Through the Portal

William stared at the ground and wrung his hands, nervously, as he waited for them to return. After about an hour, he began to fear they might not return, at all.

Kaelen walked over and placed his hands on the boy’s to still them. “Worrying will not help. It is better to have faith in the guardian. She believed she could save the child and I’m sure she will.”

“You have a lot of faith in her,” William noted, not looking up.

“She has proven herself to be worthy of that faith,” the dark elf replied, simply. “Has she not protected you and your friends thus far?” He pulled his hands away and rested them on his knees since the boy’s had grown still.

William was silent, knowing he had to concede the point. “But Josie is just a child. I shouldn’t have let them go without me.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to go, anyway,” Valda commented. “Unicorns tend to be rather picky about the passengers they carry. Only a maiden may ride one.”

He sighed, remembering that from the lore. “I still don’t like not being there. Josie is used to me being nearby and, if she wakes up with me gone, she will likely be afraid.” He looked at Kaelen. “Where were they going, anyway?”

The elf shrugged. “Hard to say. They didn’t go in the direction of the Blue Palace and I don’t know where else she might find healing.” He paused. “Of course, they probably wouldn’t have made it to the palace if they tried. The child was too weak.”

“Josie,” William corrected. “Her name is Josie.”

Kaelen nodded, realizing how cold his words sounded. “I’m certain Josie will be fine. The guardian knows what she’s doing.”

“Our lady would not allow harm to come to the child,” Tristan added. “Stop acting like an idiot and trust her judgment.”

“Can you go two minutes without insulting me?” William demanded.

“Can you go two minutes without doing something foolish?” Tristan countered. He wasn’t really in the mood to argue, but he knew it would distract the boy from his distress. He didn’t like William, but he didn’t care to let him continue fretting.

Eager for something to fight, William stood and drew his sword. “Shut up or I’ll kill you.”

Tristan scoffed at the blade. “Not with that stance, you clumsy oaf.”

“I leave for a few minutes and you all descend into chaos.” Katherine sighed and shook her head as she stepped out of the trees. “I would have hoped you’d be able to restrain yourselves a little longer.”

Everybody stood as she entered the clearing. William quickly sheathed his sword and turned to her. “Where’s Josie?”

“Safe,” Katherine assured him. “She is being well cared for and I can take you to her, now, if you’re ready.”

“Lead the way.” William’s ankle was killing him, but his only thought was seeing Josie and knowing that she was okay.

Katherine nodded, understanding his eagerness. Seeing that everyone was already packed and ready to go, she led the way through the forest. There didn’t seem to be a path, but she knew which way to lead them.

“Where are we going?” William asked from a couple of feet behind her. Even though he was doing his best to push past the pain in his ankle, he couldn’t stop it from slowing him down.

“It’s best if I don’t say until we get there. They don’t like to be talked about, much, and you wouldn’t want to risk having your invitation rescinded,” she replied.

William nodded, eager to see Josie and not wanting to do anything to jeopardize that. Even if they came upon a group of orcs, he would be fine with it, as long as they were able to help the little girl who was so dear to him.

Tristan caught up to Katherine and spoke softly, “Are we going where I think we’re going?”

“I cannot read your mind, dear Tristan, so how would I know what you are thinking?” she asked, her tone a bit playful. She was feeling much better, now that she knew Josie was going to be fine.

“I am more familiar with the ways of unicorns than most and I know whom they serve,” he replied. “Also, I know who does not like to be spoken of, so it is easy to guess.”

“In that case, why are you asking me, at all?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

He shook his head and sighed, thinking that he would rather not be following her, right then.

Katherine paused at a seemingly empty spot. She hadn’t whistled for a while and the light of the snails was starting to fade.

“What are you doing?” William asked, hoping she hadn’t forgotten the way.

“Waiting.” Katherine didn’t look at him. The light grew dimmer by the second.

“For what?” He didn’t like the idea of being in the dark, but, if Katherine wasn’t going to set the snails alight, he wouldn’t, either, knowing she probably had a reason. He feared she might have seen something up ahead, but she said nothing.

The whole group fell silent, not knowing what was happening. The last star snail light blinked out and they were pitched into total darkness.

Suddenly, there was a light as bright as day and they had to shield their eyes, which had become accustom to only star snail light. It was a few minutes before anyone could see anything. When they did, everyone stood in stunned silence for several seconds.

Meredith was the first to speak. “It’s beautiful.”

Her voice was breathless. Before her was a clearing, filled with flowers of every kind, most of which she had never seen before, even in pictures. The grass faded from one color to the next. However, the bright colors were nothing compared to the people inhabiting the clearing. They came in every size. Some were taller than the elves and others would fit in her hand. They all had wings of various colors and their clothes seemed to be made entirely of leaves and petals.

