1                                                   The fox and the fairy

                                                      By  peter Robertson
                                                           For Louise

                                                             Prologue

Once upon a time a long time ago in a wood there was an old castle it had fallen into ruin over the years and had been long forgotten by man.
Now in this castle there lived a little fairy and she was very sad as she was all alone in the forest where the castle stood.
This is the story off the fairy and the very special friend she made  

                                                                       Chapter one
                                                                 The fox came calling

It was a very cold December day and the wind was blowing the falling snow all around the castle ruin in green berry wood
Deep down in the cellar of the castle there lived a very small red fairy her name was ruby , ruby was beginning to get ready for the  Christmas season which was only a few weeks away.

She was the only fairy left in Scotland as the rest of her kind had been sent to other places, their jobs were to look after the seasons and nature, she liked December as that was the season that Santa Claus came to visit her.

It was getting very dark out side and the wind was blowing even harder blowing the snow every where. the temperature was well below freezing and through the woods down by the river there was a frightened little fox called cabbage trying to find shelter from the storm.                                                                                                     he was trying to escape from the farmer when he got his leg stuck in a snare. in pain and confused he was on the run for hours before he finally managed to give the farmer the slip.
Now even though he was safe from the man and his dog he was very week from his wounds and cold hungry and frightened
Not to mention lost !.

“oh! My” the fox cried “what am I going to do” crossing the shallow part of the river he limped up into the trees and crawled under a snow covered bush  to try and get some shelter from the bitter wind “so tired. cant go on. need to rest,” the fox muttered as he licked his wounded leg

The wind blow stronger and the fox drifted off to sleep.
A few hours had passed the fox woke up shivering with the bitter could “this is no good I have to find a better shelter” he muttered to himself pushing his way through the bush he was under. the snow was very deep “I have to keep going” he growled feeling the pain in his leg.

Pushing on up the wood he spotted the castle ruin off in the distance. “if only I could get to that ruin” he thought “I mite survive this cold”. pushing on through the deep snow he headed off in the direction of the old castle. he was feeling every step as his leg was getting worse.
     
 After what seemed hours he crawled into the old over grown court yard,  “thank the maker” he said “now I mite stand a chance of living through the night“. looking around he spotted an old door way to his left “that will do” he said heading off through the door and down the steps till he came into a very large cellar.

Moving over to a corner, away from the door, at the bottom of the stairs he curled himself  into the tightest ball he could.
“Cold, I’m so cold, but at least I’m out of the wind down here” he whispered to himself  as he drifted into a restless sleep.

Ruby the fairy was flying around getting things ready for Santa Claus when she spotted the little fox lying shivering “oh! You poor little fox” she whispered so as not to wake him from his sleep. landing near by she noticed that the fox was hurt and bleeding “ oh! My what has happened to you my poor wee fox? I will have to do something to help you”

Taking her magic wand from her cape she waved it over the foxes wounded leg “heal” she said as the wand sprinkled red twinkling dust down over the wounds. “heel and be strong my furry wee friend, by tomorrow your wound will mend”
Then stroking the fox softly on the head she turned to walk away. the fox spoke “ thank you my friend you have been kind to me this night, may the maker of all bless you”.

The fairy said “you are welcome. it is my job to see that all is well with nature. now you try and sleep now” the fox shivered replying “Its so cold, I find it hard to sleep” the fairy asked “what is your name?” “cabbage” replied the fox twitching his nose “well cabbage my name is ruby now lets get you feeling a bit warmer”. taking her wand she waved it,  suddenly there was a warm fire

“There you go now. snuggle up and try to rest” as she turned she saw that the fox was fast asleep “bless you my furry new friend”
She placed a gentle kiss onto the sleeping foxes head and flew off to carry on with her tasks. The next morning she flew over to the fox “wakey wakey cabbage time to get up” but the fox did not move “come on lazy bones” she said giving him a nudge with her little hand “oh! No!” she exclaimed,
The fox was still and he was very cold to the touch “why? Why?”
She cried out loud sobbing “I heeled your wound you should have lived” for a long time the fairy sat stroking the foxes ear, her heart was sad she had just lost the only friend she ever had. there was a sudden noise behind her, turning she looked with tears streaming down her face.

She saw a very well dressed dwarf standing there “don’t cry little one” the warm deep voice put her at ease “I am the dwarf king and this is the gateway to my kingdom I have been watching over you and  seeing your kindness to the red one and the comfort you brought to him in his last hour” he paused, then he went on “ it touched my heart and I have come to reward you for all you have done. you can have anything you want in the world”. the fairy looked up saying “I don’t want anything I wish my friend cabbage was alive nothing else matters to me”.

