In the land of Nodin, beauty was held to the utmost of importance and the Royal family dictated the specific rules of that beauty. Being an exhaustive list, I could never remember it all. It proved inconsequential, because my body broke rules number one and two, setting me on the path of non-conformity in Nodin society.

It didn't matter that the point of my ears held the precise measurement of perfection as esteemed by Royalty. The fact that my hair was a lustrous raven black instead of silver, or even the lesser coveted white, and my eyes were as green as the clover fields of Abana, categorized me as grotesque. Of course, the extra sharpness and slightly longer length of my incisors sealed my fate with or without silver hair and blue eyes.

In Nodin, your features indicated your blood's purity. My features signified my ancestry was contaminated, probably by human blood or worse, the Moloch. I was considered an outcast in the hierarchy of the Fae. Many times, I wished to be a brownie and live-in solitude in the forest, but that was not the life I was destined to live. Instead, the Royals of Nodin used me in the palace as entertainment—Jester of the Fairy Court.

Today was my one day a week off from the court. Often, I would spend that day with the only two fae that cared about me, my friend Hernlin and the wizened fairy female Auntie Avloni. Hernlin was a member of the Royal Guard. He was also of mixed heritage, but his lesser attributes were easily hidden under his armor. Auntie was the Danu, or Woman of Nature, for the land of Nodin. No one knew how old she was. Someone, maybe my mother, left me outside her cottage when I was a few months old, and she raised me.

Auntie's cottage was located deep in the Etain forest. Growing up surrounded by nature, I garnered a deep respect for its power. Drawing near to her cottage, I was unsurprised to find her in the garden. Meticulous in her care of the many plants growing there, she would spend most mornings weeding and transplanting. Some plants she used for food, others for medicine and magical spells. She supplied the Royal Healers with ajwain, the key ingredient in the salve used to heal my back when the Court punishers used me as Prince Sorek's whipping boy, but she didn't need to know that.

With a smile on my face, I watched as she used her magic to control multiple gardening implements at once. She had her back to me, so I treaded lightly, hoping to surprise her. "Mareck, my love, when will you learn, you can't sneak up on me," she stated, gifting me with a blinding smile.

Although very advanced in age, she was still beautiful. Being a nature fairy, she had showed age after reaching five-thousand-years-old. The wrinkles around her eyes and mouth indicated a life full of laughter. Her hair was the softest silver and eyes a beautiful azure blue that twinkled when she smiled.

"I need your help today, Mareck. We're going deep into the Etain forest to find a black cohosh plant. I need it to perform a magical spell for the Temures. They have been mated for over fifty years and unable to conceive a child. The cohosh plant is the most powerful plant used in fertility spells, unless of course you have a fertility fairy in your pocket," she joked.

"No, mam. I'm fresh out," I answered. We both knew all the fertility fairies were killed during the last Great War with the Molochs, and they had sired no new ones since.

As we walked, we made small talk about the happenings in the Court. "How are they treating you? I am surprised they have not made you a Knight of the Royal Guard yet. You're bigger and stronger than any other fae in the land."

"They treat me fine," I lied. Unlike most fae, I was capable of lying, instead of just skirting the truth.

They treated me terribly. Sometimes, King Belial would use me as furniture, forcing me to get on all fours in front of his throne for hours at a time. He would prop his feet up on my back, digging his heels in when he thought I was too comfortable. Although the Royals detested humans, they mimicked them, including naming me the Royal Jester. They would ridicule me for my looks and force me to use glamour to hide my wings. It was an affront to the King for my black wings to be on display for everyone to see. Little did he know, his wife enjoyed having those ebony feathers wrapped around her naked body quite frequently. Although my birth name was Mareck, I gained the nickname Raven as a boy, and it stuck.

As a whipping boy, I was beat at least once a week. Prince Sorek would seduce some fae maiden, and when the affair became known to her parents, King Belial would order him punished with ten lashes. The Prince, of course, never endured these punishments, I did. The court's punisher would tie me to a post and execute the King's orders, oftentimes flaying my back open. Healers would come to me in my quarters afterward, and apply a limited amount of magical salve to keep me from scarring, the same salve Auntie helped to supply.

Bringing me out of my thoughts, Auntie stated, "They simply do not know how valuable you are. If they did, you would have been a Knight years ago." While growing up, she made frequent cryptic comments about how valuable and powerful I was.

I knew that one day she would be disappointed to find out I was but a Jester in the King's Court, a whipping boy, and whore for the court ladies.

I was an outcast.

