"Fairrin Part 1 ~ Chapters 7-9" by Twyla Bendyna

Chapter Seven

Tara had just passed The Valley, and decided to stop for a quick rest.  She looked at the sky and figured that she’d make it back to Council Cave by sundown or, at the latest, just after.  ‘I hope they don’t hurt the Princess,’ she thought.  ‘She’s such a kind human...’ She started to reach for her bow, thinking she’d heard a noise.  She listened closely, and then calmed down some.  It was just hoof-beats.  ‘Probably a lost Fairrinian,’ she thought.  ‘I’ll offer some help.’

“Hello, there!”  She called out.  “Can I help--” She gasped as a black arrow sped to her chest.  She dodged, and narrowly escaped it.  Another arrow came at her from the opposite direction, and she had barely escaped it before two more came from two more places.  What was this?  Traitor Fairrinians?  Suddenly, an arrow caught her from behind, piercing her right thigh.  She screamed out and fell to the ground in agony.

A grim chuckle came from somewhere in the shadows to her left side.  “Show yourself!  I wish to see the face of my attacker!”  Then she wished she’d kept quiet.

Ten bodies began to emerge from the shadows.  At first, Tara thought they were giant satyrs, but then she saw their back ends.  These strange creatures were half-horse!

“Lucifer was right.  They’re a puny, weak people, and governed solely by fear.  No trouble at all.  Just as easy as Japheth’s old descendants.”  The creatures all chuckled, and another spoke up.  “Erat’s men must be getting weak, Cretor, if this is a sample of what we’re up against.”

“Shut up, Mordred!  I’ll do the talking.”  He smiled wickedly at Tara.  “You’re about to wish you’d never seen a centaur, little elf-maid.  About to wish you’d never been born.”

Tara shrunk in fear as the creatures began to close in.  She closed her eyes and began to pray, “Great Creator, please save me from these strange creatures, I pray of you, as your humble servant...”

~***~

Jessica stopped short, causing the others to stop and look back at her.

“What...” Dalan started, but stopped when Jessica put her finger to her lips.  She then walked slowly up to him and whispered:

“I heard a scream.  I’m going to investigate.”

“Princess!”  He called, but she’d already disappeared into the woods.  “Damn it!”  He turned to Toren.  “Toren, you stay here.  Lora and I will follow her,” and they went into the woods.

Lora quickly caught up with Jessica.  “Princess, I didn’t hear a thing.”  Dalan whispered.

“I barely heard it myself, Dalan.  That’s--” She stopped in shock.  They’d just heard talking.  Jessica pulled out her old sword, which she’d found stashed with her old armor in Sage’s cave.  She’d left her armor, not thinking she’d need any until she got back to Council Cave, and now wished she had it.  Dalan drew his sword also, and they slowly advanced towards the voices.  The talking stopped suddenly, but they still headed in that direction.

Jessica made it to the clearing first.  Her eyes widened.  Centaurs?  They were real, after all!  They really did kill off some of Japheth’s descendants!  Then she saw Tara.  Lora and Dalan emerged just as one of the centaurs looked back.

“Cretor.  More of them,”  It screamed.  The rest of the creatures turned, and then they all moved as one to attack the three.

“Run,”  Tara yelled, not realizing one of the people there was the Princess.  “They’re demons.  They’ll kill you!”

Jessica and Dalan didn’t run, though.  They attacked.  Toren, who’d heard Tara’s screams, rushed to the spot as well, and all four were locked in trying to defeat the centaurs.

Jessica suddenly found herself cornered off by three of them.  She killed two, and then gasped as the third centaur, which had pulled out a dagger, slashed a deep gouge in her thigh.  She whirled, catching it off guard by not screaming out and falling, and beheaded it in a single stroke.

Dalan, Lora, and Toren had killed five others, and the remaining two retreated when they saw how outnumbered they were.  Jessica quickly pulled part of her torn sleeve off and wrapped her wound before anyone noticed it.  She tried walking, and finding that she could without limping too badly, she went over to Tara with the others.

“Are you all right, Tara?”  Jessica asked.

“Yes, except those things shot my leg!”  She still hadn’t realized that the person there was Jessica

“What were those bloody things, any ways?  Never seen such a creature in my life.”  Toren said.

“Centaurs,” Jessica said.  “I’d thought they were a legend, like I’d thought fairies and dragons were, made up to explain the mysterious deaths of many of Japheth’s descendants.  Japheth was one of Noah’s sons.”  She explained.

Tara suddenly realized who was speaking.  “Princess.  You’re alive.  You escaped.  How?”

“Long story, Tara.  I might tell it after the war.”  She looked at Dalan, Toren, and Lora, making sure they remembered their promise not to tell.

