Feeling protected and safe, Emma set her chin upon her father’s shoulder and let sleep take her.
“Em!”
Kimber’s shout startled her awake. Emma yawned as she stretched, still in Father’s arms, and squinted at the now-morning sky. The forest was long behind her, and home lay only a short distance away. Mother, tears in her eyes, came running up the road to meet them twenty paces from the porch. She whisked Emma into an embrace that forced most of the air out of her.
“Don’t ever do that to me again!” Mother tried to collect herself, but couldn’t stop sniffling.
“You beat the bandy-wee?” yelled Tam, as he ran circles around them.
Emma yawned, then smiled at her family. “He won’t hurt us now.” She frowned at her father.
Her parents exchanged a glance, Father looking somewhat apologetic. The remaining guardsmen bowed to him and shuffled off down the path to Widowswood proper. Kimber ran over and wrapped her arms around Emma and Mother.
Nan emerged from the front door and waved. “She’s been up all night. Let her be.”
“A nap then, or she’ll become a creature of the night.” Mother smiled, though her eyes still leaked.
Emma drifted in and out of sleep, barely aware of being carred inside, undressed, wiped free of dirt with a damp rag, and re-dressed in a nightgown. Kimber and Tam climbed on to the bed and snuggled close. She put her arms around her siblings and closed her eyes. The rapid murmurs of Father and Mother talking outside may as well have been a lullaby.
“Emma, you should wake.” Mother gently nudged her by the shoulder.
She forced her eyes open and yawned. Tam grinned, winked at Kimber, and they both attacked her sides, tickling. Emma squealed, flailing and kicking at the blanket before succumbing to a fit of laughter.
“It’s about noon,” said Mother. “Come to the table. Your father will be here soon.”
Still giggling, Emma slipped out of bed and looked around for the dress Nan had made. It did not lay draped over the shelf where it usually spent the night, nor did it sit folded on the shelf past the foot end of the bed. Joy became dread, her mouth hung open, and her eyes grew wide in preparation to unload a torrent of tears at the thought Father had finally had enough of her disobedience and disposed of it.
“Mother, where is my dress?”
Nan shuffled in from the back bedroom. “Oh, that old thing?” She waved dismissively. “It was about to fall apart… and it was too small for you.”
Emma sniffled. No. Nan… why? Feeling betrayed, she covered her eyes and sniveled.
Kimber and Tam exchanged a conspiratorial smile. They hopped off the bed and ran around Emma to either side to take their places at the table. She sulked down at her toes and trudged to her seat. Mother set plates of sliced cheese, bread, and what remained of last night’s stew on the table.
Father, still in his armor, tromped in the front door and sat at the head of the table. He flashed a broad smile, which only deepend Emma’s frown. Not only had he killed that poor man, now he celebrated the loss of her precious dress.
Emma folded her arms and shot a sour look into her lap.
“You’re going to light your nightdress on fire with a face like that,” said Nan.
Kimber and Tam erupted with giggles.
Try as she might, she couldn’t be angry with them, though she couldn’t understand why they were so happy her dress was gone. Emma lifted her sullen pout and took a bit of cheese to her mouth.
“There… you need to eat.” Mother patted her on the arm. “You’re safe at home, and I never want you scaring me like that again.”
“The monster made you sleepy.” Emma swung her feet back and forth. “No one would wake up, and I heard Father calling for help.”
“Monster ‘e trick’ yas.” Kimber shook her head. “Was nae Papa.”
“He didn’t have to die.” Emma nibbled on a bit of bread.
Father sighed. “I’m sorry, Em. What it looked like… I was afraid that man wanted to hurt you.”
“It is the way of things, child.” Nan took Emma’s pale hand in her gnarled fingers and squeezed. “The curse had drained him, and he likely would have passed away soon enough without Liam’s help. What is important, is that you broke the magic that had poisoned him. He walks among the spirits now.” She smiled.
Emma jabbed the cheese at crumbs on her plate, not feeling much better about what her father had done. “He would have died anyway?”
