Know the Rules – A Fiction Short Story by I. Manuel Almo

Crunch

The snow beneath my feet was the only sound I could hear that frosty March morning. It had snowed overnight but just barely – our first snow of the winter – the pasture looked like some giant had gotten very bored and had decided to sprinkle powdered sugar on a pool table. It made for a very pretty sight; a sight I would have appreciated if it wasn’t for the sun glare reflecting off the white and directly into my still half-asleep eyes.

Crunch

Chores. I felt it was too cold to be doing chores; the chickens felt like they should be fed – common decency caused me to side with the chickens. My frozen fingers fumbled with the keys to the feed room as I struggled with the padlock. I finally got the door opened and walked inside. It was cold in the tiny grey room, sunlight filtered in through the pane-less window frame in the back, illuminating the shiny metal trash cans the family kept the feed in; a can for chicken pellets, a can for oyster shells, and a can for cracked corn. I wrinkled my nose; despite the fresh air, the room always carried a musty smell.

“Mrow”

I looked up, from a hole in the ceiling one of the barn cats was looking down at me, a piebald we had named Tux; uncreatively due to his pattern. “Mrow” I replied in return – I don’t speak cat, but I find it good to always be polite. The cat continued to stare at me as I poured pellets into the chicken feeder, I then poured a scoop of oyster shells on top of that and shook the can to mix the two together. I lifted up the feeder by its thin wire handle, my cold fingers feeling raw against the metal. I pulled it outside, the bottom of the can swung and bumped into my shins, it hurt. I sighed, then looked around. I sighed again.

Ant races, that’s how my dad describes it when there’s static on the really old TVs, the flickering white and black; the accompanying strange whispering noise was something my father equated to the cheers of ant race spectators. The off-putting pattern of a million black and white dots; the accompanying noise – it’s the same thing you see when the Different Side decides to transition over.

I sighed again because I couldn’t see the pasture, or the outbuildings, or the cherry trees, or the blue sky. All I could see was what appeared as a dome of static. I didn’t have time for this; I still needed to get my chores done, afterwards I needed to shower and get dressed for school. The Different Side had moved over; but time is always parallel. All the time I wasted in here was going to be time I wouldn’t be able to get ready.

I looked around, the dome was gone, everything looked the same. I walked into the feed room and stared up at the cat.

Tux had changed now; now he was human – now cat – now something in between; like all animals on the Different Side he had an everchanging appearance that somehow made logical sense to the mind. Faery magic I guess; it overlays our logic with every event. Now he was a young well-dressed man jumping down from the rafters and looking straight at me. It was funny, I could still clearly see him as a cat – but I also knew that he was a fully grown adult who somehow only came up to my height of four feet eight inches. He smiled at me and spoke, “Mrow.”

This is why I hate the Different Side; it’s the animal communication. They look different and act different here; but they still only speak animal; they don’t know any human, hence my annoyance. The only way to leave the different side is to figure out what the animal wants; the only way to do that is to read their eye movements; and guess their intent. Fortunately Tux has always been a decent guide when going through here; he tries his hardest to be understood.

Hmmmm, maybe you need some context; momma always says adults struggle to understand the complexities of the Different Side – apparently once I learn logic in school, I’ll also forget what I’ve learned about it, and I’ll struggle to understand it, because of what I’ll know. Confusing, right? But momma never forgot, so maybe I’ll also be ok and won't forget... Anyways, the Different Side; it’s what we call it when the world changes slightly due to faery boredom. It’s the problem with Kentwell Farm, we have too many old trees; old trees are the favorite playground for the Fae. And, inevitably, where there are Fae, there are bored Fae; and bored Fae are the ones that are often responsible for disappeared children – bored Fae crave playmates. However a Fae cannot just kidnap a child; some kind of strange code I don’t understand says they can only possess a child if a task is failed. The Different Side is based on Fae logic, which, as we all know, always trumps a child’s in absurdity.

That’s the problem with being ten – this happens to me a lot because this farm is an epicenter for it. It’s fine though; by the age of eight I had gotten used to playing charades with animal figures – it was either get used to it or leave the farm. Our family has been on this farm dealing with Fae tasks for eleven generations. Until we forget about them; and fortunately momma never forgot. She taught me everything there was to know; so I wasn’t going to be stuck; however; I really did not have time for this.

