Beyond the Firefly Field (18 page)

Karl exclaimed, “This looks like Rome!” The panel showed a city with Roman-style architecture, but much of it was on fire.

“It is Rome. When Atlantis was destroyed, we barely escaped, and after wandering for hundreds of years, we finally settled in Rome. We lived there peacefully, sharing the knowledge of the Atlantans with the Romans. By that time, the Atlantans were extinct.

“Eventually, a Roman emperor ordered our extermination because we wouldn't help him dominate the world with our knowledge. Our peeper fairies gave us an early warning, and we learned all our trees were ordered to be burned by the Roman guard. We rigged fires to spread back to their own homes in Rome to teach them that destroying the fairies wouldn't be so easy.

“Instead of escaping out of the city as they thought we would, we went into it instead. We burned as we went, and the army spent their time chasing us instead of putting out the flames. Most of the city burned to the ground. The emperor was furious and had all records of our existence destroyed, forbidding anyone from ever mentioning us again.”

“What are these fires?” asked Penny, who had strayed over to the next panel.

As the group joined her, SeeLee answered, “That's what you call the Dark Ages. They burned the villages because everyone died from the plague, and they didn't want the sickness to spread.

“The end of this panel shows SanDroMonEnLor leading the fairies to an island on the north end of Europe. He thought we could suffer from the plague, so he segregated us into small groups as we headed north. Some groups died before they could make it to the island, as they were already contaminated. When the plague finally reached the far European island, we immediately fled to the land we now live on.”

“That looks like the famous Cliffs of Dover,” Karl remarked, pointing at a carved area right next to the panel's edge.

“It is. You seem to know much for one so young,” SeeLee replied.

“He's a bookworm,” Clayton explained. “His sister took him to the library when he was four years old and told him that if he wanted to know everything, he needed to read all the books in the library, and this seems to be his mission.”

“Karl has about twenty books on a shelf in the tree house,” Brian said with a hint of complaint in his voice.

“So I read books instead of watching TV,” Karl said in his defense.

There were only two panels to view before they reached the second landing. Clayton could hear fairies in that chamber talking and laughing. He could see part of the door that led to the furniture factory. He was glad the stairs were so wide because they were now very high above the floor.

The next panel was a peacetime carving. It showed fairies living with tribes of Native American peoples. The panel—the longest one of all—seemed to go on forever, showing different tribes with fairy-tree villages thriving next to the human settlements. By the time they reached the end of the panel, peace had ended. The scene carved close to the edge showed fairies and Native Americans fighting the invading Europeans.

The next panel started with the same bloody battle. The fairies and their allies were once again being killed in large numbers. The last panel only showed one Native American village and a few fairy trees.

The last chamber opened a few feet from the edge of the panel, and suddenly something flew out of it. The object looked like a wooden airplane, with a propeller spinning to carry it past the staircase. The plane's wings were as long as Clayton's arms spread fingertip to fingertip, and looked to be made from woven strips of dead, willowy grasses. Abruptly, a parachute popped from one of the wing tips. After jerking open, the drag effect on the wing spun the plane around as the slender threads of the parachute snapped. The plane flew back into the chamber, leaving the parachute to flutter to the floor.

As the group looked into the chamber, a half dozen fairies congratulated the fairy pilot who held the plane. The whole chamber was filled with airborne creations. Hot air balloons of every shape and color floated lazily near the ceiling. A single flame from a small oil pot hanging under each balloon kept them in the air, while a string tethering each balloon to a table kept them from crashing into the ceiling.

Small spiral staircases floated around the room. They spun wildly, the effect of heat from the small flame pots hanging below them. They hovered at varying heights without the benefit of tethering. All airborne devices seemed to be made of finely woven strips of dead, tall grasses. Many broken plane fragments littered the benches.

Before Clayton could question the fairies' need for such things, SeeLee provided an explanation. “This is a hobby room. These fairies just love building balloons and kites, and anything else they can get to stay in the air. The next time we have a night when there's no moon and the wind is still, we'll let them all fly into the sky. The fireflies and moths love chasing after them, and the whole happening is really beautiful.”

After looking around the room once more, the group walked out, weaving around the spinning staircases drifting into their path.

Only three panels were carved between the second landing and the top of the stairs. The first started with a few fairy trees and Native American villages. Towns and villages, filled with white settlers, dotted the rest of the panel.

In the third panel, the settlers' towns and villages were larger and more populous. Large cities filled most of the landscape. There was only one fairy tree visible, and no sign of Native Americans. The remaining carving nearing the top showed large cities and towns with flying planes, trains traveling on tracks, and cars zooming by on carved roadways.

