Fairy Queen-in-Waiting

Fairy Queen-in-Waiting
by Yeyet Soriano

Genre: Fantasy
Archetype Cards: The Dandy and The Tomboy
Keywords: Blood, Dragon, Fan, Old Photograph, Wings, and Sacrifice.

Rae loathed tradition. Having had the misfortune of being the firstborn daughter of the reigning fairy queen, Rae knew that soon, she would have to follow tradition and give up her life. When she turned twenty-one, she would be crowned queen and she would marry the man selected to be her king, for whom she felt nothing. 
Rae’s sister, Fall, would never question her role of spare, even if it meant sacrificing her wings, and probably her life and future, to a dragon that required her wings in exchange for the continued safety of the realm. She would also need to give up the man she loved, so he could stand beside her sister as her king. 
Leaf was destined to be king. He would marry the new queen, once she was proclaimed. It was unfortunate though that the queen he would marry happened to be the sister of the woman he loved. Nevertheless, he would do his duty. And as soon as he was crowned king, he would try and slay the dragon before it tried to take Fall’s wings and hurt or even kill her. 
Coal had always been considered the black sheep of the family. Considered narcissistic, shallow, and without empathy, people were quick to discount him. But Coal loved his brother Leaf, and he knew that Leaf would not succeed in slaying the dragon. 

One beautiful day, a week before her twenty-first birthday, Rae set out on a trip. She wore a hood to cover her face. She also stowed her wings under a thick traveling cloak, passing herself off as an elf. She walked. She knew it would be a two-day journey before she reached the dragon’s lair.
In the middle of her first day of travel, at the outskirts of the central city, she encountered Coal, resting under the very tree she intended to rest under. She recognized Leaf’s good-for-nothing brother, cooling himself with the ridiculous fan he usually carried with him, an affectation she could not understand. It made him seem feminine, sometimes making people forget that he was quite the ladies’ man. Not feeling sociable, especially with Coal, and not wanting to have to explain herself, she decided to continue walking. 
“Your Majesty, what are you up to?” Rae heard Coal’s deep and mischievous voice and she bristled. 
“I don’t know what you mean, good sir, I am just a country elf journeying,” Rae said in a soft high voice.
“If you’re an elf, then I’m the fairy king,” he jested. “Have a rest. I have water and food, which I notice you didn’t bring any with you.”
Rae was feeling thirsty and hungry and Coal was right, she had forgotten to bring any supplies. She felt so stupid and unprepared. And people expected her to be queen?
So she sat before the man she detested, ate, and drank. She removed her hood and cloak. No use trying to fool someone who had already found her out. Her braided, long, jet-black hair tumbled out. Coal smiled inwardly. He loved Rae’s hair, and he took pleasure in tugging at it when they were young. He always teased her about it, because normally, queens had golden hair, like Fall. And he knew Rae would have preferred it short, in keeping with her active lifestyle.
“So, where are you going, Your Majesty?”
“Can you stop calling me that? I am not the queen,” Rae said with a frown. She had hated Coal her entire life because he was such a big bully. That he grew up to be so good-looking had made her hate him more. 
“Yet,” Coal stressed.
“Yes.”
“Do I call you sis, then? As you will be marrying my brother?” Coal looked at her with the familiar twinkle in his eyes.
Rae grimaced. Why does he look so . . . damn cute? 
“Why the face? Many women would jump at the chance to be with my brother,” Coal challenged.
“Yeah, I know. My sister is one of them.” Rae thought about Leaf and tried to determine why she didn’t share her sister’s infatuation with him. Leaf was extremely good-looking, but he was just too good-looking and too “good” for Rae. Coal, on other hand . . . was definitely not a good person. 
“Your sister is the one he loves, he says, but don’t worry, he will honor tradition and be a good and kind king, by your side,” Coal smirked. 
“I hate tradition.” Rae stared back.
“I know. What do you intend to do?”
Rae looked at Coal and decided to tell him. He was the closest person to a friend she had outside of her family, even if their encounters had always been filled with snide banter. They had done everything together as kids, even if Coal was four years older. For some reason, Coal took it upon himself to be both her tormentor and protector. She had always wondered what her life would have been if Coal had been her king-in-waiting. They drifted apart when Coal started to get interested in girls and left Rae to grow up and go on adventures alone. 
“I intend to offer my wings to the dragon and save my sister, who will then be queen, as the realm will never have a wingless queen. She will marry your brother and everyone will be better off.”
“Wow. You’ve figured this out, huh? What will you do without wings?”
“Survive. I will be okay. You don’t have wings and you are living a full life.”
Coal stared at Rae, noticing the flush in her cheeks from the half-day trip and the excitement of talking about what she intended to do. They both knew what a fairy would be without wings—almost useless. She wouldn’t be able to be queen; she would lose her prospects in marriage, as a fairy without wings would not be able to bear a child. She would not be able to travel as far and wide and go on the adventures that she loved. 
“You might not need to lose your wings,” Coal said slowly.
“What do you mean?” Rae looked at Coal with interest. 
Coal smiled at Rae, as if reading her mind. 
“I intend to get the dragon’s blood or slay him. Either way, our realm will be safe from him.” 
“You? Why? How?” Rae was confused. This day was not going exactly how she had planned. 
“As soon as your ceremony is over, Leaf plans to challenge the dragon before it takes your sister’s wings. And he can’t fight worth a damn.” 
Rae had a sudden vision of her father, who did the same as soon as he married her mother. He did not succeed and ended up blind, with the loss of movement in his right arm. 
“You’re doing this for your brother?” Rae asked incredulously.
“Shocking, right? I’m also doing this for my family, for you and your family, and the realm.”
“Wow. I didn’t peg you for a hero,” Rae said sarcastically.
“I’m not. I am selfish. I want peace and that damn dragon is in the way. Plus, I want my brother to stay alive.”
“We should work together then,” Rae said. 
Coal smiled. “That would be an honor, Your Majesty,” he said sarcastically. 


