A Mysterious Fairy Agent Arrives in Central London

(Background info: This tale is the sequel to the first part of a young fairy’s mission on earth. She is sent to try and bring the wayward fairy princess back to the Higher World. She avoids talking to humans and using technology. The Princess is corrupt and runs her own criminal gang).

After some time, Kenneth had gotten everything prepared for that rather daunting trip to Central London. He would be taking his own rucksack as well as other carrier bags containing extra food and water for Bernard, his donkey. These he would place over the young beast, just behind the old side saddle that he had to patch up and prepare for Sophia-Highborn who was watching him expressionlessly from a distance as he worked, making sure that he did everything she had requested of him in her letter.

She seemed pleased when he finally placed the mended and polished side saddle on the donkey’s back, ready for her use. But he sensed he might still be forgetting something and looked at her for instruction. But she shrugged her shoulders as if to say, ‘what’s your question?’

Then he spoke in a low voice. “I mean, was there anything else I need to prepare?”

She pointed to the ground and then to the donkey and then to herself.

Ah yes. He needed to get her something to stand on in order to mount the donkey. There was the upside-down bucket but he was still worried that she might fall so he said, “if I use gloves, will you let me lift you onto Bernard?”

But she shook her head.

“See if you can mount him now then,” he said and placed the bucket near Bernard.

She stood on the bucket, took hold of the saddle and pulled herself up. The donkey shook a little. He wasn’t used to this new rider. But she immediately started whispering very softly in its ear until it seemed to become calmer.

“Okay, now there’s one more thing,” said Kenneth. Sophia didn’t like the tone of his voice and looked slightly crossly at him. He almost felt like laughing and said, “but you don’t know what I was going to say.”

She maintained a serious and slightly annoyed expression.

“Anyway, look, here’s the situation. If I lead you on a donkey to the centre of London, it will be quite a spectacle and I think I should bring the shotgun, just in case we run into any trouble on our journey. There are bad people out there who might decide to rob us for instance. Also, I was going to take some bottles of our farm made cider with me.”

She slowly looked away.

He then went to get the gun and bottles.  

She sat sideways on the donkey and the shotgun in its holder was strapped to the other side. He looked at her again, indicating that he hoped she was okay with him taking the weapon with them.  But keeping her focus on their journey, she slowly moved her arm and pointed to the exit, refusing to engage in any form of discussion about the firearm.  

“Yes, we’ll be on our way very soon,” he assured her. A few moments later she gave him a look of displeasure as she saw him stuff the cider bottles in with the donkey feed. They had to go somewhere after all. His own bag was already full and there was no way he could ask her to carry them.

“Don’t worry. They’ll be just fine in there for the time being,” he told her. But she looked back with a firm look of disapproval and proceeded to raise her hand and shake her head, indicating that what he did was not acceptable.

He sighed, rather annoyed. He had provided her with some more note paper and a pencil earlier and now she was writing on it again. When she had finished, she gave him the note.

He was in for quite a lecture.

‘Kenneth, you should reject disorder and sloppiness in your life. Go and find a separate container for your added provisions. I will wait here for you. Moreover, if I were you, I would see to it that such drinks are kept cool. You should find something that allows you to place coolants such as ice cubes in with the beverages because they are not meant to be enjoyed at a neutral or warm temperature as is bound to be the case with them if left in with Bernard’s feed.

Do not leave flowers without water if you do not want them to shrivel and die. Do not overcook bread if you respect the food that is provided for your wellbeing. Do not leave coal in a cold or damp place since it is meant to be consumed by the flames and provide heat. And do not leave chilled refreshments in a bag of donkey feed where you know they do not belong.’

He read the note and flushed a little with embarrassment. He then sheepishly went off to get two plastic boxes and a supply of ice chunks. He then put these together with the bottles into a bin liner and tied it to the donkey’s harness. Sophia then briefly smiled and nodded approvingly.

At last, with that being sorted out, he took the reins and led the donkey out of the farm and onto the road. The long journey had begun.

