To Trap a Fae (TrystexRetro)

Sometimes, men are brutish, uncouth creatures that never give a thought beyond their own pleasures. Sometimes, they are anything but...capable of great artistry, able to outsmart the Gods themselves. Arminius liked to think himself one of the latter. Named after a hero of his people that had crushed the might of Rome's legions in his grandfather's grandfather's time, he hoped to channel just a bit of his namesake's cunning this day. The Sidhe had been especially active in the Teutonenburgen Wald, the forbidden forest not far from his house, and more than one young man had gone missing when he was out picking hunting, more than one maiden deflowered by Sidhe warriors when she was collecting mushrooms. The elders had forbidden anyone to enter the forest for the time being, in an effort to prevent any more trouble till the Sidhe could be placated.

Arminius was too clever for that, of course, and intended to take advantage of the Fae court's turbulence. He had convinced the blacksmith to stretch him a piece of bronze wire ten feet long and thin as a maiden's hair, then solder the ends together with the finest tin so there was no risk of it breaking. A silver needle was forged next, and then an iron one. The iron one was taken to the wise woman of the village, along with back ink mixed with the essence of the mandrake root and wolfs bane, together with just a drop of oil from what was known as Fae's throne, a mushroom that gave men wild hallucinations before killing him. Mixing all of these with the iron needle, she used a stick to tap the back of the needle, driving the mixture into his skin.

What was left behind when she was finally finished was a pentagon inside of a star inside of a circle, each line with carefully written symbols in both the old tongue, that which was said to be passed down from Odin himself, as well as the Roman's way of writing, calling on the protection of the Gods to strengthen the circle. At last, he was ready. He gathered up a loaf of bread, unbroken, together with a skin of milk and a smaller one of honey, and went into the forbidden forest with all three.

He searched for an unbroken fairy ring of mushrooms, where the fae would be sure to return, and carefully laid down the bronze wire like a circle around it. A drop of the leftover ink together with a drop of his blood, extracted with the silver pen knife, linked the nearly invisible bronze circle to the tattoo on his back, which in turned linked whatever was trapped there to him. He squeezed a bit more of his blood into the base of the bread, and a bare drop into the milk, before carefully lifting his father's torc from around his neck and laying it beside the three other traditional offerings for the fae. No lesser fae would be willing to touch such a powerful offering, with so many emotions left embedded in the gold from being worn by three generations of men in times of happiness and despair. No, it would summon one of the Lords of the fae to it. He carried not a piece of iron on him to irritate their senses, nor had any been used to make the bronze circle, so he could only hope that it wouldn't trip the Sidhe's senses as he settled into wait, huddling beneath the heavy woolen cloak that he wore.

What a delightful day it had been! This time of year chill normally pierced the air but all week long the climate had an odd warm snap that had caused the last of the snow to melt and for the sun to shine warmly upon the land. The year was to be a good one, this was known, and all of the fae would enjoy the cheery weather that was to come.

Whenever it was bright and warm, thoughts of jealousy and bitterness were often pushed aside for more pleasant things. Why, Ithilwen even retreated from tormenting human travelers that passed through her woods. Since she was of a more genteel nature than her counterparts, more mischievous than insidious, many had left her tributes in a commonly trafficked fairy ring.

As she walked her long hair billowed behind her as if it was weightless, yet it still appeared thick with its luxuriously shinning curls. The tips were fringed with pale blue and silvery wisps while the top shone with a pale golden sheen. As the seasons changed, so did she. Her body followed the cycle of the seasons. In winter she had the body of a girl who had just had her first flux; small and delicate. In spring she bloomed to be a fair maiden in the glory of her youth. In summer she was still that maiden but more fiery and spirited in appearance and, in autumn, her look was that of a stately and refined woman just on the cusp of leaving her girlhood. Each form was just as beautiful and mystical in appearance as the last.

That day she looked to be fourteen or fifteen, breasts having ripened and legs, long but without the curve that marked her as a fully grown woman. All that encased this body was a shift of the thinnest, shimmering material that clung to every curve of the nubile frame beneath. Delicate feet practically danced towards the location where she assumed someone had left an offering for her.

And she was quite right. The spread that awaited her in the circle made of the mushrooms was quite a wonderful one. There was a beautiful loaf of the finest bread, a large skin, and a smaller skin. Such a strong offering and she beamed with pride. Ah! Not all humans were such bad fare, she wagered.

