Jonah and the Fairy

Lifting her into my arms I carried inside and into bed, both of us smelling of sex and feeling wonderful because of it. She was asleep as soon as I placed my arm around her. It was still dark when I felt her return to bed from the toilet, she crawled on all fours right across the bed, now within inches of me face she noticed me watching her and kissed me.

"Can we join again please?"

"No Robin we can have sex, make love or you can come back to bed to sleep those are your options."

"Then please make love to me."

We did for an hour before both of us were too sore to do much else but pull the soaked sheets off the bed and huddle on a rug in front of the fire for the rest of the night. That evening changed so much between us, Robin's defensive nature calmed around me, she still tormented me with that body of hers and took every opportunity she could to be naked or wear as few clothes as possible.

Thankfully the sex became less aggressive as the days and nights went by and I was beginning to suspect it couldn't be called sex between us anymore, tenderness had crept in, that deep seated need to look after each others wants and needs and every moment I spent with her opened new chapters in my life. It crept up on me and I didn't realize it until she had my heart.

In less than a week I had fallen in love with a woman I knew nothing about other than what we both knew about her. On the occasions I did manage to get clothes on her we went out and explored, she was very knowledgeable about the plant and animal life on the mountain and I was starting to suspect she was a local so when we did manage to get into town there was a good chance someone would know who she was. That thought alone scared and excited me at the same time.

*******

It was earlier than usual for me to be up I didn't have it in me to wake Robin so I left her to sleep, simply grabbing a coffee and heading out onto the porch, the sun had just started to rise and I got full view of it. Hearing the now familiar footsteps of Jacob came around the corner of the cabin.

"Morning Jacob, it's been a while. Boy have I got some things to tell you."

Jacob smiled that smile of his but I could see in his eyes, he was desperately fatigued and anxious about something. As he sat I got up and made him a drink, Jacob managed to sigh a thank you and I sat back down and waited. When he was ready he would either tell me why he looked so worried or not.

"So what's this news you have to tell me?"

Typical Jacob, so I sat and recounted the details of my trip to town and then the rain, the loss of my truck and bridge and on to the mystery woman and our week together, leaving out details a gentleman wouldn't share with anyone. Jacob just sat and listened, his drink now set down on the porch so he could concentrate fully on my story.

"Are you keeping her prisoner Jonah?"

There was a tone in his voice, almost a veiled threat on the outcome of the answer to his question. Glaring at him and with as much patience as I could muster I again explained, filling in the details from the time I heard Robin scream to me rescuing her from the falling branch and even going back to the tree the next morning in search of any form of identification. Jacob relaxed again into his seat picked up his drink and contemplated it for a while.

"Describe this woman to me Jacob, perhaps I may know her."

I did as he asked and watched as his hands clenched the cup so tightly. I'm not sure he even noticed I had stopped talking, we both jumped when the cup in his grasp shattered spilling what was left of the contents onto his lap. The cabin door creaked and we both looked up Robin stood in the doorway watching Jacob intently.

"You're the famous Robin, I've been hearing so much about."

Robin walked over to me and sat on my lap wrapping her arm around my shoulder, not once taking her eyes off of Jacob.

"You seem familiar, do I know you?"

Jacob smiled that disarming smile of his and slowly stood holding out his hand, Robin just looked, she wouldn't touch him, just tried so hard to push more of her self into me desperately seeking total contact and I suspect the feeling of safety. Eventually he shrugged and looked at me.

"Well Jonah I have to go, it's nice to have met you Robin."

The intense look Robin gave him sent a shiver down my spine. She watched him until he was out of sight and then seemed to dismiss him from her thoughts. We spent the rest of the day on the porch and in the cabin, Robin's reluctance to go further than the edge of the clearing was out of character for her and even my efforts to bring her out of her mood failed. Jacob had become a distraction to her now and she clung to me for security leaving me to wonder what was really going on around here.

