Faceclaim (ONC 2022, Completed, Shortlisted)

Excerpt #3

Strings of translucent moss and fluttering light bugs guide my way as I walk into the caves. This is where she resides, they've told me. The Fairy Queen Lucinda. I need to ask for her permission to travel through the lands of the fairies on my way to the castle.

She's a sight to behold they tell me. A force of nature that no one can quell. Her lands are the same. Beautiful but treacherous. Pretty flowers that turn out to be flesh-eating when you come close. Soft moss that swallows you whole after one wrong step. Inviting vines that will snap your hand--or if you're unlucky, your head--off in an instant.

Needless to say, I'm not thrilled to be here. I am, after all, still just a humble farmer at heart. Even as I wear the regalia and sword of my father. Red and gold brocade fabric hang over my shoulders, making me sweat in the smoldering heat, and the heavy sword, gold-plated with red gemstones on the hilt to match the house colors, keep hitting my hip as I walk. One day, maybe I will get accustomed to carrying a heavy weapon instead of a shovel.

My men wait outside the cave. It's been told in legend that you need to enter the cave alone to get an audience with the queen. It's only me and my sword, which I don't really know how to use anyway. I would be better off fighting with the shovel of my past. But neither shovels nor swords work very well against fairy magic anyway.

The tunnel ends in a dome-shaped cave that's almost entirely filled by a pond. In the middle of the pond, a water lily--the size of a mid-sized horse--floats. The white petals appear to glow in the dark, exuding glimmers of magic. The flower is curled up into a bud, not unlike the cabbages I grow back home. Or grew, I supposed, because that is no longer my home.

I can't help it. I walk up to the flower, not caring that my ornate pants get wet as I walk through the murky waters. It's as if I'm drawn to the glowing plant by an invisible force.

My hand reaches out--without me even telling it to--and touch a petal. It's velvety smooth under my rugged fingertips.

Then the flower unfurls to reveal a being inside. Someone so beautiful it takes my breath away. Flowers sprout from her hair and her eyes sparkle in green like the moss around us. She gives me a look that tells me I'm beneath her and that I should be honored she even deigns to look at me.

This must be the Fairy Queen.

"I'm..." I sputter and sink to my knees in reverence. "I'm..." I repeat, but my lips are out of words.

She continues to stare at me, without saying a word. Instead, she whisks a porcelain-skinned hand through floral hair, making sparkles fly throughout the cave. She seems to not just possess magic, but actually be magic.

"I'm..." I repeat, stuck on repeat. I take a deep breath, trying to focus despite her mesmerizing presence, and look up again. "I'm Prince Ramon of Eldorado," I manage to squeeze out. "I've come here to ask for passage through your lands."

She inches closer, crawling on the soft petals, to gaze at me even more intently. I can see every perfect feature on her face, delicate like the surface of a leaf. Her lips glitter like starlight. I can't take my eyes off those lush lips. I'm frozen in place by admiration or magic. I don't care which one. All I know is that I need to touch her.

I reach my hand out toward her arm. Sparkles fly as I let fingers caress the silky skin. She lets me do it for a moment before she grabs my hand in hers.

The world around us stops. Everything becomes glowing magic. Then she presses her shimmering lips to mine. And fireworks go off around us, lighting the cave in every color known by man.

Author's Note: I know there are some anachronistic details here that probably shouldn't be in a medieval fantasy (fireworks, the expression "stuck on repeat") but consider that part of the narrative. I'm trying to write something here that basically sounds like I wouldn't have written it (because "the author" wrote it). It's not the easiest thing to do :)