Missteps Book Two

Chapter 17 – Fairy Bless Valley

It was slow going for the group of four (Ander, Carric, Iados, and Lia) as they trudged through the slush of the last snowfall. The area was unseasonably warm for this time of year, with the temperature hovering in the mid-50s.

Not that Ander was complaining, much. He'd been able to discard the majority of his cold weather gear, making it far easier for him to navigate the piles of wet slush that dotted their path. Lia and Iados kept close behind, with the latter offering piggyback rides (that were occasionally begrudgingly accepted) through particularly wet or treacherous areas.

Carric stayed about ten or so feet ahead of them, one eye trained on the compass in his hand, the other on their surroundings.

When they'd set out from Rocklyn, the ranger had tried to keep them on familiar hunting paths throughout the Black Rock Woods. But as the compass led them further north, they started to venture into lands he hadn't traveled through in a long time.

Originally, as the group had compared the meager information their packet had included on the area, they'd thought that the Fairy Bless Valley would be near the Blue Rise Mountains near the border with the Nydag Empire. However, as they kept moving further and further north (and a little to the east), it became clear that they were headed for the western end of the Silver Rise Mountains instead.

While in Rocklyn, Iados had of course pestered his favorite barkeep for any information he'd heard about the valley. Not only was the barkeep familiar with the name, he was able to set the group up with his main source of lore: his wife.

"I wasn't always from around here." Helena stated as she pulled a large, roasted bird off a spit in the fireplace. Iados and Carric sat on the floor against the wall as they peeled potatoes. Lia and Ander were out gathering provisions to stock the tower with.

The rather petite woman gave a small grunt as she lugged the bird onto a work table. "I was born in a small village quite far to the north." She picked up a knife and started to slice moist strips off the carcass. "My father wasn't the best at holding down a job, so we were on the move quite a lot."

"How'd you come across the valley?" Carric winced as his knife slipped and cut into his finger.

"Never saw the actual valley itself, just its inhabitants. It was during the summer, and we'd stopped by a river for a few days so my mother could catch up on the washing." Helena smiled as the childhood memories washed over her. "My younger sister and I ran off into the woods. Officially we were to look for mushrooms and berries, but looking back now I can recognize it as a ruse for my parents to get some peace and quiet." She laughed. "We'd been in the woods for maybe two or three hours, when all of a sudden we heard this twinkling. So we stopped, and realized that it was music."

Iados's eyebrow raised. "What'd you do?" The potato in his hand was all but forgotten as he listened to the story.

Helena laughed again with a chuckle. "Why we followed the music of course, what else would a child do? It didn't take us very long to find it either. Right on the other side of a wild hedge, were a collection of fairies."

Carric paused in sucking on his latest cut, this time to his thumb. "What do you mean fairies?"

Helena turned around and faced them. "I mean, these little naked people no bigger than my hand, with wings in every color you could imagine. Some of them danced around the air, while others danced on the ground. The music came from a small group set off to the side, playing instruments so small we could barely see them." She gestured towards Iados with her knife for him to resume peeling, before she turned back to her own work. "The two of us could barely contain our excitement at the sight, so of course we were discovered almost immediately. The fairies fled quickly into the brush, and we ran after them."

"Did you catch them?" Carric set down his knife and chucked the blood-stained potato into the fire.

"No, but when we came out into a clearing there was someone waiting for us; an elven woman with silver hair. She stood next to the largest eagle I'd ever seen in my life, one that was taller than herself." Helena set down her knife and turned back to the boys. "She told us that it wasn't safe for us to play in the valley, and that our parents would wonder where we were. She took our hands in hers, and led us back through the trees. At some point, she pushed my sister and me ahead of her, and it was like she vanished into mist. One minute she was there, and the next she wasn't."

"What'd you then?"

Helena shrugged. "We went back to our parents. A day or two after we stopped at a village, and when we talked about the fairies and the woman, they called her Bugil y Colled, a shepherd for the lost. The village people said that the forest held a door to the land of the Fey, and that this shepherd escorted those who'd mistakenly wandered through the door back home."

