by Mary Dublin
The resulting impact was nothing consequential to his ears. He was shocked, upon investigating, to find the tiny warrior hung limply across two spindly branches. The wings—so much like Sylvia's—stuck out rigidly. Wary still, Cliff reached out a hand and pinched her sides. The fairy did not so much as stir as he pulled her out of the tree. Sprawled across his hand, he felt a funny relief to see her chest was still rising. Cliff hastily stowed her at the base of the nearest tree and backed away.
"Nothing personal," he assured her.
As he rose to his feet once more, an eerie silence had taken hold of the woods. No bursts of light or buzzing wings. Nothing. His eyes narrowed as he peered around. At five inches tall, an ambush could come from anywhere.
Without warning, a tiny figure descended from the branches overhead and flew in front of Cliff's face. The hunter stopped short and raised his hands in self-defense, his gun leveling at a familiar face.
"Relax, it's me!" Damian kept his hands lowered, panting. Up close, Cliff could see a few singe marks on his clothing. "I drew the three of them toward me. Amazing, how people throw strategy out the window when lightning is tossed at them." He gave a breathless laugh and backed off, looking around warily. "Anyway, I shook them. They split up once I hid, and I, uh… incapacitated the one that was heading back to the village to alert the other guards. The other two are still out there. They think backup is coming."
Cliff looked oddly relieved. "Nice work, Sparky."
Damian pulled a face at the name, but went on urgently all the same. "It's your turn to be bait. Last I saw, one of them was closing in. Get her attention, and I'll sneak down on her once she's distracted." With that, the fairy flew upwards and disappeared back into the branches. "And no killing!" he added from above.
"Yeah, yeah," Cliff grumbled under his breath. He shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans as he wandered between a pair of beefy pines. Their needles prickled his neck and swept across the canvas of his jacket. He was unconcerned with subtlety now. One good thing about being the big guy around—he was a hard target to miss.
Sure enough, he saw a small, feminine silhouette separate from the shrubbery a few meters away, coming to a stop at the same time as him. Cliff squinted and leaned forward a bit. He was pretty sure it was a woman, anyway.
"Hey there," he called, ambling forward with an easy smile. "Busy night out here, isn't it?"
The shadows gave nothing away on the woman's face, but she began to back away, clearly spooked as Cliff moved toward her at a steady pace.
"You know," he said with an irreverent cock of his head. "I heard that if you catch a fairy, they have to grant you a wish. So… hold still for me."
Her tiny shoulders rose and fell with a sharp breath, and she stopped, holding her place in the air. She cocked her head at him, and raised her hands.
"You clearly have a death wish," she said with surprising confidence, hands igniting with bright yellow fire that illuminated the scowl on her face. "I'll gladly grant that. You stay away from our home, human!"
Cliff came to a swift stop when Damian swooped down and locked an arm around the guard's shoulders, his free hand sparking with electricity. She cried out and struggled, but before she could break free or see her ambusher, he pressed his palm to the back of her neck. The woman's body jolted, but at the last moment she threw her hand out toward Cliff, sending a bullet of fire his way in a panicked act of desperation. He howled, moving quickly to smother the sparse flames on the collar of his jacket with his sleeve. The heat bled through the numbing sensation that still affected his shoulder, sending prickles of pain to He clenched his teeth together.
"Sorry!" Damian called, slipping his free arm under the unconscious woman's knees so she wouldn't sail to the ground. "Didn't think she'd do that."
"Girl's got good aim," Cliff grunted.
Noticing how Damian was straining slightly under the other fairy's limp weight as he flew closer, the hunter extended an open hand just beneath them. He could see the apprehension written on the tiny fairy's face, and he struggled not to roll his eyes.
"I'm not gonna hurt her," Cliff added for good measure.
"Yeah, why would you want to hurt someone who tried to burn you alive?" Damian scoffed. Nonetheless, he hesitantly lowered the guard's motionless body onto Cliff's palm. The fairy backed off immediately once he was able to, fixing the hunter with a more serious look. "You should hide her somewhere around here. She'll be unconscious for a few hours."