Katherine looked to the group. “Welcome to the Veil of the Fairies.”

A fairy of about Meredith’s height flitted over to them and smiled. She looked to be around twelve. Her ears were pointed, like the elves, but they stuck out a bit more. Her skin shimmered, as though she were painted with glitter. Her golden hair was laced with blue flowers and her dress seemed to be made of white rose petals. Her wings were blue, laced with silver.

She smiled at them. “You must be the friends of the guardian. Welcome. I am Adia, handmaiden to the fairy queen. She has sent me to welcome you.”

The children could only stare at her, dumbly. Katherine stepped forward and smiled. “We thank the queen for her welcome and the king for his invitation. My companions are weary, now, and would like to rest, if that pleases the fairy rulers.”

Adia nodded. “We have prepared for our guests.” She nodded to several fairies, who came to her side. “My brethren and I will take you to your lodgings.”

At her signal, each of the fairies walked over and grabbed ahold of a group member. Before any of them knew what was happening, they were flying upwards, high off the ground and into the trees, where they discovered houses made of leaves, bark, and flowers. The floors were wooden, but carpeted in soft moss of varying colors. Platforms connected the tree houses, allowing them to walk from one to the next. Each member was given their own hut, right next door to each other. Each house was a single room with a hammock for a bed and a bathtub made of marble, already filled with water. It didn’t seem possible for such places to exist, but here they were.

William looked to the fairy that had set him down. “I would like to see Josie.” Despite his panic, he did his best to remember to be polite, for fear of angering them. “Please.”

“You will see her soon,” the fairy assured him. “She is being well cared for and needs her rest.” He looked the boy over. “You, also, need to rest. A bath has been prepared, as well as fresh clothes. We can’t have you meeting the king and queen in that shape, after all.”

William looked down at himself, reflexively. He was covered in dirt and knew he smelled. His clothes were in one piece by some miracle, but they didn’t look like much. He suddenly felt embarrassed to look that way in such a place.

“We will give you time to recover before you speak with the rulers. Afterwards, you will be able to see your friend,” the fairy promised.

William nodded, not wanting to wait, but realizing he had no choice. The fairy left, closing a door of bark behind himself. William decided he may as well do as he was expected and pulled off his dirty clothes before climbing into the bath. He was surprised to find that the water felt cool, but not uncomfortable.

As he submerged himself, it soothed his injured ankle and even the wounds on his back, which he hadn’t realized were still hurting a bit. He breathed a sigh and ducked his head under the water, allowing it to wash away all the dirt and blood that had been clinging to him. When he sat back up and pushed his hair out of his face, he was realized that the water was still clear, as though there had never been any dirt in it. The filth seemed to have just disappeared, leaving him clean and refreshed.

He climbed out and had a look at the clothes, which were hanging on the hammock. There was a tunic, made of dark blue flower petals and pants of green leaves. He didn’t think it was possible for such things to be comfortable, but they were. He also found them easy to move around in and there didn’t seem to be any chance of them tearing, whatever he did.

William decided there must be some fairy magic in the clothes, but he didn’t think on it for too long. He noted that they hadn’t left him any shoes and remembered that all the fairies were barefoot. He considered putting his dirty boots back on, but couldn’t bring himself to do it after he’d gotten so clean. He decided he may as well forgo the shoes, completely, for the time being.

There was a knock at the door and he caught his breath as he pulled it open. Katherine stood there, her long curls falling over her shoulders. White flowers had been woven into her hair and she wore a dress of blue rose petals, which matched her eyes. She smiled when she saw him. “You look like you’re feeling better. I’m glad.”

He nodded, dumbly, unable to take his eyes from the vision before him. He realized he was staring and looked down, his ears growing warm. “You look very nice.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “Now, if you are feeling up to it, we can go give the king and queen a proper greeting, then check on Josie.”

He nodded, eagerly, stepping out of the little treehouse. He followed her over some planks, careful not to look down, for fear of seeing just how high up they were. He realized the drop could kill him and did his best not to think about that.

They collected Meredith, next. Her dark hair was also laced with flowers, but hers were yellow. Her dress was made of red petals and she smiled as she saw William. “You’re looking much better.”

He nodded to her. “As are you. Did you do your hair yourself?”

Meredith shook her head, touching it, self-consciously. “Some little pixies flew in and started messing with it. I didn’t really know what to do, so I let them. Does it look bad? I don’t have a mirror.”

“It looks nice,” he assured her. They went to get the twins, who had already found each other outside their houses. They were never very good at staying apart.

Jake grinned as he saw William. “Hey, you don’t look half-dead, anymore. That’s good.”

His brother gave a thumbs-up. They were wearing matching shirts of orange and blue-petal pants.

