An Ultra Violent Fairy Tale by Pete Bertino - HTML preview

18 AN ULTRA VIOLENT FAIRY TALE

Glitterbelle knew The Order had a loose interpretation of the gift as they called it. Whether you saw auras, visions (awake or asleep), or ghosts, or read palms or anything considered unnatural you would be taken away and would meet a fate much like she herself had been destined for just a short while ago.

“We lived in a village far from here where the sun still rises and sets when they took her, The Order’s everywhere ya know. I got away and have been on the run for years, they’re looking for me because they think I have the gift too. I don’t think I do, my sister said I didn’t but I don’t think The Order is gonna take my word for it. They don’t want to take a chance that I might be a witch or something that can fly.”

Glitterbelle knew what Kickswitch meant. The Order used magic, stole it however they could and wherever they found it and The Lady of The Order hoarded it like gold.

“So I figured the last place they would look for me would be right here, sort of under their nose while they’re out looking over the horizon.”

“Very shrewd, wizard.” Glitterbelle said sincerely.

“I told you, I’m not a wizard.” said Kickswitch though she did smile a little at the compliment.

They walked in silence down the road in the chilly evening air, a Draugwolf somewhere howled into the night. Every thirty yards there was a street light keeping most of the dark away, they went across the only great road she’d seen so far. It was thirty feet wide and was somewhat paved still but there was no sign giving its name.

“This is Quentin Road,” Kickswitch said, noticing the fairy looking for a sign. “The Order doesn’t do patrols this far out.”

“Not even for escaped prisoners?”

“You escaped from prison? I didn’t think there was a prison near here.”

“There isn’t.” Glitterbelle said, but nothing more.

Kickswitch understanding why, walked on in silence as they left Quentin Road behind them. After three quarters of a mile Kickswitch turned down a road that looked more like a walking path that was 19 AN ULTRA VIOLENT FAIRY TALE

quiet and dark, requiring the flashlight. They walked for another ten minutes before coming to the sound of chickens clucking and a growing orange firelight up ahead.

They came out through clusters of spruce and pine trees and passed a short aluminum pole with a metal green trapezoidal shaped sign that read, ‘Row House Village’ in blocky white font. They walked down a short hill and heard more clucking chickens as they entered the village which was more of a hamlet by the looks of it. There were sixteen houses, four in a row that had been built together and made of brick and mortar, each set of houses faced the others making a large square in the middle where a bonfire burned.

There looked to be three or four people sitting on lawn chairs watching the flames dancing around a ring of cinder blocks. The people sitting at the fire noticed Kickswitch and her companion right away.

When Glitterbelle passed between the row homes she felt engulfed by the warmth of the fire, though she was careful of the new people she was about to meet.

There were four of them, they looked younger than Kickswitch, and all but one was a woman. The set of row homes they passed to come in looked odd to the fairy though she was charmed by the subtle color variety of the bricks that were used, light shades progressing from tan to orange on one set of houses, while the houses on the left and right were built with bricks progressing from light shades of orange to deep red.

“Holy shit!” said the man sitting on a white and green aluminum chair.

He dressed like a working man with a white T-shirt and jeans but as they got closer Glitterbelle judged him to be no more than a teenager. Beside him sat a woman looking a little more adult than him but not by much, she wore clothes similar to the boy. The teenager and the older girl bore a resemblance in their fair complexions and dark eyes and the fairy guessed they were siblings.

The other two were women, one wore a gingham dress and had long auburn hair with bare feet that had small blades of grass stuck to them. The other woman was black with short braided hair, she wore a pair of maroon coveralls with a faded name tag sewn in the right side which said Sandy in a fancy long hand script. They all watched the fairy closely, none of them had ever seen one before.

Chief Marshal J. Paradine, a man passed middle age in the army of The Order, felt the ringing of the prison alarm pounding on his temples as he stood outside the main building. He took off his chain mail hood and felt his head cry out in relief as he tossed it away. He had a helmet if necessary and with a fairy it wouldn’t make a very big difference.

Many of the soldiers and prison guards, who wore near identical uniforms and were all under his command, were out in the forest and surrounding countryside searching for the fairy. As for the other 20 AN ULTRA VIOLENT FAIRY TALE

prisoners his orders were to execute them on site. He figured if they were running then they deserved to die and ordered his men to leave their bodies to rot where they lay. The alarm drilling into his skull had made him give the order.

“Somebody kill that fucking alarm!” he barked at the Marshal doing sentry at the front door.

Paradine turned away from the building and went to one of the towers at the outer perimeter. The door was open but had a Marshal stationed there. He went up the spiral steps and came out on the top to a room that was surrounded by glass and offered a far away view for miles all around. He stepped through a glass door and onto a platform a cold breeze smacked him right in the face.

The cool wind helped dull his aching skull, just as he sucked in a deep lungful of air the wailing below finally cut out. He let out a sigh as all he could hear now was the white noise of the breeze and the busy competent tones of the guards and soldiers brought up to reinforce him for his hunt. First however was to find out who was responsible for the break out and bring the person or persons to The Lady herself.

Paradine shuddered at the thought of bringing anyone to her for any reason, let alone to be punished.

He’d seen war or both the large scale and small, he’d seen men melted down to goo by the fires of dragons, he’d burned and killed many, both young and old, innocent and guilty, men, women, children.

He did not care, nor was he haunted by their ghosts in his dreams or wide awake, Paradine was a man without fear but The Lady frightened him. He tried to forget about her for the moment and looked out onto the wild lands beyond.

“Fuck,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

He just wanted to find the fairy, and do it quickly. The idea that they could recapture the fairy and remove her wings again without having to tell The Lady was still alive until he saw the door to the evidence room open and the wings missing. Paradine knew she was aware because he could see a dragon flying in the middle distance lighting the night sky up with eyes that were like the headlights of an auto carriage, one of her pretties as he’d heard her call such beasts, searching for Glitterbelle.

None of the prisoners knew how to operate the Packard left by the blue suited gunslinger so it was set on fire and pushed down a hill but didn’t start a forest fire. That was the only good news so far, they didn’t find the guns the guy with the gold badge had been carrying. He heard the hurried steps of an underling charging up the iron stairs with loud clunks.

“Chief Marshal, sir. We found the captain of the guards.” the young soldier said, breathing heavily.