“It’s okay.” The fairy released a breath. He looked relieved about something. “I’m really not hungry.”
“Okay. Well, anyway, I was saying, your wings haven’t grown back yet. So you can’t fly.”
The fairy’s shoulders lifted and fell in a helpless gesture. He shook his head. “I’ve got to start back. I have to tell the king. Even if it is bad news. He’s waiting for me to come with or without Augustus. My father will be worried if I don’t get back.”
The fairy turned toward her door and ducked out.
“Um, how are you going to do that then?” she asked, following after him. “You can’t—”
Felicity stopped. Where had he gone? She looked around at the empty branch. But he’d just been here.
At a movement below her feet, she glanced down.
Her beak gaped at the sight of the fairy climbing down the trunk, hands and feet finding wrinkles in the wood. On his back, the poor remnants of his torn wings shimmered.
“Hey!” Felicity fluttered down to the branch next to the climbing fairy. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going home,” the fairy said.
“What? You mean you’re going to use your feet? To walk? Um, on the ground? Into the Wildwood? All the way to— wherever you’re going?”
The fairy kept climbing downward but raised his face to hers, an eyebrow lifting. “Well, yeah.”
“Why?”
He heaved a deep breath. “I have to get back. My father needs to know. He’s the—”
“That’s crazy.” She hopped down again to the next branch. “You’ll get eaten. Or stomped on. Or squished. Or— or eaten.”
Now both of the fairy’s eyebrows lifted and he chuckled faintly. But he kept climbing down. “It’s what I’ve got to do,” he said. “I don’t have any other way to get back.”
He looked down, searching for another handhold. The remnants of his poor mangled wings still reflected bits of rainbow.
He kept climbing down and seemed determined to keep going.
Felicity looked skyward for signs of the hawk returning. A tiny fairy walking (along the ground of all things!) would be an easy target for a hawk. And so many other things could get him just as easily. Foxes and dogs and cats and those big noisy carts the featherless two-foots rode around in.
“Hey!” she called out. “Hey, um, fairy!”
She fluttered down to him again. “I, um—”She shifted her weight. “I could help you—”
The fairy paused, and looked up at her. “What?”
“I’m not Augustus, but—” She cleared her throat. “Well, I could carry you. Um, on my back this time. I could help you. Get home at least.”
The fairy’s eyebrows lifted. “You’d do that?”
“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “I’d be happy to.”
She slapped the air with her wings and drew herself up. “I know I’m not Augustus, but I can get you home at least.”
The fairy’s face brightened a little. “I appreciate that. Thanks.” He stepped onto Felicity’s branch.
“My name’s Colin,” he said. “Colin of the fairy folk of Wildwood.”
He held out one hand in a gesture that Felicity didn’t quite understand but she got the idea that he expected her to do the same thing, so she held out her wing.
Colin took the end of her wing and shook it a little.
“And my name is Felicity,” she chirped. “Felicity Augustina Sparrow.”
Chapter 3
Shadows closed over her head as Felicity entered the trees of the Wildwood. She flapped her wings with determination, hoping Colin wouldn’t sense her nervousness.
“Are you okay?” her passenger asked.
Felicity sighed. He’d guessed anyway.
“Yeah. Mostly,” she returned. “It’s just that I’ve never been in the Wildwood before. I’ve never even crossed the road before! It’s—”
She looked upward at the branches and leaves intertwined above her head.
“This is kind of spooky,” she finished. “Not being able to see the sky. Not hearing any noise the featherless— er, I mean the— the persons make. And—” Her voice tightened. “It’s getting darker.”
“Don’t worry, Felicity.” His voice grew sympathetic. “We’ll be to my home before sundown.”
Felicity couldn’t see him where he sat directly behind her head, but she wished she could.
“Are there any, um, things in here that— that I should, er, worry about? After sundown?” she asked.
“Not in this part of the forest.”
