P. Wilson - Imperative

“What if you got a running start?” I pointed to the edge of the bench. “Jump and flap.”

“No, if I can’t fly, I don’t want to be breaking my leg.” Olan ruffled his feathers. “We should be thinking about stopping Fionuir.”

I crossed my fingers that he would find his flight soon. If he could only see the world from my shoulder or my ankles, it would be useless because I could see that much.

“Why didn’t you find a spell to turn you back to a pixie?” I was reluctant to admit my ignorance about elemental magic, but my curiosity outweighed my embarrassment.

“It is impossible.” Maybe it was because he was a chickadee and they tend to be happy all the time, but Olan didn’t seem concerned. “Best I can hope for is for it to wear off.”

I carried Olan over to the couch figuring we might as well get comfy while we plotted. A beer would be nice, but probably not helpful, so I grabbed a bottle of water and poured some into a saucer for Olan. Figuring he might be hungry, I offered to dig up some grubs. He shook his head.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Best we figure out two plans, or maybe more.”

“Contingencies are good. Did you have anything in mind?” I figured it was better to let Olan put the plan on the table and work with that than try to convince him my plan was better.

“I thought out two while you were snoring.” He flapped and got a bit more air. “I’m thinking we take a fairy and keep them until they answer questions. Maybe they know, maybe not. The other thought is, still to find a way to talk to Fionuir herself.”

‘You think she’ll agree to meet us?”

“Not us, you. I think she’ll be curious and feeling fairly safe. She won’t think you can do anything to her. And, that will be her downfall. She’ll let something slip if you are patient and careful.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Why would she tell us anything?”

“You forget how curious the Sidhe are. You can offer exchange of information; if you have anything to give. Or, you can get her angry. Have you ever seen an angry Sidhe?”

“I don’t think I have anything she will find interesting enough to exchange her secret for. Is an angry Sidhe, anything like an angry Crow?”

“No need for that, Quinn. But, yes, they get blind to the consequences of their actions. Fionuir will tell us something, we’ll just have to interpret it.”

I didn’t like the idea of making a Sidhe angry, especially Fionuir. “What about making that plan B? If we go to Fionuir first and it doesn’t work, it pretty much shuts down any other plan.”

“That is true. Well, what about taking a fairy? What do we want to know?”

“We know the Sidhe have the Gur amulet. We know there’s a potion to block the effects. We know the fairies are affected, but no one else, so far. We know the Sidhe, Fionuir’s Sidhe anyway are gathering power. We could use information on the location of the amulet.”

Olan flapped his wings again gaining three feet of air before floating back to the sofa. “You think a fairy might know where it is?”

“No, and if they did, it would be almost impossible to get that information out of them. Let’s look at this another way. If we knew what the antidote contained, we might be able to figure out how to cleanse the amulet when we found it. But that would mean another human dying.”

“That is likely to happen,” Olan said, his tone grave. “But it can’t be because we cause it. We are trying to save humans”

“Yes, Olan. I don’t want any more dead humans.” We may have different reasons but the outcome for the humans is the same. I don’t want them retaliating and Olan just has to protect them. “I can’t think of a way to get a sample without someone dying. So why don’t we put that under the ‘if we can’ column of plans. If we come across another killing that we can’t stop, we’ll capture the fairy and get a sample. It shouldn’t be too much of whatever that potion is, the fairy should be allowed to breed.”

“What if we knew how the fairy makes contact?” Olan ran toward the back of the couch, making the top by flapping his wings and digging his talons into the leather. He jumped and flapped a graceful landing on the floor.

“It looks like you just have to have patience and you’ll learn to fly. Don’t hurt yourself while trying.” I shifted so I was lying on the couch and thought through his question. It was a good idea. If we could catch the Sidhe who was running the contact, we might be able to get some of the potion without the cost of a human life. I had a feeling we were running out of time for this to go unnoticed.

I turned my attention back to Olan. He was managing to fly from the floor to the window ledge and back without losing control.

We waited until dark and then headed for a section of the park where the nightshade fairies built their homes.

We stood in the shadow of a large pine. The nightshade patch was about forty feet away. I could see the fairies dancing around a small fire.

“It looks like the mating caught.” I said to Olan. Fairies knew when they were pregnant within minutes. “Let’s hope it encourages another pair to try.”

“It will. You know nightshades. They are happy to jump on any opportunity to mate.” Olan fluttered down from a branch. Throughout the evening he had been trying to fly from higher and higher points. He had managed to take off from a running start and flapped around for short distances, but no sustained flight, yet. I hoped he was successful soon. I hated to think of spending the rest of my life with Olan flying up and down everywhere I went.

“You should give it a rest. If you wear out your wings, you’ll put your progress back days.”

“That’s good advice, wizard.” He made it to my shoulder and I could hear his breath laboring.

“You sound a bit out of shape.” I tried not to snicker, but it just came out.

He pecked my ear. “Stop being insolent and watch the fairies. That pair by the pond are up to something.”

I leaned sideways and saw two nightshade fairies standing just on the edge of the light. They were too far away to hear, but the body language was clear. She was telling him to get going. He was holding something in his hand, something small and shiny. “That’s gold in his hand. Okay I guess we have our target. That is unless they are planning something else.”

“Well you won’t find out by standing here. Just follow them and be quiet about it,” Olan said.

The nightshade boy was skirting the bushes on his way out of the park, his pale skin showing in the street light as he dashed across the street. I could see his left hand was clutching the gold tightly.

We trailed him to a bus stop. The next bus was due in about five minutes and I said a little plea that he wasn’t going to get on when it came. Any hope of being inconspicuous was out the door if I stepped on a bus with Olan on my shoulder.

“If we have to get on a bus, so be it. I’ll fly up to the top,” Olan said as if he had read my thoughts. “You get on and stay with the fairy.”

“Do you think he’s going to get on?”

“Maybe. Looks, he’s preparing a glamour right now.”

Olan was right. As I looked, the fairy shimmered and the glamour spell turned him from a three foot nightshade fairy to a four and a half foot blond surfer type. “Do you think the Sidhe is on the bus?”

“I’m not an oracle. Stop asking stupid questions.” Olan clacked his beak.

“Okay, okay. It doesn’t seem likely. But if this is going down on a bus, we are going to have a hard time being subtle.”

The fairy looked up and down the street then crossed. No bus ride for us, I hoped that wasn’t the only good luck we had tonight.