Alice's Ivyland Read online

  Alice's Ivyland

  IvyWood's origin story

  By Francheska Fifield

  Copyright © 2018 Francheska Fifield

  Cover design by M.B. Martin

  Editor Corey Brooks

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Adventures of Skylar and Alice

  Laelaps: dog in Greek mythology, never fails to catch its prey, created by Zeus

  Skvader: Swedish mythological rabbit with hawk wings, usually portrayed with deer antlers

  Author note: Alice is not human therefore I wrote her in a way that makes her hard to relate to because as the series goes on she will change and humanize and her story is what leads to all the others. So if you find her inhuman and hard to relate to that is on purpose. Because she is NOT human. As much as she wishes otherwise she is not. But as she immerses herself in the world of her creation and those that live there she slowly will become neither Fae nor human but something wholly unique. She will become special in lots of ways bridging the gap between two species that have nothing in common.

  Prologue

  I’ve always found humans to be such silly creatures. When it was common for us to mingle with them they always envied our magic, our youth, and our eternity. What they did not realize was that their short lives were really a blessing. Yes, you watch people you love die, but you also get to watch each new generation be born. Your line is ever continuing. The shortness of life makes it more worthwhile. You love, you lose, and you feel anguish and exhilaration. When life is an eternity, it is nothing, nothing, nothing.

  Eternity makes us a bored species, and that is why the Fey do not have lives like humans do. Instead, we fight to alleviate that boredom. We fight one another, we fight ourselves, and we fight against the world we live in. Always pushing for more; more power, more magic, more influence, just more. Never content with what we have.

  I…I must have been born wrong. I was born to a family of illusionists, a great talent, but when I was a child I found that my power to create new illusions created new dimensions instead. My family never knew that. I was a dud, a Fey born powerless. Being outcast was not so terrible.

  It was all fun and games as I created fun new dimensions for me to play in, leaving them open to any that could cross over. But I didn't have the power to hold the dimensions up. I didn’t have the power to keep them with me. And so, eventually, they would collapse and I would be alone again. Alone in the never-ending misery that is the Fey.

  So I decided to visit the human world. I left behind the beauty of the scenery, the beautiful and lush magical influenced scenery. I carried it with me always in my heart and my imagination, in my mind, but like humans I was different. I was not like my Fey brethren. No, I was more like humans, experiencing the full range of emotions.

  Perhaps it was the wonderland that I created as a child, experiencing the new beings that found their way in, the new things that grew, the world that developed from something I created. It made me feel a responsibility for it, made me feel connected to it. When it collapsed it made me feel heartache.

  That is all behind me now. I have lived for hundreds of years. Those humans, they do not understand us anymore. They don't accept our existence. To them, we are myths and legends, fairytale things that people once thought up, but now are too smart to believe in.

  I missed the old people, the original ones, and the ones who interacted with our kind. They tried to mingle with us, tried to understand. It is true that my brethren abused them greatly, that is why they turned to other things such as religion and science. I would've run too. In fact, that was exactly what I was doing. I was leaving behind everything I had ever known in hopes of finding where I really belonged. That is how my journey began.

  Chapter One

  Through out time I explore the human world to see if there is anywhere with enough magic that I can still belong; if I would fit in. Of course humans notice right away if you don't age, they notice if you don't belong. I am always a little too flawless, my features a little too sharp.

  I had to hide things about myself that are Fey and became adept at using human makeup to cover up the luminescence of my skin. I changed to fit in with the fashion; I've even dyed my hair. I was told that silver-blonde is not a natural color. Later on, as centuries pass, it will be considered normal. People will think it is just the dye job. I have learned people now dye their hair all kinds of colors that don't come naturally: purple, green, and blue.

  My brethren, if they were less arrogant, would've fit right in pointy ears, sharp teeth, and piercings across the body and all. Nothing seemed too dramatic or extreme. Everything, everything, would be acceptable if the Fey been able to swallow their pride, but they can't.

  I finally I decided there is no place in this world for me to belong. I tried singing, my voice was called hauntingly beautiful, but it is too hunting. It brought back so many memories. So many woeful memories for those that listened. I can't help it, I am Fey it is the only way I can express myself and what I feel.

  I tried to be an artist, but Fey they are not meant to create. It is another reason everyone finds my power so disturbing. Fey do not create the way humans do. They don't pour passion into everything they do which is why the Fey world, while beautiful, feels stark and cold. You can see that in my art. There is no passion; I have nothing I feel passionate about, it reflects in everything I do.

  Every few years I have to move. Looking young while trying to convincing people I am old enough to do the things they do is the problem. Forever young, stopped in time, I will never ever be free of that. Still, I keep searching for myself amongst the humans, occasionally returning back home to the Fey, searching for myself there too.

  It is there I find the first that will join me on my quest. He is just like a little white rabbit I’d once known, but not just any rabbit, it is a rabbit with wings. A mythical creature called a Skvader. He can fly like a bird, with claws enabling it to perch. I saved him; I saved him from an animal predator, something the Fey unleashed to hunt… Laelaps. The hound that never fails to catch its prey. The hound of gods.

