“Wes! Wes! Can you hear me! Hold on! Look at me! Look at me!”
An annoying high-pitched little fairy.
“Blast it Wes! You're not dying on your first Challenge! Especially not on my watch!”
That wouldn't let me sleep.
“And especially not because I was panicking too much earlier!”
And really, really liked to yell.
“Okay, (huff).... Okay, a Dark Icon's curse... the bloody one...I can still handle this... Healing Wind, followed by Corrected Flow, and Renewing Drops. Here we go.”
Great. Still talking. And now she's poking me.
Worst coma ever.
Wait... Do people talk to themselves in comas?
My eyelids cracked back open.
A little pink woman was flying all around me, making hand gestures and talking nonsense words that somehow made me feel better. The warm feeling left, replaced by a painful, wet coldness originating from my hip, to be replaced again by a newer, healthier warmness that made it easier to think.
“Wes! Wes!” The prettiest of the little fairies shouted at me. Which one was it again? Breena. It was Breena. Did I even learn any of the other pixies' names?
Why was I hanging around fairies anyway?
Wasn't I practically a grown man?
“Wes!” the pretty but extremely annoying tiny woman shouted. “Can! You! Hear me!”
“Yes,” I moaned. “And ow.”
“Oh thank all the lost Icons!” The little fairy buzzed over to my neck and wrapped her tiny arms around it. The feeling would have felt pleasant, if I was less self-conscious about her being a tiny fairy. Also, she was choking me. That was a problem too. But she let go after I made my first choking gurgle.
“Sorry!” She gasped. “And don't ever do that again!” She suddenly shouted, waiving a tiny sparkling finger at me. “You don't face the final part of a Challenge alone and unprepared! That could've gone much worse! You could have already been killed! Killed, Wes!”
Good Lord her voice could get shrill.
“Please stop yelling.” I said, pushing on the ground to raise my face off the floor. “And don't I come back when I die anyway?”
“Yes! Eventually! But doesn't mean you should go around doing it! People are 'eventually' okay after stabbing themselves in the leg or setting their hair on fire! But you don't see everyone going around bald, crispy, and with bloody legs! Give me one could reason why you couldn't wait for me to finish up in the other room!”
Still shrill. Still yelling.
“Didn't I tell you?” I asked with another wince. I sat up and grasped my head. Whatever Breena had done had fixed my leg, but I had a colossal headache for some reason. “That I had to save the others? That we were short on time? And that you needed to stop yelling at me?” I let out another groan. “Because I'm pretty sure we already talked about all of that.”
“Yes, but you still should have waited!” Breena insisted. In concession to my aching head, she had lowered her voice a tiny bit. It seemed like it just made her angrier. “I'm a water-and-air sprite! I can heal injuries well even at my weakest stage. I was able to fix all of the serious injuries in the other room with just a handful of spells!” She pointed out with her tiny hand. “Even when it comes to the Horde's abuses, I can save and restore any of my own kind easily! The only thing I can't fix is if they've been submerged in the Horde Pit. And that's mostly because nothing can pull someone out of a Horde Pit!”
“What do you mean?” I asked, shifting to look at her. I probably had an angry look on my face. Because I hate it when people try to make me think hard on a headache. Especially a post-gotten-stabbed one “They already put a fairy in there earlier. The pink one, the only pink one other than you. They threw her in there. That was why I hurried.”
“The pink one?” Breena's eyes snapped wide. “Petal-bell? They threw her in there? Are you sure?” I nodded, and Breena covered her mouth and began heaving.
“No.... oh Icons...what have I done...what have I let them do...Petal-bell,” The heaves became sobs. “What am I gonna tell your mother, your sisters?” She continued. “Petal-bell's gone.... I should have been there...”
“She's not gone,” I stated angrily. “Get a hold of yourself. Stop crying and yelling at everyone. She flew away with the others. I thought you checked on her already.”
My little friend's head shot back up.
“I did,” she said suddenly. “That's right, I did. She was unharmed. Just really frightened.” Breena buzzed directly in front of me, looking even angrier. “Why did you tell me she was in the pit then?”
“Because I found her there,” I said, enunciating every word slowly, and in total exasperation. “And then I pulled her out. What is wrong with you? Good Lord. I need to ask Stell if they make Pro-zac for fairies. Or pixies, or sylphs, whatever you call yourselves.”
“Sprite-folk, technically,” Breena answered in a distracted tone. Then she did another take. “And what do you mean you pulled her out of the Pit? That's impossible!”
“Apparently not if you use both hands,” I said sarcastically. My conscience popped up and pointed out that I should be nicer to the woman who had just healed my leg. But this whole mess was my conscience's fault, so I snarled at it and told it to shut the hell up. I get cranky after I get stabbed in the leg, apparently. Sue me.
