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FLYING WITH FAIRIES

BY

ROBERT CHERNEY

A Club Lighthouse Publishing E-Book

ISBN 978-1-897532-39-3

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2009 Robert Cherny

Cover Art: T.L. Davison

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely co-incidental.

For information contact:

[email protected]

A Club Lighthouse Fantasy Edition

mailto:[email protected]





FLYING WITH FAIRIES Robert Cherny

2

CHAPTER 1

DANNY LEVINE PASSED THE last of the paperwork required to be considered for licensure

in the practice of medicine in the state of Massachusetts to the lady behind the desk. After examiningit, she looked up and smiled.

"It is all in order. We should have an answer to you shortly. Do you have plans for the

weekend?"

Danny recognized the "I have an unmarried girl friend" look in her eye having seen that look

many times before and smiled back.

"I think I'll take a short vacation in the Bahamas."

She smiled again,

"Well, if you think you might like some scintillating company let me know."

He returned the smile,

"Perhaps another time."

"You don't know what you're missing."

Danny shook his head slowly.

"I'm flying solo this trip. I am looking forward to all my conversations having to do with choices

on the menu and signing up for snorkelling tours. I need to be going. You have a great weekend." Henodded to her and quietly escaped the small office.

Danny walked briskly to the subway. The emergency clinic where he worked as a resident was a

few subway stops away. When he arrived, the doctor that supervised him greeted him as he entered

the empty waiting room.

"Good afternoon Danny, sign your life away did you?" His grin consumed his whole face.

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. When were you leaving for vacation?"

"Tonight, sir."

"Have you packed yet?"

"No, sir."

The older man huffed at him. He waved his arm at the empty waiting room.




3

"It's quiet today. Go home, pack and enjoy your vacation. Unless you're in trouble, I don't want

to hear from you until it is time to come back."

"Yes, sir."

The older man gently pushed him in the direction of the door.

"Don't bring me back any diseases I can't cure! Safety is everything!"

The last thing Danny heard as the glass doors closed behind him was the nurses giggling at the

joke. Danny hurried home and tried to decide how to pack. He saw some thunderheads on thehorizon. If he hurried he could use them for cover and leave early. He realized that the most

convenient way to travel would be to take the weatherproof camping pack he had purchased last

winter. One of his fellow med students who hailed from the mountains of Vermont had convincedhim to go on a winter camping trip. What a disaster that had been! He felt completely disgusted

with agreeing to this stupidity. Upon returning he had removed the clothing from the pack because it

was damp and would mildew but had left all the remaining camping gear in the pockets. Given thathe would not be dealing with airport security he saw no reason to take the time to unpack the bits and

pieces. Large droplets of rain from a summer squall spattered on the fire escape as he stepped out.

Closing the door carefully, he smiled, took a deep breath and headed south for vacation.




4

CHAPTER TWO

FLYING UP TO THE rain slicked second floor fire escape on an apartment building in direct

sight of a City of Boston Police Precinct Station instead of taking the stairs was probably not one ofthe brighter things Titania had ever done. This was due to being in a state of panic. Her first secret

mission to "THE OTHER SIDE" was going badly. She had narrowly escaped detection more times

than she wanted to count. The sporadic rain squalls had not been predictable enough for her to properly use them as cover. She been detected and challenged only once but that was bad enough.

The delay caused by something as seemingly benign as a cheerfully inquisitive teenager could have been disastrous to her mission. In fact, that was why she had arrived at her destination late. The kid

had meant no harm but swearing him to secrecy had held her up. Now she was very late and wet and

trembling with fear.

The man she sought was not at the clinic where he worked. Her intelligence people had told herto wait there for him to exit at the end of the day. She had been anxious and had gone in to see him

only to be informed that he had left early because the patient load had been light that day. The

mission had all seemed so easy when they briefed her. A pretty young woman stops to ask a man on

the street for directions and then they leave together for parts unknown from which he may or may

not return.

She had flown literally, when she thought she could get away with it and figuratively when she

couldn't from the clinic to his apartment. It was a short subway ride but she didn't know how to usethe subway. Titania didn't need any special skills to gain entry to the apartment. The cleaning lady

had left the back door open while she took out the trash.

A quick scan of the papers on the desk told Titania where he was going but not how he wasgetting there. Titania held back her fear and the nausea caused by the anticipation of the reaction she

would get if she returned home. She would have to explain her failure and ignoring the

consequences of detection. She jetted out the back door and flew as fast as she could south in pursuit

of the man she had been sent to bring home because her people desperately needed his help.




5

CHAPTER THREE

"FLYING IS BETTER THAN sex."

That was Danny‟s last giddy thought before the collision. He was flying south (Superman style)

playing slalom with the islands in the Outer Banks when something nailed him from above and sent

him careening spinning out of control falling out of the normally friendly skies. Wham! One second

he flew along minding his own business excited with the joy of flying and the next he tumbled from

the sky fighting for his life. The collision was so hard it could not have been an accident.

