Dust (Of Dust and Darkness)

by Devon Ashley

  “Alright…”

  Jack comes to an abrupt halt, and I barely stop short to avoid colliding with him. I’m completely silent because I know why we’ve stopped. His hand plays with the air before him, and the glow from the lantern eventually catches a ripple that’s supposed to be invisible. We’re already at the barrier of the prison. And just on the other side is the spriggans’ camp.

  He blows the lantern out. Turning to face me, my eyes adjust quickly to the shades of gray building up around me, thanks to the glow of the moon. He squeezes my hand softly. “We don’t have time for me to check the campsite, because there’s only one entry point and this isn’t it. It’d take me at least ten minutes to check the site, enter and fly my way back to this spot. So we’re going through together.”

  I nod, anxiety building up within, gnawing at the lining in my stomach.

  “Remember, you’re a faerie. So don’t freak out or act all guilty if someone catches us. If they do, you’re my girl and I snuck you in, because you wanted to see the prison.”

  You’re my girl…those words, and the protective way he says them, will forever be replayed in my mind. My chest pinches at the realization that I’m probably feeling his fingers cross with mine for the last time. Ever.

  He pulls me through the invisible barrier, the magic tickling the fine hairs on my skin. I hold my breath until we step into the real world, and feel the breeze slide along my skin. I immediately hear the forest’s nocturnal occupants: owls hooting, crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and the slight buzz as a lightning bug crosses our path, illuminating the path it’s taking every few seconds.

  I can’t smell nature, but already I notice the air is cooler as it passes through my nostrils, more breathable than the stuffy, recycled air within the glamour. The spiggans’ huts are laid out before us. It seems Jack was right. I’m now standing in the exact same spot I was the first time I escaped this place. Hopefully this time, there’s no spriggan sneaking up behind me ready to knock me out. My head immediately snaps to the back…just in case. Any spriggan inside the prison wouldn’t have to exit where we did to make a sudden appearance up our backsides.

  Relief washes over me as Jack pulls me into motion, tiptoeing along the backside of the huts, heading right. The campsite is clear of life. Seems even the insects don’t want to disturb the monstrous fae. With Jack leading me, I pay more attention to my feet, trying to avoid dried out leaves and twigs long dead on the forest floor; or anything else that may wake the guards.

  Well, at least I can say I didn’t cause the commotion. Jack halts so fast I can’t help but bump into him this time. A loud screech pierces the air, causing my ears to ring long after it stops. I quickly peek over Jack’s shoulder as he takes a defensive stance between me and the furry masked creature. The raccoon seems as startled as we are, but all fae know raccoons are willing to eat our kind if hungry enough. Jack drops the lantern and the metal wing clamp, and they disappear underneath a thick layer of luscious ferns. He twists his body and squeezes my waist, his arms latching on to one another behind my back. With a quick jump, we’re airborne and leaving the furry creature behind, who falls back on two legs in an attempt to swipe us back down. It misses, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

  My arm wraps around Jack for more support, and I glance over his shoulder and towards the spriggans’ camp. I gasp and catch my breath. Two spriggans now hurry about the site, searching our area with their eyes, pointing long daggers out before them. Luckily, they’re looking to the ground for the source of the noise.

  “Spriggans,” I whisper. With silent understanding, Jack weaves in and around as many trees as he can find to hide us from their sight. After a few minutes, I can tell he’s beginning to struggle with my weight, dipping down unexpectedly, then fluttering his wings madly to recover against the loss of height. But it’s too exhausting for him, and eventually we’re barely flying over the ground. We land roughly and stumble a few steps, but our feet remain strong beneath us.

  He releases me and bends over, his hands finding his knees for added support. I stroke his back and murmur, “Just breathe.” I fear any second he’s going to tell me that he’s gotten me as far as he can, and that’s it time for me to take off on my own.

  “Pull the map out, will you?”

