Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) (3 page)

“You don’t know it’s abandoned. It could be filled with blue elves,” I said, waving my hand toward the village.

“Why do they have to be blue? They could be green elves,” Kishi said with a sidelong glance at me.

“Actually, they couldn’t. Those went extinct about fifteen years ago. It was in that report…” I paused trying to think of the name.

Kishi stared at me, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Did you, Lillim ‘I’ve never even opened a book’ Callina, just shut me down with lore?”

Heat spread across my cheeks, and I turned away from her, trying to hide my face. Truth be told, I hadn’t been much for studying. That
was
true. However, since a dragon decided to huff and puff and blow my apartment down, I’d taken to studying. I was done being caught off guard because I didn’t read a mission briefing or a tactical report. Still, it wasn’t something I went around advertising because well, I have an image to keep up.

“Anyway. I just don’t think blue elves the size of a thimble are going to live in houses built for people our size. That doesn’t seem logical,” Kishi said as she gestured at the village again. “Besides, there’s no one here. I haven’t seen one person, not even one speck of movement.”

That was true. I hadn’t seen anyone either. I was hoping it was just because we were too far away from the place to really see what was going on.

“Maybe they’re just hiding because we’re big and scary. Or there’s a meeting. The Fae love meetings,” I said, though my heart wasn’t really in it.

“You can’t even say that without a look of total dejection. We both know there’s probably some creepy monster that lives in the middle of town. It probably ate everyone.”

“Nah,” I said and shrugged. “If I was it, I’d be in the lake. Why don’t you go down there and scout around?”

“So you want me to go down to the lake by myself and splash around in the water in my underwear looking for some kind of imaginary monster while you… what?” Kishi’s eyes narrowed, and she placed one hand on her hip.

I smiled as big as I could. “I’m going to the center of town because we both ‘know there’s some creepy monster that lives in the middle of town’ don’t we?”

Kishi’s lips tightened into a thin smile as she turned and stormed down to the water’s edge. She bent down and touched the water with one long, graceful finger.

“It’s warm,” she said before pulling a small blue pill from god knows where and popping it in her mouth. Unconsciously, she touched her cheeks, tracing her fingers along the gills that magically manifested on her flesh. A moment later, she dove into the water.

The gill pill would allow her to breathe underwater for a half-hour at a time, which was more than enough time to scout out the perimeter of the lake.

“I guess I’ll make myself useful then,” I said to no one in particular and began walking into huts. Every single one was pretty much the same. They were all composed of single rooms that were so small they reminded me of prison cells. There was little furniture to be found: one small, crudely-made chair and table, one bed that made my cot back in the barracks look luxurious, and one soup pot. I didn’t even see spoons, knives, or forks, let alone napkin holders.

I ran my finger over the last table, and it came away black with dust. Kishi was right, there was no one here. Not only was no one here, but no one had been here for a long time.

I sighed and sat down on the tiny wooden chair to wait for Kishi and drummed my fingers along the table’s surface. That’s when I heard it. A soft tap, tap, tapping in the distance. I turned my head toward the sound and concentrated.

Tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap.

My fingers stopped drumming on the table and still I heard the same tapping. I vaulted to my feet sending the tiny chair clattering to the floor and sprinted out the door. Once I was outside, the noise vanished.

I took a step backward, halfway into the door frame.

Sound.

Step forward.

Silence.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I grumbled.

“Shh, I hear something.” Hisen Mattoc’s voice nearly made me leap out of my skin.

I turned and glared at him, narrowing my eyes for effect. “Haven’t seen you in a while, how are things?”

Mattoc was a ghost that was soulbound to me. Unfortunately, he didn’t like to show himself around other people, even Dioscuri, so most of the time I pretty much forgot he was there. It made the moments when he suddenly appeared… irksome.

“What part of ‘shh’ don’t you understand?” Mattoc’s face was drawn into an unreadable mask as he waved one hand at me, urging me to be quiet. “Okay… take three steps to your left.”

“What?” I asked even as I followed his directions. Evidently, Mattoc was onto something, and I didn’t really know what that something was. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Yes,” he said and made a hurry up gesture with his hands. “We don’t have a lot of time until Kishi comes back. You need to find them before she returns, or I won’t be able to help you anymore.”