The dwarf looked down on the fairy and smiled. the cellar filled with a blinding blue light and the dwarf king spoke “by my command I say to thee Hades my brother, set fox free”. there was a flash and the dwarf king said “ take good care of your new friend fairy, love is a strong thing. your love for all that lives has made your wish come to be” then just as fast as he appeared the dwarf king was gone.

The room was once more in darkness. ruby waved her wand to bring light into the room and what she saw filled her heart with joy. cabbage was sitting up and smiling at her “thank you my new best friend. we are now friends for life”  the fairy gave the fox a kiss on the nose which made him sneeze and they both started laughing. and this my friends was the beginning of many adventures.

                                                                         Chapter two  
                                                                      A visit from Santa

About three weeks had passed, ruby and cabbage had become unrepeatable.  it was Christmas eve and the little fairy was rushing around  doing all kinds of magic. This puzzled cabbage as being a fox he didn’t know what all the fuss was about. The fairy was putting up shiny stringy things all over the cellar. cabbage was chasing all the shiny ball things that were rolling all over the place.

This made the fairy laugh “oh! Cabbage! Sometimes you act like a little puppy dog” cabbage looked at her “what are you doing that to the tree for ?” thinking to himself “this fairy has gone crackers”. “im getting ready for Christmas!” came the reply, “Christmas? can you eat it then dose it taste good!” “no you silly fox!” she started to laugh “it’s the time of year when Santa comes to visit”.

“ now I know your nuts ! Who is Santa?” the fox barked out there was the sudden sound off deep laughing from the door. looking around the two friends saw that the dwarf king was standing there “don’t mind me I just came to see what all the laughter was about !” the king was looking around the cellar oh I see your getting ready for Nicolas coming!”

The fox span around “we are sorry we disturbed you” cabbage said “we were just having some fun!” “don’t be alarmed red one it has been century’s since laughter filled my domain!” he posed picking up some tinsel and placing it on the tree “it is good to here it again!” looking over to the little fairy he spoke softly “with your kind permission may this old king join you in the welcome of  st Nicolas?”.

Ruby flu over to the dwarf king and kissed him on the cheek “now I have two new friends of course you may your majesty you will be the guest of honourer!”  cabbage barked up “oh that’s just grate! Now I got two crazies  to deal with” he set off to the other side of the cellar to hide for a bit mumbling to himself.
“Santa silly shiny things st nick what next? Nuts I tell you just nuts”.

Ruby and the king looked at each other and burst out giggling  After a long time had passed cabbage joined the two merry makers by the warmth of the fire that was glowing and sat down beside the dwarf the king reached down and started to scratch the little fox behind his ear “come my little red friend don’t be put out all will soon become clear to you be happy”

Cabbage was happy for his friends it pleased him to see them content and settled down to listen to some of the storeys from long ago the king told them of dwrfin wars heroic deeds and much more.

Every one suddenly went quiet there was a sound of jingling
The fox jumped up his fir all standing on end he growled at the door way to the stares “hush now little red one he is a good man he will do you no harm” “welcome Santa how did your nights work go?” ruby spoke out with a gleam in her voice “ho! Ho! ho! Came the reply every thing went fine another successful Christmas” “now where’s the hot co co then” after Santa drank his fill he looked at the king “its been a long time my friend how are you”   the king responded “to long Chris two hundred years”
the fox hid down so as not to be noticed Santa looked down “hello there little one who are you”   the fairy told Santa all about cabbage and what happened, .

After a while of talking singing and merriment Santa addressed his company saying “well my friends I have to go now I have a long way to travel and the Mrs Claus will getting worried” Santa was up on his slay and off up into the air “ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas and I will see you all next year good bye my friends” Santa was gone with the sound off his slay bells moving off into the distance.

Cabbage was looking a wee bit on the confused side “what a funny strange man” he said sniffing the air the dwarf king looked at the fox and said “he is the worlds only hope of survival he is the bringer of happy tidings and good cheer every year with out fail”  he posed for a moment “well my little fairy it is time for me to go I have a kingdom to look to fair ye well my two new friends do come and visit me any time you like to”.

There was another bright blue flash and the dwarf king was gone ruby turned to the fox smiled and said “ you are welcome to stay here there is no danger from man here it is safe and we have a very distinguished guardian” the two friends snuggled up to the warm fire for the night “good night ruby” the  fox spoke with a sleepy yon “good night fox” came the reply cabbage drifted off into a deep sleep to dream of the Santa Claus and the king of the dwarfs all was silent and all was at peace.