  Not the best words to hear at the moment, but at least he’s not saying goodbye. Not yet… I pull the parchment out and unfold it. He’s walking aimlessly, his head looking to the sky. I follow him, looking for more access to the moonlight, so we can better make out the markings. I find it right where he’s standing. Together we hold out the map.

  “Look, you see this drawing right here?” I nod, noting the cross with N, E, S and W each scratched at one of the four tips. “There are four main points to navigation. This is your navigation key. North is the top of this map, east the right, south the bottom, and west the left. Look up. See the North Star again?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did I tell you about the North Star?”

  “That when I stand right in front of it,” I say, moving my body to do so, “that I’m now facing north.”

  “Right. So if this is north,” he explains, pointing straight out in front of us, “and we want to go here,” he adds, pointing to the first trail on the map I’m supposed to seek, “which direction do we walk in order to get there?”

  “East…so we go right.”

  “Right!” He takes the map and folds it back up, stuffing it back into the bag slung over my shoulder. “I want you checking this map all the time, until you feel comfortable that you’re going in the right direction, alright?”

  “Alright.”

  He snatches my hand and we turn to go right. I keep pace with him so not to be dragged behind. I want to see the raccoon coming next time, thank you very much. My heart calms, even though we walk at a quickened pace. Unfortunately, the silence eats away at my soul, squeezing what little time I know we have together more and more, until it feels like there’s nothing left. My body wants to cry but I fight it, knowing I have to be strong. I can’t give him much, but I’d like to leave Jack with some comfort in believing I’m strong enough to survive this ordeal, and that I can make my way safely back home. It’s the one thing I can do for him, to repay him for all he’s done to get me to this point. I will not fail him. I will go on, without him, and I will be strong about it. At least until I’m all alone, then there’s no telling what my emotions will do to me.

  We hurry along in silence for a long time, trying to travel as quietly as possible to avoid another encounter with a nocturnal predator. I’m unsure of how much time passes, but the sky begins to lighten to a medium blue. I’ve seen this color in the pit before, on a night I couldn’t sleep. We have maybe two more hours until the sun cuts above the horizon.

  Deep in the woods behind us, a flock of birds panic and flee to the sky. I gasp at the same time Jack twists around, pushing me behind him protectively. A few seconds pass, then another flock of birds take to the sky, this group a little closer to us.

  “Do you think they’ve noticed I’m gone?”

  “Maybe. I wasn’t planning on ditching the lantern or the metal clamp outside their campsite, but I knew I couldn’t flee fast enough with any additional weight.” I’m grateful he did drop them, because that raccoon barely missed us as we ascended. “If they went out there to see what the commotion was about and came across the clamp, they would’ve immediately searched the prison.”

  A third flock of birds abandon their trees. I’m ready to run now, as fast and furious as my heart will allow. I pull on Jack to come with me, but he surprises me by suddenly jerking me behind the trunk of a wide oak tree, then peeks his head around. What are we doing? Why aren’t we running? We can’t stay here! When he turns back, I don’t like what I see. There’s sorrow in his eyes, defeat, and his jaw goes slack, like he doesn’t know what to say.

  “Jack?” I ask fearfully. My hand still grasped in his, I outstretch my arm and struggle to pull hi
m into motion, but he doesn’t budge. “Let’s go.”

  He yanks me back, and I snap towards him faster than the whip-tail of a scorpion. Our chests are flush and his free arm wraps tightly around my waist. Thanks to the pixie dust, we’re close enough that his lips could skim my forehead. My heart thuds rapidly, and it has nothing to do with the spriggans I fear are chasing us down. My head tilted back, our lips are just centimeters away...all he has to do is lean down... There’s an urge within me, and I yearn for him to pull me in just a little closer.

  But what he says breaks my heart, and turns that hunger into absolute panic. “I have to go to them.”

  “What? No!” My chest constricts, and my breath is suddenly painful.

  My head shakes vehemently as he tucks a stray wisp of hair off my face. His hand returns to the small of my back and shivers run down my spine, but there’s still panic in my heart. He’s leaving me. He can’t leave me! Not now. Not ever. I want to shout these words out, but my mouth has gone numb, my voice completely useless.

