Dreams and Shadows Page 12

  “Well then, give me a hug.” Ewan wrapped his arms around the Bendith’s neck, Dithers squeezing back. “Get some sleep.”

  Dithers stood up and stepped outside. He gazed into the distance at the sun cresting over the hills.

  “Meinrad wants a word,” said a familiar voice from over his shoulder. He looked back. Coyote. The old trickster stood there staring at him, sullen, with mournful eyes as Dithers’s heart sank into his stomach; the only thing worse than Coyote smiling at you was when Coyote wasn’t smiling at you.

  “Shit.”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much,” said Coyote. “You’ll be fine. As long as you told someone about taking the Tithe Child on a hunt before you left.”

  Though it seemed impossible, Dithers’s expression fell even further and he buried his face in his hands.

  Coyote smiled. “Like I said, I wouldn’t worry. I knew.”

  Dithers looked up at him. “How did . . . ?”

  Coyote cocked his head back toward Dithers’s cave. “Ran into your boy yesterday. And no one can keep anything from me that I don’t want them to.” He patted Dithers on his meaty shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go get you out of trouble.”

  The two walked off together out of the camp, into the woods.

  “So what do you think they were trying to tell us?” asked Dithers. “Do you think it’s about the tithing?”

  Coyote smiled. “For your sake, my friend, let’s hope not.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE DEVIL’S DUE

  An excerpt by Dr. Thaddeus Ray, Ph.D., from his book A Chronicle of the Dreamfolk

  There are few things in this world more insidious than the notion of tithing the Devil. Certainly there are more violent acts and more stomach-turning deeds to be found among the habits of the fae, but none are so deliberately thought out or so cruelly and coldly enacted as that of the Tithe.

  While many tales exist of its origin, most point to a deal struck by the fae sometime before the Common Era. Popular tales insist that fairies once had incredibly brief life spans, most never living long enough to see their teen years. They left behind no art, no literature, and no tangible mark on the world at all. Generation after generation of fairy were born of this world, lived, and then died in it, while the world went on mostly unaware that they were ever here. They tried desperately to find a way to live longer, with no success, until the Devil himself offered them a deal.

  If they were willing to sacrifice one of their own once every seven years during the darkest part of the night on the darkest night of the year, he would grant them extraordinarily long lives that would dwarf even those experienced by human beings. They would be seemingly immortal, outlasting entire generations of men. That sacrifice was called the Tithe.

  They accepted. The fairies drew lots every seven years and one unlucky fairy would accept his or her fate. Soon after that, when their extended lives carried them into their forties or fifties, they began selecting the fairy who was the eldest among them and ended its life for the sake of them all. If, however, they did not select a fairy on the night and hour that the Devil demanded, he would himself come and take one of his own choosing—usually the purest among them.

  But as the years wore on and the fae discovered the sheer length of their near immortality, they began to relish it. They wondered why they should have to eventually give up their lives for a deal made ages ago by fairies no longer around. It is believed that it was the Tuatha De Danann who first attempted the practice of child tithing and that it was this shame that forced them beneath the hills from which they would later claim their name: Sidhe. What is known is that the first Tithe Child sealed the bargain forever and that, unbeknownst to the descendants of the first dealmakers, the Devil had included a clause stating that if ever a being not born of fae blood was offered up, fairies would spend eternity out of time, loosed from its stream. Thus fairyland, and fairy time with it, was born.

  While there are a number of tales that dispute various aspects of the story, what is certain are the rules and how they are presently meted out. Children are taken as infants, often replaced by changelings to disguise the kidnapping, and brought to live amongst the fairies. There they are raised on fairy milk and food handled only by the fairies themselves. This has two effects. The first is that over time the magic of the fae seeps into the essence of the child and allows them, if they so choose, to become a fairy when they are old enough—usually about nine or ten. The second is that consuming fairy food prevents them from ever leaving without the consent of the head of the court (usually a king).

  The ritual changing of a child into a fairy is often carried out on the same night as the Tithe. The reasons for this are unclear and are said to vary from court to court. Regardless, once the child is a fairy, they are sacrificed, their soul offered up to the Devil.

  As each court is liable for its own tithing, fairies tend to group together geographically in as large a group as possible to limit both their responsibility as well as their odds of being selected if the tithing does not go as planned. This is the core principle behind any governing fae body and the reason so many fairies of different type and disposition will allow themselves to be ruled by a single figure or council. Fairies that go it alone quickly find themselves collected and dragged unwillingly to Hell.

  Children raised for this purpose are rarely aware of their role in the community and often believe that they will live out long lives among the fairies they are raised with. It is only in the last moments of their lives that they are afforded a glimpse into the true hearts and intentions of the fairy court they serve.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE BOY COLBY ARRIVES

  Colby Stevens and his friend Yashar had walked untold miles to get to where they were now, the city several weeks behind them. And while occasionally tedious, with hardly anything of interest in sight, the promise of what was just within their reach excited Colby more with each passing step. Yashar had been true to his word: he had at the ready unending supplies of sunblock, refreshments, and delicacies of all kind. Were they not walking almost every moment of the day, it would have been a vacation. But they were walking.

