Page 187 of Sigils & Spells

We stepped into a stable, a huge stable, easily three times the size of Blaze’s, yet there were only a few horses in the fancy stalls, and no Fae. The mushroom Fae pulled on my reign and led me into one of the nearest stalls, that sat with the door open.

I’d been too taken by my surroundings to really think about what might be about to happen. The Fae noble Maeve wanted to enslave me as her horse forever. Ruby had said they couldn’t force me into servitude unless I willingly ate the apple. Were they going to make me do it as a horse?

But my thoughts didn’t get their feet under them long enough to begin racing before the mushroom woman stepped in as well, closing the stall door behind her with a click. The other Fae turned and wandered away, all except the owl man.

I took a step back, but there wasn’t much back for my huge rear legs to go, so I was forced to stop.

She put one hand up, just as she had before, and I found myself compelled to be still. I went still, my heart pounding against my skin. She pressed her hand to my snout, and pulled off the lasso.

“I must ask her ladyship what to do with you.” she whispered. And this time the world really went dark. “Now sleep.”

MAEVE

The whole goingto sleep in one place and waking up somewhere new and exciting was getting really old.

I knew I wasn’t in the stall before I opened my eyes, just as I knew I was human again. I had fingers, and I could feel my hair clinging to the back of my neck as if I’d been sweating, despite the chill that touched my skin.

I groaned and cracked my eyes open. Amber light overwhelmed me, and stabbed into a headache I hadn’t noticed that throbbed just behind my eyes.

I blinked up at a scarlet canopy of velvety looking drapes. I was on a bed, lying spread eagle.

I rubbed at my face with both hands.

As I did so I heard a little sniffle and chirp-like sound, followed by the feeling of tiny claws on my chest. Fur tickled my chin. Sugar glider Alice was sniffing my face intently, making little rodent noises.

“Hi, Alice.” I managed, but it came out as a groan. I put my hand around the sugar glider so she wouldn’t fall as I sat up. I held her in both hands. She looked at me with little beady eyes, her long tail flicking around behind her.

I looked around the room. The bed I sat on was draped all in scarlet. The pillows and a thick plush comforter were the same color, but with a thick stripe of flower patterned gold embroidery down the middle of each. The bed seemed to mold to me, and if I’d been less terrified I might have just gone right back to sleep. It was so soft, it called to me.

Both the room and the bed were round, and the bed, which had to be king sized or bigger, took up most of the space, like the red iris in a big eye.

Gold lanterns posted on the walls in intervals of a few feet lit the room, along with a thin slit of a window, where some light filtered between red curtains. The walls were a textured saffron yellow where I could see it, but most were covered in paintings of flowers and birds. Under the window was a desk. The wood was rich in color and heavily carved with intricate designs.

On the desk was nothing but a singular, Ruby red apple, with one bite taken out of it.

The apple from my dream.

It looked like I’d bitten it moments ago, instead of days.

Alice made a little barking sound, that sounded like a dog’s squeaky toy, that drew my attention back to her from the apple.

The sugar glider leapt out of my hand with surprising distance towards the door. She landed on the ground, her little clawed feet struggling to find traction on the marble and grabbed with her tiny hands what I’d missed before. An envelope.

I stood and crossed the room to her, discovering as I did so that I had sea legs which wobbled under me like noodles. Well, I had horse legs.

I reached down and took the envelope with one hand, letting her hop onto my other, and crawl up my arm to rest on my shoulder.

The envelope was a thick yellowy paper, sealed with gold wax. I wedged the seal off and opened it, to find a small scrap of paper.

“Dear Julian Sanchez.” I read out loud.

Something about hearing my full name after Ruby had forbidden me to speak it sent a chill down my spine, and I found myself looking around the room as if something would happen. When nothing did, I cleared my throat and continued to read with swirly handwriting. “See what my servants get? This room is filled with the comfort you could enjoy if you only finish the apple. Finish the apple and be mine. The witch and the werewolf enjoy my dungeons, but commit yourself to me and I will let them free after only a year in my service. Then they shall be free to go if they so choose. I do not like it when my things are taken from me. Choose wisely. Maeve.”

I shivered again, and Alice made that same barking sound again, nails digging nervously into the side of my neck.

“I know.” I said as if I understood her. “It’s a trick.”

I threw the letter at the desk and circled the room. I tried the door knob, golden and shaped to look like the bud of a young flower. It was locked. I patted on the walls and lifted each painting. No passageway revealed itself. I went to the window and peaked out the curtain. The window was narrower than my head, but it was tall, and out of it I could see Elfhame. I looked out over an endless sea of trees. I could see the town far, far below, and in the distance, was the monumental figure of another giant tree. I wonder who lived there. Was it another Fae noble enslaving humans as a hobby, or did that one like… go fishing instead?

---