Meribabell and the Undead Trolls: The Fairy Diary

By Ralph Osgood

Why would the High Fairy send Meribabell, a young know-it-all fairy, after a runaway renegade? Something strange is going on out on the frontier of the Faerie Kingdom, and Meribabell runs smack dab into it, collecting friends and enemies along the way. Everyone gets more than they expected.

Can anyone say - dwarves, elves, pixies, trolls and a wizard? And, oh yes, humans, too.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnabas Press
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223157335

Ralph Osgood

I am a poet, an historian, a novelist, and a writer for stage and screen, but foremost a responder to Jesus (Romans 5:8). I was employed for over forty years in the entertainment industry, the last thirty of which I have crunched numbers successively for three of the top ten theater circuits in the US. Back then my forte was numbers, added up in columns and balanced. Now I am hard at work exploring the richness of existence in a passion for words. Words that add up into poems, works of fiction and non, and works to be performed. I am currently writing my third novel, looking out from my window onto the great Pacific Northwest, where I live with my wife Karen. I am self-publishing my first work in June 2022, and from then on, plan to put something out every three months. Join me as I follow the Word.

Book preview

To the lovers of fantasy and adventure.

CHAPTER ONE

The Narrator's Tale

With much timidity I offer up my latest discovery. It has given me no rest these past few months. My selfish desire looms over this decision. For I would rather not share and keep it solely to myself.

But the other voice won’t suffer that to be. And calls out incessantly to be let out and allowed to breathe and to walk about.

Yet I think I will wait.

Until tomorrow.

I promise.

A promise is a promise.

The voice reminds me.

So, here goes.

The strangest volume has come into my possession. It is tiny and fits easily in the palm of my hand. Yet it is so thick I cannot close my fingers around the whole of it.

It took me the longest while to figure out how to open it to look within. A lock of sorts sits on the cover and laughs at my attempts to free its contents.

Only by a revelation from a dream did I finally release the pages within.

But I must stop now, in obedience.

And proceed cautiously.

The struggle continues.

And it commenced the minute I lifted the volume from beneath a cabbage leaf in my garden. I was rooting out a particularly noxious weed and the book came up with it.

Discarding the one and closely examining the other, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was being watched.

Was this cloying feeling my response to some nearby unseen entity?

I actually spun around to check behind me. A frenzy descended upon me.

I admit I was spooked for I could see nothing at any turn.

A cloud passed over the sun, and calm was restored.

I left with the mysterious book.

As I have related it was some time before I could open the book. I went about my regular life - working, eating and sleeping. But my mind frequently turned to the conundrum on the shelf. I spent hours holding it in my palm and staring.

I wasn’t sure then but I am positive now that glints of light emanated from its pages whenever my back was turned. (This truth only came later). Obviously I felt something was going on. And my unease grew as the night lengthened.

It was two weeks after I brought it home that the dreams began.

The dreams were such that I did not connect them at all to the book on my shelf. From what I can remember they were ordinary fare in so far as dreams go. They even had twists at the end. But I did remark that they were much more vivid. They lingered like a half remembered fragrance.

Thus they continued until a day came and they were accompanied by scrolling text.

I believe that first occurred when my frustration with the lock on the book was at its height.

The letters of the text were not any I recognized.

I hang my head and admit my dullness - for it took the longest time for me to understand that the same five letters appeared over and over again above the image of the lock that floated in and out of my dreams.

I stumble over my thoughts when I consider how best to explain how I unlocked the book.

I sat in front of this page a full hour before I set pen to it.

It was not so much the same five letters that I saw over and over - though I am so familiar with them now.

But it marks the first time I heard the voice. And I felt myself to be the object of some watching presence once again.

The voice did not address me. On the contrary the impression grew that I was being allowed to overhear what was said.

My comprehension was immediate. I saw the letters as the steps to manipulate the lock open.

I followed them. And saw the pages within at last.

The pages were filled with letters and symbols, cramped from top to bottom with what looked like strings of words and blocks of paragraphs. And here and there were larger markings, very much like those in my dreams that gave the clues for unlocking the book.

As my eye scanned down the first page the letters etc gave off a silver iridescence, indicating exactly where my gaze was focused.

