Olly, Olly, Oxen Frey

by Paul Manchester

  Finn turned the handle with his free hand and pushed. The door swung open with a groan – like it hadn’t been opened in many, many years.

  Round globes of warm light flickered into brightness. They revealed an entry hall with a stone floor and exposed woodwork which twisted in and out of the amber plaster. Finn thought the lights must be magic. There was quite a bit of dust, but there was a cozy feel that was welcoming after a long journey. The deep creek babbled along one side of the hall and disappeared into the next room.

  “That’s cool. A creek inside the house,” he thought.

  As he proceeded down the hall, he could hear a variety of squeaks and beeps like a machine long dead was coming to life again.

  The corridor ended at an arch with double doors. The dark wood had been carved into an beautiful, open lattice-work of fish and plants, through which he could see lights appearing in the room beyond. Still holding his mother tenderly to his chest, he used his free hand to push open one of the swinging doors.

  The room took his breath away. It was irregular in shape but more or less round. The ceiling was high and domed with stained glass in the center. A great yellow rose filled the center of the skylight. The yellow of that rose shimmered and somehow contained every color in the rainbow. It was the cheeriest yellow that he’d ever seen.

  To his left, the creek reached a teal colored pool with inlets that wove throughout the room. They reached under little bridges and beside round platforms. The predominant colors seemed to be yellow, orange, and lavender with splashes of red and green. The furniture tended to be overstuffed, comfortable looking, and low to the ground – clearly situated to facilitate interaction with the water areas. This was the home of a human and a mermaid.

  Around the room were arches that clearly led to other parts of the dwelling. The waterways led to those rooms as well. As it was a home inside of a hill, the roots of trees came down from the ceiling and had been groomed to become part of the living space.

  It was dusty.

  He dropped his bag on a couch and stepped into a nearby pool with his mother. He gently laid her on what appeared to be an underwater couch near the surface. He wasn’t sure if her head should be above water or below and finally settled on letting it slip below the surface. She still looked peaceful so he supposed it was okay. He then had second thoughts and pulled her head up and rested it on a spongy cushion growing on the underwater couch.

  The whirling and whistling continued. The home seemed to be coming to life. He wondered where the medicine cabinet would be and what it might look like. All the shapes he could see were organic looking – like every piece of furniture was grown rather than built.

  He was debating whether to leave her while he explored the house, when a sound behind him made him jump.

  Finn spun around to see a strange creature stepping out of an alcove. It stretched like it was just waking up.

  It was willowy and tall as a grandfather clock. Well, it kind of was a grandfather clock in the sense that its tummy consisted of a clock face (it showed nine-thirty-five), and a long, but solid white beard extending down from the kindly features above. The beard was carved to conveniently part to either side of the clock face. The creature had four legs like a pit-bull, a feather duster tail, and long green arms which tapered into graceful fingers.

  The green face froze when its big eyes noticed Finn. It bent over to get a closer look.

  “Why, hello there?” It adjusted the lenses over its rust colored eyes to better focus on the boy with the fishy legs.

  “Hi, I’m Finn.”

  The creature’s manner blossomed from cautious to ecstatic. “Oh delightful! You’re finally here! It has been such a long wait! Oh, master Finn! I am so excited to see you!” it gushed.

  Finn couldn’t help but take a step back. “Who exactly are you?”

  “Oh goodness gracious, pardon my manners!” the green face cried out. “I’m the butler here! The major-domo! I’m the one who gets things done and supervises the staff!”

  Finn didn’t know what to make of the fluttery creature. “Oh. Great.” He wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Do you have a name?”

  “A name? Oh my word. No, it never occurred to me that I needed a name. Your father never gave me one. He just called me Butler.”

  “Why would my dad need to give you a name?”

  “But young master, he didn’t give me a name.”

  “But, why would he be the one to name you?”

  “He’s my creator! He made all of us that work here.”

  “All of you?” Finn spun around to see that they were not alone! All sorts of creatures had crept out of nooks and crannies and adjacent rooms. Each one was unique. And obviously curious about their new visitor.

  “We’re all here to serve you!” piped up a cheerful, round creature that he’d mistaken for an ottoman.

  “Do any of you know where the medicine cabinet is?” he begged the small crowd.

  All the creatures began clamoring in a surge of excited voices, till a small wooden cabinet ran up on four little legs and skidded to a halt in front of him with the sound of rattling glass.

  The wee cabinet was round at the sides, with two doors in front which sprang open to display rows of little glass vials – each jumped up and down and waved little glass arms to get Finn’s attention.

  “Pick me!” pleaded each of the vials, anxious to please.

  At the top of the stout cabinet was an arched backboard with two proud eyes.

  Finn led it to the edge of the pool where his mother still slept.

  “Can you help her?” Finn jumped into the pool beside her. “My mother, the Princess Meryth?”

  The tall butler craned over the top of the crowd at the edge of the pool. “Dear me, dear me! This is terrible!”

  “But can you do anything?” Finn cried out.

  “She needs to be in the laboratory!” answered the butler urgently.

