"Now, now, no need to go usin' that." The voice tsk'd. From the shadow of the forest appeared a figure, small at first, then larger as my eyes settled on him. Was it a trick of the light, or something else?
"A bit of both, I suppose," the man said. His scrawny body was covered in moss and twig such that if he’d crouched I was sure to lose sight of him against the forest floor. His beard hung down past his knees, indicating that he was aged, yet he barely came up to my own shoulders in height. Wispy grey curls poked out from under the red cap that sat atop his head.
“Who are you?” I demanded, stepping forward to show that I wasn’t afraid of him. He leaped against the trunk of a nearby tree, rebounding to another, and yet another until he reached the lowest branch of the mighty cedar.
“We are as we are suited to be,” he said, dancing from one branch to another playfully.
I kept my eye on him, knowing better than to turn my back on one of the Fae without knowing which family it was from. While some were said to be charitable sorts, others were known for their dubious nature. Imps, for example, were known for their harmful pranks. And since they could disguise themselves at will, there was no guarantee that what I saw was who I was speaking to.
He found my diligence amusing, and chuckled to himself, “Like ye’ve never seen a forest gnome before!”
I didn’t find the situation funny. “Where are you from?”
“We walk in the twilight realm, where only fae may go.” He snapped his fingers, and a set of small pipes strung together appeared out of thin air. He blew into them gently, as if testing them. The sound was sweet, even soothing in a way. My hand returned to my blade and the noise stopped.
“You keep saying ‘we’” I said. “Who else is with you?” I scanned the woods briefly before locking eyes on the figure once more.
“Interesting,” he mumbled as he lowered the pipes. He hopped down from the tree and looked me up and down.
“What is?” I demanded.
He crept closer until, raising a hand when I began to unsheathe my sword. “Steady,” he cautioned me as if I were some wild horse. He raised the pipes to his lips and blew into them. Nothing. He tried again, harder this time. The instrument was silent. He tried once more, blowing into them until he was red in the face before giving up.
“Unaffected,” he whispered in awe. “But how?”
I unsheathed my sword, tired of his games. He shrieked and jumped back “Ah! Ah!” he said jumping up and down in a mixture of excitement and fear. “That be it! The iron, it hurts us!”
I waved the blade in warning “Who is ‘us’?” I called. “Where are your friends? Are they here?”
“We walk in the twilight realm, where only fae may go.”
“Is that where she went?” I asked. Maybe Brian knew what he was doing after all.
“He seeks the girl!” The creature responded, obviously pleased. “Yes, yes that is where she went! I can take you, follow me!” and with that he took off into the forest, with hardly a glance over his shoulder to see if I’d followed behind.
Chapter Fourteen
Keeping up with the Gnome proved trickier than I thought, for instead of running on the ground he bounced from tree to tree, almost as if he were weightless. I chased him until my lungs burned, and then I chased him more out of spite. Just when I was sure my legs would give out he paused and smiled over my shoulder.
“Iron bites and iron anchors!” he tittered, “Best to leave it behind.”
If that old bitty thinks I’m followin’ him unarmed he’s got another thing comin’! I’d have said it out loud had I not been too busy struggling to catch my breath.
“Suit yourself then, slowpoke.” He shot me an impish grin before boundin’ off at double speed.
I’m gonna kill ‘Lana’s grandad next time I set eyes on him. I thought That is, if I don’t get run to death first! I cursed myself under my breath as I came to a halt. I wiped the sweat from my brow and resisted the urge to retch. I needed water.
I dropped my pack onto the ground and pulled the flask out, but before I could get the cap undone someone snatched it from my hands.
"Why are ya takin’ my water? Off with ya, ya pesky thing!" I swatted at him.
He jumped back and laughed at me as my hand whooshed by him, missing by inches. Fast for such a little thing. Determined to catch him, I threw my whole body his way and he darted up another a tree before danglin’ my flask out in front of him.
