Hidden Wood At White Mountain
By +Master Quatre
Bartlett, Vermont, Late October, 1993.
It makes national news- the shocking disappearance of a young man from a tiny town of 400 people. His name is Stephen, and he is one of the most respected graduates ever to come out of the school system there. He and his single mother are well-loved, so it is a crushing blow to all the people in Bartlett when Stephen's expensive Ducati is found on the side of the road, his helmet laid carefully across the seat. There is nothing to trace him, not even a shoeprint in the dirt. Nothing quite like the case has happened before- and it stumps the experts. Nothing at all is found out about the whereabouts of the young man, so he is stuck on the missing persons list and the case is forgotten about.
Fast Forward to Early 2011.
In this same town lives Takeshi Sienna, another young man with untapped power and potential. Valdectorian of his class and a devoted volunteer, like Stephen was he seems to be the embodiment of grace and service. He bears a lot of the same qualities as the missing Stephen, too, including his love for Ducati Superbikes, level-headedness, and water-soaked fuse. It makes you wonder if his life is somehow intertwined with that of Stephen's- and it is, in ways no one can even imagine.
What are the legacy of these two men? Where is Stephen, and what does he have to do with Takeshi?
Prologue
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Signed,
"There. I signed the stupid document. Can I just leave now?" The young man slammed the pen angrily down on the table and glared in loathing at the man standing over him.
"Ah, Stephen my young friend, look closer at that 'Stupid Document', namely the clause right above your signature." Headmaster Barnes gleefully rubbed his hands together and pointed to the aforementioned clause. "The signer of this document is also hereby entitled to five more years at Breton College, under the tutelage of Headmaster Andrew Canden Barnes, Ph.D." Underneath that was where Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer had signed.
The lean, brown-haired, green-eyed youth couldn't take it anymore. He had survived four years of this already. He blew up at Mr. Barnes, getting in his face. The show of power was something that almost no one could stand up to. "YOU S.O.A.B! YOU ARE THE TYPE OF MAN NOBODY SHOULD EVER RESPECT; YOU'RE INSOLENT, GREEDY, STUPID, AND IDIOTIC! PUTTING UP WITH YOU IS A DAILY CHALLENGE THAT PASSES ALL MORAL CONTROL!" Reichendiefer felt as if his whole body were on fire with the heat of his primal rage. "I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS- I'M LEAVING THIS PLACE RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW, WHILE NO ONE CAN STOP ME. SO GOODBYE, MR BLUBBER BOY BARNES!" He stormed to the door, and giving one last growl, ripped it open.
Glass rained down on Headmaster Barnes from the windows and chandelier as the door slammed.
He was still standing there in shock when the sound of a motorcycle tore through the air.
No one in this realm ever saw Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer again.
Chapter One
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"I'm home!" Takeshi Sienna softly called as he stepped in the door. "Mom, are you here?"
"Tkeshi! Tkeshi!" A four-year-old girl sprinted in to meet him, arms wide. "How was Skool, Tkeshi?"
"Ah, c'mere Hennah!" Takeshi kneeled on the floor to meet the embrace of his little sister. "School today was nice, As always. I found out I aced the math test."
"Wow... You're good, big brother!"
"Takeshi, you're just in time. I need help with some scones." Mrs. Sienna walked in and smiled at her oldest son. Her hands were covered with flour, and with the bun in her hair and the apron around her waist anyone could guess that she had been cooking. "Go wash your hands. I know how much you love to help me make scones."
Hoisting Hennah onto his hip, Takeshi smiled mischievously. "As long as I can get the leftover cherry preserves when we're done."
His mom laughed. "Of course."
"Then here we go up the stairs. Ready Hennah? HupHupHup up we go the stairs. One two three..." The laughter that rang through the hall was joyous and would lift anyone's spirits.
Mrs. Sienna lovingly watched them hop up the stairs together. Her son was growing to be so big and handsome. Was it only yesterday that he was Hennah's age, playful and adorable? It seemed so. But now he was almost all grown up. His black hair and brown eyes had that sparkle that attracted people to him in droves. She had already received several phone calls from adoring girls. To boot, He was an A-grades senior and was going to graduate in only a few months. Oh, Where had the time gone? Both she and her husband, Henry, wondered and marveled at that.
"Tomorrow is the eighteenth anniversary of the disappearance of Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer. So, to honor the day, a special on the event that shocked the little community of Bartlett, Vermont." The voice of the well-known state newscaster, Ned Kloberdanz, ripped through Mrs. Sienna's thoughts, turning them back to the scones in the kitchen. They were for Stephen's mass remembrance potluck the next day. "Let's go to Henry Woodell, who is on the scene of the disappearance."
"Thank you Ned. Before the disappearance of Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer, Bartlett, Vermont was just another of the many small towns in New England, with its own movie theater, three schools, an antique town hall, and a population of about nine hundred people. Stephen Reichendeifer, or Reich as his friends knew him, moved there when he was thirteen with his mom and fit in instantly. He joined clubs, served on Student Council, was Valedictorian in his graduating class, and held many scholarships in music, academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. Many also remember him for his character; a good man who never broke his promises, was always punctual, kind, and hardworking."
We were friends with Mona Reichendeifer and her son Stephen, thought Mrs. Sienna. They were always trying to meet new people in the community and volunteered everywhere. Everyone knew them, in one way or another. Though I heard many rumors about Stephen's promiscuity. They say he had slept around nearly the whole town. But in every other aspect, he was a nice kid. Takeshi would have liked him.
"So it was a needle through the heart to the town when on the twentieth of October, 1993, Stephen's 1992 Ducati Desmoquattro 851 was found abandoned on the side of the road in White Mountain National Forest, about twenty miles from the town. No human-made tracks led anywhere, so Police assumed that he had been picked up. But, just to be sure, they searched the surrounding fifteen miles of forest thoroughly. Upon finding nothing, they questioned every single person in Bartlett and every one of his classmates at Breton College, where he was going to school. Even today, we only know that the last time he was seen alive was after an argument with the Headmaster, Andrew Barnes. That day, Stephen lost his temper- which was rare for him- because Andrew, who is known for being greedy and overprotective of his students, tricked him into signing a contract to stay longer at Breton. Stephen stormed out, slamming the door so hard that it broke every piece of glass in the room, and barely a minute later he tore out of the lot on his Ducati."
