Denny R. Swartzlander's Blog
September 18, 2023
Read the first four chapters of Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies
You can read the first four chapters of Violetta on the Eleganta series website at https://www.elegantabook.com/violetta...
September 14, 2023
Readers' Favorite review of Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies
Reviewed by Stephanie Chapman for Readers’ Favorite
5 stars
Denny R. Swartzlander’s Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies is the second book in the Eleganta series. It divides the story into three parts. Lira is a garden fairy searching for a Lyka plant to add to her garden. Bog, a goblin, brings bad news from the fairy realm. Learning that Weyina isn’t her mother, Lira catches a ride with Isor, who takes her to Queen Violetta. Weyina, Bog, Lurr, Eloman, and Preen use man-made flying contraptions to cross the sea to rescue Lira. They find her with the fae queen, but she is unwilling to leave. Violetta reveals that Ethywyne is her mother. Weyina, Eloman, and Lira follow Violetta to search for Ethywyne. Meanwhile, Bog and Lurr are facing Isor’s wrath. He has them lead him to their enchanted forest. However, there is a darker force present that threatens the realm and everything in it.
Denny R. Swartzlander provides several perspectives in developing the different plots. Lira’s desire to meet her actual mother leads her to trust Violetta’s directions. She even disregards obvious warning signs, such as what happened to the two goblins. Violetta tells the fairies she knows where Ethywyne is, but neglects to tell them she is suspicious. The goblins explain their struggle with Isor’s anger. The unpredictable twists and revelations kept me enchanted. Every page had me engrossed because of the detailed portrayal of the obstacles the travelers faced. Every character has a distinct personality that gives them strength in some situations while hindering them in others. The end of the story leaves an opening for a sequel, which I am eager to read. Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies will appeal to fantasy readers who enjoy the views of several characters sharing a journey.
5 stars
Denny R. Swartzlander’s Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies is the second book in the Eleganta series. It divides the story into three parts. Lira is a garden fairy searching for a Lyka plant to add to her garden. Bog, a goblin, brings bad news from the fairy realm. Learning that Weyina isn’t her mother, Lira catches a ride with Isor, who takes her to Queen Violetta. Weyina, Bog, Lurr, Eloman, and Preen use man-made flying contraptions to cross the sea to rescue Lira. They find her with the fae queen, but she is unwilling to leave. Violetta reveals that Ethywyne is her mother. Weyina, Eloman, and Lira follow Violetta to search for Ethywyne. Meanwhile, Bog and Lurr are facing Isor’s wrath. He has them lead him to their enchanted forest. However, there is a darker force present that threatens the realm and everything in it.
Denny R. Swartzlander provides several perspectives in developing the different plots. Lira’s desire to meet her actual mother leads her to trust Violetta’s directions. She even disregards obvious warning signs, such as what happened to the two goblins. Violetta tells the fairies she knows where Ethywyne is, but neglects to tell them she is suspicious. The goblins explain their struggle with Isor’s anger. The unpredictable twists and revelations kept me enchanted. Every page had me engrossed because of the detailed portrayal of the obstacles the travelers faced. Every character has a distinct personality that gives them strength in some situations while hindering them in others. The end of the story leaves an opening for a sequel, which I am eager to read. Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies will appeal to fantasy readers who enjoy the views of several characters sharing a journey.
August 23, 2023
"Violetta emerges as a beacon of storytelling excellence." -Book Nerdection.
Here is the full blog post by Book Nerdection about Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies.
In the enchanted realms of the Eleganta series, where fairies and goblins share their ancient tales, a captivating saga unfolds. Following the breathtaking events of Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind, readers are once again transported to a world where magic and mystery intertwine. Ten years have passed since the march of Sunderin and the capture of Ethywyne Eleganta, and the echoes of those fateful days continue to reverberate through the Fairy Realms.
At the heart of this mesmerizing tale stands Violetta, now the reigning Queen of the Faes, firmly occupying the illustrious Fairy Castle. Yet, all is not well in this realm of enchantment. The taint of trolls still poisons the very essence of the Fairy Realms, casting a shadow over its denizens’ lives. Meanwhile, the surviving fairies, hidden away on the Isle of Naviila, have provided refuge to a precious being—the young fairy Lira, Ethywyne’s daughter and the last of her kind.
Violetta’s narrative takes a riveting twist as Lira becomes ensnared in the Queen’s tantalizing promise—a promise to aid in the search for Ethywyne. The fairies, faced with an uneasy decision, find themselves forming an alliance born out of necessity rather than trust. United by the quest to unravel the enigma of Violetta’s intentions, they set out on a treacherous journey back to the heart of the Fairy Realms. Their mission, riddled with danger and uncertainty, holds the power to shape the destiny of Fairykind itself.
As the story unfolds, readers are treated to a rich tapestry of fantastical elements that infuse the narrative with depth and allure. Goblin pirates prowl the seas, hidden chambers guard long-forgotten secrets, and magical creatures like hairless wolves and beings with impeccable hospitality emerge to captivate the imagination. Amidst these fantastical elements, the themes of trust and betrayal weave their intricate patterns, while redemption and revenge cast their compelling shadows.
Violetta reaches out to readers aged 12 and above, drawing them into a world of eternal conflicts between light and darkness, the unbreakable bond between mother and child, and the resilient growth of courage through adversity. Its themes resonate across a wide spectrum, making it a novel that transcends age boundaries and speaks to the universal human experience.
The mastermind behind this captivating series is none other than Denny R. Swartzlander. With a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology, he may seem an unlikely narrator for the voices of fairies and goblins. Yet, he considers himself a conduit, a ghost writer through whom these magical creatures share their stories. Passed down through generations, these tales have been nurtured by fairies and goblins, creating a symphony of perspectives that Dr. Swartzlander has the privilege to pen down.
Through the Eleganta series, the voices of these fantastical beings find their way to the reader’s heart. The line between fact and fantasy blurs as the words of fairies and goblins come to life, painting a vivid tableau of events that might otherwise be forgotten or relegated to the realm of mere fiction. Dr. Swartzlander’s pen becomes the vessel through which these stories bridge the gap between worlds.
In a world hungry for tales of magic and wonder, Violetta emerges as a beacon of storytelling excellence. Its pages carry the weight of history, the whispers of ancient creatures, and the triumph of imagination over reality. As you embark on this journey, allow yourself to be swept away by the currents of mystery, trust, and the indomitable spirit of Fairykind—a tale that must be told, from their realm to ours.
See this as posted on Book Nerdection
In the enchanted realms of the Eleganta series, where fairies and goblins share their ancient tales, a captivating saga unfolds. Following the breathtaking events of Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind, readers are once again transported to a world where magic and mystery intertwine. Ten years have passed since the march of Sunderin and the capture of Ethywyne Eleganta, and the echoes of those fateful days continue to reverberate through the Fairy Realms.
At the heart of this mesmerizing tale stands Violetta, now the reigning Queen of the Faes, firmly occupying the illustrious Fairy Castle. Yet, all is not well in this realm of enchantment. The taint of trolls still poisons the very essence of the Fairy Realms, casting a shadow over its denizens’ lives. Meanwhile, the surviving fairies, hidden away on the Isle of Naviila, have provided refuge to a precious being—the young fairy Lira, Ethywyne’s daughter and the last of her kind.
Violetta’s narrative takes a riveting twist as Lira becomes ensnared in the Queen’s tantalizing promise—a promise to aid in the search for Ethywyne. The fairies, faced with an uneasy decision, find themselves forming an alliance born out of necessity rather than trust. United by the quest to unravel the enigma of Violetta’s intentions, they set out on a treacherous journey back to the heart of the Fairy Realms. Their mission, riddled with danger and uncertainty, holds the power to shape the destiny of Fairykind itself.
As the story unfolds, readers are treated to a rich tapestry of fantastical elements that infuse the narrative with depth and allure. Goblin pirates prowl the seas, hidden chambers guard long-forgotten secrets, and magical creatures like hairless wolves and beings with impeccable hospitality emerge to captivate the imagination. Amidst these fantastical elements, the themes of trust and betrayal weave their intricate patterns, while redemption and revenge cast their compelling shadows.
Violetta reaches out to readers aged 12 and above, drawing them into a world of eternal conflicts between light and darkness, the unbreakable bond between mother and child, and the resilient growth of courage through adversity. Its themes resonate across a wide spectrum, making it a novel that transcends age boundaries and speaks to the universal human experience.
The mastermind behind this captivating series is none other than Denny R. Swartzlander. With a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology, he may seem an unlikely narrator for the voices of fairies and goblins. Yet, he considers himself a conduit, a ghost writer through whom these magical creatures share their stories. Passed down through generations, these tales have been nurtured by fairies and goblins, creating a symphony of perspectives that Dr. Swartzlander has the privilege to pen down.
Through the Eleganta series, the voices of these fantastical beings find their way to the reader’s heart. The line between fact and fantasy blurs as the words of fairies and goblins come to life, painting a vivid tableau of events that might otherwise be forgotten or relegated to the realm of mere fiction. Dr. Swartzlander’s pen becomes the vessel through which these stories bridge the gap between worlds.
In a world hungry for tales of magic and wonder, Violetta emerges as a beacon of storytelling excellence. Its pages carry the weight of history, the whispers of ancient creatures, and the triumph of imagination over reality. As you embark on this journey, allow yourself to be swept away by the currents of mystery, trust, and the indomitable spirit of Fairykind—a tale that must be told, from their realm to ours.
See this as posted on Book Nerdection
August 9, 2023
Been a while since you read book one of the Eleganta series? Need a refresher? Read this synopsis of book one and you'll be all set to continue the story in book two.
Synopsis of Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind by Denny R. Swartzlander, book one of the Eleganta series.
WARNING - Spoilers ahead
Eleganta opens in the year 876 A.D. on a hidden island northwest of Great Britain. A fairy named Ethywyne Eleganta is flying through a forest. She is of the Realm fairy breed, which are the largest fairies, roughly four feet in height. She comes upon a patch of Elyrii orchid flowers and pulls from the patch a small, furry cocoon. She opens the cocoon and lifts out a newborn fairy girl. The youngling is revealed to be Ethywyne’s daughter, and Ethywyne names the youngling Lira. With great happiness, Ethywyne carries Lira away. She is disturbed upon noticing a dark creature watching and following her.
Ethywyne arrives at a village sheltered beneath the forest canopy. Upon entering the village, named Bila Eutay, Ethywyne keeps Lira concealed beneath a cloth. She nervously approaches a home built into the trunk of a massive wampa tree. An elderly fairy named Preen Woodling happily ushers her inside. Preen has acted as Ethywyne’s father since the death of her parents when she herself was a youngling.
