Aggie awoke with a gasp, and sat bolt upright. Her breaths were flooding her lungs with the damp spring air, and was coming out in steams in front of her. She turned to look around, and saw that everyone had stopped exactly where she had, and were now fast asleep. It was complete darkness, or… was that the first light of dawn…?

The realization hit Aggie like an old oak crashing on her head.

“I slept for the whole fucking day?!” She felt panic grip her chest. She had wasted an entire day. They could be found any moment by guards, or other people who would report her whereabouts.

Aggie jumped up, ignoring the slight spinning sensation that came with the excited movement.

She shook everyone awake, much to their distaste, and once they were all sitting up staring at her blearily, fixed her with their best glares.

“We need to move! Now!” She whispered desperately, she almost felt the forest eyes on her, waiting to see Sean O’Farrell’s men to swoop down and accost the group. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was very wrong. Not just the fact that she had lost an entire day to put distance between herself, and Sean O’Farrell’s keep. There was the whisper of something else in the shadowed trees, and bushes surrounding them.

“We can sleep another hour at least.” Tork grumbled, his eyes glowing in the darkness.

“No! You all stopped where I did, and we need to go further. Now.”

Tork stood up slowly, murder in his eyes, as he stared at Aggie levelly.

“Mind your tone with me Lady. I’m the one helping you. You do not give me orders. We will have half a day ahead of the knights, and we’ve been going on such a confusing maze of paths, they have their work cut out for them.”

“Tork, I apologize sincerely if I sound disrespectful, but I know we need to move.”

Tork opened his mouth to argue more, when Aggie said;

“Normally I would defer to you, but something feels wrong.”

That made Tork stop. He closed his mouth, and drew the sword from his back.

Arlen was suddenly wide-awake, and on his feet in an instant. Dawn was breaking around them, and in the faint light, Aggie could see her Serciver’s pale face.

“She isn’t lying, Tork. I can feel it too. There’s danger here.” Tork drew his second sword out, and Ora was on her feet while Quib trembled beside her.

They all stood in silence for a moment, everyone looking into the shadows. Tork and Ora had better vision than the Servicer and his Lady, but even they couldn’t see any dangers.

As the seconds ticked by however, Tork understood what had disturbed Aggie without her realizing it…

The forest was silent.

There were normally birds squawking their availability for mating, like an auction from every treetop, but now there wasn’t a peep.

Arlen drew out the short sword, and stood uncertainly with it. That was when a large scaly clawed foot, 5 feet in length, shot out from the darkness, and shoved him down to the ground. Out from the darkness stepped a monster.

It had the massive body of a chicken, but a chicken the size of an outhouse. The most disturbing part, without question, was its neck was long and scaled, like a snake’s. Ending with the head of a chicken. It had large yellow, unblinking, glowing eyes, and rows and rows of sharp teeth. Aggie got a glimpse of the deadly jaws when it opened its beak, and crowed.

“Fucking hell we have a Cockatrice!” Tork bellowed, and lunged forward with his two swords, stabbing the beast in its side, and drawing blood, but not killing it. Arlen was already crawling away from it towards Aggie.

The Cockatrice screeched in pain, and threw its head around, locking eyes with Ora while Tork closed his eyes firmly.

“Everyone shut your damn eyes. It paralyzes you before eating you!” Aggie wanted to shut her eyes, but she couldn’t.

Not when she wanted to help.

While the Cockatrice was trying to lunge at Ora, who had frozen where she stood, unable to move on her own accord, Squib was squealing in fright. He scrambled over to Aggie, who quickly stepped in front of him.

As Tork struggled with the monster, and Arlen slowly tried to crawl away from the stomping claws, Aggie searched the ground.

She finally saw a long broken branch that was short enough for her to wield as a weapon.

Aggie grabbed it just in time to hear the beast screech again.

When Aggie’s eyes snapped up, she saw that Tork’s swords weren’t coming out of the monster’s body, and the beast was spinning round, and round, trying to make him let go of their hilts. The only reason Tork was remaining unscathed, was giving the blades in the monster’s body an extra twist if its head whipped around towards him.

Arlen had finally crawled away from the spinning radius, and was slowly trying to feel his way towards Aggie.

