Fairy

There was a time when I couldn't fly. There was a time when I walked the earth and drunk the fresh water of the spring. There was a time when he held my hand while we watched the sunset and the dawn.

It was the time when I soared to the seventh heaven, the place of the eternal summer, where the sun never set. I had no wings, for I needed none when he was there to catch my fall and the bounty I brought.

"If we're to be successful you must leave."

I heard his voice in mid flight, and I faltered. He failed to catch me and on my fall I broke in a thousand pieces. The gifts I brought spilled around us, and he showed no desire to retrieve them.

"You're my biggest strength and yet my biggest weakness. If my foes should find and harm you, I'd not survive it. You must away, far from here, where none could find you."

When I rose and watched my thousand pieces splattered on the ground, I saw the truth in his words and gathered the bounty he discarded. Without him, I couldn't soar, so I returned it, in exchange for the only thing that would help him.

I didn't know what it was until the sun shone and H'ron, the savior of the new world squinted his eyes and looked at me in shock and wonder.

I followed his eyes, filled with tears and sorrow, to the ground, where my thousand pieces sunk into the grass. Then he covered his eyes, and I looked around me. I saw them first and then I felt them. Large, iridescent and translucent, my wings' first reflexive move was to close me in a cocoon. Warm and strong, they felt almost as safe as H'ron's arms when he caught my descent.

I flapped my wings and the flight came back naturally. It was second nature to me, only that now I had my wings to help me soar instead of H'ron. I tumbled and twirled, then hid from him. He seemed lost, so I startled him with a swat on his shoulder. Then I hid behind the trees, and he happily joined the hide and seek game.

Through our laugh, we heard the low rumble of hooves. It was the end of our play as he donned his armors and wielded his sword. I hid high in the thick foliage and waited in fear.

I was afraid since now, for the first time I couldn't be at his side. I watched with dread the battle unfolding down, on the ground.

There were many against one and yet H'ron prevailed. I gasped at the first cut on his chest and when the club hit his head with fury. Then I heard the panic in his opponent's voice.

"He cannot die! Run for your life."

I realized the truth in his desperate cry when I beheld H'ron's thin white scar across his chest. Elation made me soar high in the sky and dance in warmth of the sun. My wings could bend the light and turn it into clothes to match my mood. And so I changed from the long dress of hope to the shimmering tunic of heady success. I extended my wings, ready for the dance of glory when a voice down below startled me.

"Look up in the sky! It's the witch, we'd never win until she's gone."

They turned around and run then split so H'ron could not follow them all. I heard them talk about a hunt and a prize they'd offer.

The truth of H'ron's words struck me with force. The prize was for my life, for it was the only way to win over H'ron.

I soared and run far away from H'ron's lands. I flew through the place where the moon does not wane, to the other side of the world.

I wiled my days with stories and dance. People where too happy to exchange news for a moment of laughter. My stories and my appearance were never the same since each man was different. H'ron's enemies sent spies and bounty hunters so soon enough rumors of the prize the ruler of the netherworld offered for my capture mingled with each piece of news I heard.

"'Tis said the master of the world beyond has unspoken riches. He's after a fairy with crystal voice and wings that shimmer in the moonlight. A man could lose his mind watching her dance."

"Just like her. However, I see no wings."

I heard a greedy laugh.

"There's only one way to find out."

I didn't finish my dance, I spread my wings and flew high in the sky. I only snuck on people after that, to hear the news. I missed H'ron, and from the bits and pieces I could gather I knew he enjoyed success. I thanked for news in the only way I knew. I changed water into wine and huts into manors. I fulfilled wishes and danced to ward off sadness.

Tonight I had a trick on my mind. I gathered the sunbeams together and crushed them in my hands. I sat covered in the cocoon of my wings and listened to the two men talk. One was tall and slim, and the other short and stout. If I liked their news, I'd help them fly. I shivered in anticipation as the tangle of limbs and clumsy tumbles when a mortal flew up in the sky was downright hilarious.

"The master of the netherworld upped the prize to find the fairy. Some say he's a tyrant and would soon cross the veil and come for us. The money would do us good though, Sam. "

The man called Sam sighed and straightened his long legs.

"Some say H'ron was a good man once, before he lost his soul."

I froze, and the golden fairy dust fell from my hands.

Because you see, I was his soul.