  I was walking through the woods one day, basking in the magic that flowed through Fey; it is the only thing I miss when I go to the human world. I hear the hounds, I say hounds but they are not like normal hounds, their howl haunts and instills fear in even the strongest of men. They are ruthless; they will attack anyone their master says; only their master is truly safe. Once they acknowledge their master they never change their minds, they are loyal to a fault. They also feel no pain so they will fight to the death, even strong Fey. How do you kill something that doesn't fear pain or death?

  I climb a tree, I know they can find me if they want to, they can even get to me if they want to, but I don't think I am their prey. They probably already have a prey so I sit there waiting, letting time passes, the braying does not quiet, they don't get further away, no they get closer. I wish I could illusion myself, make myself part of the tree or at least the same colors; it would have confused them for a little bit. At least enough to have them move on past me. But alas my power is not normal; here, right now, it is useless. So I do what I can. I hide amongst the branches of the tree.

  The tree is gorgeous swirling with magic the leaves the color of the human rainbow if it were iced over. The trunk is not a regular brown, but more like the birch tree white, I have seen in the human world. Here I am, my little blue dress, so
mething I picked up on my last trip to the human world, sticking out like a sore thumb in a tree. All I can hope is the dense foliage will hide me from the beasts.

  So I wait and hear a squeal that sets my hairs on end. It sounds like a human baby, it never ceases to amaze me how far the cries of an infant can reach. This is not a human baby, its traveling to fast.

  The squealing turns out to be a rabbit. It is flying, some of its feathers are gone, he is covered in red, but I do not think that is its original color. No, it is bleeding, it is in danger. I am guessing this is the Laelaps prey. Those rotten hounds, the poor creature shrieks and keeps trying to fly. But instead, it falls. The braying gets closer the Skvader farther and farther from safety. I do the only thing I can do…I jump. Landing on my feet I sprint over and catch the rabbit. It looks up at me, its eyes pleading.

  "Please don't eat me. I didn't do anything to anyone. I stayed out of the gardens; I only ate from the forest."

  That is brave for a little rabbit. "Don't worry I will save you. Are you okay taking a trip with me? I have somewhere where no Fey can ever catch you." He looks at me confused.

  "Where?"

  "The human world. I go there often. It's full of emotion, fascination, agony, hardship, and joy. It doesn't seem to have as much fear as the Fey world. I like that about their world."

  "Is it safe for me? For…for any of us?"

  "Of course it is, I wouldn't bring you otherwise. I have been visiting the past 300 years off and on whenever I felt bored here. It's always such a beautiful, magical time. So full of feelings and emotions that I didn't know that they could have. We will have to hide your wings, rabbits over there don't have wings, but I bet we could figure something out. Fey spell of illusion or something. I come from the house of illusion which is the jist of my powers. Well, it's different… would you like to cross into the human dimension with me?"

  He nods snuggling into my chest burrowing into my warm clothing. I hold him close and wrap him in my dress hiding him as well as possible and jump.

  Most Fey can't jump dimensions; the door has to be opened for them. I can jump dimensions; I can create dimensions, and I can overlap dimensions. I am a walking, talking doorway to the Fey. A magical wonder and fear among my people so the human world with its lack of belief in magic is the safety I often require. That that is where I take us now.

  "The air is different here."

  We sit in a field. It is a hidden treasure in a forest that has yet to be urbanized by the humans. I often port here.

  "Yes. Go on and eat your fill. The humans are always trying to find ways to cut the grass and weeds."

  "But it is a buffet!"

  I laugh and he smiles. My mother has always said my laugh is like bells tinkling.

  "The humans cannot eat the same things as Fey, they are built differently. Everything is not infused with magic so you will need to eat a bit more than you used to, but as wee as you are it will not be a large increase. I can feed you magic if needed."

  He stuffs purple clover into his face as I lay back into the tall grass looking up at the cotton ball clouds. Much like the tail on my little rabbit. I reach out making to grab them. It is impossible, but sometimes they look so close I feel I can. It is what makes the human world so wonderful. They have far more limitations than the Fey and yet they refuse to acknowledge those limits and manage to push boundaries. Ones no one thought could be demolished. It is a truly inspiring species. If only they themselves could see it.

  "What will you eat great lady?"

  I sit up looking shocked. I have never been called lady before. "I am Alice. You need not stand on ceremony with me."

  "You are a great lady."

  I sigh. Oh, he is a stickler for propriety. "I will eat at an inn. First, we need to find you a place to stay in my absence. I have a hut no one goes near. They think I am a village witch. I have learned much about natural healing and there seems to be a need for it now. It is small, but no one will enter without me."

  "Where do we go?"

  I snap my fingers and a doorway appears. "It is on the edge of both the human and Fey world. It has the instructions that those who need my skills or I acknowledge as friends find their way in. The path will appear without you noticing the crossing of dimensions.

