Forest Nymphs

Welcome to The Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is a story that uses the words stain, wax, teeth, spirit, and quiet.

This week’s offering was written by Phil Yeats. In September, 2021, he published The Souring Seas, the first volume in a precautionary tale about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change. The second volume, Building Houses of Cards, appeared in May 2022. He’s now published They All Come Tumbling Down, the third volume in his The Road to Environmental Armageddon trilogy. For information about these books, or his older soft-boiled mysteries, visit his website: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

 Forest Nymphs

by Phil Yeats 

 He lived alone in a land of forest nymphs and other kindred spirits. Deep in those quiet woods, he enjoyed the peace and serenity he needed to get his teeth into his one big project. It would make his mark in the esoteric world of paranormal research. Ghost hunters and cryptozoologists dominated the press coverage, but his search for evidence of nymphs and elves and other delicate winged creatures who cavort through the forest playing stringed instruments was much more appealing.

They’re terribly shy and magically disappear whenever anyone comes near. That means no one’s ever seen one. Some say they’ve caught a glimpse. But without solid evidence, everyone ignores their claims.

The idea of capturing or harming one of the delicate creatures was abhorrent, so he sought non-intrusive, non-harmful evidence for their existence. He started with cameras hidden amongst the trees. They had motion sensors that triggered silent shutters. When he checked them, they’d usually been triggered, some many times. None captured mages of fairies, elves, or nymphs.

Next, he’d experimented with wax, trying to develop the perfect formulation. It must harden at just the right rate to preserve footprints without harming the delicate creatures. He tried so many waxes smeared on so many forest surfaces without once capturing a footprint.

Then one day, he noticed faint stains on the surface of the wax. What could they be? More careful observation revealed little trails of stain meandering through the wax. No indentations or footprint-like shapes, just faint stains on the smooth surface.

Elves in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth were quite tall, one and a half to almost two metres, but older legends made them shorter. He inspected the stains on several surfaces. They weren’t continuous, but small patches about ten centimetres long, and many were about forty centimetres apart. Reasonable, he thought for footprints of a bipedal creature about one metre tall.

He tried using a scalpel to scrape up samples of the stains, but they disappeared when his blade touched them. A chemistry lab would have detectors that could identify mysterious chemicals, but he didn’t have access to such esoteric gear.

He did, however, have a black light. He could shine his light on the stains and see if they responded to ultraviolet light. Hardly definitive, but better than nothing.

He made his measurements during the next new moon. Glowing patches appeared when he scanned the forest floor with his black light. The nearby tree branches highlighted more areas. If he had a big enough light, or enough smaller lights, he could illuminate the entire forest.

Amazing, and an important discovery. He hurried home to search the net for similar observations. Then he’d plan the next steps in his quest.

 

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/