The King of the Wild
The last thing I expected today was more guests. I had been living a comfortable existence for a long time. A long, long time. Long enough that I had forgotten what it was like to be wrought in the heat of battle and the thrill of the hunt. Imagine my surprise when I heard a car pull into the beaten road that lead to my home. A cabin woven of lacquered logs polished so finely that they shone wetly even in light of the gray skies. It was the second car in two weeks. Two women and two girls got out of the car and handed someone in the driver's seat something. It was hard to make out from the first story window. The thick velvet curtains were hard to move. Nevertheless I backed into the kitchen and returned to my work. Knead the dough, add flour, knead it some more. Sprinkle water when it became cracked and then flatten it. I worked my hands until they were sore like every other day. Pile up the flour, crack two eggs, start again. I was midway through the second set when they knocked on the door.
Knock knock. The old spruce rattled with the hollow din. Knock knock. I paused. Then I returned to my work. The flour stuck to my hands, they were big hands, strong hands. hands used to horses and iron. Hands meant to destroy, not create. Yet here I was making something new by destroying other things. Knock knock. It came harder this time. Knock knock. And harder with more ferocity. It escalated quickly, within moments that rapid knocking filled the still air with irritating noise.
Then it stopped.
I sighed, believing that they had given up, but my hopes were dashed when another set of knocks echoed through my home. Knock. Knock. The wood sounded full, alive. It was a dull thump that reminded me of the earth. It sounded like the clouds above and the water below. The singing of the trees and the hum of the winds. I cleaned my hands of flour on my pants and walked over to the door, which had been silent since.
I pulled open the door and a small girlish frame assailed me. Her white-blonde hair glowed in the afternoon light. She had robes wrapped tightly around herself, red covered with a dusting of fresh snow. A chill air followed her into the room.
"Oberon," she said. This little girl was brimming with so much emotion that I could scarce recognize her.
"Titania..." I replied out of reflex. I did not truly know if this was Titania. She looked different, felt different. She was sweeter than before, filled with a deep radiance that I was hitherto unknown to. She was moved close to tears at the sound of my voice.
I wrapped my hands around her head. It was so small I could fit it entirely between my hands, "Why have you come here, now of all times, after such a time of absence?" I was unsure of my own feelings of her arrival. I had not entirely ascertained the fullness of my own range of emotions as of yet.
She spoke naught. She rested gently in a warm embrace, letting the chill of the fresh spring air inside. The other women stood outside. One smiled kindly and curtseyed. The other two stood in distant solidarity. "Are you of sanguine traits? Come in before the chill makes it so you are indifferent."
They entered. I lead little Titania into the living room and set her down upon a leather couch. She had dissolved into soft sobs. Never had I known her to be so emotional. I got up and closed the door, once again locking it with what little of the ancient magic I still had left. This place had a nature to it, an enchantment that made things serene and ideal. It sucked away the magic of the old world. It was a paradise for those who wished no longer to be immortal.
Above, the clouds drifted by lazily blissfully unaware of the comings and goings of the mortals below. Layers of clouds compounded here, soft grey mountains drifted below a shining sea of heavenly light. I tore my gaze from the sky and addressed my new guests.
"I speak to you as Oberon, who do I have the pleasure of providing hospitality?" I gave a bow.
"My name is Deborah,I am thrall to Mistress Titania." It was rather like of Titania to take a human thrall. I nodded and bid her to take a seat. The next girl introduced herself. She was the blonde that had curtseyed.
"My name is Dolores Selmy, nice to meet you Mister... ah... Oberon?" She gave a meek smile. Something about her eyes unsettled me. The way they shimmered was unnatural. I bid her to take a seat as well. Mild-mannered to a fault. Dangerous.
The last girl was stranger still. Nothing about her looked natural. It seemed that she was more akin to two entities forced to exist in the same body. White and black dichotomies played with each other in the strangest ways. She made known that her name was Ruby Babbage-Lovelace a lovechild between Titania and her thrall Deborah. A strange thing indeed. I had no known the fairy to be able to give life even when given mortal form. Titania in her current state particularly looked less than that of motherly. Perhaps it was her thrall that had laboured.
"As much as I would be pleased to say that we are here to seek reunion, we must speak to him." Titania sat up, tears glistening upon her cheeks like dew. I nodded, seldom was she ever without business. It was good to know that she was unchanged in this respect.
He came down as he was mentioned. How he managed to be so keen in his advanced age was a miracle beyond rationality. Even as old as he was he was as distinctive as he was when he had been when young. He had white hair strung together by a thing red ribbon. His tunic was a dull red upon his worn leather. He smiled and tapped twice with his staff.
"Oh dear, oh dear. It has taken far too long for you to arrive. What is it that you wanted to ask of me so urgently that I had to be roused from my eternal imprisonment." He thumbed his hat and smiled. "If you have something to ask, I will answer. But I fear that I no longer can fight nor cast the magicks of the Age of Heroes."
I bid the man in red to sit and he did.
"Ruby, please tell him about your bad dreams." I sat down next to Titania and she rested her head in the crook of my arm. "He's an old shaman from an older world. A much simpler world. He might be able to help you with your hallucinations."