Once in the privacy of the home, Ethywyne reveals Lira to Preen, who appears shocked to see a baby fairy. Ethywyne tells Preen she’s scared and doesn’t know what to do. She explains that she felt the fairy birthing call, an attractive force that calls a female to lay her seed in a patch of Elyrii orchids when she shares with another fairy a love that is true. Preen is surprised because fairy females haven’t felt the call or given birth for the last fourteen years. The birthing call comes only from Elyrii orchids, and wicked creatures called trolls have long been hunting and destroying them. The trolls, having depleted their food sources, are determined to invade the Fairy Realms and consume the animals in its bountiful forests. But they can’t eat the fairies. The Elyrii orchids contain a protective property making fairies born from them poisonous to the trolls, which has fueled the trolls’ desire to destroy the orchids and wipe out Fairykind.
Because Realm females have stopped feeling the call, the fairies believe all the Elyrii orchids are lost, and that Fairykind is facing extinction. After seeing the child and realizing Ethywyne may be the only fairy still capable of feeling the call, Preen seeks advice from the Mother Fairy. The Mother is not the birth mother of the fairies but is called the Mother Fairy because of her great knowledge of all the happenings in the Realms. She also possesses the power to produce a great light that can captivate and momentarily blind anyone who looks upon it.
Preen learns from the Mother that the orchids Ethywyne seeded in were not Elyrii orchids, for they truly had all been destroyed. They were orchids created by Atalay Earthen, Lira’s father. Atalay is a skilled plant breeder and fairy dust maker. For years he’d been working to create new birthing orchids to replace the lost Elyrii. But he hadn’t yet intended for his new orchids to be planted because they lacked the essential poison property. Fairies born from them would be edible to the trolls. Atalay had been trying to perfect his orchids, to replicate the Elyrii poison. But months before the birth of Lira, Atalay’s unperfected seeds were stolen, and he was taken and imprisoned by the trolls. Sunderin, the troll general obsessed with destroying the fairies, knew Atalay’s seeds lacked the poison. Sunderin planted the seeds in the forest near Bila Eutay to draw out the female who could feel their birthing call. He intended to capture her and force her to breed nonpoisonous fairies to feed his troll army. The orchids grew, and Atalay’s shared love with Ethywyne allowed her to feel the call, resulting in the birth of Lira.
When Preen tells this to Ethywyne, she realizes she and Lira will be hunted by Sunderin. She tells Preen she thinks a troll saw her bring Lira to the village. Sunderin would know she was there. Preen warns that the trolls will come quickly to find her. He tells her she cannot stay in the village. She must get herself and Lira to the Fairy Castle, where the Fairy Queen resides. Only the Queen can protect her.
Preen tells Ethywyne that Atalay is alive but held captive by the trolls, and when she gets to the Queen, she must have a rescue party sent for him. Atalay alone knows how to create more of his orchids to give hope for more fairies to seed. Preen also tells her he senses something dark in the fairy village of Auriella, a village she would pass on her journey. He says to avoid a fairy named Julay Brook.
As Ethywyne prepares to leave, her confidence dwindles. She is a young, humble garden fairy who has never traveled far from Bila Eutay. She wants only to tend to her plants and make wingshines to color her wings. She has little knowledge of the Realms, having never faced its dangers. The thought of traveling all the way to the Queen is terrifying, even with thoughts of Atalay to soothe her.
With the baby Lira strapped to her chest, Ethywyne sets off toward the Fairy Castle. She's guided by another fairy, a Protector named Weyina Nai. Weyina, skilled with the bow and arrow, is brooding and mysterious, and keeps her evidently troubled and sad past hidden. She agreed to be the guide because of a promise Preen made to her. Preen told her that the one she loves, a fairy named Eloman Everpine who’s been missing for three years, is alive and she'll find him if she gets Ethywyne and Lira to the Queen.
Later that night, during a jubilant fairy festival, the troll army of Sunderin arrives at Bila Eutay in search of Ethywyne and Lira. The trolls burn the village, killing almost every fairy in it. The fate of Preen, who had remained in Bila Eutay to help fight Sunderin, is left unknown. When Sunderin realizes Ethywyne and Lira have fled, he lets loose his two bear-like pets called grogs. The grogs follow the trail of the smell of a baby fairy while the troll army marches behind, destroying everything in its path.
Far to the south live creatures called goblins, created by the trolls through a process of mixing fairy and troll blood. The goblins were once slaves to the trolls, but they revolted and now live in clans in the Goblin Forest. When the goblins learn of the troubles in the Fairy Realms, they choose not to get involved. But one goblin chief named Bog has a secret love for the Fairy Queen Amalei. Bog tries to get the other chiefs to help fight the trolls. He argues that if the trolls conquer the fairies, they'll come next to conquer the goblins. His argument fails, and his clan is left alone to help the fairies.
Bog’s goblins find a scavenging group of humans in the Goblin Forest. The humans are Viking raiders who unintentionally found the isle. The goblins, having never known of humans, kill most of the men, thinking them spies for the trolls. The goblins also capture a pregnant woman who had been with the Vikings. The few surviving men sail away on their longboat. Their leader, Isor of the Lightning Coast, vows to return one day and take revenge on the goblins. The goblins take the woman to their camp in the Goblin Forest. There she gives birth to a boy, and Bog keeps the human baby, feeling there's something special about him.
Back up in the Realms, Ethywyne, Lira, and Weyina barely escape stinging river nymphs, and are attacked by a pack of vicious wolves outside the fairy village of Auriella. They’re nearly caught by the grogs, but two fairy Protectors rescue them and get them inside the village walls. Weyina is badly injured, and Ethywyne is more frightened than she's ever been. To make matters worse, Ethywyne learns her rescuers are taking her to the house of Julay Brook, the one Preen warned her of.
Once in the company of Julay, Ethywyne is suspicious of his intentions. She claims Lira is not her youngling, and that she found Lira abandoned in the forest. She tells Julay she’s on her way to the Queen to get the youngling to safety. Julay shows great interest in Lira and agrees she must be kept safe. But Ethywyne senses his concern is for some sinister reason. He allows Ethywyne to continue on, but because Weyina is injured and can't fly, Julay provides a new Protector named Rae Blackstem. Ethywyne is untrusting of Rae because he was appointed by Julay, but she has to go with him because she can’t get to the Castle on her own.
Ethywyne and Rae set out with Lira, leaving Weyina to heal in Auriella. Julay retires to the study of his giant tree home and sits down to a square, checkered board called a Neskalai board. There are carved pieces on the board resembling Ethywyne, Julay, Sunderin, a grog, and one unknown female fairy. All of the pieces are positioned in a way that mimics their places in the real world. Julay moves Ethywyne’s piece one square as though guiding her along. Then he sees Sunderin’s piece move mysteriously on its own. It moves one square closer to Julay's piece. It is revealed that some hidden force is controlling the board, moving the pieces in correlation with the actions of their real-life counterparts.
Later that night, a fairy looking beaten and worn arrives at Auriella. He meets Julay and announces himself as Feolyn Fore from the village of Bila Eutay. Feolyn is a vain theater actor and is loved for his charm and handsome face. He’s a childhood friend of Ethywyne and has always harbored a desire to be with her. Upon his arrival to the house of Julay, he tells of the attack on Bila Eutay and warns of Sunderin’s army marching toward Auriella. He also asks about Ethywyne, having found out from Preen before fleeing the village that Ethywyne was headed for the Castle. Julay tells him Rae Blackstem is now leading her. Feolyn sets off to find her, leaving Julay with a sense of dread about the darkness approaching.
Beyond Auriella, Rae leads Ethywyne with vigor and speed. She’s still untrusting of him, but she sees kindness in his eyes. The fairies fly through the Sparkling Woods, where they encounter the grogs pursuing them. Ethywyne uses one of the many fairy dusts she carries to cause herself, Rae, and Lira to sparkle and shine like the moss covering the woods. The grogs are unable to see their prey, and the fairies escape. When the fairies reach a deep canyon cutting across the land, they are attacked again by the grogs. Ethywyne nearly falls into the canyon because the stare of the grogs paralyzes her wings. Rae saves her and carries her and Lira to safety. Unable to fly, the grogs are left on the other side of the canyon, giving the fairies some relief from the hunt.
The fairies travel on through the Willow Swamps and are attacked by large snakes called fairy-eaters. This time it’s Ethywyne who saves Rae, much to Rae’s embarrassment. After the rescue, Ethywyne gains confidence. For the first time, she feels she might actually make it to the Queen.
As their journey continues, the fairies enter the Valley of the Fireflies, the home of the tiny firefly fairies. The fireflies love to dance, sing, drink, and eat. Their festivities are captivating. Rae and Ethywyne are pulled into a daze causing them to entirely forget their mission. They are held in this mesmerized state for seven days.
Back in Auriella, Weyina confronts Julay over Preen’s suspicion of him, and they realize they’re equally suspicious of each other. After an explanation from Julay about how the Council of the Neskalai has been reformed but is wicked, and how he is no longer a member, Weyina feels she can trust him. They share an interest in determining who reformed the Council, and who is controlling the Neskalai Board.
Sunderin’s army soon reaches Auriella and infiltrates it with the help of a traitorous fairy named Aysen Greenbranch. Sunderin had promised to make Aysen a king if the fairy betrays his kind. Despite a brave fight led by Julay and Weyina, Auriella is conquered. Weyina is nearly killed in a confrontation with Sunderin but is saved by Julay. He carries her away from the village, and they are the only fairies to escape. Julay and Weyina thus begin their own flight to the Castle, the only remaining place offering protection from Sunderin.
While the Realms are overrun by the hordes of Sunderin, Rae and Ethywyne are finally snapped from their trance in the Firefly Valley when Ethywyne hears the Mother Fairy in a dream. Feolyn arrives and tells Ethywyne of the fate of Bila Eutay, which crushes her hope that all would be well. Feolyn, Rae, Ethywyne, and Lira escape the Valley and travel to the Pixie Glades. Lira is stolen by pixies but is found after the fairies work together to solve a series of riddles.
From there the fairies move on to Lake Nabunu and are forced to fly across it in a violent storm. Ethywyne is nearly drowned when her wings give out but is saved by a strange fish that carries her to the other side. She has no memory of the fish, and Rae later tells her she made it across on her own, wanting to give her more confidence. Once past the lake, the fairies meet Aavix the Chemist, a human man from the land of the Celts who has been living on the isle for several years. He tells of how he was held captive by the trolls after they found him shipwrecked. The trolls forced him to use his knowledge of chemistry to perform horrible experiments. He managed to escape and now lives in hiding while making potions and various dusts. He learns of the fairies’ plight and agrees to help, telling them he'll meet them at the Castle with his greatest invention yet.