“You know you don’t have to hide when people are around. Besides, I doubt Kishi will mind,” I said, taking the last step and finding myself standing under a huge oak tree I hadn’t noticed before. It stood at least a couple hundred feet tall with gnarled, leafless branches that stretched out from here till eternity. Roots jutted up out of the soft earth around my feet, and I nudged one with my toe. It didn’t move, not even a little.

I glanced back toward the village and couldn’t see it anymore. A shiver slithered down my spine. I could see nothing but trees with leaves like rainbows crowded around me.

“This isn’t good,” I said and couldn’t keep the tremor out of my voice.

“Nope, nope.” I whirled around and found myself face to face with the tiny blue elf. “You shouldn’t follow Boppy,” he added. “That was bad. Very, very bad!”

He inclined his head toward me, and the ground beneath me shifted. I stumbled backward, losing my balance and crashing to the forest floor. The little elf leapt onto my forehead and looked down at me.

“Sorry?” I offered.

The creature smirked and waved one of his tiny hands as if to say, “don’t worry, it happens all the time.”

“Boppy accepts your sorry,” he squealed and shoved something into my mouth so fast that I barely realized what happened. The taste of burned eggs and overly-sweet fruit punch filled my mouth. I rolled over onto my hands and knees trying to brush my tongue off with my hands as the elf bounced around next to me cackling. “Now that you’re small,” he added a moment later.

“What do you mean I’m small?” I screamed a moment later, flailing my arms. The blue elf continued to cackle and hop from foot to foot.

“You were much too big before. Too, too big and that can’t be.” He grinned at me, lips spread wide over huge blue teeth.

“You made me a foot tall,” I said, glaring at the creature and narrowing my eyes.

“Yep, yep! Boppy sure did, just like the girl in the prophecy!” Boppy squealed and pulled out a very badly drawn picture book and showed it to me. The cover looked like a kindergartener tried to draw a stick figure with a bunch of broken crayons. “That’s you!” He pointed at the picture. “I’ve found the chosen one.”

I snatched the book from him.
The Prophecy of the one who will kill the no good, great big, very bad thing
. Awesome. Below the title was a smiley face with tufts of purple hair.

“Seriously?” I asked, raising one eyebrow and poking the page. “You think this is me?”

“Well…” the elf said absently kicking the floor. “I’m not a good drawer like the Eldest. We have to make our own copies. Mine is not as good as the Eldest’s.” His eyes got as wide as saucers and as deep as a sapphire ocean. “Boppy must take you to see the Eldest! We cannot delay.”

Boppy grabbed my arm, his three-fingered hand clamping down on my skin like a vice, and pulled me forward. The force of it nearly threw me from my feet, and I struggled to regain my balance. My foot caught on a gnarled branch, and my arm nearly ripped itself out of its socket as I tumbled to the ground.

“Hold up!” I squawked as the elf started dragging me along the root-hewn ground. Boppy turned, and his eyes darted from me to the ground and back to me again.

“Why are you lying down? This is no time for a rest. No, no time at all. We have to get back before the Eldest leaves on his mission!”

“Sorry,” I muttered, getting to my feet. “I’m just not as fast as you are, Boppy. I have tiny legs.”

“Then climb on my back and ride Boppy like a pony.”

I shut my eyes for a long time and tried to suppress a grin. When I opened them, Boppy was kneeling down in front of me with his well-muscled back exposed. He gestured at me to climb aboard, and against my better judgment, I complied.

The heat of his body radiated through me as my nearly-naked flesh pressed against his muscular back. He grabbed my legs under each arm and glanced back at me grinning as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“You’re light as a feather! We’ll be there in no time,” he squealed and took off like a bolt of lightning. The scenery around me changed into a blur.

“You really know how to say just the right things,” I whispered more to myself than to him. I shouldn’t be doing this. Lillim Callina did not accept piggy back rides from blue, shirtless elves while wearing only her bra and panties. Still, part of me was enjoying the feel of him this close to me, which was a little odd, sure, but what else was I supposed to do?