I never thought that Stephen would lose his temper. He was such a level-headed kid. You couldn't make him mad though he came really close that one time when someone mouthed off about his dad being a drunk. Not even that infuriating teacher, Mr. Nightly, the one that sent everyone to the principal's office, could light his fuse. Takeshi's almost the same way, come to think of it. I've never seen my son truly mad yet. Even when his Freshman math teacher gave him an unfair grade, he went in there and calmly talked it out.
"I'm back! Are you ready for my help?" Takeshi ran- no, more like floated- down the stairs, his feet barely seeming to touch each step. "I can't wait to eat the rest of the cherry preserves! I've had dreams of red, gooey sweetness all day. After lunch today- chicken again! Blech!"
"And so Bartlett, Vermont, still looks for Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer. He may be out there somewhere, no one knows. If you see a man, about forty years old, that looks like this-" A picture of what Stephen would look like now blinked up on the screen, "-call this number: Three-Five-Oh..."
Shutting the TV off, Mrs. Sienna called, "Yes, I'm ready Takeshi. Just watching the news while you got your hands washed and everything. How was your day?”
“Stephen’s memorial service was all over the school. It seems like everyone’s mom is bringing something to the potluck. I assume that’s what the scones are for.” Takeshi grabbed the bowl of scone dough and mixed it vigorously.
“Yes. Everyone knew Stephen and his mom Mona. They had quite a reputation here in Bartlett. They helped in the Red Cross, cleaned up a section of roadway, went on nature hikes in White Mountain, and did many other community services that made them well-known. Stephen went up and above his community service hours in National Honor Society. The last semester of his senior year, he put in over seventy-five hours.”
“Jeez. That’s a lot for one semester.”
“I know. We all shook our heads and wondered how he got anything else done. But now that I think about him, I realize that there was something else there... he had this inner power, you know, like he had potential that consumed his entire being. I’ve never met anyone else like that- though I think that you come close.”
"No kidding?"
"I'm not kidding, honey. Not to mention, I've been noticing a lot of similarities between you and what Stephen once was."
"For instance?"
"He always wanted a Ducati motorcycle, and you've always wanted a Ducati motorcycle. You even have yours picked out. The most expensive one on the line."
"I am going to make enough money to buy one. No one believes me though." Takeshi paused to help his mom pour the thin dough into scone molds. "He got one, didn't he? He was making, what, five hundred K a year?"
"Yeah. His was a '92 Desmoquattro 851."
Takeshi whistled. "Wow. Pretty bike."
"Some say it was his doom, though."
"True."
"I've also noticed how you're so level-headed. Nothing and no one can make you mad. That's another trait that Stephen possessed."
"Strange. That was brought to my attention lately, too. Oh, and before I forget... I found this on the side of the road this morning. I'm wondering if you may know who it's by." Takeshi took a clean piece of white paper out of his pocket and handed it to his mom.
Mrs. Sienna unfolded it carefully, and stared in horror at the four words carefully scrawled on the page.
Chapter Two
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Takeshi went to bed that night completely immersed in a mystery. His life had become really baffling, if not jaw-droppingly confusing. A trail of clues that all led to this. He was being stalked by either a madman or someone from the grave (He wished it was the madman). The strange coincidences, first. Then the Ducati, and finally the note. He recalled his mom's first words at the sight of it- "No. I must be seeing things. I must be hallucinating! Oh dear God, son, I can tell you right now that someone's stalking you. But It can't be the person that I think it is. Takeshi, son, you must know--- this is Stephen's handwriting. He had his own special script... No one could duplicate it."
"...this is Stephen's handwriting..." Once again, Takeshi switched on his bedside lamp and looked at the message written there in red ink. "Tag, Takeshi. You're it." four little words- but behind them, an unthinkable possibility- was Reichendeifer sending him messages from the very grave?
Finally Takeshi fell into a troubled sleep.
And before he knew it, he was dressed in his best Sunday clothes, standing by the side of the road where Reichendiefer had gone missing. The white cross that stood there was covered in flowers that the 400 attending people had brought. "Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer was a gentle, beautiful soul, and he will always be remembered for what he did and who he touched around the community." Reverend Platt droned on in his monotone voice, about how Stephen was the best to come out of Bartlett.
Takeshi found his mind wandering to other things. I wonder where Stephen is, if he's even still alive. I guess he has to be, no one else could have written my note. If he's hiding out in the forest somewhere, he would have to be pretty skilled- not to mention lucky- to survive out there all by himself. But that's very unlikely. And why would he just run away, leaving his job, his parents, his college, and the superbike? My best bet is that he was picked up by a passerby, and kidnapped. But that always leads back to the first question- how did he manage getting that note to me?
"God rest his spirit, and bless this little town and all that live within." Takeshi only barely heard the Reverend finish his sermon and step down from the podium.
Mrs. Sienna, who was wiping her tears, had to poke her son hard a couple times to get him to respond. "Takeshi? It's time for the potluck now. Takeshi?"
"Wha?.. Oh, sorry, mom." Takeshi jumped up and folded his lawn chair, heaving it onto his shoulder. "I was distracted... Sorry."
"You were very obviously distracted. That note is really bothering you, isn't it?" Derek Sienna, Takeshi's dad, gave his lawn chair to his son and put a hand on his shoulder. "There's no need to worry. It's probably just a harmless prank someone pulled on you to make you freak out just the way you are right now."
Takeshi just nodded in reply, collected the lawn chairs, and walked towards the car. I have a really bad feeling that the one who wrote those four words is no ordinary trickster.
He turned back around to walk to the cab of the truck, and suddenly, he could have sworn, for a second the forest changed. The pickup was gone, the trees were not the trees of White Mountain National Park...