Kenneth was able to reflect on many things while on the journey. The scenery was pleasing and the sound of the donkey’s hooves on the path offered a certain pleasantness to the ears as they clopped along. Bernard also made various other donkey sounds as he moved steadily on, bearing the silent fairy with her solemn expression on his back. Kenneth did eventually get a little board and would have liked to be able to chat to Sophia, at least a little. From time to time, he would point out some particular place of interest and give her some information on it including its name and brief history. She would apparently listen but didn’t tend to nod or exchange much eye contact. In the end he concluded that she wasn’t really interested. She just wanted to reach the centre of London for whatever reason.

If he took out his phone, she would gesture for him to conceal it from her field of vision. She was okay with him using the device, so long as his back was turned away from her.

As they continued on, he kept wondering whether it would annoy her if he asked for information. Who was she? Why was she going to London? What was her objective?

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him and he said, “do write to me again and tell me about yourself and if it’s okay to share with me some facts about your errand, I’d love to learn about it. What will you do when you reach your destination?”

She was listening but not looking at him while he said this but when he had finished speaking, she turned to him and smiled. But that was all and she then looked away again. That probably meant she wasn’t going to share any personal information about herself or her mission.

They travelled on and on, more or less in silence until he noticed that she was writing again. She lent forward and handed him the note.

‘Over there ahead of us my good Kenneth, are some more trees. Take us there and together, we will prepare a fire. We will also feed Bernard and ourselves. And we must spend the night near the fire. In the morning, we will have breakfast before resuming our journey.’

He looked at it but protested. “No Sophia. I will take us to a Bed and Breakfast or Hotel. Honestly, it’s no trouble. I have money and it is only a few miles as my smartphone tells me. The app is called Google Maps.”

Sophia covered her face in her hands. He felt her frustration and stopped the donkey. “Okay, what’s wrong? Why stay in the woods when I can purchase a room for you and also one for me and a place to secure Bernard?”

He saw her writing again with an upset expression on her face. It was looking like they really would have to sleep in the woods. He was exhausted and had long been looking forward to staying in a lovely, comfortable B&B. He had the money for it because the farm’s cider business was doing quite well and they were making money. They were also selling some of their dairy products. Why sleep in the woods? But he also knew that arguing with Sophia-Highborn probably wouldn’t lead anywhere good.’

Again, there was a note from her.

‘Take us to the woodland Kenneth. Please do not contradict me again. We are making a fire and preparing to eat and spend the night under the trees. I cannot allow you to take me to fancy bed that must be paid for with money. The woods will provide shelter and the fire will provide warmth.’

He sensed that he should go along with what she said. With a deep sigh, he turned and led the donkey and passenger in the direction of the rather small patch of forestland.

­There he tied the donkey’s lead to a tree and prepared to feed him while Sophia wondered off into the woods. After a while he began to wonder where she had gone and called out her name. He walked through the trees until he saw her from a distance in a meditative position. He then quietly began gathering some kindling for a fire.

Later he saw her with her own bundle of wood which she placed down next to his. By the time he was back with a third load of kindling, he saw her standing by an already lit fire that was getting brighter and after warming herself a little, she began performing a dance around the flames while singing something in a language he didn’t recognise. Her hair and dress where flowing and swishing as she danced and sang. He kept well back and watched quietly. It went on for quite some time.

He then decided to open one of the chilled ciders. He was pleased in the end that he had gone to the trouble of making sure they were kept in with the ice cubes. It was very refreshing to have a drink from one of the bottles while the figure in white sang and danced by the fire. When she finally stopped and sat against a nearby tree, he approached and asked, “I don’t recognise that language. Where are you from? And where do you live?”

She thought for a moment and then began to write. It said, ‘I am from very far away and I live very far away.’ This only left him even more puzzled and intrigued. But he sensed she wasn’t in the mood for a conversation as she moved closer to the fire and began to nestle down to sleep.

Tomorrow would be the final stretch. Kenneth made himself as comfortable as possible. It took a long time, but he was eventually able to get off to sleep.

The morning went more or less as he had expected. They had breakfast in silence. But afterwards, he took his phone and went on the internet to listen to the news. Although he had his back turned, he still looked to see if she was okay with it but she looked rather cross and shook her head and with an understanding nod, he turned it off.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. She signalled when she was ready to dismount. They had reached the Centre of London and many people were staring at Sophia on the donkey and at Kenneth. The people started taking pictures and videos. Kenneth told them not to but most of them ignored him.

The photos and videos of the fairy came out as a white blur. But one day in the future, an artist would create a beautiful portrait of Sophia-Highborn from memory but it still failed to do her justice, no matter how magnificent and lovely she looked in the talented man’s work of art.

