Fairy Gifts: A Between the Worlds Anthology

by Morgan Daimler

  She trudged carefully towards her car, unusually aware of her limp as she made sure each step was solid before shifting her weight. The cold weather was playing havoc with her old injuries, especially her ankle, but she didn’t want to mention it to anyone when they were already acting like she was made of glass because of the pregnancy.

  As she reached the car, reassured now that despite the snow it wasn’t slippery, just cold, she reached into her pocket for her keys. Her fingers grazed paper along with the expected metal and puzzled she pulled out a crumpled note along with her keyring. She unfolded it and smoothed the paper, her eyes skimming the words for a second before her mind processed what she was seeing. Immediately her vision blurred with tears as she realized it was an old note from her cousin, Liz, who had been killed the previous spring.

  She sniffled in the cold dark of the holiday morning, the old note – a reminder to pick up a couple things Liz liked from the market – hitting her hard and reminding her of things she tried hard never to think about. Oh Liz why? Why did you have to be part of the dark coven? Why did you hurt me? She thought, tears trailing down her cheeks. Luath pressed against her side, whimpering and shoving her muzzle under Allie’s free hand and she stroked the hound’s ears reflexively.

  A moment later Bleidd’s voice was in her mind, drawn she knew by her emotion, his words blurred by sleep, “Allie? What is it?”

  She wiped her face and shoved the grief away, stuffing the note back in her pocket, leaning over to unlock the car and opening the rear door for the puppy. “Its okay, go back to sleep”

  “Where are you? Why haven’t you come back to bed?” he thought back, perturbed. She waited for Jess to add his mental commentary and when he didn’t she decided it was safe to assume he was deeply asleep.

  “Jason’s having a small food crisis,” she thought, closing the door and walking around to the driver’s side. “We need more potatoes, so I’m running out to get some.”

  “You’re what?” he thought, anger flavoring his thoughts now and making her wince as she started the car.

  “Relax Bleidd,” she thought back, pulling out slowly onto the road. “I have Luath with me in the car and it’s just a quick errand. I thought I’d be back before you even knew I’d been gone.”

  “Allie, you should have gotten me, I’d have gone-“ he began, exactly as she knew he would.

  “It’s not like I’m driving out of town, I just have to find an open farm stand,” she cut in, silencing him. “Now go back to sleep, I’ll be back by the time the sun’s up.”

  “You didn’t come back to the room.”

  “No I was trying to avoid this argument,” she thought back, tired that it was an argument.

  “How are you paying for this item without your wallet? And you realize you’re driving without your license on you right now?” he said, his worry filling her and setting her teeth on edge.

  “You realize you sound just like Jess right now?” she shot back, pleased at his indignant mental huff in response. “I always keep about $20 in my car for emergencies, and yeah I know I don’t have my license on me. I don’t plan on getting pulled over so that will be fine.”

  “Oh well, as long as you aren’t planning on it,” he thought back drily.

  She ignored him. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be back soon and we have all day to discuss this once I’m back.”

  “Yes this will make for some festive dinner conversation,” he agreed. She was more than a little bit afraid that he meant it too. And he didn’t even know yet that it was snowing.

  She sighed, turning onto the backroad that led to the closest farm, and only then realizing that she’d forgotten to turn her headlights on. Chagrined she flipped the switch quickly, flinching as the weak light cut through the fading darkness, making the snow in their beams distractingly bright. “Ugh,” she said to Luath, whose tail thumped against the seat behind her, “This is definitely not how I wanted to start my Thanksgiving.”

  7 A.M.

  A couple hours and a half dozen stops later Allie finally pulled back up in front of the house. She got out and stepped back to let Luath out, the hound puppy running cheerfully around the yard as soon as she was free of the car. Allie sighed and limped around to get the potatoes, motion at the corner of her eye catching her attention. Looking up she saw Bleidd’s black clad figure heading towards her down the walkway that led from the house and bit back another sigh.

