The Return of the Elves

[Palustris]

Chapter One.

Sprites.

 
The sprites, as young fairies are called, shuffled into the room we used as a classroom, looking very shame faced. They had just returned from being spoken to by King Adonis.

I suppose I ought to say who I am before going on with the story. My name is Shovelock Ellis Hewletts. I used to be a Professor of Entomology before I was magically reduced in size and came to live with the Fairies. Now I taught the young fairies. Fairies are not born with wings, they get them as they grow up. They do not all get their wings at the same age either. Some get them when they are very young and others much later. The younger a fairy is when it grows its wings, the less sense they have. Sadly these ‘sprites’ often are killed before they do grow up.

Fairies do not die, at least not of old age. They can be killed. Their lives are full of danger. They are at risk from birds, wasps, frogs, toads, shrews, dragonflies; indeed any creature which will eat insects will take a Fairy. King Adonis and I thought that if they were taught about these dangers before they went too far into the wide world, they would stand a better chance of surviving to adulthood. Since I was such an expert on insects, I was the one to teach them.

King Adonis is the oldest living Fairy. I call him King, but that is not really correct. In Fairy he is called “Eldest.” I refer to his daughters as ‘Princesses’, but they are not princesses in the same way as the daughters of a human King are. If Adonis was killed, the next leader would be the next oldest Fairy, not Larkspur, the eldest daughter. The next oldest Fairy lives somewhere in one of the other nests in the garden.

Now, these sprites were stood in front of me looking down at their shoes and saying nothing.

“Well, who is going to tell me what has been going on?” I asked. I knew already, but I wanted to hear it from them.

“You, Sedum, you usually have a lot to say for yourself, explain.”

Sedum drew a circle on the floor with his toe and took a deep breath. “We didn’t know it was so wrong,” he said, very close to tears.

I must admit, that I did feel a little sorry for them, but this was a lesson they really had to learn, not only for their sake, but for the sake of the whole Fairy tribe. “Come on, explain, “I said.

He took a deep breath and looked round at the others. They nodded and he began. “You know that there are workmen mending the path under the bridge?”

I nodded. The old path had been washed away in the Great Storm which had hit the area a short time before.

Sedum carried on, “Well, we went down and watched them working. It was interesting, for a while then we got fed up. Someone suggested a new game.”

“Someone?” I interrupted.

Sedum sniffed. “All right, I suggested a new game. We called it ‘Buzzing’. The idea was to see who could fly closest to a workman’s ear and make him wave his hand at the annoying insect that was buzzing in his ear.”

“I was the best,” said Poppy and then blushed. “I mean worst, I mean.” and burst into tears.

I ignored her and ordered Sedum, “Keep going.”

He took a deep breath.” It was fun, then Snowdrop got too close and one of the workmen managed to hit her with his hand. She was knocked down and landed on the path.” Sedum stopped talking and looked as if he was going to be sick.

Box took up the story.” We didn’t know about the stuff the path is made from. No-one told us. She just disappeared, we could not feel her. We could see her on the path, but we could not feel her. We flew down to the edge of the path, but we couldn’t step on it. We tried Professor, honest we tried.” He stopped and shook himself. “Bulrush is the best flyer so he flew back to get help. He came back with Juniper and Thistle. Juniper marched us off to King Adonis and we haven’t seen Snowdrop since.”

I took a little pity on them. “You will be relieved to know that apart from a few scratches she is all right.”

There was a collective sigh of relief.

“So, I went on,” What did King Adonis have to say to you?”

Sedum answered.” He was very, very angry. He said that if anyone of us had been seen by a human, then the human would have to be killed. Is that true?”

I nodded.” That is Fairy Law, yes.”

Sedum blew through his lips. “We didn’t know that either. King Adonis said that the Fairy who was seen would be the one who had to kill the human.”

I had not heard that part of the Law before either, but I did not show my astonishment.

Sedum finished with,” The King asked us if we really wanted to be the first ever fairy to kill a human being.”

“And do you?” I asked.

They chorused,” No!”

“Now, you may all sit down and I will try to explain about the stuff the path is made from.” I ordered.

They quickly found their places and sat down.

I looked at their very serious faces. “The path is made from a material called Tarmac or asphalt. It is a mixture of small bits of gravel and tar. Now the gravel is not a problem, but the Tar is. It somehow stops a Fairy from feeling all the other fairies.”

I should perhaps explain to my readers here that all fairies can feel all other fairies. They cannot read each others minds, but if something happens to one fairy all the others know about it. When Willow Nest was destroyed the whole tribe went into shock at the death of so many of their family and friends.

I carried on “When a Fairy goes on to Tarmac, I am told it is like having half of your mind torn out. When King Adonis tried to cross the road, he fell unconscious before he had gone a few wing beats and it was only because he was tied with a rope, that he was able to be pulled back.”

No one spoke for a minute, then Bulrush piped up.” How did Snowdrop get rescued then?”

“You are very lucky. The Tarmac has no effect on me and Thistle took me to where Snowdrop was lying and I went and carried her off the path. I did not realise that the path was made of Tarmac. I have not been down to the river since they began working on it. If I had I would have warned you about the tar.”

Poppy looked thoughtful. “That means that we won’t be able to get to the river then, if there is a path along the bank.”

“That’s true,” I said.

However, before we could go any further with this, there was a knock on the door and Juniper entered. “King Adonis would like to see you immediately, Prof.”

“Oooh,” said Sedum. “Perhaps he is in trouble too.”

I frowned at him. “For that remark and for your misbehaviour, you are all grounded. And by that I mean that you WALK, everywhere, until I say you may fly again. Anyone found flying will be tied to their bed. Understand?”

They nodded sadly. Being grounded was the worst punishment that could be given to a Sprite. They loved flying and never walked if they could help it.

[Palustris]

Chapter Two.

Problems.

 

King Adonis was in the throne room. “Ah, Prof, come and join me. Have you spoken to the sprites?”

“I have and I have grounded them until further notice, as you suggested. Er, in some ways I feel a bit at fault. I should have warned them about going near to humans.”

The King disagreed. “You were not to know there were workmen near the River.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t get down that far these days. The school keeps me pretty busy. The sprites said that the fairy who is seen is the one who has to kill the human, is that true?”

Adonis smiled.” I may have exaggerated a little there. It would probably be me who would have to do it.”

“Just out of interest, can a fairy kill a human?!” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. At least I think so. We have poisons which would only need a tiny amount, no more than a pin prick, but since it has never happened, I cannot say for sure.”

I was astonished.” You mean that in all the thousands of years of humans and fairies sharing the planet, no human have EVER seen a fairy?”

“Maybe they have, but no fairy has ever admitted to it and so no human has ever had to be killed.” Adonis replied. “But that is not why I sent for you.”

He rubbed his eyebrow. This was a sure sign that he was seriously worried about something.

He went on.” The Hedge Fairy Elders were here this morning.”

The Hedge Fairies were another tribe who lived in the hedgerows along the road. They were different in many ways to the Garden Fairies. I could see them killing a human who saw a fairy unlike Adonis. It had taken a crisis before they would allow me to meet them.

Adonis carried on rubbing his eyebrow. “They were very worried. None of their people have come back through the tunnel for the last few days.”

The tunnel was put under the road a few months back, to allow badgers to get from the fields on one side, down to the river. It was the only way that the fairies could get to the Yew trees in the Churchyard on the other side of the road. I have told that story before.

That was a bit of a shock to me.” Does that mean you are going to run out of the fungus again?”

The fungus grew only in Yew trees and was needed to make a special drink. This was the famous Elf Gift which kept the Fairies at their small size and gave them their wings amongst other things.

Adonis shook his head. “No, there is no problem there, at least not for a while. The brewers took a good look at the stuff my brother made and found that whilst it tasted foul, it did not go off, like ours did. They managed to put the two recipes together and now our Elf Gift will store for years. We have plenty, spread out amongst all the nests.”

“Good idea,” I said.

Adonis carried on.” I sent Blackthorn to check it out and he too has not returned.”

“Oh, “I said. “Do you think that there is something wrong over there?”

“I hope not,” said Adonis. “But we really need to know what is happening over there. Some of our youngsters and some of the Hedge fairy ones have moved over there to make new Nests. The trouble is that there are just not enough of us. You know that a Fairy can only marry someone from another Nest?”

“Yes.”

“It is hard to explain, but my name is not just ’Adonis.’ That is only the last part of it. I am not going to tell you all of my names, we would be here for hours, but what is important is that it has in it every one of my ancestors. So, my Father was Artemesia and his father was Woodruff and so on back for a long time. Now every Fairy has a name like that and it matters. The first time a male Fairy and a female Fairy meet, they tell each other their full name.”

“Seems an odd way to spend their first time together,” I said.”