"This woman shepherd a lot of people?" The akudaem asked as he started in on another potato.

"Some. The tales of the Fey door went back for centuries according to the people of the village. They said that the door was there before the gods had even cast an eye on our world." The older woman shook her head as she leaned back against the table. "Promise me that you and your friends will be careful on this quest. Some of the people who disappeared would show up months, or even years later, and to them it'd be like no time had passed. Some of them never came back at all."

Later that evening when the duo relayed the story to their friends over dinner in their magical tower, Ander wasn't surprised.

"What else can you expect from a place named 'Fairy Bless'." He sighed heavily as he stirred his stew. "I wrote to Shenir while we were in Aleton, to see if she had any knowledge of the place." It wasn't the first time he'd written his girlfriend since they'd parted ways in Dayur, but he was growing rather worried as he hadn't received a reply in quite a long time.

"Why would she know about the valley?" Iados asked he dunked a piece of bread in his bowl.

"Because she's from the Fey lands." Lia reminded him. She looked over at the halfling. "Her patron's a Fey, right?"

The wizard nodded. "I'd hoped to hear back from her by now, but no such luck."

"With us on the road all the time it can be hard for the mail to catch up." Carric speared a large carrot on his fork. "Though, I did hear that the postal service is setting up a permanent location here in Rocklyn so maybe we'll get lucky before we leave."

"Now that they've got that fancy new road connecting them to Silverbank, the town council's expecting a nice uptick in foot traffic through here once spring sets in." Lia smiled. While out on the supply run with Ander, she'd been pleased to see the beginnings of expansion projects for several of the shops in town, as well as construction for new inns, eateries, and stables. She hoped that their optimism paid off.

Iados raised up a finger. "I've got a quick question, what exactly is a 'Fey'?"

Ander used his spoon to point at Lia.

"Not quite," The elf reached out and lowered the spoon as it dripped broth onto the table. "The term 'Fey' is used to describe the denizens of the Fey Lands, the home of Ekolord."

"The god of nature." Carric supplied.

"Yes, but more specifically he's the god of wild nature. Nature unspoiled by the races of the world, and left to its own devices." Lia corrected.

"Why do these 'Fey' get such special treatment?" The former pirate asked.

"According to the stories, all Fey share his blood. They are the pieces of the world that Ekolord endowed with a spirit so that they may frolic at his side." Lia pushed her bowl aside. "Technically, those with full spirits and separation from nature are full-blooded Fey. These are humanoids who make up the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the Fey Lands. Think of them like the nobility, with each court having a King and Queen. These courts hold dominion over the Fey lands. Fey are very powerful, very cunning, and love riddles and wordplay. There are other Fey creatures, such as fairies, dryads, and the like, who are more commonly called The Fair Folk."

"Alright, I kind of get all that," Carric reached for another piece of bread. "Why did Ander call you a fey though?"

"Because technically we'd be considered part of the Fair Folk, however we're more like cousins to the denizens of that realm." Lia took a slice of bread as well and began to tear a piece off. "Unlike the other Fair Folk, elves aren't born directly from nature itself, but we are still connected to it. Elven communities are built around a Crann Arbora, or a Spirit Tree. Those trees come from the Fey Lands itself and act as our connection, strengthening our own spirits."

The ranger leaned back. "I remember one time a drunk elf in a tavern looked at me, and told me I was lucky so have a soul and not a spirit. I just wrote it off as him being drunk and didn't think much of it."

Lia grinned. "Most races of the mortal realm do tend to use 'spirit' and 'soul' interchangeably, but not elves. The way we're taught, our spirits are housed in the Crann Arbora, being cleansed and empowered until the time we are given new bodies, such is the cycle of rebirth in nature itself. We don't have an afterlife like is preached in the halls of Vowil and the like. If we're lucky, our spirits are reborn in the body of a Fey and we live in the Fey Lands."

"What about elves who don't live in a community with a tree? What happens when they die?" The half-elf asked.

