While I climbed, several things popped into my mind. The woman planned to stay in the forest. If she lived in the old queen’s palace, she must be royalty or on some kind of mission. I needed a plan. Obviously, the human could not find out about me or my duties, severe punishments ensued just for unwillingly being sighted by humans. I did not want to think what splaying out my form and chatting with the human could mean.
A fae revealing themselves to humans was a rare happening these days. It belonged to memories of the past when our ancestors found it a sport to hunt humans down into fairy rings. They either brought them into their kingdoms or used them for experiments. Most of these customs stopped two centuries ago because the Water Kingdom suffered attacks from sailors who wanted to avenge their lost comrades. The mermaids had enjoyed the flesh of men for millennia, yet, as the human population grew, it became difficult to remain unsighted and safe.
In this case, revealing myself to a human twice, voluntarily maintaining conversations and displaying my naked body to the woman would cause at least a good flogging. I could argue that the initial contact was to prevent a blood sacrifice, yet I had no excuse for what I was doing now: toying with the human, deliberately making her feel uncomfortable, just because I was enjoying it.
I found her intriguing, and quite beautiful. The rivers of chestnut hair falling on her back, her big hazel eyes and curvy form. She looked like temptation itself, and part of me was ready to take a bite. I knew I had to end this, let the human be, find out her purpose in the district and make sure we never met again. And above all, have a believable explanation regarding my presence in these woods.
Once I dressed and climbed down from the tree, rehearsing the story I formed while putting my clothes back on, I made a throat-clearing sound to attract her attention.
“I am presentable enough for you to look,” I announced.
Reluctantly, she shifted her head from behind the tree trunk and scanned me quickly to make sure I told the truth before she stepped away, letting herself appear in front of me.
“I apologise if my presence offended you, today and the first time we met. I only wished to come to your aid, and I am pleased to know you are faring fine,” I took the reins of the conversation.
She continued to glance at me suspiciously, not saying a word. I raised my brows, but did not break the silence.
“What happened the first time you saw me?” she asked, gripping the dagger in her small hands.
“I will tell you if you stop threatening me with that weapon. Put it down and I will tell you what you wish to know.”
She hesitated a long while, her view shifting towards the dagger, then back to me, only to fall towards the weapon again, until she finally, slowly, lowered it, her hand relaxing.
“Now, tell me,” her voice demanded.
“I was walking through the forest, and I heard screaming. I hurried to the place where the cry came from, following the sound, when I found you, trapped in the mud, trying to get your ankles free. I helped you release your legs, then you fell to the ground and fainted. I didn’t have the heart to leave you there, so I brought you home and placed you on my bed so you could rest. In the evening, I came to bring you food and tea and when you woke up, you started attacking me and tried to stab me. The end,” I said, trying to look unaffected or annoyed, though both feelings threatened to tense my jaw.
I also did not feel the need to tell her she actually took me by surprise and stabbed me in the gut, forcing me to seek the Cloutie trees for an unplanned two hour healing session. It would raise more questions I had no interest in answering.
“That’s not how it happened,” she contested, taking the dagger once more and making her tiny wrist shake in pain.
Human, put the thing down or you will end up hurting yourself.
“You asked me to tell you what happened, and I did,” I insisted, still focused on her shaking wrist. She was so obviously unequipped to use any kind of weapon, her frail wrist could barely support the tension, but she compensated with bravado. I admired that. “Now if you please, throw that dagger on the ground or I refuse to continue this conversation.”
Immediately, she crouched with a slow motion and placed the weapon by her feet, close enough that she could pick it up with one quick movement.
“You will not be needing it,” I insisted.
“Tell me the truth,” the woman folded her arms, as if that little gesture made her more fierce and threatening. If anything, it made her cute in her naiveté.
“I already told you my part of the story, I do not know how you ended up trapped in the mud or why you were screaming so hysterically.” How could I tell a human that destruction incarnate tried to use her as a sacrifice and drain her blood to curse the forest?
“What about the other man?” she insisted.
I froze, shock striking me like a block of ice. Had the fireling revealed himself to the woman?
“What exactly did you see?” I asked quickly.
“The man from inside the tree, he hid in the willow. It was like smoke or something, but I clearly saw a man there. Also, he spoke to me, and I think…” she paused, recollecting her thoughts, then continued, “I think you spoke to him too. Asked him to let me go.”
Oh, my goddess. This human could see Fear Gorta! I hadn’t heard of a single instance where humans were able to see old fae in their natural form. What the woman saw, the way she described it, was so accurate that it couldn’t have been a flick of her imagination, not visions caused by pain.
When I arrived, I found Rhylan using the energy of an ancient willow tree to cast his power into the ground and keep her trapped. And he had spoken to her!
“Well?” the woman demanded, shaking me from thought.
“I know nothing of whichever willow or man you are talking about. As I told you, you got stuck in the mud and cried for help. I found you alone, no one else by your side,” I insisted.
