Fairy Ring

by Nicolette Andrews

  She shot up and surveyed the room, a globe of yellow light hung suspended above her, tangled among roots that dangled from the earthen ceiling. The bed on which she slept was nestled between two massive twisting roots and the mattress made up of green moss. More roots twisted in and out of the earth walls, creating nooks holding an assortment of odds and ends, preserved flowers, a jar with strange multi-colored liquid, a nutshell with an unknown powder. The truth settled upon her.

  This is a Fair Folk dwelling.

  Next to her bed, on a stump, a platter of mixed berries and unfamiliar pastries had been set out, and a strange elixir in a goblet made from a branch and polished to a shine. Gently tossing back the soft blanket, she slid out of the bed and onto the earthen floor. The room had one door which was closed, and most likely locked. She crept toward it very slowly, but before she could try the handle it swung open. She stumbled backward as a very tall man entered.

  His head nearly brushed against the roots hanging from the ceiling, and his long brown hair cascaded over his shoulders, only to be parted by his bare shoulders and a defined chest. On his head he wore a crown made of thorns, the size of her middle finger. Eyes, the most peculiar shade of green, studied her.

  "Did I startle you?" he smiled.

  "Who are you, what am I doing here?" she demanded. It was a mistake. She had spoken without thinking, they'd already insulted them by entering their domain without proper respect. The Fair Folk were known for their mercurial tempers.

  He chuckled. "You have many questions upon first waking. Why not eat and drink first and then we can talk."

  She looked to the platter of food. It had to be a trick, they had wandered where they did not belong, if she ate this perhaps she'd break out in boils, or be shrunk down to the size of a thimble. They never should have gone through the forest. But if she refused his offer, that might offend as well. She sat back down on the bed and picked up one of the pastries and nibbled on the corner.

  "I will leave you to enjoy your meal." He turned to walk away.

  Brenna was on her feet once more. "I am sorry we entered your domain. But please if you let us go, we will never return."

  "We?" the fae man, tilted his head to the side as he examined her.

  "The man who I entered the forest with, he stumbled through the fairy ring first. He means well, but he doesn't understand your kind."

  The man took a step toward her, his body filling up all of her vision.

  "And you do?"

  Her heart leaped into her throat. It was easy to let her fear get away with her and to snap and snarl, but she took a deep calming breath, and met the man's gaze. His eyes were an unsettling shade of green. "My grandmother raised me on stories of Those Who Dwell in the Thorns. I did not want to come through the woods. But we were desperate."

  "And what is it that you are running from?"

  His green eyes never once left her face. She debated on whether or not she should answer, give him too much information and he gained power over her. Give him too little and he may take it as an insult.

  "From my father."

  "I do not know much about humans, but why would you be running from your own?"

  "Because he wouldn't have let us marry." She clamped her hand over her mouth, she had spoken without thinking. But she had given the king a thread to pull and he would keep on pulling until her story was unraveled.

  "And why is it you could not marry in your father's household?"

  She bit her lip to hold the words back, but she could not, he had her pegged. She could not ignore a direct question. Not without consequences. "Edric is a blacksmith's apprentice, and my father is a gentleman, Lord of Thornwood. He would never agree to such a match."

  "So you asked him, and he declined?"

  "No." A blush stained her cheeks. Saying it out loud, her actions sounded impulsive and foolish. She still felt the need to defend herself. "We knew it was no use, so we decided to run away."

  "Ah."

  She could have imagined it but there seemed to be some judgment in that single utterance. She held her tongue for fear it would land her in even more trouble.

  "And though you knew you were not welcome, you attempted to cross through my forest?" his eyes traced over her, and she felt naked under his gaze.

  "We did."

  "Hmm."

  She squirmed beneath his cold gaze, waiting for him to speak. Fearing if she was the first one to do so, she'd say the wrong thing.

  "The young man came through here earlier. I sent him back in the human world."

  "You are lying to me; he would never have left me behind." As soon as the words came out, she regretted them, she clamped both hands over her mouth, as if she could hold back any more impulsive reactions.

  "Believe what you will, it is the truth."

  Her stomach dropped down to her toes. Edric would never have left her behind, their love was too strong. She wracked her brain searching for an idea, this had to be a fae trick.

  "Please I'll do anything to get him back."

  "I will not hold a child of Thornwood against your will. You are free to go." He stepped aside showing her the door. "Go down this hall, and it will lead you to the surface and back to Thornwood."

  "And Edric, he's a child of Thornwood. He's lived his whole life in the village."

  "He is different." His green eyes sparked in the dark.

  Her grandmother had told her the stories but she'd never believed it.

  "If I leave now, Edric will remain trapped here."

  He did not respond but continued to stare at her in that uncanny way.

  She would get no answer from him. This was a game, a riddle she had to solve. "What happens if I stay?"

  "You can join me for dinner. As I said, I would be honored to have a child of Thornwood as my guest."

  The Fair Folk's tricks were often disguised as a kind gesture. A girl wandered into their kingdom for a night and came out to find her family long dead, and her sweetheart old and bent. But could she run the risk of leaving Edric behind if she did not play his game?