“O—okay.” Felicity fell silent, unable to think of anything else to say as they flew deeper into the trees.
He seemed to sense her nervousness, and his hand touched her head, ruffling the feathers.
The trees grew thicker now, and taller. Felicity had to tilt one way and then the other, weaving around the tall trunks. A permanent twilight filled the forest, fading off into gloom and shadows all around her.
No sign of featherless two-foots remained. But then, unexpectedly, a narrow trail appeared beneath her. It looked too flat and wide to be a path for furry, four-legged folks. But it looked too narrow to be a path for noisy carts. It must be a walking path for featherless two-foots, she decided as it twisted this way and that through the trees.
Before it angled off into the gloom a rusty sign on a metal rod beside the path, flashed beneath her.
“Hunting prohib-ibited,” she read aloud. “Oh, I know that word. It means you’re not supposed to—”
“Felicity!” The word escaped Colin in a choked gasp, and her heart jumped in fright. What was wrong? But then he laughed, “You could read that?”
Felicity flinched, realizing her mistake, then heaved a breath. Well, he’d asked. She might as well tell him the truth.
“Um, yeah,” she said at last.
“And those books back at your house— Augustus’s books. Do you—” He paused. “Can you read, Felicity?”
Felicity cringed again. “Uh huh,” she mumbled.
Colin didn’t say anything right away, and for a long time, she wasn’t sure what he thought.
Finally he spoke. “That is so cool!”
He didn’t sound like he thought she was weird. In fact, his voice sounded happier than it had before.
“But—” Her brow furrowed, “fairies can read, right?”
“Yeah, we learn from when we’re fairlings,” he said, his voice bright. “But you’re a bird! And you can read! Felicity, that is great! That is better than great!”
Felicity blinked, unsure why her being able to read had made him so happy all of a sudden. Well, it didn’t matter, really. She’d just done something that had helped cheer her new friend up. That was what mattered. A grin spread across her beak at the thought. “Thanks, Colin,” she said.
A chuckle, warm as sunlight, left his lips at this. “You are very welcome, Felicity.”
~ ~ ~
The gloom deepened as they went, the trees growing more gnarled and fat, their branches thicker and more tangled above her head.
Felicity wasn’t sure how much time had passed, when she felt Colin’s hand on her head again.
“Just around this last tree and to the right,” he said.
His voice sounded bright and excited. And as they rounded a fat tree trunk, Felicity saw why.
Above her, soft lights glimmered almost like stars in the darkness among the branches of three tall, slender trees that formed a perfect triangle. Lined with tiny lamps, little meandering walkways linked the doors of fairy dwellings that perched among the three trees’ intertwining branches.
The fairy houses glowed from the inside with a soft, welcoming light, and Felicity caught her breath at the sight.
But the most impressive dwelling of all hung in the very center, a large round structure, suspended among the branches like a paper lantern.
“Wow,” she breathed as she flapped her wings and rose toward the lights.
She
could hear music now and voices too.
Here and there, fairies with wings like Colin’s, fluttered among the branches or strolled along the walkways.
Her eyes round with awe, Felicity alighted on one of the creamy, smooth-barked limbs of the tree that formed the nearest corner of the triangle.
Colin slid from her back and landed on the branch. He trotted down the length of the limb and vaulted over the gilded handrail of the nearest walkway into the light of the lamps.
“Hullo! Colin’s back everybody,” an excited female voice called.
A group of curious fairies, all talking at once, began to gather near Colin. Some darted along the walkways while others fluttered in from the branches.
The men dressed much like Colin and the women wore leafy dresses over shimmering leggings that reached their ankles, with little slippers on their feet. All the fairies had translucent wings on their backs that gleamed like rainbows in the light of the fairy lanterns.
“What happened to your poor wings, Colin?” one fairy lamented while another asked in an excited tone, “Did you find him? Did you bring back Augustus?”
