At First Sight

by Daria Doshrelli

  Nila gave Hameus a pat on the arm. “Why go to all that trouble? Why not just kill me and Hameus?”

  “Sweeter vengeance,” Nan said. “And the sewing circle was yet another way Dame Muriel worked her complex curse. You and Hameus only saw each other from a distance the night you met so it was unlikely you would recognize each other by features alone.”

  Hameus scratched his head. “I knew her immediately when I was a beast.”

  “I confess I didn’t recognize you in either form,” Nila said. “I wouldn’t have punched you in the arm so hard if I had known you were my rescuer from that night.” She grinned and turned her eyes toward Tad. “I’m not sure I want to know how these magical sorts became aware of our history together.”

  “Magic, dear,” Nan replied. “Hameus was very obviously smitten with you. Yes, Hameus, we all saw that your heart was Nila’s since that night and you would have tracked her down no matter what. The clothes Ulga and Connie knitted had dark magic in them, which kept you from knowing Nila when you transformed back into human form.”

  “I thought it was Dame Muriel’s curse that did that,” Tad said.

  “I wondered how she would accomplish changing Hameus’s memory according to his transformation,” Nan replied with a hint of a smile in her eyes. “You have a lot to learn about magic, Avenger. Not everything Muriel wished to do could be done using words. No, she had to do the memory curse the old-fashioned way. And she wanted to see her handiwork up close and enjoy watching Hameus struggle.”

  Gram mumbled something incoherent. Silence filled the cabin as everyone watched her. Her eyes quieted a little but her form remained stiff.

  “Cabin’s a mess. The barn, too,” Hameus said. “But at least I finally get my jailer off my case.” He leaned over Gram’s face. “Did you hear that? I went and got myself a wife.”

  Chapter 20

  Gram’s eyes began to regain their focus right as the morning sun peeked through the smashed door of her cabin. Hameus went out with Sev and Pip to burn the she-wolf’s carcass in the clearing between the cabin and the barn. When they came back inside, the old lady had regained some of her mobility but was still not speaking.

  Tad yawned and stretched. Obviously, getting the Chassiri set on Dame Muriel’s trail was not as urgent as he had thought. But time seemed to pass very quickly here compared to back home.

  “The worst of Muriel’s spell has worn off. Gram will be fine,” Nan said. “Let’s get going. Boys, we’ll take you back to the village.” She pecked at the three slumbering forms taking up the only cushioned chairs so that Tad had to sit on a plain wooden one.

  Tad rubbed his achy bottom and rose. The boys stirred and sat up with mumbled protests.

  Nila was curled up in Hameus’s lap, the two of them discussing their wedding plans. It was the perfect sight for Gram to see when she came out of her petrified stupor.

  Hameus carried Nila to the edge of the porch and the two of them watched as Tad escorted the sleepy-eyed boys down the steps. Nan and Sev settled down on the branch of a sapling and whispered between themselves. Tad took one last look around, hoping he never had to return to such a place, one that had seemed so peaceful when he first set out to get Hameus and Nila to fall in love. How very troubling a simple thing could turn out to be.

  “We’re just going to let them go off alone?” Nila asked Hameus.

  “What do you mean?” Hameus followed Nila’s gaze to Dom, Freddie and little John-John. “The boys? What else would we do with them? They need to get home.”

  “There you are!” An enormous woman, nearly as wide as she was tall, waddled toward them from the forest. Her finger pointed itself at the boys. “Gone before sunup. Not a hint to tell your poor mother what has become of you except this.” Her hand thrust out one of the wolf figures Hameus had whittled.

  Nila’s head jerked to the boys. “You said you were orphans.”

  Hameus belted out a laugh.

  “Does it count if we wish we were?” Freddie said.

  The boys grudgingly moved off, the big woman trailing behind, giving them each a smack on the back of the head with her palm. “The three of you, talebearers and vagrants just like your father.”

  “Ma, you leave Pa out of this. Ouch!” Freddie rubbed the back of his skull. “Mamma, we’re heroes. You don’t whop a man who’s just saved a damsel in distress.”

