The other side was filled with immense trees unlike any he had ever seen before. They were high and pointy, even their leaves looked like tiny needles— the floor was covered with them. As he walked through, Pinly could hear the calls of strange animals, small shadows jumped from one branch to another.
“Pinly!” he finally heard, he ran towards Vince’s voice. “Don’t follow, this has to be a trap!”
Pinly already knew. Of course it was a trap, but there was no way he was staying behind. The rope flashed in between trees as it dragged Vince through the forest. Vince crashed against trees and drowned in huge puddles. Pinly chased after his friend, jumped on him to try and stop the rope, but he was dragged through the dirt too. The rope was too strong for him. The other golden rope came back from the direction the other was pulling Vince to. Pinly flew away. He dodged the whipping rope the best he could whilst still keeping an eye on Vince. It kept launching itself at him, wrapping around branches when it missed him. Pinly spiralled, landed, and jumped, manoeuvres the ropes had difficulties with.
The ropes slowed down and Pinly could see an unusual shape getting bigger as he moved towards it. Amongst the massive trees stood a small wooden house. Green moss completely covered the roof and walls as if it had been built here years ago. Finally, the rope chasing him retreated and the one dragging Vince stopped in front of the house. Vince was on his back, barely recognisable with all the mud covering him. Pinly tried to pull on Vince's shiny ropes. They vibrated with power but didn’t budge. It beamed with a magic he didn’t understand. It wasn’t something a fairy could wield. He was not powerful enough to counter it.
“Try and find something sharp,” Vince said.
In his search for anything that could cut the rope, Pinly looked up at the house. It seemed oddly familiar, as if he had been inside it before. It definitely did not belong here. It had to be magic, but what kind of magic was that? Who or whatever was behind all this had to be very powerful? He felt his body tremble at the thought of being face to face with a magical being he couldn’t fight.
The green, polished wooden door of the house was wide open, but the inside was pitch black. A hooded figure came out of the shadows, walking slowly towards them. Pinly was afraid but did not flinch.
“Stand back!” He stood tall, shielding Vince with his arms held wide. The hooded figure kept advancing regardless. Pinly leaped towards them as they passed the green threshold, but before he could strike, the hood came off. He gasped and came to an abrupt halt mid-air, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Miss Poli?!”
“You wouldn't want to hurt your old neighbour, now would you?” Smirking, Miss Poli swiftly raised her hand then twisted it. Pinly, distracted, didn't have time to dodge the shiny ropes that tightly wrapped around him. He fell to the ground as Miss Poli lowered her hand.
“What are you doing?” He struggled pointlessly.
“You know her?” Vince asked.
Pinly moved in anger. His aura exploded out of him. He could feel the rope tightening at his sudden outburst of power. He fought with all his strength to fly up but she pinned him back to the ground every time he rose. The clash of both powers made Pinly feel like he was bouncing.
“Why are you doing this?” Pinly kept struggling like a wild bird until he grew tired, and had to stop fighting so that he could catch his breath. “What are you?” He struggled to his knees to face her. She allowed him that much. tears fell down his face.
“I think we both know the answer to that,” she replied.
He dropped his head to the ground.
“We trusted you” he whispered, now shaking with sobs.
“Pinly, who is she?” Vince asked, but Pinly just turned on his back and stared at the trees. He remained motionless but could see her gaze from the corner of his eyes. He wasn't sure what to do anymore. Miss Poli was the last person he expected to see here. He knew she didn't approve of him venturing alone to find Lion, but he never thought she would take such drastic measures.
“Did you bury them?” he asked calmly, even though he had nothing but anger in him.
“I did.” She nodded. “As soon as you left”
“I asked you to wait.”
“I couldn't do that, Pinly. I had to go after you.”
“Who are you? Who is she?” Vince insisted.
“I don't know anymore,” Pinly replied. “Why are you doing this to us?”
“Because you cannot achieve what you've set out to do. You'd just be another dead fairy.” “That's my problem! Not yours!” His voice echoed around the woods.
Miss Poli remained calm. “I've been following you this whole time... I'm afraid I can't let you go ahead with this any longer.”
“Was it you in the park?” Pinly turned his face to look at her.
“Yes, it was me, and in the forest too.”
“Why now? Why didn't you stop me then?”
“I would have intervened earlier if you hadn't found your friend... I thought you needed one. It’s not my place or anyone’s to interfere with your healing, but if I can stop you from hurting yourself I will. Now it's time for you to come back home,” she said.
Pinly began to struggle again. “No, no! Don't you dare send me back there.” As he wiggled in fury, she watched with pity in her eyes. It made Pinly even angrier. He knew that was exactly how everyone else back home would look at him. He made more unsuccessful attempts at freeing himself. “They have Lion! I have to save him!” he cried out. “Let me go!”
“You haven't said his name in a long time,” she said.
It was true; in fact, Pinly realized Vince was hearing Lion's name for the first time. Pinly was now on his knees, his head against the ground again. He breathed heavily as he tried to bite off the ropes across the top of his chest, his jaws vibrated with the power of Miss Poli, it made it impossible to properly bite it. he finally gave up when he realised there was no getting out of it.