“Really?” Breena asked, tilting her head in confusion. “That's all you had to do? And it worked?”
“Yes.” I said firmly. “Basic safety techniques for public swimming pools. Reach, throw, go with assistance. Except that I actually had to jump in to go pull her out on my own.”
“You what?” Breena shrieked in a squeaky voice- the kind dog toys make right before they die. “You went into the pit? Are you crazy?”
“I! Don't! Know!” I replied, finally shouting back. My head hurt, my leg was numb, and I was still getting yelled out. I'd had it. “But since I'm arguing with a tiny glowing woman? Without the use of mushrooms? Probably!”
Thank God, Jesus, and Buddha, that finally shut her up.
“And I only did it because all the other little hallucinations asked me to! And it sounds like you already cut them slack, because like me and everybody else around here, they've had a bad day! So please extend the same courtesy to me, since I'm just the poor guy who tried to save everyone, and all that I've gotten out the deal is a stab wound from my very first medieval knife fight!”
Well, technically the weapon was closer to a sword, that I decided to keep. But that wasn't the point right now. And thankfully Breena finally agreed.
She flew around me, examining me all over, then started muttering again. She gestured at me, and some dusty sparkles flew over me. My headache finally started to vanish, and the numbness in my leg fled.
“Wes,” she began again, much quieter. “I'm sorry. And thank you for saving all my friends. I forgot you don't know anything about the Horde.”
“I don't,” I admitted. “Except that they are small, have whole lot of disgusting habits and are violently opposed to making people not want to kill them.”
“Actually, Wes,” Breena began carefully. “This went really, really well. Normally, when a Smear of Horde emerges, the locals struggle with them for a long time, as the best-case scenario.”
That was probably because the Horde had never decided to emerge in my home state, I reflected. Seriously, even the arseholes in my crappy home town wouldn't have let these guys reach the ten-minute mark. Being that vile, and that easily punt-able, is just asking to be used as stress relief.
“As the worse-case scenario,” Breena continued. “The Horde grows enough to fully conquer and corrupt several of the local countries and becomes a full-blown Trial, and quickly moves past that to become a Tumult. There are legends of what they've done in the past, legends that we've worked hard to ensure stay accurate, in case the Horde ever found a way to come back. And for over a thousand years they haven't, Wes. We worked so hard to completely stamp them
out. We thought we did, but we kept records just in case. In case someone figured out how to renew one of their old Pits. And they did.” Breena added, looking around. “We have to get in touch with Stell and the Icons so that they can send someone strong enough to...destroy...the...pit.” Her eyes were resting on where the nasty muck had come from. The pit of dirty water was slowly evaporating. In spite of that seeming slowness, however, it had already diminished by over half of its original size. It was currently less than two feet deep and continued to shrink before my very eyes. We both continued to watch it, and in five minutes the water had completely evaporated.
Breena looked at me again, her mouth silently forming the question “how?”
“I just zapped it until it died,” I said with a shrug. “Was I not supposed to know how to do that?”
Seriously, I thought, why was everyone so surprised I figured out how to do the job they gave me? Did they lose a handbook they were supposed to give me? Was there a free training seminar I forgot to stop at on the way and get coffee from?
I heard the last drop in the pit sizzle into nothingness. When it did so, the ground rumbled again. I felt something surge within me. I suddenly felt stronger, healthier, more aware, and more confident. And I felt my inner self suddenly flex, like it wanted to push out again.
The Woadland's Icons have acknowledged Challenger Wes Malcolm's accomplishment in ridding their world of an ancient threat. Their recognition increases the power gained from overcoming a Challenge.
Wes Malcolm's muscles and reflexes have undergone trial by combat. His success has improved his Strength, Dexterity and Constitution by one level, respectively.
His repeated use of magic and resistance to dark curses have sharpened his Intelligence and Wisdom by one level, respectively.
Mother Grove approves of your actions and views you with more favor.
Lady Titania approves of your actions and views you with more favor.
The Stag Lord approves of your actions and views you with more favor.
Great Pan rejoices in your accomplishment and holds you in esteem.
The Bloody-Horned Huntsman resents your interference and now views you with disfavor.
Huh, I said to myself with another wince as my mind-screen updated. Nothing about the Woad Princess this time. And the thing about the bloody guy was new. Also, killing toddler-sized monsters in so many different ways was good for my growth. I turned to comment to Breena, when static suddenly leaped into my mind. Unlike with the eye-screen, these words were in a difference font, and both phrases appeared at once, super-imposing over each other at random.
Traitor-prince. Malus will find you.
Hold fast. Invictus knows your name.
The fonts continued battling in my mind for an entire epileptic minute before dissolving away. I clutched my head in confusion. My thoughts were all scattered, and it took a moment before I think clearly about where I was and what I was just doing. It didn't exactly hurt, but it had felt like someone had grabbed me and shaken me violently for a few moments.
