Kiss of the Fae Prince and the Dragon Midwife Manggagamod
Written by Elsa Valmidiano
Awakened by the heady chorus of crows that encircled the deep violet sky shortly before dawn, Prince Liam figured there must be a witch nearby and peeked from his castle window. His mother, Siobhan, a Fae trickster, had taught him how witches always attracted crows as if they were a protective forcefield, so he was very familiar with what their ominous congregation in the sky might mean. Across the fields, he spotted a young woman in a cloak the color of the violet morning sky. She had long onyx hair and the hue of her skin was as deep and rich as the earth itself. She was gathering plants.
There was no doubt in Liam’s mind Malina was a witch as she carefully plucked yarrow, red clover blossoms, raspberry leaves, nettles, alfalfa, and oat straw. He wondered what potions she procured.
Malina, a powerful manggagamod, knew she was being watched but didn’t mind Liam. He was just another handsome Fae prince with big forest-green eyes, a fair complexion, and auburn hair while her dark piercing eyes captivated him. Neither Malina nor any of the witches in Canibri dressed like princesses or ordinary women with their constricting corsets and petticoats. Malina preferred to wear a relaxed form of the kimona ken cain but without the wide butterfly-winged sleeves. Winged sleeves were only for formal occasions. She ordinarily would’ve spun her clothes from pineapple leaves but since no pineapples grew in temperate Canibri, she spun her clothes from cotton.
Malina had originally come from the coven in Uyaoy. A millennium had gone by that the origin story of her homeland’s name was lost except their name meant “to swing” or “hang from.” As a little girl, Malina guessed all the possible explanations of how their name came to be. She guessed it must be because of the dragons who swooshed through a jungle of clouds as if swinging from invisible vines. Malina would marvel and clap her hands in delight as they raced each other to and fro.
Now, in the Fae kingdom of Canibri, Malina’s current coven had been from the far reaches of wherever witches were being persecuted by invaders clad in metal armor with pale skin and hairy faces, who smelled of ash and sour sweat. The people of Uyaoy had belonged to the same archipelago as the people of Ináng-bayan, but from the northwest, and so had irreverently coined the invaders the “kili kili ma-maw.” As cohorts of the kili kili ma-maw were slowly taking over various lands, news spread that all bands of witches from all over the world were welcome in Canibri, another island in the far, far, far, far north where it was fabled the Fae had ancient blood ties to witch realms around the world. Thousand-year witch histories everywhere had intertwined with shape-shifters, healers, high priestesses, and conduits with the spirit world.
Canibri’s Fae Queen, Brigid, had heard the slaughter and cries of her witch kin across oceans. Brigid swiftly sent word, offering refuge in Canibri. Her fairy ambassadors would make the long trek throughout all of the lands. Some witches would receive word and politely decline. They would rather stay and fight like Uyaoy’s Witch Queen, Aribái Manggagamod Agbayani, only to be vanquished, leaving the ultimate decision to leave Uyaoy to her surviving covens.
On the day of their planned departure, thirteen-year-old Malina and 168 manggagamod had assembled in thirteen circles with thirteen dragons and coalesced at the beach at midnight. With silent meditation and then mad song, Malina’s coven had used their power of atmokinesis—the magical ability to manipulate the weather—and summoned a tropical thunderstorm. Under the manggagamod’s direction, the dragons created strong winds by flapping their behemoth wings to pull in moisture from the ocean. With their fiery breath being exhaled in synchronized droves, the dragons would convert the moisture into heat. The heat from the dragons’ magnificent fiery exhalations would then cause more air to flow to the center of the storm causing evaporation. All of the dragons’ heat coupled with the air would flow toward the eye, creating a typhoon.
Though they were able to destroy a few kili kili ma-maw ships in the process, the end result was 169 manggagamod, holding hands, among thirteen circles, being vacuumed up along with their thirteen dragons into the typhoon’s eye. A black hole had materialized from the typhoon’s eye and carried the manggagamod and their dragons across two oceans, delivering them into the kingdom of Canibri.
Blessed with the magic of polyglot, witches could speak any language, which made settlement and acclimation to Canibri a little less difficult. Sadly, being polyglot also fueled local belief that witches spoke in tongues as if possessed by demons.
***
A week later in the fields outside his castle, Liam was waiting for Malina, russet sack in hand. He had offered to pick plants with her which easily turned into five hours of stories and laughter.
