Made of Magic and True Grit

by Landry-Daniel Lié

  “Put your hood up!” Pinly said before the library was hit again by the earthquake like strength. A rain of sharp glass poured down on them as the library succumbed to the second hit. The boys ran to the edge of the restricted area and looked through the ropes, Pinly saw the floating shelves falling one after another and crashing on the floor like oversized hell stones. Thousands of footsteps echoed before revealing the face of any army that left Pinly gobsmacked. They had skulls for heads, their bodies were made of thick tangled roots; some wore just a cape, others were fully armoured from head to toe, but they all had enormous swords. The clattering noises they had heard before was coming from them, their bony jaws snapped repeatedly, striking their rotten teeth together. The skulls were strong, stronger than his folks. They captured some of the fairies and seemed to be striking down those who showed too much resistance. Kwassy and Nema fought side by side. More soldiers flooded the library. But these were different. He couldn’t believe his eyes, they were a real threat, he had not imagined it and Misses Doria was not crazy! The glowing green eyes, they belonged to silver haired soldiers. They were terrifying. The soldiers were followed by what Pinly knew was the creature that had destroyed the library with only two strikes; A giant figure made out of rock, stepped in, it was dragging a large hammer. Kwassy and Nema stood their ground. They raised their hands, then they did something Pinly never knew his parents capable of; from the ground, shimmering light began to separate the library in two parts. The green-eyed soldiers, skulls and giants were on the other side.

  “Boys! fly away!” Their father’s voice resonated stronger than Pinly had ever heard it. He felt Lion grab hold of him.

  “No get off!” Pinly screamed then ran his parents

  “Pinly, what are you doing?” Lion shouted. Halfway towards his parents, Pinly crumbled, his legs were still too weak. He picked himself up despite his shaky legs. He winced as he took small shards of glass out of his palms. His hands began to bleed. “Pinly, we have to go!” he felt his brother’s hand grab him.

  “Pinly don’t be foolish, leave!” Their father screamed, but Pinly refused to listen, he moved his brother’s hand and kept going.

  “No! I want to help!” he insisted. He was terrified, but he had to do something, anything. He knew that the minute these evil creatures passed by that shield it would be the end for his parents. He would never forgive himself for not even trying to help. The foes on the other side struck at the shield with all their might, the giant soldier hit it with his hammer but it wouldn’t budge. Pinly reached his parents and Nema grabbed him. He had never seen his mother cry before. She reached for Lion too.

  “I know you want to help, but you can’t” she sobbed “the best you can do right now is fly away, fly as far and as fast as you can, I love you both” she held them tight then let go and turned back to help Kwassy with the shield. More librarians joined in to strengthen the shield. Pinly was about to turn around when he saw a soldier with a shiny silver armour on the other side. His armour was as shiny as his hair. He had the most evil grin on his face as he looked at Kwassy’s arms stretched up to hold the shield. The silver soldier ordered the others to stop hitting it just by raising a hand and so they did. Despite the fighting outside, the library was suddenly very quiet. The silver soldier ran his hand on the shield then forced a fist through it, Kwassy fell on one knee, he grunted with pain, his nose began to bleed. How was he able to pass through that shield when not even the giant could with his hammer? Pinly began to shiver at the sight of the silver soldier. “Go!” Nema shouted, Pinly jumped on his brother’s back and they hurried out the library. Everywhere he looked there were fairies flying in panic, skulls shooting them down or dragging them in nets. The boys made it into the woods, Pinly kept his head down while Lion zig zagged around the trees.

  “AH!” Lion screamed. Pinly felt his brother suddenly fall. They went crashing in the mud. Lion hissed with pain. Pinly looked up and saw that there was an arrow going through Lion’s left leg. He crawled to him. His hands were shaking, full of his own blood, he didn’t know what to do.