The fairies continue to the Northern Fairy Forest, where the Castle lies at the farthest tip. Rae and Ethywyne grow closer, each seeing something beautiful in the other, though Ethywyne feels guilty because she still loves Atalay and knows he’s alive. Feolyn seems withdrawn and jealous, not speaking much and hiding some secret thought. At just a day’s fly from the Castle, Feolyn betrays the group, giving the others up to creatures called faes who are working with Sunderin. Feolyn had made a deal with the faes that if he would lead them to Lira then they would allow him to keep Ethywyne. He could take her away to safety and finally have her as he’d wanted his whole life. But the faes ignore the deal and instead capture Ethywyne, Lira, and Rae, leaving Feolyn with nothing. Now alone and a traitor to Fairykind, Feolyn swears revenge on the faes.
Ethywyne and Rae are put in a deep hole and separated from Lira. The faes cut off the fairies’ wings to prevent the fairies from flying up. Ethywyne is horrified and experiences a breakdown over the stress she’s endured. Sickened by the darkness overwhelming the land, she regains her resolve and motherly strength, vowing to never again have Lira taken from her and to fight the wicked creatures of the Realms until every one of them is dead. Rae’s attraction to her grows.
Ethywyne and Rae escape the hole with the help of mudlings, small flying creatures who dwell underground. The mudlings emerge from the earthen walls and carry the fairies up to the surface. Feolyn returns to redeem himself. He kills the faes and helps Ethywyne and Rae escape. After he reunites Ethywyne with Lira, she and Rae forgive him. Together they head for the Castle but are found again by the grogs. This time Feolyn is killed. Ethywyne is horribly distraught, realizing how much her friend of many years meant to her.
Without wings to fly, Ethywyne and Rae run to the Great Maze blocking the entrance to the Castle. The Maze is a massive labyrinth meant to keep trolls away. It is full of traps and covered in a purple mist that confuses and blurs the memory of anyone who breathes it in. Despite their apprehension, the fairies are forced into the Maze to escape the grogs. Refusing to bring Lira into the labyrinth, Ethywyne releases her to fly above the mist. The youngling flies on to the Castle while her mother and Rae navigate the treacherous Maze.
The two grogs follow Ethywyne and Rae into the Maze. After hours of running through endless corridors, the hopelessly lost fairies collapse. The grogs catch up to them. One carries Ethywyne away with its teeth, not harming her but intent on delivering her to Sunderin. The other attacks Rae, set on devouring him. Rae defends with his dagger. He badly injures the grog, leaving it to die as he goes after Ethywyne. Overcome by the mist, the other grog momentarily forgets its goal and drops Ethywyne. Rae finds her, and the fairies continue searching for the way out.
Not long after, the spellbound grog remembers Ethywyne and again pursues the fairies. Ethywyne is close to giving up when Rae tells her she was saved by the fish in Lake Nabunu, and that he only wanted to help her confidence when he told her she made the crossing on her own. Upset at his apparent belittling of her strength, Ethywyne angrily carries on, determined to prove she’s strong enough to survive. But the grog finds and corners the fairies. When Rae is knocked aside, Ethywyne bravely risks her life to set off a trap that kills the grog.
The other grog Rae thought was dead then returns. As it charges at the fairies, it is struck and killed by several arrows. Weyina flies down through the mist, having shot the arrows from above. Julay flies down with her, and they explain that Lira found them at the Castle and guided them to Ethywyne’s location in the Maze. Weyina and Julay carry the wingless Rae and Ethywyne, flying them to the Castle beyond.
Once at the Castle, Ethywyne is pleased to see Aavix, who had sailed up the coast on a small boat. But she’s shocked to find the Castle completely abandoned. There is no sign of the Queen. The small group is alone to face the army of Sunderin, which is tearing its way toward them. Using a giant, rolling cylinder pushed along the ground by ogres, the troll army crushes a wide path through the Maze and reaches the walls of the Castle.
Aavix tells the fairies he created his greatest invention—a dust that will defeat the trolls. If the dust can be shot from the Castle walls out over the army, forcing the trolls to breathe it in, it will cause the trolls to fight each other. The dust will pull forth their violent nature and use their aggression against them. The fairies would not have to fight a single troll, for the army would destroy itself. Ethywyne must decide whether to trust in the dust and stay to defend the Castle or flee to Aavix’s boat and sail to the safety of a smaller isle off the coast. She decides to stay, determined to no longer run from the dangers pursuing her. She’ll face them and help her friends.
Using catapults on the Castle wall, the fairies launch the dust over the troll army. The trolls begin killing each other, but soon the dust wears off. Though much of the army is destroyed, the strongest trolls remain alive. Sunderin, having seen Ethywyne on the wall, orders Aysen Greenbranch to fly up and bring her and Lira down.
Aysen flies to the wall top and grabs Ethywyne and Lira. He attempts to carry them away but Rae leaps onto him. They all fall to the ground outside the wall. Rae, ignorant of Aysen’s betrayal, is shocked he must fight his former friend. After a quick brawl between the two, Sunderin steps in and kills Aysen, having grown tired of the fairy and never truly meaning to make him a king.
Now surrounded by the remaining trolls, Rae, Ethywyne and Lira are joined on the ground by Weyina and Julay. Outnumbered and outmatched, the fairies huddle together and prepare for their final fight. As Sunderin and his trolls move in, power wells up within Ethywyne. She’s overwhelmed with love for Fairykind and a duty to protect the Realms, to stop the darkness from engulfing all she holds dear. She’s feeling the power of the Mother Fairy’s light surging through her body. The previous Mother has died, and Ethywyne has become the new Mother Fairy. A great light erupts from her skin in a burst bright enough to light the sky. It blinds the trolls, and they begin to retreat.
Though she now has the power of the light, Ethywyne cannot fully wield it. She’s held firmly in place, unable to move. While the light continues to hold back the trolls, she orders the other fairies to escape with Lira. Though they don’t want to leave her, the fairies know they must flee to survive. Leaving Ethywyne behind, they go to the coastal cliffs beyond the Castle. They see a bright ship on the sea. Weyina recognizes it as one of the Fairy Queen’s ships, so the fairies fly to it, carrying Aavix and Rae.
Ethywyne’s strength soon fades. Her light goes out. Exhausted, she’s unable to avoid the hands of Sunderin. He takes her captive and does not go after the other fairies. He no longer cares about Lira now that he has Ethywyne to begin seeding his edible fairies. Satisfied with his conquest of the Realms, Sunderin celebrates with his remaining trolls and prepares to return to his fortress.
The other fairies land on the ship and discover its crew is a small group of fairies led by Eloman Everpine. The goblin Bog is also aboard. Weyina is overjoyed with finding her lost love but distressed at what he says. Eloman tells them the Fairy Queen is dead, killed by a wicked fae named Violetta who took over the Castle and forced the fairies out. Violetta kept word of her takeover from spreading through the Realms, so no one outside the Castle knew. Eloman and his crew are a few of the last remaining members of the resistance to Violetta.
Eloman explains that it was Violetta who started the new Council and began using a Neskalai board after she stole one from the Queen. Bog and the fairies sail toward the small isle of Naviila where the rest of the resistance is hiding. With Ethywyne captured by Sunderin, Weyina takes on the role of Lira’s mother. Rae promises he’ll return to the Isle of the Realms to rescue Ethywyne once his wings grow back. The final focus is on Ethywyne as she’s carried away by Sunderin. Even in his grasp, she vows to never bend to his will. She takes comfort in her newly realized strength as the Mother Fairy, in knowing Lira is safe, and in thoughts of one day finding Atalay.
The story of Fairykind continues in the novel Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies, book two of the Eleganta series.
WARNING - Spoilers ahead
Eleganta opens in the year 876 A.D. on a hidden island northwest of Great Britain. A fairy named Ethywyne Eleganta is flying through a forest. She is of the Realm fairy breed, which are the largest fairies, roughly four feet in height. She comes upon a patch of Elyrii orchid flowers and pulls from the patch a small, furry cocoon. She opens the cocoon and lifts out a newborn fairy girl. The youngling is revealed to be Ethywyne’s daughter, and Ethywyne names the youngling Lira. With great happiness, Ethywyne carries Lira away. She is disturbed upon noticing a dark creature watching and following her.
Ethywyne arrives at a village sheltered beneath the forest canopy. Upon entering the village, named Bila Eutay, Ethywyne keeps Lira concealed beneath a cloth. She nervously approaches a home built into the trunk of a massive wampa tree. An elderly fairy named Preen Woodling happily ushers her inside. Preen has acted as Ethywyne’s father since the death of her parents when she herself was a youngling.
Once in the privacy of the home, Ethywyne reveals Lira to Preen, who appears shocked to see a baby fairy. Ethywyne tells Preen she’s scared and doesn’t know what to do. She explains that she felt the fairy birthing call, an attractive force that calls a female to lay her seed in a patch of Elyrii orchids when she shares with another fairy a love that is true. Preen is surprised because fairy females haven’t felt the call or given birth for the last fourteen years. The birthing call comes only from Elyrii orchids, and wicked creatures called trolls have long been hunting and destroying them. The trolls, having depleted their food sources, are determined to invade the Fairy Realms and consume the animals in its bountiful forests. But they can’t eat the fairies. The Elyrii orchids contain a protective property making fairies born from them poisonous to the trolls, which has fueled the trolls’ desire to destroy the orchids and wipe out Fairykind.
Because Realm females have stopped feeling the call, the fairies believe all the Elyrii orchids are lost, and that Fairykind is facing extinction. After seeing the child and realizing Ethywyne may be the only fairy still capable of feeling the call, Preen seeks advice from the Mother Fairy. The Mother is not the birth mother of the fairies but is called the Mother Fairy because of her great knowledge of all the happenings in the Realms. She also possesses the power to produce a great light that can captivate and momentarily blind anyone who looks upon it.
Preen learns from the Mother that the orchids Ethywyne seeded in were not Elyrii orchids, for they truly had all been destroyed. They were orchids created by Atalay Earthen, Lira’s father. Atalay is a skilled plant breeder and fairy dust maker. For years he’d been working to create new birthing orchids to replace the lost Elyrii. But he hadn’t yet intended for his new orchids to be planted because they lacked the essential poison property. Fairies born from them would be edible to the trolls. Atalay had been trying to perfect his orchids, to replicate the Elyrii poison. But months before the birth of Lira, Atalay’s unperfected seeds were stolen, and he was taken and imprisoned by the trolls. Sunderin, the troll general obsessed with destroying the fairies, knew Atalay’s seeds lacked the poison. Sunderin planted the seeds in the forest near Bila Eutay to draw out the female who could feel their birthing call. He intended to capture her and force her to breed nonpoisonous fairies to feed his troll army. The orchids grew, and Atalay’s shared love with Ethywyne allowed her to feel the call, resulting in the birth of Lira.
