The Dark Fairy

Chapter Nine

Carabosse woke up with a start. The fires she'd witnessed the night before burned inside her mind, as though the memory she watched was put on repeat. She rubbed her hands across her burning eyes and chanted the words, that her Mama had taught her, to calm her mind down.

A tiny hole in the carved-out, stone wall let in a line of shimmering light. It exposed the floating dust particles in the air within the small room where Achlys allowed Carabosse to sleep. The room only had enough space to keep a bed, it reminded her of Ibis' nest and so she felt more than comfortable curled up inside the furs that were laid down for her.

She sat up and crawled along the soft bed towards the purple bead curtain that separated her tiny room from the much larger slate room, in which she met the Dark One for the first time. Her delicate hand silently shifted the strings of beads to one side so that she could quickly glance out. There, standing with his back towards her, was a black cloaked figure with spiky silver hair. Perched upon his human sized shoulder, was Ibis, who noticed Carabosse's movement and swivelled his head round to take a look.

Carabosse let go of the curtain and let it swing back and forth. The beads made a musical, twinkling sound as they gently bumped into each other. With fumbling hands, Carabosse pulled at the knots in her hair and straightened out her jade dress; she wanted to look presentable for the beautiful, shining Dark One that she knew would look flawless that morning.

"Good morning to you, Carabosse. Come on out," Achlys called whilst turning towards the swaying bead curtain.

Like a mermaid emerging out of a glistening waterfall, Carabosse gracefully left her tiny bedroom. As her bare feet touched the slate floor she made herself grow to match the Dark One's size.

"I trust you slept well," Achlys added.

"I did, thank you," Carabosse responded shyly, bowing her head. The Dark One approached the trembling young fairy and caressed her soft cheek. He then lifted her face up with a finger under her chin, so that he could look into her emerald eyes.

"Are you alright, my child?"

Carabosse nodded her head timidly then scoffed at her own silliness. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's come over me. I feel so nervous all of a sudden," she said, no longer able to look at Achlys' beautiful shining, black eyes.

A laugh full of endearment left the Dark One's chest and his hand found itself back upon Carabosse's cheek. "You have no reason to be nervous around me, Carabosse." He cooed over her. "We are the same, we are family, we belong together."

A smile of deep relief swept across Carabosse's face. She couldn't see herself ever getting tired of hearing such things, it felt so good, yet so alien to her all in one go.

A cheerful "Hoot!" drew Carabosse's focus towards the creature sitting upon Achlys' shoulder.

"Good morning, Ibis, I'm not ignoring you," Carabosse greeted the tawny owl, whilst stroking her fingers across the brown smooth feathers of his tucked wing.

"Come, we must eat," Achlys interrupted and started to walk towards an opening of a nearby tunnel. Carabosse watched Ibis open his wings, leave Achlys' shoulder and fly in the opposite direction.

"We have a busy day ahead of us."

Carabosse jogged behind the Dark One to keep up.

"Why? What are we doing today?" she asked between short puffs of breath.

"I'm going to teach you all I know about magic."

"You are?"

"Yes, you have much to learn if you wish to truly punish the Mother of Fairies," the Dark One said, then stopped in his tracks and turned towards his possible protégé. "You do still wish to make her suffer, don't you?"