But it was gone as fast as it came. Takeshi was left looking like a jerk, staring off into the trees with a stunned look on his face. Quickly, he dismissed it as nothing but his imagination, and with a shrug walked to the truck cab and hopped in. My imagination is so overactive today. But somewhere, deep inside of him, an instinct kicked into gear. It told him in a very small voice that his 'Mirage' wasn't a mirage, that it was his destiny, that to just go back to that forest he would find the answers to all his questions, his doubts, his misunderstandings...
But he didn't go back. Destiny doesn't exist. You choose your own paths, you control where your life takes you. Why should I believe in something that isn't true?
The potluck was a total bore. As Takeshi had predicted earlier in the day, nothing eventful happened, but all the adults twenty and over ate and cried as they talked about how the disappearance had affected their lives, how Stephen had affected their lives, blah blah blah, while most of the younger kids played basketball or soccer outside. And, of course, there were the emo Juniors that smoked pot on the other side of the building. Bartlett was certainly small, but you could find all the big-city cliches here, too.
And before long Takeshi found himself running off. "Sechem's Pub!" The guys that were packed into the back of Takeshi's Honda Civic all cheered together and high fived. Another eventful night at the bar... Here we go... Takeshi sighed as he drove. He was always voted to be the designated driver because, number one, he never drank or partied or wooed girls, and second, he was the best driver out of all of them.
They pulled into the parking lot at Sechem's bar and everyone scrambled out, desperate to start the evening of pleasure and more pleasure, but Takeshi stayed behind, relishing the whiff of fresh air before getting back in his car to wait the evening out.
Where am I? Was the next thing Takeshi remembered thinking, as he found himself standing in a forest clearing, which was almost completely dark and seemingly in black-and white where the sun, if it was the sun, was shining eerily through the trees.
He felt like bugs were creeping up his spine as he got the dreadful feeling that he was being watched. Whirling around, Takeshi came to find himself facing a pair of sinister green eyes.
Desperately, he tried to turn and avoid their gaze, but whichever way he faced, they would follow him. In fact, they came to face him. Frozen in terror, Takeshi thought that he would have a panic attack, or get schizophrenia. The eyes... the look in them burned into his very soul, filling Takeshi with mortal terror so strong that the scare The Exorcist gave you looked bad.
Just as he thought he couldn't take it anymore, he woke up in his car, his buddies tapping the window drunkenly, ready to go home. With a quick check of his watch, he realized it was almost three o' clock in the morning. Hopping out to let them in, he drove them all home, making sure they didn't pass out before reaching their doorsteps.
On his own way back home, Takeshi's intuition (and his brain, saying 'I'M TIRED!') told him suddenly to take the shortcut through the woods instead of skirting them. Turning onto the Familiar Reichendeifer road, Takeshi had to shake his head once. The forest-that-was-not-a-forest was there again- and this time, there were whispers calling to him. To The Hidden Wood, they whispered, coaxing him even farther in.
But he blinked, and everything was gone.
Chapter Three
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In his dream that night, the eyes haunted him again, and the deadly cycle of fear began again. For the next few days he lived in mortal terror of the eyes of Satan, as he called them, and everyone noticed though he tried to keep his fear hidden. People he didn't even know walked up to him and asked, "Are you alright? You're so pale..."
Takeshi would spit back, "I'm fine. Leave me alone. Why is it your problem?"
Derek and Patricia got so worried about him that they consulted a psychologist, Dr. Herriman, who Takeshi was even less willing to talk to, though he took at least some advice of his and started a journal. "They'll tell me that I have schizophrenia and then I'll really be ridiculed. And even if they truly think that I'm not delusional, then will they believe me about the eyes? No. They'll laugh and strip-search me and my room for drugs. Or worse. It seems like there's no way out of this nightmare." He wrote after one particularly terrifying dream where all the windows in the buildings on a deserted street had the eyes, as well as the pigeons flapping around from nest to nest... It seemed like everything was torturing him. Day by day he was suffocated by the gaze...
And finally Takeshi gave up. He finally let the pull of fate reel him in. He returned to the place where it all began. The one place he knew he could escape...
"Mom, I'm leaving for a little while." Takeshi called as he grabbed his car keys and turned the doorknob. "I'll be back soon."
"Okay. Hurry home." Patricia Sienna came down the stairs with a load of laundry in her arms. She looked older and sadder than only a week before, the circles under her eyes giving away that she had lost hours of sleep worrying about her son and the 'eyes of Satan' that he was always talking about.
A few minutes later, Takeshi pulled over on the road right next to Stephen's cross and gazed in awe at the flowers that grew around it, and how freshly painted it was. It looked like something out of the Netherlands and their fields upon fields of Tulips. Red, Yellow, Blue, and Purple flowers surrounded the memory cross, of all different kinds- lilies, roses, Chrysanthemums and the lovely Hyacinth. Touching the smooth wood of the cross, Takeshi was thrown back by a vision of the eyes that was unparalleled in strength. That must mean... that Stephen's eyes are the eyes...
It shocked him so much, in fact, that he blacked out.
The Hidden Wood, Where no man has set foot. Where faeries roam and the trees are deep of root. Hidden Wood, undiscovered, undefiled. Hidden Wood, beautiful and magical and wild.
Takeshi woke up to the unearthly whispering again. Sitting up he discovered that the cross, his car, and the road was gone and he was in the forest he saw in glances and in the dreams with the eyes. Blinking, he tried to clear his vision, to get rid of the stupid hallucination, but this time it didn't go away. No! He screamed inside, and began to do everything in his power to wake himself up. He pinched his arms, slapped his face, poked himself with sticks... But no matter what he tried, he couldn't get out of the "Hidden Wood", as the whisperings called it.
So he accepted that he was here and stood up. His next thought was to find civilization, so he began to walk. Pushing through the bushes, he kept alert for any signs of human activity, but aside from a couple of what looked like colorful tanagers, there was no movement.
