As we bid a farewell to the inn keeper we mentioned that we were heading north. He helpfully suggested we go to the northern exit of the town and look to see if there were any traders or farmers travelling north who would agree to take us with them.
We decided to listen to his advice and found a man returning to a small farming village like ours, halfway between the town and our destination. We gave him a few coins to take us and he seemed very happy to have company for the journey.
Our day was spent listening to stories about his wives, whom he still couldn’t believe let him into their lives, and their numerous children.
Unlike during our journey to the town, he let us sit at the front of the cart with him, instead of sitting in the back amongst the supplies. That meant we had an even better view of the landscape and made me glad to have new travelling clothes as the wind was freezing.
The further north of the town we travelled, the more we could see the peaks of the Fairy Hills. Although the day was dry there was a thick fog in the air surrounding them and so the uppermost peaks were hidden from view. Our travelling companion, Wallace, said that the fog would soon clear. I hoped that by the time we reached the loch we would be able to see them in their full glory.
Wallace seemed very curious about our journey and had many questions. Glen wisely decided to say that the loch was our final destination. We both silently agreed that Wallace didn’t seem like the type who thought highly of adventures or the fairies.
“Does your village ever have any trouble with changelings?” I decided to ask.
“Aye,” Wallace said simply with a look of sorrow that made me immediately regret asking. “My wee lad Clyde was a changeling. Had only one leg on him but he was a jolly wee thing, died in his fourth year though.”
“I’m sorry. We’ve known quite a few changelings to die in our village as well,” Glen said sympathetically, reaching out to give my hand a squeeze.
“I reckon it’s worse in our village lad, rare to find a family without a changeling these days,” he sighed, his hands clenching on the horse’s reins.
“Is that because you are closer to the fairy kingdoms?” I asked, hesitant but hoping he was still okay to talk about the subject.
“Aye probably, not sure how many changelings they have up beside the loch but I’ll bet it’s a lot more than in the villages down south.”
The conversation ended after that, each of us lost in thought about changelings that had died and cursing the unfairness of it all. With so many children being stolen in the north, it was reasonable to assume that Glen and I wouldn’t be the first people attempting a journey like this.
I hoped that those who’d journeyed north before us simply hadn’t found an answer. The thought that they might have died at the hands of the fairies made me want to turn and run back home. I decided not to ask Wallace about that. I knew I wouldn’t like the answer.
We rode on for about half the day before Wallace suggested we stop for a break. Apparently, his horses had been carrying him up and down this road for the past seven years, but needed to stop every now and then.
He insisted on sharing his food with us and so we ate bread with cheese and washed it down with strange, cold herbal tea. I could hear Malcolm in my mind, reminding me to eat whenever the opportunity arose.
Wallace wouldn’t take any coin for the food so I pretended not to notice when Glen snuck a few coins into his bags when he went to relieve himself. That was one thing that annoyed me about travelling as a girl, men and boys could just piss wherever and whenever they liked.
Unlike many girls, I didn’t bleed with every moon and so we wouldn’t have to worry about me slowing down our journey with cramps and sickness. Ma said she thought it was because I was a changeling, but we weren’t sure.
We were all rejuvenated after the food and so Wallace decided to sing for most the afternoon. He claimed that his horses liked it, but I highly doubted it.
He sang songs Glen and I had never heard before about kelpies in Loch Fai and the Fairy Hills. His happiness was infectious and soon Glen and I found ourselves awkwardly clapping along and attempting to shout out the parts of the songs that we could pick up.
Just as the light was beginning to fade, we spotted a little village, much like ours, in the distance. We were closer to the mountains and I couldn’t wait to see them in the morning light.
“There isn’t any room for you two in my cottage, not with my two wives and the children,” Wallace explained, “but my brother has a small shed he uses for storage that you two could sleep in for a few coins tonight, if you’d like?”
“Of course, thank you Wallace,” Glen answered for us with a smile. “We’ll be sure to tell stories about you and your family when we return home. You’ve been so helpful.”
Wallace made a face that told me he didn’t care whether anyone told stories about him and I had to avert my eyes to stop myself from laughing. Glen often forgot that not everyone cared as much about telling tales as he did, some people didn’t care at all.
That night we ate a strange combination of meat and thick sticky porridge before we slept. Beitris, one of the women Wallace had told us so much about, was going to give us fish but Peigi, the other, said that we would be sick of fish after staying up beside the loch and so we’d best eat some meat whilst we could.
His brother’s shed was surprisingly comfortable and warm so we made our bed on a pile of sacks, filled with the remains of their winter grain stores, and used our blankets to keep warm.
“I’m not sure I would trust two strangers with my winter grain overnight,” Glen commented once we had settled down beside each other.
“Neither would I,” I laughed, “I think this is how they make their money. He brings travellers from the town and then his brother gives them a place to sleep.”
After gratefully wolfing down more of Beitris’s porridge, we left. The sun was still rising and the sky beside the mountains in the distance was streaked with pink, orange and blue. The sky was often like this at home, but the way it looked above the mountains was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.
