Magic and Mayhem
Alison
Alison awoke to a kiss.
It was a good kiss, soft and sweet, the lips that met hers warm with a taste of honey.
There was a strange lack of facial hair, though. No hair or stubble at all. Had Keir already gotten up and shaved?
“Good morning,” said Rinka as she pulled away.
Alison screamed.
“What are you doing? What’s going on? Where’s Keir?”
The orc in Alison’s bed yawned and stretched, the white lace of her borrowed nightgown peeking out from under the sheets. Her long, red hair tumbled into her face as she propped herself up on the pillow. “Come back to bed, my love,” said Rinka.
Magic. It had to be. Some kind of fairy magic, maybe in the food that they ate? Alison wasn’t certain, but whatever it was, she needed to find a way to stop it.
Alison leaned out the door into a hallway. There were several rooms in this treehouse. The girls had been given two on this side of the hallway, the boys right on the other side.
“Keir?” Alison called at his door, knocking lightly. “I need some help. Something’s wrong with Rinka.”
The door burst open, sending Alison falling forward into the room.
“Rinka?” called Keir. “My darling, what’s wrong?” He ran from the room into the hall, leaving Alison to pull herself up from the floor.
“Oh great,” muttered Alison. “You too.”
She gathered herself and ran back into her room.
Keir was trying to get into the bed with Rinka. “Are you hurt? Rinka, sweetheart, talk to me.”
“Who the hells are you? Alison! It’s not what it looks like. I don’t know this man. Don’t worry; I’ll get rid of him.”
Alison watched, horrified, as Rinka in her lacy nightgown lifted Keir by the waist and threw him over her shoulder.
He didn’t fight back. “Really, Rinka? Right here in front of your friend?” he said, laughing.
“Rinka, no!” shouted Alison seconds before disaster. Rinka had made her way to the glassless window and was about to throw him through it and to his death several stories below.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you know him? Did you bring him here for us? A little unconventional, but I’m open to new experiences—”
“No, Rinka. Something has happened to both of you. You’re not being yourselves. Put him down so we can talk.”
“Good idea,” said Rinka. “Let’s discuss boundaries—”
“What is the meaning of this?” came a voice from the hallway.
“Prince Idris,” said Alison, giving a small curtsy and pulling up her chemise. “Your highness. Rinka told me you are an expert with magic. Perhaps you can help us sort out this mess.”
“Anything for you, my little chipmunk,” said Idris. He draped a large arm around her.
“Chipmunk?” She sighed, removing his arm with some effort. “Not you too.”
“What did you just call her?” asked Rinka.
“Alison, why are these people in your room?” asked Idris. “Would you like me to get rid of them?”
“No,” said Alison, and then she turned to see him holding a sword. “Stop! Where did you get that? Put it away. They’re my friends.”
“Friends? Is that really what you’re going to call us?” said Rinka, tears in her eyes.
“Everyone stop! Sit still and don’t kill each other. I’m going to try to find the fairies.”
Alison snapped the door closed behind her, hoping they could keep it together long enough for her to find someone to help.
She raced down the hallway to the ladder they had climbed to get up here. She pulled on the hatch, but it wouldn’t budge.
The door creaked open behind her. “Rinka, please,” came Keir’s voice. “Don’t do this.”
Alison rushed down the hall as Rinka shoved him into it. “Your services are not needed here,” she said and slammed the door behind her.
Alison watched Keir in his pajamas as he knocked on the door, and it dawned on her.
This was a test, she realized. A chance to use her magic, to learn to control it.
She approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I have an idea to make Rinka jealous,” she said. She tried to feel something between them that she could latch onto, something like what she’d felt in the vine’s dream world or when they had raised the standing stones with the spriggan. Maybe in this state, he wouldn’t resist it.
“I wouldn’t want to make her jealous,” said Keir. “I love her.”
Alison tried to ignore the sting of hearing those words from him, words he hadn’t said to her yet himself. But to her surprise, the pain did something else—it revealed a place within her, a spot right in her chest where she felt a surge of…something. Power, perhaps.
She hoped it was power.
“I understand,” she said. “I have another idea. Come close so I can whisper it to you—they can both hear better than we can.”
As Keir leaned towards Alison, she grabbed the collar of his pajama top and kissed him.
