Havenglade Tales by H.C. Harrington

Author:H.C. Harrington [Harrington, H.C.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

As Maylene flew farther from the safety of the forest, she heard the woman’s soft whimpering. The woman knelt along the edge of the brook, her body now lower than the high grass growing behind her.

Had she not been fluttering across the surface of the brook, Maylene wouldn’t have been able to see the woman at all.

Is this a good idea? Why am I always asking myself the same questions?

Maylene slowed her approach to a careful flutter, not wanting to reveal herself to the stranger.

Just a better look is all I want, then back to the forest. Wilna won’t tell the others. She’d be as guilty as I of entering the Not Forest.

Maylene remembered to lighten her glow. She wasn’t taking any chances, not even in the brightness of late morning, and not after she’d remembered what her father had once told her about humans.

“Humans are simple creatures. Destructive and unclean, not worth a faerie’s attention lest their uncouth manner rubs off on you. Stay a good distance from them,” he had said one day when she was still just a young sprite barely capable of glowing and still unable to fly.

Now she could see more clearly. The old woman’s raggedy clothing was soiled and torn. Dark droplets stained the collar and front of her white, rough-spun dress.

The woman stopped sobbing and wiped at her stubby nose. Blood dripped from her nose and the woman wiped at it again before dipping her hand into the flow of the brook.

What had happened to her?

The woman straightened her back but remained on her knees in the tall grasses, then closed her eyes.

A purple hue surrounded the woman’s right eye.

A bruise. It’s a big one. Almost as big as me, Maylene marveled.

Maylene drifted closer to the woman without realizing it. The woman opened her eyes just then, and perhaps catching the slight movement, she looked up.

The old woman and the faerie shared a glance.

There was something about her that kept Maylene from darting back into the forest and leaving only the hints of a silver glow to confirm to the woman that she’d seen something magical.

Now was the time to flutter away, but she waited for the woman to react to her.

The woman didn’t run or cry out, as Maylene had thought she might.

A most peculiar creature.

The woman managed to get one leg squarely underneath herself and struggled to her feet, stretching her back as she did so. Her oily gray hair flowed out from under a brown wimple that covered her head and her ears.

“Little thing, what are ya?” the woman asked.

Her voice scratched at Maylene’s ears. The human tongue produced such rough sounds, she’d have to accustom herself to it . . . slowly.

You fool. She’s seen you . . . What should I say?

A whistling noise came from where Maylene had left Wilna at the edge of the forest.

Wilna was signaling for Maylene to return, but a few more wouldn’t hurt anyone.

The woman continued to stare, waiting for an answer, seemingly unafraid.

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