When Preen tells this to Ethywyne, she realizes she and Lira will be hunted by Sunderin. She tells Preen she thinks a troll saw her bring Lira to the village. Sunderin would know she was there. Preen warns that the trolls will come quickly to find her. He tells her she cannot stay in the village. She must get herself and Lira to the Fairy Castle, where the Fairy Queen resides. Only the Queen can protect her.
Preen tells Ethywyne that Atalay is alive but held captive by the trolls, and when she gets to the Queen, she must have a rescue party sent for him. Atalay alone knows how to create more of his orchids to give hope for more fairies to seed. Preen also tells her he senses something dark in the fairy village of Auriella, a village she would pass on her journey. He says to avoid a fairy named Julay Brook.
As Ethywyne prepares to leave, her confidence dwindles. She is a young, humble garden fairy who has never traveled far from Bila Eutay. She wants only to tend to her plants and make wingshines to color her wings. She has little knowledge of the Realms, having never faced its dangers. The thought of traveling all the way to the Queen is terrifying, even with thoughts of Atalay to soothe her.
With the baby Lira strapped to her chest, Ethywyne sets off toward the Fairy Castle. She's guided by another fairy, a Protector named Weyina Nai. Weyina, skilled with the bow and arrow, is brooding and mysterious, and keeps her evidently troubled and sad past hidden. She agreed to be the guide because of a promise Preen made to her. Preen told her that the one she loves, a fairy named Eloman Everpine who’s been missing for three years, is alive and she'll find him if she gets Ethywyne and Lira to the Queen.
Later that night, during a jubilant fairy festival, the troll army of Sunderin arrives at Bila Eutay in search of Ethywyne and Lira. The trolls burn the village, killing almost every fairy in it. The fate of Preen, who had remained in Bila Eutay to help fight Sunderin, is left unknown. When Sunderin realizes Ethywyne and Lira have fled, he lets loose his two bear-like pets called grogs. The grogs follow the trail of the smell of a baby fairy while the troll army marches behind, destroying everything in its path.
Far to the south live creatures called goblins, created by the trolls through a process of mixing fairy and troll blood. The goblins were once slaves to the trolls, but they revolted and now live in clans in the Goblin Forest. When the goblins learn of the troubles in the Fairy Realms, they choose not to get involved. But one goblin chief named Bog has a secret love for the Fairy Queen Amalei. Bog tries to get the other chiefs to help fight the trolls. He argues that if the trolls conquer the fairies, they'll come next to conquer the goblins. His argument fails, and his clan is left alone to help the fairies.
Bog’s goblins find a scavenging group of humans in the Goblin Forest. The humans are Viking raiders who unintentionally found the isle. The goblins, having never known of humans, kill most of the men, thinking them spies for the trolls. The goblins also capture a pregnant woman who had been with the Vikings. The few surviving men sail away on their longboat. Their leader, Isor of the Lightning Coast, vows to return one day and take revenge on the goblins. The goblins take the woman to their camp in the Goblin Forest. There she gives birth to a boy, and Bog keeps the human baby, feeling there's something special about him.
Back up in the Realms, Ethywyne, Lira, and Weyina barely escape stinging river nymphs, and are attacked by a pack of vicious wolves outside the fairy village of Auriella. They’re nearly caught by the grogs, but two fairy Protectors rescue them and get them inside the village walls. Weyina is badly injured, and Ethywyne is more frightened than she's ever been. To make matters worse, Ethywyne learns her rescuers are taking her to the house of Julay Brook, the one Preen warned her of.
Once in the company of Julay, Ethywyne is suspicious of his intentions. She claims Lira is not her youngling, and that she found Lira abandoned in the forest. She tells Julay she’s on her way to the Queen to get the youngling to safety. Julay shows great interest in Lira and agrees she must be kept safe. But Ethywyne senses his concern is for some sinister reason. He allows Ethywyne to continue on, but because Weyina is injured and can't fly, Julay provides a new Protector named Rae Blackstem. Ethywyne is untrusting of Rae because he was appointed by Julay, but she has to go with him because she can’t get to the Castle on her own.
Ethywyne and Rae set out with Lira, leaving Weyina to heal in Auriella. Julay retires to the study of his giant tree home and sits down to a square, checkered board called a Neskalai board. There are carved pieces on the board resembling Ethywyne, Julay, Sunderin, a grog, and one unknown female fairy. All of the pieces are positioned in a way that mimics their places in the real world. Julay moves Ethywyne’s piece one square as though guiding her along. Then he sees Sunderin’s piece move mysteriously on its own. It moves one square closer to Julay's piece. It is revealed that some hidden force is controlling the board, moving the pieces in correlation with the actions of their real-life counterparts.
Later that night, a fairy looking beaten and worn arrives at Auriella. He meets Julay and announces himself as Feolyn Fore from the village of Bila Eutay. Feolyn is a vain theater actor and is loved for his charm and handsome face. He’s a childhood friend of Ethywyne and has always harbored a desire to be with her. Upon his arrival to the house of Julay, he tells of the attack on Bila Eutay and warns of Sunderin’s army marching toward Auriella. He also asks about Ethywyne, having found out from Preen before fleeing the village that Ethywyne was headed for the Castle. Julay tells him Rae Blackstem is now leading her. Feolyn sets off to find her, leaving Julay with a sense of dread about the darkness approaching.
Beyond Auriella, Rae leads Ethywyne with vigor and speed. She’s still untrusting of him, but she sees kindness in his eyes. The fairies fly through the Sparkling Woods, where they encounter the grogs pursuing them. Ethywyne uses one of the many fairy dusts she carries to cause herself, Rae, and Lira to sparkle and shine like the moss covering the woods. The grogs are unable to see their prey, and the fairies escape. When the fairies reach a deep canyon cutting across the land, they are attacked again by the grogs. Ethywyne nearly falls into the canyon because the stare of the grogs paralyzes her wings. Rae saves her and carries her and Lira to safety. Unable to fly, the grogs are left on the other side of the canyon, giving the fairies some relief from the hunt.
The fairies travel on through the Willow Swamps and are attacked by large snakes called fairy-eaters. This time it’s Ethywyne who saves Rae, much to Rae’s embarrassment. After the rescue, Ethywyne gains confidence. For the first time, she feels she might actually make it to the Queen.
As their journey continues, the fairies enter the Valley of the Fireflies, the home of the tiny firefly fairies. The fireflies love to dance, sing, drink, and eat. Their festivities are captivating. Rae and Ethywyne are pulled into a daze causing them to entirely forget their mission. They are held in this mesmerized state for seven days.
Back in Auriella, Weyina confronts Julay over Preen’s suspicion of him, and they realize they’re equally suspicious of each other. After an explanation from Julay about how the Council of the Neskalai has been reformed but is wicked, and how he is no longer a member, Weyina feels she can trust him. They share an interest in determining who reformed the Council, and who is controlling the Neskalai Board.
Sunderin’s army soon reaches Auriella and infiltrates it with the help of a traitorous fairy named Aysen Greenbranch. Sunderin had promised to make Aysen a king if the fairy betrays his kind. Despite a brave fight led by Julay and Weyina, Auriella is conquered. Weyina is nearly killed in a confrontation with Sunderin but is saved by Julay. He carries her away from the village, and they are the only fairies to escape. Julay and Weyina thus begin their own flight to the Castle, the only remaining place offering protection from Sunderin.
While the Realms are overrun by the hordes of Sunderin, Rae and Ethywyne are finally snapped from their trance in the Firefly Valley when Ethywyne hears the Mother Fairy in a dream. Feolyn arrives and tells Ethywyne of the fate of Bila Eutay, which crushes her hope that all would be well. Feolyn, Rae, Ethywyne, and Lira escape the Valley and travel to the Pixie Glades. Lira is stolen by pixies but is found after the fairies work together to solve a series of riddles.
From there the fairies move on to Lake Nabunu and are forced to fly across it in a violent storm. Ethywyne is nearly drowned when her wings give out but is saved by a strange fish that carries her to the other side. She has no memory of the fish, and Rae later tells her she made it across on her own, wanting to give her more confidence. Once past the lake, the fairies meet Aavix the Chemist, a human man from the land of the Celts who has been living on the isle for several years. He tells of how he was held captive by the trolls after they found him shipwrecked. The trolls forced him to use his knowledge of chemistry to perform horrible experiments. He managed to escape and now lives in hiding while making potions and various dusts. He learns of the fairies’ plight and agrees to help, telling them he'll meet them at the Castle with his greatest invention yet.
The fairies continue to the Northern Fairy Forest, where the Castle lies at the farthest tip. Rae and Ethywyne grow closer, each seeing something beautiful in the other, though Ethywyne feels guilty because she still loves Atalay and knows he’s alive. Feolyn seems withdrawn and jealous, not speaking much and hiding some secret thought. At just a day’s fly from the Castle, Feolyn betrays the group, giving the others up to creatures called faes who are working with Sunderin. Feolyn had made a deal with the faes that if he would lead them to Lira then they would allow him to keep Ethywyne. He could take her away to safety and finally have her as he’d wanted his whole life. But the faes ignore the deal and instead capture Ethywyne, Lira, and Rae, leaving Feolyn with nothing. Now alone and a traitor to Fairykind, Feolyn swears revenge on the faes.
Ethywyne and Rae are put in a deep hole and separated from Lira. The faes cut off the fairies’ wings to prevent the fairies from flying up. Ethywyne is horrified and experiences a breakdown over the stress she’s endured. Sickened by the darkness overwhelming the land, she regains her resolve and motherly strength, vowing to never again have Lira taken from her and to fight the wicked creatures of the Realms until every one of them is dead. Rae’s attraction to her grows.
Ethywyne and Rae escape the hole with the help of mudlings, small flying creatures who dwell underground. The mudlings emerge from the earthen walls and carry the fairies up to the surface. Feolyn returns to redeem himself. He kills the faes and helps Ethywyne and Rae escape. After he reunites Ethywyne with Lira, she and Rae forgive him. Together they head for the Castle but are found again by the grogs. This time Feolyn is killed. Ethywyne is horribly distraught, realizing how much her friend of many years meant to her.