We had shown Wallace our wee map from the old lady and he pointed out that we simply had to go north. There was a path we could follow and so long as we kept walking straight, with the Fairy Forest on our left, we were going in the right direction.
His instructions seemed simple enough and he guessed that, if we left soon, we would make it to the loch-side village by nightfall. I had my doubts that we would make it that quickly, but Wallace didn’t know that I was a changeling and just assumed we were two healthy young humans. If we’d had horses we could have made the journey a lot quicker, but neither of us liked the thought of being on horseback all day.
We packed up our bags with the trinkets from the market and our blankets. Glen took the bag filled with food and leather pouches of water as it was the heaviest, sparing me the extra weight for the first part of our journey on foot.
Glen now had a short dagger attached to his side which we’d picked up in the town. When we were planning the journey, we decided that it would be good to carry a small weapon for protection as we didn’t know what beasts we might encounter on the way.
We didn’t risk buying one in our village, word would surely have travelled back to ma and da and they wouldn’t have been pleased.
The first part of our walk was pleasant enough. The road was quite flat and so we managed to maintain a good quick pace as we marched along it. Every so often we had to move to the sides to let horses and carts roll past but I didn’t mind, it gave me a chance to stop and catch my breath.
Soon the Fairy Forest came into view on our left and it was a sight to behold. Our village had trees, which gave us apples in the summer, but the scattering of trees we had encountered before was nothing compared to this huge dense forest.
As we walked alongside it, I got a sense that the forest was somehow alive. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to run away from the
forest or if I wanted to run into it and completely lose myself. I resisted both urges and our conversation soon turned back to home.
“Did you see Munro trying to impress the butcher’s daughter at the Winters End Festival?” Glen asked with a chuckle.
“I did, bloody idiot. Ma would have been furious if she had seen him,” I said shaking my head. “Do you know if it worked? Was Rhona impressed?”
Munro was two years younger than me and so was Rhona, I had spoken to her as our da’s argued over the price of meat. Rhona seemed like a nice girl but I didn’t really know much about her. Her hair was a curious mix of blonde and ginger and so I could see why Munro would fancy her.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. It impressed me,” he grinned.
“Perhaps you should ask him out? That would surprise your ma,” I teased, “Maybe by the time we get home Rhona will be joining us for dinner.”
“That would give my ma a shock. She just can’t seem to understand that we don’t want to kiss, have babies and be together forever,” Glen said whilst I loudly pretended to vomit.
“Who do you want to kiss and have babies with?” I asked curiously.
He shrugged. “Not sure I want to kiss and have babies with anyone. Anyone I want to kiss I certainly can’t have babies with anyway. I’m hoping Dougal and Ceitidh have a baby soon so she’ll be distracted by that for a while.”
“It’s so strange to be away from home and not know what’s happening. They could all be pregnant, or in love with new people, and we wouldn’t even know,” I said, suddenly feeling homesick.
“Aye but it’s worth not knowing for views like this,” Glen gestured towards the mountains growing larger and more impressive with every step we took.
By now we could make out the snow on the top of the mountains as, like Wallace had predicted, the fog had cleared.
As the day wore on, the journey became progressively more difficult and less enjoyable. The flat ground first became slight hills and then small mountains. The climb making my legs ache and my chest feel tight.
Thankfully, Glen was patient. Happily waiting whilst I panted for breath and regretted every choice I had ever made which lead me to this road.
To make matters even worse, the previously cloudless sky was starting to turn cloudy and we could see some very ominous looking dark clouds heading in our direction.
After stopping for a short lunch break, and a chance to run into the edge of the creepy forest to relieve ourselves, we felt the first few drops of rain.
“It’s going to start pissing it down soon,” Glen said with a sigh, frowning up at the sky.
“Well we could do with a wash, you especially,” I laughed.
I wasn’t laughing for long, much too soon the rain arrived… and it poured. The road quickly turned from crunchy dirt to a muddy puddle under our feet as we hurried along. The road was deserted and I cursed every human who was at home, I hoped they all knew how lucky they were.
The sky darkened as the clouds continued to roll in and our clothes became heavy with the weight of the water. I hoped our leather bags were sturdy enough that our food and the fabric map would be protected, losing them was not what we needed.
“I’ve never hated the rain more!” Glen shouted over the roaring of the rain pouring down onto the leaves in the forest and the deepening puddles at our feet.
“What did we ever do to make the Others send this rain down on us?!” I shouted, shaking my wet hair as if I was a dog to get it out of my face.
It felt as if we were hurrying along that road for weeks. The ache in my legs and my lack of breath became less important in wake of my new longing to be dry and warm.
As the rain continued to pour down, the sky continued to darken and night began to draw in, although spring was here the nights were still long.
“Morven, hurry!” Glen called from the top of the next hill that he had ran up.
He had slipped quite a few times and in my misery, I had desperately hoped he would fall. I could imagine him sliding all the way back down to the hill and it made me cackle.
