The
Elfin Child
The
Elfin Child
Chapter 1 - To Ferrindell
Like most children, I had once believed. Believed in all the fairy tales that the grownups had read to me, believed because there were films and cartoons and books. But then I grew up.
My doubts, started at school when some of the older kids would laugh and mock when some of the younger ones would share some of these tales. By the tender age of eleven, I no longer believed. No more make believe, no more.
That summer, I spent my holiday with my Father’s sister, my Aunt Elizabeth. My parents thought the air would do me good. Out in the country, away from the city, away from my friends. I wasn’t so sure.
My Aunt was OK, she lived all alone in a small cottage at the edge of Cotteswold Forest in the Black Country. She was a quiet lady, pleasant enough and always pleased to see me, but she didn’t really know about children, let alone eleven year old boys. My father told me that she had been engaged to be married, but her intended future husband had been lost in the war. I think that meant he was dead, but they just said lost. She never met anyone else, and went to live in the country, to get away from it all.
I was a frail child, I had suffered a great deal from several childhood illnesses that had left me quite weak. I was to start a new school after the summer holidays and my parents hoped that time in the country might help to strengthen me. Good country air, my father called it. Six weeks to make a transformation.
I arrived at Woollington Station on the Friday afternoon. Two suitcases with labels. I had been put on the train in London by my parents, and here I was met by Aunt Elizabeth. And now I had to face that moment I dreaded ...... The Kiss. My sleeve did a reasonable job in removing the lipstick from my cheek and I walked just a few feet behind her. She had asked a Porter to carry my suitcases to her car.
I suppose, I ought to tell you that this all happened a long, long time ago. The train I travelled on was pulled by a steam engine and her car was big and black and had running boards along the side, that you could step on. One of my friends had said you could stand on these whilst the car was moving, but it was dangerous.
The porter put the luggage in the car and I climbed in the front next to my Aunt. She didn’t say much as we drove to her cottage. She asked how my parents were and how I was doing at school, but not much else. We pulled off the road onto a gravel drive up to the front of her house. At this time of the year, the house was a picture. Climbing roses over the front porch in full bloom. I pulled my suitcases from the car and she showed me to my room. Nothing had really changed. I had stayed here before when my parents had visited, but this was the first time on my own.
“Right”, said my Aunt, “Unpack your things and come down when you’re ready and we’ll have a good chat”.
I looked out of the window. The end of the garden, was also the beginning of the forest. It looked so dark in there. The trees were so close together.
That evening, I told my Aunt I was tired and excused myself. I really wanted to be alone with my thoughts and my plans. If I was going to have to stay here six weeks, I really needed a survival plan.
My Aunt and I talked much more in the morning. She was much more understanding about the needs of an eleven year old boy than I imagined. She said there were some rules, but as long as I stayed within those limits I could pretty much do as I liked. The main rules were to keep my room tidy, and to be on time for meals. Sunday Afternoons we would play games and of course bedtime. ( I did manage to get a small concession on the original time).
Then there was the forest. She explained to me that it wasn’t as forbidding as it looked and was safe, as long as I didn’t go farther than the firebreak. It appears that they have these wide tracks that criss cross the forest to prevent the spread of fire. If I was to walk into the forest, I would soon come to a firebreak. Turning left of right would bring me back to the cottage. If I played in this first part, it was OK as long as I didn’t go any further. This was to become my favourite playground.
In the afternoon I set off on my first exploration. Pushing through the trees and the ferns making up much of the forest floor. What a place! Fallen trees to climb over, Some were almost hollow. I decided that I would make myself a secret den. A special place that only I would know about. I found the place and started to collect fallen branches to construct my den.
I hadn’t gotten very far when I heard my Aunt call. Time had passed very quickly. I apologised for being late and got a very friendly “tut-tut” from my Aunt. “Just don’t be so late you get me worried, young man”, she said. No one had ever called me a young man before. I felt quite grown up.
Aunt Elizabeth didn’t have a television, so we listened to a radio. There was a detective story and it was really quite exciting. My Aunt packed me off to bed after that, but I read for a while. That night I had a strange dream, it was as if someone or something was calling me. I woke just a little afraid.
I got out of bed and went to the window. Opening the curtains, it was light, birds were singing and the forest looked inviting. I went to the bathroom, dressed, made my bed and tidied my room. I heard my Aunt downstairs, so I went down. “Good morning”, she called, “and how is my nephew this fine day?”
“Very well thank you.” , I said politely
We passed the time over breakfast catching up with family news, until finally she announced that she had to drive into Woollington. She gave me the choice of going with her or staying. If I chose the latter, she would leave me some sandwiches as she wouldn’t be back until late afternoon. I chose to stay. I waved goodbye as she drove off. I was always quite happy to be on my own. I loved to explore and today would be my chance to both finish my den and to get to know the forest paths.
By lunchtime, I had built quite a passable den, well camouflaged such that even I had to look twice to see the entrance. I sat inside eating my sandwiches.
“WELL?”
The word was unexpected and nearly made me choke on the present mouthful. I looked around but there was nothing to be seen. I crawled outside and looked again but still nothing. I thought I must be imagining things. I went back inside, looked a third time before settling back down to finish my sandwich.
“ARE YOU DEAF?”
This time I shot up into the standing position so fast my head hit the roof of the den. (It was only just high enough).
“Who said that?”, I yelled.
“SO YOU’RE NOT DEAF THEN!”
I was outside so fast, my legs buckled and I fell face down on the ground. I felt all the wind go out of me and I struggled to breath. I twisted into a sitting position and gasped. All around me a mist was swirling, but no ordinary mist. Colours seemed to mix in the mist and in the middle there appeared a shimmer of ruby and emerald images like flakes of snow. From the centre of these stepped a figure that sent shivers down my spine.
