Morgenregen: The Black Forest Fairy

Morgenregen

The Black Forest Fairy

By Anastasia Robin Louis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Anastasia Robin Louis. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Judy Bullard at http://www.customebookcovers.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real locales, real people, or historical events are used fictiously. Other places, names, characters, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in an imaginary way to entertain and any resemblance to any real people, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

Dedication

To my family who believed in me to write my first book.

To Herr Bruno Schwartz, danke!

To my readers, you bring the magic to life.

Chapter 1

First Encounter

Prince Frieder vowed that someday he would see a fairy. Many magical creatures lived in der Schwartzwald, the Black Forest of Swabia, but the most wondrous of all to him were die Fee, the fairies. They were more beautiful than any unicorn, more tuneful than any siren. In grace, they surpassed the butterfly and their bodies were gentler than the morning dew. Without question, they were also the most mysterious of all the supernatural beings God placed on this earth. For it was as hard to see a fairy as it was to cage moonlight reflected in a wishing well or to capture the perfect summer breeze.

Prince Frieder sat up in his tent at his father’s war camp, unable to sleep. His imagination kept him alert worrying about what new lesson of warrior kings his father planned to teach him tomorrow. King Eider had decided it was time for his son and furst, his heir, to learn the ways of a man so that Frieder would be fit to rule after him. Frieder thought he was well on his way to becoming a good king. At age twelve, he already knew much about art, mathematics, philosophy, religion, and science. His tutors always commented on his way with words. The child was a born diplomat and natural peacemaker. His father, on the other hand, was a natural conqueror and was determined that Frieder learned the ways of war so he might maintain dominion over the king’s lands. So choosing a relatively safe campaign of patrolling the western border beyond their city-state of Wirtemhammer, Eider, along with his sons Frieder and Erik, and a dozen of his best knights, camped in a clearing by the Kinzig River. For no one, not even the king, was foolish enough to camp in der Schwartzwald at night.

The king himself didn’t believe any of the stories about the magical and haunted wood. Eider had no time for magic or the silly imaginings that his troops regaled themselves with around the dying embers of their cook fires. Still, a good king and commander knew the importance of keeping his warriors happy. The clearing provided ample protection with the river at their backs, allowing Eider and his men equal satisfaction catering to both practicality and superstition.

Frieder, however, loved to hear the mystical tales the soldiers told with lively relish each night. They reminded him of the marvelous bedtime stories his mother had often told him and his infant sister, Silke, before the queen’s untimely death. His brother Erik had showed little interest in the stories. Since Queen Sonja’s passing, Frieder fought to keep those stories alive in his mind, for himself and for Silke, despite his father’s insistence that fairy tales served no practical purpose.

Frieder knew that die Fee were real. It was something he couldn’t explain but understood all the same. He had an instinct when it came to magic. His mother had said that fairies were often present at royal births, granting gifts or curses to newborn children, depending on whether the fairy was good or evil.

The evil fairies are all but gone these days, his mother had said. Frieder knew the story of the defeat of the last evil Fee, Blackwing, quite well.

Frieder was too young to remember any fairies at his christening, but a feeling like happiness blown in on the wind and the sound of cockle bells stayed with him over the years. Certainly, he was blessed by die Fee. He’d looked for them at Silke’s christening. He had seen nothing, but the same feeling and sound had filled his heart. Mother had known die Fee had been there too. Frieder missed his mother greatly. He’d tried to talk of die Fee to father, but father would have none of it. Frieder though would never betray his last promise to his mother.

"As sure as God created this earth, so do die Fee exist," she had said. That was why, in his heart, no matter what, Frieder believed.

Sometimes Frieder dreamed he might even marry a fairy princess with silver colored hair and diamond eyes. They would fly together and go on many adventures. Best of all, their magic would bring peace to the kings of the constantly warring city-states. Frieder hoped he might have such a dream again tonight.

Frieder sighed and studied the shadows that formed across the tent wall. He heard the low murmurs of knights talking while on night watch. If he listened hard enough, he could make out their complaints about the stifling summer heat and the lack of action they were bound to see on this routine patrol.

Just beyond the soldiers, Frieder saw the warm glow of a fire. He watched the fire’s dark shadow dance with random, flailing steps. The wood popped and crackled an accompanying rhythmic tattoo. Sparks occasionally shattered before falling and dying like shooting stars. The young prince let himself be hypnotized by the fire’s calming, trance like effect.

