by Candace Sams
Within minutes, he heard the rustling of underbrush "Afton?" he called out.
"Yes, it's me."
"What m hell are you doing, roaming around out here without any kind of light? Are you crazy?"
"I thought the jury was already in on that one," she sarcastically responded.
"Touche!" He couldn't help smiling at her ready comeback.
"For your information, I don't need light to roam about the woods at night. From childhood, we learn not to use such devices. If we're too near the edge of a forest, lights can attract too much attention. Only the best Druids can mask the presence of light or fire. So most of us use our senses as best we can."
Blain shook his head. Her response told him she was really into the whole farce. His heart felt like lead. "You spend a lot of your time in the woods at night, do you?"
"Yes, I do. Some of the herbs I use have to be gathered by the light of the moon and stars for their powers to be potent. We need them for curatives."
He aimed the flashlight at her and was surprised to see her wearing some kind of long, dark green robe with a hood. "I see you came dressed for the part, but Halloween isn't until October, honey."
"Don't be patronizing. One of these days, you're going to apologize to me, and I'm going to take extreme pleasure in making you feel foolish! Now turn off that flashlight before someone sees us."
He flipped off the light. "All right. Do what you came to do so we can go home and get some sleep. Hugh and Shayla will wonder where we are," he said, knowing that no matter what happened, there would be no sleep for him tonight.
"Before I start, I want you to promise me something."
"I'm not promising anything."
"That's not fair. For a bargain to be struck between two people, they both have to compromise. I agreed to take Shayla and leave if I can't convince you about the Order and that magic exists. Now you must agree that if you come away tonight believing what Shayla and I've said is true, you'll listen to Shayla and do exactly as she tells you. Is it a bargain?"
"Fine. Whatever. Just get on with this." He stood up and put his hands on his hips in frustration.
Afton had thought long and hard about what she'd do. If this didn't work, she didn't want to think about the consequences. For once in her life, she had to concentrate and focus. Blain's future was at stake. Possibly hers, too.
She closed her eyes and listened to the night sounds. She felt the earth beneath her feet and summoned the power to relax. In her mind, she visualized the element of fire. Her hands lifted, palms turned up to the sky. They began to tingle and grow warm. Soon they began to glow. She opened her eyes and watched as a small flame appeared and hovered above each palm. One flame was a brilliant blue. The other was dark green. She moved her hands together, and the flames interlocked and wove into one another. They slowly expanded and formed a circle, like a Celtic knot, around her forearms. She spread her arms apart and the circle enlarged. It eventually encompassed her entire body Green and blue sparks shot from the entwined flames.
Blain watched, and his heart stood still. It had to be some kind of magician's trick, but Afton's hands never touched the flames. They hovered above her palms. Unless she'd been to the little clearing earlier, she couldn't have rigged some kind of pyrotechnic device. And there were no chemical agents or machinery on the farm that could create the illusion he was seeing.
Afton stood within the blue-green glow of the circular flame. It moved from her and toward him. He wanted to back away, but his feet were rooted to the ground No matter how hard he tried to move, he couldn't. It was as though the earth itself held him. Afton appeared to be in some kind of trance. He watched as her eyes began to glow. They turned an electric blue, like something in a horror movie.
For the first time in his life, Blain wanted to run away. The fiery circle came closer and closer until it formed around him the same way it had formed around Afton. He couldn't move or speak. All he could do was watch her.
Afton raised her hands again, and Blain's vision was blinded by the extreme light. Though it was all around him, he felt no heat. Then he saw a vision materialize m front of him. It was a forest, but not the one m which they stood. It was another place far away, and he sensed it was in the present. He saw creatures—ethereal beings of all shapes and sizes—within a great clearing They moved as if they weren't aware of his presence. And there was a castle in the distance. Human-looking men, women and children walked with and among the creatures as though they had no fear.
Some of the beings looked normal, except they had wings like those of butterflies or dragonflies. They were the most beautiful people Blain had ever seen, and he felt strongly drawn to them. In a dream-like state, he was suddenly walking with them, but they still didn't seem to be aware of his presence.
It was as if he was in the middle of some medieval tapestry. Men and women laughed and danced, and happy children flitted and played under the loving scrutiny of adults. There were men and women situated on the highest branches of old oaks, their keen eyes watching the surrounding countryside. Guarding, he knew instinctively.
Many of the people practiced with ancient weaponry such as swords, bows and axes, though they appeared to be at peace with one another. Preparations were being made for some kind of great feast. Tables were set with pitchers and mugs. Flowers scented the air. Lovers walked in the forest and disappeared within its depths.
Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled away and he desperately wanted to stay. Some kind of tournament or competition was about to be held, and he wanted to see more. But the vision grew dim, and he felt the ground back beneath his feet. The brilliance of the blue-green fire diminished, and Afton stood before him. As the last of the circle faded away, he saw Afton put her hands to her face and drop to the ground. It took a second longer for him to be able to move, but he rushed to her as soon as he was able.
"Afton! Are you all right?" He gently lifted her small form into his embrace and cradled her against his body. She was shaking.
