South of Willow’s Point Lake, Forest of Dain, Kingdom of Dain- Mid Summer 14 years AR

Jon lay along the south shore of the lake breathing heavily. A soaking wet Willow was laying on top of him doing the same. It had been less than half a day since the battle began and everything went from bad to worse. First, the werewolves pulled a flanking maneuver and hit them in the rear and followed by a full-fledged charge on the left flank where he was fighting. After that the beings, he now knew as the fae showed up, which led him to see a naked woman for the first time as one decided to make blood-angles on his chest. The wolves attacked, so the fae started casting their magic, scattering the expedition and the werewolf horde. He could only be glad he was of the former because they actually targeted the latter.

After that came running through the woods and getting lost. Stumbling on Ser Erik by running right into him, an act that nearly cost Jon his life because the prince reacted from muscle memory. He responded like he was being attacked. Then… walking trees marching through the forest, finding Afgheir, Finn, and a blind Elvanni on the way back to the lake. Which led to his predicament at the moment. Some of the expedition retreated into the water and he had just helped pull Willow out of the middle of the lake. He wondered if he forgot anything.

“Aaagh!” He did forget. A sudden pain shot from his chest, both nipples to be precise.

“How do you like it?” Willow asked as she twisted away. Willow had been hurt and was struggling to get across the lake, Jon had tried to help her but she slipped from his grasp and went under. In his panic, he grabbed blindly and held tight to whatever he could get his hands on to pull her head back above the water. He just so happened to have her late team’s mascots in a death grip. Willow did not appreciate it and was now returning the favor. She did it with a vengeance… she was using her nails. The moment she let go she grabbed one of Jon’s hands and held his palm to her right breast, “Now heal.”

“Quit torturing the boy, even I know he didn’t mean it,” Finn chuckled at the situation in a soaking mess next to Jon, the Stilyran knight he had saved laughing right next to the lycan. Just as much amusement as elation that they survived the past day.

“Or just go back to tearing his fucking nipples off… Just do it quietly,” Afgheir said with a smirk. Jon couldn’t see it but he could practically hear it in the knight's voice. Jon cast [Heal] while trying to think of anything besides the wet tunic and soft large… he was doing a bad job of thinking of something to distract him. His respite came as she breathed a sigh of relief, only to have his hand ripped away and put on the left one to repeat the process. Only after was his hand forcefully moved to her knee to heal her actual injury. When he was done she grabbed him and hugged his head. Afgheir started laughing again as Jon’s body went stiff at the soft pair now pushed into his face, “Okay, now you’re just being cruel lass. That lad’s young, the last time he got his hands on a pair was feeding on his ma’s tit. Easy on ‘em”

“Eh, saved me from breathin’ water. Thank you...,” She said while giving Jon a grin and releasing him, it was slightly flirtatious but soon turned nearly demonic, “but if you ever need to do that again and you leave fucking another set of hand-shaped bruises…” Jon didn’t want to know the details of the implied threat and was relieved for more than one reason that she got off of him. He bent his legs at his knees the moment she was gone.

“Haha, Flex your leg muscles kid. It’ll go away faster,” Finn said with a shit-eating grin. He’d said it far louder than he needed to, leading to snickers from the group and a giggling Willow. Jon plopped his head down in the mud and after a moment started flexing his calf muscles, which just turned the snickers and giggle into roaring laughter.

“Your highness, where to now?” Finn changed a new topic that grabbed everyone’s attention, which Jon was very grateful for. He didn’t exactly appreciate the mirth still in Finn’s voice or the fact everyone was still taking a lot of joy out of his embarrassment, “Pointy here sa-”

“Faelin..” the blind ranger corrected him but dropped the scowl when he realized he wasn’t sure where Finn was standing. He’d been one of the few that had looked back at the intense light, losing his eyesight in the process.

“Right… well he said he saw a few heading along the shoreline when everyone split up. We could probably find their tracks around here somewhere,” Finn finished and pointed at an obvious werewolf print, they were at the place they first spotted the monsters. Jon had already been informed that the group that went around the lake included at least Leofrith. His sister and Jaesmin had been spotted running northeast, following Lady Kyanna but looking for them was easier said than done with the spreading forest fire between the two groups. Andrew, Cara, and Aethred were unknown. So were Princess Astrid and Neera for that matter.