“How did you know what those things were, Princess?”  Dalan asked.

“Legends and drawings passed down through the ages.”

Tara suddenly recognized Dalan and Lora.  “Dalan?  Lora?”

“Yes, Tara.  Dalan and Lora,” Lora said.  “We’re home to stay, I think.  I hope so, at least, as much as I enjoyed the Human Territories.”

“Is that where you’ve been?”

“Yes.  We knew Dalan as the Silver Knight.  Best knight ever known,” Jessica answered.

“Now, who’s the dragon?”

“You wouldn’t know me, though you might have heard evil tidings of me.  My name’s Toren,” he bowed, “and I, too, have returned home.”  He gave her a wry smile.  “Can’t do my job too well when my secret’s been discovered.”

Tara had gasped at Toren's name.  “You’re the traitor renegade!”

“Though we wanted no one to know it, I wasn’t a traitor.  I was infiltrating the Outlanders.  Ask Nick -- he was my last contact before I was found out ten years ago.  Been under tight guard since then.  I finally escaped.”

“Tara, you can ride Lora.”"  Dalan helped her up onto the pegasus, then turned to Jessica.  “We should have accepted Wildfire’s offer to carry you to Council Cave, Princess.”

“Really,” she answered, thinking of her leg.  “Oh, well, we’ll make it, somehow.  Let’s get going.  I don’t want to have a run-in with more of those creatures.”

Chapter Eight

It was slow going, and they made it to Council Cave three days after the attack.  The group at Council Cave was worried sick by this time.  Tara had been gone for five days, instead of her usual two or three days.

“Jarrod, I want you to form a search party -- about five or six altogether.  Go to Birth Cave and see if she made it there, then come back here.  Be on the lookout for signs of her both ways, though.”

“Sure thing, Derek.  I’ll take five along with me.”

“Fine.  Gather your men and head out first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, sir!”  Jarrod gave a respectful salute, turning to go form his group; but he didn’t get a step.  He didn’t even finish turning.  A strange dragon was standing in the cave opening, and Tara was in his arms.

“Tara!”  Derek turned to see Jarrod dash to the dragon, who was gently setting Tara on her feet.  “What happened?”  He put his arm around the girl’s waist and helped her to a boulder.  Others began rushing in, having heard Jarrod’s exclamation.

“She was attacked by a strange creature called a centaur.  It’s half-horse, half-human.  Sent by the Fallen One himself, it seems.  Prince--”

“Toren!”  Carmen rushed up him.  “You’re home, you’re really home!”  She embraced the shocked dragon.  Toren suddenly regained his senses and crushed her to him, whispering her name repeatedly.

Nick rushed out and up to the two dragons.  “Toren!  What happened to you?  You just disappeared on me and...”

“I was caught, Nick.  They found out and put me under guard.  I finally escaped seven days ago.”  He stopped when Dalan walked in.

“That stubborn girl!  I tell you, Toren, she’s just like Father.  Just like him!  Right, even if she’s wrong.  Stubborn, bull-headed girl!”

“Dalan?”  Derek and Nick both stared at the fairy before them.  Nick walked forward.  “Is it really you?”

Dalan turned to Nick.  “Yes, Father, it is.  You know, Toren,” he said, turning back to the two embracing dragons, “I finally left Lora down there to fight it out with her.  She was still sitting on that damned rock saying she’d rest a spell, and then would be fine as silk.  I’ve never seen as stubborn a girl.  Never.”

Lora then landed in the cave.  “I give up.  She’s determined there’s nothing wrong with her that rest won’t cure and says she’ll be up in a little bit.”  She turned to Prince Derek.  “She seems to look up to you, Sire.  Maybe she’ll listen to you.  Be a good idea to take Lariette or one of the others to carry her.  I’m too tired out trying to talk any sense into her stubborn head.”  She laid down next to the rock Dalan had sat on.  Toren just shook his head.

Derek just stared at them.  Three renegades returned home.  Who was their fourth, and how did she know him?  He was about to ask when he saw her.  “Princess.”  He breathed the one word out in a whisper.  Everyone else just stared.  She was alive.

Dalan looked over and shook his head, standing up.  “You are a stubborn girl, Princess.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were related to Father.  He’s just as stubborn.  Why are you trying to hide your limp?”  He looked pointedly at her leg.

“I’m not.  Dalan, there is no limp.  I was just tired.  The past eight days have finally caught up with me, that’s all.  I’ll just rest in my chamber a few days, and I’ll be good as new.”  She turned to Derek.  “I escaped, Prince, with Toren and Dalan’s help.  Erat had me.  I’ll explain someday, but I need some rest right now.”  She went to her old chamber.  Everyone burst into an uproar, and it took Dalan, Lora, Toren, and Tara the rest of the day to answer all of the questions.