Without wings to fly, Ethywyne and Rae run to the Great Maze blocking the entrance to the Castle. The Maze is a massive labyrinth meant to keep trolls away. It is full of traps and covered in a purple mist that confuses and blurs the memory of anyone who breathes it in. Despite their apprehension, the fairies are forced into the Maze to escape the grogs. Refusing to bring Lira into the labyrinth, Ethywyne releases her to fly above the mist. The youngling flies on to the Castle while her mother and Rae navigate the treacherous Maze.
The two grogs follow Ethywyne and Rae into the Maze. After hours of running through endless corridors, the hopelessly lost fairies collapse. The grogs catch up to them. One carries Ethywyne away with its teeth, not harming her but intent on delivering her to Sunderin. The other attacks Rae, set on devouring him. Rae defends with his dagger. He badly injures the grog, leaving it to die as he goes after Ethywyne. Overcome by the mist, the other grog momentarily forgets its goal and drops Ethywyne. Rae finds her, and the fairies continue searching for the way out.
Not long after, the spellbound grog remembers Ethywyne and again pursues the fairies. Ethywyne is close to giving up when Rae tells her she was saved by the fish in Lake Nabunu, and that he only wanted to help her confidence when he told her she made the crossing on her own. Upset at his apparent belittling of her strength, Ethywyne angrily carries on, determined to prove she’s strong enough to survive. But the grog finds and corners the fairies. When Rae is knocked aside, Ethywyne bravely risks her life to set off a trap that kills the grog.
The other grog Rae thought was dead then returns. As it charges at the fairies, it is struck and killed by several arrows. Weyina flies down through the mist, having shot the arrows from above. Julay flies down with her, and they explain that Lira found them at the Castle and guided them to Ethywyne’s location in the Maze. Weyina and Julay carry the wingless Rae and Ethywyne, flying them to the Castle beyond.
Once at the Castle, Ethywyne is pleased to see Aavix, who had sailed up the coast on a small boat. But she’s shocked to find the Castle completely abandoned. There is no sign of the Queen. The small group is alone to face the army of Sunderin, which is tearing its way toward them. Using a giant, rolling cylinder pushed along the ground by ogres, the troll army crushes a wide path through the Maze and reaches the walls of the Castle.
Aavix tells the fairies he created his greatest invention—a dust that will defeat the trolls. If the dust can be shot from the Castle walls out over the army, forcing the trolls to breathe it in, it will cause the trolls to fight each other. The dust will pull forth their violent nature and use their aggression against them. The fairies would not have to fight a single troll, for the army would destroy itself. Ethywyne must decide whether to trust in the dust and stay to defend the Castle or flee to Aavix’s boat and sail to the safety of a smaller isle off the coast. She decides to stay, determined to no longer run from the dangers pursuing her. She’ll face them and help her friends.
Using catapults on the Castle wall, the fairies launch the dust over the troll army. The trolls begin killing each other, but soon the dust wears off. Though much of the army is destroyed, the strongest trolls remain alive. Sunderin, having seen Ethywyne on the wall, orders Aysen Greenbranch to fly up and bring her and Lira down.
Aysen flies to the wall top and grabs Ethywyne and Lira. He attempts to carry them away but Rae leaps onto him. They all fall to the ground outside the wall. Rae, ignorant of Aysen’s betrayal, is shocked he must fight his former friend. After a quick brawl between the two, Sunderin steps in and kills Aysen, having grown tired of the fairy and never truly meaning to make him a king.
Now surrounded by the remaining trolls, Rae, Ethywyne and Lira are joined on the ground by Weyina and Julay. Outnumbered and outmatched, the fairies huddle together and prepare for their final fight. As Sunderin and his trolls move in, power wells up within Ethywyne. She’s overwhelmed with love for Fairykind and a duty to protect the Realms, to stop the darkness from engulfing all she holds dear. She’s feeling the power of the Mother Fairy’s light surging through her body. The previous Mother has died, and Ethywyne has become the new Mother Fairy. A great light erupts from her skin in a burst bright enough to light the sky. It blinds the trolls, and they begin to retreat.
Though she now has the power of the light, Ethywyne cannot fully wield it. She’s held firmly in place, unable to move. While the light continues to hold back the trolls, she orders the other fairies to escape with Lira. Though they don’t want to leave her, the fairies know they must flee to survive. Leaving Ethywyne behind, they go to the coastal cliffs beyond the Castle. They see a bright ship on the sea. Weyina recognizes it as one of the Fairy Queen’s ships, so the fairies fly to it, carrying Aavix and Rae.
Ethywyne’s strength soon fades. Her light goes out. Exhausted, she’s unable to avoid the hands of Sunderin. He takes her captive and does not go after the other fairies. He no longer cares about Lira now that he has Ethywyne to begin seeding his edible fairies. Satisfied with his conquest of the Realms, Sunderin celebrates with his remaining trolls and prepares to return to his fortress.
The other fairies land on the ship and discover its crew is a small group of fairies led by Eloman Everpine. The goblin Bog is also aboard. Weyina is overjoyed with finding her lost love but distressed at what he says. Eloman tells them the Fairy Queen is dead, killed by a wicked fae named Violetta who took over the Castle and forced the fairies out. Violetta kept word of her takeover from spreading through the Realms, so no one outside the Castle knew. Eloman and his crew are a few of the last remaining members of the resistance to Violetta.
Eloman explains that it was Violetta who started the new Council and began using a Neskalai board after she stole one from the Queen. Bog and the fairies sail toward the small isle of Naviila where the rest of the resistance is hiding. With Ethywyne captured by Sunderin, Weyina takes on the role of Lira’s mother. Rae promises he’ll return to the Isle of the Realms to rescue Ethywyne once his wings grow back. The final focus is on Ethywyne as she’s carried away by Sunderin. Even in his grasp, she vows to never bend to his will. She takes comfort in her newly realized strength as the Mother Fairy, in knowing Lira is safe, and in thoughts of one day finding Atalay.
The story of Fairykind continues in the novel Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies, book two of the Eleganta series.
July 19, 2023
Read a selection from Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies
From the chapter 'The Gamble of Seven' from Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies.
Once aboard Flamebeard’s ship, Violetta was surrounded by the curious goblins and told to sit at a table on the open deck. She closely observed the bizarre crew. Each goblin wore mismatched shreds of distressed cloth barely covering their weathered brown torsos. Many of their limbs were scarred with shapes that looked intentionally carved into their skin, or in one goblin’s case, carved into a wooden rod attached to his thigh in place of an actual leg. He wasn’t the only one to lack a body part. Most of the goblins lacked at least one finger, a toe, an ear, or even an eye. Only Flamebeard possessed all his original parts.
“How long have you been out here?” Violetta said.
“Here?” the wooden-legged goblin said. “We only just arrived. Terrible memory you have.”
“No, no. I mean the lake, or rather, the…sea. How long since you left your clans in the south?”
“Ah,” the one-eyed goblin said. “Very long.”
“So long,” another added.
“Twenty years, to be exact,” Flamebeard said. “Or nineteen, maybe thirty. We’ve sailed this sea since before the trolls made you, if you are even really a fae.”
“That I can believe,” Violetta said.
He took a seat across from her. “Welcome to my ship. I’m so delighted to have you. Are you ready for our little gamble? Great! Me too. I love a good gamble.”
Flamebeard’s hooting, yelping crew huddled around the table. He produced a small box and opened it to reveal a stone with several smooth sides. “This…is the cube.” He dropped the stone on the table. “Pick it up.”
Violetta grabbed it with her fingertips, holding it as though it carried disease. The stone was carved to have seven equal faces, not the expected six of a cube. Each face was etched with a different number of lines between one and seven, such that each number appeared only once. The fae slid the stone between her fingers. “Lord Flamebeard. Your cube is finely carved.”
“Isn’t it, though?”
“But a cube, as I’m sure you know, is like that box, with four sides, a top, and a bottom.”
The completion of her sentence unsurprisingly drew a chorus of hisses from the crew, along with nervous warnings. “He hates being corrected,” they whispered. “Just let it go.”
This made Violetta smile.
“Again, you’re confused,” Flamebeard said. “There on the table is a box. What you hold in your hand is the cube.”
“A cube,” Violetta said, “with seven sides.”
“Now you’ve got it.”
“Sure. I’ve got it.”
“Good. The cube has seven sides. You can see there are a different number of markings on each side. So let me explain our game, the gamble of seven. After you roll the cube, the number of markings on the side facing up will be the number you rolled, a number between one and seven.”
“Between one and seven…on the cube.”
“That’s right. Now, here’s the good part—the gamble. There are seven of us, and seven sides on the cube. Each of us has chosen a fate for one number. You roll the cube, chance decides, and we carry out the chosen fate for the number you rolled. Isn’t that fun? Seven numbers, seven fates.”
“What, may I ask, are my possible fates?”
“We can’t tell you that. It’s part of the fun. The best part is that only one of the numbers spares your life. Want to know which number that is?”
“Yes.”
“Too bad. I won’t tell you. But you’ll want to roll it. The other six, well, you don’t want to roll any of those. We want you to, of course. We’ve thought up such fun ways to kill you.”
“Only one? You give me one chance in seven? The odds unfairly favor you.”
“Yeah, they do. We never gamble unless the odds are in our favor. That’s a rule.”
“This is madness. I refuse to roll your cube.”
“Don’t be sour. At least you have a chance, though it’s small. Oh, and before you roll, I should inform you of our unbreakable code.”
“Please do.”
“Long ago we created a code among us that none can break and still live. It’s that we’re honor-bound to carry out whatever fate is rolled on the cube during the gamble of seven. If the roll spares your life, we cannot refuse to spare your life. And if death is your fate, we must carry out your sentence. It’s punishable by death for any of us to defy the will of the cube. That’s our code, and never have we broken it.”
“That’s…reassuring.” Violetta leaned back, crossing her arms. “I still refuse this game.”
“She can’t refuse,” one goblin shouted.
“Is that allowed?” another said.
“It’s not allowed,” another answered.
“How will the gamble be played, then?”
The crew squabbled. “We can’t play if she doesn’t roll.”
Flamebeard stood, roaring for silence. “I should kill her. But I’m having so much fun, I can’t let it end. If the fae refuses to roll, then I’ll roll for her.”
Commotion spread again.
“Can he do that?”
“Will that work?”
“I say it works,” Flamebeard said. “The gamble of seven will now begin.” He reached across the table, snatching the cube from Violetta’s hand. He let the cube tumble from his fingers to the surface of the table. The cube bounced before coming to a stop with a single side facing up. Every goblin fought to be the first to count the markings.
A croaking voice called out. “It’s a three. She rolled a three.”
The naming of the rolled number stirred the crew into spasms. One goblin repeated the result. “She rolled a three.” The rest of the crew followed with chants of the same words.
Flamebeard held up his arms, muting his crew. “She rolled a three. You know what that means.”