As Liam learned, Malina’s mother, Malaya, was a shape-shifting dragon. Her parents had met at Uyaoy’s Council of Magic where her father was a manggagamod while Malaya sat on the Dragon Panel. Due to Malaya’s shape-shifting abilities between human and dragon, she had become the bridge between the manggagamod and dragons at the Council who tirelessly worked together against the invasion of the kili kili ma-maw.
In the final battle where Witch Queen Aribái Manggagamod Agbayani had called for war to drive the kili kili ma-maw out, Malaya in dragon form had been swiftly beheaded during battle by a kili kili ma-maw who had blinded her with several fireballs that catapulted through the air. When the kili kili ma-maw tried to place the dragon’s head on a stake to show off his latest kill, a beautiful woman’s head had materialized much to the kili kili ma-maw’s shock and horror.
In honor of her mother, Malina grew up specializing in procuring a womb-nourishing potion for expectant dragons. All of the dragons from Malina’s archipelago were descendants of The Great Bakunawa, and now they were facing mass extinction as new leaders erroneously believed they consumed the world’s natural resources, when really, they simply found dragons an eyesore to their beautiful emerald kingdom and would rather eliminate them altogether. Gone were the days of valuing dragons as majestic creatures. Amidst the overall efforts of her coven, Malina was valuable in ushering in a new generation of strong dragons.
***
Throughout Canibri, it was known Liam’s father was Prince Eamon, who actually had always been Siobhan, a gifted Fae trickster who was gender fluid. Siobhan served as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting and had fallen deeply in love with Fae Queen Brigid. However, Siobhan’s status had made courtship with the Queen frowned upon by the Fae royal court. Thus, Siobhan transformed herself into Prince Eamon through a spell and potion she concocted herself. Due to Canibri’s relative isolation—1,000 miles of ocean all around the island kingdom—Siobhan was able to create her new identity as Prince Eamon from a faraway kingdom in order to woo and marry Brigid.
When invaders arrived, Prince Eamon rode into battle. After sustaining a fatal wound from a poisonous arrow that had pierced through his armor, it was the blood of Prince Eamon and Queen Brigid’s trusted Canibri dragon, Cillian, who saved Eamon. Cillian was on the verge of perishing on the battlefield and had always sensed Prince Eamon’s true nature. Prince Eamon had always borne the heart of a Fae trickster and could communicate with dragons. That power was never lost despite the transformation from Siobhan to Prince Eamon. The loyal dragon had told Eamon to drink the blood from its wound whereupon Eamon would magically transform back into Siobhan unscathed. However, the magic of the dragon’s blood had its limitations. Once Eamon drank the blood, he would forever inhabit the body of Siobhan with no opportunity to transform back into any prince. As Brigid was pregnant with Eamon’s child, he wanted nothing more but to live the rest of his days with his wife and child.
With the dragon’s dying breath, Cillian said as Eamon drank his blood, “You will not die but you will live on as the essence you have always been,” upon which Eamon was transformed back into Siobhan.
When the battle had been won and it came time to recover survivors under the rubble, they would find Siobhan in a knight’s armor, lying side by side with the slain dragon Cillian who had valiantly fought by the Prince’s side. Siobhan would later explain to the Fae royal courtiers how Prince Eamon had been charred to death by the enemy’s fireballs, leaving only his armor behind. As fairies and witches from all over Canibri had joined forces with Queen Brigid’s army, Siobhan attested how she had fought side-by-side with Prince Eamon and Cillian, and how she had dressed herself in Prince Eamon’s armor while quelling the enemy with her magic.
Siobhan had proven her worth to the Fae royal court to warrant her courtship with Brigid. However, Siobhan’s former identity as Prince Eamon was kept secret as many in the Fae royal court would’ve readily believed Siobhan was simply using Brigid to manipulate the throne with her trickster magic rather than see she would’ve done anything to be with the Queen. Only Brigid would know the truth behind Siobhan’s transformation, apart from Prince Liam who would grow up knowing he had two mothers.
***
Over the course of a few weeks since that first morning Malina and Liam harvested herbs together, Malina learned Liam was just as knowledgeable about plants as she was. She figured Brigid and Siobhan passed on their plant knowledge to him. Likewise, Liam learned how Malina had seen the horrors of invasion he could only imagine. Despite battles that raged before he was born, Canibri had provided him an idyllic childhood and had always been home, and now it was Malina’s home for ten years since leaving Uyaoy. He sensed the void in Malina’s voice as she spoke of Uyaoy and her mother. Liam didn’t know what it was like to miss home or experience loss. He had hoped his Fae penchant for laughter would somehow fill the void in Malina’s life, no matter how small.