Tux gestured to me to follow and I followed, “Meooow mrow, row! Mrow… Meow.”

“Mrow”, I sighed back in annoyance; I gave him a look, he chuckled, his whiskers wrinkled up. I continued to follow him to underneath the boughs of an ancient maple tree. The grass was bright green here, the snow had not been heavy enough to fall and stick under the tree, it was a peculiar effect; the green fringed by an unsteady ring of white. I looked back at my guide. He had two sticks in his paws.

He tossed one to me and I watched as it transformed into a sword of the Spanish rapier style. He tossed me a glove; I understood. I put the glove on; I picked up the sword, my hand felt comfortable under the basket hilt guard; the cross-hilt balanced in the grip between my middle and ring finger. I tested the blade, it was still a wooden stick, the point was not sharp.

Tux put his own glove on, we saluted; and then he transferred into on guard and lunged before I could even blink. It was all I could do to hop back and parry; I was dueling a cat after all. The task was a simple one – best out of however many matches (usually three, five, or seven), go back if I win; stay if I lose. I liked simple tests like this one – the ones that let me exercise muscles other than my brain. We traded advance for advance and then he finally scored a blow on my shoulder. We paused; I blew out a breath.

Tux gave me a solemn look –

Crunch

I paused. The footsteps were coming behind me; I gave Tux a startled look! It had only been one round; the Fae should have no right yet!

Crunch

I could sense the presence of the Fae behind me. Gravity itself seemed to have increased due to the pressure. I didn’t dare turn around – eye contact before words would be a mistake. I gave Tux an annoyed look “Only one round?” I voiced aloud, to no one in particular.

The cat didn’t reply, instead from behind me I heard a tinkling laughter; the voice that spoke was sweet and melodic, neither a man’s voice nor a woman’s voice, but a child’s, like my own. “Of course only one round silly; you always win otherwise.”

The skin at the base of my neck tingled as the voice spoke. Danger! I needed to reply; “well, that’s not a fair reason to change the rules.” A weak argument, but Fae love fairness – maybe it would stick.

“Not fair? How is it not fair? There has never been a set amount of bouts before? The number of rounds has always changed; why should I not set it to one?” The voice behind me was playful and syrupy; I really did not like the voice.

“Hmm,” I nodded to myself; why should they not? A standard enough question for their kind; one without any real answer for me to give, Fae love questions that trap. I looked down at the stick sword in my hand, I had an idea, albeit not a bright one, but still an idea – if the sword was made by faery magic…

I whirled and swung the sword! It passed through the Fae as if the creature was simply made of the air around it. I cursed under my breath and the Fae smiled at me. I took a step back and looked into the face of a hunter that had pulled me into the Different Side more times than I could count.

I will start with this; Fae don’t have any concept of gender like we have; so to call it a boy or a girl would be ridiculous. Certainly they were full grown, though they were shorter than me, and I am a child of ten. The flowing hair that cascaded down their back was both platinum blonde and raven black, but not striped; rather mottled like the pelt of a collie puppy. Their eyes seemed four sizes too big for their head, large and round, with heterochromatic irises; one clear and pink like rose quartz, the other as dark blue as the sea. Their mouth was small, the lips a pale red. Humans like to picture Fae as being winged creatures, and I had also expected wings, but this being did not have wings. Rather from their back two long tree branches extended, looking similar to wings, but, as I quickly noticed, were instead extra appendages used by the creature; for what? I couldn’t tell. They were not clothed in anything per se, but their skin seemed to be made of brown and green maple leaves; indeed it was not until their very chin that their body took on any kind of flesh appearance.

The creature gestured to the sword in my hand. “Really, that thing? Come on now Jasper, you know better than that.”

It knew my name, real bad sign; never tell a Fae your name, it creates problems… Too late for me apparently. “Jasper? Who’s Jasper?”

