Fairest {Part Three
The next morning, Allen was shaken awake by Aiden. He sat up groggily, rubbing at his eyes and stretching his back as he tried to get rid of kinks and sores that had developed overnight, before turning to the man in red.
He stared.
Sitting at the table, eating what looked to be fresh bread and nodding towards Aiden, was a man Allen had only ever seen glimpses of. He was a man from the castle village, with dark brown hair and wide brown eyes, pale skin and dressed in forestry greens and browns. He was the deaf man, Gawain, and he would often look after the orphan-girl Adiel. However, he looked to be very different at Aiden’s table - mostly because of the delicate wings folded against his back, and the black, glossy shine to his eyes.
“T-that is G-G-Gawain,” the prince said after a moment, pushing his blankets aside and grabbing onto his boots, pulling them on. A pile of clean clothes was at the end of the bed, and he picked them up to investigate them, taking in the soft blue colour and the comfortable, if cheap, material the tunic was made of, and the worn-in softness of the breeches spoke of numerous washings over time.
“Y’looked abou’ Tegan’s size in clothes,” Aiden said, shrugging and cutting off another slice of bread for Gawain to eat; the man-who-was-not took the bread with a thankful smile, biting into it and nibbling carefully. “Y’wan’ some brisgein, Gawain?”
The sheer gossamer wings fluttered at the mention of fae food, and Gawain sat up, smiling widely and nodding his assent. Aiden grinned, moving to his cupboards to pull out a jar of roots from silver weeds, before handing it over to Gawain to allow him to devour it. “S’always polite to keep some fairy food on ye,” Aiden commented when Allen continued to stare, bringing over a plate of bread and cheese and handing it over to Allen without a word. “Ea’ tha’, now, all’uv i’ - I’ll know if y’haven’, an’ I’ll be cross.”
“H-how can you s-s-speak to him?” Allen asked, tearing apart some cheese and eating it slowly, watching Gawain with wide, wary eyes. Gawain turned to him, head tilting to the side, before he smiled softly and shifted in his seat, repositioning his wings to be careful.
“I can f-feel your words,” Gawain said gently, his voice smooth and quiet and reminding Allen of sunlight on dew-dropped grass. “It is…q-quite useful, isn’t it?”
Allen nodded, taking a closer look at Gawain now that he could. His eyes were wide, black and brown, and Allen could barely make out the green veins in his eyes where usually they would be red and practically invisible. He finally saw the pointed ears of a fae, the high-tipped nose and the sharp turn of his jaw and lips. His tunic was made out of ivy leaves, root threads, and willow branches; his breeches were soft deer skin, and he had nothing on his feet. Gawain skin, pale as moonbeams already, looks smudged with dirt and grass stains, though he could tell that the brown and green that decorated his skin was his skin.
He was beautiful in an otherworldly, terrifying way.
“Gawain ‘ere is t’take ye t’Jadis an’ Benji - they’ll find a way fer y’t’ge’ away from th’queen ‘til we figure ou’ a way t’ge’ rid of ‘er.”
“And…w-where is Tegan?”
“Leadin’ yer tail off of yer tracks, innit ‘e?” Aiden smiled thinly, rummaging through his cupboards before he found a basket and started to pile food into it, turning his back to the fae and prince in his company as if it were a remarkable crowd of house guests. “Y’can ge’ dressed in th’back if ye’d like,” he said after a moment, turning to look at Allen over his shoulder and ticking a brow towards his scruffy hairline. “Y’leave soon as yer ready te.”
Allen nodded, standing up and picking up his boots before making his way to where Tegan and Aiden had disappeared to the night before. He found a doorway, simply covered by an animal skin of some kind, so he slipped into the back and into a room of light.
There were windows all along the back with curtains drawn apart to let in the morning light. Trees filled the view, and the room itself was a small, cozy storage area with blankets, extra clothes, and food preservatives.
Placing his borrowed set of clothing onto a trunk that he would guess was full of blankets and other such things, Allen slowly pulled off the undershirt that he had been wearing, looking at the torn fabric with a frown before tossing it to the side and peeling off his breeches; both of which were covered in dirt, grass stains, and the faint, rusty stains of dried blood.
He ignored the cuts and scrapes on his arms, picking up the dark undershirt that had been tucked between tunic and breeches and pulling that on, laughing to himself when the sleeves fell over his hands and feeling like a boy wearing his father’s clothes, pretending to be a man. Shaking his head, he pulled on the breeches, tucked in his undershirt, and slid on the tunic, picking up his own belt and cinching it around the waist. It was all a bit big on him, Tegan being taller than him and wider, but it would do for now, he supposed. Pulling on his boots, he ran his fingers through his hair for a quick comb-through, making his way back to the main room of the cabin.
“Jus’ leave yer clothes on th’bed - Tegan’ll use ‘em to confuse Zebediah,” Aiden spoke up from his place at the table, fixing a blanket over the basket which was full of food, a leather flask probably full of wine or water, and a few other odds and ends that would prove to be useful for Allen. He handed the basket over to Allen as soon as he walked over, tossing him a cloak as well and smirking when the prince fumbled with both. “Ye ‘ave ‘til midnigh’ t’ge’ t’Jadis an’ Benji - think y’can manage i’?”
“I will t-try v-v-very hard,” Allen muttered, finally managing to pull on the heavy cloak and pin it together at his throat, adjusting the basket so that it settled in the bend of his elbow. He turned to see Gawain standing outside, face tilted towards the sky and obviously waiting, before turning to Aiden. “…t-thank you, for h-h-helping me.”
“Think of i’ as ‘elpin’ each other, eh?” Aiden smiled, patting the prince’s shoulder before giving him a bow and stepping back. He waved him off once he stood up straight, turning back to his cabin and away from the runaway prince of a not-so-far-away land. “G’luck t’ye.”
