The Downhill Fey Forest Ch. 06

Alban searched the kitchen for a pot, a lid with air holes in it, and a sack of flour. When he found them, he plucked Hazelberry out from underneath Titania's cocoon and held her by the wings. She struggled, but she was already in his grip.

"Hey, no, wait—" Alban tossed her in the pot, covered it with the lid, then weighed it down with the flour, trapping her in the prison.

"I'll let you out if you call off all the vines outside," Alban said.

Hazelberry pouted inside the pot. Alban imagined her folding her arms. "Nuh-uh," she said. "Snowdrop'll rescue me! She used her invisibility to let us in, she did it to catch Titania, and she'll be back in here with her friend to—"

"I don't even fucking know who this Snowdrop chick is," Titania said.

Snowdrop's voice came from the air behind Alban, and she flickered into visibility again, along with Sundrop, who was hovering next to her. "I'm Snowdrop! And Hazelberry, screw you, we ain't helping!" she said. Sundrop giggled while Snowdrop kept talking. "We just went along with it because you threatened to lock us up for stealing Alban back from you. Now that you're trapped, we're just gonna keep Alban for ourselves! See ya!"

Alban was too far away to stop the two fairies as they turned invisible again then flew out the open door.

"Um, I'd like to reconsider your offer..." Hazelberry said.

Moments later, a rabbit guard walked in: she was the same one that led Alban to the throne room, but her armor looked a little burnt.

"Ugh," she said. "Alright, are there any more of you fair... " She looked around the room in confusion, first at Titania, then Alban, then the gently rustling pot on the ground. "Titania? And... What are you two..."

"Egads! Tis not what it looks like!" Titania said. "Alban is helping us! Also, art the interlopers dealt with yet?"

"Nearly. Vines popped up out of nowhere and grabbed a lot of us, but they went loose just a second ago. This is the first room I checked after being freed. And to think I burned my way out of them for nothing. The other guards should be cleaning up the remaining fairies right now, they ought to be easy to deal with now that everyone's free."

"Fuck yeah!" Titania said. "Also, can y'all let me out of here?"

As the distant sounds of fighting quieted, Alban and the rabbit guard tried to figure out how to free the full sized Titania. Scissors didn't work on the silk, and fire was out of the question, since Titania wasn't wearing fireproof metal armor, and the cocoon would burn much more slowly than a vine. They eventually settled for a large carpenter's saw in the closet outside, and took turns slowly sawing away at Titania's cocoon, snapping the threads at an excruciatingly slow pace. It took fifteen minutes to cut through the cocoon and free Titania from the wrappings, and by then, the fighting had stopped outside. When she finally stepped out of the shell, the silk collapsed into dusty, pale threads that no longer glowed with magic.

"And alas! I am freed!" Titania shouted. "Let's examine the remnants of the fighting, shall we?"

The trio walked out the door and through the castle to the front gates. The frontmost room of the castle was large, square, and decorated with ornate red carpet. Six exhausted rabbit guards were standing around a huge burlap sack on the ground, which rustled from the movements of whining fairies inside. The gates were slightly open, wide enough for a person to fit through with ease. Daylight and the pink ambiance of the cherry blossoms shone through.

"Caught em all?" Titania asked. The fairies inside the sack shouted and begged to be let free as she talked.

"Yep," one of the guards said. The rest nodded or gave a thumbs up. "And without a single casualty. What should we do with them?"

"It would be overly cruel to cast them into the prison's depths for all eternity, given how woefully short and ineffective their revolution was. Lug the sack upstairs. I shall berate them for a day and a half, persuade them to take up hobbies other than sexually assaulting visitors, and then release them so that they may convince others to follow in their place." Titania pointed to the guard accompanying them. "Aid them in carrying the fairies. I need to converse with Alban."

The guards left the room, sack of whining fairies in hand, and left Alban and Titania alone in the frontmost room of the castle.

"Thanks man," Titania said. "Bruh, I was freaking out at the time, but yeeting me at whats-her-face? Best thing you could have done. Here, I got something for ya'."

Titania dug through the pockets in her robes, and from her lowermost pocket, she pulled out a four foot long rapier made of green metal and pulled it out of its ornate sheath. The thin blade was adorned with pink flower etchings, and the leather of the handle had been delicately carved to look like bark.

"This is an ancient sword of the Fey Forest. I always keep one in my extradimensional pocket. Tis neither magical nor useful for combat, yet it does confer grand amounts of social status. Take it; I dub thee Sir Alban. Not that it matters, as thou'll depart soon, and no other lands recognize our titles of knighthood, but enjoy thine title while thou art here. Though, I doubt thou desire'st to stay here whilst the other, non-captured fairies are still bent on kidnapping you. To exit the forest, just wear thine amulet and walk into yonder wilderness with intent to travel to a place outside, and thou shall emerge from the part of the forest nearest to it."