“Maybe, “said Adonis, “But it is incredibly important. If they share the same name then they cannot marry. So when Holly and Willow got married it was no problem as they did not share a name, but their children cannot marry, say Primrose and Bilberry’s children, as they have the name ‘Artemisia’.”

“I see.”

“The trouble is we are getting very close to where there is no one who can be married to anyone else,” said the King. “That is why the Hedge Fairy elders and I were so keen to set up a Nest on the other side of the road.”

I thought for a moment.” What about Primrose, she is from a different tribe altogether?”

Adonis nodded. “True, we were hoping we could find her people, but as you know she has no memory of them at all.”

Primrose was a strange Fairy who lived on the other side of the road. She had at sometime had an accident and had tar stuck in her face. It had destroyed her memory and her ability to feel other Fairies.

“Anyway, we need to find out what is happening over there now.” Adonis said. “You and I are to meet the Hedge Elders by the tunnel.”

We went outside. Juniper and Thistle took my arms and together we flew down the garden to the tunnel opening. The Elders were waiting for us. They had another fairy with them. He looked very nervous and he blinked constantly.

“This is Mugwort,” said an Elder. “He is going to listen at the tunnel for us. He is a very unusual fairy.”

Mugwort interrupted. “Please, go away, all of you. It is too much.” Then he stopped and pointed at me. “He can stay, he is very restful.”

All the others backed away. Mugwort kept waving them away until they were a good distance back. “That’s a bit better,” he said.

He took my arm and almost dragged me to the tunnel entrance.” You think I am odd I know, but I have a problem. I can hear them,” He pointed to the others. “I can hear them all, every one of them. It’s like having a thousand voices in my head, all the time. It is driving me mad.” He blinked even more furiously. “I have to live as far away from them as I can, but you are silent, invisible to a Fairy. It is wonderful. I wish I could shut them all out”

I did not know what to say.

Mugwort crept into the tunnel. He did not go very far before he stopped. He stood for a good five minutes, turning his head from side to side. Then he came out. “There is something very wrong over there. I can only just hear my people and yours. They are a long way away. I sensed fear and concern.”

I started to ask a question, but he put his hand on my arm.” There is something else. There are other fairies there, strangers. And there is something odd about their minds.”

He stopped and scratched his head, seemingly deep in thought. “There is an echo.”

“An echo?” That did sound odd.

He said,” That’s the only way I can describe it. It is as if there are two minds in each Fairy.”

“Did these Fairies notice you?” I wanted to know.

He thought for a moment or two. “Yes and no, the Fairy part of the mind did, only a little, but the other did not.”

The others began to walk towards us.

Mugwort backed away.” Please, you tell them. I cannot take any more of this.”

I waved at the others to stop them. “I have any idea, “I said to Mugwort. “Stop there.”

He looked puzzled, but did as I asked. Quickly I went up to the road and picked up a couple of tar covered pieces of gravel. I ran back to him and put one piece in his hand. “Is that any better?” I asked.

He shook his head.

I put a second piece in his hand. ”Now?”

Slowly a smile spread across his face. “They’ve gone, the voices, they’ve gone. I cannot hear them any more.”

“But can you still feel the other fairies?” I did not want him to go completely out of touch with his kind.

“Oh yes, “he answered. “I can feel them, but the noise has gone.” He turned and began to walk towards Adonis and the others.

I caught his arm. “Slow down my friend. If you take that stuff too close to them they are likely to faint on you. Here, when you need to get close to other fairies, wrap the gravel in this. “I gave him a piece of the foil from inside a cigarette packet. “The voices will come back, but only until you unwrap the gravel again.”

He nodded. “I don’t know how to thank-you. I can put up with it for a few minutes now that I know I can stop it when I choose.”

We walked over to the others and Mugwort reported what he had felt in the tunnel. Then he waved his piece of foil to me and walked away.

[Palustris]

Chapter Three.

The other side.

            “This is very strange,” said Adonis. “Strange Fairies with two minds and all our friends frightened. We really need to find out what is happening over there.”

I could see that the Fairy Elders were very worried. Then something Mugwort had said made me wonder. “According to Mugwort, I am invisible to Fairies.”

The Hedge Fairy Elder smiled. “Well, we can SEE you, well enough, but not one of us can feel you, so I suppose you are sort of invisible.”

“In that case, surely the Strange Fairies would not be able to feel me, if I creep along the tunnel and see what is happening?” I said.

Adonis sighed. “We always seem to need you.” He stood silent for a minute. “Ok, but do please be very careful. Larkspur would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.”

Larkspur was Adonis’s daughter and my Fairy wife.

“She would never forgive me either,” I said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Here take this,” said one of the Hedge Fairies. He took a thorn sword from his belt.

I took it and entered the tunnel. The Hedge Fairies had kept it clear of spiders’ webs, so it was easy to walk along. All too soon the light from behind me faded. In front I could just make out the pinprick which was the other end of the tunnel. I stopped for a time until my eyes got used to the gloom. The Fairies might well have cleaned the tunnel but spiders build their webs very quickly and there are other things which might fancy a tasty snack.

Nothing leapt out at me and no spiders’ webs barred my passage. The closer I got to the end, the slower and more carefully I moved. Finally I was crawling on my stomach trying to make no noise at all.

It was perhaps a good job that Fairies cannot feel me and that I had managed to be silent, the exit to the tunnel was blocked. Someone had built a fence across it. I stopped a little way back, just out of the light. While I sat and wondered what to do, a figure walked across from one side to the other. Even from this distance it was easy to see that this was a Fairy. It was also easy to see that it was one of the Strange Fairies. The light outside shone on his blonde hair. The only other fairy with hair that colour was Primrose.

As I watched another fairy came and stood next to the first one. Straining I could just hear their conversation. They were speaking in Fairy, though with a strange accent. Even so I could understand what they were saying.

The second comer asked, “Any signs of that fairy we felt a few minutes ago?”

The first one replied. “No, nothing. I think we may have imagined it, the touch was very light and fleeting.”

The second gave his orders. “Well, keep watching, you know the orders, anything that comes through the tunnel is to be captured and locked up with the others.”

I had heard enough. There was no way I was going to try to get past the barrier. As quietly as I could I turned and went back down the tunnel.

Adonis and the Hedge Fairies were waiting anxiously for me. I told them what I had seen and heard.

            Adonis pursed his lips. “I do not like the sound of this. Fairies do not capture other fairies and I wonder who is giving the orders. We had better go back to Honeysuckle Nest and call a full Council meeting.”

            Back at the Nest, Larkspur brushed the dust from my knees and scolded me all the time for putting myself in danger. I did try to explain that there was no danger and that I had been very careful, but she was in no mood to listen. I was glad when a messenger arrived to summon me to the Council Meeting.

            It was very obvious from the faces of the Elders, that they had not been able to decide what to do.

            Adonis explained.” We are stuck, here in the garden. We cannot cross the road, the tunnel is blocked and now the path under the Bridge is made of tarmac, we cannot go that way either. We sent the strongest flyers to see if they could fly along the river under the bridge, but the wind is too strong.”

            I walked up and down the room. “The barrier was only a small one, could you not take your best people and break it down?”

            Adonis shook his head. “Obviously we could, but that would mean attacking the fairies on the other side and I am not sure that any of us could fight another fairy.”

            The Elders shook their heads. Rowan said,” None of us can remember there ever being a fight between two groups of fairies. This is what is so puzzling and worrying about the Strange Fairies. I mean can you imagine Adonis rounding up and locking away, say the Hedge Fairies?”

            I shook my head. “No, but you realise that it may come down to fighting?  If these strangers will not release our friends, then you may not have a choice.”

            Adonis sighed. ”The Prof is right,  but until we find out more we cannot make any plans and we cannot find out more if we cannot get over to the other side.”

            “It is all up to me again then,” I said. “The tarmac has no effect on me and I am sort of invisible to fairies. I would suggest that you block the tunnel on this side, so they cannot get through to the garden. In the mean time I will have to use the new river path, under the bridge to get to the other side of the road.”

            They argued for a while, but since there was no other way, in the end they agreed to let me go.

            Adonis gave a rueful smile. “Larkspur is going to be very angry with us again.”

            After a bite to eat, Agrimony and Dandelion flew me down to as close to the Bridge as they could go.

            “Just like old times,” I said, rubbing my arms.

            “Except Blackthorn is not here,” said Dandelion. He produced a small flask of Elf Gift and gave it to me. “Hope you don’t need this, but better to be prepared. Then he handed over a thorn sword, “I really hope you don’t need this, I have seen you try before.” Finally he took out another small flask.” Drink this, makes us all brave.”

            The fiery liquid warmed me all the way down. “Still making this I see.”

