#atozchallenge: Ogre

Previous: Naiads

The ugly creature that descended upon them in a crash of armour was taller than Darrick by at least two heads.
“What is that?” Darrick asked Euthalia, who was hissing like an angry cat.
“That’s an Ogre. There are very few of them left after the massacre. The ones who survived hate humans with a passion.”
The ogre roared. “Fee Fi Fo Fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman.” He stooped to stare Darrick in the eye.
"You." His eyes narrowed. "How DARE you enter my Kingdom! After all you have done to me, you still show your face?"
Darrick returned the stare in confusion.
"No words on your lips, human? Nothing to say before my ogre crunches your bones?"
"The Fairy Queen is talking to you through the ogre," Euthalia said through gritted teeth. "It would be to your credit to answer her."
“I know not what I have done to you, Your Majesty,” Darrick replied with a formal bow.
“Hah, formality and lies will get you nowhere. What are you doing in my realm?”
“My presence here was one of necessity. I would not have come except for great need.”
“Hmph. What need was that?”
“My daughter… was lost. But I have found her now and our presence need not burden you anymore.”
“Your daughter?” The ogre seemed to contemplate. His attention turned to Jane, who shrunk back behind her father. “Impossible. You lie.”
“I do not lie! She is my daughter.”
“Impossible! She cannot have children, not in your way. I do not know whose child this is, but it cannot be hers. Why do you insist on lying to me? Do you welcome your death?”
Darrick stared helplessly at the ogre’s bared teeth. “I’m not lying. I do not long for death, but I do not know who you talk about. Surely not about Euthalia? Jane is my child as sure as day is day.”
By now, multitudes of different creatures had gathered around them. The naiads stood behind them, blocking their way to the stream. Jane caught sight of the kelpie who winked at her and tossed his mane. Nymphs of all sorts circled them, whispering like the leaves. In their wake, the trees bent to each other, as if hemming the two humans in. The Ghillie Dhu sat frowning at them, especially Euthalia who still stood defiantly by Darrick. Different fairy folk zipped through the sky, winking in and out of sight. Jane thought she saw Petals sitting on a high branch, smiling smugly, but when she turned to look properly, the fairy had disappeared.
“Don’t claim ignorance. You have broken the treaty and will die by my law. No one can begrudge me that!” The ogre reached for his club and raised it high.
“Consider long, my Queen,” a voice spoke up. A stately centaur strode in between the ogre and Darrick. “Will you not hold fair trial in the Queen’s court? Will our fair folk then have cause to say that the Queen does not abide by law and justice? What if his family makes claim against you?”
“Why do you plague me, Alexei?” The Queen growled through the ogre.
“I remind you of what is fair. Isn’t that our role as the Council? Wasn’t it our wisdom that you sought?”
“Fine. So be it. Take them to court. That dryad included.” The ogre pointed a thick finger at Euthalia.
Solemnly, the centaurs surrounded the three of them.
“I’m sorry, but you will come with us,” Alexei said. Darrick nodded in assent. They followed the centaurs deeper into the Old Fairy Kingdom.
“What took you so long?” Euthalia whispered to one of the centaurs.
“Sorry, I had a hard time understanding what your messenger was saying,” Charon replied with a shrug.
The ogre watched them pass by with malice.

Next: Phoenix
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From Wikipedia:

An ogre (feminine ogress) is a being usually depicted as a large, hideous, manlike monster that eats human beings. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works ofliterature, and are most often described in fairy tales and folklore as eating babies.
In visual art, ogres are often depicted as inhumanly large and tall and having a disproportionately large head, abundant hair, unusually colored skin, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Ogres are closely linked with giants and with human cannibals in mythology. In both folklore and fiction, giants are often given ogrish traits (such as the giants in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Killer", the Giant Despair in The Pilgrim's Progress, and thejötnar of Norse mythology); while ogres may be given giantish traits.