The fire appeared to be at the mercy of the wind, but Frieder knew that it was the fire that teased the wind and fed off the air. A stronger gust tugged at the flames and rippled its way through the flaps of Frieder’s tent. Frieder folded back his blanket, anticipating the refreshment of a summer breeze, but no chill accompanied this wind. Some of the men around the fire looked up in confusion. Others acted as if nothing had happened. Frieder could sense a change in the wind, carrying with it the smell of magic and the sound of cockle bells. Frieder’s eyes gleamed with excitement and he listened carefully.

A huge spark popped from the fire. Frieder waited for it to fall, scared that this one might catch a man ablaze, but the spark hovered too long in the air. Then, instead of falling to the ground, it shot up. The prince gasped. The spark circled the head of one of the knights. For a moment, the man warily wondered if this mischievous spark planned to set him alight. Then it darted away from the fire, leaving the man to mutter about pesky fireflies.

Frieder, however, knew what he saw was no fire spark or insect. Again, he heard the notes of flower chimes, like someone laughing. Frieder felt his heart leap. He was seeing a real fairy! If only he could get a closer look. He hoped the fairy was a her. He knew boy fairies existed as well as girl fairies, but he couldn’t help hoping that it might be his silver-haired beauty with diamond eyes.

As if in answer to his plea, the ball of light darted closer to his tent. It curiously came nearer until it stopped just outside. Frieder could now see the definite shape in the center of the glow, a female figure with tiny wings. It was indeed, eine kleine Fee, a small fairy. Did she want to enter, Frieder wondered, or was she afraid? The ball of light jingled around in an odd zigzag pattern as if she was waiting for something…or someone. Waiting for him? Of course! If he could see her silhouette in the firelight, could she see his? Maybe she’d used her magic to peek at who was inside the tent.

Cautiously, Frieder looked over at the other occupant of his tent. Brother Kurt, his tutor and guardian, was sound asleep. The priest’s snores had a light rhythm that could almost lull one to sleep until a big snort broke the pattern and Brother Kurt rolled over, facing Frieder. Brother Kurt still slept and Frieder wouldn’t be able to catch a wink with Kurt snoring in his ear. It was just another reason why Frieder hated this training exercise. Tonight, however, Brother Kurt’s snoring proved a blessing in disguise. Otherwise, Frieder might have stayed in bed and never seen his first fairy.

Frieder thought he heard an impatient jingle of flower bells from the fairy outside. Making as little noise as possible, Frieder slipped out of the blanket on his cot and crept to the edge of the tent past the still snoring tutor. With a twinge of excitement, he pulled back a flap of heavy canvas ready to catch the first full glimpse of his fairy.

Frieder saw her bright form in the center of the glowing light. Before his eyes adjusted to her brightness, she got impatient again and started darting to and fro, too fast for Frieder to see any details of her except for a ball of streaking light. Her glow was not the yellow-orange of the fire, but a silvery moonglow that spread out half a foot in all directions before tapering off into the darkness of the night. The fairy zipped away from him and stopped at the edge of the clearing. The sound of flower bells tinkled and Frieder swore he heard her speak: Come and follow, come and play!

The young prince hesitated. He wanted to follow the fairy, but he knew where she would lead him – into der Schwartzwald. Frieder remembered all his mother’s stories of the creatures that lived there, both good and evil. Many a tale was told about those who were led deep into the forest by some mischievous spirit, never to be seen again. The wind whipped through the clearing and Frieder shivered despite the warmth of the summer breeze. The fairy still waited for him while she flew figure eights around the trees at the edge of the clearing.

Come, her bell-like voice urged again. You have nothing to fear. Don’t be afraid.

Her words seduced him, but Frieder knew this Fee was no siren like the mer-folk who had tried to lure Odysseus, the hero of Greece, to his death. This was a fairy. His mother had told him time and again that one of a fairy’s duties was to protect children. Frieder knew he was no longer a boy, but he was not yet a man, as his father so often reminded him. This was his fairy that now beckoned him. She had chosen him and her magic would protect him from whatever dangers lay deep in the forest. Confident that he should go with her, Frieder boldly pursued her. He heard another tinkle, perhaps of delight, and then his fairy shot off into the woods.

Frieder did his best to follow. The fairy often zoomed between the trees and her light would be lost for a moment, only to reappear seconds later. Frieder jogged to keep up. He feared he might trip and fall. There had been no time to put on his boots. Rocks and twigs cut and scraped his feet. The fairy didn’t notice, though, determined to keep her fast pace, leading him further and further into the dark wood.