The smile disappeared from the druid's face. "Depends. It's believed that an elven spirit can be captured in a stone or personal item at the moment of death, and then taken to the tree. Because of our connection to nature, an elven spirit with no protection can easily be corrupted. If a spirit is ever destroyed, then it can never be recovered." Lia stood up and refilled her mug from a pitcher of water on the counter of the little kitchen nook. "It's not a subject we like to discuss."

She leaned against the counter as she turned back to her small audience. "Back to the mission, it sounds like this valley may in some way be connected to the Fey Lands. If that is the case, then this whole thing got a lot more dangerous. Fey and Fair Folk are creatures beholden to their whims, and their moods can change on the spot."

The wizard gave a heavy sigh. "Hopefully Shenir will have some words of advice of us."

The foursome stayed another couple of days after that in Rocklyn, hoping for word from Shenir, but had to leave empty-handed.

When Jun and Elaine had left, bound for Osthom, they'd all agree to meet back in Rocklyn after three months. If the foursome's mission did carry some sort of time shenanigans, then they wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

As much as Carric wanted to bring Shomma with them, he felt that her training wasn't far enough yet for a full-fledged adventure. So instead, the weasel had gone with Jun and Elaine when they'd left for Osthom, both of them promising to keep up the training the ranger had started.

At this point, the group was about four days' out of Rocklyn. Unlike the last time they'd all traversed the Black Rock Woods, the foursome hadn't run into any dangers. No bandits, no goblins, and no owlbears.

"How much longer do you reckon we have to go?" Iados asked he built up a fire for their noonday meal.

Carric shrugged as he closed the compass and passed it down to Ander. "I know the mountain range is another two to three days, but I don't know if the valley is right up against it or not."

"Helena mentioned the local villages, anyway we could find one and ask them for directions?" Lia suggested as she started to pull out pouches of jerky and granola from her bag.

"Maybe, though I'm not too sure where they are out here." The ranger rolled a fallen log closer to the fire and sat down. "The mission packet did mention a few names, but they're all further west."

Iados raised an eyebrow. "How bad was the info we got?"

Ander opened his mouth to rebuke, but Carric spoke first.

"I don't think the info is bad, just outdated." He nodded down at the compass. "There's been a couple of times where the needle will suddenly point in a different direction all of a sudden."

"Is the doorway moving?" Lia asked.

Carric nodded as he crunched on a handful of granola. "Probably why the stories are so scattered. It's hard to verify something that keeps moving around."

The former pirate whistled in appreciation. "Damn, gotta given Bymer some credit. It can't be easy to enchant something to find a skipping target."

"No, it's not." Ander cast a suspicious glance at the wooden box next to him. While in Rocklyn he'd taken a couple of stabs at trying to glean some understanding into the enchantment, but the lines of magic that encompassed the spell were shaped in such a foreign way that it may as well have been written gibberish. The one thing he could confirm about the magic, was that it wasn't a configuration he'd seen taught at the Circle.

The rest of their day was uneventful, but that night a storm blew into the area. They were all awakened in the early morning by the sound of thunder. In the hopes that it'd blow itself out as quickly as it came, they decided to wait till after lunch to venture out. While it wasn't a deluge, there was still a steady rain as they continued on their trek.

Carric did his best to keep them under heavy foliage, but it was slow-going for the remainder of the day as the ground beneath their feet was mud. The journey was so miserable, that no one complained when the ranger decided to call it an early night.

The next day was considerably better in terms of precipitation as the skies were clear, but a large dip in temperature turned all the lingering moisture in the air to ice. Icicles hung off tree branches, and the ground cracked as the foursome continued on their way.

The going was still slow, but they gained significantly more ground than the day before, and their efforts were rewarded. Just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, they reached civilization.

The settlement was small, smaller than Rocklyn, and most of the dwellings seemed to be single-family. As they wandered into the space, every eye in the place immediately turned to them.

