Callie's Heroes

PART VII - WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE GIRL WITH WINGS?

“She sure knows her way around a knife, I’ll give her that. Wow! What do you all think?” Lena asked in a whisper. “Do you think we can trust her?”

“Well, Vanis can just order her to not say anything,” Callie pointed out.

“I would not do that,” Vanis whispered with a firm tone. “Besides, she could probably gut me before I even could with those blade skills.”

“Oh, I know you wouldn’t. I’m just saying you could. But she seems nice.”

“We tell,” Tazrok said with his usual curtness. He tried to be quiet, but his deep voice reverberated around the room.

From behind the door, there was a brief gasp of pain, followed by a second. Lena was to the door in an instant. “Pixyl, are you alright?” she asked, knocking lightly.

“I am f-f-f-fine,” came a quiet, whimpering voice in return.

“She’s not fine,” Lena said quietly to everyone. “What do we do?”

“We cannot help if she does not want it,” Xin said.

“Vanis could order her to let us help,” Callie pointed out.

“Callie!” Vanis snapped.

“I know. I know. You wouldn’t do that.”

“Just be available,” Tazrok said. “Help little Fae when she ready.”

Lena nodded, and returned to her bed, just as the door opened. Pixyl walked out, her wings now in full display behind her. She had cut a slit in the back of her robe from her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. The wings were a beautiful, translucent pale-blue with a rainbow of reflections dancing across them, like the wings of a dragonfly. All save one. One of the lower wings was darkened with blacks and deep purples throughout it. Small patches of darkened red blood could be seen beneath the skin, alongside the bruises. It was an ugly, painful-looking sight.

“Wow,” Callie said. She had been amazed seeing the wings on the Commandant and the other winged Fae, but that was at a distance, or the person was very small in the case of the Sprite that she met when they first arrived, whose wings were moving too rapidly to see in detail. These large wings up close were mesmerizing, though. She longed to touch them, but barely restrained herself.

In one hand, Pixyl held Lena’s knife, and in the other she carried the small crate that had been in the latrine. The Fae again expertly flipped the knife in the air, catching it by its blade, before handing it back to Lena and then set the crate next to her bunk. Able to use the crate as a step-stool, Pixyl scrambled onto her bunk. Standing on it, she set to work spreading her blanket.

“May I help?” Lena asked.

Pixyl stopped for a moment and then shook her head. “I n-n-need to do this myself,” she replied, but then added, “Thank you, though.”

Callie couldn’t contain herself any more. “Pixyl, I’m sorry if this is rude, but your wings are the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!”

Pixyl reached up behind her shoulder, gently touching her wing as it gave a tiny flutter. She didn’t know how to react to that statement. They were just her wings. Just like all the other winged Fae, except one was ugly and bruised.

“I know, it was rude,” Callie apologized, “But I’ve never seen wings on a person before.”

“You haven’t?” Pixyl asked. “You n-n-never seen Fae wings before?”

“No! And actually ….” Callie trailed off.

Pixyl got a confused look on her face and noticed everyone else looking intently at her. “What?”

“We need to talk about something,” Lena said. “You might want to sit down, or at least get comfortable. It’s about Callie and some …” Lena trailed off.

“I come from another world, Pixyl. And until earlier today, I had never seen an Elf or an Ogre or Lizardkin or a Pixie.”

“What?” Pixyl said. Is this Gnome crazy?

“I know, it’s a lot and just let me tell you what happened. In fact, I haven’t had a chance to tell everyone exactly what happened, just bits and pieces. Once you know everything, you’ll see I’m not completely crazy.”

Pixyl looked around the room again, and saw Vanis and Lena both nodding at her. If the Prince was entertaining this foolishness, then the least she could do is the same, right? Another world? Impossible! And yet, all the faces she saw were sincere. Even the hard-to-read Lizardkin was in on this.

“Just give me fifteen minutes,” Callie pleaded. “You’ll know everything up to now. Maybe thirty minutes. Please?”

Pixyl sat down on her bunk, her lower wings seeming to rotate upwards slightly so they were out of the way and simply nodded, giving Callie all her attention. The others in the room did as well.

Callie began to tell her story from the very beginning. From the awful job interview, texting with her mother, and what spaghetti was. She talked about the woman in the big hat, and how she knew Callie’s name. What she said, deciding not to tell her something before Callie was pushed in front of the train. She detoured constantly to explain concepts in terms this world would understand. Texting as instantly delivered written letters. A train as a series of self-propelled wagons hooked together in one. She talked about Chicago, her great city, so huge and full of people. O’Hare airport and briefly what airplanes were. She talked about her mom, and almost broke down. She talked about her dad, and almost did again.