It was nighttime and Rae and Coal found a place to seek shelter. Coal took out a roll of canvas from his huge backpack, and set up a tent. For the nth time that day, Rae realized she had not thought over her mission. She did not even think about where she would sleep. She was grossly ill-prepared. Not just with the food, water, and shelter, but now that the task was coming closer and closer, she was finding it more and more frightening, the prospect of confronting the dragon.
She took out a dog-eared black-and-white photograph from her small bag and stared at the faded picture. It had been taken during her and Fall’s first birthday celebration. Her mother the queen was tall, beautiful, and resplendent in her silver-and-gold gown. Her father was handsome and dashing beside her, in his own green-and-gold uniform. You wouldn’t be able to tell that he was not seeing anything while he was smiling. He had his injured arm behind him, but Rae knew how the arm really looked—withered and covered with skin that had healed from severe burns. 
Rae hated the dragon for what it had done to her father, and she was going to die before she let it hurt Fall. She thought of her Aunt Ruth, her mother’s sister and spare. Her back was covered with the same skin covering her father’s arm. 
“I remember that day, you know,” Coal said.
Rae looked up, not realizing she was crying.
“I was three years old and I was in awe of the crowning ceremony and the wedding of your parents. Then I saw the dragon swoop down and saw how it bit too close to your aunt’s back with the hotness of his breath searing her skin . . .”
Rae continued crying.
“I saw your father confront Flame . . .”
“Flame?” Rae asked. 
“That’s what I call him. It is easier for me to visualize him being . . . put out.”
Rae looked at Coal and just found herself crying uncontrollably. Coal moved beside her and embraced her. Memories of similar moments from her childhood flooded into Rae’s mind. Coal and she had been close. What happened? 
When Rae was able to control her emotions, she asked, “What do you remember about my dad?”
“He was brave and strong when he challenged the dragon, and after the dragon attacked your dad and blinded him and maimed the arm that held the sword, I knew I was going to be the one to kill him one day.”
“Strong words.”
“My brother will fail. He has the best intentions and the love in his heart. But he does not have the grit, the strength, and the anger to succeed.”
“And you do?”
“Do you doubt it?” Coal asked, a challenge. 
Rae looked up at Coal and saw the determination in his eyes. His arms were still around her, and she felt safe. “I’ve pegged you all wrong.”
“Most people do. Not your fault. I don’t do anything to correct those perceptions anyway.”
“I have another question.”
“Shoot.”
“What’s with the fan?”
Coal smiled. “I’ll answer you tomorrow. Tonight, we need to sleep.” 

The dragon that Coal called Flame felt weak. It was that time again. He needed a hit of his elixir—the one substance that sustained him—fairy wings, and not just ordinary fairy wings. They had to be of royal blood. Because they gave him the hit, he left the fairy realm alone. There was a wider world to terrorize; plus, if he annihilated them, there would no longer be any elixir for him. 