            Dandelion blushed.” Yes, well, it keeps out the cold. Now,” he went on.” Keep to the middle of the path. The walls are full of wolf spiders. They do not make webs, rather they jump out to catch prey. There looks to be a strip of grass still along side the river, I would keep out of it, you never know what is hiding in it and at least you have time to run if you are in the middle of the path.”

            “Thank-you!” I said and set off.

            I wish I could tell you that I had to fight my way along the path, fending off hungry spiders and marauding frogs, but in fact the walk was uneventful. Odd to think that as a full sized human the walk was just a few paces, but at fairy size it took me about half an hour. The path carried on along the river, but the Churchyard where I wanted to go was off to the left. I scrambled up a steep grassy bank. At the top I found myself blocked by the Churchyard wall.

            I had a choice, climb it, look for a hole to crawl through or follow the wall round to the Church Gate. I decided against going through a hole after seeing a spider peeping out of the first one I checked. The gate was a long way off and there was no guarantee that the Strange Fairies were not guarding it. I followed the wall in the opposite direction and before long came to where the Yew trees grew. The branches of the trees had pushed the wall over and it was a simple matter to climb up in the shadow of the trees.

            It was a good job that I had climbed in the shadow for round the base of the trees I could see a group of the Strange Fairies. The entrance to the inside of the tree was barricaded. As I watched a pair of fairies came up. They were carrying water bottles and trays of food. The barricade was pushed to one side and they went in. A few seconds later they came out, empty handed and the barricade was replaced.

            I continued to watch, trying to get a good idea of the number of Strange Fairies. As far as I could tell they were all males and all had the same light coloured hair. Then I almost fell off the wall. Another pair of figures came into view. They were a little taller than the fairies and slimmer. They had dark hair, but the astonishing thing was that they had no wings at all.

            I was about to turn and go when I was grabbed from behind and a hand thrust itself across my mouth. A familiar voice whispered fiercely in my ear. “Don’t make a noise. It’s me, Primrose.”

            I nodded. She let go. When my heart stopped thudding against my ribs I turned round. Primrose was sat on the wall next to me.

            “You are not very good at this sneaking about lark are you? She said. “I heard you climbing the wall. It is a good job they think they have got everyone locked up in the Yew tree.”

            She looked dirty and tired.

            She went on, “But oh am I glad to see a friendly face.”

            I handed over the bottle of Elf Gift and she drank deeply. The magical liquid worked almost instantly and she looked a lot better.

            “We cannot stop here,” she said. “It is too dangerous.”

            I agreed. “I need to go back and report to King Adonis. And you look as if a good meal and a hot bath would be very welcome. Come with me.”

            “Bilberry is in there with all the others, I don’t want to leave him,” she said softly.

            Bilberry was her husband and Adonis’s brother.

            “It is hard I know, but there is no way you and I can rescue them. And I have to go back and report to the Council.” I whispered.

            She nodded. Carefully we climbed down the wall and walked back to the bridge. When we got there, Primrose stopped. “I am not sure I can go with you.”

            I was puzzled for a moment. Like me she was not affected by the tar on the path. Then I remembered, she had never visited the garden fairies. “Why not?”

            She lifted her hair. “This!” she said. Then she pointed to the ugly scar on her face. “And because I cannot feel the other fairies. I am a freak. “She sounded close to tears.

            “Is that why you have never come through the tunnel to visit us?” I asked.

            She nodded.

            “You think that the garden fairies will laugh at you because you are different?”

            She nodded again. “Or worse, feel sorry for me.”

            “The fairies that have come through the tunnel to start new nests don’t laugh, or seem to feel sorry for you do they?” I asked.

            “I don’t know. I have not spoken to any of them. I hid away. That’s why I was not captured with the others. I spend the day out in the fields beyond the Church yard and only go back to our home after dark.” She said in a very quiet voice.

            I admit that I felt like shaking her, but instead I said,” Look at my hair. It is an even stranger colour for fairies than yours.” It was true. I had joined the fairies as an old man. My hair had gone white long before that.” And I cannot feel fairies, or humans either for that matter and worse still, I have no wings. So if you are a freak, what does that make me?”

            She began to protest, but I put my hand out to stop her.” Hang on a minute. Please, let me finish.”

            She stopped.” Sorry,” she said.

            I carried on.” No one has ever laughed at me and no-one has ever looked as if they feel sorry for me. You know what Bilberry is like, well Adonis is exactly the same. Come and meet my wife, Larkspur, have a bath and something to eat. Believe me, if anyone does not treat you properly, they would have to answer to her. She scares the living daylights out of everyone.”

            Primrose took a deep breath and nodded.

            Together we walked down the middle of the path under the bridge. Half way along a spider dropped from the roof, on a long thread. Before I could react, Primrose pulled out a short sword from her belt. She cut the thread and slapped at the spider. It scuttled away.

            “They are dreadful cowards you know,” she said and put the blade back in her belt.

            I could not think of a thing to say.

            When we reached the end of the bridge, Agrimony and Dandelion were waiting for me. Primrose gasped and tried to hide behind me, but I would not let her.” Gentlemen, this is Primrose, Bilberry’s wife.” Then I turned to Primrose. “These two are Agrimony and Dandelion, King Adonis’s most trusted guards.”

            I could not have organised their reaction better if I had tried. Both of them went bowed as low as I had ever seen them. Dandelion said, “My Lady. May we have the honour of escorting you to King Adonis?”

            ‘My lady’ is the best interpretation for the greeting Dandelion gave. In fairy terms it was the greeting given to a queen.

            I could see she was flustered and rather speechless, so I answered for her. “Thank-you Dandelion, but we would rather go and see Larkspur first. Then I am sure Primrose will be only too happy to call on your services when she goes to talk to the council.

            Larkspur was delighted to see Primrose and whisked her away. She did pop her head round the door and say. ”There is a plate of food for you on the table.”

           

[Palustris]

Chapter Four.

A Prisoner.

 

            Sooner than I had expected Larkspur and Primrose emerged. The transformation was spectacular. In a clean dress and with her golden hair brushed and fixed so it covered the scar on her cheek, Primrose looked a different fairy to the one I had brought under the bridge.

            With perfect timing, Dandelion came to escort us to the Council meeting. Larkspur and Primrose led the way. As they went, he turned to me and said very quietly,” Wow!”

            The reaction of the Council was similar. Adonis moved away from his throne and invited her to sit down. Larkspur and I went and stood in a corner out of the way. We were not members of the Council so really we should not have been there at all.

            One of the Hedge Fairy Elders had been speaking when we came in and he carried on when everyone had settled down again. “We questioned Mugwort again. He is a lot calmer now, thanks to Professor Hewletts.  As you know he said that there were two minds in the fairies guarding the end of the tunnel. Well, he told us that after sitting quietly and thinking about it, the fairy part of those two minds was where the fear was coming from.”

            Adonis asked. “Could he feel anything from the other mind?”

            The Hedge Fairy Elder shook his head. ”No!  He just knew it was there.”

            “Thank-you, “said Adonis. “Perhaps our guest can tell us more about what is going on over there.” He turned to Primrose with a smile. “My Lady,” he said.

            “Everyone is treating her like a Queen,” I whispered to Larkspur.

            She gave a smug smile and nodded.

            “Ah!” I said

            “Sh!” she replied.

            Primrose stood up. “Thank-you for your welcome,” she said with a nervous smile. “I don’t know who the others are, but I can tell you some of what happened. I was out in the field beyond the Churchyard so I did not see where the strange fairies came from. I did not see how they managed to make everyone go into the hollow Yew tree either. I watched as they put up a barricade across the tunnel and put guards on it.” She stopped. “It struck me as odd, that they never tried to go through the tunnel, yet our people have no problems doing it.”

            An Elder asked.” What are these others like?”

            Primrose thought for a moment before answering. “They are definitely not like any fairy here. They are taller, much thinner, dark haired and they have no wings.”

            She stopped and stood in thought for a minute. “This is going to sound odd, but when they stand with the sun behind them you feel as if you can see right through them. It is almost as if they are not really there.”

            That caused a buzz of conversation around the room.

            “Did you see what happened to Blackthorn?” asked Adonis.

            She nodded. “Yes, he come out of the tunnel and marched up to one of the Strange Fairies. I was not close enough to hear what was said. While they were talking, one of the others came over. He, at least I think it was a ‘he’, put his hand on Blackthorn’s shoulder. It was odd, until then Blackthorn had been waving his arms about and shouting, but he stopped, took out his sword, gave it to one of the fairies and walked into the hollow Yew tree. He never even looked back.”

            “What about the strange fairies?” asked Rowan, Elder of Rowan Nest.

            “They are definitely fairies,” she replied.” They have wings and they are about the same size and build as we are, the only difference is that they have blond hair like me.”

            “Do you think they are from your own tribe?” asked Adonis gently.