“Yes. We know what that means.”
Violetta raised her obvious concern. “What does it mean?”
Flamebeard gestured around the table. “Go ahead, mates. Tell her what fate she rolled.”
“Yes, tell her,” said the wooden-legged one.
Another goblin shot back. “You tell her.”
A ruckus of voices filled the air.
“We all know what it means.”
“Uh…do we know what it means?”
“Don’t you know what a three means?”
“I think so, but…actually no. I’ve forgotten.”
“Me too.”
“I’m not sure I know either.”
Flamebeard’s face reddened. “Goblins! Which of you had the number three?”
“Wasn’t me.”
“Not I. Mine was five.”
“I had two.”
“I think mine was seven.”
“No, mine was seven.”
“Hold on. Did I say five before? It may have been six.”
“No, six was mine. I think.”
“Who had three?” Flamebeard screamed. The goblins stopped replying, their predicament clear. “None of us chose a fate for the number three? This is outrageous! There are seven of us, seven numbers, and seven fates. How did no one give a fate to three?”
“Well, it’s been a very long time.”
The other goblins soundly agreed.
“So very long.”
“I can’t remember the last time we played the game.”
“Have we ever actually played it?”
“Enough!” Flamebeard pounded the table.
“Sounds like the odds didn’t favor you after all,” Violetta said.
“She’s right,” a goblin said. “I think we didn’t have the odds in our favor.”
“What?” another said. “The odds weren’t in our favor? Then it doesn’t count. The roll shouldn’t count.”
“Quiet,” Flamebeard yelled. “You could be right, Violetta. Doesn’t matter. Three may have no fate, but it was not the number to set you free. Five was the number that spared your life, and five was not the number rolled.” He looked to his crew. “Even if three has no given method for her death, death is still her fate. The method matters not.”
Several goblins protested.
“What about the odds?”
“Are you sure we were favored?”
“Something’s fishy here.”
“I’m concerned.”
Flamebeard again quieted his raucous crew. “Forget the odds. Maybe they were against us, now that I think about it, but I don’t care. It’s time to kill this false Queen and move on to the others. I can’t wait to hold that bow.”
He walked around the table, pulling forth a rusted blade from his belt. “I’m sorry, fae, but your payment includes your life.”
Violetta stood, blasting Flamebeard with the iciest stare she could muster. “Lord Flamebeard, I’m ashamed of you. Have you forgotten your own unbreakable code?”
He halted. “The code? No, I know our code.”
“Then why are you about to break it?” She pointed at him for added effect. “Do you wish your reputation to be spread across the land as Lord Flamebeard the codebreaker? Do you wish your honor forever lost?”
“I would never break the sacred code. I’m following it. I’m carrying out your fate, as the code demands.”
“Really? Your roll for my fate was a three, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And what is the fate for rolling a three?”
“Well…well…it seems a three has no chosen fate.”
“So, there’s nothing? No fate to carry out?”
“None that we know.”
“And does your unbreakable code, as created by you and your crew, not state that you must, without question, carry out the actions required for the rolling of a given number?”
“It does.”
“Tell me again, Flamebeard. What action is required of you for the roll of three?”
The goblin groaned. “There’s no known action.”
Violetta raised her voice, leaning forward with each word. “Then by your own code, you are bound to do nothing to me, or face a mortal punishment of your own.”
Flamebeard retreated, pounding his fists as he slumped into his chair. “You speak the truth, fae. I can’t break the code. I have to spare your life. Be gone from my sight.”
Violetta held her breath to keep from crying out as she cautiously stepped away. When she reached the ship’s edge, Flamebeard called to her.
“Send the female with the bow up next. I will have that bow.”
Violetta froze. Her quick reasoning had saved only herself. She returned to the table and sat across from a most grumbly-looking Flamebeard.
He let out a prolonged whimper. “Why am I looking at you? Be gone and send the other as I commanded.”
Violetta remained seated, Flamebeard’s nonsensical logic swirling in her head. She had to take her chances on another game with the unsound goblin. “Lord Flamebeard, may I suggest a new gamble, one that will stand for me and all of my companions?”
“You had your game. I’ve set you free. Don’t challenge such luck. Be gone.”
“My lord, I care deeply for my fellow travelers. I fear they won’t have the same luck. What if I forfeit my lucky fate for a chance to win that same lucky fortune again for myself and everyone traveling with me, to spare my friends from each enduring a separate gamble?”
“You want to roll again for the fates of you and all your friends? You’d be willing to test your luck?”
“If I choose not to bet again, how will I know how lucky I truly am?”
“I don’t know, doesn’t seem fair.”
“It would be exciting, right? Please, let me make a proposition. Give me the cube and give me one chance to roll it.”
“We’ve already done that.”
“Yes, but as you and your crew agreed, the odds were not in your favor.”
“That’s true. We do insist the odds be in our favor. Maybe you do owe me another roll.”
“Give me one roll. Whatever the outcome is, the fairies and I will honor it, by your code. But I will only forfeit my previous roll if you grant me one condition.”
“Condition?”
“Listen. My condition is this. If I fail to not roll a one, or if I do not fail to succeed in not rolling a one, then you must leave in peace and allow us to keep our weapons.”
“Hmmm. That does seem to favor us, I think.”
“If my roll fails to satisfy the condition, then we’ll hand over everything without a fight and thus be at your mercy. We’ll accept the fate of the number rolled.”
“That might work.”
“The odds are clearly in your favor.”
The goblins debated the terms with questionable problem-solving prowess.
“So, she has to roll a one?”
“No, you fool. She has to not roll a two.”
“Then, the odds are against us.”
“No. The odds are not against us. Where is your brain? Think about it. The only way she can win is if she fails to not roll anything other than a one.”
“No, no, no. She must not fail to not succeed in rolling a one.”
“I think I said that.”
“Wait, so if she rolls a one, we keep their weapons?”
Flamebeard interrupted. “Fools! All of you. It means they keep their weapons if she rolls a one.”
The crew deliberated and offered a response. “But only if she fails to succeed in not rolling anything other than a one?”
“Or fails to not roll a two through seven,” Flamebeard somehow reasoned. “Yes. I think that’s it. I believe the odds are with us.”
“They are? Are you sure, captain?”
“Don’t question me. We’ll win this gamble for sure. That bow is mine.”
“Goblins?” Violetta said politely. “Do you agree to the terms?”
The goblins snickered. “Do we? Do we agree?”
“Yes,” Flamebeard said. “We agree. You get one roll, and if the number rolled does not meet your condition, you and your fairy friends will all suffer the same fate.”
“Fine,” Violetta said. “But remember, Lord Flamebeard, if you agree to this, you must also swear to honor the outcome, by your unbreakable code.”
“I swear it.”
“Good. Give me the cube and let me have my roll.”
Flamebeard obliged, placing the seven-sided stone in the fae’s hand. His eyes betrayed his lust for permission from the gamble to unleash torment upon his victims. “Round two.”
With the goblins drooling and fidgeting around her, Violetta swirled the cube in her sweating palm. It spilled from her hand and rolled to a stop. The goblins gasped. Flamebeard sprang up and pushed away the others. Huddling over the table, he counted the markings on the upside of the cube. “Six,” he announced. “She rolled a six.”
The goblins repeatedly chanted the result. Flamebeard strutted around the table until he stood over Violetta. He bent, bringing his face within a breath of hers. “You rolled a six. It seems your luck has run out.”
“Has it?” Violetta said, her eyes firmly leveled with his.
“You didn’t roll a one.”
“No. I rolled a six.”
“Exactly. You failed to roll a one. So, you’ve failed to meet your condition. You will return to your boat, bring all your loot to my ship, and prepare to meet your doom.”
“I’m afraid I have to disagree.”
“I’m afraid I don’t care. You shouldn’t have gambled a second time. Too bad for you, you lose.” He looked to his crew. “One of you better know the fate for rolling a six.”
“I do,” the one-eyed goblin said. “That was mine. I know it. It’s very, very nasty.”
Violetta shot up, waving her finger in Flamebeard’s face. “You’re confused. My roll very much satisfied my condition, the second part to be precise. If I do not fail to succeed in not rolling a one. I did not fail to succeed, which means I succeeded, in not rolling a one, by rolling a six.”
Flamebeard stepped back, mouthing numbers while his eyes skipped between his fingers. “You’re saying you win by not rolling a one?” He beckoned his crew. “Is that right?” The goblins scratched their heads.
Violetta answered for them. “That’s right.”
“But,” Flamebeard said, “for the first part of your condition, you said if you fail to not roll a one. Not rolling a one would mean rolling a two through seven. But your condition says you must fail to do that. That means you needed to roll a one.”
“Yes. Had I rolled a one, that also would have given me the win, as per my condition.”
Flamebeard tugged the green hair on his face. “How can that be? I don’t believe this.”
“How can that be?” the other goblins repeated, their jaws dropping. “We don’t believe this.”
Violetta shrugged. “Allow me to show you again.” Another toss of the cube resulted in a seven. “There. I succeeded in not rolling a one, satisfying the second part of my condition.” She rolled again. “Ah, there is the one. See, I failed to not roll a one, thus satisfying the first part.”
“But those were separate rolls,” Flamebeard said. “Each roll satisfied only one part of your condition.”
“Correct.”
“Then you failed to satisfy your whole condition. You lose, fae.”
“Oh my. You are so confused, my goblin friend. I didn’t need to satisfy my whole condition. You’ll remember I placed the nice little word ‘or’ between the two parts. You agreed to let us keep our weapons and leave in peace if I failed to not roll a one, meaning I rolled a one, or if I did not fail to succeed in not rolling a one, meaning I rolled a two through seven.”
Flamebeard erupted. “What? No! You win the gamble no matter what number you roll. You tricked us!”
“It doesn’t matter. My roll met my condition, so you have to honor your promise. You will take nothing from us and leave us in peace, or else you break the code.”
By this point, Flamebeard’s crew had quietly crept back from the table. They were in for months of grumbliness from their captain.
“You swindling fae,” Flamebeard said. “No one has ever left me without payment.”
“Until today,” Violetta said, turning on her heels and strolling to the side of the ship. As she straddled the rope leading down to her boat, she called to Flamebeard. “Kindly remove your hooks, dearie.”
Flamebeard stomped, punched, and screamed. He refused to accept twice losing the gamble, and twice being humiliated by his own unbreakable code. In his rage, he charged toward the fae descending the outside of the hull. But his crew boldly jumped to block his way, joining together to invoke the one power they had over their captain. “The code!” they yelled. “The code. None can break the code!”
