by E. Molloy
"You look cold, kid," the large man offered, and then removed one of the many layers of furs around his shoulders. "Here, it ain't much, but it'll help some."
Daveth hesitated, and then took the cloth, thanking him as he wrapped it around his shoulders. "I've got a question for you, Ragen," he said, trying not to sound as stern as he was feeling.
"Sure, go for it, kid."
"Why are you even helping us?"
There was a long pause. "Guy can't help just to be helpful?"
Daveth shook his head. "Call me paranoid, but I am just not buying it. You want the fame or something?"
Ragen shrugged and shook his head. "Nah. I won't be able to take you past the forest's end, anyway. Nobody will ever hear a lick of my helping if you don't tell em."
"So, then why?"
There was another long pause, and the man grew a bit more serious. He looked up to his bird, and his nostrils flared a few times. His voice grew quiet, as if he were afraid of being overheard. "There are some people you help because you agree with 'em, and some you help because you're bored. No bond is stronger, though, than the help you give to someone because you're afraid not to."
Daveth thought on his words. "You're afraid not to help us?"
The large man chuckled. "Yeah, you could say that. Well, sun's setting," he pointed out, looking up to the clear sky above them. "I'll take the first shift, since you seem pretty tired. We'll let the princess get her beauty sleep, eh?"
Daveth shook his head. "I'll take both shifts."
The man stood, "Like hell you will, kid. Get some rest. You're useless without it."
While still quite determined not to sleep with nobody but Ragen watching out, Daveth knew he was right. The little bit of rest (if it could even be called that) that he'd gotten while with the swamp rats had done wonders in getting him on his feet again, but he was still exhausted. After their talk, he wasn't so worried. In fact, almost all of his worries were quelled for some reason, save for that nagging feeling. It wasn't that he thought he was being lied to, anymore. Only that the truth was being omitted.
Lillian still stood, leaned against her tree. She had been watching the two interact, and was surprised with how well the woodsman had taken to the younger man. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they certainly seemed to be getting along well. This should have been a relief, in some fashion, but Lillian found herself just growing more and more upset with her own intolerance. Then again, who could blame her? She would have died back there, her noble knight in shining armor running around mostly naked without his weapons with one of their captors stuck to his head. Yet again, she'd been saved by someone else, and the moral issue therein was really troubling her. It was a knight's job to save the princess, and Daveth clearly wasn't qualified to do it.
Why was he even on this job? Had pickings really gotten that slim for good fighters these days that they started sending recruits, or was her dad just skimping on the expenses? The latter wouldn't really have surprised her, though she felt a little bad thinking like that. In reality, though, Lillian and her father had never really agreed on anything, but that didn't mean she'd expect him to want her dead. Then again, it was just as unlikely that the knights had sent someone as useless as this guy to protect her. Nothing seemed to make sense right now, even though everything seemed so clear.
And there she went again, blaming Daveth. Of all the thinking she'd done today, all Lillian had managed to accomplish was reaching the conclusion that he deserved to be treated like dirt, but that somehow it didn't give her the right to do it. Princess or no, she prided herself on standing up for peasants, and those that her father deemed unimportant. Somehow, it felt hypocritical to treat Daveth the same way that her father treated the poor. Really, regardless of how she felt about Daveth, she would likely be dead without him by now. Though he'd still yet to prove any kind of martial prowess, Lillian was fairly certain she would have been eaten by something in that first night had he not set up a camp, and then stayed up all night trying to guard her. The thought brought a small grin to her lips. He may have been foolish, but he obviously wasn't selfish or stupid. Well, not -completely- stupid.
The swamp rat's presence, however, was really bothering her. It hadn't had to do anything, but Lillian had seen first-hand what those things could do to raw flesh. They intended to do that to her. She shivered again at the thought. She may have been trained with a bow, but she'd never experienced gore before, and the image had been more than a little unsettling. That, of course, coupled with the humbling understanding that she did in fact get saved this time, instead of the other way around. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she would have definitely died in there if it weren't for Ragen. She was feeling far smaller than a princess ever should tonight, but her prideful exterior held strong.
Lillian realized that she'd been staring at the bird the whole time she was thinking, but the raven didn't seem to even notice she was there. She'd grown bored when she realized that it was completely fixed on staring off in one direction into the darkness of the woods. Not to mention, it was a little unsettling. The thing was as calm as stone, and more than a little mangy-looking. It clearly wasn't a domesticated animal, and neither was the man who brought them through here. Superstitious or not, Lillian distinctly remembered hearing a wolf shout out before all of the swamp rats mysteriously disappeared. Conveniently enough, this man appeared shortly after to save the day. Living in a house with a King, a Wizard, and a Witch, the Princess was no stranger to uncanny timing, and it was almost never by accident.
The answers to her questions weren't important, though, and she knew it. He'd saved her, and had so far proven to be far more useful than her previous companion. It was a shame, really, that he wouldn't take them past the forest, though she didn't expect much resistance once they got back on an open path. If she'd known the woods would be this much trouble, she would have tried to find a way around them instead, while they still had the horse. At least then it would have taken less time to get her home.
