Chapter 30
O bediently, I tried to close my mouth. I was compelled to swallow hard, for, despite the landscape’s frozen moisture, my mouth and throat were suddenly dry. I had seen snow before—rarely. What I had never seen was,
“A…fairy?” I echoed stupidly.
The woman smiled a quick, humorless smile. Only she was not a woman. Not a mere woman, anyway. She was certainly female. Her long, golden hair, streaked with red and covered by a wispy veil, as well as her feminine form clad in a silvery-white gown proclaimed that. However, the gossamer wings sprouting from her back, the six-sided snowflake embedded in her forehead, as well as the tiara made of ice, asserted that she was far more than a mere woman, as did the aura of power and strength emanating from her.
“Where are you from?” she demanded, stepping closer. Her manner reminded me of a cat stalking its prey. I did not necessarily sense harm, but I clearly sensed that, if I were to do anything of which she disapproved, she would strike me down where I stood .
“I…I am Lorna, from the Jeweled Isles,” I stammered. Swallowing again, I drew a breath, determined to firm my voice and collect my courage. “I was in a cave. Somewhere. I am seeking a place. I asked a mirror for help. A magic mirror. It brought me here.”
The fairy, as she’d proclaimed herself to be, halted a few paces away. This close, I could see tiny snowflakes swirling in the air about her. Her green eyes were bright as jewels, and her features rather sharp. While her face was not truly beautiful, she was the most majestic creature I’d ever beheld, outside of Kidron in his cursed dragon form.
“That is as strange a story as I’ve ever heard,” she announced, looking me up and down, from head to toe. “And yet, I detect nothing of The Evil about you, nor any shadow from the Dark Powers. Furthermore, the way you materialized out of nowhere, here on Cleyton…”
Waving a hand, she encompassed our surroundings. Till this point, I’d not even taken the opportunity to see where I was, beyond a world of snow and ice. Now, the fairy’s wave invited me to look, and I did, fighting the urge to keep my jaw from dropping again, since she had already ordered me to close my mouth.
Mountain peaks surrounded us, highlands of jagged rock, rugged clefts, and craggy cliffs. Snowcapped peaks and passes were dotted with towering evergreen forests. And in the midst of it all, looming over the hilltop on which we stood, was a palace hewn from ice. All about the castle darted teeny fairies, like wisps in the wind.
“…There is magic to you,” Braisley was saying, “though of what sort, I cannot tell.”
I compelled my shocked gaze from the ice castle, the mountains, and the forests, back to her.
“I…I do not know, either,” I replied, stumbling over my words. “I…”
I stopped. What did I, a mere girl from the Jeweled Isles, have to say to the queen of the fairies? If she wished to crumble me to dust, she could do so on a whim. Rather than explain myself, I waited for her to ask the questions.
“You mentioned a mirror,” Braisley said, edging closer, her wings fluttering lightly. “You named the Jeweled Isles, and you said you are seeking a place. Perhaps you’d best start at the onset, girl, and tell me all.”
I couldn’t keep from glancing longingly at the palace. To be fair, it appeared far more a place of winter and chill than shelter, yet, despite the warm clothing I was grateful I’d chosen, I was unused to cold temperatures of any sort and found my teeth chattering.
“Is there—shelter?” I asked. “It is so c-cold here, my lady.”
Braisley’s thin lips quirked in another humorless smile. This time, I glimpsed a hint of sympathy in her sharp stare.
“I invite no one into my palace,” she said. “But I can help.”
With that, she waved her arm again, trailing snowflakes like miniature diamonds that winked in the sunlight. In an instant, a shimmering dome appeared, starting from her fingertips and descending to the ground on either side of us. Faster than a breath, we were encased. Beneath my feet, the snow vanished, green grass popping up from rich, black soil to replace it. A warm zephyr, much like the tropical breezes of my home island, heated the air, stilling my chattering jaws and erasing the goosebumps that had popped up on my flesh.
“Your magic is astonishing,” I breathed. “Thank you.”
The fairy nodded. “The spell will only last as long as I maintain it,” she said. “Tell me your story, girl.”
