Chapter Nine: To The Dark Tower Came
There they stood , ranged along the hillsides, met
To view the last of me the living frame
For one more picture! In a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set
And blew. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came."
~ Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came (See Edgar's Song in Lear)"
The forum was filled with light and movement from many of the beings except one. Miranda couldn't focus on the chatter and frivolity going on where many of the other court faeries were gathered. Normally she would take part indulging in a sarcastic quip or two usually at Ariel or Puck's expense. Sometimes startle her friends with some amazing fact that she discovered among mortals, but today her heart wasn't in it. She felt quiet, subdued, and she needed solitude. With just a quick thought, she shifted from the forum to the island that she called home.
The waves rolled in and out as she listened for the sweet sounds among the winds. She could see why her father chose to live in such a place and why he felt drawn to it once more when his time in the mortal world was over. She sat down on the rocky beach hugging her knees and feeling the sand between her toes.
"I thought that you might be here," a voice called on the wind. Miranda didn't have to look up to see that it was Ariel hovering over her.
"Ariel," she said testily clearly not in the mood for the pesky sprite. "Do I have to write a sign in the sky warning you to let me be?"
"Write it as high and as large as you can and I still wouldn't abide thee," the sprite quipped.
"That would be either proof of your irritability or your idiocy" Miranda rolled her eyes. "Knowing you it's the former rather than the latter."
"Never mind you aren't mad at me," the sprite said. "You aren't thinking of me at all. You're thinking of golden hair over piercing blue eyes and a breathing clipped voice from aristocracy."
Miranda turned from her friend. "No I am not and I told you not to go over there either." She commanded. She looked closely at her friend and his downcast look gave him away. "It would only bring heartache and regret, you know that Ariel." Her voice instead changed to one of compassion and concern for her brother by choice.
Ariel looked down and sat next to her, somewhat slumped. "I just-I couldn't stay away." He said. "We aren't supposed to care about the mortals. That's what I am told. I look at Aisling and your mother and I used to wonder why they felt that way. What was special about those specific mortals that made them feel so strongly for them? I mean we feel compassion, sympathy, and sometimes dislike for them. We aren't above emotion, but we aren't supposed to be deeply involved to the point where we want to spend the rest of our lives with them. We aren't supposed to hurt when they are hurt by others or themselves. We aren't supposed to feel joy at the thought of seeing them and feel a little bit of pain when we don't. I'm not supposed to feel this way for Thomas but I do." He sighed letting those emotions fill him. It was new to him, scary, uncomfortable, but at the same time wonderful and exhilarating.
"Seems like being among humans has rubbed off on you after all," Miranda said. "It's painful and wonderful at the same time. I haven't felt this way since-"
"-Ferdinand," Ariel supplied.
Miranda glowered at the mention of her ex-lover but nodded reluctantly. "If possible I think that I love Edith more than I loved Ferdinand, maybe because I am older and I understand what love is rather than the nonsense spouted by poets. It's the actions that come when that person brings out the best in you. No matter it's better to just pretend that it never happened. It didn't."
Ariel shook his head. "I don't believe that and I don't believe for a moment that you do either."
"Well you would if you spent your time away from that asylum!" Miranda accused. "I have not been to see them nor do I wish to. Filling yourself with regret isn't the way to live Ariel."
"Neither is moping around Our World thinking about what might have been," Ariel shot back. Miranda glared. "Do you want to save her or not?"
Miranda looked at Ariel with a flashing glance. "Don't you think that I want to? Don't you think that I despair every time I think of her in the third floor of that Retreat? Don't you think that I know what that loneliness and isolation is doing to her killing the very things that I love about her, her independence, her spirit, her mind, her beauty just as that electricity is killing Thomas?"
A smirking grin spread across Ariel's face. "I never said that Edith was in the third floor of the Retreat nor did I say the circumstances of their punishments."
Miranda paled caught in a lie. "Yes you did," she said sounding for a minute like a small child.
"No, I didn't," Ariel reminded her. "I just said where they were." Miranda sighed realizing it was a losing battle. "I suppose it happened after all." The sprite quipped at Miranda's silent acknowledgement of seeing Edith outside the Retreat.
"It matters not," Miranda said. "We made an agreement to sever all ties to them whether we want to or not."
"No it doesn't have to be," Ariel said turning to his friend his once somber face lit up with a secret excitement. "That's what I came to tell you. I intend to free Thomas tonight and I hope that you would do the same for Edith."
"No, that's impossible," Miranda snapped. "We vowed to stay away from them in Downton or anywhere else."
"Anywhere else in their world," Ariel replied. "Not in ours. We can rescue them and bring them here."
Miranda looked skeptical. "Their doors and windows are filled with iron thanks to suggestions from 'others,'" She said "others" with such a withering glare that Ariel knew there was still no love lost with her for Lady Mary and that he also knew there would be none from him for Sarah O'Brien. "I can't get past them and unless in the last twelve hours you changed into a completely invulnerable being that I don't know about, you can't either."
"No," Ariel agreed. "But we know someone who can." He then led Miranda to a roost where two stone statues were perched in the early evening waiting for the sun to set.
