The Fourfold Key

The duo had been traveling for about an hour when Tom stopped. Ruth reined in her horse as well.

“Why are we stopping?” Ruth asked while Tom dug around in his sack.

“We’re almost to the Fairy Kingdom. You did look up information on fairies, correct?”

Ruth admitted she didn’t and Tom sighed. “Fairies are extremely vain. They spend half their day primping and the rest of it going to fancy balls and the like. They tend to look down on the poorly dressed as lesser beings, so it will be easier for us to travel through their kingdom if we freshen up.”

“Oh. Wait—does that mean I need to put that dress on again?” Ruth asked.

“I’m afraid so. I’m changing as well.” Tom gave her a consoling look and headed off into the bushes with his clothes.

Once they were finished, Tom led them past a thick part of the wood. They passed into the Fairy Kingdom with no obstacles. After a while, they stopped at a stream. As Tom leaned down to drink, he heard a rustle in the thickets on the other side of the stream.

“Who’s there?” Tom demanded, scanning the trees. “Come out. Now.”

There came another rustle and out popped a fawn. “Sorry,” it wheezed, out of breath. “There’s someone after me. Gotta go!” The fawn bolted off into the bushes.

Ruth’s eyes grew wide. “You—you didn’t tell me animals could talk here.”

“Not all of them can. Just the ones with blood originally from the Fairy Kingdom. They got tired of—” Tom was interrupted by yet another sound, the sound of crashing feet.

“That’s right, you better run!” a voice cried out. “If I catch you skulking around my property again, I’ll, I’ll—” The owner of the voice crashed into view. She caught sight of the two travelers and stopped her ranting.

She was a fairy. Not as pretty as Ruth was expecting of a stuck-up, vain creature. She had thin, shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair, and had a gold circlet, like a crown, resting on her forehead. The fairy wore a brown leather tunic, fastened in the middle with a gold belt. The tunic’s hem was stamped with depictions of forest animals prancing about a forest. She had on dark green leggings. Her legs were long, good for running, and her wings were light amber. Her skin was dark, and, at the moment, her face was full of anger, which soon melted into an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I was chasing a prankster kid. Actually, it might have been a deer. Anyhoo, I’m Lemonjello. I know, I know, it’s a weird name. Who are you?”

Ruth and Tom introduced themselves. After a minute of conversation, Lemonjello invited them to dinner.

“Oh, no, we couldn’t intrude.” Tom stammered.

“Oh, no, to you, mister. I insist. I don’t usually get visitors.”

“Well, if you insist,” Ruth said, excited with the prospect of having dinner with a fairy. Then she paused. “Not to pry, but what do you mean you don’t get many visitors? From what Tom told me, you fairies seem to be quite social.”

Lemonjello shrugged as she gestured for them to follow her. “I guess because they don’t like me very much. I’m an incredibly talented fairy.” There wasn’t a hint of humility in the last statement. Ruth giggled, until she caught Tom glaring at her. She stopped giggling. “As you probably know, the kingdom gets passed down to the next most talented fairy. Our ruler—right now it’s King Fredrick—is nearing the end of his reign. So the Monarch Seekers, the fairies who track down the Talented, have begun to look for possible candidates to claim the throne. I’ve been visited by them several times. None of the Monarch Seekers really like the job. They think it’s too much work, which is silly because all they do is cast a spell to watch the fairies around the kingdom. They would much rather be dancing around in a ballroom. Anyhoo, I assume everyone else is just jealous. Ah, here we are.” She frowned at her house, which would have been quaint, but was covered in mashed purple berries, and leaf-signs that said many rude things about their host. Ruth tried very hard not to look at them. Lemonjello sighed. “Oh well, I’ll clean it up later. For now, I have guests!” She flashed a happy smile towards the two of them, then turned and motioned for them to follow her into the house.

Lemonjello’s house was mostly empty inside, just a chair or two and an empty counter.

Lemonjello noticed them looking around in obvious confusion. “Yeah, I know there’s not much here, I usually keep my stuff in the void. So people can’t steal or break it.”

“Void?” Ruth asked, still looking confused.

“Yes, the void. It’s a place in between time and space. It’s what you travel through if you go through time, or transport yourself somewhere else. Fairies can deposit things into it. But only a few have the power to draw them back, or put much in at a time. I, however, have the power to keep everything I own in the void, and draw whatever I need back out.” Lemonjello snapped her fingers and a table and a third chair appeared out of thin air. Ruth frantically jumped away, almost tripping over Tom in the process. Lemonjello laughed. “I take it you’ve never seen that before?”

Ruth shook her head, staring at the table in awe.

“Supper will be ready in a minute. I just have to find it…” Lemonjello squinted her eyes, concentrating hard. “Here it is!” She snapped her fingers again and a small but delicious-looking meal appeared on the table.