“Teehee, you are.” The Fae pointed at me, then blinked it’s big eyes slowly. “Please don’t play with me now Jasper, this is the first time I’ve ever won.” They gave me a slight grin, a grin that said they were hungry. “You know the rules. I get my prize now –”

Without warning one of the branch extending off the shoulder of the creature swung down towards me! I jumped out of the way, but I didn’t dodge far enough. The branch came down, it was over, I closed my eyes –

Crack! The sound of wood hitting wood rang out through the quiet frosty morning air. I opened my eyes; above me was Tux, his sword in hand, he had blocked the branch. Why does his sword work? That was the main thought going through my head as I jumped further out of the way and watched the cat duel the tree; as I was quickly understanding this creature to be.

The Fae was laughing as their branches swung wildly, the movement was fluid but the swings were wide; the branches moved as if they were wings, the creature could only swing and sweep with them; which the Fae did with extreme dexterity.

Tux for his part was laughing and smiling as well. “Mrowwww, mrow mow; meaw mow!” He challenged as he lunged. The Fae deflected the blow with the sweep of one branch; Tux parried as the second swung down.

“Mrow mow, meow.” The Fae replied. They crouched down low as the branch whipped suddenly at Tux’s feet; they missed as the tiny-man-cat lithely skipped over it like the branch was a jump rope. “Mew mrow, meow!” The Fae spat.

Hold on, I realized. This thing speaks cat also!? Doubly unfair! Then something else occurred to me. “Hey!” I called out to the Fae. “Hey! Hold a minute. A question!”

The combatants paused and looked at me, Tux grinning, the Fae annoyed. “Yes, prize?” spoke the Fae, I shivered, the way it called me prize made it clear I did not want to be prize.

“You know my name; we've met before; politeness and decorum state I should know yours.” It was a long shot, to be sure. Yet I remembered having read somewhere that politeness and decorum were two things that Fae valued ridiculously; their placings in courts demanded it.

The Fae scoffed, the eyes of pink and blue blazed at me. “Ridiculous, to give a human my name – “

The creature stopped speaking as a green leaf peeled off their side, mottled to brown, and floated down to the green grass. When they spoke again their voice was once again the tinkling syrupy voice it had been when they had first approached, slightly apologetic even. “My name would bind me, so, I can’t… besides.” They stopped –

another

leaf

fell

off.

I chuckled; I couldn’t help it. I had been right; those things were important. By speaking the rule I had written a rule that the Fae couldn’t violate; it cared too much about proper decorum. Funny thing about the Different Side, it’s rules are ever changing because anyone can change them as long as both parties value them.

I nodded at the fuming creature, which had decided to stay silent and was therefore just standing there frozen in place, grinning at me. “So, you can’t speak, can’t act, can’t claim your prize; not without binding yourself to me. That’s a problem, isn’t it.” I gave what I figured was a sympathetic shrug. “You can’t be impolite, it’ll break you. You can’t be polite, it’ll bind you. Unfair rules for unfair rules.”

Tux was laughing openly. “Mrow mrow, meow mewow maawww.” He snorted.

“Mrow, meaw mew mraw mrow.” Replied the Fae to Tux’s laughter. The leafy one turned to me. “The cat has added an addendum; I may leave without being bound because you lost the first game. Do not worry, prize, I will appear to hunt you again if you ever learn my name on your own.” The creature smiled. “You will, I don’t doubt that. You know too much of this world already child; so when you learn my name you will learn hubris for thinking you could bind and control something as ancient as me. Until the next Jasper, until the next.” With those words the Fae snapped their fingers and vanished. The world went fuzzy in a dome of static, and then the static faded.

I blinked and looked around; I was still out under the maple tree. There was no sign of the fae. Tux was just a normal barn cat again; sunning himself. There was no signs in the snow of the epic duel between fae and cat; there were not even footprints in the snow leading from the feed room to the tree. Still I was under the tree, not in the feed room, so was the cat. I squinted and gazed across towards the outbuildings. Yep, I had left the feed can still there by the door.

Crunch

Crunch.

My cold feet trudged through the lightly fallen snow; from the tree towards the feed can; I could see my breath on the air. I felt it was too cold to be doing chores; the chickens felt they should be fed; common decency caused me to side with the chickens.

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