            “I don’t know, I do not remember anything from before Bilberry found me. They could be my brothers for all I know.” She sat down with her head in her hands.

            Larkspur rushed over to comfort her.

            Adonis began to speak.” We are not really any the wiser, for all that we have heard. We do not know what these people want, why they do not come through the tunnel and what they intend doing with their prisoners.”

            Primrose sniffed.” They are treating them well, they send in food and water and I am sure I saw some flasks of Elf Gift too.”

            “That’s good to hear,” said Adonis. “Has anyone any ideas as to how we proceed?”

No-one moved

            I stepped forward. “Do you mind if I speak?” I asked.

            “Please do,” said Adonis and there was a general murmur of assent from the Council members.

            “You may not like what I am about to suggest as it goes against everything that you fairies hold dear. BUT, I cannot see any way round it. We have to find out what they want and since it is obvious that they are not friendly enough to tell us, we are going to have to take one of them prisoner and ask it.” I said.

            An Elder whom I did not know interrupted. “No, that is wrong. We do not make war on other fairies. That is a human thing to do.”

            Almost everybody had something to say. I waited for the arguing to die down. “I am not proposing going to war with anyone. Nor am I asking a fairy to do anything nasty to another fairy. I am quite happy to go down the tunnel and see if I can capture one of the fairies. If and it is a big if, I can do it then we can question it and release it back where it was captured unharmed”

            Adonis held up a hand to stop the argument that began.” We could sit here and argue all night about this, but has anyone any better idea?”

            None of them had. Then to my astonishment, Primrose stood up. “I remember something else, she said,” Once it goes dark, there is only one guard on the tunnel.” Then she took a deep breath. “And I will go with the Professor.”

            The arguments began again.

            Adonis stopped the discussion again. “Why?” He asked.

            “Because we two are the only ones who are invisible to other fairies,” she answered.

            I looked at Larkspur, she was not happy. I could see that I was going to be spoken to severely for putting myself in danger once again.

            Primrose added,” And I want my Bilberry back.” She sounded fierce. “I don’t care if I am doing something fairies don’t do, they started it.” She burst into tears and fled. Larkspur ran after her.  I bowed to the Council and left.

            Adonis caught up with me outside. “They can argue until they are blue in the face,” he said, “But I can see no way round it. Your idea is the only one anyone has come up with. Never mind them, just go ahead and do what you have to do. Leave the Council to me. Oh, and take Dandelion and Thistle with you. They are both itching to do something to get Blackthorn back.”

            He turned to go back into the throne room. “Oh and tell Primrose that I want Bilberry back too. After all he is my twin brother.”

            Back in our rooms, Larkspur had managed to calm down Primrose. “You are going to do this aren’t you?” she said to me.

            I nodded. ”I have to.” I walked up and down the room thinking. “We need something to cover our hair. My white and Primrose’s blond stand out even in the dark.”

            Larkspur went to a cupboard and took out two pieces of black cloth. “I can wrap these round your hair,” she said.

            “How are you going to get the prisoner?” Dandelion asked. “With all due respect, you are no soldier.”

            “I have an idea for that,” I said. “Are you two happy to be travelling at night?”

            I knew that fairies rarely went out of the nest after dark, it was too dangerous.

            Thistle nodded. ”We have lights and it is still reasonably light.”

            “I also need some of the spider web rope. I am sure Willow left some when he went.” I said.

            Primrose looked puzzled. “Willow?”

            “He is our adopted son,” said Larkspur. “I wish he was here to go with you,” she said to me.

            “Me too,” I said. I found a good length of the rope and a back pack to carry it in. “We need to find some bits of spider’s web on the way too.”

            “Plenty of that around,” said Dandelion, “But?”

            I held up my hand to stop him. “All in good time, all in good time.”

            Larkspur shook her head.” You are enjoying this, aren’t you?”

            I gave her a great big grin. I have to confess that indeed I was. “And I also need some of that aluminium foil that we use for wrapping the Yew fungus.”

            Larkspur produced some and that was carefully folded and put in the back pack.

            Meanwhile Primrose had changed back into the clothes she came in. “I don’t want to spoil the nice ones that Larkspur lent me,” she explained.

            Then it was time to go. Larkspur gave me a hug and a kiss. “Please be very careful,” she whispered in my ear. “And look after Primrose, she may not know it but she is going to have twins.”

            I nearly fell over. Twins were very rare amongst fairies.

            “Don’t say anything to her though,” warned Larkspur.

            Dandelion and Thistle flew me across the garden and set me down a little distance from the tunnel entrance.

            I left them hidden and walked up to the road. Carefully I chipped out a few pieces of tar covered gravel. These I wrapped in the aluminium foil.

            I went back to where they were hiding. “Now, you were there when Adonis went on to the road and fainted, weren’t you? I asked Dandelion.

            “Yes,” he said. “Why?”

            “When he fainted, did you stop feeling him?” was my next question.

            He looked puzzled.” Yes, it was as if he had died.”

            “Did you stop feeling him as soon as he fainted?” I asked.

            He thought for a good long minute. “You know,” he said. “I can’t remember. Why?”

            I answered his question with one of my own. “I am going to have to ask you to do something very dangerous, and it has to be either you or Thistle. It will not work on me or Primrose.”

            “I will do anything to get Blackthorn back,” he declared.

            “Sit down then.” I told him. “Thistle I want you to concentrate on Dandelion. Start counting slowly, like this, ‘One crocodile, two crocodile’ and so on as soon as open this foil. Stop when you can no longer feel Dandelion. Understand?”

            Thistle said, “One crocodile, two crocodile, “Then he stopped. “ER, what’s a crocodile?”

            “Never mind, it is just a way of counting seconds. I need to know the length of time it takes for a fairy to faint and to stop being felt by another fairy.” I told him.

            “Right,” he said. He practised a few countings, then said.” Ready.”

            I opened the foil and waved it under Dandelions nose. His eyes opened wide and he flinched backwards. Then he fell over sideways.

            “Five crocodiles,” finished Thistle.

            Quickly I wrapped up the tarry gravel in the foil. Primrose brought over the flask of Elf Gift and poured a drop into Dandelion’s mouth.  He coughed and spluttered and sat up. He managed another mouthful before waving away the flask. He reached inside his tunic and took out his own flask. He gave me a weak smile and drank from his flask. He sniffed. “That’s better,” he said. “You might have warned me,” he complained.” That was horrible.”

            “Sorry, “I said. “I had to know how long it takes from shoving the tar under someone’s nose to them being missed.”

            Primrose said,” You are going to do that to the guard aren’t you?”

            I nodded. “When we go into the tunnel,” I said,” Dandelion and Thistle will have to stop where the guard cannot feel them. Primrose and I will go on. When I shout, you two come running.”

            We crept down the tunnel, Dandelion and Thistle stopped when they could just feel the guard and then moved back a little way. A spider had very kindly begun to build a web, so I took a few pieces of the non-sticky part. Primrose and I went on. When we reached a point where we could see the barricade we stopped and waited.

            The guard walked across from  one side of the barrier to the other and out of sight. I began counting. He reappeared and walked back the other way. It took about six seconds for him to go from one side of the tunnel to the other.

            I took Primrose back, out of earshot of the guard. “I will go and drop the tarmac as soon as he reaches the side of the tunnel and before he turns round again. He is out in the light so he should not be able to see into the dark of the tunnel. As soon as he faints we have to push down the barrier, grab him and drag him up the tunnel.”

            She nodded, then reached up and touched my face.” Your face shines like the moon, He might see you before he goes down.”

            The floor of the tunnel was damp and muddy. She reached down and picked up a handful of the mud and daubed it on my face.” Better,” she said and did the same to her own.

            I unwrapped the tarry gravel and put the foil in my pocket. “We will need to collect the tar before we move. I do not want them to realise that the guard has been captured. I am hoping that the spider’s silk will make them think that he has been taken by a spider.”

            We crawled up to the barrier, moving only when the guard was out of sight. He took no notice of us and walked slowly along. As soon as he stepped out of sight, I reached through the barrier and dropped the tar. He came back. His foot kicked against the gravel. He stopped and bent down to look at it and fell on to his front.

            Instantly I pushed the barrier to one side. I kicked the gravel into the tunnel while Primrose draped the spider silk across part of the tunnel entrance. Then we grabbed the body and dragged him into the tunnel.

            “Go get those two while I wrap the tar up. “I ordered.

            She sped off down the tunnel. They arrived as I finished. Quickly they grabbed the body and we all fled down the tunnel. We were just out of sight and beyond where Dandelion and Thistle had been able to feel the strange fairies before I heard the commotion from behind us.

            We did not stop to see if anyone came after us. We ran. Once out of the tunnel, we stopped just long enough to wrap the spider silk rope round the strange fairy. I made the others take the captive out of sight and then I sprinkled the tarry gravel into the tunnel.

