Harlequin wasn't familiar with this part of the forest. The thick bushes and dense trees would have made their progress difficult, had they not been flying. The sunrays weren't going through the thick canopy, but the twilight didn't make him want to take a nap like it usually did. Maybe it was the absence of any birdsong. Normally the forest's sounds wouldn't reduce to the rustle of leaves.
Or maybe it was because they were heading further away from the heart of the forest than Harlequin ever had, and it made him uneasy.
Strictly speaking, they weren't doing anything wrong. The Fairy King's Forest was a home for the fairies, not a prison, and they could go anywhere they pleased–even in the outside world if they wanted to, not that many did. Outside the forest lived the humans, and they were unreliable and dangerous.
The only fairy that didn't seem to see this truth was Harlequin's best friend, Helbram. As a matter of fact, Helbram's unhealthy obsession with humans was the reason why they were here.
"I still believe it's a bad idea," Harlequin said, turning on his pillow so he was facing his best friend.
Helbram winked at him. "You'll change your mind once none of these fairies dares mocking you for decades."
"Because you're going to give them the scare of their life."
Helbram's idea was simple. He wanted to use human clothes and armor and animate them so that the fairies would believe actual humans were invading the forest. Harlequin had pointed out that such a trick was going to scare everyone, not just the group that had been bullying him, but Helbram had waved away his concern, saying that they just had to lure them away from the forest's center.
Sometimes Harlequin was genuinely scared by the way Helbram's mind worked.
Helbram smiled mischievously. "Thank you, but it is too much of an honor." His face suddenly became serious. "I'm tired of them picking on you."
Harlequin felt himself blush. "It's my problem, not yours," he mumbled.
"It's my problem too when I find my best friend bawling his eyes out."
Helbram's tone was light, but there was no doubt he meant every word. Harlequin buried his face in his pillow in the hope of escaping the awkwardness.
The mocking had started not so long ago, when it had become clear that Harlequin wasn't getting his wings any time soon. His magic, while decent–he could levitate without even thinking about it, as much as animate the vines and roots of the forest quite decently–didn't seem to mature over the centuries, and it was starting to show.
For his part, Helbram could count on both his ability to do whatever he wished with the roots–growing them, bending them, intertwining them around Harlequin–and his new power to twirl any object he wanted, creating powerful disks that could knock somebody out.
Technically, the only person Helbram had knocked out was the poor fairy that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, that day when his new power had awakened, but it was still impressive.
Needless to say that Helbram was never bullied.
Harlequin's stomach twisted as he remembered what the fairies had told him the night before. That he didn't look like a fairy, with his round ears and absence of wings. That he could have passed for a human, and he should go live with them. The fact that he was born from the Sacred Tree somehow made it worse; some of the younger fairies joked that the Sacred Tree must have been really confused when it had given birth to him, and probably regretted it now.
Harlequin didn't know how to react to this. It hurt, but he could see that the fairies meant no real harm–they were just having fun at his expense. Helbram, however, believed that Harlequin shouldn't let them, that it only encouraged them to keep going.
Harlequin still might not have agreed to the whole scheme if it hadn't been for Elaine. He wanted to be a good big brother for her, to protect her against anyone who would wish her harm. While she was safe in the Fairy King's Forest–King Dahlia saw to it–Harlequin was worried that someday, some fairies would pick on her like they picked on him. The mere thought of his sister being subjected to their taunting infuriated him.
He needed to dissuade the wannabe bullies before it came to that.
"I'm just helping you pick that stuff," Harlequin said, glancing at his friend. "Nothing more."
"That's good!" Helbram said. "Leave the rest to me. I'll give them a show they won't forget, and…" Helbram abruptly stopped. "We're here."
Harlequin swallowed hard. Below them, and barely visible through the thick bushes, he could feel the presence of a material that had nothing to do with the forest.
Steel.
A couple of months–or years, or decades, it was hard to tell–ago, humans had intruded in this part of the forest, their heart filled with greed and the desire to destroy everything or everyone standing in their path. King Dahlia had dealt with them, and now their corpses were slowly becoming part of the forest. Their armor, however, wasn't so easily assimilated.
Helbram flew downwards, and Harlequin followed him, standing up and letting his pillow float next to him.
As they approached the forest's ground, Harlequin started to see the bodies. Warped by the vines and roots that had killed them, their faces made unrecognizable by decay, they sent shivers down Harlequin's spine.
The forest seemed to feel his discomfort, as it always did, and the bushes under him briefly coiled their branches around his legs, while the lower leaves of the trees stroked his forehead. Still, Harlequin knew that they were trespassing; this place wasn't meant for them.
