by Amy Bearce
A low voice said, “She’s bound you together now, in the Old Way.”
Sierra didn’t recognize this voice, deep and melodious, like the melted dark chocolate at Winter Harvest. Her heart sped up―who was this person? His voice sounded too perfect to be real.
She turned around to find the source. Micah stood behind her―on legs that were no longer hairy. Or deer-shaped. Human legs completed a now very human looking Micah, who wore only a piece of cloth from Sierra’s supplies, tied like a kilt around his waist that reached almost to his knees. Sierra goggled. Almost as astonishing and disconcerting, Micah was no longer scrawny and sick-looking. His chest was bronzed and strong, muscles curving smoothly. One shock after another had Sierra blinking her eyes.
She glanced around, but no one else was with them to confirm if she was hallucinating.
“They have generously healed me in the Old Way, too,” he explained, as if he had always spoken clearly. “I knew this spot when you described it. They came to drink deeply of the old magic, which has been terribly depleted across this land. This is the birthplace, the heart, an ancient well of magic that runs deep beneath the earth.”
He waited a moment for her to respond, but when she kept staring at him without saying a word, he continued, “It is why the plants always grow here. I could not access the magic before. It was far too buried, but a fairy queen’s gift is to draw it forth into the world and share with other magical creatures. Their magic does not affect me as it does humans. The fairy sting you received carried a large amount of magic and would be deadly to most humans. I am surprised, though thankful, that you reacted so differently.”
Sierra felt like she had been kicked in the chest, or perhaps more appropriately, shot with an arrow.
“Wait―you-you-you’re human now?” she managed to stammer.
He laughed. “No, not human. Still a faun, but the fairies have returned to me the ability to shift to all three of my forms. Human seemed most appropriate in this situation.”
All three of his…
Before she could ask anything about this most unexpected state of affairs, a loud scream echoed in the cave. The scream was long and hoarse. Corbin!
Sierra scrambled up, but her knees gave out. Micah offered his hand, and she hesitated only for a second. He pulled her to her feet, and they stumbled into the cave again. Her knees kept collapsing, and finally, he simply scooped her up in a stunning display of grace. She flushed, confused by the way he held her so carefully like she was a prized treasure. Affection surged through her, but there was no time to examine her feelings right now. She was just glad he’d survived. The question was, had Corbin and Nell?
Queen? Sierra thought to herself, and a flutter brushed her cheek. Queen landed on her shoulder, as she used to, and instead of sullen resentment, Sierra felt relief. Queen would probably keep the others off her. Trust and comfort seemed to radiate from the fairy, softening Sierra’s heart. Queen had never responded that way before.
The queens had returned to the ceiling after the swarm. When they flew toward Sierra from their cave perches, Sierra’s queen zipped up and flashed back and forth in front of them so quickly she made Sierra dizzy. No queen tried to push past the flying barrier. Queen’s furious flight sent a steady, gentle breeze into Sierra’s face that cooled the sweat that had broken across her skin. Sierra’s eyes were huge as they followed her queen’s determined flight. Her fairy, the one who had actually stung her and was always so ready to pinch or bite, was defending her. The enormity of the change was almost too much to take in.
“Nell!” Corbin was crying. “Nell!”
Sierra and Micah moved deeper into the cave, and the shadowy forms in front of them resolved into recognizable shapes. Corbin leaned over the still body of Nell, whose arms were thrown wide, hand empty of her sword. Her hair spread across the ground like spilled paint, ghostly white in the darkness. Corbin held one limp hand and rocked back and forth on his knees as he knelt beside her. Tears dripped from his cheeks; his eyes were fastened to her face. Poignant was too weak a word. Sierra averted her eyes from his pain.
Micah gently set Sierra down and stood silently behind her. The force of Corbin’s grief demanded respect. She crawled to them and reached toward his shoulder to offer comfort.
“Don’t touch me!” he cried.