“A hawk attacked me,” Colin answered the first question as Felicity looked on, still outside the glow of the fairy lanterns. None of the other fairies had noticed her yet. “But I was saved by—”
“By Augustus?” another fairy cut in. “He’s here then? He has to be! He’s the only one who can help!”
Felicity stiffened at this comment.
Several other fairy voices rose up but she didn’t pay attention to any of them. She dropped her head, studying the drab brown of her feathers. She wasn’t an ivory-billed woodpecker.
She had helped Colin get home and that was as much adventure as an ordinary little sparrow could hope for. She heaved a sigh.
“I wasn’t rescued by Augustus.” Colin’s tone made Felicity lift her head as his voice rose up above the hum of the other fairies. “I didn’t even find him.”
His friends went silent.
“I was saved by another bird. One just as good as Augustus.”
“Just as good?” a few voices asked.
“With a few talents of her own.”
Felicity fluttered in surprise as Colin, and then the other fairies, turned to look up at her.
Colin smiled and gestured for her to join him.
“Come meet my friends, Felicity,” he urged.
A wave of shyness washed over Felicity and she felt her face grow warm. The soft light of the fairy lanterns didn’t quite reach her here in the shadows, and she was glad.
Ducking her head, she hopped down the branch toward the group. She paused, then fluttered up and perched on the slender handrail of the small walkway.
The fairies drew back, making way for her.
With a small hop, Felicity dropped down on the polished walkway. She found herself in the middle of their group, and her eyes turned shyly down.
“But she’s just a sparrow,” one voice said.
“And she’s an amazing one, too,” Colin added firmly. “This, my friends, is Felicity Augustina Sparrow. She risked her own life to save mine.”
A murmur of admiration rippled among the fairies.
Felicity looked up, seeing fairy faces around her, all looking at her with expressions of wonder and respect.
“And,” Colin added more softly, “she can read.”
The fairies stirred and whispered even more at this, their expressions brightening.
“We should take her to see your father then,” one of the fairies suggested.
“Of course,” Colin said, patting Felicity’s wing.
He gestured with his head down the walkway.
“Come on, Felicity,” he said.
“O—okay,” she said.
Colin started down the walkway. And Felicity, wondering why everybody seemed to think she was so important all of a sudden, hopped after him, flanked by the other fairies.
Chapter 4
The crowd of fairies had grown steadily bigger as Felicity followed Colin along the walkway. Many of them walked along behind her and her new friend while others fluttered through the branches around them. The news that Colin had returned must have spread pretty quickly.
The largest of the fairy houses, the one that hung in the middle of everything, seemed to grow bigger the closer she got. Bright light seeped out through the walls. Two fairy soldiers guarded the entrance, clutching spears tipped with sharp rosebush thorns.
It must be the palace where the king was waiting. It made sense that this would be the first place to come, but hadn’t the fairies said they were going to go talk to Colin’s dad?
“Um, Colin.” She reached out and nudged him with a wing.
“Yes?” he asked, turning to her.
“I thought we were going to see your dad first.”
Colin’s eyebrows drew together and his smile faded a little. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“Well, um—”
The walkway that had been level before began to slope up a little toward the entrance. As Felicity hopped near, the two fairy guards took a step forward.
She stopped at this, and fell back a little. The sharp, thorny spears they held looked a little scary.
“They’re friends,” Colin assured her, putting a hand on her wing. “They won’t hurt you.”
Felicity paused, her eyes still fixed on the spears the soldiers held. “Well,” she said, still uncertain at the sight of such sharp things. “Okay. But this is the palace, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
She flutter-hopped up to Colin’s side. “Isn’t this where the king lives?”
“It sure is. That’s why—”
“Does your dad work here?” The feathers of her forehead ruffled in confusion.