"We shouldn't be here," he whispered to Helbram.
For once, Helbram didn't protest. "We just need a few pieces of armor, then we can be on our way." He bent down and retrieved a helmet. "Like this one. It'll be perfect!"
Helbram's cheerfulness felt forced, though, and Harlequin knew that his friend felt as uneasy as he did.
Without another word, Harlequin looked for other armor pieces. Clothes were out of the question; now that he saw what was left of them, still wrapped around the corpses, he wouldn't have touched them for the world.
A few minutes later, he had gathered another helmet and one gauntlet, while Helbram had found the barely rusted upper part of an armor, as much as another gauntlet.
"That's enough. Let's go," Harlequin told him.
Helbram didn't try to protest, and the two fairies quickly flew away.
Harlequin didn't lie back in his pillow before they were far, far away from the place.
"It's fascinating. Humans really have the best creators."
Both Helbram and Harlequin were sitting on a mushroom, examining their loot at a safe distance from the humans' ultimate resting place.
Harlequin shook his head. "It's just a piece of metal. It's not even alive."
"Look at this technique," Helbram insisted. "We don't have any of that."
"We don't need it. And do I have to remind you that humans use this technique to invade our home?"
"These ones did, yes," Helbram admitted with regret. "But they're not all like that."
Harlequin shrugged. He wasn't in the mood to enter yet another debate on the topic with Helbram. "So what do we do now?"
Helbram straightened up. "I'm glad you asked! Now we're finding the others, and we're telling them that we've found the most delicious cranberries."
"And they'll believe us because? I don't really get along with them, in case you didn't notice."
Helbram ignored Harlequin's wry tone. "They'll believe us, dear Harlequin, because you'll have gathered a sample and they'll taste it."
"You want me to share with them the location of some of the best cranberry bushes in the area?" Harlequin protested. "No way!"
Helbram waved his finger left and right. "No need to, my friend. Just give them a few berries, and they will follow us anywhere we want. Everybody knows that you find the best fruits. It's like the forest tells you where to find them."
"It does," Harlequin said, but Helbram was already going on.
"Remember the clearing where we found a deer last time? It's the perfect place. We'll hide the armor pieces under the moss behind the trees, and I'll animate them as soon as we arrive." He rubbed his hands in anticipation. "Then you'll just have to enjoy the show."
"You know, you would be absolutely terrifying as an enemy," Harlequin stated.
"I know." Helbram patted Harlequin's shoulder. "Now go find us some berries."
At first, Helbram's plan unfolded as planned. They found the group of fairies who had made it their new pastime to mock Harlequin in the forest's center, and they had no difficulty tricking them into following them.
"Hmm, this is so delicious," Helbram said, flying next to them with his mouth full of the berries Harlequin had provided. "I think they're the sweetest I've ever tasted." He made sure to fly past the fairies several times, turning around when it looked like they wouldn't see the berries as well.
Harlequin thought it was a little too obvious, but the fairies fell for it.
"Helbram! Where did you find them?"
"Helbram, I want some too!"
"This isn't fair, stop teasing us!"
"Oh, these?" Helbram took a delighted expression. "My friend Harlequin found them, a little farther to the North. Do you want us to show you?"
"Yes!" they all chorused.
On their way to the clearing, Primrose, a young seventy-years-old fairy born a little after Elaine, came closer to Harlequin.
"You're not still mad, are you?" she said.
Harlequin didn't quite look at her. She hadn't been mocking him, herself, but she wasn't the last to laugh to the others' so-called jokes.
Before he could think of something to tell her, another fairy joined them.
"So you can be useful after all," he said.
Harlequin's face twisted into a frown. That one was one of the worst, always trying to come up with the most creative insults. Still, he was smiling at him, and Harlequin tried to read his heart to figure out whether he intended to be cruel or not. It didn't work; he couldn't seem to focus properly.
"Buttercup," the first fairy protested weakly. "Leave him alone."
"You know, Primrose says that I shouldn't be so hard on you," Buttercup told Harlequin. "Maybe she's right. After all, it's not your fault if you're so mismatched with the Fairy King's Forest." He burst into laughter, as if he was the funniest fairy in all of Britannia.
Harlequin ground his teeth. This place was his home just as much as the other fairies', and to hear anyone say otherwise hurt. His fists clenched in his pillow, twisting the moss, and its familiar scent of undergrowth became stronger.
Harlequin forced himself to breathe in. Ahead of them, Helbram had turned his head to watch the scene. He caught Harlequin's eye and smiled, seeming to say 'Wait for it'.
