Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chaykeely ❯ Chapter five ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

As dawn broke the next morning mist began to fall in the forest. After Aisling explained that she had put the witches to sleep, everyone had gone to bed, knowing that their enemy would not awaken until much later that morning. This gave them ample time to sleep, which they did. At dawn, Keiran awoke, delighted that he was back in his human form again.

He yawned and stretched, reaching for a shirt and pants to wear for the day. He put them on and looked around Nevan’s room. He knew it was early and that no one else in the house would be awake yet, so he left the room and went into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. As he walked, he noted that it was raining harder. “Great, if we do have to battle today, Kael won’t be any help to us.” He sighed and started to fry an egg.

Keiran was grateful for this time to himself. He was able to think about what had happened the previous day. “Has it really been only one day?” he wondered to himself. “Yes, and not even that…they brought her here around eight o’clock.” He frowned and stared at the frying eggs. “Why do I care what happens to her then? Why are we willing to risk our lives to save her? Especially Aisling, she seemed to hate Arietta, and all of a sudden last night she was insulting an elf prince of Chaykeely? It doesn’t make sense, how could this happen in one day?” He shook his head. “Well, I guess I know why I want to die for her. But I’m not sure about the others. Except that we all know we will have to fight eventually anyway.” He smiled sadly and flipped the eggs over. “But I will be the one to kill Devlan.” He laughed softly. “I guess he’s…my rival for Arietta. But how I can feel so strongly for her, want to protect her like this…I don’t know.” He sighed again and took the eggs off the pan, then placed two sausages in their place. “Maybe she’s got me under a spell.”

“Hi, Keiran. You’re up early,” Kael’s voice said from behind him.

“I always wake up when I transform. I guess you do, too, huh?” He looked down at Kael, who was, at the moment, one foot tall and scaly.

“Yeah. How’d you guess?” He sniffed the air. “Sausage?”

“Yeah, I’ll give you one when I’m finished making them.”

“I wonder if it’ll rain later, when we have to battle and all. God, I can’t wait. But if I’m like this, I don’t think I’ll be too useful.”

“Maybe you can breathe fire. Have you tried lately?”

Kael laughed. “No. Hold on, let’s see if I can do it.” He took a deep breath and let it out in one strong gust which knocked him backward. “Anything?”

“No.” Keiran shook his head.

“Oh well.” He looked at what used to be his hands and mused, “Maybe I could sharpen my claws…”

“Well, let’s hope the fight isn’t in the dark.” Keiran took the sausages off the frying pan and handed both to Kael. “Here.”

“Don’t you want one?”

Keiran pointed to the eggs sitting on his plate. “Nope. I’m good.”

Kael jumped on the table and looked out the window. “Still raining.” He nodded.

“Yeah.” Keiran opened up the refrigerator and looked around.

“I told you to keep one of the sausages. Now you’re telling me you’re still hungry?” He looked questioningly at the eggs, still untouched, on Keiran’s plate. “But…you haven’t eaten at all yet.”

“I’m just looking…” He pulled out the milk jar and the bucket of strawberries Brighid and Nevan had picked a few days earlier. “You think Arietta likes strawberries?”

Kael laughed. “Why are you so concerned about what she wants? I haven’t seen you ever wanting to make breakfast for anyone else.”

“Well, getting out strawberries and milk isn’t exactly ‘making breakfast’ for her, Kael.” Keiran shook his head. “Besides, who says I wasn’t also thinking of Aisling?”

“Because no one thinks of Aisling,” Kael replied automatically. “Which is a shame,” he added, “Because I think that’s what she wants.”

“Gee, I thought she wanted to be left alone and to kill us all,” Keiran said, sitting down before his plate and lifting his fork.

“That’s what I thought.” Kael nodded. “But it’s not true.”

“Who says that’s not true?” Aisling demanded, walking into the kitchen. “God, you two are loud.”

“Sorry, Aisling. Care for some strawberries and milk?” Kael asked. “I thought of you when I got them out of the refrigerator.”

“Nice try,” Aisling said, smiling at him. “But I know Keiran got them out for Arietta. Besides, you’re too small to carry anything at the moment. Anyway, yes, I want some. But not right now. I’ll wait until Arietta does.”

She sat down and stared out the window as Kael and Keiran had earlier. “You’re going to be useless, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, it seems that way. And I was hoping for a fight, too.” He sighed.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I can probably take care of all of them myself. You saw my work yesterday, after all.”

At this moment Brighid and Nevan walked in. “Oh…you made yourselves breakfast?” Brighid asked.

“Keiran did,” Kael and Aisling said together. “And Arietta needs to come out here right now to get the breakfast Keiran set out especially for her.”

“Aw, how sweet!” Brighid smiled and leaned on Nevan’s shoulder. “Isn’t it sweet, Nevan?”

“Sure,” he replied, walking to the table. He sat down and looked out the window. “Kael, it doesn’t look like the rain will stop soon. You’re not--”

“I’m not going to be much help in a fight, I know,” Kael finished. “Does everyone have to remind me?”

“It’s okay, Kael, you can kill them all with your cuteness,” Aisling suggested, laughing.

“It’s not funny,” Kael said. “I was really looking forward to this…”

“Why? What if one of us gets hurt?” Brighid sighed. “I don’t want that to happen.”