There had been no crunch of metal on impact. From a hundred feet there is not a lot of room to

plummet or manoeuvre. There was only the sound of one warm blooded body hitting the other.Danny had been flying solo too long for something like a full on collision to make him panic. Seeing

the water rush up at him did have a sobering effect. He was able to regain enough control of his

descent to turn his steep nose dive into an arc. This meant that instead of hitting the surface of thewater straight on and drilling his head firmly into the center of an impact crater of soft sand on the

ocean floor. He would gracefully carve a path across the surface and his body would fly apart as it

cart wheeled. Danny knew before he hit the water that he would not die. Neither would whateverhad collided with him. Wahever hit him desperately clutched both arms around his neck hanging on

for dear life and screaming in terror. The determined frantic grasp was complicated by the field pack

he carried. Whoever came up with this plan, something had gone dreadfully wrong. Danny was less

than thrilled.

The impact of the water knocked him out. He regained consciousness slowly. Not yet having

opened his eyes, he did a mental self exam. Danny knew that he had not only survived the crash but

he lay on his back in the sand on an island somewhere in the Outer Banks. Not that there wasanything wrong with the Outer Banks. This was not where he wanted to be with someone or

something sitting on his chest holding him down.

While one part of his mind assessing his condition, another wandered. The North CarolinaBarrier Islands were beautiful this time of year. Flying over them last night, the soft glow of the full

moon gave them a mystery that amplified their awesomeness. Danny pretended there was a slalom

course and flying a twisting route over the channels between them. Their beauty from the air in thesoft moonlight was what prompted the thought about sex being inferior to flying. He still had plenty

of time to make his ship in Fort Lauderdale and a little "dodge the radar" game would not cause him

to be late. Studying for his medical board exams had left him exhausted. He could relax now that

the exam had gone to the committee. Sadly, he would not hear the results for a few weeks. He planned a vacation in Freeport, Grand Bahama before returning to work and that was all there was to

it.

Danny remembered dragging himself out of the water and pulling his backpack above the high

tide line before collapsing in the sand. How he got to this sandy beach from where he had hit thewater with the weight of the backpack and his less than magnificent swimming, was beyond him. Of




6

course, he could be dead and not know it yet. Something about the Devil not knowing you were

dead until half an hour after you arrived in Heaven or some such nonsense? It was all too weird but

then his life had been weird from the moment he realized he could fly.

It wasn‟t that Danny didn't like sex. He‟d had his share of great sex with some truly gifted

women, but for him flying was better. Slicing the air Superman style at a hundred miles an hour did

have its own exhilaration. He loved flying. Danny liked sex, a lot, a whole lot, but then there wasthe joy of slipping between snowy capped mountains and playing tag with falcons, eagles and

osprey. They took flying for granted and vocally expressed their disapproval of his games. The

eagles were likely to take umbrage at his approach and respond with anger. All these thoughts racedthrough his mind in less time than the telling of it. What might take a few minutes to relate careened

through his returning consciousness in a matter of seconds. Cautiously he opened his eyes. An

amply endowed fairy of four feet in height sat straddling his chest with her knees firmly pinning his

biceps. The fairy calmly attempted to brush a knot out of her long wavy bright red hair with a polished silver brush. Her wings, like that of a dragonfly‟s, had a span of at least double her height,

fluttered gracefully in the cool morning breeze. His mother had told him about fairies when his

father was not around to forbid it. Somehow he had never really believed, but then, he could fly like

a fairy so maybe he did, or not.

He may have been confused about his belief in fairies but there was one thing of which he was

certain. This was another redhead! That was all he needed. Redheads always equalled trouble.There was the one in college that almost got him killed. There was that one in med school that cost

him the woman he almost married. There was the redhead next door in the trailer park he grew up in

always creating mischief of some kind. He got detention more times because of her than because of

anything he did on his own. Independent free thinkers, redheads attracted him like a moth to a flame.A half dozen of them over the years had driven the painful lesson deep into his soul but he still could

not resist them.

This current redhead sat on his chest pinning him down. This was not the first time he had been pinned like this but it was the first time he was naked. Pogo Magillicuddy had done that to him once

in seventh grade. Pogo quickly threw Danny to the ground. Holding Danny down, Pogo had

straightened up to line up a punch to Danny's face. He suddenly and quickly reached up with hisfeet, hooked his heels on Pogo's shoulders and straightened his legs to throw Pogo to the ground.

Aggressively, he leaped on top of him and broken his nose. That seemed like a good plan now

except that whatever held him down had immobilized his legs. He could wiggle his toes and hisfingers but not move his legs or his arms. The movement of the muscles in his torso as he attempted

the turn-about manoeuvre revealed a surprise. The fairy was naked under her diaphanous skirts. The

delicate patch of feminine fur tickled against his chest. Danny guessed it made sense that fairies

would have pubic hair but it had never occurred to him. His mother certainly would never havementioned it. He wondered if... He never finished the thought. The one part of him that was not

restrained started to rise. Suddenly he was embarrassed but she was beautiful and sat naked on his

chest. His reaction was typically male response in that regard.