Lena and Xin constantly interrupted with questions or requests for explanation of some technology or Earth-only thing. Vanis and Tazrok simply took it all in, one piece of information at a time. Pixyl listened intently, showing no emotion on her face, even upon hearing that Callie had been Human.

Callie reached the point in the story where she woke up in the wagon in her new Gnome body. Here the story became primarily for Pixyl’s benefit. Callie recalled how confused she was, and how Lena and Tazrok had protected her from the Dwarves’ harassment. She let it all spill out, in as much detail as seemed necessary, the others filling in pieces when needed. Her strange lack of class. The guess at which Symbiote might work. All of it.

Finally, Callie recapped her deductive reasoning why she had to have been transported here in some fashion, whatever that may be. How nothing else made sense when you broke it down. Vanis discussed their plan to evaluate the officers and staff for who would be receptive to Callie’s story, without putting her into jeopardy. All of it laid bare for the Pixie to try to digest.

As the story concluded, the sun having moved a noticeable distance across the open window, all were quiet; waiting to hear what Pixyl thought of it all. Her brow was furrowed, as if she was deep in thought, or wrestling with an important decision.

Pixyl reviewed it all. The odd Gnome’s logic was sound, and it all made sense with how she told her story. What would happen if she believed her? Or at least acted like it? Nothing really. Vanis would determine who could be trusted and in a few days the secret would be out of their control. On the other hand, did she have a duty to take this to someone immediately? And what would be the result of that? She’d probably be taken out of this house and put in one with Dwarves. And really, that would only change things by a few days. Could she get in trouble if she did nothing? No! Prince Vanis del Montano said to wait. She could at least use that as an excuse if she had to. In the end, the risk was small if she did nothing, and larger if she did.

“I will k-k-keep your secret,” she finally said. The tension in the room lessened immediately and everyone started to breathe again. Callie gave her a cute little smile of thanks, and Pixyl returned it awkwardly.

“This is my question,” Vanis finally asked, “and I’ve mentioned this earlier, yet I’m still perplexed. Why you? Why would someone go through all the effort to bring you here, and into the body of a different race?”

Callie shrugged. “I have no idea. On Earth, I’m a wholly unremarkable person. A barely employed accountant living with her mom. I have few friends, no romantic partners and not a lot of prospects. I don’t even have a pet. Was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I have no idea.”

“What about the Lord you mentioned. Could you have angered him, somehow?” Xin asked. “Could he be responsible?”

“Lord?”

“Yes. Your Lord of the Rings. He sounds very powerful.”

“Oh! No no no, Xin. The Lord of the Rings is a story. From books. He’s not real.”

“I see. So your leaders are not plotting to seize the throne?” Xin asked.

“Seize the … You mean Game of Thrones?”

“Yes. You mentioned the great powers vying for the throne.”

“No, Xin, I’m so sorry. That’s another story.”

“Like that Wizard academy you wanted to go to when you were young?” Xin asked, puzzled. “Your land is very confusing, Little One. You have Lords that are not real trying to take thrones that do not exist and no Wizards but you have schools for them. How do you keep it all straight?”

“We have lots of grand stories, Xin. Secret worlds like Narnia, and far off ones like Tatooine. Middle Earth and Westeros. The magician academies of Brakebills or Hogwarts. The lost world of Neverland. The spice world of Arrakis.”

“So nothing that would explain why it was you that was transported here?” Lena asked.

“Nothing I can think of. I’m really a nobody,” Callie said with a shrug.

“Tell me of this woman in the hat, Callie,” Vanis said. “Was she Human? Elf?”

“Um, Human I think,” Callie furrowed her brow in thought. Had she seen the woman’s ears? She tried to picture her face. Those red lips, the pale skin, a wisp of hair. “I don’t think I ever saw her ears,” Callie finally said. “It’s possible she was an Elf and the hat hid them. She was also very thin, like the two of you. But there are only Humans on Earth.”

Vanis frowned. “I suppose, to an extent it doesn’t matter,” Vanis said. “At least in the short term. But this is all something that will need to be learned to fully understand what has happened and to get you back home. If it wasn’t for this Curse we all have, I’d enlist scholars and scribes in the capitals or the Nexus to see what could be learned, but given my current … status … I don’t dare right now. And it could be a year before I am able, unless I can arrange something discreetly. And even then, you are still bound by the Curse, Callie.”

“I know. I keep hoping I’ll just wake up, but every indication is that this is real. It doesn’t seem like finding answers is going to come very quickly, especially with me stuck with my own Curse.”

“Two days,” Tazrok said, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. “We agreed.”

“He’s right,” Vanis acknowledged. “That was the plan. We can’t keep second-guessing ourselves. Two days.”