“Can’t walk through flames, best we find the ones we can. No tellin’ who’s with them,” Afgheir opined, clearly hinting at the idea that Ser Erik’s sister very well could have been forced around the lake. No one had wanted to split but when beams of light started fires the fleeing expedition was forced to split or broke away to get distance from pursuing werewolves.

When Ser Erik seemed lost in thought he added bluntly, “the Princess could be with ‘em. We can’t search anywhere else until that fire burns out. Looking at those pissed off Treants we came across, I’d imagine they’re already using their magic somewhere to build a firebreak… won’t be long.”

“Then let us search,” Ser Erik, who had been the only one not laughing, decided and started walking along the shoreline, scanning it for signs of footprints. The rest walked behind except Finn, who jogged ahead. It wasn’t actually difficult to find the prints along the wet shore.

“Couple dozen… maybe… Couple smaller prints, some furry turd-goblin prints, and a few of ours,” Afgheir said, walking around the various tracks in the mud. Jon looked at them and understood immediately what he meant, different sized boot prints were present. Indicating either squires or Rangers, probably both. Besides those were wolven prints. Which normally could be easily confused as either lycan or werewolf but the lycans had been ordered into their human form; which accounted for the barefoot human prints. Well, that and more than one set of wolven prints ended with a naked corpse full of burn holes or charred completely.

“Why are they all barely grown?” Finn asked the group, he was near one of the more complete sets of remains. A naked girl, around 16, was lying propped up against a rock. Finn was holding her head up by her hair to see her face.

“How can you tell? You all look young,” Ser Edwin asked while Ser Roverus held his shoulder for support, his left foot a mangled stump. He wasn’t wrong, even the 300ish year old Afgheir looked like he was in his early 30s at most.

“There’s a big difference between looking young and actually being young… my guess she’s 16 maybe 17 at most,” Afgheir said after giving her face and body a once over, “Now you mention it, lad. Most those fuckers back there were bout the same, weren’t they? Looked more like who you’d see running around with the boy's lot.” He jerked a thumb at Jon and started walking towards the next corpse. It was a boy this time and was severely burned through the heart, a faedragon’s breath attack.

“Your right, looks like he didn’t even need to shave,” Willow said looking at the boy's sparse facial hair. Ser Erik sported a neatly trimmed beard but Afgheir and Finn usually shaved. Even though they both looked like they did that morning, each had a shadow already, “Can they grow a human beard even though they can’t take human form?”

Two nods and a shrug answered her, the shrug was Finn’s. Like Jon, it was his first time fighting werewolves.

“We should get moving though,” Afgheir said with his brow furled like he was confused, he shot Ser Erik a glance. The prince seemed just as confused but less concerned about it. He stoically started following the tracks.

They made their way through the forest and occasionally had to backtrack to relocate the trail or circle around packed earth and rock. Finn and Afgheir led the way while Jon just stayed near the back. He’d knew how to track but he still kept from underfoot, letting the more experienced trackers do their task.

“Sorry bout by the lake, that just hurt. Even worse than my knee,” Willow said a bit sheepishly. She pulled out the top of her tunic and looked down at her chest, “You’re stronger than you look… guessing that’s the lycan thing. Never had a bruise like that before.”

“Ummm… Sorry,” Jon wasn’t sure how to answer that. His answer just made her smile softly.

“You don’t have to be that timid Jon. They’re just tits and it’s not like you tried to cope a feel, joke around a bit. People are making fun, just lean into it and brag a bit. Half this lot wouldn’t have minded being in the same situation,” She said and bumped her shoulder against his side playfully. After a moment, he bumped back, “There ya go! Strong, cute, and kind. Little work we might even get a little bit of confidence and charm out of ya... Bit of advice women love that. Daren wasn’t the best looking but he didn’t have to be. He made me laugh… I’m pretty sure most women would prefer a decent looking man with a good personality than a great looking man that has no idea how to talk to women. Trick to that is just talk to us like you would anyone else, you don’t need to be afraid of us or treat women differently. If you don’t get it, look at Finn, he knows how to talk. So it works for him despite his big ears and a bit of crooked teeth. That’s how he got someone like Neera interested in him, gods know it wasn’t that smile.”

