"Faeries by Holly Hagen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hagen Holly)

Fairies
by Holly Hagen

Foxglove sat naked in the thin November light combing her hair, her wings open to catch what heat the Sun could provide. She could feel the sun warmed blood in her arms, thighs, breasts, and belly, recalling vividly Web's hands and the egg. She closed her green eyes and relived their lovemaking.

The more completely her body remembered, the faster it coated the egg with nutrient rich mucous. The faster the egg was coated, the sooner she could lay it. Tomorrow it would be Leaf and another egg, the last egg she would ever lay. Winged fairy females only mate during one week of their lives.

A shudder ended her reverie, time to get dressed. She stretched, and contracted muscles in her back. Her wings folded into cases over her shoulder blades. White and green streaked hair rippled to her slim ankles, as her delicate body glowed with iridescences in the sun light. Only the swelling of her abdomen betrayed her gravid condition.

From a squaw-berry bush, Foxglove plucked an opalescent garment and
slipped it over her head. The loose fitting dress provided protection from the fall chill and scratchy brush, but hid nothing.

She flicked into the surrounding forest, following a path no human eyes could find. She came to the foot of a limestone cliff streaked with red clay. Unfurling her wings, she fluttered up the cliff face. Each wing beat pulled her dress across her nipples, reminding her of questing hands. Quite egg-heavy and glad to be home, she landed on a ledge. Reluctantly, her wings slowed and stopped. She stepped to a deep crack, the entrance of a cozy cave.

Along the wall farthest from the entrance, a small hot spring steamed. In a semi-circle around the spring, five ovals ten to twelve inches long, rested in nests lined with swan's down and rabbit fur. A sixth sat empty. Between the spring and the entrance, was a fairy sized bed. Along another wall stood jars of honey and jugs of nectar.

A large, hairy, grey spider jumped from the ceiling and butted Fox Glove in the knees. She gently scratched the spider's back and removed her dress. Opening a jug of nectar, she drank thirstily. She poured a little into a small bowl and sat it on the cave floor.

"There you go, Chirp. We new mothers have to stick together." She glanced up at the dark corner where the spider's egg case hung. "Your brood behaving themselves?"

Chirp chattered at her a bit and bent to sipping her nectar.

"Good, glad to hear it. Mine are acting up a bit, at least this one is." She patted her swollen belly. "Could you be a dear and leave me alone to do this?"

Chirp chattered a bit more and climbed the wall to her own eggs.

Bringing a fairy egg into the world is a matter of; a lot of concentration, not a little work, and a lot more pleasure. Pain does not enter into it, only weariness after. The egg was a pearly oval a foot long, sticky to touch, with a dimple in one end.

Foxglove cradled her egg in her arms, its sticky coating not bothering her a bit. A single drop of golden fluid formed on one of her nipples. She touched this to the egg's dimple, where it was quickly absorbed. She arraigned the egg in its nest and carried it to the others. Each egg received a drop of golden vitamins.

The daily feeding of the eggs insured the young would be strong enough to hatch. Even a few hours delay, could mean weak or malformed offspring. A healthy young fairy had little enough chance after hatching, since only one in eight survived to return to the nursery cave. Motherhood was the only thing a fairy took seriously.

Chirp swung down and had a close look at the new arrival. She gently patted the egg and chirped her compliments. Turning to the older nests, she inspected for any small insects looking for a free meal.

While Chirp finished her hunting, Foxglove sipped nectar. Carefully stepping over her larder, she edged her way through a wide crevice to the bathing room. With a flick of her fingers, fairy fire lit the walls and water with blue light. As she splashed luxuriously, a fetid current of air chilled her. She found a crack in the wall had widened. She waded to the wall and felt the air moving forcefully through it.

"The tunnel on the other side must connect with the dungeons of the castle ruins up the cliff," she thought.

Her mood ruined, she splashed out of the water and shivered, but not from cold. The ancient ruins atop the cliff had a bad reputation among her people. Many times the ruins had attracted humans, ghosts, and other monsters. The walls were saturated with the echoes of screams and the stench of fear.

"Chirp, a crack in the bathing room has opened right through to the old dungeons. We'll have to do something or the whole place will stink of death."

The spider twirled and chattered.

"Rocks fighting? Rocks don't fight, they fall, or shift, or weaken and crack." Foxglove found a clean shift and pulled it over her head.

Chirp squealed and clicked.

"Sounded angry did they? Well, rocks don't growl often. I'll have to check it out." The fairy frowned and started pulling on heavy silk stockings. "I can't let the family cave fall down around my pixies' ears, before they're old enough to fly away. This old place has to last at least another six winters."