  Nila watched them go, chuckles overwhelming her stony exterior.

  “We’ll be in touch,” Dom called over his shoulder just before receiving another swat. “Ooey! That was my ear, woman.”

  Hameus gave Nila a squeeze. “Told you they were orphans, huh? I would have done so, too, if it meant spending more time with you.”

  Tad turned to the pigeons. He didn’t need to watch to know his clients were kissing again. “Well, I think we all agree I did well, considering the complications.”

  “Except for the unexpected bit about Dame Muriel, that was an easy case,” Nan replied.

  Sev gave her a curt nod. “Simplicity itself.”

  “Easy? Simple?” Tad fairly shook with disbelief. “Were the two of you asleep during this case?”

  “If you hadn’t eaten Dame Muriel’s food, you wouldn’t have been overwhelmed by fear,” Sev said. “The scene in the barn would have been far less interesting if you could ever deny your stomach. You might have helped, you know.”

  Tad looked down at his belly. Sure, it was a little more roundish than one might expect of a hero, but what did that matter when a person had done such an impressive deed as reconciling a beast to his true love?

  “You only had to help Nila break Hameus’s curse, and she did that all on her own,” Nan said. “That is not as difficult as cases where the situation has become truly complicated.”

  Tad’s mouth popped open. “Hameus was a beast. Claws, fangs, fur, the works!”

  “And was it you who tamed him?” Nan replied. “Love did the deed. You may not take any credit to yourself.”

  “Even after all my labors, this is your assessment? What, then, is my reward?” Tad crossed his arms in defiance of being essentially called almost unnecessary in the whole affair. If it was so, why had they summoned him at all?

  “Patience,” Nan replied. “You will have your reward.”

  “Your eternal reward,” Sev said very ominously in that deep voice of his and let out a series of snorts and chortles as if he had amused himself excessively.

  “What else would you do except heed the summons?” Pip’s voice said. “You cannot do anything else.”

  “Pip,” Tad growled out.

  The unkempt pigeon swooped onto a branch next to Nan and rotated his head around. “What did I miss?”

  “I’m going to tell the Lady’s register what a useless sort you are,” Tad said. And he might take a peek at some old cases to see what else avengers had been called upon to do. Still, there was nothing to worry about. What could be harder than forging a true love match between a werebeast and the warrior woman sworn to kill him, and then saving an old lady from an ancient witch and her brood of ravenous pups? “Well, at least I know what lesson the Lady meant for me to learn on this case.”

  “Yes. True love requires the courage to look beyond what you see,” Nan said. “Love at first sight is not always to be believed, either.”

  “What?” Tad looked at the plump she-bird out of the corners of his eyes. “No, Nila and Hameus did fall in love when they met in the woods all those years ago.” The case was atypical, but not in the matter of love at first sight.

  “More like they became interested in one another,” Nan said, “though Lady Love’s arrow had indeed gone to work.”

  Tad didn’t believe a word of it. He knew starry eyes when he saw them. Another look at Hameus cradling Nila and he understood the matter. How many years had the pair been kept apart? “Clearly, the Lady meant for me to see that I must stop waiting for the right opportunity to woo Roselle. I must take a more active approach and not be like Hameus sitt
ing around and whittling instead of wooing his true love.”

  “Hameus was cursed with memory loss,” Sev said. “I don’t think that’s the lesson the Lady meant for you to learn.”

  “Perhaps she meant for you to learn both lessons,” Nan replied. “The Lady is very wise, after all.”

  “Or maybe the lesson is that true love is not always obvious at first sight,” Pip tweeted.

  “As many things are not,” Nan said. “The boys were not orphans. Hameus was a beast, but then he turned out not to be the one Nila was after.”

  “Nila is not a hard-hearted warrior, despite her appearance,” Sev said. “The sewing circle was not what it seemed, either.”

  “Gram, however, is an old lady,” Pip said as they all four magicked themselves away.

  “All I know is, with me and Roselle, it was love at first sight,” Tad said when his feet touched the floor of the library.