The sun set and two gargoyles broke from their stone sleep growling and stretching. Ariel and Miranda dodged to avoid the fragments carelessly flung around them. "We were beginning to wonder when you two would wake up," Ariel quipped.
Caliban glared at Ariel. He perched next to Rosalind, his mate a female gargoyle with yellow skin and scales. Like her mate, Rosalind also resembled a sea serpent with wings. She smiled kindly at the duo. "What brings you two here?" she asked warmly.
Miranda and Ariel told the story as quickly as they could. "And that's why we want you two to free them from the asylums," Ariel finished. "We can't get through the doors and windows but you can, so would you?" He looked pleadingly at his gargoyle friend.
Caliban glowered. "It is like I told you Ariel, the human world it is a mess," he said in his rolling accent. "They cause wars, displace people from their native lands for the misfortune of 'being there first', create weapons to destroy their fellow man, destroy the world around them, and bury it all in the name of their god and his so-called destiny! In doing so, they have separated both your people and mine to the point that where if it weren't for these Blessed Lands, we would be completely finished."
"I know all that," Ariel said. "I've spent time with them too as you well know. But Thomas isn't like that."
"Is he?" Caliban questioned.
Ariel lowered his head in deep thought and concentration. "I don't know, but isn't it my responsibility to find out not yours?"
"Not if it leads you to being hurt," Caliban ordered. He then turned to Miranda. "Or you."
"You won't help us," Miranda reasoned. "You would rather consign Edith and Thomas to their imprisonment."
"If it is to be," Caliban said. "When your father died, I swore that I would protect you both and I have not failed in that protection."
"No you haven't, Caliban," Miranda said diplomatically. "And we are grateful."
"Most of the time," Ariel muttered under his breath. Both Caliban and Miranda glared.
"But this isn't a matter of protecting Ariel and me," Miranda added. "This is a matter of saving the ones we love. The two that swore that they wanted to be with us. In a way, you still are protecting our family if you go through with this."
"Humans make vows only to break them," Caliban said and he turned to the female fairy. "You should know that."
Miranda nodded. "I do and I can't prove that Edith won't be another Ferdinand. I can't prove that Thomas won't be as you suspect. From all that I have observed, he's pretty damn close," Ariel glared for a minute in defense of his lover but nodded as if he couldn't deny it either. Miranda continued. "Neither of us can, the only possibilities that we foresee for now are either they join us here and live full lives filled with love and freedom or be condemned to a lifetime of insanity and early death. I will not allow that to happen to Edith."
"Nor will I allow that for Thomas," Ariel agreed.
"It's too large a danger for you both," Caliban replied. "That's why my answer is-"
"-His answer is yes and so is mine," Rosalind interrupted. Caliban turned to his mate in surprise. Miranda and Ariel exchanged sly glances. They knew if anyone could talk around the gruff and obstinate gargoyle it would be his warm hearted mate.
"Are you serious Rosalind," Caliban said. "You know what humans are like."
"I do," Rosalind replied. "But I also know humans can change and so can fairies and gargoyles. I have never seen either of those two want to free humans so badly and neither have you. There obviously is something greater for them. It's what we feel for each other. If Miranda and Ariel are willing to put their trust on these humans then we must not give up on those two just because of the possibility that our friends 'might' get hurt. It's a risk that they are willing to take because they care for them so much." She glanced over at the two fairies and with a wordless nod, she knew she was right. "It is the risk that you and I make for each other." She held her mate's claw in hers as the two embraced their eyebrows rubbing against each other in a gargoyle kiss.
Caliban pulled away and said. "Very well now let's discuss how to go about this."
Rosalind waited in the dark gliding on top of the roof. She had to find out which room held Edith. With her night vision, she could see a small woman in a dark coat leave the hospital and move her bicycle from the trees. The woman settled onto the seat as Rosalind moved quickly from the rooftop ledge to a nearby tree.
The woman appeared startled as her feet stopped the bike from moving. She waited for a minute, but then pedaled again. This time Rosalind let out a hiss similar to a large wild cat in the jungle. The woman stopped again, this time an expression of terror on her face. She pedaled again this time faster. When she pedaled further away from the Retreat so she and Rosalind could have privacy, the gargoyle approached her but remained in the shadows. "Excuse me I would like your assistance ," Rosalind said.
The woman stopped her bike and stood in fear. She gulped. "What does thee request?" the woman asked.
"I am looking for someone," Rosalind answered. "A blond woman named Edith Crawley."
The woman nodded. "I know who she is, but if it pleases thee I would like to know who it is that addresses me. Please come into the light." Rosalind sighed and moved from the shadows into the woman's sight.
The woman straightened her back and shivered. She managed to let out one scream before the gargoyle put her hand to her mouth. "Silence, I do not wish to hurt you," Rosalind hissed. "I am here to help Miss Crawley." She took her hand off the woman's mouth.
The woman gathered up what courage that she could. "If thee wishes to kill me, then do so. I am not afraid of neither man nor demon and I will not fight back. The Society of Friends does not take arms in violence and I walk in the footsteps of My Heavenly Father, all of us who work at this hospital do."