Hissing profusely, Flamebeard relented, ceasing his pursuit. His crew gave slack to the rope holding their catch, allowing the fairies to pull the heavy hooks free and heave them overboard. Violetta raised the sail while Eloman and Weyina powered the oars. Their boat drifted away from the menace of Flamebeard.
“Go,” he shouted. “But if I ever catch you on my sea again, luck will have no part in the encounter!”
“This is a lake,” Violetta shouted back. “Farewell, Flamebeard the Confused!”
A grumbly roar faded as the goblin ship shrunk into the distance.
“Luck was on your side, was it?” Eloman said, for once smiling at Violetta.
“Something like that.”
“Like what?” Weyina said. “Why did they let you go?”
“Something about ludicrous codes, pointless honor.” Violetta waved her hand, dismissing her words to the wind. “Speaking of honor. Let it be known that you fairies owe me yet again. I expect to count on your protection, no matter the cost.”
“That is the way,” Eloman and Weyina said together. They were obliged to return the favor, even as they remained unconvinced of her intentions. To what length they go and what cost they pay to save her life was far less certain. They would protect her as they could in the face of any threats to come for as long as she was true. But the safety of Lira stood above all else. Nothing would compel them to save the fae’s life if it meant any harm would come to the youngling huddled beside them.
Once aboard Flamebeard’s ship, Violetta was surrounded by the curious goblins and told to sit at a table on the open deck. She closely observed the bizarre crew. Each goblin wore mismatched shreds of distressed cloth barely covering their weathered brown torsos. Many of their limbs were scarred with shapes that looked intentionally carved into their skin, or in one goblin’s case, carved into a wooden rod attached to his thigh in place of an actual leg. He wasn’t the only one to lack a body part. Most of the goblins lacked at least one finger, a toe, an ear, or even an eye. Only Flamebeard possessed all his original parts.
“How long have you been out here?” Violetta said.
“Here?” the wooden-legged goblin said. “We only just arrived. Terrible memory you have.”
“No, no. I mean the lake, or rather, the…sea. How long since you left your clans in the south?”
“Ah,” the one-eyed goblin said. “Very long.”
“So long,” another added.
“Twenty years, to be exact,” Flamebeard said. “Or nineteen, maybe thirty. We’ve sailed this sea since before the trolls made you, if you are even really a fae.”
“That I can believe,” Violetta said.
He took a seat across from her. “Welcome to my ship. I’m so delighted to have you. Are you ready for our little gamble? Great! Me too. I love a good gamble.”
Flamebeard’s hooting, yelping crew huddled around the table. He produced a small box and opened it to reveal a stone with several smooth sides. “This…is the cube.” He dropped the stone on the table. “Pick it up.”
Violetta grabbed it with her fingertips, holding it as though it carried disease. The stone was carved to have seven equal faces, not the expected six of a cube. Each face was etched with a different number of lines between one and seven, such that each number appeared only once. The fae slid the stone between her fingers. “Lord Flamebeard. Your cube is finely carved.”
“Isn’t it, though?”
“But a cube, as I’m sure you know, is like that box, with four sides, a top, and a bottom.”
The completion of her sentence unsurprisingly drew a chorus of hisses from the crew, along with nervous warnings. “He hates being corrected,” they whispered. “Just let it go.”
This made Violetta smile.
“Again, you’re confused,” Flamebeard said. “There on the table is a box. What you hold in your hand is the cube.”
“A cube,” Violetta said, “with seven sides.”
“Now you’ve got it.”
“Sure. I’ve got it.”
“Good. The cube has seven sides. You can see there are a different number of markings on each side. So let me explain our game, the gamble of seven. After you roll the cube, the number of markings on the side facing up will be the number you rolled, a number between one and seven.”
“Between one and seven…on the cube.”
“That’s right. Now, here’s the good part—the gamble. There are seven of us, and seven sides on the cube. Each of us has chosen a fate for one number. You roll the cube, chance decides, and we carry out the chosen fate for the number you rolled. Isn’t that fun? Seven numbers, seven fates.”
“What, may I ask, are my possible fates?”
“We can’t tell you that. It’s part of the fun. The best part is that only one of the numbers spares your life. Want to know which number that is?”
“Yes.”
“Too bad. I won’t tell you. But you’ll want to roll it. The other six, well, you don’t want to roll any of those. We want you to, of course. We’ve thought up such fun ways to kill you.”
“Only one? You give me one chance in seven? The odds unfairly favor you.”
“Yeah, they do. We never gamble unless the odds are in our favor. That’s a rule.”
“This is madness. I refuse to roll your cube.”
“Don’t be sour. At least you have a chance, though it’s small. Oh, and before you roll, I should inform you of our unbreakable code.”
“Please do.”
“Long ago we created a code among us that none can break and still live. It’s that we’re honor-bound to carry out whatever fate is rolled on the cube during the gamble of seven. If the roll spares your life, we cannot refuse to spare your life. And if death is your fate, we must carry out your sentence. It’s punishable by death for any of us to defy the will of the cube. That’s our code, and never have we broken it.”
“That’s…reassuring.” Violetta leaned back, crossing her arms. “I still refuse this game.”
“She can’t refuse,” one goblin shouted.
“Is that allowed?” another said.
“It’s not allowed,” another answered.
“How will the gamble be played, then?”
The crew squabbled. “We can’t play if she doesn’t roll.”
Flamebeard stood, roaring for silence. “I should kill her. But I’m having so much fun, I can’t let it end. If the fae refuses to roll, then I’ll roll for her.”
Commotion spread again.
“Can he do that?”
“Will that work?”
“I say it works,” Flamebeard said. “The gamble of seven will now begin.” He reached across the table, snatching the cube from Violetta’s hand. He let the cube tumble from his fingers to the surface of the table. The cube bounced before coming to a stop with a single side facing up. Every goblin fought to be the first to count the markings.
A croaking voice called out. “It’s a three. She rolled a three.”
The naming of the rolled number stirred the crew into spasms. One goblin repeated the result. “She rolled a three.” The rest of the crew followed with chants of the same words.
Flamebeard held up his arms, muting his crew. “She rolled a three. You know what that means.”
“Yes. We know what that means.”
Violetta raised her obvious concern. “What does it mean?”
Flamebeard gestured around the table. “Go ahead, mates. Tell her what fate she rolled.”
“Yes, tell her,” said the wooden-legged one.
Another goblin shot back. “You tell her.”
A ruckus of voices filled the air.
“We all know what it means.”
“Uh…do we know what it means?”
“Don’t you know what a three means?”
“I think so, but…actually no. I’ve forgotten.”
“Me too.”
“I’m not sure I know either.”
Flamebeard’s face reddened. “Goblins! Which of you had the number three?”
“Wasn’t me.”
“Not I. Mine was five.”
“I had two.”
“I think mine was seven.”
“No, mine was seven.”
“Hold on. Did I say five before? It may have been six.”
“No, six was mine. I think.”
“Who had three?” Flamebeard screamed. The goblins stopped replying, their predicament clear. “None of us chose a fate for the number three? This is outrageous! There are seven of us, seven numbers, and seven fates. How did no one give a fate to three?”
“Well, it’s been a very long time.”
The other goblins soundly agreed.
“So very long.”
“I can’t remember the last time we played the game.”
“Have we ever actually played it?”
“Enough!” Flamebeard pounded the table.
“Sounds like the odds didn’t favor you after all,” Violetta said.
“She’s right,” a goblin said. “I think we didn’t have the odds in our favor.”
“What?” another said. “The odds weren’t in our favor? Then it doesn’t count. The roll shouldn’t count.”
“Quiet,” Flamebeard yelled. “You could be right, Violetta. Doesn’t matter. Three may have no fate, but it was not the number to set you free. Five was the number that spared your life, and five was not the number rolled.” He looked to his crew. “Even if three has no given method for her death, death is still her fate. The method matters not.”
Several goblins protested.
“What about the odds?”
“Are you sure we were favored?”
“Something’s fishy here.”
“I’m concerned.”
Flamebeard again quieted his raucous crew. “Forget the odds. Maybe they were against us, now that I think about it, but I don’t care. It’s time to kill this false Queen and move on to the others. I can’t wait to hold that bow.”
He walked around the table, pulling forth a rusted blade from his belt. “I’m sorry, fae, but your payment includes your life.”
Violetta stood, blasting Flamebeard with the iciest stare she could muster. “Lord Flamebeard, I’m ashamed of you. Have you forgotten your own unbreakable code?”
He halted. “The code? No, I know our code.”
“Then why are you about to break it?” She pointed at him for added effect. “Do you wish your reputation to be spread across the land as Lord Flamebeard the codebreaker? Do you wish your honor forever lost?”
“I would never break the sacred code. I’m following it. I’m carrying out your fate, as the code demands.”
“Really? Your roll for my fate was a three, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And what is the fate for rolling a three?”
“Well…well…it seems a three has no chosen fate.”
“So, there’s nothing? No fate to carry out?”
“None that we know.”
“And does your unbreakable code, as created by you and your crew, not state that you must, without question, carry out the actions required for the rolling of a given number?”
“It does.”
“Tell me again, Flamebeard. What action is required of you for the roll of three?”
The goblin groaned. “There’s no known action.”
Violetta raised her voice, leaning forward with each word. “Then by your own code, you are bound to do nothing to me, or face a mortal punishment of your own.”
Flamebeard retreated, pounding his fists as he slumped into his chair. “You speak the truth, fae. I can’t break the code. I have to spare your life. Be gone from my sight.”
Violetta held her breath to keep from crying out as she cautiously stepped away. When she reached the ship’s edge, Flamebeard called to her.
“Send the female with the bow up next. I will have that bow.”
Violetta froze. Her quick reasoning had saved only herself. She returned to the table and sat across from a most grumbly-looking Flamebeard.
He let out a prolonged whimper. “Why am I looking at you? Be gone and send the other as I commanded.”
Violetta remained seated, Flamebeard’s nonsensical logic swirling in her head. She had to take her chances on another game with the unsound goblin. “Lord Flamebeard, may I suggest a new gamble, one that will stand for me and all of my companions?”
“You had your game. I’ve set you free. Don’t challenge such luck. Be gone.”
“My lord, I care deeply for my fellow travelers. I fear they won’t have the same luck. What if I forfeit my lucky fate for a chance to win that same lucky fortune again for myself and everyone traveling with me, to spare my friends from each enduring a separate gamble?”
“You want to roll again for the fates of you and all your friends? You’d be willing to test your luck?”
“If I choose not to bet again, how will I know how lucky I truly am?”
“I don’t know, doesn’t seem fair.”
“It would be exciting, right? Please, let me make a proposition. Give me the cube and give me one chance to roll it.”
“We’ve already done that.”