  “You’ll be ok Lion” Pinly said “Help!” he shouted

  “Don’t Pinly!" Lion clapped a hand over Pinly's mouth "no one will help” Lion let go and sat up

  “What are we going to do then?” he sobbed

  “Stop crying! Pinly I need you to be strong right now” Lion said. Pinly nodded and wiped his tears. Lion looked inside his large pocket to check on the foxes. “They’re okay,” he said to Pinly. He painfully slid to a nearby tree. “we need to hide” he said but before they could even look for a place to hide, the reason for Lion’s handicap showed up. A massive armoured skull soldier walked into view. It was holding a bow, fully loaded and aimed at Lion to finish him up.

  “No!” Pinly screamed as the skull raised his bow. His eyes were closed as he stood in front of his brother. All he heard was a rush of wind, then the sound of the arrow go. He squeezed his eyes shut, but nothing. He heard Lion gasp in horror before opening his eyes. Pinly fell back when he saw what stood in front of him. The silver soldier was staring at him. Which meant… No! Impossible. They had to be okay, or at least captured like some of the other fairies, it was better than… Pinly didn’t even dare think about it; he pushed the possibility that his parents could be dead out of his head. The silver soldier was now holding the skull’s bow, he threw it on the ground and flicked his hand at the skull which walked away.

  “What do you want from us?!” Lion shouted

  “I might just keep you both for myself” he said in a voice that made Pinly shudder. His eyes then fixed on Pinly “don’t worry, your parents didn’t suffer” he grinned. Pinly felt all feeling leave his body, he was more numb than when he had awakened from his coma. Everything around him began to blur. All the screams of terror began to fade, even his brother was shouting something, but he couldn’t hear anything, he was in such shock even an arrow through the leg wouldn’t have made him move. Then he felt something slowly vibrate inside of him; power! but not only that, rage too. Everything around him suddenly came back into focus and Pinly had white light in his hand. The power from the library he thought. His aura was back and it raged like wild flames.

  “Pinly move!” he heard Lion scream. He looked up and saw the silver soldier’s sword raised high, ready to strike down at him. Pinly raised his hands full of concentrated power and as it impacted with the sword, it sent the silver soldier violently fly out of view. The young fairy looked back at his hand in disbelief. When he turned around Lion had the same look on his face, but they didn’t have time to waste. Pinly helped Lion up and they began limping their way through the forest. They hid behind trees and moved when there weren’t any skulls or green eyed soldiers in the way. They passed through villages completely destroyed, crying children and corpses lined the ground. Blood and more blood everywhere they stepped. Nothing could have prepared them for the state their village was in. Flames rose to unbelievable heights as the houses burned away. The boys looked at each other.

  “What do we do?” Pinly asked

  “I don’t know” Lion pulled him close “I don’t know” He began to cry and so did Pinly. “I’m sorry Pinly, I don’t know”

  “There you are” a voice said

  “Run Pinly!” Lion screamed. The silver soldier had caught up with them, his armour wasn’t as shiny anymore, the grin on his face had turned into a furious frown. Pinly felt rage mount in him again and charged at the silver soldier, but this time his aura was feeble and there was no white light. The previous use of the white light had taken too much out of him. The silver soldier kicked Pinly and pinned him down. Lion limped over to help, but the soldier slapped him back. Lion fell. Pinly tried to move the soldier off him, but the soldier pushed one of his arms to the ground and put a dagger through it. Pinly screamed, the pain was excruciating.

  “Shut up!” the soldier put a hand over his mouth. “It was you… You were the powerful presence we held back for?” the silver soldier
glared down at Pinly “We could have attacked earlier, but we wasted time all because of a Child...” Pinly heard his brother’s finger snap, he had conjured something. The silver soldier was focused on Pinly, his glowing green eyes peering down in his. The soldier failed to see a hammer hit him on the side of the head. Pinly felt the heavy weight lifted off his chest and he could breathe properly again. Lion pulled the dagger off his forearm. It hurt more than anything, but Pinly couldn’t just stay there and cry, he followed as his brother pulled him up. They moved as fast as they could.