Jessica removed her makeshift bandage and looked at the wound.  It was getting red and starting to swell some.  It hadn’t stopped bleeding yet, either.  She would have to sneak out at night and wash it thoroughly, something she hadn’t had a chance to do yet.  What she didn’t realize, though, was that it wouldn’t help any now.  A centaur’s blood was poisonous, and some had gotten into the wound when she had killed the third one.

~***~

Nick was taking a midnight walk, the only time he could get out alone and complain about having the human back, when he heard a strange murmur.  He slowly made his way in its direction, and then was able to make out the words.

“Stupid wound!  You should be healing by now!  It’s been a week!”

Nick realized that it was Jessica.  She had a wound?  From where?  He did some quick thinking, and realized it was about when she and the renegades had saved Tara from the centaurs.  He kept walking, and finally saw her.  She was sitting by the creek with a red-stained rag in her hand.  She finished wringing out the water, which had, Nick saw to his horror, blood in it, and wiped a deep gouge in her leg.

Nick almost gasped aloud.  The wound was long and deep, running from her hip almost down to her knee.  It also had red all around it, and was swollen up badly.  He noticed that it was still bleeding.  This was bad.  ‘Dalan’s right -- she is as stubborn as I am.  Just as stubborn,’ he thought.

Nick turned and headed resolutely back to the cave.  Even though he didn’t like the human, he would tell Sara first thing in the morning about it.  She could help.  This was too bad for a unicorn or unisus to be able to heal very well without some herbal help.

~***~

“Sara?  May I speak privately with you?”

“Sure, Nick.  Just a moment.”  Sara stepped out to meet him.  “Come on in.”  They sat down.  “So, what’s the problem?  You’re not ill, I hope.”

“No, Sara.  It’s the human.  She has a bad cut on her leg that won’t heal.  I saw it.  It’s all red and swollen, and is bleeding.  She was complaining to herself that it’d been a week and the cut hadn’t started healing yet.  She didn’t know I was nearby,” he explained when she gave him a funny look.

“Why are you worried?”

“Because Prince Derek and my son seem to care about her.  I’m doing this for them.”

“I’ll go check on it.”  She got up and started gathering different herbs together.

“Thanks,” he said.  Then he got up and walked out.  Sara finished getting her things together, and then left for Jessica’s chamber.  She walked in just in time to see the Princess wrapping the wound in clean bandages.  Bloodied rags lay in a pile on a nearby rock.

“Princess, I want to see that cut.”  Jessica jumped up at the intrusion and opened her mouth to deny any cut, then realized the evidence was right in plain sight.  Her mouth snapped shut as she sat back down.  Her eyes defied Sara, daring her to try to look at the wound.  “Princess, being stubborn won’t heal it any.  I can help, and I promise not to tell the Prince.  I can’t say the same for Nick, though.  He might just to anger you.”  She sat her bag down and undid the bandages.  Sara gasped when she saw the wound.  “You should have come to me!  This is badly infected!”  She began to work, applying herbs to the wound, speaking the whole time.  Then something she said caught Jessica’s attention:  “You’re just like Amarine.”

“Who?”

“Nick’s sister, Amarine.  She’s the fairy-child your father abducted.”  Everyone now knew about it because of Nick.  “She was just as stubborn as you’re being.  Even about marriage.  She didn’t want to and would not marry what she called ‘that stuck-up, spoiled son of King Daniel’s.’  She was out cooling her temper on finding out about the betrothal when she was abducted.  Poor Sage was wounded while trying to stop the abduction, and almost died.  He’s been very weak ever since.  Nick’s hated humans ever since, especially since Amarine’s twin, Dawn, disappeared some years later into the Human Territories to search for her.”  She spoke on, and then realized that she had lost Jessica’s interest, as the Princess suddenly asked:

“How long ago was this?”

“Oh, about thirty-one years ago.  Why?”  Sara was startled by the question.

“Just curious.”

“Well, I’ve done what I can, Princess.  If it doesn’t start healing in a few days, I’m sending you to Anabelle for further treatments.”  Sara packed up and left.  Jessica just sat there.  Her mother was a fairy!  Nick was her uncle!  Dalan was her cousin; Fauna was her cousin... she had relative’s she didn’t even know about!  Did her father know that Amarine had been a fairy?  Probably not, or he wouldn’t have told her that fairies were a legend.  However, he knew that dragons were real, and had told her they were legend.  But, this was her mother.  He couldn’t have known.

She stood up, whispering to herself.  “And no one else will.  This is my secret.  No one else will know that I’m half-fairy; so long as I don’t grow wings, that is.”

