Made of Magic and True Grit

by Landry-Daniel Lié

  “What is this?” Pinly asked, awed— and as if the city wasn't striking enough, the fairies with different coloured wings flying around added to the spectacle. The winged boy knelt down to rest his palm on the ground. A patch of earth sank under his hand. Pinly recognised the Golem's rocky hands as the creature dug itself out of the ground, soon it was towering over him again. It grabbed him and Vince, then followed the masked boy down the island. Now Pinly was able to see even better as the golem held them effortlessly under each arm. Wherever they passed, it was as if time had stopped. Fairies all around— on the ground— in the trees or just floating mid-air, stopped whatever they were doing to stare at them. They all had the oversized, majestic wings. The colours seemed to vary with the fairies’ ages. The younger they were, the less variation of colour in their feathers; they were a shade of red or burgundy. The older ones were multi-colored or brown, but no others were fully black like their captor. Like his, though, their faces were painted with different colours and drawings.

  Along with the fairies, there were also more of the golem creatures walking around. They all seemed to be doing some kind of work such as lifting heavy objects, farming, or building.

  “My head…” Pinly heard Vince complain.

  “Vince, buddy, you alright?” he asked.

  “Where are we?” Vince’s voice was weak. His head pivoted but it looked like he could barely see a thing through his swollen eyes.

  “I'm not sure. Looks like this guy's village,” Pinly replied.

  They came to a halt in front of a pyramid, facing a seemingly infinite set of steps all the way to the top. The masked boy flew ahead and the golem followed behind at a swift run. Pinly was sweating more than ever now; they had been under the hot sun of Mendy for what felt like hours, the mix of rope and clothes and the long trip all the way up the pyramid made it even worse. They finally reached the surprisingly flat top. It was paved with gold carved with strange drawings. The first thing Pinly felt as they arrived was the overwhelming amount of aura concentrated in one place. It felt as though he was drowning in it. Several very important-looking fairies stood there, busy conversing around a large floating map drawn on brown leather. They stopped and slowly turned around when they saw the young fairy. The golem let go of Vince and Pinly, but this time they didn't fall. Pinly felt his body levitate just above the Pyramid floor. It felt weird, unnatural, he was used to levitating but not with someone else’s power. The ropes untied themselves from around him. He couldn't control his movements, but he wouldn't have done anything even if he could; there was no way he'd win a fight against these fairies.

  The two boys were put in a kneeling position with their hands behind their backs, and the ropes slithered themselves around their hands and ankles. When Pinly looked up again, a very old fairy had his hand raised towards him. This had to be the one who had just made him levitate. The old fairy wore a headpiece with red jewels and big, dark blue feathers. Black drawings covered his face. He appeared very frail, yet his multicoloured wings looked strong and full of life. There were a dozen more painted-face fairies around him, all younger, but all adults. Only one looked considerably younger, but still older than the masked boy. He had grey wings. Pinly noticed him more than the others because of the disgust with which he stared at him.

  “I found them by the edge of Bonhill. They were swimming in the deer pond,” the boy said.

  “If you were guarding your part like you should, they would not have been there!” the grey wing fairy said, but was silenced by the eldest with a hand gesture.

  “Be quiet, Meno, I'm talking to Ayloo,” he said.

  “Cammo…" Meno insisted, but was silenced by the authoritative hand again.

  “These boys don't look very dangerous to me, Ayloo. Besides, I was well aware of their arrival.” He tipped his head slightly and met Pinly’s gaze.

  “But they are dangerous, they fought me,” Ayloo said.

  “Liar, we told you we didn't want any problems!” Pinly shouted.

  Ayloo glanced back at Pinly in anger.

  “Is that a way to treat guests in Mendy?” Cammo asked.

  Ayloo shrugged. He didn't make eye contact with any of the impressive fairies in front of him, but kept looking down or away.

  “They are not even fairies,” he said.

  Cammo chuckled. “And what makes you think they are not?” he asked.

  Ayloo looked back at Pinly and Vince, then back to Cammo.

