The Elf and the Boy Page #3

I wrote this story because I was inspired by Celtic music and folklore about elves and other magical creatures.

• Fantasy

								

"Uh, hello?" asked Ladina.
Auntie Bathilde smiled warmly, revealing gap teeth and cherry-smeared lips.
"Bonjour! Welcome to Auntie's 'ouse!" a high, girlish voice cried.
Ladina froze. The once-plump witch was now very fat. Her arms were as fleshy as a baby's, with smooth white fat rolling into sleeve-like creases that ended in tiny, red-nailed hands. She still wore her emerald curtain, skull necklace, and pointed black hat, but her long black hair was now streaked with white. Her pale, doughy cheeks were powdered pink and nearly engulfed her twinkling blue eyes. When Ladina explained her situation, the witch's face contorted with pain. 
"Ah," sighed Auntie, "Zere's only so much Auntie Bathilde can do about zis...elf prinzess. I fear I know more about gee-ants, ma bichette."
"I don't care what you know about elves! This is about my son!"
Auntie Bathilde pointed at a gold goblet, causing the violet drink to bubble. Ladina noted that several emerald rings stuck to the witch's dimpled fingers.
"Auntie Bathilde, the elves often trick children using rings. Do you know that?"
"Yes, I 'ave 'eard many a tale. Emerald means earth to you, corr-ect?"
"Yes."
"You said your boy...took the sapphire one?"
"It would appear that way."
Auntie Bathilde clapped her hands, causing Ladina to jump.
"Aha! Our leetle prinzess is a water-elf! She took za boy to za lake."
"Which lake, Auntie?"
Auntie Bathilde lifted one finger, and a glowing, silvery blue illusion flowed from the red claw.
"Zis one. Where mermaids and feeshes play." A few blue-silver mermaids laughed and combed their hair, as they were splashed by leaping fish. "At za end of za forest. No 'uman goes zere. Be strong, because lost children only listen to za elves."
"I-I...should I bring my husband with me?"
Auntie folded her hands, and the illusion faded.
"Only if you want to lose him. Elf ladies are tres jolie, no?"
"I see. Will you...." Ladina swallowed, feeling stupid for asking this, "Will you help me?"
The witch frowned down at her dangling feet. 
"I can, but I can't come with you."
"But you have magic! Certainly you...."
  "I'll give you something to help."
"Another ring?"
The witch held a finger to her lips.
"Shhh, ma bichette. I 'ear 'im, za boy!"
"What's he saying?"
Auntie Bathilde squeezed her eyes shut, lifting her baby-like fist in the air.
"I am 'ere, my love. I am safe! Ah, Maman. Ah, Papa. Please pick me up, za water is smooth, I...I...!"
"Yes?" asked Ladina.
"I am not me!"
  Auntie Bathilde opened her eyes and kissed Ladina's cheek. Ladina twitched, but kissed back, not wanting to offend the old witch.  
"Et voila," the witch said, reaching into her pocket.
She handed Ladina a small silver tiara. Ladina set it on her head, knowing exactly what it was for. 
"Go. You were wise to ask a crazy old witch, no?" Auntie cackled and sipped from her goblet. "A mother's 'eart 'olds more than a thousand minds! Good luck and strength to you, ma bichette!"
"Y-You too."
But as Ladina gazed into the woods, all she could see were swirling black shadows, and the gold-and-silver eyes of elves carving into her bones.
                                                                XXX
Prince Lagi lost track of time. The golden sun sparkled constantly through the blue-white stream of sky, so he was never without a dark, swirling cavern to explore or a cold, squishy mollusk to taste. Aside from sitting at the palace table, it seemed he had no official duties. He was free to roam Conchia, this cool, soothing elf kingdom that escaped all human thought. 
                           “You are a good boy,” the king said one day, handing him a long, gold-white staff, “When the time comes for you to use this, you will use it better than any king Conchia has ever seen!”
                             “A-Are you sure?”
                             The king nodded, smiling gently.
                             “Would a rose trust a thorn with his crown?”
     Now, Lagi pondered these words, but they meant nothing to him. What meant something to him were the animals of the kingdom-- yawning, blue-green turtles, whinnying, turquoise lakehorses, and speckled black crabs that played a hundred songs with their claws. He grasped at the liquid glow of sunken jewels and frothy, pink jellyfish as they floated in and out of the faint sunlight. His limbs burnt, but he kept going.
As he swam over one crumbling edge, he took a deep breath and marveled at the world, even at the oceans beyond this dreamlike lake. The sea's only rival was the sky. It whispered and sang a thousand different dreams-- in dark blue shadows and tiny, glittering pieces of paradise. It warmed and greeted the day, leaving the night with farewells veiled in dreams and darkness.
        Today he swam after a shimmering, dark-purple school of fish. They were unlike any he'd seen before-- small, delicate, and shaped like red-veined leaves. So beautiful he wanted to touch them, to feel the chill of their shiny scales. But his finger hurt from the sapphire ring that pinched it, and he slid it off. The pale gem rippled across the water, winking like an eye. 
                   "My child...!"
       Princess Ervina's jaw tightened. She swam too quickly, with too uneven a stroke. Lagi flinched. Even this far away, he could sense the rage seething within her.
                   "Lagi!" she cried, "How dare you abandon your duty!"
                  "I-I...my finger...."
              The princess swam close to him, setting her small, fine-boned hand on his shoulder. He shuddered at the smallness of it, how it danced like a little white spider.
                   "Put on your ring," she hissed, "If you keep it off, you'll...!"
                 Lagi obeyed, causing Ervina to smile.
                "Princess," he muttered, "Why have you never married?"
                  She twisted her mouth, looking very unroyal.
                 "Ah, that story! I see, you ask much of me, young Prince. Should I answer as much?"
                 "I mean, if you want...."
                 "Oh, thank the Goddess!" She clapped her hands, smirking slowly. "Now, I can't say much, since Father is near, but I was never a good girl. I never wanted a husband. I wanted a son from the village. A human!" She loosened up, somersaulting in the water. "But such a thing is forbidden.”
                                   “Why?”
                              “We are tricksters, and you are gullible.”
                    "But can't you change that? Tricking people isn't that hard a habit to break."
                     “I tricked you.”
                     “Well, I...you did.”
                      "It's like Father says, 'we sprinkle light into shadowed lives.'"
                   "The way I see it, you made the shadows."

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