Fairy Thief (14 page)

The man watched the girl with the puffy red hair stand in the middle of the street. She seemed confused, lost, and as beautiful as a porcelain doll. She didn’t fly like the two boys in the weird pants. Her expressions alternated between fear at the sounds of gunshots and annoyance as the twins buzzed like flies around her head.

He grumbled to himself as he ran his hand up over his forehead, dragging thick, dark hair back from his temples. What to do? Leave them there to get shot down like ducks, or prod their ignorant behinds to shelter? There was another explosion but the boys still hung suspended, their wings vibrating like busy bees, and the girl still stood there, gawking.

Finally,
he
couldn’t take anymore and stood, ready to move forward towards the girl. Then he stopped himself and crouched back into the shadows. He’d be an idiot to run out there. He waved his hand at her, and hoped she would see him out of the corner of her eye. But she just stood there, like an animal that has never seen the sun. She’d get struck down any second now.

They
were slaughtering everything in this land — men, women, children, and livestock without preference. He was baffled to frustration, w
hy
was she just standing there? She had appeared from nowhere. They had materialized in the air, and tumbled onto the street. By
now
you’d think they would have figured out that they were in a hostile place and would take cover!

He stood again, groaned, then bent over with a concentrated frown and moved forward. He skittered over to her, crouching so low his knuckles grazed the ground as he moved, a rifle slung across his back.

Saffron watched, stunned as the man came out from behind a very Roman-looking pillar and moved towards her. He was lumbering through the haze like a pre-historic human. Did the people here not know how to walk upright? Was her tenth-grade science teacher correct in stating one little change in the environment and Man would not have mastered bipedalism? She watched him gimping along and felt bad for him. Her eyes widened as she quelled the urge to pat his head. She bit her bottom lip and stared at him. The twins looked down on him from above as they hovered, and cast doleful glances at their surroundings.

“
Fireball, I don’t know where you just came from, but let me welcome you. Welcome! Now — get down, take cover, or get shot in the head!”

Saffron stared down at him without blinking. The twins stared at him some more.
Was
that
how they walked in this realm?

“
Aaahhhk.”
The man grasped Saffron’s arm, looked at her in shock, and started pulling her towards a house with its rear-quarter caved in.

The moment he grabbed her, she suddenly snapped awake and began to make hissing and growling sounds. “Hey…HEY! Get your hands offa me!”

He threw her arm back at her side and absently wiped his palm on his torn pants. “Okay, little bird. Fly away — go die.” He saw her eyes flash and her nostrils flare like she was a bull seeing red. In fact, the look she gave him was just like the look the invaders gave just before they gored people — the invaders that were swarming in the shadows all around them.

Saffron wanted to punch him right in the mouth, right now — this crouching man she didn’t know but suddenly despised, all the same. She despised him because of another “man,” Jethin, who had very recently told her the same thing — to go die. Saffron was quickly on her way to becoming bitter towards men. Her future rolled out before her eyes: she would be an old woman and live alone with her ten cats — like a properly disenchanted old lady.

The man caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It was off to the right, behind a creaking door that barely hung on its hinges. This time, he grabbed Saffron around the waist (and gasped in shock again), and carted her off. Her feet dragged as he took her inside the broken house across the street. He assumed her flying pets would follow her.

A single bullet grazed past Wo’s ear, and, as he looked around in confusion, Tai quickly flew after the man who had taken Saffron.

Wo followed quickly. “Wow!” He was beaming. “I’ve never gone to see a war before! Hey, Saffron. Look at you, you’re solid!”

Tai gave Wo a cocky grin. “Wo, you’re all giddy and stuff — look at you. I think we’ve failed our undercover operation in this whack-job realm. You got anything ta eat?” Tai rubbed his belly as he stared expectantly at the man. “Puppies? Kittens? Bunnies…bwahahahaha!”

The man looked around the house at the smashed pottery, shot-up walls, tipped-over furniture and blood-spattered floor. Then he looked deadpan at Tai and said nothing.

Saffron smiled when she realized Wo was right — the strange man had gotten his hands around her and had carted her around like a sack of grain! Too thrilling! Wo watched her reaction and flew over to her. He clasped her hands in his as he beamed. She grinned back.

The man narrowed his eyes and looked at all three from under his lowered brow. He was trying to save them from being shot and one of them was asking to eat baby animals, and the other two were rejoicing, because
she was solid….
This war had turned his brain to mush – only delirium would explain this scene. He lowered himself to the cracked, wooden floor strewed with broken things — photo frames, crockery, papers, and a doll that lay ripped and face-down in a grey puddle.

Saffron sat, too, and swallowed hard as she hugged her knees to her chest. Pleasant shock flew from her ribs like a released dove and was replaced with a knot of frightened shock. There was blood on the floor. It was lumpy and congealed. Now that she had focused on it, she couldn’t take her eyes away from it.

The man spoke. “Sorry I was rude out there; I really thought you were going to get it. You wouldn’t
move.
You’re a stubborn gal, aren’t you?”

“
You’re a classy guy, aren’t you, telling people to go off and die….” Saffron stared at the man, then looked away in disgust. Disgusted at him for what he said, and disgusted at herself for not wanting to look away from his eyes when he looked at her like he was looking at her right now. Behind the fall of dark hair, and behind the dirt on his face, she’d captured and held great, big, hazel eyes that dazzled like kaleidoscopes. Geometric shards of green, blue, and yellow shimmered in different tones, depending on the way he tilted his head. She realized she was leaning towards him and puffed out her cheeks as she moved away.