“Off with that iron and I’ll trade you,” he said.
“What kind of a fool do you take me for?”
“You can’t go any further without it. Simple as that.” He crossed his arms. “So, what’ll it be?”
I stared at him defiantly. The long knife was my only defense against…whatever was out in this wilderness. Leaving it behind would leave me completely vulnerable; but I had been foolish in exerting myself so early on. My muscles screamed at me, threatenin’ to cramp if I took another step. I swallowed. It felt like swallowing sand.
The gnome shook the flask gently near his ear. “Sounds delightful, doesn’t it?” he taunted, raisin’ an eyebrow as he waited for my response.
I shook my head, but I knew that he could tell I was lyin’.
“Stubborn, are ya? Hmm. Maybe the Stanford clan,” he mumbled to himself. He held the flask out to me again. “That’s you’re final answer then? You sure?”
I nodded. This had to be some sort of test, or a trick. I wasn’t going to fall for it.
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly put it that way.” The gnome chuckled as he yanked on a nearby branch that gave way like a lever. I had hardly a moment to realize that the ground beneath me had disappeared before I realized I was falling.
***
I woke to pitch black and a sore head. Wherever I’d landed must have been underground, because I couldn’t find a light source, and everything around me was pitch black. I sat up, testing my arms and legs for signs of injury, and found none. Odd.
“Fairy dust.” I jumped. The voice was foreign but sounded female. “They treat all outsiders to a heavy dose on the way down. Part of why the trap works. You should get your sight back shortly.”
What?! I rubbed my eyes as if doing so might clear away the darkness.
“No, not like that silly.” The voice said again. “That just makes it worse. No, blink it away, soft-like.” I felt a rush of air on my face and realize it was her breath. I recoiled slightly, blinking as she said. Sure enough, the light broke through, and I began to make out the blurry shape of the person in front of me. She looked human enough. About my age, if not a tad older, and clad in clothes that would be considered normal back home.
“Your head will start feeling better soon too.” She promised. “The transition is harder for some than others though.”
I looked around us. Nothing looked familiar. In fact, it looked downright odd. Too bright for indoors, for one thing. Three walls were white, and the fourth was a set of curved ivory bars imbedded into the stone floor. The girl stood on the other side.
“What is your name?” I asked.
She tilted her head curiously, as if she didn’t understand the question.
“You know, your name?”
“Name?” It was almost a whisper. “Yes, I think I had one once. It was…Well I don’t remember, exactly.”
“How can you not remember your own name?”
“It happens after a while, I suppose. When you’ve been here long enough, things like that start to fade.”
“How long have you been here?”
She blinked rapidly before answering. “Time moves…differently here. It’s hard to tell.”
Perfect. How long had I been here then? How much time had I wasted? No use getting caught in that spiral before I even knew what I was up against.
“Who are you?” I thought maybe, if I phrased it in another way I might get something more out of her.
“I am a s
ervant of the Fae,” she said, as if that should have been obvious.
“You’re one of those human kids they trade for their own, then?” My eyes went wide. If she was near my age could that mean…No, I reminded myself. Pa’s babe had been a male. This couldn’t be his rightful kin.
“No. Or yes. Or, not exactly.” She trailed off again. “I don’t suppose it matters much anyhow.”
“What do you mean, it doesn’t matter! They’ve taken you from your rightful home—from your Ma and Pa!”
She shrugged, “I don’t recall a life other than what I know now; and tis not like they are unkind. Not if you follow the rules, anyhow.”
“Well I’ve not got time to sit here and rot and forget my own name! I’ve got someone I’m supposed to be lookin’ after and I ain’t about to be no one’s slave!”
“It’s not so bad,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “We’re well cared for: fed and kept warm.”
“How would you know if you were bein’ mistreated when you can’t even remember your own name?” The thought was absurd.
“They can’t touch you while you wear that, anyway” she motioned to my hip. “And besides I don’t think they’re keen on having you as a servant. You’re too old.”
