Less Than a Day

by April Kelley

  Chapter Two

  Talli had only seen the door to the Upperworld a few times. It was more of a shimmering, round portal that looked as if it had water flowing through it. Never had he stepped on the other side.

  He wiped his palms down the sides of his trousers and stared at the door as if it was a new thing he was experiencing for the first time. In a few minutes, his experience with the portal would be a new one, and that thought made his heart beat wildly in his chest. “What if we get stuck? It’ll be six months before we can get back again.” They stood in the hollow of a tree, watching as a wood elf walked through the door. A sluagh followed him right after. Talli didn’t recognize either person, which meant they were probably part of a different realm. He knew everyone in Dasan’s realm.

  “What if someone sees us and tells Dasan or Awan?”

  “Who’s going to see us, Talli?” Kele turned toward him, pointing to the door. Talli could tell he was gearing up to make a solid case against all of Talli’s misgivings. “We’ve seen two people go through the door already. They never hesitated and at least the wood elf is coming back. A forest elf wouldn’t stay in the Upperworld. He’s given himself plenty of time to get back, I’m sure. If we go now, then we’ll be giving ourselves plenty of time as well. Also, no one else is around. No one will see us.”

  Talli nodded in the direction of Gilly and the guard he was talking too. The guard’s back was to him and whatever Gilly was saying had the guard’s full attention. “Gilly will see us and as soon as Dasan tells him he cannot soul bond with you, he will tell Dasan what we did.”

  “But it’s your chance to see a real human, not just a picture in a book.”

  Talli bit his lip. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into these things.” Even as Talli said it, he knew why he was here. Just the thought of seeing the Upperworld, experiencing the real landscape and real humans, had his heart beating a bit faster in his chest. Talli couldn’t deny that going through the door, seeing the Upperworld for the first time, was taboo…and that also made it appealing.

  Anyone who went through the door needed permission from the Oberon or one of his inner circle. For Kele and Talli that was Dasan or Awan. They both knew Dasan wouldn’t give them permission. They’d have to have a better reason then just curiosity.

  Talli stepped out of their hiding place and grabbing Kele’s hand. “You had me at the wood elf argument.”

  Kele chuckled and laced their fingers together. “It was a good one, wasn’t it?”

  Talli smiled. “Very.” He stopped inches from the door, staring at it. He looked over at Kele. “Are you ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  Talli nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat even as he turned to the door and took a step through, pulling Kele with him.

  Talli’s mother had told him once that Dadga controlled the door to the Upperworld. Dagda was a fair god who put a faery exactly where the god needed him most. At the time, Talli was still a small boy and believed everything his mother told him. As he stepped through the door, his toes touched the freezing water of a small pond with trees surrounding it, he had to question Dadga’s judgement.

  The trees didn’t have foliage on them, but were naked of any leaves. The dull brown seemed to extend out in front of him, creating an illusion of openness, despite all the trees that stood like sentries, guarding what’s beyond.

  There was a chill in the air that bit at the bare skin on his arms. He let go of Kele’s hand and rubbed some of the cold out of his skin, bringing life back into it.

  “Let’s follow the trail,” Kele said and started down a dirt path that was on their right. That path cut into the woods around them and was just wide enough for them to walk down it side by side.

  Talli nodded, unable to speak as the sheer magnitude of what they had just done finally hit him. By the gods, they were in the Upperworld, walking where humans had walked. His footsteps matched that of the humans. He might actually get to see a human if he was lucky. Talli turned, walking backwards for a second, just taking in the trees and how different it looked compared to the Otherworld.

  The forests at home were greener, with foliage everywhere and giant rocks rising up amongst the trees. Moss usually grew on the stones in all its green patchy glory. Both stone and grass lived in a happy union that Talli had never really understood completely, although he loved being a part of it whenever he could tear himself away from his library.

  On the Upper plane, everything was so flat with brown dirt under his feet, instead of green grass or rock. The trees looked like brown and gray skeletons without all the green leaves attached. Instead, the leaves littered the forest floor as if they were dead bodies.

  The path ran right next to the pond for a small stretch and Talli looked over at the ripples in the water. The water was a dark blue, almost black color. At home, the water was a pale green and it stretched endlessly.

  Even before the path opened up, Talli saw the white dwelling that had smoke coming out of a dark red chimney. Just beyond that were several red building. Talli had never seen anything like them. There was a white fence that spanned out as far as Talli’s eyes could see. He saw black and white cows in the distance. Talli had read about the animals in some of the books back at his library. Humans ate animals. While he thought the practice disgusting, he thought perhaps he understood it to some degree. They ate what they had available. In the Otherworld, eating animal flesh wasn’t something faeries did.

  Talli pointed to them and grinned at Kele.

  “Told you this would be worth it.” Kele grabbed his hand and pulled him along. “Let’s get a look at the animal dwellings.”

  The path opened up into a wide yard covered in grass that looked as if it had been through a war. It was brown and dead. Talli bent down and touched a spot, bringing some of it back to life again.

  Kele rolled his eyes and pulled on his hand, making him stumble a little. Talli laughed and ran after him. When he saw someone come out of the white dwelling, Talli was the one who tugged on Kele’s hand, pulling him behind a small building.