  He grabs my face with both hands, immobilizing my head, and I desperately latch onto his forearms. “I have to. They’ve picked up our trail. If I don’t… I won’t let them take you again.” His eyes are literally trembling, and I feel the tears swell up behind mine, stinging so much I gasp. “Roll in the mud. Hide beneath the leaves. Don’t forget your face. I’ll lead them away from you.” The tears burst through, and my head shakes roughly as he tries to keep me still and our eyes aligned.

  “Don’t leave me,” I whisper. “I need you.”

  The corner of his mouth rises. If he weren’t holding me back, I’d already be assaulting his lips because they’re finally within reach. “Rosalie, you’re the strongest fae I’ve ever met. You can do this.” His thumbs sweep the tears from under my eyes, but they’re quickly replaced with fresh ones. “Get back to your Hollow as fast as you can. Find the path and follow along side it. Don’t ever get on the actual path,” he reminds me.

  When he releases me, I almost fall forward. The bag sloughs off my shoulder and tumbles to the ground. I suddenly feel exhausted, and heavy. And there’s a pain in my chest practically suffocating me. He edges around the tree and takes another peek. My chest constricts and expands briskly, and I’m overcome with so many emotions, I don’t know what to make of them. I’m never going to see him again. He’s going to give himself up to the spriggans, possibly be blamed for my escape. They could lock him up and throw him into a hole like they did me, and I’ll never know it. I’ll be living a free life, while the faerie that saved me starved away in a pit.

  I hear another flock of birds. Whatever’s coming is getting closer. Jack rocks on his feet, preparing to disappear forever.

  “I love you!” I blurt. Oh. My. Mother. Nature! Did I just shout that? Those words were meant to be beautiful. The way I just blurted them out, tears rolling down my face, mucous making my voice sound distorted, this was anything but beautiful.

  A wave starts at the hips and travels up his body, making his head snap to attention. His eyes widen in…surprise? Shock? Disbelief? Thinks I’m crazy for loving someone outside my species? I really can’t read him. Or I’m afraid to.

  I shake to the core when I first spot movement. With three large steps he’s grasping my face and smothering his heavenly lips on mine. Explosions erupt throughout my insides that I can’t believe don’t burst right through the skin. My lungs scream for air, because I refuse to use this precious moment for anything but kissing. I reach my arms around and grasp the back of his shoulders snuggly. Jack wraps one hand behind my neck and the other on my tail bone, and pulls our bodies closer than I ever thought possible. The spastic fluttering in my abdomen extends upward into my chest, and deeper into my tummy. There’s something desperate about our kiss, hungry – aggressive even – yet beautiful at the same time. He pulls away, and we stare each other down with fire and desire, our lungs out of breath.

  “They’re close. I have to go.”

  “No!” I argue, pulling him back for one more kiss.

  He grasps my face and levels his eyes with mine, the orbs of green seemingly alive, hypnotizing me, bending my will. “I’ll come when it’s safe. Just get home. I promise I’ll find you. I love you, Rosalie.” He gingerly kisses my lips one last time, then dips around the tree before I can protest further.

  I stand there like a dazed doe until I hear Jack call, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing following me? Have you ever heard of this thing we call privacy?”

  My body snaps into motion. I quickly cover the bag with loose leaves, then brush as many aside as I can, leaving the wet earth exposed beneath. Ten points to Jack for thinking to give me a dress the color of Mother Earth. I slather my skin until it’s brown all over. Strong earthy smells pierce my senses, and my already stressed-out insides become a little nauseous. Of course my sense of smell is going to start coming back now.

  A gruff voice bellows close by. Too close. “Where is she?”

  “Where’s who?” Jack asks candidly.

  “The pixie,” another husky voice says, coming from the opposite side of where I heard Jack. They’ve sandwiched him. I pray there aren’t more than two spriggans giving chase.