Too old? The idea seemed absurd. We were nearly the same age! Maybe she meant since they’d not had me as a wee babe I was too old to be tamable. I was about to prove them right.
I looked around the room. A pallet in a corner covered in moss and hay was obviously meant to be my bed. On the other side was a small table with eating utensils, and on the far end hung a privacy curtain—the kind where you could see a person’s shadow but not much else.
“For washing up and other private business,” She confirmed.
I felt myself blush. I’d never worried about what was and wasn’t proper to discuss with a lady before, but I was pretty certain my bathroom habits fell into the category of improper.
“Let me go,” I changed the subject. Whatever it was that moss-covered little imp wanted with me, it looked like he was prepared to wait me out, and I didn’t have time for that.
“Well that’s not for me to decide,” she said, puzzled.
Enough of this. I stood and pulled the long-knife from my belt, slamming it into the cage bars. The act jarred my arm somethin’ awful. I tried my best not to flinch in front of the girl, but I couldn’t help but cradle my shoulder in hopes that my bones would stop vibratin’ from the impact.
“Silly boy,” she tsk’d. “Them’s dragon teeth. Ain’t nothin’ can cut through them. Not even iron.”
“Dragon’s teeth!” I exclaimed. The bars had to be at least ten times my height. “I ain’t never heard of a dragon as big as that!”
The girl giggled. “Of course not, you ninny! You’ve been shrunk!”
“Shrunk?”
“Of course! How else would you have fit in the Hollow?”
“But that’s impossible,” I stammered. “I can’t be in the Hollow. Not unless…”
What was it the forest gnome had said? “We walk in the twilight realm…”
It wasn’t just any pathway Brian has sent me into. He’d sent me directly into the land of the Fae.
Chapter Fifteen
The girl was right about one thing. Time did move differently in the twilight realm. Light came and went inside my enclosure, though its source was a mystery to me. I counted three cycles before she returned.
“Long time no see,” I gave her a half-hearted smile.
She tilted her head curiously, “Has it been long?”
“Well…I’m not exactly sure,” I admitted. The light cycle indicated that it had been 3 days, and yet I’d only just begun to use up the rations in my bag. Maybe it hadn’t been as long as I’d thought. I shrugged.
“Have you come back to free me?” Fat chance, but you can’t blame a guy for tryin’.
“I told you before, it’s not up to me.”
“But if it were, you would?” Pressin’ the issue was risky, but the possibility of findin’ an ally in a land that was foreign to me seemed worth the gamble.
She looked at the ground, coverin’ her face with her hair. “S’not wise to cross the Fae.” She mumbled, glancing up at me through strands of blonde hair, producing a pair of spin tops from the pockets of her apron. “But I can keep you company.” She sat, sliding one of the toys to me. They were just small enough that if spun just right, it could slide through the bars. We took turns sending them back and forth to each other until they crashed into one another. This sparked a new game in which we spun them through the bars, trying to clash with our opponent and throw their spinner out of an imagined arena. Before long we were both laughin’ so hard we could hardly breathe. I fell back, clutchin my sides, exhausted.
A small consolation. Or was it? I hadn’t found an ally, not really. But perhaps I had found a friend.
***
She came to visit in regular intervals. She was always shy at first, almost as if she was stuck in a loop. She didn’t have much to talk about, so we mostly just played the game.
Then there was a lull in her visits. She hadn’t mentioned havin’ to stay away, and I began to worry that somethin’ had happened to her.
I’d just lost count of the light cycles when she appeared again. Just in time. I was starving. My rations had run out…well I wasn’t sure how long ago it was but the ache in my gut said it was plenty long enough.
In place of the usual spin tops, she carried a set of very small wooden bowls on a tray and was silent as she slid them through the bars. I surveyed them suspiciously. The first two were filled with berries and tree nuts, and the third a warm spiced water. “Rosemary tea,” she explained when I sniffed it. “Safe to drink.”
