Chapter 4

“As you can see,” the lithe woman’s voice echoed in the darkness. “I’m not human.”

“We can’t see anything,” Myre replied. “It’s all dark.”

“Oh!” the woman replied. “I forgot that you humans can’t see in darkness. Here, this will help.”

Myre blinked her eyes but couldn’t tell if something was changing or if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Previously, she couldn’t see anything but blackness, and the occasional swirls of colors from her eyes. Now, it seemed like everything was glowing slightly blue. Over time, the blue hue got brighter, and Myre could make out the shape of her hand in front of her face. She glanced around and saw the silhouette of Leya standing next to her.

“Where is this light coming from?” Leya asked.

“There isn’t any,” the woman answered cryptically. “I just gave you something to help you see in the dark.”

Myre and Leya looked intently at the woman. In this blue light, or whatever it was, they could now see the woman. She looked much less humanoid now. In fact, they saw a tail swishing behind the woman. The woman herself was covered in blue scales. Or perhaps scales of some other color, everything looked blue to them at this moment.

“What are you? Fae?” Myre asked.

“You already asked me this,” the woman answered. “I am Fae, and I am not Fae.”

“What does that mean?”

“My lineage is complicated,” the woman said. “Some of my ancestors were Fae, but most were not.”

“What’s your name?” Myre questioned.

The woman gave a laugh. “Names have power, and I do not give mine lightly. But for now, you may call me Tillian.”

“What do you want with us, Tillian?” Myre asked cautiously.

“What do I want? What do you want?” Tillian replied. “You were the ones that asked for help, weren’t you?”

Tillian put her two hands in front of her and opened her palms facing up. Suddenly, the raft that Myre and Leya had built appeared on top of her hands. However, the coin that they had placed in it was missing. “Our raft!” Myre said excitedly. “You heard our plea!”

“Not exactly,” Tillian replied. “I knew who had made it, but not what your request is. Now tell me, what is your desire?”

“Well,” Myre started. “You kind of helped us with it. I don’t want to be married to Prince Toler.”

“Would you say that I’ve fulfilled your wish then?” Tillian asked. The raft vanished from her palms, and the gold coin appeared. “I’ve earned your gold coin then?”

Leya interrupted, “Not quite. Myre is still engaged to Prince Toler, and he will surely send his soldiers here after us. We need to be totally free from him.”

“He won’t be able to come here,” Tillian said confidently. “Only the pure of heart can enter. The forest takes care of other intruders.”

“I don’t think Prince Toler would give up without a fight,” Leya added.

Tillian paused, deep in thought. “Human problems are complicated,” she said after a while. Holding the coin in her fingers, she offered it to Myre. “I don’t think I can fulfill your wish after all, here, take it back.”

“Please!” Myre pleaded. “You’re our only hope. If we leave now, we’ll get captured and brought back to the palace.”

“And punished,” Leya added. “Or killed.”

“That’s troubling,” Tillian said. “I can’t send you off to your deaths. Maybe we can work out a different wish together instead.”

“Princess Myre!” Horace shouted at the edge of the woods. “Leya!” In the glow of the rising sun, he had found the place that Myre and Leya had led their horses into the woods, with the broken branches and hoofprints in the soil. Horace also saw tracks from the three hunters who had pursued the two women.

Knowing better than to bring his trusty steed into the woods, Horace tied his horse to a nearby tree, and gave it a stroke on its mane. “I’ll be back, dear friend,” he said softly, “I hope.”

Horace took his traveling pack and strapped it across his back. He attached his pouch and checked its contents. Inside were some potions that the castle sage had insisted would ward off the Fae, as well as herbs that would help to prevent wounds from getting worse. In his shiny plate armor and sword sheathed in its scabbard, Horace looked dressed for battle. With that, he took a deep breath, and walked into the woods.

Horace easily followed the tracks that Myre and Leya’s horses had made and reached the point where the duo had dismounted. Their footprints were similarly easy to follow for his trained eye, especially since neither Myre nor Leya were trained in tracking and not leaving easy tracks.

However, after a short distance, their footprints vanished. In fact, Horace tracked the footprints along a small trail of sorts, and they just ended. Horace took off his helmet and looked around but didn’t see any footprints or other tracks leading away. It appeared as if Myre and Leya had walked there and just disappeared.

“Princess Myre! Leya!” Horace shouted again. There was no response, and he only heard the chirping of insects and occasional scampering of small animals.

Horace shrugged, and decided that the best action was to continue in the direction the tracks had led. He kept going forward until he reached a thick shrub. For some reason, he felt that his pouch was slightly warm. Horace opened the pouch and saw that two of the potion bottles were glowing. They must be of some use after all! Horace took out one of the potions and uncorked it. It smelled foul. Horace grimaced, and drank the potion in one gulp. He then placed the empty bottle back into his pouch.