  Finn lifted her carefully and stepped out of the pool. Doors opened by themselves at the far side of the room and the crowd of creatures split to guide his path. Finn almost didn’t notice the little mop creatures that followed after him to wipe up his watery footprints.

  The lab was wide and seemed to stretch about a third of the way around the perimeter of the central room. A number of tall glass cylinders around the far side reminded Finn of the tube where he had initially found his mother.

  There was a pool in this room as well and he later noticed that it connected via an underwater tunnel to the main pool.

  Finn stood with his mother in his arms and looked expectantly at the butler who rubbed his hands together nervously in the center of the room. In front of the butler was a control panel and an oval platform with a pool in its center. There were so many jewels set into the control panel that it looked like one of his foster mother’s craft projects.

  “What do I need to do?” Finn asked impatiently.

  “Goodness gracious, I... I’m not an expert at this sort of thing! I know how to run a household, but... this... I... well...” The butler looked panicked.

  Finn waited.

  “But, I did watch your father! And he did provide me with a most excellent memory.”

  The entire room watched the tall hesitant creature.

  The old creature continued. “Well... if you could place her in this small pool.”

  Finn placed his mother gently in the water. He stepped back.

  “Then your father would press...” The butler (with some anxiety) pressed a large ruby on the left side of the panel.

  There was a whirring and a tube of glass began to rise around the small pool. But it wasn’t glass! It ascended to a height of about ten feet and it sort of crystallized. But it wasn’t ice.

  At that point the butler (who looked more assured now) pushed a sapphire on the right, and the tube began
to fill up with water. His mother floated up with the rising fluid till she hovered somewhere in the center as the tube filled to the brim.

  There she floated unconscious and helpless. Finn realized how attached he’d become to this strange little creature. His mother. She really was his mother.

  “Is she going to drown under water like that?” Finn asked.

  “Of course not. She’s a mermaid,” replied the butler.

  “What do we do now?” worried Finn.

  The old clock-man sighed nervously. “Now we need to talk to the medicine cabinet and see if they remember who helped out before,” he turned to the little cabinet who ran jingling up to where they stood. Its doors popped open.

  “Well? Do any of you remember?” asked the butler sternly.

  At once there was a flurry of excited discussion between the little vials. Some of the whispering appeared heated, but ultimately five fragile looking vials stepped forward. Each held up its tiny arms to Finn to be lifted over to the platform.

  “You’re all sure about this?” quizzed the butler rather sternly of the wee glass beings.

  “We got this,” said a perky vial filled with a bright purple liquid.

  They marched over to a small hole near the tube, uncorked themselves, and then took turns lifting their companions up and dumping their colorful contents into the hole. Miraculously, as each vial stood upright again, they magically refilled with fluid. Three of the group had to be emptied multiple times. But soon they each re-corked themselves and gave the butler a thumbs up.

  The tall grandfather-clock-butler sighed. “Yes, so here we go!” He inserted a pump-like device into the hole and pulled a fluid filled cylinder up, now full of colored liquids. A nebula of colored fluids writhing in a tube.

  He now pushed the cylinder back down and the liquid was pushed into the crystal tube with his mother. It spread quickly and soon the water emitted a soft pink light that cast a rosy glow throughout the room.

  “Is that it?” asked Finn excitedly. “Will she be cured now?”

  “No, but that should stabilize her until we have the cure. This is what James did when she first fell ill. Before he hid her underground.”

  “What happened to my dad? Did he find the stuff for the cure?”

  “We’ve been asleep since the day you and he left us. You hatched right after he left your mother in the cave. We’ve all been waiting for you to return!”

  Finn felt rather crestfallen at this. “Waiting for me? What can I do?” He was about to ask more when his stomach growled. He realized that he was crazy hungry.

  “Do you have anything to eat? And drink? I’m starving!”

  There was a babble of squeaks in the crowd of creatures around him and a sudden rush. Finn hollered when was lifted by many tiny hands and rushed back to the main room, where they dropped him in front of a low table.

  “Don’t do that! Ever! I can walk!” His heart was still thumping wildly.

  The butler rushed up apologetically. “Oh dear Sir! I am so terribly sorry. I’m afraid the staff here is terribly literal, and we thought you were starving and couldn’t get here on your own.”

  “Oh,” Finn said and looked at the host of abashed creatures who were weeping to think that they’d made him unhappy. “Uh, thanks? I appreciate your concern?”

  A collective happy sigh tittered throughout the room as the little creatures sniffed back their tears and stood smiling at him.

  “Food?” he hinted.

  Again! A whirlwind of activity and hardly a moment had passed before a feast filled the table in front of him.

  “Wow, that was... fast.”

  There was another happy sigh throughout the room.

  Finn quickly saw that he’d have to be careful what he said. Words meant a lot here.

  He didn’t recognize all the food on the table, but it all smelled good and he quickly made a plate-full. It had to be magical food, as there’d not been enough time to have prepared it. But, it smelled real.

  Now that he was seated and his hunger was increasingly satiated, Finn inspected the creatures who happily watched him with adoring eyes.