Sometime during the men's talking, Ragen waved at her. She realized then that she'd been staring at Daveth again. It must have been the bright white of the shield that kept drawing her attention, she reasoned, and shook her head at his gesture. Instead of waving back, she turned around and headed toward the tent. If the man wanted to fight her for it, she was going to start with the home field advantage.
Darkness fell not long after the pair had fallen asleep, Lillian in her tent and Daveth on the other side of the lake near the shore. Neither had waited for a fire to be lit, nor did they seem too interested in talking. Ragen kept an eye on them for a while, until he was certain that both were fast asleep. He watched his raven a while in silence. When she suddenly took off into the woods, he huffed irritably.
"Show time," he said quietly to himself with a roll of his eyes, pulling a small iron bell from one of the many pockets that he donned. The tiny object barely made a sound but for a subtle low-pitched metallic ringing every so often. At the top of it was a hooked wire, which he laced through a pierced hole in his ear. Bell in place, he dashed off into the woods after the bird.
Chapter 14
Lillian was awakened by music, a high-pitched tone that rang constantly, with faint whistles and what sounded like a flute playing. The music was soft, at first, rousing her gradually as its pace sped little by little, and it got louder. The sound seemed to be emanating from the woods themselves, as it came from every direction, but none at the same time. As she sat up, she felt a heavy weight slide off of her, though she didn't remember sleeping with anything on her chest. That didn't seem to matter, though, as she crawled out the front of the tent looking around for the source of the noise. Seeing Daveth still sleeping by the water but no sign of Ragen or the swamp rat, her heart skipped a beat.
Though deeper in the woods it would have been pitch dark at this hour, the full moon shone bright between the leaves of the trees overhead. It left a beautiful cast of light all across the lak
e. The night air was chilly, and she held the skin around her shoulders as she looked around some more. The thought occurred to her that Ragen might have gone off to get wood for a fire or something, since it was cold, but that didn't explain the music which seemed to be coming from all around her.
Lillian stood, as quickly as she could manage in her half-awake stupor. The music was still going pretty slowly, a soft comforting hum in the background with notes that dragged on. It was impossible to name the instruments, beyond a flute, as they weren't anything she'd ever heard before. She walked across the grass, eyes darting around nervously as she watched the shadows for whatever might jump out of them. Her footsteps moved to match the tempo of the music as she hurried toward Daveth, dropping to her knees as soon as she got to him and shaking him awake frantically.
"Hey, wake up. Do you hear that?" she asked nervously, looking around as soon as she saw his eyelids crack open. The young man muttered something in response, rubbing his face, but Lillian went on. "It...It makes me want to do something, I don't know what. Where is that coming from?" she asked.
Daveth sat up suddenly, shield in one hand and sword in another. "Where's Ragen?" he demanded immediately, his eyes staring at her intensely, brow drawn down in concern and what looked like anger. Gripping tight his sword, the toned young man's muscles tightened in the expectation of having to be put to use, soon, and he was more than a little intimidating.
Lillian was, rightfully, taken aback by his response. It was just music, just beautiful music. Nothing bad came from something that sounded this good. "Probably out to get wood or something," she reasoned, by now having to raise her voice a little to talk over the tunes.
Daveth pushed to his feet. "Something's not right," he demanded, and for once she realized he actually kind of looked scary. He held his shield close to his chest, his sword gripped tight in his fist. His eyes scanned about in the darkness as the music's tempo increased, growing louder.
Two figures appeared before them, then, floating from the pitch black of woods and into the clearing near the lake. They had come in from the direction that the bird had been staring, and were now headed toward them. The surface of their skin illuminated beneath the streams of moonlight. The woman's was a pale green, and the man's a greyish blue. Both were naked, save for vines and petals that seemed to have grown from their skin to cover their groins, chests, shoulders, and ears.
The two seemed to hover about a foot off the ground as they walked on the tips of their toes in the air swiftly toward Daveth and Lillian, their steps in rhythm with the music that was now playing quickly. The music's tempo and volume increased with each hurried step, until it seemed to boom through the forest like a symphony of festivities. The deep undertones had taken on a higher pitch, the already high pitches picking up in tempo to make the music far more exciting, like something you would hear at a festival.
"Fairies," Lillian said to herself in awe, her mouth slightly agape as her mind wrapped around their new guests. Granted, she likely shouldn't have been so awe-struck, but it just wasn't every day someone met a fairy. Fairies were known to be creatures of magic, with a dust that they could throw to make all your dreams come true. Fairies were lovers of nature, and the kind of creatures you only encountered in places like this on journeys like this with company like this. At least, that was how the stories went. Lillian grew excited like a child, which the music only fueled.
