Wood of the Moon-Flower

Chapter 1

Jason watched the ceiling, waiting as what seemed like forever passed by. He had to make sure everyone was asleep, that no one would see or hear him when he snuck out. Still, staring at the ceiling was probably the most boring thing in the world to do. However, it was also the quietest. Finally, Jason got out of bed and looked outside. Nothing moved, except a rat searching for scraps by the wall of the neighboring house. His eyes then turned to the sky, looking for the moon. It wasn’t a full moon, which was good, but neither was it a darkened moon, so the boys could see their way through the woods at night, and so they could tell how late it was. Jason smiled and vaulted himself through the square opening on his wall that served as a window.
No one from the village was allowed to enter the forest at night. It was ridiculous, really; the only reason the village had this rule in the first place was because of the old stories of ‘Faerie Magic’ in the woods. No one believed in Faeries any more; why should anyone be afraid of their magic? Jason and his friends, Will, Damon and Eric all agreed on this point. That’s why they had chosen to sneak out on this night and explore the woods, because they didn’t have time during the day. The fact that it was forbidden just made it more exciting.
Jason was careful to be quiet as he walked down the path to the edge of the forest.
When he got there, Jason could not see anyone: just the few houses on either side of the road from which he had come, and the dark, ever looming forest. A gentle murmur greeted Jason’s ears, and he ran to the edge of the forest, trying to see if anyone was already there. When he arrived and looked around, however, he found no one there. It was probably just his anxious mind playing tricks on him; he was scared of getting caught, though he would never admit it. Jason turned back towards the village upon finding his friends absent, and looked around, listening intently for them. He thought he heard someone again… it sounded like Will, but Jason couldn’t be sure; he couldn’t make out the words.
“…In the forest! You’re so late! Come on!” Jason started at the challenge. This was obviously Will; the tone and taunting were unmistakeable. No one else would have the nerve to taunt Jason like that. Thinking only of his pride, and grinning, Jason plunged into the forest.
“The others have gone ahead already. Jeez, what were you thinking?”
Jason couldn’t see anything, so he blindly followed the voice, retorting, “I was thinking we’d be picking up after the animals for months if we were caught.”
Everyone in Jason’s village helped out with community chores; everyone who needed help, for example, the farmers during harvest season, posted jobs they needed done, and people who weren’t busy were given assignments. Picking up after the pigs was one of the filthiest and least-liked jobs, and one that carried on all year long, so that everyone at some point had had to do it, and everyone tried to volunteer for the other jobs first. Kids like Jason were always helping out, but the bakers and butchers and hunters never had to, because they were always busy. People like carpenters and cobblers and blacksmiths, who had sporadic jobs, had to tell the Elders when they were busy, so they wouldn’t be forced to give up their jobs to help out. It was an effective system, overall; if anyone tried to cheat out of doing work, the immediate punishment was cleaning up after some sort of livestock. The pigs were the worst, followed by the hens and then the cows. The problem with hens was that they always tried to run away, and an entire day could be spent chasing after two renegades.
As Jason walked along, idly retaliating to the provocations of his friend, who sometimes sounded no more than a foot away, and sometimes so far away that Jason had to actually run for fear he’d lose the only way he had of reuniting with his other friends, Jason began to remember why going out into the woods at such a dark time wasn’t a good idea. First of all, there had to be lots of traps hidden along any type of trail or clearing in the woods; hunters couldn’t really pick up every one; even the most meticulous had to forget where he put that last rabbit trap occasionally. Aside from the traps, there were wild animals in the woods. Probably, no one even knew half of the animals that lived in the woods. People had tried to explore them, but either came back empty-handed, crazy, or never returned at all. The idea was daunting, and Jason remembered that he wasn’t even a grown man like many of those were. He was just a boy. Jason shivered a moment and stopped, thinking about how it would be a really good idea to turn back now.
“Hey, what’s the hold up, Jason? You find something neat?” Jason could hear footsteps, but couldn’t see his friend’s face: any light the moon might have given was blocked by the thick canopy of the trees.
“…No, I was just looking at this tree. I thought I saw something, but it’s just the bark.” Jason shrugged. There was no way he was going to admit he was scared, especially not to Will.
“Whatever.” With that, Jason continued following Will through the forest. He became more confused the farther they went. Even if he was behind, they should have caught up with the others by now. And if he was really so far behind them that they couldn’t have caught up even now, how could Will possibly know the way? They hadn’t really talked about it before, which meant that Will and the others had to have discussed it before they entered the forest. But there wasn’t enough time for them to make such intricate plans, and then for the others to get ahead, if they’d waited on everyone to go to sleep.
Feeling clammy at the thought, Jason stopped again. He’d been silent for a while now, just taking Will’s jibes in stride, but now… Jason wasn’t sure this was Will at all.
“Jason?”
