Authors: Jessica Burnett
The closer we got the more I could see what we were heading towards. Where I thought I saw a star I could now tell it was in fact a very elaborate door in the shape of a star. I ponder why a door would be in the middle of the woods… There’s no way it leads somewhere. Right?
The buck stood before a white light directly in front of the unopened door, gazed at me a moment longer and stepped in… where the buck was, now stood a man. I am sure my face showed just how bewildered I was at this point. However, this strange man never showed one sign of noticing. He held out his hand and whispered, “Come with me, please. The Queen awaits your arrival.”
“The Queen?” I ask quizzically.
He simply nodded as he reached for me, pleading in his eyes. I touched the tips of his fingers, nervous and yet somewhat expectant. I knew there was no going back once I grabbed hold of his hand. If I had a choice I may have turned away. But, I soon realized that my free will was, well it was shut off to put it simply. Once our hands touched we were transported to another realm, or what I can only assume to be a different dimension. We stood in a field of flowers, flowers so beyond what we know, so beyond beauty that they simply cannot be described. The colors that shrouded the land were something I couldn’t put a name to. In our world, they simply did not exist.
The sun I saw in the sky was a bright crimson red and the clouds were blue while the sky itself was cotton ball white. I stared up at the man beside me, for whom I could now see well. He was tall, slender, had white blonde hair, and the most extraordinary blue eyes I have ever seen. He smiled politely down at me as he guided me toward a giant mound in the distance.
As we stood before the mound he handed me a tincture.
“I’m afraid you must shrink down to their size, malady.” He pronounced in his sing-song voice.
“Shrink down to their size, you say? Who exactly am I visiting with?” I inquired with eyes crinkled. For some reason, the way I speak was changed. It was almost… proper.
“The fairy folk, malady. The Queen requests your presence.”
“You’re kidding” I exclaimed, mouth agape.
He simply shook his head no and nodded toward my tincture before he gulped his down. The man I saw before became very tiny with wings. It was by far the most extraordinary thing I had seen yet.
I sipped at my tincture a bit, revolted by the taste. The little man pushed up on the bottom; forcing me to swallow it whole. I began to feel a tingling down my spine and started coughing and sneezing. I closed my eyes for one second and when I reopened them I found myself to be cell phone sized. However, I had no wings. He was holding me by my arms and gently sat me down.
He waved me through a door in the side of the mound which led to a dining hall filled with tiny fae people. The little man grabbed hold of my arm and led me toward the end of the table. I looked around the room in amazement. There were platters of food on the tables and people dressed with great long robes of flowing linen. There were stone plates, wooden forks and knives, and tiny candles aglow everywhere. The little fairy folk were flying about with their tiny wings as thin as tissue. The wings held their tiny stick figures well. Each one had perfect tiny lips, pointy noses, and large, blue almond shaped eyes. Most had white blonde hair, except one… When we reached the end of the table we were confronted by two soldiers holding tiny swords.
“At ease! Let them pass, dear ones.” spoke a heavenly voice from behind them.
The soldiers separated and between them sat a goddess-like woman with exquisite facial features and long crimson hair, the color of their sun, which flowed all the way to the floor. She was dressed in what looked like woven flowers from the meadow we just left.
“Would you please sit with me dear Elven Princess? I am Queen Falora. I have waited many years to meet you.”
I sat carefully beside her, in awe of her beauty. I had no words to speak with. I realized at this moment that I was now fully functional. If I wished to run, I could have. I took a quick look around searching for the nearest exit in case I needed to make a run for it. I soon realized that there was nowhere to go.
“My child… I asked you here to bestow a gift upon you. If you are worthy you will receive the great sword of Belzamarth, our first king that died millennia ago. It is infused with the magic of every fae king and queen that hath ever lived. Do you believe yourself to be worthy of such a powerful weapon?” She whispered keenly.
I thought hard about this for a moment, pondering the meaning of all this before responding, “I do not” I said with reverence. “I am a simple woman who, up until recently, has lived a simple life. I do not believe I am even worthy of being the princess I am. I hone no special abilities. I know not what I am doing. I am simply trying to survive and learn what I am capable of along the way. I do not see any reason for you wanting to give
me
the sword anyway.” I finish with a huff”, “No offense, of course.” I quickly add.
With that, she pulled the sword from beneath the table and laid it in front of me. All eyes were on us; every fairy had stopped what they were doing to listen and watch.
“You are humble, my child. If you had said you were worthy you would not have received the sword. I respect your answer and for that the sword is yours. You are more special than you realize, child. Soon, you will see just how strong you are.” Queen Falora paused a moment, “It has been foretold that an Elven Princess will wield the sword of Belzamarth and change the world as we know it. I believe you are the Elven Princess that we, the fair folk, have been waiting for.”
I stared at her in shock and wonder, not quite comprehending what just happened... But, before I could ask what she meant the room began to spin, my eyesight became blurry and suddenly everything went dark.
“Ember! EMBER!! Where are you????”
I could faintly hear voices in the distance. My head was foggy and disoriented. I could feel grass and rocks beneath my back, the rush of water next to my head. What happened? Where was I now?
“Ember! Oh my god! I FOUND HER! GUYS! I FOUND HER! Ember… Ember, wake up. Ember, what happened? Hon, wake up! Please, wake up. Oh spirits help her. Please let her wake up.”
I could hear a man next to me, feel him picking me up. But, I was too groggy to know who it was talking to me. I listened more intently to try and figure out whose concerned voice was ringing through my ears.