Rosalind smiled. "Do not despair I am not a demon nor will I hurt you. What is your name?"
"Abigail Brownell," she replied.
"Well Miss Brownell I can tell that you are a woman of great integrity and courage," Rosalind began. It was true, but the gargoyle also knew a little bit of flattery towards a human never hurt.
Abigail smiled modestly. "I try to live by God's word."
"What if I were to tell you that Lady Edith has been falsely imprisoned that she was not sent here on her own free will," Rosalind said pulling the woman closer in a conspiracy tone. Being around fairies long enough had given Rosalind a gift for drama, one she put to good use here. "I am a messenger sent here to right this terrible wrong and free her."
"'Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unaware,' "Abigail said quoting Hebrews 13:2.
"If you believe so," Rosalind answered. "Now will you tell me where she is?"
Abigail nodded. "Third floor, upper west gable, it is a private room for our most secluded patients."
"Thank you," Rosalind said as she sank back into the shadows and glided off into the night leaving a bewildered and fascinated hospital attendant.
Rosalind stood outside the room that Abigail pointed out. She recognized Edith from Miranda's description and could already tell that the woman was lost in her own mind. Her blond hair was stringy. Her white robe and gown hung loosely to her body. Her eyes were vacant. She sat slumped on the chair looking out at the world but no longer a part of it.
Hoping that it wasn't too late for the poor human, Rosalind grabbed the iron restraints on the windows and forced them off the ledges. Then she clawed at the glass shattering it into large fragments. A commotion like that would have sent most people cowering in fear, but Edith sat unmoving and not acknowledging.
Rosalind approached the young woman already hearing the commotion from outside the bedroom moving towards them. "We have no time, I am a friend of Miranda's," Rosalind said. At the name Miranda, Edith's fingers started to move slightly and her eyes regained a brief flicker of interest and possibly warmth.
"Well that's a good sign," Rosalind said dryly. "I have to take you with me!" The woman made no movement except her fingers twitched again. "I take that's a yes," Rosalind said as some of the hospital workers started pounding on the door. Without another word, Rosalind picked up the young woman and carried her off.
Rosalind held onto Edith as though she were fragile precious cargo. Looking down she could see one of the Retreat workers a larger man pick up a rifle and aim it towards Rosalind. "So much for not taking arms in violence," the gargoyle said dryly to the human. She was grateful though that Abigail pushed the man's hand away as if stopping him from firing. The bullet emerged from the gun and missed the two women by a mile.
Rosalind sighed with relief as she held onto Edith. The wind seemed to do something to the lady. Instead of the blank stare, she looked around as if confused. But then she closed her eyes like someone who wanted to drink in this whole experience. A thin smile began to form. "You are enjoying this," Rosalind asked, but no sooner did Rosalind speak then Edith reverted back to her silent self, once again a stranger to the world around her. She continued that way until Rosalind landed in front of Miranda and handed her the blond woman.
Miranda held onto Edith tightly looking her up and down. Edith did not return any emotions. "By Avalon what happened to you?" Miranda said as she kissed her hoping that her kisses alone could heal the troubled human. She then held onto her as the three females entered Faerie
Caliban picked up the small thin assistant from Storthes Hall as though he were a rag doll. "Get away from me you monster," the man hissed trying to be brave but failing miserably. "I was an experienced shot on The Front." The man was shaking in his boots.
We aren't on the Front are we, Caliban thought dryly. Instead he asked "Tell me where they have taken Thomas Barrow," the gargoyle had looked inside the room that Ariel said housed Thomas but found it to be empty. When the man stammered, Caliban gave a low growl. "Do I look patient?"
The assistant stammered. "N-n-o sir you don't. I believe they scheduled him for Elect-t-t ro convuls-siv therapy. That's downstairs on the ground floor." Caliban dropped the man then glided out of the room.
Dr. James Williams heard the commotion as he was about to turn on the instruments to shock Thomas Barrow. The patient was belligerent the previous time, but this time he was complacent. The psychiatric doctor was pleased. When the fight left the patient, they were usually willing to begin treatment. Williams looked upwards at the noises of screaming and growling. "Go see what that is," he commanded his assistant.
Joseph Watson, the assistant nodded, and walked upstairs. Just as quickly he ran back down. "Dr. Williams, you won't believe this," Watson said.
"Believe what?" the doctor asked irritated wanting to return to his work. He no sooner said that than the door sprang open and a winged monster tore open the door and threw the assistant down.
"Get out of here," Williams commanded as he filled a needle with a sedative. Before he could use it, Caliban threw the doctor to the ground. He then strode over to the patient removing the earpieces, straps, and the straight jacket.
Thomas weakly rose from the gurney and picked up the first sharp object that he could, a scalpel and aimed it at the gargoyle. "I know what you're after," he said his voice jerky. "But you can't get the drop on me. You'll be dead first."
Caliban responded by grabbing the scalpel. "I have no time for this foolishness. I was sent by Ariel."
"Ariel," Thomas laughed and clapped his hands. "He's why I'm here. I remember you, Ariel's monster friend. Why don't he come his bloody self then?"