The tent could fit two people, but it was a tight fit. Rae did not feel it odd that she and Coal slept side by side. She had tucked in her wings to save space. 
Coal turned to face her. “Tomorrow, one or both of us might die. Or maybe both of us will survive. It’s crazy what we plan to do.”
Rae faced Coal. “We’re crazy, we always have been!” She was remembering their adventures as children and how their parents had scolded them frequently.
“But I’m glad we could be crazy together. It’s been a while,” Coal said softly, smiling. He was obviously remembering too. They were so close to each other, but they did not touch. 
“Yes,” Rae answered. 
They looked into each other’s eyes and Rae suddenly had an inkling as to what Rae felt for Leaf. She snapped out of it fast. She closed her eyes. This was not the time to feel this. They had a dragon to slay. 

Rae and Coal reached Flame’s lair late the next day and the air already felt hotter. Rae suddenly had a moment of pure terror.
“I . . . I . . .” she stammered.
“I won’t let it hurt you, Rae, I promise...”
“Tell me again, how we will do this?” Rae just wanted to talk to ward off her fright. 
“You will reveal yourself, while I hide. Once it sees you, it will only have your wings in its mind. It will not think of anything else.”
“So you’ll sneak in and do what exactly again?”
“I will climb it and stick my blade into the large vein in its throat. It won’t feel the slice, but it will bleed. Then as it bleeds, it will weaken further. It won’t notice until he is too weak that something is wrong, and he will just black out and die.”
“That simple?” Rae knew she asked this same question earlier when Coal revealed the plan to her. 
“Not that simple. Even a weak dragon is a strong enemy. Plus we have to prevent it from getting your wings or he will be able to survive the cut.” 
“So you need me to be bait, but he can’t get my wings or everything would be in vain?”
“Well . . . if we don’t kill him and he does get your wings. He will still leave our realm alone, because I should be able to collect enough blood before he notices anything.”
“My sister will be queen.” 
“She will marry my brother.”
“They’ll live happily ever after.”
“You will be wingless.”
“I can live with that.”
Coal looked at her with tenderness. “Then let’s do this.”
Coal took Rae’s hand in his.

Flame woke up suddenly, his snout up and sniffing. 
I am dreaming. It is still a few days away, but I can smell my drug. I can feel my blood responding, rushing, my heart beating like crazy.
Is this a dream? I can see her! She is tiny, like her kind, but her wings are magnificent—multicolored, almost glowing in the darkness of my cave. 
“Why are you here?” Flame asked the vision.
“To offer my wings to you.”
“The ceremony is still a few days away.”
“Yes, but I am here anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be queen.”
A queen-in-waiting! The hit will be stronger! I will be stronger! Oh, but I need to be careful. The strength of the hit is in the health of the wings I ingest. Ahh . . . but if I include the queen-to-be’s body, that will make it more powerful! No ceremony or tradition to uphold. No witnesses. Stupid girl! No wonder she doesn’t want to be queen. 
“Come to me, then!” I have to be careful. Any sudden movement from me and I may damage her and her wings. 
She moves slowly. She has to stand almost on my tongue offering herself and only then can I pounce. Normally, the spare would stand before me with her back turned to me and I could bite off her wings. Some bites are cleaner than others.
But this one, I will swallow whole.
Why is she so slow?
She is so slow and I am so sleepy.
“Faster!”
“I am not real. I am just a dream.”
“You are?”
“Yes, go to sleep.”
“No, I need your wings.”
“The ceremony is in a few days. You are dreaming me.”
“I am?”
“Yes, go to sleep.”
“I believe I will.”
I feel so heavy. So tired. I close my eyes and sleep. And dream of wings.

Once the dragon was dead, Coal ran to Rae and they just stared at each other. He was still holding his fan, which Rae now saw concealed dangerous blades, which Coal used to slice through Flame’s neck. 
Then they kissed and Rae knew she wouldn’t be able to marry Leaf, feeling this way for his brother. They spent the night together, and although Rae knew she might still be queen, she gave herself fully to Coal.