An older man approached them, a slight limp in his step that he tried to use his wooden cane to compensate for. "Good evening, you lost?" His eyes were narrowed as he took in the sight of the armed strangers.

"Not in the classical sense." Lia stepped forward, her most non-threatening smile plastered on her face. "We're travelers, seeking the Fairy Bless Valley."

At that, the majority of their audience chuckled and continued on their way. The few that remained looked to the older man for direction.

The old man nodded. "And what is it you hope to get from us?" He gripped his cane in front of him, his shoulders still tense.

"Information, and guidance if possible." Lia didn't cower under the man's gaze. Behind her, Iados and Carric tried to look as non-threatening as possible, keeping their hands in full view of the onlookers.

The man shook his head. "We have no stories to tell you."

"We've heard that sometimes people come back from the valley." The elf pressed. "Are there any around here that we may speak with?"

The man reached up and began to stroke the few white whiskers on their otherwise bald face. "Perhaps there is someone, but whether he'd speak to you or not is different matter." He pointed towards a young man in a grey cap off to the side. "Pinco, lead them out towards Darnell's place."

The young man stiffened his spine as he nodded. He gestured for the foursome to follow him, and quickly led the way out of time.

Lia made sure to thank the old-timer for the information.

The man chuckled. "You won't be thanking me after you've met him."

Their guide, Pinco, was quiet as he led them away from the settlement and back into the woods.

"So, what can you tell us about Darnell?" Lia asked.

Pinco shrugged. "He's weird, and showed up about five months ago. Just walked up like you did, asking where he was and all that."

The elf nodded. "He said that he came from the valley?"

"Not at first, but he eventually dropped enough hints that it became pretty obvious." Pinco stopped and turned to look at the group. "I'm gonna go ahead and warn you, don't take anything he says at face value. He's not right in the head, and he's confused about a lot of stuff." Their guide sighed and shook their head, before turning around again and continuing their trek through the woods.

By Carric's reckoning, they'd gone about three miles before they came across a small camp set up in a clearing.

A long tent composed of stitched together fabrics and leathers stood off to the side. In a fire pit out front, kebobs of meat and vegetables dangled from a contraption into the fire. To the side, sat a youth no more than sixteen, with bushy black hair, whittling.

As Pinco led the foursome into the clearing, the whittling stopped, and the boy looked at them.

"Unless you've come to trade, leave. I don't have enough food to play host." In the light of the fire, the boy's silver eyes glittered like jewels.

Lia involuntarily gulped as the hard, stern gaze of the youth washed over her. Even his voice held an edge to it, the kind of edge that would normally take years for one to master.

The elf readjusted her grip on her magic staff before she took a step forward. "We're looking for information on Fairy Bless Valley. We were told you might be able to help us."

Darnell focused his gaze on her. "You look like Jennavieve, the same kind of weird ears."

Lia tilted her head to the side. "Was this Jennavieve an elf?"

The youth shrugged. "I think that's what she called herself, I'd never met one of her kind before she suddenly showed up."

Carric cleared his throat. "Did she have silver hair, and hang out with an eagle?"

Darnell chuckled, a deep throaty sound that held no amount of amusement. "Oh yes, she rode that damn bird through the air, lording over all of us in that valley. Searching us out, chasing us from our homes." He went silent for a few moments. "People around here call her a shepherd, a kind soul rescuing people and bringing them home. We called her the devil."

Lia took another step forward, and another, till she was only a few feet from the youth. Behind her, Iados did his best to hide in the shadows, his eyes trained on the youth, quarterstaff ready at his side.

Pinco groaned. "See, this is what I was talking about. He's talking like this elf is real. Everyone knows that the Valley is a fairy tale, something we tell the kids to keep them out of the forest."

Darnell launched to his feet, the knife in his hands pointing straight at Pinco. "That place is real." The youth growled.

The elf laid a hand on the youth's outstretched hand. As she did, she silently called upon one of the spells stored within her staff. To her eyes only, a white ribbon of magic gently unspooled from one of the runic sets, and wrapped itself over the eyes and ears of Darnell. She felt the spell take hold on the youth as the ribbon faded into his skin.