"He is barred from entering," Caliban answered. The furor rose from the outside. "We have no time to argue now you either come with me or stay here where they can shock you again!"Thomas shuddered but then approached the gargoyle. Caliban grabbed him in his arms and left the room. "I knew that you'd see it my way," he said dryly as they glided away.
The Crawley family were eating their nightly dinner when Carson stormed into the dining room, his normally implacable face flushed with concern and excitement. "My lord, a Dr. Maycombe is on the telephone for you," the butler said.
Robert dropped his spoon inside his soup. "That's Edith's physician at the Retreat that Sir Glossop spoke of, what does he want?" the Earl asked.
"He did not confide in me my lord," Carson said. "But he said it's urgent." Mary and Sybil exchanged a quick conspiratorial look of surprise, then making feeble excuses left the dining room after their father.
The two sisters waited behind an open hallway as their father spoke to the doctor on the phone. "Yes, this is Lord Grantham," he said. "What do you mean she disappeared?" His voice became frantic. "Monsters with wings, a likely story" Mary and Sybil held each other as Sybil was about to speak but Mary held her finger to her lips. "Are you sure that some of your workers shouldn't be patients themselves? What, oh you saw them too. Well that makes sense then," The lord said. "Maycombe, I trusted your people to look after my daughter to take care of her and this is what happened! No, I don't want to hear your apology, I just want you to find her!" He slammed the phone down.
No sooner did the call end then the telephone rang once more. "If there is a just God, that will be her," Robert said, but he didn't sound certain.
Carson answered the phone. "Yes this is he," the butler said. He nodded and made a few grunts then he paled and nearly dropped the phone in shock. "You cannot be serious," he gasped. "How?" He then spoke again. "I suppose it was winged monsters, call it an educated guess." He listened as the caller spoke a few more minutes. "We appreciate your assistance in the matter and please let us know if you do find him. Thank you." The butler laid the phone on the cradle. "My lord that was Storthes Hall. It seems Thomas has also disappeared."
Mary and Sybil sneaked away from the hallway as the two men contemplated searching for their missing loved ones. "I suppose freeing Miranda and Ariel was not a wise idea after all," Mary said dryly as she and Sybil moved faster.
"Nor was lying to make sure that Edith and Thomas were locked up," Sybil shot back. "You said that they would be safe there!"
"I hoped that they would be safe there," Mary countered. "I can see that I was wrong about that!" They neared the stairs as Bates and O'Brien approached them, their faces revealed everything. "I suppose you heard," Mary reasoned.
The servants nodded. "Should we go look for them then, my lady," Bates asked.
"Why bother," Mary replied. "We know exactly where they are going."
Edith stumbled through the glass. Around her were mirrors as she wandered through feeling like she was going mad from the solitude as if she were not already. She didn't even know where she was. One minute she felt a sensation of flight and heard a female voice, the next she was in this glass cave staring at her own reflection over several walls. She could also hear her name being called on the wind, "Edith, Edith," it said sounding familiar almost loving like a prayer. Edith moved forward not knowing what else to do.
She moved, almost floated towards one of the walls as the images behind the wall shifted. Instead of standing in the glass cave alone, she was inside the sitting room of Downton walking behind her sisters. She couldn't hear any words being spoken but her parents greeted Mary and Sybil warmly with a hug and kiss. The two women responded, but when Edith reached out to embrace her father his body went right through hers and he simply walked past her. "Papa," she said trying to get his attention. But he walked past his daughter as if he didn't hear her, he just headed for the breakfast table and ate with his wife and daughters.
Edith ran towards her family. "Can anyone hear me?" she asked but her mother, father, and sisters paid no attention. She waved her hands in front of them but they didn't see her. It was as if she didn't exist. "Why don't you see me?" she asked.
Robert turned to his daughter. "Sybil, are you looking forward to your Season?"
"Yes Papa," the young woman said.
"It should be grand," Cora supplied.
"About as grand as mine," Mary joked. "But not quite as grand." The woman joked in her characteristic self-depreciating humor disguised as conceit.
"Of course you had Cousin Patrick to attend most of the events with," Sybil reminded her.
"Yes, that's true," Mary said seriously with both loss and buried feelings. "But I'm sure that you will find many others."
"Indeed you will," Robert said. "I have faith in you as I do in both of my daughters."
The words both of my daughters rang back and forth in Edith's head like a bell. "No," she said running to Papa. "Papa, you have three daughters!" She shook onto him. "Papa don't you remember me!" She turned away and towards her family. "Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" She screamed as she left the parlor. She ran into Mrs. Hughes, but the housekeeper walked right through her. Edith leaned against the hallway, her eyes glancing towards a portrait that had been made when the sisters were younger. Edith remembered that the sisters, young girls at the time, had trouble sitting still for the artist but were impressed how "pretty" that the portrait made them look. Edith held her hands to her mouth as the portrait only showed two girls: Mary and Sybil rather than three!