  Resolutely she turned back and picked up the cloth bag with the potatoes in it, mentally counting down in anticipation. She’d lifted the unwieldy bag, closed the car door, and taken several steps towards the house when the expected hand reached out and took the bag from her. She resisted the urge to glare at him, knowing he had his reasons for being over-protective. I know he worries about me because his sister died giving birth. And I know they are all worried because I’m still getting dizzy sometimes and feeling really tired. Still she thought, ignoring him and walking as quickly as she could to the front door, this has got to stop. They are driving me crazy.

  They walked in silence into the house, Luath running happily ahead, for once oblivious to Allie’s mood. As soon as they crossed the threshold Allie knew that she’d walked into yet another crisis. She started walking fast, heading down the hall, and next to her Bleidd finally broke his silence, “What is it?”

  “I don’t know but Jason’s upset, I can feel it from here.”

  They found Jason in the kitchen shaking his head over a pile of carrots on the counter. With a sinking feeling Allie said, “Let me guess – all bad?”

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Jason said, frowning. “Nothing spoils this quickly.”

  Bleidd frowned sharply as well and walked over setting the potatoes down and picking up a carrot. He looked at it for a moment, and to Allie’s surprise extended his magic to examine it as well. A moment later he swore loudly.

  “What?” Jason and Allie said simultaneously.

  Bleidd had put the carrot down and was looking around the kitchen suspiciously. “We have an uninvited guest.”

  “Huh?” Jason said, while Allie eyed the kitchen nervously.

  “An Alpluchra,” Bleidd said, his voice grim. “Nasty little things that sneak into a home and get into the stores – the food – and suck out the vital essence of it. Once that essence is lost the food spoils immediately.”

  “Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Allie said.

  Bleidd gave her a sharp look, and she grimaced, “I believe you, of course I believe you, but of all the days for this to happen.”

  “How do we get rid of it?” Jason asked. “Because I am not letting some essence sucking interloper ruin my god damn holiday.”

  Bleidd sighed, “We have to find it and either catch it or chase it out. But that won’t be easy.”

  “Well, fine, let’s get to it then,” Jason said. “Because I’m already behind schedule, and I literally do not have time for this.”

  Bleidd started to say something and stopped, looking uncertainly around the kitchen. That made Allie nervous because Bleidd almost never looked uncertain. Cocky, yes. Condescending, often. Irked, semi-regularly. But uncertain, hardly ever. She chewed her lip for a moment, then said, “Should we get Jess?”

  Bleidd hesitated, then shook his head. “He’s still sleeping, and it seems unfair to wake him just to be another body down here. He’s not a mage and that is what we could use more of.”

  “Can Luath help? Even if she is just another, ah, body?”

  Bleidd considered that, then nodded slowly. “I think so. That’s a good idea, actually. Alpluchra aren’t terribly smart but they are fast – I don’t think it would try to tangle with a fairy hound though. Can you have her stay in the doorway, blocking the hall so it can’t escape deeper into the house?”

  “Sure,” Allie said. She turned and called the puppy who loped over with her usual eagerness. Although fairy hounds were considered animals, and not viewed as intelligent on par with beings who could c
ommunicate and create things, they were nonetheless quite intelligent animals. Even the least bright of them could follow complex commands and be trained to complete tasks that required multiple steps. Allie met the hound’s eyes and said, “Luath sit and stay here. Don’t let anything pass until I tell you it’s okay.”

  Luath sat down immediately, wagging her tail, and Allie smiled, petting the hound’s soft ears. In the month since she’d gotten the puppy as a birthday gift she’d grown very attached to the fairy hound and it made her happy to know that Luath could help with this. She turned back to the kitchen where the two men were waiting, “So now what?”

  Bleidd took a deep breath before answering, “It is no doubt hiding somewhere in the kitchen. Usually they move in and find a dark quiet place to sleep during the day and then emerge at night to suck the essence out of the available food.”

