The Sweet Far Thing
Page 71

The fairies moan and cling to my thumb and fingers. They stroke their faces against my skin like little pets. I reach out and touch one. Its skin is like a fish’s. It leaves a wake of glittering scales on my fingers.
“What do you want, then?” Felicity demands. She flicks at one with her fingernail and it falls on its backside.
“Beautiful,” the fairy creatures murmur again and again.
I know I’m not beautiful in the way that Pippa is, and I don’t have Felicity’s allure. But their words bathe me in new hope. I want to believe them, and that is enough to keep me listening. The larger fairy steps forward. She moves with a seductive grace, the way I have seen cobras dance for their masters: compliant yet able to strike at a moment’s notice. I should like to hear them tell me that I am beautiful again. That they love me so very well. It is a curious thing: The more they say it, the more I feel a void opening inside me that I am desperate to fill.
The little creatures grab hold of me. “Oh, yes, lovely, lovely, our fair one is. We worship you. We would have some of you for our own, we love you so.”
I put my hand to their heads. Their hair is as soft as corn silk. Eyes closed, body humming, I can feel the magic starting. But they are impatient. Their miniature hands grab greedily for my fingers. The scaly roughness of their skin is a surprise, and for a moment, I lose my concentration.
“No! Foolish mortal!” The voice hurts my ears. When I look down, they are staring at me with longing…and hatred, as if they would kill and eat me given the chance. Instinctively, I pull my hand back.
They jump for my fingers just out of reach. “Give it back! You were going to gift us!”
“I’ve changed my mind.” I place them on a branch of the tree.
They turn their most brilliant shade of green yet. “We could never hope to be as grand as you, fair one. Love us, as we love you.”
They smile and dance for me, but their words are not as intoxicating this time. I can hear the gritty hiss beneath their declarations.
“You love what I can do for you,” I say, correcting them.
They giggle but there’s no warmth in it. It reminds me of a dying man’s cough. “Your power is nothing compared to that of the Tree of All Souls.”
I turn quickly. “What did you say?”
They sigh in ecstasy. “One touch of it, and you will know true power—all your fears banished, all your desires granted.”
I grab one in my fist. It struggles. Fear distorts its features into a terrible mask.
“Let me go, let me go!”
The other creature hops down and bites my thumb. I bat it away, and it somersaults through the air, grabbing hold of a branch to break its fall.
“I shall let you go in a moment! Stop struggling! I only want to know about this tree.”
“I won’t tell you anything.”
“Squeeze it into juice,” Felicity says, goading me.
The creature’s mouth forms a terrified O. “Please…I’ll tell you all….”
Felicity gives a satisfied smile. “That is how you get what you need.”
I cradle the creature in my palms. “What is the Tree of All Souls?”
The creature relaxes. “A place of very great magic deep within the Winterlands.”
“But I thought the Temple was the only source of magic in the realms.”
The creature’s grin is like a death mask. It hops to a higher branch just out of reach.
“Wait…don’t go,” I call after it.
“If you would know more, you will have to travel to the Winterlands and see for yourself. For how can you rule the realms if you’ve never even seen its stark beauty? How can you rule when you know only half the tale?”
“I know what I need to know about the Winterlands,” I answer, but I’m not convinced. There is truth in the little beast’s words.
“You know only what they have told you. Would you accept it as true without questioning it? Without seeing it for yourself? Have you never thought that they meant to keep you ignorant of its charms?”
“Go away!” Felicity blows hard. With a yelp, the creature falls, bouncing off branches till it lands on a fat leaf with an audible oof.
“You’re a fool, a fool!” it gasps. “In the Winterlands, it shall be decided! You will know what true power is and tremble….”
“What appalling little beasts. I’ll show you how to tremble!” Felicity gives chase. The frightened things fly away through the trees.
“Go away! Leave us be, foolish mortals.”