present to do the honors.
Gowan bit its bottom lip in thought. What had the queen said about the song it had been singing? True Thomas. A song about the fairies and the tithe they paid to Hell every seven years.
Oh.
Oh, no ....
Gowan did the math, remembering back. Seven years ago, a human boy had been tithed to Hell in a fairy's place. It looked at the fairy Queen. At the pixies glance, she raised her eyebrow, and waited while it put the pieces all together.
“You are sending one of us as your tithe to Hell, one of us instead of one of you.”
The pixies behind him gasped. The Queen was amused.
“What a smart little thing you are. Yes. Seven times seven years and a pixie takes its turn. It is your turn, one of you. The pixie must be willing or it will not count. Which one of you will willingly go Hell for your kind? Which one shall it be? Peridot? You are my favorite for this game.”
Gowan flew to Peridot's side. It grabbed hold of the other pixie's hand and held tight.
The Queen sighed and knelt before the trembling group. Only Gowan could meet her eyes, its own flashing with a fierce protectiveness.
“This is not a game!” Gowan could not bear the pain in its heart at its helplessness to fight these monsters who would take the best of them all, who would so coldly sacrifice its Peridot.
“Are you sure?” the Queen asked.
And Gowan understood. This was a jest to her, the pixies no more than fodder for the fairies' need to fulfill a quota. They were nothing.
Well, let them see how this nothing would fight to save its kind. Maybe not today, but one day Gowan would make the fairies pay.
Peridot turned its head and whispered too low for the queen to hear. “Hush, Gowan. I will go, I would not want you, any of you, to suffer when I could have prevented it.”
“No.” Gowan could not have been more proud or loved Peridot more for its willingness to sacrifice itself for the good of the others, but it could not bear to think of Peridot in the Pit. Gowan took a deep breath and held fast to Peridot's hand, keeping its friend from moving forward. “I will not let you sacrifice for us, for me.”
Gowan looked deep into Peridot’s eyes, trying to tell its friend with its look everything it had ever meant to say, but had not. This was the moment. This was now all Gowan would ever have with Peridot that was true and from its heart. “Peridot, I would have made the Choice for you.”
“My friend, my heart....” Peridot's green eyes shimmered with unshed tears as the realization of what Gowan was saying struck the fair-haired pixie. It held Gowan's hand in such a tight grip that Gowan thought it would not be able to pry those beloved fingers loose when the time came.
Gowan smiled ruefully, its own eyes welling with tears. “But I’ll not let you go to Hell for us, so I will make another kind of choice.”
“No,” Peridot brought Gowan's hand to its lips. “No Gowan, you cannot, I won't let you do this.”
“Yes, you will.” Gowan nodded gently, its gaze filled with all it could not say. “I love you, Peridot. Remember that...remember that I love you.”
Gowan released Peridot's hand.
“Gowan–” Peridot cried as Gowan stepped forward.
“I will be the tithe,” Gowan declared standing still and as tall as its tiny form would allow–a pixie getting ready for battle. “But you must let the others go.”
“What makes you think you can bargain with me?”
It was Gowan's turn to smile. “Because you need a willing sacrifice. I'll not be willing if the others are not let free, if you don't give your word that they will not be harmed.”
The Queen sat back on her heels and played at thinking about the bargain, but they both knew that the Queen would give in to Gowan's demands. She had no choice.
“Very well. It is done. They may leave as soon as I have your vow.”
She rose to her feet and beckoned Gowan forward. Gowan glanced back at Peridot. The pixie's eyes were filled with tears and its lower lip trembled.
“I love you too, Gowan, you remember that.” Peridot said, inconsolable.
Gowan nodded and started to turn away when it was stopped by Peridot's small hand on its arm.
“Gowan, when you get there–to Hell, find a Helwyn. He will keep you safe and bring you out of Hell.”
“A Helwyn–?” What was Peridot jabbering about? What was a Helwyn?
“A Helwyn, Gowan, didn't you pay any attention in class?” Peridot shook its head.
“Not on that day, I guess,” Gowan said with a sheepish grin. Peridot did not smile back.
“Just do it,” Peridot pleaded. “Gowan, for once in your stubborn pixie life, just do what someone asks you to!”