*******

Even as I woke there seemed to be something wrong, a sense of foreboding perhaps, I'm not sure myself but it was there almost tangible, almost as if I could reach out and hold it in my hands. Somehow today wasn't going to be a good day. Robin was still asleep so I left her alone and now armed with my morning coffee, ventured out onto the porch. Jacob was already sat in his seat waiting, like I said today was going to be one of those days.

"Sit down Jonah, we need to talk."

It took Jacob a few moments to collect his thoughts, since he was here and so early he wanted to start this conversation and who was I to interrupt. Finally with one more look towards the clearing he took a deep breath and as word followed word he set about destroying my happiness. For an hour he talked and I listened. When I was old enough to understand the game my father taught me poker, he taught me to watch for tell tale signs when people were bluffing, a bodily movement even as tiny as an index finger moving as they spoke would indicate that they were lying. None of these came from Jacob.

He just sat and told me everything he thought I should know and when he finished he sat back in his chair and waited. Now I knew the secret curse of the Jonah's, in a futile attempt to stave of the inevitable I asked for proof. Jacob gave it to me by showing me himself, there seemed little point in any further conversation after that but we still had Robin to consider and it was on my insistence that I be present when he told her everything.

"I know you care for her Jonah, but she has the right to know who and what she is, those are her real memories not the ones that have filled her head this passed week. What you have now with her isn't natural it flies against all our laws."

Had it been anyone but Jacob I would have regarded that as an insult, the sting was still there but throughout the morning he had been completely honest with me and although it hurt, deep down I knew he was trying his best to cushion the blow of what had to be done, nodding my head I agreed with him. We both heard Robin just before she emerged from the cabin her padding feet faltered when she see Jacob and seemed to give him a wide birth as she came and sat on my lap.

"Robin I need you to listen to Jacob for a moment he has something he needs to tell you and it's important that you hear it."

Instinctively her body seemed to stiffen slightly almost bracing itself for bad news, wrapping her arms around my neck she looked over to Jacob who seemed to wince at her stare.

"My folk have traditions, so steeped in history that you may as well say their cast in stone. From time to time there is one of us chosen to be the Queen's Bodyguard. This in itself is a high honor. To be this close to our Queen and on a daily basis is unheard of from anyone but her bodyguard."

Jacob again looked at Robin, a look of sadness; he knew that what he was saying meant nothing to her. Jacob may as well have been telling a child a bedtime story. Robin simply hadn't connected the dots yet.

"There is one of us she is the bravest of us. Her courage knows no bounds, our Queen selected her to be her bodyguard, this one fairy was our Queens Bodyguard for many years, our Queen looked on her as the only true friend she could ever have."

Jacob noticed first, I said nothing just watched and waited. Robin's cheeks went red her eyes took on a distance look. Suddenly she shook her head and went back to listening to Jacob recount his tale, the thought that had attempted to shake her memory had now evaporated.

"One day our Queen gave to her favorite bodyguard a gift, it was a wish, it was said that the bodyguard simply shrugged her shoulders not even thinking of a wish that our Queen could ever grant her that she didn't already have."

"But to refuse such a gift from our Queen would be the worst insult, so she asked for a full day to roam the mountain without having to hunt for food or do any of her normal duties."

I felt Robin's body tense she sat bolt upright, her eyes took on such a distant look, her body began to tremble and then a terrible fear gripped her as she clung onto me so tight.

"The storm, it rained so hard I couldn't keep dry. I hurt so much, the rain kept pounding onto my body my wings grew so heavy I was using all my strength just to keep flying. The only real cover from the rain this side of the mountain was the keeper's cabin so I made my way there hoping to hide under it until the weather changed."

My voice was held in a vice like grip in my throat, my own memories of that night still so clear to me and as they came to me I cast them as far away from me as I could, soon the realization of that night would come to Robin and when it did my life may as well be over. Again her body stiffened and she turned to look at me tears flowed freely from her and I had to hold myself back from wiping them from her cheeks.

