Quick Escape: Fantasy Tales

by Joynell Schultz

  Quick Escape:

  Fantasy Tales

  JOYNELL SCHULTZ

  Copyright © 2017 Joynell Schultz

  All rights reserved.

  Cover images: www.pixabay.com

  WET DOG PRESS

  Quick Escape: Fantasy Tales -- Enjoy a taste of another world with these three fantasy short stories.

  Bitten: An Angels of Sojourn Spin-Off Short Story

  A desperate mother struggles to protect her son.

  The Fairy Flu

  A sick fairy confronts a childhood rival who threatens the kingdom.

  The Enchanted Apothecary

  A grieving shopkeeper becomes suspicious of a mysterious man who keeps visiting her apothecary shop.

  Contents

  Bitten

  The Fairy Flu

  The Enchanted Apothecary

  MORE BY JOYNELL SCHULTZ

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bitten

  Alex’s screams seized my attention. I had left him outside a few moments this morning as I rummaged through the cabinets to find an old jelly jar to catch the early morning fireflies. Now my six-year-old rushed into the kitchen cradling his arms.

  He’s being overdramatic again.

  I scooped his small body up and swept away his too-long curls to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. Usually, a little attention calmed him, but not today.

  “What's wrong?” My hands rubbed up and down his back. “It’s okay. What happened?”

  Alex held out his arm as he continued his ragged sobs. Blood soaked through my little boy’s ripped flannel sleeve. I kept it together, despite the sickness that grew in my stomach. What happened to him? How had I overlooked his injury? I plopped him on the counter next to the sink and ripped his sleeve away.

  His cries continued.

  “It’s okay. I’m just going to peek at it. You’ll feel better if you look away.”

  As soon as I saw the way his skin bubbled up in yellow, fluid-filled blisters around the cuts, I fought back dizziness as my hands turned clammy. The bite was from a werewolf. I had seen a similar bite on a man’s leg when I was still in nursing school. After being bit, he went to the Emergency Department for treatment, but since the full moon was still out, he ended up changing into a wolf right in the exam room. Trying to escape, he killed a nursing assistant. The older nurses had told me more gruesome stories than that, but they were all from before the military nearly eradicated the wolves. I had thought there were none left in a five-hundred-mile radius of me.

  “It’s okay,” I repeated, looking into my boy’s teary gray eyes. “I’ll fix you right up.” The lie came out calmly despite my rapid heart rate and the twisting in my stomach. The calendar on the refrigerator told me the full moon was this past night; we were lucky he only had a bite. How could I have been so stupid? I failed to protect my son.

  “This may hurt a little,” I said, causing Alex’s cries to intensify. “Shh. Don’t look at it.” I soaked a handful of paper towel in water and irrigated the wound. With shaky hands, I followed with hydrogen peroxide, trying to kill whatever was in there, even though I knew a good cleaning would not prevent the impending disaster. I hugged him, telling myself it’d be okay.

  When Alex calmed, I discreetly wiped my tears away and asked, “What happened?”

  Alex’s lip quivered, but his tears had stopped. “I climbed in my playset and there was a dog up there and I reached to pet it and it bit me and ran away.”

  Why was a wolf was hiding in the playset? There must be more of them out there than the government wanted us to know.

  The month passed, and I dreaded the full moon. I had spent my time researching and preparing for the upcoming nightmare. The only solutions I found for werewolves were lethal: silver bullets, wolfsbane, or military intervention. Instead, I purchased a large heavy-duty metal dog kennel until I could figure something better out. I hoped it would hold a child werewolf. The pillows, blankets, and his favorite book were unnecessary, as he’d probably tear them all to shreds, but they made me feel a little better.

  Since Alex was oblivious of his future, I hid the kennel from him. My stomach still turned at what I would do to my child, but what choice did I have? I wouldn’t let him do any harm—neither of us could live with that.

