Fairlight’s Song

By Shauna Houser

One

It was late.

The sun sank lazily behind the great, jagged mountain known as the Dragon’s Tooth, setting the sky afire with brilliant gold and red hues.  Within the Forgotten Valley, which lay nestled at the base of the great mountain, an ancient, sprawling forest grew ever darker as shadows lengthened and deepened, engulfing the last traces of sunlight that somehow managed to squeeze through the thick canopy of treetops.  Within the forest, the sweet notes of the songbirds gave way to the shriller cries of the night-hunting hawks and owls, and far in the distance, the howls of the silver wolves rose in harmonic accordance.

In the middle of this vast forest there was a small meadow that stood surrounded by a ring of ancient oak trees.  In this meadow stood a solitary cabin that seemed almost as old as the trees themselves.  Despite its weathered condition, however, the cabin seemed in relatively good repair.  Its thatched roof was carefully mended, as was the small porch.  The door and shuttered windows were watertight, and behind the cabin, a well-tended garden grew in a bright abundance of flowering and edible plant life.  The owner of this small cabin wasn’t nearly so old.  A girl of uncertain age, Fairlight had lived in the small house for her entire life.  She had no one for company except for Shadow, a huge, silver-white wolf with the unusually-colored blue eyes that were inherent in his particular breed.  Shadow had been with her for almost as long as she’d been alive.  He was her best friend, her confidant, and her protector, and had well earned that last title often in his life.  The forest in the Forgotten Valley, though lacking in human population, had quite a few dangers of the wild variety, and they somehow managed to find Fairlight no matter where she was. 

Of course, there were times when Shadow himself seemed to attract almost as much trouble as his mistress did; Fairlight often wondered if her wild friend even went so far as to go out looking for it, especially around the cold season, when poachers were often spotted in the valley.  They came there to hunt the silver wolves for their rare, beautiful, and highly valuable pelts, which were the same pale color that their name suggested.  A single pelt could keep a man fed for more than a year with the gold it would bring in, making the elusive animals the most sought-after game in the country.

Shadow was a prime target for these poachers, being one of the largest wolves in the entire valley, and Fairlight had saved her friend from the traps and arrows of a stray poacher more than once.  They being the only humans she ever saw, she had learned to loathe their appearance in what she considered to be her forest, and did everything in her power to keep the intruders out of it.  It never bothered her to live by herself without human companionship; she couldn’t remember a time when she had any to begin with.  Perhaps a vague impression here and there of her parents, but they had died a long time ago, leaving her to fend for herself.  She didn’t even miss them.  Let humans keep to themselves on the other side of the Dragon’s Tooth; as far as she was concerned, that was where they belonged.  She was content with her garden and Shadow was the only friend she needed.

The still air was cool that night, yet another sign that the hot season was nearly past, but Fairlight didn’t seem to notice as she sat on the edge of the porch, mending a thick cloak by the wavering light of a candle.  Her vision had always been excellent, and she could spot an owl roosting in a tree from almost ten feet away, so mending clothes by candlelight was a simple task for her.  The musical rippling of the stream which flowed through the edge of her meadow was a peaceful harmony to the lazy hum of the insects and the shrieking hawks.  A wolf howled in the distance, and she vaguely wondered if it was Shadow.

Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked up, peering into the darkness through brilliant blue eyes.  The wolf had been gone for almost two days now, and she was starting to worry about him.  It wasn’t unusual for him to take off on a jaunt and not return for awhile, but the cold season was nearly upon them, and the poachers would once again be making their way into the valley to set traps for the wolves.  Shadow was intelligent enough to avoid most of those traps, but there was always the off chance that he’d get careless and stumble into a heap of trouble, and Fairlight wouldn’t be there to get him out of it.

She had tried, one year, to keep the huge wolf locked up in the cabin, when it seemed that the forest was infested with poachers and he’d nearly been killed at one point.  Shadow hadn’t deigned to so much as look at her for nearly a week after that, and her little home had been a wreck after he’d gotten through letting her know what he thought of the idea of being caged inside of it.  So, the only thing she could do was to allow him to run and hope that he had enough sense to stay away from anything that smelled like humans.

