Mercurius Bellus

The warlock gently but firmly pulled on Lill's delicate wings. Lill tensed, expecting the pain this would normally bring, but instead they peeled off her back as if they were a harmless scab. With wide, incredulous eyes, Lill watched her former wings flutter uselessly to the floor.

"You are no longer useful to me," he remarked. "Your potential has been taped out. No longer a faerie, but more importantly, no longer innocent. I shall have to capture a new brood if my work is to continue."

"No," Lill cried, barely aware that these were the first human words to exit her mouth. It did startle Aghnman to no small degree, but he smiled at the proof of his words.

"You are upset because you must leave, or because I intend to repeat this with more of your kind?"

Lill's contorted face suggested she was struggling with her new found capacity.

"No more," she said finally. "No more of this on anyone."

"It's not my decision to make," Aghnman shrugged. "The king must have an heir, and until then, he needs the potion to remain potent."

Lill looked down to the far ground, new fears rising within her. This was even worse then when she'd first been captured. Now, even should she be free again, there was no way to return to her old existence. Her intimate connection with nature had been replaced with entirely different forms of intimacy. She was now a creature of the body, of the corporeal world.

"What happens now," she asked. "What happens to us now?"

"I expect you will continue to grow, depending," he told her. "At some point, you may even become human."

Depending on what, Lill asked herself. In truth, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

* * *

The faeries collective captivity in the terrarium came to an end. Instead, they were now separated into pairs, and stored in long glass tubes that highly resembled bottles. This was only a temporary measure; for transportation. The now flightless tiny humans were to be sold and given away, as favours, and as subjects for alchemical experiments.

As it happened, Lill and Anfi were coupled together. Anfi was terrified, and could still only speak in a halting and child-like way. Lill, being of sharper mind, had mastered more the human tongue, but remained quiet and thoughtful. Where natural instincts had taught her to be wary of humans, her short and bitter experience had resolved into distrust and horror. She couldn't be glad to leave the presence of the warlock, when the people they would be sold to we're likely to be just as cruel and perverse as he was. Only time would tell what fate had in store for these two.

[to be continued...]