Quinn and the Fauna Fairy

Morgan was woken by a tapping on the window. As she opened her eyes, she groaned when she realised it was still dark. This had better be an emergency. Groggily she climbed out of bed wrapping the blanket around her. Spring was around the corner but the nights were still chilly. She walked over to the window to see who it was that had disturbed her slumber. Peering out she was startled to see several forest animals, chattering amongst themselves.

“What is so urgent that it cannot wait until morning?”

All the animals started at once and Morgan had trouble listening. “Slow down and start again.”

Titan, the leader of the Deer Herd spoke first. “There are human’s cutting down the trees and they have set up an encampment in my field, they killed Rohan, ate him. Nearly killed several of the herd.”

“They have cut my tree down” said Octavius the Owl.

Before Morgan had a chance to speak, the rest of the animals started giving their own tales once more. Morgan was a Fauna Fairy with the gift of communication. At the moment she was the only Fauna fairy, who could communicate with all the creatures of the woods. Most, could talk to one maybe two species, but for some reason Morgan had been born able to understand everyone. It did happen every so often, a Fauna Fairy with the ability to talk to all creatures. Normally, these fairies went on to positions of power but Morgan was quite happy with her little cottage in the woods.

“Don’t worry, I will go to the council. They will know what to do.”

Morgan dressed hastily and headed out in to the dark. Followed by an array of woodland animals she made her way to the council meeting point. Deep in the forest was a stone circle. Here the Fairy Council met. As it was not yet daylight the area was quiet with just the sentry fairies guarding the area. To an outsider, the area would have been an opening in the woods. They would not have spotted the Sentries, keeping watch from the trees. 

Morgan rang the emergency bell. It did not take long for fairies start appearing. There were various levels of concern on faces. The emergency bell was rarely rung. The last time it rang was over ten years previously and that had been an argument that got out of control. A Flora and a Fauna fairy arguing over whether spring flowers should be in bloom or whether the hibernating animals should sleep another few weeks. Since then the bell had been placed inside tree so no further accidents could happen.

Emergencies, did not happen. Not these days. Once, before the great intervention, the humans had continuously encroached in to the Forest but then one day on the eve of what was going to be a bloody war, the wizard had arrived and the humans had retreated. Then human king had signed a treaty and there was peace. No explanations, no reasons given. However it had lasted, until this very night.

Before long fairies sat round the store circle. The animals were chattering. Fauna fairies were trying to keep up but were struggling with so many voices. 

“Silence” Queen Ilume shouted from her seat in the circle. “Morgan, you are the only one present with the full communicator skill. It was you who rang the bell. You will explain why you have roused us all from our slumber.”

“I uh I. Well”

“Out with it.” The Queen was not one for patience, and for a communication fairy Morgan was not one for communicating.

“The humans have killed a Deer from the herd and they have cut down trees from the wood” 

Both Flora and Fauna fairies gasped, even the elemental fairies were concerned. The queen sat forward, the humans knew the wood was protected. There were enough trees created by the Flora fairies. They helped with the crops, they helped produce the fruit and yet this was no longer enough. The fauna fairies ensured that there were enough animals to ensure the life circle could function. They provided for the humans. 

Morgan could sense the anger rising, there were voices calling for war, others calling for the destruction of the humans. The problem with the humans were that there were so many. If they wiped out these humans, more would come. Animals would die, the wood would be cut down. Even the fairies would be at risk. She knew that this could not be allowed to happen. 

Morgan decided to slip out of the meeting. She was going to go and see the humans. Try and figure out what was going on. Something had caused this and going to war without knowing what had changed could be dangerous, especially for the forest creatures. Deciding that someone needed to get to the bottom of this, she realised that she was that someone. 

“Where are you going?” Startled Morgan turned to see Octavius and Titan behind her.

“I am going to see the humans. We need to know more. War will lead to many deaths for all creatures.”

Without a further word, Morgan proceeded to the outskirts of the woods, followed by Octavius and Titan. The sun was coming up, and starting to cast shadows through the trees. Morgan was feeling uneasy and the feeling did not sit well with her. They made their way through the trees choosing to avoid the paths just in case the humans had ventured in. 

After about twenty minutes they reached the edge of the forest. Morgan could see a group of humans standing round. They were armed and appeared to be on the lookout for something. Telling Octavius and Titan to stay hidden, she left the cover of the trees and made her way over to the humans. Fairies were small creatures and they could easily pass for a bird especially in poor light. 