  Kele chuckled.

  “Shh.” Talli put a hand over Kele’s mouth when the man turned in their direction.

  Talli let his hand fall from Kele’s mouth as he stared at the human, who had stopped and looked around. Talli’s heart beat wildly in his chest. He put a hand over his own mouth when he started to call out to the human, unable to help himself. The need to go to him was so overwhelming he could barely keep it in.

  When the man shook his head, turning to walk into one of the red buildings, Talli nearly ran after him. As it was, Talli began walking in the human’s direction as if his body was separated from his mind.

  “Talli.” Kele followed behind him.

  Talli was so excited he forgot all about Kele. “He’s my anam cara,” Talli whispered.

  They walked next to a cornfield that had seen better days. The brown stalks barely came up to the top of his head and they should have been well past that for this time of year. Talli looked at the brown stalks and frowned. Actually, the human should have harvested the corn by now. The brown stalks should be plowed down, broken and destroyed and their seeds collected.

  He heard Kele suck in a breath. “Are you sure?”

  Talli turned and gave him an exasperated look. “Yes, of course I’m sure. I see the light around him whether he’s come or going.”

  Kele grinned. “He looks rather fine in either direction.”

  Talli narrowed his eyes at Kele, which brought on laughter. Kele pushed him on the shoulder. “What are you waiting for? Go and get him.”

  “Do you think he’ll know about the Otherworld?” Talli asked and ran his hand over the stalks, turning them green again, giving his anam cara another chance to harvest his crop properly.

  Kele didn’t have a chance to answer because someone else came out the door of the white dwelling. Kele and Talli both ran into the cornfield. The brown stalks slapped against his skin as h
e ran through them. He looked back, watching Kele run amongst the green stalks.

  Talli hadn’t had many opportunities to put his true nature to work. All pookas had the ability to bring life or death to plants and Talli instinctively knew to do one or the other. He felt contentment in the simple act and wondered why more pookas weren’t allowed to come to the Otherworld for this express purpose. He’d have to talk to Dasan about it when he got back. Denying his true nature for so long was a mistake.

  Well, he knew why so few came to the Upperworld, but that was ancient history. Faeries and humans should live together in harmony once more.

  “Laith!” Someone yelled and Talli wondered if that was his soulmate’s voice or the other man’s.

  Talli crept forward again, going back the way he had come. He needed to get a glimpse of his human. Talli felt Kele beside him as he lay on the ground, hiding most of his body as he peeked at his soulmate from the edge of the cornfield. His human said something he couldn’t quite make out with the distance between them. The conversation seemed heated if the scowls were any indication.

  When Laith went back into the red building again and the other man entered the white dwelling, Talli moved again. Kele was right beside him as they left the safety of the cornfield. “I want to see the white dwell.”

  Talli nodded and pointed to the path that would lead them back to the portal. “Right. Meet by the door in a bit?”

  Kele scowled at him. “You can’t mean to go back home? Talli, he’s your other half.”

  “If we’re discussing this now, than we should enter the field again so we remain hidden.”

  “What does it matter if we’re seen or not?” Kele shook his head. “Go talk to your soulmate. I’ll go see how many humans occupy the land.”

  “What shall I say?”

  “Just say hello, Talli.”

  Talli’s stomach swirled around as if something was inside, churning up all of his nerves. He hung his head and closed his eyes. “This means things will change, doesn’t it? And what if he doesn’t want me. What if he’s already bonded with someone else?”

  Kele pushed at his shoulders. “Just go, Talli. Let things happen as they may.”

  What would Dasan and Awan say when they found out his mate was a human? Would they be as encouraging as Kele was now?

  Talli rang his hands together.

  “Stop thinking so much and just go find out more about him.”

  Yes, that was sound advice and, coming from Kele, sound advice wasn’t something he gave too often, so Talli accepted it. He nodded and started in the direction of the red building.

  Talli’s hands shook as he gripped the top of a short wall, peering over at his soulmate as he fed the animals inside their cages, talking to them as he went along.

  “Beautiful,” Talli whispered to himself.

  His anam cara had long golden hair that met his shoulders. He had on a gray shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders and he was tall. His boots made a clopping sound as he walked from one cage to the next. His ears were rounded at the top which was strange but didn’t detract from his beauty. His skin was different than any of the faeries in the Otherworld. Talli looked at the skin on his own arm and at the way it didn’t change colors, even slightly, the way his anam cara’s seemed too. Perhaps, it was the cold air that made the human’s cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink.

  The sounds the animals made were foreign to Talli’s ears, not at all what he expected a horse to sound like based on the pictures he had seen in some of the books. Talli grinned. He couldn’t wait to find out what cows would sound like.

  His human stepped up to a stall door and the horse inside sounded happy to see him. The greeting sounded like the horse blew air through his lips. His human smiled and reached in, presumably to pat the horse’s soft fur. Although Talli couldn’t see what his human’s hand actually did.

  How could the horse be happy inside a cage?

  While he was contemplating that, his anam cara unlatched the hook on the door. He pulled it open and then walked away. The big horse came trotting out, its hooves clopping on the floor as it followed along in the man’s wake.