Then the horrible feeling that he was being watched returned with a vengeance. Maybe it was paranoia about this place; but Takeshi could feel their gaze. The eyes. Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer's eyes. Powerful, cold, and evil. In desperation, he began to run. Run as fast as he could. The eyes were a curse. If the Hidden Wood only housed Stephen, heck, Takeshi wanted out now. Before he even knew it, he was at full speed, pumping his legs as fast as he could go. There was no escaping them, though, and his worst enemy kept that drilling gaze fixed on him, allowing his victim no peace, absolutely no peace---
And the world stopped. Comfort washed over Takeshi like a blanket. A warm, fuzzy feeling he hadn't felt in forever overtook his mind. The eyes were gone, spooked at something approaching through the rapidly-thinning Hidden Wood. The Faerie Queen and King are noble and just. In treaty and in war they are enemies you fear or allies you can trust. All hail the Royalty of the Hidden Wood!
Suddenly the whisperings grew silent, and the music started. Happy, joyous music. The form of a winged, middle-aged woman slipped out of the trees, playing a crude pipe that sounded better than any professional flute player. She was wearing long, lush, silk robes and a crown made out of laurel, ivy, and hyacinth, so Takeshi assumed that this was the Queen of the Faeries. Takeshi watched, enraptured, as several of the colorful birds flocked to the queen's shoulder and began to sing.
And then they were everywhere. Shining, laughing forms of young maidens, dancing in a circle all around Takeshi, tapping their feet happily to the music of the pipe.
There was this one girl in particular that instantly captured Takeshi's attention- she had curly red hair and lovely green eyes, and had an intricate set of delicate yellow and orange wings. He stared at her as she cavorted around the other faeries, her white smile radiant with joy. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen...
He hadn't noticed that the Faerie queen had strode over to him and was beckoning him to follow. Though she no longer had the pipe in her mouth it was still playing itself, and everyone fell in behind her in a line as she led Takeshi deeper into the woods, the way he had came, but slightly to the right.
He tried to catch sight of the beautiful red-haired maiden again, but couldn't see her in the line of faeries. But her laugh stuck with him as the Queen walked on, deeper and deeper into the Wood.
Chapter Four
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The small group finally emerged into a large clearing, that was crowned by a large hollow tree in the center. Small faeries flitted from leaf to leaf, going about their daily life, their chatter just audible to Takeshi. He found it odd that there seemed to be no male faeries- Every single glowing form he could see had the air and curvy figure of a woman.
"I'm sorry young man, but you cannot see any more until we decide whether to let you stay or not." The queen, with pity in her eyes, pulled a wand out of nowhere and tapped it on top of Takeshi's head once.
One blink passed, and Takeshi jumped to consciousness as he found himself held prisoner, hands tied behind his back, mouth sealed when he tried to ask where exactly he was. Luckily he was sitting cross-legged on a plush cushion in front of the Faerie King and Queen's thrones, being discussed by a council (Also all women, I should add).
"Then the case is closed." The King's voice echoed through the hall. "He can stay. Release him from the shackles immediately! We can't treat him as a threat until he proves himself to be one. If he really is en league with Reichendeifer, as you suggest, Miss Julianna, he'll prove his loyalty in time."
The five council members nodded and one pulled out a wand, shooting out a bolt of light that evaporated the chains off Takeshi and unsealed his mouth. Struggling to his feet, he looked around properly for the first time and was awed by the majesty and beauty of the great hall. It was carved entirely out of wood, and painted with reds and purples. Turning back to the royalty, he bowed and turned around to head out.
Some of the council members giggled. The thought once again flickered through Takeshi's mind about where all the boy faeries were, and came to the startling conclusion that he was the first male faerie that they had seen in their lives.
Just as Takeshi was to cross the threshhold, the king collected himself and bellowed, "Stop. Hold on a second. Who the heck are you? What were you doing in that forest, all alone? Are you our foe?"
"My name is Takeshi Christian Sienna." Takeshi turned around and started slowly, not sure of what to really say. "I am a stranger here. One moment I was at home in Bartlett, Vermont, USA, by the cross of a missing man I never knew, and suddenly I found myself in this wood, where your majesty the Queen picked me up. Please, if you can show me the shortest way home, I will no longer be a nuisance to you-"
"I'm afraid I can't allow that, young Mr. Sienna. Once you have set foot in Faerie tree we can't allow you out again. Plus, there's the added fact that there's no way back to your world that we know of. Trust me, we dealt with this once before, eighteen years ago." The King stood up and went to the large patterned glass window, looking through sadly, seemingly at the past. "We have come to regret taking in Stephen Reichendeifer, but we cannot undo our actions now."
Takeshi gasped. "So that's where he's been these eighteen years. In this Wood." He backed out the door in shock, but found himself not on solid ground, but on the verge of falling into nothing. "AAAH!" He leaped back inside the palace. "Wha-- how do you want me to get around this place without killing myself?"
What's that? Takeshi saw a flash of color behind him, and jumped around to face the person, only to rest his gaze on- nothing.
The Queen, King, and Court couldn't help laughing. "For heaven's sake you poor kid, those are just your wings!"
"My, WHAT?" Takeshi turned his head, and to his shock discovered that indeed, he had wings. Once again he stared in awe. They were fairly big butterfly wings that were colored blue, black, and silver. The bottom tips of the wings just touched the insides of his knees.
Incredulously, he looked back at the council and royalty, he stuttered, "But, how? I'm not a natural faerie... Did you use magic on me?"
"Strangely enough, we didn't." The faerie queen rubbed her chin. "With Riechendeifer, we had to. But the moment we shrunk you they just naturally appeared. Maybe you were indeed meant to be a faerie all along."
Knockknock.
There was a tapping at the door behind him, and Takeshi jumped, blushing at being scared Again.
"Please come back later." The king boomed. "We're in the middle of something important."
A sweet, seemingly familiar voice came from outside the door. "Momma, Poppa, It's only me."
"Oh, MaRya, sweetie, we're sorry. Do come in and meet our new guest."