"Blain, I've never...never tried anything so...big. I wanted you to see. I...wanted you to see what you've missed. Please tell me...you believe."
Afton gasped for air. She'd never felt so weak, but the enchantment had been very draining for someone unused to summoning such power. Only a few times in their entire life could a Druid perform such a ritual, and Afton was so beside herself with pride for having summoned a vision circle on the first try that words almost failed her.
"I saw it, Afton. I saw it all. I don't know what it means, but we have to get you back to the farm. We'll talk about it there "
"No!" She pushed away from him and lay upon the ground. Her strength would renew itself from the earth. "You have to tell me you believe what you saw. That...that you believe in magic. It was no trick, Blain I couldn't make you see something you didn't want to see "
Blain pushed the hood of her robe back and pulled her head onto his lap. He stared around the dark woods. Everything was back to normal. Everything but him. He'd seen fairies and other creatures he couldn't put a name to. There was nothing that Afton could have rigged to have produced what he'd seen with his own two eyes. Something in him felt as though it was ripping free. At first, it was as if a piece of his soul was opening up to accept something...something new. Then the sensation in his chest quickly changed to physical pain. His back felt as if it was being literally ripped in half. He tore his shirt off and scooted away from Afton.
"Afton! Help me! Ohhhh I can't...can't…pain," he cried out in agony.
Still recovering from conjuring the vision circle, Afton heard him cry out. She frowned, confused. Nothing she'd done was supposed to have hurt him, though she'd realized any success would dram her considerably.
"Blain, what is it? What's wrong?" she asked as she tried to move to him.
"Afton...I.. Noooooo," Blain shrieked as blinding pain tore into him over and over. He pulled at his clothing to get it off. Every scrap of it seemed to bring torture where it touched his f
lesh. He was able to crawl and drag himself to the nearby grotto. He had to stop the burning pain, and the cool water seemed the only way to do so.
Afton pushed herself to her feet. She still felt unsteady, but she was strong enough to get to him. For some reason he was hurting, and it had to be because of what she'd done. If anything happened to him, it would be her fault. His welfare was all she could think about as she tried to make her way to him.
As Blain's hands touched the water, something ripped away from his back. With one last wave of horrifying pain, he screamed and fell into unconsciousness.
Tears streamed from Afton's eyes causing her to stumble and fall more than once. "Blain, I'll help you. I'll help you," she repeated over and over.
Because the flames she'd conjured were supposed to be muted, Afton knew no one from the farmhouse could have seen them. No one knew they were in the woods, so there was no one to help him but her. She was physically too small to lift or drag Blain's hulking form to the truck, and she wasn't about to leave him alone. Something had gone terribly wrong, but she just didn't know what.
She was a few feet from him when she saw the wings in the moonlight. They glittered like sparkling veils. Surely her vision was still clouded. She must be so upset she was imagining things. But she reached toward him, and her hand felt the silken veins connecting his wings together. They were real.
Blain was on his stomach and his clothing was gone. Even with limited light, the butterfly-like wings were the largest she'd ever seen on a fairy. Even larger than the wings of the fairy leader, Lore.
Suddenly, Blain moaned and tried to push himself from the ground. Afton was by his side in an instant.
"Don't try to move. Stay still," she pleaded.
For several moments he did as she asked. The pain was gone, but he'd never felt so strange in his life. It was as though someone had lifted some kind of horrible weight from him and tossed it aside. When he was able to raise his head, he could see every leaf, every blade of grass. He could hear frogs, crickets and insects so small that they blended together and sounded like a forest symphony. Finally, as his strength not only returned but flooded through him, he pushed himself up. He had never felt so physically strong. It was as though the pain never existed. And the earth felt like a life-giving force, an actual entity that fed him with power.
When he turned to her, Afton gasped. A faint green aura began to surround him, and she could see that Blain's ears came to beautiful points. His hair fell about his shoulders in long, soft brown waves. His eyes glowed in the dark, and the whites were now silver and the centers were shaped like green stars. She'd seen fairies enhance their eyesight in such a way so they could see at night, but she'd never seen the centers shaped like stars. The rest of his physical appearance had changed in much the same way as any other fairy who made the transition from human to their real form. But why had it caused so much pain?
Blain tilted his head and looked at her. "What happened?"
"If I had to take a guess, I'd say you believe me now," she whispered.
Blain sat up and looked around him. He touched his chest, his face and his hair and knew that an amazing transformation had taken place. His skin had a faint greenish hue. He placed his hands on either side of Afton's face.
"What am I? What has happened to me?"
"You're...you're a fairy, Blain. And how beautiful you are," Afton choked out as her fingertips touched his hair.
Blain glanced back over one shoulder, saw the dark wings threaded with silver veins and turned back to Afton. For a full five minutes neither of them said a word. He simply stared at her.
"Now what do I do?" he finally murmured, in shock.
"Since you changed, I...think you can change back."
"You think'?" Blain gasped, and he began to tremble.
"I'm sure you can," she amended. "The only thing I don't understand is why it caused you so much pain."
"It was like being born," he murmured.
