The Faerie Slayer
Chapter 37

Everything in the land of the folk is evil, I concluded, don’t depend on anyones warning, from the flowers, to the music to this very wine, and brought the glass of wine to my lips. It was just as intolerable as before, if not worse. I struggled to mask my aversion but Edmund did not seem to notice. Instead, his testy expression was focused on a set of twin boys who strutted our way. My eyes fell upon their bottom halves where instead of legs they bore two thick trunks of trees each. They halted in front of us and both extended an arm out. Their hands were made of combinations of fingers and branches. Some even grew little brown and green leaves.

They were rather handsome, with strong masculine jaws and built broad shoulders.

“It’s so nice to finally make your acquaintance, princess,” the first one said in a rather pleasant voice. I smiled politely and shook his strong palms and then his brothers.

“You can’t imagine how long we have been awaiting your arrival,” said the other in an identical voice.

I raised my eyebrows with some surprise. It was a shock that my arrival was not dissenting for all faeries.

“That’s so nice to hear,” was all I could manage to say.

“I suppose I could lie and say that it is nice to see you too Edmund,” the first one continued,” but as I said, I would be lying, and faeries cannot lie.”

“It’s not very nice to see you here as well, Edward.”

A tiny bird flew out from behind Edwards ear and flattered around Edmunds face. He struggled to swat it out of the way whilst Edward and his brother mumbled soft effortless commands like,” stop it...come back here...you naughty bird.”

The creature finally retrieved back to wherever it came from behind Edwards back and Edmund raised a suspecting finger,” you did that on purpose.”

“I would never dream of ruining your night Edmund,” Edward rolled his eyes.

“Perhaps you should leave then.”

“Perhaps not, Benjamin and I have some business at the bar. Izibba will be joining me soon as well, you should know.”

They bowed simultaneously my way,” have a perfect time princess.”

They walked away and I turned to watch an angered Edmund.

“Are you alright? You did not seem to like them very much.”

“They are acrid and covetous descendants of Rootmen, a disgrace to their ancestors if you ask me.”

As we marched away hand in hand, I could not help but wonder what Rootmen were although the name was fitting for two brothers with trunks for legs.

Kades Pov

We had stopped a few hours later by a boulder that held itself to many others in a trail that eventually led back to Chip Woods. I could hear the sound of a nearby waterfall but I could not see it. The sky had gloomed into a shade of burnt orange. The further we had ridden into the water, the darker it became.

I sat on the third boulder watching as the Kelpie rested. Elie was flying just above the highest tree in search of her messenger bird. Moments later, she soared down, holding the creature in her small grasp.

“Look! A note from Aubrette!”

I grabbed the letter hanging from the birds narrow beak.

“This says that the wedding date is changed. That means we have till tomorrow.”

“The queen must have found out about your visit. I hope she doesn’t know I’m here.”

I read the remainder of the letter.

Elie, please do what I told you

A

“What does she mean by this?” I pointed an accusing finger at the note.

“I-I’m not so sure,” Elie, who could not lie, stammered.

I was just about to ask again when the sight of about a dozen little gnomes strutted in between the trees and past us just a few meters ahead. On their backs they each supported a load of something inside of a thick netted sack.

“They must be headed to the end of Kelpie River,” said Elie,” those are probably fresh dapperling mushrooms.”

“If we get them now, we can start heading back to the castle. We might make it in time for the wedding.”

We watched as the crowd began to disappear, leaving behind a much slower gnome who struggled with the weight of his sack.

Elie immediately flew over and I began to briskly make my way.

“Would you like some help?” Elie said to the fumbling creature.

“N-no thanks,” he spoke with a lisp and hardly lifted his eyes from his task.

“But your friends, they’re leaving you.”

“It’s quite alright, I’ll catch up eventually.”

“But it would be much easier if your bag weighed less, and we have been looking for fresh dapperling mushrooms for days.”

The gnome peeked up at us finally and then behind us,” are you with the Kelpie?”

“He’s our friend, yes,” I responded.

“I recognize him from the queens castle, he used to belong to the King, may he Rest In Peace, now he’s the queens.”

I froze and so did Elie. The puzzle had began to shift into place and everything was beginning to make more sense. The queen must have sent the Kelpie after us after finding out about my visit.

“Tell me, is it true that the way to Kelpie River has been blocked off by gnomes in the middle of Chips Woods?” Elie asked.

“We just came from town, been walking for days, we hadn’t seen anything. Trail is just as it used to be.”

Elie turned a furious face to me,” I told you not to trust him! I told you!”

We both turned to catch sight of the Kelpie but he was no where to be seen.

“Listen,” I grabbed the gnome by the shoulder,” I haven’t got much time and I need those mushrooms.”

“I can’t just give them to you! Have you any idea what the Court of Seelie would do to me and my family if they were to find out?” He shrieked and shrunk even smaller under my grasp.