  “That’s enough!” Pinly heard the angry voice of the silver soldier. In a flash, he had reached them again. He impacted so violently with Pinly that the boy went flying back. He went through burning bushes. Pinly could barely move anymore and felt himself fainting. His body had made a hole through the bushes from which he saw the silver soldier raise his brother up by the neck with one hand, holding him up to the light of the flames like a prized possession. He could only watch as he fell back, unconscious.

  Chapter 5

  I’m leaving

  P inly woke up to the tickling sensation of fresh grass, but the smell of burnt wood. He sat up as he slowly opened his eyes. He winced at the searing pain in his shoulders, no, his whole body. One, two, three bloody bandages he counted wordlessly. He was covered with them. But wait, why was he outside? why was everything around him burnt down? and why was Miss Poli looking at him like that? She seemed so sad, her eyes were full of tears. Pinly began to heave with pain as it all came back to him.

  “Where are my parents Miss Poli? Where is Lion?” Pinly’s heart sank because he already knew the answer, but hoped to hear that somehow this had all been a nightmare, even though the proof was in front of him, in flames and ashes, he still hoped he was wrong, this couldn’t be true.

  “Sit down Pinly” Miss Poli said

  “Where is my family?” Pinly screamed “I’m not going to sit down! Just tell me where they are!” he wasn't sure whether he was screaming out of rage or just pain or both. “Not my family…” He sobbed

  “Pinly… They didn’t make it” she shook her head

  “Where are their bodies?” he choked on the words he never thought he’d have to ask.

  “They are by the library, with the others” She said. Pinly took off at full speed, Miss Poli followed him closely as he rushed towards Soubrey square. The whole city was incredibly quiet. There was only the sound of flames burning what little was left and a few voices calling out for their loved ones or crying. Then finally, he arrived at the scene. The most distressing of them all. The library was just a ball of metal now. It was reduced to nothing. But the most horrifying part was all the bodies carefully laid on the ground in rows, surrounded by candles. Their relatives mourning them, each in their own way. Pinly landed and walked around the bodies still hoping not to see what he knew was inevitable. His heart dropped when he saw Voly crying over his entire family, his little sisters; the twins were laid next to their parents, all motionless. He wanted to comfort him, but what he saw next made him fall on his knees. He gasped all the air out of his lungs when he saw his parents. Uncontrollable tears streamed down his face as he sobbed and crawled to them. He screamed in agony. It hurt even more than the blade that had gone through his arm earlier. It was far worse, it was his heart that was broken this time.

  “No, please, tell me this is just a nightmare” he held his parents’ already cold hands. They looked as though they were just sleeping. They would wake up if he shook them hard enough. But this was anything but a nightmare, it was real. He thought for air as if he was drowning. Miss Poli attempted to put a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off. The only touch he needed was that of his parents. The hands that had held him for as long as he could remember were limp. “I’ll save you” he muttered to himself as he hurried to put their hands together. Pinly raised his hands to the air and crossed his fingers, he then placed them over his parents' hands. He had to try the spell of life again, no matter what the cost “Come back to me!” he screamed. He dug for all the power he could gather, his aura surged out of him like a tornado. His heartbeat resonated out loud, blinding white light and wind swept across the field. The spell blew the thousands of candles out, plunging everyone in semi darkness, the only light was now coming from the moon where the trees allowed it. Roots rose from the ground began to wrap themselves around Pinly’s parents, but Nema and Kwassy did not move “No! Let go!” he shouted and ripped the roots off them, he tried the spell again and again, but nothing happened. It stopped working. Pinly, completely out of strength, just laid down between his motionless parents, holding their hands tight to his heart, tears falling down to his ears. Miss Poli sat by his side all night. The heartache didn't let him sleep that night, Pinly cried for most of it and only rose when the sun did.

  “You can come stay with me, if you want” Miss Poli said

  “No, I’m not going back to the village” Pinly said then wiped his face with his sleeve.

  “Where will you go? You’re too young…”

  “I can’t stay here! I have to leave, I don’t want to be one of you anymore” he said, determined. A weird feeling took over him as he looked at his folks, he didn’t feel safe, it was as though he couldn’t recognise them anymore. Soubrey had always been so safe, it was all he knew yet at that very moment just the sight of it was too much to bear.