            I caught up with them and took a deep breath. “Wow!”

            Dandelion looked at me, “You humans must live very exciting lives if you do things like that all the time.”

            I laughed weakly. “You have the wrong idea about us,” I said. ”That was the first time I have ever done anything like that and hopefully the last. I am not sure I can take the excitement.”

            The captive was still unconscious. “Do we wake him?” Thistle asked.

            I shook my head. “I think it will be easier to get him back to Honeysuckle Nest asleep.”

            Dandelion hoisted him over his shoulder. “I can manage him. “

            “No need,” said a familiar voice. King Adonis stepped out of the shadows. “The Council are still arguing about this so I excused myself and came to see how you were managing.” I brought some help too.” Larkspur and to my great joy, Willow appeared. “I don’t think the Council would be too happy to see this, so we think the best place to take the prisoner is to your rooms. The fewer who know about this, for the moment, the better,” added the King.

            Soon we were all safely in our rooms in Honeysuckle Nest. It was decided that Primrose and I would keep out of sight when the captive was awakened. Me, because there is no way I could be mistaken for a fairy and her because of the colour of her hair.

            The captive was sat in a chair. Adonis insisted that the spider’s web rope was removed. “We do not take people prisoner,” he said. ”And I am not going to have this one think that he is one, no matter what happens.”

            Larkspur gently spooned Elf Gift into the man’s mouth. After a few drops he woke. He gasped, sat up straight, stared round him wildly, and then put his head in his hands. “They’ve gone,” he said. Then he shouted, “They’ve gone!”

            I think we were all rather taken aback by this reaction.

            “Who?” Larkspur asked.

            The captive took a deep breath and sat up straight. “Oh, “he said in a quavering voice. “There are fairies everywhere. All round me there are fairies.” Then he burst into tears.

            Larkspur gave him the cup with Elf Gift and encouraged him to drink. He took a large sip and swallowed.

            When he had calmed down, Adonis smiled at him and said, “Welcome to Honeysuckle Nest. I am King Adonis. Do you have a name?”

            The captive slid off the chair and knelt on the floor. “Forgive me sire, I did not know you were a king.”

            “Sit down, said Adonis. “No-one kneels to me here. Your name?”

            This is probably the most important question one fairy asks of another. The answer can take a long time. As I explained before, a fairy’s name contains all his or her ancestors.

            “I am Five of Oak,” was the answer.

            I think we were all astonished by the shortness of the answer.

            “Is that it?” Larkspur asked.

            Five looked puzzled.” Yes, my father was Four of Oak and his father was Three of Oak and so on.”

            “We would like to ask you some questions?” said Adonis.

            “I am your prisoner,” replied Five.

            “No,” exclaimed Adonis, “You are not a prisoner. You may leave here and go back to your people at any time you want to.”

            Five shrank back in the chair. “No, please, don’t make me go back. I don’t want to go back. You don’t understand what it is like over there.”

            “Then you are welcome to stay, “interrupted Larkspur. “You said’ They’ve gone’ who did you mean?”

            “The Elves,” replied Five.

[Palustris]

Chapter Five

           

Five of Oak’s Story.

 
           Rather than write down the questions and answers which drew this tale from Five of Oak, I will write it down all in one piece.

            When human beings began cutting down trees to make fields, the Elves decided that they had to leave. They went somewhere where no human could follow. Once in the land of the Elves, the Elves themselves could not leave it. Elves are the people of the trees. They offered to take the Fairies with them, but they decided to stay. Fairies are creatures of open spaces, woodland dells. The Elves gave the fairies a farewell gift of an elixir which had all sorts of wonderful properties. For a long time the fairies who lived with humans believed that all of their kind had stayed. However, one tribe secretly chose to go with the Elves.          The Elf Gift, as the drink became to be known, had a couple of side effects. It reduced the fairies that drank it to insect size and gave them wings. The fairies that went with the elves did not need the Elf gift so they stayed at the true height for a fairy.

            All was well in the land of the Elves for many years. There were plenty of trees for the Elves and enough open spaces for the fairies. This did not last. The Elves did not like the open spaces and began to cover them with more and more trees until only the places where even the toughest of trees could not survive. Of course the fairies complained, but Elves have no thought for anyone but themselves. As the number of spaces for them to live in got fewer, so did the number of fairies.

            “We have saying when someone will not listen to what they are being told,” said Five. “It’s like talking to an elf.”

            Then somehow a group of fairies found the recipe for making Elf Gift. They drank it and slowly got smaller and smaller and grew wings. The Elves were so concerned with their own affairs that they did not notice.

            This group of fairies then made an even greater discovery. They found the door back into the human world. Even more amazing was that they could get through it and out of the Elves world. They found that they could also get back in. They sent a message to the remaining fairies that they were off to explore and then they disappeared. What none of the fairies realised was that the Elves shared the fairies ability to sense all the others. It was rather unfair, the Rves could sense the fairies, but the fairies could not feel the Elves at all. Of course the Elves were very angry about this escape. They thought that humans might find a way in. They banned the making of the Elf Gift and guarded the Yew Trees where the yellow fungus grew so that no more could be made. A few days later, Seven of Beech, one of the escaped Fairies reappeared. Once the effects of the Elf Gift wore off, he told the other fairies of the terrible tragedy which had overtaken him and his friends. He had stopped to take something out of his shoe so he had been a little way behind the others. He had watched in horror as they stepped on to a black surface and collapsed. Before he could do anything a monster had roared past and they were gone.

            He was still distraught by the experience when the Elves came and took him away. That was when the Fairies discovered that the Elves had only to touch a Fairy to be able to take control of the Fairy’s mind.

            Elves are solitary beings and they rarely meet each other. However, very occasionally, they do congregate. This meeting took place around what was probably the oldest and certainly the biggest tree in the land of the Elves. Elves are like fairies in that they do not die of old age, but they can be killed.

            Five stopped at this point. “Seven came back from the meeting. He was calm and happy once again, but he could not remember anything that had happened at the meeting nor what it was about. But something must have happened as it was after that when we were allowed to make more of the Elixir.”

            Larkspur handed Five a cup of Nectar.

            He smiled his thanks, “At the end of the meeting the Elves disappeared into the trees and none of us saw them again, at least not until the Elixir was ready.  I was collecting pollen when one of them came out of the trees and put his hand on my shoulder.”

            Five sat in silence for a full minute. “It is a horrible feeling. You know everything that is going on around you and you do all the normal things, like walking and talking, but you are not in charge, the Elf is. You do whatever the Elf wants you to, even if it is something which makes you want to scream. They took fifteen of us like that and made us drink the Elixir until we were small and had wings. Then we were made to go through the Door into the Human world.”

            “Do you know why?” asked Adonis.

            Five shook his head. ”Do you know what they did? They made Four of Hawthorn go out on to the black stuff. Of course, she collapsed. So they sent Two of Hornbeam after her.”

            He covered his face with his hands, “It was horrible, a monster came roaring down the black stuff and before we knew it both of the fairies had gone.”

            It took him a while to recover. When he was calmer, I explained about the effect tarmac had on Fairies and that the roaring monster was probably a motor-car.

            “It does not have the same effect on the Elves, though,” said Five thoughtfully.” One of them went and stood on the road and it did not make him faint.”

            “I thought that the Elves cannot leave the Land of the Elves,” said Larkspur.

            “They can’t” said Five.

            “But you said that one went on to the road,” she protested. “And there were what we believe to be Elves in the Churchyard.”

            “That’s why they needed us to go through the door,” replied Five. ”They can send part of themselves out as long as they are in our minds.”

            He laughed. ”I have just realised. Paglin, the one in my head, will have instantly gone back into Elf Land.”

            “So why did they not cross the road?” asked Adonis.

            “They can only move a short distance away from the Fairy that they control. You were lucky, or I was, Paglin was resting, a little way away from the tunnel entrance.” Five answered.

            “Sorry,” said Adonis, “We have a lot of questions.”

            “I am just glad to be able to help.” Five smiled.

            “Why have they come out of Elf Land?” That was what Larkspur wanted to know.

            Dandelion asked. ”And why have the locked up the Fairies from the Churchyard and Blackthorn?”

            “They made us do that you know. I think it is because they cannot control that many people at once.

           "They are looking for something,” said Five. “But before you ask, I do not know what it is though. All I do know is that they have not found it yet, but they say it is close by. I think it may be on this side of the road. They were arguing about what to do next. Some of them wanted to go back into Elf Land without it.”

            “If what they want is on this side of the road, why have they not come through the tunnel then?” Adonis wanted to know. “Do I need to block it off?”

            “No one is going to come through the tunnel, “said Five with a grin. “Just like we cannot cross the tarmac the Elves cannot go underground, even when they are not really there.”

