Callum turned to the giant, speaking in a language that charged the very air with crackling power. Finn recognized a similarity to the Dark Speech, suggesting the ancient tongue bore the same roots.
Staring down at the dark faery, the Green Man spoke. His rumbling voice embodied the terrible rending of trees and the deep roar of a rocky avalanche, a sound that thrummed in Finn’s chest and communicated the Olde One’s message like an arrow piercing his heart: The human must die.
Fear clouded Finn’s thinking, buckling his knees. He hit the ground, tormented by his inability to save Fate. He couldn’t imagine being without her. He suddenly knew she’d always been with him, part of his dreams until the moment she’d stepped out of them to stand before him in the flesh.
Love surged through him, sweeping away the fog of fear.
Looking up at the giant, he cried out in the Dark Speech, beseeching the ancient spirit to spare her.
The Green Man tilted his massive head, but did not respond.
Finn clutched at the earth, linking directly with the colossal being––a move that could get him crushed like a bug under his massive foot.
The Olde One peered back into Finn’s mind, a piercing gaze that laid his soul bare with careless abandon. The violation was agonizing and, just when he thought he could take no more, the torture ended abruptly. Only a vague, portentous message hovered in the back of his brutalized mind, one that vanished the second he grasped for it, but left him with a lingering sense of doom.
With the connection severed, Finn knew he’d failed to save her. The fear pumping through his veins was deafening. His surroundings blurred behind hot blinding tears as grief shredded his heart. How would he endure the pain of Fate’s death? Surely it would kill him.
Movement wavered behind his tears, a figure in blue plaid jeans and gray argyle sweater. Unable to believe what he was seeing, Finn rubbed his eyes dry as he struggled upright. Fate’s face came into view as she ran to him, her body crashing into his. He grabbed hold of her, burying his face in the perfume of her soft curls. She wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing like she’d never let go. The rapid thud of her heart against his chest flooded him with relief. He was home again.
“Now that you lovebirds are reunited, I’d like to attend to my problem,” Callum said with impatience.
“I have your word you’ll let us leave safely after I’ve given you what you need?” Finn directed the question at Callum, but he was looking around for the Green Man. The Olde One was gone, having left a massive mound of roots and shrubbery in his place.
“My solemn word,” Callum said, with a slight bow of his head.
“How can we trust him?” Fate whispered.
Without taking his eyes off Callum, Finn pressed his lips to her ear. “Give me the sea nymph’s glamour and write down our escape.”
She jerked her head back, questioning him with an are-you-crazy-look? but did as he said and pulled the glamour from her pocket. Finn tossed the pearl and coral necklace at Callum while Fate wrote in the tiny notepad.
“What’s this?” Callum asked.
“A powerful glamour. No one will be able to see through to what you truly are, not even you,” Finn explained.
Callum appeared disappointed. “This is our salvation?”
“It is, if you decide to use it.”
“I’ll have to try it first before I allow either of you––”
“Time to read, love,” Finn said.
With a nod, Fate read the words and returned them to the Book of Fables.
Fate reeled from the dizzying sensation of the sudden shift of the grove melting back and the encampment materializing in its place. She was shaking, the adrenaline rush of absolute terror gone. She felt wobbly, like her bones were turning to mush. She held onto Finn for support, savoring the secure feel of his arm wrapped around her waist and the sweet collision of heat and nerves swirling between them.
Sithias flapped several feet off the ground in front of the Book of Fables, his wings dropping precious feathers. “Oh thank goodnesss!” he said when he saw them. He landed in a coil, looking fretful. “The ssstory’s been changing on the pagesss every few minutesss! It’s been a sssuspenseful, confusssing messs to follow. I was jussst about to read how you essscaped, but here you are.”
Finn let go of her and stomped up to the snake. “You’d know first hand if you’d stayed—or even possibly helped.”
Sithias gave him a pitiful look. “I’ve never been much of a fighter––more of a lover if truth be known.”