“I can’t!” I screamed back as I furiously stomped through the mud.
I did in fact make it up that hill and it felt like the happiest moment of my life when I did. From up there we could see that the path continued down the hill and then onto flat ground which would take us to the loch-side village.
There the buildings looked warm and we could see smoke and light coming from within cottages. Loch Fai stretched out behind the village, the Fairy Hills beyond it were difficult to see through the blinding rain and darkness, but the view was still spectacular.
Glen lifted me onto his back and then took off running down the hill, both of us laughing and shouting as he did. Miraculously he didn’t fall, and soon we were at the bottom feeling elated. He put me down and we hurried to the village, as fast as our weary legs could carry us through the puddles.
I was exhausted when we arrived and barely took notice as we entered the first inn we found, quickly purchasing a room for the night. We threw our sodden mud-covered clothes on the floor and then fell into the bed, wrapping ourselves in the warm blankets.
I barely had a chance to appreciate the soft bed before I was fast asleep.
I spent the next week, in between lessons and meals, moping around my chambers feeling lonely and sorry for myself. I was furious at my father for leaving me here in my rooms like a prisoner, simply for attempting to reason with him.
Mother came to visit me every night to talk through the door. Telling me about the day and her numerous meetings. Thankfully, the guard at my door was nice enough to let her speak to me although he wouldn’t allow her to enter, probably out of fear of my father’s reaction.
Mother told me that she had seen Nieve around the kitchens carrying plates, and that she looked happy and well. I doubted that. Nieve had spent her whole life with me and neither of us had ever completed what could be considered a full day’s work before, she was probably miserable.
A selfish part of me hoped that she was missing me just as much as I missed her.
At the end of the week, after I had completed my final lessons and was considering retiring to my bed, there was a knock at my door which made me jump. It was much too early for mother to be visiting.
I called for them to enter and the door opened to reveal the guard who had been outside my door all week. At least I assumed it was him as the voice sounded the same, albeit less muffled without a door in between us.
He told me that the King had requested my presence at dinner that evening and I was to make myself presentable. Then, much to my surprise, my maid was ushered in to help me get ready. Before I could think about what I was doing, I had thrown my arms around her and buried my face in her neck.
“Oh Mae, it’s so good to see you.” I beamed, choking back a sudden rush of tears as she patted my back sympathetically.
I was used to secret kisses with Nieve and rare hugs from mother, so the feeling of another person in my arms made me realised just how alone I had been all week.
“I’ve missed you as well, Princess.” she said with a smile, pulling me over to the mirror and shoving me down into the chair to begin working on my hair.
Mae was wonderful. She could create intricate plaits and hairstyles and, as a child, I had truly believed she was gifted. A simple three strand plait required a lot of concentration from me. Of course, my father had been quick to correct me when I had told him of my suspicions, unable to let his dislike of humans go long enough to allow his daughter to believe they could be gifted.
Mae’s magic fingers quickly worked my hair into a presentable half up and half down style. I then hurried to dress in a simple skirt and bodice decorated with flowers in muted colours. I didn’t care much about my appearance now that Nieve wasn’t there to see me.
Those first few steps out of my chambers into the hallway made me realise just how much I had missed wandering around. I found myself smiling at everyone
we passed in the halls, eager to take in the castle and see everyone I had been kept from. Some of the human servants I frequently met smiled back but others simply ignored me and continued with their work, as per usual.
The closer we got to the hall, the more nervous I became as I remembered who I was meeting. It was sad that a simple meeting with the man who raised me made my stomach churn and my legs fidget with the desire to run away. Upon arrival, a wash of relief flooded through me as I saw that mother would also be present at dinner.
She hurried out of her seat to place a kiss on my forehead when I entered. A small voice in my head noted that this was the first kiss she had given me in a while. Perhaps me being locked away made her realise how little attention she gave me the rest of the time.
“Freya! Good to see you,” father spoke as if I had simply been away visiting friends, not locked in my chambers by his command.
He was sat at the head of the table whilst mother and I sat facing each other on either side. My confidence was boosted by the mere sight of her and father didn’t seem prepared to lecture me any further. I slowly felt it was safe to assume that the matter was dropped. I truly was free from my temporary confinement.
He clapped his hands dramatically and then human servants carrying food began to swarm in from their hiding places. We enjoyed a course of soup and then another of meat and I thought that even food tasted better now that I was free again. It was ridiculous, but I allowed myself the delusion.
Father said we would be trying something new after our plates had been cleared away. Foolishly, I thought nothing of it. He was a curious man, always looking to broaden his horizons. That was until the servant carrying the plates walked in. It was Nieve.
Mother had been right, Nieve did look well. She was clean and clearly still being well fed, although I wasn’t sure if a week was enough time for the effects of food deprivation to start showing. She didn’t make eye contact as she wandered around the table diligently putting plates in the appropriate places. She always was a quick learner.
The Changeling's Journey Page 6