  “Sounds like a magical rat,” Jason said wrinkling his nose.

  “That is not a bad comparison,” Bleidd agreed. “They are similar in many ways: clever, small, vicious when cornered, fast. The idea here is to flush it out and allow it only the option of exiting the house.”

  “So we need to open the back door?” Allie asked, even as Jason began walking towards it.

  “Yes, but given the cold and snow, not to mention the daylight, it will not want to go,” Bleidd said. “We will have to drive it out or catch it, although that will be much harder, and it will make every effort to get past us and back into the kitchen or deeper into the house.”

  “We’ll have to block the basement door,” Allie said slowly, knowing that if it got into the basement it could take days to find it.

  Bleidd frowned but nodded. “I can shield the door so that it cannot pass, and the doorway to the den as well, although since that is an open space it would be best if Jason stood in front of it as well as an added deterrent….Allie how bright can you call the tinesí?”

  She shrugged, “I don’t know, when I’ve called fairy fire before I’ve only ever manifested it as brightly as I needed it at the time. I’ve never tried to see how bright I could make it.”

  His eyes roved around the room slowly. “When we are ready I need you to call it as brightly as possible and concentrate on manifesting it into the cabinets as well as into every dark corner and crevice. If you can hold the thought in your mind of calling the tinesí not into your hand or the room itself but into the darkness and shadows in the room that would be ideal.”

  For a minute Allie just blinked at him trying to wrap her head around what he was saying. The truth was she’d learned to call the fairy fire when she was a child, because that was when elves were taught the simple, basic bit of magic, but since she’d left her mother’s care shortly after and been raised by her human family her knowledge of it was limited. She had assumed that there was nothing else to it, but what Bleidd was saying implied that the tinesí was more than just a heatless light that could be manifested into the palm of your hand. She almost asked him about that, about what it was and what it could do, but then remembered how easily he grew annoyed when she decided to go off on tangents about the theories of elven magic during high stress situations. Right she thought to herself. Maybe I’ll just ask later. So…imagine it not in the open parts of the room, but manifesting in the darkness and shadows. Okay. Ummm. Well, that can’t be that hard right? It’s just a complicated visualization. I’ve done hundreds, thousands of visualization exercises before…

  “Allie?” Bleidd prompted.

  “Right,” Allie said. “Okay. I think I can do that.”

  He hesitated slightly, “I would do it, but I can’t hold the shields, make them solid enough to block a physical object from passing through them, and call the light at the same time. And as well I have to have enough attention left to throw magebolts at it to drive it where we wish it to go, and I know you aren’t trained in using that type of magic.”

  “No I never learned how to throw a magebolt – wait you can make a shield that can block a physical object? Here in the Borderland?” she said, feeling stunned. She knew that could be done in Fairy but she had never heard of it being done outside of the fully magical atmosphere that existed there.

  He met her eyes, his emotions suddenly inexplicably guilty, then nodded and turned to Jason, “Alright, let me get the shields in place and you stand in the door to the den. Allie once we are set you call the light. I will do my best to drive it out the back door, but I warn you both it will not want to go. Be prepared to defend yourselves.”

  “Bleidd, how can you-“ Allie tried to press him about the shields but he cut her off.

  “Allie you especially be careful, and stay close to Luath where she can protect you if need be,” he said, not looking at her now but walking over and beginning to set the first shield on the basement door. She could see that it looked different even before he was finished with it. “The Alpluchra can be about the size of a small dog, humanoid in appearance but animalistic, with fangs and claws like a cat. They will attack if they feel threatened which is exactly how we need to make this one feel to get it to leave, so expect it to be willing to fight.”

  “Can’t we talk to it?” Jason said, shifting nervously as he glanced around the room.