Fate wavered in place. The sharp pang of separation she felt when Finn removed his arm surprised her. “No time for arguing, you two,” she sighed, suddenly exhausted as more tension drained away. “Just read the ending to us, Sithias.”
The snake nodded eagerly, making a big show of clearing his throat and humming a few test notes like he was preparing to sing.
“Read,” Finn said, crossing his arms.
“Oh, all right,” Sithias said, his excitement dampened somewhat, but he still spoke with plenty of melodrama when he began reading. “To conceal hisss true form, Callum wore a powerful glamour made by Possseidon’sss daughter and married the lovely Mae. He helped her father create a prosperousss farm and built a grand manor for his new bride, her family and the ten children they would have. Callum usssed his magic to heal and help othersss. The king took notice and granted him a noble title with a generousss amount of property. Callum’s magic and Mae’s goodness ssspread throughout the land and the kingdom prossspered for fifty yearsss.”
Sithias looked at them. “Thisss soundsss promisssing––”
“Keep reading,” they both said.
“It came to passs that in the late winter of Mae’sss life, Callum, who only appeared to age, was forced to watch her wither and die. When he placed her body in the earth, his tearsss caused a downy coverlet of emerald-green mossss with white ssstar-ssshaped blossoms to ssspread over her grave. Heartbroken, Callum bade hisss grown children and grandchildren goodbye.
“He returned to the evil oak treesss, where he lissstened to the malignant murmurings of the oaksss and pixiesss. With a sssweep of his arm, he sssealed the gateway between worldsss and burned the grove and pixiesss with a white cleansssing fire. The cloud of asssh became a flurry of birdsss, butterfliesss and flower seedsss. Callum left the foressst, never to be ssseen again. However, it was sssaid that a dim figure could be ssseen ssstanding over Mae’sss grave during the hour of twilight, in that fleeting moment when light and dark are made one.”
Sithias sniffed, dabbing at his tears. “Ah, a truly touching end.”
“You were right, Sithias,” Fate said. “True love really did transform the dark faer––”
“You two are bloody lucky the story turned out well,” Finn said, startling them both with his sharp tone. “Summoning a force like the Green Man was bold and reckless.”
His sudden anger shook her.
“Whose idea was it in the first place?”
“Mine, sssir,” Sithias confessed, his eyes blinking with contrition.
“No, it was my idea,” Fate said, not wanting to give Finn even more reason to hate the snake. “I did a lot of research on the Green Man when I was writing about…well you know, my stories.”
Finn let out a weary, frustrated sigh. “I thought you understood how careful you have to be with the Words of Making.”
“I know. My bad,” she murmured. Shifting uncomfortably, she stared at the ground. “I should’ve waited ‘til we all agreed on what to do.”
He took her hand, forcing her to face him. “Do you have any idea how close you came to dying?” he said, pain clouding over the anger in his eyes.
Seeing how affected he was frightened her all over again. As terrified as she’d been only ten minutes before, she never really believed she’d die. The concept was too unreal, not to mention everything else that had happened from the moment she’d arrived in the book. But Finn seemed to know exactly how grave her
situation had been. Fear iced through her as she thought back to it. The bruises and bites made by the oaks and pixies were nothing compared to the bone-crushing grip of the Green Man’s thorny, gnarled fingers. Her legs and waist still ached. She shuddered, realizing the not so Jolly Green Giant would’ve squished her if Finn hadn’t stopped him.
“I just wanted to help us get home,” she whispered.
“I know,” Finn said, his expression softening. “And we’re that much closer. We can move onto the next fable knowing this one is a job well done. Just promise me you won’t do anything that rash again.”
“I swear I won’t,” she assured him. Not once had it entered her mind the Words of Making could backfire on her like that. Using them for conjuring the bare necessities was one thing. Writing anything of real consequence was another entirely. She would never use them again so carelessly. The next time could get everyone killed.
Disappointment caved in on her. Here she was with the power to rewrite destinies, but as always, her cruel namesake was still the one running the show, proving she didn’t have control of her life and never would.