“Tork needs to get those swords out. He needs a distraction to make the damn thing stop spinning!” She felt dizzy, almost from just watching the two spinning.

After a moment of watching the chaos, she believed she could time a blow right-, and not hit Tork.

Aggie ran forward, and clubbed the beast in its tough neck, the staff in her hands vibrated at hitting such a dense target. Despite the attack not doing any obvious damage, the monster had stopped its mad spinning immediately.

Only its response was to whip its head around faster than Aggie had anticipated, and stare at her.

Without meaning to, she met its blank yellow eyes, saw them glow, heard Tork shouting at her… And then there was nothing. While Ora had remained standing frozen to her spot, Aggie keeled over and lay stiff as a board on the ground. Tork gripped the hilts of the swords with more strength, and gave them a good crank.

“You better start getting used to the idea of becoming soup!” Tork roared, and the beast screeched again.

*

She was in darkness. There was a sea of it surrounding her. Comfortably pressing her down like a heavy duvet presses one into a feather mattress.

She was falling down further and further… It was nice here. Restful. It wasn’t like her fever sleep. Here she didn’t have to be scared. Here she didn’t feel pain.

Aggie felt the gentle fingers of her life beginning to loosen its grip. She didn’t mind though. It was like drifting away on calm water in a row boat; slowly wandering away from the world.

Drifting away from…

Arlen.

Tork.

Ora.

Quib.

Danger.

No.

Aggie began pushing up against the darkness. She felt it push back harder, but she shoved it with more strength. Her awareness beginning to return to her in bits and pieces.

The force against her constrained her chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs, making her gasp, and slip in her progress up.

She kept pushing Though.

Up… Up…UP!

Up further into the nothingness.

Was it nothing though?

Wasn’t it getting lighter?

Aggie kept clawing herself up higher. She didn’t know how she knew that the direction was up when there was nothing around her, but somehow she did know.

Her body began to feel tingles throughout, as more and more air was being squeezed from it. Her lungs burned, her face felt like it was going to explode from all pulsing blood in her veins.

Aggie gave a final thrust.

*

She opened her eyes.

Quib was beside her quivering and whimpering, she could see Tork scrambling on the ground. One of his swords had come free, and he was trying to find it in the dirt with his eyes closed, Arlen was nearby crawling around the perimeter of the monster, unsure of where Aggie was.

Ora remained frozen where she stood, and the Cockatrice… Well the Cockatrice was sniffing the air, and turning towards Aggie.

It seemed to stomp over leisurely to her, knowing that it had a spare moment in fighting Tork to bite off a quick snack. Maybe an arm?

Aggie closed her eyes as the monster’s head dropped down to her, its mouth was opening, its weirdly cold breathe rushed over her. Aggie turned her head towards Quib.

Quib.

Quib who was trembling under the monster’s head as it loomed closer to her face, trying to paralyze her again.

The insane idea that popped into Aggie's head was all she could think of.

“Quib, pull my finger!” Aggie grabbed Quib’s nose, as the monster launched a strike, and bit into her arm.

With a scream from Aggie, the monster froze.

Blood spurted from its head. Quib’s needles had penetrated its under jaw, but not enough to be lethal. However it enough to make a small rivulet of blood start to drip down its scales as it reared back- and suddenly the head fell off all together, with a ‘splat’ beside Aggie and Quib.

Aggie closed her eyes just in time for blood to spray her face.

“Well Lady Beatha, maybe we should get a move-on this morning.” Tork was panting, but the fact that he was slightly impressed could be heard in his voice.

***

General Forbes pulled back his fist, already dribbling with blood, and waited for the Fey man to speak again.

Chay coughed a few times, rolled his head back, and laughed despite the blood running down his face. He had tried to proposition the Beast Awares to join in on a threesome he was planning with one of the other Beast Awares women staying in the inn-, and perhaps had laid a hand on the General’s shoulder. And perhaps had given the shoulder a small stroke.

“The answer is no. Touch me again, and I will make sure your perfect nose can’t ever heal properly.” Forbes growled at the Fey man, whom was still chortling as though he had been told a great joke, instead of punched in the face.

“I understand you might not be feeling adventurous in this moment, but should you change your mind-”

“I won’t.” Forbes dropped his fist down to his side, and continued to glower at the Fey man.