Tam and Kimber quieted, though they still fought to keep their giddiness down to mere smiles instead of noise and fidgeting.
“Perhaps days or hours, yes.” Nan let go of her arm. “The dark magic fed upon his very essence. Your father spared him an agony.”
Father looked at Nan as if to question. She couldn’t tell whether Nan was trying to make her feel better or spoke truth. The look in the old one’s eyes suggested sincerity, so Emma let it go.
“All right.” She ate a hunk of bread.
“Well now.” Nan sat up straight. “You can’t run about in your nightdress.”
Emma sent a forlorn stare at the empty bit of shelf, then frowned at the dress from the tailor’s shop. “Yes, Nan.”
Kimber and Tam burst into laughter. Mother put a hand over her mouth to hide a smile.
“What?” Emma looked at them before squinting at Nan, suspecting they had all conspired to trick her. “What’s everyone laughing at?”
Nan cackled, and pulled her arm out from under her shawl-covered green robe. She held a bundle of deep blue cloth, which she let unfurl into the shape of a handmade dress. “T’was time to make you a larger one, dear.”
Emma squealed and dove out of her chair into her grandmother’s arms. She couldn’t think of anything to say, and cried from joy.
Kimber and Tam piled on to the hug from both sides.
“Easy, now. Your old Nan can’t handle so many little bodies in her lap at once.”
“Nan!” yelled Emma. “It’s beautiful.” She wiped her tears. “You can see!” She looked down at the garment in her hands, studying an intricate weave of silver thread binding light blue trim about the neck, the ends of short sleeves, and the knee-length hem. Without a second thought, she whipped off her nightdress and wriggled into the new one. After twisting side to side to get a look at it, she beamed. “I love it!”
“She’ll be wearing it ‘till she marries off,” muttered Father.
Mother threw a bit of bread at him.
“Finish your lunch, child.” Nan patted her on the head. “You’ve got a lot of learning ahead of you. I’ve got to start the foundations before Beth has you making potions all day long.”
Mother stuck her tongue out at Nan.
Emma hopped on her chair and attacked her food. “Yes, Nan. Will you finish the story tonight?”
“Does the knight kill the dragon?” asked Tam.
“He a’ frozed!” yelled Kimber. “Pincess I’bell nee’ta give ‘im ‘a magic potion.”
Tam furrowed his brow. “When’s he gonna fight?”
Emma laughed a spray of bread crumbs onto her plate.
“Perhaps tonight, perhaps tomorrow.” Nan winked at him. “There’s always a story to be told if you know where to listen.”
“Nan, do the wolves like stories too?” asked Emma.
Her grandmother grinned. “Of course. Where do you think I heard them from?”
Emma laughed, but then her eyes went wide. How many of the creatures from her other stories could be real if the Banderwigh was? She bit her lip, unable to think of the forest the same way again. If the stories were true, that meant faeries were real too.
Kimber’s green eyes sparkled as she flashed a huge smile. Tam grinned and kept pestering Nan about Sir Steelsong the knight, and what sort of dragon he’d wind up fighting.
Emma felt happier in that moment than she had in a long time, surrounded by family. Kimber looked far different from the apple-selling beggar; she looked alive, wanted, and happy. The g
lint in Tam’s eye said he was itching to get into trouble as always. A surge of warmth radiated through Emma’s chest at seeing him back to his old self.
A small pang of fear sent a shiver down her back at remembering her deal with the spider queen. She’d have to return for silk in a week, and be around spiders again. For now at least, she put thoughts of giant fuzzy green critters―and Banderwighs―out of her head.
She was home.
Emma and the Banderwigh first came to be as a short story from a small idea. I shared it with a few people for opinions, one of whom grumbled at me that it was too short. So, I did the only thing I could do―I made it longer. Thanks Tiffany for the suggestion that more story was hiding in there!
To Julie Rodriguez, thank you for your amazing editing. This story is much better off for you having worked with me on it.
Additional thanks goes out to the team at Curiosity Quills for all their help and support.
Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Matthew Cox live and die by your reviews, after all!
Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!
Fairy Keeper, by Amy Bearce
(http://bit.ly/1ySQq3D)
Forget cute fairies in pretty dresses. In the world of Aluvia, most fairies are more like irritable, moody insects. Still, almost everyone views the fairy keeper mark as a gift. It reveals someone has the ability to attract and even control fairies. Fourteen-year-old Sierra considers it a curse, one that binds her to a dark alchemist father who steals her fairies’ mind-altering nectar for his illegal elixirs and poisons. But when her fairy queen and all the other queens go missing, more than just the life of her fairy is in the balance if they aren’t found. Sierra will stop at nothing to find them, leading her to a magical secret lost since ancient times. The magic waiting for her has the power to transform the world, but only if she can first embrace her destiny as a fairy keeper.
Elementary, My Dear Watson Vol. 1, by Jose Prendes
(http://bit.ly/1znUIxL)
When 12-year-old John Watson is sent to Candlewood boarding school, he makes quick friends with a boy named Sherlock Holmes, a universally disliked know-it-all and amateur sleuth. Before long, Sherlock embroils his new friend in a covert investigation of the mysterious disappearances blamed on a vengeful ghost. Dodging the meaty fists of the bully Moriarty, and aided by bumbling patrolman Lestrade, they uncover a deadly secret hidden deep underneath Candlewood. But does the duo have the brains–and the brawn–to crack this dangerous case?
The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck, by Stan Swanson
(http://bit.ly/1oJ2mPs)
Things are not as they should be in Pennywhistle. Enchanted toasters are not toasting, enchanted sprinklers are not sprinkling and Hobart Hucklebuck’s origami messenger birds are suddenly attacking him. Someone seems to be draining the power from all of the enchanted items in the village. But who could it be and why have they implicated Hobart’s grandfather? Follow Hobart, Specks, and Rosie as they try to solve this mystery, straying dangerously close to disaster not only for themselves, but the entire village of Pennywhistle.
Broken Branch Falls, by Tara Tyler
(http://j.mp/1dCcX7F)
Doing homework for bully ogres and getting laughed at as the butt of pixie pranks, Gabe is tired of his goblin life. When he and his friends step out of their nerdy stereotype and pull a prank of their own on the dragons at the first football game, it literally backfires, bringing a High Council vote to dismantle not only Gingko High, but the whole town, too!
The Book of Ages–hidden handbook of the High Council, filled with knowledge and power–may be Gabe’s only hope. With the help of friends old and new, can Gabe complete his quest to find the Book in time to save Broken Branch Falls? Or will he remain an outcast forever?
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Copyright & Publisher
Title Page
Main Course:
Chapter One: Out of the Woods
Chapter Two: What Strange Things in Darkness Dwell
Chapter Three: A Story Unseen
Chapter Four: The Trader
Chapter Five: Apples to Wine
Chapter Six: Eyes in the Woods
Chapter Seven: Nocturnal Urge
Chapter Eight: Faeries and Monsters
Chapter Nine: One Summer’s Day
Chapter Ten: A Song in the Woods
Chapter Eleven: Ashes, Ashes
Chapter Twelve: Run Rabbit, Run
Chapter Thirteen: Out of the Pan
Chapter Fourteen: Between Fang and Claw
Chapter Fifteen: The Child Saved
Chapter Sixteen: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Chapter Seventeen: Wild Spirits
Chapter Eighteen: One of the Pack
Chapter Nineteen: Siblings
Chapter Twenty: The Tall Grass
Chapter Twenty-One: Armor
Chapter Twenty-Two: Foreboding
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Plea From the Dark
Chapter Twenty-Four: End of Misery
Chapter Twenty-Five: Another Kind of Taking
Chapter Twenty-Six: Not So Itsy Bitsy
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lost in Widowswood
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Saved
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Broken
Chapter Thirty: Faerie Stories
Dessert:
Acknowledgments
Thank You for Reading
About the Author
More from Curiosity Quills Press
Emma and the Banderwigh Page 19
