but it was a real voice Not a bird not the whisper of the wind And through sweet seasons spreads our joy o’er meadow copse and hedge for thee and this our Woodland Home undying love I pledge Daddy did you hear that Anna murmured Ssssh hissed her father I think I see something up ahead There was a dim flickering of light It was like the glow of distant candles or fireflies untold scores of them Hold up Jim whispered and reached an arm out to stop his daughter Suddenly the deer were visible At first they were no more than ghosts dreamy mounds of vapor and a heartbeat later they were solid and real There was an entire herd of them albinos with gleaming white coats facing away into a clearing Beyond them was a tower nearly twenty feet high Tiny creatures of flame danced on the spreading tips of antlers which stretched out from the skeleton of the structure The tower was wreathed in flowers Little figures stood at the tower’s apex and descended stairs along its side joining a vast crowd Not one of the beings would have reached higher than a human knee Jim McCormack held his breath and stared yet all he saw were the deer who were there to witness the Faerie wedding of Alfheim Blind to the alien world and the ceremony taking place he nudged his daughter’s elbow I’m going to get the big one he hissed Jim slid the barrel forward closing the action and squeezed the trigger With a loud bang and a burst of sulfur the twelve-gauge shotgun loosed its fury Anna startled dropped her own gun and pressed her hands to her ears The mighty Deer King turned his head as death sped through an open space between his antlers At the top of the wedding tower the Elfin groom stepped forward to sweep his beloved out of harm’s way and the slug tore him in half His emerald-colored Blood gushed out and his body toppled from the back of the tower Pandemonium erupted as the Faerie Folk snatched up their young and ran from the scene of horror The deer leapt and scattered in every direction The hunter raced forward He pumped the shotgun ejecting the shell and dropped another into the slot Get your gun Anna come on Jim shouted Let’s bring home a trophy Nobody’s going to believe what we saw today When Jim reached the center of the clearing he bumped into something and fell As he got to his feet he caught a brief glimpse of a toppled tower Fire Sprites were leaping from the carved ramparts and disappearing in the air Jim
shook the vision from his head and charged after the buck Daddy Anna called with tears in her eyes stumbling after him Wait Suddenly something small swift and silvery made its way around Anna’s legs The creature was muttering words in a language Anna had never heard before With her next breath her eyes rolled up in her head and she slipped to the ground Though still conscious the girl lay paralyzed unable to move Anna’s father was in hot pursuit of the deer He was completely unaware of the Faerie Folk scurrying toward a slight bulge in a ravine just ahead Down a short flight of moss-covered steps the skin of a translucent tube five or six feet in diameter lay exposed It resembled a root or the ribbed back of a gigantic white earthworm The Faerie Folk called it the Cord Invisible to Human eyes the Cord was part of a network that spread along the surface of the earth It wove in and out of the soil binding their world together like arteries that pulse blood through a living body The Faerie Folk knew how to enter the Cords where they rose out of the ground and travel on the winds that blew inside them Now the Cord was their means of escape As the first Elves Trolls Pixies Gnomes and Brownies appeared they used their fingernails to slice through the Cord’s thin rubbery surface Widening the slit they bent into the opening to see if the path was clear and slipped inside Their bodies hurtled like storm-tossed leaves through the tunnel The Cord would give them passage to a safer place somewhere anywhere far away Ladies-in-waiting guided the Elfin Princess Asra down the green carpet With her gown torn and a shoe missing from her bruised foot Asra knelt at the entrance where guards held the slit open for the royal family to enter Her parents hovered at her side ready for the journey to the kingdom of Ljosalfar This was the homeland of the dead Prince and where the Elves of Alfheim would stay until it was safe to return Where’s your other shoe the Queen cried I I don’t know answered Asra The Queen moaned Alfheim brides have worn the diamond shoes for centuries Without them a curse will fall upon our house We can’t leave here without the pair N-n-nonsense stammered King Thorgier Asra’s father We’ll send scouts to find the shoe and b-b-bring it home A distant cousin of the groom Prince Macta scurried from behind Wait he cried clutching at the broken feathers of Asra’s bridal train Princess you needn’t be afraid I’m here to protect you