She turned around to see the increased tumescence and said,




7

"Ah, Doctor Danny Levine, I see ye are awake. It's a fine greeting you give me this morning as if

you had nothing better to do!"

The roll of her "r" and the guttural sound of her "h" reminded him of the elderly Irish gentlemen

that he met working as an intern in one of Boston's inner city hospitals. Her "ye" sounded more like

"y'i" than like the "yee" most preachers affected.

Danny grinned and blushed all over. He could feel the warmth under her body and it felt good.

Whatever she was up to, she intended him no harm. Danny knew that, although how he knew that hewas not sure. Applying one of his other talents, Danny examined this lovely creature holding him

captive and mentally probed her body for her medical condition. This was one of his better skills.

He remembered the first time he had healed someone. Danny and his friend Brian had gone offinto the woods one winter Saturday morning to challenge "Dead Man‟s Rock." It was little more

than a hill but one side had a cliff with a fifty foot drop. They were ten at the time. Brian had slipped

in the ice on top of the hill and had lost his balance. He had rolled off the top of the hill and over the

cliff. Danny already knew he could fly and quickly dropped down beside his friend. When Dannyhad reached him at the bottom of the hill, Brian was unconscious and his breathing was laboured.

Danny knew if he left Brian there to get help, the feral dogs would probably get him but if he didn‟t

Brian would die there in his arms. He was afraid to pick him up and carry him because the motionwould drive his broken bones out through his skin and Brian could bleed to death. Uncertain of what

to do, he wrapped his body around Brian‟s to keep him warm in the hope that Brian would wake up

enough that maybe they could walk far enough out of the woods together that someone might heartheir cries for help. As he lay there with his hands on Brian‟s face to keep him warm, he hoped that

Brian might not die. Danny laid there what seemed like forever crying and trying to picture the

damage inside Brian‟s body. After an hour Brian opened his eyes,

"Danny? Am I going to die?" He asked with a hazy look on his face.

"Don‟t talk like that!" Danny yelled.

"Danny, I don‟t hurt so much as I did before."

Danny was at a loss as to what to say.

"Okay?"

"Danny, stay with me."

"Sure."

"Danny? Are you doing something? I can feel kind of like fixing things inside my body."

"I don‟t think so."

"You are. Danny, I feel better. Stay with me."




8

Danny was terrified that sunset would find them both on the side of the hill and they would

freeze to death in the night but his fears were unfounded. An hour later, Brian said,

"Danny, can I sit up now? Hold my hand."

An hour after that, Brian said, "I think I can stand now."

Danny helped Brian to his feet. He was wobbly but the legs that had been bent and broken in the

fall were straight and held his weight.

"Danny, we must never tell anyone what happened today. You must promise me you will never

tell my mother that we were on Dead Man‟s Rock and I promise never to tell anyone you can heal."

Danny looked at him in silence and awe.

"Please Danny? Promise,"

"I promise."

* * * *

IT WAS ONE OF the reasons he chose medicine. Armed with modern medical knowledge he

could make what he was doing look normal even while it was something else entirely. Danny could

touch someone and diagnose their illnesses. In some cases, he could even heal them but he never let

that be known. He could make a diagnosis in a matter of a few seconds but healing could take hours

or days. However, being a healer was what doomed his relationships with women. Danny lovedthem and enjoyed sex with them. Nothing matched the joy of seeing the smile on a child‟s face after

he had relieved their pain. There was nothing any woman could give him that matched that feeling.Danny had almost been found out once and the experience had made him doubly cautious.

The redhead who had gotten between him and the woman he wanted to marry. She accosted

him one day after work toward the end of their second internship together.

"How are you always right? How do you know?" She had screamed at him in exasperation as

they walked through the subway station.

"I don't always know. When I do it's a guess."

"Bull SHIT!" She punctuated her expletive with a sharp fingernail poke in his chest.

"It's never a guess. You always know what tests to run and you're always right!"

"I guess it's all that extra reading."

He tried to downplay what was becoming a scene in the subway station. The fact that Danny

spent more time than the rest of them in the medical library studying was well established. It was

true that he spent every waking hour that he was not in classes or labs in the library reading




9

everything he thought might be of value.

"That kid this afternoon had a disease none of us had ever heard of!"

"I must have read about it somewhere," He said softly while averting his eyes.

"New England Journal of Medicine twenty years ago! Mordecai looked it up! How did you

know?"

"Lucky guess,"

He knew luck had next to nothing to do with it. He had read that issue of the Journal a few

months ago. Danny had remembered everything he read. Of course, if he had not read that particular

issue of the Journal he would have been just as clueless as everyone else.

