Having read every single Feyland story, I’m very familiar with the world’s delights … and its dangers. “On Guard” was inspired by a family vacation where my twelve-year-old grandson was so entranced by a video game that he lost track of time and had to be coaxed into family activities. I could easily imagine my grandson playing Feyland, but “On Guard” was born when I decided to make his pet Norwegian Forest cat the hero of the tale.
Deb Logan writes Children's, Tween, and Young Adult fantasy. Her stories are light-hearted tales for the younger set—or ageless folk who remain young at heart. Author of Faery Unexpected and the popular Dani Erickson series, Deb loves dragons, faeries and all things unexplained. She's especially fond of Celtic and Native American lore. Faeries and Dragons and Thunderbirds, Oh My!
Visit her at http://deblogan.wordpress.com to learn more about her work, and be sure to join her newsletter list for an exclusive free story.
An Artist’s Instinct
by Andrea Luhman
TUCKING A STRAND of layered brown hair behind one ear, Agatha took a deep breath, and hummed out a note of approval. It was easy to appreciate how Rerun’s Fashion Boutique had none of the stale musty smells common to secondhand stores. She needed this, a little retail therapy to help ease her frustration over another failed show choir audition.
Agatha heard the whispers nearby.
“She’s got money to throw away, why is she in here?”
“They should just post on the door, no chip children allowed.”
She heard things like that often enough, usually when she was spotted shopping in a store like Reruns. She was Agatha McKnight after all, the daughter of Alejandra McKnight, opera star royalty. People paid a lot of money to see her mom perform, which according to some, meant Agatha should be dressed head to toe in fresh designer labels. Agatha hated those assumptions. As if people on a tight budget held exclusive rights to being offended by the markup on retail clothing. Or because her family had money she was supposed to pay more for everything. That was so unfair.
Agatha passed the whisperers and ignored them. She only battled trolls in her favorite sim game Feyland. She recognized the petite redheaded manager, Shannon, who bobbed around the racks of old millennial formal wear.
“Jane, lets add those to this rack,” Shannon said.
Agatha looked over, curious to see who Jane was. As a loyal patron of Reruns, Agatha took pride in knowing all the sales staff. The Jane holding an armload of dresses was the same Jane Nestle that Agatha went to school with. The little Agatha knew of Jane she liked. Jane was a smart girl, who ditched designer clothes to wear on-trend garments she crafted herself by hand.
Shannon took dresses from Jane one at a time. “Hi, Agatha,” Jane said, smiling over the heaping mess of tulle and satin in her arms. “We were in chem together last semester, remember?”
“Of course, you scored a ninety-eight on the final and blew the curve.”
“Right,” Jane’s smile faded, replaced with a look of anxiety, like she was afraid Agatha was upset about her smarts.
“You killed it, that was prime,” Agatha said, and Jane’s face relaxed again. “Are you working here as the new part-time?”
“Yes. Are you shopping for the winter formal?”
“I might be,” Agatha said. “Are you going?”
Jane shook her head as she passed a final dress to Shannon. “No, but I’m on the planning committee for prom. I have to go to that. Seems wrong to plan a party and not go to it myself.”
Agatha shrugged. “I might skip the winter formal, but I am going to prom. Even if it means I have to go by myself.”
There was a brief, awkward silence. Jane looked like she had something to say, but Agatha pivoted towards another dress rack. She didn’t want to discuss her love life—or lack of it—right there in the shop.
“Do you want to see the dress Shannon let me put on hold?” Jane asked.
Agatha stopped browsing, her eyebrows raising with interest. A distraction would be nice.
“I can show you, it’s in the back.” Jane beckoned, and Agatha followed, passing through a plain door with a worn, employees only sign.
“How does Shannon ever find anything back here?” Agatha asked, eying the wall racks of clothing hung almost to the ceiling.
“I know, ” Jane said as she disappeared into a forest of dresses. “I’m just getting the hang of the inventory security tag locator system.” She emerged holding a maroon silk gown that looked like it had seen more red carpets than high school gymnasiums, and held it in front of her, her smile huge. “What do you think?”
