It has been far, far too long but, at long last, I have the next installment of my ongoing “Faylinn” short story series!

We’re not going to talk about how the last story was in May. *hides in shame* Yeah, my summer kind of exploded on me, and somehow poor Raylinn, Finn, and Zayd got put on the backburner. But I’ve left you dear patient readers hanging long enough!

If you’re new and have no clue what this is, NO WORRIES. I shall explain.

For Newcomers

Very often, Arielle Bailey posts a prompt on her writing blog that goes along with Fairy Tale Central’s monthly featured fairy tale. I’ve been writing short stories for it of a continuing story about a wingless fairy and banished prince, Raylinn and Finn (or “Faylinn” as is their designated ship name), and their tag along sassmaster, Zayd the genie.

The Previous Stories 

For a while each story was more or less one contained story, but starting with Royalty is a Cold Business, I chose to make a more overarching plot (and keep leaving on cliffhangers #sorrynotsorry).

You can find each story below:

• Deal or No Deal (A Rumpelstiltskin-inspired story and the first introduction to these characters)
• Let Down Your Hair? (A Rapunzel-inspired story)
• It Ain’t Easy Having a Genie (An Aladdin-inspired one, and Zayd’s first introduction.)
• Frogs and Bears Make Great Boyfriends (A The Frog Prince and Snow White & Rose Red crossover story)
• That’s Definitely Not Granny (A Little Red Riding Hood one that dives into Finn’s story a bit.)
• The Genie Can Dance (A Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling in which we discover Zayd’s history.)
• Royalty is a Cold Business (A The Snow Queen inspired story.) [This one would be a good place to start if you haven’t read the others.]
• The White Lion (A The Wounded Lion inspired story.)
• Genies Don’t Make Great Babysitters (A Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou inspired story)

(Please don’t question the titles. Because I have no answers for you. They are what they are. We’re just rolling with them.)

There’s also a Pinterest Board!

The Prompt

There’s actually no prompt this month because, well, Life. BUT our featured fairy tale over on Fairy Tale Central is…

Vasilisa the Beautiful

Which is a strange and beautiful Russian fairy tale featuring Baba Yaga herself! So even though I didn’t base this story off a prompt, I couldn’t help but add in a few threads from our featured fairy tale. Since these stories are, at their core, based off fairy tales.

ALSO. I cannot believe this is the tenth Faylinn story! It’s been such a joy sharing these stories with you all for the past couple of years. Your enthusiasm for this crazy little serial means so much. Hopefully there will be plenty more to come! <3

Alrighty, enough of my blabbering. Onward!

Royalty, Witches, & Awkward Family Reunions

“Kill her when you’re done.”

Trayla’s order echoed through his mind, pounded against his skull.

Kill her…Raylinn…

“RAYLINN!”

Finn jerked up, throat raw, soaked in sweat.

“My, my, you do have quite a set of lungs there, don’tcha, handsome? ‘Bout finished yet?”

He snapped his head around to the craggily voice, where a wrinkled face watched in the shadows. He blinked. Pain wracked his skull. And the rest of him, now that he thought of it.

He shifted, only for something to weigh him down, warm and not entirely uncomfortable. “I’m in a…bed.” Large and plush and warm against the frosty air, it felt heavenly surrounding his aching body…and strangely familiar. He licked his cracked lips, his voice strained against his dry throat. “W—where am I?”

“Oh, right. I forgot you silly humans can’t see in the dark.” The old woman snapped her fingers and fire crackled to life on the wall sconces.

Finn’s breath hitched.

The ornate bed, the blue curtains covering the wall to ceiling windows, the display of swords on one wall, and a tapestry. A tapestry of a knight slaying a dragon, woven by his own mother’s hands as a gift for her only son, before she gave birth again and passed away the same hour.

“My room.” His words left in a breathless whisper. It had been three years since he last slept behind these walls.

“Lady Trayla thought you’d be comfortable here,” said the wiry-haired, hunched old woman, and then cackled. “You gave those soldiers quite a what-for before they overcame you. You’re a strappy one for a human, I’ll give ya that.”

He lurched back to face her. Trayla. The soldiers. Raylinn.