I flipped to the back of the volume and saw that the pages from there back to the middle were empty. Plenty of room to make additions.

But I could not read any of it.

So much more to puzzle over. I spent hours turning pages, looking for clues or a key to help me translate. I took to counting the pages with writing and lost count somewhere around the two thousand mark, and still more pages with text lay ahead.

At that point I thought to check out the covers - but they were clean, not even anything I could assume was a signature of ownership.

Days later I finally reached the last page of written material. Well short of half way through the volume.

And there before my eyes, in flashes of brilliant light more letters drew themselves onto the page. And when finished the book closed up and the lock relocked.

Many more times I witnessed the same mysterious writing, followed by the precipitate closing and locking of the book. A couple of times I attempted to mark the place with anything that came to hand, but in each instance the object was expelled - most violently.

I stopped trying after a paper clip that I attached to the page I was on, simply disappeared.

That night the dreams came back.

I was not troubled by these dreams. Rather I thought they were reaching out to me. To help me to understand - myself - this book - and the situation in which it had placed me.

Yet they never seemed to conclude - despite efforts to go back into that dream state after waking.

Then, a morning came when I heard the voice again. And I realized something that I had not grasped before. It was not any spoken tongue that I have known or studied. But I understood it completely.

Excitedly I fetched the tiny fat volume from the shelf. And opened it.

Now I understood every letter and every word.

I tried to start from the first page, but every attempt was thwarted. With a mind of its own it would fan its pages forward to a spot that I believe was the same on each occasion.

At last I gave in and went with its ‘suggestion.’

And that was how I was introduced to the writer of this volume, or at the least, the author commencing from that spot.

If not for the evidence of my own eyes that have seen the writing appear from nowhere on to the page, I would not give any credence to what he claims to be.

CHAPTER TWO

Introducing Meribabell

NOW, MAY I, your narrator, introduce you to Meribabell, in his own words:

At long last I am allowed to contribute to the collected wisdom of our people.

Why is age tied to that privilege? It seems so unfair. Are all my experiences before now unworthy?

I’ve been sampling what has been shared before on these pages, and I think I’m so much smarter. (Though I can’t wait to try that transformation trick on that greedy Roseberry).

Good thing he can’t read this.

I wonder if anyone has mentioned me. Maybe I shouldn’t mention anyone by name.

No, there are names mentioned everywhere.

Now to prepare for my first appearance on the Fairy Council. The first time in eons that a Meribabell has taken a seat among the rulers of the kingdom of Faerie.

One day and I am already on report. If I want back in their presence I have to write an apology to that insufferable Rumbletwist.

Well, I do not know if it is worth it.

Besides I believe it is totally unfair. Does the council leader have the right to require it from me?

I just made one little suggestion. Surely an improvement that everyone in our village would approve.

How could I know that saying what everyone was thinking could insult the high and mighty Rumble?

I think I’ll stay away tomorrow. Maybe I’ll go on a trip.

It was a pleasant day in the sunshine as I toured the daisy chain around our village. All appears in order. But better yet my time out and about improved my mood.

And now I am filled up with more ideas for improvements the next time I am in council.

If I apologize.

There has got to be a way around that.

I was just writing that sentence when the strangest bit of metal appeared at the top of this page.

I removed it and examined it closely. It is striking to look at, perhaps a precious metal - but seems incomplete, there are two loose ends that do not meet together.

I shall show it to my friend.

Noralei doesn’t think my new trinket is made from any precious metal that she has ever known. I felt quite anxious when I handed it to her. And became more so when she started to bend one section. Before I could take it back she moved to her forge. I wrenched it back from her before she could plunge it into the flames.

This upset my friend. She folded those massive arms and asked just what I wanted her to do with the thing.

I was speechless for two wing beats, then asked if she could mount it on a chain to wear around my neck.

Noralei laughed out loud and pointed out that it was almost as big as my head.

She thought she had me there. But I said I would take it in to the High Fairy.

My new necklace with its pendant was indeed too big to wear. So I carried it into the High Fairy’s chambers. His servant left me to wait there under the eye of a creature I can not describe. If I made any movement from my chair towards any other part of the room, a rumble of warning arose from deep within its barrel chest. I am not too proud to say, it intimidated me.