"I believe you," Lia said gently. "I believe that the valley, and Jennavieve are real. I'd love to hear all about it, please?"

Darnell's eyes flicked over to the elf, the anger on his face dissipating as her words registered. "You believe me?"

The druid nodded. "My friends and I have come a very long way, because we too want to go to the valley. So, why don't we sit down, have a nice meal, and you can tell us all about it?"

The youth nodded and lowered his knife. "I don't have the stores to feed you."

"That's alright, we have our own food." The elf pushed their new friend gently back down onto his log. Before she settled beside him, she sent a shooing motion towards Pinco.

Carric laid a hand on Pinco's shoulder and turned him back towards the forest. "Thanks for getting us here, but you should head back home now."

Their now-former guide frowned and pulled his shoulder out of Carric's grasp. "Be careful around him." With that Pinco disappeared into the woods.

"So, what do you want to know?" Darnell asked as everyone settled down around him.

Ander pulled a journal, quill, and ink out of his bag. "Everything you know about the valley. Where it came from, who inhabits it, and more precisely the manor house."

The youth raised an eyebrow. "Cornelia's place? Why you want to know about that?"

"Who's Cornelia?" Lia asked.

"She was the closest thing we had to a doctor in the valley." Darnell reached out and grabbed his kebob out of the fire. "She was always messing out with the plants, using them in different potions, or creating new plants all together. She didn't like people much, but she never turned away someone in pain. As a sort of thanks, a bunch of people got together and built her a house, with plenty of room for her experiments. Queen Tyren even got in on it and enchanted the whole area so it couldn't be seen."

Carric held up a finger. "How'd you find the house?"

The youth chuckled as he chewed. "Cornelia posed that same question to Queen Tyren, because after all, how were people supposed to come to her for healing if they couldn't find the place. So, Queen Tyren made two compasses. One for the village, and one for herself."

The foursome all locked eyes in surprise. Carric pulled the wooden box they'd gotten from Bymer out and showed it to Darnell.

The youth's tanned jaw dropped. "How'd you get that?" He took the box and opened it, revealing the compass inside.

"We were given it, and was told it would lead us to the manor house." Ander explained, his brow furrowed. Bymer had lied to them about being the one to create the item. That gave rise to a bigger question, how had the compass fallen into the master enchanter's hands?

"Darnell," Lia reached out and pulled the youth's face up and away from the box. "We really need to know more about the valley."

The youth didn't answer immediately, as he turned back to face the fire and eat on his kebob.

"If it helps, we could do a tit-for-tat thing." Ander suggested as he tapped the end of his quill against his knee. "We heard that you're a recent transplant to the area. We could answer some of your questions, if you answer some of ours?"

Darnell nodded. "Alright, since I've already answered yours, answer this for me." He pointed first to Ander, and then to Iados. "What the hell are you two, and why are you purple?"

Iados gave a loud laugh. "You mean what race are we?"

The black-haired teen nodded. "Are you some kind of messed up human?"

The halfling puffed up. "I am not."

Carric raised an eyebrow as he took a sip out of his wineskin. "You sure? I always just assumed that your ancestors were humans who got magicked into being tiny."

Lia covered her mouth against the laugh that threatened to escape, while Ander glared at the half-elf.

"We are more closely akin to Dwarfs or Gnomes, I'll have you know. Our ancestors actually lived in valleys and rolling hills." The halfling explained.

"Why are you so small?" Darnell asked.

Ander opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Iados's jaw dropped. "You don't know, do you?"

The wizard sputtered. "There are some bits of info that were lost to time. Why are you purple and have a tail?"

The former pirate shook their head. "One, my skin is violet, not purple, and two, my features are like this because one of my ancestors fucked a demon."

Darnell's head twisted around so fast to face Iados that Lia was afraid he'd give himself whiplash. "Did they really fuck a demon?"

Iados shrugged. "Either that or made a long-lasting pact with one. We're relatively new to the area, and family records weren't so much a priority when you're running away."