The door was pushed open- to reveal none other than the red-haired girl that Takeshi had seen dancing in the forest when he was rescued. He was once again captivated by her, and everything about her. He made an unsuccessful attempt at not looking like a deer caught in headlights...
"Oh, It's him." MaRya had a slight edge of disdain in her voice. "What do I call you, young man?" It was clear that she loathed him, and that she was getting pleasure out of giving him mean snarks.
Takeshi swallowed. "Uh, Takeshi, your highness." He bowed. "Princess MaRya."
The princess smothered a laugh and Walked to the front of the throne room, her converse squeaking on the newly-polished floor.
He hadn't really noticed what they were wearing until now. Though every faerie picture he had seen portrayed them in dresses, it was a totally different story here. All the royalty, except for MaRya, had robes on, indeed, but underneath them was a pair of DCs, Osiris, or Converse. MaRya had Skinny Jeans on over that with her name emblazoned into the butt, and a cute Tye-dye tank top. Her hair was up in a bun, with chopsticks to hold it in place. How could they have known about these fashions? He wondered. They've been totally cut off from the outside world, except for one kid. Did Stephen have that much of an influence on them?
Chapter Five
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"... In fact, you can take him on a tour of the Faerie Tree, since you like him so much." He just caught the last half of what the Queen was saying to her daughter.
"But Mom, I..."
"No ifs, ands, or buts, MaRya Janelle Prestine. You will show him around, be his escort for the day. It'll teach you a little lesson in manners and queenly professionalism." The Faerie Queen was lecturing now. "Go."
MaRya sighed and turned around to face Takeshi again. With a small huff, she started to order him around, seemingly exasperated. "Let's give you your first flight lesson, since you so obviously need it. I expect you to get it right on the first try, so watch carefully." She walked to the edge of the Castle floor, flapped her wings once, and took off, hovering by the door like a little fly. "Come on, Daylight's fading!"
"Okay." Takeshi bit his lip and stepped to the edge. Taking a deep breath, he threw himself off, and thought about flight- and found himself not falling, but rising. Opening one eye, he gasped in awe at the sight below him. Faeries bustled about, going between little, intricately-carved houses. And his wings were carrying him above it all.
MaRya said nothing, but gave him a disdainful look, and shot down, off into the traffic. From afar it looked like she was trying to shake him off her tail.
"Wait! Whoa, hold on for a quick second!" Takeshi called after her as he tried in vain to follow. "What in the world is your problem? You obviously hate me. Why? I haven't done anything to you, to the best of my knowledge."
The Princess stopped suddenly, whirling around and nearly making Takeshi crash into her. "I don't trust outsiders." She growled softly, and sped off, luckily at a more manageable pace.
Takeshi didn't press any more that day, and was MaRya's tagalong as she went all over the tree. By the time it was all over he thought that he had a very good knowledge of the layout of the city streets, not really streets at all but gaps in between the quaint faerie houses. Everything was set exactly like a city, in blocks that were complete squares. Most of the stores and businesses were set on the main flyway, what they called their counterpart to Main Street.
He only bought two things all day- a small notebook and a quill pen to match from the apothecary. He saw them on the shelf, and was overtaken by a sudden need to keep a diary. It helped him organize his thoughts, write down his rants and hatred.
MaRya grudgingly bought it for him. Later, he couldn't remember how many times he said 'Thank You', but he was sure it was somewhere up in the hundreds. It was the first small sign of her warming to him. I want to at least be friends, while I'm stuck here on my own.
And everything was by and for women. Women, who giggled as he walked in, who tried to pinch his cheeks and flirt with him. Some just stared in awe and let their jaw hang open. Takeshi just dodged everything, keeping his chin tucked in and eyes to the floor. Why are there no men? I shouldn't have to go through this in front of her, she's just getting more fun out of it. And it breaks my heart, because I thought I liked her, but now I'm not so sure. All day Takeshi had noticed MaRya shooting him bratty, I-love-seeing-you-blush looks when he resisted advances. There's a connection between all this. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it in my bones. There being no men, MaRya not trusting me, and my sudden appearance here. Not to mention the snatches I've caught about Stephen. He's somewhere in this realm apparently, and they regret that he ever was. But, where is he, and why in the heck-
"Hey Black-head!" MaRya's voice jolted Takeshi back into the present. "You're going to eat that sandwich, right?"
They were back at the palace for lunch, and while everyone else's sandwiches were nearly gone, his was untouched.
"Uh, yeah..." Takeshi took a nibble, and sighed. Today had been rough. At least he didn't have to go back out with MaRya. He could be free of her for the rest of the day. Excusing himself from the table, he smuggled the sandwich off and retreated to his room.
The King and Queen had been nice enough to give him a place to stay in the palace, with a wonderful view of the outside forest, and had decided that he was to be given lessons and lectures the next morning. As he sat on the bed, he pulled the diary and quill pen from his pocket, and began to write his first entry, the pen scratching across the page.
Well today has been a very, very interesting day. He contemplated this first sentence carefully, and scratched it out with the quill.
I don't think I will have a day this unique ever again in my life. He ate a little as he thought about this option. But in the end he decided that nope, that wasn't his favorite either. Scratch it.
Today has been the wackiest, most bizarre-
There was a knock at his door, and Takeshi raised his head. "Come in," He called, curious to whom would be visiting him now. An admirer? MaRya?
The door swung open, revealing (much to Takeshi's relief) the faerie king, who leaned on the doorframe with a small smile on his face. "You up for a walk, you think?" He asked, and scratched the back of his head. "I'd like someone to talk to for a little while before I have to go to a council meeting."
Takeshi put down his diary and nodded. "Of course, I'll go with you."
Chapter Six
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Soon, they were walking in the main hall, talking and laughing together. The king had insisted that Takeshi call him WarRen, instead of 'Your Highness'. "Friends shouldn't call me by my position. And I consider you my friend."
"Call me Takeshi then, Not 'Sir' as you've been." Takeshi got a grin across his face. "I consider you a friend too."
King WarRen laughed. "So, how do you like the Hidden Wood, Takeshi?"