The thing that really bugged me was not this. It was Kishi. What happened to her after she came out of the lake? Was she looking for me, or, worse yet, should I be looking for her instead of riding around on the back of a half-naked elf?

We stopped so suddenly that I very nearly lost my grip and went tumbling to the ground. The only thing that kept me from falling onto the pulsating purple earth beneath Boppy’s feet were his hands on my thighs.

“We’re here,” Boppy said.

He stood on a ramp that led up to a temple that looked like it was carved from an immense sapphire. I swallowed and resisted the urge to steal it. I mean it looked giant now that I was a foot tall… but if I was big again that basketball-sized sapphire could buy a lot of enchiladas. I sighed and banished the thought. I wasn’t going to steal from Boppy. Probably.

Stubby blue shrubs with glistening leaves poked up all around us, lining the pathway itself. Other than those shrubs, which dotted the landscape for miles and miles, I didn’t see anything discernable. Not that it mattered anyway. Every time I moved it seemed like I was transported into a completely different part of Fairy. I really hoped Kishi was okay because I had no idea where I was or how I was going to find her.

Boppy’s hands rubbing my thighs brought me back to reality, and I moved to disengage myself from him. He held on for a second before releasing me. I dropped to the ground beside him, slightly irked that, in my newly shrunken form, he was over a head taller than me.

“I don’t want you touching me like that again,” I growled.

Boppy smiled as though he hadn’t heard me and pointed at the temple. “That is where we live. That is where the Eldest will be. We must hurry before it is too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“Too late to save your friend from being eaten by the Breaker.”

A tremor somersaulted down my spine. Kishi had been captured by a Breaker? What the hell was a Breaker? Whatever it was, I didn’t think it was some weird elvish term for ice-cream and cake.

“That seems bad,” I said grabbing Boppy’s face and making him look at me, which was difficult because he kept hopping from foot to foot. “What’s a Breaker?”

“A monster that the prophesized one is supposed to destroy on her quest to bring balance to Fairy.”

Chapter 4

Kishi climbed onto an underground island, water cascading down her nearly-naked body as she took a step onto the bank. Torchlight illuminated the immense cavern, making shadows dance along the walls like a macabre procession. The grey-green sand beneath her feet sloped upward as she made her way forward. Pale, white bones littered the ground around her as though some creature had flung them away following its meal.

Her left hand trailed along the head of an axe-blade tattooed in startling relief on her left thigh as her eyes flitted to and fro. A shiver ran down her spine when she reached the top of the hill, and a small sound escaped her lips. She clamped her right hand over her mouth to muffle it.

Lying atop a massive pile of bones and decaying flesh was a creature which looked like a ridiculously large porcupine. One large blue-black eye stared at her. Kishi took a step backward away from the creature, and its eye followed her movement. It moved, a tremor running along the length of its body as it stretched its enormous bulk and opened its mouth. A long, purple tongue snaked out of a maw bigger than a garbage can. Millions of needle-like teeth glinted in the torchlight as the creature roared.

The sound shook the cavern, and Kishi took off running back down the hill. Her chest heaved with the effort as booming footsteps echoed behind her. She dove back into the water as the porcupine thrashed into the surf behind her.

Kishi’s left hand went down to her thigh and closed over the flesh where the handle of the axe was painted on her skin. Pain flashed across her face as she tore her hand outward in a burst of green light. The axe gleamed brilliantly in her hand, its emerald blade slashing through the water as she turned.

The giant porcupine darted forward, clamping its razor sharp jaws down around her entire left arm, shoulder and all. Kishi screamed a mouthful of bubbles. Her eyes widened as she grabbed onto the creature’s mouth with her other hand and tried to wrench herself free.

Her skin began to burn with green energy as the water turned crimson. Her eyes glowed like emerald stars as the creature’s teeth raked the skin from her arm. The dagger drawn on her wrist slid down into her hand. The bronze blade was large and imposing in her hand as she drove it into the creature’s snout. The monster thrashed its head violently side to side, ripping through her flesh.

Kishi screamed again. The creature reared back, planting its massive legs in the silty lake bottom and flung her backward. Kishi flew out of the water and landed hard on the ground inside the cave. She rolled over to her side, blood gushing down her arm in torrents as she pulled herself to her feet.