Leia walked until her feet bled. Her limbs felt like slush and her stomach was roaring with hunger. Still, she kept going, following the sound of the alluring voice as it pulled her closer and closer to the source.
It sounded like all the wonderful forgotten dreams from her childhood. Like the memories of her father's sun kissed skin as he lifted her onto his shoulders around the palace, her little hands pressed into his cheeks. Like the joy she felt at the feasts they would host for the villagers before the war. The laughter and fun that she shared with her loved ones that was nothing more than nostalgic stories shared in hushed conversation. It was everything she had ever wanted to feel again.
Her soul was soaring above the ruins of her pained mind. She was finally free from anger and fear. Finally, there was peace at her core.
The voice paused and so did she, her foot hovering midair above a branch. Exhaustion started to seep into her bones and she sagged against a tree, confused.
"Little human, join me
Let me whisper in your ear
There is something you must see"
Her breath scraped against her lungs as she pushed herself to walk towards the small clearing of trees before her. The euphoria washed over her once again.
A lake stretched before her on a slight slope. The green rocks under the water shone in the streams of sunlight that broke through the thick leaves of the trees around them. She took a step forward, slipping off her shoes and dipping her bloodied feet into the water.
The lake water spilled over large rocks and connected with a river leading downstream. Leia's eyes caught on a flicker of movement and she peered closer to see the same beautiful maiden before her. Her features were soft and alluring and her green hair now sparkled with seashells reflecting the sunlight.
The maiden swam before her, her legs now replaced with a blue and green fish tail.
"A pearl, tiny as a droplet
Bring it to me when I come
Freedom, you shall get"
The words hummed through Leia's mind but the maiden's face remained blank, her lips unmoving. She raised a finger and a droplet of water floated through the air towards Leia.
She turned to follow the droplet and it slowly fell back to the water. Leia lifted her legs and let the water carry her weight, a sweet sigh escaping from her lips. The maiden put her hands against Leia's temples and a picture of a thin hand with a pearl between two fingers came to view in her mind. The pearl dropped into the palm of another and Prince Dakath's face came into view.
"I can do it," Leia said dreamily. She wanted to please the maiden. The task wasn't too hard. Find a pearl somewhere in the prince's castle. It would bring her great pleasure to succeed, if only to feel this way again.
"Little human, thread carefully with him
Guard your heart or it will be deceived
Fail, and I'll take what's dearest to him"
"I can do it!" Frustration threatened to break through her haze and the maiden simply laughed. Her nail dug into the side of Leia's cheek, drawing blood before she disappeared under the water.
Leia splashed about in desperation. "Wait! Don't leave!" She swam to the rocks at the bottom of the lake, begging for the maiden to come back.
With each passing second, her happiness leached from her body. She sobbed as the loss of her father, the stress of the war and the weight of the responsibilities dropped on her shoulders from far too young an age came rushing back to her, leaving a hollow shell of herself in its place. She leaned her head against the rocks, fatigue settling into her like a heavy blanket. Her heavy eyelids drooped closed. "Don't leave," she whispered before drifting off into a deep slumber.
***
Something cold splattered against the side of Leia's face where her cheeks rested on the rocks. The cold water flowed gently, stirring her dress with its motion and she wondered how long she slept for.
She lifted her head in time to see another object flying through the air towards her. On reflex her right arm raised to block her face from impact and she winced as the fruit splattered on her wrist.
Laughter erupted, ear piercing and cruel in its nature.
"It's awake! Come dance with us, human! Let us play a game!" A shrill voice sounded from the mouth of a faerie with hair white as snow that hung around his sharp features in long plaits.
Leia wiped the sleep from her eyes, wading to the bank to pull herself up. Panic slithered through her spine as she noticed three faerie boys skipping in circles before her with their arms interlocked. One pulled a fruit from their pocket and flung it towards her. She caught it, squeezing it until it burst. The liquid oozed, much like her annoyance for these creatures, and trickled across her palm and down her wrist.
That only resulted in a chorus of laughter from the faeries.
Her eyes followed their bodies as they moved, scanning for any weapons and movement patterns just as she was taught. Two of them were very tall and lean while one was rather stubby. Leia could tell by the way that they danced that she would have the advantage in a fight. They threw their arms around awkwardly and from the force behind the fruit that she had just caught, they weren't very strong. She could also smell the bitter scent of fermented sugar from where she danced.
"We have not seen a human in so long. Come eat and dance with us!" A much deeper voice shouted. Leia's eyes tracked the faerie who was significantly shorter than the others. He seemed to be the most intoxicated of the three and the one whose pockets were stuffed with more of the fruit, Leia assumed.
She stayed still, the gears in her brain were turning at full speed as she continued to assess the situation. Her encounter with the maiden had left a haze over her mind which left her unable to think clearly, let alone develop any semblance of a strategy.
Standing below them in the lake with the water nuzzling her waist in soft ripples would be her only disadvantage if they were to become hostile.
"Such a dull thing. Why don't we tell it a story" Shortie with the deep voice announced.
"Once upon a time!" The third faerie said dramatically, pulling his blonde curls into a bun and tying it back with some sort of wooden hairband.
Leia's whole body tensed as she spotted a dagger strapped to his waist. He dropped his hands and it disappeared from sight under his bright green cotton top.
"Humans and faeries joined for the best of times!" White Hair screeched. An obnoxious burp reverberated through the trees and they all fell to the ground laughing.
"The night was never dark for the lights would flicker with the sound of the music in the midnight wind." Blondie said dramatically. "The humans, oh how they can sing!"