  They found themselves trekking through an abandoned stretch of state highway—a more than generous description given its patches of broken asphalt, its fading white dashes, and the overgrown brush along both sides that thickened straightaway into a dense tree line. It was the very definition of middle-of-nowhere Texas, a relatively uninhabited area of the world full of beauty, wildlife, and a complete lack of recognizable civilization. The road was driven enough to be clear of branches and debris, but not so often that they saw a passing car more than once or twice an hour.

  “Mommy says my daddy is a fairy,” said Colby, from out of the blue.

  “What?” asked a blindsided Yashar.

  “My mommy says Daddy’s a fairy. It’s why he goes on so many business trips without her.”

  Yashar nodded. “I don’t think that’s what she meant.” He laughed a little.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean . . .” Sigh. “She probably meant . . . because he flies around. Like a fairy.”

  “Oh.” Colby paused, mulling over that little piece of information. “So fairies fly?”

  “Some do.”

  “Not all of them?”

  “No. Pixies and will-o’-the-wisps fly all the time. Some creatures float. But most walk around like us.”

  “But then why would Mommy think that Daddy flies like a fairy?”

  “Because people have forgotten more about fairies than they actually remember. They think of them as cute, fun little creatures like Tinkerbell; they’ve forgotten all the bad things they can do, the evil that some of them are capable of.”

  “Evil? You mean bad things? But I thought we were going to see fairies. Fairies don’t do bad things.”

 
“Oh, I’m afraid they can and do. That’s what I’m telling you. Not all fairies are good creatures; they will do you harm quicker than you can say their name. Some will lead you astray in the night, while others will swallow you whole and spit out your bones. They are masters of disguise, whether concealed in the wood or dressed as a hapless beggar. You might have met dozens of them over your life and never known it. Beautiful women, handsome men, unwashed bikers, and stray dogs: I’ve seen fairies assume all shapes and sizes to get what they want.”

  “So they’re bad?” asked Colby, now a little scared.

  “Not all of them. Only the unseelie ones.” Yashar leaned in a bit while maintaining his pace. “Unseelie means ‘bad fairies.’ ” Then he smiled. “Some, on the other hand, want nothing more than to do good in this world—to shower you with attention and gifts of food or love or hard work. They are sometimes pleasant little creatures of daylight and daffodils, brimming with goodwill, wishes, and a desire to leave the world a little more magical than they found it. We call those seelie.”

  “How can you tell the difference?”

  “You just have to know the difference. Fairies are like people, they each have a job, a purpose in life, and after a while you just figure out which are which. Some you can tell right away. Others are much sneakier.”

  “Oh. Do you know the difference?” asked Colby.

  Yashar smiled reassuringly. “I do.”

  “How?”

  “Years of practice.”

  “So you’ll teach me how to tell the difference?”

  “I will,” said Yashar.

  “How are we gonna find them?”

  Yashar pointed along the side of the road. “You see these trees and the growth surrounding them?”

  Colby nodded.

  “Well, if you keep your eyes sharp, you’ll notice every so often a small break in the woods upon which not a living thing grows on the ground. Those paths are walled in on both sides by lilies and lilacs, bluebonnets and sunflowers. They start and they stop, with no rhyme or reason, as if someone began walking on them from out of nowhere then disappeared back into the nowhere. Those are called fairy paths, and they are roads that will take you to the fairies. There is a magic to them, and when you learn to read the ambient magic in the world, you will learn to feel and hear them as well as they can be seen. A fairy path is the first sign that they are near; small dips in the universe that bridge our world to theirs.”

  “They live on another planet?”

  “No. They live on ours. But they live in a place normal people can’t see, in the nooks and crannies of the mind, in the places most people wouldn’t think to look.”

  “But you know where to look, right?”

  Yashar nodded. “And so do you.”

  “I do?” asked Colby.

  “I gave you the sight to see them and the instinct to know where to look. You’ll see what I mean soon enough. I can hear the tinkling of such a trail close by.”

  Colby exploded like a popcorn kernel in a hot oiled pan. “We’re almost there?”

  “We are,” said Yashar.

  “We’re gonna see fairies?!”

  “We are.”

  “How much longer?”

  “Moments.”

  “IcantwaitIcantwaitIcantwait.”

  “You can wait.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “You’re going to have to. We still have a small bit of walking to do. But I can feel them close.”

  “How do you feel them?”

  Yashar stopped, turned to Colby, and then took a knee. He put both hands on Colby’s shoulders. “Calm down for a second.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Take a deep breath.” Colby breathed in an overexaggerated breath of air, exhaling loudly. “Now again.” Colby breathed in again. “Do you feel that?”

  “Feel what?” asked Colby, a little unsure of what he was looking for.

  “That tickle. Over to your left.”

  Colby thought deeply, his mind wandering over every muscle in the left side of his body. He shook his head. “No.”

