Amarine, Fairy Princess

"It was peaceful and she let it bathe her senses. She was so tired; she needed to rest for just a moment. The bright beams from the sun shone on her face and she could feel them on the trunk of the tree." -- Anna del C. Dye, (artwork by Nick Rose aka William Johns)

In the early hours of a day when a fog completely covered the light that should have brightened the new dawn, Amarine sat on the edge of a quiet pond engulfed in the wet blanket that threatened to suffocate her. It had been a few days since the tragic death of her father and she couldn’t sleep, a pattern she had followed since his demise.

“I’ll always be there for you,” she heard his voice in her head. It was the lyrical voice of a father that had been her world and that the dark fairies had taken from her.

“Where are you?” she murmured, her brown eyes peeled to penetrate the dark blanket that surrounded her. The voice of the twelve-years-old girl came out broken by tears.

At that moment the air became thicker and her breath labored. She knew what that meant; for it was the same warning that had kept her alive since all the chasing began.

‘I need to hide,’ her mind warned her, ‘but where? You were the one who kept me safe… I don’t know where to go or what to do anymore,’ her heart cried as she tore herself from the rock where she had been seated.

Her keen ears could hear the awakening sounds of the forest and her eyes could penetrate the densest fog, yet those who wanted to harm her were not visible to her senses.

“I know you are here,” she murmured softly while her legs carried her into the heart of the nearby forest. “They can’t pose any threat to me if I am not afraid of them,” she reminded herself.

“There,” she cried as she saw the trunk of a great sycamore tree. Its leaves shone in the dark with a very soft glow of silver and gold. “It has to be a magical tree,” she smiled, glad she had found it. “I need to calm my heart,” she breathed deeply, “or it will not work.”

She could feel the sad shadows converging a few steps behind her… it was now or never.

“Dear ancient sycamore, please let me, Amarine, princess of the faire kind, enter the safety of your arms.”

She heard the murmured reply of the tree in her mind and then she melted into its depth. She opened her eyes from within the sinews of the trunk and could discern dark spirits floating about.

She felt a small rumble in her mind as the tree asked, “Why is a fairy princess alone in this dark forest?”

“My father was traveling with me to the Red Forest, but he was killed by dark spirits and now I must complete the journey by myself. … May I stay with you until they go?”

“Yes, but don’t forget that you will become part of me if you stay too long,” he groaned and slowly swayed. She felt the tree’s scratchy voice as it started to hum a melody. It was peaceful and she let it bathe her senses. She was so tired; she needed to rest for just a moment. The bright beams from the sun shone on her face and she could feel them on the trunk of the tree.

“The tree!” she exclaimed and opened her eyes to the realization that she couldn’t move.

“You have become part of me,” the tree rumbled softly in her head.

“You must let me free!” she panicked.

“But why, my little fairy,” he mused. “In me you won’t be alone any more.”

“Nooo, let me go.”

“The dark spirits won’t harm you here.”

“I can’t. I’m Amarine, daughter of the Fairy Queen...”

All of a sudden new soft far-away voices joined hers:

“She must go…”

“Let her free…”

“Daughter of The Queen…”

“She must reach The Queen.”

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

“We are fairies that live in this tree,” a soft voice murmured.

“Is it your magic that makes it glow?”

“Yes it is,” someone said.

“Please help me.”

“We, too, are trapped in this tree and can’t escape until you join your mother’s magic,” said another.

“The trickster tree has made us his,” another replied.

“Just our consciences are free,” a third one said.

“Can you help me?” she asked again.

“Perhaps, you are not his yet,” the voice answered.

After a silent moment they started to scream with many voices that echoed at different pitches which caused the tree to mourn and sway franticly.

‘I can move,’ Amarine thought. She stepped forward and a shadowy figure grabbed her as she ran. Amarine had to stop when a piercing cry came from the shadows as the shadow fell on its hip on the warm ground.

Amarine tried to wake it and, after a moment, she succeeded.

“Are you alright?”

“Where am I,” the form asked, confused.

“You are free from the tree,” Amarine replied.

