Unpleasant Encounters with Fairies – Episode 7
Like a two-legged spider on steroids, I scuttled down the corridor away from the chamber where the fairy queen had sentenced me to death. A bit harsh, in my opinion, to be hunted by a giant and flattened to pulp under her heel.
I swallowed my outrage and looked around as I ran.
Where was I? I couldn’t get my bearings. So many parts of the castle looked identical to one another. It was easy enough to get lost even when not being chased by an oversized, murderous fairy.
When Bangles had captured me and taken me to see the fairy queen, the castle’s corridors and passages had been clogged with moss. The weird little tunnels through the dense vegetation had hidden the walls and had made it impossible to see where we’d been going. The only time I’d had some kind of idea was when Bangles and I had half stumbled, half slid down the sloping tunnel through the moss which had covered the stairs from my studio to the ground floor. After that… nothing. To my little sore feet, it had felt like miles. The trouble was, we might have walked in circles for all I knew.
The ancient, crumbling pile of stones that was Castle Silverhill was a maze of passageways, corridors, halls, walkways, and gangways. Some meandered from one end of the sprawling half-ruined castle to the other, but more than a few came to a dead end where a centuries-old building alteration cut it off, or the roof had collapsed.
I came to a junction and skidded to a halt. Three corridors led off in different directions. I twisted my neck from one side to the other, chose a corridor at random, then set off down a different one. You know, just in case the queen had secretly cast a spell which had made me choose that first corridor. At that thought, my eyes grew wide and I stopped where I was. What if it had been her spell that had made me change my mind and choose the one I was currently running down?
I dashed back to the intersection and started down the third corridor, the worst lit, grimiest one of the three.
But what if that was the one she wanted me to take?
I pushed the suspicion away. Thinking like that led to madness.
My heart raced. My legs flew. How much longer did I have before Trewla – huge, monstrous Trewla with boots eager to crush my tender body – set out after me?
That question was answered by a distant bloodthirsty chorus of yells erupting from the fairy host behind me.
The hunt had begun.
A huntress, a dozen times bigger than me, was in hot pursuit.
With my dressing gown flapping around my naked knees, my bare feet slapping on the stone floor, I ran like the hounds of hell were after me, which I suppose, in a way they were. Though, instead of red-eyed dogs with huge teeth, I was being chased by a giant fairy who rejoiced in the name Trewla Buttercup. But still.
If I’d been thinking straight, I would have found somewhere to hide. And in a ramshackle, time-worn castle like mine, there are thousands of nooks and crannies a three-inch-tall person could secrete themself in. But all I could think about was to get to my spell book before Trewla smashed me to a pulp.
What frustrated me more than anything was how long it was taking me to run down the dingy corridor. I was like an ant crawling along the floor of a cathedral. If Trewla chose the corridor I was in, with her huge legs she’d be on me in seconds.
Hopefully, my clever technique for choosing which way to go, would save me.
But that hope was dashed when an insect-like buzzing filled the air. Half a dozen fairies flew past me, circled back, and hovered over my head.
“Coooooooeeeee! This way! He’s over here!” they screeched.
“Bugger off!” I yelled, waving my arms threateningly at them. “You’re not playing fair!”
They shrieked with laughter. One flew off back the way I’d come, presumably to lead Trewla to me.
I ran on, panting and stumbling, forcing as much speed out of my toothpick legs as they could bear. My tongue was a layer of dry carpet, my feet were on fire, my legs were wobbly strands of spaghetti, and I still didn’t know where I was. All the while, the little group of fairies stayed with me, calling out and taunting me.
Then, in a rush of wings and chattering of voices, they were joined by the rest of the host.
What was the point of running any longer? With a cloud of fairies flitting about overhead, I slid to a stop.
And, at the sound of thudding feet, I turned to look down the corridor.
My blood chilled.
Trewla was coming. Her legs were pumping like pistons. The floor shook as she thundered ever nearer.
Sweat poured down my brow. It was no good running away down the corridor. Her stride was so much longer than mine, she’d be on me before I’d gone more than a few feet. I trembled, pulse pounding, and looked around. There was a window not far away, but too high for me to reach. Like most throughout the castle, it was unglazed, giving me a clear view of a slice of blue sky.
If only I could fly. I could zoom away to safety like a bird.
“Go away!” I shouted. “Leave me alone!”
Trewla slowed as she drew closer. One pace away from me, she lifted her leg high.
I threw myself sideways, landing on my chest, as her huge boot crashed into the floor.
I scrambled to my feet, and spotted a crack at floor level in the nearest wall. It looked big enough for me to wriggle into. I stumbled towards it.
A cloud of dust blasted up in front of me as a group of fairies shot down and stood blocking my way.
“Don’t be a coward!” shouted one. “Stay and fight!”
“Fight? Are you insane?” I shouted back.
A shadow passed over us. Their faces lifted, their eyes grew wide, and they hurried backwards.
I looked up. Trewla’s foot was on its way down again.
I hurled myself away, and slid a few inches. Dust filled the air and the flagstone I lay on juddered under the force of Trewla’s heel. With my head spinning, I clambered upright, wiped my eyes, and ran for the crack again.
Fairies landed in a ring around me.
“Poc! Poc! Poc!” they said, circling me on strutting legs, jerking their heads back and forth, and flapping their elbows up and down.
A scraping of a giant boot on the floor sent me lurching away. I ran, zigzagging like a manic ant. Each time I headed for the wall, fairies appeared and blocked my way.
“Fight!” They screeched in one voice. “Poc! Poc! Poc! Chicken!”
My heart sank and I stopped running. What was the point? I was doomed.
My gaze turned to the sky beyond the window. It was hopeless, but I yearned to fly.
For the first time in my life, a spell popped unbidden into my head. Despite what had happened to Uncle Oswald, I cast it.
The air surrounding me erupted in feathers.
***
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