The wolf howled again, and Fairlight frowned and laid her cloak aside, standing tall (well, as tall as someone of her short stature could stand, anyway) and listening intently.  She pushed a shining black ringlet away from her ear, as though to help her better hear.  The forest seemed a little too quiet, and she thought that the howls were a warning.  After years of living in the middle of nowhere, Fairlight could pretty much comprehend what the wilderness was telling her, and now it was clearly saying that something was in the forest which did not belong there.  Poachers, she thought in disgust.  They seem to come earlier every year.  Where’s that wolf when I need him?

Well, hopefully the strangers would stay far away from her cabin.  If Shadow deigned to return tonight, maybe she’d take him and go looking for the intruders and disrupt their hunting parties a little.  That was always fun, and she’d managed to scavenge some pretty good weapons off them in the past.  Maybe this year she’d make an attempt for a crossbow.  She’d seen one in action before, and was rather impressed with its speed and accuracy in hitting moving targets.  Her longbow was no match for one of those powerful weapons.

Fairlight fought back a yawn as she gave the meadow one last look, hoping for some sign of her elusive friend’s return, but all was still, and her shoulders slumped.  As much as she hated to admit it, she missed Shadow when he was gone.  She felt much safer when the wolf was close by.  Those poachers were rough-looking sorts, who were much bigger than she was, and much more violent.  She could defend herself well enough, but she’d prefer to avoid them, if she could.  Every year, though, the poachers encroached further and further into the forest, and she knew it was only a matter of time before they inadvertently stumbled across her home.  If that happened, what would she do then?

Shadow still did not appear, and with a defeated slump of her shoulders, Fairlight finally gathered her half-mended cloak and retreated into the cabin for the night.

*           *           *           *           *

Her dreams were unsettled.  Disembodied voices whispered to her in a strange, foreign tongue, and over the whispers rose a sound like the high, clear notes of a song.  Its pure, crystalline tones vibrated through her body, flooding her veins with indescribable warmth and making her blood spark and tingle.  The very air surrounding her seemed to sparkle with light.

The voices began to grow louder, the whispers turning to shouts, and still she dreamed on.  Now faces danced across her mind’s eye and vanished again; haunting, half-familiar visions of pale, clear features, large eyes and upswept brows, delicate, pointed ears poking through wild tangles of pale hair.  They were beautiful and frightening, and they seemed to be the source of the incoherent dialogue.  Who are they? Fairlight wondered uneasily.  And what are they?

Before she could find out, however, loud snarling and growling abruptly pulled her out of sleep with a vicious jerk.  She lay there panting in the darkness, blue eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight that streamed in through the window and across the bed.  What a dream, she thought groggily, rubbing a hand through her mass of tangled, black curls.  She had never had such a vision before!  What were those creatures?  Surely, they weren’t human.  No human she had ever seen was so hauntingly beautiful.

It occurred to her, suddenly, that the savage growling was still going on, and it didn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.  Suddenly wide awake, Fairlight leapt out of bed and snatched up her sword—a treasure she’d filched from a party of poachers several years back—and threw open the door, prepared to defend herself.

What she saw was the glowing, bristling form of Shadow, standing rigidly on the porch just outside the door.  His ears were flat against his head and his tail was stiff, legs braced firmly and muzzle curled back in a deadly grin.  His entire body vibrated with low, threatening growls, and they were aimed at the cloaked and hooded forms of a dozen humans standing in a half-circle around the cabin.  Drawn weapons glinted silver in the moonlight, but their owners made no move to attack.  Even though they outnumbered Shadow almost twelve to one, no doubt the fools were thinking twice before taking on an enraged, full-grown wolf by themselves. 

“What do you want, you thieving pirates?” Fairlight demanded furiously.  “How dare you come onto my land uninvited?  You’re not welcome here, so leave!”  Shadow emphasized her words with a snarl, snapping his teeth at the closest stranger and making the man stumble back a step or two.

