Sword Bearer (Return of the Dragons 1)

But I still didn’t know how to say anything to her.

Just think what you want to say, Anders, but think it thinking of me…

Suddenly I saw a girl, around my age, winking at me. Her hair was golden blonde, her eyes green, her smile full of white straight teeth. What a beautiful girl. Wait, not a girl. Not a human girl, anyhow. There were wings behind her shoulders. Pointed ears. Then she was laughing, and the image was gone.

Yes, Anders, I’m a pixie, not a person.

I’m sorry.

Nothing to be sorry about. But I’m glad you’re talking to me now, so I don’t have to pry into your thoughts. It’s a little strenuous, and sometimes it gives me a headache, plus I figure you might find it a little rude, if for example you were thinking about some other girl.

I saw a flash of a smile again, and then the image was gone.

Can I see you while I talk to you?

The images you saw were me, of course. We could look at each other continuously, but it’s rather draining and neither of us has had practice recently. It’s not really very practical most of the time either: you risk getting killed while you’re looking at my beautiful face, or falling down, or bumping into something.

I smiled. Her face was beautiful.

Do you know anything about what I must do, now?

I caught a flash of a smile.

I know a great deal about you, Anders. I knew your grandfather well, and his father, and so on. Your father I never got to know — he never carried me again, after his sparring match with his blademaster.

What happened?

I can tell you it was complicated. But more than that I can’t say. I don’t understand myself.

I will have to ask him.

You would do well to talk to him. You should know, too, that my cousins in Faerie have been carried by many of your other ancestors — by the merpeople and the Kriek. They send their greetings. They’re a little jealous of me but proud too that one of their cousins would serve such a prince. I can tell you many things, but I don’t know what would be useful for you and what not.

Can you teach me magic?

I can, but magic is different for us, and pixie spells do not always work the same, or at all, with humans. I can pull you in here with me and hold you in my arms if you are hurt, but I might not want to let you go then, and you might not want to be in Faerie, inside your own sword. For the moment, I think you should try to find your own answers, and practice sparring and sorcery with Woltan. The blade of the three-blooded prince is made for war, but I will not let it hurt those who are your friends. At least not seriously.

There was another flash of a smile.

What is your name, then, so I can call you properly?

There was a pause and then I looked her right in the face. Had I ever seen anyone so beautiful? Did it matter that her ears were pointed and her eyes a strange tint of green that I had never seen before? She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. If I hadn’t been confused about Kara, I might have fallen in love, right then and there.

We pixies have many names. But just because we have many, do not think the names are lightly given, or one less true than the next. Call me Carolina, as my m

other did. No one has called me Carolina for three thousand of your earth years.

I smiled.

Carolina, then. How should I call you, if I need your advice?

Put you hand on my home, here at the top of your sword, on the pommel, and say my name inside your head. I will answer at once, even if I’m busy somewhere else. Why don’t you try this: Open your eyes, talk to Woltan some, and then just touch me casually, and say my name.

I opened my eyes.

Woltan was smiling. “I’m pretty sure from what I saw on your face that you were successful. But appearances can be deceiving. Did you find what you sought? Were you able to communicate with the pixie?”

I nodded. “She was very friendly, actually. She said she knew my grandfather, and his father, and his father and so on down the line, but not my own father. I wonder why that is?”