  The afternoon of the full moon, Alex and I were preparing dinner when the doorbell chimed. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

  I cracked opened the door to see unnatural golden yellow eyes and a prominent six-o’clock shadow: a werewolf. No human has eyes like that. The hair that stood up on the back of my neck warned me to keep the safety chain in place. “Can I help you?”

  “I’ve come for the boy,” the man growled.

  Sweat beaded on my palms and formed on the small of my back. I’d protect my child no matter what. Why didn’t I expect the wolves to come for him? Leaning into the door with all my weight, I attempted to get it to latch, but the man’s hand blocked me. My eyes focused on the small chain. Would it hold?

  “The boy belongs to us now.” Another growl. “He needs a pack.”

  “I don’t think so.” Dashing to the kitchen, I grabbed a knife with one hand and scooped Alex up with the other. “Hang on.” As we headed for the garage entrance off the kitchen, I hear the entrance chain rattle and the door swing open with a swoosh.

  “Where are we going?” Alex asked.

  I squeezed him tighter. “It’ll be okay, Honey.”

  Alex asked again, but I caught a shadow of the man inside my house. I heard his footsteps towards my kitchen. My feet wouldn’t carry me fast enough as I tried to slip through the garage door. A shooting pain radiated up my arm that held Alex. At first, I saw the man’s large hand with fingers digging into my arm, then I looked up to see his golden yellow eyes give off a faint glow.

  The wolf’s voice was low and warning. “Don’t do this. The military will kill him. The boy needs us.”

  “No. The boy needs his mother,” I said, slashing the man’s arm with the knife, forcing him to stumble back and release me. I slammed the door shut, flew into the garage, and jumped into the car, locking the doors behind me.

  “Seatbelt,” I commanded. I pushed the button to open the overhead garage door and started the engine. My eye focused on the door I had just passed through as it flung open. I turned back towards the opening overhead door. My leg bounced. “Come on!”

  The wolf pounded on my window, but I dared not turn. He tried to open my door, but I had it locked, then hit the roof of the car with his fist. A thurump told me the metal dented from his force.

  Alex screamed. I think I let out a little scream myself.

  The garage door was now up, and I threw the car into gear. We screeched down the driveway and onto the road. My eyes were glued to my mirrors while the only sound I heard was my heart pounding. All the way down our street and turning onto another without a sign of the werewolf. “It’s okay, Honey, it’s okay.” My words repeated, but I couldn’t focus on my son nor what I was saying. All my attention devoted to our few options. The impending doom of the full moon was approaching. Only one choice made sense.

  “Alex, I need to tell you a story. It’s a serious one so let me know when you’re ready.” I waited for him to settle down while I wiped my eyes and steadied my words.

  When his breaths calmed, he said, “I’m ready.”

  “Well, once upon a time, when mommy was younger, the world was filled with men who would sometimes turn into a wolf.” I told him everything I knew of men, werewolves, and the pull of the full moon, leaving nothing out. I told him of the stories from the nurses in the Emergency Department and of the government control of the beast
s. Most importantly, I told him of what he would become tonight.

  “Don’t worry, Mommy, I won’t hurt anyone,” Alex said.

  “It’ll be okay, Honey. I won’t let you hurt anyone.”

  After a few hours of driving, I pulled over and parked as the sun dipped behind the horizon. We were deep into the national forest where we used to camp before my husband passed away. In the rear-view mirror, Alex’s eyes showed more golden yellow than gray.

  I grabbed the knife, unbuckled him from his booster seat, and noticed that he had hair sprouting in new places and his teeth were changing.

  “Come with me.” I took his hand and led him along the trail to the lake. His fingernails sharpened and dug into the back of my hand. We sat on a boulder watching the last bit of light fade from the sky.

  “I love you so much,” I said, setting the knife down beside me, then pushing Alex’s curls off his forehead. His eyes looked up at me, and I blinked away my tears to see him better. “Are you ready to do what I asked?”