Still, Frieder continued on after the fairy’s light, driven by his wonder and curiosity. Wherever she was leading him, he knew it would be more fantastic than he could ever imagine. Perhaps he would even see more of her kind. If only she would slow down. Her constant zigzagging made it hard to tell which direction she was heading and her glow was the only light by which to see. Frieder tried to use his other senses to get his bearings, as his fencing teacher often instructed, but it was hard when the terrain was unfamiliar. He had to keep moving so as not to be left behind.

The sounds of the night came to him in unexpected ways. The forest that remained as black as its name slowly revealed its secrets. Animals talked in the darkness. A constant cricket hum accompanied his journey. He could hear the scurrying of something in the underbrush, most likely rabbits or foxes. He did not startle at the sound of the owl, for the fairy lit up the creature in its tree. Frieder saw the owl’s fluffy feathered brow and wide round eyes before it asked who dared to enter its woods.

A little further along, a baying howl pierced the night. Wolves were the kind of creatures who dressed up as sweet grandmothers and tried to eat little girls, if the stories were true, but Frieder was no little girl. If his father got his wish, he would grow to be a strong warrior who could chop wolves in half with a single blow from his sword. Perhaps his father would have hunted the wolf down and taken its soft pelt as a trophy simply because he could, just as he needed to maintain dominance over the surrounding lands.

Everything that could be owned would be owned was his father’s motto: God has given man dominion over the land and the animals, just as He has given kings dominion over other men. Which men, God never seemed to specify. Was his father really any greater a king than the rulers of Baden or Freiburg? And what of the king of Swabia himself? Was he not above his father? Frieder’s father might claim parts of the forest as his own, but King Eider knew nothing when it came to possessing its true secrets. Der Schwartzwald was said to be older than time itself, full of magic and mystery. King Eider did not believe in magic and he did not believe in fairies. Frieder doubted that the small winged woman in front of him and her kin believed they were the servants of anybody, even a king. After all, die Fee had their own ruler, a beautiful queen from all the tales Frieder had heard. Why should they care about the brief lives of mortal kings, when fairies were supposed to be immortal? If the Black Forest belonged to anyone at all, it belonged to die Fee.

As if in agreement, a loud, untamed roar split through the forest, drowning out the wolves, owls, crickets, and other beasts. At first, Frieder thought it was a bear. He froze as the hairs rose on the back of his neck. The unearthly sound came again and this time Frieder knew it was no bear. What could it be? A chimera? Perhaps a dragon?

Frieder put his hand to his belt, but there was no dagger there. In his haste he’d forgotten to bring it, along with his boots. He doubted a dagger would have been much use against a dragon anyway. His fencing instructor swore he was hopeless with the blade. His brother Erik was the true swordsman of the family.

Frieder heard another sound nearby that stopped him thinking of the dragon. It was the fairy. She stood close by in the crook of a tree. He still couldn’t make out the color of her hair, but he could hear her laughing at him.

Silly human, she seemed to say. It is only a dragon. Then she flew off again beckoning with another flowery jingle.

The young prince quickened his steps and shook his head in awe. A real dragon! He told himself that though he could hear it, the dragon was still far away, just another sound in the night. There was no reason to be afraid, not with his fairy guardian to protect him from harm.

Pressing on through the underbrush, Frieder wondered just where his fairy was taking him. His imagination filled with all the wondrous things he might see. He swore his eyes were adjusting to the darkness at last. Still, he could make out little more than the hand in front of his face or the outline of the nearest trees. His footing became more stable too. Though his feet were covered in dirt with small cuts and bruises from earlier in his journey, he no longer found himself tripping over his own toes. The fairy still moved like lightning, but he kept pace and did not lose her nearly as often when she darted in and around the trees and bushes as if they were both being drawn to a certain place.

He continued to follow for what felt like hours. Frieder wondered how long he had been traveling. Thoughts of the war camp itself were long distant from his mind. Eventually, he viewed what looked like a lighted area up ahead. At first, Frieder feared it to be the coming daylight and that he’d been away too long. A glance assured him that was not the case. The trees grew so thick together above him that they were like an impenetrable cloak of darkness against even the stars.

No, the glow he saw was a whole gaggle of little lights. Frieder’s eyes adjusted again, but he thought he saw the lights moving of their own accord. He rubbed his eyes and looked closer. The lights were indeed moving independently which could only mean one thing – fairies!

