Bercharmis: An Unexpected Fairy's Tale

By Jimmy Bishop

Seeking shelter from a sudden storm, twin fairy sisters Alfie and Iseachie are forced to spend the night in an unknown cave. The next morning brings a slight fog and the realization that they are not alone! Suddenly they are face to face with a gigantic creature. With the discovery that this extraordinary creature is only a baby (dragon), the sisters make a spur-of-the-moment decision that takes them on an incredible journey to reunite their new friend with his momma who has been captured by the captain of a pirate ship. The tiny sisters grow new friendships and overcome unknown enemies, all while battling impossible odds to survive outside the boundaries of the only world they have ever known. Bercharmis: An Unexpected Fairy's Tale is a delightful story about expanding your horizons, conquering your fears, and discovering your inner magic!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644685358

Book preview

1

The Storm

Many centuries ago, high on a mountain above the tiny farming village known as Desel, there is a small opening hidden between the rocks. Overhead, a storm approaches quickly and without warning. The sky turns dark, and the night seems to come almost instantly. As the rain pounds the rocks around the opening in the mountainside, flashes of lightning light up the falling rain in the night sky. These flashes of light reveal a massive cave inside the mountain.

I see a cave! Alfie yells to Iseachie. Hurry, this way.

Alfie and Iseachie are two young fairies that live beneath a large tree stump near the base of the mountain.

They know they are not allowed this far up the mountainside alone, but this is the only place where the large purple flowers grow. They are Iseachie’s favorite. She uses them to make her special dresses. Their papa told them he would take them up the mountain in the morning, but they just had to come today. The fairy parade is tomorrow, and there just wouldn’t be enough time. They will be in trouble now for sure.

Once they are inside the cave, Iseachie says to Alfie, "I…I’ve never noticed this cave before."

Alfie scolds, "Well, that’s because we have never been up the mountain this high before. Papa is gonna break our wings clean off for this. I am so stupid! I should have never listened to you."

Iseachie begins to cry.

Feeling guilty for getting so mad at her sister, Alfie says, Well, at least we found a place to get out of the rain. Maybe it will stop soon.

But the rain continued to fall.

Near the base of the mountain, in a tree-stump home, is Alfie and Iseachie’s momma, Kajice.

Kajice is a beautiful fairy, with grayish-green wings that sparkle from the light of the fire in the stove behind her. She is twirling her long blue hair around her fingers nervously. The shiny streaks had turned silver long ago.

She is staring out of a small knot hole in the front door.

Where are those girls this time? she says out loud to herself.

She is worried about the girls, and now she is starting to worry about her husband, Ryjer. He has already been out in the storm looking for the girls for over an hour.

Kajice opens the door a little, as the wind and rain blow inside. She rings the bell once more, the bell which is supposed to signal the girls to come inside, but Alfie and Iseachie can’t hear it from that high up the mountain.

Outside the cave, the thunder is so loud it sounds like cannon fire, like the sounds heard from the pirate ships that travel the shoreline on the backside of the mountain. However, deep inside the cave, the sounds of thunder are muffled and calming. You can barely feel the soft vibrations of the rocks as the thunder rolls across the night sky. The storm provides random flashes of light, and then it goes dark again.

I’m so cold, Iseachie says, shivering.

Alfie smiles. I’ll bet Momma’s got a warm fire burning for us right now.

Alfie, I’m really scared, Iseachie says. I didn’t know it was so late. How long do you think we will have to wait here?

I dunno, but we can’t leave until the rain stops, and we can’t fly in this wind for sure, Alfie insists.

Alfie and Iseachie huddle together trying to stay warm because it’s really cold that high up on the mountain. As they sit in the dark, wet and hungry, minutes seem like hours.

As the lightning flashes, Alfie notices the small scar above Iseachie’s eyebrow. She doesn’t dare let Iseachie see her looking at it. Alfie remembers the day Iseachie got the scar.

Alfie was chasing a June bug, while Iseachie was flying behind them both, yelling, Leave it alone!

When she finally got the string around the June bug’s leg, it spun around in the air, slinging Alfie in a circle. Then the June bug flew right into Iseachie, and she tumbled straight to the ground.

Alfie was so scared; she was franticly calling out Iseachie’s name. It took Momma and Papa forever to wake up Iseachie. Alfie wasn’t allowed out of the tree stump until several moons had passed, but she didn’t care; she was just glad that Iseachie was okay.

Even though Alfie and Iseachie are twins, Alfie has always been the big sister!

Alfie decided that day that she would always take care of Iseachie and keep her safe.

I am fr-freezing, Iseachie says, shivering.