            Primrose had been stood in the background listening to all this. Now she came forward and spoke.” We will just have to ask the elves what they want then.”

          Her appearance had an almost incredible effect on Five. He fell off the chair and on to his knees. “My Lady, “he stammered. “I did not realise…….but I cannot feel you.” He shook his head.

        “Oh, sit down,” snapped Primrose. “And explain the ‘My Lady’.” She pulled back the hair from the scar on her face. “This is tarmac and it means that I cannot remember anything from my past and I cannot feel or be felt by, other fairies.”

         Five did as he was told. “You are One of Yew. You are, er, were, the Eldest. Seven of Beech said that you had been killed by the motor car when you went on to the tarmac stuff.” He hesitated for a moment. “Two of Rowan became the Eldest then, we thought you were dead.”

          Primrose looked very worried. “Was I married to anyone?”

          Five shook his head. “No, you always said that you were too busy to get married, why?

         Primrose laughed.” This is incredible, Bilberry is the Eldest of these fairies, but he was dead and I am the eldest of those fairies and I was dead.”

       Five said, “I do not understand.”

      “You will, eventually,” said Adonis.

        For the first time I joined in the discussion. “I think we need to talk to one of these Elves and find out what they are looking for.”

       Five shrank back in the chair. “A human,” he gasped. “That is a human, it is death to speak to a human.”     

      “The Prof is an honorary Fairy,” said Adonis. “And he was the one who rescued you from the Elves.”

       Five sighed and shook his head. “I’m not sure any of this is real, a human the same size as us, a dead Queen who is alive, it is just too much for a simple Fairy.”

       “I wonder if an Elf can take control of a human mind in the same way.” I said.

       Five just shrugged his shoulders.

        “There is only one way to find out, I will have to go and see.” I went on.

       “No,” chorused Larkspur, Adonis and Primrose together.
 
        “But not tonight,” I said. “I do not know about you all, but I am tired and hungry.”

          Adonis nodded. “And I had better go and tell the Council what has been said here.”

[Palustris]

Chapter Six

Meeting an Elf.

 

            Next morning, after much discussion between Larkspur and me, she finally agreed that I should go and attempt to speak to the Elves. That was until Primrose put her foot down and said that as ex-Queen of the Elf Land Fairies, she was the one who should speak to the Elves. “And if they take me prisoner, at least I will be with Bilberry.” She added.

            Once again Dandelion and Thistle did the honours and flew me down the garden and across the field to the tunnel entrance. I removed the tar that I had left in it. I took it back up to the edge of the road and left it there. Adonis and the Council arrived as I came back. They brought with them Five of Oak.

            Primrose and I went down the tunnel. As before there was a barrier across the entrance. As we watched a fairy walked across. We had decided that as long as we stayed inside the tunnel a little way, then the Elves could not reach in to touch either of us. Five came with us. He whispered that the Fairy guard was called Eight of Rowan, one of the youngest of the fairies.

            Primrose called out. “Eight of Rowan, it is I, One of Yew. Do you recognise me?”

            Eight stopped and turned towards the tunnel entrance. “What?”  he said.

            Primrose stepped nearer to him, but still stayed inside the tunnel. “Listen to my voice,” said Primrose. “Do you recognise me?”

            Eight dropped the thorn spear that he was carrying and fled.

            “Idiot,” said Primrose scornfully.

            A few seconds later another Fairy appeared. “Two of Hemlock,” whispered Five. “He was your chief adviser.”

            He peered into the gloom of the tunnel. “Who is there?”

            I think Primrose was beginning to enjoy herself, despite the risk.

            “Listen carefully,” she said. “It is me, One of Yew. You should recognise my voice, you have heard it often enough.”

            He dropped to one knee. “My Lady. We thought you were dead, Seven of Beech, told us the monster had killed you.”

            “Not important,” said Primrose. “I wish to speak to Maglan.”

            Five  had told us that Maglan was the name of the highest ranking Elf.

            Two of Hemlock left and returned a minute later with yet another fairy. “Three of Hemlock,” whispered Five.

            He bowed and moved to one side. Behind him was stood a slightly taller figure. It did not bow. “I am Maglan. It seems the reports of your death were inaccurate. Why don’t you step out here so we can see you more clearly?”

            “Why don’t you step inside the tunnel so we can talk in private?” Primrose replied.

            Maglan took a step forward, as if he was going to take her up on the offer, but he stopped at the barrier.

            He raised his hand as if to try to reach out and touch Primrose. She did not flinch. Maglan dropped his hand and looked puzzled. He reached out again and again dropped his hand.

            He spoke in a confused tone of voice. “I do not understand, I can hear you and I can see you, but I cannot feel you. What is going on here?”

            “What is going on here is that you have taken over the minds of my friends and imprisoned many others. I wish to know why.” Primrose really did sound like a Queen now.

            Maglan actually did sound regretful. “I am sorry, My Lady, but it was the only way we could leave our Land and the others have not been harmed. When we go back we will let them go free.”

            “You have not said why you needed to leave the Land of the Elves,” said Primrose.

            Maglan replied. “There is something in the Human Land which we need. We came to look for it.”

            “And have you found it?” asked Primrose.

            Maglan shook his head. “Sadly, no, and our time here is growing short. If we do not find it soon, then we will have to return.”

            I could not contain myself. I blurted out. “So what is it then?”

            Maglan stepped back. “That was not a fairy voice, “he said. “Who else is there with you?”

            Primrose replied, “This is Professor Shovelock Ellis Hewletts. He is an honorary Fairy and a very good friend to us all.”

            “Human,” hissed Maglan. I do not think I have ever heard such hatred put in to one word before.

            “Yes, “said Primrose at her most regal. “And my trusted advisor. If you want help in finding for whatever it is you are searching, then you will have to deal with him. He is the only being who knows this side of the road well enough help you.”

            “We have had no dealings with humans since we went into Elf Land.” Maglan did not sound happy.” I will have to think about this.”

            He walked away.

            We waited for about ten minutes before he returned. “We do not trust any human,” he said. “Before we can talk any further, My Lady, you must both leave the tunnel. I give you my word that no harm will come to you.”

            Primrose and I looked at each other and then at Five. “Can we trust him?” I asked.

            Five said.” Yes, I would think so.”

             “Well, “said Primrose. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

            “He could take control of your mind and kill me,” I said. “But, if we want to get our friends released, and find out what these Elves are looking for, we have no choice.

            I told Five to go back down the tunnel to tell Adonis what we were doing.

            I pushed aside the barrier and Primrose walked through. I followed her.

            Maglan actually bowed to her. “My Lady, “he said. The he looked at me. I am sure that the last time I saw a human, it was a lot bigger than you.”

            “It is a long story,” I said. “I thought that Elves were a lot taller too.”

            Maglan laughed. “Like this you mean?” He stretched and grew until he was too big for me to see anything but his foot. Almost as quickly he shrank back to our size. “Can’t keep that size for long," he said.

            He raised his hand. We both stepped back. “Sorry,” he said. “I gave my word and in any case whatever it is that stops me feeling you, also stops me taking control of your minds. Let us get out of the sun and talk.”

            He led us to a bench in the shade of some tall grasses. We sat down. He took a deep breath. “You know, by rights I should kill you Professor, but strange times make strange bedfellows, so to speak.” He turned to Primrose. “My Lady, I am sorry my people have caused your so much trouble. We did not realise our love for trees would be such a disaster for you.”

            Primrose accepted the apology graciously.  “So what is it exactly that you are looking for?”

            “There is a plant which we call ‘An-ya’. I do not know its name in Fairy. It used to grow in Elf Land but when we planted all those trees it seems to have disappeared. It prefers to be in full sun, so I suppose the shade was too much for it.”

            Primrose shook her head. “Many plants do not like growing under trees, but I do not know that name.”

            “Why do you need it now?” I was curious to know.

            Maglan tapped his bottom lip with his forefinger and said nothing for a while. Then he spoke. “As you have trusted me then I must trust you.”

            He made a curious gesture with his right hand. The Fairy nearest to us sat down on the ground and appeared to go instantly to sleep. “Do not worry, he is not harmed, he just won’t take any notice of us for a while. “

            “There is a saying that there is no such thing as an ugly elf,” He sighed. “This is very difficult for me you know.”

            With that he wiped his hand down his face from hair line to chin. The change was both dramatic and awful. The left hand side of his face looked as if someone had set fire to it. The skin was blackened and pitted. His eye was red and watering and the side of his mouth drooped. He stayed like that for a few seconds and then wiped his hand from chin to hair line. His face appeared normal again.

            “That is what I really look like, “he said.

            I could think of nothing to say. I turned to look at Primrose. She was sat open mouthed staring at the Elf.

            Maglan went on, “There are Elves who are far worse off than I am.”

            Primrose swallowed and asked.” What is it?”

