Wayward Magic (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 2)

by Melinda Kucsera

  But she could not see Wot. She lowered her light in frustration, tears tightening her throat. She couldn’t have vocalized why the short time with the animal meant what it did, but she felt, deep down, that she and Wot belonged together. She couldn’t just lose him! She couldn’t give up.

  Just then, when she lowered her light, she saw it. To the right of the pool of clear water in the middle of the small chamber--a faint, yellowish glow. She quieted her breathing and tried to still her frantically pumping heart and she could hear it--the sound of copper claws clicking against stone.

  She wove through stalactites and stalagmites, catching her carpet bag on one and causing the pocket to tear a bit. But she hurried after the glowing light of her new friend, not stopping to check for damages. She squeezed through a narrow tunnel, keeping her eyes on the dim glow of Wot’s light, ducking her head as it got shorter. Eventually, the tunnel became so low she had to push her bag and basket ahead of her while she crawled through, temporarily losing sight of Wot’s light. Her light glowed steadily at her wrist, but she still felt fear settle on her shoulders as she pushed her skinny but tall frame through the claustrophobic space.

  Finally, however, she felt her bags give. Suddenly, she was blinded by a brilliant burst of light coming from a source other than her woven bracelet. She lifted her eyes, expecting to meet with Wot’s glowing form, but was astonished to find herself on the precipice of a great lake. Her bags teetered on a rocky ledge inches away from the clear, sparkling surface.

  She pulled them back and stared in astonishment. The phosphorescent sparkling lake was astonishing in its own right, but, floating just above its crystal surface was a ship. Even more surprisingly, Wot sat at the front of the ship. What Ariana’s thought was properly called the prow. His glow was dimmed by that of the lake, but he happily snuffled the air and flapped his tiny wings when he saw Ariana.

  Ariana’s heart soared. Again, that little puzzle piece “click” fell back into place the moment she was in view of Wot. She had a million questions and no one to ask them to, so she settled for a flabbergasted, “Wot! How could you run from me like that? And how did you get on that ship?”

  Because, from what she could see, the ship was untethered from the rocky outcrops surrounding the lake. Wot simply wagged his short tail at her and stared at her expectantly.

  “He flew, of course. His kind can do so when young, though they are lazy beings and never miss the chance to be carried.” The voice that answered her was high in a strange way, as though the speaker actually spoke in a naturally low tone, but was either small or speaking from a great distance away.

  She immediately stood on the precipice of the rocky ledge and peered around her. Her knees shook and her power surged inside her. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find in the cave, but another person was not what she had in mind.

  “Yoo-hoo! Over here, My Lady. Crow’s Nest.”

  Ariana wracked her brain for what those words could mean. Hadn’t Ruthie read her some sort of pirate romance nonsense to her before? In that book the Crow’s Nest had been a platform from which pirates could stand and get a good vantage. She looked up the mast of the ship until her eyes fell upon something that resembled an over-large bucket. And perched on the edge of that bucket was…

  “A gnome,” Ariana mused aloud, awestruck.

  “Excuse me! Who are you calling gnome? If you weren’t who you are, those would be fighting words.”

  The little man looked highly affronted, gesturing to his body, which was covered in a loose, somewhat ragged tunic and brown leggings. He was flexing once hidden, black wings in an irritated-looking way.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not from here. My mistake, er...uh...” Ariana struggled to call the man something inoffensive, but simply fell off.

  “Actually, you do come from around here, or at least somewhat close to here. This forest is home to many of your people, and this cave is an intermediary between worlds, though you’re not to be faulted for not knowing that, since you never got that chance to take it, I s’pose.” He scratched his curly brown and grey hair and put his hands to his hips.

  “I guess I’ll have to take it slow with you. I sorta figured you’d know something about all this, but it’s clear from the look you’re giving me that you don’t.”

  Ariana closed her gaping mouth before asking, “Who are you?”

  “Forgive me, you caught me off guard. I thought my Queen’s consort would have explained…”

  Ariana frowned. “Consort?”