“A-ah, yes,” Allen nodded, taking one last look around the cabin in the woods, before leaving the man in red and walking over to the man-that-was-not. “…I am r-ready, G-Gawain.”
“Very good, highness,” Gawain said softly, turning his brown-black eyes towards him again with a smile, before he stretched out his wings and started to walk towards the woods. Hesitating only a moment, Allen followed after him.
The woods were dark and dreary, but Gawain seemed to bring a glow to everything to make it seem more ethereal and beautiful than frightening and unknown. He didn’t make a sound, from his steps on the soft ground to the gentle inhalations and exhalations of his breathing, and sometimes Allen would forget that the fae was even there. But then Gawain would touch his shoulder, or make him stop while he walked on ahead, and he would remember with a startled jerk and wide eyes that he was not alone.
It was midday when they finally stopped in a small clearing, Gawain brushing away fallen leaves from a large stone so that Allen could sit there. The prince rifled through the basket Aiden had given to him, finding fruit and cheese and bread. There were bits of salted meat, but Allen thought it would be best to cook those in the evening, when the dark could hide their smoke.
“W-would you like some…?”
“I’ll have an apple, if t-that is all right,” Gawain said, moving to sit on the ground near Allen and taking the fruit when it was offered to him. He bit into it, chewing slowly and thoroughly, his large brown-black eyes looking around the forest as if listening to a world Allen would forever be deaf towards. “You have been thoughtful for most of our trip, highness - w-what is on your mind?”
“Ah,” Allen sighed, shifting on his seat and pinching small pieces of cheese between his fingers before chewing on it morosely. “…I h-have a f-f-few questions, if t-that is alright…?”
“But of course,” Gawain nodded, giving him a gentle smile and softening his expression towards the human prince. “W-what are your questions?”
Gawain spoke so slowly, Allen could not help but feel comforted by his voice and his presence in general. He relaxed, shoulders drooping somewhat and fingers stilling on his lap. “W-well…how w-was it that y-y-you became d-deaf? I d-did not know f-fairies c-could s-s-suffer through s-such ailments.”
“It was a wicked witch,” Gawain said slowly, eyes turning contemplative as he remembered, “he was v-very…very cross with me.”
“H-he?”
“Oh, yes,” Gawain nodded, looking up at Allen again and smiling, “a ‘witch’ is merely a title, you see - men and women can be witches. This one was v-very foul, and I only ran into him because I was t-trying to help a poor child locked into a t-tower…” He shook his head, dark brown hair falling over his forehead and into his strange eyes before looking up at Allen again. “But that is n-not your primary question, highness. We haven’t the t-time to work towards it, I’m afraid.”
“O-oh, of course,” Allen nodded, ripping up a slice of bread into small pieces and eating it with the cheese. “Well…u-uhm…w-who are Jadis and B-Benji?”
Gawain stared at him for a moment, before grinning and laughing, standing up and stretching sheer wings behind him - they were quite large, which was not surprising as Gawain was man-sized, and they seemed almost to be made out of spiders’ webs.
“A good question, h-highness,” Gawain conceded, holding his hand out for the prince to take. Allen took it after he cleared off his lap and rearranged the basket, standing up with the fae’s help and picking up the basket to settle into the crook of his arm once more. “Jadis is a beauty from faraway lands - p-practically an elf and my kin,” he started, making his way towards the shadows of the woods again. Allen could only hear the birds and the squirrels, but the darkness made him nervous all the same. “S-she is cold of temperament, however, and does not deal with anyone’s f-foolishness. She is an old friend of Tegan Wolf-man’s.”
“A-and Benji?”
“B-Benji…” Here Gawain frowned, as if he were recalling something unpleasant and painful. “Benji is an old a-acquaintance of mine, I’m a-afraid to say…Benji is a beast. But he is a beast like Tegan - gentle at heart, gruff of body. He is Jadis’ beast; her protector and companion. T-they are trying to figure out how to break the curse placed upon Benji’s h-head.” He frowned, rubbing his hands together and narrowing brown-black eyes towards the ground in thought. “…They are good people, like Aiden Red-cloak and Tegan Wolf-man.”
Allen frowned, wondering what Gawain and Benji’s connection was, but decided to keep his curiousity to himself and merely nodded in understanding. The two fell into another silence, this one less pleasant than the last, and headed deeper into the wood.
It was when the forest became nearly black, and they would have lost their way had it not been for the moonbeam glow of Gawain’s skin, that they finally came upon a small cabin much like Aiden’s in the middle of the trees. As they approached, the door opened, and a young, statuesque woman left the cabin and headed towards the two of them, lifting her lantern up to take a good look at them.
She was quite beautiful, as Gawain had said, with icy blue eyes and pale skin. Her hands, though at first seeming delicate, were callused and worn by hard work, and though her clothes were well-tailored and made of expensive material, they were sturdy and stained with dirt and grass, showing that she worked hard for her living. Her dark hair was pinned back severely, wisps falling into her face but overall giving her the appearance of someone orderly and tidy.
“Gawain,” she said after a moment of taking in Allen’s appearance, eyes narrowing coolly on him, before turning to his fae escort, “thank you for bringing to prince to us. You should return to the village before the queen decides to suspect anything about you. Will your flight be quick?”
“I’ll ride on the backs of fireflies,” Gawain said with a smile. He then turned to Allen, giving him a slow, respectful bow, and smiling at him serenely. “It was a p-pleasure walking with you, highness. I hope to see you on your throne soon.”
He then closed his eyes, his skin glowing almost to the degree of the sun, before he suddenly shank to the size of a firefly himself. With a spin around the woman’s and Allen’s head, he zipped off, disappearing into the dark woods.
The woman turned back to the prince as soon as they could no longer see the light, looking at Allen for a moment before jerking her head in a ‘follow me’ fashion, turning back towards the cabin and making her way there. After a moment, Allen followed, stepping into the cabin and looking around as soon as the door closed and the bearskin dropped to block out the wind.
