“Arthur! Arthur! Arthur, I swear on my grandfather’s grave if you don’t show yourself right now I’m—” Elaine screamed when Arthur ambushed her from behind. The poor maiden was picking apples for breakfast, but when she overheard that her cousin was nowhere to be seen anywhere in the manor she went out to seek him herself.
“Arthur! You scared the life out of me!”
Arthur laughed, “Please, if anything you frighten me more than the wolves at night.”
“I’m serious. Father has his servants searching everywhere for you. If you don’t come back right now he’ll send the men and hounds. Besides, you shouldn’t even be this far into the forest.”
“But you know that’s where all of the excitement happens.”
A fox jumped around Elaine’s feet and she picked up the ends of her skirt. Arthur crunched down and scratched behind his ears. “See? Reynard agrees with me.”
“Then he will be the first and last.”
Arthur rolled his eyes. “Please, Elaine. This will be the last time. I promise.”
Elaine stubbornly folded her arms. Arthur scooped up Reynard and held him up to Elaine’s face. The canine licked her rosy cheeks and she couldn’t resist snickering at the tickling and wet sensation, coupled with the cold feel of the fox’s nose.
“Alright, alright. But I’m coming with you just to make sure you keep your word. Are we clear?”
“Clear as day, M’Lady.” Arthur took her wrist and led her to where his favorite horse, the white mare Llamrei, awaited them. Arthur always insisted on riding bareback, which Elaine found to be a tad improper, especially for a future king.
Arthur gave Llamrei a light kick and the mare took off like lightning across the words. Elaine nearly got bucked right off until she linked her arms around her cousin’s shoulders. She shook her head, still flushed from the shock. She huffed when Arthur laughed at her expense.
Llamrei slowed down, trotting happily along the forest. The mare’s milky white mane rippled like strings of pearls floating above the white sea-foam of the wild ocean. This ethereal beauty was one of the reasons Elaine found it dangerous for Arthur to ride with Llamrei with no saddle, or even reigns, just tugging on her mane.
Only the fae folk rode their steeds in this fashion.
When Llamrei stopped, Arthur helped Elaine off. “I’ve never been this deep in the forest before.” She said, her head spinning left and right, her senses on high alert.
“Probably because you never have.” Arthur teased, stroking Llamrei’s muzzled and giving her a kiss.
“Because it is forbidden!” Elaine hissed, then jumped again when she heard something coming from the shrubbery close by. She gasped and hid behind Arthur.
A gray colored jackrabbit jumped out, being chased by Reynard, who followed them across the forest as they rode on Llamrei. Elaine covered her face when Reynard bit into the rabbit’s neck. Elaine furiously pushed Arthur when all he did was laugh.
“You are insufferable! Just do whatever it was you came to do and let’s leave this forsaken place.”
“You won’t think that way for long.” Arthur assured her.
While Reynard ate his breakfast and Llamrei ate the grass, Arthur led Elaine over a creek where green moss grew on the rocks. Elaine knew she picked the wrong day to wear her favorite casual dress. She picked up the helms and with crinkled features she stepped over the rocks, nearly slipping. Arthur kept her balanced, encouraging her onward while all she did was shiver at the moss getting stuck to her boots.
Elaine was shivering. Not only was there a cold morning wind on the horizon, but her sleeves barely covered most of her arms and her braid had begun to unravel. She jumped and clenched Arthur’s arm, forcing him close. He was much taller than she was, around the same height as her brother Kay, so she felt secure knowing he could protect her. Women weren’t meant for combat, after all. Their time was better used for much more practical things such as embroidery, cooking, tending to the animals, as well as studying math and science.
A woman’s greatest weapon was her mind after all, and it was a weapon that could not afford to be wasted. While the men of the country were to be the providers of the home, woman held an equal authority within the household, even if their skills were different from their husbands. These were the lessons Elaine was taught since she was a child, taking literary lessons alongside her brother as well as mastering the needle just as men mastered the sword.
Elaine tried calming herself, insisting it was just another jackrabbit. Reynard came rushing over, the now dead animal still lunged between his teeth. The young maiden listened carefully again. Despite her surprise of the jackrabbit before, she knew an animal’s sound when she heard one.
This was not the sound of an animal. When she noticed the gleam in her cousin’s eyes, Elaine’s mouth flew open from shock and discontent.
Arthur held a finger to his lips and gently took Elaine’s hand, guiding her towards the sound. It was the sound of a million twinkling bells coming together into a symphony that could lure any unsuspecting traveler into the deep marches of the forest, never to be seen again.
Elaine clenched her cousin’s arm, her fingernails puncturing through his old, ragged shirt he often wore during his unauthorized expeditions, leaving behind markings across his skin kissed skin.
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“Arthur, we need to turn back. Now!”
“Quiet, you’ll frighten them.”
“Frighten them?” Realization flashed in Elaine’s eyes. “Arthur, if my Father knew of what you’ve done—if anyone knew, do you know what—” she stepped back, slightly pushing him ahead. “I’ll scream.” She threatened.
“You wouldn’t.”
Elaine opened her mouth and Arthur quickly covered it. The bells returned and Elaine fought wildly to break free, but Arthur was not only taller and stronger, but also payed no mind to the sticky saliva Elaine spat on his palm.
“Nice try. You forget, I grew up with Kay. You’re only torturing yourself.”
