The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry

Archive for the ‘Little People’ Category

Something was wrong! I didn’t know what it was, but my heart started doing a Gene Krupa drum solo in my chest and my breathing stopped, then started with a squeak. I thought I was having a heart attack. Men my age have them, you know, but I’ve learned the warning signs of a heart attack and this wasn’t it, nor was it a stroke. I think it was a panic attack. I was panicked but without a cause. Doesn’t that seem odd?

I was looking out the kitchen window at the ivy covered back fence. I stood there shaking and grasping the sink until my physical sensations settled down. That’s when I saw it. There was a beam of light like laser pointers, only it was an icky green instead of red. It was aimed at the ivy near the round outdoor thermometer. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. My best guess was across the street, but lasers pointed at the moon 238.000 miles away have illuminated spots that were seen from earth. If this was a laser its source could be anywhere there was a direct line of sight.

As I watched the green pinpoint started to grow and the ivy leaves scorched where it touched. I was shocked but fascinated. I had never seen anything like this and I wondered what I should do. If it grew any bigger it could cause some real damage. What if it shifted from the fence to the house? That’s when I got scared. We had to get out. We had to let someone know that our fence was under attack by, by what?

I didn’t know but I didn’t want to wait any longer to find out. I went rushing through the house yelling for my wife, but she didn’t answer. I didn’t know she was out, but she sure wasn’t in. I grabbed for the dogs who were yapping like a pack of idiots because they didn’t know what was going on. Better to yap than to be caught unprepared. The silly things ran away from me every time I tried to pick them up. I had to herd them into a couple of kennels so I could carry them out to the car. You’d think a four pound dog couldn’t put up much of a fuss, but they can. I don’t know if they were reacting to my fright or if they sensed something wrong too. They were bumping, and thumping against the sides of the kennel so hard that I could barely hold on to them. The handles on top were straining and I was afraid that they might break and they’d tumble down the stairs kennels and all. I was lucky, no breaks.

We reached the back door when I heard something strange above the caterwauling of the dogs. I know, dogs don’t caterwaul, but these three were coming very close to disproving that belief. It was loud, and obnoxious, and high pitched. I didn’t think I could hear a bomb go off in the din they created. But I heard something. It sounded like a woman shouting at me, “Mr. Bill, Mr. Bill don’t go away and forget us! We’re scared too.”

“Wha?”

It must have been the ringing in my ears and my overactive imagination. “Nah,” I thought, “I didn’t hear anything.”

Then just as I turned back to the door again, I heard it again, “Mr. Bill, don’t you dare leave this house without us!”

I turned around and there standing just outside of the kitchen were two little people only six inches tall. My eyes bugged out. I dropped the kennels, which caused the dogs to get louder if that was even possible, and I fell down hard on my butt. “Oh great,” I thought, “Here I am running around the house like a crazy person, scaring the wits out of our dogs, and the truth is I’ve gone around the bend to the funny farm and climbed the slippery basket-weaver’s tree.”

The little folk took this chance with me seated on the ground to run up my legs, scramble up my shirt and perch on my shoulder. The female said, “Hurry, we have to go. There is going to be a breach in the portal and we can’t be here when it happens.”

I didn’t move. The male of the pair slapped my ear and yelled, “Get up, yer big lug — we don’t have time for yer amazement. You can be amazed later — right now we gotta go.” With that he yanked the hair at the nape of my neck and screamed, “Go, go, go!”

So I did. Luckily the car door opened easily. In went the kennels. The tiny folks scrambled from my shoulders on to the front seat beside me. I jerked the door closed and backed the car down the drive. There wasn’t a moment to lose, I turned and shot down the street. Car, kennels, little guys and me, rushing headlong into the darkness. I glanced over at the little man and woman struggling to get under the broad seat belt and started to think. Were these the gnomes that lived under our sink? My wife said they were there, but I had never seen them. Not until today that is. What else has she been talking about that seemed too fanciful to be believed — fairies, shape shifters, and centaurs? What if it was all true? What if? The thought made my stomach queasy. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. Besides I had better figure out where we were going and what we were going to do once we got there.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009-2010

I landed face down in a bed of thick damp moss, two seconds later, Odette landed right beside me. With the smell of ozone still heavy in my nostrils, I rolled over and sat up. The last of the light was leaving the sky and the forest  was becoming increasingly dark.

Odette stood beside me pulling bits of leaves and moss out of her hair. “An what would ya be thinkin just happened?” She seemed to be very calm, given the fact that we were just magically transported who knows where. Now that I had a chance to pull myself together, I didn’t seem to be all that worried either, I had some bumps and scratches, but that was it.

I picked Odette up and put her on my lap. “I think that there was some sort of negative effect when the energy beams from the two wands crossed, and we got caught in the middle of it.” The underbrush rustled violently to the side of us. “Shh! I put my fingers over Odette’s mouth. “Somethings coming.”

I got quietly to my knees and crawled into a stand of tall ferns, signaling Odette to follow, then pulled the fronds up behind us. Twenty feet away, two young Centaurs crashed into the clearing, jumping wildly and butting their heads together as they took turns using defensive moves.