Small, not more than half my height. Slender in stature of boyish looks but with skin emerald green in colour. At first I thought it was wearing a costume of leaves, but it was truly naked, just with a skin texture that was of the forest trees.
“Who are you?”, I whispered. As if afraid to be overheard.
“I AM THE WIND, I AM THE STILL. I AM THE LIGHT, I AM THE DARK. I AM WHATEVER IS, WHATEVER WAS AND WHATEVER WILL BE. I AM.”
None of this made any sense to me and I found myself rubbing my eyes in disbelief. The image was still there.
“I SEE YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. A HUMAN CHILD HAS SUCH LITTLE REASONING. COME I WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND. FOLLOW ME”
“No, I must get back, my Aunt is expecting me back now.”, I spurted these words out so quickly as I was very afraid. I ran towards the forest edge and the safety of the cottage. Not once did I look round.
My Aunt hadn’t arrived back yet, so I ran upstairs to my room and closed the door. If there had been a key I would have locked myself in. I could feel my heart beating so fast. I looked out of my window, but the forest looked normal. I sat down on the bed and thought. Was it real? Did I imagine what I saw? I vowed to say nothing of this to my Aunt.
That night, I couldn’t sleep properly. Dreams would haunt me and I would wake, afraid of something but what, I could not determine. By early morning, the dreams subsided and I fell into a deep sleep that my Aunt found difficult to wake me from.
“My, you were deep in your dreams this morning”, she said.
I didn’t go back to my den for a whole week, preferring the relative safety of the garden.
Despite my fears, however, there was something that nagged at me to go back, and the following Monday I plucked up courage to return to my den. Nothing looked strange or out of place. After a while I crawled inside and sat and waited.
And waited.
Nothing happened that day or many days following, but each day I felt as if I had to be there, waiting. Three weeks into my holiday and it happened again .....
“WHY DID YOU RUN AWAY HUMAN CHILD?”
I came outside my den and once again in swirling mist and coloured snowflake lights stood the figure. His face showed puzzlement, as if he really was having difficulty understanding that I would be afraid.
“HAVE YOU NO TONGUE?”
“I had to get back”, I lied. “And you didn’t tell me your name”.
“YOU DIDN’T ASK ME”
“Yes I did”, I exclaimed almost angrily.
“NO, YOUR WORDS WERE ‘WHO ARE YOU’ AND THAT IS DIFFERENT. I GAVE YOU MY ANSWER. HOWEVER IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER MY NAME IS AEOLIUS. WHAT IS YOURS?”
I told him my name and he played with the sound of it, laughing as he pronounced it different ways. I had never heard my name used in this way and even I had to laugh.
“But what are you?”, I asked.
“WHAT AM I? WHAT ARE YOU? AM I WHAT? YOU ARE WHAT? ARE YOU WHAT I AM? “
He spun round several times and the lights jumped outwards and upwards as if from fireworks.
“I AM OF ELFIN ORIGIN, OF ELFIN BLOOD, OF ELFIN BONE, OF ELFIN SKIN AND ELFIN MAGIC. NOT ONE OUNCE OF ME IS NOT”
“Are you saying you’re an elf?”, I asked, unbelievably.
“YOU MUST BE DEAF AFTER ALL”
At this he disappeared for a moment and was behind me.
“BOO”
I jumped.
“NO! HEARING SEEMS OK, YOU MUST BE STUPID THEN!”
I protested
“It’s just that, well, fairies don’t exist.”
“CONFIRMED! YOU ARE STUPID. DID I SAY I WAS A FAIRY? I AM AN ELF AND WE DO NOT ON THE WHOLE LIKE FAIRIES. TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE THERE ARE NONE LIVING NEAR HERE ANYWAY”
“But, you can’t be serious, are you saying that fairies do exist?”, I asked
“I AM GETTING EXTREMELY TIRED OF LISTENING TO YOUR SILLY QUESTIONS. YOU ARE STANDING HERE TALKING TO AN ELF AND YOU FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE IN FAIRIES. YOUR HEAD MUST BE SCRAMBLED HUMAN CHILD”
I felt so strange, standing talking to an elf that I really didn’t believe in about fairies that I definitely didn’t believe in. I began to think I must be ill. The trouble was it was all too real.
“WILL YOU FOLLOW ME THIS TIME?”
“But where do you want to take me and for how long?”, I asked.
“WHERE IN THE WORLD AND HOW LONG IS A PIECE OF STRING?”
Aeolius ran a short way into the forest and beckoned to me to follow. Despite every thought I had telling me not to follow, I did. We went deeper until we reached the firebreak. “I cannot go further.”, I called. But on he went into the trees on the other side. My feet just went on walking as if someone else was working them. On and on, brushing past trees and bushes and ferns until after a long walk we came to some large rocks.
“WE ARE HERE BUT NOW I HAVE TO BLINDFOLD YOU”
Before I could even protest, my eyes just closed all on their own. Try as I might I could open them.
“TAKE MY HAND”
I felt his hand touch mine. It was just like holding a leaf, same texture but with a human like bone structure behind.
As we walked forward I sensed that we were entering a cave. Darkness seemed to be there even behind my closed eyelids. We walked for what seemed a long time when suddenly he said;
“NOW YOU CAN SEE”
My eyes opened and immediately I had to squint in what was really bright sunlight. This alone was strange, for the weather just prior to my eyes being closed was really overcast with no signs of breaks in the clouds.
“WELCOME TO FERRINDELL, THIS IS MY HOME”
I looked at Aeolius. The mist was gone, the magic lights were gone but his appearance was the same. There were too many questions to ask, I decided to wait and see.
“I WILL HAVE YOU BACK IN TIME, NO ONE WILL MISS YOU”
These were reassuring words, but somehow I had my doubts.
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