HALIA'S POV
I ran through the undergrowth. The fireflies lightened my path. My heart was pounding and I was short of breath, but the early morning cold kept me going.
I was surrounded with life and beauty. The forest, the morning dew covering my feet, the feel of the rising sun on my skin. I felt alive. I felt hopeful.
I wasn't sure how long it had been since I had last seen Phi. Barely a day for me, but time could either go faster or slower inside a magical land when its ruler leaves. Time obeyed no rules.
She is going to do what it takes to convince the thunder spirits. The oracle had predicted it.
Or at least, I thought that's what the oracle meant. I sighed. Who knew?
I was still coming to terms with the idea that another entity lived inside of me. Although "lived" is not the right word. There were two parts of me. The "me" me and the "oracle" me. The two parts coexisted, but the latter was more dormant than not.
I still felt upset the oracle served no better purpose. It was rather lame.
Thoughts like those had been flowing freely in my mind when I noticed the scenery around me was changing.
The closer I came to the Evil King's fortress, the more dead branches I saw and the more the leaves cracked under my weight.
At last, I could observe the sturdy walls of Wotan's place of sorrows through the brittle branches of the by-then bare tree.
He was killing the Mother, striping the land of its life, I noted, staring blanking at the lifeless field that stretched out around the fortress.
That was unthinkable. Draining nature of its energy was a crime of unspoken gravity among the fairies.
I never thought a creature could be this evil. Sure, he had submitted my people and the humans living with him to the worst kinds of torture imaginable, but this . . .
I decided to keep moving. I still had to get to my people. How? I did not know. I no longer had Domovoy's help or Siegfried's hand of glory.
I'll figure it out. I share Phi's powers, after all.
*
I initially hid from the mindless guards that patrolled the area by crouching behind a rock, in my miniature size. I circled the fortress several times, in the hope of spotting the house spirit. Damn, he was nowhere to be seen. No hypnotic whispers into guards' ears today.
I jogged back to the front gate. It was open and unguarded, but after testing the gap with a prudent hand. I felt a burning sensation on my skin and took away my hand immediately. The surface of the air in the gateway was disturbed, as if a rock had fallen through and rippled a tranquil body of water.
It was a trap, made to lure us in, and kill us if we ran into it.
At least I didn't rush into it, I thought, congratulating myself.
I heard rustling in a dry shrub behind me and in a matter of seconds, a firm hand closed around me. The disturbance, even if minimal, did not go unnoticed. The guards looked my way.
I regained my full size and for a while the human that was holding me lost his grip. I made it a few strides away, but the other guards tackled me.
I let their fists, knees, and feet riddle my skin with open wounds and bruises.
If they have me, they might bring me into the castle.
Of course, there was also the possibility that they would kill me right there and then. I took my chances.
It was almost a relief when, while slipping in and out of consciousness, I felt them dragging me past the gates.
I wouldn't be in the fortress if they'd wanted to kill me.
The guards tugged me on the dirt road, bordered by the priests' houses. The sun was high and blinding, its light golden. It was almost beautiful. Almost. If the place wasn't so heavy in suffering.
The mindless thralls were still pulling me when we entered Wotan's mammoth hall. There still reigned a mess, with turned over seats and disturbed hay. Remnants of Phi's unfortunate alliance.
The last time I was here, it was filled with fairies and other members of the fair folk. Now, it looked more like a ghost town.
I was hauled to a door. Wooden with metal hinges. Just like any other door in the hall.
Only I knew, because of its location, that it was not the door to the room I had shared with Phi. I had no idea what awaited me on the other side, but I was afraid. It frightened me. And perhaps because of the stress, exhaustion, or simple hunger, but I passed out.
*
"Halia," a voice said as I regained my senses.
It was Aras.
Oh, thank you, Mother! I opened my eyes found myself face to face with my godmother and the three green fairies. They all stared down at me, scrutinizing me.
"How are you feeling, child?" my godmother asked, with angst in her eyes.
I sat up and leaned my back on the wattle wall behind me.
"I am fine," I said before feeling the need to reassure her about my wounds too. "It looks worse than it is."
A rush of emotions overcame me. Tears left my eyes and entered my mouth. Their saltiness stung me a little, because of an open wound on my lips.
It didn't matter. I hadn't seen my godmother in so long. There were many things I wanted to tell her. Phi's plan to get the thunder spirits' help, my union to her, and my feelings for her.
I wanted to tell Aras about the desire I had that one day, once everything was as it should, Phi and I would be together again, in a way I had never dreamed of before. She would realize her true feelings for me, beyond friendship, I just knew it. I had to have faith.
As an Elder, I thought, maybe Godmother would know better.
Maybe she would understand why Phi was everything I ever thought about.