Tears stung Sierra’s eyes. Tiny streams of blood crisscrossed almost every exposed surface of Nell’s skin, dripping onto the cave floor. Tiny bite marks, tiny scratches… Nell had suffered while Sierra was dragged out of the worst of it. Her eyes flicked to Micah before returning to Nell. There was a sting mark on the side of her neck. The puncture was deep red, startling against the paleness of her skin. Even more startling, it was pulsing. Literally, her skin was jumping in time to a pulse.
Sierra shouted, “She’s alive!”
Corbin moaned, “No, she’s not breathing. She’s gone.”
Sierra pushed Corbin out of the way. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to Nell’s. They were cold and dry, but Sierra cupped her hand around Nell’s jaw and pinched her nose. Sierra had seen Jack’s enforcers do that when they got too rough with someone. Healers believed that forcing life into someone was a desecration of a soul’s journey, but she didn’t care. Nell’s journey wasn’t over yet.
Sierra became Nell’s breath, blowing in and watching her chest rise. The air pushed back out when Sierra lifted her face for a moment.
Corbin started to object. “It’s too late,” he sobbed. “Leave her in peace!”
He grabbed Sierra’s shoulders, but she pushed him back. The rocky edges of pebbles pressed into her knees, but she ignored them and leaned forward again. She took a deep breath. The smell of honey filled her. She blew again into Nell’s mouth. Three times. Four. Sierra began to fear it wasn’t going to work, but then Nell gasped, a long inhalation that paused and then whooshed the air out. Nell drew the next breath on her own and continued to breathe, eyes closed, body still. But she was breathing.
Corbin heaved a sob of relief and gathered her in his arms.
“Thank you, Sierra,” he whispered as he gently carried Nell out of the cave. Sierra and Micah followed. A sense of triumph filled her. She felt powerful, unstoppable. She had her queen. They had all survived. Nell would live. Well, at least Sierra hoped so.
Corbin laid Nell on a bedroll outside, and they all knelt beside her in the snow on the far edge of the clearing, even though it meant leaving the green grass. Queen had gone back to her mushrooms without further thoughts intruding into Sierra’s.
Sierra held Nell’s right hand while Corbin held her left. Slowly, warmth seeped back to her fingers and blood returned to her cheeks, like a statue coming to life. Her eyes flashed open. The pale, icy blue was ringed by a blue deeper than the ocean. Sierra had never had a chance to notice before. Nell opened her mouth. Everyone smiled at her, encouragingly. Then she began to scream.
he fairy stings were still at work. Sierra’s ears practically bled from the force of Nell’s shrieks. Corbin’s chest heaved as he hyperventilated. His eyes were wild, hands hovering above the air.
“What’s happening?” he shouted.
Nell writhed, moaned, and convulsed. Flecks of blood flew from the cuts and bites all over her, staining the snow around them.
“Is this what I did?” Sierra asked.
Micah replied, “Much like this, yes.”
Corbin nearly fell over when he heard Micah speak and then did a double-take when he saw Micah’s new appearance. Explanations had to wait, though. Corbin and Sierra threw themselves over Nell’s upper body to keep her from beating her head against the rocks. Micah struggled to contain her flailing legs.
Corbin hollered through yells that continued to shatter the air. “You survived something like this?”
“That’s what I’m told.” Sierra grunted when Nell kneed her in the gut.
“Maybe if we can hang on―” an elbow caught Corbin in the throat.
“She’ll get over it?�
� Sierra finished for him.
“Yeah.”
Optimistic Corbin. Sierra only hoped Nell wasn’t dying a slow death now instead of a fast death in the cave.
Not death… not death… Queen flew at attention next to Nell’s head now. Another fairy joined. It was Corbin’s queen. He was too busy to notice, but joy swelled Sierra’s heart. He’d be so thrilled once he saw. If Nell was okay. A third queen joined them, but Sierra didn’t know this one. She was deep russet and gold, one who would blend in beautifully in the woods. Another and another fairy flew to the scene, until there was a ring around them, fifty fairy queens or more. Remembering the havoc they wrought in the cave, uneasiness filled Sierra.