Edith covered her eyes as the image shifted to a family gathering one of the many, where visitors mingled among the Crawleys. Edith remembered this one in particular, Sir Anthony Strallan and Matthew Crawley were both trying to get Mary's attention. Anthony approached Mary walking right through Edith. Edith ran up to the older man, "Please Sir Anthony tell me about the harvesters," she begged. "Tell me about your farms tell me anything!" But the man could not, would not hear the blond woman's voice. Once again Edith screamed out loud towards all the other guests, but no one paid attention to her at all. She sank towards the walls as people walked through her and the realization dawned: She was completely invisible and no longer existed.
"You look like you could use this," a soft voice said to the young woman. Edith looked up to see a woman with ebony hair and green eyes stand next to her holding a handkerchief.
"Thank you," Edith said warily. "You can see me?" She asked.
"Unless I've become blind," the woman answered. Edith dried her eyes as the woman helped her stand. Suddenly, she was able to pay no mind to the other people walking through her as the other woman looked directly at her.
The woman looked so honest and so sincere and somehow Edith couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen her somewhere before. "Have we met?" Edith said. "I feel like I should know you."
The woman's eyes at first widened in apparent surprise but then just as quickly reverted back to her original expression. She smiled. "Yes you should, Edith," she replied. "My name is Miranda."
"Miranda," Edith answered. "That sounds familiar." Miranda smiled as she turned and walked away.
The dark haired woman turned towards her and smiled. "All you need to know is you are not invisible if you do not wish to be," she said as she disappeared into the hallway.
"Wait," Edith called as she followed. "I just want to talk with you!" She followed the woman surprised again at her surroundings. The scene was no longer in Downton Abbey. Instead she was back in the glass cave once again surrounded by mirrors. Through the mirrors she could see scenes from her life played out like film for an audience of one: times when she was a little girl and wanted her parents to pay attention to her piano lessons or when she announced the plot to a book she just read, but her words or the keys would always drop off before she could even ask, times after she and her sisters came of age when she was aware that the skinny mischievous boy who gave his female cousins a hard time that was Patrick Crawley had evolved into a handsome educated man and he walked away from Edith with eyes only for Mary, how she didn't speak out and said nothing to him, how she did her work at the convalescent home quietly without speaking of it, how she moved around the home like a ghost her actions always suppressed until finally she retreated into her world of silence.
Edith thought again of the scenes that played out before her and earlier when she was invisible. All along she had assumed her family had simply ignored her or stepped her aside? But whose fault was it theirs or hers for not speaking out? Could she have made her voice heard told Patrick all along how she felt rather than play the game because it "wasn't the done thing for a woman to chase a man?" Did her parents just never acknowledge her achievements or did she never mention them? Or was it a cycle where both happened at the same time and neither side could break it because they were so used to it? Worst of all, was this what she was condemned to a lifetime of seeing her half-filled life torturing herself with the questions of what could have been? Edith's hands ran through her hair as her head ached. Nothing seemed clear anymore.
"You will never be second best to me," she heard a voice whisper in the wind the same voice that earlier called her name. In her mind's eye, Edith could see the same green eyes stare back at her and she remembered the fairy woman: Miranda! She remembered everything. Holding onto those memories she ran towards a wall calling Miranda's name as she tried to find her.
She approached the end of a glass wall. She could see a villa where a wedding took place. A handsome man with dark hair dressed in a fine suit stood next to a priest as a veiled bride approached. Edith's heart sank as she hoped that she wasn't witnessing Miranda's wedding. But she looked up as the bride removed her veil to reveal a woman with long golden curls. The two solemnly recited vows as the priest made the sign of the cross over them. She looked towards the spectators as she saw Miranda standing at the far end. She was dressed in a long black Renaissance-style gown and her head lowered in sadness and loneliness that Edith was all too familiar with.
Edith tapped on the side of the glass. Miranda appeared to turn at the sound seeming to see Edith, but only giving a sheepish smile she lowered her head as if alone in a crowd. "Miranda, you're not second best to me either," Edith vowed as she knocked on the glass once more. Still it held solid and wouldn't move.
Suddenly the scene once again shifted and Miranda was in a beautiful field. She looked directly at Edith and waved her forward. Edith responded by pounding once again on the glass, her pounding getting more and more frantic. Miranda once again waved and Edith tried to break through but couldn't. The more she tried, the more exhausted that she felt. She wanted to stop, it was no longer worth it. She could just stay there and not move. Edith lay against the wall and closed her eyes.
A change in the air made the young woman looked up as she felt a biting gnawing cold run straight through her. Instead of the beautiful field, she saw a wintery landscape filled with snow and ice. All vegetation and life seemed dead. "No," Edith said. "This cannot be!" She pounded once more and her heart skipped as she saw Miranda rooted and frozen to her spot as a wall of ice began to form on her feet and move up her legs.
"Miranda," Edith yelled the other woman's name. Miranda looked sadly at her companion and reached out toward her but could not touch her as the ice covered her lower body appearing at her waist. Edith only knew one thing: She had to free Miranda no matter what it took! She clenched her hands into fists. The ice increased up to Miranda's neck. Edith drew back and held her breath as the ice formed up to Miranda's forehead a single tear glistening down the frozen woman's cheek. Edith then screamed and aimed her fists at the glass walls screaming as they shattered.