"Did you find Phi?" I heard Nixie ask
I looked up only to see her approach from a far corner of the room, I nodded, but that was not enough to wash the worry off her face.
"Where is she?" Phi's grandmother asked, making her way out of the crowd to follow the nymph. "Is she safe?"
"She is safe for now," I replied. "She will convince the First Creatures to help our cause."
"But they refused to help when our king asked them," someone whispered. "How can we be sure they will aid us this time?"
"It will be different," I asserted. "I forced a prophecy and the oracle said it will happenâor at least that's how I understood it."
I stopped myself from saying anything else. The more I talked, the less hope I transmitted. I guess that was because I, myself, hated the idea of what Phi had to do for us.
Seducing someone. The thought of it made me shiver. It's more, I knew it against what she had always wanted for herself: to be free. And that she was not. She was the currency to our freedom.
But what choice do we have?
I glanced around the room where the people stood, one against each other, at awkward angles because of the limited space.
Domovoy was there. After centuries of living incognito, the king had become aware of the creature's presence and must have captured him shortly after he had helped Tönx and me escape.
That explains why he couldn't help me in this time.
King Siegfried was semi-conscious and laying in an improvised bed made of hay from the floor. His own blood still stained his clothes.
I was relieved to see Urach, the other Last-borns, and the human girls that had been captured and used for the Evil King's intimate pleasures. Wotan had, by all appearances, been so upset about Phi's departure that he no longer had interest for them. They'd been locked away with the rest of the prisoners.
At least they were now left alone.
Still, their lips were pursed; they looked worried. A sentiment reinforced by the painful silence that weighed down the room. Everybody seemed to be processing thoughts of increasing despair.
If I had been a good orator, I would have said what needed to be said to lift the spirits. Instead, I did the next best thing. I sang.
"I heard of a land where
Circles of fairies dance under the moonlight
An island clouded in mist
That no mortal can ever find . . ."
In the alley, we had no hope, yet our lives changed. The unexpected happened. We came to a new world, a land we didn't even know exist. Life can change once more, and the song was a synonym of that.
My words were hesitant at first. But soon my godmother and others joined in, followed by others. The dwarfs' baritones and the fairies' sopranos joined me. The goblins tapped their feet and Domovoy clapped his hands.
"They say that there is no fairer sight
Than that of the land of Arcadia
With its fields of emerald grass
Birds singing night and day
Rivers clearer than air
On this fortunate land
Hearts know no sorrows
And love lasts forever
They say there shall never be fairer sight
Than that of the land of Arcadia
Where life is eternal
Where there is no battle
Nymphs and other spirits of nature
Live in peace among virgin wilderness
On this fortunate land
Hearts know no sorrows
And love lasts forever
They say there shall never be fairer sight
Than that of the land of Arcadia
Where one day I will be
Waiting for you."
I walked over to our king's side and gave Domovoy a furtive glance.
What about the hand? I wanted to ask him.
I didn't need to speak for him to understand. He shook his head. "Wotan confiscated the hand of glory when he made me a captive," the house spirit said.
That was obvious, anyway. If he still had it, none of them would have been here. Prisoners in this room. We needed another way out.
"Pure Mother with a cooling dress, let my bandages heal the wounded," I recited, holding my hands over King Siegfried's severed arm.
I chanted the words. Over and over. The rune in my neck began to sting, to burn.
"There is no point, child," said one of the Tisannieres upon seeing what I was trying to do. "This spell is only to cure, not to grow body parts. It's not powerful enough."
"There is another spell we can do, however," her sister said, "and since you are part Tisanniere you can help."
I joined hands with them as they began to chant the incantation, to unify our powers. As the chant progressed, I felt something prickling on my skin, right above my shoulder blade.
"Grower art thou, grower, grower of severed bone; make this grow. O climbing vine
What of thee is torn, what of thee is inflamed, what of thee is crushed in thyself
may the Mother excellently put that together again, joint with joint.
Let thy marrow come together with marrow, and thy joint together with joint;
together let what of your flesh has fallen apart, together let thy bone grow over.
Let marrow be put together with marrow; let skin grow with skin;
let thy blood, bone grow; let flesh grow with flesh.
Fit thou together hair with hair; fit together skin with skin;
let thy blood, bone grow; put together what is severed."
Soon, a blinding, golden light appeared where Siegfried's hand should have been. When it dissipated, when the last syllable was pronounced, the king looked down at his arm, moved his fingers, closed and opened his fist.
"Your magic is getting strong," the king said, approvingly.
I reached for the new sigil that crawled down my neck. Its lines were rough to my touch, very fine runes carved out and stretching out in an almost star shape.
I had a new sigil, Siegfried a new hand, but I was not feeling any stronger.