  “They do not have wings.”

  “Ah, not every fairy has wings, but every fairy has the aura, and these boys are radiating with it, especially that one.” Cammo nodded at Pinly.

  “You can feel it too, can't you?” he asked. Ayloo shrugged again. Cammo flicked his hand and the ropes untied themselves from Pinly and Vince's wrists. He then snapped his fingers and tossed two grey cubes at Ayloo, who caught them. “See that they make a full recovery, too.”

  “You heard?” Vince said, to Pinly's surprise; his wit seemed to have come back even though his voice was still very feeble. Cammo and the other fairies turned their attention back to the huge map, it was as though Pinly, Vince and Ayloo had completely disappeared. Ayloo turned and handed a cube to each of them.

  “It is fairy dust, it will heal your wounds,” he said.

  Pinly and Vince grabbed one each.

  “You're lucky your people are nice, otherwise you would have tasted my blades,” Vince lied. Pinly and without a doubt Vince too knew that they couldn't fight Ayloo; they had tried it and failed miserably. Pinly nudged him. The winged boy paid no attention to Vince's remarks. He simply flew past them and made his way down the pyramid. They followed after him. When they were halfway down the pyramid, a voice called from behind them.

  “Ayloo!” It was the fairy called Meno, with the grey wings. He had a mean look on his face.

  “I do not want to speak with you, Meno,” Ayloo replied without stopping or looking back. But Meno rushed past Vince and Pinly, almost knocking them off the edge, and grabbed Ayloo by the arm.

  “How dare you bring this filth into the city?” He glanced at Pinly and Vince with utmost disgust.

  “Why does it matter to you?” Ayloo pulled his arm out of Meno’s grip.

  “Not having parents does not justify your reckless actions, and…” But before he could finish, Ayloo had punched him. Meno didn’t seem surprised, he simply held his jaw. Ayloo was going to punch him again, he drew his arm back but so did Meno. His hand rose to strike Ayloo down, but before he could hit the boy, Pinly had already jumped through the air and kicked Meno in the face. The grey-winged fairy went tumbling down the steps.

  “P, what are you doing?” Vince asked.

  “He deserved it!” Pinly replied

  “He did,” Ayloo added.

  There was a sudden rumble of thunder through the air, only it wasn’t coming from above but from below. Meno’s wings beat fiercely as he charged at the trio. Pinly and Vince quickly flew out of the way, but Ayloo impacted with his foe. The two went spiralling off the pyramid and into the air, plummeting towards the ground.

  “Quick, help him!” Pinly shouted. Vince zoomed towards them, and Pinly followed as fast as he could. They tried to get Meno off Ayloo but the grey-winged fairy was far too strong for them. Pinly conjured his golden sword and raised it. Meno looked up at it and hurried to let go of Ayloo. Before they realised it, they were about to impact with the ground. Vince flew up, and so did Pinly, but Ayloo kept falling. His huge wings seemed to be of no help. Pinly tried to catch him but his fingers only brushed Ayloo’s. Too late, the young winged fairy hit the ground. Meno looked down at them, then flew away. Pinly began to panic, had he caused the death of a young fairy just because he couldn’t control himself. They rushed down to Ayloo. At first he looked dead, but then he began to cough and breathe again. Pinly hurried to recall his bag of fairy dust, but when he pinched some and offered it to Ayloo, the masked boy pushed his hand away and pointed up at the trees. He struggled to stand up. On
e of his wings dragged behind as if unusable.

  “Help me to my tree.” He pointed again. Pinly stood in front of him so Ayloo could hop on his back. As they began flying up to the massive tree, Pinly noticed something very strange: orange bulbs were attached to the branches. There were so many of them. They were like giant fruit. Fairies came in and out of the fruit like cocoons— each had a twig nest right under it.

  “Here.” Ayloo nodded to a nearby nest and bulb, which opened like a blooming flower when they came close enough. Pinly dropped him and it closed with Ayloo safely floating inside, like a chick in an egg. Vince and Pinly didn't know what to do, so they just sat down in the nest. There was a long moment of silence, apart from the background noises of fairies moving around and interacting with each other. Young ones chased each other, adults exchanged as they crossed paths or flew in groups.