Actually scratch that, because back home shaking my head really does hurt me.
The point was, it had become really hard to think, and it stayed that way for many long moments.
“Wes?” Breena asked. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said after another minute. “Just a really bad upload to my mind-screen. I think I need to have Stell take a look at it.”
“What?” the little fairy said with a cock of her head. “It's not supposed to be able to hurt you. All it's supposed to do is make you more aware.”
“Well, in the process of making me aware of what Malus and Invictus thought of me, it almost flipped my brain over.”
“What?” the little fairy shrieked. “Why would you even joke about that?”
I face the little woman and gave her my best glare.
“Breena,” I said, cutting her off before she could scream at me anymore. “I completed your Challenge, saved your friends, and made all but one of your Icons happy. Are we really gonna have another fight about something I don't even understand?”
For a moment she didn't answer me. She just hovered right there and starting huffing.
“No. But... Ugh! This is so! Frustrating!”
She clenched her fists and pumped them down, much like my sister would during fights with my mom. “You're breaking all the rules, Wes!” The little fairy griped. “All the rules! And it's only your first day!”
I gave up. We were going to be here all day if I kept trying to get my questions answered. This place was damp and cold and dark and I didn't feel like getting yelled at anymore.
“Breena,” I said. “I'm getting up. We'll work out all of this in the sunlight. I'm tired of this place. Did we get all of the Horde? And are the sprite-kin or fairies or whatever alright?”
“Fine,” the pink little woman sighed. “And I'm sorry I blew up again. We'll talk about it when we get out.”
All the rooms looked clear. The fairies we found turned out to be the only hostages. Well, the only living hostages. Apparently, the Horde had eaten all the animals they had captured. Their remains were both in that slaughter-room we had passed as well as the pit. The sight of both had successfully cured my new appetite, confirming that I could get both hungry and nauseous in this projected body.
The fairies were all slowly healing, thanks to Breena's magic. The male with the broken leg seemed weak, but no longer in pain. He could now flutter slowly and gave me a tiny thumbs up. The other two that had been in the room with him also gave me a wan smile.
“They'll keep healing, right?” I asked Breena.
Watching people get hurt is hard. Even if they have wings and sparkle.
In fact, watching creatures so tiny and so helpless get hurt is even harder.
“Yes, Wes, they'll be okay,” Breena said, looking at me with a smile. But her tiny eyes were watery, and I could tell how much she had been worried about her friends and how that worry was probably the reason she had been yelling so much. But I think my own concern for her adopted family comforted her. “Lady Titania's champions are coming for them, and they'll be able to help them more than we can. They're tougher than they look, and this damage is recoverable. We got here in time for them. These three will be as good as new by the end of the week. Even the nightmares will go away in time.”
“Good,” I said, relieved. I waved back at the tiny creatures, and they smiled at me and chattered in some other language. We walked past them to head into the next room.
“Wait,” a halting voice said.
I turned and saw the other four fairies, the ones in cages that I had rescued from the larger, freakier Horde beast.
The red-glowing one had spoken up, flying a little higher so that I could see her. I figured what was coming and braced myself for it. I remembered the last time a little kid had walked over to me in church, how all of the other adult's heads suddenly locked onto me, watching my every movement. Now another tiny person was coming near me, and although she looked like a miniature adult, I could still feel everyone's eyes watch me.
And I didn't want to believe it, but I knew what they were thinking.
That monster, that depraved thing that had terrified and tortured one of them, had found a kinship in me. It was one I didn't understand, and one I had rejected with every fiber of my being. But I wasn't stupid. People back home, who had known me for far longer than these little women did, had chosen to suspect me of the most heinous crimes imaginable- and they had done so with no evidence whatsoever. Given what these women had witnessed, they had to be terrified of me, and I dreaded what would happen as soon as Breena and Stell heard the full story.
“Thank you for saving us,” she said softly. “We're sorry you were injured on our behalf. And that you had to endure that monster's awful speech.”
“You're welcome,” I said automatically, then processed the second half of her statement. “Wait, what?”
“Wait, what?” Breena
echoed next to me.
“The monster that caged us tried to recruit the Challenger.” The tiny red woman said as she turned to my friend. I saw Breena's eyes widen, and I tried to hide my wince.
Here it comes, I thought.
“That's ridiculous!” Breena shouted, even louder than she had before. “What was it thinking? It had to have known that Wes would've already killed the rest of its Smear!”
“We know,” the tiny red woman sang back. “The Challenger had even rescued Petal-bell from the Pit, but it still chose to believe that he could do so because he was somehow in league with the Horde. Even the Pit itself tried to enlist him,” the little red fairy shuddered, then looked at me. “That must have been horrifying for you, sir knight. For someone as kind and brave as you to deal with such wretched offers.”
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