“
What’s going on around here, anyway?” Tai poked his head out the window, then whipped it back in when a bullet zinged by. “Oooo-we! Testy!” He laughed whole-heartedly. These Neanderthals couldn’t hurt him with their pop guns.

“
If you mean, what’s the war about — I can give you two versions. The invaders say the war is about their alien, who, they claim, is the one, true leader and should be revered by all. The people of this land say their alien is the one, true leader and creator and will hold on to their beliefs and their system of worship — they will not be bullied. Blah, blah, blah…. The real fight is over power. The real fight is between bunches of men acting like spoiled three-year-olds because the boy on the other side of the play-circle has more toys — toys neither party really cares about — but toys that both parties don’t want the other to
have.
That is why the rest of us get to be shot down to drown in a pool of our own blood.”

Saffron was still staring at the man, but forced herself to look at his dirty hands, not his eyes. His feet were drawn up, his hands dangled over his knees. “Do you guys, like, believe in God?”

The man had been looking out the broken window, but now he locked his eyes on her again.

As soon as he did, she blinked, and looked up to meet his gaze. She felt her spine melt away.

“
There are no such things as gods, hothead. There are only aliens and this mess of a world they created. Pfft, gods — there has been no serious talk of gods since ancient times.” He studied her as if she were a criminal. “Where did you come from anyway?”

“
From Earth.”

Wo sucked his breath in and stared horrified at Saffron.

Tai slapped his knee. “Wow, Saffron — your mouth is like, padlock-tight, isn’t it? Why don’t we all just go back now? This is our first realm, and we’ve flubbed it royally. Do you really think we can survive with our record?” He looked from Wo, to Saffron, then back to Wo. “C’mon. This is ridiculous.”

The man’s eyes had widened — he sat up straighter. “The Earthrealm?” His rough voice was barely audible. He let his hands drop to the floor with a thud while he looked away from Saffron once more.

Saffron couldn’t believe this. The twins told her none of the beings they were to meet would likely know about Earth, that Earth was a totally sheltered realm, as the humans contained within were not ready for
the truth.
That they would likely kill themselves off in fear of the unknown, rather than believe — so they were kept sheltered. But, Saffron could tell this man was well aware of Earth. ‘The Earthrealm’ as he had put it. She watched him pull his fingers till his knuckles popped. He looked devastated. Her voice was hesitant. “You know about the realms?”

Tai’s voice filled the inside of Saffron’s head. “Shut up.” She slapped at her ear as if to catch a mosquito.

The man didn’t say anything. For a long time, no one spoke. They listened to the guns and the screams, and the sound of the fight fading, as if it were moving off to the next block.

Finally, “What are you doing here?” The man croaked the sentence out, still staring at the wall, ignoring Saffron’s comment about him knowing about the Earthrealm.

“
I...I’m searching. The soul of my boy…friend...was taken by one of their kind.” She pointed towards Tai and Wo. “I need to find him.” She was mumbling again. “It’s my fault he’s gone.” As an afterthought she blurted out, “Their world is being destroyed. It’s my fault — though I didn’t know it — and I have to get those souls back to correct the balance.”

The man snorted. “What balance?”

“
The balance of souls to nature,” Saffron quoted.

Another noise of incredulity from the man. “That’s just an old fairy tale. People realm-hop from here all of the time – it’s no big deal, and it doesn’t upset the balance between souls and nature.” He gave her a chastening look.

Saffron’s cheeks burned as her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open. “Duh! Look around, dude, your world is about as balanced as a see-saw being ridden by a fat man and his right shoe!”

A loud crack, followed by a deafening crash, caused her to slam her mouth shut and push herself tightly into the corner. Then a bomb exploded far off in the distance, but close enough to make them all to jump.

“
I can help you,” the man said quickly.

“
Saffron,” Tai flew to her side, “I don’t think we need any help.” He gave her a warning look and shook his head.

“
I don’t think we need any help,” Saffron repeated to the man.

“
Oh, I see. So, you all have experience you need to go realm-hopping?”

Wo shot a frantic look at Tai. Tai frowned and shook his head. “The help we need isn’t from you. We need Saffron to shut her yap.”

Saffron scrambled to her feet. “You two were the morons that left your wings exposed!”

The man scrutinized Wo, then glared at Tai. He smirked. “Say, boys, does your gal here know the danger she’s in, traveling with you?”

Wo groaned. Tai spit in the corner, then narrowed his eyes on the dirty man.

Saffron shrugged. “We’ve been briefed about how dangerous the other realms can be….”

The man looked sly as his eyes roved back and forth over the fairies. He nodded at Saffron. “Ah, yeah – have you been warned of specific danger? Of danger because of them?” He thumbed Tai and Wo.

Saffron frowned. “Why? Just because I’m with them?”

The man kept looking at the twins. The twins remained silent.

Now, Saffron looked at the twins. “What’s he talking about?”

Tai slapped his leg. “Yeah, it’s true, okay? Bet you wish you hadn’t pushed Li away like you did, because now you’re with two mostly inexperienced fairies. And everyone knows, most of the world despises fairies.”

“
What?” Saffron whispered. A shower of bullets whizzed outside. She ducked automatically.

“
Fairies have the most powerful magic and other beings are jealous!” Tai puffed out his chest with pride.

“
Because fairies steal souls — the souls of infants.” The man added with an eyebrow raised.

“
Because fairies have the best kind of magic.” Wo put in softly.