“Can you see me?” the shadow queried.

“Your form, yes. You are transparent.”

“But I am free!” she sat up with a cry.

“What is your name?” Amarine asked.

“I am Darkinnel… I need magic to move beyond here,” she told her. “Can you help me?”

“I don’t know how,” she answered.

“You said you were the daughter of the Fairy Queen.”

“I am, but I don’t know magic yet.”

“I know the incantation if you care to try it.”

“You know where the Red Forest is. I’ll try if you promise to take me there.”

“I will,” she responded.

Amarine recited the words after her, with her hands on the shadow fairy’s head.

For an instant nothing happened. Then Darkinnel started to convulse on the ground.

“It’s working. Your hair’s black like the night… your arms are chocolate like your face.”

The fairy stopped to pant, very still on the clover-covered land.

“Are you feeling better?” the princess asked after a long silence.

“I need…just …a moment,” she murmured.

That evening the light of a magical lamp shone, summoned by the power Darkinnel dared to use.

“Thank you, my princess,” said Darkinnel. “I didn’t know if it would work.”

“You are not totally normal. My mother will be able to do the rest.”

“Yes, of course.”

“What are we going to do?” Amarine asked.

“I need until tomorrow morning,” the older fairy answered.

“Do you mean that we will stay here all night?”

“It will be safe, that is a magic lantern. It will keep us concealed from the dark fairies.”

“Where is the Red Forest?” Amarine asked.

“That depends on where in Red Forest you want to be,” she answered.

“Don’t you know where my mother is?”

“I am a keeper of the forest.”

“You have never seen my mother?”

“I get my instruction from her guards.”

“But…”

“Listen, your voice will attract the dark fairies, lamp or not.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

The next day they walked for hours until Amarine said, “Wait, we already went through here.”

“Don’t be silly,” the older fairy retorted.

At midmorning, she stared anxiously at the fairy.

“I know what I’m doing.”

“There is the core of the apple I ate this morning,” Amarine countered worriedly.

The fairy turned abruptly with glistening red eyes and a hiss, “I needed to keep you here until dark.”

Darkinnel let out a bright ray of magic and pinned her to the nearest tree.

“I saved you, and you promised,” the girl protested.

“Just close it!” the older fairy screamed, and as if by magic Amarine couldn’t utter a word. “I am a dark princess myself,” she confessed. “You granted me powers I didn’t previously have along with this shape. I will make you mine and keep all your powers. In her spirit state my mother is no match for me. After all, she left me in that horrid tree and wouldn’t set me free. She didn’t want to lose you.”

That night, filled with dread, Amarine felt the presence of the dark fairies closing in on her. She despaired, but couldn’t move.

After Darkinnel talked in a different tongue to one of them, a dark smoke launched at her chest. She took one step back but held her place. Soon there were more flashes against the dark princess, and she answered in kind.

This went on for a long time.

‘If they concentrate their power they could easily defeat her,’ Amarine thought.

Soon only half of the dark smoke remained and Darkinnel still stood her ground.

At that moment Amarine felt the most excruciating pain. Darkinnel was busy and did not see her agony. Just as she was ready to succumb to it, the forest illuminated as clear as midday and Amarine knew that the end was near.

“My Queen, she awakes,” someone called from far away.

“Amarine,” a sweet voice murmured. “Amarine…”

It was painful to open her eyes but she tried just a little. It was too bright and she shaded her eyes with her hands. Many colors moved every which way.

“Stop your glitter,” the voice commanded.

Now she could see better. The place was beautiful, a silky stream rushed down from the top of the most lush mountain she had ever seen. The trees were dressed in bright forest colors, the same as the feathery wings that flew about.

“Where am I?” she murmured, not too sure she should break the peace she felt there.

“You are in the heart of the Red Forest, my child.”

A beautiful woman enshrined in a pearly gown spoke. The whiteness of her face shamed the winter snow while the gold in her hair outshone the sun.

“Do you feel better, my child?” she asked.

“I’m not sure… Am I dreaming?”

“You’re in fairy land,” she laughed. “I’m Amatine, the queen.”

