An eerie tale from Alexis Roberts is what you get tonight! Follow her on Twitter at @Alexiswrote!
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A young woman named Anne sat under the shade of an old oak tree one autumn afternoon, knitting a scarf for the fall. It was peaceful in the country. No cars, no sirens, no screaming children and drunkards shouting profanities. She heard a rustle nearby and smiled to herself. No doubt it would be Christopher. He had promised he would take her to the Samhain celebrations at the country club. He was probably trying to sneak up on her again. She pretended she hadn’t heard him and continued her work silently. She heard a muffled laugh then, and paused. That had not sounded like Christopher. He was not one to giggle. She set down her scarf by her side and craned her neck curiously.
At first she saw nothing. Then suddenly she caught sight of some tiny men appearing from the shadows of the grove. They rushed up towards her and Anne counted six. They were all dressed in green, their clothes made from the leaves of an apple tree. Anne stared down at them in disbelief, and watched, entranced as they danced merrily in front of her. Curious, she leaned forward on her knees and held her hand, palm up, just above the ground. She could see them talking amongst each other, but all she could hear was a faint tinkling sound in her ears. One of the little men moved to her hand. He had on a cap, made of the centre of a daisy, with a tiny red feather. He climbed up and she could feel the slight pressure of his feet. She lifted him up closer to her face to examine him. He was barely taller than her index finger, perfectly formed, only in miniature. He bowed graciously to her and leapt from her palm and onto her shoulder in one neat bound. Anne tried to turn her head to see him, but he had rushed towards her neck. She felt a pleasant tingling on her neck and a soft sigh escaped her lips, her body feeling suddenly too heavy to move.
The other five men came towards her then, crawling up over her lap. She watched as they showered her skin with feather light kisses and the tingling grew heavier through her body. She saw the flash of the red feather in front of her face and felt a light brush over one eye, followed by the other. With a soft cry she was plunged into darkness. She felt her body being lifted and she flailed, trying to keep herself upright. It felt like being submerged in water.
When she could open her eyes again, she found she had been set down in a luscious land of bright colours and musical sounds. The trees were an emerald green, and the grass seemed to glitter at her feet. There were beds of flowers more vibrant than she’d ever seen. She could see a palace in the distance, made of sparkling silver and gorgeous gold. Song birds flittered through the air, humming delicate lullabies.
She turned slowly and stopped with a gasp of surprise at what she saw before her. It was the same little man as before, with the red feather in his cap, only he was the same size as she was, maybe even a little taller. He gave her a dazzling grin and bowed again. The other five of the men stood behind him and they also bowed.
“Welcome, Anne. Welcome to Faerie. I am Caibry.” He introduced himself. He took her by the hand and raised it to his lips. Anne looked down at herself and saw that her clothes had changed. No longer was she wearing the drab brown dress she had put on this morning. Now she was donned in a white dress made entirely of soft rose petals. Caibry kept hold of her hand and the party escorted her towards the palace that twinkled on the horizon like a star in the sky.
Anne lost track of time. She could have been there for days or weeks or months. She ate sweets and cakes and fruits, full of flavours and sensations. She danced to lively music for hours on end until she felt her feet might fall off. She grew close to her six friends in the court, particularly to Caibry. They shared endless nights together, apart from his five comrades, where they whispered secrets to each other in the night.
One night, as they lay in each other’s arms in a bed made of soft moss, Caibry asked if she might run away with him. He no longer wanted to share her with his friends. Anne readily agreed, her infatuation with Caibry stronger than her need for air. They stole away together, in the middle of the night. They rode brilliant white steeds and raced across the lands.
They did not get far. One of the other men, Bracken, had suspected Caibry’s attentions had grown too particular to Anne. He and the others had followed him, and now they sprung out from the forest on horses of their own, circling Caibry and Anne and trapping them.
“You have betrayed us, Caibry. And all for this human woman.” Bracken seethed. All at once the men swarmed towards them. Anne cried out as she was dragged off her horse, kicking and screaming. She watched as Caibry was pulled to ground by Bracken and kicked mercilessly. She struggled, and Caibry tried to get up to help Anne, but before he could, she had been plunged into darkness once more. She remembered the feeling of weightlessness, only this time she was not set down so gently.
She landed on the floor of the grove by her old house and the impact pushed the air from her lungs. It was night time, she could see the twinkle of stars above her head and the cool glow of the moon. She sat up and looked around, her gaze falling on the trees around her.
It was spring time.