Edith ducked covering her body as the fragments spread. The air was silent for a moment. Curiously, Edith raised her head. The landscape was once again beautiful and spring like and Miranda ran closer to the wall a delighted smile on her face. "I knew you would find a way out," the fairy woman said. "Now let me help you the rest of the way." Miranda raised her hands and her fingers appeared through the wall as though it were transparent. Edith warily raised her fingers to join Miranda's. The two then held hands as Miranda helped Edith through the wall to the other side.
Edith glanced behind her as the prison disappeared and there was nothing except two women in a beautiful field. Edith kissed Miranda grateful and happy to see her once again and feel her in her arms. "Thank you Miranda you saved my life," she said.
Miranda laughed. "No, you saved your own. I just pointed it out to you." Edith laughed as the two kissed again. "Now, I think it's time for you to wake up," Miranda said as gave her human lover another deep and healing kiss.
Thomas lay with his head in the darkness when he heard the movements. He had grown so used to the silence and the dark that any type of movement would have made him jump. A man appeared with fly-away spiky hair and he had a warm grin. "What are you doing here?" Thomas asked.
"Looking for a way out," the man said. Thomas couldn't shake the feeling that he looked familiar but he couldn't place where. "Well I was trying to look for a way out but I found someone else instead."
The man sat down next to him, but Thomas moved away. "Well you're out of luck. I have gone back and forth here and do you know what there is?"
"Tell me?" the other man encouraged.
"More darkness," Thomas said with a laugh. "It's all the same, there's nothing out there."
"What do you mean nothing," the man said.
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Think of the opposite of everything," he snorted. He thought that the loneliness would drive him mad now he wasn't sure which was worse that or getting stuck with this chatty dim being for life-being? Why couldn't he think of him as a man wasn't that what he was? "I mean you can walk around and there are no walls, no trees, no doors, nothing. Sometimes there's a cold wind that blows around and there's an earthquake, but that's it!"
"I don't believe that, Thomas," the man replied.
"How do you know my name?" Thomas asked.
The man took his hand. "I just do."
"That doesn't seem fair," Thomas said. "You knowing my name and me not knowing yours." It was strange but Thomas felt like he should know his name.
The man stuck out his hand. "My name is Ariel," he said. Thomas hesitated and shook his hand. "Now let's see if we can find some sort of escape."
"You do," Thomas said. "I've walked through every corner of this place until I thought that I'd go mad." He snickered. "I probably already am."
"I'll find a way and I will come right back to you, Thomas," Ariel said with a kiss.
He left and exited the area where Thomas was sitting. He no sooner returned with an anguished look on his face. "Trouble?" Thomas asked wryly. Ariel sank down next to him. The expression on his face turned from a playful almost juvenile pout to one of anxiety and nervousness. "Are you alright then?" Thomas asked.
Ariel caught his breath like someone caught in a fit of panic."No, I just have this um trouble with dark closed-in spaces. They have never been my favorite places to be."
"Well get used to it," Thomas said. "I don't know how long I've been here. It could have been days, weeks, even years." He winced. "It doesn't matter being in here is better than being out there." The earth rumbled and the floor seemed to crack.
Ariel jumped. "What's that?" he asked.
"It happens, occasionally" Thomas said nonplussed.
"Well it has to come from somewhere," Ariel argued. "If there is an earthquake, there must be an earth that moves!"
"There is nothing there," Thomas shouted. "After all I've done do you think that I care anymore?" The earth rumbled again.
"It can't be worse than this," Ariel said.
"Shows how much you know," Thomas said. "Listen Ariel I'm sure you're a nice person-being whatever you are," There it was again, why was he so certain that Ariel wasn't human what else could he be? "And that makes it worse, you can't be here. You shouldn't be here. All I ever done was bring ruin to people" The earth rumbled even harder as fragments and debris seemed to fall to the hollow ground before. "I deserve this! You don't!"
The panicked look didn't leave Ariel's face as he held Thomas' hand. He cleared his throat. "No one deserves this Thomas. Least of all you!"
"Whoever you are, you don't know me at all!" Thomas shouted. "I've lied about people, backstabbed them, hurt them!" As he spoke the earthquake and rumbles began to get louder and more frequent. The earth shook as Ariel ducked his head and covered his body. "Everything I've ever touched or done turned to shit! They hurt me, so I go on hurting them back and I hurt them until I can't feel anything anymore!" The earthquake continued sending the tremors cracking through the entire area. "That's all there is that's left! Nothing, that's what I'm left with because that's what I deserve!" The rumbling got louder and louder as Ariel flung himself around Thomas' waist and lowered him to the ground.
"Thomas you keep talking about the past," Ariel said. "That's what's causing the earthquakes! Don't talk about the things that you've done. It's over, tell me anything else."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Tell me how you feel right now," Ariel said. "Just tell me." He put his hand on the other's forehead and wiped a hair on his forehead then he rubbed his temples. The gestures seemed familiar and comforting to Thomas. Stray thoughts entered his head, warm thoughts that approached but could not force their way into the surface.