“We should not be taking the trees from this wood. It is cursed” The short human who had spoken was looking worried. At least Morgan thought it was worry. To be fair he was the first human she had seen up close but his words, matched with worry.

“We have no choice, the entire kingdom is in ruins, food is scarce. We need to get the attention of the creatures that brought the peace. We need to know why they have gone back on the deal and killed the crops”

Morgan was taken aback by the tall human’s words. She knew the fairies were doing what they were supposed to be doing. It was the human’s who had broken the treaty. She decided she needed to talk to the tall one. 

She did not have long to wait as the others with him were called away and he was left alone.

“You, Tall one” she said in her most authoritative tone.

The human looked around puzzled. Morgan flew down to his eye level. “What, I mean, who?”

“Stop stuttering. I am Morgan, I am a fauna fairy and you have killed one of my protected herd.”

“We have no choice, you have reneged on the deal and the crops are dying, the animals are starving and we are struggling to survive.”

Morgan grew angry.”We have not stopped, we have been continuing to do our part. If the crops are not growing it is on you.”

The human sighed. Morgan looked at him quizzically. He did not appear to be acting like someone who was about to start a war. “You should tell me everything” she said. “My Queen is currently gathering our full force. We may be small but we have the elements, the plants and the animals. If you say crops are failing it is not us doing it. There may be something else behind this.”

The human nodded. “Well Morgan, I am Quinn, Heir to this land. I have been sent by my father to find out what has happened and if necessary we will go to war.”

“You want to go to with with the plants and the animals?”

“Well no, there is a treaty and you have breached it. The last harvest failed. The animals are starving. We are starving. The trees we need for building are rotten. This is the one area which appears unaffected.”

Morgan was concerned. There were stories of bad fairies. It didn’t happen often but occasionally a fairy would curse a crop and everything would wither and die. Various stories have been told of famine caused by elemental fairies bring floods or drought. However, there had been nothing in these parts for years.

“This is not us. You should meet the queen. She needs to know this, follow me.”

Quinn nodded, “I should let my people know where I am going. Otherwise they may think something has happened.”

A few minutes later Quinn and Morgan were making their way through the wood. Before they could get to the stone circle they were met by the Queen and the full fairy army. Quinn looked nervously around planning an escape route. 

“Your majesty I have bought the human leader. He says that the crops have failed and the people and the animals are starving”

The queen sat down with Morgan and Quinn and listened intently to the human. Concerned raised within the fairy ranks. Either there was a bad element within them, or there was some outside force trying to bring about a war. To what end she did not know. However, she did know that the fairies would need to work hard to save the crops, and maintain the balance. The humans could not die.

“Morgan, you will go with Quinn and you will speak to the animals on the farms. Find out what they know. We will send the Flora Fairies out to try and save the crops. If you need rain then we will get the elemental fairies to bring rain.”

“Thank you, your majesty. We will withdraw the troops. I am sorry we killed a deer of the protected herd and I am sorry that we have taken the trees.”

A few hours later Morgan and Quinn made their way in to the town. Morgan had been chatting to Hampton, Quinn’s horse and had learned that Quinn had recently put on a bit of weight. Hampton was not looking forward to having to wear armour, if they had to go to war as it was heavy and uncomfortable. He also mentioned that there had been a lot of strange noises and smells overnight. He was stabled overnight so could not see anything, but she should probably try talking to some of the birds that roost nearby. 

Morgan had never strayed too far from the wood before. She had heard stories but had never wanted to visit. However seeing the buildings and the people, she was intrigued. 

She flitted from building to building, looking all the humans in the face. The humans stood back unsure if they should be scared or not. As she was clearly accompanying the Prince they relaxed a little but the fear remained. To see a fairy, especially with everything going on, could only mean that there was trouble coming. They were already facing famine but if there was trouble coming they did not have the strength nor the resources to stop it.

Quinn smiled as he watched Morgan flitting around from shop to shop. The past few weeks had been troubling. Knowing that the fairies were not responsible and that they were going to try and solve the problem eased his concerns but it did leave the question of who was causing the problems.

“We should go straight to my father”

“Why?”

“He is the king he needs to know what is going on.”

“We don’t know what’s going on. We should go to the stables.”

“Why?”

“I need to talk to the birds.”

