Faye had awoken the next morning, feeling as though she had been trampled by a hodag. She kept drifting in and out of sleep, mainly due to Corvin's snores jerking her out of dreams every hour. And now, she followed Lavina and Kirsten through the forest, Ran at Lavina's side. Jyri walked next to Faye, frowning at the pair, while Corvin brought up the rear. All on foot. Jyri carried a pack on his back filled with fruit and various food items given to them by Gren.
"We're almost there," Lavina said. "We just need to start looking for a funny-looking tree-"
"Halt!"
Jumping, Faye and the rest all turned around. Faye let out a relieved sigh when she spotted Marka stepping out from a cluster of trees. She'd take Marka over Lyon's guards and doctors any day.
Marka smiled at Faye. "At last, I have tracked down our savior thrice more."
Jyri groaned. "Why can't you leave us alone?"
"Savior?" Lavina asked.
"It's in the prophecy, that a woman is to save us. And it's this woman." Marka raised her finger towards Faye in a dramatic fashion.
"Faye's a fairy," Kirsten said.
"And?"
"She's not a woman."
Faye scowled at Kirsten. At the same time, Jyri pointed at Marka. "I told you!"
"She's a woman fairy-"
"A prophecy would've stated a fairy," Jyri said. "Prophecies are specifically vague."
"I thought she was half-fairy," Lavina said. "Wouldn't that make her a woman still?"
Marka nodded. "Exactly my point."
"But not a human woman," Jyri said.
Faye gritted her teeth throughout the debate, but knew she had to side with "not-woman," lest she spend the rest of her life with the Arlua. It would be better than Milthum though.
"But technically still a woman," Marka said.
Changeling. The spriggan's voice echoed in her head. After everything that had happened since her conversation with the spriggan, her newfound changeling identity had dropped from her mind. I can't be a woman if I'm a changeling. Something told her to keep it to herself. No one would want a changeling around.
"What makes her so special anyway?" Corvin asked. Faye frowned at him.
"She sees the Rako as he is, and the prophecy calls for the woman who sees his true form."
"The Rako?" Kirsten asked. "What's that?"
"The Garka Woods, where I come from, is where the Rako resides." Marka paused. "He has magic to lure in women, by looking like their desired mate. And all women are affected by this magic. All but her." Marka gestured towards Faye.
Lavina chewed her lip, brow furrowed. "He didn't happen to be an ugly, goblin thing, did he?"
Jyri, Faye, Ran, and Marka stared at her. "You know his form?" Marka asked.
"Kirsten nearly jumped him," Lavina said. "But he was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen."
Marka gaped at her. "You're a woman? A full human?" Lavina nodded. Marka put her hand over her forehead, then broke into a smile. "You're the one! Our true savior!"
Lavina grinned back at her. "Really?"
Marka grabbed her arm. "You must come with me."
Jyri grabbed the other arm. "No! We need her."
"We need her more." Marka yanked her arm, causing Lavina to wince.
"You don't even have a threat."
"We can any day," Marka said. "My village could be in destruction now."
Jyri tugged Lavina out of Marka's grasp, hugging her to his chest. "You can have her when we're done."
Ran shouldered Jyri aside. "How about she chooses?"
"What should I do?" Lavina asked Ran. "I mean, if I go with her, what would you do?"
"He'd come with me," Jyri cut in.
Ran looked to Jyri, and scoffed. "Excuse me?"
"I've finally found you. I'm not losing you again."
"You made me leave!"
"For your own good. Or would you rather have been thrown in a place like Milthum?"
Ran folded his arms, but didn't reply. An awkward tension filled the air, broken by Lavina.
"Can I have more time to think?" she asked Marka.
"No," Marka said. "You have no say in the matter. You come with me."
"How about," Jyri raised his voice, "Lavina shows us where the tunnel is, and then you can have her."
Marka crossed her arms, sucking in her lip. "Follow me."
"We're not following you," Jyri said.
Marka pointed her finger at him. "You will."
Several minutes later, the group stood in front of a tree not quite like the others, despite being the same type of pine. This particular tree was larger, with a thicker, gnarled trunk.