Thomas shook his head. " I just feel tired and numb," he said rubbing his eyes. "Like I've been fighting so long and now I can't feel anything else. I don't feel sadness, or joy, or happiness." He looked at the blue eyes of the being sitting next to him. "At least I didn't until now."
"What happened now," Ariel asked as he continued rubbing Thomas' temples.
The former footman put his hand on top of his companion's. "I see you." He said plainly. "I don't feel so alone when you're here."
"You're not," Ariel replied and kissed him again. "And you won't be as long as I'm with you." He looked around and tried to force a smile but it wouldn't come. "You know what the great thing about nothingness is? It's completely blank, so you can fill it with whatever you want. It gives you another chance."
"Another chance for what," Thomas asked doubtful.
"Another chance to start over and begin your life again," Ariel replied. He looked around and mused. "I just wish I could use my magic in here though. This place needs a tree or a shrub or something. I mean if I'm going to live here forever with you, I would like at least something decent to look at." He blushed. "Well besides you anyway."
Thomas winced. He felt his eyes fill. "You want to stay in here forever with me?"
Ariel nodded. "Until you come out of this and if you never do, I will be here all day every day. "Thomas noticed that he blanched in terror and he was clearly hyperventilating as he spoke, but there was still a steadfast determination in his eyes.
"You don't want to be in here I can tell," Thomas said. "Just go. I am only bringing you pain."
Ariel shook his head. "I can't think of a worse pain that being in here alone. I know what that's like and it's worth whatever I'm feeling just to get you through this." Ariel shook and covered his knees with his hands. "It's just a little frightening that's all. Maybe it won't be so now that we're together."
"Ariel what's wrong?" Thomas asked holding the other being by the shoulder.
Ariel shook his head. "Nothing, I mean, it's not as bad compared to yours. If you are with me, I will be alright."
"Ariel," Thomas warned.
"Dammit Thomas," Ariel argued. "You have had a higher perception thanks to your encounters with us, why don't you use it instead of asking questions that you already have the answer to?"
Thomas looked into Ariel's eyes. He could see the being trapped in a place similar to where they were except smaller and darker. "You were in a small prison," he said. "You were unable to escape." In Ariel's mind Thomas saw an elderly woman dressed in black with a face twisted in evil and malice. She pointed at the sprite with a long thin finger but Ariel shook his head. "There was a witch, she threatened you, cursed you!" This time in Thomas' vision, he saw Ariel once again standing still as if forced to by magic as his feet remained rooted. Branches formed from his hands and head. He stood tall and straight inside a large bark. The only thing that remained of Ariel was his mouth screaming in pain and hurt. "She put you inside a tree because you wouldn't obey her!"
In their dark prison, Ariel bowed his head low looking down at his knees anywhere but at Thomas. "A being that flies along freely as the wind, a sprite that comes and goes quickly being rooted inside a place that is dark and closed for years is about as punishing as it can get."
"Then why don't you leave," Thomas said. "You can go. You don't have to be here. Really, Ariel, I don't want you here!"
Ariel shook his head. "Don't you get it Thomas, more than my freedom, I want to see you through this! I only hope that Prospera, Miranda, Caliban and everyone else can forgive me."
Thomas snorted. "What for?"
"For finding you so wonderful that I would rather be here with you than in Faerie," Ariel said. He began to cry and wrap his arms around Thomas.
Suddenly the memories came floating back to Thomas of Ariel meeting him, healing his hand, turning into Edward, dancing at the Revels, seeing Thomas through his illness and protecting him; Thomas knew that he couldn't let this sprite live his life here. He was touched that he was willing to give up his freedom, but the human also knew that was no way to live. Not for someone as free spirited as Ariel. "Ariel," he said. "No, don't you do this! We are getting out of here together!"
"You said so yourself," Ariel said as he lowered his head onto Thomas' lap. "There is no way out."
"Then we have to find a way," Thomas said. "Because I won't let you give up everything to be in here with me. I love you too much for that." His tears fell on the sprite's face like a sprinkle of rain. As his tears fell, Thomas could see a small wisp of light form on the ceiling. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the light grew bigger. "Ariel look," he said as the light increased. Ariel rose as Thomas embraced his lover as the light enveloped him filling the two with warmth.
Thomas woke up with a start feeling the warmth of the bed sheets and blankets surround him. He glanced slowly downward realizing that he was dressed in new clothing. He felt his face noticing that he was clean shaven again. He felt clean again somehow healthier. He glanced over to his side as Ariel ran into his arms, his eyes filled with happy tears.
"You're awake finally, I was beginning to worry," the sprite said. He then opened the bedroom door and called. "Come in, he's finally awake!" The door opened to reveal Miranda and Edith running in hand in hand with a gray haired woman following close by.
"Thank God you are alright," Edith said. "Poor Ariel was practically frantic."
"About as frantic as I was less than a few hours ago," Miranda added squeezing her companion's hand tightly.
Thomas looked around the room fully seeing it for the first time. It was small, but well furnished with a soft bed, chairs. The room was decorated with feathers of different types of birds and a group of wind chimes rang pleasantly outside the window. "Where are we?" he asked Edith.