I wasn’t convinced. There were tales back home that warned against eating things offered by the Fae, for fear of becoming trapped in their realm forever.
“We’re not that type of Fae.” It was the voice of the gnome I had followed into the forest. He’d appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, while I was busy scrutinizin’ breakfast. “You’re thinking of fairies, most likely. Lure humans and the like to their hollows now and again. Most are catch and release, but a few of ‘em grow attached and,” he shrugged. “Well they’re determined to keep them somehow, and that’s as good a way as any. We gnomes have no need of such trickery.”
I took a berry from the bowl, inspecting it. It was a deep red, slightly unusual for the season back home, but not overly suspicious. I sniffed it. Smelled normal. Tentatively, I took a bite. It was delicious.
The gnome nodded his approval, then waved a hand in the girl’s direction. “You’re excused.”
She nodded, avoiding eye contact, and left without even a glance in my direction, though how she made her exit I couldn’t be certain. She simply faded from existence as she walked away. My eyes lingered where she had been, and the gnome smiled.
“Nice lass, that one. A bit older than we usually take in, but obedient.”
There it was again. She couldn’t have been much older than me, and he seemed plenty interested in taking me in, for whatever reason.
He waited for me to respond and seemed disappointed when I had nothing to say. “Not one of ours, unfortunately. Too bad, too. We’d have made you a fair trade. It would make things so much easier if she hadn’t wandered to the fairy hollow first.”
I wrinkled my nose. This guy wasn’t makin’ any sense, and even if he was I wasn’t sure why I should care one way or the other. I mean don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for the girl, but I had other things to worry about. Like gettin’ outta here, for one. And findin’ ‘Lana for another.
The gnomes head tilted curiously. “So she’s not the one you’re lookin’ for. My mistake!”
I was gettin’ fed up with his tricks. “Get outta my head, those thoughts are mine!”
He smiled, “You could keep me out, if you really wanted to. Just give up the knife.”
The damn knife again. “If you’ve spent half as much time in my head as I think you have, you know I’ll do nothing of the sort!”
“A shame. I’d have very much liked to show you around. I’m sure she’d have liked it too, though she won’t remember why.” He turned to leave, having suddenly lost interest in me.
“Wait!” I trusted him about as far as I could throw him, but that didn’t mean I was eager to be left alone again. Pa used to say that too much solitude was bad for one’s mind. I hadn’t understood why until now. “Who did you think I was lookin’ for?”
“Why, the girl of course!” He turned back to face me, his interest reignited.
“What would I want her for? I’ve never even met her before.”
“Or have you?” He raised an eyebrow. “Did you ask her for her name?”
“She didn’t remember it.”
“Ah, yes that happens sometimes, especially with the older ones.” His tone was soft, almost apologetic, “The fairies are foolish in that way, thinking that they are giving a gift when they bestow eternal youth. But it muddles the minds of mortals to do so.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She doesn’t remember her true name, or her true self. But she remembers you, I think. After all, you are the reason she is trapped here, in the twilight realm.”
“What do you mean, I’m the reason why? I ain’t done nothin’ to her, or you, or anyone this side of the boundary, ever!” I didn’t like where this was going.
“But you have, even if you don’t realize it. Even if you don’t remember. You see Luka, she had a family, and a name. That name, was Allison.”
***
No. It couldn’t be true. I refused to believe it. It’s just a trick. It can’t be real.
“And yet you know it is,” he said. “She felt familiar to you, did she not? Though it’s been quite a while since you’ve seen her, judging by your human age.”
“Human age?”
“Oh surely they’ve told you what you really are. If they hadn’t you’d never have been granted passage. In fact, I was right when I pegged you for a Stanford, though I’d forgotten the details. Always stubborn, that line. It gets them in trouble from time to time. No wonder they’d wind up with a babe that needed switching.”
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