  “Roselle doesn’t act like she loves you,” Sev said from his perch next to the globe.

  “As I said before, ladies like to be wooed. She is merely strengthening our bond by requiring me to put forth an effort.” A mighty effort, but she was worth it.

  “Or maybe she’s not your true love,” Pip said. “Ever think of that, simpleton?”

  “I’m off,” Nan said, interrupting what was sure to be a witty reply from Tad. “Show Tad how to record the case,” she told Sev.

  “Where are you going?” Sev’s tone betrayed offense.

  “To see the Sharielle.”

  Tad scratched his eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

  “The troupe leader of the Chassiri,” Nan replied.

  “A woman?” There were other ladies besides Nila’s and her tribe that liked to hunt down ferocious things?

  Pip let out a wistful sigh. “The fairest of my dreams.”

  The Chassiri was full of pigeons, too? Unless…Was Pip enamored with a human? No, she must be some sort of magical creature.

  “She’s too old for you, Pip, and much too sensible,” Nan replied.

  Pip flapped to Nan’s side. “I’ll come with you.”

  “I had better deliver this news alone.”

  Sev stared at her without blinking.

  Nan turned her head away. “It just occurs to me that Hameus and Nila weren’t the only ones Dame Muriel was after. I need to alert Sharielle to what I suspect.”

  “Which is?” Sev narrowed his eyes at her.

  Nan looked at the globe. “Something the witch sought to do long ago, the reason she mentioned the Lady’s avenger to Gram. Just leave it at that.”

  “I hate when you do that,” Sev grumbled.

  “Get inside the creepy villain’s head?” Nan asked.

  “That would be it.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing one of us does,” Nan replied as she lifted her wings and flapped toward the ceiling. Then she was gone, disappearing beneath the image that had just etched itself into the ceiling, a prince whirling his true love around a ballroom in his arms.

  Tad stepped up to the Lady’s register and lifted the quill from its golden stand. The book opened to a blank page of wheat-colored parchment. There was no ink bottle, but this was a magic book, so he pressed pen to parchment and began to write, without comment from the two boy birds, all that had transpired during the case, leaving out the parts about his nap and the theft of a magic, cursed biscuit and bacon. Ink appeared as he scribbled along, just as he had anticipated. He returned the quill to its stand and admired his penmanship.

  “I thought you were going to write something about me?”

  Tad sucked in a sharp breath as Pip’s voice landed in his ear.

  “But then you’ll have to write all the parts you left out about what you did,” Sev said in his other ear, “or, what you didn’t do.”

  Tad brushed both birds from his shoulders. “Quit using your magic to sneak up on me.”

  Pip settled onto the bookcase next to him. “And you promise not to use yours to sneak up on Roselle?”

  “None of your business,” Tad replied. “You are without talent and I’ve decided you are useless.”

  “This case did not require my skills,” Pip said.

  Tad snorted.

  “You should have learned from this case not to judge somebody at first sight,” Pip said. “I have talents. And it’s too bad Wiggy wasn’t here to see just what a terrible avenger you are.”

  Wiggy? Tad had forgotten about the fourth promised and no doubt completely worthless helper. “I’ll be charmed to meet him, I’m sure. But now, I require rest and food so I can be at my best when I see Roselle again. She’ll be wanting the flower that I earned for her on this case.”

  “I pity that poor girl and whatever unfortunate creature the Lady finds to be your true love,” Pip said.

  “And I pity myself for getting stuck with you,” Tad answered. “So we all have our burdens, Pip. But now, true love awaits. So, leave me alone.”

  “Until our next case, then,” Sev said and gave Tad a little bird bow. “Although we may enjoy watching your progress with Roselle in the meantime.”

  “I don’t care what you enjoy,” Tad replied and thought of home and expected to be there. “As long as I get my happily ever after,” he said as the wind took him up and carried him away.

  Avenged Fairy Tales Series

  Avenged Fairy Tales is a true serial read for fans of true love, frivolous things, magical mysteries, and happily ever afters.. Each case is resolved in a single book but Tad and the gang continue their adventures from story to story.

