Hail Mighty Reader.
As you know my first attempt at writing this story came to about 4500 words. Honestly I tried to cut it down but I could never get it to be something that I felt I could be proud of or that contained the true essence of the story. So I did this new one. Truth be told this story is more of an epilogue to the original than a stand-alone but I hope that is okay.
Thanks to Everyone who commented. Your advice has been instrumental in putting this together.
Harry Dresden - Harry is a wizard who works as a private investigator of sorts in Chicago (he’s in the phone book, the only listing under “Wizards”), dealing with paranormal crimes and consulting for the Chicago Police Department.
Bob - Bob is an air spirit of intellect who resides in a human skull owned by Harry. Bob is a massive repository of magical knowledge, in to which he allows Harry to tap between wisecracks and attempts to be allowed out of his skull.
If you are confused at all read my original story HERE
If your confused about Dresden Click HERE
If you want to learn more about Jim Click HERE
"The Reasons Why" by Troy Jones
“Wake up Bob. Time to go to work.” I tapped the end of my pencil against the top of the white skull on the shelf in my laboratory. “I need your help figuring this out.”
Orange dots appeared in the eye sockets of the skull. Slowly it swivelled to face me as I begin pulling books off the other shelves and setting them up on the centre table.
“Do you know what time it is boss?” Bob asked sleepily. “Its barely dusk and you want me to wake up now. Give me a five minute snooze and play the alarm again,” and with that the orange dots went back out.
“No Bob wake up now. This is important and I need your help.” I threw the pencil and bounced it off the top of the skull and the orange orbs flashed back into brilliance as my spirit of intellect awoke to possess his receptacle.
“Fine, whatever. Never am I ever appreciated around here.” Bob began his usual grumbling but I knew he was up and ready to go. “So what is it this time? More movie monsters or do we finally get something fun like Nymphs. I do like a good Nymph or two.”
“Nope,” I answered, “I just came up against the Big Bad Wolf or one of his ugly cousins.”
Bob made a whistling sound, which I always find strange as he has no lips. “The Big Bad Wolf did you say? As in the one from all those fairy stories?”
I looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “I think so. It made out like it was and played the creepy card way over the top”
“So what happened?” Bob asked.
I proceed to tell him about the events that took place that day. Bob was already aware of the missing Rogers family as he had help put together the tracking spell that had led me to Murphy’s house. So I told him about entering the house and seeing the wolf on the bed disguised as Murphy. I told him about the creepy dialogue play we had done and seeing the creature’s true form in the dresser mirror.
“Conjoined objects,” Bob pronounced after I told him.
The way he explained it was, that the same craftsmen had built each dresser at the same time with the same materials. As such there was a sympathetic link between the two that had allowed the wolf to pass from the one at the Rogers to the other at Murphy’s house, bypassing her threshold but leaving a residue of its true form.
I told him about the fight and the part about disembowelling the wolf and pulling the Rogers out had garnished a murmur of astonishment. I told him about tricking the creature and sending it back into Fairy and then getting a nasty surprise as he came back through that same doorway. I ended the tale on Murphy standing outside with her gun, a red mass where the wolfs head had been and me laying there looking up at her as if seeing an angel with a halo around her. By the end of the tale Bob was laughing his skull off.
“So you are trying to tell me,” he said between chuckles “That you just got your ass handed to you by a fairy tale.” His skull rolled around his shelf as he carried on laughing.
“Stars and stones Bob, you didn’t see this thing,” I growled “It was frickin deadly.”
“And,” Bob carried on as if not even hearing me “You got cast as Red Riding Hood with Murphy saving you from the big doggie.” Bob was laughing so hard he nearly rolled off his shelf.
I grabbed the ball-peen hammer I kept by my table and took a few practice swings. I got a steady rhythm up and advanced on the skull. Bob gulped (how can you gulp when you have no throat?) and an edged of fear crept into his voice.
“Look boss,” he said, “There is no need to do something drastic that can’t be undone. You can put the hammer down now.”
I glared at him. “Then if I were you I would get to telling me everything you know about these creatures. It might just stop me smashing your skull Bob.”
“Right,” Bob replied quickly and began listing his sentences in a short rapid rate as if reading off a checklist “’The Big Bad Wolf’, well it’s a creature of Fairy. Or more specifically Winter. Was one of Mab’s top enforcers. There were generally good in a fight. They were used when Mab needed to storm into an enemy’s stronghold and well,“ Bob began to trail off “that’s when things would go horrible wrong for them.”
“Wrong? How so?” I asked, my anger having subsided.
“Just like in the fairy tales they were easily tricked.” Bob instructed “Mab after repeated failures became infuriated with them, especially after humans stop fearing them. Mab saw no need in keeping them around and banished them to the outer edge of her realm. Most now consider them to be wild Fay.”
“So then why attack Murphy?”
“Oh that’s simple. They want to win back favour with Mab and this has given them the perfect situation to do so.”
“What situation? Our attack on Arctis Tor”
“I was meaning more the retelling of the fairy tale itself. All the elements were there. A blonde girl.” I looked sharply at Bob. “A blonde women then,” He corrected himself, “Her Grandmother’s house, and a nearby hunter.” Bob looked at me as if it should have been plainly obvious.
I shrugged, “What does all that mean?”
“Fairies like them have to follow specific patterns and the two of you fulfilled all the requirements they needed. It was a prefect setup giving them a perfect opportunity to try and prove their services to Mab. By bringing one of the people that helped attack Arctis Tor to the Winter Queen they could prove they weren’t screw-ups and win back her favour.”
“It didn’t pay off.” I said. “They still lost”
“Exactly,” said Bob “Patterns are rarely broken. Theirs, not for several centuries.”
“So do I have to worry about more coming back”?
“I wouldn’t think so,” said Bob thoughtfully. “But to be safe we will put up a protection spell at Murphy’s place to repair the gaping hole you’ve left there. It’ll at least stop them getting in again that way”
Bob and I spent the next several hours working in my lab piecing together the parts of the spell I was going to use to properly close the open doorway.
Fairy tales are real? I shouldn’t be surprised really, I mean I’ve ridden a dinosaur.
Posted at 2205 on the 19 August 2011
Awesome job Troy :)
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