“Why are we doing this?” Keiran asked, voicing his darkest thoughts out loud. “Why are we all willing to die like this, so that Arietta doesn’t have to marry that guy?”

“Keiran?” Brighid asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Why are you all willing to fight them for her sake? They’d probably never have found us otherwise…” He trailed off, then stared down at the table. “Never mind. I’m being ridiculous. I want to do this more than any of you.”

“What’s this really about?” Nevan asked.

Keiran shook his head, refusing to answer. Nevan looked to Brighid, who looked back at him and nodded. Nevan sighed and walked over to Keiran. “Come with me,” he ordered. Keiran refused, so Nevan picked him up and carried him outside. Everyone else was silent, watching in wonder, and as soon as the door closed, the room exploded with laughter.

`“So tell me,” Nevan said. “What’s going on?”

“I…” He stopped. “Well, you know, don’t you? You can tell me better than I can tell you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought me out here.”

“You want to protect Arietta.”

“Yes.”

“You want to kill Devlan yourself.”

“Yes.”

“You won’t listen to me if I tell you that Devlan is ten times stronger than you, and if we fight at night, you will have no practical means of combat.”

“Yes.”

“So you love her then?”

Keiran was silent.

“Yes. You do.” Nevan smiled. “You know you do. You didn’t need me to tell you that.”

“I don’t need help fighting him.”

“I know.”

“So you won’t try to help me?”

“Of course I will. I’m not an idiot.”

Keiran smiled and nodded. “Thanks.” He walked back into the cottage, with Nevan following after him.


“You killed my puppy!” Enya screamed, kicking Galvin in the head. “You murderer! I hate you!”

“Ow!” Galvin jumped up, rubbing his skull. “What the hell was that?!”

“Die!” Enya lunged at him, trying to rip him apart, but Galvin jumped back. “Whoa, calm down!”

She grabbed onto his leg and started gnawing it, screaming “I’ll kill you like you killed him!”

“As Galvin tried to fight her off, he noticed Calder sitting by a tree in the distance, picking the petals off of a flower. He stared as Keelty walked over and started screaming at Calder the way Enya was now screaming at him. He could also vaguely hear a similar confrontation between Donelle and Devlan.

He didn’t have long to look, however, because Enya was wrestling him to the ground, screaming “Murderer! Murderer!” He continued to protest her accusations, but she wouldn’t listen.

Finally he pushed her off and started yelling at her. “What is wrong with you, you idiot?! It’s me, Galvin, remember?” He grabbed her arms and shook her. “How stupid are you?”

“Galvin? The puppy killer?”

“No. Galvin the faerie killer. Soon to be ‘Galvin the witch killer’ if you continue trying to kill me.”

“Faeries…” She looked puzzled and then came to a realization. “Oh! Chaykeely! We’re going to get the elf princess and the rebels today!”

“Yes! Exactly!” Galvin sighed in relief. “Now come with me to help get Keelty to stop attacking Calder.”


Finally, Arietta walked into the kitchen. “Oh, you’re all awake?” She asked.

“Yeah, we’ve been sitting here for hours,” Kael replied.

“Oh!” Keiran jumped up and went to the refrigerator to pull the strawberries and milk back out. “Here,” he said, handing them to her.

“Strawberries…” Her face lit up and she shrieked. “I love strawberries!” She rushed to the table and began shoving the strawberries into her mouth. “Thank you so much!”

“Good choice, Keiran,” Kael said, laughing. He glanced out the window again, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, come ON!” He growled angrily. “I wanna fight!”

Arietta froze and dropped a strawberry. “Oh yeah…” She pushed her chair out and went outside, staring blankly ahead as he walked.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kael asked.

Brighid stood up to follow her. “I’ll handle it.” She walked out and stood beside Arietta. “I’m probably the last person you want to see but I just--”

Arietta shook her head. “No, it’s fine.” She sat down on the porch step and Brighid did the same. “I don’t want anyone to fight for my sake.”

Brighid didn’t know what to say. She was shocked that Arietta had admitted what was bothering her so easily. “Well, it’s not just for you. The witches were coming after us anyway.”

“But if Devlan wasn’t looking for me they might not have found you.”

“Or they might have and caught us by surprise.” Brighid smiled. “It’s not your fault, and we’re not only doing this for you. But you are part of the reason. After all, your fiancée is a jerk.”

Arietta laughed. “Thanks. Um, would you mind terribly if I asked you to leave? I want to be alone…sort of.”

“Sort of?” Brighid asked.

Arietta blushed and turned away. “I mean…almost alone…er…”

“Oh!” Brighid laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get him.” She went in and was soon replaced by Keiran.

“Are you all right?” Keiran asked. “Because you know, I’ll kill him for you. I promise.”

“Yeah, but don’t. That wouldn’t be smart.” She sighed, then looked at him, smiling. “You know how faerie children are born?”

“No. They’re not born the…usual way?”

“No.” Arietta shook her head. “They grow on trees.”

“On trees?”

“Yeah…When the baby is conceived, a tree is planted, and when that tree blooms in two years, a baby is born.” She looked at Keiran. “And you know what you said about repopulating Chaykeely with half-elves?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s .”