The Silverwood

John looked over at Ellie who looked at him with an expression he assumed meant “Well, get on with it. You are the one who wanted us to go with her.” He sighed once again before taking Ellie’s hand and walking towards the gate.

“Wait!” Lani shouted, stopping John and Ellie in their tracks. John looked up at her, and she gave him a light kiss on his forehead. “I want to do whatever it is that you are doing with her. Here, give me your hand.” She extended her hand down a little past John’s shoulder opening and closing it impatiently.

John reluctantly took her hand, then walked up the river through the archway. Entering it, John felt a strange sensation, it wasn’t like the time with the Basilisk or like earlier when he came through the Cullis Gate, it was almost like walking through a wall of water.

It was odd; John didn’t feel like he was having breathing problems, but after walking through the archway, he realised he was having a much easier time doing so. It also seemed to be brighter, to the point that it strained his eyes. Looking up, John was able to see the bright blue sky, though it seemed off. The colour shimmered between shades of blue, and then John realised he wasn’t looking at the sky; the Silverwood canopy was a blanket of blue leaves that shifted ever so slightly in colour to try and mimic the sky.

Walking through this part of the forest, John could see much more wildlife. He walked to the bank of the stream, “Okay, sweetpea, just follow the stream and we will be at the Silverwood in no time. Oh, and before I forget, don’t take anything from any of the girls unless you have something to give in return. I wouldn’t want my sweetpea indebted to any of them.” She let out a cute giggle.

Following the stream, they eventually came to a clearing. John was overwhelmed as everything became even brighter. He shut his eyes tightly and focused on turning his eyes back to normal. When he opened them, he was greeted with an awe-inspiring view.

Fairies of different sizes flew through the air. John saw Navi-like fairies darting around as well as some which were around a foot tall; all of them seemed to be racing from one place to another. John even noticed quite a few flying into bird-house-like structures strewn along the trunk of the giant tree in front of him.

Soon many of the fairies had noticed John, Ellie and Leilani and began to flock to them. “Lani, who are they?” “Lani where have you been?” “Why are there humans here?” “Hey strangers, I have a gift for you. I made it myself.” “Are you going to try and destroy the Silverwood?” Questions came from all directions, and eventually Lani had enough.

“Girls! These are my guests. Later I will explain, but for now please go back to what you were doing before. Oh, actually, before you leave, Blossom, Aster,” Lani called.

Most of the fairies dissipated but a pink and a blue-haired fairy both hovered unmoving with an expression only an annoyed parent could give. “Your majesty… You went out into the forest without an escort,” the twin fairies said in unison.

“Oh… Yeah, well, you see, the thing is…. Uh, oh! You need to go take this headless lady somewhere and secure her so she can’t hurt anyone or herself,” Lani changed subjects.

The two looked over the dullahan, and gave Lani a disapproving stare. “Fine, but this isn’t over and you will not be leaving the Silverwood Grove without us again,” they both declared. They flew over to the dullahan, which would tower over them as they were only around the size of her hand, and they used similar magic to Lani to cause the body to levitate away.

Lani tapped John and hastily pointed to a small door at the base of the tree. John shrugged and walked over to it. The door was small, only 4ft tall and almost as wide. It was very ornate looking with patterns and a small stained glass window. It did, however, look like the door and its frame were leaning against the tree rather than being a part of it, like John would have expected.

Leilani finally fluttered off John’s shoulders and planted her feet on the ground. Wordlessly she walked to the door and gripped the handle, causing a light to shine from every edge of the door. Pulling it open, Lani ushered the two inside where they were greeted by a tall hallway that contrasted with the tiny door. Along the walls were thick, white logs that followed the dark brown walls into pointed arches.

“Okay, so, let's go get something to eat, then I’ll tell you what I want in return for the Crystalised Dragon Blood. That’s a mouth full, isn’t it? Crystalised Dragon Blood, Crystalised Dragon Blood, Crystalised Dragon Blood, Crystalised Dragon Blood,” Lani laughed.

“Uhm, actually, Lani, you said you might be able to help with protecting Ellie? I’d rather do that before finding out what you would like in exchange,” John interrupted.

“You mean in exchange for Crystalised Dragon Blood?” She asked with a big grin. “Don’t worry about it, John. Come, I’m sure you would like to eat and maybe get something to drink.