The Goblin Queen
IN A TIME WHEN HUMANS LIVED WEAKLY within the folds of a wild and magical world, there was a girl named Glenna. For one so young, she carried the burden of feeding and caring for her ailing mother. A sickness of heart had taken the woman, making her eyes dull and her mind a fog. Glenna’s greatest desire was that her mother be well again, for she wasted away with each passing day and Glenna feared the worst.
One morning while selling bundles of kindling at the market, Glenna spied a colorful caravan. Dark-skinned ladies with flashing eyes and gold bangles danced around it. They pointed at the caravan’s gilt door and told Glenna her deepest wish would be granted if she but dared to enter.
By some means of magic, the caravan’s interior was made larger than the outside. Standing amidst many riches was a veiled woman. She drew a knife, saying she needed to cut a lock of Glenna’s hair in order to divine the wish she would grant her. The moment she held the flaxen strands in her hand, she knew Glenna’s mother was sick. She spoke of a golden goblet that wept dewdrops of healing water. Anyone who drank from the cup was granted good health and long life. But swamp goblins had stolen the goblet from its makers and kept it hidden within their murky kingdom.
The swamp goblins were difficult to find, she told Glenna, for they moved their kingdom once every thirteen moons by riding the currents of underground rivers ‘til they found a blooming hawthorn tree. There they lived deep beneath its roots, sapping the tree’s life force until it withered. When spring came, the kingdom dislodged in search of another hawthorn. Upon finding a new tree, the earth cracked open to reveal their foul waters for one day, the perfect time to snatch the goblet.
The only way to find this place was to follow the elusive will o’ the wisp to the goblin’s location. The woman gave Glenna a crystal bottle in which to capture the will o’ the wisp when she found the swamp. She explained that the goblins had a weakness for shiny things, and taught Glenna how to use the light catcher to entice them to the surface.
Eager to help her mother, Glenna turned to leave. But the veiled woman stopped her, saying there was a price for granting her wish. The girl offered all the money she’d made at the market. The woman refused. Her price was the goblet, so she could return the healing cup to its rightful owner. Glenna happily agreed, but mere words were not enough for the woman. She wrapped Glenna’s hair around a small twig taken from a cursed oak and uttered a mysterious incantation to bind the agreement for all eternity.
Glenna returned home, whispering assurances to her ailing mother as she fed and bathed her. That night after sunset, she watched for the will o’ the wisp. By some good fortune, she saw a glowing spark dancing low to the ground near the woodland’s edge. She raced after the darting light as it threaded deep into the forest to a hill. At its peak stood a hawthorn tree in full bloom. Beneath the tree’s gnarled roots, a mossy swamp festered within a deep crevasse.
Saying the magic words she’d been given, Glenna captured the will o’the wisp within the bottle and dangled the sparkling light over the surface of the swamp. The murky water rippled and frothed with a multitude of slimy heads. Horrid little faces with bulging eyes and leering smiles stared up at her, while spindly fingers grabbed for the bottled light. But she held it out of reach, saying she would only trade it for the golden goblet.
The swamp goblins writhed and whispered to one another before sinking back into the mire. Moments later, they returned with a gleaming goblet. Eager to hold it, Glenna reached out. But this time the goblins held back, telling her she could only possess it for one night and one day. Their price was the light catcher, in addition to something else.
Their pale, bulging eyes drank in her milky skin and delicate features. Too many moons had passed since they’d looked upon such unspoiled beauty. They were moved to make her their queen, for they had all been human once, and she had awakened those dim memories.
Glenna had no intention of becoming the queen of such undeserving thieves and wanted only to honor her agreement to the veiled woman. So she made a hollow promise to be their queen and ran home as fast as her feet could carry her. One drop from the goblet brought a spark to her mother’s dull eyes. A few more drops had her jumping out of bed and, by the time the sun rose, she was sweeping the floors and delighting Glenna with her stories the way she used to.
Glenna told her mother how she found the goblet with the help of the veiled woman but said nothing of her false promise to the swamp goblins. Her mother removed a silver locket and latched it around her daughter’s neck as a token of her love, then told her to deliver the goblet to the woman at dawn’s first light and settle the debt.