It was slightly larger than Aiden’s cabin, the bedroom separate from the kitchen and a backroom that most likely held supplies and storage. At the kitchen table, carving into a piece of wood, was a large man with a beard and faint blue eyes. He wore leathers and furs, and had scars all over his hands, with calluses lining fingertip to the meat of his palm. Running the tip of his tongue over a sharp eyetooth, the man looked up at the entrance of the woman and the prince, barely looking at Allen as he stood up and walked towards the woman.
“Jadis, are you alright?”
“I stepped outside for a moment, Benji, of course I’m alright,” Jadis said, rolling her eyes and placing the lantern onto the table without further ado. She handed her shawl over to Benji, leaving him to take care of it, before looking back at Allen. “Your highness, do you have a preference for dinner?”
“Oh,” Allen blinked, shifting on his feet awkwardly before holding out his basket. “A-Aiden packed me s-s-some meat…?”
“Oh, good, we ate the last of ours two nights ago,” Jadis said promptly, taking the basket and rifling through it with expert hands. Benji hovered over her shoulder until she glanced back at him impatiently, giving him a thin, cold smile and ticking a brow towards her hairline. “Benji, would you close the curtains so that no ravens or dwarfs will notice our guest?”
“Uh, aye, alright.” Benji moved towards the windows, drawing the curtains and throwing them into shadows. Allen folded his hands behind his back as he waited to be told where to sit or what to do. Benji lit a few candles near the lantern, throwing more light into the cabin, before turning to Allen finally. He had a friendly face, even if it was gruff and crude to look at. “You, uh, you alright there?”
“A-ah, yes, t-thank you,” Allen nodded, smiling at him in a small manner, looking away after a moment. The sound of a knife hitting a wooden chopping board made the two men flinch and turn towards Jadis, who was busily preparing something at the stove. Probably another stew.
“You’ll spend the night here, your highness, and then Eli and his sister will grab you in the morning. They’ll be taking you Russell, who will take you to Dustin and you’ll finally meet who it is who’s so worried about your safety.” She turned to him, smiling a quick smile that didn’t really hold much warmth to it at all, before going back to her cutting. “Benji, perhaps you should find some wood and build a fire. It’s going to get cold tonight and we don’t need the prince freezing to death in the middle of the night.”
“Uh, sure, of course, Jadis.” Benji nodded, moving to the back room and leaving the prince and the woman alone. After a moment, Jadis sighed, putting down her knife and turning around to face Allen again. Her cold eyes looked a little lukewarm, then, her face drawn and tired, shoulders heavy and appearance less strict than it was just a moment before.
“Benji’s a good man, though impossible to have conversation with,” she said without preamble, the corner of her mouth tilting in what seemed to be the first genuine smile she’s shown since Allen had first laid eyes on her. “He’s simple - but he’s loyal. And he’s not at all stupid.” She shook her head, then, looking up at Allen with an intense expression. “Benji used to have a life in your kingdom, and then that redheaded witch drove him out of his home. She killed his pregnant wife and left him with no one in this world. And if that wasn’t the least of it, he was cursed into a beast when he approached a fae made scared. I’m working on breaking it, but it’s difficult when the cure is so specific. But he’s had enough bad things happen to him because of that wretch who calls herself queen, don’t you agree highness?”
It was the most aggressive way to say ‘you are the rightful heir to the throne’ that he had heard yet, and all Allen could do was nod before Benji entered the room again, lugging in logs and dropping them into the fireplace promptly before searching for a flint. Jadis stood up straighter, appearing confident and cool-headed once more, and with a last glance to Benji returned to her work on making dinner, leaving Allen alone to his thoughts and the noises of domestic life surrounding him.
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It was entering the second week of his hunt that Zebediah finally found a true trail, and not one of Tegan’s false ones.
Stalking through the trees like the predator he felt he was, he neared a small hut in the middle of the clearing with a trail of smoke lifting towards the sky cheerfully. A young woman with dark hair and a content expression was outside chopping wood, and inside was a man with black hair and blue eyes as wide and blue as the midnight sky, skinning the fur off of a rabbit with careful hands and a clean blade. As he approached, the man looked up from his work, eyes narrowing on the huntsman. He put aside his rabbit, wiping his hands on his rough-hewn breeches, and stood up slowly, making his way towards the other man with careful steps.
“You’re the Huntsman, yeh?” the man asked, stopping a few feet away from Zebediah and crossing his arms over his chest. “I remember you when you were a younger man. You didn’t look so rough, then.”
“I don’t do well underground, what can I say?” Zebediah said, smiling thinly. “Eli - Peyton. I’m lookin’ for someone.”
“We know,” Peyton said her voice flat in what was disapproval. “And I hope you’re ashamed of yourself, Aaron’s son; what would your father think of you hunting down the prince of his king?”
“Not much - he’s dead.” Peyton slammed down her axe on a block of wood at his comment, making the chopping block splinter and Zebediah wince at the implication. He turned back to Eli, grip tightening on his bow shaft. “Look, I gotta find him, Eli - she’s threatenin’ Ellie.”
Eli’s eyes widened at that, grip tightening on his hunting knife, and both men heard Peyton curse and toss her axe to the side once she understood exactly what it was Zebediah was saying. “How long do you have until she makes good on her threat?”
“The end of the month. If I can bring the prince back to her at the end of the month, she’ll let Adiel and I go free. Please, Eli - you know Ellie. She’s your Addy-girl. She’s just learned her letters and she’s become so pretty. I can’t let anything happen to her. The ghost of her mother would kill me, and I wouldn’t try to stop her.”
