We created two, seven-part micro stories, especially for FaRoFeb. Each part was created by a different FaRoFeb author. Here’s the first story – enjoy!
Part 1: HR Moore
Once upon a time, there was a pixie named Belinda. She lived in a sparkly cave with her extended family, but longed to live underground, in a warm, cozy burrow. Her best friend Ally lived in a burrow, the perfect burrow, except that her awful brother, Kenneth, lived there too.
Kenneth often wondered what beautiful-yet-belligerent Belinda got up to when she wasn’t doing interior design jobs for the rich magical folk of the area. He never saw her at the oak tree bar, or down by the eternally frozen lake, where everyone else liked to go ice skating after work. He amused himself, imagining her hiding an illicit affair from her overbearing family. What else could she be doing with all that time?
One afternoon, after delivering a cast iron lighting fixture he’d made to a client, Kenneth saw Belinda emerge from a tree trunk house. As the door swung closed behind her, Belinda glanced shiftily up and down the grove of trees. Then she headed north, on a path away from home…
Part 2: Jennifer Estep
Curious, Kenneth followed Belinda, who plunged into the Dark Woods, the dangerous part of the forest where only the bravest pixies ventured to hunt for berries. Kenneth thought about turning back, but he still wanted to know what Belinda was doing, so he kept going.
Belinda never hesitated or wavered from her course, and soon she reached a clearing in the heart of the Dark Woods—one that was filled dwarves, goblins, and other creatures. They were all shouting encouragement at the two gnomes dueling with swords in the center of a crude ring made of acorns and twigs that had been shoved together.
One gnome quickly disarmed the other creature, and the match ended to raucous cheers.
“And up next,” the announcer bellowed. “Belinda the Fearless!”
Belinda grinned and waved to the crowd before drawing the needle-sword on her hip and stepping into the ring. Her opponent was a dwarf who was more than twice her size, but Belinda remained cool and confident, even as the dwarf growled, raised his sword high, and charged at her …
Part 3: Donna Grant
Belinda deftly somersaulted over the dwarf to land behind him. She spun around and thrust her blade forward in the hopes of ending the match quickly. The clang of metal as the dwarf’s sword met hers didn’t unnerve her, though. Dwarfs were natural warriors, and her opponent was one of their best. To defeat him would be a great honor.
The crowd cheered her, calling out her name. It bolstered her and kept her dodging the dwarf’s attack and pursing her own offense. Sweat beaded her brow. Her attention was riveted to her opponent. There was absolutely nothing that would keep her from winning.
She ducked a swing aimed at her head and found herself backed to the spectators. A deep voice shouted, “Go, Belinda! You can do it!”
She knew that voice. With her attention diverted, she narrowly missed being skewered. She dove to the side and rolled to her feet. Her gaze scanned the faces of the audience. That’s when she saw him. Kenneth…
Part 4: Amanda Bouchet
What in the name of Pixie Dust was Kenneth doing here? He grinned at her and pumped his fist. Belinda growled at him as she ducked and rolled, popping up on the other side of the dwarf and concentrating on the battle again. If she could win the purse full of jewels from this tournament, she could buy her own burrow and escape her family. She’d be a free and independent pixie.
Belinda lunged when she saw an opening. It was a feint! The dwarf sidestepped and brought a meaty fist down on the top of her head. Her ears rang, and her vision wavered. She lost her balance.
“Bel!” Kenneth shouted.
She ground her teeth and tottered upright, dodging a kick aimed at her middle. She would not lose. And she would not lose in front of the gorgeous-but-infuriating Kenneth. He’d tease her mercilessly, just like he had since she was in pixie pigtails.
With a battle cry worthy of the mightiest troll under the bridge, Belinda raised her sword and pounced…
Day 5: Maria Vale
But the Fairy Forest Fight Club was no place for untrained pixies. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kenneth, his back arched, pleading eyes turned to her. Stinky Mervin, the bellicose brownie Belinda had trounced last week, stood behind him, looking from Kenneth to the weaver’s nest, just out of reach where the prize purse was hidden. He grinned.
What will it be, Belinda?
The burrow or the beau?
Belinda whirled away from her opponent, seething, thinking about the long lonely hours of training, all for a home that was as close as the weaver’s nest…but more than jewels were on the line now. She thought about telling Ally that her brother was dead. Even worse, she imagined visiting the cozy burrow which she’d loved in no small part because of Kenneth.
The tiny pixie gritted her teeth and rounded on her opponent, slashing at his calf. When the hamstrung dwarf fell to his knee, Bel used his leg, his shoulder and his head to propel herself into the air and cut the weaver’s nest from its branch.
She landed in the crowd around Kenneth and brought her pommel smartly onto Stinky Merv’s nose, every brownie’s most sensitive spot.
“Kenneth,” she whispered…
Part 6: Helen Harper
Stinky Merv fell to his knees, his hands clamped over his nose while he howled in agony. His brownie blood splattered onto both the grass and Belinda’s leafy green dress.
“Kenneth,” Belinda whispered once more.
Kenneth barely heard her over the roar of adulation from the watching crowd. Dwarves and goblins rushed on from all sides, desperate to congratulate Belinda on her historic win.
“I had no idea,” he gasped, shoving one particularly enthusiastic goblin out of the way, “that you were fierce enough to bring down both a dwarf and a brownie. I’m impressed at your skills and I’m glad that you won, but why would you put yourself in such danger? And look at the state of that dress! You’ll never get those bloodstains out, you know. You’re really not like other girls, Belinda.”
She grinned and stretched her arms down, reaching for the weaver’s nest and the precious prize purse. Two dwarves grabbed Belinda and hoisted her up onto their shoulders. “All hail Belinda the Fearless!” they chanted.
Then she glanced down at Kenneth…
Part 7: Michelle Diener
“I am like other girls, Kenneth. All I’ve done is work hard toward my goals. And today, I’ve reached one of them.” Belinda let the dwarves carry her away, leaving an open-mouthed Kenneth in her wake.
A few days later, she was hard at work setting her new burrow to rights when she heard a knock on her door.
It was Kenneth, holding an iron light fixture.
“A burrow-warming gift,” he said. “I’ve thought a lot about what happened the other day. Instead of letting me fend for myself with Merv, you saved me and you won your prize. And my response was to criticise you for the bloodstains on your dress.” He lowered his head in embarrassment.
Belinda took the light fixture, and saw he’d made it in the shape of the tree that stood above the Fight Club circle, with crystals dangling from the branches, to symbolise the jewels she had won in order to buy her own burrow.
He had obviously put a lot of thought into it.
She sent him a slow, Belinda-the-Fearless smile and held out a hand.
“Perhaps you can help me hang this?” she said.
If you loved this story, check out the full length works by the authors involved. You’ll love them too!