A Pinch of Moonlight

by A V Awenna

  ***

  Pain is nature’s way of telling you you’re still alive, Demi thought. She was burnt in places she didn’t even want to think about, but the danger had gone, and she had survived her final ordeal. Her throat was raw and her nose full of soot, but as her head cleared she realised she was still buzzing with magic, and that wasn’t getting any less. She lay still for a few minutes, letting the magic wash over and through her. Already the pain was diminishing, but the buzzing was still strong. All her cuts and bruises were itching furiously, as if they were healing super-fast. The raw throbbing of the blister on her heel was starting to fade. There was a strange feeling somewhere deep inside her like nothing she’d ever imagined, warm and pulsing. As she tried to sit up, she felt something pulling on the skin at her throat. It was Owina’s Gadget, melted out of shape and fused to her skin. She tried to peel it free, but it was stuck fast. Reaching behind her head, she undid the catch and let the loose ends of the chain fall either side. It was totally wrecked, and she grimaced as she wondered how she’d explain the damage to Owina. Gingerly Demi lifted the top half of her body, so she was kneeling on the rocky outcrop. It had smoothed beneath her, as though the rock had melted. Where the sapling had been she saw an impressive crystal, sparks of fire at its heart. Was that what had become of the tree? she wondered. She slipped it into the jacket pocket and got to her feet. She had expected to be stiff and stumbling, but hopped down from the rocks and crossed the smouldering ground to the elf as if she was walking on air. That blister was definitely healing. The elf just watched as she approached, trying to appear disinterested, but did he recoil slightly? The sound of beating wings alerted her to the fact the grumpy fairy was returning, clutching the box of illusions to his chest. He landed nimbly and placed the box on the rocks, then gave Demi a long appraising look as she approached.

  By the time Demi reached the rocky outcrop, the fairy had disappeared among the rocks, leaving the box of illusions beside the elf. The elf was still sneering.

  ‘What was all that drama? Why didn’t you just cloak? Walking the Walk is a test for low-placed elves to become Citizens, not a way of turning silly humans into fairies.’

  Demi fought to control her new powers, but this elf was so annoying she really had to work hard to swallow her fire. ‘Can I just go home now?’ she asked, ‘I mean to Annwn? Somewhere I can get some food and a bath. I’m stinkin’ and starving.’

  ‘You’re wasting a lot of magic, that’s for sure,’ the elf said. ‘No wonder you’re hungry.’

  Demi noticed the ground about her feet was sprinkled with green shoots, which grew taller even as she watched. And she was tingling all over. She reached out to the rock, and sent a bolt of magic through it, leaving a vein of obsidian in the sandstone.

  ‘Can I go now?’ she repeated.

  ‘You haven’t answered the riddle. If you answer correctly, I will give you the Prize which earns you the rights of a Citizen, and direct you to the nearest portal. Should you give a wrong answer, you’ll have to make your own way back, on foot, empty-handed.’

  ‘Just ask the question,’ Demi sighed.

  ‘Impatient, aren’t you? Very well. When you found me I was hidden behind a cloaking spell. But what is the one thing even the most skilful magician can’t hide?’

  Demi thought for a while, then got bored with thinking, and said, ‘Magic. You can’t hide magic under a cloak because the cloak is magic. And that’s how I found you.’

  The elf scoffed. ‘That’s a ridiculous answer. The answer is “Love”. “Even the most skilful magician can’t hide his love”. Surely you know the story of Glaya and Vermod?’

  ‘What? Plenty of people hide their love for each other!’ Demi said. ‘What about my friends Tom and Rusty? No-one knew Tom had a fairy boyfriend. And I’ve never heard of those two you said.’

  ‘Then you’re uneducated and uncivilised,’ the elf snapped. ‘Every elf knows that story.’

  ‘But what if you’re not an elf?’ Demi protested. ‘What if you’re a human, or a fairy?’

  ‘Walking the Walk is not for fairies!’ The elf sounded horrified .

  Demi was just about to ask the elf why not, and inform him that, as far as she was concerned, fairies were just as good as elves, if not better, when the grumpy fairy reappeared from behind the rocks, and the sight of him froze the words in her throat. He was harnessed to a little two-wheeled chariot, like an animal.

  The elf didn’t even notice her reaction. He just muttered, ‘Fairies Walk the Walk? Ridiculous!’ whilst packing up the stand.