  Tears clouded Alex’s changing eyes. He nodded and his voice was small. “I love you too, Mommy.”

  A sharp pain shot up my arm as his teeth pierced the skin of my forearm.

  The End

  Bitten is part of the Angels of Sojourn Series. If you enjoyed this story and would like to start the series, Book 1, Blood & Holy Water, is available through Amazon.com here: http://mybook.to/bloodholywater

  Alex and his Mother’s Journey continues in Book 2 of the Angels of Sojourn Series titled Fur & Feathers. Visit www.JoynellSchultz.com/Angels to learn more.

  The Fairy Flu

  “Urgh, let me sleep,” Emerald moaned as she rolled over in her tiny bed. “The queen will have to do without me.” She’d been sick for more than a week. It started with loss of her powers, but progressed to a dreadful sneezing, coughing, and upset stomach event. It took three weeks for her mother to get better. Emerald didn’t know how she’d make it that long, but knew she needed to sleep. The kingdom needed her. The princess’s baby was due any day now and, as the kingdom’s only fairy godmother, Emerald was the only one able to protect the child.

  Emerald squinted at Braden’s massive blue eye peering inside her miniature home. His voice was deep and slow. Emerald struggled to understand him when she was standard fairy size, but she couldn’t enlarge now; she’d need her powers for that. “She won’t understand. You signed up for this job—in sickness and in health.”

  Emerald coughed and coughed again until her stomach muscles ached. She should have known not to bring her mother that thimble of chicken soup. “Tell them I don’t want to get them sick.”

  “She knows it’s only contagious amongst fairies.”

  “Tell her I’ll come tomorrow. Tell her anything. I can’t get out of bed.”

  Brayden left with the message, and Emerald slipped beneath her silk blanket and dwelled on failing her duties. Eventually, she fell back to sleep.

  It didn’t seem like much time had passed when Brayden shook Emerald’s house to wake her. “She still wants you.”

  Emerald tried to focus on his words, but all she noticed was her sweat-soaked sheets; her fever must be breaking.

  Brayden continued, “She says you should just wish away your sickness. Like you do for the humans.”

  If she could have, she would have done that already. “Doesn’t she know the sickness blocks my powers?”

  “Can’t we get another fairy to cure you?”

  “I wish it was that easy. Fairies can’t cure other fairy’s illnesses?” Emerald forced her eyes open.

  “Yes, but Obsidian is here.”

  Her stomach turned. “I’m still not going.” Emerald pushed the thoughts of her childhood with Obsidian away. They had always competed for everything: the best test scores in magic academy, the most human friends, the better control of their magic, and the best jobs. Obsidian always won until Emerald secured her position as fairy godmother.

  He looked at her with huge focused eyes. “Despite how you feel, you promised to protect them. Obsidian threatens the unborn child.”

  Emerald dragged herself up on her elbows, careful not to twist her wings. “He has no power over the baby until birth. Why’s he here now?”

  “He’s come to demand your spot in the castle. He says if they don’t give it to him, he’ll come back and curse the baby.”

  One of Emerald’s duties was putting a protection spell on each member of the kingdom. A spell to make them immune to dark magic, Obsidian’s magic. The baby was vulnerable until she could fulfill this duty. As the only fairy tied to the royal family, she was the only one who could cast this spell. She hoped her sickness would go away in time.

  With a sigh, Emerald staggered onto Brayden’s hand and allowed him to carry her into the royal sitting room. Here wings were useless as they needed magic to fly. The queen stood under the large window and the pregnant princess sat in a velvet chair in front of the fire. Obsidian leaned against the doorway, with a smirk he displayed when he was up to something.

  “You’re looking as beautiful as ever,” Obsidian said with an evil twinkle in his eye. She glared in return, not bothering to smooth out her frazzled sweat-soaked hair, though she found the energy to clench her fists. It was hard to work against dark magic. Today though, she wouldn’t allow him to have the upper hand, even if she was ill.

