Fairy Thief (10 page)

The fairies backed away from her and the two lifeless bodies. They didn’t want to be touched by her sorrow.

Li knelt beside Markis, and adjusted first his legs, then his arms, then his head. She gently lifted Saffron’s tear-streaked face and whispered to her that it was time to go, that there was no time to waste. “Saffron, you must leave your tears with your body. Position your body into its most restful position, so it can be well while you are away.”

Saffron’s brow furrowed as she meekly accepted Li’s order. She was suddenly disoriented. Lay herself out? This seemed like she was preparing her body for her own wake. It was creepy. She put her body into the fetal position, one hand tucked under her head, fitting herself into Markis’ side.

“
Close your eyes and help us take you, Saffron.”

Saffron looked doubtfully at the lifeless bodies. “Are you sure we’re safe here?”

Li said nothing at first, then, “Who would harm you on an enchanted cloud?”

“
IDK — a bird with a huge beak looking for eyes to eat?”

Li’s tinkling laugh. “Oh, Saffron; no bird flies this high. You are quite safe from the birds – both bone and metal.”

Saffron shrugged. “Our bodies just look so exposed.” Her body was clothed in the beaded, native-looking halter top and skinny jeans. One bejeweled flip-flop dangled on her big toe. She put it back on her foot, and brushed the red bangs from her eyes. Then, without realizing it, she brushed the red bangs from the forehead of her conscious head too.

“
Let us be away from here.” Li whispered.

Saffron stared at Li as the fairy spoke. For the second time, an odd thought occurred to her — just the tiniest unstitched thread of a thought that niggled at her mind. She pushed the thought aside as she held lightly to Li’s hand and felt herself fly away over cloud and sea, mountain and desert.

***

It was very late in the night when Ny arrived at his destination. No stars, no moon, just a dark dome of sky blacker than hell. He held Markis’ hand firmly, pulling him along like a stuffed puppy. Markis could see, but he was so confused that he thought he must be dreaming, and so went wherever Ny took him in quiet acceptance. He did not heed his grandfather’s words: a dream is never just a dream — but a journey. If he had known what was really happening to him, he could have fought. But he was in shock, and thinking it was a dream was easier on his mind. Like life, he was content to let it all happen.

Ny cleared a low hill, and flew over a magnificent city of multi-tiered buildings with floret tops — every one of them etched and carved with a design almost indiscernible in the dark. They flew up to a castle, and raced up the outside wall of a tower as cold air rushed past their faces. Ny landed without a sound on an open window ledge, sat on his haunches on the cold, thick stone, still holding Markis’ hand.

There Markis hung and stared, dangling from Ny’s hand like a well-loved teddy. Ten stories down, a squat man clacked across the cobblestones with a wheelbarrow of muck.

Ny spied her in the massive bed, beneath a fur blanket, knowing her to be naked and already sensing his presence. His whispered words – both a little bit seductive and a little bit foul — came out of his mouth as beads of light and flew across the room. They landed on her lips, then worked their way down under the blanket.

She moaned — deep and guttural — and moved her legs under the covers. Suddenly, her eyes shot open. Horizontal pupils focused on Ny as he sat grinning, tottering on the window ledge. She sat up without using her hands, an instant fluid movement which caused the blanket to fall from her chest and expose six scaly breasts.

Ny whispered again. The balls of light careened straight for her breasts and caused her to squeal when they made contact. She bared her white teeth at him. “Come.”

“
It is my intent.”

She arched one fine eyebrow. “Then move away from that window. It has been too long. Where have you been?”

As she spoke, Ny jiggled Markis in order to hang him up by the shirt on one of two iron hooks just outside the window. Markis gazed quietly at the moat below his feet. He heard Ny move away from the window ledge. For a moment, there was silence. Then an awful groaning started, followed by begging and stunted shrieks. Then came the howling and slamming — primal sounds which raced down every corridor of the castle, waking the inhabitants therein and causing them to lunge for the earplugs they kept at the ready. Some of them shivered in revulsion, as they knew for a fact, no one was in the room with their mistress, and they wondered what she did to herself to cause such a melee.

Chapter 8

S
affron and the fairies alighted on the mossy grounds of the Fairyrealm. She gawked as her heartbeat quickened — the Fairyrealm
had
changed — just as Li had said. What was once green with vitality now looked yellowed and grey. Sickly. There were no water pixies flitting about, the trees were silent, the song and voice of the woodland creatures — natural and unnatural — had vanished. Saffron stared down at her feet as they sank an inch into muck. The entire place looked…flooded. The bottom of Li’s fine, filmy skirts hung heavy in the water.

“
Why?” Saffron finally forced out. “Why all this over one messed up thing a fairy did?” She scratched the back of her neck. “…And why water?”

“
With his continued deeds, Ny changes our world – weakens it. Good energy is being lost; it is being sucked into the abyss that Ny has left behind when he left this world.” She swept her hand as she turned in a full circle. “This is how we know he does not hide the soul of Markis in this world.” She pointed to the engorged stream. “What Ny has done, no fairy has ever done. What Ny has done goes against the laws of nature.”

“
Well, who’s punishing
you
for this?”

“
It is not a punishment. It is a tip in the balance.”

“
Who’s got their finger on the scale?” As always, Saffron was creaking and screeching under pressure. “Li, who’s
doing
this? It’s….” She looked around with wide-eyed fear. “It’s — what if it gets deeper? Is it going to get deeper?” Saffron’s hand slapped to her gaping mouth. “Oh, my God! Did G
od do this?”