"Thank you," Alban said, and he took the sword and sheath. They were light and comfortable to hold.

"Stay safe," Titania said.

Alban walked out the front gates of the castle, happy that he was finally able to go free. He walked down the cobblestone path with his sheathed sword hanging from his belt, and focused on leaving.

Soon, the path curved upward. Alban walked up a hill; it wasn't there when he last walked on the path. As he walked upwards, cherry blossoms gave way to bluish-green trees. Fifteen minutes later, the trees began to grow fully green again, and the other wondrous flora was starting to vanish.

After climbing it for half an hour, the trees finally stopped. He emerged into a wide field, and there were distant, familiar elven hills ahead.

He made it.

~~~~~ ~~~~~

Just after sunset, Alban reached the capital, a large, sprawling elven city with buildings made of light marble and pale wood. The dusk light cast the town in a relaxing glow, and fireflies dotted the sky and streets. Although it was dark, the streets were bustling with elves, travelling back and forth in their ornate attire. Elves always made room for fashion, whether it was robes, white togas, cloaks, or anything else that looked good.

Elagwyn's palace was a gargantuan marble building at the edge of town. It was made of dozens of overlapping towers, which each ended in a gleaming silver tip. It reminded him of Titania's castle, yet this one was far more luxurious.

The guards let him in after examining the envelope and Alban was led through the castle to an archery gallery in the central courtyard. There was one person in the courtyard, practicing with a huge, white longbow. She wore a flowing white gown and had golden hair that faintly glowed on its own. Alban couldn't see her legs, but he suspected that Titania was right about them. This was unmistakably Queen Elagwyn, even though she didn't look entirely like the version of her from his dreams. In fact, this Elagwyn looked even more beautiful.

Confusing emotions stirred in him as he and the guards approached her.

"Hello, your majesty," Alban said. He bowed. "I have this letter."

She eagerly took the envelope and opened it. "Ah! This was the birthday card I expected from Lord Edmund. I knew he remembered. Thank you, courier. But, you are a little late. And is that... the sword and locket of Queen Titania? Oh dear. That must have been a very bizarre shortcut."

"It wasn't terrible," Alban said. "Wait, this was a birthday card?"

"Yes," Queen Elagwyn said. "The party was yesterday. But, better late than never. And, I do not know what transpired in that forest, but I must apologize for putting you through it just to deliver a measly birthday card. If you so wish, you can rest here in the castle for a week or two. Did Lord Edmund pay you up-front for your services?"

"No. He expected me to return after delivering the letter to pick up the payment."

"We can pay you right now, and collect the debt from Edmund ourselves. This is normally a risky move, as there is nothing to guarantee that you have not been paid already, but you have that sword, so it means you must be honorable."

"Thank you," Alban said.

After they finished talking a minute later, Elagwyn asked the guards to fetch him the amount he was promised, and lead him to one of the guest bedrooms upstairs.

That night, Alban lay awake in his elegant white bed. His room looked awfully like the one from the dream, but not quite.

He saw a "Now Hiring" sign on an inn just a short walk from the castle. And the pay seemed good. Hiroko's conversation echoed in his mind. Maybe tomorrow he would investigate that opportunity and see where it led. This city was nice.

Alban closed his eyes. The bed was soft, and faint moonlight shone into the dark room. Everything was so relaxing. He had escaped the forest and been paid for his troubles. The ordeal was finally over.

Then there was a tapping on the window in front of his bed. Alban opened his eyes, and recoiled in terror when he saw Snowdrop and Sundrop waving at him from outside.

"Dude!" Snowdrop shouted through the glass. Her voice was a little muffled. "Have you seen this place? There's so many cute guys here, and there's even these guys in brothels who'll let us do whatever we want to them if we throw money at them! Thanks for leading us here! We were just going to play with you, but with these hotties around, we're gonna get jobs and hire a bunch of really nice, super cute elf guys instead!" Snowdrop and Sundrop blew a raspberry at Alban.

"See ya later!" they both shouted, and they flew off. Alban prayed that the fairies wouldn't try to work at the same inn he wanted to work at.

~~~~~ ~~~~~

Thank you for reading the whole series. It wound up a little weirder than I thought it would, but it was fun to write. It might be a while before I try a new long series again, but I'll keep posting other kinds of stories in the meantime. Until then, check out my profile for similar stories!