Jon agreed with what she implied, Neera was beautiful even by Elvanni standards. While Finn did have big ears and a slightly crooked smile.

Finn obviously heard and turned back from the front, “Eh, big ears means I can hear you, ya know? For your information, it ain’t the only thing big.” He held his fingers an inch apart, giving Willow a wink.

“Yup hung like a fairy, thought as much. Poor Neera, probably that wolf tongue you got though. Mmm,” Willow quipped back. Finn just grinned in response as he held his fingers in a V in front of his mouth.

“That tongue comes out of your mouth, I’m cutting it off,” Afgheir ruined Willow and Finn’s fun as he slapped the latter in the back of the head. Spurring the younger knight to return to the search, “You can joke all you want when we regroup but head on task boy!”

They continued to walk as the sun made a decent clip across the sky. Jon learned about how to use his tongue to please a woman but luckily it was another adventurer that asked about what the tongue part was about rather than Jon. Willow told them it was an art that few men understood or cared about and even fewer were good at. Most of the men in the small group took note but the conversation ended when Ser Edwin insisted the talk of lewd acts was indecent. The fact he was a noble, and not one of the far less prudish Ederathans, turned the lively conversation into complete silence.

“Cave ahead!” Finn broke that silence only a few minutes later while pointing to a large opening in the side of a rocky hill. Jon pulled out his ax out of not instinct but experience. The only cave he’d ever been near that wasn’t dangerous was the hideout in the north grove. The fact that dangerous monsters and beasts used them as dens was a lesson he’d already learned on their trek through the Dain and judging by the scattered bones outside the entrance, this one wasn’t going to be an exception.

**********

“Where are we going? We should try to find my brother,” an annoying, high-pitched voice rang in Aethred’s ears.

“Away from the fucking fire and I have no idea where Ser Erik IS!” He was nearly at his limit. Only a part of it was his only company in the forest, Princess Astrid. Most of it was the fact that his broken arm wasn’t even set. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as another bout of pain shot through his arm from spinning around to look at her. He opened them to see her scowl, he anticipated a comment pointing out how he shouldn’t speak with that tone to royalty… which he knew he shouldn’t but she’d been asking pointless questions and making even more pointless statements for hours.

The two of them were separated from everyone else by the sheer bad luck of having been forced north towards the creek then due west by the expanding fire. The lake was still by their side as they slowly circled it. Aethred hoped people would be doing the same, to group back up but it hadn’t happened yet.

“You mustn’t be so mean, you know who I am? Right?” and there it was, she knew the answer to that! She’d already told him ‘I am the princess of Ederath!’ on more than one occasion. Along with stating that her father was King Herold Hrothgarson, her Mothers were Queen Katla Hrothgarson and Queen Lyrei Hrothgarson… which Aethred didn’t really understand. Plus a reminder of her relation to the Crown Prince, aka Ser Erik, and the Young Prince Lief Hrathgarson. He didn’t understand why she insisted on giving her entire family tree as an example of her royal blood but also didn’t understand how she could go from a quiet little girl that kept trying to hang out with his friends to a pompous brat.

“You’re Astrid Hrothgarson, Princess of Ederath and Squire to Dame Helga,” he said dryly. She actually hadn’t brought up her mentor once so he decided to throw it in. Helga had saved his life and meant more to him than some king half the isle away. She pouted behind him with a soft whine. It sounded like she was annoyed, which only made him grin slightly.

“So why are you so mean? Answer me. I command it!”

“Princess…” He thought about chewing her out for making so much noise. They were deep in the Dain, surrounded by monsters, lost, and between the two of them they were an 11 year old and a cripple. Those facts would probably just scare her. Making her more unbearable, “I apologize… My arm's broken and it hurts like the three hells and I’m worried about my friends.”

“You’re worried about Miss Erin?” Aethred had to stop at that to give her an incredulous look as her tone changed from annoyance and authority to what you’d expect of an 11 year old girl.

“Yes…”

“Do you like her?”

“She’s my friend, we grew up together.”

“I mean do you like her more than that, you’re a commoner. You can marry whoever you like.”