“…Let me see you, Will.” He was in a rare break in the canopy where moonlight filtered through. It was just enough for him to see ‘Will’s’ face, now that his eyes had adjusted as much as possible to the darkness.
There was a long pause before Jason heard a voice say, “Why?” from beyond the row of bushes that protected this clearing.
“…We still haven’t caught up with the others. I think we’re lost, Will. So just come here where I can see you so I can talk to you.” Jason said, thinking quickly. If it really was Will, he could never say he suspected he wasn’t really Will, or he’d never be able to live this down.
Jason heard feet crunch on leaves, but saw nothing. No feet, no head, no figure, not even a silhouette. What if the stories were true? Jason felt sweat beading on his hands and forehead. Was it really a faerie? Did they really exist? It wasn’t possible! But then…Jason should be able to see his best friend, now.
Suddenly, he heard a giggle from his left. Jason turned to look, but saw nothing. That laugh… it sounded like a small girl. Once again, he heard a laugh, then felt a bouncing on his foot.
Jason looked down, and suddenly felt nauseous. On top of his foot was a miniature person, glowing, almost like she were an animate star. Then, with a flutter like that of a dragonfly’s wings, audible only because of the dead silence of the night, he noticed her wings as she rose.
“Jason! Oh, Ja~so~n!” she called. Her voice sounded just like Will!
Jason glared at the miniature faerie, in her long green tunic and blue trousers. The clothes couldn’t even fit on a doll. “You…You led me here!” He accused, his face quickly turning red in anger.
“It took you that long to figure it out? You humans are so stupid!” She laughed again, and this time Jason noticed how it seemed to echo off of every tree and bush. “Come along now! You’ve seen me, you’ve gotten what you want, now follow me, and give me what I want!” She cimed, flying out of the clearing.
Jason watched her leave, feeling worse than ever. He really was an idiot; none of his friends would have been fooled for so long.
Jason stepped back, and was about to turn around to try to find his way home again when the faerie interrupted him. “Hey! You can’t really be thinking about leaving! Hey! Come back here!” The faerie darted back over to him, and began pulling at his ear. “Come on! Let’s move it! That’s the wrong way! You humans are stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! Follow me, don’t go over there!!”
Jason was getting irritated at this faerie very quickly. “Shut up! Are you dense?! There’s no way I’m going to follow you! You tricked me!”
The faerie flew in front of his face and put her hands on her hips. “Would you have followed me if I had shown to you that I was a faerie? Hmmm?” She asked ironically, leaning in as if to study his face.
“Of course not!” The faerie looked smug at this, as if she had won. Jason merely grew more agitated. “Why would you even want me to follow you in the first place? So you can get me lost, and watch as I stumble about the woods?” Jason released a mirthless laugh. “I have no reason to follow you, and a multitude of reasons not to!”
The faerie rolled her eyes. “If I had wanted to watch you stumble around, I would have disappeared ages ago! You have no idea of even where you are, and you haven’t since I led you into these woods! This is not human territory, Jason; you’re in my lands now, and unless you do want to wander around these woods stupidly for days, you’d better follow me. You know you can’t find your way out of here without a guide, and especially not under a faerie’s wrath. I can make it so that you never find your way out of these woods.” These last words were said with a conviction that positively scared Jason. He knew these things already, but the conviction in that hidden threat made him so scared that he decided to turn around and continue to follow the faerie, though he cursed his stupidity every second thereafter.
The faerie, meanwhile, seemed very pleased with herself. She flitted in and out of the trees, always ahead of him, as she led him through more bushes and briars. She even started to sing after a certain point. Though Jason couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy her voice; it was unlike anything he’d ever heard: surreal, almost, but beautiful; she seemed to be making up the song as she sung it, and he gradually grew annoyed with it. It reminded him of a child, singing about everything she saw or did, but it was made annoying by the fact that he was following her against his will already, and this just seemed like added torture. The verses included things like, “Avoid the icky human-trails, avoid the defiling of na~ture!” and “Walking through the forest, leading on my special guest. Soon we’ll be at the feast, and we’ll eat until our bellies burst!” It was also interspersed by that girlish laughter that Jason soon grew to hate, as well as glances behind on her part. Jason wanted to tell her to shut up, but he knew she would just find another, worse form of torture to administer whilst they walked.
Finally, she disappeared behind an especially thick thorn-bush. Jason groaned, trying to find a way around it, but unfortunately, the trees around grew too thick, and didn’t have branches low enough for him to climb over. With another groan, Jason miserably dropped to his belly and tried to fight his way through the bottom of the bush, under the worst thorns, though by the end he had more cuts and scrapes than he could count, and his clothes were in pitiful shape, even to Jason, who refused to change until morning the next day, even if he was working in muddy fields.
“Jason.” The faerie’s voice sounded older, now; richer, more beautiful, less annoying.