It all crashed against him in a dizzying wave. Trayla ordered Kellen, the king of the fairies apparently, to take Raylinn away and kill her.

Finn hurled the comforter away and scrambled off the bed, only to crumple onto the carpet below.

The old woman cackled again. “Careful there, handsome. One of the soldiers gave you a nice blow to the head to finally calm ya down.”

Wheezing breaths that shredded against his throat, he grasped the edge of the bed and hauled himself up. The movement sent a fiery spike of pain through his temple.

Right. The soldiers. He had tried to fight, tried to break free of the manacles as Kellen disappeared with Raylinn, but Trayla ordered the soldiers to take him away, and, try as he might, he couldn’t overpower them. Because they weren’t mere humans anymore. Kellen had turned them into some sort of icy super-soldiers, stripped them of their humanity and left nothing but frozen shells. Talgaria’s own knights…his men. The king of the fairies was in his kingdom, destroying everything.

Leaning against the bedpost, he gritted his teeth, trying to right his swimming vision. “Where is she?”

“That wingless one?” A bite edged the woman’s words, but with a blink, a shrug, she doddered over to his dresser. “Kellen is taking good care of her. Don’t worry, sorting through years of spells takes a while. I’m sure she’s alive…for now.”

The pain melted away in a surge of inner flames. “She hasn’t bewitched me! Raylinn would never!” That was why Kellen took her away in the first place, to see if she had cast a spell on Finn to make him fall in love with her. Which was, under no uncertain terms, hogwash.

“That’s the thing about fairy bewitchment,” the woman said wryly, “it’s quite invisible to the one being bewitched.” She ciphered through some strange vials atop his dresser. In fact, his whole dresser was piled with odd tools and bottles and plants. The woman poured something green and oozing from one of the vials into a mortar, ripped off leaves from a plant, and began churning it all together with a pestle.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Finn pushed off the bedpost and inched closer for a better look. “What are you doing? No, actually, ugh.” He winced at the ever-present ache in his head. He had too many questions and way too much to do. Namely rescuing Raylinn, bringing down the king of the fairies, and taking back his entire kingdom from an icy curse. Easy… “Who are you?” She had no wings, nor fairy markings, and he was pretty sure fairies did not allow themselves to get to the point of hunchbacked old women, but she kept referring to humans as if she wasn’t one.

She continued grinding the leaves into the sticky green liquid, not bothering to look up. “They call me many things. Witch, sorceress, the earthen goddess, meddlesome old woman.” At last she looked up at him, and offered a gummy, yellow-toothed grin. “Baba Yaga will do for you, though.”

He stumbled back. “Baba Yaga?” He knew that name, knew it well. Almost every child had grown up with stories of the strange earthen witch whose house was made of the bones of her enemies. “I’m…I’m going to be quite honest, I had no idea you were real.”

She offered another crooked grin and held up the mortar. “Drink this. It’ll help with the pain.”

He stared dubiously at the green slime. “Why are you helping me? Why are you here?”

“Oh, Kellen and I help each other out now and again when it’s convenient.” A gleam came over her faded eyes. “We go way back.”

The mention of that mongrel of a fairy-king snapped his senses back into place “You’re in league with him?” He slapped the mortar out of her hand, sending green slime across the carpet. “Then I most certainly am not going to drink something you made.”

She looked from him, to the fallen mortar, and back, and merely shrugged. “Suit yourself. If you’re fond of headaches, then who am I to take that away?”

“Ha! It’s probably some sort of sleeping draught or poison or…” He glanced around the room, just now realizing he had been asking all the wrong questions. “Wait a minute, why am I in here? I mean, not behind bars or chained up or guarded?”

The woman bent down to grab the mortar and delicately set it back on the dresser. “We’re inside an impenetrable ice dome surrounded by magically enhanced guards who only answer to Kellen and Lady Trayla.” She waved a knobby hand over her shoulder at him. “What’s a mere human boy going to do?”

He straightened and opened his mouth.

“Oh, don’t get all snippy,” she said before he could retort. “You know it’s true. Besides, we still don’t know if you’re simply under a spell. Kellen can come back any moment and break you from it.”