I satisfied my curiosity from where I sat taking in those things I could smell, hear, or see, and there was plenty in each category.

The High Fairy at last entered and without a word took my necklace and in the space of a dozen strokes of a wing presented back to me a necklace I could now wear without fear of tripping over it.

Before I could ask how he knew what I was there for, he dismissed me and told me to return tomorrow with an apology for Rumbletwist.

The High Fairy sent me away with a note yesterday. It dictated the form my apology to Rumbletwist should take, and did not end until adding other orders and one very startling revelation.

I could not sleep. I felt a heaviness throughout the night.

Finally to give my spirit rest I set it aside and wrote out the apology per his order. And I tried to forget, for the moment, the more upsetting concerns he revealed.

I wish they were as small in importance as this apology now seems.

This changes everything about me and where I thought my destiny lay.

I arrived early in the council chambers and placed my note of apology at Rumbletwist’s place in the circle. He was not yet there. The High Fairy, though, was. And he nodded his approval from across the chamber.

Soon after we were all gathered together, except Rumble.

The High Fairy motioned to begin the meeting and was interrupted by the captain of the guard.

In the excitement that followed I was thoroughly confused. It seems everyone knew what was happening except me.

As our leader later explained it, the captain of the guard had been sent to arrest Rumble, only to discover that he had fled.

And I am charged with his pursuit.

Why me?

Does he think our recent animosity would make me more motivated?

Then, why have me apologize?

I could not even direct my questions to the High Fairy. Simply could not. And he, for his part, only pointed me in the direction I must go and supplied me with a case in which to carry the note that he had given me.

He will continue to communicate with me through that note. I will be able to write back, but he did not encourage that outright.

There is room in the bottom of the case for me to pack my diary. Most of my writing, I feel, will be done there.

This is all unfamiliar territory. I know quite well the lay of the land in the other direction. Many times I have been to the capital where our Queen reigns. Which, no doubt, was why Rumbletwist has chosen this direction. He wants to stay beyond the reach of all authority.

The farther I go away from our village, the more I slow down. Partly it is the strangeness of something new. Mostly it is the fear of falling into some trap or other.

Last night I could hear something moving around among the trees and brush where I had chosen to rest. I sat and listened until I was sure it had crawled away.

It was an uneasy night.

Thankfully there is only one path before me, so Rumbletwist has to be somewhere ahead.

I may have my eyes on it, but my mind is perplexed with thoughts of how to capture and take him back.

After I had returned my diary to the bottom of the case, I checked the note from the High Fairy. There was a new message from him. Or rather instructions.

All it said was to bear to the right.

It made little sense at the time. Until the path this afternoon split in two.

After a brief hesitation I took the path to the right. It would not have been my choice on the face of it. It appeared to be much more difficult. Closed in and dark and foreboding.

I checked the note again. There was nothing new. But the recent instructions were now underlined.

Even more noises disturbed my rest last night. Finally I just forgot about everything and slept - on and on. I missed the sunrise - which I felt guilty about.

(It is so much darker in this wood).

There was no new message from the High Fairy this morning.

I set out with a will, and maybe rushed a little too fast. I was brought to a halt when my pendant glowed a bright yellow. And consequently it kept me from crashing into the presence of my quarry - Rumbletwist.

I was able to observe him as he stood there considering his next move.

But I remained gawking too long. My glowing pendant must have gained his attention and before I knew it, he twirled something over his head and disappeared.

After a fruitless afternoon and evening of trying to locate Rumble, I wrote a message at the bottom of the note to the High Fairy - before turning in.

There was no answer when I checked this morning. So I decided to wait for instructions.

My peace was upended when the sun was at its height - a message burned itself onto the page of the note.

He asked why I had stopped? Especially since he had given me the means to track Rumbletwist.

I realized at once that he had done something more to my pendant than shrinking it. And I learned that he also knew where I was and what I was doing.

I set out again immediately.

As I tested my pendant along the way. I discovered that besides its change in color, it also grew warm to the touch as I chose among different pathways.

I am now a long, long way from Nonin-gal-dith and I am getting homesick. My pendant has remained warm, so I was confident I was on the right path.

But I have had two different thoughts battling for my attention today. And I fear again they are slowing me down.

I know there are no