After a few more questions and concerns, which I eased, the faeries seemed satisfied with the meeting and started heading towards their homes for the night. Once the last of them left, I started walking back towards the cave, fatigue finally clawing into me.
By the time I arrived, the night sky flickered with colourful light. I looked up to see shades of green and pink dancing into the dark clouds, forming waves of luminescence, and smiled to myself. At the end of my first day, I stopped a fireling, saved a human, and successfully held the first keeper meeting. Then my stomach growled so deep it might have summoned all the wolves around the district. I had taken care of the human’s needs, yet with all the events lining up, I forgot to feed myself. Silly beginner’s mistake, my brothers would say.
Upon entering the cave, the first thing I did was check on the woman. I was covered in mud; weapons dragging down my tired shoulders and begging for me to release the tension. Yet, when I
spotted her resting, her position unchanged since I left, I felt light. All the fatigue had disappeared just by knowing she was safe and sound asleep. Even my stomach relaxed and briefly filled itself with a warm sensation.
It lasted little; the muscles tightened to demand food and after removing the weapons and changing clothes for the third time in a day—this time into my loose sleeping trousers—I headed towards the kitchen to prepare the sustenance I had been longing for almost twenty-four hours. I scanned the cupboards and found nut filled pasties, some blackberries, cheese and onion jam, perfect for a quick sandwich. I sat at the table and chewed calmly, stopping from time to time to butter another pasty or to take a sip from the orange blossom tea.
While I ate, I mentally reviewed the events of the day, thinking about how Rhylan could have entered this home, how fortunate I had been to arrive in time to save the human and tried to remember all the names and faces I laid eyes upon during the meeting. When I finished, I took another mug and poured boiling water over a jasmine bud, cut a fresh slice of bread and spread butter on it, then laid apricot jam on top and sprinkled a bit of ground cinnamon. I also took an apple from the basket laying on the table and went back into the bedroom.
She was still asleep, her torso raising and lowering along with her breathing, splayed out on my favourite pillow.
“I will need that back,” I told her in a whisper. She made no sign of hearing me, caught deeply in sleep. “Ahem, ahem,” I tried, though it sounded more like a theatre action than anything else. The cup was hot in my hand, so I placed it on the nightstand, over the thick leather cover of the book I had been reading at the palace, transported here alongside everything else. I sat on the bed, positioning myself close to her feet and touched one of her calves, shaking it gently. The woman moved. It was hardly noticeable, yet her muscles tensed and one of her toes wiggled. I tried again, repeating the gesture with more tension, pulling on her calf harder this time.
“Mmm...” she moaned, moving her head to the other side of the pillow.
“Wake up,” I murmured.
“Mmm…” her answer hummed again. I pulled on her calf, lightly pinching her skin.
“What?” she replied.
“Wake up,” I repeated.
“No, it’s too comfy here,” the human grumbled. Her hands adjusted on the sheets.
“I’m glad you enjoy my bed, but you need to wake up.”
“No, I don’t want to, five more minutes,” she said, hugging the pillow.
“You slept all day, I brought food.”
Clearly she had no intention of rising from the bed, which I now wanted back, and lingered in some kind of dream. With my patience diminishing from tiredness, I rose from the bed and renounced any trace of a whispering tone.
“You need to wake up immediately!” I ordered in my commanding voice.
For a few seconds, she seemed to have no intention of moving, then her entire physique tensed and jumped awake. She looked at me with enormous hazel eyes as the portrait of shock sketched her face. Then the nightmare started.
“Stop, just stop, you are breaking my eardrums!” I begged, hiding from the possessed being behind the wardrobe door. The damned beast was making an infernal sound, screaming from the top of her lungs, loud enough to awaken the dead and was throwing everything she could find in my direction, including the mug of scalding tea I had prepared for her just minutes ago.
“Human, stop!” I demanded, but the demon I had awoken kept attacking me with everything she could find, the plate of food, my book, the oil lamp, pillows and sheets from the bed, the blanket and boots from the chair, the chair itself and then…
“Oh no, don’t you dare use my own weapons against me,” I shouted as she gripped my most precious dagger.
“Let me go!” the barbarian threatened.
She waved the dagger in the air, as if she could block my approach from any direction, so I pulled one of the shirts from the floor and threw it towards her head. She was so preoccupied to block the dangerous cloth attacking her that she lowered her hand and I saw an opportunity. Reaching her, I knocked the dagger away and grabbed both her arms, squeezing tightly, keeping the human trapped. She struggled to escape, shaking with effort.
“Calm down,” I told her and kept her squeezed tightly, hoping she would relax. Who was I kidding?
“Mother…” I roared as I felt her teeth sinking into my forearm, hard enough to draw blood. My tight pull loosened enough for her to escape, but after two steps, I took hold of the beast again, my chest pressing on her back, left arm restraining her shoulders and the other keeping a tight grip on her abdomen. I had her trapped.
“Human, may the Goddess save me, if you do not quiet down, I will hurt you myself.”
She struggled for another minute, until her strength abandoned her and she remained limp in my arms, whimpering. She had given up. I felt her sighs pushing into my front, head leaning forward in defeat.
“Listen,” I whispered, trying to find my least threatening tone, “I will let you go if you promise not to attack me again.”