Li sighed heavily as she helped a toad that was struggling in a too-deep puddle. Her wings fluttered — together, apart, together, apart — as a nervous person taps his foot or wrings his hands. “I have never met the entity who watches the scale….” Li sat with a humph on a nearby log. “We cannot rid ourselves of this water. We have tried. Energy seeps from us as from a wound that will not heal. And still the water does rise.”

Rise? Rise where? What? Over their whole realm?
Saffron flinched. “Oh, my God! Then leave! Go somewhere else!” Saffron panicked for them, since upon quick, roundabout inventory — she noticed neither strain nor concern on behalf of any of the fairy faces, just a wistful sadness.

Li looked at Saffron as if she were an circus oddity. “You suggest we run away? We will not take flight — this is our home. Even ten leagues submerged, this will yet be our home.”

Saffron gasped. “You’ll
live
under water?”

Li nodded. “Yes, and we will not see the sun, except as a blur through the water. We will travel above land nevermore. Will become human nevermore.”

“
But why?” Saffron didn’t let Li answer. “Oh, my God! Oh my God — are you going to become
mermaids?”

Li gasped. “Saffron, we cannot
become mermaids,
we are winged children!”

Suddenly, Saffron felt sheepish and incredibly stupid. Then she wondered why she should feel stupid? This whole conversation was stupid! How should she know fairies wouldn’t become mermaids under water? They seemed to be able to do anything they wanted. Why stand around then, while these waters rose? Why couldn’t they do something to save their world? Didn’t they have magic? Couldn’t they do anything? If not,
who
was stopping them?

Li simply shrugged in response to Saffron’s mental muttering. “Land out of water will no longer be our domain.” She waved around to indicate the others. “This tribe of fairies will exist under water. There are other tribes that exist as such.” Li shrugged. “One or two maybe.”

“
Really? Well, what in the world did
they
do to deserve that?” Saffron pulled her foot from the muck and smelled the stench of sulfur as it sucked free.

Li looked at the fairies around her and licked her lips. No fairy responded to her in voice or glance. “They…ate humans.”

Saffron was in the middle of removing her other foot from the muck and walking to a boulder when Li spoke. She lost her concentration when Li said, ‘ate humans,’ and tipped right over as her mouth made a perfect ‘o’ in horror. She thrashed about in the water and scrambled to sit on the boulder, dirty water streaming down her arms. “Ate humans! Are you shitting me?” She rubbed her hands all over her face and screamed, “You’re all freaks!” She drew her feet up to her bum and put her head between her knees. “I can’t take this. I’m going to lose it. Really, I’m going to go insane….” She slapped too hard at a passing fly and almost toppled off the boulder. She jumped off the rock and stomped around. “No. No. No. No. No! Go ahead; tell me why in a million years a fairy would ever
eat
a human.” She slapped at some more flies that came buzzing around her head. With both arms flailing, she turned around and around and swatted.

The fire-fairy came forward and pointed at Saffron. She shrank away from him and stilled. He said, “She does ask, ‘why,’ too much, sister. We do not have enough time for ‘why.’”

“
Saffron, no fairy has had contact with them since they went under.”

Saffron grimaced. “Li, I’ve known you long enough in this life to know you’re avoiding my question and are hiding a better answer….”

Li cocked her head sideways and studied Saffron. “Do you really not understand, ‘why’?”

Saffron rolled her eyes. “That’s why I’m asking.” She had started to shake. She had been so filled with joy the first time she had come to the Fairyrealm – that was so long ago. Now, every single time she came back, it sucked the joy from her. She could feel its greedy fingers digging into her heart, pulling at her, wanting any little bit of happiness she held inside.

“
Saffron, we — you and I — live in the Earthrealm.”

“
Yeah.”

“
There is a balance of souls in the Earthrealm…”

“
Yeah.”

“
There are now two souls missing from the Earthrealm. One that has chosen to leave; one that was taken.”

Saffron frowned, stared at Li.
What about fairies eating bodies?

“
No soul can leave the Earthrealm without consequence to the balance.”

Saffron forgot about fairies eating bodies. She stopped breathing.

“
We must restore balance.”

“
Man. So that, each-of-us-is-special stuff isn’t just a bunch of crap?”

“
No, it is not. In so many words, that phrase was formed at the dawn of man. Each of us is essential.”

Saffron felt weak. She wanted to sit down and stay down – forever. But the lot of them were standing about in the pool of tepid water, among drowning ferns and floating pine needles, and she didn’t want to be the only one having a breakdown.

“
Come — let us ready ourselves for our travels. We do not have time to sit here and banter of things that cannot be changed with banter.”

“
Li, wait….”

Li looked expectantly at Saffron.

Saffron suddenly had nothing to say. She pulled at the beads on her halter top. “I’ve been thinking. I mean, I know we’re friends and all, you know — soul mates — but you seem like the head honcho around here, like people depend on you, you know. You need to stay with your people in their time of need.”
Crap, crap, crap — as if she’s going to buy that, moron.

“
Saffron, you do not want me to go with you?”

No.
“It’s not that Li, I just think…you’re needed here. I can go by myself.”

“
You most certainly cannot go by yourself. Saffron, you will need to search over one hundred known realms, never mind the realms you stumble upon that are, as yet, unknown. And in most of these realms, the peoples use magic. It is only your ancient culture, Saffron, that still refuses to use magic. There will be times when you will only be able to temper magic with magic.”