Fairy Godmother

The man barked a laugh. 'And what if my men have you in their sight? What then?'

'I can drop you before they can reach me,' Alexander countered, instantly. He knew it for truth; he also knew that it was unlikely the man would have positioned his men in hiding, if he'd even come with men at all. 'If they had bows, I'd be dead already. Assuming they even exist. Now let her go. You have until the count of three, or you die like the base-born cur you are. One.'

Slowly the man's grip loosened on the terrified girl.

'Two.'

The girl wrenched herself free and threw herself down beside the man on the ground. Alexander did not lower his bow.

'Girl,' he barked. 'Girl!'

Weeping, she looked up from the victim.

'Does that man live?' he asked harshly.

She nodded, tears streaming down her face.

'Good. Then he'll last long enough for us to find him help — and deal with this dog here. Give him what tending you can, then get you rope from the house.'

The face of the nobleman went blank. 'Just what, precisely, do you intend, fellow?' he asked, carefully, and the girl ran back to the house.

'Justice,' Alexander replied succinctly. 'I see by the belt you wear that you are a knight — or you pretend to that rank. By the laws of chivalry, I could kill you where you stand for the insult you gave that maiden.'

The man's face went black with rage, and he shook as he made his reply. 'You dare!' he howled. 'You dare take me to task for what I do with my cattle on my — '

'Shut your mouth!' Alexander roared again. 'Yes, I take you to task, for people are not cattle, to do with as you will, and the vows you swore as a knight bind you to honor all women, be they never so base! And speaking of bind — bind him, girl. Bind his hands behind him, and bind his arms to his body. Then take up that poor man and put him on that horse I see over there.' He jerked his head in the direction of the richly caparisoned palfrey that clearly belonged to the knight. 'You will lead the horse, and I will prod this dog before us, and we will go to a lady who will see justice done for you, and to this — '

And the man — and the maid — abruptly burst into peals of delighted laughter, like the wild pealing of joyful bells ringing out for a great victory, and the triumphant trumpeting of bugles on the battlefield.

And before Alexander could even begin to react to that, the body on the ground — vanished. And the cottage vanished. And the peasant maid and the richly clad knight also vanished.

But in their places stood two beings the like of which Alexander had never before seen.

That they were Fae, Elves, he had no doubt — but they were to the Brownies and that odd little creature he might or might not have met down at the pond what a brilliantly faceted diamond was to a quartz crystal. Or perhaps, what lightning and thunder were to the little spark that came from rubbing silk against amber. There were no words to describe them adequately, and now he knew why, when the books in Elena's Library had tried to tell what the Great Fae were like, they simply said, 'Their like is not in the world.'

There were things that marked them — the delicately pointed ears, the long and narrow faces, the slender, graceful bodies, the ground-sweeping manes of silken hair that graced both sexes, the strange, intricately wrought garb that they wore that was both jewelry and clothing in all the colors of green that ever there were. But none of that was what they were. If enchantment had a form, it was theirs.

'Well done, Prince Alexander,' said the she — who was a Queen among her people, surely. 'And well and truly said and meant, for meaning is as important as action. You have passed our test.'

'More than passed, pearl of my heart,' the male — also, most surely, royal. 'We looked only to see he intended a rescue. Instead he dared to think of justice, and against one he might well have sought common cause with, once.' As Alexander slowly lowered his bow, the string going slack in his fingers, they both approached him, with deliberate grace and gliding steps. 'Yes,' the King continued, fixing Alexander with a penetrating gaze. 'Yes. I believe he is what I hoped for.'

'Then a gift I grant to you, Prince among mortals,' said the Queen, 'for it is, I think, a gift that you will use wisely and well.' And she reached out with one long, slender finger and touched him lightly in the middle of his forehead, and a second time on his lips; he licked them involuntarily, and tasted something like honey.

It was as if some dam inside him burst, and suddenly he was flooded with sensation. Mostly vision, as swirls and clouds of glowing light sprang up around him and all about him, but mostly circling the two Elves. But there were other things, sensations he couldn't quite put a name to, but which left him dazzled, nonetheless.

Then the King did the same —

But this time nothing happened, or at least, nothing obvious.

'Now go you back to dwelling of the mortal Godmother called Elena,' said the King, with a pleased chuckle.

'And tell her — ?' Alexander managed.

'Oh, she will know what to make of you,' the Queen said, amid more peals of that silvery laughter, that he joined in with, without quite knowing why he did so. 'Trust me, she will know!'

Chapter 18

'Madame Elena,' said Rose, in a rather strained voice. She peered into the doorway of Elena's study, to which Elena had been 'banished' when Lily felt that she had done more than her share of apple-