“You’re my mother?”

“Yes. Amarine, you are the star born to me and the son of the sun.”

“With the powers in our minds, I was able to destroy the dark fairies that attacked you.”

“Did you cause me that horrible pain?”

“No, my child. Our minds unite in goodness and love… that would never cause you pain.”

“What happened then?”

“When the dark fairies attacked your companion, we saw the power and converged on the meadow where you were. We watched the fight without interference for some time. While half of them kept your companion’s attention the others came to steal your magic. You couldn’t scream and that told me that you were immobilized by a spell. The dark spirit fairies don’t have the power to do that, so the fairy who was with you was the only answer… and we attacked all of them.”

“Is Darkinnel dead?”

“Yes, she was not born to take a body. When she tricked you to give her one, she sentenced herself to death. The illusion of her body would have disappeared in two days and she would, too.”

“Do you know that there are fairies held prisoner in the sycamore tree… I promised to help them.”

The queen raised her hand.

“We are free, our princess.” Fairies of different colors hovered near her.

“You are so beautiful,” she exclaimed at the sight.

“Come,” said the queen, “I have something to show you.”

By the stream, her mother chanted in a murmur and the water turned stiff. The queen took a large piece of the cascade and placed it before Amarine.

“Is this really me,” she murmured, filled with surprise at the beautiful image that stared back at her. Her honey-colored hair surrounded eyes of the same blue as her mother’s in contrast to her fair skin.

“You are in me and I am in you,” her mother confirmed.

“I didn’t look like this before, why?”

“It was a spell. I put it on you to protect you when I delivered you to the family that raised you.”

“Was that necessary?”

“The dark fairies have power over a fairy infant and you were in great danger if they found you.”

“They killed my moth… my fath… them.”

“On your twelfth birthday, your power doubled and brought the dark fairies to you. Bestor knew it would, but he failed to bring you to me before your birthday as instructed.”

“He gave me a special gift before we left home. She pulled from under her blouse a stone that shone red in the fairy light.

“Nayagat, cometan no milestand,” the Queen cried in command, as she took the stone and threw it in the water. Many of the fairies disappeared immediately from the clearing, only a few guards remained.

“What is it?” Amerine asked, confused.

“The stone is used by the dark fairy queen to spy on us. They followed you, and will attack us at any moment.”

Screams and flashes of light echoed in the night only a moment later. The trees shook with the power of the magic. Horrible wails made Amarine tremble with fear.

However, as soon as the first ray of sun appeared the Queen cried, “My beloved husband, my kingdom is under attack and our daughter is in danger.”

A light as brilliant as the sun descended to rest upon the Queen and Amarine.

“The darkness didn’t allow me come to your rescue, my queen, but nothing can stop me now,” a warm voice answered. The light grew in intensity and bathed every corner of the forest. A moment later the noise of the battle was gone and the light once again became concentrated above the Queen’s head.

“All is well, my queen. I have dispelled the darkness and they are no more. Your fairies are healing their friends as we speak. What has happened?”

“Bestor gave Amarine the eye of the dark fairy queen, and they followed her.”

“He was one of them?” the voice in the light exclaimed.

“Maybe he didn’t know the power of the stone,” the Queen suggested.

“The dark fairies killed his wife; he kept mumbling that it was his fault, that he had trusted them. He took me into the forest and told me all he knew about me that same night. He showed me how to be careful in the dark.”

“He repented… good,” the figure of light commented.

“Well, that’s in the past now and, you, our daughter, will be safe with us.” she smiled at her husband.

“That she will, my queen,” he smiled back.

“May I present to you your father,” she told the princess.

“I can’t really see you,” Amarine responded.

The light flickered to a duller brilliance and there stood a beautiful man all covered in gold from his head to his toes. But the most striking feature was that his eyes and hair were the same color as his skin.

“Welcome, my daughter. I have kept my eye on you from my seat on high,” he told her. “I was there each of your birthdays caressing you, loving you. Oh how I have waited for this day!”

--

Anna del C. Dye is the author of "The Silent Warrior Trilogy"