"This is it," Lavina said.
"You have to crawl inside the tree," Kirsten said. "It goes underground from there."
"How did you know where it was?" Faye asked Marka.
Marka smiled. "My tribe helped cultivated this tree, for this very purpose." She raised her arm, and tugged the branch above her. A grinding noise filled the air as the trunk opened up, revealing a hole large enough for the average person to crawl through.
"I suppose this is it then," Lavina said.
"You don't have to go," Jyri said, quiet enough so Marka couldn't hear.
"It's okay," Lavina said. "Being a savior, a hero, is something I've always dreamed of." She took his hand in hers, and squeezed it. "You follow your dreams, and I'll follow mine."
Jyri looked down at her and smiled. Lavina turned to Ran, who had folded his arms, frowning. She pulled him into a hug, which he returned. "I'll miss you so much."
"Me too," he whispered.
"Heartwarming," Marka said flatly. "Will you come with me now?"
"Can we go back and get our horses?" Corvin asked.
Marka put two fingers in her mouth, and whistled. Three horses and an estin came trotting out from the trees. The estin, unfortunately, was not Holger. It trotted up to Marka, and she rubbed its neck, before climbing on. Corvin, Lavina, and Kirsten climbed up on their horses, each with perplexed expressions.
"When you walk into the tree, the ground slopes a bit," Marka said. "Just keep following the path, and you'll come up and out another tree, in Dorendi."
"Good luck," Lavina said. "We'll watch you in."
Faye, Ran, and Jyri looked to the tree, and crawled in, giving the group on last look and goodbye. Behind them, the tree closed back up, surrounding them in darkness.
The ground sloped more than "a bit." Faye lost footing, and slid downwards several feet until she hit flat ground. She stood up, and Jyri slid into her, knocking her onto dirt.
"Sorry," Jyri apologized. "I can't see a thing."
Before Faye could get up, Jyri bumped into her again. "Sorry," Ran's voice called.
Faye carefully stood up, holding her hands above her head to feel for a ceiling, but only met air.
There was a thud, and a swear from Jyri.
"Hit your head?" Faye asked.
"Yes."
Faye stretched her arms out to her sides. Compacted dirt was on either side of her, and she imagined the ceiling must've been too. Except how would the ceiling not fall in on them? There wasn't much space to walk side-by-side. So Jyri and Ran walked behind her, single-file.
"You know," Ran said, "if given the choice, I would've gone with you. You don't need to make decisions for me."
Jyri grunted.
The walk was long, dark, and at times, suffocating. The scent of earth engulfed her. It didn't help that Faye wore her corset, which made breathing harder. She grew hot, and Ran continuously expressed concern about the tunnel caving in on them.
"It's not going to cave in on us," Jyri said for the umpteenth time.
"You don't sound so sure," Ran said.
"Many people have used it with no problems. And the Arlua knew what they were doing. They're a clever and resourceful people."
They continued walking in silence for several moments. But it wasn't long until Ran broke it.
"What did you do?"
"What?" Jyri asked.
"To be running away from King Lyon," Ran said. "You wanted to keep working for him, when you told me to leave. Why did you stop? Why's he after you?"
Faye's breath caught in anticipation, but all was silent.
"I've already told you. I couldn't handle the job any longer."
His journal had explained more. Faye groaned.
"Oh, hush," Jyri snapped. "It's none of your business."
"Like how you running experiments on huminals isn't my business? I've been blindly following a man who has a past history of torturing my kind, and that's none of my business?"
"You know I didn't have a choice in it."
"Clearly you did, or else you wouldn't be here." Faye gave him her signature scowl, although it was too dark for anyone to see it. "What did you do that made the King send guards after you? What horrible crime did you commit to deserve a death sentence?"
"He didn't give me a death sentence."
"He was about to." Faye raised her voice. "And I doubt walking away from a job would get you one."
Jyri let out an exasperated groan. "I helped an elf on my way out. That's all. I already told you that."
Faye had a strong feeling he was lying. Or at least not telling her the whole truth. Then again, when did he ever? The three trudged on in silence, which Ran broke again.