#atozchallenge: Ghillie Dhu

Previous: Fairies

The Ghillie Dhu was almost asleep. The slight spray from the waterfall nearby was welcome relief to the heat of the afternoon. He stirred as the chatter in the trees grew louder.
“Shush,” he muttered. They quietened for a while, and the Ghillie Dhu was in a restful slumber when the ongoing conversation erupted into a quarrel.
“What is it?” the Ghillie Dhu roared as he got up, bleary eyed. “Can’t a faerie get a decent nap anymore?”
“Tell him what you did, Euthalia! You just tell him!” a tree nymph squeaked at another, pointing a finger at him.
“It has nothing to do with him,” the other nymph replied. “You keep your nose in your own business, Althea.”
“But the Queen -”
“Has nothing to do with it. There is nothing else to say.”
The Ghillie Dhu sighed. He hated it when the dryads quarreled. They weren’t his to take care of, but he did anyway. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, studying the red-faced pair. The other tree spirits had slunk away at his roar, not wanting to get involved.
“Euthalia.”
“Yes, Ghillie Dhu?” She looked at him sullenly.
“Tell me.”
She rolled her eyes. “She’s making a fuss over nothing. Seriously, I think her priorities -”
“Euthalia.”
“Fine. A child wandered into the Kingdom and I helped Charon escort her out before she could do any harm.”
“Now the Fairy Queen is after our heads, Ghillie Dhu! You have to report her! She broke the rules and -” Althea stopped when the Ghillie Dhu waved his hand at her impatiently.
“Why did you help her?”
“Her father once did me a good turn.”
The Ghillie Dhu stared at her suspiciously. “A human once helped you?”
“Yes.”
“You do understand, Euthalia, that everything you do affects the dryad community? And everything that affects you dryads and tree nymphs will affect my trees?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t just - just help humans and not expect that our community will be affected.”
“That’s what I said, Ghillie Dhu, I told her,” Althea whined.
“If she’d stayed, we would have been in bigger trouble,” Euthalia protested. “She would have eventually wandered into our territory, and if the Queen found her here, then wouldn’t we be implicated?”
The Ghillie Dhu hesitated. “That is true - if she had eventually come here…”
“But you said she was with the centaur. Why would she have come here?” Althea asked.
“She was at the edge of the forest, and the trees were closing in on her. Where else would she have fled if the centaur had not called me? Maybe you should have told your trees to let her through so that she could have gone home on her own,” Euthalia turned on the Ghillie Dhu.
“I felt - I wasn’t paying attention to their chatter last night,” he admitted. “I was distracted elsewhere.”
“So -”
“So we do not speak of this again, Althea,” the Ghillie Dhu cut her off. “She came in, and she left and there is all there is to this. Now go away and let me get back to sleep.”
He lay back on his bed of moss beside the stream and closed his eyes, ignoring Althea’s angry glares.
Euthalia closed her eyes and asked the trees about the other girl. Her face was grim when she left.


Next: Half-elf
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From Wikipedia:

In Scottish folklore the Ghillie Dhu or Gille Dubh is a faerie, a guardian spirit of the trees. He is kind to children, but generally wild and shy. Said to be dark haired, he is described as clothed in leaves and moss (similar to a Green Man in England and Wales). He especially likes birch trees, and is most active at night. In lore, this solitary spirit is said to reside primarily near Gairloch andLoch a Druing.
It is also a term used in song, including "code-songs" in which it was used to symbolize the Stuart heir, probably deriving from the time when the future Charles II, son of the executed Charles I, was in exile following the English Civil War. Charles was dark-hued, with black hair, and so was given the code-name "Gille Dubh." The term was later extended to mean his younger brother, ( James VII and II), after he was exiled following the rebellion that put his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange on the throne.

I had trouble choosing this one. On one hand, Ghillie Dhu felt a little too "specialised" but on the other, most of the others on my list didn't quite fit into where the story was already going. Then I figured, I already have dryads. Why not link these tree people together? :)