If she had been worried about people who would capture her, she likely would have paid more attention. Instead she walked right over the brass ring that encased the tribute. Once she sat down, material billowing around her, she noticed that there was another thing she had not noticed before.

"A torque!" she said gleefully to herself. Her voice rang like the smallest and most delicate of bells. A white hand reached for it and she placed it about her neck. These were symbols of nobility to the humans and she was more than thrilled that they thought she was that wonderful. It fluffed her ego considerably. Without another moment's haste, she grabbed a hold of the larger skin and took a long draught from it. Ah! It was rich and fatty, clearly coming from a good cow.

Arminius' breath caught in his throat as the fae maiden approached the circle. She showed no fear of humankind, and though he did not know her true name, he had heard her described many times. She was known as the dancing one by their Shaman, embodiment of the maiden. Likely, it was not at all accurate, but regardless, what a catch! Like a fisherman waiting for his prey, he lay perfectly still as she stepped into the faerie ring, watched as she plucked his father's torc from the ground. When she lifted the larger bag, he allowed himself the slightest of smiles, and as she took the first draught he gave a low murmur. "Cruxia Ligatis Circuli," in the tongue of the Romans far to the south.

The circle snapped shut with an audible pop as the air directly over the bronze wire was forcefully expelled. The tattoo on his back burned, and were he to look he would see it glowing a soft bluish glow like a wil'o'wisp, faerie fire. The ward that held her, in and of itself, was invisible save for a thin ring of fog that surrounded the brass wire. Try as she might, she could not escape that ring, no matter how high she flew nor how deep she dug, nor would anything she do affect where the ring was.

Slowly, he stood. He was a man into his middle years by the way the tribe measured them, born in the peak of summer twenty eight turnings of the season prior, and among the mightiest of the warriors. Not because of his strength, though that was among the best, but because of his knowledge. He had traveled as a young man the length and breadth of the land controlled by the tribes, sometimes further, had learned ways of handling the sword and spear from the fierce Northern tribes, had learned how to treat wounds from the remnants of the Romans, and perhaps most importantly had learned how to bind the fae from the tribes to the west. Never, however, had he bound one such as this.

Though it was unfair to compare him to a faerie, by the standard of the humans he was a handsome man, standing taller than all but one man in the village, with broad shoulders and legs. His blue eyes held much intelligence and fire, tempered with wisdom, while his dark hair was drawn back in a braid in the style of the western tribes, falling to between his shoulder blades and tied with a scrap of red cloth taken from a dead Roman's tunic.

"I bind thee, thricefold, fae. I bind thee to stay within the circle, I bind thee to speak no word that is not true, and I bind thee to mortal form. So long as the circle stands, I bind thee, fae. Thy release depends on my pleasure, for until the circle is broken you remain bound, till the heavens cease to turn and the earth is rent from beneath thy feet."

He had to grin, a bit boyishly, as what he had done finally settled in. He knew that she would rage, would plead, would beg, but eventually she would be forced to offer a bargain that should last, at the very least, until the end of his natural life, if not his son's. Now all he had to do was wait for the explosion.

As soon as the magic was sprung, she felt it, and Ithilwen stood straight up. At once she attempted to take the form of a bird so she may fly from the trap but it had been set up to completion instantly. Above her she beat her fist against the invisible wall and she attempted to kick around her. While the actions caused her no pain from how powerfully she was lashing out, she did meet a terrible resistance that seemed to repel her back and she found herself sprawled out on the floor of the fairy ring. A crueler snare had never been set!

Movement caught the side of her vision and she snapped her brightly colored eyes towards the direction it came. A tall human man was lumbering towards her. For his kind, she would have thought him attractive, if she wasn't so angry at him. There was no doubt that he had crafted the trap that had now kept her perfectly enclosed. Even in pure anger her face was fairer than any face had the right to be. As he approached he would likely notice that her shift did nothing to hide the frame beneath. Every budding curve was revealed by the material, the peaks of the pink nipples in relief against it. The dip of her belly button. The cleft of her womanhood. She was of a beauty that humans deemed unnatural.

From the magic circle she glared openly at his words. So. He bound her thrice over in ways that she hated. He may have expected an explosion. Lesser of her ilk spat like cats or tried shifting quickly into many shapes in forms of intimidation. There was no point. From his bearing she knew he was not so easily shaken.

"Why have you captured me?" she asked. There was no hiding the anger in her words, no matter how calm she tried to be. "What is it that you want from me? I have done nothing to harm you so, I assume, you want to make a bargin."