With no other recourse, and realizing the mirror must have sent me here for a reason, I started at the beginning and told her everything. I even confessed, to my shame, my part in ruining Kidron’s chance of salvation, hanging my head in embarrassment as I admitted my folly. I finished with the tale of requesting help from the mirror to find where Kidron had gone—somewhere east of the sun and west of the moon.
At the end of my recital, Braisley was silent for several long moments. She stood with her fingers steepled beneath her chin, clearly deep in thought. I waited, aware of my inferior status to this powerful creature, and determined to show her respect.
Finally, lowering her hands to the sides of her silvery-white gown, she said, “That is a remarkable tale, Lorna of the Jeweled Isles. Well do I recall the dragon prince who fled his father’s oaths. I could not free him from the Scraggen’s magic, but I told him where he might hide to be safe.
“I can tell you this,” she went on, pacing to the edge of the dome and back, her gown’s trailing hem swishing about her ankles, “there is a great deal of mystery and magic in this tale. For one, I am ignorant of this Moonswept that lies east of the sun, west of the moon. It must be far indeed for neither my fairies nor myself to have heard of it.
“For another, the dragon prince recognized your bond. It drew you to him, he says. A bond across species, while uncommon, is not unheard of, especially with the Dragonkind. Warkin are a rarity in how they share partner bonds. It is similar to the bonding magic with their dragons, I think, and that is why they are capable of experiencing it.”
“But I am not Warkin,” I pointed out, not meaning to argue, yet truly confused. “How can I experience such a bond when I am not Warkin?”
Braisley paused her pacing to offer me a somewhat reproachful glance, as though I should have remained silent.
“The bond on the other side matters not,” she said calmly. “The bond is produced and maintained on their side. As I told you, it is similar to their bond with their dragon. In your case, it is probably helped along by you possessing magic. ”
The notion was so strange I found it difficult to accept. However, the fairy queen would have no reason to mislead me.
“Do you know,” I dared to ask, stepping closer to the powerful fairy, “why the dragon’s mirror brought me to you when I asked for help finding Moonswept? Was the magic mistaken?”
At this, Braisley’s expression changed to haughty. Affronted.
“Magic is never mistaken. Misused, but never mistaken. I cannot help you?” she laughed. “I am queen of Cleyton and ruler of the fairies. If anyone in this realm can help you, it is I, if only to point you towards someone else who may know more than I do.”
“Forgive me,” I mumbled, bowing my head in humility.
I was unsure if I liked this fairy. Still, if I was to continue my quest, I needed help. If I was even to get down off her mountain alive, I probably needed help. I shuddered to think of clambering down those frozen peaks with my meager supplies and lack of experience with cold, snow, and wintery conditions.
“You’ve done nothing wrong.”
To my shock, the fairy’s tone had gentled, daring me to peek up into her face.
“Perhaps I was too harsh,” she said, her features softening. “I forget I am not speaking with another fairy, a creature of magic, or even a human ruler.
“Although,” she tacked on, “you must have some magic, from what you’ve described, else the mirror would not have brought you to Cleyton. Magical artifacts don’t function properly unless the one with whom they were working also possesses a spark of power.”
“Kidron said I must have magic,” I agreed. Then, added hopefully, “You will help me?”
The fairy queen sighed. “Child, did I ever indicate I would not?”
I shook my head. No, in fairness, she hadn’t .
“I cannot tell you where this Moonswept is,” she said. “Nor can I answer all of your questions. However, I can send you to someone who can provide the information I lack.
“Give me your hand.”
I obeyed. Braisley lifted my palm to her lips, blowing softly onto my skin. Her breath was a puff of cold air, filled with visible frost. The powdery, smoke-white air turned my palm hoary and sent tendrils of cold racing up my arm. I gasped, but the fairy did not release me. Instead, she flipped my hand over, studying the veins on the back of my hand, which stood out in sharp, green relief to the bleached hue of my skin.
“I see…” she mumbled.
She flipped the palm back over to study it further. The creases and lines of my palm had turned the same green color as the veins on the back of my hand. I recognized the color—it was the same mystical green that had seeped out from beneath my fingertips back in the dragon’s cave. All of this was utterly foreign, like watching the street performers during the festivals back home on the island, and yet this was me. My skin changing colors. My veins altering to a deep green.