“Enough!” The Queen motioned impatiently and Gowan could feel the pull of the fairy's magic drawing it to her side.
With one last look at Peridot, Gowan let the Queen's power pull him away from its kind until it was facing her, head height. Her expression was formidable and Gowan wanted to cower back just a little from the menace in her demeanor, but would not. It would not show fear in front of this...this...fairy!
“Do you wish to take the place of a fairy? Do you wish to be a tithe to Hell, Gowan the pixie?” She smiled unkindly and with more than a little bit of triumph.
Steely-eyed and determined, Gowan looked her straight in the eye. “Yes. I wish to be your tithe to Hell.”
“Good.” She cocked her head as though listening to someone speaking out of range. She nodded. “Hell has accepted your offer, pixie.”
She glanced at the six pixies gathered together at the base of the tree. Gowan watched as she waved her hand above them and a wind rustled through the grove. The pixies blew away like so much dandelion fluff and vanished into the shadows of the forest. Gowan was now truly alone. It missed Peridot already.
Still, it had made this choice, it had saved its friends, saved Peridot from a fate it would wish on no one, but one it knew it could take. It was a tough pixie and it would make the best of the choice it had made this day. Peridot had said to find a Helwyn and so Gowan would do just that. Perhaps there was not as much to fear in this tithe thing as it worried there would be.
As the sun began its descent into the west, the fairies gathered in groups of three, held their torches high above their heads, and set off to the east. Gowan, tethered to the train by fairy magic, was pulled along with the solemn procession. It had no idea where it was going, but knew that there was rumor of a trail to Hell at the farthermost reach of the valley.
As night's cloak covered the sky and shadows grew long and then faded to black, the fairy cavalcade reached the eastern edge of the valley. The night air was chilly and though Gowan was protected somewhat from the cold by it own warm glow, it still felt the chill. Or perhaps, it felt the chill of the approaching commitment it had made. Would it see the sky again? Would it ever be able to marvel again at the beauty of the stars? Or would Hell smother it in its evil cowl and never let it see the light of day? Gowan could not fathom what lay before it, it was unimaginable.
All during the long trek through the valley, the pixie grasped on to what Peridot had said. Gowan grasped onto this creature called a Helwyn as though it were a lifeline that might or might not save it from a future it had not contemplated ever, had not thought possible. But now it felt the heavy weight of its decision and though it did not regret that it had agreed to go to Hell, it did not want to go.
The fairies stopped when they reached an outcropping of rock that rose straight up to the top of the tallest of the trees. No sound could be heard around them except for the soft whoosh of the wind through the leaves. The sound gave Gowan no solace, it was cold and heartless, like the fairies.
A fairy stepped forward. He was tall like the Queen but his hair was dark and his eyes held the faintest softening of sympathy as he regarded the young Pixie.
“You will follow me, pixie. There will be no turning back. You do this of your own free will. Do you understand???
?
Gowan nodded.
“Good.” The fairy was pleased with Gowan's answer. He bowed to the Queen and then grasping a torch in his hand, he stood before the rock and spoke a lilting verse to the outcropping. He stepped back as the stone shimmered and then opened into a tunnel that led into the mountain.
The fairy Queen turned to Gowan. “Now go, brave pixie. We will remember you as the bravest of tithes.”
“Well, that sure makes me feel better, Queen.” Gowan could not keep the disdain from its tone.
She raised her brows at the pixie's insult.
Gowan took one more look around at the world, the earth, the sky, and then followed the dark-haired fairy into the darkness. As soon as Gowan crossed into the tunnel, the entrance closed behind them. There was no way back.
The cave was deep, deeper than Gowan realized. Red and orange reflected in the crystal covered walls. Small tongues of torchlight magnified a thousand times until the walls glowed with warm flame. Gowan's own small light, surrounding its tiny body, flickered in the crystals alongside the flames as the pixie was led through the glistening halls deeper and deeper underground. The path was a wonder of glittering light and sharp, diamond brightness. Who knew the road to Hell was so beautiful?
Gowan paused for a moment in front of a large blue crystal. This stone was not like the others. This stone was living, showing any who would look, the truth. The fairy did not see it. He did not know of this stone alongside the path to Hell. The stone vibrated with a sound older than time, older than Heaven