At the top of the stairs, a massive double door led to the furniture factory. The doors were three times Clayton's height, and an arched peak formed where they met in the middle. He felt the floor sink slightly as the doors opened automatically, revealing a very large room packed with fairies.

“This
is the furniture factory,” SeeLee announced, her arms spreading wide to encompass all the chaos inside.

The Furniture Factory

T
he chamber was shaped like an exceptionally massive egg, with its domed ceiling soaring forty feet above. There were at least a dozen rows of tables with benches attached, and dozens of fairies walked along each row.

There were fairies of all ages sitting on the benches or standing at the tables. They were happily chatting, with peals of laughter puncturing the air. The younger fairies were busily fitting pieces of wood together as their bantering kept pace with their energy.

The room was brightly lit, with dozens of mounded piles of fairy light scattered on the walls. The waxy, rounded ceiling reflected the fairy light as if it was a mirror. Ornate patterns were carved in the brown walls, and flowers occasionally danced through swirling patterns.

“This place was practically deserted when we were here a little while ago,” Karl remarked.

“Look at all the churlas! They're so cute! Can I take one home?” Penny asked.

“That wouldn't be any more practical than me going home with you,” SeeLee answered, giving Penny her best “don't be ridiculous” expression.

Cheela stretched her limbs before jumping from Penny's shoulder and running to the nearest table. She joined her friends and was soon lost in the whirlpool of excited churlas. Churlas hugged the shoulders of the fairies walking the rows. Many more frolicked on the tables, mimicking the woodwork activities of the young fairies. The churlas' tails were also busy grabbing, juggling, and tossing pieces of wood.

The group had barely taken a few steps into the chamber when they heard SeeLee's name called. The voice sounded young, and everyone turned to find its source. A very young fairy jumped onto a table from her bench. She appeared to be four years old, with streaming, pale-yellow hair and green, almond-shaped eyes that seemed much too big for her round, happy face. She was dressed identically to SeeLee, as if they were wearing matching sister outfits. The tiny fairy stood, waving excitedly, then made a mighty leap toward SeeLee.

She leapt into the air, but lunged with too much effort, flying past SeeLee. The tiny fairy's wings hadn't developed full spread and offered just a hint of the bright, golden glow that would some day shine at the edges.

Any color patterns that might have been budding were hard to see, as the wings fluttered behind her like flags. She quickly stiffened her legs in front of her. It appeared to Clayton that she was going to try to slide to a stop to keep from sailing past her intended target. This might have worked had she been sliding on the ground, but her ill-timed action had no effect while flying in the air, and the little creature looked ridiculous as she kept on cruising despite her best effort to stop. Her arms swung wildly behind her as she would soon smack right into the wall above the door. SeeLee flew to intercept her, catching the small fairy as she whizzed by. Grasping the little fairy's hands, SeeLee turned the smaller fairy's momentum into a spin as they spiraled gently down to the floor together in a hug. SeeLee accepted a kiss on her cheek as she guided the tiny fairy to the floor and turned to the humans.

“This is my little sister, Kast,” SeeLee proudly announced, then added, “as you can see, she's still trying to figure out the air.”

“I do it pretty good,” Kast insisted, rising to be face-to-face with SeeLee. Then she looked down and started to fall, but SeeLee caught her again and gently lowered her.

“Yes, you do, until you forget you can stay in the air,” SeeLee admonished before introducing Kast to the boys and finally Penny.

“Where are their wings?” Kast asked after introductions were made.

“They don't have wings. They are my human friends.”

“I know about humans,” Kast said gleefully and stared at them in amazement.

“You're so adorable. Can I take Kast home with me?” Penny asked as she bent down to hug Kast. She stared at the little fairy in wonderment, and Kast reflected her awe.

“Come see what I made,” Kast begged, grabbing Penny's hand as she led her to a table.

“That's
the furniture?” Paul asked.

“Yes, all against the wall,” Karl said, arms spanning the room.

Dozens of functional furniture pieces sat on a raised platform that circled the egg-shaped room. Older fairies were either building or examining each piece. The inspectors seemed to be searching for hidden compartments and springs, which when activated, would cause the recognizable furniture to unfold for a new use. The creator of each piece stood smugly nearby, so proud of his work.

“Look at that one,” Ron said, pointing.

The boys turned to see a fairy examining a newly made bedroom dresser. It had six drawers and was level with the fairy's chin. The dresser's edges were fashioned of rough bark, but the adjoining wood of the front was beautifully carved and shone with the same waxy sheen as the workshop walls.

After discovering several hidden compartments, the inspector fairy gently moved a piece of bark, and pivoted the top forward from a hidden post rising from the back corner. Swinging like a door, the top stopped moving ninety degrees from its original position. Spotting a hinge across the front of the lower half, the fairy excitedly grabbed the rear of the top and swung it forward until the dresser morphed into a desk.

