A Valentine's Day Treat: Tales from Mythénia (Guest Post)
Dearest readers! You asked for it, so here it is! As a Valentine's Day treat, please enjoy the next installment of 'The Tooth Fairy Slayer'. 💖
Love what you read? Be sure to support my friend Sydney Jasperson on her Patreon! (See part 1 for links).
✨️🦷The Tooth Fairy Slayer: Chapter 3 🦷✨️
Gabby woke to a chilly morning. Her nostrils stuck together and her throat was dry. Pushing back the covers as she sat up, a chill greeted her as she looked around the room. The window was shut and her mother was neither in bed, nor under the window.
She must be in the kitchen already, Gabby thought. She blinked away the remainder of sleepiness, feeling the nightly eye crusties stick together. Rubbing her eyes, she slid from the bed, lazily throwing the quilt back over the mattress. First she stopped at the wash basin to clean her face before heading down stairs to join the rest of her family.
When she did arrive in the kitchen she found Nana cooking and her mother cleaning up a mess.
“What happened?” she asked.
“We're not sure. Will you please let the chickens out?” her mother asked.
“Yes mama!” Gabby hurried to the task. The chickens were ready to be released – only one gave her a stinky look.
Gabriella returned inside and was immediately tasked with setting plates and napkins on the table. The plates were housed in the cupboard next to the bowls- again, she would only retrieve three. The cloth napkins were in a large folded pile in the linen closet on the other side of the living space. Gabby placed the plates on the table before going to the linen closet.
She pulled three regular white cloth napkins from the pile, ready to return to the table until she saw the tiniest corner of a pink napkin stuffed in the back. She was able to reach them, but dropped all the napkins in the process. Carefully she shook the dust off the white napkins, folded them, and replaced them on the pile. Proudly, she carried the pink napkins to the dining area.
Setting the napkins on the table, she felt they were familiar somehow, but could not place where she knew them from. She added one to each place setting when she saw she had missed a dirty spot. She took the napkin in her hands and began to rub out the dirt spot when a loud gasp from her mother startled her into letting it fall a second time.
“Where did you find these Gabs?”
“The back of the napkin shelf?” Gabby answered hesitantly.
“Those were a gift for you when you were a baby. I was saving them, but I had lost them…” her mother admitted, “But I am glad you found them! A cheerful color for this chilly morning!”
Gabby nodded and bent to pick up the napkin, but instead she found two. The soft pink, linen napkin and a smaller white one with .. dots?
I do not remember us having dotted napkins.
While she did not recognize the fabric her Nana would.
“Nana, where did this come from?”
As Gabby picked up the scrap of cloth to show her grandmother, a strange feeling passed through her causing a shiver. When she looked up, she saw that in Nana’s place near the cauldron stood a dappled white horse. Gabby blinked in confusion, wondering if she were still dreaming, but the white horse with black-grey spots and blonde mane remained. She turned her head to her mother – or rather where her mother had been and saw it empty. She did, however, see a golden tooth on the floor. Gabby approached the small tooth, kneeling to inspect it closer. She picked it up and laid it on the scrap of fabric she had found. It shone like a new coin, but was too small to be melted into one.
Her attention was recaptured by the horse in the kitchen. She quickly set the tooth and cloth on the counter, then turned to the horse. Gabby felt crazy making the assumption that this horse was her grandmother, so she stopped, shoving the thought to the back of her mind, and focused entirely on removing the horse from the house. Nana would be very cross if the horse broke their dishware. They had never had a horse though, only chickens, so this was a whole new experience for Gabby. How did a kid get a horse outdoors?
At present, the horse was wandering around the small living space that they had divided into a kitchen, dining room and small sitting room. It had made a mess of the kitchen: the cauldron was still in the fire, surely burning their breakfast. It moved into the more open space of the sitting room near the stairs. Gabby felt a sting of panic rise through her body as she imagined the horse climbing up the stairs. She ran to the door and flung it open, the sound caught the horse’s attention. It turned towards the light, working its mouth like it was chewing on something.
“There you go, outside!” Gabby gestured towards the door, but the horse did not move. It looked around the house as if taking stock of what to nibble on.
“Horse! The door! Out!” Gabby pointed, commanding the horse to listen. It did not. Instead it twisted its head back towards the stairs.
“NO!” Gabby said firmly. But of course, the horse did not listen and turned its body towards the stairs.
“I said no!” Gabriella drew out the last word with the last of her patience, moving quickly between the horse and the stairs.
“Horses do not belong upstairs! Outside! Go!” Gabby stood a few steps up from the horse, now looking down with her arms wide. She pointed the horse in the correct direction, receiving a heavy sigh as the horse did turn back towards the door, then stopped.
“Uhg! Come on! Get out!” Gabby whined. She came up next to the horse's flank and pushed her shoulder in. Surprisingly the horse took a few steps, but stopped once more. Gabby tried again but the animal did not budge. The girl gave another shove and the horse stepped to the right, making Gabby slip and fall to the floor.
“That is it. You are leaving right now!” Gabby swept the house with fury for something to pull the horse out of the house. Her eyes landed on her mothers well-worn, frayed wine-colored cloak. Gabby grabbed the old cloak off the knob that it hung from in the sitting room and threw it around the horse’s neck. It startled a little, but did not run off.
