Desperation is Key

For a contest hosted by alicengoreland


         With the shifting of the wind, smoke from the crackling fire brought tears to the young campers' eyes. The teenage boys and girls fanned the smoke to a different direction; a different place. Camp counselors in vibrant yellow t-shirts passed out chocolate and marshmallows to make the camp favorite, s'mores.

         "This is ridiculous. Campfire stories are so over-rated." One girl stated as she rolled up the sleeves of her t-shirt to her shoulders. A few of the other girls sitting on the fallen log around her nodded in agreement.

         Several of the boys mocked the girl in high-pitched voices. While a mix of teenagers, outraged at such a display of defiling the tradition of the camp, egged them on.

         "Enough!" Yelled a yellow shirted female counselor, "We'll have the story."

         In her lap rested a beaten up raccoon hat. Ragged and duct tapped in the middle, the tail hung crooked down the older girl's leg. Solemnly, she put her hand in the hat to draw out a folded piece of paper.

         "Luke will recite an evil tale." The counselor looked over at one of the male yellow shirts.

         Reluctantly, the mouse colored young man sat forward on the log. The light of the fire reflected off his round eyeglasses. After a few seconds, he rubbed his upper lip in thought.

         A deep voice began the tale of a fairy princess held against her will. It chanted how her people loved her so and wanted her returned. Of a hero called to bring her back and defeat the mighty foe. The smoke from the fire spiraled up into the star speckled sky carrying the voice of the young man...

         ...Rat droppings stuck to the foul smelling straw that Elera used as a bed in her stone cell. Mold grew in the cracks as ivy curled in from the barred opening in the stone that could be called a window. An empty plate rested at Elera's boil covered feet. She did not want to know what the Lord of the manor had fed her.

         Glassy eyes stared up at the pale face encrusted in the glory of dirt and tears. The rats only waited for Elera, the Fairy Princess, to sing to them. Tangled strands of gold spun hair shielded the broken body of a once fair woman. Cast iron chains burned their way into her fey kissed skin. Flakes of blood graced the lines of her flesh. The only sense of clothing the Lord allowed her in almost a year. The frail membrane of her wings scrapped the wall as she shifted her weight. The edges wept silver fluid.

         Lifting her head, Elera began to sing in an eerie voice. She sang of her torment and imprisonment. The words told of her sorrow and loss. It also held hope for a future outside the chains that held her. Minutes passed before the rats realized that the song only echoed through their mind. It had finished and faded, never heard again.

         Carefully, the rats made their way back through the small drainage pipes to the outside world. In their minds, words of encouragement and desperation drove them forward. They would carry their Mistress's words to the fey folk. It did not occur to them if they should ever return.

         Nights passed as the fairy folk called for heroes from across the kingdom. Barbarians, knights and dragon slayers entered the realm of the Fairy with the same buzzing thought rolling through their skull. Save her. Free her. Love her. Care for her. Bring her back. Bring. Her. Back.

         Smoke from the camp fires and mountain mist provided ground cover as the five summoned men strode to the center of a clearing. Grime covered women and children huddled around wolf pelt tents. Their silver eyes followed the warriors. A stone altar waited in the clearing. The warrior men of Fairy stood guard holding blood soaked spears at the ready. Boneless faces from wolves covered the pubic area of the Fairy men as sinew cord connected the ears together to wrap around the hips.

         "We welcome those who have answered our call." Boomed a man who emerged from behind the Wolves of Fairy. Black scrollwork tattoos covered his wrinkled body and face. "Let us begin the ritual that will save our princess."

         At the conclusion of those words, a group of women pushed their way passed the summoned heroes. In the middle of the group walked a young girl her head bowed. The Wolves let the women pass to the altar beyond. Carefully the women helped the young girl to lie upon the altar, her eyes staring up at the starry sky.

         "Only one of you will be chosen to bring our fair lady back to us." Stated the ink-covered man. In his right hand he held a curved blade aloft, "May she find strength through our sacrifices."

         In a quick downward stroke the scrollwork covered man sliced the young girl's throat. The blood did not gush out or fountain from her gaping wound. Instead, it trickled to a funnel below her head. At the base of the altar a child, of around the age of five, reverently held a glass vial to catch the oozing liquid. Before the container filled to the brim, the child placed a stopper to keep the blood. The rest of the life holding fluid dripped into a waiting bowl.

