poemtry and prose

Morrigan dismissed the look of astonishment on Cassie face, "Yes, Cassie, I am human. If you would be so kind to help me to the fire, we can sit down by your friends and I will tell you my story."

Cassie went to the old woman and held her hand. It was cold and withered. In a way Cassie felt sorry for the old woman and hoped that her life had not been spent totally alone.

"Thank you my dear," Morrigan started, "this cavern home is wonderful but it does leave my bones feeling chilled."

Morrigan closed her eyes allowing the fire's warmth to wash over her. She took a deep breath as Cassie watched her intently.

"I grew up on the East Coast, near the Catskill mountains. When I was young, like you, my mother would read me stories about the faeries. Wondrous tales about their lands, and adventures. She would read from the Brothers Grimm and eventually made up her own stories. I could never get enough of them or the tales."

"I would wander into the hills and pretend I was in the world of the faeries, an outcast sent disguised as a human to keep a watchful eye over the race. It came as no surprise that one day I came face to face with a real, living faerie. His name was Delul and he was tall and handsome with grey eyes and pointy ears and long grey hair and shimmering purple wings. We bonded immediately, you could almost say that it was love at first sight."

"Every day for years I would spend time in that woodlands walking and exchanging information with Delul about our worlds, and peoples and cultures. We shared stories and music and discovered that we had a strong connection to nature. He taught me about magic and I taught him about the power of words. My love for him grew so strong that when he left to go back to his world, I thought my heart would splint in half."

"When I became of age, my parents had arranged a marriage between me and my father's partner's son, Corin. He was a spiteful, fat, pimpled face boy who treated everyone he came in contact with like servants. I cried for days, even begging my parents to excuse me from being Corin's bride. Of course, I never told them of Delul. They would never believe such tales, and the love between our people was also forbidden."

"The day I told Delul about Corin and my parents' planned fate for me, I thought he would never come back. Instead he did quite the opposite. He offered to bring me back with him, he didn't care for the rules that seperated man from faerie and he wanted nothing more than to be with me as well. Without hesitation, I fled our world that same day and arrived in this world, ready to live my days out here."

"However, it was not easy. Delul's clan frowned on his decision to choose a human for a partner. We tried to live in his town for awhile but after the teasing and lynching became so unbearable, we were forced to flee. We went from town to town trying to find acceptance, but back in those days, human tolerance was unheard of. So we lived in peace, for a time, in a secluded part of a forest, in a hut that Delul built by himself. We were happy, in those days."

Morrigan paused, her eyes glassing over. "Occasionally he made trips into the nearest town for supplies that we couldn't make or grow ourselves. He always brought me books and pens, as I took to writing about the land and fae. He loved my stories but they also caused him pain. As the years went by, the happiness left Delul's eyes. He longed for his clan and faerie contact. He hid his yearnings from me well, but I could always sense something was wrong. Then, one day, he left. Leaving me to care for our hearth."

"I continued to write stories in the books, traveling into town when my supplies ran low. Many of them took pity on me, helping me by giving me gifts and supplies and books and pens. Every time I went into a town I would question the fae about Delul. But I always got the same answer, it was like he had disappeared off the face of this world. Eventually I left the hearth wearing a hooded cloak, as I searched for my beloved, to hid my humanity. It was the dwarves of Greycliff who took me in and treated me with kindness. In return for the ideas and machines I helped them build and create they allowed me to live with them, eventually constructing this cavern for my home."

"That was over 20 years ago. Ancient history now. This is my mountain, it allows me to see the whole world. The view, along with the supply of books and pens, gave me a steady supply of dreams and things to write. Yes, I am lonely. I long for my beloved, but I am also happy here, being able to live free. However, this past year has not treated my hands well. As you can see, they are warped, twisted with arthritis. Stopping my stories. And now, after all these years, you are here. The first visitors to this cavern in a long time."

Cassie nodded, feeling very sorry for the old woman, "I can imagine how lonely you must feel, being outcast from two worlds. I, too, was locked up for my beliefs in Hazel and faeries. That is, until Hazel found me again." Cassie looked over at him lovingly. His eyes were closed and he shivered from the fever.

"This world is why i am here, actually," Cassie continued, "A plague has appeared, causing a terrible sickness to the faeries. For two weeks they get really sick and then, they disappear as if they were never here to begin with. For some reason, they felt I could be their only hope to save them. That and the stories about someone, you, living in a mountain cave. I need to know, we all do, if you know how to save this world? I fear that my friend Hazel may be next."

Stick nodded solemnly, wiping sweat from Hazel's forehead.