“We won’t tell anybody, I swear it-“I began but the gnome had suddenly collapsed. Elie screamed out and flew backwards into a nearby tree. Poking out of the gnomes head was a dagger that looked like it was carved out of wood. I turned to face the hovering Kelpie.

“The sun is going down, should we get going?”

There was a new glimpse of a mischievous speck in his eyes and something told me he had heard the entirety of the conversation.

The sound of huffing in the background made us both turn to a the sight of Elie struggling to retrieve the dagger from the gnomes head. Immediately, the Kelpie made his way towards her. Dapperling mushrooms now littered the soil but they would be no use against the immune Kelpie who lived in a river of it. I had to think quick as I snapped a spiked branch off a tree and aimed it for the back of the Kelpie’s head. He shrieked out and nearly fell back but used his massive fish tail to bring himself back up. He turned to face me, but I was weaponless. The strike had been hard enough that it snapped the branch into many little pieces that decorated the forest grounds. He used a leathery hoof to clout against my chest that sent me stumbling into the water. I struggled to breath through the thick steamy river that was forcing itself down my throat. It burned like the most foul tasting thing I had ever devoured. It was impossible to swim up to the shore, it felt as if hands were bringing me down further and further down. I opened my eyes and caught sight of a cascade in the distance. Deep inside of the river was a dazzling bright burgundy waterfall. The sounds of the falls I had heard earlier were coming from inside of the water, I had suddenly realized. I felt the pull of something dragging me towards the waterfall and realized that there was a creature holding on to me, an Asrai. Long black hair matted around my back and skin. I kicked at the creature over and over again. We were still near the edge of the forest where boulders lined the underwater perimeter. I used my only free arm that wasn’t tangled in the grasp of the faerie to set loose one of them. I had managed to release the smallest one and used it to pound the Asrai’s head. I was beginning to lose my energy, I could not hold my breath for much longer and it certainly didn’t help that I hadn’t eaten.

I stroked again against her thick head until she finally let me go. Floating just a foot of me was the corpse of the gnome that the Kelpie had killed. It seemed to capture her attention momentarily but I did not hesitate. I forced myself back up to the shore where neither the Kelpie nor Elie was no where in sight. I managed a few steps before tumbling down on a pile of dapperling mushrooms. I turned to face the sky, wet back against dampening soil. My head was spinning, I had swallowed a dangerous amount of the water. My vision faded quickly.

I felt the jabs of something sharp at my sides stir me back to reality. I opened my eyes to discover that the sky had gone completely black. There was no moon in sight and only the stars imparted minimal light in addition to the burning fire that streamed heat to the left side of my body.

Elie was hovering above me with a stick.

“Finally you’re up,” she mumbled and flew back towards the fire,” I grilled that bird for you, you should eat.”

I sat up and summoned the rage of a migraine. I gripped my head with both hands and suddenly vomited red water out in front of me.

“Gross!” complained the spirit,” go do that somewhere else!”

“I didn’t know that was going to happen,” I said,” down in the water I was fighting with an Asrai.”

“Makes sense, we are right by Asrai Falls. I threw the dead gnome in there to distract her, I guess it worked.”

I found myself in a trance that I might have owed my life to the little creature.

“I saw it. It’s inside of the river,” my headed flooded with recollecting images,” I drank so much of that water.”

“I made a recipe to heal you from the river water,” she said and I raised my eyebrows,“your system is flushing the poison, you will vomit for hours.”

“Thank you,” I could not express my gratification in a way that did not feel blundering,” where is the Kelpie?”

She shrugged,“He chased me back to the beginning of Chips Woods and I lost him, he’s probably on his way back to the castle to inform the queen of my betrayal.”

“What will she do, when she finds out?” I grabbed the cooked pieces of bird from the branch she handed me and chewed. The meat tasted like latex but I was glad to have something in my stomach.

“She will leave it up to the Seelie Court to decide. They will most likely banish my brother and I or perhaps prison or kill me.”

I felt a wave of guilt and suddenly lost my appetite. I did not think that Elie could have had family. It was far too late to release her from this task. Her fate was destined if the queen were to find out.

Still, I hesitantly forced the bits of food down my throat.

“We have to leave soon, if we leave now, we might make it before the wedding ends.”

“The wedding is tomorrow,” I thought outloud.

“Yes and it’s just a little over a day to get back, we’re not very far.”

“The dapperling mushrooms,” I suddenly stood to my feet and darted to search the ground behind us but there was no sight of the mushrooms,” where are they?”

“Over there,” Elie pointed towards a sack that was now full and neatly placed against a tree,” I packed it already.”

I could not help the look of relief on my face. I looked up at the sky and shouted,” yes!”

I could have kissed the little pixie girl.

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