  “You will never get my spot in the castle,” Emerald vowed. “You may have always outdone me, but not this time.”

  Obsidian shrunk to fairy size and joined her on Brayden’s hand, whispering so the others couldn’t hear. “Oh, I intend to. When the baby comes in a few days, I’ll have taken your spot. I understand you are a little under the weather.”

  Emerald’s nose tickled. She wrinkled it and sniffed, but she couldn’t hold back. Obsidian’s eyes widened as he took a step back. Just then, Emerald had the perfect idea and let her sneeze escape, aimed right at Obsidian, spraying germs all over his face. “Forgive me,” she said with a sly smile.

  Obsidian wiped his face dry before scowl waltzed across his face.

  Emerald strengthened her voice and spoke with commitment. “I don’t think you’ll feel well enough next week for a curse.”

  Obsidian huffed and stretched out his black wings, flying out of the castle window.

  Emerald collapsed in Brayden’s hand. “I’m ready now, please take me back to bed.”

  The End

  If you enjoy fairies, you want to check out Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey… available through Amazon.com here: http://mybook.to/hiddenfairy

  The Enchanted Apothecary

  Marie summed up her new customer with one word. Danger. Intense dark eyes, chiseled expression, broad shoulders, visible muscles, and a fresh scar that ran from his temple into his cheek. His every step inspired caution, like being trapped with a nesting dragon or climbing a giant tree for a phoenix egg. Marie knew that type of danger - she’d done both.

  Marie gripped her grandmother’s protection charm, which now hung around her neck, and made her way between the narrow aisles. After passing the eye of newt and snail slime, she greeted her customer. The man didn’t look like he needed magic to solve his problems, a warrior perhaps, not a mage. Marie sensed the energy in the room feeling for tendrils of magic like she did with all new customers. Nothing. He wasn’t her normal clientele.

  Keeping a little distance between herself and her new customer, she went to work. “Can I help you?”

  He seemed to smile, the corners of his mouth softening slightly. The words he spoke sounded almost rehearsed. “I’m looking for valerian root.”

  Marie loved figuring out why a person visited her shop. For example, ogre hair for a baby at home, fairy tears for a lost loved one, and gnome wisdom teeth for those that needed to solve a puzzle. Valerian root mixed with a little magic could cause unconsciousness. Marie sensed the air again for magic. Still none. Without magic, the root was only a simple he
rb. “Can’t sleep?”

  His eyes darted to meet Marie’s and then he diverted them to the jars of potions that lined the exterior wall. “It’s for my gnome problem.”

  Marie shook her head. “Valerian root doesn’t work on gnomes. Lava ash will get rid of them.”

  “Wouldn’t that upset them? You know how they can be. I just want to sleep through their antics.”

  Marie nodded. Despite lava ash being a better solution for gnomes, she remembered her run in with an angry gnome - her eyebrows were finally back to normal. “It’s back here,” she said as she walked him to the back of her shop. She picked up a bundle of light brown roots. “This is it; you can chew a chunk of it right before bed or grind it to make a tea. I’d recommend adding honey and mint to the tea to cut the lingering taste.”

  The man took the valerian root and wrinkled his nose. “Wow, it smells like dirty clothes. Does it taste awful?”

  “Everyone has different preferences. It’s a little bitter, like goldenseal.” She let her eyes wander the shelves in her shop. “I’ve tried many of these items and I don’t think valerian root is that bad. Others that never tried these herbs may dislike it. It’s all perspective.”

  The man picked up a griffin feather in the bin next to the root. He spun it causing the silver and gold streaks to reflect in the shop’s enchanted lights. “A griffin feather?”

  Marie nodded. “How did you know?”

  He touched the pink scar on his face. The scar didn’t make his face less handsome. “I ran into one lately. How can such nasty creatures have such beautiful feathers?” He put it down. “What’s that for?” He pointed to another bin.

  “It’s a rock from the Hot Springs River up on Eternity Mountain, it brings luck.”