“No, just friends.” He was actually telling the truth, Erin was cute but that’d just be too weird from his perspective. He did feel her up once but that was more to mess with her and when she went with it to mess with Jon, he shifted his focus to the other twin. Wasn’t all bad.

“My brother, Prince Lief once told me…”

The two continued to walk while he half listened to her ramble. She dropped relationships within the minute and continued on with whatever sage advice she’d gotten from her brothers or parents. She’d occasionally stop and ask him to repeat what she’d just said to ensure he was listening.

She eventually quieted down but only started again when they stopped to rest a moment. It was a lesson that would probably make Erin want to hug Astrid and plant a kiss on her cheek. Aethred, who loved to joke around and sometimes went out of his way to annoy people, was being annoyed by someone but he had to just take it.

It did drive him on though, something beyond just hope that they find someone else, he needed someone else. A knight or Ranger, someone that knew how to deal with little princesses.

“There’s someone!” For once the annoying voice brought hope, quickly replaced by pain as his arm throbbed again. Behind them along the shore was a small group jogging towards them. He dropped his head and groaned. He’d figured there would have been others in front of them with how slowly they were going, he didn’t think anyone would be behind them.

“Astrid!” a tall blonde knight sprinted towards them at the head of the group, she turned into her lycan form but quickly reverted back to human after a few long strides, “I caught your scent, your highness. I’m glad we found you before dusk.”

Dame Helga bowed to her pupil before hugging her, while the rest of her companions trotted up from behind.

“Oh, hello Andrew!” Astrid said brightly and hugged Aethred’s friend.

“Hi Astrid, glad you two are alright,” He hugged her back, which only peeved off Aethred even more.

“Hello, Andrew? Hi Astrid? What happened to calling you by your title?”

“Ahh… what about her title? Not even Prince Erik is to be referred by his royal title on campaign, he’s a knight first. Likewise, Astrid is but a squire, while in training she’s essentially your peer,” Dame Helga explained causing Aethred’s anger to spike even more, reaching boiling point as he saw a smug grin on Astrid’s face. Aethred rushed towards her, his anger clearly present on his face.

“You were fucking with me this entire ti-” a backhand from a heavy fist cut Aethred off and dropped him to the ground.

“That wasn’t necessary mentor. I was entertaining myself by pestering him. I was planning on telling miss Erin but…” The princess looked down at the now unconscious Aethred laying in the dirt. She was uneasy at how far her prank had gone.

“Oh, Erin’ll like this even better… ‘specially considerin’ he weren’t hurt… well he were but he won't feel anything when he wakes up, right?” Andrew looked on as a Ranger cut open Aethred’s gambeson and started casting [Purify] on the infected arm. Between that, [Mend Bone] to take care of the break, and [Heal] to deal with everything else, the only pain Aethred would have when he awoke would be to his ego.

“He will, he needed to be knocked out for this anyways,” The group cringed as the Ranger slit open Aethred’s arm and forcefully realigned the bone as white light started making quick work of the break and accompanying fractures. [Heal] could have done the same but it would have taken far longer with the amount of injury, the specific brand of magic was far more efficient, “Now let’s look for a place to set camp for the night.”

**********

“Climb faster, please climb faster!” Jaesmin cried out while looking at the scene below her. She was hanging over a lycan’s shoulder as the knight used clawed hands and feet to scale a 30-foot cliff. Below them, the battle between the fae and the forest folk was in full swing. Beams of the fae’s light burned into slashing roots and vines as all three sides took casualties. Lady Kyanna had ordered the expedition members to stow their weapons and not to engage but that didn’t mean there wasn’t collateral damage.

Other beings had joined the fray, either taking up a side or fighting anything that came to close. As she watched a 20-foot tall treant came charging out of the forest and locked arms with a drake that was unlucky enough to get caught in the fight. The treant’s legs looked like two separate trees growing together in a twist to form a torso before breaking off again to form shoulders and arms for the headless creature. Jaes couldn’t see if there was a mouth but several green orbs set into the wood blinked at random. The treant looked to be made of two weeping willow trees, its fingers and parts of its body draped with leafy tendrils that struck out and whipped the drake with audible cracks.