As they flew next to the trees, one vine lazily swung right in front of Buttercup, who failed to avoid it. Harlequin made sure to laugh as loud as he could, ignoring Buttercup's confused glare.
He gave Helbram a grateful smile, convinced that his friend had made it happen. Helbram smiled back.
When they finally reached the clearing, Harlequin didn't feel as guilty about participating in Helbram's scheme as he previously had. Surely it couldn't hurt to cut Buttercup down a bit.
Following the plan, Helbram hid behind the trees. The other fairies didn't seem to notice, too busy looking for the berry bushes.
"Is it here?" one of them asked. "I can't see anything."
"It's a little farther in that direction," Harlequin said, waving towards the place where they had hidden the armor pieces.
The fairies had barely started moving that way when Helbram yelled.
"Humans! Humans are coming to attack us!"
At the same time, two armored shapes raised in the darkness of the undergrowth, just out of the clearing. Harlequin had to admit that the illusion was startling. Helbram was animating two humans, one with the upper armor, gauntlets and one of the helmets, and a smaller one with just the helmet, right behind the first. Their movements weren't quite matching those of a human, but it was confusing enough that dread filled Harlequin's heart, even though he knew they were fake.
The other fairies had no idea, and if their horrified faces were anything to go by, Helbram's plan was working perfectly. Looking at Buttercup didn't fill Harlequin's heart with as much schadenfreude as he had expected, though. The fairy didn't seem to know what to do; panic had replaced any assurance he had before, and his short wings flapped aimlessly. Harlequin felt almost sorry for him.
Helbram made the fake humans come closer, and a few fairies started yelling and flew to the canopy to take cover. As one of the remaining fairies fainted, however, Harlequin thought that maybe the plan was working a little too perfectly.
In any case, the fake humans were now entering the clearing. Another fairy fainted, and there was a collective gasp as the others held their breath.
Then one of the fairies, more courageous or more clever than the others, broke the silence.
"Wait. It's… it's fake! You're using your magic!"
Now that the fake humans were in the clearing and the sunlight showed them in all their past glory, it was obvious that they had no bodies at all, and that the armor pieces swung on roots. These roots suddenly disappeared into the ground, and the armor pieces fell on the grass with clatter. Helbram burst into the group, doubling over in laughter.
"If you could have seen your fa-a-aces!"
"Wait. What?" Buttercup said, slowly recovering from the shock. "It was fake? You did it?"
"Of course!" Helbram hovered upside-down in front of him. "Don't you think my joke was hilarious?"
"No!" Buttercup's cheeks were a bright red. "It wasn't funny at all. You scared us!"
"Oh?" Helbram turned to meet the other fairy's eye. "What do you mean? Laughing at somebody else's expense isn't fun after all?"
Buttercup blinked. A few other fairies exchanged awkward glances. Harlequin could feel the sudden weight of their attention on him, and he knew they had understood.
Helbram shook his head. "Anyway, I can't believe you fell for that." He took one of the helmets and waved it in front of Buttercup. "Oh, look, a human!"
The fairies who had flown up the trees were slowly coming back, looking furious.
"Helbram, what were you thinking?" one of them hissed.
"Where is Primrose?" another one asked.
Harlequin spun, trying to spot the fairy, but she was nowhere in sight. She had probably decided to hide farther away.
"Let's go find her," Buttercup said, glaring one last time at Helbram and ignoring Harlequin completely.
Helbram stood near Harlequin as the other fairies gathered. Some looked furious, others ashamed and the last ones just seemed confused. Harlequin could feel Helbram's satisfaction, but he wasn't so sure it had been a good idea.
These fairies were hurt, and he didn't like that.
He didn't have time to ponder it further, though, because a presence of great magical power was approaching fast, making his skin crawl.
As King Dahlia burst into the clearing, Primrose flying next to his shoulder, Harlequin had a sinking feeling that it hadn't been a good idea at all.
Primrose pointed at the trees, then seemed to realize that the humans she was looking for had disappeared. Her gaze went to the ground, where the armor pieces still lay, and she blinked in confusion.
Harlequin glanced at the king's face, and immediately regretted it. King Dahlia's severe expression as he watched Harlequin and Helbram left no doubt about the fact he knew what had happened.
This wasn't a surprise. For the Fairy King, reading hearts was as simple as breathing.
When the king spoke, his voice as cold as winter's frost, Harlequin wished he could disappear in his pillow.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Author's Note: Helbram really should stop playing with helmets. They bring nothing but trouble.