“Gee, thanks.” William smiled.

They collected the elves, who were each dressed in petals and leaves. Valda was doing her best to pry red flowers out of her hair. William almost laughed when he realized that Tristan had leaves woven into his. The wood elf had ignored them, hoping to avoid making a scene as Valda was with her yanking. The pixies really knew how to make the leaves and flowers stick. Even Kaelen had some blue leaves entwined in his long hair, but he wasn’t bothered by it like the wood elves.

“Now that everybody’s together, we can be on our way.” Katherine looked at Valda and frowned. “You may as well leave them, for now. You don’t want to upset the pixies.”

With a grunt of frustration, the she-elf gave up on the flowers and glared at anyone who looked like they were even thinking about smiling. A few pixies flew over and began repairing the damage, much to her frustration. They were tiny, not even as big as Valda’s hand, but she didn’t dare to swat them away for fear of angering someone.

William noted that everyone had decided to go barefoot, like him. “Well, let’s go meet these royals, so we can see Josie.”

Katherine frowned at him. “Make sure to be polite. You don’t want to insult them.”

William nodded and allowed her to lead the way. He just wanted to get the greeting finished and see the child. He knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he saw, with his own eyes, that she was safe.

The treehouse of the fairy king and queen was larger than the others. It was draped in every kind of flower. Adia and a male fairy were waiting for them outside. The male fairy wore an outfit made entirely of leaves and had a mischievous glint in his eyes. His hair was black and his wings were pure silver.

He smiled as they approached. “Good afternoon, honored guests. We have come to show you in. You have already met Adia.” He indicated her. “I am known as Robin Goodfellow.”

“Puck?” The word was out before Henry could stop it, but the fairy just smiled.

“The one and only.” He gave a dramatic bow. “It is nice to know I am still well-known, even among Dunyans.”

Adia sighed at him. “If you are quite done stroking your ego, we have a duty to fulfill.”

“Of course.” He jumped up. “Follow us, children.” The pair led them into the large treehouse. Inside were two thrones, upon which sat the king and queen.

“Welcome,” the king said, as they entered. “I am Oberon and this is my wife, Titania.”

He wore a tunic of royal blue petals and a cloak of silver ones. On his head was a crown of green and silver leaves. His pants seemed to be made entirely of bark and William vaguely wondered how that worked. However, he found himself speechless in the presence of the fairy king, who had a gaze that was impossible to hold. He radiated nobility and power, making the children wonder if they should kneel. William suddenly felt quite silly for ever borrowing the fairy king’s name and was half-afraid he might be punished if Oberon knew.

“We welcome you to our home,” Titania added, smiling at the group. Her gown was longer than any of the others and faded from one color to the next. In her hair was a crown of brightly-colored flowers, as well.

Katherine bowed her head to them. “We are grateful for your hospitality and your kindness in sending the unicorn to help us.”

Titania nodded. “We sensed the distress of your group. We don’t often get involved in such affairs, but Adia saw the child and asked that we save her.” She smiled at her handmaiden. “We fairies have always had a soft spot for children.”

William remembered hearing stories of children being stolen by the fairies and hoped that had nothing to do with the current conversation. He bit his tongue to keep from saying anything that might be considered rude.

Katherine nodded at the queen’s words. “We would like to see the girl, if that is alright with your majesties.”

William looked at her, a little surprised as he noticed that she was deferring to the fairies. He had seen her be diplomatic, but this was different. She was usually treated as the highest authority in the land, but he realized the fairies did not think like the others.

“You are welcome to visit her,” Titania replied, clearly, the friendlier of the pair. “Adia and Robin will lead the way.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Katherine said. “Your generosity and kindness are truly admirable.”

Adia and Robin led them out of the treehouse and along the platforms. Robin smiled at the group, walking backwards. “Careful not to fall, children. It’s a long way down.”

They resisted the urge to look, knowing it would make them more nervous.

Adia sighed at him. “Stop trying to frighten them.”

“I am doing no such thing, fair Adia,” he replied, looking offended. “I would never do anything to frighten anyone.”

“You are a liar and a villain,” she stated.

“A villain, am I?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and flew up, a bit. “You are always so cruel to me.”

“You deserve it,” she told him. “Unhand me, at once.” She pushed him away and alighted in front of the group, again. “Please, excuse him. He is a fool, as well as a knave.”

They didn’t respond as they followed her. Robin flew beside them, sometimes looking like he might grab one of the children. Before long, they reached a simple treehouse, covered in white flowers.

Adia opened the door for them. “You friend is inside. Please, try not to wake her.”

The group realized they couldn’t all go in at once, so it was decided that Meredith and William would see her, first. They stepped through the door, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.