Chapter Nine

Derek watched Jessica as she stopped and massaged her thigh.  She’d been doing this for the past few weeks, ever since she’d returned.  He was about to go to her when Nick and Sara stormed up to her.  He was close enough to here every word.

“Princess, I want to see your thigh.”  Sara stood akimbo before Jessica, and Nick was standing nearby with his arms crossed over his chest and a stern look on his face.  Derek stayed back, wondering what was up.

“It’s fine, Sara, just sore.  It will be for a while.  Don’t worry about it.”  Jessica tried to turn, but Nick grabbed her arm and spoke.

“If you don’t let Sara look, I’ll go to Prince Derek.  Do you want that, human?”

“You wouldn’t!”  Jessica had gone pale.

“He would, Princess.  Nick doesn’t make threats lightly.  This clearing is safe enough.  Now, let me see your thigh.”

Jessica sent a withering look at Nick, then sat and lifted her leg covering off her thigh.  Derek nearly gasped at what he saw.  Her left thigh was swollen, red, and looked very infected.  It was still bleeding, and was oozing some.

“Princess, this is much worse!  I’m sending you to Anabelle...”

“No.  Then Prince Derek will have to know.  I don’t want him to know.”  Jessica scrambled up as she spoke.

“Too late, Princess."  Derek walked out of the shadows, a grim look on his face.  “I was going to ask you why you kept massaging your thigh, but now I don’t have to.  You are going back to Birth Cave tomorrow.  No arguments.”  Derek stopped before Jessica and stood firmly.  “In fact, tomorrow morning I will be personally escorting you back to Anabelle.  And you will stay there, or I’ll have Dalan escort you back to Carmania.”  He turned and headed back to camp.

Jessica plopped down on the log she’d just vacated, glaring at Derek’s back.  Nick and Sara had watched Derek in amazement.  Sara now thought to herself, ‘He’s in love with her!  It’s the only plausible explanation for his behavior just now.’  She suddenly started.  “Princess!  Where are you going?”  Jessica had started heading south.

“Back to Birth Cave.  I will not have Prince Derek escort me back like I’m some errant child.  I’m perfectly capable of going by myself.  Bye.”  She disappeared into the woods.

Sara turned to Nick, and saw that he was heading for camp.  “Nick, do something!”

“I am doing something, Sara.  I’m going to tell Prince Derek.”

~***~

Jessica sat down for a rest.  ‘I should have gone back to camp and gotten Amarine and some food,’ she thought.  ‘Why does he do that to me?  Does he purposely try to anger me?’  She suddenly stiffened and reached for her knife.  Were those hoof-beats centaur or Fairrinian?  She saw silver flash to her right and ducked just as a dagger flew past her head.  “Centaurs,” she whispered.  Then it emerged, a gnome astride it.

“Swift move, girl, but you’re not going to make it in the end,” the centaur said.  Then it mockingly bowed, saying, “I’m Koran, Prince of the centaurs, at your service... or, should I say, dis-service.”  With that the gnome jumped off and the centaur drew his sword.

Jessica had her dagger in her hand within seconds.  She was up and had moved in and out before the centaur had finished drawing his sword.  Blood spurted from a fresh wound on his arm.  He stared at the cut in astonishment.  Then, his face hardened in anger.  “Oren, kill her!”

The gnome quickly drew a dagger and lunged at Jessica.  He moved so swiftly that she barely had time to react.  With a quick flick of her wrist, her dagger left her hand to become embedded in the gnome’s chest.  She jumped away as soon as the dagger left her hand and drew her sword.  The gnome stopped and stared at his chest a second, then fell to the ground, dead.

Jessica turned to the centaur, ignoring the pain stabbing her thigh, and started in surprise.  The centaur was gone!  Where’d it go?  She searched around her, listening carefully, and heard hoof-beats fading to her left side.

“Dang it!  He escaped!”  She sat down, frustrated.  “Well, I at least wounded him.  He won’t be able to fight for a bit.”  She suddenly stood up and looked around her.  ‘I’d better get moving before more come,’ she suddenly thought.  She pulled her dagger out of the gnome, cleaned it in a nearby stream, and hid it once more in her belt.  Then she headed out again.

~***~

“Prince Derek!  Hold up a minute!”  Derek stopped and turned to see Nick rushing up to him.

“Yes, Nick?” As Nick approached him, Derek wondered why he looked so agitated.

“You need to go after the human.  She’s decided to go back to Birth Cave alone.  She...”

“Alone?  Is she crazy?”  Derek whirled and rushed back to camp, leaving a bemused Nick standing behind.

“Lariette, go and get Amarine!  Princess Jessica is badly injured and trying to go to Birth Cave by herself!”  He rushed into his tent, and Lariette went to get Amarine.  Within minutes, they were off in search of Jessica.