The Fairy Whisperers

Cave of Wonders

We climbed up the rest of the way and, as promised, the mouth of a cave lay gaping open in front of us. It was bigger than I had expected. Some light filtered in but the clouds had gotten even darker and more saturated so there was minimal sunlight. It was a bit dim if we were to examine it for signs of a mysterious object that we had never seen before and didn't know its whereabouts. To make our job even harder, we had to hurry and prove this thing wasn't here before the flood gates opened and it was too slippery for us to safely get down the mountain. They would not take it very well back home if we did not make it back before night fall with no real explanation of why. In fact, even with our explanation we would be in big trouble.

So we set about the nasty business of trying to find the horn in the cave walls. We split up and took either side, planning to move along the wall and meet ant the centre in the back of the dome shaped cave.

My eyes searched in vertical strips as my fingetips wondered over the grey and brown rock. I wasn't sure what I was feeling or looking for, but everything I saw and felt seemed exactly the same, like rock. I was surprised at how perfectly rounded and relatively smooth the walls were. Almost as if ther really had been some mystic power involved in it's creation.

Sometimes I felt a jagged bit, or saw a rock that was more brown than grey, and a cynic though I was, I felt my heart leap with hope. I suppose I wished for Alice's sake that we would find something, even if it wasn't a magic horn. Just a little souvenir would do. But each time, upon closer inspection, anything out of the ordinary turned out to be more rock.

"Anything yet?" Alice asked sounding anxious. I looked over at her. She was seacrhing frantically with sweeping circular motions of her hands.

"No, not yet," I said, trying to feign optimisim.

We reached the back of the cave and stood in front of each other. I shrugged and gave her a consoling smile.

"At least we tried," I said.

She shook her head. "No. No, we can't give up. It has to be here. Let's switch sides."

I nodded. I could see how much she wanted this, even needed it. I watched her pat and rub the wall for a little while before I began to look over her side too.

We were both half way to the opening of the cave when we heard heavy drops of rain begin to pelt the rock. Then the entire sky flashed with a white light and a deafening crack of thunder sounded and echoed in the cave.

We looked at each other with matching concern on our faces.

"Let's just hope it doesnt last too long. The rocks will dry pretty quickly, it might even be easier to grip if they're a little damp," I said with a bit of cheer in my voice.

But Alice started to crumble right before my very eyes. This was the straw that broke the camels back. She sank to the floor and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with tiny sobs.

I came and sat next to her and put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. "Oh Alice, I know it's disappointing. But at least it was an adventure. We had fun, didn't we?"

She didn't stop crying and I squeezed her a little tighter feeling my own eyes start to get a little teary.

"Please don't cry Alice. You don't need to talk to all the world's creatures to be happy. You've got so many sasquatch friends that are dying to hear all the smart and crazy things you have to say."

"No, Jane, I don't. Every day it feels like the world is telling me that I'm worthless because I'm not a hunter. I know how crazy it sounds to a society built around killing creatures for meat that a creature is more than just food. But I didn't care about being crazy or worthless because I thought I knew the truth."

I couldn't imagine a sasquatch would ever say something like that to her. But if someone had, that person should be punished. That was not the saswuatch way. We lived by coopertion and hard work.

"You are not crazy or worthlesss, Alice. You're so special and unique. I've never met enyone like you and I probably never will. Just because you are not the chosen one it doesn't mean that you have to believe any of the garbage that person, or those people, say to you."

"Jane, you are so naive. No one says it, they are all too polite. But I see how they look at me. I'd rather be an outcast than a hunter. Especially a female hunter. Working myself to the bone, trying to fit into a boys club, only for all my ambitions to be thwarted so I can be put to use populating the world with more hunters, with still no respite from the gruelling training and no option for career change."

That hit a nerve. As cruel as it sounded, it was all true. I would be of age soon, and I would be taken off any long range missions. Jack, from my troupe, and his parents had been planning for a long time for me to be the mother of his children. I had two years at best before I had to retire and settle down to have as many children as I could for there rest of my fertile days.

Alice immediately regretted everything she said. "I'm sorry, Jane, I didn't mean that."

"That's ok, you're right, that is what is going to happen to me. I understand if that is not your preference. but I am a hunter, I was born to be a hunter, and even if my actual hunting career is short lived, I will always train and think like a hunter, because that's what I am."

"You are more than just a hunter. You're sweet and kind and special. You are the chosen one, not me."

That took me by surprise. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Just as I know in my heart that this horn is real, I know that i am not the one who is meant to find it. No matter how much I love fairies. You were meant to come up here. It's destiny, I felt it the first time we talked."

"Alice, I didn't come here because I wanted to talk to creatures , I came because I wanted to talk to you, because I like you. and besides, I can't be the chosen one because I didn't find the horn."

Another bolt of lightning crackled outside the cave this time it was as bright as the sun and we saw the bolt zig zag right in front of us. It struck a tree with a crash which was very quickly followed by booming thunder.

We let out scared gasps and it felt like the ground beneath us reverberated with the impact. A bit of dust began to shake free from cracks in the rocks and sprinkle down above our heads.

I caught a glimpse of something in the wall. A small flake of rock had fallen off and there was just the hint of a golden shimmer where it used to be.

"look! do you see that?" I said squinting my eyes at the wall.

Alice straightened and strained to see what I was looking at. "What? what is it?" she asked, urgent and excited.

I let go of her and stood up. I walked toward the tiny gold spec with my eyes narrowed to focus and my finger pointed out towards it ready to make contact.

I got to the wall and heard her shuffling behind me to get up. She rushed to stand over me and I felt her breath on my neck as she looked over my shoulder to see.

The opening where the gold spec was was just big enough for my finger tip to poke through and touch the mysterious gold spec. It felt, smooth, and cold to the touch. definitely not rock. I wiggled my finger around a little, and loosened a few more little rock particles. the spec grew bigger. Alice and I both seemed to be holding our breaths now.

I had been using my injured hand but now put it down to use my good hand for more intensive probing. But there was no need, the rock fell away easily with just a touch.

I could feel the energy emanating off it, powerful and hypnotic. It made the fur on the back of my neck stand on end. I stole a glance at Alice and knew she could feel it too. This would change everything.

THE END

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Author's note

I'll leave it to you to decide what happens next. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!