  The short, chubby man loosened his red ascot in apparent discomfort, his already red cheeks reddening further. “That is to say, your father, Lady.” He laughed in discomfort.

  Ariana bit her lip in consternation. “My father never mentioned my mother until this day, and he never told me who she was.”

  The little man’s bushy eyebrows knit in apparent anger, though with who, she couldn’t be sure. Hopefully her father. She didn’t want the little man more upset with her than he already was. He had Wot on his ship. The silly little traitor was rubbing his head against the strange man’s leg.

  “Well, then. My name is Nimby, servant of the one who carries the magic of Pieramu, the Queen of the Pieramu Pixies. Senior Marauder Pixie to the Queen herself.” He stood straighter as he proclaimed this, as if his very pride was tied with this Queen, whoever she was. Then he bowed low to Ariana, “Please come aboard, Lady. Your mother sent me to bring you home.”

  The color drained from Ariana’s face. “You know my mother? She knows where I am?”

  “Please, come aboard. I can explain all on the way.” Nimby bowed low again, which seemed strange. At first, he treated her like an idiot, then, seeming to remember himself, he almost groveled.

  “I don’t know how to get aboard,” Ariana replied.

  Nimby sighed in exasperation, “Why not use your wings?”

  Ariana stared at him for a moment, even checking her back to be sure she hadn’t sprouted wings overnight. Her back was wing-free. “I don’t have wings.”

  Nimby, already flustered by this point, looked downright mutinous upon hearing this. “No wings?! Shivara save me! The heir apparent to the Pieramu throne, and she hasn’t even got wings!”

  “The what?!” Ariana cried, not believing her ears. “You must be mistaken, sir. I am not a pixie, nor am I an heir. Ruthie thought maybe I was fae or fairy, but…”

  “Fairy?! Fae?! Oh, Shivara, close your eyes and ears to this,” Nimby shouted, clearly at the end of his rope.

  Ariana felt the power surge inside her before she even knew she was upset, though she’d never felt more confused or misunderstood in her life. Without even thinking about it, she raised her hand and pointed a finger at the rocky ledge where her bags were. The ledge rumbled, shook then grew into a bridge, which ended just at the edge of the ship.

  Ariana pointed at her bag and basket with a huff and angrily gestured to the ship. The bag and basket flew at the ship, shooting so close to the old pixie’s curly head that he screamed and ducked. They settled onto the deck next to Wot, who hung his black tongue out of his muzzle and stared after the food basket.

  She stomped across the bridge, which trembled under her rage and fell with a splash into the still, clear waters behind her steps. The last of the bridge held her until she jumped onto the deck of the floating ship, thrusting her hands on her hips in frustration.

  “Listen here, Nooby! I’ve spent the last two days being abandoned by a father who treated me like a prisoner in his house for thirteen years before his clumsy handling of me almost had me married to a disgusting, evil, old man. Until I finally stuck up for myself and scared the old codger so bad with this infernal magic that my father kicked me out of the house with only a piece of parchment he thought might help me. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’ve been scared since I can remember. And I’m sick of people not telling me things. So get to it, and get to it fast before I lose my temper!”

  Ariana hadn’t realized that she’d rais
ed her voice until her anger echoed off the sides of the cave and Nimby threw himself to the deck of the ship.

  “Forgive me, Highness! You are surely Princess of the Pieramu people. Forgive my impertinence, Princess.” The short, chubby pixie was now irritatingly prostrating himself against the ship’s deck, averting his eyes.

  It wasn’t until she looked at her own body that she realized that she was shining a brilliant, blinding blue light. She took a deep breath and imagined the light that shone from her returning inside her with each inhale. She opened her eyes to find that the pixie had stopped averting his eyes and that her skin had returned to its normal pale hue. However, the marauder still lay flat against the deck.

  Ariana sighed. “Please get up. I didn’t mean to scare you. I tire of people knowing more about me than I do. I tire of people telling me what and who I am, and not even asking me what I want to be or do. Can you please just get up and tell me why you think I am who you say I am?”