  When Pinly looked around, he noticed that the tree they were in, although as big as the others, only had one of the orange bulbs. All the other trees were buzzing with life.

  “Thank you for your help.” Ayloo’s voice was muffled from inside.

  “It’s okay, he is… crazy,” Pinly replied.

  “It is not the first time. Meno and I always fight.”

  “He almost killed you,” Vince said.

  “It would take more than that to kill me.”

  “Anyway, I hope we didn't get you into trouble by coming here,” Pinly said. Ayloo didn't reply. “You, Vince, and I are the same... I lost my parents not long ago, and Vince lost his when he was younger,” Pinly continued.

  “I thought you were brothers.”

  “We are now. He's the brother I chose,” Pinly said.

  Ayloo stayed quiet.

  “Mate, what are you doing in there?” Vince asked. Pinly elbowed him in the ribs. “What?” Vince whispered

  “It's obviously private,” Pinly whispered back.

  Ayloo popped his head out of the bulb. He looked at Vince and Pinly, his eyes narrowed. “You do not have Booleafs where you are from?" he asked. Pinly and Vince exchanged looks as if they needed confirmation from one another.

  “No,” they both said.

  Ayloo frowned in dismay. “Where do you take your rest?” he asked. The boys looked at each other again.

  “In a bed…” Vince replied.

  “In a bed?” Ayloo's mouth twisted as if they had said that they slept in dirt.

  “In a bed,” Pinly repeated. “You know... with a cushion and a mattress.”

  Ayloo still looked confused.

  “I'm not sure I want to understand,” he said before slipping his head back into the Booleaf.

  “It's not that bad,” Vince said.

  “It sounds horrible to me... Fairies should only sleep in booleafs,” Ayloo said. This was followed by another long moment of silence.

  “What else do you have where you are from?” Ayloo asked. “What animals have you got?”

  “Looks like we have the same ones, except here they have something more…” Pinly said.

  “Yes, like the deer with the crystal antlers. Amazing,” Vince said.

  “Although I saw two blazing foxes back home and I saw them here, too.”

  “That is possible. We do not stop animals from leaving Mendy, but they rarely do.”

  “Do you have dogs here?” Vince asked.

  “What is a dog?” Ayloo put his head out of his booleaf again. “What noise do they make?”

  “You know… Woof woof.” When Vince began to bark, Ayloo broke into a laugh. The first smile they had seen on his face since they had arrived.

  “I know what a dog is, we call them houndrux.” The petals of the booleaf finally opened and Ayloo stepped out. His wings looked even better than before; they glistened. Surely the booleafs were used for more than just resting. The three boys now stood in the nest, not sure what to say to each other.

  Pinly broke the silence. "You want to show us around?" Ayloo nodded and lifted off with one beat of his strong wings, they followed him. Pinly tried not to fly directly behind or under Ayloo. His wings sent back powerful gusts that made it hard for him to see anything. They stopped at the top of a tree a little higher than the others. Ayloo grabbed hold of a branch and squeezed his wings together as he wove through the branches. Pinly and Vince had less difficulty, especially Vince, who fit through the smallest gaps. The inside of the tree was very dark. Pinly could barely see a thing.

  “They are fairies of the night, but I will introduce you now.” Ayloo made a sudden birdlike noise; he seemed to be calling something.

  It took a minute, but the buzzing sound of tiny wings began to resonate through the branches. It sounded just like Vince’s, but multiplied by hundreds, and was followed by the glowing of mini booleafs all around, more and more until the tree was fully illuminated. The bulbs opened and out came humming fairies. When Vince approached, they all smiled and nodded at him, silent welcomes all around.

  “That's amazing,” he said, the humming fairies suddenly backed away. “What’s wrong?”

  “Humming fairies do not speak the common language like you do,” Ayloo said.

  Pinly remembered the giant golem saying the same thing back at the gates.