“I am not under a spell!”

She simply shrugged one shoulder and turned back to her vials.

“I will show you what a mere human boy can do!” He marched toward the door.

“If you’re planning on facing the Fairy King and his entire army, you perhaps want shoes first,” she called.

He halted and looked down. Oh. He was, in fact, completely barefoot. With a huff, he marched over to his wardrobe and ripped open the doors. Baba Yaga didn’t even look his way, bottles clinking as she started up another concoction.

So they really did think he was so helpless he didn’t need to be imprisoned, and merely sent an old woman to keep an eye on him? Gritting his teeth, he snatched up a pair of dusty boots. He had had numerous perilous adventures and faced dozens of dangerous magical creatures for the past three years while he and Raylinn were on the run. Some frosty fairy king wasn’t about to stop him now.

His feet properly covered, he marched to his weapons wall display and seized a longsword.

“Ya sure you don’t want a drink first?” Baba Yaga said as he strode to the door.

Yes, actually. His throat was positively raw and he was parched, but he wasn’t stupid. He grasped the door handle and offered her a wink over his shoulder. “I think I’ll have to take a rain check.” With that, he ripped open the door…to come face-to-face with Trayla.

Fury flashed in her eyes, a biting fury that had sent chills down his spine since they were children.

“What is this? I thought I ordered him to be chained to the bed!”

“Oh, did you?” Baba Yaga said, calmly stirring her brew. “Well, I am an old woman. Hard of hearing and all that.”

“Guards!” Trayla shrieked, but her call echoed unanswered down the long corridor. “Where are the guards?”

Baba Yaga simply shrugged. “Must have had something else to attend to.”

So his little sister hadn’t underestimated him after all? Well, well, well. Finn brought the tip of the blade up to her chest.

She glanced down at it, then up at him and raised a brow. “Really, Finn? You expect me to believe you’re going to use that on me?”

He frowned. Of course he wouldn’t, and they both were quite aware of the fact, but it still felt awfully good to have some sort of upper-hand on her. “Where is Raylinn?”

She rolled her eyes. “Finnigan—”

“Where is she!” He dared push the blade just a little closer.

Trayla met his gaze, and his stance faltered as a strange look came over her features, a look he had never seen before. Pity?

“Oh, Finn, she truly has you wrapped up in her wicked spells, doesn’t she?”

Heat seared through his chest. “I am not under a spell! You’re the one who has cursed our army with fairy magic!”

The pitying gazed vanished and she stepped closer, not heeding the tip of his blade as it touched her collar. “Our entire kingdom will fall into ruin without Kellen’s magic! At least I am doing what I must to keep our kingdom safe instead of out frolicking across the world with a couple of fairies!”

He opened his mouth, but his tongue stilled as her words bit. Because they were true. He did leave his kingdom. Had it been a mistake? Could this all have been avoided if he had stayed as the heir? But Raylinn…

Footsteps pounded down the hall and two frost-covered soldiers appeared.

Trayla smirked, jumped back from the blade, and thrust a hand toward him. “Restrain him!”

Finn raised his sword, only to remember himself. These were his men, soldiers pledged to serve his kingdom, men with families. They may have heads full of ice, but surely their souls were still in there somewhere.

Drat that fairy king.

One of the men reached out with frost-bitten fingers. Finn dropped to the floor, rolled through the doorway, and leapt back to his feet behind the soldiers. “Let’s see how fast ice sculptures can run!” he called, darting down the hall.

Heavy, rapid footsteps hammered from behind. Oh. Apparently pretty fast. These really were magically enhanced soldiers. He lurched down a side corridor.

Smack.

A grunt followed the impact and a swirl of purple light filled up the hall. He tried to regain his feet quick enough to take on this new threat, but when he blinked his vision back to focus, a pair of beautifully familiar violet eyes met his.

“Raylinn!”

Gasping, she dropped her purple-lit hands. “Finn!”

“I was coming to rescue you,” he said at the same time she cried, “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

They grinned at each other, until a blaze of ice exploded across the wall inches from Finn’s head.