The dwarf king placed a guard in the cellar just to keep the fox and the fairy safe from harm saying to them “be unseen and look after my new friends as they sleep protect them if they are in danger feed them if they are hungry and if they want to enter our King-dome show them the way” the guard saluted there king and did as they were asked all was good in the world this night.

                                                                           Chapter three         
                                                                            Safe haven

It was early the next morning when cabbage awoke he stretched and headed for the stare way door moving out onto the court yard he stopped to look around ,there was the marks left by the strange thing that Santa had arrived on and the foot prints off the reindeer in a very neat line in the deep snow “wow!” cabbage exclaimed “so it wasn’t a dream it was true!”

He went on over the snow to where the big gate used to stand and passed throe into the woods that had grown wild all around the castle, he suddenly froze for in the air he could smell the all to familiar smell of a man and his enemy the dreaded dog.

Darting for cover he hid under a snow covered bush staying very still he watched and listened for any sine of the danger.
Too or three minuets had passed, then suddenly the dog came crashing an growling into the bush where cabbage was hiding
 “Your all mine” the dog growled as he moved in on the poor terrified fox .

From out of nowhere there came a very deep commanding voice “leave the fox alone dog” the dog was stunned “who said that” he snarled suddenly right in front of him the fiercest looking dwarf appeared fully clad in battle armour  sword and shield “I did the fox is protected by my king and is a friend of all dwarfs ”the dog coward down and started to back away “don’t hurt me I wont harm the fox was only doing my job !” the dog pleaded.

The guardian looked at the dog “from now on dog you will leave the fox and his kind alone do you here me dog”.
The dog replied “yes I promise never to hunt or hurt another fox”  he coward even lower than before ,the dwarf soldier spoke once more “now leave our lands and never return on pain of death and keep your word or I will be hunting you now be gone”  the dog turned and fled the bush howling with fear as he went. “we wont be seeing him again around here” the dwarf started to laugh “come on fox you had better come with me you will be a lot safer”.

The two of them turned and headed back to the safety of the old ruin, “who are you and thank you for the help”  piped up cabbage “your welcome I am the Captain of the royal dwrfin kings guard  my orders were to look after you and the fairy queen!” cabbage looked puzzled “the fairy queen?” he spoke “oh! My am I ever getting out off this dream!”, this made the dwarf giggle “ come on now furry red one follow me” and the too of them went into the old ruin side by side .

“Welcome to safe haven” the dwarf said with pride think of this as your new home from now on and if you ever need to go out into the great woods be sure to ask me and I will come with you or one of the guardians!” he went on to say “my self and my men are at your command we are here all the time if you should need us”

 “How will I find you if I do” the dwarf soldiers are always around we can be invisible until needed!” “wow! What a sneaky lot you are!” exclaimed cabbage the dwarf laughs saying “ you my furry wee red friend will take some getting used to” at that the dwarf diapered right in front of cabbage “crisp! It a spooky ghosty!”   “we are not ghosts you silly fox” a voice replied “just dwrfin guards ha !ha!” the laughter faded and all was once more still. Cabbage sat for a bit “fairy queen she keep that quiet the little sneak” but smiled to himself and headed off to fined her.
                                                                      Chapter four
                                                                     The kings domain

The fairy arrived singing a sweet song about friends she met when she saw cabbage sitting looking at her with his head at a slight tilt  the fox bowed down and nodded his head slightly towards her  “what are you doing you silly fox why are you doing that?” cabbage spoke softly in a mark of respect “you did not tell me that you were a fairy queen !”  “oh” replied ruby “dos it matter?” the fox rolled over onto his back and blow a raspberry “not in the least are we still friends?” this made the fairy giggle “of course we are  we are the same”

Cabbage liked to fool around so he said “we aren’t the same you’re a fairy and im a fox” he started to giggle “know what you mean really and im flattered and proud to be your friend!” ruby flu down to the fox and tickled him on the nose “I do love you silly fox come on the dwarf king has invited us to go into his kingdom to visit with him!” .

Cabbage got up and nudged the fairy “well what we waiting for lets get going then we have a very important king to visit !”.
The friends headed for the entrance to the dwarf King-dome, “halt who go’s there” “not that it matters much!” the invisible guard piped out   “but I have been waiting to say that for over a century” a moment passed “I already know who you are seems a bit silly to ask if you catch my drift” he made his self visible “come on then furry lets get going then and you to fairy we got to go no time to waste chatting!”  he led them into a small opening in the wall “here we go then sit down and hold tight were going for a spin” he pushed a lever and the floor started down ward at a very fast speed.

