The Goblin's Crown

The Fairie Door: An Extra Short Story

The Fairie Door was a short story I wrote as part of a letter to a pen pal ages ago. I was recently rereading it and was amused to find little similarities to The Goblin's Crown. One of the main characters reminds me of Matilda and Jasper in ways. Not to mention that there's a magic tree involved. Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you all. I hope you like it!

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A young man trudged purposefully through the forest of twisted trees. Their limbs swirled together, entangling, becoming sharp spines like the earth itself were a porcupine. The boy wore the tattered clothing of a beggar. His clothes were rough to the touch, the tunic made from an old feed sack. A brown cloak hung on his narrow shoulders. Holes were torn through its age worn leather, giving him little protection against the chilled air. Snow was approaching. It would soon cover the ground and turn his bare feet to solid ice.

He smiled as a good, strong tree came into view. The limbs were not twisted. They reached towards the sun with leaves of blood red. "We've found it. It's really here." He opened up his cloak and a small girl left its warm safety.

"Gran wasn't lying!" The child gasped. Her gaunt cheeks grew rosy with happiness. The wind picked up, swirling her red hair around her boney shoulders.

"Of course she wasn't lying, Eda. Gran never lies." The boy took Eda's small hand and led her towards the tree. They climbed up its tall, thick roots and stood on a particularly large knot. He laid his hand on the wood and reeled it back, at a sharp, unexpected pain. The tree's bark was rough, prickly like broken glass. He looked down in bewilderment at the trickle of blood that now dripped from a small cut in one of his fingers. The tree had drawn blood.

"Don't touch it. This tree bites." He warned Eda.

"Trees don't bite, Rosts." Eda laughed, her voice light like softly jingling bells.

"Fairie trees do." He brushed back the hood of his cloak, revealing a mop of golden hair. It was filthy from weeks of not bathing, but it still shone brightly, like the sun in mid-summer. Rosts took the dagger from his belt and stabbed it forcefully into the tree's glass bark. A scream, like an entire village being burned alive all at once, erupted from the tree. Blood spewed from its wounds, splattering Rosts' face and clothing as he stabbed it again and again.

He began to carve a symbol into the bark. It was an image he'd seen inscribed in a multitude of Gran's old books; a trinity of interlocking rings with an open eye in the middle. While he carved, Eda looked on in stunned silence, clasping her hands over her ears to block out the tree's screams.

At the symbol's completion, the tree trembled violently. The symbol began to glow with a white light. It grew, becoming a tall door of sunlight. From within, they began to hear little, garbled voices.

"Who is that knocking at our door? Is it she? Is it he? Is it you?" The voices asked. Strangely shaped shadows danced from within the light.

Rosts began to laugh, his whole body shaking in delight. "I am Rosts Winter! I am he who knocks at the Fairies' Door!" Behind him, Eda cowered, screaming. She'd seen a glimpse of the things within the light. They were not human and they were not kind. They had claws for scratching and teeth for biting.

Raspy laughter echoed from the door. Things with sharp-toothed smiles skittered behind the light. Slowly, the door creaked open. Dark things seeped through. They crawled along the forest floor, flew through the air on wings that seemed too small to carry them. His sister was screaming in terror, but Rosts continued to laugh, relieved tears falling from his eyes. It was over. No more begging. No more hunger. No more would they bare the pain of loss. He and Eda would never feel the agony of want again. From this moment on, they were to be rulers of their own world, a dark world of their own making.

The creatures reached for Rosts with long, crooked fingers. He welcomed their touch, like that of his Gran. He could hear his sister's frightened voice, begging the shadows for her freedom. "Don't be afraid." He whispered soothingly. "They won't hurt you. I am to be their king from this moment on. You're going to be a princess, Eda; just like you always wanted." He closed his eyes and allowed the shadows to envelop him completely.

One child walked happily into the light while the other was dragged kicking, screaming, and crying to rule over the very monsters that had taken hold of her. With their king and princess now safely in the Wilds, the creatures continued to pour out into the land of man, through a door that would never slam shut again.