The silver-cloaked Mage the spiritual leader of the Elves of Alfheim appeared at the Princess’s side Asra’s not your responsibility In Ljosalfar she’ll be well cared for Tis best you wait at the appropriate Cord for the rest of your Clan to gather then travel north to Helfratheim This way Macta said the monk Jardaine Anger spread across the Elf’s face As you say he muttered stepping back While most Faerie Folk rode the winds inside the Cord like birds that sail on a breeze royal families traveled in elaborately carved gondolas A fleet was tethered inside the Cord waiting for the departure of Princess Asra and her entourage Macta watched from a distance The Princess whose love he desired with all of his twisted heart slipped inside Then the ropes that held the gondolas were released and they sped away Faerie Folk always exercised caution when traveling the Cord They waited for the precise moment it was safe to enter for collision meant certain death Jim McCormack knew nothing as he charged ahead He tripped and fell against the exposed Cord the end of his rifle coming down hard and tearing a hole in the membrane The man’s legs were quickly sucked inside Screaming and kicking he struggled against the current of wind but it was too late He never saw the shape speeding toward him from the milky distance Black with red eyes that grew wide in surprise the Gremlin was moving too fast to change course In a bone-crunching crash the creature collided with the hunter The ground was showered with Blood and chunks of flesh and the rest was swept away in the Cord Stay back my children stay away from the Blood the Mage cried out Macta lingered nearby even as the crowd dispersed When he was certain no one was looking he knelt and dipped his finger in a puddle on the ground Then he moved the finger to his lips He had never tasted blood before Such an act was expressly forbidden the Elves harbored an ancient fear of spilled blood and the power of contagion And yet Macta thought just because something is forbidden that does not mean it is impossible Macta had spent his entire life doing things that were forbidden and he believed that nothing was impossible if one wanted it badly enough The Mage raised her hands and cried out in a trembling voice Listen to me children of Alfheim Today we have borne witness to a tragedy One of the Humans that entered our realm is dead and I have cast a spell over the other so that she will do us no harm Princess Asra and her family are safely on their way to Ljosalfar Prince Udos however has gone to join his ancestors in the Spirit World
Jardaine and the other monks made an effort to contain the crowd and to direct their attention to the Mage It was important that the Elves understand what was expected of them Though we are out of immediate danger the ordeal ahead of us is only just beginning said the Mage We must pack our belongings to leave Alfheim is unclean our land is contaminated fouled with Human and Faerie Blood Tradition says that three hundred and sixty moons must pass before the Earth has been cleansed and it is safe for us to return NO the Elves sobbed falling to the ground The mighty oaks of Alfheim represented their Motherland the only home most of them had ever known Where will we go Don’t despair soothed the Mage The Elves of Ljosalfar will take us in After our time in exile has passed we shall return Time heals all wounds it cleans even the foulest corruption The Mage gestured toward the clearing where the unconscious girl lay But before we go this Human must be removed from our Sacred Land All must help Take leaves from the branches of the oak to keep your fingers from touching her flesh or clothing The leaves will protect you from contamination while we move her body Next the dead Prince’s corpse was wrapped in cloth salvaged from the celebration tables The monks pieced together a bier from the wreckage of the tower Then the Fire Sprites assembled along the platform for the cremation burning with fierce rage and sadness and love until all that was left of Prince Udos was ash Silently the Elves went to gather their things They filed through the woods and disappeared into the Cord One day they would return when time had cleansed Alfheim of the stain of Blood and the shock from the Is she dead someone cried from the crowd Not dead answered the Mage but entranced Justice must be served We will put her to rest at the bottom of the stream beyond the grove and there she’ll lie as long as water flows over her open eyes With my enchantment she’ll watch the clouds go by and see the long years pass She won’t die but neither will she truly live She’ll have an eternity to consider the damage her kind has done to us So the girl was lifted from the forest floor delivered to the bank of the stream then rolled into the icy water The Mage went to the side of a young Troll who towered over the waiting crowd Tomtar as the Troll was known bent over as the Mage whispered in his pointed ear Tomtar nodded It was an honor to do the Mage’s bidding and he agreed to stay close by the stream and keep watch over the girl