Tom and Ruth, who had finally gathered her wits, sat down with Lemonjello. As they ate, they told her everything. She seemed trustworthy enough.

“Wow,” she said when they finished, stuffing a piece of bread in her mouth. “Tha rally brve o yu.”

“What?” Ruth asked.

“Sorry,” she said, swallowing her food. “I said, that’s really brave of you.”

Ruth blushed. “I just want my dad back, that’s all. Tom’s the one who’s risking his neck for me.”

“Well, I’m gonna keep calling you brave. I wish I could go with you.” She frowned, then her eyes lit up. “Hey! Maybe I could! I could be really helpful, you know. Pleeeease?”

“I don’t know.” Tom said frowning. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Too many people could alert the Sorceress. Especially if the three would be a girl who doesn’t know anything about anything and seems to be from another planet, a rebel dwarf, and one of the most powerful fairies in the Fairy Kingdom.”

“I understand,” she said after a pause, trying to sound bright, but Ruth could tell she was hurt. Ruth stung a little too. She knew Tom didn’t mean to be rude when he said she didn’t know anything, but it still hurt to hear him say it. “No one can say I don’t know when I’m not wanted. Anyhoo, did you guys enjoy supper?”

“Yes, it was really good. Thank you so much.” Ruth wanted to apologize for them turning her away, but she didn’t know what to say, and Lemonjello had been the one who changed the subject, so she assumed she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“Yes,” Tom added. “But we really should go. It’s getting late, and we need to find a place to sleep.”

“How about here?” Lemonjello asked. “You could spend the night here! I have plenty of room.”

Tom and Ruth agreed, and soon they were all settled in, ready for bed. They said their goodnights, and soon were sleeping soundly. Ruth lay on the floor wondering about the path before her. Will I get Dad back? Ruth wondered. She considered the possibility that this was all a realistic dream. But she dug deep down into her gut, where her raw, central feelings lay hidden. No, this is real, she decided. I am in another world, off to rescue my dad, sure as the triplets are the very definition of chaos. This has to work. This is real, and serious. With these whirling thoughts, Ruth drifted off into the dreamworld. As Ruth slept, she had an odd dream.

“Well?” demanded a beautiful, but frightening woman. “Did you find her? Where is she?”

“I’m sorry, Sorceress,” said a small, fat man. He was holding a hat and was twisting it so hard, Ruth was sure it would rip. “We haven’t found her yet. The signal on the tracker is very weak.”

Tracker? Sorceress? Ruth thought in her sleep. What does that mean? Who are they looking for?

“You’re sure it was planted? It wasn’t left on Earth? How reliable was the man who put it there?”

“Very sure,” the man replied. “His name was David Lloyd. He said he was certain she took it.”

The woman sighed, rolling her large, dark green eyes. “Do you have any news at all on the girl’s whereabouts?”

“Last we heard she was in the Middle Kingdom, accompanied by the turncoat, Tom Smith. Then we lost her.”

The lady growled in frustration. “That wretched dwarf will pay for this. Find the signal on that tracker, Kilp. I want that McKenzie girl brought to me at once!”

“Yes, Sorceress. It will be as you say.” The short man named Kilp bowed and hurried to the door.

Ruth’s mind was spinning. David Lloyd? Tracker? Sorceress? What do they want with me?

She cried out from the confusion of it all, sitting up, now wide awake. Tom, on the floor on the other side of the room, hearing her cry, leapt to his feet.

He cried something deliriously about evil, rebel fairies. Shaking himself fully awake, he realized there were no fairies there, except for Lemonjello, who was just getting up as well.

“Ruth, what’s wrong?” Tom asked, rubbing his blurry eyes.

“Nothing,” she mumbled. “It was just a dream. Sorry I woke you guys up.”

“No problem.” Lemonjello jumped up and headed outside. “I’ll be back in a minute. Just getting some fresh air.”

Ruth got out of bed and turned towards the small room Lemonjello had created last night for changing. It was really just a sheet strung in a corner. Grabbing her normal clothes, she entered and began to change out of her dress. When she was finished she came out and they had breakfast. Lemonjello once again asked to come, and once again Tom turned her away. Lemonjello told them where to go to reach the lagoon, and they set off. Soon they began to smell saltwater and hear faint voices.

Ruth asked why a lagoon was coming out of a river. Tom had said that Dwarfshead River ran directly into the ocean. The sea was right out of view on the bottom of the map.

Tom stopped his horse. They had decided that Ruth would be the safest to go, like Tom had pointed out. On the way there, he had given her many tips, advice and warnings. If he couldn’t be there he could help in other ways.

“I can’t go any farther. It’s up to you now. Here.” He dug around in his saddlebag and pulled out a wad of beeswax. “Put this in your ears. Good luck! And be careful!”

Ruth took the wax and placed it in her ears. She gave Tom a final wave, and rode on toward Mermaid Lagoon.