Robin's gaze fell on my face and the distance in her eyes now replaced with horror, she practically leapt from my lap taking a couple of steps away from me, her hands now covered her open mouth and then she fell to her knees.

"Oh Great Mother what have I done?"

Her body shook, tears poured from her and run down her cheeks disappearing behind both hands, Robin's eyes gave so much away and every time she winced I could tell her memories had returned to her and now she had started to re-live her passed mixed with moments of our week together. Then her eyes grew as big a saucers and I knew she had finally realized a major implication of our time together. Robin suddenly leapt to her feet and stumbled to the railing making it in time to throw up. Jacob watched me as I stood and held onto Robin, the retching sounds she was making telling me she had nothing left yet I still held her letting her know I wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh my sweet child."

It was a woman's voice and in those words there felt so much compassion. We all looked up and out into the clearing, there was no one there. Confused I looked towards Jacob he was now kneeling on the porch a smile on his face, Robin pulled herself away from the rail and me and knelt looking out towards the clearing. Again I looked out towards the emptiness and the forest beyond, suddenly there was a shimmer as though your eyes half focus and then re-focus and a woman stood in the middle of the clearing.

She was beautiful, her face and form looked to be mid forties her blonde hair set back on her head in a pony tail a ring of flowers adorned her. The woman's blue eyes had a piercing blue in them and you knew that when she held you in a gaze with those eyes, you would blink first. Her cheeks were a fresh red that you would see on a robin's chest in the winter, her high cheek bones adding to her beauty.

The woman's dress was a green you only ever see when the grass bursts into life in the spring, it accentuated her breasts very well and curved into her waist, giving her a petite form, the dress then seemed to blossom over her hips and stopped just below her knees. As I looked back to her face her wings blossomed out from behind her and extended to their full length, before folding back behind her. The glow that emanated from her came forth and stole the breath from my chest.

There were two more shimmers behind her and two more women appeared, both more threatening than the first, one carried a long pointed stick, the other held a long bow in her hand an arrow at the ready and it was obvious to me both knew how to use them. Both women stopped two paces behind the first woman. Robin stood, walked past me and out to the clearing not once taking her eyes off of the beautiful woman standing there.

The two behind just watched and waited. Robin knelt in front of her. Jacob came and stood next to me, his presence comforting. All that was being played out in front of me was the stuff that story books are made of and here I was a painful part of it. He had warned me once I had come to understand what would happen when Robin finally regained her memory; my decision was made for me.

I felt his hand on my shoulder, it was then I came oh so close to crying. The woman knelt facing Robin holding both her hands. Had I not been standing witnessing all this I'm sure I wouldn't believe any of it, both women talked in whispered tones for a few moments then as the woman made to stand again she gave Robin a kiss on the forehead Robin stood moments later and the woman took a step to the side, Robin then stepped between the two other women and all three shimmered for a second and then they were gone.

"Jacob your presence is needed please assist you're ageing Queen."

He rushed from the porch and held out his arm, the woman took it and they walked back to the cabin, she sat in the seat Jacob had sat as he recounted the tale that would take my love from me. Jacob stood behind the woman his eyes looking out to the clearing and beyond.

"Please sit."

She indicated the floor in front of her. I opted for the chair I had held onto Robin while the realization of her life was made clear to her, Jacob looked sternly at me I ignored him. They had already taken the only woman I could ever love from me I felt I was due some pay back.

"Firstly I would like to thank you Jonah, Crystal means a great deal to me."

I looked on confused.

"I understand you gave her the name Robin, our human form is our protection in times of danger Jonah. Now in her human form our link weakened it was also why it took me so long to find her again."

"Crystal mentally moved away from me and any chance I had of finding her was now impossible. When the lighting struck her I felt it clear across the mountain losing my link with her it drove me to distraction and once the storm had moved away and I sent my people to look for her, Robin had taken her place and my thoughts passed her by."