“That’s a find, it really is. It goes well with your fair complexion. You need to keep that even after prom, it’s beautiful. What year was it made? Two-thousand seven, maybe two-thousand nine?”
“I’m not sure, I just really love the draping and how the shoulders were done in this heavy black lace. I saw it, and I thought for a second it was that dress from the more recent Feyland pop-up ads.”
“Wow, it does. Maybe it is? You play Feyland? Feyland’s the first sim I’ve ever tried. I swear I picked it because I fell in love with its cover art. Now I’m addicted to it.”
Jane grabbed Agatha’s arm, “Me too! What’s your character, a Spellweaver? A Saboteur?”
Agatha gave her a sheepish smile. There were many players who questioned why Feyland created her avatar class, since it lacked the stronger fighting abilities other avatars had. “I’m a Bard.”
Jane scrunched up her eyes and nodded, “Of course, I should have guessed that. You’re like a show choir star.”
“No I’m not, not even close. If anybody’s the star it’s Shelly Thompson. She has a much better range than I do, and she snapped up the solo again today, as always.” Agatha’s frustration tightened up her throat and she swallowed hard. She needed to stop thinking about the audition, or sadness was going to take over and swamp her in messy tears.
“But your mom… aren’t you like classically trained?”
Agatha nodded and cleared her throat, “Yeah, but Shelly’s beaten me out of every solo part I’ve auditioned for. Every single one.”
“I thought you were good at last year’s concert. I couldn’t get up there and do that. My brother Zack though, he does it all the time with his band. He’s a born performer. In fact, he’s even gotten to Master Bard level in Feyland.” Jane returned her future prom dress to the racks and led Agatha out of the back room. “If you come to prom you’ll get to hear him. The prom committee actually hired his band.”
“Are they any good?”
“Last year, when they started, no. Now you can tell they take it seriously. They’ve gotten a lot better. They get paid to do weddings, big parties, that kind of thing.” Jane veered toward another rack. “Hey, let me show you one more thing. It’s another dress, when I saw it I thought it looked a lot like something out of Feyland. I’d buy it, but the color’s just not right for me.”
“You’re right,” Agatha said when Jane held up a dress for her inspection. “It’s a fashion sin to put a blonde like you in an aubergine dress.”
“Aubergine?” Jane said, trying the word as she handed the dress to Agatha. She repeated the word, this time with more flair. “Aubergine, because we can’t call it eggplant like everyone else.”
“I didn’t invent the color,” Agatha said, holding the dress against her as she looked in a dressing room mirror. She was in love with it, ready to buy it without even trying it on.
“Now you have to go to prom,” Jane said.
“I don’t need a reason to buy this,” Agatha said. “I’ll wear it around the house just because.”
“You better call me first then, so you don’t trip over the hem,” Jane said handing Agatha a card with an embossed pair of scissors on it with the words Jane Nestle – tailoring and custom alterations, and her number printed below it.
“A card, how very vintage of you.”
“Most people who need my help are,” Jane said. �
��Call me when the aubergine dress is coming out and we’ll have our own private party, and I don’t know, play Feyland or something.”
“Want to?”
“Hang out with the high school fashion maven and play my favorite game? Of course. Maybe I can help you find your way to the Bard’s Challenge that Zack’s talked about.”
“Yes let’s do it. I’ve been trying to find my way to that for weeks.”
“In that case, would you like to come over next weekend to play?” Jane said.
“I’d love to,” Agatha said.
* * *
Agatha arrived a little early on Saturday to Jane’s address, and was greeted by the midgrade automation system of Jane’s apartment complex. “Welcome Agatha McKnight, Jane will meet you in unit 302, upon her arrival in approximately thirty two minutes.”
“I’m that early, huh?”
The automation system gave a courteous reply. “Yes, please proceed to unit 302.”
The lights in the hallways of the apartment glowed brighter to guide Agatha to Jane’s apartment. The door to unit 302 released and a young man with sandy blonde hair, green eyes, and a smile like Jane’s walked over with his hand extended.