Well, maybe we should go further into the cave to get away from the cold air! Alfie replies boldly. Alfie tries to sound brave, hoping Iseachie will not realize how scared she really is.

Uh-uh, I don’t think so, Iseachie mumbles. "I don’t even like being this far in the cave."

Trying to change the subject, Iseachie adds, I sure am hungry. I’ll bet Momma has prepared grub-worm casserole tonight and roasted pecans with berry sauce for dessert!

"Stop trying to change the subject, and stop talking about food! Alfie demands. I am hungry too! Now come on, we need to get warm."

Alfie takes Iseachie by the hand, and as they move slowly and carefully into the cave, Iseachie says, I’ll bet Momma’s really worried about us by now, Alfie.

Trying to take advantage of the flashes of light from the storm, the girls move further and further into the cave with each flash.

Once inside the large cavern, the air in front of them starts to feel warm. As the light flashes, they can see a huge rock in front of them as big as a blackberry bush. Then it is dark again. Another flash of light reveals the rock is as smooth as ice. Then it is dark again. As they move closer with each flash of light, they realize that the gigantic rock is as warm as the rocks that are nestled along the creek bank in the summertime sun.

Oh, we are so lucky, Alfie says. The heat from this rock will keep us warm, and maybe we can get our wings dry too.

The sisters eagerly find a place and sit down against the giant warm rock.

After they are comfortable and warm, Alfie whispers to Iseachie, I wish I had my magic.

Yeah, me too! replies Iseachie.

Sitting quietly in the dark with their arms locked together, the tiny sisters study the huge cave with each flash of lightning. Both of them are secretly concentrating to try and make their wings glow until they finally fall asleep.

*****

As the first light of the new day starts to move across the cave floor, it reveals a slight fog floating in the air.

Suddenly there’s a vibration. Iseachie is the first to feel it! The whole cave seems to rumble and move. She springs to her feet!

Alfie, Alfie! Iseachie yells.

Alfie wakes up to a dimly lit cave.

Again, Iseachie screams, Alfie!

What? Alfie replies. Then she feels it too!

She springs to her feet, and everything around them shakes and rumbles.

It can’t be the storm, they both think. It’s daylight now, and it’s not even raining.

Suddenly they hear a loud cracking sound and swoosh! Slimy goo splashes across them both. They both scream, and they trip and stumble, trying to run to the back of the cave.

The slimy goo is so thick and heavy that they can’t fly. They are both so scared, and they know they are trapped. Now large pieces of flat rock have started to fall, and they hear a loud noise unlike anything they had ever heard before. It was louder than a whole field of locusts.

What is happening? cries Iseachie.

I don’t know! Alfie screams.

Suddenly, the noise stops, and everything is silent. The only sound they can hear is their own heartbeats pounding in their chests. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

The two tiny fairies turn back around to see what is happening, and they can’t believe their eyes. Something is moving between them and the opening of the cave, and by the looks of it, it’s something big! When it moves one way, it blocks the light completely, and they can’t see at all. When it moves another way, the sunlight is shining so bright that they can’t see anything but intense light.

They start stumbling and tripping again as they try to run to one side of the cave. The faster they try to go, the slower they seem to move. When they reach the side of the cave, the light is now behind them, and they can see into the cave more clearly. They are both amazed, and they can’t believe what they are seeing.

This has to be a dream. A bad dream! They are looking at the large rock they had huddled beside through the night to stay warm, only it isn’t a rock at all. It is a large egg of some kind. It is now broken, and there is a large creature, some kind of giant baby creature, sitting halfway out of the egg with fog floating all around it!

What is it? they both whisper at the same time, still never taking their eyes off it.

The creature is so unbelievable that they don’t want to look away because if they do, it might be gone forever.

They are so amazed at what they see that they have completely forgotten how scared and hungry they are. They even forgot how worried Momma must be and how angry Papa must be. Iseachie even forgot about the purple flowers. They even forgot about the fairy parade.

At that moment, it was like nothing else in the whole world existed except for them and the incredible creature sitting before them.

Of course, that wasn’t the case at all!

2

Standing in a Shadow

At the foot of the mountain, the whole fairy colony has stopped getting ready for the parade to look for the girls.

Dellwen, the shopkeeper, is eager to close his doors to help look as well. Dellwen has known the twins since they were as small as dew drops! Their momma has always brought them into his shop with her when she comes for deer’s milk and his specialty breads. He has always given each of the girls a tiny mint root dipped in honey for them to chew.

Everyone in the colony likes the girls. It was a big deal when they were born because fairy twins are almost unheard of. Even grouchy ol’ Miss Adwan is out looking for them, although she doesn’t want anyone to know that she