Sun and Stone

XIII.

By some unexplainable miracle of Persephone, I was not dead. I lay on the rough ground and breathed a sigh of relief. This time when I fell, no magical light wings sprouted from my back and I had just enough time to kiss my tiny life goodbye as the ground rushed up to meet me. By some fae magic I did not understand, or more likely a law of physics pertaining to terminal velocity, I had landed hard but uninjured. It hurt like Hades, but I could tell after taking a moment to kiss the earth beneath my face, that I didn't have any broken bones or internal bleeding. I would be extremely sore tomorrow and the left side of my face felt raw and wet, a fresh scrape most likely, but I was okay.

I slowly rose to my feet and searched my surroundings. I was at the end of the tunnel system, the edge where the daylight from outside poured into the tunnel, but Gray was gone. Same for Malavy, good riddance. I was beginning to ponder what my next move should be when a noise from deeper in the tunnel sent me scurrying the rest of the way out from under the mountain. I ran to the side of the entrance and crouched behind a rock, trying to listen for more. Faintly, I could hear the Thistlevoch complaining, still deep in the tunnel. "What a shame, ending my game when we were just beginning to have some fun!" There was a heavy sigh and then silence. I held still, unsure if he had left or was waiting for his prey to reappear.

As I waited, I found myself closing my eyes, enjoying the feeling of sunlight finally hitting my skin. It felt like every molecule in my body began to hum. I let my head fall back, savoring the sensation. With the light filling me, satiating the hunger I had been ignoring since waking that morning, I felt hope and confidence returning. It was hard to believe I had been a terrified mess through the tunnels. I could feel power building, and almost itched for the return of the Thistlevoch, a desire to lash out at the beast who dared threaten my friends. I paused at the thought. Was Malavy a friend? They were rude and hard to talk to, but they had protected us and provided some form of answers. The real question was where had they gone? Where was Grayson, and was Malavy protecting him like they had promised?

When the hum of light soaking into me increased to an uncomfortable vibration, I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings again. The tunnel exited into a small clearing. To my left, the side of the mountain ascended, and I was circled in by tall trees on my right. Feeling uncomfortable the longer I sat in the sunlight, I moved towards the tree line and the shade it provided.

It was only as I looked down that I realized my tired legs were doing none of the work. They weren't touching the ground at all, in fact. Peeking over my shoulder, I could see the strange golden wings were back. I couldn't tell where they attached to me, perhaps my shoulder blades or the middle of my back. They moved languidly, coming in and out of sight without thought, and I wasnt tensing any muscles as they flapped. The only physical sensation they created was in the warm air they stirred, like a summer breeze moving across my exposed arms. I was hesitant to touch them; they didn't seem real. I couldn't make out any veins or physical edges. Rather they were made of a yellow light made solid but fuzzy at the edges.

Looking at them, I thought about how a hummingbird moved their wings faster than the eye could see. The image had no sooner formed in my minds eye when my wings began to move faster. My body started ascending rapidly, and in a panic, I thought for the wings to stop, picturing them holding frozen against my back. The wings stopped at the thought and my ascent slowed. Before the panic could ease, I began to fall back to the earth.

Looking at the rapidly approaching ground, I focused on wanting to descend more slowly, and the wings responded accordingly. With my feet once again firmly planted on the ground, I took a steadying breath. This flying thing was not for children. Trusting my feet more than these new appendages, I walked the rest of the way to the shaded tree line. Once in the shade, I fell back to lean against a wall of bark at the base of a massive conifer, bracing my back against the rough surface and sliding down to sit between the trees exposed roots without considering the wings. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the wings were still there but much dimmer. As they moved, I saw them disappear into the rough bark and then reappear again. If sunlight made Malavy insubstantial, it made sense something similar would happen to me in the shade. The fact that I was starting to figure out some of this fairy magic craziness was not very reassuring. I was more than ready to wake up now.