"Ariel's bedroom on their island," Edith replied. "Miranda showed me the beach. It's so lovely here. You should see it!"
Thomas winced, feeling a slight headache. "We're back in Faerie?" he said. "I remember the hospital then I was –it was dark," he said. "Where was I?"
"You and Edith were trapped inside your own minds," Miranda said. "We were afraid that you would never recover." She looked into Edith's eyes.
"Well you were wrong about that," Edith replied.
"We figured that we could guide you along by coming inside to assist you," Ariel added. "Edith woke first several hours ago, and it took a little longer for you."
Thomas turned to Ariel and sat up in bed. "So you were in there with me. I wasn't dreaming was I?"
Ariel shook his head. "I was and will continue to be so. I'm glad you managed to get out for both our sakes."
Thomas thought for a minute. "So that was it then? You said all that stuff just so you knew that it would bring me out?"
"Well I hoped that it would," Ariel replied.
"And if it didn't-" Thomas began but Ariel shushed him by putting his hand on his mouth.
"Yes I would have held my end by staying with you forever," the sprite said. He kissed him on the lips. Thomas smiled, his eyes filled and he couldn't say anything for awhile. He just held Ariel's hand as he returned the kiss.
The gray haired woman who had been silent until then cleared her throat. "Yes, it's good that both of you couples are together again, but he still needs rest and so do you Edith," she said.
Miranda pouted. "Oh Isobel Gowdie, can't they stay awake a little longer?" She said. "I promised to take Edith across the island."
"I haven't even showed Thomas around yet," Ariel added.
"Well it's all fun, but unless I'm mistaken you have all eternity to do so," Isobel Gowdie interrupted in her brusque Scottish accent. "They need to lie back and rest with plenty of chamomile, not gallivanting about like young fools making them more ill."
Miranda smiled as though she were used to this woman's bluntness. "Honestly, Gowdie, you think that chamomile is the cure for everything."
Isobel Gowdie shook her finger at the fairy woman. "Don't give me none of your lip, Miranda Prospera! I have known you since you were a girl and in that time I have cared for many a human and half-human that have come here. I wouldn't start questioning my methods now if I were you!"
"No one would dream," Ariel quipped. "Not unless they want a mouth full of castor oil!"
"You may just get that wish granted If you don't behave yourself, Ariel," Gowdie grunted. "Now Edith you must return to Miranda's bedroom and Thomas you lay back."
"I don't suppose we could stay with them," Ariel asked cheeky.
Gowdie rolled her eyes. "Lovers, fools no matter what the species." She sighed. "Very well but take care of them and make sure you don't get too upset or excited. They still have to return to the Final Revel tonight."
"We won't," two sets of lovers chorused like bored children as Gowdie left, her point very clear.
"Well I was going to show you further into the island," Miranda sulked.
"Don't worry," Edith said. "You will have many years to show it to me."
Miranda looked surprised. "You mean, you will-?"
"If the offer still stands," Edith replied. "I want to stay with you."
"It never left, Sweetling, This will be a Samhain Revel to remember," Miranda laughed with tears in her eyes. Edith too began to cry as they kissed. The two women pulled away. "Come we better leave these two alone and have some privacy ourselves." They glanced at each other laughing as Edith and Miranda returned to Miranda's bedroom, their arms around each other, and Ariel climbed into bed with Thomas resting his head on his lap and sitting over him.
Thomas interlocked his fingers with Ariel's. "I can't believe that you would have wanted to stay with me in there despite the risk."
"Do you doubt yourself so much that you think you're not worth staying for," Ariel asked.
"Well no," Thomas objected rather quickly, but then he thought of the fairy's words. "Yes, yes I do."
"Well you're wrong," Ariel replied. "You are worth staying for. I promised that I would never leave you and I never shall. Never." He kissed Thomas' forehead. "Never." He kissed his right cheek. "Never" Then he kissed the human's left cheek. "Not ever," Ariel leaned down and kissed Thomas on the lips. Thomas then gently moved the fairy closer to him and returned the kiss.
Author's Notes
Abigail Brownell's last name is a tribute to Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) prominent suffragist, activist, and a Quaker herself.
Dr. James Williams' name is an inversion of William James(1842-1910), psychologist, mystic and ardent spiritualist. He conducted many experiments on out of body experiences and was very prominent in psychical research. His assistant Watson's name was not inspired by Sherlock Holmes' assistant but rather Alexander Graham Bell's assistant, Thomas Watson (1854-1934)-of "Come here Watson, I want to see you fame". Aside from being the first to be at the receiving end of a phone call, this Watson was also a spiritualist who conducted odd experiments to weigh and measure the human soul.
Isobel Gowdie was a real person who was tried for witchcraft in 1662. Among her claims were that she was a frequent visitor to Faerie and had many friends among the Fair Folk including the Queen of Elphame. No record exists of her execution, (or was she executed? :D)
I will try to finish this story before Christmas, there are at least three chapters left to go but if I don't, be prepared for at least a week break when I go on Vacation. Anyway, if I don't get to it soon have a joyous Holiday no matter what you celebrate and make it a good one. :D