On the day of the ceremony, the kingdom was in turmoil. The queen-in-waiting was missing. The dragon was coming, and if they sacrificed the spare, they wouldn’t have a queen.
Everyone was in the great hall, seeking direction from the great elders—past queens.
The door opened and in came Rae and Coal. Rae was carrying a large multicolored shield and Coal carried a big container sack. All eyes were on them.
Rae went to her mother, the queen, and laid down the shield at her feet. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fall already wearing the white dress for the ceremony. Leaf stood near her, but not too close.
“Rae! Queen-in-waiting! Where have you been? We were all so worried,” the queen exclaimed.
“I was out with Coal, trying to procure these . . .” Rae pointed to the shield and the container Coal brought, which he respectfully placed beside the shield.
Queen looked down at the shield and container and her eyes widened.
“No. It can’t be!”
“It is, Mother. The dragon is no more!”
A collective gasp sounded through the crowd.
The queen bent down to pick up and raise the shield, a piece of scale from the dragon.
“How . . . why?” The queen was in awe.
“It is time to end old traditions. It is time to be truly at peace!” Rae announced.
“My daughter! Who dealt the killing blow?”
“Coal did. He used his family’s fan blades to slice through the dragon’s neck. The rest was just waiting and making sure he didn’t get me before he died. Coal also collected the dragon’s blood so he could sprinkle it on the boundaries of our realm to prevent other dragons from attacking.”
The queen smiled and whispered so only Rae and Coal could hear, “You make a great team!”
Rae blushed and Coal smiled.
The queen cleared her throat and said, “Our realm is forever in your debt! However, there is the matter of the ceremony.”
“Don’t you see, Mother? We don’t need to anymore. The dragon is dead! And Fall is safe!”
“We still need a new queen. That doesn’t change.” The queen stared at Rae. 
“I respectfully ask permission to give up my right to be queen. Fall will rule the realm better than I. I will help her and do my best to ensure there will never be another creature who would tyrannize us.”
The queen stared at her firstborn and suddenly understood what Rae was trying to do. The queen also looked at both Fall and Leaf standing beside each other to one side, careful not to touch. 
“I am sorry, Rae, you don’t get to make that choice. You will be queen. It is your birthright and your duty.”
Rae closed her eyes. The queen looked at Rae and Coal, and then she smiled. 
“You, however, have the choice to pick your king, if you have any reason not to want to marry the king-in-waiting, but you have to marry as soon as you are crowned queen, which means today.”
“Oh . . .” Rae said. 
Rae turned to face Leaf. “Leaf, I release you from your duty. You are free to marry the woman you truly love.”
Fall squealed, ran, and embraced Rae. Then she and Leaf embraced.
“And your king?” the queen asked. 
“I will choose the person who slayed the dragon, Coal, if he will have me.”
Coal looked at Rae and smiled.
The queen nodded. “Let the ceremony begin!”

As soon as Rae was proclaimed as queen, the ceremony for her marriage to Coal began. Coal marched toward her and took his place beside her. 
“You had one more reason not to be queen, and you didn’t use it,” Coal whispered mischievously.
“I was almost going to tell them I couldn’t be queen because well . . . I no longer am pure . . . but . . .”
“But?”
“But I realized I would be a good queen. I am no longer scared. I have looked into the eyes of a dragon that could have killed me, and I survived. I have lain with a man . . . and I am forever changed.”
Coal smiled. “I’m glad I caught you sneaking off.”
Rae looked at Coal, and something clicked. “You didn’t!”
“Didn’t what?”
“Did you really set out on your own to kill the dragon? Or were you . . .”
“What? Following you? Why would I?” 
“Because . . . Because you were looking out for me!”
“Think whatever you want. I am your king now, whatever the reason is, it is not important.”
“No, it isn’t. But I am glad I met you under the tree.”
“So am I. We wouldn’t have succeeded without each other.”
“Hey, shut up and kiss me, I think everyone is expecting us to kiss. The ceremony is over,” Rae whispered with a smile.
“My pleasure,” Coal said, smiling.
“Mine too,” Rae answered. 
They kissed. 

 
About Yeyet Soriano

Yeyet Soriano has been writing her entire life, first as an angst-ridden teenager, then as a single working woman, then as a married working woman with kids. Though the themes of her written works have changed over the years, she held on to one truth—she needed to write to keep the voices in her head at bay. She is the author of Turning Points, In My Dreams, The Retreat, and Until . . . Whenever. Her day job is that of an IT manager in charge of the Asia-Pacific region for a multinational corporation. She is married to a man who reads only to fall asleep, and they have three wonderful kids—two of whom love to read and one, only starting to learn how to read.