“I still don't know what you are,” Vince said in the silence.
“She's a witch!” Pinly said with hate. “If my parents knew back then…”
“They did, we thought it would be better to keep that a secret… Amongst other things.”
“You're a liar!” he screamed. “I'm not going back, I'll escape you as many times as I have to, until my brother is safe.”
Miss Poli waved her hand and the ropes disappeared. The boys quickly stood up. Roaring in rage, Pinly attempted to attack the witch. She sent him flying back, with a simple flick of the hand, before he could get close to her.
“Pinly, let's go!” Vince shouted.
Pinly hurried to follow him, but as they tried to run away, their legs were pulled back. They were tied to something invisible.
“I can't let you go, Pinly,” she said.
“Why? Why do you care so much? I'm not your responsibility!”
“Because I care for you!” She finally raised her voice; Pinly didn’t know how to respond. “I won't let you die recklessly like that.”
“Don't you care about Lion? He's still alive out there, I know he is! He has to be. He’s not allowed to leave me alone and I can’t leave him alone either!”
“I know, but you're too weak to fight these creatures. You don't stand a chance.”
“I thought you were one of the only people I had left, but now I hate you,” Pinly looked at Miss Poli with real loathing in his eyes. "I hate you!" he screamed and tugged on whatever was holding his leg. Finally free of it, he charged at the witch again. His aura had built up with the rage, Pinly let that power flow through his body then concentrated it in his hands. They filled with that murderous white light from before.
Miss Poli's face changed; she seemed more serious, angry too. She pointed a finger towards Pinly and a blast of wind knocked him to the ground
"Stop!" Vince stood in front of Pinly, his eyes closed as if he anticipated being blasted too. "What now? Just tell us, but don't do that anymore." He opened his eyes slowly as the blow didn’t come. Miss Poli looked a
t him for the first time.
"For now, we stay here and we wait."
"We wait for what?" Vince asked.
"We wait for Pinly to come to his senses." She went into the house and closed the door behind her.
Pinly laid on the ground for hours with a severe headache. They were still trapped in front of the house, not knowing what to do. Very few words were spoken during that time; they knew an escape was impossible, so they waited. Miss Poli finally came out again, carrying two hot plates. Steam rose from them and dissipated a few inches from her face. She put one down in front of Vince and one in front of Pinly. She served them sausages and potatoes; he hadn't seen a feast like that in a long while. Vince hurried to eat his.
"Vince!" Pinly felt irritated that Vince would just eat what she gave him without even giving it a second thought.
"What?" he replied with his mouth full. "She's obviously not going to poison us."
Miss Poli smiled. “I like him,” she said.
Vince kept stuffing his mouth. Pinly pushed his plate aside and snapped his fingers, materialising one of his usual eggs. Miss Poli immediately flicked her hand and the egg went flying into the forest, where it smashed against a tree.
"What was that for?" Pinly bellowed
"Magical food is not good for you."
"Pinly almost gave me one of those," Vince said before shoving more potatoes down his throat.
"Are you trying to kill him?" she asked. Pinly frowned, wondering what she was talking about. "He's a human, they can't eat magical food!"
"How was I supposed to know that? Everyone back home ate magical food and so did you!"
"There aren't any humans back home, only half humans and never have I ever eaten any of it" Miss Poli replied.
Pinly thought about it, but couldn't recall a day when she was at the table.
"Well, now we know," Vince said. Pinly raised his eyebrows at him, annoyed, then turned back to Miss Poli.
"It doesn’t matter anymore, now does it?" he asked.
"It matters more than ever, especially now that your parents are not here to protect you..."
"Leave them out of it!"
"So why isn't magic food good for anyone, then?" Vince asked.
"It’s complete rubbish. You may as well eat dirt and drink mud. This is why you are so weak, Pinly, and it's the same reason why no one in the village could defend themselves when they came for you."
"And where were you, since you're so strong?"
"I arrived too late..."
Pinly shook his head and turned around so he wouldn't have to see the pity in her eyes again.
"Why didn't you ever say anything to us? Why would you let us live like that?"
"I tried, many times... The wise men of the library didn't want to disturb your way of living. They thought that if the fairies knew about everything outside the village, good or bad, they would be tempted to leave... They wanted to keep you in your little bubble... Until it burst."
Pinly was at a loss for words. He didn't know who to blame anymore. Was he supposed to blame his father, who could have prevented all of it? Did his father really think he was protecting the village by letting them live in ignorance? These were questions he would never be able to ask now.
“How did a witch end up living amongst fairies, then?” Vince asked.
"You want to know my story?" she asked.
Pinly shrugged.
"Yes, please," Vince replied. Pinly turned towards him to show how annoyed he was with his positive attitude right now. The frown on his face couldn’t be any deeper.
"What? I'm interested," Vince said. Pinly shook his head and turned away again.
"Let me show you rather than just tell you," Miss Poli said.
