"Unty Wraithvine, I don' feel so good, read me a story, please?" -- Anon Guest
The book was thick, and may have been weight training for the small child. It had been read many times and handled by many readers. Generations had added to some pages. Some scribbling illustrations in the margins, others colouring in the woodcuts. At least one baby had teethed on the hard cover. It was a relic of many generations.
Wraithvine handled it with the reverence it was due. "Do you have any favourites?"
"The Devil and the Faeries," said Wit, curling up with her teddy bear and nestling under a blanket. She rubbed at her emerging horns with her palm and whimpered.
Wit was one of the lucky ones. Taken in by people who wanted her, instead of people who wanted to use her. Nevertheless, hornbreak fever was a rough time for young Hellkin. Wraithvine conjured a cloth soaked in chamomile and laid it across Wit's brow.
"The Devil and the Faeries," Wraithvine announced, looking it up. It was one of the very few nursery tales in which the Hellkin were neither villain nor victim. And possibly the closest most could hope to being a hero. "Once upon a time," ze commenced.
Once upon a time...
There had been a Hellkin born to a rich household. As the only heir, he wasn't cast out, but he wasn't very welcome either. So when a new, Human baby came to the house, it was not long before the household began to make the Hellkin even more unwelcome than before.
One servant found a clever way to do the unthinkable deed. They came to him one morning and said, "I have gained knowledge of a special potion. One that can turn you truly human. The problem lies in the ingredients. You must fetch them with your own hands."
"I will do whatever it takes," he said.
"First and most important," said the servant, "A special mushroom with a blue cap and green spots. It shall have a red stalk and purple frills. To find it, you must walk into the grand forest, find the largest tree within, and skip around it widdershins thrice. There, a door will open into the realm where it grows."
The Hellkin was no fool. He knew this was one among the many ways to enter Nanogh, the plane of magic. He took with him a skin of water, a coat against bad weather, and a basket of food for the journey.
He also invited his shadow to follow him wherever he may tread.
So the Hellkin went where he was told, and did as he was told. And there in Nanogh, he soon discovered that no such mushroom existed. Not even in the realm where anything could happen.
He invited his shadow to sit with him and took out his basket and his waterskin. A meal might fortify his heart before he tried to find a place where he might be welcome. And there, across the clearing where he and his shadow sat, was a Faerie.
"You're not welcome here," said the Faerie.
"I'm not welcome anywhere," countered the Hellkin. He remembered his manners and offered the basket. "I don't have much, but what I have is here to share. Leave me in peace and I will move on with only my shadow for a friend."
The Faerie opened the basket and cried out in disgust. "You have poison to share?"
"I'm sorry," said the Hellkin. "That was packed for me." He offered his water, "I know this is good."
"And what do you expect in return?" asked the Faerie.
"Hospitality," said the Hellkin.
The Faerie accepted his water, and opened up a cavern where a feast lay, gleaming like jewels. "Then accept mine," they said.
He was so hungry that he forgot to invite his shadow to follow him. At the sight of the shadow staying where it sat, the Faerie took fright and pushed the both of them back to the mortal world. No worse than when they started.
And there he went forth to a life of his own, said the text. Wraithvine ignored it. "Some say he became an Adventurer and won himself a great fortune. Some say he made himself a better life than he had known before. Some say he found true love... But I say... he found all of those, and lived as he pleased."
Wit had fallen asleep with a soft smile on her face.
[Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [121 remaining prompts!]