Jason looked up, and would have fallen over if he weren’t already seated. The faerie was taller than him! She looked like a woman a few years older than he! That is, if she didn’t have wings, shining white hair, and haunting eyes that seemed to change color as he looked at them, and if she weren’t glowing or wearing faerie clothes. “Wh-Wha…?” He babbled dumbly, but was interrupted by a glance, and fingers over his lips.
“You are about to enter a valley, my home. You must be respectful and courteous to all who dwell here. No human has been permitted entrance since… Well, since a long time ago. Not all of the faeries will be as generous as I have been,” she warned, “but you must remember to treat them with the highest respect possible, no matter what.” Jason nodded solemnly. The faerie’s expression softened, and she started to smile. “…Secondly, stay with me. I’m sure you won’t get into trouble, as long as you’re respectful, but I’d like to introduce a few people to you.”
As she said this, Jason remembered something that had been plaguing him ever since she revealed herself to him. “But wait, how did you know so much about me?” Even as he said this, she dragged him by the wrist through a canopy of hanging vines and into probably the most mysterious place in the entire forest.
* * *
When Jason entered the valley, he was overwhelmed with what he beheld. First of all, it was bright; he hadn’t been able to tell before the curtain of hanging vines was lifted; it was probably disguised by magic. The light came from lanterns all around the valley, though they were unlike any lanterns Jason had ever seen: They seemed to be made of light itself, or of the stars, with a metal frame that seemed to contain this light from breaking free. Two hung by the entrance he and the faerie had just walked through, and there were other lanterns along various dirt paths that ran through the otherwise flat and grassy clearing. There were lanterns at every corner of every building, and one beside every door, and a row of lanterns circling the clearing itself, and along a gigantic table on one side of the clearing, lanterns seemed to hang over the plates of food and in rows along both sides of the table.
The buildings were made of no material Jason could recognize; or rather, each seemed to be made of different material. The walls seemed to be made out of something that looked like a mixture of grass and clay, though Jason couldn’t be sure, and along them were intricate patterns, weaving and growing and looping in lavender, seafoam, light blue, and even a light orange. The designs glowed, and distinguished the buildings. Jason was stunned by the size of the valley; it was over three times as big as his village, surely! There were trees and bushes with beautiful colorful berries and tiny flowers, and everything seemed to be spaced out. Over the entire valley was a calm, a relaxed feel, and Jason couldn’t imagine any of the faeries had ever felt rushed in their entire lives. The roofs of the houses were made out of leaves, ranging from woven pine-needles to big, broad leaves from some unknown plant; surely the leaves were as big as Jason!
Faeries of any size and age imaginable flew and ran across the valley. There were too many to count, but it didn’t seem crowded. Jason felt that three times as many could live here comfortably. The faeries Jason saw ranged from as big as Lessa was when she first appeared to Jason, smaller than his head, to twice as big as he. The size held no respect for age, moreover. A child faerie, or what was surely younger than Jason, was taller than he, chasing after an adult less than one-half its size. Throughout the valley, Jason could hear various laughs. Some high-pitched, some deep and melodic; some sounded crazed, others were awkwardly slow, but every laugh seemed to echo, almost like a bell. The clothing of the faeries was beautiful and in every color imaginable. Every article of clothing fit in the most flattering way possible; there seemed to be no law of dresses for women nor shirts and trousers for men; everyone wore any type of clothing, some of which was alien to Jason.
The trees were so varied and diverse in appearance that Jason would be hard-pressed to find two that looked as if they could be the same, yet they all looked as though they were each a part of the same family, Jason noticed. The bushes had round, almost rubbery leaves, and the underside was a glowing silver, as if the light of the stars had been smothered on them, and the upper surface had a steadier, if fainter, glow, as though the spring moon was only a cheap imitation of these leaves. The flowers were even more amazing. They were in all colors imaginable (and some unimaginable), and though under normal circumstances Jason wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the colors, as it was dark, he could see the variations because the flowers also seemed to glow. The glow of the flowers was so that Jason wouldn’t have known they were glowing, if it weren’t for the defiance of the dark these flowers had; they looked as though they were in sunlight, when in reality there was no sunlight, only moon and starlight. The flowers were cupped, almost lily-like in their appearance. The inner side of the flowers was a lighter shade than the outside, and the light of the flowers seemed to come from the slender shoots protected by the tender petals.
The scenery alone was more than enough to drive even the most hardened and road-weary of humans into song, but the unreal beauty of the faeries, flying and laughing around an ornately carved wooden table big enough to seat forty with enough food to feed hundreds, transformed the entire scene into something like a dream; Jason could barely comprehend his presence in such a setting.
Such a place shouldn’t be allowed to exist. Jason mused. No wonder no one comes back once they meet a Fairie. Who would want to leave such a place?
The fairie turned to looked at him, and laughed at the expression on his face. “Don’t worry! You’ll get used to it; I promise.” She paused a moment before confiding, “I’m Lessa, and you’re my special guest tonight, so be nice."