“Have you seen a couple traveling through here?”

“With all due respect, this is an inn. We are currently sitting by at least 3 different couples. Could you be more specific?” Chary dabbed his nose gently with his napkin, his tone mocking.

Forbes gripped his fist closed again.

“A man, and a woman. She’d have brown hair, recently cut, and he’d have black hair with brown eyes.”

“Can’t say I’ve seen such a pair.” Chay smiled again, and the Beast Awares rolled his eyes before stomping away towards another table. His dusty leather armor leaving behind a trail of grit on the floor, much to the innkeeper’s chagrin.

Bonnie O’Dwyer stood with her arms crossed in the doorway of the kitchen, surveying the General’s progress. Once he seemed to be talking with a couple further in the back left corner, she approached Chay with a dishrag in her hand.

“Use this to stop the bleeding, and not my napkins.” Chay’s humorous expression faltered under Bonnie’s cool gaze.

He wiped up the remainder of the blood best he could, and then they both turned their gaze back to Forbes.

“He seems awfully intent on finding a certain couple.”

“Hmmph.”

“Why is it you didn’t rush to defend me like you did that mute boy the other night?”

“Because for one thing; that boy was weak and defenseless, for another, that is a General for Sean O’Farrell.” She said nodding at Forbes, who seemed to be growing more and more curt with the guests of the inn.

Chay smiled again, this time in a far more enigmatic way.

“You know… that mute boy that was here perhaps 2 days ago was quite special. As was his… brother.” Chay slowly turned his gaze to Bonnie who was gritting her teeth, and not lifting her eyes from Forbes.

“They seemed kind.”

“Well it is so odd that a pure human would be meandering around the Northern Kingdom. Especially a peasant one.” His tone was toying, and Bonnie was finding it harder, and harder not to slap him.

“Say… I seem to recall hearing Sean O’Farrell’s bride is a pure human. What are the odds hmm?”

Bonnie’s claws grew by half an inch, and Chay observed with his smile widening ever so slightly.

“Bonnie, my darling, tell me what you know.” Chay leaned forward, staring up at Bonnie imploringly.

Forbes finally began to stalk out of the inn, where his Lord and student were waiting outside as the door slammed behind him, Bonnie finally dropped her gaze.

“Chay, if you say a word-”

“I only am interested in whatever information you have. You see, I happen to also be vested in their well-being, believe it or not.” He leaned back in his chair casually, crossing his arms across his chest, and flashing a dazzling smile.

“You leave that poor girl alone.” The threat in Bonnie’s voice was undeniable. As were the added length of her claws.

“It isn’t the girl I’m interested in.” His eyes shone with his mysterious tone, and Bonnie’s expression at this was incredulous.

After a moment of pause and thought, she frowned at Chay, not sure what to believe, and so she made a ‘tsked’ sound in annoyance, and stormed back to the kitchen.

Chay calmly stood up, and sauntered out the front door. The 3 men from Lord O’Farrell’s keep, were discussing something in harsh whispers, when they noticed the Fey man standing in front of them. Despite there being 2 horses saddled, only the Lord sat atop his steed as he spoke to the General and knight.

Despite Lord MacDermott having seen the Fey race before, he still couldn’t help but gape at the stunning man in front of him. He looked as though he had stepped out from one of the fairytale books he read to his daughters at night.

The Fey gentleman had on a purple silk shirt, a royal blue waist coat with silver spirals around the cuffs and hem, and trousers matching the vibrant blue color of the coat. His boots were polished black, and he wore a thick silver ring over his middle finger engraved in spirals.

Despite the richness of Lord MacDermott’s clothes, he felt closer to a peasant than a Lord next to this being.

“General Forbes? I believe you and I had a miscommunication inside.” Chay fixed Forbes with his best smile, as he folded his hands in front of himself.

“I told you, I have no interest in-”

“Oh I don’t mean regarding my pleasurable lunch plans. Earlier, you asked me a very specific question. You asked me if I had seen a woman and a man as you described.”

“Yes and you answered no. Shove off, we’re done here.” Forbes received a blow to the head from Lord MacDermott.

“Forbes, courtesy is to be shown to all civilians.” Forbes’ expression closed down, and he stared more scrupulously at the Fey man. Chay smiled wickedly at the exchange before continuing.

