“You must pretend to serve him,” said the Knight. “He will make you kneel and kiss his spurs, and you must do it. When he gives you orders, follow them, lest he perceive that something is amiss. And when he collars you, Arbeo, do not flinch, but bend your neck without a second thought.”

“Collar me!” Arbeo scoffed. “As if the rest were easier to swallow! Is it not wrong for one of noble blood to so debase himself?”

“If one wishes to outwit the Elves, Arbeo, one must be content to bare his belly like a dog at need,” the Knight replied. “If you this Ierfa wish to save, I warn you now that it will cost no less.”

“And no doubt more,” Arbeo said. “What, then, after that?”

In Arbeo and the Dog Knight, a young squire is separated from his knight on the road and finds himself, alone and cold, in the wild forests of the Otherworld. There he comes across an Elfen castle where a maiden is held in bondage with dogs, and Arbeo decides that he cannot leave until he has freed her. Based on medieval tales of Elves and their strange lives in the Otherworld, I hope that Arbeo and the Dog Knight is a worthy fairy story.

As always, I make my stories available for free online; if you like what you read and would like to donate to help me continue writing, however, you can send the money via PayPal to zachary@knottyingrabbit.com.

And here is an audio reading I did of Arbeo, in case you would like to listen to it. It was meant to be recited, so I figured I would do it myself!