Lessoc Fountain - a fairy-creature tale

Ch. 23 Cousins and Promises

Cocot fell to the ground and hit a stepping stone. Ignoring the pain, she scrambled to her feet.

"Wait! He just wants a carrot. He's my horse," she cried, rushing between Hector and the shining blade.

"Step away, girl," the fairy said through clenched teeth. He raised the knife to chest level, holding it in both hands as though to drive it straight into Hector's heart.

She stood in his way. "No, I won't let you hurt him." Two heavy footsteps thudded in the dirt behind her and Hector's hulking presence was at her shoulder. He huffed and hot air hit her nape.

"Listen to me carefully," the fairy said. "If you value your life, move away very slowly. I know this creature appears to be an ordinary horse, but he is the hunting steed that many a huntsman rode into battle. He will kill you, child. Come here to me."

Her will was bent nearly to the breaking point; her bare feet shifted on the ground, preparing to move her body forward, but she ground her teeth together, resisting. Standing ankle deep in carrot tops, she reminded herself that Hector was her horse, the horse who stole all her vegetables. "Whatever this horse used to be, he is old and sick and he is my friend now. I'm going to cure him of the huntsman's magic, you'll see. I won't let you hurt him."

"Do you have any idea what he's done? How many creatures he has killed for the simple pleasure of it?" His mouth twisted in an ugly grimace as though he was chewing something disgusting. "He deserves to be punished!"

"Look at him. He already is punished."

"Then my act will be final act of mercy."

"Please, I need him," she begged. "In less than two weeks, he'll be cured and I need him to help me carry supplies from the market and to help me...and he is my friend."

The fairy took several steps along the path, but Cocot kept herself in front of Hector. In the fairy's hands, the blade made tiny zig-zags with its point, adjusting its aim as the fairy walked. The king's nephew narrowed his eyes, deciding upon some course of action. "It was this horse who helped the former huntsman kill all three of the king's sons. What do you think the fairy king would do if he knew you were harboring this monster, keeping it near to have it help you?"

"I am not the king's subject to do his bidding and this horse is no longer the same as when he went on the hunt," said Cocot. The beast who had tried to kill her on the doorstep a few nights ago was inside of Hector; but that was the part she hoped to destroy.

"You choose your company and your fate chooses you," the fairy said. He turned his hands and in the low light of evening, the blade shone coldly from within.

"There's moonlight in your knife," Cocot said out loud as realization struck her.

Her mother was lying in the bed, whispering, "Leave some of the brambles high for the moonlight." Cocot shook her head and was staring at the fairy again.

"Yes?" the fairy asked, surprised. "Does it bother you?"

Cocot's mouth opened, but she didn't know what to say.

The fairy hissed several words at her in a language she did not recognize. A distant echo sounded in her mind an instant later, saying, "Does the moonlight in a silver blade bother you, dark huntress? Are you afraid for yourself and your slave horse?" The echo could have come all the way from the dank cellar under the workshop.

Still she simply stared, unmoving and uncomprehending until he finally lowered the blade.

"It is true that you are only part fairy, isn't it? You don't understand or know anything at all. And to think, my cousin Farafell took you in and raised you as her own child," he said.