by Moshe Harel
“I’m fine, really. I only wanted to check if I could send you a thought message. I didn’t intend to make you worry.”
She sighed. “I was in the middle of an important meeting. I had to fake a stomach ache to get out and call you.”
“I’m sorry, Gran, but I could think of nobody I could check this with. Where are you?”
“I’m in Hawaii, trying to conclude a very tough contract. I hope this break would not make them think of new reasons to delay it.” Gran didn’t sound happy at all.
“Maybe it would give them the inverse idea—to finally reach the agreement you want,” I tried to make her see the brighter possibility.
“Well, maybe. I need to return to the meeting now, and I’ll come to talk to you as soon as I can. Bye, for now.”
I turned to Brian. “She heard me!” I jumped on him, forgetting my period for a moment.
He hugged me tightly. “Of course she did. I didn’t doubt your ability to do anything you put your mind to.”
This gained him another long kiss.
Gran came that weekend and immediately wanted to talk with us. I had to explain it all to her, yet I could do it much better than that first time. It only took Gran a moment to understand what I had done and duplicate it. She was still amazed, though.
“I want you to teach Brian’s family how to do it. This ability may prove valuable whenever someone is in danger, allowing one to call for help even when others are quite far.”
I didn’t know why it seemed so important to her, but I had no problem with that. Brian’s family was already mine as well. We were mates now, weren’t we?
We named the new technique “thought-messaging”. Brian suggested “telepathy” at first, but I didn’t think it was a fit name. Telepathy, as described in the literature, is a kind of mind-reading or thought transfer that acts continuously, a lot like a phone call. What we were doing was more like texting. I formed a thought and sent it to Brian, who did the same in the other direction. It was a much cruder way of communication, and quite a bit more private, as one controlled what one sent, as opposed to reading somebody’s mind. In a way, I thought it was more useful, as well, allowing me to transfer exactly what I wanted and not confusing the other side with any additional thoughts or ideas that might have passed through my mind.
It took his parents quite a bit longer to master the thought-messaging. We visited there three times before they could send a single thought message, but then they were soon able to send us as many messages as they wanted. They taught their elder daughter, so I don’t know how long it took her to learn. Yet I found them all quite cooperative when testing the messaging, although just by chance.
That winter weekend was surprisingly sunny and warm. Brian thought that his parents would like to have an impromptu barbecue lunch with us. He tried to call them on the phone, but both their numbers were inaccessible. “You can thought-message them,” I suggested.
A moment later I could see his face expressing surprise.
“What is it?” I asked.
“They’re in Avalon. I didn’t expect our messages to reach there.”
“Why not?” We didn’t really know where Avalon was. It was, in a way, everywhere, and yet it was clearly nowhere on earth. It could possibly be in another universe altogether. How could we even measure such a distance?
Even without reading his mind, It was very clear that Brian was trying to consider the facts and form a coherent opinion, just like me. We both failed. We could not tell where Avalon was, and our thought messages clearly reached there with no observable delay.
Just to make sure, I also tried messaging his mother, getting an immediate response. I filed that fact in my mind, hoping I could find some real use for it. I also messaged Gran, telling her what we discovered. I hoped she could make some sense of it.
Eventually, Dad agreed to let us make a Barbecue in the backyard, as he didn’t really like the mess involved, especially the cleaning after the fact. He still enjoyed the meal, as did everybody else.
We found thought messages useful in an unexpected way at school. Oh, it could probably be used for cheating, but neither I nor Brian needed cheating to achieve top grades. On the other hand, being top students tends to make some lessons boring, when the teachers try to help the other students understand what we already know. We used thought messages to keep each other entertained during such times, although it could cause problems during exams or when learning something new.
It was during these times that we found out another fascinating fact about us. Although we couldn’t read minds, we could easily read each other’s moods. I was bored in class and wanted to send Brian a message, wondering if he could pay it attention. There was a magical way to check a person’s feelings when face-to-face, but it was not useful when in different rooms. I just thought of what Brian might feel at the moment and got a feeling of great concentration. It made me realize that distracting him at that time might be a bad idea. I later found out that he had a surprise quiz about something he barely had time to read. He still did just fine.
After I told Brian about it, he tried too. He wasn’t as lucky in finding me in various moods. Most of the time I was just bored, doodling in my notebook or gazing at the insects crawling on the window. It took him some time to find me in a different mood, and it wasn’t a pleasant event either. That winter brought more snow than usual and one of the boys thought it would be fun to bring some snow to class and throw it on the girls’ chests just before the end of the break. Luckily, he ran out of snow by the time he reached me, or I may have lost control of my magic, being so furious about him. I just helped Debbie get rid of the snow and wipe her wet t-shirt. I then used some clean tissue paper along with some magic to dry it out. The boy was punished by the teacher, as expected, but that lesson was ruined for us.
Brian later told me, “I was overwhelmed by the fury I sensed in you. I never suspected such fury could even exist in a person such as you. It only showed me how much I still need to learn about you.”