“Dammit, Ember! Wake up!” Derek, it was definitely Derek. But, I couldn’t find my voice. I felt as if I had been drugged once again, this one stronger than the last. How did I get here? Wasn’t I just with the Queen of the fairies? What about the sword? I don’t feel it on me.
“Ember!” Derek screamed as he shook my limp body.
He sobbed slightly, “Please Ember, I can’t live without you.” He whispered in my ear; so inaudible I was unsure it really came from his mouth.
“Derek! What happened?” “Is she okay?” “I can’t get her to wake up!” “Mommy!!” “Get her back to the house now!” “What the hell is on her arm?” “Is that a tattoo?” “How the hell would I know?” “Did she always have that?” “Are you retarded?” “Does it matter?” “Hurry!” “Is mommy sick?”…
Too many voices, not sure where each is coming from... I only knew one for sure, my son’s. My mind was fading again. The voices became static in the distance.
I was feeling groggy, but was finally beginning to wake up. My eyes fluttered open and lying next to me was my son; cuddled up on my right arm. Across the room sat Derek and Damien, both fast asleep. Derek was closer, sitting straight up holding a cold compress in his hands that was slowly sliding down. He must have just fallen asleep, although I don’t see how.
I scrutinized the room. Whose room was I in? It certainly wasn’t mine. This one was more open. The walls were blue, it had three open windows, and a full-size bed that I was laying on, an eloquent dresser with wood carvings of wolves all over it, white carpeted floor, a high ceiling, and three chairs which I assumed were the guys’ posts for watching over me. I have never seen this room before and I have been in every room in our house… Where am I?
“Ember… Are you finally awake?” It was Derek’s voice by my bed. I jumped a little. I hadn’t even heard him get up.
“Yes... Where are we?” I asked as I gazed into his worried eyes.
“Oh, sweetie! Thank god you’re okay. You’ve been out for a week.” He paused a moment to catch a hair that was flying in the air and tucked it behind my ear. That was when I noticed the window behind the bed; it was open and bar-less. “We brought you to my homeland for help.” He whispered as he continued to brush my hair out of my face. It almost looked as if he may cry.
“Your homeland?” I ask, confused.
“Mm hmm… werewolf territory. This is my house; my bedroom.” Derek replied simply as he looked around, gesturing with open arms.
“What? How did we get here?”
“You were so out of it and we didn’t know what was wrong. We have the best healers here… one of which is my father, the Alpha. Lachlan and Damien weren’t so keen on leaving our position before you were ready. It took me about a day and half to convince them to let me take you.” Anger filled his eyes as he grasped my hand and pulled the chair closer so he could sit beside me.
“Where are we exactly? Like, what town?”
“Black Forest, Illinois. It’s named after my family.” He smiled sheepishly. Illinois? We’re close to my home then… we’re close to my mother…
“Black is your last name? Derek Black? And your father is the Alpha? That means you’re the next in line…” I probe, bewildered. “If you’re the ‘prince’ of this land, so to speak, why are you working for the Elves?”
“Uh… The Elf King and my father have a deal. We plan on uniting our two lands.” His face went from concerned to embarrassed.
“What kind of deal?”
“I’ll explain later. Right now, we need to work on getting you better. My family is excited to meet you. They’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”
This statement concerns me. The whole conversation does, really. What could they have possibly agreed upon that would force the next alpha to work for my father and would make Derek’s family excited to meet me?
“Alright, let’s go.” I tried to get up but he pushed me back down, a little forcefully. “Ow. Why did you do that?”
“You will have plenty of time to look around later. Stay lying down until we figure out what happened to you.” He said urgently.
“Oh. Well I can explain that for you.” I smiled.
“You can?” questioned a voice from behind Derek. Damien had woken up during our little exchange.
I looked around Derek to glance at Damien for a moment before looking back to Derek.
“Fairies took me. Queen Falora wanted to speak with me… “I drifted off, interrupted by Damien.
“And they let you go?” Damien asked, surprised. Both guys’ faces went ashen. Obviously they didn’t expect that.
“Yes… I don’t remember how I got there or how I got back.” I say, confused.
“Amnesia dust?” Derek interrupted with a laugh.
Damien elbowed Derek in the stomach. “They don’t usually allow people to leave once they have entered the fairy realm. The Queen must have really liked you.” Damien supposed.
“Alright… but, where in the hell did that tattoo come from?!” Derek exclaimed.
“Tattoo??” I asked.
“You know… the sword that is covering your entire arm!”
I threw up my left arm to see but there was nothing there. Derek rolled his eyes and pointed to the one Kai was sleeping on.
“Uh… Damien, will you pick him up so I can see?” I asked politely. Damien nodded his head, picked Kai up and left the room.
“Huh. I’ll be damned. She put the sword in me. Smart… creepy, but smart. I wonder how I get it out.”
“Get it out?! What the hell are you talking about?” Derek looked at me as if I were absurd. Damien had walked back in as I had said that. He had a similar facial expression.
“Queen Falora gave me the sword of Belzamarth and I guess… magically put it in my arm?” I explained as best I could.
They still looked confused.
I spent the next hour and a half detailing everything I could recall from my journey.
“Well, how do you take it out?” asked Damien dubiously.
“She already said she didn’t know. Let’s ask Lachlan. Maybe he can figure it out.” Derek stated. “We’ll leave you alone now, hon. Rest up. I’ll bring you your dinner here in a bit.” Derek smiled at me as he said this; putting me completely at ease once again. His smiles were somehow therapeutic. I soon dozed back to sleep.