“Hey, I’m Zack, Jane’s brother. She’s running late, but she’ll be here soon.”
“In approximately thirty two minutes,” Agatha said, adjusting the full-D helmet she carried so she could shake his hand.
“We’ll see. I don’t think that tech’s very accurate,” Zack said, lowering his voice, “The tech cannot be trusted.”
Agatha laughed; it was easy to like Zack. He seemed like the kind of performer always oblivious to whether he was on or off stage.
Zack gestured to her full-D helmet. “Jane said you sing. You heading into Feyland to find an invite to the Bard’s Challenge?”
“That’s my plan,” she said. “Jane bragged that you’ve already completed it. I’ve been searching for it for weeks.”
He nodded, “It’s fun, but it gets hard fast. I can talk you through the starting levels?”
“I would love that!”
She was eager to learn what she could from Zack, but after a few minutes of listening to him describe the quests, she threw up her hands in frustration.
“I’ve never seen any of the things you just mentioned. My version must be tweaked.”
“Want me to show you on our system? We could play until Jane gets home.”
“Would you? Then maybe I can figure out what I’m missing.”
Zack bobbed his head in rhythm with an air guitar he played, as he sang the special jingle that sounded when a Bard was selected as an avatar in Feyland, “Ba-bada-ba-BA!”
His enthusiasm was contagious, and Agatha was bouncing on her toes when he motioned her over to a Full-D console, offering her a sim chair. He was funny, helpful, and cute. Would Jane hate her if she formed a crush on her brother in one afternoon? Agatha pulled her gaming gloves out of her bag as he adjusted his headset and flexed the fit of his gloves.
Zack gave her an expectant look. Agatha adjusted her helmet and nodded. He clicked the glowing F for Feyland and with two practiced finger motions, activated the opening sequence. “Welcome to Feyland” blazed red in their line of sight and faded as they entered the main menu screen. Both Agatha and Zack selected their established Bard characters, and heard the happy trumpet blast of “Ba-bada-ba-BA!”
“Let’s do this,” he said.
The immersion was strange this time—maybe because she was using different equipment. She felt a small wave of nausea as a tunnel of gold light encased her. After a deep breath Agatha felt it subside. Morning sunlight shed winks of light through a forest of white barked trees. Moss-covered ground cushioned her steps as she followed Zack from the circle of perfect crimson-capped mushrooms.
“Do you think those are edible in real life?” he asked.
“Are you kidding?” Agatha said. “Don’t brightly colored things in nature normally mean something is dangerous?”
“Then you must be really dangerous,” he said.
“Ha-ha-ha.”
They walked a path through the forest and within a few paces heard the wail of multiple babies crying. The moss on the path became studded with stones, which gradually filled in, becoming a narrow street. Several timber-framed cottages lined the way. The cries were emanating from the first house, where an old woman the size of a toddler sat on the front step. She looked up at them with oversized eyes and an unfortunate nose. Her shreds of mousy brown hair matched the sagging skin of her face, which drooped in odd contrast to her high arching earflaps.
“Tis’ a good morning to have the famous musicians, Master Zachary and Songbird Agatha, stop over by our humble dwelling.”
“Good morning Lourdys, how are you on this fine day?” Zack asked.
“My eyes are tired, and my ears even more. Not a soul in our village has slept a nod, with the endless wailing of my triplet grandbabes. If you should gift us with a lullaby, the residents of our town would be most grateful.”
“We are happy to offer a tune,” Zack said, with a bow of his head. “Please lead us to the bedside of the sweet babes.”
“This way then.” Lourdys wriggled up onto a pair of squat legs and led them into her dwelling. Zack and Agatha stooped through the doorway and into the dingy interior of a one-room house. Three small, large-eyed figures squirmed and howled in a long wooden crib set under a window. Their coloring was like dried earth, and they were swaddled in blankets made of moss. Agatha was amused at how the triplet’s noses were almost non-existent, and wondered how long it took to grow a nose with the same bulging proportions as their grandmother. A younger version of Lourdys stood before them with pleading hands and bloodshot weary eyes.