This wasn't the first time that a lucky human had managed to capture her. Those others were thwarted easily.

"Ah, it seems that I have caught a wise one among the fae....every other one of your kind I have captured has raged for hours, attempting to free themselves of their bindings, even those bindings that are more complete than this. I used no salt here, as the man that taught me would have, to close the circle further. But that is just as well, hmm?" He settled down beside the circle, settling into easier speech patterns now that the binding was finished. He crossed his legs, careful to keep three or four feet back from the circle..if any portion of his body crossed it, the circle was broken and she was free to act.

He did not fancy being dragged off to the unseelie courts, nor ripped limb from limb, so he was quite careful about his distance.

"I do indeed wish to make a bargain. If you agree to it, you will be bound for my life, my first born son's, and his first born son's, to serve my family as whomever the eldest of us alive wishes it. You will teach us, help us in battle, and aught else we require of you. You will tell me your true name, so I might summon you at my whim, and you will swear by your true name to abide by my wishes."

The deal was a bit harsher than some, but all in all not that terribly out of the ordinary. Some fae sought to be trapped, just so life would be interesting again...living since the creation of earth, though sometimes in different forms, meant that there was little sensation that the fae had not already felt, little actions that they had not already taken. Sometimes, serving a mortal could stave off ennui.

This fae, though, did not look pleased at all to be captured. Perhaps she had other designs on her time, though truthfully a century, like he was proposing, would be little more than a blip in her life, a day of doing unpleasant housework.

Freedom was the most important thing to the creature he had captures. While others that had roamed the Earth as long as she had and had grown bored of their own devices, she loathed this sort of entrapment. Being lassoed in by a human was shameful and embarrassing, if inevitable. After all she was a proud being and never learned that the tributes offered could be traps made to ensnare her.

"And what would you give me for this all?" she asked, as if she was the one who had the upper hand. "For you intend for me to go into one form of imprisonment to another and that must come with something for my efforts."

From beneath her thick dark gold eyelashes she peered languidly up at him. Her face was that of an innocent maiden but her gaze told of untold years of living. That was the glory of the fae. They could be both pure yet know the ways of the world. It was an interesting oxymoron and even she was perplexed by it.

"I am willing to make a bargain of such a nature, if I were to be offered more than freedom from this snare."

Really, generations had not effect on her. Humans lived for very sort spans indeed and she was glad that he had not asked her for immortality, which was in her realm to give, and all of what he requested. This was not the worse demand she had of her either.

"Freedom, for one. You will be at my summons for no more than one third of the day, at a time of mine own choosing, so you will still have as much time as you need to fulfill your duties to the fae courts. Secondly, I will give you a year of my life, a sad memory from my childhood, and a pleasant memory from my childhood, all of which you may choose at your leisure."

He was offering her three powerful things. As best could be figured out, fae did not have strong emotions, or at least they did not make so strong an impact on them as they might a human. Many fae attacked travelers just to steal memories from them, like brigands stealing gold. Offering two up, both charged with emotion, would be a trap for many fae. A year of a mortal's life meant that she would have his spirit as a servant for that year after he passed, which was likewise a powerful draw for most spirits. Now the only thing to do was wait and see if she took the bait.

He did not wish for immortality, becoming a fae like her. For one thing, he would be the smallest and weakest among them, ordered about by the more powerful fae. For another, then, he would be vulnerable to humans binding him until his name was forgotten, which might take several hundred years, were he not to kill all who knew his name beforehand. He was ruthless, but he was not cruel, and could not bring himself to do that.

This did appeal to her greatly. Memories were indeed as precious as any gemstone or pretty bauble. While she had not been the type to actively seek them out, this opportunity was a good one and the temptation was there. She looked at him severely for a moment, the calm facade flickered away before returning.

"Being at any summons is hardly freedom," was the softly reply. A second was given for the words to sink in. For, even if he set her free from the prison and only required use of her for part of the day, he still would keep her bound to him for a century. A third of a day became a full one after three of them passed. Then she continued. "But I agree to your conditions. Memories are good and, while I do not like the sadder ones, I think the happier one shall suit me just fine. A year of service to me after your death is hardly anything but I will hope to have your son and your son's son have a year of similar reverence after they have passed."

Perhaps it was cruel of her to ask that but, the way she saw it, this was only fair. He intended her to be loyal to her family for three generations. Why should not two of three not pay the same sort of due? It made sense to her.

"However, before I do, you must agree to never speak my name to anyone else, save for your son. Have your son do the same. It will not do for my name to common knowledge to all. Any wife you take must not know. Women are idle gossips."

