kaolin fire presents :: writing :: fiction

"Whimsy"

words

"Og not believe! Eyes lie!" But they didn't. The ogre's eyes were perceptive as always. Just now they were telling him that he'd come upon a fairy glen. He'd heard tales, of course. The sorts of tales that silly humans told across a campfire, as the ogres surrounded them.

More than two hands' worth of fairies flitted about in orgies of artistic self-gratification. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. His mind was numbed from the concept, the thought not one it would have believed possible. "Fairy spell! No beauty! Hags, them all."

Something pulled at his rocky, callous heart. "Spell or no, see beauty. Look closer, Og. See if real."

The ogre jumped into the clearing to get a better look. Fairies scattered left and right, tossing glitterdust in the air to blind the attacker. Og flailed, blind, trying to remove the fire from his eyes. He only succeeded in rubbing the glitter further in, adding a physical sting to the mental anguish.

As quickly as he had rushed into the circle, the fairies were gone. With the attack over, Og cleansed his eyes with his waterskin, and surveyed. The area had been trampled, nothing was left of the splendor of a moment before.

A tiny rustle brought his attention to a clump of dirt, fallen randomly. Pinned beneath it was a fairy. She looked up at him with trembling eyes.

"Og not hurt. See fairy. You real, fairy? Pretty, you fairy." Slowly and carefully, he reached out. "Not worry, fairy lady. Og not hurt. Og promise. Og want see you closer." His large, thick fingers closed around the fairy, and he gently lifted the small creature.

Freed from the soil and frightened beyond wits, the fairy launched herself into the air. More quickly yet Og rushed in his other hand to trap her. In his haste, though, he misjudged. Og sat down hard, and stared at his hands in disbelief. The fairy was gone, and in her place was a mass of blood, dragonfly wings and splintered bones.

Soon, Og's limited reality saved him from the horror. "Og right. Fairy not pretty. Fairy spell, only. Fairy ugly, and messy."