Elaine grunted angrily, her own spit smearing her mouth.
The bells seemed to be getting closer. Arthur waited, and Elaine, with no other choice, was forced to listen. Her heart was racing. Was this the end? Her cousin bewitched by the Fae Folk and dragging her along with them? To sacrifice to their god of fire as an offering in exchange for prolonged life?
One of the bells was even closer now. Elaine’s heart leaped from her throat as a million tiny will-o-wisps fluttered from the opening of a large oak tree. Reynard dropped his meal and sat down like a well behaved hunting dog, his tail wagging. The bells were mesmerizing, just as Elaine had been warned about as a child. She tried fighting their allure, but somehow she didn’t feel the urge to follow them. Rather, she was content to stay put or return with only the memory of the lovely sound.
One of the wisps flew over to Arthur. He smiled, bowing his head. Elaine couldn’t believe it. The creature had the body of a human, though small and its limbs were a lot longer and slimmer and upon closer inspection had only three fingers. It wore no clothing yet its body showed no signs of visible nudity that would have made Elaine blush from embarrassment.
The creature had large eyes, a tiny nose, an almost cat-like mouth and long pointed ears with antenna buds dangling from its tips. Its transparent butterfly-like wings released sparkling dust as they fluttered like hummingbird wings.
Arthur slowly removed his hand from Elaine’s mouth, wiping herself clean with her sleeve, and the little creature hovered in front of them.
“Elaine, meet little Titania.” Arthur said, “Sprites normally don’t have names. But, she really seemed to like it.”
“You…you named it?” Elaine quivered.
“Her.” Arthur corrected, “Show her some respect.”
Little Titania fluttered away and Arthur went after her. Elaine stopped him. “Don’t! Are you that blind? They’re trying to lure you!”
“If so, then they have failed at least five times already.” Arthur shook her off and followed Titania. Elaine screamed when more sprites flew around her, one picking up a piece of her dress, its tiny hands getting a feel of the fabric. Elaine yanked it away from the creature.
“Get away! Get away!”
Arthur turned around and called out. “It’s alright! They like you.”
“That’s it! I’m leaving before any of these…things decides to make me its fae bride.”
Arthur shook his head with a sigh. “Elaine, please. This is important.”
“What could possibly be so—AAHH!!” Elaine lost her balanced on account of all of the sprites flying around her, admiring her dress. She felt something push against her back and she gasped. It wasn’t Arthur, but rather the sprites had all come together into a sparkling, jingling cloud and pushed the maiden back into place, regaining her balance.
“See? I told you. You have nothing to be afraid of.” Arthur told her. Elaine’s heart was racing and the sprites all bowed like tiny gentleman. She didn’t know what else to say after that.
“Now, if you want, you can stay there. But I need to find something. I won’t be long.”
Elaine accepted this and sat down on a grass covered rock. The sprites flew around her, one picking up a strand of her hair and putting it back into place and another returned the basket she hadn’t realized she had dropped it in all of the madness. The apples had long since fallen off and the sprites happily plucked some from a nearby tree and started filling up the basket.
“Oh. Thank…you.”
Arthur and Titania jumped over marsh holes until they arrived at the long dead tree that laid fallen on the ground. Titania fluttered her wings and sparkling dust coated one side of the tree that wasn’t coated in growing moss. Before Arthur’s eyes a rare, sparkling blue moss with bits of visible white spores inside became visible. Arthur put on some leather gloves and pulled out his dagger, cutting the moss from the tree and securing it in an empty glass jar. He made sure to grab every last piece, for the white spores were the most valuable piece.
Once he was finished, Arthur secured the jar in his bag and bowed before Titania. “Thank you.” Titania curtsied in return.
Arthur returned to Elaine, who was getting her hair braided by the sprites, giggling at the way they stared at her as though she were a beautiful new species of animal they couldn’t get enough of.
“Alright, we’re all set.” Arthur adjusted his bag. “Unless you wish to stay a bit longer.”
Elaine shook her head head dusted herself up. She cleared her throat, lifting her chin up as the sprites parted away from her. “Thank you for your hospitality, little wisps. But, we must be returning to the manor. Now.”
Arthur bid farewell to his sprite friends, blowing a kiss for Titania and whistled for Llamrei to come galloping over. Reynard finished eating his jackrabbit and joined the mare as she galloped back towards the estate of Sir Ector.
“Remember, not a word of this to Uncle Ector.”
“I swear, the things I do for you will be the death of me. And what was so important that you had to risk being seen with faeries anyway?”
“I needed to grab something for a friend.”
Elaine rolled her eyes. “You mean that crazy hermit?”
“He’s not crazy. He’s far more intelligent than any scholar I know.”
“He still believes in the fae’s ways. I hear he worships their fire god.” Elaine signed. “Arthur, please. This rebellious phase needs to come to an end. Tomorrow you will be leaving for Camelot.”
Llamrei read her rider’s emotions and slowly came to a halt near the stream, already a good hundred feet away from the entrance of the great forest. Arthur ran his hand through his messy dirty blond hair. No matter how many times he, or Elaine, combed it, it refused to remain in place.
“I’m well aware of what awaits me tomorrow. Which is why I needed to do all of this today. You need not worry, cousin. This will be the last time I will ever do anything like this again.”
Elaine exhaled in relief. “For your sake, Arthur, I hope so.”