“Don’t you like learning new things about me?” I asked teasingly.
“Always! And I hope to always have a bit more to study you.” It was so sweet that I simply had to kiss him. Had we been at home, I would have done much more.
16 Rescue
I had a lot of homework that day, and I couldn’t even ask Brian to help me, as he had an important exam the next morning. He was sitting on the carpet and reading, while I was doing my homework on the desk.
I was brought out of my concentration by a message from Gran. ‘I’m in Avalon, held by the goblins at their king’s palace. They say I’m their honored guest, yet I can’t leave the guest suite they put me in, making me practically a prisoner. I don’t yet know what they want to achieve by this, but I need to continue with my life. I have a board meeting tomorrow that I must attend. Please inform Brian’s parents and see what they can do to help me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to contact you again.’
Not yet knowing much about Avalon, I didn’t know if the information was enough to locate her, but I trusted Gran to have given all the relevant information that she could. I just confirmed reception. I then called Brian’s mother, passing her the whole message. I was surprised when along with her confirmation, I got both Brian’s and his father’s.
Brian noticed my confusion. “You probably thought that you needed to pass the message to all of us.”
I sighed. He was probably right, but that only meant that I lost some control—again. As much as this bothered me, I was much more concerned about the goblins. From what I’ve already learned, this species had been the fairies’ enemy since before our history was recorded. There was no explanation for their enmity, as they didn’t compete with the fairies in any way. They were carnivores, hunting mainly small mammals, usually at least twice the fairy size; They lived mainly underground, only building houses as places of access to their hidden empire; They derived their magic mainly from the earth; They never tried to fly or
swim and probably were unable to; They couldn’t survive out of Avalon, as the ambient magic was too small for their needs.
Despite the long history of rivalry, there were also some connections between the two magical species. Fairies occasionally needed some metals or minerals that the goblins could supply, and the goblins occasionally needed some herbs or extracts from various flowers or fruits that the fairies could easily supply. I knew the goblins were wary of the elves, though. They had fought many battles, and quite a few elves and many goblins had lost their lives in them, yet the elves were too smart and too quick for the goblins to beat and they had always won, despite the casualties.
Brian’s parents opened a portal and joined us in my room a few minutes later. “Alice is already scouting. She will report when she finds anything of importance,” Joshua said.
I didn’t mind about her too much. She had never shown any interest in me either, and I was too worried about Gran to think of anybody else. “What can we do?” I asked him.
“You two are not supposed to do anything, yet in Edith’s absence, we must refer to you, as she ordered,” he explained.
“I don’t understand. What’s my role in this?”
“I’ll explain the details at another time. Right now, as Edith is unable to take control, you are our supreme commander. We still need to recruit quite a few more fairies who are currently off-duty and then try to rescue Fairlady Edith.”
“Are you planning on attacking their palace?”
“That, or capturing somebody important in their hierarchy, forcing them to exchange prisoners.”
I doubted that tactics could be very fruitful, yet it would put too many fairies in danger. “How large a force can you assemble?”
“We can probably have as many as a hundred fighting fairies, maybe a few more.”
“How many goblin fighters do you expect to find there?”
He sighed. “Several hundred. Every mature goblin is a fighter, although their magic is not as strong as ours. They use mainly physical weapons.”
I shook my head. “How many casualties do you expect?”
He grimaced. “Up to half our force, and many maimed.”
“That’s unacceptable. I’m sure Gran wouldn’t like anybody to lose their lives for her. We must find another way. Can we negotiate?”
“I don’t know. Right now, I know of no attempt at negotiation. It’s not even clear what they want to achieve by keeping her. Goblins don’t normally take prisoners.”
I tried to check on Gran. ‘Any news?’
‘None. They just left me alone. They even brought a meal for me, yet it’s mainly meat. A female came in to ask if I needed anything and make my bed. I still can’t get out of the door, although they move freely through it.’
“Gran is fine,” I told the others. “We must try a different approach, though. Can we ask for the elves to intervene?”
“No. The goblins don’t trust them and they don’t trust the goblins. Even if we convince them to do something, it may only make it worse for Edith.”
I suddenly remembered reading in one of the books from Avalon about giants. There had never been too many of them, but the goblins feared them and kept their distance from them. The giants hadn’t been friendly with any species and not much friendlier among themselves, constantly fighting each other until they became extinct, according to that book. I remembered asking Gran about them, yet she had never seen one or heard about one. What if . . .
“I have an idea. Brian and I will intimidate the goblins, forcing them to let Gran go.”
“You can’t! You have no combat training and you’re too important to risk!”
I smiled. “We need no such training as we’re not going to fight.”
“But how . . .”
I didn’t let them argue. I thought ‘bigger’ and let myself grow until my head touched the ceiling. Brian seemed to understand what I had in mind, as he reached the same size seconds later. His parents seemed amazed.
“We can also make our skin thicker and tougher, almost impenetrable to physical attack,” I added.
No argument followed our demonstration.