  "Very well but show me your true face first."

  He started looking at her with a furrow in his brow. "Why would you ask such a thing? Does this face not please you?"

  It was a very pleasing face indeed, and one meant to entice and entrap her, she knew. She would not let him use it to trick her. She knew enough about them to not be so gullible.

  "If you show me your face, I will stay and have dinner with you."

  He bowed low and when he stood again, she was face to face with a man that was both feral and beautiful. High cheekbones came to points like thorns. Long knobbed fingers, like the branches of a tree, opened and flexed. His hair, no longer silk, was a tangle of vines.

  "Better?" he asked.

  "Yes," she breathed out, at once both entranced and terrified.

  "Dress and I shall return for you."

  "Make me a deal," she blurted before she lost her courage. He raised a single brow in question.

  "What sort of deal?"

  "My family is bound to yours. What can I give you to have Edric back?"

  A slow smile spread across his face. "Remain here in my kingdom until after dawn's first light and you may have whatever your heart most desires."

  No deal came without a price, if she failed to stay, there would be consequences, but what she wanted more than anything was to have Edric all to herself. If she left before then, that meant she'd lose him.

  Her heart was thundering in her chest as she said, "You have a deal."

  ***

  His captor dragged him by the pits of his arms, while Edric kicked and screamed, their grips were like a vice and no amount of fighting would save him.

  "Let me go, I've done nothing wrong." He wrestled against them but his pleas fell on deaf ears. I have to find Brenna before that monster gets her!

  They pulled him down a long dark hallway, the only light was that carried by a second strange creature. Who had l
arge bulbous eyes atop its head and slimy black skin. It grinned at Edric and revealed rows of sharp needle-like teeth. He shuddered just to look at it. At the end of the long dark hall, was a single dingy cell. When Edric saw it, he fought harder, twisting his back, swinging punches, that did not land. The big-eyed creature, left the glowing globe hanging in the air while he fiddled with a ring of keys, opening a cell.

  "Would you stop squirming, you're only making it worse," his captor said.

  "Never, I'll fight to the death to save Brenna," he snarled like a wild beast.

  "Humans and their love," the captor said to the bulbous-eyed creature who cackled in agreement.

  As the cell door swung open, Edric broke free for a brief moment. He swung a surprise left at his captor, who easily dodged his blow. But he only needed a moment's opening to run for the exit. He did not even get two feet before he was sent crashing to the ground, vines tangled around his feet. His captor walked over and stood above him shaking his head.

  "You've done this to yourself, you know," the feral-eyed man said.

  "I've done nothing but try to make a better life for me and Brenna. What right do you have to keep us from crossing the woods?"

  The feral-eyed creature only shook his head, as he picked Edric up as if he weighed nothing at all and tossed him into the cell. The bulbous-eyed creature leered at him through the bars.

  "I hope you find it comfortable," he said in a creaking voice. "You're going to be in here for a very long time."

  "Please let us go and we will never return to your forest."

  "You threatened the Thorn King with iron, that in itself is punishable by death," said the feral-eyed creature, who stood just behind the other, his arms crossed over his chest.

  "I didn't mean it, you have to believe me," he pleaded, hands pressed together as if in prayer.

  They only laughed as they turned to walk away, taking the globe of light with them. All he could do was watch as the only source of light faded away until he was left in utter darkness. Never before had he ever experienced the complete absence of light. He could not even see his hand in front of his face. It was cold in his cell, as he held out his hand to find a wall to lean against it felt like ice. He decided against leaning against it and sat on the floor. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the locket he always wore close to his heart. He rubbed his thumb against the warm metal. Inside was a lock of Brenna's hair. Don't worry, darling, I'll think of a way to get us out of here.

  It was hard to say how much time passed. It could have been hours, or it could have been days. All that he knew was the darkness started to lessen and he turned his head toward the growing light. Someone was coming down the tunnel once more. He jumped to his feet, hurrying to the bars, he tried to grab a hold of them, but they were covered in large thorns he pricked his hand upon and made them bleed. Instead he hovered as close as he dared to get a look at who was coming. Did they find Brenna? He prayed she was still safe.

  A pair of figures, the squat form of the jailer holding the light in front of him as they made their way toward him. Behind him was the king.

  "What have you done to Brenna, I swear if you harm a single hair on her head!" Edric shouted as the king approached.

  The Thorn King stopped in front of Edric's cell, his uncanny green eyes looking up and down.

  "What can you do behind bars?"

  "You let her go."

  The king smiled deviously. "She is safe for now. But what shall I do with you?"

  "Please let me out and I'll never return again?"

  "Let you go when you threatened me and my court?"

  "I didn't mean it, I swear."

  The king raised a single brow. "No? Your kind, know the rules. You are not to enter our domain without due respect. You did not pay the proper rights, you interrupted our dance, and brought iron here." His mouth twisted into a sneer. "You've broken many laws, a payment is required for such crimes. A hundred years in the dungeon should suit."

  The toad-like creature which held the lantern for the Thorn King snickered.

  "Do what you want to me, but let Brenna go. She did nothing wrong."