She passed Kenneth one last letter before walking into the crowd that had gathered to see her. No one dared to get in her way for long or to touch her. And when she signalled for them to stop following her, many felt that they should stop and let her go. It was only a few teenagers who kept following. But eventually, she evaded them as well.

Kenneth opened his last letter from his donkey’s mysterious passenger. ‘Kenneth, you have done well. My gratitude is yours. You will not be forgotten. Go in peace and enjoy the blessings that will surely follow you for the rest of your life, so long as you remain on the good path that you are on now.’

He smiled and after taking a meal in town, returned home with his donkey, Bernard.

It was at a Morrisons Supermarket that Sophia-Highborn finally came into contact with Stephanie who was buying some basic provisions for herself and her team members. She went herself this time because she also wanted to buy a birthday card for Jane whose birthday was coming up the following week.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a figure to her left who said, “hello my Lady.” She turned and saw the girl in white looking at her.

She felt confused and briefly wondered whether she might be ‘seeing things.’ But she answered anyway. “What? Who are you? Where’s your mum? And your shoes?”

The girl just stared back at her. Stephanie shook her head and continued her shopping while the girl quietly followed her, staying at her side.

“More importantly,” said the girl, “where is your own mother?” Stephanie said, “just go away.”

“When are you coming home?”

“Yeah, I’ll go home for a bit after my shopping.”

“No, I mean, when will you come back to your real home? I know who you are my Lady. You are Princess Stphanie Goldmaracynthia Bell.”

Stephanie paused and felt her heart leap with profound astonishment. That old but familiar sense of being a fairy returned. This girl had to be a feeble attempt from the higher world to bring her back there. She could sense it. But she felt far too closed off and too dedicated to her life on Earth.

“Forget it. Go back to the other world. You’re wasting your time. I can’t believe they were naive enough to send you.”

“How dare you, Stephanie! I will teach you, fallen one. I will teach you to spit in the face of the Higher World.”

“And what are you going to do, sweety?”

Sophia-Highborn then headed for the exit of the supermarket.

Stephanie shook her head and continued her shopping.

But only a few minutes later Sophia’s voice was heard at the entrance again, this time she was shouting at the top of her voice, telling everyone to leave the supermarket. She then marched up one of the isles to where Stephanie was while a noisy and aggressive flock of some six to seven hundred pidgins and crows, rushed through the entrance, all squawking loudly. The air was filled with women screaming, children crying loudly and men shouting and calling for security. The security guards began telling everyone to leave the supermarket due to an ‘unexpected infiltration of birds.’

Stephanie saw all the birds coming from behind Sophia who was obviously directing them to attack her. She made a run for the exit.

“Insigenya!” shouted the figure in white. This was the word for ‘attack.’ The frightful mob of birds all began hurling themselves against her. Stephanie covered her face and continued running. The birds were extremely hyped up and aggressive, pecking, squealing and scratching her with all their might. Eventually, Stephanie could no longer hold back a scream as they relentlessly attacked her entire body and her neck began to bleed. They were everywhere, even on the floor. She was treading on birds until she lost her footing and fell down while they descended on her and did all they could to get to her face and eyes, jabbing and scratching constantly.

She began pleading with Sophia who stood over her and kept shouting angrily at her, “you wicked wretch! You wicked wretch! Come home! You will come home!”

The birds started leaving their droppings on her as she staggered to her feet once again and made for the exit, wading through the ugly, nasty smelling sea of furious, frenzied birds. They continued to pursue her as she rushed down the street. By now a fire engine was at the scene, ready to blast the birds with heavy duty water hoses. They started blasting without noticing that Stephanie was inside the dense flock. The fire hose pushed her against the building, injuring her head. But she kept going. Sophia ran alongside her, shouting at her in rage. “You ungrateful, cold-hearted creature! You are a disgrace! A disgrace Stephanie! A disgustful disgrace! Wicked wretch! Wicked, fallen creature!”

Stephanie, opened the door of a taxi and threw the driver out onto the road. She then slammed the door and drove the taxi at top speed down a main road, bashing against another smaller car that was in her way because it had stopped in front of her at the traffic lights. She screwed the window down and managed to throw the rest of the birds outside.