"What about that kid with lead poisoning?" Her tone was downright accusatory.

"Lots of kids in that apartment complex have lead poisoning. They should tear those buildingsdown!" He had shouted back momentarily forgetting that the subway station was full of people who

were staring at them.

Suddenly Danny came crashing back to the present. The redheaded fairy sitting on his chest hadlead poisoning. Stunned, he stopped to concentrate. Was he really aware of what he thought he was

aware of? Could this be real? A beautifully winged fairy sitting with her naked bottom in solid

contact with his naked chest about which he had prurient thoughts. She had a measurable case oflead poisoning was just too weird. His medically correct rapid self exam told him he was not drunk

or dreaming.

There was nothing in his experience that said fairies could not have lead poisoning, especiallygiven that this was the first fairy he had ever encountered. Still it seemed odd somehow that this

PREGNANT fairy with her naked bottom on his chest should have lead poisoning, and that the levelof lead in her system was high enough to endanger the foetus now only a few weeks old. The speed

with which he had gone from being a hapless victim lying captive on the beach, to being a miracle

worker of some skill, surprised him. Danny gasped and quickly set to work: Friend or foe, he was adoctor and would heal her. He could command her various organs to flush the lead from her system

and she would eventually recover, but rescuing the baby was another matter.

"What are ye doing!?" The fairy demanded as he took control of her heart rate and respiration.

"Saving your life and if I can, saving your baby!"

"What baby?"

"You're pregnant."

"Ye mock me!"




10

"No. Three weeks old I guess. I trust you know who the father is."

The fairy stopped brushing her hair.

"Perhaps it is best if I did not say. I fear he does not love me." A tear dropped from her eye.

"Do you want this baby?"

"Could ye take it from me?"

"If you wish it, yes, but I would not unless you were really certain you did not want to carry this

child."

"I wish to keep the baby even if its father does not love me."

"Then sit still and let me work."

"Doctor Danny, are ye a healer then?"

"I am a doctor."

"Not the same. Are ye a healer?"

"Yes, I am a healer. Now shut up and sit still so I can save your baby."

The fairy put down her brush and leaned forward to rest both hands on Danny's shoulders. He

noticed the fullness of her breasts as they swung forward until her hands made contact with his

shoulders. They stayed there immobile while the healing power repaired the damage to the baby and

the mother. By the time Danny finished, he had long ago missed his boat to Freeport.

"It will be a girl," Danny said finally.

"Do ye know that now?"

"Yes and you have plenty of time to decide on a name. Speaking of which, what is your name?"

"Titania, kind sir,"

"Queen of the fairies,"

"No, it is a common name since Willie Shakespeare made it popular. I am but a common fairy."

"Well, even a common fairy is beautiful in my eyes."

"Thank you, kind sir."

"If I remember my fairy lore correctly, I have done you a favour and now you must do me one

and the one I ask is to be allowed to continue on my way as if this encounter never happened."




11

"Alas, such is not to be. Ye have done me a great service for which I will no doubt repay ye. I

will be forever in yer debt but I was sent to bring you home with me. We have need of yer special

skills."

Danny signed. The week in the Bahamas vaporized in his mind. Freeport would have been a

nice change after Boston.

"Where are we going?"

"We must go to the other side."

"I thought fairies lived among us."

"Some still do. We live other places on other worlds, too. We travel back and forth from time to

time. It's been tougher lately. We discovered we could be seen on radar. It didn't take too manyUFO sightings for us to realize that the Air Force considered us a threat. We could not outrun their jet

planes so most of those who remained left before the radar became good enough to catch us leaving.One of our scholars referred to where we are going as parallel inter-leaved reality, whatever that

means."

The remark sounded too much like something Stephen Hawking might have said for Danny's

liking and he let it drop.

"So how do you plan to evade the great and magnificent Homeland Security's wonderfullyexpensive ubiquitous radar blanket? It covers the coast protecting us from terrorists now so we can

go to this mythical place on the other side? Do you follow the drug smugglers? Homeland can't

seem to stop them." Danny said sarcastically.

"Do not be quick to judge, Doctor. There is a Delta rocket which will launch from the SpaceCenter in a few hours. We will ride it."

"This I have to see."

"And so ye shall. We will not really ride it but we will use it as protection. The rocket is merely a

distraction, hiding our escape."

Danny scratched his head. Still sceptical, he asked,

"How do we breathe on our way to this mystical place?"

"Once we clear the atmosphere, it will only feel like a minute. Ye hold yer breath. We will comeright back down on the other side."

"How do we not explode like a popped balloon?"

Titania sighed,

"Oh ye of little faith, am I no' a fairy? Am I no' a magic creature just as ye are a magic creature?




12

Why can ye not believe what I say?"

"Fairies do not always deal honestly with humans."