Joshua looked at his watch. “I believe our forces are already assembled. Let’s go meet them.”
He opened a portal that evidently led to some other place on Earth, where I saw many women assembled, all looking worried, yet determined. Once we all passed, he closed the portal and addressed the group—our forces, as I tried to think of it.
“Fairlady Edith has been captured by the goblins and is held in their palace. We need to act and free her before anything else happens to her. Junior Sophie has a plan and you should all be aware of it before we move to Avalon.”
I wasn’t sure what was meant by “Junior.” The way it was said, it didn’t sound like merely stating I was young, but as a kind of official title, although I didn’t know much more. Still, I stretched to my full height as I stood in front of the fairy army, as I started to think of it. “My grandmother, Fairlady Edith, informed me of her capture about an hour ago. I’m sure she wouldn’t like to risk any lives just to set her free again. Therefore, I intend to use giants to free her.”
“They are extinct,” I heard some say, while others only wondered, “Where will you find giants?”
I grabbed Brian’s hand. “We two shall become the giants. We shall keep the goblins at bay and do most of the work. Once Edith can get out, it’s your job to protect her and help her return here. As giants, we shall be practically immune to anything the goblins may try to use, and you should not take too much risk either. Use whatever protection you know and stay safe.”
“You’re no giants,” somebody called.
I turned to Brian and he nodded. Seconds later, we towered high above the assembly, as tall as a four stories house. Nobody said a word. We returned to our normal size a moment later.
Margaret took over, dividing the group into task forces and assigning them tasks. I tried to contact Gran once more.
‘Sophie, don’t use magic against their fortifications. They are charmed to absorb magic and whatever you cast at them will only reinforce them. You need to warn everybody and find a way around this.’
I didn’t know how she found out, but it was not important at the moment. I passed the information and then tried to think of it. Well, if the goblins could make something that absorbs magic, why can’t I? I only needed to charm myself and Brian to absorb any magic cast at us, We may even absorb magic from our surroundings. That way, if we touch the fortifications, they would weaken themselves only while recharging our magic. If we absorb enough of that magic, whatever held Gran prisoner, might disappear as well.
I only gave it another moment of thought, making it clear in my mind how to turn ourselves into magical sponges, while still using magic to become tough-hide giants.
The forces seemed to await my command, although I still didn’t know what my position meant, except that it was almost as high as Gran’s. I looked around, noticing that we were all standing in a forest clearing, far away from any inhabited area. I chose two large trees to anchor my portal at and opened a portal to Avalon, trying to set it close enough to where Gran was kept, yet not too close, so we won’t be discovered too early. Brian and I passed first, changing to our fairy form on passing, and took defensive positions at both sides until our whole group—our army—passed through. I closed the portal as soon as Margaret, who stayed last, transformed.
Margaret and I flew above the treetops to scan the area and see where the goblin palace was. We noticed that clearing immediately. A large stone building stood in its center, with some lower buildings around it and a thick stone wall surrounding them. None looked very elegant to me, although the largest building seemed to have a much nicer finish. I could also sense that Gran was in there. I thought of telling her we’re close, but gave it a second thought, deciding not to tell her, as an abrupt change in her mood may lessen the effect of our surprise attack. The fortifications looked formida
ble, especially against fairies, but a giant would have found them to be no more than a nuisance.
We spent as little time above the treetops as possible before descending. Brian and I took the lead, flying below the upper branches of the trees. It gave us the ability to come very close to that clearing without being spotted, as well as the ability to scan the area well, and it still protected us, as small fairies, from most flying predators. The rest of our army followed, yet scattered among the trees surrounding the clearing as soon as we came close enough.
I spotted some goblin guard positions at the edge of the clearing. We landed a bit farther. Margaret landed at our side. “Take care! I want you safe and sound back at home,” she reminded us. I wasn’t sure if it was the fairy General that was talking or the worried mother.
Once we hugged and kissed, she moved back into the thick forest. Brian took my hand and we both changed our size. We first made it to our normal size. We shrunk our wings and then made ourselves almost as tall as the trees surrounding us, making our skin turn into tough greenish hide as well. We started moving forward, making ourselves bigger as we approached the clearing, until we were almost twice as high as most of the trees in the forest, towering well above the palace. From that height, I could barely see the goblin guards running away and hiding behind the fortifications.
A volley of arrows seemed to be shot at us from the turrets. They didn’t even scratch us. I waved my hand at the closest tower and knocked half of it down. Some small figures ran out of the rubble into one of the smaller buildings. It didn’t look like anybody was trapped under the rubble, and I was glad of that. I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary injury and certainly not death.
Brian was already leaning on the wall, touching it with both hands. I could sense the magic flowing out of the wall and into Brian. I touched the wall at the opposite side, feeling my reserves recharge quickly. We moved slowly around the wall. Whenever the part we were touching started to crumble, we moved a bit aside. Soon enough, more than half the wall was just some piles of rubble, and the remains also looked like they were going to fall real soon.