  “It feels like a little tug, as if a string is pulling a small part of you in another direction.”

  Colby calmly thought, his eyes growing wide. “YES! It feels like . . . like . . .”

  “Something is over there behind the trees, right?”

  “YES!”

  “That’s your senses telling us something is near. Your mind has been awakened to the world most people don’t know exist. Soon you’ll be able to distinguish between the tickle of something and the tickle of something specific.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like the difference between someone you know and something you don’t.”

  “Do you know what we’re feeling right now?” asked Colby.

  “What you’re feeling is a fairy path. But when we follow that path, we’ll find some fairies.”

  “Cool!”

  “Yes, very.”

  The two turned back to the road, Colby exuberant, a whirling tempest of warm sunshine. Soon they took the last few steps toward the path, the tugging leading them off the pavement, into the brush, the highway disappearing into the thick foliage behind them.

  The path felt alive, an electric trail of tingling sensations, rippling like waves lapping against the shore. Sweet aromas hung in the air—milkweed mixed with lavender—teasing Colby’s nostrils as he made his way deeper and deeper into the trees. The tree line became a forest, its canopy brooding darkly above them, dimming the harsh sun into a soft, warm glow.

  The path continued deep into the wood, winding erratically, as if it had been carved out by drunken pixies chasing a confused cat. It wove through small grottos, past fields filled with tall grass and thick knobby trees. Colby bounded from patch to patch, always ahead of Yashar, his eyes glued to the ground around his feet. He could have walked within fifty feet of an elephant to one side and missed it entirely, but not missed a nickel halfway covered in dirt if it was anywhere on the path.

  He had no idea what lay around each corner or bend—whether it be a pixie or a nixie, a spriggan or a sprite. Yashar had mentioned them all, and while the tales often went in one ear and out the other, fragments of them remained; there were a lot of things he expected to see around each turn and tree, but the last thing he anticipated coming across was a little boy no older than he. But that was exactly what he found.

  It was two in the afternoon on a rather warm and delightful Tuesday—nestled perfectly in the bosom of spring—that the boy Colby and the boy Ewan first set eyes on each other. There was no preamble to their meeting, no warning or alarm. Both boys darted around a tree, stopping dead in their tracks, their eyes locking immediately.

  “You can’t see me,” Ewan stated.

  “Yes I can,” replied Colby, very much able to see the boy standing right in front of him.

  “No you can’t. I’m invisible.”

  Colby shook his head. “Not to me, you’re not.”

  “Oh yes I am. I’m a fairy and you’re just a boy. You’re not supposed to see me.”

  “You’re no fairy,” said Colby.

  “I’m mostly fairy,” said Ewan. “That’s all that matters.”

  “What’s a Mostly Fairy?” asked Colby.

  “It means I’m almost a fairy, so I’m still partly boy.”

  “Well, I’m all boy.”

  “I know,” said Ewan.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because Dithers taught me the difference between all the fairies and you don’t look like any of them. You just look like a boy.”

  “What’s a Dithers?”

  “He’s the fairy that takes care of me.”

  “Wow! You have a fairy?!”

  “Yeah. He feeds me and takes me out to hunt and s
tuff.”

  “I have a djinn,” said Colby proudly.

  “What’s a djinn?” asked Ewan.

  “You know,” said Colby, “the smokey guys from lamps. They grant wishes.” Ewan shook his head, sure that this boy was now making things up. “Haven’t you ever heard of Aladdin?”

  Again Ewan shook his head. “No.”

  “Or Ali Baba and the forty thieves?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t you know anything?”

  “YES!” said Ewan, putting his hands firmly on his hips. “I know lots of stuff!”

  “Like what?”

  “Like where the pixies live, and what a Buber is and where to find Bill the Shadow and why you should never dance with a fairy when they ask you to.”

  “But you’ve never seen Aladdin?” asked Colby.

  “No.”

  “Well, you don’t know anything then.”

  Both grimaced for a moment. “I’m Ewan,” said one boy to the other.

  Colby extended a hand. “My name’s Colby.” Ewan stared him down, distrusting the outstretched arm. “Don’t you know how to shake hands?”

  “No.”

  Colby stamped his foot, exaggeratedly throwing out his arms. “Gah! You don’t know anything!”

  “What do we have here?” called Yashar from behind Colby. Colby turned to look at Yashar, shaking his head.

  “I found a boy who doesn’t know anything.”

  Yashar sauntered up the path. “Did you now?” At first he wasn’t sure what to make of Ewan. Thin, dirty, relatively unkempt, the boy appeared to be entirely feral. But as he peered closer, he could see the hints of glamour flickering off him, shimmering, sparkling beneath the surface. This boy lived among the fairies and was probably a stolen child adopted by some lovesick mother. Protective though they were of their charges, Yashar could find no reason the two boys couldn’t talk—especially since the young Ewan was most likely a member of the very court they were visiting.

  “His name is Ewan and he’s never seen Aladdin,” explained Colby.

  “And how would he, living out here in fairy country?”