Gabby gathered up the fabric and tugged lightly. The horse followed the gentle tugs all the way out the door. Gabby released a sigh of relief; most of the dishes were safe. When she pulled the cloak off the horse's neck she saw the grey hairs around its nose and up into its mane. Its tail also had streaks of grey and white mixed in with the blonde. Strangest of all, the horse also had her Nana’s forestry hazel eyes.
Gabby shook the thought from her head. She glanced around. It was strange; the hens did not seem to mind the giant four-legged beast in their yard. The small fence they had was a few inches shorter than Gabby herself. The chickens did not leave, so maybe the horse would not either. She returned inside the house to assess the damage.
The inside of the cottage was not so bad. There was no breakfast to eat now, and the fire had gone out. Still, the cauldron was relatively clean, just full of charred food. Gabby pulled it out of the embers and onto the hearthstone with a cloth before she inspected the rest of the house. The cupboard was still upright. Her mother had picked up everything that had fallen in the night and collected it on the far end of the table. Gabby saw the gold tooth on the foreign fabric and approached it to investigate the tooth yet again.
She was no barber, but she did recognize this type of tooth from when she had walked past a barber with her grandfather. If he was right – and he usually was– it was a human molar. It looked like someone had melted pure gold over it, and maybe they had. When she picked it up it was cold and eerily smooth. It did not feel fragile, it felt more like a dense pebble. Gabby replaced it on the table and picked up the strange fabric.
It was white, very soft and maybe even expensive. Immediately she knew it did not belong here. She could not quite make out the small spots on the fabric either, but they were irregular and an off-white, almost yellow. Only one side had the pattern, the other was plain but very silky, like a very wide ribbon. Gabby noticed the shape was only symmetrical one way, it was not a perfect rectangle. It could be a cloak, she thought, but instead shook her head to clear the idea.
Gabby sat on the step and grabbed her firey hair into fists, tugging it to see if she were still sleeping. With her mother gone and her Nana mysteriously vanishing into thin air, she was left all alone with just a horse, the chickens, a tiny tooth, and a strange swatch of fabric. What was going on? Things were happening like she was in a never-ending nightmare. She had trouble sorting the facts into rational thought. The only solid idea she had was to continue the day like nothing had happened.
So that is what she did.
Gabby went on with her daily tasks and tried her best to complete her mother's. She was not quite sure what Nana did everyday, but she gave the day her best. Occasionally, she would stick her head outside to see if the horse was still there – it was. Gabby cleaned the cookware and attempted to gather food from the garden, but found that the horse had gotten into most of what had not been picked yet. “Thanks horse. I really hope I do not need that later.” she huffed as she returned to the house empty-handed.
All this left Gabby with time to imagine every possible scenario from that morning's events. Her mind wandered back to the tales her mother had told her as a smaller child, until suddenly their good neighbor Henrey stopped to chat. He waved to her, catching her attention. She approached the fence, watching as Henrey looked the horse over.
“When did ‘ya bring ‘er o’er ‘ere?” he asked in awe.
“Hello Henrey. This morning actually.” Gabby smiled, hoping her fib would go unnoticed.
“This mornin’? Musta missed the deliv’ry!” he whistled as he watched the horse meander through the garden.
“Must have.” Gabby replied. She knew Henrey was a very involved neighbor. He helped around the cottage even before her papa had died. Henrey was a blacksmith- if anyone could help her a little, it would be him. She wanted to be careful though, she did not want to raise suspicion with all her neighbors.
“Well! She’s a beaut!” he proclaimed.
“Thank you. You are sure it is a lady horse?” Gabby asked carefully
“Oh i’ve shoed my share of mares in my time, thats a mare for sure.” he chuckled.
“Do you think you could tell her age too?” Henrey gave her a puzzled look.
“Seller didn’t tell ya?”
Gabby felt her face flush.
“Uh – no. she just sort of showed up.”
“Oh! In that case lemme take ‘er to the stables. The boys’ll know where she belongs.”
“No! Wait. it's ok, she's ok!”
Henrey gave her a concerned look but let it be.
“Ok,” he started, “so I’d say she’s gettin’ up there. Maybe thirty?”
“Oh, is that old for a horse?”
Henrey laughed, which got the horse's attention. She did not come to the fence though, just watched him from where she stood.
“Sometimes, but she looks like she's in good condition. Looks like maybe she's had a foal or two.” he rubbed his face as he assessed her. The horse seemed to be uncomfortable with the gawking. She snorted, the turned and walked towards the rear of the house to hide from sight. Henrey chuckled again. He started to say goodbye when Gabby interrupted.
“Thank you. Um, do you still sell horse stuff? I think I need the face part and the seat…”
“Yes little lady, I do still have a few bridles and saddles for sale. Come down soon and I'll show ya what I got!”
“Thank you, I will.”
“Have a good day young miss.” he dipped his head and waddled off.
“You also Henrey.” Gabby replied.
✨️🧚♂️ Thanks for reading! Stay tuned~ 💖✨️
*Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is entirely coincidental.
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