The youth seemed to accept this and turned back to Ander. "How long have your people been around?"

The halfling twisted his mouth as he thought. "We've been around for practically forever, but I guess we stayed more in the area around Sageburrow and Pryria. I'm not sure how many of our kind would have made the trek to this part of the continent before Skonia."

Darnell huffed. "Tell me, those Skonian bags of winds still demanding tribute from everyone around them?"

The air went silent as the members of M.A. processed what the black-haired teen had said.

Finally, it was Lia who spoke. "Darnell, how long were you in the valley?"

The teen smiled, and looked around the group with satisfaction. "Wondered how long it'd take you to ask that question." He licked his fingers. "Honestly I'm not sure how long. My whole village just woke up one morning, and the sky was different. It was like we were in a perpetual twilight, with a sun that forever hovered just below the horizon, and a moon that never appeared in the sky. No one could leave the valley either. There was an invisible wall that kept everyone inside."

He reached out, took the wineskin from Carric's stunned hands, and took a large swig. "Not long after, Queen Tyren showed up. She said that we were her people now, and all she asked for was a monthly tribute of food and supplies be sent to her domain. It wasn't a bad life in the valley, and we barely ever saw Queen Tyren. Time was weird though, time both passed and didn't pass at the same time. People still aged, but still looked young. No one ever looked like they were past the age of thirty. The only time anyone died was from accidents or homicide. No one died of old age."

"But you still needed a healer, Cornelia?" Lia stated.

Darnell nodded. "People still got hurt, but no one really got ill. Only time anyone got ill was if they ate some bad berries or something." He turned his gaze up towards the sky, where the stars had begun to twinkle out against the night sky. "Occasionally new people would show up, somehow stumbling into a world that was no longer connected to anything. It was a good life there."

"Until Jennavieve chased you out?" Iados asked.

Another nod.

"What changed?" Lia asked.

"Not really sure," The youth took another swig from the wineskin. "All of a sudden an illness the likes of which no one had ever seen before swept through the valley. No one was immune, and half of those who got sick died."

Ander's jaw dropped. "What did Cornelia say?"

"She didn't get a chance to say anything. By the time a group got to her, she'd already succumbed." Darnell sighed. "I lost my wife and children to the illness, and many of my friends."

Lia reached out and laid a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder. In that moment, in the light of the fire, she didn't see the face of a teen making up a story. She saw the lines of grief and the pain of a man who'd lost everything.

Ander paused in his scribbling. "How does Jennavieve fit in?"

"She came around, herding up the survivors, telling us that we had to leave the valley. Said it wasn't safe." Darnell explained. "None of us had seen her before she suddenly dropped in from the sky on her eagle. We told her about the wall, but she said she had a way out."

"How'd she do it?" Ander followed up.

"Got the damn fairies to actually do something more than be pests, for once." Darnell tossed the wineskin back to Carric, before he reached out and took another kebob from his contraption. "Those little naked bastards got together and used their magic to make some sort of doorway. Groups of five or so of us were sent through at a time. However, when I came out on the other side, I was alone and in the body of a teenager." He growled and tore off a chunk of meat with his teeth.

"I take it you weren't a teen when you entered?" Carric stated.

Darnell shook his head. "When I got to the village here and started asking questions, that's when I figured out that those little shits had decided to play one last game on us, somehow scattering us through time." He finished his bite, and turned back to Lia. "If you really are headed back to the valley, then I have a request."

The elf smiled. "If it involves killing any fairies, we can't make any promises?"

The teen shook his head. "No, I want you to take me with you." He sighed. "I shouldn't have let that woman chase me out of my home."

"But she said that it wasn't safe." Iados reminded him. "Did she explain why?"

"No. She took advantage of us being in shock from the illness, and used our fear of death to herd us like cattle." He clenched his fist. "I left my wife and kids behind, without giving them a proper burial. If there's a chance that I can rectify that, then I have to take it. So please, take me with you."