“Wait.  Please.”  One of the cloaked figures stepped forward, holding out a thin hand in a gesture of peace.  “Don’t be afraid.  We mean no harm.”  His voice was deep and soothing and held a strange, musical lilt, as though the words he spoke were not of his own tongue.  Fairlight stared at him, trying to make out his features in the shadow of his cowl.  Only the faint glimmer of his eyes could be seen, and she found it disconcerting.  She, who could spot a roosting owl from ten feet away in the dark…how could she not see his face from only a few feet, in the full moonlight, no less?

“What do you want?” she demanded again, a little more calmly, although no less suspicious of their motives.

“Call off your dog and maybe we’ll tell you,” another voice exclaimed haughtily.  This came from the closest stranger.  She shot him an irritated glance and raised her sword slightly.

“Are you always so polite to the strangers whose land you trespass on?” she snapped.  “You’re lucky I haven’t sent Shadow to rip your throat out.  I’m normally not so forgiving of most poachers.”

“We’re not poachers!” the stranger snapped, stepping forward.  Shadow snarled and lunged, and the man hastily backed away.  His companions laughed softly, and Fairlight could almost feel the glare he cast their way.

“I don’t believe you.  You must be poachers.  They’re the only humans who deign to set foot into this valley.  Well, I must warn you, if you’ve come for Shadow’s pelt, you’ll have one hell of a fight on your hands!”  She raised her sword and stepped up beside the still-growling wolf, daring any of them to make a move.  The fact that half of them carried longbows was not lost on her, but she was not about to lose face to these strangers in her own home!

The first one who had spoken turned to his companions.  “Lower your weapons,” he commanded.

“Are you crazy?!” the second speaker snapped.  “As soon as we do, that devil wolf will rip us to shreds!”

“You always did have a gift for the dramatic,” the first one replied, sounding amused.  “I don’t think the wolf—Shadow, was it?—will attack if he realizes that we don’t mean to attack, either.  He’s merely protecting his property.”

After a moment, swords and bows lowered, and a moment after that Shadow’s hackles slowly went down.  He sniffed the air, blue eyes fixed intently on the strangers, before lowering himself on his haunches with a kingly air, his head nearly passing Fairlight’s shoulder.  “That is the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen,” one of the strangers murmured, and Fairlight felt a rush of pride.  She looped an arm around her friend’s furry neck and squeezed, and Shadow gave a single wag of his tail in appreciation.

“May we come closer?” the first stranger asked.  “I would like to see who I’m talking to face to face.”

Fairlight thought for a moment.  “Leave your weapons behind,” she replied at last.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the man’s sword struck the soft earth, burying it halfway to the hilt.  He left it there and walked forward the few steps it took to reach the porch.  She was disconcerted to realize that, although she stood on the porch and he on the ground two steps below her, they were face-to-face.  It wasn’t just that she was rather short, she realized.  This man, whoever he was, was unusually tall.  “What’s your name?” she asked brusquely.

“I am called Forrest,” came the dignified reply.  “May I ask who I am speaking to?”

She hesitated, and then shrugged.  “Fairlight,” she answered simply.  There was a sudden, startled silence before an excited murmur passed over the small gathering.  She blinked.  “What is it?”

Now the other man who had spoken moved forward, and she could see the glow of bright green eyes gazing at her in astonishment.  “Fairlight is an elven name!” the man exclaimed in haughty amazement.  “How did you come by such a name?”

Fairlight was fast deciding that she didn’t like this man, whoever he was.  He sounded young and arrogant and foolish, and she had even less patience for fools than she did for normal people.  She shot the young man a withering glare.  “I’d assume by the same means you came up with yours,” she snapped, “assuming you were raised by human parents instead of wild animals.”

“Why, you arrogant little snot!”

“Asher!”  Forrest’s voice rang with a disapproving note that quickly brought an end to the tirade.  “Remember who you are,” he scolded, and Asher, surprisingly, fell silent.