At first, he tried to pull away, but Alison concentrated on the spot of power, willing it to rise from her chest into her throat and finally to her lips.
He relaxed and then melted into the kiss.
“Alison,” he said when he finally pulled away.
And then he pulled her in again, lifting her off the ground into his arms and pushing her against the door, kissing her like he’d been away from her for years, not hours.
It was hard—really hard—to pull away from him, but there were other issues to address. “We need to help the others,” she said, gasping as he lightly kissed her neck. “Soon. Later. Maybe a few more minutes would be—”
There was a loud crash from within the room.
“Oh, bloody hell,” she said. She pulled on his arms, which reluctantly lowered her to the ground.
“What are you going to do?” asked Keir. “I was still in my head. It was like I was watching myself say and do things, and when you kissed me, I broke free. But I’m not sure kissing them would work.”
It was a good point. “No,” said Alison. “I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t.” Alison reached for the doorknob, trying to come up with an answer, but it twisted on its own accord and then pulled back into the room.
Alison let go this time before she could fall to the floor.
“What’s going on out here?” asked Rinka. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun and the strap of her nightgown was torn.
“Are you alright?” Alison asked as she looked past Rinka into the room.
She could see what had crashed to the ground: Prince Idris.
“Oh my Gods,” she said, rushing to his slumped figure. “Please say you’re not dead. We can’t have killed the prince.”
She attempted to push the magic from her chest into her fingertips, but before she could do so, Idris stirred awake and then snapped upright.
“Alison, get behind me. There’s a wild woman on the loose,” he said, putting himself between her and Rinka.
“I told you to stay down,” said Rinka, moving to charge Idris once more.
He dodged a mean right hook aimed directly for his nose, pushing Alison down and out of the way. Alison crouched back towards Keir, who was still standing by the door.
“What do we do?” she whispered to him as they watched Rinka attempt to topple Idris once more.
“They say passion burns like fire,” said Keir. “Maybe we dunk them in water?”
It was an absurd suggestion, which meant in this silly fairy land it just might work.
“The wash basin is over there.” Alison gestured to a little carved stand near the bed.
Keir went for the basin, flinging its contents at the other pair as they fought.
He missed.
Thankfully, Rinka and Idris didn’t even notice. Rinka was too busy trying to pull Idris’s hair out, and Idris was trying to tie her wrists together with some odd sort of fabric that seemed to vanish at certain angles.
The water pooled onto the handwoven rug.
“Maybe…” said Alison. She grabbed Keir’s hand.
She felt for the source of power and grabbed onto it faster this time. Then she searched Keir for something like it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Trying to pick the water up again from the rug. Can you help me?’
“How?”
She kissed him.
“I don’t know how that’s meant to help, but I’m happy to do it—”
“Hold on to how that feels, and pull on the water with me,” she said.
It felt genuinely insane but also right, somehow.
Which is to say that it felt like love itself.
The water vibrated on the floor as if the room was shaking and then began to rise into droplets.
“That’s it!” said Alison. “Can you feel it?”
“I—I think so,” said Keir. He looked anxious, so she kissed him again.
“Anything?” she asked as she spun to look.
The water was still rising. Their attention to it caught Rinka’s and Idris’s attention.
“Quick, before he stops it,” said Alison. She imagined the water crashing into their faces and then flicked her wrist.
She didn’t know if the gesture would help, but it felt like a good idea, and sure enough, the water splashed right onto them both.
Rinka squealed, and Alison watched as she looked around the room in confusion. “Oh Gods, what happened to us?”
“The fairies,” said Alison. “I think this was their way of helping me—”
“Step forward and face me, you rogue,” said Idris.
He had a sword in his hand again, and he was pointing it at Keir.
Alison screamed.
“I guess that makes sense that it worked for Rinka but not him,” said Keir. “Dragons are pretty much made of fire, so I guess the water couldn’t do much—”
“Are you going to fight me or just keep talking?” asked Idris. “There’s a fair maiden’s honor at stake.”
“Fair,” perhaps, but “maiden,” well…
“Drystan, stop this,” said Rinka. “I mean, Idris.” She held up her hands in surrender.
Idris smirked. “It seems at least the orc has come to her senses. But this rogue that stands beside you, Alison, that dares to steal kisses from your lips. He must pay the price for his treachery.”
“Very well,” said Keir. “I accept your challenge.”