“Thank you my Lord. Now, as I was saying, I did not see the couple you described. However, there were 2 brother’s here. One of them tall with black hair brown eyes. His eyes were slanted, but not necessarily like some of our Fey brother’s. His younger brother however, was mute. Wore a leather cap at all times, and happened to be a pure-blooded human.” The group of O’Farrell’s men had been staring skeptically at Chay, until he mentioned the human.

“You’re certain that the mute brother was pure-human?” Lord MacDermott called down, his eyes calculating.

“Of course. Otherwise he wouldn’t have experienced Wonder.” Everyone in front of Chay froze.

“Do tell… what happened, when the ‘mute brother’, experienced Wonder?” The Beast Awares that looked like a snake asked the question. Making Chay flit his gaze over to its shining black eyes.

“Very little. The boy’s brother shielded him, and hauled him out of there.”

“I sssseeee.” The Beast Awares knight slithered closer to Chay, and drew itself up to almost eye level with him.

“Which way did they go?” Chay smiled at the question, and raised his gaze to Lord MacDermott who was frowning deeply.

“Ah well you see, I’m a little bored here. So I’ve decided I would tell you only if you agreed to bring me along.”

“This is not your business!” Forbes burst forward to attack him, but stopped when the blade of Lord MacDermott’s sword landed on the flat side on his shoulder.

“Forbes.” Lord MacDermott’s tone had a very sharp edge in it. He waited, but raised his gaze to Chay, and continued.

“The better question is; why do you want to join us? Boredom is not a valid reason in this circumstance.” Lord MacDermott’s voice was level, and cautious, while both Beast Awares were tense and waiting. They were watching Chay’s every breath, as though he was about to explode with Fey magic.

“There is nothing more to it than boredom. Either you allow me to join, or I simply return to my world. I am not bound by your hierarchy to aid the Duke of Duchaster County.”

Lord MacDermott’s expression was dark, and his dislike of the Fey man deepened.

“Then we must part ways. I will inquire with the rest of the individuals in the inn with the new information you just provided for me.”

Chay’s smile was still in place as he swung his arm in front of him, and snapped his fingers.

“Oh dear. I suppose that’s the end of it. I will see you 3 later.” He gave them all a slight bow, and a wink, strolling away from them towards the stables.

Sir Barra turned and gazed at Forbes, and Lord MacDermott who were staring after the Fey man, looking as though their heads might explode any moment.

“General Forbes, Sir Barra, I believe matters may have become a little more complicated. Sir Barra, I need you to return to Sean O’Farrell’s keep with a message as quickly as possible.”

“Yesss my Lord? What issss it I shall sssay?” Sir Barra bowed his head.

“You will tell him there is now a Fey man looking for both Lady Agnes, and her Servicer. He has an unknown motivation for doing so, but Lady Agnes was subjected to Wonder.”

Sir Barra bobbed his head, and within a matter of seconds, had disappeared completely from eyesight. His slithering body maneuvering through the trees better than anyone on 2 or 4 legs could do.

***

Aggie dodged the fist coming towards her head, and jabbed the staff upwards. She halted her counter-attack before the blow could make contact with Tork’s throat, and immediately stepped back.

“Good. Very good.” He nodded at her. “We will work on hatchet throwing when I return to you.” Aggie nodded with a smile, and returned to practicing her starting stance, and her blocks.

Tork walked towards where Arlen was practicing forms and maneuvers with a short sword in each hand. In the hour that they had started their lessons, he appeared to have mastered all of the basic parries and attacks that Tork had explained briefly to him.

The encounter with the monster that morning had woken them all up, and once the last of the paralysis had lost its effect on Ora, they had made excellent ground coverage. They had been nearly jogging the entire day through the forest, alternating between climbing the rockier terrain, and speed walking around the more dangerous rocks and roots.

The monster had been strangely far from where its nest would’ve been, in the heart of the forest. This, Tork reasoned, meant that someone must’ve travelled by and disturbed it, or been hunting near its eggs. This only pushed their sense of urgency, as they realized more monsters could’ve been upset into abandoning their nests and dens.

They hadn’t stopped until dinner time, and after they had all eaten their light meals, Tork announced that they needed to start training immediately.