At her question, Colin’s face melted into an amused expression and he paused. He turned to Felicity with a grin of embarrassment twisting his lips. “Oh. I thought I’d told you— but I guess I didn’t. I’m—”
“Welcome to our city, Mistress Sparrow.” A new voice, deep and rich, rolled over her in tones of mingled authority and warmth.
Felicity hopped at the voice and turned to look at a fairy standing in the doorway of the palace. This man had silver flowing hair and a kind face that looked a lot like Colin’s. Along with clothes like the other male fairies, he also wore a glimmering robe around his shoulders and on his head he wore a silvery crown that looked like vines and leaves all woven together. His wings reflected the light of the fairy lanterns in glimmering drops of rainbow colors as he started down the ramp toward them.
One hand extended in a gesture of welcome. The other rested against his chest in a sling looped around his neck.
This had to be the king Colin had spoken of. King Taron. But what had happened to his poor arm?
“Um, thanks,” Felicity said, her voice small.
The king smiled, and the resemblance between him and Colin grew even stronger.
“This is the sparrow who risked her life to save you, my son?”
“Yes, Father,” Colin said, dropping into a bow.
Felicity hopped backward and glanced around as all the other fairies nearby followed Colin’s example and either bowed or curtsied at the king’s approach.
As the king drew nearer, she cleared her throat and dropped her head in as good a bow as she could manage.
Colin had called him father! That would mean that Colin was a prince. Why hadn’t he said so before?
King Taron’s uninjured hand touched her bowed head. “Thank you for saving my son’s life.”
Felicity looked up as the king drew his hand back. His eyes were kind but they seemed sad, too.
Felicity opened her beak but she couldn’t speak so she closed it again. She swallowed and finally managed to murmur, “You’re sure welcome. Uh, sir.”
She cringed at her last word. How was she supposed to address a fairy king, anyway?
“Please,” the king said. “Rise.” r />
“Okay.” She lifted her head, fluttering her feathers.
The invitation seemed to apply to everybody else too, for all the fairies straightened up.
“My name’s, um—”
“Felicity Augustina Sparrow,” King Taron finished for her. “Your parents were friends of my friend, Augustus. And you are his friend as well. And for that alone, you would be welcome. But you are doubly welcome for saving Colin.”
His eyes went from her to Colin and back. “Tell me. What happened that warranted his needing rescuing?”
“Um,” she began but Colin cut in.
“She braved the talons of a hawk to save me. It tore off my wings and left me to fall. She snatched me out of the air before I was smashed.”
The king’s eyebrows drew together at this.
“And she outflew the beast when it came after us again,” Colin added. “Even with my extra weight.”
The king reached out, gripping his son’s shoulder. His eyes gleamed as he focused his gaze on Felicity’s face. “I cannot say how deeply I am in your debt, Mistress Sparrow. Were I to lose my son as well—”
The fairy king’s voice choked a little. Colin’s eyes grew a little wet too, and he reached up, clapping his own hand on his father’s shoulder.
“I’m alright Father,” he said.
Felicity looked from one to the other, mulling over what the king had said. Were he to lose his son as well? What else had he lost? A terrible feeling settled on her. Or who else?
“Come inside Mistress Sparrow.” The king gestured toward the bright doorway. “We have much to talk about, you and I, and Prince Colin.”
“Um, sure,” Felicity agreed and followed the king’s lead, hopping up the ramp toward the palace door.
The king moved a space ahead giving Felicity the chance to hop nearer to Colin and whisper, “Why didn’t you tell me you were a prince?”
Colin looked at her with raised brows then gave a chuckle. “Sorry. In between wanting to find Augustus, worrying about my mother, and getting my wings torn off, I guess it didn’t come up.”
Felicity opened her beak to give a retort but then she shut it again. He hadn’t deliberately not told her. After all, Colin had other things to worry about.
But then another thought struck her. “Er, what?” she chirped, surprised. “Your mom?”
One of the fairy guards beside the door shot her a stern look and Felicity stiffened, realizing that she’d spoken a little too loudly.