Dance of the Wild Faeries
Come and play as the wild faeries play
in a magical circle, a faerie ring
You won't want to leave
and forever you'll stay
Where the vision is bright as spring
Come and dance the wild faerie dance
Spin in a circle as fast as light
once you begin you are caught in a trance
and the world can grow old in a single night
-Dance of the Wild Faeries, Wendy Rule
watch?v=CvLbctdFjr8
The music faltered, the two musicians catching sight of Jack and fumbling in surprise, recovering quickly, as if they'd never fumbled. The two inside the circle didn't falter their steps, but their eyes gleamed as they caught sight of Jack, standing outside the circle near the edge of the clearing and swaying faintly as though caught in the music's pull.
They ignored the children, who continued to dance, jerkily, like puppets whose strings have been dropped by the puppeteer in favor of a new toy to turn to Jack with wide, hungry grins.
Jack kept pretending that the music was entrancing him, cocking his head to the side but refusing to move forward just yet. A spirit was a better prize than human children, and a Guardian...Jack just hoped they'd gotten the memo about his new status. It was a gamble, that they wouldn't make their music strong enough to catch him for real, but it was one he was willing to take – for the children.
The two who'd been crying were the first to pull free as the fae turned their attention to drawing Jack closer to the circle, the music letting them free as it turned to Jack with only the barest minimum left for them, the hold on them already weak. They stumbled out of the circle, falling over themselves as they fled.
There was a rustling in the brush and Jack floated a bit closer to the circle, putting a little bit of a spin, almost a twirl, into it, letting the fae think they were pulling him closer to dancing to distract them from the tiny cries, quickly shushed, the children gave as they saw Bunny.
He hesitated at the edge of the circle, drawing back a little, as if he were about to fly away. The musicians played more forcefully, the dancers giving little calls of encouragement, and Jack forced back a shiver as he floated over the ring's boundary.
Careful not to put a foot to the ground, he danced slowly on the air, hesitatingly, as though half captured by music and circle but still fighting it off.
The four enchanted children were still dancing, but there was life coming back to their eyes as the fae focused more and more on Jack, who continued his back and forth game, flitting closer to the two dancing fae, almost dancing himself, before drawing back, hovering over their heads and far out of their reach, keeping his face blank and trying his best to look half spellbound.
So long as he didn't set foot in the circle, he should be safe, he reasoned. The fae were like that – often cruel, and word-literal. Setting foot in a fairy circle was what got you caught, gave them a right to call you prey, so he kept to the air, keeping well out of reach so they couldn't pull him to the ground.
As the children showed more life he grew more daring, swooping until his toes hovered just over the grass, and he could swear the fae held their breath, the music focusing solely on him in those few seconds, abandoning the children completely.
He shot back into the sky, a good six feet above the ground, and almost heard the fae groan in frustration. Good.
The first of the still captured children stumbled free, the fae letting it go without a second glance. Their attention was so focused on Jack they didn't see Bunny reach from the underbrush to urge the child to him, darting into his embrace and crying into the thick fur.
Jack fought against gritting his teeth or gripping his staff tighter at the sound of crying. He couldn't let them know he wasn't bespelled, but the urge to freeze them was rising.
Not until the kids are safe, he repeated as a mantra. Not until they're all safe.
Seeing the other kids faltering, he started to dance, a proper dance, slowly at first but growing faster, still keeping to the air and refusing to touch the ground, and the fae drew closer upon their prize, sure his dancing meant he was coming under their spell.
It felt a little like one of the danced he'd do on his lake – a little of this, a little of that, all mixed together into a single dance – but there was no outpouring of joy powering his dance this time. Just a solid wish to keep from falling under the music's spell...and to smack a few fairy heads with his staff.
He spun and dipped, feeling the fae's hands brush by his feet as they tried to lure him down into the grass, giving a sassy, taunting little hip wiggle to hold their attention.
One paused in the chase, looking back over at the children, who were slowly but surely coming free from the enchantment that kept them in the circle.