Anger flashed across her face.

"Doctor Danny Levine ye are not like the stupid fools that try to trick us! Like it or no' ye are a

magic being as I am! Quit fightin' with me! We must GO!"

Titania's wings lifted her up and she hovered over his chest for a moment. Without touching

anything and using the motion of her hands, she swept his belongings from where they had beendrying scattered over the sand into the pack carrying no small amount of sand with them. With an

angry pout she pointed at his clothes.

"They'll be dried out by now. Put them on so ye don't freeze!"

No sooner had Danny dressed and settled his pack on his shoulders than Titania grabbed a fistfulof his hair and they lifted off. They raced low over the water making a bee line for the Space Center.

As they approached the Space Center, they could see the rocket's engines start to fire. They swooped

in gracefully staying low over the water and grabbed a hand hold near the top of the rocket. Therocket's sensors adjusted for the slight amount of increased weight as if it were a random gust of

wind as the heartless mechanical fire breathing dragon with a brain of silicon roared skyward.

Because they were flying on their own and merely using the rocket for guidance and cover, they onlyadded a few pounds to the giant's mass. If anyone took the time to carefully analyze the data, they

would see the unexpected increase in the rocket's mass two seconds after liftoff.

All Danny knew for certain was that wherever he was going would be unlike any place he had

ever gone before. Danny watched with detached interest as the rocket's first stage fell away and the

second stage engines fired. He realized that he was having no trouble breathing in spite of what heknew to be very low air pressure at this altitude. Danny noticed that he did not feel the rush of air

past him that he should have felt traveling at this speed. Titania must have been using some kind of

shield to protect them from an environment that otherwise would have killed them in seconds.




13

CHAPTER FOUR

THE ROCKET‟S SECOND STAGE shut down and Danny relaxed in the sudden silence.

Titania once more pulled on Danny's hair and they took off in a new direction. The quip "second starto the right and on „til morning" almost escaped his lips. Danny knew Titania's protective shield was

still in place and he was safe felt exposed. Traveling at a height where the sky was no longer blue. Ithad turned to the black of deep space, unnerved him. The travel time in this hostile environment was

blessedly short. As promised, Danny did not burst like a popped balloon but he did held his breath

out of nervousness. His breath had almost run out when they entered the upper atmosphere of astunningly blue planet that looked like Earth. The ratio of land masses to water appeared less than

modern earth, but the similarities outnumbered the differences. He suspected that the earth below

him was displaced in time rather than in space.

Entry into the atmosphere was as brutal as everything NASA reports had given him reason to

believe it could be. Titania continued to shield them with some sort of almost invisible barrier to

divert most of the air so it flowed around them instead of hitting them with all its force. The barrier buckled and strained against the onslaught of the thickening air which became denser as they

descended. The magical barrier twisted and danced showing its stresses glowing in a variety of hues

ranging from bright yellow to iridescent red as kinetic and thermal energy bled off into the thin air.

Danny wondered if all this dissipating energy would block his sensory abilities like it blocked radiotransmissions from returning space craft. His danger sense sounded to alert him of serious trouble

ahead. On one hand he was glad his senses worked and on the other concerned that he might be

flying into a trap. Danny should have thought about the potential for a trap before he left Earth.

Danny looked below. Something about the protective shield Titania had erected around them

enhanced his vision; it was more acute and far exceeded on what he would see with his own vision.

Danny saw a squadron of shapes that looked like modern swing wing jet aircraft rapidly climbing intheir direction clearly intent on intercepting them. Concerned that they might be an enemy of some

kind, he pointed them out to Titania.

"Fighter escort," She shouted back with a grin and flashed him a big thumbs up.

In spite of Titania‟s grin, somehow the fact that they might need a fighter escort was not

comforting. Four tight "finger four" formations of shapes converged on them from below. Theformation was textbook perfect, just as the Discovery Channel and Military Channel indicated they

should be. The orderlies in the clinic, as macho a group of guys as you would ever be likely to meet,

adamantly insisted on having the Discovery Channel on in the break room instead of one of the

sports channel. On those rare occasions when life was calm in the Intensive Care Unit, he sat withthem and watched it. As the formation approached, Danny realized what he had been seeing was not

the objects themselves but the turbulence their shields created as they passed through the atmosphere.What was approaching was a squadron of sixteen pixies in combat gear moving in excess of the

speed of sound.

Combat between the various races of magical creatures had often figured in Danny's mother's




14

stories but a pixie in desert combat regimentals was not something he was prepared for. If his

mother's stories were to be believed, these pixies would be heavily armed and based on the tightness

of the formation, well trained. Pixies had a serious case of "small man complex" and one did notanger them and if a person accidentally insulted one, they made amends as quickly as possible to

avoid pixie revenge. According to the stories, the pixies were fierce friends and fiercer enemies.Pixie revenge was not an experience one wanted to repeat.