“Oh, right.” He snagged Raylinn’s hand and jerked her down the hall. “Did he hurt you?” he gasped, footsteps heavy behind them.

“Not exactly. But, Finn, it turns out Kellen is—” Her words cut off as another ice blast burst at their heels.

“A weasel,” he finished for her, snatching her down an adjacent corridor.

“Well, yes. But turns out he’s also my uncle.”

He lost his footing, jerking them both to a stumbling halt. “Pardon?”

Pale and breathless, she met his gaze. “It’s true. And that’s not all.” She glanced over his shoulder and her eyes widened. “Finn!”

Ice cold hands seized him by the shoulders. Raylinn screamed and a burst of purple light smacked into the abdomen of the second soldier. Finn wrestled with the other, but the man shoved him forward, tossing him into a door. The door hurtled open, unceremoniously dumping Finn on the floor beyond. His sword flew from his hand, sliding out of reach. With a growl, he scrambled to his feet to fetch it, but stopped short.

The world stilled.

Though he had never frequented this room, he knew it well, with its gilded walls and enormous four-poster bed. A bed currently occupied by a figure perfectly encompassed in a block of ice.

“Father.” The word tore from his throat in a pained gasp. He lurched forward but frozen hands grasped him from behind.

“No!” Purple light flared in the room, followed by a scream. He writhed under the soldier’s grip, trying to see if Raylinn was all right.

“Let him go!”

He smiled as she came into view, swirls of purple markings ablaze across her arms and hands, but the sound of pounding feet snatched away all joy.

“No one move!” Trayla marched into the room, trailed by half a dozen guards.

The sight sent a spark of heat searing up Finn’s spine. “What have you done! You said father was safe! You—”

“Oh, shut it, Finn,” she snapped. “You know nothing! If it wasn’t for me, he’d already be dead!”

Blue snow flickered in the middle of the room, just at the foot of the bed, and a figure appeared.

“You!” Finn jerked his head back to smack the soldier behind him in the nose, but the impact felt like hitting solid ice. He grunted, the soldier’s vise-like grip unmoving.

“My, my, what a fuss,” Kellen said, straightening the hem of his sleeve.

Trayla whirled on him. “What have you been doing?” She thrust a finger at Raylinn. “Why is she loose?”

“Ah.” Kellen’s assured stance faltered as he met Raylinn’s eye. “That’s a bit of a story, actually.”

Finn glanced at Raylinn. She glared at the fairy king, her hands clenched in fists, fairy markings glowing, ready to tap into her magic, but she held back, her lips slightly parted, hesitant.

Uncle. She said this man was her uncle. That was…well, unexpected. Was it all right to completely despise a family member of his fiancée? Everyone had less-than-desirable extended family, right? But the king of the fairies?

Did that also mean she was…royal fairy blood?

A blast of purple light erupted toward him and the icy grip of the soldier loosened. He jumped away and shoved the man back. The other soldiers marched toward Raylinn, but her hands blazed.

“Don’t even try,” she hissed.

Finn leapt forward, snagged his sword, and darted to her side.

The soldiers halted, swaying and glassy-eyed. Finn blinked—Were they really that cowardly?—but then he saw it, the strain in Kellen’s brow. Trayla must have noticed it too, because she set her dagger-edged gaze on the fairy.

“What are you doing? Order them to kill her!”

Kellen’s gaze never moved from Raylinn’s, and the bend in his brow deepened.

“Let us go, Kellen,” Raylinn whispered. “And King Olten too. You can’t have him.”

The name sparked Finn’s brain back into working order. He tightened his grip on the sword. “How dare you freeze my father like that!”

Kellen shifted to look at him, and that apathetic coolness slipped effortlessly back across his features. “I don’t think you would have liked the alternative.”

“I don’t think you’re going to like my blade entering your throat.”

“Shut up, Finn!” shrieked Trayla. “Father would be dead if not for Kellen!”

Silence enveloped the room, heavy, stifling. Finn had to try twice to get his tongue into working order, but still his words came out as nothing but a breath.

“What are you talking about?”