Panicking, Jack swooped down, forming a happy flake that he tapped onto the tip of her upturned nose. She blinked at the unfamiliar magic and Jack shot up into the air, hurrying back into a dance as she shook her head, automatically reaching for him.
He was just quick enough, her hands brushing his ankle as he shot out of her reach, twisting to avoid the other fae.
With a nearly audible snap the eldest of the children still left in the circle broke free, and she grabbed hold of the hands of the younger two, dragging them behind her as she fled – straight into the underbrush and Bunny's open arms.
Panting, Jack shot higher into the air, well out of the reach of fae hands. The musicians stopped, snarling as they realized they'd been tricked and their original prey had escaped.
The dancers stopped with the music, snarls transforming their faces from the beauty that covered them back into their true natures for the moment until they regained control of themselves.
"Come down and dance with us," one called up to Jack, her voice poisonously sweet, overly sweet, sending shivers down his back. Shivers for Jack Frost, who didn't feel the cold. "Come play with us. We will take you home with us and love you."
"Sweet little child," the other called up, "you don't belong in this world. Come with us, back to Underhill, where we know how to treat a treasure like you. We will care for you, sweet little sprite."
Jack gritted his teeth as the magic in those promises wove around him, denying them their prey as fought off their magic. "Thanks but no thanks," he said with a grin, hovering far out of their reach. "Not much for that sorta thing, ya know."
The fae below him snarled, baring teeth much sharper than they had any right to be, fingers twisted into claws.
"You were breaking the treaty," Bunny said bleakly as he stepped out of the underbrush, and Jack cursed silently. Bunny was supposed to get the kids home now, not stick around for Jack. Where were the kids?
"We don't answer to you, Guardian," one of the fae growled, not so beautiful now, more feral than beautiful, making the title into an epithet as they bunched together in the safety of their circle. Jack drifted upwards, far out of reach and toward the edge of the circle as they huddled, wanting far away from them.
"You do when you threaten the children," Bunny growled. One of the fae glanced up at Jack, expression sly and calculating for a split second before turning pleading.
"You will protect us, won't you, Spirit of Winter? You're nearly fae, like us, and they've done nothing to gain your loyalty. We'll reward you graciously if you aid us now."
"Wow..." Jack breathed, lowering to hover by Bunny's side, still refusing to touch the ground. "First you want to keep me like a pet, then you try to bribe me. Real nice. Just since it looks like you didn't get the memo – I like kids. I've always tried to keep 'em safe. Enough so, I've got a shiny new Guardian title of my own."
"Still squeaks when he turns around too fast, it's so new," Bunny snarked, and Jack grinned. They couldn't be in too much trouble if Bunny was willing to rag on him, right?
More hisses from the circle, and Bunny took a threatening step forward. Abruptly the circle flared, and both Jack and Bunny were forced back with cries of pain, shielding their eyes from the blinding light.
When they finally blinked away the afterimages, the circle was gone – and so were the fae.
Bunny started cursing, and some small part of Jack listened and cataloged all of it. He may have his own impressive list of curses, but Bunny's were better. Especially when he started mixing Australian and Pookan.
The rest of Jack stared at the former circle, craning his neck to look at it rather than come close. Yeah, the fae were supposedly gone, but he didn't trust them one inch.
Behind him, he heard Bunny grunt, apparently done with the swearing for the moment. "Get away from there, Frostbite," he said irritably. "I saw the way they were lookin' at ya, yer better off keepin' away from even former circles."
Shrugging, Jack floated away from the former circle. "What about the kids?" he asked as he moved, and Bunny smiled softly, the smile he seemed to reserve for kids and family crossing his face.
"I tol' ya never ta race a rabbit, mate. They didn't weigh but nuthin, and I had 'em home an' back before any of ya knew what happened. They're back with their parents an' just fine. Now c'mon," he said, tapping open a tunnel. "We gotta tell North about this. Looks like we found more ta worry about."
A/N: Fae aren't the only ones who can exploit loopholes. ;) Jack, you're still in trouble, and damn lucky. (May be another break between updates next week, I keep trying to get ahead but...)