Micah grasped her shoulder and said, “Step back.”
“What?” she replied. “Are you crazy?”
“The fairies are here.”
“Yeah, the things that nearly killed us are here. That’s good because why?”
A sense of sadness, of hurt, fluttered under her heart. Sierra felt… wounded. She shook her head. She didn’t understand these emotions. They couldn’t be coming from her. Queen perched near Nell’s head, gazing at Sierra with sparkling eyes. She’d hurt Queen’s feelings. Queen was the one who was sad.
Sierra’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away for a long moment before turning back to meet those otherworldly eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Sierra said to her queen.
Queen had changed, and so had Sierra. Her actions had to change, too. Queen deserved better than how she’d been treated before. Sierra now wanted to make her fairy happy, as strange as that was.
She stepped toward the edge of the circle, but Corbin grabbed her hand, fingernails digging painfully into her skin.
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed, eyeing their nonhuman audience.
“Trust your queen. She’s here, too,” Sierra replied, trying to do the same, and shook off his hand. She stepped past the fairies to stand next to Micah, who gazed at her with something that looked like approval. At least someone appreciated what she was trying to do.
Corbin snapped his head around wildly, and then froze when he saw his fairy, Grace. Her wings were the yellow of daffodils, lined with gold. Blistering joy melted with confusion and hurt on his face.
“Why is this happening?” he whispered.
It wasn’t his fairy who answered. It was Nell. But the voice coming from Nell’s body was the voice of a grown woman, a deep, rich tone an octave lower than her usual. A strange accent lilted the words, as well, an accent Sierra had never heard. Nell’s eyes remained shut even as her pale lips opened.
“Because we must tell others through you. The little fairies did not die because the queens left. The queens left because the little ones perished. Great grief accompanied their journey here, and many queens barely survived. Even their best efforts could not draw forth enough magic from their land to sustain their hatches. Without magic, you are all in danger. You must give our message, you who have ears to hear. Stop plundering nectar! Allow the earth to heal, with keepers protecting and guiding their fairies as beloved friends. This you must do to save them, yourselves, and the world.”
With a deep sigh, Nell seemed to settle deeper into the ground, and the fairies all lifted to the sky with a flurry of wings that made Sierra duck.
Queen sent a feeling of mournful regret, and whispered to Sierra’s mind Will be back… She flew away with the others, but Sierra trusted those words without thinking, even though she wasn’t sure she’d really heard them. Now that the initial moment of shock had passed, she was beginning to wonder. Visions were one thing. Words clearly heard in her mind were quite another. Who heard voices inside their heads? Insane people, that’s who. And if she wasn’t insane, she wasn’t sure she could deal with the implications of such a method of communication.
Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, surrounding her with warmth. Sierra lifted her hand and touched Micah’s arm, uncertain about his motives but thankful for the safety she felt with him.
Micah looked to the sky to follow the queen fairies’ flight back to the cave. When he looked down at Sierra and smiled, she was robbed of speech. He stepped back and bowed a small, courtly bow. It should have seemed ridiculous, given he wore only a makeshift kilt, but it was completely the opposite. Sierra could practically hear lutes playing in the background. Her scalp prickled with the sudden memory of his words, “Their magic does not affect me as it does humans.”
Humans.
Who was Micah, really? What did it mean to be other than human, even when he looked like one right now? What had he seen in his life here in the mountains? Where was his family? Sierra blushed with mortification at giving him a name, like a pet. And a name like Micah, to boot. Surely his name was something impressive and magically powerful. Giving a name to something that reminded her of sad Sam was one thing. But this blindingly beautiful magical being was nothing anyone could try to tame or own. His brown eyes glowed with health now, and he stood proud and tall.