  “Highness, only an heir to Queen Seerana could hold such power. Forgive me for being abrupt earlier. You look so human. But...no, I see it, now. Your hair, your eyes. You are the very look-alike to your mother, the Queen. Despite the lack of wings, of course. Sorry about that, Princess. It’s not your fault you have a mortal father.” The man fumbled with his ascot in discomfort.

  “Nooby…” Ariana started again.

  “Nimby, if it please your Highness.”

  “Sorry. Nimby, can you please start from the beginning? I want to know how you knew I would be here, why you think I am some sort of pixie princess, what this power is that keeps consuming me, and why...why she left me.” The last of her queries she almost whispered. And with that, the power in her subsided, and her knees buckled. She sat on the deck, exhausted.

  Wot waddled over to her with his clicking paws and nudged her with his head. “Hi, Wot,” she cooed, patting him almost as much to calm herself as him.

  Nimby finally stopped prostrating. He raised himself and asked, “Can this unworthy marauder offer the princess some tea in the captain suite?”

  Ariana exhaled patiently. “Please don’t fawn over me. I’m just Ariana. Even if I am your princess, I am not interested in being the type of princess who people fuss over. I would like some tea, though.”

  Nimby smiled. “Come with me, if you please, Princess.”

  “Ariana,” she asserted, standing on tired legs.

  “I cannot call you by your name, Highness, it is not proper,” Nimby answered. A head shorter than her, he seemed to draw in on himself even more as he said it.

  “Fine. I’ll call you the Honorable Marauder Captain Nimby form here on out, if you insist on calling me ‘Highness’ or ‘Princess.’ That way, we shall both bore each other with titles,” Ariana replied, setting her chin stubbornly.

  “You are your Queen mother’s child,” Nimby replied, smiling and standing taller.

  Ariana smiled ruefully. “I will have to take your word for it, Nimby.”

  “Follow me, then.” The stout marauder waved her towards a door set in the deck of the ship, which led to a short flight of stairs. He gestured at the ship, “You know what to do, my lass. Set sail for Pieramu without delay. The Queen awaits us.”

  Ariana looked around for who he could be addressing, but saw no one. She looked askance at Wot, but the fuzzy creature only scratched at his flappy ear with a copper paw before following Nimby down the flight of stairs, his nose in the air sniffing for food. Though she saw no one, the ship began to move over the crystal clear waters of the cave’s lake.

  “Hurry in, if you please, Ariana,” Nimby called to her from the sturdy door leading into the belly of the ship. “Seaira, the ship that is, is beginning our descent.

  Surely enough, the ship began to sink into the lake. Ariana rushed down the stairs, passing Nimby, who secured the heavy door of the cabin with a large, round wheel he twisted to the right, until a loud ‘clunk’ sounded.

  “We are going underwater? In a ship? Won’t it leak? It can’t be airtight!” Ariana grasped the wall behind her as the ship swayed, sinking further.

  “This isn’t just an old, wooden, human-made vessel. Seaira was a gift to the Queen from the Eerie Elven Cove, in thanks for rescuing one of their young royals from the wicked Fieries.”

  “I understand almost nothing of what you just said, Nimby,” Ariana answered, still clutching the walls.

  “Come, Seaira knows what she’s doing. We are safe. I’ll explain all I can over tea.”

  He held out an arm and Ariana placed her hand on his arm, as much to steady herself in the swaying vessel as out of politeness. Nimby led her to a cozy room, paneled in what appeared to be gold varnished wood paneling. There was a large, circular window at the head of the room, in front of which stood a table that seemed to grow out of wood floor. All of the furniture, in fact, seemed to grow out of the ship itself. There were four chairs surrounding the table, the legs of which merged seamlessly with the ship itself. There was a large shelf of books in the back of the cabin and large maps unrolled on the floor of the cabin.

  But Ariana’s eyes were drawn to the window, so that the cozy cabin’s details remained largely unexplored. It was, indeed, hard to look anywhere else with the view she saw through the large, round window. They were, miraculously, steadily floating just above the floor of the cave’s lake. Ghostly pale fish with red eyes scurried past the glowing vessel blindly. The cave floor and sides were illuminated by the passing vessel. Golden flecks speckled on every surface.