The flight path took them out over the ocean by the time the pixies had arranged themselves

around Danny and Titania. Maintaining close formation, they matched Danny and Titania‟s angle of

declination precisely. One flight of four pixies, still tightly maintaining their perfect "finger four"formation, took a position at their twelve o'clock high, one at three and one at nine o‟clock level and

one at six o'clock low. Eighteen living beings flying without machinery of any kind dropped

precipitously as they headed for the horizon.

Danny's danger warning had not abated with the arrival of the pixies. The pixies might be on his

side but real danger was still out there waiting for them. The pixies also sensed the enemy ahead and

readied their weapons. Evenly divided between male and female, the pixies intensity reinforced theimpression his mother had given him that pixies were not the type of creatures he would like totangle with in a dark alley. Even with this protection, Danny tried to imagine what type of evil could

lie ahead that would engender such enmity.

According to Danny's mother, fairies and pixies often squabbled over territory but they could

generally negotiate a truce. They would occasionally ally in times of trouble but such times wererare. Seeing fairies and pixies together now could only mean that they shared a common enemy. As

much as they fought against each other, when threatened, they banded together. Whatever evil lay

ahead must be horrific in order to inspire such fierce expressions on the normally mischievous pixies.

The tight formation descended through the atmosphere lighting up the sky as they traveled. Therewas nothing secret about this approach. Danny marvelled at the variations of hues in the protective

shield around them as it deflected the energy of their descent. Except for the brilliance of the

psychedelic light show, Danny almost felt as if he was out for a summer afternoon sightseeing tripinstead of hurtling through the upper atmosphere of a planet that was at once both home and not

home.

Danny's warning sense had never before signalled him this powerfully for so long. His internalwarning system went into sensory overload and stayed there. It did not abate as the flight group

descended. It had started as a sharp pain but like many intense pains exhausted the supplies of

sodium ions that carried the signals from his synapses to his brain. As they continued to descend, thewarning faded, not from diminished severity, but rather from his body's inability to deal with it. The

warning receded to a fatigued dull ache. Once the danger finally appeared, Danny instantly grasped

the significance of the intensity of the warning system that had served him well in the past and had

done its job faithfully yet again.

Two immense dragons with incredible wing spans drove upwards at them from their one o'clock.

Desperately beating their huge wings as they clawed for altitude, they each carried a hooded figure

wearing a long black robe. Danny evaluated the threat as calmly as he could for clearly the dragons




15

were the threat he had been warned about. Two flights of the pixies broke formation to engage the

dragons head on. Strategically, Danny wondered if a head on approach was smart. That rarely

seemed to work on the air to air combat television shows he had seen. The engagement window withtwo aircraft flying head to head was so short that aiming opportunities were difficult. In addition to

the shortness of the encounter, aiming was further complicated by the fact that a head on approachleft the minimum amount of target to shoot at. He watched transfixed as eight pixies dove directlyinto the faces of the climbing dragons. The pixies fired first as evidenced by a rapid series of puffs of

smoke, but their weapons had no apparent effect on the climbing dragons.

Danny rapidly computed their relative trajectories and realized that the point of collision with thedragons was about three minutes away. Even discounting the possibility that these might be the fire

breathing dragons of his mother's stories, their current flight paths would have them collide if neither

diverted. The ratio of his mass to theirs did not make the likelihood of surviving a collision

something he wanted to contemplate. He did not know the dragons' firing range, but even lackingthat, a collision appeared eminent. Three minutes did not give him a lot of time to develop a battle

plan. He berated himself. Danny had either watched too much Discovery Channel or not enough.

He needed a plan and did not have one. Suddenly, a spurt of flame double the dragon's body lengthissued from underneath the body of one of the dragons. One entire flight of pixies simply

disappeared. Four pixies were gone in the blink of an eye. A sprinkling of ash floating in the air

showed where they had been. A second later the second dragon spewed forth flame. The second

flight of pixies quickly turned into four fireballs falling to earth.

Danny rarely showed anger, but the force of the wave of fury that hit him was not to be denied.

He battled death in many forms on others' behalf on a daily basis. He was not afraid of death but he

was angered by it. Murder and wanton killing made him the angriest. Danny understood theexigencies of war, even though he had never been in combat. Still one could not treat as many

combat veterans as he had treated during his internship in the trauma center and not be angered by

the senselessness of it all. Danny could not imagine a less inviting welcoming party than dragonswith flame throwers carrying masked death. His mood was becoming grimmer by the moment.

Seeing through the redness of his anger, Danny rallied his thoughts. There was something to be

said for all that military education courtesy of the break room televisions. He realized that thedragons were not truly "fire breathing" in that they did not produce flame on their own. They carried

equipment to make them flame. The difference between fire breathing and fire carrying was

immense. A fire breathing dragon needed only turn its head to toast its target. A fire carrying dragonhad to aim its whole body to inflame a target much like a WWII fighter pilot had to aim the whole

aircraft at his target. This was all the difference in the world. Danny recalled a tactic that could be

used to defeat the dragons and their riders. Since they could only throw fire in one direction and they

had limited manoeuvrability due to the steepness of their climb, there was a weakness he couldexploit.

