by Twyla Turner
“Let’s hope we get a way warmer reception than we did at Unicris.”
~~~
We traveled for hours before we finally left the Province of Unicris and came across an adorable little town. Winding dirt roads passed beautifully crafted tiny houses. Little cottages with curving roofs. Yards of verdant green grass and vibrant flowers looked like something straight out of a fairytale.
“What is this place?” I asked Daegan.
“This is Dwarfinburg,” he answered.
“Hmm…let me guess. The Province of Dwarves?” I teased.
“Hey, it makes it easier to know where you are and who you may be dealing with if the name of the town matches the name of its inhabitants.” Daegan reasoned.
“You do have a point,” I agreed. “So where is everyone?”
“Uh…I don’t know. But I have a strong feeling that they may be hiding. Considering I’m a black unicorn, which has never been seen before. I haven’t traveled much farther than Unicris, until now. And riding on my back is a human girl wearing strange black clothing. We’re probably terrifying to them.” Daegan finished his estimation.
“Again, good point.” I frowned as I thought about the problems back on Earth. “I wonder if we’ll be feared in Faerien City. From what I’ve observed of the world, which isn’t a whole lot mind you, mankind’s greatest threat is fear. On Earth, miscommunication, ignorance, and a lack of understanding are the driving forces behind fear. It happens all the time and it rarely ever ends well.”
“Agreed,” Daegan responded. “Well, I guess we better get outta here before they come after us with pitchforks and axes.” He said before going from a sedate walk to a full gallop.
We swiftly left Dwarfinburg behind. I glanced back to see a few heads peeking out from the doorways of their adorable little houses.
Definitely hoping for a better reception from the faeries, I thought to myself, briefly forgetting that he could hear me.
My hooves are crossed.
~~~
“I think we should stop and rest for the night,” Daegan suggested after he felt me adjust uncomfortably for the thousandth time.
Night had fallen and with it, brought a whole new set of things for me to take in. Earlier, Daegan had explained that the sun set from North to South, instead of East to West like on Earth. And I had been mesmerized as I watched it descend in the south as we headed east. Once darkness fell, I realized that nighttime in Empyrean wasn’t truly dark. The flowers, grass, and leaves on the trees had an ambient glow that I couldn’t stop smiling over. Twinkling lights floated through the air, like white Christmas lights. And the sky shown in waves of colors, much like the Northern Lights on Earth. It was so overwhelming and beautiful that it took all I had not to burst into tears.
Though my hunger was beginning to override my tears. My grumbling stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten since that morning. An Eggo before I left for school wasn’t gonna cut it, and now I felt like I could puke, I was so ravenously hungry. So my awe over the beauty of Empyrean at night and my shock over a strange world with magnificent creatures I’ve only read about would have to wait until my belly was full.
“I’m starving, Daegan! And I literally have no idea what I can eat here.” I grumbled as I slid off of his back.
“Hmm…that does pose a problem. I eat grass and other foliage. I have no idea what a human eats.” Daegan pondered.
“This sucks! I can’t even fully appreciate how gorgeous this place is because my stomach won’t stop growling.” I whined and to prove my point a loud noise rumbled conspicuously near my stomach. “See?!”
“Yeah, it sounds like disgruntled gnomes are trying to break through your stomach.” Daegan conceded.
“I’m about ready to munch on some grass with you,” I said as I looked down at the glowing green blades, seriously considering it as an option.
“Imogen, look!” Daegan shouted in excitement.
A golden glow caught my eye, and I turned to see a fire blazing in the distance.
“Should we go check it out?” I asked.
“Sure. There isn’t much that will harm you on the Hikari side of Empyrean.” Daegan told me.
“You’ll have to remember to explain what that means after I’ve found something to eat,” I stated as we made our way towards the fire.
