The Wing Thief
There was a thief on the loose. They were large, wore attire that concealed themselves and would capture the delicate faeries and rip the wings right off of their bodies. Luckily for the faeries, their wings would grow back more often than not. It was still quite bothersome seeing as they couldn’t fly for a few weeks, and even more bothersome that humans generally couldn’t see faeries without some kind of magic. Wherever the thief left them, they were stuck until either someone found them and alerted the others, or they walked back to their home.
The faeries had in place a system, they surrounded their land with magical runes that concealed them completely, and some that would shock an intruder if they passed through their magic circles. If a faerie saw the thief or had their wings stolen, they would fire bright colorful sparks into the sky to alert any faeries nearby. Yet still, the thief would find a way, and pluck their wings again and again. The faeries had had enough of this torture, and decided it was time to fight back.
…
“Oh, what a beautiful pair!” the woman exclaimed as she moved the faerie wing earrings in the light, the sparkles were endless as were the pastel colors, like a jewel in the morning sun.
“Yes, newly acquired.” Said a raspy voice.
“Is it true these wings are imbued with magical properties?” The woman asked, blinking inquisitively at the seller.
“Indeed, they will bring you great luck, m’lady.” The seller grinned with rotted teeth.
“I’ll take them!” The woman excitedly handed the gruff man a handful of coins and skipped away happily.
At the end of the day, all of the faerie wing jewelry had sold. The man was just finishing closing up the booth when the thief appeared, shrouded in dark cloth. The man handed the thief a bulging sack of coins, the share of the sales. The thief acknowledged that all the jewelry had been sold, and promised to bring more soon. The faerie wing jewelry was extremely lucrative, indeed. With a wave of their hand, the thief disappeared into the night.
…
The faeries gathered in their largest hollowed-out tree stump for a meeting. Various chatter could be heard as they found their places.
“The thief must be stopped!”
“How can the thief even find us?”
“It’s time to fight back, are numbers are far greater!”
“Settle down everyone, we shall discuss our next steps calmly and orderly!” Boomed the Head Faerie.
The chatter dissipated quickly.
“I must discuss something with you all, as you know, we faeries are not conceivable by normal human eyes, which means whoever the thief is they are some sort of magic-wielding being.”
“Yes! It must be an evil warlock!” A faerie chimed in.
“Possibly…” Trailed the Head Faeire. “But here is another possibility.”
The crowd hushed as the Head Faerie carried on.
“Long ago, there was a tale of a faerie who longed to be human. This faerie had fallen in love with a human, a human who could not see them.”
“What happened to them?” Inquired a young faerie with bouncing red curls, not more than five years old.
“The tale goes that the faerie flew to find a wizard that could transform them into a human. The wizard did just that, but what he did not tell the faerie was that they would still live much longer than the human, the life span of a faerie is much longer than humans. Though they did share a human’s lifetime of love, they have long since died while the once-faerie lives on in a human world where all they know perishes.”
“That’s sad.” Said the little faerie matter of factly.
“Indeed, it is quite sad, little one.” The Head Faerie responded with a pat on her head. “Now that once-faerie would know exactly where we dwell, and would have all the means to be immune to our magical traps. Having lived an unnaturally long human life, and watching all they loved perish again and again may drive anyone mad.”
“How do we stop them?” Inquired a lovely faerie with plush lips and flowing lavender hair.
“I have an idea… We must either fight to kill them or find a wizard to change them back. If they are changed back, they will have nowhere to go, and we would need to welcome them with open arms back to our community.”
“What? After everything that thief has done to us, not a chance!” The gathered faeries began to rile up with indecision.
With a motion of his hands, the Head Faerie calmed them once more.
“We must dig deep into our hearts, the choice is this; Death or salvation.”
…
Tune in next week for the conclusion of The Wing Thief! What do you think of the story so far, would you kill or save the once-faerie? Let us know in the comments below! If you enjoy our blog, please feel free to donate using our Ko-Fi link!
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