Fairlight sighed.  She was tired and cold and cranky and the last thing she wanted to do was socialize with a bunch of strange men in the middle of the night.  Maybe, if she told them they could make camp in her meadow, they’d leave her alone?  She’d just have to make sure they left Shadow alone, as well.  They didn’t seem like the normal poacher type, but one could never really tell about these things.  “Look, if you’ve come around begging for handouts, you’ve come to the wrong place,” she began firmly.  “I want nothing to do with you.”

“We have supplies of our own,” Forrest replied gently.  “We need nothing from you.  All we ask is for you to allow us to camp in your meadow for the night.  When we came to this valley, we didn’t expect to find it inhabited; we’d always assumed that nothing but wildlife lived in the forest.  Tell me, young one, how did you come to be here?”

“I’ve always been here,” Fairlight replied defensively.  “This is my home.  Why are you here if you aren’t poachers?  The only humans I’ve ever seen in this valley are here to hunt the silver wolves, or to hunt the wolves’ food.”

“This girl is too arrogant for her own good,” the one called Asher snorted, crossing his arms defensively.  “She acts as though she owns this valley!”

“Perhaps, as she is the only person we’ve seen here, she does,” Forrest replied simply.  He turned his gaze back to Fairlight and asked, “Tell me, child, have you ever heard of a race of people called the Sidhe?”  She looked at him askance, and he chuckled.  “Ah, I see that you have not.  All right then.  Have you perhaps heard of elves?”

Fairlight’s brows drew together as she scowled down at the strange man.  Clearly, her subtle hint for the entire lot of them to go lose themselves was not getting through their thick skulls.  Perhaps a more forceful approach was necessary.  She opened her mouth to send Shadow after the group with a mere word, until a wisp of memory suddenly touched her mind.

And the world faded away as the vision overcame her. 

A black-haired child lay cuddled beneath her quilt as a beautiful, silver-haired woman leaned over her, her soft voice whispering into the child’s ear fantastic stories of a proud and glorious race of people who lived in a far-off land.  After making sure the that child was asleep, the woman stood and, after a moment’s hesitation, removed from around her neck a golden chain on which dangled a broken pendant.  She placed the necklace in the child’s small hand, then turned and stroked her own hand over the large, noble head of a silver-furred wolf, speaking softly to it in a strange, beautiful tongue.  And then, gathering her cloak and a small satchel, the woman cast a last, longing glance at the sleeping child and turned to steal away into the night, never to be heard from again.

The vision released Fairlight abruptly, and the world flooded back into view as she collapsed against Shadow, her sword clattering to the ground.  She gripped the wolf’s thick fur tightly with one hand, while in her other she unconsciously clutched at a chain hidden beneath her tunic—rather grimy and dull with age—on which dangled a broken pendant, and her eyes were wide open as the vision of her mother’s face swam through her mind.  I saw my mother, she thought through mixture of shock and despair.  After all these years, I remembered my mother…and she abandoned me!

No wonder she’d tried so hard to repress any memory of her parents!  Her father was dead, she knew.  She could remember standing beside his freshly-turned grave, and she knew that she had been holding the hand of another person as she stared at the rich soil.  She’d always assumed it was her mother, and yet she could never see her face.  And now, she understood why.

Shadow whined as Fairlight’s grip tightened on his fur, nuzzling at her cheek worriedly, and she gave a reassuring scratch to his ear as she tried to regain her composure.  Now more than ever she wanted these strangers gone from her forest.  They had invaded her home and her privacy, and had dredged up long-suppressed memories that she’d just as soon forget.  She’d always assumed her mother had died shortly after her father, and that had been just fine with her.  Now she knew the truth, and the truth was far worse than her imaginings.  Her own mother had abandoned her!  She buried her face in the wolf’s fur and fought back the stinging tears that burned behind her eyes.

“Fairlight, are you all right?  Fairlight?  What happened?”

