Chapter Seventeen
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When I arrived at the home of the faeries at dawn, I had a crick in my neck from sleeping on the horse. I rubbed the sore spot, and the then looked up.
Up.
Up.
Up.
The faeries were beings of the air, Coten had said. And, sure enough, they lived in the air as well. I could see tiny outlines of houses on the apex of the mountain.
The peak.
The highest point.
Oh why did they have to make everything unnecessarily hard? They could live on the bottom of the mountain, if they wanted. But no, they had to choose the highest possible place that they could. They had to make it extra hard on me.
The trail was not wide enough for me to ride on the horse to the top. Of course it wasn't. It had to be as difficult as possible for me.
I trudged up the mountain slowly. It was a steep and taxing journey. The sun beat down on me, and I felt so sweaty and gross. Once I neared the top, I could see something I was not expecting.
I did not expect a tea party to be at the peak. But neither did I expect a war.
The fairies were taller than the average human. They wore full battle armor over their billowy robes and dresses. They floated a couple feet above the ground. I would have been able to mistake their appearance for a human, if they didn't have a glow. Just like the pixies, the Faeries had different color auras as they battled in the air.
In their full battle armor, swords clashed against shields, and bursts of wind pushed Faeries off the peak. They would recover swiftly, by using their own wind to return to the peak. It was almost impossible for a faery to get hurt. When a possibility arose, the faerycovered himself in a bubble of air. The sword hit it and clashed backwards. Nothing was being achieved.
I snuck around the rock crevice I'd been hiding behind, to a faery dwelling. It was just like a human's cottage, but made from something much harder, so the wind did not carry it away.
Something led me over to a cottage with the blue roof. It looked homey, nestled between flowers and trees. It also did not have the war flag hanging from each house's windows. It looked peaceful. I knocked. A woman's voice answered.
"Who is it? I told you, I don't want any participation in the--" she opened the door and looked at me, "--war."
"Do you mind if I come in?" I asked. "I also wanted to get away from that nasty fighting."
She opened the door wider, without responding, and I walked in the cottage. She shut the door behind me.
Inside, the cottage was much bigger than I had expected from the outside. It had a nice simple feel, with wooden floors and a cream colored rug upon which chairs sat. Murals covered each wall. One was of flowers and plants from a tiny bug's view. Another was of rain, with puddles and gray, with an accented red rose thriving from the moisture. I saw one more of the sea, on a little rocky island with waves crashing up on it.
I brushed the petals of my rose with my fingertips. "Amazing," I said. "Did you make them?"
She nodded. "Who else could've? There's no one here but me."
"So you are a faery?"
"Some of us prefer the term "fae," but yes, I am," she said. "What are you doing so far from the human lands?"
"I've come to help you," I said, turning to face her. "I already have recruited two Enchanters to assist in the breaking of the Enchantment."
"Which two?"
"The elf and stirian," I said.
"The stirian?" she said. "That's pretty impressive. They usually don't help in situations like these. Where are the other four?"
"Two are held captive by an evil human. One is here. And one is the human."
"Ahh," she said,"but how do you know one is here? He or she could've left because of the war."
"Hmmm," I wondered, "but can I still stay and help you, even if one isn't here? I need a little more information for my book."
"Be my guest," she said. "As long as you don't participate in the war."
"I won't," I said.
She smiled. "Well, then, my name is Dianthe. What's yours?"
"Evelin," I said. "Evelin Fendway."
"Nice to meet you," she said. "Now, I'm sure you are tired from your journey. As soon as you've cleaned up and slept a bit, I'll tell you why this war is going on."
"Very well," I said.
I was eager to take a nap. Dianthe gave me an elfin mat and pillow, explaining that elves made most of the textile-related things. I understood why. It was so comfortable.
When I awoke, Dianthe came to me right away. "We mustn't let the other faeries see you. They'll think I'm harboring you as a weapon the war."
"Why?" I asked. "You haven't done anything related to the war yet?"
"In times of war, people are too suspicious for there own good." She patted my head. "It's better you stay hidden."
"Very well," I said. "Will you tell me why the faeries are fighting now?"
"Oh, I suppose so." She led me into a different room, with two comfortable settees and a couple of chairs. She sat down across from me in the chair. "Would you like something to eat?"
I nodded.
She used a draft of wind to bring a plate of cakes onto my lap from a near-by table. I stared at it, wide-eyed. "Spectacular," I whispered.
"Well, try some. I made them myself," she said.
I took one a popped it into my mouth. It was awful, but I was hungry, so I gulped down a few more.
Dianthe nodded approvingly. "Good, good. You'll need your strength for what's to come."
That only made me lose my appetite.
"There is a simple reason for the cause of the war, but it led into some more irrational things, and so, we are in the midst of a civil war today. At first, the two sides of the faeries fought over the little land we had up here."
"Why couldn't you just go live at the base of the mountain?" I interrupted.
"Faeries need to be at high elevation, dear. The air is thinner up here. We're not supposed to get too much air into us."
"Why ever not?"
"It strengthens our power to the point where we cannot control it. We could live down there for a while, but eventually, we would be blown away with the wind."
I imagined a faerie slowly getting blown away in pieces. An ear first, then a couple toes.
"About the war . . . " I said.
"Right. The war. Well, one of the groups faeries wanted more land, so they broke away from our original togetherness, and created their own monarchy. This made our king and queen quite angry. They captured the princess of the other monarchy. It soon started the war that has been going on for a year."
"Have many died?" I asked softly.
"Oh, heavens, no! It takes a lot to kill a faerie. We live for two hundred to three hundred years, typically. But not many births happen often. And less and less male faeries have been born recently."
"So the whole war hasn't determined anything?"
"By the fates, no. It is absolutely pointless. It throws our people into chaos in the worst possible time. That's why I'm staying out of it," she finished.
"Why is this the 'worst possible time?'"
"Have you not realized it, dear? Something is returning, something terrible. It inspires fear into the heart. And it won't stop with the humans, no. It will come to us next, until it has devoured the essence of every possible being it can."
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The real threat is arriving.
Thanks for reading!