         Light from surrounding torches played along the surface of the glass bottle. Inside the blood shone as if made from rubies. The waiting men held their breath as the apparent leader of the group ushered the child forward to stand before them.

         "One will be chosen. May you guard this for our princess." Amber eyes stared at each warrior in turn weighing each. "Give her this vial once she is in the safety of the forest surrounding the manor. Only then will she be truly saved."

         Angelically, the small girl child offered the vial to a knight. A sigh issued forth from his open lips. Not wanting to break the precious gift, the man placed the vial behind the studded leather jerkin he wore. He had his mission. A purpose filled his heart.

         "Who goes to save her?" Asked the child.

         "I am Rodda." Answered the man his brown eyes meet the silver ones of the child.

         "Go with the blood, Rodda."

         Journeying from the realm of the fey, Rodda trailed his way closer to the manor of the Lord. A baldric crossed his chest and a short sword hung at his left hip. He would save the princess.


         Elera stared at the fetters that bound her to the ground. Blood and pus oozed from the open flesh as flies buzzed across the wound. Their mouths tickled and irritated her skin. He is coming. Her mind processed before the cell door creaked open.

         Light flooded into the small room blinding Elera. It burned her retina and seared her brain. Yet, she did not bother with cowering in the corner as she had done when she first arrived.

         "Elera, my dear..." Whispered a kind voice, "Why do you fight so? Do you not want to know freedom and love?"

         "You know not what is love, Lord." Spat the fair-haired woman.

         The glowing light made it impossible for Elera to look at her captor. She knew Him though. She knew Him and always denied Him. He would not have her. He had her body but not her soul.

         "I know what you plan, Fey One." Sighed the Lord, "I cannot say that I will stop it."

         Panic began to blossom in Elera's mind. Freedom called to her just hours away. Does He jest? Or will He not stop what I plan?

         "May you find peace one day my dear child Elera." At that, the door closed letting the darkness settle into the room once more.

         Elera blinked her eyes to remove the afterimage of the light. Soon her savior would rescue her from the light of this place. Soon.


         The white and red robed man fell to the floor before Rodda's sword. A red hat sat askew on the older man's head. Blood drenched the white robes staining the marble floor.

         "What have you done my son? What have you done?" The man's voice faltered. "Do you not know what you do? What evil you will release? The Lord be merciful."

         Rodda did not answer. He could not answer, his true mind could not find a way out of the fog that shrouded it. Blood flecked his face and clothing from all the men and women he slashed through just to make it deep into the manor. Now the last person fallen before him wept for what transpired.

         "Take the orb." A cough racked the dying man's body as blood dribbled down his cheeks, "Desperation is key, but it will aid you to the path of light. It will guide you to the light of the Lord."

         Rodda eyed the man then the orb. The orb sat on a pillow of red velvet. Gold candles flickered pale light across the smooth surface. Swirls of gold and blue sparkled in the deepest recesses. Not knowing why, Rodda pocketed the fist-sized orb next to the vial of blood. Strangely, the weight of the object lightened then was no more. In heartbeats, the memory of the orb dissipated as well.

         Richly engraved and polished, the door stood to the prison of the fairy princess. Gold leaf caught Rodda's eye as he opened the door. Inside, a hunched shape blinked up at the open door. Ignoring the smell Rodda removed the pins from the iron fetters letting them clatter to the ground.

         Magically, Elera's flesh healed itself once the metal no longer touched her. Her savior smiled at her. In his own way, he seemed appealing to the eye. Brown hair fell into his kind brown eyes. Day’s growth covered his cheeks and chin. A purple cloak flared out behind him announcing him as a knight of the highest order.

         "Can you stand on you're own or would you rather be carried?" Offered the knight.

         Elera shook her head as an answer. Using the wall for support she stood for the first time in months. Muscles stretched and strengthened as the seconds fled by. Outside her imprisonment, a shimmering of water caught Elera's eyes.

         "I would like to bathe before we leave, if I may." Elera commented meekly.

         "Of course." Rodda looked about as he helped Elera out of the cell, "But I don't see a place for you to bathe."