Silence. Zebediah watched Eli, who stared down at the ground, while Peyton stood behind him and gripped onto his tunic with white knuckles and wide eyes. Zebediah wondered what it was they were thinking of; if they were remembering the old witch that almost ate them, or the way they had been left on their own to survive when their stepmother tried to have them killed by the woods. He wondered if they were remembering his aunt and little Adiel in their cabin, the babe laughing and tugging on Eli’s ears while he played with her.
“We took him to see Russell - you know him, you know the way there. He’s taking him to Dustin.”
“Dustin’s with -”
“Yeah,” Eli nodded, looking up at Zebediah again. “We took him three days ago. You might want to try and catch up, if you can. Russell’s fast, and Dustin’s charge isn’t a patient man.”
Zebediah swore, before nodding, stepping forward and pressing a thankful kiss to the man’s forehead, before pressing on to Peyton’s cheek. He then ran through the clearing to the other side of the cabin, disappearing back into the woods and leaving Eli and Peyton in the field, feeling like they had just made a grave mistake because of selfishness.
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Anne sat back on her throne, her gown of vermillion and ivory draping over her like blood and milk over bone. She stared at her long hands, moving each individual finger while listening to Benjamin’s pipe-playing. Her advisor stood just behind her seat, playing a piece and making the creatures of the castle dance to his tune, from the mice to the cats to the hounds. She had long since lost her amusement of the spectacle, but hadn’t stopped her piper; after all, the music was nice.
After another moment the queen lifted her hand, rousing herself enough from her momentary stupor to stand up and turn towards Benjamin. The piper stood tall, her hair manicured into perfection and his tunic and breeches neatly pressed and brightly coloured in black and multiple shades of blue with silver thread. His clever brown eyes watched her, a hint of a conniving smile to his lips as he waited for her to speak.
“I wish to see the mirror that will show me whoever I ask to see.”
“As my queen commands it,” Benjamin bowed, turning swiftly and disappearing behind the curtains that blocked a back door of the throne room. He returned after only a moment, carrying a small, golden hand mirror with flat glass and little emeralds lining the frame. He stopped before her, holding it out and waiting for her to take it.
She lifted it from his larger hands with careful precision, turning the glass to face her and staring at her reflection for a moment before smiling. “Show me Adiel, daughter of Theresa.”
The glass rippled, like water after a pebble has fallen through its flat surface, and slowly the image of a girl came to the front. She was small, with delicate bone structure and a lovely face; a small nose and a mouth made for smiles. Her hair was dark black, falling into her face despite the ribbon she used to hold it back. She dressed in simple frocks of white and blue, and her feet were bare - her stockings and shoes held in her hand as she walked through a shallow creek. Beside her was a man with dark brown hair and wide brown eyes and an aura of other about him, but Anne ignored him in favour of the girl.
“She’s no womanly influence in her life?”
“Just the deaf man, your majesty.” Anne made a tuting noise, shaking her head and pursing her lips as the girl fell into the side of the bank, laughing as the water soaked through her petticoats.
“That will not do, now will it Benjamin?” She handed the mirror back to him, looking over to him and smiling thinly. “Zebediah has two more weeks to find my prince; I grow so lonely. Do you think little Adiel will appreciate an invitation to the castle for a little while?”
“Oh, of course, your majesty,” Benjamin said, smiling that sly fox smile of his. “Shall I go invite her on your behalf?”
“Oh, please do,” Anne agreed, reaching up and patting his thin cheek. “It will be good for her to have a woman in her life. Do be quick about it, my sweet advisor. Already I grow impatient.”
“I’ll be gone for no more than an hour.” And then he was gone, moving as swiftly as he played his pipe. Anne grinned to herself, turning to see the cats running from the hounds, nice in their mouths as they escaped the throne room.
This would make for much more interesting waiting.
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Zebediah ran into Tegan a day before he would have caught up with Russell and the prince, and he almost killed him because of it.
The only reason why the Huntsman did not cut Tegan down where he stood, all long limbs and sad eyes, was because of the fact that he actually appeared before him as a man and not as the beast that had been chasing him off of the prince’s tail since he first started hunting him.
“What is it, wolf-man?” Zebediah ground out fingers twitching towards his hunting knife, watching the giant before him with wary eyes. Tegan took a step towards him his hands out in a placating manner before him, eyes pleading for the man to listen to him. “Speak quickly or I’ll change my mind about killin’ ya.”
“I’ve heard news from Gawain,” he said slowly, watching as Zebediah’s eyes widened and his grip on his bow tightened so much he nearly caused the wood to crack. “Adiel has been taken from his care.”
“Why the hell has she been taken away from the fairy, Tegan?”
“Because the queen took her under her care, instead.”
Tegan flinched as the hunting knife flew passed his head, hitting the tree behind him and embedding itself deep into the bark. Squirrels and birds flew off in fright, the first time they had done so since Zebediah had entered their woods; he was no longer a brother, but a stranger in their midst, and they were frightened of him because he was unpredictable.
“She swore she would leave her alone! We had a deal!”
“You thought the queen would keep to her word? She swore love and protection of the king, and he was killed as soon as she was able to rip the throne away from him. Anne is a vile witch, Zebediah - she is not a reasonable woman at all.”
“I had a month! If I brought the damned prince to her within a month, Adiel and I would be allowed to leave the kingdom and we’d never see her damned face again!”
“You are a fool if you believed that,” Tegan growled, voice low and animal as his blue eyes flashed gold. “You won’t see your cousin again if you bring the prince to the queen, Huntsman. You’ll only see her again when the queen’s head is on a stake.” He crossed his arms over his chest, watching as the Huntsman gripped tight to his hair and swore, shaking his head roughly over and over as if hoping he could deny any of this was happening.
“What am I supposed to do, Tegan? Huh? What can I do?”
“You can take the prince to Dustin’s charge. You can help them fight the queen’s army. Or you can continue hunting him down and hoping that everything will be alright should you keep to your end of the deal. Your decision, Zebediah Huntsman. Decide quickly.”
