THE RETURN OF ROBIN GOODFELLOW

by Milan Gnezda

The Grey Knight Captain, Luthor, tread carefully into the Grand Master's private quarters, not quite sure what to say.

"M'Lord, I have something for you from an anonymous source on Anselm. You may want to look at it. It's most…" he paused, looking for just the right word, "unusual."

The Grand Master took the holo disc from the Captain's gnarled hand and inserted it into the player. The viewscreen flickered briefly and an image came up of the Governor of Anselm's audience room. Anselm was an Imperial frontier colony which had seen its fair share of excitement, but had always kept a low profile. On this day Governor Cheney would be visited by a very interesting character…

* * *

Cheney was an old, hardened veteran who had seen his three sons buried while fighting control of this planet against the ork hordes. He was sitting behind his paper-strewn desk when the visitor strode confidently in. The man had a smiling, weather-beaten face and a strong, yet somewhat slender, physique. His clothing, however, was most peculiar, almost as if he had come straight from fourteenth century England on Earth, and he had a slant to his eye and a confident bearing.

"Are you the King of this land?" he asked Cheney.

"I am the Governor, yes." came the reply.

The stranger smiled slightly and bowed low, "Greetings, Your Majesty. My name is Robin Goodfellow, I was born in the year of our Lord 1328 and I am on a most urgent mission."

The Governor was a little taken aback at being called Your Majesty, but he regained his composure and motioned to the chair on the opposite side of the table.

"Please sit down Mr., ah, Goodfellow. What can I do for you?"

"Have you heard of the Fatae, Your Majesty?"

Cheney thought carefully for a while, "No, I can't say that name's familiar. Why do you ask?"

Robin continued, "I am not surprised. The Fatae have not been in this part of the galaxy for over thirty-seven thousand years, and even before then no-one ever truly believed that we existed. Some forty thousand years ago humans from Earth found a race known as Fatae. History, however, has given us many names; fay, the Little People, the Good Folk and, most frequently, fairies. Our people are immortal and were around long before the particles forming your Earth came into being. Our role was to watch the various races, to help them along but, more importantly, to provide them with humour and hope. While we still loved to play tricks on the races, our intentions were almost always benign and we never caused them any intentional harm.

"Gradually the younger races decided they didn't need our assistance anymore, so it was that Queen Titania, our ruler, returned with our people to our own galaxy. The Fatae live in a distant galaxy but we are able to enter the others through gates or, as you humans refer to them, Fairy Mounds or Barrows. But as one by one the younger races stopped believing, Queen Titania had the mounds closed so that eventually this galaxy was blocked from us.

"The majority of our people accepted this fate, seeing the wisdom in our Queen's decision, but there were some who, either having loved ones here or because they were simply too enthralled by this galaxy, didn't want to leave. Some had even considered it their home. Over the millennia they became more and more 'homesick' until something happened that would change all that. Somehow one of the mounds was opened from your side of the galaxy and a large number of Fatae have come through, myself included.

"Already they have stumbled across, what you would call, a 'space hulk': the Saint Agatha and are running amuck. You must believe me, Your Majesty, their powers are vast, but not tempered by wisdom. They have no concept of what it is like to be mortal, or mortal values. They only know what it is like to be Fatae: carefree, romantic, gregarious and very mischievous. Unfortunately, it is this mischief that will bring great disaster to your galaxy if they are not brought back. Their magic is deadly to those who do not understand it, but they are unaware that there is anything wrong with what they're doing. They are like children let loose in a toy shop, totally oblivious to the devastation they're causing."

Cheney spoke, "I used to have children…"

"Then you understand how delicate a situation this is?"

"Yes indeed," replied Cheney, "I do."

He paused for a while, then smiled and shook his head while chuckling slightly, "I see it in your eyes… Against all better judgment, I believe you. Alright, Robin Goodfellow, any information I can give, advice, ships… anything I can offer to help, is yours. We'll get them back for you."

* * *

"Well?" asked the Captain, as the Grand Master removed the dics from the player.

"That wasn't in the least bit unusual, Captain. I don't know why you wasted my time with such trivia."

The Captain paused for a brief moment, "Orders, sir?"

The Grand Master sighed long and deep before responding, "The same as all other routine disturbances. Execute Exterminatus of Anselm for its treachery, then take a detachment of Grey Knights and find this daemon vessel, the Saint Agatha, and cleanse."