Tork had helped Aggie bandage her arm, which could have been in far worse shape had it not been for Quib’s trick. Even so, Tork informed her that she would probably have some minor scarring on her arm from the bite.

Arlen was being oddly silent towards his Mistress, and didn’t say a word about the danger she had placed herself in, or her sickness.

They were all thankful that the illness seemed to have left as quickly as it had come, and so they did very little to pace themselves on their journey. As they had travelled, Tork had brainstormed aloud which weapons and methods of training he felt would best suit his new students.

He decided that bows and arrows would be too difficult too find and buy for Aggie, so he decided that her learning hatchet throwing, and how to use a staff in combat would be the best options.

Both would allow her more distance from her assailants in a fight, which Tork assured her, was necessary. Aggie was excellent in her endurance, but her strength was minimal. Weapons used to keep foes at a distance would work to her advantage; especially as most warriors and knights, would be trained in hand to hand combat and swords. Not many warriors would be trained on having to worry about multiple quick attack points.

Using a bow meant being quick, relying on your mind, and reading your assailant. All attributes Tork was confident Aggie had. Though the more he observed of her, the stranger she became to him. He could’ve sworn she had been paralyzed by the Cockatrice that morning, but that didn’t make sense with her getting Quib to attack. How could she have snapped out of the monster’s trance, and give him a window of opportunity for an attack…?

Tork approached Arlen, drew his broad sword out, and knocked one of the blades out of Arlen’s hand. His loose grip had allowed for maneuverability, but he’d lose a weapon in no time against any seasoned warrior.

Compared to Aggie, Arlen was learning how to use 2 swords, similar to Tork’s fighting style. Tork himself wasn’t particularly large, nor was he fast, but he had brute power behind his blows, and he didn’t overthink his moves. With two swords he could deliver double the blows, and increase the odds of hitting an important appendage.

Arlen was fast, which could be deadly with 2 blades, but he overthought and analyzed everything. There was a chance that once he had sorted out every nuance of fighting, that he would stop thinking so much, but Tork wasn’t the patient type.

“You really don’t learn as fast as the Servicer’s I’ve met, you know that?” Tork observed; his tone wasn’t mocking, so much as curious.

“Is there different breeds of you that are better at combat?”

Arlen wiped some of the sweat that dribbled down his face, and bent to pick up his sword, resetting his beginning stance.

“Yes. Some of us have a stronger affinity for politics, and others for combat. However, I still am better than an average Beast Awares or Human mix breed.”

“Without a doubt. You are still remarkably quick to grasp movements and ideas, and I have no uncertainty that you will be competent within a couple of months if you continue to improve.”

Arlen nodded, and glanced over to Aggie, his face was a stonewall of emotion. Tork sighed weightily. “Stupid humans.” He thought the words but didn’t say them.

“She is doing well. She has strong hand-eye co-ordination, so her hatchet throwing will be honed quickly.” Arlen turned to stare at Tork. His deadened expression made Tork feel as though he were invisible to the Servicer.

“I don’t feel useful to her at all.”

“Useful people and objects, don’t need to be useful all the time. A blanket isn’t needed on a hot summer day, but sure as horse ass, it is needed at night and in the winter.” Tork stopped for a moment, and watched Arlen carefully.

“You’re very young in a lot of ways.” Arlen narrowed his eyes at the comment. “You know very little about emotions or people, and are only beginning to find your own place in the world. You and Aggie are somewhat the same.” Arlen’s expression softened, and turned to look at Aggie who was working on her blocks. She worked, imagining an unseen assailant coming at her. Her focus was so intense, that Arlen doubted she was aware that everyone was watching her. Her mouth set in grim line of concentration, and each movement careful, and executed precisely.

“You believe your place in the world is only relative when it’s beside Aggie, but she doesn’t feel that way about you. She’s making a place for herself, and not making you do it. She is learning and becoming better because she is doing it herself. You are so focused on her not making you do it, that you are failing to mature.” Tork hesitated then continued.

“You want to be a better Servicer? Become a better person.”

Arlen knew the Beast Awares was probably a good few decades older than them, and therefore his wisdom and insights came from living a full life…

But he still felt angry at feeling so small.

He didn’t say this though. Instead, he readied himself as Tork began to test his parries.