Indescribable Desperation

Instinctively, she reached for her belt, but she was not even wearing one.

“No, no, no... It can’t be. No, no, no...”

Panicking, Leyade began looking everywhere. She rummaged through the straw bedding, searched on top of it, beneath it and among the stalks, in a vain attempt to quell her desperation, though deep down she knew the sword was not with her.

Leyade lunged towards the bars, only to be stopped halfway when the chains snapped taut with a sharp tug.

She tried to pull free, but it was impossible.

“Hello?” she shouted. “Is anyone there?”

She waited a few moments, but only silence answered.

The elf turned away and began pacing like a caged lion.

“What was the name of that fairy who came here?” she asked herself, making a tremendous racket as the chain links clattered and scraped against one another and the stone floor. “Was it Fina? Fama? Fanya?”

She tried a few similar names.

“It started with an F, an F... Eff... Fa, fa... I remember! Fayla, yes, that was it.”

She stopped for a few seconds, then moved as close to the bars as she could.

“FAYLA! FAYLA! FAYLA!” she bellowed into the darkness at the top of her lungs.

She kept it up for at least two full minutes, until a voice rang out in the distance.

“Please stop shouting.”

Leyade fell silent when she heard it.

“You’re going to give me a headache...”

A few yards beyond the bars, she could make out the fairy’s faint silhouette, dimly illuminated by her own glow.

“Fayla!” the elf exclaimed when she saw her.

The fairy fluttered over and hovered on the other side of the bars.

“Why are you shouting like that?” she asked with a look of displeasure.

“Fayla, you have to give me Kalindra!” Leyade blurted out, making one of the chains rattle as she raised her arm and held out her hand.

The fairy looked at her and shook her head.

“I can’t tell whether you’ve come to your senses or got even...”

“You were right. I’m not dead, and this isn’t hell,” Leyade said.

Fayla nodded calmly.

“All right, I’m glad you’ve seen sense, but did you have to make all that noise just to tell me?” the fairy asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No! That’s not why I was shouting.”

Her voice was full of desperation.

“I was calling you because you have to give me Kalindra! You’ve made a mistake. I haven’t stolen anything!”

Fayla sighed and covered her ears.

“Stop yelling...”

She looked at Leyade again.

The elf looked frantic, as though she were about to burst into tears of frustration.

The fairy sighed again.

“I’m going to regret this, but tell me, elf. Why exactly are we wrong?”

Leyade began telling her everything.

“I found an injured sparrow, and I looked after it and treated its wounds until it got better. It turned out to be a spirit, Kiany, and she gave me Kalindra for helping her. It was supposed to help me save my people, but then she sent me to find someone because I don’t know how to use it, and then...”

Leyade fired off the words like an archer emptying a quiver, one after another, without taking aim.

Fayla looked like a child trying to make sense of a tongue-twister for the first time.

Slowly, she raised one hand towards the sky.

“W-wait a moment.”

Leyade stopped and looked at her.

“I didn’t understand any of that.”

The elf pressed her hands to her face and dragged them down it.

“Aaaargh... All right.”

She told her story again, more slowly this time.

“I see, and...”

The fairy nodded, resting a hand against her chin.

“I don’t know... Dryads tend to be truthful, and until a few minutes ago, you thought you were in hell... I’m not sure I can trust your state of mind, to be honest.”

Leyade threw her head back and ran her hands through her hair.

“Aaaah... Look, how could I think anything else when the last thing I knew was that I was dead?” she demanded. “How was I supposed to guess that some fairies had appeared out of nowhere, healed me and taken me prisoner? Strange as it may seem, that doesn’t usually happen, you know?”

Leyade folded her arms indignantly.

Fayla tilted her head as though to say, ‘Well, that makes sense.’

Then she began flying slowly back and forth in front of the bars.

“Look, your reasoning does seem sound enough... but all of that happening to you is rather a lot of coincidence.”

The elf sighed.

“I’m telling the truth. You can ask Kiany if you like.”

The fairy looked at her.

“That was the idea. My queen has summoned the spirit to appear at your trial.”

Leyade gave her a puzzled look.

“Trial?”

“Yes, of course. We’re going to put you on trial,” Fayla replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Leyade bristled.

“What do you mean, ‘of course’? I can’t waste time on a trial!” she snapped. “I have to get out of here and save my people. I don’t get a second chance at this.”

Fayla looked straight at her.

“Well, I’m afraid you won’t be leaving until the day of your trial, when you can give your testimony, elf.”

Fayla folded her arms and landed on the floor of the chamber, a few yards from Leyade.

“For creatures who place so much importance on names, you fairies seem to have a problem with mine, don’t you?” Leyade complained, thoroughly fed up. “I’m not waiting for a trial. I don’t know how things work here, but I’ll lodge an appeal or whatever it’s called. I have to get out of here.”

The fairy sighed deeply.

“I don’t get paid enough for this...” she muttered. “Look, Leyade”—she emphasised the name pointedly—“there’s nothing you can do until the day of your trial, and that won’t take place until Kiany arrives to testify.”

Leyade frowned.

“What? What do you mean, there’s nothing I can do? No, sorry, what do you mean, there’s nothing I can do and I have to wait indefinitely before I can leave?”

Her voice was restrained, but it was clear she was holding herself back from shouting at the fairy and telling her where to go.

“Exactly. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is,” Fayla said seriously.

“Are you all mad?” Leyade snapped. “Do you think I don’t know how this place works? Well?” she demanded. “Time in the fairy realm is even worse than elven time. It passes differently here. It stretches out more than anywhere else. There are stories of people spending centuries here!”

Leyade looked at the little specks of spice on the floor.

“And even of people who could never leave after eating the food...”

She fell silent for a few moments.

Fayla watched her.

“I suggest you try speaking to me with a little more respect. Your behaviour could count against you,” the fairy admonished her calmly. “We don’t do that with the food any more, at least not against anyone’s will. But the passage of time can affect you, I won’t deny it. Still, if what you say is true...”

She took flight again.

“The spirit should arrive soon, and everything will be resolved quickly.”

She paused for a few moments before continuing.

“I hope the spirit remembers you and takes pity on your cause. Spirits are fickle. Who knows? Perhaps she won’t even come...”

Fayla turned as she spoke, finishing the words “perhaps she won’t even come” with her back to Leyade and a sideways glance at her.

Leyade moved closer, trying to stop her.

“What are you trying to tell me?” she asked nervously. “Are you threatening me?”

The fairy continued calmly on her way.

“Fayla, answer me!”

The fairy left without another word.

“HEY, WAIT! DON’T GO! FAYLA!”

“FAYLA!”