  At First Sight

  Megala

  Sweet Nothings

  A Thousand and One

  My Fair Slave

  Lumpy

  Notorious

  Shifting Tides

  Hot Lips

  Awkward

  Crystalline

  Perfectly Innocent

  Avenged Fairy Tales Series Page

  For more adventures dealing with mischief and magic, see the Wings series, a collection of standalone stories that take place after Tad receives his happily ever after and further explore the mysteries of magical hierarchy.

  Enjoy this preview of Megala, a bow to Rapunzel and the Old Woman in the Shoe.

  Megala Preview

  In the second year after Nathal Hornpew, Lord of Edgeview Manor, took a wife as gloomy as he, the lady gave birth to a baby girl with black fuzz on top of her head. When the child failed to cry the midwife administered a swift smack to her posterior region. This prompted, not a protest, but a laugh. The servants whispered among themselves that it must be a sign. Of what, nobody knew.

  Lady Hornpew, of somber disposition like her husband, insisted on an inspection of her offspring’s locks the instant she was birthed. Black they were, as coal and midnight. She heartily approved the color and summoned her family’s fairy godmother to see what blessing she might bestow. Raven-black hair was the height of fashion. The girl was sure to be a success when she came out into society. With this in mind, Lady Hornpew resolved on a particular demand to ensure her hopes of balls and swarms of admirers for her daughter.

  The godmother, Jusilla by name, swept into the room in a whirl of magic. Such an entry was a bit overdone, but she was newly admitted to her role and eager to please. “Did I hear someone call for a fairy godmother?”

  Lady Hornpew failed to appreciate the tinkling voice, the sparkling eyes, the rosy cheeks. Fairy godmothers were an impossibly exuberant lot, their ministrations equal parts delightful and disturbing. And this one had a tendency to attempt originality in her work. Never a good sign. But surely a very humble gift could hardly go wrong?

  Jusilla granted the lady’s request without hesitation and without consulting the infant’s father. “The child’s hair will grow long and full to the end of her days.” With these words a twinkle of magic flowed from her mouth and settled on the newborn babe.

  The infant gazed up into her mother’s uneasy eyes, her little lips moving around in sear
ch of something. Nothing astonishing at all occurred, and so Lady Hornpew offered a gentle, “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Jusilla sang out and whirled away in the same manner as she had come.

  Mother and child nestled themselves together, the lady stroking her daughter’s head as she nursed. With each brush of her fingertips she imagined the fuzz thickened and lengthened. Surely the godmother’s gift would not be so hasty in its work?

  Before she could ponder the curiosity, a poof of smoke across the room caught her eye. She clutched her child to her chest. “Mathilde?”

  The family’s former fairy godmother stood scowling, still in her ancient robes, though she had been banished on account of her blessings turning into curses. Everybody knew what that meant. “Having a birthday celebration without me?”

  Lady Hornpew was too terrified to reply.

  “An ordinary godmother might be insulted, but I will not blame the child for her mother and father’s oversight. With such a history as I have with the family, I could not be offended over so slight a thing.” Mathilde glided toward the pair on the bed.

  “No! Leave her alone! Servants! Nathal!” Lady Hornpew hastily recovered her clothing, prompting a coo from her daughter whose breakfast had been snatched away.

  But the lady’s cries were too late. “You wished for her hair to grow long and full? Very well.” Mathilde stepped closer. “Grow she shall with all her might, no mortal soul may respite.” She breathed these words over the child, a glint of darkness in her eyes, and the deed was done. A grin stretched her red lips, still glittering with magic. The malevolent being poofed away just as an army of servants clamored into the room.

  Lady Hornpew cried and begged, but there was nothing for it. Neither her husband nor the servants nor the doctor knew of a remedy for a fairy godmother’s curse. The lady summoned Jusilla, who returned late the same night, overworked by her many patrons, underwhelmed by this recent catastrophe, and perfectly lacking in sparkle.