The remaining two flights of pixies broke away maintaining their "finger four" alignment to

engage the dragons. Danny knew that without his intervention, these eight pixies would suffer the

same fate as their comrades. He recognized that he now had descended far enough into theatmosphere that the air was thick enough that he could breathe without assistance. This also meant




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the air was dense enough to support traditional dog-fighting aerial combat manoeuvres. He knew

what he must do. He shouted "Break left!" to Titania who clearly did not understand what he meant.

Taking a deep breath, Danny pulled back into steep climb. He had hoped that Titania would turn

away from the dragons and stay out of range but she was following right behind him.

Danny knew that an Immelman is not strictly considered a combat manoeuvre but there were

some laws of physics working in his favour. The dragons were straining at their maximum climbrate. If he could trick them into trying to climb at a steeper angle, he might get them to stall. He had

done this with an eagle once. The male bird had attacked him after he had come too close to the

eagle's nest. Danny had climbed high enough and fast enough that the bird had actually fallen overonto its back in an attempt to follow him. The bird's instincts had taken over. It retracted its wings

and went head first until it regained control and spread its wings to gracefully return to level flight.

By that time Danny was long gone.

In his mind, Danny visualized hauling back on the stick in a World War II fighter plane. He

imagined the sound of the small plane's engine struggling into the climb. As he did, he "heard" in his

mind an old sports caster calling the battle as if it were a baseball game. Danny had always beenBoston Red Sox fan and the sound of the radio announcer calling the game had been one of his

favourite memories of childhood.

"Yes, indeed sports fans, this has turned into a real donnybrook! The pixies are down eight to

nothing and Doctor Danny is entering the action. Look! He has called the play to his wing fairy!

The mild mannered doctor from Boston is so angry steam is coming out his ears! White puffs ofsteam are flowing over his shoulders. Yes, indeed ladies and gentlemen he is pulling up into a loop!

Look at the tightness of that loop! He must be pulling ten G‟s. It‟s a wonder he doesn‟t break apart

in mid air under that force! How long can he keep this up? Oh! And here‟s a surprise! The wing fairy

is following him in the loop! I didn‟t know fairies could take that much strain. Her hair is no longer

flowing straight behind her pushed by the air but is pushing outward by the force of the loop. Yes,ladies and gentlemen, he is bleeding airspeed and translating it into altitude. The pixies are confused.They are looking at each other for guidance. They have broken off their attack and are moving away.

The dragon riders are surprised. They are waving and pointing to each other drawing their mounts

into steeper climbs. What is Doctor Danny up to? If he continues the loop all the way around, he will be directly in the dragons‟ line of fire. Clearly he knows this. What is his plan? Doctor Danny and

his wing fairy are approaching the top of the loop. Their air speed has dropped to almost nothing but

they are out of the range of the flame throwers. The dragons continue to climb! No! Wait! Thedragons are faltering! They are short of breath. The riders are pulling them into steeper climbs to

follow Doctor Danny! One of the dragons has slipped. It is sliding backwards tail first! It is rolling

over to its back! The dragon is falling out of the sky taking its rider with it!”

"Doctor Danny has reached the top of the loop and has flipped over! He is breaking to the left!

Where is he going? Is he going to try and flee the dragons or is he going to press the attack fromanother direction? One dragon is clearly out of the action. It is in a flat spin and losing altitude

rapidly. The dragon only has a few minutes left to regain control before it spins into the ground. I

can't say I am upset to see a dragon fall. Look at that spin. A perfect text book flat spin, if he was in

an airplane he would be doomed!”




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"One dragon is left within striking distance. It is losing altitude. It has managed to pitch its nose

forward and regained forward motion. The rider is trying to bring it back around so the flame

thrower can bear on Doctor Danny. Doctor Danny is diving! It is a powered straight dive! He's notfree falling! He is diving at full speed straight down at the dragon. The redheaded wing fairy is right

behind him. Look at the speed he is getting! Oh, look! The dragon remaining in the action is turning back around to meet Danny's oncoming charge! Doctor Danny is diving straight for him. Look athow fast he is traveling! Will the dragon be able to turn back around in this thin atmosphere in time

to fire at the Doctor or will the Doctor make good his attack from the side? Ladies and gentlemen it

is going to be a photo finish! It is too close to call! Will it be the Dragon or Danny, Danny or the

Dragon? Too close to call. The moment of truth approaches. The dragon's rider is spurring himaround but will it be fast enough? Oh look! Mutiny! The dragon is resisting the rider! The dragon

has had enough of his rider and has reached his long neck around to snap at him! His bite has

severed one of the straps holding the rider on his back! The rider is striking the dragon with his

riding crop! The dragon is biting at his rider. Will the dragon throw the rider?”