  Bleidd grimaced, “It would do no good. They have about as much vocabulary as a toddler, and a similar personality and aptitude for abstract reasoning. Even if we could get it to speak to us it won’t leave willingly, but I highly doubt it can be tricked into coming out.”

  “Oh!” Allie said, feeling like kicking herself for sheer stupidity. “I am such an idiot.”

  “What?” both men said at once.

  “I can find it without needing to drive it out,” Allie said. “If we find it Bleidd can you stun it with a spell?”

  “Most likely, if I knew exactly where it was,” Bleidd said, finishing the second shield and turning to give her his full attention. “How do you propose to do this though?”

  “Easy,” Allie said, “I’m an empath. I’ll just extend out and feel for its emotional trace. Even if it’s sleeping I can sense it.”

  “Are you sure?” Jason asked, earning a peeved look from Bleidd, annoyed that he was questioning Allie’s given word.

  Allie smiled, for once fully confident in herself, “Yeah I am. If I can feel Rionna taking a cat nap or Luath when I’ve lost track of her I can find something like this easily.”

  Bleidd actually relaxed and smiled back at her, “Ah, of course. I should have thought of that as well. Alright, so we modify the plan. The doorways are shielded so it can’t flee anywhere but out if I miss it with my spell. Jason stand by the den anyway, to deter it from trying to go that way. Allie stay next to Luath, and tell me when you can sense it and where it is.”

  “Right,” she nodded as Jason took up his position at the edge of her line of sight and Bleidd edged into the center of the room. She extended her empathy out carefully beyond her personal shields, feeling Luath as a solid presence, eager and happy next to her. Bleidd was tense and worried but also excited. Jason was nervous and angry and she flinched back from the intensity of his feelings. Circling out and around she finally found the Alpluchra, a small flicker of contentment in a corner beneath the sink. She gestured towards the area with her chin, “It’s in the cabinet under the sink, the left side where we keep the spare fuses and extra lightbulbs and stuff. I’m pretty sure its sleeping.”

  “That makes sense, they are nocturnal by nature,” Bleidd said, raising his hands and positioning his fingers for the appropriate spell. “Alright call the light into the space and I will stun it when it runs out.”

  She saw Jason bracing himself and she took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for whatever might happen next. Then she did her best to picture the space under the sink and to call the fairy light into it visualizing it as brightly as she could, seeing it in her mind as a flashbulb of white light illuminating the cabinet’s interior.

  The result was instantaneous. Allie had a moment to see bright
light leaking out of every crevice around the cabinet doors, then the left side door was flung open. She looked away quickly trying to dismiss the light before it could spill out and blind everyone too much. Still the need to look away from the glowing cabinet bought the Alpluchra a few seconds, and the creature managed to leap across the floor and onto the top of the stove, clawing at the dials on the back as it tried in vain to leap behind the refrigerator, unable to find purchase to jump on the stove’s slick metal surface.

  Bleidd recovered quickly while Allie and Jason were still blinking away light spots and cast his spell before the Alpluchra got any further, the magic rippling like a heat distortion through the air and finding its mark. The distortion enveloped the small creature, which collapsed silently across the stove top. The three of them walked over to it, Allie and Jason looking curious, Bleidd annoyed. The creature was the size of a small house cat, humanoid in a general sort of way, a fact that was made more obvious because of it’s – no Allie thought as she struggled not to giggle, his – lack of attire. His face was elongated and mostly angles and sharp lines, topped by a mane of light bristling hair. The Alpluchra’s body was pale in way that reminded Allie of illness and she stepped back slightly, suddenly uneasy at the sight of it, although she couldn’t have said exactly why.

  Jason broke the silence, “Someone needs to get that outside and I need to bleach that stove top.”

  Allie looked at him in surprise and then back at the creature, only then realizing that the naked fairy had fallen mostly forward onto the stove when it collapsed. Not she thought covering her mouth to smother another giggle, that falling on his back would have been much of an improvement for the stove’s sanitation.