  Demi recovered enough to protest. The elf turned back to her, a confused look on his face.

  ‘You can’t treat people like that!’ Demi shouted. ‘He’s a fairy, not a horse.’

  ‘I’ve employed him as my horse,’ the elf replied matter-of-factly. ‘I’ve paid the appropriate rate, plus a little extra for hardship.’

  The way the elf pronounced ‘hardship’ suggested he really didn’t think dragging a chariot over difficult ground in sweltering heat was actually anything to complain about. The fairy himself didn’t even meet Demi’s eyes.

  Before she realised what she was doing, Demi unleashed a bolt of angry magic, knocking the elf into a crumpled heap. Oh, hell, had she killed him? Demi and the fairy stared at each other over the elf’s body, then the fairy unfastened himself from the harness, leapt up onto the rocks and tested the elf’s pulse.

  ‘Don’t worry, he’s alive,’ the fairy said. ‘I’ll tell him he fainted in the heat, and hope he forgets the rest. Here.’ He produced something from the elf’s pocket, and handed it to Demi. It was round, dark and glittering, and a good size to fit into her hand. It wasn’t a ball, though – it had several flat surfaces, made up of many-sided polygons, and it obviously wasn’t intended for throwing. It reminded her of the wooden knot puzzles her dad had collected back when he was young, but it was made from the same weird plasticky stuff as the Guide.

  ‘You earned this,’ the fairy said, ‘That last question was designed to make sure you failed – only an elf would have known the answer. Oh, hold on!’ he had just put the object into her hand, but took it back again. ‘You’re spilling magic all over the place,’ he told her, ‘and that’s affecting the spell that holds this together.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Demi said, ‘it’s like I’m creating all this magic, and I don’t know what to do with it.’

  ‘You are generating your own magic,’ the fairy said, ‘Just like a fairy. It’s very impressive, but it’s overriding the spell that holds this Puzzle together. Hafren cast the spell, but it’s a Fairy spell and he can’t be bothered to pronounce the words properly. So it’s barely holding together.’

  ‘What should I do?’ Demi asked.

  ‘If you let me, I can turn down your magic to a gentle background level.’ Demi agreed, so the fairy placed his index finger between her eyebrows and muttered a few words. Demi felt the buzzing and tingling diminish to a less wild feeling. It was less draining, but she kind of missed it already. The fairy returned the Prize, holding it together as he placed it in Demi’s hand. ‘That’s better,’ he said as he let go. ‘Definitely holding together. Don’t cast any spells until you’ve handed this over to Hafren, and you’ll be fine. If it falls to pieces you’ll never get it back together – only a fairy would know how.’

  ‘That’s awesome,’ Demi smiled. ‘You’re a star. Can you tell me how to get back to Annwn?’

  ‘You see that patch of green at the base of the mountain?’ the fairy said. ‘There’s a nixie pool there. I’m sure they’ll take you.’

  Demi could see the place he was indicating – it was only twenty minutes walk away – and slightly downhill. She thanked him, then, before she left, asked if there was anything she could do for him.

  ‘I wouldn’t mind something to drink,’ he stated. ‘I’ve been out here a long time.’

  She handed him Rusty’s gourd
and told him to drink as much as he wanted, then set off for the portal. Soon she was climbing out of a pool into a small grove surrounded by rocks. She pushed her way through the trees and emerged onto bare mountainside. As she turned around searching for a path, she realised it was the portal she’d spotted between Pefryn’s grove and Annwn. She could see the path now, with the two stones and the woodland beyond, and grinned as she realised it wasn’t far to the city.

  As she joined the path and began to pick her way down the mountainside she remembered her first impressions of it. Already Annwn seemed a lot smaller and less alien than at first. She passed between the two stones, noting the position of the shadows. She had plenty of time to return before sunset.

  As she entered the dense pinewood, Demi couldn’t believe it wasn’t even 24 hours since she’d first walked this way. It was so dark under the trees she could barely see a thing, but she could sense traces of the spell Pefryn had cast the previous day. Smugly, she reactivated the spell, and saw the orbs in the trees begin to glow again. But then she heard a grinding sound, and realized the Prize was starting to come apart. She’d totally forgotten the fairy’s advice. The box disintegrated into dozens of tiny pieces, which scattered all over the dark woodland floor. She followed them, sliding to the ground with a wail of despair.