The drake responded with a gush of liquid fire that coated the flammable plant monster which thrashed around violently, one of its tree limb arms crushed a pair of climbers against the cliff just below Jaesmin. She couldn’t tell they were alive but stopped looking when her newest friend flew up and kicked her in the nose. Erin looked at the beautiful eyes of the creature until it kicked her again, burning the tip of her nose with its magic. It was pointing above the drake that was now lumbering away.

“Fae circle!” Jaesmin yelled out, remember her duty to be a lookout while she was carried up the cliff. She clasped her hands over her eyes and felt something small sit on her head. The fairy she had healed stayed close to her and warned her of any sudden, blinding attacks from the fae’s side. Most of the expedition members around her would be blind with how often the massive beams of pure light lit up their surroundings if not for the early warnings.

She waited for the light to dissipate and felt a tap on her head. The fairy darted away but came back a moment later to give Jaesmin’s head a hug very similar to how Willow had hugged Jon but on a far different scale. The fairy kissed her on the nose and darted away before forming a beam of light that burned into the back of a dryad.

Jaesmin watched from the top of the cliff a few minutes later as the carnage of the two forces of nature warred with each other. But as suddenly as it started it ended as crisp pops emanated from the forest below as the fae went back home. All except scattering pixies and one beautiful little fairy that darted up to sit on Jaesmin’s shoulder.

“Looks like you bonded with it-” Lady Kyanna said as she approached but cut off when the fairy darted at her face. The fae didn’t attack though but started groping her chest before flipping backward and spreading her legs to give the Lady a view of her privates, “… her, you bonded with HER.” The fae just gave an exaggerated nod before it started dancing in the air. It wasn’t fluttering around but rather it looked like it was walking and spinning on an invisible surface, its wings not even moving.

“Looks like those tree things are more worried bout the fire than us my lady,” Lagertha said, looking down at the scrambling plant monsters that were trying to put out any fire in sight.

“They’re not going to come after us because of Jaesmin’s little friend, are they? I doubt they’ll like it- er her! being with us.” Ragnar said, looking at the naked fae that was repeatedly pointing at her crotch. She then started darting around in front of everyone in the vicinity to repeat the gesture.

“Everyone! The Fae among us is a female, do not refer to her as an ‘it’,” Lady Kyanna gave the announcement that doubled as an order. No one wanted to anger one of the beings that had slaughtered the werewolves and carved a path of burning destruction through the forest. The fairy darted at Kyanna, stopping just short and giving her a peck on the cheek, “We make for our previous campsite, Rangers Lily and Neera lead the way.”

Jaesmin got into a column and started walking, the fae quickly joined her and sat back at her shoulder. She glanced at the fairy out of the corner of her eye. It scooted closer to her and leaned into her ear.

“Solara, eets the first part of mine name. You may call me that,” Jaesmin froze as the fairy spoke. She scooted away on her shoulder seat while looking upon Jaesmin expectantly as her head slowly turned.

“Oh, oh... ah, I’m Jaesmin but my friends call me Jaes… you can call me that as well,” Jaesmin introduced herself with a slight bow of her head. Solara for her part just bobbed back and forth repeating the two names before deciding on using Jaes. She stood up and started inspecting Jaesmin, primarily the hair but then shook her head and flew around her, stopping to tap on the leather armor and continuing down her body. Most of the expedition members stopped to watch the spectacle. Unsure of what the fairy was doing.

Solara darted back and forth, checking on others as well with her hand on her chin. She then flashed towards Jaesmin’s pant leg and started tugging on it before giving up and finding the hem. Jaesmin jumped as the fairy darted up the pant leg and a quick pace and had to stop herself from swatting at Solara as she climbed her leg.

From everyone else's perspective, Jaesmin held incredibly still up until she suddenly started undoing her pants and held it open with wide eyes as the fairy flew out. From Jaesmin’s perspective, her near flash was precluded by a pair of tiny hands touching where she’d never had anyone else touch her before.

She stared at the offending fae as Solara giggled to herself before pointing at Jaemin’s face then her crotch followed by the fae doing the same to her own tiny face and body, “… Yes I’m a girl, you could have just asked!”

Solara ignored the upset tone of Jaesmin’s voice before she flew over to a clean-shaven Elvanni man with long hair. Once again she inspected his hair and tapped on his leather armor. With a look of terror in the man's eyes, he watched as she shoot down to his boots and started crawling back up his pant leg...