  The horse nudged his human in the shoulder, trying to get his attention. It made the man laugh, which sounded like music to Talli’s ears. Talli sucked in a breath at the sound and his cock grew in his trousers. It was uncomfortable as it pressed against the fabric of his undergarments.

  And then the man spoke. “What makes you think I have a treat?” Even as the man asked the question, he reached in his pocket. He pulled out a red and white striped round disc-shaped thing. He held it flat in his hand and lifted it to the horse’s mouth. His anam cara patted the horse on his neck and pressed his forehead against the horse’s large face. Talli’s cock deflated when the smile fell from his anam cara’s face. His eyes grew sad. “I’ll miss you, buddy.”

  Talli put a hand over his mouth to keep from speaking. He wasn’t ready to expose himself to his human. The urge to go to him and give him comfort was overwhelming, though.

  He must have made some noise because the horse’s large head turned in his direction. The horse blow air out of his nose, making a strange noise and walked in his direction. Talli squealed and let go of the wall. He ducked down, hoping his anam cara hadn’t seen him.

  The horse was so much bigger up close. Its brown head bent down, looking at Talli curiously. Talli slid against the wall, away from it, pressing himself into the corner. The horse’s big nose nudged him on his chest and he shut his eyes, hoping the thing didn’t eat him as if he were a sweet treat.

  Chapter Three

  Talli had never seen a human up close. He had seen pictures in books and then, of course, his anam cara from a distance. The books weren’t at all accurate. Never once had they depicted a man so big, with eyes so blue he looked like he had elf’s blood in his lineage somewhere. And they certainly didn’t have so many muscles. What a handsome face the man had too. The horse looking at him from over his human’s shoulder just made him even more attractive somehow. Maybe it was the fact that his anam cara could not only control but clearly befriend such a big, powerful creature like the one behind him.

  He wanted to reach out and touch the man. Just his cheek would be enough. He wasn’t so sure his touch would be welcome, though. Not with the way his human frowned.

  Talli didn’t know what to say or if he should even move, so he stood in the corner of the animal cage as if he were getting fired upon. “Hello,” he whispered.

  The man’s mouth opened and closed, as if he wanted to say something but the words wouldn’t come. Finally, he said, “What the fuck are you supposed to be?”

  Talli winced at the harsh tone of the man’s voice. “I’m from the Otherworld.”

  The man started to reach out but must have thought better of it because he pulled his hand away. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. Just startled me that some stranger was on my property.” The man blinked at him and then ran a hand down his face. “I suppose Wyatt is gonna blame me for this too,” He mumbled under his breath.

  The horse nudged him on his shoulder and he stumbled forward, catching himself with a hand on the wall next to Talli’s head. Their faces were inches from each other. Talli couldn’t help but look at the man’s full lips. His anam cara smirked, clearly understanding just what Talli wanted but still he didn’t make a move to kiss him.

  “If you’re going to a Halloween party you took a wrong turn, honey. A massive wrong turn, because there’s no party here,” his anam cara said instead.

  “A party?”

  The man searched his face, taking a long time to study his eyes. “Your costume is amazing,” the man said to him softly.

  “Costume?” Never in Talli’s life had he felt like something strange but the human in front of him, who looked at him as if he were a creature, rather than something normal, certainly made him feel that way.

  The man reached out a hand and touched the tip of Talli’s ear. “Hm, those f
eel real.”

  Talli’s face burned with embarrassment. “That’s not something…”

  The man tugged on his ear and Talli jerked back when he caused him pain, hitting his head against the wall. “Ouch!”

  “Sorry, honey.” The man rubbed at the back of Talli’s head, taking away some of the sting. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Got those ears glued on a little too tight, don’t you?”

  “My ears are not glued on,” Talli reprimanded, frowning at the man.

  His human contemplated him for a second and then grabbed his ear again, gently feeling along the ridge of it.

  Talli closed his eyes at the sensation it gave him. He moved his hand in an attempt at covering up his semi-erection.

  “Um…I’m a faery. A pooka to be exact.”

  “Pooka? If you were going for original, you certainly pulled it off. I don’t think a lot of people will know what that is, though.”

  Talli chuckled. “Not in the Upperworld. Least ways, not anymore. In the Otherworld we are very common. Used to be common here. My people help yours with your crops.” Talli pointed in the direction of the path by the river that Kele and him had taken to get here, although the path couldn’t be seen through the walls of the animal dwellng. “The door to the Otherworld is that way. It opens twice a years. Today is one of those days.”

  “Halloween.”

  “I believe humans call it Samhain.”

  The man waved a hand. “Same thing.”

  Talli brought his hand back down to his crotch and as he did, the human focused on it. “Shit. You’re bleeding, honey. Let me just…” The man reached behind him and pulled some sort of cloth from his pocket. He took Talli’s arm and pressed the cloth to the scrapes there. “How’d you get hurt?”

  “Kele and I hid in your cornfield. The stalks cut me as I passed.”

  The man frowned. “They couldn’t have. The leaves practically crumble they’re so dead and brittle. They wouldn’t have cut you.”