  “Let me try something,” Vince said. He looked around to see if there was enough space, then changed into a human.

  The humming fairies flashed out of the tree in panic, plunging the boys into darkness again.

  Pinly began laughing and Ayloo joined him.

  “They're a dramatic lot, these ones, aren't they?” Vince said, struggling to turn around. “Ouch,” he said as the tree was illuminated again. A pointy stick was planted in his arm. Pinly looked up and saw the tiny fairies armed to the teeth with sharp-ended sticks, glaring at his friend. Vince changed into his fairy form and raced out of the tree, followed closely by a horde of enraged humming fairies. Pinly and Ayloo flew out the tree and sat down on the edge of someone else's nest to watch the tiny fairies chase Vince around. The two couldn't stop laughing as Vince dodged sticks left and right. Soon the whole island was laughing as they watched the chase unfold.

  “You people are crazy!” Vince shouted. He stopped in front of Ayloo. “Call them back!” he said before he had to move again. They were catching up to him. Ayloo tried his hardest to stop laughing before calling the humming fairies. He seemed to be talking to them through whistling. The tiny fairies gave up the chase and flew back up their tree. Vince was finally able to join the other two, to find Pinly still laughing. “What a bunch of lunatics! I was only playing with them.”

  “They are very sensitive,” Ayloo said.

  “You don't say... They tried to kill me over a joke.”

  Pinly finally managed to get himself to stop laughing. “So what else is there to see around here?” He wiped tears off his face.

  “Follow me,” Ayloo said and they soared above the trees.

  It wasn't long until the trees gave way to an archipelago; islands after islands scattered above turquoise water. Each island was full of brightly lit trees, so bright they looked like stars from afar. As they got closer, Pinly could see the lights came from thousands of torches. They landed on one of the islands. The trees were too tall to see the top from where they stood.

  “What is this?” Vince pointed at an incredibly busy tree, his eyes glinting with excitement as he watched fairies drink to their heart’s content. They lifted and flew around, Pinly could see many of the creatures Ayloo had called golems. They helped lift drunken fairies out of the way. Other fairies danced and sang. From above Pinly could see clearly, what he thought were green porches were in fact large flowers. Fairies sat on the large green petals. In the middle was where they drank from large coloured tubes.

  “Liquor flowers” Ayloo said

  “Let's find a place!” Vince said.

  Pinly held him back by his tiny leg. “And do what with it?”

  “Drink, of course!” He said, pulling his leg free

  “Drink? We're too young to
drink!” Pinly said.

  “Don't be such a baby, who's going to stop us?” Vince pointed to one of the less crowded flowers, Pinly followed reluctantly.

  “Do not worry Pinly, we will just drink a little bit and we will be on our way,” Ayloo said.

  “I've got gold, if we need to pay someone” Vince said.

  “Where did you get gold?” Pinly asked

  “From that idiot’s pocket earlier”

  “We will not be needing gold.” Ayloo led them to the highest flower. When they landed Ayloo pointed to the edge. Pinly and Vince sat down there. The winged boy grabbed three tubes and pulled on them until it reached where they were sitting. It was now night and they had a view of every island. Ayloo pointed at swarms of humming fairies on the horizon. They seemed to help the stars light up the sky. The nocturnal fairies were now fully awake and made beautiful golden waves following the cool breezes of the night.

  “Idiots,” Vince said, obviously still bitter from earlier.

  “Bubbly grape liquor comes out of this flower” Ayloo said. The drink was as bubbly as the name promised, spheres of air fought their way up and out of the tube. “This is the best drink in Mendy. You do not have anything as good as this back home,” Ayloo said.

  “I'll be the judge of that,” Vince said before taking the first sip. His eyes widened and he moaned with pleasure as the sip continued. Pinly began drinking and his eyes closed because he enjoyed it so much.

  “You were right,” Vince said. “There is nothing better than this.”

  “I second that,” Pinly said despite his lack of experience with alcohol. Ayloo nodded as he sipped out of his own tube.