“What are you doing?” asked Alison.
He held a hand up to her, then turned to address Idris. “But I haven’t brought my sword.”
“Do you have a silver on you?” asked Idris.
“Alison, we’ve got to stop this,” said Rinka. She climbed over the bed to join them. “You broke me out of it with water. How can we break him out of it?”
“With a cut,” said Keir.
“No!” cried Rinka.
Alison was surprised by the strength of Rinka’s response. Was there something between them?
“Not to him, to the bond between him and Alison. I can feel it. Can you?” Keir asked them both.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Rinka.
“I don’t either,” said Alison. She searched around with the newfound sense that she’d used to locate her own power within her. She couldn’t see anything, but she did feel something there: an invisible string tying her to Idris.
“Wait, he’s right,” said Alison. “There is something there.”
“That’s the bond of fate, my little hedgehog. You can’t fight it,” said Idris.
“Give him a silver,” said Rinka.
Keir had nothing in his pockets, but Alison found her coin purse on the stand where the water basin had been.
“Here,” she said to Idris.
“Come here and give it to me, sweet starfish,” he said. “And then get out of the way. I will defend your honor for you.”
“Starfish? My honor?” asked Alison, unable to stop herself from snorting with laughter. “I’m very sorry to disappoint you but—”
“It matters not,” said Idris. “What matters is this fool that thinks he can claim you.”
“I mean, ‘claim’ is a bit much, don’t you think?” asked Keir.
There was a man—a future king—in this room holding a sword, but it was difficult to take him seriously.
At least it was until Alison handed him the coin.
They watched as he turned it over in his hand and stretched it upright, turning it from an ordinary silver into an extraordinary weapon.
“My Gods,” said Alison. Was her own magic capable of such a thing, or was this some kind of dragon magic unique to the prince and his family?
“Still playing at the old parlor tricks, are we, ‘Dris?” asked Keir. He crossed the room and took the sword from Idris.
“And now,” said Idris. “We dance.”
It was like a dance, Alison realized as she watched them. Keir moved with the same grace, the same elegance in a sword fight that he did while dancing by the bonfire.
But he was outmatched—either because Idris was simply the better fighter or because he was trying to kill Keir and Keir was trying only to disarm Idris. It made for a deadly imbalance, and Alison began to truly fear for their lives for the first time during this ordeal.
“Watch out!” she shouted as Idris feinted to the left and struck a blow to Keir’s side that slashed open his pajama bottoms, leaving a scraping wound on his leg.
“It’s just a scratch,” said Keir, breathless. “Stay back.”
Rinka and Alison moved to the doorway as Idris jumped onto the bed, swiping at Keir’s ear but losing his balance temporarily on the soft mattress.
Rinka saw her chance and lunged for Idris’s ankles, sending him careening face down onto the bed.
“Keir!” yelled Alison, holding out her hand. He ran around the bed and took it with his left, and she sent a surge of power through them.
Rinka leapt backwards to the wall as Keir raised the sword.
“Now!” Alison shouted, and Keir brought the sword down into the empty air between where Alison stood and where Idris was pulling himself upright on the bed.
Alison felt a slice through something; a clean, cauterizing wound that caused her no pain. It felt as though her hair had been cut, and she found herself touching the dark end of her plait to make sure it was still intact.
Idris turned over in the bed, propping himself up against the wall. His chest heaved from the exertion. He was remarkably handsome, Alison realized, shooting an approving look at Rinka for her good taste and good fortune as her friend went over to check on him.
Alison stumbled towards the bed and took a seat down on the corner, suddenly feeling as though she had been running and jumping around the room herself.
“It takes it out of you, doesn’t it?” asked Idris.
Alison felt as though she might fall asleep again despite only having woken an hour or so earlier. “This is what magic does?”
Keir took a seat beside her. “Are you alright?” he asked. “I feel a bit dizzy myself.”
“Well, I feel fine, but what in the world just happened to us?” asked Rinka as she reached for a towel to dry her face and hair.
“The fairies,” said Idris. “One of their games, no doubt. They always are good for a bit of fun.”
“Fun?” asked Rinka. “You call that fun?”
“I think you’re right,” said Alison. “I asked them for help understanding how to use my magic, and I think this was their lesson.”
“A harsh lesson,” said Rinka. “We could have killed each other!”