  A slow smile spread across the king's face, the looks of it made Edric ill. He should never have mentioned her name.

  "What is she to you?"

  "She's my wife—well, that is I am intending to make her my wife. We were on our way to elope."

  "Is that so?"

  "You have her, don't you? Please, I'll do anything if you let her go!"

  "Oh, I am sure." He pressed his knotted fingers to his chin. "But are you certain you'd pay any price to get her back. Even give up your own life?"

  He did not hesitate in his response. "Anything! Please just let her go. "

  The king's hand darted forward and through the bars, before Edric had time to react, he snatched the locket off Edric's neck.

  He dangled the chain from knotty fingers. Swinging it just out of Edric's reach.

  "Give that back," Edric shouted reaching for his locket. The thorns on the bars of the prison scrapping against his skin.

  "You said you'd give anything to set her free," the king said.

  Edric's hand drooped to his side. "What do you want with something like that?"

  The king tilted his head to the side. "That doesn't concern you." He waved his hand and the necklace disappeared.

  "Open the door and let him go." The bulbous-eyed creature scurried forward and unlocked the cell door. Edric hesitated to exit. A locket seemed a slim price to pay given the King's reaction to his crimes.

  "What about Brenna?" Edric asked.

  "You may both leave, if you leave before the first dawn of morning."

  "That's all I have to do?"

  "That is all."

  "Where is Brenna?"

  His lips curled into that dangerous smile once more. "You'll have to find her."

  Edric licked his dry lips. He could do it, the sun had only just set there were hours until dawn. "What happens to us, if I fail?"

  "Then neither of you will ever leave here again," the king said with a slow creeping smile.

  He clenched his fists at his side. I can do this. He'd come this far to obtain her love, he'd go through hell and back to keep her. "Then I will accept your challenge."

  "Good," with a snap of the king's fingers, the dungeon disappeared and they were both standing in the hallway full of doors where he had first arrived. Three doors stood directly in front of them. The first was dark blue, rimmed in river stones with a moon-shaped handle, the second, was the flame door, the handle formed of a lump of coal, the third was gold and black, with a sun-shaped knob.

  "Choose a door."

  Edric stared for a moment deliberating on his decision. In the old stories, there was always a trick when it came to the Fair Folk. The doors in themselves were a riddle, or a test, maybe both. "Where do they lead?"

  "To your beloved, if you choose wisely."

  "And if I don't?"

  The king shrugged his shoulder. "That is for you to find out."

  Edric took a deep breath. He picked the door to the far left, the dark blue reminded him of Brenna's eyes. Besides it had been night when he stumbled through the ring, so perhaps this would lead him back to that moonlit vale. When he approached, the doorknob changed shape, blooming into a white trumpet flower. This had to be it. He grabbed a hold of the knob and stepped into darkness.

  ***

  Brenna paced the length of the chamber several times. Counting the steps, one by one until she got to one hundred. When she reached it, she headed for the door. Edric was here somewhere and she was going to find him. It was in the Fair Folk's nature to deceive. He wanted her to believe that Edric had abandoned her, but she refused to believe it. She would find him and they would escape this place together. The door creaked as she opened it, and Brenna put her eye to the crack, when she saw nothing outside, she poked her head out. There was nothing but a long empty hallway. There was not a soul in sight.


  She slid out the door, making sure to close it behind her. She waited for a few heartbeats, as she gathered her bearings and then she sprinted down the hall. Her feet slapped against the earthen floor as she ran. The hallway ended at a fork, she took the passage to the left. A few feet more and there was another split, she went to the right.

  The passageways were nothing but a twisted labyrinth. Globes of light hung from the walls, casting a strange ethereal light over everything. The hall in which she was running emptied out into another chamber, but this time three choices stood before her. In the old tales everything came in threes and it gave her pause. This was not a choice to be made lightly. Each path led in different directions. The first tunnel was illuminated in green light. The tunnel to the center, was cast in blue light and she felt a cold chill coming off it. The tunnel to the right, was cast in a yellow light like sunshine. She could almost smell a summer breeze wafting off of it.

  Which do I choose? She wondered.

  As she pondered her decision, music drifted out from the leftmost passageway. The sound was achingly beautiful. All her life Brenna's grandmother had warned her about the song of the Thorn Dwellers. It was said to entrance those who heard it, drawing them into their forest never to be heard from again. I cannot go that way. Which only left the other two hallways. But as she tried to deliberate between the two, her eyes were continually drawn to the way from which the music was coming.

  The song was haunting, it filled her with a feeling of love and devotion. It evoked memories of her first time seeing Edric's mischievous smile, the flutter in her stomach the first time they had kissed, and the exhilaration when they'd decided to run away together. He had to be down that passageway.

  The path was not long and after the first bend, it emptied unto the forest. Moonlight fell through the treetops and for a moment, Brenna thought she was back where she started. But this place was different. The trees here tangled together forming a ceiling of branches, the space was long and narrow, it reminded her of a chapel, but alive and so much more grand. Enormous white flowers, bigger than her head, bloomed along thorny vines. Their perfume sweeter than anything she had smelled before.