Swinging the bottom side of the dresser in an arc, it easily unfolded into a chair. With this accomplished, the inspector fairy sat down and eagerly began searching for more hidden compartments.

After studying the whole operation for a minute, Clayton determined that the rows of tables and benches were used for training younger fairies. They were being taught how to make anything, or maybe everything, from wood. From the older fairies walking the rows, teaching and encouraging their students, the chamber was as much a social club as a training room.

The talk and laughter filling the room was so loud that Clayton barely heard Karl ask SeeLee if they could visit the platform and search for hidden compartments.

Clayton looked to the table where Penny was carefully examining Kast's newest creation and decided he could leave for a few minutes and join his friends as they explored. Clayton couldn't imagine any harm coming to his little sister in this tiny part of the universe that the fairies had altered for their use.

As he followed the others up the stairs, Clayton didn't look back.
Penny was in good hands,
he thought.

Kast led Penny from the safe room into one of the tunnels that occasionally interrupted the platform. The unsuspecting fairies were so cozy and smug, hidden in the little pocket of peace they created, that they were blissfully unaware a creature they had imprisoned under the tree many years before had escaped into one of the tree's dark and winding tunnels.

Freedom

A
long with many of his kind, Getch—the angry, ugly W creature—had been imprisoned for a very long time. He hated the fairies with a passion. What right did those flitting twits have to keep his kind from roaming the face of the earth? His assigned world of dimly lit caves never suited him even though he was born to it.

He loved to listen when the Elders circled around the glow fires and spoke of life on the surface of the earth. He was determined to get there. He wanted to see everything for himself—the giant ball of light in the sky, open spaces as far as the eye could see, roaring rivers, sparkling blue lakes, green plants growing in abundance, and especially, oh yes, especially roaming animals beyond number to savor and devour.

All his life he'd listened to those tales told around the glows, and he desperately wanted them to be real.

Sometimes, the creature left the glows thinking the Oldest had only imagined these wondrous things in dreams.

Stories were also told about the persecution of his kind by fairies and humans. Neither species would leave his clans alone, each having tried to force his entire species into extinction. Both humans and fairies were to be hated, that was for certain. The creature really didn't believe in humans because none were ever seen, but fairies were real enough. They could be seen every day guarding the prison cave's only exit. Now, he would find out for sure if those old stories were real.

Getch had spent the last few months chewing his way up through a large, newly dead tree root. He kept his escape effort secret from his own kind by acting so peevish and short-tempered that no one wanted to be near him. The creature wanted the escape from his prison to be a personal triumph before he would share with the others.

The creature would sneak down a maze of tunnels to his hidden work station. There had been fables told of others' ancient attempts to dig escape routes through the earth, but they always failed when rocks and layers of stone made it impossible to dig any further. He was the only one—the smartest one—to think of tunneling up a tree root, with no barrier to hinder his tedious excavation, except for the horrific stink of rotting wood.

As he had done so many times before, he frantically clawed at the gnarled root when the entrance to a small chamber off a tunnel suddenly tumbled open. The moist air wafting from what had to be a fairy's tunnel held the scent of sweet freedom. Success had come just in the nick of time, because he was tired of smelling the decaying root and ready to concede failure.

Now, he was breathing a different kind of air. It didn't have the properties of the foul cave air he had inhaled for years. This air seemed to be richer, like there was more air in it. The creature imagined the air at the surface to be really wonderful, and he was very anxious to find out. As much as he wanted to make his run for freedom, he cautiously chose to hide in the tree root to determine how often the tunnel was used. It had to be a fairy-made tunnel and was possibly heavily trafficked.

When the creature was young, he was taught how the fairies had lured his species into a trap. It was told that an army of humans chased after them to kill or capture everyone they could. Between the fairies' lure and the humans' chase, his species ended up in a prison with fairy guards barring their escape. Some of the craziest Elders would say that the fairies made them all smaller. He didn't know what to believe, so he would proceed with great caution, since he had come so far.

The creature was lucky the root ran through a small room adjacent to the tunnel instead of jutting into the tunnel wall or floor where his escape hole could be easily seen. He climbed back into the root, leaving only part of his head exposed to watch for activity.

He would watch and learn, then collect the others. As the builder of an escape route that really worked, his status in the tribe would certainly improve. Hopefully, he would be awarded the daughter of the head tribal chief to be his mate. If he could kill a fairy, his family would hold a place of glorified prominence. Even better, if he could drag a fairy back to the prison so all could share in its death, he might even be made a tribal chief of some standing.

Yes,
he thought as he rubbed his claws together.
My time has come.