They followed Lani down the corridor passing several large doors before stopping and entering the door at the end of the hall.

Inside was a large round room, spiral stairs lined the cylindrical wall and a young tree grew in the centre of the room. The walls were full of books and the occasional oddity, like a strange bust or a staff. “Okay, so you wanted a way to protect your very squishy and defenceless companion. If anyone would know how to do that, it would be Dewdrop. One second,” she said as she turned, looking upwards, and cupped her hands around her mouth. “DEWDROP, COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!” she yelled.

From high above a faint voice could be heard, “Oh, majesty. I’m sorry, I’m a little busy at the moment, maybe we could play some other time?”

Lani sighed and turned to John and Ellie. “She can be such a bore sometimes. She’d much rather sit and read books than come and play with me.” She turned back and yelled, “I’VE BROUGHT SOMEONE YOU MIGHT WANT TO TALK TO!”

Quiet grumbling could be heard before the sound of several books falling to the ground, then several pages came floating from above. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” the voice said as she got closer.

A soft fluttering sound began growing louder before a small figure with blue butterfly wings descended past the staircase. Finally, the trio were face to face with a fairy bigger than the others at a foot and a half. She had a slender build with a chest relatively large for her size. She had pointed ears and round glasses. Long blue hair that matched her wings and clothing and a small white flower sat on the side of her head. “Oh, uhm, humans?” the blue fairy questioned.

“About time! And kind of, this is Ellie, she is a human and the mate of John who says he is a human but I definitely smell dragon blood,” Leilani explained.

“Oh, so he is a dragon?” Dewdrop asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, no, I’m a human, I’ve just got dragon powers, is all.” John scratched his head.

Lani rolled her eyes. “Never mind any of that, John’s mate doesn’t have magic and needs to find a way to defend herself, can you help them?”

“Oh of course, what about…. Hmmm, how about we do a trade, knowledge for knowledge? You have quite strange clothes even for humans, so I would guess you travelled far to get here. I would love to hear more about where you come from, did you come from the continent? The North maybe?” Dewdrop seemed to get more excited as she spoke.

“Oh, uhh, it’s not going to be easy to explain…” John rubbed the back of his head. “Well, we kind of came through a portal called a Cullis Gate.”

“CULLIS GATE!? YOU CAME THROUGH THE CULLIS GATE? HOW? WHEN? WHAT WAS IT LIKE? WHAT’S YOUR WORLD LIKE?” Dewdrop continued to badger them with questions not giving John or Ellie a chance to answer any of them.

Lani bopped her with an open palm on the top of her head. “Hey silly, they can’t answer your questions if you don’t give them the chance to speak,” Leilani chastised.

“Oh right, of course. Come, take a seat at the desk over here. I’ll ask you a bunch of questions and record them and afterwards, I will find you some means to defend yourself without natural magic,” Dewdrop said as she led them to a small desk.

For the next two or so hours, Dewdrop bombarded John with questions about his world and the Cullis Gate. “Okay, thank you so much. I think this will be perfect. Now, for my end of the deal, I will be right back.”

Dewdrop flew off, up the stairs. Lani who had lain on the floor face first flipped over. “Is it over?” she asked half asleep.

“Uh, yeah. I think?” John replied.

Lani sat up and crossed her legs. “Guess she’s gone to bring you some books?”

John shrugged, then all three of them jumped out of their skin as a large, horrific Frankenstein’s Monster of a leather-bound book hit the ground only a metre or so away from them. Then another, less leather-faced book landed on top of it with another thud. Then another and another. Once finished, there stood a tower six books tall.

Leilani walked over and took the top and smallest book. “Okay, so I guess these are what she’s decided to present you with. I might as well give you a quick summary of each and you can decide which ones you are interested in. So this,” she held up a book with a brown paper sleeve which had bamboo hand-painted onto it with the title Banana and Onion: The secret to unlocking Chakras and blocking Chi, “is a martial arts book that focuses on using pressure points to stop the flow of mana. Though hitting pressure points and actually being able to stop mana from flowing are two different things and you should already have very good self-discipline if you are not a master in at least one martial art before looking at this.”

