Secrets of the Fae

10

Sadie was less eager to walk now, instead of appreciating the chaos of color around her and the subtle scents that the mixture gave off. As we reached the herb beds she named off plants that she recognized, and even named some of their uses, surprising me with how much she had truly learned from my answers to her questions. We continued down the path to the medicine garden, the scents a little stronger here. Many of these plants like shade and plenty of water so their scents soaked into the air. Sadie kept naming plants and listing properties as though this were a test she must pass. I enjoyed every moment, encouraging her and smiling with her as she remembered everything.

I don’t know if I could have designed a better test than this, and I hadn’t even done it with this purpose in mind, I was simply a hermit Fae who clearly appreciated company despite having sought solace for decades. I had answered questions she asked, and here she was giving the knowledge back, proving her intelligence and showing me that her conscious cognitions were in great working order. Her mind was healing, just as her body was, and I was hopeful that her spirit would regain health as well. The only trick would be re-establishing her connection to Fae magik and her wings to her soul, if that were even possible. Without knowledge on the subject or how the break was made, it could well be an impossible feat. For now, t least, she was healing. Making great progress physically, being sound of mind, her emotional state would be a trickier matter but already I had gained her trust and that was the beginning of the healing process there.

I was feeling resplendent and intoxicated with her success, I couldn’t stop smiling as we continued through the clearing. We were near the end of it now, circling back and through the flowers when she trailed off into silence. I was still marveling at the progress she had made, and the impromptu test she had completed. I didn’t notice the somber attitude she was adopting until she slowed her steps to a halt and spoke to me directly, “Liam, how did you find me?” She wasn’t shy or quiet as she asked me this, instead her voice was hard and determined, as though this question would be answered and she would bear it. I sighed, and ran my free hand through my hair, trying to absorb her question so I could answer it as seriously as she had asked it.

I looked at her, her eyes were expectant and a little impatient, my mouth quirked to the side, amused by how clearly her eyes spoke to me. “Alright love, but if we are to be telling tales now, perhaps we could sit?” and I motioned to the long bench placed against the back of my home. I would sit here often, working plants into usable and edible pieces. I settled her into one corner with a cushion beneath and behind her, then I sat next to her at an angle so we could converse comfortably. I told her how I had found her, and approximately where, promising to show her in the coming weeks when she was ready. I noted my biggest concerns and she nodded with me when I spoke of her translucent wings.

She seemed to have already known about them, and I couldn’t help asking in return, “How long have they been that way?” “Since the very beginning, the first healer did it to me,” My face said more than my lips could then, what healer would sever a bond like that?! She smiled ruefully at my expression, “He did it to try and help me, to save me the dark lord’s torture. If he could take my power away and gift it to the Dark Lord, i would be spared all suffering. He failed though, he managed to separate my magik but failed in gifting it to the dark lord. He suffered a long while before he died, and perhaps that spared me a few weeks of torture. And the dark lord valued me too much to do anything without a healer around. So he found another, she was an ancient Fae, her wings faded and her hair grey, when she saw my colorless wings she asked me what happened. When I told her she shook her head in defeat, there was no way she knew of to bring my magik back, and therefore no way for the Dark Lord to gain it, it was gone forever now. When she told the Dark Lord her diagnosis he raged, she dissappeared and he came for me. I used to scream when he raged at me, the pain that first time was overwhelming and I don’t remember much else. When I woke up, I was in a small dirty and stone cell, with a metal door locking me inside. The ancient Fae appeared before me and with some words more ancient than she, healed my wounds and dulled my pain to memory. She told me that she could not do much more than this, for without magik of my own I would soon begin to reject magik that was other. She promised me pain and suffering for the duration of my stay here, but she also promised me hope. She told me that it would end, that she could create a way for me to escape but it would take time. I would need to find the will and means to survive until the time came that I could be free of this place. Then she disappeared again, and I have not seen her since. For a long time, I believed the Dark Lord had caught and killed her, but when the floor of my cell began to hold water I knew she had managed to keep her promise. I could hear the underground river if I listened hard enough. It took a few more day and a bit of digging on my part, but I finally made space enough to get into the current. I hesitated only because I didn’t know how long I would be under, without oxygen to breathe. I should have gone anyway, but I waited, wondering if she would come back at last or if an idea would come to me on how to survive the rushing waters. I waited too long, not trusting my savior, and he sent for me. I tried to fight and run away back to the safety and darkness of my cell, but it made no difference. It never had. I was brought to him, dressed in some new finery despite my filth and bruises. He made his demands, which I refused, and then he beat me again, making his demands with every strike, as though by then I hadn’t memorized the routine. I spoke with strength for the first time in many sessions, and this aggravated him. He struck with more force, and I could feel the blood running down my skin, gritting my teeth, bearing the pain without sound because my screams would only excite him. Eventually, he tired and sent me away to the newest healer. He did his best as always, putting a salve on the cuts and checking for breaks. Satisfied, he sent me away to my cell, and at last, I could escape. Tossed without mercy into my one safe haven, I crawled to the rushing waters. I didn’t care about breathing anymore, perhaps my escape from this hell was death, and I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Encouraged to survive just to die in the waters. I positioned myself to go into the current feet first, took as deep a breath as I could manage, and let the rushing water have me. I tried to keep my body straight, with my arms crossed on my chest. I wasn’t underwater for very long at all, but I was not expecting the waterfall that came and dropped me into a cavern lake. The impact of the fall was surprising enough to knock my breath from my lungs, and it took the last of my strength to break back through the water's surface and find the shore. I slept then, waking to silence that confused me until I realized the waterfall which deposited me here was now gone, reduced to a weeping drip. I didn’t analyze it further, simply grateful that my tormentor would be hard-pressed to follow me here. I drank some of the earthy water, then looked around me for a way out of the cavern.