Harmony Star and the Reward Money

By Abigail Falanga

“Oh, good, I caught up to you! I was afraid I’d be too late. No, please don’t go—that door is always locked anyway, so you can’t get out that way unless you find someone with the right tune key. And there was something I wanted to talk to you about.” Can’t remember what though.

Wide brown eyes stare back at me through the dim light at the end of the corridor, then narrow in annoyance or impatience. Used to that.

“It’ll come to me in a moment, I swear! Just let me catch my breath…”

My fingers clutch my lute’s neck. Hmm, I have my lute.

“You know how it is. You go through a door or down a hallway and then can’t remember what you’re doing or why you went into the room. Or is that just me? Maybe it’s the fairy blood—it can make one very forgetful sometimes. Usually, the best thing to do is go back out again, but I can’t do that now because you might run off. You do seem to be in an awful hurry, don’t you?”

A hurried couple of words, so low I can barely hear, as her hands grope for the door handle.

“Yes, good suggestion. I’ll try to think back to what I was doing before I came after you. But they’re making such a hullabaloo back there, aren’t they? It’s distracting.

“I know! I was trying to decide between two frocks for the dance tonight. The orange is newer, and I haven’t worn it as much, but the teal has sparkles, and it stands out so prettily under candlelight. I really don’t know which would be better, or if it even matters, with everyone clamoring on about Lord Malthus’ new spell structure. He insists it will all be for the greater good, but I can’t help thinking automatic changeling quotas are a bit harsh. After all, not every fairy noble wants a human child, nor do humans want a creature that turns into a toad if you look at it wrong. But what can I do? The spellcast scroll is all set up and ready to read tonight.”

Discordant cries echo down the stone walls, a clatter of weapons. They’re closer.

“What? No, I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t going to talk to you about any of this. You’re pure human, aren’t you? None of this affects you at all; unless you have a changeling in your family or a new child you want to protect.”

Irksome sweat, sliding past my twitching ear.

No, it was something completely different. “I was thinking about how I could set up a sanctuary for unicorns with the money, and working through the details drove what I was going to say to you right out of my mind! It is quite a lot of money. I could make it a truly excellent sanctuary, large and with plenty of room for the unicorns to roam and graze.

“The reward money, I mean. Lord Malthus promised fifty pieces of leprechaun gold to anyone who could return the spellcast scroll to him and another fifty for information about the thief.

“Ohh, I can almost feel that gold! It would be so splendid to use it to set up a nice sanctuary.

“But I can’t because…”

Because?

“Oh! Because it was you! You are the thief. That’s it!”

Gasp of breath, smell of fear. She lunges forward.

“No—please don’t run! I’m not going to turn you in. That’s what I was going to tell you. I’ve seen you about the castle lately, and I know you have a new child in the family so I know how anxious this silly new changeling quota must be making you. I wouldn’t dream of making you return the scroll. I’m only part fairy, like I said, and I understand.

“Don’t worry about the unicorn sanctuary. I’ll find some other way to make that happen. For now, though, you’ll have to run fast to get away. Here, I have my instrument with me, and I know the tune key. I’ll have that door open in a trice!” Fingers remembering strings, always more reliable than mind and memory. Brown eyes filling with tears, whispered thanks, then gone.

This tune is so pretty, and the words always make me think of meadows, freedom.

Feet pounding around the corner, demanding voices looking for someone.

What am I doing here anyway? I know there was a reason.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abigail Falanga may be found in New Mexico creating magic in many ways—with fabric, food, paper, music, and especially with words! She’s loved fantasy ever since playing out epic adventures of swords, fairies, and monsters with her siblings, and loved sci-fi since her dad’s stories around the dinner table. Besides sharing mad little stories on Havok, she is busily trying to launch approximately five hundred novels into the world. Some of them are even finished!

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