Quinn shrugged and led the way to the stable yard. Morgan may have a point, learning more before speaking to his father would be more useful than what they could currently tell him. Then he did not like to be kept waiting at the best of times and to be made to wait so a fairy could chat with the birds would most definitely not be met well.

Morgan looked at the yard in shock. There were horses all tied up, unable to run free. She had heard that this happened but it was all new to her. Hampton explained that they did not mind and that they would be fed and well looked after. Morgan did not understand but if the animals were happy then she was happy.

She spotted a crow sitting on top of the barn and went to ask questions. “Excuse me, I am Morgan, I am trying to look in to what is happening to the animals and crops”

“It’s about time, the humans don’t care until it impacts them. We have been struggling to find food. Every night there are shadows that come and damage the crops. The plant eaters can’t eat. The Meat eaters can’t eat the plant eaters. Bugs are disappearing. Birds are disappearing. It’s not just cats and normal predators, this is something else and it smells. It flies on the ground like the earth dwellers. I think a fox may have seen one the other day. You should find the fox.”

With this the crow flew off spotting what looked like a tasty bug. Morgan looked round, there was a small wooded area to the west of the yard. She should try there. Making her way to the wood followed by Quinn, she made her way to the trees. She was shocked to see the state of the trees as they looked diseased and dying. 

She called to the animals and she spotted some poke their heads from their burrows but then duck back in when they saw Quinn. “It’s ok, we are here to see what is happening and see what we can do to help. Please talk to us”

A rabbit poked it’s head out and looked suspiciously at Quinn. Realising he may look intimidating Quinn knelt. “Hi there little guy.” The rabbit snorted and Morgan laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“Asher did not appreciate being called little guy, by an overgrown monkey”

“Hey, I’m not a monkey.”

“And she is not a guy.”

“Right sorry” Quinn shook his head. He was apologising to a Rabbit. Normally he would be trying to catch the rabbit for dinner. 

Before long they were joined by various woodland creatures. More rabbits, foxes, birds, badgers mice and bats amongst others. Morgan was concerned by the state of many of the animals. They looked too thin. Yes they were coming out of winter but even then they should not be as undernourished as they looked. In some ways she was surprised that they did not take the opportunity to eat each other but the concern far outweighed the need to eat.

“We are trying to find what is damaging the Flora and Fauna. Tell me what you have seen.”

All of the animals started to talk. All Quinn heard was squeaking and squawking. Morgan told the animals to calm and speak slowly. 

“The shadows come at night” 

“They smell bad.”

“They smell like when an animal dies and lies for several cycles”

“They smell dead?”

“Yes that is it. Dead.” 

“What do they look like.”

“We have not seen them exactly, they are bad so we hide” 

“I have seen one”

Morgan looked to the fox. “What did you see?”

“It was big like a human, but it had the outer look of a snake or something. It had yellow eyes.”

“What was it doing?

“It was just walking among the fields. There are many but on this night just the one.”

Morgan was thinking. This sounded familiar. Like a story of old times. The queen would know. Hopefully she would be along soon with the others to try and save the crops and the animals.

Quinn was becoming impatient. His father would be waiting for a report and he was sitting on the floor listening to a lot of animal noise. It was beginning to hurt his ears. However he knew that this may be worth it. If the animals had seen something maybe Morgan would get something.

He did not have long to wait before Morgan told him what she had heard. He thanked the animals, assuming that they would hopefully understand. The description sounded familiar, like a story he had once heard. Although it may have been a story that had been told to scare children perhaps there was some truth to it.

“We need to go to the library.”

“What is a library?”

“It is where we store books.”

“What is a book?”

Quinn sighed and explained on the way. Morgan laughed of the concept of putting things in a written form. Stories were meant to be kept in the mind and spoken. Learning should be kept in the mind and spoken. Using trees to keep things in seemed like a waste. The Flora fairies would not be impressed.

However, when she saw the library she gasped. She had never seen such an array of information. She could not understand the words but the leather bindings and the colours were wonderful. Quinn approached another human, an older one. Where Quinn stood tall and warrior like, this human was hunched and his hair was white. He wore robes not leather garments like Quinn.

‘We need to see my father now.”

“But the books.”

“There is no time, the librarian has told me what I need to know and there is no time to waste”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard of a Mehyam?”

Morgan paused to think. The word sounded familiar. Then she remembered the stories. “Oh dear. We are in a lot of trouble”

“Yes we are.”