            “It is a disease,” replied Maglan. “It only affects us as we get older, so our young people are as fair of face as ever.  Like Fairies we do not die, but this disease just gets worse and worse, until the whole body is like my face.”

            “But, surely, the Elixir you gave to the Fairies cures everything.” I blurted out.

            “It does, “said Maglan. “For Fairies and obviously humans too, but the Yew fungus is deadly poisonous to Elves. We drink the Elixir when the disease is so bad that we cannot go on.”

            “But there is a cure,” said Primrose. “This An-ya, for which you search, is the cure.”

            Maglan nodded. “It has taken many years to discover what we need and then we find that we have killed the plant with our own stupidity. We add the crushed seeds of the An-ya to the Elixir instead of the yellow fungus.”

            “And that will restore your face?” I asked.

            Maglan looked sad. “No, once the disease has done this there is nothing which can change it back. The cure will stop it getting any worse though and it does mean my children will not end up looking like this.”

            “Then we must do everything in our power to find this plant for you.” I said. “Can you describe it?”

            “It is a bush rather than a plant, it has long thin silvery leaves. The flowers are small and blue and the whole plant has a wonderful scent.” Maglan said. “When the wind blows from your side of the road we just get a faint smell of it.”

            “Then we had better go and see if we can find out what it is.” I said and stood up.

            Primrose stayed seated. “Professor, you go and talk to our friends over the road. I am going to stay here with my husband and the Churchyard fairies. Maglan is going to order their release. Aren’t you?” She turned to Maglan with a smile.

            He bowed,” My Lady, it will be my pleasure to escort you. As you will see they have come to no harm and they will be free to go wherever they choose.”

            “A word before you go Professor,” said Primrose. She took me to one side and whispered. “I still do not trust this one, so if you do find out what this plant is, do not come rushing back with lots of it. Wait until you have spoken to me.”

            I nodded and walked back through the tunnel. Adonis, Larkspur and the others were waiting anxiously for me. I told them what had happened. Larkspur immediately said. ”Sounds like Lavender. There is a hedge of it near the road and when the wind blows towards the Churchyard, the scent would go with it.”

            Dandelion immediately volunteered to go and see if there was any seed on the plants. It did not take him long to return with three of them. “There is a lot of seed on the shrubs,” he reported.

            “If it is the An-ya then we need to collect the seeds quickly, the gardener usually cuts off the old flower heads about now,” added Adonis.

            I took the seeds and went back through the tunnel. The barrier was gone altogether now and there was no guard. Maglan was sitting on the bench where we had spoken before. There was no sign of Primrose.

            He smiled, “Do not worry, I have not done anything to harm her, she is explaining the situation to Bilberry and the other Fairies. She will no doubt turn up soon.”

            I showed him the seeds. He took them and held them to his nose.

            The smile was enough to tell me that this indeed was An-ya.

            “Thank-you,” he said. “Are there more of these over there?”

            “Plenty, for the moment, the gardener has not begun to cut them down yet, but he will be doing it soon.” I said. “How many seeds will you need?”

            “These I will sow so we have plants for the future, if we need it. We are going to need every seed you can collect, if we are going to be able to make enough Elixir for all my people.” He said.

            “I can organise all the Garden fairies to collect seeds for you and I am sure the Hedge Fairies will bring them through the tunnel.” I told him.

            Before he could reply, Primrose and Bilberry came up.” Slow down,” she said.” Why should the Fairies help you? After all, you admit that in planting trees you have caused problems for my people.”

            “A fair question, My lady,” said Maglan. “There are two choices, we can either let the Fairies in Elf land make the Elixir with Yew fungus so that they shrink and can leave and come to live here in the Human world. Or, all the Fairies in the Human world may come and live in the land of the Elves. We would let them open up the glades and promise not to plant trees in their gardens. They could stop taking the Elixir and return to their proper size too.”

            I could see that Primrose was taken by surprise at this offer. “We may trust you,” she said,” But what about all the other Elves?  Do you speak for them too?”

            Maglan stood up and walked about for a few seconds. Then he spoke,”I make the offer in good faith, but as you know Elves do not have kings or rulers. The others have given me permission to do whatever is needed to get the An-ya seeds. They will honour any promises I make, I am sure.”

            “We would need to put this offer before the full Council of Fairies and the Hedge Fairies,” put in Bilberry.

            “And I would need to tell the Elf Land Fairies that they could leave if they wished,” said Maglan. “In any case all the Elves here will need to return to Elf land in the next few hours. We are not really here and so we cannot eat or drink. We need to go home for a few hours.”

            “Well, whatever the decision, we need to start collecting and moving the Lavender seeds into the tunnel.” I said. “Primrose may want something in payment for them, but for myself I could stand by and do nothing about that horrible disease.”

[Palustris]

Chapter Seven

A Momentous decision.

            I turned and walked off back down the tunnel. Before I had got halfway down, Primrose caught up with me. “Bilberry is talking to the Churchyard Fairies and I am to talk to the Garden Fairies.”

            At the end of the tunnel Primrose took Adonis by the arm and led him away. I went over to Larkspur. “Those are the correct seeds and they need as many as we can collect. Can you round up everyone who is free to collect seeds? Dandelion and Thistle will help I am sure”

            “What does Primrose want with Adonis?” she asked.

            “Just to tell him what is happening over there and that Bilberry is safe, nothing to worry about.” I replied.

            It did not take long for the four of us to find Fairies willing to help. The Sprites thought it was a great adventure, especially as I lifted the ban on them flying. Very soon there were sacks of Lavender seed lined up outside the tunnel, waiting for the Hedge Fairies to take them through.

            “Odd, how there are no Council Members here to help, “commented Larkspur.

            “They are probably listening to Primrose’s report,” I said.

            There was no time for further conversation as the Hedge fairies arrived and took the sacks through the tunnel. I stopped them just before the end of the tunnel and asked them to wait until they heard from their Elder before they took the bags into the churchyard.

            Back in the Garden, Larkspur took hold of my arm. “Now,” she said. “You are coming home for something to eat and you can tell me what is going on. And don’t tell me that there is nothing. I may not be able to feel you like I can my people, but I know when there is something wrong.”

            Over some food I told her of the offer which Maglan had made. “As far as I can see there are two problems for me, “I said. “One, as a human I cannot get into Elf Land and Two, even if I could I would remain at this size since it is not the Elf Gift which has made me small.”

            Tearfully she declared.” Well, I for one will not be going then!”

            “You will go, if I have to knock you out and tie you up and throw you through the Door.” I said. “You could no more live without the feel of your friends and family than I can fly.” I said.

            We had our first real row then.

            In the end she stormed off to talk to the Council of Elders. I followed her. She flew as fast as I have ever seen any fairy fly. I walked a lot slower. When I reached the throne room where the meeting was being held Larkspur was outside the door, being held by two guards, Saxifrage and Bulrush. “I am sorry, Princess, but no-one is allowed in on the King’s strictest orders, and especially you or your sister is what he said. Over the top of her head he added. "You can go in, Professor. King Adonis wanted your opinion.”

            Larkspur stopped struggling and turned to me. “You have to tell them not to go.”

            I shook my head. “I am sorry, my love, but this is a decision for Fairies alone and I will not interfere.”

            The throne room door opened and an Elder that I did not know came out. “Ah Professor Hewletts, please come in.”

            Inside the throne room was packed. I do not remember ever seeing so many of the older Fairies together before.

            The Elder led me to the front. Adonis was sat on his throne. Primrose was stood by the side of it. “Ah, Professor. Your opinion would be most welcome. Do you think the offers by Maglan are genuine?”

            “Yes, I do.” I said.

            “And which option do you think we should take? Go or stay?” went on the King.

            “I think that that is something for Fairies and Fairies alone to decide. I am not prepared to express an opinion on that matter.” I said.

            “Thank-you, my friend,” said Adonis.

            I turned and left. As the door closed I heard him say. “You see I told you he was the most honourable creature you will ever meet.”

            I took Larkspur back to our rooms and tried to calm her down. Fortunately her sisters Holly and Lily arrived and took her away.

            I thought that the best place for me was in the Churchyard. I walked back through the tunnel. Maglan was waiting for me. His shadow looked a lot stronger than it had when we last spoke. He was on his own, the other Elves had not returned.

            “Have the Garden Fairies come to a decision yet?” he asked.

            “No,” I told him. “Have the Elf Land fairies decided what they want to do yet?”

            He shook his head. “An Elf will come and tell us.”

            “So, what happens if the Garden fairies decide to go with you and the Elf land fairies want to leave?” I asked.

            “They do a swap. It will take about a month for the Elf land fairies to make and drink enough of the Elixir to reduce them in size so they can leave.” He turned to look at me. “There is another problem too.”

            “Oh no!” I groaned.