Once we got to the campfire, we saw what looked like a rabbit roasting on a spit, as if it was left there for me. I’d never eaten rabbit, but my mouth still watered at the scent. I was ready to eat and relax. I knew I could use a good night’s sleep. I was exhausted from the eventful and emotional day.
“Do you think…? Is it possible that someone left this for me?” I asked hopefully.
“It would seem like it. If so, it was probably the pixies.” Daegan assumed.
“Really? Pixies just leave people things when they’re in need?” I asked as I sank gratefully to the grass. Ow! I’ve never ridden a horse all day, my legs are killin’ me!
“Um…not a horse,” Daegan sniffed with an air of importance. “And yes, I’ve heard that pixies are known to help a weary traveler, as well as annoy them too. It depends on their mood.”
“Sorry,” I cringed. “I didn’t mean to offend you, but you are horse-like. I’ve never ridden a horse or unicorn for that matter. So my legs and butt are screamin’.”
“Trust me, those rather heavy and hard shoes of yours didn’t exactly feel good against my flanks all day,” Daegan remarked.
I watched him lower his large body to the soft grass to rest. His inky black coat gleamed in the light of the fire.
“Sorry. Not a fan of my combat boots, then?” I teased.
“Not particularly,” he answered before taking a few bites of grass around him.
I leaned forward, ready to dig into the meal that was kindly left for me. “I better start eating before I pass out. The smell alone is making my stomach grumble like crazy.”
I carefully pulled the stick off of the fire, trying not to burn myself in the process. I blew on the crispy meat to cool it down, and then a pulled off a piece and took a small bite. It was pretty decent. No seasoning, but still good. And at this point, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and I was starving. I destroyed my meal in a matter of minutes and then fell back on the soft grass.
I gazed up at the sky and watched as the colorful lights slowly waved and morphed into other colors. It was hypnotizing. I took off my jacket, rolled it up, and stuffed it under my head, preparing to watch the light show. It wasn’t long before the stress of my crazy day weighed me down with exhaustion, and I fell into a deep sleep.
~~~
Our trip through Empyrean was much the same every day for more than a week. I either rode Daegan or walked if my backside got numb. We passed rolling fields of grass and colorful flowers along the way. We gingerly climbed over craggy foothills. We traversed through thick forests. I found what I could to eat, like berries or edible looking plants. And at night, there would always be food waiting for me that the pixies left over a blazing fire.
Tonight was almost the same. We walked through another dense forest when light from a fire beckoned us. And as usual a nice fat rabbit or small creature was roasting over the fire. This time, though, they’d left a nice pallet of blankets for me.
Wow! They’re getting more generous as we go. I thought to Daegan.
Maybe they’ve really taken a liking to you, he responded.
Daegan laid down near the fire and began nibbling at the grass around him. I sighed heavily as I lowered my body onto the blankets in exhaustion.
“I don’t think I’ve ever walked so much in my life. Daegan, when will we get-”
My sentence was cut short when I felt cold steel against my neck.
My heart stuttered. Stopped. Then immediately went from zero to sixty within seconds, ready to pound out of my chest. I had begun to reach for the food, but now my hunger was forgotten. Especially when I felt warm breath on my ear.
“State your business
here or I will slit your throat where you sit,” a masculine voice warned softly against my ear.
My fear took a backseat to my father’s training, as everything he taught me flooded my mind. I thrust my elbow back into my attacker’s gut and heard the satisfying grunt and burst of air through his lips from my unexpected blow. I gripped his wrist and arm, and with all of my strength and body weight, rocked forward, throwing him over my body to the ground. I heard the blade thud on the soft grass. Before he could recover from the shock, I quickly grabbed what looked like a sword in the firelight and moved to straddle his chest. I held the blade under his chin, against his neck. As I locked eyes with my assailant, I nearly dropped the sword from shock.
Whoa! Holy shit!