The next morning when Glenna opened her door, a slimy swamp lay outside her step. A blue-green light glowed from its center and she fell entranced. Kneeling down, she allowed a host of slithery green hands to pull her into the swamp.
Even though water filled her lungs, she did not drown. The spellbinding light had changed her. They pulled her down into the deep to a shimmering palace of unusual beauty and sat her upon a throne of woven roots inlaid with pearls and shells. They then placed a crown of delicate fish bones on top of her head and draped an emerald robe of kelp over her shoulders. Strangely, Glenna welcomed its cold touch on her skin, relishing in the scent of rotting earth and fish.
She had become the new goblin queen. As she gazed out over her splendid kingdom, a shadow fell over the swamp. She glanced up, seeing a vaguely familiar face staring down at her. The goblin queen rose to the surface. Glenna’s mother gasped in horror when she saw her daughter’s locket on the neck of a hideous little goblin. Struck by a thin remnant of love, the queen reached out to her, but Glenna’s mother beat her back with a broom. Hatred for humans flared in the queen’s heart as she sank into the quagmire and sealed the earth shut. The kingdom dislodged and drifted away.
In that moment, whatever was left of Glenna faded for all time. As queen, she turned her attention to finding the thief who’d stolen the golden goblet forged by swamp goblins eons ago. Yet it would be an endless chase, for the veiled woman hid under the protection of the stolen locket of Glenna’s hair bound to a piece of cursed oak.
As for Glenna’s mother, she was doomed to live a long and healthy life, in which she would forever grieve the murder of her dear daughter by a vicious swamp goblin.
Chapter 11
VISIONS OF HOMELY GOBLINS, a shimmering castle in the murk and a mother’s grieving face shattered before Fate’s eyes. The fragments became a swirling cloud of letters before sudden blackness swallowed the last glinting shards of an imagined world. A streak of white blurred across her line of vision and she blinked as Sithias came into focus.
He smiled at her. “Feeling woozy, misss?”
Finn pushed the snake’s head aside and steadied her. “Yeah, a little dizzy,” she agreed, “but I’ll take that over the feeling of my orga
ns being rearranged.”
Finn nodded. “This jump did seem easier than the last for a change. Though your snake here, didn’t feel so much as a twinge of discomfort.”
They both looked at Sithias.
The snake made a sort of shrug with his wings. “What can I sssay? I’m resssilient.”
“Lucky you,” Fate groaned.
His wings drooped. “But what a sad story that wasss. The pain of a parent’s losss is truly heartbreaking.”
“As sad as a child losing a parent,” she said, her gaze flicking first to the surrounding woodland sprawling with thin birch trees and then to Finn. He was staring intently, his green eyes burning with questions. She knew he was ready to return to the moment she’d recognized him. Her stomach clenched into a tight ball of nerves. She looked away, glancing up at the bleak sky. The chill of winter lingered in the air, but a few trees were starting to blossom with leaves unfurling from the buds. Shivering, she hugged her arms.
Drawing up from behind, he wrapped his arms around her. He seemed to radiate heat just for her. With his chin resting on her shoulder, he whispered, “I know you have something to tell me.”
She started leaning into him, but stopped short. Would he still feel the same about her after he heard what she had to say?
Finn raised his voice for Sithias. “But first we could use something warm to bundle in.”
Sithias folded his trembling wings close to his tubular body. “I agree, it’sss quite chilly. I would love a wool blanket to sssnuggle under.”
“Coming right up,” she said, reluctantly pulling free of Finn’s embrace.
Two coats and a blanket shimmered into view within seconds of reading the descriptions aloud. When she handed Finn his coat he thanked her with such open anticipation of her news, her heart almost broke.
“I suggest we go on a scouting mission before we plan this fable’s end.” He winked to let her know he planned to get her alone. “But first I need a good scrubbing.” He plucked a squished worm off her sleeve. “And so could you.”
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