            “Well, problem is the wrong word in a way.” He rubbed his chin.” There was a very old tree in the centre of Elf Land. We think it was there right from the very beginning. A couple of months back it came down. It was almost as if it had been in a huge storm, though there was none that we knew of.”

            I said. “We had a hurricane a couple of months back. A lot of trees were blown down.”

            “That could well have been it, “he said.” Anyway we now know that that tree was what kept us in touch with your world. The roots of it are beginning to rot away. When the last one goes, our world and yours will go their separate ways. The Door between the two will disappear forever. What ever the Fairies decide, they will not be able to change their minds.”

            “How long before this happens?” I wondered.

            “A month, give or take a day or two.” He said. “So they really need to decide today.” He hesitated for a moment.” Do you think they will let us have the An-ya seeds? If not then they are condemning us to a long and painful decline.”

          “You will get the seeds, if I have to move all the sacks out of the tunnel by myself.” I said.

          We sat there for a good half an hour. The Churchyard Fairies were meeting in the hollow Yew tree.

          Primrose came out of the tunnel. She came over.” I am going to talk to Bilberry,” she said. “Then I will come back.”

           A minute later she returned with Bilberry. “They are still arguing,” she said. “But whatever happens I am staying here,”

         “And so am I, “added Bilberry.

         They sat down on the bench beside me.” When I disappeared from Elf Land," began Primrose, "They had to declare me dead, so that a new Elder could be chosen. As you know, no-one can come back from the dead. That means that I do not exist since Fairies are given their names when they are felt by all the other fairies and that can never happen to me.” She stopped there.

           Bilberry put his arm round her. “And I was declared dead, so that Adonis could become king and now I am counted as a baby. So we shall stop here, the baby and his non-existent wife.”

        “Not alone though,” added a third voice. Unseen, Five of Oak had come through the tunnel and joined them “I am not going back to the Land of Elves. And there is another who is stopping too. I met Mugwort on the way here. He says he is stopping too. He said that he did not want to go too far away from the road in case the Tar you gave him stopped working.”

         “Why do you not want to return?” Bilberry wanted to know.

        Five replied simply” The flowers. I went for a fly around the Garden. There are more flowers in there than I have ever seen in my whole life. I told your Council of Elders that too.”

        “Well, “said Primrose. “I think we had better start moving the bags of seed out of the tunnel, don’t you?”

        Before we could move an Elf appeared. He bowed to Maglan and they moved off some distance away. I could not hear what was said.
 
        Maglan returned. He shrugged his shoulders to my unspoken question. “The Elf Land Fairies have decided that they cannot make a decision. They will wait for their brethren in the Human World to choose. If they decide to go to Elf Land then the Elf Land Fairies will stay. If the Human World Fairies decide to stay then the Elf Land Fairies will come and live here.”

           The other Elf joined in. “There was a meeting of all the Elves and it was agreed that we would abide by the offer made by Maglan. We took an oath, one which no Elf has ever broken.  In the mean time the Elf Land Fairies have allowed us to take over the minds of the small Fairies so that we can begin moving the An-ya seeds into Elf Land, if you are agreeable”

          “We are” said Primrose.  We went over to the tunnel and began hauling the bags of seeds out. We had only moved a few when the Churchyard Elves appeared.

            “Have you made up your minds?” asked Bilberry.

            “Not really, “said one of the Hedge Fairies. “It was too hard, in the end we decided that we would wait and see what the Garden Fairies chose and go with them.”

            Primrose and I looked at each other. “Talk about sitting on the fence.”

            Bilberry laughed. “Well they may as well be of some use until then.” He set about organising them to take the bags of seeds to the Door into Elf Land. I was rather surprised to find that it was right next to the Priory ruins. I did see if it was possible to go into Elf Land myself. It was like walking into a brick wall. I turned away and saw the Maglan was watching me. He gave a rueful smile and said, “Sorry.”

            I walked back to the tunnel. Nearly all the sacks were moved now and there was quite a train of Fairies and Elves carrying them up to the Old Priory. Since there was not much I could do, I went through the tunnel back to the Garden. At the Garden end I met the Hedge Fairy Elder. “Ah Professor, are the Elves in the Churchyard?”

          “They are indeed,” I replied. “Have you decided what the Hedge Fairies are going to do?”

           He shook his head.” We came to the decision that we will do what everyone else does.”

           I had to laugh. “I think you will find you are not alone in not making a choice.”

            He gave an embarrassed smile.” It is not easy to make a decision which will affect not only our lives but the lives of all our children and their children as well. Have the Garden Fairies decided yet?”

          “I was just on my way to find out,” I said.

         It was a long walk back to Honeysuckle Nest. And it was getting towards the evening when I arrived. I admit to being very tired and disheartened. Holly was waiting for me. “We have given Larkspur something to make her sleep,” she said. “Did you really threaten to tie her up and throw her through the Door into the Elf World.?”

        I nodded. “She cannot stop here, if every one goes. It would destroy her mind and I will not let that happen.”

        “Maybe, but you could have been a little more diplomatic,” she said. “Has a decision been made?”

          I told her about the Elf Land Fairies, the Churchyard Fairies and the Hedge Fairies not being able to decide. “It all comes down to what the Garden Fairies choose to do.”

         We were joined by the third daughter of Adonis, Lily. “Don’t just stand there, feed the poor man,” she ordered.
     
       We had just finished when one of the Kings guards arrived. “Professor, you are needed in the Throne Room, immediately.”

        I stood up to go with him. “Not so fast,” said Holly. “We are all going to see Father. I will get Larkspur. You can either wait or go and tell Father we will be along in a few minutes.”

        Juniper, the guard, bowed and stood to one side with a great big grin on his face.

         The four of us followed him to the Throne room. He opened the door and announced. “Professor Hewletts as requested and the Princesses Larkspur, Holly and Lily.” He left and closed the door behind him before anyone in the room could react.

        Adonis spoke. “Ah, Professor, you are most welcome. “Daughters,” he added “What a nice surprise.”

      The room was as full as I have ever seen it. Every Elder fairy from every nest was there.

         Adonis went on,” We were just about to vote on whether to go into Elf Land or stay here. It is good that we have an audience to make sure we do it properly.”

       He grinned at his daughters.

        “However, before we do there is some information we need from the Professor.” He turned to me, “Have you spoken to any of the other Fairy people?”

       I bowed to him. “I have, they all have come to the same decision.”

       “And that is?” Adonis asked.

       “They have all decided to wait and see what you do.” I said.

        There was a quiet groan from the Elders.

         I held up my hand. “There is also something else you should know.”

          There was a bigger groan when I told them the news that Maglan had given me.

         Each of the Elders had two small pebbles, one black and one white. Rowan Elder went round with a bag. Each Elder dropped a pebble in to it, in such a way that no one could see which colour it was. The other pebble was put back in the Eider’s pocket, again unseen.

        “Remember white is to stay and black to go, “said Rowan Elder. When everyone had voted he took the bag to Adonis.

    “Professor, will you do the honours and count the pebbles for us?” asked Adonis.

         On a table by the side of the throne was a box. The box was split down the middle. One side was painted black and the other white. I began taking the pebbles from the bag and putting them in the box. When I had finished, all the pebbles were in one side of the box. The vote was unanimous.

       There was not one pebble in the black side of the box. The Elders had voted to stay.

        Adonis stood up. “Thank-you everyone. I will only add that if any Fairy wishes to go in to Elf Land, he or she is free to do so and no-one will think any the worse of them.”

         There is little else to tell. The news of the vote was given to the Hedge Fairies and the waiting Maglan. About a month later the Elf Land Fairies began to emerge through the Door. They were a bit nervous at first, but Primrose and Bilberry soon made them feel welcome. They set about making a Nest in the Churchyard. They brought news that the Elves had managed to get the Lavender seeds to grow.

         The last person to come through was Two of Rowan. Primrose, Bilberry, Five and I were there to meet her. Maglan came with her. “This is farewell,” he said. "Elf Land will not stay in touch with the Human world for much longer. There are no fairies left in Elf Land, which is sad in many ways, but all the Elves accept it and wish them all success in their new home.” He turned to me. “I never thought that I would even meet a human being never mind one I feel I could have been friends with. It is a good note to end on.” He stepped back inside Elf Land.

       Two of Rowan shook herself and looked round, “Oh, she said.” He’s gone.”

        Primrose came and stood in front of her. “My Lady,” she said. “You are welcome as Queen of the Churchyard Fairies.

       About the only other thing to say is that I got a dreadful telling off and it took a whole week of silence before Larkspur finally forgave me for saying I would tie her up and throw her through the Door.

       Two days after Rowan came through, the last part of the Priory Wall collapsed. Elf Land was free.

Ps. From Colin Hewletts.

Copied from a manuscript found under a microscope slide in the Garden House.