“I’m not sure we could have,” said Idris. “I felt restricted while under the spell. I couldn’t change form. I suspect there were invisible railings to prevent us going too far.”
If that was what Idris was capable of while restricted, Alison feared what he could do unbridled.
“How is your wound?” Idris asked Keir, who had fetched the washbasin from his room to clean it.
“It’s nothing,” he said. “A pity I never got the hang of the healing spells I researched, but perhaps I was missing an important element.” He looked at Alison.
“It’s a good thing you knew what to do,” said Alison. “All I could remember from the fairy stories I’ve read was true love’s kiss.”
Alison heard her words the moment after they left her mouth. Keir blinked, his lips parting as if to respond, but then closing again.
Alison’s thoughts began to spiral, but then she felt a pulse in the spot of her chest where her power came from. It was warm and tight, almost like an embrace. She looked at Keir and his eyes were soft, his smile stretching to wrinkle their corners.
“I read a lot about the old magic when…” He paused for a moment, a shadow falling over him, but he regained his composure. “A while ago,” he continued. “It’s often metaphorical, sometimes clever, sometimes built on a bargain. I doubt my ideas were the only answers, but at least they seemed to have worked.”
“Well, I’m grateful,” said Rinka. “Should we get going soon? I’m not sure how we’re meant to get back to the road. We followed a fairy light to get here.”
“Hold on, let me see if the way down is open again,” said Alison. She left the room and went into the hall, already knowing the answer before she arrived at the hatch, which was indeed unlocked once more. “Fairies,” she muttered under her breath.
Idris had risen from the bed by the time she returned to the room. “Rinka, may I speak with you before we depart?” he asked. Rinka nodded, and they left the room together.
Alone with Keir once more, she felt the warm pulse as he crossed the room to her. “‘True love’s kiss,’ eh?”
He took her hands as she held her breath.
“Alison, these past months have been some of the hardest of my life.”
It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say at all, and she felt the same sting she’d felt minutes earlier when he’d said he loved Rinka.
“Wait,” he said, seeing her response. He released one hand to lift her chin. “Let me finish.”
Alison nodded, the pounding of her heartbeat filling her ears as she looked at him.
“When we left the vine’s world, I felt triumphant. Like we’d finally fixed some broken part of me for good, like all the bad days were in the past. But unfortunately, that isn’t what happened. And at first, I was terrified to let you see it. I didn’t want to hurt you and disappoint you after what you risked helping me. I didn’t want you to see the pain I still felt, to know the dread and guilt and shame I battled as I tried to make amends with the town, to come back from my isolation and to take responsibility for the harm I caused. And as much as I wanted to be a good partner to you, I worried that I just wasn’t able to. Not while a part of me still felt so damaged. Not as I realized that a part of me might always be damaged, might never be whole again. How could I be with you? How could I give you the life and the love you deserve when I am not a whole, healthy person? How could what I have to give possibly be enough?”
Alison wanted to respond, wanted to tell him that he was enough, that even without having experienced the same pain, she felt the same fears, the same doubts that she was worthy of his love. It was what, she realized, had kept her from speaking. Kept her from telling him the truth of how she felt.
But instead, she let him finish.
“But as much as I tried to hide it from you, I know you saw it. And the way you responded—your infinite patience, your empathy, your kindness—it made me fall deeper and deeper. And as much as I wanted to be better, I woke up one day and realized that even if I never quite became the man I was before again, the man I felt you deserved, you would stay by my side anyway. And that you were happy there, and safe. And it made me feel safe to be exactly who I was, too. And maybe that’s enough. It’s not perfect, but it’s ours, and it’s enough.”
He pulled her closer, resting her hands on his waist as he held her head and looked deep into her eyes.
“I’m in love with you, Alison,” he said. “I will love you until the end of my days, and I am yours for as long as you’ll have me. I will never stop wishing I could be more for you, and I will always worry I’m not doing enough. But whatever comes our way, I want to face it together. If that’s what you want as well.”
Alison could hear the question in his final words, could feel the doubt that she knew would never fully leave him.
It didn’t matter.
“I love you, Keir,” she said. “Exactly as you are. You are more than enough.”
She held her hand to his heart.
“You are everything.”
He took her in his arms then, and they picked up from where they left off earlier in the hallway, keeping as quiet as possible to avoid embarrassing their friends.