“Yes, but as you and your crew agreed, the odds were not in your favor.”
“That’s true. We do insist the odds be in our favor. Maybe you do owe me another roll.”
“Give me one roll. Whatever the outcome is, the fairies and I will honor it, by your code. But I will only forfeit my previous roll if you grant me one condition.”
“Condition?”
“Listen. My condition is this. If I fail to not roll a one, or if I do not fail to succeed in not rolling a one, then you must leave in peace and allow us to keep our weapons.”
“Hmmm. That does seem to favor us, I think.”
“If my roll fails to satisfy the condition, then we’ll hand over everything without a fight and thus be at your mercy. We’ll accept the fate of the number rolled.”
“That might work.”
“The odds are clearly in your favor.”
The goblins debated the terms with questionable problem-solving prowess.
“So, she has to roll a one?”
“No, you fool. She has to not roll a two.”
“Then, the odds are against us.”
“No. The odds are not against us. Where is your brain? Think about it. The only way she can win is if she fails to not roll anything other than a one.”
“No, no, no. She must not fail to not succeed in rolling a one.”
“I think I said that.”
“Wait, so if she rolls a one, we keep their weapons?”
Flamebeard interrupted. “Fools! All of you. It means they keep their weapons if she rolls a one.”
The crew deliberated and offered a response. “But only if she fails to succeed in not rolling anything other than a one?”
“Or fails to not roll a two through seven,” Flamebeard somehow reasoned. “Yes. I think that’s it. I believe the odds are with us.”
“They are? Are you sure, captain?”
“Don’t question me. We’ll win this gamble for sure. That bow is mine.”
“Goblins?” Violetta said politely. “Do you agree to the terms?”
The goblins snickered. “Do we? Do we agree?”
“Yes,” Flamebeard said. “We agree. You get one roll, and if the number rolled does not meet your condition, you and your fairy friends will all suffer the same fate.”
“Fine,” Violetta said. “But remember, Lord Flamebeard, if you agree to this, you must also swear to honor the outcome, by your unbreakable code.”
“I swear it.”
“Good. Give me the cube and let me have my roll.”
Flamebeard obliged, placing the seven-sided stone in the fae’s hand. His eyes betrayed his lust for permission from the gamble to unleash torment upon his victims. “Round two.”
With the goblins drooling and fidgeting around her, Violetta swirled the cube in her sweating palm. It spilled from her hand and rolled to a stop. The goblins gasped. Flamebeard sprang up and pushed away the others. Huddling over the table, he counted the markings on the upside of the cube. “Six,” he announced. “She rolled a six.”
The goblins repeatedly chanted the result. Flamebeard strutted around the table until he stood over Violetta. He bent, bringing his face within a breath of hers. “You rolled a six. It seems your luck has run out.”
“Has it?” Violetta said, her eyes firmly leveled with his.
“You didn’t roll a one.”
“No. I rolled a six.”
“Exactly. You failed to roll a one. So, you’ve failed to meet your condition. You will return to your boat, bring all your loot to my ship, and prepare to meet your doom.”
“I’m afraid I have to disagree.”
“I’m afraid I don’t care. You shouldn’t have gambled a second time. Too bad for you, you lose.” He looked to his crew. “One of you better know the fate for rolling a six.”
“I do,” the one-eyed goblin said. “That was mine. I know it. It’s very, very nasty.”
Violetta shot up, waving her finger in Flamebeard’s face. “You’re confused. My roll very much satisfied my condition, the second part to be precise. If I do not fail to succeed in not rolling a one. I did not fail to succeed, which means I succeeded, in not rolling a one, by rolling a six.”
Flamebeard stepped back, mouthing numbers while his eyes skipped between his fingers. “You’re saying you win by not rolling a one?” He beckoned his crew. “Is that right?” The goblins scratched their heads.
Violetta answered for them. “That’s right.”
“But,” Flamebeard said, “for the first part of your condition, you said if you fail to not roll a one. Not rolling a one would mean rolling a two through seven. But your condition says you must fail to do that. That means you needed to roll a one.”
“Yes. Had I rolled a one, that also would have given me the win, as per my condition.”
Flamebeard tugged the green hair on his face. “How can that be? I don’t believe this.”
“How can that be?” the other goblins repeated, their jaws dropping. “We don’t believe this.”
Violetta shrugged. “Allow me to show you again.” Another toss of the cube resulted in a seven. “There. I succeeded in not rolling a one, satisfying the second part of my condition.” She rolled again. “Ah, there is the one. See, I failed to not roll a one, thus satisfying the first part.”
“But those were separate rolls,” Flamebeard said. “Each roll satisfied only one part of your condition.”
“Correct.”
“Then you failed to satisfy your whole condition. You lose, fae.”
“Oh my. You are so confused, my goblin friend. I didn’t need to satisfy my whole condition. You’ll remember I placed the nice little word ‘or’ between the two parts. You agreed to let us keep our weapons and leave in peace if I failed to not roll a one, meaning I rolled a one, or if I did not fail to succeed in not rolling a one, meaning I rolled a two through seven.”
Flamebeard erupted. “What? No! You win the gamble no matter what number you roll. You tricked us!”
“It doesn’t matter. My roll met my condition, so you have to honor your promise. You will take nothing from us and leave us in peace, or else you break the code.”
By this point, Flamebeard’s crew had quietly crept back from the table. They were in for months of grumbliness from their captain.
“You swindling fae,” Flamebeard said. “No one has ever left me without payment.”
“Until today,” Violetta said, turning on her heels and strolling to the side of the ship. As she straddled the rope leading down to her boat, she called to Flamebeard. “Kindly remove your hooks, dearie.”
Flamebeard stomped, punched, and screamed. He refused to accept twice losing the gamble, and twice being humiliated by his own unbreakable code. In his rage, he charged toward the fae descending the outside of the hull. But his crew boldly jumped to block his way, joining together to invoke the one power they had over their captain. “The code!” they yelled. “The code. None can break the code!”
Hissing profusely, Flamebeard relented, ceasing his pursuit. His crew gave slack to the rope holding their catch, allowing the fairies to pull the heavy hooks free and heave them overboard. Violetta raised the sail while Eloman and Weyina powered the oars. Their boat drifted away from the menace of Flamebeard.
“Go,” he shouted. “But if I ever catch you on my sea again, luck will have no part in the encounter!”
“This is a lake,” Violetta shouted back. “Farewell, Flamebeard the Confused!”
A grumbly roar faded as the goblin ship shrunk into the distance.
“Luck was on your side, was it?” Eloman said, for once smiling at Violetta.
“Something like that.”
“Like what?” Weyina said. “Why did they let you go?”
“Something about ludicrous codes, pointless honor.” Violetta waved her hand, dismissing her words to the wind. “Speaking of honor. Let it be known that you fairies owe me yet again. I expect to count on your protection, no matter the cost.”
“That is the way,” Eloman and Weyina said together. They were obliged to return the favor, even as they remained unconvinced of her intentions. To what length they go and what cost they pay to save her life was far less certain. They would protect her as they could in the face of any threats to come for as long as she was true. But the safety of Lira stood above all else. Nothing would compel them to save the fae’s life if it meant any harm would come to the youngling huddled beside them.
June 28, 2023
Book two of the Eleganta series is now available on Amazon
Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies is now published in paperback and as a kindle ebook on Amazon.
Get Violetta here
Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies
Ten years after the march of Sunderin and capture of Ethywyne Eleganta, the trolls continue to poison the Fairy Realms, and Violetta, Queen of the Faes, occupies the Fairy Castle. The surviving fairies live in hiding on the Isle of Naviila where they’ve sheltered Ethywyne’s daughter Lira, the only fairy youngling.
When Violetta ensnares Lira with a promise to help find Ethywyne, the fairies are forced into a questionable alliance. As they struggle to unravel the tangled web of secrets motivating Violetta’s mysterious actions, the fairies must return to the Realms and embark on a perilous quest that will decide the fate of Fairykind.
This second entry in the Eleganta trilogy is a tale of goblin pirates, hidden chambers, unpleasant men, magical beards, hairless wolves, fabulous feasts, impeccable fairy hospitality, a chilling game of hide and seek, a plethora of fairy dust, and so much more. It’s a story of trust and betrayal, of redemption and revenge. It’s the tale that must be told.
Get Violetta here
Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies
Ten years after the march of Sunderin and capture of Ethywyne Eleganta, the trolls continue to poison the Fairy Realms, and Violetta, Queen of the Faes, occupies the Fairy Castle. The surviving fairies live in hiding on the Isle of Naviila where they’ve sheltered Ethywyne’s daughter Lira, the only fairy youngling.
When Violetta ensnares Lira with a promise to help find Ethywyne, the fairies are forced into a questionable alliance. As they struggle to unravel the tangled web of secrets motivating Violetta’s mysterious actions, the fairies must return to the Realms and embark on a perilous quest that will decide the fate of Fairykind.
This second entry in the Eleganta trilogy is a tale of goblin pirates, hidden chambers, unpleasant men, magical beards, hairless wolves, fabulous feasts, impeccable fairy hospitality, a chilling game of hide and seek, a plethora of fairy dust, and so much more. It’s a story of trust and betrayal, of redemption and revenge. It’s the tale that must be told.
May 22, 2023
Book two of the Eleganta series is coming this summer
Violetta: A Fae in the House of the Fairies by Denny R. Swartzlander, book two of the Eleganta series, will be releasing on June 27, 2023.
The tale that must be told continues!
The tale that must be told continues!
February 23, 2022
The Eleganta audiobook is here!
The official audiobook production of book 1 of the Eleganta series is now available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. Return to the world of Fairykind, or listen to the tale for the first time as narrator Rafe Beckley brings the story to wonderful audio life!
Click here to check out Eleganta on Audible
The Eleganta book 1 audiobook has been released in preparation for the long-awaited publication of book 2 later this year!
Click here to check out Eleganta on Audible
The Eleganta book 1 audiobook has been released in preparation for the long-awaited publication of book 2 later this year!
January 30, 2022
Audiobook production of Eleganta: A novel of Fairykind
The official audiobook for book 1 of the Eleganta series is being released in February 2022. Narrated by Rafe Beckley. Listen now to some samples of how Rafe Beckley is bringing the story of Fairykind to audio life!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qgi1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj62Y...
Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qgi1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj62Y...
Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind
February 9, 2018
New 2nd edition paperback of Eleganta: A novel of Fairykind
New Eleganta paperback is now available on Amazon. This 2nd edition is newly edited and formatted for your enjoyment! Follow the tale of Fairykind and be ready for the upcoming book 2 of the Eleganta series!
Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind
Eleganta: A Novel of Fairykind