Pinly didn't know what she had done, but he suddenly felt a great amount of heat behind him. Then the heat took shape, It quickly expanded all around them in blue flames as if the forest was going up in flames. Alarmed, Pinly hurried to Vince’s side. He on the other hand seemed gobsmacked. Soon Pinly couldn't see the woods anymore, but a town made out of blue light. It looked very much like Chavo, but the population was a lot different. There were men and women dressed in floor-length robes that reminded Pinly of the one his dad wore, except these people were not fairies, at least not the ones on the ground. He gaped at the creatures that flew above everybody else, their great wings flapping high and low. Were these fairies?
Vince gasped and pointed at a couple of men and children with pointy ears.
"Leprechauns!" Miss Poli seemed to share his enthusiasm.
"They must be quite something," Vince breathed.
"They are one of the most respected magical races, very powerful," she said.
"I would love to meet one. I have so many questions..." Vince spun around as though he didn't know where to look first. Pinly rolled his eyes.
"They have beautiful silver hair and green eyes that glow in the dark," Miss Poli continued.
Rage and pain began to mount inside Pinly, but not only that— fear! He was so afraid that if it wasn’t for the magical bond holding him down, he would have flown away. Green eyes? Silver hair? That was exactly like the silver soldier that had killed his parents. He wanted to say something, make her stop this at once, but he held his words back. This could be an even stronger reason for her to stop him from looking for his brother.
Vince was excited, too excited to notice what Pinly was going through right now. "Look at this guy." He pointed at a man with thick, goat-like horns.
"There were so many other prominent races back then," Miss Poli said.
"What happened?" Vince turned to Miss Poli as the blue flames changed the landscape. This time some of it represented real flames that raged over a battlefield. The ground was crammed with bodies from the races they had just seen walking around. Some had weapons still lodged in their wounds, and others were missing limbs. Pinly would have liked to continue ignoring what she showed them, but the scene was too familiar.
"A war broke out when the races discovered the hidden kingdoms," Miss Poli said.
"The hidden kingdoms?" Vince asked, unable to take his eyes away from the piles of dead bodies.
"Yes... Many races went extinct during the war."
The fire changed the scene again in a wave of flames; still on the battlefield, but focused on a witch crying over a pointy eared leprechaun. Pinly wasn't sure what about that witch seemed familiar, but he felt sure she was a younger Miss Poli. He didn't care that the man was a leprechaun, he still felt sorry for her. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one. He wanted to reach for her hand.
Real sadness filled her eyes when they locked gazes. Miss Poli nodded. "So many of us lost everything they had during that war," she said as they continued to watch her past self cry over the body of the leprechaun. Pinly was kicking himself for saying that he hated her earlier. He was to her, too, one of the only people she had left.
"The fairies, leprechauns, and wizards all left to live in the hidden kingdoms." A wild wind swept the blue flames away as she spoke. "The humans inherited the rest of the world that had been left in ruins... The few magical beings who stayed behind hid deep in the forests... But that was so long ago that humans think it to be legend," she finished.
"Are we in a magical country right now?" Vince asked with excitement.
“No, we’re still in Fiby. I couldn’t risk taking you to a magical country... War is on the way once again. I'm afraid that's why they were in our village..."
"Why our village?” Pinly asked. “I don’t understand, we have nothing to do with any of what you just told me."
"Every army needs to be built somehow, weapons need to be forged… labour needs to be found."
There was a long moment of silence. Pinly sat on the ground and put his head on his knees.
At last, he said, “So that means there’s a real chance that my brother is still alive, forced to work for them.” He felt so sad for his brother, yet hopeful. There was still a cha
nce that Lion was alive. Pinly had tried to convince himself this whole time that Lion was still out there somewhere, but now he knew it was more than possible.
"So how come Pinly doesn't have wings?" Vince asked.
"That's from generations of mixing with humans. Eventually his folks lost their wings."
"I did say it was weird, I thought he was a wizard at first."
"Vince, shut up!" Pinly burst out. Miss Poli chuckled.
"Oh no, Pinly will be much more powerful than a wizard when he learns to harvest his true power," she said.
“He’ll be much more powerful than you, then?”
“I’m not a witch anymore, I’m a mage.”
"So how come I've never seen a fairy with wings?" Pinly asked.
"You've never really ventured far enough to see them. They rarely, if ever, come out of Mendy."
"So that's what it's called!" Vince got up on his feet.
"Mendy, you say?" Pinly asked.
"Yes, that's what the fairies named their kingdom. It means ‘the winged’... The other kingdom, or should I say empire, is Vikha, land of the Wizards, witches and mages. Jahny, kingdom of the leprechauns and the rest of the world..."
"Fiby, land of the humans," Vince finished. "Have you ever been to Mendy?"
"No." She shook her head. "Unless they are invited, only fairies can go into Mendy. It's protected by one of the most powerful enchantments."
"I reckon I could sneak in," Vince nodded to himself, making Miss Poli chuckle again. But Pinly wasn't amused.
"I can't do anything with what you just told me. It won't give me my brother back," he said.
"Then you haven't listened to anything I've just said," Miss Poli replied.
"Maybe not." Pinly crossed his arms.
"I've listened!" Vince said brightly.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Obviously your side, P, but she might be right. What if we meet those creatures? What then? You can't fight them, and I definitely can't do anything more than you can."
Made of Magic and True Grit Page 11