Blue eyes. Almost unnaturally, glowing blue eyes with a thick fringe of dark lashes stared back at me. Piercing eyes, in a fair skinned sun-kissed boyish face. Not exactly a boy, but not quite a man yet either. He had full lips, a straight nose, and a square jaw with a little divot in his stubborn chin. His dark hair was straight with a slight curl at the ends that flopped on his forehead above his dark winged brows, making him look slightly younger.
But what stood out the most were the markings that curved and swirled like tribal tattoos on the right side of his face and neck. Yet they weren’t exactly tattoos. At least not the human kind. They were an iridescent cobalt blue, and they moved. The markings themselves didn’t move, but the color within them did. The blue moved like water on his skin. It was stunning and almost hypnotic. He was stunning. The most attractive boy I’d ever seen.
Wow!
I shook my head to clear my brain of the fog that had gathered looking at his stunning face. I remembered that I held a sword to his throat for a reason. He’d threatened to kill me.
“My business here is that I’m hungry and that possibly the pixies left me food and a place to sleep. If I was wrong and this is yours, the polite thing to do is just say so, and we’ll move on. Not…put a blade against my neck and threaten to kill me. Play with fire and you might get burned.” I explained in a steady, yet deadly voice though I felt anything but.
I’d never killed anyone before and had no plans to do so today. But if he chose to attack me, I knew I had no choice. My insides were quaking as he scowled up at me, his markings turning from cobalt to indigo before my eyes. I squeezed the hilt of the sword in my hand, trying to keep the tremble I felt at bay. A tremble that was ready to prove me a liar and a coward, while he made his decision.
“Fine,” he finally gave in. “You have my word that I won’t try to hurt you. Now, will you please let me up?”
I slowly removed the blade from his neck and rolled away from him. He hopped up from the ground and dusted off his clothing as I slowly rose. He was tall. Possibly over a half a foot taller than me. He was broad and lean, but muscular. His athletic frame, all the more obvious because of his wardrobe.
He wore a long, fitted leather vest that buttoned up to the middle of this chest and hung to mid-thigh. I couldn’t tell the color because of the dark evening, but it was a light color. His arms were bare, except for two silver armbands that covered each wrist and forearm, drawing attention to the defined muscles in the rest of arms. And just like his face and neck, the blue marking ran down into the vest and came back out over his right shoulder and down his right arm. I assumed the markings covered the whole right side of his body, though I couldn’t be sure because of his dark, loose-fitting leather pants and the knee high boots he wore over them.
I wonder if he and Legolas share the same clothes. I thought and almost burst out laughing.
The boy raised a dark brow at my amused expression and held out his hand. I looked down and realized that I still held his sword.
“Oh, sorry,” I said as I hesitantly stepped closer to him and passed him the sword.
He took it and placed it back in its sheath that was belted around his waist. I breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t go back on his word and try to hurt me.
Well, that was interesting, Daegan piped up.
Yeah, thanks a lot for the help, I replied sarcastically.
Hey, you looked like you had it all under control. Besides, I didn’t want to interrupt the little love connection you two had going, Daegan teased.
Love connection! Puh-lease!” I huffed indignantly.
The boy cleared his throat, pulling my scowling face away from the black unicorn and back to him. “I don’t mind sharing my dinner with you if you’ll explain why you’re here.”
“I’ll tell you whatever you want. Just please, can we eat first?!” I pleaded once my hunger pangs came back, and I started to feel light-headed from starvation.
“Deal.”
Chapter 5
Rafe
I watched the human girl warily as she sat across the fire from me, next to the black unicorn. She was absolutely beautiful, but there was no way that I would let that sway me into trusting her. I’d never met a human before, but I’d heard enough about them to be on guard.
Unfortunately, that didn’t stop my eyes from roaming over her face and curvy form through the fire. Her skin was a lovely creamy light brown. She had large, guarded almond-shaped eyes. Eyes the color of amber on fire. She had adorable freckles that dusted over a cute button nose and her round cheeks. Her lips were full and rose colored with a single freckle in the middle of her bottom lip. For some reason unknown to me, my eyes kept going back to that one brown fleck on her beautiful lip.