Trayla put her back to them and stepped up to Father’s frozen form. She gently rubbed her knuckles across his icy encasement. “When the fairies attacked us, Father was struck down. None of our physicians could heal him. The damage was magical, a disease eating him from the inside out.” She whirled back to face them, her eyes rimmed red. “Why do you think I sought out Kellen and agreed to his help? Father was dying, and I knew more fairies would come. Knew all of Talgaria would fall! While you were off prancing across the world, I’ve been here doing what I have to to keep our entire kingdom from falling to ruin!”

Finn’s every muscle seemed to fail him. He stumbled back, blinking as the world tilted. “I…I didn’t know.” He really had failed his kingdom. He really had abandoned them to ruin.

“Don’t you see?” Trayla pushed on. “Kellen’s ice encasement is the only thing keeping the disease from completely eating at Father’s insides.”

“Oh, well isn’t that nice.”

Finn started at the acidic reply, and he looked over, horror clawing up his throat to see the last person he expected to respond in such a way.

Pure hatred burned in Raylinn’s violet eyes, and Finn’s insides twisted. He knew Father had caused her so much grief, but she had never once talked of revenge. In fact, their greatest hope had always been that Father would one day come around, that all this ugliness could be put behind them and they could make amends. Had that been a lie? Had she really been hoping for Father’s death all this time?

Bile churned in the pit of his stomach. “Raylinn?” he whispered.

But she did not turn to look at him, and that was when he realized that fiery gaze was not directed toward Father at all. Instead she looked to Kellen.

“Do you want to know why Kellen has so kindly reserved the King, Trayla?” she said.

“Raylinn,” Kellen said, a warning edging his tone, but she pressed on.

“We all know he needs a willing army to give his ‘gift’ to, an army powerful enough to face fairies. But he needs more than that. For the only way to kill fairy royalty is to spill the blood of another royal.”

The air seemed to seep out of the room. Finn’s heart pounded loud and painful in his ear as he tried to process Raylinn’s words.

“King Olten is the sacrifice.” Her voice struck the oppressive silence like a warning bell. “All of this, it’s just a ruse to exact revenge on his ex-wife and, I suspect, take back his place in the Fairy Realm.”

“Kellen?” Trayla’s voice came small, disbelieving, betrayed.

“Oh, Kellen darling, what a bad boy you are.”

All pairs of eyes jerked to the doorway at the calm, craggily voice. Baba Yaga sauntered into the room and around the guards. “I’ve been waiting for you to plan something like this but it took an awfully long time. Oh, how sick I am of this disgusting form.”

Finn blinked as her wrinkles began to fade, her short stature grew.

“No…” Kellen breathed.

A wry smile curved the woman’s reddening lips. Age spots disappeared, wiry hair was replaced with silky locks of an unearthly glimmering teal. Her face thinned and sharpened, and her hunchback shifted. In an eruption of blinding sparks, golden wings sprouted from her back and when they unfolded, an otherworldly goddess stood before them. No, not a goddess. A fairy. A queen.

The queen of fairies stood tall, chin raised, a white dress spilling down her perfect form like a waterfall. Golden fairy markings coiled around shimmering skin, but they could not rival her eyes. Eyes as gold and beautiful and deadly as the very sun itself.

Finn started when a hand pressed against his arm, and he blinked, as if waking from a trance. He turned to Raylinn, and he suspected his expression reflected the same horror he found in hers. He shifted the sword to one hand and took her hand in his, squeezing it tight.

“You can’t be her.” Kellen’s voice shook, though from fury or fear, Finn could not tell. “Baba Yaga was…”

“Your friend?” The Fairy Queen laughed, a laugh as smooth and sharp as the edge of a blade. “Oh, Kellen, you are such an imbecile. Baba Yaga was a ruse, a fable I created decades ago. I knew, eventually, either you or the silly humans would try again to take me down; I had to keep an eye on this world somehow.” She shrugged a single shoulder. “Popping into this realm now and again posing as an old witch everyone was too scared to approach proved to be useful. Of course, I had to stick to earthen magic, potions and draughts and such primitive things because you’d of course notice my magic right away. And oh”—she shuddered—“how I hated that grotesque form. It took you so long to exact your revenge. And here I thought you were more proactive then that. But, at last, the ruse is over and we can have some fun again.” She glided over to him and reached out with a long finger to slide across his jaw.