  “Is there gold in this cave?” Ariana asked.

  Nimby shrugged. “I suppose so, Princ…, or, rather, Ariana. Aye, there are gems and gold of all sorts in this cave, this forest, our world. They are not deemed as important to our people as they are to humans. We use them, here and there, for decoration, but we do not ruin our land to obtain them. The wood, water and earth nymphs would rebel, and we like to keep them as allies.”

  Ariana nodded. “That makes sense,” she answered. Though, of course, it was all sounded like fairytale nonsense. She was entranced by the length of the lake and the wonders that the light caught upon. She didn’t realize that creatures could live without light. But so many of them floated past her, crawled across the bottom of the cave’s lake, or scrambled up the cave’s walls.

  “It’s beautiful down here, but how is it so big? How does a lake this size exist in a cave? Where does that much water come from?”

  Nimby smiled out of the corner of his mouth. “Very good. Yes, most caves have clear, cold water that comes from rain, filtered through the stones. Usually, only very old caves have large pools of water. This cave is, indeed, very old, but, more than that, it is magically enhanced. It connects with our own body of water on the other side. The water sprites and nymphs are in charge of the connection. Please, have a seat.” He gestured to the table in front of the round window.

  Ariana sat in one of the seats that seemed to grow out of the ship. “Nimby, I’m sorry, but I feel like I’m dreaming, even though I know I cannot be. I think I need you to start from the beginning. Why were you sent for me? Who am I? Where are we going?”

  Nimby crossed over to a cabinet carved with sea life of all varieties. It looked to be a part of the wall itself, but he found the clasp closing that secured it and opened it to reveal a little iron stove, an iron teapot and two sturdy stone teacups. He brought the cups and the pot over.

  “I had this on to brew while I waited for you. I was just in time, actually. The Driode found me not long after I set the tea to brewing.”

  “The what?” Ariana asked.

  “Your friend there.” Nimby gestured to Wot, who curled up on a rug covered in elegantly woven octopi. “He is a Driode. The son to your mother’s Driode, Anubis, actually.” He poured her a cup of steaming tea and set it in front of her. “I don’t have honey, I’m afraid. All out. I’m a bit of a sweet monger.”

  “So, Wot is a Driode, the son of my mother’s pet?”

  Nimby bristled and
Wot made an offended little bark from where he sat in front of the iron stove. “Calm down, my boy, the girl can’t know it all,” Nimby threw over his shoulder at Wot.

  “Princess, the Driode are not pets. If they choose a pixie to stay with, they are bound to that pixie for life, and vice versa. They do not choose a master. They choose a comrade, a partner.”

  Wot purred, then trotted over to Ariara, who he nudged with the side of his head. “Wot, did you choose me?” Ariana asked the red fuzz-ball.

  Wot crouched before jumping onto Ariana’s lap. He burrowed into her skirts, his glow warming them and making them smoke again. “Not again!” Ariana murmured, finding Wot’s bag and stuffing it under him, so that her skirts would not catch.

  “Well, I’ll be buzzed,” Nimby exclaimed under his breath. “Ariana, did you make that little bag there?”

  Ariana nodded. “When he’s happy, Wot gets a little too warm for comfort. I didn’t know I could do it, but, then...I don’t really know the rules to all this magic stuff, so I gave it a try. He really likes to be on me, but I don’t like to be aflame. It seems to do the trick.”

  Nimby nodded, his eyes staring at the little sleeping bag as though it were a trunk full of treasure.

  “Why are you looking at it like that?” She asked the marauder.

  “All pixies have a strength in their power. Some are good with elements: wind, fire, water, air. Some have an affinity for plants, some for animals. Many are talented in the crafts. Your mother, the Queen, is a water pixie. That is, her power is greatest when used in conjunction with water. It does not drain her, like using her power to do anything outside of water magic will. You may have experienced that before?”

  Araina nodded. “That bridge business wore me out. I don’t think I’m an element-type pixie or whatever it’s called.”