The hair surrounding her heart-shaped face garnered its own attention and admiration. It was a wild mane of red, reddish orange, and strawberry blonde coiling curls that stopped at her full breasts. Her hair blended with the flames of the fire perfectly. And aside from her strange black torn clothing, her body appeared pleasingly full and soft underneath the loose material. Something I definitely tried to ignore. I had never seen anyone quite like her before, and I was reluctantly transfixed.
She ate the last morsel of meat off of a bone, and my patience had reached its breaking point. “Are you ready to talk now?” I asked.
“Impatient much?” She responded sassily.
“I have plenty of patience. What I don’t have is understanding for why a human is here in Empyrean. A human that is traveling with a black unicorn, which is unheard of. And your black clothing added to it doesn’t bode well for what your intentions are here. There are dark powers that aren’t taken kindly to or welcome here on the Hikari side of Empyrean. So start talking before my lack of understanding turns into a lack of tolerance,” I finished firmly, trying to put authority in my voice like my father would.
I watched her purse her lips together tightly and scowl at me before she decided to finally speak.
“Since when is it a crime to wear black? And isn’t this a magical land? Why is it so hard to imagine a black unicorn here? And that is the second time I’ve heard the Hikari side of Empyrean. Could someone please explain?” The girl blurted out in an angry rush.
“Even magical places have norms, and he is not the norm. Even here.” I nodded towards the unicorn. “And I believe, in exchange for a full stomach, I’m supposed to be getting answers not questions. So I’ll ask again. Why are you here?” I asked sternly, crossing my arms across my chest.
“I don’t know, but that’s what I’m trying to find out,” she started. “Some mermaids pulled me into this realm, dimension, or whatever you wanna call it and said that I needed to speak to some Faery Oracle. And that my world and yours depend on it,” she shrugged.
“And after that we got banished from Unicris because my parents believe that we had something to do with some death that’s spreading through the realm,” the black unicorn added.
“No doubt it’s something that was caused by humans. Your constant wars and hatred towards one another affect more than just you.” I said scornfully.
“Hey don’t blame me for the bunch! I didn’t do anything to cause problems here.” She frowned at me.
“Maybe I have jumpe
d to conclusions, but I won’t know until I can get some real answers. Which means I’ll have to take you to Faerien City tomorrow to speak to the Oracle,” I sighed. “And if I’m going to be in your company for the next several hours, I suppose introductions are in order. What are your names?”
“My name is Imogen.”
“And I am Daegan.”
“Imogen. Daegan. I’m Rafe. One of the…uh…faery guards.” I stumbled at the last minute. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them I’m the Faery Prince until I know for sure whether they could be trusted. Besides, I was trained in combat, so it’s not that much of a stretch.
“It’s nice to meet you, Rafe.” Imogen inclined her head respectfully. “Um…to be a faery guard, I’m assuming you have to be a faery, right?” She asked curiously.
“Right,” I nodded.
“Then why are you human size and have no wings?” She asked with a perplexed look on her face. Daegan chuckled beside her, and she looked to him for answers too. “I mean, I thought faeries were small and had wings.”
“I think you’re confusing faeries and pixies.” Daegan chimed in.
“Yes. Pixies are small and have wings and tend to annoy, like a fly on Earth. Faeries have wings as well, though we are ‘human-sized’ as you call it,” I added. “And I would like to think that we’re not annoying either.”
“That remains to be seen,” Imogen stated, and I scowled at her. “So…where are your wings, then?” She frowned, looking on either side of me to find the evidence of wings.
I smirked and raised one eyebrow at her. When our wings weren’t in use, they laid flush against our clothing and skin, mixing with our imprints in a shimmery pattern. Slowly, I uncurled my wings from around my arms and back. I fanned them out and fluttered them gently.
Chapter 6