         Elera stopped by a small pool. Only a small ledge separated it from the rest of the marble floor. Inside clear water, supplied by a natural spring, lapped at the edges.

         "This will do." Elera knelt next to the water's edge. As she dipped her hand in the water her flesh steamed and hissed to the pink that indicates burns covered her right hand.

         "What is wrong with the water?" Rodda frowned not understanding why she could not touch the surface.

         Elera stared flatly up at the knight. "You must defile the water before I may use it."

         Ideas came and went in Rodda's mind on how he was to defile the water. At first, he spit into the water only to have Elera shake her head. Next came his own blood then urine. Elera also denied those.

         "What else must I do?" Rodda pleaded.

         Elera smiled. Rodda flinched once that smile turned to him. It lit up her blue eyes in a devilish way.


         Rodda shivered as he thought about what he had done to that water. Once the thought finished, it disappeared in the fog that encased his mind. The fairy princess wrapped his purple cloak about her frail body watching him. Those blue eyes dissecting him.

         "We must be going." Rodda whispered as he strode away leaving the fairy princess to follow as best she could.

         Bodies in various forms of death glared at Rodda as he made his way to the exit of the manor. Blood slickened the floors and ran down the walls. Torn tapestries and broken vases littered the corridors. Double doors left open to the elements beckoned Rodda forward.

         Only stars waited in the night sky. Hints of clouds lingered on the horizon promising rain in the next few days. Fifty feet from the manor, gnarled trees added their shadows to the already dark world. Stumbling through the tangle of tree roots and ivy, Rodda found a small clearing to wait for the fairy princess.

         A pale light emanated from her freshly cleansed body making her seem all the more regal. Rodda repressed the sour taste in the mouth when he thought about what she used to cleanse her body and ruin the water in the pool.

         "You were given something by the Child of Darkness, were you not?" Elera probed.

         Rodda nodded as he produced a glass vial full of a virgin's blood. Eager hands snatched the vial from his hands and yanked the stopper out. In one gulp, the blood filled Elera's body with a new sense of energy. Flesh grew on Elera's body while the membrane of her wings knitted itself back together. In ecstasy, the Fey princess closed her eyes relishing the feelings that coursed their way through her body.

         "Thank you my dear knight but alas you are no longer needed." A sultry voice purred from Elera's red mouth.

         The fog placed on Rodda's mind faded to reveal what he had done to release the fairy princess. Disgust filled his soul at how he had finished the evil deed. The holy waters of the manor -- nay! the church! -- destroyed by his own fluids. The priests butchered by his own blade still bare in his hands.

         The rustling of wings gave Rodda the only warning before Elera pushed him to the ground and tossed his sword aside. The purple cloak unraveled itself to lay forgotten around the Fey woman's hips. A smile spread across Elera's face as she opened her mouth. The slice of her fangs made Rodda gasp at the pain.

         Reaching her fill, Elera sat up rubbing her hands over her body smearing the dark liquid about her skin. Her hips ground into Rodda's as she reached her apex in the joy of the blood.

         Rodda could feel his life slipping by with each beat of his heart. Desperation is key.

         Reaching behind his jerkin, Rodda pulled out the orb full of pale light. Elera opened her eyes with a smirk painted on her face. Plucking the orb out of Rodda's hands, she held it up to her face.

         "And what is this mortal?" Elera stood up.

         The swirls of light in the orb increased causing Elera to shriek in pain as she shielded her eyes. The glory of it brought a different life to the dark world. White birds flapped about the emerald green grass awoken from their slumber. Still shrieking, roots from the surrounding trees circled Elera. Dirt stuck to the blood along her skin while the roots tore her wings from her body. The earth started to sink. It wanted to take Elera with it.

         As she began to be covered she threw the orb high into the sky. The light still did not decrease in intensity as it arched across the sky.

         In a whispered voice of a kind father, Rodda thought he heard come from the orb, "May you find peace at last, Elera my dear."

         As Rodda took his last breath, he caught his reflection in the pale orb. Curious as to what invaded their lonely space the stars caught the orb and placed it besides them in the sky...


         "...and that is how the moon got the face of a man. So when you don't see the moon in the sky the vampires roam the land looking for their next victim against God's Holy Might." Luke finished looking each camper in the eye.

         Above them, the sky shone with the light of the stars and nothing more.