Cliff shuffled his feet amongst the fallen leaves and twigs decorating the forest floor. Backtracking through the moonlight thicket, he managed to find the tree where he'd laid the other guard to rest. Crouching down amongst the roots, he shuffled her next to her teammate. The little body slid limply, and he had to adjust a few of her limbs manually to fit in the narrow gap.
Damian perched on a branch over Cliff's head, folding his wings loosely.
"The other guard out there is Aiden. Don't underestimate him," he said firmly. "Offensive magic isn't his thing, but… well, mind magic is just as dangerous as fire or lightning. Maybe more."
"I'll keep my guard up. Where is he?"
"As far as I know, he's headed in the other way looking for me, but he could double back at any moment."
He paused, gazing at the guard near Cliff's hand with a pensive expression that suddenly turned incredulous. Damian dragged both hands down his face.
"Can't believe I did that," the fairy said with a groan. "She didn't see me, but it wouldn't be hard to figure it out. I mean, how many lightning affinity friends does Sylvia have?" He looked back down at the guard and shook his head. "I doubt any of them actually want Sylvia dead. Hell, I doubt all of them even know she's supposed to be executed." Damian paused and looked at Cliff. "They're not… like that. They only want to protect the village, and they really think they are. From you."
"I get it." Cliff tore his gaze from the tiny, unmoving bodies. Slapping his hands on his knees, he stood up and threw Damian a wry smile. "Still doesn't make this any more fun."
Damian moved down from the branch, wings buzzing. With a little more confidence now, he lingered before Cliff's face and let those huge green eyes come to focus on him.
"Aiden's a pretty well-respected guard. If he would just listen…" He trailed off and sighed sharply. "Let's double back. Sylvia likes Fog Lake. Maybe that's where she went. Finding her is all we can do right now. The sooner, the better.”
***
With a sigh of resignation, Jon slipped his hands in his jacket pockets and leaned against the spindly tree trunk of a willow tree. It was obvious Sylvia wasn't going to be coming willingly to him any time soon.
"I scared her." His voice was soft, but it still jarred the little fairy hovering near him. He looked from Rebecca to his boots, head hung shamefully.
"She bonded to me when she saved my life. So to save her, I had to get her to… do this to me." He raised his roughly bandaged hand and turned it over for illustration. "I wouldn't blame her if she refuses to come within a mile of me now."
Rebecca stared at him, lips parted. "So, you're the one she healed."
The one who got her in trouble, Jon practically heard her think. To his surprise, her expression became sympathetic and strangely hopeful.
"I'm a healer. Well… a healer in training. But I know bonds are tricky business," she said softly, sounding far less agitated with him. She cleared her throat. "But she healed you in the first place, didn't she? Clearly she saw something… worth saving. We can't stop now. Maybe she's not hiding. We probably just haven't reached her yet."
Jon raised his eyes to Rebecca, hope sparking within him. She didn't shy away from him at the knowledge of what he'd done, though her tone made him question yet again how well she could read him. He followed after her at a distance, not wanting her to hear the care still deeply rooted when he said her name, just above a whisper.
As had been the case all night, the only reply was a whispering breeze cutting through
the trees. Jon shivered. The summer night was a strangely chilly one. No sooner than he thought that, a cry of surprise came from behind him. He whirled around and saw Rebecca flying back hastily for him.
"There's another fairy around here somewhere," she said in a hushed voice when she was close enough. "Fog Lake is covered in ice!"
Thirty
Rustling came from afar. Damian pulled to a hover, watching as Cliff followed his gaze to a cluster of willows in the distance. They weren't far from the break between the pines and the home willows now. They were getting close to Fog Lake. A small jolt of fear ran through Damian when he saw the towering form of another human break off from the treeline, but he relaxed when he recognized him as Jon, accompanied by Rebecca's much smaller form.
"Maybe they're onto something," muttered Cliff, starting toward his friend.