How is she doing this? I wondered. What is she doing?
I didn’t have to voice my questions, for Braisley blew once more on my palm, and this time the fog and frost vanished. My skin re-warmed to its original peachy hue.
The fairy glanced up at me, her deep gaze encompassing all the mysteries of the world.
“As I thought,” she said. “You have a unique gift, Lorna of the Jeweled Isles. Where it came from, I cannot say. Somewhere in your lineage, perhaps hundreds of years in the past, you had an ancestor with magical abilities that have been bequeathed to you. Your gift is one of persuasion, but it is not necessarily in the words you speak. It is in the actions you undertake.”
My features scrunched into a frown of confusion.
“I have never heard of this,” I said.
“It is a lesser magic,” Braisley replied. “Many who hold it go their entire lives without knowing, yet it plays out as they can convince those around them to do as they wish.”
I nearly laughed aloud, thinking of the sisterly quarrels with my siblings, or of my mother’s stubborn refusal to leave me alone when I’d visited the island. Then I thought, If I hold this magic, perhaps Mama does too and hers is stronger than mine. She is certainly able to convince Father to do whatever she wishes, and she convinced me to give in to her. That would explain some things.
I pressed those musings aside, for Braisley had continued speaking while my mind drifted.
“How do you know?” I asked. “How can you tell?”
She gestured towards my hand, which she still held. “Did you not see me test your magic, your blood, just now?”
Her tone implied, Are you blind?
Of course, I was not blind, but I’d not known what she was about.
She went on, “I studied your palm lines, too. Your future is yet wreathed in shadows, which tells me your fate is undetermined. It is up to you to forge your destiny, Lorna. But what your palm lines did reveal is the past. You have, indeed, come up against powerful forces of magic. That would explain the Warkin prince, cursed to shapeshift into his dragon, and the Scraggen’s spell over him. What you face is far more than most will ever face in their lifetime, and yet…”
She stopped. Held my gaze. Said very soberly, “If you are determined to find the Scraggen’s keep, you must truly love this man. And there is no force in Aerisia, or any other world, stronger than love. Are you resolved to find your Dragonkind prince, no matter the cost?”
I weighed her words as though they were a test. Indeed, I believed they were. At last, I nodded.
“Aye,” I replied. “I am firm in my resolve to rescue Prince Kidron, his dragon, and myself.”
“Very well. I have armed you with what information I can. What use you make of it, is up to you. From henceforth, I’ll send you to another who may be able to assist you. His travels have taken him to every corner of Aerisia. I doubt not that he has heard tales and seen sights of which even I am ignorant.
“Before you go…”
She waved her hand in an arc. Snowflakes swirled, icicles formed on her fingers and vanished, and then she opened her palm. Inside, lay a beautiful six-sided snowflake of glittering ice, comparable to the snowflake embedded in her brow.
“Take this,” she said, “as a gift. Keep it safe. It may help you.”
How would a snowflake of glittering ice help me? No way to predict, but one did not refuse a gift from a fairy, particularly the queen of the fairies.
I thanked Brailey and accepted the snowflake, which was as hard and smooth as a stone rolled and washed by the sea. After wrapping it in a cloth, I placed it in my pack.
“Are you ready to depart?” Brailey asked.
I assured her I was.
“Very well,” she said. “Sufficient mirror magic remains that I can use it to send you hence. Take care, my child. There are many mysteries in Aerisia, and you are charging straight into their teeth. Cling to your love. That is what will carry you through. ”
With nothing more to be said, she raised both hands, moving them about in a sequence I couldn’t follow, but which I assumed evoked her magic. The bubble that had been shielding us from the cold of Cleyton, her mountain home, vanished. The frigid air struck me. I’d scarcely begun to shiver when the world blanked out once more in a dizzying swirl of darkness interspersed with flashes of sparkling light.
Once more, I was cast into the mirror’s magic. Where it would land me this time, I could not predict. I could only grit my teeth as my body hurtled through space and time, praying the fairy queen was correct and this new person could help me find Moonswept before all was lost.