Tegan disappeared, leaving Zebediah to his thoughts.
He stared.
Sitting at the table, eating what looked to be fresh bread and nodding towards Aiden, was a man Allen had only ever seen glimpses of. He was a man from the castle village, with dark brown hair and wide brown eyes, pale skin and dressed in forestry greens and browns. He was the deaf man, Gawain, and he would often look after the orphan-girl Adiel. However, he looked to be very different at Aiden’s table - mostly because of the delicate wings folded against his back, and the black, glossy shine to his eyes.
“T-that is G-G-Gawain,” the prince said after a moment, pushing his blankets aside and grabbing onto his boots, pulling them on. A pile of clean clothes was at the end of the bed, and he picked them up to investigate them, taking in the soft blue colour and the comfortable, if cheap, material the tunic was made of, and the worn-in softness of the breeches spoke of numerous washings over time.
“Y’looked abou’ Tegan’s size in clothes,” Aiden said, shrugging and cutting off another slice of bread for Gawain to eat; the man-who-was-not took the bread with a thankful smile, biting into it and nibbling carefully. “Y’wan’ some brisgein, Gawain?”
The sheer gossamer wings fluttered at the mention of fae food, and Gawain sat up, smiling widely and nodding his assent. Aiden grinned, moving to his cupboards to pull out a jar of roots from silver weeds, before handing it over to Gawain to allow him to devour it. “S’always polite to keep some fairy food on ye,” Aiden commented when Allen continued to stare, bringing over a plate of bread and cheese and handing it over to Allen without a word. “Ea’ tha’, now, all’uv i’ - I’ll know if y’haven’, an’ I’ll be cross.”
“H-how can you s-s-speak to him?” Allen asked, tearing apart some cheese and eating it slowly, watching Gawain with wide, wary eyes. Gawain turned to him, head tilting to the side, before he smiled softly and shifted in his seat, repositioning his wings to be careful.
“I can f-feel your words,” Gawain said gently, his voice smooth and quiet and reminding Allen of sunlight on dew-dropped grass. “It is…q-quite useful, isn’t it?”
Allen nodded, taking a closer look at Gawain now that he could. His eyes were wide, black and brown, and Allen could barely make out the green veins in his eyes where usually they would be red and practically invisible. He finally saw the pointed ears of a fae, the high-tipped nose and the sharp turn of his jaw and lips. His tunic was made out of ivy leaves, root threads, and willow branches; his breeches were soft deer skin, and he had nothing on his feet. Gawain skin, pale as moonbeams already, looks smudged with dirt and grass stains, though he could tell that the brown and green that decorated his skin was his skin.
He was beautiful in an otherworldly, terrifying way.
“Gawain ‘ere is t’take ye t’Jadis an’ Benji - they’ll find a way fer y’t’ge’ away from th’queen ‘til we figure ou’ a way t’ge’ rid of ‘er.”
“And…w-where is Tegan?”
“Leadin’ yer tail off of yer tracks, innit ‘e?” Aiden smiled thinly, rummaging through his cupboards before he found a basket and started to pile food into it, turning his back to the fae and prince in his company as if it were a remarkable crowd of house guests. “Y’can ge’ dressed in th’back if ye’d like,” he said after a moment, turning to look at Allen over his shoulder and ticking a brow towards his scruffy hairline. “Y’leave soon as yer ready te.”
Allen nodded, standing up and picking up his boots before making his way to where Tegan and Aiden had disappeared to the night before. He found a doorway, simply covered by an animal skin of some kind, so he slipped into the back and into a room of light.
There were windows all along the back with curtains drawn apart to let in the morning light. Trees filled the view, and the room itself was a small, cozy storage area with blankets, extra clothes, and food preservatives.
Placing his borrowed set of clothing onto a trunk that he would guess was full of blankets and other such things, Allen slowly pulled off the undershirt that he had been wearing, looking at the torn fabric with a frown before tossing it to the side and peeling off his breeches; both of which were covered in dirt, grass stains, and the faint, rusty stains of dried blood.
He ignored the cuts and scrapes on his arms, picking up the dark undershirt that had been tucked between tunic and breeches and pulling that on, laughing to himself when the sleeves fell over his hands and feeling like a boy wearing his father’s clothes, pretending to be a man. Shaking his head, he pulled on the breeches, tucked in his undershirt, and slid on the tunic, picking up his own belt and cinching it around the waist. It was all a bit big on him, Tegan being taller than him and wider, but it would do for now, he supposed. Pulling on his boots, he ran his fingers through his hair for a quick comb-through, making his way back to the main room of the cabin.
“Jus’ leave yer clothes on th’bed - Tegan’ll use ‘em to confuse Zebediah,” Aiden spoke up from his place at the table, fixing a blanket over the basket which was full of food, a leather flask probably full of wine or water, and a few other odds and ends that would prove to be useful for Allen. He handed the basket over to Allen as soon as he walked over, tossing him a cloak as well and smirking when the prince fumbled with both. “Ye ‘ave ‘til midnigh’ t’ge’ t’Jadis an’ Benji - think y’can manage i’?”
“I will t-try v-v-very hard,” Allen muttered, finally managing to pull on the heavy cloak and pin it together at his throat, adjusting the basket so that it settled in the bend of his elbow. He turned to see Gawain standing outside, face tilted towards the sky and obviously waiting, before turning to Aiden. “…t-thank you, for h-h-helping me.”
“Think of i’ as ‘elpin’ each other, eh?” Aiden smiled, patting the prince’s shoulder before giving him a bow and stepping back. He waved him off once he stood up straight, turning back to his cabin and away from the runaway prince of a not-so-far-away land. “G’luck t’ye.”
“A-ah, yes,” Allen nodded, taking one last look around the cabin in the woods, before leaving the man in red and walking over to the man-that-was-not. “…I am r-ready, G-Gawain.”
