Faytes of the Otherworld: Fayted

The road narrowed as it followed the curve of the mountainside, eventually opening up to reveal a desolate town with chipped cobblestone and crumbling buildings. No one was out at all, which was good considering that there were no walls to protect them.

After a long stretch of ghost town, the cart rolled up to tall, iron gates. At least that’s what they used to be: they were weathered now, with peeling paint and rusty edges. The gates ran along into a wrought iron fence that wrapped all the way around a large brick building with stone columns.

“Whitmore Library.” Liam pointed out as Dani climbed onto the bench seat beside him.

“It looks so well kept.” Dani mused, admiring the ivy that was growing all across the front of the building like some natural tapestry.

“Well, everyone that is left lives inside these gates. The rest of the town lies in ruins because no one exists there anymore. This is no longer the town of Hartford, but the town of Whitmore Library.” Liam had pulled the cart up right in front of the large double doors and brought it to a halt. The others dismounted their horses and Liam carefully assisted Dani in climbing down.

“Ah, Liam. Come to steal our literature again, hm?” A man in his mid-thirties strolled up to them, hand outstretched for Liam to shake it.

“Who is robbing who, now? I had to bring you a small weapons arsenal just so you’d let me look through those spineless wads of tissue you call books.” Liam smiled, nudging the other man with his elbow.

“And who is this lovely lady?” The man held his hand out for Dani. When she returned the gesture, he gripped it, kissing the top.

“This is Dani. She is new to the Hedgerow and, we recently discovered, a budding theologist.” Liam lied through his teeth. Religion wasn’t what they were after, but no one was any the wiser.

“Well, if you’re as smart as you are beautiful, there should be no problem finding what you are looking for. I’m Bastion by the way.” He smiled at Dani; a little too widely for her liking.

“Shall we?” Liam asked and Bastion nodded, leading them inside the library.

“What are you looking for this time?” Bastion directed them into an entryway laid with a lush Persian rug and chestnut walls. The lighting inside had been mostly converted to gas lamps and was almost like walking into an old Victorian library.

“There has to be something more about how to fight them,” Liam spoke robotically.

“Nothing works, Liam. You know that. Holy Water, Crosses, Latin incantations; all of it is bullshit. The only thing that seems to work is the damned gates. Nothing comes across those walls.” Bastion looked as if he had had this conversation with Liam a hundred times.

“It’s because they’re iron.” Dani blurted, possibly blowing their cover.

“Excuse me?” Bastion stopped and just stared.

“They’re—they’re iron.” Dani pursed her lips in anticipation, “They don’t like iron.”

“That’s—new.” Bastion now looked at her curiously.

“I—I haven’t been quite honest with you, Bastion.” Liam took a deep breath, “We know what these things actually are.”

“Is that so? Well, spit it out, man! What the hell are they?” Bastion was ready to finally have an answer.

“Faeries,” Liam spoke one word and waited.

Bastion studied him quietly for a moment, before finally bursting out into raucous laughter.

“Ah, ha. Ha ha. Ooooh, Liam, you have always been hilarious.” Bastion clapped him on the shoulder.

“He’s not joking. They are faeries.” Dani was indignant.

After a moment of analyzing the serious looks on Dani and Liam’s faces, Bastion finally whistled.

“You’re bloody serious.” The other two just nodded.

“How in the—,” Bastion started, but Liam cut him off.

“I’ll explain later. We don’t have a whole lot of time really. I want to make it back to the Hedgerow by tomorrow evening.” Liam didn’t have time for a whole break down, at least not now.

“Alright then. Get to business. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” Bastion bowed slightly and went to sit with a bunch of eccentric looking people, sipping scotch and reading musty old books.

Liam nodded back and led Dani down a short corridor that opened wide into a room with ten-meter-tall ceilings and wall to wall bookshelves stuffed with more books than she had ever seen at once.

“This is even better than the University library.” Dani breathed, wandering off to run her fingers along threadbare spines.

“It is a great compilation. Not all of these books are native to the library. People added volumes as they came along, scavenged from other towns and cities, and wrote their own. It’s a mega computer of books.” Liam explained, leading Dani through a door and down a wide staircase.

“Are we going to the basement?” Dani felt her way behind Liam down the dark stairwell.

“That’s where the best books are.” He gripped her hand and guided her down to the lower level.

P

“Anything?” Liam sat another kerosene lamp on the oak table next to where Dani was pouring over a pile of books.

“More folklore, mostly. Nothing of real importance.” Dani just shook her head, thumbing through an old volume of fairy tales.

“There’s got to be something.” Liam sat down with a pile of his own books and began leafing through their chapters.

“You’d think, but so far—nothing.” Dani sighed, closing the book she was reading as she reached for another volume.

She leafed through it at lightning speed before picking up the last in her pile.

“Are you even reading those?” Liam had only made it a few pages into his own book.

“Yes.” Dani threw him an irritated look, “I just read really, really fast.” She was getting tired of looking through books of fictional stories and old wives’ tales.

Liam tossed her a book from his stack. Dani caught it effortlessly and stared wide-eyed at him.

“What is this one about?” He asked, eyeing her.

“Let me see.” Dani opened the book and quickly flicked through the pages from cover to cover.

“Scandinavian folk tales. Mostly about the Jotun, dwarves, Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar.” Dani laid the book down.

“The what?” Liam’s brow was knit as another book dangled from his hand.

“Dwarves, giants, and elves.” Dani huffed.