As Damian was about to follow after the human, a buzzing of wings descended behind him. Before Damian could whirl around, a pair of hands clasped an iron grip on his shoulders and wrenched him back, forcing his wings shut. He cried out in alarm, prompting a hand to clamp over his mouth. His assailant was a moment too late; his shout carried a good distance. Cliff's head turned, finding his gaze for a fleeting second before he was hoisted higher under a curtain of leaves.
With a growl of frustration, the guard dragged him upward onto a sturdy branch and pinned Damian against the trunk. Damian would have tried to defend himself, but it was difficult to breathe, let alone utter an incantation, with a forearm lodged against his throat. Gasping for air, he resigned himself to staring at Aiden's scowling face and wondering how much the guard had heard and seen.
Down below, a steady thudding heralded the return of the blonde hunter. Damian half-expected a gunshot to ring out, but thankfully it seemed Cliff had the good sense not to use his weapon.
"I don't want to hurt you, Damian," the guard growled. "I really don't. But if you try to pull a spell on me, you'll be on the ground before you can make so much as a spark."
Still struggling to breathe, Damian nodded as best he could. Aiden mercifully moved his arm away from his throat while keeping him pinned.
Aiden leaned in closer. "Now, calmly. Tell me why you're helping humans kill us."
"We haven't killed anyone," Damian hissed. "And we're not trying to! We're only trying to save Sylvia. The Council wants her dead!"
Aiden's expression didn't change. "I know. With humans running around, we can only assume that she's returned to—"
The entire tree shook. Both fairies looked down to find Cliff grasping a low-hanging branch and hoisting himself up. Not too much farther, and he could reach them. Aiden narrowed his eyes, expression hardening. But he didn't look very troubled. If anything, he looked vaguely intrigued.
"It could be interesting to find out just how fragile a human mind is," Aiden muttered to Damian. The guard raised his voice to reach the human's ears. "What have we ever done to you?" His tone was filled with disgust. "We stay out of you humans' way, we keep to ourselves. Why couldn't you just leave us alone?"
"Trust me, I didn't ask be mixed up in this." Cliff's booming voice was strained as he pulled himself up to their branch.
The guard released Damian and pushed away when a massive hand launched up toward them. Aiden was expecting it, so Cliff missed the first time he reached, almost closing his hand around Damian before he wrenched it away and tried again. The second time, he was successful, snagging the guard's leg. Damian had to admit it was downright horrifying to watch someone be pulled into a hand and shut away in a fist.
But something was off. It was almost as if Aiden had allowed it to happen in the end.
"You okay, kid?" Cliff glanced up to Damian as he climbed down.
"Wait!" Chest heaving, Damian brought his wings buzzing to life. He flew to follow Cliff to the ground. "Let him go! Direct contact makes his magic worse!"
No sooner than Cliff's feet landed on solid ground, his knees buckled. Damian knew it wasn't from the landing, but from an inexplicable wave of agonizing pain that seemed to take over the human's body. He felt his stomach drop as the realization hit Cliff's face. Those green eyes went wide, streaks of red amongst the whites as he battled for control. His breathing turned into short gasps while the agonizing spell was whispered into his skin.
"Aiden, stop it!" Damian shouted, swallowing his trepidation and flying near the Cliff's fist that held the guard captive. "It doesn't have to be like this!"
His plea only urged the guard further. Damian clapped his hands over his ears and lurched backward as Cliff let loose a scream of pain.
***
Sylvia was on her hands and knees at the edge of the lake, hands submerged up to her wrists. She hadn't moved since arriving. Her head was lowered, arms numb and shoulders stiff. The shallows by the shore were frozen solid, and beyond that, the ice thinned and gave way to the rest of the lake. Even if all of it hadn't gone solid, the entirety of the water had to be freezing cold by then.
She could feel herself fading in and out, exhausted by her magic. Good. It was easier not to think.
A sound of from the edge of the clearing made her head snap up. The ice parted around her wrists, allowing her to pull her hands out and stand up shakily. She turned and staggered back as something huge emerged from between the trees. She clenched her jaw, recognizing the silhouette.
"No," she murmured, dropping her chin and squeezing her eyes shut. Jon wasn't supposed to be here. She had gone out of her way to be alone. No one was supposed to see how weak she really was. She swiped the frosty tear trails from her face.