He turned and stepped a few feet away. Sierra jumped when she realized the bloody bandage was gone, as well, and not a scar marred his smooth skin. She craned her neck to make sure, and he turned around for her, smiling down over his shoulder as she peered at his back, disbelief stamped across her face.
“It is magic in the truest sense of the word, Sierra. Magic can heal those of us able to receive it properly. And now that I am fully healed, I can take the form of a deer, a faun, or a human, as fauns did of old. Before, I only had enough energy to take the form of a deer or a faun. I am, in my most basic essence, a faun, but that is a creature with the traits of two animals together. How else is that possible but for incredible magic?”
“Oh! So I did shoot a deer, only that was you? I didn’t somehow miss noticing the human half after all?” At least she could feel less stupid now. That whole strange moment made so much more sense!
“That is correct. I would have told you sooner, but obviously, could not. I sensed something nearby involved with magic, but what it was, I could not tell. To escape, I transformed to an ordinary animal few magical creatures would notice, but you were too quick.”
“I’m really so sorry―” she began again, but he placed one finger against her lips. Words died in her throat.
“There is no reason to feel badly. You hunted for food, for survival. You are not a cruel person. Furthermore, you brought me here, where I was healed. You’ve been touched by that same magic now, too. Perhaps even before.” He pointed to the scrape on her arm. “Is that from your fairies?”
Sierra nodded. “They bite and scratch me all the time.”
She flushed, thinking about why they did.
He looked satisfied. “This explains a great deal. They are made of magic, coated with nectar filled with even more magic. Every time they bit or scratched you, they left magic in you, building ever higher. And that same magic called you here.”
Queen sent a feeling of affirmation to Sierra, and her mind whirled. She felt she might need to sit down.
“Let’s be clear. You’re asking me to believe I could visualize the cave and survive Queen’s sting because I infuriated my fairies too often over the years? Isn’t that a little too ironic?”
He shrugged, unconcerned with her pronouncement. “Magic is what it is.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Micah’s smile was slow but was the kind that invited a grin in return. “I believe you’ve had the potential to receive messages from your queen from your first bond, but it took a great deal of magic to free the gift. Your queens shared tremendous knowledge with me through their magic. The world was too drained for that gift of communication to develop on its own the way it would have many years ago. You were born for this, Sierra. The fairies might have meant their attacks for harm, but perhaps the earth itself meant them for good, preparing you for this moment in time.”
Sierra was stunned but coherent enough to wish the earth had chosen some other method.
&nbs
p; “But wait,” she argued. She didn’t want to have some grand mission, so she did what she did best: rationalized. “In the cave, Corbin was scratched and bit. If he was seeing or hearing anything weird, he’d tell me. And Nell is still alive when she definitely shouldn’t be. So what makes me different?”
Her jaw jutted out as she prepared for a fight, but his next words scattered her arguments. “I can sense the magic in you. One fairy swarm cannot compare. Nell must have keeper blood somewhere in her family to have survived, though I do not know how she will fare when she awakens. As for Corbin, it is possible that soon he will develop the same gifts you have now. However, there is another consideration.
“You have the blood of ancient fairy keepers running through your veins from both sides of your family. Perhaps no one else has the same gifting you do. When I was growing up, before things got so difficult, my parents and I kept a close watch on the keepers and hunters who came to these mountains. None of those humans came close to your level of power, not even the keepers. I believe you can bear more of the fairies’ magic without damage.”
She shook her head until she felt dizzy, not wanting this truth, though there was some relief at understanding why this had happened. “I don’t believe you. I’ve been damaged plenty of times.”
“But not killed. Not even seriously wounded, even after a direct sting to your neck, to your keeper’s mark, in fact, which has changed since I first saw it. Your natural gift gives off a particular scent, you know, and this scent has grown much stronger since the swarm.” He took a step closer.
Sierra took a step back. This was too strange. “A scent? No one’s ever told me I smell funny.”