by Lotus Oakes
Be careful, she'd whispered to him.
Edgar swung out blindly with his sword. Even as he did, he could tell the angle was wrong, his grip too awkward and stilted. In a real fight, he would have been disarmed in seconds.
The ghost gripping Edgar's ankle shrieked. He opened his eyes and saw he'd aimed right, at least: the ghost had pulled back, holding its arm aloft. The hand had been cleaved off, though it only spouted mist and smoke rather than blood. The other ghosts began to shout as well, startled and angry, and now he could see most of them, pulling themselves from the ground, descending from the trees, bleached pale and writhing all around him.
Edgar looked up and found the one skeleton that had been speaking to him. He tried to meet its gaze, as much as it had one, and a wave of unexpected deep calm washed over him.
"You'll never amount to much. You can't stick with what needs to be done. Just stay home on the farm, boy. You think you can be a knight? Don't make me laugh."
He raised the blade in salute.
"Sorry," he said. "I guess I'm not cut out for knighthood after all."
*~*~*
In the morning, Ariel hovered impatiently as Violette undid first the warding charms over the back door, then the series of locks. Half of these were magical and half not―extra precaution for the Hollow Night, she'd told Ariel once. If they do get in, she'd said, and kissed the frown from Ariel's brow, I want to be certain that it's after everything I could have possibly done, and with as many of them stopped as I can manage.
That night, just as she had every time before, she'd kept her arms tight around Ariel, humming to her whenever she'd startled at outside noises. It had been oddly like being a child again, though Ariel could hardly remember the nurse who'd comforted her back then.
"I kissed him," she'd told Violette as they lay together in the muffled darkness. "When he was leaving. I didn't want him to not know, just in case―"
"All right," Violette had murmured in response, and kissed her in turn, gentle as anything. "We'll talk to him when he comes back. When, love, don't frown like that."
The last lock clicked undone. Ariel threw the door open and rushed outside, only to stop short after a few steps.
Edgar sat in a grassy patch, hunched over slightly. The shield Violette had given him the night before was visibly cracked in several places, heavy with claw marks and burn patterns. The sword looked dull and nicked, stained with dirt and ichor. A long cut sliced its way diagonally across his forehead, so his face was a bloody mess, but for the most part he looked... intact. When he saw her, he brightened and sat up before a wince had him slouching again.
"Hold still," she said, even as she hurried over to him and dropped to crouch beside him. Violette followed a few steps behind, though she hung back for the moment. "How badly are you hurt? I'm sorry, I wish I could have helped, I―"
Edgar caught one of her hands as she reached toward him, then clasped it between both of his own. He kept blinking owlishly with the blood in his eyes, but he was serious and intent, and though his grip was loose, she found herself pinned in place.
"Let me stay," he said. He looked past her to Violette and said it again. "Please, let me stay."
Ariel did not quite recoil, though she stared at him in bewildered astonishment. "What?"
He smiled at her, lopsided and tired, though that light was still in his eyes, unwavering.
"I'm not the best at this," he said, and like a dam breaking, the rest of the words came rushing out, breathless and too fast. "I didn't really know how to use the sword or the shield I was given. I'm not really cut out to be a proper knight. But I've been thinking about it and I don't..." He coughed for a moment, a small embarrassed huff of sound. "I don't want to serve a king. I don't want to be the sort of knight that―that gets so obsessed with his honor or his duty that he forgets anything that's important, I just―"
"Edgar," Violette said. Her voice was terribly gentle. Ariel wanted to look at her. You said we would talk when he returned, but you didn't say about what, and when you sound like that, what does it mean? Will you be letting us down gently? But she couldn't look away from Edgar's serious face.
"Let me be your knight, " he said, in another rush. "I'm not saying that you need the protection. If you have Violette, that's more than enough! I can't even fight that well either, but just―if she's a witch, and you're a princess―"
"I'm not really a princess," Ariel said faintly. "Not anymore."
"―I want to be your knight," he said. And then, raising his voice, he added, "I'd serve Violette too, if she wanted that. The knight of this forest, if the witch would have me."
"You do ask for a lot, don't you?" Violette murmured. She came forward at last, setting one hand on Ariel's shoulder. The touch was soft and settling, and some of Ariel's own churning unease calmed at that. She leaned into it, letting herself draw comfort from that contact, the way she had ever since she'd first begged Violette to take her away, to let her be.
"I can take no for an answer," Edgar said. It almost sounded like a laugh. "I did what you told me to. I can go if I have to."
"Completed?" Violette's fingers tightened on Ariel's shoulder. She tossed her head. "It looks to me like you botched the job."
"Violette," Ariel said, nearly a hiss.
Violette ignored her, staring straight at Edgar.
"You ruined my shield and my sword," she went on. "You clearly failed at handling yourself in a dignified and competent manner. And what was it that we agreed on?"
"My life," Edgar said slowly before his eyes went wide. Ariel herself also sat up, still under Violette's hand, her heart pounding all over again. "I didn't want to just go ahead and bargain my soul, so I said my life, for now."
"That's right," Violette said, and though her tone was imperious, Ariel could hear the jangle of nerves in it, there and wavering at the edges. Violette was no good at layers, but that never stopped her from trying. She let go of Ariel's shoulder to cup Edgar's face instead, ignoring the blood that got onto her fingers, and stared at him with imperious determination. "Your life belongs to me. To us. So you may call yourself a failed knight all you wish, but you will still be expected to perform your duties properly. Do you understand?"
"I didn't exactly call myself that," Edgar said. A slow tentative smile began to form on his face, his eyes wide and painfully hopeful. He moved, shifting awkwardly from his slouch to one knee, the way Ariel remembered men would kneel before her father when they came for the knighting ceremony. He looked from Violette to Ariel, and he seemed so very pleased that Ariel found herself smiling as well, almost helpless. "If you'll have me, I'd be honored―more than that, I'd be happy."
"If we'd have you," Violette said. She nudged Ariel gently, and when Ariel looked up at her, she said, "What do you think? Shall we have him?"
And Ariel, still smiling, reached up to grab Violette's arm and tug her down, then reached to drag Edgar in closer, so that they were both held close within the circle of her arms.
"Yes," she said. "Let's."
*~*~*
Once upon a time, a lonely princess called out to a passing witch, "Please, take me away from this place. My father shuns me; my mother weeps over me; I have neither friends nor companions. I would rather go with you and live in the wild places, and be happy there."
And the witch, for not all witches are unkind or evil, was moved by the princess's words and took her away.
Together they settled in a little cottage in the forest, and the witch summoned a great and terrible ghost knight, for a witch is powerful but not omnipresent, to patrol the woods and to be a companion. And he was a tremendous figure, with a horse with glowing red eyes and smoke for a mane, and anyone who approached the forest with ill intent toward either the witch or the princess in their hearts would see him and be struck by a terrible curse to wither and to fade in a year's time.
But for those who were merely traveling, or lost upon their way, the knight was simply a young man with a kind voice and dark eyes who wo
uld guide them to the best path. For those who were kind and who came as the sun began to set, they might hear a woman's voice singing to guide the guide home.
And so the witch and the princess lived with their knight quite happily; and if time has treated them well, then they are living happily still.
About the Author
Lotus lives in Seattle, where it only rains about half as often as people say, together with her girlfriend, her best friend, and a fluffy obnoxious cowcat that believes he owns the place.
While writing is her first love, she also enjoys cooking and making jewelry. You can reach her by email at [email protected], on her tumblr, nekokoban.tumblr.com, or her website, http://nekokoban.hanashika.com/, which has most of her old fandom writing available.