Morrigan moved her eyes from Cassie to Stick to Hazel and back to Cassie. "Stick, you may use my cauldrons and the water in the jug on the wall to make your stew to ease his pain and help him sleep. However, I want to speak with Cassie alone, if that is alright with you?"

Stick looked puzzled but nodded her head, "Yes, ma'am. Thank you for your generosity." She got onto her feet and started working on helping Hazel.

Morrigan stood from her seat on the stump with Cassie's help. "Cassie, please come with me. There is something I want to show you."

She lead Cassie down the passageway that she came from when the three friends arrived. Once they left the warmth of the great cavern, Morrigan spoke once more.

"I do know why you are here. I wrote about you. You and Hazel and Stick and your being here was the last thing I wrote before my hands got to twisted to hold the quills. I know why the plague is here and I also know how to stop it from returning."

Cassie was puzzled, "I'm not sure I understand what you are saying, Morrigan."

They entered another room. It was smaller, but lined with shelves. Thousands upon thousands of books lined the shelves. Sometimes doubling up, sometimes stacked on top of one another. Cassie's eyes grew big, she wanted to read the stories contained inside. A comfortable bed, sat off in one corner. They sat down.

"The tomes you see here, are filled with the life of this world. I wrote every word in each book you see around you. This is the history and story of this world, its people and cultures. The written words in those books gave life to this world. As long as I stayed healthy, this world has thrived. However, when my health began to fail, and I was not able to write, the plague developed."

"I am dying. The world that I helped to create and keep young was also not meant to sustain a human for a lifetime. My hands, my death, stems from having lived in this world. And when I die, that is the end of this world. The stories won't get written, which means Hazel and Stick and the Elders will also vanish as well. It's the power of the word, the written word that brings life to this world. As long as humans thought and wrote about the existence of faeries, this world was allowed to survive. And without my successor, someone born with the gift to use the power of the word to tell them, the plague my sickness released will destroy this world and every fae in it. Dissolving it into nothing."

"Cassie, I called upon you because you have the power of the word inside you. You are a gifted, special young lady with an imagination that compares to none. I chose you as my successor, and with your talent for storytelling, only your words and music can save this world."

Cassie smiled, "No problem. I can do that. I'll stay here with Hazel and Stick and write stories and keep this world alive. I don't mind. They never understood me back home anyways."

Morrigan stroked Cassie's cheek with her hand. She shook her head and looked her in the eyes, "No child. Did you not hear what I just said. You cannot stay here. It will kill you. I am lucky I was able to write you into the fold in time, otherwise this world would truly have vanished. Cassie, if you agree to take my place, you will have to return home, to your world and never return here. You'll never see Hazel and Stick again."

Tears welled up in Cassie's eyes. She didn't want to leave. Her mind recalled images of the night before, their waltz, Hazel holding her close outside, the kiss at her room, all the laughter and adventures they had. Everything about him flooded into her brain her at once. "No, I don't believe you. No. Hazel can't die. He can't."

Cassie started crying, "I... I... I love him. Being away from him, at Blackwell, the they gave me killed me inside, but just the thought of him kept the hope alive in my heart. I got him back, and I don't want to lose him again."

Cassie leaned into Morrigan's lap, the stress, the worry and fear of losing Hazel setting the tears free. Her body heaved as she cried, her mind filled with thoughts of Hazel and her feelings for him. The realization that she returned Hazel's love for her and her desire to stay and live with him conflicted with the reality that doing so would kill him and any hope of being together they ever had.

"Child, reality sooner or later catches up with everyone. If you do not leave here, he will die. And all the love you have for him and this world cannot save him them. You have the choice to make him well again, to live a strong and healthy life here, with his family and friends. I wish there was another way, believe me, I do. But there isn't and this is a decision that only you can make yourself."

Morrigan stroked Cassie's matted hair. Cassie sat up, pulling herself from Morrigan's lap, he tears still streaming freely down her face. She looked smaller and tinier than ever, more like the child she once was than a savior of a whole world. Her eyes roamed from the books in the room to the passageway leading back to the plague stricken Hazel. She shuddered at the thought of Hazel's handsome body, his arms and heartbeat being eaten away, locked inside some alien cocoon. He had two weeks before he would cease to be.

"And what next," her mind shouted, "Will you stay to watch Stick fade as well?"

She stared at Morrigan, the hermit. The human. Her predecessor both in spirit and in love. The woman who gave up her life to destiny, while losing the one she loved most. For a moment, the wise woman morphed into her mother. Cassie laid her hands in her lap, her fingers picking at her nails.

"Okay. Fine. I'll do it. I'll do it for Hazel. Because I love him and losing him would kill me."