In the Castle

Where could she be? Carissa wandered around the forest. After searching her land for Keaira, she crossed into the human land, thinking perhaps Keaira had gone to be alone. She had been gone for a few hours now, which was not normal. Carissa had been looking for her for some time, when suddenly Keaira appeared from behind the trees.

"Oh!" Keaira stopped quickly, her eyes wide. "Carissa. What a surprise to find you here."

Carissa crossed her arms. "Where have you been, Keaira?"

Keaira held out her hands, which were full of round red berries. "I was collecting berries and got lost in thought I suppose." She tried to smile.

Carissa glanced at the berries before looking Keaira in the eyes. "Those are poisonous."

"Oh, yes." Keaira quickly dropped them.

"Keaira, I know you're lying. Tell me where you've really been."

"Um, well," Keaira looked down. "I may have met a boy."

Now it was Carissa's eyes that widened. "What? Did you speak with him?"

Keaira shrugged and bit her lip. "A little."

"Anything else?"

"Um, he may have taken me to his village…"

"You went to a human village?!" Carissa's voice rose and her whole body shook. "And did you tell him about us?”

"No of course not! I told him my family lived in the woods. I said we're very private. He believed me, don't worry."

Carissa's eyes narrowed. "And if he tries to find you again? We have protections, but a human could still discover us. How could you do such a foolish thing?" Keaira looked down. "Go back to the house," Carissa continued. "We will finish this discussion later." Keaira ran off quickly.

A dozen thoughts rushed through Carissa's mind, but one was louder than the rest: We're doomed. I'm doomed. I have to tell the queen. She's is going to slit my throat. Carissa began to shake again, but not from anger this time. She slowly made her way back to her land.

She came to a cliff at the edge of the forest and through a small opening she entered into a cave. It was warm inside, and small openings allowed light to shine through the ceiling. After walking for about three miles, Carissa emerged into the land of the faerie.

After walking through the village and across a long bridge above a ravine, she came to the queen's castle. It was large, but the tallest tower was still lower than the grand trees around it, keeping it hidden from view. The gold and crystal on the castle shone in the sunlight. Carissa breathed deeply before entering the grand, intimidating fortress.

Carissa headed straight for the great hall, where she found Queen Maeve sitting at a long table eating.

“My apologies for disturbing you, Your Majesty,” Carissa began, "But we have a problem."

The queen hardly looked up from her food. "I am sure it is simple to resolve."

"Keaira met a boy, a human."

The fork in Queen Maeve's hand halted midway. She slowly lowered it and asked calmly, "What did you say?"

Carissa swallowed and repeated, "Keaira met a human. And he took her to his village. She's returned, however..."

The queen let out a loud shriek and stood up instantly. "You imbecile! How could you allow this to happen? No longer will the girl be content here now." She closed her eyes. "We will have to move forward with our plan." A smile slowly came upon her face, but as she opened her eyes they were cold. "No matter. We will get our revenge regardless."

"Do you really think Keaira will cooperate?" Carissa asked. It was a question she had been asking herself for some time now. "What if she learns the truth?"

Queen Maeve cackled. "None of those fools suspect Breen to be anything more than their beloved princess, Brianna. She will be able to assassinate the king easily."

"And what about the prince? Keaira will not be able to take the throne if he is still... around."

The queen smirked. "I am certain the cause of the king's death will be tragically 'contagious'."

Carissa had suspected as much, but the queen had always been sparring with the information she offered to Carissa. The thought of murdering the king was easily accepted in Carissa's mind, for he had betrayed them by breaking his deal. However, killing Keaira's brother? Carissa didn't feel right about it. "Will others not suspect something is amiss?"

"The only one we should be concerned about is Keaira. If all goes as planned, she will be queen and will give back the land which is rightfully ours." The queen sat back down. "I do not wish to conquer the humans or bring about any unnecessary bloodshed. I only desire what is rightfully ours. After we have our revenge, we will finally have peace."

Carissa's stomach felt uneasy. The peace the queen wanted would come with serious consequences, and Carissa was not certain she wanted it this way.

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Carissa ran towards her house, towards Keaira.

Queen Maeve had sent messengers to Breen to tell her to move forward with the plan. As soon as she left the queen's castle, she did not give it a second thought and ran straight to her house. She would have to tell Keaira the truth.

Keaira was sitting in her bed reading when Carissa entered the house. There was no time to lose. Without a word, Carissa grabbed Keaira by the hand and pulled her out of bed. The book in Keaira's hand hit the floor with a thud.

"What's going on, Carissa? Are you still angry with me?" Keaira's voice shook.

Carissa didn't answer, but opened the door slightly and looked around. Only a few faeries were near. Carissa closed the door and turned to Keaira, who stared at her with wide eyes.

"I promise to explain everything, but first I need you to act natural and come with me. I need to take you somewhere."

Keaira nodded slowly. "I trust you, Carissa."

You shouldn’t, Carissa thought, feeling a pang of guilt.

Author's Note: This story is meant to finally give an explanation for why the fairies want revenge and what they are planning. I know this has been something a lot of y'all have been wondering, and I think I will go back through my previous stories and allude more to this. I took a lot from different folklore stories as well as from Sir Orfeo again. I used the entrance to the land of the fairy and the queen's castle from the poem Sir Orfeo as inspiration for the entrance to my own land of the faerie and the castle. This hopefully helps with any confusion to whether a human could stumble upon their land. Theoretically, they could, but it would be difficult to find. I also took inspiration from many fairy tales which portray fairies as vengeful and ruthless, even when the wrong done against them is very slight. After reading some stories from Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde, I have realized fairies overreact to everything, so anything could set them off. In "The Fairies' Revenge," a man builds a house on a spot that the fairies love. Because of this, they seek revenge and his son ends up dying because the man stole the fairies' land. I chose to use this idea for my own faeries. Fairies are also very murderous creatures, and so it would come as no surprise that Queen Maeve would want to kill the king. In "A Terrible Revenge," the fairies take revenge by switching a woman's children with changelings, like my faeiries did with Keaira. The only difference is that they plan to use her to help them. I hope all of this makes sense and as always I am open to any criticism.

Image information: "Castle" by Jason (FantasyArt0102), 2015. Web source: DeviantArt

Bibliography: Sir Orfeo edited by Anna Laskaya and Eve Salisbury, 1995. Source link: University of Rochester

"A Terrible Revenge" from Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde. Source link: Sacred Texts

"The Fairies' Revenge" from Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde. Source link: Sacred Texts