  Some were tall and skinny, some were short and stout. They all seemed to have eyes but not all of them had mouths. They all looked like they had been carved from clay and then animated. They were in a variety of bold colors. They each seemed to be designed for a purpose. Some seemed to be sentient furniture. Some seemed designed to do housework.

  Already he could see adorable beaver-like creatures with wide tongues who busily licked up the accumulated dust in the room. The dust came out the other end of the creatures in neat crisp cylinder shapes which were then picked up by the ottoman creature who had its top open like a lid. It carefully placed each cylinder of dust inside.

  “Mr. Butler, what do you do with all the dust you collect?” Finn said with his mouth still full of something unknown but delicious.

  “The dust? Why that is precious! Dust is the building block of Life! It’s what we’re all made of!” responded the incredulous butler.

  Finn had never thought of dust like that. Dust to dust had never struck him as house dust. The stuff his foster mom was always fretting about. He’d have to tell her about this when he got back – but no. He didn’t know if he would be able to go back with fish legs. He wondered if his foster-mom would miss him. He wasn’t sure that she would. The thought left him feeling a little hollow.

  A small mop waddled over to his knee and gave him a hug. It was sweet. Apparently it sensed how he felt. He gave a gentle ruffle to the top of its round head.

  “Thank you little Moppette,” he smiled. Finn looked up at the butler. “Mr. Butler? Can I call you something different? Something friendlier?”

  The tall grandfather clock like creature looked a little doubtful. “If your Majesty wishes?”

  “How about Bromley? Bromley the Butler?” Finn had always liked the name Bromley since he’d heard it in an animated film.

  “Oh.” the butler hesitated. “Bromley? Bromley. I don’t know. I’ve never had a name before. I’m just a butler. Would it be appropriate?”

  Finn laughed. “Of course, you’re a person! You need a name. You’re not just a butler.”

  “But, I’m not a real person. I’m a servant.”

  “Of course you’re a person!” Finn started to wonder what his father must be like to let his servants think that they weren’t real people. “Names mean that you are... special. That you are unique.”

  “Bromley the Butler,” Bromley looked at Finn a little queerly. “Well thank you, Master Finn, I think. It is a peculiar and will take some getting used to.” He rolled the word around on his tongue a bit. “Bromley... Bromley...”

  “All of you should have names!” Finn announced to the room. All movement ceased and he felt lots of eyes suddenly looking at him. But first he had to find Jack! And Jenny!

  “I can’t name you right now – I should get to know you first! When I come back? Or perhaps you want to pick your own names?” Finn explained.

  They all shook their heads. They were apparently going to wait for Finn to name them.

  Bromley muttered, “I may be too old to get used to having a name.”

  He turned to the butler, “How old are you?”

  Bromley cocked his head to the side and thought. “Well, I was the first servant your father made after they finished the cottage and that horrible phooka left him. After that James knew he’d need servants that would be loyal. So that’s when he made us. How old are you, Master Finn?”

  “Fifteen. Sixteen in a couple months – in November. I don’t really know which day specifically. I always celebrate it on the eighteenth with Jack’s birthday.”

  Bromley gave a pleased smile, “As to that, you hatched on the second day of Windermas, the day before your father took your mother to the chamber
underground. He entrusted you to me! It was such an honor. Then James returned, put you in his bag, he locked up the cottage, and we’ve been asleep ever since! So, if I add almost sixteen years to...” the eyes closed as he did some internal math. I am sixty-four years old!”

  “But, that’s impossible. That would make my father really old!” Finn exclaimed.

  “Your father is about eight-five, I believe,” stated Bromley proudly.

  “But, that means he was like seventy when I was born!”

  “Is that unusual?”

  “Yes.”

  Bromley smiled. “Well, Humans don’t get old very quickly here. Time is less... strict in Frey, as I understand it. James tried to explain it to me but I never quite understood.”

  Finn wondered if he would ever stop being surprised at anything in Frey. Eighty-five! His dad was born in the 1930s?

  The room around him was quickly transforming into a cleaner version of itself. The table was cleared of the feast. Bromley clapped and each creature disappeared into its cubbyhole.

  Moppette was the last to leave. She had been stationed by his webbed foot and lovingly caressed his scaley shin and lower dorsal till Bromley kindly but firmly shooed her away.

  Finn shook his head. “I have so much to do. I need to find my friend Jack and his little sister, Jenny. But I don’t know where to begin! And we need to save my mother.”

  “To save your mother, we need the ingredients for the cure,” said Bromley. She will know how to find your friends.”

  “What do we need to get for the cure? I can’t wait for my father to get those ingredients. He’s missing.”

  Bromley smiled broadly, “There are only two hard to find ingredients. And now that you’re here, at least we have one of them.”

  “Oh? What’s that?” Finn was mystified.

  Bromley gave Finn a happy grin. “Your blood!”

  Chapter 43

  Mer-Magic

  Pirate Jenny stared at the hundreds of strange creatures floating in the crystal tanks. They didn’t look like mermaids to her. They were strange, misshapen, and small. She’d always thought merpeople would be pretty... and well... bigger.