"When Jacob brought me the good news I knew I had to come here personally. Your family has served this mountain and my people for many years Jonah. You have protected us and we in return have given you an extended life. For many generations we have lived in harmony yet I sense this episode has disturbed you?"

Before I could answer there was two shimmers out in the clearing and two fairies came into view. My breath caught in my throat, both flew across the clearing and stepped onto the porch. Jacob moved away from his position and walked to the end of the porch as though he had been dismissed. Both the fairies now flew behind the woman once again shimmered and grew into women. I recognized the one with the bow, when my gaze went to the other one my heart leapt to my mouth and I had to hold onto the arms of the chair.

"Jonah."

I dragged my gaze back to the woman, she was still smiling.

"You look pale Jonah, let's go for a walk I'm sure our mountain air will do you good."

Instantly the woman with the bow shimmered and the fairy she again became flew right across the clearing before shimmering again to human form and taking the lead. My Robin stood her ground until the woman stood and held out her arm, expecting me to hold onto her like Jacob had done minutes before.

Her bodyguards maintained a discreet distance both in front and behind us, we were beyond the clearing and deep into the forest before the woman again spoke.

"It would be doomed to fail Jonah. Even in human form Crystal would outlive you and I would have her back within your lifetime, in our time that's a blink of an eye."

I was uncomfortable with the way this woman could read my mind but trying so hard to keep my thoughts to myself was difficult. By now we had come to the wreckage of the bridge, the banks of the river were still high but managing to cope with the extra rain water running from the mountain top.

The woman released my arm, stepped forward and started to mumble something and then held out her arms her wings spread wide, the aura still surrounding her body glowed even brighter. The air became heavy suddenly there was a thunderous crash and a flash of light, I held my arm up to protect my eyes from the blinding light and then all fell silent. When I lowered my arm the bridge was now intact looking just as it did when I first came here.

Again the woman held out her arm and scooping it in mine we continued our walk, turning to follow the river bank along and up the mountain before she spoke again.

"Of course there is the added complication that Crystal mated with you Jonah."

My cheeks gave away my embarrassment that we were even talking about this she was unfazed by my silence and simply continued as we walked deeper into the forest, the bodyguard in front of us had now increased the space between us as if to afford her Queen more privacy. My guess would be if I had looked behind us, Robin would have automatically done the same thing.

"There have been cases in our history of fairies in human form mating with humans so you two haven't broken new ground but I wouldn't expect offspring from your union Jonah, you see Crystal is still a child and at fifty of your human years old is still short of her cycle."

It was easier when Mom got fed up with waiting for Dad to explain this stuff to me and she took charge herself. Now I'm listing to this woman telling me things about Robin so matter of factually that my brain was struggling to cope with all this new information.

"Marise." Said the woman.

I looked at her and again she smiled.

"Your thoughts are leaking from you Jonah, it's flattering that you find my human form attractive and I do understand that between Jacob and I we have given you a great deal of information to absorb but I'm also finding it a distraction being called the woman, so you may call me Marise."

"So what happens now?"

"Well I have no plans to turn you into a toad or anything like that if that's what you're worried about, I don't think I could find a use for your first born either."

Still undecided about Marise and if her remarks were actually founded my footsteps faltered, She laughed over my hesitancy and then added.

"Jonah your family and us have co-existed on this mountain for many generations and will continue to do so for many more yet."

Marise went on to tell me when the first Jonah came to the mountain and found them, and how the deal was struck between the Fairy Queen and Jonah. I had heard most of the stories from our family about the connection we had with this mountain, I'm also sure no one outside of the keeper and the fairies knew the true extent of how this balance of peace was kept between them.

It wasn't until Marise stopped talking that I realized we had come full circle and once again stood by the keeper's cabin. Robin and the other bodyguard once again shimmered and floated two paces back from Marise, she bid me farewell and with one more shimmer all three were gone. Jacob had remained on the porch waiting for me, not feeling in the best of moods I asked him to leave and hinted that it may be best if he didn't come around for awhile.