Frieder marveled at the sight before him. There must have been a hundred lights or more, a hundred fairies dancing on air in front of what looked like the oldest tree in the forest, its tannenbaum fir branches as gnarled as the wrinkles on Methuselah. Without a care for Frieder, his fairy guide shot forth to join her kin. The young prince stayed back; suddenly aware he bore witness to something few if any human eyes had seen in a very long time. If the other fairies knew of his presence, it might destroy something sacred and magical.

Hiding himself behind the nearest, thickest tree, Frieder quietly inched his way around its trunk to watch the fairies as closely as he could. His fairy guide flew until she landed in front of a fairy so regal in bearing she could only be the queen of die Fee.

Queen Primrose! Frieder knew her name from his mother’s stories. Queen Primrose wore a flower petal gown fashioned from her namesake blossom. Her long, flowing hair was of the same yellow shade and reached to her feet. Oh, she was lovely, but her expression was not. The queen frowned with a look of displeasure as his fairy guide curtseyed before her. For the first time, Frieder was able to see his Fee in detail.

Her long hair was not the silver of his dreams, but red-gold, not the color of coins or of sunbeams, but the red-gold of the sunrise with highlights of red-pink and gray-purple. All the shades of it blended together into the vision of a perfect summer morning. Her dress was made of rose petals. Whereas the queen’s gown ran the full length of her legs to cover even her toes, his fairy’s dress tapered off at the knee to allow more freedom of movement. Frieder recalled his mother saying that while many of the dresses she had worn were lovely, they were difficult to walk in. Frieder wondered if Queen Primrose felt the same, or was that even an issue when one could fly instead? Both the queen and his fairy had the most gorgeous wings. Their shape reminded Frieder of a butterfly with intricate patterns not unlike a stained-glass church window. Primrose’s wings were long and elegant, powerful yet delicate, as if beauty and grace need not be sacrificed for strength. In contrast, his fairy guide’s wings were smaller, built for speed and endurance, but still lithe and pretty like a hummingbird’s. Her sunrise hair rested in between, ending at her waist. Both fairies’ wings were tinted in shades of primrose, making Frieder wonder if that might mean a connection between the two.

Then Frieder heard a bell sound, but not the cockle bells of his fairy. This bell rang sweeter and colder, like a sleigh bell. The queen spoke and the cockle sound of his fairy quickly answered.

Morgenregen, you are late! Queen Primrose said.

Sorry, Mother, Frieder’s fairy answered with a sag of her entire body, though her tone suggested little remorse.

The queen shook her head and sighed. Go, greet the day. Join your sisters, she motioned with a tilt of her head.

Frieder’s fairy obeyed. As she turned around, the young prince finally beheld her face. Morgenregen. So that was her name. Every fairy had their own special gift in nature, a unique skill only they could perform, and their name was often a clue. Queen Primrose was obviously a flower fairy, but her daughter (how wonderful that his fairy was not just any fairy, but a princess) had a much different gift. Morgenregen, in the language of Frieder’s Germanic people, meant tomorrow’s rain. Frieder saw that her eyes were the color of water, deep and aqua, unlike her mother’s yellow ones. Morgenregen’s skin shimmered as smooth as a river pebble, and her face was as round as a dewdrop.

Morgenregen joined a group of female fairies Frieder now knew to be her sisters. Some

greeted Morgenregen with annoyed looks, but she paid them no mind as she took her place in the center of the group. The music started and Morgenregen smiled looking straight in Frieder’s direction as if to say, Watch this!

Frieder did watch with wide eyes as the fairies began to spin like dancing balls of light. It was an odd yet beautiful dance as the fairies pantomimed in the air, swooped like birds, and waltzed on the breeze. The melody filled his heart and enveloped him. The wind whistled a strange tune mixing with the fairy band below, and the bells of their fairy language rang in rhythm. Then Frieder noticed the dew dropping in a steady beat as it splashed his hair and nose and ran down the back of his neck. He now knew who was responsible for calling the dew and the purpose of this ritual dance. No wonder they couldn’t start without her.

Morgenregen liked being the center of attention. She spun round and round until all Frieder saw was a blur. Tiny chips of mica covered the top of her dress. As she spun, they reflected brilliant prismatic colors. Then Morgenregen slowed her dance, moving with the fluidity of someone underwater. The contrast