As suddenly as it started it stopped “right you are then just follow the blue lanterns you will come to no harm be seeing you both later” the fox and fairy were quit amused at the dwarf as they both headed in the direction they were told.
At the end of a very long tunnel they came to the largest gate that any of them had ever seen.

“wow! Look at the size of that door its all the way to the moon!” cabbage gasped “ oh! You silly fox you make me laugh all the time it is just a city gate!” “a very big one!” fox replied. Just at that the big doors started to slowly open cabbage bolted behind the biggest rock he could find “help! He yelped its gonna eat me!” the fairy tried to calm him down “ come on now you big softy theirs no need to be afraid follow me I will be with you come on!”.

Cabbage moved out of his hiding place and slowly moved along the path towards the doors his head hung low and his ears were folded back in fear. As cabbage looked forward he noticed a very familiar figure standing there in the door way  it was the dwarf that came to his aid in the wood cabbage was more at ease now he was in safe hands “well hello my little red friend welcome to the city of safe haven do come in you are most welcome!”.

Cabbage and ruby followed the guard into a house cut into the rock face “come in my friends don’t be shy this is the gate guard room pleas make your self comfortable” my name is candon the axe” im the captain of the royal guard” “hello my name is ruby and this is cabbage” the fairy said candon scratched cabbage on his ear “yes we have met already good to see you again so soon my friend” the dwarf looked at both of them would you like some refreshment  the king has left instructions to look after you both until he has finished the affairs of state”.

“Yes pleas” ruby replied “I am feeling quite hungry can I have some honey !” Condon looked toward cabbage “and do you need any thing my wee furry friend !”  cabbage thought for a moment “can I have a cabbage pleas!”   every one looked at him  “ what are you lot staring at im a vegetarian I only eat cabbages that’s why my mum called me cabbage ok!” “ oh! Come now cabbage don’t take offence its just we thought you were going to ask for chickens it is not every day that you meet a fox that doesn’t eat meat!”, cabbage thought out loud “oh! Yuk! Imagine eating smelly old chickens!” “wow! there little one cabbage it is” every one broke into hysterical laughter as they all sat down to eat.

After every one ate there fill the fairy nudged the fox saying “I know some chickens who are going to be very relived that you don’t eat meet” the fox chuckled “ I could give em a good scare though he! He!” “Condon added “we will make a dwrfin hero of you yet little red!”

Time went by as the friends all sat telling story’s just the n a very small dwarf came running in to the guard room “come on the king has finished the days work and is eager to greet his guests come ! Come this way!” cabbage spoke up “who was that strange little man?”. 
 “Him” butted in candon “he is the court page a kind of messenger he can be quite annoying some times but he has his job to do like every one else here!” heading out the door candon signalled  to the two guests to follow him.

He lead the two friends to a large red and gold door “this is the royal throne room” he beckoned  them to go inside “this is as far as I go for now my friends I will wait for you here” .
The doors opened and cabbage and ruby went in the room was furnished in gold . “what’s all that stuff ?” cabbage said looking all around as he walked ,at the end of the large hall sat the king.
“welcome” the king bellowed out over the noise of the other dwarfs “do make your self comfortable” “I asked you here because we are going to open up the old  dwrfin city of gen-gar!” the king posed as a silence fell over the chamber!.
“the city was sealed up three thousand years ago by  my grate grand father the reasons for this have long been forgotten !”
He looked down at the little fox smiling “you see the dwrfin wizards have uncovered an ancient scroll that says that the sealed city can never be opened until the red fox comes to safe haven !”.

“Coo!  At’s me ain’t it !” cabbage exclaimed ruby burst into a giggle “yes my funny furry friend that’s you”  the king said to the quiet crowed “we will be starting the work in two months we have to prepare the tunnels until then the fox and the fairy have the royal seal of protection they are our allies no one or nothing is to harm them” the king looked down at the little fox with a big smile “for you my little friend are a prince among all animals you may go where ever you like my guard will always be at your side”.

Out side the chambers candon was waiting for his charge “see told you I would make a dwrfin warrior of you!” cabbage growled “are you our guardian?”  candon replied “yes and it is a great honer for me to be at your side” he posed looked at cabbage then went on “your still a funny looking red furry thing! But I have grown to like you”  the fox yelped with pride
He looked up at the dwarf Captain and said “now it is me that is humbled for now I know that I have got true friends”.

And from that day the fox did not have to fear any thing again
As for the sealed city well that my friends is a story for another day .