"Of course! That's it!" Afton grabbed his biceps and gazed into his lovely eyes. "When fairy babies are born, they get their wings sometime in the first year after birth. I've been told it's very painful for them the first time. Their parents fret over the suffering the little ones go through. But whenever their wings come after that, there's no pain. Maybe that's what happened to you. You've been waiting all these years to become what you really are. Being half Druid must have had some delaying effect. Or maybe you just needed to believe."
Blain stood up, and Afton tried to look away from his nakedness. The man was every bit as well endowed as she'd thought he would be. He'd obviously forgotten how he'd shed his clothing so his wings could unfold and his body could adapt. Muscle rippled as he moved.
"I feel like I'm breathing for the first time, like I'm connected to everything in nature." He slowly turned and looked around him. He held up his hands, looked at them, then clenched and unclenched his fists.
Afton again gasped in wonder at his wings. They were the most exquisite things she'd ever seen in her life. She wanted to reach out and fondle them. Deep midnight blue, their edges glistened in the moonlight and the veins were shot with glowing, silver light.
Blain turned and pulled her to him. "You did this, or you helped me do it. When I believed in the magic you showed me, it triggered the change. I believe you now, Afton. I believe in it all!" He released her, stretched his arms toward the moon and looked up into the night sky. "How could I not believe?"
"You should change back. We need to get back to the farmhouse, Blain. Shayla will know what's happened, even if you're in human form."
"No." He stepped back and shook his head. "I've spent my entire life being denied what I really am. Now I want to know everything, and you're going to tell me all you know. Neither of us is leaving here until you do."
Six
"Blain, I don't think this is a good idea I had no way of knowing what would happen when I accepted your challenge We should go back to the farm and tell Shayla and Hugh that you're able to shift into fairy form "
"I don't want to go back yet I feel so alive It's as though this was the way I should have been all along " He paused and looked around him, almost intoxicated with the raw energy "Tell me what to do, Afton How do I use this power'? What do I do?"
Afton could see by his expression that he was both beguiled and frightened by his transformation Perhaps it was some kind of side effect from having been denied his powers What would the Druid half of him be like1? She started to reiterate that they should go back to the farmhouse, but she knew he wouldn't go until he had his answers
"I don't know what to tell you I wasn't prepared for this. You should be asking a fairy your questions, not me. And Shayla should work with you on whatever gifts your father's blood may have bestowed."
"You're all I've got Help me please," he begged, taking her hands in his
His touch was warm and electrifying "All right, I'll try. But first, you have to put something on. " She turned her back to him, suddenly too aware of his nudity
Blain sensed that Afton was blushing to her roots His clothing was scattered about the clearing, but it wasn't appealing to him to wear the heavy garments in his present state He liked the feeling of the night air on his bare flesh and wondered if that was a fairy trait It would explain his strange habit of running nude through the woods, and it was a huge relief to know why he'd done so
"Afton, when I made the change, it almost burned my skin off to have any contact with clothing "
"You may be related to Highland fairies. They don't like much clothing at all in the summer. At other times, they wear soft leather. Here, use this." Afton bent and tore some of the soft green fabric from the bottom of her robe. There would still be more than enough to preserve her own modesty while covering him decently.
Blain grinned as she held the green fabric out behind her without turning to look at him. He tied the soft cloth sarong-fashion around his waist. It wasn't as comfortable as being nude, but it was better th
an the heavy pair of jeans lying on the ground.
"Are you decent?"Afton asked.
"I'm covered, if that's what you mean."
Afton slowly turned and sighed in relief as she saw that most of the lower half of his anatomy was concealed. "What do you want to know?"
"Tell me about this Order." Blain watched as she sat upon a nearby rock.
"The Order is older than recorded history. Once, centuries ago, our kind roamed about the land freely. We didn't try to hide ourselves from mankind the way we do now. Most of us tried to live in harmony with the outside world, but the problems came when some of our Order used their powers unwisely. Humans began to fear us all and, to the outside world, we became evil. We were hunted for decades. Many of our people were destroyed or chased into seclusion, and that's where we remain today. Since then, only legends of us lived on. Today, that's all we are—legends, stories people tell their children at bedtime."
"And the members of this Order...tell me about them." Blain knelt at her feet and hung on every word she said.
"Well, there are different factions such as trolls, ogres, gnomes, pixies, sprites and the like. Druids are another faction, as are fairies. Each faction is a member of a clan depending upon their ancestry. Each clan has its leader. Within the clans are classes. The fairies, for example, have warrior classes, gatherers, and so on. Clan leaders take their orders from Shayla. She holds the most sacred title of Sorceress of the Ancients. She has power and dominion over us all. Our leader is always a woman, and she may handfast or not, at her discretion "
"Who was the person wanting to destroy my parents?" Blain asked
"That was old Freyja She was Sorceress many years ago The Order had a law which stated that we should all keep to our own While Shayla interprets that law to mean that anyone in the Order may interact with anyone else within the Order, Freyja interpreted it to mean that factions should not intermingle She wanted fairies to stick to their kind Druids to Druids, goblins to goblins and so on "