"I love it so far." Takeshi rubbed the back of his head. "Everything's so perfect, you could just lose yourself forever in the streets, and you wouldn't be bored a second of the day."
"You're right. Sometimes I wish I was just a standard faerie, instead of the King I am. I want to fly around like they all do." They had come to the open-air walkway and WarRen leaned over the bar, putting his face in his hands. "If I were to go down, everyone would recognize me and swarm me, possibly trample me to death. I can't have that. I still have a kingdom to run." Sighing, he turned his head to face Takeshi. "From what Reichendeifer told us before all the incidents, it's a lot simpler in Bartlett."
"Yeah." Takeshi but his lip as he wondered how exactly to phrase it. "We don't have a king or queen. We, the people, all govern ourselves. We're free to do whatever we want to do. It's called a Democracy."
"Democracy." The king rolled the word around on his tongue. "An interesting concept, but what if one corrupt person throws off the whole system?"
"We deal with it. It doesn't hurt anything but the government most of the time. Unless the corruption involves money, and sometimes it won't touch us even then." Takeshi shrugged and sat down on the railing. "We're pretty resilient, bounce-back kind of people."
WarRen scratched his chin. "Amazing. I would really like to go sometime... If we can ever find a way back to your realm. I guarantee, we will try to renew our search to devise a way to get you back. I can't imagine how it must feel for you to be separated from your friends and family."
"Thanks, WarRen." Takeshi had happy tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much. You have no idea what this all means to me."
"I'm glad to help and supply you with anything you need." The King placed a soft hand on Takeshi's shoulder. "I need to leave now. But first I want to thank you for this lovely talk, and apologize for my daughter. We told her too much about Stephen and JennyFer and now she hates outsiders." He bowed to the gaunt, black-haired young man and disappeared into the endless halls the castle sported.
It was then that Takeshi realized he had forgotten to ask his questions. Oh well, I'm stuck here for the moment, I guess. I have lots of time before I will be able to go back. Retreating to his room, he sighed and plopped down on the bed once more, and though it was only late afternoon, he was exhausted. He swears to this day that the afformentioned nap, it only took his brain only four minutes to shut down.
The next day dawned bright and early, and as Takeshi woke the previous day came flooding back to him. Sitting up on the bed and putting his head in his hands, he murmured to himself, "I wonder what today will bring?"
She came around noon: The tutor. Her name was Miz Dennings, and she was a sixty-something, wise woman who loved to talk and teach. She was a lot better at it, too, than anyone Takeshi had ever had in school. Her style satisfied everybody- she'd teach you the history behind the Faerie kingdom, and then if you had any questions at all, she'd answer them before allowing a five-minute break. Then it'd be off to work again.
He learned a lot that day. Among other things: the race of faeries had been created thousands of generations ago by Esseance, a young faerie who had been set in the void by the all-seer, God almighty. Pleased with the little winged creature he had made, God said to it, "You can make anything you want, may you live long and prosper."
Esseance first created land: a hidden, lush wood that was cut off from the rest of the world. Then he created companions for himself, and a beautiful wife. He was their first king. And so the Hidden Wood's faeries thrived for generations, tucked away here where no human could disturb them.
The rest almost up to 1993 was boring: civil war that was always calmed down quickly, a collapse of one of the faerie tree's limbs.
But Takeshi knew that something was going to actually be interesting when Miz Dennings called a fifteen-minute break. The young man was back in five, eager for what was to come next. The teacher didn't want to be interrupted through her speech, and insisted that her pupil take the whole break, but Takeshi begged. She finally gave in, and called his tutoring back into session.
"Now, before we start, I will warn you that this next chapter in our history is one of the most important ones, though very touchy for us, but the King and Queen specifically asked me if I would teach it to you, because they know you have questions. Please do not talk about these events with any other faerie. It is looked down upon as rude and heartless when any of this is brought up." She took a deep breath before diving in.
"Stephen Raymond Reichendeifer came to us a little over eighteen years ago. He was found much like you- alone and lost in the woods, confused and helpless. We took him in, made him a faerie, and gave him shelter. But, our mission all along, was to get him home. But it seemed like it wasn't possible. However we tried, he seemed to be stuck.
But Stephen didn't mind. He was too busy... You see, while he was living with the Queen and King, Reichendiefer had met, and fallen in love with, this beautiful, brown-haired girl: Princess JennyFer, daughter of King WarRen and the Queen. And she loved him back, very much. For months their romance bloomed, but there was much pressure put upon it... Everyone admired Reichendifer, and none of the girls wanted to see him taken. So a group of JennyFer's friends secretly pulled her aside one day and threatened to kill her if she ever saw Stephen again. Their plan worked too well. She feared for her life, and naturally dumped Stephen. The whole ordeal ripped her heart apart, but the future of her people- which rested solely on her shoulders- was more important.
Stephen took this the absolute wrong way. He thought that JennyFer's rejection had meant that she had met another man. Some say that during the time that he was pent up in his room for a week and a half, his good side left his body and floated back to the Creator. Nonetheless, he came out with the most haunting, sinister glare and desire for vengeance on every single faerie. As punishment for us, Reichendeifer took away all the men and boys, of all ages, took them to his new ice castle in the deepest, darkest part of the forest, and forced them into his armies. So, to this day, us women have to defend ourselves against Reichendeifer and our own kin."
Takeshi raised his hand. "So--- all of that could have been prevented?"
"Right." The teacher nodded. "We just didn't see the signs in time. If someone had dared to tell, Stephen would probably be our king today, and JennyFer his queen."
Chapter Seven
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The months flew by, and Takeshi thrived with the Faeries. After a while he found himself loving every minute of his stay in the palace. He had his studies, went out on the town a couple times, spent time with the royal family, and supervised the expedition of trying to get him home. But, most importantly, Takeshi trained for combat. For a war was imminent on the horizon...
Every Faerie, according to the newest law set down by the royalty, needed to learn archery, hand-to-hand combat, and swordsplay, and if you chose, you could learn how to use a special weapon such as a scythe, sai, spear, or custom firearm. Often it happened that during a battle one person would join in the fight and save the whole army.