Finally, she made herself face him again, neither backing away nor drawing closer as Jon approached, his wide eyes locked on her. It was then that she realized a fairy was with him too—Rebecca. That would explain why Jon had the silver pupils of a night eyes spell. It was like a dream, seeing two people together from entirely different realms of Sylvia's life. She began to wonder if she would wake up soon and find that she had frozen the entire lake solid.
Jon came to a stop. Not too close, but close enough that she had to look high up at him. Her stomach churned. Mere hours ago, they'd been in the same position, except he'd had a gun pointed at her and she'd been delusional from the bond.
"What do you want?" Sylvia asked hollowly.
Jon's breath came out visibly in the cold air surrounding them. He looked down upon Sylvia with a rush of emotions on his face that she couldn't begin to identify in the darkness.
"You're in danger. Your mother was trying to warn you. I'm not asking you to come with me this time. But Sylvia, you have to get out of here. If you go back to the village, you'll die."
Sylvia's stoic expression shattered. Her wings twitched, but she doubted she would make it far with the exhaustion of her spellwork weighing her down.
"What do you mean?" she asked, shuffling a couple steps back and trying to regain a semblance of a stony glare.
"The Council has ordered you to be executed," Rebecca said, flying down from Jon's level to land in front of Sylvia.
The two fairies regarded each other for moment before Sylvia's expression hardened. "So my execution needed to be ordered before you decided to speak to me again?"
Rebecca blinked, taken aback. "Really? That's what you want to talk about right now? Sylv, I've been going out of my way trying to save you, and you've…" She trailed off and glanced around at the icy patch of land and water. "What did you even do here? Why?"
Sylvia's eyes flickered to the expanse of spiraling frost. "I didn't mean to. No incantations, it just… happened. I lost control."
Rebecca shook her head and scoffed. "You threw a tantrum, dewdrop. Don't try to make it sound so sophisticated."
Sylvia curled her fists at her sides, fingernails digging into her palms. For a moment, she forgot Jon was there. "You can't even begin to imagine what I've been through! You don't get to tell me—" She stopped short when a shout of pain exploded in the distance, unmissable in the quiet night breeze. Eyes wide
, Sylvia sharply looked up at Jon. "That sounds like… was that Cliff?"
He was already backing away, the alarm plain on his face. His eyes moved to Rebecca, imploring. "Make sure she gets out of here. Please."
With that, he turned tail and ran for the willows.
Rebecca didn't move, but a pale mist of breath passed her lips as she gasped. "Damian was with Cliff," she said quietly. She hesitated, running a hand through her dark hair before she made her decision and grabbed Sylvia's wrist, pulling her in the opposite direction of Cliff's shout. "Let's get you away from here."
Sylvia never took her eyes off the edge of the clearing where Jon disappeared to. "I don't think so." She wrenched her wrist free and started after him.
***
Jon found Cliff lying on his back. The sprawling roots under his back must have been uncomfortable, but that appeared to be the least of his worries. The man was completely incapacitated, suffering from some invisible ailment. He barely seemed to see Jon as he knelt down by his friend's side.
"Cliff, what's going on? What happened to you?"
Aiden hovered above a low branch and watched silently, dilated eyes still fixed on the blonde human. He groaned under his breath, already feeling fatigued from the powerful spell. On top of that, his entire body was painfully sore from being squeezed in the hunter's fist. When the other human arrived, his scowl intensified.
Looking between the two humans helplessly, Damian dared to approach the guard with caution, knowing trying to attack would only make matters worse. "Aiden, please… they aren't after the village. They aren't hunting us."
"You mentioned Sylvia." The guard was toneless. "It's just as the Council said. She brought them. My orders are to take her to the Council or kill her myself if I must."
Before Damian could stop him, Aiden flew downward and focused his energies away from the blonde human, instead focusing on the new one. Assuming his first victim was unconscious, he drew dangerously close to the pair of hunters, pupils widening as he began the incantation again. The spell was renewed on the dark-haired human, and Aiden already began to see darkness creeping into his vision from weariness.