She realized suddenly that Forrest was attempting to get her attention, and had been for quite some time.  Clenching her jaw, she viciously forced back her tears and stood to face the strangers, mouth set in a grim line.  “I want you to leave me alone,” she stated, her voice dull.  “I want you to leave this place, and not come back.  Ever.  You’re not wanted here.”  With that, she turned to go into her cabin.

Asher’s hand on her arm was what stopped her, his grip painfully tight.  “What were you raised in, a barn?” he growled, shaking her slightly.  “When a group of weary travelers asks for shelter for a night, the polite thing to do is to give them some!  What happened to your manners, or do you even know what those are?!”

“Let go of me!” Fairlight yelled, turning on him suddenly and shoving him back with all her might.  Startled, Asher stumbled away from her, only barely managing to catch himself before he fell off the porch.  The hood of his cloak inadvertently fell away from his face, and for the first time Fairlight could clearly see his features.  Flaxen hair the color of moonlight; large, slanted eyes as green as spring leaves; sharply slanted brows, and pointed ears poking through a mass of corn-silk hair.  She stumbled away in shock, landing hard on her backside.  “Y-you’re not human!” she gasped, gazing at him in horror.

“Do not be afraid of us, child,” Forrest murmured soothingly, stepping toward her as he pushed back the hood of his own cloak.  “We’re not going to harm you.”  His features were much like Asher’s, only perhaps a little older.  A neatly trimmed beard covered his lower face in downy gold, and his bright hair was tied back in a neat tail.  His eyes were almost amber in color.

“Wh-what are you?” she questioned shakily.  “What are you doing here?”  She reached up to lay a hand against Shadow’s side, as much to calm him as to comfort herself.  She could feel him vibrating with deep, nearly silent growls, and his pale blue eyes were fixed intently on the strange creatures before him.  But he didn’t move; until she commanded it, he wouldn’t attack them, unless he felt they were a true threat to her.  The fact that he wasn’t attacking comforted her somewhat.

“We’re Sidhe, or perhaps we are better known as elves,” Forrest replied.  “We’ve come on a journey.  We’re seeking something.  Or rather, someone.”

Fairlight blinked at him.  “Oh,” she replied, not really knowing what else to say.  “Well, I’m sorry I can’t help you.  I haven’t seen anyone other than you and your friends there.  Perhaps you’re looking in the wrong place.”

Forrest glanced at Asher, who gave a slight shake of his head in return.  “No,” Forrest stated simply.  “I’m sure this is the right place.  We just need to keep looking.”

Fairlight slowly got to her feet, looping her arm around Shadow’s neck.  “Well,” she began cautiously, “I hope you have good luck in your journey.  I’m sorry I can’t help you, but I’ve never been outside the forest.  I wouldn’t know where to look.”  She picked up her nearly-forgotten sword and opened the door to her cabin to go inside, then hesitated and looked back over her shoulder.  “If you want to,” she began grudgingly, “you can camp in my meadow for the night.  But don’t come knocking on my door for food in the morning!”  Her gaze briefly rested on Asher, daring him to challenge her.  He was giving her a rather startled look, and she felt smug.  Now try and accuse her of having poor manners! 

She turned on her heel and went inside the cabin, slamming the door behind her.  “Guard them, Shadow!” she called through the open window as she crawled into bed.  Now let’s see if those elves or Sidhe or whatever they’re called try anything funny with a huge, ferocious wolf watching them all night, she thought with a smirk.  She almost wished they would try.  “There’s nothing scary about them.  Just because they look different doesn’t make them dangerous,” she told herself sternly, trying to feel brave as she listened to the quiet movements of her most unusual guests drifting in through the window.  Just because they were tall and beautiful and almost frightening to look at, that didn’t mean anything at all, right?  Not even the fact that those faces were the same ones she’d seen in her dream moments before they arrived.

Not even the fact that she couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling that, because of those elves, her life was about to change forever.

“So maybe…I should be afraid, after all,” she whispered, clutching the quilt closer to her chin.  She suddenly wished that Shadow was in there with her instead of out there with them.  More than ever, she needed the comfort of her large friend lying right beside her on the floor.