Day after day, Takeshi was dragged down to the training arena where King WarRen showed him how to fight with his bare skin, and use a basic knife.
But Takeshi's best subject wasn't hand-to-hand, nor Math, not even music. It was fencing. Of all the subjects that could be taught, it was fencing. He seemed to be an expert at it; only a few tries after the King had introduced it, the black-haired kid was gliding along, hitting WarRen's button every five seconds. Everyone was simply astonished by this. He wasn't good with blades otherwise, which only made it more baffling.
The only thing that didn't change over time was Takeshi and MaRya's attitude toward each other. She still greeted him with a hateful smirk, and he always walked away, the hole in his heart aching for a true friend. She was all he saw, except for the faeries in town who flirted with him. And, more desperately than ever, he needed a friend who was his age, someone to stand with, to fight with when the time came.
Fall settled into winter. Winter melted into spring. And soon the cry: "Reichendeifer's armies approach!" could be heard. Every woman over sixteen (And even some of the larger underage ones) dashed for their armor, and their bows. In an organized stream, they all proceeded to the base of the Faerie tree where they circled it protectively, bows raised, eyes narrowed in anticipation. For eighteen years they had been doing this, every summer. Two-thirds of them were fifteen- or-more year veterans. The older taught the newer. It was a routine by now.
Sooner than he would have preferred, Takeshi found himself sitting on the back of a horse, on the front lines with the royalty. Takeshi knew with all his heart that the King and Queen would die out there if they had to, fighting their greatest enemy, Reichendeifer.
"I will start for him almost the moment he appears." The king muttered in Takeshi's ear. "my wife will lead the rear flank. Once we're gone, you're on your own. But you've been doing fine. I'm sure you'll be alright. Protect MaRya. I have a feeling that she's just as firey a redhead as she looks."
The young man only nodded, but he was overwhelmed by this feeling that somehow he would get involved, and fight gloriously to his death. Your dreams are so childish. Force them out of your head, Sierra. He shook his head to clear it. At that moment it also happened that the princess herself rode into place beside him.
She was lovely in her shiny, silver chain-mail-and-plate armor, all the red hairs on her head blowing back on the breeze. The sun was shining just right through it, too, making it look like fire. Fire unchained.
The other army came up over the hill. Takeshi gasped at the soldiers' appearances. They were all men, and so skinny, with red eyes... Controlled by a single, green pair, that tried to attack Takeshi as they approached.
Among every woman in that army the tension was strong. For a moment there was a huge silence. Then the peculiar sound of ram's horn battle trumpets. But the young man pushed them out of his head, forcing all his concentration forward. He held his horse in check as the king dove over the horizon to meet Reichendeifer.
This was also the first time that Takeshi got a good look at the man who was the imposing figure of Reichendeifer. He was tall and muscular, with absolutely huge red, gray, and black wings that were patterned exactly like Takeshi's. He seemed to immediately seek out the boy and fix his eyes on him... Like he was issuing a challenge.
There was no sound for a split second. No one moved. Then, the sound of a battle horn ripped across the field.
Both parties leaped forward. As soon as the king was out of sight, Takeshi began to feel uneasy again. But again he shrugged it off and looked around, waiting for a gap.
He clucked to his steed and they leaped forward as well, cutting through a couple of the tainted male faerie-soldiers, on their way to the main battlefield. Enemy and friendly arrows rained all around them, and many a faerie fell, dead on the ground.
They plunged into the throng of armed soldiers and started their way through. Takeshi's tactics were more like a fencer's than a warrior's, but this caught the opposing soldiers off-guard, giving the young, black-haired man a slot to slip his sword through. The area around him and his horse was for the most part bloodless, except for the small trickle that came from the many soldiers' heart wounds. It was terrifying. Within the first five minutes, Takeshi hated everything to do with war. There was a great screaming noise, and the scent of blood made him sick. But still he fought. For the faerie kingdom. For the king and queen. For MaRya.
Amid the clamor, he wasn't sure how he caught the familiar, bell-like voice that he knew so well. "You're going to pay the penalty for what you've done for us, Reichendiefer, and even if it's not today someday it will come to you!"
"I have been given many a threat like that, little miss." A calm, strong, baritone voice came back to challenge MaRya's words. "I will reign this kingdom one day, and punish all of you for the pain you have inflicted on me!"
There was a clash and a scream.
Takeshi immediately whirled the horse around and charged out of his circle. The sight he saw made him urge the horse on even faster.
MaRya was trapped: her back on the ground, sword laying several feet away. Reichendeifer, in long robes and on a magnificent, black, red-eyes steed was standing over her, sword about to come down like an executioner's axe. The princess's eyes were like saucers, but she wasn't crying or shouting for help. She had been defeated.
Before he knew it they were there. Takeshi's smaller, gray steed slammed into Reichendeifer's stallion, and Takeshi swung for the older man's head. "You leave your princess alone!" he growled.
The tall, brown-haired man ducked Takeshi's swing, diving off the horse as it hit the ground and struggled to get back up.
Reichendeifer laughed. He laughed, damn it! It was so unnerving- not to mention creepy beyond belief. "Well, Takeshi, it seems as if you have tagged me back." He cackled and narrowed his eyes slyly.
Takeshi stepped back. "So you did?-- how?-"
"Something for you to find out." Reichendiefer jabbed forward with a beautiful parrying thrust.
The black-haired kid blocked it perfectly, and getting into stance, let his eyes challenge Reichendeifer to a duel.
Chapter Seven
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Reichendeifer straightened, pulling himself into stance, too. "Bring it." His evil grin spread across his face.
Takeshi raised his sword again and nodded that he was ready.
Stephen's move was lightning-quick but again Takeshi had been expecting it, and blocked. It was the spark that touched off a forest fire. The grind of metal against metal began coming, frequently, and harshly. It resounded across the field, and made every face, friend and foe, turn to the great scene before them. All fighting stopped, except for the evil faerie and his black-haired challenger.