"Speaking of elves... Do you know what happened to Torf?"
Jyri didn't answer.
"What do you think happened?. Do you think he's hiding somewhere? What if he's in Dorendi? Do you think we'll run into him?"
"No."
They continued traversing in silence. Faye furrowed her brow. Torf. That name sounded familiar. Perhaps Jyri had said it. He did once mention an elf friend, come to think of it. "Is Torf the elf friend you told me about before?"
"Probably, but I don't remember telling you about him."
"I'm pretty sure you did," Faye said. "And I recognize the name from somewhere..."
"Maybe I mentioned him. He was a big part of my life."
A sliver of light illuminated the dirt path ahead, which sloped upwards. The three ran toward it, but the tree was sealed shut from the inside.
"How do we get out?" Faye asked.
Jyri knocked on the tree, and pounded at it. Faye did the same, while Ran stood behind them.
"Great. This is great." Jyri slumped against the side of the tree.
Faye glanced around. "Maybe there's something to press?"
"What's that hanging?" Ran asked, pointing towards some sort of twig dangling behind the two. Jyri pulled it, and the tree opened. Ran squeezed past and out.
"Good eye." Jyri stepped out onto grass. Faye followed, blinking at the bright sunlight. Ran flopped on the ground. Jyri and Faye followed suit.
Faye took deep breaths, enjoying the fresh, crisp air before surveying the area. Dorendi's forests didn't seem much different than Vustaria's. Trees, foliage, and grass. Though the grass seemed greener, but maybe it was her imagination. "Now what?"
"We rest for a bit, and then find a city," Jyri said. "We can find an inn to stay at. I desperately need a shower. How much money do you have?"
Faye reached into her pocket and pulled out 20 loti.
Jyri groaned. "That's barely enough for a dinner, much less a night at an inn."
"I'm sure there's a lake around," Faye said.
"But I want a real shower."
"How much do you have?" Faye asked.
"I had at least 100, but a guard took my wallet before throwing me in a cell."
It wasn't too big of a deal to Faye. She'd survived on less, and had her ways of getting more. "Maybe once we hit the city, I could-"
"You are not stealing money!"
"I've got money, if you need it," a feminine voice said.
Nephele revealed herself from behind a tree, with a cloak wrapped around her. How she managed to beat them to Dorendi was a mystery. Then again, Faye hadn't seen her since the previous night. Who knew when she left.
Jyri leapt to his feet, knife pointed towards her. "Don't you come any closer!" he shouted. In a flash, Ran transformed into a lynx and stood at Jyri's side.
"What are you doing here?" Faye asked, before anything drastic could happen.
Nephele smiled at her. "I came to help."
"We don't need your help," Jyri snarled. Ran bared his teeth in agreement.
"If you must know," Nepehel said, raising her voice, "I'm tired of sitting around in hiding, and would like to do more with my life, than stand around looking pretty. I want to help."
"That sounds wonderful," Faye said, turning towards Jyri. "Isn't that great?"
Jyri still had his knife raised, Ran growled next to him.
"Okay, I also miss exploring that cave. And I would like to know what's behind the door." When that didn't get her a different response, Nephele wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. "If you change your mind, there's a lake west of here, about a half hour's walk. I'll be temporarily making my home there." She turned to leave, but Jyri spoke up.
"There's a lake nearby?"
"There is. I used to hide there all the time, when I was younger. Wizard's Point isn't that far from it either."
Jyri kept his knife up, but knitted his brow, as though debating on something.
"Closest thing to a shower you'll get," Faye whispered to him.
"I don't want to be naked anywhere near her." Jyri tightened his grip on the knife.
"Bathe in your clothes then," Faye said.
"There's an idea..."
"I wasn't serious."
"That can't be the only lake in this forest," Jyri said. "We'll find another one."
"But it's on the way to Wizard's Point."
Jyri ignored her, and spoke to Nephele instead. "Thanks, but no thanks."
Nephele shrugged. "You know where to find me." With a flick of her hair, she headed back in the direction she came from.
ns 18.68.41.179da2