He snagged her wrist. “Don’t,” he hissed.

She pouted like a child. “Don’t you miss me, Kellen darling?”

He leaned in close, his eyes as hard and lifeless as stone. “You’re the one who turned my heart to ice.”

The pout slipped away into a smirk. “Oh, that’s right. I did, didn’t I? But that doesn’t mean we still can’t play our fun games.” She snatched her hand away and pulled back, surveying the room with those piercing eyes. “Although it won’t be much of a challenge. I let the boy loose because I thought it’d be great fun to see him annoy you, even offered him a strengthening potion to give him an edge, but, like every human, he’s too daft to do any good.”

Finn straightened. Did she mean him?

“That simpering princess is certainly no use,” she continued, pulling a gasp from Trayla. “I suppose the ice army will be a little difficult to defeat, but really, Kellen, are you even trying? Though I do feel another strong magic source.” Her golden gaze landed on Raylinn, and her smile fell. “Oh, is that the one? When I first heard rumor there was a wingless fairy out loose, I wanted to claw my ears out, and now that I actually see her I wish I could burn my eye sockets too.” She stepped toward Raylinn. “No wings, no visible fairy markings. You vile thing! How did you even get here? You should have been disposed of the moment you came out of the womb.”

Finn jerked forward, but Raylinn beat him to it. She slipped her hand out of his, leapt at the fairy, and wrapped both hands around the woman’s porcelain neck. Her purple fairy markings sparked to life, running from the back of her hands up her arms.

“You killed my mother,” she hissed.

The fairy’s golden eyes flared. “Her?” A burst of light erupted from her very being and Raylinn flew backward. Finn dropped his sword and caught her, but the impact threw them both against the wall, knocking the breath out of him.

“Raylinn?” he coughed.

She pushed back loose hair, scrambling off of him. “I’m all right,” she whispered, but the stab in her voice made him uneasy.

He shoved up to his feet and helped her stand, but he didn’t remove his arm from around her.

“I should have known,” the Fairy Queen said, her blazing eyes now set on Kellen. “I should have known that wretched human lover of your sister would have pulled something like this.”

Kellen said nothing, his face as stony as ever, but his fingers at his side curled into a fist, and slowly, subtly, the guards inched toward the fairy woman. Finn stiffened as she turned back to Raylinn, as her lips curled into a spine-tingling smile.

“Oh, this will be more fun than I thought. Not only do I get to take out some humans and my traitorous ex-husband, but now I get to also destroy Altheria’s vile offspring as well. What a glorious day this turned out to be.”

The guards charged, but in a burst of golden sparks she vanished.

Raylinn’s skin warmed as her markings glowed bright. “Where did she go?”

Kellen cried out. He doubled over, clutching his chest. “She’s letting them in,” he gasped. “She’s able to weaken the ice wall from the inside, and they’re coming.”

Finn’s stomach clenched as he dared ask, “Who?”

Kellen looked up at him and Raylinn, and gone was the gaze of stone and ice. The man with a frozen heart held horror in his eyes. “The fairies,” he said. “The second Fairy War is upon us.”

Oh look, another cliffhanger. I’m so nice. Also, this story escalated on me…a lot. I had no idea a certain someone was just going to show up. Ah, the joys of pantsing.

Hope you all enjoyed this little drama-fest. *smile, smile* Last time everyone was demanding to know what happened to Zayd, so I gave you a Zayd story, and then you all immediately switched over begging to know where Finn was. So I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY. Sheesh, there’s no pleasing you people.

I 100% kid and your enthusiasm over these stories and characters makes me giddy. <3

Until next time! (Which I think will be a rather explosive installment. We are coming at quite the headway here…)

LET’S TALK!

Tell me all your thoughts, O’elflings! What did you think of this latest installment? (I know there was no Zayd I’M SORRY. But he’s busy doing thiiiings. *secret smile*) What do you think will happen next? And can we all agree that magical family reunions are just always so awkward I mean wow.