  Making sure my damaged wings are folded down as best they go, I gently lay on my back, cringing with anticipation that the additional pressure will make them sting in protest, but thanks to Jack’s phenomenal ointment, I don’t feel whatever pain I’m causing. I sweep the pile of leaves over my body, paying particular attention to covering my wings.

  “If you need a pixie, go snatch one up from their Hollow. They don’t just roam aimlessly in the wild.”

  Annoyed, the first spriggan yells, “The pixie in the hole is gone. Where is she? We tracked her here from the cave.”

  “Sorry guys. You tracked me here from the cave. And there’s no way that pitiful pixie could get out of there. She’d have to climb up the wall in the dark, jump through the waterfall protecting the cave, run to the prison’s boundary, sneak through your campsite undetected when you’re all there, then make a break for it in the woods. All on what? A few morsels a day? Have you seen what she looks like? She’s on Father Time’s doorstep. Even if she’s managed to climb the hole, there’s no way she’s made it out of the prison yet. It’s not physically possible.”

  “She ain’t there! We looked!”

  One of the spriggans is flying above me! I stop myself from gasping, fear pulsating through my body, completely incapacitating my motility. I hold my breath as he flits in and around the trees surrounding me, obviously not believing a word Jack is saying.

  Even with mud in my ears and buried under a ton of leaves, I can hear Jack’s sigh. “Did you try going the other way in the cave?”

  “Huh?”

  “For the love of Mother Nature,” he whines, exasperated. “Did you go the other way in the cave first? You’re assuming she went the way that leads out, but she doesn’t know which way to go. She could have easily gone deeper into the cave, not out. Did you even check before getting your posse together for this search party?”

  The spriggan hovering above me pauses to look at the second spriggan, wherever he is. This one shrugs.

  “You have to return with us,” the gruff voice out of sight says. The spriggan above me disappears around the tree, heading toward Jack. “Finley wants you.”

  I moan quietly. I was hoping they’d leave Jack behind with me. And now he has to go face Finley’s wrath? No way Finley won’t blame him for this, nor cease to exact punishment for it.

  “Oh, whatever,” Jack spits.

  No, no, no, no! Don’t go with them!

  “It’s not like she won’t be in the freakin’ cave.” Jack’s voice fades away, obviously taking flight.

  Nooo…don’t leave. Please don’t leave me, Jack. The back of my eyes are stinging again. Don’t those dang things ever run dry? I try desperately to fight off the tears, not wanting to ruin my cover by making the mud run off my face. My chest gets a
way with a few deep gasps, but I force it back to shallow breaths again, not truly trusting that I’m alone in the woods just yet.

  I lay there for hours hidden amongst the mud and leaves, too terrified to move. It’s not until an hour past dawn that I find the courage to rise and stand my ground. I promised Jack I would make my way home, and after everything he’s risked, I will not fail him. I dig out my bag and sling it over my shoulder, flaking off some of the dried mud encapsulating my skin, and continue the route we were already taking toward the first trail. From there I’ll travel until the road bends, but I’ll continue on. I’ll travel downstream until I reach the waterfall, and then make my way to the trail that will lead me home. But my journey will not end there, for I made a promise to Willow. And I will not fail her or the others wrongfully wasting away in that hellhole.

  My name is Rosalie. I may be smaller, I may be weaker, but I was born free, should die free. You will not take this from me.

  Devon Ashley resides in Texas with her husband and son. She has a Master of Science degree in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Microbiology. In her (not so) free time she loves to write, design, knit and read. (Super exciting, right?)

  Also Available by Devon Ashley

  The Immortal Archives (New Adult Urban Fantasy)

  Ordained, One

  Metamorphosis, Two

  Catacombs, Three (Coming 2013)

  Falling Novels (New Adult Contemporary Romance)

  Falling In Between, One

  Falling Away, Two (Coming 2013)

  You can stalk me here

  http://devonashleywrites.blogspot.com