“That does sound cool, but I’ve never even taken a self-defence class, so that would probably be better on the ‘no’ pile. Uh… What else do you have?” Ellie asked, excited to see what other things had been picked out.

Lani shrugged, “Okay,” and tossed the book into the air where Dewdrop managed to swoop down and catch it before disappearing again. Lani grabbed the next, much larger book. It was half as tall as Leilani, a foot wide and around six inches thick and its age showed. The pages were browned and the leather was slightly worn but the metal that framed it and its lock were still in good shape. The most notable thing about the book, however, was the crimson jewel set on the cover. “This doesn’t actually have a title, it’s a comprehensive guide on alchemy written by Nicolas Flamel himself. I believe this was brought from your world. The book has everything from healing potions and explosives to transmutation, it even has a kind of beginner’s guide in the first few pages. He is a genius and his writing is very easy to follow so you should have no trouble picking up some basic alchemy in no time. Your only limitation would be finding ingredients. Also, you’d probably need to get an alchemy table,” Lani explained.

Ellie looked a little smug. “Not to brag but Chemistry was my strongest subject, so I think I might be pretty good at that. Plus, I always find potions and stuff interesting in games. I would still like to see the other books though, so can we put that to one side to look at again later?”

Lani threw the book onto the desk under the staircase. “Sure thing.” The next book was about as small as the first but sparkled and shimmered with gold writing down the side How to resist Fae charms: Navigating confusing wordplay. “This might not be the best option, to be perfectly honest. I’m pretty sure Dewdrop’s recommendation with this book would be to enter some kind of deal with a powerful arch fae in order for Ellie to have her own magic. It would be powerful magic, but even with the help of this book, you would likely be tricked into something unpleasant or unwanted. I know it probably sounds strange coming from me, but unless you are willing to literally sell your body and soul for magic, I would avoid this option. It is your choice though…” Leilani looked apprehensive holding the book.

Although he trusted Ellie, John really didn’t like the sound of Lani’s tone. “Ellie, I know having your own magic sounds cool but I really would rather you not even consider this one.” Ellie nodded, and Lani tossed the book up into the air only for it to be snatched up by Dewdrop who scoffed and muttered under her breath at the dismissal of the book.

The next book Lani picked up was about normal book size and plain-looking. “This is Self-Defense for the Mana Deficient. This is a good book and you should definitely read it. I’m not even asking you if you want it or not, I'm putting it on the pile. Just keep in mind it’s not foolproof and to take everything with a grain of salt. It could tell you a weakness in a type of magic but you could accidentally misidentify a spell and that would put you in even more danger,” Lani explained. Ellie nodded over to the desk where the alchemy book sat and Lani put the new book on top of it.

“Okay, this one might be interesting but to get use out of it you are going to have to spend some coin. Activating Enchantments for Morons is a beginner’s guide for how to effectively use enchanted items. That’s it, really, it’s mostly advice,” Lani said shrugging. Without waiting for an answer, the book was put with the others to be looked at.

The next book John felt uneasy about; it didn’t only look like bad news but John felt what he could only describe as bad energy coming from the horrific-looking book. Lani snatched it up. “This one is… uh, kind of similar to the Fea book. The Art of Demonic Contracts. This will show you how to summon a demon and then contract it to either protect you or lend you its power. This particular book has some summoning circles for some really powerful demons, including a couple princes of hell. Me and the girls can help you, though. We can likely help you word your deal in such a way that you won’t actually end up owing the demon anything, so this is probably the best of the bunch.”

Again John spoke up, “Ellie, again a deal doesn’t sound good to me. Not only that but I’m getting some really bad vibes from that thing. Like it’s really making me feel uncomfortable being near it.”

Ellie sighed, “Yeah, probably not the best idea to go making deals with demons anyway. Bet you are just worried that I’ll summon some sexy incubus to replace you with, aren’t you?” she laughed, nudging John. “Send that one away too please, Lani, and we can take a look at the books on the table.”

“Actually, while you look through those with Dewdrop, John will need to come with me in order to fulfil his end of our deal so that he can get the Crystal I promised him,” Lani said, grabbing onto John’s arm.

“Wait! What do you want from John?” Ellie prodded.

“Huh? Oh that, I don’t need a lot. I’m just going to need him to fuck me!” Leilani grinned seductively and blushed slightly.