  "You are truly a very great lady."

  "I sincerely hope you will learn to use my name sometime along. We have a long time together; I hope we are friends before too long. I always dreamed of them, friends. The Fey have no friends."

  He stops next to me studying my face. I know my eyes hold tears, which do not happen, Fey cannot cry. Then again, I never was much like the others of my kind. To like a human to fit in with the Fey, to magical and other to be human. I belong nowhere and to no one.

  "Do not cry, great lady…. Miss Alice."

  I pet his head and hold out my arm. He perches on my wrist like a bird and we walk through the portal to my home.

  When creating my home I thought about my favorite human world landscape that is not found in the Fey world. The ocean side. My home is on a Cliffside right up against the water so I can hear the wave's crash just outside my window. My home is an old church, a tiny local abandoned church I brought to my dimension as it fell into ruin. I turned it into a home fit for a traveling Fey. Plenty of room for my hearth and bed and more room for all the souvenirs I bring home.

  A field of grass and wildflowers surrounded it. Beyond that is woods. Beautiful birches, maples, and pines. It is my world I can make it how I wish. There is nothing beyond the woods. Those who come to me come through the woods not knowing how, but accepting it without question. That is part of the magic.

  For those that are true friends they can see beneath the glamour. The waters far from just a blue are more of a turquoise, like tropical water, unlike the tropics streams of gold flow in as well. The magic of the Fey make it like that. This world I created cannot get away without a few touches of home. The flowers are the same…well different actually. They are not in normal wildflower hues. Daisies bloom in vibrant deep hues filled with primary and secondary colors from the color wheel, and not a single bloom is a single color. The trees are not just a mix of breeds, but also colors. Pines are not just the deep forest green that is normal. They come in many greens and oranges. The birch trees have bark that swirl with color. White bark with stains of the rainbow throughout. It is a beautiful and colorful sight. All the humans that have come see only the normal colors. Those that are meant to be with me will see the truth.

  Honestly, the maples are my favorite. I have learned of sap and syrup in my many travels. These trees do not let loose the sap that is boiled down to syrup. No, they pour syrup straight from the vein and never run out. It is a wonderful thing if you like French toast and pancakes as I do. Because of the sweetness, the bark is amber instead of brown and candied. It is edible and I often sell pieces to the humans who cannot find the secret to my delicious candy. Syrup and other sweets are a human favorite.

  I can understand why the expression a kid in a candy store exists. The first time I ever went in one I acted exactly as the saying predicted. I traded gold for bags of candy to try. It may seem extreme, but I had never lived anywhere where you can put anything you saw in your mouth without fear of poison. I suppose it adds to the wonder I hold.

  "This is beautiful."

  I smile looking around. Finally, I get to see it from the point of view of another. Another who can see it for what it truly is. "Yes. It is influenced by both worlds. I do not really belong to either…"

  "But you were able to make your own Miss Alice. That is even more amazing than living in a world that already exists but is wrong. I bet lots of people wish they could make their own perfect world."

  I never thought of my powers that way. Or how others must see it. Perhaps the Fey don’t fear me, they envy me. No one likes to be full of envy. In my world, they will literally turn green. In their world, it makes them weak, not the strongest or most powerful. In a cutthroat w
orld, it is like admitting defeat.

  "Little rabbit you are perhaps far wiser than your years suggest. I am glad you are my first friend. I think perhaps I need your wisdom to steer me rightly."

  "You should name me. I do not like rabbit."

  "Hhmm well how about Skylar?"

  "I like the clouds in the sky."

  "Yes, they are much like your tail. But mostly I am impressed with your flight ability. Rabbits here do not fly. Wait until you meet them. They will be shocked into a stupor by you."

  "I like Skylar."

  "Henceforth your name is Skylar! Come. Let me show you your new home, my first friend."

  Chapter Two

  Skylar settled in very well. He took to bringing home stray animals...I should say WE took to bringing home strays. Every time we left we came back with injured animals. We took many trips into the human world, all over the world to find critters in need.

  "Miss Alice you said there was an injured buck around did you not?"

  I put my finger to my lips indicating Skylar should shush. He is pleasant company and has a kind heart, but bless him he does not always know when to be quiet.

  "Miss Alice?"

  "The hunters are still around. In case you are not aware you are a rabbit with wings. The humans could make a fortune selling you to a lab to experiment on."

  That shut him up but I know when he opens up again anger will unleash. For such a little adorable little critter he has a temper. Anything he finds unfair he protests and loudly. It often gets us into spots we have a hard time getting out of.

  "That is unkind."

  Despite having a flaring temper and being vocal about injustices Skylar has a hard time picking up on human cuss words. He has a complete inability to be harsh. If he were a human he would be called a doormat. I tried to explain to him why once, but he said he could fly so they can’t step on him even if they don’t notice a fuzzy white rabbit with wings in front of them. My explanation failed and left me in a fit of giggles and him scowling the day away.