He thought for just a moment. If he took this deal he was cursing his son and his son's son to die a year earlier than the fates had spun for them, but the prosperity that the fae could grant them would more than make up for the difference. Her other condition was a simple enough one, and one he intended to hold to regardless...everyone knew women were idle gossips, and such a thing would be best kept to men, regardless. Though he did not have a wife at the moment, one day he would.

"So be it. Give me your true name, fae, speak 'I agree' thrice and our deal shall be made. The circle shall be broken and thou shall be freed."

He sat in silence, waiting for her to speak the words, hardly breathing. He had trapped the maiden in his schemes, and though he knew the year after his death would be unpleasant, at least he had well secured his line's importance in these deep and dark woods. No longer would they be slaves to the capricious fae, no, they would be their Masters, for he knew by her stature that the fae he had captured was a queen among them.

While being forced to make a deal had displeased her, Ithilwen knew that her situation was not a light one and the bargain made between them was good considering her circumstances. Why, some were bold enough to ask fae to be their brides and the disgraced unseelie were forced to be broodmare for less than kind men! Luck had granted her avoidance from such vile men. Today she had been lured by a man who only wanted family to have good fortune.

"I, Ithilwen agree to the deal that has been struck. I, Ithilwen agree. I, Ithilwen agree," she replied in lofty tones.

She crawled towards the edge of the trap and placed her hands against the magical barrier. No salt was needed to seal this more completely or stronger. With how her kind behaved when trapped, however, she did not exactly blame humans. She did blame them for trying to capture her fellows. From beneath her thick golden lashes she watched him as a corner animal might watch a hunter that had them trapped. All she wanted was to leave and return to her home.

"Done, done, and done." He murmured, as she gave her word thrice. "Ithilwen, your third of a day begins now." He said, finishing, as he drew out a set of wire snips saved for just such a moment, and carefully snipped the bronze wire, symbolically breaking the circle that contained her. There was a loud *pop* of released magic before the circle that bound her collapsed to motes of colored lights around them both before dissipating entirely. He carefully began to re-wind the circle...metal of any type was expensive, and if aught else he could sell the metal back to the blacksmith for some future service.

"Tell me a bit of your nature, Ithilwen. When does your power wax and wane, how do you affect the world, so I might best know how to use your new oath of service to me." He cocked his head slightly to the side, unsure if her power was like the creatures more tied to the seasons...the nymphs, which went dormant in the winter, were foremost among them, though he thought her one of the greater fae. Her power might change, but it would not completely disappear.

"Are there more of your kind, or do you stand alone?" He asked, after a moment, as he considered her. He was still sitting beside where the circle had been, and motioned her to sit before him...an offer of, if not friendship, at least a bit of kindness to the creature he had just captured.

Truthfully, her service to him would likely include his carnal needs, as well....that was well within his rights of 'whatever he desired of her,' though being the mercurial creature she was, she might not have thought of that right away. She'd find out soon enough, though he doubted that he could bear a son from her...such arrogance was beyond even what his dreams could have been.

Now that was unexpected. She had imagined that, upon being freed, she would at least have a few hours to compose herself and warn others that there was a man interested in capturing fae for his desires. When the circle was released, she brought herself to her full height. The creature wasn't that tall in comparison to the other magical beings and stood only a inch or two above the average height of women. A most curious expression crossed her fair features and she clasped her slender hands before her.

"My nature? None have ever asked me that question before," she replied. "I am unlike most others that you call 'fae'. I do not like to torment humans for sport but, rather, I am mischievous with them and prefer to cause your kind mild distress.

As for my powers, I never lose them fully though my strengths shift with the seasons, as with my body. My abilities are most brilliant when the falls draws near the end and weakest in the start of winter.

I have the ability to do many things, for I am no lesser fae but, rather, a greater force among my ilk. I can grant immortality to men, I can shift my shapes into various birds, if I am so inclined I can make myself feather light to ride on the wind, I am able to speak with the Earth, stones, plants, and animals to gain knowledge and secrets..."

She trailed off at that. There were things she was forgetting because she had not used them in so long and, really, they were of little consequence. Minor things that were more boring than helpful and completely useless.

The next question made her eyes light up. "Like me? If there are, I would be hard pressed to find them."

That was an honest answer in her mind for, really, could the higher fae be compared to one another? They were each mighty and powerful. Why, even the earlking lingered between the woods that stretched out for ages.