“Please, do play what you find is best, to put my three wee babes to rest.”
Zach raised an arched finger, and a list of three songs appeared for he and Agatha to choose from.
“You decide,” he said.
Agatha selected The Elfin Knight with a twitch of one finger, and Zack grinned his approval as he manifested a mandolin. Tapping his foot, he set the song’s rhythm. He began to play, and the ballad’s lyrics appeared in a slow illuminated scroll before them. In a soft soprano voice Agatha began:
The Elfin Knight sits on yon hill
Ba ba lilly ba
Blowing his horn loud and shrill
And the wind has blown my plaid away
I love to hear that horn blow
I wish him here and as my own
That word it was no sooner spoken
Than Elfin Knight in her arms was gotten
They had reached the chorus when lyrics faded away. The room was hushed as Zack silenced his mandolin. Agatha leaned over the crib and peeked at the brownie triplets fast asleep. Their mother raised her hands and smiled in gratitude.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Now our village will rest. When you leave here, go west. Near the well lies a gate to take you on to the wonders you seek.”
Outside on the stone street Agatha and Zack waved farewell to Lourdys and her daughter. They walked quietly through the small village, and up a small rise where they found the well. Beside it stood another circle of red-capped mushrooms. They stepped inside, and entered another tunnel of swirling gold light.
Agatha blinked as long shadows cast by an early morning sun came into focus. In all directions lay craggy hills with valleys blanketed in mounds of blooming heather.
“This is why I like this game,” Zack said. “The scenery is fantastic.”
“Me too,” she said. “At least it’s one of the reasons.”
“I hate to hit pause on this, but Jane’s going to want to see this.”
“Jane, yes-Jane. You’re right, we need to go get her.” Agatha continued to stare at their surroundings; it was all so real. The air smelled like freshly fallen rain. Stalks of flowering heather bobbed and swayed in the wind. The early sun magnified the amethyst color of each petal, and transformed their
dew into tiny purple gems. It was so breathtaking it made Agatha regret the sight of Jane’s stark apartment walls when they exited the game.
Zack and Agatha lazed in their sim chairs. She felt no compulsion to move right away after simming. Even the sight of Jane standing there, glaring, with her arms crossed, failed to motivate Agatha to sit up.
“Hi,” Agatha said. “We came out to get you.”
Jane’s mouth was a bunched frown as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I thought we were going to play Feyland this afternoon?”
“We are. Zack was just showing me your game version to see if it was any different than mine.”
Jane’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity and her frown faded a little. “Is it?”
“Yes, from what I can tell. Maybe my version was never coded with the Bard’s Challenge.”
Zack broke in, pointing at the extra sim chair Jane stood beside. “Is that Lindsey’s from 204?”
Jane nodded and gave Zack a stern glare. “She said we can borrow it until she gets back from her parents’ cabin Tuesday. I was able to get the code to her place, go down to her unit, and bring it back here, all in the time you two were off playing without me.”
“You’re so super clever to call her, Sis, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure Lindsey gets her chair back Tuesday,” Zack said, his eyes twinkling.
“Lindsey has a boyfriend, don’t be a troll,” Jane said, dropping into Lindsey’s sim chair.
“Someday, maybe even by Tuesday, he’ll be her ex-boyfriend. I’m happy to troll around Lindsey, because eventually she’ll see I’m a prince.”
Agatha wasn’t sure she knew Zack well enough to call him a prince, but he was charming. What a shame he had a thing for this Lindsey girl. It wasn’t every day a guy grabbed her interest.
Jane shook her head and pulled her sim helmet on. They restarted their game, and Jane selected her Illuminer avatar. They soon stood among the endless hills of heather. Wind billowed the layers of Jane’s pale apricot and cream-colored robes as she carefully stepped out of the red-capped mushroom circle.
Chronicle Worlds: Feyland Page 21