  “Pinly, that’s too dangerous… What will you do on your own out there?” Miss Poli asked

  “Out there? Where did they take my brother? Where did they kill my parents? Right here! It’s not any less dangerous here” he shouted “Miss Poli I can’t”

  “Listen to Miss Poli, kid” a bearded fairy said, he seemed upset too "You’re not thinking clearly, fairies don’t fight, you’d be helpless out there” Pinly picked up a candle and threw it at him. He was about to pick up another one, but Miss Poli stopped him.

  “My family did! They fought to the end!” he turned to Miss Poli “And I couldn’t do anything to help them! I was so pathetic they didn’t even take me like the others…” he said to her

  “You’re just a kid…” the fairy said

  “I don’t care!” Pinly raised his voice again “You think it’s better for me to wait here with the rest of you? Wait for them to come back and kill us again? I can’t… I have to leave, my parents didn’t die in vain!”

  “Pinly…” Miss Poli said softly as he began to fly away

  “Please take care of them, bury them for me” Pinly said. Miss Poli tried to catch his eyes but he looked away. That would just make him burst into tears again.

  “Pinly, we’ve all lost loved ones” he heard her say but Pinly did not look back and disappeared into the forest.

  Chapter 6

  Grief

  O ver the few days he had spent on the road, Pinly developed a routine. He would wake up as soon as the sun rose, eat a few eggs then look for water, to bathe and drink— He was never too far from a pond— big ones on lucky days. When night fell he slept high up in the trees and flew just below the branches during the day, rarely ever touching the ground. “Which way should I go?” Pinly muttered to himself. He came across a small village of fairies one day but avoided being seen, the silver soldier again would probably get to them too. For now they lived as peacefully as he once did. After the fifth day, Pinly started to feel lonely, he had never been alone for so long, before there was always someone close by to keep him company. Ten days had passed when Pinly thought it would be a good idea to start singing to himself and it was a good distraction for a while, until it brought back the loneliness. He realised there was no one to sing the chorus of each song like he did with his mother or Lion if he was in the mood. Even seeing groups of animals together made him feel sad. Pinly often thought about what the fairy had said back in the Soubrey square: he was just a kid and Fairies weren’t fighters. It made him doubt himself a few times, wondering if he shouldn’t just turn back and bury his parents himself, do what any other fa
iry would have done, he wasn’t anything special after all. At times he hated himself for doubting so much, he who was too scared to jump off a cliff and into water, he who wasn’t able to master simple magic, he who was of no help, when his parents were in danger and his brother being captured… It seemed as though everyone had done their best except for him. But the main reason he doubted himself was that constant reminder on his forearm; the scar that the silver soldier had left him after stabbing him. He was so ashamed of it, for a few weeks, he could barely look down at it. Whenever he’d catch a glimpse of the scar, Pinly would break down and cry for hours, tears of sadness and anger.

  “I could have stopped it” He sobbed “I saw them… The eyes” this was the worst for him, to know that he had come across them before the attack and did not try hard enough to warn anyone. Pinly would punish himself for being so stupid, he would starve or hurt himself so that the pain was somewhere else then in his heart because that was where it hurt the most. He had all sorts of self-inflicted injuries around the scar, but none that would leave a permanent mark. The whole ordeal had to be his fault, “I should have warned them” he sobbed as he hit himself with his fists. One night, Pinly’s guilt had taken the best of him, his head ached with the memory of his loved ones, tears drowned his face as he cried with no restraint. When none of his usual self-harm worked, Pinly decided to take it to the next level, it didn’t matter in what state he ended up, but he had to replace his sadness with something, anything else. The fairy began flying as high as the trees reached then stood on a fragile branch. He could hear the wood slowly cracking under his feet, the branch gently tipping him over. He let his body go with it. Pinly began falling to what would probably be his last fall if he hit the ground. During the rapid fall, he felt both his wrists joining together as if tied up, a rope made of golden light had caught him and stopped him from hitting the ground, it suspended him in the air by the wrists and let him swing there for a while.