"Oh how they can serve!" Shortie laughed, his hand reaching behind his back.
"What a fun time! For centuries they lived, side by side, most humans blissfully unaware of us," Blondie's voice got quieter, more somber.
"Until the humans got bored."
"And mean," the short one pulled two daggers from behind his back and Leia's senses immediately heightened. She had to act soon.
"Now everyone suffers, and the word fun no longer exists," White Hair pulled a dagger from his boot. He sneered at her and she knew the next few minutes would not be fun indeed if they had it their way. "Humans cause nothing but death and destruction, with their fancy bombs and tiny metal balls that cut through our skin and tear open our veins until our blood runs cold. I think a fitting end to this story would be that we wash our earth with the red from your veins instead."
The other faeries nodded in agreement, approaching the bank with disgust painted on their pale faces. Leia tightened her jaw as every muscle in her body knotted and she slipped off her slippers and dug her heels into the rocks at the bottom of the lake.
As they dove towards her, she splashed water at their eyes before pushing off with her legs as she jumped from the water and onto the grass. Her heart thumped with every motion. She grabbed a fallen dagger, positioning herself behind them as the faeries wiped their faces.
They whirled towards her, the white haired faerie lashing his long arms at her.
She dodged, sinking her dagger into his side before pulling it out and stepping back. He wailed in pain but the others paid him no regard, continuing their advance. Her eyes widened as she noticed the wound healing before her eyes.
Shortie and Blondie swiped at her from either side, forcing her to drop to the ground where she twisted her body, kicking at both their knees. She rolled out of the way as they fell with a grunt each.
Leia grabbed Blondie by the very bun he had just styled his hair in, pulling back his head to bare his neck for her. She clutched him to her chest, pressing the dagger against his neck where its tip gently pierced his skin. "Stay back!" She shouted at the other two.
They were crouched before her, their weapons still gripped in their hands. "I don't care for your dumb tales. The faeries do nothing but trap, kidnap and kill!" Her voice cracked as she shouted. Her hunger betrayed her strength and she hoped they wouldn't notice.
"Humans used to beg us to take them with us! Up until our king revealed himself to your queen," White Hair said. Gold blood was still trickling from his side but he paid it no mind. His eyes locked onto his friend who was shaking as he sobbed in her arms.
Mother, Leia thought. There was more to the story that these three were not saying, she knew it. Her mother knew the price of war. There was no way she would start it without good reasoning.
"Your queen ordered everyone to turn on us when we had been nothing but friendly to any who happened upon us! You can excuse us for our hostility, we have good reasoning," Blondie said, he sniffled as the knife cut slightly deeper.
His crying was pathetic, but what he said turned her insides to stone. Faeries couldn't lie.
She pushed Blondie into his friends and ran into the woods. The sounds of crunching branches behind her told her that she was being followed. She didn't have to look behind to know those faeries were out for her blood. The hairs on her arms raised as her heart raced with each step she took.
Branches slashed at her skin and her feet throbbed from her walk to the lake. There was not much of the walk to remember, only peaceful feelings and memories of her father. Even as she ran for her life, thinking about him brought tears to her eyes. She wondered if faeries ever tired. If they didn't then it wouldn't matter how good her fighting skills were since the damage she did to the white haired faerie had been healing already. They would overpower her eventually.
She skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff, her arms flailing wildly to regain her balance. When she finally grew still, she looked to the horizon where, in the distance she could see the mountain ranges of her land. Her breath caught in her throat and she stumbled to the ground.
The footsteps behind her stopped. Being at the edge of a cliff was by far worse than being approached while in the lake. The world began to spin as she looked down at the waves smashing forcefully against the rocks below. She swallowed forcefully as her stomach roiled, making her nauseous. She wasn't going to survive if she tried jumping.
She mustered up the strength to face them, to somehow get their backs to the cliffside and not hers so that it was their bodies being ravaged by water and the rugged edges of the rocks and not hers.
She turned to see the three faeries on their knees, their heads deeply bowed. Surprise rippled through her as her eyes landed on Prince Dakath, who sat on the black haired wolf, his face tense. He radiated annoyance and anger, at them or her, she didn't know. Maybe both.
Sitting above her on the large wolf, he looked as mystical as ever. The ruby in his eyes burned with his anger in the sunlight and his hair flitted wildly around his face in the chilly wind. His chiseled jaw was clenched as glared at the three faeries, which only made them shrink back in fear. Leia could see why he was next in line for the throne. He radiated nobility and power.
"This is my guest you are chasing. Abandon your pursuit now and tell whoever crosses your path that if a hair on her head is harmed, they will face my wrath," he said.
Leia wanted to roll her eyes at the word 'guest', but she kept still, thankful that she did not have to face another fight.
The three scampered off into the woods and she swiped the back of her hand on her mouth in relief, panting as she licked her lips. The taste of honey and apple exploded in her mouth and she actually moaned in pleasure.
Her eyes widened as she turned to the prince and was astonished to see that he was looking at her with mirrored horror.
Never eat the food in the Land of Faeries. She guessed then that she was about to find out what happened when she did.
###
Author's Note
Hi!! So this is a bonus chapter for the week! I Hope you enjoy it, comment, vote and share it with your friends!
This chapter also marks the end of round 2 for me! Yayy! Let's see what happens to a human who eats that faerie fruit now! :P
Round 2, 8,000 words milestone is 11 paragraphs counted upwards from the bottom.
Total word count so far: (8,502 words minus Author's Note etc.)
With Love,
Miriam <3