“Very good, highness,” Gawain said softly, turning his brown-black eyes towards him again with a smile, before he stretched out his wings and started to walk towards the woods. Hesitating only a moment, Allen followed after him.
The woods were dark and dreary, but Gawain seemed to bring a glow to everything to make it seem more ethereal and beautiful than frightening and unknown. He didn’t make a sound, from his steps on the soft ground to the gentle inhalations and exhalations of his breathing, and sometimes Allen would forget that the fae was even there. But then Gawain would touch his shoulder, or make him stop while he walked on ahead, and he would remember with a startled jerk and wide eyes that he was not alone.
It was midday when they finally stopped in a small clearing, Gawain brushing away fallen leaves from a large stone so that Allen could sit there. The prince rifled through the basket Aiden had given to him, finding fruit and cheese and bread. There were bits of salted meat, but Allen thought it would be best to cook those in the evening, when the dark could hide their smoke.
“W-would you like some…?”
“I’ll have an apple, if t-that is all right,” Gawain said, moving to sit on the ground near Allen and taking the fruit when it was offered to him. He bit into it, chewing slowly and thoroughly, his large brown-black eyes looking around the forest as if listening to a world Allen would forever be deaf towards. “You have been thoughtful for most of our trip, highness - w-what is on your mind?”
“Ah,” Allen sighed, shifting on his seat and pinching small pieces of cheese between his fingers before chewing on it morosely. “…I h-have a f-f-few questions, if t-that is alright…?”
“But of course,” Gawain nodded, giving him a gentle smile and softening his expression towards the human prince. “W-what are your questions?”
Gawain spoke so slowly, Allen could not help but feel comforted by his voice and his presence in general. He relaxed, shoulders drooping somewhat and fingers stilling on his lap. “W-well…how w-was it that y-y-you became d-deaf? I d-did not know f-fairies c-could s-s-suffer through s-such ailments.”
“It was a wicked witch,” Gawain said slowly, eyes turning contemplative as he remembered, “he was v-very…very cross with me.”
“H-he?”
“Oh, yes,” Gawain nodded, looking up at Allen again and smiling, “a ‘witch’ is merely a title, you see - men and women can be witches. This one was v-very foul, and I only ran into him because I was t-trying to help a poor child locked into a t-tower…” He shook his head, dark brown hair falling over his forehead and into his strange eyes before looking up at Allen again. “But that is n-not your primary question, highness. We haven’t the t-time to work towards it, I’m afraid.”
“O-oh, of course,” Allen nodded, ripping up a slice of bread into small pieces and eating it with the cheese. “Well…u-uhm…w-who are Jadis and B-Benji?”
Gawain stared at him for a moment, before grinning and laughing, standing up and stretching sheer wings behind him - they were quite large, which was not surprising as Gawain was man-sized, and they seemed almost to be made out of spiders’ webs.
“A good question, h-highness,” Gawain conceded, holding his hand out for the prince to take. Allen took it after he cleared off his lap and rearranged the basket, standing up with the fae’s help and picking up the basket to settle into the crook of his arm once more. “Jadis is a beauty from faraway lands - p-practically an elf and my kin,” he started, making his way towards the shadows of the woods again. Allen could only hear the birds and the squirrels, but the darkness made him nervous all the same. “S-she is cold of temperament, however, and does not deal with anyone’s f-foolishness. She is an old friend of Tegan Wolf-man’s.”
“A-and Benji?”
“B-Benji…” Here Gawain frowned, as if he were recalling something unpleasant and painful. “Benji is an old a-acquaintance of mine, I’m a-afraid to say…Benji is a beast. But he is a beast like Tegan - gentle at heart, gruff of body. He is Jadis’ beast; her protector and companion. T-they are trying to figure out how to break the curse placed upon Benji’s h-head.” He frowned, rubbing his hands together and narrowing brown-black eyes towards the ground in thought. “…They are good people, like Aiden Red-cloak and Tegan Wolf-man.”
Allen frowned, wondering what Gawain and Benji’s connection was, but decided to keep his curiousity to himself and merely nodded in understanding. The two fell into another silence, this one less pleasant than the last, and headed deeper into the wood.
It was when the forest became nearly black, and they would have lost their way had it not been for the moonbeam glow of Gawain’s skin, that they finally came upon a small cabin much like Aiden’s in the middle of the trees. As they approached, the door opened, and a young, statuesque woman left the cabin and headed towards the two of them, lifting her lantern up to take a good look at them.
She was quite beautiful, as Gawain had said, with icy blue eyes and pale skin. Her hands, though at first seeming delicate, were callused and worn by hard work, and though her clothes were well-tailored and made of expensive material, they were sturdy and stained with dirt and grass, showing that she worked hard for her living. Her dark hair was pinned back severely, wisps falling into her face but overall giving her the appearance of someone orderly and tidy.
“Gawain,” she said after a moment of taking in Allen’s appearance, eyes narrowing coolly on him, before turning to his fae escort, “thank you for bringing to prince to us. You should return to the village before the queen decides to suspect anything about you. Will your flight be quick?”
“I’ll ride on the backs of fireflies,” Gawain said with a smile. He then turned to Allen, giving him a slow, respectful bow, and smiling at him serenely. “It was a p-pleasure walking with you, highness. I hope to see you on your throne soon.”
He then closed his eyes, his skin glowing almost to the degree of the sun, before he suddenly shank to the size of a firefly himself. With a spin around the woman’s and Allen’s head, he zipped off, disappearing into the dark woods.
The woman turned back to the prince as soon as they could no longer see the light, looking at Allen for a moment before jerking her head in a ‘follow me’ fashion, turning back towards the cabin and making her way there. After a moment, Allen followed, stepping into the cabin and looking around as soon as the door closed and the bearskin dropped to block out the wind.