"Doctor Danny is seconds away from collision hurtling feet first into a direct hit! He looks like araptor about to pounce on its prey. The dragon cannot bring his flame throwers around to fire at him!Look! The dragon is almost ready to fire on the doctor! Oh! OW! That must have hurt! DoctorDanny has collided feet first with the death figure on the back of the dragon! The rider has fallen off!Will the dragon try to rescue its rider or will it fire on the two figures falling to earth? The dragonhas its own plan! It is following the other dragon! Oh No! It is firing on the other dragon! No! It isfiring on the dragon's rider! The other rider is on fire and both dragons are biting at the straps thathold him in place! They have knocked him free! A fire ball that once was a dragon rider is falling toearth! The dragons have turned away and are fleeing. They are faster than the pixies can follow andthe pixies have broken off pursuit!”

"Turning our attention to the action below us, Doctor Danny, the wing fairy and the death figure

continue to plummet earthward. Doctor Danny is reaching out for the death figure! He has pulledthe hood back! It is an elf! It is not an angel of death! It is an elf dressed as an angel of death! Whatis an elf doing dressed as the angel of death? Doctor Danny has gripped the elf from behind and haslocked him in a wrestling hold! He has locked his legs round the elf. Elves cannot fly. DoctorDanny could let this elf fall to his death, but no, he has chosen to rescue his enemy! Ladies andGentlemen! This short encounter that looked like a sure defeat for Doctor Danny and his comelycompanion has turned into a dragon rout. Doctor Danny gets MVP in my book!"

The sports caster's voice faded in Danny's mind as he tightened his grip on the enemy. With hisenemy stripped of his death cloak, the elf was only slightly taller than Titania. He had pointed earsand long blond hair. Danny had a firm grip on him and held him captive as they continued to fall.Danny's anger had subsided slightly but uppermost in his thoughts were questions he intended to askthis elf when they were safe on the ground. Titania spun some sort of web around Danny and the elfthat took his weight as they descended. Had she not done that Danny would not have been able tohold the elf and he would have fallen to his death in spite of Danny's best efforts.

As they descended Danny realized he could not fly. He had no control over their descent. Theywere falling. Titania was falling as well but she at least had the benefit of her wings. Whatever forceDanny normally used to fly had been blocked. In all his years of flying, Danny had never felt fear of




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being airborne. He was terrified and his captive sensed it. The elf laughed. It was a rough, drylaugh, mean and vindictive lacking in real humour. Titania grabbed them and attempted to slow theirfall. Beating her wings furiously, it was all she could do to keep them from splattering on the side ofthe mountain range they were crossing. Spotting what he hoped was a deep mountain lake Danny

pointed at it. Hoping that impact with the water would be less severe than impact with the bare rockof the mountain, he directed her to push them toward the water. In his years of flying, Danny hadnever crashed. Now to have crashed into the water twice in as many days was an affront. More thananything else, he was embarrassed. He was better than this. Moreover, dragging an elf who was his prisoner into the crash with him was an unwelcome new experience. Danny rolled to his back so the pack he carried would take the worst of the initial blow. The pack split the water and drove largearcing waves to either side. Danny was momentarily glad that he had not been killed by the impactand was caught off guard when the waves fell back and slammed him on either side of his head.Choking and gasping, he swallowed some water. He instantly realized that the water was pollutedwith what he could only guess were effluents from mining activities. Danny lost his grip on the elf asthey struggled back to the surface. Suspecting that the water might be acidic as well as pollutedDanny swam as quickly as he could for the shore. He pulled himself over some rocks on the water's

edge and found a flat spot beyond the protective barrier of rocks where he extracted himself from the pack's straps.

Danny lay on his back recovering his breath when he briefly thought he heard his mother berating his father. He sat up to discover that the voice was Titania screaming at the elf as he tried to pull himself out of the water. He was still half in the water as she stood over him screaming at him ina language Danny did not understand while she pummelled him with her fists. The elf held his armsover his head in an attempt to ward off the blows but most of them got through. By the time Dannyarrived to rescue the elf, Titania had split his lip, cut his eyebrow and broken his nose. Blood trickledfrom bruises all over his face. Danny resolved to never make her angry with him.

Approaching from behind, Danny wrapped his arms around Titania carefully so as to not damageher wings and pulled her away as the elf got out of the water. Her hands were raw and bloody. Thedamage to her hands was as severe as the damage to the elf's face. She had not hit him hard enoughto cause that much damage to her hands. Danny quickly shelved that observation as he had moreimmediate problems. Once the elf was clear of the water, Danny could see that the elf's ankle wastwisted at an unusual angle and might be broken. Having to deal with a captive was problemenough, but a lame one was even more difficult.

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