“And this one.” Liam tossed the book to her and she grunted as she caught it mid-air. She went to open it when Liam stopped her.

“No, just tell me what it says. Tell me if it is important.” Liam pointed at the book.

Dani went to open it again when Liam put his hand on top of the book.

“Don’t read it; just feel it.” Liam nodded at her.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Dani paused, looking down at the book.

“Like you do normally. I don’t think you are actually reading it. I watched you; your eyes never moved from one line to the next, but you just seem to absorb the information.” Liam challenged her.

“Fine.” Dani smirked and placed her free hand on top of the book, “Russian fairytales. Quite a bit of information, but most of these fae reside in Russia and not many translate over. Though with everything that is going in there is a possibility that they migrated.” Dani set the book back down on the table.

“See.” Liam looked triumphant.

“I’m glad you’re proud.” Dani stood from the table and walked off down a musty aisle of books. Liam was left sitting alone, a quiet sigh escaping his lips. She was difficult to read at times and very skittish. He was going to change that…

Dani ran her fingers along the spines, hoping that she would pick up something. It all felt identical; the same information printed over and over again in various books. Dani knew the difference between what was real and what wasn’t and everything they had read pretty much detailed what she already knew. They needed something new; something fresh.

She wasn’t even paying attention to where she was going; she had already made it to the back of the basement at the last row of books. Mindlessly she passed down the next row, her hand outstretched as she continued to tickle the book’s spines.

Folktales of the Appalachian Mountains

Creatures of Scottish Folklore

Yosei: A History of Japanese Fairies

Some good tidbits of new information, but nothing viable.

Dani came to an old dusty rug in front of the shelves, the only piece of carpeting on the ancient wooden floorboards, when something flipped from the shelf next to her. It landed atop the rug and bounced right in front of her feet.

Not surprisingly, it was a book.

The volume finally halted, flipping open with yellowed pages exposed.

“Funny,” Dani murmured. There was a buzz in the air like the static you get during a lightning storm; a sensation that was almost palpable.

She bent down to pick up the book, gripping it by its hard- backed cover. Dani closed it to read the front: the title was embossed in gold on a deep green leather jacket.

“Tuatha Dé Danann.” She breathed, slowly flipping the cover open as she backed up to the wall to sit down. She began to read the first page as she folded her legs and let herself drop into a sitting position on the rug. No sooner had she sat when the book that was cradled in her hands began to vibrate. It was a low hum at first, but it slowly built up until the ground beneath her shook, making a rattling sound as the floor shuddered beneath her.

Liam heard Dani let out a squeal of surprise and came running from his seat at the table to find her in the back of the room, tipped over on her side and halfway rolled up in the rug that was under her.

“What on Earth are you doing?” Liam had a funny look on his face as Dani struggled to untangle herself from the old floor covering.

“Oh, you know—just pretending that I’m a bloody burrito.” Dani kicked off the last part of the rug that was still draped over her foot and scrambled to a standing position, looking down at the floor cover that had just accosted her.

“I was just sitting here, getting ready to read this,” Dani held the book up, “And the blasted thing just started to roll up on me.” She kicked at the fabric with her foot.

This swipe at the ground kicked up a bunch of dust, and when it settled Dani noticed a deep groove in the floor that ran along the side where the rug had been.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Liam challenged, approaching her as she studied the floor.

“Maybe it does.” Dani dropped to the ground and tore away the rest of the rug to reveal a rather well-hidden hatch. Problem was, there was no handle or rope to open it.

“A hidden room?” Liam got down next to her and ran his hand over the raised section of the floor. The crack between the hatch and the rest of the floor was too slim for him to get his fingers in and even when Dani tried to get some sort of grip at the seam, her fingers kept slipping.

“A hidden something. Someone doesn’t want anyone to get in there.” Dani picked at the splintering wood.

“Maybe I should ask Bastion,” Liam suggested, but Dani quickly shot that idea down.

“I have a feeling that whatever is down there will be news to them too. Did you see how much dust was under here? And how warped the wood is? No one has been down there in ages; at least not since the Fae invaded.” Dani finished her statement and stood, tapping her finger against her lips as she thought.

“Oh!” She dropped back down to the floor, “Do you have a knife? A slim one preferably.” Dani held out her hand for whatever Liam might have handy.

“Actually, I do.” Liam fiddled around in the pocket of his trousers before producing a small pocket knife.

“Perfect.” Dani snatched it from him, popped open the blade, and jammed it in the crack of the hatch. She pried with all her might as the wood groaned in protest. Years of humidity and inadequate ventilation had caused the wood to distort so much, Dani wasn’t sure she could pry it open. She rocked back to the floor and yanked the handle of the knife as far back as she could without snapping the blade. The wood wailed now as it scraped against the sides of the doorway it occupied.

Pop!

The hatch flew open and the knife shot from Dani’s hands, soared over her head, and imbedded itself in an old desk that stood up against the wall. A gust of stale air accompanied it with a whoosh, knocking her flat on her back.

“Jesus Christ; are you alright?” Liam helped her stand up as they gazed down into the dark opening in the floor.

“Yeah, yeah— I’m fine.” Dani brushed the dust off of her trousers and lowered herself down to slip into the opening.

“Whoa, wait. What are you doing?” Liam reached out and gripped her arm.

“I need to see what is down here.” She shrugged him off and lowered herself through the hatch in the floor.

“Dani—Dani!” Liam tried to stop her, but she had already vanished through the secret hatch.