***
If Malina had any matters of the heart she wished to discuss, she chose Iliona, her cousin, a calamansi-colored dragon. Malina and Iliona’s mothers were sisters who fought in the same battle together against the kili kili ma-maw. Iliona’s mother survived. Malina and Iliona were not shapeshifters but retained one appearance at all times: Malina retained a human appearance while Iliona retained a dragon appearance, though each regarded the other as family all the same. Iliona had deep pineapple-colored eyes with fine flecks of dark green as if there were an entire celestial rainforest returning your gaze. Iliona had been one of the thirteen dragons during the great atmokinetic departure from Uyaoy.
Iliona lived deep in a hidden cave. Malina always knew where to find Iliona’s lair based on the location of a particular ash tree knoll nearby. Malina had used her special rumble to signal her arrival. The rumble was a low guttural sound that came from deep within the belly and emerged from the bottom of the throat, followed by a long exhalation that sounded like a prolonged human belch. Iliona was delighted at her dear cousin’s arrival. Malina kissed Iliona’s snout while Iliona sniffed Malina’s hair and brushed her dragon snout against her cheek—their usual affectionate greeting. Malina had brought Iliona a womb-nourishing potion for the three tiny dragons housed within her scaly belly. Iliona was still early in her pregnancy.
Between their deep guttural rumbles, Malina would tell Iliona of her latest encounter with Liam where dragon and manggagamod would hiss giddily. When it was time for Malina to leave, she accepted Iliona’s offer of a ride home on her magnificent winged back.
As she waved goodbye to Iliona who soared away through the clouds, Malina found a garland of jasmine placed squarely on her doorstep. No note was attached. She picked it up and sniffed it. Its piercing fragrance transported her to Uyaoy where humble old female manggagamod had used kuribetbet for its healing powers. Jasmine itself was the flower of attraction. It was highly sought after for love spells. Only a witch would know this. Malina thought this gesture a little grand, but of course it was Liam who would know the meaning behind this tiny flower.
***
Fighting her own growing feelings for Liam, Malina reasoned, Who would ever accept the love between a Fae prince and dragon-midwife manggagamod? Rejecting him seemed the only recourse.
As Malina and Liam meandered through the dark woods under a full moon, the light of pixies emanated from rows of foxgloves, leading the way to Malina’s cottage. Liam paced back and forth as Malina’s rejection took him completely by surprise. Malina couldn’t help but pity him as she sat on a bench alongside her elderflower shrubs whose fragrance permeated the night air. She kindly invited him in for tea. He knew he couldn’t refuse.
Liam was pleasantly surprised to find Malina’s home filled with lush green plants. There were also various tinctures, glass bottles, weigh scales, three different-sized cauldrons, and six different-sized earthen jars.
Malina thought this would be their last tête-à-tête and kissed Liam good night. She intended it to be the first and forever-goodbye kiss, but then the kiss happened deeply. A warmth not only came from Liam’s lips, but emanated completely through her as if Malina were an ecstatic moth about to be entirely swallowed by fire.
She slid her hands into his open palms and their fingers felt as if they had suddenly become vines—their fingertips growing into intertwining tendrils . Her heart started to turn. Had Liam secretly put her under his Fae spell?
She let him go and shut the door.
Liam staggered outside where the euphoria of Malina’s kiss was suddenly exacerbated by the overpowering scent of the elderflower shrub that wafted up through his nose and settled inside his belly, sending a rush of bliss that now coursed through his body.
At Malina’s request, the pixies followed Liam home, making sure he arrived safely. Before entering his castle, Liam placed his hand on the castle wall before nearly fainting when the pixies flittered before him. He looked deep into their fairy eyes as they looked up at their prince. Would he be okay? Had he fallen ill? It suddenly occurred to him what his mother, Fae Queen Brigid, had told him how love could feel like pixies fluttering in your stomach. He didn’t think he would literally see pixies, and yet here they were, flittering before him with inquisitive, concerned eyes.
Under a full moon, Liam knew he had fallen under a spell. It wasn’t anything Malina had cast. It was Malina herself.