Although I was considered ugly by fairy standards, it didn't stop the Ladies of the High Court of Nodin from lusting for me. I think it gave them a sense of danger to be with the dark fae. My Queen would share me with her friends, but would often partake of her own desires, unbeknownst to the King.

"Mareck, where are you today?" Auntie asked. "You seem to be off in the clouds somewhere."

She was right, my unhappiness with my situation was worsening every day, dampening my spirit. Fae were known to wither and die when their spirit fell into despair. Rolling my shoulders as we walked along, I almost hissed from the pain of the lacerations from yesterday's whipping post. I could ask Auntie for the ointment to heal the wounds completely, but then I would have to tell her how I got them. Many believed she was much more powerful than the King and Queen. Hernlin asked me one time why I didn't tell her and I answered, "If she found out and destroyed the King and Queen, much worse could replace them. They are merely selfish rulers, but truly evil fae existed, and if gained control of Nodin, the entire world would be in danger."

I realized we were almost to the edge of the fae forest. Looking to Auntie, she stated, "Keep going, my boy. We will find some cohosh."

We walked along another ten minutes before reaching the end of the Fairy lands and beginning of the human lands. A magical border of red clover marked the separation of our societies. Past this point, the magic of the fae diminished. The farther away a fairy got from Nodin, the weaker they became. Their magic was tied to the land. That was why the nature fairies, like Auntie, were usually the most powerful.

I stared at the red clover for a few moments before Auntie stated, "What are you waiting on, boy, step on over it and find me that cohosh." Giving her a nervous glance, I walked through the clover and stopped on the other side. Contrary to what I was expecting, I didn't feel a drop in my magic; maybe because I had little to begin with. Glancing back to Auntie, she smiled and flicked her wrist at me in a motion to get going, but didn't follow.

I walked into the human forest until unable to look back and see Auntie anymore. I was just about to admit defeat and turn around when I saw it. A black cohosh was growing next to a dense evergreen bush. When I bent over to pull off some leaves, I heard a strange rhythmic noise coming from the direction of the bush as a putrid smell attacked my nose. Peering closer, I used a little of my plain magic to enhance my sight. Sound asleep underneath the bush was a woman, her soft snores alerting me to her presence. I had never seen a human woman. She was curled into a tight ball, arms around herself with long, copper hair obscuring her face. One of her little round ears poked through the messy curls.

In the Court, I would listen to the other fae gossip about humans, always calling them ugly and wondering how anyone from the magical world could fall in love with one. By the odor coming from this human, I understood their prejudice.

Restless on the cool ground, she repositioned her body. It was then the festering wound on her leg came into view.

That explains the smell.

Reaching through the bush and lightly touching the hot skin of her foot, I concentrated and felt the infection already pumping in her blood. She would die if she didn't get help. Making a decision, I finished stripping the cohosh leaves. Then, using my immense strength, I pulled the bush out of the ground, revealing the human underneath. Her head turned, showing me her feverish face with sickly sweat beading her brow.

Humans aren't ugly. They're just different—like me.

Barely able to open her eyes, she mumbled fragmented and barely coherent sentences. "I didn't know I was a... I promise... Don't hurt me..."

Lifting her in my arms, her tiny frame folded into my chest. Although she felt burning hot, her body trembled with a chill. Moving quickly, I made it back to Auntie. Although surprised to see me striding up with a human in my arms, she saw the ghastly wound, assessed the situation, and acted on her immediate decision.

"Get her to my cottage quickly. She doesn't have much time."

Laying her down on my old bed, Auntie went to work making an ointment for the wound, and an ingestible healing liquid.

As a boy, I assisted Auntie with caring for sick fae, so I made myself useful by fetching cool water and cloths to decrease her fever while Auntie poured the healing liquid into the woman's mouth a little at a time, careful not to strangle her.

After a few hours, the young woman gained consciousness. When hazel eyes focused on us, her previous pallor paled to near white. She was terrified of the two strange creatures before her. I had the foresight to glamour my wings and teeth, so as not to startle her too much. Although still weak, she scooted herself up to the head of the bed, as far away from us as she could muster.

"Dear child, don't be afraid. We wish you no harm," Auntie told the young woman. While she was unconscious, Auntie had performed a simple spell to help the human understand our language.

"Aaarre you the witch hunters?" she stuttered out. "I didn't know I had power until the day the man grabbed me where he shouldn't have. The magistrate witnessed me do it and accused me of performing black magic, but I was just angry at the time. I'm not evil." Her tone had become pleading.

"No, dear, we are not witch hunters. You're safe with us."

Looking back and forth, her eyes lingered on me two seconds longer than on Auntie. "Where am I?"

"You are in Nodin, the land of the fairies."

WC: 2000

WCT: 2000