Daveth wasn't so fond of the sight. To be frank, he'd had enough of creatures and strangers and what-have-you to be more than a little wary of anything that waved at him. He held his ground while the princess stood in awe, too dumbfounded by the sight to lecture him on his rudeness at the moment. The colorful fairies held hands as they pranced toward the pair, their graceful steps turning to a sliding dance. The male slid one foot behind himself on their invisible dance floor a foot off the ground, extending his arm to compensate for the female's forward movement. She held his hand in hers, reaching the other far out in front of her as her movement slowed, and then gradually returned to him with a circular sweep of her leg that ended with her toes sweeping off the ground and sending her foot to point above her head toward the moon. She lowered the leg again, sweeping it gracefully in another circle behind her as she stretched her limbs out. The male crouched, lifting her at the waist and raising her effortlessly horizontal above his head. He spun her halfway around, and then lowered her slowly in front of him.
Each step to their dance was mesmerizing, partly because of their light in an otherwise dark setting, and also the fluidity of their motions and perfect timing with the music. In their dance, the pair had slowly moved closer to the humans by the shore. As the pace of the music increased, the steps became less formal and more festive, but no less graceful. Daveth stared on at the sight. He wasn't sure if he could attack them. Not just because they seemed to be very obviously not hostile, but also because he was actually having a hard time thinking about anything but watching their dance.
As the cheerful intruders moved in on them, he felt a strange urge to move with the music. Admittedly, he'd hardly even been paying attention to the sounds, so fixed on what he could only assume was the source. It wasn't until he felt his bare foot tap against the ground, then Daveth looked down to see his toes keeping rhythm with the lively beat.
The next time he looked up, the entities were right in front of them. Lillian addressed them with a polite curtsey, her nose kept in the air though like the royalty she was. The blue male fae swept her up festively, paying little regard to her gesture, and swung her into a quick-paced jig of sorts. Daveth still held his shield up between himself and the woman of green. This close up, he could see the glittering light that seemed like the stars themselves dancing beneath the surface of her skin. Her large pale eyes looked slightly up at him, as she was nearly as tall as he was. Full lips curled up into a joyous smile, she pinched his wrist and the shield fell effortlessly to the ground. It impacted with the ground, splitting in two down the crack that had been formed the night before. Daveth cared for no more than a moment before the woman grabbed his other wrist, and the sword dropped. The blade landed in the dirt, hilt up, and before he knew it he too was swept away into a fury of lively dancing.
It didn't take long for the princess to give in to the light-hearted antics of their new jovial dance partners. And, of course, she knew the steps to the dance they were doing, unlike Daveth who was still struggling to stay on his feet. More than the battle between man and balance, though, was the itching memory that there was something more important. He couldn't be troubled to linger for too long on the questions of how he'd even started dancing, as his concentration on keeping up with the fast-paced jig was enough to distract him sufficiently.
It all felt like a dream, really, but after some time Daveth had picked up the steps well enough to keep up with his partner, albeit not gracefully. Whether he liked it or not, there was still the nagging feeling that something was missing. He'd forgotten something important, and no matter how hard he tried to think about it, nothing came. No questions, no answers, just the steps he would take and the music that seemed now to be coming from the ground and the trees and the water around him. The tones had gotten deeper, but the tempo stayed fast. It seemed to only be increasing in both volume and pace.
At some point, the fairy he danced with moved his hand. He had noticed, but there was no point in resisting. Perhaps it was something new he would learn how to do, he thought, as his arm stretched out. He and the female fairy reached out, their hands meeting with the other pair's in a perfect square. Daveth took Lillian's hand, and the female and male fairies grabbed each other’s. The green one released Daveth's hand at the same time the other fairy released Lillian’s, and the young man's fingers picked the princess's hand up in a graceful trade. The two who instigated the performance dissipated into sparkling powder that disappeared before it hit the ground. Daveth swung forward and took her other hand, and the two continued to dance.
Lillian was clearl
y having a good time, an excitement shining in her features that he hadn't seen before. The two continued to dance to the music that hadn't ceased when its creators disappeared. Their feet were practically moving on their own now, and he guided the dance confidently which she already knew so well. He hadn't yet been this close to her, not facing each other anyway. Her features were very feminine and soft, despite the harsh expression she often wore. In fact, looking at her now, he started to feel a little embarrassed to realize they were both technically in their underwear. It wasn't appropriate to be dancing with the princess like this.
His jovial mentality took a turn for the worst as he remembered what he'd forgotten. This wasn't right. Their companions were missing. They needed to focus on finding them, not dancing the night away. How did all of this happen, anyway? He wasn't the type to take to spontaneous fits of dancing.
Daveth tried to stop once he realized their situation. "Lillian," he said, the words forced as though speaking were a chore. His jaw was clenched, mouth upturned in a horrid smile that he couldn't seem to abandon despite his sudden terror. He laughed, a sound he had intended as a frustrated growl. "We need to find a way to stop this," he said through clenched teeth, as loudly as he could muster. The princess didn't seem to lose any of her joy, swinging back and forth as the two continued their excitable dance. The music that set the tone was holding its fast tempo, but the festive sound of it had by now turned to deep rolling tones accented by sharp squeals from some stringed instrument that felt as though they echoed in his head.
"Lillian, we need to stop dancing!" he said again, fighting harder against the unnatural smile on his face.
She laughed joyously, "I know, but it feels so good."
