An Audience
Everyone, especially children, knows that there are many different kinds of fey folk.
But there are two types that are particularly prominent: tooth fairies, and their larger, older counterpart, bone fairies. Tooth fairies take children’s teeth and collect them, to be inspected like they were diamonds. And bone fairies…. Well, their job was more unpleasant. They took the bigger ones.
It was all to pay the tithe to the Dead Queen; she required human bones to work her dark magic. And we’d all been born under the stifling yoke of her rule. Though there were easily more of us, we didn’t dare revolt. We’d lose what little rights we had. But, of course, that didn’t stop the whispers.
Discontent spread throughout the ranks, until it grew so large that our caste of fey weren’t the only ones talking.
“They say that The Dead Queen is asking for still more offerings, and she’s about to attempt something terrible…”
“More? As if her fairies aren’t working overtime already. Give the poor things a break, I say.”
“Shhh! She has spies everywhere! One word of dissent and she’ll sentence everyone to a week without compensation.”
**
I was summoned to the Bone Palace, under the pretense of a grand feast. But I knew better than to refuse such a boon from one of the fey monarchs, and so I had no choice but to go.
My mother fussed over me, laying out my best suit, leaving a sunflower in the breast pocket; it shone like a bright beacon.
“Please, son, be careful. Make sure to remember your decorum and manners.” Her bright violet eyes were dark with worry and warning. In other words, don’t piss off the Queen. But that would prove easier said than done.
**
When the moon rose, I set out to the graveyard, where a silent escort awaited. An ogre, with dark gray, bumpy skin, a wicked pair of twisted, sharp horns, and eyes the color of freshly tilled soil, smirked at me, showing off rows of sharp, broken teeth.
“The Lady Queen insisted you be escorted to her. For your own personal safety, of course.” The monster grumbled. Without waiting for an answer, he gripped my arm and stepped forward, and then we came to a spiraling set of stairs, leading deep down into the earth. I’d never been in the Dead Queen’s dominion, not directly, and sweat began to collect on the back of my neck.
Did she know? She had spies everywhere, and fey of every court were on her side. After all, it paid to be on the side of the winners, if not in money, then in other things.
The staircase ended in a massive throne room, made of earth and stone, and the magic was so heavy here I could taste it in the back of my throat.
The Queen sat upon a throne made of bones, and judging by the size of them, they were the bones of children. I pasted on a smile to disguise the bile rising in my throat. For all I knew, I’d helped harvest those bones, once upon a time.
She was veiled, dressed in a full-skirted gown in a violet so dark it looked closer to black, but I could see her bright white smile. It was made to look coy, inviting, but there was an undercurrent of menace to it.
“Thank you for inviting me to your palace, my queen,” I murmured, head lowered, and bowed. “What is it you would like to discuss?”
“I’ve been hearing whispers,” She replied, not bothering with pretty words anymore. “Whispers of an uprising…”
I kept my face neutral; as far as our kind went, I was young, but I knew how to keep my feelings off of my face.
“Would you know anything about that, Nathaniel?”
**