It was slightly larger than Aiden’s cabin, the bedroom separate from the kitchen and a backroom that most likely held supplies and storage. At the kitchen table, carving into a piece of wood, was a large man with a beard and faint blue eyes. He wore leathers and furs, and had scars all over his hands, with calluses lining fingertip to the meat of his palm. Running the tip of his tongue over a sharp eyetooth, the man looked up at the entrance of the woman and the prince, barely looking at Allen as he stood up and walked towards the woman.
“Jadis, are you alright?”
“I stepped outside for a moment, Benji, of course I’m alright,” Jadis said, rolling her eyes and placing the lantern onto the table without further ado. She handed her shawl over to Benji, leaving him to take care of it, before looking back at Allen. “Your highness, do you have a preference for dinner?”
“Oh,” Allen blinked, shifting on his feet awkwardly before holding out his basket. “A-Aiden packed me s-s-some meat…?”
“Oh, good, we ate the last of ours two nights ago,” Jadis said promptly, taking the basket and rifling through it with expert hands. Benji hovered over her shoulder until she glanced back at him impatiently, giving him a thin, cold smile and ticking a brow towards her hairline. “Benji, would you close the curtains so that no ravens or dwarfs will notice our guest?”
“Uh, aye, alright.” Benji moved towards the windows, drawing the curtains and throwing them into shadows. Allen folded his hands behind his back as he waited to be told where to sit or what to do. Benji lit a few candles near the lantern, throwing more light into the cabin, before turning to Allen finally. He had a friendly face, even if it was gruff and crude to look at. “You, uh, you alright there?”
“A-ah, yes, t-thank you,” Allen nodded, smiling at him in a small manner, looking away after a moment. The sound of a knife hitting a wooden chopping board made the two men flinch and turn towards Jadis, who was busily preparing something at the stove. Probably another stew.
“You’ll spend the night here, your highness, and then Eli and his sister will grab you in the morning. They’ll be taking you Russell, who will take you to Dustin and you’ll finally meet who it is who’s so worried about your safety.” She turned to him, smiling a quick smile that didn’t really hold much warmth to it at all, before going back to her cutting. “Benji, perhaps you should find some wood and build a fire. It’s going to get cold tonight and we don’t need the prince freezing to death in the middle of the night.”
“Uh, sure, of course, Jadis.” Benji nodded, moving to the back room and leaving the prince and the woman alone. After a moment, Jadis sighed, putting down her knife and turning around to face Allen again. Her cold eyes looked a little lukewarm, then, her face drawn and tired, shoulders heavy and appearance less strict than it was just a moment before.
“Benji’s a good man, though impossible to have conversation with,” she said without preamble, the corner of her mouth tilting in what seemed to be the first genuine smile she’s shown since Allen had first laid eyes on her. “He’s simple - but he’s loyal. And he’s not at all stupid.” She shook her head, then, looking up at Allen with an intense expression. “Benji used to have a life in your kingdom, and then that redheaded witch drove him out of his home. She killed his pregnant wife and left him with no one in this world. And if that wasn’t the least of it, he was cursed into a beast when he approached a fae made scared. I’m working on breaking it, but it’s difficult when the cure is so specific. But he’s had enough bad things happen to him because of that wretch who calls herself queen, don’t you agree highness?”
It was the most aggressive way to say ‘you are the rightful heir to the throne’ that he had heard yet, and all Allen could do was nod before Benji entered the room again, lugging in logs and dropping them into the fireplace promptly before searching for a flint. Jadis stood up straighter, appearing confident and cool-headed once more, and with a last glance to Benji returned to her work on making dinner, leaving Allen alone to his thoughts and the noises of domestic life surrounding him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
It was entering the second week of his hunt that Zebediah finally found a true trail, and not one of Tegan’s false ones.
Stalking through the trees like the predator he felt he was, he neared a small hut in the middle of the clearing with a trail of smoke lifting towards the sky cheerfully. A young woman with dark hair and a content expression was outside chopping wood, and inside was a man with black hair and blue eyes as wide and blue as the midnight sky, skinning the fur off of a rabbit with careful hands and a clean blade. As he approached, the man looked up from his work, eyes narrowing on the huntsman. He put aside his rabbit, wiping his hands on his rough-hewn breeches, and stood up slowly, making his way towards the other man with careful steps.
“You’re the Huntsman, yeh?” the man asked, stopping a few feet away from Zebediah and crossing his arms over his chest. “I remember you when you were a younger man. You didn’t look so rough, then.”
“I don’t do well underground, what can I say?” Zebediah said, smiling thinly. “Eli - Peyton. I’m lookin’ for someone.”
“We know,” Peyton said her voice flat in what was disapproval. “And I hope you’re ashamed of yourself, Aaron’s son; what would your father think of you hunting down the prince of his king?”
“Not much - he’s dead.” Peyton slammed down her axe on a block of wood at his comment, making the chopping block splinter and Zebediah wince at the implication. He turned back to Eli, grip tightening on his bow shaft. “Look, I gotta find him, Eli - she’s threatenin’ Ellie.”
Eli’s eyes widened at that, grip tightening on his hunting knife, and both men heard Peyton curse and toss her axe to the side once she understood exactly what it was Zebediah was saying. “How long do you have until she makes good on her threat?”
“The end of the month. If I can bring the prince back to her at the end of the month, she’ll let Adiel and I go free. Please, Eli - you know Ellie. She’s your Addy-girl. She’s just learned her letters and she’s become so pretty. I can’t let anything happen to her. The ghost of her mother would kill me, and I wouldn’t try to stop her.”
Silence. Zebediah watched Eli, who stared down at the ground, while Peyton stood behind him and gripped onto his tunic with white knuckles and wide eyes. Zebediah wondered what it was they were thinking of; if they were remembering the old witch that almost ate them, or the way they had been left on their own to survive when their stepmother tried to have them killed by the woods. He wondered if they were remembering his aunt and little Adiel in their cabin, the babe laughing and tugging on Eli’s ears while he played with her.
