Gradshak stood in the lunch line with the other fairy-knights, as they did every day. Two of the biggest knights, Adnak and Tulak, came and started pushing the others around.

“Get out of my way,” they both shouted.

The knights fluttered their wings and stood their ground.

With no one to bully, Adnak and Tulak turned to Gradshak. Smaller than the other knights, his little wings had been bent and scarred in sword battles and sparring matches. They no longer lifted him off the ground.

Adnak pushed Gradshak down.

“Hey, tiny knight,” shouted Tulak. “Fly for us.”

The other knights laughed or looked away. Gradshak didn’t want to fight other knights so he leapt up and ran away. He would get his lunch later, when no one else was around.

Gradshak liked being a knight. He liked the way his sword felt in his hands. He even liked the heavy armour and helmet he had to wear every day. What he didn’t like was being small and the way the other fairy-knights teased him. It wasn’t fair. He could battle just as well as they could, he just couldn’t fly. He wished he could show them that he could battle trolls too.

One day, while he stood in the lunch line, afraid Adnak and Tulak would soon come and start pushing him around, a mother fairy rushed into the knight’s eating area.

“I can’t find my little girl,” she cried. “Please help me find her.”

Gradshak watched as all the other knights flew off and joined the fairies in their search. Even the lunch server flew off with them. Gradshak hurried after them, fluttering his broken wings, but he couldn’t keep up. Soon every fairy in the village had flown away, leaving Gradshak alone.

Sad that he couldn’t help, he kicked at the stones on the dusty ground. He waved his tiny wings angrily, trying to make them work. They only buzzed like mosquitoes in his ears.

Then he heard something. Someone was calling for help.

“I hear you,” said Gradshak.

He kept talking and followed the sound of the voice along a path and into the woods. Not too far in, he found a little fairy-girl behind a tree, under a log, in a hollow.

“I’m stuck,” she said.

Gradshak plopped himself onto the ground and started digging.

“My name is Bella,” the little girl said. “I came to the edge of the forest to play but a troll chased me and I came in too far. I’m scared. I yelled but no one heard me.”

“I’m Gradshak. Everyone has gone to look for you.” He dusted his hands off. “There, I think you can get out now.”

Bella lifted her arms out of the hole, then she tried to pull herself up. One of her wings got caught on a branch. “Ouch!”

Gradshak helped her. POP! Out of the hole she came. Then she fluttered her wings. Only one worked.

“It’s okay,” said Gradshak. “I can’t fly either. Your mama can fix your wing when we get back.”

“But you said everyone was gone.” Tears filled Bella’s eyes as she looked around the forest. “And the troll might still be nearby.”

“We can ring the church bell,” he told her, putting his hand on his sword. “And I’ve got this to protect you.”

Bella smiled and held his hand.

Inside the church, Gradshak stood on tippy-toes and grabbed the rope for the bell. Pulling hard, he made the bell ring loud.

Soon everyone–knights, women and fairy-children–was back in the fairy village. Bella’s mom hugged her then Gradshak and told him thank you with happy tears in her eyes.

The big knights, even Adnak and Tulak, looked surprised, then happy, then a little embarrassed.

“We’re sorry, Gradshak,” they told him. “If you could fly, you’d have come with us and no one would have found Bella.”

They lifted the little fairy-knight to their shoulders.

“We won’t laugh at you any more or push you down,” said Adnak.

“We won’t tease you about your tiny wings,” said Tulak. Then he grinned. “Well, maybe just a little.”

Gradshak grinned too. He didn’t care if they teased him a little. He was just glad that he had done something so important. And he didn’t even have to fight a troll.