Reichendeifer came close, several times, to skewing Takeshi through the heart. But somehow, the black-haired kid managed to dodge. He was getting tired, though. Sweat rolled out of his every pore.
It made Takeshi mad. Reichendeifer stood there, perfectly calm, effortlessly stabbing and parrying, like this required no thought at all. It was obvious that Takeshi wasn't getting anywhere. He'd need a new plan if he was to win this battle, that was extremely unfair. But he had initiated it himself. Inwardly, he cursed as the next blow came.
And he missed it. the evil faerie had cracked his shell. The kid gave a cry and fell to his knees, the saber through his chest, poking out of his back, crimson. He had never experienced pain like this before. The first thing that ran through his head was, I really hope I won't die here on this battlefield.
A shout of victory from the other side was about to go up when with all his remaining strength, Takeshi blindly raised his sword arm again, and slashed at his enemy. The sword, horror of horrors, hit Reichendeifer on the side of the face, just above his left ear- and it stuck fast. No one later could explain why. All that they knew was what came next.
Reichendeifer's sword came out of his opponent's chest and he screamed in pain.
As Takeshi struggled to his feet again, he ripped his arm back in horror- and took with the saber half of the skin on Reichendeifer's face. From the evil faerie's left ear, to the other side of his face, just below his jaw, it was bleeding profusely. It was a horror to look at. Part of his eyeball was exposed, and the lips were torn clean off.
The last thing that Takeshi remembered as he fell forward and blacked out was hearing Reichendeifer call, weakly, "Fall Back!"
To any ordinary person, he would have looked like part of the cave wall. But then the wisened, white-haired man opened his eyes. "Good God," He whispered, quite to himself, "Today the path the Hidden Wood Faerie Clan has taken, has been altered dramatically." Quickly, he rose from his high throne of stone. For a second, there was silence, the water dripping on the cave floor was the only sound that could be heard. But then, the old man's voice boomed through the hall. "Arise, Sentinels of News, the ones that keep the books! I, LarrSen BrigHorn, call you out of your sleep, into the light, to fulfill your duty!"
All at once, ten lamps lit along the sides of the corridor. Out of the rock came the ten Bringers of History- History's Sentinels. If they had been more colorful they would have been exactly like ordinary faeries. But there was one difference. Each one only stood about to a normal faerie's knee.
Each of the ten grabbed their lamp and came to sit at the old man's feet. The ancient one smiled. "Today, my friends, has seen the rising of a true-hearted person to his deserved rank in the hearts of his faerie comrades. It won't be long before he is to take on his fated rank. Also, an enemy of ours has fallen, his pride- and face- scarred for life. I commission you, my Sentinels, to go into the world, and record this event long in the making. Put it in the annals of time where it needs to be. You need the information." He motioned to the first three of the little gray faeries that sat before him. "TysSen and ChansSe, you will go to the boy, and make your usual observations. The boy, Takeshi, needs to be duly represented. EaEn, you take the pictures we need. Go, my Brethren, be blessed. As you leave this cave, put your invisibility spell on."
The little camera faerie EaEn nodded and grabbed his small camera out of his pack, and the three got up and headed out the cave door.
"Now, my next three," The old man continued, pointing to MichHeal, AlexXander, and KrysStian, "You must proceed in this mission with caution. Reichendeifer The Great, is currently being healed in his ice castle. He will not be pleased if he notices any of you. Put invisibility on as you go, and may AlexXander's camera take records that are true and foundational."
The next three faeries nodded and flew away.
"As for the rest of you,"- The other four faeries, BastTien, SamMuel, FreidRiche, and JosShua, stood, -"Today you will prepare the text for its editing."
Takeshi woke up in his bed in the palace. His chest had been bandaged up and he felt fine, except for the jab of pain that shot through him every time he tried to move. Looking around, he saw a faerie across the room, dressed in Nurse's garb. "Hey," He called to her.
She spun and smiled. "So, Takeshi is awake. Do you need anything? You should be in a bit of pain but nothing too serious."
"Yeah, I'm fine. King WarRen will want to know. Please, go inform him of my condition."
"Brilliant, I will go tell the King at once."
As the nurse left, Takeshi sat back and closed his eyes again. How long had it been since the battle? Was he going to be okay?
Did they have to perform major surgery? Had he really ripped...? The thought made him want to throw up. The skin on his blade... Reichendeifer's face...
Quickly, he forced the thought out of his head. He had saved MaRya. Was she alright? She, too, had come pretty close to dying. If it hadn't been for him, the beautiful, red-haired princess would probably be in a casket.
The nurse came back, quickly followed by King WarRen. "Takeshi!" He exclaimed, and smiled. "Glad to hear you're awake. We've been worrying about you, these past three days."
So that's how long I've been down. "I'm pretty glad that I'm back too." Takeshi scratched the back of his head. It hurt. "How's MaRya? After all, she is the reasonI got myself into that whole mess."
"She hasn't quite been the same since that battle." It was WarRen's turn to scratch the back of his head, nervously. "Quieter... and she hasn't left her room. We've had to slip meals under her door. She won't even let her favorite handmaiden in. And she's been crying all the time. DesSendre and I are getting pretty worried."
"Traumatic Shock, Maybe?"
"I don't know." The King perked back up. "That was a great job you did with Reichendeifer. I doubt he'll be coming back to fight you for a while now. We still have the piece of skin that you took off--"
Takeshi would have missed it is he had looked over a second later, but somehow he managed to catch the little bit of movement in the window.
It was a tiny, gray faerie. He was taking pictures with a small camera that he had around his waist and writing down things on a pad. Almost like he was a reporter, on a secret assignment.
The kid freaked. He had seen one of these before! When he was a little boy, one had visited him and taken pictures of him... Like he was supposed to be important. But Takeshi had just blown it off as a dream for years. A vision, nothing more.
Bolting out of bed, he was off in a second, bursting through the patio doors and into the daytime sky. But before he could reach it, the little faerie flew off.
