Lily of the valley

7

The way was easy going, past the thick branched oaks and through the dappled sunlight. The forest gave way to miles and miles of meadow, long grasses, flowers of pink, yellow and white were sprawled across the landscape. The air was abuzz with bees and butterflies dancing from flower to flower in the midday sun. From the clearing the towers of the mountain palace could be seen in the distance, half obscured by soft cloud. The earth dipped and rose, creating deep sheltered valleys and high windy hilltops. Katherine and Lily started down a valley side, at its base they could see a hamlet of cozy wooden buildings, a stream of fresh cool water ran through the middle of it all. They walked barefoot in the brook, just for the joy of it. The water soothed their sore feet and refreshed them from the rich heat. Red, white and grey mushrooms grew along the waters edge and Katherine, not watching where she was going, stepped into a ring of them.

She gasped with wonder, with awe, the sky was filled with winged ballerinas the size of a thumb. Lily unwittingly stepped after her into the mushroom ring and held her breath at the beauty. Water Faye were rare, they were graceful and shy creatures, their singing sounded akin to distant cathedral bells. Strange beasts of the old religion had filled Katherine's nursery rhymes and fairytales, she was raised on tales of ancient faye, dryads and witches. The halls of the mountain King were filled with marble statues of these elusive creatures of nature. The fairies danced around the women, tugging at strands of their hair and giggling so quietly it was barely audible at all. They were translucent, as if made of water or crystal, when the sun caught them it created a rainbow of fragmented light. The travellers could not help but laugh with a surge of overwhelming delight, it was an honour to see this dance, thousands of tiny limbs twisting and leaping through the air, perfectly in sync.

The ladies of the mountain then felt the urge to take part in the waltz, and they did, as if they had known the movements their whole lives. They danced and danced, laughing and singing in an unknown tongue, their voices foreign to them, possessed by some deep ancient power. They span until their feet bruised beneath them, till they felt they would drop but still their limbs continued to sway; it became evident that they were no longer the ones in control. There was a madness in the sunlight, in the soil; the dance continued and the sun moved lower and lower eventually beginning to be obscured by the hills, casting a rich orange light over everything. They struggled against the dance to no avail, they feared the change to night while trapped amongst the trickster fay whose faces appeared increasingly sinister in the fading light. The fay had begun to bare their teeth.

A figure approached the circle just as the light turned to black, gripping bushels of flaming thyme and marjoram, he heckled the fay, swiping at them with fistfuls of fire.

"Away beasts! Charlatans, all the fires of heaven will smoke you out!" The fairies coughed and spluttered from the herb filled smoke, they screeched, a harrowing sound; then realising their loss they scarpered into the great beyond. They would stay hungry tonight. The circle was broken and the women were freed. Their rescuer appeared much like Gustavo, he had the same thick grassland accent and medium complexion but none of the dramatics. "Should be careful where you step 'round these parts. Pesky pixies."

"Thank you so much for the help sir!" Lily spoke, stepping from the ring. The man scoffed,

"I aint no sir, madam, where av you lot come from anyways?" They began to walk together with the gruff man down towards the inviting lights of the village.

"From the mountain." Spoke Katherine with the delicate eloquence that the mountain halls were famed for.

"You sound like nobles." The man scoffed, looking at their dirty, tattered silks, they did not look like blue bloods; not anymore. His tone made them nervous, their nobility was no longer a shield of wealth and intrigue but a target on their backs.