and excitement. Soon after everyone was gone Lottie whispered to her brother, “Lilja?”
“Yeah?” he answered quietly.
“Did you hear what the Changer and the Accompany were going to do?”
“Yeah. They were going to travel the Lands.”
“Oh, Lilja,” said Lottie, barely able to contain herself, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could go with them?”
“It would be amazing,” he said.
Just then a hawk flew down from the trees, and changed into a green dragon before their very eyes. The wolf pups cheered when Ionan did this but he gave them no attention, only started plodding grumpily into the trees. At an instant Lilja got an idea.
“Ionan?” he asked eagerly and loudly.
The green dragon stopped to give a hasty, “What?”
Lilja gulped and said, “May Lottie and I please come with you on the journey? We want to see the world so badly. We may be small, but we can hunt and fight, and can even be of some help! We promise we won’t slow you down.”
Ionan was still for a moment. Then the dragon sighed and gave the siblings a sad smile with his fangs. “Little ones, you know not what the world is yet. The things that are out there, waiting...I have not been on this land for a long time, but I know there are things out there you cannot dream of. This journey could be perilous. It is no place for two young wolf pups.”
“But...we’re almost twelve full moons!” said Lottie in a small voice.
“Stay here,” he rumbled. “Ourselves and…Lady Kiatana…will be back soon and then maybe, by the time we get back, you will be big enough to make another journey.”
He walked away, his big green tail dragging unto the ground behind him. Disappointed, Lilja turned away. He turned to his sister and was shocked to see a trail of tears in her eyes.
“Lilja,” she whispered. “I forgot Kiatana was going. Kia’s a forest fairy, a protector of this territory. She can’t leave Lilja, she can’t. Do you remember what happened the last time, when our fairy left our territory?”
Memories came flooding upon him, overwhelming the small canine. He padded over to Lottie slowly and buried his head into the fur behind her head. “How could I forget?”
Lottie took a deep breath and said, “I won’t go anywhere without a fairy within reach, Lilja, I won’t! Never again. The forest will be chaotic without her. I can’t lose anything else. I’m going with her, no matter what it takes.”
Lilja pulled away from her, studying her face. He remembered the things that had happened, and knew that he wouldn’t go anywhere without a fairy close by ever again either. Not after that terrible day.
Lilja looked over at the small moss-covered cottage were Kiatana lived. He saw her loading up a small knapsack with food, about the size of Lottie and Lilja together. An idea clicked in his head and leaned over to whisper into Lottie’s ear.
“Listen,” he said. “I have an idea to get us on that journey, but we have to be quiet and we can’t make a sound until we’re too far away for them to take us back. So, on the day that they leave, here’s what we do…”
KIATANA PACKED her bag as full as she could, ignoring the curious stare Keota was giving her. She gazed back at him as if they were children in a staring contest. He didn’t avert his gaze, but looked on with interest. Disturbed, she pretended as if he wasn’t even there. He acts as if he’s never seen a fairy before, she thought inside her head. She then realized he probably hadn’t.
When he still goggled at her she cast her eyes on his features instead, to distract herself from those probing golden eyes. He was the type of muscular you only noticed when he flexed his muscles or didn’t wear a shirt. The thought made Kia’s insides flip and she quickly turned her attention back to her bag, smiling.
“What’s so funny?” Keota asked, noticing her smile. Kia wiped it off her face.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just really glad to get out of here.”
“I don’t see why you find this place so bad,” Keota shrugged. “It’s beautiful here.”
“I bet Nesting’s Haven or whatever you call it is pretty too, but here you are,” Kia said, throwing a shirt into her bag.
“You don’t understand. I had to get away.” Keota’s face crumpled. “When Ionan and I graduated from Dinkleberry...”
“What is that?” she asked in a patronizing tone.
“It’s a school,” he said. “Dinkleberry University? Ever heard of it?”
Kia looked at him blankly. “Not really.”
He sighed. “Anyway, after I graduated I didn’t have the money to do what I wanted to do, so I joined the army. Things were never the same. My big sister Ana and her Changer Maekrel, they decided to go into law enforcement and got promoted into these really impressive positions, so we never see them anymore. I really needed her help with a...problem I had.”
“And what was that?” Kia asked.
“There was another Accompany who joined the army with me. He was in my battalion and he nearly killed us all, not to mention he made our lives as miserable as possible while we were still in school. There was this girl Luciana that I knew, too. She was my best friend and he broke her heart. When our time in the army was up Ionan and I tried going back home, but all we caused were arguments between my parents. There were our other friends Galien and Gail, and we tried housing with them a bit, but it soon came down to the same thing, arguments. We only just left their place a week ago.”
“Wow, spill your guts much?” she asked, stuffing in another short dress.