They shoved and pushed their way closer to us, unaware that we were watching. When they were just feet away they suddenly stopped and turned  in our direction, sensing our presence.  Odette and I sat frozen in place.

Odette opened her mouth to say something but I quickly put one finger to my lips to signal her to keep quiet. The centaurs started pushing through the undergrowth, working in opposite directions around the clearing. Before they could complete the circle back to where we hid, a horn sounded, high and thin. They snorted and bounded off through the trees, leaving us alone in the forest.

I released the breath I had been holding. “I thought they would find us for sure.  Do you think they were friendly?” My nerves were frayed, reality was setting in, we were alone in the forest and no one knew where we were or how to find us.

“There there dear, that’s what I’ve been tryin to tell ya, centaurs are faerie friendly, I’ve known em to help all the different faeries. Chances are, the faeries have called all the forest dwellers ta gether ta help find ya.”

The light in the sky was almost gone now and I was starting to shiver. We had landed in very damp moss and my clothes were soaked through. “Odette, I’m getting cold and I don’t think we had better stay here any longer. Lets find some place where we can get warm.” When I stood up a sharp pain shot through my knee. I muffled a groan.

Odette peered at me through the growing darkness. “You okay missus?” I crouched down to pick her up and another pain coursed through my knee, I bit back an exclamation. “Yes, I’m fine, just sore from the landing I guess.” I needed to change the subject. “If the centaurs are friendly maybe we should go the way they went.” I pointed across the clearing. “Over there, between those two trees, see, we can walk where they trampled through the underbrush.

We started across the clearing. Bruised from the fall, and with my knee constantly reminding me that there was some wrong with it, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk very far.  I looked around to find a stick that I could use as a cane. I couldn’t see anything, the forest was completely  submerged in darkness now. Discouraged, I sat down with my back against a gigantic tree, tears welling up in my eyes.

Odette climbed up my arm and with the edge of her apron, wiped the tears away. “Here now missus, no need for them tears, things will work out, you’ll see.” She sat down on my shoulder. It reminded me of the way Arial would sit and braid my hair while talking to me and the tears started again.

“Odette, it’s pitch dark now, I can’t see two feet in front of me, I’m cold, and my knee hurts. I’m having a very hard time seeing how things will be okay.”

Odette thought for a minute. “Do ya have the crystal that the queen of the frost faeries gave ya?” I used the sleeve of my shirt to wipe my eyes. “Yes, I keep it in a pouch around my neck, why?” Odette jumped up, slid down my arm and looked up at me. “What did the queen tell ya about it? Think back.”

The memory of the little faerie queen came back to me. She was holding out a crystal she had taken from her crown. She put it in my hand and said…”a crystal that will be a source of light and comfort for you in the dark times.”

“Odette, that’s it! The crystal, it glows!” I  grabbed the little pouch that hung around my neck and opened it. The crystal was glowing softly. I was so relieved that I almost laughed out loud. “It doesn’t glow very bright though.” I let Odette look in the little pouch. “Yes, but I’ll be thinkin that ya should hold it up, have a see what it’ll do.”

I took it out of the bag and held it in my hand. The light pulsed for a minute then the crystal began to quiver. I held it up to the night sky and it suddenly burst into sparkling white light.

Tears rushed from my eyes, but this time they were tears of relief.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.

I always get the most peaceful feeling when I come home, it doesn’t matter where I go or for how long, I guess it’s all the wonderful positive magic that flows through my garden. Today, I felt that serenity stronger than I can remember in the recent months.

I took the leash off of Lucy and let her in the house then turned back to face Arial and Cythia. The two faeries were sitting on the gate to the back yard, watching with intense concern as the emerald guard checked the silver protection orbs in the garden that marks the boundary between our house and the Shunners.

I walked quietly up behind them and peeked between the ornamental iron leaves that cover the gate. “So, are you two going to tell me what in Gaia’s name that little stunt was all about? Shooting in and disrupting a  perfectly charming conversation I was having with my neighbor down the street, I almost fell out of my chair! I’m just sure that she thinks I”m a little whacked now.”

I was hoping to return the favor of startling them by sneaking up behind them but I forget that it is almost impossible to surprise a faerie. Without turning to look at me Cythia said, “We have received some disturbing information from our colleagues in the realm, information that could directly impact you.” She turned to face me now, her eyes dark with worry. “The queen has requested your presence, I have been sent to escort you to the palace.”

Arial took her usual place on my shoulder. “The Emerald Guard and I will not leave your side.” She gave Cythia a defiant look which told me that they had already talked about this. Cythia shrugged her tiny shoulders. “As you wish, but we must leave immediately.” She pulled out her wand and touched the tip to my forehead. A flash of bright white light surrounded us, and as the world dissolved beneath my feet I asked, “Does this have anything to do with Lilly!?”

This isn’t the first time I have traveled into the realm of the fae. Every time I land on solid ground again, I always feel dizzy and disoriented. It would be nice if some of that faerie blood I have in me would help when it came to moving about the universe. Arial smiled at me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.