“We took him to see Russell - you know him, you know the way there. He’s taking him to Dustin.”
“Dustin’s with -”
“Yeah,” Eli nodded, looking up at Zebediah again. “We took him three days ago. You might want to try and catch up, if you can. Russell’s fast, and Dustin’s charge isn’t a patient man.”
Zebediah swore, before nodding, stepping forward and pressing a thankful kiss to the man’s forehead, before pressing on to Peyton’s cheek. He then ran through the clearing to the other side of the cabin, disappearing back into the woods and leaving Eli and Peyton in the field, feeling like they had just made a grave mistake because of selfishness.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Anne sat back on her throne, her gown of vermillion and ivory draping over her like blood and milk over bone. She stared at her long hands, moving each individual finger while listening to Benjamin’s pipe-playing. Her advisor stood just behind her seat, playing a piece and making the creatures of the castle dance to his tune, from the mice to the cats to the hounds. She had long since lost her amusement of the spectacle, but hadn’t stopped her piper; after all, the music was nice.
After another moment the queen lifted her hand, rousing herself enough from her momentary stupor to stand up and turn towards Benjamin. The piper stood tall, her hair manicured into perfection and his tunic and breeches neatly pressed and brightly coloured in black and multiple shades of blue with silver thread. His clever brown eyes watched her, a hint of a conniving smile to his lips as he waited for her to speak.
“I wish to see the mirror that will show me whoever I ask to see.”
“As my queen commands it,” Benjamin bowed, turning swiftly and disappearing behind the curtains that blocked a back door of the throne room. He returned after only a moment, carrying a small, golden hand mirror with flat glass and little emeralds lining the frame. He stopped before her, holding it out and waiting for her to take it.
She lifted it from his larger hands with careful precision, turning the glass to face her and staring at her reflection for a moment before smiling. “Show me Adiel, daughter of Theresa.”
The glass rippled, like water after a pebble has fallen through its flat surface, and slowly the image of a girl came to the front. She was small, with delicate bone structure and a lovely face; a small nose and a mouth made for smiles. Her hair was dark black, falling into her face despite the ribbon she used to hold it back. She dressed in simple frocks of white and blue, and her feet were bare - her stockings and shoes held in her hand as she walked through a shallow creek. Beside her was a man with dark brown hair and wide brown eyes and an aura of other about him, but Anne ignored him in favour of the girl.
“She’s no womanly influence in her life?”
“Just the deaf man, your majesty.” Anne made a tuting noise, shaking her head and pursing her lips as the girl fell into the side of the bank, laughing as the water soaked through her petticoats.
“That will not do, now will it Benjamin?” She handed the mirror back to him, looking over to him and smiling thinly. “Zebediah has two more weeks to find my prince; I grow so lonely. Do you think little Adiel will appreciate an invitation to the castle for a little while?”
“Oh, of course, your majesty,” Benjamin said, smiling that sly fox smile of his. “Shall I go invite her on your behalf?”
“Oh, please do,” Anne agreed, reaching up and patting his thin cheek. “It will be good for her to have a woman in her life. Do be quick about it, my sweet advisor. Already I grow impatient.”
“I’ll be gone for no more than an hour.” And then he was gone, moving as swiftly as he played his pipe. Anne grinned to herself, turning to see the cats running from the hounds, nice in their mouths as they escaped the throne room.
This would make for much more interesting waiting.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Zebediah ran into Tegan a day before he would have caught up with Russell and the prince, and he almost killed him because of it.
The only reason why the Huntsman did not cut Tegan down where he stood, all long limbs and sad eyes, was because of the fact that he actually appeared before him as a man and not as the beast that had been chasing him off of the prince’s tail since he first started hunting him.
“What is it, wolf-man?” Zebediah ground out fingers twitching towards his hunting knife, watching the giant before him with wary eyes. Tegan took a step towards him his hands out in a placating manner before him, eyes pleading for the man to listen to him. “Speak quickly or I’ll change my mind about killin’ ya.”
“I’ve heard news from Gawain,” he said slowly, watching as Zebediah’s eyes widened and his grip on his bow tightened so much he nearly caused the wood to crack. “Adiel has been taken from his care.”
“Why the hell has she been taken away from the fairy, Tegan?”
“Because the queen took her under her care, instead.”
Tegan flinched as the hunting knife flew passed his head, hitting the tree behind him and embedding itself deep into the bark. Squirrels and birds flew off in fright, the first time they had done so since Zebediah had entered their woods; he was no longer a brother, but a stranger in their midst, and they were frightened of him because he was unpredictable.
“She swore she would leave her alone! We had a deal!”
“You thought the queen would keep to her word? She swore love and protection of the king, and he was killed as soon as she was able to rip the throne away from him. Anne is a vile witch, Zebediah - she is not a reasonable woman at all.”
“I had a month! If I brought the damned prince to her within a month, Adiel and I would be allowed to leave the kingdom and we’d never see her damned face again!”
“You are a fool if you believed that,” Tegan growled, voice low and animal as his blue eyes flashed gold. “You won’t see your cousin again if you bring the prince to the queen, Huntsman. You’ll only see her again when the queen’s head is on a stake.” He crossed his arms over his chest, watching as the Huntsman gripped tight to his hair and swore, shaking his head roughly over and over as if hoping he could deny any of this was happening.
“What am I supposed to do, Tegan? Huh? What can I do?”
“You can take the prince to Dustin’s charge. You can help them fight the queen’s army. Or you can continue hunting him down and hoping that everything will be alright should you keep to your end of the deal. Your decision, Zebediah Huntsman. Decide quickly.”
Tegan disappeared, leaving Zebediah to his thoughts.